Tag: Fratboy

#LacesIn. 0515. It Pays To Be A Winner.

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We played a little bit of “It pays to be a winner” this AM at Laces In in honor of GoRuck Team Selection which starts today.
If you aren’t familiar, this is a common phrase spoken in Selection, and it’s a great tool they use to get into guys heads to make guys feel pressure and push themselves.

Here’s what it looked like… The Thang:

We moseyed to the back parking lot behind the baseball field (the Band Practice Lot) for a little warm up. Some Mountain Climbers, Windmills, SSH… the usual fare.

Then we moseyed to the front of the school for some CDDs, lunges, and flutters. Spiderman made a comment at one point about losing guys because of the pace. I thought about that… With a crowd as large as we had this am, I wanted to get a sense of where their heads were. Who’s pushing, who’s trailing, who’s struggling…? Am I struggling? Am I trailing? Can anyone even really know these things…?

Anyhow, then we moseyed back the lot from whence we had just come, where we began every Pax’s favorite game show: “It Pays to Be a Winner” (at this point, the Pax didn’t know we were playing). We lined up at one end of the lot and got underway.

Round 1: Bear Crawl to the other end. Alchemy won this round. Because he’s 17. And quite fit. Since he won, he got to choose the method by which we traveled back to the other end. He chose Bear Crawl. He was disqualified from choosing anymore. Because he’s 17. And quite fit.

Round 2. Bear Crawl to the other end. Alchemy won again. Shock. So his prize was that he got to pick who chose the next method. He chose Moab. I don’t remember what he chose, but it was no fun.

We continued to play a few more rounds with Pax choosing sprints, Bernie Sanders (Nur, Backwards Run, whatever you want to call it), Power Skips, and finally Broad Jumps. J-WOW won that round and so he got to set the pace back to the bottom of the hill by the stadium (the driveway in). We made a stop at one point to let everyone catch up and did an exercise there… No recollection what it was… anyway, we finished our mosey to the bottom of the hill and partnered up. SIZE ALWAYS MATTERS. #TWSS

Bonsai won the sprint to the bottom of the hill, despite my best efforts to cheat, and so he picked the partner method of travel to the top of the hill. He chose wheelbarrow. Because he hates happiness. Funhouse and Jekyll tried to cheat to get ahead and despite my best efforts to pull them back and make it “fair” (which meant making them go back to the start so I could cheat instead), they still won. So we moseyed back to the bottom of the hill and since they were the winners, they chose the method of travel to the top of the hill. They chose Partner Carries. Because they hate Bonsai.

The winners this time were the come from behind, dark horse team of Zima and Dirty Harry. Turns out Harry runs faster under weight. Which confirms our suspicion that he’s not actually from this planet. One more trip up running backwards and that was pretty much it for us…

The party bus came, saw, and spread the love…

-DH

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21

History at The Hive

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Pulling into the HIVE early to set-up shop YHC was surprised to see 2 cars already there! Rebel was enjoying a few ‘Be Still’ minutes and Geronimo was getting after it in the parking lot with what appeared to be his Ruck. The rainy weather was holding off & it was a perfect 65 degrees-A great morning to be in the Gloom!

The cars kept rolling & rolling in….17 PAX in total

5:15am- No FNG’s so hit the disclaimer and off we went

COP: Mosey to band parking lot and return back.  Exercises in cadence-

  • SealJacks x 20
  • IW x 15
  • HW x 15
  • Windmill x 10
  • Cherry Picker x 10
  • Plank, Honey Mooner-Downward Dog, Plank
  • Merkins
  • Mountain Climbers x 15

The Thang:

Today’s workout was built around the History of the Hive. All repetition #s, exercises & stories shared were specific to this AO.

4 stations here we go:

Station 1- History Lesson- What is the most famous saying @ The Hive? “5 @ The Hive”. The PAX passed the test with flying colors. In honor of “5 @ The Hive” we hit a 5 cone drill Jacobs ladder style:

  • Cone 1) Inch Worm Merkins & Goblet Squats
  •  Cone 2) Triceps Ext & Reverse Lunges
  • Cone 3) Bicep curl w/ Shoulder press & Burpees
  • Cone 4) BackRows & Swings
  • Cone 5) Upright Rows & Fwd Lunges

Kudos to the PAX as they just got after this station. Little time for mumble chatter with the exception of those as they finished Cone 3 with Burpees.

