9 men did the hard thing this morning at Colosseum. Conditions were alright, alright, alright as we welcomed our newest FNG (Excite Bike) with a workout designed to smoke even the fittest of men. Here’s what we did:

The Thang

10 Low Slow Squats (IC)
10 Imperial Walkers (IC)
10 SSHs (IC)

Mosey to the Elementary School drop-off loop

Pattern was 10 at the first stop, 15 at the second, 20 at the third, and 25 at the fourth
Exercises were:

Merkins
Calf Raises
Squats
Overhead Claps

Grab a chair for the Mr. McConaughey Workout (11s with Incline Merkins (IC) and Dips).

From the book “Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey, pages 43-44: As a kid, my favorite TV show was The Incredible Hulk starring Lou Ferrigno. I marveled at his muscles and would pose in front of the TV with my shirt off, arms bent, fists high, doing my best bulging body-builder biceps impersonation. One night Dad saw me. “What are you doin, son?” he asked. “One day I’m gonna have muscles like that, Dad,” I said, motioning to the TV screen. “Big baseball-size biceps!” Dad chuckled, then took off his shirt, matched my pose in front of the tube, and said, “Yeah, big biceps make the girls scream and they sure look good, but that ol’ boy on the TV, he’s so muscle-bound he can’t even reach around to wipe his own ass…the biceps? They’re just for show.” He then slowly lowered both his arms in front of him, straightened them out with his fists to the floor, then he twisted his arms to the inside, and flexed a pair of massive triceps muscles. “Now the tri-cep, son,” he said, this time pointing his nose back and forth toward the bulging muscles on the back of his upper arms, “that’s the work muscle, that’s the muscle that puts food on the table and the roof over your head. The tri-ceps? They’re for dough.” My dad would take the stockroom over the showroom any day.

Mosey to the track

Run a lap and 10 Burpees (x4)

Mosey to Covered Walkway

Peoples Chair
10 Head, Knees, Toes (IC)
BTTW on a long 10-Count
10 Australian Mountain Climbers (IC)

Mosey to COT

NMM
The Mr. McConaughey story resonated with me. How much emphasis do we men put on the “show” muscles? You know, the new car, the house, the vacation…the good stuff we put on social media. How much time do we spend trying to impress others with the highlights we put online? Shouldn’t we instead focus on the “dough” muscles? You know, providing love, comfort, and support for our wife and children. At the end of the day, what really matters is those moments with the ones we love. My kids don’t care what I drive. They just want me to play with them. My wife doesn’t require a Caribbean vacation. She just wants me to listen and be plugged in to my family, and not my phone.

Maybe we are focusing on the wrong muscles. Maybe we should be working our “try”ceps a little more. Maybe Mr. McConaughey was onto something.

Aye!
Italian Job