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On paper, ‘Justin’ looks suspiciously simple for a CrossFit Hero WOD. No high-skill gymnastics. No barbell cycling. No running. No rowing. No complicated rep scheme you need a whiteboard just to keep track of.
Just three of the most basic movements: back squats, bench press and strict pull-ups.
This simplicity is, of course, exactly how you know it’s going to hurt.
‘Justin’ is performed for time, using a descending rep scheme of 30-20-10. You’ll complete 30 reps of each movement, then 20 reps of each, then 10 reps of each. The prescribed load for both the back squat and bench press is your bodyweight on the bar, with strict pull-ups rounding out each set.
You'll hit your lower body, chest and back. And because the movements are massive compounds, performed for high reps, you'll torch every adjacent, assisting muscle along the way, including your triceps, biceps and forearms.
The Workout
For time:
30-20-10 reps of:
Back squat
Bench press
Strict pull-up
Use your bodyweight on the bar for both the back squat and bench press.
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Coach’s Notes
That gives you 60 bodyweight back squats, 60 bodyweight bench presses and 60 strict pull-ups. Or, put another way, a full-body strength endurance test that looks like a powerlifting session got into a fight with a calisthenics workout.
The key here isn’t going to war with the opening round. It’s keeping enough in the tank to avoid turning those final sets of 10 into a long, lonely string of doubles and singles.
Break the reps early and often, especially on the pull-ups. Even if you can hit 20+ strict reps in a fresh set, this probably isn’t the time to prove it. Aim for tight, repeatable chunks, short rests and zero struggle reps, at least early on.
For the squats, keep your form tight, brace hard and move with intention and mindfulness. Depth matters, but so does standing every rep up. On the bench, drive your feet into the floor and avoid bouncing the bar off your chest just to race the clock. Strict pull-ups mean strict: full hang, chin over the bar, no kicking, kipping or otherwise ‘cheating’.
If bodyweight on the bar is too spicy, scale to a load you can move for controlled sets of 5-10 throughout. For the pull-ups, use a band or swap in strict ring rows.
The goal isn’t to LARP as an elite CrossFitter for four minutes before imploding. It’s to honour the intent of the workout: hard, honest, full body graft, built on the big basics.
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With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
