AMRAP With Friends

15 minute AMRAP

The Cadence

Cardio capacity · Engine Room · intensity 3 of 5

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:

Overview

The Cadence is 10 half-burpees, 20 air squats, and 30 cross-body mountain climbers. The work moves through the full body, the quads, and the midline instead of sitting on one muscle.

Muscles worked

Energy systems

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

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

Training effect

Immediate demand

15 minutes, intensity 3 of 5. Today the limiter is the cross-body mountain climbers.

Intended stimulus

The same capacity work, with movements you can repeat for the whole clock. On this workout that is 10 half-burpees, 20 air squats, and 30 cross-body mountain climbers.

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 cross-body mountain climbers is where the round gets hard. The other movements still have to be finished after it.

Pacing

Heavy hip-hinge demand. Do not let the lower back sag during the half-burpees.

Keep the later rounds moving at the same size as the early ones. Do not drop the cross-body mountain climbers to keep the other sets moving.

The movements

Half-Burpees

Your quads will burn intensely. Keep your weight shifted slightly forward over your shoulders to give your legs a mechanical advantage.

What not to do. Letting the hips pike upward on the jump back.

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.

Cross-Body Mountain Climbers

Because of the rotation, these are slightly slower than standard mountain climbers. Focus on the hard muscular contraction rather than pure foot speed.

What not to do. Reaching the elbow down to the knee instead of driving the knee across.

Why these movements

The work moves through the full body, the quads, and the midline 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.

Half-Burpees

  • Step the feet. Step back and step in instead of jumping. Same shape, no impact.
  • Hands elevated. Hands on a bench or step so the floor never comes all the way up to you.
  • No jump at the top. Stand tall and reach instead of leaving the floor.

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.

Cross-Body Mountain Climbers

  • 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.

Mistakes and who it is for

  • Opening the half-burpees at a sprint makes the cross-body mountain climbers the piece that falls apart.
  • Resting until you feel fresh between movements removes the point of keeping them in one round.
  • Spending the first minutes hard leaves the later rounds as a different, slower workout.

Suited to someone who wants 15 minutes through Half-Burpees, Air Squats, Cross-Body Mountain Climbers.

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 Cadence runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 15-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.

Start this workoutMore 15 minute AMRAPs