Rx vs. Scaled
Building off of Coach Caleb’s Blog Post last week about modifying workouts, I want to bring to light the distinction between Rx and Scaled. Rx is described as a prescribed workout or “as written”. Scaled is a modification of that version, but not necessarily an easier version.
When deciding to Rx a workout remember that there is a stimulus for the workout (power and stamina, paced effort, building strength, etc). If some of the movements or weight is looking out of range for you, then we scale it to an option we can perform, and practice to perform well. If you can do 2 of the 3 movements as prescribed – awesome! This type of scaling can be many types of options such as lighter or heavier weight or finding a challenging version of a movement for you (i.e. ring rows, pull-ups, strict pull-ups or chest to bar pull-ups) We can scale any movement to an appropriate stimulus to ensure you get the best version of YOUR workout!
Imagine scaling is like the individualized programming for the generalized Rx version. How awesome is it to get some individualized programming to work on technique and skills as well as build strength and fitness at an appropriate speed. Rushing to get to Rx can leave your technique at the door, which in turn may not make you as strong as you could be and we don’t want to leave any gains behind us!
We want to have everyone set goals so that they have something to work towards. If doing all workouts as prescribed is your goal that is great, but remember that scaling is just as valuable because we are modifying the workout appropriately to where your individual fitness is. We are working towards longevity when it comes to our journey with fitness, so make sure we train and scale appropriately so we can build our skills and technique and it will pay off to a stronger more efficient workout later!
Coach Rachael