CrossFit in Dubai: AMRAP - What is it?

CrossFit WODs (workouts of the day) commonly make use of AMRAP timings. A WOD may consist of a circuit that you have to complete as many times in a given period. For example, a WOD could be structured as follows:

The circuit:

1. 10 box jumps
2. 10 cleans
3. 10 medicine ball slams
4. 10 push presses

AMRAP 15 minutes

The goal here would be to complete those four exercises, at ten reps per set, in a single circuit, and repeat that circuit as many times as you possibly can in 15 minutes. The score for this WOD would be equal to the number of full rounds completed (no half points for only getting to cleans in the final round!) So, if you manage to complete 5 rounds in 15 minutes, your score would be 5; if you complete 10, your score would be ten, and so on.

CrossFit in Dubai AMRAP workouts are incredibly tough, very economical in time use, and very simple yet effective. As you’re aiming to perform as many reps of a single exercise as you can in a pre-determined period of time, or as many rounds of several exercises as you can in a pre-determined period of time, as possible, you have to really compress your training into a short amount of time with few rests. This pushes your heart rate through the roof, elicits hypertrophy as your muscles burn out, and gets you sweating hard. You will be working both explosive strength and aerobic capacity with this style of training, often with minimal equipment.

In fact, you can go with no equipment and get a great AMRAP training session in. Here’s another WOD example that uses nothing but your own body weight and a little outdoor space:

The circuit:

1. Run 100m in one direction
2. Bear crawl 50m the other direction, back towards the start
3. Walking lunge 50m, carrying on back to the start
4. Perform 10 hand-release push-ups

AMRAP 20 minutes

CrossFit Workout Intensity

Hopefully, you can see that the above circuit would be pretty brutal: your legs will be shaking at the end of it, and you may struggle to walk up the stairs for a day or so after as fatigue hits. AMRAP needs to be intense for it to work the musculature and aerobic system as we want it to. Simply going for AMRAP of jumping jacks in 10 minutes, or AMRAP of crunches in 10 minutes, for example, won’t cut it.

If you can complete the circuit comfortably, without having to take time out, you’re probably going too light. If your muscles aren’t burning and your heart rate isn’t in the 80-95% max range, you’re probably going too light.

CrossFit Workout Starting Out

This being said, you don’t want to go all out at once- your body may take a little time to adapt to AMRAP training. The above examples are quite advanced and should only be attempted by those who are already comfortable with AMRAP or HIIT workouts (high-intensity interval training) style workouts.

For beginners, set yourself a few basic, simple movements. Any dumbbell compounds will work nicely as a basic WOD. Try to bring in all body parts if you can, or at least as many as possible. Set yourself a realistic goal and timespan- four exercises repeated over and over for 6 minutes, for example.

Then work up to more difficult, more complex, and more challenging exercises, and start to expand timings.

CrossFit Workout Pacing

You don’t really want to be starting off all guns blazing for an AMRAP workout. Performing two rounds well, followed by five or six half-arsed, periodic rounds with massive rest periods, isn’t really what we’re going for. You may as well hit giant sets for this, give yourself a decent rest period between sets, and actually get some work done. Pace yourself, saving a little bit each round so that you can get quite far into the workout before you start to lag.

CrossFit training allows you to make the most of your gym membership makes great use of AMRAP in its WODs. There is a very good reason for this: they are tough, take (and teach) a great deal of mental fortitude, and work your aerobic system and give you a good muscle burn both at once.