A Fastpitch Softball Diet

Hey everyone,

Sorry for not posting in a while. I have been getting through the holiday season and working through finishing up in Mexico and preparing for the USA tryout camp. Good fortune allowed us to win the Liga Premier in Delicias, Chihuahua Mexico, and got me another year with the national team. Oh, and to top it all off I got engaged.

Now the focus has shifted to preparing for the ISF World Championships in June. Weight training, softball training, and eating right are now paramount to the quest of a medal this summer. Last year at this time, I decided to start eating better. I read the book "It Starts with Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig and did their Whole30 diet. Essentially, I ate a strict paleo diet for a couple of months, dropped 25 pounds and gained 30 on my squat. Getting leaner also made me faster, and I think I had my best year ever in softball.

Paleo dieting has a lot of ins and outs that can get complicated so I decided to give a guide for people who want to try eating clean, shredding up and getting stronger at the same time. The workout part is on you for now. Matty Roy has posted some good stuff in this blog so go back and check that out. For the diet part, try this out. Now all of it can be followed to the T, or a try. But if you want real results you really need to get serious about it for at least a month.

The first seven days suck, I am not going to lie. However, after a while, you will get into Ketosis, burning fat instead of sugar. You will bring your insulin levels back to normal, and start to feel awesome. The weight comes off fast after about 10 days. Also, as long as it's good food, eat as much as you want. Seriously, it's crazy but you can eat a ton, and lose weight, along with get healthier, have better workouts, and crush your expectations for this season.

Here is the breakdown:

1. Vegetable and fruits that you should have at least one serving per day:

• Crucifiers: Brussel Sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli sprouts
• Leafy Greens: parsley, kale, watercress, chard, cilantro, beet greens, escarole, dandelion greens, and mustard greens
• Citrus: oranges, lemons, and limes (avoid grapefruit)
• Sulfur-rich foods: eggs, garlic, onions, and daikon radish
• Liver healers: artichoke, asparagus, beets, celery, dandelion root tea, whey and nutritional yeast flakes

2. Colon-caring foods at least 2 servings per day:

• Carrots
• Apples
• Pears
• Berries
• Milled or ground flaxseeds
• Powdered Psyllium husks

3. Water, lots of water. If you weigh 200 lbs. you should drink at least 100 oz.

4. At least 2 servings of protein, which includes:

• Lean beef
• Turkey
• Venison
• Chicken
• Fish (at least once a week)
• Avoid: Processed meats such as cold cuts, precooked ham, anything fried, anything fast food

5. 1-2 teaspoons of Olive oil or flaxseed oil. When cooking, use extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil.

6. If you are active, you may get tired. For extra calories, you can add sweet potatoes, yams, squashes, etc. for additional carbohydrates. However, avoid red or white potatoes, rice, breads (white or whole wheat; in reality there is no difference).

7. Avoid completely:

• Sugar including maple syrup and honey (you can have honey if absolutely necessary but in total moderation
• Artificial sweetners
• Anything with gluten
• Soy proteins
• Alcohol, medications, and caffeine (Black coffee if necessary, no more than a cup daily)

Strength and Speed

The strongest people lift the most weight and the fastest people move the fastest...

Let it resonate...

We as coaches spend a lot of time trying to find a way to coax peak performance out of our athletes, making them stronger, making them faster, better technique, more of everything. However I find that often we forget the most basic part of training: the strongest lift the most the fastest move the fastest. 

I've just started with a group of young softball and baseball players, strength training to gain strength and speed, the two most important elements in the game of softball. I am first instructing them on the proper way to do the lifts, for obvious reasons. The next thing I tell them is "go fast!" Lift the weight like you're trying to throw it through the ceiling, or pull it through the floor. 

We have 6 core lifts: power clean, dead lift, bench, pull-up, squat, push press. These lifts, or some variation, are the core to most workouts that train strength, and all can be done with an emphasis on speed. And we emphasize speed. This week I am merely introducing the lifts with proper form and giving them a light workout after with a METCON. But in the weeks to come, I will report on their transformation through numbers and try to illustrate what speed and strength is supposed to look like. Stay tuned!

