If you’ve ever finished a gym workout and thought, “I probably should have scaled that,” you’re in good company. That exact moment happens to all of us, from brand-new members to experienced athletes who’ve been training for years. The good news? Recognizing it means you’re starting to think like a smart athlete.
At CrossFit Topside, we talk about scaling constantly, and for good reason. Understanding how and when to adjust a workout is one of the most powerful tools you have for long-term progress in the gym.
WHAT DOES “PRESCRIBED” ACTUALLY MEAN?
When a workout is posted on the board at the gym, it comes with a prescribed weight, rep count, and movement standard. But here’s the thing most people don’t fully appreciate: that prescription is written for a mostly fit individual. Not necessarily you on that specific day, at that specific energy level, with whatever else is going on in your life.
Take the classic CrossFit workout “Fran”, which is 21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups, prescribed at 95 lbs for men and 65 lbs for women. That weight and those reps exist to produce a specific stimulus: a short, punchy, hard-hitting workout that you finish in 8 minutes or less. The prescription is just the vehicle to get you to that feeling. It’s not the destination itself. The actual prescription isn’t the thing. It’s finding where you’re at currently and meeting yourself there.
SCALING HELPS YOU HIT THE STIMULUS
Here’s where a lot of gym-goers get tripped up. They equate doing the workout “as written” with doing it “right.” But if that 95lb bar in “Fran” is your one-rep max, you’re not doing “Fran,” you’re doing a very slow, very frustrating strength test. You’re not out of breath, you’re not building muscular endurance, and you’re definitely not getting fitter in the way the workout intended.
Scaling lets you match the feel of the workout to what your body can actually do right now. Drop the weight, reduce the reps, or swap a movement and suddenly you’re huffing, puffing, and getting exactly the training effect the coach designed. That’s a win, full stop.
A perfect example: one of our members had recently learned to string toes-to-bar together. During a demanding 10-round workout at the gym, he could have pushed for 8 reps per round. Instead, we cut it to 4 reps unbroken, every round. He nailed the stimulus, kept his intensity high through the burpee box jump-overs, and left the gym having genuinely gotten fitter. That would not have happened if he’d spent the workout hanging under the bar, grinding out broken sets of 8.
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SETS AND WEIGHT
Scaling also means adjusting the movement itself when needed. Dealing with a shoulder issue but the workout calls for push jerks? A dumbbell bench press might look nothing like a push jerk on the surface, but you’re still pressing, still loading the upper body, and still making progress. This is not a place where you go home empty-handed because one thing doesn’t work that day.
The goal is always to find the closest movement that gets you the intended training effect without making an injury worse, or creating a new one.
You’ll hear me frequently tell my class, “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” Doing 8 reps because you’re capable of 8 reps in isolation is very different from doing 8 reps for 10 rounds in a fast-paced workout.
WHO SHOULD SCALE (SPOILER: EVERYBODY)
Scaling isn’t just for beginners. It’s for anyone who walks into the gym and isn’t feeling a 10 out of 10 that day, which, honestly, is most of us most of the time. Experienced athletes scale. Coaches scale. The goal isn’t to prove something every single session; the goal is to build fitness that compounds over time.
The smartest thing you can do is leave the gym thinking, “I could have done a little more.” That feeling keeps you hungry, keeps your body fresh, and keeps you coming back. Compare that to going too hard, torching yourself, spending the next four days recovering, and losing all your momentum. One bad session can erase weeks of consistency.
HOW WE APPROACH SCALING AT TOPSIDE
Every day at our gym, coaches walk through the workout, the intended stimulus, and what it should feel like to do it right. From there, it becomes a conversation. We ask questions. We find out how you’re feeling, what’s bothering you, and what your goal is for that hour. Then we help you build a version of the workout that’s challenging, safe, and genuinely effective for you.
We never just tell you what to do without understanding your situation and we never leave you guessing on your own either. It’s a team decision, every time.
Over time, the goal is for you to own your training. To know enough about your body and your limits that when something’s too heavy or a movement isn’t clicking, you’ve got a plan. That kind of athlete intelligence is what separates people who get hurt and burnt out from people who are still showing up to the gym five years from now and loving it.
If you’re new to CrossFit and all of this sounds like a lot to figure out, that’s exactly what we’re here for. Come in, meet us, and let’s build something that works for your life.
👉 Book a free intro with us HERE and let’s get started.
