Philosophical Observations associated with my crossfit experience

For the record these statements are not organized in any particular orientation and represent the actually thought process of Zacariah L Hildenbrand.

Alot of the time I wonder why I do the things I do. Why is it that I am in school when I could be over in Europe spinning tracks and making people happy through music. Why is it that I train using the toughest workout regiment on the planet when I could stay home and do pushups and bicep curls. Why is it I eat veggies and nuts when I can have pizzza and subway. A bunch of the stuff I do doesn't really pass the test of reasonableness to our modern society but I still continue to strive towards what I think is the greatest good.

For any of you that my know me, I am not overly concerned with material goods and an arbitrary number on my bank statement. I am not interested in looking like a model or winning in the olympics either. I basically see myself as a gifted individual who trys to improve on a day-to-day basis and instill of joy or hope on other peoples lives. In science I have solved the structures of viral particles as well as enzymes associated with osteoporosis, ulcers, and rhabdomyolysis. Not bad really but if I keep going there must be more out there. I most certainly won't win a nobel prize, or make tons of money from patents but I hope that my existence has a positive impact on my peripheral surroundings.

This rant concludes with why I chose to train my body and mind with the crossfit regime. For one, I think about topics like the greatest good and purpose of existence almost all the time, and quite frankly it drives me crazy. Crossfit gives me something to concentrate on for an hour, which is a welcome relief from my constant philosophical hypertrophy. Secondly, the people I've encountered at the facility are second to none. These folks are not training and mentor the ways of the regime just to make a living, but more so to improve the daily lives of those whom they train. Knowledge is power, and in that regard the regime and the people teaching the system are the most knowledgable that I've ever ran into. I see people come in an you can see that they are working towards a better appearance which is so highly acclaimed in today's society. While looks are very superficial and don't say much about the person inside, it seems like we need to have sterling exterior in order for anyone to want to connect with us or take us seriously.

With all of this being said, I would like to leave with one closing thought. If we all give 100% to every situation, every relationship or conflict, and know that somehow are a contributing to the bigger picture, then shouldn't be have the utmost pride and feel good about ourselves all the time. A friend of my made a comment that no one is irreplaceable, that we can all be replaced at any given moment. It got me thinking. Either I'm an undereducated, disrespectful piece of shit that the world could do without or my friend is DEAD FUCKING WRONG. I don't tute my own horn or like to talk about myself, but I think that I am (am everyone for that matter) is unique and gifted with something give to society. Maybe I'll make more contributions to science, or maybe I can start a revolution to get the people in this country to eat healthier.

Who know whats going to happen, but I think thats what makes it fun. You just wake up, work hard, treat others with the utmost respect, and amazing things will happen.

In other news, I will be sporting some fresh ink in our shirtless workouts

What nature divides the spirit unites

25.11.08: The cornfed WOD

This morning at 7 am my comrad Justin and I worked together on a team WOD which involved alot of ackward lifting and a lot of grip strengh. The workout used a large tire which was for flipping, a 2o ib sledge hammer which was for beating the tire, and 70 pound kettle bells for doing what is commonly known as the farmers walk.
Long story short the workout lasted roughly 10 minutes which is the target duration for what we are trying to achieve, and was extremely challenging.

On another note, my diet continues to be dialed in like its my job. Its very routine right now and starting next monday I will bump up my blocks to 20 blocks 5x fats to keep the mass gain ball rolling.
I am also leaving for california tomorrow, but I won't fail off the wagon completely. I will try to stay zone/paleo for most of the trip and I will definately get a couple of quick workouts in while I'm down there. I'm sure there is a crossfit box down there somewhere, maybe I can make some new friends.

Anyways I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful thanksgiving, but if there are any questions or comments please feel free to email me.

Ciao!


