expressforsuccess
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To understand the magnitude and importance of scaling, we first need to establish our reason for WHY we train in the first place.
For the vast majority of us, the reason we work out is to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. Some side effects of goals like this are— getting stronger, looking better, feeling better, moving better, mental clarity, self-confidence, and an array of other benefits.
So what does this have to do with scaling?
When we scale a workout, we’re making an educated decision that benefits us in the long haul. You may have heard me say this before, but fitness isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. We have our whole lives to get fit.
Just because you CAN RX a workout, doesn’t mean that you should.
Read that again. It’s important.
Even as a coach, I scale at least 75% of all workouts that I do. That’s not because I can’t RX workouts— it’s because it’s the wise thing to do.
Let me explain—
Every workout has something that is called, “intended stimulus.”
Any good workout program will have rhyme and reason. Rhyme and reason is another term for intended stimulus. It’s the “why” behind everything that we do.
Here’s an example.
Let’s take a work out that I just made up.
3 rounds of...
5 deadlifts at 315
3 ring muscle ups
1 clean and jerk at 155
On paper, I can do this work out. I can deadlift 315 lbs. I have ring muscle ups in my arsenal. I clean and jerk 155 during my strength sessions.
By all counts, I should be able to RX this workout.
But I wouldn’t. And this is why—
The intended stimulus of a workout like this to sprint. To hustle. It’s a quick, short, explosive workout. It’s the exact opposite of Murph.
This workout SHOULD take someone less than 5 minutes.
Knowing my physical limitations though, I know that this workout would take me closer to 10 minutes. It wouldn’t be a sprint for me. It would be a strength session.
This defeats the purpose of the entire workout. I was supposed to sprint through it, when in reality I took long pauses in between movements, and waited until I was fully capable of doing all the movements.
So, what should I have done to alleviate this issue?
I should have scaled appropriately.
Appropriate scaling is different for everyone. For me, for this workout, it would look something like—
3 rounds of
5 deadlifts at 275
3 ring muscle ups
1 clean and jerk at 135
With these new numbers that I’ve selected for myself, I can now efficiently retain the stimulus that the workout was trying to give me. I can sprint with these numbers, and I can complete this workout in under 5 minutes, which is exactly how this workout was written.
Sure, I could have completed the workout in 15 minutes. But there is a time a place for a 15-minute strength session— it just isn’t in THAT specific workout.
Next, we’ll talk about HOW to scale a workout accordingly.
Let’s use the imaginary workout from earlier—
RX...
3 rounds of
5 Deadlifts at 315
3 Ring muscle ups
1 Clean and Jerk at 155
There are 3 major ways to scale any workout.
You can either scale...
A) The total number of reps.
B) The movements in the workout.
C) The loading of the weights.
Using any combination of those 3 scales, you can build your workout to cater to your strengths and weaknesses, in order to hit the intended stimulus of the workout. There are an infinite number of options for you to choose from to make this work for you.
In scale A, we would possibly knock off a round in order to get the rep count lower.
But with this example of a workout, that wouldn’t necessarily be a wise scaling decision, because the workout is a short sprint as it already is. This is why it is important to understand the stimulus of the workout. With this understanding, we can make the wisest decision possible. If this were a workout more similar to Murph (a 30+ minute workout with a lot of reps), this would be a viable option. But for this workout, we can find better scaling options. Such as examples B and C.
With scale B, we’d explore other movement options.
Maybe you have muscle ups and deadlifts, but you don’t have clean and jerks.
If that’s the case, we’d find an appropriate scale to give you the proper intended stimulus of the clean and jerk. Think of something along the lines of a medball clean and jerk, a hang clean and jerk, or something similar.
Finally, we have scale option C.
With the workout above, maybe the deadlift is too heavy, but the weight for everything else is totally okay.
If that’s the case, you’d change the deadlift weight and nothing else. You’d move the weight to something that you could manage for 5 unbroken reps, at a quick pace, whatever that weight is for you.
Intended stimulus is the name of the game. Next time you’re in class, if you’re unsure on the intended stimulus, ask your coach. Ask how long this should take. Ask for help on scaling. That’s what we’re here for.
We understand that it’s exciting to have the RX tag by your name on SugarWOD, but let’s be candid for a moment.
We don’t do this for SugarWOD. This is bigger than our score on an app. We do this for ourselves. To make ourselves better. To grow. To increase the quality of our lives.
And guess what?
Scaling appropriately will get you to the RX level quicker than RX’ing too early. I promise, and I mean that with every fiber in my being.
Performing high quality movements with relative intensity is how you progress.
Not moving daintily with low quality movements. This is a recipe for injury, burnout, and let down. It’s an avoidable issue.
It isn’t the beginner that is concerned about scaling. Beginners generally understand their limitations. It’s people like me that need to be mindful of scaling. Those of us that have been going for years. I often times think I should RX a workout, just because it’s in the realm of my possibilities.
None of us are going to the CrossFit games in 2020. It’s time for us to train in accordance to our particular goals. Not the goals of Tia Claire Toomey or Mat Fraser.
My challenge for you guys this week is to leave your ego at the door. Embrace a scaled option if you’re unsure.
