Just wondering of your thoughts on yoga, its pros and cons as opposed to CrossFit. I’ve been crossfitting for about a year, but I’m kind of tired of the constant metcons that my gym does.

I am a rockclimber and do a little bit of parkour so body weight movements/calisthenics are what my fitness routes or focuses are.

I heard power vinyasa has an emphasis on gymnastic type movements, but as I search for opinions in the CrossFit community – yoga is often frowned upon. So I want to do what the best type of conditioning I should do for my bouldering.

Thanks!

I´m 27 year-old male, 197cm and 100kilos, bf around 15%. Eating paleo, with some cheats (mainly 85-99% dark chocolate and ice cream). Sleeping 7,5-8,5 hours a night. I´ve been doing IFing and the only problem is that eating my first meal (usually lunch) after 15-hour fasting makes me feel sleepy.
Why is that? Am I eating too heavily?

At lunch I usually eat an omelet of five eggs, 200grams of beef/fish and a ton of veggies.

I usually train 4 hours after the first meal, and after that I eat the rest of that days meals.

I´ve been off the caffein for 17 days now, so it can´t be that what is making me so drowsy.

I eat a Paleo diet overall and have been IFing for quite a while in one form or another. Doing it too often leads to binge eating for me. For a time I was fasting for around 18 hrs every day and eating in a 4 hour window and that did not work out well. I would want to overeat.

IF is very good in general I feel. When I don’t overdo it, it really helps me keep my food intake at a reasonable level. I’ve done very low carb for long periods and for me it always came down to calories in and out (I realise others disagree) except that high carb makes me retain water and makes me more hungry so I will tend to eat more if I make the mistake of eating more than a certain amount of carbs daily.

David-
I think just patience. You will not see that belly fat really go ’til you are below 10%. You MAY also hit a point when BF is lower and you may need a bit of carbs to function well during training.

I IF and I eat as paleo as I can. I also do shift work in an ER when I’m not Training at Potomac Crossfit. Shift work is a killer. As I type this I’m on my thrid 12 hour shift.

What I do to keep healthy outside of CF.

Keep my diet tight on days I’m not at the ER.
Keep it as tight as I can while at the ER without stressing myself out about it.

Days that I’m off or training at the box, I take naps. If I’m sleepy during the day I just go to bed. Which means I have to cut the BS stuff and do only what’s important.

The other day I attempted a fast at work. It only lasted about 13 hours which breaks down to 7 hours while sleeping and six hours awake. It was causing me stress so I just bagged it and ate. No worries.

Sleep for me is key I can eat paleo and IF but neither work well if I’m not sleeping.

I will get home from work and go to bed with-in 30mins. Or when I get home from the box in the AM and go right back to bed even if it’s only for an hour.

My days all of them start at 4:30am after 20 some years of this I can’t “sleep in” so it’s just back to bed in my nice dark room.

With all of this the greatest thing I’ve learned is that it can’t be all or nothing. “IF” when you can, don’t let it stress you. Eat as “clean” as you can as much as you can…if you can’t don’t be a freak have fun. Sleep as much as you can, all the shit you think you have to do will be there when you wake up.
jen

Jen-
I want to pull this out into a front page post…this is something everyone needs to read. Good-on-you for “doing the best you can”.

Paul-
I like the WD a bunch. Really good info and way ahead of its time BUT here are a few things i’d tweak:
1-Ori completely misses the Grain issue. he is focussing on the “Ancient Roman Legions” and missed the other 99.998% of history and the “warriors” that ate no grains and were far healthier.
2-Ori focuses on “lite” eating during the day. I think with what we know now the best stress adaptations are found with NO eating.
3-One large meal may not cut it. A compressed feeding window with several medium sized meals allows for more cals while still eliciting the adaptations we are looking for.

I heard there was a re-do coming out sometime soon…I suspect it will look very much like what I’ve out lined here. Good book and info.

I am a new graduate from nursing school and I have decided to get some of the poor stress filled habbits of junk food and snacking nipped in the but. I like to be fasted during the day most time and I feel so much energy when I am and have one meal in the evenings.

