Nick Momrik

The End

Today was our last Super Sunday at this location! I’ve been programming Sunday workouts for 5.5 years there. My calves are still a little sore, but otherwise feeling pretty good. A bit tired from being up late for Star Wars.

Warm-up

5:00 Echo Bike (50 cals)
30 PVC Passes

Strength

Shoulder Press

10×45#
6×95
3×125
2×145
1×165
1×175
1×185 (PR match)
1×190 (PR)

I thought it would be a good time to also test out my shoulder press after all of the bench press cycles, even though I had done virtually zero dedicated should press work all year. I did 180 on August 30th and my all-time best was 185 on July 22, 2017. Pumped to get the PR with no focus on increasing this lift.

Conditioning

Christmas Couplets

@ 0:00 – 3 Rounds
- 3 MU / 6 C2B / 9 Pull-ups
- 6 Power Snatches (95/65#)
@ 10:00 – 5-10-15
- Back Squats (135/95#)
- Bar-facing Burpees
@ 20:00 – 15-10-5
- Deadlifts (205/135#)
- Ring Push-ups / Push-ups
@ 30:00 – 3 Rounds
- 10 T2B
- 100 DU

This came up in my Facebook memories from 2014 and I had called it Christmas Couplets back when the gym was CrossFit Intuition. It looked like a fun one to retest five years later. My previous times were 3:28, 4:10, 1:53, and 7:19. I thought about increasing the number of muscle-ups since I failed 5-6 last time and I can crush that now, but decided to leave it as is for comparison and since I did 30 earlier this week. My times today were all improvements! 1:55, 3:55, 1:35, and 5:18. Just a little fitter. 🙂 Everything was unbroken except for the double unders which I broke on purpose. Did 40-30-30 the first two rounds, but tripped up once in the last round so it was 40-25-35.

Went over to the new location and helped for a few hours.

Trending Up

Yesterday my calves started to feel sore in the morning, with my lats and upper abs still sore. Everything is still sore today. After nearly an entire week in the yellow, my recovery has been steadily going up.

Went to the gym for the 9am class.

Warm-up

20 cal Echo Bike
Bottom Squat Hold
10 Good Mornings (45#)
5 C&J (45#)
3 C&J (95#)
3 C&J (135#)

Conditioning

Partner Workout

2 Mile Assault Bike
30 C&J (135#)
2000m Row
30 C&J (155#)
2000m Row
30 C&J (185#)

I paired up with Chris who used his own bar and loading. We swapped out on the bike every half a mile and it was programmed to swap every 200 meters on the rower. Instead of running outside in the cold for two miles we did the rower for the third set, which is easier than the bike, but took at almost 50% longer. The scaling between the three modalities didn’t really make sense in this workout because the time domains are extremely different. On the barbell we swapped every five reps for the first two weights and then every three for the final. I was unbroken with 135, 3-1-1 with 155, and 1-1-1 with 185. It felt good and I was able to pick the bar right back up for all of my quick singles. I wore my belt for 155 and 185. We finished in 28:01. This kind of workout is my jam.

Midline

I stayed after class and did some stability work for my back since I’ve been skipping it all week.

2 Sets

10 Curl-ups (3s pause)

2 Sets

10/10 Bird Dogs + 10 second hold

8 Sets (Reverse Tabata)

10s RKC Plank
20s Rest

100 Calorie Warm-up

My lats and upper abs are sore. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

100 cal Echo Bike
4 Rounds
- 10 Jumping Jacks
- 10 PVC Passes
- 10 Air Squats
- 5 HR Push-ups
- Front Rack Stretch
3 Front Squats (45#)
3 Push Jerks (45#)
3 Front Squats (45#)
3 Push Jerks (45#)
3 Front Squats (95#)
3 Push Jerks (95#)

I was there early so jumped on the bike before class.

Conditioning

15:00 EMOM

5 Burpees over the Bar
3 Front Squats (135#)
3 Push Jerks (135#)

The Rx weight was 155, but I was having none of that. By using 135 I was able to keep a consistent pace with burpees and the barbell, getting over 30 seconds of rest every round. After 5 or 6 rounds I realized I could just go right from the third front squat into the jerk like I would with a C&J. Duh!

