Author: Nick Momrik

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

Jingle My Jangle

I went out and walked 18 holes of golf this afternoon and am feeling good after not doing a WOD yesterday. Went in for the 7pm class.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30s Bottom Squat Hold

I mixed in some PVC Around-the-Worlds for some of the pass-thrus to help get my shoulders warmed up.

Strength

5×3 Shoulder Press

I was really disappointed in my performance with the 5×5 last week, so I was in it to win it tonight. I did a set of 10 at 45# and a set of 5 at 95# to get warmed up. For my working sets I used 105#, 115#, 125#, 135#, and 145# with no missed reps. BOOM! My previous PR was 140# and I got 3 reps at 145# today, so I have no idea why last week sucked.

WOD

5 rounds

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 3 Burpees
    • 6 MB Cleans (20#)
    • 9 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 1m Rest

Start each round where you ended the last round, which will most likely be in the middle of the cycle. This makes counting easier, as long as you can remember where you leave off. I did exactly 17 rounds with 1 second to spare. One minute is not a lot of rest time between these rounds and all that squatting really adds up.

Finisher

Death by Jingle Jangles (by 3s)

What’s a Jingle Jangle you ask? They are basically short sprints from side to side in the gym, which is about 16 feet wide. So for this “Death by” style, in the first minute you have to get side to side 3 times, then 6 times the next minute, and increase by 3 each minute. For the first 5 minutes it’s all walking to save energy, but then I had to start picking up the pace. I got through the round of 30, which is the 10th minute, and then got 21 of the 33 in the 11th minute, which in a new gym record.

Dynamic Bench Press

Today is my rest day, but I finished setting up my garage gym earlier and I’ve been doing some reading about things I wanted to try.

I’ve read a few things about dynamic effort days as opposed to max effort days and it seems really interesting. PowerWOD has some good info about it:

This method is defined as lifting a non-maximal load with the greatest speed possible. This method should be coupled with compensatory acceleration. This means you must apply as much force as possible to the barbell, i.e. pushing as hard and as fast as you can in the concentric phase of the lift. If you squat 700 pounds and are training with 400 pounds, then you should be applying 700 pounds of force to the barbell.

The weight used should be non-maximal in the 50% to 75% range.

I wanted to try it out with bench pressing because I benched for the first time in 5 years on Friday. Since I set a 215# PR on the bench press, I picked 125# for about 60%, where I’d focus my sets. You have to warm up so here is what I ended up doing (about 1 minute of rest between each set):

  • 2 sets of 3 @ 45#
  • 3 @ 65#
  • 3 @ 85#
  • 3 @ 105#
  • 8 sets of 3 @ 125#

I tried to press up really fast, but probably didn’t do it right. Even though 3 reps at 125# isn’t very heavy, I could start to feel a little fatigue as the sets went on.

I was going a little nuts without doing a workout today, so at least I got in a little work and got to use the rack I put together earlier. Oh, I did walk 18 holes of golf this morning as a little active recovery.

Competition WOD Test

I’d already worked out 4 days in a row, but screw it, let’s make it 5. I didn’t want to miss strength squat day at the gym since I don’t have a rack to do squats at home yet.

Before lunch I went out to the garage to test one of the competition workouts.

WOD #1

5 rounds

  • 5 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 10 Hand Release Burpees

The pull to get the first rep on each round of deadlifts was tougher than I expected and I could gain some time by repping them out faster. I did a time of 4:28 without any warm-up at all. Warmed up and pushing it, I think I can break under 4 minutes in the competition. It was good to try this out and see how it feels.

I went in to the 5:30pm class so I had a little more time to rest from yesterday’s WOD and I’m glad I did, because it was a lot of the same movements.

