How To Crush The Annie CrossFit Workout Benchmark
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Are you looking to set a new personal record on the Annie CrossFit workout?
This comprehensive guide will give you everything you need to know about the Annie WOD (workout of the day) to achieve your best score possible and rank higher on your gym’s leaderboard.
Over the last 10+ years coaching CrossFitters who are looking to elevate their performance and chase down a coveted spot at the CrossFit games to the recreational CrossFitter hitting the Annie workout for the first time, I’ve realized that almost any CrossFit workout is more than meats eye.
They are rarely just about going into the pain cave and hitting the workout as hard as possible. There are specific fitness characteristics needed to achieve a good score, as well as optimal pacing strategies to ensure that you get a great workout and time.
Below, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about the CrossFit workout, Annie, including the structure of the workout, the characteristics you need to train, optimal pacing strategies, and scaling options if you are still working on your double unders or how to make the workout even more challenging if you need more of a push.
What Is the Annie CrossFit Workout?
Annie WOD Rx
For Time:
50-40-30-20-10 reps
Double Unders
Abmat Sit-Ups
The CrossFit benchmark workout Annie is among the many “CrossFit girls”. The “girls” are a group of workouts meant to serve as benchmark workouts for CrossFit athletes to gauge their progress year to year.
Having benchmark workouts in your training to gauge your progress the next time you perform a workout is beneficial. However, there are better options for CrossFit benchmark workouts, which I have written about at length.
Nevertheless, the Annie WOD is a great workout that can challenge your fitness in the gym today or as a home workout due to the limited equipment needed.
How To Set A New Personal Record On the Annie WOD
If you want to hit Annie with your best foot forward, then there are some boxes that you will want to check. Not all of this can be done between the time you read this article and when you hit the workout.
But if you have time to train for the workout, such as if it will be in your next local competition or as one of the CrossFit Open workouts, you can start incorporating these things in your training.
You could also get some help optimizing your training with my 1:1 Pain-Free Performance Program, where I help CrossFit Athletes elevate their fitness and train without pain to reach their potential in the sport of fitness.
Let’s dive in.
Proper Pacing
If you are trying to set a new personal best in Annie, pacing will be the number one factor in achieving a great score. It may seem like a no-brainer to say this, but I have realized over the last 10+ years coaching CrossFit in person and online that CrossFit athletes struggle to know their gears and stick to a pace.
This is because of the high-intensity nature of CrossFit. But keeping your heart rate at a manageable level to start and then ramping up intensity as the workout progresses is an easy way to set a new personal best.
As you can likely tell from the number of double unders and abmat sit-ups in the workout, the shoulders and abdominals will have huge demands placed on them.
If you choose to go out guns a blazing and still need to build up the pre-requisite muscle endurance to support your pace, you will likely be above your lactate threshold too soon and be forced to slow down from muscle fatigue or begin tripping on your jump rope.
How to pace Annie
The best option for pacing Annie is twofold. First, you will want to estimate how long the workout will take you to get your “race pace”. It is a fast workout that won’t take long to scale appropriately.
But, to find the right place for you and your aerobic system, you’ll multiply your race pace by four to get your “training pace”. The training pace will be precisely what is sustainable for you.
This “training pace” is the pace you will want to start at, given the descending repetition nature of the workout, and as the reps decrease, your pace can get faster and faster.
The second part of pacing Annie will be managing local muscle fatigue in the shoulders, abdominals, and hip flexors. Working this fatigue and not reaching muscle failure will be paramount in keeping you moving in the workout and hitting a good score.
To avoid muscle fatigue, your best option is to perform repeatable sets of work in the larger numbered sets well under your maximum repetition scores. For example, if you can do 200 double unders without stopping, shooting to go unbroken may be an okay strategy, but if your maximum is fifty, then you would be better served to split the set into two smaller sets.
This concept also applies to abmat sit-ups to preserve the abdominals and hip flexors.
Double Under Skill
No matter how you slice it, Annie is a double under workout. This is because of the two movements performed in the workout; the double under requires the highest skill level.
