Author: Nick Momrik

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

Recovery-ish Night

After Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, normally I’d make today a rest day, but I have a golf outing tomorrow that take up most of the day. I walked 18 holes of golf in the morning and then went in to open gym at night.

Warm-up

3:00 Air Dyne

WOD

10 Rounds NFT

  • 45m Sled Drag (forward)
  • 5 T2B
  • 45m Sled Pull (backward)
  • 5 T2B

The load was 250# for the first 5 rounds and then 275# for the last 5 rounds. All T2B were unbroken for a total of 100 today. Didn’t really get the heart rate up so was a good recovery type workout.

Leg Day

Still sore in the legs from Tuesday and now sore in the core and upper body from yesterday. In at 10am.

Warm-up

  • PVC OHS and pass-thrus
  • 450m Run

Strength

5/3/1 Deadlifts – Cycle 2 Week 1

  • 5 @ 165# (40% of training max – warm)
  • 5 @ 210# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 250# (60% – warm)
  • 5 @ 270# (65%)
  • 5 @ 315# (75%)
  • 5+ @ 355# (85%)

Felt really solid. Focusing on being more explosive with my legs and hip drive is helping a lot. I did 10 reps at 355# for an estimated max of 472#.

Did this following ladder after the snatches. Not for time. Go through once until failure and then start over from 1 and do it to failure again.

  • 1 Strict Chin-up, 2 Strict Ring Dips, 3 Sit-ups holding 10# plate behind head
  • 2-4-6
  • 3-6-9
  • …

I got 5 + 15 and 3 + 10.

OLY

Warmed up with 45# snatch position drills, wearing wrist straps, for 7-8 minutes.

E20S 2:00

  • 95# Snatch

3:00 Rest

E30S 3:00

  • 125# Snatch

3:00 Rest

EMOM 3:00

  • 135# Snatch

The 125# snatches felt really good. I started jumping forward a little on the 135# snatches though and wasn’t hitting quite as good on the hips. Better than I ever have hit though and it’s my first try at 135# so I might stick to this for the next session before going up another 10#.

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 10 Backwards Front Rack Walking Lunges (155#, no rack)
  • 10 OHS (75#)

Yuck! Those backwards lunges were brutal at 155# and I’m glad I didn’t go with 95# for the OHS. Originally thought about doing 5 rounds, but legs were thrashed from the deadlifts and snatches. Finished in 5:47.

Pack It In

Upper legs are really sore from yesterday. I did a heavy sled drag at night that I’ve updated yesterday’s post with, but Louie Simmons says they don’t make you sore, so I guess it has to be from the squats and snatches I did. It was over a week since my last squatting session so maybe it was all from squats. Went in at 10am this morning and trained with Kevin. We really packed everything in and finished in well under 90 minutes.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Air Dyne

Strength

5/3/1 Shoulder Press (Cycle 2 Week 1)

  • 5 @ 60# (40% of training max – warm)
  • 5 @ 75# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 90# (60% – warm)
  • 5 @ 100# (65%)
  • 5 @ 115# (75%)
  • 5+ @ 130# (85%)

Felt good today and I was able to get 10 reps for an estimated max of 173#. I was only able to get 8 @ 125# in the first cycle, so that’s a big step up.

3 Sets

  • 20 Pullovers (45# DB)
  • 10/10 Side Bends (62# KB)

WOD #1

10:00 EMOM

  • 10 Burpees

Did the first round in 20 seconds and got a little slower each round until about round 5 and then was able to keep pace at 25 seconds per round. We definitely don’t do enough burpees. They are great for conditioning and this is a fun little interval workout.

WOD #2

  • 100 DU
  • 50 T2B
  • 30 HSPU
  • 30 Over the Box Jumps (24″)
  • 50 Sit-ups
  • 100 DU

My hips held me back after 37 reps on the T2B, having to go to sets of 3s and 2s or I would start failing to get my feet up to the bar. I hit the wall on HSPU even though I never did a set of more than 4. Had to do singles for the last 4 reps, which was super slow. Box jumps and sit-ups were unbroken. Double unders weren’t my greatest today. Took me 18:10 to finish.

Really solid training session.

5/3/1 Cycle 2

Walked 18 holes yesterday and recovered from the Sweat & Steel team competition at CrossFit Deviate on Sunday. In at 10am this morning. First day back in the box after the week in Vancouver to deload. Was really looking forward to lifting today.

Warm-up

Did a 450m run and not much else.

Strength

Back Squats – 5/3/1 Cycle 2 Week 1

  • 5 @ 120# (40% of training max – warm)
  • 5 @ 150# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 180# (60% – warm)
  • 5 @ 195# (65#)
  • 5 @ 225# (75%)
  • 5+ @ 255# (85%)

I wasn’t feeling that great during the last set and started to get to the “dark place” way too early. Felt my left side lagging behind on some of the reps. Managed to knock out 9 before I had to dump the bar on the 10th. Disappointing because in week one of the first cycle I did 12 at 250#. I seem to be going backwards with my squat since that week. I figured I’d be able to hit it hard after not squatting for a week. Maybe the pistols from the competition had me fatigued or maybe I’m not using the bounce enough. Something is definitely whacked!

Olympic Lifting

I warmed up with about 5 minutes of snatch position work with 45# on the training bar.

3:00 EMOM

  • 3 Snatches (95#)

3:00 Rest

3:00 EMOM

  • 2 Snatches (115#)

3:00 Rest

3:00 EMOM

  • 1 Snatches (125#)

Last time I did 5 minutes of the first two and was hitting good positions, so stepped it up a notch and tried 125# today. Felt pretty solid. I’m going to continue building up slow each session like this to make sure I’m really enforcing the change. Next thing I need to work on is not throwing my head back so violently. I tried to stay focused on a spot on the wall today during some reps and it actually felt better overall. All reps were squat snatches.

