Ben Plotnicki

Workout 1:

2 RM OHS from Rack

280 – lifetime PR

Workout 2:

15-12-9:

DB Devils Press @ 50/35#

BBJOs @ 24/20″

*55+ = 35/20, may step on box

6:49 – I was originally going to break up the db a little but I decided I would rather move slower than take some rest breaks that probably would last longer than going slow. Just smooth and steady and no breaks and good transitions. Wanted to stay pretty close to the same cadence for 21.2 on bbxjo this was a cool feeling, as I knew i wasn’t realistically going to fail a rep and was going to be how willing i was to suffer, grind and hold on. Thats that desensitization feeling we were searching for

Workout 3:

4min Clock:

150 Double Unders

Max HSW in remaining time

**Max WW

150ft – couple excuses that don’t really matter. Wasn’t a great morning and had no sense of urgency on hs walk. A little pissed about this one.

Workout 4:

7 Rounds for Time:

14 GHDSUs

1 Rope Climbs

14 Pistols

1 Rope Climb

**20min cap for all divisions

13:49 – ghds were hardest part and really started to feel the effect on rope climb in i think round 5. Pistols could have been a little better, might have a got a little sloppy in the middle rounds and last rounds. Rope climbs actually felt really really good today and I’m sure happy with that. I only really stopped once and that was to pull my sleeve back up over my shin

Workout 5:

30 HSPUs

60 Wall Balls

90 Cal Row 

7:42 – had to help out and sub in for coaching a class so it made me get my shit together much quicker than I probably would have….went unbroken on the hspu, (in hindsight I think i would still do this again, just too much time to lose to go down and back up), but was blown away how hard the first wall balls were from the shoulders……never really felt any easier so I ended up taking short break more than i wanted but I did keep them short. Row got up to 1200 pretty quickly and tried to spend the majority of the time in the 1300’s with a few planned intervals of longer hard strokes in the 1200 and then intervals of hard fast strokes in the 1300’s. I think it was when i hit 20 or a little over 20 calories to go I just sold out.

EMOM x 3

3 snatches @ 155-165lbs

165 – felt good

+

EMOM x 3

1 snatch @ 185-195lbs

195 and felt really good

+

Power clean x 1/Front squat x 1/Split jerk x 1 – 3 working sets to find a 85-88% tough set

225-235-245 – might have been a little tougher than the 88% but I was really hungry today

+

Box Squat: 3 reps @ 65-75% x 4 sets, rest 2 min, high speed off box

185 – might have been a little light, but really wanted to control eccentric and be powerful and explosive off box

+

For time

24 alternating pistols

16 OHS @ 115lbs

8 Ring MU

2:00 – was kind of planning on breaking up muscle ups in a 4/4 or 5/3 and create some sense of urgency but, after rep 4 I started feeling recovered from overhead squat and kip started feeling more powerful I decided to go for it. I think I could’ve had 10 and maybe 11 unbroken at this point in the workout today

+

8 min Easy Bike

Odd minute = nasal breathing only

Even minute = regular breathing

Done – it’s funny when people come up and ask you a question on the nasal breathing minute, you find out real quick if they get awkward from the silence and you just looking at them weird and pointing to your nose and mouth

Reperfusion session

3 min bike @ 75%

2 min row @ 75%

1 min ski @ 75%

45 sec foam roll per major body part on each side (hamstrings, quads, lats)

x 3-4 sets. HR should stay around 120-130 throughout

I think i needed this more than I thought i did, my heart rate stayed low and was hard to really get settled in and get it up, except for some parts of the body on foam rolling, that got the pain receptors and the heart rate elevated

AM

Row 1k @ 85-88%, rest walk 45 sec x 2

rest walk 5-6 min x 3 (6k total, same effort as last week)

Effort was same if not more mental intensity this week 

1st – 3:33.1 – 3:36.6 – 2nd – 3:34.0 – 3:35.4 3rd – 3:36.1 – 3:39.2 and then I died. I actually tried really really hard with 250 left to drop the projected time but I struggled to get it to budge off the projected 3:39, i did everything short of just dropping the hammer

PM

For time

15-12-9 reps of

Hang Power cleans @ 115lbs

bar facing burpees

2:56

(rest 8 min)

For time

9-12-15 reps of

Front squats @ 115lbs

C2B pullups

2:42 – and some man walked into the gym when i was getting ready to start my last set of pull ups, so that delayed my finish by a few seconds

