Ben Plotnicki

10/31

If access to machines and schedule allows, pyramid support session

Warm-Up:

2-3 sets:

30 sec Echo bike

30 sec Row

30 sec Ski

Rest 30-90 sec

*Increase pace each set near target working paces

+

Every 4 Min x 12 sets (4x through)

1 – 3 Min Echo for cals – 43-39-38-38

2 – 3 Min Row for cals PM3 monitors don’t save cal #’s

3 – 3 Min Ski for cals 51-48-50-50

I cam out with intentions of being aggressive and just seeing what would happen. Obviously pace I held on 1st set wasn’t the most sustainable but after that it was work but felt I could hang on, just took the mental tenacity to stay in the fight when it might get uncomfortable around a 2 min mark. Row pace avg – 1054 – 1027 – 1045 – 1043

10/30

Thoracic series

Supine wall squat with foam roller under tspine x 30 sec mobilization ( https://www.instagram.com/p/CFApCYwATnM/?igshid=122qah2w375z9 , this is setup, hold light load behind head and work on allowing t-spine to extend more with each long exhale)

1-arm thoracic bridge flow on ground (bear position to 1-arm bridge and back, move deliberately and controlled with breathing at end ranges – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_aJXXGs6kg)

Thoracic extensions x 5-6 reps @ 3131 tempo (drape your upper body around the curved pads of the GHD, and work on segmenting your t-spine extension and get those erectors to fire well)

+

Piked HS walk 180 degrees + 8 alternating shoulder taps from piked HS + Piked HS walk 180 degrees back, slow spin on bike with full inhale/exhale as active recovery x 3 sets

+

A1 – Seated DB elevator press x 6 ‘reps’ (1 rep = press to 90 degree elbow angle, back to shoulder, press to full extension, back to shoulder

30 – i did an extra set at 35, was just curious how i would feel with that weight, and I’m assuming at that point i was warm enough that it felt really good

A2 – False grip elevator pullups x 3 ‘reps’ (1 rep = pull to 90 degree elbow angle, back to full hang, pull chest to rings, back to full hang), rest 90 sec x 4 sets

It felt so good to hang

+

B1 – Bottom of ring dip support hold 12-15 sec, rest 30 sec

15 sec was a fight but had it each time

B2 – DB arc rows x 6/side, rest 90 sec x 5 sets

25 – just felt like if i was using the 30, the activation didn’t feel right

+

C1 – Single leg standing side to side KB pass x 4/direction

C2 – Banded frog pumps x 10

C3 – Banded hip thrusts x 10, rest as needed x 3 sets

done

+

D – 3 sets of 20 V-ups for time, rest 1 min bt sets

35 seconds – around 13 form/rhythmn starts to breakdown – 48 – 1:44 – i started falling apart in the 3rd set and came down to a lot of single v-ups and have never felt so unathletic or unfit in my life

10/26

Week 5 skill work

12 deadlifts

12 box jumps

3 wall walks (new rep every 10 sec)

*rest 2 min actively on echo bike @ 50 RPM*

9 deadlifts

9 box jumps

3 wall walks (new rep every 10 sec)

*rest 2 min actively on echo bike @ 50 RPM*

6 deadlifts

6 box jumps

3 wall walks (new rep every 10 sec)

*rest 2 min actively on echo bike @ 50 RPM*

What i really wanted to do was 7 reps here “for time” if you will to see how it felt, to see if i could hold the pace at 1 rep every 10sec after accumulating the 6 reps and everything else…..what i did was set up a timer that was beeping every 10 seconds, when i got to the wall it was off cadence a little bit and thought i can wait to the next 10 sec beep or just go for it. And i went for it, so that put the timing a little off but for the most part it worked. And if no one is available to coach me through that, that is my plan to set up my ipad with the same timer and just trust it. Also, i wanted to take the video for any kind of pointers you think you might see….but a valuable piece for the record, is I really honestly feel this is the first time i consistently have made it to the wall with 4 steps. I normally take 5, when i looked back at my video from the previous attempt each took 5 steps, so whatever I did today to open up my lat’s and shoulders I will do again. Also whatever I thought about or didn’t think about I will repeat that as well. So if i can repeat the majority of reps with 4 steps I think i will be in a better place.

