Kicking It Up A Notch

This week will be hard, you will be sore, you will want to skip some of the sessions.....HTFU!  This week we see an increase in the loads as well as the volume of working sets.  This week should be very hard, but not so hard we induce injury or sacrifice technique, so be smart.  Get mentally prepared and attack every session.  Next week we will have a deload week where we reduce the loads and the volume of working sets and promote some active regeneration.  Your training cards have all been updated, so feel free to have a look.

Here are some strategies to help improve recovery so you can not only push through this week, but also get more out of your training all the time.

1. Eat more protein.  Given the nature of our training program, you should be getting between 1.0 and 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight.  That means a 200lb person should eat 200 to 240 grams of protein per day.  You should strive to get 75% of this amount from meat, and only about 25% from other sources including supplements.
2. Drink more water.  You should try to consume 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water per day.  That means that a 200lb person should drink 100oz of water per day.  Drinks like coffee, juice, or soft drinks do not count towards this total.
3. Sleep more.  Make sleep a priority.  There is a lot of evidence out there showing that an athlete involved in high intensity training needs a minimum of 8hrs per night to recover adequately.  It is definitely worth your while to reevaluate your daily schedule and routine to try and move towards that 8 hr per night minimum.
4. Do your mobility work.  We all know it is important, but often times a 5 or 10 minute session at the end of the training session is not enough.  Invest in some bands, rollers, and lacrosse balls for your house and spend 15 to 20 minutes every night before bed working on your specific mobility issues.
5. Hydro-Therapy.  Ice baths are great.  Water should be 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit and deep enough to completely submerge your legs hip and lower back.  Stay in for 10-15 minutes.  Another option is a contrast shower.  Here is a link on the proper protocol for a Contrast Shower.

As a result of the difficulties we have had in getting proper coordination with the daily wods on Tuesday and Friday, we will be posting our recommended wods for these days here on our blog site.  We would encourage those of you that are getting all three oly club sessions in per week to follow our recommendations for your two wods per week.  We will make sure you get exposed to the necessary movements and skills in these wods, as well as the full spectrum of time and work domains.  We realize that following our recommendation for the wods might get logistically tough if you are in a crowded class.  You may have to find class times that are less crowded, or even utilize some of the open gym hours.  I can tell you that the noon class on Tuesday and Friday usually has plenty of room for doing an alternate wod, and this is generally when I do my training, so you would have someone to wod with. 

Check back tomorrow for some video critiques of Overhead Squats from last week.