When the honeymoon is over
This article is reposted from the Revival Strength blog with the kind permission of Marcus Filly. We are reposting it here because it is relevant to everyone training in CrossFit.
Have you seen or experienced the magic of falling in love with high intensity functional fitness?
The first 1-2 years are amazing. You feel great, are making PR's regularly, and can't stop browsing for shoes and telling your friends and family about your love of the gym (cue the eye rolling from the uninitiated). Each day you wake up energised, often very sore, but never to a point that detracts from your life.
Somewhere during the 3rd or 4th year something starts to change. For the first time you begin to experience some plateaus in your lifting numbers. The energised feeling of every day has started to vanish and often you wake up tired, beyond sore, and starting to feel a little nagging injury here and there. You start to ask questions of your coaches. Why can't I improve my strength like I was before? Why do my elbows hurt? Why can't I seem to lose body fat now?
And your coach tells you, you need to start…
Doing more mobility - plan to add 30-60mins of stretching per day.
Counting your macros - plan to start weighing and measuring your food.
Doing the competitors/advanced program - plan to start doing even higher intensity.
Taking this and that supplement - plan to fill your cabinet with all manner of pills and powders.
Now for the real reason behind all of these changes. Why is the honeymoon over?
The balance between intensity and skill training has shifted and the total amount of intensity training has surpassed your ability to recover.
Your training age has advanced and now you have the ability to push your nervous system harder. As a result, your ability to recover adequately with your current lifestyle has diminished.
The ability to understand this and then approach this problem from a training prescription perspective is the key to longevity - and enjoyment - in training.
Your lifestyle is likely pretty full and set. If you're not a professional athlete, the time available to dedicate to your health and fitness is mostly fixed. Your life likely doesn't have room for hours of mobility. Therefore we can say the following:
DON'T do hours of mobility just to keep up. You don't have that kind of time as is.
If you don't have perfect food quality practices, you don’t need to count macros at this point. A quality-focused food approach when your intensity is balanced is sufficient to making progress and feeling great.
Adding more intensity in the form of a competitors program is only going to make things worse as it is taking the balance of skill and intensity training further away from harmony.
You don’t need supplements that promise performance improvements. Putting a band-aid on a problem doesn't fix the cause.
What's your training age?
Beginner - Little to no training background. (less than 6-12 months). Focus should be on motor control and brain development, as beginners lack the ability to truly push into the highest levels of intensity that will take a toll on their central nervous system. As a result, even seemingly high intensity at this stage allows them to make improvements without wearing down too much as they lack the adaptations more developed athletes have.
(NOTE - just because they are progressing here physically, and perceive things as feeling good, there are still stress responses that can cause adverse long term hormonal issues.)
Intermediate - 1-4 years of training. Now they understand movement, have learned some higher power compound exercises like kipping gymnastics and olympic lifts, and they are capable of doing workouts closer to prescribed or at prescribed loads.
Nagging injuries may pop up during this phase. Strength gains slow down dramatically. These athletes start to express more strong opinions about what feels good vs not. Not all aspects of training feel the same anymore as they develop certain skills and motor patterns more effectively than others. Pushing into TRUE INTENSITY is now possible in some areas. In turn they will see that their nervous systems are taking a different type of hit than they are used to. If their lifestyle factors don't balance this out we can start to see negative training responses. The Honeymoon Phase has started to phase out here.
Advanced Trainee - From 4 years and beyond the clients has now accumulated a great deal of training experience. If they haven't already been chewed up and spit out of the system from overuse injuries, fatigue, and frustration, they are now going to start to see these things if they are following random intensity prescriptions. With a much more developed nervous system, very developed motor control, great muscle density, and an understanding of how to push themselves, this athlete's ability to produce power and intensity is much higher.
With repeated weekly exposures to this style of training they will without a doubt be tapping their brains out soon enough. Nagging injuries, plateaus, and burn out are approaching quickly. It is essential for this group of clients to develop great self awareness of their bodies and recovery status, to follow a properly periodized program that gives them doses of intensity at rate they can tolerate, and fills the rest of training with structure skill and low intensity work.
Enter Functional Bodybuilding
This is where Functional Bodybuilding principles as described in our FBB 101 Course can impact each of these groups in a unique and appropriately structured way. Additionally, this is why participants of Awaken Training Series have found the training to be so effective. Finally they are following a program that introduces a more thoughtful balance to Skill/Structure vs Intensity. Intermediate and Advanced trainees that have been chewed up and spit out of other group programs have flocked to ATS and discovered a new approach to training balance. Lastly, this is exactly why our Individual Coaching System has been so successful in helping individuals navigate their training life. As they evolve through the various training stages, so does their program. The balance of intensity vs skill and structure work is optimised for them at last.
Skill + Structure Examples - For General Training
(Compare to the testing examples below to see how to use intensity to develop strength and skill without burnout.)
1. 5 Sets - at increasing effort (start slow and increase your pace each round slightly):
7 KBS 53/35 lbs
7 Burpee over Rower
Row 200m
rest walk 2mins between sets
2. Every Minute on the Minute x 10-12mins
Odd - 8 Thrusters 95/65 lbs
Even - 8 Pull Ups
3. Row 500m @ 2k Time Trial Pace + 4sec; rest 2mins x 8 sets
4. Back Squat; 32X1 tempo; 4-6reps x 4 sets
3. A1. RNT DB Split Squat; 2121; 6/leg; rest 90sec x 3
A2. Dual Prone Dumbbell Row; 21X2; 6-8reps; rest 90sec x 3
4. 5min AMRAP @ 85% - 5 Pull Ups/10 Push Ups/15 Squats
rest 2mins
5min AMRAP @ 85% - 5 Box Jump (step down) 24/20"/10 Lunges/20 Double Unders
rest 2mins
5min AMRAP @ 85% - Run 100m/7 Wall Balls/7 Ring Rows
Intensity Testing - Save for Minimal Exposure
(If this resembles your regular training, try the above approach instead.)
5 Rounds for Time - 15 Burpees/15 KBS 70/53 lbs
Death By Thrusters :
Min 1 - 2 Thrusters 95/65 lbs
Min 2 - 4 Thrusters 95/65
Min 3 - 6 Thrusters 95/65
Min 4 - 8 Thrusters 95/65
....... Continue until you cannot complete the reps in the given minute
2k Row For Time
Back Squat - 5RM
AMRAP 20mins - 5 Pull Ups/10 Push Ups/15 Squats
It is time to start understanding the basic principles of training age and tolerance to intensity. Knowing where you sit on this continuum can help you better understand your experience and needs going forward.
Subscribe to a training methodology that embraces this framework. Give yourself a chance at long last success without burnout. Avoid nagging injuries and align with training that allows you to LOOK GOOD and MOVE WELL for life!
Curious what appropriate intensity looks like for your training age? Talk to a Revival Strength coach.