CrossFit

Sweat angels are the devil in disguise

Meyken Houppermans, PhD. CrossFit Level 3 Trainer.
Founder and Head Coach
Do you crash down on the floor after a heavy WOD? Looks badass, right? Stop this bad habit!

Risk of injury

The sudden transit from controlled to uncontrolled can cause injuries. During your workout your muscles, joints and spine are set in the correct position to perform under pressure in a controlled manner. Once your workout is done, you want to relax. The moment you sit or lay down, you transit from total and conscious body control to an unconscious and uncontrolled posture and movement. Such as leaning against the wall high- fiving your buddies or sitting down with your back arched and your head between your legs praying not to vomit. Or laying on the floor creating sweat angles. All of a sudden your whole body has to switch from a controlled and correct position into an uncontrolled and far from correct position.

Fact is that a lot of injuries, especially those of the (lower) back, happen directly after your workout. (Lower back pain) Not caused by the workout itself but by your actions directly after, that put your body in an often really weird, crooked and arched position. Injury waiting to happen.

Optimize ecovery, optimize performance

The second reason why crashing after a workout is a bad idea, is the effectiveness of your recovery. The better the quality of your recovery, the better your performance on the next workout. Besides factors such as nutrition and sleep, recovery directly after your training is important.

Walk around, open your chest, focus on breathing to get your heart rate and body temperature down, optimize the intake of oxygen. Walking around sipping your drink helps your body to recover much faster and safer. Optimal performance isn’t only a matter of going hard during the workout, but also of taking care of yourself once the workout is done.

So next time,  although it might look really badass to crash to the floor, be smarter. It’s all in the details.

Create your own health!©