AMRAP With Friends

5 minute AMRAP

The Draft

Cardio capacity · Engine Room · intensity 3 of 5

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 5 minutes of:

Overview

The Draft is 30 high knees and 10 t-press ups. The work moves through the full body and the upper back instead of sitting on one muscle.

Muscles worked

Energy systems

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

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

Training effect

Immediate demand

5 minutes, intensity 3 of 5. Today the limiter is 30 high knees.

Intended stimulus

The style is built so breathing and rhythm, not one muscle, are what the round keeps asking for. On this workout that is 30 high knees and 10 t-press 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

30 high knees is where the round gets hard. The other movements still have to be finished after it.

Pacing

Turnover into a short-range rear-delt press. Knees break the waistline; do not crane the neck to fake height on the T.

30 high knees is where the round gets long. That set is where a planned break belongs. If that set falls apart, shorten the t-press ups on the next round rather than rushing it.

The movements

High Knees (Total)

Land lightly on the balls of your feet. If you are stomping flat-footed, you are destroying your momentum and your knees.

What not to do. Leaning back to swing the knees higher instead of keeping the torso stacked.

T-Press Ups

The range of motion on this is naturally very short. Do not force your chest higher by straining your neck. Focus entirely on the squeeze in the back of your shoulders.

What not to do. Craning the neck to force the chest higher than the rear delts can drive.

Why these movements

The work moves through the full body and the upper back instead of sitting on one muscle.

Scaling

Keep the round short enough to repeat. Drop reps so you can stay moving, rather than resting the round into a different workout.

High Knees (Total)

  • 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.

T-Press Ups

  • Shorter lift. Drive into the floor but only lift as high as you can control without the hips or neck cheating.
  • Hold the squeeze. Reach the top and freeze for a count instead of cycling reps. Same drive, less fatigue management.

Mistakes and who it is for

  • Opening the high knees at a sprint makes the high knees the piece that falls apart.
  • Resting until you feel fresh between movements removes the point of keeping them in one round.
  • Letting 30 high knees fail before you break it is how the next round gets longer.

Suited to someone who wants 5 minutes through High Knees (Total), T-Press 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 Draft runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 5-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.

Start this workoutMore 5 minute AMRAPs