CrossFit has taken the world by storm in recent years, and yes, we understand it’s a craze, but you might need to take it down a notch.

According to a new Brazilian study, doing CrossFit workouts in consecutive days weakens your immune system.

With professional CrossFit athletes Matt Fraser, Ben Smith and Rich Froning cracking records in the sport, with ripping bodies, they have attracted the world wide audience and got listed into AskMen’s Flex50 list of the fittest men in the world.

There’s also been new research that suggests if you’re not already an athlete, Hight Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) might be dangerous, but that’s another story.

Moral of the story: Rest is part of training.

The new study published in Frontiers in Physiology monitored night Crossfitters through two workouts 24 hours apart, as reported by Men’s Fitness. All of the athletes were CrossFit veterans and averaged 28 years old and 173 pounds with a 13.5% body fat percentage. The WODs weren’t out of the ordinary if you’ve done CrossFit. They involved a bit of strength training, gymnastics, metabolic conditioning and a shitload of reps.

After the two workouts, the Brazilian researchers observed that even though the Crossfitters didn’t see a drop off in muscle power, their immune system dropped. If you want to get technical, two WODs on consecutive days impacted pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines and osteoprotegerin.

“While we observed no negative effect on muscular power, it is still recommended that caution be exercised due to the suppressive effect two consecutive days of [CrossFit-based training] had on the immune system,” the researchers wrote in a statement.

In conclusion, take a rest day as it is important for recovery for subsequent training sessions.

Source: Askmen