notes on intensity and scaling

A note on scaling. When I came in on Wednesday totally wrecked from the squats the week before, Brian pretty quickly put his serious face on and told me that it is my own responsibility to scale the workouts as appropriate to make sure I don't end up in that position. Going at things full tilt in the gym has frequently been my downfall, and I've established a pretty good pattern of going from sedentary to overdoing it to ill and unable to show up to train. So -- Chill Out Caitlin.

Just reading this on the crossfit blog from founder Greg Glassman:

It is imperative that someone new to CrossFit takes the first month to learn the movements, if they're not already intimate with them, and establish consistency before increasing intensity. If you can get through the workouts for one month straight without falling apart, then we recommend that you up the intensity a little the following month. If you throw yourself at this task 100% from day one, these workouts will chew you up and swallow you whole. I promise it. Don't be misled by the workouts' brevity. The tougher you are the harder you'll go down, guaranteed.

I am trying to keep in mind that it's a constant balancing act between getting form right, pushing yourself, recognizing when you're tired and unused to being asked to be active vs at risk of overdoing it, going for time but needing to slow down and get the Right movements locked into muscle memory, etc.

I have a feeling this balancing act doesn't stop after a few weeks or months of crossfit - because of the variety of tasks thrown at you, practice at any given exercise might come at a weekly or biweekly or beyond interval.  I think taking a few minutes during the week to practice form is going to become an important strategy for me...