Property Investments, Landlording, CrossFit, Nutrition & Safety

Nearly 3 years ago, I did a life expectancy calculation, based on how I’d changed after 6 months of Crossfit and the Zone Diet. My life expectancy jumped from 75 years to 85 years, which was pretty impressive.

Anyway, I thought I’d repeat the test 3 years on and see what it is now. Here are the results with the bits I’m missing out on apparently:

Lifestyle

+ 0.5 Minimizing or cutting out your caffeinated coffee consumption completely could provide you with about half a year more in life expectancy

+ 2.0 If it is ok with your doctor, taking an 81 mg aspirin every day improves your hear and brain health and could help you delay or escape a heart attack or stroke. Taking an aspirin each day, perferably in the evening, could add 2 years to your life expectancy.

+ 1.0 There is a clear link between the inflammation of gum disease and heart disease. Do a good job of flossing daily and you could add a year to your life expectancy.

Nutrition

+ 3.0 Red meat is the primary source of potentially life-shortening iron. Cutting back your read meat consumption to 1-2 days per week or less could add 3 years to your life expectancy

+ 2.0 Increasing your exercise regimen to 5 days a week could add 1 year, to 6 or 7 days a week could add 2 years to your life expectancy

Medical

+ 1.0 Examining yourself for cancer could add a year to your life expectancy

+ 0.5 Being in touch with your health care provider annually is very important to your strategy to screen for and prevent illness. Getting the appropriate blood tests on a regular basis could add a half a year

+ 0.5 Getting your blood sugar checked could add half a year to your life expectancy

There are certainly some things I don’t agree with there, like taking the aspirin. Check yours out and post back here what it is: http://calculator.livingto100.com/

Now that Easter is over and you’ve overdosed on Easter eggs, check out this video. Thanks to Jonathan Cannovan for posting this, which might just be one of the most important videos I’ve ever seen about sugar, or more specifically, about the now ubiquitous High Fructose Corn Syrup that is added to most processed food (e.g. 32 out of 33 loaves of bread in one supermarket sample), the consequences of it and how it affects glucose metabolism.

Some great quotes from Dr Robert Lustig, Professor of Paediatrics at the University of California:

– “Everyone talks about a high fat diet… well a high sugar diet *is* a high fat diet.”

– “High Fructose Corn Syrup behaves just like a poison.”

– “You wouldn’t think twice about not giving your kid a Budweiser, but you don’t think twice about giving your kid a can of coke. They’re the same thing.”

– “A low fat diet isn’t really a low fat diet, because the Fructose or Sucrose doubles as fat. It’s really a high fat diet. That’s why our diets don’t work.“

Here’s the video I took at the British Masters last week:

Sadly I only got the first half as the video camera died half way through, grrrr.

Thanks for all the messages of support, I can confirm that I did win my category at the 2010 BWLA British Masters Olympic Weightlifting championship finals this weekend.

I was expecting to be lifting against Anthony (Tony) Down, from the Empire Club in Bristol, but it turned out that he came in overweight for the 77kg category at 78kg, which left me lifting all on my own. (I weighed in comfortably under at 75.9 kg.) All I needed to do was get a total and I was home and dry. To be clear then, here are the relevant rules:

1. To qualify for to be able to compete, you must lift the qualifying total in a BWLA officiated (3 judge panel) competition in the previous 12 months. I did this when I lifted a 165kg total in the Northern Masters Weightlifting Competition in 2009, which is the qualifying standard for Mens Group 1 (35-39) in the 77kg body weight category.
2. On the day then, you must open within 15kg of the qualifying total, so I had to open with a minimum of 150kg.  I opted for easy openers of 65 Snatch and 90kg Clean & Jerk.  I could/should have opened 5kg higher on each (70 and 95) which was my plan had I been facing Tony, but there was no point risking it.  Especially after my recent shambolic training performances.
3. You need to get at least one Snatch and at least one Clean and Jerk to make a total.

That’s it, all I needed to do was get my openers and I was the winner.  Sadly I started the video camera too early and it ran out of juice (I may try to send it back as a full charge only lasted 70 minutes!) so I only got a video of the snatches, which I may upload at some point.  I’ve pondered whether this default win detracts from the occasion? But the way I see it, it means I actually won it back when I lifted 165 at the Northern Open, as I was the only person (apart from Tony) who made the qualifying weight, I just didn’t know it yet!

The snatches went very well and I easily power snatched the 65, then the 70 and finally did a full squat snatch (though had to chase it across the platform!) for 75. Which considering my body weight of 75.9, was less than a bag of sugar away from a body weight snatch. To be honest, now with hindsight, I regret not opening at 70 as I’d originally planned, as I reckon there was a snatch PB in the offing (current PB is 77).

