If you have never done any form of CrossFit before, every CrossFit WOD might look highly challenging.
Nevertheless, there is a special category of challenging workouts that most athletes know as the pain cave to those who regularly do CrossFit. This category of WODs is extremely intensive and challenging.
The King Kong WOD is part of that category.
Compared to other CrossFit WODs, the King Kong WOD isn’t a benchmark like many of the Hero and Girl WODs. Nevertheless, its design hasn’t stopped athletes from treating it as such.
The King Kong WOD has developed a legendary status within the CrossFit community.
The King Kong benchmark CrossFit workout was posted by Josh Everett on the CrossFit Main Site as a video.
It is a CrossFit workout meant to challenge your muscles and every round requires an all out effort for all consecutive rounds.
How to Do the King Kong WOD
This workout involves the following exercises:
3 Rounds For Time
- 1 deadlift 320 pounds for women and 455 pounds for me
- 2 muscle ups
- 3 squat cleans 175 pounds for women and 250 pounds for men
- 4 handstand pushups
Your score is calculated for time. This means you need to complete all 3 rounds and repetitions as quickly as possible.
What Equipment Do You Need?
You will need a skull mat, wall space, gymnastic rings, bumper plates, and a barbell.
Goal Times and Level
You should understand that the King Kong WOD is an elite-level workout and requires equipment. This means beginners shouldn’t try it without proper alterations and scaling.
The following are goal times for skill levels:
- Elite: less than four minutes
- Advanced: 4-6 minutes
- Intermediate: 6-8 minutes
- Beginner: 8-10 minutes
You must understand what these goal times are before you begin this strongman workout. The King Kong WOD is a short workout: since all the movements total 30 reps spread across 3 rounds.
This WOD shouldn’t take any more than 4 or 5 minutes for elite CrossFit athletes.
The goal times highlighted above simply reflect the average time of an athlete with the ability to perform all the movements.
A range is also included to account for varying degrees of efficiency.
A beginner is someone that can do all the exercises; however, they will require more rest in between their reps.
Tips and Strategy
While elite athletes can do the handstand push-ups free-standing, you can use a wall to provide you with balance as a beginner. To do this, you need to:
- Kick up against the wall with your back facing the wall. Your hands should be about 6 to 10 inches away from the wall. Press into the floor and then lock your elbows
- Slowly lower yourself down till your head touches the floor
- Tuck your knees into your chest
- Then powerfully extend your legs by squeezing your hamstrings and glutes. At the same time, you should be pressing up with your shoulders while extending your arms.
- At the top of the movement, you should fully extend your legs and arms with your spine in a neutral position. This is the end of the rep. Always follow good form during this and any other training exercise.
