How to Succeed on the Whole 30 Program

• Stay fed. As long as I stay fed, I’m nearly impervious to cravings or temptations.
• It all starts with breakfast. I found that if I miss or have a lousy breakfast, the rest of my day is off and it’s tougher for me to make good food choices.
• Eat enough fat. In addition to eating promptly, I found it very important to eat enough fat. For me, avocados and olives are a good source of fat.
• I prefer skinless, boneless sardines. I was unfamiliar with sardines so I’ve tried a few varieties and found that I really enjoy them skinless, boneless in olive oil. I often eat them straight from the tin with a few olives in the mid afternoon, especially if I’ve had a salad for lunch.
• I need to have good choices easily available. I’m not great at preparing my meals ahead of time. In fact, I suck at it. Fortunately, my new office is near a cafe and a small grocery store that offer excellent Paleo choices for lunch and for snacks.
• Eat starchy vegetables if you exercise. I need more calories when I exercise, so eating a sweet potato after exercise helps me get more calories and feel full.
• Stress makes this more difficult. Last time I tried this program, I was in a miserable work environment and one of my reactions was to seek sugary carbs for comfort.

There are a couple of things that I’m still finding tough this time.

• I still occasionally want to drink sugary drinks. I still want a Chai Latte or a sweetened tea drink. I’m finding that annoying, but not debilitating.
• I really want to weigh myself, but I think it’s really smart to wait until the 30 days are complete. Not seeing the results on the scale can be discouraging and can cause us to decide this really isn’t worth the effort.

Is it Worth It

Yes.

Why

My goals are to be healthier as measured by my blood test results and my fitness results. Avoiding the foods that have been slowly poisoning me seems like a great place to start.

Learn More

• Whole 30 Website
• Robb Wolf’s Website
• Robb Wolf’s book, Paleo Solution

The Basics

Dumbbells and some sort of pull-up bar are what you need to get started. If you don’t have those, I’d suggest starting there. I already have dumbbells and a kettlebell, so those are covered. We’ve been getting by with a door frame pull-up bar, but it’s limited. For example, we can’t use it to kip and doing beginner pull-ups puts me in a dangerous position.

I decided to purchase a Studbar pull-up bar, gymnastic rings, and an Olympic weight bar. I’ll get bumper plates and weight stands as the budget allows.

I bolted the Studbar to the garage ceiling. I can’t do a pull-up just yet, so I’m using the rings to help with my progression. I’m hanging the rings from the Studbar (it’s a beast). I’m also using the rings for push-ups. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m having so much trouble with my push-ups, but that’s the way it is.

Studbar and Rings in parking mode

The weight bar is going to help me work on the very technical Olympic lifts. I’ll need plates soon to get the full benefit though.

What About the Cars?

I’m not willing to park my car in the driveway, so it was important to me to be able to find a way to use the garage as a gym and a garage. The rings are adjustable and easy to remove and install if you prefer. I just adjust them and leave them where they are and I can park my car without any issues. I pull my car out of the garage to do the workout and pull it back in when I’m finished.

Benefits

It’s nice to have (almost) everything I need to do my workouts here at home. Now there’s no excuse for taking the 5-20 minutes it takes to do a Crossfit workout.

A side benefit of this project is that it has forced me to get my garage more organized. I guess it’s just another way Crossfit benefits my life. I’m afraid that I have a way to go with all of it however.

For some reason I did the Buttercup scale even though I’ve been at the puppy scale. I’ll do puppy next time.

Buttercups:
Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 6-10 pound ball, 8 ft target. (Reps): 27, 24, 18 = 69 (previous: 26, 20, 20 = 66)
Sumo deadlift high-pull 15-25 pounds (Reps): 15, 12, 5 = 32 (previous: 17, 12, 8 = 37 )
Box Jump 10” box (Reps): 25, 17, 15 = 57 (previous: 26, 15, 14 = 55)
Push-press 15-25 pounds (Reps): 27, 19, 15 = 61 (previous: 20, 16, 12 = 48)
Row (Calories) (burpees): 7, 6, 8 = 21

Total 240 (previous 206)

Five rounds for max reps of:
Body weight bench press
Pull-ups

Post reps for both exercises in all rounds.

I’m a puppy so I did push-ups and pull-ups using my fabulous Elite rings

1: 6 / 3
2: 5 / 5
3: 4 / 5
4: 4 / 5
5: 3 / 4

Here’s a picture of me struggling with the push-ups

Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

Puppies:
Use appropriate weight
sub Beginner Pull ups, Assisted Pull ups or Ring Rows as necessary.

I used 8# dumbells and beginner pull ups.
5:20 PR beat last time by 42 seconds.

Muscle-ups 100104

Puppies:
Three rounds for time of:
5 Muscle-up progressions (Seated, Jumping or squat)
25 Squats

The other option is to sub 4/1 pull ups, dips to muscle ups. (I did this option… sort of)

I did this in 11:

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400m, GHD, Hip Extensions 100105

Puppies:
Three rounds for time of:
Run 200-400 meters (I ran 200m)
15 Sit-ups
15 Hip Extensions

8:00

This was the 1st time I’ve run since my knee problems

================

Wall-balls & Pull-ups 100106

Puppies:
Three rounds for time of:
20 Wall-ball shots with 10-14 pound ball to eight foot target
10 Pull-ups (Beginner or assisted pull up okay)

5:08

Five rounds, each for time of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Sit-ups
20 Squats

Rest precisely three minutes between each round. Post time for each of five rounds to comments

Puppies if you cannot do pull ups do assisted or beginner pull ups.

I had a tough time this morning. It could be due to less sleep than I’d like or to low blood sugar in the morning. I don’t know, but I could only do 3 rounds:

1:58
2:01
2:12

I was awfully shaky and felt light headed so I didn’t push it. I want to be smarter about how I approach CF going forward. That includes diet and rest, and not hurting myself. Still… I’m not happy about not finishing.

I read an article called “The Hard Routine” that @johnymall tweeted that was just what I needed to read after this WOD. Basically, I can’t expect to make progress with CF or my health if I don’t make the commitment to eat properly and get the proper rest. There is no cheating in CF.

Puppies:
Complete as many rounds in 12 minutes as you can of:
1 Pull-ups (or 3 Beginner or Assisted Pull ups)
4 Push-ups
7 Squats

12.3 rounds, and that’s a PR for me.

The trick now is to not over do it and hurt myself again. Patience…

Puppies and Buttercups:
For time:
20 Pull-ups or 25 Beginner or Assisted Pull ups (25 beginner)
20 Push-ups or 30 Box Push ups or 35 Wall Push ups (30 box)
20 Sit ups (do not do crunches)
20-50 Squats (depending on ability) (25)

5:11 (15 seconds better than the last time I did Angie)

This was a rare morning workout for me. I’ve been doing modified WOD that don’t bother my knee, and I’ve been feeling better for it. I’m glad I rolled out of bed to knock this out.

Fran done well is a 3-5 minute workout. This time try choosing a weight that will let you do the workout with good form in that time. Be warned, the difference between sub 5 and sub 3 in metabolic cost is enormous.

I used 2 8 pound dumbbells – 20 pounders were just too much to do all the reps. I missed the target time so I’ll need to adjust next time.

6:02