Ben Plotnicki

4/24 (loading by feel again, keep quality high)

A – EMOM x 5 – 3 push jerks

175

B – EMOM x 5 – 3 push presses

145

C – EMOM x 5 – 3 strict presses

115

D – EMOM x 5 – 6 floor presses

115 – left shoulder felt sensitive here, then I slowed down the eccentric tempo and then the discomfort went away

E – EMOM x 5 – 9 ring dips

First 3 sets I did strict, but the last few reps on set 6 I could feel a deep deep “feeling” in my right pec. What could it have been, not sure, I just know it was an alert signal for me to be aware and cautious moving forward. So did a blend of strict and kipping for the last 2 sets, no problems from there on

F1 – Bent over BB rows x 6 with pronated grip + 6 with supinated grip, rest 45 sec

115 – could have gone heavier but really felt in control and great lat engagement

F2 – Band pull aparts with straight arms x 8 with palms up + 8 with palms down, rest 90 sec x 3

Done – this was a good combo back to back with the rows

G – BB rollouts 3 sets of 6-8 from tall kneeling

done

4/25

A – Below knee hang squat snatch triples – new complex every 2 min x 6 (hit these around 155-165 as you feel able for the day)

165

B – Snatch grip deadlift @ 41X1 x 4 reps, really controlled tempo on the way down working on loading hamstrings/lats, rest 2 min x 4 sets

165-185-195×2 – so I felt a slight discomfort/inflammation, almost like adductor tendonitis as it is sensitive to palpate post training. No problems at all with the squat, it has flared up here recently but goes away with a good warm up, definitely felt it here and the rack split squat as well 

C – BB front rack split squats x 6/side @ 31X1 tempo, rest 1 min bt legs x 3 sets/side

115 across – the tempo helped a ton to minimize the discomfort here, it was only on the left leg forward. I will say i only felt it on the eccentric but did not feel very strong on the concentric

D – 1-arm DB hang snatch with catch in reverse lunge x 5/side + 5/side 1-arm DB OHS, rest 20 sec bt arms and 60 sec after both x 4 sets, work on tech and efficiency

50 pounds – just check this guy out I learned this from a weightlifting coach in FL and have been using this tool with a ton of my young athletes. So this gave me good flashback memories.

E – BB staggered stance hip thrusts x 6-8/side x 3 sets, rest 45 sec bt legs

115

+

3 sets

Empty BB turkish situps x 10

Empty BB supine windshielf wipers x 10 (5/side)

Empty BB hold at top of bench press position with flutter kicks x 20

rest as needed bt sets, but move straight from one movement to the next
Holy cow this was so much harder with the windshield wipers involved but I am growing to love this

4/26 – OFF

4/27

5 rounds @ steady effort, get a little faster with each one

5 front squats from floor @ 185lbs

50 DU’s

50ft HS walk

17:32 – so this was almost just a comedy of errors of sorts…..handstand walks went semi well, I was a little worried about my efficiency going into this today. Really paced the first round and aimed for around 2:15 to finish. As an important footnote, handstand walks have to be done in the driveway which has an aggressive slope, or the sidewalk which is not forgiving on the hands, so I had to wear some gloves. Well i’m my first squat on round 2 the gloves were not very grippy so I lost the barbell coming out of the whole of the first squat and decided it would be way more dangerous to try and fight and hang onto the barbell so I dropped it. Took the gloves off to complete the remaining 4sets, well this already through off the pace of getting faster each set. Round 3 on the handstand walk the glove began to rip in my fingers and I could feel the cement rubbing my finger so then I had to find a back up pair of mechanics gloves. Round 4! Pretty solid round, i think it took around 2:15, handstand walk in 2 25sets. Round 5, I really tried to push and my handstand walk fell apart. As I was trying to force the issue I could feel my back trying to over extend and at that point I had a hard time correcting the fault. It took me a couple of attempts to finish that last 25, but the first 25 wasn’t great either but didn’t take me as long. 

