Ben Plotnicki

4/17

A – Double barrel front squats 6,4,2,6,4,2. rest 3 min

175-190-210-185-205-225 – I definitely was conservative on the front end of the wave because I really wanted to hit 225. I know it’s part of the magic but the second wave felt super primed. 

B1 – 30 sec lightly loaded wall sit, rest 30 sec

B2 – 35 jumping air squats, rest 30 sec

B3 – 30 sec lightly loaded wall sit, rest 30 sec

B4 – 35 jumping air squats, rest 4 min x 2 sets

I knew this was going to be tough but when i finished reading it that it was only 2 sets i got really excited. I do also feel the ability to tolerate all the jumping air squats WAY more over the course of this progression.

+

5 sets, not for time

20 rounded back GHD hip extensions

20 sec right side plank (straight arm)

20 kneeling banded crunches

20 sec left side plank (straight arm)

Might be the best and most focused I have been on accessory. Definitely was inconsistent with the kneeling banded crunches

4/12

2 sets

3 min row @ 2:00/500m pace, directly into

Quadruped positional breathing with forearms on ground x 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. push into protraction and slight thoracic flexion, and try to push arms into more shoulder flexion with each exhale as long as you can maintain good rib/pelvis orientation. goal here will be to try to breathe ‘into’ your upper back, filling the space between shoulder blades, and actually using the pressure to get some mobilization on T-spine

+

2 sets

3 min bike @ 300 watts, directly into

Supine overhead wall press positional breathing with hip flexion, 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. apply some solid force into wall overhead, set rib cage down and pull tailbone off floor slightly. scoot very minimally away from wall as able to challenge.

+

2 sets

3 min ski @ 2:05/500m pace, directly into

Pronated grip foot assisted hang from pullup bar positional breathing, 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. will mimic an overhead squat position, allow lats to relax and lengthen but keep rib cage down and butt tucked under.

Much easier today to hit the breathing protocol, 5 sec exhale still gives me that feeling of air hunger which i know it is supposed to do but i also felt i did a better job today of staying in rx numbers the whole time

+

Row 100m @ < 1:28

new set every 90 sec x 4

18.4-18.0-17.9-17.8

+

Ski 100m @ < 1:35

new set every 90 sec x 4

forgot to write down ski splits – but was around 19 seconds every time and finished sub 1:35 each interval

4/13 – OFF

4/14

PT work (external rotation isometric, wall slides, abduction isometrics)

+

A1 – Iso pin press x 15 sec of hard contraction, rest 15 sec

A2 – Band press in bench position x 15-18, rest 2 min x 4 sets

(just bands in hands for this, can wrap behind back before you lay down or can anchor down low on rig. just want to try to get a little resistance there but still allow for shoulder to sit in neutral position)

felt really good today – even snuck in some empty bb bench press before and after the pin press

B – 2 position halting Trap bar deadlift x 5, rest 2 min x 3 sets (2 sec pause 3 in off ground, and again at knee height. controlled lower to ground and reset, no TNG)

260

C – 2 position halting Trap bar deadlift x 3, rest 2 min x 3 sets

290×2, 300

+

E7MOM x 3 sets

Row 70 cals (progressive intensity, second 35 faster than first 35), directly into

20 front squats @ 155lbs

5:01 – 5:00 – 5:31

+

D – 190 russian swings @ 24kg, break when/as needed

So damn many

4/15

Class overlap

+

30 min zone 2 bike erg

A fun little power clean/burpee machine partner workout. Shoulder was a little tired after but think that was just some burpee volume. No issues and no problems with movements though. Still trending in the right direction

4/10

A – Double barrel front squats 8 sets of 4, build from last week, rest 2-3 min

195x 3 205 x 4, 215 x 1 – 205 was very manageable but that last set at 215 was a grind and not sure i could’ve gotten one more rep

