Ben Plotnicki

tttTD (row/pistols/MU)

17:26 – 7:21 on row – finished pistols @ 9:49

I still don’t feel 100% but this is the closest I have felt in 3 weeks. The biggest indicator was that I just couldn’t maintain the effort on the rower of the pace where I wanted to be. I did find find in warm up that jefferson curls really helped me get loose in my spine, before I felt really stiff and struggled to get a good position there. I also did’t feel as enduing as I would like to on pistols but I did find a good rhythm and pushed well at certain parts. I did mostly 3’s and 2’s on rmu. I did miss one around rep 24 I believe. I also did rest way too much.

Bike 100 cals, steady

Around 7

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10 min flowing through

10 banded X walk/direction

10 banded psoas march/leg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Z9ncB69eI 

10 calf raise w/ 4s eccentric

10 donnie thompson banded ankle drill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GSI4R2rc6s&t=39s

This was good stuff

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A1 – Banded psoas march from standing with hands on wall x 20 alternating steps, rest 45 sec

A2 – Single leg deck squats x 6-8 alternating reps, rest 90 sec x 3

B1 – Single leg DB RDL to muscle snatch x 6/side, rest 30 sec

@ 35

B2 – Sandbag bear hug good mornings @ 100lbs x 6-8 tempo reps, rest 90 sec x 3 sets

Couldn’t find the 100 pound bag in the gym today so I had to use the 150 yuck – so I stayed on the low end @ 6

C1 – Banded TKE x 30/side with VMO squeeze at top of each, rest 30 sec

C2 – Loaded wall sit at parallel with narrow stance x 45 sec, rest 90 sec x 3 sets

26lb kb

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Bike erg 100 cals, steady, slightly faster than warmup

Around 5:30

How much could a day like yesterday effect today. Yesterday was all machine based with around 24 minutes of work on the machines. Today just felt like I had a hard time from creating a high amount of tension in the hole of my cleans and front squats. I would receive the bar or lower to the bottom of the squat and felt like I couldn’t explode out of the hole. We know strength is down a little but just noticed that creating effective tension was harder and curious of the role of yesterday’s session.

Squat clean tech;

– 10 reps @60%

– 10 reps @70%

– 10 reps @75-85%

* rest as needed bw reps, focus on technique and speed

175 – 205 – 225 – 225 felt a little easier than the 205. Something else that this was really good for, at times I felt my chest staying forward and lifting with more of a hinge, I thought about the ankle/calves classroom and thought if that’s my strategy that’s fine but I shouldn’t be doing it at such a light load, but not having a time clock and having some good awareness allowed me to focus and fix/correct be dialed in with these issues

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3-4 Rounds for times:

5 Front Squat @ 65-70% 1RM from the ground

20 Bar Facing Burpees

Rest as needed

1:10 – 1:10 – 1:07 @ 185 – I also tried on set 2 and 3 to start from a “starting mat” which make it a little more unique and fun. Finished the front squats around 13/14 and started the burpee at 15 so was happy with my burpee speed. On the 3rd set, my thought wasn’t pushing fater per se but how could I improve my speed and i tried to get down and up off the ground quicker. 

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Cossack Squat: 5 reps/side x 5 sets; rest 1 min – barefoot, working deep end range

done

Not sure if you have any progressions off of this. Was thinking this might be a good barometer for when my cardiac output gets back to normal. High end intervals were much easier than the low end. Mentally wanted to try and find closer to sustainable efforts in order to keep the rest intervals the same and be able to come out of them and still attack the high end. 

Ski 10 cals @ 1300+ cal/hr

Ski 20 cals @ 1000+ cal/hr

rest 2 min

Bike erg 12 cals @ 1600+ cal/hr

Bike erg 24 cals @ 1200+ cal/hr

rest 2 min

Row 14 cals @ 1800+ cal/hr

Row 28 cals @ 1300+ cal/hr

rest 2 min x 4 sets

Most high numbers were attainable or close to attainable. Ski was in mid to upper 1200’s, and lows were 900’s. Bike high effort was on low interval was in the 1100’s with frequent dips into the 12’s. Row was “easy” to hit 1800but was struggling to stay in 1100’s on longer cal interval.

