Workout Description
For time:
5 rounds of:
7 Muscle-Ups
21 Burpees
Why This Workout Is Very Hard
High skill demand from 35 total muscle-ups combined with 105 burpees creates a potent gymnastics sprint-endurance challenge. The rings tax grip, shoulders, and pulling capacity while burpees drive heart rate and global fatigue. Most athletes will need strategic set management to avoid failure, and advanced athletes can push near-threshold for 10–15 minutes.
Benchmark Times for Ryan
- Elite: <9:00
- Advanced: 11:00-13:00
- Intermediate: 15:00-17:00
- Beginner: >27:00
Training Focus
This workout develops the following fitness attributes:
- Stamina (8/10): High rep total across upper body pulling/pressing and full-body burpees demands repeatable effort and fatigue resistance, especially in shoulders and triceps.
- Speed (6/10): Fast burpee cadence and tight transitions matter, but pacing is constrained by muscle-up sets and recovery to avoid failure.
- Endurance (6/10): Breathing stays elevated across 5 rounds as burpees and transitions drive heart rate. Expect sustained cardio demand without long breaks if muscle-ups are managed smartly.
- Power (5/10): Explosive hip pull and turnover in muscle-ups plus snappy burpee pop-ups reward powerful, crisp movement cycles.
- Flexibility (3/10): Requires solid shoulder mobility and stable positions on the rings plus comfortable squat/hip flexion for fast burpees, but nothing extreme.
- Strength (2/10): No external load; strength shows up mainly as bodyweight pulling/pressing capacity to perform efficient muscle-ups under fatigue.
Scaling Options
Scale to: 7 Bar Muscle-Ups + 21 Burpees • 7 Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups + 7 Ring Dips + 21 Burpees • 7 Pull-Ups + 7 Bench/Mat Dips + 15 Up-Downs
Scaling Explanation
Each option preserves the pull + press gymnastics stimulus and overall conditioning while adjusting skill and volume so you can move continuously and finish in the intended time range.
Intended Stimulus
Fast and relentless gymnastics conditioning. Aim for steady, quick burpees and manageable muscle-up sets with short, planned rests. Breathing should be high but controlled, avoiding redline early. The best scores come from consistent round splits, confident ring mechanics, and minimizing chalk/setup time.
Coach Insight
Pace the burpees at a sustainable, non-stop rhythm and protect your muscle-up sets from failure with quick, pre-planned breaks.
The one thing: Break muscle-ups before you must. Singles with 3–5 second resets can beat failed reps.
Common mistakes: Opening too hot on burpees, chasing big unbroken MU sets, and long chalk breaks. Keep transitions tight.
Benchmark Notes
Times range from 27 minutes (beginner) down to 9 minutes (elite). If you’re around 17 minutes, you’re right in the middle. Use these to choose scaling that lets you keep moving without long rest breaks, ideally finishing between 12–20 minutes depending on skill with muscle-ups.
Modality Profile
Pure gymnastics couplet: ring muscle-ups and burpees. No monostructural machines and no external loading. The entire dose comes from bodyweight pulling, pressing, and cyclical burpee work, emphasizing skill under fatigue and sustainable movement cadence.
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