Six of the Southland’s sturdiest gathered in the pre-dawn fog for the weekly test of strength and fortitude known as Olympus. YHC was even more excited than usual to lead today since it was the first opportunity to bring the Bluetooth speaker the M gave me for Christmas, and a playlist consisting of heavy metal and outlaw country had been prepared for the occasion. Alas, the technology gods had other plans, more on that later. The gear stations were prepared, the disclaimer was given and the brawn building began.
The Warmup:
SSH – 25 IC
IW – 20 IC
Merkin Set – 15 reps left hand on bell, 15 reps right hand on bell, 15 hands close grip both hands on bell, 10 reps left hand on bell, 10 reps right hand on bell, 10 reps close grip both hands on bell, 5 reps left hand on bell, 5 reps right hand on bell, 5 reps close grip both hands on bell
The Layer Cake:
Layer 1 – 20 Two Handed Swings
Layer 2 – 20 Two Handed Swings, 15 Goblet Squats
Layer 3 – 20 Two Handed Swings, 15 Goblet Squats, 10 Snatches (5 each arm)
Layer 4 – Two Handed Swings, 15 Goblet Squats, 10 Snatches (5 each arm), 5 Good Mornings
Layer 5 – 20 Two Handed Swings, 15 Goblet Squats, 10 Snatches (5 each arm)
Layer 6 – 20 Two Handed Swings, 15 Goblet Squats
Layer 7 – 20 Two Handed Swings
The Main Event:
Partner up and rotate among the 5 gear pods:
Pod 1 – Jump Rope: 100 turns & Sledgehammer Tire Strikes
Pod 2 – Medicine Ball Cleans & Tire Carry with Rope Pullback
Pod 3 – Partner Medicine Ball Toss
Pod 4 – Wobble Merkins & Double Kettlebell Front Squats
Pod 5 – Battle Rope & Yoke Carry 110 lbs worth of Kettlebells
Run to the covered area for some core work: Each PAX called out an exercise which turned out to be Flutter Kicks, Dying Cockroaches, Elbow Planks, LBC’s, Clockwork Orange (it’s a Big League Chew thing similar to protractor so let’s give it a name), Rosalita. Two minutes until the bell so run back to the pile of kettlebells and swing until the clock strikes 0800.
Postscripts: Due to the wet conditions YHC decided it would be smart to place the phone and Bluetooth speaker in a Ziploc bag in order to enjoy some Motorhead/Iron Maiden/Sturgill Simpson/Blackberry Smoke et. al. while slinging iron but apparently such a thing is un-possible. The more you know I guess. That or YHC just screwed it up, the jury is still out. We tried to hit the entire body this morning and confidence is high that the goal was achieved. Of course the speaker kicked on right when it was time to switch it off for COT & Takeout. Technology…meh. Many thanks to the PAX who disregarded the dreary weather for the best hour in F3. Yankee has the Q next Saturday.
Only three of Area 51’s mightiest posted on a December Saturday morning, but what we lacked in number we made up for in brawn. A mixture of kettlebell work and a trip to Santa Ickey’s workshop was on the docket for the day.
Kettlebell Portion:
20 two-handed swings
20 one-legged deadlifts alternating sides
20 alternating one-handed swings
10 alternating arm snatches
20 two-handed swings
15 goblet squats
20 alternating one-handed swings
20 renegade rows (10 each side)
20 two-handed swings
Repeat entire circuit
Gear Work:
The idea was to partner up and rotate through the gear stations but with only three we had to improvise, but it allowed us more turns through the stations and in turn, more monster making madness.
Station 1 – Kettlebell Swing Ladder: 10 swings each of 25, 30, 35, 45, 55 lb bells
Station 2 – Sledgehammer strikes onto tire
Station 3 – Jump Rope, shoot for 100 turns
Station 4 – Medicine Ball Situps
Station 5 – Tire Carry with Rope Pullback
Station 6 – Dumbbell Thrusters
Station 7 – 50 lb Bucket Carry
Station 8 – Cement Block Overhead Press
Station 9 – Yoke Carry: Picture a 2×4 with kettlebells suspended by chains
Station 10 – Weighted Shadowboxing
Hustle to Squeeze in Some Mary
25 Freddie Mercury IC
20 Crunchy Frog OYO
20 Russian Twist IC
10 Superman IC
10 LBC IC
Moleskin
Many thanks to Boutique and Gullah for joining me for my favorite hour of F3 and making the effort setting up the gear worth it. We will have to go heavier on the yoke carry and add some weights to the tire pull next time.
On a cold, dark, rainy, dreary morning 5 of Area 51’s beastliest unshackled themselves from the day after Halloween fog to lift heavy objects, swing large hammers, pull stuff with ropes and do other various alpha male things.
The Undercard (Kettlebells):
The Main Event (Gear Stations):
After a few rounds through the carnival of pain we headed to the covered corridor for some quasi-dry Mary
Announcements – Gullah will be collecting shoes for #SoleRedemption but we all forgot to bring them today
Moleskin – Thank you to Gullah & The Hoff for entrusting me with the reins of Olympus for the week. It was an honor and privilege to lead today in what has become one of YHC’s favorite hours of the entire week. For those training for obstacle course races such as Leatherneck, Spartan, Tough Mudder, etc. YHC cannot recommend Olympus enough. YHC has been posting at Olympus since August and at last week’s Spartan Super the strength based obstacles were no trouble at all compared to the weekly gumbo of manliness that goes down every Saturday morning. Thanks to Big League chew for the takeout prayer, BLC will have the Q next week. Note to self – the basketball hoop is a bit too tall to hang the TRX from so that was scratched. Note to self part deaux – YHC is not very good at throwing the rope through the basketball hoop mounting bracket so the kettlebell hoist was scratched as well.