Station 2- History Lesson- How many years has the Hive been an AO? How many site Q’s have there been & who are they? The PAX again pulled together and we went with 3 years (almost 4 years) and 3 sites Q’s- Longshanks, Tesh & BandCamp!

In honor of this we went 3 rounds of the Site Q’s assigned exercises:

Longshanks-Thrusters, Tesh-The Standing Tesh or Bi/Tri, Bandcamp-Swings

  • Round 1: 9 Thrusters, 9 count Standing Tesh, 9 Swings
  • Round 2: 9 Thrusters, 18 Bi/Tri Superset, 9 Swings
  • Round 3: 9 Thrusters, 9 count Standing Tesh, 9 Swings

Station 3- History Lesson- Geronimo’s Gauntlet (This needs to be in The Exicon) 

We did our best rendition of the 2018 Hive version of Geronimo’s Gauntlet. A Pax favorite it was started by no other than Geronimo himself and it goes something like this- *Line up all the Kettlebells lightest to heaviest. One by one, Pax go down the line and perform bent over rows at each KBell. (3 rows each side for time today). The waiting Pax can plank up, Al Gore, etc… With 17 KBells lined up our lats got some serious work. The heavy 40-50lb KBells at the end of the line gave us all an example of how JWOWW, Geronimo & Tesh get after it. Strong work Men!

Station 4- 5:58am and we escaped the planned AMRAP station due to time. Better to be over prepared than not enough. YHC took a moment to read  from the theme of the month and take just a moment to “Be Still”.

COT- Announcements from Newsletter, upcoming events

Prayers/Praises: Rebels 28th Wedding Anniversary. Prayers for all families traveling for the upcoming Spring Break week.

It was an honor to be with the Pax this morning- Thanks BandCamp for the opportunity!

Weezer

 

 

 

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The Hive: Kettlebells, rain, tabata. What could go wrong?

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0505 show up to the hive for prep. Layout cones and other various gear needed.
0510 see cars and trucks and more cars and trucks pulling into parking lot.
0514 Disclaimer and see another truck pull in (its Stang, we start to mosey for warm ups.)
0515 Warmups of various types.
0522 Start a Tabata that has to called out by Q due to speaker not working. ended up being great. I love mumble chatter and it was rolling good this moist morning.
8 stations- 2-3 PAX per station they went as follows.
Goblet Squats
Figure 8s
Shoulder presses with rucksack
Jump Rope
Alternating bicep curls
American Hammers
1 arm KB swings
Alternating hand on KB merkins
0600- Mosey with gear back to COT. The rain really started to pour down.
Prayers and Praises.
AkA- if you don’t know you better ask somebody.
Q Source
prayers for marriages and kids.

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Do you need a bell? VQ at Armory

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So I was nervous about my first Kettlebell Q.  Sure, I’ve been to The Hive and The Armory a few times but never Q’d.  Honestly, YHC had to pour over backblasts to get some exercises to call.  Then Youtube to see how to do them.  But hey, the theme of the month is Growth so let’s do this!

To make my Q a bit easier, I got to the AO early to literally chalk out the Main Event.  I start seeing the cars roll in as I’m finishing up then I head over to the gathered circle of men, excited to see some familiar and newer faces.  Good crowd I’m thinking.  I set my Kettlebell down and proceed to great the PAX.  I get to Peabody as he’s rolling up and he and asks me if I need a Kettlebell.  Man, I guess it’s obvious I don’t know what I’m doing!  A quick disclaimer was given, we left the bells, and took off.

The Thang

After a mosey around the back of the church, we circled up in the front parking lot for some warm-up exercises.  All IC in no particular order:

  • SSH
  • Imperial walker
  • Windmill
  • Merkins
  • Dips
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Moroccan Night Club
  • Low slow squats

Mosey backs to the start spot and grab your bell.  In cadence for a round of squat curls.

Mosey back to the front parking lot with kettlebell.  Partner up for some Dora.  One partner ran a lap around the lot while the other lifted.  As a group, complete  100 squats, 150 curls, 200 lbc’s.   Special shout out to Fish Sticks who would not let me take it easy on the run and ran me down each lap.  Well done Sir!