Warm-up

4 rounds

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

Strength

5×3 Front Squats

Coming out of last week only getting 2 out of 5 reps at 215#, my goal was to get all 3 reps at that weight this today. Counting the warm-up sets, here is what I did:

  • 8 @ 45#
  • 6 @ 115#
  • 3 @ 135#
  • 3 @ 155#
  • 3 @ 175#
  • 3 @ 195#
  • 3 @ 215#

After doing 95 front squats with 95# in the Deck of Cards WOD yesterday, I’ll take today’s effort. I don’t think I could have gotten 220# up for all 3 reps, but maybe. 215# is still my PR for the front squat, so 3 reps is more than I’ve done. I should be able to set a solid PR on my 1RM next week.

WOD

30 rounds

  • Power Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Push Press
  • Back Squat
  • Push Press

There’s something consisting of these movements called the Bear Complex, which is 7 rounds through without stopping. We did 30 rounds of the cycle instead and we were allowed to combine elements. For instance, we could do a squat clean thruster to take care of the first 3 movements and then a back squat thruster for the last two. This made it a lot easier.

Since I did most of these movements on their own yesterday, I wanted to go light today and try to fly through it. I loaded the bar with 85#. It turned out to be too easy and I finished in 6:43. So then I went up to 95# and knocked out another 10 reps. With the weight I used, I really liked these, but I probably wouldn’t say the same thing if I had gone a lot heavier.

Finisher

  • 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 T2B
  • 30s Side Plank (one side each round, switch sides for the next round)

I did all of the T2B unbroken, but ripped my right pinky on the middle portion of my finger. First time I’ve ever ripped anything there.

The weather is supposed to be great tomorrow so I plan to go golfing and will definitely be taking a rest day from CrossFit.

Deck of Barbells

I was planning to take today off and stick to the 3 on 1 off schedule, but my body is feeling good. Went in for the 11am class.

Warm-up

  • 150m Run
  • 100m Zombie Kicks
  • 150m Run
  • 100m Power Skips
  • 150m Run
  • 100m Lateral Shuffles
  • 150m Run

WOD

Deck of Cards

Suits:

  • ♣ – Hang Cleans (95#)
  • ♠ – Front Squats (95#)
  • ♥ – Push Presses (95#)
  • ♦ – 150m Weighted Run (35# plate)

Ranks:

  • 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace – 10 reps
  • 2 through 9 – Face value in reps
  • Joker – 1m Plank

The Rx for men was 115# but there is no way I’d be able to handle that. Loading the bar with 95 pounds was plenty heavy and this deck took me forever. I stayed into the start of the next class to finish in 52:54. It comes out to 94 reps of each on hang cleans, front squats, and push presses, 1950 meters of weighted runs, and 2 minutes of plank. That’s a lot of good work to help prepare for the competition.

I was planning to do some cleans in the garage later, but now I don’t have to. I guess I have more time to do real cleaning around the house and organize my garage gym.

“Rockin and A-reelin Barbara Ann Ba Ba”

It was a little tough getting out of bed this morning at 9am. My neck and back are a little off, but they did loosen up after moving around. I went in for the 11am class.

Warm-up

3 rounds

  • 30s Jumping Jacks
  • 30s Plank
  • 30s Jumping Jacks
  • 30s Bottom Squat Hold

WOD

“Barbara”
5 rounds

  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 40 Sit-ups
  • 50 Air Squats
  • 3m Rest

This was my first time meeting “Barbara”. She sounded like a real bitch before I got to shake her hand, but after we got to know each other a little bit, she’s an alright gal. I like workouts like this where you can have 3-5 minutes of hard work followed by a rest and then do it over again.

My goal right from the start was not to go out too fast, because I’ve done that too many times in a WOD like this one. I also didn’t want to get to the point of fatigue in my push-ups because after that it’s almost impossible to knock out any good amount of reps. I did 10 and 10 pull-ups in round 1, but then went 10-5-5 every other round. Did about 10 push-ups to start each round and then broke up the rest into smaller sets as my arms tired. Sit-ups and air squats were all unbroken except for the first round of squats. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to do with 50 of them so I took 2 short rests. I was feeling better than ever with my air squats so for the last 4 rounds I was able to do them unbroken. In the last round I was actually able to bang out the last 20 at an even faster pace, which felt good.

