Author: Nick Momrik

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

Every Second Counts

Today was the Every Second Counts competition down at Oakland County CrossFit. We had 9 people compete and 6 of us were in the men’s beginner division, which turned out to be one hell of a battle.

WOD #

800m Run with a 25# Bumper Plate

Going in, I thought this would be my best event. Times were lower than I thought they would be, which scared me a little going in to my heat. I ended up winning the workout with a time of 3:07.

WOD #2

21-15-9

  • Thrusters (65#)
  • HR Push-ups

Originally it was supposed to be Jumping C2B Pull-ups in the beginners division but they ended up changing it. No idea why, but in the end it really ended up screwing me. This was my worst event and I took 7th out of the 10 guys with a time of 4:21. I got 3 or 4 no-reps on my thrusters and had no idea why until after the WOD was over when I asked. I guess I wasn’t getting my head through the window at the top of the movement. Shit! Two pushing movements really fried out arms and shoulders here.

WOD #3

5 rounds

  • 5 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 10 HR Plate Jump Burpees

This was the other workout I felt really confident going in. 185# isn’t heavy for deadlifts and I can knock out burpees pretty fast when the rep count is low like 10s. Originally this was supposed to be HR burpees, but at the competition they switched it up to where instead of jumping up and clapping overhead, we had to jump up on to a 15# bumper plate and stand up straight to extend our hips. I think this actually worked to my advantage because the repeated jumping is no big deal for me.

I got into a nice rhythm on the burpees and my deadlifts actually got faster as the rounds went on. I crushed it, winning the WOD with a time of 4:08. This put me back into 1st place overall with a 12 second lead on Casey A. from our gym. I knew I needed a lead on him going into the last WOD to have any shot at winning. I tested this WOD out 2 weeks ago in my garage and did 4:28 without having to do the plate jumps, so today was a sweet improvement over that.

WOD #4

“Grace”

  • 30 Clean and Jerks (95#)

I tested this 2 months ago and got a time of 2:42. Casey A. turned in a monster time of 1:16 before my heat was up, so I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to get 1:27 to win. It was going to take an out of this world performance. My first 20 reps went well and there was a chance, but then I did 21 and 22 and those last 10 reps were brutal. I finished in 1:46, putting me 18 seconds behind the 1st place. I improved by nearly a minute in 2 months though, which is pretty incredible.

I took 2nd place and couldn’t be happier. I gave it everything I had in all of the WODs. Our Survival Fitness crew ended up sweeping the podium and took 4th place as well. It was so much fun battling it out with friends, especially when we were separated by seconds all day long.

The “trophy” they gave out was a custom lacrosse ball with the logo of the competition and your place, as pictured above. Pretty cool. I also got a roll of tape and a speed rope.

Results

More Photos

500m Rows

It felt great to take a rest day yesterday. I did get out and walk 9 holes of golf though. The tweak I did to my mid back on Wednesday has been getting better and better each day. Won’t be an issue for anything.

Today I went in and alternated rowing intervals with Matt.

5 rounds

  • 500m Row
  • Rest while the other guy rows

It was the perfect amount of work to sandwich in between a couple of rest days. My last 500 was my fastest of the day and the first 4 were all very consistent times. Massage tomorrow and then competition on Sunday.

Overtraining

I went to the 9am class this morning, feeling kind of blah.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • Mountain Climbers
  • Star Jumps

Strength

1RM Shoulder Press

Last week I set a new PR at 145# and even got it for 3 reps, so I was shooting for 155# on one rep today. I started out with 10 reps at 45# and 5 reps at 95# to get warm. Not sure what I was thinking next, but I went right to 135#. I nailed that, then 140#, and 145#. First attempt at 150# hit a spot about half way and died. I gave myself a few minutes to rest and made one last attempt before our allotted 15 minutes were up. It wasn’t pretty and I could immediately feel my back tighten up after, but I got 150# for a new PR. Expecting 155# was probably a bit much with the upper body work I’ve done this week already.

WOD

  • 100 HR Burpees

The WOD didn’t call for the hand release, but I wanted the practice, so made them harder. Finished in 6:48. That’s only 4 seconds slower than my 100 regular burpee time from a month ago, so I guess it’s not as bad as I thought.

My burpees have been getting slower over the last few weeks, when I seemed to really be getting good at them for a while. One of these days I may have to video myself to see if I notice anything.

Finisher

  • 50 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)

I remembered we had done this not too long ago (turns out it has been a month and a half) and I could have sworn the Rx was 40# back then and I know that I dropped down from that, which would have been the 35# I used. Well, Rx back then and today was 35#, so I should have used 30# again. No wonder my time sucked so bad! Today it took me 11:49 and when I did it with 30# my time was 8:22. That’s a big difference in time for only 5#, but I could really feel the instability in my shoulders today after a few reps on an arm and I had to break down into some sets of 3 at the end and even rest a bit. Before I stuck to sets of 5 on each side and never stopped to rest.