Main Event

Mosey over to the far lot where 5 parking spots at the top and 5 spots at the bottom had exercises posted.  With your partner, pick a parking space.  Both would do 10 reps of the exercises listed.  When complete, rotate over one spot to the right, leaving your kettlebell behind for the next group.  When you get done with the 5th station, rotate to other end of the lot.

Everyone got through one complete rotation, some made a few more before time was up.  Here’s what we did at each station:

  • goblin squat / calf raises
  • tricep extention / curl
  • shoulder press / single arm swing with pass through
  • figure 8’s / halos
  • LBC / merkins
  • lawn mower pulls, each arm
  • squats / lunge with pass through
  • skull crushers / big boy sit-ups
  • American hammers / merkins
  • swings / curls

Mosey to COT

Announcements – Sign up for Operation Sweet Tooth 8K, Huntersville, NC on 3/20.  Virtual Option available

Prayers – David Chadwick resigned as Sr. Pastor at Forest Hill Church after 39 years.  Prayers for church body and Elder leadership in this time of transition.  Peabody is on the Council of Elders so we prayed for him, our families, children, & injured PAX.

Thanks JWOW for the chance to Q!  Thanks also for the encouraging word from the PAX.  I encourage anyone out there to attend kettlebell workouts and Q!  If you need a bell, just ask Peabody.

Flat Tire

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Laces In 2019.08

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So for the beat down portion of this I was trying to accomplish an under 30 second max effort and a 3 minute max effort.  So the 30 second effort was a 100 yard dash and the 3 minute max reps of burpees.  This was flanked by other exercises but generally, I wanted to hit the two shorter metabolic pathways (google it) this morning.

Warmup
Because we were doing sprints, there was a longer warmup period than usual.  After the obligatory SSH there was windmills, squats, merkins, and slow MNCs (full rotaion) .  Then the warmup for legs which includes your karaoke, buttkickers, high knees, and WWL power skips.

Thang
Sprint, some talking for cooldown, sissy squats, (or Greek god Sisyphus squat, again google it) peter pointers x4
Mosey to patio
Peoples chair 2 min w arm flutters, B2W w/ 10x should taps
3min max reps Burpees
Peoples chair 1 min w calf raises, B2W 30 seconds
Mosey to COT for more slow MNCs

Moleskin
I kinda went over the two prevalent “feel good” hormones in the body: dopamine and serotonin.  Dopamine is associated with addiction while serotonin is associated with well being.  The body can get easily addicted to dopamine release, and once associated, addictions will “cross pollinate” and an addictive personality is born.  So please look for addictive patterns and don’t feed them, in yourselves or others.

On the other hand, serotonin is not really tied to addiction as it is slow releasing  usually requires some sort of initial effort or discomfort.  Exercise  stretching, breathing, as well as cold exposure and meditation all influence serotonin.  But most is created in your stomach.  So feed your stomach and not your mouth.

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Oh that smell!

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It was great to see so many PAX pulling into the Ranch on a cold morning. Even Dark Helmet arrived earlier than normal, he beat Bonsai, Fire Marshall Bill and Fratboy! T-Claps to my good ol’ pal Champagne for coming down from Area-51 and posting in The Fort region.  We eventually ended up with 19 PAX (16 BC and 3 ruckers who met at COT).

We moseyed to the service road to the Elementary School/Middle School cafeteria side of the schools. From the soccer fields we  did toy soldiers to the first street light. We then did soccer leg swings to the next street light, which during that time encountered a sweet smell of SH!T running through the storm drain (or from the horse ranch next door – but most likely a busted sewer pipe). I should have made the PAX bear crawl in order to enjoy that fresh morning smell, even though we can’t figure out why Dark Helmet didn’t smell anything….

We then duck walked to the parking lot next to the playground. We lunged walked along one side of the parking lot, reversed lunged to other side. Circled up for COP with a various count of Squats, hilly billy walkers, windmills, side straddle hops, and Moroccan nightclubs.

Split the PAX into 2 groups.

