Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Teams of 2

Yesterday morning I walked 18 holes of golf and qualified for the Saginaw District Golf Association Invitational Tournament. It got up into the mid or high 90 and was a long day. Perfect timing for a CrossFit rest day! Feeling good and back at it today. When I woke up I knocked out one set of max rep push-ups and decided the Armstrong Pull-up Program just isn’t worth the time. It’s so boring compared to WODs, so I’m done with it.

Matt, the owner of the gym, attended a CrossFit Level 1 Certification over the weekend and will next be working on getting Survival Fitness affiliated as an official CrossFit box next. Pretty exciting stuff. He learned a lot and you could already see it in the way he ran today’s class. I don’t mean anything bad about previous classes by saying that, I just felt like he had more confidence in his teaching of certain movements and pointing out some of our technique issues. It’ll make us all better.

Warm-up

1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Mountain Climbers
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m PVC Pass-thrus
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Lateral hops (30s each leg)
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Bicycles
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Jumping Jacks

We’ve been doing a lot of these bottom squat holds and I think it’s helping to open up my hips more. Matt pointed out that I had too much of a round in my back though, so I have to fight for a better position.

WOD

Teams of 2 (45:00 limit)

200 Air Squats
100 T2B
150 Burpees
500m Run holding a 20# MB (both people run at the same time and at the pace of the slowest)
150 Box Jumps (24″)
100 Pull-ups
200 Walking Lunge Steps
200 SDLHP (barbell loaded to 95#)

Only 1 person is working at a time except during the run. The goal is to keep a high intensity and hand off to your partner when you start to slow down. The hand off is hard to do, even when you know you are starting to slow, because you want to keep knocking out reps. I attended the 8pm class, which is the last class of the day and no team had completed the WOD all day. The closest anyone got was 49 reps left by a team of 2 of the fittest women at Survival Fitness. I was paired up with Brent, which was a good pairing because we are both near the top of the men at SF. We flew along pretty good, but the pull-ups slowed us down and then the SDLHP were absolutely brutal. I’m sure I’ll be feeling those tomorrow. We pushed it hard through the entire 45 minutes and fell 33 reps shy of completing the WOD, but set the record for the day. With a little better strategy I think we could have finished. Next time!

CrossFit for Hope

I was feeling pretty rough as I got out of bed this morning, due to last night’s epic workout. I loosed up after I started moving around the house though. I didn’t do the push-ups for the Armstrong Pull-up Program first thing in the morning because I wanted to save everything I had for the WOD. Went in to the 10am class instead of 11 because it’s supposed to get really hot and humid today.

If you want to donate (everything goes to St. Jude Children’s Hospital), head over to my sponsorship page. Every extra $ helps out the kids and furthers cancer research.

Warm-up

1m Deep Squat Hold
1m PVC Deadlift
1m Deep Squat Hold
1m PVC Clean
1m Deep Squat Hold
1m PVC Shoulder Pass-thrus
1m Deep Squat Hold
1m PVC Snatch

This was a nice warm-up to loosen up for the movements and I’m glad it wasn’t a high cardio one, which saved energy for the actual WOD.

WOD

“Hope”
3 rounds

Burpees
Power snatch (75#)
Box jump (24″) *Rebounding off the top is allowed
Thruster (75#)
Chest to bar Pull-ups

“Hope” has the same format as Fight Gone Bad. In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep.

WOW! This is the toughest WOD I’ve ever done and I didn’t hold anything back. My goal was to get 150 reps, which I had before the 2nd round was over! I managed a total of 235 reps with rounds of 82, 74, and 78, doing everything Rx. Pace and consistency were a key in this WOD. If you started out too fast, you’d wipe yourself out for the movements late in your round or even worse for the 2nd and 3rd rounds. I couldn’t be happier with my performance. During the next class Casey, the stud of Survival Fitness, got 255 reps, so I’m even happier with my rep total. Another Casey, who I paired up with, started out way too fast, but held in there for 211 reps. As far as I know, no other guys did it Rx. I don’t know if any of the women did it Rx, but I would assume Michelle did for 176 reps.

