Not Dead Yet

CrossFit, trail running, and Jiu Jitsu

Training

I’ve been enjoying CrossFit, trail running, and Jiu Jitsu.  My other mountaineering training has started to feel like a bit of a chore, so before it risks getting boring I’m going to substitute a bit of biking to the pool for laps.  Outside of organized activities, I have a few daily training rituals that I can do from my desk.  While I try to avoid most multitasking, one exception is when I am on a conference call and there is some truly useless part – disclaimers and increasingly the requisite ESG / DEI stuff that is not my beat – I like having some compact exercise gear in arm’s reach to avoid wasting that time. 

My favorites include this hand and forearm trainer recommended by five time CrossFit champ Mat Fraser.  He offhand mentioned how much he loves it without any sponsorship connection.  Unsurprisingly they sold a ton in the subsequent hours to dudes like me.  His agent said that apparently the key to Mat’s personal endorsements is to not have an endorsement deal with him.  I follow Mat’s routine of 30 seconds on / 30 seconds off for 10 minutes with it each day.  Another forearm and grip trainer that I use each day is from IronMind, one of my favorite sources for grip strength gear.  They have a smaller unit at half the price but this one is 2” knurled steel instead of plastic which is worth the price difference. 

Hydrating

I go through a half gallon of water each day and I make sure I consistently hit that goal with this.  It is important to drink enough and most of that should be water.  But I also have a Bucked Up energy drink before CrossFit for beta alanine (describing this ingredient, Mat Fraser said It gives me a “third lung.”) and a FitAid after for creatine.  For protein, I drink Core Power Elite; it has a lot of protein and tastes fantastic but is also quite caloric – fine under the right circumstances but important to track.  I have a strict 2 PM caffeine cutoff but casually avoid any caffeine after noon.  That is a bit of an issue for late afternoon activities such as weekend Jiu Jitsu or evening runs.  I like something really bracing to perk me up such as ginger with lemon and cayenne or tart cherry juice.  I run very light but always keep a tart cherry juice concentrate in my back pocket.  These aren’t for everybody but they are for me.    

Fueling

My biggest dietary focus is getting enough protein (somewhere around 5-10% of people get enough).  My biggest protein sources are steak and eggs but I top it off with two daily scoops of this whey, in cold brew coffee in the morning and a shake in the afternoon.  I try to avoid snacks, but sip on this bone broth out of the jar in the afternoon.  It is a good substitute for coffee after my caffeine cutoff and is pretty light.  At very high altitude whenever my stomach can’t keep food down, I can always count on bone broth (also white tea) to go down when I don’t feel like anything else.

Recovering

I have spent a fortune on trying every imaginable recovery fad and gimmick from cryotherapy to infrared therapy but my conclusion is to just get some sleep.  For sleep (or shooting or anything else that you want to protect your ears from), these are the best earplugs and this is the best eye mask.  I try to hit eight hours and the same eight hours of sleep each night.  People tend to need seven or eight but the more you’re doing with training, the more you need.  The dumbest brag is when people talk about how little sleep they get or think that they need.  Everyone is better with more up to a full night. 

Supplementing

Everyone should take creatine; it is the best risk:reward for anyone who wants to be stronger (which should be everyone).  No serious side effects and will help with gains in the gym.  I also put a few scoops of beta alanine in my morning cold brew coffee.  It is flavorless but adds an only minorly negative grit to the texture.  It doesn’t really dissolve that well but stays suspended long enough to drink it down.  Finally my regular multivitamin I take two of these – they have enough vitamin D which most people are pretty deficient in and have it balanced with other vitamins.  Over the counter vitamins are all over the place in terms of quality control and dosing accuracy.  This is one of the few companies that my doctor and I trust.

Measuring

I started June with a new InBody scan as well as blood work.  At the beginning of June, I was at an 11 percent body fat (PBF) with a basal metabolic rate (BMR) of slightly over 2,000.  My goal is to keep my PBF in a 10-15% range, optimal for hormonal balance and I’d like to increase my BMR over time.  By the end of the month, there was zero change – same PBF, BMR, and weight.  My total t rose by over 260 on enclomiphene with free t rising by over 2.5x, but it has yet to show demonstrable improvement in the gym.  I doubled my dose from 12.5 mgs to 25 mgs/day of enclomiphene in hopes that is more impactful.  One goal with enclo is to add 5 pounds of lean muscle mass over the next 60 days.  Results TBD.

Hybrid

Between my various interests, there is more crossover appeal to me than to my friends.  My trail running friends love trail running / CrossFit friends love CrossFit / Jiu Jitsu friends love Jiu Jitsu.  Each tribe is generally baffled by the appeal of the others and a low single digit percentages of invitations to try the others get accepted.  But for anyone trying to become a hybrid athlete – strong for a fast guy and fast for a strong guy but knowing that compromise will never perfect strength or endurance running – Omnia Performance has a great new podcast on the topic that is worth a listen.  I’m not crazy! (or, um, not crazier than these two random Scottish guys).