Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Finally an Overhead Squat PR

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
3×8 Reverse Hyper (210#)
3×5 Bar Taps

Overhead Squat

3x5x45#
5×75
3×115
3×135
2×155
2×175
F 195
195
205
215
225 (PR)
235 (PR)

Started out with a close grip and the second 2 sets with the empty bar felt better than they ever have. Slowly moved out each set but was about 1/2 between my snatch and jerk grips with 175#. Then at 195# I was out all the way. I was pissed when I missed at 195#, but figured out I wasn’t tightening up my core after getting the bar overhead. I think I put on the belt with the second attempt at 195# and for the rest of the sets. 20# PR! Only took 26 months to get there.

Split Jerk

5x20kg
5×40
3×60
3×75
2×90
100
105
110
115
120
125 (PR)
130 (PR)
133 (PR)

I thought I’d go big if things felt good. And they did! When we did those behind the neck jerks recently a light bulb went off and I figured out I was throwing the bar up too high and then it would crash on me most of the time. When it gets heavy it would cause me to miss. I was able to control my drive and upward momentum on the bar today and just kept going for it. Stayed with the 5 kilo jumps because the lifts were so easy. Ended up being about a 23# PR from the 270# C&J I just hit not too long ago. Now I finally have a little distance between my push press and my split jerk like I should.

Today was a rare treat. After over 4 years doing this, you simply don’t set 20+ pound personal bests and I somehow got 2 of them.

Midline

4 Sets

12 Weighted GHD (20#)
10 Parallette Shoot Throughs

Those shoot throughs are fun. Should work those in more often.

Front to Back

Again, planned to do 9am, but was up late playing an addicting stupid iOS game. Went to the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

Jumping Jacks
Zombie Kicks
Rack Stretch
Lat Stretch
Calf Stretch
5 Back Squats (20kg)
5 Front Squats (20kg)
5 Front Squats (70kg)

Strength

8:00 EMOM (alt)

5 Front Squats (90kg)
5 Back Squats (90kg)

Wasn’t going crazy being the 3rd day squatting this week and may do more tomorrow with Alex. Not sure yet. Legs are kind of smoked from the Air Dyne last night.

Accessory

4 Sets

8 Supinated Grip Pendlay Rows (115#)
5 Evil Wheels

These rows felt really easy. I know they were light but maybe the pull-up work is already paying off.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

1:00 Row (calories)
1:00 Burpees
1:00 Medicine Ball Cleans (20#)
1:00 Rest

I did 27-25-26 calories on the rower and totaled 60-60-58 reps overall. Those med ball cleans suck ass but I kept moving the entire time each round.

Glad there was nothing I had to modify because it’s still hard to hang or pick anything up with my hands.

Unmotivated Morning

Took the complete rest day yesterday. Biceps were sore and then my lats were sore later in the day. Planned to do the 9am class this morning but woke up really tired and was moving slow. I was also a bit depressed I wouldn’t be able to deadlift heavy with my tore up hands. So I skipped out on class. Went in earlier than originally planned at night instead and did extra work after too.

Warm-up

3 Sets

10 Reverse Hyper (210#)

Strength

Back Squats

5x20kg + 5x20kg with 2 second pauses
5×70 (2s pauses)
5×90 (2s pauses)
5×110 (2s pauses)
3x3x130 (2s pauses)

Work my belt for the last 3 sets.

Skill WOD Hustle & Flow Week 2 Day 2

Warm-up

3 sets

10 Pass-thrus
10 Hollow Rocks
10 Arch Ups
10 Narrow Grip OHS (45#)
10s Bottom of Dip Hold
10 Bridge Rocks

Skill

4 Sets

Freestanding HS Hold practice
16 Shoulder Taps (heels to wall)
20 Shotguns (Shoot to hollow)

Realized I wasn’t looking down at the ground like you would in a handstand or when walking. Seemed easier when I did that and also helped make the shoulder taps easier too.

Skill Test

Find 1 rep MAX deficit strict HSPU
3×4 deficit strict HSPU (3″)

I stopped after getting 11.5 inches. Probably did 5 or 6 other heights working up to that (all singles). The program calls for 3 sets of 4-6 at 70% of max height. Real funny! Tried 7″ and was already spent, so bumped it way down. Barely made it through sets of 4 at a little over 3″.

Strength Accessory

3 sets

8 Seated DB Press (40# DBs)
10 Parallette Push-ups
30s GHD Hollow Hold

Jumping up to the 40# DBs wasn’t that hard. Will try the push-ups with feet on a box next week. The hollow hold still sucked.

5:00 AMRAP

1-2-3-4-5…

Burpees
HSPU

I got through the 4th HSPU in the round of 6 faster than last week, but failed on it and wasn’t going to try again with 15 seconds left. So -1 rep from last week. Didn’t do any of the deficit work last week and went heavier on the DB presses, so I’ll still call that progress.

