Back Squat – Page 31 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

My Squats Suck

Yesterday I walked 18 holes of golf in the morning and was exhausted most of the day. It was a long day on Sunday helping out and watching the competition. Needed a rest day anyway after 4 in a row. In at 10am this morning.

Warm-up

3:00 Air Dyne

Olympic Lifting

Started with 7:00 of Snatch Position Drills with 45# on the training bar. Focused on my setup in addition to meeting my hips. Then I started doing snatch singles and resting as needed.

3 singles with 95#
Single, miss 2 singles with 115# (first one flew up so fast I almost caught it standing fully upright, so tried to adjust on the 2nd and bar was too far forward when I received it)
2 singles with 135#
2 singles with 145#
1 and 3 fails with 155# (I started thinking too much and then wasn’t committing to the lift)
Fail and single at 135# to stop on a make

Felt good up until 155#. Feeling fatigued still this morning though.

Strength

5/3/1 Back Squats – Cycle 2 Week 3

5 @ 120# (40% of Training Max – warm)
5 @ 150# (50% – warm)
3 @ 180# (60% – warm)
5 @ 225# (75%)
3 @ 255# (85%)
1+ @ 285# (95%)

My squat has been disappointing for the last few weeks, but last week Kevin noticed I was really bent over, so I concentrated on that today and did much better at it. But my squats still sucked. I got 3 reps at 285# before stopping. Waited a few more minutes and did 285# again for 2 reps. I was able to do 295# for three a long time ago. My squat has been shitty ever since Tough Mudder. Maybe I’ll go back to Super Squats which is what I was doing before I got sick for 2+ weeks. Something needs to change. I was planning to test my max next week but that is definitely not happening because it’ll just be disappointing to have gone down.

WOD

E4MOM 16:00 (4 rounds)

250m Row
25 Wall Balls

I tried setting the damper to low 4 on the rower today and it felt pretty good. I think I’ll keep experimenting with it. I did all of the wall balls unbroken and finished the combo in under 2:00 each round so had just over 2 minutes of rest before the next round.

Jumped on the GHD when I got home.

Finisher

5 Rounds NFT

10 GHD Sit-ups
10 Back Extensions

Too Far Forward

Warm-up

3:00 Air Dyne

Olympic Lifting

7:00 45# Snatch Position Drills
2:00 Rest
E20S 2:00 95# Snatch
3:00 Rest
E30S 3:00 125# Snatch
3:00 Rest
EMOM 5:00 145# Snatch

Movin’ on up! Felt good at 145#. I missed my first attempt in the final minute due to lack of concentration, but stepped right back up and nailed it. As long as it keeps feeling good, 2 more sessions and I’ll be at my max snatch weight of 165#.

Strength

5/3/1 Back Squat – Cycle 2 Week 2

5 @ 120# (40% of Training Max – warm)
5 @ 150# (50% – warm)
3 @ 180# (60% – warm)
3 @ 210# (70%)
3 @ 240# (80%)
3+ @ 270# (90%)

Warming up felt good, especially since I was already warm from the squat snatches. 270# felt super heavy lifting off the rack though. I got 5 reps for an estimated max of 314.5#, below my actual max of 325#. Afterwards Kevin mentioned that I’m really leaning forward on my back squats. Now it makes sense why I’ve been struggling so much. Will have to work on fixing that next back squat session.

Pullovers

Did a couple of quick sets while waiting for Matt. 2 Sets of 20 with a 45# DB.

WOD

10 Rounds

150m Run
7 OHS (75#)

Scaled down the OHS from 95# so I could do them all unbroken and not have the WOD take forever. Finished in 11:27.

Finisher

Slow 8:00 on the rower.

5/3/1 Cycle 2

Walked 18 holes yesterday and recovered from the Sweat & Steel team competition at CrossFit Deviate on Sunday. In at 10am this morning. First day back in the box after the week in Vancouver to deload. Was really looking forward to lifting today.

Warm-up

Did a 450m run and not much else.