Group 1 went to the playground for a round of 11’s of pull-ups (YES!!) and merkins

Group 2 did round of 22’s of squats and CCD – somehow this group didn’t listen and did 22 reps of each and said they were done…no, its 20 squats, 2 CCD, 18 squats, 4 CCD, you get the idea.

Groups then flapjacked.

Final round was 22’s of leg lifts (holding onto the fence) and big boy sit ups. Mumble chatter definitely increased!

Time flew by too fast!!

Moseyed back to COT, on way back merged with the 4 ruckers.

Read newsletter for announcements. Key announcements are Q Source every Saturday and you don’t have to past at the AO to post at Q Source. Joe Davis Run and Yeti coming up soon.

Prayers: Wegmans and his mission trip to Peru (he’s looking for donations of lightly used workout gear), Bonsai’s friend who has got himself into trouble, and Trucker with some potential career and life decisions. Ever since F3 started the Word of the Year I was ignorant and selfish for not participating. I felt that it was corny and said to myself i didn’t; have time for this. and that it wouldn’t do me any good. Well, after seeing how 2018 impacted me I realized that finding your word for the year and living it out isn’t corny. Thanks to Bonsai for mentioning something he saw relating to a sign defining JOY as: Jesus, Others, Yourself; I realized that i have been stuck in the YOJ mode way too long. This year I need to be held accountable to reverse it and make JOY out of life, focus on JOY and change my habits. I would ask that everyone find a word for the year and begin to focus on being a better #HIM.

10-4 Trucker

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5

#Serving at Thanksgiving with Many Thanks

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With great apologies for the delay in this backblast, here is a followup to our Thanksgiving meal drive. The PAX were truly inspiring in reaching out. We are all called to serve, and can do so in many different ways.

Immediate thanks to Figaro for the turkey donations, along with the 20 men who did not hesitate and within 3 days quickly donated to the cause… and whom most have chosen to remain anonymous. Special thanks to Cable Guy, Frat Boy and Crab Cakes for helping with delivery. More details further below. And additional thanks to Crab Cakes and M Kara for followup support to one of our families!

Many of us don’t truly realize the experiences of the poor and needy  until we are able to observe in real life. Most of stay in our one station in life, but it can be a privilege to experience others’ stations. (see next full story, try to get through it all)

One of the most meaningful and deep scenes in a movie I have watched comes from one of the silliest movies. In the movie “Overboard” with Goldie Hahn and Kurt Russell, Hahn’s female character (Joanna) plays a very stuck up, rich woman who falls overboard at night from her yacht while near WA (state). She gets amnesia. She is ‘claimed’ by Russell’s carpenter character (Dean) to ‘compensate’ for her refusal to pay him for his services performed by him in the days before.

Joanna ends up living a poor life with Russell and his 4 boys for about a month. She experiences things she would never had in her rich world.  She learns humility living a life with little money. Eventually her memory returns and she returns to her yacht.  But she no longer acts like the ‘debutante’ who her mother and privileged husband so want. They think something is wrong with her.

Later on board the yacht, Joanna has an interaction with her servant butler (Andrew) who has been taking care of her his whole life with no thanks for his efforts:

  • Andrew: (Andrew hands Joanna her earrings after they’ve drank tequila shots below decks with the crew) You best not lose these again, madam.
  • Joanna: (perplexed) Again?
  • Andrew: You will forgive me, madam. (clearly mocking her) “Andrew! I seem to have lost my ruby earrings somewhere between 64th and 68th street, find them.”
  • Joanna: (genuinely contrite) I’ve behaved so badly. (Andrew raises his eyebrows)
  • Joanna: You’ve done all these wonderful things for me and I never even once said thank you. I’m sorry.
  • Andrew: (embarrassed) Apology accepted, ma’am. (he turns away and to the sink)
  • Joanna: (following him) Everyone on this boat thinks I’m crazy. Do you think they’re right?
  • Andrew: (turning around to face her) Oh no, madam. Oh no. You… most of us go through life with blinders on. Knowing only that little station to which we were born. But you madam, have had the… rare privilege of escaping your bonds for just a spell. To see life from an entirely new perspective. How you choose to use that information is entirely up to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlHlKi2dATw

The movie ends up with a happy ending with Joanna returning to Dean and the boys.

