Am I doing too much?

[theological1988]

@thex Yes, almost certainly. You should probably look at getting a coach because expertise would be required to manage that volume of training to get effective results. And possibly a sports psychologist too, honestly, if you feel like this is taking more of your life than it should be.

 

[realsavior]

@thex Your goals aside, what made you decide to train in this way?

 

[japysymn]

@thex I’d take a break and run a strength focused program outside of CrossFit - something like 5:3:1
Nothing has helped me boost strength more than that

 

[bryan05]

@thex Your body is exhausted. How is it supposed to build muscle when you’re constantly breaking it down via working out?

Take a fucking break, stop overtraining and REST. You know the other most important piece of working out? Resting so your body can assimilate to the demands you’re putting it under.

 

[joycearmy]

@bryan05 Unnecessarily aggressive and average advice. She should get a coach and not ask the simps on reddit.

 

[vulcanlogician]

@joycearmy Maybe OP should do that and read up on Rhabdomyolysis

 

[paulw2647]

@thex Steroids

 

[howeryall]

@paulw2647 All joking aside, if you’re wondering how elite athletes manage to consistently train like OP without falling to pieces then there’s your answer.

 

[paulw2647]

@howeryall I was absolutely not joking haha

 

[farout]

@thex Take your time.

Spend more time getting strong. Meaning doing 2, 3-month strength cycles a year. You might need 2 or 3 years of this type of strength work if you don't have quarterfinals level strength, strength/endurance.

You don't need to metcon as much as as you think.

 

[vorianatredies]

@thex You need to be honest with yourself. To be competitive in CF (I’m assuming you mean Games level) you have to have many factors in your favor. The time, resources and ability to do nothing but workout, eat and sleep. No social life, tough in relationships etc. Now taking all of that and even if you have all that you may simply not have the physical or mental makeup it takes. Meaning you just may not have what it takes. That doesn’t mean you can’t be a great athlete and do really well at CF. Games athletes are a different breed.

 

[yaaqob]

@thex how many calories do you eat per day? it‘s likely not enough

 

[pj1070]

@thex Third (and I'm just repeating and stressing what others have said), significant strength gains should be coming (more or less) easily at this point. If you're strength training 2 hours a day every day, you are likely overdoing it, at least with the sleep and nutrition you have. Again, a knowledgeable coach is helpful here. progress (and of course, that leads to working harder, which just leads to an even bigger sleep deficit).

Second, get a coach, someone with experience preparing high-level athletes. It's expensive, but not nearly as expensive as spending a few years doing things the wrong way (or at least a less optimal way) and ending up frustrated, burned out and injured.

Third (and I'm just repeating and stressing what others have said), significant strength gains should be coming (more or less) easily at this point. If you're strength training 2 hours a day eery day, you are likely overdoing it, at least with the sleep and nutrition you have. Again, a knowledgable coach is helpful here.

 

[eligp1240]

@thex Strength takes time and progressive overload. You said you’re spending 2 hours on “strength” but you didn’t say what you’re doing during that time.

Yes rest and eating enough are VERY important. But we can’t really give you any advice unless we know what your strength training program structure looks like.

What lifts are you doing? How many sets and reps? How are you determining when to add weight to the bar?

You said you track your food and weight 145. Are you currently gaining weight, losing weight, maintaining?

 

[alien444]

@thex If you have aspirations at competing at levels that demand 4 hours of daily training then you need to hire a coach, plain and simple.

You need to get much stronger and you also need to develop a huge engine and the ability to sustain skills under fatigue that doesn’t come from just not doing CrossFit. There’s a lot of balancing that needs to be done here and with substantial personal experience you’re going to waste a lot of tune learning on the job trying to do it yourself. Hire a coach. Not generic competitors programming, a coach who you talk to multiple times every week that writes programming specifically for you.

 

[snoober]

@thex Before you completely change direction take a deload and see if you have some fitness under the hood that is being masked by the extreme fatigue.

For you that would probably be keeping in the zone 2 sessions, and run through all your strength movements at your current weight but cut your sets in half or more and don’t push any of the sets til failure

 

[3ve]

@thex Half of muscle growth is done by resting and allowing your muscles to repair. If they are constantly in a state of damage, they will never grow. 48 hours is the minimum time it takes for muscles to properly repair. I like to do long days like you, but then rest for 2-3 days. If I just do metcons, I can get away with 1 day rest

 

[jtm7770]

@thex What do your strength sessions look like? It's very possible that your strength sessions aren't structured correctly to elicit strength gains. But that is also very dependent on your nutrition. You can get stronger at maintenance calories but it will be slow. If you're not already sniffing high level competition I would suggest you take 2 off seasons in a row without any competitive expectation. This way you can back off on the conditioning a bit and prioritize gaining muscle in the first year. Which will come with overall weight gain. Your lungs will come back but you're kind of spinning your wheels if you're trying to do it all at once and you're not already at that Elite level.

22 is still young (don't compare yourself to Emma Lawson or Mal O'brien) and if you take the time to build a base of strength you'll reap the benefits of a longer career with less injuries.

EDIT: I'd love to know your strength numbers to see what level you're at in order to maybe give better advice.

 

[carleranie]

@thex I’m 34 and just did a 12 week cycle of 2 a days 5 days a week. (1-2hrs strength in Am, 1-2hrs accessory/cardio in the evening). I told my oly coach I’m taking a week off as I just felt tired. I also work in a very high stress environment.

Oly coach said I’m doing too much, and to enjoy my rest. He’s making my next cycle.

So honestly, I have no idea what too much is. I hit lots of PRs and felt great to be able to do what I could post injury recovery.

 

[bacsb0]

@thex an hour a day of cardio is more than you need if you want to gain strength quickly.