At the beginning of a year, it’s always good to get back to the basics… and basically, it was COLD. But what do we do when it’s cold? Complain a little more, maybe, but we POST. It’s a thing men do. If you need help with it, ask any of the 6 men that were there on Friday.

(Before I jump in here, it should be noted that I had no weinke, no solid pre-plan for what was to happen in this workout. Why does that matter? I tell you in a minute.)

The Thang:
Warmed up with a lap around the lot and a little dynamic stretching as we went: knee pull to chest, windmill walkers, toy soldiers, then circled up for a little more.
SSH, Windmills, Mountain Climbers, Moroccan Night Clubs, etc. after we had a quick discussion of the legend of Vince Lombardi’s “Gentlemen, this is a football” speech. In case you aren’t familiar, the legend is that Lombardi, after a particularly awful loss, pulled the whole team in to the locker room and re-introduced them to a football. “Gentlemen, this is a football…” Then the story goes that he walked them around the field pointing out yard markers, end zones, etc. to these men who clearly had played football all of their lives. We then talked a little about the “Basics of F3”, those essential elements that must be performed at every workout. Can’t overstate the importance of certain basics in our lives that, if performed well and consistently, will make all the difference in our ability to fulfill our purpose here. So we talked before each of these exercises about more proper form for each, then performed them as correctly as we could:
KB Swings
Clean and Press
Overhead Press
Triceps Extensions
Bicep Curls
Upright Rows
Bent-Over Rows
Finished up with another lap around the lot and some Mary.

NMM:
It was pointed out that one of the things that is greatly lacking in The Fort is the consistency with which Backblasts are posted. In fact, it was suggested that perhaps “writing a backblast” ought to perhaps be the 6th essential element of an F3 workout. We all have heard, “if you didn’t write it, it didn’t happen”. Clearly, this isn’t true, but it makes a point. WHY ON EARTH DO WE SPEND TIME WRITING BACKBLASTS??? Let me tell you some of my favorite excuses for not doing them:
1. No time. – This is obviously bull. This is just what I tell myself so I can put it off.
2. No planning. – Often, when I don’t plan my workout well in advance (like this one) I don’t remember afterward what all we did, and so I feel dumb writing a BB.
3. I’m not a good writer. – Also, bull. Just because I am not Dredd, or Tom Clancy or something, doesn’t mean I can’t write a passable Backblast.
4. No one reads them anyway. – I know this one is not true, given the amount of crap I catch for not writing them.

So why do we write them in the first place?
1. Document the actual workout itself. – It’s good to have it written down. I get lots of terrible ideas from other guys who have written their ideas down.
2. Builds community. – Amongst the PAX who posted there that day, amongst PAX who posted elsewhere, but maybe most importantly amongst PAX who didn’t post for whatever reason. A guy who is out hurt can check in on twitter and read a BB and feel part of the gang again in no time.
3. Accountability. – If you know you are going to have to write about it later, it’s incumbent on you to show up, do what you said you were going to do, and make it worthy of writing about. Plus, it lets the other PAX know that you give a crap and that you take this whole thing seriously. I get it. We’re volunteering. We aren’t getting paid to lead, we aren’t getting paid to write. But if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing all the way.

So, write the damn backblasts. It’s the last part of your duty as a Q. And Site Qs? Make sure your Qs are writing them and hassle them if they don’t. None of us are going to get any better by acting in a mediocre fashion, or by letting our brothers do so.

Helmet, out.