Happy Monday, Comrades! The RKC Certification is over and John is a newly-minted RKC instructor. I observed most of the weekend and he was definitely the most prepared and skilled of the entire group. It is a physically difficult course with a high standard of performance. I’m very proud of his effort and ability.

The Snatch Program is over; I’ve watched significant progress in everyone’s technique over the last few weeks. As you have seen, the Snatch is a challenging exercise that is developed via regular exposure to the lift and its component movements. I really appreciate all your hard work and engagement in this learning process.

Today, we start a new training cycle. We will employ that same principle of consistent skill training to develop capacity in basic CrossFit gymnastic exercises. For the next four weeks we will put an emphasis on pistols, muscle-ups, and handstands and various progressions and mobility drills to improve those skills. Lifting will primarily be ascending sets with an eye toward maintaining strength more than hitting new PR’s. The lifts will be Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Overhead Press. Olympic lifts will show up in workouts 1-2x a week.

-Mario
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Meal Prep Mondays + A New Challenge – This week Whole Life Challengers are being asked to dial-in morning routines. Be sure to checkout the YouTube vid for more details. Having done this challenge before and building a mild obsession with morning routines, I have some great recommendations.

First, go to mymorningroutine.com. Take a look at how to optimize your routine based on the morning routines of writers, athletes, entrepreneurs and more. Look at a few and see if you start to notice some trends. It’s eye opening.

Tip #3 – Make your bed. Stolen from Tim Ferriss. It’s the same advice Naval Admiral William McRaven gave in his 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas at Austin. As McRaven said, “If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another.”

If you’re thinking about adding in some journaling, which is what I’m adding back to my routine after a short leave of absence, look no further than Tim again. He turned me on to the 5 Minute Journal. $15 on Amazon. It’s short and simple and to the point.

Onto the meal prep. Some of the WLC team learned a valuable food prep lesson last week: 5 days in a row of the same food gets boring. I hear you loud and clear. I’ve found my personal limit outside of a challenge to be 3-4 days. By Friday, the idea of opening my lunch container makes me cringe. I’ll usually pick at it and then go get something different from the cafe. This equals wasted food and extra cash. Both of which leave me feeling guilty. And that’s not how I want to start the weekend.

Tip #4 – One ingredient, many ways. Since it was raining out and I spent 90% of the day on the couch, I decided to get fancy. After my walk in the rain to grab groceries, I threw on Leon Bridges Radio (a brilliant mix from the likes of Etta James, Nathaniel Rateliff, Amy Winehouse, Alabama Shakes, it’s so FREAKING good) courtesy of Alexa and got to work.

This week I used parchment paper to make perfectly macro portioned, toss in a container packs. The best part of parchment packets is that you can vary to your heart’s desire while keeping it on the cheap and easy while using the same main protein. So, vary the veggies however you please. Sub sweet potatoes if you prefer. Use any veggies you have leftover to make sure they don’t go to waste.

Here’s what my packs consisted of:
Chicken breast, zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, celebration potatoes (little babes in a bag of three different colors), lemon slices, fresh rosemary and tarragon. (I know. I know. More chicken. I’m still cutting. I’m down about 4.5 net pounds but still have a few more to go…..so chicken. 12 days til my weigh-in. If I don’t make weight, I’m not sure I can complete all of the events.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Slice veggies and potatoes.
Tenderize chicken breast. S&P your chicken and beat it up again. (50/50 hindsight, I would have filleted the breasts also. So, do that. Especially if you aren’t counting marcos and/don’t need as much as me.)

On a baking sheet, layout a huge piece of parchment paper. As you can see, my portions are fit for a Viking queen. Unless you’re a gift wrapping expert *pats self on back* extra paper can’t hurt.

Start stacking: tarragon and rosemary sprigs, asparagus, chicken coated in any spices you love and vary them from pack to pack to keep your taste buds happy, lemon slices, potatoes, squash, more herbs, tons of minced or whole garlic cloves, more S&P, drizzle some EVOO and start wrapping. I folded a inches at a time starting in one corner. Tbh, I watched a 30 second video because gift wrapping does not apply.

Bake 25-30 minutes. I recommend a meat thermometer on this one. But, even if you overcook, the paper seals in all of the juices and it’ll still come out perfectly.

The chicken breasts were more expensive than last week’s thighs and weren’t on sale. Lame. But all of my veggies were on sale as were the herb packs.

Cost per meal: $6.89 (but, I get 3 protein portions per container with a full chicken breast which gives me a pre-workout snack)
Macros per container: 65g protein/26g carb/14g fat

Warmup
Dynamic Athletic Movement
Hip Mobility
10 Downdog Push-ups

Skill
18 Minutes E2MOM (3 Rounds)

The following exercises will each be performed for one minute followed by a minute of rest before moving to the next exercise,
so one complete round is 6 minutes total. For best results alternate with a partner so you have someone to watch the clock for you.

Handstand
Pistol/Deck Squat
Hollow

L4 – 60 second Nose to Wall Handstand, Alternating Pistols, 60 seconds Hollow Rocks
L3 – 45-60 second Handstand (nose to wall if possible), Single leg Deck Squat negatives (down on one foot, up on two), 60 sec Hollow Hold
L2 – 30-45 second Handstand, Deck Squats, 45 sec Hollow Hold
L0/1 – 30-60 second Downdog Hold with feet elevated on box or stall bars, Deck Squat with Med Ball Assist, 60 sec Bent knee Hollow Body

Strength

Levels 2-4
18 Minutes

E3MOM
3 Back Squats
Work up to ~85% of your 1RM

Levels 0/1
18 Minutes

E3MOM
5 Double Kettlebell Squats
30 Second Down Dog Hold
30 Second Reverse Tabletop

Conditioning

5 Minutes AMRAP
30 Seconds Kettlebell Swings
30 Seconds Push-ups

L4 – 32/24, Crossover Push-ups*
L3 – 28/22, Crossover Push-ups
L2 – no rx weight, regular push-ups
L0/1 – no rx weight, box push-ups

*One hand on Kettlebell, push-up then switch hands as you transition to the other side of the bell.