Muscle-up – Page 6 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Hybrid WOD

Starting some Hybrid Performance Method programming with Bryan and Weston. Figured I’d jump in with them and give my routine some structure.

Power Clean + 5 Push Press

Big PR on the push press! I’ve done 198 for 5 and 205 for 6 before. In the 2nd or 3rd rep of the final set I could feel myself over-extending so I braced hard and kept much better positions to finish the set. Barely. I could feel my back tight on the left side for the rest of the workout, but not a painful tightness, which is good.

Snatch Pull

3×135#
3×185
2×205
2x1x225
2x1x235
1×245

Odd doing singles, but was able to go heavy. Didn’t use straps at all.

Back Squat

6×135#
6×205
6×235
3x6x265

The working sets were at 70%, which felt good.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
5 Muscle-ups
15 Hang Power Cleans (135#)

Scaled down the wall balls from 25# since we don’t have that. Tried slam balls but the ones we have for that weight don’t bounce off the wall at all. Was not going RX+ with 30#. I also dropped the muscle-ups down from 7 to keep intensity up and be closer to Bryan’s time.

I went 3-2 on each set of muscle-ups and 6-5-4 on the cleans. Finished in 9:24 about 30 seconds behind Bryan so scaling was the right thing to do. I really need to start pushing sets more instead of playing so safe all the time. Should have gone unbroken on the first set of muscle-ups and tried to do the cleans in 2 sets each time.

Update: None of us realized the cleans were 135/195#, probably because we are so used to seeing 135/95 our eyes didn’t pick up the difference. Looking at the other days for the week it seems these metcons are programming for Regional level athletes, which is definitely not us. Will be scaling back a lot or just sticking to the women’s weights. Using 70% of the assigned men’s Rx seems appropriate.

Unbroken MU

My shoulders are still a little sore from Saturday, but my upper back is where the real soreness is from that gymnastics work on Sunday evening. Did a 20 minute ROMWOD during lunch today. The biggest issue with going back to work has been the right side of my back gets really tight after sitting for 2 hours. In the last month and a half I’ve noticed the same thing happening during any car rides over 90 minutes. Maybe I “deconditioned” myself out of my back imbalance a bit during the 3 month sabbatical. Anyway I hope things square away soon, because it’s really making the word days drag on when I have to keep taking forced breaks more often than I’d like. Got to the gym around the start of the 4:30 class.

Snatch

5x20kg
3×40
2×50
2×60
1×65
1×70
1×75
1×80
3x1x85

I wasn’t sure how these would go with my back. In the early sets I really tried not to be too aggressive, which I think had a nice carryover to when it got heavier. Those singles at 85% felt really good.

Clean & Jerk

5x20kg
3×60
2×75
2×85
1×91
1×98
1×104
3x1x111

Solid here as well. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t wearing a belt until after the first rep with 111 kilos. Usually I like to put on the belt when I get over 200 pounds. Made a big effort to stay off my phone and keep moving from set to set after loading the bar. Not quite EMOM, should have been close most of the time.

Front Squat

3x118kg
2x3x125

I did put on the belt here, because sometimes my core gives out a little and I start to cave forward. I think I was pretty upright for every rep though.

Good Morning

5x60kg
5×70
5×75

Took just over an hour to finish all of the lifting.

Midline and Gymnastics

Decided to combine abs with some gymnastics today so it didn’t seem like I was wasting so much time. I swear the ab work takes almost as long as the lifting in this program.

5 Sets

10/10 Side Bends (70# KB)
5 Strict Ring Pull-ups

Big focus on keeping a hollow body through each pull-up.

4 Sets

25 Lying Leg Raises
6 Ring Kip Swings

I need get back to doing those swings more often and translate the high feet into my actual muscle-up, because I still do the big knee bend on my forward swing.

Two weeks of Catalyst OTM ✅

Conditioning

5-4-3-2-1

Unbroken Muscle-ups

I had the urge to do some muscle-ups, even after fatiguing my pull and swing with the other work. Originally thought of starting with 6 down to 1, but made the right call to do with 5. Finished at exactly 2:00, with having to double or triple kip my final dip. I guess my rests between sets were spot on.

It’s Working

Took a complete rest day yesterday. Didn’t even get to the 45 minute ROMWOD I had planned. Got to the track at 10:30 when the temperature was still in the 60s.

