Front Squat – Page 24 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

So Much For Resting

I couldn’t help myself. Saw the WOD posted and figured it wouldn’t be too bad and decent for recovery, so I went in at 9am.

Warm-up

3m Row at 20 spm
4 World’s Greatest Stretch (each side)
Tabata Sit-ups

For the first 6 intervals I got 13 sit-ups and then 12 each in the last two for a total of 102.

WOD

3 Rounds

250m Row
20 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
15 T2B
10 Front Squats (145#)

The Rx weight was 165#, which I probably should have done, but 145# sure wasn’t easy. I did sets of 6-4 every round on the front squats. For the wall balls I did 20, 12-8, and 10-10. Then for T2B I did 10-5, 8-7, and 10-5. Total time was 12:02. Glad I decided to workout today.

We Are Spartans!

Yesterday I did a 4.7 mile Spartan Race with a group from CrossFit Full Strength. It was a lot of fun and we all did really well. I was 13th in my age group and 70th overall for men on the day, both in the top 10%, with a time of 1:08:01. After going out for food and drinks I was exhausted and slept over 10 hours last night. Was feeling a little tired this morning, but not too bad other than my hips are really tight. Let myself recover some more and went in for the 5:15pm class.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

500m Row
3 World’s Greatest Stretch (each leg)
5 Inch Worms
10 Leg Swings (F2B and S2S, each leg)

Strength

5 Sets

2-4 Front Squats
3-5 Back Squats
2m Rest

Holy shit! Super setting front squats with back squats is the toughest squat strength day I’ve ever done. I nearly passed out during the last 3 sets and was sweating more than I did from WOD.

Weight	Front Squats	Back Squats
135#	4	5
165#	4	5
195#	4	5
225#	3	3
255#	2	5

I had a plan going in to get to 255# by going up 30# each set. It’s always nice when that works out! I hit 255# for a front squat 2RM last week and for a back squat 5RM the week before. Could I do them back-to-back though? Hell yeah! I don’t think I could have gotten another rep at each one. I did take it a little easy on my reps in the 4th set, but I’m ok with that since it allowed me to get heavy and I still hit the minimum reps. Thrilled with this after an exhausting day yesterday. Walking for the next few days might be tough.

WOD

2 Rounds

50 Push-ups
100 DU
75 AbMat Sit-ups

I ordered the SR-1 Speed Rope from Rogue, which came in on Friday. Tried it out for the first time today in this WOD. Damn it’s a heavy rope! I could really feel the fatigue from it. The handles are awesome, but I might swap out the extra wire that came with the Again Faster Revolution rope. Push-ups were by far the most difficult part of this for me (which I expected), but the last 50 sit-ups were pretty brutal and got slow, but I managed to do all of the sit-ups unbroken in both rounds. My time was 12:17.

The Real Bear Complex

Yesterday I rested. Walked 9 holes of golf early in the morning, which was good active recovery. I was pretty wrecked from Saturday through Tuesday so my body needed it. I’m still sore today, but don’t feel destroyed like I did. Went in for the 9am.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats
20 Sit-ups

2x Bergener Warm-up with empty bar

Strength

10:00 EMOM

Power Snatch
Hang Full Snatch

I’m excited about all of the snatch work we’ve been doing. Today I really focused on full hip extension and I think I made some great progress. I went 75#, 85#, 95#, 105# for 3 minutes, 115# for 2 minutes, and 125# for the last 2 minutes. In the 9th minute I lost focus a bit and had to bail on the full snatch in the bottom of the squat, but I picked it back up and got the rep in. I felt like my hip extension was pretty good in the power snatches and still short from the hang position. It’s definitely improving though.

WOD

5 Rounds

7 TnG Bear Complex (Power Clean, Front Squat, SH to OH, Back Squat, SH to OH)

* Combining is allowed, such as doing a thruster for front squat + shoulder to overhead.
* Increase weight each round.
* Partner up so you rest while the other person is working.

I’ve done bear complexes, but never as it’s designed to be done, with 7 TnG reps of the complex per “round”. It was definitely a challenge! Started off light with 75# to get the feel for it and warm up some more. Then went 85#, 95#, 115#, and 125#. Pretty much thrusters and back thrusters the entire way for me. I did quite a bit of resting with the bar on my back in the last round and some in the 4th round. Going any heavier would have been very difficult to finish.

Hike

After 4pm I headed out and did a hike. 2.39 miles in 1:03:59, while wearing the 20 pound weight vest. Strapping that thing around my chest really adds a whole other level to the hike.

135 Pound Thrusters Suck

My abs are pretty sore, either from the sit-ups, the snatch work, or more likely from both. Things like the OHS and snatch balance are very underrated in being a core exercise. My shoulders and lats are pretty sore from the snatch work too. Since I did double workouts on both Saturday and Sunday, I took some extra rest and went in for the 5:15pm today. I’ve also been told there is some good competition at this time.

