AndiMorris

Looks like a perfect step in the right direction. Keep it up.

These all look amazing! I can't wait to try some.

Reading back through this I've noticed a common theme being a loss in strength since losing weight. I've lost nearly 10kgs since the end of April, and most of it has been fat. I've dropped from around 18% body fat to around 12.5%, although that is measured on my bathroom scales, so a pinch of salt is taken with those figures, I mainly use it to check the numbers are at least going in the right direction. I don't believe I'm at 12.5% now as I would expect to see some ab definition around then. Anyway, I'm going to try and add another 200ish calories to my diet in the hope that I will start to regain muscle and strength, and hopefully now that my diet is clean I won't put on all the fat I have when I've tried to gain weight in the past. A typical day looks like this at the moment: Breakfast @ 7am - smoothie (fruit, spinach/kale, 1 scoop of vegan blend protein, ground flaxseed, 1tsp chlorella powder, 1tsp maca powder) Morning snack @ 10am - herbal tea, 25g mixed nuts, 1 piece of fruit Lunch @ 12pm - whatever I bring in to work. My girlfriend is very good at batch cooking clean vegan food so it's always a portion of this. Afternoon snack @ 3pm - 2 spoons of peanut butter Pre workout @ 6pm - handful of dates, or a Thrive foods Direct Fuel Bite, if I've made them in time. Post workout @ 8pm - lemon-lime recovery drink as per Brendan Brazier's recipe Dinner @ 9pm - same kind of deal as lunch, a portion of something. Bed @ 10pm I'm looking to swap out the peanut butter as the afternoon snack with a homemade energy bar, as I think this will bring more variation and some more clean calories too. It would be good to have some bran flakes or similar as an evening snack, but dinner is already very close to bedtime. I do have concerns that my dinner is late, but I literally do not have time to fit it in anywhere else. Sometimes I make it home from work to hit the 6pm crossfit class, and so then dinner is usually around 8pm. I'll see how this goes and see if I'm starting to see my lean mass go up without my BF% going up, and if not see what else I can change. Any tips?

Workout 09/07/13 Warm Up: 400m run 3 rounds of: 5 deadlift (20kg) 5 hang clean (20kg) 10 tuck jumps then 400m run Lift: 1rm clean (squat clean 50kg and power clean 52.5kg) WOD: 5 power clean (85% of 1rm) 10 box jumps 30" 200m run 4 power clean 8 box jumps 200m run 3 power clean 6 box jumps 200m run 2 power clean 4 box jumps 200m run 1 power clean 2 box jumps 200m run Completed Rx (42.5kg) in 8.14 Cleans felt pretty good today, I didn’t actually beat my 1rm, but I know I’m dropping under the bar quicker than I used to, and I can feel my technique is getting better. I did squat cleans until I failed at 52.5kg a few times, then I went on to power cleans and failed at 55kg. I’ve done higher than this before at both, but as mentioned my technique has improved, and I’ve also lost nearly 10kg in weight since April, so some strength has also gone. Fairly happy with this. The WOD was fine, power cleans felt light at the prescribed weight, and the box jumps although high didn’t pose a threat.

If anyone's interested this is one of my bands playing at a festival in Czech Republic this weekend. It features brief nudity so NSFW unless you skip to 1:46 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piHWiPkCARg

Hey guys, I was just buying some hay fever tablets in my local supermarket and I spotted a brand of protein powder I've never seen before, and on offer too. Has anyone tried a brand called Pulsin' before? It may just be UK based. I've been using MyProtein's Vegan blend until recently, but I'm never sure whether this has too many added chemicals or not, whereas the Pulsin' seems to be ethically sourced, and crap free. http://www.pulsin.co.uk/protein-powders/pea-protein-isolate.html http://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/vegan-blend/10637445.html My other concern is that apparently the vegan blend gives a more complete source of BCAAs than just pea protein. I'm actually considering ditching protein shakes completely soon, but that's another decision for another day.

