Day 7 - one week in

Nothing massively profound today. 

Having some friends over, and serving paleo buffalo wings. ( recipe tomorrow )

Today's workout 

Conditioning WOD:

5RFT

Run 200m

10x Front Squats 115lbs

15x Situps

20x Box Jumps 24"

25:28

Squat

210x1

Day 6 - A tasty anti-inflamatory snack

I wish mine looked this well presented

I didn't really have plans to talk about anti-inflammation again today, but when looking for a mid-morning snack to take to work (yes I eat 5-6 times a day) I found blueberries, bananas in the kitchen, added some cinnamon and local natural honey and made a great tasty snack, that also was filled with anti inflammatory foods.  My wife Kate had found this recipe several months ago and we have it from time to time.

It also helps that this snack is very simple to prepare, take berries, and sliced banana, add to bowel or cup, sprinkle cinnamon and a small amount of honey on top, eat or pack for later, it took me less than a minute to prepare.

Why am I so concerned about inflammation?  Besides trying to prevent/prolong the onset of any brain illness, I am squatting 210lbs everyday on top of working out 5 days a week, keeping inflammation out of my joints is a must for me to complete this challenge.

I came across an interesting article from wired.com.  It goes into the topic of video games being used to rejuvenate aging brains, this is becoming a popular subject and there are many games that are supposed to improve brain health.  Heres the link Videogame May Help Rejuvenate Elderly Brains

I have added some links to other blogs I visit often to the right.  Take a look, both the MS and Alz blogs have some good information from both the patients side as well as caregivers.

Today's workout - 23 minutes of fun

Conditioning WOD:
5min AMRAP
400m Row
40x Side Step Lunges
-then-
1 min Max Effort Burpees
-then-
5min AMRAP
300m Row
30x Side Step Lunges
-then-
1 min Max Effort Burpees
-then-
5min AMRAP
200m Row
20x Side Step Lunges
-then
1 min Max Effort Burpees
-then-
5min AMRAP
100m Row
10x Side Step Lunges

After that many lunges, I didnt need much of a squat warm up so I quickly got up to and squatted 210lbs

Day 5 - Nutrition and Health?

Since my parents diagnosis, I began reading topics on ways to protect the brain.  One recurring theme is reducing the inflammation in the body, this is done two ways.
 1. Eat, drink, ingest less things that cause inflammation
 2. Eat, take, drink, foods, supplements, beverages, that help reduce inflammation.

This is also the nutritional advice I have learned since starting Crossfit.

Before I go on, there are a lot of people that feel strongly that their diet is how everyone needs to eat, and there are people who think those people are insane and need to keep their opinions to themselves.

Look, should we all eat healthy? YES,
Should a 5 year old be drinking 20oz of arizona icea "tea"? NO

But should the person that eats well look down on those who dont? NO.
Should the parents of the kid drinking nothing but garbage beverages be criticized? UM..........

Anyway, if you want to eat healthy, reduce chance of illness, and get in good shape, great.  If you are not concerned about this and enjoy the way you eat now, also great.  I am not here to judge, but I do feel we should all try to be as healthy as possible, and we should all try to have our families be as healthy as possible.

What foods cause less inflammation?

Real foods, food that came from an animal, or a plant. 
Once you start adding chemicals, preservatives, colors, etc to natural foods, you increase the risk of inflammation inside the body.

What foods, drinks and supplements help reduce inflammation?

Foods - Berries, olives, nuts (not peanuts, they're not nuts), garlic, some fish, and many others
Drinks - Natural Teas, water (try to drink half your weight, in oz. of water, 210lbs = 105 oz of water/day)
Supplements - Omega 3 Fish Oil, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Potassium, Omega 3 Fish Oil (no this is not a mistake, fish oil, specically omega 3 EPA and DHA, have some many benefits it should be taken by everyone. It reduces inflammation, helps protect the brain, can help with auto-immune disease.

This is not a cure all, so many factors contribute to illness, but if simply eating right could help, why wouldn't you want to do it.

With all of that, I did also squat today.

I am a creature of habit, I like routine, and before I started this challenge, my rest days were Thursday and Sunday, now those are my active rest days.

Today, being Thursday meant no condition work out, but did not mean no squat.

