One man, one plan, one kettlebell
Or: how to think about EMOMs and AMRAPs
The workout:
30 Min AMRAP:
3 kettlebell deadlift
3 hang cleans
3 press (or push-press)
3 front rack squats
Change arms every round
The kit: 1 kettlebell (I used a 16kg)
I’ve done a lot of EMOM (Every Minute, On The Minute) and AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) workouts over my life, and quite often the best strategy for the second one is to treat it like the first one. This was an AMRAP, but I actually did it as a one-round-every-thirty-seconds effort, and because it was well designed (by CrossFit coach Craig McKeraghan, a cool guy I do BJJ with), it felt very similar to a lot of EMOMs I’ve done.
I did this in my garden with my dog, and the mental process went something like this:
Minute 1: This weight is fine.
Minutes 5-6: This is going to be boring.
Minutes 7-8: This is going to be horrible.
Minutes 9-10: Okay I’m not actually sure I can do this.
Minute 12: Maybe it’s fine if I don’t do 60 rounds? It’s an AMRAP, not an EMOM.
Minute 13: Just hang on til minute 15 and then see how you go.
Minute 15: Just hang on til minute 18 and see how you go.
Minute 20: Okay this might be doable.
Minute 21: I’m not sure this is doable.
Minute 23: Okay body, I’ll make you a deal: if you get to 60 rounds you never have to do this again, but if you don’t we’re doing it again next week.
Minute 25: This is doable!
Minute 29: LET’S FUCKING GO!
This was a good workout because everything pretty much balanced out: the deadlifts and cleans are pretty easy but combine to increase the overall demand on your cardio, the pressing is quite hard but you get a rest because you’re alternating sides, and the squats feel easy at the start but then you realise you have to do 120 of them (weighted!).
At the start, you probably get 10-15 seconds of rest between quite snappy sets, but at the end that might drop to 6 or 7 as the sets take a bit longer and you’re less quick off the mark. My pacing almost got ruined in the middle because I had to do a lap of my garden chasing my dog as he ran off with one of my son’s shoes, but you probably won’t have that issue. Other things that might disrupt your pacing:
Taking your shirt off
Finding a better playlist
Re-chalking
Allowing yourself an extra blissful 10 seconds of rest (technically, you can always make it up later)
Part of what makes an EMOM/AMRAP so great is the mental negotiation detailed above: you don’t have to do the rounds you’re aiming for, and so the temptation to just give yourself 30 seconds off in the middle and drop to 58 rounds (or whatever) is there. But you know you’ll feel better if you stick to the plan, if not for the whole workout, then at least for as long as you can.
Anyway, 10/10 for this workout, I liked it. Give it a shot, but also: if you don’t do 2/3/4 move simple EMOMs much, I strongly recommend them, especially if there’s a bit of ‘breathing’ in them. Two super-simple ones I like:
Cindy (technically an AMRAP)
AMRAP in 20 minutes
5 pullups
10 pressups
15 squats
The Lying Ox
EMOM for 10 minutes
10 pressups
15 KB swings
Let me know how you get on!
Joel x
(Little housekeeping note: I’m going to try to post more on Functionally Jacked as I play around with my workouts for the summer: I definitely won’t be posting every week, but whenever I do something interesting and worth talking about. Please follow along if you’d like more of that sort of thing.)