PVC pass- thru – Page 17 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.4 (Redo)

I arrived home in Saginaw, MI at about 1pm yesterday. My Survival Fitness (CrossFit Saginaw) family surprised me with a welcome back party at the gym last night. I thought I was going in to witness a 13.4 throwdown between Matt and Casey, but they got me good. I felt bad not drinking with everyone, but I was exhausted so I wanted to be able to get a quality night of sleep, plus I was doing 13.4 today.

I didn’t get quite as much sleep as I hoped for, but it sure is nice to be back home in my kick ass bed. Went in early to warm-up and got going head-to-head with Brent a little after 11am. I scored a 73 in my first attempt, but knew I could smoke that score. I was hoping to get up close to 90 if I could execute the strategy improvements I wanted to.

I warmed up with a 500m row, some PVC pass-thrus, a bunch of stretching and rolling, and some TnG C&J reps at 95# and 135#.

Open Workout 13.4

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

3 Clean & Jerk (135#)
3 T2B
6 Clean & Jerk (135#)
6 T2B
9 Clean & Jerk (135#)
9 T2B
12 Clean & Jerk (135#)
12 T2B
15 Clean & Jerk (135#)
15 T2B
18 Clean & Jerk (135#)
18 T2B
If you complete the round of 18, go on to 21. If you complete 21, go on to 24, etc.

I wanted to get through the 3 & 6 sets of C&J unbroken and I did. I also wanted to get through all of the T2B through 12 unbroken, but I had to break up the 12 with a quick jump off the bar and then back on. Matt was there yelling at me not to take the step away from the bar when I went to singles and it really helped me a lot. I knew I was in good shape when I got to the round of 15s over 30 seconds faster than my first attempt. I think I had somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds to get the 15 T2B done, but my hips were not having it. I struggled to get 7 reps. Had the time to get really close to 90, but my body said no. I’m really happy with a 9 rep improvement though. I knew I had a lot more in the tank than what my first attempt showed, but that’s understandable since I did it right after the announcement with no time to strategize.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.4 (A Safety Run)

I’m hitting the road back to Michigan early in the morning. It’s been a great 3 months in Phoenix but I’m excited to get home. Since the trip is 3 days I wanted to make sure to get in a score on 13.4 in case I got stuck on the road and don’t make it home as planned. I should get home on Saturday afternoon or right though and be ready to hit this one again on Sunday with my Survival Fitness family.

After doing 100 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in yesterday’s WOD I was really hoping not to see pull-ups in 13.4. I got my wish, but I’m not sure jerks were any better because my shoulders were pretty fried today.

I warmed up with a 500m row, some PVC pass-thrus, and some clean and jerks with increasing weights up to the 135#.

Open Workout 13.4

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

3 Clean & Jerk (135#)
3 T2B
6 Clean & Jerk (135#)
6 T2B
9 Clean & Jerk (135#)
9 T2B
12 Clean & Jerk (135#)
12 T2B
15 Clean & Jerk (135#)
15 T2B
18 Clean & Jerk (135#)
18 T2B
If you complete the round of 18, go on to 21. If you complete 21, go on to 24, etc.

I finished the 12s and got 13 of the 15 C&J for a score of 73 total reps. I dropped every single C&J. I also broke up the 9 T2B into 5-4 and the 12 into 6-6. My buddy Adam, did in with me and we’re usually back and forth depending on the WOD. He did the 3 and 6 C&J as touch-n-go and didn’t break up any T2B until the round of 15, where he finished 13 of them. So his total score was 88. To be honest, this workout really didn’t feel too bad. It’s hard, but I think I’ve felt worse doing Grace because the C&J reps are not broken up there like here where you get a change of pace with the T2B.

I’m confident when I do this again on Sunday I can follow a similar strategy to Adam, maybe even get in a couple of C&J doubles in the round of 9 or 12. I also did mostly push presses like a jackass when I planned to start with jerks from the beginning. If I can do that, it’ll really help save my arms so the later reps aren’t so slow. Getting through those 15 C&J and having time to get back on the T2B is huge because those are quick reps. Every rep in this one is going to be huge for your ranking because there will be so many ties without a tiebreaker. I’m shooting to hit 90+ on Sunday.

After sitting around for a bit, I did an easy 2k row in 8:57 for a cooldown.

Now that I’ve sat around and showered at home, my shoulders and back are getting lit up. The next 3 days will be in the Jeep driving over 2,200 miles. I’ll do some body weight stuff in my hotel room the next two days. My shoulders and grip should be well rested come Sunday morning for a second shot at 13.4.