Hildie

Monday 11.24.08

Today I am extremely sore. It is almost to the point where I am debilitating to function. Fortunately I am going to rest from exercise today and eat a ton of quality food.
This morning I had a hearty breakfest consisting of:
(4 blocks 5x fats): 2 whole eggs, 4 egg whites w/ salsa
1 cup of skim milk w/ 7 frozen strawberries, 3/4 cup of apple sauce and 1/3 cup of mixed nuts (blended into a delicious shake).

For lunch I plan to have (4 block 5x fats): 1 cup of ff cottage cheese w/ 3/4 cup of apple sauce
1 whole avocado (roughly 150 grams)
2 cups of steamed green beans

3 pm snack (3 blocks 5x fats): 2 light string cheese
1 mutant-sized pear w/ 3 tbsp of Naturally More peanut butter

I am hoping some slight stretching today in accordance with my high-fat diet will enable me to dominate my workout tomorrow.
An observation that I have made so far into this process is that my metabolic conditioning (met-con) is getting better but my strength hasn't improved much. Now its still early in this ball game but this observation is counterintuitive in the fact that one would think that a heavy diet full of calories would facilitate an immediate strength increase with a somewhat inversely proportional decline in met. con. performance.

This is why this is an experiment. We all have our own hypothesises and for the most part they are all consistent, but regardless of whether our hypothesis is supported or falsified, this experiment will be a tremendous success. I think between the three of us we will have the program down to a science once its all said and done which will be beneficial for the next bloak who decides to take on this challenge.

Please I urge you to give me any questions or comments regarding the material on this blog. You may think I have some good ideas or you may think I am full of shit, but I would love to get some input as to what you think. Regardless of what you think, give me a shout out on this blog or email me at zlhildenbrand@miners.utep.edu.

Peace,

Akon and yung Hildie

The weekend

This weekend was a welcome down time for me away from school. It gave me a chance to catch up on some work and some rest. Saturday was a speed day in which the boys and I raced each other in a series of 50-55 meter sprints. The workout was incredibly taxing and left me sore today.
Unfortunately due to my packed day on monday, I had to squeeze in the workout today without a days rest in between my last workout. I thought I was up to it and today was heavy lifting with lots of rest in between sets so I should have produced good results right?

Well initially the workout called for heavy squats, push press, and pullups. I did some warm up sets for the squats and immediately noticed that my hip flexors were totally shot from the previous bout of exercise and that this was going to affect my ability to squat a large amount of weight.

This brings me to a quick point. We are conducting an experiment in which we really have no idea how are bodies will react. That being said we have to listen to our bodies and train accordingly. So today I didn't feel like squatting was a good idea so I did thrusters and turkish get up instead.

I found the workout to be extremely effective and I was able to bang out a great deal of weight in the three exercises. Despite the deviation from the protocol I still feel confident that I am conducting my workouts and diet plan in a scientific manner. In other words I am not doing what ever I want when ever I want; we are training and eating in a dynamic fashion that is in accordance with the equilibrium of our neuromuscular, and dietary states.

With all that being said I feel good about what I accomplished today in the gym and now is time to take care of my body and rest up for my tuesday workout.

The food has been on point for the past week. I am pretty much a robot in that I eat the same foods at the same times on a day to day basis. This is no because the zone/paleo regime limits me in the this regard, but that I have found the meal combinations that I really like and are easy to prepare. I am continuing to eat plenty of fruit, veggies and nuts, with my proteins coming from dairy, eggs, and lean ground meats. All my fats are coming from eggs, nuts, avocados, olive oil, and peanut butter.

Now you may find these food choices boring or restrictive, but they are the logical options for a college student like myself who has a number of things he has to balance out throughout the day. I personally think I have a knack for making healthy delicious foods, that are quick and easy to prepare, and so I am happy to stick to my little biome of fav foods.

Hildie

20.11.08

Yesterday was a nice relaxing rest day for me except I had a huge interview that was quite nerve racking. It was for a NSF fellowship in which the NSF would pay for my tuition and books along with a 30K annual stipend, for two whole years. I think it went as well as it could have so wish me luck!

