SLOW RUN AROUND THE OUTSIDE TRACK WITH EXERCISES EACH QUARTER OF A MILE.
ULTIMATE FRISBEE FOR 2ND HALF
COT
SLOW RUN AROUND THE OUTSIDE TRACK WITH EXERCISES EACH QUARTER OF A MILE.
ULTIMATE FRISBEE FOR 2ND HALF
COT
Warmorama rappers delight edition except with 51 SSH of course. The Thang; mosey to the backside of the gym, grab some wall, and let the bodies hit the floor! Hold high plank position while the song plays and donkey kick above the line every time you hear the title and Merkin on the count.
Mosey to parking lot in front of gym for Z90s: (traverse a Z shaped course, stopping at each point of the Z for an exercise in honor of those of us who became legal during the 90s, let the drum machine-laden club music rain down on your ear drums—you’re welcome): 4 exercises, 5/10/15/20 reps
Round 1 (bear crawl): burpee, Cracker Jacks (frog>star jump>frog), merkin, plank jacks, mosey to start and plank for (not on!) the six.
Round 2 (crab walk): burpee, air squats, dry docks, Peter Parker
With 5 rounds planned, I introduced the Bolt Birthday Option after round 2: yell, “Happy Birthday” and roll one of two deca dies and let fate decide except “water break” because we r not chicks (numerous exercises followed ranging from 15-30 reps). I’m humbled by how many pax wanted to give me gifts…or perhaps they’d simply had enough Z90s since I heard very little mumblechatter during the rounds.
“Shockingly” the rest of the BD was headed toward endless rolls of the die; time for Rochamburpee (partner up in head to head low plank for 10 rounds of rock, paper, scissor with the loser doing burpees while the winner does merkins with the count being the round number). Some pax made 10 rounds while others were content that it was time to return to the flag for COT. I was humbled and honored to share the gloom with 12 other pax as I complete my 51st trip around the sun with my watch recording an average heart rate more than 100 beats over my age—progress.
YHC saw the Rock City Q spot open and having not led at that AO for some time signed up.
Weather was 54 degrees with a cool breeze, but not cold. Track was very wet from earlier rain, so no go there.
Disclaimer given and mosey to the rock pile for warm up. Regular stuff with one set of 4 burpees OYO and one set of 5 burpees OYO. No clubbin this day, packed agenda!
Grab a rock and head for the cones set up. Route 66 with Burpees and rifle carry between cones. Cones took pax to the parking lot.
10 rock curls, run to gym and do 5 Burpees. Complete 5 rounds increasing curls by 5 each round. That’s 25 more burpees.
Return the rocks and circle up for ring of Fire. 2 rounds of 6 Merkins each. Mosey back to flag.
COT
NMM
– YHC really threw the group off with the count off in the beginning. The pax were sure their number would have some meaning and would be called upon. Maybe next time, or maybe not…..
– There seems to be 2 schools of thought in the Route 66, especially when burpees are part of it. The first is start at 1 burpee and end at 11. The other thought is to start at 11 and finish with 1 burpee. Which school are you in?
– Mondays suck, especially after a Saints loss. F3 makes it all better! Thanks for posting with me.
– That was 100 burpees today, some did more. It’s not too late to jump on the 3100 burpees for January train…..check out the Iron Sharpens Iron Slack channel for more info.
