run – Page 58 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Teams of 2

Yesterday morning I walked 18 holes of golf and qualified for the Saginaw District Golf Association Invitational Tournament. It got up into the mid or high 90 and was a long day. Perfect timing for a CrossFit rest day! Feeling good and back at it today. When I woke up I knocked out one set of max rep push-ups and decided the Armstrong Pull-up Program just isn’t worth the time. It’s so boring compared to WODs, so I’m done with it.

Matt, the owner of the gym, attended a CrossFit Level 1 Certification over the weekend and will next be working on getting Survival Fitness affiliated as an official CrossFit box next. Pretty exciting stuff. He learned a lot and you could already see it in the way he ran today’s class. I don’t mean anything bad about previous classes by saying that, I just felt like he had more confidence in his teaching of certain movements and pointing out some of our technique issues. It’ll make us all better.

Warm-up

1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Mountain Climbers
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m PVC Pass-thrus
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Lateral hops (30s each leg)
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Bicycles
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Jumping Jacks

We’ve been doing a lot of these bottom squat holds and I think it’s helping to open up my hips more. Matt pointed out that I had too much of a round in my back though, so I have to fight for a better position.

WOD

Teams of 2 (45:00 limit)

200 Air Squats
100 T2B
150 Burpees
500m Run holding a 20# MB (both people run at the same time and at the pace of the slowest)
150 Box Jumps (24″)
100 Pull-ups
200 Walking Lunge Steps
200 SDLHP (barbell loaded to 95#)

Only 1 person is working at a time except during the run. The goal is to keep a high intensity and hand off to your partner when you start to slow down. The hand off is hard to do, even when you know you are starting to slow, because you want to keep knocking out reps. I attended the 8pm class, which is the last class of the day and no team had completed the WOD all day. The closest anyone got was 49 reps left by a team of 2 of the fittest women at Survival Fitness. I was paired up with Brent, which was a good pairing because we are both near the top of the men at SF. We flew along pretty good, but the pull-ups slowed us down and then the SDLHP were absolutely brutal. I’m sure I’ll be feeling those tomorrow. We pushed it hard through the entire 45 minutes and fell 33 reps shy of completing the WOD, but set the record for the day. With a little better strategy I think we could have finished. Next time!

Steppin’ up to 45s

I didn’t think yesterday’s WOD was that hard, but I was definitely feeling it today in my legs. My shins were a bit sore for the first time I can remember. I’m guessing that’s from 169 box jumps!

Woke up and did my 3 sets of max rep push-ups, which are increasing daily.

Warm-up

10:00 AMRAP

250m Run
20 Burpees

I finished 4 rounds with 30 seconds left, so there was no point in heading out for another run.

WOD

50 Man Makers (45# DBs)

What a dandy! I need to get stronger so I went for it with the 45s. Took me 27:30 to finish. I was sweating so much it was hard to hold on to the DBs. When combined with chalk it was almost like a paste on the handles. Not that my time would have improved much. Just saying it sucked. In these workouts I try not to pay attention to the clock because I know I’m pushing myself for weight and getting stronger is my goal. My endurance and cardio are pretty good and they get worked enough in all of the metcon WODs.

Finisher

7 rounds

10s Suicides
10s Rest

At the end of class a few people were talking about jump ropes, so I grabbed my brand new Again Faster Revolution Rope from the vehicle to try it for the first time. Let me tell you… it’s as good as advertised. My DUs seemed effortless in a couple of quick attempts I made. The rope spins so much nicer than the cheaper speed ropes.

When I got home, I rested for a bit and then did day 2 of the Armstrong Pull-up Program, which is now my 2nd week.

Can You Donate Some Dollars?

