On Wednesday I woke up pretty sore in my lower body and felt it in my chest at night. Walked 15 holes of golf before getting rained out. Still a little sore yesterday and walked 18 holes. Seemed like I tossed and turned a lot last night, but felt good by the time I headed out to the garage before noon.
Engine Builder – Speed
6 Rounds
3:00 Bike
1:00 Rest
Hold 81-83 RPM most of the time. I got 105-108-105-106-109-109 calories and 1.22 – 1.23 – 1.21 – 1.21 – 1.24 – 1.23 miles (1,963 – 1,979 – 1,947 – 1,947 – 1,996 – 1,979 meters).
Warm-up
600m Run
Burgner Warm-up (PVC & 45#)
Weightlifting
High Hang Power Snatch + Hang Power Snatch + Power Snatch
45#
75
95
105
115
125
135
140
It was more like a tall snatch than a high hang, which is weird for powers, but I didn’t want to squat with my back and so many snatches from the ground coming up in the workout.
Conditioning
12:00 AMRAP
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Power Snatches (75#)
Burpees over the Bar
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Push Jerks (115#)
T2B
Again, I did all powers when I guess they were supposed to squat all the reps. I never dropped the bar during any sets. I finished the first couplet in 7:36 and added the weight to one side while Casey helped with the other side. I also pulled the tape off my thumbs. I got through the round of 10s, 9s, 8s, and then 7 jerks plus 3 toes to bars. I went 5-5, 5-4, and 4-4 on my toes to bars, mostly because my lungs needed a break. So 174 reps in total. Felt really humid in the gym today.
I was still very sore yesterday, but managed to walk 14 holes of golf before it started raining. I think that helped me loosen up actually. Got a solid 9.5 hours of sleep last night. Was out in the garage before lunch.
Engine Builder – Max Aerobic Power
24 Rounds
30s Row
30s Rest
The goal was to get near a 1:36/500m pace, which I did a few times. My average distance was 155.17 with a range of 157-153, slightly down from 1.5 months ago when I did 20 rounds with a 155.25 average and a range of 156-154. That difference in average only amounts to two total meters though. My distances were:
Went to the 4pm class. It’s been 3.5 weeks since I picked up a barbell and today seemed like a good day to try a few things. Scaled back the weight to keep it light.
Warm-up
3:00 Machine
3 Rounds
10 Russian Kettlebell Swings (44#)
5 MB Cleans (20#)
Power Snatch
6×45#
6×75
3×95
Weightlifting
10:00 EMOM
3 Power Snatches (115#)
Felt good to move some weight.
Conditioning
E3M – 6 Rounds
10-15 Push Jerks (95#)
10-15 Toes to Bars
10-15 Hang Power Cleans (95#)
10-15 Handstand Push-ups
The Rx weight was 115 pounds and the notes said Rx+ should add 1 rep to the movements each round. My plan was to stick to 10s, keep the barbell movements unbroken and split up the gymnastics to 2×5 for each movement. I cruised through the first round in under 90 second and then Kinde says, “You guys should do Rx+.” I figured since that round went so well and I had scaled the weight I would give it a try. The first three rounds weren’t too bad, but after 13 got nasty!
After my first clean I went for the quick bounce method and my back did not agree, so I had to take the bar down to the knees on every rep and do a proper hang clean, which is much slower. I split all of the T2B up in 2 sets, 5-5, 6-5, 6-6, 7-6, 7-7, and 8-7. Was a bit surprised those felt so good and I wasn’t wearing my grips. Cleans were all unbroken. For HSPU I think I did 10, 11, 6-6, 5-4-4, 5-5-4, and 5-5-5. I missed the 3 minute clock in the 5th round, after finishing the HSPU I had to go straight to the jerks and split that 8-7, otherwise every other round of jerks was unbroken. I got through the cleans a few seconds before the 18 minutes was up and then finished off my HSPU, which was probably in the 19:00-19:30 range.
75 HSPU is a lot, especially combined with 75 push jerks!
My shins we getting show from the hike last night already. My HRV and recover score are the highest recorded so I should be ready to crush this workout.
