Author: Nick Momrik

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

Starts with a G, ends with an E

Nasty storm rolling through and everything is shut down. They didn’t even send kids to school this morning and the snow didn’t start until after 10am. Out in the garage. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Accessory

6 Sets

  • 5/5 Bulgarian Split Squats (25, 35, 45, 3×50)
  • 5 Good Mornings (45, 95, 115, 3×135)

Nothing crazy with the Open starting this week. Don’t need any more injuries. Warmed up clean & jerks with 5×45#, 5×95, and 3×1153

Conditioning

I started the clock and started everything at set times. At 0:00…

“Grace”

  • 30 C&J (135#)

My last Grace was a 2:17 done by going 10 unbroken and then all singles. After that I thought of a new strategy I haven’t seen anyone try. Everyone always goes for a huge unbroken set and then singles. But If you go with some smaller sets for longer you can eliminate a bunch of bar drops. I was hoping to get 4 sets of 5 but after 2 reps in the 4th set it was time to go with singles. Those first 17 reps were done in exactly 1:00. Ended up with 2:04 for a 13 second PR so I guess my strategy worked!

…at 10:00…

  • 20-16-12 Ski Erg cals
  • 10-8-6 Burpee Box Jumps (33″)

This was much worse than I expected. When I got into the second round I had no gas. It was taking me 2 pulls per calorie. 😦 Finished in 6:45.

…at 20:00…

  • 2:00 DU

Thought about skipping this after the previous part took so long. Fatigued practice is good though. Was pretty good in the first minute with 2 sets totaling 96. Hit a wall then and was missing a lot more. 164 total reps.

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Recovery.

Before the Storm

Felt a little sore in my legs a couple of times today. Maybe from all of the jump rope yesterday after heavy doses of dubs and step-ups on Sunday as well? Went to the 4:30 class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 400m Run
  • Push Press
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95
    • 5×115
    • 5×135

Not as “nice” today but still in the 40s. Storm on it’s way though to send us back to reality.

Strength

12:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5 Push Press (155#)
  • 10 Wall Balls (30#, 10′)

Not bad.

Conditioning

6 Rounds

  • 8 Plate Snatches (45#)
  • 8 OH Walking Lunges (45#)
  • 16 Sit-ups

Never stopped or rested. Finished in 6:22. Remembered to get out my AbMat pad too. So much better not sliding all over the place.

Gymnasty

Couldn’t do the pull-ups or ring dips that were programmed so worked on my own things.

5 Sets

  • 5 Ring Swings
  • 5 Strict HSPU

I can’t believe how much more I’m able to open up my shoulders in the back swing compared to just 2-3 weeks ago! Alex said it looked like I had wings.

Long MAP

Instead of sticking to one movement like the Air Dyne for a long 30-40 minutes, I mixed it up with a Maximum Aerobic Power (MAP) workout. I used to do these more often, but in the 8-10 minute range and maybe a few of them with rest between. Went long today.

40:00

  • 1:00 Ski Erg
  • 1:00 Jump Rope
  • 1:00 Air Dyne
  • 1:00 Box Step Overs (12″)
  • 0:30 Ring Plank
  • 0:30 Single-arm OH Carry (25# DB, aka Waiter’s Walk)

I tried to switch at those times, so total work time was shorter due to transitioning. Nice and easy conversational pace. I wore the Garmin Forerunner 235 I bought last week and while it did a much better job tracking HR than when I rowed 5k, it still seems very wrong in some places.


Unbroken Minute

Have finally been starting to get up earlier so my body is adjusting. Felt a little tired this morning.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Pass-thrus (o/u grip)
  • Thrusters (45#)

Conditioning

E2M – 7 Sets (14:00)

  • 8 Thrusters (95#)
  • 8 Burpees over the Bar

Felt really good. Was taking me 29-30 seconds every round. We did tens every 3 minutes for 5 sets a few weeks ago so both started the final round at the 12:00 mark but today was 6 more reps of each movement. Could even go with shorter rest too.

