Scaling Back

Learned a lot about Crossfit last week after receiving a crash course in “scaling”.


After years of going to the gym and “working out”, it seems that I’d fallen victim to the “go big or go home” theory. If you weren’t lifting the heaviest weight you could, that meant that you weren’t putting in serious effort.

And I’d been carrying that theory with me into all of WODs at CFDC, in error.

Pace yourself rather than attempting the 21 hspu’s unbroken in Diane?


Use the 35lbs kettlebell instead of 53lbs for Helen?

REALLY? But I can do more than 10 HSPU’s. And I can swing a 53lbs kettlebell…

In hindsight, there have been many attempted WODs that I was unable to complete. I had obviously loaded the bar too heavy or attempted movements at an unreasonable pace for myself. (Like being unable to complete the last round of HSPU’s during Diane and having to sub with dumbbell presses.)

While my pride was telling me to go for it, the coaches at CFDC had been telling me otherwise all along– I just had not heard the message, until last week.

Apparently the quality of a workout does not necessarily mean a fully loaded barbell. Depending on the WOD, It may mean just a 45lbs barbell. Or it may mean breaking up a set of pull-ups instead of trying to string them all together unbroken.

I think it’s gonna take me a while to be able to calculate the right amount to scale back for each WOD…but setting aside my ego to scale back and go lighter at times will also be a challenge.