Fit Friday

This week was numero uno of the LuRong Living Paleo Challenge and, although sick, I managed to complete it:)

This is an eight week challenge for Crossfit affiliates and their athletes. There are individual prizes, team prizes, but the main prize is overall health and fitness for the individual.

I love goals, I love crossing things off my lists, so challenges are even more fun for me:) And, hey, it wasn't until I took Mark Sisson's 21 day challenge that I became passionate {obsessed, perhaps?} about getting the word out in the name of health and happiness! My point: challenges can be life-changing.

This past week I was discussing with some Crossfit members about post-workout drinks. They were telling me about the "cleanest" ones out there and the importance of drinking high protein shakes immediately after a workout. Today, I stopped by a local GNC to check out their protein shake recommendations which all had whey protein and other dairy sources. In Paleo, whey/dairy is not approved because they believe they have anti-nutrients and compounds that cause inflammation/irritation. In Primal, it depends on how a person is able to handle/digest dairy. If you choose whey isolate, you will get more protein with less dairy, however, it will be more processed. If you choose whey concentrate, you will get less protein, but it will not be highly processed. 

Since I am taking the "Paleo" challenge, I obviously did not purchase these drinks and I also know for myself that I do better with minimal dairy, but it did get me thinking and researching about post-workouts...

We hear and learn that carbs are needed to develop muscles and that by refilling our glycogen stores with carbs immediately after a workout we will be ready for the next workout and prevent muscle loss.

Let's remember we are turning our carb burning bodies into a fat burning bodies {remember this post?}, so having all this excess carbs/glucose will ultimately turn into unwanted fat. We want to eat more protein, healthy fats {and good carbs from vegetables, etc.} so that we store and burn fat for energy. Also, we store three grams of water per gram of glycogen, gross! Who needs water weight?

I also read about occasionally fasting after a workout. By doing this, as well as working out intensely, we drive HGH {Hormone Growth Hormone} which has its own way of conserving protein along with many other health benefits. 

Lastly, protein intake after a workout is good, but this is not the only great time our body uses protein to help our muscles.

What to know is: (1) "as long as you keep your hard resistance workout at or under an hour, your body won't need a lot of glycogen to get through it, (2) "all you really need is a protein-rich snack post-workout for glycogen refueling", and (3) occasional fasting post-workout will drive HGH up.

For more information, check out marksdailyapple.com. 

And just for fun;)

WOD

10min AMRAP

5 weighted lunges {knee touching ground each time}

5 air squats

5 box jumps

Happy Friday!