Backblast #183 - Mini-Star Course

June 2, 2019

YHC has been reading about the GORUCK Star Course a lot lately, so why not run our own mini-star course as part of our Sunday rucks?

Preblast via Slack 6/1/19

It’s the 1st Sunday (tomorrow) in June and we’re RUCKING. I’m thinking between 6-8 miles depending on how my M feels - that’s right boys...the ruck is co-ed.

Let’s start the ruck at 5:30 PM (earlier time) from Brewery Vivant.

Taking HC’s in the thread below.

AO – Brewery Vivant

Environment - 68 Degrees | 27% Humidity | Beautiful Day

[17:30 - Core Principles recited.  Disclaimer given to 6 PAX + 1 M] – Basic Bro, Bald Eagle, Snoop, Soft Spot, Hasselhoff, MAD COW’s M & MAD COW (QIC) 

The Thang

YHC explained what a GORUCK Star Course entailed. Then, everyone received a handout with the following:

The route you and your team choose will be your own, so choose wisely. At each location, your team must take a selfie in front of the iconic location.

  • Aquinas College Bookstore

  • Blodgett Hospital

  • Fulton Street Farmers Market

  • Harmony Brewing Company

  • Houseman Field

  • Martha's Vineyard Fine Wine & Gourmet Grocery

  • The Winchester

  • The Electric Cheetah

  • WOOD TV8

In total, the PAX rucked 6.64 miles over the duration of all the stops. Fun was had by all.

Count-O-Rama | Name-O-Rama

Its a pleasure,
MAD COW

Backblast #182 - OTB Hill Run

Having spent a week in Chicago at the NeoCon furniture show, YHC needed to get back on the wagon so I scheduled a black-ops workout for Friday morning.

Pax: SoftSpot, QIC Bald Eagle

Warm-o-Rama

20 SSH
Stretches

The Thang

2.3 mile run with a 200 ft elevation gain.
15x/10x/5x dips, merkins, squats
Grip Hangs

Short. Sweet. Simple - Exercise Ring Closed

Backblast #180 - 5K Wednesday

Wednesday June 5, 2019

AO: Calder Plaza

48°

Disclaimer and Core Principles recited to 3 PAX

Mad Cow, Soft Spot, Forrest QIC

Warm-O-Rama:

25 SSH (IC)
Stretch - Left, Right, Middle (10 second holds)

The Thang:

Running a lil. Approximately 5K or 3.136 to be exact.

Conquering Michigan hill, then through Heritage hill to Crescent Park for some heated stairs. Circuit (2 times around):

  • 5 burpees

  • 10 squats

  • 15 LBC’s

  • 20 Merkins

Ran out of time had to modify round 3 to 5 burpees and 20 squats. Back to the AO

Count-O-Rama / Name-O-Rama

COT

Running is good for you and your body.

Still running,

Forest

Backblast #179 Run club does speed work

Wednesday June 12, 2019

AO: Calder Plaza

58° / 67% Humidity / Wind 4mph S

Disclaimer and Core Principles recited to 5 PAX

Depends, Mad Cow, Forrest, Hasselhoff and Soft Spot, QIC.

Wednesday’s have really turned into the F3 Grand Rapids Run club. Each QIC has brought new things to our weekly 5k. Today YHC wanted to try a new warmup.

Warm-O-Rama:

Arriving promptly at 5:30 YHC had the PAX circle up to learn what he called the Merking Worm with a lunge twist.

I chose to call out the moves rather then try counting it out for the first time. It was something like this…

Start with standing and move down in the inch worm. When you reach the bottom perform a merkin before coming back up. Once you inch back, instead of standing up inch back out to plan and lunge your left foot foward to your hand. Then with the hand on the same side twist, raising your hand upwards. After a few second hold return to the lunge and inch back in the inch work. Now that we are halfway inch forward and perform another merkin. Inch back up and then inch forward to lunge with the right left. Twist with the right hand up and hold for a few seconds before returning to the lunge and inching back to full standing. That was One. YHC continued to call out the steps as the PAX performed the second, then OYO till we reached 5.

We then moved on to arm circles, forward, back, up and in front. We finished the warm up with some Cherry Pickers with a back clap 10 IC.

The Thang:

Complete a 5k. YHC wanted to mix some speed work in. With so many options and routes available YHC kept an eye on the watch to track the distance but did not have a set route. Directions were based on crosswalk lights to keep us moving.