Aerobic Capacity – Race

400m Jog
3:00 Rest
400m Run
3:00 Rest
200m Run
3:00 Rest
200m Run
5:00 Rest
400m Run
3:00 Rest
800m Jog
400 walk

The 400m jog to warm-up and the 800 jog and 400 walk to finish were my additions. The first 400m was programmed at a mile PR pace, but I have no idea what they were using because it showed a 1:24 for me, which is well below a 6:00 mile. I settled on 1:36 as my goal pace, which would be 6:24 and well below the 6:51 mile I’ve run this summer. Ended up getting in at 1:27 with no issue.

The 200m runs were there to get a feel for two different pacing options heading into the “race” 400. The programming picked out 32 and 25 seconds. 25?!?!? Not a chance. I ran a 33.1 and 29.8, which was actually a PR by a tenth of a second and I didn’t even try! After the first 200 I was contemplating extending the 3:00 rest between 200s and the 5:00 rest before the race. When the clock rolled around I had recovered pretty well, so stuck to the programming.

2016-09-19-400m After running that 200m PR I figured I had to go out at that pace and could probably sprint out of the starting line even a bit faster to take advantage of that energy system. I don’t know what my split was at 200, but I’ll bet it was another PR even going down the straightaway into the wind. After the initial 200 my legs got really heavy. I knew I was losing pace, but I tried to push to make it feel like I was actually going faster. As I stumbled down the home stretch I was not confident it would be a PR day, but to my surprise I crossed the line in 1:02.1 for a 2.2 second PR!

Couldn’t be happier with these 8 weeks of the AC programming. I’m looking forward to seeing what my mile time will be, but I’ll have to wait at least a week because it’s not programmed in week 9.

Headed in to lift just after 6pm with Alex. Nice light day to go along with the max effort running from this morning. Didn’t even put on lifting shoes for this session. Warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Power Clean

2x3x20kg
2x3x40
3×60
3×75
5x3x85

Power Jerk

3x20kg
3×40
3×60
3×70
3×76
5x3x81

Stiff-legged Deadlift

5x81kg
3x5x93

I can tell a big difference in my hamstring flexibility from ROMWOD. Was getting to the floor in the very first set. May go with a deficit on these from now on. Wonder if I’ll be sore from them.

Gymnastics

4 Sets

5 Muscle-ups

Good day to add in some of this work. Haven’t done any bigger sets in a long time. Took maybe 2-3 minutes between sets. Was trying to get my toes up in the kip. Wasn’t doing it very well but could already tell a huge difference in my height up on the rings. Need to start working on the swing again.

Midline

Gotta get in that Catalyst ab work. I can even work in my GHD volume. 😀

5 Sets

20 Russian Twists (55# plate)

4 Sets

30 GHD Sit-ups

Well… 4 big sets of GHDs are shitty! Even with several minutes of rest between sets. Had to start taking some breaks in the final 2 sets and focus on not aggravating my low back.

Will try to get in ROMWOD since I skipped out on yesterday when I was going to do the long routine.

100% Open

Trip to the gym before lunch.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
5:00 Air Dyne – 1.5 miles
5 OHS (45#)
5 OHS (95#)

Open Workout 11.4

10:00 AMRAP

60 Bar-facing Burpees
30 OHS (120/90#)
10 MU

I’ve had this one on my list for quite some time, especially since it was the lone remaining Open workout I hadn’t attempted. Without being able to do muscle-ups for 8+ months, it’s been on hold. Finally got to it today.

I was able to stick with my new BFB technique pretty much the whole time and felt pretty good. Finished them in 4:59, took a breather to put on the belt and then did the overhead squats in sets of 8-8-8-6. They went much better than I expected. Could have pushed for 3 sets, maybe 11-10-9. Finished the squats at 7:59. I planned to try going 3-3-2-2 on the rings, but had to go 3-2-2-2-1 instead. Had enough time left to get in 1 burpee.

Achievement unlocked… 💯% CrossFit Open Workouts!!

Midline / Skill / Conditioning

“Annie Up”

50-40-30-20-10 Zeus DU
25-20-15-10-5 GHD Sit-ups

I kept playing around with different rep schemes when planning my workouts for the week, mainly focused on getting in a bunch of GHD volume. At the last minute I decided on this upgrade to an already upgraded “Annie” I’ve done a couple of times with a regular rope. My best time had been 6:04 just over a year ago when I did it last. It’s a lot different with the Zeus rope and I have to admit I didn’t put the pedal to the floor today on this.

I did start off with a PR unbroken set of 35 Zeus dubs and then 15 to finish the 50. In the round of 40 I went 13-15-12 and then the 30-20-10 were each done unbroken. I never stopped when I was on the GHD but wasn’t going very fast either. Ended up taking 7:44.

Now I think I’ll hit the golf course (rode a quick 9 holes before leagues) and do a 23 minute ROMWOD tonight.