AM

Stage 2 workout with RC/GHD/third movement

252 – Man this is exactly what I needed…..a good humble experience that identified itself as growth……for starters I took some anti-inflammatories in the am to minimize elbow pain, i hate doing that but i know we need to get some work here. I also did know rope climbs in warm up, just wanted to minimize the wear, tear and pain/discomfort until it mattered. Well the first 6 it showed that it’s been a while. Between the hip flexor fatigue and lack of doing them recently the first 6 was a huge struggle, but most of that was confidence in myself and my rope climb technique. The round of 5 was much much better and smoother and felt like there was major improvement from the first group. We have done a good job of accumulating ghd volume and I feel I tolerated it decently today, but getting ⅓ of the work right out the gate took its toll around the rep 40 range. I did 25/15/ and 5’s with quick breaks on my hips – maybe hitting 25 out of the gate might or might not have been the smartest thing to do, I felt good in most of the next set but started feeling like I was slowing down with contraction speed. Pistols I’m not super fast with but I can grind and keep moving, set of 60 wasn’t as smooth as I would like but the set of 50 was good, i think I got those done in a little over 2 minutes and allowed me to get back to the ghd and chip away. 

Moving forward, I definitely need to get some more rope climb work, a lot of things clicked today in the round of 5 and the J-hook drill could be valuable. It will be a delicate balance for pain and tolerance. I am willing to use some anti-inflammatories to handle it but don’t want to over use or rely on them. I will definitely hit the J-hook drill up on my own regardless if you have that planned in write up or not. I will say, and this is trivial and me being a delicate flower, but I was a little concerned about the rope rubbing my shin raw where my knee sleeves weren’t. Wearing some longer socks and a better guard i’m sure would help allow me to expend more energy on working instead of worrying.

PM

Stage 2 workout with row/WB

10:33 – had a really aggressive wall ball plan and I bailed on it pretty early on. Didn’t see the value in fighting for it when I knew keeping a high row pace was more valuable, especially knowing I could take short/quick breaks and it wouldn’t hurt me all that bad. Done with wall ball at 4:3something, row was 90% of the time above 1200 – i was happy that I got up to 1200+ in 3 strokes, i dipped below 1100 a little bit and even a few strokes into the 1000…..my strategy that i developed was row 20 long hard strokes about 24 spm and then 10 or 11 hard not worrying about spm but trying to get into 1300/1400 range – i did this until 30 cals to go and I thought about doing a 10 and 10 but i looked at the clock and said fuck this i don’t think i can get sub 10 but i would like to make the effort as if i could

OHS – find tough triple from rack

245 – after i hit 245 i got really greedy and went for 265, got a double there and I was pleasantly surprised and my elbows gave out coming out of the hole on #3. So i dropped down to 255 and I was smoked and only got a single

+

Strict press x 1 tough rep + 5 TNG push presses for speed of lockout, rest 2 min x 4 sets

125-135-145-155 – the 155 was a little beyond tough. I didn’t spend enough time with front rack prep as this irritated the elbows a little. 

+

E2MOM x 2 sets

14 lateral box jump overs

7 kHSPU @ 4in deficit

40-38

+

E2MOM x 2 sets

6 dbl DB box step overs @ 50/hand, 24in

12 dbl DB push presses @ 50/hand

The dbl push press at first irritated the elbow then it started to feel like an amazing stretch – i do not remember my times at this point

+

Front squats – 5,5,4,4. rest 2-3 min, stick around 65-70% here and keep speed high

205-225

3 sets

50 DU’s

5 squat snatches for time @ 165lbs

rest walk 2-3 min bt sets

30-30-27 – the last one I just tried not to rush anything but with that tried to be faster out of the hole

+

8 rounds for time

15 row cals

13 wallballs

11 burpees to 6in touch

30ft HSW (15 out and back)

25:38 – rounds  1-3 i was around mid 1200 on row’s but decided at the first few caloreis in round 4 I was going to push the row, from that point on each row took about 40sec and was getting in about mid to upper 1300’s each time, row to wall ball was a fast transition. After speeding up row, burpee speed suffered a little, but tried to keep moving even when I didn’t want to. Except for round 6, round 6 really hurt, i slowed down a lot on my burpee and stopped once. HS walk was the only time i took consistent breaks, I’m getting better here but my confidence isn’t high enough that I feel I can go unbroken no matter how tired i am.

