Weekly Rx W01 — Rapid Response

W01 · Rapid Response

This is the first one. A new prescription goes up every Monday, free, written between shifts by someone who works them.

Here's how it runs. There are two sessions this week — an upper day and a lower day. Pick whichever fits your rotation, or run both if you have the days. Then everyone finishes with the same twelve minutes, so every score posted this week is comparable to every other score.

RX-W01-A — Upper

Sig: 4 rounds · RPE 8 · rest 90 seconds between rounds
Disp: ~40 minutes
Refills: 0

Push and pull, balanced. The intent is hard work with clean positions, not a grind — if your last rep looks different from your first, the load is wrong.

1. Dumbbell bench or push-up — 8–10 reps. Leave two in the tank on the first round.
2. Single-arm row — 10–12 per side. Pull to the hip, not the armpit.
3. Half-kneeling overhead press — 8 per side. Ribs down; don't let the low back arch to finish the rep.
4. Ring row or inverted row — max clean reps, stop one short of failure.

RX-W01-B — Lower

Sig: 4 rounds · RPE 8 · rest 90 seconds between rounds
Disp: ~40 minutes
Refills: 0

Squat and hinge. If you've been on your feet for three days straight, this is the one to scale — see the reduced dose below.

1. Goblet squat — 10 reps. Full depth you can own, not the depth you can survive.
2. Romanian deadlift — 8–10 reps. Hinge, don't squat it.
3. Split squat — 8 per side. Slow down on the way down.
4. Suitcase carry — 30 seconds per side, heavy. Anti-rotation under load — the one that transfers straight to walking a patient one-handed.

The finisher — RAPID RESPONSE

AMRAP 12 minutes. Same for everyone, upper day or lower day. No running, nothing you don't already have.

• 5 pull-ups — or 8 ring rows, or 8 bent-over rows with anything heavy
• 10 push-ups
• 15 air squats
• 20 hollow rocks — or a 30-second hollow hold

The rep ladder climbs as the movements get easier, so every station takes about the same time. Keep moving.

Score: total rounds plus reps. Write it down. That number is what you beat the next time Rapid Response comes around.

Reduced dose

Coming off three nights, running on four hours, or working back from something? Take the reduced dose. It is still the prescription.

• Strength work: 3 rounds instead of 4, and drop one full RPE point.
• Finisher: AMRAP 8 instead of 12.
• If you slept under five hours: run the strength work only and skip the finisher entirely.

Scaling isn't failing the prescription. Running it wrecked is.

A new Rx every Monday

Free, always. Get it in your inbox so you don't have to go looking for it.

This is one dose. No refills. RX-RC is the twelve-week protocol it came from — sequencing, progression, and volume built around a rotating schedule instead of a normal training week.

Prescribed by Gene Dinh, RN · Scrubs & Steel