Elizabeth

Elizabeth is a conditioning workout built around two movements: the squat clean and the ring dip. It trains full-body power, upper-body pressing strength and stamina, and the ability to keep moving under fatigue. Your shoulders, triceps, chest, quads, back, and core all work hard across the descending 21-15-9 rep scheme.

Setup: Start with a barbell on the floor and gymnastic rings set at a height where your arms are straight and your shoulders stay stacked under your hands in the support position. For the squat clean, stand with feet hip-width apart, toes under the bar, hands just outside your legs with a hook grip. For the ring dip, grip the rings and press yourself up to a stable support before you begin.

Execution: Complete 21 squat cleans, bringing the bar from the floor to a front rack in one motion while dropping under into a full squat, then stand to finish. Follow that with 21 ring dips, lowering until your shoulders drop below your elbows and pressing back to straight arms. Then do 15 of each, then 9 of each, moving continuously and resting only when needed.

Breathing and bracing: Take a breath and tighten your midsection before each clean, exhaling as you stand. On the dips, breathe at the top support and keep your shoulders active. To make it easier, use bar dips or band-assisted ring dips. To make it harder, use strict ring dips or add a weighted vest.

Fault: Rushing the squat clean and catching the bar with elbows down. Fix: Turn your elbows over quickly and catch the bar on your shoulders, not in your hands.

Fault: Turning the squat clean into a power clean plus a separate front squat. Fix: Pull yourself under the bar into a full squat in one smooth motion.

Fault: Letting the rings flare out to the sides during dips, which stresses the shoulders. Fix: Keep the rings close to your body and your elbows tracking back, not outward.

Fault: Grinding out singles too early and losing the workout's pacing. Fix: Break the reps before you hit failure and take short, controlled rests.