This Saturday is CrossFit for Hope, which is an event based around raising money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. CrossFitters around the world will be doing the “Hope” WOD and are taking donations and pledges. If you have a few spare bucks to donate, I have a big box over in the right sidebar linking to the page where you can sponsor me. St. Jude is a great cause and does a ton to advance cancer research. I’m trying to raise $300, so anything you can do is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It felt great to take a rest day yesterday. It was tough not doing anything, but I know it’s for the best.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

Broad Jumps
Rock Climbers

Haven’t done either of these exercises in quite some time. Both are pretty taxing.

WOD

250m Run
50 Tuck Jumps
50 Plank Push-ups
250m Run
40 Lunges
40 Prayer Crunches
250m Run
30 SDLHP (71# KB)
30 K2E
250m Run
20 Burpee Box Jumps (24″)
20 Ring Rows
250m Run
10 Pull-ups
10 Curtis P’s (40# DBs)
250m Run

I’d never done plank push-ups or Curtis P’s before and to be honest, I won’t be mad if I never have to do them again. Haha! Both were tough on me. My time was 24:48.

Ab Finisher

1m Side Plank (R)
10 V-ups
1m Side Plank (L)
10 V-ups
45s Side Plank (R)
11 V-ups
45s Side Plank (L)
11 V-ups
30s Side Plank (R)
12 V-ups
30s Side Plank (L)
12 V-ups
15s Side Plank (R)
13 V-ups
15s Side Plank (L)
13 V-ups

My tailbone and the surrounding areas still have some issues, so the V-ups were pretty brutal, not to mention there was a total of 90 of them. I got through them though.

Today was a great WOD and finisher that hit a lot of areas.

Reebok hasn’t shipped my CrossFit Nano 2.0 shoes yet. I wonder what the hold-up is. I did call Zappos to check on the status of the Inov-8s I had to return and they are actually crediting my credit card for them. I figured they were giving me a credit to use on another pair of shoes. I love Zappos!

Fifties on Sunday

Yesterday while watching golf, I downloaded a bunch of Survival Fitness videos from Facebook and compiled them into a movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_wUDCe7vj8

My body is pretty freaking sore all over. I haven’t felt like this in a couple of months, so I can tell the WODs have been great and the extra work I’m putting in is paying off . Yesterday I mentioned my tailbone was really sore. Well, it’s more than that. I have two quarter-sized floor burn marks on the sides of my tailbone. No wonder in hurts to sit down! Sorry, no pictures. 😉

Do you ever get bruises in CrossFit and have no idea where they came from? I have one under my right arm and a matching one under my armpit almost all the way to my back. Weird.

I did the push-ups of Armstrong Pull-up Program when I got out of bed this morning. It’s a nice way to start the day. I went in to the noon class today and it was packed with 20 people. Since class was so big we had to skip around during the movements, but it all worked out.

Warm-up

5 rounds

1m Deep Squat Hold
1m Mountain Climbers

I was stiffer than usual from the squat holds and 1 minute is a long time to do mountain climbers in a row, so I had to take 2-3 short breaks for them each round.

WOD

50 of each

DUs
Burpees
MB Snatches (20#)
Push Presses (30# DBs)
Wall Balls (20#)
K2E
Walking Lunges
KBS (53#)
Jumping Pull-ups
Box Jumps (24″)

It was ordered different on the board, but this is the order I ended up doing. I finished in 32:01. Most people did tuck jumps, but I was able to string together a few DUs before we started, so I went with DUs and completed them in 4 sets. I think I need to start practicing them again.

Later tonight I’ll do the nightly pull-ups and then it’s 2 days off from Armstrong Pull-ups. Tomorrow will also be a day off from CrossFit, which I’m really looking forward to. I will get out and walk 18 holes of golf.

Update: I just couldn’t stand sitting around later in the evening even though I went out and walked 9 holes of golf after lunch. I had to lace up the shoes and go out for a run, so I did a 5 minute warm-up, Tabata sprints, and a 5 minute cool down. In 14:14 I covered a total of 1.73 miles.

