Bottom Squat Hold – Page 3 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

No Joke

I was exhausted last night. Now sure if it was from that walk/hike or what. I had to take a late nap at 6:30pm and still slept pretty good when I went to bed. Maybe it was the carb overload?

Accessory

5 Sets

1:00 Bottom Squat Hold
15/15 Side Jack Knifes

Don’t usually get in much oblique work. Time to change that.

15:00 EMOM

10 Decline Push-ups (14″)

All unbroken sets. In the last couple sets the last few reps were starting to slow down. Originally thought about going EMOM until failure, but that’s probably more decline reps than I’ve ever done in a day.

Conditioning

1 Mile Run (easy)
8 Rounds
- 10s Hill Sprint (12% grade or steeper)
- w/ Full recovery

With this big incline on the road next to the cabin I figured some hill sprints would be a good idea. Remembered seeing some on Aerobic Capacity, so that’s where I grabbed this workout from.

The easy jog to warm-up was nice. I ran down the hill and then along the highway on a flat-ish section. After my mile I walked to what appeared to be some steeper parts of the road by my cabin. During rests I measured a few sections of the road with TiltMeter on my phone. It was coming up with anywhere from 4-6°, which is a not quite the recommended, but you work with what you got. A slope of 5.74° is equivalent to a 10% grade.

Invested

This weather is terrible for a vacation in Northern Michigan. I’m not sure if it’s really July or if it’s October!

E2M 20:00

10 Weighted Burpees (20# vest)
10 Weighted Sit-ups (20# vest)

So that was 100 reps of each. Did the two movements back to back and it took about 50 seconds each round. The burpees weren’t as bad as I expected and took me about 25 seconds. The sit-ups got really tough in the last few rounds.

10 Rounds

1:00 Bottom Squat Hold (20# vest)
15s Rest
30s Weighted Plank (20# vest)
15s Rest

Doing weighted squat holds was a new one for me. Planks weren’t too bad, even after all of the sit-ups.

Did DDP Yoga Energy! with my sister in the afternoon. I need to start doing this stuff regularly.

In the afternoon I put the weight vest back on and went for a 2 mile walk. As soon as I got back I did some air squats.

50 Air Squats (20# vest)

Leg burn! Took me 1:08.

Double Sunday

Feeling good after yesterday. Went to the 11am class at Survival Fitness.

2 Rounds

1:00 Plank
1:00/1:00 Side Planks
1:00 Rest
1:00 Dead Hang
1:00 Bottom Squat Hold
1:00 Jumping Jacks

I did a quick drop after 35 seconds of dead hang and jumped right back up to regrip. No need to rip my hands open with pull-ups and deadlifts planned for tonight.

20:00 Partner AMRAP

12 Sit-ups
12 SDLHP (53# KB)
12 Squat Jumps
6 Burpees
250m Run

Partner 1 does all of the sit-ups, partner 2 does all of the SDLHP, and keep alternating each movement. Since partner 1 will be doing the run in the first round, the 2nd time through the movements will be switched for each person.

I paired up with Joe and we kept up a solid sprint pace. We were about 130m from finishing 8 rounds.

Over to CrossFit Intuition around 5:30 for another workout. Did Crossover Symmetry Activation and then figured it was a good time to try doing a “ninja get-up” since it’s been a long time and maybe the Explosive Seminar taught me a few things. Nailed it on the first try!

Clean & Jerks

2x40kg
2x60kg
2x70kg
1x75kg
1x80kg
1x90kg
1x95kg
1x100kg
1x105kg
1x115kg
1x118kg (Clean PR, missed jerk)

Used all kilo plates in the Mid Michigan Barbell Club part of the gym, which is a first for me. It’s weird not knowing exactly how much is on the bar. I’ll call that a 260# clean I guess, for a 5# PR. I had the jerk locked out, but was probably a bit forward on me. I really need to work on getting under the bar after I extend, instead of extending some more.

XWOD

Warmed up shoulder press with 5×75# and 5×95#.

8x4x120# Shoulder Press
2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Explosive Push-ups

For the 2s, we did clapping push-ups and for the 1s we did a plyo push-up from the ground on to four 45# bumper plates.

Conditioning

3 Rounds
- 5 C2B Pull-ups
- 10 Deadlifts (185#)
2:00 Rest
2 Rounds (same movements and reps)
1:00 Rest
1 Round (same movements and reps)

I wanted to make something short and fast, but still really intense. This worked out really well. I start losing my kip on C2B after 3 or 4 and was swinging all over the place a few times. I finished 3 rounds in 1:50, 2 rounds in 1:12, and 1 in 0:27, with a total time of 6:29 on the clock.

