To scale, or not to scale! That is thy question. First, for the ego driven members of society, we need to go over what scaling is not. It is imperative to know, scaling is not and never will be admitting that you’re a wuss. Not doing the workout of the day as prescribed is not a negative, it means you have a very tangible goal ahead of you. I want to also iterate that ego has absolutely no place in a training regimen, and suffering through a workout as prescribed with bad form instead of doing it scaled, is simply bad training protocol. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s go over what scaling actually is. Scaling is modifying a workout to make it the most safe, effective, and efficient for the individual doing it. Take a second, look at that definition again… now soak it all in. The three things I want you to pull from that definition are: safe, effective, and efficient. It’s imperative that every scaling method has these three things, if one is missing, the point of modifying has been missed. Let’s break our three main scaling principles down to make sure they’re clear.
Safe: Well there isn’t much to be said here.. If the scaling method isn’t safe, it’s not a scaling method.
Effective: This is where the boat is generally missed. Scaling does not, and never will mean that the workout should be easier. The whole point of making the modification is to create the same perceived effort during the workout, for the athlete’s current skill level.
Efficient: Are we getting the most bang for our buck? The movement must be achieving the maximal productivity for the individual being trained. IE, if someone can’t do snatches because of form, there are better ways to elicit stimulus than an unloaded PVC pipe.
Now that the principles of scaling are out there, let’s go over how we can scale. For today’s purposes, let’s use a workout most of us will know as our example. This workout will be, ‘Grace’. Grace is a beautifully simple workout - 30 clean and jerks for time. A proper Grace should take 5 minutes or less, cause ample amounts of lactic acid build up and leave you on the floor gasping for air. Unfortunately, the 15 minute ‘Grace’ also exists. We’ve all seen it, the one that looks like the athlete is hitting his or her 1RM with every lift. Here’s the kicker, the second workout that took 15 minutes, really isn’t ‘Grace’ at all - Here’s why: different energy systems in your body dominate at different durations/intensities and if you’re following quality programming, every workout should serve a purpose in training those systems. This means that time, type, and intensity are all being accounted for and adjusted to accomplish your program’s goals. If your times consistently don’t line up with planning, you’re not following your program’s intent. This is why scaling should be used to hit the workout as close to what was originally intended while using the same musculature, intensity and duration. There are two main ways to achieve this desired effect. These are adjusting the volume, or the load. Note, there is no cookie cutter way to modify, with each workout scaling must be adjusted individually. For instance, when looking at a workout like ‘Grace’, adjusting the volume is not the most effective way to do things. Due to ‘Grace’s’ short nature and intent, it is more beneficial to lighten the movement, keeping the athlete in a position where they can cycle the barbell quickly and finish within a solid time. However, if the workout is longer in nature, adjusting the volume is a great way to go about things. In most cases, longer duration workouts have a light/moderate load which can be kept the same. For example, if you have 20 rounds of body weight movements in a workout and you know it should take most of the population 20+/- 2 minutes, scale the individual who moves slower to 10-15 rounds. This will have them moving for the same amount of time, with less overall repetitions, having them hit the target plan for the day. Voilà!
There are of course, other circumstances that may prove difficult when scaling people’s workouts. For instance, really awful form. It is important to note, that form should not be worked on in the middle of an all out effort WOD. If the intent of conditioning for the day is to hit 100% perceived effort, and you have an athlete slowly and meticulously moving through their clean form, they’ve missed the boat for the day. In this circumstance, switch the movement! Clean and jerks, can easily be switched to 30 thrusters for time. This is a much more simple movement, that will keep intensity up and hit the same musculature. It will also have much less emphasis on technique, letting the athlete move fast hit the workout hard. Overall, this will make the workout more effective, efficient and safe - while hitting the goal of the intended workout. Done deal.
As you can see, there should be a good amount of thought that goes into scaling workouts, but thinking these things through is a necessity to anyone who claims to take their training seriously. Take the time to think about what you’re doing and what is intended with the workout. If you scale correctly I guarantee you will have better results, faster than someone who pushes through workouts with goat vomit form. Through hard work and proper scaling, you'll keep your body safe and earn the right to put RX by your name on the whiteboard! Remember, fitness is a process, keep fighting!