Nick Momrik

A Date with Diane in my Garage

Today’s WOD at Survival Fitness was 100 Power Cleans with 5 burpees on the minute every minute. I had already done “Grace” twice, 50 Curtiss Ps, and other cleans to get the bar in the rack position this week, so I figured it wasn’t a good idea to go in for the OLY class or the WOD. That’s ok though because it let me do some stuff I’ve been wanting to do.

Strength #1

4 Rounds

5-8 Weighted Push-ups (45# plate on back)
30s Weighted Plank on hands (45# plate on back)
2m Rest

I was by myself, so getting the plate on my back wasn’t the easiest. After the last push-up, it was straight into the plank. I was able to get all 8 reps during each set of push-ups. Probably should have gone to exhaustion on that last set.

Strength #2

5×5 Deadlifts

I warmed up with a set of 10 @ 135# and then used 225#, 275#, 305#, 325#, and 350# for my working sets. These felt really good. It was slow getting the 350# started, but the reps weren’t a problem and my grip never felt like it was giving out. According to a 1 rep max calculator I should be able to do 394#, so maybe I’ll be ready for 400# in 2 weeks when we test it. I made sure to take 2-3 minutes of rest between each set.

WOD

mini “Diane”
12-9-6

Deadlifts (225#)
HSPUs

I did this same thing back in June in a time of 4:49, but I had to resort to using an AbMat an even kipping with the AbMat for the HSPUs. Today I didn’t use an AbMat at all and finished in 5:18. The set of 6 at the end was brutal. I had to kip one at a time and come down off the wall to rest. I’m sure the weighted pull-ups and planks didn’t exactly help with the arm exhaustion. The deadlifts weren’t a big deal, but they do fry your back a bit, making it hard to keep a good position on the wall. I broke the set of 9 into 5 and 4, but the 12 and 6 were unbroken.

It had been at least a couple of months since I’ve done any HSPUs, so it was give them some attention.

Finisher

Tabata DUs

These are no joke, especially after doing the HSPUs.

More Grace

Still unbelievably sore from Monday’s WOD, but I don’t think I’m anymore sore than yesterday. Went in for the 5:30pm and did an alternate WOD since the people who didn’t make it Monday were doing 30 reps of the Bear Complex.

Warm-up

30-20

PVC Pass-thrus
PVC OHS

Strength

5×5 Shoulder Press

8 @ 45#
5 @ 75#
5 @ 95#
5 @ 105#
5 @ 115#
5 @ 130#

Everything felt good and 130# was pretty easy. It would have been nice to know in advance what we were doing because I would have looked up what I did last time and known to go heavier.

WOD

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
- Russian KBS (53#)
- Floor Presses (40# DBs)
“Grace”: 30 Clean & Jerks (115#)

Since I know I’ll be working on the clean and jerks tomorrow in OLY class I went a little easy on myself with 115#. Had also just done “Grace” with 125# on Saturday, so this seemed like an odd choice to put in the WOD. I probably should have went Rx with 45# DBs for the floor presses because I flew through them with the 40s. Finished everything in 9:42.

Finisher

100 Quarter Get-ups (40# KB)

Most of the challenge for me with quarter get-ups is in keeping a stable shoulder as I get up to 10 in a row with one arm. Towards the end of the 100 it did get tougher to actually get up off the ground though.

After class I jumped on the rings and did a kipping muscle-up for the first time since my very first one back in July. This one was actually pretty fluid and I didn’t have to reposition my wrists and arms.

Skip the Intensity

I haven’t been this sore in a long time. My quads, hamstrings, IT bands, and glutes all feel like they’re getting stuck with needles as I walk and especially going up or down stairs.

Had Olympic lifting at 6pm. Worked on snatch triples tonight. Worked up to 115# and then did a lot of sets there. Really concentrated on keeping my shoulders back and lats engaged. Felt more comfortable with it as I kept repping. Then did some snatch grip deadlifts, again concentrating on keeping those shoulders back. Settled in at 215# to work on the form.

My legs felt better after warming up and getting them moving. I bet tomorrow isn’t going to be very fun though. Day 2 always seems to be worse.

After class, I went over to Kevin’s and we did some work in his garage.

5 Rounds

10s Ring L-hang
20s Rest

Sort of a reverse Tabata.

8 Rounds

10 Pullovers (40# DB)
10 GHD Sit-ups

Pullovers are a new movement for me and I could definitely feel them working. Was good to get in a bunch of GHD sit-ups since we don’t have a real GHD at Survival Fitness.

