Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Rest and Recovery
Rest and Recovery After Exercise - Improve Sports Performance
After Exercise Rest - Why Rest Days Improve Sports Performance
By Elizabeth Quinn, About.com Guide
Most athletes know that getting enough rest after exercise is essential to high-level performance, but many still over train and feel guilty when they take a day off. The body repairs and strengthens itself in the time between workouts, and continuous training can actually weaken the strongest athletes.
Rest days are critical to sports performance for a variety of reasons. Some are physiological and some are psychological. Rest is physically necessary so that the muscles can repair, rebuild and strengthen. For recreational athletes, building in rest days can help maintain a better balance between home, work and fitness goals.
In the worst-case scenario, too few rest and recovery days can lead to overtraining syndrome - a difficult condition to recover from.
What Happens During Recovery?
Building recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and the real training effect takes place. Recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues. Exercise or any other physical work causes changes in the body such as muscle tissue breakdown and the depletion of energy stores (muscle glycogen) as well as fluid loss.
Recovery time allows these stores to be replenished and allows tissue repair to occur. Without sufficient time to repair and replenish, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise. Symptoms of overtraining often occur from a lack of recovery time. Signs of overtraining include a feeling of general malaise, staleness, depression, decreased sports performance and increased risk of injury, among others.
Short and Long-Term Recovery
Keep in mind that there are two categories of recovery. There is immediate (short-term) recovery from a particularly intense training session or event, and there is the long-term recovery that needs to be build into a year-round training schedule. Both are important for optimal sports performance.
Short-term recovery, sometimes called active recovery occurs in the hours immediately after intense exercise. Active recovery refers to engaging in low-intensity exercise after workouts during both the cool-down phase immediately after a hard effort or workout as well as during the days following the workout. Both types of active recovery are linked to performance benefits.
Another major focus of recovery immediately following exercise has to do with replenishing energy stores and fluids lost during exercise and optimizing protein synthesis (the process of increasing the protein content of muscle cells, preventing muscle breakdown and increasing muscle size) by eating the right foods in the post-exercise meal.
This is also the time for soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments) repair and the removal of chemicals that build up as a result of cell activity during exercise.
Long-term recovery techniques refer to those that are built in to a seasonal training program. Most well-designed training schedules will include recovery days and or weeks that are built into an annual training schedule. This is also the reason athletes and coaches change their training program throughout the year, add crosstraining, modify workouts types, and make changes in intensity, time, distance and all the other training variables.
Adaptation to Exercise
The Principle of Adaptation states that when we undergo the stress of physical exercise, our body adapts and becomes more efficient. It’s just like learning any new skill; at first it’s difficult, but over time it becomes second-nature. Once you adapt to a given stress, you require additional stress to continue to make progress.
There are limits to how much stress the body can tolerate before it breaks down and risks injury. Doing too much work too quickly will result in injury or muscle damage, but doing too little, too slowly will not result in any improvement. This is why personal trainers set up specific training programs that increase time and intensity at a planned rate and allow rest days throughout the program.
Sleep Deprivation Can Hinder Sports Performance
In general, one or two nights of poor or little sleep won't have much impact on performance, but consistently getting inadequate sleep can result in subtle changes in hormone levels, particularly those related to stress, muscle recovery and mood. While no one completely understands the complexities of sleep, some research indicates that sleep deprivation can lead to increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), decreased activity of human growth hormone (which is active during tissue repair), and decreased glycogen synthesis.
Other studies link sleep deprivation with decreased aerobic endurance and increased ratings of perceived exertion.
Balance Exercise with Rest and Recovery.
It is this alternation of adaptation and recovery that takes the athlete to a higher level of fitness. High-level athletes need to realize that the greater the training intensity and effort, the greater the need for planned recovery. Monitoring your workouts with a training log, and paying attention to how your body feels and how motivated you are is extremely helpful in determining your recovery needs and modifying your training program accordingly.
After Exercise Rest - Why Rest Days Improve Sports Performance
By Elizabeth Quinn, About.com Guide
Most athletes know that getting enough rest after exercise is essential to high-level performance, but many still over train and feel guilty when they take a day off. The body repairs and strengthens itself in the time between workouts, and continuous training can actually weaken the strongest athletes.
Rest days are critical to sports performance for a variety of reasons. Some are physiological and some are psychological. Rest is physically necessary so that the muscles can repair, rebuild and strengthen. For recreational athletes, building in rest days can help maintain a better balance between home, work and fitness goals.
In the worst-case scenario, too few rest and recovery days can lead to overtraining syndrome - a difficult condition to recover from.
