Ben Plotnicki

Let’s start off with an update on the QL. Hit most of the movements you shared last night. Also laid on the heating for a some time last night. It did not wake me up at all and felt so so this am. It just feels really really sore. Warming up abs starting the workout it was very present and even warming up the step overs I was a little nervous and lowered my expectations for the workout. And after the 40 cals adrenaline and blood flow helped and was not an issue after that. 

tttTD (row/DB)

11:28

Row splits (1:45.3 @ 1344, 1:27.8 @ 1204, 1:00 @ 1167, 27.2 @ 1304) —— step overs 12/10/8, 6/8/6, 10, 5 – rested too much on the breaks of step overs, but also tried to get the first step up within 5 seconds or less. I will also so that the mental limiter on step overs were grip and traps, I know that step overs do challenge grip as a limitation so that wasn’t just mental, but traps was bigger mental for sure

+

Every 3 min x 6-8 sets @ 88-90% effort

Bike 18 cals

Row 18 cals

rest walk remainder of window, lets put these paces around the middle sets for last week and shoot for consistency, only getting faster on last 1-2 if you’re feeling good and repeating the efforts

2:2:3-2:19-2:18-2:14-2:10-2:09-2:08-2:03 – was tight on time in the am and had a window to start this and I tried w/in 6-8 minutes of finishing and wasn’t quite ready, so to a short break, ran some errands and had some cookies and coffee and the back felt a little better. Maybe the cookies helped?

PM – update, as I’m typing this and watching football, I have been hitting up those movements you sent and hitting up some e-stem too. The QL feels pretty good, there is no limitations in any major movements, but if I move awkwardly while sitting down or just odd not normal positions it lets me know it’s still there. I also feel it if I get an excessive posterior tilt especially while sitting.

I was very apprehensive about training today as my QL was super irritated and kind of feel like it was pressing on a nerve, not to the point of having any effect on my extremities, but more spot discomfort, almost like a super super deep sore type of feeling. After the squat snatch I spent a little more time addressing and it got better.

EMOM x 8:

3 TnG Squat Snatch @ 115-135lbs, tech work

Worked at 135 – felt good, negative was really firing up my ql

+

EMOM x 5

20 sec AMRAP TNG clusters @ 135lbs

6-5-5-5-5 – I do not think I could’ve done a 6th set with hitting 5 reps 

+

3 sets of 3 TNG DL @ 275lbs for time

rest walk 3 min x 3 (27 total reps)

24-24-26 – after the first set, I started messing around with mixing my grip, 3rd set just felt it getting heavy

+

3 sets

30 Second max reps strict hspu

15 sec transition

45 Second max reps double unders

15 sec transition

60 Second Max Wall Balls @ 20lbs

rest walk 3 min bt sets

First – 15-88-32

second – 13(7/6)-97-32

third – 11(8/3)-94-32

handstands were done on one of the softer cushioned fold out mats that absorb a lot so good confidence there. I didn’t miss any of my dubz, just started trying to move faster a little bit sooner on rounds 2&3. Wall ball, felt pretty comfortable here for the most part, the biggest fatigue I felt was in my traps, legs were good but shoulders might not have been able to handle a whole lot bigger set. 

For times

HSW 50ft

5 ring MU

3 squat cleans @ 245 + 5 squat cleans @ 205lbs

3 ring MU

15 row cals @ >1600+ cal/hr, get in quickly and get to working effort quickly, but dont redline)

rest walk 3-5 min x 3-4 sets

(high end volume – 200ft HSW, 32 RMU, 32 squat cleans)

5:23-5:40* – (as soon as I turned rower on it went to reboot the whole system so I had to run about 60ft to the next closest rower. I’m pretty sure this set would have been about the same time or maybe a second faster – 6:35 – transitions were slow, handstand walks slowed down a little and I didn’t move to the rings very fast. Same with the 245. And I also missed a rep @ 205 because a foot got caught on a split in the rubber. I could feel myself fading a little in this round so that is where i decided to call it. 

Breakdown of the day, for the one time before that I though I was feeling better and realized I wasn’t, but this morning, tody, something just felt different mentally and physically. I was hoping I wasn’t setting myself up for false hope. My 245 barbell felt solid and more comfortable. Goal was to do 1 rep every 20sec and wasn’t far off. 205 i stayed on top of it and just went when i felt right. Handstand walk on set one and to were 33 and 32 sec, pretty happy about that. Even set 3 with a longer break bt the 25’s was 40sec. Muscle ups, 85-90% of them felt the way they’re supposed to and a few of them just really felt the drills come through. Row’s were in the 1400’s and it didn’t feel like a painful effort to get there. I will say that my back feels super super tired now, it reminds me of the times when you would hammer positional work for what felt like 3 days in a row and I know how much better I got from it

+

loaded GHD hip extensions x 4-5 + unloaded GHD hip extensions x 10-12, rest 2 min x 4

5 and 12 @ 25

A – Lightly loaded kang squats 5×5, rest 90-120 sec

Worked at 85

B1 – 1-arm Bottoms up KB overhead presses from standing x 7/side, rest 30 sec bt arms

