Can still feel that back tweak there. Was out in the garage before lunch.
Engine Builder – Interval
8 Rounds
1:30 Row
30s Rest
I was really struggling to figure out a goal pace for this. In the last two months I have plenty of different samples, but the work:rest ratios are all a bit different. Going in I was set on 1:50/500m, but was doing 1:49 in the first interval so I stuck with it. Could have gone faster. My meters were 413-413-413-414-413-414-414-413, so another consistent one.
Went to the gym at 4pm.
Warm-up
2 Rounds
1:00 Bike
10 RDL (45#)
30 Jump Ropes
Accessory
3 Sets
Dumbbell Curl – 21s (30-25-25#)
10 GHR (red band)
1:00/1:00 Single Leg Stand (62# KB)
I did this instead of 5×5 deadlifts. First 2 sets I was holding the KB in the wrong hand and it was an awkward stance. In addition to the red band, I’m pushing off the pads a bit with my hands so I don’t put stress on my back.
Conditioning
5 Rounds
50 DU
8 Pull-ups
8 T2B
5 Box Jumps (36″)
50’ Farmer Carry (53# KBs)
1:00 Rest
I think I got 2 sets of dubs unbroken and missed 3x in one of the sets! Scaled 8 muscle-ups down to the 8+8 and was able to do each movement unbroken, wearing grips. The bar I was using was a tad too low for me, so I actually had to spread my legs in my kip which felt really weird. Instead of doing 5 muscle cleans (155#) I figured the high box jumps would still get me working on leg drive and hip extension. Cruised through this one in 12:55.
After realizing I’d done something 8 days in a row I took a well-deserved and much needed complete rest day on Friday. Got up for the 9am class this morning. My back is still pretty tight.
Warm-up
400m Run
Line Drills
Conditioning
Partner Workout
8:00 AMRAP – 20-40-60…
Calorie Row
Burpee Over Rower
2:00 Rest
8:00 AMRAP – 20-40-60…
2x Plyo Lunges
HSPU
2:00 Rest
8:00 AMRAP – 20-40-60…
Wall Ball (20#, 10′)
Toes to Bar
I teamed up with Connie. She did 8 calories to my 12 and we alternated sets of 5 burpees. Got through the 20 and 40 there. In the second AMRAP I substituted those movements in place of hang power cleans and push presses because of my back. We split everything in sets of 5s so I was doing 10 lunges each time it was my turn. We got through the 20, 40, I had one set of 10 lunges left to finish the first part of 60. We split wall balls in sets of 10 and T2B in 5s. Finished the 20-40-60 wall balls and 48 (I did 23) of the 60 T2B. She was doing knee raises which gave me almost no rest.
Accessory
3 Sets
21s (30-25-25#)
Back to the originals. It was nice to switch it up to the other version for a few weeks, but I don’t think they worked very well. First time doing a set with 30s!
A friend came over to cut up some trees that fell during the winter, so I was hauling a bunch of logs around. Then I took a truckload, carried the wood around some more, and stacked it for another friend. Was planning to row tonight, but I’m whooped after moving all of that wood.
I forgot to mention it during my San Diego trip, but we stopped at the Rx Smart Gear office because I’d been wanting to try the Alec Smith gymnastics grips. I hated them! Way too bulky, even with the extra support strap off, which pulled really bad on my wrists. It’s like they needed to have a size bigger than large. Glad I didn’t buy them online. Also tried their EVO Jump Rope and there is no way I’d pay $125 for that!
Engine Builder – Speed
10:00 AMRAP
Airdyne calories (AD2)
This workout is also known as “300 FY” because the goal on other Airdyne models is to get 300 calories. It’s really easy to do on the AD2, but still a good relative test. My previous best was 365 cals where I went out hot for 60-90 seconds and fell in to a pace. Today my plan was to hold 85 RPM and hopefully push at the end. I didn’t have much push left, but it worked beautifully to get a 15 cal PR with 380 calories! Was 4.23 miles. I did an easy five minutes to cool down for 1.42 miles.
Went to the 4pm class at CrossFit Whip.
Warm-up
3 Rounds
10 cal Row
10 PVC Passes
10 Overhead Squats (PVC)
Strength
Overhead Squat
2x5x45#
2x5x75
2x5x95
I kept a narrow grip on the bar and went with a slow controlled descent and slight pause in the hole for every rep. Wasn’t pushing the weight with my back and shoulder issues.
Conditioning
Warmed up my push jerks with 5×95 and 5×115.
