Oktoberfest

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Oktoberfest is actually a bit of a misnomer – the majority of the festival falls in September each year and it only ends in October. Like most things in life, practice makes perfect. So this Labor Day, 3 men took the opportunity to practice their Oktoberfest skills in hopes of becoming superior beerthletes by the end of the month.

PAX each grabbed two gallon jugs of water out of the truck and we moseyed to the back of the school. A gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs and is approx. 3.785 liters. If you are anticipating 1 liter steins of beer, a gallon of water is great for training.

Warm-O-Rama

SSH, low slow squats, MNC, static shoulder stretches, crab cakes

Hold My Beer

A classic component of Oktoberfest is an event where a line of men each hold a full stein of beer in front of themselves, one handed, at arm’s length, for as long as they can. It is a test of stamina where the last man to lower his stein wins, thereby gaining the love of all the fräuleins and typically some additional free beer.  The advantage is definitely to those who train. So we did.

PAX jogged with their gallons to the top of the Green Monster, the large grass hill at Crows Nest. For 60 seconds, we held out a gallon of water in our right hands in the “toast” position. Classic example of easy to write, hard to do. Then we ran down the hill and did 10 manmakers. Return to the top (carrying the water the whole time) and changed to 60 seconds of the left arm in the outstretched toast position. Run to the bottom, then 9 manmakers. Rinse repeat until you get down to 0, switching arms each time.

It got real tough 6 or 7 rounds in when the shoulders were fatigued. There was some great mumble chatter while we were holding the toast position. Just three men toasting the stars with jugs of water on top of a hill at 5:30 in the morning. By the time we completed the routine there were only 10 mins left in the workout, so we had to skip Beermaid Relays (reserved for a future Q) and headed back to the front of the school. We jogged with the gallons, doing shoulder presses as we traversed.

Beiermeister Webbs

PAX traded their gallons of water for a second set of coupons – these were only 12 oz each. We popped the tops on said coupons and headed to the grass. This was a standard Jack Webb but with an Oktoberfest wrinkle – after each set of merkins take swig out of the coupon before proceeding to the overhead claps. Coupon must be fully empty by the end of the 10th round – and all of them were. There was a lot of burping, stomach churning, and chatter, but no merlot (lager?) was splashed. A fun variation on a classic. Great for weekend AOs and public holidays. As Flux noted, it was after 5:00 so completely acceptable.

Triangle up for COT.

Danka Herr Flux for the opportunity to lead.

Prost!

Homebrew

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The mid-40’s Dynamic Duo Q

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Thanks to Smuggler for letting two crazy mid-40’s team up like never before into the Dynamic Duo. Lots of fun and wetness out there in the gloom. We focused today on encouraging one another and pushing through (the pain). Over 50% of this workout was aimed at strengthening your core with some endurance training to finish things off.  Speaking for Old Bay and myself – we had a blast (and this was no easy workout)! We hung around for some “coffeeteria” as well afterwards. I counted the total number of burpees and it was between 65-72 depending on what you went for. Special thanks to Wild Thing for making the trip to Tega Cay and demonstrating superb burpee form.

Warm-up:

DYNAMIC STRETCHING:

Jog – 1 Min

High Knees – 30 Seconds

Butt Kickers – 30 Seconds

Toy Soldiers – 30 Seconds

Lateral Shuffles – 30 Seconds (each side)

Lateral Lunges – 10 (5 each side)

Low semi-slow Squats – 12

Alternating Forward Lunges  – 10 (5 each side)- We rotated our torsos towards the side of the leg that is in front for each movement.

Low diamond Merkins – 15 single set

Single Leg Toe touches with other leg going back – 10 (5 each side)

Peter Pointers – 10

Rolling Crucifix – 5X each side

Table Twists – 5X each side

 

THE THANG:

I talked about the Nasty 7s that I had done with Sasquatch before and at an impromptu Q at The Ranch, but decided not to do them because of wetness from the night before so I gave the option. Most decided to do a jog to each corner in the basketball court and 4 burpees at each corner. Total was 20 here. I will have to formally teach the Nasty 7 at another time.

