Waramrama
YHC was thinking of a story his old man told him years ago. He was at work, minding his own business, when some large bird (likely a Goose) slammed into his workstation at about 600mph, splattering blood everywhere. Oh, did I mention his workstation was the backseat of an F-4? Anyway, it shattered the canopy a bit, and (unbeknownst to them) knocked out their communications. Because he wasn’t getting an answer, Dad thought his buddy upfront was either dead or unconscious; his front-seater thought the same thing of him. So what ensued for several seconds was each man trying to take control of the stick, unsuccessfully because they were basically fighting each other. Eventually, they both figured out that the other was ok, somehow, just because they had trained for so long together.
I got to thinking, when you train with some dudes, maybe you can start to think what they are thinking…
The Thing 1:
An exercise is assigned to each pair of partners.
Each partner runs to opposite side of the runway and does part of the total number of exercises. The object is to get as close to the total number as possible. Double the absolute value of the difference between assigned reps and actual reps is the penalty. And to keep anyone from just trying to do exactly half, if both partners do the exact same number, the penalty is all the reps again.
Round 1: 50 merkins
Round 2: 40 bbs
Round 3: 30 burpees
By Round 3, I think most teams had figured out what their partners were doing and so they had to do very few burpees. YHC, however, didn’t realize that his partner (Tana) was cleverly doing one more than half the reps each time. Failing to see the pattern, and instead thinking he had been doing one less each time, YHC did 16 burpees. Tana had to ask me several times if I had really done 16… also saying to me more than once “I was doing one more than half each time.” I haven’t seen someone so visibly disappointed in me since I asked my dad to order me a Frappacino.
So we had 15 penalty burpees each. We came here to get stronger, not smarter.
Next Thang: Partners split up, creating two teams.
Each team is given one band and has to come up with 3 songs by that band during a short mosey with merkins.
Winning team does 10 merkins, loser 10 burpees.
The twist: There is a song that links both bands. If both teams choose that in their list, they avoid the penalty (10 more of each). So you have to think about the other team’s music and choices too.
Don’t think too deeply about your PAX’s music choices though; those Peter Gabriel and Depeche Mode rabbit holes can lead you to a dark place(possibly parked out by a lake).
First bands: Foo Fighters vs. Pink Floyd or Tom Petty
Team 2 chose Tom Petty but did not return with “Learning to Fly.” Team 1 identified 3 Foo songs, including “Learn to Fly.”
Smashing Pumpkins, Genesis
Linked songs: Tonight, Tonight and Tonight Tonight Tonight
Justin Bieber, nirvana
Linked songs: Sorry, all apologies
Justin Bieber, Eminem
Linked songs: Love Yourself, Lose Yourself
Bruce Springsteen, CCR
Linked songs: Born to run and/or Born in USA, Born on the bayou
Radiohead, Stone Temple Pilots
Linked songs: Creep (I know, I’ll get you next time Left Eye)
We all did innumerable merkins and burpees, in spite of TexicoCat bringing the Bieber knowledge.
Next time, it will be all country garbage songs. I promise, Dox.
SYITG,
AB
