Lateral Step-up – Page 4 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Hello Barbell, my Old Friend

Yesterday my quads and ass were a little tight and sore. I worked the speed bag a couple of times for a few minutes and I’m already getting the hang of it. I took an awesome nap before a late lunch. Didn’t end up doing any PT or core work for the day.

Last night I slept 9.5 hours! Out in the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

5:00 Airdyne (99 cals, 2.51 km)
Monster Walks

Conditioning

“Jackie”

1,000m Row
50 Thrusters (45/35#)
30 Pull-ups

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this girl WOD on my TODO list and didn’t end up doing it. Using an empty bar seemed like a good way to ease back in to the barbell. I rowed in 3:40 with my steady 1:50 metcon pace. Unbroken but way too slow on the thrusters. I was cautious with my back and not knowing how 50 reps would feel. I could have gone much faster. Finished those at 6:20. The pull-ups were much harder than I expected. I started out 7-5-5 I think and then like 3s and 2s. Pathetic. Finished at 7:45.

Accessory

2 Sets

3:00 Banded Bear Hug Marches (30# Slam Ball)
2:00 Rest
3:00
- 12/12 Lateral Step-ups (24″)
- 12/12 Banded Bulgarian Split Squats (red, 3 count descent)
2:00 Rest

Got the idea for the banded split squats from Eramo again. The timing of the reps I chose for the two movements in the second three minutes was damn near perfect, giving just a little extra rest before the two minute clock started.

Then I did some of my floor PT exercises. Was hoping to get in my core work later in the evening, but didn’t get to it.

Accessory Sunday

My upper back and shoulders are really sore. It’s tough putting on a jacket. Went to check out the new location for the gym this morning and then in for 10am open gym.

Warm-up

30 cal Echo Bike
PVC Passes
HS Hold
HS Walking

Gymnastics Strength

5 Rounds

15s Strict HSPU
45s Rest
15s Hand Release Push-ups
45s Rest

I had planned on strict ring dips, but when I tried a few out, they were rough after those Friday muscle-ups. I don’t really need to be rubbing on the straps either because my arms are pretty raw and scabbing up. So I subbed in the HR push-ups. My handstand push-ups were even a struggle, getting 11-9-7-6-6. I did 12-11-11-10-11 on the hand releases.

Accessory

4 Sets

12 Banded KBS (35-35-44-44, red)
8/8 Lateral Step-ups (30”)

4 Sets

8 Barbell Curls (70#)
8 DB Skull Crushers (35#)

Midline

Side Plank

3 x 20 seconds w/ 10 second rests (all 3 on one side, then switch)
1:00 Rest
2 x 20 seconds w/ 10 second rests
1:00 Rest
1 x 20 seconds w/ 10 second rests

2 Sets

10 Pallof Presses + 10 Rotations (per side)

3 Sets

20s RKC Plank
1:00 Rest

Did a little more handstand walking practice and I just wasn’t getting that forward lean going enough. Need to start working on it once a week.

No metcon today, which was nice. I definitely need a rest day tomorrow.

Double Airdyne Day

Rest day yesterday. I got blurry vision with a headache late in the afternoon and took a long nap. I also slept in this morning. My hamstrings are getting pretty sore from something.

I was really hoping we wouldn’t get something heavy for 20.3, because yesterday my back was not feeling good from Wednesday, and probably mostly from 20.2. Heavy deadlifts are better than heavy squats I guess. It definitely wouldn’t be smart for me to attempt those today, so hopefully I can recover for a Sunday go at it.

Year of the Engine – Rocket Race

4 Rounds

4:00 Airdyne
2:00 Rest

Out in the garage around noon. Protecting that back by not using the rower, which isn’t working anyway. I tried to keep ~85 RPM, doing 156, 158, 150, 152 calories and 2.76, 2.74, 2.67, 2.7 km.

I really need to make a v2 of the custom monitor for my AD since the first one was over complicated and stopped working with Raspbian OS updates. Being able to always see the important info (not alternating through) and on some type of stand at eye level will be a huge difference, especially for intervals like this.

