You want me to take that coupon to the top of that hill HOW??

The morning started simply enough with a warm-up mosey around WEP with stops at each pain station to warm up and explain the ins and outs of the first half workout…

Station

  1. Carolina Dry Dock to Bear Crawl in the direction of the next station in an ascending fashion…
    1. 1:4, 2:8, 3:12, 4:16, 5:20 and then run to the next station
  2. 5 Burpees then 25 Low Slow Squats finishing with 5 burpees before running to the next station
  3. 25x Shoulder Taps in cadence to 25 Lunge Walks (each leg) then running to the next station
  4. 60 count Honeymooner to allow for reset, 20x Merkins in Cadence, 20x Low Slow Squats in cadence and running to the final station
  5. 25x American Hammers in cadence, 25 Plank Jacks in cadence
  6. Rinse and Repeat course until halted by JWow

Then began the real pain…  after unloading coupons in the shape of cinder blocks from the back of the Slash-mobile we wandered off to a secluded portion of the park…

JWow found many ways to carry the coupons up a hill in an irrational and chaotic way…  A grand time was had by all.

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Nine at the Hive

Nine at the Hive

Today marked the introduction of lamination at The Hive with the crew once again counting on a partner with station work to #Accelerate.

Began with the standard warm up situations while Welcome to the Jungle’s melodic tunes played…

Station work began with the following exercises…

  1. Skull Crushers x20 while partner executed as many Box Cutters as possible, switch, repeat… (Wake Up Call – Maroon 5)
  2. Kettle bell swings x20 while partner executed as many Air Dramas as possible, switch, repeat… (All Summer Long – Kidd Rock)
  3. Curls x20 while partner executed as many Plank Shoulder Taps as possible, switch, repeat… (Jump – Van Halen)
  4. Break to walk with bell over head while Malcolm chased all PAX with a chainsaw…
  5. Overhead Press x20 while partner executed as many Sumo Deadlifts as possible, switch, repeat…  (Golden Years – David Bowie)
  6. “Out & Up” x20 (most modified to 10) while partner executed as many Plank Cross Unders as possible, switch, repeat… (Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen)
  7. Laying Press x20 while partner executed as many American Hammers as possible, switch, repeat… (You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC)
  8. That darn Malcolm showed up again…
  9. Upright Rows x20 while partner executed as many Low Slow Squats as possible, switch, repeat… (Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen)
  10. Rinse and repeat while the following played
    1. Down Under – Men at Work
    2. I Want You to Want Me – Letters to Cleo
    3. One last chase back to COT by Malcolm
  11. Finish with 5 minutes of Mary while R.E.M. serenaded us with Everybody Hurts…
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Kettlebells of Catan

YHC is quite thankful for the opportunity to Q the Armory. I’d been avoiding bells for a while to try to up my running game and down my BMI game, and throwing a bell in the back of the car gave me that warm, familiar feeling…

Rolled into the parking lot and saw an impressive fleet of vehicles in the gloom.  Quickly dropped off my small box of goodies and joined the pax just in time to disclaim that I’m no professional.

Warm Up

Things started off with a quarter mile mosey around the parking lot. Followed by some SSH, zucchini** pickers, merkins, mountain climbers, and windmills.  Then grab the bells and head to the NE lot where my box of stuff was.

What’s In The Box?

After we paired up I pulled out the box’s contents. 4 pens (all I could find this morning) two dice from my wife’s copy of Settler’s of Catan, and 8 sheets of paper.

Math? Really…?

Stats, yeah… If you’re familiar with the distribution of a die roll of 2 six sided dice, you’ll see why rolling 2 and 12 are particularly painful, the odds are 1/36 for each, while rolling a 7 is 1/6.  Let’s look at the bell curve (more of a triangle).

This is the core game mechanic in the game Setttler’s of Catan.  Using probability along with some randomness, the game rewards people 5/6ths of the time and punishes them 1/6th of the time.  YHC thought long and hard on how to include that mechanic in our morning workout, but decided on loyalty to the beatdown. Perhaps later more will be added to that 7 roll.

Enough of that noise…

Back to the Thang, the least likely rolls were assigned the more difficult tasks, while the more probable rolls had tasks that PAX could more readily repeat. Each sheet was identical:

2. 20x man makers
3. 20x upright rows
4. 10x man makers
5. 8x each/16x both arm curls
6. 10x goblet squats
7. 15x swings
8. 20x chest press
9. 8x each plank row
10. 20x dead lift
11. 5x each Turkish get up
12. 20x man makers

YHC quickly explained that every team was to roll the dice, and the roll dictated the exercise they were to do.  The counts on the paper were per person, not per team. A team was free to divide the exercises how they saw fit. So if 20x man makers was rolled, then they could split it 20/20 or have one guy do 35 and the other 15. Bandcamp swiftly pointed out that it should be 35 and 5, and YHC with matched rapidity reminded everyone that he is not a professional.

