What separates the elite from the rest

[presmom22]

I have been doing CrossFit for 8 months and have completely fallen in love with the programming and the community. I work out 7 days a week and usually 2xday, currently the WOD and my own Murph prep (it’s 6 weeks away) for the 2nd workout.

I observe the elite athletes in my box and what they do, and the first thing that I notice is they have a way of not giving the pain and discomfort during a hard WOD a voice or space in their head, it seems. They come in for open gym, and bang out an extra metcon or work on snatches/c&j’s or another lift, or just get on the rower for 45min to an hour.

Is becoming elite the accumulation of good choices, both dietary and training, having the time and the discipline and the desire? They certainly have some mental grit to push hard on that last 400m run, and again the accumulation of that gritty mindset repetition that makes the discomfort of a jacked heart rate more acceptable and doable?

What else separates the elites from the rest (other than factors like genetics, accumulated years in the sport, discipline and good decision making regarding diet, avoiding alcohol, etc.)

 

[1cor15]

@presmom22 Ok I'm all for its your journey you do what you want blah blah....but 2 work outs a day 7 days a week is not good for you you need to give your body a chance to recover.

 

[jnorthey]

@1cor15 On any team, there are players who are better in the weight room than they are on the field.

CrossFit is the Sport for those people.

 

[jimcoleman]

@1cor15 Facts️

 

[yochanagrace]

@1cor15 If the people doing that are stronger and fitter than you, with better biological markers of health, what’s your basis for making the above claim?

I recover when I sleep. I recover when I’m not training. I’m not an elite athlete, but I do not need days off, and I haven’t for years.

Do you imagine that your ancestors had days off?

Edit: Amazing, -25 with zero replies. This community has been anti fitness for a while, but we’re really breaking new ground now.

If you’re downvoting, why not comment your percentage in the open? Just so we know who’s talking.

 

[jameszo]

@yochanagrace

I’m not an elite athlete, but I do not need days off, and I haven’t for years.

Sounds like you answered your own conundrum in this one sentence.

Do you imagine that your ancestors had days off?

Do..do you really think our ancestors went HAM non stop? Like, running from a saber-toothed tiger for 4-5 hours per day? Dude - they literally sat around 90% of the time

If you’re downvoting, why not comment your percentage in the open? Just so we know who’s talking.

4-time games athlete (masters - 45-49, 50-54(2), 60-64. Sure, I am a master's athlete but even prepping for the 2013 games at 50 I trained 5x per week with one active rest day and one complete rest day. Some training days were 2x/day.

Prepping for 2023 WZA which I won, I still trained 5 days per week. I swam on my off days but that to me is active rest & recovery.

Bottom line - if you're in the "more is better" camp, you will not only make no gains, you'll get soft, overly adapted and injured.

 

[yochanagrace]

@jameszo

Do..do you really think our ancestors went HAM non stop?

Are you reading someone else's comment, but replying to mine? Did I say that?

There are different types of training. Today I'm going flatstick. I've got metcons this morning and I'm doing Fran this afternoon. Yes, that's really hard on my CNS. Tomorrow I'm going to sit my ass down on an Echo bike and do my thousand cals. That doesn't load my nervous system at all, because I'm only doing fourteen or fifteen cals per minute.

I swam on my off days but that to me is active rest & recovery.

So you're a hypocrite. You train every day as well, you just don't call it that. (Also, you're old, and when I'm old maybe I will need to take days off. Right now I don't.)

Not every workout is Murph

 

[igors]

@yochanagrace Even Olympic athletes need rest days, you aren’t special

 

[casey73]

@yochanagrace The reason people are telling you your training is unhealthy is that you are going to destroy your hormonal system. Once you’ve leveraged all your hormones to sustain your pace you will experience a lot of health issues. Also FYI: not even the pros train 7 days a week.

 

[angelofhearts]

@casey73 I've never heard this before.

Got a link on where you read that? Be interesting to add that information to my knowledge base.

 

[dthomas81592]

@angelofhearts Without having access to a medical database you'd be hardpressed but in summation you're killing yourself without realizing it, or maybe you do but man you've gotta chill out at some point.

You either have, or will have experience with the symptoms of overtraining syndrome.