Wall walk skill work – 7 reps

+

Easy bike erg 10 min cooldown

done

+

Posterior shoulder love x 3 sets

Prone scap swimmers x 30 sec

Elbow on knee DB external rotations x 8/side

DB lat pullovers from bench x 6 reps for ROM

Done with some additional posterior shoulder love movements

10/9

FOTC Week 2, attempt 1

*video it, grab splits, provide some thoughts so we can break it down

Internally there were a few of my transitions that I thought were pretty poor, the snatch to TTB is one of them, some had to do with set up but I can also move with a little sense of urgency there too. I changed our plan after the first 2 rounds of TTB from the 6/5/4 to the 9/6…..if we do a redo I am pretty confident I could do 9/6 all the way. I thought i had made a mistake with resetting the row monitor when i changed from the 6/5/4 to the 9/6 but according to video and my splits it was only one second difference and internally it felt longer. In the 3rd round of db i broke once on the left arm and once on the right arm and that made that time split obviously longer, I think that’s some give and take there, i probably could’ve powered through that but would I have felt so good on the 9/6 TTB, that is probably debateable. Looking at the split breakdown, I know there is always room for improvement but I honestly feel from splits, to breaks this is one of the better executions on paper, internally i did not feel that way and felt like I might have wasted some time. I didn’t track how long my breaks were and that could have some analysis into it as well. 

was hoping the color coding copied over….

	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
		0:04	0:04	0:05
15 Calorie row start	0:00	3:02	6:23	9:54
15 Row cals finish	0:45	3:51	7:12	10:41
Row splits	0:45	0:49	0:49	0:47
transition		0:05	0:06	0:06
left arm db snatch start	0:49	3:56	7:18	10:47
left arm db snatch finish	1:22	4:30	8:04	11:24
breaks	0	0	1	0
transition
right arm db snatch start	1:23	4:31	8:05	11:25
right arm db snatch finish	2:06	5:18	8:56	12:00
breaks	1	1	1	0
R/L DB Split	1:17	1:22	1:38	1:13
transition	0:07	0:09	0:10	0:09
TTB start	2:13	5:27	9:06	12:09
TTB finish	2:58	6:19	9:49	12:37
breaks	2	2	1	1
TTB Split	0:45	0:52	0:43	0:28

10/5

By no means hurt, but I do something funky on my turnaround on my shuttles that sometimes irritates my knees and it was a delayed effect after friday so it was a little achy today so was cautious going into today and spent more time warming up knees than i did thoracic work. But as you will see I am very happy how things turned out. 

1 set current thoracic ext/rot drills

Tall kneeling thoracic extensions against wall x 3-4 reps with 3 breath cycles/rep

2-way half kneeling thoracic rotations against wall x 3 ‘reps’/side

1-arm KB snatch to high windmill x 3 reps/side

+

Additional thoracic extension drills

A1 – Hanging cobra stretch with bar in j-cups x 20-30 sec with controlled breathing (don’t hold your breath!!), rest 30 sec

*I like this setup as you can control the intensity by adjusting the height of the bar

A2 – Blocked thoracic extensions on GHD pads with hands behind head x 8-10 reps, rest 60-90 sec x 4 sets

*Picture trying to segment the flexion/extension movement as much as possible, one spine segment at a time. Try to set this up where you isolate the movement JUST at upper back, everything below sternum stays still. This hopefully allows us a way to ‘own’ the ROM by actively turning on the spinal erectors in that segment

+

A – Front squat build to strong triple (target heavier than 8/28)

275 – with the way my knee was feeling I had already targeted 275, which 8/28 was 265, and went I locked in for this set, i really think that 280 was there. There would’ve also been 2 at 285 and a fight would’ve happened for a third there so pretty happy

B – Front squat 4 sets of 3 @ 80-84% of best hit from A, rest 2 min

225

+

C – Low ring jumping MU transitions x 5 sets of 3, rest 90 sec

*practice stability in the catch position here, can add the dip to lockout if you want but my priority here is on you increasing connection to rings and your own confidence with the movement

I did not go for the pressout, just wanted to build some tolerance and strength in the catch and like you said, aim is being confident here

+

D – Wall facing HS hold with lean away to controlled walk x 10-15ft, rest 60 sec x 5 sets

*can start this with just a pirhouette away from wall to get used to the lean, and then if shoulders/neck/wrists feel ok we can start to walk a few steps at a time

While i was confident in C i was not in D….so i wasn’t going to allow myself to get frustrated so I ended up just trying to hs walk by itself, and I finally got some quality inverted work in, wasn’t very far but at least i got past one mental block here. 

