The PAX: Halfback, Damascus, Doughboy, Kid Rock, Chainsaw (R), Xerox (R), Fusebox, Foley (R), Wedding Singer, Stub Hub, Rockwell
11 PAX showed up at The Floater for what was my VQ for this site! The buzz must have been great because even Pursuit closed its doors to see what was in store at #87! By the way, what does “#87” mean?? Guess I need to spend more time on GroupMe to keep up with the lingo!
When Bottlecap reached out looking for a fill in I started thinking about trying something a bit different at this site. The result… less running and a full upper body workout! It looked good on paper, so I crossed my fingers and proceeded with the plan.
Disclaimer given, and we were off…
Here is what went down:
Warm Up Lap
Circle Up
SSHs x 20
Imperial Walkers x 20
Potato Picker x 10
Wind Mill x 15
Arm Circles x 10
Mosey to the picnic tables under the pavilion and partner up on the way
Partner 1 works and partner 2 runs to end of path and back (flap jack)
Combined:
Derkins x 100
Dips x 100
Incline Merkins x 100
Mosey to the street in front of Mary O’Neill’s
More partner work
Partners run in opposite directions to the end of the block – do 2 Burpees and return
When partners meet on the return do 10 Hand Slap Merkins (repeat 3 times)
Mosey to half wall across from the church
50 Air Presses in cadence
50 Jabs in cadence
Back to more partner work at the wall
Partner 1 works and partner 2 runs to stop sign and back (flap jack)
Combined:
50 Mike Tysons
100 Donkey Kicks
Mosey to grassy area by the church parking lot
Circle up for Jack Webbs
Back to COT
Mary – LBCs, Flutters, Figure 8s, Aquamans
A big thanks to Doughboy and Damascus for helping with the counting during the Air Presses and Jabs. I tried to incorporate many different exercises to exhaust the arms and shoulders. As always, I appreciate the opportunity to lead an awesome group of men! Awesome push by everyone today!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thank you, Damascus, for taking us out!
Many of the horrendous nut job hollywood actors celebrity couples get crappy couples nick names. Brangelina. Beniffer. Ect. What will the pax call Banjo and I after our dual beat down Q at Chiseled. Banjox? Fusjo? Or perhaps just ass clown SOB’s great american patriots.
6 men decided they were too cheap to take their family to the beach for spring break and decided they might as well show up for a workout. Here is how it went.
Banjo led us off. I told him take as much time as he wanted and I would fill in the rest. Full disclaimer – I forgot most of what Banjo actually did so below is what I remember. Just know what ever I write doesn’t do it justice and it was a lot of lifting that sucked.
WARM UP
Short mosey around the islands stopping in the middle parking lot. No bible study so lots of open room. Some Plyometrics to get warmed up. Butt Kickers. Toy Soldiers, Slow Mosey, little bit faster mosey, and a faster mosey. I asked Banjo if we then had to do a faster faster mosey, but apparently not.
THE THANG
Mosey to Cinderblocks. 20 Curls, 20 Presses. Burpee Indian Run to Mt. Chiseled. Bread Bowl pushed hard during the Indian Runs.
20 Curls with weighted Bar. 20 Tricept press. I think we did this twice. Burpee Indian Run back to cinder blocks.
20 Thrusters. 20 Goblet Squats (maybe?). Burpee Indian Run back to Mt. Chiseled Bars for the worst thing ever. Jack Webbs with Burpees as the single count and a weighted press. If you think 40 air presses sucks…do it with a 20 lb bar. Luckily Banjo had mercy on us and he alternated the weighted bar exercise to throw in curls and triceps presses to give our shoulders some relief.
At about this time where my heart rate was peaking at 175 and I felt like my lunges were ready to collapse, Banjo informs me its my turn. Great. Quick Mosey around Mount Chisled so I can figure out what the hell I’m going to do, so I can catch my breath, I have no idea why we ran around Mt. Chiseled, just to piss Bread Bowl off.
