Ben Plotnicki

I kept going back and forth on what my strategy was going to be and if I should go with a day that was more cyclical based to get back into the groove. First off the vacation was amazing, but it was full of activity. I did get in 3 really good sessions. There wasn’t much bad food consumption but a few items that were out of the norm and good poolside adult beverages. So more just out of routine and a lot of time in the sun and pool so defintely was very very active and body pretty drained from that.

So going into this piece today, was trying to decide to game it and just be happy to move or try and push on one of them and see what happens on the rest. I knew that the barbell cycling was going to be the toughest and just needed to think about the overall hspu volume that would happen over the course of the 3 pieces.

AMRAP 3 min
40 cal AB
30 kipping HSPU
20 hang power snatches @ 95lbs
10 bar MU
(rest 3 min)
AMRAP 6 min
40 cal AB
30 kipping HSPU
20 hang power snatches @ 95lbs
10 bar MU
(rest 6 min)
For time
40 cal AB
30 kipping HSPU
20 hang power snatches @ 95lbs
10 bar MU

56 – 82 and 10:45 – on the first set didn’t want to mess around and be too slow on the bike but didn’t want to go so hot that I would pay for it. Done right around 2 and quick transition and too big of a set out the gate in the hspu. 2nd set pulled back a little on the bike but in reality it was good feel that pulling back a little in this scenario doesn’t lose much time, but didn’t have great hspu strategy and just tried to grab the bar and go. Really wanted to pull back on the bike in the 3rd set and even then still finished around 2:30/2:40 – strategy took longer on hspu and went (3.3.3), rest, (3.3.3) rest, (3.3) rest, (3.3) rest – the small cluster sets were good practice for me as I stayed close to the wall, didn’t rest long and just trusted that I knew I could get 3 more reps, good confidence builder even when I was breathing hard and just knew I would be ok, just started gettting a little pressing fatigue. barbell I rested too long in between sets but at that time I was just more over heated and tired it wasn’t as much breathing. took too long in transition w/bmu but just glad to be back into a regular routine and ready to get sleep/nutrition and balance in my days for the good summer groove of training.

6/9

HS skill work

10 min Freestanding HS hold skill work (do these starting as wall supported, then ‘pull’ away from wall into a static hold. do some sets as belly to wall and some as butt to wall)

Done – did in garage some some of the wall facing and pirouette out is not going to happen

+

Straddle tucked HS hold – 15-20 sec on, new set every 2 min x 4-5, still major focus on breathing and control during holds but allow this position to place more emphasis on upper back 

This might be on of the best positions I have felt pushing through the upper back. One of the last times we did it I don’t think I saw the video in time to do it right 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHB5PQ-tPaI)

+

60 sec row @ 1000-1100 cal/hr

60 sec row @ 1200-1300 cal/hr

60 sec row @ 1400+ cal/hr

rest 2 min

60 sec bike @ 250-300 watts

60 sec bike @ 350-400 watts

60 sec bike @ 450+ watts

rest 2 min x 4 sets

The 1400 row was a fight, like a 9 out of 10 to hold it. The bike was tough but holding the 450 was more like an 8 out of 10 compared to the row. 2 minutes rest was just enough. I didn’t want to start but was fresh enough to get moving into the lower effort end. 

6/10

Shoulder flexion and hip extension based dynamic warmup (glute activation, shoulder circles, passive hangs, etc)

+

Dbl KB farmer carry x 100ft + Dbl KB russian swings x 8-10, rest 30 sec

HS walk as far as possible unbroken, rest 2:30 x 4-5 sets

50-56-62 (31 seconds, first 12 feet were slow then I got a good swift pace for the 50)-42 got a little too comfortable and lost my position towards the end – did the tuck straddle wall facing handstand hold as warm up/prep and I loved how it made my positions feel

+

Frog stance x 15-20 sec, work on gripping the floor with your fingers and controlling balance with hands, new set every 2 min x 5

Done, and blended into a warm up…..ive been trying to get my front stand closer to a tucked planche position, I might feel like it’s closer but i’m sure a gymnast would laugh at my thinking i was closer to one than the other.