Partner Ladder

I really hated taking yesterday off, but my body needed it after 5 days in a row. I did get out and walk 18 holes of golf, so that was some active recovery. My legs were actually a little sore today, maybe lingering from all of the previous WODs building up.

Warm-up

5 rounds

12 Ring Rows
12 Plyo Push-ups

One minute per station, so you rest for the remainder of the minute once your set is done. Ring rows are still a weakness of mine. I was able to do all of the plyo push-ups unbroken though.

WOD

Partner Ladder

1 -> 10 Burpees
2 -> 20 KBS
1 -> 10 Pull-ups
2 -> 20 Wall Balls
1000m Run

One partner works at a time, while the other rests. Using burpees as an example, partner A does 1 rep, partner B does 1, partner A does 2, partner B does 2, and so on until both have done the set of 10. For the KBS and Wall Balls, rep counts increase by 2 each time, so it would be 2, 4, 6, … up to 20. I was partnered with Kinde, one of the top women at the gym. Since she had just done 150 pull-ups yesterday, Matt had her do thrusters with 30# DBs, which was so much worse.

I used a 55# KB for the swings and a 20# MB for wall balls. The only thing I didn’t complete unbroken was the set of 20 KBS, which I broke down into sets of 12 and 8. I felt bad for Kinde because she wasn’t getting much rest and then when we got to the run she was having a hard time breathing. She hung on and pushed through it. We finished in 44:27.

I had a tape grip for my right hand to do pull-ups and it really saved me. Last night I trimmed off the loose skin from a big popped blister, so it’s still pretty raw. I was really happy to be able to do all of my pull-up sets unbroken today and my wall balls are like night and day compared to where I was a few weeks ago. This Paleo Challenge is really paying off!

Strength

Front Squats

5x 135#
5x 155#
5x 175#
3x 195#
1x 215#

Hitting 215# ties my PR. I hadn’t done front squats in three and a half months, so I’m happy with that after all of the wall balls in today’s WOD. I went for a 2nd rep at 215#, but my legs were toast and I had to dump it. Next time.

Update: When I got home, I rested a bit and then did day 2 of the Armstrong Pull-up Program (PDF). I’m hoping to increase my pull-up strength at a faster pace than what I’m getting from the WODs. I’ve been consistently adding 1 or 2 reps to my maximum rep strict set each month, but I want it to increase faster. I did the first pull-up session last night, so this morning was the first time I did the push-up part of the program.

Bought the Iron Gym Extreme, because the pull-up stand I have in my garage sucks

Kelly

After the turnout for “Murph” yesterday, I can’t stop thinking about how great of a community this is to belong to.

I’m a little sore today, but not bad considering that’s 4 days in a row. Since I won’t be able to WOD tomorrow, I had to push to 5 in a row today.

I’m 2 weeks into the strict Paleo diet as part of the challenge at the box. A few croutons and a small amount of shredded cheese on a salad are still the only “cheats” I’ve had. I’m down 8 pounds (172# this morning) and 1.5% body fat. At times, you can see a 6-pack as shown by the picture in yesterday’s post. I can’t believe how much my body has changed in the last two weeks and how much better I’m performing in the workouts. I figured it would take at least a couple of months to get to the 6-pack stages.

I’m increasing my food consumption in an attempt to speed up muscle growth, because I don’t want to lose any more weight; I want to turn some fat pounds into muscle pounds. A lean 175-180 would be ideal. We’ll see how this goes for the next week.

Warm-up

75-50-25 Squats
30-40-50 KBS (Russian)

I used the 62# KB for the swings and finished in 10:05.

WOD

“Kelly”
5 rounds

400m Run
30 Box Jumps
30 Wall Balls

I love box jumps, so this is my kind of WOD. It’s always fun doing one of the benchmark girls or heroes so you have something to look back on if you do it again.

I used a 24″ box for jumps and a 20# MB for wall balls. Our 400m loop is more like 500 according to Google Maps Pedometer, so we’re working extra hard. 🙂 I did all of the box jumps unbroken each round and started with a set of 15-20 for the wall balls each time to keep my intensity up. Tried to do most of my resting during transitions from move to move with a few seconds of sitting down to drink some water. Finished in 32:22.