In Early

Got to the gym just after 10 to get in the strength lifts from the next lifting day since the workout I programmed for class didn’t have any weights involved.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
3 Sets
- 10 Reverse Hypers (210#)

Shoulder Press

5×45#
5×95
E3M
- 10×125
- 8×135
- 6×145
- 4×152.5
- 3×160

I put on the belt after the set of 10. Was really over-extending a lot today, which is not great for my back. It was a struggle so I cut back 2.5# off the final set too.

Front Squat

6×45#
6×135
3×205
3×235
E2M – 7 Sets
- 3×260

Put on the belt with 205 maybe? Felt solid. Could tell my power draining in the last few sets. Glad those lifts are done. Hopefully tomorrow I can knock out the other half of the week 4 day 1 work.

Class Warm-up

Ladder Footwork Drills
20 PVC Passes

Gymnastics / Accessory

21:00 EMOM

3 Muscle-ups
12 V-ups
8 Box Jumps (30″)

Felt a lot more fluid on the muscle-ups today. Slower and controlled on the v-ups so they wouldn’t aggravate my back.

Conditioning

20 T2B
15 HR Push-ups
30 Air Squats
15 HR Push-ups
20 T2B
15 HR Push-ups
30 Air Squats
15 HR Push-ups
20 T2B

Nice little chipper. I put on my new-ish grips to save my hands since the lifting has really been beating them up. Did all sets of 5 on toes to bars except finished with 5 singles. Took me 8:55.

Finisher

400m OH KB Carry
- 200@70#
- 200@53#

The seventy pounder was way too heavy!! Went inside quick and swapped it out. Still not easy. I think I should be doing something like that more often because it was a struggle, though hard to say how much all of the other work affected it I guess.

Golfing this afternoon in a cart and will do a 20 minute ROMWOD tonight and probably e-stim my back a few times too because it’s already feeling tight.

On The Rings

Abs started feeling “Annie” last night, but didn’t seem as bad as usual. Out in the garage around noon to knock out part of today’s lifting and some gymnastics. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Pause Push Press

5×45#
5×95
5×125
3×150
2×175
1×185
1×200
AMRAP 212.5

Pause in dip for 2 seconds and overhead for 2 seconds. I felt weak. Put on the belt for the final set and got 4 reps.

Gymnastics Strength

18:00 Alternating EMOM

4 Strict C2B Pull-ups
10 Ring Push-ups
16 GHD Sit-ups

Could feel the sore abs on the GHD! Planned 7 rounds but stopped after my back started tightening up in the 6th round of sit-ups.

Conditioning / Skill

8 Rounds – Reverse Tabata

10s Zeus DU
20s Rest

Same as last time with 123 reps. My ankles were really stiff. From the dubs in “Annie”? Or maybe all of the saddle legs in ROMWOD? Hopefully not from the new running shoes?

Got to the gym a little before 5pm. Did some bottom squat hold before getting under the bar. Was nice having the push presses done.

Front Squat

5x20kg
5×60
5×80
3×93
2×109
1×118
1×125
AMRAP 131

Put on the belt starting with the singles. Just under 289# for the AMRAP. Was able to get 4 reps. Starting to get my legs back.

Hang Snatch

2x20kg
2×40
2×50
60
65
70
75
80

Pause 2 seconds in the hang above knee and 2 seconds in the OHS. I missed one with 70 and then missed 85kg four times. Was getting it overhead no problem just out front or too much power and it was crashing an pulling me backwards.

Snatch Lift Off

4x100kg
4×106
2x4x111

Used straps for all 4 sets. Felt easy.

Gymnastics

E30S 5:00

2 MU

Wanted to do something more and haven’t done a muscle-up workout since tweaking my shoulder at the end of December. Initially thought about continuing until failure but 20 reps was enough volume to get back in to it. Shoulders were definitely stretching out in the swings, so hopefully they feel fine tomorrow.

Will do a 20 min ROMWOD.

Almost 10, but Sub 40

Coached this morning and then got in my workout after class. Starting the new cycle of gymnastics work.

Skill WOD “Be the Master of your Volume” Week 1 Day 1

Warm-up – 3 Rounds for quality

10 Pass-thrus
10 Bridge Rocks
10 GHD Heel Drives
3 Inchworm Push-ups
10′ Crab Walk (forward & back)

Mobility – 5 Sets

10s Bottom of Ring Dip Hold
1 Skin the Cat (2s pause in hang)

Test Your Max

1 Set of MAX MU
4 Sets @ 60% with 2:00 Rest

Got 9 and barely missed the 10th. Rounded to 5 for the drop sets. Made each set but the last two were close to missing; caught in a super low dip.

