Gibbo

I mis-spelled it. It's deFranco. http://www.defrancostraining.com/index.php The articles tab has some good reading. When something like the NFL Combine has to set new rules to prevent people trained by one specific guy from being better than everyone else, I'd call that a degree of success. That's Paleo? I call that not eating like an idiot. I've always heard people describe it as 'eating only what was available to a paleolithic era survivalist' hence the name. Also funny; root vegetables were around long before leafy ones were cultivated to the point of being worth eating, and are more calorically dense. Plus most paleo people seem to gloss over the fact that a caveman finding a honey-trove was a caloric goldmine. I consider it stupid and gimmicky because a) if you're lucky enough to be able to digest dairy, there's no reason in hell you should be neglecting it if you care about fitness, complex carbs are your friend and c) I've been up for 24 hours and forgot c. I've never heard of this damn zone thing, but nutritionists, bodybuilders, and anyone who cares have been counting macros for as long as they realized it mattered. There's nothing gimmicky about tracking the percentage of calories from P/C/F/A. It's called common sense. It increases drag quite a bit, and makes it miserable. Thanks though Crossfit has not produced any worldclass athletes. Nobody setting records. Nobody doing anything of significant note. Look at large portions of the american military. Kinda flabby and out of shape. How about various police forces. A lot of these organizations subject their members to crossfit. Westside Barbell methods have people squatting 3x their bodyweight. Bodybuilders of old were some of the most attractive men to walk the planet. Modern bodybuilders are walking muscle charts (if a bit gross). Taucer can probably deadlift at least 400 lbs if he got the form down, as could any other high calibre male gymnast. Things like zone and paleo have resulted in some people losing some weight sure. But people listening to Dr. Berardi have done far more drastic things to their bodies. But why would you want to listen to someone who gives advice to bodybuilders. There can't possibly be any benefit to what they're saying. After all, bodybuilders are just meaty lumps full of HGH and anabolic steroids. What people who care about every last calorie and muscle fiber use couldn't be loosened up a little bit and used by a normal person. Not at all. Results speak.

One guy stupid/gifted enough to do an ultra with no prior training is not a good argument for anything, except the levels of stupidity that people can reach. Except the fact that Joe DiFranco has put out more and better athletes than crossfit, you know. The idea of 'increasing general fitness' is ridiculous and should be put aside for the injured and chronically ill. Things targetting an increase in athleticism do the same thing, faster, with better results because they don't pull any punches. Strader: Ignore stupid gimmicks like paleo. It's not sustainable at all. Do you enjoy rotting meat? Do you enjoy being able to eat more than 3 things? You don't need a stupid gimmick, just count your goddamn macros and stick to it. Race weekend details: Friday night; Worked at 9pm, Saturday: got off at 5am. Biked home, biked to train station. 7am caught a train out to surrey, biked 30km from last train station to bike clinic. Did bike clinic (about 30km more biking), biked back to train station. Biked home: Total, a little over 100km Sunday: Biked to the train station, 30km from station to race, 60km race, finished second, mooched a lift home from someone because it was rainy and I was cold as shit and I was exhausted. Course was quite flat and very basic. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26480758 The guy who came in first was a good 100m ahead and not in the photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexpope/4418252676/sizes/o/in/pool-12983094@N00/

You realize that by doing that, your body will switch into starvation mode, your base metabolic rate will drop, you'll be lethargic/asleep most of the time, any muscle activity will cause catabolization, and when you switch back to a non stupid diet you'll just balloon up?

I pay 24$CAD/month for access to 6 gyms with weight rooms, 4 with pools, and a variety of other gear, plus access to people that know what they're talking about. I've seen people pay upwards of 85$USD/Month for crossfit. That's 3x the cost monthly. Even rounding up, that's 300$ a year for mine, and rounding down to 80$mo makes crossfit 960/year. A difference of 660$ a year is, depending on eating habits, 3-4 months of good clean food, without even pinching pennies. Especially at a low level, what you're eating is inifinately more important than what you're doing, as any muscle stimulation gets the job done. If they say they finish an ultra without ever doing anything more than crossfit, they're lying. Either about finishing, or about not training. Or by "some" do you mean maybe 3 people in the history of crossfit. What do all of the top beginner programs have in common? Extreme Simplicity combined with high large muscle group hypertrophy. 5x5 and SS very simple. WSfSB has a bit more in it. It's the pursuit of specific musclegroups and single muscle excersizes that start to really cut down on the effort:reward ratio. If it's pain, don't do anything. If you're just stiff/a bit sore, then go for it. The soreness will work itself out. Start lighter if you're really really sore to help work it out, then move up. Although if you're sore to the point of random muscle failures (I've been there), then it's probably dangerous and you should give it some time. On a side note, I had my first pure bike race this weekend. Came in 2nd of 50. I haven't looked at my full data yet, but I spent 1.5 hours above Zone 3.5, a good deal of zone 4, and a couple very painful trips up to zone 5.5 . Ferret: Eat more. Add in cheap things like Brown rice and Lentils. Which are tasty with a little chili sauce anyhow, and very easy to make. Eventually you'll get used to eating more and start gaining size. Missed that the first time through. How the hell are you swimming that is slaughtering your legs and sparing your back? That's completely the opposite of what should be happening. Full leg kick from the glutes is most of the leg activation involved (except for butterfly I think it is..), which gives the most power while maintaing form. If your back doesn't get a workout while swimming, you should really rethink how you're swimming.

