Author: Nick Momrik

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

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.5

Yesterday my body was absolutely wrecked after training for a total of about 6 hours Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I took the day off and even took an hour nap around 4pm. After 13.5 was announced last night I figured I’d give it a go today as long as I didn’t feel like shit. At 4 minutes, how bad can it be? So I went in around 4:30 to warm-up and hit it at 5pm.

Warm-up

  • 750m Row
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • Light thrusters

Open Workout 13.5

4:00 AMRAP

  • 15 Thrusters (100#)
  • 15 C2B Pull-ups

* If 90 reps (3 rounds) are completed in under 4 minutes, time extends to 8 minutes.
* If 180 reps (6 rounds) are completed in under 8 minutes, time extends to 12 minutes.
* If 270 reps (9 rounds) are completed in under 12 minutes, time extends to 16 minutes.
* Etc.

After getting 82 reps Monday on the 12.5 Fran ladder with 95#, I figured 60 was a realistic number to shoot for in this 4 minute WOD. With all sets being 15 reps there is a lot less transition time so pacing should overall be faster.

I planned to do 8-7 or 9-6 on the first 15 thrusters but felt good, so went unbroken. I stuck with my plan to go 5-5-5 on the first round of C2B and it worked well, keeping me away from the point of failure. I think my first round was done in around 1:20. In round number 2 I planned to go 5-5-5 on the thrusters, but again felt good so went 9-6. I didn’t have a plan for the C2B because I knew I’d be feeling the burn at this point. I did 5-4-3-3. I hit my goal! Then back to thrusters to go 5-6 and that last rep was a struggle. I don’t think I could have done a 7th if I had time left, so I think I attacked it pretty well. 71 reps in total, 11 more than my goal!

When I hit that point of muscle failure I’m pretty much dead from there on out, so I’m not sure trying to stretch out my sets would have helped me at all. Probably would have caused me to be hitting singles in that second round of C2B and wasting a lot of time dropping off and jumping back on the bar. I’m thinking I won’t hit this one again, but may give it a go on Sunday just for fun and try to push closer to failure to see what happens since it’s only 4 minutes.

The did some work with Kevin…

Warmed up bench press with 10 @ 45#, 5 @ 135#, and 5 @ 165#.

Strength

10:00 EMOM

  • Odd minutes: 5 Bench Press (165#)
  • Even minutes: 5 Weighted Pull-ups (15# DB)

I was a little fatigued from the WOD, so went easy on the weights to make sure I could get all of the reps in.

Conditioning

5 Rounds each

  • 20 cal Air Dyne
  • DUs until partner completes their 20 cal

Boy that Air Dyne is a bitch.

Finisher

10-8-6-4-2

  • HR Push-ups
  • Pistols
  • American KBS (71# KB)

Went unbroken on everything and finished in 4:06. Nice little WOD and some more good conditioning.

MOFO Training

Matt got a couple of Concept2 rowers and a couple of Air Dynes, plus I traded him my Concept2 for future services, so he asked me to come up with a WOD to do during Open Gym tonight. I love programming so was happy to! I went in to the 7pm class and was looking forward to a bunch of cleans, but due to the new machines, he switched up the workout. Stayed after for open gym at 8pm and did a workout with some of the beasts.

Warm-up

Teams of 3, 3 rounds

  • 200m Row
  • Sit-ups
  • Air Squats

After the 200m row, we rotated stations.

Strength

10:00 EMOTM

  • 5 Front Squats (195#)
  • 10-12 calories on Air Dyne

First time using an Air Dyne and the combination with front squats was brutal. My quads were smoked.

WOD

21-15-9 with a partner

  • Air Dyne calories
  • Over the Bar Burpees

Kevin and I finished in 6:42. We tried to switch off with another team to get a rower but nobody was having it. Again the Air Dyne smoked me.

Open Gym WOD

15:00 Partner AMRAP

  • Partner 1: 250m Row
  • Partner 2: AMRAP of
    • 4 HSPU
    • 6 Ring Dips
    • 12 Lunges (stepping or plyo)

Matt requested HSPU and I was happy to oblige. They are no longer a weakness for me, but I can still use the work. I’ve done them paired up with ring dips a dew times while out in Phoenix so figured it would work well here. As I was thinking about this and making last minute changes, I came up with adding in the lunges otherwise everyone would have been too smoked by the upper body movements to do much at the end of the 15 minutes.

