distinguishing improvements between multiple diet/fitness changes.

[Will Schultz]

In the last month and a half i have completely done a 180 as far as fitness and nutrition, and just a generally healthier life style. I have always been the type of person who will learn anything that someone is willing to teach me, so when Jesse Woody extended an invitation for me to stay at his gym and train, I hit the ground running.

Before 2 months ago i had worked out in a gym maybe 3 times in my life, and specifically right before I first got to the gym I was coming out of period of very little physical activity over the winter, and was banking on my 20 year old metabolism and infrequent training to keep my ghost of a six-pack above the surface.

Since then my metamorphasis has gone thusly:
week 1: started doing crossfit, Olympic lifting, and gymnastic strength training
week 2: started following the basic lines of the Zone Diet.
week 3: started post exercise supplementation for improved recovery
Week 4: ditched all fast food, and most processed foods, adopting a zone diet that is probably 90% paleo
Week 5: Started daily supplementation of Carlson's fish oil.

I believe next week will be week 7, and all the things above i have stuck to very strictly. Although I'm not walking on water yet, what this last month and
a half has done to my mind and body surely qualifies as a miracle. The only thing I'm wondering is this: when the time comes to start making adjustments to increase performance, how will i know which behavior to adjust? for example: If I had done regular exercise beforehand , and had only changed my diet, any changes could be attributed to that diet and changed accordingly.

While I wouldn't call being in the best shape of your life a problem, I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to identify and separate the effects so later on things can be scaled up/down as needed.

Sorry for making my first post such a read, but i would like to say after lurking for a bit this is one of the most informative web communities I have ever seen for any topic. All of you have answered so many of my questions before i even had a chance to ask them, Thank You!

[Rick Deckart]

Not sure if I understand you question correctly and not sure if I am the right person to give you advice, but:

i) change one thing a time and give it a honest attempt to work, think weeks, unless of course things go downhill
ii) with respect to max strength nutrition may support your training but it cannot increase strength alone. Progress results from smart training.
iii) same with flexibility, no training, no gains, no matter what you eat.
iv) endurance the same picture, although eating crap, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes etc. can reduce your baseline endurance a big deal and stopping to do so may give you a short but small 'boost'
v) recovery, here nutrition can help a big deal.
vi) of course nutrition and recovery are important, but without training...
vi) keep a workout log and make yourself notes about the usual suspects, BW, duration of session, what you did, how you felt before and afterwards, some even include information about nutrition. I have more or less continous workout logs from over 4 years, and find this one the most valuable source of information. Reading them I understand why things went downhill sometimes and I see why things went excellent as well. Everybody is different and may react different to the same stimulus. After a while you will get a feel what you need and what you should avoid.

Last but not least, establish some honest goals and try to achieve them, this will give you something to focus on and the plan to get there etc. will follow quite natural.
With honest I mean realistic. Sure its great to pull triple bodyweight but if you need three years to get there it is not a realistic short- or even midterm goal. Note that this is just an example.

Otherwise I think you are in good hands with Jesse!

[Robb Wolf]

Peter-
That was a fantastic response...we might need to make that a sticky.

Will-Keep it up! Chase performance, keep the nutrition tight and the results will follow. The process is synergistic and additive.

[-Ross Hunt]

Really good reply.

It's awesome that made the transition so quickly, and that it's working out so well for you. I would just keep on rocking and putting up PR performances.

But if you ever feel like your wheels are spinning but you're not going as fast as you'd like to be, there's one more thing you might consider: Make sure that you're stressed out as little as possible, both inside and outside of the weight room, and that you're getting plenty of sleep. Acquiring the ability to perform at peak capacity without needing to psych up will also help you out a lot, especially if you're lifting heavy weights frequently.

Keep it up! :D

[Will Schultz]

Thanks for the advice Peter, and everyone else for the encouragement!

Ross- I agree with your advice but I can't seem to quite follow it. I don't get stressed, I just don't. I have a very robotic "don't worry about what you can't help" menatlity that i guess i was just born with. The sleep thing is another thing entirely. I can't remeber the last time i went to bed at a normal hour, fella sleep quickly, and slept through the night. If i switch to a nocturnal sleep cycle i sleep like a baby, but that doesn't work with my current lifestyle to well ;). Is there any current discussion on the forum that might help me out or do you have any advice in that regard?

willgrind747@gmail.com if you have anything that might help me out