Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

This workout combines two major limiting factors: heavy front squats under time pressure with high-skill ring muscle-ups in rapid succession. The 30-second windows force athletes to choose between meaningful squat loading or preserving energy for muscle-ups. Most athletes will hit failure on muscle-ups early, creating a frustrating cycle. The minimal rest (15 seconds) prevents recovery between demanding movements, making this accessible only to experienced athletes with both strength and advanced gymnastics skills.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): Ring muscle ups require exceptional upper body stamina, while front squats under fatigue challenge leg endurance across multiple rounds.
• Endurance (7/10): Ten rounds of 30-second work intervals with minimal rest creates significant cardiovascular demand and tests aerobic capacity throughout the workout.
• Strength (7/10): Front squats with increasing weight demand significant strength, while ring muscle ups require high relative strength for pulling and pressing.
• Flexibility (6/10): Ring muscle ups require excellent shoulder mobility and thoracic extension, while front squats demand ankle and hip flexibility for proper positioning.
• Power (6/10): Ring muscle ups are explosive pulling movements requiring significant power output, especially when performed under fatigue in later rounds.
• Speed (4/10): Short work intervals demand quick transitions and efficient movement execution, though 15-second rests allow some recovery between efforts.

Movements

• Front Squat
• Ring Muscle-Up

Benchmark Notes

This workout consists of 10 rounds alternating between front squats (4 reps with increasing weight) and AMRAP ring muscle-ups (30 seconds). Since it's scored as 'Reps', I'm calculating total ring muscle-up repetitions completed across all 10 rounds. Movement Analysis: - Front Squats: 4 reps per round with increasing weight - these serve as active recovery/strength work between muscle-up sets - Ring Muscle-Ups: 30-second AMRAP windows with 15-second rest between exercises Ring Muscle-Up Capacity Analysis: - Fresh state: Elite athletes can perform 1 ring muscle-up every 3-4 seconds when fresh - In 30-second windows: Elite might achieve 7-8 reps in early rounds, 5-6 in middle rounds, 3-4 in final rounds - Advanced athletes: 4-5 early, 3-4 middle, 2-3 late rounds - Intermediate: 2-3 early, 1-2 middle, 0-1 late rounds Fatigue Considerations: - Ring muscle-ups are extremely demanding on grip, shoulders, and core - Front squats between sets provide some recovery but also accumulate leg fatigue - 15-second rest is minimal for ring muscle-up recovery - Expect significant degradation after round 5-6 Round-by-Round Projection (Elite): Rounds 1-3: 7 reps each = 21 total Rounds 4-6: 6 reps each = 18 total Rounds 7-8: 5 reps each = 10 total Rounds 9-10: 4 reps each = 8 total Total: ~57 reps (scaling to 200 for L9) Using Amanda benchmark as reference (9-7-5 ring muscle-up + squat snatch): Amanda requires 21 total ring muscle-ups for time. This workout demands sustained ring muscle-up output over 10 rounds, making it significantly more challenging from a volume perspective. Final targets - L10: 220+ reps, L5: 120 reps, L1: 40 reps

Modality Profile

Front Squat is a weightlifting movement with external load (barbell), Ring Muscle-Up is a gymnastics bodyweight movement. Two modalities present, split 50/50.