My percentile rankings for 19.3 turned out to be exactly the same as 19.1 (when rounded to 1 decimal place) in both the Open and Masters divisions. Looking at scores and tiebreak times of some fit people I know, my HSPU strategy worked amazingly well. I’ve been doing singles when workouts have strict pull-ups and may have to play around with this type of strategy for other movements.
I wish my back had been healthy, which would have allowed me to get through the first two movements quicker and have even more time for HSPU. That’ll be a fun workout to redo later this year. The high ranking in 19.3 gave me another good boost in the overall rankings. My best 3 week start to an Open by far.
Note: I forgot to mention it in previous ranking updates, but I only count against people who posted a score for the workout or have at least one score for overall placing. The iOS app looks like it calculates percentiles based on everyone registered, but there are always plenty of people who never post a score.
Was really hoping I’d be fine with the snatches today after not picking up a barbell since last Wednesday. When we got to the gym it was painful bending over in to position to start a snatch with a PVC pipe! Laying on the lacrosse ball really opening things up for me though. Debated waiting until Sunday or Monday to do the workout.
Going in I was hoping to get some bar muscle-ups in the third round. I had to be really careful with the snatches though and you can see that with how long it takes me to pick up the bar and get my first rep. I did 6-4 on the snatches each round with normal powers. Felt like my burpees were getting slower each of the first three rounds. I finished with a tiebreak of 4:22.
Felt fine when I first got on the bar and did 5 bar muscle-ups and wanted to get 5 more, but could feel things going south already. I did 3-2 to finish. After the burpees I did a double and 8 singles with too much rest between each one, but I did not want to miss and each rep was a struggle. Got my second round of burpees done and had about 10 seconds left, but I knew I didn’t have it in me to get another bar muscle-up so I collapsed to the ground. It wasn’t worth risking a fly off the bar moment. So I finished 5 rounds for 110 reps. Early ranking on BTWB is only the 79th percentile.
I did another five minutes on the Assault Bike to cool down.
I worked out my splits on the workout. Here are the times each movement ended and then in parens are the times (in seconds) per movement, including transition/rest.
My snatches were slower than normal because I had to be extra careful with my back.
I should have gone unbroken on the last round of snatches and pushed the burpees after.
Overall pretty consistent with the burpees.
The second round of bar muscle-ups were the workout. It took me two minutes to get through them.
I should have jumped up to try for a muscle-up at the end.
While heats of the workout were going I jumped on the rower since tomorrow will be a travel day.
Engine Builder – Max Aerobic Power
12 Rounds
500m Row
1:00 Rest
I did 1:49.9 twice, 1:49.8 four times, another 1:49.9, and five at 1:49.8 to finish. Consistent!
My back was getting really tight sitting around the gym while everyone did the workout. Glad I ended up doing 19.4 though so I have more time to recover for 19.5 next week.
Was thinking maybe 1:40/500m before I started, but I quickly felt that was too slow. Results were:
1:18.8 – 34 cals
1:18.5 – 34 cals
1:18.2 – 34 cals
1:17.9 – 34 cals
1:17.5 – 34 cals
Looking at some other’s results on BTWB I probably should have gone harder. It’ll take me some time to get the feel for my different rowing paces. I haven’t done this stuff in a couple of years.
Went to the 4pm class.
Warm-up
10 Shoulder Rolls (PVC)
10 Overhead Squats (PVC)
10 Snatch Balance (PVC)
5 High Hang Snatch (PVC)
5 Hang Snatch (PVC)
5 Snatch (PVC)
That got me warmed up!
Weightlifting
High Hang Squat Snatch + Hang Squat Snatch + Squat Snatch
45#
75
95
115
5 Sets 135
Wore my lifting shoes for the first time in two years. It was programmed for the working sets to be at 75% and if I go off my lift from a couple of weeks ago that would be 145. My right shoulder is feeling a little weird though so I stayed lighter and tried to work on a few things like a wider beginning stance and my speed. Started feeling snappy a few sets in to the 135.
In one of the sets I somehow hit my nose on the way back down. That was a first! Good thing it was a bar without center knurling.
