AMRAP Workout

5 minute AMRAP

The Gas Pedal

Cardio capacity · Engine Room · intensity 3 of 5

The workout

As many rounds as possible in 5 minutes of:

Overview

The Gas Pedal is 10 burpees and 20 jumping jacks. The round is 10 burpees, so that piece is the whole clock.

Muscles worked

Energy systems

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

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

Training effect

Immediate demand

5 minutes, intensity 3 of 5. Today the limiter is 20 jumping jacks.

Intended stimulus

The style is built so breathing and rhythm, not one muscle, are what the round keeps asking for. On this workout that is 10 burpees and 20 jumping jacks.

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

20 jumping jacks is where the round gets hard. The other movements still have to be finished after it.

Pacing

The classic engine tester. Find a breathing rhythm on the jacks to recover from the burpees.

20 jumping jacks is where the round gets long. That set is where a planned break belongs. If that set falls apart, shorten the burpees on the next round rather than rushing it.

The movements

Burpees

Find a breathing cadence. Exhale on the drop, inhale on the floor, exhale on the jump. If you hold your breath on burpees, you will redline in 45 seconds.

What not to do. Sagging hips in the plank position.

Jumping Jacks

Use this movement for active recovery. When paired with burpees or mountain climbers, the jumping jack is your opportunity to catch your breath.

What not to do. Bending the elbows so the hands never meet overhead.

Why these movements

The round is 10 burpees, so that piece is the whole clock.

Scaling

Keep the round short enough to repeat. Drop reps so you can stay moving, rather than resting the round into a different workout.

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.

Jumping Jacks

  • 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 burpees at a sprint makes the jumping jacks the piece that falls apart.
  • Resting until you feel fresh between movements removes the point of keeping them in one round.
  • Letting 20 jumping jacks fail before you break it is how the next round gets longer.

Suited to someone who wants 5 minutes through Burpees, Jumping Jacks.

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

Track every round. Sync with friends when you want to.

The Gas Pedal is a 5-minute clock with rounds and splits for you. Share a rally link when other people join, and the leaderboard updates as they log rounds.

Start this workoutMore 5 minute AMRAPs