Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

The 135/95 cluster is moderately heavy for most athletes, but the continuous 1-minute AMRAP format with lateral burpees creates significant fatigue accumulation. The barbell cycling under time pressure while managing breathing from burpees makes this challenging. Six rounds builds substantial volume despite the rest periods. The combination of moderate load, high-skill movement (cluster), and metabolic demand from burpees under time constraints elevates this beyond medium difficulty.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Speed (9/10): AMRAP format with only six total movements per round demands maximum cycling speed and minimal transition time to maximize rounds.
• Stamina (8/10): Clusters and burpees in AMRAP format will heavily tax muscular endurance, especially grip strength and posterior chain stamina over six rounds.
• Power (8/10): Clusters are explosive Olympic lifting derivatives, and burpees require rapid transitions from floor to standing, emphasizing power output throughout.
• Endurance (7/10): Six one-minute AMRAPs with one-minute rest creates significant cardiovascular demand, requiring sustained aerobic output across multiple high-intensity intervals.
• Strength (6/10): 135/95lb clusters require moderate to heavy loading for most athletes, demanding significant strength in the clean and front squat positions.
• Flexibility (4/10): Clusters require good front rack mobility and ankle flexibility, while lateral burpees demand hip and shoulder range of motion.

Movements

• Cluster
• Lateral Burpee Over Bar

Benchmark Notes

This workout consists of 6 rounds of 1-minute AMRAPs with 1 cluster (135/95) + 6 lateral barbell burpees, followed by 1 minute rest. Each round is scored separately and totaled. Movement analysis: Cluster (135/95) takes 3-4 seconds for elite athletes, 4-5 seconds for intermediate, 5-7 seconds for beginners. Lateral barbell burpees take 4-5 seconds each for elite, 5-6 seconds for intermediate, 6-8 seconds for beginners. In a 60-second window, elite athletes can complete approximately 8-10 clusters + 48-60 lateral burpees per round, but the combination limits this significantly. Round 1 (fresh): Elite can complete 2-3 clusters + 12-18 burpees = 14-21 reps. Intermediate: 1-2 clusters + 6-12 burpees = 7-14 reps. Beginner: 1 cluster + 6 burpees = 7 reps. Fatigue progression: Rounds 1-2 at baseline, rounds 3-4 at 1.1x time penalty, rounds 5-6 at 1.2-1.3x penalty. The heavy cluster significantly limits rep count as athletes must choose between high-value clusters or higher-volume burpees. Total across 6 rounds: Elite (L10): 24 reps/round × 6 = 144 total reps. Advanced (L8): 22 reps/round × 6 = 132 reps. Intermediate (L5): 16 reps/round × 6 = 96 reps. Beginner (L1): 8 reps/round × 6 = 48 reps. The 1-minute rest allows partial recovery but the heavy cluster weight (135/95) creates significant central nervous system fatigue. No direct anchor match, but this follows similar patterns to high-intensity interval workouts with mixed modal demands. Final targets: L10: 144 reps, L5: 96 reps, L1: 48 reps.

Modality Profile

Cluster is a weightlifting movement (clean + front squat + push press with external load), while Lateral Burpee Over Bar is a gymnastics movement (bodyweight burpee with lateral jump). Two modalities present: 50% Weightlifting, 50% Gymnastics.