Author: Nick Momrik

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

Cardio Rows

I forgot to post this yesterday, so I’m publishing a day late and back-dating it.

Last night I was exhausted but was up well past 11. My ass is still sore from the weighted plyo lunges! Worked out around 9am today.

Warm-up

  • 800m Run
  • 5 Air Squats
  • 4 DB Snatches (right, 20#)
  • 5 Push-ups
  • 4 DB Snatches (left, 20#)
  • 5 Air Squats
  • 4 DB Snatches (right, 35#)
  • 5 Push-ups
  • 4 DB Snatches (left, 35#)

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP
Support Your Local Box Fundraiser 1

  • 10 Air Squats
  • 9 DB Snatches (right, 50#)
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 9 DB Snatches (left, 50#)

This was one of the first workouts I did with any weight after months of back rehab. I got 7+10 on April 23rd. I knew I could push the snatches and the squats harder, so today I did. At the 5:00 mark I was a few reps shy of four rounds and I finished with 7+31, so I was able to keep the same pace through the second half of the workout. It was a little harder to push myself going solo in a workout like this. Happy with my score and effort though.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 8 Renegade Rows (R, 50#)
  • 12 Renegade Rows (R, 35#)
  • 16 Renegade Rows (R, 20#)
  • 8 Renegade Rows (L, 50#)
  • 12 Renegade Rows (L, 35#)
  • 16 Renegade Rows (L, 20#)

This was much more effective than expected; I was struggling to get through the 16 light reps in the 2nd and 3rd sets! It was one arm right to the other when it was time to work, but I rested 1-2 minutes between sets. It was damn near another cardio piece with 72 reps per set!

Conditioning 2 / Pacing

10:00 EMOM

  • 10 Burpees

Started out thinking I’d take it easy each minute and simply get in the 100 reps. I did, in the first set, with a 30 second pace. After I got slightly faster each of the next two rounds I set a challenge for myself to get faster each round. And I was successful, with the final round taking 19 seconds. I felt really good though.

Easy 10k

Didn’t get much sleep on Thursday night, so I was really glad yesterday was a rest day. Had a nice relaxing day and settled in at the late. I found a pair of 10# (for my set) and 35# (for a friend) rubber dumbbells, which was a bonus for the trip. Slept well last night and didn’t get up until after 7! Had a cup of coffee and then laced up my shoes at 9am with the temperature at 70 degrees.

Conditioning

Run 10.15km / 6.3 miles

My phone and watch were had a difference of a half a mile, so I mapped out the route with gmap-pedometer.com to get the true distance after I was done. Took me 59:08 and felt really good. My goal for the run was under an hour for a 10km. I think it’s time to retire these running shoes after this week and start using the brand new pair I have.

Check out the heart rate data from my Garmin.

Nice to see that it really was an easy effort. Here’s the full heart rate data…

Midline

4 Sets

  • 20/20s Star Plank
  • 12 OH Crunches (50# DB, 2-3s pause)
  • 50/50m Single Arm OH Carry (50# DB)

Busy Day!!

Last night I found a new mat to use for HSPU.

Ran around to multiple Meijer stores this morning because they all got in a shipment of rubber coated hex dumbbells overnight. I was able to get pairs of 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35! Returning the other sets back to my uncle for the price I paid him so he can make $$ with his home gym business. Now I just need to find 10, 40, and 45s.

One of the 50s won’t even fit now on the rack now. I need to make some type of platform to put on that top row to bump it up higher and to have a taller lip because the 50 pounder almost slides right over it.

I walked 18 holes this morning and then out in the garage at 5. Getting in a workout today since vacation at the cottage (my days off already started) starts tomorrow. I’ll be driving north and settling in, so it will be a rest day.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (5,181m)
  • 160′ Lateral Monster Walk
  • 160′ Monster Walk

Weightlifting

Split Jerks

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95
  • 5×145
  • 3×185
  • 3×205
  • 3×225
  • 3×235

Felt good. Didn’t use a belt and it was nice to get out the jerk blocks. Here is a video of the final set. I had no idea my abs looked like this!