+

4 rounds not for time

12-15 banded spanish squats with DB goblet hold

12-15 banded hamstring curls from prone

12-15/side single leg calf raises with extended ROM

4-5/side eccentric only single leg hamstring curl from supine, foot on slider/towel

I like the banded spanish squats much better. with the eccentric only curl, was really focusing on keeping a posterior pelvic tilt through the movement, which was hard as I feel the body wants to compensate and over extend

EMOM x 8

Odd min – 3 hang squat snatch singles

Even min – 5 burpees + 24 DU’s

115 – and didn’t want to make too much noise in the garage today so hung onto them

+

EMOM x 8

Odd min – 6 hang power clean/push jerks

Even min – 5 burpees + 8 lateral box jumps overs @ 24in

Stayed with 115

+

EMOM x 8

Odd min – 12 thrusters @ 95lbs

Even min – 5 burpees + 7 AB cals

Um, this was not nice, the only thing that was easy about this was the very first set of thrusters. I pretty much pedaled right up to the 7 cals not taking advantage of a roll over and that made it hurt. 

+

BB hip thrusts from shoulders supported – 75 for time @ 95lbs

4:05 – I tried to take then Brennan approach of 5-4-3-2-1, and then a little longer break but this got really tough. I also almost tilted my bench over several times after a break so I was in not much of a hurry to get my reps in after a break.

A – Chest to bar pullups – 8 sets of 5 unbroken reps for time, rest 1:1 x 2 sets

2:47 – 2:47 – 2nd set felt way more efficient, and actually would’ve been quicker had i not got that little annoying skin tear bt my thumb knuckle. First set really worked on kipping first and then pulling, so much I felt my hair hit the ceiling on a few reps, didn’t completely make me gun shy but was aware. 

B – Strict HSPU x 5 + Kipping HSPU x 18 for time, rest 4-5 min x 3 sets

38-38 (more rhythm in the Moo in the beginning but more of a grind to finish the last 5-6 reps) – 48

C1 – Dbl DB top to top alternating bench press x 16-20, rest 1 min

20 reps @ 50

C2 – Dbl DB top to top alternating bent over row x 16-20, rest 1 min (non-working hand rests at top in elbow flexion)

20 reps @ 50 – once again it took the first set to get the rhythm down for the keeping one in that so called rest position

C3 – BB landmine rotations from tall kneeling x 20 (10/direction), rest 1 min

These felt better this week but this is still one of the harder one of the pieces staying on tension and control the whole time

C4 – Empty BB turkish situps x 10 + Empty BB hold with flutter kicks x 20, rest 1 min x 3

I think I looked a little more athletic here this week

D – Banded series for shoulder care

done

Breathe Retention Holds: 5 attempts; rest 90 sec b/t attempts

Much lower today, had a harder time relaxing 14-16-20-22-18

+

Row 5 min – start easy & increase speed every minute to a 90% effort

done

+

EMOM x 30 or until failure

Odd sets – 15 cal Row

Even sets – 15 burpees (jump/clap behind head)

(if you fail before 30 min, take a 2 min break, then reduce both counts by 2 (doing 13/13 each round). if you fail again, do the same to drop to 11/11, and so on until you complete 30 min or 15 rounds of each)

Made 21 – after barely finishing that round on the rower I did 1 burpee and checked the clock and it was already 5 seconds in, mentally wasn’t going to fight to finish it, did one more burpee and it probably wasn’t going to happen. So I rested the remainder of that minute, the next minute and started burpee on that ensuing minute. I wanted to be a little stubborn so I wanted to stay at 15/15. 3 more successful rounds and then missed the row as it turned to 15 at the top of the minute. Took my 2 minutes rest and went for 13/13. 5 intervals there, I never thought that in this 30 minute piece that the row would be harder to get then the burpee for me. Lost discipline to stay in good technique on the rower and I know that took its toll. I feel that started around minute 17. Minutes 11-19 flew by. 

