Ben Plotnicki

1/27 (single)

Bike erg 5 min easy

check

+

A – Hip strength series x 2 sets

Side lying internally rotated abduction x 5/side with pause at top of each – 

Glute med wall lean x 20 sec/side for activation of grounded leg – 

Balance assisted shrimp squats x 5/side for control – 

Half kneeling adductor dips x 5 reps/side at slow tempo 

+

Bike erg 5 min, slightly faster than warmup

check

+

B – Shoulder prehab x 2 sets

Prone scap swimmers x 8-10

BB rollouts from tall kneeling through controlled ROM x 5-6

KB high windmills x 3/side, slow and steady

Bottoms up KB OH carry x 50ft/side

+

Bike erg 5 min @ stronger effort than middle round, get sweaty here

Check and yes I got a little hot and sweaty

+

C – Midline x 3 sets

5 V-ups 

7 tuck ups

9 hollow rocks

12 sec hollow body hold

rest 2 min bt sets

This was freaking hard as all get out

+

Bike erg 5 min @ tough effort

Wasn’t much over the hot and sweaty effort but got a little gind on

1/28

EMOM x 4

2 rope climbs for smooth tech

Done – and got about 10 more climbs after the emom and really dialed a few things in. They weren’t in a super fatigued state but cleaned up a few detail things that weren’t where I wanted them to be during the emom

+

1 set for time, focus on toes to bar plan

40 cal ski

20 cal bike erg @ damper 10, seated

40ft HSW

40 toes to bar

40ft HSW

8:45 – toe to bar breakdown -> rep scheme as planned – rest breaks as follow -> 9–6—12—6—19–4 – the long long rest was that I felt the fight coming on for that small set and knowing I wanted to have a good hs walk set after I thought I should take a little longer break. That was too long, but i think on game day this rep scheme will be good but if I think i need to break that long again i will go to smaller sets – going into the hs walk I did sets of 5ft at a time until I felt a little normal at the 20ft mark and then did a 10, but dropped that back to 5 & 5 to keep those short

*Ideally this is a descending rep scheme, where the size of the first set will be dictated by what you are confident to jump up and do RIGHT AWAY after coming off your hands. I think something like 10-8-6-4-4-4-4 would be doable, trying to keep rest breaks really disciplined and never straying too far away from the bar, but this will be your call. Lets give it a shot here and then adjust as needed based off of how it goes.

+

Dball/atlas stone skill work

done

+

Lots of ankle/calf/foot work so we can try to run tomorrow

done

1/24 (partial sim with subs)

Session 1

Event 1 intervals

60 yard Sandbag carry @ 150lbs 

60 yard dbl KB farmer carry @ 32kg/hand 

1600m bike erg @ strong effort, damper 5-6

4:32

Rest 5 min

60 yard Sandbag carry @ 100lbs (lighter)

60 yard dbl KB farmer carry @ 24kg/hand (lighter)

1600m bike erg @ strong effort, damper 5-6

4:32….yes the exact same time but I approaced the bike a little differently this time. on the first one I came out hot and tried to hold an aggressive pace and then just couldn’t keep it. on this second one I tried to start out at the average pace of the first set and try and determine the best time to kick to finish.

Rest 5 min

Bike 2400m @ strong effor

4:30 – 1:52.6 – for the record I will never bike on a damper of 6 unless you  make me. That was terrible and about what I think I hard hard run will feel like. 

Session 2

Event 2 intervals

Every 8 min x 3

Echo/ass bike 10 cals

6 snatches @ 135lbs 

3 rope climbs 

Echo/ass bike 5 cals

2 snatches

1 rope climb

*target here is transitional urgency, especially going from BB to rope and in between rope climb reps.

2:40—2:52—3:13 – not a good rope climb day. Not sure if it was the bike even though it was short on the front end, but I really tried to push the pace but I missed at least one foot clamp on each round. Also cycled the barbell maybe a little faster than I might do in the full event, I was pretty much drop and go drop and go and I know the separation value in this workout is the rope climb so whatever will allow me to knock out the rope climbs the fastest is what we need to do. 