Had a much better mindset going into today and just the acceptance. And knowing that I need to be flexible. I do think this feeling just put me in a better place

EMOM x 6

Odd min – 8 thrusters @ 95lbs + AMRAP C2B until 30 sec mark

Even min – 8 bar facing burpees + AMRAP C2B until 30 sec mark

8&6/9&5/11&4 for sets 3-6 went on a modified emom structure. Did 3&4 as written but rested 2:30 after 4 and did 5&6 as written. Set 1&2 had a theoretical rep scheme in mind and rested 1 min after thruster/c2b and just wanted to see how I felt with the 30sec window. 

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EMOM x 6

AMRAP 30 sec 1-arm alternating DB hang clean and split jerk @ 70lbs

8’s across and whoops I forgot to split jerk. 6 sets every 90 sec with 30 sec window of work 

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EMOM x 6

Odd min – 8 power snatches @ 95lbs + AMRAP toes to bar until 30 sec mark

Even min – 8 OHS @ 95lbs + AMRAP toes to bar until 30 sec mark

Power snatch – 5-5-6 OHS – 9-11-10 – did clock on every 2 min with still the 30sec window

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EMOM x 6

1 snatch @ 185lbs + 3 ring MU

Started a new set every 2:30 minutes. – this was really good with the feeling of both movement. What I haven’t told you yet is I didn’t do the throwdown on saturday because I didn’t have a partner and jumped in with michelles work, and it was a lot of gymnastics work so I’m super happy with everything today and being a little sore with everything. 

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3 rope climbs for speed

rest walk 2 min bt sets x 3

This felt really good too, goal was to complete the reps of 3 under 30sec and with using the new footwork i felt semi efficient going up, still use a little too much bicep but the descent feels so so so much better.

Squat clean and split jerk – 1 rep every 45 sec x 12, build in load every 4, last 4 should be tough to keep this time duration but no misses

225-230-245 – really discouraged at how tough this felt today. Coming out of the hole on 245 was focusing on position with good elbows but was not as fast as I want or need to be. 

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Clean grip deadlift – take 5 sets to find a tough TNG triple, rest as needed

325 was the heaviest of 3, after 325 went to 355 and got 2 reps in, they were slow but felt strong and started feeling losing the bar around my shins/knees – just wasn’t going to fight to save it, I do think I could’ve fought a little harder for it but just didn’t think it was worth it

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3 rounds for time

15 deadlifts @ 275lbs

15 box jumps to 30in

(rest 6-8 min)

3 rounds for time

25 cal AB

12 burpee box jump overs @ 24in

8:07 & 9:43 – the deadlift didn’t feel terrible but wished I could’ve done at least one round unbroken. 2 sets in round 1 and 3 in round 2&3. Only reason I broke into 3 sets in those rounds was I really wanted to make sure I had the deadlift bar in my hand within 4-5 seconds after last jump. Box Jumps were just slow and probably was what was hardest for me in this piece. On bike and burpee, first round was sub 3 but don’t remember by how much. Getting back on the bike was painful. So from there I decided just survive on the bike and make sure you are about 50 seconds on the remaining rounds of burpee and I found a rhythm to make that happen.

HSW skill

50ft bear crawl with straight legs and straight arms

50ft crab walk, try to keep hips high

50ft inch worms, arms straight throughout

50ft walk with swing into handstand

Worst warm up/skill work ever. I thought a 50ft inchworm was going to be bad but the crab walk was by far the worst. I mean absolutely horrible

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Accumulate 60 alternating shoulder taps from wall facing HS hold, controlled shift of weight, try to move slowly without jerking

Really focused on pushing my toes to the sky each time I shifted my bodyweight. I also noticed as I got tired my hands trying to get away from the wall so at least felt that was losing a little bodyline position.

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6-8 sets @ high/repeatable effort:

10 Bar Facing Burpees

50 DU’s

10 toes to bar

Bike erg 500m

Rest/Walk 90 sec bt sets

2:32-2:28-2:26-2:24-2:27-2:33-2:30 (I did rest an extra 90sec after set 6 to 7 and was not a natural effort to keep the bike over 2:00/1000m and that’s when I knew I needed to call it. Main goal whole time was to keep the set of burpee under 30sec. Only missed on double under in the first round. Also pushed rest on every to 105 sec bt 2&3, and 4&5.

Last note/data point, bodyweight consistently before trip was 202-205, this morning I hopped on the scale out of curiosity and it said 194 and that was with pants on. Doesn’t tell us much but definitely says something. But I will say there were times I felt a little heavy and was thinking that I’d like to be closer to 200, didn’t really want it to flat out fall off but maybe a blessing. One thought it for the whole vacay trip and a few days since back was no creatine in my days and that could be the cause and effect.

