Old School at Alacatraz

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I got the call early on Saturdayy morning that  my Co -Q was having flu like symptoms and I decided that the Pax would be my Co-Q.  I was excited to see a classic group of old school and new regulars at F3.  After almost 8 years of doing this it is great to see old friends and meet new ones.

I had decided I was going to take a tour of some of the areas of Alcatraz I had not been to in a while.

The Thang:

Mosey to tennis/pickle ball courts:

Around the circle 2x with each member leading an exercise.  Exercises included but were not limited to side straddle hops, LBC, imperial walker, dynamic stretches, cherry pickers, merkins, windmills, peter parkers, parker peters.  The counts were between 11-21.

Mosey to short wall by the golf course:  30 step ups….at this point slum lord ran but and was sucked into our pax….. then 25 derkins, 20 monkey humpers and 25 irkins.

mosey to hill by golf course.  Partner up and grab one rock per group.

Run up hill while partner does curls, switch, bear crawl up hill and crawl bear down while partner does overhead press,  switch,  run up hill while partner does tricep extensions, switch and bear crawl up hill and crawl bear down while partner does chest press, switch.

Run to club house steps and wheelbarrow and up and down, switch.  Rinse and Repeat.

Stop on way back for LBC- 30 OYO.

Mosey back and per Zima suggestion do a 4 minute hill workout calf buster by running up the hill backwards for four minutes and forward down (crowd pleaser.

Moleskin:

It is always great to lead.  It is amazing how time has flown and many a pax has seen time at Alcatraz.  Always great to catch up with new regulars and the ol faithful.

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Remembering Family

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Thought about this one at the last minute.  April was a great month for me as I celebrated Easter with my family, Spring Break, my mother’s birthday, my 8th wedding anniversary, accepting an offer on my house and so many other things that were wonderful yet forgotten.  But as I tried to create something new for this Q, it dawned on me those family members that are still a part of me emotionally/spiritually but not physically. I wanted to do something that brought back and help me to preserve those special moments that will hopefully stay with me even longer.  That being said, I established a Q that honored the memory of two loved ones that I have lost in the month of April: my maternal grandmother, Gaye Lindsay (April 4, 2001) and my uncle Jody Hudson (April 28, 2014).

Warm-O-Rama: I honestly don’t remember what we did.  But we warmed up.  Some dynamic stretching and the usual amount of SSH’s.

The Thang: as a way to honor my family members, I chose to do a partner BLIMPS type workout with one person completing reps while the other partner running a lap to each respective name.  Up first, my grandmother…

We each grabbed a rock near Papa Doc’s and partnered up to complete 61 reps of each exercise:

  • Goblet squat press (with rock)
  • American hammers (with rock)
  • Yurpee (had to dig in the exicon for this one… and we did this one cumulative with a partner instead of individually…. and without rock)
  • Extensions (triceps extensions with the rock)

Gaye is for the name of my grandmother.  61 reps for her age when she passed.  She died when I was a junior in high school.  She was married for 42 years to my grandfather. She was a great definition of the word Matriarch.

 

Next up… my uncle (no rocks for this one).  Partner style BLIMPS workout again with 40 reps.

  • Jump squats
  • One legged burpee (cumulative reps between partner)
  • Dips
  • Y-lifts

Jody is for the name of my uncle.  40 reps for the age when he died.  He died 5 years ago.  He also died at a young age, which still sticks with me to this day.

COT/Name-O-Rama

This was a workout that I needed.  As time passes, we tend to lose memories of those who are not with us anymore.  There are certain memories that were brought back from just thinking about this workout which brought smiles to my face.  Memories that were long gone but not forgotten.  I hope that more memories I shared with these special people will continue to stay with me and pop up from time to time; allowing me to reminisce on how lucky I was as a child and growing adult to have such wonderful people in my life.

 

As always, thanks for the opportunity to lead Peg!

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Co-Q with Two Ferns

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Last minute Co-Q with my boy Two Ferns stepping up to lead the first half.

Those brave enough to pre-run made an appearance 45 minutes prior. (For the record, those PAX were Two Ferns and Shakespeare).

