5 minute AMRAP
Dead Reckoning
Cardio capacity · Engine Room · intensity 1 of 5
The workout
As many rounds as possible in 5 minutes of:
- 10 Air Squats
- 5 Push-Ups
Overview
Dead Reckoning is 10 air squats and 5 push-ups. The air squats and the push-ups trade the quads and the chest.
Muscles worked
Chest
Quads
Energy systems
These are overlapping contributions. This workout is not assigned to one energy system.
This workout departs from its style on the profile below.
- Glycolytic: Low
- Oxidative: Moderate
- Neuromuscular: Low
Training effect
Immediate demand
5 minutes, intensity 1 of 5. Today the limiter is holding the opening pace.
Intended stimulus
The round is small enough that the task is repeating the opening pace. On this workout that is 10 air squats and 5 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
The round is small on purpose. Round one is the pace the rest of the 5 minutes has to match.
Pacing
Round one sets your pace. Everything after is holding it — your score is what you can repeat, not what you can open with.
Keep each round about as long as the first. The score is what you can repeat, not what you can open with.
The movements
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.
Push-Ups
Do not let your hips sag to touch the floor before your chest does.
What not to do. Bouncing the chest off the floor to get out of the bottom.
Why these movements
The air squats and the push-ups trade the quads and the chest.
Scaling
Keep the round short enough to repeat. Drop reps so you can stay moving, rather than resting the round into a different workout.
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.
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 air squats at a sprint makes the air squats the piece that falls apart.
- Opening faster than you can repeat makes the score a story about the first round.
- Letting 10 air squats fail before you break it is how the next round gets longer.
Suited to someone who wants 5 easy minutes to set a pace and can already do Air Squats, 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
- Pressure Cooker
Same quads and chest, longer clock
- The Centrifuge
Same quads and chest, longer clock
- First Contact
Same quads and chest, longer clock
Run it with friends
Dead Reckoning runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 5-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.