Ben Plotnicki

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

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.