So, having to do 20 man makers each should be relatively rare. And, yet, they were rolled 13 times by teams that recorded their pain.

Each team performed the set and could mark them down so that they could keep track of their randomized beatdowns. After each completed set, the teams would run across the parking lot (~50M) perform five big boy situps, then run back and roll again. We did this for the entire workout.

With five minutes left, and Divac rolling yet another 2, YHC called a ‘2’ for all the PAX and with 90 seconds left we carried our bells back to COT.

COT

Announcements
There’s probably a convergence on Thanksgiving
Join Slack
Read up on the Vasectomy Channel!
Read your newsletter

Prayers
YHC reminded everyone that the COT is a real trust, and that no one would be going home to talk about so and so to their M’s, and it should be considered a safe place. Went around the circle (starting with YHC) and asked each of the PAX to issue a praise or prayer, most chose praises.  My heart was warmed by the praises that were offered and we had a quick prayer before dispersing.

Always a pleasure to lead a workout.

The team’s sheets

Links to the photos in my google drive. Enjoy

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Te3AZzotv81cexq5A
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AbvHzjagrPdvNGu28
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qxes3Wo4PaGQnKW78

** Last week Gears called this the “potato picker”. Pretty sure in the lexicon it’s “tappy taps”.  One of my goals will be to completely obscure this until it’s utterly recognizable to anyone outside fo the Fort.

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Chutes and Ladders (not really…)

8 posted at The Armory and may wish they hadn’t.  I joked that I had done Demented Uno too recently (Friday at The Hive) so I had to come up with a new game.  Chutes and Ladders is what I threw out on Twitter.  Sadly, I couldn’t come up with a way for that to happen.  This was the best I could do.  More of a Pyramid of Pain.

Warmup – Mosey, Moroccan Nightclub, Hillbilly and Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Cherry Pickers, Plank, Honeymooner, Plank, Downdog, alternate calves in Downdog

Next started the pain

10 ManMakers

20 LBCs with Bell

30 Skullcrushers

Mosey w/ Bell

40 Curls (or 20 each arm)

50 Tricep Extensions

Mosey w/ Bell

60 Overhead Press

50 Flutters with Bell

Mosey w/ Bell

40 Goblet Squats into calf raises

30 Rows (15 each side)

Mosey w/ Bell

20 American Hammers

10 Turkish Getups with a butterfly or lat raise on your back to start (5 each side)

Still had 16 minutes, so PAX called exercises (Manmakers, Uhauls, etc, even rotate one bell and did rows and BBS)

 

 

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5 Chillin’ at The Tomahawk

I love watching the video from this workout. Everybody’s beat. Uhaul can’t remember the date, Drone forgot how name-o-rama works, and a lot of sweat dripping.

I started us off with a mosey around the big block. Once we got past the school we stopped at every light pole and did an exercise. Some SSH, some Squats, Some Merkins…the basic warmup moves. Once we got back to the parking lot (.5 miles later!) we circled up and did some moves while 1 pax jumped off to do the battle rope. We used this pax as our timer. They were to give it their all for as long as they could go while the others did an exercise. 1st up was Curls, then Overhead Tricep Extensions, then Goblet Squats, then I forgot what they did while I was on the battle rope.

Next up we did a round of Kettlebell Swings. 30 seconds and then move the the left to swing somebody else’s bell. Bells ranged from 10lbs to 30lbs.
After the Swings we played a little game of Pass the Dutchie. I don’t know why it’s called that but I think that’s what Assassin always called it back in his Armory days. You sit and pass the the bell clockwise for a minute and then reverse the course. Again, bells ranging from 10-30lbs.

We did some Lunge Walks (with the bell) and some Sprints (without the bell). We did some more Overhead Tricep Extensions and we did some more Curls. We also ran a few more small loops. We totaled 1.32 miles which is probably more than expected for a KB site but the pax rocked it out! We ended with C.O.T. and we prayed.

