Overtraining is a condition that manifests in a number of symptoms. The following is a list of things to watch for as signs of overtraining.

1- Joint pain

Joint pain is related to inflammation within or around any particular joint. This can be caused by factors including poor diet, poor technique and over use. While training can be a great way to help rehabilitate joint pain, too much training can worsen the problem. If you are experiencing joint pain during your CrossFit work outs, please consult with a coach. The pain may be remedied with an analysis of particular techniques or perhaps a referral to a professional who can direct your recovery more specifically. A nagging pain is your body letting you know that something needs to be adjusted with your training. Don’t dismiss joint pain and fight through it. Talk to your coach and we can help direct you towards better recovery.

2- Loss of motivation

If you’ve felt like your work outs have been lack lustre, or your finding it hard to get yourself to the gym, this may be a sigh of overtraining. When your stress-recovery ratio is out of whack your body does a good job giving you signs. The tough part is listening to those signs. In this case you may decide to take a couple extra days off during the week to soak up some more recovery. Heck you may even need to take the whole week off. If your in a sate of overtraining and your worried about losing fitness by taking a week off, think again.  Remember the recovery from the stress that makes you stronger and fitter.

3-Sleep disturbance

When you train intensely, all the systems of your body are demanded to kick into overdrive. In recovery, these systems relax and other systems activate to rebuild and prepare for the next bout. If your recovery systems aren’t completing their job this can leave you feeling restless and excitable during sleep. Poor sleep amplifies poor recovery and this too can lead to overtraining.

4- Performance decrease

Tracking your daily performance can tell you a lot about your progress. The whole point of training is to see an improvement in your performance markers. If these things take a general dip and continue to worsen, it could be a sign of overtraining.

The remedy to overtraining is simple, get better recovery. Better recovery comes from better diet, better sleep and sometimes taking a break. Taking a break might just be the best thing to accelerate your fitness to the next level. Be aware of the signs o overtraining and make sure to take appropriate action. Overtraining isn’t something you can just grit your teeth and train through. Ask a coach if you think you are feeling symptoms of overtraining. If you’ve experienced any of this personally, please share in comments. Often times people can connect much better with a personal story from a peer than from our ramblings on the website.

People who misunderstand CrossFit commonly view pictures like these as Overtraining. Those who have experienced an effectively coached CrossFit program, and therefore properly understand CrossFit, easily recognize pictures like these as Recovery, a key component to avoid Overtraining.

The particular template we have adopted was developed by Micheal Rutherford out of Shawnee Mission, Kansas where he runs a successful gym and CrossFit affilate. Coach Rutherford has been in the strength and conditioning industry for many years and is highly accredited by his peers including Robb Wolf (NorCal Strength and conditioning) and Greg Evert (Catalyst Athletics). Coach Rut (as he is referred too) along with some of the other mentioned coaches also spoke at the first “Black Box Summit” recently which was a CrossFit affiliate-run event that Chad got a chance to attend and spoke very highly of on his return.

The reasoning for adopting his strength template was to give our clients a more focused and planned approach to strength training.  For each workout there is a specific amount of weight assigned by way of a percentage of your 1Rep Max to each set. This allows you to map out a targeted plan for that session. It gives you a training goal and removes the subjective tinkering we’ve all done to the ladder approach “just lift as heavy as you can, every time”. A successfully executed workout is one that lets you know your heading towards your goals and a unsuccessful execution allows you to dial in more closely a goal that is appropriate for you.

Now this is all fine and dandy for someone who has a solid idea of what their 1 Rep Max is for the various lifts, but what about the beginner, someone who doesn’t know their 1 rep max value? The beginner will approach the work out similar to how we used to, in that, over the assigned amount of sets the individual will lift up to a weight that feels close to a max in 1, 3 or 5 reps . Then a coach will help estimate a 1 rep value for you.  For example if the work out was a Back Squat with 5 sets of 3 reps prescribed to it, a beginner will lift their first set based on what a coach may suggest and then increase the weight each set until the weight feels substantial. With the help of a coach you will be lifting a weight that is appropriate for your level as your heaviest set.  If this all seems complicated, don’t worry, the details of the design is not important to you coming in and doing the work out, as always a coach will be there to guide you through each step.

With the benefits and the logistics laid out loosely we can now discuss how to maximise your strength gains. The percentage based strength program is threaded into our monthly planning in a particular way. To maximize the results of this method, it is important that you attend the specific classes in which the strength thread is prescribed. The following is an example of a 3 week cycle in which the target is to lift a previous 1 Rep max or set a new 1 Rep max.

