It's Not All About the RX
IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE “RX”
by Grace Lin
We all know those two famous letters: RX. Everybody strives to have those letters by their name on the white board. But at what cost? There’s nothing wrong with pushing yourself to go RX’d in a workout, but have you ever thought about what you may be sacrificing if you do?
For example, you see a workout on the board that has high volume toes to bar (T2B). You think to yourself, “I could go RX on this workout, but it would take me a long time… Well, what are other people getting?”
You see the average time is 15 minutes, and you think, “There’s no way I can finish in under 20min doing T2B, but I could if I scaled to knee raises.”
So in this instance, would it be more beneficial to go RX and do all the T2B, but take over 20min? Or should you scale down so you can finish within the median time? In this case, the answer is to scale down on the workout.
Take another example, one day the workout calls for a heavy cleans meant to be completed quickly. The prescribed weight is at about 85% of your 1RM clean. You know you can do the weight, but it would take you twice as long to finish and you’re not sure if your technique would be sound. What should you do? Go for it? Or scale down? In this case, you should also scale down.
The reason why the athlete should scale down in both of these cases is because going RX would change the stimulus of the workout. So in the second example, rather than getting the stimulus of an intense 4min sprint, the workout changes to a 10min strength session.
Every workout that is programmed is designed to elicit a specific response. These can range from short and heavy sprints, to long burners, to sprint intervals with integrated rest, etc. So, if an athlete attempts to perform a workout as prescribed, but in doing sodoes not get the correct stimulus, then he/she is not getting the full benefit of the workout.
There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself to go prescribed in a workout. That’s great! But, there is also nothing wrong with scaling. Remember rule #1: LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR. Many athletes will reach a certain point where they are able to do workouts as prescribed on a consistent basis. The trend that I see is when an athlete reaches this point, he/she becomes resistant to scaling. I, myself, have been there. This is what happens when our ego gets in the way. We walk into the gym expecting to perform the workout as prescribed without actually assessing it. In many cases, this is probably a subconscious thought, but, nevertheless, it’s a thought that affects our actions.
RX should never be assumed when we walk into the gym. Now, after seeing the workout, listening to the coach explain it, its purpose, and assessing our skill level relative to the movements, THEN we can decided whether or not to go RX. Always think about the purpose of the WOD before choosing your scaling options.
Performing a workout as prescribed is what we all strive to do. However, it’s not the priority. The priority is always safety,quality of movement, and appropriate intensity (or correct stimulus). Going prescribed on a WOD with heavy weight will not get you where you need to be if you’re dropping and resting 30 seconds between each rep. You will get better and fitter if you scale down the weight and increase the intensity of the workout. Leave your ego at the door… because it only gets in the way of progress.