Intent, Eliteness, and Scaling Appropriately

"The Seven"

Seven rounds for time of:
7 Handstand Push Ups
7 Thruster 135/95
7 Knees to Elbows
7 Deadlift 245/165
7 Burpees
7 KB Swings 70/53
7 Pull Ups

30 minutes = DNF and didn't understand then intent and/or your own abilities.


Hey all, just wanted to remind you that life in our gym is not all about Rx.  Every day is different and some days are appropriate for everyone to Rx, but the program in general that we put out is really only appropriate for elite CF athletes to be doing the WODs as Rx day in and day out.  We have been over and over this concept, yet it needs to be brought up again and again.

What is an elite CrossFitter?  Lets just say that if you have a sub 3:30 Fran time, a 350+ Fight Gone Bad, can run sub 6 minute miles, can snatch your body weight and you can deadlift over 2x your body weight all at the same time, you might be there.  Or how bout this.  If your name doesn't pop up on the first two pages of the regional Open stats, you aren't there yet.

The programing as Rx is designed to push the limits of ELITE CrossFit athletes which makes up less than 10% of our current membership.  Actually 10% is generous, but do the math, that means there are less than 20 elite CrossFitters in our gym and probably closer to 10.  With that said, there are at least 50 people in our gym I consider truly bad ass athletes.  It's just that many of you are knuckle heads.

Get over the idea of Rx and start thinking about intent.  WODs are designed with elite athletes in mind with a certain intensity and time domain in mind.  The volume and loads prescribed are with the intent giving elite CrossFitters the correct stimulus.  The WODs as Rx are not really even designed to suit really fit people, but are prescribed to fit the needs of extremely fit badasses.

Each WOD is supposed to pack a certain stimulus.  Today's WOD is a perfect example of one that a bunch of you will come in here with your ego's fired up and see who is the best at doing a WOD Rx that really wasn't designed with your abilities in mind.  Why is that even OK?  Because YOU are supposed to scale it. 

This WOD is at the limit of what any of the most elite CrossFit athletes should do in a training day, and it is at the outer limits of even that.  It is a test for them to see where they are at.  For you that test needs to be adjusted to fit your ability level.  If you attempt to finish this whole thing and it takes more than 25 or 30 minutes, you made the wrong choice, including the girl in the demo video on the CF.com website and she looked pretty studly.

Today's WOD is a sub 25 minute challenge, and you should scale it accordingly to make it so.  It's not like a marathon where you just keep running until you are finished.  If you turn it into that you have missed the point.  Doing this whole WOD as Rx and finishing in 35 minutes is the equivalent to finishing the marathon after they took down the finish line and everyone already went home.

What do you do?  You realize that the WOD is probably not designed for you to Rx.  You try to scale the WOD so you are at the relative intensity that an elite CrossFit athlete would be at.  You could do 7 rounds of 5 reps each, or just do 5 rounds, or even less.  You can lighten loads on lifting exercises.  You'll probably have to kip your HSPU, but even that is scaling in my world and once you do that you have scaled the WOD period. 

Even myself as a gym owner who has competed in the CrossFit Games 3 times and qualified for regionals as an indivudial the last two years in the toughest region in the world, I still scale stuff when its appropriate for me and offers a better a workout stimulus.  Some days my body isn't up for the challenge and some days the challenge can even be beyond my capabilities. 

What's my point?  Don't be caught up in the dick measuring Rx contest.  For one you won't get the most out of the program, you're likely to get hurt eventually, and last your weenie just isn't that big so you'll look like a fool.  Think about what the workout means to a badass and then make it mean the same thing to you.  If you don't understand that concept, you're gonna fall flat on your face.

Now go eat some bacon and have a good WOD today with appropriate scaling.

Comments

[Brian]

Point well taken Justin. Scaled is the way to go today. Trying to figure if 7 Rounds of 4 reps or 4 rounds of 7. It sounds the same but it is drastically different.

[Matt P]

30 minutes is 85th percentile of the 600+ Rx Posts to Beyond the Whiteboard. There is a Games athlete at 25 minutes. Average time is about 40 minutes.

Take a look:

http://beyondthewhiteboard.com/workouts/64599-the-seven?page=6

[Aaron]

Beyond the whiteboard is not the answer to this. If a person is resting for a minute in between thrusters, deadlifts, or HSPUs, then they are not executing that whole high intensity thing CF is built upon. Longer time domain workouts are good only as long as person is moving at a constant pace without excessive amounts of rest (unless its some sort of interval training).

