Ben Plotnicki

AM

AB 100 cal progressive intensity warmup

+

AB 60 sec @ 400+ watts

60 sec rest x 8 or until you can no longer hold pace

if successful on all 8 sets above

AB 60 sec @ 400+ watts

30 sec rest x 6 or until you can no longer hold pace

if successful on all 6 sets above

AB 60 sec @ 400+ watts

15 sec rest x 4 or until you can no longer hold pace

Wasn’t able to hit the 2nd interval here. So 15 sets total. Had a brain fart rolling right into the 2nd interval there as I rested 23ishsec and I was in a position of not knowing what to do, go for it even though I rested too long, rest 30 and go for 15sec rest on the next piece. So when that happened I kind of mentally checked out. 

PM

Mcgill big 3

McGill Curl-up – 4 x 10sec hold / 5sec Rest + 3 x 10sec hold / 5 sec rest + 2 x 10sec hold / 5 sec rest (between sets of 4/3/2 rest 20-30sec)

Rotating Elbow Plank – 5 sets x 10sec middle / 10sec left / 10sec right / 10sec middle; Rest 20-30sec between sets

Bird-dog – 5 x 10sec hold left / 5sec Rest / 10sec hold right / 5sec Rest

done

+

Assault bike 8-10sec HARD for max watts, new set every 90 sec x 5

I was only able to get into the 1100’s – just couldn’t find a way to get it out of there 

+

A – Squat snatch singles x 4 reps @ 90%, 3 reps @ 93%, and 2 reps @ 95+%, rest 2-3 min bt attempts

185×4-195×3-200×1 and 2 fails at 205

B – Clean and jerk singles x 4 reps @ 84%, 3 reps @ 88%, and 2 reps @ 92+%, rest 3 min bt attempts

235×4-250×3-265×2 

C – Clean pulls 3 sets of 3 @ 105-115% best clean, rest 2-3 min

295

D – Clean grip deadlift cluster – 4.4.4, rest 20 sec/3 min x 3 sets (no TNG reps, reset at floor)

At this point I was serisouly smoked and tank was on E, and noticing that I was going to have clean grip deads in the group DSGN tomorrow decided to call it

E – Mini band monster walk complex x 10 steps (forward/backward/lateral each way), x 3 sets, rest as needed

AMRAP 3 min

3 snatches @ 155lbs

2 snatches @ 175lbs

1 snatch @ 195lbs

(no collars, transition on weight changes quickly, once you hit the single go back to 155 and try to work back up inside the 3 min window)

rest 3 min x 2 attempts

Got plates changed with 10sec on the 195 the second time through but not enough time to make a legit attempt on the first set. The second set, my back was a little fatigued and hips a little tight so didn’t move through as crisply or with as much power. Got the 2nd rep of 175 seconds before time expired in the 3 min window.

+

A – Front squats – 4 sets of 10, rest 2 min, no pauses during a set, choose a tough load but never stop moving

175 across – the weight wasn’t the hard part it felt like the 2 min was more like 30 seconds 

B – DB in lap hip thrusts x 30, rest 2 min x 3 sets

35 – almost went down but managed to push through that deep burn discomfort

+

Burpee volume progression

8 sets

Odd sets – 10 row cals @ strong effort into 10 bar facing burpees @ 2.5 sec/rep

Even sets – 10 AB cals @ strong effort (but NOT sprint effort, keep watts below 700) into 10 bar facing burpees @ 2.5 sec/rep

Rest 30 sec bt sets

*if you fall outside of 25 sec window rest 2 min then continue and accumulate volume for the day

All right, first off, now worries on keeping watts below 700! Secondly, strong effort became a very loose interpretation. Holding row cals in the upper 1300’s was much easier than I had expected, bike wasn’t as strong but never let myself dip below 300 and tried and fought to keep it in the upper of this range. So I found out pretty quickly what kind of pace I needed for the burpee to stay under 25sec, as my first set took 31 with the double step before the jump, and I thought, well I’m not going to count that as falling outside of the window. So when I went to the standard of having to jump the feet together and back together I was able to make all of them in the proper time, however, that effected output on the cyclical pieces, and I always waited a few seconds to start the burpee so I made sure I didn’t have to do any major time calculations under oxygen debt. My rest time were slightly over 30sec but not by much, as I was assuming that the more important effort was to be placed on the burpee.

