6.5 years of CF. I've hit a plateau. Is it reasonable to expect to continue to improve?

[mikelore]

I'm 50(M). I've been doing CF for 6.5 years. I think I'm reasonably fit; I was in the top 20% in my age group (50-54) in the open last year and I often perform equal to, or better than, people much younger than me in the gym. I came to CF from doing long distance running and cycling for about 10 years. I'm 6 foot 175lbs. My CF strengths are gymnastics and endurance/longer metcons.

My weaknesses are top end strength and high power output movements (e.g. air bike). In the first several years of CF I made steady gains - I went from about 150 pounds body weight to my current 175, all my lifts went up, I became proficient in most the gymnastics skills (I don't have handstand walks or RMU - my gym programs these as RX+ movements but does not teach them or progressions for them in class), and barbell cycling. I can do most workouts at my gym RX. I go to the gym 4-6 days a week often subbing a 60 min zone 2 road cycling session in lieu of CF.

In the last two years my only noticeable improvement has been gymnastics capacity (ability to do bigger sets/go unbroken in metcons). In the last two years lifts have not improved/held steady and my squat and deadlift are down by about 5%-10%. Considering my age and the amount of metcons I do I'm not expecting my lifts to go up. Where I would like to see, and would expect to see, improvement is in my capacity to do bread-and-butter CF basic movements like wall balls, dubs, dumbbell snatches, burpees, etc. Am I wrong to expect to be able to do bigger sets of wallballs, db snatches, or dubs in a metcon than I did two years ago? Assuming improvement is possible, how do I know if it's my gym's programming or me that is holding me back? Should I just be happy to maintain my current fitness level? I would love to hear from other people close to my age and from coaches/gym owners on how you handle this for your clients.

 

[kutiekitty]

@mikelore This is kind of hard to answer without knowing more information. Are your goals to improve overall strength or capacity and endurance? What does your nutrition, sleep, and stress management look like? Do you know what programming your gym follows and if it’s biased towards strength, gymnastics, or conditioning? And if you’re looking to improve capacity in say like wall balls, what does your current capacity look like?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be able to improve your overall capacity, but it also depends on your lifestyle outside of the gym. And I will say that if you’re training 6 days a week (maybe even 5 too depending), that might not be doing you any favors if you’re not managing your recovery outside of the gym as well. Do you ever take full rest days where you’re not doing CF or an hour long zone 2 ride? I feel like it’s unreasonable to ALWAYS expect to progress, especially the longer you do CrossFit. There’ll be times where maintaining is the goal and there’ll be harder seasons where you just need to do what you can. But if you feel like you’ve plateaud then I’d honestly look at your recovery first (through rest days, nutrition, sleep, stress management, managing volume, etc.) and then see what else might need changing depending on your goals.

 

[mikelore]

@kutiekitty Hey, thanks for the thoughtful response.

I have good endurance. I would like to see my general capacity improve.

Nutrition is good. I used to track macros until I got a hang of what and how much I needed to eat. I typically get .75-1g of protein per pound of body weight and I eat carbs so I have energy for workouts and life.

I'm pretty low stress and my sleep is OK. I typically go to bed and wake up at the same time every day targeting 8 hours sleep but I often wake up in the night and can't go back to sleep.

I always take a full rest day every week. And if I do go 6 days a week I won't go max effort all 6 days.

The gym I go to does their own programming. I would say they lean towards strength programming. The will run an "open prep"/aerobic capacity cycle but it's not what they are best at programming.

For wall balls capacity on something like 19.1 I can do the 19 wall balls unbroken every round but later in the workout it will start affecting how hard I can go on the rower. If there was a bigger set of wall balls (100) I would have to break that up into smaller sets. Karen is a horrible workout for me.

 

[kutiekitty]

@mikelore That helps some, thank you!

Nutrition sounds okay, making sure you’re eating enough is key to help with recovery but the fact that you used to track and focus on eating plenty of protein and carbs will help!

I would probably pay some attention to sleep. While the fact that you’re able to get 8 hours of sleep/night is great, it’s not ideal that you’re waking up and staying awake. I would probably get curious about why you wake up, like if you have to pee, if you’re hungry, if you’re feeling anxious or having a racing mind, etc. because that could absolutely impact your body’s ability to recover. I know there’s a lot of “no excuses” in CF, but if you’re trying to work out consistently on getting less than 7 hrs of sleep/night, then you might be doing more harm than good over time or at least not see as much progress as you could otherwise.’

Honestly, I would consider scaling back your training days and shoot for 4-5. 6 is really hard even if you’re scaling back intensity some of those days, and I find for a lot of athletes that aren’t in their 20’s or 30’s that maintaining 4-5 days feels better, maybe even 4 if the week feels super intense. Again, it’s hard to improve from what you’re not recovering from. And I have a lot of athletes who come 5 days in a row, but they’re dragging by Thursday. They’d probably make more progress over time getting 4 really solid days in than they do getting 5 but crawling the last 2 if that makes sense.

That’s interesting that endurance is your strength but Karen is a hard workout for you. Do you struggle with shorter metcons, or do you hit a wall with muscle fatigue? That’s still kind of hard to say, but it could be something where technique isn’t optimal and trying to improve that might help you be more efficient or developing more strength that way you’re able to move more weight for longer periods of time, especially if you have decent conditioning. And also is your gym programming wall balls in both shorter and longer duration workouts and in various rep schemes? And does their strength follow solid progressive overload or does it feel random? While random can be fun, it’s not always ideal for consistent growth.

And don’t forget that even 1% better is better. In a workout like Karen, even a :01 pr would be a big win!

I’d honestly talk to one of your coaches and see what they say especially since they know you as an athlete, and hopefully they’d be able to help you since they also know your gym’s programming. But I hope that at least helps a little bit!