Bike 7 min @ cruise effort

rest 2 min while you accumulate 18-22 GHD situps

Bike 6 min @ high aerobic effort

rest 2 min while you accumulate 18-22 GHD situps

Bike 5 min @ tough effort

rest 2 min while you accumulate 18-22 GHD situps

Bike 4 min @ highest sustainable pace (if you slow down, you can recover and re-claim your pace, and can kick in last 30 sec)

after last set, do another 18-22 GHD situps, not for time

Ghd sets were 15-12-15-12 – bike paces were cruising and not worrying but really started to feel a groove towards the end. The 6 min time was probably not super high aerobic effort but felt like it was something that was hard and sustainable for an extended period. 5 min was mid to low 1:50’s….and 4 min was 1:50 – 1:48 – actually the 5 min domain felt the toughest

+

Partner assisted nordic curl negatives with a plyo pushup recovery – 5 sets of 5, rest as needed, goal of controlling the negative as low as possible each rep

In the gym solo so had to get creative for a good partner

+

Breathing Awareness: 5 minutes 5050 box breathing (inhale on a 5 count, no pause, exhale on a 5 count, no pause)

Damnit – didn’t get this in immediately after……but got in in the evening

AM

Row 1k @ 85-88%, rest walk 45 sec x 2

rest walk 5-6 min x 2 (4k total, keep all intervals within 3 sec finishing times)

3:33.4 – 3:33.6 ——- 3:33.5 – 3.35.1 – it might seem as if these intervals were a little calculated, but after the first 1K i had to work to keep them the efforts close to the same…definitely on the high end of the 88% effort. I don’t get a ton of break time in between doubles on monday but that’s is probably a good thing to train through right now. 

PM

E3MOM x 6 alternating sets (cap any set at 2:30 if needed)

Odd sets – 10 sHSPU + 10 hang power snatches @ 115lbs + 10 sHSPU

2:25 – 22 reps – 20 reps – i was a little frustrated with this and was trying not to be a victim of negative self talk. I will say, even warming up shspu did not feel great today. On top of not feeling good and feeling like grinding through today. 

Even sets – 14 bar facing burpees + 80 DU’s + 14 bar facing burpees

2:16 – 2:20 – 2:19 – was wanting to finish each round of burpee around 40sec and I think i was in the range of 44sec on the back end and 40sec on the front end. As I got tired my main focus was to get on the ground as fast as possible and not stay on the ground long at all. I did feel like I was slower popping up and over but felt I was keeping close to the speed I need to be at with that as the focus.

+

Power clean x 1/Front squat x 3/Hang Power clean x 1/Front squat x 2/Hang squat clean x 1 – 4 working complexes, new complex every 2:30

165- 185 – 205 – 225 – the front squats were the hardest part…..but the hang power @ 225 was really tough

+

4 sets of 12 unbroken deadlifts @ 245lbs, rest no longer than 90 sec bt sets

Went with just over 60sec of rest, didn’t really want to but wanted to go ahead and go before that 90sec mark

Clean grip deadlift from 2in deficit x 3, rest 2 min x 4

275-295-315-345

+

For time

60-40-20 row cals

30-20-10 deadlifts @ 225lbs

15-10-5 BBJO @ 30in

14:20 – first row was done in 2:48 – had a semi plan for deadlift but knew if I had a strong pace on rower that might be a little harder to attack the deadlift as planned, hit 16 reps, might have been a bit much but from there I knew i didn’t want to rest too long bt sets so I took a short rest and went right back at it with a smaller set, don’t remember number breakdowns at this point, but think i was around 6 or 7’s. Bbxjo i wanted to take it a little easy internally but I didn’t let myself, i had a hard time stepping off of box so just found it easier to bound off, would go quicker for 3 or 4, and slow down for 2 or 3 and tried to stay at that pace. Back on rower was not as aggressive, was just trying to hold a pace but as soon as I knew i was under control I needed to attack the rower. Don’t remember dead scheme here but just wanted to keep moving with short rests. I decided i was going to attack the bbxjo and on rep 3 I went flying off the box from clipping my foot, and I thought after thats just like trying to rush a snatch, i was a little gun shy right after but settled back in. last row just tried to get moving. Deads unbroken, and tried to move as fast as possible on bbxjo. I’m pretty happy how I got a little uncomfortable on bbxjo (except for miss and few reps after), I thought that there’s more value to move fast and suffer there, if i move “slower” on the rower at least i’m moving, if i take it easy on burpee then i’m resting and not moving. This biggest improvement i can gain from this is the willingness to suffer on the rower.