Shorten Your Slumps
June 9th, 2010
We all fall off the wagon once in a while. It is incredibly hard to maintain an elite level of fitness or nutrition all the time. We strive … and we do our best. But hey, we are only human, after all.
Recently, I hit a slump. I want to share the story of this experience with you, in the hope that it provides a learning point. I’m not quite sure how or when the slump began exactly. It was around Memorial Day. I missed a few WODs during a busy time at work with an unusually high level of travel. Plus, with the holiday weekend, I was at several family gatherings with good food, desserts, cold beer, etc. I’ll bet you know the scenario. (Remember the “Trigger Foods” post?) Then, that all rolled into my son’s birthday weekend with more celebrations, cake & ice cream and special meals.
Cut to the chase. After nine days, I had fallen off the nutrition and fitness bandwagon. My meals had devolved from Pale/Primal into a carb-fest. I did not work out for eight days. Oh, and along the way, I got sick. My sleeping pattern went to crap and my energy level plummeted.
After a nine-day slump, I returned to the box for a FF WOD. I have begun to tighten-up my eating. Though I am still not back to where I need to be, I have turned the corner and have begun to “right the ship.”
So what’s the lesson? First, we all hit slumps. They are inevitable. But the good thing is that this slump only lasted 9 days. A couple years ago (pre-Crossfit), my slump would have continued for who knows how many days, weeks or months. Heck, I probably would have continued on my sorry path until I could no longer button my pants comfortably. (I’m not exaggerating.)
Champions (and those who aspire to be one) know how to shorten their slumps. Do you have warning systems that tell you when you’re in a slump? Do you have red-flag warnings that trigger your mind to say, “Hey, snap out of it?” Do you weigh yourself? Do you keep track of your food? Do you journal your workouts?
Post your warning signs and health-maintenance tips and share them with the tribe. And as always, post your meals to comments.
Contributed by Tin Man Skip
Posted in 18 Responses to “Shorten Your Slumps”
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Nice post Skip….I will have to admit its time to change FF’s ship. Seen some good changes but nothing great…time to apply some pressure.
Helluva post tin man. I myself have fallen off the wagon more than my share of times. I forget to journal my workout or i’ll have a cheat meal and say “oh that’s my cheat meal for the week”. And i’ll end up saying that about 6 times that week. Well it’s time to turn up the heat at Thunder
I received my order of Progenex Recovery and More Muscle last night!! I am very excited to start both after hearing the results that Coach J and Jeb are experiencing. I have not been recovering well and finding that I have to take more rest days than I would like so I am excited to see what Progenex will do for my recovery time. I will post my results.
I think it’s safe to say that all if us have fallen off the wagon at some point. The end of winter and all of spring have been particularly difficult for me now that I am working more plus raising kids. One thing I have found to be true is that good nutrition is KEY. I always tell my coaching and nutrition clients that diet is 70-80% of your success.
When I eat poorly I feel much worse than if I don’t workout. I’m sluggish, sleepy and grouchy after eating sugar and other crappy foods.
What’s the solution? Get back on track ASAP. Don’t let one (or two) slip-ups snowball into a week (or two). Vow to post your food on the site and keep a journal so you will have to be accountable to yourself,
6/10/10
meal 1: in blender- scoop whey, cup almond milk, 2/3c blueberries, T sunbutter
meal 2: 2 hard boiled eggs, peach
meal 3: 3 oz chicken salad ( made w/ snow peas, water chestnuts, evoo and other yummy ingredients – will def post recipe!)
meal 4; 3 oz chicken salad, svg carrots
water, coffee, mv
2010-06-10
3eggs, 1oz. cheese, 3 slices center cut bacon, 1c blueberries, 1slice wheat toast, 1 tbs. butter. 2g fish oil coffee
4c lettuce, 1 bell pepper, 4oz meat loaf, 1oz ham, 2 tbs ranch dressing. 2g fish oil diet coke
spinach salad, and salmond, @ Bob Evans. 2 Klassiek Lagers 2g fish oil
Protein drink post WOD.. Snacks: Cashews about a cup of them…..
Ok first post on the nutrion blog.
Starting off with my goals:
My current goal is to drop below 20% BF. I’m sitting right around 28% right now. Ultimate goal would be low teens but I fully understand that this will be a long road to get there.
First off my weakest link is my diet (ok the 8 month vacation from the box is also an issue, but I’m back and I’m here to stay)
Yesturday:
Meal 1: Krogers Carbmaster Yogart (decent protien for yogart and tastes better than greek)
Meal 2: Jimmy Johns Turkey Club
Meal 3: Thai Peanut Curry (at the Thai House)
3000mg Fishoil
5000mg of Vitamin D
Ok bad start to my diet log.