+

DSGN overlap intervals

3 sets:

30 wall balls @ 30lbs

10 squat cleans @ 155lbs

5 front squats @ 245lbs

rest 4 min bw sets

4:44 (wb – 17/13) – 4:51 (wb – 8/8/86) – dropped load on clean and front squats to 135/225. The front squat was such a grind in the second set I don’t think I would’ve been able to get to the bar quickly and make the lifts. This was tough and felt more like a grinder metcon than a strength piece.

+

4 min amrap:

20 TTB

100 double unders

1+106 – (15/5 – 11/9) – was trying to force the dubz quite a bit so lost some time with breaks. 

rest 2 min

4 min amrap:

10 TTB

50 double unders

4+25

rest 2 min

4 min amrap:

5 TTB

25 double unders

5+1

6/11 – OFF

6/12

A – Hang squat snatch doubles – new complex every 2 min x 6 (moderate loading, work on consistent tech and good finish positions)

135×4, 155×2 – 155 might have been a little more than “moderate” but positioning and finish felt good 

B – 1-arm alternating DB Push press x 20 reps @ 50/hand, only one hand drives overhead each rep, rest 2 min x 3 sets

Done 

C – 1-arm DB hang squat snatch x 5 + 1-arm DB OHS x 5, rest 30 sec bt arms x 4 sets, work on tech and efficiency, can go at lighter load if needed

These positions are good for me so no need to go lighter. The OHS on the right side is a bit more of a challenge just hand to stay really really active 

D1 – Dead hang to inverted to tucked front lever negative on rings x 2-3 reps for quality, rest 1 min

I really miss doing these. 

D2 – Single leg alternating crossbody strict toes to bar x 10-12 reps, rest 1 min x 3

10 – started feeling like I was swinging more and more the deeper I got into the set 

+

EMOM x 6

Row 19 cals, stay in seat with feet in straps during any rest time

done – meant to look and get my time numbers, I would say 44/45/48/52/55/55

6/13

tttTD (Golden Triangle)

6:59 – I’m actually super happy about this. I didn’t have any anxiety but I had pretty low confidence going into this. So I decided to approach it as a dense strength session. First set I did singles on the deadlift but didn’t like how that felt so I did tng the remaining sets. Muscle up round 1 2 and 3 were unbroken, the 3rd set didn’t feel as crisp so I decided I will probably best break in 2/2 in the 4th round in the last I went for 3 and just didn’t feel the kip was there to finish the 4 so dropped and tried to get back on the rings super quick. After finishing set 3 i was right at 4 min mark, and the breaking the muscle up slowed me down but also pull of deadlift felt slower and slower. In hindsight I could’ve pushed the pace much faster but was so worried about the heavy barbell that I went conservative, I do think there is more room for risk in a heavy but short workout like this for me. Good confidence booster with the load and feeling descent in my rmu. I will say I did feel a little rushed in the muscle up and I’m sure we haven’t done them in a piece with the clock as some pressure in a while and that got to me a little from the top down of the movement. 

+

Rope/towel pullups with hands offset in height x 6-8, rest 1 min

Why do these hurt my hands so bad

Bench press x 6-8, rest 1 min

135×2, 185

GHD hip extensions x 12-15, rest 1 min x 3

done

6/14 – OFF

6/15 (travel week, shorter workouts, assuming you might want some minimal equipment stuff here but i will put in 1-2 gym options as well)

EMOM x 10

Odd min – 40 sec 1-arm alternating DB hang clean and jerks @ 50lbs

Even min – 40 sec 1-arm alternating drag throughs from front plank (use something lighter than the DB)

Trained in garage before hitting the road so I Added a 3rd movement – 16 row cals and kept the 5 rounds – and did set out to do 16 db clean and jerk

+

EMOM x 10

Odd min – 40 sec 1-arm alternating DB hang snatches @ 50lbs

Even min – 40 sec glute bridge march (establish strong glute bridge position with upper back on floor, slowly alternate pulling each leg/foot up off floor without allowing hips to drop/rotate)

Added 3rd movement in 15 bike cals

+

4 sets

goblet hold lunge matrix x 4/leg (forward, lateral, reverse, crossunder, @ 50lbs)

1-arm DB thruster x 4/side @ 50lbs

split stance opposite arm RDL x 6/side

rest 90 sec bt sets

Because I made the previous two 15 min emom’s I decided to do only 3 sets here as the early am and intensity was a little more than I thought it was going to be.

EMOM x 6-8

Odd min – 16 row cals

Even min – 16 burpees to plate (both feet land on plate at the top)

8 total sets here, row felt really good, 16 burpee to plate was tough, the burpee itself wasn’t bad, I felt from about rep 10-16, it was my pushing endurance that slowed my cycle time down

(rest 3-4 min)

EMOM x 6-8

Odd min – 15 row cals

Even min – 12 bar facing burpees

6 total sets – goal on burpee was to go as fast as possible, first set about 33, 2nd set was 30, and last was 32. Pretty happy with burpee speed, I paid for it a little on the rower as mentally hard a harder time keeping the output consistently above 1200+ and it was my mechanics where the breakdown was more prevalent

(rest 3-4 min)

EMOM x 6-8

Odd min – 14 row cals

Even min – 8 BBJO @ 24in

6 total sets – I sandbagged the row a little bit here, in all honesty with the pure goal of keeping my burpee rate as fast as possible. Each set was right around 30sec so was super happy with that

I don’t know how long I can keep complaining about how hot it is and not have adapted yet but I’m going to at least keep it going for today.

6/2

HS skill work – get 5 sets of either of these variations at 2-3 ‘reps’ each set, rest to recovery

Wall walk into lean away and progressive controlled steps away from wall

Kick up to partner spot and static hold then controlled steps forward

I even threw in some off-set wall facing holds

+

Wall facing HS hold in hollow body, focus on full breath cycles and equal pressure/activation in shoulders – 30-40 sec on, 60-80 sec rest x 5 sets

This might be one of my favorite positional focus pieces. 

+

AB 60 sec @ 400+ watts

60 sec walk rest x 6

4-6 min walk rest x 3 (18 total, consistency is goal, grind and then grind some more, pretend your score is the lowest cal count of any of the 18 rounds)

First set wasn’t much of a grind, but the grind really sank in towards the end of the 2nd set and the rest allowed a good mentaly push into the 3rd set and just positive mindset to finish the day. I think over the course of the 6 sets, first set was 112 cals, last was 111 don’t remember the middle total

6/3

Shoulder flexion and hip extension based dynamic warmup (glute activation, shoulder circles, passive hangs, etc)

+

Ski erg 10 cal HARD, rest 15 sec

HS walk as far as possible unbroken, rest 2:30 x 4-5 sets

40-50-54-50 – felt pretty good today, now I just need to figure out how to not overextend so much so I don’t feel the discomfort in my low back, its the same feeling as high rep deadlifts in the back and hamstrings

+

Frog stance x 15-20 sec, work on gripping the floor with your fingers and controlling balance with hands, new set every 2 min x 4

I used to hate these but I also would place my elbow on the inside of my knees which would dig into the leg. I love these because it’s a trust thing of leaning forward and making the micro adjustments with your hands

+

Open workout from DSGN overlap

7 rounds – I know this sounds like an excuse, but I’m ready to adapt to this heat already, holy cow. It sucked the life out of me today. I remember how hot my body got doing this in 2015 and that was in a much cooler climate. I was fine for the most part and was easily holding a good pace of rounds at 2:30/round for the first 10 minutes but at the 10 minute mark I felt like it all changed. I felt overheated and really started trying to figure my best ways to keep grinding away. I did all c2b UB, I just didn’t see getting enough rounds to justify breaking them up all and just wanted to see how I fared with a goal of 56-64 total reps. On my burpee my goal was to move fast and efficient, but also, my plan was to drop and do burpee right away get 4 reps in, walk to the other side of the barbell so that way when I finished the 8th rep I was facing the direction I was going to be lunging in. This break allowed me to get good transitions from the burpee to lunge, allowed me to move fast on my burpee when I was working. After the 10 min mark that break started becoming a little longer and the transitions definitely were not as fast. Other than the heat physically but more mentally effecting me, pretty happy overall with the individual breakdown of this, but the workout as a whole needs to have some refinement. I didn’t care much for this workout in 2015, but today I actually enjoyed the suffering a little. 

