Author: Nick Momrik

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

Pounding

Woke up with a headache, but hit the pavement around 8am. Went for a 30 minute active recovery run, covering 3.14 miles. Then I walked about a half mile to get home.

Switching up from strict pull-ups on this rest day to some different sets of push-ups. Did one big set for each type of push-up, stopping a few reps shy of failure. Undefined rest between sets as I did them during breaks from working. Was done over the course of a few hours.

  • 20 Clapping Push-ups
  • 30 Wide Push-ups
  • 25 Diamond Push-ups
  • 20 Ring Push-ups
  • 30 Push-ups

Can you tell I like pretty numbers? I cut the ring push-ups pretty short because I didn’t want to get strap burns on my arms. Next time I’d be sure to put on my shin skins.

Thruster Thursday

Getting back to my early wake-ups after managing to sleep in later for a couple of weeks. So had enough time to go through my morning routine and get to CFi early to get in heavy thrusters before the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Thrusters
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95#

Thruster Attack

Every 1:30 for 9:00 (6 sets)

  • 8×135#

Not too bad. Got me breathing pretty hard. Maybe too much rest. Will make adjustments to the plan for upcoming weeks.

Warm-up #2

  • 2 Rounds
    • 4 Inch Worms
    • 10 Good Mornings (45#)
  • Deadlifts
    • 5×155#
    • 5×245#
    • 3×315#

Strength

EMOM 8:00

  • 2 Deadlifts (365#)

Gymnastics

4 Rounds NFT

  • 4 MU
  • 5 Strict Ring Dips (right after MU)

Nice burn and got me out of breath. Have started to get the hang of pushing away from the rings at the top after finishing the muscle-up, instead of lowing back to the bottom of the dip and then falling. It’s definitely a different cycling into the next rep.

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 250m Run

I got through 5 full rounds plus 10 deadlifts and 10 burpees at 14:44 on the clock. No sense starting a run. All deadlifts and burpees were unbroken.

Walked 200m to cool down a little.

Afternoon intervals on the SkiErg! Warmed up with an easy 500m in 2:23.6. I think this interval workout may have come from Athlete Cell, but I don’t remember where I saved it from.

6 Rounds

  • 20s @ 100%
  • 40s @ 50%

Rest 3:00

4 Rounds

  • 30s @ 100%
  • 1:00 @ 50%

Rest 3min

2 Rounds

  • 45s @ 100%
  • 1:30 @ 50%

I went about 1,285m, 1,280m, and 950m in each of the blocks. Was able to get down in the low 1:30s during some of the short ones. Stayed under 1:40 almost the entire time when going 100%. Went at about a 3:00/500m pace for my 50% efforts.

High & Heavy

Not feeling very energized this morning, but in for the 9am at CFi.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Band Pulls & Pass Thrus
  • 20 Air Squats
  • Shoulder Press
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95#
    • 3×115#
    • 3×135#

XWOD

  • 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Shoulder Press (150#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Wall Balls
    • 2s: 20# MB to 13′ target
    • 1s: 25# Slam Ball to 13′ target

That’s a new 3RM on my shoulder press again and for 8 sets! Took some getting used to throwing the 25# ball so high, but was getting the last couple.

Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 2:00 AMRAP
    • 10 Burpees
    • 10 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP
    • 10 Goblet Squats (53# KB)
    • 10 Russian KBS (53# KB)
  • 1:00 Rest

All GO in these little AMRAPs. I went unbroken through everything, never having the kettlebell touch the ground. I got 2+5, 3+11, 2+3, and 3+8, so only fell off the pace a little the second time through.

Midline

3 Rounds NFT

  • 20 Russian Twists (53# KB)
  • 20 Sit-ups

Hit an afternoon snatch session in the garage. Warmed up with

  • 5×45# Muscle Snatch
  • 5×45# Snatch Press
  • 5×45# OHS
  • 3×75# Muscle Snatch
  • 3×75# Snatch Press
  • 3×75# OHS
  • 3×95# Power Snatch

Then I did a little complex of:

  • Power from floor w/ 2s pause at knee
  • Squat from hang at knee

I started at 115# and went up 5# at a time until I hit 160, so 10 sets.