Did 4 sets of 10 reverse hypers with a green band on the GHD. Then I did Crossover Symmetry Recovery.

No Golf Monday

Not enough guys to golf this morning, so was able to get to the 9am class. No issues with the shoulder after the 180 one-arm snatches yesterday, so that’s good.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation (at home)
Leg Swings
Hurdlers
Bottom Squat Hold

Strength

Box Squats (14″ box)

10×45#
3×135#
3×225#
3×245#
3×255#
3×265#
3×275#
3×285#

I don’t think I’ve ever done these right before today, which is why I always felt so much knee pressure with the wide stance. Matt corrected me right away today and it was completely different. I was afraid I was going to miss the box though.

Accessory

KB Drag – 84 feet

2×88#
3×108# (53# + 55#)

I was sweating like I’d done a 10 minute metcon already!

Conditioning

3 Rounds

15 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
20 Pistols
25 Banded Good Mornings (black)
30 Box Jumps (24″)

Pistols felt extremely tough today. No rhythm. I broke up the GMs into 10-10-5, 15-10, 15-10. Didn’t do any rebounding on the box jumps. Finished in 17:13. Didn’t feel like pushing too hard for some reason.

Walked a lap, did a bottom squat hold, and then did Crossover Symmetry Recovery when I got home.

The Homestretch

My lats and chest are still sore from “Murph” but my legs weren’t sore at all from the 300 squats. Not really surprised with all of the squatting and squat holds I’ve been doing. Walked 18 holes of golf this morning for the first day of our golf season.

I had planned on getting the 3rd day of Smolov week 3 done today, but was debating it as the day went on. Finally decided to get it done so that I can go to SF for a class tomorrow morning. Went out to the garage around 6:30pm to do work. Squatting inside the squat rack has become a must with all of this volume.

Back Squats

20×45#
5×135#
5×205#
3×255#
3×280#
7x5x300#

Made it! Not even up to 70° today, but my shirt was soaked by the time I was done. I rested three minutes between the working sets. Did a 5:00 bottom squat hold leaning up against the jerk blocks right after. Glad I bucked up and knocked those squats out. Friday will be the final day!

WOD Drunk

Tough getting out of bed again this morning. Not sore from the squats at all though. Back to the 9am class.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
2:00 Bottom Squat Hold
Arm Circles
10 C2D Push-ups
Shoulder Stretching
Lying KB Hold (25#, ~45s each side)

Accessory

Speed Bench Press

3×80#
10x3x130#

Called for 8-10 sets of 3 @ 55%. Only about 30s rest between sets.

Shoulder Press

10×70#
5×115#
2x5x120#
2x5x125#

Had no idea where to start since I’m just getting back to pressing. Felt good so bumped up the weight a couple of times.

Conditioning

EMOM 24:00, rotating stations

Air Dyne (AD6) – 12 cal
Ring Dips – 12
Burpees – 12
GHD Sit-ups – 15
Row – 150m
Pull-ups – 8

I did my first set of GHD sit-ups touching the ground and then the rest going to parallel. First set of pull-ups were strict and then unbroken kipping sets for the rest. First time doing kipping pull-ups on the comeback and they felt pretty good.

This workout didn’t look very bad on the whiteboard, but I felt terrible after it was over. Haven’t felt like that in a really long time.

Did a 5:00 bottom squat hold right after and then CS Recovery at home.

The Froning & Foucher Show

Had a great time watching the Central East Regional. Rich Froning and Julie Foucher dominated the competition and Rich was sick! Those two are going to be the favorites heading into the 2014 CrossFit Games, especially beating such stacked fields in this region.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
5:00 Bottom Squat Hold
45# Clean position work
10×45# Shoulder Presses

Weightlifting

Clean & Jerks

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
2×155#
2×175#
1×195#
1×215#
1×225#
1×235#

I did power cleans for 95# and 115#. Was trying to pull the bar into my body on the cleans and it really helped them to feel fast and snappy. I don’t think I’ve ever done such an easy 235# clean. Jerks weren’t too bad. Almost no dip up through 175# again.

Strength

Back Squats

5×135#
5×205#
3×255#
7x5x290#

Day 3 of week 2 for Smolov squats. I squatted inside my Rogue rack for the first time. It was pretty odd for a few sets but got the feel for it. Those 7 sets were rough and got iffy on the low back. Fought for position throughout though and got everything done. I was really missing squats after 3 days off. Did a 5:00 squat hold after making up a protein shake.

