Ben Plotnicki

shoulder extension protocol and hip movement quality
+
AMRAP 8 min
100 DU’s
50 seated shoulder press (empty bar)
25 toes to bar
1 + 76

Tried breaking up the press in the first round, rested too much but the endurance here was definitely the limiter. 2nd set of dubz broke at 92, then missed the first 3 restarts. Not really sure what happened here for that to happen, that should never happen. Second set of presses just chipped away and then did the 16t2b ub as time expired.

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30 min clock
AB 8-10 sec at 1200+ watts, rest walk 90 sec and repeat until you either aren’t recovering inside of that window or you can no longer get to the required pace easily, at which point do a slow spin for the remainder of the window
12 full + 1 that I kept it in the 1200+ range for most but not all. Went with 8 sec because I figured I could get more sets in. Didn’t feel super powerful today so was happy

KB drag through from elbow plank x 5/side
Banded face pulls x 10
Scap pushups x 8-10
Change plate teacup rotations x 3/direction/arm
3 times through
first time that teacup rotations have not hurt at all. Super encouraging

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A – Squat snatch from blocks above knee – find tough single
200 – felt I had more but was getting a little forward on me.

B – Squat snatch from blocks above knee – 5 reps for quality at 85% of best load from A, rest 90 sec
170 – these felt great. I would love to do more work from the blocks. Also fine tuned that above the knee position here

C – Front squat find an 8RM from the floor in 3 sets
245

I wanted more, but the struggle was on keeping the elbows, back engaged in the last 2 reps

C1 – Sumo deadlifts x 5,5,3,3, rest 90 sec
315-335-365-375

375 was slow and wasn’t sure I was going to break gravity

C2 – Band assisted L-sit from floor x 20-25 sec, rest 90 sec x 5
20s and a few milk seconds each time

(So I just started skimming through “overcoming gravity” and was reading about compression in midline exercises and that made me hyper focused on this today)

D – CO symmetry full, add in 10-15 sec straight arm ring support hold between each movement
done

Weekend note – there is a 95% change that I will not be able to train at all on this coming Saturday

Shoulder extension protocol with additions
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A – Dead hang to inverted to tucked front lever, slow controlled movement with pauses after each transition to new position, rest as needed to accumulate 15 quality reps
B – Parallette shoot throughs x 3/direction x 4 sets
C – Rope pullups x 6 (switch top hand after 3), rest 2 min x 3 sets
this was about the perfect dose for today. Rep 5&6 on set 3 were pretty tough, didn’t really make a mental note of which hand I did first so no details on it from the top hand.

These are good but I wish that didn’t feel so tough on the hands

+
18 unbroken C2B pullups for quality, rest 150 sec
18 unbroken kipping HSPU for quality, rest 150 sec x 3-4 sets
The first set felt better than any of last weeks. I have felt so much value in these c2b progressions. Second set wasn’t as solid but I dialed it back in for #3. Was good through about 13/14 on the last set, did rest a little longer before set 3-4 because I wanted to keep building this volume here.

Hspu felt good this week

+
D1 – DB zottman curls x 6-8, light load, rest 1 min
20’s

D2 – Commando rows x 6/side, rest 1 min x 5 sets
50’s

E – Mini band scap stability series
done

Shoulder extension protocol with additions from yesterday)
+
AMRAP 10 min
3 rounds of
5 ring MU (adjust volume/movement here as needed based on feel)
20 wallballs @ 30lbs
into
AMRAP row cals in remaining time

91

Finished couplet at 5:07

First minute was not going to allow myself under 1000, 1100 next, 1200, in the last 2 minutes I wanted no less than 1400, last minute stayed around 1600-1700.

Couplet

Should’ve broken the wall balls in round 1, I had to rest longer than I should’ve. Did bar muscle ups instead of ring, ring pulls felt great but didn’t feel any power in the bottom position in the rings.

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Hip flow x 5-6 min continuous movement
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Box breathing from supine x 6-8 min, 3142 tempo

(add this to your shoulder extension protocol now that we are building more range/confidence…)
Table top plank press ups x 5 reps with 5 sec pause at top of each
Banded bird dogs x 5/side with 2 sec pause at extension each rep
3 times through

This was perfect – changed hand positions on the plank press ups frequently
+
Seated shoulder extension stretch with hands as close together behind back as possible – 4 sets of 10 sec, rest 1:50 (ensure you go through calm/controlled breathing cycles when at a comfortable end range to keep nervous system quiet and relaxed)

This felt pretty good
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A – Find a tough set of PC/PJ x 5 TNG reps, new attempt every 3 min
155-170-185-205

The major limiter I felt here at my last couple of sets was my eccentric control. Cleans felt pretty good, but controlling transitions eccentrically was the only reason I didn’t make a jump after 205

B1 – DB bench press x 6-8 reps @ 31X1 tempo, rest 1 min (same, just more volume exposure here, adjust angle as needed)

35-40-45-50

Still a little of the same discomfort but today I decided to go through those ROMs with a little bit more of a grinding mentality, especially in the isometrics
B2 – Band resisted DB rows x 6-8/side, rest 1 min x 4 sets

70
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Row 10 sec HARD, 1 min slow strokes x 5
1:20/1:21 was avg. got to 1:19 twice and that was my goal to get it there every time

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AB 10 sec HARD, 1 min slow spin x 5
1421-1352-147?-1327-1421

AMRAP 12 min
10 cal row
10 thrusters (start at 75lbs, add 20lbs each round)
106

Tried to look many places to see if I could find my score from last year, but I could not find it. Last year I think I remember pacing the row and pushing the thruster. Today I pushed the row a little more, felt a little weaker with the thruster, but i’m well aware that we havent been getting a ton of knee flexion exposure in the front rack, so I was a little bummed but not too pissed. First 2 rounds was around 1700cal/hr, and then after that told myself I wasn’t allowed to drop below 1400. Could’ve had a better warm up with more CNS prep but most of my warm up was energy system relative with the rower and light barbell cycling. Good reminder for the future.

