Ben Plotnicki

Squat snatch – build to a single @ 200+ for the day, keep it fast, work on staying over the bar a little longer through second pull and getting a good leg drive at the top

210 – I hit 205 then went for 215 and missed that twice, but something i rarely do is keep attempting at that point, so i dropped down to 210 and hit that pretty cleanly……I must also tell you, birthday cake and bourbon and good food might be amazing, but I’m not sure all together they make for the highest of octane for workout fuel. But still amazing and totally worth it. 

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Squat snatch – 10 reps for time @ 135lbs, do as singles

48 – had super bouncy plates, i never pushed the bar down to settle it but i did just grab it wherever and go

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3 Rounds for Time:

15 strict presses @ 95lbs

21 Toes to Bar

50′ HSW

9:53 – first 2 rounds was cruising really well, then on round 3 i chose to do my presses in 3’s, as I might have hit failure had I tried to do more. Then when I got to TTB i thought what the heck you lost some time on pressing see if you can go all the way, made it to 16, could’ve fought for the rest but was losing my grip a little. It definitely played a little role in being as efficient in that last handstand walk set.

*rest 3 min

4 Rounds for Time:

9 bar facing burpees

12 Hang Power Snatch @ 75lbs

15 chest to bar pullups

8:55 – once again all rounds were good until the last, i lost my butterfly in the last round after rep 9, but it’s partly because I was trying to force the time on not rest much at all because I was defaulting to singles and doubles with little to no rest. My main goal was to do all sets of burpee under 30sec, and grab bb right away, most of the time I had less than a 5 sec transition from burpee to barbell and did 7 reps, might have rested a little too long before the next 5. 

*rest 3 min

For time

12 burpee ring MU

7:43 – this was not as pretty or didn’t feel great, as I missed 3 of my first 4 attempts….but then i settled down a little. The biggest limiter i felt was my abs in the arch and hollow portion of the swing. It was hard to turnover aggressively today, but it did get better as the reps went on

I have not seen a partner TD posted so any recommendations for training tomorrow?

Front rack walkouts – 8 sec tough hold, new set every 2 min x 4 (overload compared to target for front squat double to come)

345 on the bar, might have been a bit of over reaching but it was convenient loading and I handled it fine

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Front Squat: 4,3,2; rest as needed – Work to a tough double

265-285-315 – there wasn’t much more in the tank after hitting the 315 – might have been able to hit 5 more pounds

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12 Min AMRAP:

30 DB step over buy in 50lbs over 24″

…

Amrap in remaining time:

50 foot two arm OH DB walking lunges 50/hand

8 lateral box jump overs 24in

4 devil’s press 50/hand

4 Two arm DB hang clean and jerk 50/hand

3+10ft – I had considered pivoting and doing the masters version on DSGN but then i realized this version is the demon spawn of the masters and the elite pieces and thought you just wanted to kick me in the ass. I’m semi happy with my effort here, the box step overs I came really close to going for all unbroken, but did 25/6 – the overhead lunge is just tough for me but I did better than I expected with that. I rested more than I should’ve, biggest rest came after 25ft of lunges, always had a fast transition to box jump and got faster with those on each set. One time i went right from the db hang clean and jerk to the lunges and that was almost a mistake but was able to grind through that. Tough but fun workout overall.

Bike 6 min @ cruise effort

rest 2 min while you accumulate 15-20 GHD situps

Bike 5 min @ high aerobic effort

rest 2 min while you accumulate 15-20 GHD situps

Bike 4 min @ tough effort

rest 2 min while you accumulate 15-20 GHD situps

Bike 3 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 15-20 GHD situps, not for time

20 reps on all GHD – it said bike so I was jumping at the chance to do this on the bike erg, i might regret saying that if this was supposed to be on the ass bike…….I did set it up as a program so I don’t recall what the exact paces are but I have that access and a general idea for next weeks progression

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3-4 sets, steady

Deficit kipping HSPU x 6-8 (3-4in)

Pronated grip BB bicep curls  x 6-8 (elbow focus, adjust to zottman curls if needed)

