Quality Questions

12 PAX gathered, brief disclaimer and we’re off at what was collectively determined as “not mosey” pace.

Each stop:
5 burpees
10 Carolina Dry Docks
15 Jump Squats
20 Hello Dollys (some in cadence, some not)

At the Harris Street Park basketball court, we bear crawled cupcakes (line touches). FYI, baseline to baseline is a long way.

6 stops total.

Visited the monument to state sovereignty and the “faithful” slave. Talked about the kinds of questions we ask. YHC grew up in this town and never thought to ask why these monuments were here. Minnow Pond meets at “Veteran’s Park,” but “Confederate Park” is just up the hill… a monument to separatists that fought against the armed services honored at Veteran’s Park. Longshanks typically leads the pledge of allegiance before a workout, yet there are monuments to those who flew a different flag designed to replace the “stars and stripes” just across the railroad tracks. Interesting…

YHC is reading, because that is how academics solve problems. Recommended for non-academics as well. #accelerate

Ta-Nehisi Coates:
“None of us were promised to end the fight on our feet, fists raised to the sky. We could not control our enemies’ number, strength, nor weaponry. Sometimes you just caught a bad one. But whether you fought or ran, you did it together, because that is the part that was in our control.”

How are the questions we ask reinforcing togetherness or keeping us divided? Can we ask better questions?

Welcome FNG from West Charlotte: “Chimay”
May have broken his back, good thing I was also the one who EHed him.


Band Camp dismissed

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In honor of Yoshi turning 13

I had the privilege of Qing for the first time in quite some time. Thank you for the opportunity, 38 Special!

In honor of my son turning 13 soon (an American teenager!), most rep counts today were 13 in nature, single count for most of them.

4:45 was a run to Palmetto West and back

5:00 was more running past Lakeshore Christian Church and through the stairs backway to the Pantheon

5:15 boot camp and runners split. Disclosures stated.

Small warm-up with SSHs, various leg stretches, and windmills.

Ran to backside of TC Elementary to gradually rotate around the school and did 3 exercises per random location to include:

Reverse Lunges, Bench Jumps, Incline Merkins

Turkish Get-ups, Air Mountain Climbers or Goofballs, Lunges

Merkins, Jump ups (super high), Bear Crawls

Pull ups, Broad jump, Cross jumps (creating a cross)

Mountain climbers, High knees, Spiderman crawls

More bear crawls, Jump down from benches focusing on solid landing, Dips

75% effort level sprints X 2, Bear Crawls

Thought about stealing the Broga-boyz shoes – (yes, this was an exercise)

 

Then on to Circuit Training: The timer was the jump rope to 100 and then we rotated.

Shoulder press with a Spartan bag

Sandbag pickups and over the shoulder throws

KB individual curls

Band curls

 

Ended with various ab exercises as a group to include, but not limited to: Starfish crunches, Side crunches, Cockroach, and everyone’s favorite, Russian V-twist get-ups.

COT to include announcements, LOTS OF PRAISES, and some prayers.

Blessings to all!

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Minnow Pond-Triangle of Pain

21 men cane to minnow pond from all directions and walks of life

the plan was simple

run, exercise, run, exercise, run, exercise

starting at memorial park across from launch point

💥10 Donkey Kicks

run up Massey

💥10 Merkins

run down Spratt

💥 10 leg raises

run back to memorial park

5-7 Rounds

60-75 reps of exercises as each round we increased by 1 rep

3.5-4.0 miles🙌🏻🔥💪🏻🥓

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4 Corner Crusher

YHC had the privilege to cross the river and Q for 11 at Minnow Pond. Conditions were stellar: 67 and dry. Here’s what we did:

The Thang

Run to First Baptist (.3 miles)

  • 4 Corners
    • 10 Burpees at each Corner                           (40 Burpees)
    • 20 Merkins at each Corner                           (80 Merkins)
    • 30 Shoulder Taps at each Corner              (120 Shoulder Taps)
    • 40 Squats at each Corner                           (160 Squats)
    • 50 SSHs at each Corner                               (200 SSHs)
    • 40 MNCs at each Corner                             (160 MNCs)
    • 30 LBCs at each Corner                               (120 LBCs)
    • 20 Seal Jacks at each Corner                      (80 Seal Jacks)
    • 10 Burpees at each Corner (2.2 miles)     (40 Burpees)
  • Return to Veterans Park (.3 miles)
  • Circle the lot twice (.2 miles)

Total Miles (3.0)

NMM

Thanks for the opportunity to Q today, Longshanks. I wanted to mix up the run this morning by adding the element of a full-body beatdown. As you can see above, we did some work. I also wanted to keep us in the parking lot as a reminder that we should always have eyes on our brothers. Though we have varying fitness levels and some guys got to the next station before others, its a reminder that we are all living life in different phases. Some guys have already been where you are now. Other guys are stepping into a phase where you are currently. Just the same as a workout, we should always look out for the guys ahead and behind us. Call the guy you haven’t seen in a while. Reach out to the guy that seems a little down. We are called to be our brother’s keeper. If he falls down, we are to help him up.