As we set out we kept our pace under 10 min. I worked our ways to Heritage Hill so we could get a little hill work in. When we reached the hill we increased pace to the top. We continued on towards the high way and more speed work. We used the the overpasses as markers for our sprints. With two more sprints taken care of we were starting to evenly space out the sprints through the 5k. After the third sprint we enjoyed the decline of the hill as we worked our way back downtown for the final legs and sprints. We rounded the corner and completed the 5 sprint back to the AO for a few mintues of Mary.

4 MOM

PAX circled up for boat canoes. We held the position until a PAX called for the change. We complted 2 rounds and moved into the final exercise for the day.

Starfish Crunch 10 IC

Count-O-Rama / Name-O-Rama

COT

Some words for today. Don’t just setting for the consistent pace. Change it up now and then and continue to work for progress.

Overall the PAX did great. AVG pace of 9:17 with some stops to hold for 6. Few Plank holds for 10 count, 5 at High plank and 5 at low plank. Also we played it cool and held Al Gore while we waited for the crosswalk to turn.

Announcements:

We need a site Q for the GRCC Track, Thursday AO.

Soft Spot

Backblast #178 - Around the World in 80 Stairs

Date – 6/11/2019
AO – Stairs on Division

53 degrees and dry.

[0530]– Disclaimer and Core Principles given to 8 PAX: Gravy, Snoop, Mad Cow, Roid Rage, Sex Panther, Soft Spot, Hasselhoff, and Fresh Cream (QIC).

Warm-o-rama commenced with a two laps around the parking lot followed by:

Finkle Swings: 10 IC, flapjack
Squats: 10 IC
Arm Circles: 30 seconds, flapjack
Cherry Pickers with a Back Clap: 15 IC

PAX then proceeded to pick up coupons and mosey up to the top of the stairs…


The Thang: Around the World in 80 Stairs

As this was YHC’s first workout in weeks after a prolonged absence, the routine was set up to give people the opportunity to go faster for more work. PAX would perform 4 circuits of the following:

Bicep curls with coupons: 20 OYO
Squats with coupons: 20 OYO
Overhead press with coupons: 20 OYO
Bent over rows with coupons: 20 OYO
Run 40 stairs down and back up

Since 40 stairs down turned out to be only two flights, for the 2nd through 4th circuits, this was extended to approximately 60 steps down. PAX who made it back up to the top were instructed to perform the following: hold plank, hold Al Gore, merkins, hold Al Gore.

After completing the rounds, the PAX moseyed back to the AO where YHC introduced the group to a new exercise: the Sphinx Merkin. This is nearly all triceps and the PAX performed 5 reps.

The workout concluded with some minutes of merry consisting of the following:

LBCs: 10 IC
American Hammers: 20 IC
Freddie Mercuries: 15 IC
Big Boy Sit-ups: 10 OYO

Count-O-Rama | Name-O-Rama

Wisdom came from the 8th Century Buddhist monk Shantideva:
May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector of those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need
For as long as space endures,
And for as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I, too, abide
To dispel the misery of the world

·       Fresh Cream

BackBlast #177-Racing on All Fours

Preblast via Slack 6/7/19

I have the Q tomorrow.  There will be some good friencly competition.  I hope your shoulders are loose because we are going to be on all fours a lot.  No coupons necessary.  Can I get those HC’s?

AO-The Zoo

58 degrees with no precipitation

Core principles recited.  Disclaimer given to 13 PAX.  Bald Eagle, Dapends, Radio, Bullwinkle, Forrest, Mad Cow, Miss Daisy, Hasselhoff, Reboot, Stalin, Rick Flair, Snoop, and Less (QIC)

Warm-O-Rama

Motivators starting at 10 going down to 5.  After 10 did one burpee. After 9 did 2 burpees. After 8 did 3 burpees.  After 7 did 4 burpees.  After 6 did 5 burpees.  After 5 did 6 burpees.

20 Merkins

15 Rubber band stretches to toes in cadence

15 Willie Mays Hayes in cadence

15 Arm circles forward in cadence

15 Arm circles backwards in cadence

The Thang

This workout was all about head to head competition.  The Pax were on all fours doing races rotating between Bear Crawl, Crab Walk, and Crawl Bear with Prizes for the winners and penalties for the losers.  This was all split up into three periods in which the Pax would mosey laps around the course after the first and second period.

First thing the Pax had to do was get some good pairings for the races, so they started off by everyone doing a bear crawl race for 60 yards.  They were then paired off by the pax members nearest to each other in the race.

