Back in the day, when crossfit was done by pretty much only people who were already in really good shape, Glassman (I think) came up with the idea of subbing out 4 pull ups and 4 dips for every 1 muscle up. The idea behind this was to provide incentive to work on getting a muscle up, which was a pretty tricky movement at the time. This 4-for-1 model was designed for people who have no problem with dips or pull ups, the only thing that was stopping them from getting a muscle up was technique, not strength.
Sadly, the crossfit community seems to be unaware of this notion. Instead, they just see the 4 to 1 ratio for subbing in excercises you can for those that you can't. Can't do 10 pull ups? Then do 30 jumping pull ups! Can't do 50 double unders? Do 150 singles!!! Just blind substitution without really thinking about the context of the client will lead to frustration, pain, and possibly injury, like one girl who's first wod involved a large amount of jumping pull ups and it lead to a slap tear.
When the client is new to exercise don't sub out a 4:1, 3:1 or even a 2:1 without considering what effect it will have on the client. If they can't do a double under because singles are a challenge, just do a 1-1 substitution, or even assign half the number so you don't push them painfully past their limits. If the client can't do a double under but that's because they don't put in the time to practice and can do ten minutes of singles straight then sure make them do 5 singles for every double. My point is every client is unique, and thus the programming should be unique as well. But people see the 4 -1 muscle up sub and just figure it's a good idea to do it to everything and everyone. This really saddens me because trainers have the posibillity of hurting their clients or at least make them miserable. "Punish" those that are capable of handling it, help those that can't.
1 comment:
Great post Adam!!
Post a Comment