Conditioning
15:00 AMRAP
9 Deadlifts (155#)
12 Hand Release Push-ups
15 Sit-ups
I knew this one would be quick with no real reason to rest other than in the push-ups, so I started off hot out of the gate. It’s fun to do that from time to time and see how many people will follow along. 🙂 Deadlifts were all unbroken. I went 7-5 every round of push-ups and they slowed down but I never hit failure. Sit-ups felt fine the whole way. That’s another 180 reps today after doing 200 on Saturday! I got through 12 rounds the deadlifts and 2 push-ups.
Skill
Worked on handstand walking after class for about 15 minutes. Got a few good attempts in, but was really working to keep my legs together plus get the forward lean going.
Feeling a little rough from yesterday, especially my shoulders. My legs are nearly recovered from Sunday. We got snow last night and this morning, so I shoveled the driveway for a half hour today. Made it to the 4pm class.
Warm-up
5 Inch Worms
5 Snatch Grip (Behind the neck) Press
5 Snatch Grip (Behind the neck) Press in a Quarter Squat
5 Snatch Grip (Behind the neck) Sots Press
5 Squat Jumps
5/5 Cossack Squat
5 Hang Muscle Snatch
5 Hang Power Snatch
All with 45#.
Weightlifting
10:00 EMOM – Hang Power Snatch
3×65#
3×85
3×105
3×125
6x3x135
Didn’t feel like pushing it today with so many snatches coming up and my shoulders beat up from muscle-ups.
Conditioning
6:00 AMRAP
30s Airdyne (AD2)
6 Hang Power Snatch (95#)
3:00 Rest
6:00 AMRAP
30s Airdyne (AD2)
6 Hang Power Snatch (75#)
It was programmed as 10 calories on the bike, but the Assault Bike was taken so I figured 30 seconds on the Airdyne would be good. The monitor was unplugged for some reason, but I kept a pace similar to what I’ve been doing at home on my recovery days, about 75 RPM. I scaled the loading down from 115-95 so I could cruise with the barbell. In the second AMRAP I didn’t even dip the bar back down to the hang position and went right from the bounce. I got exactly 6 rounds and then exactly 7.
Really glad I scaled back on the loading today. I was able to keep moving through the workout and no reason to chance an injury during Open season.
Accessory
Dumbbell Curls – 21s
3 Sets of 7-7-7 @ 20#
Felt easier than Sunday with 15-20-20. Maybe my biceps are growing.
Skill
Stayed for more handstand walking but wasn’t feeling as good with it today, probably due to fatigued shoulders. I did make it past 10 feet several times and out to a new PR of 18 feet. Getting started seems to be my biggest struggle.
Looking forward to seeing what is announced for 19.2 tomorrow night.
Last night my legs felt really heavy. Probably from the thrusters and single leg deadlifts, but possibly also a bit from Saturday’s work on the Airdyne and rower. Today I posted about weeks five and six of calorie counting. Our buddy Bryan was in town today, so we had a bro sesh.
Warm-up
Bottom Squat Hold
PVC Passes
Kip Swings
Gymnastics
E50S – 8 Sets
5 Bar Muscle-ups
Wore my newer set of Bear KompleX grips today and they are much better for bar muscle-ups, which is good to know. Felt really good on every set and even better than when I did this many EMOM a couple of weeks ago. Improves my 30 rep time to 4:27 and 40 to 6:07 compared to 5:17 and 7:16 doing it as an EMOM.
After we finished I was helping someone else and did one more bar muscle-up with my grips off. It was enough to blow out my hand and I got a huge blood blister! I’m still so pissed it happened from that one rep. I hope it heals fast and there isn’t a bunch of bar work in Open Workout 19.1.
Weightlifting
Squat Snatch
5×20 kg
3×40
3×50
3×60
2×65
1×70
1×75
1×80
1×85
2 Misses @ 88
Miss @ 87
87
Miss @ 88
Some old thing for me where I get it overhead without a problem but can’t stabilize it. Happy to make 87 though, which is 192 pounds. I haven’t done that since February 6, 2017 when I did 205.
Power Clean & Push Jerk
3×60 kg
3×70
2×80
1×90
1×95
1×100
1×110
Squat snatches have historically aggravated my back and it was feeling tight, especially after several misses, so I didn’t even try to squat clean anything. Stay healthy! Felt pretty good with the cleans and push jerks. I did belt up for the last one, which is about 243 pounds.