Stacked Feet/Staggered Hands Merkin (switch every 4) – 60 secs

Banana Rolls – 120 secs – Did with coupon for 60 of those secs

Leaning Crescent Lunges with coupon – 1 min with and 1 min without

Sphinx Merkin – 60 secs max reps

Bow to Boat – 120 secs – I was nice and we did not do with a coupon 

Side Lunge and raise coupon to put on the imaginary “shelf” – 45 secs each direction

Prison Cell Burpee (boy these were fun!)- 60 secs

Side Hip Raise – 30 secs each side

High Plank to 6 inches Run (this one really stunk)- 60 secs

Superman Banana – 60 secs

Yellow rope hoppers – 60 secs

Hillbilly Walkers – 30 secs

Imperial Walkers – 30 secs

300 Secs of Abs:

Upper Circle LBCs – 30 secs each direction; 5 sec rest between each

Twisting Pistons – 30 secs

Alligator Walks  (on forearms) 60 secs;

Canoe Crunch – 30 secs

Slow LBC and Twist (Crunch and Twist) – 60 secs

Regular Plank to the end – 60 secs

Immediate transition into my partner in crime’s Q, the infamous Old Bay:

1) Bent ladder with Morning Wood on the field and Burpees at the entrance to the parking lot. Run between a burpee and the field was backwards and a side shuffle left/right to a distant cone where Morning Wood (Turkish getup) occurred and repeat. This was taxing!

2) Catch-me-if-you-can on path around fields. Exercise was Merkins/Butt-kickers.

3) 7 extra burpees

4) SSH – 15

COT: Key items: Prayers for the Ms and praise for Delta’s great news.

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Good times at the Colosseum

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Sorry for the delay….went DR right after for the week

 

Was called on to Q the Colosseum and worked to make sure everyone got better. 10 PAX joined me on this balmy morning, except one guy was missing? No FNG’s, but made sure to do a good disclaimer (per CSPAN’s orders) and off we went. It had been a while since I had visited the Colosseum so I was hoping I remembered the favorites.

 

Warm-up

Mosey down the road heading against the pick-up line towards the end where it dog legs right to 160. At each light post along the way we started with side shuffles, facing away from the school, then towards the school, then carioca, butt-kickers, then toy soldiers. Finish with a Mosey to the small teachers parking lot on the left. Circle up.

Windmill x15 Cad

Moroccon Night Clubs x 35

Low slow squat x15

Overhead claps x25

Happy Jacks – 5 rounds

Mountain Climbers x 15

Honeymooner into DD

Recover

 

The Thang

Mosey out the parking lot towards 160 and stop at the second light post (including this one, there are three that were used). I called this a progressive workout, but there might be a better name:

 

Start with 10 merkins at the current light post. Run to the next light post, then back to the home light post (like a suicide). 10 merkins again, then run to the next light post, 10 knee slap jumps, return to home. 10 merkins, proceed to the next post for 10 more KSJ, then to the 3rd light post for donkey kicks. Once completed return to home. Once the Six was in everyone on their six for some LBC’s x 15 in CAD. Recover.

Round Two- only two changes were a switch to CDD on the first post, and each rep was bumped to 15. Once completed PAX moved to their six for flutter kicks x15 in CAD. Recover.

Round Three- Everything the same except now the reps bumped up to 20. After completed, on the six for hello dolly’s x20 in CAD. Recover. 2 quick ten counts by the PAX and then off to the next spot.

Mosey around the front of the elementary school stopping quickly near the flag. Circled up for a quick round of SSH x 25. Continued on to the black top area and around towards the back of the elementary school near the wall. Circle up for a quick round of Imperial Walkers x 15.