I am hitting a road block and I was hoping for some advice. I am a new nurse and I have been offered a job that is a great learning experience. Now I do not plan working nights for the long haul but for this job and as a new nursing graduate in San Diego it is the only option I have received.

I only plan on doing this for a year and then taking the experience I have gained and moving on/demanding day shift.

However do you have any ideas on how to incorporate one meal a day/IF when I will be working 3 twelve hour night shifts from 7pm to 7am?

Sincerely,
Autumn

Ohhh girlie…I WOULD NOT do intermittent fasting with that schedule. Eat as consistently as you can, keep it low carb for the most part, set up a room that is pitch black and do your best to sleep when you get a chance. You do not need additional stress on that schedule!

Keep me posted.

I’ve been IF’ing for a little over a month now, and I guess I need to decide if I should continue or not.

I am 22, 6’1″, 165-170lbs, and have been unsuccessfully trying to lean all the way out (lose infuriating love handles). I CF, run, swim, play sports, daily calisthenics, sleep 8 hours a day, and eat meat, veggies, fruit,nuts, olive oil and dairy.

I’ve been doing a 1pm-7pm eating window M-F. I kept track on fitday for a while and averaged 2700-3000 calories a day. I haven’t noticed any performance loses, but I haven’t lost any weight either. I was really, really hoping to avoid crawling back to the zone and measuring every almond and oz. of chicken.

Do I simply just need to eat less? Or cut out the dairy? Or eat less fruit and more veggies? Or lessen the carbs altogether?

I’m really about to lose it. I even broke down today and ate a bowl of pasta for the first time in a long while. I guess I am just desperate to see some results and need some direction.

Mike-
Hmmm…Love handles make me think insulin/cortisol…even if it is just a little bit. Try dropping the IF and you said you are getting 8hrs of sleep? IS it in complete darkness? Can you sneak in another hour? Half hour?
I’ve noticed something: If I’m eating base paleo and SLEEPING there seems to be nearly no level of food, even from fruit, that I do not stay really lean on. Start cutting my sleep…and it immediately layers onto the love handles. Not much, but some. The only time I am REALLY lean is when my sleep is dialed. No alarm clock, dark room. I had a month of that a while back and it almost made me cry to get back into the 6am class to teach…immediate fat gain AND drop in performance. You could try simply adding a little less fat via nuts and olive oil…but I think you will find it is the sleep.
Keep me posted.

I am interested in trying intermittent fasting, but I am still unclear as to how often one should fast. Should I fast once a week, once a month, or determine the frequency of my fasting some other way?

Ben-
Start with 1-2 days per week, make the fast 12-15 hrs initially. See how you feel. Track down the articles I wrote on this, and the Performance Menu thread dealing with this…sooooo much good info there!
Keep me posted on your progress and remember, I recommend a Paleo/zone diet PRIOR to the IF! Get the foundation dialed, then get “funky with the cheeze whizz”.

I’m a newbie to your site. Having completed a number of marathons and a few triathlons after losing 90 lbs. I’ve learned a few things about my personal physio: I need carbs to train or I cramp and bonk after 2 hours at 80%+ of HRmax (regardless of sodium intake) and I have trouble dropping bodyfat when consuming carbs. I do have a penchant for refined carbs at times. So, my issue is compromised training/competition when dropping carbs OR higher bodyfat composition. Have you noticed this in your travels?

Vince

Vince-
I think the carb level can be somewhat dependent on fat adaptation and training intensity. Brian Mackenzie of crossfit newport beach is a Jedi master on this endurance stuff and he gets most of his carbs from VEGGIES. he eats a very fat heavy diet but does drop more carb dense items, like cheese cake, into his ultra long efforts. Bottom line is tinker and find what works bot I have yet to see someone not benefit from a shift towards a more fat based metabolism.

http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/nutrition/what-is-cortisol-000667.php

But it also contained this:

Carbohydrates consumed during exercise have been shown to decrease the immune and cortisol response within 30 minutes after 6 x 15min maximal running bouts when compared to a non-caloric, sweetened placebo (Bishop et al., 2002). There is strong evidence that athletes exercising in a carbohydrate-depleted state experience larger increases in circulating stress hormones (cortisol) and a greater suppression of immune function (Braun, 2004). An important take home message for athletes and coaches: the regulation of blood and body glucose levels is within the athlete’s control and this can seriously impact their health and ability to enhance their exercise performance and training adaptations.

