Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout combines heavy deadlifts (315/255) with high-skill movements like ring muscle-ups and chest-to-bar pull-ups, plus significant volume across 12 different movements. The ascending rep scheme (1-12) creates massive fatigue accumulation, with grip-intensive movements stacked throughout. The combination of heavy loading, advanced skills, and cumulative volume will require scaling for most athletes, making this accessible only to experienced CrossFitters.

Benchmark Times for 12 DAYS OF HORROR

• Elite: <20:00
• Advanced: 21:00-22:00
• Intermediate: 23:30-25:30
• Beginner: >40:00

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (9/10): Extremely high muscular endurance demands across all muscle groups, with grip-intensive movements like muscle-ups, pull-ups, and kettlebell swings creating cumulative fatigue.
• Endurance (8/10): The 12-station format with high-skill movements and heavy loads creates significant cardiovascular demand, requiring sustained aerobic capacity throughout the circuit.
• Strength (7/10): Heavy deadlifts at 315/255 and weighted movements like beastmakers and DB exercises require significant absolute strength alongside bodyweight strength movements.
• Flexibility (6/10): Ring muscle-ups, toes-to-bar, and overhead positions in thrusters and wall balls demand good shoulder mobility and hip flexibility.
• Power (6/10): Power cleans, box jumps, wall balls, and kettlebell swings require explosive hip extension and coordination, mixed with strength-endurance movements.
• Speed (4/10): While transitions between 12 stations matter, the heavy loads and high-skill movements limit cycling speed, favoring controlled pacing over rapid transitions.

Movements

• Ring Muscle-Up
• Wall Ball
• Thruster
• Push-Up
• Dumbbell Power Clean
• Kettlebell Swing
• Dumbbell Push Jerk
• Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up
• Toes-to-Bar
• Deadlift
• Box Jump
• Row

Benchmark Notes

This is a '12 Days of Christmas' style workout with ascending rep counts (1 deadlift, 2 ring muscle-ups, 3 beastmakers, etc., up to 12 calorie row). Total volume: 1 deadlift (315/255), 2 ring muscle-ups, 3 DB thrusters (50/35), 4 chest-to-bar pull-ups, 5 DB power clean & jerks (50/35), 6 box jumps (24/20), 7 wall balls (20/14), 8 toes-to-bar, 9 kettlebell swings (53/35), 10 push-ups, 11 DB thrusters (50/35), 12 calorie row. Movement-by-movement breakdown: 1 deadlift at 315# takes ~4-6 sec for elite, 8-12 sec for novice. 2 ring muscle-ups take ~16-20 sec elite, 30-40 sec novice (including setup/transitions). 3+11=14 total DB thrusters (50#) take ~28-42 sec elite, 56-84 sec novice. 4 chest-to-bar pull-ups take ~6-10 sec elite, 12-20 sec novice. 5 DB power clean & jerks take ~10-15 sec elite, 25-35 sec novice. 6 box jumps take ~9-12 sec elite, 18-24 sec novice. 7 wall balls take ~14-21 sec elite, 28-42 sec novice. 8 toes-to-bar take ~12-20 sec elite, 24-40 sec novice. 9 kettlebell swings take ~13-18 sec elite, 22-32 sec novice. 10 push-ups take ~10-15 sec elite, 20-30 sec novice. 12 calorie row takes ~30-36 sec elite, 48-60 sec novice. Adding transitions between 12 different movements (~5-15 sec each): 60-180 sec total. Fatigue multipliers applied progressively as athletes move through the ascending ladder, with grip fatigue being significant after ring muscle-ups affecting subsequent pulling movements. No direct anchor match, but complexity and volume similar to longer chippers like Angie (1080-2400 sec range). The high skill demand from ring muscle-ups, heavy deadlifts, and mixed modal nature pushes times longer than typical 12-15 minute workouts. Elite athletes: ~20 minutes, intermediate: ~25-28 minutes, novice: ~35-40 minutes. Final targets - L10: 1200 sec (20:00), L5: 1530 sec (25:30), L1: 2400 sec (40:00).

Modality Profile

12 total movements: 5 Gymnastics (Ring Muscle-Up, Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up, Box Jump, Toes-to-Bar, Push-Up), 1 Monostructural (Row), 6 Weightlifting (Deadlift, Dumbbell Power Clean, Dumbbell Push Jerk, Wall Ball, Kettlebell Swing, Thruster). Rounded to nearest percentage.