With Thanksgiving feasts on the horizon, 32 PAX wanted to make sure to start the day with a caloric deficit so they wouldn’t feel so bad about blowing it out of the water later in the day (or at least that’s how YHC felt). With an hour long workout ahead of us and three mystery Q’s no one was quite sure what to expect.
FNGs: Welcome Captain Planet!
The Workout:
Pikachu started off the morning’s activities by announcing the first mystery Q, everyone’s favorite reason to have it burn when you pee, U.T.I.:
When did Thanksgiving become the holiday that just wouldn’t end!? I thought I had made this amazing/awesome feast for everyone at R4TJ. I just got this whole mess cleaned up. I knew there was some mumblechatter about the day of Thanksgiving. Cletus 3x in 3 days, 3Qs at Tiger Blood or even flag football. It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have said anything… I overheard the conversation and said “3 strikes is a Turkey in bowling” Apparently that was enough to ask me to set the table once again. I do make a mean Turkey… but this is different… A CONVERGENCE!?!? I mean that could be HUGE – It’s the whole freaking extended family! At R4TJs Turkey Day, Chris (you remember – that guy that moves like lightning) assured me that there would be 2 other cooks in the kitchen but there was a catch… He wouldn’t tell me who. I mean Emeril would be a big help but… you know… celebrity chef and all… Would he even show? I know he has a new gig something called “I’m On It!” – must be one of those Chef saves the day in a crappy restaurant reality things… I guess I would have to wait and find out.
I arrived promptly at start time. There was talk of appetizers (about 3 miles of food was offered, just something light to get started but a bit more than typical) – I was planning on saving some room for dessert so I just showed up for the main course. As you can imagine, it’s the holidays and with everything mostly shutdown there aren’t many options to get your fill. I counted 20 heads when I got there and more were filtering in from their appetizers. Final count was 32 as we gathered for the meal.
I was up first, the other 2 chefs were still unknown – probably still cooking up their best offerings. I had prepared, had an idea, wanted to play on the bowling concept that got me into this mess in the first place. Who am I kidding, bowling alley food for Thanksgiving!? Scrapped that and realized that I was the first course. I had to ease them into it. It was a simple and recognizable offering, didn’t want to upset the pallet. Here is the recipe in case you liked it. Just keep in mind, as my friend Alan pointed out, you’ve got to let these ingredients rest a bit before you add the next one. Otherwise your guests get a little cranky about the results…
- 10 Burpees OYO – I didn’t plan to use this ingredient but Jaron (comic book character complex) and Florence insisted.
- 30 SSH
- 30 Frankensteins – I need to work on these, timing was a little off and Cousin BJ made sure I knew…
- 30 Windmills
- 30 LBCs
Big crew for dinner – I thought it would be best to split everyone up into 3 groups and seat them together. Just more manageable – We split up in the front and made our way to where the first course would be served. There were Indians (aka native Americans) at the first Thanksgiving. Theming the party is always fun and engaging your guests can really make the day memorable for everyone.
- Indian Runs with 10 guests run to their table.
The main course was kind of a build your own. Some basic ingredients were provided but guests were asked to push themselves and create a dish to remember.
- 10 guests at each table, each group at a different end of the large oval-shaped venue
- 1 to 5 social guests got to run the perimeter of the Oval as fast as they could, greeting the 20 that they weren’t seated with along the way.
- The leftovers at the table got to focus on an ingredient of their choice while their friends were away being social.
- My table did some American Hammers, Low Slow Flutters, Pickle Pounders, and I went out for some social time so I’m sure I missed something on the list. Great work at the table – very delectable stuff.
- There was a friendly new guy at our table too. Talked a bunch! Glad to have that kind of energy at the celebration.
I know I started out griping about being asked to make another meal on short order but sometimes I think I just like to complain. It’s always a pleasure to serve the family. Just as I was starting to really enjoy hosting, the 2nd Chef was tapping his tall glass of water (dude really enjoys some high quality H20) for everyone’s attention. It was time for me to handover the apron.
