Wednesday 03.27.13

As Nikki Minaj would say: "Hands up and touch the sky...." 

7 minutes of burpee heaven with the 6:30 AM crew.

In recent days, I've had quite a few people approach me and ask "Man, are we workin' shoulders this week?" or "Wow, you've really had us working legs this week!" or "I just didn't have any energy on that WOD. I do not know what. is. UP."

News flash #1: CrossFit is constantly varied high-intensity work. In plain English: we work ALL your 2000 body parts EVERY DAY. We don't have a "Legs Day", "Shoulder Day", or "Bicep Curl Day".

News Flash #2: All three of the statements above are part and parcel of the same likely culprit: OVERTRAINING. Oh yes, there is such a thing my friends, particularly when it comes to full-body, high-intensity workouts like CrossFit.

I've written about the importance of rest before on this blog and I think it is a valuable to revisit this critical aspect of your fitness regimen. Rest is AS IMPORTANT as training and it is critical to building your overall fitness. In CrossFit, the recommended programming cycle is 3 days on, 1 day off. Now that construct does not work neatly with how we structure our hours here at WCFM because Sunday is always a rest day for the box. HOWEVER, this does not mean that you cannot structure your workout schedule in such a way that rest days are included. You SHOULD be scheduling AT LEAST 2 rest days into your weekly schedule - preferably sprinkled in every couple of days and not back-to-back to each other (a.k.a. the weekend).

And News Flash #3: Rest does not equal inactivity. As I said before, it means lowering your intensity level and participating in some other form of activity that is not high-intensity or weighted work. Examples: a long, slow run (NOT speed work). Yoga. Pilates. Recreational volleyball. A long walk. A game of pick up basketball.

If you don't believe me, then start tracking your progress and let me know how your workouts feel 3 weeks from now when you're tired, easily gassed during a WOD, or nursing soreness and injuries that just weren't there before. Get your rest, so you can take Beast Mode up a notch at your next WOD.

Benchmark Girl WODs Week Continues!!

Be sure to write your times, weights, and modifications down in your binders.

WOD

"Isabel"

30 snatches (135/95)

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Cash Out:

Pullup Pyramid

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 pullups

3-6-9-12-15-18-21-18-15-12-9-6-3 pushups