Warm-up

5:00 Row at 20 spm keeping a pace +/- 3s

This was something new and interesting. I tried to count a 1-2-3 on the recovery to make sure I wasn’t pulling too often, but when I did pull I gave it power. I tried to keep my pace right around 2:00/500m.

Strength

5×3 Front Squats

Last time I did a 5×3 on front squats I hit my old PR of 235# for all 3 reps. It’s been a couple of months since hitting a 255# 1RM so I was shooting to hit it for 3 today. So close! I went 135#, 165#, 205#, and 235# for 3 reps. I got the first two reps at 255# and then lost the rack on the 3rd one as I started to come up. If I had gotten a little tighter and more organized before the rep I think I would have had it. Nice improvement though.

WOD

15 Thrusters (135#)
200m Run
20 Thrusters (95#)
400m Run
30 Thrusters (65#)

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate thrusters? I was not looking forward to this WOD, especially Rx. But I went for it. For the 135# thrusters I had a set of 9 to start and then got 5 more before I had to bail. I was so pissed to leave one rep left. On the 95# thrusters I went 8-4-4-4. Rough! Then for the final 30 with 65# I went 12-10-8. My strength endurance still sucks. Lance and Adam smoked me. I finished in 15:17. Glad I went Rx after all is said and done, but it damn near killed me.

Sunday’s Triple WODs and OLY

Up and at ’em early for the 9am. Lower back is a little tight from the deadlifts yesterday, but feeling good otherwise.

Warm-up

500m Row
2 Rounds
- 10 Push-ups
- 10 Pull-ups
- 10 AbMat Sit-ups

Each of the following 3 WODs have a 10 minute time cap with a continuous running clock. So if you get done with a WOD early, you rest until the next 10 minute chunk comes up.

WOD #1

3 Rounds

10 Ring Dips
50 DUs

Busted through this one in 3:37, hitting the last 50 DUs unbroken. Broke up the ring dips a bit in the 2nd and 3rd rounds

WOD #2

3 Rounds

14 HSPU
40 AbMat Sit-ups

I knew this one would be the toughest because that’s 42 HSPU and the sit-ups are never fast. I did the first round of HSPU unbroken, which is my best streak to date. Was really forced to get the kip down earlier in the week, which helped a lot here. I think I went 8-6 and then 6-4-4 in the last two rounds. Finished in 7:42.

WOD #3

3 Rounds

10 Hang Power Cleans (135#)
15 Burpees

Good way to finish it out. For the cleans I went 10 unbroken in round 1, 5-5, and then 6-4. Just tried to keep a nice steady pace with the burpees so I could keep going. Total time of 5:29.

That was a fun workout and a nice one for a Sunday.

Olympic Lifting

I headed back to eat something and then was back to CrossFit Full Strength at noon for the OLY class.

We started out doing a type of bear complex.

Deadlift and power up to shrug.
Hang Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Jerk (from the back)

I did a few of those with 95# and then we did one EMOM for 10:00. I stuck with 95# for the first 5 and then jumped up to 115#. After a bit of rest we started doing:

Power Clean
Squat Clean
Push Jerk

I did one at 115#, one at 145#, and then three at 165# I think. From there we went to push presses, working from some warm-up sets of 5, to triples, doubles, and singles. I’m not exactly sure what weights I used, but I think it was something like:

5 @ 95#
5 @ 105#
3 @ 115#
3 @ 145#
2 @ 155#
1 @ 165#

I wasn’t keeping track and really don’t remember. Next up we did sets of 5 strict shoulder presses.

5 @ 95#
5 @ 95#
5 @ 105#
5 @ 115#
4 @ 125#

There was a lot of good work in that hour+ of work. It’s good to be back for the Olympic lifting work for sure. Johnny knows his stuff and was picking out a few little things in both my clean and my jerk. I tend to sit forward a bit when receiving the cleans and not enough back on my heels. My stance was starting with my feet too far apart in the clean, not allowing enough room for my knees to push out and get out-of-the-way of the bar. I need to get my front foot out forward more in the jerk. Good stuff!

After the HSPU and all of that pressing, my shoulders are feeling it.

Partner Barbell Complex

My low back is sore and tight. Went in at 10am.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

1m Air Squats
1m Jump Rope
1m Russian KBS
1m One-arm DB Snatch
1m Sprawl (no push-up, no jump burpee)
1m Rest

Nice and easy pace.

WOD

30:00 AMRAP (I go, you go)

5 Power Cleans
5 Front Squats
5 Push Presses
5 Bent Rows
5 SDLHP

Casey and I knocked out 14 + 25 with 95#. He started first, so he did 15 full rounds. We kept a pretty consistent pace throughout, but slowed down some in the last 10 minutes. Great WOD, but brutal. Glad it’s over.

