So now I have been doing CrossFit for a few weeks, I thought I would update you on how I’m feeling, how my body is responding and what my training looks like now I’m in a good routine.
I have to say I’m really enjoying the wide variety of exercises that I’m being exposed to which I wouldn’t normally do myself, such as olympic lifting, rope climbs, handstand push ups and much more. For me it’s keeping training interesting and fun and that’s the way it should be. I think over the last few years I’ve probably got into a bit of a rut which has slowed my progress down and left me feeling a little unmotivated, I think this is the push I needed.
I’m feeling stronger than I have in a long time which I would say is down to doing different exercises, as well as an increase in volume, intensity and frequency. I would say that frequency is the biggest one for me; CrossFit is mostly about whole body movements, and coupled with my own workout routine I am hitting every body part more frequently throughout the week. My body weight is still creeping up and my body fat level has stayed more or less the same which is great as I’m in a calorie surplus and putting on size. So all in all my body is responding well to the new training routine.
It took me a couple of weeks of doing CrossFit to suss out what my own training sessions would look like, so I could be sure to optimise and compliment my body goals and performance. The trouble I have with CrossFit, is that I never really know what I am going to be doing in terms of exercise selection until I get there, so I wouldn’t want to hammer my legs with a lower body workout the day before to then turn up and realise that we are doing squats as part of our workouts. So lets take a look at how I work around this.
My Training
On average, I train just 4 days a week but I am doing full body workout routines: two at CrossFit and two by myself. This means I’m hitting pretty much every muscle 4 times a week which leaves me with just enough recovery time between sessions, and works well with my busy schedule. In a typical full body session, I would perform two or three compound exercises in like a back squat, bench press, deadlift, military press etc and then finish with specific isolation work, hitting the body parts I feel are lagging in size or strength to finish. CrossFit is so varied session to session I need to keep consistency in the two days I train by myself to closley track progress and work on specific drills that I feel are needed to support the bigger compound lifts.
To finish I just want to say that it’s so important you are doing something you enjoy because you’ll never stick to it long term if you don’t like going, and you’re unlikely to make any real progress, so never be afraid to try new things, go against the norm and create something that works for you!
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