Last week I went all in, and prepped breakfast, lunch and dinner for the (almost) entire week. Lunch was packaged into its own individual containers and breakfast/dinner were kept in bulk and scooped out when the time came (spinach and avocado added after).
The whole reasoning behind meal prep is to ensure each day you're getting exactly what you need and to cut down on the time it takes to make these meals on the day of, saving you precious time that can be devoted to training. which is something we all can get behind am I right?
I apologize for my basic measurements and the use of the word "about". I was more concerned with just getting the food in and not necessarily the exact measurement.
What went in:
Starting with the first meal of the day, breakfast was an egg salad concoction of eggs (no shit) siracha, and greek yogurt. each morning it was scooped out and slapped on a tortilla with spinach, avocado and bacon. I boiled up 10 eggs so I got about 2 per day (I usually have 2 eggs for breakfast)
Lunch was chicken and sweet potato. I had 3 large chicken breasts which I fileted and grilled up (attempting to season each one differently) and once they were done each was diced up (for ease of portioning and eating). I used 3 large sweet potatoes which were diced and roasted. Once the portions were figured out (about a cup of each) they were separated and packaged up.
Dinner I went basic. I cooked up about 1 lb of ground beef and 1 cup (uncooked) of quinoa which gave me a little over 2 cups cooked. Each night it was a half a cup of the quinoa, about 1 cup of ground beef in a bowl mixed up with some avocado and hotsauce (shredded cheese when I was feeling hungry) and a big bowl of spinach/baby kale topped with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
The breakdown:
I had breakfast/lunch Monday-Friday and dinner Monday-Thursday mostly because I had a social event Friday and didn't want to be "that guy" who shows up to it with his dinner in a Tupperware container...not again atleast. It made it very easy at nights, my lunch was already set and dinner prep took 10 minutes tops. Mixing up the variety on the chicken was good, and I can eat roasted sweet potatoes forever.
I will say though, dinner got old quick. although I enjoyed the ease of prep, the variety of things you can do with quinoa and ground beef is limited. And at the end of the day, I found myself going back for a second or third bowl of spinach and kale because the hunger is real.
The benefits definitely were ease during the day and night. But the lack of variety got to me by Thursday and I was happy when Friday rolled around and I could go out and eat something that wasn't prepared almost 6 days earlier (or maybe it was, I don't know). With dinner being the set meal, also made it difficult on those tougher days when I would come home hungrier and it was tough to satiate the cravings I had.
Overall, meal prep is a solid idea. I don't see myself doing this every week, but when I know I have a busy week ahead and need to focus on training vs cooking I will be doing this again (with some added snacks in there for late night)
I do need to apologize to anyone I interacted with in the mornings. Egg salad and siracha for 5 days straight does have some side effects.
What's ahead:
Training doesn't stop, not even for travel. I'll be flying and driving around the eastern seaboard for about 4 days this week and I cant take those days off. So, this week I'll be testing out the best workouts and ways to keep training even while on the road.
I hope TSA doesn't confiscate my jump rope.
A Change in strength
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
One man wolfpack
Ever since I truly entered the athlete world I gravitated more towards individual type sports. In elementary school I enjoyed gymnastics, had a lengthy career in wrestling, girevoy sport (competitive kettlebell weightlifting) and finally ending up in triathlons. And yes, while wrestling and lifting I was a part of a 'team' your record and results rest firmly upon your shoulders as well as the majority of your training.
I would be training with a team but my training was my own. Now especially, even though I apart of a multisport club/running group the vast majority of my time training is Hans style (Solo..get it?).
Of course I know plenty of people who cant seem to work up the motivation to get the time on the spin bike in unless they're apart of a class and the only time they put serious road miles in is during the Saturday group ride that ends with a venti double frap. I'm just not that guy. So last week, I decided the majority of my training was going to be done in a group setting (minimum 3 people). Monday-Friday my lunchtime training session had some company. These weren't people who are training for the same races as I am but people I work with looking to get into the gym. (that right there might have been the first flaw in this otherwise air tight plan) but like a wise man once said "there is no such thing as bad ideas, only good ideas that go horribly wrong"
What's the plan?
The members of the group all participated in my daily training (they modified to their fitness level as needed) and followed my workout plans each day. My training plan has Monday/Friday as a light day, Tuesday/Thursday as a medium day and Wednesday as my hard day, saving myself up for long Saturday rides and Sunday runs. One of the biggest problems a lot of athletes run into is going too hard on lighter days and not hard enough on those hard days. I'm guilty of it plenty but have been really conscious of it the last 2-3 months.
What were the benefits?
In a group setting you have people to bounce energy and motivation off of. To keep those RPM's and Watts up on the bike or keeping good form during core workouts. It is also a good way to stay honest. In the pool I don't want to skip that 300 cool down if people are with me. Since I was leading these workouts I also didn't want to seem to be slacking. Everyday I had to be on top of my game otherwise shit, it just looks bad.