The following were the prizes and penalties that were rotated between for the races:

Prizes-Chillcut Planks for duration of penalty, 15 Merkins, 15 Plank Jacks, Al Gore for duration of penalty

Penalties-15 Burpees, 20 Lunges (Each leg counts as one), 20 squats, 16 Twizzlers, 10 Burpees

The First race was a 60 yard Crab Walk followed by prizes and penalties

The second race was a 40 yard Crawl Bear followed by prizes and penalties

The Third race was a 40 yard Bear Crawl followed by prizes and penalties

The Pax then moseyed two times around the course at the end of the first period

The Fourth race was a 40 yard crab walk followed by prizes and penalties

The Fifth race was a 40 yard Crawl Bear followed by prizes and penalties

The Pax then stopped to do a merkin contest.  Everyone lined up across from one another.  One side of the line did planks while the other side was doing the contest.  A person on the plank side would keep saying down as the other side would do merkins.  The last pax member still left doing merkins at the end won.  Then we switched to the other side of the line for the merkin contest.  Congratulations to Forrest and Radio on winning the contests!

The Pax then moseyed one time around the course at the end of the Second period

The Sixth race was a 40 yard Bear Crawl followed by prizes and penalties

The Seventh race, which concluded the head to head competitions was a 40 yard crab walk.  At the end of this the whole pax did 10 burpees together

Mary

20 American Hammers in Cadence

20 Flutter Kicks in Cadence

25 LBC’s in Cadence

10 Nolan Ryan’s in Cadence for each arm

Circle Merkins 5 each Pax member

Announcements

Snoop has taken the site Q for Tuesdays, Hasslehoff has taken the site Q for Wednesdays, and Soft Spot has taken the site Q for Saturdays.  Thanks to all three of these guys for stepping up.  We are still looking for a site Q for Thursdays.

 Count-O-Rama

Name-O-Rama

Leaders Message

“Today is an opportunity.  You either get better, or you get worse.  You never stay the same”

Either you are practicing doing things the right way and reinforcing good habits, or you are practicing doing things the wrong way and reinforcing bad habits.  There is simply no in between.

 

More or Less,

Less

 

Backblast #175 - Keep it Movin / Founders HH

Date – 6/5/2019
AO – Founders Brewing: 76 degrees, humid and breezy

[1800 – Core Principles and Disclaimer given]

Basic Bro, Reboot, Sham Wow, Snoop, Gravy 

PAX Began w a Warm o Rama of
30 SSH, then a sidewalk bear crawl interrupted by 10 clerkins 

The Thang: Keep it Moving

 Workout was as follows:

 Mosey Indian run style to the old train depot
15 dips
15 dips
20 dips
Mosey to Wealthy and Market
Plank waiting for crossing light
Mosey to Wealthy and Front
10 jump squats with an Al Gore
Slow Lunge walk across Wealthy Street Bridge over the river
10 monkey humpers
Mosey back to old train depot
15 incline merkins
15 incline merkins
20 incline merkins
Mosey back to AO.  

Our final mosey included a modification intended to keep the whole line moving, while including a slow but determined SIX.

Mosey with a dropback: PAX in front steps to the side and runs to the back of the line, then calls for the lead PAX to do the same. Lead PAX can move immediately or choose to proceed until he is ready to dropback


Final Exercise was a plank on the curb til the first pax dropped. Snoop held on as long as he could but eventually a core wiggle did him in.

Count-O-Rama | Name-O-Rama

Our wisdom reminder for the day: Modify as needed.

All PAX proceeded inside for HH accompanied by Ms and a few sad clowns who showed up for libations but weren’t ready to get sweaty. They were quickly forgiven for their lack of athletic commitment, and HH was deemed Happy.

·       Gravy

BB #176 - Stairway to Seven

Date: June 6, 2019

AO: GRCC Track

63° / 99% Humidity / 4.0mph SW Wind / 29.61in Pressure

Core Principles and Disclaimer recited to 9 PAX

Mad Cow, Basic Bro, Bald Eagle, Roid Rage, S.P., Gravy, Dapends, Soft Spot, Snoop (QIC)

Warm-o-Rama
Cherry Pickers with a Back Clap IC X20
Motivators from 6.

The Thang

Mosey towards the fancy stairs. We stopped at the GRCC Calkins Science Center for a little Get Low Action.

Pax were instructed to hold people’s chair on the wall, until the beat dropped, then twerk to the music. AKA, squats in cadence to the beat. The song then repeats, but this time, the PAX held Merkins until the beat dropped, then AMRAP merkins until the end of the song.

For those reading this BB and would like to picture 9 HIM “twerking” to some dank dupstep, use the below for your listening pleasure.

Once the PAX got their move on, we moseyed the to the bottom of the fancy stairs for some Stairway to Seven.