Everyone (me included) likes to bitch about both of these movements, but you can’t argue at how well they improve fitness. Anyone who has done Open Workout 14.5 can tell you how much it hurt. Together they create a deadly combo.

3 Rounds

  • 1:00 Push-ups
  • 1:00 Step-ups (24″)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 1:00 DU
  • 1:00 T2B
  • 1:00 Rest

Started out how on the push-ups and as usual they die out fast. 40-31-31 on those. 23 step-ups every round. Missed after 27 dubs in round one and then finished unbroken the rest of the way for 104. Went completely unbroken for 110 reps in round 2, but hit the wall with shoulder, leg, and lung fatigue in round 3 for only 74 reps. Got 17 toes to bar every round too, which was surprising to stick with.

Midline

8 Rounds

  • 20s Handstand Hold
  • 15s Rest
  • 20s Hollow Hold
  • 15s Rest

That 15 seconds of rest goes by quick!  Handstand holds felt really good even after all of the shoulder work today. I started trying a couple of new things with my feet to move towards the freestanding holds. I would either twist with my hips a bit to get one heel off the wall and then twist the other way a second later. Or I would do heel taps on the wall to find those balance points. The hollow holds got a little slopped but I was able to tighten it up for the last round.

50s in February

Unusual heat wave the last couple of days that melted all of our snow. Went in at 9 to hit some lifts with Alex and Bryan before class at 10. I started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Snatch

  • 5x20kg (muscle snatches, snatch presses, and ohs)
  • 2x3x40
  • 3×50
  • 3×60
  • 3×65
  • 3×70
  • 3×75
  • 1×80 (3 misses)

Not happy with those reps at 80. First time getting down into the squat for some snatches since setting that PR several weeks ago. Very rusty!

Midline

Weighted GHD Sit-ups (20# MB)

  • 9×5
  • 1×10

I was doing these in between squat sets. The final set of 10 was after C&J.

Clean & Jerk

  • 1x60kg
  • 1×70
  • 1×80
  • 1×90
  • 1×100
  • 1×110
  • 1×115
  • 1×120

Only had about 15 minutes so worked up fast. My squat felt weak. Need to speed through lifts like this more often. Too much thinking and resting going on.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run

Strength

16:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 10 Goblet Squats (70# KB)
  • 10 Ring Push-ups

Conditioning

  • 200m Run
  • 10 Burpees
  • 10 Russian KBS (70#)
  • 200m Run
  • 8 Burpees
  • 8 Russian KBS
  • 200m Run
  • 6 Burpees
  • 6 Russian KBS
  • 200m Run
  • 4 Burpees
  • 4 Russian KBS
  • 200m Run
  • 2 Burpees
  • 2 Russian KBS
  • 200m Run

Felt pretty good! Maybe that rowing program paid off aerobically, though hard to know how hard I was going without having Michelle or Bryan there to pace off of. Finished in 9:27.

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Could there be pistols in the open this year? I hope so!

18:35

Got to the gym around 4:30 to do my own thing.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

  • 10 V-ups
  • 15s GHD Bridge
  • 5 Ring Swings

Gymnastics Strength

  • 50 Strict HSPU

I did a set of 10, 5 sets of 4, and finally 4 sets of 5. Wanted to get in some solid volume

Conditioning

  • 5,000m Row

My goal was to average a 1:52 pace or less. My previous best was a time of 18:58.5 (1:53.8/500m) in July. Managed to beat my goal by 0.5s/500m to come home with a time of 18:35.0. All five of my 1,000m splits averaged under that 1:53.8. I expected the 3rd or 4th to be slower than they were because I was really hurting through those. Very happy with the 23.5 second PR!

IMG_7086.jpg

It sure is long and shitty sitting on the rower for this distance at speed. At an aerobic pace it has become pretty enjoyable. After rolling around on the ground for about 5 minutes I jumped on the Air Dyne (AD2) for an easy 10:00 to flush out my legs and went 2.49 miles. Then I did a bunch of back mobility stuff and hung on the inversion table a couple of times too. Rest day tomorrow!

