CrossFit burnout?

B

bonlin

New member
I’ve been doing CrossFit for the past 9 years. Started out of curiosity and fallen in love. Got my credentials, been coaching for 7 years, programming for my box, doing events, converted my shed into a small gym, got a shoe addiction… you know, the usual.

I am a solid lifter, have good conditioning and ok gymnastics. However, in the past few weeks I’ve been struggling. Struggling badly.

My lifts don’t always feel great, sometimes I have troubles hitting my percentages. My conditioning feels worse. I still can find joy in training but it’s irregular.

Checked my hormones: everything is OK. Test is ok, cholesterol is good.

Open is coming in 2 weeks time and I’m like ‘meh’ - I’ve signed up but couldn’t care.

Not sure what to. I like coaching, working with the people but maybe I’m doing too much? I have a full-time job next to it.

Maybe change my program? Been following Mayhem for 4 years.

Focus on other things like powerlifting?
 
@bonlin Probably just need a break. Every summer for the last 3 years I’ve switched to mostly bodybuilding/strength work to give myself a break from all the high intensity stuff.

If I feel good or think a particular workout looks fun, I’ll hop in a class and do a metcon, but I primarily focus on giving my body (and nervous system) a break for a little bit. I come back feeling good with some strength gains as well.
 
@nhla2 I do this as well just in the fall/winter (gives me an excuse to grow out the beard and wear layers while I’m feeling less trim)
The strength gains feel nice each January and I feel more confident as summer nears.
 
@nhla2 yeah - agree. take a break. Do other stuff.

I've become a garage gym all-star. I lift and row, maybe do some calisthenics. I put in WORK on the parallettes. L-sit for weeks.

I'm nowhere near as fit as a I was as when I was a (team) Games athlete, but who gives a shit how many muscle ups I can do. Sometimes it's OK to take some time off
 
@bonlin You cannot be in super shape 365 days.

It's almost impossible.

Listen to your body, scale workouts and take a break. It will help you.
 
@bonlin Go do something else for a bit and mix in a metcon here and there (once at most twice a week?). I’ve had this happen and switched over to hypertrophy, Oly lifting, plus I play several sports. Burnout is real and I personally didn’t want to push myself to doing nothing because I REALLY burned out.
 
@bonlin Gotta make it fun. Sign up for something outside of CrossFit. Spartan races are a great way to use everything you do in CrossFit outside of the gym. I love running and there are periods I just focus on that. Just recently I’ve been mentally struggling to get to the gym so running has been my mental escape.
 
@bonlin I started CrossFit in 2013. Same deal, got my L1c coached for years, competed at comps.

Haven’t done any for the last 6 months. Just got a bit tired of it. And a bit beat up.

Try to get out and do more shit outside. I play basketball, softball, kayak, fish, bike, run, hike, among other things. I just had a kid and my viewpoint on life has just changed.

I see myself going back to CrossFit, but more of a 3x per week type of thing.
 
@bonlin How have you been with stress levels, outside the gym? Any kind of stress is just cortisol to the body including high intensity exercise. Keep the cortisol flowing and the body will tell you to slow down by making you feel sluggish. Take a minimum of a week off of high intensity, nothing more than zone 2 cardio. Do some calming stretching for 20 minutes. Get quality sleep.

Don't worry about the thought of losing strength you won't. Then look at your work and exercise schedule and really think about how much recovery time you are putting in.
 
@bonlin I was feeling the same. I coach at a relatively competitive gym and saw many members also falling out of love with it. We do mayhem programming and I think this has had a negative impact lately - it’s quite repetitive and predictable.
I switched to doing TTT programming on my own and I’m absolutely loving it. Different challenges, different movements, different leaderboard. Maybe look at doing your own thing for a while and see if that reignites your fire
 
@bonlin Maybe challenging yourself in another way can give another goal to work towards instead of doing events? So signing up for a mud run, hyrox or marathon and train for those may spark some new enjoyment?
 
@bonlin As others have said, no athlete can go all out, all the time. Maybe break up the intensity of your training cycles? Also, you didn't mention much outside of crossfit, do you mountain bike, snowboard, surf, play sports? I mountain bike find that the workouts and the riding really compliment each other while also getting me outdoors and in nature.
 
@bonlin Everything else alright? Life, job, sleep, food? Had a holiday lately? If there's nothing else I would just give yourself a break/rest or just dial it back, keep the coaching, skip your own training for a bit. Walk, run, lift only and skip cardio, whatever it is that feels right for you.
 
@bonlin I took 3 weeks off from most training between weather issues, a vacation, and the flu. It changed how my body felt in the best way possible- I didn’t realize how tired my body was! Although I wasn’t experiencing the mental burnout. But I wonder if a slightly longer break could be good for you as well!
 
@bonlin Maybe it’s ADHD talking, but I’ve never understood how people stick with one thing only.

I love cycling (used to teach indoor) but I definitely mixed other things with it too. Same with running, rowing and aerial arts.

Now I have a jumbo list of things I really like, I have to do it all in cycles. 😂CrossFit is the newest addition.

Sounds like you gotta mix it up with something else. As long as you’re still active I think you won’t loose fitness. Good luck!
 
@bonlin Agree with others saying try something else for a while. CF is great but it’s nice to have other modalities in the mix, or at least some experience with them, especially if you’re a coach, so you can meet people where they are if they’re coming from different types of exercise before they start CF. The person who owns my CF box has a background in martial arts and gymnastics and still practices and sometimes competes in MA but he’s also taken other types of classes here and there just to get first hand experience with other/new fitness trends. Maybe take 2-4 weeks to go off and explore.
 
@bonlin Try different things while going through the motions of crossfit (obstacle course racing, trail running, hyrox, deka, martial arts). Just dabble until aomething piques your interest and then augment the Mayhem programming toward that goal.
 
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