EMOM to close out AKA at Golden Coral

We had 19 at Golden Coral to close out AKA. I was honored that Lutefisk gave me the opportunity to close out AKA and I did not want to disappoint. So here it is:

We started with a 1 mile journey around Golden Coral stopping every 1/4 mile for 15 merkins. (Crowd pleaser).

We finished up at the fire station for a quick warm-up before we got to the thang. I dont remember completely but it was quick. I think it included some windmills and weed pullers.

Then we got to the THANG:

I planned a little EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute). Each Pax had 1 minute to complete 20 burpees, then 1 minute to complete 20 crunchy frogs then 1 to get down the hill and back before we started over. We did this rotation until 15 minutes were up. The goal was to finish as many of the reps as you could or push yourself to whatever number was achievable in the 1 minute.

With enough time remaining, we started another EMOM, switching the burpees and crunchy frogs for jump squats and CDDs.

With only 2 minutes to spare we ran back to COT.

Thanks to Lutefisk for the opportunity to lead and to all the Pax for putting up with my craziness.

Until next time, back to the hunt…

 

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Off My 4th Point of Contact to Q

The disclaimer was remembered, although, I was reminded that it was incomplete. F3 cannot be sued.
Moseyed to the HD parking lot – High knees, butt-kickers etc. Karoke is not a good warmup if you are nursing plantar facitis.
Circled up for IW, HW, Morrocan NC, Plank/Down dog/Honeymooner and slow/old-man/windmills.
Moseyed to the back of Target where the bad ideas started – probably as a result of being a slug for sometime. We did several rounds of 7’s between the walls, by the dumpster; interrupted by the Peoples’ Chair. Rd 1 – Mode: Bearcrawl, Peter Parkers and Parker Peters. Rd 2 – Mode: Lungewalk, Monkey Humpers and Squat Jumps. Rd 3 – Mode: Crabwalks, Rosalitas and Freddie Mercury. Rd 4 – Mode: Hop, Calf-raises and Bomb Jacks.
Moseyed 10 feet to long, back wall of Target for Peoples’ Chair and Donkey Webbs. After the previous bad ideas Donkey Webbs were a badder idea.
Moseyed to Best Buy for a brief taste of core exercises. I needed the core to start working of my large sit-up muscle.
COT: Prayers for families and loss of loved ones and for difficult conversations to be had with friends. Praises for new jobs and wedding anniversaries.
The word for May is mentorship. We saw examples this morning – young men, mentored by fathers and friends holding friends accountable. Pastor Tony Evans has a quote – “We are born male, but we choose to be men”. Maxim #3 in “Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men”: is “Manly Men, build Manly men.”
Thank you Jedi for getting me out of bed with the opportunity to Q. It is always an honor. Tater.

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Short Circuit at the Swamp

Time seems to be something YHC lacks nowadays. Thank goodness Cha-Ching asked me to Q at the Swamp a month ago, because I probably would have declined had I known what my schedule would be like. Nevertheless, I made good on my commitment and kept the Q. Taking all of my recent Qs and smashing them together, I came up with today’s workout in about 5 minutes and hoped that it would go well.

At 0515, the five brave PAX for today’s bootcamp (seems many are “resting” for a heavy backpack thing) were debriefed and off we went on a mosey “the wrong way” out toward 49. We kept a moderate pace, but needed to get all the way to ULTA and still have a couple minutes to warm up, so it wasn’t slow.

Quick warm up of 10 windmills, 20 Moroccan night clubs, and 10 thigh masters (per leg…crowd pleaser). Then came the explanation.

Five minutes to complete the circuit of five exercises. One minute to run to the next place. One minute rest. Repeat for five full circuits.

Exercises:

  • 50 American Hammers (per side, so double count)
  • 40 merkins (just normal merkins)
  • 30 squats
  • 20 bomb jacks
  • 10 burpees

Runs were roughly 400 m each. We started in the parking lot in front of ULTA. Ran to the bank. Then back out to Walker Branch to wrap around the long way to Target. Then up and around the other side of Old Navy. Then back to Target and over to Just Fresh. Then finally out to the road, around to PetsMart, and back to COT.