Here I am at the end of the snatch station in round 3.

Since we paired up and did 2 heats, after I was done I counted for my partner, Casey (CA). During the 3rd round my hands started to tingle and it progressively spread up my arms and eventually through most of my body down into my feet. As soon as their heat was over, I refilled my water bottle and started slamming water. I didn’t think I could be too dehydrated at this point, but after watching someone go into shock on Deadliest Catch from dehydration I didn’t want to take any chances. I was getting a little dizzy, so I sat down for a while. I’m glad there was another class right after, because it would not have been smart for me to go home, where I’d be alone if something happened to me. I think I was feeling the effects of pushing my body beyond its limits, which hasn’t happened in a long time. As I rested, I recovered and was able to help clean up the equipment when the 2nd class finished. I was fine to go home on my own at that point. A little scary though, to be honest.

I think I’m going to skip the push-ups for the Armstrong program today, but will try to get the pull-ups done tonight.

2 Hours of CrossFit

Was up early this morning to play a practice round in preparation for the Saginaw District Golf Tournament Qualifier, which is this Sunday. Yes, I knocked out the Armstrong push-ups bright and early to start my day.

My pair of Reebok CrossFit Nano 2.0 arrived today in time to use them for my workout. I’m very pleased with them as a CrossFit shoe.

I attended the 4:15 class and planned on staying after for open gym to work on a bunch of stuff and beat up my body.

Warm-up

100-75-50-25 Squats
50-40-30-20 HR Push-ups

I’m not sure you can really call this a warm-up, because it took longer than the WOD. I finished in 17:22.

WOD

21-15-9

Goblet Squats (88# KB)
Burpees
Pull-ups
Sit-ups

I went as heavy as I could for the goblet squats by using the largest KB in the gym and for each round I broke them up into 2 sets. They completely wiped me out for burpees, which I did extremely slow compared to my normal pace. My time was 12:45.

Finisher

Death by Box Jumps

1st minute: 2 box jumps
2nd minute: 4 box jumps
… increas by 2 each minute

Go big or go home right? I used the 32″ box for the first time, which wasn’t too bad. I just had to take my time a little more and make sure I got a good jump in. I made it up to the round of 14, which I finished a few seconds before the minute was over. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make 16 with such a short rest, so I shut it down there. Using the bigger boxes more often will make the 24″ box seem so easy.

After class I rested for a bit as some people started showing up for open gym.

WOD #2

Mini “Diane”
12-9-6

Deadlifts (225#)
HSPUs

I did strict HSPUs as long as I could, then added a kip, then added an AbMat, then added a kip with the AbMat. My time was 4:49. When I think how fast the elite men and women are doing a “Diane” compared to my mini, it’s sick. They’re in a different solar system.

Strength

Back Squats

3x 175#
3x 195#
3x 195#
3x 195#

I was feeling pretty beat after 250 air squats and the goblet squats, but it was nice to get in some moderate weight squatting for the week.

After that I decided to knock out my Armstrong Pull-ups for the day. It was 3 sets with a normal grip, 3 sets with a close (hands 0-4 inches apart) chin-up grip, and 3 sets with a wide grip. Each set was 3 reps with 60 seconds of rest in between sets. The pull-ups felt really good today.

Then I pulled out the jump rope and did some DUs. With the new rope it was nothing to knock out 10+ in a row on each attempt. It spins so effortlessly. Somehow somebody brought up muscle ups, so I tried a few on the bar. I almost had it a couple of times and I’m confident I can get it next time when I haven’t worked out for 2 hours already. 🙂

I’m fucking beat, but it was all worth it. Time to relax for the night. Tomorrow is CrossFit for Hope, which looks like a killer WOD. I’m looking forward to the snatches, which I haven’t done in quite some time.

Steppin’ up to 45s

I didn’t think yesterday’s WOD was that hard, but I was definitely feeling it today in my legs. My shins were a bit sore for the first time I can remember. I’m guessing that’s from 169 box jumps!

Woke up and did my 3 sets of max rep push-ups, which are increasing daily.