Conditioning

20-18-16-14-12-10-12-14-16-18-20 (I Go You Go)

  • Weighted Plyo Lunges (35# DBs, 5# DBs)

It’s been almost two months since we retested this. Brandi had worn an 8# vest and it took us 8:43. She’s been improving a lot with this stuff and bumped it up to five pound dumbbells today. We switched with her going first and holy shit going second is a whole different world of hurt. I think I broke up the 16-18-20 because I was dying. We smoked our time, finishing in 7:21. She’s going to use eight pounders next time.

Midline

4 Sets

  • 12/12 Side Plank Bounces
  • 12 Parallette Shoot Throughs
  • 8/8 Hanging Oblique Raises
  • 50m Farmer Carry (handles, 118#)

More nasty core work. Those carries were really bad after hanging from the bar. I’m really loving the handles though.

Downhill Recovery

Was a little tired this morning and my back was tight, but WHOOP said my recovery was only 23%!

I honestly don’t feel that bad. Some days it seems to take the heart rate at a weird time that just throws off the formulas, because it said my resting heart rate was 48, which is much higher than my typical 38-40. Out in the garage at 3:30 today for a session that took 2 hours.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Airdyne (103 cals, 2.55km)
  • 3:00 SkiErg (656m)
  • 2×15 Steamboats
  • 2 HSPU
  • 5 DB Hang Squat Cleans (25#)
  • 2 Burpee Pull-ups
  • 2 DB Hang Squat Cleans (40#)

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP Partner

  • 6/6 HSPU
  • 5/5 Burpee Pull-ups
  • 6/6 Box Jumps (24/20″)
  • 5/5 DB Hang Squat Cleans (40/25# DBs)

This was a new idea for a partner workout where the sets are small, so by the time you move to your next spot it’s almost your turn again. The way this one works is each partner does 6 handstand push-ups (one person working at a time), then each does 5 burpee pull-ups, etc. Brandi scaled back her HSPU to do Rx and eventually went to some DB push presses. It worked out pretty well, with the burpee pull-ups taking the most time by far. I originally was going to do 15 minutes, but pulled back to 12 today. Would have been fine with three more minutes. This would be a good one to try solo as well. I started, we got through five rounds and I got all of my burpee pull-ups done in the sixth.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 8×125
  • 5×165
  • 5×195
  • 5×215
  • 5×225

Could have went more, but that was good enough for today with a lot of work left.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 12 DB Chest Fly (35#)
  • 12 Underhand Front Raise (15# DBs)

3 Sets

  • 12/12 Static Bicep Curls (25-30-30# DBs)
  • 12 Standing DB French Press (50# DB)

2 Sets

  • 12 Hammer Curls (30# DBs)
  • 12/12 One Arm OH Tricep Extension (25-20# DB)

1 Set

  • 12 Hammer Curls (30# DBs)
  • 12/12 Tricep Kickbacks (25# DB)

The single arm overhead tricep extensions were really bugging my left shoulder so I did kickbacks for the third set.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 10 Jack Knives (20# DB + 5# ankle weights)
  • 10 Renegade Rows (50# DBs)
  • 20 alt V-ups (5# ankle weights)
  • 10/10 Partner Banded Rotations/Holds (blue)

We should really do more of those renegade rows on back day. I feel like they isolate the back muscles better than a Kroc row, which are easy to rotate and cheat on.

Where Did Time Go?

I finished the flooring on Sunday afternoon, painted the trim throughout the day, and installed the trim yesterday morning. Walked 18 holes on the golf course. I still need to get more sleep, but I’m feeling good today. Worked out at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,571m)
  • 160′ Lateral Monster walks
  • 160′ Monster walks
  • 5 Devil Presses (25# DBs)
  • 3 Devil Presses (40#)
  • 10 Kip Swings
  • 2 Devil Presses (40#)

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 5 Devil Press (25/40# DBs)
  • 20 T2B
  • 5 Devil Press
  • 2:00 Rest

I was hoping to do 12-8 toes to bar every round. I did for three and knew I wouldn’t make the last so I went for three sets and that failed. I had to end up going 8-6 and six quick singles to get through. My times were 1:34, 1:32, 1:33, and 1:46. Faster than I was thinking when I wrote this workout, but glad I did the two minutes of rest because it allowed the T2B to come back some. That was a good one. I did wear my grips through the entire workout and taped my thumbs for the dumbbells.