It might be a good idea for me to switch things up more often like this. I’m able to get my heart rate up quite a bit higher on the rower. On the Airdyne, my legs start to burn far before I get my heart rate up.

That finishes month 8 of the program, which leaves one more month of this differentiation phase. A few hours later I was out in the garage again.

Accessory

2 Sets
- 5 Weighted Chin-ups (25#)
- 2×5 Strict Ring Dips
- 10/10 Lateral Step-ups (24”)
2 Sets
- 5 Weighted Chin-ups (30#)
- 2×5 Strict Ring Dips
- 10/10 Lateral Step-ups (24”)
1 Set
- MAX Weighted Chin-ups (35#)
- MAX Strict Ring Dips
- 10/10 Lateral Step-ups (24”)

I got 8 chin-ups, though the weight was briefly resting on the ground between each rep and 18 ring dips. Really close to my best of 21 strict ring dips, after already doing 40 reps! I decided to use a lower box than normal, doing them slower with control.

Year of the Engine – Rocket Race

18 Rounds

30s Airdyne
1:00 Rest

I felt my back pinch during rounds 3-4, so I hopped off, moved around a little bit, and was back on. Didn’t happen again. Held >100 RPM every round to get 549 calories and 7.12 km.

Pull-up PR

Didn’t sleep well at all and got out of bed around 6am. My back is really tight from 20.2. Went to the gym during the morning 8 and 9am classes to do my own thing, so I could use the 60 pound dumbbells.

Warm-up

5:00 Assault Bike (45 cals)
3 Sets
- 5 Scap Pull-ups
- 10 DB Bench Presses (30-40-50#)

Strength / Accessory

5 Sets

MAX Strict Pull-ups
10 DB Bench Presses (60#)
3:00 Rest

I got 15-12-10-10-10 on the pull-ups, which sets a new PR set! I haven’t maxed out strict pull-ups since 2014 when I did 13. I weighed about 200 pounds back then and I’ve been around 202 lately. The bench started to feel pretty heavy in the last two sets.

E20S – Until Failure

3 Strict HSPU

I wrote numbers up to 20 on the board kind of joking and ended up maing it through 17 rounds. My first idea was to do a 5:00 AMRAP, so this was just an extra 40 seconds and made sure I didn’t blow up too early. In round 12 I made the mistake of stopping in the bottom on my second rep. I eventually was able to press out of it, but it ruined me for the rest of the way. I had to do three singles in my last two rounds and barely made it so didn’t attempt the 18th round.

5 Sets

10/10 Single Leg Lateral Step-ups (30″)
30s/30s Single Leg Standing Balance (70#)

Then I was out in the garage around 11.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

36:00 Airdyne
**Endurance pace with 7s sprint @ 8, 16, 24, 32

976 calories and 20.88 km.

Time for some food and a nap.

On to the Next Cycle

My legs are fucking sore! Out in the garage during lunch.

Year of the Engine – Rocket Race

12 Rounds

1:30 Row
1:00 Rest

On August 20th I averaged a 1:45.3 pace for this same workoutand the results were not good on the BTWB leaderboard. I think I should be going much faster for this, so my goal today was 1:40-1:41/500m. I did 1:40.8 for 446 meters every round. That’s a 226 total meter improvement from the last time.

2019-10-09-row

Kevin came over around 4pm.

No B.S. Bench Press

10×45#
6×115
4×145
4×185
2×215
2×235
2×255
2×260
1×260 (fail 2nd)
1×260
2x1x265

Was supposed to do 4×2 @ 265-275#, but that didn’t happen. With all the struggles lately I’ve completely lost all confidence on the bench. I have a long way to go to get 300 this year. Fresh start with this next cycle, so I’m going to try some other things:

Be more conservative with the weights in the program to keep speed through reps and not struggle so much.
Lift 2-3 doubles or singles after the working sets each week to get used to heavier weight.
Accessories on another day to target chest, back, and triceps.
More protein.