Groups of 3 for Galley’s with my own personal touch to it. Tip of the hat to Bonhoeffer who introduced these at Outland last week. One person on the ground with other two partners standing on either side of them. Standing partners lock hands with the guy on the ground. Guy on ground does 10 rows (no assistance from standing guys, they just hold). After 10 rows, guy on the ground dead hangs while both standing partners do lawn mower pulls. Clear as mud? Once finished, run to curb and back and rotate until everyone has been in each of the three positions.
Quick Mosey to the back front side of Mt. Chiseled (where the slope isn’t as bad). Keep groups of 3. Partner 1: 25 Heels to Heaven. Partner 2: 25 Dry Docks. Partner 3: Crawl bear up the hill and bear crawl down the hill (always facing down hill). Rotate until you hit each station.
Galley’s again except no lawn mower pull. 3 rounds at each position for a final total of 30 Rows (40 if you count the original Galley/Lawn Mower combo).
Just enough time left for one more round of Heels to heaven, Dry Docks, and Crawl Bears.
3 Minutes left….what to do…..Grab weighted bars and run them to the cinder blocks. Got half way and my forearms were burning. Used Bread Bowl as an excuse to rest my forearms and called for pax to put down bars and Al Gore while Bread Bowl caught up. Back to weighted bar run to cinder blocks. Fore arms on fire…..bars down. 6:15.
MOLE SKIN
Thanks to the guys that showed up today. It was a last minute thrown together Q by Banjo and I. Hopefully you felt it was a good workout. A couple new moves introduced by both Banjo and I. Anyone want to sign up to show us some more new things?
I’ve been really wanting to figure out a way to do more Supines/Rows at Chiseled. The railings there are not ideal for supines, though they can be done. I went so far as to attempt to build portable supine bars out of 2″ PVC, but quickly realized that while it worked for the 180 lb mens health model, it didn’t work as well for a 235 guy. Then I attended Outland and Bonhoeffer brought out the Galley’s. Wow. My back was sore for 3 days. Its a portable move that we can employ at any site. I love it! I decided to add in an extra lawn mower row. They proved to be more difficult that I had anticipated (and put more pressure on the back than I liked) so decided to nix them after round 1. Hopefully we will see Galley’s added in some more at other workout sites. Banjo sung high praises so if they get his stamp of approval, I’m hoping others liked them as well.
Swimmers becoming a regular at Chiseled (ready to Q?)
We found out who wears the pants in Shake N Bakes relationship this week (sorry Shake, I had to).
Proud of Bread Bowls push this morning. Especially the Indian Runs.
Xerox once again wants to kill me after a shoulder heavy workout at Chiseled.
While I lamented during warm ups that I wished I was Bread Bowls age again, we learned that Dough Boy (oddly enough) wishes he was a fetus. I suggested perhaps not a good idea in today’s age. We got dangerously close to a political discussion. Thankfully Banjo had us running fast and we all lost our ability to hold a conversation. (Pax don’t worry, no serious discussions were had or political positions traded).
Thanks again to all that came. Apologies to Banjo for not remembering half his workout. Again, just know it had me breathing very hard right at the time that it was my turn to take over.
15 Pax showed up at Stonecrest confused about who was on Q. Little did they know, they were in store for the OG Q of The Maul with some new up his sleeve.
The Thang:
Mosey to the corner of the parking lot for a quick warm up.
20 SSH, 10 IW, 10 Windmills
Mosey to the top of the Murderhorn and AYG Sprint to the bottom.
IT PAYS TO BE SLOW
Based on the pax order of arrival at the bottom, they are given proportionate reps of exercies on the upcoming lap up and down the horn. Ie. Fast guys do 8 merkins at each light, a little less fast guys do 7, ……fastish pax do 2.
Same concept for the next round, this time with jump squats.
Same concept for the 3rd lap, substitute jump squats with burpees.
After everyone finishes, mosey to the back of the theater. Pax hold people’s chair until its time to Balls to Wall Walk w/ Verkins(new exercise) at each sidewalk crack #crowdpleaser. Once the hand stand walk is complete, hold peoples chair again. Plank walk back with a merkin at each crack.
Mosey over to hill near parking lot, break into two groups.
