Ben Plotnicki

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.

3/27

A – Double barrel front squats 6 sets of 6, build as you go, rest 2 min

155-175-185-190-192-194 – the 30sec less rest made a huge difference and i really felt it going from the 2nd and 3rd sets so i started being more conservative

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

B2 – 30 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

32-33-31

C – Rounded back GHD hip extensions x 15-18, rest 90 sec x 4 sets (scale to bench glute kickbacks with towel/shirt under hips to keep low back neutral)

Had to do later as i was at home and used a ghd later in the day

D – Single leg quadruped banded kickbacks x 15-18/side, rest 45 sec x 3 sets

done

E – Banded reverse squats from supine x 15, rest 90 sec x 4

Ouch

3/25

Class overlap

For time

50 ski cals

80 box jump over @ 24”

60 deadlift @ 135

50 bike erg cals

40 lateral burpee over bar

20 front squat @ 135

50 row cals

20:07 – really wanted sub 20 here, but had a couple of hiccups on the box jump over, could’ve had a better work/rest strategy in the deadlift and had a poor transition to the rower to finsih

+

25 min zone 2 bike erg

done

3/22

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.

These breathing pieces definitely put my system into a panic, wasn’t able to fight for all of them on 3152, the exhale was so uncomfortable. The foot assisted hang was the first one i really felt like a could relax a little more. The quadruped position was good because i could feel the ribcage expansion where we were looking for but man i was not comfortable, supine overhead press to wall was a little better but it was hard to keep pulling tailbone off the floor

+

3 times through, not for time

Side lying GHD sorenson hold x 15 sec/side, neutral head posture

Supine leg whips x 4/side

Glute airplanes x 3/side

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

done

3/23 – OFF 

Got in 90% of thoracic rotation and extension mobility work from Habdo. It was really tough but it felt good. Looking forward to making this part of my routine. Might not be able to get it on all thursdays but will definitely prioritize this 

3/24/2023

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

+

A – Close grip bench press @ 3131 tempo x 5, rest 2 min x 4 sets – isometric pin press x 10sec

isometric pin press was a good alternative, going into lockout is very weak and slightly painful but the pin press at a height/angle of about 90 degress felt really good

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

Used a rogue trap bar, not sure how much the bar weighs but warmed up to and loaded it at 225 and might have been a bit heavier than i was expecting but i wasn’t backing down because i did hold the positions. 

+

E5MOM x 4 sets

Row 40 cals (progressive intensity, second 20 faster than first 20), directly into

Set 1 – 20 back squats @ 155lbs

Set 2 – 20 front squats @ 115lbs

Set 3 – 20 wallballs @ 30lbs

Set 4 – 40 air squats with weight vest

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

I didn’t warm up the wall ball so i went into it blind but i wasn’t able to do it. I could get no power on the shot from my left arm, i just couldn’t get the ball to the target and doing a dominant one hand with a 30 wasn’t happening. I completely forgot to write down my times – but i think i was sub 3 on all except for the wall which i went with med ball thruster and vested air squat was around 3:15 or something, transition into the vest of course costs a little time

+

C – 150 russian swings @ 24kg, break when/as needed

done

3/20

2 min row @ 80-85%, 20-22 strokes/min, into

AMRAP 2 min

6 lateral burpees over erg

6 dbl DB thrusters @ 50lbs per hand

36 DU’s

(rest 2 min)

2 min ski @ 80-85%, 36-38 strokes/min, into

AMRAP 2 min

6 burpees with hop to platform

12 dbl KB deadlifts @ 32kg per hand

36 DU’s

(rest 2 min)

2 min echo @ 80-85% (62-64RPM), into

AMRAP 2 min

6 dbl DB bench press

6 pistols right leg

6 pistols left leg

36 DU’s

rest 4-6 min x 2 full times through

+

For time, strong effort, machines set up 25ft apart

18-15-12-9-6-3

Row cals

Bike erg cals

I forgot to write down all of my numbers but a couple of notes i do remember, in the beginning dubz hurt a little but the shoulder got warmed up and was ok. The bench press was a no go, tried one round and just wasn’t happening, the pain is in lockout

I think the machine was around 8:07 or 9:07, i think i remember looking at it and wanted sub 8, but the 25ft transition made it harder to get that sub goal because my legs were not ready to sprint the 25ft for the first several steps

3/15/2023

1-arm landmine overhead press from half kneeling @ 31X1 tempo x 6/side, rest 45-60 secbt arms x 4 sets (some light loading through a controlled angle of shoulder flexion)

+20

+

1-arm landmine meadows row @ 31X1 tempo x 6/side, rest 45-60 sec bt arms x 4 sets

+30 a little achy on the eccentric because I cannot really manipulate that angle like I can in the press 

+

3 sets:

20 Cal Row

20 GHD situps

15 power cleans @ 115lbs

15 shoulder to overhead @ 115lbs

rest 4-5 min actively bw sets

3:22-3:20-3:45 – on the last one the ghd really slowed down and then that carried over to the cleans just a little

3/16 – OFF

3/17

5 min row warmup, display on force curve

Row beep test

Row 1000m, until you can’t finish the distance in the time window

First time window – 0:00-5:00 (5:00)

Second time window – 5:00-9:50 (4:50)

Third time window – 9:50-14:30 (4:40)

Fourth time window – 14:30-19:00 (4:30)

Fifth time window – 19:00-23:20 (4:20)

Sixth time window – 23:20-27:30 (4:10)

Seventh time window – 27:30-31:30 (4:00)

Eighth time window – 31:30-35:20 (3:50)

*time window reduces by 10 sec each step. use an external running clock to track

**if you finish all sets, score = total working time

***if you get capped, score = total distance covered

31:22(total time)______3:58.6—-3:56.5—-3:54.1—-3:55.9—-3:53.8—-3:57.1—-3:43.6 – just told myself from round 4 on, try and stay as sustainable as possible, i know you will get less rest but just be willing to suffer and trust your row technique

+

5 min easy walking cooldown

+

5 min down regulation breathing

done

3/18

A – Double barrel front squats – 6 sets of 6, rest 2:30, build as you go

165-175-185-190-195-205* – did rest quite a bit longer than 2:30 going into that last set I thought I’d rather rest longer and go heavier on the last one. 

B1 – Single leg wall sit x 20 sec/side, rest 20 sec

B2 – 30 jumping air squats, rest 2 min x 4 sets

30 jumping air squats UB are hard

C1 – Low box hamstring bridge hold x 30 sec, rest 30 sec

C2 – Russian swings x 25 @ 24kg, rest 2 min x 4 sets

done

D1 – 1-arm alternating shoulder taps from front plank x 20 reps, rest 30 sec

D2 – Russian twists with medball or light KB x 20, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

Shoulder taps were slightly painful but only around a 2 or 3 so I didn’t change it because I know thats an ok range.