Author: Nick Momrik

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

Moving the Bar Again

I was still very sore yesterday, but managed to walk 14 holes of golf before it started raining. I think that helped me loosen up actually. Got a solid 9.5 hours of sleep last night. Was out in the garage before lunch.

Engine Builder – Max Aerobic Power

24 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

The goal was to get near a 1:36/500m pace, which I did a few times. My average distance was 155.17 with a range of 157-153, slightly down from 1.5 months ago when I did 20 rounds with a 155.25 average and a range of 156-154. That difference in average only amounts to two total meters though. My distances were:

157-157-156-156-156-154-156-156-
155-155-155-155-153-155-155-155-
154-155-154-155-154-155-155-156m

Went to the 4pm class. It’s been 3.5 weeks since I picked up a barbell and today seemed like a good day to try a few things. Scaled back the weight to keep it light.

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Machine
  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 Russian Kettlebell Swings (44#)
    • 5 MB Cleans (20#)
  • Power Snatch
    • 6×45#
    • 6×75
    • 3×95

Weightlifting

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 Power Snatches (115#)

Felt good to move some weight.

Conditioning

E3M – 6 Rounds

  • 10-15 Push Jerks (95#)
  • 10-15 Toes to Bars
  • 10-15 Hang Power Cleans (95#)
  • 10-15 Handstand Push-ups

The Rx weight was 115 pounds and the notes said Rx+ should add 1 rep to the movements each round. My plan was to stick to 10s, keep the barbell movements unbroken and split up the gymnastics to 2×5 for each movement. I cruised through the first round in under 90 second and then Kinde says, “You guys should do Rx+.” I figured since that round went so well and I had scaled the weight I would give it a try. The first three rounds weren’t too bad, but after 13 got nasty!

After my first clean I went for the quick bounce method and my back did not agree, so I had to take the bar down to the knees on every rep and do a proper hang clean, which is much slower. I split all of the T2B up in 2 sets, 5-5, 6-5, 6-6, 7-6, 7-7, and 8-7. Was a bit surprised those felt so good and I wasn’t wearing my grips. Cleans were all unbroken. For HSPU I think I did 10, 11, 6-6, 5-4-4, 5-5-4, and 5-5-5. I missed the 3 minute clock in the 5th round, after finishing the HSPU I had to go straight to the jerks and split that 8-7, otherwise every other round of jerks was unbroken. I got through the cleans a few seconds before the 18 minutes was up and then finished off my HSPU, which was probably in the 19:00-19:30 range.

75 HSPU is a lot, especially combined with 75 push jerks!

Jump, Jump

I woke up sore in many different areas!! Went to open gym at noon.

Warm-up

5:00 Assault Bike

Just a casual 2.7km.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 8×45#
  • 8×95
  • 8×135
  • 8×165
  • 8×185
  • 8×200
  • 8×210

Warming up the weights were feeling really heavy, until 200, which felt really good. The 210 is 5# more than the last time, so I was thinking it was a PR. I was wrong because I’ve done 8×225 when I was approaching a 300 pound max.

Conditioning

10:00 EMOM

  • 25 DU
  • AMRAP Burpee Box Jumps (24/20″, facing the box)

I was missing once or twice per set on rounds 2-7. Started out with 8 burpee box jumps, then a 5, a bunch of 6s, and was able to speed up in the last few rounds. I found a nice step sequence for going into and out of the burpees. Ended up with 68 total burpee box jumps. I could really feel my engine work kick in over the second half of this workout. Probably should have pushed a bit harder in the first half, but I really thought this was going to be more miserable.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 10/10 Wood Choppers (30# MB)
  • 30 Plank Jumps
  • 20 Floor Wipers
  • 30s Hollow Hold

I will not be using a slam ball again for wood choppers; too awkward with the moving load inside of the ball. This was tougher than expected. Took me 9:20.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • Dumbbell Curl 21s (30#)

Planned to go 30-30-25, but decided to go for it.

Engine Builder – Endurance

36:00 Airdyne

I was not looking forward to this, but dragged myself out to the garage at 6pm. Ideally I’d like to get back to the 75 RPM pace I had been using up through 32 minutes, but the 34 and today were not up to par. Today’s average was probably 70 RPM. I got 917 calories and 12.65 miles. Just for comparison I had 924 calories on the 32 minute endurance ride.

