Toes to Bar – Page 23 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Running in the Snow

This morning I was up early and drove over to Mount Pleasant. It was supposed to be for the Out for Blood Duathlon, but due to rain, slow, and sleet they had to cancel the bike portion of the race. Much of the running and biking courses were flooded and many other parts were covered in snow and slush, making it very dangerous to be racing on bikes.

I’ve competed in this race the last two years (winning my age group for the mountain bike division both years) and the weather has always sucked, but this year was the worst. They had to rush to come up with the alternate course, but thy could have easily had someone shovel off the snowy areas of the 5k course. They also didn’t correctly map out a course because it ended up only being about 2.65 miles instead of 3.1 for a real 5k. Oh well, nobody was setting any time records with the condition of the paths and the slick wooden bridges. I finished in about 21:11 after starting out way too fast. I placed 3rd in the 26-35 year-old group for today’s run. At least I can still be competitive as the old man. 🙂

Went in to the gym at 4pm with Matt, Cora, and Kevin to do some training.

10:00 EMOM

Odds: 4 Power Snatch (115#)
Evens: 12 Pull-ups

Got 12 unbroken butterfly pull-ups each round! I’m really finding the groove with the butterfly.

3 Rounds

15 American KBS (53# KB)
15 Burpees
50 DU

I did the first round of DU unbroken, but started hitting the wall after that. Finished in 7:34.

10:00 EMOM

Odds: 30s Handstand Hold
Evens: 12 T2B

I made a discovery of how to cycle my T2B a little faster. Being able to do 5×12 unbroken is a huge improvement for me.

10 Rounds

15s AirDyne max effort sprint
1:45 Rest

This is the worst thing I’ve done in a year and a half of CrossFit. I thought I was going to puke from the 3rd round on. We even went 20s on the last round just for fun and I could barely move in those extra 5 seconds. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that I pretty much had to crawl off of the AD after each round. Kevin and I used the same AD and we totaled 269 calories.

After that high effort, I figured it would be a good idea to get some easy rowing in. Did 6 minutes at an easy pace for just over 1,200m I think

Fast Recovery

I’m feeling great after yesterday’s first big session. Very little soreness anywhere. Matt, Kevin, and I worked out at 2:30 today. I warmed up with 25 calories on the Air Dyne at an easy pace and then did some PVC work for my arms and shoulders. I came up with the programming for today’s training.

Olympic Technique

7 Sets

Power Clean
Hang Power Clean
High Hang Power Clean
90s Rest

I used 95, 115, 125, 135, 145, 165, and 175. Still focusing on hip extension, but also tried to start with my hips lower on the power clean from the ground.

Strength

14:00 E2M

3 Power Cleans at 80% of 1RM Power Clean (195#)
2 Broad Jump for distance (immediately after power cleans)

Figured it would be fun to try out a little XWOD action. The timing worked out pretty well so we had about 1:15 to rest before the next round.

WOD #1

3 Rounds

400m Row
20 Deadlifts (185#)
20 T2B

I was planning for this to take about 12 minutes and I was just about right. I finished in 11:16. My T2B held up pretty well.

WOD #2

5 Rounds

1:00 15 HR Push-ups & MAX Sit-ups
1:00 Rest

This worked out better than I expected, considering it was completely made up and not based on anything I’ve done before. I was able to do each round of push-ups unbroken, although they did get progressively harder and that last round was a struggle. I actually got faster on them too until the last round. Managed 20-21-21-22-21 on the sit-ups for a 105 total. Abs were feeling pretty rocked after the T2B and the sit-ups.

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.

High Volume, Low Weight Squat Variety

I’m feeling good after so many heavy squat cleans yesterday. Good thing too because we have a lot of squat volume today. I went in a little early to loosen up and work on some MU. Then I did the 9am.

Warm-up

500m Row
3 Rounds (25# KB)
- 10/10 Satellite (Around the waste, let hips sway)
- 10/10 Halo (Hold KB upside down by handle, go around head, rotate right side up behind head)
- 10/10 Figure 8 (Through legs, pass to other hand, wrap around and up to chest, slap with other hand, and then through legs the other way)

Had never done those KB moves. Nice change of pace to the warm-up.

