Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

This workout combines three challenging bodyweight movements in continuous 9-minute format with no built-in rest. Strict pull-ups demand significant upper body strength, piked leg lifts over KB require core strength and coordination, and alternating pistols are a high-skill unilateral movement. The continuous nature prevents recovery between demanding movements, creating cumulative fatigue across multiple muscle groups. Most average CrossFitters will need to scale one or more movements.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): High-skill bodyweight movements performed repeatedly will heavily tax upper body pulling stamina, core endurance, and single-leg muscular endurance over nine minutes.
• Flexibility (8/10): Pistols require exceptional ankle, hip, and hamstring mobility. Piked leg lifts demand significant hamstring flexibility and hip mobility for proper execution.
• Strength (7/10): Strict pull-ups require significant relative strength, while pistols demand considerable single-leg strength and stability. Piked leg lifts challenge core strength.
• Endurance (6/10): Nine minutes of continuous bodyweight movements with minimal rest creates moderate cardiovascular demand and tests aerobic capacity throughout the time domain.
• Speed (4/10): AMRAP format encourages steady pacing, but the high-skill movements limit cycling speed. Transitions between complex movements require deliberate execution rather than speed.
• Power (2/10): All movements are controlled and strength-based rather than explosive. The focus is on muscular control and strength endurance, not power output.

Movements

• Strict Pull-Up
• V-Up
• Pistol Squat

Benchmark Notes

This 9-minute AMRAP contains challenging gymnastics movements requiring significant strength and skill. Breaking down movement by movement: Strict Pull-Ups take 2-3 seconds per rep when fresh, but strict pull-ups fatigue much faster than kipping - expect sets to break down from 4 reps to singles quickly. Piked Leg Lifts over 35lb KB are a unique core movement requiring 3-4 seconds per rep with the awkward positioning and weight. Alternating Pistols require 3-4 seconds per rep including balance and transition time. Round 1 (fresh): 4 strict pull-ups (10 sec) + 6 piked leg lifts (20 sec) + 12 pistols (40 sec) + transitions (10 sec) = 80 seconds. Round 2: Pull-ups break to 2+2 (12 sec), leg lifts slow slightly (22 sec), pistols maintain pace (42 sec), transitions (12 sec) = 88 seconds. Round 3+: Pull-ups become singles with rest (20+ sec), leg lifts slow further (25+ sec), pistols slow with fatigue (45+ sec), longer transitions (15+ sec) = 105+ seconds per round. The strict pull-up bottleneck will limit most athletes significantly. Elite athletes might complete 6-7 rounds by maintaining better pull-up efficiency and faster transitions. The closest anchor is Cindy (AMRAP 20 with pull-ups), but this workout is much shorter at 9 minutes with more challenging movements. Cindy L10 achieves 25-30 rounds in 20 minutes, but these movements are significantly harder - strict vs kipping pull-ups, and pistols vs air squats. Scaling down proportionally for difficulty and time: L10 athletes complete 6.8-7.2 rounds, L5 athletes complete 4.8-5.2 rounds, L1 athletes complete 2.5-3.0 rounds. Final targets: L10: 6.8 rounds, L5: 4.8 rounds, L1: 2.5 rounds.

Modality Profile

All three movements (Strict Pull-Up, V-Up, Pistol Squat) are bodyweight gymnastics movements with no external load or cyclical cardio components.