Therapeutic Modalities on Exercise Performance and Post-exercise Recovery of CrossFit® Athletes

Crossfit® is a training modality that consists in functional movements, constantly varied and executed at high intensity. Both training sessions and competitions involve physically demanding activities, which in addition to being performed at very high intensity also involves the aerobic metabolism pathway. These characteristics led to very high metabolic and muscular stress, as well as decrease in physical performance immediately after competitions and training sessions. The cumulative effects of the metabolic and muscular stress can be a precursor of injuries. Studies using different therapeutic modalities aiming to improve post-exercise recovery are needed in order to tackle this issue. However, to the date there are no studies investigating the effects of different therapeutic modalities in an exercise modality such as Crossfit®. Therefore, the aim of this project is to assess the effects of different therapeutic modalities on performance and muscle recovery of Crossfit® athletes.