Strength

10:00 EMOM

2 Thrusters

I went 95#, 115#, 125#, 135#, 140#, 145#, 150#, 155#, 165#, and 180#. Tried to also focus on hip extension in the clean to start each round.

WOD

20 Back Squats
10 T2B
20 Front Squats
10 T2B
20 Thrusters
20 T2B
20 Front Squats
20 Back Squats

I used 95#, which was Rx. If I would have been thinking I would have asked if I could substitute OHS for the front squats since I did so many yesterday with the squat cleans. We think the 20 T2B was a typo in the WOD typed up on the web site, but rolled with it. I finished in 9:31.

So Much For Resting

I couldn’t help myself. Saw the WOD posted and figured it wouldn’t be too bad and decent for recovery, so I went in at 9am.

Warm-up

3m Row at 20 spm
4 World’s Greatest Stretch (each side)
Tabata Sit-ups

For the first 6 intervals I got 13 sit-ups and then 12 each in the last two for a total of 102.

WOD

3 Rounds

250m Row
20 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
15 T2B
10 Front Squats (145#)

The Rx weight was 165#, which I probably should have done, but 145# sure wasn’t easy. I did sets of 6-4 every round on the front squats. For the wall balls I did 20, 12-8, and 10-10. Then for T2B I did 10-5, 8-7, and 10-5. Total time was 12:02. Glad I decided to workout today.

Double Trouble

I was itching for a WOD all day yesterday since I’d taken Wednesday off and won’t be doing a WOD tomorrow since we are doing a 4.7 mile Spartan Race. The hike helped, but it’s not the same as being in the box. In at 8am this morning for the competitors WOD and stayed for the regular class as well.

Warm-up

PVC Pass-thrus
500m Row
Thrusters

Strength

Find 1 RM Thruster with 1 attempt EMOM. No rack, so must do a power clean and a thruster or a squat clean thruster. Keep increasing weight each minute until failure.

I started at 115# and added 10# every minute. Got 195# and then failed at 205# because I was too slow coming out of the squat clean and couldn’t get any momentum on the bar. That’s a 30# PR for my thruster when I last did it back in April. Having to go every minute is pretty tough once the weight gets heavy. I did power cleans up through 175# and then switched to squat cleans. So that ended up being 10 attempts in total.

Competitors WOD

This was WOD #6 of the 2011 Regionals.

20 cal Row
30 Burpees
40 Two-arm DB ground-to-overhead (45/35# DBs)
50 T2B
100′ Overhead walking lunge (45/25# plate)
150′ Sprint

I used 40# DBs for the ground-to-overhead and I’m glad I did. I still had to split them up into sets of 5 (pretty much doing a clean and jerk) and it took the most time by far. I should have worn some wrist sweat bands because I could barely hold the bar for the T2B making those take a lot longer than they should have since I had to do 2 or 3 at a time most of the way. Everything else was kind of easy. Took me 15:52 to finish.

Stuck around and let my heart rate come down while the 9am class did a warm-up.

Regular WOD

25:00 AMRAP with a partner

Partner 1 – 400m Run
Partner 2 – AMRAP:
- 5 HSPU
- 10 KBS (53/35)
- 15 Goblet Squats (53/35)

* Both partners work the entire time, but keep switching off and continuing where the last guy left off in the AMRAP so total rounds can be counted.

Brian was the only other person in at 8am and stuck around too, so we paired up for this WOD. We finished 14 rounds of the AMRAP doing everything Rx. I picked up a nice little tip from the CrossFit Journal to make the HSPU easier and didn’t really have any issues until my last 5 when they started to get a little tough. My arms were shaky after the first WOD today so I’m thrilled I was able to hold on that long. The goblet squats were by far the roughest part of the circuit, but I pushed myself to always do 15 unbroken because squat stamina is one of my weaknesses.

Great 2 hours of work! Think I’ll try to get out for some golf this afternoon.