Strength

4 Sets

  • 12/12 Single Leg RDL w/ foot on wall (70# KB)
  • 12/12 Weighted Single Leg Step Downs (15″, 40# DB)

Will have to remember this superset. It blew up my glutes!

3 Sets

  • 20/20 Landmine Curtsy Lunges (pulses, lighter – 45+30#)
  • 10/10/10 Weighted Calf Raises (3 position – out-neutral-in, 45# DBs)

Another good pairing. Those pulses really burn at the light weight and I didn’t expect them to affect the calf raises as much as they did.

We were already at almost 90 minutes and needed to drop off my truck so we skipped the ab work today.

Stormy Ride

Turned out I didn’t have pink eye. Must have been some type of irritation after mowing the lawn in the morning yesterday. It was all good later in the day. My entire body hurt last night, through the night, and this morning from laying laminate flooring for almost 6 hours. I slept like shit because I couldn’t get comfortable. After my coffee and doing more work on the new office flooring this morning I actually felt much better. Out in the garage at 9:30 for the workout, in the middle of a big storm, which cooled things down and gave us a nice breeze. The humidity kicked in later.

Warm-up

  • 30:00 BikeErg

I was feeling even better as I got in to this and kept increasing my pace. Went 15,383 meters.

Back

4 Sets

  • 12 Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns (55#)

I’m still doing these with an open palm, but I feel like my hands are going to slip sooner or later since my homemade lat bar rotates.

4 Sets

  • 12 Wide Grip Lat Pull Downs (85#)
  • 12 Behind Neck Lat Pull Downs (85#)
  • 12 Close Grip Lat Pull Downs (85#)

These are terrible every fucking time. The pulleys on my system seem to be failing. Maybe I need something that can handle more volume, because this is the second different type I’ve tried.

4 Sets

  • 12 Seated Cable Row (double handle, 85#)
  • 12 Seated Bent Over Back Fly (2@35, 2@30# DBs)

I was losing form and cheating too much so I dropped to lighter dumbbells for the last two sets.

4 Sets

  • 10/10 Single Arm Landmine Rows (45 + 40-45-50-55#)

I kneeled on a bench with one leg and arm again to help give my back some support. Felt better with the movement this week.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 16 OH Crunches (w/ pause, 50# DBs)
  • 40 Weighted Bicycles (5# ankle weights)
  • 8/8 Hip Abducted Evil Wheels
  • 100m Front Rack Carry (155#)

I kept the ankle weights on for everything again. I really don’t even notice them on the carries anymore. This was one of the worst weighted ab workouts we’ve done, especially since it was only three sets. The front rack carries suck for that distance, but I got through them without a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I was breathing like I just ran a 7:00 mile after each set.

All Balls

I think I woke up with pink eye. Mowed the lawn this morning and ran some errands before heading to the track at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 800m Run

Speed

E5M – 4 Sets

  • 400m Run

My plan was to get a feel in the first one, go for it in the second, and then hold on for the third and fourth. My times were 1:23, 1:07, 1:21, and 1:21. Not really happy with the 1:07 considering I ran a 1:02 in 2016, but I was doing a running program back then too. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Walked a lap to cool down a little.

Conditioning

20:00 AMRAP

  • 15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 10 MB V-ups (20#)
  • 10 MB Push-ups
  • 15 Ball Slams (30#)

I was not feeling this one from the start. Was being very cautious with my back on the ball slams after feeling tightness during the sprints. Picked up the pace in the last 2.5 rounds and finally started catching the slams on the bounce for the final round. Finished with exactly 8 rounds.

Now it’s time to install flooring in the new office.

Like “The Chief”

Yesterday I walked 9 holes in the rain before we called it quits. My body was feeling pretty good and I think getting more sleep again is helping with my recovery this week. Out in the garage at 3:30 today.

