At this time last year, I showed up to my first lakefront beatdown (thanks Russo), and almost didn’t come back. I was a gym rat, couldn’t run a mile, ate like crap, and hovered around 190. But I was intrigued by the companionship of the PAX that day, the leadership focus, how no man was left behind, and pressed on. I attended Saturdays through September, then cancelled my gym membership, and went all in averaging 4 days a week, including the scramble (thanks Shooter). Since then, I’ve lost 25 pounds, done CSAUPS and F2 events, and ran 80 miles last Feb during Run Ranger Run. My only regret is that I didn’t find this earlier.
PAIN TRAIN
26 posted (6 under 17) at the mothership Saturday to help celebrate YHC’s 1 year anniversary, and take a ride on the Pain Train. We traveled from the flag to the shaft, stopping at 8 pain stations along the way, accompanied by motivational tunes. *I understand that most songs could not be heard, songs are listed after each station
Pre-Thang: 2 miler
Warmorama: Arm Circles, SSH, Torso Twist, Self-Love, Hillbillies x10 IC
THANG: All About the Benjamins – Everything equals 100 reps.
- Exercise 1: 25 reps at the wall
- Travel in various ways 55 feet to the flags
- Exercise 2: 25 reps, run back to the wall Rinse and repeat
- Total of 50 reps of each exercise
- All exercises done OYO, plank for the six
Pain Station’s 1 and 2
- Freak Nasty, Bear Crawl, Mountain Climbers
- Run, repeat
- Dirkins, Flying Nun (Lunge with arm circles), Twinkle Toes (Al Gore calf raises)
- Run, Repeat
- It’s All About the Benjamin’s, P.Diddy et all
- C’Mon ‘N’ Ride it (The Train), Quad City DJ’s
- Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne
- Breathe, The Prodigy
- Song 2, Blur
Pain Station 3: Let the Good Times Roll
Burpees on Good Times Roll, air presses in between.
- Let the Good Times Roll, The Cars
Pain Station’s 4 and 5:
- Bulgarian Split Squats, Army Crawl, Superman’s
- Run, repeat
- Stone Mountain, Crawl Bear, Renegade Row (1 arm plank, 1 arm row)
- Run, repeat
- The Kill, Thirty Seconds to Mars
- Firestarter, The Prodigy
- Fly from the Inside, Shinedown
Pain Station 6: The SSH Motivator
IC 10 full SSH, Shoulder level, down and out, then hands at sides, then 9 each, then 8, etc. non-stop
- ‘Till I Collapse, Eminem & Nate Dogg
- Gonna Fly Now, Bill Conti (Rocky Theme Song)
Seemed easy enough, but what ensued was a painful comedy of errors. YHC had a tough time conveying and keeping the order of positions, which kept us out of synch just a tad. To curious onlookers it must have looked like a bunch of birds trying to take flight.
After a while it seemed it would never end, why was it taking so long, why do I feel like I’m about to collapse? I kept my gaze at Bushwacker (who brought us The Motivator), seeking some rescue by mental telepathy – but all I got was a big smile.
Legend has it the Arnold Schwarzenegger and his buddies would go camping and do squats until they couldn’t stand any more. This was not to be our fate, we would persevere!
Later in the day I sought advice from the engineering mind of Grover and he did not hold back. “You did it wrong dad: the positions were wrong and you did a double count instead of single.”
Ah, all makes sense now. So we did 440 SSH instead of 220. Way to hang in there guys.
Pain Station 7
Merkins on New Day Rising, plank in between
Pain Station 8: Mary IC
- 8 ct Peter Parker Merkins (Perkins) x10
- Crunchy Frogs x20
- LBC x50
- LMC x25
Count, Name-o-rama, Welcome FNG Laces!
COT: Prayers for the crazy world we are in, safety, and thanks for blessings.
Coffeteria: Book and the Bean
All said and done, including WU and Mary – 1096 reps, 100 yards of crawls, 100 yards of runs
Thanks for a great year, friendships, pushing me beyond what I ever thought I could do, and the opportunity to lead.
SYITG – Akbar