+

10/side single leg DB hip thrusts

15/side lying hip abductions with band or light weight resistance for top leg

20 sumo deadlifts with controlled descent, light load, 75-95, rest as needed x 2-3 sets

2 sets, and did sumo deadlift w/2 pood kb as it seemed easier than mustering up the energy to load a barbell

A – Chest to bar pullups – 6 sets of 5 unbroken reps for time, rest 1:1 x 2 sets

1:12 & 1:56 – felt a little spastic and rushed in the first set. Didn’t have a plan, drop down and get back up quickly. It was around set 5 that I could feel I needed to take a short break. And then the last 10 and was conscious of the whole second set that I was pulling before my hips opened. Tried fixing it mentally but was pretty spent at that point so was hard to conserve that energy in set 2. Next week I’m going to focus more on being fluid and smooth and less about my time, which will probably help overall in the big picture

B – Strict HSPU x 5 + Kipping HSPU x 15 for time, rest 4-5 min x 3 sets

30-29-43 – on set 3 I could feel the fatigue really kicking in so I can wanted to slow my reps down and not short change any good rep range of motion standards 

C1 – Dbl DB top to top alternating bench press x 12-16, rest 1 min

16 @ 50’s per hand

C2 – Dbl DB top to top alternating bent over row x 12-16, rest 1 min (non-working hand rests at top in elbow flexion)

Took a little bit of mental coordination to get it. 16 @ 50’s per hand

C3 – BB landmine rotations from tall kneeling x 16 (8/direction), rest 1 min

Toughest of the superset

C4 – Empty BB turkish situps x 8 + Empty BB hold with flutter kicks x 16, rest 1 min x 3

I suck horribly at these – the sit up that it

D – Banded series for shoulder care

done

A – Hang Squat snatch x 1/Snatch balance x 1 – new complex EMOM x 10, light to moderate

115 – was really light to moderate, but this was perfect. The snatch balance really focused on great engagement overhead, squat snatch good position, below the knee and good transition to power position

B – Hang squat clean x 1/Push jerk x 2 – new complex EMOM x 8, light to moderate

165 – played with several different things in the push jerk. Would pause in a few in a 2inch dip, some tng at shoulder, just wanted to work different positions to improve leg/hip drive from the front rack position

C – Back squats – 10*215, 8*235, 6*(250,265,285). rest 2-3 min

done – felt really good here today and pleased with how these felt

D – Front squats – 5*(200,230,250,250). rest 2-3 min

done – 250 was tough but still solid and good

E1 – Spanish squats on racked BB x 15-20 with KB goblet hold, rest 1 min (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNxfc4rFLxk)

done – 20 reps across

E2 – Band assisted nordic curls x 4-6, rest 1 min x 3 sets

Done

This was so much more manageable and tolerable on my body. Last week I wore belt and knee wraps to tolerate the volume. Today was great, body felt good and felt fast and strong on squat. No braces and no sleeves. Also spent time in warm up and even going through it again before squats of really making sure of glute engagement and trying to maintain a posterior pelvic tilt

Breathe Retention Holds: 5 attempts; rest 90 sec b/t attempts

23-19-23-25-26

+

A/B 5 min – start easy & increase speed every minute to a 90% effort

Done 

+

I had no fight in me today, some things weighing heavy on my mind and my heart. 

EMOM x 30 or until failure

Odd sets – 15 cal AB

Even sets – 15 burpees (jump/clap behind head)

Did 6 @ 15/15, 2 min break did 10 sets @ 13/13, 2 min break and did 14 @ 11/11. At that point I realized how close I was to the total goal of volume, rested about 5-6 minutes and did an emom set @ 15/15 & 13/13. Today was just not a good day and I chose to drop the numbers because my mind wasn’t in it at all. 

+

(if you fail before 30 min, take a 2 min break, then reduce both counts by 2 (doing 13/13 each round). if you fail again, do the same to drop to 11/11, and so on until you complete 30 min or 15 rounds of each)

+

Breath retention holds, 5 attempts, rest 90 sec

Completely forgot to do after

A – Exaggerated arching hang into dead hang x 6 ‘reps’, hold each position for 3-4 sec, rest as needed x 5 sets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C995b3KLXS4)

6 reps was fairly tough, had to rest a little longer because I felt quality was waning at set 4

B1 – Band resisted strict C2B AMRAP, rest 30 sec

5 – 3 – 1

B2 – Strict C2B AMRAP, rest 30 sec

4 – 3 – 1

B3 – Band assisted strict C2B AMRAP into Band assisted chin over bar pullups AMRAP, rest 4-5 min x 3 sets (make these true AMRAP’s this week)