Totals:

  • 2.15 miles run
  • 250 American hammers
  • 200 merkins
  • 150 squats
  • 100 bomb jacks
  • 50 burpees

Every circuit got done with 1-2 minutes to spare of the five minutes, so we usually grabbed 30-45 seconds before running, as the runs took more than a minute each time. Still got our minute rest between circuits, which was definitely appreciated in the end.

Met up with ruckers at COT. Announcements are in the newsletter (upcoming convergence on the 24th, so keep your eyes open for that). Prayer requests. Pray and go (some bounced out quickly).

NMM

Nothing substantive to say here. The theory behind this was, I know high-intensity intervals are effective, as are EMOM workouts. I didn’t want some people to get big breaks and some to get no breaks, so I smashed these ideas together. Five EMOMs became a five-minute cap for a circuit. Quick run. Then the rest (which is important, as it allows you to push hard during the circuit). Repeato. So often we leave out the rest to keep pushing, but the rest time is actually beneficial to pushing harder during the working portions and building cardiovascular capacity. I’m not big on “taking 10s” because we’re tired, but planning rest intervals into the workout: good idea.

Thanks for the opportunity, Cha-Ching, and great push everybody.

Jedi

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License to Ill at Quagmire

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

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

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

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

License to Ill (by the Beastie Boys)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

-NASA

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Diplomacy at Quagmire

It was a long drive from BFE to Lake Wylie, but I’ve wanted to make it to this AO for a while… so I answered Jedi’s call. By the way, I received my request to Q back in January! That is some hardcore planning by this HIM. I’m lucky if I get a month in advance at The Coop.

Also, due to the friendly banter back and forth between Jedi and the Badger… I had to bring the pain today to satisfy these Lake Wylie boys. The last thing I wanted to be was a terrible Ambassador of the Honey Badger Nation.

Here’s what we did.

400m run

COP

Tempo Merkins – 11
Mountain Climbers – 13
SSH – 17
LSS – 19
Al Gore Night Clubs – 11
Yoga Flow

400m run

Wheelbarrow/Squerkins

Wheelbarrow 25 yards.
Out, swap w/partner, back.
Squerkins – 1 Derkin in wheelbarrow position alternating while partner holds and does 1 Squat – Ascending to 5 (so 15 in total).

At this point Jedi told me to tighten my core, which I realized made wheelbarrows much easier. #ProTip

400m run

Wheelbarrow 25 yards.
Out, swap w/partner, back.
Squerkins – to 6 this time (so 21 in total).

400m run

Squatzilla
Lunge 10 yards, do 10 squats, mosey back.
Add 10 yards each time until you get to 50 (so 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 – in total 150 squats and 150 yards of lunge walks)

400m run

Punch Webbs 1:4 – 10:40
Dive bomber Pushups + Burps/Ski Abs/Thrusts (whatever you want to call them!)
1-5
400m run
6-7
200m run
8-9
200m run
10

As we left and returned to our circle for the Webbs, the sweat puddles kept growing. It looked like an aftermath post from Jocko. We were all pleased. The run breaks were much needed, as my shoulders were pretty smoked. Cable Guy said his triceps were smoked. His form was better than mine!

Last Minute Mary
10xWWI Sit Ups

Side note – we also ran 2+ miles in the midst of all of that fun.

Announcements
GORUCK DSM Custom event this weekend! Pray for us!
Monday’s at Sabor there is a bible study. I missed the full details so follow up with Cornhole for more information.

COT
Pray for Duck Dynasty – had some shady business going on in his neighborhood and it was unsettling. Pray for the authorities to handle it the right way and DD to remain composed for both he and his family’s sake.
Pray for Jedi – big decisions to be made here and it could change what he currently calls his life.
Pray for me – I constantly lack patience with my daughters and I need to realize the impact this could be having on them and their understanding on love and leadership.