Strength

Back Squats – 5/3/1 Cycle 2 Week 1

5 @ 120# (40% of training max – warm)
5 @ 150# (50% – warm)
3 @ 180# (60% – warm)
5 @ 195# (65#)
5 @ 225# (75%)
5+ @ 255# (85%)

I wasn’t feeling that great during the last set and started to get to the “dark place” way too early. Felt my left side lagging behind on some of the reps. Managed to knock out 9 before I had to dump the bar on the 10th. Disappointing because in week one of the first cycle I did 12 at 250#. I seem to be going backwards with my squat since that week. I figured I’d be able to hit it hard after not squatting for a week. Maybe the pistols from the competition had me fatigued or maybe I’m not using the bounce enough. Something is definitely whacked!

Olympic Lifting

I warmed up with about 5 minutes of snatch position work with 45# on the training bar.

3:00 EMOM

3 Snatches (95#)

3:00 Rest

3:00 EMOM

2 Snatches (115#)

3:00 Rest

3:00 EMOM

1 Snatches (125#)

Last time I did 5 minutes of the first two and was hitting good positions, so stepped it up a notch and tried 125# today. Felt pretty solid. I’m going to continue building up slow each session like this to make sure I’m really enforcing the change. Next thing I need to work on is not throwing my head back so violently. I tried to stay focused on a spot on the wall today during some reps and it actually felt better overall. All reps were squat snatches.

WOD

8 Rounds

30s Row
30s Rest

I tried to really push my pace and was able to stay very consistent, within 10 meters for every interval. Stroke rate seems too high though.

I actually felt a little out of sorts today. Not sure why with a light week and then a rest day yesterday.

Later at night I loaded up the sled with a total of 160# and went for a walk in the neighborhood. It was 0.84 miles in 22:23. The streets here are absolutely terrible for dragging a sled around.

Solo Session

My abs are sore from deadlifts and “Annie” on Tuesday, otherwise feeling good. Trained at 10am, but all alone today.

Warm-up

600m Run
PVC Pass-thrus
3:00 Air Dyne
Bottom Squat Hold

Strength

5/3/1 Back Squats – Cycle 1 Week 3

5 @ 115# (40% of Training Max – warm)
5 @ 145# (50% – warm)
3 @ 175# (60% – warm)
5 @ 220# (75%)
3 @ 250# (85%)
1+ @ 280# (95%)

Squats felt better than Saturday. Recovery is crucial and hit the legs way too much last week. I stopped after 3 reps at 280# because the last one was a slow rep and I didn’t want to push it with nobody else there to spot or help me if something happened. On that last set it was the first time I’ve ever felt my hamstrings engage like that. Pretty cool! The 3 @ 280# puts my estimated max at 307.5#, which is low but I’m ok with that for this week, considering the situation.

5 Rounds NFT

8 Font Rack Walking Lunges (155#)
5 RDLs (205#)
5 Strict Chin-ups

Felt really good. On my chin-ups I really tried to accelerate during the 2nd half and got my chin way above the bar.

Olympic Lifting

10:00 of Snatch Position Work with 45# training bar

It didn’t feel as good as yesterday overall, but I did get some really good hip pops in there. My timing seemed really off. Maybe it had to do with my legs being fatigued from the strength work.

WOD

4 Rounds

500m Row
2:00 Rest

Went all out on the first 500 and set a new PR with 1:34.4. Obviously couldn’t maintain that but kept consistent on the next 3 with 1:44.9, 1:45.5, and 1:44.6. I need more of this stuff because I was really dying. Jason Khalipa rowed a 6:31 2k in the Games and I couldn’t even hit that with two minutes of rest between each 500m.

While tearing out a stump, the landscaping crew snapped an AT&T line that went right though the stump. So without Internet, I headed back to the box at 6pm for open gym. Warmed up with about 3:00 on the Air Dyne.

OHS

5 @ 95#
4 @ 135#
3 @ 155#
F @ 180#
F @ 180#

I was actually going to do 5 with 135# but lost it in the bottom of the last rep. I should have known right there it wasn’t going to be good. My abs are still wrecked from the deadlifts and “Annie” so I think that may have been a big part of it. This is 2 OHS sessions in a row that have been terrible though, with the last one being while I was still recovering from the Tough Mudder Crud.

Did a 1.02 mile sled drag with 115# in 26:14. Switched directions 3 times I think and took a minute or so to help Ellen strap up a sled.

Too Much?

