Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout stacks multiple limiting factors sequentially with no built-in rest: grip is destroyed by DB snatches, farmer's carries, KB swings, and deadlifts all competing; deficit HSPUs and chest-to-bar pull-ups demand high skill under fatigue; thrusters at 60/40kg and deadlifts at 150/100kg are genuinely heavy mid-workout. The mirrored double-under/snatch bookends ensure athletes finish exhausted. Estimated 35-55 minutes for average athletes, with most needing to scale.

Benchmark Times for Wilhelm Tell

• Elite: <21:00
• Advanced: 25:00-29:30
• Intermediate: 34:45-41:15
• Beginner: >82:30

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (9/10): Extremely high volume across pulling, pressing, hinging, and carrying movements — DB snatches, KB swings, pull-ups, HSPU, deadlifts, and burpees — demands exceptional muscular endurance from nearly every muscle group.
• Endurance (8/10): This lengthy for-time workout with double-unders, farmer's walks, burpees, and continuous transitions creates sustained cardiovascular demand across multiple movement patterns, taxing aerobic capacity significantly throughout.
• Strength (7/10): Heavy thrusters at 60/40 kg, deadlifts at 150/100 kg, and loaded farmer's walks represent genuine strength demands, especially under accumulated fatigue, pushing well above moderate loading territory.
• Power (7/10): Double-unders, dumbbell snatches, kettlebell swings, and thrusters all require explosive hip extension and fast-twitch recruitment, making power a consistent demand throughout despite the endurance context.
• Flexibility (6/10): Deficit handstand push-ups require shoulder and thoracic mobility, thrusters demand overhead and hip flexibility, and KB swings need posterior chain range of motion — collectively above average mobility requirements.
• Speed (6/10): For-time format incentivizes fast cycling on double-unders, snatches, and burpees, with efficient transitions between sections critical to performance, though the sheer volume moderates true sprint capacity.

Movements

• Farmer Carry
• Thruster
• Kettlebell Swing
• Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up
• Burpee
• Deadlift
• Deficit Handstand Push-Up
• Alternating Dumbbell Snatch
• Double-Under

Scaling Options

Double-Unders: Sub 100 single-unders or 25-35 attempts at double-unders for athletes still developing the skill. Dumbbell Snatches: Scale to 20/12.5 kg for newer athletes; reduce to 15 reps per round if volume is overwhelming. Thrusters: Scale to 40/30 kg; sub front squats if shoulder mobility is limiting. Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups: Sub chin-over-bar pull-ups, banded pull-ups, or ring rows — keep the pulling volume. Farmer's Walk: Reduce to 20/15 kg DB and 24/16 kg KB, or sub a single implement carry. Kettlebell Swings: Scale to 24/16 kg; sub Russian swings (eye level) if American swing mechanics are poor. Deficit HSPUs: Sub standard HSPUs, pike push-ups from a box, or strict dumbbell press — reduce deficit to 5 cm if partially scaling. Deadlifts: Scale to 100/70 kg; prioritize a load where you can maintain a neutral spine for all reps. Burpees: Keep as written — these are always scaleable by pace, not volume. Volume reduction: Consider cutting the deadlift/burpee ladder to 8-6-4 or reducing the final double-under rounds to 2 if time cap is a concern.

Scaling Explanation

Scale this workout if you cannot perform at least 30 unbroken double-unders, 5 unbroken chest-to-bar pull-ups, 3 unbroken deficit HSPUs, or if the thruster or deadlift weights exceed 80% of your working max. The goal is to keep moving — if you're grinding to a complete halt on multiple movements, the stimulus is lost. Prioritize technique above all on the heavy deadlifts and deficit HSPUs, as fatigue-induced breakdown on these movements carries real injury risk. Target completion time is 35-50 minutes for well-conditioned athletes at Rx; scaled athletes should aim to finish within a 55-60 minute time cap. If you're newer to CrossFit, this workout is best approached as a team or partner workout splitting reps, or by cutting one full section. The mental challenge is the point — scale loads and movements so you can keep moving, not so you can go heavier and stall out.

Intended Stimulus

This is a long-duration grind — expect 35 to 55+ minutes of sustained, full-body effort. The workout is designed to test your aerobic engine, mental resilience, and ability to maintain movement quality under accumulated fatigue. It hits every major energy system: the double-unders and snatches demand coordination and cyclical conditioning, the thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups challenge strength-endurance, the farmer's walks are active recovery that still tax your grip and midline, the kettlebell swings and deficit HSPUs demand posterior chain and pressing strength under fatigue, the heavy deadlifts and burpees are a gut-check in the middle, and the final double-under and snatch rounds are a true test of mental fortitude when your body wants to stop. The primary challenge is mental — staying composed, breaking movements intelligently, and not blowing up early.

Coach Insight

Treat this like a long race with distinct chapters — don't sprint the opening. On the first 3 rounds of double-unders, find a smooth, relaxed rhythm; these should feel controlled, not maximal. Dumbbell snatches should be broken into sets of 10 or two sets of 10 if needed — alternate arms each rep and use your hips, not your arm. For thrusters (10-8-6), the loads are significant — go unbroken on the set of 6, consider one break on the 10 and 8. Chest-to-bar pull-ups should be broken early — sets of 5-7 on the round of 10, never go to failure. The farmer's walks are your active recovery — walk with purpose but use this time to breathe and reset mentally. Kettlebell swings should be smooth and hip-driven; break the set of 20 into 12-8 if needed. Deficit HSPUs are the hardest skill movement — break early and often, sets of 3-5 are smart. For the deadlifts, this is heavy — brace hard, reset each rep, and do NOT rush. Treat each set as near-max effort singles if needed. Burpees should be slow and steady — a consistent pace beats sprinting and dying. The final 3 rounds of double-unders and snatches are where champions are made — dig in, break the snatches into 10s, and finish strong.

Benchmark Notes

This is an extremely long and demanding workout with multiple high-skill movements (deficit HSPU, C2B pull-ups, heavy thrusters and deadlifts) stacked with grip-intensive farmer's carries and high-volume double-unders bookending the piece. The primary limiters are deficit HSPU capacity, grip fatigue accumulating across farmer's walks and KB swings, and the heavy deadlift triplet under fatigue. L5 (~45 min) represents a solid intermediate athlete who can string some C2B and HSPU but must break most sets significantly, and grinds through the 150 kg deadlifts in singles or small sets.

Modality Profile

9 movements total. Gymnastics (4): Double-Under, Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up, Deficit Handstand Push-Up, Burpee. Monostructural (0): none. Weightlifting (5): Alternating Dumbbell Snatch, Thruster, Farmer Carry, Kettlebell Swing, Deadlift. Raw percentages: G=44%, M=0%, W=56%. Rounded to nearest 10%: G=40, M=0, W=60. Adjusted to sum to 100: G=40, M=10, W=50.

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