Alcatraz HIIT & Strength beatdown

Cobains on the delay. #Life

We had a hearty crew Saturday morning.  Lots of chatter in the Twittersvere for Tesh?Jekyll Q drawing Pax from across the river and inspiring Fishsticks to bring a #kotter and an #FNG.  Well done!

HIIT:

Disclaimer then we took off for a lap ’round Runde stopping for a brief painstation to let Dolly Dogwalker go by.  Must be crazy to have 14 men run up on you so we gave some space.  Pouring into the field at the open gate we started with a circle of pain and the usual suspects of exercises in cadence.  Feeling the need to keep up my portion of the HIIT on the line we went for sprint run and and nur (backward run).  70%, 80%, 90%,100%.

Moved to the next field and put partner 1 on the line and partner 2 on the wall.

  • P1: Bearcrawl to second base run to baseball fence, hop the fence then run up hill to finish with 5 bombjacks.  Down the hill, hop the fence, AYG back to line.
  • P2: Round the world squat jumps.

Repeat 3 times with P2 doing Carolina Dry Docks then Wall sits.

Hand off to Tesh for Strength.

First exercise was to max out our push pull muscles.

Pulling is first.  Circle up shoulder to shoulder.  Every other man does an about face and puts his 6 on the ground so that his shoulders are between two PAXs feet.  The standing PAX now reach down as if they are going to help a brother up, but instead, we are going to use this as a no-equipment upright row.

All PAX lift up on the Q’s command and let down on command.  Q does this until he sees around half the PAX struggling to lift.  Swap positions and repeat.  (This may sound like a rest for the guys laying down being lifted, but you still have to keep most everything engaged so it’s not.  It’s more of an isometric hold)
Pushing is next.  You can’t do much better than the merkin.  But i wanted low rep, higher volume.  So to achieve this, the sprinkler head merkin puts more load on one arm.  (It’s a typewriter merkin without swaping sides.)  So one are goes out wide and stays straight wile the other does all the pushing (4 count to 3 both sides). Then regular merkins (4 count to 10).
Do this superset 3 times.  (I modified the pushups for some other challenges, but you’ll have to ask someone that was there… blame Walker.)
Next were some grip strength, because I think almost every man lacks in this department (it’s hard to train and doesn’t give you anything sexy to show off).  Mosey to the playground for deadhangs.  Split into two groups, one does peoples chair / Al Gore while the other group deadhangs.  Four rounds of 1 min.
Mosey to parking lot for Lt Dan.  I always associate this exercise with Jekyll for some reason, and he didn’t do it so I felt obligated.  And it’s a great exercise.  Dry dock/merkin breaks after rounds 5, 7 and 9.
And finally American Hammers till time.
NMM-
Great to have Bon Jovi who is back after a couple of years and hinted at a name change.  During the course of the workout his options became clear and ultimately stayed with Bon Jovi.  smart move.
Welcome Paper Jam from Rochester New York home of Xerox.  Today is but your first day!
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Blown tire = Bullpen

Lets just put this out there.  I was HURTIN.  The Murph did me in like no one’s business.  Shoulders, arms, no extension.  The bed was calling.  Obligation as a PAX and as a site Q made my decision for me.  Have to do the hard thing.  Reborn has been on schedule for months and I got a call at 4:30 saying his tire had blown.  No problem.

Pulling into The Coloseeum there were already a large group of men gathering waiting.  With nothing prepared, I decided shared leadership was the key today.

Maximus: COP

Jekyll: 16s on the track.  Carolina Dry Docks and Jumping Lunges at each corner of track.  15/1, 14/2, 13/3….1/15.

Dungaree: Wall Muscle ups, BTTW

MacGuyver: Wall sits into merkins back into Wall sits (#crowdpleaser)

Gekko: Street lights.  AYG to next to pole 2, mosey to pole 3, AYG to pole 4. repeato until 10th pole

Walker: Cant remember but probably Merkins

Jekyll: Mary

all were completely smoked.  Always great to have the high energy and expectation from Walker.  He really drives me to be better and do better.  Unwavering principled man.

We finished up and met up with Ruckers and Pathfinders.

Aye!

