Author: Nick Momrik

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

Stretch and Breathe

Tonight I did about an hour and 20 minutes of Yoga. I did it with a couple of programs I found on Netflix. I forgot how good it feels to do Yoga, which I did during P90X a few years ago for 90 minutes a week.

On the ride home from my parents today I was listening to a CrossFit Radio episode where a guest was a level 1 trainer, but also was certified in Yoga and ran some classes at a box. We don’t pay enough attention to flexibility aspect of fitness in CrossFit, so I think on my rest days I’m going to try to get in an hour of Yoga. It can only help my recovery and improve other aspects of my fitness.

Smooth Double Unders

No surprise my legs are sore today after the last two WODs. This morning I drove up to Rogers City to visit the family for the weekend, so I have very limited workout equipment.

Warm-up

Went for a 2.62 mile run in 22:59. Pace was nice and steady throughout the run.

Strength

3 rounds:

  • MAX Push-ups
  • 1m Plank
  • 2m Rest

I set a new PR for unbroken push-ups in the 1st round with 40, then did 25 and 20. The planks were tougher than normal because it was right after push-ups which already work a lot of the same muscles.

WOD

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • DUs
  • Sit-ups

I haven’t done DUs more than a couple of times since I left Phoenix, but wanted to test myself in something today. “Annie” seemed like a good one because it doesn’t require any special equipment other than the jump rope I keep in my vehicle and it would be a good chance to practice them.

My time was 8:26. I did the best DUs I’ve ever done! The set of 30 was completely unbroken and there were only a couple of streaks where I didn’t string together at least 10 in a row. For the sit-ups I sat on a towel with my feet flat on the ground. I laid back until my shoulder blades hit the ground and sat up until I could touch the top of my shoes without reaching too much.

Everybody Jump, Jump

My lower body was kind of sore today from all of the lunges yesterday and the first time pulling a sled. Was busy doing some stuff at work and almost missed class. Today was pretty much a 3 WOD day as you’ll see below. I still have some lingering stuff in my sinus area, but not enough to bother me. I think I have all my energy back too, since I walked 18 holes of golf earlier in the day.

Warm-up

  • 50-40-30-20-10 Squat Jumps
  • 25-20-15-10-5 Burpees

Finished in 10:22. That’s a lot of squat jumps!

WOD

12:00 AMRAP

  • 15 KBS (Russian)
  • 15 Box Jumps

Box jumps are one of me strengths and Russian swings don’t bother me much, so felt good going into this WOD. I stepped up my game and used 62# KB. Stuck with the normal 24in box for jumps since there were going to be so many. I completed 8 full rounds plus 13 swings.

Finisher

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

  • K2E
  • Tuck Jumps

I’m so much better with my kip on the K2E now. I knocked out the first 10 unbroken. Total time of 4:55.

Walk it Out

Feeling nearly back to 100% today after getting in the workout yesterday and a good night’s sleep last night.

Warm-up

3 rounds:

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Bicycles
  • 1m Leg Hold
  • 1m Side Plank (30s each side)
  • 1m Mountain Climbers
  • 1m Rest

WOD

7 rounds, decrease pull-ups and push-ups by 3 each round, so 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3

  • 100 ft Walking Lunges with DBs
  • 21 Pull-ups
  • 21 HR Push-ups

Total work:

  • About 210 lunges
  • 84 Pull-ups
  • 84 HR Push-ups

I used 35# DBs for the lunges. Whipped through them in round 1, but that caught up to me real quick and I had to take a rest during the rest of the rounds. I started off touching my knees to the ground on each lunge, which turned out to be a mistake because it ends up being a lot of pounding on the knee. I could really feel it as I got into rounds 5 and 6 so I only tried to get down as far as I could without hitting the ground. My total time was 23:42.

I’m getting better and better at pull-ups and (knock on wood) I haven’t ripped a hand wide open in quite some time with kipping pull-ups. A big part of that is learning when not to push too far and get off the bar to take a short rest. I need to learn how to do butterfly pull-ups now.

Strength

Walking sled pulls with three 45# plates on the sled.

Did a down and back holding a chain between our legs. The length was about 30-35 feet in each direction. I think I did 5 or 6 rounds, but didn’t keep track. This was my first time doing anything with a sled. It didn’t feel too bad for a while, but as the rounds went on I could really feel it. Then I got home and could feel it even more!

Down with the Sickness

After going to class 5 days in a row my plan was to take Friday and Saturday off since Dad was in town and do a home WOD on Sunday night. While in bed on Saturday night I started to get a sore throat, which luckily only lasted a day, but as Sunday went along I felt weaker and weaker. Woke up Monday with a nasty cold and Tuesday was no better. I’m finally feeling better today and have been better and better as the day goes on. I was really missing the WODs and 5 days off is too many.

Warm-up

  • 50 Sit-ups
  • 25 MB Snatches
  • 40 Sit-ups
  • 20 MB Snatches
  • 30 Sit-ups
  • 15 MB Snatches
  • 20 Sit-ups
  • 10 MB Snatches
  • 10 Sit-ups
  • 5 MB Snatches

Whipped through the warm-up. I may start reaching for my toes on the “sit-ups” because the standard we use (only need to get up far enough to touch your shoes) is a joke when you have long arms like I do. I can almost touch my shoes with my shoulder blades still on the ground. The box is without power so I don’t know how fast my time was, but it was around 7 minutes judging by when Cari called out the 6 minute mark. I did 25 jumping jacks on the minute until the 12 minute time limit.

WOD

5 rounds:

  • 15 Burpees
  • 15 1-arm DB snatches (each arm)
  • 15 Wall Balls

I used a 40# DB for the snatches and a 20# MB for wall balls. Total time was 23:56. I survived better than expected. There was nowhere to rest in this WOD with each movement involving the full body.

