A message about scaling. I’m sharing this with my clients tomorrow, and I figured I’d post it here first
- Thread starter expressforsuccess
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mixedupnicely
New member
@expressforsuccess As someone (see username) who has been FORCED to scale basically every WOD, ever, since the start of CrossFit 7 years ago... YES YES YES.
Excellent words. Thank you. And I’ll always do all my HSPUs strict because #crossfitsuperpower
Excellent words. Thank you. And I’ll always do all my HSPUs strict because #crossfitsuperpower
misterfred
New member
@expressforsuccess Thanks for sharing this - I'm now in my 3rd year of CF, and this is a genuinely well-articulated piece of advice!
littleangelone
New member
@expressforsuccess Only been at this a bit over a year and scaling originally felt like something I was failing at, or I was weak...it was crushing my will to improve and push myself.
Then I got out of my own head and when my baseline fitness got 'good' in relative terms, I started seeing scaling as the natural way to do the WODs. I get to the gym 4-5 days a week. So I will scale 3/4x a week and pick a WOD to Rx just to push myself outside my comfort zone.
Importantly, I listen to my body and there are days where I just can't Rx it. There are days where scaling I look at it as a longer, lower HR workout and there are days like yesterday where I go for max HR and push the entire time. As a result of listening to my body, and scaling appropriately and getting sufficient rest....I'm dropping weight again and my fitness is improving.
CF or working out in general is about my life. It's about being physically healthy and living as best as I can. Looking good feels good too I wont lie....I'm not out to do comps or any of that shit...I'm old(46..) I'm here for me and my health. So scaling will always be on the menu for me.
Then I got out of my own head and when my baseline fitness got 'good' in relative terms, I started seeing scaling as the natural way to do the WODs. I get to the gym 4-5 days a week. So I will scale 3/4x a week and pick a WOD to Rx just to push myself outside my comfort zone.
Importantly, I listen to my body and there are days where I just can't Rx it. There are days where scaling I look at it as a longer, lower HR workout and there are days like yesterday where I go for max HR and push the entire time. As a result of listening to my body, and scaling appropriately and getting sufficient rest....I'm dropping weight again and my fitness is improving.
CF or working out in general is about my life. It's about being physically healthy and living as best as I can. Looking good feels good too I wont lie....I'm not out to do comps or any of that shit...I'm old(46..) I'm here for me and my health. So scaling will always be on the menu for me.
@expressforsuccess I wholeheartedly agree with your mission here. My only advice would be to choose a better example to describe your scaling. You spend a lot of words explaining why and how to scale and all you do is reduce the weights on 2 of the movements so you can maintain intensity. That is the most basic type of scale and one that needs to be explained and reinforced, but maybe choose a workout where you also need to scale reps or choose a different movement (more C2B instead of fewer BMUs). I guess what I'm trying to say is that your example isn't doing a lot of work for you.
If I were writing that article, I'd either choose a different workout and modify it more than one way to illustrate the difference between lower weights, rep scheme and movement -or- choose a single workout and then describe 2-3 different scales for different people your members might relate to. The person who doesn't have RMUs, but is strong enough to handle the barbells... the person who is a gymnastic whiz, but has some technique issues with the Oly lifts... The person with mobility challenges (OHS) or recovering from an injury (wrist issue with Clean + Jerk). This way you can illustrate each of your ways of scaling while weaving in your whys for scaling all with concrete examples.
If I were writing that article, I'd either choose a different workout and modify it more than one way to illustrate the difference between lower weights, rep scheme and movement -or- choose a single workout and then describe 2-3 different scales for different people your members might relate to. The person who doesn't have RMUs, but is strong enough to handle the barbells... the person who is a gymnastic whiz, but has some technique issues with the Oly lifts... The person with mobility challenges (OHS) or recovering from an injury (wrist issue with Clean + Jerk). This way you can illustrate each of your ways of scaling while weaving in your whys for scaling all with concrete examples.
@britebore okay. am totally liking the examples in the second paragraph. hugely important to state and to help build on the ideas!!
garnernathaniel
New member
@expressforsuccess That’s such a poorly designed example workout though. 5 deadlifts at 315 and one clean and jerk at 155? You should clean and jerk over half of your deadlift, so why are you doing 5 times the work in a harder movement? That just seems silly.
@garnernathaniel Right?
emmaloverofchrist
New member
@expressforsuccess Level 1 CrossFit coach here, does anyone have any advice on how to approach a member that won’t scale even if you have dropped hints of them scaling? This athlete is just not ready to rx some of these workouts, but does and misses the stimulus we are looking for and sometimes almost gets hurt. I don’t want to crush him, but I’m out of ideas in how to approach this. Thanks in advance!!
expressforsuccess
New member
@emmaloverofchrist Yeah that’s tough.
I use practice rounds to help give them the idea that they need to scale. “This practice round should be finished in 2 minutes or less, and should be unbroken! If you can’t hit both of those parameters, we’re going to drop in weight. If you finish in less than 1:00, we should probably consider going up!”
I use practice rounds to help give them the idea that they need to scale. “This practice round should be finished in 2 minutes or less, and should be unbroken! If you can’t hit both of those parameters, we’re going to drop in weight. If you finish in less than 1:00, we should probably consider going up!”
leggomymeggo
New member
@expressforsuccess I love this post.
If I can admit to two personality traits that I struggle with: it's that I am very hard on myself and I can be overly competitive (when it's not really appropriate to be.) I'm just shy of a year and a half into Crossfit, and I can Rx most of the workouts that my gym programs. However, like the OP said, scaling as a beginner is easy: you're just starting so of course you can't Rx the workouts. And it's easy if there is a movement that I know I don't have yet, like handstand walks. It's at this spot in my journey that scaling is much more difficult: yes, I can power snatch 135, but can I do that on a workout that calls for 5 rounds of 5 of them, along with other movements? This brings me above to the two personality traits I mentioned above: I see people in my gym putting Rx weight on the barbell and I was to go along with them, and if I don't I would sometimes kick myself or be mad at myself for not being able to do so.
This is a good reminder to not only put those notions in my head to the side, but also to trust in what my coaches say when they talk about what the stimulus of the workout should look like. And while it may be a bit of a cheesy rhyme, the phrase "scaling isn't failing" is so true!
And finally, I remind myself that I may not be where I want to be just yet, but I'll get there, just like I have with everything I can do now that I wasn't able to when I started.
If I can admit to two personality traits that I struggle with: it's that I am very hard on myself and I can be overly competitive (when it's not really appropriate to be.) I'm just shy of a year and a half into Crossfit, and I can Rx most of the workouts that my gym programs. However, like the OP said, scaling as a beginner is easy: you're just starting so of course you can't Rx the workouts. And it's easy if there is a movement that I know I don't have yet, like handstand walks. It's at this spot in my journey that scaling is much more difficult: yes, I can power snatch 135, but can I do that on a workout that calls for 5 rounds of 5 of them, along with other movements? This brings me above to the two personality traits I mentioned above: I see people in my gym putting Rx weight on the barbell and I was to go along with them, and if I don't I would sometimes kick myself or be mad at myself for not being able to do so.
This is a good reminder to not only put those notions in my head to the side, but also to trust in what my coaches say when they talk about what the stimulus of the workout should look like. And while it may be a bit of a cheesy rhyme, the phrase "scaling isn't failing" is so true!
And finally, I remind myself that I may not be where I want to be just yet, but I'll get there, just like I have with everything I can do now that I wasn't able to when I started.
10trouble13
New member
@expressforsuccess Everyone should consider programming different tracks for programming as a whole and working with each client to determine which track is best for them. Program 3 or 4 variations of the workout everyday.
Something like: Rx+, Rx, Scaled+, Scaled
Weights get lighter and movements get easier.
Rx+: Bar Muscle Ups, Clean 155
Rx: Jumping Bar MU or Chest to Bars, Clean 135
Scaled+: Pull ups, Clean 95
Scaled: Jumping Pull-ups, Clean 75
This way people know which track they’re following and will eventually know if they need to adjust the weight or want to try moving up a track for a workout based on the movements.
Given then broad range of people doing CrossFit, in my opinion, if you only have a Rx and Scaled version of the workout, you’re not programming correctly.
Something like: Rx+, Rx, Scaled+, Scaled
Weights get lighter and movements get easier.
Rx+: Bar Muscle Ups, Clean 155
Rx: Jumping Bar MU or Chest to Bars, Clean 135
Scaled+: Pull ups, Clean 95
Scaled: Jumping Pull-ups, Clean 75
This way people know which track they’re following and will eventually know if they need to adjust the weight or want to try moving up a track for a workout based on the movements.
Given then broad range of people doing CrossFit, in my opinion, if you only have a Rx and Scaled version of the workout, you’re not programming correctly.
@10trouble13 Agreed. My gym recently went from posting only a Rx WOD to posting the Rx, a "Masters" Rx (scaled down) and a Competitors RX (scaled up). As someone who generally scales WODs moderately, following the masters programming works out great. I think it would be even better to have 5 options to help us (relative) newbies out who aren't great at figuring out what weights to start at.
@expressforsuccess I'm new at CrossFit and I really appreciate you sharing this info, very helpful. I am aware of my limitations but I'm also someone who likes to push myself. I recently did hang cleans scaled 25,35,45,55,65lbs. When I got to the 55lb it got challenging in my form as I went into the clean but I pushed to try 65. In that attempt I sprained my left hand :/