Ben Plotnicki

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

A – Hang clean x 2/Shoulder to overhead x 1, rest 2 min x 4 sets, tech work on shoulder will be goal

235 across
B – Front squat – 3,3,3. rest 3 min
275-285-295

+
2 rounds for time
100 DU’s
40ft HS walk (make this a straight shot so you can practice going longer than usual without a turnaround)
3:45

This was solid….both handstand walks were unbroken, but that wasn’t the best part. The high points were going into the 2nd one, I was going to rest a little longer before starting, but I said nope, go for it, this is what you need to feel and excel. Then at around the 25-28ft mark I came close to coming down but I felt the right positions and re-gained balance and kept going.

+
C – Banded single arm KB OH carries x 40ft/arm x 3 sets, rest as needed

done
D – Lightly loaded prone scap swimmers x 15 sec constant movement, rest 45 sec x 5 sets

This actually felt really good….I did keep it super light @ 2.5 plates though

AM
Complex run through
(obvious goal for this will be to come up with some rough estimates for attempts, both the loading and timing with small range for each. dont go to full max here, but about 90-93%. secondary goal is to plan out a rough warmup for this to stimulate NS enough without accumulating a ton of volume. something like 3-2-1 in the complex instead of 5-3-1, saving full complex for the floor)

255

(opened at 265 and on the 3rd clean I wasn’t able to get enough leg drive and felt that my feet didn’t move). It took about 50sec to load bar, thats what I anticipated. Executed first lift at 1:30, waited until 3:45 to execute 2nd attempt.

Warm up plan – mostly 1-2 deadlifts as building in load. When I got a little more weight on the bar I would do 2+1+1. Only did one 3+2+1 and that was at 240. Then I did a squat clean & jerk @ 255. My thought was, for the most part (I did kind of prove myself wrong here though) that it will be the jerk part that I need to prep the building loads for, not as much the cleans, but 3 cleans is a big difference. I felt no grip issues so I’m not worried about that, and I didn’t really feel a ton of posterior on either my miss or my make. What I did notice is my breathing and bracing and a little bit of leg fatigue on the make on rep 3 on the clean. The jerk didn’t have great footwork as I got a little worried becuase I knew I was tired on rep 3 so really focused on getting my hips open aggresively, and the bar drove into my throat, so for a brief second I was worried about my air getting cut off.
+
Easy cyclic cooldown and back/hips decompression (glute bridge/reverse planks, scorpion twists from prone and supine, feet elevated belly breathing, etc)

PM
Stairway to heaven in full
(same as AM, get a feel, come to know what pace is appropriate for DP to keep RC sustainable)

2 rounds

At this moment – I will definitely not be able to finish this. I have a low trust factor still on the descent, but I can get access to a thick gymnastics pad to practice bt now and go time. First round wasn’t bad on rope climbs took too long for 3 but I was just trying to learn the workout a little. 6-5-4 on DP, rest wasn’t too long I feel. Quickly went into 1st rc of 2nd round and that’s when my biceps blew up, I was a little scared of failure, then the 2nd rep I got super intimidated. So rested extra because I didn’t want to miss rep 3. Did the set of 12 dp unbroken because I had no other choice. The time under tension for my biceps is whats hurting me. I will take the steps to improve this in the next 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A – Snatch – 1 rep every 20-30 sec x 5, rest 3 min x 3 sets (start at 155 and try to build to 185 by last set to get a feel for what timing will feel like)

155-170-185

@ 185 – went every 20sec – pace might be too fast for gameday pace. Was fine for the first 3, but the last 2 got a little sloppy, with the minor things
B – OHS – find a 10RM from the floor

205

This was way harder on the legs than I anticipated. Was more stable overhead than I expected, didn’t get shaky unti rep 9/10 – but I was more afraid around that rep that my legs wouldn’t be able to stand it up. Took me a few seconds to get stable in the right position to start the first rep
+
4 sets, new set every 6 min
Run 400m with weight vest, into
3 rounds of 4+4 pistol/BJO

3:41 (run-2:13)

3:24 (2:01)

3:38 (2:02)

3:26 (2:11 – had some vest issues with the velcro)

The pistols were the hardest part of the couplet hands down. I struggled with ankle flexion/position on the right leg, and the legs were super tired, I could feel some carry over from the overhead squat/run
+
C – Band assisted chest to bar pullups x 10, rest 90 sec x 3 sets, controlled negative

Thought this would be easy peasy, smh – this was hard as shit
D – Shoulder taps from belly to wall HS hold x 10-14, rest 90 sec x 3 sets, controlled weight shifts

Didn’t have time to get all 3 sets in

AM

EMOM x 24-30

Min 1 – 50ft HS walk

Min 2 – 40 sec AB @ 88-90%

Min 3 – 1-arm DB OHS x 8/arm @ 50lbs

Min 4 – 40 sec AB @ 88-90%

Min 5 – Dbl DB hang cleans x 10 @ 50/hand

Min 6 – 40 sec AB @ 88-90%

Went for 30 – some things really really clicked on hs walking positions. This was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Low back started getting really tired from the combination of movements but the ohs exacerbated it. Tried to push bike around 400’s – occasionally dipped to 398, but at the round of 24-30 getting to 400 was all mental and was tough to make it happen.

