Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

Eight 2-minute intervals alternate heavy legs and strict shoulder work. The 1:1 work-to-rest ratio provides recovery and limits conditioning demands, but 30-second windows at 70% back squat push fast, heavy reps with repeated unracks, while seated piked DB presses at 50/35 are leverage-disadvantaged and accumulate local fatigue quickly. Over 16 minutes, volume at these loads is substantial; many average athletes will need to scale DB weight/percent to maintain mechanics—thus Hard.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (7/10): Repeated intervals accumulate meaningful leg and shoulder volume. Short windows require sustained effort across eight rounds, taxing local muscular endurance—especially on strict dumbbell presses—more than pure strength or long-duration cardiovascular capacity.
• Strength (7/10): Back squats at roughly 70% 1RM for repeated sets emphasize submaximal strength under fatigue. The strict seated dumbbell press further challenges pressing strength, though neither movement approaches true maximal efforts or heavy low-rep schemes.
• Flexibility (5/10): Seated piked pressing demands notable hamstring length and overhead mobility to maintain position. Effective back-squat depth also requires adequate ankle and hip mobility, creating moderate range-of-motion demands without reaching extreme positions.
• Endurance (4/10): Eight 30-second efforts with equal rest elevate heart rate but permit partial recovery. Total work time is only eight minutes, and no monostructural element exists, yielding a moderate aerobic demand rather than prolonged endurance.
• Speed (4/10): Thirty-second AMRAPs incentivize quick cycling on the dumbbell press, but heavy squats restrict cadence. Built-in rest reduces transition pressure, creating moderate speed demands rather than all-out sprint pacing across rounds.
• Power (2/10): Both movements are primarily controlled grinds. The strict press minimizes momentum, and squats at 70% prioritize steady concentric drive over explosive hip extension, limiting power expression to modest bar speed within intervals.

Movements

• Dumbbell Press
• Back Squat

Scaling Options

- Back Squat Load: Reduce to 60-65% of 1RM, or a load you can hit 3-5 perfect reps in 20-25s at RPE 7-8. If no 1RM, choose a weight you can triple for 5+ sets with speed. Alternate options: front squat at 55-65% 1RM, double KB front squat (2x53/35), or goblet squat (70/50) for positional control. - Press Options: If 50/35 per hand is too heavy, use 35/20 or 25/15 per hand. Scale to single DB Z-press (one DB held with two hands or single-arm), seated strict DB press (knees bent), or seated barbell strict press (75/55). Bodyweight option: pike push-ups or elevated pike push-ups. Keep reps strict; avoid kipping. - Volume/Work-Rest: Newer athletes do 6 rounds instead of 8, or 20s work/40s rest while keeping quality high. Alternatively, keep 8 rounds but cap squat at 3 reps and press at 6-8 reps per interval. - Mobility/Positional: If depth is limited, use a target box slightly below parallel and prioritize control. For shoulder discomfort, use neutral-grip DBs, slight incline seated press, or landmine press.

Scaling Explanation

- When to Scale: If you cannot hit depth with control, reps slow to grinding, press reps drop below 5 by round 2, you feel low-back extension in the press, or you cannot rack safely within the 30s window. Any pain = immediate scale. - What to Prioritize: Perfect positions, full ROM, and bar/DB speed over absolute load. Maintain consistent outputs across rounds and finish each work bout with 5-10s to spare. - Targets to Preserve Stimulus: Back squat 3-5 smooth reps per interval; press 6-12 strict reps per interval. Effort should feel like RPE 7-8 (tough but repeatable) with no failed reps. If you cannot meet those targets, lower load, reduce rounds to 6, or switch to 20s work/40s rest to maintain quality and intended strength-endurance stimulus.

Intended Stimulus

Repeated 30-second power bouts with equal rest over 8 rounds (16:00 total clock, ~8:00 work). Primary energy system: glycolytic with phosphagen contribution. Goal is crisp, submaximal strength-speed on the back squat (heavy but fast) and strict shoulder stamina on the seated piked DB press. Primary challenge: strength endurance and bracing under fatigue, not redline conditioning. Athletes should maintain perfect positions and consistent rep counts across rounds without grinding to failure.

