6

I've been doing crossfit for about 7 months now, and I'm extremely happy with the results. For the amount of time I put in and the amount of results I see, I can hardly believe it.

I've recently switched from a Mon/Wed/Fri workout week to a Tue/Wed/Thur workout week, and I feel like I'm struggling a bit more. Here are my questions:

  1. How much difference is there in those types of schedules?

  2. Is the struggling all in my head?

I find that after 4 days off (fri/sat/sun/mon) my workout on Tuesday seems that much harder. Any thoughts or input would be great.

Improve this question
2
  • 5
    off the top of my head, it would seem like 4 days off is long enough to slightly lose some conditioning, and 3 days back to back is so close that you might not get a chance to recover between workouts. Is that what you think you're experiencing? If so, then, no, its probably not in your head. :)
    – DavidR
    Apr 11, 2013 at 12:45
  • Just out of curiosity, if Mon/Wed/Fri was working well for you, why did you switch it up? I find the age-old adage quite useful here - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
    – Nathan Wheeler
    Apr 11, 2013 at 16:56

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

The biggest thing you have is a back to back session of Wednesday/Thursday. My knowledge of Crossfit is that the focus is on General Physical Preparedness (GPP), so the whole body is being hit every time.

I would expect Thursday to be the day you struggle the most due to residual fatigue from Wednesday's session, but if that's not the case then the culprit could be too much rest.

There's two things you need to keep an eye on, whether you are going for GPP or more specialized training:

  • Too much fatigue/not enough rest
  • Too little work/not enough stimulus

By spreading things throughout the week a little more evenly, you probably have a better distribution of training stress to recovery to help you improve optimally. The two back to back sessions with four days off afterwards can very likely be giving you too much rest despite the heavier training stimulus.

Improve this answer
1

I would strongly advise you to put your rest days back in between workouts. Check out this answer about the importance of rest days. Basically, too long of a rest period between workout days causes you to lose part of your gains, and working out too many days close together has the same effect, with the added risk of injury from overworking.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.