Full Assault on Soccer Arms (aka Deconstructed Partner Murph)

Full Assault on Soccer Arms (aka Deconstructed Partner Murph)

RockZero is a big AO.  Yuge, really.  Maybe two miles around the perimeter.  How in the world was YHC to Q a workout on this AO when all the #soccerarms could literally be a mile ahead of him?  #leadingfrombehind  With a direct assault on their soccer arms, that’s how.

The Thang:

10 pax assembled (later, 11)(including 3 pre-runners), with only two knowing what was in store.  After a lame disclaim, and even numbers of pax, we bolted off (ok, moseyed off) to begin our day.  “Car up!”  Scatter!  Like a bunch of ants after you’ve disturbed their ant hill, pax darted off in every direction as a car wheeled into the parking lot.  We didn’t recognize him at the time, so thinking he was an arriving church employee, we continued to mosey out of Entrance 4, taking a left on Rea.  YHC later checked the six to find a quickly moving pax, we planked up at the library entrance, and Rachel joined us as our 11th.

We continued our circuitous route, up Rea (yeah, it really is more Up than YHC realized), crossing at the light and making a left down 51, past the front of the church, and made another left into Entrance 1 of the church.  After a false stop by the Hot Box due to some misleading mumblechatter, initiated by YHC, we finally ceased this running nonsense by the playground, having covered just over 1.1 miles (YHC was shooting for 1.0 miles but was happy to over-deliver).

Partner up

Pax were told to line up in order of their highest-to-lowest number of max rep pullups.  Then, pax were paired up with their opposite ends of the line, in an effort to allow each man to push themselves, while keeping the group together.  4 groups of 2 + one group of 3.

Pullups

• P1 – pullups (duh) – max rep pullups until P2 returns
• P2 – run out of the playground enclosure, up the access road, to the dead tree (no, this one) and back to P1
• Flapjack & repeato
• Target = 150 pullups per team (225 for the 3-man group)

Mosey out of the playground to the parking area adjacent to the cemetery.

Merkins

• P1 – pushups (er, merkins)(full range of motion, not head bobbers) – max rep merkins until P2 returns
• P2 – run to that light pole (C2) and back to P1
• Flapjack & repeato
• Target = 300 merkins per team (450 for the 3-man group)
• When finished, Old-school situps with partner hand-slaps at the top.

When most groups were finished or nearly so (YHC had a schedule to keep), mosey to the parking area adjacent to the Hot Box.

Squats

• P1 – squats (full depth, please) – max rep squats until P2 returns
• P2 – run to that light pole (C2) and back to P1
• Flapjack & repeato
• Target = 450 squats per team (675 for the 3-man group)
• When finished, Old-school situps with partner hand-slaps at the top.

Return home

With most groups finished or finishing, we left for our closing mile home, following the circuitous route we came in on, allowing faster pax to travel at their own pace.  Again, old-school hand-slap partner situps for early arrivers/finishers (some chose to modify as necessary to preserve their #trampstamp).

Finisher

To ensure everyone received their full paid hour of fun (and because it’s rumored some non-runners like sprints), line up abreast for an AYG sprint across the parking lot.  (Icky Shuffle took home the trophy, despite YHC’s slight benefit from being the starter and Prohibition’s 15 second head start.)

Done

COT

Announcements:

1. Savage Race – May 13 – preblast info here
2. Charity Workday – Feb 20 – see Transporter in UC
3. Ronald McDonald house – Feb 17(?) – see Margo
4. Richard Sheltra 10k/5k – Apr 29 – Pineville – info here

Naked Moleskine:

After 3 years, 11 months, YHC had his VQ at The Rock, now RockZero.  For almost 2 years, YHC was site Q at Ascent, so that’s understandable.  He has no explanation for the remaining time.  With mixed emotions (excitement, anxiety, malaise, apathy, determination, deviousness, that burrito from last night, etc), YHC was determined to deliver.

Again, it’s a big AO with lots of options, but YHC isn’t super familiar with it beyond the soccer fields, parking lot (yuge), & North Face.  Not being a runner, esp not a very fast runner, the soccer fields were out.  Just did North Face a couple of weeks ago on a #recon post and slipped down twice (have since purchased trail shoes which are much better than slick road running shoes on wet steep grassy !@#$% hills), so that was out.

So, let’s focus on strength.  YHC has a reputation (good, bad, indifferent) for kettlebells, but that’s too easy.  Besides, you can come to Meathead (Thursdays at Elizabeth Lane ES) for that.  Then, like a ray of sunlight on an overcast day, The Murph came to mind.  It’s great, in that, it hits some of everything.  It has:  an opening mile run (which can/should be run as a near sprint but can also be throttled back to a mosey if needed), 100 pullups (hitting the back and biceps), 200 merkins (for the chest and triceps), 300 squats (for the legs and glutes), and a closing mile run (to finish off cardiovascularly).  But, how to adapt it to a group setting, allowing each pax to give their all whether they are strong or less so at any element?

The opening/closing miles were easy enough to keep as a group mosey.  Pullups seem to be the toughest for many, so that would be the match-up exercise, pairing the more capable with the pax still building their pullup capability or shedding their soccer arms.  From there, add in short runs for muscle recovery and allow runners to get their run on without leaving non-runners too far behind.  Partnering up should, theoretically double the reps for each exercise, but with the added running/rest breaks, only 50% was added to the number.

So, that was the method behind today’s seeming madness, a Deconstructed Partner Murph, and like the pretweet, it wasn’t #CSAUP because there was a point to it all, beyond just a beatdown.  Plus, if you’ve never completed The Murph on your own, now you’ve had a taste and should have some confidence for this May, when you’ll likely have an opportunity.

Good work by all today.  A little #grumblechatter here and there, but really, everyone seemed to embrace the challenge and buckle down to knock it out.  T-claps!  You’ll be better for it.  (and, perhaps, a little sore)  With the opening/closing miles + our running breaks, YHC had estimated a little over 3 miles, which was the AO standard at one point.  Today, we overachieved with 4.1 miles(!), in addition to our feats of strength.  Nice work, men!

Thanks, Flipper, for handing me the reins and to the pax for the opportunity to lead.  It’s always an honor.

Aye.