6/4 – OFF

6/5/2020 (easier day)

A – Heaving snatch balance x 2/OHS x 2, new complex EMOM x 6 (work around 95-115lbs, light)

115

B – Above knee hang muscle clean x 1/Above knee hang power clean x 1/Above knee hang squat clean x 1, new complex every 90 sec x 6 (work around 115-135lbs)

135

C – Clean grip banded deadlifts – 10 sets of 2, rest 1 min (185lbs + skinny bands)

185

+

30 sec Bike @ 350-400 watts

30 sec slow spin x 10-12

done x 12

6/6

tttTD (AMRAP/row/clean)

no matter how you slice it or how I played this one out, it was going to be a tough grind. At first I wanted to see how many rounds of strict hspu i could do and see how it fared for the rest of the workout. Warming up they felt really good, but I kept my numbers low at 1-2 reps/warm up round to not accumulate too much fatigue there, so overall I would say I hit 8-10 tops in warm up. In round 1 I did 4 reps and thought I needed to break right then and there to preserve. Round 1 about 80sec, another plan I had because I knew hspu were going to be the overall limiter so I thought doing the front squats right into the power clean would allow my a little more time to chip away on the hspu, well probably not the smartest plan as I felt my traps blow up and my arms. Warm up, I tried the db squats like Jake did in the video but I did not like how that felt digging into my shoulder blades so I went with the vertical stacking on the first set, well thats what blew up my traps and I dealt with that discomfort the rest of the rounds. Most of my rounds on hspu were 3/3/2 but one round I fell off the wall early and just adapted that number. 

185 for the snatch, started really light and didn’t feel the confidence to make a big jump in the middle, I did miss one and I just didn’t mentally focus enough on the smaller details, 

+

Easy bike cooldown

Mowed the grass for about an hour instead

A – Power clean x 1/Hang Power clean x 2/Front squat x 3 – 5 working sets

205-215-220-225-230

B – 1-arm DB OH press x 8-10/side x 3 sets/side

10 @ 50 for both  arms w/45sec rest bt arms – the 45sec rest bt arms made the last set on my left arm a bit of a grind

C – Dbl DB reverse flys with slight bend in elbows from chest supported position x 8-10, rest as needed x 3 sets

15’s x 10 – no same size db 20’s don’t think my mind would have been cool with that lol

+

E5MOM x 4 sets

Row 48 cals (progressive intensity, second 24 faster than first 24), directly into

Set 1 – 25 back squats @ 155lbs – 3:46

Set 2 – 25 front squats @ 115lbs – 3:42

Set 3 – 25 wallballs @ 30lbs – 3:47 (done in 8/8/9)

Set 4 – 50 air squats with weight vest – 4:29

(each set starts with row, then progress to squatting variation)

row splits – 2:31.6-2:28.2-2:36.5-2:43.5 – the wall ball was the only one that really effected the row…..well let me rephrase that, the only one that really effected the row today. My lats felt so smoked, like CrossFit open smoked, and my legs not terrible, but definitely feeling a little bit still.

+

C1 – Side lying sorenson hold x 18 sec/side, rest 1 min

18sec was really hard to maintain quality, right about 10/12 sec is where I could feel fighting for position got a hell of a lot harder

C2 – Extended hollow hold with small arm scissors x 12 + small feet scissors x 12, rest 1 min x 4

done

Two important lead in conversations to have, one is mostly for my benefit of documentation, another is one I would like to have a discussion or direction. We’ll start with the most important one first.

Today, I knew what kind of sport-specific warm up I needed for this piece. After building to some heavy doubles and triples on thrusters, I knew I needed to get a little bit of a response relative to the throwdown. And after one round I just didn’t want to put fourth the effort in a warm up. That could be a multitude of reasons, it’s just now finally officially hot and I haven’t adapted to the environment. I know when the open comes and it means something that I’m on my shit and no excuses I get to it in a warm up, but when it doesn’t matter as much in the big picture I struggle a little to be diligent in a warm up that needs a little more time of heart rate elevation. To keep things simple, my current thought process might be EMOM format or something when I just don’t feel like putting forth the effort, along the lines of cns driven (thruster in this case), if I want to save some bullets for the c2b, maybe do 2-3 reps + some kb swings/snatch/kb c&j/toe to rings, something that might open up that position but still keep some heart rate stimulation + some progressive bike intensity. At times I just don’t feel like getting after it in the warm up, but I feel if I give myself some structure the day before I might be more likely to stick with it as long as it isn’t too much.

The other note is, I have been complaining about knees being achy and feeling a little heavy. When I made the complaint of feeling heavy, the scales said 209, yesterday and today the scales said 205 and my knees were not achy, so I need to try and keep my weight around 205. I just stopped drinking the extra gatorade pre/mid workout and a bit fewer cals from a carb driven am meal. 

tttTD (thruster/pullups)

I will have to go back and look at the throwdown logging, but i think I was around the 25 rep mark of the 40 c2b pull ups. Of course the 95 thruster was fine and wasn’t even considering breaking up the 10 c2b, just knew I wasn’t going to be back there quick enough to justify it. The 135 bar wasn’t bad but wasn’t ready to be aggressive because I just didn’t see the value for me to really push, the round of 20 c2b I did 12/8. 155 pound thruster, shit go real! The weight felt good, but just didn’t have the mental drive to take short breaks. The round of 30 c2b I don’t exactly remember my breakdown but this is where I made a HUGE mistake, for all the extra resting in the workout I made a costly error that I’m glad I made now. After I did 2 sets of pull ups, i thought to myself, you just wasted a lot of time resting, when you could’ve maximized time changing plates, so I did that after my 2nd or 3rd set, just wasted time. At the 175 pound barbell I did sets of 3/4/3 – but at this point I was mentally defeated, leading to my find a better way to be effective in your warm up, I had plenty of time to finish the workout, and I have all the confidence in my skill set to finish 110%, however, I didn’t feel like suffering today enough to fight to the finish. I know this will happen from time to time so I just except and make sure I remember this day, this post and these writings and make sure I reflect on it the next time a really tough work out comes up. 

+

Sandbag work from last week if you have time/energy to hit it with quality

A – Mcgill big 3 + Foot/ankle + Hip/hamstring

done

B – Squat clean triples – complete all 3 reps in a 25 sec window, if you do so, go up next set. if you miss the time but hit the weights, stay at that load for remainder. rest 2 min x 6 working sets

185-205-215-225-235-245 – the 245 was a rush of a lift, and in competition would have been a no rep as I wasn’t quite fully locked out as the 25sec window hit

C – Paused front squat triples – 6 sec pause at just below parallel, not complete rock bottom, keep tension, new set every 2:30 x 5 sets

165×2, 185×3 – I almost backed off of the 185 because I wasn’t sure if I was too low or just below, but fortunately or unfortunately I got confirmation that I was just below

+

Every 5 min x 2 sets

Deadlifts x 15 reps @ 155-185lbs

HSPU x 15

DU’s x 60

1:22-1:22

+ (directly into)

Every 5 min x 2 sets

Deadlifts x 10 reps @ 185-225lbs

Ring pushups x 15

DU’s x 60

1:18-1:17

+ (directly into)

Every 5 min x 2 sets

Deadlift x 5 reps @ 225-255lbs

HR pushups x 15

DU’s x 60

1:15(missed rep 50 on dubz)-1:10

Shoulder flexion and hip extension based dynamic warmup (glute activation, shoulder circles, passive hangs, etc)

+

HS walk as far as possible unbroken, new attempt every 2 min x 5

36-40-56*-24^-56 *this round I went for the less aesthetic handstand walk position of a more scorpion like foot position and just felt better, when I tried to keep my feet together and point them to the ceiling is when I feel more like I’m overextending/overarching at the low back. ^this round my pinkie finger got caught under my hand and it jolted me a little with the next step and I felt a weird shock through my left oblique/low back. Didn’t try to recover just came down. Also to note here, could we keep doing something along these lines like this with little to no interference. This was good for my confidence and building in some volume with not a complete full rest to recovery but pretty close to it. 