Crossfit is 1) overpriced 2) overcomplicated when someone has a history of being a excessively skinny and 3) not really optimized for anything. Combining a lifting regimen with another pure sport (running, cycling) will result in more muscle and better running (or whatever) than doing crossfit will, provided you're capable of eating enough to support it.

You won't end up looking like a bodybuilder, unless you're secretly spiking test and Dbol. Google for 5x5 or Starting Strength to get some bulk on that skinny ass of yours. Ignore everyone telling you to go to crossfit.

I'm not sure why you would want to isolate those out if you're going for increased overall stregth, but any sort of leg curl for hams, and leg press (god don't these plese) Edit: You work out home. Yeah, you're hooped. Deadlifts and squats shouldn't be hurting your back. Do them properly. If it's injury based though, front squats or zercher squats (both on exrx) can help. And Glute-ham raises for your ass-chain. You can do them with a broom and a chair.

I hope to only one day be as sexy as you, Taucer. <3 Anyhow, a lot of people have a tendancy to have terrible diets, coupled with a mixed idea of what they should be doing to actually improve their body. A quick rundown of things: A rough estimate of how much you should be eating is about 14* Bodyweight, in pounds, and round up. Just for maintenence. For me, that's 190x14 = 2660, so 2700. If you don't know any better, that seems like a lot. I mean, that's only 6 double cheeseburgers, right? Now, for the fun part. Macros! Protein and Carb are both 4cals per gram, fat is 9. That's you don't count grams, but % of caloric intake. A fairly easy ratio to obtain and hold (and works well for beginners) is 35%p/50%c/15%f. For me, that's 945p/1350c/405f or 236g/337g/45g Most people, if they clean up their diet and start adhering to that, will end up losing weight assuming they have some semblance of activity in their life. If you want to lose weight a bit faster, go down by about 20%. Gain weight? Go up 20%. Beyond those numbers you begin to see diminishing return, excess fat gain, etc. What to do: Do not work out 7 days a week. Do not work out 6 days a week. Hell, don't even attempt 5. Your body needs time to heal, and excessive muscle soreness off the start is a great excuse to stop. Lift weights. Just do it. You won't get bulky. You won't look like a body builder. Guys, eventually you'll look like taucer. Girls: You won't get bulky. Go lift something. This chick is stronger than I am, and not bulky. This was all just very brief and basic. Now, who the hell am I to say this? An ex fatty (245) at 6foot, who cut down to a skinny fat 170lbs, and am now back to 190. Working on getting my cat4 for bike racing, I do stupid endurance sport stuff, enjoy lifting, and currently single (looking at you taucer). One more thing: Low carb; don't do it. just cut out processed things. And only drink water (and milk if you're so blessed). Juice is healthier than pop, right? Wrong. Juice contains almost equal amounts of HFCS. Here's why that sucks (it's long)

Your diet probably sucks. Post it. Bullshit. Someone running a marathon pace 10km/h, for an hour, is going to burn considerably less than someone running a 10k pace (15km/h). Now considering a lot of people just starting out aren't going to be even capable of sustaining that anyhow, you cut the time in half, thus making the difference in intensity more important. Talking heartrate, 130-140bpm is designed to be sustainable over long periods of time and doesn't really burn all that much on a caloric level. Likewise, getting up to anaerobic levels is just going to molest your muscle glycogen and not really do what was intended. For people trying to get less fat, medium periods in zone3 work quite well. Taucer, I'm not sure if your training methods are really going to work for normal people. You have stupid genetics (in a good way), and you work with people who have a ridiculous amount of drive, a sport to compete in, and are there very frequently.