Bells and Balls

Bells and Balls

Well, the men were separated from the boys this morning, as 5 men posted in the frigid, 40 degree air with a light breeze (seriously, the forecast was for 33, so this was balmy), while the boys were snug in their #fartsacks.  Some serious iron was moved this morning, and it looked like this:

The Thang

Basic disclaimer given for this veteran crew, plus some guidance on what was ahead and how to make the most of it.

COP

• Imperial Walkers
• Start/Stop Swings – two hands
• Side Straddle Hops
• Start/Stop Swings – left hand
• Prying Squats
• Start/Stop Swings – right hand
• Low Slow Squats
• (audible to skip the cleans and halos and get right down to business)

The Humane Burpee (by Dan John – modified to amp up the pain)

• 15 one-hand swings (alternate between Left & Right each round)
• 10 goblet squats (full ROM)
• 10 merkins (slow, with good form, to get all you can out of the limited number)
• 10 rounds – declining count of goblets and merkins each round, swings stay at 15

Mosey to playground

Playground Ladder

• 10 racked reverse lunges (5 Left & 5 Right)
• 10 pullups
• 1 overhead carry around the circle of pax
• 10 rounds – declining pullups each round, lunges stay at 10

Mosey back to parking lot

1 Minute of Mary

• Flutter Press

Done

COT

No announcements

Take out by Bulldog.

Naked Moleskine:

While we haven’t had a post as low as 5 in a while, the nice thing about a small group is the ease of mumblechatter and customization of the #weinke for the men at hand.

The #weinke was based largely on some workouts from Dan John.  The ladders originally called for 5 rounds, counting down 5 to 1, but that obviously wasn’t enough for this group.  So, we turned it up to 10.  Depending on your bell selection, that may have been too high as the fatigue really set in on the later sets, but we pushed through nonetheless.  Needless to say, bones were strengthened and other bodily benefits were accrued today, gentlemen!

The method to today’s madness was to:

• during COP, loosen up the lower body for the full range-of-motion goblet squats about to come in the first ladder, plus ingrain good movement pattern with the start/stop swing for the 150 one-hand swings that were about to come
• the Humane Burpee provided plenty of one-handed swings, for all their noted benefits, a solid number of goblets, ditto on the benefits, and a manageable number of merkins to savor with good form, full range of motion, and a slower pace
• the playground ladder provided lots of reverse lunges, the toughest part of a TGU, IMHO, on a soft but unstable surface, #bonus, plus plenty of pullups, which we don’t do enough of generally, again IMHO, which also exceeded the pullup challenge number for the day (for those participating like YHC), #doublebonus

A few observations:

• Blazing Saddles secured the option on a larger bell today, but said option was never exercised.  May have been the right call today.  Next time.  Got in some good pullup work, with lots of reps.
• Bulldog audibled out of the reverse lunges, having had sufficient TRX glute work yesterday, with teabags and presses.  Good call.  Those lunges are gonna leave a mark on the rest of us.
• Witch Doctor alternated between bells throughout, which may have been the smartest move out of all of us, and generally crushed it.
• Turkey Leg was steady throughout today, moving the bell around like it was Styrofoam (was it?), even after the pre-run.
• YHC used too much bell on the first ladder, leaving him spent & struggling during the second ladder.  Bonus part of the pullup ladder was that today’s challenge number (40) was easily exceeded (55), and the 55 merkins from the first ladder left on 195 to go for today’s challenge (250).  (Finished 200 at home for 255 total)

Let’s continue to lift up Destiny & his family in prayer.

Thanks, as always, for the honor to lead today.

Aye.