+

C – Front plank with hands on low rings x 60 sec on, 2 min rest x 3-4 sets

Might have been the hardest thing in the day

Part 1: Strength

A. Front Squat: Work to a tough 5 reps in 5 working sets

225-235-245-255-265

B. Shoulders Elevated Hip Thrust: 12 reps x4; rest 2 min bt sets

115

Part 2: Pushing & Pushing

2-3 sets:

60 sec AMRAP: Strict Parallette HSPU’s – 4″ Deficit

4&4 – first set I did 2 out the gate and was pretty stoked about that, then I kicked up 2 more times and did not get all the way to the wall. So I wasted a bunch of time trying to get balanced and get on the wall

Rest 30 sec

45 sec AMRAP: Strict Ring Dips

16 & 16 – first set I did 10 &6 and second set I was going to try and get smaller sets and the same total, went 6-5-4-1

Rest 30 sec

30 sec AMRAP: Hand Release Push-Ups

15&14

Rest 30 sec

2 min AMRAP: HS Walk – 15ft Turnarounds

45 & not real sure, but don’t think it was quite 45, I was a little mentally smoked by this point

Rest 6+ Minutes

Part 3: Gymnastics

C1. Shrimp Squat + Pistol Combo w/ Plate for Counterbalance: 5 reps/side x3; rest as needed

Nice combo

C2. Star plank from elbow x 18 sec/side, rest 12 sec bt sides and 90 sec after both x3; rest as needed

Super hard for me today

C3. Tuck front lever hold on Bar: accumulate 30 sec AFAP x3; rest as needed

I sure do miss all the work on these

1/23 – OFF

1/24/2020

I had to flip flop the am and pm because in the am my stomac was really irritated and upset….the last time we had a double with aerobic work on a friday my stomach had the same issue, forget the fact that I had the same food as left overs, I still think it was the subconscious thought of all the cardio work

AM

Bike 100 cal warmup, get faster every 25 cals, ending speed around 350-400 watts, sustainable

On my bike at home and I think I have got close to re-calibrating it to be accurate towards bikes at the gym 

Forgot to track my time but my goal for each 25 was – 225-275-325-350+

+

Row 2 min @2:05 pace @20 strokes per minute

Row 2 min @2:05 pace @25 strokes per minute

Row 2 min @2:05 pace @30 strokes per minute

Row 2 min @2:05 pace @35 strokes per minute

I really enjoyed this a bunch. Hardest part was trying to keep the pace close to 2:05, which was not able to do in the 30&35spm…..my strategy to try and coordinate breathing was knowing at the stroke rate I could count total number of strokes and did many of them counting out loud on the pull, didn’t want to do all of them as I don’t want that to be the habit I need to do so but definitely helped coordinate breathing cadence 

–

Coordinate your breathing to a 1-1 (inhale on retreat, exhale on

pull… or opposite, whatever is comfortable to you) tempo on the row.

When you change the stroke frequency your breathing rate will

obviously rise, so you will be breathing slightly shallower and

faster. Spend the time mindfully practice coordinating your breath

shallower-deeper according to the cadence you are pulling at

+

Row 1000m @ increasing pace every 200m (1:55-1:50-1:45-1:40-<1:40)

Rest 5 min x 4-5 sets

3:35.7-3:38.1-3:40.3-3:34.4 – since I did this later in the day, I had a hard time holding the 1:40 pace, the first 2 sets I was barely under 1:40 and then the 3rd set pulled back just a little and the 4th set knowing it was best for it to be my last I just found a way.