In all, it was a great morning to join up with my brothers that I don’t often see. Jedi, thank you for your leadership, your friendly banter on twitter, and for making us all want to accelerate. Finally, thanks for asking me to lead.

Punch List out.

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Prime Counting with Bora

Disclaimer made.

Mosey with dynamic warmup around the parking lot.

 Warm-o-Rama

All exercises were completed in sets of prime numbers. After each exercise bomb jacks were done in increasing fashion, also using prime numbers (2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19, 23…). There was no reason for doing this other than YHC wanted to see if anyone would figure out the pattern. I did this once before a while ago, so thought maybe someone would have it in the back of their brain. Props to Jedi who figured it out way quicker than I anticipated the PAX would.

MNC, windmills, mountain climbers, merkins, imperial walker, superman hold and other such things.

 

The Thang

Partner up for Board of Dora (Bora? Dor of Pain?). P1 does exercise on board while P2 nurs to the end of the basketball courts, does 1 bombjack then jogs back to the beginning. All counts were cumulative between the pairs. A few pairs finished in time and it was good to see the men going and picking up the six.  Board:

150 Burpees

300 Squats

150 Big Boys

300 Monkey Humpers

150 Merkins

300 Imperial Walkers

* Pick up the 6 when done

 

Copyright is the man for letting me lead the PAX at a great AO. Abyss is one of the few remaining workouts that men from both sides of the Lake regularly attend – a reminder of the old days.

Stay Classy,

Homebrew

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Dora for Days

So with a Q assignment fail, Lutefisk made up a Dora that was a bad idea. Started w/disclaimer and mosey. Stopped after a short mosey for 1 burpee OYO “WitchHunt Style.”  Ran some more, 2 burpoees OYO.  Mosey, 3, Mosey, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  You get the idea.  That was the warm-up.  For the Thang, break out JBL speaker to jam to some music cuz we’re not going far.  Partner up for Dora 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 near the new Green Olive, which is mighty tasty by the way.  Run the short lap whilst your partner climbs the rep ladder.  I only revealed through 6:

100 Merkins
200 Squats
300 Dry Docks
400 Mountain Climbers
500 Flutters
600 LBC’s

After PAX were smoked, revealed 700 burpees (just kidding). Mosey to COT for 3x Ab Lounge which brought us to 0600.  It was simple, but effective.  SYITG fellas.

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Bottoms Up at the Hive

About a year ago, YHC successfully evaded a request from Tesh to Q at the Hive, citing lack of experience at a kettlebell AO – and a lack of a kettlebell – as sufficient reason to decline. He never asked again. Band Camp comes along and won’t take “no” for an answer, providing sufficient responses to all my excuses. So, here we are. Jedi’s first post at a kettlebell AO ever, and he’s given Q responsibilities. This’ll be interesting…

0514:45 rolls around and just as I’m about to give the disclaimer, 38 Special rolls in without any sign of urgency, so we patiently waited for him to gracefully park the car and meander to the group. A disclaimer was given with a half-hearted apology that I truly have no idea what I’m doing, and off we went on a mosey around the parking lot. Threw in some knees-to-chest, heels-to-butt, and toy soldiers to get some mobility in before circling back up where we started.

COP

  • 10 Windmills IC
  • 20 Moroccan Night Clubs IC
  • 12 Hillbilly Squat Walkers IC
  • 10 Merkins IC
  • Downward Dog with cross-body reach, through to honeymooner, then recover

Slowly walk a few feet over with the bells to line up with the cones that I had (apparently mysteriously) laid out across the parking lot. Basically, every row of parking spots had a cone, making for 6 cones (no cones were placed in the lines where we parked, since I didn’t know where people park at the Hive). Anyway, lunge walk with bell held inverted goblet style, twisting and lowering the bell to both sides before standing up and taking the next step. This was to be our mode of transportation forward. When we got to a cone, lose the bell, run back to the curb at the edge of the parking lot by the school, then back to the cone where we would all do the exercise together-ish. Then lunge walk to the next cone (as before), run to the curb and back (as before), exercise, etc.

