Both phrases are surely familiar to you. It's great that the significance of recovery has received more attention during the past couple of years. In 2012, the atmosphere was still quite different. However, I still believe that many people, especially those who are at the beginning of their CrossFit journey, are following the more advanced training partners and will go too far too early with the programming.

I am actually a great example of that.

I have always been competitive. As a kid, I competed in cross-country skiing and running, and in the fall of 2012, I tried competing in Athletic Fitness. Athletic Fitness includes functional elements such as rowing and maximum reps of pull-ups and dips. I had read about CrossFit and it sounded interesting. I went to the On-ramp -course after the competition and I am still on that road.

High expectations

I thought it would be easy to switch between the sports. I had a solid aerobic base and I’m naturally gifted with strength capacity, but it wasn’t as I struggled with the other areas.

The competitive nature took me to my first CrossFit competition 9 months after the On-ramp. I didn´t expect to win, but still, it was a disappointment to be one of the last girls in the group. I decided to become better and started to train much harder.

For years, I was obsessed with progress and becoming better. The pressure I created by myself increased year after year and success still gave to wait for itself. Instead, I was always tired, sick and suffered from a constant nerve pain. At the same time, I’ve been an entrepreneur and studied. In 2014, the total workload and stress grew too big and eventually, my body forced me to ease off as I injured my back.

I didn't learn from the first setback. I was impatient and returned to full training too fast. I didn’t scan my back at the first time, partly because I was afraid what could be found. Last fall (2017), I finally got fed up with the constant pain. I went to MRI and the result was stopping; four different types of hernial discs and 2 ruptures. I had to seriously reconsider my goals and values.

The learning

Now one year later I am grateful for that experience. I have learned to be more gracious to myself and tolerate failures better. When my body gives signals to rest, I will rest.

Sleeping has become one of the first priorities and I’m no more compromising the 8-hour dose. I have also built other stress management tools than training and trying to make those habits. During the years I was obsessed to become a better crossfitter, it was easy to neglect social life. Nowadays, I’m spending more time with my friends and living life outside the gym. I try to approach training so that it would support well-being, not hinder it.

I hope you could learn from the mistakes that I have made. Pay attention, how your body feels and don’t try to win every WOD. Scaling workouts accordingly is much better for your health but also for you progress.

5 tips to better results and improved recovery

Do also other things

When we do things that produce happiness and joy, our parasympathetic nervous system activates. When the parasympathetic nervous system activates, a lot of good things happens in our bodies. To name a few, heartbeat drops, breathing frequency steadies and blood pressure and stress levels decrease. Read more.

Sleep enough

Even minor sleep restriction has been shown to increase reaction times. Sleep restriction has also negative effect on mood states, like decreased vigor and increased depression and sleepiness. These negative effects have been linked to a harmful state of over-training. You can also imagine that feeling sleepy and depressed, it can be hard to motivate you to push through a hard exercise or even get up from the couch! Read more.

Have deload weeks

Many who are training hard or competitively are not planning their training cycles properly. A lot of athletes are training with full throttle for months until the engine cuts off. Then they’ll have a couple of Netflix and chill days and get back to the self-punishment loop. A common alternative for this is to follow 3+1 allocation, meaning that there are three progressive training weeks and one recovery (deload) week. During the deload weeks, workouts are intensity and loads are moderate (<70% of your normal load). The volume is approximately between 50-60% of your normal. In metcons, prefer bodyweight movements and machines over the barbell and benchmark WODs. Everything you do should feel pretty easy and comfortable. This is a good week to practice skills and accessory work with long and light sets. Just feel the movement and enjoy the training. Read more.

Are you eating enough?

Energy availability ((dietary energy intake kcal – energy expended in exercise kcal) / fat-free mass kg) has recently gained popularity as an evaluation tool for the right level of athlete energy intake. It means the amount of energy after exercise left for resting energy expenditure, muscle damage repair, exercise adaptation (producing new muscle, nerve, and bone tissue), immune system, and hormonal functions. Appropriate energy availability allows you to train, recover, improve performance, and stay healthy. Inappropriate energy intake and energy availability weakens the recovery process from training, as glycogen stores do not refuel to the optimum level. In such case it is challenging to improve performance as the body’s physiological processes may be suppressed. Read more.

Pay attention to the signals

Pay attention to how your body feels and don’t try to follow the programming to the letter. If your body is still aching from yesterday’s WOD it migh be wiser to take a long walk instead of an intense WOD. During metcons you should go “all in” only occasionally. Not all the time. Read more.