Improvement on squats from Friday but still not quite there.

Back Squat:
230lbs 4-5-3 (one full set)

Bench Press:
175lbs 3 x 5

Dead Lift:
275lbs 1 x 5

My good friend Patty was here today and I got to work out with him, which was awesome as usual. I had him do Helen (the one from Friday) and he killed it in 8:58. Really impressive and gives me something to beat next time.

Totally failed on my squats today.

Back Squat:
230lbs 1-3-2 reps

Shoulder Press:
95lbs 3 x 5

Power Clean:
125lbs 5 x 3

Crossfit WOD:
Helen with 1 pood kettlebell,

Time: 9:50

That’s a real good time for me on Helen but the complete failure to do even one set of five on the squats leaves me feeling kind of defeated for today. Two days of rest of the weekend with plans to eat and sleep a lot and try again on Monday.

Good workout today.

Back Squat:
225lbs 3 x 5
(Bar was moving pretty dang slow for these)

Bench Press:
170lbs 3 x 5

Dead Lift:
270lbs 1 x 5

Crossfit WOD:
30 Muscle-ups for time,

12:28

Work Performed
25323.04 joules
2582.19 kg-m
18678.27 ft-lbs

Power Output
33.85 watts
0.05 horsepower
24.97 ft-lbs/sec

Obviously not the highest power generating WOD as far as Crossfit goes, but just try it and you’ll be happy to finish. This was the first time I’ve done the full 30 muscle-ups on a set of rings and now that I’ve completed it, I can say it wasn’t that bad. It took months to be able to complete it though :). Next is trying to improve the time and the dreaded 50 reps for time!

Back Squat:
220lbs 3 x 5

Shoulder Press:
90lbs 3 x 5

Power Clean:
120lbs 5 x 3

Crossfit WOD:
G.I. Jane for 50 reps

Time: 4:50

Work Performed
46526.94 joules
4744.35 kg-m
34318.27 ft-lbs

Power Output
160.44 watts
0.22 horsepower
118.33 ft-lbs/sec

(Output numbers for Crossfit WOD only)

Officially the heaviest squat day of my life. From this WOD on each squat workout completed will be a personal record.

Vegetables
Bell Pepper x 3
Small Tomatoes x 1 package
White Mushrooms x 1 package
Panoche Sweet Onions x 4
Southern Greens x 16 oz package
Avocados x 4

Dozen Eggs

Crumbled Feta

Total: $19.92

I just finished reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. I had read a lot of reviews about the book from different blogs and websites that I habitually read over and decided that it was first on my list of nutrition books to start reading. That was a smart decision. This book is spot on and detailed exhaustively with notes and citations to the point of almost being repetitive or obtrusive to reading. In fact, once the book officially ends on page 460 you can flip through to page 573 with nothing but notes and bibliography references.

OK, so that aside, what causes us to get fat? Eating more calories than we expend daily? Are fat tissues simply large depots where we store excess dietary fat and calories? Is dietary fat bad for us? What causes hunger? These are the kind of questions that are asked and investigated throughout the book. Most of our common dietary beliefs are expelled and replaced with new ones based firmly on scientific evidence from the last 100 years. The epilogue has a list of 10 things that somewhat summarizes the book, of course reading the book will explain all the relevant science behind the things listed.

1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity heat disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.
2. The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis– the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well being.
3. Sugars– sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup specifically– are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates.
4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
5. Obesity is a disorder of fat accumulation, not overeating, and not sedentary behavior.
6. Consuming excess calories does cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consumer does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.
7. Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance– a disequilibrium– in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses his balance.
8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated– either chronically or after a meal– we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.
9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.
10. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.

I think one interesting note from the book is that the average American is now consuming over 150 pounds of sugar each year. This was less than ten or twenty pounds a year in the mid eighteenth century. Since sugar releases insulin and insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage, it is no wonder we are seeing an obesity epidemic today.

This book is definitely not in the same category that most diet related books are placed. There are no recipes and very few graphs, pictures, or diagrams. Instead it is full of stories and evidence from over a century of research by many different people with many different reasons. Taubes is not selling a diet or endorsing and kind of product. It is evident that the five years took to research this book were simply out of a desire to discover what is the backbone of a healthy diet and the health consequences related to the choices we make in our diet. This book ought to be a mandatory read for anyone in the position of giving nutritional advice.

Back Squat:
215lbs 3 x 5

Bench Press:
165lbs 3 x 5

Deadlift:
265lbs 1 x 5

Crossfit WOD (Video with different rep count):
21-15-9, for time
Sumo Deadlift High Pull 95lbs
Ring Dips

Time: 4:50

Work Performed*
60853.09 joules
6205.19 kg-m
44885.24 ft-lbs

Power Output
209.84 watts
0.29 horsepower (highest horsepower generated so far, but for shortest time)
154.77 ft-lbs/sec

After a short rest, finished with two 400 m runs.

*Work and Power numbers are from Crossfit WOD using clean for the output calculator as a sub for SDHP.

Back Squat:
210lbs 5-5-4 (pretty pissed I missed the last rep)

Shoulder Press:
85lbs 3 x 5

Power Clean:
115 5 x 3

Did some pull-up work after concentrating on hitting the bar with my chest each rep. Definitely quite a bit harder.

Mozilla has released the newest version of Firefox! Hopefully anyone that visits my site somewhat regularly is already using Firefox. For those of you who are not, it’s time to switch. Download Firefox 3 and start using it to see the difference a web browser can make. People always ask me what the difference is and there isn’t much I can tell them other than to try it and see how you like it. There isn’t much you lose by giving Firefox a try over Internet Explorer.

One of my favorite features are the built in SearchWords which allow you to designate a letter to your favorite search engines that simply let you search from the address bar instead of loading the search engine first. You type the letter, hit the space bar and then type what you want to search and hit enter. For example, if you want to look up Firefox on Wikipedia and you have already assigned w to the Wikipedia search engine, you would click on the address bar and type, w Firefox. This will take you directly to the Firefox page on Wikipedia rather than going to Wikipedia first and then typing in your search. It is a little thing but I find it hard to live without it now as it just makes searching things that much easier. I have a letter assigned to Wikipedia, Amazon, EBay, You Tube, Google, Webster Dictionary and a few others.

There are lots of add-ons in Firefox and each one brings new convenience to surfing the web. Firefox is faster, safer and has a better user interface. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Back Squat:
205lbs 3 x 5

Bench Press:
160lbs 3 x 5

Dead Lift:
255lbs 1 x 5

800 m run in 2:33 min

12 ring muscle-ups in 10:00 min

Work Performed
32777.18 joules
3342.29 kg-m
24176.45 ft-lbs