Disclaimer given by YHC and Two Ferns took us on a mosey to the elementary school parking lot for Warm-O-Rama.  We welcomed Delay-Of-Game (Chop Block’s name after missing the starting gun), his 2.0s, and Respectable Olaf to the party as they arrived.  Mosey to the football field.

Lacrosse Drills w/ Two Ferns:

Two teams pitted against each other for glory.  With YHC keeping score, I just want the record to show that my team won.  First drill of partners going out to pick up a lacrosse ball with a stick, minimum 5 partner passes (each drop, other team members complete a punishment), first team to retrieve all balls gets the win.  Team members “on deck” held plank until the others returned, when a ball dropped, teammates completed a merkin.  Other times through, we held Al Gore and completed a squat on dropped balls.

After a few rounds, we did 1v1 sprint retrieval, 1v1 back to back fight for the ball, and 2v2 sprint retrieval with passes.

Little Tykes Basketball w/ YHC:

In what seemed to be easy (and was extremely hard) each PAX took 3 attempts (some more as we had to change the rules a few times for LOTS of misses) at shooting on a Little Tykes kid hoop.  For every miss, we completed a Burpee.  Let’s just say there were lots of burpees.

Ultimate Football:

In what has become a tradition at The Deep, we played some Ultimate Football. It was a short game, but again, my team won (I was keeping score).

COT & Prayers

Thanks for helping me Q this one Two Ferns!

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Running Palisades Neighborhoods

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We ran down Langston, turned left on Oleander, right on Steadman Branch (which circles left all the way back to Oleander), turned left on Palisades Parkway, right on Lake Ridge Road, left on Coves Ridge Ln, left on Vale Ridge Dr, left back onto Palisades Parkway, right onto Goldnrod into Langston, all the way back to the school.

 

Something like that.

 

Lots of hills.  What’s new?

 

Thanks for the opportunity to lead Hauscka!

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10/20/30 at Cannonball (Back to the Basics)

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12 PAX appeared in the gloom. We got the Kettlebells out and No FNGs present, but a lot of new faces in the gloom. Gave a basic disclaimer as we moseyed around the parking lot and through the dark tunnel and into the old Church Parking lot were Whitesnake took control of the COP. He has a VQ coming up so I hit him up yesterday and asked him if he wanted to lead us in the COP and he said “heck yah” . He was prepared, he later told me that he watched a Video online of Dredd showing how to lead a COP. Whitesnake killed it with some Imperial Walkers, Produce Pickers, Sun Gods both ways, MNC’s and then some fast paced until we slowed him down Wind Mills (something we all get a little fast on when we do them for the first time). I remember Jedi stopping me and setting me straight. I then went into the middle of the COP and had everyone hold an Al Gore and I briefly talked about all the new faces and that when leading up to the VQ’s remember you are the one in charge and to take lead and men will follow you. Also keep in mind that it is only exercise and not surgery so it is ok if you mess up.

We then moseyed over toward the New Parking lot and on the way we did some Toy Solders. Picked up our Kettle Bells and did the Following

10/20/30 (3 reps)
Big Boys with a Kettlebell raise and push over the head to the knees
Tricep Ext.
Lawn mowers (15 each arm)
Then take a lap with the Bell

10/20/30 (3 reps)
Kettlebell squat thrusters
American Hammers counting the right side only
Skull Crushers
Then take a short bear crawl lap with the Bell to the first cone and back

10/20/30 (3 reps)
Turkish Get ups 5 each side (not a popular one just ask Whitesnake and the Pax with the Ruck on
KB Swings
Shoulder Presses 15 each arm
Then take a lunge lap around the second cone with the Bell

Ended right on time with cheers that the Turkish Getups were done.

Announcements as usual Canoli Run, Savage Race, Heavy Coming up, New River Men’s Breakfast, F# Dads May 25th, Memorial Day Convergence, Read your news letter.

Prayers and Praises, O’Reilly had a friend end his life recently, Roger (Riverboat) and his battle with cancer, Traveling Pax and sick Pax.

Thanks to all that came and got better. I am glad to be out there with each of you . You make me stronger. Kudos to Whitesnake for leading the COP.