Partner- up for a modified round of Dora- 50-merkins/100-squats/150-LBC’s

Start at light post facing the chest high wall- Partner 1 works on 50 merkins while Partner 2 runs to the wall, up and over, to the school wall. Hit the wall and then complete 2 burpees. Return back to the starting spot. Continue this pattern until the 50/100/150 goals as a team are hit. Recover.

Mosey over to the cones on the black top and face the side of the middle school. Run 50% down to the first basketball hoop and then sprint to the end. Grab a spot on a bench for 20 dips in CAD. Then into wall sits for a full round of a entire PAX ten count. Head back to the Light post and turn and face back towards the school again. Run 75% to hoop and sprint end. Grab a bench for 20 dips in CAD. Recover and jog back to the starting spot. One more round of the same. Recover.

By now we were getting close to running out of time so off to COT we went. We had just enough time for a round of American hammers.

Announcements- 6th Annual Invergence is Sept 21st at Rush Pavillion. Read your newsletter.

Prayers:

Kids

Marriages

Thanks for the call out Jekyll. I appreciate the opportunity. And thank you PAX for the honor of leading you.

 

Frat Boy

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Live in the Present and Feel the Slow Burn

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Got Labor Day 2018 weekend off on the right foot with a strong group of 23 pax. Awoke to a thick, humid late summer morning and Q-drenaline got YHC to the AO early. Erected a shovel flag as I know that my friend the Site Q,  Smithers, is on IR. Heal up brother. We’ve got this one covered.

Had put out a blast into the Twitterverse that this would not be so moderate. Once Hootie rolled in with his usual 1 minute to spare, the Disclaiming began. With such a large group and many newer faces, the full-on disclaimer was explained. Then:

Mosey in front of Empire Pizza with High Knees, Butt Kicking and Toy Soldiers.

COP:

  • Seal Jacks * 25
  • 5 Burpees
  • Moroccan Night Clubs * 15
  • 4 Burpees
  • Merkins * 10
  • 3 Burpees
  • Squats * 15
  • 2 Burpees
  • Wide Arm Merkins * 10
  • 1 Burpee
  • Windmills * 15
  • Squats * 25

MOSEY back to the rear entrance to Chick Fil A for the:

THANG:

LADDER -RUN BACKWARDS UP THE HILL, 7s, MERKINS AT TOP, BOMBJACKS AT BOTTOM. 10 Counts by destiny. ROUND 2-SQUATS AT TOP, LBCs AT BOTTOM. It’s not easy to find an incline near this AO, but the running backwards up the driveway presented enough resistance. Real crowdpleaser.

THOUGHT ON PRESENCE: WHAT DISTRACTS YOU FROM BEING PRESENT? THE PAST OR THE FUTURE?

MOSEY to side of Persis Restaurant and grab some wall. People’s Chair for 3 10 counts. BTTW for a 10 count.

To the grass circle in front of Persis for  AMERICAN HAMMERS and my personal favorite, JACK WEBB.

THOUGHT ON PRESENCE: HENRY FORD SAID ”HISTORY IS MORE OR LESS BUNK. IT’S TRADITION. WE DON’T WANT TRADITION. WE WANT TO LIVE IN THE PRESENT AND THE ONLY HISTORY THAT’S WORTH A TINKER’S DAMN IS THE HISTORY WE MAKE TODAY”.  Loved this quote.

Mosey to COT. Announcements- Q School @Golden Corral in September, The Fort 6th Anniversary Invergence, September of 1000 Burpees. Prayers for our schools, Praise for Beacon for organizing The Fort Prays for FMSD.

Always a pleasure to lead and fun to meet some of the newer guys. Great interaction between some vets and newbies today. Of course, Twister’s constant stream of mumbl and chatter always keeps things lively. Thanks to Smithers for the nod.

Short Sale signing out.

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Recovery Q

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Almost evenly split, 6 for the bootcamp and 5 for rucking.  After a busy week of tough workouts and Qs, I did not have much time to plan for this morning’s adventure so I borrowed routines from some HIMs.