4+6 – 5+4 – 5+6

C1 – Strict HSPU AMRAP, rest 30 sec

14 – 9 – 6

C2 – Kipping HSPU AMRAP, rest 30 sec

13 – 13 – 10 (got really sloppy on the last set and feel that my heel would not have crossed the line on 2-3 reps 

C3 – BB shoulder to overhead @ 115lbs x 15 for time, rest 4-5 min x 3 sets

23 – 25 – 27

D1 – AMRAP 1-DB strict press L arm, rest 1 min

8 – 8 – 6

D2 – AMRAP Diamond pushups, rest 1 min

6 (pauses in the bottom, not doing that again) – 13 – 12

D3 – AMRAP 1-DB strict press R arm, rest 1 min

8 – 8 – 6

D4 – 10 pendlay rows, rest 1 min x 3 sets

Done @ 115

A – Snatch pull to hold at power position x 1/Floating snatch high pull x 1/Floating squat snatch x 1, new complex every 2:30 x 6, build in load from last week)

145×2, 155×2, 165×1, 167.5 x 1

B – PC/PJ x 9 unbroken reps, rest 3 min x 3

165 – not sure who upset you this day that you wrote up this progression but this was terrible. After the first set I seriously contemplated dropping down to 155. It hurt and it hurt bad. But I stuck it out and made it hurt even worst

C – PC/PJ x 6 unbroken reps, rest 3 min x 3

175-180-185 – these weren’t as bad as the set of 9 or last week but still terrible. As long as I caught these in a good rack position I was fine going overhead but was a grind if I didn’t. It started getting tough as grip became a limiter and wasn’t as smooth in eccentric control

D – PC/PJ x 3 unbroken reps, new triple every 3 min x 3

205 – missed the last jerk on the first set, I actually had to almost squat the last clean as I struggled with resetting my hook grip from rep 2 to 3. Cleaned it up for set 3 as I was prepared that resetting hook was going to be a challenge, so lowered the barbell to the shoulders to keep my composure instead of going straight to the ground.

E – Back squats – 10*215, 8*255, 6*265, 4*285. rest 2-3 min

Done – I might have went into the well too much for the set of 9 pc/pj or was just under fueled, but this was extremely tough for me to do in one session. I was spent mentally and physically. I did grind through them but had to use a belt and knee wraps but didn’t want to it. If this is general plan for Friday for a while with implementing a squat routine, would it be ok to hit this in 2 sessions?

F – Front squats – 5*(200,230,230,230). rest 2-3 min

This was better than the back squat but still was just a bit much for me in one session

G1 – Spanish squats on racked BB x 15-20 with KB goblet hold, rest 1 min 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNxfc4rFLxk)

Did not do, my knees were toast. I did 3 sets of frog pumps as I wanted to do something to finish just didn’t think I had it in me to execute G at high quality. 

G2 – Band assisted nordic curls x 4-6, rest 1 min x 3 sets

Breathe Retention Holds: 5 attempts; rest 90 sec b/t attempts

33-28-27-21-38(accidentally took a breath in on the last set when it was time to go)

+

A/B 5 min – start easy & increase speed every minute to a 90% effort

Done 

+

EMOM x 5:

At the top of each minute, standing behind rower, get on & sprint for 10 seconds, then settle into a 85-90% effort for 20 seconds; rest remainder of minute/reset.

done – this was good. the last set I tried to go a little too fast and a little out of control and I almost fell off the seat

+

Death by Machines:

EMOM x until failure:

Even Minute: A/B 5 Calories

Odd Minute: Row 5 Calories

*Increase by 1 calorie on each machine each set.

Bike – 17 + 13

Row – 25 + 25

Total = had no killer instinct on the bike, the time just kept creeping away and I didn’t push enough on the front end of the minute to finish strong. But I fought on the rower. I will say, the 26th cal turned over fractions past the buzzer, if we had instant replay it would have been super close. 

Cool Down:

Breathe Retention Holds: 5 attempts; rest 90 sec b/t attempts

*Compare scores to warm-up

14-19-20-21-23 – started bad but got better as I went. Really tried to relax a little more on the back end