Workout 02/07/13 Warm Up: 400m run 3 rounds of: 8 burpees 10 air squats 10 ground to overhead Lift: 1RM snatch (pause 2 seconds at knee) Any time it is power snatched instead of full squat snatch must be followed by 2 overhead squat. Power snatch followed by 2 x OHS rounds were 20kg, 20kg, 20kg, 30kg, 32.5kg, 37.5kg, 37.5kg Squat snatched rounds were 20kg, 30kg, 32.5kg, 35kg WOD: Rx - Diane - 21-15-9 deadlift 100kg, HSPU Level 1 - Scaled weight - 18-15-12 - Deadlift, HOG Push Ups. I liked the format of the lifting session today, it really pushed me to practise getting under the bar for the full snatch, rather than lock up in the power snatch position which I all too often do. I basically took the approach to stick at the weight until I manage a squat snatch at it, with any failed reps being a power snatch into 2 x overhead squats. This worked well, especially at the 35kg weight where I must have got the technique much better than ever before as the weight went up and I got right underneath and caught it with no effort at all. It just shows that technique plays such a part in lifting, making otherwise heavy weight move around with ease. Not that 35kg is heavy of course. I like the simplicity of Diane, and would have loved to try and Rx this, but that’s just something for the future. 100kg is too heavy for me to attempt 45 reps at it in quick time, and I would have spent far too long on the handstand push ups to really warrant this, so therefore I went for the level 1 workout, at 70kg which had the same amount of reps, but just split differently. This was super intense and I finished in around 8 minutes (I forgot my actual time). Coach Reevesy picked the weight correctly for me, it was doable, but the last few reps of each set were killer. The hands off ground push ups seemed easier than I thought too, normally I blow out very quickly with push ups, but I’ve recently changed the position my hands and arms are in and it’s made a large difference. That was my last session at the box until probably next Tuesday as I’m off the Czech Republic festival today to play at Obscene Extreme in Trutnov. If I get any time I’ll pop to Crossfit Praha to pick up some swag, but our flight times look like they will clash with their opening hours.

There's a lot of movement in the high carbs and no oils diets advocated by McDougal. I've not done much research there myself, but you are the first person I've read about that say they feel sluggish on that diet. Most say that they feel full of energy and lighter on the no oil diets.

Looking really good! Great progress!

Workout 01/07/13 Warm Up: 400m run 10 box jumps (24") 10 press (20kg) 10 push press (20kg) 20 air squats Lift: Strict press 1-1-1-1-1-1 (32.5-35-37.5-40X-37.5-40X) Push press 3-3-3-3 (40-45-50-52.5 last set only 2 reps) WOD: 400m run x 3 (1.23, 1.24, 1.32) 2 minute rest between rounds 500 row x 3 (1.55, 2.02, 1.58) Disappointed in my strict press numbers. My previous 1RM was 40kg, and I honestly thought I would beat this last night, however I really struggled with 37.5kg, and failed twice on 40kg. I’ve obviously lost some strength with my recent weight loss. Push press felt ok, I failed the last rep of the last set as my form slipped and I could feel it nailing my back, so I backed out. The WOD was surprising. For some reason I had bags of energy in the runs and ran all three rounds quicker than I ever have before. I really had the motivation to go for it, which is unusual with me and running. Rowing was similar, although this felt much harder, and I mainly just aimed to finish in under 2 minutes per round, which I nearly did.

I'm not sure yet, it will likely be about 5 or 6 cities.

Workout 29/06/13 Warm Up: 3 rounds of: 5 pull ups 10 x 20kg overhead squats 10 varying hand position push ups Lift: 5x3 overhead squat (30kg, 35, 40, 42.5, out of time) 5x3 thruster (40kg, 40, 42.5 out of time) WOD: 10-1 pull ups 1-10 squat clean wall balls (9kg) 10 minute time cap Pretty pleased with this session overall, I got new PBs in 3 reps on overhead squat and thrusters, and with more time I know I could have gone heavier. Also I chained 10 kipping pull ups together for the first time ever. It was the only round I managed unbroken in the WOD, but to be honest that was mostly as the bar kept twisting and so I kept losing grip. Excuses excuses and all that, but it really is the truth. I didn’t manage to finish in the 10 minute time cap, and but managed to finish the round of 4 pull ups, which I’m happy enough with.

Welcome, I'm hoping to visit Brazil later in the year, so hopefully there will be something I can eat there!!

Workout 27/06/13 - Barbell Club Warm Up: 100 double unders Mobility Lift 1: Work on snatch technique broken down into sections, then, 4 rounds of: 1 x power snatch 1 x squat snatch Increasing weight each time if possible Then: 5 x 1 squat snatch at the heaviest weight reached above (27.5kg) Lift 2: Work on clean and jerk technique broken down into sections, then, 4 rounds: Clean & Jerk Increasing weight each time Then: 5 x 1 clean & jerk at the heaviest weight reached above (50kg) Lift 3: 3 x 2 front squat (60, 60, 65) Extras: 3 x 8 sit ups with plate held in the air (10kg) 3 x 30 plate twists Barbell club for the second time last night, and again it was really really good practise to break technique down to the minute level. I’ve previously gone heavier on both snatch and clean and jerk, but in the above lifts I was really forcing concentration on getting power from the hips and not my arms, and also getting quickly under the bar to catch in the bottom of the squat. I’m not quite there yet, but it’s better. I still lower myself into the squat after catching more in a power snatch/clean position, but the last few reps I did get down pretty quickly. Front squat felt ridiculously heavy at 60kg! I presume this is because it came after an hour of drilling the Olympic lifts, but still I thought I could go heavier than this on the front squat. I tried the last set at 65kg, and made it, but holy shit it was a struggle. It could also be that i have lost a reasonable amount of weight recently, so perhaps some strength has gone too. All in all another good session at barbell club. I definitely want to make it to more of these when possible.

