AMRAP With Friends

10 minute AMRAP

The Yoke

Local muscle burn · Localized Trap · intensity 3 of 5

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

Overview

The Yoke is 10 hand-release push-ups, 15 supine floor scapular shrugs, and 15 air squats. The work moves through the chest, the upper back, and the quads instead of sitting on one muscle.

Muscles worked

Energy systems

These are overlapping contributions. This workout is not assigned to one energy system.

  • Glycolytic: High
  • Oxidative: Low
  • Neuromuscular: Moderate

Training effect

Immediate demand

10 minutes, intensity 3 of 5. Today the limiter is the sets being the same size.

Intended stimulus

The round spreads the work across more than one region. On this workout that is 10 hand-release push-ups, 15 supine floor scapular shrugs, and 15 air squats.

Repeated practice

Repeat the same workout and compare the score. What can change over weeks is how long that pace lasts. One time through does not produce that change.

Body-composition context

Body weight changes with the rest of how you eat and train. This workout is one piece of work on one day.

Expected feel

The sets are the same size. The round gets hard when one of them breaks.

Pacing

Heavy chest press into micro-shrugs, squats as the flush. Arms locked on the shrugs or the triceps steal the work.

Keep each round about the same length. Do not drop the hand-release push-ups to keep the other sets moving.

The movements

Hand-Release Push-ups

This enforces a dead-stop and prevents cheating the depth. Use this variation to humble users who claim they can do 50 push-ups unbroken.

What not to do. Resting the whole body on the floor instead of releasing and pressing straight away.

Supine Floor Scapular Shrugs

This is a micro-movement. Your torso will barely leave the floor. If your elbows bend, your triceps are taking over the work. Keep the arms locked and force the scapula to do the job.

What not to do. Bending the elbows so the triceps steal the work from the scapula.

Air Squats

Let gravity do the work on the way down. Pull yourself into the bottom quickly, then explode up. Use your arms for rhythm.

What not to do. Cutting the depth once the legs burn, so the hip crease stops above the knee.

Why these movements

The work moves through the chest, the upper back, and the quads instead of sitting on one muscle.

Scaling

Keep every movement in the round. Drop reps on the hardest piece before you drop a movement.

Hand-Release Push-ups

  • Hands elevated. Hands on a bench, chair or step. The higher the surface, the easier the rep.
  • From the knees. Knees down, hips in line with the shoulders — do not let the hips pike up.
  • Partial range. Lower as far as you can control and press back. Depth grows as you do.

Supine Floor Scapular Shrugs

  • Shorter lift. Drive into the floor but only lift as high as you can control without the hips or neck cheating.
  • Hold the squeeze. Reach the top and freeze for a count instead of cycling reps. Same drive, less fatigue management.

Air Squats

  • To a seat. Squat to a chair or box and stand back up. Lower the seat as you improve.
  • Hold a support. Hands on a doorframe or chair back to sit deeper than balance allows alone.
  • Shorter range. Go only as deep as you can control, and stop before the heels lift.

Mistakes and who it is for

  • Opening the hand-release push-ups at a sprint makes the hand-release push-ups the piece that falls apart.
  • Resting until you feel fresh between movements removes the point of keeping them in one round.
  • Letting the hand-release push-ups shrink so the rest of the round can speed up changes the workout on the page.

Suited to someone who wants 10 minutes through Hand-Release Push-ups, Supine Floor Scapular Shrugs, Air Squats.

Scoring and progression

Work through the movements in the order listed, then start the next round. Your score is the number of complete rounds plus any reps of the round you were partway through when the clock hit zero — written as rounds plus reps, so seven full rounds and twelve reps is7+12.

Progression is repeating this workout and comparing that score. The page does not promise a change from one time through.

Related workouts

Run it with friends

The Yoke runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 10-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.

Start this workoutMore 10 minute AMRAPs