Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

Bar muscle-ups are a high-skill movement that most average CrossFitters cannot perform consistently. The 1-minute cap creates intense time pressure, forcing athletes to attempt muscle-ups while already fatigued from rowing. The 30-second rest is insufficient recovery for such a demanding skill movement repeated 10 times. Most athletes will fail to complete prescribed reps, making this accessible only to experienced athletes with solid muscle-up proficiency.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Speed (9/10): One-minute cap per round creates extreme time pressure, demanding rapid transitions and maximum cycling speed on both movements throughout.
• Endurance (8/10): Ten rounds of high-intensity intervals with rowing for max calories creates significant cardiovascular demand despite short work periods and rest intervals.
• Power (8/10): Both bar muscle ups and rowing require explosive hip extension and powerful pulling motions to maximize efficiency and calorie output.
• Stamina (7/10): Bar muscle ups require sustained upper body pulling and pushing stamina, while max calorie rowing tests leg and core muscular endurance.
• Flexibility (7/10): Bar muscle ups require excellent shoulder mobility, thoracic extension, and hip flexibility for the kip and transition phases of the movement.
• Strength (6/10): Bar muscle ups demand significant upper body strength for the transition and dip portion, plus grip strength throughout the movement.

Movements

• Bar Muscle-Up
• Row

Benchmark Notes

This workout is 10 rounds of: 3 bar muscle-ups, max calorie row (1 minute cap), 30 seconds rest. Total scored calories across all rounds. Movement breakdown: Bar muscle-ups take 3-5 seconds each (9-15 seconds per round), leaving 45-51 seconds for rowing per round. Elite rowers can sustain 18-20 cal/min pace, intermediates 14-16 cal/min, beginners 10-12 cal/min. However, fatigue accumulates significantly across 10 rounds. Round 1-2: Full rowing capacity (45-50 seconds available). Round 3-4: 10% fatigue penalty. Round 5-6: 20% penalty. Round 7-8: 30% penalty. Round 9-10: 40-50% penalty due to grip fatigue from muscle-ups and accumulated lactate. Elite calculation: Rounds 1-2: 15 cal each = 30. Rounds 3-4: 13.5 cal each = 27. Rounds 5-6: 12 cal each = 24. Rounds 7-8: 10.5 cal each = 21. Rounds 9-10: 8 cal each = 16. Total elite: ~118 calories, rounded to 120 for L1 threshold. Intermediate athletes lose more efficiency and struggle with muscle-up consistency, reducing rowing time further. Beginners may fail muscle-ups entirely in later rounds, significantly impacting rowing windows. The 30-second rest provides partial recovery but insufficient for full restoration given the 10-round volume. No direct anchor match exists, but this follows similar patterns to high-volume mixed modal workouts where technical movements limit monostructural output. Final targets: L10: 280+ calories, L5: 200 calories, L1: 120 calories.

Modality Profile

Bar Muscle-Up is a gymnastics bodyweight movement, Row is monostructural cardio. Two modalities split 50/50.