Author: Nick Momrik

I'm searching for my first hole-in-one. I enjoy being active and making things. I work for Automattic.

Hold for a Gold Star

My back is a little tight and my shoulders and elbows still feel pretty beat each morning. Didn’t get out of bed until 8, which is extremely rare these days. Workout at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (4,925m)
  • 20 PVC Passes
  • Wrist Warm-up

Handstands

4 Rounds (NFT)

  • 10/10 Bottoms Up KB Press (15#)
  • 20s Handstand 90° Hover
  • 16 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shift

Really nasty combo after yesterday.

Conditioning

To warm up my bench I did 10×45, 10×95, and 5×135.

20:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 10 Bench Press (155#)
  • 12/8 cal SkiErg
  • 15/10 cal BikeErg
  • 12 Broad Jumps

After two tough days I wanted something that wouldn’t be crushing. I picked up the pace on the machines each round, which got me a good sweat. Bench was easy to start but I think I would have been failing at the end if I’d done 10 more pounds.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 20s Hollow Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Superman Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Star Plank Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Star Plank Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Single Leg KB Balance Hold (70#)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Single Leg KB Balance Hold (70#)
  • 10s Rest

Back in January I could not hold a star plank and I was able to every singe one today without falling. I really like the glue activation in those.

A Kettlebell and a Partner

Body feels good. Worked out at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (4,902m)
  • 25 PVC Passes

Handstands

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 8:00 EMOM (alt)
    • 10 Shoulder I-Y (red)
    • 30s Handstand 90° Hover
  • 5 Kick-ups (bad leg)
  • 5 Kick-ups (good leg)
  • 2×5 Kick-ups (balance)

An extra round of each movement in that EMOM from a month ago. Much better with the hover, but that’s still a brutal combination on the shoulders. Started doing my balance kick-ups out on the open floor.

Conditioning

I did 8 kettlebell swings, 8 clean and jerks, 10 air squats, and 6 overhead lunges to get a feel for it.

30:00 AMRAP (Partner)

  • 80 H2H KBS (53/35#)
  • 60 Single Arm C&J (53/35#)
  • 80 T2B
  • 60 Goblet Squat (53/35#)
  • 80 Single Arm OH Lunge (53/35#)

Brandi used a DB for the C&J and did weighted V-ups instead of T2B. We did 20 each on the swings and 10 each everywhere else. I was really happy to get all of my toes to bar sets unbroken (wore grips). She went first and we got through 2+49.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 10 Seated Cable Row (double handle, 126#)
  • 10/10 Tricep Kickbacks (25# DB)
  • 10 DB Fly (40# DBs)

I think I could really feel all of yesterday’s burpees in the front of my shoulders when doing the fly.

Keep Grinding

We’re giving handstand work a break for another day, hoping to let the shoulders recover. In the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks
  • 10 Monster Squats
  • 10 Double Unders

Conditioning

E5M – 8 Sets

  • 24 cal Row
  • 18 Burpees
  • 50 DU

This is the next level of some similar workouts that came from Ben Smith’s programming. My goal was to pull 1,600 cal/hr on the rower because I’d done 1,500 in that similar workout I linked to. I wore my knee sleeves because that many burpees will give me a nasty knee bruise.

When I dropped down for the first burpees, the front of my shoulders were screaming a little bit. Not sure how much of a rest this ended up being for them. I hit my goal on the rower and bet that my times were all within a second. Burpees got slower in some rounds toward the end and overall my double unders were pretty good. Shit got real in round three and then it was just holding on and telling myself I could keep the pace. My burpees must have gotten slower in rounds 6-7. Pretty consistent though for so much high intensity work. Here are my round times and number of double under misses.

Accessory

6 Sets

  • 20 alt Incline DB Curls (25# DBs)
  • 10 Low Pulley Knee-ins (27#)
  • 8/8 Partner Banded Rotations & Holds (blue)

Dialing in Kick-ups

My inner thighs are still a bit sore and my shoulders need some rest. In the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (4,845m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks

Handstands

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 2×10 Kip Swings
  • 3×20 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shifts
  • 2x45s Handstand Shape 45° Hollow
  • 3×5 Kick-ups (finding balance)

I still find it amazing how much the sponge shifts improved since the first time. Today I was even keeping my feet together instead of a big spread to help with a stable base up at the top. I’m starting to really dial in my kick-ups and think it’s time to just do them in the open floor from now on so I don’t kick the wall when I overshoot and can play around with saving some of those more.

Strength

  • 8 alt Back Rack Reverse Lunges (45#)
  • 8 Pendlay Rows (supinated, 45#)
  • 4 Sets
    • 12 alt Back Rack Reverse Lunges (135#)
    • 12 Pendlay Rows (supinated, 95#)

Straight up cardio-ish!

