Nick Momrik

Left Calf Issue

Kind of surprised I didn’t feel rougher from Sunday’s barbell carry. Still need to get to bed earlier though. My back seems a little tight from all of the bending over while trimming bushes last night. Shortly after noon I pulled the rower out to the back patio.

Year of the Engine – Interval

5 Rounds

4:00 Row
1:00 Rest

My goal pace was 1:49/500m. Went 1,102 – 1,101 – 1,102 – 1,102 – 1,102 meters.

2019-06-11-row

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

3 Sets

10 Reverse Hypers (140#)

3 Rounds

30s Assault Bike
30s Rest

3 Rounds

5 Strict Pull-ups
10 Hand Release Push-ups
10 PVC Passes

Push Jerks

5×45#
5×95#

Conditioning

5:00 AMRAP
- 100 Double Unders
- 20 Burpees
5:00 AMRAP
- 5 Push Jerks (135#)
- 10 Pull-ups
2:00 Rest
5:00 AMRAP
- 100 Double Unders
- 20 Burpees
5:00 AMRAP
- 5 Push Jerks (155#)
- 8 C2B Pull-ups
2:00 Rest
5:00 AMRAP
- 100 Double Unders
- 20 Burpees
5:00 AMRAP
- 5 Push Jerks (185#)
- 3 Muscle-ups

In the first AMRAP I got through 1+114. In the second AMRAP I did 2×5 for every round of pull-ups, getting 4+13. In the third AMRAP near the end of the second set of dubs, my left calf area started to feel weird. I made it through 1+108. In the fourth AMRAP I wanted to stick to sets of 4 chest to bars. In my second set of push jerks, my left calf gave out, so I modified the rest of the workout. I ended up doing 1 full round, 3 push jerks, and then 6×4 C2B. For the fifth AMRAP I did burpees the entire time, which was horrible. I got 63 reps. Finally to finish out in the sixth AMRAP, I did sets of 3 muscle-ups and got through 6 sets.

The muscle-ups felt good considering it was after 25 minutes of work with both types of pull-ups and I hadn’t done any on the rings since the Open because of my right shoulder. Was never really in danger of missing any, though the dip was getting hard. I wore grips for the pull-ups and C2B and then thought I might rip during the last few sets of muscle-ups because I wasn’t wearing grips. I never wear grips for the rings, but this workout was a different beast. I did 48 pull-ups, 32 chest to bar pull-ups, and 18 muscle-ups. Great gymnastics volume for one workout. Oh yeah and how could I forget 125 burpees!

I really hope I didn’t do anything serious to my leg. If I can walk and swing my plan is to golf the next two days.

I also mowed the lawn and then noticed it was my highest stain day on WHOOP, already at 8pm.

Airdyne Fix

Rained for almost 20 hours straight, so no golf today. I’ll probably golf Wednesday and Thursday if the weather cooperates.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

21:00 Airdyne

**Endurance pace with a 7 second sprint at 4:00, 8, 12, and 16, then recover back to endurance pace.

I find it odd that the same workout is repeated back-to-back. Wasn’t quite the same for me though since my Airdyne broke last night and I had to split time with the Ski Erg. Luckily I was able to fix it without much trouble today. Got 615 calories and 7.83 miles (12,601m).

I thought about doing another workout in the evening, but trimmed a bunch of bushes instead. Made sure to quit before my back got angry at me.

Shoulder Suck

Still not enough sleep last night. I need to get to bed earlier than I have been. We moved open gym up to 10am instead of noon, which was an adjustment to make my pancakes earlier this morning. Nice to be done early though, especially in the summer.

Warm-up

3 Sets

10 Reverse Hypers (140#)
10 PVC Passes

Weightlifting

E90S – 6 Sets

5 C&J

This was basically meant as a way to warm up the body for the carrying. I used 45-75-95-115-125-135# and did every set quick touch-n-go reps. They felt really good!

Conditioning

1 Mile Barbell Carry (135#)
10 Barbell Push-ups (Each time you drop the bar)

Wanted to try something different outside today and luckily the chance of rain went away. Walking and breathing weren’t bad at all, it was the bar on my shoulders that made me stop. I did 3×200, 8×100, and 1×200 segments, so ended up with 11 sets of push-ups. Didn’t run a clock, but I think it took over 30 minutes.