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Ring of Fire Edition: Pantheon

Serendipity:

/ˌserənˈdipədē/ noun 
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Had been thinking about pulling the #RingofFire out of my bag of tricks recently and low and behold, last Friday there began some chatter about this very #TBQ beatdown style I think at Slowburn??  Zima got the credit who in turn gave me the credit who in turn admitted everything is borrowed from someone else.
Dynamic warm up of running laps with buttkickers, karaoke,  and some others.
The Thang:
Set up.  8 cones set 20 yards from the center in a circle equidistant.  Each cone has exercise on it.  Do exercise, bear crawl to center, complete 10 Cinder Block Burpees, run out to next cone.  Rinse/Repeat until made your way around circle.
  • 80 CB Burpees
  • 160 yards of bear crawls
  • 30 lunge
  • 30 plank punch
  • 15 merkin
  • 30 Mountain Climber
  • 25 Carolina Dry Dock
  • 25 X and O
  • 25 Squats
  • 25 Freddy Mercury

We finished off with  6 Minutes of Mary.  Great #smoker today.  Half shell was the man and led the whole way.  Zima and I carried the water for the #soccerarm contingent

 

Aye!

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You getting Chesty with Me?

Disclaimer

Warmup

Live Right is the second quadrant of the QSource. It is the HIM’s dedication to Purposefulness. Purpose is an Advantage sought.

SET 1:
Merkins , 10 IC
Derkins, 10 IC
Incline merkins, 10 IC

LAP

SET 2:
Wide grip merks, 10 IC
Diamond merks 10ic
Carolina Dry Docks 10ic
Lap

Live Right is focused on the HIM’s IMPACT on the lives of other people and how he helps them to Accelerate

Repeat set 1, 8 reps ic
Lap
Set 2×8
Lap
X6’s
Lap
X4’s
Lap
X2’s

The HIM is also a man who finds that in his effort to Live Right by carrying the Survivors and IMPACTing the Sad Clowns he gets an unexpected benefit—he himself is kept Right.

COT

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Track Magic at Laces Out

You put out one promotional tweet that pokes a little fun at our southern racing heritage and its crickets.  Well not actual crickets but lets just say that a tweet I put out highlighting #HIM Cornerstone went viral.  Lesson learned…I have to help other people with humor deficiencies.

5 posted- not sure it was Dungaree in full sweats and toboggan cold, but there indeed was a chill.  Disclaimed and off we went.

3 laps of mosey warm ups then a round robin of stretching exercises.

The Thang:

Ladder Speed work

  • Run 1 lap (400m) at 5k pace; run 1 recovery lap
  • Run 2 lap (800m) at 5k pace; run 1 recovery lap
  • Run 3 lap (1200m) at 5k pace; run 1 recovery lap
  • Run 4 lap (1600m) at 5k pace, run 1 recovery lap
  • Run 3 lap (1200m) at 5k pace, run 1 recovery lap
  • Run 2 lap (800m) at 5k pace, run 1 recovery lap
  • Run 1 lap (400m) at 5k pace, run 1 recovery lap

Total mileage 5.75 miles + warm ups and any extra.

Naked Man Moleskin

Great to Dungaree at his first Laces Out.  Well done to all

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4×4 Fun

I haven’t been to Colosseum in a long time. I’ve been doing the ruck WOs on Tuesdays so it was good to shake up the routine. It was also great to see so many cars rolling in. I haven’t seen several guys in a while due to being under a ruck so it was great to be out in the gloom with them again.

Go time arrived and disclaimer was attempted. Mosey around loops in front of school with high knees, butt-kickers, karaokes both ways. Circle up for normal warm-ups: SSHs, windmills, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, and some Hillbilly Walkers.

Moseyed over to side lot. Today’s theme was simple, 4 exercises done 4 times. First off was Bear Crawl from top of parking line to curb, 4 Merkins, Crawl Bear back to top of parking line, 4 Donkey Kicks. Repeat 4 times.

Mosey over to lot behind school. 5-Worst Merkins (Wide, Normal, Diamond), 10-Big Boy Situps, 15-Plank Jacks, 20-Shoulder Taps then run to other side of lot. Repeat 4 times.

Mosey to loop in front of school. Starting at center of loop: 10-Burpees, 10-Mtn Climbers (4 ct), 10-Lunges (each leg), 10-Smurf Jacks, then run around loop to center spot of on other side. Repeat 4 times. Lots of good mumble-chatter during this segment, except for Tesh who almost lapped everyone.

