Author: Nick Momrik

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

Small WODs Add Up to a Big WOD

Yesterday I got out for a 2 mile trip on the kayak and then walked 9 holes of golf with Dad. I’m sore, but not feeling fatigued.

Warm-up

  • 10 Turkish Get-ups (45# DB)
  • 3 rounds
    • 1m Plank
    • 1m DUs
    • 1m Side Planks (30s each side)
    • 1m Rest

The 45# seems to be about my limit for Turkish Get-ups. I can get through them, but it takes every bit of concentration to keep the weight steady over me. My DUs sucked again today.

WOD

7:00 AMRAP

  • Man Makers (45# DBs)

Rest for 2 minutes.

5:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Pistols
  • 10 Chair Dips

Rest for 2 minutes.

5:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Floor Wipers (45# DBs)
  • 5 Burpees

I was able to do 19 man makers, 4 rounds plus 10 pistols and 8 chair dips, and 4 rounds plus 5 floor wipers and 2 burpees in the AMRAPs. Before starting I figured 25 make makers and 5 rounds in each of the 5 minute AMRAPs would be good numbers to shoot for. Great work on a lot of areas.

Finisher

Every other minute for 10 minutes

  • 4 HSPUs

I did these all strict without any additional head support (usually AbMats if needed). Doing 5 reps would have been a challenge, so I’ll have to give that a try if I ever do this again.

One-arm Snatches

My back was still a little tight this morning, but feeling better than yesterday.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 3 rounds
    • 20 Hollow Rocks
    • 10 Supermans
    • 20 Russian Twists (50# KB)

Using the 50# KB for the Russian Twists was HEAVY, but worth it.

Strength

5 sets

  • MAX rep Pull-ups (on rings)
  • 2m Rest

I was able to do sets of 10, 6, 5, 5, and 4. The set of 10 is a new PR!

WOD

  • 100 Alternating one-arm DB Snatches (50# DB)
  • * 5 Burpee buy-in at the beginning of every minute, including the start

I did at snatches every single minute, only doing 6 for one or two minutes at the end with 8 or 10 for all of the other minutes. Finishing time was 11:49.

Finisher

50 K2E (on rings)

I didn’t time these, but took very little rest in between sets. I did 20 reps in the first set, beating my old PR of 10, and then did 3 sets of 10 to finish off the 50.

A lot of great work in this workout. Really liked it!

A Quick One

As it got into the afternoon I was feeling better than when I woke up this morning. Once I ate lunch, I felt like I could handle a workout, so I gave the food a couple of hours to settle while floating in the lake. Of course laying on my stomach on a floatie tightened up my lower back.

Warm-up

2 rounds

  • 10 PVC OHS
  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 20 Plyo Lunges

WOD

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

  • Goblet Squats (50# KB)
  • Diamond Push-ups
  • Box Jumps (24″)

This was a pretty easy one. Did it in 7:50. To make it harder I could have done front squats holding 50# DBs, decline push-ups, and box jumps on the 31″ ledge. The quick workout was enough for today though.

Finisher

50 OH Lunges (50# KB)

I broke these up into sets of 15-10-15-10, with short breaks in between the sets. Didn’t time it though. It was some nice work on shoulder stability while also working the legs a bit.

Listen to your Body

Yesterday I did go out for another 2 mile trip in the kayak and planned to do a WOD after dinner. But after eating, I laid down on the couch and fell asleep for a short nap. It was clear I was pretty exhausted, so I had a couple of drinks instead of working out.

Got up this morning and went out for a slow active recovery run. It was a 5.2 mile run in 47:16, just over the 9 minute per mile pace I was shooting for. RunKeeper keeps messing up with the GPS out here so I had to use GMaps Pedometer to map out the distance of my run.

