Ben Plotnicki

10 min @ warmup pace

10 cal bike

8 wallballs

3 strict pullups

3/direction cossack squat

25lb wall ball – strict pull ups feel like it starts to warm up my elbow a little so will have to remember that for some elbow intensive days.

+

HSPU play

floor kip drill x 5-6 min

Done + through in some handstand shaping drills so I wasn’t going to get rug burn from the floor drill for 6 min straight

+

3-4 sets

6 deficit kipping HSPU (4in)

12 1-arm alternating DB snatches @ 50lbs

30ft HSW

rest to recovery

1:07-:56-:58-:58 – first set i did 15ft out and 15ft back but decided to go 30ft straight on the last 2. Hspu didn’t feel as crisp as last week but in this set up I feel I could’ve gotten 10 pretty solid and consistently. 

+

1 set @ SPRINT effort

Row 250m

15 russian swings @ 70lbs

25 burpees (open hips at top, minimal jump/clap)

15 russian swings

Row 250m

(goal finish of sub 4:15)

4:07 – row splits 48.7 (1:37.9) & 47.3 (1:34.6) – i almost forgot how to swing a kb, have done everything with it but swing it for a long time. Was so nervous about this piece just from all the memories it brings up, so I spent 3x as long warming up for it. But this felt pretty good, also felt good to see the row pace creep down into 1:29 territory for the last 30-40meters

15 min amrap:

4 hspu

6 pistol

8 burpee to plate

45 double under

9+14 – haven’t watched video to analyze splits, mostly video in order to count rounds and not take the time to have some kind of counting strategy in the workout. Not the best double under day, clipped once in several of the rounds. I feel super confident with my pistols but at times I got a little sloppy causing me to lose my balance and not rock through them as quickly as I should. Never stopped moving on burpee but I could feel my cadence slow down around the 8/9 min mark. Changed the step up leg mid so turned out to be 4 and 4, was thinking this would help the pistols out over the course of the 15 minutes but not sure i did just because of the time bt them and dubz/hspu. With hspu so low, didn’t always worry so much about exact hand placement and just tried to get in the ballpark. One other miss here was the last few seconds of burpees, at had a hard time switching gears with the step up/step back, didn’t practice enough in warm up jump back/jump up which would have allowed me to finish the rep as the timer went off and maybe get one more rep there. 

Rest as needed

3 rounds for time

3 ring MU

6 sandbag ground over shoulder @ 150lbs

12 sandbag bear hug squats @ 150lbs

50ft HSW

11:19 – the sandbag bear hug squats were a nasty/mean little twist. 2nd and 3rd rounds felt much faster, I pushed the pace a little and transitioned better where I should’ve. I knew the bulk of the time would be with the sandbag. Wanted to go UB on sandbag but just wasn’t happening today. First round went 8/4 and took too long to transition into hs walk, second round did 5/5/2 and was much quicker into hs walk then coming out of that hs walk i thought fuck it just go for the rings, i did, wasnt a quick kip out of dip, had to hang out in the bottom of the dip on all 3 reps but was proud that I pushed that transition. Also pushed the transition into the last hs walk. I’m happy with some of the little things overall today.

3/5

Mcgill big 3

+

3 rounds at warmup pace

3/side TGU @ 35lbs

3 strict pullups

3 inch worms

3 kang squats

done

+

AMRAP 10 min

15 thrusters @ 95lbs

15 C2B pullups

15 cal bike (minimum pace of 350 watts)

(rest 5 min)

AMRAP 6 min

3,6,9…reps of

Power cleans @ 185lbs

Bar MU

4 complete rounds of the 10 min amrap – all thrusters and c2b unbroken, and man the minimum pace was the kicker here, I didn’t want to hop on the bike until I knew I was ready,  I was good for the first 2 rounds, conservative transitions, hopped off the bike and got to the barbell quickly, the 3rd round became a little more of a grind with the thruster, it’s more in the rack position, if I felt my elbows drop a little when my breathing is up then of course we fight to improve the bad position, it was in the 3rd round that I did a mix of slow and breath at the top, some fast in the middle and the last 3 or 4 reps fast to finish, the 4th round was the one that hurt, just stayed steady on thruster, knew I needed to have some urgency on the c2b and it was around rep 12 that I lost my smooth consistent rhythm. I had about 55 seconds at this point and wasn’t really ready to hop on the bike but just told myself to do it, and i did and it was a great challenge. 