Warm-ups:

Butt Kickers

High Knees

Soccer Circles

Next, we jogged over to Just Fresh for COT.

SSH x 20

Imperial Walker x 20

Windmill x 15

Plank

  • Elbows, left arm out for Moroccan Night Club x 10
  • Back to plank
  • Honeymooner
  • Downward Dog
  • Elbows, Right arm out for Moroccan Night Club x 10
  • Back to plank
  • Honeymooner
  • Downward Dog

Next, we lined up for 7 minutes of sprints.  Each segment was 1 minute, any extra time would be used to rest between sets.

We took a break from the running and performed part of this week’s Iron Pax Challenge:

25 walking lunges

25 squats

Rinse and repeat 4x

Next, we went back to the clock for ten minutes of merkins.  Each 1 minute segment, we did 20 merkins, any extra time would be used to rest.  This exercise was tough, not much rest 5 minutes in.

We headed back to COT at a slow jog pace, passing the ruckers twice along the way.  We had time for one set of LBCs before time elapsed.

 

Announcements:

Q School – Golden Corral starting next week

The Fort Invergence – Sept 21 @1730, Rush Pavilion

Prayers:

Injured Pax

Family stresses (kids, jobs, etc)

New F3 Pax – life changing, keep coming out

Families traveling over the holiday

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BEYOND the JOY

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I’m sitting down to write this BB and literally can’t do what I challenged the PAX with at this morning’s BEYOND workout. Eliminate the distractions. Oh, what’s this text say, how about this tweet mention (can’t miss that), work email really needs my immediate response, man those kids left their cereal bowls on the counter, what time are we leaving today, etc, etc, etc. At times it can be funny but others, it can be really frustrating. I allow myself to continuously chase progress and other tasks rather than finding joy in where I am. It then leads to what you’ll read about later…burnout.

So there you have it, this BEYOND post will be focused on a struggle many of us face and that is running from joy, not finding joy where we are or honestly, not being a joy to spend time with. That latter one has been my challenge over these last several years because of those first two.

On to it. Car after car after car rolled into the Hive parking lot and you know the feeling, the feeling of way more cars than you were expecting. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it gives you that kick in the pants, that extra motivation, that reminder of why you put your feet on the floor in the 4 o’clock hour. That’s what I was blessed to experience this beautiful morning as 33 other men, men that have pushed me over the years, men I’ve looked up to over the years, men who are about to bust it right along side me as we embark on something that typically looks better on paper. But that’s the idea, to push ourselves BEYOND our sense of normalcy both physically and mentally.

Funhouse escorted a group of 5 PAX for his killer initiative of RYAOA (T-claps on keeping that going) and the rest of us, 29 to be exact, circled up. After a quick explanation of BEYOND for the rookies and the search for any FNG’s, we discussed the plan with the weight, either Kettle Bell or Ruck…your choice. What I just realized, and to which nobody held be accountable, was that I forgot the all-important disclaimer. Men, never do that again. DO NOT START A WORKOUT WITHOUT A DISCLAIMER. You don’t have to be an attorney but verbalize the basics.

Starting on the curb nearest the tennis courts, run to the other side of the parking lot at 50% then 25% back. 10 Squats, 5 Burpee Broad Jumps then run to the other side at 75% then 25% back. 15 Diamond Merkins, 5 Burpee Broad Jumps then 100% to the other side followed by 100% back.

Switzer up for the first part of the discussion. I read the following definition: “Feeling of great pleasure & happiness.” After a few likely words were tossed out when I asked what word that defines, we got to the word of the day, JOY. I’m sure guys were wondering why in the world we’re talking about joy at an F3 workout, what kind of soft, starbucky-hands nonsense is this? That exact reason is the reason we’re discussing this word. It’s a word and feeling we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy often enough. There are people I enjoy being around and things I like doing but do I truly find joy in those situations? Said differently, do I enjoy being around those people or being in those moments and perhaps more importantly, do people find joy in being around me? Over these last few years, I’ve been operating like a hard-ass, focusing on task completion and moving from one thing to another. I can tell you, I’ve not been a joy to be around. While I was in it, I didn’t even realize it. How did I get here? Really, how do I get out of it?

