Welcome to our weekend roundup, Three of the Best! Every Saturday, we’ll post up Breaking Muscle’s top three articles of the week. These pieces have caught your attention throughout the last seven days. So here they are in one place for you to consume, digest, and enjoy.
(Photo courtesy of Jeff Nguyen/CrossFit Empirical)
#1 – You’re Not Overtraining, You’re Under-Recovering
“Overtraining” is a buzzword that is tossed around the fitness community. It’s the result of pushing your body past its threshold, and it causes symptoms like fatigue, apathy towards workouts, persistent muscle soreness or joint pain, lack of gains, and lowered immunity. Essentially, it leaves you out of balance.
Although genetics play a role in your ability to train like a beast, how you recover is critical for training more to get better, stronger, and fitter. Chances are, if you think you are over-trained, you are actually under-recovered.
#2 – The Hybrid Power Conditioning Program
Understanding how this program works will keep you from being tempted to change it based on how you feel, and that is imperative for success. The goal of the program is to avoid the burn, which many have come to crave and is often associated with hard work.
The goal is to harness the fat burning aerobic system to replenish the quick alactic system. This program does not rely on hour-long treadmill sessions. Rather, you will train your body to use the alactic system, back off before you get too glycolytic, and then let the aerobic system replenish your creatine phosphate stores.
#3 – The Hub and Spoke Method for Attacking Weaknesses
Hub and spoke programming is a way to focus on one movement while maintaining a handful of other areas. Perhaps you’ve just learned the value of the kettlebell swing and want to get in quality swing practice without losing ground on your other key exercises.
The concept is that one lift becomes the “hub,” and 3-5 other exercises become the “spokes.” Whatever skill you’re trying to develop, the hub and spoke method will allow you to do just that, without losing ground on everything else in the process.
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