8 HIM joined Crash and YHC in an old fashioned beatdown. YHC gave the disclaimer but with some additional info. In that YHC is 51, he actually saw Prince’s Purple rain tour in January 1985 (not a fan of him but does make for an awesome first date at the time, except for the $80 for 2 tickets. That is a lot of money in 1985!). I said today I would be Sheila E (opening act) and Crash would be Prince (headliner).

This is how it went:
Quick mosey to the Tennis Courts for a Burpie-fest warm-up. Everything would be done in cadence (including Burpees as it is not a Burpie if not in cadence #flying squirrel) Let’s go Crazy.!

10 Burpies
20 SSH
8 Burpies
20 IW
8 Burpies
20 WM
8 Burpies
20 long slow squats
8 Burpies
Now time for some EVIL 8 on the tennis courts:
The pax will rotate stations in a figure 8 motion, all exercises are completed with 8 reps (pax start out divided up at each station):
Station 1: Bomb Jacks
Station 2: Jumping lunges
Station 3: Mak Tai Jai
Station 4 Knee Tai Jai
At FIQURE 8 intersection: 8 Burpies with bearcrawls to and from the Intersection to the next station.
RINCE and REPEAT
A set of Jack Webbs up to 10 merkins, 40 air presses.
Hand off to Crash (Prince):
Run to Tega Cay Country Club where we divided up in halves. Three hill repeats alternating with rock (or pebble for some) with overhead press, squats and bicep curls.
Mosey to the 9th hole wall for 15x IC derkins, 15x step ups each leg followed 10x more IC derkins.
Mosey back to Alcatraz home for a nice set of Lt Dans.
Thankfully time was up and COT was upon the men.
NMM
Crash mentioned that this was his first weinke-less Q. This was appropriate as Prince had so much material that he would commonly but “make-up” his concerts. Actually must of YHC Q’s are weinke-less. Just like Prince we should have enough in our F1 arsenal that we are always prepared to when called upon. BETTER TO BE PREPARED FOR AN OPPORTUNITY THAT MAY NEVER COME; THAN HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY AND NOT BE PREPARED. This statement should be true in almost all aspects of lives (including sharing our 3rd F).

COT
Read newsletter for all the announcements.
Prayers for the M’s who really are extraordinary people doing so much. Remember to tell them how truly thankful we all are for them. (Copying my M on this just to be sure!)
Thanks Senator for the invite. I love Alcatraz. It was also great to co-Q with Crash. Humbled and Honored.

Nut Cracked

April has become OCR training month at AO’s across F3 nation leading up to the Spring Mud Run. This past Saturday, Geronimo and Bolt invaded Alcatraz with an OCR-type setup.

12 Alcatrazians arrived in the brightness of the Gloom. Yes, brightness, as the baseball field lights were on for the entire hour. While only 3 were headed to the Mud Run, the rest were willing to take on the course we had laid out.

The Thang

While we could not duplicate mud, the goal was to get a similar feel of an OCR event which consist of shorter runs or sprints, followed by an obstacle/exercise, then a short run, and so on. Some refer to this as a brick workout…each run/exercise is a brick. Elite OCR’ers train in this fashion to get the body used to the many, quick transitions.

The lap around the baseball fields was used as the loop. 5 stations were implemented as below. The PAX broke into teams of 2 and were instructed to push themselves and push their partner on the run portion the best they could. Stations were alternated by adding 2 to a completed station (ie. 1 followed by 3, 2 by 4, etc)

Following an initial group stretch to loosen up:

Station 1 – playground area, max pullups followed by 20-40 merkins
Station 2 – lunges up the hill behind the fire station
<part of the course after the lunge station was a zig zag up and down the hill on the far side?
Station 3 – 15-20 box jumps behind the backstop on the far field
Station 4 – 20-30 burpees at the basketball courts
Station 5 – on the main open field: 5a – one partner pulls 35 lb sand bag about 20 yards, partner farmer carries 45 lb dumbells, then switch
5b – head across field. one partner throws/pushes the 20 lb weight ball about 30 yards; partner carries mulitple choices of weight bags and sand bags ranging from 20-50#

At the :30 mark, the PAX was called in for about 5 minutes of core exercise, then back to the loop. This time adding 3 stations to increase the run distance. (1 to 4, 3 to 1 etc.)

The last 20 or so minutes of extra running was pretty relentless.

NMM

This backblast was written about 3 times some of which were eaten by the website, some copied and sent back and forth via e-mail. With some cooperation between Bolt and I, this backblast, like the US mail, will get through to the PAX.

The bad news was I've been fighting some kind of insidious chest cold, and my mud run training has been suffering because of it (sorry Bolt, MaryLou and KidRock). The good news for everyone is that this workout was 60 minutes long. If everyone were to push as hard during a race like the USMC Ultimate Challenge as they did today, they'd only have about 15 minutes left and they'd be doing some kind of AWESOME for their teams.

It took a lot of work to get out there and get this course set up for the PAX, but in the end it was totally worth it. Thanks to Bolt, who did most of the planning, and especially to all those brave souls that came out to do burpees and drag or carry heavy stuff around a field in the early morning.

