Holiday schedule/Supplementation blog

A quick update on the upcoming holiday schedule:

Nov 25 (Wednesday):  No 5:30 or 6:30pm class

Nov 26 (Thursday):  Closed

Nov 27 (Friday):  9:30am class ONLY

Pre/Intra Workout Supplementation

I’ll do my best to keep things concise; if you have specific questions or want to understand more of the ‘whys,’ go ahead and shoot me an email!

Let’s define some terms to get started:

Without breaking down the specific instances here, including but not limited to what what energy system you’re focusing on, the volume of your training session, your work to rest ratios, duration of your training period, etc….typically, CrossFit (1 hour sessions, typically at a moderate to high-ish intensity) doesn’t have a need for intra-workout fueling.  Your fueling is dependent on a few things (basically everything you’ve put in your body since your previous workout’s post-workout).  If you’re in the middle of a rough 21-15-9 or doing things that cause a lot of stress to the body (i.e.:  CrossFit), your gut is not in a state to be able to process any sort of fueling you’re putting into it.  You’re very likely just drinking something that is probably not even palatable and it’s sloshing around in your gut until your body calms down enough to realize it’s not going to die and digestion can resume.

However, I am an supporter and a user of pre-workout supplementation.  Again, without getting into the specifics of it, there are a handful of things that work really well in that 20-30 min window PRIOR to you working out, where, if you consume it then and give your body time to process it, can benefit you in your upcoming workout.

Takeaways:

1.  If you want to take a pre-workout supplement, finish it before class starts (hence the term PRE-workout).  Bonus points for actually having some knowledge behind what’s in your drink and why you’re having it, besides the possibility that it tastes like candy and the label looks cool.  Believe it or not, but there’s actually a lot of garbage supplements out there, and fancy labels and a lot of money for a marketing campaign don’t make things high quality (or, as I like to say, you can’t polish a turd).

2.  Drinking anything, including water, during intensive pieces is not going to do much at all, if anything, to rehydrate you besides the psychological effects of not having a dry mouth.  Your body is under too much stress at the moment to re-direct any energy expenditure to your gut and process whatever you just drank.

3.  The times for INTRA-workout fueling would be in between breaks on low-intensity CP sessions, between long breaks of more intensive pieces, or during long, low-intensity aerobic pieces.  Think of the weightlifter sipping BCAA’s between sets during a long weightlifting session, football players sipping on gatorade (sugar) when on the bench, or marathon runners having gel packs at appropriately times intervals in the race.

4.  If you’re sipping on a pre-workout drink that you just hadn’t finished yet while you’re doing a CrossFit workout, or putting some artificially sweetened flavoring in your water because water is icky and you don’t like the taste of it, I’ll know you didn’t read any of this post and you’re not fueling to maximize your potential!

Fuel smart(er)!

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil