Workout of the Day:
Three sets of:
Front Squat x 4-6 reps
Rest 90 seconds
Knees to Elbows x 8-12 reps
Rest 2 minutes;
and then,
Three rounds for time of:
Hang Power Cleans (155/105 lbs.) x 6 reps
Box Jumps (24″/18″) x 12 reps
400 Meter Run
This is what success looks like for me.
Plan for Success
Written by C.J. Martin
Success is never simply a result of good luck. It is a product of preparing and putting yourself in the right position to benefit from opportunities and lucky breaks, or it is a product of taking advantage of opportunities you created. This is particularly true when it comes to your nutrition.
Eating clean for a full week takes a lot of work. Most of us are not so lucky as to be surrounded during the day with lean proteins, organic vegetables, avocados and nuts. It’s more likely that your workplace has an abundance of preservative-rich, highly processed gems like Hostess donuts, Sun Chips, candy bars, and soda. If you’re lucky, your office treats you to catered donuts and bagels for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and/or Chinese food (with all manner of fried goods) for dinner. And of course, no work environment is complete without bowls of sugary treats – mints, chocolates, butterscotch, etc. – scattered all over the place. So how do you expect to succeed in that environment? Do you have a plan?
Avoiding the temptation of grabbing a free donut or Hershey Kiss is much easier if you have a healthy meal available to you and you are maintaining your blood sugar levels by eating balanced meals throughout the day. But if you’re like me, you don’t have time to come home every night and prepare meals for the next day. So, Sunday and Wednesday are my meal preparation days. Here is my four-step process to ensure that I eat well throughout the week:
Step One: Review my CSA email. I subscribe to a Community Supported Agriculture program that provides me with a box of locally grown, organic vegetables and fruit every week. They send out an email early in the week informing their members what produce will come in their box. I like using everything they give me because (a) I am cheap and don’t want to waste it, and (b) locally grown organic produce tastes one hundred times better than anything I have purchased in a store.
Step Two: Plan my meals. I figure out what I am going to eat at each meal, for each day of the week. I have a long day, so I break mine into 6 meals – early a.m. (5:30), breakfast (8:00), late a.m. (11:00), lunch (2:00), Dinner (5:00), late evening snack (9:00). Here’s what my geeky spreadsheet looks like. (Tough to see, so I will elaborate tomorrow.)
Step Three: Grocery shopping. Based on my meal plan, I can shop effectively for the ingredients I need (and only those ingredients so I don’t waste food).
Step Four: Food preparation and packaging. Bust out your pots, pans and a truckload of Tupperware. Once the food is cooked, portion it out into the serving size in which you will enjoy it. (Pictured above from left to right, early a.m., breakfast, late a.m., and lunch for Monday through Wednesday – tomorrow I’ll explain why dinner and late evening is not pictured.)
Finally, I must note that I have a LOT of help with this process. Whether you have a significant other or not, recruit some help. Make this a social event with friends and family. Prepare enough food for everyone involved and it makes spending a couple of hours together fun and productive.
I find putting in the work up front (I am mostly chopping, Karen’s mostly cooking and planning), gives us real sense of freedom during the week. Not only are we eating better and healthier foods, but we don’t deal with the nightly routine of:
“What do you want for dinner?”
“I don’t know, what do you want?”
Side benefit – Being stuck in the kitchen for a couple of hours with someone you really like is refreshing!
CJ,
The spreadsheet is to small to read, so I’m going to guess:
Are your other meals not pictured because you’re intermittently fasting? If you are, I’d love some info on that, as I’ve been thinking about incorporating it into my eating for a little bit.
Hope everyone down there is well!
A
I LOVE my Sunday routine of cooking all of our breakfasts and lunches for the week (we have salads every night for dinner.) It makes life a lot easier when we’re packing our coolers every day at 5 a.m.!
I spend a few hours cooking and listening to music and peeking out the window to watch Barry do yard work. Doggies are underfoot to catch any stray food that I drop and all is right in my world.
I will totally vouch for this method. I usually prep food on Sunday/Wednesday as well and it sets me up for success the rest of the week. The past two Sundays, I have had events to attend and didn’t plan and prep for my week. I found myself sad and hungry and reaching for cans of tuna and sometimes even easy to grab “cheats” (for me this means massive amounts of dates and nut butter). I felt like crap all week. Yesterday I had a party to attend but I planned ahead and made my frittata, manimal smash (post-workout treat), and cooked up some pork tenderloin on Saturday so I wouldn’t find myself in a pinch. I just finished eating my tasty frittata for breakfast and look forward to my pork t for lunch! Whoot!
C.J. Recently, plastic has become controversial. Chemicals that leach from the plastic may lower testosterone levels. I would suggest using a glass storage container such a Pyrex or Corning.
I would be very interested in a blog article about the unique formatting of InVictus programming. While affiliates do a strength exercised followed by a short metcon, you are somewhat different than most because you program in a 2nd exercise and plan the rest intervals. I’m very curious about the thinking regarding the 2nd exercise before the metcons. I’ve noticed that you will often have a bodyweight movement with mid range or higher reps. In any case, I really like your blog and your programming.
Anneke,
That’s not the reason, but it was a darn good guess given the way my schedule is set up. I have often considered doing an Intermittent Fasting experiment, but I struggle as it is to keep weight on. The real reason is way better than Intermittent Fasting (in my humble opinion).
Wow CJ, two bottles of wine with lunch! Impressive my friend.
My food prep is all on Sunday mornings. It gives me a good chance to catch up on some podcasts or This American Life on NPR, plus there’s no way I have time to cook some meals during the week with my study load out here.
Mike, I’ve heard the plastic claims as well, though to the best of my knowledge, it’s largely anecdotal. If you could point me towards any studies or quantitative data, I’d be interested in reading it.
Off today’s topic (but not because I don’t find it helpful), I wanted to give a special thank you to the peeps (especially the fabulous females) at the 9:30 class. I recently had a change in work schedule which shifted my usual workout time in the evenings to the 9:30 class. The class has such an awesome vibe, a great trainer (Mgood!), and most importantly, some really genuine and encouraging people. I look forward to coming in every morning simply to hang out with all these amazing people! Crossfit Invictus continues to amaze me with the athletes it produces and quality human beings it attracts. Thank you 9:30 crew and M!
When do you usually squeeze in the wine snack? I’m assuming it fits into the dinner or late snack part of the diet :0)
Great article!
MC
I would include the wine as part of the food prep. Enjoying a nice glass while you work and chat with loved ones in the kitchen sounds devine!