I might golf tomorrow if the weather is decent, otherwise it’ll be a complete rest day.

Kind of Like Murph

Set my alarm and got up to get to the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • Dynamic stretching

Conditioning

  • 1 Mile Run
  • 100 Pull-Ups
  • 200 Push-Ups
  • 300 Air Squats
  • 1 Mile Run
  • 300 Sit-Ups
  • 200 Double Unders
  • 100 Pull-Ups
  • 1 Mile Run

Paired up with TJ. Tom was the odd man out, so he joined us and worked at the same time as me. We decided to go through this like a chipper and thankfully even the runs were able to be split up. We did 200 meter runs, sets of 5s for pull-ups and push-ups, and 15s for air squats. Then we did sets of 15 sit-ups most of the way with 2 or 3 sets of 10s. Dubs were sets of 25 (no misses for me) and 5s for pull-ups again. I was able to get through ever set of pull-ups in both rounds doing butterflies and I did wear grips. There was a 35 minute time cap, which we hit right around the end of the sit-ups. We decided to finish and it took about 45 minutes.

After cleaning up the last of the tree branches and running a bunch of errands throughout the day, I hopped on the rower. With the long workout this morning I decided to put off the week 9 endurance piece on the Airdyne until tomorrow.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

Increase the pace each interval. Ended up with 131, 137, 143, 150, and 158 meters.

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

8 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 2:30 Rest

Going to stop paying attention to the calories for such short intervals like this. There just isn’t enough variance at a high pace like this. So my goal pace shifts from > 2,200 cal/hr to < 1:25/500m. I went 178, 178, 179, 181, 181, 181, 181, and 182 meters. This was 33 overall meters more than a month ago and 56 better than two months ago. Today’s first interval matched my best distance from last time. I think the warm-up definitely helped. There was still a bit of warm-up up at that high pace as you can see from the first four intervals.

2019-05-04-row.jpeg

Perfect Splits

Didn’t get up until after 9 yesterday and 10 today, so you could say the Utah trip exhausted me (mostly mentally). I went to see Endgame last night and then stayed up until almost 2. Tonight I need to get back on an Eastern time zone schedule.

Was out in the garage by 1pm without having eaten anything yet.

Engine Builder – Speed

3 Rounds

  • 6:00 Airdyne
  • 2:00 Rest

Wanted to hold 80-82 RPM and was able to. I got an idea today… whenever I fix my Pi-AD2 I should add a display of the average RPM over an interval. My calories were 207-207-209 and the distance was 2.43 miles each interval.

I’d have to modify a movement in every part of today’s gym programming, so I stayed home to catch up on Engine Builder. Can’t wait for some improvement with my back so I can lift again.

Engine Builder – Interval

6 Rounds

  • 1,000m Row
  • 1:30 Rest

My goal was a 1:49/500m pace and I was able to average 1:48.6 every time for exact splits of 3:37.3 on all six.

2019-05-03-row.jpeg

Even my stroke rates were exact!

Back From Utah

Yesterday was a long travel day. My back didn’t seem to improve over the week away. I don’t think sitting on flights and working from couches, kitchen chairs, and patio chairs helped though. Mowed most of the lawn today but didn’t feel like doing an Engine Builder workout. Went to the 4pm class though.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • Line Drills
    • Ankle Rolls
    • Walking Lunges
    • Hug Knee to Chest
    • Quad Stretch
    • Lunge & twist
    • Side Lunge
    • High Knees
    • Butt Kicks

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 10 cal Assault Bike
  • 10 cal Row
  • 10 DB Floor Press (50# DBs)
  • 10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

This was a good one to come back to, even though the notes said not to go hard. I held a pretty good pace though and smoked everyone. Took me 26:22 with a few short waits on for our one AB to open up and then for Weston to get done with the dumbbells we were sharing.

Accessory

5 Sets

  • 20 Russian Twists (53#)

Last Day in Utah

Another 7am drop-in at CrossFit St. George.

