Less Planning = More Pain

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Somehow, it slipped YHC’s radar that today’s Golden Corral Q fell on him. Nevertheless, when this truth was brought to light 8 hours before launch, frantic efforts were made to plan SOMETHING. Six PAX joined YHC to learn what happens when little time is spent planning a beatdown. Here’s what we did…

Mosey 1½ times around the parking lot, including side shuffles, knees-to-chests, and toy soldiers before circling up in front of O’Reilly Auto Parts next to the bank. Following a quick warmup of the standards (SSH, windmill, low slow squats, and merkins), we moseyed around to the newly paved hill into the newly built apartment complex behind the Teeter.

The Thang

Beginning at the bottom of the hill, PAX will complete a certain number of burpees, run to the top of the hill, perform exercise on sheet taped to cone, run down the hill, more burpees, back up, etc. The breakdown of exercises:

  • 10 burpees at the bottom, 100 LBCs at the top
  • 9 burpees at the bottom, 90 squats at the top
  • 8 burpees at the bottom, 80 merkins at the top (crowd pleaser, this one)
  • 7 burpees at the bottom, 70 Freddie Mercuries at the top (double count)
  • 6 burpees at the bottom, 60 monkey humpers at the top
  • 5 burpees at the bottom, 50 pseudo planche merkins at the top
  • 4 burpees at the bottom, 40 dying cockroaches at the top (double count)
  • 3 burpees at the bottom, 30 hillbilly squat walkers at the top (single count)
  • 2 burpees at the bottom, 20 breakdancer merkins at the top (single count)
  • 1 burpee at the bottom, 10 v-sits at the top

38 Special didn’t get the memo on the descending number of burpees and proceeded to do 10 burpees each round until probably round 4 or 5. There’s always one who doesn’t get it, but good for him for doing the harder thing.

All PAX picked up the six and finished with a mosey to COT, arriving at exactly 0600. For being poorly planned, this turned into a perfectly timed workout.

Announcements:

  • PAINtheon Games, 13.June.2018, 0500
  • Hog and Coyote V, 16.June.2018, 0500 ruck, 0600 everybody else
  • Sweati, sometime in July, details generally lacking

Prayers and praises:

  • CAH – pray for the kids, the workers, the volunteers, and praises for the opportunities we’ve had to pour into them
  • Drummond and his family are handing two foster children over to their forever family this weekend. Prayers for the transition – the good parts, and the hard parts.
  • Per Drop Thrill, Donut Hole is being deployed again, so prayers for him and his family in the weeks/months ahead. (I never thought I’d type a sentence starting with “Per Drop Thrill, Donut Hole…”)
  • Prayers for all the PAX who are injured and for those looking for jobs (or otherwise “funemployed,” as Homebrew called it).

An honor to lead, even if unexpectedly.

Jedi

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Getting Mobyfied at Alcatraz

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Maximus has given me free reign over this backblast as he handed me his actual weinke after the workout.  Unfortunately, creativity has subsided after a couple days. I really suck at expedient backblasts (no excuse).

I had legs. Maximus had arms and I believe the PAX might have preferred to have that reversed.

Arrived early, placed some cones on the double ballfield, tossed out a football and dragged out the worm. There was no weinke taped to the arm on this day. 8 PAX arrived w/ Geronimo and Dark Helmet arriving just on time after having stopped to help a lady with car issues. I do not have all the details as I missed that early mumblechatter getting us going.

Actually read the whole workout disclaimer from my phone to make sure I got it complete. Also, be sure to check out the ‘full’ disclaimer on the F3 website which is much more detailed and covers additional items.

To the field for some warmup and starting tossing around the football, each PAX threw and we moseyed to it followed by an exercise. Tosses varied in length but everyone got a turn.  Before we left the field, I told the PAX that I believe in 2 things at Alcatraz. 1) making use of the hill and 2) making use of the field…basically getting down and dirty in the morning dew. We were going to do both, so before leaving for the hill, we did some:

Panther Pound Burpees – Some have done this with me on Q on before but maybe no one from this group. This exercise is in the exicon as I got it approved around the time when the Panthers were in the Super Bowl. It is essentially a football cornerbacks drill combined with a burpee.  Q leads, start fast pumping the feet up and down. Q decides how long and yells drop (right or left), hit the ground do a pushup, roll right or left, get up to a jump hands over head. Repeat as necessary until very dirty. As I was doing them, too, I could not take notice to proper form, but I would have liked to see the feet of the PAX pumping a little faster….

To the hill. The downhill was a mosey each time. I think we did 3, 4? laps. On the uphills, we did various lunges, broad jumps, a sprint, etc and full 1/2 lap backwards.