SYITG
Twelfth Day of Christmas – Three Kings Day
All exercises to be done in multiples of 3 or 12 in recognition of the day
Conditions: Damp and 46 degrees
16 PAX strong for a VQ
Disclaimer and mosey
Warmups (and the start of the whining):
12×2 SSH
12×2 Grass Grabbers
12 AbeVagoodas
12 Arm Circles
12 Reverse Arm Circles
12 Peter Parkers
12 Parker Peters
Round of Circle Burps (17 burpees)
To the hill
Modified Burp Back Mountain
Backwards up the hill, forward down the hill
Round 1
6x
9 burpees (54 burpees)
9 merkins
Mary
Round 2
3x
6 burpees (18 burpees)
6 squats
Mary
Round 3
3x
6 burpees (18 burpees)
6 SSH
Mary
Burpee Merkin back to the flag (1 burpee)
Mission accomplished
Burpee total: 108 (divisible by both 3 and 12)
COT
Proud to lead this group of men today
It’s my first and last VQ but won’t be my last Q
Conditions: Partly Cloudy. 72 degrees. Humidity 92%. Wind 5 mph from the South
Pax: Boo, Buxton, Fast Tax, YHC, Hokie Don’t Call Me Pokie, Mayhem, Pool Party, PVC, Triple Shift
Arrived a few minutes early to find PVC warming up. I filled him in on the Special Ops Mission he would need to lead.
After giving the disclaimer I told Fast Tax and Triple to go with PVC. Given the look on Triple’s face, I’m pretty sure he believed he was getting the Black Tahoe. From his perspective it makes sense. I’m sure he feels he has been dangerously close for a while now. The Special Ops group headed right towards the Rock Pile. Boo, Buxton, Hoke, Mayhem, Pool Boy and YHC headed in the opposite direction.
Quick Mosey to the light pole on the south end of the park. Pretty sure I’ve never done a warm-up here. Hopefully Fast Tax will be glad to hear that I was mixing things up.
Warm Up:
YHC used the warm-up to let some of our newer members practice leading in Cadence:
• Pool Boy – SSH x 26
• Mayhem – Imperial Walkers x 15
• Buxton – Grass Grabbers x 15
• Pool Boy – Peter Parkers x 20
• Mayhem – Tempo Merkins x 20
• Buxton – Low Slow Squats x 20
The Thang
Continued around the path headed east and then North to the first baseball field. Divided up into two groups of three. Pax 1 did pull-ups on the bleachers, Pax 2 did merkins, Pax 3 was the timer with 5 burpees. Rinse and Repeat.
Back to the path, headed north where we joined up with our 3 Special Ops friends. That took longer than expected. Maybe they ran into resistance. Did they have words with Rudy’s Caterer? She’s never accosted us before, but it’s possible that Triple Shift said something to set her off.
Triple Shift: Hey what are you doing?
Rudy’s Caterer: I’m walking. I walk here every day. 78 laps.
Triple Shift: Your form is all wrong. Look at your hips. They’re all out of alignment.
Rudy’s Caterer: I do this every day. I’m fine
Triple Shift: You won’t be. Keep doing this and you might not ever walk again.
Rudy’s Caterer: Hmmm….then I should do this now @$#%&#@!
At this point she jumps Triple, brings him to the ground and starts jumping repeatedly on his face as PVC and Fast Tax stand by in amusement.
…Or maybe our Special Ops are just slow. At any rate they joined on the levee for Clock
Merkins
• 6 o’clock (feet toward the top of levee, head toward the bottom) x 10
• 9 o’clock x 10
• 12 o’clock x 7
• 2 o’clock x 6
• 4:30 x 6
Continue our mosey around the track to the Hill. We had nine presents left to us by our Special Ops. I gave PVC very little instruction, but he did a good job (other than being slow as molasses). I was glad to see the variety of rocks and especially glad to that they brought Gibraltar.
11s – Start with 10 bench presses on the north side, carry the rock up and over to the south side and do a man-maker. Then 9 bench presses and 2 man-makers…..yadda, yadda, yadda…we did this for 10 minutes. YHC got to 5 bench presses and 6 man-makers.
At this point we had to hustle. YHC challenged the pax to get back to the rock pile before him. Boo succeeded. Drop of the rocks and Horses to the Stable back to the flag.
NMM
• Great job by Pool Boy, Mayhem, and Buxton during the warm-up. They all led like champs. Looking forward to some fresh Qs.
• The Bleacher pull-ups were fraught with danger.
• I concur with Hoke’s sentiments regarding the clock merkins.
