Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout combines heavy deadlifts with high-skill bar muscle-ups in a continuous format with no built-in rest. The deadlift loads progress from moderate (225/155) to very heavy (385/250), while muscle-ups demand significant upper body strength and coordination. The alternating pattern creates grip and posterior chain fatigue that compounds throughout, making the muscle-ups increasingly difficult. Most athletes will need to scale either the deadlift weights or substitute muscle-up progressions.

Benchmark Times for Deadlifts & BMU

• 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:

• Strength (9/10): Extremely high strength demand with deadlifts progressing from 225/155 to 385/250 lbs, requiring near-maximal force production on final singles.
• Power (7/10): Bar muscle ups are highly explosive movements requiring significant power output, while heavy deadlifts demand rapid force development off the floor.
• Stamina (6/10): Upper body pulling stamina heavily tested through bar muscle ups, while posterior chain endurance challenged by repeated heavy deadlifts across multiple sets.
• Endurance (4/10): Moderate cardiovascular demand from continuous work with heavy deadlifts and challenging gymnastics, but relatively low total volume keeps this from being primarily aerobic.
• Flexibility (4/10): Bar muscle ups demand significant shoulder and thoracic mobility, while deadlifts require adequate hip hinge mechanics and posterior chain flexibility.
• Speed (3/10): Limited speed component due to heavy loads and technical movements; focus is on efficient transitions rather than rapid cycling between exercises.

Movements

• Deadlift
• Bar Muscle-Up

Benchmark Notes

This workout combines heavy deadlifts with bar muscle-ups in a descending ladder format. I'll analyze this by breaking down each round and comparing to relevant anchors. Movement Analysis: - Deadlifts: Starting at 225/155 and progressing to 385/250 (very heavy loads) - Bar Muscle-ups: High-skill gymnastics movement requiring significant upper body strength - Total volume: 18 deadlifts + 17 bar muscle-ups Round-by-round breakdown for elite male athlete: Round 1 (7 DL @ 225, 7 BMU): DL ~2.5 sec/rep = 17.5 sec, BMU ~4 sec/rep = 28 sec, transition 5 sec = 50.5 sec Round 2 (5 DL @ 265, 5 BMU): DL ~3 sec/rep = 15 sec, BMU ~4.5 sec/rep = 22.5 sec, transition 5 sec = 42.5 sec Round 3 (3 DL @ 305, 3 BMU): DL ~3.5 sec/rep = 10.5 sec, BMU ~5 sec/rep = 15 sec, transition 5 sec = 30.5 sec Round 4 (2 DL @ 345, 2 BMU): DL ~4 sec/rep = 8 sec, BMU ~5.5 sec/rep = 11 sec, transition 5 sec = 24 sec Round 5 (1 DL @ 385): DL ~5 sec = 5 sec Total base time: ~152 seconds Fatigue multipliers: Early rounds 1.0x, later rounds with heavier loads 1.2-1.4x Adjusted time with fatigue: ~200 seconds Additional time for bar muscle-up setup, failed attempts, and heavy deadlift setup: +160 seconds Elite total: ~360 seconds (6:00) This workout is most similar to Amanda (9-7-5 ring muscle-up + squat snatch 135/95) but with heavier loading and bar muscle-ups instead of ring muscle-ups. Amanda anchors: L10: 420-480 sec, L5: 720-840 sec, L1: 1080-1380 sec. However, this workout has significantly heavier deadlifts (up to 385 vs 135 snatch) but fewer total reps (18 vs 21) and bar muscle-ups are generally faster than ring muscle-ups. The heavy deadlifts will slow things down considerably, especially the final rounds. Adjusting from Amanda anchor: The heavier loading (+180% on final deadlifts) and technical bar muscle-ups suggest similar time domains but potentially faster due to bar vs ring muscle-ups. I'm setting this slightly faster than Amanda due to lower total volume and bar muscle-ups being more efficient. Final targets - Male: L10: 360 sec (6:00), L5: 600 sec (10:00), L1: 1080 sec (18:00)

Modality Profile

Two movements: Deadlift (Weightlifting) and Bar Muscle-Up (Gymnastics). Equal split between bodyweight gymnastics and external load weightlifting.