Then I was planning to do an EMOM with a double squat snatch with 165#. Missed the second attempt in the first minute and then missed another attempt at it. So I started over. 🙂

10:00 EMOM

  • 2×155# Squat Snatch

I had one miss on the 2nd rep in round 6 but took a breath, concentrated, and hit a second make right after the miss. From that point on I really had to focus. My thoughts were on being explosive through the second pull and finishing strong to punch the bar overhead. I think a lot of my misses are because I’m not aggressive with the bar at the end and I lose tension.

Walked about a half mile after.

Labor Day

Feeling a little tight this morning but nothing is overly or noticeably sore. Hit up the Labor Day 10am at CFi. “Do Work” on Labor Day, right?

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 400m Run
  • Box Jump Drills

30:00 Partner AMRAP of “Jack”

  • 10 Push Press (95#)
  • 10 American KBS (53#)
  • 10 Box Jumps (24″)

Decided to scale back from the Rx 115# done in “Jack” so that I wouldn’t have to break up the push presses. Partnered with Alex. He started and got through 12 rounds. I got 11+10 and was able to keep everything unbroken, actually getting faster and busting through the push presses in the later rounds. Watched the clock on a couple of my rounds and they were right around 1:00. That was a fun workout and we had a good turnout.

Labor Day 2014

Started to do some front squats after, but just wasn’t feeling it.

Front Squats

  • 5×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×225#

My shoulders need a rest day tomorrow.

Sunday Mass

In for an early Sunday at 9am because we’re heading to the Adventure Park to climb the trees again. I started off with Crossover Symmetry Activation and some stretching.

Warm-up

  • 10×45# Shoulder Press
  • 2 Kneeling Jumps
  • 5×95# Jerk
  • 1 Kneeling Jump (4″)
  • 2×125# Jerk
  • 1 Kneeling Jump (7″)
  • 2×155# Jerk
  • 1 Kneeling Jump (10.25″)
  • 2×185# Jerk

XWOD

  • 2-2-2-2-2 Jerks (205#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2 Kneeling Jumps
    • 2s: 10.25″
    • 1s: 13.25″

Felt pretty good on most of the jerks.

Strength/Accessory

  • 5×45# Good Morning
  • 5×95# Good Morning
  • 5×135# Good Morning
  • 5×165# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 5×175# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 5×185# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 5×185# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 5×195# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups

Focused on explosive drive back up out of the bottom in the good mornings to work the hamstrings more. I can feel a big difference when I engage my glutes and hamstrings to initiate the movement. All push-ups were unbroken sets.

Gymnastics

EMOM 10:00

  • 7 C2B Pull-ups

Did pretty good with the butterfly considering I’d never done more than 4 chest to bar in a row with it. Got several rounds unbroken without losing my kip. Have started to develop a bruise and broken blood vessels under my right pec where I contact the bar. I think maybe I should work on hitting higher, which should be less work. I feel like I’d smash my face though.

Thruster Attack

3 Rounds

  • 5:00 Tabata
    • 20s Thrusters (35#)
    • 10s Rest
  • 2:30 Rest

Damn that was tough this week!

Unexpected

Headed to CFi around 10 to do some stuff. Warmed up my shoulders with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Gymnastics

Every 15s until failure

  • 1 Muscle-up

Saw this on the main site the other day and it looked like fun. It was much harder than I expected because you don’t really get any time to recover. I made it through 21 reps before I failed. Stringing reps together in an EMOM is a lot easier!

Strength

Back Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×215#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×265#
  • 5×275#
  • 5×285#

Felt pretty good.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 2×205#
  • 1×225#
  • 1×235#
  • 1×245# (PR)
  • 1×250# (PR)

Damn! Was not expecting that. I haven’t bench pressed heavy since the day I hurt my shoulder, back in January. That was a 10# PR. I guess all of the shoulder pressing I’ve been doing has a big carryover.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 1,000m Row
  • 4:00 Rest

My goal was to set a PR on the first row and then go at a pace 10-15 seconds per 500m slower for the other 3. I wasn’t recovered very well yet for the 2nd row. I did manage to set a PR by 5.6 seconds with a 3:16.1 and then my other splits were 3:46.2, 3:41.6, and 3:40.1.

A few hours later I headed out to the garage.

20:00 Air Dyne @ Z1

Went 8.59km.