What were the setbacks?
Not every training session can be a balls to the wall type of workout, and that is lost sometimes when people aren't training to a specific event or plan. Working out in a group you can fall victim to that "I'll use a little more weight. Maybe I'll do an extra couple of sets too" mentality. Which if it is not on the right day can throw you off the rest of the week. You can also fall victim to the herd mentality where if two people are tired and don't want to do it, everyone is going to be less likely to want to do it too. And if this happens on a hard day (like Wednesday because the days prior were both treated like hard days) you're thrown off. And if people are still tired the following day, they wont push as hard as need be (resulting in a sub par Thursday) and then when its almost the weekend, everyone wants to make up for those last two days (pushing too hard on a Friday)
The findings
In solo endeavors like triathlons or weight lifting, your training plan is your training plan. And unless someone is on the same one (or one similar) it can really throw you off yours and detract from training toward your goal. Granted, you can do your own thing and let the group do theirs, but then it just becomes a bunch of people working out adjacent to each other vs together. It has its merits (I do enjoy my running group) and its drawbacks.
After one week, it was good to be back to training by myself and really focusing in on the goal I set. I can foresee the vast majority of my workouts being solo, but the occasional group swim/ride/run will work its way into the mix maybe once or twice a week. Especially once the weather is nice enough for open water swims.
This week (since I'll be in a course for work wed-fri) I am testing out meal prepping. I generally do a meal plan, but at the beginning of the week I busted out the Tupperware and packaged a weeks worth of dinner and lunches to cut down on time. Look for the in-depth write up next week! I can't see how I can get bored of grilled chicken and sweet potato!
I would be training with a team but my training was my own. Now especially, even though I apart of a multisport club/running group the vast majority of my time training is Hans style (Solo..get it?).
Of course I know plenty of people who cant seem to work up the motivation to get the time on the spin bike in unless they're apart of a class and the only time they put serious road miles in is during the Saturday group ride that ends with a venti double frap. I'm just not that guy. So last week, I decided the majority of my training was going to be done in a group setting (minimum 3 people). Monday-Friday my lunchtime training session had some company. These weren't people who are training for the same races as I am but people I work with looking to get into the gym. (that right there might have been the first flaw in this otherwise air tight plan) but like a wise man once said "there is no such thing as bad ideas, only good ideas that go horribly wrong"
What's the plan?
The members of the group all participated in my daily training (they modified to their fitness level as needed) and followed my workout plans each day. My training plan has Monday/Friday as a light day, Tuesday/Thursday as a medium day and Wednesday as my hard day, saving myself up for long Saturday rides and Sunday runs. One of the biggest problems a lot of athletes run into is going too hard on lighter days and not hard enough on those hard days. I'm guilty of it plenty but have been really conscious of it the last 2-3 months.
What were the benefits?
In a group setting you have people to bounce energy and motivation off of. To keep those RPM's and Watts up on the bike or keeping good form during core workouts. It is also a good way to stay honest. In the pool I don't want to skip that 300 cool down if people are with me. Since I was leading these workouts I also didn't want to seem to be slacking. Everyday I had to be on top of my game otherwise shit, it just looks bad.
What were the setbacks?
Not every training session can be a balls to the wall type of workout, and that is lost sometimes when people aren't training to a specific event or plan. Working out in a group you can fall victim to that "I'll use a little more weight. Maybe I'll do an extra couple of sets too" mentality. Which if it is not on the right day can throw you off the rest of the week. You can also fall victim to the herd mentality where if two people are tired and don't want to do it, everyone is going to be less likely to want to do it too. And if this happens on a hard day (like Wednesday because the days prior were both treated like hard days) you're thrown off. And if people are still tired the following day, they wont push as hard as need be (resulting in a sub par Thursday) and then when its almost the weekend, everyone wants to make up for those last two days (pushing too hard on a Friday)
The findings
In solo endeavors like triathlons or weight lifting, your training plan is your training plan. And unless someone is on the same one (or one similar) it can really throw you off yours and detract from training toward your goal. Granted, you can do your own thing and let the group do theirs, but then it just becomes a bunch of people working out adjacent to each other vs together. It has its merits (I do enjoy my running group) and its drawbacks.
After one week, it was good to be back to training by myself and really focusing in on the goal I set. I can foresee the vast majority of my workouts being solo, but the occasional group swim/ride/run will work its way into the mix maybe once or twice a week. Especially once the weather is nice enough for open water swims.
This week (since I'll be in a course for work wed-fri) I am testing out meal prepping. I generally do a meal plan, but at the beginning of the week I busted out the Tupperware and packaged a weeks worth of dinner and lunches to cut down on time. Look for the in-depth write up next week! I can't see how I can get bored of grilled chicken and sweet potato!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)