I have wanted to write a piece on training optimally in Crossfit for a while, and with the games season just around the corner I felt this was a good time.
Now I want to start this piece off by stating I’m in no way am I against volume, quite the opposite in fact. I’m all for it, but for the right people, at the right time, with the right goals.
Now who might those people be who can justify double, triple or god forbid quadruple days (quitting your job would be a good start if your at 4 a days)
– Young (<30)
– Resilient mentally and physically
– Minimal external stressors from the gym (relationships, lack of sleep, kids, work, commuting, etc)
– Having a REALISTIC goal of wanting to compete on a National / European level
– A well developed Aerobic system (mainly for recovery)
– A solid handle on nutrition and ensuring energy comes from carbohydrates and not stress hormones (another article in itself)
Jonne Koski is a prime example of a young resilient athlete who can handle a tonne of volume. 2x Games competitor at just 21.
Obviously there are exceptions to the rules above, there are exceptions to all rules, but there aren’t many athletes that last long before they run into an injury or worse, adrenal fatigue. This article is in no way intended to quash your dreams of making it to the big time, ,more a reality check of whats possible.
The athletes at risk of plateau. injuries, burn out and ultimately frustration if training isn’t optimal are the older athletes and or people with high stress outside of the gym. These are the people that this article is predominately aimed at for the obvious reasons they are at the highest risk.
Your body doesn’t know the difference between running from the bear ,an argument with your boss or doing Fran. They all elicit a stress response raising the stress hormones in the body.
So the first thing to ask yourself, and to keep asking yourself is,
WHAT IS THE GOAL?
If I ask someone what they want from the shops and they reply “oh can you get me a tuna sandwhich please, they are on the left hand side as you go in just under the bananas”. I now no exactly where to go and what it is they want. Now imagine the same question with a response like “ummm I’m not bothered, I’m hungry but don’t know what I fancy just choose something for me” How much longer will you be in there going from aisle to aisle deciding what to get them. Can you see how this might relate to training if you don’t have a goal you’re working towards.
Remember – “All roads lead to nowhere”
The key to this is being brutally honest what it is you are training for and ensuring your training reflects this. Its common to see athletes who are competing in local throwdowns for a bit of fun, training like guys 20 years their juniors pushing for the CF Games. These folk ultimately train for health and fitness not the sport, so mimicking the volume of such a programme is a recipe for disaster unless you have most of those points above on lock down. If you don’t, then you have no right trying to follow Rich Fronings’ training programme and expecting it to do anything other than crush you! The key is listening to your body. We have evolved over millions of year and believe it or not its a smart bit of kit. It will give you plenty of clues before you run it into the gutter and its only if you are pig headed and ignore them will you get into trouble.
Another important point, and maybe the most important is knowing where YOU are on YOUR training journey. Its too easy to compare yourself to other athletes, and worse those that are significantly younger and more athletic than you. If you are 35 with 3 kids, a stressful job and 6 hours max of sleep per night, comparing yourself with a more athletic 23 year old who has no external stressors and can train all day, is un-realistic to put it nicely. Nobody ever got fit in one day, and the biggest mistake you can make is trying to cram as much in as you can to “catch up” on missed training time.
If this regularly sums up your mood in the gym, its probably time to re-assess your programme and lifestyle
If you are one of those people who wants to compete in CrossFit,and you don’t have the lifestyle of an Olympic athlete then you have to train optimally not maximally. Train to a level that compliments your lifestyle and stress levels. If you are following a Russian squat cycle, doing 5 WODs a week plus extra skill work on top of your full time job and 5 hours sleep, you will break at some point, don’t say I didn’t warn you! Less is often more and as counter productive as it seems, spending less time in the gym and more time recovering will actually yield far better results. For the over trained types that are stuck on this hamster wheel, this is a daunting prospect for fear of “falling behind”. Now I’m not saying train once a week, sleep and eat a lot and you will achieve eternal greatness. What I am saying is cutting down from 6 sessions a week, and doing 4 or 5 and missing one AM cardio session for an extra hour in bed will likely lead to more long term results.
Focus on the quality of your work in the gym and not quantity if you aren’t fortunate enough to eat, sleep, train repeat. No shit, I have caught people immediately after a class attempting 1RM’s on the exact same lift we just did 30 mins earlier for 5×5 because they felt it “wasn’t enough”. Not only is that sort of thing completely unnecessary, its hugely counter productive. Ever heard of the term “cracking a nut with a hammer”, its just overkill and will only eat into your recovery from what was a good strength session.
So to summarise,
– Respect the training process. Rome wasn’t built in a day, your fitness is an ongoing journey not something
– More often isn’t better, better is better.
– Find what are optimal levels of training for your lifestyle, age and goals.
– Start running your own race instead of other peoples and those PBs in and out of the gym will be just around the corner.
– Finally train SMART. Listen to your body. Common colds, loss of appetite, niggles and difficulty sleeping are just a few signs you might be over doing it.