Deane Barker's Workouts

January 17, 2026

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0600

Est. Time:
Gear: bike, ab mat

5x
---
25 Cal Bike
25 Sit-Ups
25' Inchworms w/ Push-Up

The problem here was the inchworms: they are way spicier than you think they’re gonna be. I’m in the mood lately for bodyweight, yoga-ish stuff, and this qualifies.

I made a rule that I couldn’t let my palms comes off the ground. Since I have awful hamstring flexibility, this means I wasn’t getting very upright before I had to walk out again, which means I wasn’t covering a lot of distance on each rep. I think I was doing fully seven inchworms to cover 25 feet, which is a lot considering that I’m six-foot-four.

They work the shoulders and lower back a lot, which isn’t a common combination.

January 10, 2026

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0600

Est. Time:
Gear: Lots of sandbags

Find all the sandbags and medicine balls you can
---
Move them 50', backwards (clean them over your shoulder)
Move them 50', forwards (clean them and shoot them like a basketball)

My gym had eight throwable things: seven sandbags and one weighted medicine ball.

I don’t know the exact weights of all of them. I know one of the sandbags weighs 120#, and there’s one that seems a bit heavier than that. On the other end, the lightest one is probably 40#.

I lined them all up and worked down the row. I would throw each one, then start back at the beginning (always dreading the two heavy ones…). Towards the end of each stretch, I might have kept throwing one consecutively just to get it across the line.

It look me 17:32 to get them 50-feet over my shoulder, going backwards. Then I rested a bit, and it took me 16:41 to get them back again, going forwards. So, the entire thing would have been about 34 minutes, but I rested quite a bit in the middle.

This is a killer of a workout. Like I mentioned above, the heaviest sandbag is… 140#, maybe? That’s a lot to get over my shoulder, backwards. Going forwards, it’s even harder – I can barely clean it, and it’s really hard to push forward. You kind of “fall forward” with it (I made up a rule that my feet couldn’t move while I was touching the sandbag; I had to push it off before I could lift a foot).

The rubber medicine ball rolls, which is nice. But you have to be a little strategic about which ones you throw, because they start to get in each others’ way. It’s especially infuriating when the medicine ball hits something else, and you get cheated out of some rolling distance.

I’d like to get this to the point where I’m going back-to-back in under 35 minutes. But given how tough this is on the lower back, it’s not a workout I’m going to do that often.

November 21, 2025

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Est. Time:
Gear: BikeErg, overhead bar, GHD

5x
---
25 Cal BikeErg
Max Effort Strict Pull-Ups
10 GHDs

I wanted to get 10 rounds of this, but I’ve been sick, and I was just pretty wiped out, so I bailed out at five rounds.

October 20, 2025

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: BikeErg, ab mat, overhead bar

5x
---
25 Sit-Ups
3 Strict Pull-Ups
1,000m bike

First time doing pull-ups since injuring my shoulder. I did them as singles. They felt pretty good, but I’ve lost a lot of strength.

October 7, 2025

Tue, 7 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: Skier, Box

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
---
Ski x 50m
Box Jump

This went really fast, weirdly. I’ve lost about 40 pounds, so box jumps are pretty easy right now.

October 5, 2025

Sun, 5 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: BikeErg, dumbbells

6x
---
15 Air Squats
10 Dumbbell Curls (each arm; 35#)
Max Effort BikeErg until 5:00 mark

Still nursing a bad shoulder. Trying to find some things to do with my arms, hence the dumbbells.

This one got spicy at the end. I would be on the bike at about the 90 second mark, giving me three-and-a-half minutes on the bike each round. I got 314 calories overall, so just over 50 per round.

September 30, 2025

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: BikeErg, barbell, GHD

20 min AMRAP
---
5 Front Squats (#135)
10 GHDs
15 Cal BikeErg

I’m nursing a shoulder injury, so I’m trying to work around it. I’m also working out less, which isn’t good, because this one was tough.

The front squats were hard. They shouldn’t have been, but here we are…

I got into the sixth round, which is bad. I should have done better.

Update

Added on October 4, 2025

I did a little different version of this today. I swapped the front squats for a 50’ walking lunge and just did seven rounds. I’d like to get that up to 10 rounds, and then start trying to whittle the time down.

September 11, 2025

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear:

5x
---
1,000m BikeErg
25 Sit-Ups

Simple one. I pushed the pace on the bike to sub-2:00, which is not blazing fast, but not loafing either. Sit-ups got surprisingly hard toward the later rounds.

