I think I’ve written about this before, but sometimes repeating myself is probably a good idea. Especially since I’m hopefully more coherent the second or third time around.
I’m in the mood to beat that old dead horse “Intensity” again. A 30 minute hard workout leaves everyone worn out, sweaty and feeling pretty damn pleased with themselves. As you all know, that is not intensity, that is long and hard.
Intensity means even if it is only 5 minutes, you have NOTHING left to give afterwards. It means spending a long time working up to it and a long time recovering.
Some of you may not have had the pleasure of reading or hearing the wisdom of Dave Tate of Elite Fitness Systems. Dave is like a character from a book, including the long mustache. Dave is a Powerlifter turned Powerlifting-Strength coach. When he was competing he back squatted 935lbs, deadlifted 740 and bench pressed 610. I know, those numbers are just around the corner for me too. In a recent lecture on recovery in his athletes, Dave mentions that recovering from a 1rep mex effort Deadlift might take 2 WEEKS!!! Now obviously, none of us have developed the strength base to require 2 weeks to recover from our deadlift. But still, the concept Dave speaks of is important. He discusses the neurologic impact of very heavy lifts and how taxing they can (and should be). There are many of you out there who are still working on form and technique, but some of you can start thinking of heavy lifts as VERY TAXING NEUROLOGIC LOADS. I see so many of you approaching the bar sort of mindlessly. I can’t even really tell if you are taking in what your trainers are saying. Are you blocking out everyone and everything around you? Are you thinking about your breath? your grip? your feet? Or are you just thinking of it like another set of 20 burpees? Heavy lifting is nothing like running a mile or doing sets of body weight gymnastics stuff. It is not mindless (mind numbing?). You get only a few seconds to get the job done. Approach these things like you have only 20seconds to accomplish an incredible neurologic and physical task. Get every single nerve and muscle cell firing. This is intensity. Moments of sheer, complete and total committment. And, of course, accompanying crazy looking faces too. Liz makes a perfect deadlift PR face!
Kim was telling me about how on a general basis we use some piddly, minuscule percentage of our total muscle capacity to do the things we do – including our Crossfit workouts. You hear stories about freak occurrences where a 105 lb women lifts a flaming car off the ground to save her baby. In these situations the thinking is that there’s so much intensity that they are using closer to 100% of their muscle capacity. These people report feeling absolutely decimated after they do it. I can only imagine that folks who back squat 935lbs and recover for 2 weeks have found a way to tap into all that muscle capacity.
But the obvious question is, if it takes you 2 weeks to recover, is it good for you?? And if it is, is it good for you to do it again as soon as those two weeks are up? We all know that it is possible to over train, but on what kind of timescale do you need to worry about it? Can I push myself so hard in 15-30 minutes that the stress is actually bad for my body? If not, can I do that in an hour? Or do I not need to worry about over training until I’ve been pushing hard for 2 consecutive days, or 3 or 4 or 8?
Awesome questions Ryan!! I would love to hear the answers to those questions as well. (I have been out for a couple weeks now because I was doing things that I wasn’t supposed to be doing, thinking I would only get stronger and not hurt myself… my own stupid fault… trying to keep up with my studly fiance, Chauncey. Now I have sprained joints and pinched nerves in my lower back that I’m trying to recover from. Argh! I am SOOOOO anxious to get back to working out though!!) I know we’re all “individual” so there’s not one answer for everyone, but generally speaking these are answers that I think would be helpful for most people. Specially people like me who tend to not know what my limits are… or are afraid to admit them….(embarrassed smile…)
Off-topic: Health-care reform is difficult because Americans are too fat!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?_r=2&em
Hey Ryan, I can’t speak for everyone regarding your question, but my answer would be something like this:
Is training to lift the kinds of weights that Tate lifted healthy? By CF’s definition of health and fitness, NO. He has joked in the past that tying his shoes or walking up a flight of stairs was enough to make him light-headed and out of breath. This was in the “prime” of his athletic career. Lifters at that level are trying to do one thing – lift heavy shit. They don’t care about ANY other indicators of health. This can be true of any specialist. Elite powerlifters are the very definition of specialist. They are training their whole lives to do something only a handful of people in the world are capable of. This is NOT us.