That said, we split up into 4 groups, 1 for each corner of the large parking lot. In each corner, we did 10 Man Makers with your weight of choice. What varies is your mode of transportation between the corners.

  1. Lunge walks with the weight overhead.
  2. Bear crawl and transport the weight by any means necessary.
  3. Reverse lunge walks with weight overhead or held out front. (This was definitely better on paper as many of us had to modify to a bear hugging of the weight.)
  4. 4 Kettle Bell swings or Ruck swings followed by 4 walking steps.

After 3 of these 4, time got away from me and I had to audible and bring the group back to the center of the lot. As mentioned before, us task-completers run from one half-baked focus to another and we rob ourselves of contentment and joy in the moment. After weeks, months or years of doing this, we inevitably get burned out. Very rarely does something positive come after this stage. However, here in the gloom of our Hive AO here, burn out means something different. I was hoping to have 15mins left at this point but as it was, we had 6 and only got part of the way (you see, I tried to fill the schedule with too much and didn’t complete what I intended). See the irony?

  1. 21 Curls in cadence (3ct down, 1 up)
  2. 21 Flutter Presses in cadence
  3. 21 LBC in cadence
  4. 15 Overhead presses in cadence (b/c I didn’t have what it took to get to 21)

Closeout: We have a hard time refocusing once something bad happens or if it’s not bad, just something that temporarily knocks us off our trajectory. Oddly enough, our kids do a better job of getting back on track than we do. If something negative happens to you during the course of the day, how quickly are you able to course-correct? Are you able to move on from a less-than-positive comment made about you and not let it affect the rest of your day? Watch your kids and take note. Watch them get in a disagreement with a sibling, maybe pout, then start playing or hanging out with them 1-2hrs later. Could you imagine what it’d be like if we dusted ourselves off and went back at it? There’s joy in overcoming.

Listening to a podcast yesterday where Rob O’Neill was being interviewed, he briefly touched on this by saying something that hit me like a 50lb Kettle Bell across the bridge of the nose. A little background, Mr. O’Neill is the Operator on Seal Team 6 who fired the shot that killed the most wanted terrorist of all time, OBL. I’ve been fascinated by our military and specifically, SF, for years and imagine how quickly they need to pivot on a decision and adjust to chart a new course. His comment was this when discussing attitudes, “Are you having a bad day or did you have a bad moment that you’re milking into a bad day.” Don’t shake that off, marinate on that for a while and it might just change how you respond in that next bad moment.

Tesh, I appreciate your willingness to let me run BEYOND at the Hive.

Men of F3, I’m humbled by your company this morning and every morning you allow me to state my hospital name, age and F3 name.

No man left behind but leave no man where you found him.

Maximus

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Live Right through your Concentrica

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My goodness it was humid again.  The day started at 74 degrees and just being outside for 1 minute you started to sweat.  It was going to be a tough morning!

17 men gathered before the 5:15 start, I was happy to meet Radar down from F3 Gastonia.  Tesla told him to come down and check us out.  Regal also brought Supafly who was posting for his 2nd workout this week while up from GA on business.

Bones allowed me the pleasure to Q at one of my favorite AOs.  Always a large and great group of guys out at the Abyss.  Today I wanted to bring more of a message to the group than usual, but this is a 1st F workout…so a beatdown came with it!

Gave the longer disclaimer (I needed the practice) and off around the parking lot we went for the warmup.  Standard running stuff, high knees, butt kickers, karaoke, toy soldiers then circled up.

