Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

The 245/160lb squat clean is near-maximal for most athletes, requiring significant neural demand each round. Combined with chest-to-bar pull-ups (higher skill than regular pull-ups) and 36 double-unders, this creates multiple limiting factors: heavy barbell cycling, upper body pulling strength, and coordination under fatigue. The continuous format with no built-in rest across 5 rounds means cumulative fatigue will severely impact performance on all movements.

Benchmark Times for CRISS CROSS

• Elite: <6:00
• Advanced: 7:00-8:00
• Intermediate: 9:00-10:00
• Beginner: >18:00

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): Twelve chest-to-bar pull-ups per round will severely tax upper body pulling stamina, while 36 double unders challenge calf and shoulder endurance.
• Strength (8/10): Heavy squat cleans at 245/160 pounds require significant strength, especially as fatigue accumulates from the high-volume pulling and jumping movements.
• Endurance (7/10): Five rounds of continuous work with heavy squat cleans, high-volume pull-ups, and double unders creates significant cardiovascular demand and aerobic stress.
• Power (7/10): Squat cleans are explosive triple extension movements, while double unders require rapid, coordinated power output from calves and shoulders for efficient cycling.
• Flexibility (6/10): Squat cleans demand ankle, hip, and thoracic mobility, while chest-to-bar pull-ups require shoulder flexibility and overhead positioning throughout the movement.
• Speed (6/10): Success depends on maintaining consistent cycling speed through pull-ups and double unders while minimizing rest between the heavy squat clean singles.

Movements

• Squat Clean
• Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up
• Double-Under

Benchmark Notes

This workout is very similar to Elizabeth (21-15-9 squat clean 135/95 + ring dip) but with heavier loading (245/160 vs 135/95) and different accessory movements. I'll use Elizabeth as my primary anchor and adjust for the increased load and movement differences. Movement breakdown per round: - 1 Squat Clean at 245/160: This is significantly heavier than Elizabeth's 135/95. At this load, elite athletes need 3-4 seconds per rep, intermediates 5-6 seconds, novices 8-10 seconds - 12 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups: Similar difficulty to ring dips in Elizabeth. CTB pull-ups take 1.5-2.5 seconds per rep fresh, but will slow significantly due to grip fatigue from heavy cleans - 36 Double-unders: Fast movement when fresh (0.5 sec/rep = 18 seconds), but grip fatigue from cleans and pull-ups will cause breaks Round-by-round analysis: Round 1: Clean 4s + CTB 30s + DU 20s + transitions 6s = 60s Round 2: Clean 5s + CTB 36s + DU 24s + transitions 8s = 73s (fatigue 1.2x) Round 3: Clean 6s + CTB 42s + DU 28s + transitions 10s = 86s (fatigue 1.4x) Round 4: Clean 7s + CTB 48s + DU 32s + transitions 12s = 99s (fatigue 1.6x) Round 5: Clean 8s + CTB 54s + DU 36s + transitions 14s = 112s (fatigue 1.8x) Total elite time: ~430 seconds (7:10) Elizabeth anchor shows L10 at 160-200 seconds, but this workout has: 1. Much heavier loading (+80% weight) = +100-120% time 2. 5 rounds vs 3 rounds = +67% volume 3. Different movement pattern with more grip demand Adjusting Elizabeth's 180s elite time: 180s × 2.2 (load factor) × 1.67 (volume factor) = 660s, but this seems too conservative given the movement efficiency differences. Using Grace as secondary reference (30 C&J 135/95): L10 is 90-120s for 30 reps. This workout has 5 reps at much heavier load plus accessories, suggesting 6-8 minute range for elite is reasonable. Final targets - L10: 360s (6:00), L5: 600s (10:00), L1: 1080s (18:00)

Modality Profile

Three movements: Squat Clean (W), Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up (G), Double-Under (G). Two gymnastics movements and one weightlifting movement gives us a 33% G, 67% W split with no monostructural component.