Hundreds

Was feeling good until doing jump rope in the warm-up and then I could feel my lower back tightening up from those deadlifts yesterday. Went in for the noon class.

Warm-up

3m Jump Rope
2 Rounds:
- 10 Ring Rows
- 10 Burpees
- 10 PVC Pass-thrus
2×6/6 Turkish Get-ups

I used a 35# KB for my first set of 6 on each side. Then Emily told mo to try them with a barbell. I did 4 on the right side with an 18# bar which was too light. Switched to a 35# bar and did 4 more, then 6 on the left side. Using a bar adds another level of control to the movement and was a nice change.

WOD

100 DU
Split this up any way you want:
- 100 Pull-ups
- 100 Walking Lunges
- 100 Push-ups
100 DU

I got through the first 100 DU is about 1:10, then I did 10 rounds of 10s. All pull-ups were done without coming off the bar and no breaks on the lunges. I had to reset my rhythm a few times on the butterfly, but I think that is the best I’ve ever done pull-ups in my life. I did 3 unbroken sets of push-ups (all chest to deck) and then 6-4 until the last set where I forced myself to go unbroken again. The last 100 DU were a little struggle since I pushed so hard through the middle hundreds. Finished in 15:56, which crushed the best time of the day.

The Light Bulb Moment

I was feeling good today. Pretty well recovered from 13.2. Went in at 3:15 for some Olympic lifting and then stayed for the WOD with the 4:15 class.

Warm-up

500m Row
PVC Pass-thrus
A few empty bar clean progressions

OLY

We started out doing a complex:

Clean
Hang Clean
High Hang Clean

Everything was a full squat clean. I started off with 115# to loosen up and then went 145#, 155#, 165#, 175#, and finished at 195# due to Gayle’s push. The high hang cleans were really forcing me to get into a better full extension. For the first time I started to feel like I was coming out to meet the bar at the right time instead of it hitting so low, just above my knees. Gayle made this cool collage out of one of the videos during the complex and it proves I was finally getting some full extension!

clean-collage

Next, we moved on to doing doubles, with the goal of going EMOM for 10 minutes, but as we added weight, rest more often. Gayle told me to throw 205# on the bar to start. Ok, who am I to argue. She got me to full extension today which has never happened before. I was sticking to EMOM here and went 3 sets at 205#. Then I went up to 210# and stuck to EMOM for 3 sets there as well. Bumped it up to 215# for the next 3 sets and started to take 90s or 2 minutes of rest between sets because after 2 reps I was close to fainting a few times. You know you’re working hard when that happens!

On one of the reps at 215# I hit the best full extension I’ve ever had and the bar flew so high it caught me really off guard. For my last set, I took a little longer rest and went for broke at 230# which I recently did for a power clean, but have never attempted for a full squat clean and certainly never a double. I got it with an ugly 2nd rep, but fuck I was tired at this point. Gayle got a video of it too.

Now, let’s see if I can get this same feeling with snatches, which I really need it.

I skipped the class warm-up because I was pretty beat from those doubles.

WOD

18:00 AMRAP

200m Row (or 200m Run if all rowers in use)
15 American KBS (53# KB)
10/10 Walking Lunges
5 HSPU

I started out with a run, but then was able to row every round. Did everything unbroken and minimized my kip on the HSPU because it was only 5 at a time; they felt really good. Finished 7 full rounds and was getting on the rower as time ran out.

Get It Overhead!

I’m feeling pretty sore in my shoulders from the HSPU yesterday and as the day goes on my ass is feeling those plyo lunges. Went in at 3:15 for some special OLY work and then stayed for the regular class.

OLY Warm-up

500m Row
PVC Pass-thrus
2 x 10 Pause Jerks with 45# bar

Jerks

5x Jerk Short Step with 95#
Jerk from the Back – Doubles and Triples
Jerk from the Front – Doubles and Singles

I started off with 95# from the back, went 115#, 155#, and 185#. This was my first time doing any jerks from the back and they felt really weird. I only did a couple of singles at 185# because I don’t feel comfortable dropping that much weight back to my back and it felt uncomfortable to begin with. I need to do these once in a while to get the feel for them.

