Learning To Come To Terms With The Term "Non-Rx'd"

First off, I would like to announce that I did my first Elizabeth as rx'd yesterday. VERY proud of myself! Although it took 34:41, It was a monumental achievement. Ring dips and push-ups have always been a huge weakness for me, and I have made an honest attempt at ameliorating these weaknesses by using resistance bands and working on push-ups every day, making sure I get full ROM. Those greasy bastards at the globo gym were teaching me wrong that whole time, using dip machines and what-not! As Neil and JJ would say, "Sons 'o bitches..." Nonetheless, I managed to work on my weaknesses - though it took some time - and can only improve from here on in. This brings me to the next blog topic:

"There's no point in me doing this WOD if I can't do it as rx'd!"

In a perfect world, all of us crazy CrossFitters would be natural born firebreathers, able to tackle any WOD in the most extreme conditions; a genetic code of some sort. But alas, our world is far from perfect, and thus we need to haul ass and build coriaceous callouses on our own. Got to start somewhere, right?

Well, some have a hard time coming to terms with not being able to do the firebreather WODs right off the bat, "as rx'd." Speaking from my own experiences, when I began training back in December 2007 I wanted to learn everything and perform well at everything all at once so that I could do all of the workouts as rx'd; but that ended up causing a lot of frustration which resulted in me feeling discouraged (my own fault). I would come into the gym with the attitude of, "Well, I don't want to do Elizabeth because I can't do the cleans or the ring dips as rx'd. I would rather do Annie because I can get a good time on that kind of WOD." This attitude is WRONG to have in the CrossFit world. There was no way I could work up to getting those cleans and ring dips if I continued only doing WODs that I was "good" at.

Coach Glassman says that we should always be prepared for the unknown and the unknowable, and he's absolutely right. I was, in essence, preparing for the known and the knowable. What is the sense in that?

Scaling and modifying workouts is the best way to work up to doing any WOD as rx'd. It could take a while for you to get there, but you will sure as hell be on your way a lot quicker if you do. For example, if you haven't got a muscle-up, a good way to work towards getting one is by doing 2 chest-to-bar pull-ups and 2 ring dips for every one muscle-up. Any time a muscle-up WOD comes up on the main site this is exactly what I do; and on other days I try to work on my false grip, kip, transition, and dip. I've gotten pretty close to getting one already, and now all I need to do is zero in more on the technique.

So remember: you're not a pussy if you can't do it as rx'd; you're a bonified firebreather if you work up to it.

Learn it, earn it, add the weight and burn it!