So,, instead of getting up at 5am for a 6am class I got at 6am and was in the gym around 645 (yay extra hour of sleep).  On days when I do not do any other work besides the squat, I don't simply walk in, put the weight on the bar, squat and leave (although it would be nice to be that physically ready at all times). 
What today and most of these days consist of is
~5 min Aerobic warmup (run, row, jump rope)
~5 min Dynamic stretching
1-2 minutes - Muscle Activation - squat holds with a band around my knees
              *This is becoming a favorite of mine and should at least be tried by everyone
Rack the bar
1-2 sets of 5-10 reps with the Empty bar
135 x 5-10
185 x 3-5
210 x 1+

Day 4, Oh there's the soreness I was expecting

I knew it would happen sooner or later, but today my legs are very sore. This likely has to do with the dead lifts from yesterday, regardless of the reason, I have been sitting at work sore all day.

 

I really like this picture, if you have ever noticed that young children do not need to be told how to correctly squat, or how to pick something off the floor.  These are things that are natural to us, the sitting at desks and behind the wheel of a car for hours on end, is not, and that is what causes issues as we get older.  Moral of this rant, get up, embrace your inner toddler and move, squat, pick up random things with the correct form you had before anyone told you what was right or wrong.

Todays Workout
"Fight Gone Bad"
"CHAMPIONSHIP STYLE"
FIVE ROUNDS OF:
Wall Balls (20/14)
Sumo deadlift high-pull (75/55)
Box Jumps (24″/20″)
Push-press (75/55)
Row (Calories)
In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of “rotate”, the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Fight Gone Bad was the first Crossfit workout I ever did, I did it as part of a nationwide fund raiser 2 years ago.  When it was finished, I was curled in the fetal position for about 10 minutes, wondering what the hell just happened, and that was only 3 rounds.

Today's 5 were equally as miserable as the 3 from 2 years ago.

After the 30 minutes of "fun" I took a few minutes, racked a bar, did a few warm up sets, and then 1 more rep of 210

Day 3

Day 3 complete. Before the workout some news. 

A very close family friend was just diagnosed with MS at age 52. She is at North Shore hospital which I have heard has some of the best MS care in the area. I'd like to ask that you say a brief prayer (if you're religious) or just send a good thought to her. I will keep her name out of this blog to respect her privacy. 

In completely different more happy news. I have signed up to volunteer at the Civilian Military Combine on September 14 at the Aviator sports complex in Brooklyn. This is a 4-5 mile obstacle course that starts with a cross-training like workout (www.civilianmilitarycombine.com). After volunteering I will run the course at the end of the day with other members/volunteers from Crossfit revenge. 

Before I post today workout a little more background on me. Earlier this year I was diagnosed with 2 herniated disks at l4-l5 and l5-s1. Since then I have slowly been increasing the weight I will pull off the floor.  Today was a milestone in my recovery as it was the first time since my injury I lifted more than 300lbs. 

Today's workout

Strength WOD:

1 Rep Max Deadlift - 315

Conditioning WOD:

‘Diane’

21-15-9

Deadlifts at 185

Handstand Pushups - I cannot do handstands yet (it's an uncoordinated work in progress) so I did inverted push-ups off of a 24" box

Time 7:05

Then 1 rep squat at 210lbs

Day 2

First day squatting after another workout, while it was hard it was not as awful as I thought.

Today's workout of the day

Conditioning WOD:

In teams of 4 complete the following

800m Med Ball run

800x Lateral Jumps

600m Med Ball Run

600x Situps

400m Med Ball Run

400x Air Squats

200m Med Ball Run

200x Burpees

*Only 2 teammates may work at once

** Only 2 Medballs have to be carried amongst all 4 teammates during the run.

With teammates Nick, Adam, and Chris all reps were done evenly (200 lat. jumps, 150 situps, 100 air squats, and 50 burpees) and we finished in 39:17

After catching my breath I racked the bar and worked up to 1 rep of 210#

A friend from Islip crossfit (www.islipcrossfit.com) that shares a lot of great information on how the food we eat impacts our overall health, posted a comment yesterday, one that should be shared and is easy to follow. 

A tablespoon of coconut oil a day can help protect against Alzheimer's, studies have found monounsaturated fatty acids in coconut oil are protective to the brain.

She also shared a link to the New England Journal of Medicine

Glucose Levels and Risk of Dementia -

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that higher glucose levels may be a risk factor for dementia, even among persons without diabetes. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.)http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1215740 

Day 1

Day 1 

1 rep - 210 lbs.

With the start of Alzheimer's month I wanted to share some basics of the illness.

The difference between age related memory loss and symptoms of Alzheimer's