WOD

8 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

I tried to really push my pace and was able to stay very consistent, within 10 meters for every interval. Stroke rate seems too high though.

20130813-121731.jpg

I actually felt a little out of sorts today. Not sure why with a light week and then a rest day yesterday.

Later at night I loaded up the sled with a total of 160# and went for a walk in the neighborhood. It was 0.84 miles in 22:23. The streets here are absolutely terrible for dragging a sled around.

Sweat & Steel 2013

Went down to CrossFit Deviate in Rochester for a 6 person team competition with Casey, Kevin, Michelle, Breanne, and Katy.

Event 1

Follow the leader style:

  • 25 Burpee Pull-Ups (8’/7′)
  • 500 Meter Row
  • 25 Wall Balls (30#/20#) ball must hit the black line (10′)

Not too bad for us guys since we could all jump most of the way up on the pull-up. The gals really struggled with the wall balls. I did mine in 10-10-5 because I had plenty of time. We finished at exactly 18:00 (the time cap) and were 7th out of 16 teams in the open division.

Event 2

3×3 Min AMRAP

  • 3:00 AMRAP Shoulder-to-Overhead (135#/95#)
  • 1:00 rest to change plates
  • 3:00 AMRAP Clean (185#/115#)
  • 1:00 rest to change plates
  • 3:00 AMRAP Deadlift (275#/185#)

You paired up a guy and a girl for each movement. Kevin and Michelle did out SH to OH, Casey and Breanne on the cleans, and Katy and I on deadlifts. We crushed this one finishing 5th. I did all of my deadlifts in sets of 5s until the end where I did a set of 9. I completed something like 45 reps in the 3 minutes!

Event 3 & 4

Completed as one 16 Min event, but scored independently.

4:00 AMRAP

  • 6 Muscle-Ups (3 each) One male and one female

I did the 3 MU and them Michelle attempted for the next 3 minutes to get her first one. Hurt us not having a girl who could do any. Tied for last with 3 other teams that also didn’t have a female with MU.

12:00 to find Max Weight Front Squat (remaining 4 members)

Everyone set or tied a PR but we finished down in the pack on this one as well in 10th or 11th I think. Somehow despite these two workouts we managed to stay in 9th place and get into event 5 for the top 10 teams.

Event 5

For Time – 12:00 Time cap

  • 90 HSPU
  • 90 C2B Pull-ups
  • 90 Pistols
  • 90 T2B

Teams were divided into 3 men and 3 women, with the men completing 2 of the movements and the women completing the other 2. Our guys did HSPU and pistols, which was different from most teams, but we had to because our girls would have died on HSPU and their pistols would have been way too slow. This hurt us because even though they got through the C2B, they were slow. We were the first team in our heat off of the wall by quite a bit, but quickly fell behind in the C2B. Our ladies got done withe 37 of the T2B before time ran out. We held on to 9th place, even moving up a bit in the points.

It was a really fun team event and I couldn’t believe we were in 6th place after the first two events against some top-level teams. I knew of at least 3 teams that went to Regionals and several other competitors went as individuals.

Keeping Pace

2.28 mile run in 18:23. My running pace is slacking. Last summer I could run an 8:00/mile pace for 3 or 4 miles without any problem but I was pushing it to keep that pace today. Could be the extra 15-20 pounds I’m carrying compared to last year.

Heading to Vancouver

My abs are still a little sore, which tells me I’m not doing enough sit-ups. Next week I’m in Vancouver for work and it’ll be all running and body weight stuff, so I’ll make sure to get in a bunch. Trained at 3pm for a couple of hours. Hit the barbell hard since it’ll be a week without it.

Warm-up

1,000m Row

Strength

5/3/1 Shoulder Press – Cycle 1 Week 3

  • 5 @ 60# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 75# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 90# (60% – warm)
  • 3 @ 110# (75%)
  • 3 @ 125# (85%)
  • 1+ @ 140# (95%)

Knocked out 5 reps on the last set for an estimated max of 163#, which is just under my 165# PR.

5/3/1 Front Squats – Cycle 1 Week 2

I wanted to get in an extra squat session for the week so decided to just pick this even though I hadn’t done week 1.

  • 5 @ 105# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 135# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 160# (60% – warm)
  • 3 @ 185# (70%)
  • 3 @ 210# (80%)
  • 3+ @ 240# (90%)

Trying to do a big set of front squats isn’t the easiest because it get’s really hard to breathe with the bar there for so long. I managed 6 reps, putting my estimated max at 287.5#, shy of my 295# PR. Felt good to get in some more squats for the week though.

Olympic Lifting

Trying to put a lot of time into snatches. Kevin’s help with some position stuff to work on meeting the bar with my hips and it’s really paying off.

Did about 10 minutes of position work with 45# on the training bar.

5:00 EMOM

  • 3 Snatches (95#)

Rested for 5:00.

5:00 EMOM

  • 2 Snatches (115#)

Felt great at 95#, so I wanted to see if I could keep it going with more weight. I was able to! I was getting such explosion behind some of them the bar got so high that I didn’t even have to drop under it and I ended up doing a power snatch. I did have one miss on the 2nd set, but stepped right up and ripped off two makes. I think I hit the hips on every rep in both EMOMs, which is probably more times hitting my hips than total before today. Need to keep doing this. Here’s one of the 115# lifts…

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 150m Run
  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 5 Curtis P (95#)

Wore the gymnastics grips to protect my hand. Felt pretty good. I split pull-ups down to 14-6, 10-6-4, and 10-6-4. Definitely need to add in more high rep pull-up sets. Finished in 9:06.