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Concept2 Logbook Rankings

True L

Almost late getting to 4:30 due to being in a coding zone for work.

Warm-up

  • 2×10 Reverse Hyper (210#)
  • Jogging
  • PVC Good Mornings

Strength – Deadlift

  • 10×45#
  • 5×155
  • 5×225
  • 5×275
  • 5×325
  • 5×365
  • 5×395

Could feel it in that left shoulder when it got heavy. Happy with the 395 though after the back tweak a few weeks ago too. Would have liked to be closer to the 425 I did before the tweak, but no need to push it. I’m already in rough enough shape.

Conditioning

  • 2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 5 Burpees

Total of 110 wall balls and 50 burpees. Took me 8:36 to finish. All wall balls were unbroken sets. Burpees got slow to try and catch my breath a little.

Midline

7 Rounds

  • 10s L-hang
  • 10s Rest

Actually held a true L for the first 3-4 and then my feet started to droop more and more.

3 Sets

  • 3 GHD Back Extensions

The slow controlled kind. I forgot how hard these are. Probably should have had the pad back more after watching the video again.

3 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (160#)

Pump!

Fight the Burn

Made it to the 4:30 class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Random assortment of movements

Strength – Shoulder Press

  • 6×45#
  • 6×75
  • 3×95
  • 3×115
  • 3×135
  • 3×150
  • 3×160
  • 3×165 (PR?)
  • 3×170 (PR)

I had done 170 pounds for a double at some point, seems like about a year ago. Gives me an estimated max around 180, which would be a 5# PR. The most I had done for a triple since using BTWB was a week or two ago with 162.5, so not sure if the 165 was really a PR or not.

Conditioning

7 Rounds

  • 30 Double Unders
  • 8 Power Cleans (95#)
  • 8 Push Presses (95#)

My goal by choosing 95# was not to put the bar down. My cycle times got a lot slower from the first round to the end, but mission accomplished. I missed 3 dubs; once in one set and twice in another. First two rounds were done in under 2 minutes, but the pace of cycling really slowed down and I had to take some extra breaths moving from the rope to the bar and vice versa. Took me 8:51.

Burn Baby Burn

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s Bottom to Bottom Air Squats
  • 10s “Rest” in a Bottom Squat Hold

Paced out of the gate much better knowing what was in store. Was getting 9 per round early on and was able to pick up the pace in the last few rounds even though my quads were burning something fierce coming out of the hole for those first reps of a set. Finished with 78 reps which is a +15.

Did some back mobility before I left.

Can’t Beat Rich

Feeling a little beat from yesterday.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 3×8 Reverse Hyper (210#)
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Snatch
    • 2x3x45#
    • 3×65#

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP

  • 50 DU
  • 15 Snatches (weight goes up each round)
    • 95-115-135-155-185-205#

This was a What’s Rich Doing Challenge I had put on my list weeks ago when I saw it. I absolutely sucked on dubs today, which hurts your score bad in a workout like this. I got through 12 of the 15 snatches at 155# Did 3×5 with 95, 5×3 with 115, and then singles the rest of the way. Here you can see Rich do it and get through 12 reps with 185#…

3 Rounds

  • 30s Burpees
  • 30s Rest
  • 30s Air Squats
  • 30s Rest
  • 30s HS Hold
  • 30s Rest

Worked out well doing this after the snatch workout. With a nice rest was able to recover and push hard on the burpees to get 14 each round. Air squats were 22-23-26. Need to push harder on them.

Skill Work

5 Sets NFT

  • 4 Turkish Get-ups
  • 10 Ring Swings

I only got in 2 sets of get-ups (44# and 35#) since I was helping people out. I did get in swings after everyone was done. Put a towel between my feet again. Felt like my shoulders were able to open up a bit more on the back swing. Work in progress.

Tested out my shoulder a little bit today and I was able to pull higher in a pull-up before the pain kicked in, but then I was trying to demo a knee-up kip as a way to get your first pull-up and it didn’t feel good at all.