AMRAP With Friends

5 minute AMRAP

The Pendulum

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

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 5 minutes of:

Overview

The Pendulum is 12 alternating lunges and 8 pike push-ups. The alternating lunges and the pike push-ups trade the quads and the shoulders.

Muscles worked

Energy systems

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

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

Training effect

Immediate demand

5 minutes, intensity 3 of 5. Today the limiter is the alternating lunges.

Intended stimulus

The style is built to switch the upper body and the lower body inside one round. On this workout that is 12 alternating lunges and 8 pike 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 alternating lunges is where the round gets hard. The other movements still have to be finished after it.

Pacing

Demands balance and shoulder stability while breathless. Kiss the back knee gently to the floor.

The clock is short enough to start near the pace you can hold. Do not spend the first minute looking for a rhythm, and do not let the alternating lunges be the set that collapses.

The movements

Alternating Lunges

Reverse lunges are superior for AMRAPs. They protect the deceleration forces on the knee and allow for a faster, springier return to the standing position.

What not to do. Letting the front knee travel past the toes as the torso pitches forward.

Pike Push-ups

Keep your legs straight. If your hamstrings are tight, widen your foot stance to maintain the high hip position.

What not to do. Walking the feet out until the hips drop and it becomes an ordinary push-up.

Why these movements

The alternating lunges and the pike push-ups trade the quads and the shoulders.

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.

Alternating Lunges

  • Hold a support. One hand on a wall or chair for balance. The legs still do the work.
  • Shorter range. Drop only as far as you can stand back up from without pushing off your hands.

Pike 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 alternating lunges at a sprint makes the alternating lunges the piece that falls apart.
  • Resting until you feel fresh between movements removes the point of keeping them in one round.
  • Letting the alternating lunges shrink so the rest of the round can speed up changes the workout on the page.

Suited to someone who wants 5 minutes through Alternating Lunges, Pike 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 Pendulum 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