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Launching the Snake Pit

YHC was honored to be asked by 3D to Q out East and, based on the calendar, an inaugural Q for the Fort’s newest kettle bell AO.  It required a separate trip to get familiar with the grounds, but a quick scan of the A/O left YHC with lots of options and, fortunately, a great group of HIMs gathered to launch the Snake Pit.  After disclaimers were put forth and JWOW came in hot, we moseyed off around the parking lot, without the bells.

COP – Corner #1 – low slow squats x15

Corner #2 – Side Straddle Hops x 20

Corner #3 – Imperial Walker x 15, People’s Chair hold with Moroccan night clubs x 15 and a                                     10-count hold

Stadium entrance – Merkins x 10, salutations right and left, 6-inch hold with a 10-count

PAX grabbed their bells and moseyed into the stadium, down to the field for a partner pyramid.

In any adversity or challenge we face in life, going through it with others helps ensure we come out stronger on the other side.  In the spirit of working through a challenge (and because partner work was notably present), we did, well, partner work.

While partner 1 began the exercises at the goal line, partner 2 ran to the 50 yard line and back and picked up the exercises where partner 1 left off.  Exercises built on one another a la pearls on a string, to the mid point anyway.

10 goblet squats

10 goblet squats, 20 hammer curls

10 goblet squats, 20 hammer curls, 30 tricep extensions

10 goblet squats, 20 hammer curls, 30 tricep extensions, 40 American hammers (w/bell)

10 goblet squats, 20 hammer curls, 30 tricep extensions, 40 American hammers (w/bell), 50 swings

50 swings, 40 American hammers (w/bell), 30 tricep extensions, 20 hammer curls, 10 goblet squats

40 American hammers (w/bell), 30 tricep extensions, 20 hammer curls, 10 goblet squats

30 tricep extensions, 20 hammer curls, 10 goblet squats

20 hammer curls, 10 goblet squats

10 goblet squats

Once all were finished (PAX planked or did LBC’s if they finished before the 6), we moseyed with bells to the flag for a pledge of allegiance and did 30 flutters with the KB press

Mosey out of the stadium back to the lot for the start of a partner DORA – 50 swings and 100 hammer curls.  Partner 1 started the exercises while partner 2 ran to specified landmarks and back, and vice versa.

With no time left to get to 150 and 200 on the DORA, we moseyed back to COT for:  20 flutters with the KB press and 15 LBC’s with the bell.  At that point, it was 0600 and work was complete.

Announcements were made, prayers and praises were offered and YHC led us out.

Special thoughts are with Alright Alright Alright as his ankle heals.

Thanks to 3D for the opportunity to lead the inaugural workout and launch of the Snake Pit and to have the privilege of getting better in the presence of many HIMs.

Honored,

Cyclops

 

 

 

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Hive Demented Uno

UNO was the game with 9 PAX.   Had to amp it up to meet Airborne’s expectations

Each color was an exercise.

Blue ManMaker

Red Louganis (Skullcrusher into Big Boy Situp but keep your arms extended)

Green Curls

Yellow Triceps

The number was the reps. 0 is 10 reps. Play like normal UNO.  Each PAX takes a turn playing a card.  Either match color or number.

SKIP = run a lap

Reverse = Repeat last card

+2 = Pick two of the exercise and do 2 Reps

+4 = 4 Reps of all 4 exercises, then pick a new color

WILD = pick a new color

If you can’t play a card, draw one.  Rule was to do a BombJack for each card you need to draw.

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Can I borrow a KB?

YHC was pleased to be asked by J-Wow (there’s a guy who is accelerating) to come back to the Armory and Q. While not a true Redwood, I was there when the idea of a KB workout was launched at the Baxter pool with Package and Orange Crush (never posted). I immediately went out an purchased a 25lb’er via the internet (shipping costs!) and away we went.

Since that start, I have gravitated to running partly due to CSAUPs and given my bell to Anchorman. But there’s no question that YHC needed a beatdown after a long golf weekend. I started the Hype Train on Sunday with a request to borrow a bell and was met with some witty replies. The Fort represents!