COP consisted of Seal Jacks, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan Night Clubs,  Slow Squats, Merkins, Plank Jacks…all at different reps.  That seemed to drive Witch Hunt and Jedi crazy because the mumble chatter between those two wouldn’t stop.  Tough to yell at someone when you’re counting in cadence (and they know it).

Mosey to the back bus parking lot for the things I had planned.

The Thang

I really did find these on the F3 Nation exercises!

“Bo jangles Biscuit” = Use the oval track, sprint the straightaways & mosey the turns. Do this twice.

“Slowjangles Blueberry biscuit” = lunge walk around the oval and at four designated spots we stopped for 5 burpees.  One lap.  This was longer and harder than I thought!  I might have been the biggest complainer about this evolution.

The Main Event

I’ve truly enjoyed the 43 feet Podcasts and the Q source posts.  The messages are excellent, but the implementation is tough…but bringing this stuff to our PAXs attention should be something we all do as a Q in some detail.  Many of my most memorable posts are when the Q brings a solid message with the workout and I wanted to live up to that.  In my own life I know how backwards I’ve had my Concentrica lately and a good refersher for all followed.

We talked about the Acceleration of a HIM going from Get Right –> Live Right –> Lead Right –> Leave Right.  Today was a focus on the Live Right.

The discussion I shared was around intentionality, understanding the fallacy of a work-life balance being represented on a teeter-totter.  The picture is best represented as a target.  In the center is your “M” (and we properly defined M) then 2.0 (family) then Shieldlock Brothers then Friends then Mammon.  I explained each and there suggested relevance to your life.

But I had also drawn a large target representation of all this on the ground (Mr. Selfie forgot to take a picture)…so we were going to play a game! Each PAX was going to get an opportunity to throw a bean bag at the target from about 18 paces away.  (definitely not corn hole regulation distance I was told multiple times.)

Each section represented a different 10 rep exercise we would do…and DO NOT miss the target!

M = 10 count (we had ZERO hits here)

2.0s/Family = Squats in cadence

Shieldlock = Ranger Merkins

Friends = Jump Lunges

Mammon = Bombjacks

outside the circle = 10 burpees (about 5 men missed)

I thought it was fun, and we kept sweating quite a bit.   I hope the PAX enjoyed it as well.

Mosey back to COT where we had 5 minutes left of Mary.  10 counts for ab exercises picked by the PAX

Annoucements = (read your newsletter)

Prayers for Lutefisk’s mother, Tesla’s friend Meredith and her passing, Qbert and his church helping 100 children through the gospel.

A Honor to Lead!

-Royale

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I Love When A Plan Comes Together

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“I love when a plan comes together”  Famous quote from ’80s TV series The A-Team.  Here’s a brief description of the show, for you youngsters:

“In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… the A-Team.”

Why the reference?  It was the first thought in my head when faced with finding a last minute Q and trying to coordinate the last week of the Iron Pax Challenge.  The Challenge was originally scheduled to take place at the Pantheon, but it required pull-up bars so the location was changes to Fort Mill High School.  No worries, Bolt and I worked it out. The plan came together.

Six men showed up for the workout.  After the disclaimer, we ran around the car loop to the front of the school.  Next, we performed the following dynamic leg exercises:

  • Butt Kickers
  • High Knees
  • Lunges
  • Soccer Circles

Next, we ran to the basketball court in the back of the school for COP.

  • SSH x 20
  • Imperial Walker x 20
  • Windmill x 10
  • Plank
    • Honeymooner
    • Parker Peter x 10
    • Downward Dog
    • Peter Parker x 10
    • Honeymooner
    • Mountain Climber x 10
    • Downward Dog
  • LBCs x 10
  • Flutter x 10

Next, we lined up on the baseline for several rounds of basketball sprints.  Partner 1 performed the below exercises while Partner 2 ran sprints:

Merkins (Rinse and repeat)

Squats (Rinse and repeat)  *Partner 2 – bear crawl to center court and back

Burpees (Rinse and repeat)

Plank hold (Rinse and repeat).

