Ben Plotnicki

AM40 min ATW @ En2-3 pace

Jacobs ladder 90 sec steady pace

5/direction KB around the body pass

5/direction KB drag through from elbow plank

Row 90 sec steady, no monitor

5/arm bottoms up KB press

5/arm 1-arm KB thruster

Done

I’ve always made clients do the KB drag from plank, now I had to do it and have better respect for them. Lol. Funny how it works out like that. Elbow felt tight and irritated in the KB thruster, so made the rack position adjustment so it felt good.

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8 min breathing work from quadruped rock back position @ 3162 tempo

PM

A – Power clean x 1/Hang Power clean x 2 – 1 complex every 90 sec x 8 (light to moderate)

165 across

B – Front squat x 1 every 30 sec x 15 (good speed and bounce out of bottom on all)

225 x 7, 235 x 3, 245 x 5

C – Deficit halting deadlift, 5 sets of 3, rest 3 min (3-4in deficit, pull to just below knee for a pause then return to floor)

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Row 150m high effort, new set every 2:30 x 6

27.7 (1:32.3-36)

27.1 (1:30.3-37)

27.4 (1:31.3-36)

27.6 (1:32.0-34)

26.8 (1:29.3-33) over exaggerated the sprint start 

26.7 (1:29.0-37)
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D1 – Prone external rotation press x 4/side, rest 30 sec bt sides

D2 – Hands behind back scap pinches x 4-6 reps with holds in back, rest 60 sec x 4 sets

Meant to do these later in the day, but lost track of time so will do them at home.

Made up AM session from previous day, with the row and press @ 135 + bike and dead @ 275
A – Split jerk x 2 (alternate front foot each rep), new set EMOM x 12

205 off the blocks, felt more natural today, I know coming off the blocks made this much better from several perspectives

B1 – 1-arm DB split snatch x 4/side (dont jump to split, just drive the back foot backwards into a split catch), rest 60 sec

@70

Alternated which foot back I used. Didn’t really know so I wanted to play around with it. Just moving the foot back felt awkward without moving the front foot. Definitely against instincts

B2 – Single leg GHD hip extension x 6/side, rest 60 sec

Done

B3 – BB on back reverse lunges with 90 degree twist towards front foot in lunge x 10 alternating reps, rest 60 sec

@95

B4 – Single leg BB hip thrusts with 2 sec hold at top x 6/side, rest 60 sec x 3 sets

First set @ 155, couldn’t hold for 2 sec in the last few reps on each side, so the last 2 sets used 135

C – Zercher squat with axle bar @ 2020 x 8, new set every 3 min x 4

115

Not as bad as cyclist squats but they’re up there

D1 – Side lying banded clamshells x 8/side

D2 – Banded hip extensions from tall kneeling x 8 (squeeze glutes at top)

D3 – Banded psoas march x 4/side (maintain active hollow)

rest as needed x 5 sets

All accessory done

E – 10 min easy bike @ 100-150 watts

All bikes were being used

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8 min breathing work from straddle seated position against wall @ 3162 tempo

So i skipped to breathing

AM15 min row, off EMOM to do 1 ‘tough’ strict press (heavy but dont overcompensate with lean back or grind)

+

15 min bike, off EMOM to do 1 ‘tough’ deadlift (keep form and speed, no grinding reps)

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15 min mobility

Couldn’t get out of driveway in the am in time to knock this out. Going to do it on Tuesday unless you recommend against it.
PM

Wrist CAR’s warming up, with wrist flexion/extension and focused eccentrics in warm up
For time

100 cal AB

50 burpee box jumps to 24in

25 Ring MU

20:23
Don’t know if I should be happy or pissed here. For starters here are my splits

AB – 7:08

bbxj – 6:57

MU – 6:16
AB was conservative, didn’t know how much it would effect the burpee box jumps, tried to hold a minimum of high 300’s watts, could’ve definitely gone harder, but at what cost?

Bbxj – I might have done at least 5-6 more, but definitely no less than 50, was starting to think about my muscle up plan at this time and how much an elevated heart rate would affect the muscle ups. Breathing was high and a little cold air lung (man I miss Phoenix) but tried to keep steady movement and tempo with no highs or lows. Pushed the pace a little in the middle from around 25-40

MU – sets were 7-4-4-3-3-4

Not sure the set of 7 out the gate was the best choice for breathing rate, definitely rested too much b/t sets, not comfortable with high breathing and trusting myself, even though muscle ups felt good overall. 

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10 min bike cooldown

Done

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8 min box breathing

Harder to do effective box breathing today with still some congestion, so the 8 minutes were not continuous.

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Bicep curl and band tricep press down with eccentric focus in cooldown.

