After the Rain..11 PAX get stronger with Rucking Miles and Hill Work

Heading into this morning, it was really a toss up. The heavy rain from the night before was likely to alter our plans for a run this morning, but the Sky Q had our best interest in mind by holding the rain off and sending down some extra humidity to dry the roads prior to 6am. Clown car in Knight Rider was full this morning, complete with a shovel flag, a sack carrying Midget, and a Deadbolt. Arrived to Womble with a fleet of cars already parked. Wait a minute…. “Abe?” A newcomer to AGS, looking for some honest miles. This guy is showing up and making a statement, first breathtaker and now posting on Sundays. Then followed by Draper, the big Red Truck toting Skidmark and Bullseye, then followed by Full House, and Wood Creek’s finest- UTI and Lipstick. Oh and don’t forget Redenbacher, picking up a 1/2 mile EC before the Main Event.

A solid 11 at 6 o’clock start- 3 Ruckers (Skidmark, M4L, and Bulls Eye with 8 Runners). Started Warm Ups that went a little like this.

Warm Up: Light jog to the back lot with carioca L\R, R\L to the start. Continued to the other side of the lot with Butt Kickers and circled up for Hillbillies X10, CP’s X10, Fazio Arms 10 F\10 Back. Frankensteins back to the start with alternating toe walks\heel walks and circled up for air squats X10. Ruckers proceeded to their route and headed to Main St, while the running PAX proceeded to mosey with YHC. Stopped at the first picnic shelter and circled up for some GM’s X10. Quickly lined up in tight formation for a solid Indian run to the Ivan Lot. Circled up in the back lot while YHC explained this morning’s route. At this point it was starting to mist a bit, which provided a good cut in the humidity. Fortunately for us, the Sky Q waited until after our run was over to let the rain fall and provided some gentle breezes throughout the run.

The Workout: The menu today called for Hills. With BRR just a few short weeks away, we put some elevation in the plan for this morning. PAX would proceed down and up Stinson where they would be taking a left onto Bass Lake Road. Follow this to the stop light at Holly Springs Rd. and proceed to Rhamkatte Village merging left into the development and onto Jones Hill Road with a slight shift down Old Ride Road to the end of the development with a U-Turn around back onto Holly Springs Road, proceeding left to Homegrown, right on Linksland, right on Salem Ridge, Right onto Bass Lake (up the BDH-Big Damn Hill), and back onto Stinson for the final push back up to Womble.

Strong pushes from start to finish by all PAX. A big shout out to Lipstick and UTI for picking up the six throughout the run and for pushing YHC up Bass Lake and the final Stinson push. By the 5th and 6th mile of this route, YHC is usually pacing at 10min, but this morning, lots of inspiration drawn by all PAX to help me find a new gear and a steady climb up Bass Lake with an 8:36 in the final 1 mile. #ironsharpensiron.

Rejoined the Rucking PAX at the Womble lot for stretches and COT just as the rain started to open up.

Mary: Stretches OYO
Announcements: Fitness Test tomorrow at PC, Moving help at Midget’s this afternoon. Skidmark carrying Breathtaker this week and will be calling on PAX to wear an eye patch during workouts this week in support of A Cure in Sight (this months charity).

T-Claps (Recognition): Abe for his AGS debut and putting in some solid work this morning. All PAX for conquering the hills and those rucking with weight strapped to their backs. Speaking of backs, I’m not sure if anyone saw the light banter from the pre-blast last evening, but I am suddenly intrigued by this BRR “see my back ” exchange between M4L and Pikachu last night. Looking forward to seeing how the training unfolds in the week to come….

Prayer: YHC reminded PAX about goals. Shared that part of attaining your goals and achieving what you set out to do is knowing what you have to give up in order to achieve them. That can sometimes mean doing the things that you don’t like to do (ie: hills, burpees, getting up on Sunday) in order to ensure optimal performance on race day or any goal you set in front of you. Challenged PAX to find 3 things (fitness-wise or personal\work related) that they like least and do these first each day this week.

Deadbolt took us out.

MEGA F3 KICKBALL!!!

FNGs:  Welcome FNGs!

  • Shortcut – Katniss’s 2.0 William, he’s 14 and “he’s lazy and doesn’t like to do stuff”
  • Flower – Lipstick’s youngest 2.0.  He came prepared with his name and was excited to share.  There was some debate on if this was flour (cooking?) or flower (plant?) but he cleared it up for us.
  • Mickey – Warbuck’s youngest boy (for now), we nearly missed him in the FNG naming ceremony but he kept saying Mickey and so we named him.  Welcome Mickey!