I walked 18 holes of golf yesterday morning and was pretty exhausted most of the rest of the day. No idea why. I got in an hour nap and was in bed early to get 9 hours of sleep. In at 10am this morning.

Warm-up

450m Run
100m Sled Drag (160#)
25/25 Band Walks (Red)
10/10 Flamingos
10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)

Strength

5/3/1 Deadlifts – Cycle 1 Week 3

5 @ 165# (40% of Training Max – warm)
5 @ 205# (50%)
3 @ 245# (60%)
5 @ 305# (75%)
3 @ 350# (85%)
1+ @ 390# (95%)

To beat my previous best estimated 1RM I needed 7 reps and I ended up getting 8 for a new estimate of 493#!! Probably still quite a bit higher than my real max, but I’ll take it. I might have pushed a little too much though, because I felt something in rep 5 or 6 and then in rep 8. Hopefully it was nothing, but low back was pretty sore almost immediately, although it did hold up in the WOD.

Kroc Rows

3 Sets of 15/15 with a 53# KB

Actually did these after the WOD, but wanted to group them up here in the strength section.

WOD

3 Rounds

20 Deadlifts (135#)
15 Back Squats (135#)
10 Push Jerks (135#)

First longer barbell complex in a while and it showed. Took me 11:37 to finish. I went 19-1, 10-9-1, and 14-5-1 on the deadlifts, back squats all “unbroken” (never dropped the bar), and 5-5, 6-4, and 6-4 on the push jerks. If we hadn’t just done heavy deadlifts I would have been able to get them all unbroken each round I think. I was starting to feel pretty rough trying to recover after this.

Finisher

“Air Dyne Hell”
10 Rounds

15s at 100% (20s at 100% on the last round)
1:45 Rest

Kevin and I got 273 calories, down from our last time with 287. No idea how we managed that before!

I got home and thought I was going to pass out for the next 20-30 minutes. Slamming a lemonade helped right away though. I think that might have been too much intensity after the heavy deadlifts.

I went back at 6 since my legs were already feeling the morning session and my back was pretty lit up. Figured it would be good to flush things out a bit.

0.5 Mile Sled Drag (forward) with 115#

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

DU
Sit-ups

Smashed my old PR of 7:41 with a 7:08. I missed my first DU on the sets of 50 and 40, but otherwise did them with 50, 2-38, 30, 20, 10. Could have been sub 7 without those misses, but I have no idea how people do sit-ups so damn fast. I never stopped moving.

0.5 Mile Sled Drag (backwards) with 115#

Ugh, backwards is so hard on the hip flexors. I wanted to stop after 2 of 6 laps, but kept on truckin’.

Long and Brutal

Legs still pretty sore. In at 9am to get lifts done before doing a long team WOD in class at 10.

I warmed up with a 500m row and some PVC pass-thrus.

5/3/1 Shoulder Press – Cycle 1 Week 2

5 @ 60# (40% of Training Max – warm)
5 @ 75# (50% – warm)
3 @ 90# (60% – warm)
3 @ 105# (70%)
3 @ 120# (80%)
3+ @ 135# (90%)

Felt better than the first “wee”. I managed to get 7 reps at 135#, which puts my estimated max at 166#, over my current PR.

5/3/1 Back Squat – Cycle 1 Week 2

5 @ 115# (40% of Training Max – warm)
5 @ 145# (50% – warm)
3 @ 175# (60% – warm)
3 @ 205# (70%)
3 @ 235# (80%)
3+ @ 265# (90%)

Oh boy! I felt horrible going down on that first warm-up set. Only managed to get 4 reps at 265# before dumping the bar. Too much leg work packed into 8 days to get in 2 5/3/1 cycles and it showed. Won’t be hitting strength again until Tuesday and only one strength lift per day, so it should be a better week next week for the 3rd week and then a deload after.

In class, we did a brutal teams WOD in honor of the CrossFit games going on. I teamed up with Brent and Kevin. The events were one right after the other, so keep moving.

Event 1: “Road Grater”

Barbell/Plate carry one mile (Guys: 45# bar, two 45# plates; Ladies 30# bar, two 35# plates)
One member must carry the bar and the other two must carry a plate. Members can switch implements at any time.

We took about 13:10 (forgot to look at the clock) and got smoked by Ron, Matt, and Ryan who did it in 10:35.