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Row (771m)
  • 160’ Monster Walks
  • 160’ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 5 Muscle Snatches (45#)
  • 5 Muscle Snatches (75#)
  • 8 Power Cleans (80#)

Weightlifting

  • 5:00 EMOM
    • 2 Power Snatch (95-105-115-125-135)
  • 5:00 EMOM
    • 1 Power Snatch (155-175-195-195-195)

Originally I planned on going up 10# every set with the singles and still ending at 195#. It felt solid with 155 so I jumped and then jumped again. This way I got to 195 two sets early, with the option to go heavier if I was feeling it. I wasn’t. My legs were super wide in the catch at 195 so I stayed there.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 4 Power Cleans (115/80#)
    • 8 Push-ups
    • 12 Plyo Lunges
  • 1:00 Rest

*Restart every AMRAP at the top

I designed this one based on “The Chief” since I wanted to ease in to high rep lifting with a little lighter weight. I got halfway through round one and time seemed to be crawling so I knew I was in for a world of hurt even though I purposely started a little slow. Then I went a little too fast and shit really hit me in round four. My scores were 4+12, 4+17, 4+14, 4+9, 4+4. Really hot and humid today. Would like to retest this one in cooler weather.

On the shorter side for our session today, but that was pretty brutal. I went down in to the back reset position a couple of times after the workout just to help myself recover and hopefully not lead to a tweak.

Hold It

I’m starting to sleep in a little later again. Out in the garage for a 3pm workout today.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,550m)
  • 2 sets of 15 Steamboats in each position

Strength

4 Sets

  • 8/8 Single Arm Bench Press w/ OH Hold (50#)
  • MAX Dumbbell Bench Press (50#)

The single arm presses were done with the dumbbells in a line similar to a barbell and then the max set was with the DBs pulled in, parallel to each other. I did 16-12-10-20 for the max sets. It would be nice to have a set of 60s for dumbbell bench press.

3 Sets

  • 12/12 Static Bicep Curls (25#)
  • 12 Standing DB French Press (50#)

3 Sets

  • 12 Hammer Curls (25# DBs)
  • 12/12 Tricep Kickbacks (25# DB)

Those were some good supersets.

Conditioning

4 Rounds w/ Partner

  • 10 Burpees / Plank
  • 15 Pull-ups / Band Pull Down Hold
  • 15 DB Push Press (35#) / HS Hold
  • 30 Air Squats / Bottom Squat Hold

**One person does the hold while the other does their reps then switch places. Same thing with each movement pairing. Each round alternate your starting movement so you experience both orders for each pairing.

I haven’t done a partner workout with holds like this in years. After the strict handstand push-ups yesterday I didn’t want to get too heavy on the push presses, so I went with the 35 pounders and they were perfect because the last five reps got pretty slow each round. You don’t always have to go heavy to get in solid work. Did all pull-ups unbroken and they felt really good. Even my air squats were fast today. We finished in 18:46.

Not Going Faster in this Repeater

My upper body was pretty sore yesterday and my upper back definitely still is. My hands just ached this morning. Yesterday was the last day of my four day weekend and I walked 18 holes of golf. Worked on the new office a little in the morning and then for a few hours after I got home. It was a busy four days and my weight was under 193 this morning, so I need to build back up to the 195-198 zone. Today we worked out at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,113m)
  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,510m)
  • 160′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 160′ Monster Walks
  • 8 Kossack Squats

Strength

E4M – 4 Sets

  • 1:30 Banded March (green, 30# MB, 1x bear hug, 3x front rack)
  • 16 Goblet Kossack Squats (40# DB in front rack)

4 Sets

  • 10/10 Landmine Curtsy Lunges (1@115, 3@125#)
  • 10/10/10 Three Position Calf Raises (40# DBs, out-neutral-in)

These were both good supersets!

Conditioning

15-12-9

  • Over the Box Jumps (24″)
  • Strict HSPU

5:00 Rest & Repeat

I was hoping to get through in three sets and I did the first time by doing 6-5-4, 5-4-3, 4-3-2 to finish in 5:19. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain that a second time so during the rest I came up with a four set plan. I went 4-4-4-3, 3-3-3-3, 3-2-2-2 and I was on the brink of failure a lot. Finished in 6:17. Just not a #repeater workout you’re going to get faster on after the first cycle through. Happy with the way that turned out though.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 20 Jack Knife DB Pullover (25#)
  • 12/12 Plank w/ Tricep Kickback (20#)
  • 24 alt DB Leg Drops (25#)
  • 12/12 Banded Partner Rotations/Holds (2x red, 1x blue)

Some new stuff that was rough. Those banded rotations/holds are still the worst movement though.