Athletics & Fitness

[Leigh-Anne]

Hi all,

I really want to optimize my pre and post workout nutrition to support performance and recovery, and am curious to get in touch with whatever the latest and greatest guidelines are here. Are there any AV resources on this?

I’m 45 now and feel great, I do martial arts 3-4x/week in addition to yoga and outdoor movement (more of active recovery, like walks or gentle hikes in between). But I am also aware of my age and the need to be more mindful about supporting my body in a smarter way. I was a personal trainer in my 20’s and the basic advice was to have carbs before working out and then protein after. I’d like to go a little deeper and also get up to speed with what we know now.

The Krav Maga workouts are no joke; I’m particularly wanting to support myself pre/post with those. I have been going for 16 years on and off, but just recently recommitted after my son bought me new gloves for Christmas ? I mostly go to the heavy bag classes, which are basically kickboxing. They’re a good combo of cardio and strength training. My body is blessed to love them and I am quite strong, having gained back 7 lbs of muscle after slacking off last year and losing strength. Now I just need to shed a bit of that layer of fat on top, just 5 lbs or so.

I’m taking the carbon 60 in olive oil daily as well as a few other AV supps.

Thank you in advance for any resources that may help! Excited to dig in, and also connect with others here who are passionate about seeing how far we can go with our athletic potential. I feel like I’m just getting started ??

Discussion

[Mike]

This is fantastic Leigh-Anne, love this lifestyle. I’d like to get into some more martial arts again to balance out my running and boarding activities. As far as nutrition and supplementation I’d love to hear what @barre has to say on that but for me I’ll just say recovery time is everything as that’s where the muscle grows and the body adapts so I’m focusing more on going hard and then giving my body ample time to recover with good nutrition and lots of love 🙂

I too take the C60 every day and also supplement with our full spectrum liquids and do a lot of smoothies with our protein and illumined blends along with raw eggs. Also try to get a lot of healthy fats in my body from raw butter to avocados every day…one thing also is I focus on engaging with the 4 elements in the their most pure form every day. So early morning or dusk sun gazing, drinking pure structured water, lots of breathwork outside and barefoot walking on the earth. ?

[Leigh-Anne]

Hi Mike, thanks so much for your reply! ? I love how you also expand this out beyond nutrition, and as I was laying belly down on the earth this morning after posting I thought about that too. How it is all connected and related, our everyday practices.

I do this thing in the mornings where I lay down to face the earth, giving love and gratitude…and the earth always invites me to use the breath to inhale up divine energy, while using the exhale to release any energetic debris. So that really helps, too, and is part of the recovery/restoration process. Then I flip over and soak up the sun while exchanging love and gratitude. So simple, but it’s been so profound for me.

Your practices are inspiring for me, especially walking barefoot in nature. Here in LA, it’s a little more difficult, but I can do it in my own backyard to an extent, go to the park, etc. There have been a few big nudges over the past month to do this more, so I’d do well to listen ? Breathwork, too, has changed my whole life. Earth, fire, air and water.

[barre]

hey Leigh-Anne

Great routine! Here’s my MA training nutri/energy routine:

1) 30 min Browns Gas tx and Cell Salts

2) 1st in AM: juice 1 lemon, 2 shots aloe juice, 1 tsp ZP Enzymes, 10 drops AV ZP minerals;

3) AM Nutrition Blender drink: 3 raw eggs, 3 large scoops colostrum, 1 tbs dehydrated coconut water, 8 oz cold-brewed AV Primal Coffee (cold), 1 scoop instantized creatine monohydrate, 1 tbs manuka honey & 6 ice cubes … amazing taste & nutrition … I follow with 1 tsp C60 & 44 drops Methylene Blue;

4) AM workout: Somatics warm-up followed by full body resistance stretch interspersed with chin-up, push-ups, kettlebell-weighted horse stance 3 min X 3, club bell sequences, 1 leg hip thrusts, reverse step-ups … I do this 2 days on & Peleton Bike with yin Stretch on days in-between;

5) farm work all day with just water and no food until PM;

6) pre-dinner: Tai Chi ball training followed by reflex bag kicks/strikes & Xing-i 5 element line drills;

7) Dinner with Cell Salts & Browns gas inhalation @ bed.