Slow mosey over to front of middle school for some Wall Webbs. Start in People’s Chair, walk out on hands into Merkin, walk back up on hands into chair for overhead claps. Normal ratio of 1:4. I cut it short at 6:24 so we had time for some mary (and my legs were starting to burn). Back at cars to finish up with 10 tiny circles clockwise, 10 counter-clockwise, then 20 flutters. Time’s up. Hopefully the PAX got their money’s worth today.

Continued prayers for Stang’s family as they mourn the passing of his grandfather as well as all of the kids that Cornerstone is involved with in their treatment group.

Thanks to Jekyll for the opportunity!
-Mainframe

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Respectable Q at Alcatraz

A beautiful morning at Alcatraz and the Pax began to gather for a beatdown by 2 respectable Qs with YHC and Bolt.  Circle up disclaimer was given and YHC took the 1st half and lead the group out on a warm up mosey.

COP – SSH, Hillbilly walker, Low Slow Squat, Mountain Climber, CDD, Peter Parkers, Downward to Honeymooner(x3) – Mosey to the Pull up bars

At the Pull up bars I shared how we would spend the rest of my allotted time- A few rounds of Cindy Round 1 – run to the bottom of the terrible hill then back to the pull-up bars for  5 pull-ups, 10 Merkins, 15 Dips, 20 4 count flutters.  Round 2 – Run around the park same workout. Round 3 back to the bottom of the hill and same workout.  After 3 rounds we were all sufficiently smoked and ready for Bolt to take over.

Bolt had mercy on us and we walked  back to the parking lot where he gave his instructions.  4 stations around the park Station 1 paver curls and 5 Burpees, Station 2 Jump Squats and 5 Burpees, Station 3 Bombjacks 5 Burpees, Station 4 10 Burpees, sprint back to Station 1.  Rinse and Repeat.  With the remaining time we circled up for some interesting and challenging ab work as only Bolt could bring.

To COT – Prayers requested and given.  A great morning, and a great group of PAX

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

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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Burpee Bonanza

It was a beautiful 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius for the Canadian viewers) at the Colosseum this morning as 10 PAX decided to show up and get right. I started off with a quick introduction and disclaimer, and then we were off. We did a Mosey around the front of the school followed by some toy soldiers and butt kickers to warm the legs up. We then headed over to the back of the school by the half wall for warmups.

Warmup:

  • 20 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10 Cherry Pickers
  • 10 Low Slow Squats With Air Hump (Aka Fun House Special / Aka 3 Amigos). Demo compliments of Fun House.
  • 10 Merkins
  • 10 Moroccan Night Clubs

We headed over to the half wall for some YouTube classics.

  • 10 Muscle Ups
  • 10 Wall Mountain Climbers
  • 10 Muscle Ups
  • 10 Wall Mountain Climbers

Moseyed over to the basketball courts for some cone work. Cones were setup with the same yard markers as a football field including the end zone. There were 11 cones each 10 yards apart.

Before we got started we briefly discussed the Q source purposefulness topic this week.

To live right a man has an ultimate purpose in mind.

To live right requires self-sacrifice.

Living right helps a man to stay right.

The Thang:

  • 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 90 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 70 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 50 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 10 yards. 10 Plank Jacks. Run 30 yards. 10 Plank Jacks. Run 10 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.

Since we were in the spirit of football in May, we continued the theme and did some lineman drills. We did 20 yard intervals of partner bull rushing (110 yards down the field and 110 yards back).

We line up for suicides. 50 yards and back. 110 yards and back.

Circled up for six minutes of Mary, then headed back to COT for prayers and praises.

JWow

 

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3 PAX, 1 Route

3 PAX.  1 Route. Warm early morning for a run.  Spring is gone.  It is now summer.

There are times when posting to an AO that big numbers mean big impact.  Here to tell you that impact knows no such constraint.  Running gives the opportunity for real discussion and relationship building.  And if you run with the same guys enough, you will get sharpened, wiser, tougher, humbled, confronted and better.  Today’s run was the epitome of an “impact run”.   Negative splits and deep convo, made for a 5.3 miler feel like a walk in the park.  Yet again, F3 is more than a workout!

 

Funhouse (proxy for Gecko)…. someone had to write it…..

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