Elbow update – still pretty tender, through warm up, mobility, and flossing. Felt ok with all the work today though. Congestion still pretty bad, overall body felt good after a goodnight sleep. So was back and forth on training and was going to let my cleans be the tell on to stop or keep going. 
A – Squat clean from blocks at knee – 9 singles, rest 120 sec (6 @ 270+, build for last 3)

270×2, 275×4, 285×2, 290 miss 

Didn’t make a a more aggressive jump or another attempt because was having to use plates for blocks old school style today 

B – Front squat – tough triple, reps must be done in less than 8 sec to count

245-265-280, had a done a couple more doubles warming up might have been able to hit 290 within 8 seconds 

C1 – Clean pulls from deficit x 3 @ 325, rest 90 sec

pulled off a rogue 25lb plate, not sure the height relative to the previous weight progressions but this felt the best today 

C2 – Single leg sorenson hold with plate rotations x 5/direction, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

done

D – GHD situps – 5 sets of 20, during rest time do Ring support hold 20 sec and active hollow hang 20 sec

didn’t have time to do, should I squeeze in tomorrow?

AM40 min ATW @ En2-3 pace

Row 40 strokes, no monitor

Lizard crawl 50ft

Crab walk 50ft

Row 40 strokes, no monitor

Band resisted forward march x 20 (drive knee high in front and squeeze glute of grounded leg actively to extend hip fully)

Banded lateral walk x 10/direction + in and out banded backwards walk x 10 + in and out banded forwards walk x 10

Felt pretty good with this, and thanks to the row stayed pretty close to EN3

+

8 min breathing work from quadruped rock back position @ 3162 tempo

Didn’t get the full 8 minutes continuously.
PM

A – Power clean – 1 single every 20 sec x 6, rest 3 min x 4 sets (all at 205+)

205 – 220 – 235 – 250 (broke the mold here, rep 5 was borderline power, took 30 seconds for rep 6 and hit it for a power)

B1 – Front rack cyclist squats @ 2021 tempo x 6, rest 1 min

135 across

B2 – KB jefferson curls @ 4141 tempo x 4-5, rest 1 min x 4 sets

53/hand

+

6 rounds for time

2 rope climbs to 15ft

50 DU

50ft HS walk

After the 2nd decent my right elbow blew up. It has been irritating me, but after through warm ups with all the muscle ups it has warmed up and has not been an issue, but today in that flexed position, the medial tendon feels inflamed. 
I did also have a pretty shitty night sleep, and major allergy congestion. I know this has some carry over of my ability to recover. 

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C1 – Prone external rotation press x 4/side, rest 30 sec bt sides

C2 – Hands behind back scap pinches x 4-6 reps with holds in back, rest 60 sec x 4 sets

A – Power clean doubles x 6 sets, no longer than 12 sec rest between reps, 3 min bt sets.

245-250-255-260-265-270 and yes 270 was above parallel, and pretty sure that this is the heaviest power clean I have ever hit, and hitting it for a double. Pretty stoked about that. If it’s not the heaviest, It’s the heaviest I’ve done since 2011.

B – 3 position paused front squat (quarter squat, parallel, quarter squat on concentric), 5 sets of 5, rest 3 min

225 across

C – Split jerk x 2 (alternate front foot each rep), new set EMOM x 10

185 across

First couple of sets felt quite a bit off and awkward but felt better as I went. Chose to go opposite foot first and normal foot second

D1 – Side lying banded clamshells x 8/side

D2 – Banded hip extensions from tall kneeling x 8 (squeeze glutes at top)

D3 – Banded psoas march x 4/side (maintain active hollow)

rest as needed x 5 sets

E – 10 min easy bike @ 100-150 watts

+

8 min breathing work from straddle seated position against wall @ 3162 tempo

All done 

AM45 min ATW

Jacobs ladder 90 sec

split stance Dbl DB push press x 5/side

split stance KB russian swings x 5/side

Spin bike 90 sec

4/side heavy slam ball/med ball hammer throws

16 side to side 2-arm landmine press
Didn’t count rounds, just went and tried to keep my heart rate EN2/3

PM

Open workout 16.3

122 (+20 from the opens) 

:36 – 1:30 – 2:44 – 3:56 – 5:11 – 6:20 – 7:39 – 8:48 – 9:42 – + 5 (with 1 no rep at the buzzer)

Didn’t have a plan, wanted to go off feel. I remember in the opens having this long thought out plan and just wanted to go for it and see what happened. Felt really relaxed and not pressing at all, paced it. Muscle ups felt so easy and the limiter felt more like my shoulders and lats from the snatch not muscle ups. The last round, first rep of muscle ups felt like work but re established good gymnastics position and last reps felt okay. If this was the open I would be mad because I definitely left some reps out there.  