We finished up with a slow jog back to COT.

 

Announcements:

 

6th Annual Invergence – Sept 21st at 1730 Rush Pavillon

 

Prayers/Praises:

Schools back in session – prayers for students, teachers, administration, and parents

Injured Pax

Health of family members

 

 

 

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High Rep Blast

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I was honored to lead these 12 Pax for a high rep kettle bell blast.

Warm Up:

We started off with a slow mosey to include High Knees, Butt Kickers, Side Shuffle, and Karoke.  From there we circled up and continued the warm up with Morrocan Night Clubs, Cherry Pickers, Small Arm Circles, Big Arm Circles, and Mountian Climbers.

Main Thing:

150 squats w upright row

200 Right Arm Shoulder Press

200 Left Arm Shoulder Press

100 Right Leg Dead Lift

100 Left Leg Dead Lift

100 Right Arm Chest Press

100 Left Arm Chest Press

100 Flutters

Annoucenments – Read your newsletter

Prayers and Praises – Prayers for those going thry mental and emotionla distress, seek help.   Continued prayers for our school leaders, kids, bus drivers, etc.   Praise for Uncle Cracker inviting Cakeboss to church many years ago.

 

 

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Cone Relay and The Cooper

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I don’t know what the temperature was this morning, but it was nice. Somewhere in the low 60s if I had to guess – perfect for getting a good running based workout in. 9 PAX for the boot camp, and 1 Tater went for a run.

Disclaimer disclaimed. Then we moseyed across the street to the elementary school.

COP

SSH, Windmills, low slow squat, weed pickers, 5 worst merkins ever OYO, superman

The Thang

Cone Relays

We went down to the football field where YHC had set up the first event for the day. PAX formed 2 teams and were told they would be competing against each other, with the losing team getting a penalty exercise. 17 cones had been setup at the goal line on the far end of the field. On each team 1 PAX would sprint to retrieve a cone and bring it back (200 yard round trip). While P1 was running, the others on the team did an exercise which was determined by the previous cone (we started with SSH for the first round). On the bottom of the cone (so you don’t know what you are choosing) was an exercise and rep count which had to be completed by the entire team before the next PAX could run for the next cone. The “waiting” exercise was written on the top of each cone (clearly visible when the cone was selected) that the non-runners had to do. For example, P1 brings back a cone and everyone on the team does 30 merkins. Then, while P2 is running, P1, P3, and P4 do high knees in place until P2 returns. Repeat until there are no more cones. The team with the most cones at the end wins. Here were the cone pairings:

 

PAX seemed to enjoy this one and there was some good competition. The final score was  a close 9 to 8, with the losing team having selected both the burpee cone, and the lap cone. The winners (YHC, Twitch, Nemo, Royale, and Blocks) had the option of giving 10 burpees to the losers (Wolverine, Lorax, Two Ferns, and Shakespeare) or taking 5 burpees for everyone. We magnanimously chose the 5 burpees for all.

 

The Cooper

The Deep has a great full-sized track, which I was eager to include in my Q. As a track routine, the Cooper is as simple as it is exhausting: PAX do 10 burpees, 10 squats, 10 merkins, and 10 big boy sit-ups then run a lap on the track. Then they do 9 burpees, 9 squats, 9 merkins, and 9 big boy sit-ups and run a lap on the track. Rinse and repeat until you get to 0 reps. When done to completion the Cooper affords 2.5 miles of running and 55 reps of each exercise… unless you are Nemo and accidently do 10 reps for every round. Technically this was a Sheldon Cooper, but whatever. It was good to see the PAX pushing each other through the running – you definitely run faster when you think you have someone trying to pass you. Most PAX made it into round 3 or 4 before we had to start the mosey back to COT.

 

COT then coffeeteria at DD.

It was lots of fun to plan this Q. Thank you Shakespeare for the opportunity to lead.

Stay Classy,

Homebrew

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