Accessory

5 Rounds

15s Hollow Hold
15s Rest
15s Hollow Hold
15s Rest
1:00 Russian KB Swings (70#)

This was programmed as an alternating EMOM, but there is no way I can hold a one minute hollow five times. I broke it up and maximized a full minute with the kettlebell. I took a quick breather after 20 reps every round and did 33-32-32-32-33 reps for 162 total.

Triple Five

Went to the gym in the afternoon with Molly before classes started.

Warm-up

5:00 Echo Bike (50 cals)
30 PVC Passes
Bottom Squat Hold
Ring Kip Swings

Gymnastics

30 Muscle-ups

In January I did 3 reps every 45 seconds for a time of 6:55, so today I went every 40 seconds. Then I went 5-10 seconds early on my last two sets so I could break six minutes. Finished in 5:55 for a sweet PR. I wasn’t in danger of missing and felt good, so I can cut that down next time.

Accessory

6 Sets

5 Weighted Ring Pull-ups (4×35, 2×26#)
8/8 Kroc Rows (28kg)
1:30 Rest

Strict ring pull-ups suck after muscle-ups and weighted ones are even worse!

3 Sets

8 Pendlay Rows (supinated, 115-135-145#)
1:30 Rest

These actually felt pretty good.

Midline

4 Sets

6 Strict T2B
20 Alternating V-ups
45s Rest

It’s always weird going for that first strict toes to bar, trying to remember how to sequence it. This was absolutely fucking terrible!!! I had to break v-ups in round two and then do three sets in rounds three and four!

Gymnastics

Molly tried to help me out with handstand walking and we found some things to focus on:

Keep a neutral head position
Look with eyes (to help with head position)
Turn hands out
Push through shoulders
Bend knees forward to get weight going that way

Push for the W

My quads are pretty damn sore from Sunday. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

2:00 Row (40 cal)
2 Rounds
- 10 PVC Passes
- 5 Kip Swings
- 10 Air Squats
- 5 Shoulder Press (45#)
Push Press
- 10×75#
- 5×95

Conditioning

5 Rounds

10 Push Presses (115-125-145-165-175#)
10 T2B
15 cal Echo Bike
1:30 Rest

My rounds were 1:33, 1:40, 1:45, 2:07, and 1:48 to finish at 14:53. I phoned it on in the 4th bike knowing I needed to save some energy for the final round of presses. I was able to do the first 4 rounds with quick TnG reps. In the final round I had to start pausing and reset after the 7th rep. It got tough! All toes to bars were unbroken and without wearing grips. I was planning on going up 10 pounds every round to finish with 155, but then I saw Weston jump to 135 on the 2nd set so I had to catch up and push for the W.

EMOM: 5 Pike HSPU (feet on 30″ box, thick mat for hands and head)
150 H2H Russian KB Swings (53#)

This was programmed to be five handstand push-ups every minute and 150 American swings with 53 pounds. I have a bunch of stitches in the top of my head, so real HSPU were out of the question. I turned this into a 6 round workout of 5 and 25, which had me finish at 5:51.

300 by 40

My quads and ass started getting sore last night and I’m definitely feeling them today! Out in the garage after close to 4pm.

Warm-up

5:00 Airdyne (114 cals, 2.67 km)
30 PVC Passes
2:00 Airdyne (44 cals, 1.05 km)

Bench Press

10×45#
8×135
5×185
3×215
1×245
1×275
1×285
1×295 (PR)
1×300 (PR)

Man 295 was so fucking sketchy, but recovering it gave me the confidence to really go at 300. This makes seven weeks in a row hitting some kind of PR on the bench! I wrote a post with more thoughts over on nick.blog. I set this goal back on June 8th and I sure am glad it’s done. Now I can concentrate on some other stuff.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

500m Ski Erg
1:00 Rest

My times were 1:50, 1:50, 1:49.9, and 1:49.9.

Leg Grinder

On Thursday night my obliques started getting sore from the Russian twists on Wednesday. I can’t remember the last time I felt those. On Friday I had a minor procedure to remove some cysts and needed a rest day anyway. Stayed up late watching the President’s Cup that night, so I didn’t make it to the gym yesterday morning. I did almost 3 hours of yard work (yes, in December) and ended up making it a second rest day. Went to open gym at 10 today

Accessory

3 Sets

15 Reverse Hyper (50#)
25 Banded Hamstring Curls (small blue)

Conditioning

3 Rounds

50 Air Squats
40 Walking Lunges
30 Squat Jumps
20 Plyo Lunges
10 Tuck Jumps
1.25 mile Echo Bike

This is a modification of a RedPill Training workout, swapping a 1 km run out for the bike and lowering it from 4 rounds. I didn’t want anything that hit the upper body in order to fully rest for testing bench press tomorrow. I think my splits were 8:37, 18:06, and 27:29.

