Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Testing Twenty

Slept in this morning after getting up in the middle of the night to order my iPhone 6s. Headed to CFi just before noon.

Warm-up

Easy 3:00 on the Air Dyne for 61 calories.

Row

20:00 for max meters

In the first week test I was not happy with my performance of 5,150 meters at an average pace of 1:56.5 because in my recent 5k PR I averaged 1:53.8 in just under 19 minutes. World’s apart. In that first test I started out at a good pace but couldn’t hold and just kept drifting away.

Today I followed the plan set out in the program and set my target at a 1:54 average, knowing I shouldn’t have much of a problem beating it and getting near or under the pace I did for the 5k. Having to hold back in the first 10 minutes was tough but I trusted in the plan. If you notice the pace of the first 2:00 split is low that’s because of going hard for the first 10 strokes and then settling in around 1:57.

Between 5 and 6 minutes the average was right an 1:56.0, and I held exact there until around 9 minutes in, when it started to creep down. From there it kept getting lower each minute. When I passed 5,000 meters it wasn’t off a PR time by more than 5 seconds and I was just starting my kick going into the final stretch, so I could have easily beat it. Averaged a 1:53.6 or .7, depending on if you’re looking at the ending screen or the splits, to beat my goal pace. Total of 5,278 meters for a 128 meter jump over week 1. I think I could have done a better job from about 8 minutes left to 4 minutes left, which I’ll have to remember the next time I do a 5k test.

Happy with the progress and the things I’ve learned about the erg so far, but still a lot of room for improvement. Excited for the next phase.

I don’t know why I didn’t take my shirt off today. It got very uncomfortable after about 5 minutes when the sweat started pouring out.

Accessory

5 Sets

8/8 Single Leg RDL (115#)
15 Decline DB Bench (45# DBs)
5 Supinated Pendlay Rows (135-145-145-155-155#)

Gradually going up on the RDLs each week. My posterior chain felt a lot tighter when I was standing on my right leg. The bench was easy even at 15 reps. First time trying Pendlay Rows with the reverse grip; definitely a different feel to it.

Fat Curls

Legs are a little weak and traps are sore for sure. Headed to the garage around 5pm.

Warm-up

5:00 Ski Erg – 1,004 meters

Overhead Squats: 5-5-X-1 Tempo

2×45#
2×75#
2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
2×145#
2×155#
2×165#

Decided to switch up the reps and tempo this week since it was pretty rough with 155# for a triple at 33X3 last week. Started in with the grip again. Very rough with 45 and 75 in close near jerk grip. Can’t get the bar back in that position. Gets so much easier by the 4th set. Not fully out to the collars again with the last set. Didn’t kill my wrists either.

Accessory

5 Sets

12 Fat Gripz Barbell Curls (45-45-45-45-55#)
15 Weighted GHD Sit-ups (15# Slam Ball)

I don’t think I’ve use these blue babies since I bought them. Might as well try to give these curls a boost since I feel so weak with them. My upper abs were sore for days after the weighted GHDs last weeks so keep up with them but switched up the stimulus a bit with more reps at a lighter weight.

Done in less than an hour and didn’t rush through anything.

Team Series Event 2

More team series tonight.

Warm-up

3×8 Reverse Hyper (210#)
Bottom Squat Hold
5 Shoulder Press (45#)
5 C&J (95#)

Team Series Event 2

As FF and MM pairs, 20:00 AMRAP

30 C&J (females)
30 C&J (males)
30 C&J (females)
30 C&J (males)
Etc.

Switch athletes after every 5 reps and increase the weight of the barbell after each set of 30 reps.

Females use 95, 105, 125, 145, 155, 165#

Males use 135, 155, 185, 225, 245, 265#

We were flying through until Jess tweaked her back when the girls were 8 reps into 125#. She’s coming back from a pretty scary tweak so smart to stop before really getting hurt. So our score was a 128 with a tiebreak of 8:39. There was still 9:53 on the clock when we stopped. Bryan and I flew through those first two Graces in 1:41 and 1:51.

After making sure Jess was ok, Michelle, Bryan, and I continued on alternating sets of 5 with our 125# and 185# bars. Then I think Michelle went with 135#. We put ours up to 225# and I knocked out 5 singles. Have never tried that and really needed to think about what I was doing after the first rep or two, but continued doing power clean & push jerks. Got in one more rep after they did some.

Team of 3

The 3 of use decided to whip up a version of Event 1 to try out.

100 DU (each, going one at a time)
150 Row calories (total, doing 25 at a time)
105 Weighted Step-ups (total, 5 at a time with 30/45# DBs and 20/24″ box)

Took us 15:13 I think. Was a really good workout. Michelle started, getting 100 unbroken dubs for the first time, Bryan went next and got in a PR of 80-some unbroken during his hundy, then I went 3rd and got mine unbroken too. Kept the same order throughout.