I dropped the weight back down to 155# and switched to jerks from the rack, doing a double there. Did a double at 185# and another at 205#. Then I was going to hit 225# for a single and Gayle asked if it was going to be a PR, so figured might as well throw another 5# on to make it 230# for a PR. Hit it easily without even punching under in fully. Upped it to 245# and pushed the weight forward instead of back, so failed. Fought it a bit and it didn’t feel too good on my low back.

Took a rest, made sure to punch under it, and got it up for a 20# PR. It was a little unstable over my head, but that’s fucking heavy. Gayle said I could have gotten my front foot out further too and got under it more. Did a good job of getting my head through though.

Class Warm-up

3/3 World’s Greatest Stretch
10/10 Scorpions
10/10 Flamingos
10/10 Legs Swings (F2B, S2S)

WOD

3 Rounds

600m Run
25 Pull-ups

I tried to push it harder on the run today and the temperatures are rising fast here in Phoenix, so that makes the running even tougher. Did all butterfly pull-ups again, but I’m having trouble stringing together more than 7 before I lose rhythm. Finished in 12:24.

Finisher

90s-60s-30s

DU
AbMat Sit-ups

This was actually part of the class warm-up, but I was finishing up my jerk PR when class started so didn’t do it at that time. Took some rest after the WOD and then knocked it out since there was plenty of time before the next class started.

165 All Day

Didn’t sleep very well at all last night, which isn’t the greatest for going in to do a competitor’s WOD at 8am. Back is pretty sore from yesterday and my delts are still beat up from the tempo OHS.

Warm-up

Row 500m
PVC Pass-thrus

WOD

3 rounds

8 Shoulder to OH
14 Pistols (alternate legs for 7 each)

Then 3 Rounds:

8 Front Squats
15 GHD Sit-ups

Then 3 Rounds

4 Ground to OH
15 Pull-ups

The Rx weights for this are 190/125. Ha! It would have taken me forever to finish, so I picked 165# which would still be challenging. Having just done “DT” with 155# last week helped me pick the correct weight for this.

We staggered our starts because there are only 3 GHDs, so I actually started with the 2nd couplet, moved to the third, and finished with the first. Kind of brutal that way because as designed, your upper body gets some rest in the 2nd couplet. The WOD called for 2 rope climbs in the 3rd couplet, but I substituted so I could work on my butterfly pull-ups. They’re getting better!

I finished in 22:38. Even going up to 175# would have been a big jump for all of those overhead movements. Cleaning the bar so many times really wears you out too. Definitely taking a rest day tomorrow!

Go Big

Met up with a group to throwdown at CrossFit Full Strength at 12:30. They all did yesterday’s OHS strength portion, but since I was in yesterday, I did something else for strength.

Warm-up

PVC Pass-thrus
500m Row

Strength

5×3 Deadlifts

We didn’t do any heavy deadlifts this week, so I figured it was a good lift to do. I went with 5 at 225 and then 3 at 315#, 365#, 405#, and 425#. My old 1RM was 415#, so I smoked that and did 2 more reps, not just the 1 rep. Feeling strong!

WOD

The gals did yesterday’s WOD and the guys decided to do a benchmark girl.

“Power Elizabeth”
21-15-9

Power Cleans (135#)
Ring Dips

My first time with “Elizabeth” so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I did the first 11 cleans TnG, then dropped the rest of the reps through 21 and all of the 15, before doing all 9 TnG. The ring dips were a struggle throughout, but I did a lot of sets of 4-6. Finished in 7:09. Next time I do this one, I’ll go TnG for all of the cleans and rest as needed to break up the sets.

My low back is pretty fried after all that.

Snatches and OHS

I was planning to rest through the day and hit up the WOD tonight, but then I got up this morning and was feeling good. The leg workout from Tuesday never really hit me hard. So I went in at 9am to get in my workout, with the plans to go for a hike or golf tomorrow.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

10 PVC Pass-thrus
10 PVC OHS w/ 3-2-X-2 Tempo
10s Tri/Shoulder Stretch w/ PVC behind back
10 PVC Sotts Press

1x Burgener Warm-up with an unloaded barbell

Strength

5 Rounds

1 Full Snatch
4 OHS w/ 3-2-X-2 Tempo

Considering the shoulder burn I got doing tempo OHS with the PVC, I knew this was going to be a world of hurt. Started out really light with 65#, then went 75#, 85#, 100#, and 110#. The last 2 reps were kind of wobbly at the top, but my midline and legs were tight. Anything heavier probably wouldn’t have gone for 4 reps. That’s a long time to be holding the load overhead. If you think about it, it’s about 2 seconds for the full snatch and getting set for the OHS, then 8 seconds for each rep, which totals a good 34 seconds or more. Emily kept yelling at me to really push my knees out going down into the OHS, so that was a big concentration point for me to work on today. For the full snatches I really tried to focus on getting full hip extension, especially being lighter weights.

