Rest Day

November 30, 2008

REST DAY or complete a WOD from last week that you missed

 
BURPEE CHALLENGE: Day 68
Burpees to date: 2,278

 
This week we have looked at a number of aspects of long, slow distance exercise and how it relates to our training for both general fitness and training for competitive pursuits. For myself, fitness became fun again when I realized I could do something more effective than the hours of cardio on the machines. To finish the week long focus we will take a look at the POSE running method and a couple CrossFit Journal articles specifically about developing a training program for the long distance racer.  Both CFJ articles will be available in the gym for your reading this week but it would be great if you subscribed to the Journal as it is a terrific resource for every area of our training.

ARTICLE:  The Basics of POSE Running Techniques

Coach Glassman explains this in CrossFit’s “third standard of fitness” when talking about the body’s three metabolic pathways: “Favoring one or two [metabolic pathways] to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably the two most common faults in fitness training.” Favoring one metabolic pathway (the oxidative or aerobic one trained in endurance activity, for example) could not be more wrong in principle and methodology. Having athletes doing 100+ mile bike rides three to four weeks out from the Ironman World Championships, or doing any highly oxidative training for long periods of time, makes zero sense if the athlete has already developed their ability to use oxygen effectively. The solution is to strength train and make them work at faster than normal speeds (i.e., speed training and intervals), while retaining the ability to recover.
-CrossFit Journal, Nov-07: The New World Order of Endurance Training [link]

Dr. Mel Siff, a highly regarded sports scientist and author of the book Facts and Fallacies of Fitness, points out that “twentieth-century scientists have raised the heart onto a pedestal, where it remains relatively unchallenged by any other bodily system…. Fascination with the heart has also spawned an industry which has captured the attention of health entrepreneurs and the public-long, slow distance (LSD) athleticism.Cardiac health and prolonged longevity came to be regarded as the consequence of ‘aerobic’ exercise.” Sound familiar? Moreover, he points out, all non-aerobic exercise has been deemed of little consequence in promoting cardiac health. Siff responds to that contention by citing study after study of anaerobic training and its effects on the heart (see, for example,Ralph Paffenbarger‘s studies of longshoremen and stair climbers). Astonishingly enough, hardly any studies have been conducted to show that “aerobic” (LSD) exercise is superior to any other form of exercise for preventing heart disease. So could the LSD/endurance community have it wrong? Well, let’s just say there’s more than one way to skin a cat!
-CrossFit Journal, Jan-08: The New World Order of Endurance Training [link]