Tag: JWOW

Hopping, crawling, sneaking, and pushing at Laces In

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Truth be told, YHC did not consult his work calendar when Lil E asked him to Q Laces In, and he probably would have turned it down had he thought about it. Once committed, there was no excuse to pass it off. Plus, it’s nice to get over to that side of the Fort from time to time.

We had nine total, with Tesh not posting despite requesting a welcome celebration and a couple others bailing last minute because of “sore shoulders.” Nevertheless, the nine faithful and strong pressed onward into the gauntlet.

Warm Up

Long mosey around to the far side of the school, which is really actually pretty close but takes a long time to get to it. There was some butt kicking and high kneeing thrown in before we made a small circle in the square parking lot with the special spots for teacher of the year and whatnot. We did some windmills and Moroccan night clubs, and that was it for the warmup. On to

The Thang

Not having a ton of time to plan, the gauntlet approach seemed best. Set up the course, then let the PAX work through it at their pace. The basic layout was:

  • Start with two-foot hops onto the curb
  • Bear crawl to next curb
  • Incline merkins (hands on curb)
  • V-sits on path on island
  • Derkins at next curb
  • Sneaky gorilla across middle section to next curb
  • Incline merkins
  • V-sits on path
  • Derkins
  • Bear crawl to last curb
  • Run one lap around the inside of the square

Start with 20 hops and sets of 10 incline merkins/10 derkins, then work down the ladder with each pass (18 hops and 9 incline/derkins; 16 and 8, etc.). Always with 5 v-sits per island. If you got through the whole thing, that works out to 110 hops, 110 derkins, and 110 incline merkins, with 100 v-sits and a lot of crawling and sneaking.

I appreciated the symmetry of this workout.

Time was not sufficient for all PAX to complete the workout, especially since Greenwave and Crab Cakes got confused and never climbed down the ladder, doing sets of 10 the entire time. Crazy.

Funhouse handled COT as part of the A$$ Kicking April tour, so YHC checked out.

Thanks to Lil E for the opportunity to lead.

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Honor at the ARMory

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Perfect morning with 8 PAX gathering to the only work out with kettle bells at FHC- ask DH.  Needed help with a KB- Mr. Clean said I could use his rock but I had to give him a ride.  Deal.  Short Sale offered his on twitter- and that bringing his would assure he would escape the FS Monster.  Done.

Disclaimer Disclaimed. Warmed up with #usualsuspects and primarily targeting our verbal jabs at Twister.  He appreciated it.

The Thang- other than picking it up and putting it down, I wanted to isolate and wear out the muscle groups.  In between KB reps of 5, 10  15,- correlated bodyweight exercises were spliced in.

Run Lap

  • Curl
    • Merkin 10
  • Tricep Extension
    • Carolina Dry Dock 10
  • Turkish Getups
    • LBC 10
  • Goblet Squat
    • Lunges- 10 each leg

Run Lap

  • Lawnmower Pull
    • Merkin 10
  • Shoulder raise or press
    • Carolina Dry Dock 10
  • KB Swings
    • LBC 10
  • Figure 8
    • Lunges 10 each leg

6 Minutes of Mary

Naked Man Moleskin

Had the great privilege of attending an Eagle Scout Ceremony where 4  young men including Twister’s son were awarded the highest rank in Boy Scouts.  Of the many dignitaries that spoke, former marine in original dress blues from 1967 spoke of the most repeated word that day- Honor.  There is no greater compliment or description of a man than that of a man who has or act honorably.  In your words and actions- we must be honorable!

Prayers for new chapters in 2.0s lives: Stones’s son’s upcoming marriage, JWOWW’s daughter communion, and for Short Sale’s family as it has been one year since his brother’s passing.  God be with these men today.

Aye!

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April Showers Bring More Burpees

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It rained all day Monday, through the night and the forecast was for more on Tuesday.   CSPAN was Q at The Ballroom, promising stories of OG glory along with cover.  Funhouse’s Ass Kicking April band wagon was rolling into Block Party as well.  So the question was how many pax would post to Colosseum for YHC’s first Q there in a LONG time.  The answer = 4 brave pax.  Some brief comments about rain coming and grumbling about Gunsu’s Q the prior week followed a brief Disclaimer, and then we launched.

The Thang

No wind and rain or lack of headlamps was going to intimidate this group so we took off for a run out the front parking lot and up the hill to 160 and the drive through cover at the bank branch on the corner.