This is just a quick link on hormonal damages linked to OTS:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5541747/

 

[casey73]

@angelofhearts There is tons of info about it most commonly called adrenal fatigue. I know I listened to Jason Phillips go in depth on it in an interview but can’t recall the source. If you google: Jason Phillips adrenal fatigue, I’m sure you will find it with some scrolling.

 

[mcbayle]

@casey73 There’s literally no science to back up adrenal fatigue being a real thing.

 

[dthomas81592]

@casey73 adrenal fatigue is also linked to poor nutrition, so while yes a factor, but this has more to do with duration of training without proper fueling intra-workout or postworkout.

 

[yochanagrace]

@casey73 Orrrrrrr, wait for it, my body will adapt to the requirements I’m putting on it.

This isn’t my first day doing this. I’m over five years into it, and the only days I’ve had off would be the time I had a stomach illness - under five days total.

I’m also a strength and conditioning coach with a degree in exercise science.

The reality is that the rubbish you and others are saying is no different from the rubbish others tell you about how deadlifting will destroy your spine. Being fit is uncomfortable and difficult, and so it’s natural to try and find excuses not to do it. Believe me, when I’m five minutes into an hour on the Echo bike, I suddenly start thinking of chores I haven’t done!

The difference between us is that I then remain on the bike for my full hour, do my thousand cals, and sleep well every night.

Some training is CNS taxing and other training is not. You’re failing to understand that. Today I’m going to do metcons for an hour. That’s a “smash bang” type of day. On Saturday I hiked 25km with 1000m vertical gain. That’s a big day, but it’s not hitting my CNS at all.

Learn to vary your exercise in order to achieve more.

 

[ezra932]

@yochanagrace The only way to sustain that type of training is with anabolics. Even then it’s a stretch.

I gave you an upvote to make you feel better.

 

[dthomas81592]

@ezra932 Even while using anabolics, this is not a great way to get the benefits of them. Once on gear, your training changes so much, and even then your recovery game is more important. All said, without anabolics this is a bad idea, with anabolics this is a bad idea.

 

[1cor15]

@yochanagrace I mean everyone else kinda already covered it but I guess I'll rehash. Maybe the reason you're not elite is because you're constantly wrecking your body with no rest. I'm not saying sit on the coach 12 hours a day on your off day but you don't need to be lifting heavy and doing full metcons 2x7. Sure I could do that to but it doesn't mean it's good for me. Now if you're taking steroids we're having a whole different conversation. And yes I imagine a society of hunter gathers had days off. Did they look different then ours absolutely but they were not constantly bare hand fighting wild animals lol.

Also yes some people are literally built different and can get away with less rest...the key word being less not no.

And finally dude you opinion is unpopular, and goes against conventional wisdom. That's why you were getting down voted it's nothing about being anti fitness. All the coaches at our gym (most of who I'd consider either athletes as they all make quarter finals even before the cut off was bumped to 25% 2 consistently make semis and 1 made it to the games as a masters athlete) recommend having active recovery days. But I guess they're all wrong because you don't think you need a rest day.

Oh also since you some how think percentage in the open relates to knowing how to take care of your body I was in the 40 soemthing percentile. My diet could be improved and I'm still working on doubles and couldn't get a muscle up so my scores were about what I'd expect.

 

[yochanagrace]

@1cor15

I'm not saying sit on the coach 12 hours a day on your off day but you don't need to be lifting heavy and doing full metcons 2x7.

Did I say I was doing that?

Some days I do metcons, some days I lift heavy, some days I hike or swim or run or ruck. The caloric burn is generally higher on the low-CNS days.

It's really unfortunate that so many people in the CrossFit subreddit now don't understand the concept of varying exercise stimuli, especially considering that that was the foundational concept of CrossFit.

 

[1cor15]

@yochanagrace No you didn't, but OP did, and you jumped on his thread and said you also don't take a rest day, so by my own assumption, I assumed that's what you meant at as well. Which sure, my assumption is my bad, but it doesn't change anything I laid out. Your body needs time to recover if you're not giving it that your just going to wear yourself down for a minimal increase in performance. You can decide how much your body needs to recover I'm not going to argue with you on that but every successful athlete I know has active recovery days built into their schedule. And I don't think anyone here is misunderstanding varying stimulus I think for whatever reason you're upset I suggested somone take a rest day every once and a while.