Weather: Its F3 time! 63 with a light breeze

The Thang

Partner KB Workout

Round 1

Partner 1 – KB Swings x 12

Partner 2 – Rests until Partner 1 is finished

Partner 2 – 1 arm military press x 12

Partner 1 – rests until Partner 2 is finished – you get the idea

Partner 1 – Goblet Squats x 10

Partner 2 – Bob and Weave x 10

Partner 1 – Merkins x 12

Partner 2 – Bench Press x 12

Partner 1 – SSH x 20

Partner 2 – SSH x 20

Rinse and Repeat for 7 minutes

Take a lap around the parking lot

Round 2 – Flip the exercises for 7 minutes then take a lap

Round 3

Partner 1 – Curls x12

Partner 2 – Triceps x 12

Partner 1 – Bent Over Rows x 10

Partner 2 – CDD x 12

Partner 1 – Reverse Lunge w/ Hammer x 8

Partner 2 – Jump Squats x 10

Partner 1 – Bombjacks x 12

Partner 2 – Man Climbers x 16

Rinse and repeat for 7 minutes then a lap

Round 4 – Flip the exercises and head home

Mosey to COT

 

Moleskin:

  • 10/19 – Opportunity to serve at Childrens Attention Home – See Culture Club
  • October – opportunity to impact Young Lives – See newsletter
  • Prayers for marriages and kids

Pusher out!

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Office etiquette

I kept asking “what is a kettle bell” as my frequency of attendance at KB workouts can be counted on two hands- maybe one.  Somehow I was tapped to lead and thankful that I did.  Getting outside of the comfort zone and breaking routines is refreshing.

Warm Ups: Moroccan Night Clubs, windmills, lap runs with shuffle

The Thang

  • Round 1 10 reps
  • Round 2 15 reps
  • Round 3 20 reps
  • Round 4 10 reps

 

  • Goblet Squat
  • Tricep Extention
  • Curl
  • Shoulder Press
  • Windmill (Crowd pleaser)
  • Lunge-Row
  • Swing
  • Lawn Mower Pull

Naked Man Moleskin

Great group this morning and truly appreciate being shown the way to better form and technique.  Good to end a tough cardio week on focused strength.  Highly recommend Hive attendance.

 

 

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Let’s Make a Deal at The Armory

10 PAX decided to take the challenge and show up on a balmy morning. NO FNG’s, disclaimer disclosed and off we went. Mosey went probably further than some PAX would have wished but wanted to switch up a little bit. Heading off FH campus and down across the street. Let the PAX know that once Trucker stopped complaining, we would head back.

Circle up

  • SSH x30
  • LS Squats x10
  • Windmill x10
  • Cherry Picker x10
  • MNC x25
  • Arm Circles x10 forward/back
  • Peter Parker- x10
  • Parker Peter- x10
  • Down Dog
  • Honey Mooner

Grab your bell and head to the far right parking lot of the Church. I had set it up for a game of Let’s Make a Deal after experiencing it the previous week at a Knoxville workout at the Abyss with Cinderblocks.

Each corner of the parking lot (under light posts) had 3 cards. One has a number of reps on each side. One has an exercise on each side. One has a traveling exercise on each side.
Only one side of the card is visible… Content of the other side is unknown.
PAX take turns choosing for each card to take what’s face up, or make a deal and switch to the unknown side…

Station 1:
single arm Tricep Extensions/(Goblet squats), 30/(50), Crawl Bear/(over-head mosey)

Station 2:
KB flutters/(KB Merkins), 30/(50), Lunge walk/(KB-icide)

Station 3:
KB Swings/(one-hand OHP), 30/(20), backwards overhead/(KB Broad Jump)

Station 4:
Single arm curls/single arm rows, 30/(50), KB-icide/(Bunny Hop)

The PAX decided on Round 1 they liked everything facing up, except the MOT for some. The Bunny Hop with the KB was a crowd pleaser. I added in the KB-icide, having had the privilege of these in Knoxville.

We completed all stations twice and did all the counts/exercises listed. Great work!

 

Mosey to the next parking lot closer to COT and partner up. With about 10 min to go, a mini DORA was the perfect way to close it out.

 

50- snatches

75- LBC

100- two-handed triceps extensions

 

Partner 1 runs to the bottom of the parking lot and back, while Partner 2 does the exercise. Switch and repeat until completed.

 

Everyone got it done. Always pick up the 6. It was great to see PAX stepping up to make sure our fellow brothers finished strong and with support.

 

Back to COT

 

Announcements: Read your newsletter

 

Prayers:

 

Cyclops Dad facing Pancreatic Cancer fight. Our prayers are with you and your family Brother.

 

Prayers for families, kids (teenagers), and Mental Health

 

I shared a quick topic from the sermon Sunday at Church on storytelling. Too often our kids are getting their information from social media, instead of the stories in the Bible. By no means am I an expert on this, but I challenged the PAX who are walking their Faith, or trying to get better, to share some of the great teachings in the Bible with their 2.0’s.

 

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Frat Boy

 

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