Does CrossFit Make You Sore?

When I first started CrossFit, I only went twice a week. My neighbors and I would tell each other that we didn't want to get hurt, and we were too sore and we really needed to ease into this crazy, intense exercise program. I was very sore--boy, was I sore. My first CrossFit coach, Josh, would always encourage me to attend more frequently because CrossFit is programmed to be 3 days on, 1 day off. Because I only was going twice a week I missed a lot and didn't progress very much. I had a hard time remembering how to do the Oly lifts, and every wod was difficult.

Due to Josh's encouragement I started going 3 times a week--he insisted that I would never make any gains going just twice a week. I did notice an improvement in my ability to complete the workouts. I became more fit and my body started to change, but I was still very sore after most workouts. Josh started encouraging me to come 4 times a week, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice the time. I was attending a 9:30 am class and it would really eat up my whole morning. When the gym was bought out by the crazy owner, 3 times a week was my max. I was so exhausted by the intense workouts that there was no way I could add another day. There were many days I could hardly function because I was so wiped and sore from my workout.

Fast forward to today and I am now going to CrossFit 4 times a week and I am rarely very sore. Sure, there are some workouts that can still make my muscles scream (overhead plate lunges, anyone?), but for the most part, I feel really good. I've found that the best schedule for me is to workout Monday, Tuesday--take Wednesday off, workout Thursday, Friday, and take the weekend off (unless the coach is having a seminar or special wod on a Saturday). I truly believe that I am less sore because I am working out more--sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it? My current box owner/coach is very tuned in to preventing injury so he programs very carefully. If we have a couple of days with high intensity/high weight wods, he'll throw in a mobility day with some light lifting or gymnastics to make sure we don't overtrain. All of the mobility we do helps a lot with soreness. We do a lot of foam rolling which is really important--the foam roller helps to massage your tissues and tendons--I'm not going to lie--it hurts! But it helps to prevent injury, increases mobility and makes you feel better and less sore when you're finished. This is similar to what we use in the box.

                                                        

What I''m not sure about is whether the reduced soreness is from working out an extra day a week, or the mobility work--it's probably a combination of both. Since I have belonged to other boxes, I know I am very lucky to have found a coach who emphasizes mobility and is very mindful with his programming. I would highly encourage anyone--especially us older folk--looking for a box to make sure the programming includes a lot of mobility work--and also to look for careful programming that has more to it than just the difficulty factor. Just because a coach can reduce you to a sweating mess at the end of a wod, doesn't mean he always should.