We figured that this time after the Zone Games would be a fantastic opportunity to hammer home our point about one of the most essential parts of your CrossFit Training: Recovery. The following are some excerpts from a CrossFit Journal article by Robb Wold, entitled, “On Recovery”. Take a look at the variety of things that all work together to help your body recuperate:
“As a CrossFitter you have likely been: fatigued, sore and generally beat up at one time or another, or perhaps continuously! This is a result of training. What will largely determine the results you obtain from training is a multifaceted concept, recovery. Adequate recovery allows for more training and ultimately improved performance. In some respects recovery is the Night to our exercise Day (this analogy will be more true than we can imagine). In exercise we release hormones, mount immune responses, cause inflammation and use things like glycogen and lipids for fuel. Recovery complements this process. Accelerating the things we want and mitigating the less desirable processes will provide more return on our exercise investment.
Much in the spirit of “World Class Performance in 100 Words” recovery comes down to: Eat a Zone favorable or other hormonally intelligent diet with predominantly antioxidant rich “Paleo” foods. Sleep 8–10 hrs per day in a completely dark room. Go to bed as early as possible. Laugh. Avoid excessive stress.
Nutrition
A quick search of Google with the topic “post-workout nutrition” produces an impressive chunk of information concerning the nutrition and recovery. Most of the recommendations seem to point towards a combination of carbohydrate and protein to optimize muscle gain and glycogen replenishment. Scientific literature and empirical evidence seem to support this plan but I recommend a more moderate approach than most of the bodybuilding and endurance sources. I like to see lean protein sources combined with predominantly fruit, yams/sweet potatoes or squash for the carbs. This ensures variety, low glycemic load and high nutrient density with an emphasis on antioxidants. The basic protein/carb plan regardless of composition appears to be beneficial for the aforementioned anabolic action directly by non-insulin mediated nutrient transfer but also indirectly by suppression of cortisol. With the smart selection of antioxidant rich plant materials, one is also reducing inflammation and providing alkalinizing material for acid/base buffering. The acid base buffering can facilitate greater workout intensity and may be important in deep sound sleep. Good stuff!
Sleep
The bottom line with sleep is get 9–10 hrs per night in a completely dark room. This will normalize inflammatory conditions, autoimmunity, insulin resistance and hormone status (good things like growth hormone, testosterone and estrogen).
Remember the last section discussing nutrition? If you lack sleep you do not digest or absorb food normally. All that effort to [eat perfectly] is derailed. Do you also remember the little line I mentioned about nutrition affecting sleep? This is where all this recovery stuff gets very interwoven: Sleep affects digestion, nutrition affects sleep. Things like stress affect both.
Stress
Psychologists have quite an array of terms for “stress”: (real, perceived). What we are concerned about is stress that: raises cortisol, compromises immune function and disturbs sleep and digestion. Interestingly, if one is well fed and adequately rested one is more resistant to stress. I hope I am getting across the highly intertwined and self-reinforcing nature of all this. If one is under stress it becomes even more critical that nutrition and sleep are as good as they can be.
Contrast Hydrotherapy
It may seem amazing that one activity could have a positive bearing on sleep, digestion and stress, however some do exist. One of my favorites is contrast hydrotherapy, or simply alternating hot and cold water soaking. In an ideal world one would have a fairly hot tub of water, say 100–104ºF and a cold tub, say 34ºF. One would sit in the hot tub for 3–5 min and then go immediately to the cold tub for 30–60 seconds. This process could be repeated 3–5 times with a profound state of relaxation and euphoria being the result. Coldwater immersion seems to be a part of many folk medicine traditions and there is an impressive body of evidence that indicates the practice improves insulin sensitivity and reduces stress and inflammation. If one does not have tubs of hot and cold water available alternating the shower temperature is a pretty close second.”
Check out this video from the CrossFit Regionals competition this year. Coach Dee and Erika are hitting up an ice bath post WOD to soothe their aching muscles, and you can see they have an interesting coping mechanism to stave off cold and panic… (forgive the video positioning, but it couldn’t be rotated!)
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSOarRjVUcc’]
Today’s Workout
Buy In – 3 rounds of 10 pvc dislocates, 10 band squats, 10 kb swings, 5 inchworms
WOD – “Everything But The Kitchen Sink”
AMRAP in 7 Minutes:
- Deadlift 5 reps (95/135lbs)
- Clean 5 reps
- Front Squat 5 reps
- Push Jerk 5 reps
- Back Squat 5 reps
3 Rounds, Rest 3 min between rounds
Zone 4 – scale weight to 85/125lbs
Zone 3 – scale weight to 75/115lbs
Zone 2 – scale weight to 65/95lbs
Zone 1 – scale as needed
Cash Out – 5 x 10 strict toes to bar/hanging leg raise