I've never noticed any difference either way with Creatine.

Welcome from another UK dweller.

Workout 26/06/13 Warm Up: 50 double unders 3 sets max effort pull ups (6,5,3) 2 rounds of: 200m run 200m row 10 sit ups Strength: 3x5 Push Press (PR at 45kg for me) Endurance: 1km row for time (3:58) 5 minute rest 1km run for time (4:20) 5 minute rest WOD: "Annie" 50-40-30-20-10 double unders & sit ups 8 minute time cap The strength session felt good, my last two goes at 3x5 push press were 40kg and 42.5kg, so 45 was the next obvious choice to move to so that I could keep building strength in what is my weakest of the compound lifts. It felt heavy but achievable, although in some reps I could feel that I came very close to jerking as opposed to pressing. Probably because we’ve spent a lot of time learning the clean & jerk recently. Endurance was ok, I feel I went as fast as I could throughout, and at least I have a benchmark to go against next time, although doing the run after the row obvious hindered the time somewhat. Annie is a favoured home WOD of mine as it requires very little equipment. My previous best time in this is 12:30, so I knew I had little chance of finishing within the time cap, but I was determined to have a go. Unfortunately my double unders really got me here. It wasn’t so long back that I had these nailed and I could regularly chain 40-50 reps together, but recently if I get 10-20 it’s a one off. Last night was no exception, meaning I only got as far as finishing the last set of 30 sit ups. I started on the 20 double under set, and my rope broke cutting me short! I had however already gone over the time cap so I called it a day there. This just emphasises the need to keep on practising skills that you think you have, as they don’t stay with you if you don’t. 50 double unders a day for me from now on.

It's not bad, I've only properly listened once. It seems pretty commercial really but I'll give it a few listens in case it's a grower.

Cool, thanks guys. I've a little more fat to lose until I start to try and gain weight yet, but I'm getting some good ideas for extra snacks during the day to up my calorie intake without going too mad.

This is a quote I'm going to remember every time I just think I can't get those last few reps out and the clock is ticking down. Thanks for that. I too have this same inspiration. I want people to question what they thought about veganism when they see that I'm not in any way weak or unhealthy looking. Personally I'm not going for bodybuilding massive, but more athletic.

The latest Sabbath album.

Did anyone on here go to Hellfest last weekend in France? Absolutely insane line up!

Appreciate the response. I would have to disagree with crossfitters being closer builds to long distance runners. Most crossfit workouts are more about short bursts of power, and it you take a look at the physiques of the top guys and girls in the sport you'll see what I mean. Google Rich Froning, Dan Bailey, Jason Khalipa for good examples, but really all the elites are built like that. By the way, I promise I'm not one of those kool-aid drinking crossfit guys! I like it because the training style pushes me harder than anything else I've tried over the years, but that's it. Anyway, that's off topic, I know what you're saying about doing a split to break down more localised muscle per session. If I had time I'd do a strength routine alongside the usual classes as I really need to up my strength numbers, which would in turn help to gain size, but to do this I'd need to join a second gym, as I can't make the open gym sessions at my box.

Thanks Dylan. This was the last workout I did before Hellfest last week, but didn't have time to post it up here. WORKOUT 19/06/13 Warm up 200m run 8 wall balls 5 burpees Mobility 100m run 8 wall balls 5 burpees Strength 3x3 front squat (tried 70kg but felt too heavy, went down to 60kg) Wod In pairs 1km run 100 thrusters 30/20 60 pull ups 1km run 100 burpees 60 Ring dips A quick write up tonight as I don’t have much time. The front squat I was disappointed I didn’t stay at 70, next time. The wod was utterly killer. The thrusters were broken into sets of 10 and once they were done I couldn’t see me having any strength left to do my share of 60 pull ups. However we broke these into sets of 5, mine in a 3 and a 2 after a couple of sets and they were done. The second run I thought my legs were going to stop working, they felt like lead weights. We managed 88 burpees between us before coach called time. All in all horrific.

Thanks for the reply. We do actually have a strength session in nearly every crossfit class, with compound lifts being the main focus......SO MUCH SQUATTING... Haha.