8/1/11

Operation Lift-o-Lot/Eat-o-Lot*

Hey everyone! Meagan's done a great job of ramping us all up, and I am PUMPED to get this six-week show on the road. You've seen the ground rules: 6 weeks to work towards your goals (whatever they may be) with check-ins at least twice a week.  First week check-ins should happen under our Day 1 post.  Original goals can be posted here.  A new check-in post will go up everyday.

Invite your friends for encouragement. Invite your enemies and invoke fear in them as you grow lean and mean. Do whatever you want, as long as it continues you on your path to badassery. Folks, we are going to OWN these next 6 weeks. 

This time around I'll be embarking on what I like to call "Operation Lift-o-Lot*/Eat-o-Lot." After years of everyone telling me how to focus on losing weight, I'm going to spend some time focused on gaining some serious muscle mass. That's right--I'll be working a mass gain plan.

My inspiration: Staci. She's a few inches taller than me and a whole lot heavier than me, but it's clear that each pound is full of 100% certified badassery. And I want in. It's no secret that I have a life-long goal of becoming generally badass. Staci has revealed a whole new path towards it.

My Plan: After a plateaued year at the Monkey Bar Gym, and a ridiculously sad 30-Day challenge with them full of fail (after 30-days of 1-3 workouts per day, I ended up losing a pound of muscle, gaining 2% bodyfat, and feeling generally terrible), I'm going back to what I love: crossfit and paleo.

Workouts:
I've joined up with Crossfit Sanctify, who conveniently believes in heavy lifts and short metcons, just like my favorite trainers Tony and Karen taught me. The goal is 3-4 sessions of lifting per week. I will also (hopefully, fingers crossed pending the third cut coming up this week), be going to roller derby practice 3x a week. That's 9 hours total of pure tabata/strength/endurance/metcon goodness.

Nutrition:
To make sure that all this hard work results in more muscle and not exhaustion, I'm going to be stuffing my face full of paleo goodness.  I've just wrapped up a Whole 30, and am adding some cheese back in, but that's about it.  My household has gone full paleo and our garden is starting to bloom, so really there should be no excuses.  I'm not shooting for a number of calories per day as much as I want to make sure that everything that goes into my body is doing so for the right reason: to build powerful muscles.

Sleep:
I've noticed that my recovery suffers a lot when I don't sleep enough. On the flipside, I'm also much more tired when I'm lifting heavy.  After working on my cleans on Friday, I needed a nap later in the day.  Two days of derby practice with strength components also left me snoozing in the afternoon.  My goal for the next six weeks is NOT to fight this with coffee .  Instead, I'm going to give my body the rest it deserves.  I'm also going to add Natural Calm back into my daily bedtime regime. It always gives me a deeper, sounder sleep.

Odds & Ends:
There are few benchmarks I'd like to hit along the way:
  1.  Keep my knees from collapsing in derby. 
  2. Work on ankle flexibility and calf stretches. 
  3. Make it to the office by 9am each day.  (I know, I know. The sad thing is, I'm up by 6, just not in the office.)

LET'S DO THIS!




*It's o-lot and not a-lot because 1) I'll be doing O-lifting, and 2) I like to think Gideonstrumpet is giggling at the idea of Operation LOL.


4 comments:

  1. On the opposite end (as far as goals go), I just signed up for this: http://www.destin50.com/index.html

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  2. Karen you are so badass in signing up for that: I shuddered with how hard it looks.

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  3. My goal is to train CF Endurance style and maintain my strength while I increase endurance. I'll post updates here: http://barbellawakening.com

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  4. I remember when you ran with me to help me finish just ONE mile. On pavement. In shoes.

    You are a rockstar for even planning on doing this. Also, how much does one have to eat when prepping endurance style? Does it involve meatza?

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