WOD

4 Rounds

10 Hang Power Snatch (95#)
200m Run
25 Chest-to-deck Push-ups
250m Row

Fun one. I did the first 10 snatches unbroken, then 7-3, 7-3, and unbroken again in the 4th round. Should have fought to go unbroken each round. My push-ups weren’t too bad today due to having 3-4 minutes between each set. I finished in 16:42.

Big Boy DT

Went in this afternoon with Adam to do the hero WOD “DT”, which we missed out on last Sunday because of the Spartan Race.

Warm-up

PVC Pass-thrus
DU

Did a bunch of stretching too and then did some hang cleans and push jerks at 95# and 135#.

WOD

“DT”
5 Rounds

12 Deadlifts (155#)
9 Hang Power Cleans (155#)
6 SH to OH (155#)

I was dreading the shoulder to overhead the most, but it was the hang power cleans that did the most damage. Don’t get me wrong, the push jerks were still pretty terrible for me though.

I broke my rounds down into:

11 deadlifts
1 deadlift + 4 cleans
4 cleans
1 clean + 3 push jerks
3 push jerks

The only round I didn’t do this was the 2nd round when I managed to do all 6 push jerks unbroken. This worked well for me and allowed me to catch my breath a bit in between each phase. It ended up being an extra 3 deadlifts and 1 clean each round, but the deadlifts didn’t bother me at all. My time was 14:40. I told myself I’d be happy if I could stick to 3:00 rounds and I beat that. It really beat me up though. My entire body hasn’t felt this crushed by a WOD in a long time.

I have only done “DT” one other time and it was using 115# back in October for a time of 7:31. Nearly twice as long today with 155#, so power output was much higher at the lower weight, but I wanted something heavy today and clearly hit that goal.

I won’t be able to make it in for a WOD tomorrow morning because of golf, but maybe I’ll get out for an early hike. It’s been a pretty brutal 7 days so a day without a WOD will be welcomed by my body and should be ready to WOD and do OLY on Sunday.

2 Hour Saturday

I had a great rest day yesterday and went in for the 8am Competitors WOD and stayed to do the regular WOD as well.

Warm-up

500m Row
PVC Pass-thrus
PVC OHS

Strength

Work up to a heavy snatch single.

I started out with a few at 75# and a few at 95#, then started going up by 10# after one or two reps at each weight. Focus was on keeping the bar close and getting hip extension instead of looping the bar out, which I have a problem with. I got up to 155# and got under it for the first time, but it was a little too far forward and I couldn’t steady it before standing up. Took another shot and wasn’t committed to it. Nailed it on the 3rd try, which is a 10# squat snatch PR. I’ve hit 155# with an ugly power snatch in competition before, so this felt good to finally get out-of-the-way. Took the personal win and stopped there for the day.

WOD #1

This one comes from event #5 of the 2010 CrossFit Games.

7 Rounds

3 Cleans (185#)
4 Deficit HSPU (10# bumpers)

I scaled of course because it calls for 205# cleans and ring HSPU. I did power cleans the whole way through and reset for each rep. It was heavy, so I picked a good weight. My neck and collarbone are already showing some bruising. I can’t believe how much my HSPU have improved in the last few weeks. We’ve been doing them once or twice a week, so I’ve had plenty of work on them and it’s really paying off. I did each set unbroken. Final time was 8:36.

Since I was already warmed up, I skipped out on the warm-up the regular class was doing so I could cool down a bit.

WOD #2

3 Rounds

5 Wall Walks
20 cal Row
15 K2E
25 Wall Balls (20#, 10′ target)
15 Ring Dips
50 DUs

This was a non-stop suck fest! It was the first time I’ve ever done wall walks and after the 28 deficit HSPU they were not easy. Finished in 22:57.

I’m actually not feeling too bad after all that, but I suspect tonight I’ll be exhausted, especially if I head out for a round of golf this afternoon. Felt good to get really heavy in a WOD with the 185# cleans.

I jumped on the scale after everything and was at 191.5 with my shoes and clothes on, so I’d say the diet changes are working. I certainly am feeling good with the healthy food changes and getting a lot of sleep.