Ideally, you will have developed this gymnastics skill in isolation and then progressed it into a metcon or fatigue-based format. If not, then doing so will be vital to your long-term success.
As a general overview, any skill in CrossFit should be developed in isolation until enough volume is built up, followed by an addition of a cyclical component such as an Assault Bike, then with complimentary movements that don’t interfere with the muscles involved, such as GHD sit-ups and lastly trained with non-complimentary movements that interfere with the muscles involved such as pairing it with overhead squats.
Optimal Double Under Technique
To perfect your Double Unders, follow these points of performance directly from CrossFit HQ
- Hold hands slightly in front of the hips
- Elbows stay close to the body
- Jump a few inches off the ground
- Spin wrists so the rope passes the feet twice with every jump
- Torso remains upright
Equipment Needed For The Annie WOD
The right equipment to perform the Annie WOD can go a long way in helping you beat your previous time. This workout is great because it only requires a little equipment to perform. All you need is an abmat and a jump rope, and you are ready to go.
When I did this workout for the first time, my time was roughly twelve minutes, and I finished under the 15-minute time cap set for my gym. I was using one of the gym’s cheaper ropes that was heavy and didn’t spin well.
This slowed my cycle speed since the rope spun slower, and it fatigued my shoulders sooner than it would have if I had used a lighter rope.
After purchasing a more performance-based rope, I shaved three minutes off my time and finished it in under nine minutes. A three-minute improvement just by switching the rope I was using…wild.
My Preferred Equipment For The Annie WOD
FAQ
What is the CrossFit Annie Workout Scaled?
If you are still working on your double unders or ability to perform abmat sit-ups, you will want to scale this workout back. As I mentioned above, this is a fast workout, and you should only need a little time to complete it.
When scaling Annie back, the world is your oyster and depends on how proficient you are at the two movements. You could keep double unders and reduce repetitions or swap to 2x single unders. But, for the abmat sit-ups, I prefer to reduce the repetitions to keep moving. You can see an example in written form below.
Annie Scaled
For Time:
100-80-60-40-20
Single unders
30-25-20-15-10
Abmat sit-ups
Or
For Time:
30-25-20-15-10
Double Unders
50-40-30-20-10
Abmat Sit-Ups
What is a good time for the Annie CrossFit WOD?
Having times to shoot for is a great option when training as it provides a beacon to strive for. According to Beyond The White Board good times for Annie will be around five minutes for the 99th percentile of people and about eleven minutes for the 20th percentile.
What are Annie CrossFit workout variations?
If you are reading this and are already in the 99th percentile and want to add an extra challenge to the classic Annie WOD, then there is a version of Annie that steps things up a notch.
This version is called ‘Awful Annie” and swaps abmat sit-ups for the more challenging GHD sit-up and adds in a heavy barbell clean at 275 pounds for males and 185 pounds for females.
Awful Annie
For Time:
Double unders
50-40-30-20-10
GHD sit ups
50-40-30-20-10
Cleans 275/185lb
5-4-3-2-1
This version is exceptionally challenging given the advancement to the GHD sit-up, which has a larger range of motion than the abmat sit-ups and the weight for the cleans.
Many CrossFit athletes who are working their way up in the sport of fitness need to possess the ability to perform GHD sit-ups at those volumes and lift that much weight for their clean. Thus, this version should be reserved for CrossFit athletes who compete in quarterfinals, sanctionals, and the CrossFit Games.
Wrapping Up on The Annie WOD!
You are officially ready to take on the Classic Crossfit benchmark workout, Annie. Annie is a great workout that can be done almost anywhere and is a good test of your double under proficiency and core endurance.
I hope you can use this article as a resource to optimize your workout and post your best times. If you are still getting ready for the full Annie, try one of my scaled versions as you dial in your double under technique. If you are a serious CrossFit athlete and are on the CrossFit Games level, try your hand at Awful Annie, and I’d love to know how you did!
Regardless of where you are on your fitness journey today, Annie is a sold workout for you to try. If you’d like professional help leveling up your fitness and staying pain-free, I’d love to chat to see if my 1:1 Pain-Free Performance Program is right for you.
