April 2017 – Page 2 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Barbara, Still a Weakness

We went in earlier, at 10, for a Sunday due to the holiday. I drank this sample of a women’s elite pre-workout on the drive.

Warm-up

3×15 Reverse Hyper (140#)
Shoulder Stretching
False Grip “Hang” & Stretch
Bottom Squat Hold

Someone lowered the low rings even more so it wasn’t much of a hang with both feet easily on the ground.

Conditioning

“Barbara” – 5 Rounds

20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Air Squats
3:00 Rest

Anything with this many bodyweight reps generally isn’t my cup of tea and Barbara is no exception. I’ve never done well with it. I did manage a 38 second PR though. Pull-ups were easy, going 2×10 every round. I did 3×10 for 3 rounds of push-ups but felt them dying so I did 10-8-6-6 the final 2 rounds. Sit-ups were fine for 2 rounds but got slow. Never stopped but it felt like each rep was taking sooo long. Actually did better than expected on the squats and got faster the last two rounds by pushing harder knowing I didn’t need to use my legs again for about 6 minutes when I finished the set.

Date	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
Sep 22, 2012	4:23	4:26	4:26	4:33	4:27	22:15
Nov 16, 2014	3:37	4:12	4:29	4:59	5:07	22:24
Apr 16, 2017	3:52	4:06	4:19	4:42	4:38	21:37

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

4 Strict HSPU

I haven’t been doing much overhead pressing since the back issues, so wanted to try and get in some reps. Went much better than I expected.

Wonder What My Push Jerk Is

Walked my first 18 holes of the year yesterday. Wasn’t really tired, though did feel some pulling in my left hamstring over the last 4 holes. Still really wet and soggy out there. Went in for the 10am class today.

Warm-up

3×15 Reverse Hyper (90#)
2x
- Couch Stretch
- Wrist Stretch
3 Sets
- 10 Weighted Lunge (45#)
- 10 Shoulder Press (45#)
- 10 Front Squat (45#)

Weightlifting

1 Squat Clean + 2 Front Squats + 1 Push Jerk

135#
185#
205#
225#
240#
250#

Alex lifted with me. Wasn’t planning on going too heavy, but it was feeling ok. The squats did feel a little heavy. I haven’t maxed out push jerk in years, but the most I’ve done is 255# back in September of 2014. I think it’s a lot higher now.

Conditioning

30:00 EMOM (alt)

Row calories
H2H KBS (44#)
Bicycle Crunches
Jump Rope (singles)
Side Plank

Worked for 40 seconds of each minute. This was a nice little sweat. Alternated sides for the plank every round so that they were longer holds.

Out in the garage in the evening to kick of week 2 of the Push Only program.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
8×135
4x8x175
3x12x190

Increased 5# on both the sets of 8 and the sets of 12.

Close Grip Bench Press

3x12x155#

Not knowing what I could do, I tried 135-150-165 last week, which was an average of 150, so a 5# increase over that seemed right for today and it sure was! High rep day is much harder with “strict” rests. I was doing about two minutes.

Accessory

3×12 Clapping Push-ups
3×12 DB Side Raises (15#)
3×12 DB Bent-over Side Raises (15#)

Performance Plus

3×15 PVC Lift Offs (video)
3×10 Banded Arm Circles – 10 in all 3 positions and also in both directions (video)
Rolling Teres Muscles – 30 seconds / side (video)

Also did some psoas release and the entire second session only took 70 minutes.

False

Went to the 5:30 class and did my own thing instead of the class warm-up and strength, since it was deadlifts, which I just did yesterday.

Warm-up

3×15 Reverse Hyper (90#)
3 Rounds
- 100′ Single Arm Front Rack Carry (44# KB, right)
- 10 Single Arm Front Rack Squats (44# KB, right)
- 100′ Single Arm Front Rack Carry (44# KB, left)
- 10 Single Arm Front Rack Squats (44# KB, left)
- 10 Single Arm Single Leg RDL (44# KB, right)
- 10 Single Arm Single Leg RDL (44# KB, left)

My balance is already improved a lot since doing those RDLs a week ago at my PT evaluation.