Here’s a new product line teaser for my very soon to be released AV Zero Point Gold 100 ml drops that will be 6 different formulations. I won’t go thru each one, but here’s the 1st that I’m just about ready release:

ZERO POINT GOLD – CHAGA B: Liquid Shilajit/Fulvic base, cold sonication dual extraction Chaga concentrate, complete Vit B complex cold aqueous extraction sourced from Holy Basil, Guava & Lemon rind to preserve the full spectrum nutrition, ORMUS Gold derived from a new advanced crystalization process and all will be in a lipo-suspension … if I do say so myself, this will be the ultimate one-of-a-kind pre-workout supplement.

Thanks for your input as this is my favorite topic … I’ve trained for many different sports including full contact fighting for years, and still consult with MMA fighters and strength athletes. I’ll be developing more material including rehab tips as time allows.

[Leigh-Anne]

Hi Barre,

Thank you so much for sharing all of this! ? I’m so inspired by your routine, this is such a beautiful model of thoughtful care for yourself and your body. I’ll need to do some research on browns gas treatment…and am also looking forward to the AV Zero Point Gold drops!

Going to print this out and see how I can make it work. I’ll report back with progress – I also love to talk about this topic!

It’s fun for me to get monthly DEXA scans so I can see the changes in lean mass vs fat. I have my next one tomorrow morning. It’s been incredible for me to see what’s happened in a positive way since going back to martial arts regularly, and nourishing my body to the best of my ability (appetite is through the roof compared to before, and I’m allowing myself to eat more to support my body, it’s really fun! And based on the scans, the combo of nutrition + exercise effortlessly went straight into rebuilding lost muscle, none of it went into fat.)

All the best,
Leigh-Anne

[Mike]

Badass share here bro

[Barry Murray]

Hi Leigh-Anne,

I worked as a Sports Nutritionist for over 10yrs and have probably overdosed on the subject of pre/post workout !

What I will say, as I drifted more into things like circadian biology and quantum biology I realized that food wasn’t really the main player when it came to bodily function. So definitely focus on what Mike and Barre have shared already in this regard – sunlight first thing, grounding, breathwork etc.

I also drifted away from the standard dietary stuff and became much more of an advocate for a higher fat lower carb paleo type diet. I combined this with fasted training (so there’s my pre workout advice 😉 ) and cold adaptation. But to cover your bases “post workout” , just eating some wholefood like meat/fish/eggs with veg is probably all you need. You can go down the route of all the “shakes” and calculating your protein and carb intake based on grammes/body weight but sticking with foods as found in their natural state always wins.

I did all sorts of sports and raced triathlons, cycling, and then mainly ultramarathons for years. As I hit my 40’s I realized that recovery was slower so I’m with Mike in terms of simply giving the body more rest than you would have in your earlier years ! I think I saw another thread for surfers recovery, and some mentioned how with age it becomes even more important to focus on doing more weight training/S&C. That in itself would improve your recovery.

Best of luck

Barry

[Leigh-Anne]

Hi Barry,

Thanks so much for responding, I appreciate you! I definitely agree there is so much more than nutrition involved. So I like the reminders here to keep doing the other parts.

However, when it does come to food, I do want to optimize. I love your post workout advice to just eat some protein/veg. That sounds right!

For years, I ate higher fat, moderate protein and lower carb. I’m blood type O and have always felt better with this kind of eating, however, at times it has gone into the obsessive realms with what you mention about tracking, measuring, etc. That was mostly my younger years and I don’t do that much anymore.

However, recently, with this re-commitment to difficult workouts and the very noticeable increase in appetite as a result, I have definitely been eating more carbs. For me, allowing myself to do this has been a win, because I had an unhealthy belief system that “carbs make me fat.” They’re mostly coming from fruit/veg.

Then, seeing through my monthly dexa scans that eating more of a balance of carb/pro/fat helped me gain a significant amount of muscle back plus lose a little bit of fat was powerful! It was a pretty dramatic difference in just a short time (+7 lbs muscle, -3 lbs of fat).

I know that another factor here was eating more protein, because before I wasn’t eating enough…and it contributed to muscle loss.

I’ve done intermittent fasting for years and used to exercise on an empty stomach, but that doesn’t work with these martial arts workouts. I am significantly weaker when I do that vs when I eat something a few hours before.

Overall, listening to my body even more and taking care of it on all levels, listening to its messages to me, definitely sounds good…including the additional rest you talk about. Thank you again for sharing!