Today I woke up and was STARVING. But instead of hitting up some pumpkin/apple sauce/nut mix, I dragged myself to the gym for the WOD. It was heavy helen today which means, 3 rounds of 250 m run, 21 kb swings 2 pood, and 12 pullups, all with a 20 ib vest on. I ripped through the first couple rounds but really struggled through the last one. Luckily the madness ended after 9:30 and I was lying on the floor about to die.

To me these workouts seems ridiculous when I'm doing them but after its all said and done I feel great and the rest of my day runs accordingly.

I am still wolfing down lots of fat and healthy proteins and carbs but somehow I am still leaning up. Don't get me wrong, I like looking cut up, but I want to put on slabs of muscle and look like my boy brock lesner.

The typical meathead would say two things about the current training/nutrition regime I am in.
1. You will never put on weight, training 10 minutes every other day. First off this is simply a retarded statement. Typically bodybuilders, and I've done this shit too, work on one muscle over the course of 1-2 hours a day. They are working a submax intensity and thus are not utilizing all of their biochemical capabilities. By training at extremely high intensitys you have you body produce tons of lactic acid which stimulated growth hormone and testosterone. You also increase vasodilation and pulmonary capacity because you are required to consume large amounts of oxygen to facilitate the exercise.
But what does this all mean. By asking your body to make drastic adaptations to facilitate the exercise you are in turn forcing a cascade of physiological changes, so that the next time you body will be better adapted to carry out the exercise. Of course in the next workout you work even harder than previously so its really a linear progression.

2. You will never put on muscle eating so little carbs and protein. I suppose I should go eat 12 pounds of chicken and 75 packets of quaker oatmeal. Give me a fucking break. First off, what I have found with the zone/paleo diet is that blood chemistry is optimized. I know this because I am able to work at higher capacities over longer durations, I never get tired during the day, I sleep better than ever, digestion health is on point, and i'm looking better than ever. Now I can do a bunch of blood work to confirm these results but I hope you get the picture. In relation to a typical bodybuilding diet I am not eating a lot of protein, but I am utilizing a steady state of low insulin and constant blood glucose to take advantage of a number of powerful bioenergetic pathways. Long story short, if you are out there and want to feel better, look better, and be a more productive human, follow a zone/paleo diet and follow the crossfit regime.

If no one comments to this I will be sad!

Hildie

18.11.08 The Gauntlet

Today I woke up and banged out a solid WOD consisting of 10x2 power cleans and the 10 minute gauntlet. The cleans were ok, I primarily worked on technique since that should come before lifting heavy ass weight. So I ended up doing sets with 155 near the end. The gauntlet was a whole new ball game. In ten minutes one is to complete as many rounds as possible of 30" box jumps, 4 plyo pushups, and 4 explosive pullups. No big deal. However I wore a 40 ib vest to make things interesting and try to recruit as many fast twitch type II muscle fibers as I could. The result.... I executed 10 semi-solid rounds in the 10 minute time frame and felt pretty good about the work I had completed. Note: I felt pretty good. By the end of the voyage I should feel more and more comfortable training at increasingly high intensity, and I;ll be able to say I gave it my all.

The food for the morning was more or less the same and looked like this:

PWO Breakfast (4 blocks 5x fats): 2 eggs 2 egg whites, 1 cup of skim milk, 1 cup of pumpkin 1/2 cup of apple sauce w/ 2/3 cup of mixed nuts

Early lunch (3 blocks 5x fats): 3 low fat string cheeses, 1 apple, 1/4 of mixed nuts

Afternoon snack (4 blocks 5x fats): 1 cup of fat free cottage cheese, 1 cup of apple sauce, 3/2 cups of italian cut green beans, 1/2 cup of mixed nuts

We can see a reoccurring trend here. I am eating a fair amount of mixed nuts. I will have some avocado and some olive oil in a salad this evening.

