Workouts – Week of Nov. 30th

 

Full range of motion

WOD 1 – Tuesday

Alternating Tabata for reps:

• Ring Dips
• Overhead Lunges (45lb plate / 25 lb plate)

Rest 3 minutes
3 150 meter sprints (all the way up Andrew’s road)

WOD 2 – Wednesday

Back Squat
15-15-15-15-15

Increase load for each set. Choose appropriate weight.

Back Lever 5-5-5

Try to hold each lever for 5 seconds so that you end with at total of 75 seconds of hang time.

WOD 3 – Friday

5 Rounds for reps

• 1 min x wall ball
• 1 min x Kbell swing (overhead)
• 1 min x wall handstand
• 1 min x rest

WOD 4 – Saturday

400 meter lunges for time.

4 x 100 meter sprints.

Image from Crossfit Rockwall

Achtung, Baby! You are about to be swindled

I’ve been wanting to write something about the healthcare debate for some time now.  I hear it discussed a lot.  One of the problems that seems to underlie much of what I hear bantered about is that many people’s ideas rest upon faulty economic reasoning and wishful thinking about the way the world ought to be.

One of the biggest mistakes made is that people think that we can have it all.  After all, we are America.  We can have our pie and eat it too, thank you very much. We view trade offs as the hobgoblins of little minds. We can increase healthcare coverage without it costing us anything more than we already pay – and maybe even lower overall costs.  Yes We Can!

Thankfully, not everyone has fallen prey to this nonsense.  David Brooks, in an op-ed piece, focuses the question: “Reform would make us a more decent society, but also a less vibrant one.” Brooks underscores the fact that “[t]his debate is about values.” Indeed, the very way he frames the question attests to this.  About the trade-off we face, there is no question.  But if it were just a question of giving up a little economic vibrance in order to gain a little more decency, wouldn’t we be barbarians not to choose decency? How many people consciously desire to be backwards, crass, and selfish?

So, there is a trade off, and right now, it seems like a pretty easy and obvious one.  But is it?  What is the trade off? Are we really giving up a ‘decent’ society if we fail to reform healthcare by centralizing healthcare? Many economists, including Thomas Sowell, see things differently.  In fact, if you were to label the current attempt to centralize healthcare as the only ‘decent’ option, you would have fallen prey to a kind of bait-and-switch swindle.

Falling for this swindle is easy. Prices of medical care are rising. The weak and helpless in our society need care. Everyone knows that something must be done, and since the free market isn’t doing the job, we cry out for government to take over.  But did you catch the mistake?  Everyone assumes that the free market hasn’t done its job in keeping costs down (isn’t that what competition is supposed to do?). Clearly something is wrong with the market.  And you’d be right.  Because the major problems of rising costs is in fact due to the market’s response to the incentive structure imposed on the market by government regulation. And the major culprit here is third-party payments – a system promoted by regulation.

Rising costs are promoted in one major way by two different entities. First, Medicare/Medicaid. These programs provide medical care free of charge to the elderly and the poor. Second, employer-based insurance. This structure of insurance is promoted by regulation because it can be purchased by pre-tax dollars, whereas non-employer based insurance must be purchased with after-tax dollars.  You do the math.  In both cases, we have little to no up front costs to the patient.

The rules of supply and demand tell us what happens next. When something costs less, people consume more of it – demand increases.  The problem is that when demand for something increases, the price of that thing also increases.  Sounds paradoxical, right?  But get behind the curtain.  When some third-party foots all or most of the cost when you see the doctor, you will tend to see the doctor more.  But you never see the corresponding rise in prices that go along with your increased demand of the services provided by the doctor – at least not until your premium goes up.  And if your medical care is paid for through tax revenues, then you’ll never notice it. (As an aside, one unfortunate practice of Medicare and Medicaid is the use of price controls for services. The refusal of the government to pay market prices for medical services, which in turn legitimizes underpayment on the part of insurance companies, is driving many doctors to refuse to accept Medicare patients, and the widespread price cap for medical services is a major factor behind the dwindling numbers of new doctors entering the market.) People economize on things they pay for. The major problem here is the over-use of healthcare services. (There are other sources that contribute to this problem, but for simplicity’s sake, I’m stopping here.)

So that’s the problem.  And in the problem lies the true source of the solution. When people are made responsible for the use and allocation of their own dollars, they tend to go to greater lengths to understand their options among choices, and they tend to get the most out of every dollar they spend. The same logic of consumer choice applies to healthcare. People economize on their medical expenses when they themselves are responsible.  They either do not see the doctor over minor issues, or they seek out good substitutes to a doctor’s visit.  Consequently, by lowering demand, overall prices for doctors’ services fall.