Knees were a little weird from setting on bleacher and stands for 3 full days. I took Friday off from the squat hold challenge, but got them in on both Saturday and Sunday during the competitions. Only 2 more days to go after today!

Incline DB Bench Press

20×25# DBs
20×30#
20×35#
12×40#
12×45#
10×50#

Nice burn! Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Recovery. Missed out on it for a few days while staying in the hotel. I guess I could have figured out a way to rig it up in the fitness center.

Central Beast

Legs feel a little fatigued from those squats yesterday. Smolov is no joke, especially with that 20# jump for the 2nd week. Out in the garage at 9 for the last training session until Monday. Looking forward to a few days of rest and watching some of the best CrossFit athletes in the world this weekend.

Warm-up

5:00 Bottom Squat Hold
CS Activation
3 Rounds
- 40 DU
- 1:00 Bottom Squat Hold
10×45# Shoulder Press

Made all 3 sets of DU unbroken. This will be the 12th day in a row of holding the bottom squat for 30 minutes. Taking a break from it tomorrow and then 5 more days to finish out by going 28/30 days.

Jerks

Work to a Heavy Double.

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
2×155#
2×175#
2×195#
2×205#
2×215#

Didn’t feel nearly as fast as with the C&J the other day and my dips started to go lower and slower too. Decided to call it a success at 215 with no misses.

Back Squat

5×135#
5×205#
3×235#
3×255#
5x7x275#

Fuck me! I think it was not enough rest from last night to this morning. Talk about a quad pump!

5:00 squat hold

5 Rounds

10 GHD Sit-ups (20# vest)
3 Chin-ups (20# vest)

Wasn’t going for time, but it took me 5:47 walking directly from movement to movement.

30-12-10-8-6

Seated Incline 2-arm DB Curls
Concentration Curls

Did the first set of concentration curls in 2 sets of 15 each arm with no rest between. Used the same DBs for both exercises, with 10-20-20-20-20# DBs. My biceps are so weak.

30-12-10-8-6

Skull Crushers
1-arm OH DB Tricep Extension

For the skull crushers I used 20-50-55-60-70# on the bar and for the OH extensions I used a 10-20-20-25-30# DB.

Finished with CS Recovery and a 6:00 squat hold.

Snatching Again

Didn’t make it to a class this morning. Too much to get done before heading to Cincinnati tomorrow to watch the Central ~~East~~ Beast Regional all weekend. Lifted in the garage around 5.

Warm-up

CS Activation
3:00 Bottom Squat Hold
45# Snatch Positions

Hang Power Snatches

2×65#
2×95#
2×105#
2×115#
2×125#
2×135#
2×145#
2×155#
1-F x165#

I’ll take it! Needs lots of work though. No shoulders issues, which is the important thing.

Back Squats

10×45#
5×135#
5×205#
5×235#
4x9x260#

Starting the 2nd “week” of Smolov programming, with a 20# over the first week on every session. It was only a 15# jump today since I used 5# extra in the first week for day 1. This was a fight every set and I worked up quite a sweat. Each set took nearly a full minute and I took 3.5-4 minutes rest between sets.

Did a 5:00 squat hold and then a set of 20 DB Pullovers with 40#.

5 Rounds

7×155# Pendlay Rows
10 Decline DB Flyes (20-20-20-25-25# DBs)

I was taking about 45 seconds of rest between sets. Did another 2:00 squat hold.

5 Rounds

10 Decline DB Bench Press (25-30-35-40-50# DBs)
10 Band Pulldowns (like a pull-up, using a green band for each arm)

Didn’t really rest other than to change the adjustable DBs for the next weight. Finished out my 30 minutes of squat holds for the day with 3 minutes. I had already done 17 minutes earlier throughout the day.

3:00

Push Presses & Pull-ups Are Back

Feeling good. Still no shoulder aggravation from doing more things with it.

Warm-up

CS Activation (at home)
5:00 Bottom Squat Hold
Push-ups
Arm Circles
Shoulder Stretching
10×45# Shoulder Press

Strength

Push Presses

5×95#
5×135#
5×145#
2x5x145#
5×160#

Timing was off and I’m not used to receiving the bar again for the next rep. Little shaky, but good to be doing them again.

OLY

E15S 7:00

145# C&J

Didn’t want to push the weight and it was a good choice. Each rep was quick and felt solid.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP
2-4-6-8…

Russian KBS (71#)
Box Overs (24″)
Burpees

Finished the round of 14 plus 16 swings and 1 box jump.

Walked a lap around the parking lot and then did a 5:00 squat hold. Tried pull-ups for the first time and got 3 sets of 5 strict with no issues. Did another 3:00 squat hold and then CS Recovery when I got home.