+

E – Piked HSPU with feet on box – 8 sets of 8, rest 90 sec

*same setup as last week, more volume

done

10/3/2026

#tttTD359

For time (20 min cap)

50 Cal Row

40 Toes to Bar

40 alt 1-DB Devil’s Press @ 50lbs

40 Toes to Bar

50 Cal Row

18:30 – I had a plan and I stuck to the execution of rep breakdown. Now timed breaks were a different story. But I thought going with 5’s of the first set of TTB was the way to go because I did not know how I would feel on the back end. I started with semi-short rest and as I felt fatigue creeping in I extended a little bit. My plan with DP was to not put the db down. In hindsight I might have been better off with some kind of break because I know I spent too much time on the ground in the first 20 reps. In the second 20 I decided I have to find a way to move a lot quicker, so I told myself every 4-5 reps you can take a breath on the ground, it wasn’t perfect but it gave me some mental space to push when I wanted to rest. The back half TTB was go by feel but I kept it at 5’s, rest breaks were obviously longer. The last row, I just got on and started rowing, i was not fast at all for the first minute but I just knew i needed to move, as the that minute passed i was able to pick up my pace and when I got to about 12-15 cals left i kicked with what i had left. I did finish that last 50 around 2:50-ish and was happy with that because from my starting pace wasn’t sure if that was going to happen. Overall I’m happy that i had a plan and trusted it in the TTB, DP could’ve been more aggressive but just felt mentally fatigued. 

Rest as needed

The rest I needed was not the rest I had time to get. 

A – Hand release deadlifts x 3 reps @ 78-84% of 3RM, rest 3 min x 3 sets

285 – I could do more more just because I can doesn’t mean I should. Wasn’t feeling very strong today and was still a little tired. 

+

4 sets, rest 90 sec bt sets

60 sec AMRAP Double Unders, rest 15 Sec

TNG Deadlifts x 12 reps @ 225lbs – Speed Focus

I opted to bike instead of DU, no soreness at all from friday’s FOTC work just wasn’t mentally in the mood for 300+ more DU. Deadlift did not feel fast but thank goodness it was still only at 225.

+

B – Single arm barbell farmer carry x 60ft/arm, rest 20 sec bt arms and 2 min after both x 3 sets/side

Just worked at 75 here.

10/2

FOTC Week 1, attempt 1

*video it, grab splits, provide some thoughts so we can break it down

18 min AMRAP

Shuttle runs

Burpees

DU’s

485 – 7+17 – a couple of things here, my allergies have been killing me all week so I didn’t feel 100% today, but I set some pacing goals for this workout and I was about spot on. So I am very happy with hitting those. Goals were to not drop slower than 4sec/rep on burpee, I knew I could slow down a little on shuttle in order to keep burpee consistent with that target. I did shoot myself in the foot where I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to hear my timer for the close of the workout and I paused and glanced at the clock twice and that cost me 2 reps. Also in round 5, I felt like I was going to throw up from all of the sinus build up so I chose to blow my nose on the floor and it was in the middle of my burpee set, so i moved slightly to the left so I would not be doing my burpee right in the middle of that. 

	shuttle	shuttle finish	burpee	burpee finish	burpee time	time/rep	DU	DU Finish	# of sets
1	0:00	0:41	0:42	1:45	1:03	0:03	1:53	2:22
2	2:25	3:13	3:14	4:22	1:08	0:03	4:29	4:59
3	5:01	5:53	5:53	7:11	1:18	0:04	7:17	7:52	2
4	7:54	8:45	8:47	10:09	1:22	0:04	10:17	10:47
5	10:49	11:47	11:49	13:18	1:29	0:04	13:27	13:57
6	13:58	14:57	14:58	16:02	1:04	0:03	16:08	16:37
7	16:38	17:26	17:27	11

I’m not opposed to another attempt at this and it’s not on execution because I actually executed my back of napkin math plan, but it would be more becuase I should be feeling a lot better next week

9/30

A1 – Dbl DB bench press x 12, rest 1 min

75 across – this was near top end, I could’ve got 1 more rep on the 1st set but not sure I could’ve on ensuing sets. Also not sure if I could’ve got the 80’s for 12 today.