COP – SSHs, Mtn climbers, IWs, Windmills, Merkins,  10 burpees OYO

Mosey over to the day care under the front entrance cover

People’s chair, Sumo squats, People’s chair, monkey humpers, People’s chair calf raises, 10 burpees OYO

Mosey to the  office building and the cover there

Merkins, Freddy Mercury, wide arm merkins, Flutter, diamond merkins, hello dolly, 10 burpees OYO

Mosey to Velux office under the front entrance cover

Shoulder taps, plank sequence, shoulder taps, plank sequence, shoulder taps, 10 burpees OYO

Run back to school

10 Burpees OYO

Run home

COT

NMM

Turned out to be a very nice morning for a workout.  Just enough light rain to provide cooling amid the sweat and gloom.  I was more than willing to take advantage of some cover for the workout, but there was no way I wanted to pass up the chance to run through the rain and stomp through some puddles.  The pax complied quite willingly and put forth a strong effort throughout.  Well done!

We spent the mosey time comparing notes on each man’s workday ahead.  We spend a lot of time in the gloom and I’m always amazed how little I know about the careers among the pax.  It was a treat to learn a little about everyone.

Before banging out the last set of burpees, we touched on the workday ahead and how we should all relish the privilege. Even the worst parts of the day would be better than those faced by people fighting disease (like Badger) or those without work or the many other people in the world who would gladly trade their challenges for our own.

Thanks to the men for posting and to Jekyll for the opportunity to lead.  We missed you, brother.

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Chilly Mid-April Morning at Colosseum

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9 men joined YHC for a cold beatdown.

Mosey around the parking lot.

WARMUP

  • 35 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10 4 count merkins
  • 20 4 count mountain climbers
  • 10 4 count windmills
  • 20 4 count heels to heaven
  • 20 4 count pickle pounders
  • Honeymooner to stretch out the abs

The THANG

Line up at the first line of a series of 19 arrows the run down the back road at Gold Hill Middle

  • 1 burpee per arrow (19 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • Xs and Os in cadence
  • 3 jump squats per arrow (57 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • Captain Thors to 5×20
  • 3 merkins per arrow (57 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • boats and canoes

Mosey to the benches under the awning

  • 10 burpee box jumps
  • protractor
  • rinse & repeat x 3

Mosey to COT

Xs and Os

COT

Announcements for Convergence, Sweettooth Run, Strawberry Festival

Praise for good cancer diagnosis, safety through weather, other health progress. Prayers for Badger, back injury, and safe travel.

– Ginsu

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Hive: Ears to hear

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Tesh asked YHC to Q after a last-minute cancellation by one with well-quaffed hair. Eager to Q a Kettlebell workout for the first time, I gladly accepted.

Disclaimer directly into the warmup

SSH x13
Moroccan Nightclubs x13
Toy Soldier x13
Moroccan Nightclubs x13
Windmill x13

Mosey around the parking lot

Thang:

13 Kettlebell Swings each time alternating with Merkins
Merkins in decreasing reps 13, 12, 11…3, 2, 13
Finish with a bonus of 13 Kettlebell Swings

Mosey around the parking lot

Decreasing Reps of 17, 13, 11 each of:
KB Squats
KB Side Lunges
KB Reverse Lunges

Round of stretching to balance the leg/hip work with pigeon lunge into swan pose – below is a stock pic to prove to Flash that YHC didn’t just make it up.IMG_8030

Back for some Mary (all with the kettlebell):
Flutters x13
American Hammers x13
LBC x13
American Hammers x11

COT

NMM:

Discussed how in my work as a music professor I strive to give students the ears to hear (Matthew 13:16), and how that is my prayer for myself in all aspects of life. The ears to hear those who need help, ears to hear my M, ears to hear my kids when they need me, ears to hear the Lord when God calls, etc.

Below is a quick shot of the wenkie. Due to the quick turn around I formulated this one while in rehearsal of the Britten War Requiem (I was tacet on the 5th movement.) Also this reminds me that I need to order more Revolution from Pet Meds . . .

Thanks to Tesh for asking. Although some PAX were lamenting that I didn’t go with my original plan of counting down the Kettlebell Swings instead we kept them at 13 each. It was Friday the 13th after all . . . . and that got me thinking about prime numbers.

