Crossfit + Supplements

Nameless_87

Nameless_87

Nameless_87

Associate
Joined
8 Oct 2009
Posts
865
Hi guys,

I posted a few years back, I used to have a PT and in a year and a half I dropped around 60kg to be at a healthier 82kg instead of 135-140kg.

For the past year and a half though I stopped doing anything (except for some gym last winter doing 5x5) and I gained around 20kg again mostly due to bad diet and no exercise.

Now last week I started eating healthy again (low carb diet) and started doing crossfit (in a group) twice a week for now (will increase to 3 times in a month or two).

I feel I need a pre workout to cope with intensity and energy required though as I'm not getting much energy wise from my diet.

However the main problem is after the workout... I take a protein shake immediately to help for recovery, but it is not enough and I usually have muscle pain for the next 3-4 days.

Is there anything I can do or take to help recovery?

Thanks
 
my diet is usually like this:

breakfast - protein shake (i sometimes miss this as I am really not hungry in the morning)
morning snack - fruit/cereal bar (i have a very sweet tooth so this helps)
lunch - chicken/tuna with rice/couscous and usually when i take chicken i add some herbs or powder like lemon & pepper, bbq powder, etc
afternoon snack - fruit (peaches, watermelon, melon, pears, etc)
training + another protein shake (twice a week)
dinner - chicken with some herbs and chilli and a salad (lettuce, rucola, tomatoes) with some balsamic vinegar

This is mainly what i eat every day and it adds up to about 1600-1700 cals
 
tom_e said:
Look at your diet, you can't run on stims all the time.

Again extended DOMS will be fixed by looking at your diet.
Click to expand...

This.

Fix the root cause not the symptoms.

If you must supplement, BCAAs and L Glutamine as well as Taurine have been proven to reduce DOMS. They will not rid of it completely - DOMS are natural.

A good diet with plenty of water will mitigate the need for this anyway.

Are you relying on shakes - or are you taking shakes instead of food? There's nothing wrong with that, as it is a cheap way of getting protein - however, if you're not doing it for cost, whey isn't magic, it is just protein. So you don't even need to take it at all.

So a good diet with hydration will help, followed by a good myofascial release routine.

By all means supplement - but realise that without intervention (i.e. doing something about it like foam rolling etc...) and even with intervention you will still get DOMS, albeit they may be reduced.

Edit - just seen your diet. You're relying on shakes and not eating much, or much veg? - are you trying to maintain weight or still trying to lose weight? Why is healthy eating considered low carb? There's nothing inherently unhealthy about carbs - it just depends on what you consume. That's probably one of the reasons you're tired, you're not getting enough carbs!

Not sure where Crossfit fits into this though!
 
I've been doing CrossFit for a couple of years now, found my energy levels tanking very quickly during WOD's. Recovery was shocking, I changed my diet and increased my carb intake, still eating the same amount of calories but dropped fats.

The difference was night and day, was able to train at far greater intensity, strength went through the roof and lost body fat faster. As far as supplements are concerned, I use a basic whey protein from the protein works, creatine and an omega 3 supplement.

I take a black coffee pre workout and train fasted effectively, imho BCAA's are a waste of money if you're hitting your daily protein intake.
 
Pay attention to your body:

- If you feel like bum, chances are you're either not sleeping or eating enough.
- If you struggle for energy, you're either not sleeping or eating enough.
- If you are losing weight at a greater rate than 1lb/week (depending on existing BMR, etc.), then you are probably losing too much and your body is struggling to repair itself.

If you have suddenly dropped a bucketload of calories to cut weight, you're also in for a massive beating from your body as a protest, so just be mindful that this can happen, too. :D

In addition, the entire point of Crossfit is to be a complete mixup, which is why it's both utterly dumb but very clever: there's no consistent adaptation to training to be had, meaning you're going to be in a constant state of pain as a result. :)

It's ok to have a strong coffee before a session - that should be the MOST anybody needs to get the most out of a workout, assuming diet at sleep are in control/being managed
 
@Freefaller
Just saw your edit...
Regarding shakes I only take it for breakfast sometimes and one time after crossfit... apart from that it's food.
The problem with Veg is I don't like it much... I can eat a raw fresh salad (green leaves) no problem, but I cant eat other veg (broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, asparagus mainly), I simply don't like them.

Any help to fixing my diet, so I'm not tired? What can i increase/change in my main meals or snacks? (keeping calories in check though ~1700)
 
Nameless_87 said:
Thanks for the suggestions...

Regarding my diet posted above.. what can i change/increase/decrease?
Click to expand...