More Bilateral Training from Mathieu Roy

The bilateral training In this article, we will see what’s the bilateral deficit as well as the benefits of bilateral training. Before developing these topics, here's a little reminder. Unilateral training includes exercises where each side is worked individually or alternately. A single leg press or a single leg curl and a split squat or lunges are examples of unilateral exercises. Bilateral exercises however include exercises that involve the simultaneous work of two members. Squat and deadlift are good examples. In theory, if you add the strength that can generate each of your members, the amount will be higher than if you perform the same movement with the two members simultaneously. For example, if I add the load lifted by each of my leg on the leg curl, the weight lifted will be higher than if I would do it with my two legs together. This phenomenon is called the bilateral deficit (BLD). It should be noted that normally the BLD is greater for beginners than for experienced people in training. It is therefore relevant to those who begin training to run a few bilateral exercises to reduce their BDL. In addition, bilateral exercises are often easier to implement because it is easier to control the movement since our base of support is larger. Bilateral exercises also help to lift heavier loads and have better gain on your strength in general than unilateral exercises.
So as you can see there are more advantages to use unilateral exercises if you want to improve your physical qualities for a sport, prevent injuries and even when we want to increase your muscle mass. Indeed, given that unilateral exercises allow a better recruitment of type 2 fibers (high activation threshold fibers) and that these fibers are better in order to gain mass, you can get great gain in muscle mass.
In summary, a good training program will include a variety of exercises that will develop all you need and is specific to your sport muscle physical qualities (j’enlèverais les 3 derniers mots, c’est mélangeant). Depending on the experience in training of the athlete, the amount of bilateral and unilateral exercises will be different.

Things that make you go hmmm...

I haven't written a ton of anecdotal posts on this blog, staying with evidence-based papers so that I don't fall into the typical softball pitching junk that plasters the internet constantly. However, I noticed something this past week about results that was a little profound, and it has to do with diet. I am weird. I admit that I think about things a little differently and I have learned to live with that. But everyday, for me, is another experiment, as someone who works out, eats right, and works with pitchers and hitters. I am constantly noticing and picking up on trends and when I see something that sticks out, I note it for further observation.

I noticed something this past week about my eating habits vs. my roommate that was really interesting. We have a rhythm to life. I work at night and he goes to bed early so I rarely see him when I get home, or during the day. When we do talk, he tells me that he is trying to eat healthy, and since he has some training as a chef, he has some options on how to do that. I also see that he puts a lot of vegetables in the fridge, so I assume that he is walking that path. I also see what dishes he uses because usually when I start cooking I am putting his dry dishes away. Here is where my observation started...

I cook all of my meals unless I am on the road, and as you know from earlier posts, I am eating paleo. The premise behind paleo is good, whole foods like meats, vegetables, fruits and eggs, staying away from the processed versions that put preservatives and other crap in your food. This lifestyle has helped me drop 22 lbs. and still gain 30 lbs. on my squat. I love what I am doing and I totally believe that everyone can benefit from what I am doing.

My roommate has his own version of eating healthy, which is totally fine. He likes to drink veggie shakes and cook his rice for his meals. I used to think that these things were good for a diet, but I realized that if you drink your nutrition, your digestive system will absorb the nutrition quickly and you won't feel as satiated. Therefore, you will seek more food, which destroys the point of eating healthy. Also, I think that our minds have been swayed by a lot of propaganda about grains like rice, which I remember thinking was healthy, and then brown rice which was supposed to be the healthy version of a healthy thing. Then I learned that, no matter what, rice is overloaded with carbs and has little nutrition outside of that (even brown rice). So we get hyperglycemic after our meal that we thought was healthy, and sure enough, can't understand why we can't look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

I learned all of this, and have changed my lifestyle accordingly. But with that change I realized something that was almost comical about how I eat... I never use spoons. I started to think about why but then I came to a crazy revelation... isn't just about anything you eat with a spoon unhealthy? I mean the obvious ice cream is well known to be bad, but rice, oatmeal, soup, etc. aren't good either. Now I can attest to the fact that I used to eat rice and pasta with a fork, but think about what you would eat with a spoon. Weird right?

