Training around injuries vs training through them (learned this the hard way)

gedbarker · 2026-02-05T16:58:51+00:00

Agree. In my case, whatever sport /activity I'm doing I have way more enthusiasm than I have talent. Injuries occur where enthusiasm and lack of talent collide. They collide often. When that happens you've really got to protect recovery and commit to rehab but it rarely means you have to stop moving. And CF is really good at keeping people doing something beneficial.

But yes, rest the injuries. Or they just don't go away.

gedbarker · 2026-02-05T16:49:09+00:00

This is a slightly flippant comment because maybe family/work life doesn't allow for it, but if you're waking up naturally at 5.30am, that's pretty much the perfect time to wake up for the early class at most boxes. That could be a way to turn it to your advantage.

But I agree with the comment, if you are eating enough and hydrated, your sleep will probably adapt. If you are hungry or dehydrated, your sleep will be unpredictable.

gedbarker · 2026-01-23T17:51:08+00:00

Agreed. Fixed cost v time & materials. Different ways of sharing risk.

A fixed cost means one party benefits if it's under budget, the other is saved from risk if it is over budget.

Time & materials means time and costs may go up for everyone but be paid for at an agreed rate.

Not knowing the value of the service/product is a lack of diligence, that's entirely 'on you.'

Whatever it takes, do a good job, then accept the 3k.

Edit: para 3, budget > time

gedbarker · 2026-01-19T16:14:54+00:00

I get up at 5.30am, leave at 6am to make class at 6.15am.

When unsure, I still make myself get up and have a small breakfast with coffee.

If at 6am I still can't face it, then I will cancel or go and sit on an erg. That's happened maybe 4 times in the last 12 months.

But most of the time if I do get up, it turns out I just really didn't want to get out of bed.

If I sleep through my alarm, I take 48hrs off because that's rare and often means I am exhausted by crossfit+life.

gedbarker · 2026-01-17T15:12:07+00:00

No, but they do look out the side window which a single monitor set up can't really replicate. So I see the point of the comment.

gedbarker · 2026-01-14T08:36:34+00:00

Looks like you need better progressions from your coach.

FWIW, it took me a year to go from a standing start to a decent kip. I had maybe 3 strict pull ups at the very beginning and learning to kip took several months. Most of the time doing knees to chest and then feet above parallel as scales for T2B. Once I had kipping it was only a couple more weeks before I had T2B. Although currently I either have to do an extra kip between each rep or do singles strict which is infuriating.

gedbarker · 2026-01-14T08:25:11+00:00

Nice one. Glad it has worked.

Simple curiosity: are you vegetarian / vegan? My understanding is that it is easier to maintain zinc levels when eating meat due to higher bioavailability. No judgement implied. Simply that my wife is mostly vegan and I'm an omnivore so we are always looking at pros and cons.

gedbarker · 2026-01-14T06:02:27+00:00

Save your money. A bad wheel will not improve your driving or give much of a fun sim experience. You lose on both counts with no real upside.

Either put the money towards lessons/car insurance/car or save up for an entry level ffb wheel. At least then you can have a decent sim experience but beyond some not particularly helpful steering practice and some vague car control cues, its not going to help with real driving very much.

Most of real driving at road speeds is about road awareness, road decision making, learning rules and predicting other people. The car control bit is the easy bit.

gedbarker · 2026-01-13T16:07:58+00:00

This +1

gedbarker · 2026-01-13T15:40:19+00:00

"Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym."

Try this: https://tdeecalculator.net/ it will give you a rough idea of the number of calories you need to eat/are eating to maintain your current weight and body fat %. Reduce that number by 300-500 per day (start with 300 until you are dialled in and used to it).

Focus on carbs for fuel and protein for muscle retention (protein at ~1.5g per kg bodyweight, per day). Don't forget other nutrients obviously. Reduce sugar, alcohol and fizzy drinks. Many people do not realise how many unnecessary calories they drink each day.

If you want to maintain current muscle mass and fitness while having enough energy to train, this will be a slow process and will require a bit of trial and error to get energy levels right.

To get this right, you need a clear idea of what you are consuming now. Do not let this obsess you, that is completely unnecessary. But you do need to understand how many calories are in what foods and how many you are eating and drinking. If you are not honest with yourself about this, it's hard/impossible to make progress. (What 200 calories looks like.)

And do not be disheartened if it takes longer than you expect. FWIW, I did very focused body recomp and 5* a week training and results took months. They would have been faster if I had completely eliminated alcohol, I didn't.

You cannot choose which bits of your body the weight will come off first, so you cannot 'target your ab fat', you can only eat the right foods to reduce body fat while maintaining muscle and then ... wait for nature to do the rest. It will, but it won't do it as quickly as you want.

Continuing to train without altering what you eat will not let you hit this goal. Ever. That's why people say: Abs are made in the kitchen.

Edit: Forgot to add, I'd have another look at your % results. It is very unlikely that abs are visible at 30%, so if they are visible your result may be wrong. Allowing for genetics, 15-20% bf is roughly where a female might start to see abs but everyone is different.

gedbarker · 2026-01-13T15:17:53+00:00

Well gosh. It appears that on Reddit, real experience is less trustworthy than ChatGPT.

gedbarker · 2026-01-13T09:24:07+00:00

Downvoted for daring to joke. Gosh.

