Everyone should love a challenge, if you don’t. Skip Floater. I am unable to make Floater much except in the summer, don’t love Floater. It is just the lameass prelude to the best two workouts in the county that take place at Cutty. Best part of Floater, it is rarely an easy workout with all hills our little town provides. But 16 men rocked it and kicked KJH butt.
DICCs, Disclosure, Head over to DC
SSH, MNC, IW,Plank Stretch,Merkins w/ some counting issues
The Thang
20 Monkey Humpers each light to Price St – 5 total
Head towards Laundromat and down to the stop sign for 10 burpees a minute for 5 minutes
Head down KJH for 7 cones of Keith Jong Hell
-7 Cones, 7 Exercises up KJH, and Sprint down
-Exercises: 10 Plank rotation Merkins, 10 PJs, 10 Speed Skaters, 10 Scorpion Dry Docks, 10 Smurf Jacks, 10 MCs, 10 Squat Jumps
Head to bottom of KJH for planking with some bird dog planks
Sprint up KJH to stop sign
Catch breath and sprint to church
A minute of mary while a car wanted to come through
Moleskine
It was a morning where you could shout out to each and every pax because everyone pushed hard. Form police were out on watch while Rudy managed to keep things in, except air. (Holy Moly)
The exercises got tough with PAX out in front changing periodically. Rest of the PAX stayed together without there truly being a 6. It was great to see everyone push it to the limit.
BC, EB, CL, Deflated and Swimmers seem to overall lead the way. Scheider still seems to be improving becoming stronger and faster. He is becoming an impressive OG, just needs to complain a whole lot more to reach Recalcs (prowess/curmudgeon) level.
It is truly amazing to see 0-69 out there doing his thing, early in the morning, just bettering himself. Takes a HUGE amount of dedication, well done.
Was nice to finally meet the guy given the name Man Touch, was too scared to ask why he had the name so just left it as is. Nice job pushing Man Touch.
Supporting cast of PAX all killed it this morning in a workout that seemed to go by quickly. Smithers, Doughboy, BoG, Foundation, Rudy and the Instructionally challenged Damascus grabbed KJH by the balls, twisted and then just killed the workout like everyone else. DW would have been proud as there appeared to be not a single slacker.
Announcements
Ultimate Frisbee at Swarm with Foundation and Amazing Race at Impromptu with Recalc
Dads camp coming soon.. (refer to GM)
Christ Closet Folding for Give Away in April (refer to GM)
How’s your post-workout meal?
Cold cereal?
Sugary patstries?
Greasy sausage?
Vroom
Run down the Murderhorn to Elmstone Park
Typical warm-up ‘hops, walker, Steve Earls, mountain climber and plank jacks
Stations
5 pull-up/5 knee-t0-chest
10 burpees
5 incline/5 decline ‘mericans
5 Rounds
Big Rock
Well, our group was really too large for this, but into the dark we went. Such a great space, but it’s super dark and not easy to find exercises that really really fit. Anyway…
Find some granite for 40 air press, 10 donkey kicks and 10 shoulder taps
Rinse and repeat
Up the ‘horn
20 Bobby Hurlies at the street lights
Probably too many reps, but I have a sense that there was a lot of “modifying”.
Relay Races
4 groups, 2 teams – everyone wins. Crowd pleaser!
Friends start your day right. Open a can of beans – refried and black beans are my favorite. Whip up some eggs in a skillet. I recommend topping with your favorite salsa or hot sauce. I’m partial to Herdez Guacamole Salsa Medium. Protein and fiber will have you full until lunch.