Finished the set of 9 bmu, so I didn’t feel recovered for the first 4 minutes, I felt yucky, but I told myself to try and find a way to keep moving, the barbell was a bigger limiter than I thought it was going to be, just had a hard time. But in the last 2 minutes, i did everything i could to find another gear, I started cycling the bar a little faster, i did some quick 2’s and then some slightly longer breaks bt a few of those doubles, i even thought about doing my last 2 reps tng, I got chalk before my last 2 reps because I knew I had to go for it on bmu, finished my 2 fast transition to bar and started, and i told myself get 3 and drop and right back up, but at 3 i thought you need a couple more, then i thought just go for it, i couldn’t see the clock but didn’t want to stop unless I couldn’t hit a rep, and i got those 9 ub. I had zero expectations into the second part, first part, i was pretty sure i could get 4 rounds, i thought 5 would be a stretch solely because of the minimum bike pacing, but was sure of 4. I had that taste in my mouth when doing power cleans but I at least had some positive talk and said it doesn’t matter where you finish just grind and work and keep moving the best you can. 

Elbow update: I did a good amount of forearm therapy – isometrics and negatives on wednesday. Was kind of cool, we have member who bought some mace clubs and used them for some off balance press negatives that were very grip intensive….so today, elbow itself felt better than it did on Tuesday/wednesday but forearms were pretty sore, this could have also effected my rack position today. Overall, very pleased with how it feels today because I was a little nervous after tuesday but it felt great after the c2b volume on wednesday as well as today. So moving in a positive direction

Extra footnote on the bike in the 10min amrap – kept the watts above 400, didn’t want to get lazy and let it dip too close to 350 and get below minimum

Clean and jerks

6 reps @ 80% – AFAP

Rest as needed

5 reps @ 83% – AFAP

Rest as needed

4 reps @ 86% – AFAP

225-1:52 _____232 – 1:50_____240 – 1:40 – the jerk was my limiter here, I felt the elbow very very slightly warming up and effected a good rack positions, makes me wonder if my golfers elbow is more from forearm tightness than compensation at the shoulder…..I could’ve moved the barbell much faster if my leg drive felt better from transitioning from clean to the jerk. But it was at least a good feeling to move a heavy barbell. I do know that I’m naturally pretty strong so just feel a few exposures like this from time to time and we’ll be good with moving the heavy loads a little faster.

+

15 min AMRAP

50 Strict HSPUs

50 Box Jumps @ 24in

50 CTB Pull-ups

50 STOH @ 110lbs

50 toes to bar

30 TTB – i was really excited going into this workout, i thought it was a perfect opportunity to tackle some weaknesses and try to put up a good score, and then I struggled with the hspu, our struggled with them to put up a score that I would need. I finished them at 3:25, and before I finished them I had a mini temper tantrum, i kicked the box because I knew I wasn’t going to finish before 3 minutes, and I kicked it one more time when I had 6 reps left and i couldn’t get them all unbroken. I came out with 10-10-8-7 and then from there it was a grind. I know I rested a little bt but honestly don’t know where the time went. I didn’t feel I rested that long (but we normally never do). I moved slow with the box jumps but that was to be expected, i never watched any video from DSGN so I stayed with box jumps, I’m sure time could’ve been a little quicker with step ups as I know my heart rate wouldn’t have been as high for that large of an amount. C2b, I actually started to gain back some time that I lost bt the first 2 movements, i did 3 sets of 7 were I dropped down and went right back up, i actually had a thought out plan with c2b, even thought out when i was going to allow myself to chalk up, and almost stuck to it 100%, the plan here was (5 sets of 7, chalk bt 3 and 4, then 4-4-4-3). Don’t remember what time I finished there, I knew going into sto, that this too elevates my heart rate but did 4 sets of 8, wanted to do 5 but when i went for that 5th set it was on a short rest and i just did 2, at this point my mind was focused on the clock and trying not to rest too long, i don’t think i did 5 and 5 to finish, i actually think i did that in 3 sets, but it’s a little blurry at the moment. I knew i was short on time for the ttb, so i knew i couldn’t break long and had to transition fast, so i got my first 7 reps w/in 5 seconds, short break did a quick 8, and took one more break to grab chalk b/c I knew I needed to not come off of the bar until the clock hit 15. Not as good a day as I wanted, i did avert the crisis of what could’ve been worse. I do not think it was a factor, but I did accumulate 20 strict hspu in warm ups, and man I would’ve really been kicking boxes if we stuck with strict, but I would’ve been way more conservative. I also had the same hspu set up as monday (and in email video), which is probably a ½ inch or slightly more deficit, i don’t think this plays a huge role since they are kipping hspu.

