A Mongol Leads a Bunch of Savages at the Matrix

A Mongol Leads a Bunch of Savages at the Matrix

SUMMARY

21 men (including 1 FNG) showed up at The Matrix for a last minute obstacle course training cram session, led by the Mongolian Banana, ahead of this weekend’s Savage Race.  Shovel flags (F3 Hot Tubs, and The Matrix) were planted, and thank goodness no one else showed up or else there would not have been enough gear…. teams of 3 were formed for some HIIT. Suppose credit should be given to Paper Jam and Madison for a prerun, even though they COULD have helped YHC set up stations #lonely.  Madison gets a free pass, for collecting a TON of gear for the Charlotte Rescue Mission and Men’s Shelter workouts MIP and Fortitude.  In the end, everyone should have issues writing with a pen today, squeezing a tube of toothpaste, and … whatever else requires some level of grip strength (use your imagination… or NOT).

THE THANG

The objective of the day, was to simulate a little bit of the Savage OCR Race that 50+ A51/SOB/UC PAX are participating in.  That means sprinting from one obstacle to another, conquering the obstacle, and hoping you have enough grip strength to make it to the finish line with 100% completion.  Failure to complete an obstacle for ELITES results in a DNF time.  A little different rules for the Open, but no one wants to fail an obstacle.  After a quick lap around the parking lot to loosen the legs, instructions were given in High and Low plank position to PAX to allow YHC to “hear the sound of my own voice, and show off the chesticle strength that benched 41.99 reps of 135lbs at the BROlympics”  VIDEO EVIDENCE…. at least that’s what ALF ws yapping… or something like that. SMH.  Anyway, plan was to complete 2 rounds at 7 stations, spending 2:20 at each station, and sprinting :30 to a point and back during the transition. 40min of HIIT total.

• Station 1: Dead-arm-hang / toes-2-bar at the pullup bars (grip/core)
• Station 2: Supine rope pullups with thick rope (grip / back)
• Station 3: ~20lb sandbag tosses to partner (total body)
• Station 4: Reverse burpees with 25lb or 35lb kettlebell (abs/legs)
• Station 5: Thick Tug-O-War Rope Resistance pulls (grip/back/core)
• Station 6: Farmer’s Carry with choice of 45lb kb’s / 45lb plates <with grip holes> / 35lb plates <fingertips>
• Station 7: ~85lb Heavy Home Depot Bucket Carries

Somehow the last station was missed from either PAX revolt, oversight, or being out of time (extend these 45min workouts!) Load the gear back up in the truck, and FINITO!

NAKED MOLESKINE

YHC lives all of 1.8 miles away from The Matrix AO, yet has NEVER posted there in nearly 3 years of F3 (Take that back, YHC met Turkey Leg there for a marathon training run once, came back, and crashed COT once).  Guess what… YHC is NOT sorry! How can anyone build any sort of self-esteem getting dusted by the likes of Orange Whip, Joker, and Lobstah Roll.  Those dudes are so in sync you should watch their perfectly synchronized bucket carry turns. Another reason NOT to show up to the Matrix is how can anyone focus on working out when Poptart and Alf are going toe-to-toe on snarky comments for 45minutes. Alf, moving the cone distance shorter mattered today, and Poptart, no one saw you running with the two 45lb plates but everyone heard you whimper in the following bucket carries for doing so.  Some of my SOB loyalists were in attendance as well (NOT referring to Paperjam) in Tuck and Wild Turkey #SaturdaySiteQsRule or at least they used to.  O’Tannenbaum nearly forgot his name in COT because either he was too busy gazing at Patdown, or … was still delirious from the workout.  Welcome FNG Pauly D, a New Yorker named after the baller from ‘Jersey Shore’, who is Tuck’s brother here visiting.  Smoky showed some afterburners on some of the sprints, giving Rachel a run for his money, which was 0 since F3 is Free… unknown if he was running fast, but it looked that way.  If we had been short a heavy bucket, Prohibition offered to carry Turkey Leg, since they both weigh about the same.  Arena made the right call, and made sure to do his toes-to-bar away from Poptart, who was doing a different exercise called ‘Hands-to-hips-feet-to-ground’. Witch Doctor, Crabcake, and Squid all put in solid silent work as YHC has seen them do at a similar workout at RockZero and other workouts.

Thank you to Squid and Poptart for the invite to come lead the Matrix. It was long overdue, and YHC promises to post before my next 3yr anniversary.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Nash and JRR Tolkien are bringing speed pushing racing chairs like Team Hoyt and Ainsley’s Angels of America, to F3 Nation, a charitable initiative called F3 Speed For Need.  The official preblast and marketing launch will be coming in a few days but in the interim, please spend a few minutes to watch the video in the link here, and read a little bit about the initiative in the top section of the link:   F3 Speed For Need Pre-Preblast (watch video)
• Join your fellow SOB / A51 / Indian Land brothers in the Charlotte Craft Course on Saturday May 20th from 1200-1530 starting at NoDa Brewing Co. Basically the point is to run to as many breweries as possible, get blasted, try not to puke (in the bar at least), and try to also not get hit by a car or sprain an ankle. Have your M pick you up if you’re not already in the doghouse for this, or stay at Tuck’s House since he has plenty of room, even with a hoard of 2.0s….. contact Tuck for details or check Slack. You can register on : CLT Craft Run Signup
• If you are not doing Savage Race, consider Q-ing Outland workout this coming Saturday which is at Sun Valley Middle School at 0700. Contact Madison @JeremyFDraper

“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our F3DOM!”  ~ JRR Tolkien