Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout combines two highly demanding elements: overhead squats at moderate-heavy weight (135/95) with high-skill bar muscle-ups in a descending ladder format. The overhead position severely taxes shoulders and core, while bar muscle-ups require significant upper body strength and coordination. The 21-15-9 rep scheme provides minimal rest, creating cumulative fatigue where each movement makes the other exponentially harder. Most athletes will need to scale either weight or substitute ring muscle-ups.

Benchmark Times for WOD

• 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:

• Flexibility (9/10): Overhead squats demand exceptional ankle, hip, thoracic, and shoulder mobility. Bar muscle ups require significant shoulder and lat flexibility for the kip.
• Stamina (8/10): High volume overhead squats and bar muscle ups will severely test upper body pulling stamina and leg endurance across multiple rounds.
• Endurance (7/10): The 21-15-9 format with challenging movements creates significant cardiovascular demand, requiring sustained aerobic output throughout the workout.
• Strength (7/10): 135/95lb overhead squats require significant strength, while bar muscle ups demand high relative strength for the pulling and transition phases.
• Power (6/10): Bar muscle ups require explosive hip drive and powerful pulling, while overhead squats need power to drive out of the bottom position.
• Speed (4/10): The heavy overhead squats and technical bar muscle ups limit cycling speed, making this more about steady pacing than rapid transitions.

Movements

• Overhead Squat
• Bar Muscle-Up

Benchmark Notes

This workout combines overhead squats with bar muscle-ups in a 21-15-9 format. I'll analyze this by comparing to Amanda (9-7-5 ring muscle-up + squat snatch 135/95) as the closest anchor, then adjust for the different rep scheme and movements. Movement Analysis: - Overhead Squat (135/95): Technical movement requiring shoulder mobility and core stability, ~3-4 sec per rep fresh - Bar Muscle-Up: High-skill gymnastics movement, ~4-6 sec per rep including transitions Round-by-Round Breakdown: Round 1 (21 OHS + 15 BMU): - 21 OHS: 21 × 3.5 sec = 74 sec - Transition: 5 sec - 15 Bar MU: 15 × 5 sec = 75 sec - Total: 154 sec Round 2 (15 OHS + 9 BMU): - 15 OHS: 15 × 4 sec (fatigue) = 60 sec - Transition: 5 sec - 9 Bar MU: 9 × 6 sec (fatigue) = 54 sec - Total: 119 sec Round 3 (9 OHS + 6 BMU): - 9 OHS: 9 × 4.5 sec (fatigue) = 41 sec - Transition: 5 sec - 6 Bar MU: 6 × 7 sec (fatigue) = 42 sec - Total: 88 sec Total workout time estimate: 154 + 119 + 88 = 361 sec for elite level Comparing to Amanda anchor (9-7-5 ring muscle-up + squat snatch 135/95): - Amanda L10: 420-480 sec / 540-600 sec - This workout has more total reps (45 OHS + 30 BMU vs 21 MU + 21 Snatch) - Bar muscle-ups are generally faster than ring muscle-ups - Overhead squats at 135/95 are lighter than squat snatches at same weight - The 21-15-9 format creates more volume than 9-7-5 Adjustment: This workout should be slightly faster than Amanda due to bar vs ring muscle-ups, but the higher volume (75 total reps vs 42) extends the time. Estimating about 15% faster than Amanda's lower bound. Final L10/L5/L1 targets: - L10 (Elite): 360-420 sec (6:00-7:00) - L5 (Average): 600 sec (10:00) - L1 (Beginner): 1080 sec (18:00)

Modality Profile

Two movements: Bar Muscle-Up (gymnastics bodyweight movement) and Overhead Squat (weightlifting with external load). Equal split between gymnastics and weightlifting modalities.