First Competitors WOD at CrossFit Full Strength

Got up bright and early to head in for the 8am competitors WOD. Everyone who goes tries to Rx as much as possible and the quality of the athletes pushes everyone to train harder. Wasn’t sure what to expect, especially since the WOD wasn’t posted ahead of time.

Warm-up

500m Row
5 Deadlifts (225#)
4 Deadlifts (315#)

WOD

This is event #6 from the 2012 Regionals

3 Rounds
- 7 Deadlifts (345#/225#)
- 7 MU
3 Rounds
- 21 Wall Balls (10′, 20#/14# MB)
- 21 T2B
100′ Farmer’s Carry (100#/70# x2)
28 Burpee Over the Box Jumps (24″/20″)
100′ Farmer’s Carry (100#/70# x2)
3 MU

WOW! As Chayet was writing the WOD on the board we all were getting scared. Yes, that’s all one workout. No rest times in there.

I decided to only use 315# for the deadlifts and did jumping bar muscle-ups, but went Rx on everything else. We used loaded up barbells for the farmer’s carry, which was quite the challenge because you had to find a good balance point in each bar.

I got pretty light-headed in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the deadlifts, so I’m glad I didn’t go the extra 30#. My low back was tight as soon as the WOD was over. Even doing the jumping bar muscle-ups wasn’t easy, but got through them. I broke the wall balls down into 11-10 each round and the T2B went 11-5-5, 11-5-5, 8-5-3-2-2-1 I think. Hips were kind of shot for that last round. The farmer’s carry was a lot easier than I expected as far as picking up the weight and carrying it, but the balance made it a challenge. Suffered through the burpee box jumps slow and steady without stopping. Forgot about the 3 more reps at the end, but rushed over and knocked them out on the bar. Finished in 21:29. Compare that to Rich’s top time of 12:22, which was obviously Rx.

Hiking

In the afternoon I went out for a hike and did 4.71 miles in 1:40:49.

Heavy Thrusters

Spent all day cleaning and doing laundry, so went to the 5:30pm class.

Warm-up

10:00 AMRAP

30 PVC Pass-thrus
40 Zombie Kicks
50 Mountain Climbers

Nice and easy, not really pushing for the most rounds/reps. I think I got into a 4th round.

Strength

1RM Zercher Squat

Started with 5 at 135# and 2 at 185#, then 1 rep at 215#, 235#, 255#, and 265#. I was starting to really feel it on my back, so I stopped there. Lots left in the tank though. Beat my front squat 1RM by 10#.

WOD

21-15-9

Thrusters (115#)
Hang Power Clean (115#)

The Rx weight for men was 135#, but that would have killed me. I was able to get a nice intensity with 115# and finished in 8:42 for a solid time. I split up the first round into 11 and 10 for each movement, then went 5-5-5 on thrusters and 9-6 for the cleans, and finally 4-3-2 to finish off thrusters and did the cleans unbroken. I really tried to focus on popping my hips in the thrusters to get that weight flying off my shoulders.

Finisher

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

T2B
KBS (53# KB)

The finisher was as tough as a lot of WODs! Not used to doing those American Kettlebell Swings since we always do the Russian variation. The American swings are a lot more taxing on the cardio side of things.

One From the Main Site

Long day recovering from a Survival Fitness party last night. I knew I wanted to at the very least get in some rowing. Saw the WOD on crossfit.com and it looked like fun, so I figured I’d give it a try.

Warm-up

1000m Row
3 Rounds:
- 10 PVC Pass-thrus
- 10 PVC OHS
- 10 Supermans

WOD

5 Rounds

10 T2B
10 Power Snatch (75#)
12 Wall Balls (20#, 8.5′ target)

The ceiling in my garage is 9 feet and 2 inches tall, so I added 2 extra reps to make up for the difference of not being able to hit a 10 foot target. This WOD was much worse than I expected. Maybe it was the hangover, I don’t know. I was taking a lot of rest time and had to break up the T2B and snatches. The wall balls weren’t exactly easy after yesterdays massive amount of air squats. My time was 12:12.

Finisher

20:00 Row