Many stars
One Star brought major rock work to the Body Shop, and Posse added to the pain with some creative exercises with rocks. There may have been tears shed.
Spicy work on the gut!
For the second time this week, Chipotle brought some major ab pain to Waxhaw. Following his ab-tastic work at Bushwood on Tuesday, Chippy laid some more gut pain on the PAX. And a welcome to FNG Runway.
Lights on the drag
Kirby had the PAX running and doing pain stations at each light on the main road into the school.
3 Men vs a girl — who will win?!
YHC is a huge fan of old school stuff — but not the movie, hasn’t seen it. Little Debbie, sausage-and-egg biscuits, old school wrestling (or wrasslin’) and old school, big-group workouts. For the last one, YHC has often seen backblasts where the PAX count was 2-4, but he started out with the big Dromedary and Cuthbertson workouts of 20-30 PAX and has often been leery of any turnout fewer than 10.
With the high potential for rain and storms, YHC knew today might be one of those days. He rolled into Rea View about 5:15 (or so he claims) and sat in an empty parking lot watching the rain from Hurricane Sally dot the windshield. About 5:27 headlights shine down the road, and a minute later there’s another pair. Neither was the Q, but there was a quorum.
Some of the best wrestling of the 1980s were the 6-man tag team matches. The Fabulous Freebirds, the Von Erichs, Road Warriors and Dusty Rhodes. This mighty trio teamed up in the gloom for a 3-on-1 match versus Sally.
The PAX quickly decided to split the Q and make the most of the morning.
THE THANG
Das Boot with the warm-o-rama
Midriff offered up some rock work with running
Chopper took the leg work with lunges, squats then running.
Midriff tagged back in for some merkins and forward-then-backward running
Das Boot came back into the squared circle for some Mary to finish it up.
MOLESKINE
Just as opponents trembled when Hawk, Animal and The American Dream strolled into the ring, Sally ran with her tail between her legs. For 45 minutes, it barely rained and the time flew. The workout was a solid one and no one melted from the little precipitation that fell.
More than that, though, YHC has heard many times lately the refrains of “more than a workout” and accountability. YHC may have been looking forward to a nap in the car with the falling rain or not being out and running around on the wet pavement solo. But Chopper and Midriff showed up and held him in accountable and again proved that you might be out there for others, not just for yourself. Who do you need to be present for in the near future?
(YHC is also grateful that the Road Warriors from Mecklenburg County didn’t go full Legion of Doom on him and gouge his eye with a spike.)
Truckin’ time at the Body Shop
Long Haul kept the PAX truckin’ at The Body Shop, hearkening back to his days as Site Q of Devil’s Turn — side runs, backwards runs, side skips all made for happy PAX.
Back to the little track!
Laps around the little kids’ track and plenty of exercises, while welcoming some new faces from the SOB regulars. Bienvenido, Chippy and Mighty Mite!
Boatload of merkins
Lots of merkins for the first day back at 0530 launch time. Unfortunately, the message of the new start time was not received by all. (Ahem, Midriff.)
Running with Rocks
Bushwood Site Q One Star <perform odd hand gesture> stepped up as a substi-q on short notice at The Body Shop a few weeks back and shared with the PAX the joy of running with rocks. YHC decided to return the favor at the best country club AO this side of the Mississippi and here’s what happened…
WARM-UP
Minute o’ mosey.
- SSH x 18 IC
- Mountain Climber x 18 IC
- Nancy Kerrigan/Sun Goddess x 18 IC
- Morroccan Night Club x 18 IC
THE THANG
Grab a running rock and head for the neighborhood. Add in a burpees at the two lightpoles on the sidewalk that follows the Marvin School Road because it’s a dumb idea to add unnecessary burpees.
Once in the Marvin Creek neighborhood, the group stayed mostly on the southern half of Autumn Blossom and the two cul-de-sacs that jut from the street.
- 1st ‘sac – 18 side lunges with the rock
- Faster-than-mosey to the second cul-de-sac
- 2nd ‘sac – 18 Peter Parkers
- Faster-than-mosey to the roundabout for a Circle Merkin to 36 total merkins
- Run on Running Horse to the other roundabout
- Circle Burp on the roundabout to 32 burpees
- Supermans x 18 IC
Repeato on Autumn Blossom
Back to the cul-de-sac we entered on for another 18 side lunges then head back to the school.
