What comes to your mind when you check the next day workout and it is beyond your fitness level? When a workout seems to be beyond your current fitness level, you have a choice to make: do you push our body to a limit beyond its current capacity, or do you scale the workout? Unfortunately, a lot of people think that scaling a workout is equivalent to giving up or not trying hard enough. However, properly scaling the Workout of the Day (WOD) is as important as doing it as prescribed. Today, I want to talk to you about why that is the case.
Scaling a workout means modifying it to align with what you’re capable of doing in that moment. It is sometimes seen as a negative thing. Athletes think that if they can do a certain movement, they must do it in the workout. However, there is much more thought behind of just doing what is prescribed. The WOD can be modified in different elements, such as volume of reps or rounds, load, range of motion, duration, or movement. Although some people want to do the workout as prescribed on the board, scaling is incredibly important to ensure the athlete’s safety, keep the stimulus of the WOD, and increase the athlete’s fitness.
The first reason why scaling the WOD is important is to keep you safe. According to Greg Glassman, CrossFit Inc. Founder and ex-CEO, “ahead of efficacy is safety.” People need to respect their bodies’ limitations and conditions of that day. If you’re tired, stressed or injured, don’t be stubborn! Modifying the workout to something that you can do in a safe manner will benefit you, and your body will thank you for it. After all, we workout to be healthy and feel good. If we push ourselves past our limits we might get hurt and have to stop working out for bit.There are many ways to scale a WOD. Communicate with your coach to adjust the movements, load and reps, and prevent injuries. Listen to your body and adjust when necessary. There are two other reasons why you should scale the WOD. I will talk about them in the coming weeks. in the meantime, if you are unsure of how to appropriately scale a WOD talk to us. Here at Celebration CrossFit our goal is to keep you healthy and injury-free, we can help you get a great workout AND stay injury free!by coach Gi