E3M – 5 Rounds
20 cal Row
15 T2B
10 Push Jerks (135#)
I probably went a little hard on the first row, getting it done under 45 seconds, with 1,700+ most of the way. Each round got slower and slower but kept over 1,250 throughout. My toes to bars were 3×5 every round, wearing grips and push jerks were unbroken. My round times were about 2:00, 2:11, 2:22, 2:25, and 2:25 and I really started to feel it in round 3. Push jerks were a struggle at the end of the 4th and 5th round. These are the type of workouts I’ve really liked from the Ben Smith programming because you have to really push yourself to finish and get some rest.
Accessory
Dumbbell Curls – 21s
Switched it up to Version A from T Nation and wasn’t sure how it would feel so I used 20 pound dumbbells for the first set and then 25 for two more sets.
Got Taco Bell yesterday for lunch on my rest day to remember a friend and I felt terrible the rest of the day. Got a headache stomach was rolling. It was almost 1,800 calories so I ended up skipping dinner.
With the close of scoring for 19.1, I ended up with a better ranking than any of my 2018 efforts. I always base my rankings on the number of men who have completed the workout, not sign-ups.
Men’s Open Division
18,894 / 178,021 – Top 10.6%
Men’s 35-39
2,854 / 36,083 – Top 7.9%
A group of us went over to CrossFit Bay City to throwdown tonight at 6pm, which is later than I’m used to for a workout.
Same as 16.2, but everyone gets at least eight minutes this year instead of possibly getting cut off after 4 minutes.
Beginning on an 8-minute clock, complete as many reps as possible of:
25 Toes to Bar
50 Double Unders
15 Squat Cleans (135#)
25 Toes to Bar
50 Double Unders
13 Squat Cleans (185#)
If completed before 8 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
25 Toes to Bar
50 Double Unders
11 Squat Cleans (225#)
If completed before 12 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
25 Toes to Bar
50 Double Unders
9 Squat Cleans (275#)
If completed before 16 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
25 Toes to Bar
50 Double Unders
7 Squat Cleans (315#)
Stop at 20 minutes.
In 2016 I had about five minutes to work on the 3rd round and I finished the double unders with 6 seconds to spare, so I didn’t even touch 225 pounds. Back then I did 11-8-6 T2B, round two was 5-5-??, and round three was mostly slow singles which killed my chances. I completely blew up. I’ve been doing mostly sets of fives toes to bars in training, which allows me to go deep in workouts, so that was the plan this time. Even if it takes an extra 10-20 seconds in round one I figured I’d get it back in round two and hopefully have some hip flexors left in the tank for round three. My T2B endurance is a lot better now and I’m 10 pounds lighter.
I was a lot more worried about the squat cleans this time because we haven’t been squatting heavy at the gym. Maybe the 135# thruster workouts we’ve done on Sundays will help though. On the bright side hopefully this means we don’t have squat snatches this year. 🙂
In 2016 there wasn’t a 35-39 master’s division yet, but according to the BTWB data for 16.2, finishing the 3rd round of double unders should get a top 10% ranking. I really wanted to hit that 225 pound bar this year.
Felt good starting off with 5×5 T2B and did them in under a minute, which surprised me. I think I missed once on my dubs. The cleans felt ok and I was done with them at 3:25 I think, so about 30 seconds slower than 2016. I was hoping for something near 3:30 so that went according to plan. 5×5 in round two felt good again. My double unders weren’t so great. I think I had just over 2 minutes left for the cleans and finished them 10-15 seconds to spare, which is slower than I wanted. Those cleans wiped me out! My hip flexors were shot and I couldn’t do anything more than single toes to bar in round three. My hips were hurting to just stand! Finished them at 11:01, missed a bunch of double unders, and finished them right as time expired.
So I got 253 again, with a tiebreak six seconds worse. Still didn’t get to touch the 225 pound bar. I did not feel good and quickly got a headache. I had my belt on loose and then tightened it up for the 185. Didn’t wear any grips.
A bit disappointed, but I need to be fitter. Simple as that. My T2B felt great, but those 185 pound squat cleans blew me up. Need to start hitting heavy weights again.
My quads are a little sore, but still feel pretty good.
Warm-up
Bottom Squat Hold
Dead Hang
10 Walking Lunges
Back Squat
10×45#
5×95
5×135
5×165
5×185
Strength
10:00 EMOM (alt)
5 Back Squats (205#)
50′ Single Arm Overhead Dumbbell Walking Lunges (50#)
That got the heart rate up!
Conditioning
30-20-10
Dumbbell Power Snatches (50/35#)
Toes to Bars
Pistol Squats
Unbroken on the snatches and all sets of five for toes to bars. Pistols were shaky and slow with my back a little tight and just having done back squats. Can tell I haven’t done them in a long time. Grabbed my foot on each rep to help with balance. Squatting on my right leg actually felt fine, but I was unstable on the left. Finished in 10:19.
