Crossfit, Intensity and Burnout.
Posted on | February 15, 2009 | 1 Comment
I think I’ve made it pretty well known that I’m a (non-fanatical) supporter of Crossfit. It’s what first renewed my interest in the functional training world a few years ago and I’m now in route to pursuing a career in that direction. I think a lot of their take home messages are great too. That working out shouldn’t be boring – it should be dynamic, challenging and fun, even if in a twisted way.
I agree with them that most folks need to take a look at what they’re doing and crank the intensity WAY up. I often recommend them as a good place to start to people new to the functional training world. I’m somewhat involved in their community and have found it to be filled with great people. That said, I really find the constant “frantic” pacing wears on me.
I am not by any means saying that all out circuits don’t have their place. I really enjoy pushing myself. When I’m gagging with my head in a bucket, some little voice in the back of my head is cheering because I know I gave it everything I had.
Despite this, I don’t think it’s the best way to train, at least not all the time. I spent about a year following the WODS (workout of the day’s) pretty faithfully. This was around the same time I started eating Paleo and really focusing on the details in my training. I got better, a lot better – my body fat dropped, I got stronger and improved in nearly every athletic metric. But then things stalled. I’d feel burned out all the time, a state of overreaching that was bordering on over training. I tried taking half intensity weeks. I tried taking a complete week off. All the fixes that the Crossfit community recommends.
I still progressed. But it was always a seesaw act – trying to balance the need to do more and perform better with adequate recovery. I could do nearly all the WODs “As Prescribed” at this point, but my progress had slowed to a crawl.
Then I started playing around with Mountain Athlete’s programming. It borrows a lot (and gives credit to) Crossfit, but probably incorporates four times the volume. At first, I thought it was crazy, then I noticed something. They do a lot of high intensity circuits but they only use a stop watch once in awhile. In general you work at a “brisk, but not frantic pace”. I really think there is something to this. I’ve found lately that I’m able to handle much more volume than I previously thought, at a slightly lower intensity. I do pull all the stops out once in awhile and see how much I can make a workout hurt. This is no excuse for slacking, but I think the “every second counts” race mentality may not be sustainable, or at least may not be the best way to train the majority of the time. For me, it leads to burn out and at a volume of work where I could still benefit from doing more.
Just to make sure I wasn’t crazy, I dusted off an old favorite of mine Fight Gone Bad a few weeks ago. Despite the lower intensity, I beat my previous score by a few points.
I know a lot of Crossfiters read this, as well as a lot of people who haven’t “drank the cool-aid” just yet, but are very influenced by their style of training. What are your thoughts on the above?
Catching a squat clean
Comments
One Response to “Crossfit, Intensity and Burnout.”
Leave a Reply
Recent Comments
- addie on Paleo(ish) Chocolate Chip Cookies
- cmason on Paleo(ish) Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Nico on Paleo(ish) Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Nico on Paleo(ish) Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Ana on Paleo(ish) Chocolate Chip Cookies
Meta
Google Friend Conect
February 18th, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
Interesting point of view. I love high intensity workouts but the idea of doing them almost every day has never appealed to me. I like developing skill and doing sports – which takes time.
If you train for sport, you also have to manage your time quite carefully, peak for events and so on. It’s too dangerous to push it hard all the time – you’ll either end up injured, or you won’t be able to put in your best effort on the day.