Hurricane Ida wrecked a lot of plans this year. She did a lot of damage, broke a lot of hearts, made life a ton more difficult. But one thing I’ve learned is that even in the darkest of hours, God can find a way to turn something terrible into something good.
I don’t want to belittle the struggle our region is still dealing with, and I can tell you firsthand there is a lot of work left. But I can also tell you firsthand that God has given us an opportunity to grow together, help each other, and all in all, be better people.
My original plan for the first week in September was to do a birthday Q, and following the lead of Grundy and/or Zoolander (depending on how good an idea it was), complete another “Cake walk” and hope it catches on as a thing.
Well, those plans changed due to Mother Nature, but God’s timing is perfect, so a pax of 17 said “Take Two” under beautiful weather with low humidity and temps topping out at around 71.
Warmup (between 10x and 20x, all IC)
Seal jacks
Toe touches
Arm circles
Torso twists
Goofballs
Thang: A cakewalk, your basic descending ladder of exercises and reps, starting at YHC’s age (in this case, 43), and work your way to 1, with some moseying in between around Old Mandeville/Lakefront.
The order:
43 High knees
42 SSHs
41 Plank Jacks
40 merkins (where Bird started to wonder where the burpees were)
39 squats
38 Hello Dollies
37 Calf raises
36 Apollo ohnos
35 Freak Nastys
34 step ups
33 flutter kicks
32 butt kicks (2 is 1) (lead IC by the entire pax rotating, very nice job, gents!)
31 Peter Parker’s (2 is 1)
30 imperial walkers
29 Shoulder taps (2 is 1)
28 American hammers
27 George thoroughgood
26 Smurf jacks
25 leg raises
24 Rosalitas
23 crab jacks (crab position – opposite plank jacks)
22 groiners
21 Bear crawls
20 murder bunnies
19 Hand release merkins
18 Bobby Hurley’s
17 crab cakes (2 is 1)
16 circle ups
15 Bulgarian split squats
14 durkins
13 big boy sit-ups
12 LMCs
11 diamond merkins
10 star jumps
9 donkey kicks
8 8 count body builders
7 makhtar n’jais
6 6 inch drills (where Zoolander was wise to my plan)
5 Carolina dry docks
4 Bonnie Blair’s
3 jump squats
2 burpees (here they are Bird!)
1 minute plank
COT, name-o-rama, announcements, and prayer closed us out.
This Q doubled as my 3 year anniversary Q, so it’s time for me to again thank Toto for EH’ing me. Like I suspect has happened to many of us, I had no idea what I was in for. I showed up late to my first beatdown (Splice was Q) and quickly wondered what I got myself into. Manny’s words to me were “just stick with it” and he was right.
More than once, I was the 6. I’m still the 6 on occasion. But each and every time, someone is there to pick me (or you) up. Tanked up was the first I remember. Shooter seems to do it the most (especially on moseys).
And that’s what makes this group of men so darn solid. What started out as “I could use the exercise” or “I want to get back in shape” quickly turns to something more.
The F for Fitness is lowercase. The other two are uppercase. I’ve enjoyed laughing with you all, especially when Hammer gets a pax going with his 80’s references, or Zoolander makes an off color joke about doing a Freddy Mercury. You each have enriched me, made me a better person, lended guidance, and just in general have been a blast to be around.
Before I started, I didn’t have a lower back that constantly aches or stiffens up, nor did I have a left shoulder that tells me “That’s enough merkins for today.” I didn’t even know I had an Achilles’ tendon.
But it has all been worth it. Ever nagging pain and shortness of breath: worth it knowing I’m making a decision to better myself as a leader, a Christian, a productive member of society. And that’s due to each of you, whether I called you by name above or not. Because finally, after 3 years, I think I’ve learned your real names, which is maybe a bigger compliment.