Coach Insight

- Pacing: Start at sustainable outputs and hold. Aim 3-5 smooth back squats in 20-25s, then rack with 5-10s buffer. For presses, 6-12 strict reps in 20-25s; stop 1-2 reps shy of failure (RIR 1-2). Use the 30s rest to reset and set up early for the next interval. - Transitions & Setup: Squat from a rack with safeties set just below bottom position. DBs staged within reach for a fast but calm handoff. Start the squat rep within 3-5s of the interval start. - Movement Cues (Back Squat): Big breath, brace, descend with knees tracking over toes, maintain mid-foot pressure, bounce out of the hole under control, drive up fast. Keep chest tall and bar path vertical; hard exhale at the top between reps. - Movement Cues (Seated Piked DB Press): Sit tall in a pike (legs straight, heels down), ribs down, glutes and abs tight. Neutral wrists, elbows slightly forward, press overhead with head through, control the negative, no torso lean-back. - Common Mistakes: Loading too heavy (squat grinding >3s), cutting depth, knee cave, sloppy unrack/rerack, overextending lumbar on presses, letting reps deteriorate across rounds, racing the clock and missing the rack. - Rep Targets: Back squat: lock in 4 reps every interval if quality allows. Press: 8-10 reps per interval with strict form. If doing bilateral 50/35 is too heavy, switch to single-arm sets alternating arms each interval.

Benchmark Notes

Type = reps (score is total repetitions). Structure: 8 rounds; each round is 30s Back Squats @ ~70% 1RM, 30s rest, 30s AMRAP Seated Piked DB Press @ 50/35, 30s rest. Total work windows = 16 (8 squat + 8 press). Movement pacing assumptions (fresh): Back Squat at ~70% cycles like a front squat at moderate load (guide: 2-3 s/rep). Use 2.8 s/rep for median, 2.4 s/rep for elite. Seated piked DB press is strict overhead; map to HSPU/DB work pace (guide: 2-4 s/rep). Use 3.0 s/rep for median, 2.4 s/rep for elite. Transitions: setup occurs during rest; no additional transition penalty inside the 30s windows. Set breaks: micro-pauses are baked into per-rep pacing; no full breaks assumed within 30s windows. Fatigue multipliers by round (applied to per-rep time): R1-2: 1.0x; R3-4: 1.15x; R5-6: 1.25x; R7-8: 1.40x. Interference: legs then overhead (minimal direct interference), so no extra movement-interference penalty. Median (L5 anchor) round-by-round calc: Back Squat t0=2.8 s. R1-2: floor(30/2.8)=10 each; R3-4: floor(30/(2.8*1.15))=9 each; R5-6: floor(30/(2.8*1.25))=8 each; R7-8: floor(30/(2.8*1.40))=7 each; BS total = 10+10+9+9+8+8+7+7=68. DB Press t0=3.0 s. R1-2: floor(30/3.0)=10 each; R3-4: floor(30/(3.0*1.15))=8 each; R5-6: floor(30/(3.0*1.25))=8 each; R7-8: floor(30/(3.0*1.40))=7 each; Press total = 10+10+8+8+8+8+7+7=66. Median total reps ≈ 68+66=134. Elite (L10 anchor) round-by-round calc: Use faster cycle and lower fatigue: t0 for both = 2.4 s; multipliers 1.0, 1.10, 1.20, 1.30. For both movements: R1-2 floor(30/2.4)=12 each; R3-4 floor(30/(2.4*1.10))=11 each; R5-6 floor(30/(2.4*1.20))=10 each; R7-8 floor(30/(2.4*1.30))=9 each. Per movement total = 12+12+11+11+10+10+9+9=84; Combined total ≈ 168. Low anchor (L1-L2 range) sanity check: slower cycles and heavier fatigue yield ≈ 98–104 total reps. Level thresholds: anchored to L5≈134 and L10≈168, with long-WOD spread (8–15%) and smooth steps across the range, yielding thresholds [96, 106, 116, 126, 136, 144, 152, 160, 166]. Higher reps are better; these 9 thresholds divide performances into 10 levels (L1 below 96 up to L10 at 166+).

Modality Profile

Back Squat (barbell) and Dumbbell Press both use external load, so the workout is entirely Weightlifting with no bodyweight or cyclical cardio elements.