Midline
4 Rounds
10/10 Side V-ups
10/10 Leg Circles
10/10 Wood Choppers (25#)
20 Plank Jumps
20 Flutter Kicks
B came up with this. The side v-ups were an idea from Kari Pearce.
The combination wasn’t as tough as I expected because the movements didn’t interfere with each other and we could keep moving. Good to hit more side action though because we don’t do much of that for our core in Crossfit. I finished in 12:40.
Accessory
Dumbbell Curl – 21s
7-7-7 @ 15#
7-7-7 @ 20#
7-7-7 @ 20#
Felt a little easier than the other day with these same weights. All 20s next time.
Skill
Did a few handstand walk attempts. Got over 10 feet for the first time and ended there since it was already 90 minutes at the gym.
Last night my legs felt tired and I could feel my shoulders a bit today. Went to the 4pm class.
Warm-up
10:00 AMRAP
10 Divebomb Push-ups
10 Kip Swings
10 Tuck jumps
5/5 Half kneeling single arm DB press (30#)
1:00 Row
I don’t remember those divebomb push-ups being so hard when I did them in P90X a long time ago! Got through two rounds and five push-ups.
10 Hanging Knee Raises
6 Kip Swing + Press Down
6 Knees to Chest
6 T2B
Conditioning
12:00 AMRAP
12 Push Presses (95#)
12 Toes to Bars
12 Box Jumps (24″)
My hands were happy this was T2B programmed instead of pull-ups after the C2B I did yesterday. I had the grips on, but didn’t use the finger holes, which actually works really well for T2B. Something I’ve noticed with the Ben Smith programming and now NCFit is that they program push presses a lot instead of push jerks (or shoulder to overhead, where it’s your choice). Should pay off when it’s time to do jerks.
This workout seemed familiar, but the closest I could find was Open 12.3 which was 18 minutes of 15 box jumps, 12 shoulder to overhead (115#), and 9 T2B. Based on my best score for that a few years ago, I thought 7 rounds was possible.
I didn’t quite get it. Finished six rounds, the push presses, and the T2B for a score of 6+24. The push presses were all unbroken and they did get challenging in the last two rounds. I played it too safe with 3×4 T2B every round and might have been able to do 2×6. I should have jumped down from the box too. Those little changes would have made a big difference.
This definitely had the feel of an Open workout and I feel like I gave it an effort worthy of an Open workout. I was able to post the top male score of the day, which is rare. My hands need a rest after 70 C2B yesterday and today’s 84 T2B plus a lot of other swings and warm-up reps on the bar.
Midline & Posterior
2 Sets
1:00 Hollow Flutter Kicks
30s Rest
1:00 Russian Twists (45#)
30s Rest
1:00 Hip Thrusts
30s Rest
I made it through the entire first minute without stopping, which was hard! Pushed more on the 2nd set of twists than the first. The hip thrusts were unbroken for both minutes. Didn’t count any reps though.
Skill
Stayed after and started working on my handstand walking on the open floor. I could get up and take a couple of steps, but wasn’t getting my legs with the forward lean, so I kept falling back down the way I went up. I’ll have to keep working on it.
My shoulders are feeling something today. Not sure if it’s from so many snatches and/or bar muscle-ups on Wednesday or the double overhead holds yesterday. Went to the 4pm class.
🎶 Lunges in the warm-up 🎶
🎶 Lunges in the strength work 🎶
🎶 Lunges at metcon time 🎶
🎶 With lunges on a Friday, you can lunge all the time 🎶
Sing it to the tune of the Bagel Bites commercial!
Warm-up
7:00 AMRAP
50′ Front Rack KB Carry (35# KBs)
8 Up-Downs
10 Plyo Lunges
Wasted some time putting pants away and another time putting my sweatshirt away. Still made it through 4 rounds plus the carry.
Strength
3 Sets
50′ Front Rack KB Lunges (53# KBs)
1:00 Rest
Conditioning
3 Rounds
500m Row
30 Walking Lunges
20 Burpees
10 cal Assault Bike
1:00 Rest
I averaged around a 1:49 pace on the rower and took right off on my lunges. Felt good on the burpees and tried to push on the bike a little. My rounds were 4:33, 4:34, and 4:35. Good one to just go and don’t stop.
Gymnastics
E90S
3×5 Toes to Bars
As I’ve been doing with the gymnastics volume lately my plan was to go until I had to break. I made 3 rounds taking 35-40 seconds to get through and then had to do 5-5-3-1-1 in the 4th round. Sixty T2B in just over 5 minutes ain’t too bad.
Now it’s brutally cold after getting all of the snow. Plows came through a few hours before I had to leave for the gym so I was able to get out and go to the 4pm class. My forearms are tight today from holding the handles on the snow blower!