Conditioning

Bryan and I got out the Air Dyne (AD2) for the good ol’ Air Dyne Hell. Don’t remember ever doing it on this model, so wasn’t sure what to expect.

E2M 20:00

15s Air Dyne at 100%

I didn’t think it was too bad after the first round, but by round 3 the quads were burning. We totaled 512 calories between the two of us. Compare that to 273 and 287 calories Kevin and I did on the model AD6 before and you can see how different the computers are on the two models.

More Ripping

Feeling some fatigue from yesterday’s WOD. In at 10am for gymnastics work.

Skill WOD Hustle & Flow Week 2 Day 1

Warm-up

3 sets

5 Bar taps – tight
5 Bar taps – dynamic
7 V-ups
10 Pass-thrus
7 GHD Heel Drives
10 Bridge Rocks

Shoulder Activation

3 sets: 3 Scap Elevators + 3 Strict Pull-ups
1 set: 1+1

Superset

5 Sets

5 Butterfly Box Drill Circular Rotations
1 Stop Strict Pull-up + 3 Pull-ups (butterfly drill)
5 C2B Pull-ups

Skill Test

3 Pull-ups + 3 C2B + 3 Pull-ups + 3 C2B
2:00 Rest
2 sets
- 70% MAX C2B
- 90s Rest

Did sets of 14 C2B last week, so increased to 15s this week. Got both sets.

Strength Accessory

3 Supersets

15s Underhand grip chin hang
8 Supinated Bar Rows

Learned that we don’t have to do the bar rows with a supinated grip. Just refers to the body position. Much better.

Bonus Complex

Set 1: 2 Strict Pull-ups + 2 Strict C2B + 3 K2E + 3 T2B + 3 Bar MU
Set 2: 2+2+3+3, drop then 3
Set 3: 2+2+3+3, drop then 2

Ripped both hands. 😦 My left hand ripped under the pinky and my right hand actually ripped under my leather grips! I need to figure out something to work on these bar muscle-ups smarter because this is not working for me. Ripping is an injury and I usually pride myself on doing as much as I can to prevent rips.

Wanted to get in some squats so a quick garage session after 5.

Strength

Safety Squat Bar w/ 3 second pauses

10×65#
6×135
3×185
3×205
3×225
3×235
3×245
3×255
3×265
3×275

Wore lifting shoes but no belt at all so I could get a lot of time under tension for my low back. Felt good about my drive out of the hole and no mini bounce to get going. Just 3 months ago a triple with 295 and a belt but no pause was a struggle.

1 Open WOD Left

Yesterday my hands ached from the ring work. Got a great night of sleep and felt good this morning.

Warm-up

Bottom Squat Hold
Shoulder Stretching
Power Cleans
- 5×45#
- 5×95#
- 3×135#

Conditioning

CrossFit Open Workout 11.5 – 20:00 AMRAP

5 Power Cleans (145#)
10 T2B
15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

There were only 2 Open workouts I haven’t done and this was one of them, so now only 11.4 is left to try. Did all singles on the cleans, toes to bar were 4-3-3 every round except an unbroken 7 to finish, and unbroken every round for wall balls (hurt). Saw that around 10 rounds was the 90th percentile on BTWB and was ahead of that pace through 5 rounds, but slowing down. Started to take some 5-10 second breathers in between movements through the second half of the workout, which cost me. Ended up with 9 rounds plus the cleans and 7 of the T2B. Probably could have gone 5-5 on the T2B and saved a lot of time. Grinder of a workout though.

Midline

6 Sets

4 Good Mornings
4 Evil Wheels

Did 2 sets with each weight of 145-155-165#. Tried out something new for the evil wheels and I liked it. Makes it more like the ab roller devices, adding a stability element since the plate wants to roll one to the sides a little.

Skill Conditioning

8 Rounds (Tabata)

20s Double Unders
10s Rest

Had 2 misses, but managed a new PR (by 6 reps) with 286 dubs. Three hundo should be possible if I can get rid of the misses.

Mighty Muscle-ups

Didn’t get much sleep trying to watch CJ’s session in the American Open last night, though the feed cut out for me so I completely missed all of the clean & jerks. Got some upper body feels from all of the snatching yesterday and legs feel a little tired. In at 9am for the first muscle-up day of the gymnastics program.

Skill WOD (Hustle & Flow) Week 1 Day 3

Warm-up

3 sets

5 Bar Work
(Hold and pause 2 sec at each position with no form breaks and no momentum)
- Dead Hang
- Lat Active Hollow
- Tight Arch
1 Skin the Cat
7 Straddle V-ups
10s GHD Hanging Bridge Stretch

Thought it would be harder than it was to do all of that holding on the bar in one set. Wasn’t bad. Straddle v-ups are very awkward.