What Happens During Recovery?
Building recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and the real training effect takes place. Recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues. Exercise or any other physical work causes changes in the body such as muscle tissue breakdown and the depletion of energy stores (muscle glycogen) as well as fluid loss.
Recovery time allows these stores to be replenished and allows tissue repair to occur. Without sufficient time to repair and replenish, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise. Symptoms of overtraining often occur from a lack of recovery time. Signs of overtraining include a feeling of general malaise, staleness, depression, decreased sports performance and increased risk of injury, among others.
Short and Long-Term Recovery
Keep in mind that there are two categories of recovery. There is immediate (short-term) recovery from a particularly intense training session or event, and there is the long-term recovery that needs to be build into a year-round training schedule. Both are important for optimal sports performance.
Short-term recovery, sometimes called active recovery occurs in the hours immediately after intense exercise. Active recovery refers to engaging in low-intensity exercise after workouts during both the cool-down phase immediately after a hard effort or workout as well as during the days following the workout. Both types of active recovery are linked to performance benefits.
Another major focus of recovery immediately following exercise has to do with replenishing energy stores and fluids lost during exercise and optimizing protein synthesis (the process of increasing the protein content of muscle cells, preventing muscle breakdown and increasing muscle size) by eating the right foods in the post-exercise meal.
This is also the time for soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments) repair and the removal of chemicals that build up as a result of cell activity during exercise.
Long-term recovery techniques refer to those that are built in to a seasonal training program. Most well-designed training schedules will include recovery days and or weeks that are built into an annual training schedule. This is also the reason athletes and coaches change their training program throughout the year, add crosstraining, modify workouts types, and make changes in intensity, time, distance and all the other training variables.
Adaptation to Exercise
The Principle of Adaptation states that when we undergo the stress of physical exercise, our body adapts and becomes more efficient. It’s just like learning any new skill; at first it’s difficult, but over time it becomes second-nature. Once you adapt to a given stress, you require additional stress to continue to make progress.
There are limits to how much stress the body can tolerate before it breaks down and risks injury. Doing too much work too quickly will result in injury or muscle damage, but doing too little, too slowly will not result in any improvement. This is why personal trainers set up specific training programs that increase time and intensity at a planned rate and allow rest days throughout the program.
Sleep Deprivation Can Hinder Sports Performance
In general, one or two nights of poor or little sleep won't have much impact on performance, but consistently getting inadequate sleep can result in subtle changes in hormone levels, particularly those related to stress, muscle recovery and mood. While no one completely understands the complexities of sleep, some research indicates that sleep deprivation can lead to increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), decreased activity of human growth hormone (which is active during tissue repair), and decreased glycogen synthesis.
Other studies link sleep deprivation with decreased aerobic endurance and increased ratings of perceived exertion.
Balance Exercise with Rest and Recovery.
It is this alternation of adaptation and recovery that takes the athlete to a higher level of fitness. High-level athletes need to realize that the greater the training intensity and effort, the greater the need for planned recovery. Monitoring your workouts with a training log, and paying attention to how your body feels and how motivated you are is extremely helpful in determining your recovery needs and modifying your training program accordingly.
WOD #7
In Pairs- Each Member Complete
the Following for Time:
- 2 Rounds -
20 Push Presses
30 Kettlebell Swings
40 Air Squats
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
JUNE BOOT CAMP
Boot Campers, if you are interested in attending the June Boot Camp and have signed a contract for regular membership at the Compound,
you can still participate!
Regular members can attend the June Boot Camp for only $49!
This is a GREAT opportunity to invite your friends and family to the June Boot Camp and you can participate with them!
Reserve your spot NOW!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Post Workout Recovery
This article comes from CrossFit East Bay in Oakland, CA.
CrossFit East Bay Rest Day 090331: CrossKitchen - Post-Workout Nutrition
By Daniel on March 30, 2009 8:00 PM
So now we know that a double espresso before a workout works wonders, but what about afterward? The topic of post-workout (PWO) nutrition is a hotly-debated one over in the bodybuilding territories of the internet. Over there, the debate is typically not whether one should have anything post-workout, but rather which super-mega-extreme frothy tanker of aspartame and diheximethylcrapalose* (now in Fruit Punch flavor with real Acai!) will get you totally shredded (or pumped, I guess, depending on your goals). Bypassing the hype, though, is there anything that sets the post-workout window apart from any other time for nutritional benefit? Turns out, there is.
