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Longevity

Training for the Long Term

 

As we grow up and go through high school we are always preached to about preparing for college and preparing for the real world. When we get to college they preach to us about getting ready for the workforce and real world. They push your education towards a career. Always asking, what are you going to do for the rest of your life? In life there is a constant underlying theme, longevity. We are constantly searching for the long term. The career, not a job. Mr./Mrs. Right, not Mr./Mrs. Right Now. The home, not the shack. We are constantly pursuing the sustainble enriching life. Physical training should be looked at in the same light.

The new CrossFit athlete easily gets excited and falls in love with everything about CrossFit. They are refreshed by the new exercises and intensity. They make new friends that share a common interest. They always want to be at the box. To top it off, they don’t like to take rest days. They go 100% on every workout. They are perpetually sore. They begin to regress. They start to get nagging injuries. They begin to burnout. They quit within the first 18 months and move on to some other training, or nothing at all.

The mature CrossFit athlete has learned when to listen to their bodies and rest. They’ve learned mobility and recovery tools that work for them. They’ve mastered the mudane. They want to get better but the mature athlete knows when to go hard and when to pull back. They pick their spots to go all in. They’ve figured out how to make constantly varied, high intensity, functional movements (CrossFit) a sustainble lifestyle of training.

For 99% of members at most CrossFit affilates the goal is general health and fitness. They want to feel good and look better. They want to be able to play with their kids or grandkids. They want to make everyday tasks easier. How can we make this happen?

I learned a long time ago, from a very smart Masters athlete, how to achieve this. “Operate at 80%, 80% of the time” This can be applied to daily workouts and weekly training. Go into the workout of the day concentrating on moving well, and being just slightly uncomfortable. Twenty percent of the time give it everything you’ve got .Example, the last 2 minutes of a 10 min AMRAP, go as hard as you possibly can and go to that dark place. Looking at weekly training, go harder on 2 of those days then the other 3 or 4. It will put you in a place of improving fitness at a rate that you can sustain over the long term. It will avoid chronic injuries and improve health inside and out.

Longevity is the name of the game. No one wants to get hurt. No one wants to bounce around from gym to gym. Deep down everyone wants a place to call home and to constantly improve their life with that one hour a day of exercise. Every morning assess how you feel, and where your energy level is at. As you warm up for each workout assess how you’re moving and how those movements feel. At that point you can determine what kind of day it is going to be. Will it be a 80% day or a an all out day? No one can answer that but you.

 

Have Fun. Learn. Grow. Be Fit.

 

Nick Carignan

CrossFit 8 Mile, Livonia, MI[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]