Fiddleman

180 s on my plank today. Need to stop doing this after the workout when my energy is depleted. Arg. Bad habit I guess. I will try tomorrow to find time in the morning when not tired from a workout.

We have some 400 m sprints today to do as part of a workout. The kicker is that the air temperature is going to be between 25 and 30 F when I go to workout after work. Conflicting information out there. I do not have any nights, just workout shorts. Any suggestions for how to sprint in sub freezing temperatures as I have not done this before and am afraid of cramping. I get cold pretty easy too, especially in the hands and feet - even at normal temperatures.

Yup, my doctor did not ban NSAIDs for life, just during first 6 months.

very useful information as another point of view. Many different points of view lead to a more educated and discerning decision making process. Thanks for sharing. For myself, I think taking NSAIDs or some other pain medicine post workout was a knee jerk reaction when soreness hit and may have contributed to a prolonged healing process and lack of progress across months of working out. I had always taken nsaids for my chronic back issues and taking it after the grueling Cross fit workouts just made sense as a means to eliminate soreness completely or good enough. Definitely a learning experience for me to not take them. I think my justification for using NSAIDs regularly stems from never being in this situation before. That is, being in a situation of constant soreness derived from working out like an athlete for many months (following attainment of goal weight in February 2013), but without the guidance or experience to know when to take off season rests or when to recover for more than a day or two or how to manage the recovery process more effectively. I made a deliberate decision to stop using NSAIDs last week as a post workout strategy. Surprise- I have done several hard met cons and lifting days since then, and, actually feel better overall in the period before the next workout. I no longer feel so fatigued long after the workout (bed time for example), but rather, as BTB states above, invigorated. I am finding I do not need the nsaid to control inflammation as much as I thought I did, but, instead, need to continue a keen focus on stretching, mobility and good posturing outside of working out. I am still using fish oil and contrast showers to feel my best, but not taking ibuprofen when the soreness hits (30 minutes post workout). The mobility work (roller, lacrosse ball, yoga) seems to be the magic to reducing the lactic acid build up, so I feel aligned with the view point of the article.

Yes, I do planks with shoes on. Always have from day 1. Might I add that doing planks with cross train or lifting shoes really helps (make sure it has a solid toe box). Just started trying this a few days ago with my new lift training shoes and it makes it so much easier to feel planted and stable on the floor (surprise - burpees, squats and jumping lunges got way easier and more fluid also) . Maybe planks would work even better with cowboy boots on! Just sayin...

I found this interesting study of the impact of caffeine on restoration of glycogen stores. Interesting! http://m.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/fuel-station/articles/post-workout-caffeine-consumption-recovery-tips-100510.aspx I am a strong supporter of using caffeine as a tool for better and more effective workouts. Using caffeine to aid in the recovery process is counter to what I thought I knew about caffeine after working out.

200 s plank in middle of hard 30 m "deck of cards" workout. Will try again tonight or tomorrow morning.

Anyone know how to get formatting to work right on android phones? HTML tags instead of WYSIWYG. Hope this bug gets fixed soon because it make reading posts harder then it needs to be.

Deck of card workout today:<br><br> 25 burpee warm up<br><br> 405 jumping lunges <br> 405 pushup jacks<br> 405 air squats<br> 405 burpees<br> Joker 1: 200 jumping jacks<br> Joker 2: 200 s plank<br><br> 800 m cool down<br><br> Time: 31 minutes Sets are tied to numbers on cards. Ace counts as 20. 20 burpees sets...ug.<br><br> Really good workout.

Anyone found this interesting? I think it is really relevant. Applies to all pain medicine, not just nsaids.

