Echo Bike – Page 5 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

All Strict

Another shitty Friday night of sleep. I’m glad the Open is over! I was out of bed around 6:30 and my body actually felt pretty good, so I decided to go to the 9am class. I miss the partner workouts and today seemed like a manageable amount of barbell reps. My shoulders and upper back were feeling a little tight in the morning.

Warm-up

Stretching
PVC Passes
2:00 Echo Bike (20 cals)
10 Power Clean (45#)
5 Power Clean (95#)

Conditioning

Partner Workout

5 Rounds

10 Power Cleans (135#)
20 Burpees Over The Bar
30 cal Row

Rest, then start at 20:00
5 Rounds

10 Deadlifts (225#)
20 HSPU (strict for me)
30 cal Row

I paired up with Tom and we split the reps down the middle, which worked well. I pretty much did muscle cleans every round. We finished the first part at exactly 14:00 and the second part took us 12:43. I was able to do all five sets of 10 handstand push-ups strict, unbroken, and fast!

My legs felt pretty heavy after sitting around to recover. I took a 45 minute nap after lunch.

Strength

Since Kevin is heading to Florida tomorrow for his wedding week and I wouldn’t want to skip a whole week, we benched in the afternoon. Gotta keep the momentum going. After the workouts last night and this morning, I wasn’t sure I’d have much in the tank. My upper back was starting to feel pretty sore by this time.

Bench Press

2x6x45#
6×135
4×185
2×215
2x4x245
2x4x250
2x2x265

The program called for 4×4 @ 240-245 pounds. In the last cycle I did 4x4x240. I was surprised how well this went, even getting a new 4RM with the 250# sets. Added the doubles for extra volume and since I won’t bench heavy again until at least next Monday.

Deep Ab Burn

Out in the garage during lunch.

Year of the Engine – Rocket Race

24 Rounds

15s Airdyne
30s Rest

It doesn’t work trying to do 15 second intervals on my rower, so it was an easy choice to do this on the bike. Well over 100 RPM and I was getting faster throughout. I had 175 calories after 10 rounds, 356 after 20, and 432 to finish with 4.72 km. This is a far cry from Airdyne Hell though, which is 10 rounds of 15 seconds at 100% with 1:45 rests. I’ve done 250+ calories on that workout, which hurts really bad by round four.

Went to the gym at 4pm. The class workout had heavy snatches and cleans, plus a bunch of T2B. I wasn’t going to risk my back or tear up my hands two days before 20.5, so I came up with this. Warmed up with 2:00 Echo Bike for 20 calories.

Accessory

4 Sets

8/8 Half Kneeling Bottoms Up KB Press (26#)
8 Lateral Raises (10# DBs)
8 Front Raises (10# DBs)

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

4/4 Dumbbell Hang C&J (50#)
8 Goblet Squats (50#)
20 Heavy Double Unders (Zeus rope)

I really like that movement with the dumbbells and the squats actually felt good too. I forgot hot terrible that heavy rope is though; you have to grip so hard to make sure the handles don’t fly out of your hands. I did 7 rounds + 2.

Midline

3 Rounds

30 Alternating V-ups
30 Side Plank Jumps
60 Hollow Flutter Kicks

Deep burn in that first round of flutter kicks, but I held on to go unbroken with every movement in every set. Finished in 5:24, which is 47 seconds faster than back in July.

Nice to be done in less than an hour.

Back Acting Up Again

Last night my quads and traps were feeling sore. I also felt a little something off on the right side of my low back, which is opposite where I always have my issues. This morning I could feel some pinches in the normal spot, especially when I put my left leg in certain positions. WTF! It’s not nearly as bad as it felt last week though. Went to open gym at 10am.

Warm-up

3 Sets

8 cal Echo Bike
15 Reverse Hypers (50#)

I also did 5 strict pull-ups.

Accessory

5 Sets

5 Weighted Pull-ups (30#)
10/10 Kroc Rows (53# KB)

Conditioning

3 Rounds
- 10 Strict HSPU
- 20 MB Walking Lunges (20#)
3 Rounds
- 10 MB Crossover Push-ups
- 20 Wall Balls (20#, 10’)

The first part was originally going to be 20 box jumps, but after 20.4 and with how my back was feeling I changed to lunges. I knew I would do the first set of handstand push-ups unbroken, but wasn’t sure how the other sets would go. I flew through that first 10 faster than I’ve ever done them and I made all three sets unbroken. The crossover push-ups were nasty with all of the shoulders in this little workout. Wall balls were burning, but I kept them unbroken. Finished in 8:21.

