Grace: Pacing Strategy and Heavy Grace Guide

Grace is 30 clean and jerks for time at 61 kg for men, 43 kg for women. It is a pure barbell cycling benchmark — the only question is how fast you can move the bar 30 times at a weight that demands respect.

Grace separates itself from other benchmarks because there is only one movement. There is nowhere to hide and nothing to manage except one decision: how to split the 30 reps.

Grace Splitting Strategies

The most common splits: 10-10-10 (clean, rest at the hip or shoulder, go again), 6×5, 5-5-5-5-5-5, or touch-and-go as many reps as possible. Touch-and-go cycling (keeping the bar moving without setting it down) is fastest but requires solid technique under fatigue. For most athletes, 5-rep sets with 10-15 second rest are reliable and produce consistent times. Avoid going to failure on your first set — a 15-rep opening set followed by grinding singles is the classic Grace mistake.

Grace Time Standards

Beginner (scaled): 5-10 minutes. Intermediate (Rx): 3-6 minutes. Competitive (Rx): 2-3 minutes. Elite: under 2 minutes. Women's Rx at 43 kg typically runs 30-90 seconds slower than men's at equivalent relative strength. Your Grace time is a direct reflection of your barbell cycling efficiency — improving your touch-and-go technique is worth more than adding strength.

Heavy Grace

Heavy Grace is the same workout at 102 kg for men and 70 kg for women — a genuinely maximal or near-maximal clean and jerk for most athletes. At those loads, touch-and-go is not possible and the 30 reps become a test of pure strength endurance. Heavy Grace is typically completed in 8-20 minutes and requires a different training approach: singles and doubles at 85%+ 1RM, not cycling volume.

Frequently Asked Questions