What is the stimulus of a workout, and why is it important?
Every workout that comes through CrossFit Glynco also comes with a stimulus. The stimulus contains metrics that are supposed to tell you how this workout should feel for YOU specifically.
Take Fran for example.
21-15-9
Thrusters (65/95)
Pull-ups
The stimulus of this workout is FAST. The goal is 5 minutes here. The weight should feel on the lighter side of moderate. The pull-ups should be done in 3 sets or less.
Knowing the stimulus, you might now look at the workout and think "well, 95 pounds is a little heavier than moderately light for me" or "I can do a couple pull-ups, but not 21 in 3 sets."
NO PROBLEM!
There is always a time and a place to prove something to yourself, but if a workout is supposed to feel fast, light, and quick and we pick options that make it slow, heavy, and long, we have missed the boat on the stimulus.
The stimulus is here to help us figure out how to scale. Maybe we change the weight to something more maintainable. Perhaps we scale back the number of pull-ups or difficulty of this movement to have you fall under that 3 sets or less goal.
Scaling to meet the stimulus will aid in making sure you're getting exactly the right type of fatigue, exposure, and progress you were meant to experience in each and every workout.
Keep scaling, keep showing up. See you at the gym, Glynco!
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