Bolt and Geronimo!

Eight Inmates came out to the prison yard for an old school beat down.

The Thang:

Mosey around the round about for a quick warm up lap.

Mosey to the well lit field (thank you Tega Cay taxpayers)

High Knees, Butt Kickers, Karaoke, Karaoke other direction.

Circle Up: IWx25, Merkins x10, Windmills x15, Slow Squats x20, CDD x15, WA Merkins x10

Mosey to playground: pull-ups x10, 25 dips, 25 freddies, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat

Mosey to wall: People’s Chair, Balls to the wall, Walking Merkins, People’s Chair, Balls to the wall

Pass to Spitz:

Mosey to half wall: step ups 25 for each leg and 15 jump ups

To Hill: Jacobs Ladder: descending burpees on bottom start at 7 and ascending bomb jacks starting at 1.

Community service trash pick up.

Great group of guys today.  The 1st half had plenty of mumble chatter but if done correctly we should be feeling it tonight or tomorrow.

Check the email for events.

Be conscience to pray for you kids and other F3ers kids!

As always a pleasure!

YHC had the honor of co-Qing with the never-tired and always prepared Senator Tressel at an AO that I have not spent enough time attending.  Rolled in a it early with only 2 other cars in the lot and a little spitting drizzle…was thinking it would be a small number with the wetness looming but they started rolling in steady.  Earlier in the week, ST let me know his basic plans for the first half and he, as usual, delivered.  Here’s how it went…with increasing rain early on and wet fields all around.

Dynamic Warm-up (ST)

• Soccer knees;
• Knee pulls;
• Ankle pulls;
• Hip lunges;
• Knee down/arm-ups;
• Toy soldiers;
• Inch worms;
• Walk with rotating shoulders and elbow pulls;
• Short mosey to adjacent field for COP

COP – all in cadence (ST)

• SSH x 50;
• Merkins x 10;
• Squats x 10;
• American Hammers x 25;
• Imperial Walkers x 25;
• Diamond Merkins x 25;
• Jumping Lunges x 15;
• LBCs x 25;
• Pushorama
  •  Carolina Dry Docks x 10
  • Merkins x 10;
  • Plank Series
    • hold;
    • left arm;
    • left leg;
    • flip over to dips x 10;
    • right arm;
    • right leg;
    • flip over to dips x 10;
    • Back to regular plank
    • RINSE AND REPEAT (no rest)
• Mosey to playground

Playground – break into 3 groups (ST)

• Group 1 = 10 pull ups
• Group 2 = reverse step-ups on picnic table
• Group 3 = get on six and hold feet at 6″
• ROTATE THROUGH THEN RINSE & REPEAT

Hand off to YHC for a little something different…

• Mosey to the main field and begin moseying in a circle
  • While moseying in the circle reach down and to the side (ankle picks left and right)
  • Leg extended good mornings – slow and balanced (10 each leg extended)
  • Stop and drop to planks in a circle
    • Double legs jump over the planked Pax
    • Side jumps (facing in) over the planked Pax
    • Side jumps (facing out) over the planked Pax
  • Recover, take a step in towards the circle and lay on belly, legs opened to touch the Pax’s toes next to you – fast feet through the outside of the star circle
• Mosey to one end of the field and form a line
  • Inch worms stretching out as far as you can hold before walking it up x 5
  • Gator Merkins x 10
  • Seal sit-ups x 10

At this point, it was time to get muddy and begin the portion of the workout based off the US Freestyle Olympic Team’s warm-ups (this entire series provided some fantastic mumble chatter, some…ummm….”original” takes on the drills)

• Line up again
  • Straight forward rolls x 5
  • Right shoulder rolls x 5
  • Left shoulder rolls x 5
  • Straight roll to back roll x 5
  • Straight roll to dive roll x 5
  • Alternating knee drag shots x 5
  • Straight roll to sprawl x 5 (Sprawl = think a burpee without the hop at the top – the intent is to keep your legs from the opponent’s grasp)

1. Time was running short so we moved to the real fun…pair up!Swim drill to establish underhooks.  The underhook is a dominant position in stand-up wrestling wherein you have your arm hand locked under the arm of your opponent and around their shoulder.  This drill is a constant fight to establish and re-establish that underhook on both sides while maintaining balance and pushing and shifting against the opponent to have them lose their position.  Typically called the swim drill due to the most effective method of re-establishing that position.
2. Establish a secure underhook and drive your legs while pushing your partner backwards (approx. 30 seconds…seems much longer);
3. Flapjack

Circle back up – Sprawl Circle – couch and chop your feet going around the circle with the PAx yelling “Shot.”  When “shot” is called you sprawl and pop back up to keep chopping. Around the circle one time.

Line Back up – Sprawl and then sprint across the field.  Rinse & Repeat.

COP

Announcements:

Nun Run, Cannoli Run, Fastest 5K, Mud Run, St. Pauls – Ft. Mill  BBQ Fundraiser (4/16), Ragnar Trail Race at Anne Springs,

Prayers:

Traveling Pax and those running the Bridge Run, People recently laid off, Shoulder surgery,