Chipper Workouts: How to Pace a Long List
Updated: 1 day ago
0:00. The clock beeps, and half the room sprints to the rower like it owes them money. 3:00. The same athletes step off, legs heavy, and stare at a 9-kilo ball they now have to throw 40 times. 11:00. Someone is on their third set of three toes-to-bar. 19:00. The athlete who looked slowest at the start is running out the door for the final 800 meters while everyone else is still at the box.
Chippers reward a plan more than any other workout format. The list is long, the movements are varied and fatigue from one station follows you to the next. I know, because I've been the one sprinting to the rower, and I've paid for it at the wall ball target. Below is a minute-by-minute walk through a sample chipper, the way I'd coach you through it, so you can see how pacing decisions stack up across the whole piece.
IN THIS ARTICLE
Before the Clock: Break It on Paper
Here's the sample workout. It's a composite of the kind of chipper you'll see in classes, not a named benchmark, and the timings describe a composite intermediate athlete aiming to finish in roughly 22 to 24 minutes.
40-calorie row
40 wall balls
30 kettlebell swings
30 toes-to-bar
20 burpee box jump-overs
800-meter run
Before the workout starts, decide your sets for every station, and decide them for your tired self, not your fresh self. My plan for this athlete: row at a steady pace, wall balls in sets of 10 with short, fixed breaks, swings in two sets, toes-to-bar in small sets from the start, burpee box jump-overs at a steady walk-like rhythm, then run what is left. Write the plan on the whiteboard or a piece of tape. I still do this for my own long workouts, because when you're breathing hard at minute 12, you won't make good decisions. You'll follow whatever plan you made earlier.
Your own plan will look different, and it should. If toes-to-bar are a strength, start with sets of eight. If your wall balls fall apart after 15, plan sets of eight from the start. The rule is to set a number you're confident you can repeat for every set of that station, then add a small, fixed rest. Scale loads and movements so that every station is something you can keep moving through, rather than a wall you stand in front of. A chipper where you keep moving for the whole time cap is a better training day than one where you finish four stations and stare at the fifth.
Minutes 0 to 8: Buy Time Cheaply
0:00 to 3:15. The row. This is where chippers are lost, and it happens quietly. Rowing hard feels productive, but the legs and lungs pay for it at the wall ball target. Row at a pace you could hold for twice as long, with long, relaxed strokes and a moderate stroke rate. You should step off breathing steadily, not gasping.
3:15 to 3:30. The transition. Walk with purpose, chalk if you need to, pick up the ball. Fifteen seconds here is fine. Forty-five seconds of hands on knees isn't.
3:30 to 7:45. Wall balls in four sets of 10. Rest for three or four breaths between sets, no more. Exhale as the ball leaves your hands and breathe in as it drops. Your first set should feel easy. If it doesn't, you rowed too hard, and the right move is to shorten your rest a little later rather than going faster now.
Minutes 8 to 15: The Middle Decides Everything
This is the part of the list nobody remembers planning for, and it's where most scores are made or lost.
8:00 to 10:00. Kettlebell swings in two sets of 15. Hinge from the hips, let the bell float, grip only as hard as you need to. Swings tax the grip before the toes-to-bar, so keep your hands relaxed and shake them out on the walk to the bar.
10:00 to 15:00. Toes-to-bar. Here the plan pays off most. Start with sets of 5 or 6 with short, controlled breaks, even though you could do 10 fresh. Big early sets burn your grip and lead to singles at the end. I've watched so many athletes, me included, rip off a proud set of 12 and then spend four minutes doing singles while the clock laughs. Six sets of five with steady rest will almost always beat a set of 12 followed by a long run of singles. Use grips if bar work tends to tear your hands, and if your shoulders or elbows start to hurt rather than just tire, scale to hanging knee raises.
Coach's cue: Break it before it breaks you, and break it on purpose.
Minutes 15 to 20: Hold the Rhythm
15:00 to 19:30. Burpee box jump-overs. Tired legs and a box are a risky combination, so step down rather than rebounding off the box, and step up if your jump starts to feel careless. The target is a steady rhythm of about one rep every 12 to 14 seconds for this athlete. Breathe at the top of each burpee, not on the floor. This station feels endless because it comes late. Count reps in small blocks of five rather than looking at the total.
Resist the temptation to rest standing at the box. Movement is more efficient than stopping and restarting. A slow, continuous rhythm is faster than bursts and pauses.
Minute 20 to the Finish: Spend What You Saved
19:30 to about 23:00. The run. Everything you saved on the rower and the wall balls is now available. Settle into a controlled pace for the first 400 meters, find your breathing, then build over the second half. The last 200 meters is where you empty the tank.
If you've planned well, this final station is the fastest part of your workout relative to effort. If you haven't, it's a long jog on heavy legs. The difference between those two experiences usually comes down to decisions you made in the first eight minutes.
Afterward, write down your split for each station. Next time you face a chipper, look at where you lost the most time relative to your plan. For most athletes, it's the middle stations, and the fix is starting them with smaller sets. When my athletes send me their splits, that's almost always where the story is.
The Long List Rewards Patience
Chippers are a test of discipline disguised as a test of fitness. Plan every station for your tired self, go easy on the early movements, break the grip-heavy middle into small sets and save something for the finish. The athlete who respects the details at minute three is the one still moving well at minute twenty.
If you want pacing practice and conditioning work planned for you each week, placed around your regular classes and tracked in the app, Sphere Programming at ATHLETESPHERE will help you build the engine and the patience that long workouts demand.
Your turn. Tried this? Tell me how it went in the comments below. I read every one, and your questions help shape what I write next. If it helped, tap the heart so it reaches more athletes.
Keep reading
Further reading: CrossFit
Coach Fritz Bautista · Head Coach, ATHLETESPHERE
CrossFit Level 2 Trainer (CF-L2) ✓ · CrossFit Programming Certificate · MBA · Digital Marketing Certified · Coaching athletes from all walks of life online
Comments