Warm Up:  YHC asked the 2.0s how they wanted to warm up.  The first thing called out was LBCs but we got a quick veto from some of the Dads based on the wet conditions.  We went around the circle and tackled some Hillbillies, Good Mornings, Side Straddle Hops, Frankensteins, Burpees, and whatever else was called out.

The Workout:  Modified kickball!!!  Lipstick helped to get the teams split up with Dads and their 2.0s together on each team splitting our 28 PAX to something of an even number.  Our new FNG (to be named Shortcut) opted to play against his dad (Katniss) and sister (Unicorn) however.

What was modified about the kickball you ask?  The ball was about 4x the size of your regular kickball.  The Dads owed 3 burpees per run scored on the opposing team (soon modified down to 1 burpee per score).  Also, Dads on the field had to complete 3 merkins per fair kick before fielding the ball to make sure there was some time to allow our 2.0s a fair shot at the base – if the ball was airborne, Dads could attempt to catch the ball without merkins.  We also found it useful to let a Dad or older 2.0 kick when the bases were loaded to clear the bases.

Luckily, the rain held off during the workout and the soccer turf was empty so we didn’t have to play on soggy ground.  45 mins proved to be the exact right amount of time to keep the Dads and the kids attention for our game today.  Donuts were already implanted in the minds of many.

Mary:  Kids ran the bases just like at the end of the Durham Bulls games.  We upped the rounds to 2x – cause why not try and empty the tank on these kids.

Announcements:  YHC forgot to run through these – sorry PAX

T-Claps (Recognition):  Great job Dads!  Thanks for coming out and spending time with the collective 2.0s I know it makes a difference for us and for them.

Prayer:  Prayers for 16-bit and his family.  He was set to lead the Dads workout today but a death in the family changed his plans.  He later posted to Slack that he and his kids had done their own workout prompted by the 2.0s – Great work 16-bit, Zookeeper, Linedrive, Catgirl, and FNG!!!

Merlot? FNG? That sounds good, I’ll have that…

FNGs: Popinski (Chad, EH’d by YHC)
Warm Up: Buttkickers, High Knees, Wide Knees, SSH x20, Frankenstein x10, Hillbilly x15
The Workout: The U-Turn, Pax of 2 (Aquaman/Snausage) went for 3 with a modify by Aquaman to “drop the kids off” at the Starbucks “Pool” – change shoes and run the reverse. Remainder hitting the 5+ picking the 6 up along the way. Popinksi was found on the curb by the finishers bent over splashing merlot…Winner!
Mary: Nope
Announcements: 2.0 this AM, Obstacle race at Sugg, NEW AO (Site Q’s Doc/Aquaman) Wednesday at Womble – slack for details.
T-Claps (Recognition): Warbucks for the extra effort on picking up the 6 and a +1 EC. Also, Warbucks for trying to EH a lonely foreign runner along the way.
Prayer: For the Army Cadet killed in the accident at West Point yesterday and all those injured in the incident. Unspoken. YHC took us out.

Start Low, Finish High

FNGs: Nope

20 Fozie Arm Circles, 10 GooMornings, 20 SSH, 10 Daisy Pickers, 10 Windmills, 10 Emperial Walkers, 10 Hillbillies

The Workout

Mosey to the Rock Pile – rotate around rocks between sets.

  • 4 sets of 20’s – Curls for the girls
  • 4 sets of 20’s  – Overhead Overhead Tri-press
  • 4 sets of 10’s – Ground Pounders

Mosey to the Wall for 4 sets of 30 ct Wall Sits w/ overhead  air presses.

Mosey to the Playground with rocks for Aik’n Station Time:

  • Aik’n Arms: 15’s  Merkins, Erkins, Shoulder Tap Planks & Dips
  • Aik’n Abs: 20 LBCs, 20 Pickles, 10 WWIIs, 30 H2M alternate legs
  • Aik’n Legs: 20 Step ups, 20 Squats, 10 Star Jumps, 15 Mnt Climbers
  • Aik’n Abs: 15 American Hammers, 20 ct 6 inches, 10 Rockies, 30 ct Chilcutt Planks
  • Aik’n Arms: 10 shoulder tap planks, 20 Dips, 30 Plank Jacks, 14 Hand Release Merkins.
  • Aik’n Legs: 20 Step Ups. 14 Lunges, 15 High Knees, 15 Split Jacks
  • 4 sets of 5ct Boat Canoes and 2 sets of 10 ct Supermans

Mosey Rocks back to pile every 10 steps change up exercise: Cusak, Overhead left rights, tripress, curls.  YHC believes he won the Splash challenge when returning the rocks.