B1 – 25 sec lightly loaded wall sit, rest 15 sec

B2 – 25 jumping air squats, rest 15 sec

B3 – 25 sec lightly loaded wall sit, rest 15 sec

B4 – 25 jumping air squats, rest 3 min x 3 sets

Done – that second wall sit was super tough – wall sit weight 26

C – Rounded back GHD hip extensions x 18-21, rest 90 sec x 5 sets

done

D – Single leg quadruped banded kickbacks x 21-24/side, rest 45 sec x 3 sets

done

E – Banded reverse squats from supine x 21, rest 90 sec x 4

Pretty low on my list of things i like

4/5

2 sets

3 min row @ 2:00/500m pace, directly into

Quadruped positional breathing with forearms on ground x 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. push into protraction and slight thoracic flexion, and try to push arms into more shoulder flexion with each exhale as long as you can maintain good rib/pelvis orientation. goal here will be to try to breathe ‘into’ your upper back, filling the space between shoulder blades, and actually using the pressure to get some mobilization on T-spine

+

2 sets

3 min bike @ 300 watts, directly into

Supine overhead wall press positional breathing with hip flexion, 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. apply some solid force into wall overhead, set rib cage down and pull tailbone off floor slightly. scoot very minimally away from wall as able to challenge.

+

2 sets

3 min ski @ 2:05/500m pace, directly into

Pronated grip foot assisted hang from pullup bar positional breathing, 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. will mimic an overhead squat position, allow lats to relax and lengthen but keep rib cage down and butt tucked under.

Overall today, felt much much better on breath control especially trusting and being able to control and not panic on exhale, however today, on inhale, i couldn’t make that a “long” slow controlled inhale, it was a strong need O2 inhale

+

3 times through, not for time

Side lying GHD sorenson hold x 25 sec/side, neutral head posture

Supine leg whips x 6/side

Glute airplanes x 5/side

4 counterbalanced shrimp squats/side (light DB’s outstretched in front of you to allow for better posture and more control of tempo)

Done + PT work

4/6 – OFF

4/7

PT work (external rotation isometric, wall slides, abduction isometrics)

here is PT work

5 x 45 sec external rotation isometric (red band step outs)

3 x 8-12 sidelying eccentric external rotation with 3lb

3 rounds:

1. Bottoms up KB 90/90 carry x 50 feet @ 35lb

2. KB arm bar with rotations x 30 sec @ 20lb

3. Pike position on bench shoulder taps x 12

4. Foam roller wall slides with light band x 8-12

+

A1 – Iso pin press x 15 sec of hard contraction, rest 15 sec

done

A2 – Band press in bench position x 15-18, rest 2 min x 4 sets 

(just bands in hands for this, can wrap behind back before you lay down or can anchor down low on rig. just want to try to get a little resistance there but still allow for shoulder to sit in neutral position)

This actually felt really good, extension wasn’t too bad at all

B – 2 position halting Trap bar deadlift x 5, rest 2 min x 3 sets (2 sec pause 3 in off ground, and again at knee height. controlled lower to ground and reset, no TNG)

250

C – 2 position halting Trap bar deadlift x 3, rest 2 min x 3 sets 

270 – 290×2

+

E7MOM x 3 sets

Row 60 cals (progressive intensity, second 30 faster than first 30), directly into

25 front squats @ 135lbs

1st – 3:06 – 4:24 – 2nd – 3:13 – 4:33 – 3rd idk row survived??? – 5:3:1 – i felt like a i flat out had nothing left on the 3rd set – i felt like the tank was empty

+

D – 190 russian swings @ 24kg, break when/as needed

Done 

4/8

Class overlap

Decided to take the day off today, my right hip was a little irritated during not after the row intervals yesterday. I feel i was and have been pulling too much with my feet from the recovery to the catch and as i got tired yesterday i felt like that was not comfortable, about a 2 out of 10 but was noticeable that it was on me and my technique and in Knoxville for the day so just wanted to go for a long long walk in the rain.

+

25 min zone 2 bike erg

And most importantly here is shoulder update. We are definitely trending in the right direction, the class overlap (except for this satruday) has been great to balance things out through the week. I love getting after it in the class or with michelle and once a week is perfect to keep me hungry but keep allowing some time for the body to heal up. I am now PAST 90 degrees of pain free shoulder flexion, and rolling over at night is not as painful. Lets keep doing what we are doing, it is fun and challenging and there is a good balance of strength, positional breath work and all the squatting!!!!!!

