Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

This workout combines high volume (75 total reps each) with two movements that heavily tax different systems - wall balls demand leg endurance and cardio capacity while burpees require full-body stamina. The descending ladder creates sustained high intensity with minimal natural rest breaks. Most athletes will hit significant fatigue by the 25s, making the final rounds particularly challenging. The 12-18 minute duration ensures substantial metabolic stress accumulation.

Benchmark Times for Now for Something Completely Different

• Elite: <6:00
• Advanced: 7:00-8:00
• Intermediate: 9:00-10:00
• Beginner: >18:00

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (9/10): Total of 150 wall balls and 150 burpees will severely test upper body, core, and leg muscular endurance.
• Endurance (8/10): High-volume descending ladder creates significant cardiovascular demand with minimal rest between movements, testing aerobic capacity throughout.
• Speed (7/10): Fast transitions between movements and maintaining high cycling rate crucial for time, especially in later smaller sets.
• Power (6/10): Wall balls are explosive hip extension movements, burpees have jump component, creating moderate power demands throughout.
• Flexibility (4/10): Wall balls demand good hip and shoulder mobility, burpees require basic range of motion for ground-to-standing transitions.
• Strength (3/10): Wall balls require moderate leg and shoulder strength, while burpees are primarily bodyweight resistance with minimal load.

Movements

• Wall Ball
• Burpee

Benchmark Notes

This workout follows a descending ladder format (35-25-15-5) with wall balls and burpees, totaling 75 reps of each movement. I'll analyze this by comparing to Karen (150 wall balls) and other high-volume bodyweight benchmarks. Movement Analysis: - Wall Balls (20/14): 2-3 sec per rep fresh, degrading with fatigue - Burpees: 3-4 sec per rep fresh, degrading significantly with fatigue Round-by-round breakdown: Round 1 (35 reps each): Wall balls ~90-105 sec, Burpees ~105-140 sec, transition ~5 sec = 200-250 sec Round 2 (25 reps each): Wall balls ~70-85 sec (1.1x fatigue), Burpees ~90-125 sec (1.2x fatigue), transition ~5 sec = 165-215 sec Round 3 (15 reps each): Wall balls ~45-60 sec (1.2x fatigue), Burpees ~60-90 sec (1.3x fatigue), transition ~5 sec = 110-155 sec Round 4 (5 reps each): Wall balls ~15-20 sec (1.3x fatigue), Burpees ~25-35 sec (1.4x fatigue), transition ~5 sec = 45-60 sec Total estimated time: 520-680 seconds for intermediate athletes. Using Karen as an anchor (150 wall balls: L10 420-480 sec, L5 600-720 sec, L1 900-1020 sec), this workout has half the wall ball volume but adds 75 burpees. Burpees are more metabolically demanding and create significant fatigue interference. The combination should be roughly equivalent to Karen's difficulty. Adjusting from Karen anchor: - L10: 360 sec (elite athletes can maintain pace through burpee fatigue) - L5: 600 sec (median matches Karen's lower end due to burpee complexity) - L1: 1080 sec (scaled athletes struggle significantly with burpee volume) Final targets - L10: 360 sec, L5: 600 sec, L1: 1080 sec

Modality Profile

Wall Ball is a weightlifting movement using external load (medicine ball), while Burpee is a gymnastics bodyweight movement. With two modalities present, this creates a 50/50 split between Weightlifting and Gymnastics.