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

5 Rounds

  • 400m Row
  • 5:00 Rest

My goal was < 1:34/500m and I ended up 3.2 seconds faster overall. Last time 1:15.0 was my fastest and these are my times: 1:15.1, 1:14.7, 1:14.8, 1:14.6, 1:14.5.

Conditioning

  • 15-10-5 Strict Handstand Push-ups
  • 15-10-5 Toes to Bars
  • 45-30-15 Air Squats

Came up with this one last night. Thought I might be able to keep all sets of five, but wasn’t able to using the AbMat and 25# plates compared to my big mat at home. I think I did 3×5, 5-3-2, 2-2-1 on the HSPU. All sets of fives on the T2B. Squats were slower than I’d like, but had to recover a bit before going back to the HSPU. Finished in 7:20.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 60 Hollow Flutter Kicks
  • 30 Plank Jumps
  • 20 Floor Wipers
  • 1:00 Rest

This took me 7:34.

50 Minutes of Rowing

Went for about a 2 mile hike on Saturday, but wasn’t strenuous. Yesterday we did some hiking and touring around Zion National Park, which was amazingly beautiful. Went to the open gym at 7am again at CrossFit St. George.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 21s (30-30-25#)

Didn’t have much time for anything extra today since the rowing was going to take almost 50 minutes!

Engine Builder – Max Aerobic Power

18 Rounds

  • 1:45 Row
  • 1:00 Rest

Goal was 1:50/500m and got it, averaging 1:49.6 I think. Almost perfect consistency on my distances again, with the second one being the only one different. My meters were:

479-478-479-479-479-479-
479-479-479-479-479-479-
479-479-479-479-479-479m

Was over a total of 8,600 meters.

CrossFit St. George

Ended up not getting up for the gym yesterday morning as planned because I hadn’t slept very well. But it was so bright in my room that I should have gotten up and went because I didn’t sleep any extra. Got up this morning and dropped in for open gym at CrossFit St. George.

crossfit-st-george.jpg

BTW, this protein shake may have been the best one I’ve ever bought from a store.

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

10 Rounds

  • 20s Row
  • 1:40 Rest

Warmed up with a three minute row for 750 meters. My pace for the intervals was around 1:26-1:27/500m and I ended up getting 13 total meters more than a month ago. My meters were 114-115-116-115-115-115-115-115-116-116m.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (70#)
  • 8 Strict C2B Pull-ups
  • 30 Bear Hug Squats (20#)

Nice they had the RH, so I took advantage of it.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 30 Hollow Rocks
  • 10/10 Side V-ups

The hollow rocks got hard. Went 30, 15-15, and then 3×10 the last two sets. Finished in 4:58.

All The Scaling

Can still feel that back tweak there. Was out in the garage before lunch.

Engine Builder – Interval

8 Rounds

  • 1:30 Row
  • 30s Rest

I was really struggling to figure out a goal pace for this. In the last two months I have plenty of different samples, but the work:rest ratios are all a bit different. Going in I was set on 1:50/500m, but was doing 1:49 in the first interval so I stuck with it. Could have gone faster. My meters were 413-413-413-414-413-414-414-413, so another consistent one.

Went to the gym at 4pm.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

  • 1:00 Bike
  • 10 RDL (45#)
  • 30 Jump Ropes

Accessory

3 Sets

  • Dumbbell Curl – 21s (30-25-25#)
  • 10 GHR (red band)
  • 1:00/1:00 Single Leg Stand (62# KB)

I did this instead of 5×5 deadlifts. First 2 sets I was holding the KB in the wrong hand and it was an awkward stance. In addition to the red band, I’m pushing off the pads a bit with my hands so I don’t put stress on my back.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 50 DU
  • 8 Pull-ups
  • 8 T2B
  • 5 Box Jumps (36″)
  • 50’ Farmer Carry (53# KBs)
  • 1:00 Rest

I think I got 2 sets of dubs unbroken and missed 3x in one of the sets! Scaled 8 muscle-ups down to the 8+8 and was able to do each movement unbroken, wearing grips. The bar I was using was a tad too low for me, so I actually had to spread my legs in my kip which felt really weird. Instead of doing 5 muscle cleans (155#) I figured the high box jumps would still get me working on leg drive and hip extension. Cruised through this one in 12:55.