C&Js didn’t go quite so well.  The 90kg opener was trivial, but then I made a mistake and jumped straight to 100kg.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, 100kg is an =PB lift for me, and 95 meant nothing so going for it seemed the right thing to do.  In reality, the 10kg / 11% jump in weight caught me off guard and I dropped both my 100kg attempts.  Note to self: 5kg increments only in future.

So I finished with a 165 total (70 + 90).  But I suppose the real question is, how would I have done if I’d been facing Tony? Tony it turns out is a very nice fella.  Well of course he is, he’s a 5 year Crossfitter!  We shared a warm up platform and generally encouraged each other throughout.  It is hard to say what would have happened as it turns out that his personal best total of 177 is exactly the same as mine!

Tony got a 70kg Snatch and 100kg C&J, and he was competing against a Scotsman in a close run race, so on the face of it, he would have beaten me.  However had we been competing, I would have started at 70 snatch, which I got, as I got the 75 and reckon I would have got a new PB of 78.  Similarly I’d have started at 95 C&J which should not have been a problem, and I reckon the smaller 5kg increment would have seen at least one of my 100kg lifts come off which I’ve got several times before, giving a 178 total.  But then, maybe Tony would have lifted differently if he was against me?  Who can know, it’s all academic.

I do know several things though. 3.5 years ago I was a fat couch potato who hadn’t done a jot of exercise for 15 years and now I’m British Champion at an official Olympic sport. How does that happen?!? Here’s how, and I owe a debt of gratitude to all involved:

1. I decided to change my life, but I didn’t know how.
2. My mate Ian Sturrock put me onto Crossfit.
3. Mark Beck and Karl Steadman opened Crossfit Manchester and filled it with a great bunch of supportive people.
4. They got me on the Zone Diet which has morphed into more of a Paleo Zone.
5. Mark especially has coached my weightlifting form over the last 3 years and always selflessly gives his time to coach me when I’m at a competition, and generally be helper extraordinaire. I am very grateful and would definitely not have done it without his help and support.

So what’s next? I think I’m going to take some time off the weightlifting focus and get back to more regular Crossfit for a while.  Crossfit is a whole load of fun, dropping snatch after snatch whilst training on your own (when I’m away from home) is not.  As a result, I’ve left the gym I go to in Cardiff: Aspire Fitness, especially as my contract should be finishing up shortly.  They’re a nice bunch down there, and I’m sorry to leave them.

There are 2 things to aim for I think, one is the European Masters Championships.  I need a 182 qualifying total so need to get my snatch up to 80 and clean and jerks up to 102.  But it irks me that both the 2 biggest Masters competitions of the year: the British Masters and the Northern Masters, are outside the qualifying window for qualification.  That’s bad planning!  Also there’s the simple fact, that if I wait a couple of years till I’m in the 40-44 category, the qualifying total comes down to 172, which is much more doable, lol!

The second thing is the the English Indoor Rowing Championships (EIRC), which I’ve had my eye on for a couple of years, but always chosen the weightlifting in preference, as often they are both on the same weekend. I’ve got my eye on the 500m title, which if I can make the 75kg lightweight category, I could win easily. Judging by this years numbers my personal best is 7 seconds faster than the 1st place time! So I need to be good this Christmas and not pile on the pounds if I’m going to make 75kg by 3rd week in Feb.

Anyway, it was an exciting weekend and I’m currently very chuffed.  I’m sure the feeling won’t last long.

Well the British Masters Championships are this weekend, and if I’m not ready now, I’ll never be. Which is to say, I’m not ready now! I hate preparing for competitions because I’m *never* ready!

This week’s lifting went ok, but could have been better. The highlights are, on Tuesday I managed 3 out of 6 snatches at 70kg (154lbs), which was disappointing but not terrible. And today I managed 2 out of 3 Clean & Jerks at 95kg (209lbs) which again was just ok, not fantastic. I also bailed on the WOD I had planned today due to a slightly twingy back; no point in risking injury this close to the comp.

In other news, I was bang on the weight limit this morning, for the first time this year, and with just days to go, not a moment too soon! It’s taken me 3 months to loose the weight I put on in December and get back to what I was in November and was bang on 77kg (12st1 or 169 lbs) this morning. Here’s my weightloss graph for this year:

All hail the mighty Zone diet which comes through for me again. After this comp, I’m going to try some experiments with my diet. I foresee a lot of milk in my immediate future. 😉

It’s always nice to see mainstream science starting to catchup with what Crossfitters are doing, from The Metro last week:

A set of ten one-minute sprints on an exercise bike three times a week holds the same benefits as ten hours of ‘conventional’ distance cycling.

