Easy work can get you better.

Joshua J. Grenell

After you have been CrossFitting for a period of time you may have thoughts of upping your fitness, or taking it to the next level.   Generally speaking most people who are looking to get results and increase their fitness think that they simply need to increase the amount of work-outs they do a week.  For some this works well.  Unfortunately this method does not work for most, especially as we age.   Maybe you have tried this approach and found yourself too tired, too sore, or just too burned to continue it for long.  In the end you got worse or perhaps you got to the point where you took a week or two off because your motivation was gone.

Adding “easy work” may be the right path for you.  Volume is volume.  It does not have to be hard to be effective if you are already doing intense work-outs 3x a week.

The next step for you might be to add low impact aerobic work.  Rowing, Running, or Biking.  It is important that this work does not leave you sore the next day.  So if running for 30 mins leaves you sore, then you should start with 15 mins.  Rowing is the same way, many people try rowing for 30 mins and end up with soreness either in their backs or upper body.  Start with 15 mins of aerobic work and work up.  Aerobic work should feel easy.  You should feel as though you are working at 75% of your max effort.  This is sometimes hard for CrossFitters.  Chill out.  The magic is in the time of work here, not the intensity.

This Aerobic work is very valuable for a lot of reasons.  Having a good aerobic base allows you to recover faster.  It allows you to do more work in a shorter period of time.  It not only speeds your recovery between sets but also between training days.

Many many really good CrossFit athletes have a long history of long steady aerobic work.  As normal everyday people we can use this knowledge to improve ourselves as well.

Train Smarter.

Joshua Grenell is a certified CrossFit instructor, CrossFit Endurance Certified, USA Triathlon Level 1, and USAW Sports and Performance Coach. Outside of CrossFit Progression Joshua is an active Triathlete, a multiple time world finalist frisbee dog competitor, and an internationally published photographer.  Joshua holds a Bachelors of Science Degree and has 14+ years experience as an RN.