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Swings at Block Party

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YHC had two plans in case the setup for the Strawberry Festival hindered the better workout, but a quick walkthrough of WEP revealed that everything was normal and the fun could begin as hoped.

12 PAX appeared in the gloom, 4 runners ran, 8 campers booted. No FNGs, issued the disclaimer anyways.

Starting with a mosey half way around WEP and stoping to warm up the no leg parts in the field the PAX enjoyed the following:
20x SSH
10x Low Slow Squat
10x Werewolf
10x Tea stance dips, each leg – Standing normal, step the right leg over the left and space about shoulder width.  It’s awkward. Now sink until the left foot comes up and the left knee hovers over the ground.  Now hold both arms out with palms out, dip down until the knee brushes the dirt.  Do this ten times and reverse.

Now mosey back to the trail and over to the playground.

PAX paired up (8 was the magic number, worked perfectly!). One partner has his legs hanging on a swing, hands in the wood chips, doing one of three painful exercises until their partner comes back. The other runs about 50m away to perform a set number of exercises. The groups worked together. No man was left behind.

YHC demonstrated palm to back of hand pushups for advanced mode. After a few on the swing, knuckles were preferred.  The flips caused a lot of wood chips in the face.

Swing exercise | Partner exercise 
Pushups | Squat Jumps x10
Knees to chest | Calf Raises x20
Pike (plank to down dog) | Squat Jumps x10

Pushups | Squat Jumps x10
Knees to chest | Calf Raises x20
Pike | Squat Jumps x10

Broga break
10x windmill
Down dog
Honeymooner
Justifier on the ground, pressing up with arms to stretch abs. Isolating left by looking over right shoulder and a slight right twist, reverse, then center. Good stretching all around

Back to the swings for another set

Pushups | Flutter x20
Knees to chest | Box Cutter x10
Pike | Bomb Jacks x10

With only six minutes left we moseyed the remaining trail back to COT with enough time for:
Squat Calf raises x 20
Bomb Jack’s x 3 (with a four count)

The runners rolled in and someone may have referred to Polaroid as “A shining unicorn in the gloom” as he ran through the fog.

Circle up for announcements and a prayer.

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Grace & Freedom

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We had a 8 Pax post at the Colosseum today for a high impact workout. There were 3 respectables among us (Rebel, Bassomatic and Asphalt). They posted strong, ran hard and made us hustle to keep up with them. Straight Up met us after his pre-run and he was ready to bring it. Shout out to Fogerty for blessing me with this opportunity Q.

The Thang

Mosey to the back parking lot

COP: SSH (10x), IW (10x), HBW (20x), Sumo Squats (15x), Merkins (20x), MCs (15x), WMs (15x)

Mosey to the basketball courts and partner up.

Dora (100 Merkins, 200 LBCs, 300 Squats).

Mosey to the front of the school.

Partner Wheel Barrels to each side of the parking lot (2x), Partner Big Boy Sit Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partner Ski Jumps (15x), Partners Push Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partner Leg Lifts (15x for 2 rounds)     

Mosey to the bus loop for catch me if you can for 2 laps and 2 burpees at each exchange.

Mosey to the next parking lot.

Moleskin:

We are so blessed by God’s grace that sometimes we take it for granted. He sends angels before us to protect us on a daily. For example, do we stop and thank Him for daily traveling grace and a safe commute to and from our workplace? We should.

Shame is the opposite of His grace. Forgive yourself for your mistakes and flaws. Don’t strive for perfection. Instead, commit to making a perfect effort. That’s all anyone can ask of you.

Forgive others. Giving grace to others ensure your freedom. Freedom comes from not holding on to grudges. Be free.

Peace,

Deacon

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Slow and Intentional now at Armory

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WarmORama–

Mosey around the full parking lot. Intermittently throwing in toy soldiers, high knees, and butt kickers.

Exercises not necessarily in this order:

Windmills, SSH, Merkins, Imperial Walkers and Mountain Climbers

The Thang-

Everything in cadence slow and intentional (except where noted SC).

