Coming from a gals perspective here...At the start of June 2011, my crossfit gym started a paleo challenge. I ate paleo bout 80 percent of the time, so thought what the heck. I also incorporated leangains. My goal was to lean out without losing strength. Wasn't too interested in weight loss. At the start of the 60 day challenge I was 120 lbs (5'3"). We performed a WOD which consisted of 500 m row, 4 rds of 10 boxjumps, sit ups and ring rows, then end with a 400m run. Did that initally in 9:43.
At the end of the challenge i weighed in at 107 lbs and i finished the WOD in 8:23. The before and after shots are pretty drastic...obviously alot of fat was shed.
you can see the before and after here: http://crossfitcarbon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/LisaN.jpg
I followed the leangains pretty closely...a 16 hr fast (basically breaking my fast at noon each day and i didn't eat anything after 9pm). Took 20g of bcaa's prior to WOD'g. My gym follows Wendler 5/3/1...so the same as Martin...but we add in the oly lifts (cleans, jerks, snatches) as well as OHS.
I typically worked out at the 5:30am class, so as Martin advises...just took the bcaa's before the WOD and drank coffee and sipped on another 20 g of bcaa's until i broke my fast at noon. I did it everyday, rest or WOD days, thought it was super easy to do....and still continue to do it today.
I didn't get the bonk that some of you guys are talking about at all. I noticed some good strength gains, but i think i'm at my peak based on my weight on all my lifts. The next 60 days i'm going to see if I can gain about 10 lbs and hopefully that will be all muscle.
When I took in carbs it was typically in the form of veggies or fruit (not too much fruit). I rocked a sweet potato, or spaghetti squash now and then...but my micronutrients were typically very high protien, moderate carb and low fat.
In summary, leangains was a really awesome experience. I drastically changed my body composition and look in a relatively short amount of time. It was very easy to do and i will continue to do it. Strength went up as well on all lifts
Dead: 175 to 195
Bsquat: 140 to 155
Frt squat: 110 to 125
strict press 70 to 85
Snatch: 55 to 85
C&J: 95 to 117
OHS: 75 to 115
Oh and I won our Paleo Challenge probably as a result of leangains too.