Aquaman:
QIC Aquaman circled up the PAX and never let them go. Today’s exercises were brought to you by the letters A, B, and S. YHC can’t remember the exact specifics of everything we did but we started with protractors with the Q calling out the angle while PAX took turns calling out a 10-count all the way around the circle. Rinse and repeat with LSF and then again while holding various plank positions (regular, chill cut, right arm up, etc.). At Potts’ request we ended with Boat/Canoes with variations mixed in as well. I’m sure I missed stuff but just know that everything was ab focused and there was a lot of mumble chatter regarding it.
Our third and final Q was none other than YHC himself, 16-bit:
Having received a text from Pikachu Wednesday morning about Qing the last 20 minutes of the workout didn’t leave YHC much time to plan. I didn’t know how many people to expect but I did expect a fairly large group. And I got that group. I spent the night scouring the official exicon for new exercises that would accommodate a large group, took notes, allowed room for modification, and was satisfied.
Not yet breaking the previous Q’s circle the group started with Crowd Pleasers. These consisted of an x:x ratio of merkins and groiners. We started with 1:1 and worked our way up to 5:5 and then back down to 1:1. These seemed to live up to their name and I look forward to incorporating them in to more workouts.
After this we moseyed around to the other side of the parking lot to make use of the curbs. Admittedly things got a little messy here because the curbs weren’t equal and there was some confusion but I think, overall, it went well. We started with inch worms. Feet against the curb in full plank position PAX slowing inched their hands forward until they couldn’t reach any further and then inched their feet up until they were back in full plank postion. Continue this until the other curb and then work back towards the other curb.
Next up was modified ascending curb crawls where we started with our feet on the curb and performed a derkin, bear crawled to the other curb and did another derkin. Bear crawl back to the originating curb to do 2 derkins, etc. We did this until we did 3 and 3 because they sucked and it was hard.
The last exercise at the curbs were broken wheelbarrows. PAX partnered up and wheelbarrowed from one curb to the other. The broken part of it was that the partner holding the legs only held one leg. Partners switched after they crossed the parking lot. Each partner took two trips. These also sucked.
Mosey back to the original circle location for our last exercise. Someone thought it was time for Mary, but not quite yet. The last exercise YHC had planned was a Circle Burp. Per the exicon, everyone in the circle started chopping their feet while PAX around the circle called to do a burpee. As fun as this sounded I don’t think anyone wanted to do 32 burpees so YHC modified and just called out when to do a burpee. I don’t know how many we did but it wasn’t too many. However, had I known I was going to get so much Jane Fonda related hate during Mary I might have just had us do burpees until time was out.
Mary:
Staying in our circle we started with Coolers. These start as a side plank on your forearm and done IC. On one we lifted our top leg up towards the sky, two brought it back down, three brought our top leg’s knee to our chest, and four took it back down. 10 each side. Bring on all the Jane Fonda references.
Afterwards we went on to sleeping hillbillies and American Hammers. I might have done more but honestly can’t find my notes or remember. We ended with Happy Thanksgiving, aka Have a Nice Day.
Announcements:
Christmas party on the 14th, Frosty CSAUP on the 9th.
T-Claps (Recognition):
Aquaman and U.T.I. for helping bring the pain in their own ways this morning. I know, for myself, it was challenging planning a workout not knowing who else was Qing and what they were planning but it all came together nicely. These guys did an outstanding job in helping everyone clear some waist line space for the impending feasts, especially Aquaman with all his gut busting ab exercises.
Prayer:
Our brother Wallaby is going through hard times right now, struggling with substance abuse. He and his family could use our support so if you are able to help in any way I’m sure the family would appreciate it. Hardy has the flu which is no fun ever but especially during a holiday. Continued prayers as well for Quiver and his family.
I know I speak for my fellow Qs when I say that being chosen to have the opportunity to lead this workout was an immense honor. I’m thankful for all of you on this day where we reflect on the blessings in our lives. I count each and every one of you among them.
010000
Week 2 Day 2
/in I got 5 Onnit/by DawgpoundEC: Dawgpound, Emeril, Buford, Pikachu
FNGs: Does Scrooge count??? I mean it is Dumbo, but Scrooge is a better name. Just get your wife the real tree Dumbo!!
