Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

This workout combines moderate-heavy thrusters (95/65) with high-skill toes-to-bar in a continuous format with no built-in rest. The 21-15-9 rep scheme creates significant fatigue accumulation, especially grip fatigue from T2B affecting thruster performance. The 400m runs provide minimal recovery given the intensity. Most average athletes will need to break up the larger sets considerably, and many will scale the weight or substitute toes-to-bar.

Benchmark Times for WOD

• Elite: <6:00
• Advanced: 7:00-8:00
• Intermediate: 9:00-10:00
• Beginner: >18:00

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (8/10): Descending ladder of 45 total thrusters and toes to bar tests upper body pulling, pushing, and core muscular endurance significantly.
• Endurance (7/10): Three 400m runs combined with high-intensity barbell and gymnastics work creates significant cardiovascular demand and aerobic stress throughout.
• Flexibility (6/10): Toes to bar demands significant shoulder and hip flexibility, while thrusters require good overhead and ankle mobility for proper positioning.
• Speed (6/10): Fast transitions between movements and maintaining pace through fatigue are crucial for competitive times in this couplet format.
• Strength (4/10): Moderate barbell load at 95/65 pounds requires decent strength but emphasizes strength endurance over maximal force production.
• Power (3/10): Some explosive hip drive in thrusters but overall emphasis on sustained output rather than pure explosive power development.

Movements

• Run
• Thruster
• Toes-to-Bar

Benchmark Notes

This workout is very similar to the iconic Fran benchmark (21-15-9 Thrusters 95/65 + Pull-ups), but with three key differences: (1) 400m runs before each round, (2) Toes-to-Bar instead of Pull-ups, and (3) three rounds instead of continuous flow. Using Fran as the primary anchor: L10: 120-140 sec, L5: 320-360 sec, L1: 540-660 sec. Movement breakdown per round: 400m Run takes 75-120 sec across levels, 21/15/9 Thrusters at 95/65 lbs take 42-63/30-45/18-27 sec respectively, and 21/15/9 Toes-to-Bar take 32-53/23-38/14-23 sec respectively. Adding transitions (5-15 sec between movements) and accounting for cumulative fatigue (1.0x/1.1x/1.2x multipliers across rounds), the total times become: Round 1: 154-251 sec, Round 2: 126-207 sec, Round 3: 100-162 sec. Total estimated range: 380-620 sec. However, the addition of 1200m total running (approximately 300-480 sec of additional work) significantly extends this beyond Fran's timeframe. The running component alone represents 60-80% of Fran's total time, making this workout substantially longer. Adjusting from Fran's anchor by adding the running penalty: L10 increases from 130 sec to 360 sec (+230 sec for running and fatigue), L5 increases from 340 sec to 600 sec, L1 increases from 600 sec to 1080 sec. Final targets - L10: 360 sec (6:00), L5: 600 sec (10:00), L1: 1080 sec (18:00).

Modality Profile

Three movements across all modalities: Run (monostructural cardio), Thruster (weighted barbell movement), and Toes-to-Bar (bodyweight gymnastics). Equal distribution with slight weighting toward weightlifting.