AMRAP With Friends

15 minute AMRAP

Deep Circulation

Upper-lower switch · Blood Shunt · intensity 3 of 5

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:

Overview

Deep Circulation is 20 reverse lunges, 12 hand-release push-ups, and 20 sprawls. The reverse lunges and the hand-release push-ups trade the quads and the chest.

Muscles worked

Energy systems

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

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

Training effect

Immediate demand

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

Intended stimulus

The same upper-lower switch, held long enough that the work keeps moving while the heart rate stays up. On this workout that is 20 reverse lunges, 12 hand-release push-ups, and 20 sprawls.

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

The sprawls will spike the heart rate; recover your breath during the lunges.

Keep the later rounds moving at the same size as the early ones. Do not drop the reverse lunges to keep the other sets moving.

The movements

Reverse Lunges (Total)

Keep your torso completely upright. Leaning forward shifts the load to the lower back and robs the quads of the intended tension.

What not to do. Stepping back too short, which forces the front shin to angle over the toe.

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.

Sprawls

Keep a wide stance. Landing with your feet outside your hands reduces the distance your hips have to travel and speeds up the transition to standing.

What not to do. Landing the plank with the hips high instead of level with the shoulders.

Why these movements

The reverse lunges and the hand-release push-ups trade the quads and the chest.

Scaling

Keep an upper-body movement and a lower-body movement in the same round. Drop reps on both before you drop one of them.

Reverse Lunges (Total)

  • Hold a support. One hand on a wall or chair for balance. The legs still do the work.
  • Shorter range. Drop only as far as you can stand back up from without pushing off your hands.

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.

Sprawls

  • Step the feet. Step back and step in instead of jumping. Same shape, no impact.
  • Hands elevated. Hands on a bench or step so the floor never comes all the way up to you.
  • No jump at the top. Stand tall and reach instead of leaving the floor.

Mistakes and who it is for

  • Opening the reverse lunges at a sprint makes the reverse lunges the piece that falls apart.
  • Resting until you feel fresh between movements removes the point of keeping them in one round.
  • Spending the first minutes hard leaves the later rounds as a different, slower workout.

Suited to someone who wants 15 minutes through Reverse Lunges (Total), Hand-Release Push-ups, Sprawls.

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

Deep Circulation runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 15-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.

Start this workoutMore 15 minute AMRAPs