If you have come to us from another gym, you may (or may not) notice the lack of use of the “RX” on our whiteboard.
When we first opened the gym 4 years ago, we, like most other gyms, did use the RX designation to show the people that had done the workout that day as written, or prescribed (get it – RX?!?!)
The intent of the RX was so that people could compare themselves to others in the gym in an apples to apples way. Same weights, same standards of movement.
Questions would then arise about the movement standards. What if someone did most of the wall balls to full depth. Does it count if that athlete’s chin didn’t quite get over the bar on every pull up? Then people started using the RX and adding ALJ (A Little Jinky). The essence of the workout and the designation was lost. It’s not enough to do the weights, you have to also complete the full range of motion for every single rep as well. (Is everyone disciplined enough to no-rep themselves?)
The purpose of the workout – for you to to come in each day, sweat, breathe heavy, push yourself, and be better than the day before, was getting convoluted. People were pushing themselves to do weights and movements that weren’t appropriate because they were chasing those 2 tiny, dry erase letters on the whiteboard.
On the flip side, some athletes weren’t pushing themselves hard enough. Since there was a weight marked on the board, that was as heavy or as hard as people felt they needed to go.
But we all know the great thing about CrossFit is that is modifiable and scalable for all skill levels – whatever your current athletic ability. There is a place for you in class, there is a version of the workout for you to do do get the intended metabolic stimulus. Sometimes that means scaling down. And sometimes that can mean scaling up as well.
That is why we don’t have an RX anymore. We tell you in the workout description the desired time domain and give you a time cap. If you do the workout too fast – you didn’t challenge yourself enough. Too slow or didn’t finish? It’s OK – just take notes in your workout tracker and know to scale a bit more the next time. (And even then, you still for a really great workout in during the time allowed!)
Your time at the gym, the workouts that you do each day, are for you. It’s good to push yourself and see how you stack up to similar athletes, but don’t get too hung up on the score on the whiteboard. (Spoiler alert – it’s written in dry erase marker and gets erased each week.)