Working out almost always causes weight gain in the days following. The primary reason is that protein synthesis pulls water into the muscles as part of the conversion of carbohydrates and fat into glycogen. Muscles will use this glycogen in the process of protein synthesis. And so the cycle continues and effects on the body are additive, meaning that you will see a net loss over time (e.g. a few days, a week, a month, etc. For this reason, it is best not to gauge the effectiveness of a workout solely on scale weight, especially the next day. <br><br><br><br><br> Also you need to eat enough calories and enough carbohydrates to fuel the workout. Insanity is going to require a lot of carbohydrates in order not to hit a wall during a workout or, worse, blackout, as you have stated almost happened a few times on your first day. Your body will work against you if it does not have enough fuel to support the expenditure of energy, as a defense mechanism, so eating is very important. No starvation diets if you want to reap the benefits. Not only will 500 calories cause you to hit a wall during a workout, but continually eating at such a deficit is going to put your metabolism into hibernation (you are 3 + years post op; I would not say the same thing to a 4 month post op individual). <br><br><br><br><br> Good luck on your insanity program. It should be a good one and will help you change body composition in addition to weight loss.

NSAIDs are not good for those looking to benefit from Protein synthesis (aka muscle growth) following exercise that breaks down the muscle. I want to share the following study below with others as I found it very enlightening. I have been researching this connection between protein synthesis and pain medicine in order to understand my own lack of progress after months and months of "doing the right thing" in the gym and with my diet. I have been taking therapeutic doses of ibuprofen and some use of Tylenol to deal with back and neck inflammation unrelated to exercise. After finding this information, I have stopped taking the pain medicine cold turkey despite having to deal with the inflammation. In order to combat these back and neck pains, I am turning exclusively to posturing focus, when standing or sitting, and very focused physical therapy at home with rollers, lacrosse balls and yoga stretching. It does help, but requires a lot more time and focus. Does anyone know how long it will take for the effects of COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitors to leave the body? Will months and months of taking high doses of ibuprofen cause a permanent change in the body with regards to these enzymes? Here is a study outlining the effect of NSAIDs such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen on muscle growth. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are one of the many people who take a few Advil aspirin,or any other NSAID after a workout or in the days following to alleviate muscle soreness, think again! There is recent research that conclusively shows that taking NSAIDs after exercise-induced muscle damage significantly reduces levels of the prostaglandin, PGF2-α, which is intimately involved in the protein synthesis that occurs post-exercise; we work out, tear down our muscles, and the anabolic process of tissue repair and hypertrophy is dependent on levels of this prostaglandin.(1,2). It has been known for some time that maximal, prescription-level doses of NSAIDs will inhibit skeletal muscle protein synthesis, as the study in reference (2) below was performed in 1982. Most of these studies, however, utilized in-vitro systems where cultured myocytes were exposed to a stretch-stimulus to induce tissue damage and then protein synthesis was measured with-and without the presence of a high concentration of NSAID. As those of us in the field of pharmacology have (painfully) witnessed time-and time again, in-vitro systems are rarely representative of what actually occurs in-vivo. Because of this the notion that NSAID use after a workout might decrease muscular gains was passed off as an artifact of the experimental systems used; and not representative of what somebody would experience when taking over the counter doses of NSAIDs. A group in 2001, however, using eccentric contractions in human subjects to induce muscle damage, showed that post-exercise NSAID use drastically reduced the increase in protein synthesis normally seen in response to muscle damage. This study is relevant to real workouts because the researchers used a model for muscle damage that is very similar to what what happens during a normal weight training workout and the doses of NSAIDs used in the study were normal therapeutic doses, not unlike those that most people would take for a headache or after a tough workout for soreness.(3) The results of this study were that, in the untreated subjects, post-exercise muscle protein synthesis (24 hours post-workout) increased in upwards of 76%, while subjects that received either acetaminophen or ibuprofen saw no significant increase at all. The implications of this study are huge; if you are into taking a few Advil after a tough workout to alleviate soreness, think again; you may be severely hindering your progress. It is important to know the mechanism behind such a phenomena because it may be possible that we can use this to our advantage. NSAIDs inhibit the enzyme COX-1 and COX-2, which basically take a common substrate, arachidonic acid, and through a cascade of biochemical reactions create a number of prostaglandins. Some Prostaglandins cause inflammation and are largely responsible for the pain response we get after a workout. Reducing prostaglandin synthesis by inhibiting the COX enzyme can reduce pain and inflammation, but at the same time reduction of the specific prostaglandin, PGF2-α has a dramatic effect on the ability of muscles to hypertrophy(2,4). Intuitively, this makes sense, because inflammation is intimately involved with the healing process. Although there are certainly situations when reducing inflammation is beneficial, after a weight training workout is clearly not one of them. The pathway is outlined below and as you can see, inhibiting COX will have the effect of reducing PGF2-α, inhibiting the ever-so-important protein synthesis that occurs to repair the muscle and allow it to hypertrophy. So there you have it, convincing evidence that NSAIDs after a workout inhibit muscle gains. The next question you may ask is: How can we use this to our advantage? (i.e. by somehow increasing PGF2-α levels). Glad you asked! This will be coming in a future post; sign up for our feed or to receive posts by email to get this cutting edge info as soon as it is published. Until then, keep training hard and continuing to learn; the day you think you know it all is the day that you stop making gains. ------------------------------------- Here is another link for your reading pleasure on the same topic: http://adisonline.com/sportsmedicine/Abstract/2012/42120/The_Use_of_Nonsteroidal_Anti_Inflammatory_Drugs.3.aspx