AM

10 min @ warmup pace

10 cal row

6 ring rows

4 ring dips

5-10 sec freestanding HS hold

Freestanding hs hold was semi decent today, wanted to keep trying but also knew I needed to keep with the program

+

J-hook practice with hands on pullup bar – do 3-4 sets of 5-6 reps, rest as needed

Really clicked here today

+

4 rope climbs for ‘efficiency’, new set every 4 min x 3
Much better improvement today, still some things to iron out but we are moving in the right direction. And as of the evening of posting, the elbow feels the same as when I woke up. Couldn’t say that last week so thats progress with the work today.

+

Dip swings on rings x 5-6, rest 60 sec x 4 (goal will be to feel some upward elevation as hips open, https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUCDN1sR31E6uSu6TJvaTijQ&v=3MzTsLrYSNo&feature=youtu.be)

done

+

Ring MU x 3 reps with a focus on trying to use the leg backswing to add momentum to your dip out, new triple every 90 sec x 4-5 for exploration/experimentation today, let me know what it feels like and if there is some value in exploring this some more – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvS7u8pxtGM

I really liked the exploration here, and felt pretty good. As long as I drop closer to straight down my reps are more consistent, when I push away I can feel the rings get away from staying centered and that throws my kip off. I felt it happen a few times, but I do like the kip with the feet in the back portion

+

4 sets, not for time

GHD situps x 15

GHD hip extensions with pause at top x 15

Ghd’s felt really really good today.

PM

Row 40 cals (sub 2 min, but stay aerobic)

50 DU’s

20 BBJO @ 24in (some fatigued BBJO tech here, set a pace of no more than 6 sec/rep, steady with consistent footwork and momentum over box)

rest 4 min x 3 sets

3:56-3:54-4:04 – second set was about 3 seconds faster off the rower, each round was finishing rope around 2:30ish – on the last set finished the row right at 2, slower transition to rope, and when I finished the dubz, I wanted to precisely measure my bbjo, so I finished around 2:39, and started burpee at 2:45….I wanted to try and go a little slower in round 3, a pace that I figured was more sustainable long term, but also was working on footwork and just kind of led me to the pace I was at.

This day was perfect, I was tired going into the pm session, and I need that practice of doing workouts after a day of sitting in front of the computer and having an am session as well. This is exactly what I needed.

10 min @ warmup pace

10 cal bike

8 wallballs

3 strict pullups

3/direction cossack squat

Done – should’ve used the 30lb wall ball here

+

HSPU play

floor kip drill x 5-6 min

done

+

5 sets

2-3 strict HSPU

4-5 kHSPU

25ft HSW

rest 90 sec bt sets

Didn’t get a time on the first one, but then went 34-34-32-21 – i set up my mat to a slight, ½ deficit as I used that therapy mat that a lot of use for hip thrust. I wanted to go a slight deficit there because I feel that mat has some little amount of play and wanted to know if you think that is okay or if that falls into the uncommon movement clause. Overall – in this set up strict hspu felt really good at that low rep range, at times shifting from strict into kip timing was off on a few of the leg drives. Hs walks are also feeling really good lately. I know this is low volume but we have to excel at low volume to have a chance being there at higher volume. 

+

For time, high effort

Row 20 cals

24 thrusters @ 95lbs

Row 20 cals

3:01 – first 20 wanted to hold about 1200-1300 and stayed in the upper 12’s after the first 5-7 calories, finished the back end cals in 47ish seconds I believe so that would be staying around 1300-1400 cal/hr. Thruster were unbroken, around rep 15/16 I knew I was close enough that I started pushing the pace instead of the brief pause in lockout overhead. Rack position was good for the paced reps but was feeling that got a little weaker as my breath and heart rate got elevated, so that is something to pay attention to for me moving forward as the volume there get higher. 

