Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

The 70/45 lb dumbbells are heavy for both burpee deadlifts and snatches, and 50 reps of each creates brutal grip and posterior chain fatigue. The 50 pull-ups sandwiched between these movements compounds grip failure significantly. The snatch at 70/45 lb requires technical execution under severe fatigue. Multiple limiting factors — grip, lungs, posterior chain, and skill — all converge simultaneously, pushing this well beyond Hard.

Benchmark Times for Vernon Cherry

• Elite: <5:15
• Advanced: 6:15-7:25
• Intermediate: 8:50-10:30
• Beginner: >22:30

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): High volume across pulling, hinging, and explosive movements creates significant muscular endurance demands, especially grip fatigue accumulating across deadlifts, pull-ups, and snatches in sequence.
• Endurance (6/10): The combination of 118 total reps across three movements sustains elevated heart rate throughout, creating meaningful cardiovascular demand, though the moderate rep count prevents it from being a pure endurance test.
• Strength (5/10): The 70/45 lb dumbbell loads are moderately heavy, requiring real force production on deadlifts and snatches, but the high rep count shifts the stimulus away from maximal strength expression.
• Power (5/10): The 18 dumbbell snatches are inherently explosive and power-dependent, but the large volume of deadlifts and pull-ups dilutes the overall power stimulus, creating a mixed power-endurance profile.
• Speed (5/10): For Time format incentivizes efficient transitions and cycling speed, but heavy loads and grip fatigue naturally moderate pace, rewarding smart pacing over all-out sprinting.
• Flexibility (4/10): Dumbbell snatches require overhead mobility and hip flexibility, while deadlifts demand hamstring range of motion. Pull-ups require shoulder mobility, creating moderate overall flexibility demands.

Movements

• Dumbbell Burpee Deadlift
• Dumbbell Snatch
• Pull-Up

Scaling Options

Weight: Reduce dumbbells to 50/35 lb or 35/25 lb depending on athlete capacity. Movement substitutions: Replace pull-ups with banded pull-ups, ring rows, or jumping pull-ups. For burpee deadlifts, athletes can step back instead of jumping in the burpee. Volume: Reduce to 35 burpee deadlifts, 35 pull-ups, and 12 snatches for intermediate athletes. Beginners can work at 25-25-9. If grip is a major limiter, allow chalk and extended rest periods between movements.

Scaling Explanation

Scale the weight if you cannot perform at least 10 unbroken deadlifts at Rx load with a neutral spine, or if the snatch weight requires a press-out at the top. Scale pull-ups if you have fewer than 10 unbroken kipping pull-ups — banded pull-ups or ring rows will preserve the pulling stimulus without destroying your shoulders. Scale volume if you anticipate going beyond 30 minutes — the stimulus is sustained hard effort, not an endurance slog. Prioritize technique over load on every rep, especially as fatigue sets in on the snatches. Target completion time is 15-25 minutes; if you're projected beyond that, reduce reps or load accordingly.

Intended Stimulus

This is a moderate-to-long time domain grinder targeting 15-25 minutes of sustained effort. The combination of high-rep burpee deadlifts, pull-ups, and heavy dumbbell snatches creates a hard sustained effort that taxes your posterior chain, grip, and pulling muscles simultaneously. The primary challenge is mental and muscular endurance — the volume is high, the loads are significant, and fatigue compounds across all three movements. Expect your grip and upper back to be screaming by the time you hit snatches.

Coach Insight

Attack the burpee deadlifts in large, consistent sets early — think 15-15-10-10 or 20-15-15 — but never go to failure. Keep your hips loaded and back flat on every rep; the burpee portion will tempt you to rush the deadlift setup, which is where injuries happen. On pull-ups, break early and often — sets of 10, 8, 7, 5 are smarter than going unbroken and dying. Kip efficiently and shake out your grip between sets. The 18 dumbbell snatches at the end are the sneaky killer — your grip will be torched. Break them into 6-6-6 or 9-9 and focus on a strong hip drive to save your arm. Transition quickly between movements; rest is earned between sets, not between movements. Biggest mistake: going too hard on burpee deadlifts and arriving at pull-ups with nothing left.

Benchmark Notes

50 dumbbell burpee deadlifts at 70/45 lb, 50 pull-ups and 18 dumbbell snatches at 70/45 lb. The burpee deadlifts are half the time. L5 (10:30-12:30) takes about 6 seconds each. L10 (under 5:15) takes about 3.5 seconds each and goes unbroken on the pull-ups.

Modality Profile

3 movements total: Pull-Up (G), Dumbbell Burpee Deadlift (W - weighted burpee deadlift combo counts as weightlifting due to external load), Dumbbell Snatch (W). That gives 1 Gymnastics and 2 Weightlifting movements, roughly 33% G and 67% W.

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