Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Very Hard

The combination of heavy thrusters (50/35) with minimal rest creates enormous metabolic demand, while the forced EMOM structure prevents adequate recovery. Burpees over the rower add coordination challenges under severe fatigue. The short time caps create intense pacing pressure, forcing athletes to maintain high power output throughout. Most will need to scale weights significantly, and the workout punishes multiple energy systems simultaneously with no reprieve.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Stamina (9/10): High volume of burpees across 20 minutes will test muscular endurance, especially with interference from thrusters and rowing fatigue.
• Endurance (8/10): Ten rounds of continuous work with burpees and rowing creates significant cardiovascular demand with minimal rest between high-intensity intervals.
• Speed (7/10): One-minute caps create time pressure requiring fast transitions and quick movement cycling to maximize burpee volume per round.
• Power (6/10): Thrusters are explosive hip drive movements, burpees require power for jump-overs, creating moderate power demands throughout.
• Strength (4/10): DB thrusters at 50/35 provide moderate load demand, but limited to only 5 reps per round reduces pure strength focus.
• Flexibility (3/10): Thrusters require overhead mobility, burpees demand hip flexion, and rowing needs posterior chain flexibility but nothing extreme.

Movements

• Dumbbell Thruster
• Burpee
• Row

Scaling Options

Reduce DB weight to 35/25 or 25/15 lbs. Sub step-ups onto rower instead of burpees over. Reduce calories to 4/2 or 3/2. Consider 8 rounds instead of 10. Allow 90-second caps if athlete is consistently missing time domain.

Scaling Explanation

Scale if thrusters take longer than 30 seconds or if athlete cannot complete at least 3 burpees in remaining time. Priority is maintaining movement quality and consistent effort across all rounds. Target 6-10 burpees per round depending on scaling level. Scale to preserve intended high-intensity intervals rather than grinding through with poor form.

Intended Stimulus

High-intensity glycolytic intervals targeting anaerobic power with brief recovery. 20-minute time domain focuses on maintaining consistent burpee output under accumulated fatigue. Primary challenge is metabolic conditioning with movement efficiency under time pressure.

Coach Insight

Complete 5 thrusters quickly in first 15-20 seconds to maximize burpee time. Use light touch-and-go on thrusters - avoid dropping the DBs. Step back on burpees to preserve hip flexors, jump over laterally. On rowing rounds, pull hard for calories then transition immediately to burpees. Expect burpee numbers to drop 2-3 reps per round - start conservatively. Rest 10-15 seconds between rounds if needed.

Benchmark Notes

This workout has 10 rounds with alternating 1-minute intervals. Each round consists of: (A) 5 DB Thrusters + max burpees over rower, then (B) 5/3 cal row + max burpees over rower. Total possible reps = 10 rounds × (5 thrusters + burpees + calories + burpees). Fresh state: DB Thrusters (50/35) take ~2-3 sec each = 15 sec for 5 reps, leaving 45 sec for burpees. Burpees over rower back take ~4-5 sec each due to awkward position = 9-11 burpees in 45 sec. Row calories: 5 cals take ~12-15 sec for males, 3 cals ~8-10 sec for females, leaving 45-50 sec for more burpees = 9-12 additional burpees. Per round total: 5 + 10 + 4 + 10 = 29 reps (elite), scaling down with fatigue. Rounds 1-3: 100% efficiency (29 reps/round), Rounds 4-6: 90% efficiency (26 reps/round), Rounds 7-8: 80% efficiency (23 reps/round), Rounds 9-10: 70% efficiency (20 reps/round). Elite total: 3×29 + 3×26 + 2×23 + 2×20 = 87 + 78 + 46 + 40 = 251 reps. Recreational athletes will struggle with transitions, burpee pace, and rowing efficiency, achieving ~17% of elite performance for L1 (42 reps), scaling up to 61% for L9 (154 reps).

Modality Profile

Three movements across all modalities: Dumbbell Thruster (Weightlifting), Burpee (Gymnastics), Row (Monostructural). Even distribution with slight emphasis on Weightlifting.