Let’s be honest…we all want the magic bullet, the magic pill. We want that one thing we can do that will melt fat, build muscle, and improve performance.
Last weekend I had the pleasure and privilege to attend the Invictus Athlete’s camp. We were coached by some of the best in the CrossFit world, led by C.J. Martin whose vision has created CrossFit Invictus. C.J. has coached some of the best athletes in the CrossFit world including the 2014 Team Champions, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet the 2014 fittest woman, and Josh Bridges the 4th fittest man in 2014. I have been a remote coaching client for over 2 years and lay my success firmly on the programming C.J. and his team have provided.
Here are the 5 magic bullets C.J. gave us for success around our nutrition programs. Notice only one of them is what we would consider “traditional” nutritional advice.
#1 Eat a high nutrient dense diet. This is best defined as follows: eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that support exercise but not body fat. This phrase comes from Gregg Glassman’s world class fitness in 100 words quote. If you are not eating this way all the supplements, all the proteins powders, all the tricks won’t help. This is the bottom rung of the ladder. If you don’t do this you will have a really hard time climbing very far.
#2 Chew your Food. Put your fork down between bites. Chew all the food in your mouth into a liquefied state before you pick up the fork again. I would add that you should be “mindful” during this process. In other words you are eating not texting or watching TV. This will make sure all the nutrients in the great diet you are consuming are available to your digestive tract.
#3 Hydrate. Drink water and maybe some electrolytes. If your urine isn’t almost clear all the time you are not drinking enough. Simple, not easy.
#4 Get Quiet. Take 5 -10 minutes every day in uninterrupted quiet time. Meditate, be silent, listen to the rocks move…whatever you want to call it just get into your head to get out of your head and let all the chatter fall away.
#5 Sleep. 7-9 hours every night in a dark, quiet, cool room. 7 is the bare minimum for an athlete and 9 is better. Set up a ritual before retiring that does not include electronics or other mental stimulation. Kill two birds with one stone and do your 10 minutes of quiet time before you retire.
There you have it. 5 magic bullets some of the best athletes in the world are using to maintain performance, keep energy levels up and look good doing it. Thanks C.J.!
If you need some help, call me!
John Mariotti
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
Follow me on Facebook