Nutrition Spotlight: Mike Vigorita

Meet Mike Vigorita, more commonly referred to as ‘Vigs’.  Mike is a long standing member of Industry Athletics who has an been CrossFitting since 2012. Whether you WOD in the morning or in the evening, you most likely know you he is.  2-3 times a week Mike will complete a morning conditioning workout then circle back in the evening 5-6 times a week for strength and metcons. He has been following Industry Athletics Demanding Training Program for a few years now and when the program took it up a level and began following the MISFITS programming Mike knew he had to make some changes to his nutrition if he was going to last!!!

Like many when Mike first started CrossFit he ‘went paleo’.  Focused his nutrition on consuming meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.  He kept his intake clean, but didn’t worry about ‘how much’ he ate.

It worked in the beginning, I lost probably 5-10 pounds. But, being a college kid, I continued to drink beer (totally paleo) and that would lead to pizza (hey if a caveman found that in a cave he would totally eat it). Eventually, I abandoned that all together. Towards the end of college,  I realized if you want to get big and strong, carbs are your friend.

From there Mike shifted in to Macro Counting.  He tracked during the week but then the weekends came and you guessed it, pizza and beer!  Fast forward a few years, Mike found himself pushing himself more in the gym but lacked the physical transformation he hoped for. After listening to a podcast on Intermittent fasting, he began doing some research.

I decided to give it a try and found it very successful, as I only had to skip breakfast. I then simply worked to hit my macros between 12 noon and 8pm.  I was eating at a deficit but it still made it feel like a lot of food. I lost weight and body fat, and felt really good about how I looked, but I would get beat up by a moderately heavy barbell and realized my performance was suffering.  As a result I increased the amount of food I would eat in my fasting window. This helped me move weight, but some days I would still feel lethargic and tired in the gym.  That’s when I decided to reach out to Coach Brittany and dial everything in to hit peak performance at Wodapolooza.

-Vigs

Coach Brittany and Mike have been working together for approximately 4 months.  During this time not only has Mike, decreased his body fat percentage but he also has increased his energy at the gym and hit a few PRs along the way!!!

I really wanted to improve my performance. I felt sluggish and did not have the “push” I wanted in certain workouts.  With the demand programming increasing its volume, I had to make changes to make it sustainable and increase my focus on nutrition and recovery.

-Vigs

Mike trusted Coach Brittany and followed her lead.  He began eating breakfast and over the course of 4-5 weeks began consuming an addition 600calories a day.  Each individual has different goals and for Mike, to reach his full potential this is what needed to be done.  Through the addition of calories (aka macros) he increased his performance, added some lean muscle mass and lost fat in the process.

My biggest takeaway is a personal one.  I need to be aware of what I am eating both during the week and on the weekend.  By not tracking or paying attention on the weekends, I would eat WAY more food than my body needed. Keeping track of my meals (even loosely) on the weekend made me much more aware of the amount of food my body needed vs what I was eating, and kept me at a level that allowed me to see significant, positive changes week over week, as opposed to having a weekend “resetting” my hard work during the week and doing that over and over again. It has taught me that even when I do not track, I can, and likely should, eat less than I want to.  Additionally, I’ve learned that it is entirely possible to continue to increase the amount of food consumed in the correction proportions and still lose weight and body fat. The body needs fuel. #FeedTheBeast 

-Vigs

Mike is ‘winning’ on so many levels.  He and his team ‘We Still Kinda Party’, comprised of Coach Davidson, Coach Ryan and himself qualified for the WZA intermediate team division and made their way down to Miami to show everyone how we do it up here in Maryland at Industry Athletics.

As a Coach, hearing Mikes excitement when he would hit a PR or crush a workout and feel fully recovered day and day was so rewarding.  Mike had a goal and he put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears. We have worked to find a plan that works for him and that is sustainable.  We had a plan for the holidays and looked at what his days would look like when he traveled. We did our best not to get hung up on the past and to continue to move forward!!!  I am so proud of all the work Mike has put in!!

-Coach Brittany