Skill A – 4 Supersets

1 Ring Swing + Pull-up w/ swing + MU
2 Box Hip Kip Drill
3 Banded Hip Drill

First set of the complex was odd, but got the hang of it and smoothed out the transition from pull-up into muscle for the rest of the sets. Wasted a bunch of time setting up for this part and figuring out what to do. The banded drill programmed didn’t work worth a shit for us so we did the Gymnastics WOD version. with a band through the rings.

Skill Test – 3 sets

1 rep of complex is:

MU + 2 Strict Ring Dips (after the MU dip lockout)

First two sets are 3 reps of the complex and then the 3rd set is for max reps. I got 5 on my max set. Those dips add up!

Strength Accessory – 3 sets

Lower to Hold (3s) Front Lever on Box

Completely missed that we were supposed to do 3 of these each set. I thought it was “too easy” in the sense that it wasn’t a lot of work. Pretty sure I’ll never be able to hold an actual front lever in my life, but the strength transfer should help other stuff and I’m guessing that’s the idea.

Bonus Complex

Set 1: 3 Ring Pull-up + 3 Toes to Rings + 4 MU
Set 2: 3+3+5
Sets 3+: Keep adding 1 MU until failure

I wasn’t real confident going into this after only getting 5 in the skill test and already feeling pretty smoked in my shoulders and arms. But I got sets 1 and 2 done and got 5 muscle-ups again is the 3rd set.

Snatch After Snatch

My chest is a little tight later in the day, but otherwise not sore from the 100 bench press yesterday. Lifted with Alex tonight. Warmed up with 3×8 Reverse Hyper (210#) and then into some squats.

Back Squat

10x20kg
6×70 (pause)
5×100 (pause)
3×120 (pause)
2×130
2×140
2×150
2×155
2×160 (PR)

Haven’t had that on a bar since the day I had my PR with 360# about 1.5 years ago. Led with my butt on the second rep so it was a good place to stop and was a 2RM PR anyway. Staying patient with the gainz.

Snatch

5x20kg
3×40
3×50
2×60
2×65
2×70
2×75
1×80
1×85
Miss 88
Miss 88
1×88
Miss 90
1×70
Miss 70 (somehow hit my knee on the first pull)
1×70
1×73
1×76
1×79
1×82
1×85
1×88
1×90

Felt a lot more solid in the second wave! Great idea by Alex to drop back down and work up slower. That was a long snatch session!

Benchin’ Bro

Power went out on the entire side of town by the gym, so no evening class like I had planned. Headed out to the garage around 5:30

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bench Press
- 10×45#
- 5×95#

Strength-ish

100 Bench Press (135#)

Saw this on Instagram the other day and figured it would be fun to try, just wasn’t expecting to do it so soon.

As recommended I started out doing 5 reps every 30 seconds. In the beginning it was consistently like a reverse tabata but then it started to get hard around 50 reps and I could feel myself slowing down. I was getting closer and closer to 15 seconds of work. I made it to 85 reps with the sets of 5 and decided to try and push a little to see if I could get ahead of the E30S pace. So I switched to sets of 3 with shorter rests. Wasn’t easy, but got those 5 sets in to finish at 9:37 on the clock.

Accessory

6 Sets

10 Pendlay Rows (95#, supinated grip)
10 Back Extensions (30#)

Chest and back bro!

Conditioning

Through the 17 weeks of Rowing WOD I was staying away from the Ski Erg. Time to hop back on.

E3M 15:00

300m Ski Erg

Just what the doctor ordered. Times were 59.2, 58.4, 58.8, 59.7, and 59.0. The Fitbit says my heart rate only got up to 131. haha Yeah right! I’ll have to try wearing it higher on my wrist.

Sore Wings

Woke up yesterday with a headache that got worse through the day, before I finally gave in and popped some pills. So fucking sore too! I’m not sure my lats have even been this sore from pull-ups. Triceps are rocked from Kalsu I believe and my biceps are probably sore from the underhand work on Monday. Had planned an active recovery day yesterday with the possibility of squatting, but it was pretty obvious my body was crying for rest.

Was wide awake shortly after 5am so crawled out of bed and got an early start on work. Then went to the 9am class.

Warm-up

Bottom Squat Hold
Shoulder & Upper Back stretching
Air Squats
Jumping Jacks
Toe Touches
Zombie Kicks

Strength: Deadlift

10×45#
6×155
3×265
3×315
3×345
3×375
3×395
3×415
3×435

Yeah! Only 30# shy of my best triple. The slow and steady approach is paying off. Back felt really good today. I put on my belt starting with 345 I think.

Weightlifting

Probably should say it’s more conditioning since not really much technique work involved.

