Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Medium

While 155/105 power cleans are moderately heavy for most athletes, the low volume (3 reps) and pairing with bodyweight push-ups creates manageable fatigue accumulation. The 9-minute time cap allows for strategic pacing and brief rests between rounds. Most average CrossFitters can maintain the barbell cycling without significant breakdown, and push-ups provide active recovery. The combination creates steady work without overwhelming any single energy system.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): High volume push-ups combined with repeated power cleans will heavily tax upper body muscular endurance and grip stamina over multiple rounds.
• Power (8/10): Power cleans are explosive by nature, requiring rapid force production from the floor through the catch position on every repetition.
• Endurance (7/10): Nine minutes of continuous work with minimal rest creates significant cardiovascular demand, requiring sustained aerobic output throughout the AMRAP format.
• Strength (6/10): Power cleans at 155/105 lbs require moderate to heavy strength, especially as fatigue accumulates and form must be maintained.
• Speed (6/10): AMRAP format rewards quick transitions between movements and efficient cycling of both power cleans and push-ups to maximize rounds.
• Flexibility (4/10): Power cleans demand good hip, ankle, and shoulder mobility for proper receiving position and full extension through the pull.

Movements

• Power Clean
• Push-Up

Benchmark Notes

This is a 9-minute AMRAP with 3 Power Cleans at 155/105 and 9 Push-Ups per round. I'll analyze this by breaking down the movement times and applying fatigue multipliers. Power Clean (155 lbs): At this moderate-heavy load, elite athletes can perform singles in 2-3 seconds, intermediate athletes need 3-4 seconds, and recreational athletes require 4-5 seconds per rep. With 3 reps per round, this translates to 6-9 seconds for elite, 9-12 seconds for intermediate, and 12-15 seconds for recreational athletes in early rounds. Push-Ups: Standard push-ups take 1-1.5 seconds per rep when fresh. With 9 reps per round, this is 9-13.5 seconds for elite, 13.5-18 seconds for intermediate, and 18-27 seconds for recreational athletes. Transition time between movements: 2-3 seconds for elite, 4-6 seconds for intermediate, 8-12 seconds for recreational. Round 1 times: Elite ~17-21 seconds, Intermediate ~26-36 seconds, Recreational ~38-54 seconds. Fatigue multipliers: Rounds 1-3 stay relatively fresh (1.0-1.1x), rounds 4-6 see moderate fatigue (1.1-1.3x), rounds 7-9 experience significant fatigue (1.3-1.6x). The power cleans will become increasingly challenging as grip and posterior chain fatigue, while push-ups will slow dramatically as shoulders and triceps accumulate fatigue. Using Cindy (20-min AMRAP: 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats) as a reference anchor, where L10 achieves 25-30 rounds, L5 gets 15-18 rounds, and L1 manages 6-8 rounds, I need to adjust for the shorter time domain (9 vs 20 minutes) and different movement demands. The power cleans at 155 lbs are significantly more demanding than air squats, and we have fewer push-ups (9 vs 10) but they're preceded by heavy lifting rather than pull-ups. Scaling from Cindy: 9 minutes is 45% of 20 minutes, so base expectations would be ~45% of Cindy rounds. However, the power cleans are much more demanding than the Cindy movements, creating a bottleneck that will limit rounds more than the time proportionally suggests. Elite athletes (L10) should complete 8-9 rounds, managing consistent 60-65 second rounds initially, slowing to 75-80 seconds in later rounds. Advanced athletes (L5) will likely achieve 5.5-6.5 rounds with 90-100 second rounds that extend to 110-120 seconds as fatigue sets in. Recreational athletes (L1) will struggle with the power clean load and may need to break the push-ups into sets, achieving 3-4 rounds with 120-150 second rounds. Final targets: L10: 8.4 rounds, L5: 6.0 rounds, L1: 3.5 rounds.

Modality Profile

Power Clean is a weightlifting movement with external load (barbell), Push-Up is a bodyweight gymnastics movement. Two modalities present, split 50/50.