The Why
I'm going to geek out on you here for a second. As you may or may not know, the body provides three separate pathways for generating and burning energy: ATP/CP, Glycolitic and Oxidative. In the first, the body burns adenosine tri-phosphate for extremely brief (under a second), maximum-effort movements. In the second, the muscles burn through their reserves of glycogen at about 90% effort, which lasts about 12-15 minutes. The final is the domain of the endurance athlete, in which the body combines oxygen from your lungs with bodyfat reserves to allow you to work at about 50-70% for, essentially, hours on end. CrossFit metcons specifically target the second pathway, focusing on intensity rather than strength or volume. We will focus on strength (Max Effort) sometimes, and will occasionally dip into volume (Murph or a 10k), but the heart of CrossFit is the short, painful metcon (Fran is a classic example). It is here that PWO nutrition is the most useful.
You see, immediately following a punishing workout, the muscles are desperate to replenish their spent glycogen stores. The body can supply their needs by mobilizing body fat or by converting protein to glycogen, but these processes take time! And your muscles are thirsty! They need their glycogen NOW, dammit! Here's where the magical non insulin mediated glucose transport comes in. In the period of time immediately following a workout, we can fly in an emergency shipment of nutrients and amino acids directly to the muscles in a sugar airlift. It's the most direct line from mouth to muscle you'll ever get, so it's a good idea to take advantage of it.
Why? RECOVERY. As you all know, 5-6 workouts a week is brutal, and there's nothing like a bad case of DOMS to wreck your day. And it's not just about soreness: faster recovery means you're able to hit the workouts harder more often, thereby providing greater stimulus and growth to your muscles and central nervous system. Faster recovery means fewer injuries, and less likelihood of illness or overtraining. Remember: we do not get stronger in the gym. All we do in the gym is controlled damage to ourselves. We get stronger as a result of our body's response to that damage, so it is in our best interests to maximize our recovery by as many (legal/safe) means as are available to us.
The What
Hopefully by now I've convinced you that PWO nutrition is a good idea. "But what," you're asking, "should I EAT? Which is better, Gatorade or Muscle Milk?" The answer, of course, is neither. Sure, you could lay out $50 for a tub of chalky-tasting chemicals specially formulated by marketing agents with a penchant for the letter "X," but why bother? There are cheaper, healthier and tastier options.
When considering your choices, these are the things you want to keep in mind: a generous amount of carbs, a small amount of protein, and as little fat as you manage. Now, normally I'm not a very big fan of the carbohydrate, but in PWO-land all the rules go topsy turvy, so now they're good - and the higher their GI, the better (I know, right?). As for protein, the ideal ratio of carbs to protein is 4:1, so about a quarter of the carbs. Fat slows digestion/absorption, so while most of the time I'm huge fan o' the fat, this is not its time to shine. So what fits the bill?
•Chocolate milk. As crazy as it sounds, lowfat chocolate milk is just about perfect for post-workout recovery. It has that great 4:1 ratio and is quickly absorbed by the body. In clinical studies, it performed as well or better than the highly processed fancy supplements. If I were to get really nitpicky, I'd advocate one made with sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, but whatever.
•Regular milk. Rebecca's drink of choice. Organic is better than not. Lowfat versions have less fat, but whole has more nutrients, so I put that choice down to personal preference.
•Kefir. This is what I drink. I have my reasons.
•A sweet potato and a little jerky or salmon
•An apple or banana with some skim mozzarella or deli slice
•Applesauce with a little cottage cheese and cinnamon
•Lowfat yogurt or rice pudding
•Mix a little unflavored/unsweetened whey with some juice
You get the idea. Eggs, tofu/legumes, brown rice etc are suboptimal, as the fiber and/or fat makes them slow to digest and absorb. For 30-40 minutes of your day, fat and fiber are bad and sugar is good.
The When
Note that this little trick only works if you've pushed yourself hard enough to deplete your body's glycogen stores. So your special PWO meal/drink will only be effective if taken immediately after a hard metcon - the harder you worked, the better it will work, and the more immediate the better. The window is only open for about an hour - after that, your body has returned to business as usual. This is not to say that nutrition after a Max Effort workout would be bad for you, just that it wouldn't be any different from any other time of the day.
The How
This is not rocket science. Obtain a portable drink container and/or some tupperware and make it happen, Einstein. Try it for two weeks and see how you feel.
Personal Observations
For the last month or so, Rebecca and I have been following up our workouts with 16 oz of milk or kefir. We have both noticed a decrease (not an elimination - this ain't voodoo) in DOMS, and a greater level of energy in our workouts through the week. It's great stuff. If you have questions or your own PWO nutrition strategy, please share in the comments.
