Thursday, 4 August 2011: Overtraining

All athletes need to be aware of overtraining. Some may think that extra workouts will improve their performance. But if not approached properly, adding additional workouts will only lead to overtraining and injury. Signs and symptoms associated with overtraining may include (Kellmann, 2002):

- Increased resting heart rate
- Upper respiratory tract infections
- Excessive sweating
- Reduced maximum power output
- Difficulty increasing heart rate with increasing effort
- Increased vulnerability to injury
- Depressed mood
- General atrophy
- Restlessness and irritability
- Disrupted sleep
- Weight loss
- Inability to recover with sleep/waking with fatigue
- Heavy legs

What you need to realize is that you probably don't need as many workouts in one day as you think you do. And if you really do need multiple workouts in one day, you need to know how to scale them properly. Overtraining is the quickest way to decrease your performance. None of us want that now do we?

It's okay to experiment with new workouts and combinations of workouts, but remember to listen to your body. It's not the extra workouts that help you improve, it's the recovery that makes the difference. If you're not recovering properly, you're not allowing your body to adapt to your new training protocol. Take those needed rest days so you can tackle those next sets of workouts with a vengeance.

ENDURANCE
2-5 x 800m w/3min recovery

WOD
5 Rounds
5 Skin the Cats

4 Rounds
150' Overhead Lockout Walk
Max Lateral Push Ups

3 Rounds
20 Air Squats
20 Lunges
20 Jumping Lunges
20 Jumping Squats
20 GHD Sit Ups
10 Toes to Bar (strict)

RESULTS
Endurance
3:07/2:58/3:09/3:04
Form and technique were seriously breaking down on the 4 round, so I decided to call it a day. Plus the CG Montgomery programming is leaving my body wrecked. Need to leave some in the tank for the Underground Strength WOD.

WOD
Lockout Walk @ 1 pood
Lateral Push Ups: 25/32/35/35

I'm getting great feedback from my body on how I need to scale CF Montgomery's current program to fit our endurance athletes. Going completely Rx with both CF Endurance and CF Montgomery's programming is not an option--way too much volume. Next week I'll experiment with scaled CF Montgomery programming and see how my body reacts. I'm so looking forward to my rest days.