Ben Plotnicki

A – Below knee hang squat snatch doubles, rest 2 min x 6 sets (working weights around 145-165, focus on maintaining tension in the hang

165 across

B – Back squat – 6 sets of 4, no pause at top, rest 2 min (all sets @ 235-255)

255 across

C – Bench press 8 sets of 3 @ 185, rest 90 sec

D – Wtd pullup 8 sets of 3 @ 35lbs, rest 90 sec

Felt better and a little stronger today

Had to superset these – was afraid of being short on time

E – Dbl DB skull crushers x 12-15, rest 60 sec x 3

25 – got a little sloppy towards the middle of some of the sets, and dialed it back in

F1 – Reverse grip BB bicep curls x 8 + Regular grip BB bicep curls x 8, rest 45 sec

Empty bar

F2 – Belly to wall HS hold with controlled breathing x 30 sec, rest 90 sec x 3 sets

30 sec was hard as shit, started becoming a huge fight around 25 sec

Had to super set these with the skull crushers or else I might not have been able to get all the work in

5/13

30 min AMRAP @ 65-75% effort

Row 750m

15 russian swings @ 53lbs

10 burpees to 6in touch

AB 30 cals

15 wallballs

10 box jump step downs @ 24in

Ski erg 500m

15 deadlifts @ 135lbs

10 C2B pullups

2 rounds – good way to ease back into training

5/14

A – Squat snatch – accumulate 15 quality singles @ 165lbs, no bobble or foot movement

This was the perfect way and scenario to really focus on the movement as a whole – only had 1 lift that had extra foot movement

B – Back squat – 4 sets of 6, no pause at top, rest 2 min

215-245 x 3 – might have been a bit of aggressive getting back into training but wasn’t turning back

C – Bench press 6 sets of 3, rest 90 sec

195 – felt a little unstable with the barbell in lockout, weight was tough but could’ve done several more sets, not much more in the tank for a set of 3 though

D – Wtd pullup 6 sets of 3, rest 90 sec

35 – felt really weak on my pulling here

E – Dbl DB skull crushers x 10-12, rest 60 sec x 3

25

F – Reverse grip BB bicep curls x 6 + Regular grip BB bicep curls x 6, rest 90 sec x 3 sets

Empty barbell – this felt tough through that forearm but got better each set. I will start doing this once a week becaue I do think it helped my arm big time especially with that blood flow

5/15/2019

EMOM x 10

Odd min – 12 row cals

Even min – 40 DU’s

(rest 2 min)

EMOM x 10

Odd min – 10 bike cals

Even min – 10 lateral box jump overs

(rest 2 min)

EMOM x 12

Min 1 – 12 row cals

Min 2 – 10 1-arm alternating DB snatches

Min 3 – 10 bike cals

Min 4 – 10 1-arm DB hang clean and jerks (5/side)

This was fun today – all were easy numbers to hit, steady work on rower, bike tried to hold a little higher output

+

Star plank x 30 sec/side, rest 60 sec bt sides x 3 sets

Tough but done

5/16 – OFF

5/17

1-arm BB power snatch x 3/side, build to a tough set of 3 each arm, do not TNG, take a brief pause at floor each rep to reset/rebalance as needed

105 – was a little shaky trying to stabilize and balance barbell overhead – right arm was actually a little harder than left arm

+

1-arm DB strict press from standing x 6/side, take 4 sets to find tough load each arm, start with weaker side first

70 – didn’t have access to a wide variety of db’s today so had to go from 50 – 70,

Last rep for left hand was a grind but db kept moving so I stayed in the fight. Right arm wasn’t the same grind but was still tough

+

1-arm ring pullups with light assist from other arm on rig/ring, 5 attempts each side with goal of as little assistance as possible

Right arm 3-3-3-1-2

Left arm 3-3-3-2-2

I decided to make my light assist a 2 finger on rig pull

+

3 rounds for time

Row 20 cals @ damper 10

20 empty bar muscle snatch (bring below knee cap)

20 empty bar thrusters

8:52

Damper on 10 sucked!!!!!!

Didn’t have a ton of time to warm up for this, proper warm up would’ve allowed me to push the row a little more but was still fun to do the bar muscle snatch and thruster, no reason to stop or break just get comfortable with the deep burn and grind on

5/18

TTT Throwdown workout (see TTT IG for details on Thursday, also please place your score/results in the comment section)

4+15

Hspu were a limiter for sure, and burpee cycle rate as well

If I had video’d this workout, would definitely love to see that time to complete the 7 bbxjo in the first round and the 3rd round. Definitely could feel the attrition in round 3, round 4 I could feel some tricep fatigue in the burpee portion. The last set of ohs was a fight as I could feel my right trap/shoulder wanting to break. I was really afraid that I was going to fail a rep because the shoulder couldn’t keep the bar locked out. Broke the handstands in rd 2&3, and stayed on the wall for round 4, just used a longer kip. Video review would be nice to see if this was valuable or not. Just knew there is not a lot of time to mess around in 7 minutes.

