WOW: Easy As 1, 2, 3
Max cycles in 20 minutes of:
1 Pullup/Chinup
2 Pushups
3 Full Squats
Warmup: A couple rotations of the Grok Squat and Grok Hang.
How-to: Execute 1 pullup. Drop down and perfom 2 pushups. Get up and do 3 full squats (bringing your hips to below your knees). That’s one cycle. Repeat, but this time do a chinup instead of a pullup.
Variations: If you can’t do a proper pullup/chinup, pushup or full squat substitute movements from Levels 1-3 of Primal Blueprint Fitness Lift Heavy Things (chapter 3).
Hat Tip: This workout is a favorite of mine. It’s a minor variation on a workout that is part of the SimpleFit protocol.
What are WOWs?
- Workouts of the Week (WOWs) are an optional component of Primal Blueprint Fitness that add a fractal and often fun and playful quality to the basic PBF protocol.
- In most cases WOWs should only be completed by those that have mastered Level 4 of each Lift Heavy Things Essential Movement. Also, it’s recommended that WOWsreplace one or both Lift Heavy Things workouts or the Sprint workout (depending on the WOW) each week instead of being done in addition to the Lift Heavy Things and Sprint workouts.
- Learn more about WOWs and Primal Blueprint Fitness by getting the free eBook. And access all Workouts of the Week in the WOW Archive.
Reader-Submitted WOW Video
A big thanks to Mark’s Daily Apple reader and PBFer Todd from PrimalToad.com for submitting this WOW video. Grok on!
P.S. I’d like to see Primal Toad going a little deeper in his squats, and making sure he starts his pullups/chinups from a dead hang.
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
53 Cycles… BAM!
Although I noticed while watching the video I took that I did not do 100% squats…. damnit. I guess when you “rush” you comprise some things…
You need a taller door
Ok.. off to do them now. Wish me luck.
20 minutes of this huh… Sounds like a fun workout to try out!
48 cycles. Will do it again later in the week and shoot for more. I love the WOW b/c it gives me direction and keeps things changing.
45 sets.
First four pullups were unassisted. Then from 5-25 had 50lbs of assistance on the pull up assistance machine. 26-45 had 75lbs assistance. Still stoked on my results and more motivated than ever to work on my pull ups.
Got a little cocky on my last two or three cycles and did plyo pushups and jump squats.
That is my video that Mark just posted. The note underneath is important…
I failed to do a complete squat as I was “rushing” it. And, as Mark mentioned I “cheated” a bit on the pull-ups. I did love the workout though and will probably be doing it again soon – properly this time!
Don’t worry, Todd – if there had been a camera trained on me this morning, the clip might have turned into an example of how ‘not’ to do pretty much all of it. Let’s just say that I’m still on the learning curve!
Glad you are documenting for everyone else’s benefit/encouragement.
We are all learning
Great blog by the way – I just added it to my forever growing primal blog list. You were the 100th blog added!
This is a good idea, love the simplicity and everything, but I have a few issues with this type of workout:
1) You need an abacus to count your rounds
2) You spend more time in transition that doing actual work
3) Muscular fatigue doesn’t make the very short rounds challenging. Compare to crossfit’s Cindy where the set of 10 pushups is excruciating by the end of 20 min. 2 pushups, notsomuch.
4) Seems like it gets boring pretty quickly
I think I’ll skip this one in favor of something more interesting and fun.
I tend to not reply to these posts but I feel i disagree with every note here.
1. When I count my reps, it is like this
10 pull up, 10 push up, 10 push up, 10 squat…etc… Motivation. (extra credit perhaps for GROK grunting the reps?)
2. Done as it should, or as you want it, there is very minimal down time. Until you actually need that down time. (i.e. rep 45, pushing myself to not take a break)
3. Try it before you feel it isn’t a challenge. ( I am sure like all other Mom’s, yours told you to try the brussel sprouts before declaring you hated them?)
4. See number 3 above.
I find it hard to understand why people like to make these comments. Don’t find it a challenge, up to your snuff don’t do it. By all means not everyone is up to your caliber perhaps. This is not Dan’s WOW, but the Primal Fitness Communities WOW. Try and keep that in mind. These are Scalable work outs. meant to be expanded on by those individuals that need to expand on them. Add weight, reps, time any other of many things to expand on this. Just like the Primal Fitness outlined the different levels.
I apologize, but I don’t normally lash out on these posts. I don’t mean to pick yours out of all the others. It seems silly to leave this comment. We don’t need to know that it is below your level. Allow the other 5,999,999,999 other primal fitness geeks bask in this WOW.
I disagree, I think you’re over reacting. This is one of the better comments that actually listed the issues he takes with it.
1. If you’re in decent shape your rounds will be up there and it is tricky in the midst of it all to keep count. The number as many here have listed will be high.
2. The ‘down time’ is the time it takes to get from pull up position to push up, you will spend almost an equal amount of time pushing up as you would transitioning. That is a lot of down time (in a relative sense), his point is that it would be more effecient use of time to increase the number of reps.
