How much is enough?
By Alvie Hafen
How many times should I work out a week? This is one of the most common questions I come across with my clients. Is two times a week enough? Is five times a week too many? There is a right way and a wrong to approaching your workouts and how many times a week you should attend class.
For the beginner, the person who hasn’t jumped rope in 30 years, or hasn’t run a mile since high school, two days a week is a good start. You want to introduce the body back into moving again. The muscles will ache and the lungs will burn, even from just two days a week. If you push that first week and go 4 or 5 times, the body will react negatively. Don’t dive in the deep end of the pool. Once the body starts to adjust and grow stronger, up the workouts to three a week and shortly thereafter four times a week.
Beyond the Whiteboard recently did a study on “how long it takes to improve at Crossfit”. There studies concluded that people who worked out five times a week produced 27% faster improvement than three days a week. That being said it takes 66% for time to work out five times a week than three.
Every person is different and recovers at various rates. YOU have to listen to your body. If you feel good and are recovering yes add that extra day in. If you feel like you have been run over by a bus and your muscles aren’t recovering, take a rest day. A smart rest day will do the body significantly more good than getting that extra workout in when the body needs a break.
GROUP CLASS WORKOUT
Warm Up:
1 min plank, 3 lap run then:
4 Rounds: 25 sec hollow rock, 12 OH Squats, 7 pushups, 10 PVC pass throughs
Strength:
18 Hang Snatches Total (2 Reps Every 45 seconds)
Metcon:
Dynamic
“Fran”
21-15-9
Thrusters 95/65
Pullups
Foundational
21-15-9
Db Thrusters
Ringrows
Mobility:
Pre –T-Spine Smash: Overhead Extension Bias (pg.238)
Post – Quad smash on foam roller
COMPETITORS CLASS WORKOUT
Warm Up:
1 min plank, 3 lap run then:
4 Rounds: 25 sec hollow rock, 12 OH Squats, 7 pushups, 10 PVC pass throughs
Strength:
12×1 of Jerks from the rack @ 85%
Metcon:
For time:
45 pull ups
45 thrusters
7 min cap
Mobility:
Quad smash with roller