Ben Plotnicki

1/12

Lat series

A1 – Lax ball/theragun smashing into armpit/lat x 30 sec/side, rest 30 sec

A2 – Hanging scap circles x 4-5/direction + Scap pullups x 4-5, rest 60-90 sec x 2 sets

B – Neutral Grip Strict Lean Away Pull-Ups: 15-20 reps, accumulated with a 2111 Tempo; break up as needed/for quality

C – Hanging Arch Body Upper Back Extensions: 4-6 reps w/ slow controlled eccentrics x 2-3 sets

D – Prone Banded PVC Lat Pull-Downs: 8-10 reps w/ slow controlled eccentric x 2-3 sets

+

1-2 sets not for time (shoulder flexion ROM and control)

15 sec yielding shoulder flexion isometric

8-10 sec/side 1-arm overcoming shoulder flexion isometric

5/side overhead archer presses from standing

5 double overhead archer presses from standing

*second movement from above vid

+

1-2 sets not for time (post shoulder/OH position prep)

6/side 1-arm elbow on knee DB ext rotation at slow tempo/light weight

6 slow reps mini band distracted dbl DB front raises

6 controlled reps of sliding glide kips from bar anchored in rig

12 light dbl DB shoulder balboas from seated

+

4 sets for quality (gymnastic strength work)

3-4 reps foot assisted ring dip eccentrics @ 32A2 tempo

15 sec chest to bar isometric hold at top of inverted BB row (bar in jcups, you standing inside rig, adjust angle as needed to challenge the time window

15 sec piked HS hold for stack (can do feet on box or wall, MAYBE start to add some lateral shifts to load hands more like a WW)

6/side landmine meadows row

35 across w/focus on major control – did the bench foot assisted dip eccentrics @ 63A1 + Foot assisted bottom of ring support hold for 15 seconds. 

+

EMOM x 4

3 wall walks

These actually felt decent today, feeling a little more confident….still a little ways to go 

+

Also split today in two sessions, did first part up to here at gym where time of day and logistics worked out. And did second part so I could have access to the pull up bar I like. Also doubled up on some of the lat series and pushed others to the second half of my sessionn

EMOM x 8

5-6 chest to bar pullups included video to assess the progress and feedback

Not really pain, but more of a 1 of 10 on the scale of annoyance. Did not know it was going to feel so much improved so I started videoing after the first set. Day after update: A combination of stiffness, soreness and joint irritation. So doesn’t feel 100% but all in all I think it’s some progress

+

3 rounds for time

20 dbl DB box step overs

20 dbl DB front rack squats

20 row cals

15:11 – I did the step overs in round 1 in 2 sets, semi short rest and I think that was a mistake. I should’ve taken one more break and been short and quick. I think it was a mistake bc holding the db for the squat was not my favorite. I did those in 2 sets as well and just couldn’t feel like I could get into a comfortable rack position on any set. Doing 2 sets really limited my power output on the row, so I changed that up in the 3rd round. Round 1 had a decent row pace but round 2 was absolutely shitty, the 2 sets of squats really hurt that so I decided I was not going to do that again. The 3rd round of step overs, i tried to break a lot, and short rest and everytime I didn’t pick up the dumbbells i told myself that was resistance effecting me. I did the squats in 3 sets, i’m sure rest was way too long but I at least cranked the last row up in the 1300’s after the first 4-5 cals.

1/9

Lat series

A1 – Lax ball/theragun smashing into armpit/lat x 30 sec/side, rest 30 sec

A2 – Hanging scap circles x 4-5/direction + Scap pullups x 4-5, rest 60-90 sec x 2 sets

B – Neutral Grip Strict Lean Away Pull-Ups: 15-20 reps, accumulated with a 2111 Tempo; break up as needed/for quality

C – Hanging Arch Body Upper Back Extensions: 4-6 reps w/ slow controlled eccentrics x 2-3 sets

D – Prone Banded PVC Lat Pull-Downs: 8-10 reps w/ slow controlled eccentric x 2-3 sets

+

1-2 sets not for time (shoulder flexion ROM and control)

15 sec yielding shoulder flexion isometric

8-10 sec/side 1-arm overcoming shoulder flexion isometric

5/side overhead archer presses from standing

5 double overhead archer presses from standing

*second movement from above vid

+

1-2 sets not for time (post shoulder/OH position prep)

6/side 1-arm elbow on knee DB ext rotation at slow tempo/light weight

6 slow reps mini band distracted dbl DB front raises

6 controlled reps of sliding glide kips from bar anchored in rig

12 light dbl DB shoulder balboas from seated

+

4 sets for quality (gymnastic strength work)

