Now that I have your attention, please allow me to regale you with a summary of this morning’s happenings at Anvil, arguably the flagship midweek workout in all of Area 51. Nine gentleman convened to better themselves on a late spring morning that was downright pleasant, and like clockwork, at 5:29 am, Mermaid became visibly antsy that the festivities had yet to begin. While waiting for the time to actually reach 5:30, YHC provided a disclaimer that can reasonably be classified as fair to middling and we embarked upon our fantastic voyage.
Run to the fake grass pavilion for COP, which consisted of SSH, merkins, IW, wide arm merkins, mountain climbers, and diamond merkins. Now, there are not many things in this world YHC can claim to be good at. The list of my talents mainly consists of grilling and smoking meats, mixology, writing Backblasts, and having impeccable rhythm (due to being a drummer). That being said, while my workout leads may not be great, my cadence is flawless and metronome-like. Whilst leading the group in SSH (which nobody refusniked because Anvil is a man’s workout) YHC noticed that Hammer and Magoo were literally and figuratively marching to the beat of their own drums. Hammer is a Clemson man, so the inability to sync the body’s movements to a simple four count is understandable. YHC will have to work out with Magoo more to learn what his excuse is.
Mosey to the Avenue of Trees for sets of 20/15/10/5 merkins, squats, and LBCs punctuated with runs up and down the avenue. Proceed to the snack shack/hot box. Three sets of Bulgarian split squats, dips, and incline merkins, which were lovely. Run to the rock pile near 51 and select a rock with character. Three sets of overhead squats, curls, and triceps extensions, with two island run with lunge walk back in between each. Follow that with three sets of Sots presses, good mornings, and weighted crunches interspersed with island sprints.
Mosey back to the launch lot, stopping at the fake grass pavilion for some diamond merkins, then continue back to the launch lot for outsourced Mary, culminating in an on time finish at precisely 6:15 am.
Fueled by Tito’s and sarcasm, Spackler was out front most of the morning, which undoubtedly contributed to the mumblechatter not picking up until after COT. We learned that Mermaid has a new puppy at home, and he was not planning on working out today, but since said puppy awoke early, he decided that spending the pre-dawn hour with us was a preferable to feeding and walking the pup. This spurred the quote that inspired the title of this backblast. Magoo informed us that he has an older dog at home, and had stepped in pee twice that morning. Condolences. During the workout, Hammer (a Clemson Tiger) and Spackler (a Gamecock) were overheard civilly discussing football, which is why YHC can’t take that rivalry seriously. Ohio State fans would be ridiculing Jim Harbaugh’s inability to actually coach college football, and Michigan fans would be ridiculing Ohio State fans’ inability to actually spell college football. Alabama fans would be reminding Auburn fans that the Iron Bowl actually used to matter and was once more than just a nuisance to be endured the week before playing for the SEC Championship. Auburn fans would mumble incoherently and drool. Texas and Oklahoma football fan discussions would involve gunplay and deep frying various foodstuffs YHC can only assume. Not many announcements this morning other than a clandestine event this Friday evening at South Charlotte Middle School involving laps and lagers. Enjoy the rest of your week.
DiCCS given. Key watchout for the day would be for Geese droppings littering the AO. Mosey up to Cuthbertson and back around to side of Mt. Chiseled.
Potatoe Pickers , Calf Stretch, Merkins X 15
The Thang:
1.) Partner Up. P1 – Run around Mt. Chiseled Backwards. P2 – Manmakers with weights. 3 rounds each.
2.) Partner Up. P1 – Crawl bear up Mt. Chiseled. P2 – Grab ball for scissor crunches. 3 rounds each
3.) Partner Up – line up side by side at one end of Mt. Chiseled. All Pax completed 10 merkins. Hold plank until it is your turn to sprint. First pair sprint to other end of Mt. Chiseled. Once partners ahead of you arrive at other end of Mt. Chiseled, your turn to sprint. Once there, 10 merkins, hold plank until all Pax have sprinted. 3 Rounds.
4.) Partner Up – P1 runs around Mt. Chiseled backwards. P2 Curls. 2 Rounds Each
5.) Burpee/Shoulder Press Webb. 1 Burpee, 4 shoulder presses w/ weights….up to 5 Burpees, 20 shoulder presses w/ weights.
6.) Mosey to Pit of Misery. Partner Up. P1 – 10 merkins. P2 Step Ups, flapjack until time.
Ye Olde Moleskin:
The crawl bear was a big hit! I have to admit I made this up the night prior. Once I arrived at Mt. Chiseled to unload gear, I tested the crawl bear. It was awful. I knew the Pax would enjoy!
Lots of humidity, lots of sweat in the COT, everyone worked hard.
Announcements:
Christ’s Closet – 6pm this Friday – see News Channel for Details
2nd F Opportunity this Friday – 7pm downtown Waxhaw, Mary O’Neil’s parking lot. M and 2.0 friendly. Farewell to Moneyball, School’s out party.
Fixin’ it for Christ opportunity coming soon. Please talk to Jingles if you can serve at all.
Feelers are out for an additional AO/workout in the Marvin Ridge area. Targeting Sandy Ridge Elementary, Rea View Elementary, or another at MRHS. With our growth, it seems feasible to plant and grow another. Stay tuned…
Rockwell on Q at The Arsenal at Indian Land Elementary tomorrow. Some guys are planning to support him and our brothers across the boarder!
YHC took us out.
21 Pax (18 Men, 1 Teenager, 2 “Young’ens”) showed up today for the Monthly Wednesday AMRAP at Marvin Ridge High School. The temperature was great, but was a bit more humid than what we have experienced lately. No need to worry about it…just work.
Disclaimer and Safety instructions given at 5:29am, cranked up the new Playlist on the Bluetooth speaker, then head toward the Track and Cafeteria area. Lanterns and chalk-marked stations were already set out (thanks to the help on my 2.0’s), so grab a Lifting Rock for 2 of the 7 stations and drop them. Time for a quick warm-up…SSH + Quad Stretch + Low Slow Squat + Peter Parkers.
THE THANG:
Here is what this quarter’s course and (7) Stations look like:
THE RESULTS:
Everyone worked very hard today, and it is clear that the Pax is getting stronger, faster, more fit every month. The numbers have improved and there isn’t much of a gap anymore:
Dasher takes today’s title with 6.0 Laps completed! Nice work, brother. You crushed it!
Centerfold = 5.4 Laps
Hawkeye (2.0) = 5.4 Laps (his first AMRAP experience)
Jingles = 5.2 Laps
Honeycomb = 5.2 Laps
Garbage Plate (2.0) = 5.2 Laps
Flash (2.0) = 5.2 Laps (tried to catch his older brother!)
Soft Pretzel = 5.1 Laps
The Knish = 5.0 Laps
Pocahontas = 5.0 Laps
Dana = 5.0 Laps
Johnny Utah = 5.0 Laps
Illiterate = 5.0 Laps
Lazy Boy = 5.0 Laps
Goodfella = 5.0 Laps
Das Boot = 4.6 Laps
Bratwurst = 4.5 Laps
Carb Load = 4.5 Laps (awesome work by a guy in his 2nd week or so)
The Grease Monkey = 4.4 Laps
Legalized = 4.2 Laps
Endo = 4.1 Laps
MOLESKIN:
As you can see, there were many guys in the 5.0-6.0 laps completed range today (15 of the 21 Pax!). That is incredible work, fellas. YHC unintentionally played some mind games after telling everyone there was about 5 minutes remaining while I was on the back stretch, then realizing it was about 30 seconds when I got back to the start! Brutal! My apologies, fellas.
Either way, I know you all crushed it and I know we will see many guys hit the 6.0+ laps range in July. The record for the current course is 6.1 laps, so let’s get it!
It’s always a pleasure to lead this group of men. I’m encouraged to see the consistency in attendance, with weekly averages of ~20! That’s awesome. Keep working hard, inviting some FNG’s, and branching out to other AO’s if you only attend Dromedary.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Fixin’ it for Christ opportunity coming soon. Please talk to Jingles if you can serve at all.
Feelers are out for an additional AO/workout in the Marvin Ridge area. Targeting Sandy Ridge Elementary, Rea View Elementary, or another at MRHS. With our growth, it seems feasible to plant and grow another. Stay tuned…
Rockwell on Q at The Arsenal at Indian Land Elementary tomorrow. Some guys are planning to support him and our brothers across the boarder!
Thanks to YHC’s 2.0, Flash, for taking us out in prayer. Sorry to Johnny Utah for Flash jumping in over you!
Wegmans, who is from up north, brought 5 rebels up from Fort Mill for a guest appearance at Centurion. Wegmans wrote the following:
Let’s call this a mini Peruvian Reunion. YHC was joined by Chicken, Chelms, and TML at Charlotte Catholic. The Fort brought a couple of cars up and all in all, there were 28 of us.
Next we took a short mosey to the parking deck for the warmup because the burpees just couldn’t take the chill off. Don’t remember exactly what all the exercises were but I do know that we can thank CSPAN for the idea of calling flutter kicks repeatedly. I believe I heard someone say, doesn’t he know any other exercises?
I did take some inspiration from a few other PAX when designing my Weinke. Started off with 20 Burpees OYO (Slaughter Starter).
After the PAX were properly warmed up we ran backwards up the inclines of the parking deck, 5 squats, lunge walked the flat part and increased our squats by 5 as we got to the top. Now this deck was longer than I anticipated but once something is written in, it stays there. After a short victory lap around the football field we found a nice spot to do sprints. And more sprints. And eventually we circled back around for more at the end. We also did some bear crawls, and more lunge walks. Ran to the top of the deck by way of the stairs for some ab work. Came back down for a few more sprints and then COT.
Appreciate the opportunity from South Charlotte/Area 51 to Q in their neck of the woods. Just gotta bring some of you down to the lower MacDougal.
Wegmans
AYE. I’ve been wearing my new Apple Watch to a couple of workouts and watching my heart rate. According to some internets site, my maximum heart rate should be 185. Today, the WAMRAP took it everything I had. My watch registered an average heart rate of 177 through the workout and a maximum of 183. I was gassed. Here’s what happened:
THE THANG
Plank for a couple of minutes
Run to the deck and up the stairs
Down and up stairwell 1 then 5 Jump Squats
Down and up stairwell 2 then 5 Exploding Merkins
Down stairwell 3 and up the ramps back to the top
1 Burp at the bottom of each ramp
5 core exercise of your choice at the top of the ramp
Multiply reps by the round count
YE OLDE MOLESKINE
1. Alf absolutely crushed it today. He was working on round 6 when I had to call it for some Mary.
2. The legend of Ice 9 grows. Turkey Leg announced that Ice had puked during the workout, but those of us who know Ice also know that he makes lots of noise (LOTS OF NOISE) before anything actually comes out. He slowed down a lot and left early, so I think he wasn’t particularly keen on puking today. Next time.
3. Flipper also crushed it, passing Ice 9 for second place. Is this some weird alternate universe? What is happening!?!?
4. The array of things on the staircases in the parking deck never cease to amaze me. Today’s interesting items: a couple of smushed french fries and one black glove. One. Black. Glove. Hmm.
FIN
~17 pax gathered to support YHC in his 6th VQ. The temperature was well above freezing, but we centered our theme on ice (like the water running through Hammer’s veins)
o Some I.W.s
o Some L.S.S.s
o Some True Americans (hand-release merkin plank jack)… apparently Hops is the only person who can handle a 6-count exercise… the rest of the pax were utterly befuddled.
o Hacky Sack.. this is the time on Sprockets when we dance! (Or when everyone stands around and watches YHC dance)
· Mosey to center of the cushy turf field
o YHC asked the pax which 4 U.S. states comprise the 4 Corners nat’l monument. Hannibal nailed 3 of 4 (NM, AZ, CO), and thankfully someone bailed us out with a “Utah!” or we’d all still be in high plank. The jam went like this…
o 5 burpees before, b/t, and after each set
o Merkins
o Jump Squats
o CDDs
o Big Boy Situps
o Bear crawl or crab walk to the corner, mosey back to center (diagonals got LONNNNNGGGG by the 3 round!)
· Mary at center field
The patented “a$$ wrecker” (I told everyone they’d know why it’s called that tomorrow morning when they go to sit down on the toilet)… I heard some raucous laughter from the pax and realize…. That’s not exactly what I meant, but whatever.
o 20 SMCs
o 20 skater lunges (“Bonnie Blairs”)… (5 time Olympic gold medalist and native of Champagne, IL, Hops’ hometown)
Line up on the waterfall line… just enough time for 400 AYG, then back to start.
5 burpee OYO (yes, while YHC goes to get his phone)
· Moleskin
Puddin’ felt the need to bring into question Bonnie Blair’s $exual orientation. (But then again, many of us question that of Puddin’)
Welcome Homer! (Hawks Nest 1st-timer)
· Thank you, Sardine, for keeping me informed of when the 6 was in
· Thank you, La-Z-Boy, for initiating the 400, or we’d all still be on the line
· Pop Tart clearly sandbagged for 57 mins, b/c he crushed the 400… the kid’s got wheels when we wants to
· Floorslapper, I don’t know when or how you found us, but glad you did
· Hopper for informed us that his PT said CDDs are the “dumbest exercise on earth” (cool, I’ll be sure to double them next time)
Announcements:
It was truly a pleasure this morn. Shout-out to Hops for the solid send-off!
Five men met up at South Charlotte Middle School bright and early. It was a little lite from the normal crowd, but that’s all right! Originally, Costanza was slated to Q, however, he is on the IR with some back issues. We hope he gets better. Thunder took the Q
We circled up in front of the school for COP which was: SSH, IW, LSS, Merkin & LS Merkin x 10.
Next, we took a run down Strawberry Ln to Rosecliff stopping at each speed bump to do 10 Merkins.
We ran up and down the hill at Rosecliff and did heels to heaven at the bottom x 10 and LBC’s at the top x10. We made 5 trips up and down the hill.
Mosey back to the school with 10 drydocks at each speed bump.
Back at the launch site we lined up abreast (that word again). One man called the exercise and ran to the end of the sidewalk. The other men completed the exercise until the first returned. Each of the five men got to call an exercise : LSS, jump squat, LBC, lunges and something else
Next we grabbed a rock and did curls, triceps, overhead press x 10 each. Then we took a stroll down the ramp to the bleachers and did dips and supine pullups x10 each. We made this circuit 3 times
After carefully replacing each rock we did some peoples chair to wind up the workout.
Thank you to Hopper for taking us out
Announcements: Beer Run is upcoming, Hopper is leading MASH which also meets at 530 at SCMS and is for those on the IR who are looking to get back into the mix. Also keep Goonie’s sister in your prayers as she is having complications with a pregnancy.
32 PAX came to help plant the Watchtower flag at Newtown Elementary as F3-“Region to be named later” continues its insatiable march for more AOs inside of a 10 minute driving radius territory.
PAX seemed to get the message to use parking lot to far right of school. And even Jingles wore a 3 piece suit arrived on time for the big occasion. A short but cute proper DCCS was shown and off we went with the boombox.
WARMUP:
MAIN EVENT:
MOLESKINE:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Prayer of THANKS at the end . . . Let us LIVE out that thankfulness by helping others everyday!
10 Men and one aggressively loud rooster posted for The Matrix this week. There was a lot of smack talk out there, but the cock was the loudest. He’d be dinner if that was my neighborhood. Mmmm, chicken mini’s.
Anyways – we moseyed, circled, COP’ed per usual. Slow merkins for good form aka “Squid’s normal pace and form.” IW’s, SSH, other stuff.
5 Pull-ups here. 30 LBC’s there. 5 times.
Go to rocks. Grab a partner and a large rock. Something that would impress a date if you were a caveman. The men did good today, no pebbles chosen.
Line up on field for P1 run with 3 burpees. P2 Lift. Flapjack. Did OH Press, Bench Press, Good Morning, Tea Bags, Curls etc. Then hold rock overhead while partner runs. Finally haul ass around field with partner and rock and drop it back where it started.
Some ab work by committee. And by committee I mean McGee and Squid.
Done.
Good to see No Regerts back out. It’s been a while. I’m pretty sure he spent the time off as an extra on Duck Dynasty. Solid beard game. McGee showed up on two wheels and squeaky brakes. Despite the wide open parking deck he crammed his way into a spot not meant for a bicycle. After he hoped out through the back hatch, we were good to go. Squid may have the strongest core in South Charlotte but his good form makes him a tough partner on the cumulative rep partner work. He’s slow and steady while the rest of us look like rabbits in heat.
F3 Dad’s is rolling at Beatty Park Saturday’s at 9am. Reach out to Lex Luthor for details.
Thanks to Squid for the takout
-Alf
Lois, Tulip, Funky Cole, Stone Cold, Bush, Arena
Disclaimer
Funky Cole asked for music and it ticked me off….
SSH x 20
EW x 20
Partner up for farmer carry with a 10 merkin chaser to the front of the church [short way].
And there was the music:
Song 1: SALLY to Merkins
Song 2: SALLY to Louganis
Song 3: SALLY to Goblet Squat
Funky Cole didn’t want any more music J
Suicides to berm1, berm 2, berm 3, and then road…. Every time you came back to the start you completed called exercise
Suicide 1: 25 x LBCs
Suicide 2: 25 x Swings
Suicide 3: 10 x Rows (each arm)
Suicide 4: 10 x Curls
And then there was music:
Song 1: Roxane to Merkinds
Song 2: Roxane to Atomic Burps
Mosey back to launch.
That’s a wrap.
Funky Cole brought an FNG. A minister type. J Welcome Victoria {Olesteen}