5 minute AMRAP
Tricep Guillotine
Local muscle burn · Localized Trap · intensity 3 of 5
The workout
As many rounds as possible in 5 minutes of:
Overview
Tricep Guillotine is 6 sphinx push-ups and 12 floor dips. Every piece stays on the chest. Later rounds slow because the work never leaves the chest.
Muscles worked
Chest
Shoulders
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 12 floor dips.
Intended stimulus
The style is built to tire one region before breathing is what stops the round. On this workout that is 6 sphinx push-ups and 12 floor dips.
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
Later rounds slow because the work never leaves the chest.
Pacing
Triceps will fail suddenly. Keep the hands under the shoulders, not out wide.
Build across the clock. Do not open the sphinx push-ups so hard that the later sets shrink. Do not rest the chest back to fresh between rounds.
The movements
Sphinx Push-ups (Forearm to hand)
Keep your elbows tucked tight to your ribs to maximize triceps recruitment and protect the shoulder joint.
What not to do. Dropping the knees to the floor to make the press easier.
Floor Dips
Keep your hips planted close to your wrists to prevent shifting the workload away from the arms.
What not to do. Sliding the hips forward away from the hands, turning the dip into a shrug.
Why these movements
Every piece stays on the chest. Later rounds slow because the work never leaves the chest.
Scaling
Keep the work on the same muscle region. Drop reps on the hardest movement before you swap in a different pattern.
Sphinx Push-ups (Forearm to hand)
- 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.
Floor Dips
- Feet closer in. Walk the heels toward you so the arms carry less of you.
- Shorter range. Bend only as far as you can press back out of.
Mistakes and who it is for
- Opening the sphinx push-ups at a sprint makes the floor dips the piece that falls apart.
- Resting the chest back to fresh between rounds turns this into a different workout.
- Letting 12 floor dips fail before you break it is how the next round gets longer.
Suited to someone who wants 5 minutes on the chest and can already do Sphinx Push-ups (Forearm to hand), Floor Dips.
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
- Pectoral Panic
Same chest, same clock
- The Press Gauntlet
Same chest, same clock
- Counter-Strike
Same chest, longer clock
Run it with friends
Tricep Guillotine runs on a shared countdown: share a rally link, everyone gets the same 5-minute clock, and the leaderboard updates as people log rounds.