3 TGU/side

30 frog pumps

Deficit was a slight tick over 4 in – bb bicep curl was done with a bella bar and was going with about a 5-6 second negative. Did a mix of 53 and 35 on TGU

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

done

AM

Mcgill big 3

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3x through, not for time

Quadruped hip CARs x 2/side, slow and controlled

Quadruped rock backs with some controlled pelvic tilts at end range x 5-6

Adductor dips from half kneeling x 5-6/side, hold rig/support to remove some loading and get some controlled range

Just when you think you are somewhat mobile then you do CARs – it is a true hold my beer moment

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5 rounds @ steady pace, little sweaty with a movement focus

Bike 10 cals

20 quadruped plank to pike knee extensions (elevate feet slightly, and squeeze quads at top of each – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4H5hgPaIaw)

20 mini band around knees hip thrusts from bench

Bike 10 cals

10/side straight leg adduction liftoff from side lying (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsoa-SwMWlE)

10 banded pull throughs from semi-sumo stance, controlled range

These felt really good this morning…..the bike felt easier to hold a higher pace after the hip thrusts, i will remember that next time I have to hammer down on a bike sprint…..and I put on a 30 minute playlist so the goal was to move with some intention to finish before playlist was up. It was also really hard to get a little sweaty with as cold as it was this am

PM

Thorough warmup

One of the better warm ups I’ve hit when it was just on me for a workout

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For times

20 bar facing burpees

5 squat snatches @ 165lbs

1:55 – burpee done in :56

(rest 2 min)

100 DU’s

4 squat snatches @ 185lbs

1:57 – felt the best of all the barbell lifts

(rest 2 min)

30 wallballs

3 squat snatches @ 205lbs

3:40 – took 30sec before hitting first rep, but it was not a pretty rep, 2nd rep was better, 3rd rep was rushed and missed.

Today I am filled with low mental energy and disappointment, I know I deserve to be in the top echelon of masters athletes, but at times there have been struggles of game time/first time execution. Yesterday I had a plan, and when I compare my pacing times with execution plans I was way ahead skyrocketing my heart rate, i knew that falling for the bait would be an issue but my anxiety/excitement got high in the middle of the workout and there was no turning back. But this isn’t about a write up of what happened in 21.3 & 21.4, this is more a reflection/journaling of my feelings and diving into my awareness of those mistakes that are correctable can help minimize those happening again. I know I am good and can be great, this was a learning experience and I cannot let my perceived failure bring me down. We are in a good place and have some good momentum built through this open of some big wins and some learning experiences. Let me not forget that I have spent some time recovering from COVID and have overcome those struggles of feeling like I lost some fitness. Let us not forget, that we have spent so much time developing gymnastics capacity, last year I’m not sure I would have finished that workout with that much gymnastics volume. Last year we were also dealing with some pretty serious shoulder issues that just completing 20.5 was a win. We have come a long way, and I refuse to let poor execution hold me back from where we are trying to go. We have talked in the past that game day execution being one and done is a major goal, and I still have a lot to learn, even with all the experience I have gained. My energy might be low today but I’m excited to get back on the horse and finish on a strong note for the week. These lessons are only valuable if I can truly reflect on it and truly learn from it, it’s easy to passively say that this was a learning experience, but I make sure I truly learned from it. With that being said, my warm ups for weeks 1 and 2 were great, but this one needed to have a little more emphasis on heart rate elevation, barbell work was good but energy system warm up needed to be better. Go on my time, when the qualifier comes around it will be on me, no class, nobody else but me, warming up for a class is important because that resembles going in an event so the option to learn from there is meticulously chart out the timeline of when I need to start warming up, where i need to be when the class is ready, etc. Fueling and pre-workout routine felt fairly normal, but need to actually plan that out as well, not to the point of being anal retentive, just need to detailed enough to not create any influence that I cannot control. The last thing that comes to mind that I need to learn from, is I am prepared, we have been training hard and being prepared for this season, so go over details but don’t go over them so much that I overthink it. 

Today is a new day and I’m ready to reset my mind and my body. And this reflection and approach is already making me feel better! I’m excited for this day and for what the next 5 weeks of training helps me overcome physically and mentally.

