There is no one answer to this question.
There are many variables that come into play. How active are you? What is your previous training history? How old are you? What do your days look like outside of CrossFit? How much sleep do you get? What does your nutrition look like? What are your goals?
Goals aside, all the other questions boil down to how fast you recover. All of these factors affect recovery in some way.
If we are run down and beat up from training and life, and we don’t give adequate time to recoup your efforts may be worthless. If we aren't eating and resting properly. Our training and goals will suffer. You will just be spinning your wheels. With a lack of sleep and poor nutrition recovery can't take place. The right amounts of good stress (training) are what we need to grow, but too much bad stress (poor sleep and improper nutrition) will slow our progress.
So, the answer is, what does your day outside of the gym look like? All people need to be getting some kind of rigorous activity 3 times a week (kids, mothers, and fathers, grandparents, all people). Your stress level will dictate how much more you should add, are you eating well, getting decent sleep most nights? Try four times per week. Is your nutrition on point, do you get 8 hours a night? Give five days a week a shot.
Do you eat, breath and sleep like an athlete? Six days a week may be perfectly ok, and recovery will be faster. Of course, these are guidelines and will vary from person to person but it should give you a rough idea. Remember that illness like a cold or flu also needs to be considered. If you're not feeling well, rest.
By optimizing the other aspects of your life, food, sleep, time with family, you will reduce stress which will, in turn, decrease your recovery time allowing you to attend training more often.
Every so often at CrossFit Dawson Creek, we provide a free one on one Goal Review Session. This is a time to rethink training, discuss your nutrition, your goals and how your daily life may be affecting your training and vice versa.
By doing these short sessions, taking a good look at food, sleep, work, play and training, coaches can help give you a better prescription for health, whether that be training more, taking some time off, referring you to a nutrition counselor or encouraging better sleeping habits.
Take advantage of these conversations with your coaches and remember that CrossFit is just one puzzle piece. We can help you see the whole picture, in fact, it's our job. Shoot me an email and let's have a chat. dan@crossfitdawsoncreek.com
Sincerely,
Coach Dan
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