Note that if your goal is weight loss, you might consider intentionally NOT eating in the hour after a workout. In the absence of glycogen and and food, the body's response to a difficult workout will be to mobilize fat stores to replenish its immediate energy reserves. The downside of this, of course, is that you're missing out on the benefits of increased recovery, so you need to be very careful about walking the line between healthy and overtrained - if you push too hard, you'll spike your cortisol and your fat won't be going anywhere.
*As far as I'm aware, there's really no such thing. Not that any of us would know.
I am not a dietician. CrossKitchen articles come from my personal experience, observations and research, and should not be construed as professional medical advice.
CrossFit East Bay Rest Day 090331: CrossKitchen - Post-Workout Nutrition
By Daniel on March 30, 2009 8:00 PM
So now we know that a double espresso before a workout works wonders, but what about afterward? The topic of post-workout (PWO) nutrition is a hotly-debated one over in the bodybuilding territories of the internet. Over there, the debate is typically not whether one should have anything post-workout, but rather which super-mega-extreme frothy tanker of aspartame and diheximethylcrapalose* (now in Fruit Punch flavor with real Acai!) will get you totally shredded (or pumped, I guess, depending on your goals). Bypassing the hype, though, is there anything that sets the post-workout window apart from any other time for nutritional benefit? Turns out, there is.
The Why
I'm going to geek out on you here for a second. As you may or may not know, the body provides three separate pathways for generating and burning energy: ATP/CP, Glycolitic and Oxidative. In the first, the body burns adenosine tri-phosphate for extremely brief (under a second), maximum-effort movements. In the second, the muscles burn through their reserves of glycogen at about 90% effort, which lasts about 12-15 minutes. The final is the domain of the endurance athlete, in which the body combines oxygen from your lungs with bodyfat reserves to allow you to work at about 50-70% for, essentially, hours on end. CrossFit metcons specifically target the second pathway, focusing on intensity rather than strength or volume. We will focus on strength (Max Effort) sometimes, and will occasionally dip into volume (Murph or a 10k), but the heart of CrossFit is the short, painful metcon (Fran is a classic example). It is here that PWO nutrition is the most useful.
You see, immediately following a punishing workout, the muscles are desperate to replenish their spent glycogen stores. The body can supply their needs by mobilizing body fat or by converting protein to glycogen, but these processes take time! And your muscles are thirsty! They need their glycogen NOW, dammit! Here's where the magical non insulin mediated glucose transport comes in. In the period of time immediately following a workout, we can fly in an emergency shipment of nutrients and amino acids directly to the muscles in a sugar airlift. It's the most direct line from mouth to muscle you'll ever get, so it's a good idea to take advantage of it.
Why? RECOVERY. As you all know, 5-6 workouts a week is brutal, and there's nothing like a bad case of DOMS to wreck your day. And it's not just about soreness: faster recovery means you're able to hit the workouts harder more often, thereby providing greater stimulus and growth to your muscles and central nervous system. Faster recovery means fewer injuries, and less likelihood of illness or overtraining. Remember: we do not get stronger in the gym. All we do in the gym is controlled damage to ourselves. We get stronger as a result of our body's response to that damage, so it is in our best interests to maximize our recovery by as many (legal/safe) means as are available to us.
The What
Hopefully by now I've convinced you that PWO nutrition is a good idea. "But what," you're asking, "should I EAT? Which is better, Gatorade or Muscle Milk?" The answer, of course, is neither. Sure, you could lay out $50 for a tub of chalky-tasting chemicals specially formulated by marketing agents with a penchant for the letter "X," but why bother? There are cheaper, healthier and tastier options.
When considering your choices, these are the things you want to keep in mind: a generous amount of carbs, a small amount of protein, and as little fat as you manage. Now, normally I'm not a very big fan of the carbohydrate, but in PWO-land all the rules go topsy turvy, so now they're good - and the higher their GI, the better (I know, right?). As for protein, the ideal ratio of carbs to protein is 4:1, so about a quarter of the carbs. Fat slows digestion/absorption, so while most of the time I'm huge fan o' the fat, this is not its time to shine. So what fits the bill?
•Chocolate milk. As crazy as it sounds, lowfat chocolate milk is just about perfect for post-workout recovery. It has that great 4:1 ratio and is quickly absorbed by the body. In clinical studies, it performed as well or better than the highly processed fancy supplements. If I were to get really nitpicky, I'd advocate one made with sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, but whatever.
•Regular milk. Rebecca's drink of choice. Organic is better than not. Lowfat versions have less fat, but whole has more nutrients, so I put that choice down to personal preference.