Warm Up:
Onnit Kettlebell Warm Up
The Workout:
Work Hard Recover Faster 1
Mary:
Onnit Kettlebell Cool Down
Announcements:
CSAUP December 7th
Christmas Party December 14th
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:
Pilgram and his family
Quiver and his family
Wallaby’s and his family
Week 2 Day 1
/in I got 5 Onnit/by DawgpoundEC: Dawgpound, Buford, Cowboy, Lucky, Emeril
FNGs: Nope… Unless we count the onnit guys
Warm Up:
Onnit kettlebell warm up
The Workout:
Persist and Endure 1 — We get to also do this workout Friday
Mary:
Onnit Kettlebell cool down
Announcements:
CSAUP December 7th
Christmas Party December 14th
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:
All unspoken.
All pax going through difficult times in the holiday
Paradise City 12/2
/in Paradise City/by BreachPax of 2 for a good start to December
Snap and Breach on the Q
Warm Up: 22 Counts of SSH, Imperial Walkers, Squats, and Calf Raises
The Workout: 4 Corners around the soccer fields, 3 exercises at each corner stop with 22 counts for reps
Corner 1 – Merkins, American Hammers and Lunges
Corner 2- Irkins, Derkins, and Dips
Corner 3- Homer to Marge, Low Slow Fludder, Heal Taps
Corner 4- Squat Jumps, Frakenstiens and Monkey Humpers
Corner 5- Plank Jacks, Supermans and Side Crunches
Corner 6- Step Ups, Irkins and Dips
Corner 7- Box Cutters, Pickle Pounders and Hillbillies
Corner 8- 10 Burpees
Mary:- 4 Minutes of Yoga to stretch out
Announcements: Frosty this weekend
Closed out in Prayer:
Cyber Monday Shopping
/in Downtown Train/by DauberFNGs: Â None
EC: Â Not exactly sure. Â But Slide Rule was on his six mumbling about questioning whether or not he had made the right decision this morning and a few other PAX looked shwetty (Abe, Coal Ash, Nemo perhaps).
Warm Up: Â PAX of 9 came out for some Cyber Monday shopping with Dauber. Â Took a tour of downtown with a nice jog to get the body warmed up. Â Headed down to check out the deals happening with Dawgpound and the Pax doing Onnit. Â A gaggle of shoppers out early this morning looking for sales in the cozy garage. Â Lots of kettlebells, yoga mats, a piece of furniture and electronics. Â We continued on our jog window shopping the brick and mortar shops on Main Street. Â Pace Yourself Run Company had the best holiday lights in their window. Â Headed back to the parking lot for the following warmup exercises: Â In cadence – 25 SSH, 10 Don Quixote, 10 Daisy Pickers, 10 Fazio Arm Circles (F/B), 10 O/H claps, 10 Seal Claps, static hamstring stretching (L/R) and some Michael Phelps.
The Workout:  PAX followed Dauber (who removed his bulky sweatshirt hoodie) for a nice jog that included some karaoke (both sides) around the library down library hill.  Doc caught up to Dauber and mentioned the pace.  Pulled into the neighborhood’s clubhouse.  I remembered my first Downtown Train (inaugural) and Nemo brought us down here for some Jack Webb’s.  No fond memories voiced  but I did hear some concern about the wet grass. (I’m doing laundry as I write this BB hoping to Shout out the mud stains on the knees).  Jack Webb’s 1 merkin : 3 air push ups (from your knees).  On your six for 25 ic LBCs and 25 SSH ic.  Mosey / jog back up library hill and waited for the 6 at the top of the hill.  Frankensteins were added.  Dauber made sure all PAX were OK and then called a jail break to a parked trailer.  Coal Ash turned it into high gear beating out all the PAX.  Recalling doing rock exercises with Forceps, Dauber had PAX pick a medium sized rock and then had everyone circle up for the following 10 ic count exercises while rotating rocks:  Rut-Ros, Curls, Tricep Extensions, GroundPounders, Wonder Bras, Toe Taps, Side Turns, Toe-taps, Bus drivers, O/H presses.  PAX got on their 6 with the rock and executed the following 10 count ic exercises (rotating rock afterwards):  H2M, Tricep extension, Straight arm Reverse Curl, Chest press, WW IIs, 6 inch with rock above chest, legs up 45 degrees with rock above chest, rock straight out over your head with legs 6 inches of the ground…return rocks to rock pile.  Mosey to library amphitheater for 25 c BTTW and 25 c People’s Chair.  Rinse and repeat increasing count to 30.  FUN!  Mosey to shovel flag for Mary.