My times for each round were very consistent:

  • 4:23
  • 4:26
  • 4:26
  • 4:33
  • 4:27

Everything within a 10 second window. I’ll take that type of consistency every time. Total time of 22:15.

Tweaked My Back Again

Went in to open gym today at 5:15, but did the WOD on the board and then a little extra after.

Warm-up

  • 300m Run
  • PVC Shoulder Work

Strength

5×5 of 3″ Deficit Deadlifts

Started off with a warm-up set at 135#, then went 185, 225, 275, 295, and 305. I had a little more left in the tank, but that felt good.

WOD

  • Tabata Over the Box Jumps (24″)
  • 2m Rest
  • Tabata Ring Rows
  • 2m Rest
  • Tabata Plyo Push-ups
  • 2m Rest
  • Tabata V-ups
  • 2m Rest
  • Tabata Pistols

My over the box jumps were solid and I got 82 there. Ring rows always suck and I only could get 59. I started out way too fast, getting 20 plyo push-ups in the first 20 seconds, but it killed me. I only managed to get 48 more for a total of 68! V-ups felt good and I got 87. I was doing real pistols, but then at the end of the 2nd round I felt a tweak in my back. I tried to keep going in round 3, but only managed 2 reps because it hurt! I was thinking about calling it quits, but then did the rest of the rounds on a low box and managed to get 47 reps. Tied for 2nd place all day in the gym with 343 total reps.

Strength #2

I haven’t bench pressed in probably a good 5 years. The most I had ever done was 205 pounds. I’ve been wanting to work it into my schedule somewhere and today was the first day of that.

  • 10 @ 65#
  • 10 @ 115#
  • 5 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 155#
  • 3 @ 175#
  • 1 @ 195#
  • 1 @ 215#

I tried to go again at 225# and had nothing left in the tank. I’ll take a 10# PR without working on it at all. If I hadn’t done all of those plyo push-ups I think I would have been able to go higher. Doing so many reps before the 1 rep tests probably wasn’t the greatest idea either.

I sure hope the tweak to my back isn’t anything serious and it’s fine tomorrow. I can’t afford to take it easy with this competition coming up in 2 weeks.

A Night in the Garage

Brian came over and we did some work in the garage tonight. We’re both doing the beginner competition in two weeks so want to work on some stuff we don’t do much of in our normal WODs at Survival Fitness.

I was thinking to do some EMOTM for 10 minutes but Brian had a good idea to do Death By instead. He did cleans and I did thrusters. I used 115# for my thrusters because I wanted to get in some heavier work. Made it through the round of 7 and then got in my 7th rep of 8 just as the minute expired.

The first WOD in the competition is an 800m run with 25# of weight. They won’t say if it’s a sandbag, plate, DB, KB, or anything else, so I guess it’s a good idea to prepare for anything. I wanted to keep up some intensity, so we did the following:

5 rounds

  • 200m Weighted Run (25# bumper plate)
  • 1m Rest

I finished each run in almost exactly 1 minute and the clock hit exactly 9:00 as I finished my last run. The 200m was a good distance for this. Obviously it’ll be impossible to keep up that kind of intensity, but this word should make the longer run a bit easier. It’s really awkward carrying a plate, but I think a DB and a KB would be even worse. I think I’ll try it with a DB next week.

Strict Paleo Really Works

My legs are almost back to normal, but my upper abs are still sore today. Not sure that I’ve mentioned it in a post yet this week, but on Monday I went back to eating strict Paleo. I have a competition on October 7th so I want to go in as the best Nick I can. I’m competing in the beginner’s division, so hopefully I can be competitive. As a result of the diet changes, I’m feeling the results in only a few days.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • Plank
  • Bicycles

I could really feel these in my sore upper abs. Definitely helped loosen them up though.