5/19 – OFF

Rope climb skill work, self directed, low volume

Did a 10 min emom of regular rope climb, my main focus was to spend time on the descent. This allowed me to get some good volume and not being grip/bicep exhausted. I feel I got a little better today.
+
400m weight vest run, rest 90 sec x 4, keep intensity high

Goal was to keep each run around 1:40, with triple turn arounds
+
EMOM x 20
Min 1-4: 50ft reverse bear crawl
Min 5-8: 14 1-arm alternating DB snatches @ 50lbs
Min 9-12: 50ft plank walk with feet on sliders
Min 13-16: 50 DU’s
Min 17-20: 14 AB cals

Holy smokes, this was 10X harder than I thought it was going to be. It was fun for sure, but caught me off guard from the 2nd minute.

Strategy email coming tomorrow. This past week has been insanely crazy. I will have a major (extremely positive) life changing event happening in the future. Nothing but positive things that will come out of it. I would love to chat about it sometime next week if we can sneak on a quick call.

60-90 sec each station x 2 rounds
AB
Row
Ski
Jog
+
Cannella Cross 3-4 min footwork
done

+
Front squat x 2/Split jerk x 1 – 4 working sets, rest to recovery with a focus on crisp jerks
205 & 215

My right wrist was a little stiff so didn’t want to push it, and I only felt it on the jerk, I can manipulate the handstand walk so thats not an issue. I just need to dedicate some extra time to mobilizing, and also try and determine whats creating the restriction.

+
(Clean lift off (2in) + Halting clean grip deadlift (pause above knee) + Clean deadlift with 4 sec negative) * 3 reps, rest 2-3 min x 3, similar loading to last week.
185-205-225

+
Feet elevated ring rows AMRAP with rings touching chest at top, rest 30 sec
HSW AFAP unbroken, kick up right at 30 sec mark, rest 3 min x 3 sets
44

48

24 – got going a little too fast and just lost control

+
8 rounds for time
pistols/box jump overs, 4 each
2:35

I had to jump right into this because I started running out of time, a little more heart rate elevation would’ve helped this. I felt like I slowed down around round 5, my first round was 14 seconds, and I think I sustained that through the 1st 4 and then the pistols slowed down a little.

600m weight vest run, rest 1:1 x 4, slightly faster pace than expected 1 mile effort
2:37-2:30-2:36-2:31

I think this was more of a 500m-ish distance

+
Rope climb x 2
Dbl DB devil press x 10 (done as snatches)
Rope climb x 2
Dbl DB devil press x 10 (done as clean and jerks)
active recovery on bike 4-5 min x 2 sets (8 total rope, 40 total DP)

Rope climbs got much better today. I didn’t not like using the dp c&j, I almost felt a little grippier because under tension longer. I also called it on the last set of dp, I was pretty smoked mentally and extremely low on fuel. Also played with the kipping version of the rope climb, and it’s definitely slower, but I felt a little fresher as I went through.
+

Wasn’t going to bail on this even though I was completely spent from the competition.
E2MOM x 6 sets (12 total minutes)
Odd sets – 10 sec row SPRINT
Even sets – 60 sec row @ 1300 cal/hr
odds – 2100+

Evens – good here

Midline massacre in full
(get a good warmup, do 40ft straight shot on HSW)

9:31

Breakdown

DU – unbroken

40ft hs – unbroken

Snatch – 1 rep every 15s and even powered some of them, this was a good steady relaxed pace, could pick this up slightly for the first 4-5 reps and don’t see much of a cost

OHS – 2 reps and then failed the 3rd rep, just lost good activation through midline, this made me a little more cautious moving forward. Went to a narrow grip via clean & jerk and hit 5 reps, snatch grip with 5 more reps – wanted to grind out the remainder of reps but thought that wouldn’t be the smartest decision. Finished last 3 from narrow. I feel my breaks here were at least 15 sec/break.

HS walk – 20/20 – felt the low back get hot in the first 20 and big time in the last 20 but overall shoulder loading felt strong and stable

Thruster – 6/7/11 – only reason I broke the first 6 was the low back carry over wasn’t comfortable, and wanted to get a little over halfway to finish in 3 sets.

Great warm up, but quads were a little tired from yesterday and felt a I had a pretty nasty knot around vastus lateralus, so i minimized knee flexion volume. Another strategy I took was after warm up I sat down and waited for about 10 minutes to mimic the scenario of warming up and then getting into the corral.