Warm-up

10:00 AMRAP

250m Run
20 Burpees

I finished 4 rounds with 30 seconds left, so there was no point in heading out for another run.

WOD

50 Man Makers (45# DBs)

What a dandy! I need to get stronger so I went for it with the 45s. Took me 27:30 to finish. I was sweating so much it was hard to hold on to the DBs. When combined with chalk it was almost like a paste on the handles. Not that my time would have improved much. Just saying it sucked. In these workouts I try not to pay attention to the clock because I know I’m pushing myself for weight and getting stronger is my goal. My endurance and cardio are pretty good and they get worked enough in all of the metcon WODs.

Finisher

7 rounds

10s Suicides
10s Rest

At the end of class a few people were talking about jump ropes, so I grabbed my brand new Again Faster Revolution Rope from the vehicle to try it for the first time. Let me tell you… it’s as good as advertised. My DUs seemed effortless in a couple of quick attempts I made. The rope spins so much nicer than the cheaper speed ropes.

When I got home, I rested for a bit and then did day 2 of the Armstrong Pull-up Program, which is now my 2nd week.

Do You Like Butterflies?

This morning it was back on the Armstrong Pull-up Program after the prescribed two days off, so I banged out my 3 sets of push-ups in the morning. Walked 18 holes of golf and then worked, so I attended the 8pm class for the first time. It was a fun partner WOD.

Warm-up

2 rounds

1m Plank Step-outs
1m Standing Bicycle/Steam Engine
1m Side Bends (35# KB)
1m Russian Twist (35# KB)
1m Superman Plank
1m Rest

The plank step-outs and Superman planks were both new to me. I could feel both of them working right away.

WOD

We partnered up and did a ladder with 2 exercises, wall balls (20# MB) and box jumps (24″). I was teamed up with Jason, who has lost over 60 pounds since he started about 3 months ago. Amazing! Jason did 25 wall balls, while I did 25 box jumps. When we both completed our reps, we swapped exercises, but were now on 24 reps. So each time we switched, we decreased a rep. In the end I did more box jumps and Jason did more wall balls, but I think it was only a difference of 13 reps. My goal was to complete all of my sets unbroken, which I was able to do. Jason did an awesome job and we ended up setting the best time for the day with 20:09. I know you’re not supposed to compare yourself too much to everyone else, but that’s still one hell of a feeling and I can’t help by try to win everything I do.

Skills

After the WOD, I alternated between doing 10 pistols (switching legs each rep) and working on the butterfly kipping pull-up. As the sets went on, my pistols got better and better. It’s all about finding the balance points when I do them. As far as the butterfly pull-ups go, they are a work-in-progress. I started to feel some of the cycling, and got 2 in a row towards the end.

As soon as I got home I knocked out 5 max rep sets of strict pull-ups with 90 seconds of rest in between for the Armstrong program. After just doing a bunch of pull-up work at Survival Fitness, I didn’t get too many.

Can You Donate Some Dollars?

This Saturday is CrossFit for Hope, which is an event based around raising money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. CrossFitters around the world will be doing the “Hope” WOD and are taking donations and pledges. If you have a few spare bucks to donate, I have a big box over in the right sidebar linking to the page where you can sponsor me. St. Jude is a great cause and does a ton to advance cancer research. I’m trying to raise $300, so anything you can do is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It felt great to take a rest day yesterday. It was tough not doing anything, but I know it’s for the best.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

Broad Jumps
Rock Climbers

Haven’t done either of these exercises in quite some time. Both are pretty taxing.

WOD

250m Run
50 Tuck Jumps
50 Plank Push-ups
250m Run
40 Lunges
40 Prayer Crunches
250m Run
30 SDLHP (71# KB)
30 K2E
250m Run
20 Burpee Box Jumps (24″)
20 Ring Rows
250m Run
10 Pull-ups
10 Curtis P’s (40# DBs)
250m Run

I’d never done plank push-ups or Curtis P’s before and to be honest, I won’t be mad if I never have to do them again. Haha! Both were tough on me. My time was 24:48.