PM

A1 – Arch/hollow rolls x 3-4/direction, rest 45 sec (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okkc07gIzOY)

done

A2 – Active arch/hollow hang x 3-4 iterations with box, pull and push through shoulder girdle while keeping strong tension through body line. rest 2-3 min x 4-5 sets (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj-ibFuHVXC/)

done

B1 – Strict HSPU x 8-10, rest 30 sec

Held 8 each time, the 4th set was a grind as soon as I hit rep 6

B2 – DBl DB push presses @ 50/hand x 15, rest 2:30 x 4 sets 

Felt really good here, but same for the hspu, 4th set I got a little squirrely

+

3 sets

6-8 TNG power cleans @ 165lbs

90 sec row @ 1400+ cal/hr

rest 2 min

Held the row for 97% of the 90sec portions – 6 tng cleans 

+

3 sets

6-8 TNG deadlifts @ 255lbs

90 sec bike @ 375-425 watts

rest 2 min

Deads felt super tough, but bike was much easier to hold at these efforts and I stayed around 409 watts for all 3 sets

+

C1 – Supine leg whips x 3/side

C2 – Prone scorpion twists x 3/side

C3 – Mini band hip abductions from glute bridge hold x 15, rest as needed x 3 sets

D – Band pull apart super series

Meant to do all the accessory at home but was still managing stomach discomfort so I just rested

1/25

tttTD (shuttle run/thrusters, sub 150m row if needed for toe each round)

181 – 98 – run times were 20-20-22-22-23-25-25-24 – thrusters were 15-13-12-12-11-10-11-14 – on the 5th run I had a hard time staying low on the run, my back was tight and I wanted to be straight up so this is where I slowed down there. On the sets 5/6/7, I decided I was going to do 1 ub set and get in extra rest of the thruster, but all others I got a solid first set and then would pick them back up and work to the end of the interval.

+

Ski 600m @ 88%

rest 3 min

Ski 400m @ 92%

rest 2 min

Ski 200m @ 95%

rest 6 min x 3

The 600m was hard on all sets but each of the others I felt my effort was relative. 2:20.2 – 1:33.3 – 43.9 —–2:24 – 1:33.1 – 42.8 ——- 2:23.9 – 1:31.5 – 42.5

AM

4 Sets:

20 cal Row @~80-85% effort

200m Run @ 2mile pace

rest 90 seconds

20 cal AB @~80-85% effort

200m Run @ 2mile pace

Rest as needed bw sets

8:34 (air runner monitor/user error) – 6:34 – 6:19 (pushed bike harder) – 6:26

+

10min Row Recovery

done

PM

A1 – Crossover stride jumps x 3 reps/side, rest 30 sec

A2 – Double scissor jumps x 3 reps/side, rest 30 sec

A3 – Single leg bounding x 3 reps/side, rest walk 3 min x 3 sets

B – Squat snatch doubles x 4 sets, rest 15 sec bt reps and 2-3 min bt sets, first 2 working sets @ 165-185, second 2 working sets @ 185-205

175-185-190-195

C – Squat snatch singles x 2 reps based off of feel for the day, rest 2-3 min bt attempts

200

D – Clean and jerk doubles x 4 sets, rest 20 sec bt reps and 3 min bt sets, first 3 working sets @ 255-265, second 3 working sets @ 275-285

255-260-265 – these felt pretty good and much better than last week, wrist felt a lot better and helped me get in better position. The last double at 265 I caught pretty far forward and had to grind it out, made the jerk but it was a little harder than it should’ve been because of catching it forward. Then @ 275, not sure if my confidence is super shot at this barbell or or I was just smoked at this point. Don’t know if the am session still had some residual carry over to this session, due to the day they were 2 ½ hours apart so should’ve been good to go. Not sure what’s going on but i’ve been on the struggle bus with the heavy clean and jerk

E – Clean and jerk singles x 2 reps based off of feel for the day, rest 3 min bt attempts

Just didn’t have anymore in me today and I’m just trying to chalk it up to the day and week and move on. 

