AMRAP With Friends

20 minute AMRAP

The Bastion

Hold and surge · Armor Protocol · intensity 4 of 5

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

Overview

The Bastion is a 20-second v-sit hold, 15 glute bridges, 10 sphinx push-ups, and 20 cross-body climbers. The round opens with a 20-second v-sit hold. Doing the glute bridges still comes after it, not as a rest earned by the hold.

Muscles worked

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 v-sit hold before the glute bridges.

Intended stimulus

The style is built so every round starts with a hold and then moves. On this workout that is a 20-second v-sit hold, 15 glute bridges, 10 sphinx push-ups, and 20 cross-body 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

Balance strictly on the sit bones. The cross-body climbers flush the midline after the heavy isometric hold.

Do not shorten the v-sit hold to reach the glute bridges. The hold is the start of the round. The next movement still has to be done after it.

The movements

V-Sit Hold

If your lower back rounds, the hold is broken. Pull your knees slightly toward your chest to reset the flat spine.

What not to do. Bending the knees to hold the legs up as the hold goes on.

Glute Bridges

Keep your toes slightly elevated off the floor to force the drive exclusively through your heels and hamstrings.

What not to do. Driving through the toes rather than the heels, which brings the quads in.

Sphinx Push-ups

Keep your elbows tucked tight to your ribs to maximize triceps recruitment and protect the shoulder joint.

What not to do. Dropping the knees to the floor to make the press easier.

Cross-Body Climbers

Focus on the hard muscular contraction and the twist rather than pure foot speed.

What not to do. Slowing the switch until both feet are on the floor between reps.

Why these movements

The round opens with a 20-second v-sit hold. Doing the glute bridges 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.

V-Sit Hold

  • Knees bent. Bend the knees to shorten the lever. The shorter it is, the lighter it is.
  • Partial range. Move only through the range where you can keep the lower back on the floor.

Glute Bridges

  • Shorter range. Lift only as high as you can hold the position without arching the back.
  • Both legs. Drive through both feet instead of one.

Sphinx 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.

Cross-Body 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 v-sit hold at a sprint makes the v-sit hold the piece that falls apart.
  • Cutting the v-sit hold short to reach the glute bridges 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 V-Sit Hold, Glute Bridges, Sphinx Push-ups, Cross-Body 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

Run it with friends

The Bastion runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 20-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.

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