Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

The 185/120lb power cleans are moderately heavy for most athletes, but the continuous 6-round format with minimal rest creates significant fatigue accumulation. Step-ups provide some active recovery but don't fully restore the posterior chain and grip needed for power cleans. By rounds 4-6, the cleans become increasingly difficult as athletes fight fatigue while maintaining proper form with substantial weight, requiring many to scale the load.

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:

• Stamina (8/10): High volume step-ups combined with repeated power cleans will heavily tax muscular endurance, especially in legs and posterior chain.
• Power (8/10): Power cleans are explosive triple extension movements, and step-ups with weight require powerful hip drive and leg extension.
• Endurance (7/10): Six rounds of continuous work with moderate rep counts will elevate heart rate and challenge cardiovascular capacity throughout the workout.
• Strength (7/10): Power cleans at 185/120 lbs require significant strength, while weighted step-ups challenge unilateral leg strength under load.
• Speed (6/10): Alternating step-ups allow for quick transitions, while power cleans can be cycled efficiently with proper technique and pacing.
• Flexibility (4/10): Power cleans demand good hip and ankle mobility, while step-ups require moderate hip flexion and ankle dorsiflexion range.

Movements

• Power Clean
• Step-Up

Benchmark Notes

This workout consists of 6 rounds of 20 alternating step-ups (50/35 lb, 24/20 inch box) and 5 power cleans (185/120 lb). Since no scoring method was provided, this is scored for time completion. Movement breakdown per round: - 20 alternating step-ups: At moderate pace with weighted vest/DB, approximately 1.5-2 sec per rep = 30-40 sec fresh - 5 power cleans at 185 lb: Heavy load requiring singles or doubles, approximately 4-5 sec per rep plus rest = 25-35 sec fresh - Transition time between movements: 3-5 sec - Total per round fresh: 58-80 sec Fatigue progression across 6 rounds: - Rounds 1-2: 1.0x multiplier = 60-70 sec per round - Rounds 3-4: 1.15x multiplier = 70-85 sec per round - Rounds 5-6: 1.3x multiplier = 80-100 sec per round The step-ups will cause significant leg fatigue affecting the power cleans, and the heavy cleans will impact grip and posterior chain for subsequent step-ups. The combination of moderate volume (120 step-ups, 30 power cleans) with heavy loading creates a challenging mid-duration workout. This workout is most similar to a strength-endurance chipper. Using DT (5 rounds of barbell work at 155/105) as an anchor reference, which has L10: 360-420 sec, L5: 540-660 sec, L1: 840-960 sec. However, this workout has 6 rounds instead of 5, heavier cleans (185 vs 155), and step-ups are more metabolically demanding than deadlifts. This justifies extending the times by approximately 15-20% from DT anchors. Final targets - Male: L10: 360 sec (6:00), L5: 600 sec (10:00), L1: 1080 sec (18:00)

Modality Profile

Step-Up is a bodyweight gymnastics movement, Power Clean is a weightlifting movement with external load. Two modalities split evenly.