September 10, 2025

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear:

5x
---
20 Cal Echo Bike
5 Strict Pull-ups
8 Bench Press (135#)
20 Cal Echo Bike

Rest 1:30

I normally don’t post workouts that I got from somewhere else, but I don’t know where I got this from. It was on the screen for a second, and I read it, and thought, “Okay, I’ll do that…” But I have no idea what context I saw it in. I was published by someone, but I don’t know who.

Anyway, it sucked, so, so bad. The Echo Bike is horrible, and I don’t know why. What is it about this machine that is so wretched? It just goes so slow, and is so unpleasant, for whatever reason.

It’s basically 200 cals on the Echo Bike… and some other stuff. The other stuff was trivial – I’m very good at both of them. But those two stints on the Echo Bike every round just brought me to my damn knees.

August 20, 2025

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear:

10x
---
500m Bike Erg
5 Heavy Over-the-Shoulder Cleans Med Ball (150#?)

This killed me. It took forever – the med ball cleans were taking about two full minutes. The bike was another 1:15 or so, which put the workout well over 30 minutes.

It was a grind.

July 9, 2025

Wed, 9 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: BikeErg, ab mat

10x
---
15 Cal Bike
15 Military Sit-Ups

I’m nursing a hurt shoulder, so I wanted to do something that didn’t involve my arms.

Not a great workout, I guess. It was just okay.

I’m trying to get to 59 military-style sit-ups, to score a theoretical “Excellent” on the Air Force physical fitness test. To do these, I anchor my feet under two dumbbells, bend my legs, and sit up with my arms crossed over my chest, fingers on the opposite shoulder.

It’s a short movement. Basically a crunch.

July 8, 2025

Tue, 8 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: BikeErg

1:00 on / 1:00 off for 30 min
---
Max Cal BikeErg

This was murder, honestly. I did it in Sarah Noble’s garage, and it was hot as hell.

Each round I got about 20 cals – exactly 300 total. I started to slip in the last third, down to 18 or 19 per round. But I went hard the last couple rounds and got back to an average of 20. They were a killer.

My goal was to keep the hourly cals above 1,200, which I did.

June 8, 2025

Sun, 8 Jun 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear:

10 Rounds
---
25 Cal Bike
30-Second Bar Hang

I saw a video that said a man should be able to hang from a bar for two minutes.

I am not even close to that. I measured myself on Sunday after doing a bunch of pull-ups, and I got 45 seconds. If I hadn’t of done any pull-ups, I would have been happy with one minute.

For this workout, I was getting 30 seconds for the first 4-5 rounds. After that, I started to slip. By the end, I was getting about 20 seconds, before my hands would literally slip off the bar.

(Of course, the condition of the bar plays pretty heavily into this, but I feel like I had good bars…)

April 12, 2025

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: barbell, GHD

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
---
Power Snatch (95#)
Burpees Over the Bar
GHDs

I tried to move through this slow and steady. I don’t know about “steady,” but I was very slow, for sure.

I’ve fallen into such a rut with workouts, that anytime I go outside my “standard” workouts, I just tend to get wrecked.

But, it got done.

March 23, 2025

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: bike, ab mat, overhead bar

5x
---
25 Cal Assault Bike
10 Push-ups
15 Sit-ups
Max Effort Banded Pull-ups

Recovering from a brutal cold. Good mover, but I coughed for hours afterwards.

February 17, 2025

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Est. Time:
Gear: GHD

30 Min EMOM
---
Odd: 5 burpees
Even: 5 GHDs

This was good, but not very hard. Cardio-wise it was manageable, but 75 GHDs is a lot. I was a bit of a mess for the couple days following.

The soreness was mainly in my hip erectors. It went below my belly button and then split into two areas of pain, each centered in the hip crease above each leg.

February 11, 2025

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Est. Time:
Gear: rower, GHD

10x
---
250m row
5 GHDs

Simple, effective. I’m writing this the next day, and my core is in pain.

The like the push/pull aspect of the hip movement. Rowing is about opening the angle of the hips, while GHDs are about closing that angle.

January 14, 2025

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Est. Time:
Gear: barbell

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
---
Hang Power Snatch (95#)
Burpees Over the Bar

Simple, effective. Got all the HPS unbroken. The first and second rounds are fine, but when you get to the round of seven or eight, that becomes a grip problem – you’re taxed a bit, and the reps are still relatively high.