The night before, I checked the weather forecast and it was pretty much all rain all night but then clearing up around launch time. So I wasn’t sure whether (no pun intended) to draw up a Weinke for wet weather or a Weinke for dry weather. So I did both. I mean, you never can go wrong with 2 Weinkes right?? But as I pulled into the parking lot it started to pour down rain so I knew which one I would use. It was definitely a game time decision. I’ve never Q’d an entire workout in the parking deck so here goes nothing…
6 pax and 1 FNG were ready for a good workout so disclaimers were disclaimed and off we went. Here’s what we did:
Mosey to Ballantyne Village to the mouth of the parking deck for COT where we were joined by Fallout who appeared out of thin air. YES!!! He was running late so he parked in the deck and joined right in. Now we had an even 8 pax. I love it when a plan comes together.
-LSS x 10
-IW x 15
-Windmill x 10
-Merkins x 10
-MC x 10
Partner up for some Dora where P1 runs to top of stairs for 3 burpees and back down while P2 starts out on 100 merkins. Flip flop until all done and then switch to 200 LBCs and finally 300 calf raises. Ouch!
Now that we’re all warmed up we moseyed to the parking deck for 20 donkey kicks followed by the Tagalong Run-A-Long (I stole this one from one of Tagalong’s previous Q’s) where we ran up 1.5 levels for 10 jump squats and then back down to bottom for 10 burpees. Rinse and repeat for a total of 4 laps.
Although I had about 8 more exercises on the Weinke, we were getting pretty close on time so we headed back to launch for COT. We got in 2.8 miles all in the parking deck. Plus my calfs were screaming at me after the 300 calf raises. Bad idea.
Moleskin:
There was only 8 of us, due to the rain, but it was a great group! Everyone put in a solid effort. Bucky lead the pack (per the usual) in the Tagalong Run-A-Long. That dude runs like a deer. Mighty Might worked up a sweat and was forced to shed some layers once in the deck. I think I saw a kettlebell fall out of his jacket pocket. Kirby hung back and kept me company – for official site Q precautionary safety reasons of course (😂). Fallout made his grand entrance about 5 minutes into the workout and then was all business the rest of the time. Glad you could join us, Brother! Circuit City is turning into quite a regular these days and keeps getting faster. Keep grinding! Tagalong keeps on crushing it and was right on Bucky’s heels during the Tagalong Run-A-Long. Then there’s Cherie Berry (our FNG) who looked like a veteran pax out there. His hospital name is Otis so the pax landed on the name, Cherie Berry which is awesome. Keep posting Cherie Berry!
It’s always a pleasure to lead!
Announcements:
-need pushers for Run Jen Run on 3/7 in SouthPark. Contact Frasier for details.
-Soft Pretzel told us about a Sandbox event this Saturday helping a family move from 10a-12p. It’s located in CHARLOTTE. Contact him for details.
-Bagpipe is having Respect Month for the month of March, ending with a Double Respect when Chopper takes the Q. Don’t miss out when our senior pax take the wheel.
-Bratwurst and Tigerrag are putting together a 1 mile race during the months of March and April. Hit them up for more info.
-Mighty Might is planning an NCAA watch party – details to come.
A few of the regulars for WAMRAP were out of town but the Kirchoff Krew never disappoints and posted to join me on a mild morning for a not so mild WAMRAP.
6 loops which included between 10 and 35 reps of lunges/RDL’s, run a hill, Situps/Heels to heaven, elbow plank jacks, stairs, and decline merkins. Finish early enough for a 40 burpee cool down.
Job always pushing hard to stay in front of his old man. He did on the exercises, but Astron laid down the heat on the runs and caught back up every time.
WAMRAP the best/hardest Wednesday workout you aren’t doing. Come out and give it a try. Fun is guaranteed or your money back.
A fantastic takeout by Job.
-Alf
Didn’t expect too many pax this AM but with the rain and the fact that a lot of guys get soft in the winter and hibernate, especially on the rainy days.
Disclaimer and launch into steady rain. Run around campus and circle up in the original Hawk’s Nest lot. Standard COP types of things.
Run over to the hill at the end of Raintree Ln up to Providence. Triple Nickle up the hill with burpees and jump squats. The rain stops so head back to cars to drop off the rain jacket.