Accessory / Conditioning

10 Rounds

5 Strict C2B Chin-ups (fat bar)
10 Goblet Squats (50#)
10 Banded Tricep Push Downs (green band with Fat Gripz)
5/5 Single Leg Lateral Step-ups (30”)

I did 3-2 and then all singles with a drop from the top for the chin-ups. Sped up the squats and step-ups over the last 3-4 rounds. Finished in 20:08.

Still a Little Sick?

On Thursday my abs were still a little sore from the previous Sunday or it might have been new DOMS from the 100 T2B on Tuesday. I walked 18 holes on the golf course. My hips felt tight after the round, which could have been from various movements in the Wednesday workout. I started feeling weak and rundown later in the evening and went to bed early. On Friday I felt shitty and took most of the day off from work, so obviously no workouts. Yesterday I seemed to be feeling better, but still a little off. I gave my body another rest day and was in bed at 10pm for the third day in a row. Went to open gym at 10am today, though wasn’t sure how I was feeling yet.

No B.S. Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
5×135
5×165
5×185
5×205
4x5x225
MAX @ 225 (7)

This starts the second cycle of the program, using the week 4 weight as the new base. Crazy that every set was exactly the same as almost exactly 2 years ago to the day on August 12, 2017. Even the max reps set of 7 was the same, which is only 1 rep shy of my best with that weight! Honestly, I did feel really weak from being sick.

Conditioning

6 Rounds

6 Burpee Box Jumps
6 Bar Muscle-ups
6 Burpee Box Jumps
1:1 Rest

Got this one from Sara Sigmundsdottir and the Buttery Bros

With how I was feeling walking around and benching, I wasn’t confident going in to this workout. I haven’t had my heart rate up since Wednesday and I wondered if my muscle-ups would hold for every round. I felt pretty good starting out, but could feel the effects of the burpee box jumps toward the end of the 6 bar muscle-ups when I was losing some hip pop. The first round took 1:30, with each section taking 30 seconds. I didn’t expect that pace to continue, but to my surprise I did it twice more! Then the fatigue started to set in on the burpees and I rested a little before jumping on the bar. My other rounds were 1:59, 1:57, and 1:42; I was able to hammer through the final burpees. Finished at 18:34 and was happy to do every set of bar muscle-ups unbroken. I’d like to try that one again when I’m feeling good. My back was feeling tight as the rounds went by.

Accessory

5 Sets

5 Evil Wheels
7/7 Half Kneeling Bottoms Up KB Press (35#)
5/5 Single Leg Lateral Box Step-ups (30″)

I definitely felt tired after the workout. I used an ab roller for the evil wheels instead of a barbell. Since it was fewer reps I went up to 35# (I’ve always used 26#) on the kettlebell presses and survived.

After relaxing through the day, I got outside for two hours of yard work in the evening. Wanted to do an Engine Builder workout, but I don’t think it would have been smart.

All in the Garage

My glutes were a little sore yesterday, but I was expecting much worse. Walked 18 holes on the course. Out in the garage at noon today.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

36:00 Airdyne
** Endurance with 7s sprint @ 8, 16, 24, 32

Went 1,008 cals and 21.21km, which is slightly worse than Tuesday. I attribute it to watching the CrossFit Games today and not paying as much attention to my pace during the first half of the ride.

Conditioning

34-in-box
10 Rounds

5 Strict Fat Bar C2B Pull-ups (singles)
10 Squat Jumps
5/5 Single Arm DB Shoulder Presses (35#)
5/5 Single Leg Lateral Step-ups (34″)

Rested maybe twenty minutes or so and then hit this little number. It took a few rounds to find a rhythm, especially on those high step-ups. Pumping my arms as I pushed up helped a ton. Great little session getting in a lot of accessory work with an elevated heart rate. Finished in 22:06.

A Little Long

Worked out a little before noon.

“Brenton”

5 Rounds

100′ Bear Crawl
100′ Broad Jumps

**Do 3 burpees after every 5 broad jumps.

I hadn’t done this workout since 2015 summer vacation, with a time of 8:17. Found a spot where I could do the full 100 feet in one shot, which always helps. It ended up being closer to 110 though after remeasuring! Got 10:25 with my last round being my fastest at 1:43.