Agree. My wife and I have been on vacation and are going to catch up when we get back. I read her the same quote above and nearly got killed myself.

I experimented this morning by mixing together 1/2 cup steel oats, 1/2 cup fiber one cereal (original) and 2 scoops of my syntha 6 cookies and creme protein powder. Normally, the steel oats and protein powder tastes pretty good together and fiber one in isolation, but all together, it was a little stomach churning. Still doable. I got full much quicker and got +100 fiber DV. Works for me. As an aside, steel oats and protein powder are awesome for slow release energy required for workouts that test your endurance, stamina and overall energy.

She hasn't started it yet (just asked), but did go to cross fit a couple times last week and plans on getting into that some more. She is ecstatic that it helped her drop an extra 3 lbs. Running, unfortunately, is not her thing yet. Perhaps in the future.

Thanks! I started doing planks about 8 months ago. 20 s was a long time. Over several months I surpassed 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, 180 seconds. A few months later, I worked up to 300 seconds. Practice is what it takes. I started in same condition as everyone, but have found fitness to be enjoyable in a somewhat self enlightening manner. And the more time you dedicate towards it, the easier and more enjoyable it becomes. Does not happen over night!! So that is how I got to 300 s over several months. Now I want to stretch my goals more.

Started out toward my DEC goal today with a travel workout (vacation cross fit box closed today) Warmup- 3 min plank 1/2 mile run 4 rounds: 10 pushups 10 air squats 10 sit ups 30 min mobility - mashed IT, gluts w/ lacrosse ball. Very sore and tight from 7 hours of car ride yesterday. "Deck of cards" workout- with following exercises: Pushups Jumping lunges Burpees Air lunges Joker #1- 100 jumping jacks Joker #2 - 1/2 mile sprint Time: 26 min For those wondering, deck of cards workout has a different exercise assigned to each face card. You do as many reps as number on card. Cycle through all cards until no cards left. Downloaded a new app to help with this workout. Special thanks to my wife for pressing the button and calling out the exercises. And motivating me. Good app, but randomness was grueling, especially with 10 burpee sets, sometimes 2 in a row. And the joker cards were separated by 2 cards near the end, when I was dieing. Anyways, glad to have my wife helping as I would probably give up 1/2 way through.

By the way, I am not able to click this link on my android phone version of the app.

The world record is over 3 hours set back in April, 2013. Impressive! I need to work more on core constantly so count me in on this one. However, as I can already do 300 seconds, I will start at 300 s and build a time table to reach 500 s by end of month. This extra challenge should only complement other fitness goals this month that need more core stability . Looking forward to an extra 3-5 minutes of burn every day.

That's a bit rude to cut in don't you think? Should at least ask.

