Sand and Sweat

Three person teams doing relays of burpees, sprints and kettle bell swings at Natural Bridges on Saturday morning.

Kettle bell swings at the top of the hill.

Hitting the water after the workout.

CrossFit Santa Cruz Saturday Workout Crew!

Check out more pictures from yesterdays Beach Workout.

Thanks to all of you who showed up and endured hill sprints, kettle bell swings and burpees in the soft sand! For those of you who are starting the Zone Competition on Monday, please let us know if you have questions about anything. I recommend that you go to the store today and stock up on items that will easily keep you in the zone all week. I went to the store today and here are the meals I am going to make myself on Monday. Maybe listing them will help those of you who are new to this. Start simple!

Breakfast: 3 blocks
2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites scrambled with 3 tbls of avocado
1 whole apple and 1 cup of strawberries

Lunch: 3 blocks
Spread 3 tbls of avocado on 1 slice of sprouted wheat bread. Put 2 oz sliced deli turkey on top of that, and add 1 oz of sliced cheese over the top. Stick the whole thing in a toaster oven, or place in a slightly oiled frying pan over medium heat. Heat until cheese is melted and bread is toasted on the bottom.
1/2 of an apple

Snack: 2 blocks
2 cheese sticks
2 kiwis
6 almonds

Dinner: 3 blocks
Salad with 3 oz of grilled chicken breast, 3 cups romaine lettuce, 1 cup spinach, 1/2 of a sliced cucumber, 1/2 of a sliced apple, 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes, 1/4 cup celery, 1 tsp olive oil and as much balsamic vinegar as I need

Snack: 1 block
3 oz of Fage 2% plain yogurt mixed with 1 sliced peach

Hope this helps!
-M

Workout:
How many rounds in 15 minutes of:
5 burpees
100 meter uphill sprint
10 kettle bell swing
100 meter downhill sprint

Comments

[Gloria Jean]

Starting Monday? I already started last night! I even went out and bought a scale. Thanks for the meal ideas. I think that I'm going to have the same as you all day but cut out three blocks. Thanks to the class saturday, I'm pretty sure that I've got it figured out. I have a couple of questions, though. 1. where do drinks like coffee, SoBe Lean, diet soda, etc. fit in, if at all and 2.what are the 7 key workouts to focus on since I doubt that I'll get to the westside more than once a week right now.

btw...GREAT PICS!

[Heather]

That was a fun workout... we need to do beach day at least once a month this summer.

Gloria - I'm not an expert but I don't think that artificial sweeteners fit in at all. They don't have carbs, of course, but they make it soooooooooooooooooooooooo much harder to get off the sugar train. If your body still gets 'sweet' its going to continue to crave sweet. I love diet coke but I find that whenever I drink it, about 45 minutes later I have a weird and overwhelming hunger that tempts me to grab at anything. Although - everyone is different and it may work for some.

As far as coffee, I think that hard-core, bad-ass zoners/elite athletes don't do caffeine. But lots of zoners do do caffeine. As long as you don't add the sugar its fairly zone friendly (I could be wrong on this - Danielle is the expert). Adding milk or cream, however, adds protein, fat, etc.. so make sure to count it in your block prescription. For me, with 10 measly blocks a day, I think I'm going to get used to black coffee :)

[Bre]

Got a couple of question about the Zone:
1) Being a 27 year old, 115lb, active female how do I know how many blocks to consume each meal and each day?
2) Where can I find a list or something that can help me transfer foods into number of blocks?
3) Would you recommend any of the Zone products? They look like they have a lot of sugar and carbs in them.
thanks

[Gloria Jean]

Makes sense to me that even 'fake' sweets will make you crave sweets. No diet soda for me for a while! I almost always drink my coffee black so for now I'm going to continue with my morning brew. If that turns out to be my only food vice then I should see considerable improvement soon! I hope so, anyway!

[Adrian]

That looks like fun!

[Heather]

Bre, you can find lots of info about the zone including how to calculate your block prescription at www.zonediet.com

Also, here is a link to the food block list that I use, although I'm sure there are many others out there.

http://www.zonediet.com/EATING/QuickStartGuide/tabid/108/Default.aspx

Gloria - I bet if we're really good about not drinking diet soda, we won't even like it after 6 weeks. I hope so anyway :)

[Mallee]

Gloria,
Diet drinks are better than fully loaded regular sodas. If you have to drink it, stay with diet, but cutting it out completely would be better. Lean drinks usually still have carbs in them, so make sure you count them towards the blocks you are allowed. They seem like a waste of blocks to me if you are already dealing with being hungry, but treating ourself to one now and then and accouinting for the blocks is fine. Coffee is allowed. I actually think it helps dull the hunger! If it's good for you is another question! Like Heather mentioned, if you add sugar or milk, make sure to count them in the blocks you are eating. But, having it black means you don't have to count anything. Some of the workouts we might be giving to measure your gains are, tabata this, max pullups, max deadlift, 1000 meter row, 1 mile run, Fight Gone Bad, Fran, and Helen. Good luck and see you soon!

[Mallee]

Bre,
I also like the block chart that Heather listed. There is a lot of info on Dr. Sear's other site, http://www.drsears.com/Home/tabid/330/Default.aspx . You can calculate how many blocks to eat there also, although, I'm not sure how exact it is. Use it as a starting point and make changes as needed. You might also buy a Zone book and do the calculations yourself and then go with an average if you get different numbers. The Zone bars are ok when you don't have anything else. You are right that they are a little unbalance, but they are better than skipping a meal or eating something completely out of the zone.