Some mary types of activities for the core. Then hit the track for 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m sprints with 40, 30, 20, and 10 merkins after each sprint. We had to stay on the outside lanes so it might have been a little bit longer runs. The Fast Twitch pax was slowly rolling along the inside lanes and clogging up the works.
Then run up to LAX field bleachers for some step ups and dips. Back to launch and done!
Moleskine:
Seems like the PAX never make their way up the hill on the North side of campus. Lots of good stuff over there, you should try it. Hops wasn’t there, but virtually complained about 3.1 miles on a bootcamp. I Q what the PAX needs, not what the PAX wants.
Sprockets started off by making fun of the Q’s hair which is never appropriate. Good thing he was able to back it up as he smoked through the workout.
Cobains to Geraldo who we somehow left on the track with the Fast Twitch guys. He hung in there for some extra laps. Hopper went to go “check on him” and then never came back to the workout. Pro move, I guess.
Thanks to Sprockets who took us out
Sing up for Merkin/Pull up challenge
-Alf
We find ourselves midway through the eighth week of the twelve week strength program, and today’s workout was particularly awful. The program currently has us in the throes of snatches, several rounds with little rest in between. Six of us bid adieu to our Anvil friends and got to work as they disappeared into the South Charlotte fog. This morning’s workout consisted of:
5 rounds of press ladders (1, 2, then 3 reps per arm)
5 rounds of puke inducing snatches (10 reps per side) with a scant 15 seconds of rest in between (#Absurd)
4 rounds of 90 second farmer’s walks (Old McDonald can kiss YHC’s posterior)
60 second plank hold, 60 second hollow body hold, 90 second glute bridge hold
Swings until our Anvil friends return
Now for the part of the backblast that people will actually read. Fair warning however, there will be some tangents as there are several subjects I have thoughts about. First of all, while I love kettlebell workouts, why on Earth are we doing a program designed by the Russians? Did we lose a war? It feels especially wrong this week as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, when a group of scrappy American college kids defeated the Soviet Union team who for all intents and purposes were professional players who had not been defeated in twenty years in Olympic ice hockey. As an aside (you were warned) Kurt Russell was absolutely snubbed for Best Actor for his portrayal of Team USA coach Herb Brooks. I can’t be bothered to research who actually won the award that year, but I’m just going to assume that it was some artsy highbrow schlock that nobody actually likes. Probably foreign too. If you can watch the pregame scene where Coach Brooks tells the team that they will not only skate with the Russians on that particular night, but they would do the unthinkable and beat them, and not want to run through a brick wall, then I suggest researching real estate in Toronto because you don’t have a patriotic bone in your body. Anyway, back to the Russian designed workout thing, again I’m not going to actually do any research, but I hope the person who designed this program defected from the USSR, because it feels like an insult to the great Americans who helped topple the Soviet communist regime such as President Reagan, Hulk Hogan, and Rocky Balboa.
The #BlameVoodoo portion of this backblast’s title stems from the fact that our New Orleanian friend was not among us this morning because of his travels home for Mardi Gras, then to Las Vegas. While the rest of us did rounds of snatches. With 15 seconds of rest in between.