F1 – Banded abductions from glute bridge hold x 18-21, rest 30 sec

F2 – Banded pullthroughs from sumo stance x 12-15, rest 30 sec

F3 – Split stance KB russian swings x 8/side, rest 90 sec x 3 sets

done

A – PC/PJ – 1 rep every 20 sec x 5, rest 2 min x 4 sets

185×3, 205×1

+

Did 1 set through of the deadlift portion just to get a few reps in, i kept my rpe super super low, was just get to feel the weight in a tng environment – 4-6-10

For Reps:

AMRAP UB WB until 9/10 RPE – 20/14#, 10′ for both

60 – 9 rpe for my shoulders but legs were good

Rest 30 sec

AMRAP UB CTB Pull-Ups (-1)

20

Rest 3 min

AMRAP UB OHS until 9/10 RPE – 95/65#

22 – kept coming forward on my toes so I spent a little longer time under tension on a big chunk of the reps just trying to regain my balance

Rest 30 sec

AMRAP UB CTB Pull-Ups (-1)

14

Rest 3 min

AMRAP UB Thrusters until 9/10 RPE – 75/55#

30

Rest 30 sec

AMRAP UB CTB Pull-Ups (-1)

15

Super pleased with the c2b work. Didn’t have high expectations after all the reps on the rig yesterday as I was a little sore and hands a little sensitive, but trusted my mechanics and went for it and was pleased. 

+

B1. Band Assisted Natural Knee Extensions: 10 reps x2-3; rest as needed

B2. Standing Banded Pull-Apart Complexes: 10 reps x2-3 sets of each; (Overhead, Front w/ Palms Up, Bottoms Up); rest as needed

B3. Prone Bent Knee Glute Lift Off w/ Abmat under hips: 10 reps w/ 1 sec pause on each rep x2-3/side; rest as needed

B4. Supinated Grip Hang From Bar: Accumulate 90 seconds in as few sets as possible x3; rest as needed

This was more what my hands could tolerate from being so tender, but I do like being made to hit some hang work from supinated grip, I feel it’s highly beneficial for my overhead position.

1/16 – OFF

1/17

AM

tttTD (row/Box jumps, but if the toe cant handle the box jump volume let me know ahead of time and we will sub that out)

Toes was good by today. 

246 – did jumps on the first 10 just to get up to speed a little bit, tried to hold around 1:42-1:44 the whole time, it only really dipped in the 400m round, that was without a doubt the hardest round to keep going fast. In hindsight might have pushed the round of 300 a little harder, but was trying to keep as fast a cycle time as I could on the box. I did do this with someone who would outrow me every day of the week so I tried to speed my cadence of the box up off of his so this was really good for me there. 

PM – Travel

1/18 and 1/19 – OFF

1/20 (garage)

6-8 rounds for sustainability, repeatable finish times

8 dbl DB front rack squats

Row 250m

8 1-arm alternating DB hang clean and jerks

Row 250m

18:18 – back lit up a little but I’m sure that was from all the travel. Did 6 rounds and was sub 3 minutes through 4 rounds, but in that 4th round was grinding a little to keep the row pace where I was and that caused me to fall off that pace slightly for the last 2 rounds.

+

2 times through

Alternating shoulder taps from HS hold against wall x 20

hollow body flutter kicks x 20

arch body rocks x 20

done

A – KB’s hanging from bands strict press lockouts from eye level x 4 reps @ 3112 tempo, rest 2 min x 5 sets

+35’s

(bb with banded KB’s. press to top, hold for 2 sec, lower on 3 sec count to eye level, pause 1 sec before pressing back to top)

B – Clean grip deadlifts 4,4,2,2 tough, rest 3 min

325 & 345

+

For time (10 min cap)

15 burpees to 6in touch

5 each of (toes to bar, chest to bar, Bar MU)

15 burpees to 6in touch

10 each of (toes to bar, chest to bar, Bar MU)

15 burpees to 6in touch

15 each of (toes to bar, chest to bar, Bar MU)

