Up for the 9am this morning on short rest from last night’s 2 hours at the box.
Warm-up
5 Rounds
30s PVC Pass-thrus
30s Zombie Kicks
30s Lateral Hops (15s each leg)
Strength
5×1 Floor Press
Warmed up with a set of 5 @ 135# and then did working sets with 165#, 185#, 205#, 215#, and 225#. Up 20# from last week’s set of 3 and 10# higher than I’ve even bench pressed, although I’ve only done max bench once in the last 5 years and it was after a long workout.
WOD
“DT”
5 Rounds
12 Deadlifts
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Should to Overhead
Matt told us not to go over 10 minutes on this WOD because you want to keep up the intensity. Rx was 155# which is laughable. I used 115#. You quickly learn how to take breaks without making yourself do extra work. For instance, if you take a break after 11 deadlifts, you get your 12th one as you pick the bar back up for the power cleans. Then take a break after 8 power cleans. You end up doing an extra deadlift to get back into the hang position, but it’s not a big deal and you can then go right from the 9th power clean into your presses. Don’t put the bar down until all 6 are done. Rest in the rack position if you need to. If you aren’t smart about resting, you can do a ton of extra work in this WOD.
I strung together push presses as much as I could, but had to resort to push jerks in the last round with a short rest in the rack position between each one. My time was 7:31.
We got 8 new bars last night, so we’ll be doing a lot more WODs with a barbell. I’m excited!
Finisher
5 sets of 10 Ring Push-ups
Even after all that work, they felt good. Did each set unbroken.
I’ve had the itch to test my 1RM for a couple of weeks. Finally had to scratch it today. I did a couple of reps at 135#, and then did singles at 155#, 175#, 185# (old PR), and finally 205#. I went for 215# but failed because I didn’t get my elbows under the bar fast enough. It was plenty high enough. I don’t think I was quite into that attempt mentally either.
I’ve been feeling a little lethargic today. Maybe double workouts yesterday weren’t a good idea or maybe I should have really taken a true rest day on Sunday. I went in for the 5:30pm class.
Warm-up
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Russian KBS (35#)
150m Run
Strength
5×5 Power Cleans
Sweet! Been awhile since I’ve attempted to go heavy. My form has improved a lot in the last couple of months so I was really excited about this.
5 @ 65#
5 @ 115#
5 @ 135#
5 @ 145#
5 @ 155#
5 @ 175#
I was really feeling good on the cleans. I set my 1RM of 185# exactly 5 months ago. That’s a long time to go without testing some heavy weight. I wouldn’t say the reps at 175# were easy, but I finished feeling really good about them. I was actually able to get the bar back to the ground under control by back tracing my steps on every single clean today. Whenever I’ve gone to 135# or higher I’ve had to drop the bar.
WOD
5 rounds
15 MB Squat Cleans (20# MB)
15 HR Burpees
I finished in 9:23. Did the burpees with a hand release to get in the habit of them before Sunday’s competition. There was only one rep where I almost forgot, but I caught myself as I was rising up from the ground.
Finisher
100 AbMat Sit-ups
I did these in 4:03.
Funny how some days you don’t feel great but then CrossFit lifts you up.
I went out and walked 18 holes of golf this afternoon and am feeling good after not doing a WOD yesterday. Went in for the 7pm class.
Warm-up
5 rounds
10 PVC Pass-thrus
30s Bottom Squat Hold
I mixed in some PVC Around-the-Worlds for some of the pass-thrus to help get my shoulders warmed up.
Strength
5×3 Shoulder Press
I was really disappointed in my performance with the 5×5 last week, so I was in it to win it tonight. I did a set of 10 at 45# and a set of 5 at 95# to get warmed up. For my working sets I used 105#, 115#, 125#, 135#, and 145# with no missed reps. BOOM! My previous PR was 140# and I got 3 reps at 145# today, so I have no idea why last week sucked.
WOD
5 rounds
3:00 AMRAP
3 Burpees
6 MB Cleans (20#)
9 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
1m Rest
Start each round where you ended the last round, which will most likely be in the middle of the cycle. This makes counting easier, as long as you can remember where you leave off. I did exactly 17 rounds with 1 second to spare. One minute is not a lot of rest time between these rounds and all that squatting really adds up.
Finisher
Death by Jingle Jangles (by 3s)
What’s a Jingle Jangle you ask? They are basically short sprints from side to side in the gym, which is about 16 feet wide. So for this “Death by” style, in the first minute you have to get side to side 3 times, then 6 times the next minute, and increase by 3 each minute. For the first 5 minutes it’s all walking to save energy, but then I had to start picking up the pace. I got through the round of 30, which is the 10th minute, and then got 21 of the 33 in the 11th minute, which in a new gym record.