How do we get to this happy place of reduced medical costs?  Here are a few thoughts you’ve probably heard before. First, incentive structures need to change. Everyone should be able to purchase their own insurance with pre-tax money.  Creating preferences for employed citizens is a form of discrimination against the unemployed, and against those employed by small firms, and it reduces their ability to purchase insurance. Second, the actual costs of medical care must apply to everyone. Nothing is free to produce, and nothing should be free to consume.  Beneficiaries of Medicare / Medicaid should have to operate under some kind of allocation plan, like a health savings account. This way, they would have an incentive to economize.

Don’t get suckered by the swindle. The government has very little incentive to economize and efficiently distribute society’s limited resources. Everything is scarce, even medical care in advanced economies.  The production of goods and services does not cease to be scarce just because the government provides them, and without a price system to tell us what to produce and how much to produce, the current healthcare reform is sure to lead to even greater inequality of care.  That seems to me the greatest indecency.

-ps- Check out this brief clip of an interview with Sowell and these myths of single-payer (government regulated) systems.

Crossfit Break Up???

Very interesting news on the Crossfit, Inc. front. Robb Wolf, the resident diet guru has been fired.  You can read his account of the happenings here.  Another take, and one that corroborates Robb’s story, from the highly esteemed Olympic lifter Greg Everett can be found here.

So, you might say, someone got fired.  Big deal.  Maybe, and maybe not.  It is important to keep in mind that there is a difference between the philosophy of Crossfit and the growing corporate juggernaut that is Crossfit, Inc.  From the beginning, the philosophy has always been open to argument and criticism.  This latest tangle seems to suggest that the corporate entity is not following a course of action that is consistent with it’s own stated philosophy.  This could have huge consequences for the business of Crossfit.

What is equally fascinating is the lure that these proceedings have for me.  Through the web, I have become attached to and a devoted follower of a movement and of people whom I’ve never met.  I have carefully followed the development of the company, which is now growing globally, and seen its effects in my own life and that of my friends.  However, amid all of this success, I’ve expected this kind of division. The entire enterprise is growing too rapidly and too large to avoid these kinds of occasional skirmishes.  Hopefully it will leave all parties better off than they were.

The important thing is that local gyms keep their heads down in the trenches doing the good work that they’ve started.  In my opinion, the Crossfit philosophy is sound, and will continue to revolutionize fitness, regardless of what Crossfit, Inc. decides to do on a corporate level. Somehow, that last sentence sounds as though I don’t appreciate what the Glassmans have done.  I do.  I don’t think firing Wolf was a good move, but I’m still grateful to Crossfit, Inc. for bringing health to me  that I would never have found any other way.

‘Tis the Season to Cheat – Part I

The earth has tilted on its axis, bringing dark evenings and a chill in the air. Here in Tallahassee, leaves are finally turning yellow and orange and drifting to the ground. Sweaters and boots are in vogue, albeit with the cursed skinny jeans tucked in between. Intoxicating scents of cinnamon, cloves, and sweets fill the air. The rich foods of winter – root vegetables, cookies, pies, casseroles, and steaming sweet drinks – call to us, appealing both to our light-deprived seasonal urge to put on protective fat and our holiday-induced desire for edible festivity.

In short, we are being called to cheat. To not do so would be an affront to the season, to our families and friends, to the very spirit of life at the present. Only the strongest will resist, and even those of us walking the same unusual path of a primal diet will likely think them extreme, deriding them and their inability to let go in secret.

So we’re going to cheat. There’s no way around it. The only question is, are we going to throw the rules out the door and eat stuffing until we fall into an insulin induced coma or are we going to attempt to maintain some degree of responsibility?

I urge you to choose the former. Cheat responsibly. Your body and you conscience will thank you.

Just because you’re not going to be able to (physically or mentally) create and consume a strict zone/primal meal or avoid every Christmas cookie that looks your way does NOT mean you should forget all the principles of healthy eating you have worked so hard to follow. There are ways to cheat that will allow you to enjoy some of the holiday foods you love without completely sacrificing your ideals or your waistline.

First, relieve yourself of some of the guilt you might experience by reminding yourself that cheating is actually recommended, in moderation. Mark Sisson of MDA recommends an 80/20 principle, where you eat primal 80% of the time and eat whatever you want 20% of the time. This is shown to reduce the mental stress of deprivation and thereby encourage you to stick to the plan longer than you might if you were strict 100% of the time.

