I sometimes hear in the gym “I don’t want to hold anyone else back on a partner workout.” We do partner workouts for several reasons and ANYONE can participate even if your partner is at a different fitness level. Let’s see how.
We do partner workouts on most Saturdays and occasionally during the week for several reasons:
- Motivation, accountability, camaraderie. They’re fun! Team up with your gym friend, your gym rival, or someone you don’t know well yet – and get to know them over the shared experience of pain, suffering, and overcoming the challenge of the day.
- Variety. Partner workouts keep things fresh and introduce different time and modal domains that are difficult to replicate with solo workouts
- Enhanced Performance. When we join a team, our natural instinct is to go above and beyond our normal level to ensure we are not letting our team down.
If you’re new or worried about letting your partner down or holding them back, this next part is for you! We use scaling to adjust the workout to your level – that way if you’re putting in a good effort you don’t have to worry about holding your partner back or “letting them down” even if they’re at a different fitness level.
Let’s say the workout is:
10 Rounds For Time w/ a Partner (split the work as desired):
10 Squat Snatch 135/95
Row 500m
[Scale 1: 115/75]
[Scale 2: Light/moderate hang power snatch]
If we have an RX athlete teaming up with a Scale 2 athlete, we’ll choose an appropriate scale so that each athlete is spending about the same amount of TIME working each time they trade off.
If the RX athlete looks at this workout and estimates they can do 5 squat snatches at 135/95 in about 45 seconds, then we’ll pick a weight and version of the snatch where the Scale 2 athlete can complete their 5 reps in about 45 seconds – maybe a hang Power snatch with a 10lb bar or even a dumbbell hang Power snatch.
If the RX athlete rows at about a 1:50/500m pace and the Scale 2 athlete rows at about a 2:40/500m pace, we can have the RX athlete row 300m each round and the Scale 2 athlete row 200m each round so that they are each spending close to 1:00 on the rower each round.
The RX and Scale 2 athletes can team up, cheer each other on, and each get a great workout with a very similar stimulus at their respective fitness levels.
Our coaches will always be there ready to assist with guidance, scaling ideas, and on-the-fly adjustments if needed during the workout!
Dean
info@crossfitreverb.net