October 31, 2024

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: rower, skier, bike

1,000m Row
1,000m BikeErg
1,000m Ski
Rest 3 min

750m on each
Rest 2 min

500m on each
Rest 1 min

250m on each

I saw some guys doing this the other day. I liked the idea because it’s heavy cardio.

The first ski was a real problem. My triceps kept cramping, and then my lower back went a little nuts. But it got better.

I did it in 36:52.

Update

Added on November 2, 2024

So, it turns out I got this one wrong. The rest was 3-2-1, not three minutes each time. The guys who did it said they got it just under 30. But I rested for three minutes longer than them, so if you take that off, I’m still in the mid 30s, which is long.

I set out to do this again today, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, I was sort on time. So I started at 750, rested 2, then 500, rested 1, then 250.

I got it in just under 20:00.

I figure the 1,000m round would have taken me 13 (with the rest), which again puts me in the mid 30s.

I’ll try it again. I’d like to get it under 30, for nothing but my self-esteem.

Update

Added on November 5, 2024

I did it today, all the way through, with the right rest timing. I got it in 33:30.

The ski is what kills me. Going from the row to the ski is murder. Still having tricep cramping issues, though my lower back was good today.

I would love to get this quite a bit closer to 30:00.

Update

Added on November 26, 2024

I have become somewhat obsessed with this workout. I’ve done it another 3-4 times since the last time I updated. I can just barely get it under 33:00.

The guys that were doing it the first time I saw it were nice enough to do it again and time it. They got it between 29:06 and 30:32. So, I have a ways to go.

I did note, however, that they did Row-Bike-Ski, rather than Row-Ski-Bike, and I do genuinely think that will help. Your arms will get a rest between the row and the ski.

I’ll try it that way next.

Update

Added on November 27, 2024

Okay, with the new ordering, I did it in 32:20, which is my best time yet.

1000s in 10:20 (100%)
750s in 8:04 (78%)
500s in 5:20 (51%)
250s in 2:36 (25%)

You can see from the percentages that my pacing was pretty consistent. Each round took right about the appropriate percentage of time compared to the first round, so I never slowed down from that first round.

If I can get that first round to 10:00, then hold that pace in every round, I’ll get it in 31:00.

October 29, 2024

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: rower, ab mat

5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5
---
Cal Row
Push Ups
Sit Ups

Weird rep scheme on this one, clearly. But I just didn’t want to start at one because doing 1-2-3-4 in the beginning was going to be pointless and annoying.

It’s 124 reps of each.

By round three, I figured out that I should do the push ups with the ab mat right at my hip. Then, when the push ups are done, I can just roll over into the sit ups. Less time, and less dirt on my hands because I’m not crawling around on the floor like an idiot.

Good workout. I actually like this scheme a lot.

October 15, 2024

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: overhead bar, barbell, ab mat

10x
---
20 Air Squats
15 Sit Ups
10 Push Ups
5 Barbell Rows (155#)

This is a study in adaptability. I only ever did it exactly as written above for two rounds.

My lower back starting acting up in round 3, so I switch to 20 walking lunges after that (10 each leg). My back had calmed down by round 8, so I was back to air squats for the last two rounds.

I was about to get abdominal cramps in round 4, so I switched to hanging bar movements for a few rounds – knee tucks, knee-to-elbow, etc. Then my shoulders started to hurt, so I went to leg raises.

Push-ups were fine.

Barbell rows were fine too, but I only picked those because the hands hurt.

So, this was all over the place. But I made it work, and I kept going.

October 10, 2024

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: rower

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
---
Row x 100m
Push Ups x 2

Last week I did 5,000m of rowing and 150 push ups, and complained that it was too many pushup for my middle-aged shoulders.

Well, this is 5,500m of rowing, and 110 pushups. The pushups were better, for sure. But the row killed me for whatever reason. I had a pretty brutal back workout four days ago, maybe that had something to do with it.

I would joke that I’m just making excuses, but no – something was really wrong here. I was pulling at about 2:45 pace at one point. No idea what happened.

Glad it’s over.

October 4, 2024

Fri, 4 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear:

10x
---
500m Row
15 Push-Ups

This got long. I think I might be too old for 150 push-ups in a single workout, honestly – my shoulders were in brutal condition after this. They hurt just hanging there.

September 21, 2024

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: rower, skier, bike

10x
---
11 Cal Ski
11 Cal Row
11 Cal Bike

This is a modification of my classic cardio workout (EMOM; 10 cals).

