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In the CrossFit Games you have to be able to perform your best in back-to-back events, so it is essential to make sure that you take care to recover properly. The Hytro team spoke to Daine Mitchell, Master Health Coach Tribe London, and WIT Fitness Head of Training, Gus Vaz Tostes, about how to use BFR to recover and get back to full potential.
The CrossFit Games have just finished, and we have seen the same winners as last year be crowned the Fittest Man and Fittest Woman on Earth. The CrossFit Games are known as the ultimate proving ground and are world-renowned as the definitive test of fitness.
Hundreds of thousands of athletes worked their way through three stages of competition (the Open, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals) in the attempt to be one of the top 40 men and top 40 women to qualify for the games and battle it out to be crowned the Fittest on Earth.
One key factor of the CrossFit games is that all athletes are tested against the unknown and unknowable. Meaning that they will have no idea what the 12 workouts will include until right before the events.
WIT Fitness’ Head of Training Gus Vaz Tostes explains that “CrossFit is a sport and training methodology that forces you to train multiple full-body stimuli and in order for you to get better you have to do a little bit of everything every day, if you don’t recover properly you will never be able to perform as well in the next WOD – so to be able to attack those different stimuli every time, you have to be at your best every single time otherwise you risk bad habits or injury trying to keep up the intensity.”
Not knowing what may be around the corner, means that having the ability to recover quickly in-between events is crucial. Having recovery tactics and specific CrossFit recovery tools can greatly benefit the athlete and could be a major factor in where the athlete places in the next workout.
Some of these strategies include optimizing post-workout nutrition, rehydrating, releasing tight muscles through foam rolling, and initiating the recovery process via Blood Flow Restriction.
Why are these strategies even more important during the CrossFit Games period?
Once again, well-seasoned CrossFit trainer Gus suggests that “The athlete that has the best chance of winning is the athlete that can recover the best, even more than the athlete that can lift the most – hydration and nutrition is key, but the cooldown can make or break the next event. Anything you can use to recover better than your opponent will give you a massive advantage”.
Daine Mitchell, CrossFit LVL2 trainer and Master Health Coach at Tribe London explained how he has seen more and more CrossFit athletes using BFR to not only improve their training performance but also use these protocols to accelerate recovery. The two types of BFR recovery protocols seen at competitions being used by these athletes are active and passive recovery BFR. Both of these protocols can be used immediately after and in between events.
Active BFR can be completed on the upper or lower body (never both at the same time) while performing low-intensity exercise on a cyclical machine i.e. an echo bike, concept rower etc. Using active BFR is a great way to reap the benefits of BFR while also bringing the heart and breathing rate back to baseline. These methods can kickstart the recovery process through the activation of recovery hormones and the parasympathetic nervous system while simultaneously flushing out waste metabolic products from the muscles and joints.
Passive Recovery BFR is performed during rest. Undertaking this protocol during rest means that you can also rehydrate, and refuel with post-event nutrition or whilst discussing strategies for the next upcoming workout without having to perform any physical activity. Being able to use Recovery BFR in this way, easily and effectively while significantly reducing post-exercise muscle soreness and exercise performance is why it has become so popular by not only elite CrossFit athletes but everyday CrossFit affiliate-goers too.
Gus adds: “BFR is a fantastic method to flush out lactic acid, flush out any toxins in the muscle and improve your blood flow immediately after a workout. Even better it is a low-effort, even static procedure, that you can do whilst you eat and take care of your refuelling. It brings a huge benefit with how easily it fits into your post-workout checklist.”
Hytro has made this even more practical and accessible for CrossFit athletes by creating wearable products that are simple, safe and fast to use without supervision. Having Hytro BFR Performance Shorts that can be conveniently packed into a day bag and easily applied while competing makes Hytro the top choice in BFR technology.
Find out how else including BFR in your preparation, training and recovery can help you reach new competitive goals by reading more from the Hytro Journal or visiting our dedicated CrossFit page.
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