Mary:  Yoga stretches.  Runners, Pigeon, Child’s Pose.  Have a nice a day.
Announcements: Â Holiday party. Â CSAUP.
T-Claps (Recognition): Â PAX who did EC today.
Prayer: Â Unspoken. Â Dauber took us out.
This is always a privilege leading you me. Â When I am not leading Red October, I am trying to get around to other AOs.
Ultimate Hard Mode
/in AO Post, Mutiny/by PikachuFNGs: None today
Warm Up:
SSH x20 IC
Windmill x10 IC
Frankenstein’s x10 IC
The Workout:
Ultimate frisbee F3 style! When the disc hits the ground do an exercise from a rotating list. For today the list was 10x merkins, 10x squats, 5x burpees. A big up in the number of reps vs what is the norm – that’s why it was hard mode!
When a team scores they call an exercise that everyone does.
Mary:
We played until 42 minutes or so – after a game point call we moseyed back to the parking lot for some Mary.
Low slow flutter x20 IC
LBC x20 IC
Announcements:
CSAUP, Christmas Party, Oakwood 24.
T-Claps (Recognition):
16-bit for playing with breathtaker. He’s committed to the 5 pack and I’m sure this wasn’t easy with the extra 20 lbs.
Prayer:
Finkle’s daughter is in post op recovery. Duwan at Banana Seat’s church needs lifting up. Continue to pray for Wallaby and his family – a meal train is in the works by Pablo. Fumunga’s hot water heater is busted. Beater’s son is having some behavioral issues.
2020 Shield Lock Challenge!
/in AO Post, Faith, Fellowship, News/by Slide RuleLet’s start off 2020 right with a little #3rdF challenge. 1 month long, all you have to do to win is spend time with your Shield Lock. Winners announced first week in Feb.
First things first,
What is a shield lock?
I think it’s easier to illustrate this with a conversation I had on a run the other day (no, not the one where Skidmark tried to kill me):Â Paraphrase here —
Me: “I’ve not seen you in a while, you been posting a lot?”
Him: “Not really, trying to get back into it.”
Me: “Oh, what’s been going on?”
Him: “You know the normal stuff, work got busy, fell into some bad habits, gotta get back into it and get some accountability”
Me: You have a clown car or group of guys who can help out?
Him: “Kind of, but not really. Work means I have to be punctual so I can’t ride with them, so I just try to show up on my own”
I’m sure we’ve all gone through something like that — life gets busy, things get in the way, good habits start to get replaced with bad ones, and suddenly it’s been a few weeks since you’ve posted in the gloom and a lot of that progress you’ve been making starts to slip away. It starts with fitness, but quickly bleeds into losing ground on the intentionality and dedication you’d been working on elsewhere in life.
Here’s the thing: we all know that if we reached out and said “Hey man, I need some help, I’m struggling here”, every single guy in F3 would be there in a heartbeat to support. A shield lock is more than that, though.  Your shield lock are the guys who call you first.  They are the ones who notice you’re slipping and reach out a hand before you’ve slid down to the bottom and realize you need help.
On a more personal note: back when my 2.0 was born, I struggled hard getting back to work. If I would have picked up a phone and called any number of my golf buddies and said “Hey guys, I’m drowning here, I can’t focus at all and my work is slipping” I know a bunch of guys would have loved to help me out. But there was no one Proximate to me to notice the issue, no one I met with Periodically to have opportunity to address the issue and certainly no one who felt they had the Purpose or role to step up and say something. And let me tell you, when your head is barely above water and you don’t know how to handle it, it’s next to impossible to articulate the need for help. There’s a small group explicitly tasked with that role this time around, and for that I’m extremely thankful.
That’s the shield lock: the small group of guys with whom you are Proximate, Periodic, and Purposeful.
For Dredd & Helmet’s Take on this (which is where I got the above info), See Q1.7 from QSource or listen here: Skip to 28 Minutes
So what’s the Challenge?
Pretty easy!
(note: “coffeeteria” after workouts doesn’t count. Need to make an intentional #2ndF effort)
“Serve” can be a wide array of things. A book study, a service project, serve together at church etc. But, do it *together* (so, don’t count all of you happen to go to the same church on Sunday and nodded to each other in the atrium).
I’m not going to go “Slack-Cop” on this, so if you mark down “We served”, it’s good enough for me.
That’s it. Basically, spend the month of January intentionally being with a smaller group of guys. You’re literally #winning every time you go grab a drink together.
Please note, all of these can be completed in larger groups. If someone organizes a big service project in January, would love to see ALL the shield locks there.  LEAD something together!
How do we do it?
Let me (Slide Rule) know your team name and who’s in the Shield Lock.
I’ll make a tab for your team on the Shield Lock tracker, found here: Shield Lock Challenge
At least weekly, log your time together.
The Details
1 point / pax at a workout (max of 3 pts)
+1 point if the entire shield lock posts (this balances scoring for 3, 4, 5 person groups)
+1 point if all who posted from shield lock also ran EC
+1 point if someone from shield lock Q’d (might want to start filling up that Q Sheet now!)
Top 3 workouts / week count toward total (Max of 6*3 = 18 pts)
7 Points if the entire shield lock does anything 2ndF during the week.
Can not be associated with a workout (Panera after U-Turn doesn’t count, for instance)
15 points if the shield lock does something service related over the month.
Most points wins! Ties broken by 3rdF, then 2ndF, then most Q, then most EC points, then week 4/3/2/1. Winners announced first week in February.
Important Note:
There was an F3 podcast recently about guys who are “cheating on their family” with F3. They’re running away from problems at home and use F3 as a way to do it. The shield lock better be the guys who are helping you address those problems, not run away from them.
Any questions? Feel free to ask!
The Rain Don’t Matter..6 PAX Get Some Hill Work
/in Any Given Sunday/by MookiePre-Blast reaffirmed that AGS would be open despite the rain that was scheduled in the forecast. Arrived to Womble via Stinson this morning so that YHC could get a good look at the street name which would serve as an end point for this morning’s hill repeats. Come to find out its Lacombe Court. As I noted this, I began the uphill climb in the Knight Rider and quickly came upon a light up vest in the back drop of a light fog and drizzle. Moving at a decent pace, Pikachu was just finishing up his 5th mile on to what would be a 15mi morning on this rainy and cold morning. What else can be said, the kid likes to run no matter the conditions.
Arrived to the parking lot to see DawgPound make his way to AGS this morning. Grabbed the flag out of the back of my car. As I made my way to the planting zone, Master Shake comes rolling in, along with Deadbolt not far behind. Nemo arrived shortly after that and before YHC knew it, we had 6 PAX on a very rainy and raw morning in the gloom.
On mornings like this, especially on a Sunday, it would be so easy to stay nestled in the fartsack. These 6 HIM made a decision, however, and showed up. To honor that commitment, YHC planned some hill work, being sure to stay close to shelter in the event the rain picked up. As it would turn out, the heavy rain held long enough for PAX to get 4-5ish miles this morning.
Warm Up: Light jog to the back Ivan lot via the left side of the soccer fields. Circled up for Imperial Walkers X12, Good Mornings X12, Fazio Arms F/B X12. During this series, DawgPound expressed his displeasure with the exercise count going to 12 each time. Not sure why there was an issue. We do this every Sunday and is the standard during football season at AGS. I guess Dawg just doesn’t like 12 for some reason. Finished up the the last set of Fazio’s and then mosey’d to around the lot to the back side of the Ivan lot. Circled up for some Hillbillies X12, Frankensteins and alternating lunge walks. Wrapped up the warm up with prison squats on YHC’s cadence down and up X12.