10:00 EMOM

2 Clean & Jerks

I went 155-165-175-185-195-200-205-210-215-220 with squatting and split jerks. I think I powered one rep at 175 or 185. My second split jerk in the heavy rounds was kind of ugly with a lot of flat back foot. Wore the belt and lifting shoes.

Conditioning

6 Rounds

10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
10 Plate Snatches (45#)

Looks innocent, right? Nasty shoulder burner though, starting at the end of the 3rd round. I was glad I didn’t use the 25# slam ball and was starting to regret my decision to use the 45# plate. Kept every round unbroken though. Finished in 5:43. According to the Fitbit, my heart rate was up to 144 at the end.

Skill WOD: Hustle & Flow Week 1 Day 2

Headed out to the garage in the afternoon to do this. Shoulders feeling fatigue from this morning.

Warm-up

3 sets

10 Pass-thrus
10 Hollow Rocks
10 Arch Ups
10 Narrow Grip OHS (45#)
10s Bottom of Dip Hold
10 Bridge Rocks

Skill

4 Sets

Freestanding HS Hold
16 Shoulder Taps (heels to wall)
20 Shotguns (Shoot to hollow)

Basically just practiced trying to get up into a freestanding handstand. After a few attempts out in the open I moved over to the wall with a little better success. If I kicked up and hit the wall I took my feet off the wall as quick as I could and tried to balance for a few seconds. Shoulder taps with back to the wall are so much harder. I wasn’t even tapping my shoulders, though I don’t think I was shifting my weight enough until the last set. Will hopefully be easier at the gym with more room.

Skill Test

1st week: Find 1 rep MAX deficit strict HSPU
3 sets of 4-6 strict reps at 70% of max deficit

I didn’t figure out a good way to setup the plates until I had already started on an alternative. Did 3×7 regular strict reps with no deficit and about 2-2:30 of rest between sets. Plenty difficult.

Strength Accessory

3 Sets

8 Seated DB Press (30# DBs)
10 Parallette Push-ups
30s GHD Hollow Hold

Holy fuck was that hold hard! Entire body shaking by 10 seconds in. The seated presses were easy at that weight but I didn’t want to kill myself too much before the AMRAP, which I knew would be tough.

5:00 AMRAP

1-2-3-4-5…

Burpees
HSPU

Went unbroken through 3 and then no more than 2 handstand push-ups in a row. Finished the round of 5 plus 6 burpees and 5 HSPU.

Structured Gymnastics Work

Feeling pretty good after Kalsu. Legs are fine, but my shoulders are fatigued. In at 10am to start a gymnastics program. Jumped on the rowed for an easy 1,000 meters before getting started. I saw the next cycle of the Rowing WOD combines rowing with thrusters. Good time to switch out. 🙂

Going to be following the Skill WOD from Dusty Hyland, starting with a 4-week cycle he calls Hustle & Flow. With the Open about 3 months away it’s a good time to focus on increasing gymnastics strength, technique, and endurance.

Warm-up

3 sets

5 Bar taps – tight
5 Bar taps – dynamic
7 V-ups
10 Pass-thrus
7 GHD Heel Drives
10 Bridge Rocks

I really like the structure of the warm-up and how it gets everything ready, while reinforcing position work.

Shoulder Activation

3 sets: 3 Scap Elevators + 3 Strict Pull-ups
1 set: 1+1

Superset

5 Sets

5 Butterfly Box Drill Circular Rotations
1 Stop Strict Pull-up + 3 Pull-ups (butterfly drill)
5 C2B Pull-ups

Skill Test

3 Pull-ups + 3 C2B + 3 Pull-ups + 3 C2B
2:00 Rest
2 sets
- 70% MAX C2B
- 90s Rest

I figured there was no way I was getting 2 sets of 14 chest-to-bar pull-ups here after all of the other pull-ups already. Got both though!

Strength Accessory

3 Supersets

15s Underhand grip chin hang
8 Supinated Bar Rows

My least favorite part. Did not feel very good on my elbows in either part.

Bonus Complex

Set 1: 2 Strict Pull-ups + 2 Strict C2B + 3 K2E + 3 T2B + 3 Bar MU
Sets 2-3: 2+2+3+3

Damn those are some hard strict pull-ups! It’s programmed as 4 bar muscle-ups in the first set, but I could only get 3. Then you are supposed to keep adding 1 MU every set until failure, trying to get in at least 3 sets of work. Didn’t realize it until a minute or so later, but I ripped my thumb in that first set, so that was the end of the bar muscle-ups for the day. Finished out 3 sets of work.

I was being a good boy and protecting my hands during the big set stuff with my gymnastics grips, but they don’t do anything for your thumbs. I must really grip hard on that bar transitioning from rep to rep of my bar MU. Will have to tape up my thumbs from now on.

With a focused attack it took us an hour to finish. Better than I expected, especially for the first week.