Mansquatch Menu Item #2
Garlic Soy Tilapia

Five 4 oz. Tilapia fillets
1 cup of soy sauce
1/4 of minced garlic

Marinate fish in soy sauce and garlic for 8 hours (before you go to work) in 9" pan. Come home and place in oven at 350 F for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

served 5: 3 protein block, 1 fat block


Besos

Feeding the Mansquatch 17.11.08

As I alluded to earlier, I have now kicked it up a notch and increased my zone/paleo blocks to 18 5x fats. It seems like a small increase (2 eggs and an apple) but the extra fat may wear me down after a while.

So here is what I plan of eating today:
Breakfast (4 blocks 5x fat): 2 eggs 2 egg whites, 1 cup of pumpkin w/ 1/2 cup of apple sauce w/ 1/4 cup of mixed nuts and 1 cup of skim milk

Mid-morning lunch (4 blocks 5x fats): 4 cups of broccoli, 1 whole avocado, 1 apple, 6oz of leftover salmon (jackpot!)

Late afternoon lunch (4blocks 5x fats): 4 cups of milk 1/2 cup of mixed nuts

Dinner (4 blocks 5x fats): 4 oz ground lean ground beef w/ large salad (olive oli dressing) and 1 pear

Snack (4 blocks 5x fats): 1/4 of mixed nuts 1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese w/ 3/4 cup of apple sauce


This is a TON of food, but the workouts are going to be awful and this meal plan will help me fuel the short but intense beatings.

Remember folks the goal is to be 210 ibs come feb 11th. I am still 180 and have a long ways to go!

Hildie

16.11.08 NEW TRAINING PLAN

Today I woke up had a nice little breakfast (2 blocks 5 x fats) which included 1 cup of skim milk, 7 frozen strawberries and 1/4 fat free cottage cheese blended with 1/4 of almonds.
I started the new training regime with is designed to optimize the anabolic (tissue building or synthesis) conditions I have set forth with my new diet. The program is going to be similar to normal crossfit with some metabolic training but the intensity is going to be jacked up and the duration cut down.

So the plan for today's workout was to to 7 sets of 3 reps of back squats, push press and deadlift. On paper this workout seems pretty easy since you can rest as much as you want in between sets. Contrary to this belief, I quickly learned that the enormous amount of neuromuscular stimulation was going to be quite overwhelming.

That being said, unfortunately I didn't make it through all 7 sets, I only got 5. In fact after 2 I was exhausted and could have called it a day.
So here are my numbers

Back squat (3 reps) 225-235-245-255-255
Push press (3 reps) 155-165-165-165-155
Deadlift (3 reps) 315-315-325-325-325

This bout of exercise took roughly 75 minutes and left me deflated. I will not be training until tuesday which makes me happy as tomorrow I will rest and pump my block intake up to 18 blocks with 5x the fats.


Cheers,

Mansquatch

15.11.08

Yesterday was rough. I was starved the whole day and was looking forward to getting back to eating 5x the fat with every zone meal. For breakfast this morning I had a nice 4 block 5x fat meal:
1/2 fat free cottage cheese, 1 cup of pumpkin, 2 egg omelet with diced veggies, and 1/4 of mixed nuts.

Next is was off to the work out today. We did a WOD called Ryan, it was pretty tough and it took me roughly 14 and 1 half minutes. After the workout I came home to a nice lunch which consisted of:
4 oz. chicken breast
1 cup of pumpkin w/ 1 cup of apple sauce 2 4tbsp of peanuts and 1 splenda (god bless artificial sweeteners) .

So for the rest of the day I am going to relax and do some reading and hopefully catch the big UFC fight.

Here is the first of many depositions on my blog of some personal recipes that I have created that are delicious and zone/paleo nutritious.