PM

A – 10 min thoracic extension/rotation mobility work (cat camel, squatting sky reaches, thoracic bridge flows, jefferson curls)

B – Banded shoulder series – https://www.instagram.com/p/BT1wKq7F6Rd/

C – Mcgill big 3

+

AMRAP 7 min

9 deadlifts @ 275lbs

3 ring MU

4+9

Ring muscle ups feel a little off right now. I know the deadlift played a huge role in that today, but something just didn’t feel smooth and connected. I bailed on an attempt in round 3 because I knew I was not in good position and missed rep 3 in round 4. The deadlift felt heavy, but the rep range was enough to be a little intimidating for me to not attack it as aggressively. After round 2 I tried to tighten up my transitions by getting on the deadlift bar pretty quick but broke the set.

This was also a good set up as the am pushed me to some limits of being uncomfortable and being just tired enough going into pm session that it was a similar feel to a competition of not wanting to warm up and get jazzed up but have to find a way to mentally and physically get there.

Squat clean – 1 rep every 30 sec x 10 @ 185lbs

done

+

Squat clean – 1 rep every 45 sec x 8 @ 225lbs

done

+

Squat clean – 1 rep every 60 sec x 6 @ 245lbs

done

+

2 rounds for time

Row 500m

150 DU’s

Row 500m

50 wallballs @ 30lbs

18:43

In 2nd round I knew row would be a challenge, goal was to try and keep them around 1:56-1:58…wall balls were just trying to find a rhythm that allows for a good set and minimal rest bt breaks.

10 min amrap:

3×10 unbroken snatch 75lbs

6×5 unbroken snatch 135lbs

10×3 unbroken snatch 165lbs

in time remaining, snatches at 205lbs

1set @ 165

total of 63 reps

Missed the 3rd rep of a set of 3 @ 165 twice….my low back was just tired and that got in my head. On the first set rushed it and wasn’t ready. 2nd set I just didn’t commit to the 3rd rep the way I needed to. No power left today from the week and and had to squat every rep and attempted rep @ 165

+

Bottoms up front squats – 1.1.1.1 x 4 sets, rest 8 sec/2 min

215-225-245-245

+

Single arm BB farmer carry 30 sec on, 30 sec rest x 4 sets/side (tough)

115

AM

PAILS/RAILS for shoulder flexion – 1 min – 10 sec @ 30% – 30 sec – 10 sec @ 30% x 1 set each arm

+

HS walk rebalancing work

Start in belly to wall HS hold with 3-4 deep diaphragmatic breaths in as long/tall of a body line as you can create, then work on manipulating core tension and finger pressure to move towards freestanding hold, rest 90-120 sec bt sets x 5 sets for quality

Done

I had a better personal understanding of how that bodyline position is supposed to feel

+

HS walk speed work

5 ski erg cals into 30ft HS walk for time, new set every 2 min x 5

(handstand walk times)

20-18-16-20-18

+

HS walk obstacle work

Setup side-by-side plate stacks to step up and over, build in height and additional stacks front to back as skill/feel dictates for the day

Better quality today and wasn’t as smoked

+

6 rounds for time

2 rope climbs

4 BBJO @ 30in

7:24

Forearm was irritated the first 3 rounds and then it faded

PM

A – Squat snatch x 1/Hang squat snatch x 1, rest no longer than 10 sec bt reps – 6 working sets to find tough load in this complex

155-165-175-185-195-205

B – Below knee hang squat clean triples, 4 sets, rest 2-3 min255

225-235-245-255

C – Back squats with chains/bands – 3,3,3,3,3. rest 3 min

275-285-295-305-315

I’m glad I didn’t look at last weeks 4’s, not  sure I would’ve started as heavy relative to last week had I looked

D – Clean pulls @ 295 x 1.1.1.1, new rep every 15 sec, rest 2 min x 3 sets

My body and energy was done at this point, didn’t have the best quality

E – GHD hip extensions with plate hugged to chest, accumulate 60 reps for quality, break when needed

done

F – GHD situps – 4 sets of 18, rest as needed

done

Active arch/hollow hangs x 5 iterations x 5 sets, rest as needed (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj-ibFuHVXC/)

+

Active hollow body hold banded pulldowns and banded Y’s x 14/position x 2 sets, rest as needed (https://www.instagram.com/p/BSB6zCnhNmW/?hl=en)

+

A1 – Dbl KB russian swings x 12 @ 53/hand, rest 30 sec

done

A2 – 1 set AMRAP unbroken chest to bar pullups with rhythm, stop when you lose rhythm, rest 3 min x 3 sets

14-14-15

Felt much better today than last week. The first 2 sets the forearm felt a little stiff and called it before pushing the limits, hands were also still extremely sensitive….forearm felt better for the last set but lost rhythm

B1 – Hang power snatch x 10 reps @ 95lbs, rest 30 sec

done

B2 – AMRAP deficit kipping HSPU (6in deficit) with rhythm, stop when you pause longer than 1 sec in any position, rest 3 min x 3 sets

7-10-10

Came off the wall for the 1st one. Lost ryhthm on set 2, and set 3 the last rep I would’ve had to rest longer than 1 sec

+

5 rounds for time

15-12-9-6-3 deadlifts (185,225,255,285,315, heavier each set as reps go down)

15 toes to bar

20 box jump overs @ 24in

13:50

Tried to make transitions quickly, weight changes of course took the longest, the other transitions felt better on. Broke ttb on each set. Hamstrings and low back were still pretty smoked from Saturday so the 225 load felt good but the 12 reps made that tougher. All loads past that were a grind. Box jump over goal was to keep moving no matter how bad I wanted to stop.