The other portion of the title is inspired by Unplugged’s wardrobe choice this morning. About midway through the workout, Unplugged peeled his outer layer to reveal a Golden Girls t-shirt. Not just a shirt with text that read “Golden Girls”, but a picture of Blanch, Dorothy, whatever Betty White’s character was named, and whatever Estelle Getty’s character’s name was. To take my mind of the multiple rounds of high rep snatches with little rest in between (which Voodoo missed because he was gallivanting among New Orleans and Las Vegas) I tried to recall as much as the theme song as I could, and I think I got about 80% of it. I’m solid on the first and last verses, but the middle has a couple lines I’m not sure of. Anyway, another aside…
What happened to the TV show theme song? If you’ll allow me an Old Man Yells at Cloud moment, the TV show opening theme song has been relegated to the dustbin of history, and in YHC’s opinion, society is poorer for it. Theme songs used to either provide the viewer with some background and context about the show through it’s verses (sometimes to the point of overkill, think the older dreck before most of our time like The Brady Bunch or Gilligan’s Island) or laid down a sweet instrumental track that set the tone for the viewing experience. Into the dark recesses of my mind (a truly horrifying place) I went, trying to think of some examples of top quality TV theme songs, and here is what I’ve come up with (again, you were warned):
Cheers: Perhaps the gold standard, balancing a lively piano riff with poignant lyrics
Hill Street Blues: I don’t remember much about this show other than my dad watched it, but I do remember that piano groove interspersed with an electric guitar solo that didn’t really fit, but was required by law in the 1980s
Growing Pains: Decent lyrics, decent melody, and Alan Thicke, so a solid option
Full House: Recently my 7 year old has been watching the Netflix show Fuller House, and I have to say that DJ Tanner still has her fastball
Night Court: The sax interlude made this theme much funkier than it needed to be, which we were all richer for
The Facts of Life: A home sick from school staple for YHC, a bouncy beat and fun lyrics with the added bonus of spurring one of the great debates of our time. I firmly believe that men can be separated into one of two categories, Blair or Jo. #TeamBlair
Perfect Strangers: I don’t remember much about this theme, but it had Balki and the Dance of Joy
Family Ties: Alex P. Keaton is one of the great protagonists in television history, as he was the moral compass of the family, which aside from him was comprised of filthy hippies
The Golden Girls: As mentioned above, an absolute banger of a theme
Married With Children: Al Bundy plus the Chairman is a winning combination
Friends: A serviceable though unremarkable Rembrandts song, it fit nicely with the show’s aesthetic
The Office: Perhaps the last show with a memorable theme
I’m sure I have forgotten several, and I’m also sure I will remember a couple immediately after hitting the Publish button. I expect to see you all on Saturday as we continue our kettlebell workouts at Olympus.
We had a total of 5 runners this morning. Many other times we head out I can keep up for a bit or we break into groups a fast group and a slow group. From the lets go I just saw the others get further away until they were completely out of sight. The next time I would see them is when they were headed back. I am not the fastest runner and it did not help that the other 4 are all some of the fastest runners in Waxhaw. I think they were pushing each other as well. It was foggy the trail was sloppy but it was good to get back out again for the first time since the trail got flooded. Deadwood did warn Dasher that it was slippery then proceeded to demonstrate by falling down. The swinging bridge is still closed.
#morningwood as its still not in categories
3 PAX for a foggy run through Lawson. Couldn’t decide on mileage so we just ran. We got a little crazy today and did the standard loop in REVERSE (just ran the other way, didn’t actually run backwards). Foundation is getting pretty fast …. and his motivation? Literally just to watch the Flyby on Strava and see how far he can pull away from us slower guys (someone should reach out to him and see if everything is okay up there).
Announcements:
The Rooster on Saturday! DW bringing the firepit to keep us warm
This morning was perfect for working out outdoors. 51 degrees and no rain? COME ON, MAN? IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!
Asked a few of the Pax before we started if they would rather do a merkin or big boy mile at the end. They chose merkin and of course, ShakeNBake said “No” to either but he still crushed it. In fact, he said a lot of his infamous “No” today. I wonder if Deflated can put something in his magic wand of computery to track the number of Shake”No”Bakes (Copyright 2020) during a workout. GET ON IT DEFLATED!
DiCCS Delivered
Warned everyone that opening mosey would be a half mile and OneStar said” I’ll see ya later” and started heading back to the car. (I’m pretty sure he wasn’t the only one who felt that way). He changed his mind apparently and joined us for the workout. Always great seeing you out there, brother. You bring a lot of character.
Warm-up-
1/2 mile around back of schools to parking lot where we did:
10 Merkins IC, 25 MC’s IC, Drop to elbows and do 25 plank jacks IC, back up to plank and do 10 Peter Parkers followed by 10 Parker Peters, Calf stretch L/R and the obligatory downward/upward dog. No SSH’s and no IW’s bc I hate them and saw no point to them after a half mile opening mosey.
