You are in the CrossFit grind everyday. You come in ready to tackle the workouts and somehow you are just feeling like your stuck in the mud moving no where. There are some reasons as to why your lifts are not progressing. All you need to do is re-evaluate your situation and find a solution that works !
Here is a good question to ask yourself: Do you do supplemental work on top of the big lift movements? Or do you stick to just squats, deads and some oly lifts ?
The goal of any good strength program are to:
- Not cause injury
- Build strength
- Improve on weaknesses (no, not the same thing)
- Improve movement
If your performing the main, compound lifts they will not necessarily improve your weaknesses or improve your movement. In fact, you may be ingraining bad motor patterns based on your body compensating for weaknesses. We all dislike benching with our elbows tucked in if we have weak triceps. So, the elbows come out and the shoulders get injured. You need to challenge your muscles for what you DON’T like to do and work on them. Include supplemental work that focuses on the correct movement pattern and builds on weaknesses you didn’t even know you had, along with some assistance work that builds specific under-powered muscles. All of a sudden you’re improving on weaknesses, movement, and strength.
You might be training TOO hard. This is sometimes for the person who believes “more is more” but in reality more is just killing your overall results.
Here’s what this typically looks like. Someone who:
- Spends a lot of time at the gym.
- Pushes everything hard – every session is taken to its max.
- Doesn’t take a deload, because he or she feels fine and doesn’t need it (supposedly).
All of the above traits may well lead to short-term gains, but in the mid- to long-term, they will bite you in the rear. Let’s have a look at each of the above points in turn:
- Sessions are two to three hours long. This is not ideal for building strength. Also, less time at the gym is more time spent recovering. This is where strength is built.
- Taking each of your lifts to an all-out max can feel like the right thing to do. Lifting heavier has got to be better right? Not really. You’ll probably compromise your technique in the process. And even if you don’t, you’re giving your nervous system a lot to deal with for little gain. Learn to accept and understand that leaving a little in the tank is a much better approach.
- Deloads are simple science. They allow your body to reset, and this allows you to continue to get stronger.
Another factor might be training alone. Training with others has amazing benefits. It’s easy to forget just how good it is until you do it again. A good training partner, particularly one on the same program as you or at least with the same objectives is invaluable. If you can find a group of this nature, you’re on to a big win hence the crossfit community we have. You’ll get pushed more than you realize. You’ll get your form checked, even if you don’t think it needs it.
Try to take time to identify the problems in your training and start to fix them one at a time. You are doing great with working out now make sure all the benefits are working in your favor !