Screwing around I did a strict muscle-up! Then again! And again! I think I’ve only ever done one as a fluke. I wasn’t fully hanging since I have to get on the lower rings to get into the false grip. I need to spend some time just working on hanging in that grip.

Conditioning

Buy-in: 100 Double Unders
6 Rounds
- 5 T2B
- 10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
- 15 American KBS (44#)
Cash-out: 50 Burpees

Was cruising along unbroken on dubs and then I missed 4 times after 70 reps. Kept the movements all unbroken and tried to go at a solid pace on the burpees. I finished in 13:28 with exactly 3 minutes to do the burpees.

17.5

Today was finally the day!

Warm-up

5:00 Ski Erg (1,117 m)
10 Thrusters (45#)
20 DU
10 Thrusters (75#)
20 DU

Then I took my sweet time procrastinating before I started the clock. Flying solo in the garage isn’t easy for something like this.

CrossFit Games Open Workout 17.5

10 Rounds

9 Thrusters (95#)
35 Double Unders

Nobody wanted to listen, but I had told many during the Open that breaking up the thrusters would be smart. The workout is designed to make you think you have to do them unbroken, but most of us aren’t Regional level competitors (or even close). My plan all along was to go 5-4 with short planned rest. I did do the final round unbroken. Once I got to the bar after dubs or after my set of 5 I did a quick count to 3 and then it was time to pick the bar up. Worked out great and I was able to keep what felt like a steady pace, other than my misses with the rope. Finished in 13:28, which I’m excited about. Based off of friends’ scores we figured I’d be in the 14-15 minute range. I actually really liked that one and look forward to the next time.

No looping in this video!

With a video of course I had to geek out on some data.

Consistent throughout. A better double under day, even limited to 1 miss per round, would have saved 20-30 seconds. I’m really proud of how I stuck to the strict rest between all thruster sets. Usually it’s too easy to take an extra few seconds here and there, which adds up to a lot.

Was bummed not to be able to get this in officially during the Open, especially after it went pretty well today. Had to tally up where I might have placed. For the workout I would have been 24,526 / 148,468 (16.5%) in the Open division and 3,147 / 28,206 (11.2%) in the Masters 35-39 division. Overall through the 5 weeks I would have had 139,975 points in the Open division, ranking me 20,616 / 201,951 (10.2%) and 18,825 points in the Masters 35-39 division for 2,455 / 38,106 (6.4%). Definitely my best fitness level to date! So close to that top 10%! Each year when I calculate, I base the % off of people who have submitted at least one score.

Back to my workout… After resting a bit, I wanted to get in some strength work from the PT.

Deficit Deadlifts

10×95#
5×135
5×185
5×225
5x5x255

I stood on 45# competition plates. Good place to start with the loading. Wonder if I’ll feel these tomorrow.

deficit-deads

Better by 19

I posted an update on my personal blog about my back issues.

Out in the garage this afternoon.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
6×135
3×165
3×195
4x3x225

Push Press

10×45#
6×95
3×135
3×155
3x3x175

Both pressing movements felt heavy.

Accessory

3×15/15 Pallof Press (red band, 2s pause)
3×15 DB Side Raises (10#)
3×15 DB Bent-over Side Raises (10#)

I tried to point my thumbs up towards the ceiling for both types of side raises. Interesting angle.

Midline

100 Sit-ups

Flew through in 2:39, which is a 19 second PR! I was using my AbMat pad, but can’t imagine it would make that much of a difference. I’ve had trouble setting just a few second PR on this over the years, so not sure where this came from.

Conditioning

10:00 Airdyne

The plan was to do an aerobic 20 minutes, but after doing 75-76 RPMs for 7:00 I picked it up to see if I could get close to my 300 FY score of 358. Maybe if I had started a minute earlier. Pretty close at 338 calories (3.99 miles).

All done in 65 minutes.

