Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

The 50% front squats with tempo are manageable individually, but the 10-round format with minimal rest creates significant cumulative fatigue. The piked DB shoulder press targets already-fatigued shoulders from the front rack position, while the 30-second caps force a pace that prevents adequate recovery. The combination of sustained loading, movement interference, and forced timing makes this challenging for average athletes despite moderate individual loads.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): High volume of tempo front squats and continuous shoulder pressing will heavily tax muscular endurance in legs and shoulders.
• Endurance (7/10): Ten rounds with minimal rest creates significant cardiovascular demand, requiring sustained aerobic capacity throughout the workout duration.
• Flexibility (7/10): Front rack position, full squat depth, and overhead pressing demand good thoracic spine, ankle, and shoulder mobility throughout.
• Strength (6/10): Front squats at 50% 1RM with tempo control and overhead pressing with moderate dumbbells require substantial strength output.
• Speed (4/10): AMRAP format encourages quick transitions and efficient movement, but tempo squats limit overall cycling speed potential.
• Power (2/10): Tempo squats eliminate explosive component, while shoulder press AMRAP focuses more on muscular endurance than explosive power.

Movements

• Front Squat
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Benchmark Notes

This workout consists of 10 rounds alternating between tempo front squats and piked DB shoulder press AMRAPs. Each round has a 30-second cap for front squats, 10-second rest, 30-second AMRAP for shoulder press, and 10-second rest. Total workout time is 14 minutes. Tempo Front Squats (6/2/x at 50% 1RM): The tempo prescription (6-second eccentric, 2-second pause) severely limits reps. At 50% load with this tempo, elite athletes might complete 2-3 reps per 30-second window, intermediates 1-2 reps, beginners 1 rep or less. Over 10 rounds: Elite 25-30 reps, Intermediate 15-20 reps, Beginner 10-15 reps. Piked DB Shoulder Press (50/35 lbs): This is a challenging overhead movement in a compromised position. Fresh state would allow 8-12 reps per 30 seconds for elite, 5-8 for intermediate, 3-5 for beginners. However, fatigue accumulates significantly across 10 rounds. Early rounds maintain near-fresh pace, but by rounds 7-10, expect 30-50% degradation. Round-by-round breakdown for total reps: Rounds 1-3: Near-fresh performance Rounds 4-6: 10-15% fatigue penalty Rounds 7-8: 20-30% fatigue penalty Rounds 9-10: 30-50% fatigue penalty Since this is scored as total reps, I'm combining both movements. Elite athletes (L9-L10) should achieve 180-200+ total reps, intermediate (L5) around 120-135 reps, and beginners (L1-L2) around 60-75 reps. The tempo front squats act as active recovery between the more rep-intensive shoulder press AMRAPs. No direct anchor matches this format, but the rep accumulation pattern resembles high-volume gymnastics work with built-in pacing constraints. Final targets: L10: 200+ reps, L5: 120 reps, L1: 60 reps

Modality Profile

Both Front Squat and Dumbbell Shoulder Press are external load movements using barbells/dumbbells, making this 100% Weightlifting with no Gymnastics or Monostructural components.