Annie

Annie is a conditioning workout made up of jump-rope double-unders and sit-ups performed as a descending ladder: 50-40-30-20-10 reps for time. It trains calf endurance and core stamina, with extra work for the shoulders from turning the rope and the hip flexors from folding and unfolding on the sit-ups. It is an intermediate bilateral conditioning piece that rewards a steady pace more than one big sprint.

Use a jump rope that reaches roughly to your armpits when you stand on the center of the cord. Hold the handles in front of your hips with relaxed wrists, elbows slightly bent, and shoulders down. For the sit-ups, lie on your back with knees bent and feet anchored under a sturdy object or held by a partner.

Start with 50 double-unders, then 50 sit-ups. Then do 40 of each, then 30, 20, and finally 10. Move through each pair as fast as you can while keeping the rope moving and each sit-up controlled. The workout ends when you complete the last 10 sit-ups.

Breathe steadily during the jumps and exhale as you sit up. Keep your core engaged so your lower back stays supported on every rep. If double-unders are not consistent yet, scale them to single-unders so you can keep moving instead of stopping and restarting. To make it harder, string together larger unbroken sets of double-unders and sit-ups.

Fault: Tripping on the rope and taking long rests between attempts. Fix: Slow the rope slightly, jump a little higher, and turn the rope with small wrist circles instead of big arm swings.

Fault: Pulling the rope around with the arms instead of the wrists. Fix: Relax the shoulders, keep the elbows close to the body, and spin the rope with quick flicks from the wrists.

Fault: Feet lifting off the floor or yanking the neck during sit-ups. Fix: Keep the feet anchored, reach the arms overhead at the bottom and toward the toes at the top, and let the abs do the work.

Fault: Holding your breath and gassing out early. Fix: Build a rhythm - breathe out on the way up during sit-ups and keep a steady inhale-exhale pattern while jumping.