Back to the field to incorporate some partner work lunge walking and carrying the worm, a 120# somewhat awkward coupon with handles on the end and in the middle.  While partners carried, the rest of the PAX did core work and sprinted to the carriers when they got done. Repeat to give everyone a chance with the worm. Somewhere in my 30 minutes we did a bunch of various calf raises, although I did miss Tesh’s squat calf raises.

We did one last minute of Panther Pound Burpees and Maximus took over.

Maximus’s truck bed popped open to a whole lot of cinder blocks, one with each of our name on it (not literally) along with a very large boombox. Ok, the box was not much bigger than my hand. But it did play what could be considered a very challenging workout song Moby’s “Flower” which mentions Sally a lot.

I did not know this song but apparently it is used by a lot of people for exercising, similarly to “Thunderstruck.”

We did bicep curls with our blocks, curling on every “up” in the song, holding, then down on every “down”, but not letting it touch your body.  The first time around was the long version, or so it seemed. A little bit nasty if you ask me.

Followed by: Slow flutters block press, American Hammer-position leg extensions.

Back to the song for Shoulder Presses, the short version, I think…Then

  • 10 burpees, 20 CDD, 30 Mtn Climbers followed by cinder block push of about 25 yards.
  • 10 bomb jacks, 20 LBC, 30 dying cockroaches (by this point, that was almost literally), and a block push back to the starting point.

Fortunately, time was done because what was left on Maximus’s weinke would not have allowed our arms to hold a steering wheel and drive home.

With suicides of recent celebrities, we talked about suicide and addressing it with our kids if they are old enough, and to be aware of family and friends who may be experiencing difficulties in their life. Apologies for not recalling more of our COT discussions. CSpan’s party weekend was in effect.

It was another great Saturday morning at Alcatraz. 6 hit coffeeteria at DD after.

Aye. Bolt

 

 

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Ask and Q’s show up…with a couple day old weinkes!

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This was almost a repeat from #thehive after the quick Q request from none other than Polaroid. Since that Friday workout was such a good sweaty mess, it was worth keeping as is with a few minor tweaks for extra fun.  After the full on disclaimer was made, we did a quick mosey around the parking lot and continued with some warm-up.

Warm-up included: merkins x10, Moroccan night club x30, windmill x10, parker peter x10, hillbilly walker x10, cherry picker x10, SSH x20, downward dog and honeymooner.

The Thang….with some classic rock jams in the background brought to the PAX by the site Q – always a bonus!

  • 30x KB swings
  • 30x KB squats
  • 30x KB shoulder presses
  • 30x KB rows
  • 30 total / 15 each leg KB lunges with passing the KB between your legs on each lunge
  • 30 / 15 (single) clean and jerk – start at left foot, lift KB with right arm, press over right shoulder

Suicides as a quick cool down at 3 sections in the parking lot – then a quick 10 count break or so.

  • 30 / 15x one arm KB swings
  • 30x (double count) American hammers
  • 15x burpee – dead lift the KB, set it down next to you, burpee, pick it up on your way up
  • 30 / 15x lawnmower pulls
  • 30x KB presses
  • 30x triceps presses behind your head
  • 30x KB shoulder shrugs

Suicides as a quick cool down at 3 sections in the parking lot – then a quick 10 count break.

THEN – we got to choose between round 1 or 2….we chose round 1 for another go because burpees weren’t part of that round.  But of course, after we finished the last exercise, the burpee somehow made it into our mix for a 10 rep count.

Finished up with a round of Mary being called out around the circle by PAX for final 5 min.

Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, prayers and praises, BOM – and that’s all she wrote.  Enjoyed it (again) and can’t wait to see what kind of pain we’re in store for tomorrow!

Aye – Shady

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Hive @5 (times 2) for some 90s Hip Hop old school

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This party was getting started with some 90s Hip-Hop where disclaimer needed to include that YHC was not responsible for what Pandora decided to play.  After the full on disclaimer was made, we did a quick mosey around the parking lot and continued with some warm-up.

Warm-up included: mountain climbers x20, Moroccan night club x30, windmill x10, imperial walker x10, hillbilly walker x10, cherry picker x10, SSH x20, downward dog and honeymooner.

The Thang….with 2-Pac singing his sweet songs in the background.

  • 30x KB swings
  • 30x KB squats
  • 30x KB shoulder presses
  • 30x KB rows
  • 30 total / 15 each leg KB lunges with a single arm shoulder press
  • 30 / 15 (single) clean and jerk – start at left foot, lift KB with right arm, press over right shoulder

Suicides as a quick cool down at 3 sections in the parking lot – then a quick 10 count break.

