Wednesday 10 August 2011

Full body: Light weight

I didn't feel like I had too much energy this morning, but I thought that might change once I got going with my workout. Today's main routines are adapted from WODs I found on the CrossFit Markham website.

Amrap 20:
10 power cleans @ 105
10 burpees

Score = 7 rounds (19:55)

This felt like I definitely should have got a better score. All the reps felt as if they were in slow motion. I've never done this routine before, so perhaps I'm being hard on myself. All 7 rounds of burpees were unbroken. 

I took a 5 minute rest break before starting the next routine.

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5 rft:
5 front squats @ 105
10 kipping pull-ups
15 push-ups (regular chest to floor, not hand release)
Time = 12:32

The front squats weren't too heavy, so all 5 sets were unbroken. The pull-ups were surprisingly difficult, given they're one of the movements I find quite easy. Still, the overall time was respectable - 150 reps in just over 12 and a half minutes. Throughout this routine I felt like my whole body was aching, quite dizzy, and a bit nauseous.

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Push press - 5 x max reps @ 75
12, 10

I only completed 2 sets because I was dizzy and I thought I was going to fall over; and that's during the rest breaks when I wasn't actually holding any weight. The last time I did this routine I got 12 reps in the first set and 15 in the second. I could tell there was no way my scores were going to improve because I felt so drained of energy.

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Update:
I've been doing online research into the symptoms of overtraining and I'm certainly experience several of them, including:
  • Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
  • Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
  • Pain in muscles and joints
  • Sudden drop in performance 
  • Decrease in training capacity / intensity 
  • Loss of enthusiasm for sport/training
  • Exhaustion
 There are other possible symptoms, which, thankfully, I'm not experiencing: weight loss, appetite loss, increases in injuries, and increased susceptibility to colds and flu.

Anyway, a rest is definitely called for, so - other than my early morning bike ride - I won't be training again until next Monday.

3 comments:

Paul French said...

I was going to wait a few weeks and see if something like this happened, and it did, I think taking the weekend off will only temporarily fix the issue. The new training style you are on is very taxing, and I recommend a slight tweak as it seems you are enjoying it. Currently you train 4 hard days in a row, I'd drop your training week to 3, you'll notice that I don't have 4 hard training days in a row in my workout schedule, a light arm day or stretching day will squeeze it's way in between. So my advice would be 2 things;

Keep the days of Monday to Wednesday that you have, and have the Thursday as a stretching day if you feel completely drained or if your energy level isn't too bad make it an arm day.

Or keep the Monday, Tuesday and Thursday days the same, and have Wednesday as the stretching day or arm day, that way you can avoid over training easier. It's not just about muscular over training, your central nervous system (CNS) plays a huge role. If overtrained it will leave you feeling depleted and your results will go backwards. Hope that helps.

Paul French said...

Just had a thought, another option instead of the stretching days or arm days is a skill work kind of day. I have been throwing them into my routine randomly but have considered giving them there own day.

This would include things like; skipping/double unders, overhead squats, handstand holds against a wall, l-sits, or if you want to be crossfit like see how far you can throw a ball (just not in the gym).

Things like that aren't too taxing, and if something like the overhead squats becomes easier it can be thrown into your regular training days, just another option.

Common Sense Design said...

I agree about taking a weekend off will only be a temporary fix. It certainly helped this weekend, but it's bound to happen again. I didn't do anything other than cycle to McD's on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday - while I was away in the Muskokas - I went for a 45 minute gentle run at 6:30am while everyone else was still sleeping, then 60 minutes of kayaking. That left my pecs sore the next day, but I didn't push myself too hard.

I think your suggestion of keeping Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays the same makes the most sense to me. I seemed to be ok with the heavy lifting, but the lighter days metcons took the most out of me.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions.

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