Exercises on cones:

  • 20 Renegade Rows per arm (somehow this was a new exercise to the PAX; maybe they know it by a different name?)
  • 50 Toe touches (on your back, legs straight up, hold bell “bottoms up” style and touch toes)
  • 20 Bottoms Up Arnold Presses per arm (hold handle with the bell sticking up rather than resting on forearm, hand facing in at shoulder level then forward at the top of the press)
  • 20 Single Leg Deadlifts per leg (holding bell in same side arm as leg that goes up behind)
  • 50 Overhead V-Ups (um…hold the bell overhead and do a V-up)
  • 30 Crush Chest Presses (kneeling, squeeze bell between open hands rather than holding it with the handle or even using your fingers, then press straight out in front and bring back to chest)

That was fun. We still had maybe 6-7 minutes left, so we did a little AMRAP Gorilla Complex until time was up.

One arm at a time, do:

  • 8 bicep curls
  • 8 upright rows
  • 8 strict presses (preferably bottoms up)
  • 8 triceps extensions
  • Lose the bell and do 8 normal merkins
  • Switch arms and do it again

That brought us to 0559, so we grabbed the bells and returned to COT to wrap up at 0600.

Fair amount of mumblechatter, lots of quiet. Slow and steady, but we still pulled in a mile of running. For those wondering, holding the bell “bottoms up” style engages more stabilizer muscles through your forearm and makes you focus on good form. Most of us realized a significant difference between our two arms when holding the bell differently, as our non-dominant arm usually lacks the stability of the dominant one.

So, that happened. I can now say I’ve done a kettlebell workout. See you again in two years.

Jedi.

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Friend or Faux – April BEYOND

For those newer PAX who aren’t familiar with it, BEYOND is a roving AO started by Maximus last year that is designed to push us beyond, both physically and personally. The workouts are supposed to be tough, and the message is supposed to be challenging. Combining the two is what makes this workout unlike the others.

After a brief hiatus to restructure it a bit, BEYOND made its return this morning with YHC on Q. It was humbling to be asked to kick it off, and definitely challenging to prepare. I tend to be good at putting together difficult workouts, but I usually don’t attach a message, as I do so much “messaging” for my job. But I accepted the challenge, struggled through preparing, and hoped that maybe a few PAX would make the effort to post.

To my surprise, 13 PAX joined YHC at Rivergate on a Thursday at 0500 (yep, not a normal day to be at Rivergate or a normal time to start). These men came ready to push it, so a disclaimer was given with a reminder that this is going to be harder than normal, so try not to modify. Dig deep and get it done; you didn’t come for it to be easy.

Following the disclaimer we took off on a fast mosey (avoiding a cement truck!) around Home Depot to Target for the warmup and message intro (content of message will be below).

Warm Up (such as it is)

  • 50 (NOT low-slow) squats in cadence (don’t know the best way to actually list the numbers here, so I’m doing total count, not cadence count, which would have been 25, if that makes sense…)
  • 50 merkins in cadence
  • 100 SSH in cadence

RUN to parking lot in front of Pier 1. Time Hack: 4 minutes.

All PAX arrived with about 30 seconds to spare. Circle up in plank – aka, forward listening position – for next part of message (see below). Next round of workout:

  • 50 jumping lunges in cadence (25/leg)
  • 50 diamond merkins in cadence
  • 100 high knees, single count

RUN to Just Fresh parking lot. Time Hack: 4 minutes.

All PAX arrived with about 30 seconds to spare. Circle up in plank for next part of message (see below). Next round of workout:

  • 25 triple-pulsing sumo squat jumps in cadence (“20 would have been fine”)
  • 50 pseudo planche merkins (request for exicon name change to “flippin’ merkins”)
  • 50 bomb jacks

RUN out to 49, down to 160, and around CVS to parking lot by Friday’s. Time Hack: 5 minutes.

