I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
Coconut water seems to be taking the world by storm and CrossFit boxes are no exception. Leave an unlabeled bottle of coconut water in the fridge at my apartment and you can kiss it goodbye.
But what is it exactly and why is it such a big deal?Coconut water is the liquid that forms in young coconuts before maturity. At maturity, the water solidifies to form the flesh of the coconut. A serving of coconut water has as much potassium as a banana and it is low in sodium, which makes it ideal for recovery post-WOD. When mixed with protein powder (my personal favorite) it allows the protein to reach your system faster and replenish your muscle tissue broken down during the workout.
It contains small amounts of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. In terms of performance, the electrolyte content allows your body to rehydrate more quickly than if you were to drink just plain old tap water. Other benefits of coconut water include providing B vitamins and therefore giving you more energy, decreasing anxiety, and helping with muscle functions. Coconut water also eases digestion. And most importantly it comes in a variety of flavors and it’s delicious. So drink up!
Strength:
Split Jerk 2-2-2-2-2-2
WOD:
4 rounds:
1 minute KB Swings (53#/35#)
1 minute Box Jumps (20″)
1 minute Ball Slams (20#)
1 minute Calorie Row
*Rest 1 minute in between rounds, score is total number of reps
7PM TONIGHT – Free Handstand Workshop with Aaron Cantor! Come one, come all!
What is a ball slam?
pick up wallballball overhead…SMASH to ground in front of you. i expect you will kill them. in fact, please kill them a little extra hard for me – i’m still broken and quite restless.
You are so much more mature than I am.
bahahahahahahahha! guess that one did fly right over me!
Something I probably would have gotten had I failed to resist commenting on that headline.
I like coconut water.
Split Jerk 205#
WOD 255 reps RX
Was there originally a noon class for today?
mmmmmmmmmm coconut water!
split jerk: 115#…FUCK YEAH. PR city, and now i can officially put more than myself over my head.
wod: 330 Rx. Rounds 1 and 2 were great, round 3 SUCKED and round 4 was a ‘just hold on’ round. My mental toughness needs to get stronger — there’s no reason why i shouldn’t have gone unbroken on KB swings in round 3 and 4, but i did. god damn that voice!
Just started getting into coconut water. Expensive habit compared to regular water though.
split jerk: 170#, 1RM was 175# so not far off
wod; 311 Rx. Started out strong and lost steam with each round – first round was 89, last was 65 I think. Pacing is probably something I should focus on.
I did this one by myself after you guys left this morning. 325 Rx – 87, 81, 81, 76.
I’m proud to have stayed unbroken to 30 KB Swings in every round. You don’t have to be the strongest or fastest to rack up big sets of KB swings – just grimly determined to keep using your hips and not set it down.
Oh man did the last round of box jumps just suck. Definitely a goat of mine.
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A Second Opinion On Coconut Water
I <3 coconuts. I chopped open some coconuts with a hatchet when on vaca, and both drank the water and ate the meat. For locales without natural, free coconuts falling off trees I prefer cheap-as-free regular old water out of the tap.
Coconut water is trendy as hell, CrossFitters love it almost as much as board shorts and knee-high-socks, and having potassium is nice, but I can do without the sugars and the high cost. I just don't need to recover all that fast. I also have a serious aversion to magic pills and snake oil, so I don’t like spending money on something that promises to make me better… when really it’s hard work that makes me better in the long term, and shortcuts are generally just tempting distractions for me. (At least the knee high socks keep us from getting shin scars, which is a pretty handy benefit.)
So if you’re a mostly-sedentary-and-sometimes-cranky-old-guy like me, here’s another cheap way to get more potassium into your diet if you want to: use this stuff, which is half sodium and half potassium, as a salt substitute in your cooking. http://www.mortonsalt.com/for-your-home/culinary-salts/food-salts/5/morton-salt-substitute/
Regardless of rumour, this shit is no more likely to kill you than anything else. From an article in the British Medical Journal looking at potassium use to decrease blood pressure:
If you have any or all of those conditions and are at risk of hyperalkemia, you’re probably not getting magical benefits from chugging coconut water either. Maybe just try drinking water and doing more CrossFit.
But hey, if you’re an athlete or first responder that needs the sugar and likes the faster recovery (or if you’re in a competition or life-threatening environment and must recover quickly) then please go right ahead and drink coconut water! It’s cool, and it does work exactly as Coach Mandy describes above. 🙂
Thanks for posting this, JT. I used to drink a lot of coconut water, especially on long bike rides, but I stopped a few months ago because of the sugar. I’m still trying to figure out whether I think it’s a good idea for me. I have pretty frequent muscle cramps, so maybe this potassium salt stuff is the answer.
not going to lie – just last night I was researching “how many bananas is too many bananas in a day”. It’s kind of related. 🙂
Split Jerk – 85#, PR
WOD – 260 w/14#ball
The handstand clinic was great – thanks for arranging that JT!