1 Burpee (At Bottom)
1 Declined Merkin (At Bottom)
Run to Top
1 Squat (At Top)
Run to Bottom
Increase rep count to 2.

Rinse and repeat until the rep count of each exercise is 7, then go back to down one. It was a planned 14 trips up and down the stairs, but we had to modify slightly due to time.

Once it was go time, the PAX circled at the bottom and we did 10 Burpees IC, 7 Merkins IC, Ran up the stairs, 7 Squats IC...Mosey back to the AO.

4MoM
LBCs IC X25 (@Basic Bro)
James Bond (@S.P.)
WW1 to BBS X10(@Mad Cow)

Count-o-Rama/Name-o-Rama

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
— Unknown

COT



Drop It Like It’s Hot

-Snoop







Backblast #174 - Coupons Up Top

Date – 6/4/2019
AO – Stairs on Division

60 degrees and dry.

[0530]– Disclaimer and Core Principles skipped. YHC was eager to get right to it.

Warm a rama commenced with an immediate coupon carry from the parking lot to the stairs, followed by a coupon-less stair hike IC.

Sidestraddle hops: 30 IC 

Disclaimer belatedly given to 9 PAX: Gravy, Basic Bro, Snoop, Roid Rage, Forrest, Mad Cow, Rehab, Radio, Soft Spot. Core Principles neglected and YHC vowed to remember next time.
Next exercise: Mosey around Coit Park with some mumblechatter 


The Thang: Coupons up Top

Mumblechatter ceased as soon as The Thang began.
PAX Partnered up.

Man up top did merkins Amrap while partner went to the bottom and returned with a coupon. Flapjacked.
PAX Pair performed 50 blockees together, one partner moving down the stairs and back up

PAX Pair performed 150 curls together, one partner moving down the stairs and back up
Total stair ascent over the duration of the workout was six, one with coupon.

PAX completed the workout with a second Coit Park Mosey and returned to the AO base with coupons, followed by 25 Freddy Mercuries.

Count-O-Rama | Name-O-Rama

QIC went light on the wisdom, and added 10 Birthday Burpees in honor of Rehab’s 39th.

·       Gravy

Backblast #173 - Another Good F3 Workout

Preblast Via Slack: I’ve got the Q tomorrow! Who’s down for a “Good F3 Workout”? Nothing fancy about this one! SPECIAL REQUEST: If you have a rucksack, can you bring it with you tomorrow so that anyone who is interested in checking out the options can do so?

AO: John Ball Park

63° / 80% Humidity

[Core Principles and Disclaimer recited to 11 PAX -Mad Cow, Stalin, Basic Bro, Less, Snoop, Roid Rage, Miss Daisy, Gravy, Radio, Dapends, Kraut (QIC)]

Warm-o-Rama
Motivators from 5
10 Finkel Swings - Flap Jack
15 Cherry Pickers with a Back Clap IC

The Thang:
A classic POAS Workout - the Pax would complete an exercise and then mosey for a little bit:
25 Merkins
25 Squats
25 Dirty Hooks Ups in the Tunnel of Love
25 BBS
Sprint up Sibley St Tunnel
25 Ranger Merkins
25 Lunges (Each Leg)
Sprint down Sibley St Tunnel
25 LBCs

At this point, YHC asked what time it was, and was informed that it was only 7:20am. As that had been the end of my plan, the rest was improvised:
25 Wide Stance Squats
300ft Sandbag Carry (each arm)
25 Dips
25 Overhead Claps
30 Sec Horizontal Arm Hold
15 Second 45 degree up Arm Hold
Trail Run through the forest off the stairs
Bear Crawl Merkins Up Woodland Hill (4 steps, then merkin)
Crawl Bear Down Hill
Trail Run through the woods, then mosey back to AO

Burpees IC until the 8am church bells (20 reps completed)

T-Claps to both Roid Rage and Basic Bro - who did this mornings workout with 30lbs rucks

Announcements:
Roid Rage and M as well as Radio and M are expecting - congratulations to both. F3GR is looking for a Site Q for John Ball, let Kraut know if you are interested. Mad Cow talked about the GrowRuck call - F3GR is looking to get 10+ PAX (currently at 5)

Count-O-Rama / Name-O-Rama / COT

Coffeteria @ Rower’s Club

Kraut - Out

Backblast #172 - Skunk Run

May 29, 2019

 

“No, I don’t want no skunk. A skunk is a PAX that can’t get no love from me.”   ~TLC

This may seem insensitive, but it was born out of an attempt to build empathy in a fun way. In honor of a previous work out where Tiny Tomato earned his new name Sex Panther. (Anchorman movie reference.)