•Kefir. This is what I drink. I have my reasons.
•A sweet potato and a little jerky or salmon
•An apple or banana with some skim mozzarella or deli slice
•Applesauce with a little cottage cheese and cinnamon
•Lowfat yogurt or rice pudding
•Mix a little unflavored/unsweetened whey with some juice
You get the idea. Eggs, tofu/legumes, brown rice etc are suboptimal, as the fiber and/or fat makes them slow to digest and absorb. For 30-40 minutes of your day, fat and fiber are bad and sugar is good.
The When
Note that this little trick only works if you've pushed yourself hard enough to deplete your body's glycogen stores. So your special PWO meal/drink will only be effective if taken immediately after a hard metcon - the harder you worked, the better it will work, and the more immediate the better. The window is only open for about an hour - after that, your body has returned to business as usual. This is not to say that nutrition after a Max Effort workout would be bad for you, just that it wouldn't be any different from any other time of the day.
The How
This is not rocket science. Obtain a portable drink container and/or some tupperware and make it happen, Einstein. Try it for two weeks and see how you feel.
Personal Observations
For the last month or so, Rebecca and I have been following up our workouts with 16 oz of milk or kefir. We have both noticed a decrease (not an elimination - this ain't voodoo) in DOMS, and a greater level of energy in our workouts through the week. It's great stuff. If you have questions or your own PWO nutrition strategy, please share in the comments.
Note that if your goal is weight loss, you might consider intentionally NOT eating in the hour after a workout. In the absence of glycogen and and food, the body's response to a difficult workout will be to mobilize fat stores to replenish its immediate energy reserves. The downside of this, of course, is that you're missing out on the benefits of increased recovery, so you need to be very careful about walking the line between healthy and overtrained - if you push too hard, you'll spike your cortisol and your fat won't be going anywhere.
*As far as I'm aware, there's really no such thing. Not that any of us would know.
I am not a dietician. CrossKitchen articles come from my personal experience, observations and research, and should not be construed as professional medical advice.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
WOD #2
During the second Boot Camp class you learned about the Row Machines and Wall Balls.
WOD #2
In Teams of 5 or 6, Complete the Following:
1500/1800m Row
-Plank Hold-
125/150 Wall Balls
-Leaning Rest-
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Stick With It!
As you progress through the Boot Camp, you are probably feeling soreness in muscles you didn't know existed. You may even be wondering if you will make it through the Boot Camp at all...
YOU CAN!
YOU CAN!
YOU WILL!
Right now your body is being tested in ways in isn't used to. But the body is an amazing machine and it can handle a lot more than you think. Sure, your legs burn during squats, but you are getting stronger and fitter with every movement you make in class. Keep up the good work!
Right now your body is being tested in ways in isn't used to. But the body is an amazing machine and it can handle a lot more than you think. Sure, your legs burn during squats, but you are getting stronger and fitter with every movement you make in class. Keep up the good work!
Workout of the Day (WOD) - Class #1
FIRST WOD
In teams of 4/5 Complete the Following:
Squats X 100/125
Box Jump X 120/150
Push-Up X 140/175
Sit-Up X 160/200
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
180 men competed in the sectional qualifier this year from Virginia, West Virginia, and D.C. The entire Hampton Roads area sent four men to the Regionals. Compound Crossfit secured two of those four!!!!! We develop our own programming and stand behind it!!! For our members, feel confident you are training in one of the best Crossfit facilities in Hampton Roads! For our future members.....come on in and tour our facility, meet our professional and knowledgeable staff and see for yourself all that we have to offer! If you are interested in competing and want to join our competition team come see us today!
Monday, May 3, 2010
The Compound has a New Home!
The Compound is now located at:
The new facility is bigger and better than any of us expected! It will take a little time for every piece of equipment and every whiteboard to find it's permanent home, but we will be running classes during the settling process. Be sure to come to the new facility for your Boot Camp class and be ready to work your butts off!
905 Live Oak Drive
Chesapeake, VA 23320
The new facility is bigger and better than any of us expected! It will take a little time for every piece of equipment and every whiteboard to find it's permanent home, but we will be running classes during the settling process. Be sure to come to the new facility for your Boot Camp class and be ready to work your butts off!
MAY BOOT CAMP IS UNDERWAY
All of us at the Compound are excited to start the May Boot Camp! We have 49 motivated and enthusiastic Boot Campers who are ready to start their journey to a healthier and fitter lifestyle. The classes during the next several weeks will certainly challenge participants, but their hard work and dedication will pay off in the form of physical and mental changes...
GOOD LUCK!!
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