Hello! In this weeks blog on the topic of CrossFit I will be delving into the world of nutrients and diet. Here we will examine the CrossFit diet pyramid and what each step of this pyramid entails.
First you must lay out your goal. You need to find whether you should be bulking or cutting, where you body fat percentage is and whether you are trying to increase performance or focus more on body aesthetic. Most people find themselves struggling to decide whether they need to work primarily on muscle gain or fat loss and how to do these things. It is difficult for people who are looking to bulk up to understand that gaining a bit of fat is a necessary step in achieving muscle gain, this fat can later be cut out leaving behind only muscle. So once you work on the adherence of you diet plan, which is the first and most important step in the pyramid, we can move on to looking at macro nutrients.
Macro nutrients are composed of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Protein is needed to build and maintain muscle. It is also necessary to help your muscles recover and be built back stronger and better. We look at carbs and fat as body fuel. Many fad diets such as keto which very popular currently, leans towards one or the other, instead it is more beneficial to have a balanced intake of both fats and carbs.
The next step in this pyramid is micro nutrients, so looking at water, vegetable and fruit intake. Of course all of this is varied depending on the persons age, weight, physically activity etc. Some may sweat more than others, therefore, need to re-gain that water through increased micro intake allowing for minerals and nutrients to be replaced in the body. Personally, when I complete an intensive workout where I sweat immensely I sprinkle some Himalayan salts into my water to replace those minerals that I lost.
Next will be timing, most athletes feel the need to take a protein drink within the 30 minute window after they’ve worked out for the protein to be most effective. However, this is not necessarily the case, it is important that amino acids which are the building blocks of protein must be present in your bloodstream at the time you’re working out so that muscle mass is not broken down and your body has what it needs to begin the recovery process. But this can simply be accomplished through eating 2-3 proper meals a day where a sufficient amount of protein is present.
Last we have supplements, overall supps make a very small difference in performance and muscle maintenance. They are more so that you are getting the vitamins you need that that you’re not getting from eating fruits and vegetables. Since supps are at the top of the pyramid, they are the least important, and if you do not have a strong base which means meeting all the other steps supps are even less important.
Overall CrossFit diet plans can be quite grueling but understanding the basic concept of having a healthy diet is the first step. I learned a lot about the importance of macros and micros from research for this blog post and am intent on cleaning up my diet to make sure my body is getting what it needs to build the most muscles mass it can.
Here is a link to a CrossFit diet plan video that explains the pyramid in further detail!
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