The past few weeks have been hell on the body.  I have no one to blame but myself.  My diet has been a mess and the only exercise I have done is some light rolling.  I was rudely awakended to this fact after rolling at AKA the other day where I literally almost lost it.  It has been a long time since I pushed my body that far - and it was only a medium roll.  Yikes!

So now I am determined to get back on the path.  This means finding the time to actually work out with some weights a few times a week and definitely fixing the diet.  On the food front, I have things pretty dialed in.  I simply follow a paleo diet - that means lean meats, some fruit, some nuts, lots of water and no starches, no sugars. There are a lot of resources out there on this, but Loren Cordain's book the Paleo Diet seems to be a solid single source if you're looking for one.

On the workout side, it's a bit tougher.  Between work, family and the three bjj classes a week I am pretty tapped out.  However, I can't fold that easy.  My plan is to workout in the mornings Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  Sure it means I need to wake up a bit earlier, but unless I want to carry a little bucket to every roll, I need to do it.  Since many people I respect are big believers in Crossfit, I am going that route.  Quick, high intensity workouts is where it is at for me.  Now since I don't belong to a gym and time is of the essence (ie. communting to a gym is a non-starter), I plan to build a very modest garage gym.  This means a barbell, some weights and a bar for pull-ups.  This will cover me for squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and dips (using rings I'll hang on the bar).  Honestly, I think this is enough to crush me 3x a week.

If this sounds like fun to you too, and you want to set up a garage gym, there is no better resource than this issue of the Crossfit Journal.   If you are looking for the very best in nutritional advice, I encourage you to subscribe to Performance Menu.  This journal is published by Greg Everett and often includes the writings of  Robb Wolf - A chemist who got into nutrition and exercise to apply his lab experience to changing people's lives for the better.  Oh, and he's a fellow BJJ player, so you gotta love that.

I'll check back in on this project in about a month.  See you on the mat!

Paul

Photo credit to CrossFit Atlanta