AM
Weight vest run 800m @ target game pace
rest walk 1:1 x 3 sets, after third set only go immediately into
5 rounds for time of
pistols/BJO

I will start with a “data/measurables” disclaimer for this workout. Today I had access to a trueform, but even in the past I’ve been pretty sure that it needs to be recalibrated. Knowing this, but felt could get a better feel for the run and the demands so I not only used the monitor but used my apple watch to track and compare the distance as well. All 3 sets did not get the same equal reading. The first set the apple watch was 30m further, 2nd set the true form was plus 50m, the 3rd set the true form was plus 30m….it was pretty frustrating but just tried to keep my focus.

4:34

4:46

5:03

mechanics fell apart on the 3rd round, didn’t feel as disciplined in my positioning to maintain good running mechanics. I also feel my pace on 1st set especially was faster than my pace on Saturday.

5rft

@ 2:16

PM
A1 – Back squat x 6 reps for speed @ 185, rest 45 sec
this felt really light and fast

A2 – DBl DB thrusters x 12 reps for speed @ 50/hand, rest 3 min x 2-3 sets (only if able to preserve turnover)
all 3 sets under 20sec

B – DBl KB russian swings x 10-12 @ 53/hand, engage posterior shoulder without excessive tension through forearm/bicep), rest 2 min x 3 sets
The first couple of reps felt that tension but made the adjustments to relieve the excessive tension.

C – Banded pulldowns and banded Y’s from hollow body x 8/position x 3 sets

done
D – Wall assisted glute bridge hold x 90 sec, rest 3 min x 2 sets
I forgot how freaking hard these are for 90 seconds

60-90 sec each station x 2-3 rounds
AB
Row
Ski
Jog

done
+
Clean and jerk – 4 tough reps for the day, full rest

255-265-275-280

Footwork was my biggest weakness here. I feel pretty confident that I could’ve hit a much heavier clean, but the footwork on my jerk was way off today.
+
(Clean lift off (2in) + Clean deadlift with 4 sec negative) * 3 reps, rest 2-3 min x 3-4, tough loading

I was so excited to work on the rope climb today, so I completely forgot about this and did it on the back end. Probably effected my overall loading of keeping them all tough

165-195-205-225
+
2 sets for times, full rest between
Rope climb x 3
Dbl Db devil press x 9
Rope climb x 1
(turnover for first 3, then get a feel for what that first rep feels like after the devil press)
2:34 – 1st rope climb is not fun. Rope descent felt better today, but still need some refinement. 1-2 more touches and might help big time

2:38 – broke the DP into 6&3, quick transition to that rope climb and it was a grind, transition in the first set was more like 10-15 sec. breaking them in that scenario with a few second rest might be a good move.

Do you think that there is any reward to do a c&j for the DP? I don’t know if the increased time under tension is worth the trade out.

+

Uneven ring pullups x 3-4/top hand x 3 sets, rest as needed

done

AM
2 sets
AB 20 cals @ 350-400 watts, steady, into
Snatch x 4 @ 185
OHS x 8 @ 185
walk rest 3-4 min bt sets
3:25

3:19

I have gotten comfortable with that more narrow grip on my overhead squats, but going into the first ohs after the snatch was a good feeling. I felt that I moved quickly and well on those 8 reps, might not be a bad strategy to go for, hit the first 8, shake it out, quickly reset and go into the slightly more narrow grip.

+
2 sets
AB 20 cals @ 350-400 watts, steady, into
40ft HS walk (turn around at 20ft, get more aggressive than wed with shorter distance)
15 dbl DB thrusters @ 50/hand
walk rest 3-4 min bt sets
3:19

3:10

Only 1 break on handstand walk, and what this taught me is the db thruster might be the worst part of this workout. Shoulders will be smoked when I get there, and heart rate will be sky high.

+
Row 150m hard effort, new set every 3 min x 4
28

26.7

27.6

26.6

PM
Road to Glory in full
(sub 6 tuck jumps for BJO if needed due to no box available)

8:52 on run

6+1 on amrap

Run was in a neighborhood that the last 200-250m or so finished on a pretty gnarly hill that my quads were not happy and definitely slowed my pace down big time. Since we still don’t know that logistics of the run I am glad I experienced it in such terrain.

I never used to grab my foot in pistols but I did today and felt it gave a great counterbalance with the weight vest and the leg fatigue and compromised mobility and stability throughout that movement. The pistol is no doubt the limiter, it felt easier to keep moving on the box jump overs, but pistols will be the kicker here for sure.

Reperfusion session
3 min bike @ 75%
2 min row @ 75%
1 min jog @ 75%
45 sec foam roll per major body part on each side (hamstrings, quads, lats)
x 3-4 sets. HR should stay around 120-130 throughout

This was fantastics and helped me feel amazing