Ben Plotnicki

Open Workout 17.5 (with DBL DB’s @ 50/hand)

12:58 – Except with DB’s – brought my DB’s with me and figured this would be a good and easy one to do. Doing this with DB’s was a huge game changer for this workout. A couple of outliers here, warming up without any additional equipment takes tons of discipline. DU were a bigger limiter due to shoulder fatigue and grip of DB’s, would go unbroken in a few rounds then would break once or twice in a round, then would go another 2-3 rounds unbroken. One thing that I tried to do, that I didn’t always used to do is speed up my DU and this is where I would miss. I started each round for my first 10 slow and controlled and would say, oh i’m good push it and speed up. I approached this workout with a goal of being 85% effort and it came at me with 110% intensity. My lats were a little sore so holding the db’s in good rack position got tiring as the rounds started adding up. When my lats were working hard to hold good position my shoulder pressing endurance felt tested. This was extremely tough and could be a number of other factors involed but regardless it was a great challenge and felt some of my “alleged” strengths tested by using db’s and how that changed the game.

Find a tough below knee hang squat snatch single

Clean crisp 195 – not so clean crisp 205

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Open workout 17.3

117

No fitter than in 2017….just kidding. I know I broke up c2b big time and had I thought about it more I might not have done that due to knowing I would get bottlenecked at 225. Had quick single and drop on 95 and 135, my first set @ 185 felt a bit like a struggle, I even missed 1 lift @ 185, I felt my limiter here was pulling endurance. My back was tired and I was forced to press the issue in round 2 and 3. Finished my last rep in round 3 with maybe about 5-7 seconds to spare. Did 9 unbroken reps of c2b in that round because I wanted to take a long rest before attempting 225. When I set up, just had no power left and the low back felt extremely tired. I know this is not a workout to test c2b capacity at all but they feel really solid these days

Part 1:

A. Squat snatch; accumulate 4-8 singles @75+% 1rm; rest as needed

175-185×4, 195×3

B. Squat clean and jerk; accumulate 4-8 singles @75+% 1rm; rest as needed

225×4, 245×1

C. Back squat; 3×3; rest as needed

275-285-295

Part 2:

1-2 sets

10 power clean and jerk AFAP 135/95#

15 deadlift AFAP 315/220#

as needed to recovery

2:09

I had to bring the bar back down to my shoulder from overhead as going straight from overhead to the ground hurt the shoulder just a little bit. This made the time take a little longer. And I should’ve picked the deadlift bar upright away but at that weight I got intimidated. As soon as I did my first rep I got it in my mind I was going to break it up in 3 sets. I did 6, dropped and rested a little longer then picked it up and decided to fight and grind it out and then did 9. I was happy with that. 

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1-2 sets:

40 wall ball

10 front squat 225/155#

rest as needed to recovery

3:07

What life was in me, this one set took the rest of the life out of me. I gamed the wall ball way too much, took several planned breaks but I wanted to try the quick drop and hands on right away. I was tired in general after the wall ball and first rep of the front squat I decided I’m not putting the bar down, I do not want to do another clean, the only way I’m breaking is if I miss a rep. Happy to grind this one out too, but I’m sure the stimulus was intended a little different 

Part 3:

1 min amrap strict pull ups

rest 30 sec

2 min amrap bar muscle up

rest 30 sec

3 min amrap TTB

16-13-41

Doing this with someone else was the perfect recipe. I did strict pull ups all in 4’s, BMU in 3’s and all the good positions I normally have in gymnastics work, I did not have because of the fact that I was on the clock with someone else forced me to rush movements instead of focus on mechanics, this was a good reminder for me to stay focused on good position and trust in what you do, especially when breathing was high. TTB did in 5’s and felt the breakdown happen around rep 30 when I started to just chip away. 

I was pretty under fueled for today, and a little tired. I learned some good stuff with myself today, I just need to make sure it carries over in other similar scenarios.

30 sec row

30 sec rest

30 sec AB

30 sec rest

30 sec ski

30 sec rest

x 10-12 (start moderate and pick up pace for each every 3 sets as comfortable pushing on row and bike with knee)

Did 10 sets w/increasing pace. I wanted the volume so I pulled back on set 11&12. The ski was the only one that I was unable to make aggressive pace increases. With the bike sets 7-10 was hitting upwards of 500 watts, row was hitting 1500+ cal/hr and ski was struggling to get much higher than upper 1100’s. 