(rest walk 8 min)

For time, high effort

20 box jump overs (24in)

24 power cleans @ 95lbs

20 box jump overs 

2:04 – thank goodness for the bop bop clean, first 20 bxjo I bounded pretty well until 12 and then jump up, stay low and step down so I could pick up the bb fast, but what I didn’t like about switching gears like that is that it made my rhythm feel off when I tried to speed up for the last 3 reps. The 20 on the back end, i tried to move as fast as possible but my feet felt like i had bricks for shoes.

tttTD (DB/BJ)

17:50 – piss poor effort.did the throwdown at 9:45 which is way earlier than normal training time, but did this for 2 reasons, so I could do the second part as if a second competitive workout, and also an attempt to mentally prepare for possibly doing open workouts earlier and maybe in a competitive environment. So the rhythm of the day was definitely off, but this was a great wake up call of what time I need to go to sleep, wake up, eat breakfast and all other pre-training routines to set myself up for the best performance possible. Workout itself, I didn’t want to come out to slow on the first set of snatches so tried to do bigger sets than I should’ve when the burpee make or break this workout and the snatches on the back end were just how much are you willing to suffer wanted to hold 10 burpee/minute and at times just didn’t want to work that hard, and times I got about 11 and just couldn’t mentally sustain that effort and took a few breaks instead of just keeping moving even if it was slower. I just need to grind a workout like this out and set myself up for better pacing. Just can’t have a shitty effort like this, should’ve been more mentally prepared with a plan and eating etc.

+ (rest to recovery)

For time

6-5-4-3-2-1

Bench presses @ 185lbs

Squat cleans @ 155lbs

Ring MU’s

9:14 – all bench press and rmu unbroken, the only long transitions were going to muscle up, was hitting quick singles with clean and was trying to have some urgency with a high heart rate starting ring work, but not too much. Bench press got grindy, during the set of 3 or 4 (don’t remember) I think I thought about breaking, but just said grind through it and only break if you really think you can’t get it. 

so annoyed by the throwdown effort that the thought crossed my mind to do it again, but for what, only to prove to myself I can execute a better plan and go faster. but not worth it

Mcgill big 3

+

3 rounds at warmup pace

3/side TGU @ 35lbs

5 6-point burpees

10 air squats

10 overhead KB swings @ 53lbs

TGU take so long and are so slow urggggg, but felt good to create that tension and go through the movement. 

+

2 min running clock, 1 min rest/reset x 3

8 power snatches @ 95lbs

10 bar facing burpees (must finish these in <35 sec)

AMRAP row cals in remaining time

22-21-21 – was hard to do the quick math after finishing the barbell, but I believe each round was about 30sec, was done with the barbell at 17-19 seconds each time and done with burpee by 50 seconds, 47 for sure on the first one but was a little hazy after that. Not the best transitions into the rower, but was good about getting to mid/upper 1100’s pace within 3 strokes each time

+

2 min running clock, 1 min rest/reset x 3

8 deadlifts @ 225lbs

8 deficit kHSPU (same standard as the old AGQ workout we talked about)

AMRAP row cals in remaining time

25-23-27 – the last round was higher because I actually quit making the rookie mistake of making sure the rower was on and reset at zero. Was trying/wanting to hold mid 1200 each time, deadlifts and hspu felt really good. Would definitely like to keep getting some volume accumulation with these deficit hspu

2/23

10 min @ warmup pace

10 cal row

6 ring rows

4 ring dips

5-10 sec freestanding HS hold

done

+

J-hook practice with hands on pullup bar – do 5 sets of 3-4 reps, goal of using leverage from pullup bar to lean away a little more and get feet higher for the hook. rest as needed

(https://www.facebook.com/pamelagnonGym/videos/506201559795226)

+

3 rope climbs for ‘efficiency’, not necessarily for speed but dont take too much time between either. think about big jump to start, arms long as you lock in your high hook, then stand with legs. new set every 3 min x 3

Set 1 was ok, set 2 got caught up on the clocked and started rushing things, set 3 really slowed down and felt great here, but descent was a little off. Did 2 extra reps and felt much better. (update from Wednesday, elbow is a little flared up so will spend a ton of time doing some eccentrics and isometrics)