Welcome FNG: Mouse Trap

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Laces: Super 21 on Maundy Thursday

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Laces In:

Slight Mosey to student parking lot

Warm Up – COP
SSH x20
Imperial Walker x10
Hillbilly Walker x10
Windmill x10
Cherry Picker x10

Mosey to Band Practice lot

Super 21s (variation) – Inspired by JWOWW’s VQ at the Hive which used a deck of cards and got me thinking about 21. Then I found Super 21s listed in the F3 Exercises………I wondered why I hadn’t done these before in a workout. Turns out doing Super 21s makes it difficult to raise your arms later…..like days later.

1 merkin to 1 low slow squat
repeat to 10 reps of each
Flutters x21
11-13 reps of merkin/LSS
Hello Dollys x21
14-15 reps of merkin/LSS
Freddie Mercuries x21
16-17 reps of merkin/LSS
Lap around the Painted Lot
18-19 reps of merkin/LSS
Box Cutters x21
20-21 reps of merkin/LSS
Rosalitas x21
(Total of 231 merkins and squats)

Slight mosey to side of Ceramics Studio

Found some curb – stretch calves
Calf raises x21
Wall Sits (slight discussion of the brass technique of multiple tonguing: generated a good deal of mumble chatter)

PAX mentioned (sarcastically?) that if we just did 19 more merkins, we would reach 250. With the challenge laid down, PAX completed 19 merkins and 19 low slow squats. (Total of 250 merkins and squats: except for Trucker who complete 280 and added that to the Name-o-rama so YHC wouldn’t forget.)

Plank up – Because Abiding (see note below) requires flexibility:
Honeymooner to Down dog variations
Stretch out the legs
Leg raises in down dog
One leg plank
Knee taps to elbow x5
Knee taps to opposite elbow x5
Repeat with opposite leg
Pigeon Lunges
Butterfly stretches
Seated forward bends (i.e., touch your toes sitting down)

Mosey back to COT
American Hammers x21

The word for the month is abide. Abiding in God is active alignment of our will to the Lord’s. This is opposed to “the dude” passively abiding in the Big Lebowski. I gave a brief message about how we can abide in what is happening around us or we can strive to abide in God. The word is not a passive acceptance our circumstances, at least not in a scriptural sense.

We also discussed, while sitting against a wall, how I approach my (music) studio teaching at Winthrop. There’s practice dedicated to maintenance/growth at technical elements and the physical skills required to play the instrument (this is how triple tonguing came up), and then there’s practice learning assigned repertoire. Practicing only repertoire means the physical skills needed for new piece/work must be learned from scratch…..every time. Having a set routine for maintenance and growth means the fundamentals on the instrument are already in place, i.e., you’re in shape. At this point, learning repertoire is simply a matter of applying skills you already possess.

My short (5 months) time with F3 reminds me of this model. A routine to develop ourselves (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) so that when we encounter challenges (repertoire) it is only a matter of applying skills we either already posses or are honing. One of the hardest parts of each workout for YHC is leaving the comfort of the bed for the gloom. Yet we are all on this planet (its own form of gloom) called to seek God’s purpose for us and abide in that. I’m grateful to have shared this morning with PAX doing just that . . . . even if that means YHC can barley raise his arms to type a backblast.

Not sure what happened at Laces Out. . . . I’m assuming they ran and can currently lift their arms.

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Laces In/Out 2018.11

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This is the 3rd of 3 Qs where I’m catching up on backblasts…  I’m pretty sure I owe someone a thousand burpees by now.  I apologize.

Mosey to band practice lot for some leg work.

I did an extended warmup that us much out of my typical, because I planned sprints, and everyone pulls something during sprints so lack of warmup was not going to be anyones excuse.
SSHs, Windmill, Jimmy Carters, Wide leg stretch left/right, squat stretch groin, downdogs and honeymooners… Next toy soldiers 30 yards, mosey 70.  Buttkickers 30 mosey 70, did this 3 times…

Now for sprints, split into two teams of 6.  Split into groups of 3, 40 yards apart.  Relay race, 1 man per team running at a time per team.  (This took until the 3rd round to get right…  I’m pretty sure some would be clinically prescribed Aderol if sent to take a standardized test.)  When the last man comes in I yell out a random exercise and then we do it all over again.  We did this 7 times.

Mosey back to the parking lot for 6MOM from the Fort’s own JWoww.

