[ginge]

Evening all,

I had a sports massage today, the massuse said that I didn't seem in such a bad way as 2/3 weeks ago when she last saw me. I've been thinking for a week or so that maybe I'm starting to adapt to CF a little, I don't think that I'm necessarily shocking my body as I was when I started a month ago. Any thoughts? I'm thinking that maybe I need to introduce maybe 10 mins of V. High intensity heavy weights every few days. I tend to find that I'm gassed when actually doing a WOD but that I recover pretty quickly and don't always feel that I've pushed my limits.

[Andy]

dude,

from watching you train at Reading and from what you tell me you are recovering because you are a beast. That is meant with all seriousness bud.

You are used to training every day and your body has adapted to that.

Don't always look to be on your back after a wod mate and looking for the muscle soreness the next day or two. Doing heavy met con and all out v. intense wod constantly will have an adverse effect and you will either burn out very quickly or injure yourself. Mix it up, there's no harm doing some heavy weight short met cons every few days like you say but don't make them long. Heavy thrusters, cleans, deadlifts, throws etc are great to put in to a wod but rep ranges should ideally be kept to 12-15 max and prefferably done on a sliding scale i.e. 15, 12 9. Also don't make every exercise heavy i.e don't go really heavy deads followed by really heavy thrusters. Personally i feel the pressure on the CNS is to great in this scenario. Comliment heavy work with either explosive work or high rep stuff i.e. heavy deadlifts followed by 20 balls slams or heavy deads followed by long run or push ups and run.

Keep alog of what you are doing at each session. this will help with the desired effect as you will know when to add more weight or up ranges. Ideally look to be able complete reps in one set but obviously this isn't always possible.

These are obviously just my thoughts bud and there are a number of very clever coaches on here that will prob have more to add

See you next week

[Johny Cash]

All depends on goals bud. What are they?

[ginge]

Hi JC, your question put a spanner in the works for a few hours and I think it is fair to say that this has been my biggest downfall over the years. I've often had them in my mind but never really put them down, and they have always been too generic. Since I'm currently starting out on my PT Quals I suppose I should start practicing what I may be preaching soon.

I'm in the Army, and in line with the whole, "ability to meet the demands of everyday life" I think my goals should look something like this.

CV Endurance: (Req'd so as to be able ressist physical and mental fatigue e.g. remaining vigilant whilst on patrol in hot country for hours). Currently comfortable running an 8 min mile for around an hour, therfore acheiving 7 miles (56 min). NEW GOAL: MAINTAIN 7:30 PACE FOR ONE HOUR, THEREFORE ACHEIVING 8 MILES IN ONE HOUR DEAD.

Strength: (Req'd for short sharp carries of people and kit) Currently only lifting 50 - 60 Kg overhead. NEW GOAL: LIFT BW OVERHEAD (95 KG), revetavily new to oly lifting so I think with some tech work I may make some quick gains here (not enough to reach goal though)

Muscular Endurance: (Req'd for carrying 20 - 35 Kg of kit whilst moving about, running, climbing and crawling etc). I'm a little uncertain how to measure this, a thought WOD comparrision would be suitable, prob REPS in a given time for no. of different exercises rather than for time. Thoughts?

Finally, and a little vain I know. Drop body fat to 12 - 15 %, currenty 18 - 20 % (estimate).


Andy, very respectful of what you're saying but really want that feeling that I NEED a rest day that I was having a few weeks ago.

For info, my recent programme looks something like this.

2 - 3 CF group sessions a week
1 - 3 WODs by myself a week, usually combine a few different bits and train for about 45 to 60 min
1 - 3 CV sessions a week, usually a Bike ride (up to 30 miles) or a run (I've started doing more interval stuff as I was very steady state heavy prev to Jan)
At least 1 rest day a week.

[greg]

i think you're confusing CV with "Long Slow Distance", you're very much mistaken if you think the CF workouts don't affect your cardio vascular system and performance


i'd also be worried you aren't resting enough, especially if this is a new regime

[Gubernatrix]

I used to want that feeling you describe of really needing a rest - but I don't any more. Yes you can get a certain amount of weird pleasure from battling through fatigue but it just ends up being frustrating when you want to do anything that requires skill. I would rather feel on top of the world, ready for anything, sharp and focussed.

If you do a lot of endurance cardio you can get away with doing it in a fatigued state because at the end of the day it is repetitive, low intensity stuff.

But you'll find with Crossfit that there's a lot of emphasis on technique, especially with the oly lifts. You cannot do this stuff fatigued, it just ends up being a load of cr*p.

There's also no glory in muscle soreness - excuse me but it doesn't mean sh*t in fitness terms. All it means is that your muscles weren't used to doing whatever it was you were doing.

There's an amount of fatigue that we all need to put up with and it is a sign that the body is adapting and improving - but too much fatigue is detrimental to performance. I've just recently recovered from a period of overtraining (although it was in powerlifting) and it wasn't pleasant. In fact it was very frustrating.

I'm not saying don't do your programme or don't work hard. But if you mix it up and maintain excellent technique your performance should improve across the board without you having to kill yourself every time. And do what Andy says of course!