Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout combines progressively heavy squat cleans (ending at 225/155) with continuous lateral burpees in a ladder format that prevents meaningful recovery. The weight progression forces athletes into near-maximal loads while pre-fatigued from burpees, creating a brutal combination of power output demands and metabolic stress. Most athletes will struggle with the final loading, and the continuous format amplifies difficulty significantly beyond what the individual elements suggest.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Strength (9/10): Progressive loading from 135/95 to 225/155 lbs squat cleans creates significant maximal strength demands, especially in final rounds.
• Power (8/10): Squat cleans are explosive triple extension movements. Lateral burpees require rapid ground-to-standing transitions with lateral power component.
• Flexibility (6/10): Squat cleans require full depth receiving position, thoracic extension, and ankle mobility. Lateral burpees add frontal plane movement demands.
• Speed (5/10): Fast transitions between movements crucial for time, but heavy loads naturally slow cycling speed, creating moderate speed demands.
• Endurance (4/10): 16-minute time cap with continuous work creates moderate cardiovascular demand, but short bursts and heavy loads limit pure aerobic stress.
• Stamina (3/10): Low rep counts per round minimize muscular endurance demands, though grip and posterior chain fatigue accumulates across rounds.

Movements

• Lateral Burpee
• Squat Clean

Benchmark Notes

This workout is scored by total reps completed within the 16-minute cap. The structure is: 3 rounds at 135/95 (12 reps), 3 rounds at 185/120 (12 reps), then AMRAP at 225/155. I'll analyze this as a progression similar to Grace but with increasing loads and lateral burpees. Movement breakdown per round: - 3 Lateral Burpees: 3-4 sec each = 9-12 sec - 1 Squat Clean: varies by load - 135/95: 2-3 sec (similar to Grace loading) - 185/120: 3-4 sec (heavier, more technical) - 225/155: 4-6 sec (very heavy for most athletes) Round timing estimates: Rounds 1-3 (135/95): 15-20 sec per round = 45-60 sec total Rounds 4-6 (185/120): 18-25 sec per round with fatigue = 54-75 sec total AMRAP (225/155): 20-30 sec per round, heavily dependent on athlete strength Total guaranteed reps: 24 (6 rounds × 4 reps each) Remaining time for AMRAP: 13-15 minutes For the AMRAP portion, most athletes will hit a wall at 225/155. Elite athletes might manage 20-30 additional rounds, while recreational athletes may struggle to complete even a few rounds at this weight. Using Grace (30 C&J at 135/95) as an anchor where L10 completes in 90-120 sec and L5 in 240-300 sec, this workout is significantly harder due to the progressive loading. The guaranteed 24 reps plus AMRAP structure means: L10 athletes: Complete all guaranteed reps quickly (~2-3 min) and achieve 30+ AMRAP rounds = 144+ total reps L5 athletes: Complete guaranteed reps in 4-5 min, manage 15-20 AMRAP rounds = 96-104 total reps L1 athletes: May struggle with heavier loads, complete guaranteed reps slowly, achieve 5-10 AMRAP rounds = 48-64 total reps Final targets: L10: 144 reps, L5: 96 reps, L1: 48 reps

Modality Profile

Lateral Burpee is a bodyweight gymnastics movement, while Squat Clean is a weightlifting movement with external load. Two modalities present results in 50/50 split.