Ladder WOD: When the Reps Keep Climbing and the Burpees Refuse to End

Decoding CrossFit #15 — Because apparently every round needed to be worse than the one before it...

Some CrossFit workouts look almost harmless when you first read them.

This one said:

12-minute AMRAP
2, 4, 6, 8...
Alternating dumbbell snatches
Burpees

Two exercises. Twelve minutes. A very small number to begin with...What could possibly go wrong?

Well... the numbers kept growing, and one of the movements was burpees. That should have been my first warning!

So, what is a ladder WOD?

A ladder is a workout in which the number of repetitions changes every round, following a pattern.

In this case, it was an ascending ladder. I started with:

• 2 alternating dumbbell snatches
• 2 burpees
• 4 alternating dumbbell snatches
• 4 burpees
• 6 alternating dumbbell snatches
• 6 burpees

...and continued adding two repetitions to each movement every round.

There are also descending ladders, where the repetitions decrease instead. Those sound friendlier because the numbers get smaller, although CrossFit usually finds another way to make sure they are not actually friendly...And sometimes there are up-and-down ladders, because apparently climbing the ladder once is not always enough!

The trap hidden in the small numbers

The first rounds go by very quickly. Two reps? Easy. Four? Still fine. Six? Nothing dramatic...That is how the ladder gains your trust!

But the repetitions accumulate fast. By the time you reach the larger rounds, you are no longer doing “just two movements”. You are doing a lot of snatches, followed by a lot of burpees, while knowing that the next round will contain even more of both! It becomes a pacing workout as much as a fitness workout. If you go too fast at the beginning because the rounds feel easy, the ladder will collect that debt later — with interest!

My version of the workout

I used a 12.5 kg dumbbell for the alternating snatches.

For most of the workout, I did regular burpees. Towards the end, however, the elegant technique started to disappear and I began getting up one leg at a time.

Was it pretty? Probably not...Did it still get me off the floor? Yes, and at that point that was the important part!

I completed the full round of 16 snatches and 16 burpees. Then I moved on to the round of 18 and managed:

• all 18 dumbbell snatches
• 11 of the 18 burpees

So my final score was 16 + 29 reps.

The board may record it as a number, but I remember it more accurately as: a lot of time spent voluntarily throwing myself onto the floor and trying to stand up again!

Scaling still counts

One useful thing about burpees is that they can be adapted without changing the purpose of the movement. You can step back instead of jumping back, step forward one foot at a time, raise your hands onto a box or bench, or combine these options depending on what your body needs.

I started with regular burpees and naturally changed how I stood up when fatigue arrived. That was not “failing” the workout. It was adjusting so I could keep moving safely and continue working.

The same principle applies to the dumbbell: choose a weight that lets you maintain control as the repetitions increase. A load that feels perfectly manageable during the round of two may feel very different during the round of sixteen.

What I learned from the ladder

Ladder WODs are a little deceptive. They teach you not to judge the whole workout by its first round and not to spend all your energy simply because the beginning feels easy. They also make progress very easy to see. Every completed round takes you one step higher, and every extra repetition after that becomes part of your score.

In my case, I reached 16, completed all 18 snatches and still found enough patience — or stubbornness — for 11 more burpees!

And honestly, considering my relationship with burpees, that may be the real personal record here 🤣