Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout combines high-skill handstand push-ups with moderate-heavy deadlifts across 5 rounds, creating significant shoulder and grip fatigue accumulation. The 20 HSPU requirement will force most athletes to break into small sets early, while the deadlifts become increasingly difficult as rounds progress. The 3-minute rest helps but isn't enough to fully recover from the shoulder-intensive work, making this accessible only to experienced athletes.

Benchmark Times for 10:01 - 50:00

• Elite: <21:00
• Advanced: 23:00-25:00
• Intermediate: 27:30-30:00
• Beginner: >45:00

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (9/10): High-volume upper body work (handstand push-ups), moderate deadlifts, and double-unders create severe muscular endurance demands across multiple muscle groups.
• Endurance (8/10): Five rounds with 3-minute rest intervals creates significant cardiovascular demand, especially as fatigue accumulates and rest becomes insufficient for full recovery.
• Flexibility (6/10): Handstand push-ups demand excellent shoulder mobility and core stability, while deadlifts require hip hinge flexibility and thoracic extension.
• Speed (6/10): Each round is performed for time, requiring efficient transitions and maintaining pace under fatigue, especially in later rounds.
• Strength (4/10): Handstand push-ups require significant relative strength, while 95/135lb deadlifts provide moderate absolute strength demand for most athletes.
• Power (3/10): Double-unders require some explosive hip extension and coordination, but overall workout emphasizes endurance over pure power output.

Movements

• Sit-Up
• Deadlift
• Handstand Push-Up
• Double-Under

Benchmark Notes

Barbara Ann is a 5-round workout with 3-minute mandatory rest between rounds, making it a unique endurance test. Each round contains 20 handstand push-ups, 30 deadlifts (95/135 lb), 40 sit-ups, and 50 double-unders. Movement-by-movement analysis: Handstand push-ups (20 reps): In fresh state, elite athletes complete these in 2-3 sec/rep, but in a complex workout like this, they take 8-12 sec/rep due to setup and fatigue. Round 1: 160-240 sec, progressively slower with fatigue multipliers. Deadlifts (30 reps at 95/135): Light load allows 2-3 sec/rep fresh, but grip fatigue from HSPUs adds interference. Round 1: 60-90 sec, increasing with fatigue. Sit-ups (40 reps): Simple movement at 1-1.5 sec/rep, minimal fatigue impact. Consistent 40-60 sec per round. Double-unders (50 reps): 0.5 sec/rep in rhythm when fresh, but coordination degrades with fatigue. Round 1: 25-35 sec, increasing significantly in later rounds. Transitions between movements: 5-10 sec each for recreational athletes. Round-by-round breakdown with fatigue multipliers: Round 1 (fresh): 290-425 sec, Round 2 (1.1x fatigue): 320-470 sec, Round 3 (1.2x fatigue): 350-510 sec, Round 4 (1.3x fatigue): 380-550 sec, Round 5 (1.5x fatigue): 435-640 sec. Total working time: 1775-2595 sec. Adding 15 minutes (900 sec) of mandatory rest gives total workout time of 2675-3495 sec. This workout is most similar to Kelly (5 rounds with mixed movements) but with mandatory rest periods. Kelly anchor shows L10: 930-1050 sec working time, L5: 1260-1440 sec, L1: 1800-2100 sec. However, Barbara Ann has significantly more complex gymnastics (HSPUs vs box jumps) and the mandatory rest changes the nature entirely. The 15 minutes of rest is fixed for all athletes, so performance differentiation comes purely from working time. Adjusting Kelly's working time estimates upward by 90-100% due to HSPU complexity and grip fatigue, then adding the fixed 900 sec rest period. Final targets - L10: 1260 sec (6 min working + 15 min rest = 21:00), L5: 1800 sec (15 min working + 15 min rest = 30:00), L1: 2700 sec (30 min working + 15 min rest = 45:00).

Modality Profile

4 movements total: Handstand Push-Up (G), Sit-Up (G), Double-Under (G) are gymnastics bodyweight movements, while Deadlift (W) is weightlifting. 3/4 = 75% gymnastics, 1/4 = 25% weightlifting.