1/25 (partial sim with subs)

Session 1

3 sets for times:

20 Cal Ski

60 sec reverse sled drag or high damper bike erg

40’ HS Walk 

20 TTB

10 Cal Ski @ hard/finishing effort

Rest 6 min bt sets to repeat same intensity

4:20 —- 4:32 – only did 2 sets because I wanted to try and squeeze in the other workout. I actually pushed a sled today. 40ft on first set 80 on second. Pushed it with more of a flat foot so I didn’t stress out the pain area in the foot. With TTB in the middle of this workout, I need to come up with a good plan of attack for that piece.

Session 2

Event 5 full run through 

For Time

8-6-4 Bar Muscle Ups

5-4-3 Devil Press (50lbs)

Into

40’ Double DB Front Rack Lunge 

4:13 – rested too much transitioning from devils press to bmu, but bmu to DP was always get into it right away….on game day I can push the pace a little more, not be so attached to an unbroken set on the set of 6, thats where the greatest amount of rest came in and 6 is not a gimmie…. transition a little quicker and just focus on a huge kip, smooth and steady on DP…..was really trying to think of the best seperation value. Not really enough DP to create seleration there so was leaning towards the bmu having the greatest impact. Lunges were easy. 

*if needed

*replace DP with dbl reps of DB ground to overhead

*replace lunge with front rack squats 

+

For Time

15 Dball Over Yoke (100/70) (50″/46″)

100 Double Unders

5 Squat Clean @ 225

4:59 – had an atlas stone @ 115 but had to go to top of jerk blocks and back down so couldn’t completely simulate going over a yoke – took about 2 minutes for stone work, 8 in the first minute 7 in the seconds. Dubz unbroken and squat clean felt heavy mire so because of heart rate but after the first 2 reps I picked up my cadence and tried to be much quicker for the last two. A lot of time to be made up here and did this almost 20 minutes after the bmu/DP so didn’t get a ton of system prep for it.

1/22 (easier)

Bar MU – 5 sets of 4 reps for smooth tech, long body lines and good hip pop to catch them high, rest as needed with a focus on quality here

I have a bad habit of trying to rely solely on my memory and not writing any workout information down. So I did 4 sets of 5 reps before I realized I was only supposed to be doing sets of 4, so I got extra reps in on the Friday 4 sets. 

+

Every 2 min x 4 sets

Ski erg 30 sec @ 1000+ cal/hr

AMRAP dbl DB devil press @ 50lbs to the 1:15 mark

*rest 45 sec bt rounds

7 reps across on all sets. I tried to move smooth and efficient and not try to speed up cycle rate. This kept me pain free in the ankle. So good work today. 

+

A1 – Dbl DB strict press from standing x 6-8 with pause at top of each, rest 1 min

40’s

A2 – Cable horizontal row with pause at sternum x 9-12, rest 1 min

It was really nice to actually use a machine for this

A3 – Parallette pushups with feet elevated x 9-12, rest 1 min

Shoulder actually felt really good here

A4 – Straight arm hang from climbing rope x 15 sec/top hand, rest 1 min x 3 sets

My forearms are a little tender from this the day after

+

10-15 min ankle rehab

Much better day today

1/21

ABC’s trace with big toe x 1 time through each ankle

Done – not a good day

+

Donny Thompson banded ankle protocol x 2 sets of 20/side

done

+

3 sets, rest as needed

Extended ROM calf raises x 10 with 1 sec pause at top AND bottom of the ROM for control

Light anterior tib raises x 10 with 1 sec pause at top AND bottom of the ROM for control

Cone touch matrix from single leg balance x 3/foot/hand ( just the three front ones, no shoes)

done

+

A1 – Legless rope climb double pull x 1 rep (to 10ft), rest 20 sec

A2 – 3 rope climbs with legs for smooth tech, rest 3-4 min x 3 sets

Not done

B – (Sandbag ground to shoulder + 5ft carry on shoulder + drop) x 5 reps @ 150lbs, rest 2 min x 3 sets

41 – tried to go to my left shoulder on a few reps and as ambidextrous as I am in all other things turns out I am not here—-22—24

