Crossfit Women Question page

[Jenn]

I recently started crossfit and just completed my third day. I know it's good for me and I'm extremely sore, but I just feel kinda gross. My diet has been really clean but I actually feel bigger than I was before. My pants are tighter, and I just feel all swollen and icky, especially my legs and stomach. Is this normal and does it get better? I'm having a major fat day and I don't know why!

[Leida]

Sounds like a combination of muscule swelling and bloating; either is water-retention related. You might want to give yourself a recovery day, drink a bit more water and see if any of the vegetables you are eating are bloaty (cabbage family is a big culprit). If the excersise program doesn't make you happy and energized, it is a good idea to find something else.

[Owly]

If you're working out hard, you can see some post-workout fluid retention. What's your rest-day schedule like?

[lolov]

What the others have said. Plus, is your box enamored with the "sexy metcon"? (i.e. always doing longer workouts with lots of different exercises?) If so, find another box... that's a one way ticket to cortisol hell. Here's a good article about it: Beware the Lure of the Sexy Met-Con | Whole9 | Let us change your life. Loads of boxes (including the first one I joined) get in this rut and it's hellish.

Additionally, if this is your first experience with Crossfit, your body is probably still in WTH mode.. especially if you didn't start with an "on ramp"/fundamentals class to teach you the moves (and ease you into "real" WODs.) Give it a couple of weeks of doing three workouts a week with lots of active rest and you'll feel great (unless you do a metcon every time you go, in which case, you'll feel like crap and see little result other than fatigue and injury.)

[Jenn]

I think my body is definitley in the WTH mode, I am starting with a fundamentals class but this is literally the first real exercise I've had in 10 years. I have not had a rest day yet, did 3 days in a row but might do MWF next week. I have been eating eggs and bacon after each workout, should I eat anything else to help my body recover?

[a_morgan24]

It will definitely get better, you just have to give it some time. It took me a full 2 weeks of doing 4 WODs to feel normal again. I remember being SO sore and just feeling 'off' because the workouts are so different than anything I had done before. 2.5 years later, I am hooked and am in better shape than I've ever been.
For recovery, You might want to up your carbs after the workouts; eat a Sweet Potato or something like that. And of course, drink TONS of water. I drink Coconut water after WODs too, it helps to rehydrate you and give you more carbs for recovery.

[dml]

I agree with most of the other comments so far. If you just started and you don't have a fitness background, it can be a shock to the system. If you are older (I was 48 when I did my first CF workout last year), you need to be even more careful about injury or overtraining.

I've been an athlete of one form or another for over 25 years, and I've been doing CrossFit for 9 months. Depending on other things going on in my life, I go anywhere from 2 to 5 days per week, usually 3 or 4. The more days I go each week, the more likely I am to scale the workouts to a lower level.

I also agree with the link the the "sexy MetCons". Our box is very strength focused and most of our MetCons are fairly short. Yeah, we do Eva or Filthy Fifties every once in a while, but I rarely cross the 20 minute barrier in a MetCon and 30 is very rare. Badger took me over half an hour last week, and I hadn't gone over half an hour for more than three months before that.

We also do a lot of AMRAP MetCons rather than AQAP, which allows us to scale things at a personal level during the MetCon.

Lastly, we are currently doing a Wendler strength cycle on MWF and our MetCons after those workouts are always brief.

So, some things depend on the box, but the athlete also needs to adapt to the workouts based on how your body is feeling, what your fitness level is, the complexity of a lift, etc. I am never embarrassed to work out at a level that suits what I need vs. the Rx level on the board.

[Jenn]

Thanks for all the responses. I will try coconut water, I've heard great things about it.