4 men including one sort of new member to the Westbank crewe worked out together on Thursday morning at 5am prompt.
Warmup: Light jog from AO to parking lot Side Straddle Hop x 15 Arm Circles x 10 forwards and 10 backwards Merkins x 20 Mountain Climbers x 20
Main Workout – 7 of Diamonds(4 rounds) — With the parking lot as our square: Round 1 – x 7 burpees at each of the 4 corners with a mosey in between corners. Round 2 – x 14 four count flutter kicks at each of the 4 corners. Round 3 – x 21 merkins at each of the 4 corners. Round 4 – x 28 squats at each of the 4 corners.
Mosey back to middle of park for ab workouts:
In a circle and on our sixes with each PAX taking turns: x 15 – 3 count flutter kicks x 10 – 3 count flutter kicks x 15 – 3 count cross flutter kicks x 20 – side sit-ups( left and right) x 20 – alternate shoulder taps
For 3mins – x 7 ss hops, x 7 merkins, and x 7 jump squats
Final light jog to AO for COT and Prayer.
Thanks brethren for the counting tips and the guidance for my first Q!
YHC arrived at the AO a little early to put some miles in to continue preparing for the half marathon coming up in October. After 2 miles, YHC made it back to the flag to see what other Pax were there. Upon finding only Hokie Pokey, it was decided we would focus on running this day.
4.3 miles later, we finished up with a COT. 100% participation at coffeteria.
Thirty something men assembled in the gloom under a full moon to celebrate Friday the 13th. Apparently the next time a full moon falls on Friday the 13th is 2049 so I hope y’all enjoyed it. I also hope Jadaveon will remeber all of us when he is the sole memebr of the PAX around to enjoy it again. Disclaimer was given and the Mother Ruckers spilt off to walk and tak. The remaining pax headed to the circle of palms to commence the beatdown.
WARMUPS
SSH X 49 (this really irritated Mariah)
Arm Circles fore and aft. Was Seaman there? 10 Fore and 10 Aft
Grass Grabbers X 20 (Pulled a Hammy)
Merkins X 20
THE THANG
Mosey to the base of the mount. 2 lines. Indian run to the top.
At the top split PAX into 2 groups (thanks Kuch for logistics)
1st group runs and tags opposite wall. 2nd stays and does 5 Burpees. Groups switch and go until 25 burpees are done.
Next same with something I cant remember then once more with Merks. Whatever it was was a pretty good workout. I was cussing the Q the entire time.
PEOPLES CHOICE MARY
Circled up for some Mary
JV suggested Doc W’s
Peaches suggested Penguins
Somebody came up with LBC’s
There were others but the full moon wiped my hard drive.
BENCHES
After the mount we descended the stairs (Yankee is hands down the fastest stair descender amongst the PAX) and grabbed some benches for some quick leg work/ dips
RLSU X 20
Dips X 20
LLSU X 20
Dips X 20
Decline Merks X 20
Back to the flag for count off, name o rama, announcements and intentions/ prayer followed by coffeeteria at PJ’s. Thanks for letting me lead. Sorry if I forgot you were there.
YHC has made it a habit to attend the Sunday morning workouts at the Renaissance as we can workout, have coffeeteria, and still be home by 8am before the house wakes up. One constant exercise that has showed up in each Q the last few weeks is Donkey Kicks on the back wall of NOMA – in fact, we now call Donkey Kicks – “Sunday Mornings”. The inspiration for today’s Q was Sunday Mornings and trying to incorporate some music into the work-out. So with the help of my family at the ranch – we set up a play list last night and made sure the Bluetooth speaker worked. Off we go……
7 pax met at the flag at 6am. Quick disclaimer and a short mosey to the grassy area between NOMA and adjacent to the lake for warm up. TRACK 1 – VAN HALEN’s – JUMP – played during the warm-up with each time we hear the word “Jump” the PAX did SSH. In between, PAX did some Imperial Walkers, Arm Circles, and Mountain Climbers to warm up.
TRACK 2 – THE BLACK EYED PEAS – LET’S GET IT STARTED (- RUNNIN’ RUNNIN’, RUNNIN’) – perfect song for indian run up and around delong drive in front of the museum
TRACK 3 – SURVIVOR – EYE OF THE TIGER – three minutes of Rocky Balboa’s in front of the museum
TRACK 4 – PETER GABRIEL – KISS THAT FROG – i am a huge fan of peter Gabriel so we had to incorporate one of his songs. For the length of the song perform flutter kicks – when Peter sings “Kiss that frog” – time to morph to Crunch frogs.
TRACK 5 – BEASTIE BOYS – BRASS MONKEY – hold the Al Gore, until “Brass Monkey” transition to monkey humpers. This was more monkey humpers than Al Gore. Around the time Belloq noticed the sunrise – a site to see this morning over the lake in front of NOMA.
