If you’re looking for 30 of the best partner WODs for functional fitness, then you’ve come to the right place. We all know that it can be boring to workout by yourself. Adding in partner WODs is a great way to keep training interesting. In this article I will provide a list of WODs that will challenge athletes of all skill levels. Keep reading for more.
As a coach and writer of functional fitness programs, I enjoy writing challenging partner workouts. I find I have greater freedom to play with the length of the workout, as well as the type of fitness you can build. Most athletes know that you are pretty much gassed after a few minutes of a normal metcon or workout of the day (WOD). This is because you are the only one doing the work.
In partner workouts you can actually accomplish more total work, because you’re able to rest while your partner does their part. Even for solo functional fitness athletes, I think team WODs are a great option, because it allows you to work above your normal pace, as a result of these rest periods.
Before we cover all the details of these 30 WODs, I want to highlight a few important points below. This will help avoid confusion later on.
30 Best Partner WODs: Functional Fitness Team Workouts
- WODs are not listed sequentially
- This is not a complete functional fitness program
- Scale (alternate exercises) to the lowest common denominator
- Designed to allow for creative team planning
- Have fun!
As you’ll see, I’ve included many different styles of WODs, from amrap workouts, to chippers, and more. The best part about these WODs is that they will challenge athletes of every fitness level. I’ve also designed a few of them to challenge your planning skills. These are the type of skills you need in team competition if you plan on doing well.
In the next section I’m going to review some tips you can use to get the most from these functional fitness team workouts. Let’s get to it.
Team WOD / Metcon Tips
The most important tip I can offer is to make sure that you know this isn’t a full program. I have dozens of high quality programs that you can use to achieve your fitness goals. This isn’t one of them. It’s simply a list of workouts that you can pick and choose from.
My second tip is to scale the program to the lowest skill level of the team. I’ve tried to write these workouts so the vast majority of intermediate and advanced athletes will be able to complete them. You should expect some scaling. That’s normal. Check this guide out for tips on modifying workouts.
My last tip is to keep your plan simple and executable under fatigue. If the workout calls for you to do exactly 8 wall balls, 3 push jerks, 14 air squats, and 6.75 box jumps, over and over, then you might find that you lose count! The easiest plan is to keep a running count, and go fairly hard, right to the point where your reps slow. Once you slow, you can swap partners.
Remember the goal is to produce the highest work rate you can between partner A and partner B. That’s normally accomplished by starting at a moderately hard pace, and increasing from there. Don’t start by going psycho on front squats, and double unders, followed by a crash and burn shortly there after! A steady pace wins the day.
Now that we’ve covered some basic team workout tips, we can get to the list of the 30 best partner WODs. Don’t forget to join the email list below.
30 Best Partner WODs : 1-10
The first thing you’ll notice is that I’ve covered a lot of different workout types, of various formats. Some workouts are a partner chipper WOD, where as another might be a 20-minute AMRAP. I also like workouts where you have a certain number of total reps that you and your partner need to achieve, across multiple movements. This is a great way to create a solid game plan for your workout, if you want a good time.
You will also notice that I often have one partner working while the other partner works at an easier movement, as a quasi rest. If you look at workout 1 you can see that both team members are actually working the whole time. This is quite common in competitions, and it allows you to complete more overall work. I’m just sneaky that way.
If you look at Workout 9, you’ll see that you have to achieve a total of 800 reps across four different movements. I like these kinds of workouts for teams because it allows you to strategize which movements to favor, based on your group strengths.
As a coach, I get you to actually work harder than if you had to use movements that you were less efficient with. It’s a great way to increase fitness. Let’s take a look at the next group of partner WODs. If you want to try my most popular functional fitness program, then check this out.
30 Best Partner WODs: 11-20
Those of you who’ve read my ebook “Programming Your Fitness,” will probably notice that many of these partner workouts are carefully thought out. Often times these workouts are performed on weekends. That means you most likely have a whole week of normal workouts under your belt.
I’ve deliberately chosen movements that spread the work around to large muscle groups, without over emphasizing any particular group. If you take a look at Workout 11 you’ll see what I mean.
In that workout you will see that it’s a fairly lower power output WOD, but the weights are very challenging. Again, I’ve allowed you to pick which movements to accumulate the most reps on. This also allows you to avoid working muscle that are already sore from the weeks normal programming.
Because there is a deadlift, which is back and legs, bench press, which is upper body pushing, and pull ups which are upper body pulling, you’ll find that you shouldn’t be too sore from this workout. The total WOD volume is spread out. If I made it just back squats, and deadlifts, your legs would be screaming!