Group 1 lunge walks backwards up the hill, Group 2 holds plank, flapjack.
backwards bear crawl, six inches(with feet)
Front lunge walk, plank
front bear crawl, six inches
Run out the clock with some Mary led by LogJam, HeartBreaker, and No Show and a minute of elbow plank.
COT:
Dredd on Q at Da Vinci Saturday. Frehleys on Q at Stonehenge. Happy Hour on Thursday at Blackfinn Ballantyne 530 PM. BeerRun 3 Saturday 5.18, join the slack channel to learn all the details and to HC.
Moleskine:
It’s always nice to Q The Maul. It’s where YHC got to cut my teeth on learning how to Q. A couple of the pax(Mic Check, Frehleys, Market Timer, WingSpaceMan, and Strawberry) in attendence today have been posting at The Maul since it’s inception. The long standing friendships were evident by the pointed trash talk and bathroom humor.
In a couple of my last Qs, I’ve been trying to challenge all pax but make things more challenging for the guys who usually lead the pack. I did so by giving the guys who run faster, more reps. This backfired a little on me by the end where pax were openly conspiring to all finish at the same time once they picked up on my pattern. However, it must have worked at least a little bit because Mic Check, Teddy, and Happy Meal were still finishing first. Maybe they should get even more reps next time.
4 PAX conquered the gloom: Lamont, Turnpike, Shepherd, and Bonhoeffer on Q.
The Warmup
Started with 31 sidestraddle hops. Warmup run around the front parking lot, stopping every so often to do …
The Thang
Moleskine
Some dainty feet got a smidgen of wetness, and there was much mumblechatter.
The mumblechatter got real quiet for the rest of the time though. Not sure what happened. Maybe it’s cause everybody was tired. Thunderclaps for beating the fartsack then!
The weather was fantastic. Ground was dry.
El fin.
Announcements:
When Hops put in the call for me to queue at my alma mater (class of 1991), I knew that I could not and would not refuse. I also knew that it was my chance to take the PAX on a journey to relive my glory years and teach them a little about the school.
The Thang, with some of the Moleskin baked in
I built a workout that would take us around the various part of the “old” campus that many, based on the PAX comments, had not been seen before.
We had one FNG (see below), and so a thorough disclaimer was in order (whether or not anyone was listening is another story). With F3, Latin, and most importantly me in the clear, we were off.
Mosey from the parking lot, up the sneaky big hill, to where the carpool line used to be for warm-up. I say “used to be,” because there is a big ole building there now that wasn’t there before. I have no idea what they do in there. It may be the latest secret bunker built by the US Government (YHC went to The Greenbrier this weekend – that place is cool, but I digress).
When we were warm, clearly noted by the level of conversation not ceasing and even possibly increasing, it was time to move. Mosey to the entrance to the 400 building (Middle School) for a circuit of alternating bear crawl and lunge walk, with a merkin set at each corner. The circuit would take us from the 6th/7th grade hallway where my career at Latin began back in 1985, over to the 9th grade building, and then over to one of the two primary upper school buildings. This was a critical component of the workout, as it paid tribute to the academic excellence of Charlotte Latin.
At 10:00 every morning, we had a fifteen minute break from our rigorous academic curriculum. On many days, I wondered over to the gazebo right in the middle of this academic quad to sit at the picnic benches with my friends and a snack. It was only appropriate to bring my newer friends back to this same spot, especially for our break following the previous set.
Not only is Latin a top notch academic institution, the Hawks are often dominant on the fields, pitches, gyms, and pools. Time to venture to the extracurricular (not those, Spack). The first sports team I made (yes, we had cuts) was the JV tennis team in 7th grade. I took the boys down to the tennis courts for some suicides. We only ran two four-court suicides each, and despite being plenty, it was significantly easier in the 50 degree gloom vs. the 90 degree heat that feels 7 degrees hotter even on hard courts that comes with a Charlotte late spring.
We then moved down to the track, where I told them of my senior cross country season where 100% of the training was done on the track, most of it 400s. Talk about nasty. Had I known that our new coach at the time had that in mind, I’m not sure I would have committed. Nonetheless, our team of scabs managed to put this approach to work and we finished 2nd in the state. YHC even made all-conference. Interval training does work.
But a trip down memory lane wouldn’t be complete without a stop by the gym. While we were outside the “new” gym, and I had played in the “old” gym (Belk Gym – which felt a little like Carmichael Auditorium, Reynolds Coliseum, or even Cameron Indoor Stadium – think small, hot and loud), I had to bring basketball into this equation, despite being short on time.
Back to launch. Done with 15 seconds to spare.
Additional Commentary
Big and quality group of guys out this morning, and also plenty of chatter. Horsehead made a nice appearance, and it was great to see Kirk at Hawk’s Nest. Pretty ironic that when the harassing of the Q and his private school heritage started during warm-ups, it was predominantly coming from a group standing on the sidewalk refusing to get their shoes wet in the dew covered grass.
Spackler and Semi-Gloss provided plenty of their own commentary for the Q. As usual, Sprockets was way out in front, especially on the 400s. Hops is getting some wheels, too, I might add. There was plenty of huffing and puffing, but he pushed through, leaving YHC well behind. Good to see Bugeater out there this morning, despite apparently being left behind by Scratch-n-win’s chauffeur service.
Welcome to FNG Nathan, now named Kobayashi.
Announcements:
I’m a big fan of the Watchtower site but I’m not feeling as “energetic” in the mornings due to new levels of soreness. Back pain, stiff neck, 6 miles with Gerber yesterday and we are on day 9 of 42 for this pull-up challenge.
I have plugged the Murph enough at this point but if you haven’t tried an overhand pull-up since you were a small boy, be prepared to laugh out loud. Obviously our personal weight has a lot to do with our ability to do a pull-up but you probably don’t use those muscles all that often. New found respect for those in CrossFit that knock out those and the freaking muscle-ups. Yikes.
Any who….decent weather, sore as hell and no excuses…let’s get it!
DiCCS given. No man left behind reminder and that we would do as much together as possible while circling back to finish as a unit.
THE THANG
Mosey to doctor’s office or bank that has the small circle. Let’s circle up:
Mosey to sidewalk and up to CVS and over to BB&T for Compass. Learned this beauty from the boys in Augusta. Hard to explain but combine a plank with a bear crawl that only uses arms to go left or right but you never move your feet. Hence the compass nickname and now I get to holler out degrees, which direction and then IC push-ups. No breaks…
Mosey to Neighborhood. 10 burpees at caldesac
OYO. Every light 10 Speedskaters. Mosey back for the 6. Regroup at stop sign.
OYO. Every light 10 audible to 5 x Bobby Hurley’s. Mosey back for the 6. Wait in the caldesac.
OYO. Every other light alternate between 10 x LBCs and 10 x Carolina Dry Docks. Mosey back for the 6. Regroup at stop sign.
OYO. Every light alternate between 10 x Big Boy Sit-ups and Monkey Humpers. Mosey back for the 6. Stop at the top. Mosey all the way up the hill stopping for no exercises because we are running short on time.
Mosey to the bottom of the hill as a group. 20 x Heals to Heaven.
Jail break to Pet Smart the gate entrance. Balls to the Wall Plank jacks x 20. Jump Lunges x 20. 3 rounds. Mosey back to the finish. Yikes.
MOLESKIN
Like Farva said to Foster in 2001’s sleeper hit comedy Super Trooper, “Sing it again rookie bi-otch!!” I mean what was I thinking? I mean I’m no Rand McNally but I couldn’t do a little recon beforehand to find out how long that 2nd stretch of road was? Lock it up Zin.
The workout went overall as planned and outside of my own critiques I think everyone was fine with the overall idea – 3.25 miles and pain stations. But I just had so many more tricks in my wizard’s sleeve I wanted to show you guys.
I have been teasing the Compass since Dana and I posted in Augusta. It’s as terrible as I described above and that last 10 count was brutal. Cheers to everyone that pushed through.
The rest of the workout reads just like I shared above. A few audibles due to pain and time but I like the way Damascus describes the boringness. “There is a mental component when you have a long stretch like you did that beats people down!” He’s not wrong as I was fighting with my mind to walk several times.