Strength Accessory – 5 Sets

5 Strict Ring Dips
5 Ice Cream Makers (banded)

Used the black band. Those were interesting. In the 4th set of ring dips something really weird started to happen in my left shoulder and bicep and then I couldn’t lift my arm until I moved it all around. Nothing like that has ever happened before.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

250m Row
2:00 Rest

Been wanting that sub-40 and got it. Went 39.7, 41.1, and 42.2. Boy do I start to hit a wall in the 2nd half of the rows after that first attempt. Legs start to burn hard, hamstrings feel like they are cramping up, and just can’t push like I want to. I decided on 3 sets before starting, but almost called it quits after setting the PR. Glad I gutted it out.

Headed back to the gym at 4pm. Warmed up with 3 sets of 8 Reverse Hypers using 210#.

Strength – Back Squat

10×45#
6×135
3×225
3×255
3×285
3×315
3×335
3×350 (PR)

Wore my belt for the last 3 sets. My goal heading in was to get 350 and it was solid. A few weeks ago doing a double with 353 got loose, so really happy. Most 1 rep max calculator formulas put me at over 370 now. Getting there!

Midline

100 Sit-ups

Been awhile. Was on a solid pace but the last 30 reps got rough. Managed a 1 second PR with 2:58.

Wanted to get in a solid day of work with a storm coming through. I do not plan on leaving the house tomorrow except to take out the trash. Will probably do some active recovery.

36 Years

Woke up a year older. Wiser too, of course. 😉 Opened up the gym from 4-6 after coming back from up north.

Skill WOD (Hustle & Flow) Week 4 Day 3

Warm-up

3 sets

5 Bar Work
(Hold and pause 2 sec at each position with no form breaks and no momentum)
- Dead Hang
- Lat Active Hollow
- Tight Arch
1 Skin the Cat
10 Straddle V-ups
10s GHD Hanging Bridge Stretch

Skill A – 4 Supersets

1 Ring Swing + Pull-up w/ swing + MU
2 Box Hip Kip Drill
3 Banded Hip Drill

Felt solid

Skill Test – 3 sets

1 rep of complex is:

MU + 2 Strict Ring Dips (after the MU dip lockout)

First two sets are 3 reps of the complex and then the 3rd set is for max reps. I only got 5 reps on the max set.

Strength Accessory – 3 sets

3 Lower to Hold Front Lever on Box

Felt harder on the grip this week.

Bonus Complex

Set 1: 3 Strict Ring Pull-up + 3 Toes to Rings + 4 MU
Set 2: 3+3+5
Sets 3+: Keep adding 1 MU until failure

I was looking forward to this stuff today, thinking I was well rested. Didn’t have it though. Maybe those curls and skull crushers from the other day had me or maybe the 2.5 hour drive played a role.

Put on me leather grips at this point. I only managed 3 muscle-ups in the first set and 1 in the second set. I took a quick rest after that 2nd set and got back on the rings to try to knock out some muscle-ups and didn’t have any. Called it quits right there on the gymnastics.

I had one terrible day in this cycle for each of the 3 movements, pull-ups, handstand push-ups, and muscle-ups. New cycle starting on Monday.

Weightlifting

Warmed up with 2 empty bar sets of 3 muscle snatch + 3 behind the neck snatch presses + 3 overhead squats.

Tall Snatches

2x3x40kg
3×45
3×50
3×55
2×60, missed 3rd rep
2×65
2 misses x70

I should have actually missed the first try at 70 behind me, but I am not used to that and pulled it back to the front. I need to do these more often. Felt like I was dropping quick, but need to get comfortable catching the bar that low and staying tight.

Conditioning

Warmed up with an easy 2:00 row for 507 meters.

5 Rounds

100m Row
1:00 rest

Wanted to set a new PR and get in a time for my BTWB fitness level ranking since it’s been almost a year. I killed my previous best 16.0 with a 15.5 on the first try. Then beat the 16.0 four more times with 15.7, 15.7, 15.8, and 15.9! I couldn’t believe it. I tried a different damper setting almost every round and even tried shortening my stroke on the final interval.

Good way to end the training session and a nice birthday surprise.

Get Nasty With The Girls

My legs were surprisingly tired this morning. The squats I did yesterday were nothing crazy. Went to the gym at 10am.

Skill WOD Hustle & Flow Week 4 Day 2

Warm-up

3 sets

10 Pass-thrus
10 Hollow Rocks
10 Arch Ups
10 Narrow Grip OHS (45#)
10s Bottom of Dip Hold
10 Bridge Rocks

Skill

4 Sets

Freestanding HS Hold practice
16 Shoulder Taps (heels to wall)
20 Shotguns (Shoot to hollow)

Best week of the 4 for these shoulder taps. Didn’t fall off the wall once during the 4 sets. I think I figured out how to shift my hips better with the butt facing the wall.