[Aaron]

Besides, how do we know these people's reps or times are legit anyway? Haven't we learned anything from the open?

[Justin Riley]

BTWB is full of idiots in the dick measuring competition who never even thought of the intent of the WOD. They just want to see how they can measure up. Well let me tell you, below 85% means they look like a fool with their pants down and their tiny weeney in their hand. Not to mention they cheat their reps and lie about their times. It's always apparent when a BTWB warrior shows up in a comp and gets their ass handed to them that they aren't actually capable of what they said they were.

Matt, your stat from BWTB shows that >85% of people doing this WOD don't understand how to scale appropriately for themselves. They should have scaled it to a 25 minute challenge. Plus the fact that they probably cheated at what they did do makes the stat even worse.

CF is constantly criticized for being dangerous and that stat shows just why. People just don't get it. Uneducated (on CF) people doing this WOD Rx are the equivalent of a parent kiving their 16 year old kid the keys to a Mustang GT 500. The result is likely to be very bad.
BWTB people for the most part are performing the WOD "Rx'ISH" anyway, cause you know they didn't actually touch their knees to their elbows or lock out their HSPU with feet on the wall type stuff. They same guy who took 40 minute to do this is the exact person who will quickly fail at CF then turn around and bad mouth it.

If you read what Glassman puts out, he talks about scaling constantly. He states that his program is designed to EXCEED the capacities of the worlds FITTEST athletes, which means that even the best of the best will need an extra rest day here and there or even heaven forbid I say it... scale a WOD. This is a .com WOD. It is potent medicine not to be taken lightly and you all should listen and learn.

[brother mike]

As the flashing of my ass to Lene and Travis last night can attest, some portion, if not all, of this is directed at me. I apologize for the few of you that may have been caught in the cross fire of that blinding whiteness. Also, as evidenced by the aforesaid mentioned brief nudity I respond less than optimally to the threat of public humiliation.

First, every athlete has to assess their goals for each work out. Sometimes, your goal to do a specific work out no matter what (see e.g. Fran in x:xx by Scott or my bazaar affinity for Isabel). Sometimes your goal is to simply get your ass out of bed and make it to the gym that day. And some days your goal is to do whatever Travis puts up on the board as Rx no matter how much 150 pull ups sucks or how much time it takes as long as you don't hurt yourself. Some days you just want to know what that feels like. You have to know the limits your own body and your own mind. I venture to say few people in the gym are willing to turn themselves inside out day after day- whether that means putting up the biggest number or suffering though the pain of finishing last behind people who decided to scale- and for those that do, we get some satisfaction out of one more, one second faster, and Kenso-ing Matt P., Brian, Justin, and Travis I have my sights on your deadlift even though mine will be about 6 inches higher (you dwarf).

While I enjoy the camaraderie as much as anyone, and (whether they like it or not) would count Justin, Travis, Lene, Amber, Rae and all of the members of the gym as some of my closest friends, fitness is to a degree personal and lonely quest. No one is going to know what you can do, not even you, unless you try and when you do try it's you against the distance, the weight, the obstacle- cheering is nice (I appreciate support and try to give it to everyone else) – but in the end you either want it or you don't and no teammate, no cheerleader, no fan, bystander, brother, parent, coach, friend, guy or girl working out next to you is going to lift, jump, run, etc., that for you.

I would not have known I could do 150 pull ups (eh, I had a good idea, 5s can be done all day) unless I tried. Goblet lunges kill me at any weight, so just suffer through at 70#. Someone else got Rhabdo doing Manion [technically, I didn't learn that til after doing the 203 squats at 135#] but it wasn't me and maybe someday I will get something out of it and I definitely thought of First Lieutenant Travis Manion who was killed in Iraq on April (4 for 400m) 29th (29 back squats at 135#) in 2007 (7 rounds)]. Rx for Youngstrom was brutal too, but while doing it and throwing my donation in the box at the front I thought of Officer Kenyon Youngstrom (along with his widow and four children who will have a lot tougher road than the 27 minutes I had).

I do appreciate the advice, I really try not to be an askhole (http://crossfiteastsac.typepad.com/crossfit_east_sacramento/2012/09/dont-be-an.html#comments). I do listen and talk to the coaches about Rx and options (especially when my form breaks down - Travis telling me to respect my back during the deadlifts in Youngstrom I did in too few sets). The cue for me is the line between 'Uh, Mike that is stupid' and 'I do not condone that behavior' (Travis), a comment that if I was doing a, b or c I would get this done a lot faster and more efficient (Lene), some kind of short 'Tight!' or other comment from Justin, and Rae's 'DO IT RIGHT!' [I think Rae speaks in caps 99% of the time].