Thoughts?

Well…I think there is a trade off here. Occasionally that stress response MAY be good. If one is working to keep the volume of a competitive athlete this whole protocol of higher carb intake may be necessary. OR perhaps if we looked at a more fat adapted athlete we would not see the immune response and cortisol release due to elevated ketones. I’m not sure on this honestly but I think there are some deviations with regards to health and performance goals. The thing that gets me with some of this research is we are living in terror of a moment in negative nitrogen balance or a spike in coritsol. I think there are some compelling reasons to go to these places occasionally. Paul Kayley may actually have some thoughts on this…
Robb

Sleeping “enough” improves insulin sensitivity, increases hGH levels, decreases cortisol (this increases testosterone as there is competition for upstream substrates that cascade into either testosterone or cortisol) decreases inflammation

Interesting! I had never heard that testosterone and cortisol were in the same pathway. That could explain a lot. Do you have a reference?

Just look under testosterone, Pregnenalone, cortisol metabolism.

Mike-
It’s interesting but Nicki has a pretty good natural instinct for this. She pushes hard on the days she trains but does not get neurotic (like me) about consistency. Her progress is consistent and seems to always be “up”. Something to be learned here for sure.
Robb

http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2008/01/02/my-new-year-resolution-recommendation-get-some-sleep/

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/stresstoo-muchthe-wrong-kind.html

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/dont-get-stressed-out-by-it-all.html

Basically there is increasing evidence that chronic ongoing stress is not what we were designed for. When we get stressed like this the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) pumps out the stress hormones that have all sorts of nasty effects on different tissues.

Thanks Chris! Awesome stuff as always!
Robb

Sounds good! If you need to cut the IF short to keep from freezing, go for it. With more sleep however it may be less of an issue.
Robb

Strazz-
You will scare them with this stuff!
Robb

Dude, I resemble that remark! And it’s “hippie,” not “hippy.”

I’m proud to call myself one, and I’m also proud to be into interval training, EF, Intermittent Fasting, good meat, and lifting.

It takes all kinds…:)

Great blog, and good post about sleep. Before I smartened up my training and eating, I was sleeping only 6-7 hours a night. I couldn’t sleep more than that.

Now with the better training and IF, I’m finding the same thing you are. I’m sleeping longer and better, and everything is working better–better body composition, strength, etc..

I wonder what the correlation or causality is, if there is one. I’ve never slept this much, but I’ve never felt this good, either, or been this fit.

Another piece of the puzzle, huh?

Charles-
I knew someone would bust me on my hippie mispelling…damn you!

Sleeping “enough” improves insulin sensitivity, increases hGH levels, decreases cortisol (this increases testosterone as there is competition for upstream substrates that cascade into either testosterone or cortisol) decreases inflammation…It is freaky what sleep DOES and pretty scary what a lack of sleep will do.
You may change my mind on hippies yet!
Robb

Sarena-
Where is the sleep breaking down? This is a tough thing…most people work a “8″ hour day which turns into 10 with commute lunch and other crap. If we sleep 8-10 hrs that is 18-20 of a 24 hr day. Have kids? Wan’a eat dinner? Enjoy a modicum of a social life? Not much time left for that.

Best estimates put the economics of hunter-gatherer life at ~15 hrs/week to provide for food, clothing, shelter. This was made up of hard work but if this is accurate we are wired to WORK about 1/2-1/3 what we normally do. We might be wired for much more leisure time, contemplation and fun. Think about most people and what an improved life they would have if they worked 3-5 hrs/day or only a few long days…lots less burn-out, better creativity. The Four Hour Work Week is an interesting book and concept in that most people piss away most of their time at work LOOKING busy…Sorry, kinda getting off track here! My point is that this is tough, modern life does not lend itself well to taking care of ourselves. Work to chisel out what time you can, make your sleep a top priority, keep your room dark and cool. Let me know if this helps!