Tuesday July 12th seabiscuit becomes the Forts newest official AO. Join us in the parking lot of Blues smokehouse @5:15am at the corner of Doby’s bridge rd and the bypass. This is going to be a speed based running AO, geared towards improving overall speed. If you’re not fast, then this is for you. If you are fast, this is also for you. It’s kinda like Disney, there’s something for everyone.
YHC was honored to Q minnow pond on my actual 50th (RESPECT) birthday. since the theme is 50, the route was a loop with 5 pain stations with 3 exercises of 10reps (to equal 50 reps per exercise and lap). Goal was 5 laps for the gazelles.
The stations were at Main/Tom Hall, Tom Hall/Withers, Withers/Confederate, Withers/Watson, and Railroad/Main.
Unfortunately I scheduled skin cancer surgery 2 days prior without thinking about the implications. Doctor requested I not exercise for 2 weeks but I couldn’t resist. Reason why I mention this is as a Public Service Announcement: use sun screen all year long and always reapply daily to avoid skin cancer.
WARMUP: short run followed up by SSH, windmills (for trucker), real sumo squats, more running to the church where we did merkin, honeymooner, downward dog, mountain climber
THE THANG: We started out in the parking lot by the church where we ran to the end, did exercises, then back. 4 total sets (total 100 exercises each). Round 1: 25 merkins, 25 squats, 25 flutters.
Round 2: ran to the church circle and back to the middle of the entrance; 25 CDD, 25 lunges, 25 Freddy mercury…total 100.
Round 3: ran to the back of the Italian ice place and mixed it up. 5 each of wide arm, ranger, diamond merkins; 10 each of out/regular/in calf raises, 25 LBCs – 4x sets.
MARY: American hammer (because we’re in America!!), protractor, WW2 sit-ups
ANNOUNCEMENTS: blood drive and read your newsletter
COT: Truckers brother in law, Bonsai going in for annual heart check up, marriages
Slow Burn was smoldering this morning with 23 strong men choosing the gloom over the ‘sack & supporting YHC for my VQ! Some special guests were among the group: 2 PAX made the trek from Metro, and we welcomed our newest FNG (Cousin Eddie), EH’d by Rebel. Conditions were great – sky was clear & the rain last night cleaned the streets off for us, but also washed away my exercise notes from the curbs (lesson learned & more on that later)! It was the perfect setup for a VQ…
Started with the 5 Core Principles & Disclaimer, then got right to it.
WARMUP:
A short mosey around the parking lot
SSH x20
LSS x10
Alternating Lunges x10
Slooow Merkins (3-count down) x10
Imperial Walkers x10
Token Burpee x1
THE THANG:
Today was a somewhat of a hybrid of Pearls on a String / 11’s
Started at the 1st Street Light in front of Lowe’s Contractor Parking/Pickup
First “Pearls Set” was 10/ea: Merkins > LBC > Squats > Flutters > Big Boys > Plank Jacks
Then the “11’s Hybrid” component, which was 1x Flying Squirrel
Mosey up the road to the 3rd Street Light (back toward Empire Pizza)
Next was 9/ea of the Merks > LBC > Squats > Flutters > Big Boys > Plank Jacks
And 2x Flying Squirrels, then Mosey back to the 1st Street Light
Mosey & Repeat: 8/ea + 3, 7/ea + 4, etc. The exercises quickly moved from the main drive into the parking lot to get away from traffic. The last two rounds/sets were done in cadence – not just for my own accountability, but wanted everyone to finish together.
Short mosey back to the flag, where Mary joined us for the last 6’ish minutes. The unofficial total distance was just shy of 1.5mi (I haven’t yet joined the Strava cult).
I think the mumble chatter was good, though I was deaf to most of it as I was putting everything I had into calling exercises, trying to catch some breath in between, and pushing myself to just keep going!
Upon the clock striking 6am, the PAX graciously provided some feedback from the workout. I’ll remember to speak louder than what feels necessary (especially when in close proximity to a highway!), consult amazon to get my hands on some water-proof chalk (which sounds like it would be a parent’s nightmare… isn’t the fact that chalk doesn’t last is what makes it acceptable for the 2.0’s?!), and a Q should call an audible when needed & modify their own weinke to ensure the Q can complete it (I fumbled on completing the 9x Flying Squirrels, though I did pull it together & knocked out the last 10 when it was time)!
