“Finishing Last” is an editorial series by Christina Crumpecker, MD. Check out Christi’s Featured Athlete profile here. 

Finishing Last: Reasons Why I Can’t Go to CrossFit Today

I’m the girl who spent months stuck in Fundamentals classes. I’m the one who took week-long “breaks” from the gym.

I had every excuse in the book for not making it to CrossFit Memorial Hill for regular classes. And it’s not that I didn’t want to go or didn’t like the place; there just always seemed to be something getting in the way. So I wrote a list of that stuff and made plans for how to address it. That has helped me turn the corner and get myself in to the gym. Maybe you’ll see something familiar here.  Maybe you have something to add. Maybe you’ve never been affected by any of these reasons for not making it to CrossFit, and if so, good for you!

But I think most of us have at least one reason in common for not walking in the door today…

3. Muscle ups and double unders

Nope. Can’t do either one. They’re not even on my short list of goals. When I see a WOD that features one or both of those movements, I think this is not for me.  I will probably never be able to do either of these badass skills. Guess what?

Many of athletes at the gym can’t do them.

It‘s fine to have these movements as goals, but realize that you can be successful  in CrossFit without being able to do either. Even if that’s what the WOD calls for, every movement is scalable.

Every. Single. One.

Typically, scaling options are offered by the coaches right up front. But what if you can’t even perform the scaled skills? When I first came back from knee surgery, there were some WODs in which I could not participate in a single part. Know what the coaches did?

Made up a workout for me, right there on the spot, like it was no big deal.

So just because a WOD has movements that you can’t do, it is you ALWAYS possible to scale it into something you CAN do. I still can’t do a single pull-up but I can do progressively more difficult ring rows every month. So no matter what the WOD is, just show up and you will get a great workout.