Had planned an active recovery day yesterday, but when I woke up I could tell right away it should be a rest day. Even though the pump session on Saturday wasn’t intense it worked some muscles I don’t give much attention. I was due for a rest day because my last one was the 26th. I’ll do active recovery on Saturday this week.
Big ice storm last night, but roads were clear enough to make it to the 4pm class.
Warm-up
Line Drills
High Knees
Butt Kickers
Karaokes
Single Leg Hops Forward
Single Leg Hops Backward
Bunny Hops
Burpee Broad Jumps
20s Work / 20s Rest
Single Unders
Backward Singles
10s/10s Single Leg
Alternating Legs Singles
2 Singles + 1 DU
1 Single + 1 DU
DU
I don’t get how people can practice alternating from singles to doubles. The rhythm is completely different and fucks you up.
Weightlifting
5 High Hang Snatch High Pulls (45#)
5 High Hang Muscle Snatch (45#)
5 Above Knee Muscle Snatch (45#)
5 Above Knee Power Snatch (45#)
5 Below Knee Power Snatch (45#)
Power Snatch (work up to moderate/heavy set of 5)
75#
95
115
135
155
Did those sets of power snatches all touch-n-go. Felt good and would have gone for more if we didn’t have so many snatches coming up.
Conditioning
10:00 AMRAP
2-4-6-8-10… Power Snatch (95#)
20 Double Unders
Went unbroken through 6, then 2×4, 2×5, 3×4, 5-5-4, and 4×4 I think. My thumbs felt ready to fall off. I missed two dubs in a round and only did two rounds unbroken I think. So many misses! Finished the 16 snatches and 17 double unders.
Butt Stuff
3 Sets
20/20 Single Leg Hip Thrusts
1:00 Glute Bridge Hold
Feel the burn!
Gymnastics
8:00 EMOM
5 Bar Muscle-ups
Like some of the other stuff I’ve been doing my goal was to go until I had to break a set and that would be my last one. Well… I was able to stay unbroken and stopped there before my hands tore open. Part of me really wanted to get in two more for that 50 total reps, but I think I made the smart move. Took grips off after 3 or 4 rounds because they were bunching up too much and the straps were pulling on my wrists.
This establishes both 30 reps and 40 reps for time, which were 5:17 and 7:16. Feeling really good about my gymnastics endurance! I still haven’t attempted more than 6 unbroken bar muscle-ups, which I could obviously crush now. Maybe I’ll hit a max set in a week or two.
Midline
At 9pm I got the brilliant idea to do 100 sit-ups and this was barely an hour after I ate dinner. Was able to set a 9 second PR by doing it in 2:30.
Another frigid day in Michigan. Left the house for the first time in about 43 hours by going to the 4pm class.
Warm-up
2 Rounds
15 Jumping Jacks
10 Groiners
10/10 Arm Circles (Front/Back)
10 OHS (15#)
5 Broad Jumps
3 Sets (45-75-75#)
1 Snatch Deadlift
2 Hang Power Snatch
1 OHS
1 Hang Squat Snatch
5 Snatch Grip Deadlifts (75#)
5 Snatch Pull (75#)
5 High Hang Muscle Snatches (75#)
5 Overhead Squats (75#)
5 Hang Power Snatches (75#)
5 Hang Squat Snatches (75#)
NCFit programming really likes the extended warm-ups!
Conditioning
15:00 EMOM (alt)
7 Hang Squat Snatches (95#)
25 Sit-ups
15 cal Row
Felt really good again. I took the bar back down to my knees in the hang on each rep instead of trying to bounce because I like to hit my hips on the snatch. Took about 25 seconds each round. I was getting my sit-ups done in about 39 seconds, which seems much faster than I’ve ever done them. Might have to test 100 reps for time and/or Annie soon. I tried to stay around 1,500 cal/hour for the first four rounds and then went all out at 2,000+ for the last one.
Gymnastics
We had plenty of time left in the hour, but I planned to stay and get in volume work anyway.
