The beautiful thing about Crossfit is that anyone can do it. We consistently see many inspirational stories on social media reflecting the way athletes adjust movements or scale to fit their needs, and we LOVE IT! The question is, why can we appreciate the effort that others put in but as soon as it comes to tailoring a workout for yourself do we have higher expectations?
So what is Rx to you? To me it depends on the day. I recommend athletes listen to their bodies on a consistent basis and appreciate how their feeling physically and mentally. If we’re having a stressful day or week, it’s going to be hard to come in and train with our normal intensity… and that’s OKAY! There is nothing wrong with backing off weights or scaling movements depending on how you’re feeling. In fact, that is going to help you in the long run as you wont be taxing your body to the extreme. If you push to the point of failure all the time, it takes a toll on your central nervous system. Yes! Your nervous system. This can lead to run down immune systems, being mentally drained and negatively impact physical performance.
Train to be healthy 10 years down the road, not for the Crossfit Games next week. I don’t care if you can squat 400lbs today but throw out your back and have a recovery time of 8 weeks. Sure, you hit 400lbs but at the cost of sacrificing your next 8 weeks of training. My goal for all athletes is to be able to do some form of movement relative to their daily capacity (physical and mental) which will allow them to improve their performance over time.
So how do you decide on how to tailor the workout for yourself and if you should be scaling? That’s where the Coaching team at FirePower comes in. Coaches love to hear when you have questions on what the next step is in your progression to achieving a specific goal. We will always inform you of the intent of the workout and help you make a decision that fits your needs.