I’d already worked out 4 days in a row, but screw it, let’s make it 5. I didn’t want to miss strength squat day at the gym since I don’t have a rack to do squats at home yet.
Before lunch I went out to the garage to test one of the competition workouts.
WOD #1
5 rounds
5 Deadlifts (185#)
10 Hand Release Burpees
The pull to get the first rep on each round of deadlifts was tougher than I expected and I could gain some time by repping them out faster. I did a time of 4:28 without any warm-up at all. Warmed up and pushing it, I think I can break under 4 minutes in the competition. It was good to try this out and see how it feels.
I went in to the 5:30pm class so I had a little more time to rest from yesterday’s WOD and I’m glad I did, because it was a lot of the same movements.
Warm-up
4 rounds
15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats
Strength
5×3 Front Squats
Coming out of last week only getting 2 out of 5 reps at 215#, my goal was to get all 3 reps at that weight this today. Counting the warm-up sets, here is what I did:
8 @ 45#
6 @ 115#
3 @ 135#
3 @ 155#
3 @ 175#
3 @ 195#
3 @ 215#
After doing 95 front squats with 95# in the Deck of Cards WOD yesterday, I’ll take today’s effort. I don’t think I could have gotten 220# up for all 3 reps, but maybe. 215# is still my PR for the front squat, so 3 reps is more than I’ve done. I should be able to set a solid PR on my 1RM next week.
WOD
30 rounds
Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Press
There’s something consisting of these movements called the Bear Complex, which is 7 rounds through without stopping. We did 30 rounds of the cycle instead and we were allowed to combine elements. For instance, we could do a squat clean thruster to take care of the first 3 movements and then a back squat thruster for the last two. This made it a lot easier.
Since I did most of these movements on their own yesterday, I wanted to go light today and try to fly through it. I loaded the bar with 85#. It turned out to be too easy and I finished in 6:43. So then I went up to 95# and knocked out another 10 reps. With the weight I used, I really liked these, but I probably wouldn’t say the same thing if I had gone a lot heavier.
Finisher
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 T2B
30s Side Plank (one side each round, switch sides for the next round)
I did all of the T2B unbroken, but ripped my right pinky on the middle portion of my finger. First time I’ve ever ripped anything there.
The weather is supposed to be great tomorrow so I plan to go golfing and will definitely be taking a rest day from CrossFit.
I was planning to take today off and stick to the 3 on 1 off schedule, but my body is feeling good. Went in for the 11am class.
Warm-up
150m Run
100m Zombie Kicks
150m Run
100m Power Skips
150m Run
100m Lateral Shuffles
150m Run
WOD
Deck of Cards
Suits:
♣ – Hang Cleans (95#)
♠ – Front Squats (95#)
♥ – Push Presses (95#)
♦ – 150m Weighted Run (35# plate)
Ranks:
10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace – 10 reps
2 through 9 – Face value in reps
Joker – 1m Plank
The Rx for men was 115# but there is no way I’d be able to handle that. Loading the bar with 95 pounds was plenty heavy and this deck took me forever. I stayed into the start of the next class to finish in 52:54. It comes out to 94 reps of each on hang cleans, front squats, and push presses, 1950 meters of weighted runs, and 2 minutes of plank. That’s a lot of good work to help prepare for the competition.
I was planning to do some cleans in the garage later, but now I don’t have to. I guess I have more time to do real cleaning around the house and organize my garage gym.
This weekend I was down in Columbus, OH at Rogue headquarters for the CrossFit Level I Trainer Course and Certification. What an amazing experience. Kevin and Brent from Survival Fitness also went down for the weekend. We got to learn from some of the best trainers in the world. Words cannot express what the weekend meant to mean and how much I got out of it. Do one for yourself.
We did two WODs over the weekend. On Saturday, we ended the day with:
“Fran”
21-15-9
Thrusters (75#)
Pull-ups
We all know this bitch. I’m getting smarter about scaling my weight down and made the right choice here. My time was 5:36.
Then today, we did a triplet:
8:00 AMRAP
8 Chest to Deck Push-ups
10 MB Cleans (20#)
12 Sit-ups
I completed 5 rounds plus 8 more push-ups, 10 cleans, and 1 sit-up as time expired. The MB cleans don’t seem like much but they really add up.
I was planning to hit up the 8pm tonight, but decided to go to the 7pm in case I felt like staying after for a bit and doing some extra work, which we can do during the 8pm. Shoulders are sore from yesterday.
Warm-up
4 rounds
15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Squat Jumps
Strength
Find a 2 rep max for Push Press
Started off at 5 reps of the 45# bar. Then did 2 reps at each of 85#, 105#, 125#, 145#, 165#, and 175#. The last time I tried a max push press was at the end of March when I got 145#. That’s a 30# PR with 2 reps.