Let’s take care of each other. Let’s be intentional.

Aye!

Italian Job

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Bass chasing minnows

11 PAX were challenged with the mission to avoid being caught by the bass.  Pretty much accomplished by all who attended.  A special shout out to a couple of first posters to the pond Barry Manilow and Anchorman.  Nice work pushing yourselves.

We started out with the Pledge of Allegiance something that is always a humbling experience for me.  A brief warmup with SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers and Merkins.  Instructions to the route were not well received since YHC could remember the street names so we just took off.

I took a few minutes to figure it out after the fact.  Run up Main Street to Hwy. 160 Turn Right to our first stop at the Methodist Church Parking lot.  We did 3 exercises 25 reps of Merkins, Mtn. Climbers and Shoulder taps.  Back to running turning right on Monroe White Street.  Going past FBC and then the COG turned right on Watson street stopping at the old Springs parking lot for 2nd round of exercises.  Off to the parking lot by the Southern Sugar (did you know they are closed?).  Shouldn’t have moved Q source.  Just sayin.  Repeat the round with exercise being squats, lunges and calf raises 25 reps.  One final lap with LBC’s and flutters.  Back to COT.

Nice work by the PAX.  Thanks for the opportunity Longshanks.

 

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RPG-Broga-Varsity Combo

Last Friday of every month will have a travelling Broga-RPG.  Varsity (at Nation Ford HS) was the location for November.  Nine pax came out for the 0500 start time to burn off after-Thanksgiving calories.

Broga
YHC was the lead-off man started the group with a some simple yoga positions, then Sasquatch brought us home with warrior poses.

The group split off: three went running; six stayed for boot camp.

Boot camp details:
Warm up
Mosey Run
Toy soldiers, high knees
Circle up and do:
SSH (In Cadence 16x)
Windmill (IC 16x)
Imperial Walker (IC 12x)
Plank Jacks (IC 16x)

Thang 1: Elevens
Mosey to JrROTC building
Run to bottom of hill, do 1 burpee
Run up to pull up bars, do 10 pullups
Incremental changes for the 11’s routine.

Thang 2: Wall Sits

Thang 3: Global Warming
Circle up, low stance position, all pax side shuffle about the circle, stop and do exercise called out (each pax had opportunity to call out an exercise):
Smurf Jacks
Imperial Walkers
Big Boy sit ups
Merkins
Squats
Etc.

The runners returned after traversing around 4ish miles.

Fini, COT
Prayers for pax traveling this holiday weekend, and for those that have lost a loved one recently.

Look for the traveling RPG-Broga coming to an AO by you; take advantage of the opportunity to get better!

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Postal Route

With the opportunity to Q Minnow Pond I knew I  needed to bring the pain and increase the intensity.  With everyone gathered and watch at 5:14, I gave the disclosure and at 5:15 we were off.

Ran from Confederate Park to the FM Post Office, meet in the parking lot and do burpees until the six is in.  The plan is running the roads behind the post office with exercises each corner.  The roads make a square and 1 exercise 10 reps at each corner.

1st lap – Elliott Street – merkins

2nd lap – Leroy St – Wide arm merkins

3rd lap – Hill St – Monkey Humpers

4th lap – Oak St – CDD

5th lap – Elliott st and back to COT

Not a lot of talking with the official 4.36 miles.  Everyone was accelerating and the AO is the type of site that will push you but also offer a lot of encouragement.  We are all at different paces in our acceleration, but doing a little more than you did the day before is showing acceleration.

Don’t let the site and distance scare you away.  Push yourself to try something new and just like every site, there are always Pax to push, encourage and pick you up.  Just like in life, we are all in different places and phases, and we can encourage one another to be better in our house than we were the day before.

Thanks Shady for the opportunity to Q.

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15 Runners at Honey Badger

Warmup: 28 SSH – I usually begin every workout this way; looking at each pax as we count off a couple rounds.
The Thang: A mosey to the track for some hard work.

800m Indian Run
100yd Indian Bear Crawl
600m Indian Run
100yd Domino Broad Jumps
600m Indian Run
100 Partner Plank Claps
Rinse & Repeat

We got through 1 full round and the 2nd round of Broad Jumps. Before leaving the track we stretched a bit and the mosey’d to C.O.T. 10 LBC’s and 10 Flutters got us to 6am.

We totaled 3.3 miles and we all got better. Except for DH, he may have injured his back trying to jump further than Punch List. I hope it’s not serious.

Prayers for pax on IR and Offspring’s health, praise for Straight Up’s family having a great weekend.

READ YOUR NEWSLETTER – changes to Saturday’s AO’s and be watching for a convergence preblast.

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Minnow Pond Back Blast

BB- Perfect conditions if you like 90% humidity and August like conditions.  Straight Up was a beast on the up and down hills.  Funhouse had perfect burpee form and the rest of us did our best to keep up.  

From Launch:

Take off down White, Right on Massey, Right on Harris. At intersection of Harris and Yorktown, Plank it up and wait for #6.