  • Right arm curl 5x
  • Left arm curl 5x
  • Right overhead tricep extension 5x
  • Left overhead tricep extension 5x

20x SSH SC

  • Goblet Squat 10x
  • Right leg lunge 5x
  • Left leg lunge 5x
  • Calf raises 10x

5 Burpees SC

  • Merkin with bell in RH 5x
  • Merkin with bell in LH 5x
  • Bent over row RH 5x
  • Bent over row LH 5x

20 Mountain Climbers SC

  • Shoulder Press RH 5x
  • Shoulder Press LH 5x
  • Carolina Dry Docks w bell in RH 5x
  • Carolina Dry Docks w bell in LH 5x

A mosey around the parking lot

  • American Hammers 5x
  • LBCs 10x
  • Kettlebell lateral swings RH 5x
  • Kettlebell lateral swings LH 5x

Asked for a couple of favorites since we had time.  So we performed more LBCs and rows.

We all need to slow life down a bit.  Everything pulls at us from all directions.  Work with productivity/work efficiency, family, children events etc.  I asked for things that we do to slow it down a bit.  Moving appointment to avoid family time and putting down our phones was mentioned to help.

We finished with a Round of Mary

COT

Count off

NameORama

Praises and Prayers

Prayers for those on IR; Ruckers and their 24 hour event coming up, praise for healed collarbone.

 

Thanks for the opportunity to Q JWow

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A Q of Ice and Fire

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Firstly, there are no spoilers contained in the backblast. YHC had been thinking about doing a GOT themed Q for a while. When I was offered to Q Crows Nest within 12 hours of a new episode dropping, I knew that winter had come.

14 men showed up and were disclaimed. Before we moseyed, the first game was explained.

Where are my Dragons?!

PAX were told that there were 3 toy dragons (dinosaurs if we are being honest) hidden around the AO. If any man found a dragon they were to let the whole group know and everyone would stop what they were doing and complete 20 Flying Dragons [flying squirrels] OYO. If all 3 dragons were not found with 5 mins left in the workout all the PAX would have a penalty – winter had arrived early and we would all have to do rounds of Climate Change. After this was all explained, we moseyed. Before the warm up began, Peg found the first dragon. So 20 Flying Dragons.

Wildfire Warmup

Lord Tyrion Leaps [SSH], Braavosi Night Clubs [MNC], White Walkers [imperial walkers], Gendry’s Hammer [American hammers], Benjin Starks [ranger merkins], The Hound [downward dog]

The Kingsroad

The Kingsroad connects the capital of the 7 Kingdoms, Kings Landing, all the way North to The Wall. It actually starts at Storms End, but whatever. PAX received a raven that white walkers were marching for the Wall and they needed to journey up the Kingsroad with reinforcements, or really bad stuff would happen. The Wall was on the opposite side of a parking lot from Kings Landing. PAX had to Lieutenant Bran (he don’t got no legs) there. At each pillar they passed they had to do 5 Iron Borns (Carolina dry docks AKA Pike pushups).

Once at the Wall, we needed to defend it. This entailed several rounds of Wall sits with PAX taking turns going beyond the Wall to do abyss merkins. Fortunately, for the realms of men, the White Walkers were defeated by the valiant efforts of the PAX. Flux also found the second dragon – so 20 more flying dragons. We then had to return to Kinds Landing. But as we had already found 2 dragons by this point we did not need to Lieutenant Bran – instead we did Welsh Dragons back, which was much shorter as the crow flies… though not necessarily less painful. Check the exicon; these ones are tough on the shoulders.

The Nobel Houses of Westeros

Stations were set up, each with the sigil, words, and name of a house of Westeros. There was also a corresponding exercise for each house. The lexicon came in real handy with this one. Complete station 1, run a lap. Complete station 1 again, then 2, and then run a lap. 1, 2, and 3, then run a lap… you get the idea. Here were the stations:

  1. House Greyjoy – 3 Kraken Burpees
  2. House Baratheon – 20 Leaping Stags (power skips)
  3. House Stark – 10 Dire Wolves (Werewolves)
  4. House Lannister – 20 Lion Kings
  5. House Frey – 20 Oblique Bridges (10 each side)
  6. House Martel – 30 Sun Gods
  7. House Targaryen – 20 Flying Dragons
  8. House Arryn – 3 Tony Hawk Burpees

We didn’t make it through all the houses before time ran out, but enough to get the sweat going. YHC also conveniently found the last dragon – sparing the PAX from global warming session, as we really didn’t have time for that anyway. I may work that into a future Q. We all moseyed back to COT, dragons in hand.