Event 2: “Hippie Hop”

Load weights on barbell. Each member must complete 50 lateral hops over the bar while the other two members hold the bar. The holders can hold the bar at any height but cannot set it down until the 50 hops are completed. Penalty for letting the bar touch the ground was 10 reps.

This was easy. We had 2 guys lay on their side on the ground and set the bar on our hips. The 50 hops were like a rest period for me and I knocked them out like nothing. We started our comeback here, crushing it in 2:42 to finish at an overall time of 15:52.

Event 3: “Rack of Ribs”

Unload the barbell and complete as a team: 200 Burpee plate jumps and 100 front rack empty bar lunges. Here’s how it works: Two members do the burpee plate jumps, while the 3rd member does the front rack lunges. Every member has to go rep for rep, so one lunge, two burpee plate jumps (one each member with the plate) at a time. Teams can switch out the lungers and the burpee plate jumpers whenever they feel like it with no penalty.

We switched out the lunger every 11 reps, which worked well because it still meant doing 22 burpees in a row. We almost complete caught up here, finishing in 8:46 for an overall time of 24:38.

Event 4: “Ron Morse Mile”

Stop at each turn and complete the following, every member must do this:

Turn 1: 50 Air Squats
Turn 2: 75 Air squats
Turn 3: 50 Push-ups (chest to deck)
Turn 4: 75 Push-ups

Suck fest, especially that many push-ups at the end of this WOD. We did 5 at a time with breaks and it worked well. Took us 20:17 to finish the mile for a total time of 44:55 to take down the best time in the last 3 events and the overall. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

I did a really slow 10:00 on the Air Dyne after for a cool down to flush things out.

Double 5/3/1 Day

Yesterday I walked 18 holes of golf in the morning and took the rest of the day off. Really needed it. In at 10am this morning to train with Kevin and Ellen.

Warm-up

Ran 450m and felt really good.

Strength

Doubling up on the 5/3/1. Going to try and squeeze 3 weeks into 2, since I’m heading out of town the next week and can use that as my deload.

5/3/1 Shoulder Press (cycle 1 week 1)

5 @ 60# (40% of training max – warm)
5 @ 75# (50% – warm)
3 @ 90# (60% – warm)
5 @ 95# (65%)
5 @ 110# (75%)
5+ @ 125# (85%)

I got 8 reps on the last set, which is kind of disappointing. It estimates my max at 158#, which is below my PR of 165#.

5/3/1 Back Squats (cycle 1 week 1)

5 @ 115# (40% of training max – warm)
5 @ 145# (50% – warm)
3 @ 175# (60% – warm)
5 @ 190# (65#)
5 @ 220# (75%)
5+ @ 250# (85%)

I was thinking about trying to hit it as Super Squats and go for 20 reps since I’d done 245# for 20 before I got sick. Went by feel though and cut it off at 12 reps because I could feel my form getting ugly. It estimates my max at 349#, which I think is high since I haven’t put 25# on my back squat in the last 6-8 weeks. Once you get past 8 or so reps, the max rep calculators seem to be off. Happy with the work though.

Accessory

4 Rounds NFT

10 Front Rack Lunges (135#)
5 Strict T2B
10 Pullovers (60# DB)

I did everything unbroken and went from one lunge right into the next one without putting my feet together. Our T2B weren’t exactly strict, but we weren’t kipping was the key point I guess.

WOD

4 Rounds

10 Push Presses (35# DBs)
90s Air Dyne
2:00 Rest

I sped through the push presses each round. My calories were 35-30-30-33. The AD6 is so much different (harder) than the AD2 I have. World’s of difference. There is no way I could do 300 FY on the AD6 and it was easy on the AD2.

A Morning Run

Hard to sleep at the cottage because it’s so hot and there is no AC.

Went for a run before 8am to beat the heat. Wasn’t going for any 5k records, just an easy jog to get the heart beating. Didn’t expect to go as ow as a did, but I’m okay with that because the goal was to build up aerobic capacity, not kill myself for the rest of the day. Ran 3.01 miles in 33:09.

Just before noon I started some OLY work and strength stuff.