Mumble chatter around RTQ old lady made YHC moist with her Supersoaker – she started low and ended high.

Announcements:  Truth In Nature needs mentors – Skeet Shoot fundraiser June 15th, new Wednesday AO and Carpex starting 90 min Green Mile workout this week

Prayer Requests:  Dauber’s daughter taking ACT this morning. Continued prayers for marriages and families. Brothers dealing with injuries like Shredder. Praise for Kitty’s son sleeping through the night.

YHC took us out.

T-Claps (Recognition):T- Claps for  Shredder – nuf said

 

42nd Street

Pop-Up work out to celebrate my 42nd Birthday… huge thanks to PAX for making the effort on a Friday evening

FNGs: 2 times FNG with no name now formally branded: Welcome ‘Jobs’
Warm Up: 21 x SSH, 5 x merkin with 1 arm stretch, 10x fwd, 10x rev arm circles.
The Workout: 42nd Street Tires….

Each Pax member took it in turns to flip the Tire (250lbs) 10 flips, then deadlift farmer walk back to start.  The other pax preformed Reps per flip and walk…last round was 12 flips to make a rounded 42 each.

Flips – Diamond Merkins/Double Merkin Burpees/Morning Woods/tricep push Merkins    .

Farmer Walks – Mountain Climber/SSH/plank jacks/donkey kicks.

confused? Basically each Pax did a total of 42 Tire flips, and 4 x deadlift farmer walks back of a 250lb Tire… each pax accumulated 42 diamond Merkins, 42 double merkin burpees, 42 tricep Merkins, 42 morning woods (Turkish get ups), average 4 x 10 count cadence of mountain climbers, plank jacks, SSH, donkey’s   .

21 x steps up on tire, 21 x dips, 21 x derkins.

Mary: 21 x protractors, 21 x box cutters.
Announcements: on slack/Facebook
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: General – many many thanks for Pikachu taking us out.

Crazy Indian and the Medicine Ball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VgufM9iLbI

EC: Aquaman, Bulls Eye, Cowboy, Cupid, Full House, Slide Rule.

Some PAX were still rolling in at 5:30. Thought they were all FIA, but then BAM! Crab Legs!

FNGs: Welcome STP–The Racer’s Edge. Disclaimer given.
Warm Up: Mosey to upper parking lot. Fancy feet step up on parking curbs, two steps per curb. All the way down, then all the way back up. Circle up for SSH 25x, GM 10x, the Sprinkler (arms pointed out front, in cadence left 1, front 2, right 3, back to front 4 = 1 rep). Loosens up torso. 10 Merkins, followed by Downward Dog.

The Workout: Was looking forward to applying this format. Indian 1: Kicked off the Indian-run-themed-workout using a 10 lb. medicine ball I picked at a yard sale. This exercise was requested a while back by Deadbolt–I think he called it Pass the Pill. Indian run formation, pass the ball to person behind you, then the six ran the ball to the front. Rinse and repeat. PAX passed the ball at first, but then we advanced to a blind overhead toss. The drop rule was in effect. Drop = five burpees. Was a little slow at first, but then Bulls Eye spiced things up with a drop or two. Probably caused by those gloves he was wearing! Or maybe the bad tosses? Either way, Cupid has dibs on borrowing the medicine ball for his next workout. Medicine ball ultimate?

The Good Morning Burpee was in full effect. Say Good Morning to a walker/runner, if they return the Good Morning, then we do five burpees. We got stiffed on several good mornings–or maybe just could not hear them. Finally, we got a solid Good Morning from Crab Legs as we converged on the greenway. Five burpees, finally!

Indian 2: Rail Road Indian Run. PAX planked up about two feet apart. The six jumped over each PAX, moving to the front of the line. Keep those hips down Slide Rule! Continue til all PAX have jumped.

Indian 3: And this was the toughest one. PAX does low slow flutter while the six does 10 WWIIs. Upon completing the WWIIs, the six runs to the front. I had planned to keep doing low slow flutter continuously, but that proved too much. Thus, we “rested” while each six ran to the front. This was a long round, even with only 12. There were more than single tears on this one!

Field of Dreams/Diamonds Are Forever. More Indian run to baseball dugouts, but sprint from greenway to scoring tower. Meet up at home plate, count off 1, 2, 3, 4. Ones go to first base line for Merkins, twos to second for squats, threes to third for LBCs, fours = the clock at 15 burpees. Complete the burpees and head to first, each group advance until each group did the burpees.

