WOD Blog

11/21 Mental Toughness Thursday

11/20/2019

Get ready to sit up and stand!

Mental Toughness - The Importance of Scaling

It is necessary and expected that most of the time, nearly all of us will scale a workout. We don't really give a second thought to scaling or modifying a movement we are not yet able to do. Yet, it surprises the coaches when we hear folks fret over the prescribed weight of a workout (the load). We prescribe load based on the strongest 10% in the gym. Therefore, on any given day we expect at least 90% of you are going to scale the load. If you don't scale the load and it takes you twice as long to finish the workout, then something was lost in translation.
When you go through our Foundations program we talk quite a bit about the CrossFit progression of Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity. It is most important when you're first learning how to do CrossFit that you move well and you move well consistently before you add intensity. Intensity is sexy and once you get a taste of it it's hard to resist. But, seeking intensity at the cost of mechanics and consistency will certainly impeded your progress.
However, there is a path to intensity that is smart and will ensure you make progress and have fun in class. It's outlined in this CrossFit Journal article from 2005 (Yes, CrossFit has been around that long!)
The author outlines 4 rules that can help everyone have an effective and fun CrossFit journey:

Focus on the volume of work prescribed, not on the loads.
Scale prescribed loads according to bodyweight.
Use speed as an intensifier before increasing load.
Low motivation does not necessarily mean that you're lazy. Lowered motivation may be your body's way of recruiting 2. 3. 4. your emotions as a messenger that it needs a break.

Check out the entire article below. Whether we've been CrossFitting for 3 months or 3 years, at some point we all have to scale a workout, and this article is a good reminder of that.