What is a common scaling progression for the Jackie workout?

• A. Use heavier weights
• B. Second round at 500/25/15 and a third at 250/15/10
• C. Remove row entirely
• D. Change thrusters to 60 pounds

Answer: (B)

Scaling Jackie this way preserves the workout’s pattern while making it accessible to different ability levels. The idea is to keep the same movements but trim volume so you can maintain high effort without excessive fatigue. A common approach is to break the workout into three rounds with decreasing workload: start with the full trio, then perform the second round at half distance and half reps (500m row, 25 thrusters, 15 pull-ups), and finish with a lighter final round (250m row, 15 thrusters, 10 pull-ups). This keeps the stimulus of Jackie—high-intensity work across row, thrusters, and pull-ups—while matching the athlete’s capacity. Increasing the weight would shift the difficulty upward rather than scaling the workout; removing the row changes the movement mix and metabolic demand; and making the thrusters heavier would also raise intensity instead of scaling it down.