20 minute AMRAP
The Barricade
Hold and surge · Armor Protocol · intensity 4 of 5
The workout
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
Overview
The Barricade is a 20-second side plank hold, switching sides, 15 air squats, 10 dive-bomber push-ups, and 20 mountain climbers. The round opens with a 20-second side plank hold, switching sides. Doing the air squats still comes after it, not as a rest earned by the hold.
Muscles worked
Chest
Full body
Midline
Obliques
Quads
Energy systems
These are overlapping contributions. This workout is not assigned to one energy system.
- Glycolytic: Moderate
- Oxidative: Moderate
- Neuromuscular: High
Training effect
Immediate demand
20 minutes, intensity 4 of 5. Today the limiter is the side plank hold, switching sides before the air squats.
Intended stimulus
The style is built so every round starts with a hold and then moves. On this workout that is a 20-second side plank hold, switching sides, 15 air squats, 10 dive-bomber push-ups, and 20 mountain climbers.
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 hold is the start of the round. The next movement still has to be done after it, not as a rest earned by the hold.
Pacing
Pure anti-rotation followed immediately by heavy sagittal plane movement.
Do not shorten the side plank hold, switching sides to reach the air squats. The hold is the start of the round. The next movement still has to be done after it.
The movements
Side Plank Hold (Switch sides each round)
Squeeze the bottom glute aggressively to prevent the hips from hinging backward.
What not to do. Letting the hips settle backward so the body is no longer in one plane.
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.
Dive-Bomber Push-ups
This is a slow, tension-heavy movement. Focus on continuous, unbroken motion rather than speed.
What not to do. Skipping the return swoop and pressing straight back to the start.
Mountain Climbers
Keep your shoulders stacked directly over your wrists. If you drift backward, you lose leverage and the movement slows down completely.
What not to do. Landing the driving foot short, so the knee never gets near the chest.
Why these movements
The round opens with a 20-second side plank hold, switching sides. Doing the air squats still comes after it, not as a rest earned by the hold.
Scaling
Keep the hold and the moving piece together. Shorten the hold and the reps together so the round is still a hold followed by work.
Side Plank Hold (Switch sides each round)
- From the knees. Knees down, straight line from knees to shoulders.
- Hands elevated. Hands on a bench or step. The higher the surface, the less you carry.
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.
Dive-Bomber 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.
Mountain Climbers
- Low impact. Keep one foot down throughout — march the pattern instead of running it.
- Slower cadence. Same movement, fewer beats per minute. Cadence is the dial, not the shape.
Mistakes and who it is for
- Opening the side plank hold, switching sides at a sprint makes the side plank hold, switching sides the piece that falls apart.
- Cutting the side plank hold, switching sides short to reach the air squats removes the hold the round starts with.
- Spending the first minutes hard leaves the later rounds as a different, slower workout.
Suited to someone who wants 20 minutes through Side Plank Hold (Switch sides each round), Air Squats, Dive-Bomber Push-ups, Mountain Climbers.
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
- Iron Will
Same quads and chest, same clock
- The Trench
Same quads and chest, same clock
- The Phalanx
Same quads and chest, same clock
Run it with friends
The Barricade runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 20-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.