Recovery Part 2

It's been a busy week at the shed., and unfortunately I've missed my mid-week blog. I hope everyone's training is going well in the lead-up to the Opens. Seems like we will need some 22.5kg DB's hey. If anyone close has any spares - let me know!

Last post covered the fitness components Cardio/aerobic and muscular endurance. They're the big ones for most of us in terms of recovery. below are a few more that you will have to consider from time to time:

• Neural (Skill): A lot of the movements we do stress the neural system quite a bit. Any complex skill will do this. For example a set of EMOTOM of a single heavy (close to 1RM) snatch will stress it. However the rest time you need to reset the systems is only a few minutes. Which is why doing them on one or two minutes allows you to keep lifting that weight. Another set may be doing 2 MU every two minutes - assuming that you are new to MU and that this is a challenge.
• Neural (Motivation): This is the one that will stop you dead and why most people will actually have a recovery day. If your training is based on the same movements or is of long durations, then (simply put) you just get bored. Or you could be getting frustrated - though this is likely because you're attempting to do the same movement/s. For example, my sister and MU's don't get along. Sometimes she has them and sometimes she doesn't. And when she doesn't she wants to quit CrossFit. The obvious remedy here is, don't do MU. But us CrossFitters are a stubborn lot. So instead of not doing them you could go back to drilling them. 

​         We are lucky in crossfit in that if we get bored of something we can mix it up. Prior to CrossFit my sister and I trained for the Ironman where this type of fatigue is very real. It's tough to stay on a bike for 6 hours! If you are  finding you're getting bored, or frustrated or just want a break, then try mixing it up. I love doing a skills wod. I do this without the clock on - I put my favourite Country and Western playlist on and go for about an hour of handstand walks, MU's, heavy Squat Snatches etc. Nothing puffy - I get sick of being puffed! So if you want a break, do something you love. See a movie (my fave), or workout with some mates, or alone. Whatever it takes to reset the brain and gets you wanting to train again.

• Anaerobic training: This falls under the 1-5 min flat out WOD. E..g 1x500m at 100%. You get that leg burning, vomit inducing results. The HR will get to max most of the time. Most of the effects you're feeling are from acidosis (not lactate or lactic acid) which is a by-product of this type of metabolism. No long term recovery is needed. After about 30mins or so you should be good to go again - depending on how motivated you are!

The real art/science now comes in planning your weekly cycle so that you get the right amount of recovery for each type of fatigue. Muscular endurance that promotes a lot of muscle damage will need the most rest. However, it doesn't mean you take the days off in between. You could easily work different muscle groups. Or do strength/power/skill work (which is neural stress) - best also to use different muscle groups. So if I have been doing a big set if CTB i wont do rope climbs the next few days - they both work the lats/teres major. But I could definitely train my legs with some squats.

I would also make sure you're not doing too many of the very high intensity HR WODs mentioned last week. The one where you are left lying on the floor with your heart racing, struggling to get a breath in. Limit these to two or three sessions a week - allow the heart to recover! Or you will pay for it.

So as you can see, it's quite easy to train every day! As long as you don't get bored or frustrated or sick of it. Assuming you're not, then cycle through those types of sessions. Generally, I take a day off once every two months. I have way too much to work on to take a day off - a recovery day means I'm doing something that doesnt stress the thing that needs recovering - does that make sense?

But I hear you say how tired you feel if you train every day. Well then, I would reply you're not cycling through your fitness components efficiently. That is, you're hitting the same one too soon.

For example, you do Fran on Monday, then on Tuesday you do 4x400m run max on 3:00, then on Wednesday you do Fight Gone Bad. Well all of those stress your heart in a BIG way. Your muscles feel fine. But if you did another of those max HR WODs then you're risking burnout in that area. 

I also hear people saying they get injured if they dont have rest days. Again, you're probably working the same muscle group/fitness components too often. Use your warm-up to listen to your body - does one hamstring feel tighter than the other? Well then don't do any posterior chain stuff until you fix it up (i.e. trigger).
Your shoulder is niggly - well don't do anything that makes it worse! Sounds easy but how many people will push through a wod just because it is up on the whiteboard? If your shoulder is niggly do some rear squats...

And check your resting heart. If it is up for a few days then back off! If you're feeling terrible then back off or rest. Listen to your body - it will let you know. Never do something you shouldn't just because it was in the plan or on the whiteboard. be flexible. 

I very rarely program anything for myself. I couldn't tell you what I'm doing tomorrow until I start to warm-up. I see what feels good, what feels bad and then work around that. This is a little trickier if you're at the shed, however if any of my clients want to do something besides the WOD I always accommodate them. 

So my best tips on recovery:

• Learn what you need to recover from and how to do this.
• Listen to your body AND change your training accordingly
• When you recover - really recover hard. Sleep lots, eat well, reduce stress and mobilise. This is the best way to step up your training - don't train harder...recover harder.

Do this and you may be able to increase your training - and get to that next level. 

                    “Every time you stay out late; every time you sleep in;
                                every time you miss a training session;
                                      every time you don’t give 100%…
              you make it that much easier for another athlete to beat you.”