It is up to all of us to decide how we use information we have at hand. If you are called to serve, how are you actually serving? Are you truly seeking to serve? Are you open to learning about others less fortunate than you? Even more so, are you willing to put yourself in an uncomfortable environment to learn firsthand?

Here is a quick synopsis of this year’s turkey meals donation.  We had done turkey drives before, but some of the feedback we got was, not that it wasn’t appreciated, but that it was too much of a ‘giveaway.’ Best teach a man to fish, so to speak. But we’ve been in the Paradise community over 1 1/2 years now and we didn’t want to let Thanksgiving pass without some involvement. A plan was put together on Monday, announced to the PAX on Tuesday, enough donations received by Thursday, food bought on Friday and delivered on Saturday.

Thanks were in abundance from those receiving the meals. We had a few crying in appreciation. The names of the 10 neediest families were given to us by Kim Vinisette of SON Ministries who has been working in the community for years. F3 has a strong relationship with Kim. As we shared with the families, we asked them to also share to any others that could use food for the holiday.

We gave each family a nice presentation basket of initial food along with their turkey, an F3 flyer, a holiday card from F3 and a gift certificate of varying amounts (depending on family size) to buy additional food, ie. fresh food, dessert.

We arrived at the park Saturday afternoon and the PAX helped deliver.

Lessons learned include…planning to spend more on each family roughly in the $100 range, buying all the food necessary for a full meal, starting much earlier, getting other groups involved to help support the cause. Maybe next year we can increase the # of families.

I have some pictures but not at the ready. Will get posted here shortly. I want to get this BB out.

*** An additional good experience came from this endeavor. One of the families, a single mom with 3 girls, had next to no furniture in their apartment.  Crab Cakes and his M Kara came through as we identified their needs and their rooms went from having nothing to being filled!  Awesome job!  We are now working on another similar situation. Will post that info soon!

Great thanks once again to the PAX.

Aye! Bolt

 

 

 

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5

Block Party – Smoothing the Stones

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Today at the Block Party I was ready to have a namesake beatdown with Cinder Blocks and all the fun of them. So the wienke was made and the plan was to utilize the blocks at Honey Badger Central or Den or the Coop or whatever they are calling NAFO these days. At 0430 I left to go get the blocks and find there are no blocks to be found. It seems the FMSD has taken our blocks away……again!!

After quick conversation with the Darkest of Helmets I had to call….Omaha…..Omaha!!! Was not too bad to change some of the exercise moves and YHC was ready to roll.

15 PAX arrived and I was excited for the turnout at WEP. Its an original AO and one of our best and so love to see the PAX still coming. We had 13 bootcamp and 3 runners for Pathfinder and at 0515 away we all went.

Mosey up the Stairway to Heaven

  • Al Gore
  • Merkins (Stealth)

Mosey along path

  • Al Gore
  • Merkins (Stealth)
  • Low Slow Squat

Mosey along path

  • Al Gore
  • Merkins (Stealth)
  • Low Slow Squat
  • Windmills

Mosey along path

  • Al Gore
  • Merkins (Stealth)
  • Low Slow Squat
  • Imperial Walkers

The Main event

List of 10 exercises, 100 reps cumulative with Partner

Partner  1 runs around Playground, Partner 2 exercise move…..working the list

  • Squats
  • Merkins
  • Lunge (50 each leg)
  • Swing Crunches
  • Pullups
  • Step ups (100 each leg)
  • Dips
  • Toe Taps
  • Derkins
  • Leg Raises

Nice work by all the PAX. FNG, Liquidate, did great and fun was had by all!!

I talked to the men about David and Goliath and when David chose 5 smooth stones there was a reason. Smooth stones would fly straight and accurate versus those with edges and odd shape. The stones were smooth from being in the water and rubbing against each other over years and smoothing each other out. We as men need each other to help us shoot straight and face our Goliath. By surrounding ourselves with PAX that want to get better and live for something bigger than ourselves, we will all get smoothed out and be able to fly straight and stay on path. Get those trusted advisers in your life and GET BETTER!

Cake Boss

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Lack of control

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This thing got started with a quick gathering to listen in to the disclaimer before we began the 45 min of activities planned.  Short mosey from COT over to the band practice practice field for a warm up.