3-4 reps foot assisted ring dip eccentrics @ 32A2 tempo

15 sec chest to bar isometric hold at top of inverted BB row (bar in jcups, you standing inside rig, adjust angle as needed to challenge the time window

15 sec piked HS hold for stack (can do feet on box or wall, MAYBE start to add some lateral shifts to load hands more like a WW)

6/side landmine meadows row

25 for first 2 sets then 35 for last two on meadows row – chest to bar hold was tough today so angle was kind of easy

+

Every 2:30 x 10 alternating sets

Odd – Ski 500m – 1:58 — 1:56 — 1:56 — 1:57 — 1:57

Even – Run 400m – it had just started raining (and it was hard so wasn’t going to gut it out) and the assault runner was out of batteries so I had to triangulate between RPE, apple watch, steps and time

*threshold efforts, sustainable and repeatable, even with short rest windows

1/10

Use some of the same pieces from yesterdays warmup to open things up here, even if you pick from some of the gymnastics strength pieces

Did the lat series – and the dip (but I used a bench instead of rings and did 84A1 tempo) – and did the piked hold and feet against the wall which I like that so much better.  

+

Camp redo setup

AMRAP 9 min

45 DU’s

15 OHS @ 95lbs

10 toes to bar

In my head I knew that a sustainable pace per round was about 1:45-1:50…..knowing that 4+ was my goal and developed my rep breakdown strategy off of that. I also didn’t have the confidence that I could maintain UB ohs, my speed per rep is not worth it right now. However in my mind I know breaks between ohs would be way longer than breaks for ttb would be. So I did think about that. Also I think my biggest limiter today is muscle endurance, I felt it in shoulder fatigue and feel thy is what caused a really bad dounle under round in round 4, I think I broke 3 maybe 4 times, more on fatigue than anything. 

Camp Prep Spreadsheet

Amrap video

*still use the same sheet that I sent out for splits, and grab vid too!

1/6

A – Front squats @ 30X1 tempo x 5 reps, rest 2 min x 5 sets

*little heavier than last week

200–200–205–205–215 – these felt really good and really strong and front rack is feeling 100x better, it’s still not perfect yet but it’s a noticable difference

B1 – 35 sec goblet loaded wall sit, rest 25 sec

26 bell 

B2 – 50ft dbl DB farmer carry lunge @ 50/hand, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

done

C – Barbell deadlifts x 7 TNG reps, rest 60 sec x 4 sets

*start around 185, build as you want for the day

185–205×3, I stuck with double overhand and I had more of a grip limitation than anything else. Also the 60sec rest made it more feasible to stay at that same weight for the last 3 sets as well

D – Banded quadruped plank to pike x 18-21, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

* https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DENW3P4DfIo

Done

+

3 sets hip/core, rest as needed

Seated mini band hip abductions x 15-20

Banded pull throughs from sumo stance x 10-12 with glute squeeze at top

Copenhagen plank press ups x 5/side with 3 sec hold at top of each

Arch rocks x 6-8 into 10 sec superman hold

Needed to get done, so going to split this up and do later with some shoulder rehab

1/7

Row/Burpee Beep Re-Test 

On a running clock

10 lateral burpees over erg + Row 500m

*Until you can’t finish the distance in the time window

First time window – 0:00-4:00 (4:00)

Second time window – 4:00-7:50 (3:50)

Third time window – 7:50-11:30 (3:40)

Fourth time window – 11:30-15:00 (3:30)

Fifth time window – 15:00-18:20 (3:20)

Sixth time window – 18:20-21:30 (3:10)

Seventh time window – 21:30-24:30 (3:00)

Eighth time window – 24:30-27:20 (2:50)

Ninth time window – 27:20-30:00 (2:40)

Tenth time window – 30:00-32:30 (2:30)

Eleventh time window – 32:30-34:50 (2:20)

Twelfth time window – 34:50-37:00 (2:10)

Last round (lucky #13) – for time!

*Target – finishing that 11th round! Push your burpee cadence starting around the 8th or 9th round, and transition quickly so that you can stay calm and steady on the rower as things get dense. Be prepared to have those back-to-back rounds, and get to work right away to give yourself a shot!