Here are some fiction books I have been reading in the last 2 months or so: Dan brown - Inferno (I like them all) John grisham - Sicamore row (next read) Gilligan Flynn - Gone girl (current) Richard Preston - the cobra event (similar to the hot zone) David baldacci- first family Stephen king - the stand (oldie, but writing is excellent) When I am looking for something to read, I like to get on the kindle store and look at what is "popular," but being careful to avoid the mommy porn which always ends up near the top of the list. If I am unfamiliar with the author, but it still sounds intriguing, I will first download the sample. I also like Stephen Frey and Joseph finder; these are mainly wall street, litigation and corporate based fictions. Page turners for me, but you have to be into those genres. I also read some non fiction mostly related to fitness ( cross fit auto biographies for example), but these will be fairly boring to most. I am not into fantasy or sci fi genres. Will not go near the vampire stuff and do not understand the trending towards them in last few months. Hopefully it is a fad to end soon.

This sounds good. I am wondering if we can replace crunches with "knees to elbows"? Knees to elbows is where you find a pull up bar, hang from it and lift knees up to touch elbows. Works both grip strength and core. I need to improve my speed on these by doing more in an unbroken set so what better way to do this then by tracking them on this thread for the month. I can do about 12 before taking a pause to do another set, working towards 50. I would like to do 50 k2e unbroken with no rest as part of my December fitness challenge of completing filthy 50 sub 18 min. These feel like crunches on steroids.

My December goal is to get a sub 18 minute on a workout called the filthy 50: The Filthy 50 is a brutal series of taxing exercises that’s likely to seem endless if you’ve never done it before. The circuit includes 50 reps of 10 different exercises, all done as quickly as possible. Do 50 box jumps with a 24-inch box, 50 jumping pullups, 50 kettlebell swings (54 #), 50 walking lunge steps, 50 knees to elbows, 50 reps of push press with 45 pounds, 50 back extensions (45 # bar), 50 wallballs using a 20-pound ball, 50 burpees (dropping all the way to the floor), 50 double-unders. My filthy 50 time came in at 23 minutes last week. This last month I made really good improvements overall in core strength, agility, speed, and stamina so think this goal will be possible. Those knees to elbows are REALLY good ab exercises. I am still sore on them a little today, 4 days later. I think I will measure the progress by slotting in this workout once a week and recording the time.

Finished the month at 131.23 miles of running with 5-10 miles of rowing (did not track, but did at least 500 m a day up to 2000 m in a session about once a week). Most days averaging 2-3 miles of fast runs / sprints, but also got in some big 10-15 slower mile days and even 1 20 mile day. Averaged 4-5 workouts a week of high intensity cross fit stuff (15-30 m in length, most being around 12-18 m) in addition to 20-30 m of warm up, 20-3o minutes of strength and skill building and 20-30 minutes of mobility (stretching, roller and lacrosse ball mashing). I enjoy doing some mobility work also while watching TV or a movie. Feels good to get the tightness out of the hips and upper back. Fish oil really helps daily also to combat inflammation (4-5 g). I have stopped taking nsaids for soreness, especially doms, after reading it puts a damper on the muscle and tendon recovery process. Did not know that. Now I try and really focus on quality mobility work to relieve any aches, even that not related to exercise. I dropped about 5 lb this month and am at 172, but my strength has gone way up with a much better eye towards posture and protection of core movement when walking, running, lifting and sitting. I feel very stable and fit going into December. Looking forward to another month of improving fitness. Good luck everyone in your fitness and weight goals. A little exercise daily (30m-1 hour) is really good for the psyche and overall well being. It will raise your spirits and put you in a good mood, as well as make you more productive at work, at home or on projects. It just makes you feel good and ready to take on the day. Currently enjoying sunny California in Santa Cruz area, touring the towering redwoods, golden gate bridge, fantastic beaches, etc in the afternoon and some cross fit in the morning at a local cross fit gym while on vacation.

I do not have treats because my body simply does not need them. It does much better on healthy food. However, I do consider my nightly chocolate protein shake a treat; others may not hold this same perspective. I also still enjoy the caramel calcium chews every day.