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8 min box breathing from supine @ 3162 tempo

done

Ring MU warmup

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

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjwrrFzWwcM)

Really liked this one but I can never ever come close to looking like David Durante so I hate seeing him demo stuff. Would rather see you or Max in this demo LOL

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

I need to do this more often

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

Didn’t really quite know what to do when transitioning to hip extension

1-2 times through this series

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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 – https://youtu.be/2Dq6NbpRar4?t=110)

This was good and has tons of value

Ring MU pop swing with snap pull from hang – 3-5 reps (swing feet, then stop them abruptly and push hips forward/up – https://youtu.be/N4Q9JDRcAac?t=98)

Got better with this each time

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

Took a while for the strict dip to loosen up and feel comfortable

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Ring MU – 2-3 reps for speed/quality x 2-3 sets, rest as needed 

I always feel like my best kip happens on the 3rd rep

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For time

20 power snatches @ 75lbs

15 ring MU

4:37

Took a really conservative approach to this even with the barbell. Probably shouldn’t have with the barbell in hindsight, but just thought I was getting baited into somewhere with the fatigue into muscle ups. Muscle ups went 4-4-4-3 – a funny thing happened towards the end. The drills and the snap pull back on the rings made sense towards the end. First time doing the drills and it wasn’t engrained in my brain from the start, but that was a cool feeling towards the end. I know I rested too long bt sets, but it’s just a good feeling to feel no pain when the body gets warmed up. This was also the reason I didn’t push for bigger sets. 

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14-16 sets, new set every 2 min

Odd sets – 20 row cals @ 1300-1400 cal/hr

Even sets – 20 AB cals @ 425-500 watts

Did 14 sets, I originally wanted to do 16, but from set 9 on I had to work a little harder to keep the numbers from dipping below the target range. Set 13 on the rower I dipped below the range a little more than I would’ve liked, so I decided to finish at 14 and hit the back and stay in the high 400’s

tttTD (AB->10RFT)

18:29

(2:41 off bike)

5 rounds down @ the 10 min(ish mark)

For all the confidence I had from my burpee work yesterday, it definitely started strong and then faded around round 5 or 6. Overhead squat cadence was slow and methodical, should’ve trusted myself and pushed faster, round for round not that big of a deal but over the course of 10 rounds I know that added up. My legs were pretty tired going into the day. TTB felt pretty good, I started getting dizzy in the 6th round and that made me take a longer path to the bar extending that transition. The one transition I felt really good about was after burpee into the OHS.

A – Hang Muscle snatch x 3 + Snatch balance x 3, new complex every 2 min x 6 (95-115)

95 for 5 – 115 on the last

B – Below knee hang squat snatch double, take 5 sets to find tough load for the day

185 

Load felt really good, the only reason I called it there is I wasn’t ready to control the negative at heavier loads on the shoulder 

C1 – 15 thrusters @ 95lbs, rest 20 sec

C2 – 10 bar facing burpees (finish these sub 45 sec), rest 20 sec

C3 – 15 thrusters @ 95lbs, rest 3 min x 3 sets

Making the 10 burpee under the 45sec was not a problem at all, I would say I was bt 35-40sec each round. I even tried something here that I never have and that was not turning the same way for every single rep. Had a good pattern and plan to make for a good consistent turn. The second round of thruster, did the pause and breath at the top. The 2nd set was of course a fight but I trusted my squat mechanics and tried to keep the breathing in a good place.

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For time

40 row cals

30 wallballs @ 30lbs

20 kipping HSPU

10 burpee bar MU

10:42

Was kind of uninspired for this piece, I went hard and put a ton of energy and effort into the thruster/burpee/thruster and feel it took a ton of mental energy out of me going for it and felt the carryover into this one. Had a hard time mentally pushing the row, wanted to do the wall ball in strategical breaks of 3, but missed the ball in one of the later sets and forced into 4 breaks. HSPU were not on today, but that’s 100% my fault. I did not warm them up, just trusted that I would be fine and I was no where near it. Bbmu was about the only redeeming quality here, just tried to find a consistent rhythm of continuous movement, but I was favoring my right side trying to take pressure off of my shoulder in the pressout.

