Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

This workout combines moderate-heavy dumbbells (50/35) with high volume across 7 rounds totaling 252 reps. The Death March creates significant posterior chain and grip fatigue that compounds into the power cleans, while lateral burpees add cardiovascular stress. The continuous nature with no built-in rest and movement interference between grip-intensive exercises creates substantial fatigue accumulation, making this challenging for average athletes.

Benchmark Times for WOD

• Elite: <12:00
• Advanced: 14:00-16:00
• Intermediate: 18:00-20:00
• Beginner: >30:00

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (9/10): High volume of DB movements (168 total reps) plus 70 burpees will severely test muscular endurance across multiple muscle groups.
• Endurance (8/10): Seven rounds of continuous work with no programmed rest creates significant cardiovascular demand, especially with the high-rep death march component.
• Power (7/10): DB power cleans are explosive hip extension movements, lateral burpees require rapid transitions and jumping power throughout seven rounds.
• Flexibility (6/10): Death march requires significant hip and ankle mobility, power cleans demand good shoulder and hip flexibility for proper positioning.
• Speed (6/10): Fast cycling between three different movement patterns with minimal transition time needed to maintain intensity across seven rounds.
• Strength (4/10): Moderate dumbbell loads (50/35) provide meaningful resistance but aren't maximal strength loads, more strength-endurance focused.

Movements

• Dumbbell Power Clean
• Lateral Burpee Over Dumbbell
• Dumbbell Death March

Benchmark Notes

This workout consists of 7 rounds of 6 DB Power Cleans (50/35), 18 DB Death March (50/35), and 10 Lateral Burpees Over DB. Despite being scored as 'Calories', the workout description indicates a standard for-time format with specific rep counts, so I'm treating this as a time-based workout. Movement breakdown per round: - 6 DB Power Cleans (50/35): ~2.5 sec/rep = 15 sec - 18 DB Death March (50/35): ~2 sec/rep = 36 sec (walking lunges with DBs overhead) - 10 Lateral Burpees Over DB: ~4 sec/rep = 40 sec - Base round time: ~91 sec Fatigue progression across 7 rounds: - Rounds 1-2: 91 sec × 1.0 = 182 sec - Rounds 3-4: 91 sec × 1.15 = 209 sec - Rounds 5-6: 91 sec × 1.25 = 228 sec - Round 7: 91 sec × 1.4 = 127 sec - Transitions (6 × 5 sec): 30 sec - Total estimated time: ~776 sec This workout is similar to a high-volume chipper with significant grip and shoulder fatigue from the DB work combined with burpees. The DB Death March (overhead walking lunges) will be particularly taxing on the shoulders and core. I'm anchoring this against Helen (3 rounds: 400m run, 21 KB swing, 12 pull-up) which has similar volume and mixed modal demands, but adjusting upward due to the higher round count (7 vs 3) and the demanding overhead component. Helen benchmarks: L10: 450-510 sec, L5: 630-690 sec, L1: 900-1080 sec. Scaling up proportionally for the increased volume and complexity: L10 target ~720-840 sec, L5 target ~1080-1200 sec, L1 target ~1620-1800 sec. Final targets - L10: 720-840 sec (12:00-14:00), L5: 1080-1200 sec (18:00-20:00), L1: 1620-1800 sec (27:00-30:00).

Modality Profile

3 movements total: Dumbbell Power Clean (W), Dumbbell Death March (W), Lateral Burpee Over Dumbbell (G). Two weightlifting movements with external load, one gymnastics bodyweight movement.