2.5 Pound Edge

Do slightly more.

Reflecting

In every competition, there are certain thresholds that a lot of people can reach.  If you can go just a tiny bit further, you can pass a lot of people who showed up to go only that far.  In backyard ultras, it is the thirteenth hour of running.  If you start at a given time, say 6:30 PM, there will be a lot of runners on their feet at 6:30 AM the next morning.  But if you can push through that next hour, you will find yourself running in a far smaller crowd.

In CrossFit, pretty much everyone reaches for the same bumper plates – red is 55 lbs, blue is 45, yellow is 35, and green is 25.  The bar weights a bit over 44 lbs or about 45 lbs including clips.  For something like a one rep max thruster (which just showed up in the second CrossFit Open workout), people are going to be putting on weights in these increments.  Most PRs are in these round lots and everyone is shooting for around their PR. 

So add an odd lot weight.  The smallest that Rogue makes is their white 1.25 lb change plate.  Slip one on each side to slip past your PR and past the competition.  Even sneakier, if the person next to you is matching your weights, sneak one between two full sized plates.  But what matters is going heavier.  And the easiest way is in the smallest possible increment.  You probably can’t even feel the 2.5 lbs.  And it can make a huge difference on the leaderboard. 

Training

This morning’s partner WOD:

4 Rounds

• 60 Cal Bike

• 120 Heavy DU's (5 lb rope)

• 400ft Farmer's Carry 70s (in the falling snow)

Then next run:

Fueling

People are complaining about egg prices, but even at their peak they are about the best deal going per gram of protein.  I go through piles of chicken, duck, and goose eggs.  Even better?  Raise your own!  My sister just started raising chickens and they’re producing like crazy:

As far as meat, one of the best deals pound for pound is from Agridime.  $5,323.23 per 627 lb box comes to $8.49 per pound of premium butchered prepackaged beef.  Get some.*

*If you have the extra fridge space. 

This is what a whole cow includes:

• 210 (16 oz. pkg.) Grain Fed 80% Lean/20% Fat Ground Beef

• 30 (16 oz. pkg.) Grain Fed 90% Lean/10% Fat Ground Beef

• 55 (16 oz. pkg.) Grain Fed Stew Meat

• 35 (16 oz. pkg.) Grain Fed Beef Strips

• 8 (3lb pkg.) Grain Fed Brisket (or Whole Brisket, based on availability)

• 30 (2lb pkg.) Grain Fed Chuck Roast

• 10 (8 oz.) Grain Fed Flat Iron Steak

• 10 (8 oz.) Grain Fed Center Cut Sirloin

• 26 (10 oz.) Grain Fed New York Strip

• 27 (12 oz.) Grain Fed Ribeye Steak

• 53 (12 oz.) Grain Fed Round Steak

• 25 (2lb pkg.) Grain Fed Rump Roast

• 4 (2.5lb pkg.) Grain Fed Short Ribs (or Short Rib Bone In, based on availability)

• 14 (12 oz.) Grain Fed Sirloin Tip Steak

• 5 (2lb pkg.) Grain Fed Skirt Steak

• 27 (6 oz.) Grain Fed Tenderloin (Filet Mignon)

• 13 (12 oz.) Grain Fed Top Sirloin Steak

If you don’t have quite that much space, then you might need to order a bit less.  Force of Nature has a 20% off Bison sale this weekend.

Supplementing

Due to Covid, the federal government went through a bout of temporary sanity on the topic of telehealth prescriptions.  For five hot minutes, a doctor and patient were able to interact remotely and make pharma decisions that served their needs based on lab work and judgment.  No longer.  The administration and DEA are cutting that off shortly so if you have a telehealth prescription you might want to reload it one last time before it goes away. 

Measuring

Something fun about the CrossFit Open is that so many people compete (13,951 male RX athletes in my age group worldwide) that almost anything you do in the Open passes someone.  You can’t really do much about strength or skills at the last moment, but you can cut the fat in terms of efficient transitions which can help shoot you up the leaderboard. 

Recovering

Locking in the daily sauna.  Fits in well right after CrossFit or jiu jitsu and has been a good deload from movement, noise, and busyness. 

Closing

Thanks for reading!

Fitness stuff:

Finance stuff:

36,671 people want to get rich and only 809 want to get jacked…  The real category killers get both.