Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

This ascending ladder creates relentless fatigue accumulation with no recovery. While early minutes are manageable, the continuous nature means grip and pulling strength deteriorate while reps increase. Most athletes will fail between minutes 12-18 when they can no longer complete the required reps within 60 seconds. The combination of increasing volume with decreasing rest time creates a brutal grinding effect that pushes athletes to muscular failure.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (9/10): Classic test of upper body pulling stamina as volume increases exponentially, eventually requiring multiple sets per minute to complete the prescribed reps.
• Endurance (8/10): The continuously running clock with increasing volume creates significant cardiovascular demand as heart rate climbs and recovery time diminishes with each passing minute.
• Speed (4/10): Pacing becomes critical to maximize rounds completed, requiring strategic rest within minutes and efficient pull-up cycling to avoid early failure.
• Strength (3/10): Tests relative bodyweight pulling strength endurance rather than maximal strength, though grip and lat strength become limiting factors as fatigue accumulates.
• Flexibility (3/10): Requires shoulder mobility for full range pull-ups and lat flexibility, especially as fatigue sets in and form may deteriorate.
• Power (2/10): Minimal power component as the focus shifts to grinding out reps rather than explosive movement, especially in later minutes.

Movements

• Pull-Up

Benchmark Notes

This is a classic pull-up ladder workout where athletes perform 1 pull-up in minute 1, 2 in minute 2, etc., continuing until failure. The score is the last complete round (minute) achieved. I'll analyze this by examining pull-up capacity and fatigue accumulation. Pull-up ladder breakdown: - Minutes 1-5: 15 total pull-ups (manageable for most) - Minutes 6-10: 40 total pull-ups (55 cumulative) - Minutes 11-15: 65 total pull-ups (120 cumulative) - Minutes 16-20: 90 total pull-ups (210 cumulative) - Minutes 21-25: 115 total pull-ups (325 cumulative) - Minutes 26-30: 140 total pull-ups (465 cumulative) Key factors: 1. Progressive volume increase creates exponential fatigue 2. Grip strength becomes limiting factor around minute 15-20 3. Set breaking becomes necessary: early rounds done unbroken, later rounds require multiple sets 4. Rest time within each minute decreases as rep count increases Using Cindy (AMRAP 20: 5 pull-ups + 10 push-ups + 15 air squats) as reference anchor: - L10: 25-30 rounds (125-150 pull-ups in 20 minutes) - L5: 15-18 rounds (75-90 pull-ups in 20 minutes) - L1: 6-8 rounds (30-40 pull-ups in 20 minutes) However, this ladder format is more demanding due to: - No rest between rounds (continuous clock) - Exponentially increasing volume per minute - Pure pull-up focus (no movement variety) Adjusting from Cindy anchor: - Elite athletes (L10) who can do 25+ Cindy rounds should reach minutes 28-30 in this ladder - Average athletes (L5) who do 15-18 Cindy rounds should reach minutes 17-20 - Beginners (L1) who do 6-8 Cindy rounds should reach minutes 5-8 Final benchmarks: - L10: 29 rounds (435 total pull-ups) - L5: 17 rounds (153 total pull-ups) - L1: 5 rounds (15 total pull-ups)

Modality Profile

Pull-ups are a bodyweight movement, making this workout 100% Gymnastics with no Monostructural or Weightlifting components.