AO – Calder Plaza
Breezy | 59 degrees | 40% chance of rain

[0530 – Core Principles recited. Disclaimer given to 5 PAX] –Hasselhoff, Bald Eagle, Radio, Gravy, Dapends(QIC)

Warm-O-Rama

·       25 SSH (IC)

·       15 Arm Circles (IC)

·       15 Cherry Pickers with a Back Clap (IC)

·       25 SSH (IC)

·       15 Mountain Climbers (IC)

·       20 Merkins (IC)

The Thang:

For our Wednesday Fun Run I wanted to find a way for each pack to be the follower and the leader. Originally, I had guaranteed a skunk free run, but as Kraut kindly pointed out, that was unrealistic. I decided to fill the run with skunks.  After our warm up I explained the plan. We were to follow a 1.37 mile loop (south two blocks to pearl, west over the river to Scribner, turn north around the Ford Presidential Library to Bridge, turn right and head east back to Ottawa and back past the Calder). Along this path we would incorporate some pain stations, after all PAXs completed the exercise someone was called out as the skunk. They had to do 15 merkins while the rest of the group ran on until they caught up. Once the group got to a corner the skunk would lead an exercise of their choosing and call out the next skunk.

We were able to make two loops in time for 2 minutes-of-mary back at the Calder.

5 PAX performed…from what I remember
20 burpies
45 merkins
10 copperhead squats
10 leg dips (10 each)
20 WW2 situps
15 dirty hookups

Best part was running and yelling skunk through the heart of the city.

Announcements

·       Would be helpful to work on our pre-blast communications to the PAXs. We can keep some surprises but give a heads up to the group on slack. EX: coupons Y/N, lots of running, little running, games, rucking, running with coupons or competition based.

·       Props for Roid Rage for being 1FQ

·       Prayers to Forest and his fam, reach out as you can.

Count-O-Rama | Name-O-Rama

Stay Weird 💩 Depends

 

Backblast #171 - Cheeseburger in Paradise

Date: May 30, 2019

AO: GRCC Track

57° / 99% Humidity

[Core Principles and Disclaimer recited to 9 PAX -Mad Cow, Hasselfhoff, Stalin, Basic Bro, Forrest, Kraut, Less, Fake ID (F3 Naperville) Snoop (QIC)]

Warm-o-Rama

Capri (Soft Spot) Lap
High Knees IC X20
Cherry Pickers with a Back Clap IC X15
Motivators from 6.

The Thang

YHC, was throwing around cheeseburger emojis all over the Slack’s preblast thread. Of course, the Thang was going to have a cheeseburger theme and what restaurant does everyone think of when thinking about delicious cheeseburgers: McDonald’s. This morning, the PAX was going to be enjoying the iconic Quarter Pounder.

YHC set up lines of cones on the field ¼ of the distance from the goal, ½ the distance, and ¾ the distance, essentially splitting the field in quarters.

The PAX lined up on the goal line and were instructed to sprint to ¼ distance line, rep out 25 merkin, run backwards back to the goal line, 1 burpee, then hold Plank for the entire PAX to be ready for round 2. Rinse and repeat until the entire field was traversed.

Sprint ¼ Distance - 25 Merkins - Run Backwards to back to Goal - 1 Burpee
Sprint ½ Distance - 50 Squats - Run Backwards to back to Goal - 2 Burpees
Sprint ¾ Distance - 75 Mountain Climbers - Run Backwards to back to Goal - 3 Burpees
Sprint Entire Distance - 100 SSH - Run Backwards to back to Goal - 4 Burpees

Rochamburpees

PAX partnered up for a friendly game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. YHC instructed the PAX to hold Chillcut Plank (Plank on Elbows) facing their opponent. YHC called out 1-2-3 shoot, where all the PAX threw either, rock, paper or scissors. If battle resulted in a tie, both PAX did a merkin, else the loser would do a burpee and the winner would do a merkin. 8 rounds were accomplished while the PAX held plank the entire time and the rep count increased by one each round.  Round 1: 1 Rep Round 8: 8 Reps

I promised a Double Cheeseburger this morning, so rinse and repeat on the Thang, but with different exercises.

Sprint ¼ Distance - 25 BBS - Run Backwards to back to Goal - 1 Burpee
Sprint ½ Distance - 50 Lunges - Run Backwards to back to Goal - 2 Burpees
Sprint ¾ Distance - 75 Plank Jacks - Run Backwards to back to Goal - 3 Burpees

Modification on the last round
Mosey 1/4 - 25 SSH - Mosey Additional 1/4 - 25 SSH - Mosey Additional 1/4 - 25 SSH - Mosey Additional ¼ - 25 SSH

Time was winding down, so last exercise called was an AYG sprint from post to post on the field. Groups of two PAX were released at a time for head to head races.