3. Smaller reps = easier work out, especially after taking the time to get down from pull up. 2 is really a low number. He didn’t say it wasn’t a challange at all, he said it would be more so if the reps were higher.
4. Doing the same short round over and over for 20 min is boring. Just like jumping rope for 8 min is boring or jogging for 3mi is boring or any other repetative thing is boring. Read the same paragraph for 20 min, you’ll get bored, swim a 25m lap for 20 min, you’ll get bored. Tired? Maybe…probably… Bored? Yes!
I thought this workout was great, and a bit humbling as it showed a glaring weakness in my “fitness profile”.
Found it easy to remember the cycle count as the Pull Ups were odd, and the chin up cycles were even counts. And I’m the guy that loses track of rep counting when doing 15 reps of a single exercise.
Rock out with your Grok out!
73 cycles.
I’m a rather fit individual (US MARINE, I’d better hope to be in some sort of shape other then ROUND) and I found this workout acceptable. While not the hardest thing I’ve ever done I was definitely sweating by the end, and as other commenters have already said they and unlimited variations that can be achieved.
Another workout I’ve done in the past is similar in setup, but goes along the lines of:
30 minutes, max cycles:
5 pull-ups, 10 pushups, 15 body-weight squats
Should prove to be a doozy. Scale as necessary.
—–
And “Rock out with your Grok out!” is one of the best one liners I’ve heard, primally speaking, in a long while.
Keep it up and good work everyone!
Thanks! I thought I invented the “Rock Out” one liner but a quick Google Search proved me wrong. sigh…
73 cycles? Good flipping work!
Thanks Lars!
Like I said, I’m paid to maintain some sort of physical fitness.
@Sean: I feel your pain with the tick marks. I managed to count up every five and make a mark in that manner instead.
@kctex: I hear you as well. Don’t forget to track the knees over (but not beyond) the toes as well!
The workout is pretty much like Crossfit’s Cindy, but rather 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats. Pretty much the same.
My PR is 22.5 rounds in 20 minutes.
67.
And can I just say, OUCH. Last 3 minutes was tough… I had slowed in the middle a bit to pace myself, but think I could have eeked out a couple more.
Taking the time to make a tick mark after each set probably cost me at least 1!
thanks for the workout…
p.s. can I add that I think my upper body is still recovering from paddling 340 miles on the MR 340 last week?
You can, but we’ll still call you WEAK.
Seriously, 63? Come’on dude.
@sean: see what happens when you get all sarcastic and make fun of people? You screw up your numbers on postings you can’t edit!
Good job Sean, keep it up.
It was 67! And I’m going for 74 next week to break the current record as recorded here in the comments!
(BTW, we did set a world record in the MR 340, so I have that going for me!
)
Race report at http://blog.2sparrows.org/2010/08/31/mr-340-part-ii-the-race/
Toad’s squats are awful! Full Range of Motion is crucial, everyone. Your hip crease has to get below your knee crease on the squat. Just like your chest should touch the deck on pushups and your chin should get above the bar on pull-ups. You’re only short-changing yourself by doing it half-way.
Yes I agree with you 100% as I have said a few times already and mark pointed it out as well.
I was “rushing” the squats as I was just trying to do as many cycles as I could. I am going to do this again on Friday more properly.
When I do the 5 movements and don’t worry about time I do full squats no problem. I was just worrying about getting in as many cycles as possible. And, it was hard counting that many so I wasnt thinking about going down all the way…
But they werent AWFUL… believe me man – do you want to see AWFUL squats?
Check out the video I made a couple of months ago – 2 people made a response to the video mocking me – it was actually quite hysterical.
okay, sub-par. I retract my awful comment. And lord knows by about minute 15, my push-ups were sub-par, too.
Well thanks for having the courage to post your video for everyone to critique.
I just completed this workout and did 51 rounds in 20 minutes. Pull ups from a dead hang are a lot tougher. I need to work on my squats. Hard for me to go past parallel. The good news is I’m still sweating 15 minutes later.
52 cycles!!!! My goal was 40. And -yes…I modified it a little. I used my kids’ swing set and picnic table. I had to use the table (pushed a few feet away) to help with the pull-ups and chin-ups, I did push ups on my knees, and I held on the the leg of the swing set mostly for support on the squats… BUT I DID IT! Sure beats doing nothing with the excuse that I have 2 little kids in the house and can’t get out!
Heh, my kids were in my basement workout room, and they were trying to run on the treadmill. Half my attention was on them, hoping they weren’t going to get hurt!
Typical children. Being all adventurous, creative and potentially destructive to themselves and their environment.
If you think your kids are bad, imagine what Grok had to protect his from!
55 cycles this morning for 1st WOD – subbed burpees for push-ups, barefoot.
Fun quick hitter – while little like Cindy, short bursts are fun.
It was hard, but I liked this workout. I felt I could really push it without worry of injury … I lost count of how many rounds I did.
71 rounds in 19:58
why’d you quit early?