Recipe #1: Poor man's chicken stir fry (2 blocks 5x fats)
2 cups of broccoli
2 oz. boneless, skinless chicken
1 tsp garlic
1 bell pepper
1 tbsp of crushed peanuts
1/2 tbsp of garlic flavored olive oil
Asian seasonings to taste

If you just want a 2 block zone meal without the 5x fat just lubricate you pan or wok with pan instead of olive oil. Start with the peanuts, garlic and broccoli then once they have broken down a little add you chicken and bell pepper. Season right become serving.

This recipe costs roughly 2 bucks for the ingredients and takes 7 minutes to prepare.
More zone friendly-affordable-delicious meals to come.

Once again, if you have any questions I will gladly address them is future posts.

Cheers,
Mansquatch

Rest day but experienceing DOMS

Just had my micrsostructure exam and I think it went pretty well. Today I will enjoy some rest (no exercise) and get back to eating 16 blocks with single fats. I think this will be a rough day because all of a sudden the fats that were giving me the wonderful full feeling, are gone.

I am also experiencing DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. This isn't because of the high lactic acid cencentrations I endured during yesterdays FGB, and its not because of a possible acid-base imbalance in my fat-ridden diet. No DOMS is due to microdamage in the myofibrils of my muscles. Whenever we workout and lift something that we are not used to our bodies take of this stress and incur some slight damage. Luckily this is a good thing because just a the micro damage can occur, so can the repair. This is a compensatory mechanism as our repair themselves to take on the same workout, load, or challenge. Also this is basically how we put on muscle or our muscles swell up. The more damage the fibers incur the more likely they will grow back larger than prior to their damaged state.

So all that being said I welcome my soreness. Right now I am going to have a pear and 2 cheese sticks and then read about the wonderful world of gene applification (boooo).

Any questions, comments, concerns or criticisms are gladly welcomed!

Zac

13.11.08 WOD

I am not in my lab waiting for my e. coli to grow, so I'll tell you about this mornings WOD. Today I did the notorious FIGHT GONE BAD, with the intentions of finally cracking 300 for the 3 round challenge. This thinking was somewhat counter-intuitive since my diet has changed significantly and I feel less than prime.
However I got after it today and somehow pulled out a new PR of 308, which is up from 298 in my previous attempt. It should also be noted that in my previous go at FGB I also used a shorter box than the one I used today, so today's performance was an advancement on many levels.

Tomorrow will be a well-deserved rest day in which I will be droping the fat blocks down to just 1X to give my body a break from all that mass-gaining fat. I also have an exam in my microstructure class which I am not looking forward to, I'd rather do Fran!

All the best,
Besos,

Mansquatch

12.11.08

Yesterday was more of the same. I did a workout that entailed 25 pushups, 25 pullsups, 25 burpees for 5 rounds for time. I did it in 26:30 which isn't bad but not great either. I have felt average in my workouts for quite some time now. I guess I am waiting for a tough workout which I just breeze through, which will not happen in crossfit.

Here is what I ate on wednesday. Please note that this is a really strict diet with the primary focus on gaining lean tissue (slabs of plumpy muscle). If you are reading this and would like to follow a diet with the goal of weight loss in mind, eat the fruits and veggies but just curtail the fat consumption to a small fraction. I am eating 5 times the fat I usually would so maybe follow this and eat 20% the fats I have listed, if you have fat loss in mind.

Post-workout Breakfast (4 block): 1 cup of pumpkin, 1/2 cup of apple sauce w/ 1 splenda
1 cup of skim milk and 2 tbsp of peanut butter
2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites
1/4 cup of cashews

Lunch (4block): 1 whole avocado w/ 4 oz. of 96% lean ground beef
4 cups of broccoli w/ 2 tbsp of olive oil-based dressing
1/2 cup of pumpkin w 1/2 cup of apple sauce

Snack (2 block): 2 sting cheeses, 1 pear, 1/4 cashews

Dinner (4 blocks): 4 oz. of chicken cooked in 1/2 onion, 2 tbsp of peanuts, and 1/2 tbsp of olive oil (garlic flavored)
1 cucumber, 2 roma tomatoes, 1/2 tbsp of olive oil all mixed together with 2 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese
desser: 1/2 apple w/ chili and lime juice (I have a mexican girlfriend)

Snack (2 blocks): 1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese, 1 apple, and 1/4 smoked almonds



I hope this helps enyone out there who is curious about nutrition or would like to amplify their performance. I will gladly take any questions and address them in future posts.

