Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout combines high-volume thrusters at a challenging weight (45kg/99lbs) with a progressive skill ladder of gymnastics movements. The second round of thrusters becomes significantly harder after accumulated fatigue from the gymnastics. The muscle-ups create a major bottleneck for most athletes, especially under time pressure and fatigue. The 12-minute time cap adds significant intensity demands.

Benchmark Times for Bob

• Elite: <5:00
• Advanced: 5:40-6:20
• Intermediate: 7:00-8:00
• Beginner: >12:00

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): Multiple high-volume sets tax muscular endurance, particularly shoulder and core stamina through combined lifting and gymnastics movements.
• Flexibility (8/10): Toes-to-bar, muscle-ups, and thrusters demand significant shoulder, hip, and thoracic mobility for proper execution.
• Endurance (7/10): High-rep thrusters combined with gymnastic movements create significant cardiovascular demand over 12 minutes, requiring sustained aerobic capacity and work capacity.
• Power (7/10): Thrusters are inherently explosive, while bar muscle-ups require significant power output for successful completion.
• Strength (6/10): Moderately heavy thrusters (45/35kg) and advanced gymnastics movements like muscle-ups require considerable strength throughout.
• Speed (6/10): Quick transitions and efficient cycling of movements are crucial to beat the time cap, especially during thrusters and toes-to-bar.

Movements

• Thruster
• Toes-to-Bar
• Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up
• Bar Muscle-Up

Scaling Options

Thruster weight: 30/20kg or 25/15kg maintaining fast singles. Movement subs: TTB to knee raises or V-ups, CTB to regular pull-ups, muscle-ups to negative pull-ups + ring dips. Volume options: 30-20-15-5-30 rep scheme, or cap at first set of thrusters. For beginners: 20-15-10-5-20 at lighter loads. Time cap can extend to 15-18 minutes for scaled versions.

Scaling Explanation

Scale if you cannot perform: 15+ unbroken thrusters at prescribed weight, 10+ strict pull-ups, 5+ chest-to-bar, or 1 muscle-up when fresh. Priority is maintaining intensity - you should be moving consistently with minimal long breaks. Target completion time is 8-12 minutes for Rx, 12-15 minutes for scaled. Form deterioration on thrusters or inability to maintain kipping rhythm indicates need for scaling. Better to reduce load/volume and maintain power output than grind through at Rx.

Intended Stimulus

Moderate-length glycolytic workout (8-12 minutes) with ascending skill requirements. Primary focus is on upper body pulling strength and gymnastics progression while maintaining barbell cycling under fatigue. The double thruster bookend creates significant metabolic stress and tests mental toughness in the final phase.

Coach Insight

Break thrusters into sets of 8-10 from the start - you'll need upper body capacity for the gymnastics. Quick singles on muscle-ups are preferable to failed attempts. Consider: Thrusters (12-10-10-8), TTB (10-10-10), CTB (10-10), MU (5-5), then survive final thrusters (10-10-10-10). Keep transitions under 10 seconds. Common failure points: rushing first thrusters, failing muscle-ups when tired, poor kip timing on TTB. Watch shoulder fatigue accumulation throughout.

Benchmark Notes

This workout is similar to a double Fran-style couplet with muscle-ups in the middle. Breaking it down: First 40 Thrusters (45kg/99lb): - Elite: 60-75s (sets of 15-12-13) - Intermediate: 90-120s (sets of 10-10-10-10) 30 Toes-to-Bar: - Elite: 45-60s (sets of 15-15) - Intermediate: 75-90s (sets of 8-8-7-7) 20 Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups: - Elite: 30-40s (sets of 10-10) - Intermediate: 50-70s (sets of 5-5-5-5) 10 Bar Muscle-Ups: - Elite: 40-50s (sets of 5-5) - Intermediate: 80-100s (sets of 3-3-2-2) Final 40 Thrusters: - Elite: 75-90s (fatigue factor) - Intermediate: 120-150s Transitions: ~30s total elite, ~45s intermediate Comparing to Fran anchor (2:00-2:20 elite male), this workout is approximately 2.5x volume with higher skill movements. Using that scaling factor plus the heavier thruster weight (99lb vs 95lb), we project: Male: L10: 5:00 (300s) L5: 8:00 (480s) L1: 12:00 (720s) Female (approximately 15% slower due to loading): L10: 5:40 (340s) L5: 9:00 (540s) L1: 13:00 (780s)

Modality Profile

Of the 4 movements: Toes-to-Bar, Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up, and Bar Muscle-Up are gymnastics (3 movements = 75%); Thruster is weightlifting (1 movement = 25%); No monostructural movements present