@smarch Probably something more practical that I found helpful was to wear a fitness tracker watch. I like to watch my heart rate as I’m training. If I’m doing a 45 minute wod and my heart rate is over 160 early I know I’ll need to slow down or I’ll gas out.
I’m going on 6 months and I love it so much. And when I am doing it, I am getting my ass kicked every single time. I remember when I had to do 5 burpees and I literally cried. And now I can easily do 50 in a row. It just takes time. Keep showing up. It’s you against you
@smarch Also, another point that you have not mentioned is that the coach of the class should know you enough by now to help you with appropriately scaling the workouts so that you're hitting the intendedt stimulus and finishing them.
In my opinion, it is better early on to over scale than under scale to avoid potential injuries burning yourself out and just overall. Keep you in a better mental headspace so that you're not feeling like you're getting beat up or feeling like you're not fit enough to do the classes.
@smarch I am a 55 year old male who started 9 years ago. I know exactly where you are at with CrossFit. When I started I thought it was impossible to do these workouts more than 3 times a week. In a year or so, I was going 5 to 6 times a week. They call it building your engine. It takes time and it will happen. Watch a Matt Fraser video from any of the open games. He had the best rest to work ratio of any athlete ever. At the end of each work out when the younger athletes marvel at how I finished in the top three of the WOD I always say .....pace and scale.
@smarch Played football my whole life until injury. I gained almost 100 lbs went to CrossFit at 32 yo and now fwd today at 41 yo I won the last 3 years as fittest amputee on earth. Stick with it, you will be sore in places you didn’t think you could be. Mobility helps a TON don’t skip it. Keep pushing forward
@smarch You wont see a ton of progress quickly by only going twice a week.
(I hate the no time excuse and rarely ever have seen someone's schedule where they actually don't have time. I'm busy as all hell and I still make it to 5am class all the time.)
@smarch Stick with it! Healthy lifestyle changes can be uncomfortable, but your body will love you in the long term even if it is mad at you now.
Focus on building habits in the beginning. Pay attention to your form and include regular workouts into your weekly routine. Before you know it, you’ll be drinking the kool-aid like the rest of us!
@smarch Same age and body weight here, took me about 5 months in to start completing some wods, 2 years later I'm going for Rx in some wods and it's all over again. Time cap is my friend once again
@smarch I would not be running three days a week if you've got arthritis!
Does your gym have open gym? Can you go in and sit on a concept2 bike/rower instead of pounding pavement?
You said yourself that you recover poorly, so pounding pavement with your already inflamed joints in addition to high action CrossFit wods sounds like a recipe for disaster in my opinion.
@smarch I wouldn’t add or focus on anything, just do CrossFit.
About three years ago I tried powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting, and around the time the lockdowns ended I decided to go back to CrossFit, it was a solid three months of me doing CrossFit classes to really get back to a place where I felt like I wasn’t breathing Pennies every day. So don’t feel like you’re “unfit” or anything, your body is just going to need to adjust to the training stimulus. edit I should add that focusing on mobility will go a long way. That’s something everyone could work on
@smarch Remember to pace. Remember to breathe. Remember to have a plan for the workout before your start.
Too many athletes go pedal to the metal out of the gate when that's not the intended stimulus of the workout u less it's something like Fran which is designed to be a sprint.