Cheers,


Zac

Meals of 11.11.08

The WOD yesterday for my was power cleans, which I alluded to previously, but here is a quick list of the foods I ate. I think I will be able to get through this high fat diet, but so far I am noticing some gastrointestinal stress. I am pretty gassy, which is not good, and I have to go to the bathroom quite frequently. As my body adapts to the new diet I think the results will coming pouring in and I will start to gaining some strength and muscularity.

So heres what fueled the mansquatch yesterday:

Postworkout (4blocks 5x fats) 1 cup of pumpkin w/ splenda and cinnamon
2 whole eggs + 2 egg white omelet w/ 1 cheese stick
1 cup of milk w/ 7 frozen strawberries blended together w/ 3 tbsp of simply the best peanut butter (get this stuff at walmart its unreal)

Lunch (4 blocks 5x fats) 1 whole avocado
4 cups of broccoli with olive oil-based dressing
1 cup of no sugar added apple sauce mixed w/ 1 cup of fat free cotttage cheese (delicious)

Snack (2 blocks 5x fats) 2 cheese sticks, 1 apple, 1/4 of cashews

dindin (4 blocks 5x fats) 6 cups of lettuce w/ salad dressing
2 whole eggs + 4 egg whites
1 apple
3 tbsp of simply the best pb (honestly go buy this stuff)

Snack (2 blocks 5x fats) 4 cups of broccoli with cheese sauce
1/4 cup of almonds
1/2 of fat free cottage cheese


There you have it folks!
Chime in on what you think

Veterens day/Rememberance Day (Canada)

To all of those who have fallen and to those who has risked it all on our behalfs, I salute you.
To CWO Kenneth King of the US MARINES, you are doing us all very proud!

On a lighter note, today before class I came in a worked on my power cleans. My technique is certaintly not textbook and the resulting weight I lifted showed that. I executed 7 singles at 185 ibs which is ok but certainly not breathtaking. I think once the new diet kicks in I will feel great and my lifts will improve exponentially.


All the best,

Hildie

Botched Calculations

Some how I ended up eating 10x zone blocks. I remembered that a protein block carried 1.5 g fat, so in actuality a complete P/F/C block contains 3.0g of fat. What I did was multiple the 3.0 by 5 with every meal and not the 1.5. Right now I am feeling awful with noticeable gastrointestinal stress. My miscalculation may result in a poor workout tomorrow be we will have to wait and see.

In all honesty I think I should be able to handle this new diet now that I have revealed my retarded mistake.
I will keep you posted with how my next couple days of feeding turn out.

Cheers!

Starting mass gain diet 10.11.08

I am starting a new diet in hopes of gaining some quality weight. Luckily it is winter, so I won't have to show off my newly-acquired dinner rolls anytime soon!

So here is the schematic: week one (test): 16 blocks of CHO and PRO w/ 80 blocks of fat

First couple meals of the day: (1) 2 eggs, 1 apple, 4 tbsp of simply the best peanut butter (which is fucking awesome)

(2) 2 cups of broccoli, 1 apple, 3 oz lean turkey, 1 avocado (whole!), and 1/4 cup of assorted nuts

(3) 3/4 cup of ff cottage cheese, 1 cup of sf apple sauce, 3/4 cup of almonds!


Its alot of fat but lets home this helps the mansqautch get swole!

Cheers!

Mansqautch Menifesto

With the advice from my David, I have developed this blog in hopes of collaborating, networking, and helping those who care to take my advice to heart. I loved to talk about science, crossfit training, zone dieting, music, or anything.

Feel free to speak from your heart and take my breath away with your mind.


Cheers