You are right, the reason it takes them 2 weeks to recover from a big lift is because they have tapped into their neurological systems to such a degree that they are activating enormous amounts of muscle fibers when they lift. They are operating at, or very close to, their genetic potential. This means they are working with weights that are the most their bodies are physically capable of lifting. That’s certainly not the case for anyone in our gym, or even anyone in crossfit. (If you want proof of this, look up the weights being lifted in your weight class by powerlifters and olympic lifters. It’s enlightening.) By the very nature of our training we will never be lifting heavy enough weights to get to the point of having to take two weeks to recover from a single lift. The strongest crossfitters out there can deadlift a bit over 600lbs. These are still Mickey Mouse weights compared to top powerlifters.
Because of the impact the big lifts (bench, squat, deadlift) have on the elite powerlifters, they RARELY actually do those lifts. It’s not uncommon for the Westside Barbell lifters to never train the deadlift or squat or bench between meets and only perform the lifts at the meet. They don’t go for a max every 2 weeks.
The kind of fatigue that Tate is referring to will never be an issue for a crossfitter. Comparing the impact of a 15 minute metcon to the impact of a 900lb squat is like apples and oranges. Overtraining for a crossfitter typically occurs on a longer timescale. Not single lifts, but weeks and even months. There is a reason it’s not recommended and, in fact, downright frowned upon to train more than three days in a row. If you can go more than three days in a row consistently without ill effects you are either: a) not training hard enough (lack of intensity within the metcons/lifting/etc) or b) setting yourself up for an epic crash sometime in the near future. This is also a fantastic way to ensure your progress is slow if not non-existent. Our fitness increases when we are resting, not when we’re in the gym!
Long story short, we don’t have to worry about crushing ourselves on a single lift or even on an entire workout. A single “Murph” won’t lead to overtraining. Five “Murph”s a week for a couple weeks (or even one) WILL lead to overtraining. If anyone is able to do 5 days of crossfit straight without built-in recovery days they are more than likely either Kryptonian or sandbaggin’ it.
The point (I think) is to take stock of the kind of intensity that WOULD be required to lift 900lbs and try to channel that into your lifting.
Word.
DAVE,
GREAT ANSWER!
Im with you Jenna, hurt and its my own damn fault. I was in a hurry and didnt focus on breath, core strength and form and now I am out for god knows how long. It has shown me how much what Jen is saying is true, you need to be 100% committed to each rep in body and mind. It also reminds me that sometimes I am a bit too competitive and need to understand and admit my own limits as well. Hope you get better soon Jenna, so we can see you at the gym!
Fascinating. I think as a novice crossfitter I approach several of the workout tasks with focus and concentration, but not quite the “intensity” that Jen describes. Her post made me think about “what goes on inside Steve’s brain” during lift exercises. Honestly, I think it is kind of a mental checklist: get the hips under, tighten core, grip the bar tight, push from the heels, elbows to ceiling… that sort of thing. There isn’t much room for physiological intensity with that crowded checklist. I suspect “intensity” would crowd out all those proper form items on the list because by definition intensity doesn’t share the mental stage well with others. Bottomline is that while form is important, it seems like it is a means to an end. Get form down so Mr. Intensity can have his (her) moment. I love crossfit!
I say this everytime this topic comes up, but remeber that great CrossFitters are built from a simple process of:
Consistency – Form/Technique – Then Intensity
Or more simply:
Get here regularly, learn how to do things safely and properly and then go as hard as YOU can!
I would only add, to Dave’s very coherent thoughts, that overtraining, or the time it takes to recover from a CF workout is highly variable for us all, depending on our age, health and lifestyle. There is no one perfect training load or schedule for each of us. For myself, I know that sometimes I would like to do more because I freaking LOVE doing crossfit, but I try to use my limited intelligence to remind myself that health and longevity are my actual goals and I should not over do it. I run a business and care for 2 kids-like many of you-plus I am nearly 40. I need a different amount of recovery, and less overall training, than others of you. Use the favorite CF saying: “black box it”. Try out training patterns and levels on yourself and see how it goes. Be very observant.