WOD
10:00
Odd minutes: 7 Power Cleans (100#)
Even minutes: 7 Front Squats (100#)
Take 1 minute off to add weight
10:00
Odd minutes: 5 Power Cleans (120#)
Even minutes: 5 Front Squats (120#)
Take 1 minute off to add weight
10:00
Odd minutes: 3 Power Cleans (140#)
Even minutes: 3 Front Squats (140#)
After a couple of reps into that first minute of power cleans I didn’t think I could keep going. My back was really feeling it. I realized I was pulling too much too early with my back, so I slowed down the deadlift portion of the clean and then exploded with the weight once I got above my knees. It really helped a lot and I didn’t feel a problem with my back until after the we were done.
We ended up doing 5 more power cleans with each weight that what you would see here because we didn’t have racks, so everything was off the floor. I really liked this one. It was over 30 minutes, but there was less than 30s of work during each minute. Just enough time to recover before starting on the reps of the next movement.
I’m heading off to San Francisco early tomorrow morning and won’t be back until late on Monday night. Hopefully I’ll find some time to workout at the hotel.
Yesterday, Survival Fitness held the first Summer Open. It was a team event with one male and one female per team. It was a great event with 28 teams competing.
It was the first time I’ve competed in any event like this. The workouts were tough, but fun and rewarding. It was a great experience and very inspiring to watch the top teams. I could barely roll out of bed this morning and it’s a struggle to walk around the house. Even my fingers are sore.
All smiles before WOD #1
WOD #1
10:00 AMRAP (Clean/Deadlift – HR Push-up ladder)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-?
Men
Clean 135#
HR Push-up
Women
Deadlift 135#
HR Push-up
Man will do 1 clean with 135# and then 1 HR push-up, then…
Woman will do 1 deadlift with 135# and then 1 HR push-up, then…
Man will do 2 cleans with 135# and then 2 HR push-ups, then…
Woman will do 2 deadlifts with 135# and then 2 HR push-ups
etc.
This was going to be our weakest workout because of the weight. If we got to the round of 10 I figured it would be good for us. We completed the 10th round and I got in 3 more cleans before time ran out. We placed 24th in the workout. My back has been wrecked for about a week and it’s even worse after this one. I have some pretty good soreness in the lower part of my back. I need to get myself on video to see if there is something I’m doing wrong with my cleans to cause the lower back issues.
The woman had it relatively easy in this one and you could really tell by the fact that the men immediately collapsed to the ground when the 10 minutes was up.
WOD #2
Partner A: 100 burpees, then tag off and…
Partner B: “Karen”
If you don’t know what “Karen” is, she’s one of the benchmark WODs:
150 Wall Ball Shots for time
Women: 16# ball, 8′ target
Men: 20# ball, 10′ target
The teams decided who is partner A and who is partner B. This workout had a 14 minute time cap and if your team didn’t finish, each rep not completed adds 1 second to your time for scoring.
Both parts of this are gassers. My partner did burpees and I did the wall balls. My PR for “Karen” is 8:51, but I knew I could do much better. As a best case scenario I was hoping my partner would complete her part under 7 minutes, giving me about 7 minutes to take a shot. She finished up just under 7 minutes and I managed to get 141 wall balls in the 7 remaining minutes. Only 9 more reps and we would have finished! The WOD was our best placing (18th) of the day. My quads and glutes are on fire today from all of the wall balls.
WOD #3
“Isometric Chipper”
15:00 AMRAP
Part 1:
60 1 arm d-bell snatch (alternate arms each rep) (45#/30#)
Other partner holds a hand stand against the wall
Part 2:
50 Goblet squats (45#/30#)
Other partner does a bottom squat hold
Part 3:
40 AbMat sit-ups
Other partner must hold a plank
Part 4:
30 K2E
Other partner does a bent knee L-hang
Part 5:
20 ring rows
Other partner holds their chin above the bar
One partner will perform the isometric hold, while the other chips away at the reps. As many switches can be made as needed. No reps are be counted if the partner breaks the isometric hold.
This was one of the most brutal workouts I’ve ever done. The isometric holds crush your soul. I was shooting to get through one round if we could. We got through the circuit once and got done with 40 more snatches, notching us a 22nd place finish in the workout. Nearly every team struggled with the ring row and chin-up hold combination at the end of the circuit because there was nothing left in the tank.
Today I’m feeling a lot of this one in my abs and especially in my upper back and shoulder area from the handstand holds. My partner had a hard time getting up on the wall, so I had to do the majority of the hand stand holds. The goblet squats most definitely contributed to the sore quads and ass I have today.