  • 30 / 15x one arm KB swings
  • 30x (double count) American hammers
  • 15x burpee – dead lift the KB, set it down next to you, burpee, pick it up on your way up
  • 30 / 15x lawnmower pulls
  • 30x KB presses
  • 30x triceps presses behind your head
  • 30x KB shoulder shrugs

Suicides as a quick cool down at 3 sections in the parking lot – then a quick 10 count break.

THEN – we got to choose between round 1 or 2….we poorly chose round 2 for another go.

Finished up with a round of Mary being called out around the circle by PAX for final 5 min.

Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, prayers and praises, BOM – and that’s all she wrote.  Enjoyed it and was in pain for the following day!

Aye – Shady

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Steal the flag, pop the balloon

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It started with bacon.

Well, really it started with Cha Ching’s Q last week, where fifth grade games were the theme of the day. In planning the weinke for today, YHC decided to stick with this theme, and the first game to come to mind was “Steal the Bacon.” So, six PAX posted in the gloom of Crow’s Nest for YHC’s take on an old favorite (that apparently nobody has heard of).

Disclaimer was given, and off we went on a mosey to one of the side drop-off lots for a quick warmup including knees-to-chest, quad stretches, side shuffles, karaokes, and toy soldiers. We also did a handful of side-straddle hops, low slow squats, windmills, merkins, downward dogs, and a honeymooner (just one…though, just one honeymooner sounds like a bad honeymoon).

Mosey back around to the front for

THE THANG

Five pink balloons, each with a card with an exercise tucked inside, were taped to cones at one end of a 50-yard stretch of road. PAX were divided into two teams and given the basic rules.

  • Complete the buy-in exercise, then go to far cone and back according to prescribed movement
  • Depending on round, assigned team member of winning team would pop balloon to determine group exercise.
  • Losing team on a given round would do five burpees before all PAX complete group exercise.
  • Rinse and repeat for all five balloons.

To add to the fun, every PAX was given a strip of fabric (cut up tee shirt) to serve as a flag/tail tucked into the back of his waistband. In addition to everything else, PAX were to protect their flag. If they lose it to another PAX, they were to immediately complete five burpees. They would then re-insert the flag and continue on. There was no limit to the number of times a PAX could lose his flag.

Round 1:

50 merkins, followed by a run down and back. First PAX back popped the balloon. Card exercise: 100 plank jacks.

Round 2:

40 monkey humpers followed by sneak gorilla down and back. Second PAX back popped the balloon. Card exercise: 30 breakdancer merkins.

Round 3:

30 CDD followed by bear crawl down and back. Third PAX (protect the six!) popped the balloon. Card exercise: 50 30 leg-cross squat turns. These apparently take some coordination. Who knew?

Round 4:

40 crab cakes followed by crab walk down and back. Third PAX back popped the balloon. We ended up popping both remaining balloons and choosing 50 hillbilly squat walkers as the final exercise (as opposed to 50 donkey kicks).

The flag football approach added a fun dynamic to the workout, leading to a killer workout that engaged the brain as well. The final round took a long time, as strategy played heavily into the completion of the crab walks. This actually turned out a lot better than anticipated. Look forward to bringing this one back around again.

Announcements:

  • PAINtheon on Wednesday
  • Hog and Coyote on Saturday
  • Sweati in July

Prayers and Praises

  • QBert and family back to the beach after the workout
  • Cha Ching and family and life with new baby

It was a hike to get to the AO, but man it was fun. Grateful for the chance to lead.

Jedi

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F3 Dads Game: Boogers and Pickers

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I was at an F3 Dads workout with my two sons on June 9 at The Fort (WEP). It was a good turnout of F3 PAX and their 2.0’s. Airborne was QIC for the workout and led the kids and dads on a great COP followed by a mini Murph. It was great to expose the kids to a Murph! After the Murph and water break, Airborne huddled up with me to see what we could come up with something fun for the kids. He saw me arrive with a large mesh bag full of stuff. Oh I had something up my sleeve. I gave him a brief outline and he gave me the thumbs up to Q-Jack the workout at this point. So here it is…..

Boogers and Pickers

This is a little game we used to get the kids to play when I assistant coached youth soccer for my son’s teams (the younger groups, U-9 and under). It was a real crowd pleaser, the kids would look forward to it near the end of practice. Goal was to have fun and make them fall in love with the game, but they also got a workout with all the running and reinforced some basic kicking, trapping, and lateral movement skills.