Edit: spacing so it’s easier to read!

 

[mikelore]

@kutiekitty Thanks. I’ll dial it back to less days and try to work on my sleep. I would define endurance as 30+ minutes. I would think Karen is still a shorter workout. The gym does program wall balls in different ways and their strength cycles are intentional and not random.

 

[kutiekitty]

@mikelore I would at least be cautious about 6 days, especially if getting 7+ hrs of quality sleep is a struggle. And Karen is a shorter workout, ideally it should be sub 10:00, so if you like longer endurance workouts it would make sense that Karen is a struggle since they require different energy pathways. And I was just making sure, we follow PRVN at my gym and their strength programming leaves a lot to be desired in class programming . But good luck, I hope you’re able to find something that works for you and feel like you can keep improving!

 

[pj1070]

@mikelore You can definitely build metcon capacity at 50. We have 60+ athletes in our gym who are moving more load for more reps with more left in their tank afterward than they did a few years back (and they tend to finish ahead of many athletes younger than their children). They do zone 2 training, they work on skills outside of classes/metcons, they watch their nutrition, sleep, lifestyle, etc., but the biggest factor (at least for them) was starting a dedicated strength building program when we emerged from COVID restrictions. They do the strength sessions in our WODS, but they also dedicate about 4 hours per week for classic strength training on the big lifts (deadlifts, squats and presses). Everything in life is easier when we're stronger, and consistent progressive overload builds more than raw strength - joints move better, core gets stronger and more naturally transfers power through the body, etc. This may seem counterintuitive, but my two cents - spend the next 6 months focusing more on building strength (while doing a few metcons per week), and I'll bet you see your metcon capacity shoot up. As far as skills like MUs and HS walks, if they're important to you, ask a coach to work with you on some drills/progressions. But if you like your box - and you're not trying to go to the Games - give some thought to whether it's really necessary to find more daily high skill programming elsewhere.

And just to touch on it - NOTHING, and I mean nothing, improves recovery like adequate sleep. There's no combination of nutrition, supplements, elixirs, salves, balms, yoga, massage, acupuncture, meditation, chiro, ice baths, dry needling, etc. that beats week after week after week of good sleep. If you're not getting a solid 8-9 hours of actual, honest to God sleep night after night, fix that first. It'll do wonders like nothing else will. Good luck.

 

[mikelore]

@pj1070 Thanks!

 

[sharzid]

@mikelore As long as sleep, nutrition, and recovery as focused on, you should continue to improve. We have multiple older athletes (50+) who have progressed their strength consistently and have acquired skills like ring muscle-ups.

I became proficient in most the gymnastics skills (I don't have handstand walks or RMU - my gym programs these as RX+ movements but does not teach them or progressions for them in class).

If you can, find a facility that does not water down their teaching and includes progressions for both of these movements in their classes. A facility that locks movements behind an "RX+" is likely failing to provide an environment conducive to consistent progress.

 

[mikelore]

@sharzid Thanks!

 

[gnosticman]

@mikelore Answer is simple: Individualized programming. Get a coach that will program to improve your weaknesses. You can only get so far with "programming for the masses".

 

[christian735]

@mikelore Are you just doing CF class? I'll be 49 this year, been doing CrossFit since 2016, overall pretty fit and RX the majority of workouts.
For me though, once I hit a plateau i knew that just doing class wasn't enough. So, I would either come in an extra 30 min or stay after to work on something...for me that was typically the bigger lifts; squat, dl, snatch ,c+j. Those days might be heavy or just lighter with a lot more volume. Good Luck!

 

[mikelore]

@christian735 Thanks. I do the CF class plus use open gym time to work on other stuff.

 

[jhumby]

@mikelore Find a day or two in the programming each week to challenge yourself. If workout has what you'd consider low volume or manageable sets for wallballs, use a heavier one for the workout or for some of the rounds. Thats just a quick one I could think of but sometimes things like that or accessory work will help.

 

[ioannes]

@mikelore You have to do periodization training if you want to improve further. When you are advanced in CF, classes won't do anything for you.

 

[snoober]

@mikelore At your age I would personally be happy to maintain what sounds like a very good fitness level. Hoping to still be working out 6 days a week at your age!

To bring up sets of wall balls and build muscular endurance you could start adding in extra sessions of emoms. Either 10 minutes one movement or 20 minutes alternating movement. Minute 1 wall balls, minute 2 dumbell snatches, repeat 10x etc.

You could implement strength work on the side, but for this to be effective you would have to do 2 a days 3 days a week for 3 strength sessions… on top of your classes. You would have to play with the volume and find what would be right for you.

a basic powerlifting program fit into those extra 3 sessions would bring your strength up. (Less volume then any cookie cutter program you would find online considering current workload)

 

[christiansworder]

@mikelore Sounds like strength is your weakness. You can definitely get stronger at your age but it will take dedicated time outside of classes. Keep the protein intake closer to 1g per lb. of body weight and lift heavy. Best of luck!

 

[craigfaith]

@mikelore Get some trt.

 

[farout]

@mikelore The answer is always will be: Strength Cycle.

This includes weighted, strict gymnastics.

 

[dawn16]

@mikelore I’ll echo some thoughts here…prioritize recovery. I’m not saying be lazy but what I am saying is as we get older it takes longer to recover properly. You’re not 20 anymore. Your gas tank is great! It takes longer to fill back up now. It happens to everyone. I’m 46 and I can’t do some of the things I used to. Not tickling a 500lb deadlift anymore without a few rest days after. I think it’s a great idea to focus on the basics and master them. Supports longevity.

Sleep a little more. Maybe add another rest day or at least active rest and be kind to yourself.