5MoM
Flutter Kicks IC X15 (@Kraut)
Freddy Mercury IC X15 (@Fake ID)
James Bond IC (@Mad Cow)

Count-o-Rama/Name-o-Rama

COT

If learning is an important part of leadership, then it follows humility is an essential attribute as well. After all, you can’t learn new things if you cannot admit you’re a work in progress. Be open to recognizing your own faults, so you can grow as both a leader and a human being.

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.”  – Andrew Carnegie

Drop It Like It’s Hot

-Snoop

 


Backblast #169 - EXTERMINATORS

Preblast via Slack: Somebody let Kraut have the Q tomorrow morning! Who's down for a beat down in the Gloom? Weather looks AWESOME, so let's see those HCs! Bring a Coupon!

AO - Hospital Hill
Weather: 65F / Intermittent Rain

0530 - Core Principles Recited to 10 PAX - MAD COW, Hasselhoff, Stalin, Bald Eagle, Basic Bro, Snoop, Rehab, Roid Rage, Sex Panther, and Kraut (QIC)

Warm-O-Rama
Capri Lap
Motivators from 5
10 Finkle Swings
15 Cherry Pickers w/ Back Clap

The Thang
At the F3GR one year anniversary convergence Urkel taught us about “Terminators”. Immediately after that, Hasselhoff looked at YHC and said “Don’t get any ideas”

EXTERMINATORS:
PAX Complete the following exercises, in cadence, starting from the Q specified number of reps, and working down.

  • Blockees

  • Coupon Lunges

  • Coupon Curls

  • American Sledge Hammers (American Hammer w/ a coupon)

  • Dead Lifts

  • Bent Over Rows

YHC advised the PAX that we would be starting at 10. Just like Motivators, 10 reps of each exercise were completed, then 9, 8, 7, 6…. etc.

The PAX were really pushing today, and it had started to rain lightly around 8 giving the PAX some refreshment. We reached the last round about 5 minutes ahead of schedule, so YHC called the audible and we went back to 10 instead of doing a round of 1. That made a total of 64 reps of each exercise!

With a few minutes to spare before Mary, YHC asked the PAX to line up under the goal posts on the field, with their coupons held over their heads. One trip down to the other goal posts and then back, and you could only move when your coupon was up. If you needed to take a break, you had to stop walking. All of the PAX gave it AYG and finished strong.

6 Minutes of Mary
Since today’s workout had been coupon themed, YHC decided to scour the Exicon for coupon related Mary (beyond the American Sledge Hammers we had already done)

  • 16 Heavy Freddies - Freddie Mercurys but with a coupon on your hands

  • 14 Heavy Freddies (Much Mumblechatter was heard about calling these out again)

  • 20 Flutter Kicks with your coupon held up

Announcements: MAD COW has the Q on Saturday. There was some discussion of a Murph Challenge on Monday but not many were able to make it, The Shovelflag needs to be upgraded, and a call for more Grow Ruck sign ups (Verbal HCs from Hasselhoff and Roid Rage)

Count-O-Rama / Name-O-Rama

COT Message: “Man becomes aware of danger when he feels himself opposed to something more powerful than himself. In other words, when he feels his own armament is unequal to that of the enemy who oppose him. It is important for a man to lose his individual feeling and to become an integral part of the battalion, division, and army to which he belongs. The larger the unit of which he feels himself a member, the larger will be the estimation of his own armament and the less will be his fear” Bernard “Monty” Montgomery

So get out there, and get after it, knowing that you have a strong team with you.

Kraut - Out

#168 Backblast - Ups and Downs

May 21, 2019

AO: The Stairs

39F / 89% Humidity / 2 NE Wind

Core Principles and Disclaimer Given to 12 PAX

S.P. (Sex Panther formally known as Tiny Tom), Snoop, Bald Eagle, mad Cow, BasicBro, Rehab, Gravy, Forrest, Radio, Depends, Trinity (Guest from Toledo) QIC - Soft Spot

Pre Blast call to the HIMs. Tomorrow is filled with Ups and Downs, but we will face them together. Who is a HC?

Warm-O-Rama

PAX started with a Capri Lap as we came back to the circle Tiny Tom was waiting smelling his shirt. Do I stink? Then the down draft hit. Skunk! It was clear why he was late. Rounding the corner not far from the AO the smelly friend was waiting to give Tiny Tom a new name.

-After some mumble chatter the PAX moved into some Arm Circles.