Finished the 11th window, I don’t want to say easily, but was pretty under control, but because I didn’t want to find out and kick myself for not finishing I kicked way too soon (I think around 275/300 left) and just sold out and held on, so I finished with 3-4 seconds too spare, but that effort of kicking too soon gave me zero chance to put up a fight in #12. I think I got 250 meters into the 12th window. I pretty much stayed around 2:30 the whole time with stepping up the burpee, so i was very confident I was going to hit the target, really pulled back on sandbagged the 6th and 7th window on the rower because I knew it was time to kick it into gear in the 8th and that’s when i picked up my burpee speed. I think I was finishing those burpee around 24 seconds from what I remember from taking a quick glance at the clock

Talk to you tomorrow

1/5

Lat series

+

1-2 sets not for time (shoulder flexion ROM and control)

15 sec yielding shoulder flexion isometric 

8-10 sec/side 1-arm overcoming shoulder flexion isometric 

5/side overhead archer presses from standing

5 double overhead archer presses from standing

*second movement from above vid

+

EMOM x 5

3 wall walks 

*same as last week, continued exposure

I hit pause after the 2nd minute, my shoulder didn’t feel prepped enough so I do a quick few sets of more overcoming isometrics an yielding isometrics. That felt better and fell back into the groove. 

+

EMOM x 8

6-8 chest to bar pullups

These went much better today, I do end up doing 3 on set 4 and 5 on set 6, I did a 9th minute to catch back up on the volume. These just felt labored, kip wasn’t smooth and I’m sure it was lack of exposure for quite some time. Pain was a 1 maybe temporarily crept to a 2 but no worries to not keep going. 

+

AMRAP 9 min

3,6,9…reps each, adding 3/round

OHS @ 95lbs

Toes to bar

Box jump overs @ 24in (step down)

140—-5 reps into ohs…..cycle speed on squats need to be faster, was just worrying about stabilizing shoulder. What I felt from overhead position was shoulder wanting to internally rotate, outside of that everything felt good with the shoulder and lay at this point. Broke ohs in set of 12 and 15, made a mental count error in the set of 15 but pleased with that other than speed. Probably pretty easily could’ve gotten the 12 UB but didn’t want to risk it.  TTB – first time I trusted getting into a good arch and starting finding a rhythm. Clipped on one box jump. Tries to stay diligent an smooth today. Felt good with transitions but definitely rested a little more than I should’ve in traders on breaks of ohs and TTB.

1/2

Lat series

A1 – Lax ball/theragun smashing into armpit/lat x 30 sec/side, rest 30 sec

A2 – Hanging scap circles x 4-5/direction + Scap pullups x 4-5, rest 60-90 sec x 2 sets

B – Neutral Grip Strict Lean Away Pull-Ups: 15-20 reps, accumulated with a 2111 Tempo; break up as needed/for quality 

C – Hanging Arch Body Upper Back Extensions: 4-6 reps w/ slow controlled eccentrics x 2-3 sets

D – Prone Banded PVC Lat Pull-Downs: 8-10 reps w/ slow controlled eccentric x 2-3 sets

+

1-2 sets not for time (shoulder flexion ROM and control)

15 sec yielding shoulder flexion isometric

8-10 sec/side 1-arm overcoming shoulder flexion isometric

5/side overhead archer presses from standing

5 double overhead archer presses from standing

*second movement from above vid

done

+

1-2 sets not for time (post shoulder/OH position prep)

6/side 1-arm elbow on knee DB ext rotation at slow tempo/light weight

6 slow reps mini band distracted dbl DB front raises

6 controlled reps of sliding glide kips from bar anchored in rig

12 light dbl DB shoulder balboas from seated

done

+

EMOM x 16 (4x through)

1 – 16 cal row (finish sub 50 sec)

2 – 14 1-arm alternating DB snatches @ 50lbs

3 – 12 bar facing burpees

4 – Rest

This was a really fun emom—knowing I had the rest interval the idea of  really pushing the pace was fun, wanted each set of burpee to be sub 30, and row around 44-47

1/3

Lat series

done

+

Echo bike 50 cals @ progressive intensity, warmup effort

done

+

For time

10-9-8-7-6 reps each

Dbl DB hang power cleans @ 50/hand

Dbl DB front rack squats @ 50/hand

into

5-4-3-2-1

Dbl DB strict presses

Strict pullups

8:47 – I had no plan for this, just kind of went into to see what would happen and probably should’ve had at least a little bit of a plan. I underestimated the grip issue carrying over from one set to the next on the first part, I even felt like I got a little dizzy, was a weird sensation. My grip and that weird feeling made me break on some of the hang clean as I was losing the grip and didn’t have a clean rack. Should’ve had a faster cycle time on the first 2 sets of the squat, sped those up after that. On the strict press, I never tried to do more than 3 in a rwo, just wanted to be smart and also didn’t feel super strong from the shoulder. On the first set of 5, i wanted to have a fast transition so did 3 singles to start. Did quite a few singles for those 15 reps, just playing it safe. 

