Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

Death by format creates relentless fatigue accumulation with no recovery. Chest-to-bar pull-ups and ring dips are high-skill movements that deteriorate rapidly under fatigue, creating a grip and upper body endurance nightmare. Bar muscle-ups are even more demanding, requiring significant strength and coordination. The escalating rep scheme means athletes hit failure quickly, typically within 8-12 rounds, making this accessible only to experienced athletes with strong gymnastics capacity.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (9/10): Upper body pulling and pushing stamina severely tested as reps accumulate each round, with grip and shoulder endurance becoming limiting factors.
• Endurance (8/10): Death by format creates escalating cardiovascular demand as rounds progress, requiring significant aerobic capacity to sustain output through later rounds.
• Strength (6/10): Chest-to-bar pull-ups and ring dips require significant relative strength, while bar muscle-ups demand even higher strength-to-bodyweight ratios.
• Speed (6/10): Efficient movement cycling becomes critical in later rounds to complete required reps within the minute as fatigue accumulates rapidly.
• Flexibility (4/10): Ring dips require good shoulder mobility and chest flexibility, while muscle-ups demand thorough shoulder and lat flexibility for transition.
• Power (3/10): Some explosive hip drive needed for muscle-ups and kipping pull-ups, but primarily strength endurance focused rather than pure power output.

Movements

• Ring Dip
• Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up
• Bar Muscle-Up

Benchmark Notes

This is a 'Death By' format workout where athletes perform 1 rep in minute 1, 2 reps in minute 2, etc., until failure. Two options are given: (1) Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups + Ring Dips, or (2) Bar Muscle-Ups. Since this is scored by total reps completed, I need to calculate failure points for each option. For Chest-to-Bar + Ring Dips option: Athletes alternate between movements each minute. C2B pull-ups are more demanding than regular pull-ups (1.5-2.5 sec per rep vs 1-2 sec), and ring dips require significant upper body strength and stability. In a death-by format, athletes typically fail when the required reps exceed their sustainable pace within 60 seconds. Minute-by-minute breakdown: - Minutes 1-8: Manageable for most athletes (1-8 reps) - Minutes 9-12: Moderate challenge (9-12 reps, ~18-30 seconds of work) - Minutes 13-15: High intensity (13-15 reps, ~32-45 seconds of work) - Minutes 16+: Elite territory (16+ reps, 48+ seconds of continuous work) For Bar Muscle-Ups option: Much more demanding due to technical complexity and strength requirements. Each bar muscle-up takes 3-5 seconds, so minute 12 would require 60 seconds of continuous muscle-ups - an elite feat. Most athletes will choose the C2B + Ring Dip option as it's more accessible. Elite athletes might reach minute 15-16 (total of 120-136 reps), while recreational athletes might fail around minute 10-11 (total of 55-66 reps). Using Cindy (20-min AMRAP: 5 pull-up + 10 push-up + 15 air squat) as a reference anchor where L10 achieves 25-30 rounds (375-450 total reps over 20 minutes), this death-by format with harder movements over 10-15 minutes should see proportionally lower totals. Final targets: L10: 220+ reps (minute 15-16), L5: 150 reps (minute 12), L1: 45 reps (minute 9-10).

Modality Profile

All three movements (Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up, Ring Dip, Bar Muscle-Up) are bodyweight gymnastics movements requiring no external load.