Author: Nick Momrik

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

Arm Program

Very busy day yesterday, doing yard work at both houses, and getting the last of B’s things moved out.

Warm-up

  • 20 PVC Passes
  • 5 Barbell Curls (45#)
  • 8 Close Grip Bench Press (45#)
  • 8 Close Grip Bench Press (95#)

Arms

Trying a new arm program for several weeks that I found on Muscle & Strength.

4 Sets

  • 8 Barbell Curl (55#)

4 Sets

  • 8 Close Grip Bench Press (115-135-155-175#)

3 Sets

  • 20 alt Cross-body Hammer Curl (25#)

3 Sets

  • 10/10 One Arm OH Extension (rope on cable pulley, 27-32-32#)

3 Sets

  • 12 Incline DB Curl (25#)
  • 20 Tricep Pulldown (rope, 49-51.5-51.5#)

3 Sets

  • 20 Cable Curl (38#)
  • 12 Diamond Push-up

Definitely got a really good arm pump!

Midline

4 Sets

  • 8 Partner Leg Lift + Throws

4 Sets

  • 6/6 Hip Abducted Evil Wheels
  • 20 alt Crunches
  • 10/10 KB Side Bends (70#)

A Main Site Dumbbell Metcon

Warm-up

  • 20 PVC Passes
  • Shoulder Stretching
  • Toe Touches
  • 10 DB Hang Power Cleans (35#)

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Double DB Hang Power Cleans (50# DBs)
  • 10 Push-ups on DBs

I saved this one from CrossFit.com on August 10th, when we were in the middle of the chest program and thought it would be a good one to do after we finished. I started out doing muscle cleans, but after two or three rounds switched to a real power clean. My grip was getting smoked. I split the push-ups in half every round and it worked well. Got through 10+8.

After a little bit we went out for a 2.72 mile run and I let B set the pace, which was actually enjoyable for me. Took us 29:58.

45 Reps on the Bar

I walked 18 holes on Thursday and played great.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 3 Bar Muscle-ups
  • 15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • Partner does couplet
  • 3 Bar Muscle-ups
  • 12 cal Row
  • Partner does couplet
  • 3 Bar Muscle-ups
  • 20 Reverse Lunges
  • Partner does couplet

We finished in 27:31. Great new style of workout with the lower rep MU, but a lot of them! My hands weren’t going to take much more, so we called it at five rounds. Was playing around with my bar muscle-up technique and remembering some of the tricks.

Midline

4 Round Tabata

  • OH Crunches (legs up, 50# DB)
  • Bicycles
  • DB Pull-throughs (50#)
  • Hollow Hold

I got 12 crunches, 20 slow bicycles, 12 pull-throughs, and held the hold the entire 20 seconds each time.

Lots of Legs

Warm-up

  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks
  • 10 Monster Squats
  • 10 Monster Toe Touches
  • 10 Walking Lunges
  • 10 Dumbbell Walking Lunges (35#)
  • 10 Sumo KB Deadlifts (53#)
  • 10 Dumbbell Walking Lunges (50#)

Legs

4 Sets

  • 10 Double DB Walking Lunges (60# DBs)
  • 10 Sumo KB Deadlifts (70#)

3 Sets

  • 15 Banded Hamstring Curls (red)
  • 20 Banded Frog Reverse Hypers

Conditioning

  • 700-400-200m Run
  • 35-20-10 Burpee Box Jump Overs (24”)

The 35 burpees seemed to last forever and then my run was so slow after that. I picked up the pace in the 20 and then flew through the 10. Finished in 15:04.

Midline

2 Rounds

  • 20 Leg Lifts
  • 30 Scissor Kicks
  • 1:00 Plank
  • 20 Reverse Crunches
  • 15 V-ups
  • 45s Side Plank
  • 45s Side Plank
  • 20 Russian Twists

This was good. Took me 9:50 with a quick run across the garage to grab a towel to put down on my mats after round one.

Finished the Chest Program

Super busy and productive day on Sunday with the heat, so skipped a workout. Yesterday my back was good enough to walk 18 holes and after a week away from the course. It wore me out for the day! I edged and mowed the lawn during lunch today.

Final day of the chest program and I’m over it!

Warm-up

  • 20 PVC Passes
  • Bench Press
    • 10×45
    • 8×95
    • 6×135
    • 4×165
    • 3×185
    • 2×205

Chest

MAX Bench Press (225#)

Got nine reps, which is 1 more than Saturday and 1 short of tying my best ever.

100 HR Push-ups

I did 3s through 81 and then quick singles to finish in 5:34. Still now close to my PR, but almost 30 seconds faster than last week.

Seated Shoulder Press

  • 3 Sets @ 3 Weights
    • MAX Reps
    • 3:00 Rest between sets

I did 15-13-12 with 110, 15-14–15 with 90, and 22-20-20 with 70 pounds. Decided to increase 15# per set over the last time and ended up with 905 more total pounds lifted. 💪

6 Sets

  • 12 Double DB French Press
  • 1:00 Rest

I was smoked, but wanted to see if I could jump up to the 25s. I barely made it through two sets and then used 20s for the last four sets.

FIN!

We really liked this program and it seemed to work well. We both put on size and got more comfortable with all the volume. Probably should have drank more protein shakes because it was so many reps, especially the Tuesday workouts. I think we’re going to start an arm program next.

About an hour after the workout we went for a 2.62 mile walk in about 45 minutes.

Week 7 of Chest

Mowed the lawn yesterday but didn’t workout since I’d done 4 days in a row already. Got a lot of stuff done at B’s house this morning before it got too hot and was out in the garage by 12:30 for our workout. Will be the hottest day of the summer I think and with humidity will feel over 100° this afternoon.

Warm-up

  • 20 PVC Passes
  • Bench Press
    • 10×45
    • 8×95
    • 6×135
    • 4×165
    • 3×185
    • 2×205

Chest

Final week of the 7 week program!

MAX Bench Press (225#)

Got through 8 reps and the positions weren’t feeling great so I stopped before I pushed it too far.

MAX Perfect Push-ups

I had done 32 on the 7th and managed 36 today.

3 Sets

  • 8 Seated DB Shoulder Press (elbows out, 60#)

Really wasn’t sure about this so I had written down 6-8 reps. It wasn’t easy, but I got all three sets.

100 DB Bench Press (30#)

I went 6×15 and 10 to finish in 2:23 On July 31st. Today I went for it starting with 20s. Did 3×20, 2×15, 10 for a 17 second PR in 2:06.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 2:00 TrueForm Run
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 BikeErg
  • 1:00 Rest

Nice easy sweat session I did 0.32, 0.35, 0.38, 0.41 km on the run and 977, 1,007, 1,018, 1,025 meters on the bike.

Upper to Lower

Guess what. Hot again!

Warm-up

  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks
  • 10 Monster Squats
  • 10 Monster Toe Touches
  • 10 Walking Lunges
  • 10 DB Walking Lunges (35s)
  • 6 DB Walking Lunges (50s)

Legs

4 Sets

  • 10 Double DB Walking Lunges (60# DBs)
  • 10 Glute Bridges (2s pause)

3 Sets

  • 15 Banded Hamstring Curls (red)
  • 20 Banded Frog Reverse Hypers

Pretty sure my back side is going to be sore from this.

Conditioning

7 Rounds

  • 40s Seated DB Shoulder Press (15# DBs)
  • 20s Rest
  • 40s cal BikeErg
  • 20s Rest

It was nice going back and forth from arms to legs, but each one really burned after three rounds. I got 25-27-29-30-28-28-28 pressing and 15-16-17-18-19-19-20 riding.

So. Much. Sweat.

Still Struggle with Hand Release

Another brutally hot and humid day. My back was much better through the night and it was tons easier to stand up out of bed this morning.

Warm-up

  • 20 PVC Passes
  • Bench Press
    • 10×45
    • 8×95
    • 6×135
    • 4×165
    • 2×180

MAX Bench Press (200#)

One better than Saturday with 16 reps.

100 HR Push-ups

We decided to switch it up for the final two weeks and try hand releases. I’ve never been good at this and can’t beat the time I set way back in 2013. Today was not the day either. I did threes through 54 and then had to go to doubles. It took me 6:03! Probably halfway through or more I realized that putting my arms above my head to rest at the bottom was probably a bad idea. I need to rest with arms down to sides.

Incline Bench Press

  • 3 Sets @ 3 Weights
    • MAX Reps
  • 3:00 Rest between sets

12-11-11 @ 135#
16-15-15 @ 115#
20-20-21 @ 95#

I don’t really like the feeling of incline on my shoulders.

6 Sets

  • 12 EZ Bar Skull Crushers (56#)
  • 1:00 Rest