TRACK 6 – IMAGINE DRAGONS – THUNDER – Dragon Walk on the neutral ground in front of NOMA about 30 yards.
TRACK 7 – LIONEL RICHIE – EASY LIKE SUNDAY MORNING – mosey to the rear wall of NOMA for some Sunday Mornings – aka Donkey Kicks. Hold Al Gore or People’s Chair throughout song – Each time Lionel belts out “Easy like Sunday Morning” time for 10-20 Donkey Kicks on count of YHC.
TRACK 8 – MAROON 5 – SUNDAY MORNING – No rain was falling so the PAX were in for more Sunday Mornings at NOMA – Incline shoulder taps with feet on back wall of NOMA with “Sunday Mornings” sprinkled throughout the song.
With about 7 minutes left circled at the flag for some Mary – each PAX led an exercise in cadence – LBC’s, boxcutters, Cockroaches, SSH, then with one minute left and Fracsac yet to lead – you guessed it 10 burpees.
Circle up for announcements and intentions. Enjoyed the opportunity to lead and had fun this morning. If you have not been to the Renaissance, come check it out on Sunday.
The Master Melvin is dedicated to the IPC this month, regardless of circumstances. For example, Frozone brought 2 FNG’s to the gloom, but may have failed to fully disclose what they would be doing. As the supplier of coupons, Frozone made sure there were enough to go around. These West Bank Pax don’t play around….
YHC made a stop at the AO the night before and measured out a 400m track WB style. Once T-Square gets that pull up bar in place, this AO is going to be the place to be when you feel like knocking out a Murph! But back to the here and now….
7 Pax, including 2 FNG’s hit the ground running with the week 2 IPC. This week was no joke, but YHC is glad he did it! A couple guys had to leave early, as this one ran over the normal time. Times have been entered in the spread sheet.
COT with Count off, Name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, FNG naming, and closed with a prayer to the Sky Q.
NMM – Welcome Roscoe (reference to Roscoe P Coltrain) and Hack Attack (Cyber Security guy). T-Claps for showing up and rocking the second week of the IPC! The WB is growing, men are getting stronger, and leaders are being created.
Thanks for allowing me to be part of this incredible organization!
YHC wanted to plan his second Q carefully after he personally perceived his VQ at Okwata over a year ago a failure. With Catfish in the PAX on Sundays, you don’t want to be remembered as the guy who bored him to the point that he decides to do burpees because you haven’t challenged him enough. I have been hinting that it would be a workout of yoga and when they saw me arrive in my favorite Lululemon shorts, I could see that the 8 other men who got out of bed this morning were worried we’d be stretching for 44 minutes with 1 burpee to make it count as a Sunday morning beat down according to Fracsac; however, I had a road trip in mind… Started with the disclaimer and circled up the 8 around YHC in the 85° gloom to start the workout. Warm up:
Abe Vigodas x 10 IC
Grass Grabbers x 10 IC
Sun Gods forward x 10 IC
Sun Gods reverse x 10 IC
SSH x 20 IC
Peter Parkers x 15 IC
Parker Peters x 15 IC
Recovered to our feet
The Track Thang: Moseyed to the practice track and planked for the 6. Bataan Death March with 3 burpees x 2 laps for 800 meters total.
The Foundry Thang: Moseyed to the Foundry for 8 stations one full cycle
Station 1: Snake Jump
Station 2: Big Boy Situps
Station 3: Run to track with 3 burpees and return (timer)
Station 4: Pull up
Station 5: Dips
Station 6: Irkins
Station 7: Derkins
Station 8: Flex Arm Hangs
The Wall Thang: Mosey to our wall on NOMA and plank for the 6. During plank, YHC held an informal poll to determine name for next exercise. Sunday Mornings or Sunny Sundays? Sunny Sundays was unanimous so we proceeded to do Sunny Sundays. Sunny Sundays were brought to us by Gideon from our brethren in Austin. The cycle includes the following:
Squat with back against the wall in a chair position. 10 air arm presses while holding chair position.
Go to all fours with hind side to wall for 5 donkey kicks.
Hold fifth donkey kick and walk legs up the wall into a handstand. Do one handstand body weight press. We rinse and repeated twice for a total of 3 cycles.
The Mary Thang: Moseyed back by flag and circled up for a little Mary:
LBC x 25 IC
Box cutters x 20 IC
Count off
Name-O-Rama
Announcements
Intentions
Knowing we have a new Iron PAX challenge starting Monday and given the clues to add construction equipment to the back of my truck over the coming week, I decided to go cardio heavy on our workout.
