Sprint your heart rate up, then ask your shoulders to stabilize a bar overhead while you’re gasping for air. Nancy isn’t hard because either movement is hard on its own — it’s hard because of what running does to your overhead squat.
Suggested time cap: 20 minutes · Competitive target: sub-12 minutes at Rx. Your score is the time it takes to complete all 5 rounds.
An overhead squat is a balance and stability movement — it wants a controlled breathing pattern and a stable core to hold the bar overhead through full depth. A 400m run at pace does the opposite: it spikes your heart rate and leaves you breathing hard right as you need to be most stable.
That transition — from redlined running to controlled overhead stability — is what actually decides a Nancy time. Athletes who can pace their run to arrive at the barbell still able to breathe and brace will move through the squats far more efficiently than athletes who sprint every round and then have to fight for stability on every rep.
Nancy scales per movement. Choose the row below that matches a bar position you can actually hold, and a run distance you can pace intelligently.
| Level | Overhead Squat | Run |
|---|---|---|
| Rx | 95 lb (M) / 65 lb (W), full depth | 400m |
| Scaled | 65 lb (M) / 45 lb (W) | 400m or 200m |
| Beginner | Empty bar or front squat substitute | 200m run or brisk walk |
If overhead stability is the limiter rather than strength, scale the movement to a front squat before dropping the load further — the overhead position is the whole point of the movement, and a heavier front squat teaches more than a very light overhead squat with poor bar path.
Don’t sprint the run. A 400m all-out effort that leaves you gasping costs more time on the squats than a slightly slower, controlled pace ever would — you can’t stabilize a bar overhead while you’re still catching your breath.
Break the overhead squats into manageable sets (5-5-5, or 3-3-3-3-3 if needed) rather than forcing an unbroken set on a spinning head.
The fastest Nancy times come from athletes who run at 85% and squat at 100% control — not athletes who run at 100% and squat at 85% control.
Nancy is a barbell-and-running workout by design, but both movements survive a handful of straightforward substitutions.
| Equipment | Substitution | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| No barbell | Dumbbell or kettlebell overhead squat | 1:1 reps |
| Overhead mobility limited | Front squat | 1:1 reps |
| No running space | Row or bike erg for equivalent time/calories | — |
| No plates for exact Rx load | Nearest available fixed-weight bar | — |
FITL scales this automatically based on the equipment and experience level in your profile.
Sub-12 minutes at Rx is a strong time for an experienced athlete. Most CrossFit athletes finish Rx Nancy in the 13–18 minute range. Scaled athletes should expect 15–22 minutes depending on running and overhead squat capacity.
If the limiter is shoulder/overhead stability rather than leg strength, scale the movement to a front squat before scaling the load further — you’ll get more out of a heavier front squat than a very light overhead squat with a collapsing bar path.
Yes. Use a row or bike erg for a roughly equivalent time or calorie target if you don’t have running space, and adjust to keep the same “elevate heart rate, then stabilize overhead” challenge intact.
With scaling, yes. Reduce the run distance, scale the load, or substitute a front squat if overhead stability hasn’t been trained yet — the running and squatting endurance underneath the workout is accessible to most fitness levels.
Get Nancy — and every benchmark WOD — automatically scaled to your equipment and experience level.