The Best Ways To Recover From a CrossFit Workout
There is a saying that goes like this,
“There is no such thing as overtraining, only under-recovering.”
Now, I am not sure I fully agree with that, because I feel that if I wanted to, I could put anybody in a training hole. However, recovery in itself is an art form. Unfortunately, many people rely solely on the training and what they do with that time, and put little focus or attention on the importance of what they do with their bodies when that training session is done. For that reason, I wanted to talk about an area of recovery that is by far the most important thing you can do.
To me, the most important thing you can do for recovery is to get your body back into the parasympathetic state. When we train, we need to stress our bodies. Stress, in the right amounts, is what will drive adaptation. The tough part is, our bodies do not know the difference between a hard training session, getting punched in the face, or having a fight with our spouse. For that reason, one of the best ways we can recover is by simply getting our bodies back into a relaxed state to allow the recovery and adaptation to occur.
So, I want to talk about two ways to bring the body back down immediately following an intense training session (whether neurological or metabolic - or both depending on your training focus.)
Aerobic Compensation work or slow and easy aerobic centered cool downs. Immediately following a session I like to have athletes get on a bike, ideally a bike that allows them to sit upright, but with appropriate handle height to relieve skeletal stress of holding the body up. I prefer the bike to relieve stress on the system. Meaning, walking or light jogging still elicits skeletal stress in moving and sustaining posture. Once the athletes are on the bike I will have them ride for fifteen to twenty minutes at a complete conversational pace. Or, a rate of perceived exertion of a five to six, or a heart rate zone of one to two. This work helps to eliminate metabolites from the system and speed recovery and regeneration
Another method I like to use to help athletes reach the parasympathetic state following an intense training session is called box breathing. I will have the athletes lay on their backs and place their feet at a ninety degree angle from their knees on the wall or supported by a bench. From here I will have them breathe with a 4-4-4-4 count. They will take a deep breath in through their nose for a 4 count, hold it for a 4 count, exhale through their mouth for a count of 4 and hold for another 4 count. I will have them repeat this method for 2-3 minutes. Now, there are many various tempos of breathing that people use. I am not here to say one is better than the other, rather the principle of it is what I am going after. The principle lies with a controlled breath in order to destress the athlete and get them back to the parasympathetic state.
With training, we want to stress the body. However, the only way to allow for recovery and ideally adaption is to make sure the body and brain are able to recover. If your athlete(s) or you are constantly stressed from one activity to another for the entire day, then no matter what you do for recovery, you will never fully get there. Rather, focus on getting your body and brain to relax and allow the recovery process to naturally occur!
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