We lost Chips on the way due to a quick break and unfortunately I didn’t give him my plan so he ran around NOMA until we returned. T-Claps to Chips for not giving up. Also, T-Claps to Gideon for a beastly Flex Arm Hang which to be fair was done during Catfish’s turn to be our timer, but I still think his effort was outstanding.
Thank you all for the opportunity to lead these incredible men as we start our week. Remember safety and hydration in this heat.
YHC took advantage of Labor Day and posted at the new AO Chamber of Horrors to get the first opportunity of the week in for the IPC. To his delight, Short Bus made the trek as well. Would that mean the Master Melvin was going to be down 2 Pax? Hardly! YHC arrived a few minutes early with a 100 foot tape and some cones to set up the field.
At 0500, six devoted Pax were assembled around the flag planted on site. YHC gave a brief disclaimer, then mosey for a warmup:
SSH IC x 31 Abe Vigodas IC x 10 Grass Grabbers IC x 10 Arm Circled IC x 20
With the warmup completed, mosey to the cones for the main course, The IPC week 1 “Killer B’s”
Times for the Pax ranged from 28+ to 31+ with improvements from both Short Bus and YHC.
We had a nice breeze Monday morning when we arrived at the UNO Human Performance Center for the newly dubbed Chamber of Horrors. The instructions were simple – do the Iron Pax week 1 challenge, consisting of an aggregate 150 yards of broad jumping, 150 yards of bear crawling, 150 burpees, 150 big boy situps, and 150 Bonnie Blairs. The challenge itself was anything but simple. Everyone rose to the occasion anyway, and we all completed it in under 40 minutes. Breadsticks paced us at right around 31 minutes.
When I first began F3, I could not do a burpee. Rather, worse, I did not even know how to do a burpee. First, I did something of a squat thrust, completely omitting the merkin and the jump. In fact, I thought the guys jumping and clapping after each rep were taking a victory lap on me or something. Look at me, this is so easy I’m gonna let you know each time I complete one by jumping and clapping for myself. I thought my squat thrusts were pretty damn good, even if I could only do about 5 of them before exhaustion.
Then, I found out the jump portion was not optional. This makes a lot of sense in hindsight, and my only defense is that I function at something less than optimal mental processing at 5:30 in the morning, especially before I got used to it. Squat thrust + jump. Okay fine, I can do this, but I don’t have to like it.
Then I noticed the merkin part. Ohhhhhhh. When guys around me are generally saying to no one in particular “watch your form on those burpees”, they’re totally talking to me, right? Damn.
Since then, I have made burpee form something of a personal crusade. It’s funny how you can take something you’re bad at, and really focus on it, and all of a sudden, it’s not so bad anymore. You crack the code. By paying careful attention to each step AND committing to yourself to never do 9 when 10 is called, to never cheat on form, and to never accept less than your best, you can improve.
And so if I’m a bit of a burpee nazi with others sometimes, please accept my apologies. I wish someone had more directly told me that I was not doing burpees correctly early on in my F3 career. This is the form I at least attempt to emulate at all times:
Chest all the way to the ground; everything hits at once. Back straight.
If you ever see me doing them wrong or dogging them or you think I’m cutting a corner, please return the favor. Don’t let me get away with cheating myself, and I won’t let you get away with cheating yourself. Deal?
Afterwards, we gave prayers of thanks for all we have, and enjoyed a coffeeteria at Starbucks on Harrison.
There were no holes-in-one, but this is two backblasts-in-one…
FIRST: Typical turnout at Wolfpack Mountain with a sub-krewe of ruckers showing up for their training. Those compact packs easily outweigh a fully stocked golf bag. Serious respect.
Quick warm-up with SSH, mountain climbers, grass grabbers, and then mosey to WPM. YHC intended for all the golf participants to captain a team in order to earn mulligans during the tournament later that morning. Alas, only FracSac and yours truly emerged so we divided in half.
Bulk of the workout was ascending WPM with stops every level for 5 burpees, 10 merkins, and 20 air squats. Team FracSac prevailed and we regathered at the top for a round of Mary. Walking lounges across the top level, down the stairs to the benches for dips, and hustle back to the flag. Plank to failure rounded things out.
SECOND: Four of us played golf. It was a blast.
These guys played golf. (l-r: Babyface, FracSac, Quiche, Nine Lives)
Although turnout was lighter than expected, we still managed to have a great time. Quiche had to peel off shortly after the turn, I had to bail on 16 (s-l-o-w), but by all reports Babyface and FracSac finished out the 18 and crowned themselves inaugural co-champions.
Despite the low numbers, we learned a lot about the timing and format so be on the lookout for future golf details. We’re thinking next time will be in the late fall in City Park on a Saturday. More to come on that front…