+

Tall kneeling ring fall throughs for controlled ROM – 4 sets of 6, rest as needed

done

12/30

A – Front squats @ 30X1 tempo x 6 reps, rest 2 min x 4 sets (build as you go, tempo is priority so leave plenty in the tank in terms of relation to max loading)

165–175–185–190

B1 – 30 sec goblet loaded wall sit, rest 30 sec (hold 25-35lbs in goblet)

B2 – 30 sec reverse lunges, rest 3 min x 3 sets

*target keeping good tension in hips and keeping front shin vertical

18–20–20

C – Rounded back GHD hip extensions x 15-18, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

* very short ROM, just think about squeezing butt forward while keeping back flexed

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzQTEmChe_0 

I did an extra set as getting the right set up and trying to maintain the back flexion

D – Banded quadruped plank to pike x 15-18, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

* https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DENW3P4DfIo

done

+

3 sets hip/core, rest as needed

Seated mini band hip abductions x 15-20

Banded pull throughs from sumo stance x 10-12 with glute squeeze at top

Copenhagen plank press ups x 5/side with 3 sec hold at top of each

Arch rocks x 6-8 into 10 sec superman hold

done

12/31

I had a few glasses of wine and did not sleep well so I had really low expectations going into this today. Just very low stress for performance and wanted to stay smooth and rely on technique on my row

For times:

3 rounds

10 lateral burpees over erg

500m row

rest 30 sec bt rounds 1 and 2

rest 15 sec bt rounds 2 and 3

2:26–2:24–2:22 – I was actually really surprised how this turned out, after how i felt, I was just trying to stay smooth and consistent, and these felt kind of repeatable for a few more sets

+ (rest as needed)

2 rounds

10 lateral burpees over erg

500m row

rest 15 sec bt rounds

2:23–2:17 – was a high RPE but definitely feel I could repeat another set with 15sec close to 2:20

+ (rest as needed)

6 rounds

300m row @ 1:45-1:48/500m

rest 30 sec bt rounds

1:07.7–1:03.8–1:03.7–1:03.8–1:04.0–1:03.4

12/29/2025 (low volume C2B, shoulder stability, quick burner)

EMOM x 5

3 wall walks (should be pretty easy here, use this to open shoulders up)

I will say that “easy” is kind of relative term here. 3 was easy but my right shoulder just feels weaker an I wouldn’t trust more than 3 a minute today. My wrists also didn’t like supporting myself but I wasn’t racing I was taking it smooth an easy so my time under tension was longer than 3 normally would be. 

+

2 continuous rounds @ 88-91% effort

8 cal ski erg @ easy effort (850-950 cal/hr)

6-8 chest to bar pullups

rest 2 min x 3 full sets

*36-48 chest to bar, active recovery between

Was super excited about this based on how good I was feeling until I started. Then I wasn’t quite ready, mentally and physically. I was nervous getting into it and warming up I was so apprehensive of my pull ups. So I said F and just go for it. But I couldn’t find a rhythm after the ski. So I tried starting 3 different times and I just couldn’t get past 3-4 pull ups. So I waited a few moments and just went for the pull ups and I got 6, but I was fighting my rhythm. So at that point i just decided i was going to accumulate 36 reps and not worry about the ski. 

+

3 continuous rounds @ 88-91% effort

10 cal row

10 toes to bar

rest 3 min x 2 full sets

*60 toes to bar, little denser here

I could definitely feel the density creep in right away. I don’t know if it all had to do with a week off with travel and not optimal fuel, or the cool down and back to it after the CTB work. But after the first set every TTB felt like a fight. I did do that first 50 reps UB, didn’t feel smooth but there wasn’t really any pain either so that was a win, and the last 10 I had to break those up

+

Every 2 min x 8

18 cal echo bike (or bike erg back up if needed)

52–51–50–55–56–54–58–55 – didn’t really know where to pace, just knew I wanted to be under 1 minute and keep it sustainable. 

Tuesday feels – lat is tight but no where near like it has been and shoulder doesn’t feel great, but better than it was a week ago

12/22/2025

A – PC/PJ – 1 rep every 15 sec x 4, rest 2 min x 3 sets

*185lbs

185 – also did 2 singles @ 205 just to see how it felt and felt pretty good, i was not confident to go tng at shoulders but was still trying to be pretty quick as soon as I received it.

B – Back squat – 5 sets of 8 @ 250-260lbs, rest 2 min

255 – my internal perception in the moment was around a 9 and thinking it is not good to feel strong, but in reality this felt good, I was also very comfortable with this weight and the 2 min rest, sometimes I’m like how can i milk a few more seconds but today squat was on.