Skill Test

3 Sets: 4 Deficit Strict HSPU (3.5″)

Lowered down from last week’s 4 inches so I could hopefully get 4 each set. Wasn’t easy but did it. I set the plates further from the wall after watching Spealler’s tips video this morning. Felt better that way.

Strength Accessory

3 sets

10 Seated DB Press (40# DBs)
10 Parallette Push-ups (feet on 16″ box)
30s GHD Hollow Hold

The presses have been pretty easy so I added 2 more reps this week. I guess I could have tried using 44# KBs. Also increased the box height under my feet. I really tried to get as low as possible in the bottom of those push-ups to feel the stretch.

5:00 AMRAP

1-2-3-4-5…

Burpees
HSPU

I had to have miscounted last week. I think I did the round of 4 twice because there is no way my score should have been that much of a decrease from the previous 2 weeks. Kipping felt much butter with the plates further from the wall. I finished the round of 6s and got 5 burpees, a PR by 6 total reps over the first week. First time Yes! Got a second wind after that success. I was pretty disappointed last week.

I am not sad to see the last day of this workout. Has been my least favorite of the 3.

Took a solid 30 minute rest, but did 10×45# and 5×95# hang power cleans to warm-up for…

Conditioning

“Nasty Girls” – 3 Rounds

50 Air Squats
7 Muscle-ups
10 Hang Power Cleans (135#)

I’ve been wanting to try this one out for a long time. Since I’m heading out of town for a couple days today sounded like a great day for it. Get in a metcon involving a barbell and get in some muscle-ups with a full 2+ days to recover before the final workout of this Skill WOD cycle.

The air squats are so damn slow. Tried not to get my heart rate up too high going into the muscle-ups. I went 4-3, 4-2-1, and 4-2-1 on MU. Cleans were 5-5, 5-5, and 10. Took me 10:46. Next time I give this a go I’d try to speed up the 2nd and 3rd round of squats and I’d do all of the cleans unbroken for sure. I broke up those first two sets trying to save my pull a bit for the muscle-ups but with the long break during squats I don’t think it matters. I also think without having done an hour of handstand push-up work I’d be able to get the muscle-ups in 4-3 each round.

This video is a classic. The sport has come a long way.

Gettin’ Gymnastics Volume

Woke up feeling a little beat from the PRs last night. Low to middle are of my back being the stiffest. Not the area where I’ve had my issues though, so that’s good. In at 11am to close out the 2nd week of the cycle.

Skill WOD (Hustle & Flow) Week 2 Day 3

Warm-up

3 sets

5 Bar Work
(Hold and pause 2 sec at each position with no form breaks and no momentum)
- Dead Hang
- Lat Active Hollow
- Tight Arch
1 Skin the Cat
7 Straddle V-ups
10s GHD Hanging Bridge Stretch

Skin the cats really stretch out that shoulder area.

Skill A – 4 Supersets

1 Ring Swing + Pull-up w/ swing + MU
2 Box Hip Kip Drill
3 Banded Hip Drill

Felt a little better with the complex this week though I start swinging back with the pull-up and it messes up my kip a little. Didn’t feel as good with the box drill. Maybe I didn’t have the heights of things set right. The banded drill was better though.

Skill Test – 3 sets

1 rep of complex is:

MU + 2 Strict Ring Dips (after the MU dip lockout)

First two sets are 3 reps of the complex and then the 3rd set is for max reps. Increased from 5 to 6 on the max set.

Strength Accessory – 3 sets

3 Lower to Hold Front Lever on Box

These are tough and doing 3 compared to 1 was a big difference in fatigue.

Bonus Complex

Set 1: 3 Ring Pull-up + 3 Toes to Rings + 4 MU
Set 2: 3+3+5
Sets 3+: Keep adding 1 MU until failure

Went for #6 on the 3rd set and squeezed it out. Caught myself in a super low ring dip, but a rep is a rep. Maybe next week if I get those first 3 sets I’ll go for a 4th.

Some nice increases from the first week and without having to figure out that first skill section we finished up in just under an hour. My shoulders still feel wrecked after all that though. I wore my leather grips for everything but the warm-up and no further damage to my hands. I just don’t have the grip problem on the rings like I do with bar muscle-ups.

Conditioning

Bryan and I jumped on the rowers for 10 minutes. Went 2,535 meters. Didn’t get into a good rhythm until the final 90 seconds.