I am cutting to the chase and posting the conclusion to this article by James Barnum, found through Eat to Perform. See the whole thing here.
http://eattoperform.com/2013/09/06/how-to-avoid-scaling-all-your-wods/
What To Do About It
It’s easy to fall into the “Rx trap” – that feeling that you need to do it Rx or you’re not really working out, or that you shouldn’t be proud of yourself.
The fact of the matter is that regardless of what the Rx is, you should pick weights and scale in such a way that it challenges YOU. Everyone is different, and everyone is at a different point in their fitness journey.
Priority #1 should be safety (your technique). If you can’t perform a movement/lift a certain amount weight with good technique, then you should scale. Seriously!
Priority #2 is consistency. Can you maintain good technique for multiple reps? If not, you may need to scale.
Finally, priority #3 is intensity. If you find yourself continually putting down the weight or stopping, then you should be scaling. Select a weight and modification that allows you to stay moving. Your conditioning will greatly improve this way.
Going Rx with bad form is only a quick road to injury and no progress, and stopping after every other rep is really counter productive to the entire purpose of metabolic conditioning. Don’t be “that guy”.
As I mentioned earlier, we get stronger doing separate strength training, and we do our conditioning during the WOD, so don’t look at scaling during the WOD as a missed opportunity to get stronger.
By focusing on lifting heavy every chance you get, working on your “goats,” and scaling appropriately, going Rx is most certainly in your future!