E45S – 10 Sets
3 Muscle-ups
After how good the eight sets of four felt in Sunday’s workout I was hopeful I could make it through all 10 sets. I’ve only ever done a 10 minute EMOM of 3 reps and it always got challenging near the end. Made every round unbroken and finished with 35 seconds left on that last round, so that’s a 30 muscle-ups time of 6:55. I’m pumped!! I think this is another example of how some things are much easier weighing 20 pounds less.
This is where the fitness level rankings on BTWB fail though. It gives me a level 68 for this effort because it’s only comparing my time to everyone who has entered a score for the workout. There are twice as many Rx scores as modified on BTWB, which is nowhere near representative of the CrossFit population. I bet less than 10% of CrossFitters can complete 30 muscle-ups, so the level should be up in the 90s, not a bullshit 68. 🤷🏻♂️
Last night my legs felt heavy going up and down stairs. Today my upper and middle abs are sore. Went to the 4pm class.
Warm-up
9:00 EMOM (alt)
2x – 3 Wall Balls + 3 Burpees
Row
2x – 3 Snatch DL + 3 Muscle Snatch (45#)
Then I did 3×95# and 3×115# power snatches.
Conditioning
5:00 AMRAP
Wall Ball (20#, 10′)
2:00 Rest
5:00 AMRAP
cal Row
2:00 Rest
5:00 AMRAP
Power Snatch (135#)
Started with three sets of 25 and was feeling good. Planned to go to 15s next, but got math screwed up in my head and stopped after 10 reps at 85. So then I did 15 to get to 100 and looked at the clock. Took an extra breath knowing I would have to hold on to the buzzer. Got through 17 more for 117 total wall balls. I might have been able to keep going with a fourth set of 25. Makes a big difference being 20 pounds lighter than when I last did Karen almost 2 years ago. I definitely need to clean up the height on some of my throws though.
I thought I’d be able to hold a pace better on the rower, but after starting out > 1,100 cal/hour I slowly drifted down to around 950, before picking it back up in the final minute. Racked up 83 calories.
I thought it would be pretty cool if I could do “Isabel” after the other 10 minutes of work. Even though I was seeing stars with every rep through the first five I was on a good pace through 10 reps. The weight was getting heavy, but I kept picking it back up and really tried to generate power through my hips. Definitely did singles the entire way. With about a minute remaining I realized I still had a shot, but I had to really get back on the bar after each rep in the final 40 seconds. Got number 30 with about three seconds to spare and collapsed to the floor. I immediately got the taste of blood in my mouth, which I don’t ever remember before.
My back was still really tight this morning, though it did seem to improve over the day. Still sore from Sunday in all the same places. Went to the 4pm class.
Warm-up
3 Rounds
4 Sets
2 Lunges
PVC Pass
8 Scap Pull-ups
8 Behind Neck Presses (45#)
50’ Bear Crawl
Barbell Warm-up
7 Snatch Grip Deadlifts (45#)
5 Dip, Drive, High Pull (45#)
5 High Hang Muscle Snatch (45#)
5 High Hang Power Snatch (45#)
5 Hang Power Snatch (45#)
Weightlifting
3 Snatch Deadlifts + 3 Hang Power Snatches
2×45#
75
95
115
135
Nothing too heavy today. That doesn’t mean it was easy though! We were working up to a moderate weight before the metcon.
Conditioning
13:00 AMRAP
13 Hang Power Snatch (95#)
13 Pull-ups
I went 5-4-4 on both movements until my 6th round when I held on for the clock doing 5-6 for snatches. Finished with 5+11. Feeling good on my pull-ups lately and should try pushing to bigger sets. My thumbs were shot in the hook grip, though I’m not very good with stringing together hang snatches. After a round or two I pretty much started resetting on every rep, which takes a lot of time and you’re still holding the bar.
Getting back to butterfly pull-ups, I’m doing the Camille regrip, which is giving me a blister in my palm like she always gets. Or at least it does when I don’t wear grips, which I didn’t for “Danny” on the 1st due to the presses and today. The old blister tore away today and I started a little bit of a new one on my left hand. Don’t seem to have anything on my right palm though.
After Christmas the gym switched over to NCFit programming. It’s definitely different from Ben Smith’s Affiliate Design, which was some of my favorite programming. I’ve liked some of the workouts so far, but not sure what to think yet. Give me a couple more weeks before I form an opinion. 🙂
Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs 