Author Archive Slingshot

Crazy Little Thing Called Merkins

***Note : Site Q Slingshot is not only posting on behalf of Queen but apologizing for being a week overdue in doing so***

18 PAX came in for the beast that we call Hydra.  I decided to stay around campus, but tried to make it fairly tough to minimize chatter.  Here is how it went:

 

Disclaimer – very standard

 

COP

SSH x 25

IW x 20

Low Slow Squat x 15

Slow Merkin x 10

 

Mosey to the Small Field

Merkin ladder 16, 15, 14, etc.

 

Mosey to the playground and partner up

Partner 1 runs full lap around school, not cut through on grass

Partner 2 does sets of 15 air squats, 10 LBCs, 5 pull ups

Repeat for 3 sets

 

Mosey to the benches around the tree

Partner 1 runs to the far parking lot entrance and back

Partner 2 does sets of 20 dips and 10 step ups each leg

 

Mosey back to launch

 

Moleskin:  The 16 Ladder merkins were pretty brutal for everyone except Proehl.  He literally lapped everybody by the end.  We can hate on him all we want for his age, but if most of us went back 20-30 years in time, he’d still be killing us……..I was worried that we might not have enough room on the pull up bars.  Oh, no need to worry there.  I think I saw maybe 5 or 6 of the PAX actually doing any of those.  The refusals were near an all time high.  You would have thought I called out burpees or something.  We had guys opting out like they were UNC football players and this was a bowl game…..The exact length of the lap around the school is still up for debate.  I had some guys telling me it was under 3/10ths of a mile and others were claiming it was .4.  After 136 merkins, it was long enough.

 

Thanks for Sling Shot and Jet Fuel for the opportunity to Q.

 

– Queen

Block Party

***POSTING ON BEHALF OF SWEATER SET***

30 brave men dug their cold weather gear out of storage for a below 30 degree workout and signed up for an adventurous morning!

Warm Up:

Mosey to the bus lot and circle up:

  • SSH
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Low Slow Squats

The Rolling Hills of Olde Providence:

Starting at the entrance of OP, run to Foxworth with exercises at each streetlight (5 Merkins on the left, 5 Squats on the right).  Lunge walk up Foxworth and then a Mosey to YHC’s house to begin the fun.

Cinder Block Relay:  Break up into groups of 3 and traverse Bedfordshire to Foxworth, handing the cinder block off to your partner at intersections.  Mary and plank while you wait.

Mosey down Bedfordshire to Knightswood and do 5 burpees at each stoplight on your way back to Windyrush.

Once back at OP Elementary we did a variety of partner exercises (Dips, Carolina Dry Docks, Wall Sits and Step Ups).  Was it variety or struggling to fill time?…..

Mosey back to launch for some quick Mary and DONE!

Moleskin:

The most Epic move of the morning was the turnout and donations of food for Loaves and Fishes.  Blown away at the impact of F3Nation and what the Lord can do as we live out Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”.

Announcements:

  • Orange Whip is hosting Q school this Saturday after Rock Zero.  Come workout at 7:00 then join the instruction.  Whether you’ve never lead a workout, need a refresher, or want to get better, its a great opportunity.
  • Great turnout to start the Area 51 food drive for Loaves and Fishes (see Udder’s picture on Slack), but it’s not your only opportunity to give:
    • Next opportunity is Saturday at Rock Zero – 7:00am workout
    • If those options don’t work for you, reach out to Voodoo, Cheese Curd, Hoover, Orange Whip, Geraldo, Flipper, or Udder to coordinate a drop-off.
    • There is also an Amazon wish list (check Slack for details)
  • There was a peaceful transfer of power as Gummy has fulfilled his reign at Hydra and Sprockets decided it was easier just to move away.  I’m sure there was a big push by Gummy on who would make the introductions, but it was Sprockets displaying his poetic prowess and subtle jabs in introducing Jet Fuel and Slingshot as the new Hydra Site Q’s.
  • Sprockets last Area 51 Q (until we put him on the schedule when he’s in town) is December 5th at Rock Zero.  Come see him off and celebrate his birthday!

 

Is that Tony Hawk?

11 PAX ignored the forecast by Brad Panovich and decided to brave the rain and advertisement that YHC had the Q today.  6:00 hit, disclaimers were given, and we were off.

COP

We moseyed around the backside of OP Elementary, dodging puddles, and circled up in the bus lot:

  • SSH x 15
  • Imperial Walkers x 15
  • Low Slow Squat x 15

Mosey into Olde Providence neighborhood to the corner of Windyrush and Knightswood.  5 Merkins at each street light heading down Knightswood until you hit Bedfordshire.

Half Pipe tour of Olde Providence

Once on Bedfordshire, we faced our first half-pipe straight on:

  • 15 Jump Squats
  • Run the half-pipe
  • 10 Lunges
  • Run the half-pipe
    • Rinse and repeat x 3 (ending on Lunges)

After planking to wait on the 6, we moseyed down Bedfordshire and turned on Queensberry – Wouldn’t you know it?  Another half-pipe on that street!

  • 15 Carolina Dry Docks
  • Run the half-pipe
  • 10 Mountain Climbers (each leg)
  • Run the half-pipe
    • Rinse and repeat x 3 (ending on Mountain Climbers)

Gather the 6 and mosey down Queensberry to Foxworth.  This is YHC home field, and I think the PAX was getting the idea by now as we faced our third half-pipe:

  •  15 Merkins
  • Run the half-pipe
  • 10 Plank Jacks
  • Run the half-pipe
    • Rinse and repeat x 3 (ending on Plank Jacks)

A few LBCs waiting on the 6 and then we slow moseyed back down Foxworth to Windyrush.  A quick run up Windyrush with 10 Squats at each Speed Bump and we were back to the bus lot at the school.  The brand new picnic tables were too tempting not to test out.  So, a quick 20 step-ups and 10 inclined merkins (twice through) should break them in and let some of the PAX know they are there for future use.

Mosey back to launch and time.

Moleskinny

  • I was pretty sure Deep Dish set me up for failure when he got out of his car and said it wasn’t going to rain.  As Pudding Pop so aptly said, I either said the right prayer or did the right anti-rain dance because it held off for the most part and started right after we finished.
  • Jet Fuel and Clover were discussing Notre Dame shirts at one point….I think you have to file allegiance changes with the state of Alabama and present in front of a review board 12 months before wearing any other school’s logo, but things could have changed since I lived there (or I wasn’t paying attention to their conversation).
  • You can thank Huddle House (a neighborhood tour) and IHOP (just glad I’m Q-ing Rock Zero on Saturday as well, meaning both won’t be hard) for their suggestions for today’s workout.
    • IHOP, you really think that’s going to stop me from bringing more pain on Saturday?
  • Big shout out to Queen, Sweater Set, and Brandy for the run in despite the weather.  Strong Work!
  • Pudding Pop was the first to catch on to the pattern wanting to “change my name to Tony Hawk” during our second half-pipe.  I was secretly hoping for a FNG today to pass that name along to.

Announcements

  • Q School, Saturday 11/21 Arboretum 7:00.  45 minute workout followed by Q School.
  • Sweater Set with his VQ next Thursday.  Same place, same time.

 

Thanks to Gummy and Sprockets for the opportunity to lead and trusting us so much they felt they didn’t even have to show.

 

I thought BLC was on Q?

When YHC got the text from Geraldo on Friday afternoon for a Q on Saturday morning, I figured I’ve been riding free at Rock Zero long enough to say no.  Also, fartsacking just to skip out on a Q isn’t an excuse.  So, I promised nothing creative and plenty of “filler” for our hour together.  (However, this would provide a good excuse to stop working for the day and start putting something together.)

After a weak disclaimer to this veteran group, we were off.

Mosey around the parking lot towards the baseball field and circle up.

Warm-up

  • SSH x 20
  • Hill Billies x 15
  • Mountain Climbers x 15
  • Merkins x 10

The Thang

Head to the baseball field to celebrate America’s pastime being back (for now).  Starting at Home Plate, perform exercises along the outfield fence, returning to home plate after each for more exercises:

  • Left Field Foul Pole : 10 x Carolina Dry Docks
  • Center Field : 10 x Big Boy Situps
  • Left Field Foul Pole : 10 x Merkins
  • Home Plate : 10 x Squats

We did 3 Rounds in total, and YHC could already tell it would be a battle breathing in the humidity this morning, and not just for the asthmatic Q.  Let’s do some Mary to wait on the 6 and allow me to adjust to breathing through a straw.  (Strike 1 – At this point, a more seasoned and smarter Q would have adjusted the planned workout, but YHC pressed forward with somewhat of a plan in mind.)

Mosey over to the rock pile by 51, grab a lifting rock, and head to the parking lot next door for some rock/island work.  Line up abreast with the first island with your rock (where it stays) for a pyramid of sorts:

  • Island Exercise : Merkin
  • Rock Exercise : Thrusters on the way up, Lateral Burpees on the way down

(Run to first island, do 1 Merkin, run back to the rock and do 1 Thruster.  Run to the second island, do 2 Merkin, run back to the rock and do 2 Thrusters.  Keep going to the last island, then, return to the 7th island and start working your way back down changing the rock exercise to Lateral Burpees).

After making sure Alf had a murky idea of the goal, since he was going to be out front, we were off.  After about the 3rd island, YHC noticed the mumble chatter was minimal, at best, and most looked like they smoke a couple packs a day as they’re trying to breath.  Time to “read the room” and call an audible.  Plank up after the 7th island on the way up for some Mary (Boone crunch, Dolly, etc.).  Strike 2 was calling any type of burpee at this point.  We substituted for Curls and Tricep Presses on the way down.

Return your rocks and find a spot for some Plank-O-Rams (check the box for my promised “filler”).  Slow mosey back to launch for some crab walk, lunge walks, and 10 hand release merkins until time.

In all, just over 3 miles on a muggy morning to start our weekends.

Moleskinny

  • Cheese Curd started off the morning with some trash talk to the guys at Olympus about who would have more people show up and invited them to join the Boot Camp.  (They may have made the right call to stay in the parking lot.)  Also, called YHC out for ending at 7:59.  I think his watch is still on vacation, it was 8.
  • Boererwors told me he was “phoning it in” due to some lumberjacking he did the previous day before he knew I was Q’ing.  Exactly what I wanted to hear…..
  • Hoover blamed his cat and dog for missing his pre-run.  I wish I wasn’t focused on figuring out the workout at that point because I have some follow-up questions….
  • Geraldo asked me multiple occasions if the exercises we did were part of my promised “filler”.  Surprise!  All of it was.
  • Levi and OT put in some strong workouts without much mumble chatter….or I was just in my own head trying to figure out what we were going to do next.
  • Floor Slapper looked disappointed when he pulled in and we hadn’t launched yet.
  • Alf had the quote of the day saying “running in this humidity makes the pace feel at least 2 minutes faster than it is”.  If that’s how Alf felt, I was at least at 5 minutes.  Also, Alf ignored my audible and still did the burpees in the parking lot.  McGee called it correctly last week “Alf is hard”.