Performance Plus

I’ll get this in tonight…

Lat Foam Roller – 30 seconds each side (video)
Overhead Opener – 2×30 seconds (video)
3 MAX effort sets of Wall-Walks with 1:00 rest (video)

Holy shit those slow wall walks were hard! I did 3×3 and took about 25 seconds for each rep.

Carry First

Yesterday I walked my first 9 holes of the year and was exhausted the rest of the day. Pathetic. haha I wasn’t planning on doing anything except watching the Masters anyway, so it worked out. Got to the gym early today before the 4:30 class do the stuff from the PT.

Rehab – 3 Sets

15 Reverse Hyper (90#)
100′ Single Arm Front Rack Carry (44# KB, right)
10 Single Arm Front Rack Squats (44# KB, right)
100′ Single Arm Front Rack Carry (44# KB, left)
10 Single Arm Front Rack Squats (44# KB, left)
10 Single Arm Single Leg RDL (44# KB, right)
10 Single Arm Single Leg RDL (44# KB, left)

The squats turn out to be much harder when you fatigue yourself first. No rest from the carry to the squats.

Class Warm-up – 2 Sets

200m Run
10 Ring Rows
20 Jumping Jacks

The ring rows felt really good. They never do.

Strength – Back Squat

10×45#
8×135
6×185
5×215
4×245
3×275
2×285
1×300

No belt and wore Nike Metcons. Wasn’t planning to push the weight even though class was maxing out.

Accessory – 5 Sets

10 Hand Release Push-ups
10/10 Kroc Rows (53#)

Conditioning

9:00 AMRAP

5 Power Cleans (95#)
7 Back Squats (95#)
9 Burpees

Was too slow on my burpees. I was doing a short pause after each back squat too, which I should have just pushed through with so few reps. Finished exactly 7 rounds.

Get To It

Warm-up

2×15 Reverse Hyper (90#)
2 Rounds
- 200m Run
- 10 Air Squats
- 10 PVC Passes
- 15 Jumping Jacks

Strength – Front Squat

10×45#
6×135
4×185
4×215
2x3x245

My back is definitely tight.

Warmed up cleans with 5×45, 5×95, and 5×135.

Conditioning

30:00 Partner AMRAP

10 Power Cleans (185#)
20 Burpees
30 Row Calories
40 alt Box Jumps (24″)
50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
200m Run

Paired up with Weston and we evenly split everything. I did 5 TnG cleans each time. Did box jumps in the first round, but switched to step-ups because my back was getting a little tight. We recovered on the run. First round was around 8 minutes not knowing how to pace. Got a little faster and then we pushed it in the final round almost getting through in 6 minutes. Finished 3 rounds and about 120 meters of the 4th run.

Midline

Max Plank

With my mid back already tight I didn’t push it. Stopped at 3 minutes.

Pulled a double day because I wanted to get in the bench work and be able to rest tomorrow with the nice weather and the Masters on. Out in the garage after 9pm…

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
5×135
5×165
5×185
5x5x205
3×30 alt DB Bench Press (50#)

Those dumbbell presses get much harder on the short rest.

Shoulder Press

5×95#
5×115
5×120
5×125

I haven’t done a shoulder press in months.

Accessory

3×15/15 Half-kneeling Single Arm DB Press (30#)
3×15/15 OH Single Arm DB Tricep Extensions (15#)
3×15/15 Landmine Press (75#)
3×15 Z Press (65#)

Single arm for the tricep extensions was not good but I thought it would be better for unilateral work. Didn’t feel the tricep working much at all. Won’t be doing them that way again.

I wasn’t sure if I did the landmine presses correctly the last time so I found a T Nation article. Yep, I had been leaning forward too much, effectively turning it into a shoulder press. Much harder when stand up straight and press out at an angle!

The Z Press was from the Performance Plus program. It was recommended to use about 33% of a max shoulder press. Focus on upright posture and fully opening the shoulders.

Because it was so decided to keep my rests at about 1:30. It helped me to prep the next movement ahead of time to keep rolling through. Finished all of that in 57 minutes!! It created a nice pump too. Short rest, Arnold style.

Still have 2 pieces of the Performance Plus to do, but will do them in the living room while watching TV.