I just bought a weight belt, so took that over with me and did some strength work.

Weighted Pull-ups (with belt)

5 @ 10#
5 @ 10#
5 @ 15#
5 @ 20#
3 @ 25#

I’ve always done these with a DB or KB in my feet, which is supposed to be harder because the weight is farther away from the center of mass. The first set didn’t feel good, but later sets felt ok. Shoulders were a bit fried from all of the snatch work though.

Weighted Dips

5 @ 10#
5 @ 10#
5 @ 15#
5 @ 15#
5 @ 20#

First time doing weighted dips of any kind, so had no idea what I could do. The first 4 sets felt good, but that last set at 20# was a little rough.

Needed a break from intensity after doing a WOD 4 days in a row, but got in a lot of good work.

Licorice Legs

In for the 9am today.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

15 AbMat Sit-ups
30 Russian Twists (35# KB)

Strength

5 Sets

3 Low Box Squats (12″ box, wide stance)
10 RDLs
2-3m Rest

For the squats I used 135#, 165#, 185#, 205#, and 215#. For the RDLs I used 135#, 155#, 185#, 205#, and 235#. Had another 10# in me for the box squats, but they felt good. Went a lot heavier than I ever have on the RDLs and they felt good too.

WOD

10:00 EMOTM – 8 Front Squats (135#)
Death by Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target, by 2s)

It took everything I had to finish the last few rounds of squats, but I did each minute without putting the bar down. Thought about going 115#, but glad I Rx’d it and made it challenging. We didn’t have any real break between the 2 portions of the WOD, although starting out with 2 wall balls in the first minute gives you a lot of break. I got through 20 and then 15 of 22.

My legs are shot. Time to do some rumble rolling.

Hungover

Went out last night with the Survival Fitness crew last night, so didn’t get very good sleep and things are a little foggy today. Went in to the noon class, which only had 3 people, compared to 20 that went to the 11am.

Warm-up

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Weighted Step-ups (95# – front rack)
20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 Floor Wipers (95#)

Nice little workout right there in the warm-up.

WOD

20-15-10-5

Curtis Ps (95# – hang squat clean, 2 lunges, press)
K2E

Those Curtis Ps are brutal. I started off with 5 in a row, but then went 2 or 3 at a time with a couple of singles. I was pretty out of it, so took the opportunity to really concentrate on my squat clean and push jerk techniques. I broke the set of 20 K2E into 15 and 5, then did the other sets unbroken. Got a good workout, but didn’t really push it today. Finished in 27:41.

“Grace” PR

Feeling so much better today. Hit up the 11am.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats

Midline

21-15-9

One-arm OHS (35# KB)
V-ups

The one-arm OHS is such an awkward movement. Using a KB did feel better balanced than when I had used a DB before.

WOD

15:00 AMRAP

“Grace” – 30 Clean & Jerks (125#)
“Cindy” with the remaining time
- 5 Pull-ups
- 10 Push-ups
- 15 Air Squats

I finished “Grace” in 4:16, which is a 54 second PR since doing it in July. Even with the much faster time it felt much easier. I did the first 7 reps unbroken then did one rep at a time dropping the bar after each rep. Didn’t take any rest time other than setting up for the next rep. With the remaining time I did 9 full rounds of “Cindy” plus 2 more pull-ups. Good workout!

Finisher

50 Russian KBS (71# KB)
400m Farmer’s Carry (40# DBs)

I did the swings unbroken, which isn’t that tough for Russian KBS. My arms wanted to fall off and my grip was really failing in the farmer’s carry, but I held on to those DBs the entire time. Distance was probably 50m more actually because I had to carry them outside and then back in.

Coming off a Cold

I started coming down with something on Wednesday night and yesterday was spent mostly in the napping position. Felt better and better today as the hours passed. Still somewhat tired, but went in to the 4:15pm and then stayed after a bit during open gym.

Warm-up

30-20-10 Air Squats
15-20-5 Burpees

WOD

400m Run
20 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
40 Plyo Lunges
400m Run
14 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
30 Plyo Lunges
400m Run
10 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
20 Plyo Lunges
400m Run
6 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
10 Plyo Lunges

My running was pretty terrible today due to being a little rundown, but I can fly through the Turkish get-ups so I made up some time there. Finished in 18:35.

Finisher

5 Sets

10 Ring Dips
2m Rest

Did each round unbroken.

