How a Crucible works

Stations. The Crux. The finish.

A Crucible is one authored functional fitness workout. Every station has a rep target, the Crux sits between every station in place of rest, and the finish gives you your time, your splits and a mark that never expires.

The shape of every Crucible

StationsThe CruxThe finish

Stations: 6 to 12 of them, each with a rep target.
The Crux: Between every station, instead of rest.
The finish: Your time, your splits and the mark.

Stations

The target is the total.

Each station has a rep target. Break as often as you need to: the target is the total, not one unbroken set.

Bank your reps in chunks as you go. Breaks are expected and counted, so the receipt shows exactly where the time went.

Your rep target rises after you finish comfortably a couple of times, and drops the same day a session falls apart.

A station in progress: station 3 of 6 with 40 of 120 reps banked, a rep counter, a Bank button and a Too much? control.

The Crux

Between every station, instead of rest.

The Crux is a short timed effort: a hold, a carry or a crawl, on a clock you didn't start. It's what makes a Crucible hard in a way a circuit isn't, and it's what the finish is measured on.

It needs no distance, no machine and no GPS, so it fits a living room or a hotel room.

The Crux is the same movement for everyone on a given day. You can choose your own, or switch it off, but then the run is yours rather than the week's.

Get Crucible

The finish

Your time, and where it went.

The finish receipt draws your session: station time against Crux time, each Crux effort, your breaks and your next target.

A mark records that you finished to standard. It never expires.

Firsts, like every station unbroken or a Grade cleared, are announced once, when they happen.

The finish for The Whole Hour: 52:43, 2:05 faster than the time being chased, with a bar showing station time against Crux time and a strip for each Crux effort.

Grades

Start where you can finish.

Every Crucible is graded for difficulty on a scale of I to V. Grade III of V means 3 of 5 difficulty.

Start where you can finish and earn the harder ones. A Grade cleared for the first time is named once, when it happens.

III

Three versions

Equipment is a division, not a handicap.

Every Crucible comes in a bodyweight, a dumbbell and a kettlebell version. Gather your kit once and stay in one spot. The kit you own decides your division.

First Light

Bodyweight: 15min; Grade II of V · 6 stations
Dumbbells: 15min; Grade III of V · 6 stations
Kettlebells: 15min; Grade III of V · 6 stations

The library

150 Crucibles. 11,661 ways to run them.

Each comes in bodyweight, dumbbell and kettlebell versions, and the Crux between stations rotates from day to day through up to 26 movements, each one checked so the Grade still holds. Today's is chosen for you from your readiness, recent hard days and training load, then its rep targets are sized to match. You can always pick another in the app.