One important thing to remember, particularly with sweets, is that the pleasurable effects of sugar consumption follow the law of diminishing returns. This means that the more you eat, the less good it feels. 70% of the dopamine produced by eating those Christmas cookies or that slice of pie will be released after the first bite. So to cheat smart, limit your portion to only a few bites – one cookie or a miniscule slice of pie. It may look sad, but eat it really, really slowly, and savor that flood of hormones. Disabuse yourself of the notion that eating another piece will produce the same pleasure that the first piece did. It will only produce insulin, nausea, guilt, and chub. Check out this post on MDA for more about eating sweets responsibly.

Urban Gets Diesel offers some insightful commentary on the subject of cheating in three posts. First, she reminds us that while cheating clearly has some mental benefits, it does NOT have any physical benefits. Bad fuel is bad fuel, no matter how you spin it. Second, she looks at some ways to cheat smart. She recommends: spreading that 20% out throughout the week rather than packing it all into one meal/day; being intentional about only cheating with things you really, really love; eating only enough of the forbidden food to satisfy your craving (ala the diminishing returns principle; savoring the consumption process slowly and with focus, i.e. not downing a pint of ice cream while watching a movie; and finally, figuring out how different cheat foods affect you and choosing the lesser of the available evils. For example, for her, a cheat of grain (pancakes) leaves her much better off than a cheat of dairy (ice cream). In her third article, she examines the danger of introducing habitual cheats and thinking they do not have negative consequences because you don’t feel immediate side-effects. She writes of the experience of re-introducing dairy, grains, or sugary foods after following a stricter diet:

After eating those foods, you may not notice an immediate reaction in any of your body’s systems. However, your body is still experiencing some, if not all, of the negative internal effects associated with those foods, such as inflammation, gut irritation, and insulin spikes.

Dallas explains, “Even infrequent consumption of foods (or food products) that contribute to elevated levels of insulin, cortisol, or the pro-inflammatory eicosanoids will set you up for inflammation-driven disease processes. Most of us already know the effect that chronic consumption of processed carbohydrates has on the development of Type II Diabetes, but this is only one example of how a previously asymptomatic (“silent”) inflammatory process can manifest itself as overt disease. Unfortunately, just eating a bagel and a yogurt for breakfast once a week is enough to trigger grain- and dairy-related inflammation, causing an uptick in all the inflammatory processes in your body for days or even weeks afterward. You might not be able to feel a bagel and yogurt invading your system, but you cannot avoid the pro-inflammatory effects of those foods.”

Basically, if you start cheating and enjoying it, don’t fool yourself into thinking that it’s not really so bad to have that cereal for breakfast or those oreos for dessert a couple times a week. It is still bad for all the reasons you cut it out to begin with, and those “calendar” cheats will come back to haunt you one way or another.

Now, what do you do about all this with the biggest cheat day of the year staring you in the face?

Here are some of our ideas:

1) Bring approved sides that will supplement the lack of clean veggies and non-sugary sides at a typical holiday meal. Abby posted on this idea here and offers recipes for Roasted Vegetables, Paleo Sweet Potato Casserole, and Paleo Sweet Potato Pie. I am using a similar tactic for our meal at a friend’s house. I’m bringing green beans and carrots, Pureed Cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes, fresh Cranberry Sauce sweetened with stevia and agave, and Abby’s Sweet Potato Casserole. This should guarantee that there are plenty of acceptable sides to accompany the meat.

If you haven’t tried Fauxtatoes yet, you need to. You’ll never miss the carb-loaded traditional version. The key is adding plenty of yummy fat. I don’t usually measure, but here’s a guestimate of how I make them.

Pureed Cauliflower Fauxtatoes Recipe

Steam one head of cauliflower, cut into chunks, along with 2 cloves of garlic and a bit of chopped onion until tender. Blend in food processor or blender with 1/2-1 cup cream, 1/2 stick butter, salt and pepper to taste until smooth. Texture is key here, so keep blending until you don’t see any chunks. Substitute coconut milk or regular milk for cream if desired. Voila!

2) Load up on meat and veggies first. The good thing about Thanksgiving is that there is always some form of meat available. This means you don’t have to worry about the disaster of arriving to a dinner party to find only various forms of process carbs available and no protein in sight, such as I did at a pasta dinner with spaghetti, bread, salad, and cake. Use this fact to your advantage. When you fill you plate for the first round, give yourself an unusual portion of meat and whatever clean vegetables you can find. Eat them first so you will be full of the healthy stuff, and then go back for whatever bad stuff you’re craving. If your belly is already rumbling happily with a dose of protein and good fiber, that steaming stuffing will look at least a little bit less like heaven.

3) Don’t deny, just ration. Instead of trying to ignore the existence of Grandma’s pecan pie or that marshmallow-topped sweet potato concoction, allow yourself to sample everything in moderation. Remember Sisson’s teaching about the first bite: all you need is a tiny scoop of each item to get almost the full benefit of sensory pleasure. So following with point #2, load your plate so full of meat and clean veggies that you can only fit a tiny daub each of potatoes, stuffing, candied whatever, and no roll.

