3 ON – 1 OFF.

I’m loving this series. I think anyone who loves Crossfit needs to read this and take it to heart. It’s hard to rest when you love what you do!

Thanks, guys. See you Saturday!

At my “advanced” age, I’ve found that 3 on/1 off takes a very serious toll on my body. 2 on/1 (or 2) off feels better and allows me to take the extra rest day or throw in some other type of activity.

I think we as Crossfitters often lose sight of the fact that there is actually a world out there that does not involve constant physical activity. And that, yes, it is o.k. to just plain sit on your ass every once in a while.

Whether or not 3 on 1 off is a bad idea depends critically on too many variables to come even close to a universal truth. Here are some of the factors that clearly influence the efficacy of the train/rest cycle:

Athlete – This is a blanket statement pointing out the obvious… that we are all individuals with different genetic potentials and natural abilities. All other things being equal, I might need more rest than River just because I am genetically less of a badass than River.

Training – How about Rips Starting Strength program. He calls for 1 day on, 1 day off. But Every time you go into the gym your squatting, pulling, pressing, and cleaning weights that are literally the heaviest you can move in the same set/rep schemes over and over. The goal is to add weight to the bar every time you train. Well, I tried this program and from personal experience I can tell you that if you try to add weight to the bar without taking a rest day you’re going to fail. Given the variance in crossfit wods it is unclear to me that crossfitters need more rest than 1 in 3. In fact, crossfit is so variant from one gym to another, from one trainer to another, and from one trainee to another, that I doubt there is sufficient evidence to argue compellingly one way or the other.

Discipline – Are you stretching and foam rolling 3 times a day? Are you eating strict zone and paleo? Are you eating enough? Do you sleep a solid, uninterrupted, restful 8 hours or more every night?

So I suppose I’m saying to keep an active and detailed journal of what your eating, sleeping, WODing, and listen to your body. This means don’t be an idiot which for some reason can be hard for some of us.

I import the concept of “constantly varied” into my workout timing and frequency. So, sometimes I’ll do 3 on, 1 off; other times, 3 on, 2 off; 4 on, 2 off (this was not such a good idea on day 4, but day 1 after 2 days off was huge); 2 on, 1 off; 1 on, 2 off; or even 5 or 7 off if on vacation.

Similarly, I vary times: uUually at 6 am, otherwise at 8 am (The Beckster and I do one or two non-Crossfit workouts a week together), noon, 5:30 pm or 6:30 pm. My guiding principal here is only rarely let less than 23 hours pass between workouts. That is, I won’t work at 5:30 pm and then again at 6 am. (But I probably will, just to try it, now that I think about it.)

Basically, I try to make room in my schedule for 5 or 6 workouts a week, but I listen to my body and will take an extra day off if I feel like I need it.

The Claw

My schedule is such that I can’t stick to a consistent weekly schedule.

Simi

One of my favorite things about Crossfit is that it has forced me to figure out what works for ME. There are so many opinions about how we should/shouldn’t train, eat, rest, etc. But, like Crossley said, we are all individuals with different abilities, strengths, weaknesses and issues that we have to consider. Crossfit is an individual journey. We have the amazing bonus of doing it in a supportive, group environment, but at the end of the day, it’s all about ‘you’.

3 on 1 off is too much for me, but it took working out at 3/1 for a while and feeling beat down and awful before I realized that I should probably reconsider that sequence.

p.s. can you guys talk a little more about the affiliate challenge on Sat. after reading Colin’s CFV post from last night I’m feeling a little worried. (standards, eating, warm ups, eeeeeek)
p.p.s. most of the worry is probably coming from my sadness over no crunk batting due to paleo adherence

and as for the crunk bat, i’m not drinking ‘cuz i have to work that evening so i can be designated driver for you crunkbatistas.

Crossley’s is no doubt the best, based on empirical evidence, but I vote Phil’s to be the best based on practical application. Here’s to the opposite sex!

I miss bread too.

This is a great question for debate.

What is your goal? If your goal is to lift more weight every time you go to the gym, it’s probably optimal to give yourself a rest day between efforts. If your doing all-out sprints, it’s going to be tough to set a personal record two days in a row. Do you workout for the endorphin high, which you seek out every day? In order to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains you have to do the workouts and then repeat them to see your progress. Do Cindy on day 1 and then do Cindy on day 2. Did your score improve on day 2? In Opposition, do Cindy on day 1, rest day 2, and then do Cindy again on day 3. What were your results? In my best guess, I would say your results were better on day 3 than on day 2 because of the rest. Just my 2 cents.

With that being said, one could argue that you would never see the same workouts that close together at an affiliate or on the mainsite. And so one of the many neat things about CrossFit is that you could lift on day 1, do gymnastics on day 2, and sprint on day 3. Or you could blend all of those elements into one workout, which is the epitome of CrossFit (sprinter, gymnast, power lifter, olympic lifter). Then what would be optimal the next day? Rest? Another WOD?

Migs, I have never in all my life heard a more accurate description of myself. Well done.