Midline

6:00 EMOM

15 Hollow Rocks
10 V-ups

Planned this to be 5 minutes, but decided to do an extra round.

For the Girls

3 Sets

Dumbbell Curl 21s (30#)

Not the prettiest reps, but happy to hit the weight I was doing several months ago when we did them every week.

I chilled at home, mowed the lawn, and was out in the garage just after 3pm.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

38:00 Airdyne

** Endurance pace with 7s sprint @ 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36.

Got 1,045 calories and 22.14 km.

20.4

Rest day yesterday. On Wednesday I setup an adjustable stand on my desk so I can go between sitting and standing. Also bought an anti fatigue mat. After only a few hours I could tell my back was fighting to get in a better position, so hopefully it helps in the long run. I didn’t stand at the desk today since I needed my legs for the Open workout. I was getting anxious about the workout, so I got to the gym pretty early for the 4pm.

Warm-up

I started with 3:00 on the Echo Bike for 28 cals. Then I did a ton of ankle mobility work to get them primed for pistols, including sitting on ankles, KB on a knee and driving the leg forward, air squats, Cossack squats, step-ups, deep stretch with one foot up on a box, etc. I think I did 5×45, 5×95, and 3×135 clean and jerks. Honestly, not a ton of warm-up needed for me because the first five minutes of the workout was going to be a great warm-up and I didn’t want to be going too fast there.

CrossFit Open Workout 20.4

30 Box Jumps / Step-ups (24″)
15 C&J (95#)
30 Box Jumps / Step-ups
15 C&J (135#)
30 Box Jumps / Step-ups
10 C&J (185#)
30 Pistol Squats
10 C&J (225#)
30 Pistol Squats
5 C&J (275#)
30 Pistol Squats
5 C&J (315#)

Step up and down every rep on the box. Then all singles with the barbell. Both would keep my heart rate under control through the first part of the workout. I had my belt on and tightened it for every set with the barbell. Since I wasn’t jumping, I wore lifting shoes to would help with the pistols. Knee sleeves on too, which I pulled up for the pistols.

Last night I came up with sort of a slow scenario that would still let me get up to the 275# bar, where I would just stop. I haven’t lifted that weight in a couple years and it wouldn’t be worth an attempt with how my back was just feeling last week. Here was the plan:

1:30 Box
1:30 C&J (3:00)
1:30 Box (4:30)
2:30 C&J (7:00)
1:30 Box (8:30)
3:00 C&J (11:30)
2:30 Pistols (14:00)
3:30 C&J (17:30)
2:30 Pistols (20:00)

I got through 200 reps with a 18:27 tiebreak, so I finished the 225# C&J and the 2nd set of pistols like I hoped. 💥 I was ahead of my total pace at every point. Here are my splits (compared to plan) and total time (compared to plan).

1:24 (0:06) – 1:24 (0:06
1:23 (0:07) – 2:47 (0:13)
1:41 (-0:11) – 4:28 (0:02)
1:32 (0:58) – 6:00 (1:00)
1:57 (-0:27) – 7:57 (0:33)
2:02 (0:58) – 9:59 (1:31)
2:20 (0:10) – 12:19 (1:41)
4:42 (-1:12) – 17:01 (0:19)
1:26 (1:04) – 18:27 (1:33)

I thought it felt like my step-ups got slower and they sure did. I gave back time during the 2nd and 3rd sets. Kind of crazy that the 95# cleans took 1:23 and the 135# took 1:32. The 25# plates bounce around so much it’s hard to pick the bar back up. I should have gone faster on the first set of pistols, but was trying to keep my heart rate under control before that 225 pounder. Those heavier cleans took much longer than expected, considering I handled all of the other weights well. I was trying to rest about 20 seconds between each rep there because I knew I was ahead and I didn’t want to miss a jerk.

That workout was a lot of fun. I was nervous about my back holding up, but it was good. My entire back side is really tight now though.

One Lunge at a Time

Last night I could feel my triceps getting sore. My back is a lot less tight this morning and my chest is definitely sore from the increased ROM with those dumbbell bench presses. Went to open gym at 10am.