Only 10 minutes left and still want to do feature exercise: the Crazy Indian. Mosey around pond to amphitheater. Assume BTW position. First PAX drops to feet, runs around the wall, cues the next PAX, just like an Indian run, til all PAX have run. Lots of shaking arms–perfectly normal. Done!

Mary: No time, joined kettle bell COT
Announcements: Crab Legs shared his goals during his leave from work: spend time with family and have an impact on ALS. He announced that he will be achieving both soon, as he visits every major ballpark across the country. He’ll visit with and interview folks whose lives have been affected by ALS. He plans to share his journey and those stories via every social media outlet available. Plus, he’ll be looking for mainstream media coverage as well.
T-Claps (Recognition): Nice work by those posting EC this morning!
Prayer: Safe travels and high impact for Crab Legs and his family on their cross-country summer adventure.

Feel the Flow

I was watching some kettlebell flows and figured we should do that.  I do apologize for getting gassed during the workout.  I blame myself and a little bit of Dumbo for getting into that situation.  Huge congrats for Skidmark for finally getting his Fritter.  I had the shirt ready for him for some time.

EC: Skidmark, Pikachu, 187, Dumbo, Axe, Dawgpound, Lucky

FNGs: Nope

Warm Up:
Circle Up for the following
Side Straddle Hop
Fazio Arm Circles
Good Morning

The Workout:
The first Flow:
The first flow is supposed to be done with two kettlebells but we only have one each so we modified it.
4 Merkins
3 Each Arm Bent over Row
2 Squats
1 Each Shoulder Press

We did the flow 4 times

Recover on the Midget love Handles

The Second Flow:
Right Arm Row
Right Arm Kneeling Clean
Right Arm Press
Stand Up
Rack and switch Arm

We did 5 Reps each arm.
2 Rounds with Midget Love Handles and Around the world in between

The Third Flow:
Start in a squat
Bicep Curl
Stand Up
Bell over head
Tricep Press
Squat

We did 10 Reps of the following

We then took the bells for a walk around the loop.  With the bell press overhead.  We switched arms half way.

Circled up at the far end of the parking lot.
5 One Arm Kettlebell Swings Right Arm
5 One Arm Kettlebell Swings Left Arm
10 Two Arm Kettlebell Swings

Walk back with the bell press overhead.  Switch half way

We then repeated The third flow, Second flow and first flow

Mary:

Three rounds of the following
Little Baby Turkish Get Ups
Homer to Marge with bell on pelvis
Homer to Marge with bell over head
Low Slow Flutters with bell over head
LBCs

Announcements:

Fitness Test at Paradise City
Crab legs is doing a fantastic thing where he is going to a ball game at each MLB park.  He will be interviewing other folks with ALS to get their stories out there.

T-Claps (Recognition):

Skidmark, Pikachu and 187 did 5 ECs and 5 Posts with their own breath takers.

Prayer:

Crab legs and his travels
All unspoken
Pax and their Parents going through tough times
Getting Pax Healthy

Countdown

Warm Up:

Butt kickers (almost wrote “lickers,” whew); high knees, Samson stretch, Michael Phelps, windmills, imperial walkers

The Workout:

Partner workout, decreasing sets (21,18,15, out of time), with a 200m run in between each

  • Partner squats – partner in plank, hold their legs in your hip crease, and squat
  • Partner leg push downs – lie on your back, partner stands by your head, you grab their ankles for support and do a double leg lift; partner pushes your legs forcefully on every up
  • 35# dumbbell rows from plank

Mary: abs worked into the Thang

Announcements:

2.0 workout at Womble tomorrow morning; Cookout dinner and learn about quality gut health supplements (energy, weight loss, metabolism support, and lots more) at Dovetail’s house Sat, 5:30pm. Ms and 2.0s welcome.

Prayer:

Dovetail’s friend Nathan (marriage struggles); Cricket’s sister who broke both arms in a triathlon; 16-bit traveling for funeral for wife’s stepfather; Shredder

The Rock and the Boulder

EC: Cupid

FNGs: None

Pre-Warm Up: YHC went and grabbed a nice big rock for the beatdown, figuring we’d have ~5-8 people. 10 PAX showed up.

Warm Up: At 530, YHC audibled and asked for a volunteer to go grab another rock from the pile. Modify volunteered and the rest of us took a quick mosey around the parking lot, and then did the following exercises:

20 x IC SSH, 10 x IC Sir Fozie arm circles (F+R), 15 x IC Imperial Walkers, 15 x IC Hillbillies, Michael Phelps.