The Workout: With the uncertainty around when the heavy rain would fall, we’d keep close to Womble as mentioned. Decided on some old school Speed Racer for this morning’s workout. PAX ventured out of the Ivan lot to the left up Stinson for a series of 2.5 hill repeats. At the top of Stinson, PAX would perform 6 Burpees (just because 6 came to mind this morning and Dawg didn’t like 12 counts). From the top of Stinson, PAX would then head all the way down to Lacombe Ct, where they would perform 6 star jumps. Rinse repeat twice with PAX picking up the six throughout the hill runs. After the last set of 6 burpees was perfomed, YHC instructed PAX to take a left out of Stinson and onto Grigsby taking the long way around the baseball fields and then head back to the shelter in front of the flag for Mary.
Mary: Planks with alternating calf stretches, cobra stretches, runners pose stretches, downward dogs
Announcements: CSAUP Next week- Dec 7th. Get your Frosty on! F3 Christmas Party at Midget’s on Dec 14th.
T-Claps (Recognition): All PAX who posted this morning putting in work in the cold rain.
Prayer: Prayers for Wallaby and his family. Prayers for Nemo’s brother-in-law. All PAX and family faced with challenges during this holiday season. Continued health as we close out 2019. All unspoken. YHC took us out.
You’re gonna want gloves for this
/in Ground Pounder/by ForcepsFNGs: Not today
7 HIMs showed up to GP on a dreary but relatively warm morning.Â
WarmUp:
10 Good Mornings, 10 Windmills, 10 Daisy Pickers, 20 Fozzie Arm Circles, 10 Emperial Walkers, 10 Hillbillies, 10 3ct SSH
The Workout
Mosey to the Rock Pile. Rotate around rocks between sets.
PAX pair up:
1 does weighted plank hold while other runs 40 yards and back then switch.
1 does weighted crab hold while other Frankensteins for 20 yards and back.
Mosey to the Wall of Pain
Mosey back to Flag
Pick a parking line Bear Crawl to end 10 ct LBCs, Bear Crawl back, 10 ct WWIIs,
Bear Crawl to end, 10 ct Freddy Mercuries, Bear Crawl back, 10 x 3ct 6 inches
Quick Feet around entire parking lot, Karaoke back
Roll the Dice (sets varied from 5 – 20 depending on the roll; If doubles were rolled we doubled the number
Announcements:Â Christmas Party and CSAUP coming up
Prayer Requests:Â Dusty’s brother getting life back together after a stroke, DOA’s wife coping with loss of mom, Quiver’s daughter and family,
YHC took us out.
We Tried to Kill Sliderule
/in U Turn/by SkidmarkWelcome to the first U-Turn following Richmond and HSHM. YHC was curious how many Pax would be out coming off off of some big races, but with recent PRs in their heads the Pax were looking for more and trying to find a way to keep accelerating. Plus YHC promised a couple BIG announcements coming today. There were lots of options for today’s workout. 3 mile option in play, 5 mile option in play, and a new Beta AO option for those that wanted to give it a shot. Emeril has been spending a lot a time in the kitchen lately and missed the talk about the new workout. Kudos to him for dropping the light vest and coming along.
EC: Aquaman and Shamwow at 0515, Sliderule, Bernie, and Skidmark at 0530, 187 and Alpine from home.
3 Mile: Oh Yeah!
5 Mile: Norm, Oyster, Cowboy, Aquaman, Shamwow, Full House, Katniss, Buford
Other option: Emeril, Pablo, 187, Lipstick, UTI, Alpine, Sliderule, Bernie, Skidmark
FNGs: None
Warm Up: SSHx20, IWx10, Hillbilliesx10
The Workout: 3 mile and 5 mile runs.
For those interested here is how the other workout went down:
3 Man Indian Run from Starbucks toward Buffalo Wild Wings: From now on when I say Standard Set it will mean 10 merkins, 10 LBCs, and 10 squats and all runs will be 3 man Indian Runs unless noted. Corner by BWW standard set. To New Hill Rd Standard Set. Thomas Mill Rd Standard Set. Sonshine Gymnastics Standard Set.
At Sonshine we did Triple Nickles. 5 merkins at the top of the hill, 5 merkins at the bottom. Repeat 5x.