120 (finished the set of c2b) – I’m eplaying in my mind what I could’ve done different to get into and big chunk of muscle ups. First thing would be to push the burpee a little harder (for the record I had to jump the feet forward and back together because that didn’t hurt the toe – but that sky rocketed my heart rate way more than my warm up did) – I would have pushed them way harder in the first round as that bar gymnastics was so quick and settled in a little more in the 2nd round. In the 2nd round I did ttb in 4/3/3 with quick breaks, but would have been quicker had I set up plates to quickly step back on. Could almost have done quick 2’s with that and spared some fatigue. Bmu – 4/4/2. I could feel my abs fatigue big time on the set of bmu. Next rd burpee did the first 5 slow-ish and pushed the last 10, ttb I knew I was running out of time and went 5/5/5 and felt my abs and lats were shot. In wod goal was to go as big a set as I could and I got to 8 and finished with 2’s and singles. I think to score better would need to manage the ttb better and have a set up that allowed it. I just felt my lays and abs most from the ttb and could feel it carry over to the other 2 bar gymnastics movements.

Yesterday, I had the biggest accidental trip and my big toe got rolled up under my foot. It wasn’t too bad for the rest of the night but ended up waking me up a few times throughout the night and was a little black and blue when I woke up. Feels like a little bit of mild turf toe.

AM

12min Row @ easy pace 

*Every 3rd minute perform 50′ Animal Walk of your choice 

12min Bike @ easy Pace 

*Every 3rd minute perform 50′ Animal Walk of your choice 

12min Run @ easy pace

*Every 3rd minute perform 50′ Animal Walk of your choice 

Instead of run, i alternated bt row and bike – the only animal walk that I couldn’t do or find a position that  I couldn’t avoid pain was duck walks

PM

Mcgill big 3

done

+

A1 – Crossover stride jumps x 3 reps/side, rest 30 sec

done

A2 – Double scissor jumps x 3 reps/side, rest 30 sec

Felt more athletic this week even though i’m favoring the toe

A3 – Single leg bounding x 3 reps/side, rest walk 3 min x 3 sets

done

B – Squat snatch doubles x 6 sets, rest 15 sec bt reps and 2-3 min bt sets, 3 working sets @ 165-185lbs, 3 working sets @ 185-205

175-175-180-185-195-200

C – Clean and jerk doubles x 6 sets, rest 20 sec bt reps and 3 min bt sets, 3 working sets @ 255-275lbs, 3 working sets @ 275-295

255×3, 275 x 2 – just not a good day here. Went for the jerk on the first one and my toe made me super gun shy and that effected me the rest of the way through. Next set attempted the first jerk and just was in my own head so just cleaned the 2nd rep. On set 3, was just becoming a mental midget and had no confidence left

D – 1-1/4 back squats x 3, rest 2-3 min x 5 tough sets

245×3, 255×2

E1 – Banded abductions from glute bridge hold x 15-18, rest 30 sec

done

E2 – Banded pullthroughs from sumo stance x 8-10, rest 30 sec

done

E3 – Split stance KB russian swings x 6/side, rest 90 sec x 4 sets

done

F – Ido Portal half kneeling diagonal stretch x 30 sec/side x 4 sets

Didn’t try, will try and do it a little later on with my foot plantar flexed

Quick note on travel plans….I am now flying back on Monday. I should be able to get some kind of session in, especially if I can do it in the garage. So if there is any really important pieces in the design than could save it for tuesday. And I would be able to hit a double pretty easily on Tuesday.

tttTD (follow your proposal here, see the workout, then unplug and plan on your own) 

30 – I planned my warm up well, and executed my warm up the best I could, but I could tell i was in trouble when trying to hit some high output on the bike in the warm up, leg drive just wasn’t there. Wanted to be done with burpee around 2:30, but knew that was going to be tough when I was at the 13 – 30sec in and it felt like work, so I just tried to settle in and not get too discouraged. Snatch was truly a grind. I was breathing heavy, was having to brace so hard to complete each lift. What I am proud of is, when the time was runnning down, I went back to cycling the db well for 2 sets of 6 to finish out and make quick rest bt and got the first wall ball up in 5 seconds or less. I did, 5-5-5 with drop, breath and go, and 15 to finish out. My body was super tired and not much gas in the tank, but some small victories for myself in the fact I am happy I closed strong with the db, I had a plan and anticipated where my limiters would be and was prepared when they happened. Other than a low wall ball score, I really like my process.