Warm-up

3:00 Echo Bike (30 cals)
2 Sets10/10 Leg Swings
- 10 Toe Touches
8 Pendlay Rows (45#)
10 Bent Over Rear Lateral Raises (5# DBs)
8 Pendlay Rows (75#)
10 Bent Over Rear Lateral Raises (15# DBs)
10 Cossack Squats

Accessory

4 Sets

8 Pendlay Rows (95#)
12 Bent Over Rear Lateral Raises (20# DBs)
10 Goblet Cossack Squats (44#)

Those cossack squats are nasty.

Midline

3 Sets

30s/30s Side Planks
30 Plank Jumps
6 Evil Wheels

Finished in 8:10.

Conditioning

400m Walking Lunge

Went over to the track at the school across the street. Today I alternated between 20 step-through lunges and 20 bringing my feet together for a slight pause. It really helped me focus on something and keep up a solid overall pace. I finished in 10:39, which is a huge PR by 1:16!

Year of the Engine – Endurance

44:00 Run

I wanted to give my back more time to recover from 20.2 so I delayed rowing intervals a couple more days. Plus it was great weather for a run around 4pm. I had a little goal of 4.5 miles and ended up going 4.57.

Cool that I’m never going over a 10:00/mile pace now, even as the runs are getting longer.

Could Have, Maybe

My legs and hips are tight from the weekend. Out in the garage during lunch.

Year of the Engine – Speed/Threshold

15:00 Airdyne

I did a much better job holding ~80 RPM, especially through the second half. Did 507 calories and 9.68 km, which are both improvements from a month ago.

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

3 Sets
- 15 Reverse Hypers (50#)
2:00 Echo Bike (22 cals)
2 Rounds
- 10/10 Leg Swings
- World’s Greatest Stretch
- 10 PVC Passes
- 5 Air Squats

Strength

Back Squat

10×45#
10×95
6×135
3×165
3×195
MAX @ 225 (6)
MAX @ 165 (10)

I had no idea what to use since it was percentage based. I think I picked pretty good numbers though, not having squatted in so long. It wasn’t really a max set because I stopped well before I started getting out of position. Time to slowly work myself back to some lower body strength.

Midline

3 Sets

1:00 Weighted Plank (45#)

These were done immediately after the final 3 sets of squats.

Conditioning

E3M – 5 Rounds

10 Hang Power Cleans (95#)
10 Toes-To-Bar
10 Front Squats (95#)
10 Burpees Over The Bar

I probably could have done the Rx 115#, but I didn’t want to push my luck after heavier squats. Maybe a good decision though because the front squats got slow and I tried to be careful on every rep. As my squats got slower, I tried to pick up the pace on the burpees. I had 1:14 – 1:17 of rest every round.

Four Sections

I got just over 9 hours of sleep last night! I think my legs are going to get pretty sore from all of the squats yesterday. No time again for a Year of the Engine workout today. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

10 Jumping Jacks
10 Pass Throughs
8 Air Squats

Power Clean & Push Jerk

3×45#
3×95
3×135

Conditioning

0:00-5:00
- 1k Row (3:27.8)
5:00-17:00 – Power Clean & Push Jerk
- 135
- 165
- 185
- 205
- 225
- 235
- 245
17:00-22:00
- 1 mile Echo Bike (2:21)
22:00-35:00
- 21-15-9
  - Deadlifts (225#)
  - Handstand Push-Ups
- AMRAP
  - Strict Handstand Push-ups

I thought about holding a 1:40/500m pace on the row, but didn’t want to completely destroy myself for the next 30 minutes of the workout. Only 16 seconds slower than my PR. I’ll take the push jerk considering my PR is 255! That bike started to burn before the half mile and then it was just holding on. My back was a little lit up from the last two C&J, so I took it nice and slow on the deadlifts. I went 6-5-5-5, 5-5-5, and 5-4. On the HSPU I went 6-5-5-5, 5-5-5, and 9. It took me 9:12 to complete, which would be a really slow Diane time. I rested until there were three minutes left when I decided to start doing strict HSPU. I started with a set of 5, then maybe a triple, some doubles, singles, and a double to finish, getting 21 reps.

Repeat of 2 & 2

Still coughing, but I picked up the inhaler this afternoon, so hopefully it goes away soon. My WHOOP recovery was only 32% this morning, but I feel pretty good and am planning to golf the next two days. Out in the garage during lunch.