Squat endurance was my weak point in the benchmark for the challenge, but it’s getting better and better. Squats and wall balls felt pretty good today, especially since that’s 5 days in a row that have included a lot of squats.

Memorial Day Murph

Today we honor the men and women who have lost their lives fighting for our freedoms. The CrossFit community usually does the Hero WOD named “Murph” after LT. Michael P. Murphy.

A team of 4 Navy SEALs led by LT. Michael P. Murphy on a mission to capture or kill a key Taliban leader, found themselves seriously outnumbered in a firefight with well over 100 enemy troops. Pinned down and under intense enemy fire, their communications operator severely wounded, they were in desperate need for help. Due to the mountainous terrain, their communications could not be received. Understanding the situation, LT. Michael P. Murphy moved to open exposing himself to enemy fire, to use his satellite phone to request immediate support to save his team. LT Murphy was mortally wounded making that call. They continued fighting until Lt. Murphy and two of his three team mates were mortally wounded. His fourth team member, severely injured himself, managed to escape where he was taken in by a local villager until he was rescued 4 days later. He went on to tell the story in a book titled “The Lone Survivor”

For his selfless leadership, courageous actions and extraordinary devotion to duty, LT. Michael P. Murphy received the Medal of Honor, the first service member to receive the medal in Operation Enduring Freedom, and the first Navy recipient of the medal since Vietnam.
Memorial Day Murph

As we remember and honor those that have given the greatest sacrifice, we push ourselves a little harder today.

WOD

“Murph”

1 Mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Air Squats
1 Mile Run

*Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. It is recommended to do 20 rounds of “Cindy” by doing 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats per round. Start and finish with a mile run. If you’ve got body armor or a twenty pound vest, wear it.

Our mile loop is actually about 1.05 miles, so we worked extra hard! I finished my first run in 6:42, which is about a 6:22 mile, reaching my goal of sub 6:30! The heat and humidity were brutal today. My total time was 44:26 and that second run probably took about 8 minutes. I was dying and could tell I was dehydrated at that point even though I drank nearly an entire 24 oz bottle of water during the WOD. I did end up expanding a blister I formed during yesterday’s workout. At least it hasn’t ripped open, so it should heal faster. All sets of pull-ups and push-ups were done unbroken, and quite a few of the squat sets were as well.

We had 30 people show up on a holiday to do one of the hardest workouts in CrossFit. That’s amazing. I’m so proud to be a member of this community. After the workout, Survival Fitness held a Paleo BBQ, which was perfect since most of us are participating in the Paleo Challenge. Great food with great people. Here’s a look at the T-shirts you get for donating.

Garage WOD

My buddy Mo came up for a couple of days to visit and wanted to try some CrossFit. Today we worked out in my garage with the limited equipment I have.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

High Knees
Plyo Lunges
Butt Kicks
Mountain Climbers

If you aren’t used to the intensity, this can be a tough 16 minutes, but he hung in there. Plyo lunges were fun in a Tabata.

WOD

4 Rounds

1m Man Makers
1m Air Squats
1m KBS (Russian)
2m Rest

We alternated who started with Man Makers and who started with KBS, but always kept Air Squats in the middle. Doing Man Makers first and KBS as the 3rd exercise was definitely easier. We counted total reps for each round, so this was like 4 mini-WODs in one. I got 82, 81, 68, and 73 reps in my rounds. I had 4 Man Makers for each of the first three rounds, but only managed 2 in the last one, due to time lost in transition. We used my 50# KB for the swings and went with 45# DBs for the Man Makers. That’s a nice jump for me and was challenging.

Finisher

10 Rounds

Sprint Driveway (down and back)
20 Russian Twists

I used a 25# DB for the Russian Twists and Mo actually did leg lifts instead because of a lower back issue. Time to complete that was 6:24.

