Take it Easy

Shawn Perine
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:00:00 -0700
Lifestyle

In all my years involved in fitness, I never thought I'd have to say this: Take it easy, people! Now, I understand that a good many of you reading this are not at risk of overtraining, and that's a good thing. But over the last few years, I've seen an increasing number of people jumping whole hog into the fitness lifestyle, not just with zeal but with an almost manic obsession. I credit some of this behavior to the CrossFit phenomenon. With CrossFit, it isn't enough to simply workout and feel good about it. Instead, it's about competing — against yourself, others or the clock. Speed is prized over form; explosiveness over control. And because CrossFit is communal, fueling the intensity is ever-watchful "teammates" encouraging their fellow CrossFitters to keep going.

Similarly, the recent obstacle run craze sees thousands of people every weekend pushing themselves to the brink, and sometimes beyond. Not a lot of people train for obstacle course runs. It isn't the kind of thing that's easy to prepare for, and so injuries are inevitable, and for some the threat of harm is part of the thrill of the events themselves.

Now, I know I cannot convince a single CrossFitter to slow it down or a mud runner to pace himself, nor do I want to. If they enjoy what they're doing and see the results they're looking for, great! But I will say this: You don't need to go all-out in your training to get impressive results from your training. Moderation will do you just fine. I know because I've tried both approaches, all-out and with reasonable intensity, and have gotten results from each.
Updated: Tue Aug 12, 2014

In all my years involved in fitness, I never thought I'd have to say this: Take it easy, people! Now, I understand that a good many of you reading this are not at risk of overtraining, and that's a good thing. But over the last few years, I've seen an increasing number of people jumping whole hog into the fitness lifestyle, not just with zeal but with an almost manic obsession. I credit some of this behavior to the CrossFit phenomenon. With CrossFit, it isn't enough to simply workout and feel good about it. Instead, it's about competing — against yourself, others or the clock. Speed is prized over form; explosiveness over control. And because CrossFit is communal, fueling the intensity is ever-watchful "teammates" encouraging their fellow CrossFitters to keep going.

Similarly, the recent obstacle run craze sees thousands of people every weekend pushing themselves to the brink, and sometimes beyond. Not a lot of people train for obstacle course runs. It isn't the kind of thing that's easy to prepare for, and so injuries are inevitable, and for some the threat of harm is part of the thrill of the events themselves.

Now, I know I cannot convince a single CrossFitter to slow it down or a mud runner to pace himself, nor do I want to. If they enjoy what they're doing and see the results they're looking for, great! But I will say this: You don't need to go all-out in your training to get impressive results from your training. Moderation will do you just fine. I know because I've tried both approaches, all-out and with reasonable intensity, and have gotten results from each.

When I was in my teens and 20s, and even well into my 30s, I would often push myself to my limit in the gym. I remember my mom, who would train at the gym with me, telling me how she couldn't watch me squat, because my face would turn beet-red and the veins on my neck would look close to popping. I once burst a small blood vessel in one eye during a workout, got so dizzy I couldn't stand other times, threw up once and was laid up in bed for three days after a particularly grueling deadlift session. So I know from hard training.

And yet nowadays, with my focus on focused intensity, I'm very pleased with my training and the results it's bringing me. I've lightened up the weight, increased the reps and now really, really focus on the exercise movement, rather than engage in the folly of forever trying to outdo my last workout. It's simply not possible and a surefire formula for injury, especially if you have designs on doing this for any appreciable amount of time.

If you want to push yourself to the limit each and every workout, that's certainly your prerogative, and if that works for you, salud! But know that you don't have to. Scaling back the intensity, even if only every now and then, can result in similar gains, with much less risk of injury.