After the run, I squatted down in front of the fridge to get some berries out of the bottom drawer and felt a lot of fatigue and soreness in my knees. The WOD I had planned for last night included front/goblet squats, so I guess it’s a good thing I took the night off. I’ve never done the volume of work I’ve been doing over the last week, so learning how to listen to my body is something I’m learning as I go. I’m going to try not to WOD today, but we’ll see how I feel later. I’ll probably do another kayak trip at the very least and hopefully get out for some golf with Dad.

Sprints

Thought about making today a rest day, but I’ll make that tomorrow instead. My shoulder area is pretty sore today and I have a decent bruise on my left bicep from the ring strap when I failed on a muscle-up yesterday.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 easy run
  • Tabata Sprints
  • 7:30 easy run

I really like doing the Tabata sprints and they are great work. I should get back to doing them once a week.

WOD #1

10 rounds

  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 40 yard Sprint
  • Walk back

Due to the walking, I didn’t think it made sense to time this. All of the push-ups were done unbroken and I ran all out on the sprints. The area where I did my sprints was a slight incline in the yard, so uneven terrain, which was a nice change from running on pavement.

WOD #2

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • DUs
  • Sit-ups

My time was 9:37, far from my 8:26 best. My DUs were not the greatest and I was really feeling the sit-ups. Didn’t take any breaks, so the time was really disappointing.

Hero WOD “Brenton”

As mentioned in my plan this morning, I ended up going for a 2 mile trip in the kayak. I went each mile without stopping, just kept a steady pace and kept paddling. When I reached the halfway mark at a point on the lake, I took a swim and drank some water.

Since the rings were still up from the morning WOD, I decided to see if I could get a muscle-up. After a couple of scary attempts (I’m not sure how I didn’t dislocate both shoulders), I managed to get one! It wasn’t pretty, but it counts. I posted a video over on my main blog. Now I’ll have to concentrate on doing some drills to improve my technique.

After dinner settled, it was time to tackle “Brenton”. It didn’t look bad, so I decided to skip a warm-up and jump right into it.

WOD

“Brenton”
5 rounds

  • 100 ft Bear Crawl
  • 100 ft Broad Jumps

* Every 5 broad jumps, do 3 burpees.

They did this WOD yesterday at Survival Fitness by doing 4 lengths of 25 feet for each 100 feet, so I did the same. My time was 10:16, but I grossly underestimated “Brenton”. I should know better than to think a Hero WOD would be easy. I think I did 9 burpees during each round, but it probably would have only been 6 if I was going 100 feet straight. Having to stop and start makes this WOD more difficult.

Finisher

Death by Pull-ups, by 3s, on the rings

I got through the round of 12 plus 10 reps in the round of 15. Pretty disappointing since I’ve gotten through the round of 15 before, but my shoulders are absolutely wrecked. I’m guessing the few muscle-up attempts (particularly the failures) really took a toll. It could be the kayaking or push presses from either the WOD last night or this morning.

Sunday is Not a Day of Rest

I went to bed later than normal, so didn’t wake up quite as early as I have been. Still had time to get in my first WOD of the day before my brother and Mom woke up though. I can feel the effects of the weighted step-ups from last night already, so as the day goes on and in to tomorrow it should be interesting.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Bottom Squat Hold

WOD

50 reps of each

  • DUs
  • Plank Push-ups
  • Star Jumps
  • T2B (on rings)
  • SDLHP (50# KB)
  • Walking Lunges
  • V-ups
  • Push Presses (35# DBs)
  • KBS (50# KB)
  • HR Push-ups
  • DUs

I set a new PR by doing the first 15 T2B unbroken with kipping. The rings on the tree worked out really well. After the first 15 I did them 5 at a time. Push Presses were done in 5 sets of 10, KBS in sets of 20, 15, and 15, and I tried to stick to sets of 10 for the HR Push-ups, but that broke down a bit after 30 reps. My total time was 30:31, but it would have been under 30 had I not turned a single knot into a double when I picked up the rope and tried to fix it. I wasted over 30 seconds getting those out. Ugh!