4) Be selective. If you’re like me, there are certain parts of a meal that I can take or leave, and there are other parts I dream about all year and would rather die than not eat. For me, stuffing falls into the latter category, while a store-bought yeast roll or marshmallowed sweet potatoes fall into the latter. If this is you, then pick and choose your poisons carefully. Choose two or three of your favorite naughty sides and enjoy them to the fullest, but pass over those that only whisper your name instead of shouting it.

5) Be really, really careful with dessert. A decently portioned meal can be utterly ruined by three slices of pie with ice cream. Don’t undo all your hard work. This is coming from a self-admitted sweet tooth, so don’t tell me you can’t. I think one of the best strategies is to stuff yourself so full with the meal that you can barely fit a few bites of anything else down your gullet. Then, be selective if you can, choosing only one option to sample. If you’re like me and love all desserts and have to try everything, that won’t work. In that case, insist on serving yourself, and try only a 1/2 inch sliver of each pie. Then chant that diminishing returns stuff like a mantra as you let each bite dissolve in your mouth so very slowly.

If you’re into making your own, try using Agave and/or Stevia instead of sugar. I used a ratio of 1 Tbl Agave and 1/8 tsp stevia powder for a tasty but low-carb combo. There was no Stevia aftertaste, but I made a 13×9 pan of sweet potatoes casserole with only 2 Tbl of Agave. I’m not sure exactly how to substitute that for sugar yet (without just taste testing, which is what I do), but I’ll be working on it.

6) Pre-game. If you can’t count on anything clean other than maybe some turkey, you may have to resort to pre-party damage control. This is what I have started doing when I am going to a mystery meal, where anything from spaghetti to vegetarian burritos to french toast could be served. After a couple of ruined evenings spent waiting out insulin hangovers, I finally realized that you just cannot count on a decent protein source, let alone clean veggies, when eating with others. It’s shocking how far their ideas of good meals can be from ours, but it’s a fact for which we have to be prepared. My solution is to down a glass of protein powder and milk (with about 30 grams of protein) before leaving for the event. That way, I can sample whatever form of processed carbs they put before me without having to rudely refuse or worse sit in a silent, semi-vegetative state through the night’s conversation because an insulin spike and crash. With 30 grams of protein in your belly, you can face just about anything that’s thrown your way. It’s like liquid courage! This is less likely to be necessary with Thanksgiving, because a big hunk of meat is usually the centerpiece, but just know it is always an option.

Those are the tips I’ve come up with to cope with the potential perilous holiday meal. If you have any other ideas, please share in the comments!

Part II of this series will explore other holiday temptations and how to indulge sensibly, without compromising the festive spirit.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Workouts for the Week of November 22nd

Tuesday – WOD 1

For Time:

75 pull ups

75 backsquats (135#/95#)

Note: For those not up to 75 pull ups in a row, you can break the set in half and perform one set before and one set after the back squats. Scale weight appropriately.

 

Wednesday – WOD 2

4 rounds for time (or 15 min):

3 shoulder press x 115 lbs

5 push press x 115 lbs

7 push jerk x 115 lbs

400 meter run

Scale weight appropriately.

 

Friday – WOD 3

As Many Rounds as Possible in 15 minutes:

3 Squat Cleans (155# / 95#)

5 weighted pull ups

7 burpees

Scale weight as needed.

 

Saturday – WOD 4

4 Rounds for Time:

3 Back Levers

10 snatches (75lbs/55lbs)

400 meter run

Note: Anyone not comfortable with the snatch should perform cleans. Scale weight appropriately.

Crossfit Total – The Results

Earlier this week Abby suggested that we try Crossfit Total, a workout designed to get your one rep max for three major lifts. After completing the three lifts you add the weight total for all combined and based on a table of measurements, determine what level athlete you are.

Josh, Mara, Abby, Graham and Micah did the workout today (we miss you Andrew!) and here are the results — (others please add your ranking below)

Sassy Lassie Abby Lee Vee

Kal El(ler)

Great Graham

Mara the Muscle

Bulk Vanderhuge

- Based on the chart, I am a Novice weight lifter. But I say, “F the chart” cause I did my first muscleup today! Suck on that Crossfit Total! — MICAH

-My score was 390.  I guess it’s ok, I mean I’m in between Intermediate and Advanced, but I was pretty upset I couldn’t pull heavier weight.  It was a great exercise though because now I have an idea what I want some of my goals to be. ==Abby

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T-Day

Check out my blog for some Paleo Thanksgiving ideas

http://radianttimes.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/t-day/