The dark side of scaling!

We have talked a ton about the “light” side of the scaling force. Today, we’re going to talk about the dark side. The dark side of scaling in training is stagnation, complacency and lack of ambition creeping into your training mindset. Becoming comfortable is not and has never been the point of scaling. If you remember from articles past, we’ve talking about the intent of the workout, hitting the proper timeframe by scaling, and keeping the intensity up in conditioning by picking the right load to move during a workout. The workout I generally use when talking about this issue is “Fran”. An awesome couplet of thrusters and pull-ups that CrossFitters have learned to love through pain and misery. In fran, the load is relatively light, but can be daunting for newer athletes when combined with the pull-up. For this reason, we discuss the intent of Fran, and that we want times to be sub 7 minutes, and more optimally 5 minutes or under. This leaves you gassed, lungs burning, full of lactic acid, dizzy and sometimes even puking (awesome right?!). This is the point of Fran. So for the sake of hitting it the right way, you scale to 75 lbs thinking that 95 may be a little bit heavy. To your surprise (not mine because I’ve watched you progress) you hit a badass time of 2 minutes and 21 seconds (daaaaaaamn son!). So here’s the question.. What do you do next time you see Fran, go for 2:05 or hit it RX?

The answer running through all of your minds should be a big, and definitive RX! RX! RX! Hopefully, not a single person answered GO FOR 2:05! Going for 2:05 is the complacency, lack of ambition, and ego driven mess scaling can get us into. The person going for 2:05 is looking to stroke his or her own ego, and in doing so, will not progress. It is important to note, that no one cares about your times or weights, except for using them as data points. Times are there so that you know you’re improving, and to make your training measurable and observable. Whether you come in first place, last place, or somewhere in between, only one thing matters: your constant development and improvement. The same thing can be said with choosing harder movements. The only way to get muscle ups, pull-ups, or walk on your hands, is to practice. The only way to get those movements faster, is to put them to the test. So maybe we’re doing barbara (5 rounds of 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 situps, 50 squats), and you know you can do 10 pull-ups but not 20 each round. Do you do ring rows, or do you do 10 pull-ups? Drum roll please………. 10 PULL-UPS! The intent is the same for the workout still, and you’re working on a higher level skill that is challenging to you. That’s a win, and will lead to more pull-ups in the near future.

As a wrap up, always challenge yourself. Don’t take the easy way out and feel more accomplished because your time looks better on a whiteboard. Within the limits of workout intent, strive to get your ass kicked. Adaptation comes through hard work and pushing your limits, not posting fast times on workouts that are too easy for you. Keep up the hard work, and pushing your limits!