Do You Want To Be A Crossfit Athlete…. What are the trade offs?

Have you ever come across an Instagram post of a well-known athlete or a celebrity coach who’s killing it with CrossFit & their fitness goal that you end up wanting just the same for yourself?

Well, careful in there. Although it is enticing & inspiring to be just like those famous professionals (and I do believe you can do it, too), it’s important to have extra caution. In this blog post I am going to cover some of them, that you might not have thought about.

While the goals & desires can be a great place to start, many beginners & part-time athletes run into the same problem – they don’t have the pre-existing understanding & foundation of nutrition & exercise the way professionals do. We can’t expect to have the same results with different foundations.

You see, there is so much more than meets the eye and in this blog, I wanna share with you a glimpse of what really goes on behind all the IG pictures & Videos.

Behind the Scenes

As you may have already noticed if you’re my avid follower, and with about 10 years of experience of competing at the highest level of crossfit, top 100 in the world. I have been training A LOT through the years, completing 2-3 sessions of 60-120 minutes each time, several days each week which seems to be the standard for crossfit athletes at this level.

You may say, “If they can, I can.” and even though that maybe true, be careful not to be tempted to level up your training volume too soon - and make sure you have the foundations to recover from them before you dive in.

Allow me to share a few things that you need to understand before you set up your schedule for 3+ hours of training each day.

Time Limited: Progressive Overload. 

Training has been my life. It has been the core of who I am. I have been doing competitive Crossfit for 10 years now and have gradually increesed my training volume going from 3x pr week, to 4 x week to now 10+ sessions each week with some double days. In my regular ‘off’ seasons, I often work more & train for about 75-90 minutes per day, 5 times a week.

The 3 hour total training each day, in double sessions is just the part of preparing for a specific competition. At this level, what athletes can expect to be asked to do is longer events, often high volume & heavy weights and shorter rests in between the events. So, in the final 4-5 weeks leading up to a competition, we prepare the best that we can for this setup. During that time you would be work closely with a coach and closely monitoring fatigue, load and recovery. Making sure that I am still performing and not getting buried under my training volume.

You have NO idea what happens behind the camera.

This increased training volume has actually always been the easy thing for me. Do you wanna know what the hard part is? It’s what goes on behind the scenes when I´m not filming all my cool workouts and pushing myself in the gym.

So, let me share with you just some of the highlights of what REALLY happens off camera during those periods of time.

Outside sessions, I still have a business to run, clients to attend to and other duties to fulfill. What more, I also need to prioritise my quiet time, my diet & my sleep hygiene. Otherwise, the effort I put into training would be of no benefit.  Without recovery, there is no adaptation to the work that’s put in.

Here is my schedule might look like in those seasons:

Walk the dog. First session in the morning at 6/7 AM followed by a big meal & 2-3 hours of coaching. Pre workout carbs, Second session at noon followed by lunch & another 2-3 hours of coaching. NAP and pre workout carbs before Third session at early afternoon, followed by 2-3 hours of coaching. Walk the dog again and come 7PM, I AM SMOKED. Then, I get myself some dinner where afterwards, I get ready for bed at around 8 pm.

Nutrition-wise:

I am very in tune with my body - during those periods of hard training I increase my overall nutrition (because I was hungrier, and need more to recover). This means eating around 2800-3600 kcal, balanced intake of protein, carbs and fat. I try to eat as variated and as healthy as I can, foods that my gut approves. Just a few sweets on certain occasions. But since I am training multiple times a day, I rely heavily on protein powder and liquid carbs to top up my nutrition. Im not sure how I would consume all those calories if I didnt have about 1/2 of my carbs in drinks.

Sleep Hygiene:

When it comes to my sleep hygiene, I make sure I get 8-9 hours of sleep, even on the weekends, which means I am in bed, ready to sleep before 8:30 PM. By that time, lights are already out, room temp is already set to cold and my sleep mask is already on. I try to get off the phone and stop using electronics 60 minutes before I head to bed to avoid distractions.

Socialising, Workload & Other Stress:

My social life during those times is definitely affected with my nutrition plan, sleep schedule & timings. I do connect with my close friends. However, I avoid dinners at places where I can´t get high quality food, any late night gatherings & situations that drain me either physically, mentally or emotionally. This means I have to set a lot of boundaries. It also means unless I really have to, all of the things that normal people do on weekends like binge watch on Netflix or enjoy a beach getaway are put on the back burner.

A Thought to Ponder

So, you want to be an athlete, but are you willing to make this big sacrifice?

Its cool to train multiple times a day, and be fit as F#€% but I at least want to make you aware that you will be required to cut back on the social side of things, and prioritize differently from your current group of friends. This means you might be trading a lifetime of great memories with your family & friends over achieving your fitness goal & becoming the best CrossFit athlete. Will it really be worth it?

Just to be clear, I am for you & I am rooting for you to achieve your ultimate dreams & goals! BUT, I also want you to live your best life, not limited to your fitness goal alone.

So, before you make a decision to train like a pro, think wisely. 

And, for whatever, I’ll be here ready to coach you anytime. 

With Love,

Eik