Warm up included:

  • 40 SSH, 2 burpees
  • 30 shoulder press, 2 burpees
  • 25 Moroccan night club, 2 burpees
  • 8 windmill, 2 burpees
  • 15 squats, 2 burpees
  • 10 hillbilly walkers, 2 burpees
  • quick leg stretches, honeymooners, and downward dog – then we took off to the next spot

Mosey’d over to the smaller parking lot in front of the school with the loop in front of the main entrance where YHC scooped up a parking cone and dropped it off about 80-100 yards from the front of the school.  Next piece of fun ensued was as follows:

  • 50% run from main entrance to cone, followed up by 5 burpees
  • 50% run back to main entrance, followed by 10 bench step up’s each leg, and then 20 dips
  • Then repeat the above for round 2
  • 75% run from main entrance to cone, followed up by 5 burpees
  • 75% run back to main entrance, followed by 15 bench step up’s each leg, and then 25 dips
  • Repeat the above @ 75%
  • 100% / all you got run from main entrance to cone, followed up by 5 burpees
  • 100% / all you got run back to main entrance, followed by 20 bench step up’s each leg, and then 30 dips
  • Repeat the above @ 100%

In-between the 50-75% round and 75-100% round, YHC provided some words on “control”.  While some of us are more controlling than others, we all have our control issues somewhere in our lives.  Whether that be at home with the M and 2.0s, at work with co-workers or just the company in general, or trying to control and plan for a hurricane.  In the end, we can only control ourselves, how we act, what words we use and choices we make, if we want to push ourselves during a workout, etc.  When something like a hurricane comes along and we have no control, we can comfort our M’s and our 2.0s, but it’s really in God’s hands and we need to put our trust in Him.

Quick mosey back to COT (with the Laces Out PAX “stretching”) for some Mary, name-o-rama, announcements, prayers / praises, and ball of man.  Also knocked out 42 burpees in total for #1000September !

Good stuff – looking forward to next time!

-Shady

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The Encore at Slowburn

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What is the Al Girdle reference? Maybe I heard it wrong, my hearing is a bit sketch (metal shows). I googled the heck out of it, and crickets … someone help a brother out next time I see you.

Lets get to it, 2 days, 2 what I hoped were moderish/noterate work outs, but it’s possible that my 100% is 50% from Gilmore-esque PAX. Either way, it was keep’em moving and mix up the exercises, I guess I’ll just keep doing it until there are no invites.

The Thang,

Mosey to the far side of Lowes, circle up, OH Claps x 15, LBCs x 15, Windmill x 10, 2 burpees OYO, Mor NC x 15, Shoulder Tap x 15, Weed Puller x 10, 2 burpees OYO, Dying Cockroach x 15, LSS x 15, Travolta x 10, 2 burpees OYO

Mosey to the other side of Lowes, circle up, CDD x 15, Richard Simmons x 10, Arm high 1/2 situps x 10, 2 burpees OYO, Scorpion DD x 12, Imperial Walker x 12, Flutter x 10, 2 burpees OYO, Mahktar N’Diayes x 10, Hillbilly Walker x 10, Heels to Heaven x 10, 2 burpees OYO

Mosey to the lot in front of Empire Pizza, 4 stop suicides, 10 reps at each stop
Scorpion DD
Scorpion DD, LBCs
Scorpion DD, LBCs, Donkey Kicks
Scorpion DD, LBCs, Donkey Kicks, Bombjacks

Line up and move from one end of the lot to the other side: Karaoke L, Karaoke R, High Knees, Butt Kickers, Moset, 50% run, 75% run, 100% run

Another round of suicides, 4 stops, 10 reps at each stop
CDD
CDD, BB Situps
CDD, BB Situps, Mahktar N’Diayes
CDD, BB Situps, Mahktar N’Diayes, Burpees

Circle up: Dog Petter x 10, Jump Squats x 10, Freddie Mercury x 10, OH Claps x 21, 3 burpees OYO, Rosalita x 10, 3 burpees OYO, Monkey Humpers x 10, Hand Release Merkins x 10 OYO, Flap Jacks x 10, Back to COT.

Looks like we made it,

Barry Manilow

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