+
shoulder extension protocol and hip movement quality

done
+
AB 15 min, do this as 5 sets of (1 min nasal breathing only + 2 min regular breathing)

done

KB drag through from elbow plank x 5/side
Banded face pulls x 10
Scap pushups x 8-10
Change plate teacup rotations x 3/direction/arm
3 times through
+
A – Paused snatch x 1/Below knee hang squat snatch x 1/Squat snatch x 1 – 5 sets, rest 10 sec bt reps, 2 min bt sets

155-165-175-185-195

Went for 205 again and missed the hang

B – Front squat 4 sets of 8, no longer than 1 sec pause at top of each rep, rest 3 min
235 across.

I survived, might have been way to aggressive. Went up 10 lbs from last week on sheer will and determination

C1 – Sumo deadlifts x 6,6,4,4, rest 90 sec
305-315-325-335

Felt heavy as shit today

C2 – Band assisted L-sit from floor x 15-20 sec, rest 90 sec x 5
done

D – CO symmetry full, add in 10-15 sec straight arm ring support hold between each movement
done

I got almost everything in, tried to get in and get everything done before Murph started.
Shoulder extension protocol
+
A – Dead hang to inverted to tucked front lever, slow controlled movement with pauses after each transition to new position, rest as needed to accumulate 15 quality reps

This felt really really solid and better control today.
B – Parallette shoot throughs x 3/direction x 4 sets

Done – 3 sets – felt really good – going to do a few more sets in warm up on Tuesday
C – Jumping ring MU transitions into stable catch and dip – spend 5-6 min working on catching solidly with good tension and control

Spent about 4-5 minutes here.
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15 unbroken C2B pullups for quality, rest 120 sec
15 unbroken kipping HSPU for quality, rest 120 sec x 3-4 sets

The first 3 sets felt like the best set of c2b pull ups I’ve ever done, felt smooth crisp, fluid and in super control. I felt in such control that I was solely focusing on breathing patterns, kind of felt like I was in the matrix while focusing on breathing in set 3. 4th set still felt good but reps 12-15 felt a little forced.

Hspu felt better than last week but still not as fluid.
+
D1 – DB zottman curls x 6-8, light load, rest 1 min
D2 – Commando rows x 6/side, rest 1 min x 5 sets

Only got in 3 sets
E – Mini band scap stability series

Only got this in because I was doing it while everyone was on the 1st murph run

Great positive note, zero pain on the eccentric of push up. Concentric felt good but just a little baby amount of discomfort.

There were plenty of positives today, but not the best overall output. But at the end of the day, I’m okay with some things.
Shoulder extension protocol

done
+
For time
15-12-9 deadlifts @ 225lbs
50ft HS walk
(rest 10 min)
For time
12-9-6 deadlifts 275lbs
3-2-1 rope climbs to 15ft
8:04

5:19

Handstand walks did not hurt at all, and that is the most important thing of all. This is the first time attempting handstand walks since the open so major limiter and it was much more on ability to maintain good midline position and control. My breathing was also way off and this setup poor breathing for the second piece as well.

Rope climbs – not only was my breathing off in the first one I think I might’ve been holding my breath in the first rope climb and this effected me pretty good as well. At first I thought I was just inefficient on rope climbs but I mostly think it’s poor breathing habits since we do not get as much exposure there.

With not feeling great with my breathing today, I just wasn’t comfortable pushing anything.

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Hip flow x 5-6 min continuous movement

done
+
Box breathing from supine x 6-8 min, 3142 tempo

done

3 sets
Bent over plate shoulder extension – 5 sec hold at end range, then move into hip extension working on maintaining the angle of arms and torso
KB drag through from front plank x 5/direction
Light bottoms up KB carry at 90/90 position x 100ft

done
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A – Power clean x 5/Push press x 5, rest 2 min x 4 working sets

165-180-195-205

Didn’t really know what to expect. First set was a little iffy, but it got better as I went. Did not adhere to the 2 min rest as much as I wanted to on the last set

B1 – DB bench press x 6-8 reps @ 31X1 tempo, rest 1 min

35 – if I kept a neutral position this was a no go. But manipulated the angle and made it happen. Was also super weak here.
B2 – Band resisted DB rows x 6-8/side, rest 1 min x 4 sets

60 w/a thicker band
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Row 10 sec HARD, 1 min slow strokes x 4

Kept rower around 1:21 – 1:22 was pretty stoked about that
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AB 10 sec HARD, 1 min slow spin x 4

I think 1300 watts was about where I stayed at.