Progress...

On many occasions over the history of this blog, I have posted about my progress in fitness.

Running Speed Progress...
CrossFit Progress...
Strength Progress...

Unfortunately, I have rarely written about the progress of my overall health. Sure, running faster, growing stronger, jumping farther are all aspects of my health. But during all this time, I never felt like I "hit the nail on the head" with improving my overall health.

I am a numbers nerd (funny since I teach English & Literature). Over the past 5 or 6 years, my wife and I have done a weekly weigh-in and written it down in a chart. We felt this would be a motivation for us to see our progress & a tool for accountability. Honestly, at times it was depressing to watch my weight slowly creep up. Other times, the numbers made me kick into action to take control of those numbers.

My action always revolved around physical activity (training for marathon, Urbanathlon, CrossFit, P90X, 603PTP). Sometimes it would touch on my eating habits too (P90X Nutrition Guide). But something was always missing. What was it?

...more intensity?
 ...more commitment?
...my genes just suck?
...I'm just getting older?
...my eating habits?

Every time I took up one of these activities, I always read the sidebar that said, "In order to see REAL PROGRESS, you must take care of your diet." Taking care of your diet is pretty vague. So without concrete steps (except for P90X), I never really considered my eating habits. Until recently...

So in the name of self-experimentation, I devoured It Starts With Food, The Perfect Health Diet, and blog posts from the most proliferate Paleo writers. And committed to their guidance along with doing the Whole30 with my wife. So would I see any progress in my overall health (weight, energy, strength, etc)?

YES! This chart only shows one side of the progress, but I can tell you "YES" for every aspect of this health progress too. Now to sustain it. Let's see what this chart looks like 6, 9, & 12 months down the road. But at this moment, I completely agree that real health progress is a result of what you put into your body, not necessarily what you physically do with your body (although that matters too). And taking care of your diet is concrete when you follow It Starts With Food and other clear resources. Seek them out!

*Knowing how/what to eat is important too. Check out the resources to the right of this post to find some that I have found very helpful!

Returning to My Purpose: February 2013

Blogging: my friend & my enemy! Many years ago (relative in Internet years) I started this blog as a way to keep me accountable with my fitness goals (CrossFit & Running). Those years were good to me as I was able to build a good amount of strength through CrossFit. However, as time went by, the blogging process became redundant, and I wondered if anyone out there really cared about my "journey." So I lost steam and disappeared for periods of time.

Most recently, I shifted my strength training focus from CrossFit to 603PTP as hosted by Whole9. I loved that nearly 40 day adventure too. I saw gains in my power & strength, but after that process, I had no idea where to go with my blogs. So I disappeared for a year. Well, now I am back with a brand new "purpose & passion." I have had a journey that makes me excited to shout it from the mountain tops (the Internet is now the highest mountain I can think of). So here's what brings me back...

In October 2012, my beautiful wife encouraged me to go to the doctor because I had mentioned some tightness in my chest over the recent months. As a stubborn male, I brushed it off until she made an appointment for me without my knowing. As I reluctantly sat there in the doctor's office, the nurse took my vitals. Height. Weight. Temperature. Blood Pressure. Blood Pressure. "Wait...why is she taking my blood pressure a third time," I wondered. Yes, she took it three times! At that point, I knew something was truly wrong with me. She looked me in the eye and said, "Your blood pressure is way high. 180/120. That's not good." So the doctor gave me the ultimatum; "You must do something to get that blood pressure lower. This is a path you do not want to go down." And with that, he prescribed me my first old man medication.

So I went home after picking up my red bottle full of pills, told my wife the bad news, and started researching. I knew of some programs proven to improve the health of those who followed them, so I started there. I started with the Whole9 website because I had previous experience with it (603PTP). I also started to devour their book, It Starts With Food. I pondered, "Could I actually improve my situation with this diet or lifestyle?" The "paleo lifestyle" seemed a bit foreign, but could I do an experiment with myself to see if things could get any better? So I committed to it.

The doctor wanted to see me again in 4 weeks, so in November, I went back. In that 4 week period, I strictly followed a "paleo protocol" and researched the heck out of everything revolving around this new lifestyle. I focused completely on my food intake and put aside exercise for that time. I wanted to "get it right." So I sat on that doctor's table again as the same nurse took my vitals. She looked at me and said, "You had really high blood pressure the last time you were here." I nodded as she wrapped my arm and squeezed the bulb. She took her measurements and smiled; "120/80. Much better." The doctor gave me a quizzical look and asked the important question, "How did you do it?" I mentioned focusing on my food intake of meats, vegetable, fruits, & healthy fats and adopting a lifestyle of lower stress. He was quite impressed. So I continued doing the paleo lifestyle that had proven to work for me and my health.

Today, I am here shouting from my mountain top that WHAT YOU EAT REALLY MATTERS! Here I stand, 27 pounds lighter and weighing less than I did at my most intense exercise periods in 2005, 2007, & 2008 as I trained for the Chicago Marathon and with CrossFit. Here I type, excited to return to blogging and sharing every step of purpose.

Workout 2/3/2012: Broad Jumpin' Foo'

Just to explain where I'm at with my fitness and what I am doing to improve, here's a little blurb. In January, I finished the 603PTP workout plan. It was great. I was moving heavy weight, I was losing weight, and by the end, I was hitting personal records in two lifts--the deadlift and the shoulder press. I was pleased with the progress.

Then February approached, and I decided to play around a bit with doing a little PTP-type work on the pull-up and the front squat as a bridge prior to starting a boxing regimen until March.

Well, things got funky then. Track & Field started, and I coach that sport. If any of you coach a sport, you know how consuming it can be, so boxing had to be scratched. So now I've decided to continue with the PTP-style workouts and modeling them from 603PTP. So what you will see is a repeat of some of the workouts I was doing in December and January.

The fun part for me is comparing the numbers and results. AND TODAY'S WAS PARTICULARLY TELLING!!! I love that PTP doesn't just make me a more powerful lifter, but the power shows in other ways. In December, 606PTP Workout #3 Cash-out looked like this:
Broad Jump "150 feet" in 25 Jumps
Two months later, I'm jumping the same workout, and I yield these results:
Broad Jump "150 feet" in 21 Jumps!

Talk about a feeling of improvement. Now doing front squats and pull-ups, we'll see what comes.

Workout:
Warm-up: Jump Rope, "Down Dog" Stretch, & Tucker's Shoulder Stretch

Pull-ups: 5 Body-weight, Dead-hang Pull-ups; 5 of the same

Front Squat: 5 @ 115#; 5 @ 105#

Cash-out: Broad Jump "150 feet" (21 Jumps)