SuperVitali

I generally use a belt for PR/Near PR attempts, but that's it.

I went back and did some research after our last discussion, because I hate the idea of being misinformed and quoting off false info. There's a program/website that I follow that has the same methodology as your thought here. www.leangains.com follows the basic methodology of intermitent fasting + eating a surplus on lifting days and eating at a deficit on rest days. Many people seem to have great success with it. A good deal of info here, and most of the time he's good about linking scientific studies to what he claims.

april sounds great. will give me a few weeks to recover after the CF Opens and whatnot.

And just a note, the weight you start with for the DBSP is relative. Start at something that is reasonably challenging, but not heavy enough where you wont be able to finish the sets.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Science and my own personal experience say otherwise.

Which is why I said, you can more than eat ample protein without going into a surplus. Add bcaa supliments into this if you're really worried you wont have enough amino acids to provide as fuel for bodily functions and protein synthesis. How do you explain me going from 147 lbs, up to 158, gaining more muscle and having a lower body fat%? I lift weights heavily, and I don't eat a surplus.

Not true. Please read this and the citations at the bottom: http://examine.com/faq/will-lifting-weights-convert-my-fat-into-muscle.html (i know, we arent specifically talking about weightlifting, but the informationt here directly relates to our topic). My point is, fat burning and muscle building are two related, but different processes that both happen at the same time.

I 100% disagree, speaking from personal experience. You absolutely can do both, that is a huge, and common misconception. We're talking about body re-composition. Burning fat and gaing muscle. There's no magic switch in our body that puts us into fat burning mode or muscle building mode, both are two processes that are ongoing in our bodies. For a quick and dirty explanation of how muscle growth occurs - look here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/27784-muscle-growth-work/ As long as we provide our muscles the fuel (amino acids/protein), it can continue on making new muscle fiber. It's very possible to eat an adaquet amount of protein without creating a calorie surplus.

Much like double unders, muscle ups, and pullups, hand stand pushups have become a staple in many crossfit wods. It's also a movement many struggle with because for a majority of people, upper body strength usualy trails behind. I thought I'd share some tips and tricks to help developing handstand pushups: Dumbell Shoulder Press Hands down, this is what helped the most in my persuit. I followed a linear progression that looked like this: Week1: 2x5 DBSP @ 25lbs Week2: 2x6 Week3: 2x7 Week4: 2x8 Week5: 2x9 Week6: 2x10 After you successfull do a week at 2x10, the next week you increase the weight by 5lbs, and reset to 2x5, and repeat the progression. I did this for about 3 months, and it made HSPU a breeze. Another thing you can do, is do an HSPU abmat progression. Set up 2-3 abmats stacked up, something that allows you to do them without too much difficulty, and follow the same rep scheme as above. Instead of adding weight however, remove abmats until you're going head to ground (or head to one abmat for females, the typical standard). Hope this helps!

Always love the inspirational crossfit videos

I don't see why lean mass would be lost if there was any kind of resistance training going on. It's possible to get stronger/gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

I don't think it's unreasonable/unsafe. You have what, appriximately 12 weeks? By the numbers above, you would need to lose approximately 25 lbs of fat to get to 17ish% body fat (assuming thats what you need, it's very possible you could see abs at 18-19%). That means you would need to lose 2.08lbs of fat a week starting now. That's very possibly, with food near perfect and a solid exercise plan. Not to mention the muscle you gain in the process will help sway the bf% too. But yea - I wouldn't obsess over the numbers - just eat well, and exercises regularly over the next 12 weeks and your goal should be obtainable.

If you're trying to shed bodyfat, I found it hard to do without reducing my fruit intake. Same with nut and nut butters. I notice you use a lot of coconut products too - those are very dense foods, and easy for the calories to add up. There still needs to be a calorie deficit to shed fat. One common misconception I see in paleo/keto communities is that they can eat as much as they want and still lose fat. That may be true for people just starting out, or those very overweight, but especially when you're trying to get to super low body fat (sub 20's for women, sub 10 for men) you need to really tune in your diet. What kind of exercises are you doing?

to give you some perspective, at the 2011 USAPL nationalss, your deadlift of 350 would have only been beaten by 1 person in your weight class: http://www.usapowerlifting.com/results/2011/2011_USAPL_Raw_Nationals.htm I'd say that's pretty elite.

Those standards seem fairly accurate, that's the chart i always used, and is most referenced in other fitness communities I frequent. It's good for judging the average person. Now if you're a competative powerlifter, or want toc ompare yourself to people who compete, check out this: http://www.rawpowerlifting.com/pdf/RAWClassificationStandards.pdf This lists teirs based on your total (bench + squat + DL)

Even with being a "overall pretty healthy dude" You've only been doing your current routine 9-10 weeks like you said. You're barely giving yourself time to adjust before you start tweaking things and you are just coming off an injury too. "Super heavy weights" is relative. I know you want us to tell you "yes, you're right, you'll be absoulte fine, go for it!" but there are manys igns indicating you're just not ready for that level of activity, sorry. But ultimately it's your choice.

IMO: Fish oil multi vitamin vitamin D Whey as an honorable mention, if you cant get enough protein from food.

Saw this posted on my gym's blog today - informative, and funny: [ATTACH=CONFIG]1469[/ATTACH]

When I first started, it was to get in shape, plain and simple. After the first few months though, I was hooked. I love the combination of power lifting, oly lifting, gymnastics and all the things unique to crossfit. After I got in decent shape, and put up some respectable numbers for someone my size, it became more of a competition with myself. Now I do it because first and foremost it's fun, secondly, I want to see how far I can push myself, and third all the friends i've made doing it.

Yea, chuck's will be great unless you're talking about oly lifting. then i'd highly support an actually lifting shoe. i've used chucks, vibrams, and onitsuka tigers in the past, but i've felt the most comfortable using my lifting shoes (vs athletics, and now i use the adidas powerlifter).

Yep, exactly. The trainer should be able to scale the WoD to whatever your abilities are. I've never seen a workout that REQUIRED you to do a certain exercise unbroken (i.e. 20 pullups).

I was a chunky 196 lbs. I wasn't in good shape. I had started running and a little lifting a few months prior to joining crossfit, dropped some weight, but couldnt run more than a mile or so, could barely do pushups, and couldnt do a pullup at all. Honestly, if the trainer/affiliate is good, it doesn't matter what shape you are in, they should be able to scale the workout to your abilities. We have people all shapes sizes and fitness levels join up at my gym, and they all seem to enjoy themselves and make great progress, I say go for it!

You said HIIT in the morning, plus SL at night, and then weightlifting occassionally. From my experience, you need to ease into increasing your volume. You have to build up your work capacity, find out how your body responds to increased load, and above all, make sure you are recovering properly (enough food, water, sleep, mobility). Not trying to be mean, but you seem to really lack patience. You've been doing SL now what, a month, two at most? And you're just coming off an injury, and you want to do MORE? Like others have said, you need to ease back into your normal routine, before even considering adding extra, or you're just going to wind up injured again.

ZMA = zinc mangnesium and vitamin B stack. Mainly to prevent zinc and magnesium defficiency. Some say it helps with sleep. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't

Also, I'll toss this into a thread, great source of knowledge on suppliments, and other general fitness questions, all backed by scientific studies: http://examine.com/