SCALING v. RX
I believe there is a big difference between being taught a lesson and learning a lesson. Anyone can sit in a classroom, read a text book, listen to a lecture, etc., and be "taught" the who, what, where, when, and why about a subject. But until someone actually experiences those lessons for themselves, I would argue that they haven't really "learned" the lesson. But, I digress.....
In CrossFit, scaling is an absolute necessity for all athletes. And I say all because I would argue that even the Games athletes, the "fittest on earth" have scaled workouts during their training. But for some reason, the word "scale" has a very negative connotation in the minds of CrossFitters all over the world. So many athletes associate "scaled" with "less than" or "not as good as". But that could not be further from the truth. And I don't think the athletes from our little slice of heaven here at CFG are any different.
So, maybe we need to look at this a different way. You see, for
programming, there has to be an "RX", otherwise we wouldn't know
where to adjust from. The RX programming is written with the most elite
athlete in mind and what type of a response that workout should illicit from
that athlete's body. However, this "RX" is not the end all, be
all, to measure your athletic abilities and level of fitness. Scaling is
simply taking the WOD that is programmed and adjusting it to fit each athlete’s
ability and skill level for that day in order to illicit a response that will
produce gains. That's it. And in order to progress and succeed in
our fitness journey and personal goals, we need to be smart about our workouts
and view scaling, or adjusting, as a necessary part of our success. There
is no shame in scaling; in fact, in my opinion, scaling a workout is smart
business and it shows me, as a coach, that an athlete has put aside their ego
and is serious about getting better. But, again I digress....
Here is an example of what I'm talking about. A real life example that
actually happened. To me. Today. And let me preface this by
saying I've obviously scaled workouts before, especially those workouts with
muscle ups, handstand push-ups, heavy overhead work, etc., but mainly because I
simply could not do those movements. Now, today, today was
different.
I felt ok this morning, but had had a chest cold or something for the past
couple of days. Nothing big, just not breathing the greatest. I got
to the box, got some mobility in, then rowed 500 meters, which honestly felt
like 1000. Strength component today was 3-3-3-3-3 push press, building
each round. Seriously, I'm winded after three reps!? Whatever, I'm
fine. Then, set up for the WOD. It's really nothing crazy difficult
for me: 4 Rounds for Time of 10 shoulder to overhead at 115#, 40 double unders,
10 hang power cleans at 115#, and 40 double unders. The weight isn't
normally heavy for me and I am usually pretty ok with the doubles, on a good
day. But knowing I'm not feeling the greatest today, the right answer is
to scale this workout in some fashion by either lowering the weight, lowering
the reps, both, or seriously, just packing it up, get some good nutrition and
rest, and hit it tomorrow. But of course I put the 115# on the bar and 3,
2, 1, go....
17:30 something. 17:30 something on a workout that should've
taken me much less time than that. What did I accomplish?
Absolutely nothing, except I wore myself out. At 17:30 something, I did
not illicit a response from my body, I did not increase my work capacity, I did
not succeed in making progress today. I simply did a lot of work with no
real return on my investment. Why? Because I didn't scale.
Because I didn't listen to my body today. Because I "always"
use 115#. Because, because, because.
And, just some quick math for you to show you how beneficial scaling is. We all know that power is defined as force x distance / time. I
know I'm not accounting for the double unders, but figuring all things are
equal, my power output for this workout at 17:30 was around 8.76 (80 reps x 115
/ 1050 seconds). Now, had I scaled that weight to 95 pounds and maybe I
would shave a minute off of my rounds, that gives me a power output of 9.38 (80
x 95 / 810 seconds). I would have actually had more power output by
scaling the weight 20 lbs. I would have actually made progress today, had
I scaled. And that is what I'm trying to convey to you; scaling isn't a
"less than" option. Scaling is simply adjusting in order to
help you increase your fitness level and reach the goals you have set for
yourself. It is a necessity for progress. Here is a great
short
article written by CrossFit athlete Erica Saint Clair that sums
it up.
So now, after writing this post and looking back on today, I guess my time
at the box wasn't wasted. I finally learned the lesson I have been trying
to teach.
Have a great day everyone. See you at the box!
Coach Craig
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