One of the most advanced Girl WODs on the board. Amanda pairs the hardest gymnastics skill in CrossFit with a heavy, technical barbell lift — most athletes will scale one or both movements, and that’s the normal path, not a lesser one.
Complete all muscle-ups before moving to squat snatches in each round. Total: 21 muscle-ups + 21 squat snatches.
Suggested time cap: 12 minutes · Competitive target: sub-5 minutes at Rx. Your score is the time it takes to complete all reps.
The muscle-up is widely considered the most technically demanding bodyweight skill in CrossFit — a large share of athletes, even experienced ones, can’t yet perform one. Amanda then pairs that skill with a full squat snatch at 135/95 lb, a heavy, technical lift that’s fatiguing on its own.
Because Rx muscle-ups are a genuine barrier for most athletes, Amanda is one of the clearest examples in this library of a workout where scaling isn’t a fallback — it’s the expected path for the majority of people who attempt it. Chasing an unscaled version before the movement is actually trained is a common way to get hurt.
Amanda scales per movement. Choose the row below that matches a muscle-up progression and a snatch you can actually perform, not the version you’re hoping to grow into mid-workout.
| Level | Muscle-Up | Squat Snatch |
|---|---|---|
| Rx | Ring muscle-up, full ROM | 135 lb (M) / 95 lb (W) |
| Scaled | Banded muscle-up or muscle-up transition drills | 95 lb (M) / 65 lb (W) |
| Beginner | Pull-up + ring dip combo (common ratio: 1 muscle-up = 1 pull-up + 1 dip) | Hang power snatch, 45–65 lb |
Squat snatch or power snatch are both valid ways to do Amanda at any weight — the choice comes down to whichever is more efficient and reliable for you, not a skill hierarchy. If you haven’t trained either version of the snatch, start with a hang power snatch.
On the barbell, break the snatches into singles from the start — a heavy squat snatch under fatigue carries real technical risk, and a missed rep costs far more time than a brief reset.
On muscle-ups, resist the urge to force repeated failed transitions. If Rx muscle-ups aren’t trained, scale the movement rather than risk a shoulder injury chasing them here.
A muscle-up that isn’t there yet doesn’t get closer by grinding through kipping attempts under fatigue — it gets closer through dedicated skill work outside this workout.
Amanda is a rings-and-barbell workout by design, but both movements survive straightforward substitutions.
| Equipment | Substitution | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| No rings, have a bar | Bar muscle-up (if trained) | 1:1 reps |
| Muscle-up not yet trained | Pull-up + ring dip combo | 1 muscle-up = 1 pull-up + 1 dip |
| No barbell | Dumbbell squat snatch | 1:1 reps |
| Squat snatch not yet trained | Power snatch or hang power snatch | 1:1 reps |
FITL scales this automatically based on the equipment and experience level in your profile.
Sub-5 minutes at Rx is a strong time for an advanced athlete — many highly trained CrossFit athletes finish Rx Amanda in the 5–10 minute range, and a significant number of experienced athletes scale at least the muscle-up. Scaled times vary widely depending on which substitutions are used.
If you don’t yet have a muscle-up, use the common pull-up + ring dip substitution (1 muscle-up = 1 pull-up + 1 dip) rather than attempting kipping muscle-ups without the strength foundation. If you have some muscle-up capacity, a band can help bridge the gap.
Yes. Substitute a pull-up and ring dip combo at the standard 1:1 ratio (one pull-up plus one dip per muscle-up) — this trains the same pulling and pressing patterns without requiring the full transition skill.
No — this is one of the more advanced benchmarks in the library. Beginners should scale both the muscle-up (to a pull-up/dip combo) and the snatch (to a lighter hang power snatch) significantly, and treat this as a longer-term goal workout rather than something to attempt unscaled early on.
Get Amanda — and every benchmark WOD — automatically scaled to your equipment and experience level.