Author: YaMomAnEm

  • Maybe we should sit around & talk about our feelings

    It was chilly, rainy & dark when I got out of bed on Saturday morning, so I was dragging my feet a little to get dressed. On the Mumblechatter, Tool & Kimchi posted messages to get the PAX motivated to get out of bed & come post. While the LV fellas (Kuch, Half Nelson, Abacus & High Rise) & myself were clown carring to the AO, we bounced some workout ideas off of each other. One idea was to avoid the rain altogether & head strait to Navarre café so that the PAX could all drink coffee & share their respective feelings with one another in lieu of working out in the cold/rain. Once I saw Mahatma arrive at the workout, I knew this option would be a tough sell, so I proceeded to commence the beatdown.

    Warmup: We mosey’d to the pavilion by CBS; circled up, and then proceeded to do the following in cadence:

    • side straddle hops – 20
    • imperial squat walkers – 20
    • plank jacks – 20
    • high knees – 20

    Next, we split into 2 groups. Group 1 moved to 1 side of the pavilion, and group 2 moved to the other side:

    Group 1:

    • 10 inchworm burpees
    • 50 big boy sit ups
    • 100 seal jacks

    Group 2:

    • 10 regular burpees
    • 50 dips on the benches
    • 200 shoulder taps

    Group 1 did their exercises in cadence, and then made sure that Group 2 was aware that they finished their exercises first. We then switched sides / exercises. For this round, Group 2 did their exercises in cadence (loudly to jab back at Group 1), and Group 2 finished first. Group 1 pointed out that Group 2 did LBC’s instead of big boy sit ups, and that’s why they finished first. This was in part (and by, in part, I mean 100%) the Q’s fault, as I mistakenly said LBC’s to Group 2 when giving the instructions for round 2.

    Next we attempted to do a long jump / inchworm burpee combo, but it was too wet/slick in the pavilion, so we shut that down and mosey’s back to the fountain. Once at the fountain, we did an interval exercise where the PAX did 1 box jump on the fountain, ran to the museum steps, bunny hopped up the steps, did 1 merkin at the top of the steps, then ran down the steps back to the fountain. Once at the fountain, the PAX did 2 box jump, ran to the museum steps, bunny hopped up the steps, did 2 merkins at the top of the steps, then ran down the steps back to the fountain. We did this until we got to 10 box jumps / 10 merkins.

    Next, the PAX mosey’d to the side of the museum & proceeded to do the following:

    • Group 1 – people’s chair on the wall
    • Group 2 – 200 Rocky Balboas (timer)

    Once Group 2 finished the Rocky Balboas, we switched and had Group 1 do the Rocky Balboas & Group 2 lean against the wall to do the people’s chair. At one point, Rudy questioned Mahatma’s cadence technique while he was leading Group 2 in doing the Rocky Balboas, but ultimately the math checked out & we proceeded on with the workout

    Next, we mosey’d to the grass & did the following:

    • Lunge walk / inchworm burpee combo from Tree 0 to Tree 1 & back
    • Bear Crawl from Tree 0 to Tree 2; do 31 squats (not sure where the number 31 came from, it just felt like the right amount); and then Bear Crawl back

    Lastly, we headed back to the fountain & did the following in cadence:

    • Irkins – 21
    • Dips – 16
    • Left leg high knee step up – 21
    • Right leg high knee step up – 21
    • Dirkins – 16
    • Plank jacks on museum steps – 31 (there’s that 31 again for no particular reason. Classic)

    Once completed, we mosey’d to the flag for the count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. Thanks for posting on Saturday morning, fellas. I enjoyed it!

  • The Dawn of the Single Reverse Indian Run

    With Run Ranger Run in full swing, I thought it would be good to get a few miles in during the beatdown on Thursday morning at Okwata. So without further ado, at 5:30am I issued the disclaimer & we mosey’d to the intersection of Canal Blvd / Lakeshore Drive for the Warmup

    Warmup

    • 20 side straddle hops
    • 15 concrete grabbers
    • 20 plankjacks
    • 15 imperial walkers