What you need:
* Open field – size depends on number of kids/adults. Preferably level.
* Cones or something similar to mark boundaries
* Soccer balls or kick balls – ideal would be one for every kid, or one for every other kid at the least. I’ve also tried it with medium sized inflatable beach balls – that was a real hoot.

Field setup:
* Make a rectangular playing field. 2:1 ratio length to width ideally, but can be adjusted based upon number of people and/or age of kids. The idea is that the kids will not be too close to each other when they run from end to end, so if you have alot of kids make it a little wider so they are not shoulder to shoulder when they run. If you have alot of young kids, make it a little shorter when they have to run so they don’t get too tired too quick. You will get the  feel for what you need based upon numbers and ages of the group. You want it to be a little challenging, but more fun. When we played we had 25 people – about 2:1 kids to dads – so our field was about 10-12  yards wide by about 25 yards long. Mark boundaries with cones.

Team setup:
* Divide entire group into two teams – kids vs. dads
* One team will run – those are The Boogers (we let the dads run first)
* Other team will kick the balls – those are The Pickers
* Divide the Pickers in half. One half lines up spaced out along the length of one side of the field, the other half lines up on the opposite side. Divide the balls evenly on both sides of the field and give them to the Pickers. Pickers cannot be within 10 feet of the ends where the Boogers start. That’s the start zone.
* The Boogers are all at one end of the field, lined up abreast, not single file – they all run together at the same time, not one by one

LET’S PLAY!
* When the Q says – the Boogers are to run from one end of the field to the other. If they make it to the opposite side, they are safe. Do not return to the same end as they started. Just run from one end to the other and stop – that is one round of play.
* Pickers try to kick the ball at a Booger as they run – pick the boogers! They kick the ball from their side to the opposite, and trap and kick balls back across as they come to them. Pickers should move side to side as needed to trap incoming balls. If they have to go out in the field to get a ball, they have to return to a sideline before they kick it. Pickers don’t have to kick straight across, they can kick where needed to get a Booger – but they cannot kick into the starting zone and they cannot target a Booger who has made it to the other end of the field, the safe zone. Pickers can only use their feet, and are to keep the balls on the ground as much as possible when they kick. Only if you are using beach balls then they can air it out and kick high.  Dads – kick lightly!! Remember, we want this to be fun, don’t want anyone getting hurt.
* If a Booger gets hit by a ball as they run between the ends of the field, they immediately go to one of the sidelines and become a Picker, kicking balls to pick the other Boogers out there.
* Boogers are allowed to pause, dodge, jump, etc, to avoid being picked, but they have to run from initial starting end to the other end.
* When all Boogers are at the opposite end, no more kicking. That is the end of one round.
* Collect the balls, give them to the Pickers between rounds so they can be ready. That gives the Boogers a little rest.
* Rinse and repeat until only one Booger remains. That’s the Slippery Booger – the one that was impossible to pick – and the winner!
* Then the Booger team becomes the Picker team and vice versus, and do it all over again.
* Have the winner of the kids and winner of the dads come out in the middle and get a round of applause! They earned it.

TIPS:
* Some kids, and parents, are dang good at being Boogers. After a 3-4 rounds, there usually ends up being 3-4 kids or so (or dads) who can dodge things with the best of them, making it obvious it will drag out a while before there’s only one. What I ended up doing for the kids who were running is ended up making them stop 2/3 the way and go back – shorten the field, concentrate the kickers. For the dads who were tough to pick, I made them do 10 jump squats mid-way. Be creative if it goes on and on and gets tough to whittle it down to just one booger winning it.
* Seriously, try it with beach balls. The more the better. Little kids can kick them harder, faster. Also, you can get them up in the air without fear of hurting someone. Plus, sometimes they don’t always make it to the other side – those become obstacles in the field the boogers cannot touch or they become pickers.

Have fun with it!! Guaranteed the kids will have fun.

-NASA

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Sweati details

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  • QIC: Zima/Anchorman
  • When: 07/14/2018
  • Posted In: Pre-Blast

Launch from Footloose (First Baptist Fort Mill) at 0600.

Be prepared to do 8-ish miles with a few stops.

End of pre-blast.  You’ll get full details when you show up including map.

#secretcsaup #yeswehaveaplan

 

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The Coop: Mixed Meters

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24 PAX gathered in the gloom. The summer numbers bump is upon us. Can we stick with it when it is 10° again??

The Thang: Lots of mixed (non-4) counts

Mosey around the main parking lot covering as much ground there as possible in a zigzag pattern. Alternating High Knees, Butt Kickers, and Karaoke.

Mosey to the band practice lot
SSH x30
1 Burpee
Windmill x10
2 Burpees
Imperial Walker x15
3 Burpees
Hillbilly Walker x15
4 Burpees
LSS x15
5 Burpees
(It took until the Hillbilly Walkers for Longshanks to realize I was copying one of his warmups. Imitation is the highest form of flattery…..why fix it if it ain’t broken?)

Mosey to traffic circle COP
Alternating:
Down Dog and Honeymooner
Plank
Shoulder Taps x10
Yogi Squats

Mosey to Pull Up Bars at ROTC Building
Split into groups of 3s (CSPAN made a French joke and the PAX did 9 Burpees in cadence)
Rotate partners through Derkins, Pull ups, and Wall Sits. Called up and down for each exercises. Did about 6 slow pull ups per PAC.

Mosey to Elementary School parking lot
Partner up for alternating Mike Tysons and Bear Crawls from island to island through the parking lot.

Mosey back towards COT with a lap around the basketball court.

At COT:
Around the Worlds (12 count lunges) x6
Flutters x15
LBC x15
Catalina Wine Mixer x2 (hit 6 o’clock)

NMM:

As PAX, we regularly challenge ourselves physically in the gloom. Leaving the comfort of the fart sack to push ourselves and get better. But how often do we challenge ourselves mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. Often with these challenges we don’t have to wake up and head to the gloom; they come our way without us seeking.

How do we respond to emotional challenges presented in the form of a four-year-old trying to situate their sock perfectly when it is time to go? Or mentally when there’s a civic challenge that needs to be addressed? Or spiritually when were faced with our own demons?

Addressing and improving physically is a wonderful thing, but we as PAX must strive to better ourselves emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as well. Otherwise we are always out of balance.

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Calling

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What a great way to start a birthday! 16 #HIMs that I’m blessed to call my brothers in Christ showed up for a moderate birthday beat down. It was great to be in fellowship with all the Pax. Having my nephew, Shin Guard, there was icing on the cake.

The Thang:

Mosey to the parking lot at Saint John’s United Methodist for a warm-up.

Warm-Up: Stretches, SSH (30x), IW (20x), WM (15x), Sumo Squats (15x), MC (15x), CDDs (15x), Rosalettas (20x).

Mosey to the parking lot at First Baptist Church for a Buffet of Pain: Light Running, SSHs, Squats, LBCs, Merkins, Diamond Merkins, Dips, Wide Arm Merkins, Calf Raises, Monkey Humpers, Penguins, Plank Jacks, Hello Dollies, Guerrilla Squats, Bomb Jacks 

Mosey to the parking lot at Fort Mill Church of God

Partner up. 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).

Moleskin:

I’ve been reflecting on the life in which God has blessed me with for 39 years strong. I realized that I finally answered His calling for me a few years ago. My calling is to Glorify Him and to serve the underprivileged. It seems obvious to others now, but I made myself “too busy” to hear or answer His calling in the past.

This week, I thought the life of King David. God called David to be a Sheppard, then a fighter and then a king. David learned how take care of sheep and protect them from predators when he was a Sheppard. God called on David to protect the Israelites from Goliath. David answered God’s calling in that moment. He cleaned Goliath’s clock while others thought he was ill- prepared. What others did not know is that God fully prepared David for His calling.

What’s your calling that God has prepared for you? Can you hear His voice? If not, slow down, stop being “too busy” and just listen. You were designed for great works that extend beyond your family and day job. Answer your calling.

Peace,

Deacon

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Smoked

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This has been a great week of weather in the gloom.  Unseasonably cool with low humidity.  Those fortunate enough to shake the FS monster have benefited.  Looking at numbers across the Fort Region Tuesday- Many took the DRP and made a downPAINment.  42 at Block Party, 19 at Ballroom, and high teens at Golden Corral.  13 warriors showed up to The Colosseum for 11’s and 16s.  Big Day.

Jacobs ladder, 7’s, 11’s, 16’s… it all the same.  One exercise at top, one at bottom of an awful hill hopefully.  Ascending and Descending rep counts.  6/1, 5/2, 4/3…2/5, 1/6

We smoked our upper bodies with 11’s of muscle ups and LBCs.  Then we got after it on the short track with 16’s of Jumping lunges and Carolina Dry Docks.

Finishing with 6 Minutes of Mary of core and burpees for the well rounded smoke show.  Gauging by my incredible glute and hip soreness two days later, it was the proper medicine.

Impressive outing by all men today.  Need an idea of how it went- there’s proof of Gecko floating around on the twitterverse. AYE!

 

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