Midline

4 Rounds

10/10 Side V-ups
10/10 Leg Circles
20 Plank Jumps
40 Flutter Kicks

Finished in 10:10.

I wanted to trim all of the bushes around the house, but after doing three of them it started raining. So I fixed up the treadmill and was on the Airdyne by 7pm.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

21:00 Airdyne + Ski Erg

Done at endurance pace with a 7 second sprint at 4:00, 8, 12, and 16 on the clock and then recover right back to the endurance pace.

Always something! The bolts on the left pedal both snapped at 10:30 when I had 295 calories and 6,180 meters. I could tell my legs were fatigued from carrying that barbell earlier today because I was having a hard time holding 72-73 RPM. After the breakage I jumped on the Ski Erg to finish the other 10:30, sprinting at 1:00 and 5:00. Went 2,440 meters.

Now I have another machine to fix. FML!

No B.S.

Yesterday I walked 18 holes on the golf course and was pretty tired from being up late the night before to see Dark Phoenix. Didn’t get enough sleep last night either, but feeling pretty good. Out in the garage to start close to 10:30.

Year of the Engine – Interval

15 Rounds

30s Row
1:00 Rest

Started at 1:32/500m and wanted to see how it went. Felt right, so I stuck to that pace. Definitely a tight back as I got deeper into the intervals, which meant I couldn’t get out of the gate as quick as I normally would and then had to catch up to the pace I wanted. I got 163-164 meters every round.

Strength

Bench Press

5×45#
5×95
5×135
5×165
5×195
4x5x215
Max 215 (8)

I’m starting up a cycle (probably two) of the No B.S. Bench Press Program, which has always worked really well. My goal is to bench 300 pounds before I turn 40 at the end of the year. Two weeks ago I matched the 5×245 I did a few weeks before hitting a 290 PR, so I should be pretty close.

The weight felt a little heavy as I worked up and the working sets were a struggle. Maybe I’m fatigued from benching in the workout on Thursday. Was able to get 8 reps on the max set, when it was feeling like 5 or 6 might be today’s limit. Even with the spotter arms I still like to stay away from failure when I’m lifting alone, so 1-2 more reps isn’t out of the question.

Photo Jun 8, 2019 at 112431 AM

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP

4 Strict C2B Chin-ups (fat bar)
8 Box Jumps Overs (27″)
12 Hand Release Push-ups
16 Reverse Lunges

Good little workout where I was able to get right in to the next movement and keep a steady pace through the entire workout. I got 6 rounds, the chin-ups, and 2 box jumps.

Morning Endurance Run

Woke up with my back feeling much better than yesterday morning. Was out the door for a run before 8am while it was cool out.

Year of the Engine – Endurance

27:00 Run

Ended up going 2.87 miles in 28:45, so only a 10:00/mile pace, but I averaged 170 steps per minute again. I’ll chalk the pace up to just getting out of bed. I wore an older pair of Saucony shoes I had actually been fit for at a runners store and they are not at comfortable as my Reebok runners.

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

3 Sets

10 Reverse Hypers (140#)

I also did some hanging to open up my shoulders, bar taps, and a few toes to bars to make sure my back could handle them for the workout.

3 Sets

6 PVC Passes
9 Air Squats
4 cal Assault Bike

Bench Press

10×45#
5×95

Strength & Conditioning

28:00 EMOM (alt)

5 Bench Press
12 T2B
15 cal Assault Bike
Rest

The bench press was a sub for push presses since I didn’t want to put that loading on my back. I used 135, 155, 175, 195, 205, 215, and 225, which is 92% of my 5RM. Felt good even as I got out-of-breath in the later rounds. I wore grips for the toes to bars and actually did every set unbroken without any struggle. I never do that large of sets so I was surprised I didn’t fade. Even though there is almost 4 minutes between each set it still adds up to 84 total reps. I started out with the Rx 12 calories for two rounds on the bike but even at 90+ RPM it was too easy, so I bumped up to the Rx+ of 15 calories and even caught up on the calories I was behind from the other rounds. Really not a bad workout, because there is a ton of rest.

Midline

20s Work : 10s Rest (Tabata) until finished

200 DB Russian Twist (45# plate)

It was written to use a dumbbell, which I’ve never tried for Russian twists, so I gave it a try. Big mistake. It’s awkward to hold, I was falling over, and it felt like I was going to rub my knuckles raw. So after getting 18 reps in the first work interval I switched to a 45# plate. Took me 4:06.