+

HS rebalancing work with box/wall – 20 sec rebalancing back and forth, new set every 2 min x 5 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LsXRAua58M)

It took until the 4th set for things to feel right here. I was pushing off the box too much with my legs as my quad kept cramping up. Definitely exposed some weaknesses here. 

+

(DSGN overlap)

Open workout 15.1/15.1a

175 & 265 – goal was a round every 90sec, 4th round is when I started to fall off pace. My grip was becoming a limiter and my lats just felt smoked. This was also the point that I did not let negative self talk creep in. I was kind of over it at that point, but then I told myself whatever you do, do not put your hands on your knees or stop. You can move slow, make quick transitions and can slow down when you get there, but don’t stop moving. It took me 2 minutes to get my first lift up and I opened at 235, next lift was 265 and then I went for 285. I was trying to be quick in my prep and I only had 30sec left to get chalk, belt up and make the lift, I didn’t want to rush it too fast but wanted to do all those little comfort zone things. I stood up 285 with about 1 second left but didn’t think it was worth trying to finish the lift with time expiring. This was a good feeling as I have not been feeling strong at all lately and to still be able to make this clean was a positive.

HS skill work

Wall walk into lean away and progressive controlled steps away from wall

Kick up to partner spot and static hold then controlled steps forward – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXXIL2NHgNg&list=PL_6Iqj7TQV2PsbWl6uboBnD7gQR05z_KA&index=14

+

Wall facing HS hold in hollow body, focus on full breath cycles and equal pressure/activation in shoulders – 30-40 sec on, 80-120 sec rest x 5 sets

This was great, the focus on breath cycles and equal pressure put my focus where it should be and my breathing is not ground when my handstand walk volume gets high so loved this

+

For time

20 ring MU

(5 burpees to start, and 5 more EMOM after)

6:40 (6–3–2–3–2–3 (2/1x)—1 – on the very last set was trying to do a quick 2 drop down and do 2 more, I feel my miss was more because I rushed it and didn’t try and finish my kip by turning over too soon.

+

For time

60 kipping HSPU (use open standard line for heels if you have someone to watch some reps, if not be strict about lockout)

(20 DU’s to start, and 20 more EMOM after)

7:52 (12&12 then it kind of fell apart) – I have felt a little heavy for the past week or so. Been trying to make sure I have a big breakfast and carb driven. So I’m going to tighten that up a little and try to feel that in. 

+

Assault bike 90 sec @ 350 watts

AB 30 sec high effort (get up around 550-600 watts)

rest walk 2-3 min x 6 sets as able to sustain this effort

Almost called it on set 5, set 6 the 90 sec was starting to fade off the 350 watts goal, but the 30sec effort for 550-600 was solid

A – Power clean x 1/Split jerk x 2, rest 2-3 min x 6 sets, find a tough load by last set

245 – was pretty pleased with this as I have been feeling a little weak here lately so to be able to power and split jerk these was a semi confidence booster. Also coming off the road my hips felt a little tight and not a ton of great pop.

B – OHS x 10 reps, rest 3 min x 2 (take from floor)

185

C1 – Strict rope pullups x 8 (switch top hand after 4, pull chin to top hand each rep), rest 30 sec

Had to do a little boy scout rope tie job at home. And why do squeezing the rope with a death grip to do these always hurt. 

C2 – Ring dips x 15 reps for time with weight vest, rest 2 min x 3 sets

33-46-52 – ordered some new plates for my vest as this plates I currently have only get to 14

D – Negative body lever in straddle OR with legs/feet together, go for 8-10 sec negative each rep, rest 15-20 sec bt reps x 5, rest 2-3 min x 5 sets

Done – holy cow switched to straddle halfway in the 3rd set as the 8-10sec negative was going to become like a 2-3 second negative if I didn’t

+

Feet elevated reverse plank hold x 30 sec, rest 30 sec

Front plank with feet on swiss ball x 30 sec, rest 30 sec x 4 sets

Had to get creative for swiss ball with feet in rings but thought that was a really good substitution