I’ve been doing a lot of WODs in the 10 minute range, so it was good to get in a long chipper like this. After I get a late breakfast I’ll probably head out for a trip on the kayak and then I plan to do the Hero WOD “Brenton” later today.

Got Home Early, Couldn’t Help It

Today, the family headed up to the Upper Peninsula for the day. That’s why I had done the run early in the morning. I really didn’t plan on getting in a WOD, but we got back to the cottage before 9, so I figured I might as well take advantage of the daylight.

Warm-up

  • 50 Jumping Jacks
  • 50 Butt Kicks
  • 50 High Knees
  • 50 Mountain Climbers

WOD

10:00 AMRAP

  • 12 Deadlifts
  • 9 Hang Cleans
  • 6 Push Presses

I used a set of 50# DBs, which was much tougher than I expected. The hang cleans were brutal and the only part I couldn’t do unbroken. I finished 3 rounds plus 12 deadlifts and 9 cleans in the 10 minutes, but then did the extra 6 push presses as well.

Finisher

30 Weighted Step-ups (24″ and 50# DBs)

I didn’t do this for time because once in a while it’s nice not be thinking about the clock. Going this heavy and that high is much more about the strength element anyway. I alternated legs each rep and broke it down into 5 sets of 6 reps. I originally was going to go for 50 reps not knowing how hard it would be. I could really feel my back compensating in the last two sets so I pulled the plug at 30 reps before I hurt something. I had done Russian Step-ups quite some time ago, but believe I used 30# or 35# DBs. There was no way I was trying to add in the Russian element today with the 50s.

 

Fat Bars on the Playground

Today is another hot one, so I got up early and took a drive down the road to a local school. They have all kinds of monkey bars, dip bars, and playground rigs to make WODs out of.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 2 rounds
    • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
    • 10 PVC OHS
    • 10 PVC Around the World’s (5 each way)

WOD

Fat bar DB “Fran”
21-15-9

  • Pull-ups
  • Thrusters (45# DBs)

There weren’t any great bars at a height high enough for me, so I went with the best thing I could find (pictured above). The bars were probably twice the diameter of a normal pull-up bar and I really had to bend my knees in order to get a kip going because I could easily touch the ground. Variety is good though right? My time was 9:32, which is worse than the 9:05 I did at Survival Fitness a couple of weeks ago. I’ll take it though since my intensity probably wasn’t as high as it would be doing the WOD next to other people and the fat bar makes this a lot tougher.

Finisher

Tabata Mash-up

  • Hanging Leg Raises (strict)
  • L-sit

I used the same fat bar for the hanging leg raises. For the L-sits there were some perfect dip type bars about 1.5-2 feet off the ground.

Kayaking

Went out for a 2 mile trip in the kayak again and it was easier than the first day. I had to keep switching up my grip on the paddle though because I started to get blisters on my thumbs the other day. I’ve really been feeling the kayaking in my abs over the last day or so as well. It really is a great workout. Not too long after, I went out and walked 9 holes of golf with by brother.

About 12 hours after the morning workout I did another one with Dad.

Warm-up #2

3 rounds

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Lateral Hops (30s each leg)
  • 1m Side Plank (30s each side)
  • 1m Rest

I knew Dad could use the core work so I threw in the planks. Lateral hops were just something to get the blood flowing.

WOD #2

4 rounds

  • 5 HSPU
  • 25 Air Squats
  • 40 Tuck Jumps

The plan was to do 10 HSPUs, but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be possible. My shoulders were pretty fatigued from pull-ups, thrusters, and kayaking. I had to scale back to 5 reps each round. For the first two rounds I did strict and kipping, then in the last two rounds I added one AbMat. Dad did piked push-ups and did 10 reps. He also scaled back to 3 rounds instead of 4. I finished in 9:57 and he wasn’t too far behind me for his 3 rounds.

Finisher #2

Death by Burpees

I made it through the round of 15 with less than 5 seconds left in the minute, so I shut it down there. That’s enough for one day. I walked a mile to cool-down.