 

I don’t know what the runners did… ask them.

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The Hive 2018.09

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Warmup then mosey to the strip (the lighted concrete path in the breezeway).

Hit all the major KB exercises: KB swing, Russian Twist, Snatch, 1L deadlift
Next we take the heaviest 2 KBs and do fireman carries 80yds out (switch hands, come back) while each Pax calls out an exercise.
Last we do core exercises and protractor with arms holding kettlebell.

And that’s it…  Short and sweet

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BAM!

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Conditions were near perfect this morning in The Fort. 65 degrees, clear skies, nice breeze meant that we have optimal weather for bettering ourselves. We started off with a quick disclaimer, set up the BAM in the workout (Burpees, American Hammers(IC), and Merkins (SC). We started with a 5-10-15 and each time BAM was called incremented by 1…6-12-18 and so on.

We started off and immediately Chicken Hawk calls ‘BAM’. I think he must have been testing the system out, it worked 10 steps into the mosey, we did the 5-10-15 and proceeded with the mosey to the bus loop.

Did some dynamic stretching, toy soldiers, butt kickers, high knees and then took another mosey past the playground to the back parking lot.

Circled up for PAX led warmup, SSH, LBCs, Windmills, CDDs, Peter Parkers, and Parker Peters. Now that we were all warmed up and a few more BAMs called out, we did some leg work.

Single leg hops – R for 75 yards
Single leg hops – L for 75 yards
Ski jumps at an angle for 75 yards
BAM!! 7-14-21
Lunge
Backward lunge

Mosied to back wall.

BAM! 8-16-24
Aussie Mountain Climbers – 15 degree, 10 count, 45 degree, 10 count, BTTW 10 count, 45 degree 10 count, 15 degree 10 count.
BAM! – 9-18-27
WALL Sits – 10 count each PAX
Wall Tar Jai – 10 count each PAX

That was a winner!

Mosied to SMS loop.

Last BAM! was spread out over the loop performing one of the exercises at each corner.

Proceeded to COT with some SSH in the middle for a rest.

At COT had time for 1 minute of Freddies and we were done!!

Thanks to all for pushing each other and to Jiffy for having YHC as Q.

Great work today.

COT.

Prayers to those families affected by tragedy in Florida, but also those who are dealing with the lead up to those flash points across the country.

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#218in18 Kick-off Convergence BackBlast

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76 PAX (including 4 FNGs) met in the gloom at Harris Teeter this morning to kick the year off the right way.

Group 1 – Jedi

Start with 60 seconds of plank tutorial, then a fairly lame attempt to explain the exercise “routine” for the upper body station. The routine, to be done in increasing AMRAP style:
· Incline Merkins
· Low Country Crab Boil (One leg, one hand dips)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Left hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Left hand on curb)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Pseudo Planche Merkins
· Donkey Kicks
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Right hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Right hand on curb)
· 90° Turn to starting position

Start with 10 reps for each exercise, then add 2 reps each round after that (10, 12, 14, 16, …). Only the elite few made it past the round of 12.

Group 2 – Peabody

An absolute honor to lead a convergence and had so much fun working with all the guys. Here’s the fun of the cardio Q.

SPRINT Relays!!!  

3 team

60 Yard sprint

Team members are doing Seal Jacks, side straddle hops, or flutters while teammate runs.

Winning team selects penalty exercise for 2 losing teams. (Unknown is losing team has to do the penalty exercise too but only half the reps).

Rinse and repeat the sprint relay races once teams are mixed up.

Mary to follow:

  • 50 LBCs
  • 25 Flutters
  • 10 Freddie Mercury’s

Lists of fun to hear the encouragement of other Pax and see the competition bring out the most in guys.  Saw lots of guys really push hard to win for their team.

Group 3 – Jekyll

Motley Crue and 80’s hairband soundtrack

  • COP: SSH, IW, Squat
  • 5 Burpee OYO, 4 OYO, 3 OYO
  • Lt Dan: squat and jumping , 1:4 ration
    • 1 squat: 4 jumping lunge, 2 squat: 8 Jumping lunge…10 squat: 40 jumping lunge
  • 5 burpee OYO
  • Calf Raises 25 each: Straight, Toes Out, Toes In
  • Donkey Kicks

COT

Welcome FNGs Iron City, Humps, Hillary, and Juliet

Prayers by CakeBoss for leadership.

– Ginsu

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