Meal 1: post wod choco milk
Meal 2: 4 eggs, 5 pices bacon, protein shake
Meal 3: 2 large roast beef sandwiches from Arnys ( no bun )
Meal 4: 2 chicken breasts, handful of almonds
Meal 5: protein shake
Meal 6: 2 chicken breasts, corn, greenbeens
1 gallon water, multi vita pack, resveratrol, beta-alanine, fish oil
June 11:
1. Egg with 1 slice of bacon and 1 slice of cheese
2. Wendy’s bacon/bleu burger, bun removed
3. handful of Ann’s House Chocolate Anti-Oxidant Mix (raisins, dried cranberries, almonds and chocolate bits)
4. Dinner out at Frankie D’s, Huntington (cheat meal): 2 and 1/2 slices of pizza topped with italian sausage, onions and banana peppers, ate the crust and all, plus 3 glasses white wine)
Coffee, Iced Tea, Water
Thursday:
Meal 1: 4 eggs, 4 slices of bacon
Meal 2: 1 1/2 cups of sliced strawberries and kiwi
Meal 3: Double Baconator 86 bun, mayo and ketchup
Meal 4: Post WOD Muscle milk with organic skim 20oz
Meal 5: Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon (9oz) with 1/2 cup of vegetable fried rice.
8g Fish Oil
Coffee and water
June 10 – 8 hours sleep
1- shake
2- burger, cheese, fruit
3- muscle milk
4- chicken salad, snow peas, almonds, walnuts
Supp: mv pack, ginseng, 3g fish oil, ginko, green tea, melatonin
Friday, June 11 – 8 hours sleep
1- shake
**** upcoming post here on Nutrition site featuring Coach Lis’ delicious shake recipe
2- mixed nuts/seed – almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds raisins – approx 1.5c
3- 5 oz. salmon, rice w/coconut milk, sweet potato fries
3a – small scoop of cinnamon ice cream from Ellen’s
4- preWOD spirulina/whey blend
5- postWOD chocolate milk 16 oz.
6- 4 oz. ham, handful blueberries
7- small Frosty shake from Wendy’s
********* Yeah, my diet sucked today. No will power — and these crazy new dairy cravings.
Supplements: mv pack, bromelain, melatonin, 4g fish oil, bluegreen algae, ginseng, ginko, green tea
Friday, June 11th
Meal 1: Post WOD Muscle Milk 20oz
Meal 2: Four egg and cheese omelet
Meal 3: 1/2 cup of strawberries and blackberries
Meal 4: Large garden salad with bacon, eggs and veggies with homemade BV dressing
Meal 5: Post WOD Muscle Milk
Meal 6: 12oz honey mustard grilled chicken breast with green beans
coffee and water
8g fish oil and my bi~monthly vitamin D Pill (50,000 units)
Welcome back Mike……:)
Supplements as of late:
4 grams beta-alanine
9 grams omega 3
10,000 iu’s Vitamin D
Progenex recovery post WOD w/ 16 oz milk
Just had lab work last Friday. Excited to see where my Vitamin D levels are. Feeling good lately…strength slowing gaining, but feeling really good on medium time WOD’s,and longer WOD’s are coming around.
Saturday, June 12 – 8 hours sleep
No ice cream – no dairy!!! Woohoo!
1- homemade french toast, 7 strips center-cut bacon
2- salad with farm-fresh romain, 6 oz. baked chicken breast, walnuts, strawberries.
3- 2T sunbutter, 4 oz ham
4- (cheat meal) frozen pizza, blue corn chips, ETOH, dark chocolate
Sunday, June 13 – 9.5 hours sleep
1- chicken strawberry poppyseed salad at Panera
2- postWOD recovery drink
3- Muscle Milk shake
4- 8 oz. turkey burger, apple slices, blue corn chips
Supplements: fish oil, multi-vit pack, bromelain, ginseng, green tea extract
Saturday, June 13 ~ 7 hours of sleep
Meal 1: Post WOD muscle milk 20oz
Meal 2: 1 1/2 cups of strawberries, blackberries and blueberries
Meal 3: 12oz of sliced turkey and 1 apple
Meal 4: 12oz of seared Ahi tuna with seaweed salad and the crab stuffed filet of sole with asparagus.
8g of fish oil
water, coffee and 1 glass of cabernet
Sunday ~ 9 hours of sleep (too much)
Meal 1: 5 eggs scrambled with homemade salsa and guacamole
Meal 2: POST WOD muscle milk 20oz
Meal 3: 1 apple and 1 orange
Meal 4: Homemade tukey meatballs with vegetable marinara
8g fish oil
water and coffee
Well I have definately been slacking when it comes to posting my meals. Which basically equates to the fact that I have been eating like crap for the past two weeks!
Meal 1: pepperoni and cheese
Meal 2: cauliflower & 2 chicken sausages w/ spinach & cheese
Meal 3: salad w/ grilled chicken
Back from Cali and back on track
1:4 turkey sausage links, apple, milk
2: 4oz turkey breast, spinach salad mix with low fat raspberry vinaigrette dressing, almonds
3: 1oz turkey, almonds
4: 3oz pork chop, 1/4c cottage cheese, asparagus, green beans, grapes, 2tsp bbq sauce, 1 tsp pb
5: peach, cottage cheese, handful peanuts
water, 3g fish oil, diet pepsi (jet lag, not enough sleep)