Back in the day, YHC was really into the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. One of the few I remember was called The Cave of Time, where you enter this cave and, depending on the path you choose, you might find yourself stuck in an Ice Age, or in the Jurassic Era, or in a never-ending time loop. The great thing about these books is that there were many, many bad endings. If the series was written today, every ending would probably be a happy one. But no, in the 80’s, death awaited at every turn!
So much like The Cave of Time, the 28 pax who posted were faced with a similar “choose your own adventure”™: take the path to the left, and follow Bushwacker into the world of pain known as The Iron Pax Challenge; or take the path to the right, and follow YHC into a potentially less painful but hopefully equally rewarding beatdown. As in the books, misery awaited the pax in both paths! (Obviously, YHC is a sucker for bad endings.)
A couple of new faces, so a hastily given disclaimer was issued, before launching into:
Warmorama: Good mornings, arm circles, torso twists, IW’s, Seal Jacks, mountain climbers, plank jacks, and SSHs.
The Iron Paxers took off with Bush to begin their timed misery, while the rest of us moseyed to the splash pad, stopping at each intersection for a quick round of exercises:
@ Marigny:
- 20 Wide armed merkins
- 20 Jump squats IC
- 20 LBCs IC
@ Lamarque:
- 20 Diamond merkins
- 20 Sister Mary’s IC
- 20 Leg raises IC
@ Foy:
- 20 T-merkins
- 20 Monkey humpers IC
- 20 V-ups OYO
Finally at the playground, time for a quick COP:
- Circle Burp! (high knees while each of the pax drop for 3 burpees)
- Then, Al Gore while each of the pax knock out 3 jump squats
Over to the curb for a set of 11’s:
- 1 Mike Tyson, bear crawl to opposite curb, 10 star jumps, continue until numbers are reversed.
Here’s where things got brutal. YHC had heard of Mike Tysons (which involve planking with your feet on the curb, doing a horizontal squat, then back out to plank for a merkin – that’s one), but never actually tried them. Combining those with bear crawls for a set of 11’s was one of those “it looked good on paper!” moments. Nevertheless, the pax pushed on, unaware that YHC would call it about 3/4ths of the way in. T-claps to the younger men in our group who put in a heroic effort here.
And finally, one more routine just for Jose 10k (only two more days to fill that jug!): Sprints! P1 sprints, while P2 does: Peter Parkers, then rinse and repeat with plank jacks.
With time running short, time for a Bataan Death March back to the flag (t-claps to Shooter for picking up the six).
The Iron Pax men were still wandering around looking like someone hit them with a hammer, but YHC was able to convince a few to drop to their six for an abbreviated Mary of Dollies and Rosalitas. T-claps to all the men who attempted the challenge this week, regardless of times. It was a tough one.
Countdown, nameorama, and naming of FNGs. YHC is very bad at naming FNG’s, so apologies to the new guys. Welcome Cucumber, Squid, and… TruCoat! (That’s right, there was a post-coffeteria renaming of our final FNG.) It was determined by the two co-Q’s that Woodchuck was just too lame. So in a nod to the movie Fargo, he was renamed for the following scene:
Mathlete prayed us out, with intentions for Legal’s friend, and everyone made their way over for some coffee… some even got a lift in Amnesia’s sweet new ride!
Thank you men for the tremendous push this morning!
