My First CrossFit Workout

I recently went back and looked at the first workout I ever did that was CrossFit related. It was the mainsite workout on January 31, 2008 and I scaled every single movement using CrossFit Brand X Forum. The Rx'd workout is in black, my scaled version is in red:

Three rounds for time of:

225 Deadlift, 15 reps (95lb. deadlift, 10 reps)

15 Handstand push-ups (10 hspu's on 3ft. box)

15 Pull-ups (10 strict pull ups)

95 pound Thruster, 15 reps (65lb. thruster, 10 reps)

My time? 12:42

I had decent bodyweight strength to do pull ups, but anything with weight was awful. My notes after the workout were:
"First time ever doing CrossFit, trying to get in a good workout routine. Never liked doing big lifting but after feeling my lower back during dead lifts, can see the value in them."

People see me now and think I've always been decent at CrossFit. This clearly shows that I had a lot of work to do, but putting in the time and effort has paid off. Don't get discouraged if you're just starting off with CrossFit or if you've plateaued. Focus on building strength through linear progression and you'll see good things.

Do you remember your first workout? What was it? Did you scale?

Scaling Up a CrossFit Workout - part II

In the first part of this series, "Scaling Up in a CrossFit Workout - part I" (I know, original titles) I talked about situations where you or a client might want to scale up and some general expectations about that person's performance. Here, we're going to dive into the "how to's" of scaling up. Just as there are an infinite number of ways to scale down a workout, there are also an infinite number of combinations for scaling up. Let's take a look.

5 WAYS TO SCALE UP:

1. Increase Resistance/Weight - This can be an increase of weight on equipment (think loading the bar with more weight) or it can mean increasing body weight (think wearing a weight vest) or it can mean using bands creatively to create resistance at certain parts of an exercise. If I take a beginner and teach them the clean, I am going to give them very light weight to focus on form. At the opposite end, once that form is dialed in, we are going to increase that weight sufficiently to cause challenge and adaptation from that challenge. The increase in weight should not change the range of motion or performance of the actual movement outside of the scope of the workout.

2. Increase Repetitions - The first thing that comes to mind when scaling up on "Angie" is to wear a weight vest. But what about doing "Angie x 1.5"? Increasing the reps preserves the same motions, but may create a more level playing field for finishing times. It also could help prepare athletes to go out of their comfort zone if they've never done over 100 pull ups, push ups, etc. 

3. Increase Difficulty of the Stimulus  - By using different equipment, you can keep the weight/reps/and range of motion the same, but increase the difficulty of the movement. Examples: do ring push ups instead of regular; thick bar deadlifts instead of regular; run uphill for the same distance, etc. Getting out of your comfort zone will better prepare you for future battles.

4. Increase Range of Motion of the Stimulus - this is different than #3 in that the distance traveled by an athlete will vary, while maintaining use of the same basic set of muscle groups. For example, have your athlete do strict or chest to bar pull ups instead of kipping; instead of handstand push ups, do them on parallettes and go below parallel; instead of situps, do GHD situps.
We saw this increased range of motion scale play out in the 2011 CrossFit Games when one event had athletes using smaller metal plates for deadlifts. This forced the athlete to start lower to the ground than they were used to and it devastated their backs.

5. Delay the Start - this is more of a mental scale, but if you find you play the "rabbit" role (people are chasing you), why not switch it up? Let others start a few minutes ahead of you and then chase them doing the same workout.This will help keep a mental edge especially towards the end of the workout when you really need to push the limits in finishing.

PARTING THOUGHTS:

- These scales are by no means the be-all-end-all of scaling up (or even down) a workout. They are merely five methods that I thought of from coaching experience and my own experiences. You can combine these methods to create a "super scale up" if you want, but be careful in knowing your limits. 

- For the most part, you're going to want to consider the stimulus and try to maintain that. Don't do completely different exercises unless there is a reason for the substitution.  

-Also, scaling up a timed workout will almost surely cause a your time suffer. This is fine if it's a few minutes, but not 20. You still need to preserve that intensity.

- Unless you're a firebreather, you probably won't be scaling up in every workout. But if you know a WOD comes up and you're particularly good at those movements, go for it. 

- Similar to folks who might scale DOWN only one part of a workout, you might want to scale UP for only a part of a workout. For instance, if a workout calls for heavy deadlifts and pull ups, but you can hang on that pull up bar all day, change them to chest to bar, but keep the deads at a Rx'd weight. 

- Be careful when working out in a group. Don't brag about scaling up or focus too much attention on it. It can come across as being a d-bag if you do.

LINK:

Tyler Hass talks about different ways to scale up using rings in a CrossFit Journal article

Scaling UP in a CrossFit Workout - part I

athletes at CrossFit Central East Regionals 2010

With new clients, we always insist in MCI (no, not the old phone company):

Mechanics

Consistency

Intensity

That is, we want newbies to first learn how to do something, then be able to do it consistently and correctly, and then finally add the intensity piece with weight and/or speed. In order to achieve this, many folks have to scale down workouts by using less weight or less reps. This allows them to focus on form and keep intensity high. For instance, if we are doing "Angie," (100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 100 air squats, for time) I am not going to have brand new clients do this as prescribed. Rather, I'm going to scale it to their ability. I can do this by scaling the degree of the stimulus, or by scaling the reps. By putting the athlete on rings and doing ring rows, I am providing a lesser degree of difficulty for pull ups. I could also have them do half or even a quarter the amount of reps as prescribed. Scaling helps maintain a degree of intensity that varies from workout to workout.

But what if you or a client need to scale UP? I don't mean less scaling down in order to achieve the prescribed workout, I mean someone who wants to go above and beyond the Rx. In this two part series, I'll discuss situations in which you may want to do this, how to actually scale up, and throw in some other considerations. 

Kristin T. at Barbells For Boobs - Helen Meets Grace event

First, there need to be TWO PREREQUISITES, for someone looking to scale up and both have to do with experience:

1. Form is Locked In - this speaks for itself, but I'm not going to have Mr. Reverse Curl do 185# power cleans if he can't properly demonstrate a power clean at light weight. He needs to show me good form before he can scale up, let alone do a prescribed weight. 

2. Familiarity with the Workout - the athlete needs to have experience with a workout and/or movement to know if they should be scaling up or not. Here's an example: If you tell a former strongman that he's going to do "Grace" (30 clean and jerks at 135# for men, 95# for women), they'll probably scoff at you and want to load up that bar with 225. But anyone familiar with Grace knows that she's a nasty one, and even the strongest of people can be destroyed by her. I need to know that someone understands the workout and what is expected.

Joe M. at Iron Cross Athletics Grand Opening

Ok, so if someone meets those two prerequisites, then here are situations where we might scale up.

SCALE UP WHEN...:

1. Progress Has Plateaued - If Mrs. Fran has been CrossFitting for a few years and her Fran time is staying around the same sub 3-minute time, I'm going to have her scale the weight up from 65# to 75# or 85#. This will slow her down for sure, but it will also make her regular Fran time faster when she picks up that 65#.

2. You Want to Get Stronger - This makes sense, especially when you look at it on a strength day. If I asked you to find a max backsquat, you keep progressively loading weight until you hit a max. The same idea can be applied to metcons. Even though a workout might call for 55# kettlebell swings, if you want to be able to swing a 70 pounder, you just have to start swinging a 70 pounder! It might be tough at first, but that's the point. You will adapt and overcome.

3. You Want to be More Competitive - If you are consistently finishing workouts ahead of the class, you might not feel as motivated to give it your all unless there is some close competition. We call this being the "firebreather" or being "rabbit." If you are always being chased, who can you chase?

These are the three main situations in which a CrossFitter might want to scale up. In part II, I'll discuss some ways to do just that.

-Are there other prerequisites in which you'd want to consider scaling up?

-How about other situations that someone would want to scale up a workout?

What's Your Namesake WOD?

Again Faster has been challenging people to compete in an online workout series called, "Beat the Team." Every ten day period since October, Again Faster has been posting a WOD that plays to the strengths of various Again Faster-sponsored athlete. For instance, "Lipson" had a moderate weight backsquat and kettlebell swing, but the bar had to be cleaned from the ground, a light weight for Dave Lipson. "Spencer" was max weight of 20 reps of overhead squats, clearly up Spencer Hendel's wheelhouse of oly lifting. And so on...

So, my question is this: If you had to have a namesake WOD like these firebreathers, what would yours be? It could either include things that are your strengths, or it just be movements that you love doing.


If I had to create a "Plentus" WOD, I'd play to my strength-to-bodyweight ratio and quickness. So it would be something like:

"Annie"

50-40-30-20-10

double unders

situps

then, within 60 seconds, find a max deadlift. 

Subtract your time in seconds from your deadlift (e.g. 400lbs. deadlift - 360 seconds = 40) The highest number wins. 

-What would your namesake WOD be?

2009 Festivus deadlift...it's amazing what Santa shorts can do for you!