+

Dip swings on rings x 5-6, rest 60 sec x 4 (goal will be to feel some upward elevation as hips open, https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUCDN1sR31E6uSu6TJvaTijQ&v=3MzTsLrYSNo&feature=youtu.be)

done

+

Aerobic support

10-20-30-40-30-20-10 cals each of

Row

Bike

Ski

not for time but move steadily throughout, holding sustainable paces at each step, allowing breathing rate to rise comfortably

Took just under 40 minutes…..row comfortably was in upper 1000’s with not a ton of effort. Bike was around 288 watts, just couldnt dig in there and comfortably push in the 300’s and feel sustainable. Ski was in upper 900’s

2/24

10 min @ warmup pace

Row 250m

3 muscle cleans

3 zombie squats

3 strict presses from front rack/3 strict presses from back rack

3 close grip OHS

(start empty bar, add light load as you go)

Close grip OHS is slowly starting to feel like the mobility I had previously

+

Power clean triples x 3 sets, less than 6 sec bt reps, rest 3 min x 3

185-205-22

Power clean doubles x 3 sets, less than 10 sec bt reps, rest 3 min x 3

235-240-242.5

Power clean singles x 3 reps, rest 3 min x 3

245-250-255 – 255 actually felt way better than the 250

+

DSGN overlap

For Time:

100-ft. dumbbell overhead lunge – 50#/35#

25 dumbbell box step-ups (1DB to 24/20)

25 strict handstand push-ups

100-ft. handstand walk

25 strict handstand push-ups

25 dumbbell box step-ups (1DB to 24/20)

100-ft. dumbbell overhead lunge – 50#/35#

18:31 (9:27 at finish of handstand walk 15:2? To finish 2set of strict Hspu. 1st shspu was 6-3(came off walk) 1 and then reset a little snd didn’t want to burn out before hs walk. Quick transition and only got 10ft so decided to pull back a little b/c I knew that next set of shspu was going to be really really tough and it was. I think I finished the first set of hspu @ 6ish and definitely could have pushed that pace if i had to. neck/trap was a little stiff throughout the am so i do think that played a role a little but not much overall

+

Pistol/GHD exposure

EMOM x 10

Odd min – 12-14 alternating pistols

Even min – 12-14 GHD situps

14 pistols, did 14 ghd on the first set but thought that might not be smart since I haven’t had consistent exposure there so finished 12 the rest of the way.

10 min @ warmup pace

10 cal bike

3 deadlifts

3 muscle cleans

3 kang squats

3/direction cossack squat

(start empty bar, build light load as you go)

Super solid warm up, class was using all bikes so had to ski

+

HSPU play

floor kip drill – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9tWqLeaV8c , play around with this setup for a bit before progressing to inverted work

Really like this drill, almost wish my mat was a little smoother because I was afraid of some rug burn

+

kipping HSPU ‘play’ – 4-6 reps/set, adjusting hand width/depth from wall, turning fingers out, etc. 5-6 sets, film some and send them over so we can see how they look and try to find some rhythm/speed with them

I actually liked the most when my hands were away from the wall, however, this will be dangerous to get too comfortable in as I can only assume it might create some range of motion/foot line issues…..will edit video and send over this evening

+

EMOM x 8

Odd – 5 power cleans + 5 thrusters @ 115lbs

Even – 12 chest to bar pullups

Bb was about 18/19 seconds everytime – w/power clean really tried to stay over the bar as long as possible and it made it feel way lighter than 115, also tried to widen my squat stance on the thruster and didn’t love it at this load. C2b all unbroken and they felt really good today.

+

EMOM x 8

Odd – 10 thrusters @ 95lbs

Even – 12 bar facing burpees

Thruster – 18-17-19-18, bfb – 30-30-32-33 – this was the perfect amount of suck, new I was going to be able to push these and make them hurt, and they hurt just the right amount, didn’t feel completely recovered after the 1st full round, but there was never any fear that I couldn’t keep my numbers/time close to the same every round

+

EMOM x 6

20 unbroken wallballs

Same here, there was never a fear of not being able to stay around 35-36 sec/set, never really wanted to pick up the ball after the 3rd set, but knew I could hit all of them unbroken

This was the perfect day, as everything was hard and elevated heart rate, but knew I would be able to do everything I was supposed to do. I can see this being a great tool to help desensitize the sensation of feeling out of breath and just help with some mental confidence of being able to work under those situations.