It’s also important to highlight that you should pick a WOD to do that doesn’t hammer muscle groups that haven’t had time to recover. Most research shows that you need at least 24-48 hours before you can train the same major muscle group again, with any intensity. Now let’s review the last batch of team metcons.
30 Best Partner WODs: 21-30
Many of these workouts are designed to push you to complete more work, at a higher power output than you would if you were training solo. To illustrate this point, we are going to take a look at Workout 26. On the surface you might think it’s a fairly standard chipper style WOD. On the contrary, it requires smart planning if you want to get it done as fast as possible.
The first movement of this workout is Thrusters; however, every time you want to switch partners the incoming partner has a 200 meter run. In effect, only the very first set is done by a fresh athlete. All other sets are done after fatigue has been accumulated.
Smarter athletes will recognize that switching partners often, on this movement, isn’t a winning strategy. In this specific example it pays to complete large sets. If I were doing this, I would start on the Thrusters and have my partner start their run as soon as I touched the bar.
I would aim to complete around 20-25 Thrusters, taking it very close to failure. This set size is likely to take around a minute, which means my partner can return from a relatively sedate run, and then perform a large set as well.
If we turn our attention to the pull ups, we can afford to swap partners more often, as 10 kettlebell swings aren’t that fatiguing. We then return back to the 200m penalty run for the sit ups. This will also encourage larger than normal set sizes.
As you can see, having a good plan before the WOD starts can make the difference between a hard workout, and a long brutal one! Now that we’ve covered these 30 best partner WODs, let’s review some programs you might want to choose from to up your fitness level over the long term.
If you want to build a killer engine as well as functional fitness, then you should check out this hybrid conditioning program.
Finding Your Next Functional Fitness Program
In my decades in the gym I’ve found that most functional fitness athletes tend to have the same weaknesses that are holding back their performance. I’ve noticed that the majority of functional fitness athletes come to the Box from a more traditional bodybuilding training style.
After about a year of training as a functional fitness athlete, they develop reasonably well, if incompletely. To really generate a high work rate in a WOD or metcon, you need to be strong, and you need to have a large aerobic engine.
The vast majority of WODs are predominately fueled by your aerobic engine. Even WODs as short as 3 minutes are still predominately fueled by your aerobic energy system.
The other common issue is athletes who have good form on most of the movements, but just aren’t strong enough. If you read this analysis of the top 10% of CrossFit athletes you’ll see that they all have impressive strength numbers, as well as conditioning numbers.
In the next section I will list several different types of programs. Some will be aimed at building your engine, and maintaining your strength, where as others will build strength and muscle, with less emphasis on conditioning. I encourage you to find a program that appeals to you, and allows you to hammer your biggest weaknesses. There are many different ways to achieve your specific goals, but ignoring your deficiencies isn’t one of them!
Your Next Functional Fitness Program Options
The first group of programs will be for those athletes that need to build strength and muscle mass. You can expect a lot of lifting and accessory work. You will also see a lot of difficult WODs thrown in at the end of the session. Take a look at a few options and see what you think.
Strength and Muscle Mass Programs
- 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program
- 12 Week Functional Fitness Training Program
- 9 Week Functional Fitness Strength Program
- 7 Week Free Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program
- 6 Weeks of Muscular Growth for Functional Fitness Athletes
This next group of programs are designed to maintain your current strength levels, or build them slightly. They will really hammer your aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. These fitness plans will probably have the best carry over for your WODs and Metcons.
Aerobic and Anaerobic Conditioning Programs
- 8 Week Hybrid Strength and Endurance Training Plan
- 12 Week Apex Hybrid Performance Fitness Plan
- 8 Week Hybrid Bodybuilding and Endurance Training Plan
- 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness
- 12 Week Functional Endurance Training Program
You now have a lot of great program options. You really can’t go wrong with either type of fitness plan, but you’ll find the most improvement if you attack your weaknesses. For those of you living in the past, don’t worry. A lot of cardio won’t affect you gains.
I’ve taken great pains to make sure you don’t lose your strength and mass, when building conditioning. Let’s finish this article up with some final thoughts.
Final Thoughts
I think there is a lot of value in partner WODs, even for athletes that don’t compete as pairs. These WODs provide a much different training stimulus, and keep training fun. I also think they are great options for athletes looking to lose body fat, and improve their body composition. Check this article out for some great fat loss tips.
If you plan on following one of my hybrid programs that focus on conditioning, I recommend taking a hard look at Zwift and cycling in general for your conditioning. Research shows it pairs well with strength training, and I’ve had a lot of success with it in my personal training.
If you have any comments or questions, then put them below, and I’ll get you an answer. Now get out there and get training. Don’t forget to join the email list!
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