Nick Momrik

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.

Phase 2

I got more sun that I thought yesterday and was exhausted after the BBQ at the gym. Still beat today, so I did some quick work in the garage. My quads are sore.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

15:00 Airdyne

At endurance pace, which is 73-75 RPM for me. At 3:00, 6, 9, 12 sprint for 7 seconds and then recover right back to the endurance pace. Interesting stuff. Got 457 cals and 5.68 miles (9,141m). This starts the next phase of the program.

Strength

Shoulder Press

10×45#
6×75
6×95
6×115
6×125
6×135
5x6x115

We don’t hit shoulder presses very often at the gym and it’s an area not beat from Murph. Tried out sets of six for something different.

2019 Murph

Signed up for the 9am heat with a bench of friends. Nice cool morning for it.

“Murph”

1 Mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Air Squats
1 Mile Run

**Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and air squats as needed.

I haven’t done a real Murph since 2016. In 2017 I was traveling back from attending Regionals and didn’t do it at all. Last year my shoulder was messed up so I did ring rows. Here’s my Murph history:

2012 – 44:26
2013 – 39:41
2014 – 40:17
2015 – 37:18
2016 – 37:11
2018 – 43:10 (ring rows)

I’ve run less than 13 miles in 2019, with only two runs longer than 400m, and a good chunk being warm-ups for class. I just finished 12 weeks of Year of the Engine though, so my conditioning has been feeling great. My pull-ups and push-ups have also been really good this year, so I was looking forward to testing out this workout.

I ran the first mile in between 8-8:30 and got right on the pull-up bar when I found a spot (gym was packed!) I broke it up by doing 20 rounds of “Cindy” (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats), but didn’t wear any grips. I like to wear my Garmin watch for this to help pace the runs, so I took advantage of the lap feature to keep track of rounds. It worked great and kept me moving.

1 Mile – 8:26.4 (after getting in the gym and finding a spot)
Round 1 – 43.4
Round 2 – 43.9
Round 3 – 46.4
Round 4 – 48.1
Round 5 – 50.2
Round 6 – 51.5
Round 7 – 53.1
Round 8 – 52.1
Round 9 – 51.6
Round 10 – 55.8
Round 11 – 54.6
Round 12 – 53.9
Round 13 – 55.8
Round 14 – 56.5
Round 15 – 58.5
Round 16 – 1:00.7
Round 17 – 55.8
Round 18 – 1:03.0
Round 19 – 59.7
Round 20 – 1:22.9 (After telling someone about the blood on my bar and leaving the gym)
400m – 2:00.6
400m – 2:31.3
400m – 2:17.7
400m – 1:54.6 (8:44.2 mile)

I think my watch said about 8:06 when I finished the first mile, but I didn’t hit the lap button until I found a spot to do my pull-ups. I was able to do all of the pull-ups and push-ups unbroken. I tried not to stop during the squats or pause at the top of reps; just keep moving. With about 5 rounds left I ripped my right hand a little bit and was really starting to slip on the bar. So it was a constant adjustment to finish. It took me just over 18 minutes to finish the 20 rounds, which only 2 of them being over a minute. Felt decent when I headed out for the run, but I guess I slowed over the middle 800 meters. Good enough for a time of 35:28 to PR by 1:43! Really happy with that.

5 Rep Bench

I didn’t get out golfing yesterday because I found a bunch of water in the basement and spent almost 2 hours cleaning it up. I’m sore from that today. Went to open gym at noon.

Warm-up

3 Sets

1:00 Assault Bike
15 Reverse Hypers (90#)
10 PVC Passes

Ended up with about 45 calories on the AB.

Strength

Bench Press

5×45#
5×95
5×135
5×175
5×200
5×220
5×235
5×245

My ass came off the bench a little in my last two reps, but that ties my old PR for a set of 5, when I had gotten my max up to 290. Can I hit 300 in the next few months?

Conditioning

25:00 EMOM (40s work / 20s rest)

H2H KBS (44#)
Plank
Jump Rope Singles
Sit-ups
Lateral Step Overs (14″)

I was getting 22 swings and 22 sit-ups each round. Never missed on the jump rope. Perfect little workout for today that didn’t get me breathing or sweating very hard. Ready for Murph tomorrow!

I wouldn’t mind getting out to golf but I need to do yard work and a bunch of other shit, so we’ll see.

Run & Bike

I was out the door by 9am and even though it’s not even 70° yet, it was a sweaty one!