At Premier Standard Set
Down to 55 auto works parking lot: prints one direction, mosey back to start and 10 LBCs (repeat 5x)
Down to Green Oaks Standard Set.
Over to Irving Parkway Standard Set
Up to Thomas Mill Standard Set. At the top of the at Thomas Mill partner up. One partner runs to New Hill and recovers down the hills and sprints up. The other partner runs the other direction to the top of the next hill. This partner sprints down the hill and recovers up the hill. Return to Thomas Mill. Each partner went each direction 1x
Standard Set at New Hill
Standard Set at Tijuana Flats
At Tijuana Flats 2 set of Guantanamo’s around the Landscaping. Then did one set of raccoon crawls around the landscaping on the wall. This is a bear crawl on top of the wall.
Then we did some window shopping. Large group Indian run and we picked up some other U-turners and ran the whole shopping plaza on the side walk. Back to Starbucks and recover.
Mary: Have a nice day
Announcements: Shirt Order, CSAUP 12/7, Christmas Party 12/14, Beta AO, Skidmark brought Pie, U-Turn will be moving locations starting the beginning of the year. It will now start at Panera. Route will remain the same.
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: Wallaby, Good to see Norm
Thanksgiving Convergence
/in Convergence/by 16-bitWith Thanksgiving feasts on the horizon, 32 PAX wanted to make sure to start the day with a caloric deficit so they wouldn’t feel so bad about blowing it out of the water later in the day (or at least that’s how YHC felt). With an hour long workout ahead of us and three mystery Q’s no one was quite sure what to expect.
FNGs: Welcome Captain Planet!
The Workout:
Pikachu started off the morning’s activities by announcing the first mystery Q, everyone’s favorite reason to have it burn when you pee, U.T.I.:
When did Thanksgiving become the holiday that just wouldn’t end!? I thought I had made this amazing/awesome feast for everyone at R4TJ. I just got this whole mess cleaned up. I knew there was some mumblechatter about the day of Thanksgiving. Cletus 3x in 3 days, 3Qs at Tiger Blood or even flag football. It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have said anything… I overheard the conversation and said “3 strikes is a Turkey in bowling” Apparently that was enough to ask me to set the table once again. I do make a mean Turkey… but this is different… A CONVERGENCE!?!? I mean that could be HUGE – It’s the whole freaking extended family! At R4TJs Turkey Day, Chris (you remember – that guy that moves like lightning) assured me that there would be 2 other cooks in the kitchen but there was a catch… He wouldn’t tell me who. I mean Emeril would be a big help but… you know… celebrity chef and all… Would he even show? I know he has a new gig something called “I’m On It!” – must be one of those Chef saves the day in a crappy restaurant reality things… I guess I would have to wait and find out.
I arrived promptly at start time. There was talk of appetizers (about 3 miles of food was offered, just something light to get started but a bit more than typical) – I was planning on saving some room for dessert so I just showed up for the main course. As you can imagine, it’s the holidays and with everything mostly shutdown there aren’t many options to get your fill. I counted 20 heads when I got there and more were filtering in from their appetizers. Final count was 32 as we gathered for the meal.
I was up first, the other 2 chefs were still unknown – probably still cooking up their best offerings. I had prepared, had an idea, wanted to play on the bowling concept that got me into this mess in the first place. Who am I kidding, bowling alley food for Thanksgiving!? Scrapped that and realized that I was the first course. I had to ease them into it. It was a simple and recognizable offering, didn’t want to upset the pallet. Here is the recipe in case you liked it. Just keep in mind, as my friend Alan pointed out, you’ve got to let these ingredients rest a bit before you add the next one. Otherwise your guests get a little cranky about the results…
Big crew for dinner – I thought it would be best to split everyone up into 3 groups and seat them together. Just more manageable – We split up in the front and made our way to where the first course would be served. There were Indians (aka native Americans) at the first Thanksgiving. Theming the party is always fun and engaging your guests can really make the day memorable for everyone.
The main course was kind of a build your own. Some basic ingredients were provided but guests were asked to push themselves and create a dish to remember.