Mobility

Thoracic Spine Extension
3×12 Downward Dog

Garage Pump Sesh

Got in a garage sesh before a late lunch. Warmed up with 5 minutes on the Ski Erg and went 1,156 meters. It’s like a bodybuilding day!

3 Sets 8 Strict Pull-ups + 7 Banded Pull-ups (blue hanging from bar)
3×12 Rack Chins (feet on bench)
3×10 BTN Wide Grip Pull-ups (blue band – across j-cups at pockets)
3×20 DB Curls (15#)
3 Sets
- 20 Shoulder Is (CS purple)
- 20 Shoulder Ys
- 20 Shoulder Ts

I feel so weak on this day of the program. Pull-ups get hard really fast. The rack chins are easily my favorite of the bunch. Talk about a pump on those!! I’m so weak. I did the IYTs as a big superset without letting go or stopping. Owww.

Quick work for the Performance Plus program today because the 2nd movement was strict pull-ups and I had clearly done enough already.

12 – 9 – 6 Hollow straight-arm (red) banded pull downs (video)
30s rest

PT Work

We clearly woke up some muscles yesterday on my low back. Maybe getting these in right away the next day wasn’t the smartest idea. Oh well.

3 Sets

10/10 Single-arm DB Front Squats (40#)
10/10 Single-arm single-leg RDL (40#)

Did these as a big 40 rep superset.

All that in less than 70 minutes.

Eval

Today I went to see a PT who knows CrossFit. Did a variety of movements there including air squats, back squats, deadlifts, single-arm kettlebell front rack squats, single-arm one-leg RDLs, and deficit deadlifts. Not high reps of anything. I’m preparing a post for my personal blog with an update about my back, how I recovered, and what I found out at the PT. I’ll link here once it’s published.

Jumped on the Airdyne tonight for a 30 minute aerobic piece. My watch actually worked today, so I was able to track my heart rate. Made it 17.19 km, a best by almost 0.8 km over the last time, which had already been a best. The kicker is I was still aerobic. I did bump up my zones since my back is functioning and didn’t feel I needed to use the 5-10 beats per minute adjustment to the 180-formula.

I did notice it took me about 5 minutes to get up near the bottom of that zone (133) even though I was going at 73-75 RPMs. Then before I hit 14 minutes in I did notice the high alert start going off for the first time. The graph confirms that stuff. I was able to keep the pace at 71-73 for a good length of time before I had to start dropping to 68-ish to keep the HR in zone.

Where’s The Rest?

I spoke too soon when writing my post yesterday. A few hours later I started to feel my hips, ass, hamstrings, and quads getting sore. I knew it had to be coming after squatting some weight for the first time in weeks. Went to the 4:30 class.

Warm-up

1:00 Kang Squats (15#)
1:00 Sit-ups
1:00 Row
Deadlift
- 8×45#
- 8×155
- 8×225

Strength & Gymnastics

12:00 EMOM (alt)

8 Deadlifts (245#)
12 T2B

Wore grips (good to know they were fine with the deadlifts too) and did all sets unbroken. Tried to remember to keep eyes on the wall instead of looking up to the bar on each rep. Also tried to keep straight legs as much as possible. Was programmed as only 6 T2B but that would have been way too easy. Almost started to fail at the end so the 12 worked out great.

Accessory – 5 Sets

8 Pendlay Row (95#)
10 HR Push-ups

I mentioned to Weston, “We need more rest time. I’m not used to this class workout stuff.”

Conditioning

14:00 AMRAP

40 Hand-to-hand Kettlebell Swings (44#)
30 Ball Slams (20#)
20 Goblet Squats (44#)
20 Sit-ups
10 Walking Lunges

I did Russian swings in the first round but my hands were rubbing on the narrower handle so decided to switch to the H2H swings. Did every movement unbroken. Finished the sit-ups in the 3rd round. If I had done standing lunges I probably would have finished.

Late Night

E2M – 7 Sets

15 HR Push-ups

Decided to bust out some more push-ups while watching videos.