What's your RMR & BMR?
Are you increasing or decreasing in weight?
How long have you been on that diet?
How long has your weight stayed the same?
Are you getting stronger?
Or are you struggling with workouts?
What's your sleep like?
Are you wanting to just recover or put on size or just maintain?

I'd taper up carbs and I'm surprised that is 1700 cals - doesn't seem like that much food. Bear in mind that just being alive, existing, breathing and organ function will burn in a 24hr day a lot of calories, so add on top of that the mental Crossfit workouts you'll probably be depleted.

Your daily intake is what I have by around midday!! :eek:

If you are eating 2 medium chicken breasts and the shakes, plus other small amounts of protein in other food sources you're probably achieving over 130g a day (off the top of my head). So probably not too bad - but at 85kg if you have a decent amount of muscle, that's not really a huge amount , especially if you're not getting enough carbs in you to help fuel your work outs then your protein intake will be used to convert to glycogen as a priority over fixing muscles, and hence why you probably have more DOMS as your muscles are taking longer to fix.

You need to learn to mitigate that sweet tooth for good quality veg - it might take a while for you to get used to it but at least you're eating some salad I suppose. What about spinach? I try and get as many different coloured vegetables as possible to get the higher amount of nutrition - it is a little bit of a childish analogy, but the fact is the more varied the food the more micronutrients you get. :) That's what I tell family members - try and eat the colours of the rainbow - but not skittles ;) The more fruit and veg you get (preferably veg) the more flavonoids you get - means more antioxidants which means better anti inflammatory behaviour too.
 
Your 2 snacks are just quick hits of sugar, this is probably why you're getting to training time and crashing.
Try adding some complex carbs rather than fruits and sugar filled cereal bars.
 
Ok so...

I started it last week, so a week now with that diet.
I want to decrease in weight. Currently 102kg and want to get back down to 80kg by reducing mostly body fat.
Weight goes down for me... average of 1-1.2kg per week (after the first couple of weeks where i go down 1.5-2kg usually... I think cause of water weight mainly)
Sleep like 7 hrs every night.
I drink ~1.5-2 litres of water per day
And my goal as I said is fat loss atm and go down in weight.

It's 1700 if I take 200gr of chicken every meal and I take the protein with milk.

I also have red meat twice a week, in the form of homemade burger, meatballs or steak (usually around 200gr per serving), and that usually brings the calories up a bit.

Regarding spinach... I like it if its raw baby spinach leaves (not cooked).

Also for snacks as tom_e said... what should i substitute fruit with?
 
It's very hard to lose fat and not lose muscle too - 1kg per week is a huge amount of weight to be losing and will cause more "crashing" rather than a more sustained controlled method. By tapering down slowly you're allowing your body the time to adjust accordingly. If you're on 2600 cals and drop to 1700 your body will more likely hold onto fat irrespective of whether you're doing exercise or not.

Slow and steady is far better than "must do this as fast as possible!).
 
What are you currently eating to maintain that bodyweight? Taper it down by 3-500 cals per day - remember you should average it out over a week. i.e. if one day you're only down by 100 cals but the day after you're down by 400 that's averages out well enough - so it is better to get a feel for calories over a week.
 
Don't use ratios, go here and use the calculator to set your target: IIFYM

Like Freefaller said, 1kg/week is to much and you will lose muscle too. IMO, aim for 500g/week. Don't bother with any supplements aside from whey protein and creatine, just check out examine.com and judge for yourself. For pre-workout coffee + banana will do the trick.
 
Make sure you eat enough Carbs both before and after a work out. Carbohydrates combined with protein after exercise effecitvely reduces DOMs. You also want to replace any electrolytes and water.

Sports drinks like Gu Roctane/Gatorade /isostar are perfect for after exercise (more so than during), will sort out hydration and reduce muscle soreness. Have a big bowl of porridge and some fried eggs along side it.EDIT:
Also don't forget that DOMS is natural and is actually relatively positive. Proper hydration and diet can help reduce DOMS to a certain degree but ultimately it is related to the exercise. DOMS is a sign of a quality workout and your muscles adapting and repairing. A good workout should leave you somewhat sore and being very sore for a few days is not in itself a bad thing. The issue with DOMS is if it is severe enough to prevent you doing the next workout then you will slow down your fitness increases. An optimal training program will push you to the point of getttign minor DOMS but not enoguh such that you skip training. An effective solution is simply to reduce your workout intensity or duration by a small amount to reach that critical threshold.
 
Last edited:
OP, how long have you been training this time? 3-4 day DOMS was what I got for a good couple of months after I started. Foam rolling helps a ton, but yeah, it means you've been working harder than your body is used to. Not going to go into the diet, the guys above have hit the nail on the head.

Lastly, welcome back to the world of good pain :)
 
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