I teamed up with Michelle and we finished 13 rounds plus 16 more reps. I did all of my HSPU unbroken and quite a few rounds of the ring dips too. I need to work on my ring dip kip though. Some of the lunges I did stepping back and forth and other times I pushed through and did them plyo-style.

We had 7 people do this and it was a lot of fun.

Finisher

2x MB Pass Partner Circuit

  • 10 Straight
  • 10 OH
  • 10 Right
  • 10 Left
  • 10 Up

Brought this little ab killer back from CrossFit Full Strength and everyone seemed to love/hate it.

Back to Survival Mode

I’m not really feeling any affects from last night’s garage session. Quads getting a little sore from the back squats, but nothing close to major DOMS. It was my first WOD back at Survival Fitness for the 4pm class today.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS
  • 4 Rounds:
    • 15s Jumping Jacks
    • 15s Air Squats
    • 15s Mountain Climbers
    • 15s Squat Jumps
  • 4 Rounds:
    • 15s Plank
    • 15s Supermans
    • 15s Side Plank (L)
    • 15s Side Plank (R)

Back to the predictable warm-ups. 🙂

OLY

2 Power Snatches every 15s for 4 minutes.

I used 95# and tried to get full hip extension, but didn’t have much success with it. It was tough due to not having much rest time at all, but I got through just fine with that weight.

WOD

7:00 AMRAP
3-6-9-12-15…

  • Thrusters (95#)
  • C2B Pull-ups

He was going for Open Workout 12.5 but messed up on the Rx weights, which should have been 100# for men. I thought about upping the weight, but stuck with the 95# as it was on the board. My best score for 12.5 was 66 reps back in August and I got 82 today. Using the lighter weight helps some but that’s a pretty big improvement. I’m pretty stoked about that since I hate thrusters and my C2B are usually not very good.

Finisher

5 Rounds

  • 30s Handstand (against wall)
  • 30s Rest

I tried to use as little pressure on the wall with my feet as I could, even taking them off the wall in the first couple of rounds. I also tried to really push up off the ground and keep everything really tight to help with actual handstands and handstand walks in the future.

I got home, took a short rest and then did some stuff out in the garage.

Strength

5 Rounds

  • 5 Incline Bench Press
  • 10 Parallette Pass Throughs
  • 90s Rest

I warmed up with a quick set of 5 with the empty 45# bar and then used 115# for all 5 sets on the incline bench. I did do 10 reps on my last set instead of 10. All of the pass throughs were done unbroken.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

Was able to keep consistent efforts, except the first one was a little weak, but I made up for it in the last interval.

4-1-2013-row1

4-1-2013-row2

Solid day of training.

Kevin’s New Toys

I went over to Kevin’s for a garage session tonight. He got a bunch of new equipment so I got to try most of it.

4×10 Reverse Hyper

Loaded 70# for the first set and then 120# for the last three. Quite the interesting machine. It made my back really spicy almost immediately.

3×7 GHR

I held a 5# plate on the 2nd and 3rd set. Tried to use a 10# plate on the 3rd set but couldn’t even get 1 rep.

5×5 Seated Good Mornings

Used 75#, 95#, 115#, 125#, and 125#. I’ve only done good mornings a few times and this was the first time doing them seated, which I think I like better than standing.

Earthquake Bar Bench Press

Did 10 reps and then a static hold at the top. Did 50# and 90# with a 20 second hold and then 100# with a 30 second hold. We used steel plates for these. We did try 120# with a mix of plates and KB, but it was not happening because the KB are so unstable.

Back Squats

The plan was to do 5×5 at 75-80% of 1RM, but we were a little too fried from 13.4 this morning and all the back work. We did 5 reps at 135#, 185#, 245#, 225#, and 225#. The first two sets were going to be warm-up sets and then into the sets of 245# but we knew the 5 sets were not going to happen after that first one, so we dropped it down and cut the number of sets short. Then we dropped back down to 135# for a max rep set. Kevin stopped at 20 reps and I stopped at 30, deciding we wanted to be able to walk tomorrow.

We jumped back on the Reverse Hyper for a quick set of 15 with 70# to stretch the back out.