Strength

Take 90 second of rest between each set.

Side Bends, 3×12 (each side)

  • 62# KB
  • 71# KB
  • 80# KB

Russian KBS, 3×12

  • 71# KB
  • 80# KB
  • 88# KB

WOD

  • 21-18-15-12-9 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 21-18-15-12-9 Burpees
  • 5-4-3-2-1 Renegade Man Makers (40# DBs)

In case you’re confused on how that WOD works, there are 5 rounds. In round 1 you do 21 box jumps, 21 burpees, and 5 renegade man makers. Then in round 2 all the reps decrease to the next number.

I finished in 12:12. Box jumps and burpees were all done unbroken. Renegade man makers were a little slower with some very short breaks, because DAMN! if you’ve ever done them you know how much they crush your soul.

Finisher

  • 50 Suitcase Deadlifts (88# KB)

Done for quality and weight. I took the heaviest KB we have and knocked them out by doing 5 per side at a time.

A Pressing Rest Day

Still pretty sore in my lower body from Sunday and Monday. Upper abs are sore from the 210 sit-ups yesterday. Went out and walked 18 holes of golf this morning. As planned, no going in to Survival Fitness today for a WOD. I had to get in the strength work though, especially since my upper body is feeling fine.

Shoulder Press

At SF they called for a 5×5. I did the following in my garage, with about 2-3 minutes of rest between sets.

  • 10 @ 45#
  • 5 @ 85#
  • 5 @ 105#
  • 5 @ 115#
  • 5 @ 125#
  • 3 @ 135#
  • 4 @ 135#

I was very disappointed with what was supposed to be my last set, by only getting 3 reps at 135 pounds. So I took a breather and came back to do 4 quick reps.

Upright Row

The accessory work usually calls for Kroc rows, but I don’t have anything heavy enough for low reps. I could try to balance the bar in one hand and do them, but that doesn’t sound like fun. So I decided to do upright rows.

  • 10 @ 45#
  • 5 @ 85#
  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 105#
  • 2 @ 115#

Going in, I had no idea what I was capable of. The two reps at 115# were fucking ugly, but now I have something to go off of for next time.

Back to Survival Fitness tomorrow.

Sort of Like “Cindy”

I haven’t been this sore since the competition a few months ago. Who would have thought doing gymnastics (specifically back tuck flip progressions) for an hour could beat up on your body this much. I’m sure Sunday’s WOD and the work I did yesterday have a little to do with it as well. I’ve been using the rumble roller a few times a day and it’s painful as hell! My IT bands have never felt like this before.

I’m getting a hot stone massage this afternoon and making tomorrow a rest day so I figured I better get in to the 9am today for a WOD.

Warm-up

  • 100 Butt Kicks
  • 100 High Knees
  • 50 Jumping Jacks
  • 50 Zombie Kicks
  • 25 Lateral Hops (left)
  • 25 Lateral Hops (right)

Strength

Weighted Pull-ups, 5×5

  • 5 @ 8#
  • 5 @ 10#
  • 5 @ 12#
  • 5 @ 15#
  • 5 @ 15#

I was able to complete each set today!

WOD

20:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Burpees
  • 10 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 15 AbMat Sit-ups

Remind you of the benchmark girl “Cindy” a bit? Same style but tougher in the long run. My strategy was to keep an even pace so I didn’t burn out early. Twenty minutes is a long time. I went unbroken right up until the end of the WOD and even had a little in the tank to speed through my burpees in the last couple of rounds. Finished 14 rounds plus 5 burpees and 5 wall balls. That comes to 75 burpees, 145 wall balls, and 210 sit-ups!

Finisher

7:00 AMRAP

  • 150m 1-arm Farmer’s Carry (53# KB)

I completed 6 laps (I think! Lost track on the 2nd or 3rd lap) and was about 30m away from finishing the 7th lap. Never had to stop and switched hands around the halfway point of each lap.

I can’t wait for my massage!