CrossFit Athletic Group

Today's bizarre workout of running and lunges gave us an uncomfortable glimpse into the world of muscular fatigue. These workouts that fry your arms, grip, legs, or back are often frustrating because the limit is not usually your willpower or breathing. If your arms are done, there's really nothing you can do but wait until they come back while you watch other athletes continue on.

Murley, Jay, Jesse. Push-ups during Murph. Summer 2012.

It's also important to note the difference between death to the arms and death to the legs. When you are doing dips, for instance, you can only do so many before you literally cannot push yourself up for another rep. But with something like a squat, you could always do one or two more reps if your life (or workout) depended on it. I find this interesting because it's the same feeling of fatigue, but one shuts off immediately and one keeps sizzling but never completely stops.

When you are dealing with death to the arms, it is best to strategize and stop well before you reach the point of complete failure. For instance if I knew I was gonna die out at 20 push-ups, I would break them up in the following reps: 7-6-4-3. This way I take short rests in between and never end on a set of a relatively large amount of push-ups - thus keeping me fresh for whatever comes next with my arms.

On squats, I think the opposite approach should be taken. Just go. Do not stop. Once your legs start sizzling, no amount of rest will make that much of a difference. So for something like the running/lunge workout we had today, the best bet would have been to force yourself to go nonstop on the lunges (assuming form was good); the running would suck either way. Your mind gives out before your body does.

Just some things to keep in mind for later in the week...

The faces of Death to the Legs