I can feel the effects of hard training on my body today, so I’m glad I had already decided to rest pretty much the rest of the week. Tomorrow I hope to get out and walk a round a golf, Friday I’ll go in to the gym and do some rowing, and then Saturday is hopefully another golf day with a massage. No more WODs until the competition on Sunday. This old body needs to recover!

Clean Strength

I’ve been feeling a little lethargic today. Maybe double workouts yesterday weren’t a good idea or maybe I should have really taken a true rest day on Sunday. I went in for the 5:30pm class.

Warm-up

  • 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Russian KBS (35#)
  • 150m Run

Strength

5×5 Power Cleans

Sweet! Been awhile since I’ve attempted to go heavy. My form has improved a lot in the last couple of months so I was really excited about this.

  • 5 @ 65#
  • 5 @ 115#
  • 5 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 145#
  • 5 @ 155#
  • 5 @ 175#

I was really feeling good on the cleans. I set my 1RM of 185# exactly 5 months ago. That’s a long time to go without testing some heavy weight. I wouldn’t say the reps at 175# were easy, but I finished feeling really good about them. I was actually able to get the bar back to the ground under control by back tracing my steps on every single clean today. Whenever I’ve gone to 135# or higher I’ve had to drop the bar.

WOD

5 rounds

  • 15 MB Squat Cleans (20# MB)
  • 15 HR Burpees

I finished in 9:23. Did the burpees with a hand release to get in the habit of them before Sunday’s competition. There was only one rep where I almost forgot, but I caught myself as I was rising up from the ground.

Finisher

  • 100 AbMat Sit-ups

I did these in 4:03.

Funny how some days you don’t feel great but then CrossFit lifts you up.

Garage Epicness

I went over to Kevin’s tonight to do some bench pressing. With CrossFitters it always turns into more than planned. I wanted to do a 5×5 on the bench and ended up doing:

  • 10 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 155#
  • 5 @ 175#
  • 5 @ 185#
  • 5 @ 195#
  • 3 @ 205#

A week and a half ago I set my 1RM PR of 215# after not having benched in 5 years. Today I put up 205# three times!

We started screwing around with some of the other stuff Kevin had in his garage. I’ve wanted to go for a max height box jump for quite some time now and never did it. He has a 30″ box and just built some platforms for box squats and deficit deadlifts, so we stacked them up and it came out to 44″. I couldn’t get myself to even attempt it so we started with the 34″. I’ve done 32″ an Survival Fitness so that wasn’t a big deal, but helped to build confidence. Swapped boxes to get up to 40″ and got up there without much trouble. Finally got to the 44″ which wasn’t bad either. We couldn’t stand all the way up though because the garage isn’t high enough.

So of course we had to throw a WOD together! We only used the 40″ height though, which is plenty high enough for reps.

5:00 AMRAP

  • 4 Box Jumps (40″)
  • 5 Burpees
  • 6 GHD Sit-ups

I got through exactly 5 rounds. The box jumps get a little scary towards the end as you get tired.

After resting a bit, I jumped on his rings and knocked out a strict muscle-up like it was nothing. No idea where that came from but it was the first time I’ve ever done a strict one! I tried a couple more times and couldn’t get it again. Not even sure how the first one happened after doing ring dips this morning.

Epic night for a garage WOD!

Dumbbell Thrusters Suck!

Woke up feeling good and refreshed. Still a little tight in my ass from Friday’s lunges, but not enough to affect any movement.

Warm-up

  • Tabata Bottom Squat Hold
  • Tabata Plank

Strength

5×1 Front Squat

Warmed up with 6 reps using the 45# bar and 3 reps at 135#. For my working sets I used 185#, 205#, 215# (previous PR), 225#, and 235#. Lifts felt great. I remembered to keep a deep breath and keep a tight midline on the way down. Then on the way up I really concentrated on keeping my elbows up so the weight wouldn’t drop forward. It’s been a long time since I did even a back squat PR, which is still at 240# from back in March. Next time I test thought I should see a big jump as well. Really happy with the 235# today.

WOD

12:00 AMRAP of 3-6-9-12-15-18-21…

  • DB Thrusters (35# DBs)
  • Jumping C2B Pull-ups

Since the beginner competition on Sunday is with jumping chest to bar pull-ups I figured today would be a good time to try them out. They really send your heart rate sky-high because it’s pretty much a constant jumping. I had to start breaking them down into sets of 6 or 8. The bar I was using was probably a little higher than it should have been for me, but it was a good test. I got through the round of 18 and then did 14 of the 21 thrusters. Doing thrusters with DBs is so much harder than it is with the bar.

Finisher

Death by Ring Dips (by 2s)

I did 10 + 9.

