“I’m going to Rx 18.3” ~ A guy who can’t do pull-ups

@sportfishingjunkie Yep, this is what happens when both Rx and Scaled feature skill movements that are known to trip up their respective communities. Lots of Scaled people can't do pull ups and lots of Rx people can't do MUs... but there are a lot of scaled people who can handle a barbell and do some DUs.

The issue isn't that these workouts are hard... it's that they are inconsistent in terms of difficulty for the average CrossFitter. I would wager that nearly everyone who can perform Ring and Bar MUs can do DUs and everything else in this workout... but there is a huge population who can do everything but the MUs. So, sure, they should just scale... but then you strip away DUs, take all the weight off the bar and it doesn't feel like an open workout to those people. The gap in difficulty between DU and 115 on the bar and SU and 45 on the bar is gigantic!
 
@jsjonessimson Oh no! Sorry to hear that. Because DUs are just a skill you can learn without getting stronger, you might be able to figure them out before Monday. I know I figured them out for the first time after 16.2 was announced.

Good luck!
 
@shewheel It's not one or the other... it is explicitly trying to be both. There is literally no reason to even have a scaled division if this is just a ticket to the Games. It this was just a trail for Regionals, they should be explicit about that and make the workouts harder. No one who is going to Regionals is going to struggle with any of these movements. If they did make it clear, they would get 5000 people to sign up who think they have a shot, but since the price is low and the movements are scaled, they invite hundreds of thousands of people to participate and therefore they should be providing workouts that are fulfilling and challenging for those people, too.
 
@wangs I am in the same spot. I know for a fact I can crank out 100 DU's and the OHS. I can't do pull ups at all so I may as well get a few RX reps in for my team and go insane on the first few movements.
 
@wangs What is purpose of RX it and being stuck for 10mn for a mouvement you will NOT do. You cannot magically do BMU or RMU juste because it's the open.
Why don't you scale it and try to finish with the best time in the philisophy of the wod/crossfit: Constantly varied mouvement with high intensity?
 
@wangs I feel you!

I have hypermobility issues, and pull ups are a nightmare for me. I can rx the weight but I dont have pull ups. They actually kind of hurt. I was upset when I first saw this wod, but now I'm like, well, I have 14 minutes to work on my weaknesses.
 
@wangs Tell him to go all out. THE TIEBREAK ARE THE DUs TIME. So even if there are a lot of scores of 220 reps, the tiebreak might help him.
 
@shewheel Because reasons that are the individual athlete’s own.

Not everyone who joins this activity is in perfect working condition and/or stays that way.

Everyone has a struggle somewhere. I know people who:
  1. Struggle with anything involving jumping (old injury for one, heavy and losing for another).
  2. Have trouble with squats because of an injury (shattered her ankle years ago before joining CrossFit) or because of something hereditary (severe scoliosis - this guy could practically jump a heavy weight up from the bottom of a back squat, but his descent was where he struggled).
  3. Have range of motion issues with things overhead (long-term issue that pre-dates his CrossFit years).
And that’s just to name a few. I don’t recall seeing something printed somewhere that has specific CrossFit goals/timelines similar to a child’s development goals (at age x,the child should know #y words, and should be able to eat foods a, b, and c). One person could pick up dubs quickly, but Olympic lift mechanics evade them. Another may find they have a natural talent for barbell stuff, but cardio is a total suckfest. Is it possible that this could be something that they just haven’t bothered to work on? Absolutely. But everyone has their own life and their own priorities.

In the end, how about trying this: Focus on your progress, your goals, and your priorities. And open your mind just a little bit. Let people do their thing. Who knows? You could improve yourself physically and mentally at the same time.
 
@lifeofgreg This is spot on. I love barbell and I actually make great progress on all of the lifts, within 10 months of starting CF I manage a closer-to-bodyweight back squats. Yes, some of my lifts are still pretty low to my standards but the mechanics of Olympic lifting did not trip me up. However, gymnastics movements trip me up a lot. I only can do TTB and ring dips and have virtually zero pull ups. I'm trying to work more on this and fix my kipping mechanics.

In the end, I'm okay with this because I want to be good at lifting. I want to have a correct mechanics and my goal is to do weightlifting full time. I know gymnastics is something I need to work on and I learn to be okay with having to keep working on it.
 
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