Legs are going to feel tired tomorrow.

Team Series Event 4

Was planning a rest day but we had an opening to get in a workout for the CrossFit Team Series. I didn’t do a whole lot to warm-up. Some bottom squat holds, some stretching, and a few thrusters.

15:00 AMRAP

Male 1 and Female 1 each perform:
- 5 thrusters (95/65#)
- 5 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Then, Male 2 and Female 2 each perform:
- 10 thrusters
- 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Then, Male 1 and Female 1 each perform:
- 15 thrusters
- 15 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Then, Male 2 and Female 2 each perform:
- 20 thrusters
- 20 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Etc., following the same pattern

Michelle and Bryan went first with the 5s and then Jess and I with the 10s. We ended up 4 reps shy of finishing the sets of 30 for a total of 416 reps.

Wasn’t as bad as we were expecting because you got a lot of rest when the other pair was going. I think I went 10, 10-10, and 9-8-7-6 on my thrusters. The sets of 20 and 30 C2B sucked!

12002361_899003536841433_834740808401680090_o

3 more workouts to go…

Rowing Retests

Got in to the gym before the 9am class started to get going on my rowing for the day.

Warm-up

3 Rounds NFT

8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
1:00 Air Dyne

Row

3:00 for distance
10:00 Rest
250m for time
Rest as needed (about 6:00)
20:00 at low intensity

I just didn’t have the juice for the 3 minute test. Beat the first week, but that was limited by 24 s/m so can’t really compare. I did 904 meters, but was thinking maybe I could get close to a 1k. Legs just didn’t have any go.

Felt like I recovered well in the 10 minutes. Took me what seemed like a long time to get going (under 1:20/500m pace) on the 250 but when I got there I was able to hold on. My PR was a 40.4 and I was thinking sub 40 might be possible. Got close with 40.1. My first 100m was in 16.6 compared to my PR of 16.0, so just need to start better and I’ll have it.

I actually wasn’t as out of breath after this as I’ve been in the past. Those power intervals must be working. Took about 6 minutes and then got in on the easy row. Tried to stay around a 2:14-2:15 pace and 24 s/m. Ended up with 4,465 meters and a 2:14.3/500m average.

Can’t wait to see the Team Series workouts released tonight!

Laboring

One class at 10am for the holiday.

Warm-up

2×10 Reverse Hyper (160#)
Bottom Squat Hold
Shoulder stretching
Barbell warm-up with 45-95#

Conditioning

800m Run
30 Squat Snatch (95#)
400m Run
30 Hang Squat Clean (95#)
200m Run
30 Back Squats (95#)
400m Run
30 Push-ups
800m Run
30 Pull-ups

This is a memorial WOD for a coach at a box in Kentucky that recently passed away. Got nasty real quick with those squat snatches. I started off with 2 triples and then switched to singles the rest of the way. I was wondering what was taking people so long to do their 400 until I went out and started mine. Legs didn’t want to move. I could have walked it faster. I did the cleans in five sets of 6 without much trouble. Really slow on the 200. Didn’t put the bar down for the back squats and then even slower for the 400 meters. Fives on the push-ups and it was a nice rest for the legs. Was able to go a little faster for the 800 and finished up with sets of 5 pull-ups at a time with a quick turn-around. Finished in 30:20. It’s embarrassing how bad my running has become when I’m tired.

becky-memorial-wod

Pre-Labor

Glad I took it easy yesterday.

Warm-up

3×10 Reverse Hyper (160#)
Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bottom Squat Hold
Shoulder Stretching

Accessory

6 Sets

3 Weighted Pull-ups (35-40-45-50-50-50#)
10 Decline Push-ups (2×12, 4×16″)

Can’t remember the last time I’ve done a weighted pull-up. Seemed harder than it should have been. The push-ups weren’t very hard, but something different.

Weightlifting

E2M 20:00

Power Snatch
Hang Squat Snatch
OHS

Warmed up with a little work at 45-75-95#. Started with 105# on my first set. Increased by 10# up to 155#, then 160#, and finally the final 3 sets with 165#. Bringing the bar back down and getting a solid grip on it for the hang snatch was probably the hardest part; really felt it in that thumb area. I think the tempo overhead squat work is helping already. Felt more comfortable in the bottom position and the OHS felt like butter.

Conditioning

200m Run
40 T2B
200m Run

Quick one. I went with sets of 5 toes to bars without much rest between, which served me well up until the final 5 reps where I went 1-2-2 I think. Finished in 3:38 with enough in the tank where I could still run hard the 2nd time around.