The Thang –
Supposed to do 3 minutes of burpees at this point but decided it needed to wait until the end bc there were other things I wanted to make sure we got around to doing and I thought we would run out of time. (And we did)
In MS Faculty parking lot run to top island and do 20 lung walks (10 each leg) then run back around the lot to start and do 10 Jumping knee touches. RR until get to 3 sets of each.
Mosey to Globe This is where Zinfandel led us in some Mary while we waited for the Six. We did 15 or 20 Heels to Heaven.
Run from Globe to first alcove and do 20 Carolina Dry Docks, run back to Globe and do 20 Reverse Plank Knee Raises (10 each leg) and thank you to Bottle Cap for showing me this awful exercise! RR until 3 sets completed. Zinfandel led us in LBC’s until the Six came in.
Mosey to corner of student parking lot and begin Merkin mile. Start with 10 and do 10 after running each parking row. Ended up where we started and then had 1:00 left to make it back to COT. I think we all made it back on time.
Done!
Moleskin-
Everyone pushed hard and during the Merkin Mile we found out there is an exercise called the Worm that is sometimes confused with the Merkin. That was corrected with some EHing and form was back on track for the remainder of the mile. Thank you to those involved, you know who you are…
We all get on one another from time to time about form. I just want to say that form is how you get stronger with the exercise and it’s intended result and is how you prevent injury. Don’t cheat your self, (or others if you’re in a competition), out of getting your truly, best effort.
Announcements-
March is no repeat Q month. If you have never Qed or haven’t Qed in a while… Step up!
A lot of opportunities to serve this month. Check the calendar for a 3rd F event you can attend.
YHC took us out #cradletograve
Not feeling real great this morning. Had Lorax pulled up to send a text to see if he could cover, but decided against it. 8 dudes were ready for Anvil. 6 Bell Men with the Meathead crowd. Disclaimer given and off we went.
Thang
Mosey over to the activity center courtyard and circle up
COP
IW x 20
SSH x 15
MC x 10
Peter Parker x 10
Low Slow Squat x 10
Merkin x 10
Mosey over to Entrance 2 Rock Pile. Grab a lifting rock.
Rock Set: 10 Curl/10 Tri Extensions/10 Thruster. Run big loop around the islands. Repeat x 2.
Hold rock over head. 10 count from each man other than QIC. Return rock.
Mosey back to activity center courtyard. People’s Chair for a few minutes.
Mosey over to the lot at Entrance 1.
Beast
Run to each of 3 islands down the lot. 6 x called exercise. Hit same islands and exercises on the way back. 6 x 6 for 36 reps for 6 rounds. Merkins, Squats, LBC, CDD, LBC, Choice of Merkins or Burpees.
Run over to the Hot Box. 3 rounds: 10 Step up/15 Dips/15 Derkins.
Mosey down the thoroughfare toward the launch lot. Finish up with some Mary: Flutter x 20/hold/Dolly x 15
Done
COT
Moleskin
Got a little sick on the stomach after getting up and ready. Tossed the merlot and headed out. Rolled the dice this morning. Did not feel great out there, but glad I made the right decision.
Observations:
Spackler gave the course record at his club a scare on Sunday. Next time maybe.
Coronavirus snuck into the conversation. Scary stuff.
Snuka did not get new gloves.
Tagalong’s beard is awesome and does not appear to slow him down any.
Thunder Road and Snuka get the work done every time. Jet Fuel as well. Hadn’t seen him for a while, glad I did today.
Gerber and Lorax were out front with Spackler on most of the repeats. Fast guys. T-claps to Gerber for hitting up Area 51. F3 Waxhaw is booming. 16 workouts now. Good stuff.
Thanks to Snowflake for the takeout prayer. Get after it today men. Thanks to Lorax for the opportunity to lead at Anvil.