The Thang:

  • Harris/Yorktown is center of tripod.  10 burpees at center
  • Head down Harris. At end: 20 squat #asstograss
  • Run to Center
  • Head down Yorktown.  At end: 20 LBC
  • Run to Center
  • Head down Harris (opp direction).  At Riverwood: 20 CDD
  • Run Center

Rinse/Repeat, #AMRAP until time called.  Be at Center at 0555 for run back to COT. 2 rounds will get you 4.5 +pain.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Bring your smokeboots and a zest for pain.

Jekyll

 

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QvQ 19.1 – Jiffy vs. Sasquatch

21 PAX showed up to the first round of QvQ 2019. This first round is the classic match up from last year, which was decided by ONE point! That’s right, the reigning champ versus his challenger.

Jiffy versus Sasquatch

Brief history: Sasquatch lost to Jiffy last year by one point. ONE point! It was necessary for the match up to be repeated given the level of intensity at which both of these #HIM operate.

The clock struck 0515 and I directed everyone’s attention to the championship prize. A custom F3 shovel flag curated by YHC.

The intent of this shovel flag is to be much like a championship belt. I hope that it passes hands over the years, and we write the name of each years’ reigning champ on the back of the handle. It shall be brought to CSAUPs as well at any time the champion posts and desires to gloat. See below for a glimpse of the trophy.

0515.

I had five minutes to lead a quick warm up to get the PAX ready for what was to come.
Once we got our Tappy Taps out of the way, it was time to get down to business.

The rule of order is the competitor who is earliest to arrive will get to decide who goes first. Jiffy arrived at about 0435, so he was the clear winner. He chose to receive and go on the offense first.

0520.

Coupon Roulette

We came upon a sinister circle with 20+ cinder blocks, 50/60lb dumbbells, and retaining wall blocks! He had us circle around the coupons and choose one.

With your selected coupon you will complete in cadence called by Jiffy:

Shoulder press x 10
Curls x 10
Squats x 10
4 Count Flutters x 10

Jiffy then rolls three dice. One determines the direction we rotate. Two determine how many coupons in that direction we shift.

Get to your next coupon, repeat. Roll again.

Next coupon, do equal amount of burpees to number of coupons we rotated. Repeat four movements.

Roll again. Next coupon, do equal amount of partner clap push ups to number of coupons rotated. Repeat movements.

We hit round four and I was praying for a miracle, because my arms were already smoked.

0530.

Sasquatch takes the reigns and moves us to the pull up bars for a very creative assembly line of face kicks.

Nine PAX line up at pull up bars. The rest at various nearby stations. Do one pull up, shift one bar to the left. Once you reach the end you then BTTW crawl back to the other side of the pull up bars. Then head out to the street.

The remaining PAX are either doing burpees at either curb on the street nearby or run/nur down and up the hill (AKA Quadzilla!). Once you finish your respective station, move to the next and tap somebody at that station to proceed.

That was super original, and also tclaps to Jedi for doing a full handstand walk with no wall support both times through.

0540.

Jiffy gets his second opportunity to remind us why he is the champ.

We remain at the pull up bars and count off by threes.

Group 1: four rounds of 5 burpees/10 squats and then end with 10 partner clap push ups.

Group 2: four rounds of 5 pull ups/10 Merkins and end with 10 partner clap push ups.

Group 3: run to bottom of hill a dm bearcrawl up. At each cone do 10 Carolina Dry Docks.

We made it through 2.5 stations before running out of time. A great use of the AO. I wondered how Sasquatch was going to answer this painful segment.

0550.

Sasquatch has us count off by fours. He then leads us on a brisk mosey to the turf field. As we approach, we see two sleds at the closest end zone, and two at the far end zone. He sets one group up at each sled and has us complete the following exercises as a group on repeat:

Seal Sit-Ups x 10
Jump Squats x 10

Meanwhile, one PAX from each group pushes the sled 100 yards across the field to the opposite end zone. Once they reach the end, swap with someone in that group and they then push the sled back to your original group. Continue that snake like move until time is called. Woof.

0600 couldn’t come soon enough. Those sled pushes were terrible.

We hit 0600 and head back to COT to vote. The votes were cast, the points were tallied, and a winner was decided upon.

The winner of week one of QvQ is:

Sasquatch

It was close, but this time it was decided by 7 points. Sasquatch was awarded a patch since he will be advancing to the championship on 10/30.

A great showing by both of our competing Q’s. I think I speak for everyone when I say that was one of the more difficult workouts as of late at The Coop. And we’ve had some tough ones!

I’m looking forward to week two. We’ve got the Airborne Bad Assery of Geronimo lined up to take on our very own 1st F Q – Shady!

Announcements

Broga at The Ranch tomorrow! A special recovery focused workout for those running Ragnar this weekend.
QvQ next week: Geronimo vs Shady!

Prayers/Praises

Wegmans’ father in law has prostate cancer. It’s slow moving, but it’s cancer. Pray that it can be eradicated without much detriment to his M’s father.
Pray for the multiple PAX with pregnant M’s. It’s a transitional time but it’s well worth it. Pray we can as husbands love our wives like Christ loves the church while they are going through so many changes.

Thanks for the great beatdown, men.

Punch List out.

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