Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout combines two major limiting factors: high-skill muscle-ups with heavy push press under severe time pressure. The EMOM format forces athletes to perform a muscle-up every minute while maximizing push press reps at 155/100lbs - weights that become exponentially harder as fatigue accumulates. Most athletes will fail muscle-ups or drastically reduce push press loads as the workout progresses, making this accessible only to experienced athletes.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Power (8/10): Bar muscle-ups are explosive pulling movements, push press requires hip drive and explosive overhead extension.
• Stamina (7/10): High-volume push press with grip fatigue from bar muscle-ups tests upper body muscular endurance significantly over twelve minutes.
• Strength (7/10): Push press at 155/100 pounds requires substantial overhead strength, while bar muscle-ups demand high relative strength.
• Flexibility (6/10): Bar muscle-ups require significant shoulder mobility and thoracic extension, plus overhead flexibility for push press.
• Endurance (4/10): Twelve minutes of work with brief rest periods between movements creates moderate cardiovascular demand, though not purely aerobic.
• Speed (3/10): EMOM format allows recovery between rounds, emphasizing quality over rapid cycling between movements.

Movements

• Push Press
• Bar Muscle-Up

Benchmark Notes

This is a 12-minute EMOM with 1 bar muscle-up per minute, followed by max reps push press at 155/100 lbs. The score is total push press reps completed across all 12 rounds. Movement breakdown: Bar muscle-ups take 3-5 seconds for elite athletes, 6-8 seconds for intermediate, and 8-12 seconds for beginners. This leaves 55-57 seconds, 52-54 seconds, and 48-50 seconds respectively for push press work each minute. Push press at 155 lbs is moderately heavy - elite athletes can cycle singles every 2-3 seconds, intermediates every 3-4 seconds, and beginners every 4-5 seconds with rest breaks. Fatigue accumulation: Minutes 1-4 maintain full capacity, minutes 5-8 see 10-15% degradation, minutes 9-12 see 20-30% degradation as grip fatigue from muscle-ups compounds with shoulder fatigue from push press. Elite calculation: 55 seconds available per minute, 2.5 sec per rep = 22 reps early rounds, degrading to 18 reps in middle rounds, 15 reps final rounds. Total: ~240 reps. Intermediate: 52 seconds available, 3.5 sec per rep = 15 reps early, 12 middle, 10 final = ~144 reps. Beginner: 48 seconds available, 4.5 sec per rep = 10 reps early, 8 middle, 6 final = ~96 reps. The workout has similarities to DT (5 rounds of barbell work at 155/105) where L10 completes in 360-420 seconds, but this EMOM format with forced rest periods and muscle-up interference creates a different challenge focused on power endurance rather than pure speed. Final targets - L10: 240 reps, L5: 144 reps, L1: 48 reps.

Modality Profile

Bar Muscle-Up is a gymnastics bodyweight movement, Push Press is a weightlifting movement with external load. Two modalities split evenly.