Topic: Appropriate subbing

[soar]

I've been doing the WODs (they rock!) for about 3 or 4 weeks now and am starting to get comfortable.  When I started the warm up was a significant workout in itself.  Now it is still challenging but much more a warm up than when I started.

I've noticed that people post times that are much faster than mine.  I don't mind this as a straight comparison, I know a lot of people are more in shape than I am.  My ultimate personal goal is to be able to do everything well without subbing, and I have no doubt that I'll reach this someday.

But it makes me wonder about structuring the workout and how to select appropriate substitutions.  For example, the workout the other day was this:

WOD Wednesday 4-12-06
APK Warm up
  3 rounds 21-15-9 each of:
     Tuck Jumps (Jump squat with knees tucked to chest in the air)
     Ring Dips (sub bench or bar dips 2/1)
  Rest 2:00-3:00
  3 rounds 15-12-9 each of:
     Pullups
     Lunge with a Twist 

Subbing Bar Dips 1:1 for Ring Dips was a no brainer, as I barely finished the workout with the sub.

But for the Pullups, I did everything strict.  I had to stop and rest frequently, sometimes for more than a minute just to squeeze in a mini-set of 2 more.  But I did eventually do them all.

Is there a general rule of thumb to follow, or general rule of thumb for certain types of workouts?

[Gearsighted]

I would usually suggest paying attention to the nature of the workout. If it seems to be biased more towards absolute strength increases (such as pistols, one-armed pushups, HSPU's, L-Pullups) then I would say pick the hardest version that you can do with good form and stick with it, regardless of time. For the metabolic conditioning workouts (anything that is purely for time, which denotes a high power-output) I would try to keep all of the workouts under 25 minutes, so do what you can to reach that goal. The idea is to build strength and technique through the strength workouts and the warmup, then work your fitness across multiple standards in the metabolic conditioning workouts.

If we had more total people posting up, a good rule of thumb would be to shoot for a mid-range between the slowest and fastest times. This assures that you are still establishing the required power output without cheating yourself. On that specific workout, I would probably suggest doing the pullups as straight as possible, though learning the proper kipping technique will help immensely as far as full ROM strength movement performed as fast as possible. Here's a great video from Crossfit with Eva Twardoken teaching her kipping technique:

Eva On Kipping

But you basically have the right idea. Do all you can, within a reasonable amount of time, and push yourself to that next level as soon as you're comfortable and have a good grasp of the form. Good luck, and keep up the good work!

[Bubblemaker]

Yup I'm also often wondering about that. But I only need substitutions for the strength workouts, I can usually finish the workouts for time in an average time. But for the strength workouts I'm unable to do more than 4 handstand pushups or even a single pistol or an l-sit with good form so I use substitions for those. I feel I'm getting better at them though.

[soar]

Forgot my manners, thanks for the info.  Particularly the kipping vid... I still find kipping darn near impossible.