Great to see everyone out this morning and I appreciate the opportunity to lead. Deadwood rocked a 20lb vest. Damascus was rocking 10lb vest and a chiseled jawline. Those two, Dancing Bear, Banjo and Gerber prerun – hitting up over 6 miles. Great to see the frequency that Gatorcub and Dasher are posting lately. Maybe GC posts that often but it’s felt like more lately to me. Wedding Singer continues to crush it. Toto hasn’t been completely scared off since the Jack Webb marathon that he did a few weeks ago. Hollywood and Bottlecap consistently pushing the pace to a level I don’t understand. I hope to see Loafer out more often and love that Mad Dog is out there always pushing himself hard. On a plus note, Fusebox and I didn’t get into fisticuffs – he even complemented the Compass and so I guess what I’m saying is that the Briarcrest Crew is coming back with pool bodies only Lawson could dream of!!
I had higher expectations for my 17th Q but now it’s time for a beer in Nashville. I got no worries now and all of Spring Break to recover. Really I got until Monday when I Q Ignition though….see you all then!
Thanks to Mad Dog for taking us out!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
This morning, YHC woke up with an extra creak in his knees … an extra pang or two of discomfort … it’s almost as if YHC turned over his odometer. Strange. Well, no rest for the weary, time to put in some Works with Skunks.
A large crowd gathered at Covenant Day. Here’s what they experienced.
COP
It appears that we did 40 swings in total as part of the warmup. This was less confusing to the group than the 40 SSH. But, prescient nonetheless.
Anyway, partner up for some Catch Me If You Can (10 merkin chaser) — head from launch to the lacrosse field over at Christ Covenant proper.
THANG
Line up on the line and stay with your partner.
Round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
Another round of CMIYC, heading from the LAX field to the courtyard where we run staircases — which, we did not do today.
LBCs while we wait for the 6.
This time, starting at the courtyard, do 40 seconds of called exercises AMRAP. After that, mosey to the next church entrance, 40s of same exercise, AMRAP, mosey to next church entrance, blah blah etc.
Mosey with your bell back to launch.
Time called.
COT
-30-
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None.
SKINE of the MOLE
Yes, as it came out during the course of the workout, today was my 40th birthday. It was also the first time in my F3 lifetime that my birthday fell on a day with my regularly scheduled workout. So, I thought, might as well lead.
Thinking of ways to incorporate the milestone birthday was harder than I originally thought, because, well, I was happy to make everyone else do this mess, I wasn’t looking forward to it. As I told Tulip, Funky, Tweetsie and Soprano (kotters) afterward: “This looked bad on paper. It was worse in practice.”
The field was a little damp, so, the backpedaling was originally supposed to be inchworm-ing, but, given the curls and presses ahead, I figured that having soaked hands/gloves would not be conducive to getting that done … well, safely anyway.
Good to see a mix of regulars and legends this morning.
I would launch into a Horsehead-worthy existential fever dream surrounding a major milestone birthday, but, I’ll spare y’all that. What I will say — I’ve been waiting 12 years for this moment, because, well, let us not forget the wise words of one of my Spirit Coaches, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, who famously barked in 2007: “I’M A MAN! I’M 40!“.
Thanks to Tulip and Funky Cold for the opportunity, and thanks to everyone who showed up. This workout is a backbreaker every week, but, it’s always fun because of the crowd.
Mosey lap around parking lot while LIFOs file in.
SSH x 20, Squat x 15, IW x 15.
Run out to Strawberry Lane, and down 51 to Davie Park.
10 Diamond Merkins IC.
Low Slow Squat x 15 IC.
Into playground; One Legged Burpees. 6 each leg.
10 Chin-Ups OYO.
10 Derkins IC.
Rinse and repeat, with decreasing Burpees second and third rounds.
Mosey out to main park road. 10 Merkins at each light post, AYG between lights. Repeat to back lot.
Coming back, 25 LBCs at each light post, AYG between lights.
Run back to AO for Mary.
Moleskin
Okay; so this was a little run-heavy for the day after Easter. Especially for Bug Eater, who ran in, and Jello, with a pre-run. Lorax and Spackler didn’t notice, from the front of the pack. And Magoo was a beast.
Good work by all! Thanks for letting me have the keys –