Snatches

2 x 3 @ 95#
3 @ 115#
5:00 EMOM of 2 @ 135#
2 x 1 @ 145#
1 @ 155#
F @ 155#
1 @ 155#

I felt good early and got a little shaky after 135#. Noticed in the 155s that I started jumping forward. First time ever hitting 155# twice in one fay though! Here’s the final snatch.

Back Squats

10 @ 135#
10 @ 155#
10 @ 175#
10 @ 195#

No rack made this tougher than it needed to be. Having to clean the bar and get it to the back uses a lot of extra energy. Not sure I’ve dropped more than 165 on my back before.

3 Rounds NFT

8 Front Rack walking lunges (135#)
12 Weighted Sit-ups (two 5# plates behind head)
8 Front Rack reverse walking lunges (135#)
12 Air Squats

Solid 2 hours of work without killing myself.

Jumped on the Air Dyne at 8pm for some sprint intervals. Warmed up with 5:00 at a solid pace.

6 Rounds

30s @ 100%
4:30 slow to recover

I was going around 34mph and 110-115rpm during the sprints and 15mph and 50rpm when recovering. Including the warmup I racked up 614 cal and went 9.73 mi in the 35:00 (did the final recovery as a cool down).

I’m definitely feeling much better because that’s 3 hours of training on a day when it was about 90 degrees out.

Vacation Monday

Does a vacation officially start before this first week day? I never work weekends anyway. Legs are feeling a little sluggish from yesterday. Went to bed at 10 because I was exhausted from all of the sun and 3 training sessions. Still have night sweats though.

Jumped on the AD2 just after 7am.

5:00 warmup
Reverse Tabata (8 rounds)
- 10s Sprint
- 20s Rest
5:00 cool down

My best calories for a regular Tabata was 77 and I got 107 here, which is another one in the books confirming the AD6 is much harder to rack up calories on. Nice workout for being so quick. I really like switching up interval periods. Hopefully it pays off.

Around noon I setup for the big training session of the day.

Warm-up

50m Run
50m Run backwards

20 Good Mornings (green)
20/20 band walk (red)
10 press band (red)
10 band pull aparts (red)

Strength

Shoulder Press

5 @ 75#
5 @ 85#
5 @ 95#
5 @ 105
5 @ 135
ME @ 145 (3)

WOD

A little max aerobic power (MAP) training in the hot sun. Object is to go at 80%. Three minutes of rest between each AMRAP.

3:00 AMRAP

135# Bear

3:00 AMRAP

10 Front Rack walking lunges 135#
8 OTB burpees

2 full rounds

3:00 AMRAP

10 HR push-ups
15 Russian KBS 53#

3 full rounds

3:00 AMRAP

6 OHS 95#
12 sit-ups

2+3

3:00 AMRAP

5 thruster 95#
10 sumo deadlift high pull 53#

2+12

Much harder than expected!

Open Gym Friday

Headed in at 5:15pm today for a long spaced out session. Feeling pretty good after the last few days.

Warm-up

450m Run
PVC pass-thrus
DU

I got streaks of 40+, 70+, and 60+. Ordered the thinner cable from Rx, so I’m excited to see if it fatigues my shoulders less.

Conditioning

Easy 20:00 row. My pace was between 2:15 and 2:20/500m pretty much the whole way and about 20spm. Made it 4,420 meters and felt good.

Olympic Lifting

Warmed up with some C&J at 135#.

5:00 EMOM

Squat C&J (185#)

Rest 3:00

5:00 EMOM

Squat C&J (205#)

I was planning to do another round with 225#, but at the end of the 205# reps I could tell I was starting to hit a wall. Just not anywhere close to being back to myself yet, so I shut it down there and did a couple sets of back squats.

Strength

Back Squats

2 Sets of 5 with 205#

Strongman / Road Work

Laura, Brent, Kevin, Ellen, Casey, and I did a big circuit. Just kept moving, nothing too intense.

2 Rounds

150m Sled Drag (135#)
Plank (while partner does sled drag)
150m Wheelbarrow Push (200# first round, 230# second round)
10/10 DB Curls
150m Prowler Walk (210#)
Grip Twist with a 5# plate hanging on it

We paired up the push/pull with a stationary movement and paired up in teams. Each team did both movements in the pairing and then rotated to the next spot. Took us about 30 minutes to finish