15 (4 count)IC forward, flapjack. Above the head and out in front. No rest between sets.

-Circle of goofballs. The PAX would perform goofballs, like climbing a ladder, then in turn each PAX would call down. We would perform a burpee then back to the goofballs.

After we completed the 12th burpee we moved to the stairs for the Thang.

The Thang

YHC Explained that we will perform some exercise at both the top and bottom of the stairs. So we started.

  1. UP - Copperhead Squats 15 (4 count) IC When the PAX reached the top the held plank for everyone to arrive. Then a 10sec hold. Down - Once everyone was down we held plank for 6 to arrive and then a 10 sec hold again before. Russian Dips 25 (4 count) IC

Mad Cow brought 3 sandbags for me today. Now we were to put them to use. For extra credit the PAX took turns carrying them up/down the stairs.

2. UP - Burpee Brigade - PAX lined up. The first PAX would pass a sandbag then perform a burpee, rinse and repeat until all sandbags were passed. After the last sandbag was passed, hold Al Gore until the last PAX finished his burpee. Rinse and Repate until each PAX passed left and right 2 times. Down - After our plank hold we headed back up.

3. UP- Wheel of Merkins 6 IC each side starting with Right hand elevated. Down - Plank hold

4. UP - Sprints and Lunges. The PAX lined up 3 in a row for Sprints. The rest would perform alternating lunges in place. Once the first row of 3 reached the end they would perform lunges. Rinse and repeat until all PAX made it back. Down-

5. We had enough time to make one quick round trip. UP and Down with no rest. Then back to the AO.

3MOM

15 IC Starfish Crunch

10 Freedy Mercury

10 American Hammers

Count-o-Rama / Name-o-Rama

New naming of Tiny Tom. There were some great honorable mentions, but after being skunked, only the Sex Panther would hold scent.

Soft Spot

Backblast #167 – Big A** Rectangle

5/22/19

It was an early morning in the gloom and 6 PAX came together for an early morning run/beat down in the gloom.  #5KWednesday

AO – Calder Plaza

50 degrees and very light sprinkling

 

[0530 – Core Principles recited.  Disclaimer given to 6 PAX] – Mad Cow, Bald Eagle, Soft Spot, Miss Daisy, Snoop, Hasselhoff (QIC)

 

Warm-O-Rama

Deconstructed Burpee:

  • 10 Squats (IC)

  • 10 Groiners (start with hands at feet) (IC)

  • 10 Merkins (IC)

  • 10 Groiners (start at plank position) (IC)

  • 10 Squats (start at bottom) (IC)

  • 10 Bobby Hurley (IC)

10 Burpees (IC)

The Thang:

                We moseyed through the west side and downtown Grand Rapids for a 3.4 mile jog.  We kept a pace between 9:00 and 9:30 per mile, some faster than others. 

20 penalty Merkins for tardiness

Count-O-Rama – Name-O-Rama

Moleskin

Announcements:

DM was diagnosed with degenerative muscular disease, prayers for him and his family.

 

The beaches are safe,

Hasselhoff

Backblast #165 - Lets call an Audible

May 15, 2019

AO: Calder

Core Principles and Disclaimer recited to 6 PAX

Mad Cow, Basic Bro, Forrest, Bald Eagle, Hasselfhoff,

QIC Soft Spot.

Wednesdays are a great time to get some more miles in with our workouts. We heard there were some guest from Mint Hill, NC joining us for the beatdown. We started promptly at 5:30 with some exercises to get us warmed up and a little extra time if they were running late. 

Warm-o-Rama
20 SSH 
Stretches 10 sec hold leaning to the left, middle, right then widening stance and repeat. 

Bald Eagle wanted to check his phone and see if they messaged him. We took a mozy down the street to his vehicle. 

The PAX went into an Al Gore for 10sec while he grabbed his phone. Then as he checked we moved into a plank hold after another 10 seconds, we then continued with a plank twist, left side then right.

The Thang
The thang started with the hunt for Othello. YHC decided to call an audible on the route and see if we could meet up with Othello. The PAX set out for the stairs, our Tuesday AO. We reached the stairs and took a trip to the top.  While we were at the top we took advantage of the spot for some Russian Dips and Wheel of Merkins. At this time the PAX was unable to meet up with our guest for this beatdown. YHC took a quick view of the map and set up a new route as the PAX went to the 6th Street bridge.  

