Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

A short, high-skill couplet pairing moderate-heavy barbell cycling with advanced gymnastics. Thirty-two bar muscle-ups and thirty-two power snatches under a 15-minute cap create major shoulder, grip, and midline fatigue. The load and skill together demand strong technique under fatigue, high power output, and smart pacing to avoid blow-ups.

Benchmark Times for Power Plus Amanda

• Elite: <6:30
• Advanced: 7:30-8:30
• Intermediate: 9:30-10:30
• Beginner: >15:00

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Power (8/10): Explosive hip extension drives both the power snatch and the bar muscle-up kip. Staying snappy rep-to-rep is key to fast times.
• Speed (7/10): Quick cycling and sharp transitions reward athletes who can move crisply and manage short rests without hitting failure, especially on the pull-up bar.
• Stamina (6/10): Repetitive shoulder, grip, and hip extension demand across 64 total high-skill reps requires sustained output without failure, especially on the bar muscle-ups and touch-and-go snatches.
• Strength (5/10): The snatch load is moderate-heavy for repeated reps, requiring solid pulling strength and overhead stability, but it isn’t a max-effort strength test.
• Flexibility (5/10): Efficient overhead position and shoulder extension through the arch/hollow on bar muscle-ups are necessary. Tight shoulders or thoracic spine limit speed and efficiency.
• Endurance (3/10): Short, anaerobic effort with minimal monostructural work. Breathing matters, but the limiter is not steady-state cardio—it's high-power efforts and recovery between sets of gymnastics and barbell cycling.

Movements

• Power Snatch
• Bar Muscle-Up

Scaling Options

Scale to: 11-9-7-5 Power Snatch (115/75) + Bar Muscle-Up • 11-9-7-5 Power Snatch (95/65) + Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up • 9-7-5 Power Snatch (135/95) + Bar Muscle-Up

Scaling Explanation

These options preserve the couplet’s skill-power stimulus by adjusting load, gymnastics difficulty, or volume so athletes keep moving and avoid repeated failure while staying within the intended time domain.

Intended Stimulus

Fast but controlled sprint with high skill. Grip and shoulders should burn, yet you can keep moving with brief, planned breaks. Snatches should be small touch-and-go sets or quick singles; muscle-ups in smart chunks that avoid failure. Aim to stay calm early and finish with a hard push on the final 7-5.

Coach Insight

Open at 80–85% pace. Break snatches before you must, and leave 1 rep in the tank on early bar muscle-up sets. Short rests beat long chalk breaks. The one tip: never hit failure on muscle-ups—break early and keep transitions short. Avoid death sets of snatches, sloppy kip swings, and drifting rest times. Move with purpose between implements.

Benchmark Notes

Times range from just making the cap (L1) to elite, near-unbroken performances (L9). Choose the level that matches your capacity to keep snatches in small to moderate sets and bar muscle-ups in consistent chunks without long rest. Sub-10 is advanced; sub-8 is elite.

Modality Profile

Two modalities only: gymnastics (bar muscle-ups) and weightlifting (power snatches). No monostructural work. The gymnastics tends to consume slightly more time due to skill and fatigue management, so the balance leans 55% G and 45% W.

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If you enjoy Power Plus Amanda, you might also like these similar CrossFit WODs:

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These WODs similar to Power Plus Amanda share comparable training demands, time domains, and movement patterns.