High-intensity exercise at 95 per cent of your maximum heart rate is an efficient way of avoiding heart disease, obesity and stroke, say researchers at McMaster University in Canada.

Like Tabata training, 1 minute intervals with some (unspecified) rest is a wicked way to get your heart rate up and get maximum effort out (“wicked” here is not meant in the common vernacular to mean “cool”, it really is wicked!).

People look at me funny when I say a typical Crossfit workout is in the 10-15 minute range, more exceptionally in the 5-25 minute range, and that’s your workout for the day done. When I bought some new trainers, one of my colleagues asked me how far I run. “Usually 400m,” I said, “as part of a circuit type workout.” He admitted that at the pace he runs, he could plod on for hours.

The point is that getting fit doesn’t mean you need to spend hours at the gym. 10-15 minute, high intensity workouts are much more efficacious than long torturous sessions, and a lot more fun too. Don’t believe me, believe the scientists at McMaster University in Canada instead, they said so! 😉

As many people have noted from my earlier post, snatch practice for the British Masters has not been going well. Dropping six 70kg (154lb) snatches in a row, 2 weeks before competition day, is never a good sign.

So this weekend, with 2 sessions back at Crossfit Manchester, I desperately needed the experienced eye of my Crossfit Coach Mark Beck to sort out what on earth was going wrong. First the result:

Friday: 2 out of 3 snatches at 70kg successful.
Saturday: 3 out of 3 snatches at 70kg successful!
(Plus I did the daily Crossfit Manchester WODs to follow, of course.)

To say I’m pleased and relieved is an understatement. In fact, I’m looking forward to the possibility of having a good crack at a new PB come competition day. Current PB is 77kg, so opening at 70 looks achievable, giving 2nd and 3rd lifts of 75 and 78 if all goes well.

What was the magic ingredient? Simply finishing the pull. It’s probably one of the hardest things to get right in the snatch: when to stop pulling up on the bar and when to start dropping your body under the bar. Clearly I’ve been dropping down too soon and Mark’s guidance to make sure I properly come up on the balls of my feet, actually feeling the weight there, definitely made the difference.

Simple huh? The point is, that even if you workout on your own, it’s worth making the effort to get to your closest Crossfit Affiliate, at least once a month say, just to get that bit of expert coaching that can work wonders to your form.

I’m pleased to report that my hamstring tweak had mostly cleared itself up by Tuesday, so I was able to train as I’d intended. There was still a little soreness there, but 98% there. However, that didn’t prevent the disaster that was Tuesday’s snatches!

Tuesday followed my normal routine of snatches for 45ish mins then some form of WOD. I’d hoped to recover from last weeks debacle, quickly move up to 70kg and pop out 3 good 70kg snatches. Well, that turned out to be ridiculously ambitious! I only succeeded in dropping six 70kg snatches in a row, and pretty must destroying what little confidence I had in doing them.

I think that over a year of working out on my own in Cardiff at Aspire Fitness, with no one to watch my form, has really taken its toll on my technique. After the BWLA British Masters, I think I need to go back to the drawing board with my snatch. Even now, 3 years on, they still don’t feel right and there’s too much variability. So it looks like I’ll be starting at 65kg in the comp.

Not wishing to do myself another injury this close to the comp, I finished with a named Crossfit WOD: Annie. I scaled it by dropping the first round, making it: 40-30-20-10 of double unders and situps, which I achieved in 9:57

On Wednesday things got a bit better. Clean and Jerks are harder to cock up on technique and I worked up to three good 95kg C&Js, which will be my starting weight, making a total of 160 to start with, which is more than the 150kg minimum starting total for my category. If you don’t know, your starting total must be at least the qualifying standard minus 15kg.

I followed this with a derivation of Crossfit 3D’s WOD from the other day:

AMRAP in 10 minutes of:
– 3 x 60kg power cleans
– 6 push ups
– 9 kettle bell swings @ 16kg

In which I managed exactly 8 rounds. Again this was scaled down after 40 mins of clean and jerks and so as to not do myself a mischief.

In other news, my weight *just* about on target but I still have a few pounds left to loose. Fingers crossed it won’t be a major drama. I’ll post up a weight chart from 1st Jan next week. To be honest, I’ll be quite happy when this competition is over, I’m deep in the “why am I doing this” stage of preparation, but I know I always go through this, it’s just you mind playing games with you. Ho hum.

I’ve posted before about Raw Milk (sometimes called Natural Milk, Green Top Milk or Real Milk) but was interested to hear a 15 minute chat about it on BBC Radio 4 today. You can hear the broadcast on BCC iPlayer on the program Thinking Allowed. Start from 15 minutes in.