It didn’t seem like that long while we were lifting, but it was a solid 2 hours.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.4 (Redo)

welcome-back-balloonsI arrived home in Saginaw, MI at about 1pm yesterday. My Survival Fitness (CrossFit Saginaw) family surprised me with a welcome back party at the gym last night. I thought I was going in to witness a 13.4 throwdown between Matt and Casey, but they got me good. I felt bad not drinking with everyone, but I was exhausted so I wanted to be able to get a quality night of sleep, plus I was doing 13.4 today.

I didn’t get quite as much sleep as I hoped for, but it sure is nice to be back home in my kick ass bed. Went in early to warm-up and got going head-to-head with Brent a little after 11am. I scored a 73 in my first attempt, but knew I could smoke that score. I was hoping to get up close to 90 if I could execute the strategy improvements I wanted to.

I warmed up with a 500m row, some PVC pass-thrus, a bunch of stretching and rolling, and some TnG C&J reps at 95# and 135#.

Open Workout 13.4

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

  • 3 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 3 T2B
  • 6 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 6 T2B
  • 9 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 9 T2B
  • 12 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 12 T2B
  • 15 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 15 T2B
  • 18 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 18 T2B
  • If you complete the round of 18, go on to 21. If you complete 21, go on to 24, etc.

I wanted to get through the 3 & 6 sets of C&J unbroken and I did. I also wanted to get through all of the T2B through 12 unbroken, but I had to break up the 12 with a quick jump off the bar and then back on. Matt was there yelling at me not to take the step away from the bar when I went to singles and it really helped me a lot. I knew I was in good shape when I got to the round of 15s over 30 seconds faster than my first attempt. I think I had somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds to get the 15 T2B done, but my hips were not having it. I struggled to get 7 reps. Had the time to get really close to 90, but my body said no. I’m really happy with a 9 rep improvement though. I knew I had a lot more in the tank than what my first attempt showed, but that’s understandable since I did it right after the announcement with no time to strategize.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.4 (A Safety Run)

I’m hitting the road back to Michigan early in the morning. It’s been a great 3 months in Phoenix but I’m excited to get home. Since the trip is 3 days I wanted to make sure to get in a score on 13.4 in case I got stuck on the road and don’t make it home as planned. I should get home on Saturday afternoon or right though and be ready to hit this one again on Sunday with my Survival Fitness family.

After doing 100 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in yesterday’s WOD I was really hoping not to see pull-ups in 13.4. I got my wish, but I’m not sure jerks were any better because my shoulders were pretty fried today.

I warmed up with a 500m row, some PVC pass-thrus, and some clean and jerks with increasing weights up to the 135#.

Open Workout 13.4

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

  • 3 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 3 T2B
  • 6 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 6 T2B
  • 9 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 9 T2B
  • 12 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 12 T2B
  • 15 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 15 T2B
  • 18 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 18 T2B
  • If you complete the round of 18, go on to 21. If you complete 21, go on to 24, etc.

I finished the 12s and got 13 of the 15 C&J for a score of 73 total reps. I dropped every single C&J. I also broke up the 9 T2B into 5-4 and the 12 into 6-6. My buddy Adam, did in with me and we’re usually back and forth depending on the WOD. He did the 3 and 6 C&J as touch-n-go and didn’t break up any T2B until the round of 15, where he finished 13 of them. So his total score was 88. To be honest, this workout really didn’t feel too bad. It’s hard, but I think I’ve felt worse doing Grace because the C&J reps are not broken up there like here where you get a change of pace with the T2B.

I’m confident when I do this again on Sunday I can follow a similar strategy to Adam, maybe even get in a couple of C&J doubles in the round of 9 or 12. I also did mostly push presses like a jackass when I planned to start with jerks from the beginning. If I can do that, it’ll really help save my arms so the later reps aren’t so slow. Getting through those 15 C&J and having time to get back on the T2B is huge because those are quick reps. Every rep in this one is going to be huge for your ranking because there will be so many ties without a tiebreaker. I’m shooting to hit 90+ on Sunday.

After sitting around for a bit, I did an easy 2k row in 8:57 for a cooldown.

Now that I’ve sat around and showered at home, my shoulders and back are getting lit up. The next 3 days will be in the Jeep driving over 2,200 miles. I’ll do some body weight stuff in my hotel room the next two days. My shoulders and grip should be well rested come Sunday morning for a second shot at 13.4.

