Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Medium

This workout combines moderate-heavy back squats with high-volume dumbbell pressing in a 14-minute continuous format. The back squats will accumulate leg fatigue while the max-rep floor press creates upper body burnout. However, the alternating muscle groups provide some recovery, and most average CrossFitters can handle 50/35lb dumbbells for multiple sets. The 14-minute cap prevents excessive volume accumulation, keeping it manageable but challenging.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): Max rep DB floor press will heavily tax upper body muscular endurance, while repeated back squats challenge leg stamina throughout the workout.
• Endurance (7/10): A 14-minute AMRAP creates significant cardiovascular demand, especially as fatigue accumulates from the heavy back squats and continuous DB pressing.
• Strength (6/10): Back squats at moderate to heavy loads test lower body strength, while DB floor press challenges upper body strength endurance capacity.
• Speed (5/10): Transition efficiency between movements and maintaining steady pace under fatigue becomes important for maximizing total rounds completed.
• Flexibility (4/10): Back squats require good ankle, hip, and thoracic mobility, while floor press demands shoulder flexibility for full range of motion.
• Power (2/10): Minimal explosive demand; both movements are primarily strength-based with controlled tempos rather than explosive execution.

Movements

• Back Squat
• Floor Press

Benchmark Notes

This is a 14-minute AMRAP with 5 back squats followed by max reps DB floor press (50/35). Since it's scored as 'Reps', we're tracking total repetitions completed across both movements. Breaking this down movement by movement: Back squats at bodyweight or moderate load take 2-3 seconds per rep when fresh, so 5 reps = 10-15 seconds. DB floor press at 50/35 lbs is a moderate load that allows for higher rep counts - fresh reps take 1.5-2 seconds each. In a 14-minute window, elite athletes might complete 25-30 rounds of the back squat portion, meaning 125-150 back squats total. For the DB floor press portion of each round, elite athletes might average 12-15 reps per round when fresh, degrading to 8-12 reps in later rounds due to fatigue. This gives roughly 250-300 total DB floor press reps. Combined total for elite (L10): 375-450 reps. However, since the workout emphasizes max reps on the floor press after the strength component, the majority of reps will come from the pressing movement. For intermediate athletes (L5), expect 15-20 rounds of back squats (75-100 total) and 6-10 floor press reps per round (120-180 total), yielding 195-280 total reps. Novice athletes (L1) might complete 8-12 rounds (40-60 back squats) with 4-6 floor press reps per round (50-90 total), yielding 90-150 total reps. The back squat acts as a strength tax that limits the pressing volume, creating a unique pacing challenge. Final targets: L10: ~360 reps, L5: ~240 reps, L1: ~120 reps.

Modality Profile

Both Back Squat and Floor Press are external load barbell movements, making this a pure weightlifting workout with no gymnastics or monostructural elements.