Train smart. Train responsibly. Train for the long haul.
For the vast majority of us, the reason we work out is to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. Some side effects of goals like this are— getting stronger, looking better, feeling better, moving better, mental clarity, self-confidence, and an array of other benefits.
So what does this have to do with scaling?
When we scale a workout, we’re making an educated decision that benefits us in the long haul. You may have heard me say this before, but fitness isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. We have our whole lives to get fit.
Just because you CAN RX a workout, doesn’t mean that you should.
Read that again. It’s important.
Even as a coach, I scale at least 75% of all workouts that I do. That’s not because I can’t RX workouts— it’s because it’s the wise thing to do.
Let me explain—
Every workout has something that is called, “intended stimulus.”
Any good workout program will have rhyme and reason. Rhyme and reason is another term for intended stimulus. It’s the “why” behind everything that we do.
Here’s an example.
Let’s take a work out that I just made up.
3 rounds of...
5 deadlifts at 315
3 ring muscle ups
1 clean and jerk at 155
On paper, I can do this work out. I can deadlift 315 lbs. I have ring muscle ups in my arsenal. I clean and jerk 155 during my strength sessions.
By all counts, I should be able to RX this workout.
But I wouldn’t. And this is why—
The intended stimulus of a workout like this to sprint. To hustle. It’s a quick, short, explosive workout. It’s the exact opposite of Murph.
This workout SHOULD take someone less than 5 minutes.
Knowing my physical limitations though, I know that this workout would take me closer to 10 minutes. It wouldn’t be a sprint for me. It would be a strength session.
This defeats the purpose of the entire workout. I was supposed to sprint through it, when in reality I took long pauses in between movements, and waited until I was fully capable of doing all the movements.
So, what should I have done to alleviate this issue?
I should have scaled appropriately.
Appropriate scaling is different for everyone. For me, for this workout, it would look something like—
3 rounds of
5 deadlifts at 275
3 ring muscle ups
1 clean and jerk at 135
With these new numbers that I’ve selected for myself, I can now efficiently retain the stimulus that the workout was trying to give me. I can sprint with these numbers, and I can complete this workout in under 5 minutes, which is exactly how this workout was written.
Sure, I could have completed the workout in 15 minutes. But there is a time a place for a 15-minute strength session— it just isn’t in THAT specific workout.
Next, we’ll talk about HOW to scale a workout accordingly.
Let’s use the imaginary workout from earlier—
RX...
3 rounds of
5 Deadlifts at 315
3 Ring muscle ups
1 Clean and Jerk at 155
There are 3 major ways to scale any workout.
You can either scale...
A) The total number of reps.
B) The movements in the workout.
C) The loading of the weights.
Using any combination of those 3 scales, you can build your workout to cater to your strengths and weaknesses, in order to hit the intended stimulus of the workout. There are an infinite number of options for you to choose from to make this work for you.
In scale A, we would possibly knock off a round in order to get the rep count lower.
But with this example of a workout, that wouldn’t necessarily be a wise scaling decision, because the workout is a short sprint as it already is. This is why it is important to understand the stimulus of the workout. With this understanding, we can make the wisest decision possible. If this were a workout more similar to Murph (a 30+ minute workout with a lot of reps), this would be a viable option. But for this workout, we can find better scaling options. Such as examples B and C.
With scale B, we’d explore other movement options.
Maybe you have muscle ups and deadlifts, but you don’t have clean and jerks.
If that’s the case, we’d find an appropriate scale to give you the proper intended stimulus of the clean and jerk. Think of something along the lines of a medball clean and jerk, a hang clean and jerk, or something similar.
Finally, we have scale option C.
With the workout above, maybe the deadlift is too heavy, but the weight for everything else is totally okay.
If that’s the case, you’d change the deadlift weight and nothing else. You’d move the weight to something that you could manage for 5 unbroken reps, at a quick pace, whatever that weight is for you.
Intended stimulus is the name of the game. Next time you’re in class, if you’re unsure on the intended stimulus, ask your coach. Ask how long this should take. Ask for help on scaling. That’s what we’re here for.
We understand that it’s exciting to have the RX tag by your name on SugarWOD, but let’s be candid for a moment.
We don’t do this for SugarWOD. This is bigger than our score on an app. We do this for ourselves. To make ourselves better. To grow. To increase the quality of our lives.
And guess what?
Scaling appropriately will get you to the RX level quicker than RX’ing too early. I promise, and I mean that with every fiber in my being.
Performing high quality movements with relative intensity is how you progress.
Not moving daintily with low quality movements. This is a recipe for injury, burnout, and let down. It’s an avoidable issue.
It isn’t the beginner that is concerned about scaling. Beginners generally understand their limitations. It’s people like me that need to be mindful of scaling. Those of us that have been going for years. I often times think I should RX a workout, just because it’s in the realm of my possibilities.
None of us are going to the CrossFit games in 2020. It’s time for us to train in accordance to our particular goals. Not the goals of Tia Claire Toomey or Mat Fraser.
My challenge for you guys this week is to leave your ego at the door. Embrace a scaled option if you’re unsure.
Train smart. Train responsibly. Train for the long haul.