A1 – Strict HSPU AMRAP(-1), rest 30 sec, Strict HSPU AMRAP(-1), rest 30 sec, Strict HSPU AMRAP(-1), rest 90 sec

1st – 8-4-3 2nd 6-4-3 (bad hand position on the first set, then feet came off the wall when I had about 1 more in me

A2 – Parallette L-sit – accumulate 45 sec in as few sets and on as little rest as possible, rest 90 sec x 2 sets

15ish sec for the first L then it went downhill fast, chipped away with 6-7 sec at a time

B2 – Filly lunge x 50ft (one arm front rack one arm overhead, switch at halfway), rest 30 sec

Felt more comfortable with right hand overhead first. These skyrocketed my heart rate, no turn around for 50ft just straight through with the switch halfway. 

There was a group doing the metcon, so I paused after the 2nd set and returned afterwards to finish up set 3&4

B3 – (Strict pullup + push away to tucked front lever + controlled negative to dead hang) * 4-5 ‘reps’, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

Loved this movement, only went for 4 each set, was going to go for 5 but the quality of my negative on the last rep was starting to fade

C – (Ring MU x 1 + Strict dips with pause in bottom x 3) x 2-3 ‘reps’, rest 2-3 min x 3 sets for quality

Shoulder was not having the dip today at all. Even tried on the parallel bar but wasn’t happening

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3 rounds for time

7 dbl DB power cleans @ 50/hand

28 DU’s 

1:47

rest 4 min

3 rounds for time

10 1-arm DB hang split snatch @ 50

28 DU’s

2:20

rest 4 min

3 rounds for time

5 dbl DB devil press @ 50/hand

28 DU’s

2:30

AB 3 min @ 125 watts

AB 3 min @ 175 watts

AB 3 min @ 225 watts

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Band pull apart super series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVehf-8FAxQ)

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Every 2 min x 8 rounds 

19 wallballs

19 row cals

28-26-28-27-24-20-17-4

For the first 5 rounds, I thought I was moving slower than last week, I never panicked but I was a little concerned that something was off. But I kept chipping away. In reality, I was holding a slightly higher cal/hr, it didn’t buy much time of course, but it definitely created a bigger drop off from set 7&8, but that was as much stressing about my overall perceived effort as it was actual effort.

+ (rest no longer than 6 min after finishing)

A – Front squat from rack – 3,3,3,3. build with each set, only last one in danger of failing. rest 3 min

165-245-255-275

B – Clean grip deadlift lockouts from above knee – 3,3,3. rest 3 min, heavy

325-345-365

Bike 10 min just above conversational effort

done

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A1 – Band assisted front lever pulls x 3 with controlled negative, rest 30 sec

Done – felt good core control and activaiton

A2 – Ring tick tocks x 2-3, rest 60 sec

Both positions felt really solid today

A3 – Parallette shoot throughs x 4/direction, try to keep hips high as you pass through, rest 90 sec x 5

Improving here as well

B1 – Power snatch * 15 unbroken @ 75lbs, rest 30 sec

check

B2 – Ring MU x 8 for time, rest 4 min x 2 sets

41 & 1:04 (7/1) (5/3) – I didn’t want to fight for 8 unbroken becaue I felt the risk was way greather than the reward. On the 2nd set I was hoping with a smaller set I would make a shorter rest period bt sets, but didn’t feel like pressing the issue

C1 – Dbl DB box step overs x 8, @ 50/hand, rest 15 sec

done

C2 – Burpee box jump overs x 12, rest 3 min x 3 sets

45-43-45

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Side plank press ups x 6 into side plank hold x 20 sec, rest 40 sec bt sides

done

Front plank on rings with small circle traces with hands x 30 sec (switch directions of circles at midway), rest 40 sec

done

Archer pushups on rings x 6 with single arm lateral reach and 6 with single arm overhead reach, rest 90 sec x 3-4 sets

Did 4 reps w/standard positon on the ground