Your scale should change as you change - Tuesday, September 15th, 2026

Your scale should change as you change

Scaling is one of the most important parts of CrossFit. It allows every athlete, regardless of experience, strength, skill level, age or ability, to participate in the same workout while still getting the intended stimulus.

But there’s something important about scaling that sometimes gets forgotten: your scale should change as you change.

The version of a movement that was appropriate for you six months ago might not be the version you need today. The weight you automatically reach for because it’s the weight you’ve always used might not challenge you anymore. The box height you’ve used for the last year might be ready to go up. The band you automatically grab for pull ups might be providing more assistance than you need now.

And that’s a good thing. Scaling isn’t a destination. It’s part of the process.

When you first start CrossFit, there are probably going to be movements you can’t do yet. There may be loads you aren’t ready for, skills you haven’t developed and positions you haven’t built enough strength or mobility to maintain. So we meet you where you are, and then we train.

Week after week, month after month and year after year, you get stronger.
Your movement improves.
Your capacity increases.
Your confidence grows.
Eventually, something that once challenged you starts to become comfortable.

That’s exactly when we need to start asking whether it’s still the right choice for you.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with scaling. In fact, some of the fittest athletes in the room will scale workouts regularly because the prescribed version doesn’t give them the intended stimulus that day. But there is a difference between scaling because it is appropriate and scaling because it is familiar.

Familiar is comfortable. And while there is certainly a time and place for comfortable, if we always choose the same weights, the same modifications and the same progressions simply because we know we can do them, eventually we stop asking our bodies to adapt.

That doesn’t mean every workout needs to be harder than the last. It doesn’t mean you should constantly add weight, ditch your band or choose a more difficult movement before you’re ready. Progression needs to be earned, and that’s part of why there’s a coach in the room.

Sometimes your coach will tell you to scale something back because you’re not quite ready for the next step. Other times, your coach is going to tell you to grab the heavier dumbbell, try the smaller band, raise the box, move your feet farther under the rig on a ring row or put a little more weight on the bar.

Not because we’re trying to make your workout harder for the sake of making it harder, but because we’ve watched you change.

Sometimes your coach can see that you’re ready before you believe it yourself.

The goal is never to become really good at your scale. The goal is for that scale to help you build the strength, skill, confidence and capacity to eventually progress beyond it. Maybe that means moving to the next progression. Maybe it means using less assistance. Maybe it means doing the movement as prescribed.

So every once in a while, take a look at the movements and loads you automatically choose and ask yourself: Is this still the right scale for me, or is it simply the one I’m comfortable with?

Because if your fitness has changed, there’s a pretty good chance your scale should have changed with it too.

Tuesday, September 15th, 2026

Focus:

3 Rounds for Quality
10/10 DB Bent Rows
10 DB Plank Pull Throughs
10 DB Floor Press

WOD:

20 min for Cals
Max Cal Row or C2 Bike

Every 2 minutes 25 DU's

Check back each night at 8pm for the next days WOD .
Contact us: Address: 200 Mountain Rd #3, Collingwood, ON L9Y 4V5 Phone: (705) 444-0006 Follow us on Instagram @crossfit_indestri