Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

This workout combines high-skill movements (pistols and HSPU) with continuous work and no built-in rest. The descending ladder creates sustained fatigue accumulation where pistol strength and HSPU pressing power deteriorate together. Most average CrossFitters will struggle with unbroken pistols under fatigue and HSPU volume, requiring significant scaling. The bike provides minimal recovery between demanding unilateral and pressing movements.

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:

• Flexibility (8/10): Pistols demand exceptional ankle, hip, and hamstring mobility while HSPUs require good shoulder and thoracic spine flexibility for proper positioning.
• Stamina (7/10): High demand on upper body pressing stamina from HSPUs and single-leg stamina from pistols, especially as fatigue accumulates through rounds.
• Strength (6/10): Pistols require significant single-leg strength and HSPUs demand considerable upper body pressing strength, both challenging relative strength capacity.
• Speed (5/10): Descending rep scheme encourages faster cycling as rounds progress, with transitions between three distinct movement patterns requiring efficiency.
• Endurance (4/10): The descending ladder format with bike calories provides moderate cardiovascular demand, but the workout is relatively short with manageable volume.
• Power (3/10): Some explosive elements in HSPU drive and pistol ascent, but movements are more strength-endurance focused than purely explosive.

Movements

• Air Bike
• Pistol Squat
• Handstand Push-Up

Benchmark Notes

This is a descending ladder workout (10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) with 55 total reps each of Calorie Bike, Alternating Pistols, and HSPU. I'll analyze this as a time-based workout since no scoring method was provided. Movement breakdown: Calorie Bike - 55 calories will take approximately 110-180 seconds depending on skill level, with minimal fatigue impact since it's spread across rounds. Alternating Pistols - 55 total reps at 2-3 seconds per rep in fresh state = 110-165 seconds, but pistols require significant balance and unilateral strength, causing major fatigue accumulation. HSPU - 55 total reps is very high volume. Fresh HSPU take 2-4 seconds each, but in a complex workout like this, they become 8-12 seconds per rep due to shoulder fatigue and the overhead demand after bike and pistols. Round-by-round analysis: Early rounds (10-9-8) will be relatively smooth with 1.0-1.1x multiplier. Middle rounds (7-6-5) see 1.2-1.3x fatigue as shoulders and legs accumulate stress. Final rounds (4-3-2-1) experience 1.5-2.0x multiplier as HSPU become extremely challenging and pistols require more rest. Transition time between movements: 3-8 seconds per transition, totaling 60-90 seconds across all rounds. The closest anchor is Annie (50-40-30-20-10 double-under + sit-up) with similar descending rep scheme and total volume, where L10: 300-360 sec, L5: 480-600 sec, L1: 780-960 sec. However, this workout is significantly more demanding due to HSPU complexity and pistol difficulty. I'm scaling Annie upward by 20-25% to account for the higher skill movements. Final targets: L10: 360-420 sec, L5: 540-660 sec, L1: 900-1080 sec.

Modality Profile

Two gymnastics movements (Pistol Squat, Handstand Push-Up) and one monostructural movement (Bike). With 2 out of 3 movements being gymnastics, G gets the majority at 67%, M gets 33%, and W gets 0%.