Finisher

Death by pull-ups, counting by 3s

I did rounds of 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 for a total of 45 pull-ups in 5 minutes. The round of 18 was not going to happen so I didn’t even attempt it.

It sure felt good to get my sweat on. Tomorrow I should be feeling 100%.

Take One on the Chin

Went to class for the 5th day in a row. Probably not the smartest idea, but tomorrow and Saturday are both probably off days since my Dad will be in town.

Warm-up

3 rounds:

  • 20 MB Snatches
  • 30 MB V-ups
  • 20 MB Push-ups

I used a 20# MB and think I finished somewhere around the 6:30 mark.

WOD

5 rounds:

  • 15 Thrusters
  • 15 Burpees

Absolutely fucking brutal. I used 95# on a barbell for the thrusters. My total time was 23:39. After doing clean and jerk yesterday and a whole bunch of shoulder related stuff today, my shoulders are on fire. The humidity was really high today due to the rain we’ve been getting. My clothes were completely soaked through and the sweat kept dripping down my arms on to my hands, making it hard to keep a hold on the bar. I think I might start wearing wrist sweat bands or at least give them a try.

Oh, almost forgot, I smacked myself on the chin with the bar during the 3rd round doing one of the thrusters. Seems like I do that once every couple of months in some movement or another.

Finisher

Death by K2E, by 2s. So that’s 2 the first minute, 4 the second minute, and so on. I made it through the round of 14 and then got 14 in the round of 16. I probably could have gotten it, but I felt my hands getting close to the ripping stage and it just isn’t worth it.

Sweat Me a River

The humidity is picking up and so is the temperature. Just over 80 degrees tonight during class. I need to make the switch to mornings, but there are some good athletes that go to the 4:15pm or 5:30pm classes, which makes you push harder.

Warm-up

  • Tabata Mountain Climbers
  • Tabata Monkey Fuckers
  • Tabata Bear Crawls

WOD

3 rounds

  • 200m Run
  • 50 Ring Rows
  • 30 KBS
  • 10 SDLHP
  • 200m Run

Yes, that’s a run to start and end each round, so you end up running a couple of 400s unless you take a break between rounds. I used a 55# KB for the swings (American) and a 71# KB for the SDLHPs. Doing that many ring rows was the biggest trouble for me. I had to split them up into sets of 5 for the most part and even some smaller sets. My hands are hurting from earlier in the week and I still have a good blister from the 350 Russian KBS the other day. I finished in 29:37.

Strength

Work up to a 1RM Clean and Jerk, doing 1 rep each minute. My sets were 135#, 155# 165#, 175#, 180#, and 185#. I did a full clean on the last two reps and on my last jerk my split was so small I’m not even sure you could call it a split. I had to muscle it up because I didn’t get under the bar. That’s a 5# PR on the clean, 15# PR on the jerk, and 20# PR on the combination. Not a bad day at the gym!

Packed House

Biggest class I’ve attended, but Tuesday is usually pretty big because there is only a 5:30pm and a 7pm at night. I think we had 18 or 20 people there. It’s cool to see the box growing especially in the new space.

Warm-up

3 Rounds:

  • 200m Run
  • 50 Jumping Jacks
  • 50 High Knees
  • 50 Butt Kicks

Pretty easy warm-up, but it did its job and got the blood flowing.

WOD

15:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Box Jumps
  • 10 Wall Balls

I used a 28 inch box and a 20# MB. Started out strong going rep for rep with the fittest guy in the gym, but I couldn’t keep up and fell 2 rounds behind him by the end. I completed 15 rounds + 4 box jumps, so that’s an entire Karen in there.

AB WOD

5 Rounds:

  • 1m Russian Twists
  • 30s Side Plank on each side
  • 1m Ab Crunch
  • 1m Hand Plank
  • 1m Scissor Kicks
  • 1m Rest

I used a 30# KB for the Russian twists which was plenty with all of the other stuff in there. The ab crunches were probably the hardest but nothing was easy I guess. Had to take breaks during most everything except the side planks and only one short break during the hand planks.

Great workout today and probably the most I’ve sweated during a CrossFit workout since I started. I feel like I lost 5 pounds. It’s not even 60 degrees out, so I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when it gets in the 80s or 90s with high humidity.

Be Careful

We had to call 911 today. A guy stopped in to talk to someone, jumped on the pull-up bar, and fell off after the first pull-up. He landed on his head and neck area. I didn’t see it happen because I was facing the other way, but there was quick reaction by some nurses in the class to run over and stabilize him. He was out cold for 10 seconds or so, but then was alert, responsive, and could move his extremities. I bet he’s going to be sore for a few days, but hopefully everything else is fine.

On another note, I’ve now been doing CrossFit for 6 months! Half a fucking year. Amazing! That’s twice as long as any other exercise program I’ve ever done. I still love it as much, if not more, than day 1.

Warm-up

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

  • MB Power Clean & Presses
  • Burpees

I used a 20# MB and completed this in 6:16, by going pretty much non-stop.

WOD

  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 21 Sit-ups
  • 21 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 18 Sit-ups
  • 18 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 15 Sit-ups
  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 12 Sit-ups
  • 12 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 9 Sit-ups
  • 9 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 6 Sit-ups
  • 6 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 3 Sit-ups
  • 3 HR Push-ups

That’s 350 KBS in total. I did the first set unbroken, then started the rest of the rounds off with 25 unbroken and usually broke down the last 25 into 15 and 10. Sit-ups were all unbroken, but I broke the HR push-ups down into 2 sets during the rounds of 18 and 15. I used a 55# KB for the swings and finished in 20:10.

Strength

I started to do front squats by warming up with 135#. It was during that set of 5 reps when the accident happened and the class was done after that.