Ab Finisher

1m Side Plank (R)
10 V-ups
1m Side Plank (L)
10 V-ups
45s Side Plank (R)
11 V-ups
45s Side Plank (L)
11 V-ups
30s Side Plank (R)
12 V-ups
30s Side Plank (L)
12 V-ups
15s Side Plank (R)
13 V-ups
15s Side Plank (L)
13 V-ups

My tailbone and the surrounding areas still have some issues, so the V-ups were pretty brutal, not to mention there was a total of 90 of them. I got through them though.

Today was a great WOD and finisher that hit a lot of areas.

Reebok hasn’t shipped my CrossFit Nano 2.0 shoes yet. I wonder what the hold-up is. I did call Zappos to check on the status of the Inov-8s I had to return and they are actually crediting my credit card for them. I figured they were giving me a credit to use on another pair of shoes. I love Zappos!

Fifties on Sunday

Yesterday while watching golf, I downloaded a bunch of Survival Fitness videos from Facebook and compiled them into a movie.

My body is pretty freaking sore all over. I haven’t felt like this in a couple of months, so I can tell the WODs have been great and the extra work I’m putting in is paying off . Yesterday I mentioned my tailbone was really sore. Well, it’s more than that. I have two quarter-sized floor burn marks on the sides of my tailbone. No wonder in hurts to sit down! Sorry, no pictures. 😉

Do you ever get bruises in CrossFit and have no idea where they came from? I have one under my right arm and a matching one under my armpit almost all the way to my back. Weird.

I did the push-ups of Armstrong Pull-up Program when I got out of bed this morning. It’s a nice way to start the day. I went in to the noon class today and it was packed with 20 people. Since class was so big we had to skip around during the movements, but it all worked out.

Warm-up

5 rounds

1m Deep Squat Hold
1m Mountain Climbers

I was stiffer than usual from the squat holds and 1 minute is a long time to do mountain climbers in a row, so I had to take 2-3 short breaks for them each round.

WOD

50 of each

DUs
Burpees
MB Snatches (20#)
Push Presses (30# DBs)
Wall Balls (20#)
K2E
Walking Lunges
KBS (53#)
Jumping Pull-ups
Box Jumps (24″)

It was ordered different on the board, but this is the order I ended up doing. I finished in 32:01. Most people did tuck jumps, but I was able to string together a few DUs before we started, so I went with DUs and completed them in 4 sets. I think I need to start practicing them again.

Later tonight I’ll do the nightly pull-ups and then it’s 2 days off from Armstrong Pull-ups. Tomorrow will also be a day off from CrossFit, which I’m really looking forward to. I will get out and walk 18 holes of golf.

Update: I just couldn’t stand sitting around later in the evening even though I went out and walked 9 holes of golf after lunch. I had to lace up the shoes and go out for a run, so I did a 5 minute warm-up, Tabata sprints, and a 5 minute cool down. In 14:14 I covered a total of 1.73 miles.

Touchy Tailbone

Rolling out of bed was rough this morning. My lower back is very sore from one-arm snatches and deadlifts yesterday, but even worse, my tailbone feels raw from the 150 sit-ups last night. I can feel them in my abs too, but WOW it hurts to sit! Once I finally got out of bed, I knocked out 3 sets of max push-ups as I went through my morning routine. This may not have been the best idea considering I knew we were doing “Angie” today for the WOD. It’ll make me stronger I guess!

Warm-up

5 rounds

1m Plank
1m Burpees (10 and then rest)

Just last night I was thinking we hadn’t done plank in a while. Funny how that works out. 🙂

WOD

“Angie”

100 Pull-ups
100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Air Squats

The one time I’ve done “Angie” Rx was on April 11th and looking back, we had swapped the order of sit-ups and squats. Probably didn’t matter much. My time then was 24:42, with about 12:00 to get through the pull-ups. When I did this, I was still doing “cheater” sit-ups where I only had to touch my shoes. I’m no longer doing those because they’re a joke with my long arms and flexibility. I’ve started getting all the way up so I can reach out past my feet. Originally I was planning to blow that time out of the water, even with harder sit-ups, but the tailbone issue made it rough.