Ring MU warmup

Hip bridge single leg extension x 6/side with hard glute squeeze at top of each rep

Reverse table top plank pressup x 6 with hard glute squeeze at top of each rep

(Hollow rocks x 3 into hip extension x 1) * 3 reps

1-2 times through this series

Done – 2 sets

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Ring MU snap pull with hip extension into turnover from feet on floor – 3-5 reps (hard pull on rings timed with hip extension to generate momentum)

Ring MU pop swing with snap pull from hang – 3-5 reps (swing feet, then stop them abruptly and push hips forward/up)

Strict dips for depth x 2-3 + kipping dips with pause in bottom before kip x 3-5, rest as needed x 2-3 sets

Added in some positional pulling work on the ring thing – accumulating 15 reps or so with some tempo dip work + dips from external rotation and wide grip 

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E2MOM x 8-10 (4-5 of each for quality)

Odd sets – 25 cal row @ steady effort (picture a pace that you could hold for 50-60 cals/round, long pulls, steady breathing)

Even sets – 4-5 ring MU for quality/crispness

10 sets – rmu were 4 sets of 5 and the last set of 4 – row pace was in the upper 1100’s and low 1200’s I even sprint started one round for 12 sec. On set 4 I wanted to see what staying in the 1100’s did for time domain, the time difference was minimal, however that was the round I felt my heart rate got a little bit higher. It was also in that set that I felt my muscle ups get a little squirrely. On rep 4 of muscle up in set 4 I felt myself pull too early and not sure if the row was a cause and effect or if mentally just got a little away from me. In set 5 I felt my mechanics of holding a good hollow got away from me a bit and on rep 3 and 4 I didn’t keep as tight as I needed so when falling and swinging into rep 5 I was way off and didn’t even make an attempt for the 5th rep. Muscle ups felt great in the beginning, was focusing on trying to stay sustainable on row but might have been working a big harder to keep the pace as the sets went on. Watch said heart rate was around the upper 140’s/low 150’s went getting off the machines and close to the same for the gymnastics work.

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Loaded GHD sorenson hold – 30 sec on, 90 sec off x 5-6 sets (hold a load against chest that challenges the time domain but stays doable)

6 sets + 15lb plate in chest

Doesn’t matter whats going on, but I’m not where I need to be but, with the WIC events as a good humbling experience and internal motivator, I will just focus on staying the course and continue to push through. I know it will take time, and hopefully not too long but we will get back to where we are supposed to be. 

WIC Event 2 (RMU/DB/HSW)

2 rounds + 45 feet – and the last 5-10 feet became a little dangerous as I was just trying to go as fast as possible. Muscle ups went well, of the 5 sets – 3 were ub, I just knew I was resting too much so knew even resting more than I should be I wanted to minimize the time I would rest if I broke them up. I moved ok but getting inverted after the first handstand hold is what made me feel the most uncomfortable from a mental and physical breathing stand point. 

12/19

WIC Event 3 (chipper)

6:06 on the burpee – 20 bar muscle up – this was just a struggle all the way around. Right from the jump, my legs were way more tired than they ever should be on the walking lunge and the burpee I just didn’t have another gear to push. I finished the lunge around 2:33. From that point on I just could never catch my breath. I even missed a jerk on rep 18 as I was trying to push the pace. 

I will be patient, not get frustrated, except the fact and continue to push on.

WIC Event 1 (row t2b clean)

24:51 (3495) – today was a huge mental and physical obstacle to overcome. Of course the fear and anxiety that I did have the shortest stint of covid. There was definitely something going on that made it hard to breathe upon getting back into training upon my return. Could it truly have been the time off and have some altitude issues, very possibly. So on with the info from the day. I opened the first 2 rounds at 245, had I kept this load I would not have finished. The first round I was about 5 minutes and the second round I got off TTB at the 10 minute mark or so. I didn’t look at the clock when I got back on the rower, but I knew that I needed to cycle the bar faster and decided at that point I was going to strip the bar during ttb breaks. So I stripped to 225 and feel I cycled the bar very well on rounds 3 and 4 and started shifting the clock back in my favor. Row splits were all under 3 except for the last set. TTB on the last set went 8/7/ and then couldn’t do the last 5 UB. was just really pushing the transitions on the last round as I wanted to get that time back down under 5 minutes per round after I started the way I did. Breathing felt kind of out of control at one point but the mental breakthrough was that I felt OK and knew I was going to be fine.