journal

When you first join UnScared it can be a little overwhelming. Not only do the CrossFit classes seem to contain more movements than you can possibly keep track of, but there are also other classes “on the other side of the wall” that focus on other things that apparently are useful and important, but what they are and do exactly may remain a mystery.

There are many ways to answer this question. One could talk about the physiological side and evaluate an athlete’s genetics, resulting in a higher percentage of certain muscle fibres. Alternatively, one could dive into a specific stimulus and discuss in detail which training program works best. Or, we could speculate on the importance of a broad athletic background when young.

Perhaps you didn't train during a holiday, perhaps you trained less during the last lockdown or perhaps were not able to train because... you know. Life happens sometimes. A big concern for those who enjoy sports, especially if you have specific goals in training, is that we may grow weaker or *gasp* less fit during these periods. Is that the case?

I recently talked to my aunt and uncle - they've been vegetarians for close to 50 years. They told me about how back in the day, it could be pretty challenging as vegetarians. They didn't have fancy meat replacements with added iron. They didn't get well researched nutrition advice on whether they could just drop meat and be fine, or whether they needed alternatives to make sure they got their essential nutrients.

Running is one of the most common endurance modalities used in CrossFit. When programmed in a WOD running distance is mostly short, usually around 400 meters, combined with other movements and performed under fatigue for several rounds. The main difference between running and other CrossFit movements is the amount of repetitions. If we consider every step as a repetition, running just 400 meters can easily meaning doing more than 300 repetitions of the same movement of constantly braking and accelerating.

At some point many of us realise that we are actually quite enjoying this whole exercise thing. You find you have muscles where there weren’t any before, the shopping bags don’t feel as heavy as they once did, and no longer die when you have to run to catch the train (unless you are a strength athlete like me, in that case you just die with bigger quads). As you become more invested in your results it’s worth considering your habits outside of the gym and deciding if tweaking a thing or two there is worth the rewards. After all, you likely only spend up to 9 hours a week with your UnScared family at most, the other 159 hours can greatly influence how effective those sessions are.