I was feeling pretty good through the pull-ups and completed them in about 8:30, a lot faster than last time. I wore home-made tape grips on both hands which really helped saved my hands since they are in rough shape from the last week. I felt ok on push-ups considering I had already done 100 of them when I woke up. Started with a set of 15, then did 3 or 4 sets of 10. That’s when things started to slow down and sets kept getting smaller and smaller. Sets were all 5 or more though, which is a huge improvement from last time when I was only getting 2-4 at the end.

At this point it was neck and neck between a few of us. Sit-ups absolutely killed me though. They took me forever even with two mats under my ass for padding. Each sit-up hurt like a bitch so I tried as much as possible to come up on the sides of my ass instead of straight up. I powered through and moved on to the squats. Not my best effort in the squats, but I finished in 23:41, which is a PR by 61 seconds. I’m confident I can get sub-20 next time.

Strength

Death by Clean & Jerks

Brent and Ron had already used up all of the 10# bumpers, so I didn’t have much choice but to load up with a couple of 45s and do 135#. I got up through the set of 4 and had to start the set of 5 with no rest. I nearly made it in the minute, but locked out the jerk 1 or 2 seconds after the minute ran out. I took a couple of minutes off and then jumped over to the 115# bar Brent was using and did a minute with 6 reps and a minute with 7 reps to get in some more work.

At some point tonight I’ll do day 4 of the Armstrong Pull-up Program.

Snatching Sixty

No golf today due to rain, so I woke up early. I wanted to eat a small breakfast and hit the 9am class. First things first though, I knocked out my 3 maximum effort sets of push-ups for the Armstrong Pull-up Program. While doing these, I’m concentrating on keeping my elbows in close because I have the tendency to let my elbows fly out during push-ups. My sets today were 35, 32, and 30 with sufficient rest in between each set.

My legs are feeling a little sore from yesterday, but that’s good. I need to do more heavy squatting. I’m sure the wall balls have something to do with it as well. I really enjoyed this video, which looks back at Regionals. Check it out.

This morning I realized I’m starting my 8th month of CrossFit. Incredible! I’ve never stuck to a fitness program for more than 3 months, but now I can’t imagine my life without CrossFit. It has changed my life in so many great ways. I’m inspired by the people sweating next to me during each WOD. This community is something special. We’re all in the box to improve our lives and push our limits.

Warm-up

50-40-30-20-10 Air Squats
50 Mountain Climbers

I could really feel the air squats today.

WOD #1

100 Alternating 1-Arm DB Snatches
100 K2E

* Every minute there is a burpee buy-in (3-beginner, 4-intermediate, 5-advanced) before you can work on the reps. I went with 5 burpees for my buy-in. You can take a minute off from burpees and reps, but then you must work the next minute. All snatches must be completed before moving on to K2E. Time limit of 30 minutes.

Matt told me to grab the 60# DB, so I obeyed. 🙂 I never would have grabbed that one on my own, but I’m glad I did. The last time we did one-arm snatches I used a 40# DB! The 60 was tough, but rewarding and will make me stronger, which is exactly what I need. I started off going 2 minutes in a row to hit 20 reps, but quickly realized that wouldn’t last. I started taking every other minute off and was getting 10 reps during a working minute. Towards the end I pushed for 12 in one set, took the last minute off, and then worked 2 minutes in a row for the last 18 reps.

I hurried to put on one of the tape grips I had ready, but ran out of tape so couldn’t secure the second one to my left hard. Nothing ripped open, but I’ll have to keep an eye on it closer now. I was able to knock out 10 K2E in a row right off the bat, but it was all downhill from there. I worked a couple of minutes in a row here and there, but otherwise took minutes off. Near the end it was really a struggle to get my legs up. I was 10 reps shy of 100 before time ran out. Total score: 190 reps in 30:00, not even counting around 100 burpees.

I headed back to the box in the evening for open gym so I could do some deadlifts. While I was there I figured I’d do a quick WOD that wasn’t too stressful on the body.