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 20 Russian KBS (53/35#)
  • 10/10 Lunge Pulses
  • 10 Weighted V-ups (15# DB)

No place to rest here. Got faster as we went. Finished 7+40.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 30 Band Pull Aparts (blue)
  • 20 Band Tricep Pulldowns (red)
  • 8/8 Parallette Supported Renegade Rows (50#)

This was a rough combination and didn’t really rest between sets.

No Max Test Today

Complete rest day yesterday. Up in my left scap was feeling like there was a knot, but it’s improved today. My inner thighs are oddly sore. Workout at 3:30.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,539m)
  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 40 Bottoms Up KB Press (20#)

Was going to test a max set of strict ring dips, but my shoulders were not having it with.

Handstands

  • 5 Kick-ups (bad leg)
  • 5 Kick-ups (good leg)
  • 2×1:00 Wall-facing Handstand Hold
  • 2×1:00 Frog Stands
  • 3×5 Kick-ups (finding balance)

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 10 KB Sumo Deadlifts (70/53#)
  • 15 DB Hang Clean & Jerks (30/20#)

I did shoulder presses for the most part and some cleans right in to a push press. Unbroken all the way for a time of 4:55. Shoulders need some rest!

Midline

4 Sets

  • 7/7 Hip Abducted Evil Wheel
  • 12 OH Crunch (60# DBs)
  • 10/10 Side Bend (60# DB)
  • 30s/30s Side Plank

Gonna be feeling this stuff!

Wrist / Forearms

  • 10/10s Bottoms Up KB Hold (20#)
  • 2 Sets 20/20s Bottoms Up KB Hold (15#)
  • 3 Sets
    • 10 Wrist Curls (12#)
    • 10 Reverse Wrist Curls (12#)

Push-ups with Hands

Warm-up

  • 3:00 SkiErg (693m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 3:00 Wrist Warm-up
  • 20 PVC Passes

Conditioning

  • 12-9-6
    • Strict HSPU
    • Box Jump (24/20″)
  • 4:00 Rest
  • 15-12-9
    • HSPU
    • Box Jump Over (24/20″)
  • 4:00 Rest
  • 18-15-12
    • HR Push-up
    • Box Jump (30/24″)

I felt good through most of this. Did 6-6, 5-4, 6 for strict handstand push-ups and finished that part in 2:40. Then went 9-6, 7-5, 9 for kipping handstand push-ups, taking 3:31 for part two. The hand release push-ups felt rough, but I did them slow and unbroken and finished part three in 4:24. Overall time of 18:35.

Midline

3 Rounds

  • 20s Weighted Hollow Flutter Kick (10# plate)
  • 20 Weighted alt V-Ups (10#)
  • 20 Weighted OH Crunches (10#)
  • 20 Russian Twist (10#)
  • 20 Seated Leg Lifts

Slower than the 7:20 I did almost three weeks ago, with 7:58 today.

More Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 4:00 Row
  • 4:00 BikeErg
  • 4:00 SkiErg

I did 1,044 and 1,049 meters on the rower, 2,096 and 2,113 on the bike, and 961 and 970 on the skier.

Handstand Kick-ups

  • 5 bad leg
  • 5 good leg
  • 2×5 finding balance

Lactic Burn

Warm-up

  • 6:00 BikeErg (3,052m)

Handstands

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 20 Shoulder I-Y Band Drill
  • 3 Rounds
    • 30s Handstand 45° Hollow Hold
    • 30s Hollow Hold
    • Switch & Rest
    • 30s Handstand Tuck Balance
    • 30s OH Plate Hold (35#, flat palms under plate)
    • Switch & Rest

Hardest part of that for me is the long hollow hold.

Conditioning

  • 6 Rounds (each)
    • 15/10 cal BikeErg (standing)
    • 15 Squat Jumps
  • 6 Rounds (each)
    • 15/10 cal SkiErg
    • 10 Ring Dips

Partner up and do a round at a time. My legs were on fire from round one. I wasn’t paying attention to when we completed part one. I thought my chest was going to blow up in the first round of the second part though. It took a couple of rounds for the lactic acid to flush out and then I was able to pick up the pace on the ski every round after that. I went 5-5 on every set of ring dips. We finished at 30:19.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 16 Floor Wipers (55# plate)
  • 12 Barbell Curls (45#)
  • 30 Plank Jumps
  • 12 Superman Rocks
  • 8/8 Half Kneeling Bottoms Up KB Press (25#)

Bike and Row

Woke up to find some kind of swelling near my right clavicle. Doesn’t hurt at all, even if I press on it, and there is no discoloration. Maybe it’s from all of the jerks yesterday. Was about to head out for a run before lunch and saw it was raining. So I went to the garage instead.

2 Rounds

  • 10:00 BikeErg
  • 10:00 Row

Distances were:

  • 5,025m
  • 2,569m
  • 5,019m
  • 2,548m