For Coaches: Scaling Workouts for Mixed-Ability Classes
Updated: 23 hours ago
The whiteboard says one workout. The class in front of you is twelve different athletes: a competitor who wants the prescribed version, a new member in week three, someone returning from a shoulder injury, and a strong lifter who cannot yet do a pull-up. Your job is to give every one of them a version that delivers the same training effect.
That is what good scaling is. Not making the workout easier, but preserving the stimulus: the intended time domain, intensity and movement pattern, adjusted to each athlete's current ability. The principle is simple. Applying it quickly, at 6 a.m., with twelve people waiting, takes practice. I'm still a newer coach getting quicker at it myself. So after laying out the principle, I'll work through three workouts, each scaled for three tiers, with the reasoning that's working for me so far. Coaches with more years on the floor may scale these differently, so take what fits your gym.
IN THIS ARTICLE
Stimulus first: three questions before the whiteboard
You cannot scale a workout until you know what it is supposed to do. When I plan a session, I answer three questions:
How long should it take? A short sprint of 3–6 minutes, a medium piece of 8–15 minutes, or a longer effort of 20 minutes or more?
How should it feel? Fast and unbroken, steady and grinding, or heavy with long rests?
What is the main pattern or skill? A pull, a hinge, an overhead position, a gymnastics skill?
Write the answers where you can see them and share them in the briefing. When athletes understand the goal, they make better scaling choices themselves.
The mistake I see most, and have made myself, is letting the prescribed version turn a 7-minute sprint into a 20-minute grind. The movements are "Rx," but the athlete is now doing a completely different session. A practical guideline: if an athlete would take much longer than the intended time, or would need long rests on sets that should move quickly, scale. Adjust until they can finish within roughly the intended time range with the intended feel.
Three levers you can pull
Load is the first. Match the weight to the intended demand. If a barbell should be cycled quickly for sets of 10–15, it needs to be a load the athlete can move with good technique at speed. Percentages of known maxes, where you have them, make this faster and more consistent.
Volume is the second. Reduce reps, rounds or distance to keep the time domain. This suits new athletes whose capacity is still low, or cases where the prescribed volume would be too much for someone's current tissue tolerance, such as a high number of pull-ups or box jumps.
Movement is the third. Substitute a movement that trains the same pattern with less complexity or load, and stay as close to the original pattern as possible. My usual ladders run from prescribed to intermediate to foundation: pull-ups to banded or jumping pull-ups to ring rows; handstand push-ups to box pike push-ups to a dumbbell strict press; toes-to-bar to knee raises on the bar to lying leg raises or sit-ups; double-unders to fewer double-unders to single-unders at a set ratio; box jumps to a lower box or step-downs to step-ups.
Most good scales pull more than one lever at once. The examples below show how.
Coach's cue: Scale the workout until it feels the way it was written.
Three workouts, three tiers each
Workout A is a sprint: 3 rounds for time of 50 double-unders and 10 power cleans, meant to finish in roughly 4–6 minutes, fast, with the cleans cycled in one set. Workout B is a medium piece: 3 rounds of a 400 m run, 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pull-ups, intended to take around 10–12 minutes at a steady, hard pace. Workout C is a long grind: a 20-minute AMRAP of 5 handstand push-ups, 10 toes-to-bar and 15 box jumps, at a pace you could hold for the full 20 minutes.
Workout | Prescribed | Intermediate | Foundation |
|---|---|---|---|
A: Sprint | As written, cleans at a load cycled unbroken | Fewer double-unders, lighter cleans | Single-unders at a set ratio, light cleans or a reduced rep count |
B: Medium | As written, a kettlebell they can swing in two sets at most | Lighter kettlebell, pull-ups reduced to 8 per round or banded | 200–300 m run or a row substitute, a light kettlebell, ring rows |
C: Long | As written | Box pike push-ups, knee raises on the bar, lower box or step-downs | Dumbbell strict press, lying leg raises or sit-ups, step-ups |
In Workout A, speed is the whole point, so load and volume do most of the work. The cleans have to be cycled, which means the intermediate athlete goes lighter rather than grinding singles. The double-under decision is where I've gone wrong most often. A common approach is single-unders at a set ratio, often two or three singles per double, but only if it keeps the time domain right. An athlete who needs three times the jumping to cover the same ground can turn a sprint into a slog, so check the result against the stimulus, not just the movement name.
Workout B is a hinge, a pull and a run each round. Every version keeps all three, and every athlete should finish in roughly the same time frame. The foundation athlete runs a shorter distance or rows, because a slow 400 m can swallow half the intended time on its own.
Workout C is long enough that volume is less of an issue; complexity is the constraint. Here movement substitutions carry the load, keeping the press, the trunk flexion and the jump or step in every round. For athletes new to the box, the step-down or step-up also manages the tissue tolerance problem that high box-jump volume creates.
Whatever the workout, use the first round or set as your check. If an athlete is already breaking a set that should be unbroken, or resting long between reps on a barbell meant to be cycled, the scale is probably too hard. Writing all three tiers on the board makes decisions fast and consistent across classes and coaches.
Working around injuries
Athletes will arrive with niggles, old injuries or rehab restrictions. The principle is to work around, not through.
Ask first. What does the athlete's physio or doctor allow? Their guidance comes before yours.
Do not diagnose. If an athlete describes new or sharp pain, numbness or tingling, stop the movement and refer them to a medical professional.
Find a pain-free option. Reduce range of motion, change the grip or stance, or substitute a different movement for the affected area.
Keep them training. Most injuries still allow good work elsewhere. An athlete with a sore shoulder might bike or do lower-body work while the class does the overhead movements.
The same approach applies to pregnancy, older athletes and other special circumstances: follow the athlete's medical guidance, and adjust to how they are feeling on the day.
What you say is part of the scale
Good scaling is as much about communication as programming. Explain the goal in the briefing, not just the movements. "This should feel fast and you should not need long rests" gives athletes a target they can steer toward. Frame scaling positively: the scaled version is the correct workout for that athlete today, not a lesser one.
Stay willing to adjust once the clock is running. If an athlete is clearly off the intended stimulus after the first round, change it. It is better to adjust mid-workout than to let someone grind through a session that does not fit. And encourage everyone to log what they did, so they and you can see when it is time to move up a tier.
Support athletes who want more
Great class coaching covers a lot, but some athletes want extra structure outside class to close their gaps. Sphere Programming gives them weekly engine and gymnastics work designed to complement regular classes, not compete with them.
If you are a coach with questions, or not sure which option fits an athlete, get in touch with me.
Your turn. I'm still learning as a coach too. If you run this differently in your gym, share it in the comments below. I read every one and would love to learn from you. If it was useful, tap the heart so more coaches find it.
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Coach Fritz Bautista · Head Coach, ATHLETESPHERE
CrossFit Level 2 Trainer (CF-L2) ✓ · CrossFit Programming Certificate · MBA · Digital Marketing Certified · Coaching athletes from all walks of life online
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