A2 – Single DB on back box step ups x 24 alternating, rest 2 min x 4

55’s just slow and methodical trudging along but felt a little better here today than last week for the 20 reps last week

*note – not worried about DB’s touching at top, just ensure they’re locked out

+

For total time, working 60 sec on and 60 sec off

2 rounds of

120 DU’s

40 wallballs

40 chest to bar

Well, I had three inner voices giving me plans for what to do on CTB. the first time through i rocked it out, and was set up for pretty good execution. Coming through on the second round I was done with the wall balls on the 6th interval and that is when the inner voices of strategy started really talking. So starting the 7th interval I came out hot and did 15 reps out of the gate, there were three voices saying break small, quick rest and chip away, but the one voice said go for it, see if you can do it, and that was the voice i listened to and that was the voice that fucked me. I tried to hop back up and find some rhythm but for the most part I had to do singles to finish out that interval so I’m sitting at 20. The next interval i told myself to finish, but i did not, i did 7 and then singles to get myself to 35. And then those last 5 to start the 9th and last interval. Overall i’m actually pretty happy with how chest to bar pull ups felt. I could’ve without a doubt had better execution on the back end but Ifound some positional thing that I walked away with a little more confidence especially with the volume of 80 total CTB, i know there was a long break between the rounds but the volume completion is a win moving forward.

9/28

Part 1

Self directed upper body prep, can bias towards lower volume again if you want, but maybe after the weekend it will make sense to take your time and prep well

+

A – Hang power snatches x 7 unbroken reps, rest 1:30 min x 4 sets

105 – felt smooth and effortless

B – Hang power clean/jerks x 7 unbroken reps, rest 1:30 min x 4 sets

*same loading as last week

135 – didn’t feel as smooth as last week, got a little more winded here than the snatch

+

5 sets @ 90% Effort:

10 cal echo bike

10 burpee jumping pullups

15 GHD Sit-Ups

Rest 1:1 b/t sets

2:30-2:20-2:24-2:20-2:38 – on the last set I really pushed the bike a tad bit more to see if I could sustain everything else, felt like my burpee pull ups were the same but that is where I slowed down. I’m also really happy with my cadence on the ghdsu, I think only in the first round trying to get my bearings straight and the last round with a little bit of carryover fatigue from the bike and burpee. 

Part 2

Self-directed mobility

9/29

Warm-Up

At an easy pace/get sweaty:

1 Min Echo

1 Min Row

1 Min Ski

+

At tough effort/get breathing up:

1 Min Echo – 30 sec Hard + 30 sec Easy

1 Min Row – 30 sec Hard + 30 sec Easy

1 Min Ski – 30 sec Hard + 30 sec Easy

+

At tough/strong, target efforts for workout:

1 Min Echo

Rest 30 sec

1 Min Row

Rest 30 sec

1 Min Ski

Rest 4 Min

Rest as needed

*BEFORE YOU TRAIN – plug in your initial test cal counts into our calculator to get these pace ranges

https://programs.trainingthinktank.com/pyramid-pace-calculator

Training

1:30 Min Echo @ Target Training Pace

1 Min Echo @ Max Recoverable Pace

1 Min Echo @ Target Training Pace

1 Min Echo @ Max Recoverable Pace

*Rest 1 Min*

1:30 Min Row @ Target Training Pace

1 Min Row @ Max Recoverable Pace

1 Min Row @ Target Training Pace

1 Min Row @ Max Recoverable Pace

*Rest 1 Min*

1:30 Min Ski @ Target Training Pace

1 Min Ski @ Max Recoverable Pace

1 Min Ski @ Target Training Pace

1 Min Ski @ Max Recoverable Pace

*Rest 4 Min x 3 sets

Targets hit – Echo cal target training -> 264-294 – felt like i spent more time at the top end and a little above 300. Row 1008 – 114 – 1st set was dialed in, got a little harder each set. I will set I had to really grind out some of them, as rowing after TTB or GHD always gives me a little bit of a challenge as my core was pretty sore today from the ghdsu yesterday. Ski 907 – 994 – this felt like the strongest of the 3 as far as consistently hitting the top end of the range of target paces. Like las week I know we are not scoring calories here but I wrote down my cals just to keep some metrics going Echo – 54-53-53, Row 68-69-70 and was weird as this felt the hardest but my cals went up. The recoverable pace was where I really made sure I never deviated off of good row mechanics so might have something to do with it. Ski 65-64-66. I also didn’t feel 100 today so I’m happy that i was able to hit my paces.