Track Sunday

After 4 days in a row at Survival Fitness and an epic 55 minute WOD yesterday, I was not going in today. Today is Matt’s birthday and Cora had a surprise party for him last night, which was a lot of fun. Casey A. was talking about running at the track today, so I joined him.

We met over at Saginaw Heritage High School’s track and warmed up with an easy 800m job. Then we did one 800m, two 400m, two 200m, and two 100m runs. In between each run, we took about twice as much rest as the last run took. Walked a lap around the track to cool down. It was good to do something outside the box even if it was supposed to be a rest day.

Get Work Done

My upper ass is a bit sore from the lunges and deficit deadlifts. But I’m positive I’d be a lot more sore if not for using the rumble roller. Without a doubt it’s the best $70 I’ve spent in a long time. I’ve been rolling 2-3 times a day, usually when watching a little TV. I went in for the 10am class.

Warm-up / WOD

5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50

  • Russian Twists (30# KB)
  • Leg Raises
  • Bicycles
  • 30s Side Plank

Take an optional 3 minutes of rest and head directly into the second half of the workout. I exchanged kettlebells and got right into it because it’s not like this was a cardio taxing workout. It’s mainly a day about doing work.

5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50

  • Russian KBS (53#)
  • HR Push-ups

Do work. Do Work. DO WORK!

Today was all about keepin’ on. Get those reps done. This ladder adds up to 275 reps of each movement plus those 5 minutes of side planks. I finished in 55:04. Easily the longest WOD I’ve done.

Cora’s 28th

I was going to go in this morning, but my internal alarm clock was late today. I think I rolled over around 8:15am. So I went at 5:15pm instead.

Strength

5×3 Deficit Deadlifts (3″)

Warmed up with a set of 10 at 135# and then did my working sets at 205#, 245#, 295#, 315#, and 335#. Felt really good on the pulls. Last week I only did 305# for 5 reps, but knew there was more left in the tank. I’m excited to see what my 1RM is for regular deadlifts next time it comes around because it was 365# a couple of months ago. I might be close to the 400# barrier.

WOD

Today is Cora’s birthday (her and Matt own the gym) so we did a WOD in her honor. Reps are based on her birth year, age, and birth month.

84-28-9

  • Burpees
  • Wall Ball Sit-ups (20# MB)
  • 100m Weighted Lunges (20# MB)

I finished in 21:35. My height (leg length) was a pretty good advantage in the lunges, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be feeling those for the next few days. I could really feel the wall ball sit-ups in my upper abs even before getting through 40 reps.

Finisher

28 Dead Hang Pull-ups

Didn’t time them, but tried to take as little rest as possible between knocking out reps.

Strap a Kettlebell to my Back

I’m pretty programmed now to wake up right around 7:30 each morning without an alarm. This is perfect timing to get a bite to eat and hit the 9am class. I even had some time to use the rumble roller this morning, which I’ve been trying to use whenever I watch TV.

Warm-up / Strength

20:00 EOMOTM

  • Odds: 8 Side Bends on each side (71# KB)
  • Evens: 30s Plank

WOD

  • 100 HR Push-ups
  • 21-15-9
    • Box Jumps (24″)
    • KBS (53#)
  • Run 10 laps of 150m holding KB (53#)

I smashed my PR for the 100 hand release push-ups by doing it in 5:46. My previous best was 6:21 just over a month ago. One thing I focused on today was not getting too big of sets early on. I started out with a set of 15, then 10, and then 5s the rest of the way. That really helped to have some gas left in the tank for the 2nd 50. Box jumps and KBS were no big deal.

All the “fun” was at the end with the weighted run. The best way to hold the KB is to use both hands and hold it by the handle behind your neck. It’s probably not real great for your neck and spine, but it’s really the only way to be able to run. We ran nearly a mile! After the 5th lap I couldn’t feel my hands and arms anymore. I wanted to put the kettlebell down so bad but knew it would be so much harder to get going, so I powered through the best I could. Total time for the WOD was 20:30. Even with the cool weather, I had sweat flying everywhere because I had to work so hard to keep that KB in place. Hopefully this transfers well to the 800m run with 25 pounds I’ll have to do next weekend in the competition.

Finisher

  • 100 DUs

Started out with a string of 29 in a row. It was hard to keep that rope spinning fast enough with fried shoulders and arms from the KB run. I finished in 1:45.

Strength in the Garage Gym

A couple of days ago I did the dynamic effort method of training on the bench press, so today I wanted to try it with box squats.

  • 2 sets of 2 @ 45#
  • 2 @ 95#
  • 2 @ 115#
  • 2 @ 135#
  • 2 @ 155#
  • 8 sets of 2 @ 165#

It was definitely a new feeling and variation on the back squat. Get down to hit the box/bench and then try to explode back up.