Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Rest days? Those are for weaklings...or not



When I first started crossfit, I really had a problem with the taking a whole day off. And I'm still not good at it, which is why I'm blogging about it, so that I can convince myself the importance of it! I'm the type of person that will kill myself for 6 days and then on sunday I'm dead and I rest, but then I start all over again on monday.

I do crossfit 4 to 5 days a week but I'm also a runner so most days I do 2 a days. I go running in the morning and do crossfit at night and on my "rest day" I do my long mileage.

"Coach, I can’t take a rest day, I saw we were doing (insert really-sexy-looking-cool-workout-that-just-can’t-be-missed here) and I HAD to come.”  OR “Sure, I took a rest day, a rest day from CrossFit that is, and I went for a 3 hour mountain bike ride instead!”" But insert a 13 mile run instead of the bike ride and I'm pretty sure this has come out of my mouth before!

In an article I read, it said it pretty flatt out "If you don't take rest days, you cannot progress"

Man, did that give me a good slap across the face. Crossfit is all about improvement. Thats why I do it! Because I can feel my body getting stronger everyday, my 1 rep max gets better, my times are faster, I can do more pull-ups, more push-ups, cleans are getting easier and I can feel the change its having on my body!

So to be told that if I don't rest, I cannot progress really helped me realize its importance. Crossfits rule is 3 days on 1 day off. Say hello to my new motto!

From the article:

"Physiologically, rest allows the body to learn from and adapt to the recent physical stress, repair muscles, rebuild, and be stronger and better adapted for the next physical challenge (in our case, a workout).  In CrossFit we believe in relative intensity and work to dial in our athletes’ workouts to an intensity level that hovers in the “hard but doable” realm.  The result is an adaptation that continuously tips the athlete toward stronger, more skilled, faster, you get the point.  But the CRAZY PART is that this adaptation takes place during the rest and recovery phase, not during the workout! Too much intensity or too little recovery blunts the adaptation creating an athlete that is headed toward plateau rather than continuous improvement."


"As athletes (and not just CrossFit athletes) we constantly chase performance and for many, appearance too.  We’ll do anything for a better run time, a faster Fran, or a heavier deadlift.  Change my diet?  Sure, tell me what I can and can’t eat.  Buy the right shoes?  Sure, where do I pay?  Take a day off?  NO WAY."


Even if you aren't a crossfiter, if the level of your workout is intense on a day to day basis, make sure you give your body the right amount of rest! Its important to let your muscle heal so your body can get rejuvenate itself so that it can get stronger!


Here's a link to the article where I got most of my information. Check it out! Theres other juice that I didn't share on here.

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