How to lose 26 pounds in 3 months

Short answer, work your butt off.

Also, start out fatter than you have ever been.

You have to devote your mind and commit your every day to improving your fitness.  Fitness includes training and nutrition.  It is not exercise and a diet.  Not everyone is the same or doing the same activity.  This means you have to experiment and find what shows a trend of fat loss for you.

For me it was push my physical fitness to a new levels.  This was primarily CrossFit but running and tennis too.  You have to push your body to want to adapt to using your calories and growing muscle.  

My first two months were a slow trend down but the last month the weight and inches started falling off.  I went from 238 to 211.   More importantly I lost 3 inches off my waste and got stronger in many areas.

Some tips for things I did.

• Lowered my carb intake.  At first it was a few as possible and do CrossFit fasted at 5:30 but soon I found I did not have enough energy to sustain the heavier workouts.  
• I started eating more carbs in the morning and lunch.  This helped me workout harder and recover.  I would have a big shake for breakfast after my workouts.
• Then, I added intermittent fasting by not eating very much after lunch until the following morning.  This was not every day but any days I could.  No, I did not not always eat nothing but tried to make sure it was zero carbs for sure.
• I also started doing bullet proof coffee.  I think this helped with some of the fat burning but honestly, don't know for sure.
• Sleep as much as possible.  You can only recover to work out more, if you get enough good sleep
• No sugars at any time. They are a SIN and complete waste to your body.
• You have to look at food as the fuel for your body.  Would you put crappy gas in your sports car.  No, you would want it to run well.  My Camaro will actually lower its performance when you put non premium gas in it. It knows.   That is what your body does when you put in white carbs, sugars, fried foods or other things that your body can't process when you need it.
• Run on low carbs or fasted so your body gets used to using fats for fuel.  Early morning runs or spend a few minutes burning some fresh carbs with weights, sprints or even push ups.  
• Eat lots of salads.  The greens help with inflammation and they usually have healthy items in them.  Yes, I still like Ranch.

I did get sick and run down the end of month two but I still worked out and kept the calories and carbs down.  I wish I had not got sick because I think I could have gotten more fit in the short time.

I believe that since God gave us a body and he calls it a temple, we should be making it stronger, healthier and wiser everyday.  It is part of the journey for Christians.  What if Heaven is perfect but we have to live in it with the temples we create on Earth.  Would you be happy with yours for ever?

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Alexa Skills and Smart Home

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Hardest workout ever, maybe

Wednesday morning.  5:00AM Alarm goes off.  Flash back....

Last week 4 days of crossfit, 3 hours of tennis, 2 weight lifting classes, 9 hours of running.
Crappy sleep Friday, Worse sleep Saturday, Crappy sleep Sunday, Sleep in Monday but try to work out Monday afternoon but no energy and suffer through coughing and wheezing.
Tuesday 2 mile jog and 1 mile sprint with burpees ever half mile.  Can't hardly breath for next hour.

Back to the present:

Now I wake, feel like crap but what do you do.  Do you go back to sleep?  Do you make up excuses? No, you remember the video from Mat Fraser.  "I am going to do today what other people are not willing to.  So tomorrow, I can do what you can't"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIPQd8mKlHE

No energy while doing back squats but I do what I can.
Then, lucky for me the metcon was just a 30 pushups, 30 air squats, 30 sit ups every 5 minutes with running for distance in between.  I really thought I was going to die for the next 2 hours.  I could hardly stand up.

Ask your self, what are you doing today that makes you stronger, faster, smarter, fitter or healthier than you competition, tomorrow.

Sometimes competition is not a person but just life.  Every day we do nothing to get better, we die twice as much.

Power Lifting vs Weight Lifting

Most people do not realize that there is a difference in Power Lifting and Weight Lifting.  I believe this is important for new lifters because the approach to both should be different. 

First you have to have a goal to create a plan.  If you want to improve your snatch, then do you need to do dead lifts two times a week?  No.  If you want to improve your bench press, do you need to work on clean and jerks?  No.  Once you decide your goal then create a plan to accomplish it.

When you are creating the plan realize that power lifting is about brut strength and not highly technical.  Go pick up that bar off the ground.  When you reach your 1 RM, the impact to your body is very taxing.  This means you can't do this every day.

Weight lifting is highly technical and should be done very frequently to improve the muscle memory.  You can vary the movements but they all should be working towards repeating the full snatch or clean and jerk. 

Can you see the difference in how you would approach reaching your goals? 
Here is a really good video to drill more into the topic.  https://youtu.be/mUcMfK1YiJc

2017 CrossFit Open - Done

I did survive the Open.  It was a great experience of learning, suffering and humbling.  I learned a lot from each week.  Either how to do something new or how to push my self.  Each workout brought on different amounts or types of suffering.  With out question, the whole experience is humbling from an fitness perspective.

17.4 was not a difficult scaled workout but pushed your limits of fitness.  By the time I got to the pushups, I was out of gas.  I got several no reps in the Wall Balls because I did not know the ball had to touch above the line first.  I thought it just had to cross the line.  See, learning.  I also think I did not eat enough Carbs to support that kind of workout.  Trying to reduce carbs and calories does not go well with 5:30 AM works outs.