• It’s not really 11s unless it involves burpees or man-makers. It’s also not 11s if you don’t finish. That’s on me.
• Don’t worry, Triple is as handsome as ever. His dust up with Rudy’s caterer left him none the worse.
• Guys pushed hard at the end. So good seeing guys with their hands on their knees or in surrender cobra when we finish.
Typical December am at Rock City: foggy, warm, mosquitos. Good stuff. 7 PAX in the gloom expected Hawg to lead them, but alas they got Rudy instead. Mahatma could be heard audibly groaning, muttering “I shoulda gone to swolefest.” Disclaimer given, off to the rock pile. Lots of new-ish faces at Pontiff perhaps had no idea that they should expect better. Great to see Pool Boy bringing in the new faces – Buxton and Mayhem!
Warmup with SSH (Fast Tax insisted on doing them in opposite cadence. I think that was his protest against a Rudy-Q). Some Grass Grabbers, Abe Vigodas, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters. Grab a rock and head to the football field.
The Thing: YHC dug way back in the Backblast archives looking for inspiration. Found a Hawg Q from 2015 that served as the basis – animal walks and exercises. Modified to reflect the date (12/12) led to this:
Line up the rocks at about the 25 yard line. We’ve got 12 sets. Each set is an animal movement from the goal line to the rocks, then a set of 12 exercises, then return to the goal line.
Round 1: Bear Crawl with Thrusters
Round 2: Crab Walk with BBSU
Round 3: Duck Walk with Burpees (with a jump-over the rock)
Round 4: Inchworms with 8 Count Brick Builder
Round 5: Frog Jump with an unnamed combo – bench press, but the rock starts over your head
Round 6: Ape Walk with Lunge and Twist
Then we repeat, but with the animal walk reversed: Crawl Bear, Walk Crab, Walk Duck, Worm Inch (i guess?), Jump Frog and Walk Ape.
Ran out of time, so we didn’t get the last set of Lunge & Twists. Gotta get the rocks back to their home and return to the flag.
Random Musings:
* Mahatma and Fast Tax set the pace. By a healthy margin. I hope they got a lot out of the planking. Next time – they have to go 35 yards instead of 25 yards.
* Great to see the new guys pushing through. Buxton in particular – never failed to actually sprint back to the goal line. All of us can learn by that example
* War Eagle complained about the mosquitos. I mean, they were bad. But seriously?
* But Kudos to War Eagle as well – finding a way to modify and push to accomodate an injured wrist. Way to keep moving!
Twelve PAX rolled up to the Uptowner for a very humid and gloomy Game Day.
After dispensing with the disclaimer, we moseyed toward the rock pile, curiosity evident on the faces of the PAX…What does Fast Tax have in that bag?
Warmups were a sprinkle of typical Uptowner fare: SSHs, Arm Circle variants, Imperial Walkers, and, not to be dissuaded, Crab Merkins.
Sufficiently warmed, YHC selected the fenced in baseball field for the debut of his new game. Amidst the eager anticipation of the PAX, YHC pulled a large balloon out of his big black ball bag and introduced Plank Floaters.
Plank Floaters begins with PAX forming a plank circle while one person hits the balloon into the air and immediately gets back into a plank position. The PAX to his right must jump up and hit the balloon back up, before it touches the ground, and get back in plank, with the cycle repeating around the circle. If the balloon hits the ground, everyone does 5 burpees and then play resumes. As is typical of YHC’s creations, this was a work in progress with a few mods made along the way (direction reverses after a save, 1 PAX in ready position, 3 burpees, etc.).
We headed to the kid’s playground picnic table for the next festivity of the morning –
BALL BUSTER.
Ball Buster is a combination of Capture the Flag and Dodge Ball, except there are no boundaries. PAX form two teams. Each side has a blue ball (referred to as the Flag), which must be positioned at a pre-identified location on each team’s base and each PAX on the team is given one non-blue ball. The object is to steal the opposing sides blue ball (i.e. their flag) and bring it back to your base. The team scored against has to do three burpees.