Now, let me say that my roommates healthy habits haven't extended into the weekend yet either, averaging a pizza box and a pint of ice cream per weekend as well. But think about the fact that he hits a floor every time he eats healthy and can't lose any more, whereas I blasted through mine in a month. I know that my theory isn't completely sound, but the observation may be something you notice as well. Soon I will be bold enough to show a picture of my progress, not quite yet. However, to update everyone, on Friday I weighed in at 196 lbs. I came back to Texas at Christmas at 225 lbs. and started the lifestyle at 218 lbs. on January 27th.

So put down the spoons and eat some good food!

To Compete or Not to Compete...

In short, this translates as my team that I played 4 games for during the regular season had to forfeit the entire 3-game championship series because Golden San Roman and I came to play.

The paragraph that has my name in it says:

"We wish to clarify that the baseball player Josh Johnson, came to participate in the Independent League of Juarez City invited by Mr. marco antonio solis and agreement to play with each and every one of the teams in the League and not just one, all this as a project of Mr. marco Solis to raise the level of play."

First off, it's pretty cool that they think that I am that good. It stinks that we couldn't play the playoffs because it was the two best teams in the league regardless. Second, I have never been a part of something like this, but to be honest the idea is a pretty good one. The short-sightedness of the tournaments that I used to get kicked out of back in Wisconsin when I was barely even ok as a pitcher (directors know who they are) or for that matter things like not letting Jeramie Holman throw in the league that he and I grew up in because he's "too good" now, really shows how ignorant people can be. And I should be fair to the directors, who are still accountable because they end up letting it happen, but it's the people that compete against us that complain about the level of competition.

I really appreciate my team, Poder Judicial, and teammates for the games I got to play this year. I really enjoy playing in Juarez and I can't wait for the next league to start, in about a month. Interesting how the US is the only country in the world that regulates it's leagues and the players in them. Also interesting how other countries actually encourage better players to play. I know that Tony Mancha will be playing when he can during the next league, raising the level all the way around. I hope that they also get the Malendez brothers, Lancho and Gabbe as well.

I can't wait for this season! With the Las Vegas tournament coming up in just a month, I can almost smell the grass, the burning smell after a foul ball, and feel the sensation of winning. The Cali A's will be very competitive and the tour with Team USA looms as a chance to re-invent the program. Can anyone else feel it? Every season is another great year of sun and competition. Sun and competition. What else could anyone want?

Want a new life?

Today is the 30th day of my new lifestyle. I have lost 15 lbs. and I am stronger than I have ever been. I decided to make a change to be healthier, feel better, and to stop relying on synthetic processed products to make me compete at the highest level. And I did it with food.

Just after my last season playing for the Bar of Green Bay, I tipped the scales at 235 lbs. and was in constant pain while I played. For some reason, I tended to gain weight during the season. It wasn't really a secret that season, tho. We didn't win often so we spent plenty of time drowning our sorrows in the bar after the games, knowing that we didn't have to play the next day. After that season, I decided to clean up my diet and managed to lose 30 lbs. only to put a few back on. I started the following year at 210 but sure enough wound up at 220 once again.

I have been on that cycle until this past January. After getting a book called "It Starts with Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig for Christmas, I decided to make a radical lifestyle change and begin eating what is commonly referred to as the caveman or paleo diet. In a nutshell, the diet consists of eating meat, eggs, vegetables and fruit. The idea is simple enough, when we were roaming the land as early humans we ate things that were whole. There was no agriculture or processed foods, we killed animals, foraged in forests, and ate things as they were.

Now, of course, there will never truly be the same foods as then. Wild food, without acid rain or pesticide run off, exists only in the most remote areas. Now, the solution is organically grown food, which is better than major agriculture and processed foods, is still not the same as it used to be. But it's a viable solution. In reality, nomadic people are at the mercy of whats around them. I can actually go to the store and get food native to just about anywhere, and it's an awesome thing!