+

Sprint piece 

60ft HS Walk (30 out and 30 back)

90ft Sandbag Bear Hug Carry @ 150lbs (30×3)

10 cal bike erg @ damper 10

90ft Sandbag Bear Hug Carry @ 150lbs (30×3)

60ft HS Walk (30 out and 30 back)

rest 5 min x 2 sets

4:00—–5:21 – the back half of the hs walk fell apart, a lot of fatigue but also was rushing some technical positions

1/20

A – Muscle snatch doubles from below knee, rest 60 sec x 3 sets

*mod loading, work on bar speed here

75-95-95 did one bonus set at 115 but definitely not as fast as needed

B – Power snatch triples, rest 5-6 sec bt reps and 2 min bt sets x 5 sets

*you decide loading here based off of how the ankle feels with the pressure of triple extension

155—160—165—165—170

C – Back squats @ 31X1 tempo x 4, new set every 2:30 x 4

245

This ankle injury is the weirdest damn thing I have ever experienced. With all the work done in A-C, it was present on a scale of 1 but didn’t really effect much. May have been a little in leg drive through the triple extension but nothing that played a rol in the load or the squat. So I start warming up for the conditioning and on my second wall ball I felt it flare up, once again it felt more nerve/bruised then anything. I was not ready to concede, so I moved around, did some soft tissue work and found a way to get into the piece….details on that in a moment. 

+

3 sets

Ski 500m

30 wallballs

10 bar MU

rest 3 min bt sets

4:59—4:45—4:20 – through all sets on first or second wall ball i could feel that go from a 1 to a 2 / 3 but if I turned my toes out slightly then it became no issue. On the bar muscle up I wanted to do a set and practice jumping back up quickly but the jump didn’t feel great so that messed up my timing. So head to baby jump into dead hang and couldn’t get a big enough kip so I missed that first rep……2nd set – same thing on wall ball, first or second rep felt funky and adjusted but on bar muscle ups I thought if the jump hurts a tad bit more than a 2 or 3 then i need to go unbroken so i did. On the 3rd set I thought well if that worked for bmu then go unbroken on wall ball if only the 1st or 2nd rep is unpleasant then get that one out of the way and don’t stop and some for the bmu. 

Tuesdays work – won’t have access to a 15ft rope climb so I wll save the rope climb work for friday when I will have access.

For starters, I feel much better today. It doesn’t hurt to put on my pants or shoes so there is some improved plantar flexion. Also, when talking to my PT last night, she had mentioned to put some tissue work on the lateral portion of my gastroc as that could have been strainied/over exerted when pushing the sled and after hitting that tissue with the massage gun and some ice the ankle feels several points lower on the pain scale so that is some good progress. 

Dbl DB bench press @ 60/hand – 4 sets of 10, rest 60-90 sec bt sets

done

+

On a continuously running clock

4 min AMRAP – ass bike cals 55

3 min AMRAP – 1-arm DB snatches @ 50lbs 59

2 min AMRAP – ass bike cals 17

1 min AMRAP – Deadlifts @ 225lbs 21

Didn’t really know how to pace for this, probably could have pushed a little harder on the first bike but not a whole lot, was trying to maintain 300+ watts, occasionally dipped to 288 but not hard to pull it back up….on the snatch, i came out of the gate with 25 reps, for best overall score I should’ve started a little bit lower with short rests. But towards the second half of the 3 minutes I really pushed and thats when I hopped on the second bike and was dead. that second time on the bike was actually the worst part of the morning. Fast transition to the barbell I did 5 reps right away. And took a longer rest than I needed but told myself when I picked it back up I wasn’t putting it down…..also first time being on an AssBike in quite some time so it was a nice change of pace from the echo.

