March 2016 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Up The Road

Rains are coming so headed out from the cabin, walking up the road which is a pretty good “climb” before it starts to switchback around. Was out for just over an hour and about 3.6 miles.

With the close of score validations for the Open last night, it’s time to look at how I finished up.

2016 – 19,127th out of 166,846* (top 11.5%)
2015 – 13,195th out of 141,884 (9.3%)
2014 – 13,737th out of 80,281 (17.1%)
2013 – 9,251st out of 46,227 (20%)
2012 – 16,389th out of 22,174 (73.9%)

*Each year I compare my place to the number of men who complete at least one workout, not everyone that signs up (178k+ this year). I don’t care about beating the guys who don’t show up to play. 🙂

A drop from 2015, but being limited in 16.1 and 16.3 by my shoulder affected those scores quite a bit.

Inverted

The ceilings in the cabin are pretty low so I had to adjust.

10:00 EMOM

30s Pike Handstand Hold (knees or feet on bed)

Hiking Soco Falls

This afternoon I went for a little hike at Soco Falls. I don’t really know how far or how long. Enjoying the outdoors. 🙂

After lunch…

Death by Push-ups

0:00 – 0:59 – 1 Push-up (chest to deck)
1:00 – 1:59 – 2 Push-ups
2:00 – 2:59 – 3 Push-ups
…
Continue until you fail to finish the assigned number of reps.

My best was 18+18 last summer, during our family vacation. Played it safe today with all doubles plus a finishing single (if needed), except for the set of 3. Was cruising along but when you start to hit that wall, you fall hard and fast. Made it through 20+20 for a big PR with a total of 230 reps.

More Tris

My triceps continued getting more sore and seemed to peak last night when I could barely straighten my arms. They feel a little better today. Out in the garage after lunch settled.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
2 Sets of Tricep Openers (8# DBs)

Strength – Back Squat

E2M

6×45#
6×135
6×205
4x6x255

Conditioning – Air Dyne

3 Rounds

3:00 Easy
1:00 Rest
1:30 Moderate
1:00 Rest
45s Fast
1:00 Rest
15s Sprint
1:00 Rest

This was an Aerobic Capacity workout. Probably didn’t go hard enough on some of the paces. Totaled 5.65 miles.

2016-03-28-hr

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Plyo.

Easy Easter

Easy Sunday heading into some deload for me after the Open.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bottom Squat Hold
Bar Hang
Close Grip Bench Press
- 8×45#
- 8×95#

Strength – Accessory

4 Sets

8 Close Grip Bench Press (145#)
4/4 Bulgarian Split Squats (44# KBs)

Conditioning

30:00 Aerobic EMOM (alt)

40s Plank (on hands, lean forward on wrists for bonus)
40s Row
15 Ring Curls
Box step-overs (14″)
40s Russian KBS (35#)

I started doing hand-to-hand swings because it was so easy with that weight.

Midline

8 Rounds (Tabata)

20s Hollow Hold
10s Rest

Last 3 were a fight, but held on through each round.

Shoulder Stability – Bamboo/Earthquake Bar

4 Sets – 10 Bench Press (26# KB on each side)
4 Sets – Seated OH Hold (52#)

Kept it light so I didn’t have to risk smacking myself in the face. I did all of the bench sets, raised the J-cups on the rig, and then all of the OH holds. Probably held at least 20-30 seconds each time.

Get Moving

Triceps and ass are sore from 16.5. Wasn’t very motivated today, but got bored. Finally hauled my ass out of the recliner and to the gym at about 6:30 for some movement.

Crossover Symmetry Activation

6 Rounds

200m Sled Drag (115#)
200m Farmer’s Carry (26# KBs)
40s Handstand Hold (Facing Wall)
5 Ring Swings

I set the clock so I’d work at least 40 minutes and then finish whatever round I was on. So it ended up being 6.

Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap

The Worst

I hated 14.5 two years and said I’d never do it again. One of my least favorite workouts of all-time. Then Castro surprises us all and makes it the repeat for 16.5, bringing back bar-facing burpees for the second time in this Open season. With that said, I actually went in with a positive attitude about it, hoping to hit somewhere around 14:00.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bottom Squat Hold
PVC Pass-thrus
GHD Heel Drives
3:00 Air Dyne
5 Thrusters (45#)

2016 CrossFit Games Open 16.5

21-18-15-12-9-6-3

Thrusters (95#)
Bar-facing Burpees

Did it in 15:12 two years ago, when did the thrusters in 8-7-6, 7-6-5, 6-5-4, 6-6, 5-4, 6, and 3. figured I could push those more this year and I easily did by doing 12-9, 10-9 (yep, did an extra rep, because math is hard during a workout and I couldn’t hear my judge), 9-6, 7-5, 9, 6, and 3. So I eliminated 4 sets+breaks and felt a million times better through the thrusters. I never stopped moving in the burpees but they got so unbearably slow. How slow? I didn’t even PR, but was 5 seconds worse with a 15:17. 😦 I was wrecked after it was over, so know I had nothing left to push any harder than I did. I can’t really think of anything I’d change. I just need more fitness. I am 8-10 pounds heavier than I was 2 years ago, so I’ll make that my excuse. haha

I did another 3:00 on the Air Dyne to cool down after I recovered some.

