“I don’t wanna slow you down.”
At the CrossFit Games, CrossFit HQ will host workouts throughout the whole weekend. Where you and a bunch of other strangers who like to work out get their sweat on with Seminar Staff leading the workouts.
At one of these workouts, the prescribed WOD for the day was a partner WOD that involved hang snatches, hang cleans, burpees, and bar hangs. The kinda workout that all of us know will hurt.
After reading the brief, the coach of the class told us to partner up.
The big hauses got together, moms got together, families partnered up, and friends partnered up.
After the rush to partner up, a 70 year old almost great grandmother was left alone.
Now, this isn’t a story of me flexing my moral compass. I wait till the end of the chaos because that person who is left IS THE BEST PARTNER EVER! This is a story of me being selfish with my fitness and an attempt to help people who are afraid to do partner workouts because they think they will hold someone back.
Tammy, I found out as we warmed up together, is a CF-L1 that coaches part time at her daughter’s gym. She works out 3x per week and does what would be the “sweat” scale at her gym with no need to go above that scale for what she wants out of life. She has been doing CrossFit for 5+ years and loves it.
And yet, she didn’t spring for a partner because she didn’t wanna hold someone back.
Here’s the thing, scaling is infinite. If an athlete gets mad at you because you are going slow, THEY DID NOT SCALE PROPERLY. End of story. It is not your responsibility to help them scale better.
So, when the coach said RX was 75# on the bar. Tammy went to 35# and I went to 95#. We told each other that we would both stay unbroken and would stick to the rules of the workout (you can’t move unless the other person is hanging from the bar).
And you know what? I think of that as the hardest I have ever pushed on a workout that wasn’t for money.
All I remember from that workout was how tough Tammy was and how I was constantly thinking “CAN YOU PUT DOWN THE BAR?? I STARTED BREAKING IN ROUND 3 TAMMY! MY GRIP IS GONE!” You know, thoughts you have when you’re pushing hard.
That workout made my forearms sore for 2 days, I had Fran lung the rest of the day, and Tammy left feeling the way she wanted from her workout.
After the workout she had such a good time that we hugged,
The thing is, that “I don’t wanna slow someone else down” is just a story. It’s a story that holds you back from the growth you want.
So, if you’ve been holding back from doing a partner workout or always wanted to workout with someone who routinely goes a scale above you, just do it.
Everyone grows from the experience and everyone at Vegvisir is a friendly person who wants the same growth you do.
To talk with a coach today, click the link found HERE to schedule your No Sweat Intro