Share:

Volume vs Intensity Part 2:   Why we have seen this trend towards more volume. How volume and intensity both fit into training for something like the CrossFit Games, and also what I see as the best mix of how to apply these for someone just trying to become fit for everyday life.

 

Part two of this article on Volume vs. Intensity. In part one I explained my view on the importance of Intensity to effective training and development as an athlete. In this part I want to discuss the trend towards more volume training (especially for competitive CrossFit athletes). I then want to dive into how to apply both intensity and volume into training.

 

First, the trend towards more volume in training. As the CrossFit games have grown in popularity throughout the last few years, athletes and gyms, have increased the volume of workouts in training. Some of the biggest reasons for this are that the CrossFit regionals and the games have been very high volume, multiple day competitions, and 3 – 5 workouts in a given day. The advent of social media has had its effect also, we see high level athletes doing multiple WOD training days, and consistently pushing the envelope as far as capacity. This drives perception that more volume must be what it takes to be an athlete at this level of competition. Now without going back over everything I discussed in the previous article, I want to give my take on why I don’t think this is the most effective strategy, and how I think intensity and volume can be blended together in training.

To explain this I first want to recognize the difference between training and competition. When athletes are competing, you often see technique break down, you see athletes pushing past a point of pain or even injury, and it is just a different mindset, competition is meant to be the final exam if you will. Practice on the other hand is the time when an athlete should be developing their technique, and becoming consistent and efficient. You should not be pushing through injury in training. Staying healthy and modifying workouts to fit your desired intensity levels should be of premium importance. Focusing each training session on what you specifically want to work on versus just always hitting a WOD as hard as possible. If you think through what your focus is each day you can plan out and attack specific weaknesses. Sometimes that might mean going a little bit slower and trying to clean up your technique or trying to hold onto the bar a few reps longer than normal because practice is a testing ground to try and improve in each different area. CrossFit football and John Welbourn, have a philosophy on training I really like. He talks about figuring out what the end product is you are trying to create, and then reverse engineer from there. Basically you need to figure out what your ideal athlete looks like, before you can figure out how to get there.

 

The “how to get there” that is the big question. This is where I want to talk about how I blend volume and intensity together for someone who wants to compete. I think it starts each day with a good warmup, foam rolling, dynamic movement and getting the body primed and prepped for the workout of the day. This is an often neglected part of the day, but really important if you want to take your training seriously. Next is the WOD, you should know what this is ahead of time, and build a strategy around what you are trying to focus on for the day. This could be a long, medium or short workout. It could be heavy, or light. I think it is important to remember you cannot hit all of these domains at the same time because the more you try and add, it just creates essentially a long workout, and the intensity suffers. The third piece of the puzzle, is skill work. This should be done separate from your WOD, and done for the purpose of building practice at specific weaknesses the athlete struggles with. Examples of this could be gymnastics work, lifting technique, but this should not be at the intensity of the WOD. The pitfall that many people fall into is they make their skill practice too challenging to get enough rep practice to be effective. This leads to bad habits forming, and not enough repetition. This skill work is a time to put the athlete in the best position possible, and really break down what their weaknesses are, and find out how to correct them. Scaling movement and lightening loads to work on the finer points of movement is the key here.

The final key that you have to have in order to be able to make realistic goals possible is quality eating and sleeping. There is no amount of training or programming that will make up for not getting good quality food in your system and also sleeping enough to recover from your training.

To put all of this very simply, this is the CrossFit prescription. I have basically explained constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity. Regularly learn and practice new skills, and focus on your weaknesses. After being in CrossFit for 5 years now, I have seen many changes, and trends in people trying to become elite. In reality it always boils back down to the basics of putting in hard work, realizing it’s a long term process and enjoying the process. If you have any questions about what I have written here, or you have different thoughts let me know. I would love to hear feedback or talk about how to get you specifically to the goals that you all have.

tracking