35 – 

B2 – 1-arm front plank on low ring x 20 sec/side, rest 10 sec bt arms, 50 sec after both x 3 sets

Ummmmm might be one of the hardest core exercises I’ve ever done

C1 – Banded straight arm PVC lat pulldowns from hinge position x 10-12, rest 45 sec

12

C2 – Prone scapular swimmers from floor x 20 sec continuous motion, rest 45 sec x 3 sets

done

+

12 min AMRAP @ 60-70% effort

Bear crawl 30ft

Horse walk 30ft

KB crossbody carry 30ft

Lizard crawl 30ft

Ostrich walk 30ft

KB crossbody carry 30ft

On top of this 12 minute amrap – i’ve been feeling a little stiff so I added in 3 rounds of 3 double kb overhead squats @ 26/hand + 5 sotts press @ 65 + 7 narrow grip overhead squats. Sotts press used to be my jam and they were so freaking tough today, so I need to incorporate them in my warm ups pretty frequently. My strategies for having a narrow grip overhead squat are good, normal foot width and thumbs were 3-4 inches apart, this was solid and felt good but the other 2 were a bitch!

A – 2-pos Halting clean grip deadlift x 4, rest 2 min x 4 sets (pause off floor and below knee, thinking about strong positions and appropriate tension through posterior chain and lats)

205 x 2, 225 x 2 – 2sec hold at each position and 3sec negative. Since this is the weight I felt those limitations I thought this was a good place to start. Could’ve maybe gone a bit more but was dialed in with the tempo and tension

+

Every 4 min x 3

8 Hang Power snatches @ 95lbs

40 DU’s

90 sec row @ 1150-1250 cal/hr

Each couplet portion took about 28-40sec power snatch got better each round as I felt a little groove there. Sport on in the row, and I would honestly say it was about a 7-8 RPE out of 10 to hit those numbers. I relied on leg drive and good technique and focused on breathing.

+

Every 4 min x 3

8 deadlifts @ 225lbs

10 kHSPU

90 sec bike @ 330-350 watts

Couplet took about 28-30sec, hspu felt really good, where the row was about a 7 or 8, this was more around an 8-9 out of 10. It was much harder to hold this effort. And my quads felt a little blown up after. 

also worth noting bt the two cyclical pieces. heart rate read 160’s on the rower and about the same or a few ticks lower, but I felt I could’ve gone another 45-60sec on the rower and the bike would’ve been a bigger fight that would’ve sacrificed some energy expenditure that might have been hard to come back from

+

Front rack loaded wall sit 60 sec on, 2 min off x 3 (parallel, feet narrow and toes forward)

Double kb’s at 20/hand, should’ve gone a little heavier but this still stucked

tttTD (12 min AMRAP)

184 – I had a ton of negative self talk getting back in the wall ball. I feel like Maverick in Top Gun after he lost goose. For a brief second o was close to stopping in the set of wall balls. My heart rate according to my watch after my first set of 40 wall balls was in the 160’s, I thought that was way too high way too early. Had a potty party for a little bit after. Right now I know we’re missing some capacity but I also feel that it has hit my mental toughness pretty hard as well. So I need to start working on some pre-training strategies that when things fall apart how will I mentally manage them.

Build to tough triple deadlift

365 – i almost wanted to quit after this….there wasn’t much more in the tank, it was slow off the ground but there was never any question that I could get all 3, but after I hit this one I wasn’t even going to make another jump. I did make a big jump to that so that may be a minor factor.

+

For time

10 deadlifts @ 315lbs

15 sHSPU

15 power cleans @ 225lbs

25 kHSPU

25 shoulder to overhead @ 135lbs

40 bar facing burpees

15:36 – I will say this went a little better than expected. I completely planned on having to modify the loading on the power clean mid workout. It without a doubt took the bulk of the time, close second the shoulder to overhead. I just really feel my sto technique, i do not get enough leg drive, so need to work on that isolated and in warm up. 315 unbroken, that at least put me in a better place after wanting to quit. 15 strict hspu went unbroken, I felt I could’ve done about 4-5 more UB. ummmmm……….and I just now realized i fucked up, i did 20 power cleans smh……my eye sight is starting to go bad. Do you know if covid has any effect on vision? Ok, so now I don’t feel as completely shitty. I did my first 2 reps quickly after I changed loads, i just wanted to see what happens. I did try to do a couple of quick doubles and triples, I couldn’t keep that pace but I was happy that I was able to do that. Khspu did 11, changed one side of plates, 9 changed the other. I think I could’ve done it in 2 sets, but wasnt comfortable breathing like that while inverted. STO was just a shit show I feel. Burpee just tried to keep moving and with 15 left I tried to push the pace with what I had left

+

Accumulate 50 banded BB OH presses with 1 sec pause overhead

This took me about as long as the metcon did, I used the band that I would say is average size and holy shit this became super hard

A. Squat Snatch: Work to a tough single for the day

200 – my right side felt like it was not punching up against the bar very well at all. Don’t know if I rushed my warm up and not getting things activated appropriately but was just missing some confidence the receiving position.

