Day 24: The THICCening
If you’re not on the Foundation Barbell/Level 2 Facebook page we have started a little accessory program called “The THICCening”
Many athletes are looking to improve themselves to reach the next level: hit those higher skills like muscle-ups, handstand pushups, pistols, and more. In classes we practice the skills thoroughly enough, but maybe still can’t reach the goal because we’re not strong enough. Enter these accessories aka bodybuilding. If we know certain muscle groups don’t have the strength for these skills we need to do some extra homework. Consistent practice will improve muscle strength and potentially size (because before you know it, Summer will be here.) Hypertrophy will come if you’re eating in a surplus- otherwise those muscles won’t grow- they’ll get strong as hell though.
Basically every day, Monday through Saturday, before or after your workout at the gym you can find the ThundrBro 100 10-Minute Finishers That Crush book in the back. ThundrBro was co-founded by Dave Lipson, a former competitive CrossFitter and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet’s husband. He’s moved into the physique and bodybuilding world so there’s an understanding of what we do on the regular. Inside the book there is a Post-It note with dates and which finisher to do each day.
I’ve done the work of writing the workout (and maybe adding some flourishes of my own) somewhere else on the page for easier reading. Once you finish the work INITIAL & DATE to show you’ve completed the job anywhere on the page.
Our goal is to Harry-Potter-and-the-Half-Blood-Prince the book for future athletes.
Since the work will be written out the variables on you will be a.) loading: you’ll need to use weights, heights, and resistance that leave only a handful of reps in reserve at the completion of each set; and b.) rest times: the book prescribes a static 2-3:00 rests between sets. While that works, our goal is volume accumulation so why not get more work done?
CrossFit WOD for Wednesday 2/26
“CELEBRATE LIFE” (from Wodapalooza 2020)
for time:
50 wall ball, 30/20/14lbs to 10/9/9′
40 calorie ski/row
30 dumbbell snatches, 70/50/35lbs
20 box jump overs, 36/28/20″
15 bar muscle-ups
13:00 time cap. Share times/scores to whiteboard.
READ: Muscle Damage For Size and Strength? – Tyler Hass for CrossFit.com
WATCH:
“It Starts With Food” Reading Reflection —
HORMONES –
The Insulin hormone acts as an “air conditioner” for your rising blood sugar levels, ensuring that your cells burn and store fat efficiently. Eating crappy food will raise your insulin resistance, meaning that your body will reach even higher blood sugar levels!
The Glucagon hormone acts as a “heater” for our blood sugar levels. If blood sugar gets too low, glucagon turns on and secretes energy from our fatty cells. With chronically elevated insulin levels (from eating crappy food), glucagon rarely gets turned on–meaning you’re rarely burning fat.
The Leptin hormone keeps track of how much body fat you have and the proportion of fat to burn. Eating crappy food will spike your blood sugar and triglycerides (over-fatty cells), which in turn increases leptin and insulin resistance–thus encouraging more fat storage.
Finally, Cortisol, the “stress hormone,” stays low through the night to help you relax, then spikes in the morning to get your ass out of bed. High levels of exercise, psychosocial stress, and eating crappy food (overprocessed, too many carbs/sugar, too little actual nutrients) will spike your cortisol, disrupting your sleep and encouraging your cells to store more fat instead of burn it.
I’m seeing a pattern here… Overeating crappy foods (which is easy to do because they’re addictive and have no real nutrients and thus we never get that “full” satisfaction until it’s too late) puts your hormones outta whack, which in turn encourages your body to store fat instead of burn it, as well as a plethora of other physical and mental issues that I haven’t mentioned. Additionally, having your hormones outta whack influences you to lose more sleep, stress-eat more, and sit on the couch more, which messes your hormones up EVEN MORE!! It’s a VICIOUS CYCLE!!!
EAT WHOLE FOODS! OMG
Tuesday, Feb. 25th
7.5 hours low quality sleep
9 AM – green protein power smoothie, black tea + cream
2 PM – QFC deli meal (dill chicken salad, pea pasta, broccoli bacon salad)
3 PM – meal bar
5 PM – protein bar
6 PM – QFC meal finish
7 PM – nut bar
11 PM – free Taco Bell taco
11:30 PM – beecher’s cheese, pineapple
8:30: chia pudding, banana
10am: builder bar
12:30: vegan tikka masala, dates
2:30: red pepper soup
3:30/4:30 snacks: peanut butter pretzels
6:30 lifting
8pm: red pepper soup, 2 eggs, chocolate, dates
Wednesday 2/26
Seeing what happens when I don’t precisely weigh out my food using this method, so
I feel less pressure to be all or nothing. So far I’m losing weight and feeling good.
Day 3 of modified OMAD/IF. So far, so good.
(6am CrossFit including the thiccening)
8:30am: protein shake and 24 oz H2O
11am: collagen green tea
2pm: protein shake and gummy vitamins
6pm: two squares of chocolate and three pita chips and finished 40 oz H2O
7pm: Baked chicken breast, peas, and mashed cauliflower. Finished with a few chocolate covered macadamias and regular macadamias.