In reality, I eat like a king! Just today I had 5 eggs scrambled mixed with spinach, onions and tomatoes, bacon and raspberries for breakfast. For lunch I ate 16 oz. of steak grilled asparagus and avacado with grapes and for dinner I had a salad with mixed greens, broccoli, carrots, avacado, tomatoes, onions, and grilled salmon with pesto and an orange. That's it. Three meals a day and they're great meals. Oh, and I kept track of how much money I paid for all the food I have eaten in the past 30 days... $465. If I had a #7 at Taco Bell everyday, 3 meals a day for 30 days it would be about $450. Weird.

Thing is we have been conditioned by bad food. Oreos are delicious, but they attack your chemistry with synthetic sugars, processed from sugar cane. The sugar attacks your senses, making you want more and more, and it's shocking, but if you think about it, would you ever stop? Think about it. I am capable of eating the entire box in one sitting, because my brain won't tell me to stop. Since there is no nutritional value in an Oreo, your brain never thinks that you are satisfied or "full". But that's not the worst thing. All those carbs you eat makes your internal chemistry numb to the constant carb overload. You become insensitive and all out of whack, eventually needing those carbs to function, and never tapping into the fat stores that now cover your body and get you ever closer to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and a multitude of other problems.

It's honestly sad. Now that I am a little tuned in I heard a story about when the FDA initially wanted to do a food pyramid. You have all seen it if you live in the states. Remember? 6-11 servings of grains, right at the bottom as the basis for our nutrition. Ironically, the woman that proposed the original food pyramid to the FDA actually had 3-5 servings of meat as the base of the pyramid (I am sorry, I forgot her name). She suggested only 1-2 servings of bread. The shocker is this: our government, during the cold war, decided that it would be impossible to give food stamps for meats and vegetables because it would have been too expensive and there wasn't a surplus due to the impending nuclear war. So the basis for our nutrition, taught in every school in the country, was formed as propaganda for financial reasons!!!! WOW!!!

Fortunately, we can recover from our past discretion. We can choose to eat what we should have known for years, and we can afford to do so. If for no other reason than to simply know the truth, read the book and do some investigating. You can visit their website at http://whole9life.com/ and check it out. I have already suggested this to my closest friends and the people I care about the most. I hope you take a look for your sake, and your family's sake as well.

Unilateral vs. Bilateral Resistance Training for Softball (Mathieu Roy)

In this column, I analyze the difference between unilateral and bilateral training workout and I explain the importance of these types of training for ball sports. First, you should know that unilateral training includes exercises where each side works individually or alternated movements. A leg press or a leg curl with one leg and lunges are examples of unilateral exercises for the lower extremities. A rowing with one arm using the pulley or DB press alternated are examples for the upper extremities. Moreover, bilateral exercises involve simultaneous workout of two sides. Squat and deadlift are examples for the lower body, bench press and bent over row are examples for the upper body. Both methods are effective, but unilateral training offers some benefits that cannot be obtained with the bilateral training. Here are some benefits: 1 – According to several authors, unilateral workout promotes the stimulation of groups of muscle fibers that generate rapid muscle contractions (high activation threshold motor units). Therefore, the muscle will improve its ability to contract quickly and a muscle that contracts faster is more explosive, so increase power will be obtained. 2 - In ball sports, most actions such as throwing and running are performed using one arm or alternately. Therefore, it is important to incorporate unilateral movements in our workouts so we can learn to generate power efficiently with one side only and then be more specific to our sport. 3 - When we work unilaterally the lower extremities, we reduce our base of support, so we get unbalanced. This way, we increase significantly the involvement of stabilizing muscles. The load you can lift will however decrease because you will be unstable, but muscle stimulations will be enhanced. 4 - Repeating actions at high speed using the same arm or by rotating the same side create muscle imbalances over time. These imbalances can cause injuries that can decrease your performance and even keep you out of the game for a certain period of time. Unilateral exercises allow you to limit these imbalances, so it is a great way to prevent injuries. Overall, unilateral exercises should be incorporated into a training program for a ball player. However, we must not neglect the bilateral exercises, because these movements help to reduce bilateral deficit and allow you to greatly improve your strength, which will be the next subject of the next column ...