AMRAP With Friends

10 minute AMRAP

The Rip Tide

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

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

Overview

The Rip Tide is 30 jumping jacks, 12 back widow, and 15 air squats. The air squats and the back widow trade the quads and the upper back. 30 jumping jacks 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 30 jumping jacks.

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 jumping jacks, 12 back widow, and 15 air squats.

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 jumping jacks is where the round gets hard. The other movements still have to be finished after it.

Pacing

Jacks and squats keep the blood moving; the widows yank it into the upper back. Punch the floor — do not crunch.

30 jumping jacks is where the round gets long. That set is where a planned break belongs. If that set falls apart, shorten the back widow on the next round rather than rushing it.

The movements

Jumping Jacks

Use this movement for active recovery. When paired with burpees or mountain climbers, the jumping jack is your opportunity to catch your breath.

What not to do. Bending the elbows so the hands never meet overhead.

Back Widow

Do not turn this into a core crunch. Your lower back and glutes must stay anchored to the floor. The only reason your torso lifts is because your lats and rhomboids are pressing the earth away.

What not to do. Turning the lift into a crunch so the lower back and hips leave the floor.

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.

Why these movements

The air squats and the back widow trade the quads and the upper back. 30 jumping jacks 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.

Jumping Jacks

  • 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.

Back Widow

  • 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.

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.

Mistakes and who it is for

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

Suited to someone who wants 10 minutes through Jumping Jacks, Back Widow, Air Squats.

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

Start this workoutMore 10 minute AMRAPs