*These are work-work intervals, designed to have you spending more and more time above your initial target pace, but also staying moving during the ‘Rest’. The priority is on being stubborn about the pace for the target intervals, and ensuring that you are working at a slow but steady effort during the ‘Rest’ so that you can push again after.

*Try to spend as much time as possible at the upper end of each of these ranges

9/23

A1 – Dbl DB bench press x 10, rest 1 min

65-70-75-80

A2 – Single DB on back box step ups x 20 alternating, rest 2 min x 4

1 x 50, 3 x 55

*note – not worried about DB’s touching at top, just ensure they’re locked out

+

EMOM x 20

1 – AMRAP 30 sec toes to bar18-17-16-13

2 – 8 thrusters @ 115lbs

3 – AMRAP 30 sec chest to bar12-9-10-8

4 – 20 wallballs @ 20lbs to 10ft

5 – Active recovery on bike/ski

I really wanted to push for big sets on TTB just to see how it would affect the CTB. I also had this plan but my other plan with CTB was to do a mini set short break and right back up because this is one place I feel I need work on the discipline with that movement and short quick rest breaks. First off, i’m not sure how much the TTB played a role in the struggle with CTB but I also felt that I was trying to “over’ kip the ctb which felt like it was throwing off some of my timing and rhythm. But also after the 3rd time through going into the 4th the fatigue felt very real and that round was a struggle with the gymnastics work. I was thankful for the thruster because i felt strong here and the Wall ball I knew I could knock that out

+

B1 – Single leg parallette L-sit x 10-15 sec/side

B2 – Single leg GHD sorenson hold x 10-15 sec/side

B3 – Banded pallof lateral walkouts x 6 reps/side

B4 – Supine leg whips x 4 reps/side (high hips throughout), rest as needed x 4 sets

done

9/24 – OFF

9/25

Thoracic drills

+

A – Band resisted front squats 8 sets of 3 @ 50%, rest 60 sec

(light bands anchored low to keep you honest on speed/intent, move these well

145 – didn’t feel super strong today because felt a little sore but I did try and jump the bar off my shoulder at the top of each rep so at least some portion of the concentric was fast speed focused

+

B – Clean grip RDL’s from small elevation x 6 reps @ 31X1 tempo, rest 2 min x 4 sets

165 across – there was more there, but the quality of positions and tempo felt really good so stayed right there. 

+

4 sets, rest as needed

C1 – Wide grip strict pullup with lean away negative x 6 reps

C2 – 1-arm overcoming isometric in shoulder flexion x 12-14 sec/side

C3 – Banded top-arm rows from side plank x 8/arm

C4 – Band assisted tucked front lever hold on low rings x 18-22 sec

This was the first time doing the pull up work that I felt zero discomfort from anywhere in any portion in the rep. 

+

4 sets, rest as needed

D1 – Foot assisted segmented strict RMU x 3 + Ring Dips x 5

D2 – (Dbl DB chest fly x 1/Dbl DB squeeze press x 2) * 5 complexes @ 25-30

D3 – Dbl DB pullover x 8-10 (light DB in each hand)

D4 – Alternating shoulder taps from belly to wall HS hold x 7/side

I tried 30 on the flies but it was still too much for a high quality big range of motion so I stuck with 25 – did 6 reps on ring dips. Pumped about that and even did a pause on tension in the bottom of the dip which I’m even happier about. 

+

E – Piked HSPU with feet on box – 6 sets of 8, rest 90 sec

*can start this with feet on ground or weight plates, and then bring them higher as you go to place more weight on hands

Today I wanted to try and rest closer to 75 seconds than 90 and that went well but 6 sets was the max. I wouldn’t have been able to do a 7th set at 8 reps, maybe with 5 or 6 reps.