So it really isn’t that I am not listening. It isn't that I don't understand the goal of the workout. It is not that I want to piss further than Matt P., Ballas, Brogan, Brian, Dalton, Travis, etc. This is the important part, and the part I have said time and time again: Sometimes my goals don’t meet the Glassman, Travis, MainSite, OPT, Rob Orlando or someone else had for the work out. Sometimes, I am there for me. Sometimes, I am going to test, push, suffer, take something out on myself or work some stress/problem/guilt/anger or other f’d up thing out. Maybe that means I am one day, week, month or lifetime away from being an elite crossfit athlete. That is not why I am there- nor am I there to compete with Matt, Brian, Dalton, Ballas, Travis, etc. I am there for me. For my goals. For what I want.

That isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy edging someone else out. Going one second or one pound better than some people really motivates me. But when I compare time/weight/reps from Matt, Brian, Dalton, or others, I think to myself, “Wow, they can do that, so can I” or “I think if I did X better I can do that too.” I think that healthy aspect of competition is often lost in many of the discussions about competition. If Travis can deadlift 465#, what is he doing differently (besides being just that incredible)? If Justin can snatch 240#, what do I have to do to get there?

Don’t confuse inspiration with competition. Don’t confuse individual goals with a need to do whatever is on the board. I try to figure out why I am there for each workout, do the best I can do (whatever that means) and solve the puzzle that we are presented with based on our limits and the challenge at hand every day. I try not to get hurt and try to have fun while doing it (and for the most part I succeed in both).

[Justin Riley]

Mike, given your history of self inflicted injury from overtraining, I would re-read the blog post and re-think your goals. You're always about 1 or 2 WODs away from a serious injury that will put you out of the training program and back up over 350 in a matter of months. Challenging yourself is good, but you don't always do so intelligently in my opinion.

[donna]

It was a great wod today. In fact, when i saw the blog this morning at 5:20am, i said "f- yah!" And jumped out of bed. I was actually early to the wod this morning (which is unusual), and yet i still managed to completely lag behind in getting my station set up (typical and so frustrating!!)

Anyway, with some tips from justin and talking to some others in class, i was able to scale to something that was still super-challenging yet do-able within the recommended sub 25:00 cap. (5 rounds of 7 reps of kipping hspus (yes, justin, i read your post!)/ 63# thrusters/135# deadlift/44# kb)

What i learned is that i may have been able to go a tad heavier on my deadlifts if i kept my back straight and that my thrusters are not as strong as i'd like them to be. Also, i could've pushed a bit harder on the burpees, and i finally learned (or probably re-learned) what it means when they say, "keep your chest up" on kb swings (thanks, colin and aaron!)

Thanks for helping me start off my friday feeling like i've accomplished something pretty great! I frickin' LOVE crossfit!!! :)

[Matt P]

Justin,

I logged in a bunch of personal data into BTWB, but didn't see any request for that measurement.

AO- I wasnt saying BTWB was an answer, it was just information to help folks process the posted WOD. I use the data to help me understand how the workout goes. If I see Pat Barber posted a 23:40, I can pretty well understand that a sub 25 minute time is outside my abilities at this point.

I also dont see BTWB data as a bunch of lies anymore than Justin's workout Journal is a bunch of lies. I dont lie in my posts to BTWB because it wont help me, I am betting most folks use it the same way I do. I just post what happened in the workout, just like a journal. I can just get more out of a digital journal than a paper one.

Oh, in defense of my Brother, he never weighted 350. 300+, sure, but not 350.

[Justin Riley]

Matt, I believe you do wods as legitimately as anyone else out there and post the truth, and I believe that to be true for most top athletes, but I would bet my ass that there are a good deal of idiots who fudge this and that on BWTB and the Open alike. We all have seen what gets passed as a WOD in other gyms or peoples garages. Lets just say they need to read coach's article on virtuosity.

Whether they didn't squat all the way, or shaved a few reps here or there it's the same as lying to everyone else about their score. For me, BWTB is just too difficult to set up the actual workouts I do. It's great for simple couplets and triplets, but for exotic exercises, and complex intervals, both which I frequently use, it just takes too long to set up the workout and enter it.

And mike I'm sorry I said you'd be 350 when it would be closer to 3

[Calvin]

I admit it. I've got a small weenie. BUT, that certain part of the male anatomy has increased in size since I started here at CFES!

[Justin Riley]

Now that is a testimonial that will get people flooding in the doors.

[donna]

ha ha!!!

[Jennifer R.]

Mmmmm. Bacon.

[Ashley Latimer]

I whole-heartedly concur and now happily practice scaling. I only wish I had scaled more in weight and focussed on perfect form for every rep prior to injuring my back. I hope everyone heeds this post and Justin seriously; I did but I didn't think I would end up injured and set back for months on end, but I did. Nothing could be more frustrating. The damage of overtraining/sacrificing form has a cumulative effect. It's not the one max deadlift, it's the 100s of lighter ones you rounded your back on, or when you lost your hollow position in 1,000 pullups. Please take this post seriously friends!

[John Michelmore]

Bro Mike....nice thesis, but, I, for one, would like to see you be able to continue this journey. You might re-think your logic just a little....

As to BTWB, I like this as a recording and measuring device, and use it as such...no reason for lying, as the resulting info would be meaningless.

As to scaling.....unfortunately had to learn that from experience as well. Hard to admit somedays that I'm not 29 (or 39, or 49 for that matter) anymore. But, it is what it is, as are we, so I "try" to behave most of the time, and scale as necessary. I wholly agree with Ashley above as to take this post seriously.

Most importantly from Justin's comment above was the advice on the Bacon......couldn't have said it better! :o)

[J P Carey]

Get over the idea of Rx and start thinking about intent.

I really love this line. It keeps things super simple for Casey and I when we're in the gym. We want to get stronger (yes), we want to develop flexibility and maintain it for a life time (yes), we want to have the physical capacity to try and enjoy any activity we want (yes), we want to get more in touch with our bodies, having been largely non-athletic growing up (yes), we want to be elite motherf*ers and compete at a high level (no), we are upset when we don't increase our poundage and reduce time by 3% each week (no, actually, yes, but working on that), we need the above to happen quickly and expect immediate results (no).

Some days I am get frustrated in the box, wishing I could master the kipping pull up or get comfy going upside down or finally break out of the middle class of Foundations (of which I am the senior member), but in truth those are not my primary goals or intentions. I intend to be strong, flexible, fast(er), and at the same time happy, grateful to move my body, excited to be with other CFERs. If I focus on these goals, which combine external results with internal satisfaction, I leave the box with a win every single time.

Now scale your workouts so your growing fitness and don't get hurt, and scale your life appropriately to start doing what really matters to you, measuring by your own intentions and metrics.

[J P Carey]

We need an edit button!!

"Now scale your workouts so you're optimizing your fitness and don't get hurt, and..."

[Rae]

There's a time and place for blowing everything on a long, heavy metcon, and I'd say a regular Friday at the gym wouldn't be that time, but again, it is largely individual. A once a year Murph fundraiser would be a good example of when to push it. Let's not confuse wanting that gasping feeling for accomplishing your fitness goals--done the wrong way a WOD like this can be detrimental to your health and long term goals. Some of the hardest things to learn in CF are how to pace your training. It's not just about having a long WOD wreck your body for a week but also the mental fatigue that can come from that. Burn out happens mentally too. (That's why you should join powerlifting class where we cycle our max efforts!)

Yes Mike we are friends, but getting caught in the crossfire last night set us back some.

[Jessica]

This was a great post and great commentary from our members and coaches. I think it is hard to find the balance between overtraining, pushing too hard and wanting to see results quickly; and being smart, allowing rest, focusing on form and proper technique, and not compariing ourselves to others. At least for me it is.

Ashley, thank you for your testimonial, it is so true. I think all of us intend to crossfit for life, we are mildly pathologically addicted to it, and if we'd like to continue in a healthy capacity, we need to check ourselves and focus on our intention of life-long health, fitness and happiness.

John Carey, you have made tremendous strides, who cares if you're still in foundations? You're working at a safe and personalized pace, and some of us (myself, mostly) should learn from you. My form sucks in just about every movement. But I can move fast (incorrectly) and pick up some heavy things (also incorrectly). So this post was a good eye-opener and I for one, intend to focus more on my form and movement than on time, weight, or rank.

Rae- I am so thankful that you are here with us. The past few weeks I've spent with you I have learned so much. I am excited to continue working with you, and I personally respond well to your coaching style. Keep it up :)