Ugh sounds tough to go through those knee issues at a younger age but awesome that even with that that he's still able to kill it at the box with rowing and prescribed weights. One of my favorie things about Crossfit is how inclusive it is. I don't think you're being silly in wanting those (especially wounded warriors as you referenced) to get a great satisfaction from their crossfit workouts; Rx'ing workouts is a goal most crossfitters have but here are my thoughts.


Too much emphasis is put on Rx'ing workouts. Rx'ing is only a suggested scale. There are athletes at my box who scale to less weight or alternate movements. There are athletes at my gym that scale to much more than the prescribed weight so that they can achieve the same intended result whether its target heart rate, reaching a certain level of lactic acid threshold, a certain level or reps during an AMRAP etc. Does it make either group of athletes any more successful because they have an RX listed next to their name when they log their workout? Does the guy that did the workout with 50 LBs over the prescribed weight get an RX+ next to his name? I read an article regarding this that changed my view a bit on RX-ing. It stated we are all in a constant state of scaling – even the elite of the elite, even the few who make it to the finals at The CrossFit Games. Double unders are scaled triple unders, MU are scaled weighted MU, 15′ rope climbs are scaled 20′ climbs. Scaling is how you stay safe and healthy, its how you improve your technique and its how you finish the workouts in a way that leaves you feeling obliterated after. I think our job as teammates, coaches, family members and friends is to work to help change the mindset of fellow crossfit athletes to one that allows them to feel that sense of satisfaction with themselves as long as they bust their *kitten* and give it their all, not because the do a workout at a particular scale we happen to call prescribed.

My only question is: Who is he competing against?

If he’s going up agains others in a competition, then he should have to do the full prescribed workout. But if he’s just trying to improve himself, then RX is whatever he set his mind to do that day. Here’s the chap, other people at your box might get upset if his time on the board beats theres and he didn’t do the same exercises.

I never write my score on the board, nor do I do competitions. I’m doing crossfit to improve myself (and not hurt myself). So why does it matter if I finished third out of the 5am class. I don’t mind seeing the scores since it does show me what is possible, but I am not going to be inspiring anyone with my times/scores.

I am glad he got something out of it. I was in the military and see how they love to push performance. But even the creator of crossfit can’t “compete” with other crossfit athletes and understands scaling to meet your fitness level. Kudos to you and your husband to get the message of what crossfit actually means.