+

Did this after about 2 hours rest so i could take a break for the call with Becky

3 rounds

16 lateral burpees over erg

500m row

rest 30 sec bt intervals

(keep these around 2:55-3:05)

2:52–2:53–2:55 – I did round up a little on the first 2 to make the math easier. This pace was easy for the rower, nice, I’m not complaining at all, I really had to throttle down a little, but also was trying to stay game speed and consistent on burpee

+ (rest as needed)

3 rounds

13 lateral burpees over erg

400m row

rest 30 sec bt rounds

(keep these around 2:15-2:20)

2:14–2:14–2:16 – same for row, a little harder and aggressive but felt confident with it

+ (rest as needed)

4 rounds

300m @ 1:45-1:47/500m

rest 30 sec bt rounds

1:03.7–1:03.2–1:02.9–1:02.8 – in the very beginning, like the first 15 seconds, I thought man it is so nice to row without having done burpees before. But then it set in that it was hard. 3rd round was the hardest.

12/20 (WICC)

Event 3 – Another Pick in the Wall

For time (22 min cap)

100 Wallball – 20lb, 10ft target

80 TTB (adjust to situps if you prefer)

60 Hang Power Cleans – 115lbs

40 Burpee Box Jump Overs – 24in

*Score is total time

For all the wins and personnel excitement from yesterday, today was a very frustrating and discouraging effort. I was so excited about the opportunity to attack a weakness of high rep chippers. I had a plan in place to set myself up for mental and physical success but that fell apart quickly. I feelt super stiff in warm up and just felt like I couldn’t get a groove. Was semi conservative with wall ball because I wanted to attack the TTB with small quick sets. But I had to go to singles pretty quickly and this is where things fell apart. I stayed patient but it just took so much time. I went to singles because I felt like my lats were so tired and sore from yesterday, the shoulder feels good though actually, but the knot in my lat which is appearing to be the largest problem working on getting over. It was just hard to get a rhythm from my kip with the way the discomfort and soreness combined felt and effected my confidence. I did not feel comfortable in the rack position with a closed grip and not releasing my hook, so i had to open my grip and go into a full front rack which not only slowed me down and effected my time under tension and just really got in my head mentally at this point. I tried to get a ton of singles and fight the discouragement. It was very low on the pain scale, like around a 1 by i was so frustrated that it was hard for me to push at this point, but I refused to quit, even if I wasn’t going to finish the barbell I wasn’t going to stop because it didn’t hurt so bad that I couldn’t chip away.

12/19 (WICC, partial)

Event 1 – Turboman

8 min Clock:

4 Attempts to find a 1RM Back Squat

*One attempt every 2 minutes, starting at 0

*Bar starts preloaded

*Each lift must be performed on the 0,2,4, & 6 min mark.

*Score is pounds for the heaviest attempt. Include KG conversion in notes.

365 – I think my lifetime PR (from my early early 30’s is 380) so i’m pretty freaking pumped here. Do you have any records handy of this? I feel early on we did a 365 but my organization on all of my files and notes aren’t that organized to be able and find it quickly. I had no idea what to expect so had I know possibly could’ve gamed it to get 5-10 more pounds. Opened at 335 and added 10 on each set. 

Event 2 – Wintervals

2-3-4-5-6 Time Intervals; 1 min rest b/t each – 24 min total

50 Double Unders

10 kipping pullups

AMRAP Row Calories in remaining time

*Each round, add 10 reps to the double unders and 5 reps to the Pull-Ups

*Score is total reps, including the double under and CTB reps.

*Scoring Chart – DU’s & pullups:

2 min Round – 60 reps

3 min Round – 75 reps (135)

4 min Round – 90 reps (225)

5 min Round – 105 reps (330)

6 min Round – 120 reps (450)

(640) First off, i’m super pumped here as I feel the 100 total pull ups double the total amount of pull ups I did in the months of October and November combined. I had dry needling today and therapy so was in a descent place going into this. It felt like shit yesterday, so between that and the large large amounts of tiger balm i rubbed on my lat i was feeling better than I have in a while. I only missed one double under the whole time, and when it came to rowing, I felt my pullers were just done in the 5 min round, my output just dropped off big time, and just had to try and find ways to keep myself above 1000 cal/hr and that was hard as shit. It wasn’t heart rate, I was ok with that, it was the muscle endurance from the pullers. So overall, i loved the challenge in this workout and found it really fun, but also loved it because I haven’t been able to push these things at all.