Strength

5×5 Deadlifts

Warmed up with 10 reps at 135# and then 5 at 225#. Used 275# for all 5 working sets of 5 reps. Wasn’t planning to try to set any records today, especially with the state of my hands from hanging bar work. More than anything I just wanted to move some weight, so goal accomplished.

WOD #2

50-40-30-20-10

Sit-ups
Tuck Jumps

I ordered a Revolution Rope from Again Faster and was excited to use it today, but they sent the wrong jump rope; it’s a speed rope, which I already have. I was so bummed when I opened the package. Again Faster was quick to reply, telling me to keep the speed rope as a spare and the correct rope is on its way.

My plan was to do “Annie” even with my current speed rope, but I could not string together DUs while warming up, so I did tuck jumps instead. Finished in 8:28.

When I got home, it was time for the pull-up portion of the Armstrong Pull-up Program. Now I’m spent! I may be going crazy for working out so much, one day a week like this shouldn’t kill me should it? 🙂

Did you see the Reebok CrossFit Nano 2.0 launched today? I ordered a pair already because I had to send in my broken Inov-8s. I was just looking earlier this week for a pair of the Nano 1.0s, but couldn’t find them in my size, which is a 14. I had a feeling the new model would be coming soon since there was no restocking going on and the Games are right around the corner. I’m glad I didn’t have to wait too long. My first choice in color, the blue, doesn’t come in my size so I went with this grey pair. Good thing I acted fast because size 14 is no longer listed!

I’m so excited! I can’t wait for these to come in.

Partner Ladder

I really hated taking yesterday off, but my body needed it after 5 days in a row. I did get out and walk 18 holes of golf, so that was some active recovery. My legs were actually a little sore today, maybe lingering from all of the previous WODs building up.

Warm-up

5 rounds

12 Ring Rows
12 Plyo Push-ups

One minute per station, so you rest for the remainder of the minute once your set is done. Ring rows are still a weakness of mine. I was able to do all of the plyo push-ups unbroken though.

WOD

Partner Ladder

1 -> 10 Burpees
2 -> 20 KBS
1 -> 10 Pull-ups
2 -> 20 Wall Balls
1000m Run

One partner works at a time, while the other rests. Using burpees as an example, partner A does 1 rep, partner B does 1, partner A does 2, partner B does 2, and so on until both have done the set of 10. For the KBS and Wall Balls, rep counts increase by 2 each time, so it would be 2, 4, 6, … up to 20. I was partnered with Kinde, one of the top women at the gym. Since she had just done 150 pull-ups yesterday, Matt had her do thrusters with 30# DBs, which was so much worse.

I used a 55# KB for the swings and a 20# MB for wall balls. The only thing I didn’t complete unbroken was the set of 20 KBS, which I broke down into sets of 12 and 8. I felt bad for Kinde because she wasn’t getting much rest and then when we got to the run she was having a hard time breathing. She hung on and pushed through it. We finished in 44:27.

I had a tape grip for my right hand to do pull-ups and it really saved me. Last night I trimmed off the loose skin from a big popped blister, so it’s still pretty raw. I was really happy to be able to do all of my pull-up sets unbroken today and my wall balls are like night and day compared to where I was a few weeks ago. This Paleo Challenge is really paying off!

Strength

Front Squats

5x 135#
5x 155#
5x 175#
3x 195#
1x 215#

Hitting 215# ties my PR. I hadn’t done front squats in three and a half months, so I’m happy with that after all of the wall balls in today’s WOD. I went for a 2nd rep at 215#, but my legs were toast and I had to dump it. Next time.

Update: When I got home, I rested a bit and then did day 2 of the Armstrong Pull-up Program (PDF). I’m hoping to increase my pull-up strength at a faster pace than what I’m getting from the WODs. I’ve been consistently adding 1 or 2 reps to my maximum rep strict set each month, but I want it to increase faster. I did the first pull-up session last night, so this morning was the first time I did the push-up part of the program.

Bought the Iron Gym Extreme, because the pull-up stand I have in my garage sucks