12 men took the red pill and posted at Centurion this fine morning on 10/14. The age range was 38 (ish) to 62 (Snooka) but it was hard to tell much difference in physical ability. Bat Man did stand out but he is the youngest.
The Thang
COP – SSH X35, Merkins – Down count to 15, Squats – down count to 15
Divide up into three teams (YHC has a hard time with math and originally divided 12/3 for 4 teams – only had 3 sand bags). Each team grabbed a sand bag and we headed over to Palantine Hill for some team work. One PAX does squats with sand bag while other team members run to top and do 10 squats and return with each team member taking turn with sand bag. We switched hills after the first run up as the grass on the top of hill one hasn’t been cut since pre-Covid and we almost lost 4 pax.
Mosey to bottom of Palantine for Bermuda triangle with a twist. We ran one loop for directions (15 dips and incline merkins at picknic tables, 20 flutters and dollies at end of drive way, and ascending burpees at bottom of Palantine). Twist was one team member runs with bag in opposite direction until meeting up with team member for switch. I think we did 3 rounds.
Mosey back to starting point for some COP and then bear crawl/burpee broad jump/sprint work on the parking lot. Finish with 1 minute of monkey humpers.
NM – Great group. Bat Man was the first person to ever explain how to properly do a monkey humper but Shoe was the only one listened. I have no idea if he was correct as I googled it and could not find a You Tube video to confirm. That is the first time I have ever Googled anything and not gotten an answer and that includes:
Emoji tried to spring past Four Square and I had a feeling it would not work. The problem is I forgot to block Four Squares path – that one is on me.
The men of Kingswood encourage any pax to steal the sand bags and cinder blocks at end of drive way. They do get good use in our neighborhood workouts.
COT – Continued prayers for Shoe’s mom and starting prayers for Bat Man’s family who is dealing with stressful living situation. Praise for my Mom’s return to health and pending move to Charlotte to be close to two of her sons.
Honored to get to lead such a great group of men – and Homeboy.
given, off we mosey
Run to the parking lot in front of Old Navy, circle up: SSH, IW, Hill Billies, LSS, Merkin, MC, then a few minute of stretching: can opener, downward dog, arm circles, hip rotation and head rolling for loosening up those neck muscles.
Informed the PAX we’ll be traveling the mountain range of Mt Suck today. First step, at the base of Mt Suck is one of the suckiest of all exercises:
Mosey across street to medical plaza, add an exercise even suckier than the burpee:
Mosey to to the day care building for a far less sucky exercise:
Mosey again. You get the idea. We traveled this range of Suckiness up to:
SSH was next, but time was short, so we ascended in a hurry back to COT. Maybe next time we’ll make it to 50.
I’m not sure what I’d change to try to make this routine better as it had a good balance of abs, arms and legs. Each change was a relief, but also I was growing to hate each exercise as we got further up the mountain. 15 is a lot of Merkins, and the ever present Bonnie Blair is a personal weakness, so getting in a lot of them really sucked – in a good way (at least that’s what I tell myself).
On Thursday Odd Job kindly reached out to warn me that the weather would probably be wet, to confirm I did not have any concerns. I wrestled with various responses (a lecture on core principles, how soft does he think I am, etc) and settled on pasting his face on the children’s game called Sugar & Spice & using that for marketing on Slack for 400 SOB members and about 200 in Waxhaw.
The weather is only going to get worse, so everyone needs a reminder it really isn’t an issue when you’re sweating your ass off running all over doing awkward exercise and navigating various obstacles. When in doubt wear an extra layer or two and shed those as needed. The worst weather has a way of creating some of the best memories.
Nice seeing Palm Olive again, he didn’t seem to have an issue keeping up and I think he’ll be leading in no time. Omicron is also turning into a Da Vinci regular – he’s pushing himself along very nicely. The newest PAX was Crabwalker (or Luke Crabwalker?!) who joined last week was also not afraid of the chance of rain. He thinks he’s out of shape, but he is way ahead of most PAX on their 2nd time posting. As expected, Odd Job & Soft Pretzel were the two that I had to keep up with. Soft Pretzel even corrected me when I mixed up the order of reps. Good work by all. It is always a pleasure to take the lead at DaVinci.
Christmas party & blood drive in December (I think)
Prayers for those impacted by Ian.