Warm-up
“Roxanne” by The Police
On “Roxanne” do an air squat
On “Red light” do a burpee
It turned into air squat burpees during two long stretches of the song and you couldn’t keep up.
8:00 AMRAP
Duck Walk (30′)
20 Groiners
10 Box Step-ups (24″)
Didn’t really need another warm-up after the first part and surely didn’t need to tax the legs more with plenty to come. Got through 2 rounds, the walk and the groiners.
Strength
I did a set of 6×95# before starting. No reason to get crazy when we were supposed to take the first five minutes to work up and then stick to a weight for the last five minutes.
10:00 EMOM
3 Back Squats
135#
155
175
185
195
5 sets 205
Felt ok and was plenty with so much leg volume coming up. Didn’t wear a belt at all.
Conditioning
3 Rounds
30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
30 cal Assault Bike
30 Box Jumps (24″)
I’ve been asking for punishment by choosing the bike lately, especially in a leg dominant workout like this. My goal was to keep every set of wall balls unbroken. That’s not something I have ever tried for sets this large during my CrossFit history that I can remember. Surprisingly it wasn’t bad at all. I think I’ve found a relaxing pace on wall balls. I was money on hitting at/above the target today too. First round on the bike was around 62 RPM and the next two were around 58. People on the rowers were obviously kicking my ass. I never stopped on the box jumps and in the third round I jumped down (no rebound) instead of stepping down. Finished in 16:26.
I’m feeling good lately! Is it the weight I’ve lost, the macro counting, the increased water, or some combination?
Gymnastics
Stayed after for some volume and skill work.
6:00 EMOM
10 T2B
I put on my grips and chalked them up. I did five rounds of 10 unbroken and then 7-1-1-1.
10-15:00
HS Walk Practice
My shoulders were pretty shot from the wall balls and toes to bars, but I felt really good with my balance and keeping my feet off the wall went I got up to it. Didn’t have much room with the class back squatting to work on many steps in to the wall.
Last night I started getting a headache before bed and then felt it when I woke up several times through the night. It was gone this morning. This has started happening as I’ve pushed hard in some workouts.
I’m still excited about how the wall balls felt yesterday. After losing 15 pounds last year, I could feel a huge difference in burpees, but hadn’t really thought about wall balls or maybe just hadn’t done enough large numbers of them. Makes sense though; being 20 pounds lighter per rep really adds up when doing 100+.
Thought I’d be feeling my quads more today, but not too bad so far. Went to the 4pm class.
Warm-up
10:00 AMRAP
1:00 Assault Bike
5 Inch Worms + Down Dog
10 Double DB RDL (20# DBs)
5/5 Single Arm Half Kneeling Strict Press (20#)
Skill
10:00 EMOM (alt)
HS Walk Practice
Assault Bike
Can tell I haven’t practiced in weeks. Need to get back on it before the Open.
Conditioning
3 Rounds
60 Walking Lunges
40 Ball Slams (30#)
20 HSPU
The lunges started to burn in the first round and the ball slams were tougher than I expected. Went 7-7-6 on the handstand push-ups each round. Finished in 15:39.
Gymnastics
8 Rounds (Tabata)
20s T2B
10s Rest
Stayed after class for a little extra credit. My goal was to hold sets of eight for as long as I could. I made five rounds, then did a set of five and three singles. Only four singles in round 7, but came back with five singles to close. 57 total toes-to-bars, which ties my best from 2014.
My legs were actually heavy last night and this morning from the cardio I did. Made Kodiak Cakes this morning to load up on carbs for the long metcon today.
Strength
Bench Press
10×45#
10×95
5×135
5×165
5×185
5×195
5×205
5×210
5×215
An improvement over the last 5×5 in October.
Conditioning
Open 11.5 20:00 AMRAP
5 Power Cleans (145/100#)
10 T2B
15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
The Open is right around the corner, so it’s time to start pushing the conditioning. I’ve only attempted this workout once and it was three years ago. I got through 9+12 then by doing 4-3-3 on all of the toes to bars, so my goal was 10+ rounds for today.
I got out ahead of a 2:00 pace early and gave myself over a minute to play with after 4 rounds I think. Then I seemed to hold a 2:00 pace for several rounds, before starting to trail in the last couple of rounds. I did all single power cleans again. T2B were all 5-5 and I played around with my technique. If I keep my legs tighter and really get my shoulders through in the kip they are so much smoother. I made myself zone out on the wall balls to keep every round unbroken.
Finished with 10+9 for almost a full round PR. Chalk up another 2019 PR! Amazing how the body can keep improving at 39 years old when it’s healthy. The score of 309 ranks in the 94th percentile for all men on BTWB. I don’t push like that very often. Was doing a good job of not resting much at all between movements.
Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs 