This article appears on the Crossfit Southie site January 9, 2012. The timing could not be better with our recent duscussions about RPE – Rate of Perceived Exersion.
Ego check time everybody. Its time to get serious and honest about scaling. Scaling isn’t just something we throw out for you to make a WOD easier. Scaling is 100% meant to get you BETTER. If you don’t know or believe this you need to get on the train of acceptance here. The point of scaling weight or a body weight movement is to get the movement 100% correct in terms of form and range of motion. If you cannot do a movement or weight RX then scaling down slightly WILL MAKE YOU BETTER. The one caveat here is it will make you better IF AND ONLY IF you do the movement correctly when scaling.
Think wall balls. The way to get better at wall balls is to increase height first, then work on stringing them together at that height, then increase weight. It does no good to chuck a 20 or 14 up to 10 feet once or twice at a time during a wod that calls for 50 wall balls. You will get better at wall balls by scaling down the weight one step and dominating that 10ft target for many reps at a time during such a workout. However, if scaling is the option for you in such a case, make sure you focus on keeping your squat form pristine and make yourself reach the target until failure.
Now think HSPUs. Everyone loves jumping into the bands and banging out what they think are scaled HSPUs for a WOD. But if you have been in the same bands for months and not making any more progress there might be a problem with how you are working at it. When setting up this scaling option we need to band appropriately. HSPUs are difficult so make them doable but difficult when scaling. Make sure your hands are underneath your bar/body and keep that good overhead position with the head, shoulders, hips, and feet all stacked in a straight line to the ceiling. Just flopping up onto a band with the body at a 45 degree angle from the floor will not get you better at HSPUs. We don’t use bands, but the same applies to using a box. If you are not getting straight up and down, that is the goal. If you can do that going from your toes instead of your knees is the next step.
At the same time, scaling isn’t an invitation to make a WOD a cakewalk. If you aren’t doing a WOD RX then you shouldn’t be able to do all the reps in a given set or round unbroken. If this is the case then you scaled yourself too much. Only if you are doing RX weights and movements would this be ok. But this is long down the road towards fitness. To get there you must challenge yourself. Back to the wall ball workout, if you are scaling down in weight then try your hardest to get the ball up to the highest height possible. Simply tossing a 10# ball up to the 8ft target 30 times in a row won’t get you better or more fit.
Regardless of your goals with CrossFit we are all here to get more fit and better ourselves. The only way to do so it challenge yourself every time you come to Southie. Just because you aren’t Rxing a workout doesn’t mean you can’t push yourself past your physical threshold every day. If you need help with scaling options just ask and listen to your coaches.