Warm Up: Toe Touches, Good Mornings, Windmills, SSH’s, Toy Soldiers, Seal Jacks, Sister MK’s, all IC at or around 20x.
The Thang:
Mosey East towards the Lakefront playground, hitting a series of 8-count exercises at each cross street:
1st 20x 8-Count Bodybuilders
2nd 15x 8-Count Absolutions
3rd 10x 8-Count Bodybuilders, 10x 8-Count Absolution
So the F3 Nation website or – the more frequently visited – Grundy Audited Database (GAD for short) says that a wise Q will introduce the 8-count cadence for the exercise known as Absolution, but then “instruct the PAX to do the exercise OYO, lest he give the impression of weakness.” Well, YHC has never been accused of being wise and this group of men has certainly already seen me act weak (ahem… the high-pitched squeal as Captain Sparkles emerges from the bushes), so… time to forget one’s pride and school the Q in mastering the 8-count!
The thing is, the 8-count isn’t actually that difficult. So really, this was more of an excuse to wreck the PAX early on, which seemed to have worked. (At the very least, it wrecked this here Q.)
A few 10-counts later, we arrived at the playground and split into partners for a little routine up the tallest “hill” in Old Mandeville. These sort of rigorous elevation changes would be good training for those running the Blue Ridge Relay this fall. Here’s what we did:
P1 does squats, P2 run-walks (aka, lunge walks) up to the swingset pad and back. Flapjack.
P1 does merkins, P2 bear crawls up and back. A little slippery this morning.
P1 does lunges, P2 frog jumps up and back.
And finally, P1 does Freak Nasties, P2 does an 80% sprint around the perimeter.
A few more 10-counts sprinkled throughout, and we’re onward to the back of the baseball field, which had a lot of action for 0700. Gearing up for an early morning game, the PAX got to watch some kids practice their swings, and also witness the slowest-ever flag raise while we planked up and one by one (or two by two, I suppose) hit the pull-up bars for 8 pull-ups. The 2nd round was 4 pull ups, and the flag had still only made it to half mast. Did a round of 25x IC Mountain Climbers, but still didn’t get to see that flag hit the top. Oh well, can’t plank forever. Time for an Indian Run back to the flag.
T-Claps to Low Nays who overcame the strong urge to splash some merlot and made it back to the flag for some Mary: (all IC) Flutter Kicks x20, Leg Raises x 15, Putins x20, Jane Fondas/QuickPulses/Heel-to-Knees x20 each leg.
Countdown, nameorama, announcements (Sign up for the Classic! Sign up to Q!), and The Manny led us out in prayer. Thank you guys for the push to be a better man, and for a truly great start to the weekend.