[Barry Murray]

Sounds like you have found the right balance. I also spent many years really avoiding carbs stringently and that does work against you long term. But you can be clever with them using timing, mainly consuming them with the post workout meal, avoiding the processed grains, and generally keeping to a lowish amount if it suits you better. You can cycle them even and consume more on your big training days. The seasonal aspect and light cycles is another step to take too maybe. Eating the same foods all year makes on sense although that’s what most of us do. With more UV sunlight in the summer months, it allows us to tolerate carbs better and vice versa, where winter would be more protein/fats .

I’m not into calculating things but keeping on top of your protein intake is something you could do. For strength type athletes, the higher intakes are 1.5g-2g/Kg of body weight. On the fat front , I learned a long time ago that its our friend ! Over here in Ireland, our butter and “green” grass fed animal foods are hard to resist !

You’re on the right track especially now that you have experience with finding out what does and doesn’t work for you. That’s what it comes down to, N=1 !

[Leigh-Anne]

Yes I agree, N=1 is so sexy! It feels good to seek out guidance from experts/others I trust, and then tweak it from there.

I love what you say about timing with carbs here. Really something I need to be a bit more conscious of, so thanks for sharing that. I forgot about what I’ve learned about carb cycling, and timing!

Gosh, there’s just so much information I’ve consumed over the years about nutrition that I think I reached my threshold and have sometimes thrown it all to the wind! ?

What I see here from talking it through with you all is that there is a nice middle way I can shoot for.

And weaving in that seasonal aspect feels so right. I want to follow that impulse now in spring moving into summer to eat more fruit/veg (naturally increasing those carbs, as you say, for warmer months). Then more fat/pro in the fall/winter. It’s very yin/yang and feels natural.

I even heard someone talking about how she learned that we can do a similar thing in our day…she eats fruit/veg only during the first half of the day, and then any fat or protein comes later on in the day. Not sure I’ll do that personally, but it fits in to working with the cycles.

I like your reminder about the protein grams too…that puts me at 100g/day of protein (which is admittedly hard for me, but I have been attempting to eat more protein and it’s helped.)

What kinds of activity do you do these days? You have such a significant history of athleticism that is very impressive! As a shy kid who would’ve never been comfortable on a team, some days I feel like I’m making up for lost time in my later years ?

[Barry Murray]

Hi Leigh-Anne,

Sorry , don’t log on here that often .

You’re right , there definitely is a more middle way to approach nutrition . I’m not sure “middle” is the right word and some might think that means “everything in moderation “ . However , I would be more in favor of saying that a more “balanced” way can be used . That first means just getting on a “real food” diet , then eating in a way that suits your context , but then more importantly realizing that health/performance is governed more by none food related factors such as light , water, magnetism (grounding , nnEMF, cold adaptation), mindset etc .

I spent 15yrs working in elite sport , I lived in Italy for a couple of years working with Tour de France cyclists , and worked with various other athlete at Olympic level . I trained a lot mysejf and competed in endurance sports – triathlon, cycling , distance running .. I settled on ultra trail running and raced a lot of the big ultramarathon events and won several races . I was really focused on my nutrition at the time and delved deep into what I called “fat adaptations “ .

However , what I will tell you here after many years of practicing it all and studying it intensely myself is that what you eat is really not as important as it appears … and that all of the holistic approaches that AV and others similar recommend are what you should truly be focusing on optimizing . That took me many years to comprehend and accept but it really is the truth !

[Leigh-Anne]

Hi Barry, thanks so much. I love the reminders, I’ve started doing a deep dive into circadian resetting and am taking it a bit more seriously now (was doing it kind of half assed before). You have a very rich history/level of experience with all of this. It’s a relief to take all of the focus off nutrition, zooming out to see the bigger picture.

[Penny]

Hi Leigh Anne,

For us women, we need to think about our nutrition and exercise as more as a monthly program rather than a daily or weekly one.

You want to be careful with your progesterone so you don’t end up gaining all the belly fat etc in five years when you hit menopause. During your luteal phase, which happens about two weeks after the first day of your period, it is very important that you take it easy. This is the time progesterone is being created. Recovery yoga, slow easy walks are ok, use this time as your recovery time. Eat more in general, incorporate things like yam, sweet potato and dark chocolate (stevia or monk fruit sweetened). You may want to get Alfa Vedics magnesium spray or a nice magnesium fizzy powder. Also, you can intermittently fast during this time but keep it low key, like 15 hours a day. Rest, relax more. Chill, read etc.