B. Back Squat: 10,8,6,4; rest 2-3 min – 65,70,75,80% 

235-245-265-285 – definitely not true percentages, and all flet decent except the set of 4. Maybe couldn’ve grinded out 2 more reps at that load

C. Squat Snatch: Build to 90% of A

175, first few reps were not pretty but cleaned it up but definitely the right side and feeling like thoracic, rhomboid struggling to fire aggressively and sequentially. 

+

For time:

100′ HSW 

rest 15 Seconds 

20 Ring Muscle Ups AFAP (start with amrap unbroken set)

Some good things happened here that I was pretty happy about. 1:47 on hs walk, had a really good mind set going into this and wanted to attack it, the first 75ft was done in 49 seconds, came down turned around and kicked right back up with confidence, but it was the 70th feet that things got a little sloppy. I started to lose control and was pretty confident I was going to make the 75 but i did start to stumble and started to drift out of my lane and fell across the line. This slowed me down to kick right back up into the last 25ft, so rested, maybe a little long for sure. Then rmu was 4:48, hit 6 for my first set, then 3&3 at that point I decided I was going to do sets of 2’s to finish, and my next set of 2 felt great and thought this is a great rep scheme I feel great and I’m going to take a short rest and hop right into the next set of 2 with a short break, then I jumped back up and after the first rep I had that feeling that my hands were not sliding over the rings well so I only did 1. Then did 2 and 3 to finish.

rest 3min 

Assault 90 Seconds @ 350-375 watts

50′ DB FRWL @ 50/hand

8 Squat Snatch @ 135lbs

2 Squat Snatch @ 185lbs

Were the good things happened from that gymnastics work, this wasn’t as good, just felt like breathing was hard. For all the feelings of being better yesterday, I’m wondering how much breathing with the barbell and the tension and rigidity is still affected when there is not that level of tension on machines. Time – 7:18 (oh yeah missed 2 lifts, 2 at 135 and 1 @ 185, and actually the first rep at 185 felt better than all @ 135 so I think I rushed my second rep more from a technical perspective then recovery

rest 3 min 

Assault 90 Seconds @ 350-375 watts

10 DB Box Step Ups @ 50lbs

8 Hang Squat Clean @ 155lbs

2 Squat Clean and Jerk @ 225lbs

3:41 – felt a little better here, a little higher step up for the step ups more out of convenience because the hardest part about this workout was knowing that I had a shit ton of stuff to clean up, so that was a slight more grind than a 24” would be. 5/3 on the hang and the 225 barbell was tough, didn’t feel strong at all and the first jerk was shaky but 2nd one felt so much better. I’m being patient and putting in the work, but damn I want my strength back.

Every 3 min x 10 sets @ 88-90% effort

Bike 15 cals

Row 15 cals

rest walk remainder of window, start around 2:00-2:05 finish time and try to get a little faster each set

I will do my best to remember each set as exact as I can…..2:05 – 1:52 – 1:48 (started resetting my bike every set after this) – 1:45 – 1:42 – 1:40 – 1:38 – 1:34 – 1:22 – 1:09 – I really felt great and back closer to my normal self today. – I know it was written for 88-90% effort, but I was feeling so close to where I think we need to be I wanted to push the boundaries a little to see how I would feel and recover.

3 min clock

20 1-arm alternating DB snatches @ 50lbs

50 DU’s

AMRAP burpees over DB in remaining time

(rest 2 min)

3 min clock

20 lateral burpees over DB

50 DU’s

AMRAP 1-arm alternating DB snatches in remaining time

(rest 2 min)

3 min clock

15 bar MU

AMRAP DU’s in remaining time

Amrap burpee -> 31 (my goal here was 30 burpee, I was pretty confident I could hold a 3 sec burpee, i felt like I started slowing down with about 30sec to go but was able to keep moving) –

amrap snatch – 26 (this was pretty tough, burpee were done at 59 seconds, quick transition to rope but clipped on rep 1, so I took a deep breath and then got into my rhythm and then clipped on 49, broke twice on db work, felt like I was going to throwup at one point during this rest time. –

amrap dubz ->126 my original place was to do sets of 3’s on bmu to force myself to take small sets and “semi-short rest” I adjusted on the fly but didn’t get too crazy, did sets or 4-4-4-3, plan was to start a new set every 25sec, in hindsight, I wished I had tried starting a new set every 20 just to speed it up and see how it went and try and force myself to go when I didn’t want to. Quick transition to rope and got 25 reps right away and then took a break and starting at the 2:10 mark with goal/hopes and should be able to finish unbroken for the last 50 seconds. For the most part I was pretty happy with this portion as the shorter sets of bmu is a mental weakness because I would rather do the bigger set so I can rest longer. But this was good for me.

Also, was really pleased with this effort/output today as I didn’t feel 100% but I didn’t need any longer rest than was written and was able to find a way to keep moving. The only place I really struggled with the keep moving was the db snatch. 

+

15 min bike ride @ 200 watts, controlled breathing throughout, decompression focus

Was hard to get into the 200’s without feeling like I was working too hard, but stayed mostly around 196 watts