This was the most fun I have had creating a workout yet. Thank you to all the PAX who came out and endured a bit of nerdy fun, especially those who were up late watching GOT last night. And thanks to Iced Tea for the opportunity to lead.

Valar Dohaeris,

Homebrew

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License to Ill at Quagmire

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I love the opportunity to Q at Quagmire. Starting off the week, you need to make sure you wake everyone up with a good shake of the weinke. I wanted this one to be different, and boy was it. It looked REALLY good on paper…..

Met up at COT. No FNGs. Disclaimer was made and off we went.

Short short mosey around the parking lot in front of Best Buy/Marshalls to get the heart rate up and muscles warmed up. Then it was right into the main event.

I am an 80s kid. I graduated high school in 1988. I feel to this day that the 80s had the BEST music ever. I was a music junkie – I loved metal, rap, country, R&P, hip-hop, and so on, and went to several concerts of those musical genres. Probably why I am tone deaf. In 1986 a cutting edge cassette came out that I loved, and still do. I thought I would incorporate it into the workout.

License to Ill (by the Beastie Boys)

Form a circle with the PAX about 20-25yds diameter. Then we got right into it. The idea was a tabata style workout. You pick an exercise and do it AMRAP for the prescribed time. In this case, we would be doing an exercise AMRAP for the duration of the song played. No rest between exercises other than the transition between two songs (a few seconds). PAX would get rewarded with breaks if they answered trivia correctly. So here it is

Number / Song Title / Duration / Exercise (Note if Applicable):

  1. Ryhmin & Stealin / 4:08 / Warmup = WM / SSH / Arm Circles
  2. The New Style / 4:36 / Merkins
  3. She’s Crafty / 3:35 / Lunges w Jump Lunges
  4. Posse In Effect / 2:27 / Hello Dolly w Reverse Crunch / BBS (1)
  5. Slow Ride / 2:56 / Bear Crawl circle w CDD every 5 strides
  6. Girls / 3:14 / LSS w Bomb Jack or Jump Squat
  7. Fight For Your Right / 3:28 / Peter Parker to Parker Peter
  8. No Sleep Till Brooklyn / 4:07 / Bent Knee Alt Leg Lower (2)
  9. Paul Revere / 3:41 / Bear Crawl circle w CDD every 5 strides >> PAX earned 1 min rest here
  10. Hold It Now, Hit It / 3:26 / IW-HW combo
  11. Brass Monkey / 2:37 / Monkey Humpers (expect anything else w this song??)
  12. Slow and Low / 3:38 / Elbow Plank w Knee Touches to Ground
  13. Time to Get Ill / 3:37 / Merkins

NOTES:
(1) Reverse crunch / BBS = Start big boy situp position but instead of lifting upper body and lower back up and off the ground, you bring feet off the ground, knees almost to chest (goal is knees 90deg bend at least), then return feet to ground for 1 rep
(2) Bent knee alt leg lower = Start on 6, both legs off the ground, knees at 90deg bend with lower leg/calf parallel to ground, then extend one leg outwards to where it is min 6″ off the ground while holding the other leg up at start position. Return extended leg back to start, then repeat with other leg. That is one rep. Harder version is starting w both legs 6″ off the ground.

I brought an OLD boom box and the original CD I bought back in the day and we cranked it out (not too loud). It was a real burner, and it was definitely different. Brought back some fond memories listening to that CD…..complete with a few skips here and there for old times sake.

There was no time for talking. Just doing the work while jamming to some old school hip.-hop/rap. All the PAX did great cranking out the reps, with very little rest, and although there was not much mublechatter it was still a good time. Next time I’ll incorporate some hair band metal/hard rock.

Back to the COT for Announcements, P&P….a little late.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

-NASA

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