Hundreds

Was feeling good until doing jump rope in the warm-up and then I could feel my lower back tightening up from those deadlifts yesterday. Went in for the noon class.

Warm-up

  • 3m Jump Rope
  • 2 Rounds:
    • 10 Ring Rows
    • 10 Burpees
    • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 2×6/6 Turkish Get-ups

I used a 35# KB for my first set of 6 on each side. Then Emily told mo to try them with a barbell. I did 4 on the right side with an 18# bar which was too light. Switched to a 35# bar and did 4 more, then 6 on the left side. Using a bar adds another level of control to the movement and was a nice change.

WOD

  • 100 DU
  • Split this up any way you want:
    • 100 Pull-ups
    • 100 Walking Lunges
    • 100 Push-ups
  • 100 DU

I got through the first 100 DU is about 1:10, then I did 10 rounds of 10s. All pull-ups were done without coming off the bar and no breaks on the lunges. I had to reset my rhythm a few times on the butterfly, but I think that is the best I’ve ever done pull-ups in my life. I did 3 unbroken sets of push-ups (all chest to deck) and then 6-4 until the last set where I forced myself to go unbroken again. The last 100 DU were a little struggle since I pushed so hard through the middle hundreds. Finished in 15:56, which crushed the best time of the day.

Work the High Hang

Yesterday morning I walked 9 holes of golf and then went for a 3.15 mile hike in 58:38. I’ve been sore from doing “Karen” in 13.3, but nowhere near the DOMS I’ve experienced from previous run-ins with that bitch. Went it an noon.

Warm-up

  • 2m Row
  • 2 Rounds:
    • 5 Pull-ups
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 10 Air Squats
  • Burgener Warm-up (empty bar)

I did strict pull-ups to work on my strength and did slow quality chest to deck push-ups.

OLY

7 Sets

  • Power Snatch
  • Hang Power Snatch
  • High Hang Power Snatch
  • 90s Rest

Each set was done without putting the bar down. Great time to work on the hip extension like last week’s drilling on full cleans. I’m beginning to love the high hang lifts because without the hips you can’t move any weight. It really forces you to be explosive and use your hips, especially being the 3rd lift in the complex. I did 2 sets at 75# and then went up 10# each set, to finish at 125#. I’m really happy to be able to land those three lifts at that weight because my 1RM is still only 155#. My technique was better today than it ever has been and I was getting a lot of hip extension, making the bar move so much faster.

WOD

4 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 20 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 30 Sit-ups

This was a fun little WOD, with the 20 deadlifts becoming a real challenge. I did 12-8 in the 3rd round to save myself a bit and then really pushed the run in the last round and pushed hard on the deadlifts because I was trying to catch Lance. Ended up 8 seconds behind him, with my time being 15:18.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.3

Originally a few of us planned to do 13.3 on Friday, but our quads were still blown up from Wednesday’s squats. Better to take the extra day of rest and hit it hard today. Adam and I did it side-by-side, which helped us to push each other throughout the entire workout.

Open Workout 13.3

Muscle-up Bruising
Bruising from the rings. Is much darker than the picture shows.

12:00 AMRAP

  • 150 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 90 DU
  • 30 MU

My strategy going in was to do sets of 25 to start, then drop down to 20s, 15s, and 10s when I needed to, depending on feel. I think I did 2 sets of 25, a set of 20, and then the rest was a blur. When I broke a set, I stood up against the wall with the ball on my chest, in order to rest my arms and not have to do extra work to pick the ball back up. My strategy couldn’t have worked any better and my splits were even better than I was expecting.

I crushed my “Karen” PR by over 2 and a half minutes, finishing in 6:14. Grabbed a quick swig of water because my mouth was so dry, and knocked out 40 DU. I think I did 3 more sets to finish them out with a split of 8:19. More water and deep breathing. I didn’t even get up on the rings until close to 9:00 on the clock because I wanted to rest and make the most of every attempt. A failed MU is really taxing on the system. I managed to get 7 MU with one failure. After I got my first one I was so happy and the rest was gravy! I’ve never even done 7 MU in one day, let alone in a WOD. Hell, this was my first time even doing a MU in a WOD. Last year I had about 10 or 15 seconds to attempt a MU so this is a huge improvement for me.

On to 13.4…

Hike

Went out for a quick 1.83 mile hike in 31:08, hoping it limits the typical “Karen quads” that can be brutal for 2-3 days.