Year of the Engine – Rocket Race

8 Rounds

2:00 Row
2:00 Rest

I did these same intervals on June 29th with an average pace of 1:42.8/500m, so today I was shooting for 1:42. Got 588-588-589-588-588-588-588-588 meters, which is 36 more overall than last time.

2019-09-04-row

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

400m Row
3 Rounds
- 5 Good Mornings
- 5 Kip Swings
- 5 Air Squats

Conditioning

E3M – 10 Rounds

10 cal Echo Bike
10 cal Row
10 T2B
3 Deadlifts (4×185, 4×225, 2×245)

The bike got a little slower over time. Could really feel the leg fatigue from the last few days. Wore my Bear KompleX grips and kept the toes-to-bars all unbroken. The deadlifts got heavy and I didn’t wear a belt. Did them all with a neutral grip too, which I’ve been doing a lot of since I haven’t been going heavy.

Midline

4 Sets

50 Russian Twists (35# KB)

The end of set 3 and about half way through 4 really started to slow.

My body is ready for the “rest” days!

Ten Without a Problem

My biceps and lats are sore from yesterday. Out in the garage during lunch.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

45:00 Airdyne
** Endurance with 7s sprint @ 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42

I did 1,240 calories and 26.26 km on my AD2.

2019-08-28-airdyne-hr

That wraps up the second phase (polarization) of the program. I really enjoyed the polarized workouts and am glad to see some of them continue in the next phase. I made it through the first 24 weeks of the program and can’t wait to see what progress comes during the next phase.

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

3 Sets
- 10 Reverse Hypers (160#)
400m Run
2 Rounds
- 10 PVC Good Mornings
- 10 Lunges
- 5 Ring Rows
- 5 Inch Worms

Strength & Gymnastics

Deadlift

10×45#
10×115
10×165
10×195

3×10 Bar Muscle-ups

After the dumbbell snatches and box jumps my back was tight from yesterday, so definitely wasn’t pushing deadlifts today. There was an option to do muscle-ups in between sets, so I focused on those instead. I’ve never tried more than 6 before so it seemed like a good day to go for it. I got three unbroken sets of 10 without a problem, which in my new max set. I bet I can get 15+.

Conditioning

2 Rounds
- 20 cal Assault Bike
- 20 cal Row
- 20 Front Rack Lunges (115#)
15 cal Assault Bike
15 cal Row
10 Front Rack Lunges (135#)
15 cal Echo Bike
15 cal Row
10 Front Rack Lunges (135#)

So in reality it was 2 rounds of the second part as well, but the Assault bike was in use when I got there so I finished out on the Echo. Looks like the Echo knocks out the calories quicker. Noted for future workouts! I started out hotter on the first row and was able to keep over a 1,200 cal/hr pace on them all and pushed that last one extra to give myself time to finish under the 15:00 cap. Barely got it, in 14:59! I never dropped the bar during any of the lunge sets.

All Legs and Buns

Wasn’t sure how my back would feel after yesterday, since lifts from the hang are tougher on it. Feeling good today though. Out in the garage during lunch.

Year of the Engine – Interval

10 Rounds

1:15 Row
1:15 Rest

Set a goal of 1:38/500m, thinking it might be a little aggressive. It was good though; not easy, but enough of a challenge that I had to push the last half of the workout to stay on pace. Got exactly 383 meters every round.

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

400m Run
2 Rounds
- 10 Good Mornings (45#)
- 10 Jumping Jacks
- 10 Russian KBS (44#)
Deadlift
- 10×45#
- 5×95
- 5×135

Strength

E4M – 4 Sets

25 cal Echo Bike
5 Deadlifts (155-205-205-235#)

After doing the first bike in about a minute I realized there was no reason to go so hard with what was coming up.

Conditioning

EMOM – 5 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
100 Front Rack Lunges (95#)

I did 15-12-11-12-10-10-10-12-8. Early on I got messed up thinking the clock was counting down, so I think I dropped the bar for a quick rest in the first three rounds and definitely should not have. I think after 2 rounds I made a goal to get to 50 through 4 rounds and then finish out with sets of 10s. With only one round to go, I pushed it a little for that set of 12 so I’d had fewer to finish. Took me 8:30 and I was getting ass cramps shortly after.