Ben Plotnicki

AMRAP 12 min

12 chest to bar pullups

25ft HS walk

8 bar facing burpees

25ft HS walk

then from min 12 to min 18

6 min to find a shoulder to overhead double from rack

3+12+13

195

Knowing the handstand walk was going to be my limiter I did all pull ups unbroken and pushed the pace of the burpee, and of course the burpee number being so low. Couple of worthy notes here. Did this in the garage, which means I have plenty of headspace to do c2b pull ups, but when warming up for them I was skeptical, just with a claustrophobic feel. I think this helped as the rounds went on, because that feel that my head my hit the ceiling or feet hit the wall, so I got to tighten up the kip as I went on and on. In the long run I could see the visuals that can improve the efficiency here. No use of a straight 25ft walk, so it had to be broken up halfway. This did hurt in the long run as everytime I came down I wasn’t as quick to kick up and go back to finish the distance. I do feel in the past that just exposure in various ways improved my handstand walking and that’s twice this week and I plan on getting touches in warm ups from here on out once or twice a week. Just really feel out of practice, and as today went, when I went to overextend at my low back I could feel it and would consistently try to correct it. I was able to correct it but would still default to that overextension. So that will get better. 

As far as the overhead went, I missed a lift @ 225, I got the first rep and then missed the 2nd, I had a brain fart in the middle and couldn’t decide if I was going to power or split jerk it and landed in the inefficient beginners mix of the 2. From the overextension in the handstand walk I could feel that in my low back when doing the shoulder to overhead work, this definitely made me take the conservative approach by only getting in 3 lifts. 

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50 AB cals @ 90% effort

2:45 — 2:50 — 2:57

rest 2:30 min

50 row cals @ 90% effort, rest 2:30 min x 3 sets

2:15 — 2:19 — 2:23

Prone scap swimmers x 45 sec continuous movement

Teacup rotations with change plate x 3/direction/arm

Bottoms up KB hang snatch x 5/side

rest as needed x 2-3 sets

One of the first times that teacup rotations cause minimal pain or discomfort – shoulder feels really really good today

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A1 – Prone I/T/Y’s from chest supported bench x 3/movement, rest 30 sec

Felt really good today

A2 – 1-arm rotational ring rows x 5/side (twist away from ring at bottom and pull chest to square at the top), rest 30 sec

A3 – Serratus anterior wall slides x 4 slow reps, get some good breathing patterns in here as you go through increased shoulder flexion, keep rib cage down

rest 90 sec x 3 sets

Good today

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Squat snatch gauntlet

1 rep EMOM until failure, start at 135 and add 10lbs/lift through 175, then go up by 5 after that

205 – missed 210 – just tired on the pull and create enough speed to move the bar enough

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B1 – Front squat x 3 @ 225, rest 30 sec

B2 – Thrusters x 6 @ 115, rest 30 sec

B3 – Wallballs x 24, rest 3 min x 3 sets

I really have missed the pieces. I always felt I responded and adapted really well to these. I’m sure it’s more mental than it is actually physiogical but for me I feel really good things happen with these progressions. I know I have good squat economy so I’m sure that plays a role but the volume is my favorite becuase I know I can grind through and trust my positions and get after it. 

Today I wanted to push my comfort zone and I used the 20lb wall ball on set 1 and I went for it on set 2 with the 30. No problem there at all. Set 3 was a different story, I saved a miss which I normally struggle to do with the 30, didn’t throw me off becuase it happened early. I will say, I didn’t have many more reps in me with the 30 and if there was a 4th set, I would probably have defaulted to the 20. 

C1 – Bent knee GHD hip extensions x 6 + Straight leg GHD hip extensions x 10, rest 1 min

done

C2 – GHD situps x 6 with slow tempo up and down + GHD situps x 12 with fast tempo, rest 1 min x 3

done

D – Mini band distracted reverse leg lifts from bench 3 sets of 10-12, rest as needed

done

Part 1: Frustratingly Slow vs Pump City

For time: 

3 rounds: 

8 DB power clean 50/35#

12 kipping hspu

…

3 rounds 

8 DB power clean

12 strict hspu

…

3 rounds:

8 DB power clean

72 hs walk (12 feet lanes. 6′ unbroken minimum increments)

* 20 min cap

Only finished one round of handstand walks @ time cap

I actually surprised myself with the strict hspu, I don’t remember exactly the finish time of that couplet but I believe it was around 11 minutes, first round of strict did all 3’s, 2nd round I did 3-3 and 2’s to finish, 3rd round I did a mix of 2’s and 1’s. I could’ve pushed the pace a little more here but I wanted to not risk failure, and I wasn’t as close as I was fearing I was. When I got to the handstand walk I fell apart. Several attempts I couldn’t even get the minimum 6ft. It was positioning, I had the habit of trying to overextend at the hips/core

Part 2: TTB Test

100 TTB for time 

* 8 min cap

7:41

Started out from jump doing 5 reps every 20sec, around the rep range of 50-60 I took a set off, and then started taking a few sets off here and there because I could feel position and capacity being stretched. Around rep 80 hands had the separation and blood blister forming. Fought through for one more set of 5 then did a few 3’s. I knew time was getting close so I did some really quick singles and wanted to switch back to a few bigger sets but I just couldn’t control the negative and switch back 

Part 3: What Strength Can You Muster Now?