Mary with rocks:
- American Hammer x 18 IC
- Protractor legs and arms, 2 rounds through the PAX
- LBCs x 18 IC
- Flutter x 18 IC
- Return the rock with love
Mosey back to COT.
MOLESKINE
YHC learned early on in life to not run with scissors. He never learned the lesson to not run with rocks… until today. It didn’t take long for YHC to have numerous mental images of GOB on “Arrested Development” saying, “I’ve made a huge mistake.” YHC tried to listen to another GOB quote — “It’s not a trick, it’s an illuuuusion” — and that somewhat dulled the anguish.
One Star went for one of his favorite rocks from the pile, but was reminded that it should be a running rock and he opted for a more appropriate size. Kotters to Krusty (Aaassss Crack) for rejoining the PAX on a lovely morning — he must’ve brought the humidity of a thousand heat-lamped Krusty Burger buns with him because it was not so bad on Monday.
YHC apologizes for the poor choice of 36 circle merkins, sticking with the Bushwood course theme but depriving some PAX of an extra merkin. Kudos to Spaulding and Krusty for lining up to go early on the burpees and J-Woww for going for the extra merkins. Fiji and One Star even threw in additional, unplanned burpees on the way back to the school. Kudos to Noonan on wearing the appropriate attire for Bushwood and it’s great to spend more time on the AO course with Hot Yoga, who recently moved out from city life and gets the work done.
Running with rocks is not as fun as, say, an afternoon at Top Golf, but it’s always good to be at the Bushwood CC.
YHC with the take-out.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Spaulding on tap for his VQ next week!
Sad reminder that weekday sites move to 0530 starts beginning Aug 3rd. Back to the gloom!
At the playground…
Technically, this is still an exploratory site — should YHC even write a backblast for it? It is with an abundance of caution, that he does…
WARM-UP
Minute mosey.
- Goofball x 20 IC
- Hillbillies x 19 IC
- Morroccan Night Club x 18 IC
- Mountain Climber x 21 IC
- Windmill x 14? IC
THE THANG
Head to the lower playground and grab a random ball from the ground. Run the track and at the
- 1st corner – 10 merkins with right hand on the ball (bonus points for dribbling with hands or feet between stations)
- 2nd corner – 10 merkins with left hand on the ball
- 3rd corner – 10 merkins with both hands on the ball
- 4th corner – 10 merkins with feet on the ball
2 laps of that and then gather on the court for a Febreze
- 2 BB sit-ups, raise feet and do 10 chest presses with the ball
- Then 4:20, 6:30, 8:40, and 10:50
Repeato on the ball time above, except Febreze was shortened to just rounds of 2:10 and 10:50.
Say goodbye to your ball and mosey to the parking lot entrance.
Run four light poles up and at each one, do 10 Carolina Dry Docks. Around the 4th pole, there are rocks — grab one.
- Run the next 4 light poles and at each do 10 curls, 10 air presses, 10 tricep extensions.
- At the long gap between the final pole and Rea Road, walk with the rock above your head.
- Return to the rock pile, stopping at each light pole for 10 bent-over rows.
5 burpees at three light poles on the way back to COT.
MOLESKINE
YHC was quite humbled by the stellar turnout this morning for the site possibly to be known as The Body Shop (thanks to the opportunity last week to change the tire of a school employee after the workout was done). Men ranged from 2.0 to Double Respect, and 5 MASHERs did some strong work each time the rest of the group passed by — it is not known what was going on at others times. PAX traveled across the county line into the wilderness of Unincorporated Waxhaw without the promise of coffeeteria, a session of Q Source, or an 0715 happy hour. There was a deer sighting just before launch, further adding to the rural feel of the AO.
The PAX were excited to play with balls but that soon changed and the grumbling started as men realized the balls were not well inflated, thus more difficult to balance on and dribble. YHC is known for digging into the depths of the Exicon and today’s round of The Febreze was an unexpected bit of torture — who knew you had to work those hip flexors more often? Some of the newer guys realized they haven’t spent enough time on their 6 and may be soft there. The shoulders were burning with the rock work.
And, just as 95% of garages and shops operate, this job finished later than expected, rushing to finish just a little later than the guaranteed 45 minutes.
YHC with the take-out.