PRs Everywhere!

Even though I said I was only going to get on the scale once a week, I couldn’t help myself. I’m down another pound and a half to 173.5 and body fat is now at 15.1%, which is a 0.8% drop from Monday. My goal for the challenge is to hit 14%, which means I need to average less than 0.5% per week the rest of the way. Seems doable, but it gets tougher as your body fat gets lower. I’ve had some real cravings for sweets at night this week, so it’s a good thing I don’t have any in the house.

At the gym I did a quick test with the handheld device and it showed my body fat down to 10.8%, which is good news because I was skeptical of the initial 12.3% reading it gave on day one of the Paleo challenge and is what will be used for my scoring.

I took a well-needed rest day yesterday, but did get out and walk 18 holes of golf. On Thursday morning, while laying in bed, I came up with my workout for open gym time today. Here’s a screenshot of the note I made on my iPhone. As you can see, I made a few changes

Warm-up

2 rounds

150m Run
20 Band Walk Steps each direction
10 Band Presses after each 20 steps
10 KBS

I used a 53# KB and did American swings.

Strength

3-2-1-3-2-1 Deadlifts
MAX Strict Pull-ups
2m Rest

I did 2 warm-up sets of 5 reps each with 135# and 223#. For my working sets I did 285#, 305#, 315#, 305#, 320#, 335#. My previous 1RM was 315, so I broke that several times. I also set a new PR for strict pull-ups in a row with 9. I don’t remember what I got the rest of my sets.

WOD

“Karen”

150 Wall Balls

Karen is a bitch. I did it in 8:51, which is a 9 second PR, beating when I did it as part of Open Workout 12.4. I’m disappointed with that though. I started out with 25 reps in less than a minute and was at 50 in 2 minutes and change. From there I tried to do sets of 10. As I got past 100 it was less than sets of 10. Too much resting. I just need to push through the hurt.

Ab Finisher

4 Sets

MAX L-hang or L-sit
1-2m Rest

I started out on the bar for the first one, but my hands were not feeling the greatest from heavy deadlifts, so hanging on the bar wasn’t the greatest idea. I didn’t time these, but they were better than I’ve done them in the past.

Just Because

3 Sets

MAX HSPU
2-3m Rest

The few people who came in for open gym were messing around and talking, so since the classes worked on some HSPUs today I figured I’d get in a bit. Got 10 (PR) on the first set and then 8 and 6 I think. These have come a long way since I left Phoenix. I don’t think I was even doing any Rx there. Dropping some weight helps too!

That was fun. Got to work on a bunch of stuff today.

Empty Your Gas Tank

After yesterday’s WOD I was going to make today a rest day because I figured I would be fried. I was feeling good all day though. Matt posted the WOD on Facebook and it looked like a fun one so I decided to head in.

Warm-up

5 rounds

1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Jumping Jacks

The squat holds are way at the bottom with the intent of opening up the hips. You’re not trying to hold a squat for that long.

WOD

20:00 AMRAP

2 SDLHP
2 Burpees
150m Run
4 SDLHP
4 Burpees
150m Run
…

Increase SDLHP and Burpees by 2 each round, but the run stays the same.

This one was all about how much gas you had in your tank. I used a 71# KB and was able to finish the round of 18 plus 20 SDLHP and 2 burpees.

Ab Finisher

5 Rounds

1m Plank
1m AbMat Sit-ups

My arms were drenched in sweat, which made it harder than normal to hold the plank. 5 rounds of a minute really adds up too. We counted our sit-ups and knew I could blow the high of the day (228) out of the water. My goal was to beat my 67 reps from the Paleo challenge benchmark WOD in every round. I finished with 356 reps. After we were done and Matt was laughing, I realized I can touch my shoes without even lifting my shoulder blades off the ground, which would still be within the box’s standards, so at least I make it harder than that on myself and get some movement into it.