Similar to dodge ball, PAX can use the ball to hit or “tag” an opposing player or block an incoming ball. If you are hit, or the person you are throwing at catches the ball, you have to immediately drop your ball and do two burpees or five merkins.
PAX can only hold one ball at a time. In order to pick up the flag, you must drop the ball if you are carrying one. You can pick up a tagged PAX’s ball and throw it away, but only after dropping your own.
However, when carrying the opposing team’s flag, it can be strategically used as a regular ball to hit or tag an opposing player. If the opposing team retrieves their flag (b/c the carrier was hit and had to drop the ball), it must be brought or thrown back to base and placed in the same pre-identified spot. A player cannot just run around with the Flag in their possession.
Halfway through the game, the teams should switch sides – which we forgot to do…
Having dispensed with the game rules, play commenced.
Team 1: Booboo, Colonial, Fast Tax, Logo, McGyver, Triple Shift
Team 2: Architect (FNG), Charmin, Cyber Cajun, Hawg Cycle, Mayhem, Pool Boy
What began as an even match quickly descended into a one sided game as Team 2 carried the day 5-3.
At some point toward the end we were joined by Vagabond.
With time running out, we headed to COT for Name-o-rama, Naming of the FNG (Architect), announcements, intentions, and prayer.
Thanks for the fellowship and allowing YHC the chance to engage his creative side!
SYITG!
On a cool crisp yet foggy full moon lit 65 degree morning 8 PAX converged for a Bootcamp in the gloom
Warmorama: squats, Abe vigoda, grass grabbbers, imperial walkers, hill billies, arm circles, Peter Parker’s
Mosey to gym wall for balls to wall, calf raises, donkey kicks (2 sets)
Mosey to pavilion for dips, BBS, step ups (2 sets)
Mosey to hill for bear crawl up n over, flutter kicks, lunge up n over, bear crawl up n over, flutter kicks
Mosey to rock pile shoulder press, bench press, squats (2 sets)
Mosey to football field for Coolorama:
squats, Abe vigoda, grass grabbbers, imperial walkers, hill billies
COT
FNG Buxton was named after I recognized his name from our childhood neighborhood where we grew up
With a last minute notice from Mahatma that he couldn’t Q this morning due to a family vehicle mechanical problem, I called an audible and took the reigns.
WARMUP
Head to the rock pile then to the field. The instructions were to grab a heavy rock but not everyone listened to my instructions (nothing new). Oh well, we circled up with some SSH x 20 IC, Low Slow Squat x 10, Tempo Merkins x 15, Forward Arm Circles x 10 IC, Reverse Arm Circles x 10 IC, Pretzel Arms x 10 IC, and finally, 10 Burpees IC.
THE THANG
Due to the high humidity, the field was soaking wet, so I headed to the large oak tree on the other side of the track by the playground to do our thing. I’ve wanted to do this workout for some time and it is one I will always remember since (I believe) that was the first workout of the inaugural Iron Pax Challenge in 2017. The original workout is 50 squats, 40 Big Boy Sit-ups, 30 Merkins, 20 Bonnie Blairs (2 is 1) and 10 Burpees than run 400 meters x 4 for time. I vaguely remember that pax members in the nation were posting sub 20 minute times and I had to throw the BS flag on that!
Back to the workout. With the rock, we did 50 squats, 40 flutter kicks (2 is 1), 30 bench press, 20 Bonnie Blairs (sans rock of course), and 10 Blockees x 2. There was a great deal of chirping at the Warmup but quieted down pretty quick except when we did flutter kicks and bench presses with the abundance acorns on the ground.
COT
Countoff, Namerama and closed with prayers for friends and loved ones dealing with significant diseases. Reminded the pax to be alert and observant for other men’s emotional and spiritual health this time of year. Let’s be providers of hope, encouragement and joy this Christmas season