Don’t Bust Your Face

I was still feeling the tightness in the middle of my upper back last night and again this morning. The thing in my right hip hasn’t completely cleared out either. Went to 4pm class.

Warm-up

3 Sets
- 15 Reverse Hyper (50#)
- Bottom Squat Hold
2:00 Row (40 cals)
3 Rounds
- 10 PVC Passes
- Front Rack Stretch
- 10 Air Squats
- World’s Greatest Stretch
- 5 HR Push-ups

Strength

Front Squat

10×45#
5×135
5×185
3×205
3×225
2×245
2×255

I think I started belting up with 185 just to be safe. Was definitely starting to feel heavy with 225 and I could feel that my core isn’t used to supporting the load. It’s nice to start squatting some weight again.

5 Sets

6/6 Kroc Rows (70#)

The rows were done right after the first five sets of rows.

Conditioning

15:00

Buy-in: 50 cal Row
AMRAP
- 30 H2H KB Swings (53#)
- 20 Plate Burpees (55# comp plate)
- 10 Front Rack Lunges (115#)

I did the row in 2:20 and then got through 3 rounds, the swings, and 10 of the burpees for 3+40. Rx was American KBS, so I figured the hand-to-hand would be a similar fatigue. The plate burpees are awkward and I didn’t find a good rhythm until I sprinted through my final 10, where I kind of did them with my face over the top of the plate so my feet were right there when I jumped them up and then on to the plate.

Rest day tomorrow.

Climbing Cleans & Bench

I woke up with my right feeling like it’s out of place or I need to crack the joint. Haven’t been able to relieve it all day though. My lats seem to be sore again! Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

40 cal Row
2 Rounds
- 10 PVC Passes
- 10 HR Push-ups
- 10 Air Squats
- 10 Ring Rows
Power Clean
- 6×45
- 3×95
- 3×135
- 3×165
Bench Press
- 6×45
- 6×135
- 3×165

Conditioning

5 Rounds

3 Power Cleans (climbing)
3 Bench Press (climbing)
20 cal Echo Bike
2:00 Rest

I used 185-195-205-215-225 on the cleans and 185-195-215-225-240 on the bench. Went out too hard on the bike and paid for it. My round times were 1:06, 1:21, 1:51, 1:59, and 1:26 to finish at 15:43 on the clock. I ran out of time changing weights before round 3 so didn’t get my belt on, so then I just kept it on the rest of the way. Both lifts felt good and I did all touch-n-go cleans.

Midline

10:00 EMOM (alt)

T2B
Russian Twists (30# DB)

Tried to work for 40-45 seconds and wore my grips. I went 10-7, 7-5-3, 5-5-3, 5-3-3-2, and 5-3-3-3 on the toes to bars and really fought not to do any singles. I am not a fan of using a dumbbell for the twists because I can’t find a good way to hold it. I did 50, 44, 40, 40, and 44 and those got a lot harder than I expected.

Bench 2RM

I was still pretty sore in my upper back yesterday from the muscle-ups and a bit is lingering even today. It was a much needed rest day yesterday. Out in the garage after 3pm without being able to preheat the garage since the truck battery is dead and we had to push it out to set up the rack. Brrr!!!

Bench Press

6×45#
6×135
4×165
2×195
2×225
2×245
2×260
2×270
2×275
2×280 (PR)

Last cycle I did 2×255, 2×260, 2x1x260 (failed 2nd rep of first set), and 2x1x265. Crushed those numbers and hit a New 2RM by five pounds! Two and a half years ago I did 2×275 and then 290 a week later, so I should be close to a 300# max, especially considering the fatigue from those muscle-ups.

To be honest I’m getting sick of benching, which I’ve been doing for over 6 months now through three cycles of the No B.S. Bench Press program. I’m glad this was the last week of the cycle. All that’s left now is to hit 300 by the 26th!

After running the battery over to Autozone for a full charge I jumped on the bike.

Conditioning

40:00 Airdyne

Really easy pace at 66-68 RPM, getting 928 calories and 21.64 km.