Hinging warmup

done

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Power Snatch x 1/Hang Squat snatch x 1 – 6 complexes, new complex every 2 min starting around 65-70%, build each set but keep all lifts crisp, no misses

135-145-150-155-160-165 – felt a little slower on power snatch in the beginning but tightened that up, no misses and felt really good as I hit the last 3 sets

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3 sets

20 GHD Sit-Ups, rest 30 sec

5 ring MU

10 deadlifts @ 275lbs

Rest 2 min

2:20 – 2:18 – 3:23 (my plan from jump on this 3rd set was to do muscle in 3/2 – and I did 3, dropped down and had the sense of urgency for the next set, jumped back up and hit 1 and should’ve come back down right away but missed the next rep.) The lesson from this, (and yesterday) the risk of pushing that muscle is not worth the miss, of time/energy and fear of the time to regroup and hit the next rep. If it’s the last rep in a workout or in an event and the environment is right than go for it, but those misses yesterday and today, cost valuable time. I must try and see into the future and be real with myself if the miss is possible. 

+ (rest to recovery)

4 rounds for time (15 min cap)

Row 500m

50ft HSW

16 alternating pistols

13:19 (row splits -> 1:50.7 – 1:51.8 – 1:51.5 – 1:49.3) avg rest time(hs walk/pistol)  for rower during the splits is 1:34 – 1:33 – 1:31. All hs walks done in unbroken 25ft increments. Felt like row to first 25 was quick, then slightly longer but I told myself I could rest on pistols. Last set of pistols was hardest, I felt like I pushed the pace harder on that row and tried to speed up break time on hs walk. Good win and a nice feeling of confidence I was looking for to close out the training week.

And all the feelings I had to start the day, that went into my reflection writing at the top, I feel were very valuable in resetting my mind and my energy. As I closed out the row/hs walk/pistol I am in a much better place. that little bit of reflection really helped me holistically

Row 5 min easy, 20 s/min or less

It is definitely hard to slow the pace down when you are used to such a cadence

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Ido Portal squat routine, in full

done

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Row 2k, rest 1:1

Row 1k, rest 1:1

Row 500m

(faster pace/500m with each step, but no grinding)

Done – don’t remember my times but stayed within protocol and got faster each step

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Bike 4k, rest 1:1

Bike 2k, rest 1:1

Bike 1k

(same rules as above, bring your pace down but no grinding, should have comfortable/calm expression throughout with some sweat and breathing)

Did at home so not sure how my AirBike metrics stack up – also same as above on speeds/efforts

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Wall assisted glute bridge hold – 60 sec on, 2 min off x 3-4

Got distracted right after but got it in later that night

3/24/2021

8-12 min @ warmup pace

2 wall walks with 5-8 sec hold at the top of each

3-4 strict pullups @ 3 sec dead hang at the bottom of each

6-8 band pull aparts with palms up and down

30 sec arms only ass bike

Body just a little tired today, just from last night not from anything else in the week.

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3 min cannella cross footwork

Really helped today

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Back rack split jerk x 1/Front rack split jerk x 1 – new set every 90 sec x 8 @ 65-75%

175×3, 185×3, 195×2

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Clean pull 4 sets of 2, reset at floor no TNG, rest 3 min (straps ok)

275 across w/straps

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For time, high effort

12-9-6

Thrusters @ 95/65

C2B pullups

(rest 8-10 min)

For time, high effort

12-9-6

OHS @ 95/65

Toes to bar

1:57 – 1:52 – thrusters felt off but c2b and ttb felt really good today! Was good to get the heart rate up really quick and not care about it. Didn’t do much of an intense warm up going into this so my heart rate got up more than it normally would but also felt good to just trust myself

3/22/2021

3-2-1 min on each machine, easy effort

Row/ski/bike

Played the fish game on the first ski – i did much better on ski erg than I ever do on rower.