500 km

My back isn’t horrible, but it’s not good either. Will have to take at least a few days off lifting.

Year of the Engine – Interval

8 Rounds

2:00 Airdyne
1:00 Rest

Would normally like to stick to the rower for these intervals, but the bike is much better when my back is like this. Kept around 83-85 RPM, getting 75-73-75-74-74-75-75-75 calories and 0.84-0.82-0.82-0.82-0.81-0.83-0.83-0.84 miles.

Several hours later I did another workout.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

18:00 Airdyne

** Endurance pace and then @ 4:00, 8, 12, 16 sprint for 7 seconds, recover back to endurance.

Yep, this is a repeat of a few days ago. These polarized days repeat and then the duration will increase by three minutes next time. Got 540 calories and 6.78 miles (10,911m), which is 10 calories more and almost 0.06 miles (96m) more than the previous.

According to BTWB I’ve logged over 330km on the Airdyne and over 170km on the rower so far in 2019, which doesn’t even count workouts done for calories. I should be able to hit a million meters for the year between the two machines.

Avoid Americans

On Sunday night I woke up several times during the night with my shoulders just crying from the double overhead holds My shoulders and quads were pretty sore in the morning. Walked 18 holes, which I think helped a lot. Today I was out in the garage around 12:30.

Year of the Engine – Interval

12 Rounds

1:00 Row
1:00 Rest

Almost 2 months ago I did 15 rounds of this at a 1:39/500m pace, so my goal pace was a second faster. Felt good and I got 306 meters for 9 rounds, 3 @ 307, and 1 @ 308.

306-306-306-306-306-306-
306-306-307-307-307-308m

2019-06-04-row

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

45s Row
8 Plyo Lunges
30s Bottom Squat Hold
5 American KBS (35#)

Strength

4 Sets

8/8 Bulgarian Split Squats (53#)
8/8 Single Leg Deadlifts (53#)

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP

8-10-12… Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
8-10-12… American KBS (53#)
30 Double Unders

I had no plans to try the 70# Rx weight. I missed a double under in round two, but otherwise every movement was unbroken the whole way. I finished the round of 18s, 20 wall balls, and 4 swings for 360 total reps. I had about 40 seconds left when I picked up the kettlebell and after those four reps I tweaked my back, so I was done. Couldn’t really stand up straight so I hope it’s not bad when I wake up tomorrow. Fingers crossed! Maybe I should stick to Russian Swings. At least my conditioning felt great; I could have kept doing unbroken wall balls for at least 2 more rounds.

One Left

Got my cardio done in the morning so I’d have all day after the gym to clean the garage and maybe trim bushes.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

18:00 Airdyne

**Endurance pace. @ 4:00, 8, 12, and 16 sprint for 7s, recover back to endurance.

I felt good and was able to keep 73-75 RPM for the endurance pace. Racked up 530 cals and 6.72 miles (10,815m).

Accessory Warm-up

4 Sets

30s Handstand Hold
20s L-sit
10 Barbell Curls (45-55-65-75#)

Still no chance of getting my legs in to a real L and doubt I’ll ever get there. Was nice to try some other curls after using dumbbells for months now.

Conditioning

12:00 Time Cap

EMOM – 30 DU
100 Goblet Squats (70#)

This is a Jacob Heppner workout (he used 124#) I had saved in my list. I wore my belt for seven minutes and then threw it off. Didn’t really need it and it was taking up too much time. I started with 12 and then did 10s to get to 52. In the 6th round I really struggled with my dubs and ended up skipping squats that minute. I came back with two sets of 12, had a rough round on the rope only allowing me to get 9 squats, leaving 15. I had some more misses with the rope and pushed hard to get those squats done, but came up one rep short! After trying to get in those reps my quads were on fire and I struggled to jump for the dubs. Didn’t leave myself much time, but got in my remaining rep and finished at 10:57. Gross workout!

More Accessory

4 Sets

30s Double KB OH Hold (44# KBs)
20 Wood Choppers (30# DB)
10 Pendlay Rows (115#, supinated)
5 Evil Wheels

Those holds are so good for shoulder mobility.