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10 min bike cooldown

Done 

+

8 min box breathing

Done 

A1 – Single leg plate RDL to toe off (crossbody plate path) – 5/sideCompletely akward. When are you going to post a demo video of this? I want to see it in action and how it’s supposed to be done. Without the toe off felt so so, crossbody has tons of value but challenged me quite a bit today

A2 – Band resisted forward march x 20 alternating steps, rest 2 min x 4 sets 

Done 

B – DB side bends x 12/side, rest 45 sec bt sides x 3 sets (can superset these two if you need to)

50

C – 1-arm KB oh press from squat x 6/side with heels elevated, rest 1 min bt sides x 4 sets (2 sec hold overhead each rep)

Felt better here

+

5 rounds for time

15 cal AB

5 strict HSPU

rest 1 min

5 rounds for time

15 cal row

8 C2B pullups

13:27

My C2B were off today, in the fact that I was over pulling to find my rhythm and exhausting more energy than I should’ve. I have to get back comfortable with the quick short patterns. Not sure how much the density of everything else played a role in this between the 15 cals on the rower and the strict hspu, I know it has some carry over but wasn’t sure how much of it. The movement itself felt good, just not as quick as it needs to be. It also just could’ve been a bad morning. 
+

10 min mobility work

done

+

5 min box breathing

Done

A – Squat clean from blocks at knee – 12 singles, rest 90 sec (8 @ 265, build for last 4 but keep the bounce)+ 275, 280, 282, 283

B – Hang Squat clean below knee – find tough double, reps must be completed in <10 sec to count

275

C1 – Clean pulls from deficit x 3 @ 315, rest 90 sec

Pulls in general are feeling better, first rep is always the toughest

C2 – Single leg sorenson hold with plate rotations x 5/direction, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

Felt better than last week

D – GHD situps – 4 sets of 24, accumulate 45 sec of heavy sandbag/slam ball carry during rest time bt sets

First set of sandbag walk took 4 sets because my abs were cramping up, after that I was comfortable in fighting to accomplish it with only one break

AM35 min ATW @ En2-3 pace

Sandbag carry up and down long stairs, 1 time

10 strict HSPU

10 burpees over bag

10 strict pullups

8 full plus walk. 

Wondering if I counted correctly last week, kept accurate track today. Did feel a little heavier this am and at slow speed some early distractions and not a great quality night sleep. Plus two what I feel really high quality and solid training days. 

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8 min breathing work from quadruped rock back position @ 3162 tempo

Not the full 8 minutes but done
PM

A – Power snatch – 1 single every 20 sec x 6, rest 3 min x 4 sets (all at 170+)

175-180×2, 185

B1 – Front rack cyclist squats @ 2021 tempo x 6, rest 1 min

115 across

B2 – KB jefferson curls @ 4141 tempo x 4-5, rest 1 min x 3 sets

35, 53 x 2

I have been playing around with the Jefferson Curl in warm up with a barbell, but haven’t used specific tempo or reps. Liked the KB’s so much more than the bar. 

+

10 min clock

Row 2k

AMRAP HSPU (open standard) in remaining time

32

+ 2 no reps

Would’ve had plenty of time to finish this in one session, but the puppy decided to poop in the gym so that broke up the session, had to go through a whole new warm up and felt super tight in my hips on the rower. Tried to open them up and get nice and warmed up with some rowing intervals, but wasn’t happening the way I needed it to. The valuable lesson I learned today, other than make sure you get your puppy potty trained is what I do with hspu when I get fatigued. I make my negatives super slow, take a second or two to readjust with my head on the ground. I know this is a habit but it was super noticeable and sure there is something I can practice if the awareness alone isn’t enough. I had no plan, I originally wanted to go a really big set my first set and see what would happen after that. I hit 8 first set, feet came off the wall as I lost balance after feet touched. Then did 11, not sure my sets after that. I was calculating a rep and rest in my head, but at that point you realize there really isn’t enough time to start doing all this strategy shit on the fly. My no reps came in between 19 and 32, mostly because I was trying to rush instead of stay relaxed. Row was about 7:25, went through peaks and valleys here on my pacing, hips were tired and tight but breathing felt okay when hanging out in the 1:45’s toward the end pushing to finish. Kicked up pretty quickly after getting off rower. 

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C1 – Prone external rotation press x 4/side, rest 30 sec bt sides

C2 – Hands behind back scap pinches x 4-6 reps with holds in back, rest 60 sec x 4 sets

Done – and those stupid external rotations. They are my new faves as I want to get much better at them