Ben Plotnicki

Today was a tough day to get a double in but I made it work. And was pretty good to have to get the work in when I was feeling a little off from the time change and tired. A little earlier than I wanted to, and having to get revved up. Great prep for hitting sessions when not feeling 100% physically and having to force the mind to get right. Also I cut my finger yesterday in the garden, no stitches needed but it’s a nice little cut.

AM

For times

1 snatch each @ 145-165-185-205lbs

rest walk 3 min x 3 sets

First set I missed 205 twice and just decided to call that set. 2nd one I also missed 205 twice and hit it a little after 3 minutes. On the 3rd set (2:10) , i decided to slow down a little for the first 3 lifts. In set 1 and 2 I was speeding through the 185 bar by 45-48 seconds and rushing the 205. Last set I just decided to wait a good 30-40sec bt lifts and then I smoked 205. 

+

EMOM x 10

Odd min – 5 front squats @ 65-70%

Even min – 3 power cleans + 3 shoulder to overhead @ 205lbs

225 on front squat and actually felt fast there. And holy shit this got dense. Front rack didn’t feel great on elbow but got better as I went. First rep of sto didn’t get enough leg drive but know we have a piece coming up in a few days so can get some practice there. 

+

BB hip thrusts x 8-10, with 2 sec pause at top of each, rest 2 min x 4

205 was convenient and went from the ground because didn’t see with shoulder support

PM

2 rounds for time

15 C2B

15 bar facing burpees

15 thrusters @ 75lbs

(rest 2 min)

2 rounds for time

14 OHS @ 75lbs

15 toes to bar

16 lateral box jump overs

4:01 & 3:26 – I rested 1:59 before starting the second part so i want some credit for that. I would say my biggest (in my perception of the moment) limiter in the 2nd round for the thruster was my rack position (wrist/thoracic mobility felt effected a little here, not sure if this is one of what could be many causes for elbow issues – or if this is just me searching for a hindsight or confirmation bias)……pace on first set of burpee were good. I think I glanced at the clock and time was 1:16ish….not as quick a transition to thruster as we need to have. But my whole plan was a fast transition back to c2b and break that up but I felt good and stayed in it. 2nd set of burpee took 2 quick stop and breath breaks but tried to move a little faster when I was moving. I did something that I have never down before and one of my fingers got caught in my shoelace. Not sure how. Last set of thruster had I pushed for all 15 at fast pace could’ve been sub 4, did 7 fast and then 4 with the breath at the top, and then finished 4 fast. 2nd piece instead of focusing on fast ohs made sure hips were open. Box jump overs was the only one I could improve my speed on. 2nd set was quicker with bounding over the last 10 reps.

A. Deadlifts 4,4,2,2,1. rest 3 min, building, but leave some in the tank

315-325-355-375-405

+

4 sets for times

6 DL @ 315lbs

8 dbl DB box step overs @ 35/hand

15 GHD situps

rest walk 2-3 min bt sets

1:28-1:25-1:25-1:28

+

3 rounds for time

30 wallballs @ 20lbs

30 row cals

3 rope climbs (15ft)

14:45 – took the rope climb very very conservative. I kind of looked at it like practicing rope climbs in a mixed environment. The elbows had been really irritated all week but with getting better at the lean back this actually felt decent. There was one point in the first round that I lost my feet completely at the top so i wasted quite a few seconds just trying to get my feet back on the rope. That made me more nervous for my elbows but was fine. Ascent in the 3rd round was great, it felt like what we’ve been trying to achieve all along, 2 pulls! Just the decent was a little off today. Row pace tried to do a mix of ⅓ at 1200 and never dropping below 1100.

3 sets

Reverse bear crawls with banded KB drag x 50ft

1-arm KB high windmills x 4/side

Teacup change plate rotations x 3/direction/side

Active arch/hollow hang from bar x 3 iterations for control (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj-ibFuHVXC/)

rest as needed

done

+

High hang muscle snatch x 1/above knee muscle snatch x 1/below knee muscle snatch x 1 – new complex every 45 sec x 6, light load

Stayed at 75

+

Dip squat snatch x 2 – new complex every 90 sec x 8, building every 2

95-115-135-155

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Below knee paused squat snatch x 1.1, rest 8-12 sec bt lifts, 2-3 min bt sets x 4-5 working sets

155-165-175-185 (missed 2nd one, technique miss) – 185

+

Every 2 min x 6 sets

Odd sets – 12 c2b + 12 thrusters @ 95lbs

40-41-42 – c2b didn’t feel super crisp and smooth but also didn’t do a ton of movement prep for it

Even sets – 40 DU’s + 12 PC/PJ @ 95lbs

1:00 – :58 – 1:02 tried push press/press/push jerk combinations to see what I could use to speed up pace/rep and evaluating heart rate relative to movement

+ (rest to recovery)

For time @ high effort

15-12-9 bike cals

10-8-6 BBJO @ 24in

4:30 – this was a fun, quick good hurt

AM

intent of this session is NOT speed, its mindful breathing and volume work at low intensities. ensure you treat it as such, should be at conversation effort throughout.

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

This was amazing and I felt so good….and I even foam rolled, i hardly ever foam roll with structure.

PM

Burgener CJ warmup

check

+

A – Clean and jerk doubles @ 75-80%, rest no longer than 20 sec bt reps, to recovery bt sets x 3 sets

230 – 245×2, mindlessly pulled the 2.5’s off and had the 10’s close by, so didn’t mean to jump that but rode with it. Not sure if it’s not used to lifting at home, but everything felt a little bit heavier this evening. Was all clean and high quality but not as crisp and as “easy” as I had wished

B – Push Press – 4 sets of 2 TNG reps, rest 2 min (only last set tough)

165-185-205-225

C – Front squat – 3×3 @ 85-88%, rest 2-3 min

255 – speed was good but just felt grindy, but it didn’t look grindy, that old it felt heavier than it looked deal

D1 – Twisting GHD hip extensions x 5/direction

D2 – GHD situps x 12-15 for quality, rest as needed x 3-4 sets (just touches for the day, adjust volume as you see fit)

Did these 2 in the am just because I was at the gym and was planning on lifting at home in the garage for the pm so just streamlined…..went for 15 ghd and starting to feel confident again in this controlled environment

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.