The Cindy Workout: 20 Minute AMRAP Guide
Updated November 3, 2026 ยท 5 minute read
Cindy is one of the best known benchmark workouts there is: three bodyweight moves, 20 minutes, as many rounds as you can. All it needs is a pull-up bar. This guide covers what it is, what a good score looks like, how to scale it and how to pace it.
What is the Cindy workout?
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
| 5 | pull-ups |
|---|---|
| 10 | push-ups |
| 15 | air squats |
| Score | Rounds plus extra reps, for example 14 rounds + 8 reps |
One round is 30 reps. After every round you start again at the pull-ups, and you keep going until the 20 minutes are up. It is an AMRAP: the clock is fixed, the work is up to you.
Where Cindy comes from
Cindy is one of the Girls, the benchmark workouts CrossFit published in its early years and gave women's names. A benchmark is a workout you repeat every few months to see how far you have come, and Cindy is one of the most popular because it needs so little: a bar, the floor and 20 minutes. Its 5, 10, 15 pattern is also the most common way to split the reps of Murph, which is 20 rounds of it between two miles.
What is a good Cindy score?
A rough guide, unweighted, with full reps:
- Under 10 rounds: a fine start.
- 10 to 15 rounds: solid fitness.
- 15 to 20 rounds: strong, especially if your pull-ups hold up to the end.
- Over 20 rounds: faster than a round a minute. Very fit.
The score that matters most is your own last one. Beat that.
How to scale Cindy
- Easier pull-ups. Band assisted pull-ups, jumping pull-ups, or ring rows.
- Easier push-ups. Hands on a bench or box, or from your knees.
- A shorter clock. 10 or 15 minutes instead of 20.
- Half rounds. 3 pull-ups, 6 push-ups, 9 squats, for the same 20 minutes.
- Harder. Wear a weight vest, the way many people do Murph.
Pacing tips
- Know your round time. 20 rounds means a round a minute. Divide 20 minutes by the rounds you are aiming for and hold that pace from the start.
- Watch the push-ups. They usually fail before the pull-ups do. Split them early, 6 and 4 or 5 and 5, before they get slow.
- Do not rest at the bar. Jump up, do the 5, move on. If you need a breather, take it after the squats.
- Use the squats to recover. Keep them steady and breathe.
How to do Cindy with RankTime
RankTime ships with Cindy built in. Open the app and swipe sideways to AMRAP mode: CINDY is the first page. The ring shows one round, 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats, with the 20:00 time limit in the middle.
- Set the phone down where the camera sees all of you, at the bar and on the floor.
- Press play. After a short get ready the 20 minutes start counting down, and the app calls out each set.
- Let the camera count. Pull-ups, push-ups and squats come ready to count, on the phone itself. Nothing is uploaded, and only the exercise of the set counts.
- Keep going until 0:00. The workout ends when the time does, mid-set included, and every rep goes to your history and your rank.
RankTime shows your total reps. Divide by 30 for your Cindy score: 465 reps is 15 rounds and 15 reps.
Do Cindy with RankTime
Built in Cindy preset, every rep counted by the camera, heart rate, and a military rank that grows with every rep.
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