When you hit the first day of your period and during your cycle you can fast longer 18 hours or so, but keep up the nutrition. Incorporate cracked cell wall chlorella. It’s cheap, easy to take and works fantastically to replenish iron and protein lost and has a great side effect of reducing body odor in us gym rats. Raspberries and raspberry leaf tea are great during this time as well. You can increase the intensity of your workouts, but hold off of whole hogging it while still bleeding as it can be depleting.

After your period is finished, the two weeks following it until ovulation, you can work out like a super heroine. Lifting weights and lifting heavy will help you balance and maintain you hormone levels. Heavy lifting will also help you keep your bone mass. You can fast a lot. Even prolonged fasting. Focus on strength with some zone 2 cardio. Lower body is particularly good as it is our female power house. Weighted squats etc. This is also the time for less carb, more fat and protein, organic Ghee, MCT, EVoo, fermented organic tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds and their butters. Eggs (eggs are great all through the cycle). Cows milk and its products can be too estrogenic for women, resulting in imbalances, fatty weight gain and ovarian cysts. If you eat dairy try organic goat or sheep dairy instead.

Overall you want a lot of organic greens and veg of various kinds. Celery juice is really beneficial too.

[Leigh-Anne]

Hi Penny,

Thank you for the beautiful reminder. In 2017 I was teaching women about reclaiming our menstrual cycle, and working with it…having just learned about this in 2014. It was a powerful source of empowerment for me.

I did apply it somewhat to exercise and nutrition, although not to the extent you have outlined here, so thank you for this! It’s really nice to see that this area of consideration has been reclaimed by more and more women, it’s so important.

One thing I did notice as I was living with my cycle and teaching about it, I got to a point where I noticed I was being a little ‘too’ focused on it, vs. actually listening to what my body/heart/soul needed at the time.

Just as an example, there were times when I was ‘supposed’ to be resting when I actually felt quite like moving! That’s just one example of many. And so I transitioned out to more of a day to day curiosity with what my body wanted, vs strictly adhering to a set of instructions.

I also definitely notice a difference when my cycle aligns with the red moon flow (bleeding at full moon) vs white moon flow. Definitely more pep during my period with red moon flow vs white moon, which makes sense. My cycle lasts 30-31 days, so I naturally transition between each of these, and kind of like it.

Nevertheless, what you share here does inspire me to make some changes overall, so thanks so much. Bringing back to the forefront a general way of working with my cycle, while also listening to my body/intuition day to day, sounds good. I think both can work together.

Thank you again so much for the level of detail – I’ve taken notes and will be weaving some of this in!

[Penny]

Hi again Leigh-Anne

I am on the struggle bus with my notifications so, forgive me taking so long to reply.

I agree that there is definitely an intuitive way to feel out the body. Sometimes I forget that I am talking to AV people who are usually more ahead of the game than the normies.

You might find something I have been working on interesting. I keep a dream journal, which really just shows the subconscious that one is paying attention to it and results in better memory retention. Now, I ask the body, before bed, to show me what’s up and what it needs etc. I have had amazing results with this. The first result I had was a dream where I was in an underwater forest where the trees had pods, instead of leaves that turned towards the sun. It turns out, due to taking large doses of inositol to help reduce my high testosterone, I ended up with candida over growth. I didn’t know this and it took some digging with the symbology of my dreams and the pathology but..inositol helps candida propagate the little feet-pods it uses to connect with. No one ever talks about this! I had no idea…

[Leigh-Anne]

That is so cool, Penny, wow. Thank you for sharing! It’s really timely, too, as I’ve gotten into dreamwork a bit more recently. I wholeheartedly believe that is such a huge untapped realm for many of us. I’ll try this and report back ?

[maryschurr]

Thank you, Penny! I’m playing catch up as well with all the posts. I love what you have shared. I have difficulty remembering my dreams lately (this has not always been the case, but for the last 6mos or so). I do try to relax and go back into the dream, but it doesn’t work most of the time. They disappear so quickly there would be no time to even “think” about writing them down. I’ll try what you’ve shared and see how that works.

Would appreciate anything that works for others.?

[Author]

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