+

A – Hang squat clean doubles, new set every 90 sec x 5, last 2 sets tough

Legs were pretty tired so went for qualilty and consistency at 185

B – Front squat 3×3, rest 3 min, heavy across

245 was heavy across

C – GHD situps – accumulate 60 for the day, broken however

done

We went from deload last week to you are going to die within 5 days…..

AM

Every 8 min x 2 sets

Row 1k

8 bar MU

12 dbl KB hang snatches @ 53/hand

60ft dbl KB front rack walking lunge

6:14-7:08 – goal on row was to pace in 4 different 250m sections, come out strong, cruise around 1:45 in the middle, don’t fight to hold the pace from 500-250 let it happen but stay consistent and smooth. And last 250 was to not drop off too much but lower spm to around 22/23…. ub on muscle ups, first set no problem, second set was contemplating not but when I got into it I said just go for it. Broke up the snatch strategically and lunges didn’t break on the first round and only broke to turn around on the second.

+

Every 8 min x 2 sets

AB 60 cals

2 rope climbs

12 dbl DB box step overs @ 50/hand, 24in

BB OH WL 50ft @ 115lbs

7:11-7:57 – step overs were the death of me. Was off bike first set was sub 4 but don’t remember exactly, 2nd was about a minute before I could even move anything. Second set – was disciplined at quick transitions, breaks in between are another story. OHWL was a huge fight mentally and physically

+

Every 8 min x 2 sets

Ski erg 800m

12 dbl DB devil presses @ 50/hand

30 kipping HSPU

7:50-9:14 – was pretty smoked at this point but fought hard to mnetally finish the devils press – I think I attacked them way better in the 2nd set, but was so shot at that point on the ski erg with so little time to rest that kind of screwed me. In the second round of devils press I quickly decided I was going to do 2 quick break, 2 quick break, and then when I got to 6 I did 3’s to finish, and handstand push ups took longer breaks than I should’ve

PM

1k runs from last week, lets get some running volume in if weather cooperates this week

4 sets of 1000m – my hamstring tendons held up, I could feel them getting slightly irritated so I only did 4. Really nice local track to run on, however, I didn’t plan well and ran the last 250 of the first 3 sets into the head wind, wasn’t really accustomed to running into the wind on the track so it definitely made it harder to increase intensity on certain 250m portions. 4:45 – 4:52 – 5:05 – 5:08 – lastly, during the 2nd or 3rd run, I thought to myself, you must not expect me to get a ton of wall balls tomorrow so I’m just going to fatigue the body, legs and brain on friday.

A – Power clean/Push jerk triples, TNG at shoulders. rest 2-3 min bt sets x 5 working sets

175-185-205-215×2

B – BB deadlifts 4 sets of 8-10 TNG reps, rest 2 min, same load across, tough

265-mixed frío on the first 2 and clean grip on the last 2

+

For time

10 snatches @ 135

100ft HS walk (if you fall, kick back up where you came down)

7 snatches @ 165

7 ring MU

4 snatches @ 185

50ft HS walk

1 snatch @ 205

4 ring MU

15:07- paced hard on the first 10 snatch because my biggest fear/limiter in the workout was going to be the 100ft hs walk. First 50 were solid, changed plates on barbell during breaks the next 50. This by far took the longest for me. 165 snatch was a tweener, couldn’t decide to power or squat, loosened up about 3 reps in and tightened it up quite a bit. 3-2-2 for mup, changed plates during breaks. Felt pretty good, didn’t rush. 185 felt the best of all snatches, I think I was 1 rep every 20/25sec. 50ft hs walk was about 40 unbroken, quick shake out and finish. Took a solid minute before 205, I wanted to lift it one time and one time only and worked for every cm of that lift.