AMRAP / workouts

A quick check: if your first round takes 45 seconds and your last takes 90, you started too fast. More on this in how to pace a workout and EMOM vs AMRAP.

AMRAPs are the easiest conditioning to measure. The time never changes, so when you repeat the same AMRAP a few weeks later, the extra rounds are progress you can see. Two a week is plenty for most people, with strength work and some easy aerobic sessions around them.

A simple week that uses them well:

• Monday: strength, then a 7-minute AMRAP of two movements at a quick, even pace.
• Wednesday: a 20-minute AMRAP such as Cindy, at a pace you could hold for twice as long.
• Friday: intervals in the style of The Chief: short AMRAPs with rest, where every block should score the same.

Scaling. Scale so you keep moving. Each round should take about as long as the one before, so reduce the reps or swap the movement before you slow to a crawl: ring rows for pull-ups, incline push-ups for push-ups, step-ups for box jumps. Keep the round structure the same so the score still means something, and note the scaled version when you log it.

Mistakes to avoid.

• Going out too hard. The first two minutes always feel easy, and they cost you the last ten.
• Resting in the wrong place. Take your breather before the movement that breaks you, not halfway through it.
• Losing count. Say each round out loud or keep a tally, because a miscounted round makes the score meaningless.
• Changing the workout between attempts. Same movements, standards and loads, or the comparison tells you nothing.