4/1

Class overlap

+

25 min zone 2 bike erg

Fun little emom with michelle – really grindy on the front end but worked on speed and turnover in the back end

EMOM x 35

1st – 15 ski cals

2nd – 8 power clean @ 155

3rd – 14 echo cals

4th – 10 dbl kb deadlift

5th – 10 box jump over 

6th – 10 burpee

7th – rest 

Happy Birthday to me

4/2 – OFF

4/3

A – Double barrel front squats 6 sets of 6, all sets within 10-15lbs working load from last weeks best set), rest 2 min

180×2-185×4 had all intentions to go up for the last 2 sets but that desire changed pretty quickly into the first few reps at my second weight. 

B1 – 40 sec lightly loaded wall sit, rest 20 sec

B2 – 40 jumping air squats for time (not full depth on squat, stop just above parallel, ensure you get some clearance and full hip extension at top of each rep), rest 3 min x 3 sets

Wall sit loaded at 26kb – 43-44-47 on time for jumping air squats ouch

C – Rounded back GHD hip extensions x 15-18, rest 90 sec x 5 sets (scale to bench glute kickbacks with towel/shirt under hips to keep low back neutral)

18 – really wanted to stop at 15 but just went for the extra reps 

D – Single leg quadruped banded kickbacks x 18-20/side, rest 45 sec x 3 sets

18

E – Banded reverse squats from supine x 18, rest 90 sec x 4

I swear these are so deceptively hard

3/29

Did early – had a busy day and everything was just as hard today as it was last week. Its still the exhale, however this week, i was better at tolerating being uncomfortable during that exhale. Last week would have to take a breath break this week i did not. But last week the foot assisted hang was the easiest it was not this week but i really felt a better groove this week in the supine wall press 

2 sets

3 min row @ 2:00/500m pace, directly into

Quadruped positional breathing with forearms on ground x 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. push into protraction and slight thoracic flexion, and try to push arms into more shoulder flexion with each exhale as long as you can maintain good rib/pelvis orientation. goal here will be to try to breathe ‘into’ your upper back, filling the space between shoulder blades, and actually using the pressure to get some mobilization on T-spine

+

2 sets

3 min bike @ 300 watts, directly into

Supine overhead wall press positional breathing with hip flexion, 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. apply some solid force into wall overhead, set rib cage down and pull tailbone off floor slightly. scoot very minimally away from wall as able to challenge.

+

2 sets

2 min ski @ 2:05/500m pace, directly into

Pronated grip foot assisted hang from pullup bar positional breathing, 4-5 breaths @ 3152 tempo. will mimic an overhead squat position, allow lats to relax and lengthen but keep rib cage down and butt tucked under.

+

3 times through, not for time

Side lying GHD sorenson hold x 20 sec/side, neutral head posture

Supine leg whips x 5/side

Glute airplanes x 4/side

3 counterbalanced shrimp squats/side (light DB’s outstretched in front of you to allow for better posture and more control of tempo)

done

3/30 – OFF

3/31/2023

PT work (external rotation isometric, wall slides, abduction isometrics)

PT work for the week on top of external rotation iso work, wall slides – 3 sets – 50ft single arm front rack bottoms up kb carry + 40sec arm bar hold w/external and internal rotations + 10 shoulder taps from pike position

+

A – Close grip bench press @ 3131 tempo x 4, rest 2 min x 5 sets

Still a no go and did pin press

B – 2 position halting Trap bar deadlift x 4, rest 2 min x 5 sets (2 sec pause 3 in off ground, and again at knee height. controlled lower to ground and reset, no TNG)

240×2 – 250×1 – 260×2

+

E5MOM x 4 sets

Row 48 cals (progressive intensity, second 24 faster than first 24), directly into

Set 1 – 24 back squats @ 155lbs

Set 2 – 24 front squats @ 115lbs

Set 3 – 24 wallballs @ 30lbs

Set 4 – 48 air squats with weight vest

(each set starts with row, then progress to squatting variation)

3:20 – 3:25 – 3:27 – 4:20 – back rack is still a little painful but I can adjust that quickly with this load and find a way. Wall ball is still a no go. Even tried a 20 pounder but that still was painful so went with empty bb thruster. That wasn’t bad so 65 might have been a good stimulus and you are not nice. 8 more cals and 4 more reps of each yuck

+

C – 170 russian swings @ 24kg, break when/as needed

Doing in a separate mini session that I blended with more therapy isometric work and some thoracic work.