AMRAP With Friends

10 minute AMRAP

Aero-Dorsal

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

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

Overview

Aero-Dorsal is 30 high knees, 12 w-press ups, and 20 skater jumps. The skater jumps and the w-press ups trade the quads and the upper back. 30 high knees is the long piece, and it keeps the legs in the work, so the quads do not get a rest before the next round.

Muscles worked

Energy systems

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

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

Training effect

Immediate demand

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

Intended stimulus

The same upper-lower switch, held long enough that the work keeps moving while the heart rate stays up. On this workout that is 30 high knees, 12 w-press ups, and 20 skater jumps.

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 floods the legs, the W loads the mid-back, skaters keep the shunt alive. Elbows pinned to the ribs.

Keep each round about the same length. Do not drop the high knees to keep the other sets moving.

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.

W-Press Ups

Avoid excessively arching your lower back to cheat the range of motion. If your hips pop off the floor, you are losing the isolation in your mid-back. Keep your neck relaxed and look straight up.

What not to do. Arching the lower back until the hips leave the floor to fake extra range.

Skater Jumps (Total)

Keep the chest up. Looking down at the floor rounds the back and cuts off your airway.

What not to do. Bounding forward instead of laterally, so the hips never load sideways.

Why these movements

The skater jumps and the w-press ups trade the quads and the upper back. 30 high knees is the long piece, and it keeps the legs in the work, so the quads do not get a rest before the next round.

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.

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.

W-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.

Skater Jumps (Total)

  • Step instead of jump. Same pattern, same range, no flight. Keeps the pace without the landing.
  • Lower and slower. Keep the jump but cut the height and take the landing softly.

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 the high knees shrink so the rest of the round can speed up changes the workout on the page.

Suited to someone who wants 10 minutes through High Knees (Total), W-Press Ups, Skater Jumps (Total).

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

Aero-Dorsal runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 10-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.

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