A. Thruster; 3, 2, 1; rest 2 min

165-185-215 (might have had a few more pounds in the tank)

B. Overhead squat; 3×3; rest 2 min

185-195-205

C1. Front squat; 10 reps @50-60% 1rm AFAP x3; rest 2 min

165 – got really uncomfortable here and pushed up and down with a consistent cycle time. Even when the burn set in and got hot I didn’t pause at the top to take a break. Pushed through.

C2. Deadlift; 3×3; rest 2 min

275-295-315 – wish I had gone a little heavier for my last set

AB 3 min @ 150 watts

AB 3 min @ 200 watts

AB 3 min @ 250 watts

done

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Row 250m @ <1:40/500m pace, rest 45 sec

1:38.3 avg pace

into

5 rounds for time @ open effort

10 toes to bar

12 1-arm alternating DB hang split snatch @ 50lbs 

14 row cals

9:30

Row pace the first round was bt 1300-1400, but knew this might have been a little hot, was too slow getting into the rower in this round and I feel I tightened that up every other round. I was pretty happy with this piece as transitions were crisp, the only thing I could’ve done was held a higher pace on rower the whole time, except for rounds 1 & 5, was around 1100+. I did start to control my pace on db split snatch by taking a quick breath with db overhead, this for the most part helped control my anxiety from stressing about moving too fast and losing control

(rest to full recovery)

Row 250m @ 1:40/500m pace, rest 45 sec

1:39 avg pace

into

5 rounds for time @ open effort

10 burpees to 6in touch

12 1-arm DB hang clean and jerk @ 50lbs (6/side before switching)

14 wallballs 

12:13

Burpee pace was too slow, tried to attack it but slowed down incrementally over the course of the 5 rounds, except for the last round. The transitions got slower as well. On the first round I tried to take a little break before I picked up the wall ball becuase I felt I was at a pace I would have a hard time sustaining. 12 hang c&j was the perfect number, I didn’t want to pick it up but it is so few reps that I grabbed it before I was ready except for rounds 3&4. 

+ (rest to recovery)

AB 10sec sprint, 1:50 slow spin x 3

First round – 1000+ watts, 2nd topped out @ 984, and 3rd 1071.

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Cossack squat flow x 3/side

Banded bird dogs with neutral spine x 6/side

Single leg hip thrusts from shoulders elevated x 8/side

3 sets, rest as needed

30 strict pullups for time

2:12

10 sets of 3 – had 18 right around 1 min mark 

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

10/6/4 — 9/4/3 —7/4/2

A2 – Parallette L-sit – accumulate 45 sec in as few sets and on as little rest as possible, rest 90 sec x 3 sets

First set was the best I did 12/11×3 – as the time became less and less on set 2, I wanted to see if the accumulated time in a quicker fashion had a bigger effect on the hspu, so as soon as I started to feel like I was going to lose good positon, I tucked 1 leg and then would go into a double tuck to try and hold lockout from triceps longer. 

B1 – Filly lunge x 50ft (one arm front rack one arm overhead, switch at halfway), rest 30 sec

Done – I feel in control for the first 25ft no matter which arm I start with but as soon as I switch arms I feel by the next 25ft my heart rate sky rockets

B2 – (Strict pullup + push away to tucked front lever + controlled negative to dead hang) * 2-3 ‘reps’, rest 90 sec x 5 sets

3 reps per

C – Archer switches from isometric ring row hold – 4/side overhead and 4/side lateral, controlled movement throughout, adjust angle as needed to control the movement (example vid but start with an overhead reach first then do these lateral reaches –

Overhead felt a little akward and not as natural

D – Dbl DB reverse flys from chest supported position x 10-12 x 3 sets, rest as needed

12 reps @ 10lbs

E – Elbow on knee DB external rotations x 8/side @ 30X1 tempo x 3 sets, rest as needed

5 pounds on left arm – 10 on right – first set it was painful to express X so I went to about a 1 sec concentric and as the reps progressed I was able to move quicker.

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