The Workout: Moseyed over to the rocks where we discovered that Modify’s rock was not a rock, but a small bounder instead. That’s the breaks. YHC did a count off, where we split into two groups of 5 for the workout.  Each group grabbed a rock. From this point on, rocks were not allowed to touch the ground. Group 1 got the rock, Group 2 got the boulder. Plan was to switch halfway though. Each time the rock touched the ground, all PAX had to do a burpee. The number of burpees increased every time the rock was dropped.

Indian run down the trail per group. Person with the rock did a turkish get-up, then caught up to the group and passed off the rock. After some logistical errors, we worked out that the rock should go to the second-to-last person in line. We ran down to the big hill for some clockwork merkins on the (extremely muddy…woops) hill.

YHC randomly called out 2-3 positions and counts of merkins. Person holding the rock did one-arm planks until YHC called switch. One burpee was performed during this set due to a dropped rock.

Next we headed to the bottom of the hill where we did star jumps to get the mud off of our shoes. Due to potential safety concerns of taking rocks down the hill, rock was allowed to drop going down hill. Dawgpound helpfully rolled Group 1’s rock down the hill, mud swiftly moved from rock to PAX shirts.

Person with the rock did their choice of rock exercise, like curls for the girls or tricep extensions. After a few rock switches, we switched to squats, which were done with the rock.

Indian run with rock turkish get-ups back to Kenny’s Grave. Halfway back, we started mixing it up. Indian run was done with karaoke, backwards running, broad jumps. Group 1 circled back for Group 2, where someone helpfully pointed out that the boulder was never given to Group 1 (woops). YHC took the boulder and nearly caused penalty burpees trying to do the turkish get-up…good job Group 2.

Once everyone got back to Kenny’s Grave, it was alternating BTTW (15 count) and People’s Chair (20 count) until everyone had a turn with the rock on each exercise. For BTTW, rock-PAX held one arm plank. For People’s Chair, rock was held in the chair position.  Rocks were deposited on the ground for Mary.

Mary: YHC went around the circle, each PAX called out an exercise.

Announcements:

Check Facebook and Slack

Two new AOs, Wednesday 530 at Womble (starting next week) and Tuesday 530 at Falcon Park (starting in two weeks). Both need names!

Please fill out the Salamanders survey, game is July 28th. We get the picnic deck if we have 60 people (PAX and families).

Dovetail’s dinner and gut health info session

2.0 workout this Saturday

T-Claps (Recognition): Group 2 for the boulder indian run, Modify for picking the boulder up and making us all push ourselves even harder. I didn’t have a single dry spot on my shirt by the end of the workout between the sweat and mud.

Prayer: 16 bit’s family. His mother-in-law’s husband passed away. Also safe travels for the family as they head to the funeral.

Unspoken prayers.

Sprints: Cupid, Martini, Modify

Indian Hills at Disney for D-Day

Pax: Deadbolt, Glass Jaw, Tube Sock, Rut, Rain Maker, Boogie, Axe(EC), War Bucks, Sham Wow(EC), Wiggley, Skid Mark(EC), Pikachu, Ice Man, Dommer(EC), 187(EC), New Mexico 

Warm Up: SSH X 20, Imperial Walkers/Hill Billys x 20, Merkins x 20

The Workout: Break into 2 groups(Fast and kind of fast) Group 1 Halfpipe with burpee at the top, Group 2 Indian Run around parking lot and switch, Rinse and Repeat double the Burpees.  Jog over to the Stairs, Group 1 on the stairs alternating hit each step and skip a step.  Group 2 Indian Run around the baseball fields, switch.

Mary: Deadbolt led 75 WWIIs for D-Day Memorial

Announcements: YHC is Qing again in 2 weeks.  You’re challenged to EH a sad clown that’s been out to F3 and has been missing.  If you don’t know someone like that then bring an FNG.  Great to be back in the gloom as a Co-Site Q.  There was some mumble chatter that I might not be as committed to take back over and lead.  I hope I squashed that this morning!  Looking forward to leading many more beat downs in the coming weeks!

 

Prayer: Pikachu led us in a mighty prayer.  We lifted up all Veterans, Banana Seat, Crab Legs and Noah’s Arc and his M.

 

Side note: The Indian Hills idea came to me and reminded me of a great Sons of Anarchy episode where they patch over a MC in Indian Hills Nevada.  It’s a great episode in a great series(check it out).  I guess you can consider this YHC patching over Disney with all my glory.  It’s a real pleasure to lead you, hope you all have a great week!

NM