Over Training by Pat Barber NorCal CrossFit

"there is no such thing as overtraining, just under recovery"
---Austin Malleolo---

If you look at it this way it makes it pretty easy to tell if you are a culprit of
overtraining. As you have seen as you look around NorCal CrossFit, people are
different. Some people tall some short, some have high stress jobs some have low
stress jobs, some are more fit and some are less fit, some recover faster and some
people slower. Its important to understand what your limits are and how to stay pushing
them but also how to not destroy yourself. When figuring this out make sure you look at
the fact that you are NOT Rich Froning or Jason Khalipa, I guarantee you that you do
not recover the same way they do. If for some reason you think you can you will most
definitely be over training.

Overtraining was defined to me as retrograde in performance and that made sense to
me. If you are training so often that your weight lifting numbers and workout times (your
performance) are getting worse then you are overtraining. Its as simple as that. If you
spend a week or two kinda feeling crappy and not being able to do what you normally
can but are still coming to the gym everyday and the rest of your life is what it normally
is then you may be overtraining. Fortunately for you there is a pretty simple solution to
this problem. REST!! I don't mean rest where you come into the gym on your day off
and practice snatches, or some "light" rowing, I mean rest like go to a baseball game,
or have a spa day with facials and all. Rest is an absolute key to doing what we do
effectively. When you train you break your body down and it is in the rebuilding and
rest that we see our gains made. Some people need to rest more than others and you
will have to figure out how much you personally need. It is easy to do, just look at your
numbers if they are stagnant or going down you may need to throw in some more rest.
If everything is still going up and you are feeling great just keep doing what your doing.

Things to take away from this:

1) You are not Rich Froning or Jason Khalipa
2) Overtraining is the inability to recover as seen in a decline in your performance
3) To avoid overtraining take real rest.

Pat B