I know I started out griping about being asked to make another meal on short order but sometimes I think I just like to complain. It’s always a pleasure to serve the family. Just as I was starting to really enjoy hosting, the 2nd Chef was tapping his tall glass of water (dude really enjoys some high quality H20) for everyone’s attention. It was time for me to handover the apron.
Aquaman:
QIC Aquaman circled up the PAX and never let them go. Today’s exercises were brought to you by the letters A, B, and S. YHC can’t remember the exact specifics of everything we did but we started with protractors with the Q calling out the angle while PAX took turns calling out a 10-count all the way around the circle. Rinse and repeat with LSF and then again while holding various plank positions (regular, chill cut, right arm up, etc.). At Potts’ request we ended with Boat/Canoes with variations mixed in as well. I’m sure I missed stuff but just know that everything was ab focused and there was a lot of mumble chatter regarding it.
Our third and final Q was none other than YHC himself, 16-bit:
Having received a text from Pikachu Wednesday morning about Qing the last 20 minutes of the workout didn’t leave YHC much time to plan. I didn’t know how many people to expect but I did expect a fairly large group. And I got that group. I spent the night scouring the official exicon for new exercises that would accommodate a large group, took notes, allowed room for modification, and was satisfied.
Not yet breaking the previous Q’s circle the group started with Crowd Pleasers. These consisted of an x:x ratio of merkins and groiners. We started with 1:1 and worked our way up to 5:5 and then back down to 1:1. These seemed to live up to their name and I look forward to incorporating them in to more workouts.
After this we moseyed around to the other side of the parking lot to make use of the curbs. Admittedly things got a little messy here because the curbs weren’t equal and there was some confusion but I think, overall, it went well. We started with inch worms. Feet against the curb in full plank position PAX slowing inched their hands forward until they couldn’t reach any further and then inched their feet up until they were back in full plank postion. Continue this until the other curb and then work back towards the other curb.
Next up was modified ascending curb crawls where we started with our feet on the curb and performed a derkin, bear crawled to the other curb and did another derkin. Bear crawl back to the originating curb to do 2 derkins, etc. We did this until we did 3 and 3 because they sucked and it was hard.
The last exercise at the curbs were broken wheelbarrows. PAX partnered up and wheelbarrowed from one curb to the other. The broken part of it was that the partner holding the legs only held one leg. Partners switched after they crossed the parking lot. Each partner took two trips. These also sucked.
Mosey back to the original circle location for our last exercise. Someone thought it was time for Mary, but not quite yet. The last exercise YHC had planned was a Circle Burp. Per the exicon, everyone in the circle started chopping their feet while PAX around the circle called to do a burpee. As fun as this sounded I don’t think anyone wanted to do 32 burpees so YHC modified and just called out when to do a burpee. I don’t know how many we did but it wasn’t too many. However, had I known I was going to get so much Jane Fonda related hate during Mary I might have just had us do burpees until time was out.
Mary:
Staying in our circle we started with Coolers. These start as a side plank on your forearm and done IC. On one we lifted our top leg up towards the sky, two brought it back down, three brought our top leg’s knee to our chest, and four took it back down. 10 each side. Bring on all the Jane Fonda references.
Afterwards we went on to sleeping hillbillies and American Hammers. I might have done more but honestly can’t find my notes or remember. We ended with Happy Thanksgiving, aka Have a Nice Day.
Announcements:
Christmas party on the 14th, Frosty CSAUP on the 9th.
T-Claps (Recognition):
Aquaman and U.T.I. for helping bring the pain in their own ways this morning. I know, for myself, it was challenging planning a workout not knowing who else was Qing and what they were planning but it all came together nicely. These guys did an outstanding job in helping everyone clear some waist line space for the impending feasts, especially Aquaman with all his gut busting ab exercises.
Prayer:
Our brother Wallaby is going through hard times right now, struggling with substance abuse. He and his family could use our support so if you are able to help in any way I’m sure the family would appreciate it. Hardy has the flu which is no fun ever but especially during a holiday. Continued prayers as well for Quiver and his family.
I know I speak for my fellow Qs when I say that being chosen to have the opportunity to lead this workout was an immense honor. I’m thankful for all of you on this day where we reflect on the blessings in our lives. I count each and every one of you among them.
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