I wanted to go straight through, but I’ve done 10 cals in that format in about 22 minutes, which was too short. I thought about going to 12 cals, but then settled on 11.

I finished in 26:38 (1,598 seconds). I have done 10 calls in 22-something (let’s say 22:15; 1,335 seconds). That means that the extra calorie (+10%) added about 19% to the time, which is scary. I have to think going to 12 calories would have been very difficult.

(Note: the 22:15 was a few years ago, when I was younger and in better shape.)

Also, there’s a very, very subtle aspect to this workout which helps. Since I’m not doing an EMOM, the skier and the rower do not shut down between uses. This means that I gain from the run-off at the end.

When I do 10 cals, I probably get, say, 10.5 or something, but then the skier and the rower shut down and clear before the next round, so I lose that fraction. Since they stay running the entire time, I get to keep the slight overage and start from that point. It may seem small, but it no doubt helps.

September 19, 2024

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: barbell

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
---
Power Snatch (95#)
Burpees Over the Bar

This wrecked me, but for weird reasons. My lower back started to blow up after the first couple of rounds. I hurt my back in a heavy-ish snatch back in February, and this is the first time I’ve snatched since then. So, I think my lower back is just out of condition for this.

Also, my shoulders were a wreck. I think it might have just been the snatch combined with the burpees being a lot of shoulder work.

(Also, I’m just not really-well conditioned right now. Seriously.)

It took me a long time to get through this. I had to sit down between a few of the rounds just to get my lower back calmed down a bit.

But, it got done.

September 17, 2024

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: rower, ab mat, heavy KB

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
---
Row x 50M
Sit-ups x 2
Heavy KBS

Solid workout. Didn’t work anything in particular, but it was just a good all-around mover.

I did okay. Kept moving pretty consistently throughout.

September 15, 2024

Sun, 15 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: rower, barbell

"Cardio DT"

5x
---
300m Row
12 Deadlifts (95#)
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 S2OH

I’ve programmed this workout before, for the Sunday WOD. It’s a lighter version of DT (which is at 155#) with a row in every round.

I did not do well at it. I don’t know if I’m in poor condition or not, but I could only get the through first barbell complex unbroken. After that, I broke after the deadlifts, and sometimes in the middle of the HPCs.

Very disappointed in this. I’ll try this again soon and see if I get better at it.

August 4, 2024

Sun, 4 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear:

100m each
---
Burpee Broad Jump
Lunge
Bear Crawl
Run

This is a shorter version of the “Impossible Mile” workout. In that workout, you do each of the above for 400m – or one lap of a standard track – which adds up to a mile.

I did one-quarter of that workout. And it sucked. Bodyweight stuff is not my thing – I’m a big guy. The burpees alone about murdered me.

At our gym, we have 6’ x 4’ mats. Nine of these (long-wise) is 54-feet. Six times that is 324-feet, which is almost exactly 100m (328-feet). So I set two cones, nine mats apart, and I had to go “down and back” three times, six lengths total.

By my calculations, it was taking between 8-10 burpee broad jobs to do one length, which means the workout essentially starts with between 50 and 60 burpee broad jumps. That’s a lot.

The lunges, also bad. And the bear crawl – that wouldn’t be so bad, but it comes third, by which time you’re pretty wiped out. Your shoulders are still fried from the burpees.

And keep in mind that the “official” version of this workout is four times this amount.

…no.

June 28, 2024

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: barbell, GHD

10x
---
3 Hang Power Cleans (185#)
5 Burpees Over the bar
7 GHDs

I’m putting this in today, even though I’ve done it a few times over the last month.

It’s a hard workout. I’ve tried it both straight through, and as a 30-minute EMOM. I haven’t finished it.

My diet is a little weird right now (I lowered carbs quite a bit), so I’m low on energy. But, still – it’s hard. The HPCs are heavy and take a lot out of you – more than you’d expect.

Or maybe I’m just out of shape? Who knows…

June 1, 2024

Sat, 1 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Est. Time:
Gear: rower, skier, bike

10x
---
Minute 1: 10 Cal Ski
Minute 2: 10 Cal Row
Minute 3: 10 Cal Bike
Minute 4: Rest

So, this is my standard cardio workout, just resting for a minute after every round. I would finish the bike at about the 40-second mark, so I get just over a minute rest before I go back to the ski.

I’m posting this as a variant, just because the rest after every round almost made it a completely different workout. I did it because I was tired and lazy, but I what I found is that I went harder on every machine, especially the bike.

I was just as wiped out at the end as I am without any of the rest. Weird.