All PAX arrived with no time to spare. Close to the burpee penalty. But alas… Message given in plank then next part of workout:

  • 30 triple-pulsing lunge jumps in cadence (“that’s more than 25”; “do you want to walk in circles forever?”)
  • 50 breakdancer merkins in cadence
  • 50 tuck jumps

RUN to the (no longer) dead end road in front of Home Depot. Time Hack: 5 minutes.

Bones led the PAX on a creative route that cut out roughly .2 miles, so all PAX arrived with a minute to spare. Message given then last round of exercises:

  • 50 squat jumps in cadence
  • 5 slo-mo merkins (request to call them “ferkins” for “f@$%(* merkins”)
  • 20 run lunge high knee skips

RUN to COT. Time Hack: (a very generous) 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

All PAX arrived with time to spare. End in plank for the final thoughts before recovering at 0600 on the dot.

Standard COT with all the bells and whistles.

Message content:

We have been talking a lot lately about being vulnerable and open about our lives and the struggles we face. There was a big push in March when we discussed Mental Health Awareness, and we’ve continued to encourage this among the PAX. And that’s great, and it should continue to be encouraged. But, as we pursue this, we need to be aware of what we are actually asking of people and consider if we – as individuals and as a group – are ready to actually take on what we are asking.

In our culture today – American culture, US Christian culture (for many of us), and F3 culture as well – we have placed a high value on being authentic, which is really what we are wanting when we want people to be vulnerable. We want them to be authentic. To be “real.” A lot of this comes from seeing so many prominent leaders crash and burn after some secret part of their life comes to light, usually in very embarrassing ways. We don’t want to be taken in or lied to, so we promote authenticity. But this heavy emphasis has led to a sort of initiation rite within our various groups. “I want to trust you, but only if you’re willing to be open and honest with me.”

So we try it. And somebody shares something like, “I really struggle with playing too many video games” (totally a made up example, so I’m not calling people out). I for one would not be able to relate with that person very well; if I’m honest with myself, I don’t see that as a big issue (though it definitely can be for the person dealing with it). Or it goes the other way, and in a spirit of authenticity, somebody shares something “big,” like an ongoing struggle with same-sex attraction. How would that be received in an all-male group such as F3? Now we are all uncomfortable. That’s too big or too weird of a struggle for us to relate with. It’s easy for us to relate with each other on marital struggles, or alcohol, or gambling. Or a big one in men’s groups would be porn. We can relate on these issues. But something big? Nope.

So, now we have limits. We have a scope of “acceptable” struggles. It has to be big enough that it doesn’t look like we are hiding something, but it can’t be so big that it’s intimidating or awkward to those in the group. And this inevitably leads to a couple big issues.

First, we have made certain struggles acceptable. We EXPECT you to struggle with something like porn, and if you don’t, you’re lying. You’re not being honest with yourself or others. So now we are essentially requiring this struggle as a rite of passage, but it also holds us back, because now you aren’t allowed to actually get past this struggle. You may improve a bit, but in order to be “real,” you need to continue to struggle with it, because if you somehow manage to get past it, then you’re untouchable or unrealistic. How can I relate with you now that you’re not struggling with what I’m struggling with? I need you to struggle so that I can feel better. So we hold each other back.

But, this scope of “acceptable struggles” also encourages a “faux authenticity,” a fake honesty where somebody either says they struggle with something they don’t struggle with in order to fit in, or they under-share, holding back the big struggles so they don’t overwhelm the group or get shunned. You come across as being authentic, because you shared a real (or, realistic) struggle that we can relate with, but in reality your struggles are completely different and you’re just struggling silently in a crowd. And we don’t take the initiative to ask questions or press deeper, because your struggle fits our expected framework. So we build this community essentially based entirely at the surface level, where we think we know each other, but we’re all withholding something, all the while seeming authentic and vulnerable.

So what do we do with this? Because I don’t think I’m alone in seeing this and living this out.

Are we actually ready to embrace real authenticity? Are we ready to meet people where they are – where they REALLY are – whether the struggles seem small or huge? And then, are we ready to walk with them out of these struggles and into victory, rather than holding them back so we can feel better about our own struggles? Are we ready to ask the hard questions, and have those questions asked of us?

