Daily WODs, recovery, and volume advice?

[Jason Stein]

Coach Sommer,

I posted this in another topic; I was hoping you might address it here.

For anyone following the daily WODs, at what point would you recommend decreasing or scaling back volume?

In another post, Ido Portal discussed scaling back volume 60% every 2-5 workouts, and others have mentioned Poliquin's and Pavel's suggestions.

What do you suggest?

regards,

jason

[Coach Sommer]

My advanced athletes train with a relatively high level of intensity 6 days a week for 4 hours a day. As such, to promote recovery and avoid over use injuries, they receive a 50% reduction in volume every fourth week (e.g. they drop from 6 days a week training to 3 days during this week; although their normal conditioning continues during this reduced volume week and their three days of training occur at a normal level of intensity). My athletes not training in the advanced group do not receive such a drastic decrease in training volume.

Recovery needs vary greatly from individual to individual. In regards to Ido's statement, it also bears remembering that Ido also mentioned that most people fail to train hard enough to require a periodic reduction in volume. For many people avoiding the spectre of "overtraining" is simply an excuse for not training hard enough.

The bottom line is that only you know when you physically need a break or if you are just being lazy. As a general rule of thumb, if you are still tremendously sore, experiencing joint pain or just feeling uncharacteristically lethargic (when such is not your normal state of being ), take a break. Get extra sleep, get some sun, read a new book and just recharge yourself physically and mentally. After the break, you will return to your training with a renewed sense of focus and passion.

One note of caution here; when taking a break, simply take care to ensure that it is an actual break from a prolonged period of of training and that the breaks themselves are not becoming more common than actual training.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Jason Stein]

Coach,

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

I am looking to intelligently incorporate some form of rest and recovery as I, like many who post here, have a rather full and demanding list of daily physical practices. Your post has been immensely helpful in this regard!

I'll post recovery volumes during relevant WODs; I'm thinking the fourth week of every month.

I'll revisit in a month to assess if there have been any fundamental and profound changes, i.e. strength and flexibility gains and skill acquisition. Might be helpful to come up with a GB WOD that can function as a baseline to measure against, as well.

Perhaps I'll post some suggestions for something like this in another thread.

Thanks again,

jason