That’s a wrap on my 5th CrossFit Games Open. Don’t think I’m going to finish at a higher percentile than last year, which will be the first time I haven’t improved my percentile placing. I’ll do an update after scoring is finished this week. I need more fitness for that 35-39 Masters division next year! 😉

Proud to say it was a complete #OneAndDone year for all 5 workouts. I really wanted to do 16.4 again and can’t wait to try 16.3 when my shoulder is healed and I can string bar muscle-up together again.

Storm the Garage

Out in the garage with the storm coming tonight. Started at 1:35pm with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

8 Rounds

20s Parallette HS Hold
40s Rest

A lot different feel to these. Probably could have done 30 seconds but being my first time I wasn’t sure how they would go.

10:00 EMOM (alt)

20s False Grip Bar Hang
- Wrists over fat pull-up bar
- Holding Fat Gripz
- Feet on ground to lighten the load
12 Incline DB Bench Press (35#, low incline)

Starting out easy. Holding an L-sit with the wrists over the bar would be interesting to try once I can build up some strength in the false grip.

24-16-8

Weighted GHD Sit-ups (15#)
Dumbbell Snatches (50#)

Finished in 5:41.

50 Reps for time

Parallette Shoot Throughs

Not the type with a dip on one side and push-up on the other. I did extend my hips out in front on each rep though. Was not expecting these to take so long. Started with a set of 10, then some 5s before dropping to triples. Was done with 25 at 2:28 and thought about decreasing the count. Finished them all at 5:31.

Ended with Crossover Symmetry Plyo. All done at 2:31pm for sub-hour workout.

Thrust It

Finally over the soreness from 16.4. Went to the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bottom Squat Hold
PVC Pass-thrus
Arm Circles
Shoulder Across Chest Stretch
Air Squats
High Knees
Zombie Kicks

Strength – Shoulder Press

6×45#
6×75
6×95
6x6x115

Conditioning

10 Rounds

3 Power Cleans (135#)
5 HR Push-ups
8 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Didn’t push the pace though Bryan seemed to think I did. Finished in 9:17.

Accessory

4 Sets

5/5 Kroc Rows (53#)
5 Ring Rows

Yes! Able to do Kroc rows again without any pain in my shoulder. Kept it light though.

Lifting – Thruster

Wanted to get in some heavy-ish cleans after class in case we have a max of some sort as part of 16.5. Didn’t really want to jerk, so figured I’d thruster them.

2×185#
1×207
1×218
1×233
1×244
1×253 (PR)

The boys were already over 200 so I jumped in and worked up fast. They were combining pounds and kilos on the bar which is always confusing.

I was actually feeling more tired than I expected from the workout. 80 wall balls will get you no matter what. Made the 3# PR, so called it good even though I had been thinking about continuing with cleans after I hit a big thruster.

16.4 Still Has Me

Still sore from 16.4. Upper back is still pretty sore from the ring rows too. Those muscles have really been missing out on work so I’m glad I can get some pulling movements in again. Out in the garage at noon.

Warm-up

Bottom Squat Hold
Crossover Symmetry Activation

Strength – Back Squat

EMOM 11:00

6×45#
6×135
3×165
3×195
3×225
6x3x255

I really like this EMOM work to build up and then through the work sets, which don’t have to be near max to be effective. I used Prelepin’s Chart to pick the working load, sets, and reps. 255 pounds is slightly higher than 55-65% (if I use an estimated max of 380), so I stayed on the low end of the rep range. Quick work to train smarter.

Active Recovery

20:00 Air Dyne (AD2)

I stepped up my RPMs, keeping it at 65-67 for a total of 6.6 miles. Wore the Garmin watch and it did a better job tracking my heart rate than it has before. Was on the upper end of zone 1 and into zone 2 for the majority of the workout. I still felt fine and would have been able to hold a conversation.

Finished with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap.

Nasty Intervals

Ass and hammies definitely sore from 16.4. My upper back is sore from the ring rows yesterday too, but glad to be able to work those muscles again with that pulling movement.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bottom Squat Hold
Empty Bar stretching and positions for thruster

Conditioning

E2M – 7 Cycles

5 Thrusters (95#)
5 Burpees over the Bar
4 Thrusters
4 Burpees over the Bar

This was much worse that the 8s every two minutes from 4 weeks ago. Going from the burpees back to the bar was gross. Those jumps over the bar really added up today and had the quads fatigued. Started out taking 37 seconds, got a couple of seconds faster, and then started hitting the wall after the 4th cycle. Was fighting to keep it under 50 seconds by the last cycle.

This was the 4th progression of this combo. Since they all started the final cycle at what would be the 12 minute mark of a running clock, the volume was all effectively in a 13 minute window, which went from 50 reps to 63 of each movement. Bring on the thrusters Castro!

Gymnastics

5 Sets

15 Stalder Leg Lifts (13″)
5 Ring Swings

I actually only got in 2 sets and then did 3 after snatching because I was helping out some people with HSPU technique for their run at 16.4 tomorrow.

Weightlifting – Snatch

2x3x95#
3×115
3×135
2×155
1×175
1×185
1×195
1×205
2x1x185

Felt really good again. Aggressive punch out. No misses on the way up again.