Percentage based strength program- 3 week cycle

Percentages for 5,3 and 1 rep work outs are:

If your still with me at his point, the importance of knowing this is to allow you to see forward what days will be strength days and allow you to plan your attendance accordingly. This is important because to best obtain your strength goals you must complete the 5 and 3 rep workouts leading up to the 1 rep test day. But don’t worry, you will still see great results in your fitness by attending the classes that you can when you can. This system is for the individual who hasn’t seen the types of gains they once did and is interested in dialling in the strength training a little more. If this is you then feel free to ask Auty, Chad or Suzanne any questions.

Seems like certain coaches do ALL the work around here…

Starting on March 1st we will be requesting everyone to pre-register for every class. This is to prepare for the eventual class caps that may be implemented as class sizes continue to grow.

As an added incentive to learn and use our registration system, we are proposing a Class Registration Challenge. For 3 months; March, April and May, we will be tracking everyone’s pre-registration for classes. Every time you pre-register for a class online, you receive one point. If, however, you don’t show up for that class, you lose a point. You can avoid the point loss by early cancelling your registration up to 60 minutes before the class. You can register for classes up to 14 days in advance.

1st Place will receive a free WOD Log Book.
2nd Place will receive a $25 credit towards services or product.
3rd Place will receive a $10 credit towards services or product.

**Sign up by clicking the “Online Scheduler” link at the top right of our website**

4 people, 1 workout and a whole lotta weights!!!

New Schedule Changes
A reminder that our new schedule changes start today. Check out Schedule Page for class times.

Paleo Challenge Almost Done!
A reminder to all of our Paleo challenge participants that this is the last week of the challenge. Congratulations to everyone who has made it this far! Your “After” photos will be due by Tuesday next week at the absolute latest to be able to qualify for the prizes.

Central Canada Sectionals
There are only 5 weeks left until the sectionals! There are only 4 Male Athlete spaces and 17 Female Athletes spaces remaining. Also, volunteers and sponsors will be needed. Please email us for more information.

New Faces
We have 3 new faces that recently started and a bunch more as our fundamentals course will be finishing up. I just thought I’d take this opportunity to remind everyone of our New Faces Rule: If you see a face you don’t know, go up and introduce yourself. I know it may seem simple but it helps to strengthen our fitness community.

Some WOD's get a little sweaty!

Chronic inflammation is a common thing amongst our society. Many factors contribute to these types of injuries including poor diet, repetitive stress in the work place or home, sedentary lifestyle, poor technique in the gym and lack of recovery. A lot of the time an individual may not even have noticed these sore spots until endeavouring in some kind of fitness program. Thankfully with some adherence to solid technique and light ramp up these things are rectified with ease. However if these nagging pains go un-checked a far greater inconvenience could be looming. While exercise can be a fantastic fix for chronic inflammation injuries it can also exacerbate the issue. An injury that is repedativley stressed and not given sufficient recovery will worsen. This is an important point in your training where using your coaches becomes crucial. You have to speak up!

At CrossFit Edmonton we employ competent coaches with ample experience. We are there to instruct and help individuals set up for their workout to ensure everyone is able to safely and effectively execute the WOD. However, if you neglect to inform us of a pain or issue, you may be setting yourself up for problems in the future. As coaches we understand these issues and we know how to modify your workout so you can continue to forge towards elite fitness while working on proper recovery from inflammation. We may have suggestions for speeding up recovery or recommend you make alterations to your training schedule. The quest for ultimate fitness is a valiant one, but in our experience, it is unique to each person. Speak up if something bothers you whether it’s at the beginning of the work out or half way through. There is no bad time for us to help you, but you have to speak up. Your coaches are there for you.

Have you experienced working through an injury in CrossFit? Are you currently experiencing any issues? If you’ve felt like a CrossFit Edmonton coach has helped you by making modifications, please share in comments.

The post will be easily recognized by it’s simple content of a Benchmark Advisory sign:

We will run holiday hours AND evening class and Fundamentals as usual.

Classes at: 9am, 10am and 6pm
Fundamentals: As usual at 7pm.

CrossFit Edmonton members Lisa Dika(1st) and Aaron Chetek (3rd) both finished with podium placements. Congratulations to them and great job representing our club. We also had great performances from a number of other members, both seasoned veterans of our program along with new recruits battled through the vigorous work out and all finished! Congratulations to all of you!

In the spirit of competition many things can happen, but what is assured, is a strengthening of community. Whether you’re a competitor in the ring or a volunteer helping out you equally contribute to this. If you’ve been involved lately with a competition as a competitor or a volunteer what are your thoughts? What things did you find exciting? Are there things that can be improved?