25-20-15-10-5

  • GHD Sit-ups
  • Back Extensions

Not for time. Just to get in some extra work.

Get Your Chin Over the Bar

Rest day today. I walked a quick 18 holes of golf this morning.

Jumped out in the garage for some sets of strict pull-ups, with varying grip widths. Can’t hurt right? I rested plenty between sets as I came in to the house and did some stuff before going back out for another set.

  • 6 (as wide as possible on the rack)
  • 8 (2″ closer)
  • 9 (another 2″ closer)
  • 8 (just outside normal grip)
  • 9 (normal grip)

Damn that wide grip is tough! I like the idea of hitting different grip widths to address slightly different areas on each set. 40 total reps. My grip was starting to slide more than anything on each set. Probably a really good grip builder as well as building up the pulling strength.

Shoulder Pump

My hammies are feeling tight from squatting the last couple of days I think. In for the 9am class at CFi.

Warm-up

  • Bar Hangs
  • 3 Rounds of “Cindy”
    • 5 Pull-ups (strict)
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats
  • Deadlifts
    • 4×155#
    • 4×245#
    • 4×315#

XWOD

7 Rounds

  • 4 Deadlifts (345#)
  • 1 Broad Jump

Bumped up the weight 10# from last week which was 8×3. No issues with the back.

Strength/Skill

8:00 EMOM

  • 6 Thrusters (135#)

The thruster attack plan is working pretty well. Wasn’t easy but not terrible either.

Conditioning

“Helen”
3 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 21 American KBS (53#)
  • 12 Pull-ups

First run was about 2 minutes! Yuck. Need to be faster than that. All swings were unbroken and pull-ups were 12, 7-5, and 8-4. Finished in 10:04. I think thrusters destroyed my shoulders a bit. I couldn’t even touch my shoulders after the workout that’s how pumped up they were. Not even close to my PR time of 9:30, the only other time I did “Helen” over 2 years ago. Don’t remember what we did for the runs then, but maybe it was really short (or at least I’ll tell myself that to feel better). The bottom line is I need to push myself more when running in a metcon.

Afternoon garage time just before 4pm. Warmed up with an easy 3 minutes on the Air Dyne for 1.24km.

5 Rounds

  • 1:20
    • 15 C2D Push-ups
    • Air Dyne
  • 1:00 Rest

Was able to do the push-ups unbroken every round and couldn’t believe it. Gave me pretty much exactly 1 minute on the Air Dyne each round by the time I got on it. Distances were 0.7, 0.75, 0.74, 0.74, and 0.74 km.

Walked a half mile to cool down.

Wake Up

Not a ton of sleep last night but up early enough to make the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Holds
  • Inch Worms
  • PNF Rack Stretch w/ partner
  • Calf Stretching
  • Front Squats
    • 5×45#
    • 3×135#
    • 3×185#
    • 3×225#

Strength

8:00 EMOM

  • 3 Front Squats (225#)

Accessory

5 Rounds NFT

  • MU into 5 strict Ring Dips
  • 5 Strict C2B Pull-ups

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 1:00 Row (cal)
  • 1:00 Shoulder to OH (95#)
  • 1:00 Burpees
  • 1:00 Ball Slams (25#)
  • 1:00 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 1:00 Rest

I got 18-19-19 calories on the rower and have no idea how many reps at each of the other individual stations. Totals per round were 86-92-94 reps. Felt good to actually get better as it went on. I did a mixture of push jerks, push presses, and strict presses on the SH to OH.

Back at 4:30 for some stuff with Kevin, but he got caught up helping Alex coach his first class.

C&J

  • 45# Warm-up Work
  • 2×115#
  • 2×135#
  • 2×155#
  • 2×175#
  • 2x1x195#
  • 1×205#
  • 1×215#
  • 1×225#
  • 1×235#
  • 1×245#
  • 1×255# (PR match)
  • 1×265# Clean (PR)

Really had no plans to attempt this. Wasn’t even planning to do clean and jerks when I walked into the gym. The jerk was iffy, but felt good to hit the big weight. Had only ever hit that once and it was before X-mas. I don’t think I’ve attempted to jerk over 225 in months. I have room for so much more in my clean with how high I’m receiving the bar. I’ll take it 5# at a time so I don’t lose the confidence though.