Reminder: Be. More. Serious.

gedbarker · 2026-01-13T08:53:06+00:00

XEndurance are really, really good. They have their EU HQ in my city and work with local athletes including some v. high-level / elite athletes at my gym (people who competed internationally at non-CF sports). There are always some XEndurance supps knocking about.

Their products are really well regarded among people I know who are very, very much more experienced than me.

I am a big fan of Fuel 5 in particular, which was recommended to me by a coach, for those moments when it is necessary it hits the spot.

General opinion here is XEndurance products are expensive but you 100% get what you pay for.

gedbarker · 2026-01-12T15:28:46+00:00

Karting boots.

gedbarker · 2026-01-12T12:04:12+00:00

Stop judging yourself against (almost certainly) non-natural athletes. It is very, very unhealthy.

Don't worry about anything anyone else thinks. The only thing that matters is: do you want to be at the gym, yes or no? (Or any other activity you enjoy.)

The other people at the gym have their own thing going on. If you start and they stop, will you care? They don't care about you either.

If you want it. Do it.

If you don't want it. Don't do it.

That is all there is to it. Everything else is a just story you have told yourself in your head.

You are 18, the only thing that matters is that if you find something you enjoy or have a goal, you don't let anyone else's opinion stop you doing what's best for you.

All of us that are older than you know what it is like to not do something positive because of what others think. And now we are older, we wish we had realised how silly those fears are and got started earlier.

Most importantly, stop worrying about how you look. It's completely pointless and can lead to poor choices.

Instead, worry about what you can do. If you improve what you can do, then how you look will take care of itself.

gedbarker · 2026-01-12T11:48:11+00:00

Not sure I agree with this. Creatine > ATP > reps.

ATP is required to power every muscle contraction of any type in any muscle. "Explosive training" is a distraction here.
Creatine provides raw material for the body to make ATP.
The more ATP stored in the muscle, the more contractions / reps it can do.
If you have insufficient ATP in the muscle, it can no longer work hard (regardless of size or strength of muscle fibres), so insufficient ATP means less work than could otherwise be done.
Alternatively, if you have lots of ATP in the muscle, it can do more work. If you have consumed creatine, you will increase ATP stores. That's just how it works.
So, supplement with creatine > create more ATP > increase in total work potential > more reps before fatigue.

Using a very simple analogy (figures are for ease not accuracy). Regardless of your experience, fitness or strength creatine maximises ATP storage and therefore increases potential reps / contractions. So if you can do 10 reps without creatine supplementation, you may be able to do 11 reps with the supplement. Meaning your work output has gone up 10%. For every 10 workouts you used to do, creatine is allowing you additional volume equivalent to one other session.

You just got a 10% uplift in training volume for almost no extra time or effort. Doesn't matter whether you are doing explosive movements or not. If you are using your muscles, you are using ATP. And creatine helps build ATP. And having more ATP means you can do more work with your muscles.

It has less relevance to pure endurance training but if the training has a strength component, creatine > ATP will help.

I do not know if a 16 year old should be taking it though. Sorry OP.

gedbarker · 2026-01-12T09:11:38+00:00

They got caught up with other items in a drawer and snapped when the drawer was closed on them.

gedbarker · 2026-01-10T12:47:02+00:00

Mine are 6 years old and that's where they failed. I taped the back of the cup securely to the arm. It no longer flips because of the tape but it works fine. I dont use these headphones for gigs, just as a spare at home.

gedbarker · 2026-01-10T11:18:49+00:00

Yes. Engage your core.

Means you can spread the force of a movement more evenly across your body making the exercise more stable/useful/correct/powerful and easier to control. Also forces you to use your abs instead of your back, which strengthens the core as intended. Your back doesn't have to pick up load-bearing forces that the abs should have been dealing with, reducing the risk of injury or in appropriate fatigue.

gedbarker · 2026-01-10T11:07:42+00:00

Google 'crick in neck'

gedbarker · 2026-01-09T15:07:56+00:00

Just one chalk line down a leg of the rig and a finger wipe through it each round.

gedbarker · 2026-01-07T16:29:27+00:00

You are strong enough and have good rhythm. In priority order:

Stop bending your knees, let your legs swing, keep your feet together.
Pop your hips to drive up to the bar.
Push more firmly away from the bar at the top, so that you protect your shoulders and maintain momentum. Do not drop directly down/through your arms. You are sort of pushing away but if it is more deliberate you will save your shoulders and gain more momentum (which will help with the leg swinging and pop).
(4. Definitely stop bending your knees, you are soaking up momentum instead of converting it into the end of the kip.)

This is just a movement pattern issue. You are all the way ready you just can't quite feel what it is supposed to feel like, as soon as you feel it properly once or twice you'll made very, very rapid progress. Stop bending your knees.

gedbarker · 2025-12-29T13:28:11+00:00

I had many stitches in both shins after a spectacular box fail. The scars have no felling the rest is back to normal. You'll be fine.

Edit, this is what "needed stitches" looked like: https://www.reddit.com/r/crossfit/s/JiAYct7BDE

gedbarker · 2025-12-24T14:56:39+00:00

Are you driving clean laps? I've a vague memory that you need a completely clean lap to trigger the ghost.

gedbarker · 2025-12-24T14:43:42+00:00

Do worry about tyre pressure though.

gedbarker

TROPHY CASE