Overall we finished 25th out of 28 teams and I couldn’t be happier. My partner in the competition only started doing CrossFit about 2 months ago. I didn’t compete with any visions of placing high. I know I can’t stay with the top guys, but I enjoy the challenge and pushing myself.
In addition to these 3 workouts, the top 4 teams then did:
WOD #4
In 7:00:
Flip a 325# tire 50 yards down and 50 yards back in the parking lot.
With the remaining time, each partner then does over the box jumps (at the same time) using their own 24″ box
Score is total number of over the box jumps when you add both teammates reps together.
WOD #5
“Double DB Fran”
42-30-18
Thrusters (45#/30# DBs)
Pull-ups
With only one partner working at a time they have to do 42 thrusters, then 42 pull-ups, then 30 of each, and finally 18 of each. The team can split up the block of reps for a movement however they want but they most be completed before switching movements.
For anyone that doesn’t know, “Fran” is the most well-known CrossFit benchmark. When you ask someone their “Fran” time it’s the equivalent of asking a weightlifter how much he bench presses. In a normal “Fran” you do 21-15-9 using a 95# barbell for guys and a 65# barbell for the gals. Top athletes can finish this in under 3 minutes, but it’s an all-out sprint. My PR for DB “Fran” is 9:05, which is not very good.
Moment of the Day
My favorite moment of the day was during the 5th WOD. The male on the second place team (going into the WOD) hurt his ankle in the 4th WOD so he was only able to do a few of the thrusters. That left his partner doing nearly all of the thrusters and him doing nearly all of the pull-ups. If you’ve ever done thrusters you can already begin to imagine the suck.
Many of us have done “Fran” but we’re talking 42-30-18 here! Not 21-15-9. You could see the woman on the edge of tears each time she had to drop the DBs. The guy’s hands were tore up and bleeding all over. They were several minutes past the times of the other 3 teams in the finals and could have called it quits taking 4th in the WOD no matter what. But they dug deep, we all cheered them on, and they finished. You’ll never see anything like that in another sport. We are CrossFitters.
Judging
Four of us guys that competed ended up judging the final two events to give all of the other volunteers a break. It was kind of stressful to be in such an important role. Luckily it’s pretty easy to judge the most elite of the group because their form in usually dialed in.
After Hours
After the awards ceremony and most people went home, about 10 or 15 of us stuck around cleaning up a bit, finishing off a keg and a bunch of beer in the fridge. A couple of people that didn’t compete actually did some drinking WODs! I think I got home around 10:30. It was a long day, but worth every minute.
Photos
Here are a bunch of photos I’ve downloaded from Facebook. As folks upload more photos I’ll update the gallery here.
This morning when I woke up everything was sore. Everything. Maybe it was the way I slept or maybe I’m recovering faster and faster, because a few hours later I was feeling just fine. I skipped doing a workout out at the lake, which let me pack up and drive home so I could hit open gym at Survival Fitness. I was really looking forward to some heavy barbell work after being away on vacation with only dumbbells to work with.
Warm-up
400m Run
2 rounds
10 PVC Pass-thrus
10 PVC OHS
Strength
Deadlifts
10x 135#
5x 225#
5x 255#
5x 285#
5x 305#
3x 325#
Deadlifting felt good. My grip gave out on the last set so I was only able to get 3 reps. I think that’s more than I’ve ever done for 3 reps, so no complaints.
Power Cleans
* Every minute on the minute for 5 minutes I did the associated number of reps with a weight. After 5 minutes I took about 2 minutes while I changed weights and recovered a bit before starting on the heavier weight for the next 5 minutes.
7x 115#
4x 135#
2x 155#
2x 165#
I’ve never done anything quite like this so it was an experiment. After completing my reps, I had about 30 seconds left in most of the minutes, with slightly more when I got to the last two weight with only 2 reps each. A few months ago 165# was my clean PR and here I am doing it for reps!
WOD
4 rounds
25 HR Push-ups
25 Wall Balls (10′ with 20# MB)
25 Sit-ups
25 Box Jumps (24″)
My plan for this morning was to do “Angie” and I was still thinking about doing it at open gym, maybe with a modification like you see here to turn it into 4 rounds of 25 reps each instead of 100 straight of each movement. After doing the deadlifts and the cleans, my hands were is rough shape and I was close to having some blisters and rips, so it was an easy decision to skip pull-ups.
I decided to substitute wall balls for air squats since I hadn’t done any while away on vacation. Instead of pull-ups I threw in box jumps thinking it would be my rest station. After killing my legs with deadlifts and cleans it was rough to jump. I couldn’t rebound at all.
I completed the WOD in 23:01. Nearly 2 solid hours of work and a great way to come back to town.
Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs 