Have any of you ever felt yourself starting to get lazy with CrossFit? Maybe you just met a big goal, completed a grueling challenge, went on vacation, are overly stressed with work/life or recently got sick. Whatever happened to get you out of your groove, it isn’t unusual to lose your familiar CrossFit fire. If you feel as though you need to get yourself back into gear, read on…
Have you ever considered taking a week off? Here and there, when I find myself overly dreading workouts and I haven’t taken time off for a couple months or more, I force myself to take a break. Worried that you’ll lose strength during that time? Honestly, a week off every once in a while can do wonders for you. Or, rather than taking an extended break and then fighting to get back in the groove, you could try working out 1 day on, 1 off, for a week. You’ll keep the movement efficiency intact, and gain the benefits of more rest. Sometimes taking extended breaks can make you feel more sluggish when you return. After awhile of doing 1 on, 1 off, you’ll start to feel the power coming back. And don’t forget to cut yourself some slack! If you’re coming into the gym, doing a ton of work, and still feeling unmotivated, that is a definite sign of over-training. We have posted several blogs in the past all about over-training, and the importance of rest to your overall fitness gains. We can’t stress it enough: rest, rest, rest!
With all the cold and flu germs going around lately, being sick can really knock you down. Having some sort of bug can take you down for at least 4-5 days! But it’s important to give your system the necessary time to rebound and get strong again. Don’t push yourself through a WOD before you’re really ready, or you can set back your health progress. Slowly getting back into it is one thing, but pushing yourself too hard before you’re ready can weaken your system. Focus on your health, first!
Have you found yourself spending all day dreading the WOD and feeling like going to the gym is the last possible thing you want to do? Well, sometimes your brain needs as much of a break as your body does. Is your daily life pretty hectic? That could add to it too. Spending your weeks swamped at work, running around during your spare time and not getting enough sleep, you may not be as motivated to work out. Take a week of active rest! You could catch up on your house and yard work instead, maybe go play some sports with pals, or go on a hike or bike ride. Switch up your routine, then come back and see how you feel. Chances are, after this little break you’ll probably be itching to get back to things full steam ahead.
Most importantly, you just need to sit back and put things in perspective. Take some time to reflect and get your mind right. You’ll find your groove when you’re ready!
Today’s Workout:
Buy In – 500 or 800m row (Games Prep: you have the option of doing a 1000 or 2000m row, after members who are doing 500s/800s have gone)
Rest 10-15 minutes
WOD – OPT Big Dawg Pullup-Burpee
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For Time:
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50 chest to bar pullups
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50 burpees
James Fitzgerald of OPT hosted an online challenge in January 2010 and this was one of the workouts. We did it at the Zone about a week later and these are the top “Rx” times – TeeJ with 6:39 (Lucas crushed it but it’s not on myfrantime!) and KDF with 14:32.
Turts
Zone 3: Scale to regular pullups
Zone 2: Scale to assisted pullups
Zone 1: 30 of each, scale pullups
Cash Out – Follow the leader Yoga
My training log says 5:37. If I’m feeling good I might hit this tomorrow, Time to start rampin up the intensity!
Mmmm, this post hits on exactly how I’m feeling these days. It always a balance between pushing yourself to work out even when you don’t want to…and pushing yourself too far and too hard. I was going to do this WOD, but have apparently left my shoes at home – so I guess it’ll be a rest day today. Probably a good thing as I’m still working through a couple post-competition “injuries”.
I should give this one a try sometime.
I did a heavy burpee workout yesterday. 4 rounds of 1.5 minutes of burpee broad jumps, followed by 1.5 minutes of burpee box jumps, 1 minute rest in between rounds. My chest and legs are burpeed out.
Good post Shannon.
It really is a balance between pushing at the right times and knowing when to take it easy. I think most of the sectionals competitors are suffering a bit from “post-competition motivation syndrome” at the moment.
It’s very common to work up physically and psychologically to a big event and then need to take a break to rest and regenerate the body and mind. We saw this on a huge scale with our athletes coming back from Beijing – most of them took 3 to 4 months off or more.
For people going to regionals though it is important to refocus on the next task at hand. Give yourself enough rest so that you are recovered but realize also that there is work to be done. Last week I trained 4 times, each time sucked big time but it was a necessary step forwards towards Regionals. This week I am starting to hit my stride and am prepping for a big 4 week push.
I think the idea of easing back in with frequent rest days is excellent – train one day, rest one day then slowly ramp up to where you want to be frequency – wise.
1. Get healthy
2. Keep moving to keep the motor patterns
3. Refocus on your next goal
4. Ramp up intensity and frequency
5. Dominate!!! 🙂
turts
Great post Bones! Another thing you can try is to take a week of scaling back or trying a new sport to keep you active, but take a break from CrossFit!
You may feel like you can train, but like Shannon said, your brain needs a break as well. I know I went through a few months of not having that mental toughness to push myself in the wods. Being sick had forced me to take time off, and it has given me a new inspiration and more energy to get back at it and push harder.
Unlike most of the competitors from the sectionals, I was ready to train right away because I did not ramp up my training leading to sectionals due to being really sick.
Great class this morning! Congrats to Kingsley for pushing through those chest to bar pullups and not giving up!
Sweet Weeping Jesus on the Cross! I’m not sure which is worse the 2000M row buy in, or the ridiculous WOD, I’m puking in my mouth right now just thinking about doing it. uggh see everyone in a few hours.
haha hey Steve – you have the OPTION of doing a 1000 or 2000 row, so only do it if you feel up to it. We could do a shorter row and focus on technique which would benefit you in the long run (plus not destroy you for the pullups!)
turts
Nice job on the row today Steve – the technique is coming along nice!
b loves cfz! she likes seeing the zoners kick kelly’s ass today. chris c with his wicked improvement-we have been all talking about wendy but he has stepped it up big time, seanie b with his great time, eric with his cold and all the other zoners get through this rough one. great work kids-it is a pleasure to sweat it up with all of you in the box.
oh and brian has the biggest box…
Nice work zoner’s! The results will be up this week and you will be able to come in and pick up your prizes 🙂