1) There will be no more 10am classes. However, we will be introducing a new Mamas class on Friday’s at 10am. All are welcome but registration online is mandatory and parents will get priority.

2) There will be no more 7pm group classes on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s.

Please see the calendar below for a details.

The event pictures are now online in our gallery. You can see them here. You may download them if want them and you can even upload to the gallery if you took some of your own.

Details:

WOD

5 Rounds for time of:

5 Ground to overhead 135/95 lbs
10 Pull ups
15 Box jumps

Movement standards:

Ground to over head

- You must grip the bar with a clean grip (Not a snatch grip).
- The bar must touch the floor each rep.
- The bar must be locked out overhead with some or all of the ear visible from the profile.

Pull ups

- Arms must be at full extension in the bottom.
- Chin must clear the vertical plane of the bar at the top.

Box jump

-You must achieve full knee and hip extension at the top of the box.

We look forward to seeing you there!!

-CrossFit Edmonton Staff

Reminder: New Fundamentals course starting Feb. 8th @ 7 pm. Sign up today here

Share your challenges and triumphs up to this point in comments:

Crossfit Edmonton offers strength and conditioning programs directed to everyone who values fitness and enjoys being part of a like minded community. Our work outs are athletic and challenging and as a coach I am committed to bringing you the latest in fitness prescriptions from around the world.

Crossfit Edmonton understands the importance of seeing results weather its to improve a particular area of strength like doing a pull up, or to change your body composition. Seeing the results will ultimately play a part in keeping you committed and working towards levels of fitness you never imagined. But are there better methods of measuring results? Many fitness programs advertise great results in little time but don’t have any methods to back their claims. Sure, with high energy instructors, blazing music and a workout leaving you sweaty and breathless, this certainly appears to be an effective formula. But what if the initial excitement dwindles and you are left wondering if the program is really giving you what you what?

At CrossFit Edmonton we employ a method of measuring your success by strategically placing “benchmark” days into the program allowing you to compare back and see an improvement in performance. We also have log books for sale which can be an excellent tool to track daily workouts, sleep and fatigue levels. Keeping a log book can keep you in tune with daily successes, benchmark improvements and help in goal setting witch are all things CrossFit Edmonton and their coaches can help you with. Our daily score  and achievements boards  allows you  to celebrate successes, keep in touch with other members and, for the competitive folks, generate some friendly rivalries. These tactics are all tried and true methods for measuring your success and keeping you committed to ultimate fitness.

What has been valuable for your measurements of success? Post thoughts to comments.

STRENGTH

Strength defined is: The ability of a muscular unit or combination of units to apply force.

We live on a planet where things and their mass are given weight by way of  gravity. Our very being on earth demands a physical capacity to generate force. This being said strength obviously plays an imperative role in our ever day functioning. Lifting, pushing, pulling and moving from A to B all require strength.

To develop strength we have to understand the types of exercises that are truly cultural of getting stronger. The greater fitness community uses strength as a term loosely, describing everything from various weightlifting regimes to spin classes, but at closer inspection some activities are far better suited for inducing the desired result. What we know is that the body adapts specifically to the demands placed on it, so to develop strength we need to place ourselves in situations requiring us to produce muscular force. Nothing does this better than lifting weights, and not just any weights but HEAVY weights. Exercises like the deadlift, squat and press are by comparison far more effective than others in their ability to generate force. One has only to look to the worlds strongest athletes to see this empirically proven, Power lifters, Strong men and Olympic lifters are all by definition strong.  And it is for this reason that CrossFit utilizes these movements as their foundation for strength training.

Reminder: ICC # 3

Date: February 6, 2010
Time: Registration available online through our Online Scheduler. 
Heats: 12 pm- 2pm
Awards: Approximately 2:15
Registration fee: $10

Competition WOD details and movement standards will follow prior to event.

All Edmonton CrossFitters welcome!

Not many people would argue against the idea that diet soda is better for you than regular soda. Or 25% less salt chips are better for you than regular salted chips. Or how about whole grain cheerios are better for you than regular cheerios? Does any of this mean that the said food is actually Good For You? Where this hits in Paleo land is in things like Almond Flour, Agave Nectar or Gluten Free Bread!! Are these things actually taking us on a path to superior health?

I know I have my opinion on this issues, but what’s yours? Please post thoughts to comments.

Low Fat! and part of a Heart-Healthy diet!!!

If you are already registered or will be today, you MUST have your pictures in by TOMORROW at midnight at the absolute latest or you will be ineligible to win.