“Scaling: The idea is to challenge yourself with all the exercises, neither holding back on a strength nor pushing too hard on a weakness” – Clea Weiss
Whenever I suggest to someone that they should come try a CrossFit class, I usually get one of three answers:
- “I can’t do those things, like a pull-up”
- “I’m not nearly fit enough to do CrossFit”
- “I would die”
It’s easy to see where these people would be coming from if the only experience they have of CrossFit is a YouTube video of a games athlete performing “Fran” or maxing out their clean and jerk. But what most of these people don’t know yet, is that even though a whole CrossFit class will be completing a workout together, almost each member will somehow be completing it in a different way to make the workout as effective as possible for them personally.
At CrossFit Oshkosh, it is very important to us to know each of our member’s fitness levels like the back of our hands. By knowing this, we can scale the workout of the day to make it as intense, effective and safe as possible for each of our athletes as individuals.
Scaling the workout can mean lightening the load (weight on the bar), decreasing the number of repetitions, or modifying a movement (like pull-ups to ring rows, or box jumps to box step ups). By doing this, we can assure that all members are working through the workout doing movements that are appropriate for their current level of fitness and intensity, but are all still experiencing a similar level of stimulus from the workout.
Next time you are provoked to try CrossFit, but back away by using excuses like the ones above, remember – we work to YOUR fitness level, if you can’t do one thing, we promise we will be able to find something you CAN do, and it might feel like you’re dying (but we promise you won’t actually). Want more information? Fill out the form below!