How fatiguing are the CA WODs?

Dale Lee · 05-31-2008, 12:10 PM

Hi all

Been lurking around here for a bit and thought to finally register and post

Curious to know: just how much DOMS / next day fatigue do folks incur on typical CA programing? I play judo 3 times a week and am worried that doing heavy volume O-lifts 5 times a week will cut into that, let alone ADL (activities of daily living). I have a *little* experience with O-lifts and am mainly looking to boost S&C for rec. judo. Also, I like O-lifts and don't want to turn that into a boring grind / burn out

What has your experience been in this area? Of course, as with everything, I fully expect an initial period of acclimatization...long term tho... can the WODs be used alongside some fairly strenuous and regular sport participation? I love a good workout but I don't want too knackered to pick up the kids, take the dog for a walk or tom-fool around. That's what 20 rep squatting is for :>

Greg Everett · 05-31-2008, 02:16 PM

Dale -

The O-lifting workouts are actually pretty low-volume; you shouldn't incur too much DOMs if any at all after the first week. Likewise, the metCons are super brief and pretty low-volume intentionally, so you shouldn't be too wrecked.

All that said, it's a demanding workload and 3x/wk judo on top of it may be too much. You may want to do the CAWOD only 3 days/wk initially for a few weeks and see how you feel, and decide after that whether or not to go for it as RXed.

Dale Lee · 06-01-2008, 03:57 AM

That sounds reasonable. I might give 3x week WOD's ago.

Do you recommend doing them on the same day as the judo, or the day after? On the same day would mean more recovery?

Greg Everett · 06-01-2008, 10:51 AM

That's a tough call, and it may take some experimentation to see what works best for you. On the one hand, like you say, doing them on the same day will give you complete rest days, but on the other hand, spreading them out will give you less to recover from daily. You may want to mix it up, i.e. do 1-2 on the same day so you have 1-2 complete rest days/wk and do 1-2 on their own days.

Gant Grimes · 06-01-2008, 10:13 PM

I don't do heavy OLY lifts on judo days anymore. Like Greg said, they didn't wear me out or give me DOMS. But they jazzed my hips pretty good on judo days. It took me longer to stretch out (not sore, just tight), and my throws lost their crispness, particuarly koshi waza.

On judo days I'll do some slow lifts, KBs, and short metcons. I save the OLY stuff for the day after.

If you're doing PM WOD 3 days a week, just do them the day after judo. Do plenty of foam rolling and see how that does. You'll love what these lifts do for your judo, from kazushi on down.

michael cooley · 06-02-2008, 05:58 AM

If you're only lifting three days a week, what adjustments would you make to the CA WOD? Monday, Wednesday and Saturday are clearly the three principal workouts, with Tuesday and Friday as "recovery workouts," so would you just follow the Mon/Wed/Sat workouts? Would you increase the volume of those three workouts at all, or keep them as is?

mpc