+

60 sec passive hang from pullup bar

*1 strict pullup every 10 sec, starting at 0:00

I did 3 sets, short rest after the conditioning so it was as much of a mental fight as it was physical

1/13

A – Squat snatch doubles x 3 sets, rest 2 min bt sets

(155-165)

165

B – Squat snatch singles x 3 reps, rest 2 min bt sets

(175+)

175-180-180

C – Snatch grip yielding isometric hold below knee x 15 sec @ 185lbs, new set every 2:30 x 4

185

D1 – Front squat x 5 reps @ 195-205, rest 30 sec

D2 – Front squat x 3 reps @ 215-225, rest 30 sec

D3 – Front squat x 1 reps @ 245-265, rest 3 min x 3 sets

Top end loads on all sets. The first set at 265 was kind of a shock to the system coming out of the whole other than that set loads and reps all felt really good. Ankle is a little angry from the weekend hike but that was more from the work it went through of the unstable terrain i’m sure

E – Russian swings – 5 sets of 15 @ 32kg, rest 60 sec bt sets

done

F – Knee prehab/accessory, your choice

*VMO and hamstring activation, but go with what feels ‘needed

Patrick step up and reverse hyper plus I played around with some spanish squats and even tried banded spanish squats on a slantboard

1/14

ABC’s trace with big toe x 1 time through each ankle

+

Donny Thompson banded ankle protocol x 2 sets of 20/side

Feeling better

+

3 sets, rest as needed

Extended ROM calf raises x 10 with 1 sec pause at top AND bottom of the ROM for control

Light anterior tib raises x 10 with 1 sec pause at top AND bottom of the ROM for control

Cone touch matrix from single leg balance x 3/foot/hand ( just the three front ones, no shoes)

Feeling good through these. In jumping sports i was always a one footed jumper off of my left foot and my gymnastics and split jerks my left foot is my lead leg/front leg but in the past year I feel like I have lost a little balance and maybe a slight amount of strength in that left leg. I don’t feel any arthritis situations in that leg so not sure what has caused this feel on that side

+

Bike 3 min, nasal breathing only

Bike 2 min, inhale through nose exhale through mouth

Bike 1 min regular breathing

done

+

EMOM x 20 (bike erg!)

Min 1 – Bike 14 cals

Min 2 – 5 shuttle runs

Min 3 – Bike 18 cals

Min 4 – 50 DUs

This was so much better than last week, but I did try to sprint the 18 cals a little harder since I had a lit more rest coming off the shuttle. I also tried to make sure the shuttle stayed at or under 7sec/rep

1/10

FOTC run through (might just need to find a running setup that mimics something close to 200m with a few tight turns)

*get round times as you go, and a rough idea of splits on the snatches and rope climbs. what we’ll want is an idea of turnover speed for both as the workout progresses, and then reverse engineer our way into a running pace that optimizes those times

12:48 – the best I can remember finish times per round —> 2:43 / 6:03 / 9:51 / 12: 48 – run was outside in the absolute warmest of temps and some terrain changes and I think it was a little longer than 200m, my run wasn’t slow but first run was done around 1:06-1:10 and I do think that dropped to 1:10-1:15 ish I believe so that can give us some reverse engineering for the snatch/rope climb, logistical transitions were probably a little longer than floor set up will be, but those did allow me to get right away into the movement. Tried to move descent with cautious intentions. Snatch felt like pretty fast singles but took a little longer going into the 6th rep so I would waste no time for first rope climb. Ankle held up well, run was short enough I wasn’t too stressed on it, running outside in the terrain also made me a little more cautious

+

EMOM x 15min 

Min-1 – 40 Double Unders + 40 Crossover Singles (40 sec cap) 

MIn-2 – 50′ HSW

Min-3 – 15 toes to bar

Min-4 – 3 Sandbag to Shoulder + 6 Sand Bag Squats @ 150lbs

Min 5 – rest 

This was fun.  jump rope work – was never able to get 40 crossover singles, finished each round just over 30. Got a chance to race on the other movements which was so much fun.