Too Many Singles

I hoped to get out for an early run, but it was raining. At around 11:15 it brightened up, birds started to chirp, and radar showed a window in the weather, so I hit the pavement.

Year of the Engine – Endurance

24:00 Run

I mapped out a loop that ended up being 2.55 miles and took me 24:30. My focus for the run was on my stride rate, which was a lot more consistent than usual (often drops to 155-160 with an average in the low 160s) and must have helped with my pace. I’ll have to concentrate on my stride more often and would like to get it up to 180.

I rested and took my time setting everything up, so it was just over 30 minutes after the run when I got started on the workout.

Conditioning

30 Strict HSPU
40 Box Jumps (24″)
30 Bench Press (135#)
40 Goblet Lunges (53#)
20 Strict HSPU
30 Box Jumps (24″)
20 Bench Press (135#)
30 Goblet Lunges (53#)

I went in to this workout planning to do 40-30 on every movement with the option for a third round of 20. That quickly changed when I went 5-5-3-singles and took five minutes to do 30 strict handstand push-ups! The next time around I did 2-2-2-singles, taking four minutes to knock out 20 reps. I recently felt good doing two rounds of 5×5 strict in a partner workout, so I never expected to drag behind the struggle bus like this. Either my shoulders are wiped out from yesterday or using plates and an AbMat is a lot harder than the big gymnastics mat at the gym. Box jumps were fine and mostly a rest before pressing again. I felt weak on the bench as well and did all sets of fives. I split the 40 lunges in half because I felt like I was fatiguing my triceps by holding the kettlebell and did the 30 unbroken. Finished in 21:42 with 9:00 spent on HSPU.

Test

100 Hand Release Push-ups

For some reason at 6:30pm I got the bright idea to test some push-ups after all of the pressing I’ve done in the last two days. I haven’t been able to beat my 5:04 PR on this from 2013, though I did 5:18 and 5:08 in 2017.

Some quick math told me five reps every 15 seconds would get sub five minutes, so that was my plan of attack. I did 5 reps and rested until the my 15 seconds was up. Rinse and repeat. It felt great through 50 reps. I could feel the fatigue kicking in as I got through 60 and by 70 I was barely making it in time. After that I knew I couldn’t keep up the fives any longer, so I resorted to whatever I could manage until it was singles. Finished in 5:14, so with all of the reps done yesterday and today I’m confident I can break that barrier soon.

Mostly Modifications

Walked 18 on Wednesday and planned to golf yesterday as well, but a storm was coming so I didn’t bother going to the course. Sure enough, the storm missed us. Then I planned to workout later in the day, but I wasn’t feeling it so I took a complete rest day and didn’t feel one bit guilty about it. Some days the body needs that. I was out in the garage before noon today.

Year of the Engine – Interval

6 Rounds

3:00 Row
1:00 Rest

My pace was aggressive for the minute rests and the last three rounds were a battle. Got 835-835-836-835-835-835 meters. Might be the hardest effort I’ve put in to some of these intervals actually; I was pretty shaky when I got off the rower. Could also mean I need to get my nutrition back on track. My goal pace going in was < 1:48 and it was a success.

Went to the 4:00 class.

Warm-up

Got there early to do some posterior chain shit.

2 Sets

15 Reverse Hypers (90#)
10/10 Single Leg Lateral Step-ups (30″)

3 Rounds

200m Run
5 Air Squats
5 PVC Passes
5 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Conditioning

3 Rounds

3:00 AMRAP
- 200m Run
- Max Push Jerks (95#)
1:00 Rest
3:00 AMRAP
- 200m Run
- Max Power Cleans (95#)
1:00 Rest
3:00 AMRAP
- 200m Run
- Max Russian KB Swings (70#)
1:00 Rest

It was programmed to be 15 cal Row, 15 cal AB, and 200m Run in the 3 different rounds, but I took the option to run them all and work on a weakness. Was able to keep a pretty steady pace on the runs, with 55-60 seconds. The push jerk Rx was 135, but it’s much easier to just use one bar, not have to change plates, and that would get heavy real quick when doing it for about 6 minutes total in this workout. I swapped in the power cleans instead of Sumo Deadlift High Pulls too because I I think it’s a stupid movement with way too much risk of back and shoulder injuries. The heavy Russian swings actually felt good other than the tear on my right hand. I was able to get 335 total reps.