Zerchers

My legs were fatigued all day yesterday, but felt fine this morning. Went in for the 9am class.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats

Strength

5×5 Zercher Squats

First time for these. Felt a little odd for the first few sets, but started to get the hang of it. I ended up using the same loads I had used for 5×5 front squats 3 weeks ago: 135#, 155#, 175#, 195#, and 215#. Hit 5 reps on each and the last set was tough. Might have had another 5 or 10 pounds in me, but I’ll take it for my first time.

WOD

5 Rounds

21 Over the Box Jumps (24″)
16 Weighted Lunges (45# DBs)
9 Front Squats (45# DBs)

This was a hell of a leg killer and even after the first round I had to really concentrate on every box jump to make sure I got up there. Did my best not to take any rest breaks, but did have to put the DBs down between lunges and squats in the 3rd and 4th rounds. Finished in 13:58, which feels good since grabbing the 45# DBs is on the edge or past my limits.

Finisher

10 -> 1 Ladder of T2B
20s Spider Plank

Did all of the T2B unbroken. First time doing spider planks and those are tough. My legs were pretty shaky after the WOD.

A Sunday Triple

Feelin’ good. Getting a lot of sleep. Eating pretty healthy. Drinking more water. Seeing results. Went in for the 11am.

Warm-up

100 Jumping Jacks
100 Mountain Climbers
100 Butt Kicks
100 Lateral Hops (I alternated legs each 25)
25 PVC Pass-thrus
3 x 1m Bottom Squat Hold (30s rest between each)

WOD #1

Tabata Front Squats (65#)

I got 80 total reps. Nice burn, but could really feel my lower back towards the end.

Take 2 minutes of rest before the next WOD.

WOD #2

13 -> 1 Ladder

Burpees
Russian KBS (53# KB)

Never took a break and finished in 8:56. It was a 10:00 time cap and then 3 minutes of rest before starting the next WOD, so it was nice to get that extra minute of rest.

WOD #3

50 Reps of Sandbag Complex

Clean the bag up on to a shoulder
Squat
Press the bag up OH and on to the other shoulder
Squat

I was able to find a nice rhythm with these and did blocks of 5 throughout most of the WOD. At the end, the presses started to get harder so I switched to blocks of 4 at a time. Crushed this one in 7:37.

Great hour of work for a Sunday. I’m shocked how fast my conditioning has come back. I’ve only been doing the extra rowing stuff at home for a couple of weeks and just cleaned up my diet a week ago. I hope this continues.

What a Bear!

Kind of tired this morning, but went to 9am to get it done.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats

4 Rounds

15s Plank
15s Supermans
15s Right Side Plank
15s Left Side Plank

Strength

Find 1RM Front Squat

After hitting my previous 1 rep max (235#) for 3 reps last week, I was looking for a nice PR today. Warmed up with 6 reps at 135# and then went 185#, 215#, 235#, 245#, and 255# for a 20# PR. It was pretty easy too.

WOD

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Modified Bear Complex (Clean Thruster + Back Squat Thruster)
2x DU

I went Rx with 115# and finished just under the time limit with 25:45. Pretty happy with that because a long barbell complex in far from my strength and I held my own. I’ll be feeling that one in my legs for a few days.

Triple Max Front Squat

Went to the 7pm class because I had work to do this morning and waited for my iPhone 5 to be delivered tonight in case it needed a signature. Feeling good after a complete rest day yesterday.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

15s PVC Pass-thrus
15s PVC OHS
15s Zombie Kicks
15s Lateral Jumps

Strength

5×3 Front Squats

These felt great today. Started off with 6 @ 135# and then 3 reps at each of 155#, 185#, 205#, 225#, and 235#. Had some left in the tank too, but I didn’t want to fail and that was already my 6th set. My previous 1RM is 235# so hitting it for 3 reps today was a good place to stop.

WOD

20:00 EMOTM, do as much of the following in the first 30 seconds

5 Romanian Deadlifts (185#)
5 C2B Pull-ups
5 Burpees

In the first minute I got 4 burpees, then 3 in the next minute, then 4, then 2 I think. After that, there were no more burpees until the final minute where we worked the entire minute and I barely got everything done. I kept doing my pull-ups as chest to bar throughout the WOD, but it wasn’t too long before I was only getting 4 pull-ups each minute. Only once did I just get 3, so that was somewhere around 90 C2B Pull-ups and 100 RDLs. This was much harder than it looked.

Explosion

Kevin talked me into staying after a bit to do some explosive stuff. We did 6 or 7 sets of explosive push-ups up on to plates by doing sets of 2s. The highest we got up to was 19.5″.

Then we started trying some kneeling snatches with his 15# training bar. I landed some, then went up to 25# for a few. Finally tried 35#, missed the first, and then nailed the second attempt. Next it was some kneeling jumps up on to stacked mats. We maybe got up to 8 or 10 inches.