Engine Builder – Endurance

42:00

2.09 Mile Run
22:00 Airdyne

I was hoping to do the run under 20 minutes and felt good, but I guess I fell off pace in the 2nd mile, so finished in 20:57. I did 7.88 miles (12,682m) and 585 calories on the Airdyne. That’s 502 more meters and 49 more calories on the AD than the 22 minute endurance workout I did way back in week two of the program!

Week 12 is done (Year of the Engine’s Foundation phase), just in time for Murph on Monday and then I think there is a deload week before starting the next phase of Engine Builder.

I may get out for a round of golf today.

Gymnasty Thrusting

Out in the garage around 11. I warmed up with a 3:00 row (750m).

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

10 Rounds

20s Row
1:40 Rest

Didn’t even break a sweat and got 31 meters more than last month with 116-116-118-119-119-119-119-119-119-119 meters. I don’t remember it being this “easy” the other times I’ve done it.

2019-05-24-row

Went to the 4pm class.

Accessory

3×15 RH (90#)

Warm-up

500m Row
2x Tabata
- Air Squats
- Front Rack Stretch w/ PVC
- Kip Swings
- PVC Passes
5 Thrusters (45#)

Gymnastics & Strength

E2M – 3 Rounds
- 10 Pull-ups
- 3 Thrusters (95-115-135#)
E2M – 3 Rounds
- 8 C2B Pull-ups
- 2 Thrusters (155-175-185#)
E2M – 3 Rounds
- 3 Bar Muscle-ups
- 1 Thruster (195-205-215#)

This was fun! No extra rest between the extra transitions other than what’s left in your two minute window. I was able to do all of the gymnastics movements unbroken and felt really good, especially not having done a bar muscle-up since the open. Thrusters were a little heavy since I haven’t squatted anything like that in a long time. I put the belt on for 175+ I think.

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Conditioning

E2M except not at 0:00 – 7 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

100 DB Snatches (40#)
50 DB Hang Power Cleans (50# DBs)

It was programmed as wall balls EMOM but we didn’t do that because I guess it was too much for the morning folks with a 16:00 time cap, so they made the change for us and put a 12:00 cap on it. I scaled back the snatches from 50# and actually wore my belt through this entire workout too. I did 20-20 snatches before the break, then 20-10, 20-10, and just rested extra by my wall ball every time it came around. The cleans were a bitch! I did 10-10, 10-10, and 10. Finished at 10:38.

This week was a lot of lifting for me and it seems my back survived.

Repping Deads & Bench

My shoulders feel pretty good considering the work they did yesterday at the gym. I was out in the garage around noon.

Engine Builder – Speed

2:00 Warm-up
10:00 Test
3:00 Cooldown

Done on my Airdyne (AD2) with 0.73 mile in the warm-up and 0.88 in the cool down, with rests between each part. For the test I got 387 calories and 4.26 miles (6,856m), which is a PR by 3 calories. My start and finish are good but I need to hold 85 RPM more in the middle of the ten minutes instead of falling down to 83. Getting closer to 400!

I’ve been doing this test long before Engine Builder and it’s neat to see the progress.

I went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

8:00

5 Up Downs
10 Air Squats
15 Lateral Hops
10 Leg swings
2x 30m Run

Just the run shy of getting 4 rounds.

Conditioning

4 Cycles
- 3:00 AMRAP
  - 400m Run
  - Max Sumo KB Deadlift (88#)
- 1:00 Rest
3:00 Rest (total – skip the 1:00 rest after the 4th cycle)
4 Cycles
- 3:00 AMRAP
  - 500m Row
  - Max Bench Press (135#)
- 1:00 Rest

The cycles were programmed in the opposite order, but we have to adjust due to the number of rowers in the gym. I knew I could do well with the rowing when I was tired so volunteered to do the rowing one first. I ran the out-and-back 400m route and couldn’t be more pleased with my times there. Rx was 225# deadlifts, but I’m not ready for that, especially after so much lifting yesterday. I could have done a few more deadlifts in several of the minutes, but 35 in every round was more than enough reps! I wanted to keep a pace under 1:50/500m on the rower and I was able to. Wasn’t really sure how the bench press would feel, but after the first round I set a goal to start with a set of 10 each time. I did 10-8, 10-10, 10-5-5, and 10-5-3. So a total of 140 sumo deadlifts and 76 bench presses.

2019-05-22-gym

Midline

4 Sets

1:00 Plank
40 Russian Twists (35# KB)
1:00 Rest

I did the planks on my hands because I was soaked in sweat already. The planks felt extremely easy. It took 9:33 to complete this.