How do I scale a workout?
As you are/were taking Fundamentals (or being onboarded at your first gym elsewhere), you might have heard the terms to “scale” or “modify” a workout. I’ll argue that these are the most important terms when it comes to working out. Let’s start with scaling, scaling is the general term for reducing the intensity of a workout. This makes any workout approachable regardless of skill level! We can reduce loading so it’s appropriate to our strength, we can reduce reps based on our current endurance or reduce the challenge of a movement to match our current skill level. Let’s think of some examples, maybe we have a workout with double unders. For athletes that can do double unders proficiently they might just do the workout as written but for folks that are new to double unders (what’s a double under?) or working towards the skill they might choose another jump rope progression like double under attempts, penguin jumps or single unders so they are still getting the same intention of the workout. For someone that has double unders but hasn’t built up their cardiovascular strength they might reduce the reps per round by half. Maybe someone needs to do both and that’s great too! Working on what we need to work on based on where we’re currently at will keep us more consistent and moving for the long term which is our ultimate goal!
But how will I know how to scale a workout best for my needs? In our gym, we provide some general scaling options under the “Fitness” track as well as more challenging options under the “Comp” track. These movement alternatives are a great place to start but exactly how you should modify will depend on your current capabilities. The only way we can know what we’re capable of is by tracking 1. What we did each workout 2. How much we did each workout and 3. How it felt! If you want to know more you can read about the importance of tracking weights and scores in this blog post! link
Modifying, on the other hand, is a little different. Instead of specifically reducing intensity, we might change movements in a workout to account for injury or general inaccessibility. Using our double under example earlier, an athlete that gets pain from jumping might modify the workout to do fast plate step-ups so they still get the cardio and ankle extension without the impact on the joints. In both cases, scaling and modifying give members options so they can get the best work out for them!
Everyone has different needs and are in different places along their fitness journey. There is no shame in scaling or modifying a workout because it allows us to workout as we are. For new and experienced gym goers it is imperative that we scale and modify movements as needed! By scaling and modifying we can make each workout individualized to all our needs!