5 Sets

10/10 Lateral Step-ups (33″)
20 Plank Jumps
20 Squat Jumps

Kind of nasty with the high step. Took me 14:11.

Five Shy

Woke up with my low back feeling a little tight. Not sure if it was from golfing or the bench press.

Warm-up

3 Sets
- 10 Reverse Hypers (160#)
Dead Hang
Kip Swings
5 Muscle Snatches (45#)
5 Pull-ups

Conditioning

16.3 – 7:00 AMRAP

10 Power Snatches (75/55#)
3 Bar Muscle-ups

I got some of the new Bear KompleX Black Diamond grips and tried them out for this workout. I ordered an XL this time around too, so there was more material to fold over for pull-ups and T2B. These really are grippy and I didn’t even use any chalk on them! Had magic tape around the base of my thumbs, but forgot to put some regular tap around my thumb nails, which sometimes split on the edge when doing bar muscle-ups. I started out not using the finger holes due to the snatches and later went back and forth between using them and not between the two movements. Was really wasting way too much time messing with the grips in this workout. Since I was focusing so much on my grip, I didn’t get enough kip and failed after my first MU in the 6th round. Quick drop, get back up, and knocked out the other two. Ended with 6+3.

The muscle-up miss cost me. My score was only 5 reps shy of what I did in the 2016 Open. Should have easily beaten it, but not bad for zero snatches in weeks. My back turned out to be fine for this and I didn’t have any issues with my calf.

Accessory – Posterior Chain

5 Sets

6/6 Single Leg Deadlifts
10/10 Lateral Box Step-ups (24″)

Used 75# for two sets of deadlifts and 95# for the other three.

Midline

3 Sets

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

My core was getting crampy during the flutter kicks, but I did everything unbroken with some rest between sets. Finished in 6:11.

Gun Show

3 Sets

Barbell 21s (45#)

Year of the Engine – Polarized

30:00 Airdyne

** Endurance with 7s sprint @ 5, 10, 15, 20, 25

Out in the garage at 4:30. Got 897 calories and 18.19 km, which is a PR distance for 30 minutes.

Mostly Modifications

Walked 18 on Wednesday and planned to golf yesterday as well, but a storm was coming so I didn’t bother going to the course. Sure enough, the storm missed us. Then I planned to workout later in the day, but I wasn’t feeling it so I took a complete rest day and didn’t feel one bit guilty about it. Some days the body needs that. I was out in the garage before noon today.

Year of the Engine – Interval

6 Rounds

3:00 Row
1:00 Rest

My pace was aggressive for the minute rests and the last three rounds were a battle. Got 835-835-836-835-835-835 meters. Might be the hardest effort I’ve put in to some of these intervals actually; I was pretty shaky when I got off the rower. Could also mean I need to get my nutrition back on track. My goal pace going in was < 1:48 and it was a success.

Went to the 4:00 class.

Warm-up

Got there early to do some posterior chain shit.

2 Sets

15 Reverse Hypers (90#)
10/10 Single Leg Lateral Step-ups (30″)

3 Rounds

200m Run
5 Air Squats
5 PVC Passes
5 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Conditioning

3 Rounds

3:00 AMRAP
- 200m Run
- Max Push Jerks (95#)
1:00 Rest
3:00 AMRAP
- 200m Run
- Max Power Cleans (95#)
1:00 Rest
3:00 AMRAP
- 200m Run
- Max Russian KB Swings (70#)
1:00 Rest

It was programmed to be 15 cal Row, 15 cal AB, and 200m Run in the 3 different rounds, but I took the option to run them all and work on a weakness. Was able to keep a pretty steady pace on the runs, with 55-60 seconds. The push jerk Rx was 135, but it’s much easier to just use one bar, not have to change plates, and that would get heavy real quick when doing it for about 6 minutes total in this workout. I swapped in the power cleans instead of Sumo Deadlift High Pulls too because I I think it’s a stupid movement with way too much risk of back and shoulder injuries. The heavy Russian swings actually felt good other than the tear on my right hand. I was able to get 335 total reps.