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8-12 min, steady effort

3 inchworms

5 kang squats

8 alternating step ups

12 jump rope speed steps

30 sec/side perfect stretch

Inchworms aren’t pretty right after 21.2 soreness

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Squat snatch from blocks above knee – 1.1.1, rest 8-10 sec/2 min x 5

135-145-155-160-165

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Banded box squats – 5×5, rest 2 min, good concentric speed

185 – used some beat up old chains…..I don’t trust any of the bands at the gym to be of similar elasticity

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5 rounds, not for time

20 sec parallette L-sit

20 sec freestanding HS hold

10/side side plank press ups

3 skin the cat on rings

This was way harder than many of the intensity pieces we do. First 2 rounds of L-sit done unbroken and good ones too. Definitely not unbroken the rest of the way. Did some handstand shaping work for a few holds prior to hitting the freestanding each round. Still not where I need to be but feel it’s getting better.

AM

“Other CF Total”

5 min clock for each, 1 min transition, as many attempts as needed

Bench Press

OHS

Power Clean

235-235-245 – if I had a spotter I would’ve had the confidence to put more on the bar for the bench press. 235 was a small grind but there was definitely a little more there, was it 5 or 10 more, not sure but didn’t want to risk that. Put 245 on the bar for 2 different occasions for OHS but couldn’t jerk it from the back rack, not sure if it was just feeling sluggish or what, in warm up hit 225 easily from front rack (kind of combo’d power clean and OHS), so was expecting a really good number with OHS but was just a mental road block. On power clean, I hit 245, felt just really slow elbows coming through and made the elbows feel some pain. Elbows have been really really trending up and when I felt this just decided it was a good place to call it. Definitely was more there if I needed/really wanted it so I was happy with that overall.

MIdday/PM

For time

150 wall ball (20lbs)

25 burpee ring muscle ups

16:35 – (6:24 on wall ball) – couple of big wins here, at times I wanted to stop my original plan but I said no, just stay with plan and see what happens with brmu….wall ball plan was 25-25-25 – starting next set on the minute mark, 15’s I wanted to start a new set every 45sec, so got a little more rest but still stayed consistent with plan. At that point shoulder fatigue was real but I didn’t deviate off plan even though I wanted to on last 2 sets. BRMU general plan was 1 rep every 30sec for the first big chunk and then start hitting 1 rep every 20sec (did that on 2 different occasions for I’d say an overall 12 reps) and then when I got to 21 just went, starting to feel a little fatigue that I might could miss a rep but just focused on my mechanics in those situations.

Not feeling great today, my early day and haven’t adjusted to daylight savings time change of winding down at night yet. Going to meditate a little tonight and really try and get dinner earlier so the wind down process can start. Elbows are achy but have been giving them a lot of attention. Staying positive though and going to do everything i can to get things back swinging in the right direction for daily rhythms and health. 

A. Speed Squat Clean/Jerk: Work to a tough single for the day, w/ no reset in the front rack. Drive straight from clean into split jerk. Stop when you have to start pausing in front rack.

255 

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B. EMOM x 6-8:

Min 1: 3 TnG Hang Squat Clean Thrusters – 185lbs

Min 2: 3 Squat Snatch – 185lbs

Just didn’t feel good on the hang squat clean thruster, rack position was a little off at times and through off my rhythm and felt slow and not powerful out of the hole. Squat snatch was at least focused but was slow out of the hole on rep 3 on each set. 

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Front Squat: 3 singles @ 85-90%; rest as needed b/t each

305 – probably quite a bit higher than my current max, but it’s been such a rough week and didn’t feel great day, just wanted to go for it and have a personal victory for the day.

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2-3 sets

B-stance hip thrusts x 6/side

Side plank press ups x 10/side

American KB Swings: 25 reps – 2pd

Rest 45-60 sec b/t movements; Rest as needed b/t sets

3 sets – after not swinging kb in feels like forever i liked the big sets. And for some crazy strange reason it actually felt a little therapeutic on the elbow by the end of the 3rd sets.

4 sets

400m run, directly into

15-12-9 reps each

Row

Ski

AB

rest 5 min bt sets each

10:33 – 10:41 – 10:26 – 10:24 – felt good to run (but calves are pretty sore (Wednesday) – just pushed the paces a little more on the ski towards the end, stayed pretty sustainable on the bike and row. 

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Body saw planks 45 sec on, 1:15 rest x 4

This was much harder than i was expecting.