HUGE THANKS to Weezer – it was an incredible honor & privilege to have the opportunity to lead such an awesome group this morning. Huge shoutout & THANK YOU to Grizzly (my original EH’er) & WhatDid for making the early drive down from Metro (and THANKS to Shady for passing the note to them!). And another HUGE THANK YOU to all my PAX brothers who showed to know this morning. It was amazing having such a strong turnout! The support was more than humbling!
MARY: Yes
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Read your newsletter. 2nd F Lunch today (was today). F3 Dad’s this Saturday @ WEP.
Shout out to the originator, Jekyll. He started this many years ago. Each week during the month of June, he would q this workout at Laces. Pax would show each week trying to get better each week.
I have a love hate relationship with this workout.
1. First workout I posted to in the Fort (many yrs ago)
2. 2nd workout I brought Shady to. He hated me for a few days after
3. First workout I q’d after my heart attack (2 yrs ago). The one and only time I believe Pax allowed the Q to clipboard Q.
WARMUP: quick mosey, low slow squats, cherry pickers, merkins (stayed here for a minute), mountain climbers, plank jack, honeymooner, downward dog, bomb jacks for DH…more mosey, ran to the thang
THE THANG: A pile of goodies awaited us. Partnered up and found 1 item to share. Partner 1 did the exercise and called out the number they thought they could hit, partner 2 ran to the corner of the parking lot. Switch when partner 2 returned who also shared their guess on reps while partner 1 ran. Penalties were given for over/under and hitting numbers (this was all made up on the spot and math came into play). We rotated after each partner did the one exercise and the penalty after each round.
We made it to round 2 for about 2-3 rotations. Penalties included merkins, bomb jacks, flutters, burpees, diamond merkins, etc. How much you went over or under drove the number of exercises and some of these had a multiplier…there was zero rhyme or reason to this.
MARY: No Mary today.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: lots in the newsletter, check that out
COT: lift up Sawdust’s mom who recently fell and lost a friend this past week
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:
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.
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:
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.
It was warm and humid this morning at the Colosseum. I led the first 22.5 and Dark Helmet was set to take the second half. 10 Bootcampers were joined by Maximas, Gears and Vuvuzela who went running OYO.
I led us off with a quick 10 SSH and then moseyed to my portion of the workout.
I wanted to do something hard but self contained. The first workout that came to mind was Iron Pax 2019 Week 1: The Killer B’s.
Starting at Cone 1 you broad jump 10 yards to cone 2. Complete 10 burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs, and 10 Big Boy Situps-
Broad Jump to cone 3 and repeat the exercises and the reps. Broad Jump to Cone 4 repeat the exercises and the reps.
Once through the cones YHC gave everyone the option to either BearCrawl back or Sprint back. (if you were seen not sprinting I blew the whistle and the offending PAX was given 5 burpees OYO) I only blew the whistle once….on myself because I love burpees apparently.
Our goal was to get through 4 times in the 20ish minutes. I’m happy to say everyone worked hard and we got through it.
Once my time was up Dark Helmet took over and we moseyed down towards the school entrance. He handed us all a pen/marker and some paper and asked us to write a message to Decibel and his son Noah who is recovering from an operation. Once we all wrote down our messages we then raced to his office to put the messages on the door. The first one there got to pick the routine for the next portion of the workout.
After a loooong mosey up the hill where YHC HR hit 190 I was able to get to the office first and got the chance to pick the next part of the workout. Starting at the top of the hill we ran back and did 15 merkins and 25 4-CT clutters 4 different cones.
At that point we were getting close to 6 and we all made a jailbreak to COT. We were reunited with the runners who I think did 7ish miles and joined in on some LBC’s and Hello Dolly’s as we hit 6:00.
Announcements included F3 Dads, the Site Change of the Swamp, and a makeup of the Misogi. Prayers for health, mental, physical and spiritual.
Always great to Q and especially grateful for partnering with DOAH today. Thanks to all who showed!