The PAX lined up on each side of the bridge. Two would sprint to the other end of the bridge as the rest would perform burpees. Once they reached the other side, they would perform burpees until the rest of the PAX reached the other side. From there we continued our run. As we ran along the riverside path we took opportunities for added stairs. During our run to the next crossing, we were held up on a crossing street. The PAX played it cool and held Al Gore until it was clear. We finally made it to the walking bridge next to the park. The PAX lined up in 3. We would sprint to the other side as the rest performed Merkins. Once we crossed it was our turn to perform Merkins until they reached us.  After we all crossed we headed back to the AO. 

We reached the AO with 2.95 Miles in. After a Capri lap around the Calder, we hit out 5k goal.

We finished up with another round of stretches. We may have some core work, but YHC took to long to recap this backblast. 

COT

Count-o-Rama/Name-o-Rama

Announcements

We had a special workout on Friday with our guest from Mint Hill. 

Soft Spot




Backblast #164 - Wombats, Rhinos and Stingrays

Date - 5-18-19

0700 – Core Principles recited. Disclaimer given to 12 PAX – Madcow, Roid Rage, Soft Spot, Hasselhoff (Wombats), Stalin, Snoop, Dapends, Co-QIC Bald Eagle (Rhinos) Less, Repo, Ric Flair, Co-QIC- Radio (Stingrays)

AO - John Ball Park

WARM-O-RAMA

20 Side Straddle Hops (IC)

Imperial Walkers (IC)

Hillbillies (IC)

Various Stretches

Capri Lap

The Thang

PAX were split up into 3 teams of 4; Wombats, Rhinos and Stingrays. Teams were picked by 3 captains, see teams above. The names of the teams came from disc golf discs that Bald Eagle brought. There were multiple challenges and the winning team got 1 point, 2 points for 2nd and 3 points for third. Lowest point total won overall competition and a coffee.

Challenge 1: Shuttle run to 3 different cones.

First PAX of each team ran to the closest cone and back to hand off the disc to the next PAX. Each member of the team would sprint to the closest cone, then the 2nd cone, and finally the last cone.

Challenge 2: Hold a coupon at a 90 degree curl position as long as you can

Each PAX had a coupon and held it out like they were mid curl. Less and Soft Spot killed it and held it out so long that we got bored enough to give each of the their teams 1 point.

Challenge 3: Bear Crawl, Lunges with Coupon, Bear Crawl Relay

2 Pax of each team were on one end and 2 on the other. One side started with bear crawls to a coupon. They lifted the coupon above their head for lunges to the next cone where they started bear crawling again until reaching the the 2nd PAX. Each PAX did this until finally reaching the finish line.

Challenge 4: Bucket Brigade

Each team mosied to the stairs with one coupon. Each team did the bucket brigade with the coupon up the stairs.

Challenge 5: Mericans

1 PAX from each team did incline mericans in cadence until there was only one PAX left doing mericans. The 2nd PAX from each team did decline mericans this way and the 3rd and 4th did regular mericans the same way.

Challenge 6: Disc sprints

Each team threw a disc from the other team. Each team had to retrieve their disc, bring it back and then throw whichever team came back with a disc first. The next PAX would run to get their disc until all 4 PAX of each team had to sprint to get their disc one time.

Count-O-Rama | Name-O-Rama

WOMBATS WIN

-Radio and Bald Eagle

Backblast #163 - Simply Stairs

YHC made a bit of a gaffe early on in the week and responded to an email inquiring about workout locations while on a Monday flight home, and ended up giving a visiting pax the wrong AO location. This led us to ensure our website was fully current, and also led me to want to make it up to Othello by Q-ing an unscheduled workout at The Stairs.

Pax: Othello (F3 MECA), Lover Boy (F3 MECA), Radio, Snoop, Soft Spot, QIC - Bald Eagle.

The pre-blast was straightforward - we were going to be climbing our spectacular stairs 10 times for a total of 1450 steps. YHC under-promised and we ended up ascending the stairs 11 times (or 12 in some cases).

WARM-O-RAMA

SSH - 25 IC
Windmills - 15 IC
Willy Mayes Hayes - 10x
Stretch

THE THANG

Mosey to Stairs

Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base
Climb 145 Stairs, Return to Base

T-Claps to Radio for pushing the pace and knocking out 12 trips up and down.

The average pace for the 11 trips was 2:42 per round trip, which was pretty solid for that duration. Before F3, 10 trips up & down in 30 minutes felt good, after a year we’ve bumped that to 11 trips up & down in 30 mins.

We gained 720 ft of elevation, and traveled just over 1 mile of distance while killing 500 calories.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Great to have Othello & Lover Boy in town from F3 MECA.

  • Othello reminded us to be mindful of the recent school shooting at UNCC, and to be on the lookout for people who may need help.

  • YHC & Radio have the Q tomorrow.