1/11

Sooooo – there was some gym access today but the snow was so beautiful we took the dogs out to play for a solid hour and then went on a long hike to somewhere with spectacular views. It was well worth not getting this session in. With the snow I just thought it was a rare opportunity for the pictures and the views and being in nature unplugged

EMOM x 10 

Odd – Max Bench Press @ 135lbs in 30sec 

Even – Max Strict Pull-ups in 30sec

+

2 min window, 1 min rest/reset x 4 rounds

15 cal ski

12 chest to bar

AMRAP 1-arm DB devil press @ 70lbs in remaining time

+

BB hip thrusts x 8 reps with 2 sec hold at top of each, rest 2-3 min x 4 sets

+

GHD situps – accumulate 60 for the day

1/7

ABC’s trace with big toe x 1 time through each ankle

done

+

Donny Thompson banded ankle protocol x 2 sets of 20/side

done

+

3 sets, rest as needed

Extended ROM calf raises x 10 with 1 sec pause at top AND bottom of the ROM for control

Light anterior tib raises x 10 with 1 sec pause at top AND bottom of the ROM for control

Cone touch matrix from single leg balance x 3/foot/hand ( just the three front ones, no shoes)

done

+

light treadmill walking/jogging to test things out, but nothing too fast

If FOTC was this weekend and we have a run, I would be able to do it, would probably just have to take a I’m brining up the rear effort but I would be able to run.

+

Bike 3 min, nasal breathing only

Bike 2 min, inhale through nose exhale through mouth

Bike 1 min regular breathing

done

+

EMOM x 15

Min 1 – Bike 14 cals

Min 2 – Bike 16 cals

Min 3 – Bike 18 cals

My buddy who mutually suffered in this piece with me told me to send you a middle finger emoji…but don’t have one on my computer so you will just have to imagine it was there. This SUCKED….attempted to do this on the echo because I was a glutton for punishment. And after the 6th interval second 18, my legs stopped working and was not going to get 14, i would’ve been lucky to get much past 4. So reset mentally and physically and went to work on the C2 bike erg. Same level of discomfort but manageable to get all 15 rounds. 

1/8

A – Power clean x 1/Hang squat clean x 1 – new complex every 90 sec x 8, start at 175 and build every 2 strong makes

175—195—205—215

B – Hand release deadlifts x 3 reps, rest 2:30 x 4 sets

305—305—325—325

+

Every 2 min x 3 sets

100ft sandbag bear hug carry @ 150lbs, into

6 ring MU

52—56—1:21 (had to do 5/1 on rmu for last set) 

+ (rest as needed)

Compete FOTC intervals

4 Sets, each for Time: 

15 Cal Echo Bike 

9 Hang Power Clean @ 155lbs 

6 STOH @ 155 

15 burpees AFAP 

rest 3min bw sets with easy bike spin 

**can do burpees with jump/touch target overhead instead of bar facing here, should be a little easier on ankle?

2:58—3:02—3:27—3:51 – I did do bar facing and probably should have gone overhead, no pain but was just really afraid to push it with a hard pace. I was surprised that the STOH felt the easiest, I never went ham on the bike.

1/6

A – Squat snatch triples x 2 sets, rest 2 min bt sets

(135-155)

145

B – Squat snatch doubles x 2 sets, rest 2 min bt sets

(155-175)

160

C – Squat snatch x 4 building singles, you decide loading, rest as needed

165-175-missed 180 twice – it felt more positional overhead and not the ankle, but there could have been some limited dorsiflexion that inhibited that load as well as not opening up my thoracic enough. I did go through the ankle work and that took a while and I tried to speed track some of my snatch prep so might not have done myself any favors there. Overall, the ankle work felt really good and I think we will be ok, but like we discusses i’ll be smart this week and progressing and therapy. 

D – 3 TNG squat snatches @ 135lbs, new set every 30 sec x 3, rest 3 min x 2

*18 total reps

Done – it was probably about the 6th rep on both sets that I felt the spiciness kick in. 

E1 – Front squat x 6 reps @ 185-195, rest 30 sec

E2 – Front squat x 4 reps @ 205-215, rest 30 sec

E3 – Front squat x 2 reps @ 235-245, rest 3 min x 3 sets

Went with the low end on all sets except for the last set of 2 when I went 245

F – Knee prehab/accessory, your choice

*VMO and hamstring activation, but go with what feels ‘needed’ 

3 sets

Lowbox hamstring bridge 30sec

Band TKE 25

Patrick stepdown x 6/leg