Because I know that there are men in our group who are dealing with some awful stuff. And we say we want them to be vulnerable and share. But do we really want that? And are we ready to love them and embrace them and carry them when they do?

For those struggling right now, this is not a call for you to start having verbal diarrhea all over COT. That might be your thing, and I guess that’s fine if it is. But for most of you – most of us – it’s a call to start small. Find a guy or a group of guys – a shield lock – with whom you build mutual trust and can share openly and love freely. This is admittedly hard, especially if you’ve been burned in the past. But it is also freeing, especially when you realize that your struggle – that struggle you’ve carried with you for years and years – is not who you are. And there are people around you who will love you even if they know your junk, because your junk is not YOU.

We talk about leaving no man where we find him, but are we ready to really embrace this and walk with each other through the junk? Are we ready to BE authentic and also allow others to be as well? To foster true authenticity rather than force faux authenticity?

Imagine the impact this can have on our group – on our community as a whole – if we have small groups of men how are truly open with each other and walking with each other out of our struggles. It’s a big task, but it’s worth pursuing.

Are you ready?

Thanks to WitchHunt for the opportunity to lead and the encouragement to push the PAX physically and personally. This was a huge growing opportunity for me as I prepared, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to think through all of this. I hope some of you out there can get something out of this as well.

Jedi

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Climbing the Ladder at Quagmire

Every now and then, the site Q pulls his own card to Q. Today was my day, and I’d be lying to say that I spent a ton of time putting together the perfect workout. In reality, I threw together something that I knew would be challenging for everybody, but accessible to anybody. I arrived early with my 2.0’s chalk to get the workout written, then parked and waited for the PAX to arrive.

0515 rolled around and 8 joined YHC (with Copyright silently running up at near-sprint speed) for the disclaimer. We set off for a quick mosey around Home Depot, through the alley (with high knees, butt kickers, knees-to-chests, heels-to-butts, and toy soldiers), and circling up near the always-vacant restaurant space.

COP

  • 10 Windmills
  • 10 Imperial Walker
  • 10 Merkins
  • 10 Peter Parkers
  • Downward dog, cross over ankle grabs, honeymooner

Mosey to the fountain for the Thang.

Thang

As stated above, this was designed to be challenging but also accessible. Go at your own pace and get as far as you can. Around the fountain parking lot were twelve exercises to do as a ladder. Start at station 1, do the exercise, run to station 2, do the exercise, run back to 1, do exercise at 1, run to 2, exercise, run to 3, exercise, back to 1, etc. It adds up. Fast.

Stations:

  1. 20 bomb jacks
  2. 20 merkins
  3. 10 burpees
  4. 20 squat jumps
  5. 20 archer merkins
  6. 10 Tony Hawk burpees
  7. 20 runner’s lunge high knee skips (apparently my current favorite exercise)
  8. 20 breakdancer merkins (they’re back!)
  9. 10 prison cell burpees
  10. 20 lateral lunge leg lifts
  11. 20 pseudo planche merkins
  12. 10 kraken burpees

A couple gazelles got into the round going to prison cell burpees, but didn’t make it to them. Everybody got to the round of breakdancers, though not all got to enjoy those. All in, everybody got over 1.75 miles of running, 80-90 burpees, 200+ merkins (not including the merkins in the burpees), and a lot of jumping (120 bomb jacks, anyone?). Actually, reading this, it doesn’t look like much. My body says otherwise.

Olaf decided to ruck it, and we heard about it the whole time. He’ll definitely be feeling it later.

Mosey back to COT. A few announcements (read your newsletter), and a few PAX shared some pretty big prayer requests.

No big message today, just a good workout to get back into the swing of things after spring break. I’m always encouraged and pushed by the guys who post to Quagmire. We aren’t big on the flashy, but we work hard. Great group of regulars. If you haven’t posted to Quagmire in a while, come out and see us.

Jedi

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