Midline

4 Rounds NFT

30s Hollow Hold
50 Double Unders

First hold was rough but was able to do each one without breaking. Each set of dubs were done unbroken too. Rested about 60-90 seconds between rounds. Abs are pretty sore from the weighted GHDs yesterday.

Got in some solid work but nothing crushing. Will be thankful for that with the workout that is planned for tomorrow.

Working Little Things

My plan for the week went out the window when golf was rained out on Thursday. Felt like I needed a recovery day so skipped the 10am class. Out in the garage around noon for accessory work.

Warm-up

3:00 Ski Erg (640m)
Crossover Symmetry Activation

OHS – 33X3 Tempo

3×45#
3×75#
3×95#
3×115#
3×125#
3×135#
3×145#
3×155#

Started just inside of jerk grip at 45# and does that ever feel terrible. I can tell the bar is way forward but I can’t get it back. Hopefully as I keep doing this it will improve. Slowly inched out my hands each set. Fewer sets today so didn’t even make it out to the collars like I have been. Here’s the final set (not slomo).

Accessory

6 Sets

10/10 Single Leg RDL (75-75-95-95-95-95#)
10 Decline DB Bench (50# DBs)
10 Weighted GHD Sit-ups (20# MB)

Used a barbell for the RDLs today so I could go heavier. I could have used 2 DBs but I didn’t feel like having to change the weight going back and forth between the bench. Doesn’t look like much but I was sweating buckets through this.

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap.

Only 1:00 Rest

Sore in a few places from the last couple of days. Deadlifts got my hamstrings, both days got my shoulders, all of the pressing yesterday got my traps, and I think the heavy squats followed up by the set of 35 squats in the metcon got the rest of my legs. Went in around 5pm to get in my rowing.

Warm-up

3 Rounds NFT

10 Reverse Hyper (160#)
1:00 Air Dyne

Row: Power Intervals

1:00 @ 24 s/m
1:00 Rest
1:00 @ 26
1:00 Rest
1:00 @ 28
1:00 Rest
1:00 28+ (must be rowing full length)
1:00 Rest
1:00 Flat-out (full length not required)
15:00 Rest then repeat

Oh my! From 2 minutes of rest, to 1:40, to 1:20, and finally down to a minute. Big improvement during both sets on the 24-26-28, but I had no power left for the final 2 minutes of each set. I was still able to set a new best for the first set and total though. Total of 3,181 meters this week, up from the first week of 3,088, the second week with 3,166, and last week with 3,174. Same work time every week just less rest between each minute of work. I stuck to the same 15 minutes of rest between sets, which was definitely needed.

Pretty sure this is the first week where my pace/500m has actually gotten slower in the final minute. In the first set I actually kind of stopped for a second or two before I slapped myself and kept going. So much lactic acid build up after the first four minutes.

rowing-wod-w5s2

Next week is a retest so I’m excited to see where I’m add. Should see a nice improvement if this power intervals are any indication. Timing is good too since I’ll need to get in the Team Series workouts.

I think tomorrow is going to turn into a light day instead of going to the 10am class. Feeling a little rough from this week and don’t want to go into testing and the Team Series beat up.

Gold Star

Had taken the day off work to play our end of the year golf tournament. We only got through 7 holes before storms rolled in and it rained all day. So back home and worked out in the garage before 5pm.

Warm-up

3×10 Reverse Hyper (180#)

Was pretty easy to setup and take down my contraption.

Strength: Safety Bar Squats

10×65#
6×135#
3×185#
3×225#
3×245#
3×255#
3×265#
3×275#
3×285#
3×295#

Lifting shoes but no belt. Second to last rep was a struggle so I started thinking too much and made my final rep pretty squirrely.

Warmed up for the metcon with 5 shoulder press + 5 overhead squats with 45# and 95#.

Conditioning

10 Shoulder Presses (115#)
15 OHS
20 Push Presses
25 Front Squats
30 Push Jerks
35 Back Squats

Same bar and load for each movement. One of my favorites to come back to because it tests you in many different ways. I’ve done it three times now, getting better each time.

4/15/13 – 14:03
7/21/14 – 13:34
9/3/15 – 10:33

Over a 3 minute improvement in the last year! I went 7 shoulder press, 3 presses then on to my back and in to 9 overhead squats, and then finished the last 6 OHS. Push presses were done 9-6-5, front squats 10-10-5, push jerks with 3 sets of 10, and didn’t put the bar down for the 35 back squats. Tried not to rest too much when I dropped the bar in between sets.

Jumped on the Air Dyne for a very easy 10 minutes to flush out the legs.

Check out some CrossFit elite doing this one…