I did about 71 cycles give or take a few. I’m sure I miss counted a little.
At first I thought that this was going to be too easy and was going to do more reps. Glad I didn’t. It wasn’t a killer but I did feel it when I was done.
After I got a little warmed up I started throwing in the claps to the pushups and a jump with the squats.
The important thing to remember here is that you need to mix up you workout routines. The WOW’s are a great way to build a library routines to fall back on when your wondering what kind of workout you want to do.
Keep ‘em coming.
By the way, just turned 50 this year and going Primal.
82.
Seriously?
That’s nice. Gives us something to work toward.
Did it this afternoon; wide-grip pullups, explosive pushups and one-legged squats. fun, quick workout! Thanks for the suggestion, Mark.
86 rounds.
For the haters… try it before you hate it… seriously. I’ve done Cindy as well… and am generally able to do 20-22 rounds. I’m not saying Cindy is easier or anything… but this is a different animal.
The point of these timed workouts is to PUSH as hard as YOU can. If you did 50 rounds today… do it again in a month and aim for 60 rounds. You get the idea.
55
I think I paced myself poorly as I wasn’t totally whacked at the end of it if I’m honest although I was afraid that I would go too hard and then not be able to finish.
Just installed my brand new wall mounted chin up bar today on the balcony so I hope to kill it next time – who’s gonna crack 100 first I wonder – that’ll be 12 seconds per round if my math serves me correct… ouch!
The more recent comments make my 61 rounds look pedestrian. My 16 year old son did 37. We did it outside in Arizona at 4:30p (it was 106 at the time), and we had to jump up to an 8 foot soccer goalpost as our bar. I made sure I started from a dead hang so as to not use the momentum of my jump for the pullup. Oh, and I did pullups the whole time, no chinups. There, now I feel better.
I did it today, been looking forward to having a go all week!
I used the assisted pull up machine as I can’t (YET) do unassisted pull ups (being the former skinny fat vegetarian Iron triathlete that I am!). Assistance was 12 kgs (I weigh 56 kg).
I managed 34 reps, really chuffed with that given my puniness! And all good form I hope – this was a fairly measured pace as I really didn’t think I’d make 20 or perhaps get beyond 10 minutes!
By 20 minutes the sweat was dripping off, a very good workout and how great so many of us have been able to participate at our own levels.
It did draw a lot of attention in the gym though … more than I usually do with my Vibrams, multi-coloured hair and increasing tattoo collection! I think I’m becoming a bit of a celebrity but the Primal word is spreading here as a result.
Grok on, here’s to next week’s WOW, hope it is another non-running one
BTW I’M 43 yo female and when I say
“being the former skinny fat vegetarian Iron triathlete that I am”
I mean ‘former’ in every respect LOL! Retired Iron triathlete, now a lean meat eater and loving every minute!
Just did 65 rounds. I set an timer to count down a 20 second cycle and repeat that. It definitely helped me pace my workout, but I still pushed a little. Probably could have gone a little harder but my arm are pretty tired about now. The pullups and squats were easy for me but towards the end I had some trouble with the pushups. I did, though, do variations on the pullups and pushups (wide grip, diamond pushup, etc.)
58 rounds, strict form throughout, forgot to alternate pullups and chinups so all were pullups.
I figure if the top CrossFit Cindy performers that do 30+ rounds did an equal amount of work in this WOW, that would be about 150 rounds.
6’0″/175lb/40yrs
To the best of my counting abilities, I managed 40 rounds. I used the assisted pullup machine, with 22lbs of assistance added. Pushups were regular until round 37, when I switched to modified (from knees.) Full squats to past parallel. Great but tiring!
58 cycles
56 …
85 today with emphasis on FORM + speed!
EXPLODING up from the third squat to the bar is FUN.
tip: find a bar that is a bit higher than you can reach.
Great improvement from my first attempt a few weeks ago (71)
Who can break 100????!
This ends up being an endurance contest more than anything…personally, my muscles weren’t fatigued so much as I couldn’t catch my breath and felt like I was going to black out after getting up from the pushups….:D
A couple weeks back I did 67, today I knocked out 85.
A couple of changes: last time I lost time due to making tick marks after each set, so today I made marks mostly after 5, but when I was hurting, after 2 so I wouldn’t lose track. I also started in a more controlled pace, did all the work under the pull up bar instead of moving out, etc. So all in all more efficient, but also I think I improved.
I’ll probably try this again in a week or two. Great workout when all you have is 20 minutes. I wonder if I can hit 100! Just 5 per minute.
I did 67 in August and 85 in September, and had forgotten about this workout until someone made a comment recently and I got an email update. Decided to try it again just now and hit 92. I know 100 is possible — I was at 49 at 10:00 but slowed in the 2nd half. A little practice and it could be done!
p.s. was going to try 100 burpees for time after this but couldn’t pull it off. The 1-2-3′s took too much out of me!
Tried it for the first time today…63. I didn’t find it boring, it actually went by really quickly. I will hit 80!!!
nice one! keep posting results here!