Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

The 155/100lb power cleans are moderately heavy for most athletes, but the escalating ladder format (3-6-9) with ring dips creates significant fatigue accumulation within each 3-minute window. The short time cap forces aggressive pacing, while the combination of barbell cycling and pressing under fatigue becomes increasingly challenging. Many athletes will hit muscular failure on later rounds or need to scale the weight/movement complexity.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): Ascending ladder format with moderate loads tests upper body pressing and pulling stamina as reps accumulate within each round.
• Power (7/10): Power cleans are explosive by nature, requiring rapid force production from the floor through triple extension.
• Speed (7/10): Three-minute time cap creates urgency to cycle movements quickly and minimize transition time between cleans and dips.
• Endurance (6/10): Four 3-minute rounds with 1-minute rest creates moderate cardiovascular demand, though rest periods allow some recovery between efforts.
• Strength (6/10): Power cleans at 155/100 lbs and ring dips require significant strength, though not maximal loads for most athletes.
• Flexibility (4/10): Power cleans demand ankle, hip, and shoulder mobility while ring dips require good shoulder extension and thoracic mobility.

Movements

• Power Clean
• Ring Dip

Scaling Options

Reduce power clean weight to 135/95 or 115/75 lbs. Sub ring dips with box dips, push-ups, or banded ring dips. Consider reducing rep scheme to 2-4-6 or capping at 6 reps max per movement. Athletes with shoulder issues should use push-ups instead of any dip variation.

Scaling Explanation

Scale power clean weight if you can't maintain smooth singles at 80% effort. Scale ring dips if you can't do 10+ strict or 15+ kipping ring dips when fresh. Goal is to complete each round in 2:30-2:50 with good movement quality. Prioritize intensity and movement consistency over hitting Rx loads.

Intended Stimulus

High-intensity glycolytic workout targeting 2-3 minute sprints with incomplete recovery. Tests power endurance and ability to maintain output under accumulating fatigue. Primary challenge is conditioning with strength endurance component from moderate-heavy power cleans and challenging ring dips.

Coach Insight

Pace aggressively in first 2 rounds, then hold on in rounds 3-4. Break power cleans into singles from the start to maintain speed and technique - no grinding reps. Ring dips should be done in 2-3 sets maximum per round. Focus on fast transitions between movements. Most athletes will hit failure on ring dips in round 3-4, so scale appropriately to maintain movement quality.

Benchmark Notes

This workout involves 4 rounds of ascending ladder sets (3-6-9 reps each movement) with 3-minute caps and 1-minute rest between rounds. Each round contains 18 power cleans + 18 ring dips = 36 total reps per round. Perfect completion would be 144 total reps (36 × 4 rounds). However, the 3-minute time cap per round creates significant pressure. Round 1 analysis: 3 power cleans (155/100) at ~3 sec each = 9 sec, 3 ring dips at ~2 sec each = 6 sec, transitions ~3 sec = 18 sec for first set. 6+6 takes ~39 sec, 9+9 takes ~57 sec. Total round time ~114 sec when fresh. Round 2: 1.1x fatigue multiplier increases to ~125 sec. Round 3: 1.2x fatigue brings to ~137 sec. Round 4: 1.3x fatigue brings to ~148 sec. Elite athletes can complete all rounds within cap. Advanced athletes may miss final reps of round 4. Intermediate athletes struggle with round 3-4 completion. Beginners may only complete 1-2 full rounds. Weight is significant (155/100) causing additional fatigue on power cleans. Ring dips become increasingly difficult as shoulders fatigue. Breakdown: L1 (48 reps) = ~1.3 rounds, L5 (144 reps) = all 4 rounds completed, L9 (240 reps) accounts for potential bonus work or faster athletes doing extra reps in remaining time.

Modality Profile

Two movements: Power Clean (weightlifting with external load) and Ring Dip (gymnastics bodyweight movement). Equal split between weightlifting and gymnastics modalities.