17.5 was a good ending for me.  I did the workout in the evening.  I was hydrated well and ate more carbs than normal.  I also learned a lot of tips about thrusters during the day.  Breathing was the most important of them all.  If you start out hard and don't breath, you will be wiped at round 6-8.  I also learned that your arms have to lock out at the top and be extended be hind your ears.  I had no idea why people stuck out their head at the top of thrusters.  I had one of the faster times and felt pretty good after doing it.  That was exciting.

Honestly, I am glad it is over.  It took a lot out of me.  It was stressful because I wanted to do well at something that I was not experienced at.  I ended up top 15% in the South Central region and top 20% in the world for the scaled 40 - 45 group.  That is not too bad for 5 Weeks of CF and for not being in my best shape.

The word that I think best described my experience and ability to do work outs like this is Fortitude. "Courage in pain and adversity"  You don't have to be the strongest, fastest or fittest but you do have to give it your all, with the tools you have at the time.

In six months, I am going to redo all the work outs except 17.1.  I am scared of that one.  We will see how far I have come at that time.

CrossFit Games Open - 17.3

17.3 will separate the men from the young men.  RX or scaled this is an advanced workout that requires lots of strength and experience to get to the late rounds.  Our coaches recommend that most people should scale this and I agree.  You can do the RX and get an RX score but if you want to get a workout, you should scale it.

I knew going in my squat would be awful.  I struggle with going past parallel due to mobility and confidence.  My shoulders are not mobile at all.  I was not able to do 95 lbs with a full correct squat.  I tried 6 times with the time remaining.    With that said, I think my judge was being nice on the 45 and 75 too.  I just have a lot of work to do here.  As soon as I start going down, my shoulders come forward and I lose my positioning quick.

I also was discussing power lifting shoes with someone. I was making the point that they help you with lifting but most of the Metcon workout in CF would not be good with the PL shoes.  So why would we train with them.   Well, sure enough, 17.3 was an idea event to have power lifting shoes.  I don't know if they would have helped me or not but it was ironic.

Don't worry, 17.3, I will be back to show you I can do more.

Update : 3/13
17.3, I came back and I slightly concurred you.   I felt bad that I was not getting my squats deep enough and did not get enough no reps.  My judge was way too nice.  I told my judge on Sunday to no rep me every time I don't go low enough.
I ended up doing 92 reps.  I got 95 4 times the second try.  I did get 5 or 6 no reps trying to do 95lbs.  It is mostly a mental thing and just being comfortable going that low.

Even then, 17.3 I will be back again in a few months to show you I have improved.  I hope to be able to do 115 by then.

Prior to 8:00, complete:
3 rounds of:
    6 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    6 squat snatches, 45 lb.
Then, 3 rounds of:
    7 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    5 squat snatches, 75 lb.
*Prior to 12:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    8 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    4 squat snatches, 95 lb.
*Prior to 16:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    9 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    3 squat snatches, 115 lb.
*Prior to 20:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    10 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    2 squat snatches, 135 lb.
Prior to 24:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    11 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    1 squat snatch, 155 lb.

*If all reps are completed, time cap extends by 4 minutes.
Note: Squat snatches or power snatches with overhead squats permitted.

Scaled

Prior to 8:00, complete:
3 rounds of:
    6 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    6 squat snatches, 45 lb.
Then, 3 rounds of:
    7 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    5 squat snatches, 75 lb.
*Prior to 12:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    8 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    4 squat snatches, 95 lb.
*Prior to 16:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    9 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    3 squat snatches, 115 lb.
*Prior to 20:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    10 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    2 squat snatches, 135 lb.
Prior to 24:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    11 jumping chin-over-bar pull-ups
    1 squat snatch, 155 lb.

*If all reps are completed, time cap extends by 4 minutes.

Note: Squat snatches or power snatches with overhead squats permitted.  

Crossfit Open 17.2 - Good Workout

This work out really could be a fun workout except it is a Crossfit Open workout that will kill alot of people.  The RX workout is just a beast.  50lb lunges and MU are hard just doing them once.  Most people have never done a MU but pushed them self to get one in the open games.  They should be super proud and continue to work on it for next year.  O, and TTB are a killer.
The scaled version is not aweful, except for the two rounds of 16 chest to bar.  That is hard for the average joe.  I got through 2 full rounds and a couple more lunges.  I could have done a few more reps but that would have been about it.

This is a work out I want to repeat in a few months to see how far I have come in my fitness.  17.1, I do not want to ever do again.

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
2 rounds of:
  50-ft. weighted walking lunge
  16 toes-to-bars
  8 power cleans
Then, 2 rounds of:
  50-ft. weighted walking lunge
  16 bar muscle-ups
  8 power cleans
Etc., alternating between toes-to-bars and bar muscle-ups every 2 rounds.

Men use 50-lb. dumbbells

Scaled

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
2 rounds of:
  50-ft. weighted walking lunge
  16 hanging knee-raises
  8 power cleans
Then, 2 rounds of:
  50-ft. weighted walking lunge
  16 chin-over-bar pull-ups
  8 power cleans
Etc., alternating between hanging knee-raises and chin-over-bar pull-ups every 2 rounds.

Men use 35-lb. dumbbells