Open Gym

6:00 EMOTM

3 OHS (75#)
20 DUs

I was going to go for 10 minutes but could feel myself getting tired and didn’t want to overdo it with this cold. I also did a few bar muscle-ups, which is pretty good after all of those dips. I don’t think I’ve ever done more than 1 in a day before, but I always try to do them after a WOD.

Weak Bench

Today marks my 1 year anniversary since starting CrossFit. Took a needed rest day from the box today, but did a quick 5×5 of bench press in the garage tonight with Kevin.

5 @ 135#
5 @ 155#
5 @ 175#
5 @ 185#
5 @ 195#
2 @ 205#

When I did this a few weeks ago I got 3 reps at 205#. I’m getting weaker! Actually I think I’m coming down with something. I’ve been coughing and sneezing a lot today, along with some sniffles. Hopefully I’m fine tomorrow.

Froning Style

My hamstrings and glutes are a good sore from the RDLs. Need to do those more often.

Olympic Lifting Class

Went in at 6pm for the OLY class. We worked on snatches by doing progressions with the empty bar. Then we loaded up to a moderate weight and did:

5 Rounds

1 Snatch
2 Snatch Balances
3 Snatch Grip Deadlifts

I started with 95# for the first three rounds and then 105# for the next two rounds. After that we worked on full squat snatch singles. I loaded 115# and tried to work on my technique. Then to finish the class we worked up to a heavy snatch grip deadlift triple. Wow is that a bitch on your thumbs! I did 3 sets, 2 @ 205# and 1 at 235# (I think). I don’t remember all of the weights exactly for any of the lifts.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

15s PVC Pass-thrus
15s Air Squats
15s PVC Ground to OH
15s Zombie Kicks

Was already pretty warmed up from the OLY work.

Strength

5 Sets of Kroc Rows – 10 each arm for 4 sets and then max reps in the 5th set.

Used KBs for each round and went 53#, 62#, 71#, 80#, and 88#. I got 17 reps with my right arm and 22 with my left if I remember right.

WOD

No extra rest in between each 10 minute block; the minutes keep going.

10:00 EMOTM

Evens: 7 Power Cleans (115#)
Odds: 15 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)

10:00 EMOTM

Evens: 5 Power Cleans (135#)
Odds: 10 Burpees

10:00 EMOTM

Evens: 3 Power Cleans (155#)
Odds: 10 T2B

A Rich Froning style workout and I loved it. The EMOTM stuff really allows you to go all out balls to the wall when it’s work time and the rest period is just short enough to recover.

The weight was almost perfect for me. Maybe could have gone 5 or 10# heavier because I flew through the 7 reps in those first 10 minutes, getting them done in about 12 or 13 seconds each time. After 2 rounds of burpees, I figured out why I’ve been so slow lately. I’ve been standing all the way up before jumping. It was taking me 30-31 seconds to get my 10 reps done, which is extremely slow compared to how I’ve done them before when doing 10 at a time. Well, I switched back to jumping as soon as my feet snap up to my hands and shaved 6 seconds of my 10 rep split, right back into my 24 second wheel house. Did all of the T2B unbroken and concentrated on a short kip at the bottom to cycle them faster.

Moving Some Weight

I got a hot stone massage today from Cora because my back was pretty tight from the competition. Planned to take the day off, but was feeling good, so I went in for the 5:30pm.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats

Strength

5×5 Low Box Squats

We went extra low with a 12″ box for the guys, compared to the 14″ we had used in the last cycle. It felt like we were never going to get low enough to reach the box. It felt soooo much harder. I went 135#, 155#, 175#, 185#, and 195#. But compare that to 5×5 on the 14″ box from 3 weeks ago when I went 135#, 155#, and then 175# for the last 3 sets. Up 20# today with a lower box. BOOM!

WOD

21-15-9

Sandbag Get-ups
Burpee Deadlifts (25# DBs, jump on 25# plate)

Doesn’t seem bad when you look at it, but it’s a gasser. I had a few misses on my get-ups and fell right back on my ass. I had only done deadlift burpees once before and used a much heavier weight so knew how bad they could be. Having to jump on the plate at the end was even harder. Finished in 9:12.

Finisher

10:00 EMOTM

Evens: 10 RDLs (135# in rounds 1-3, 165# in rounds 4-5)
Odds: 10 Goblet Squats (62# KB)

It’s been ages since I did RDLs and I don’t think I ever used more than 155#, but my regular deadlift is almost 100# more than it was then. This was a fun finisher, which took about 20-23 seconds of work each minute for me.

Lot’s of weight being moved today. My back held up great too!