Did you ever notice that Thursday WODs look a little different sometimes? Often times you see, EMOMs unrecorded components and words like “move for quality”. Well I wanted to share with you why that’s done, and how you can best benefit from training on Thursday.

Back in the day, and still now on CrossFit.com, and popular sites like Comptrain.com, Thursday is seen as a universal rest day. The thought process being – “our athletes just trained like crazy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, lets give them a light day”. We have busy members with hectic lives and we would be crazy to think everyone can make it in here 3 days in a row to start every week. CrossFit Thermal has never adopted a Thursday / Rest Day position, and we still aren’t today, but there is something to be learned about the infamous 4th day.

Here at CrossFit Thermal we program with the 3 or 4 day a week CrossFitter in mind. That’s not to say we don’t love our once or twice a week population or the 6 and 7 day warriors – we love you all equally, but check it out…

If you come once or twice a week, your fitness needle is still moving, its moving gradually and it won’t matter which two days you show up, anything you do and do well (safely and with force and intensity) will garner value for you. That being said, if you show up and do what’s written Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, you’ll need something with less relative intensity on Thurdsay, or face over training and burnout.

Our Thursday programming is customized for our community and offers a “choose your poison” approach. In the case that you showed up and went pedal to the metal Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday is designed so that simply moving though the workout will serve as active recovery and restoration. However it always has a “go all out option” too! You might be back from a long work trip and its your first day hitting the gym – awesome, go nuts!

Not everyday is programmed that way – some workouts, take “Fran” for example – a 3-5 minute sprint workout, has no value in “taking it easy” – hence you probably won’t see it here on a Thursday.

Am I saying that you should make Thursday your day off – no way! Actually the opposite, Thursday is a day for you to go at your speed, intensity is optional. Make it game day, or make about feeling good and moving with purpose.

There is a method to the madness around here and its always with you in mind.