AMRAP With Friends

15 minute AMRAP

The Undertow

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

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:

Overview

The Undertow is 10 burpees, 10 broad jumps, and 12 hand-release push-ups. The broad jumps 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 hand-release push-ups.

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 10 burpees, 10 broad jumps, and 12 hand-release push-ups.

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

12 hand-release push-ups is where the round gets hard. The other movements still have to be finished after it.

Pacing

Pace is survival. The deck-to-jump cycle will find your ceiling by round three.

Keep the later rounds moving at the same size as the early ones. Do not drop the hand-release push-ups to keep the other sets moving.

The movements

Burpees

Find a breathing cadence. Exhale on the drop, inhale on the floor, exhale on the jump. If you hold your breath on burpees, you will redline in 45 seconds.

What not to do. Sagging hips in the plank position.

Broad Jumps

For an AMRAP, do not aim for maximum distance on every jump. Aim for a consistent, sustainable 4-5 foot bound that allows for rapid turnarounds.

What not to do. Landing stiff-legged rather than sinking into a partial squat.

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.

Why these movements

The broad jumps 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.

Burpees

  • 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.

Broad Jumps

  • Step instead of jump. Same pattern, same range, no flight. Keeps the pace without the landing.
  • Lower and slower. Keep the jump but cut the height and take the landing softly.

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.

Mistakes and who it is for

  • Opening the burpees 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.
  • Spending the first minutes hard leaves the later rounds as a different, slower workout.

Suited to someone who wants 15 minutes through Burpees, Broad Jumps, Hand-Release Push-Ups.

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 Undertow 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