    The Thang

    After the warmup, we did a count-off in which each of the 12 PAX was assigned a number; 1-12. The number was relevant because we did a variation of an Indian run called the ‘Single Reverse Indian Run’ (which is a completely made up name) which entailed the PAX running in a circle up & down the paved part of the levee at the intersection of Canal Blvd / Lakeshore Drive. While the group of PAX was doing a traditional Indian Run, each individual member of the PAX would then peel off to take a turn sprosey’ing (running at a speed that falls in between a sprint & a mosey) the same route until they re-connected with the PAX. So PAX 1 would peel off first, and when he got back to the group, PAX 2 would go; and so on until all 12 PAX had a turn. Seeing as how I hadn’t done this before, there were a few hiccups along the way. When it was time for PAX 1 (High Rise) to peel off to do his individual run, he just ran down the levee & then back up to the group; he didn’t run the whole route before returning to the group. So when PAX 2 (Cowbell) began to run, I explained he had to run the whole route before returning to the group. What we soon discovered, though, was that this was a pretty tall order & that we would probably be there all day if we continued in this fashion. So, to his credit, Rudy, suggested that we keep the exercise the same, but have the individual members of the PAX do the individual runs in reverse, so that they would run into the group of PAX doing the traditional Indian Run instead of having to essentially catch up to the group of PAX doing the traditional Indian Run. Rudy then ran to get Cowbell to communicate the change, and after this tweak, most PAX were able to complete their individual lap using the reverse technique. To Smooth’s credit, he did not go in reverse; he completed his individual lap running the same direction as the group (using what some may refer to as the elusive reverse reverse technique).

    After one of the most complicated Indian Runs ever attempted in 21st century America was completed, we mosey’d down the lakefront to where the potted plants (or what many in the lower 48 refer to as planters) are located near the water. What I learned from my last Q at Okwata is that there are indeed only 10 planters on this part of the lakefront. With this knowledge fresh in mind, our next exercise was to run from the 1st planter to the 10th planter. Once at the 10th planter, the PAX would do 5 derkins, and then we’d run back to the first planter and do 5 irkins. We did this 5 times so that we did a total of 50 combined derkins & irkins.

    Once completed, I took a quick glance at my watch and noticed we had about 10 minutes left, which was plenty enough time for us to mosey back to the paved intersection of Canal Blvd / Lakeshore Drive so that we could do 2 laps of Bernie Sanders up the levee. For this exercise, the PAX would do a Bernie Sanders up the levee (run backwards), and then do a forward run down the levee. Once at the other side, the PAX would then do a Bernie Sanders back up the levee and then a forward run back down the levee. We did this twice, and truth be told, most of the PAX seemed like they were #FeelingTheBurn in a physical sense by the time we were done. Some of the PAX may have also been #FeelingTheBern in a political sense as well, but it wasn’t relevant to the exercise & I am not a mind reader, so who knows.

    After this exercise, time was up. So we mosey’d back to the flag & did the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements & prayer. Turns out we had cranked out a little over 4 miles during the beatdown, which was nice for all the guys tracking for Run Ranger Run. High Rise had also brought out an FNG with him to the Beatdown. It turned out the FNG had wrestled back in high school with Kuch, so he was aptly named “Half Nelson.” Thanks for letting me lead, fellas. I appreciate it & I enjoy it.

  • Sometimes You Gotta Call an Audible

    I was looking forward to Q’ing Rock City for the first time, so I took some time over the weekend to plan out a beatdown for the PAX. The beatdown was to take place on the track & field inside Pontiff Park; however, due to the rain that came down over the weekend & Monday morning, the track/field were both too #moist for us to use that day. As a result, I had to call an audible & come up with something else for us to do on the fly. Fortunately, on the car ride to Rock City that morning Kuch had mentioned to me that the track/field were too wet to use on Friday as well when he went to the Uptowner, and he told me that they had used the jogging path instead since it was a good bit dryer. So with that fresh in my mind, I issued the disclaimer to the PAX & then the workout commenced.

    • Warm Up: Mosey on the jogging path to the shelter about 250 meters away. Then we lined up around the perimeter of the shelter and did:
    • 25x Side Straddle Hops
    • 20x imperial squat walkers
    • 20x grass grabbers
    • 21x arm circles (11 forward, 10 backward)  
    • The Thang: We mosey’d from the shelter back to the rock pile, and then each PAX grabbed a rock. The Pax was then split up into 2 groups:
    • Group 1: ran 200 meters out & then 200 meters back to the rock pile
    • Group 2: while Group 1 was running, Group 2 was doing the following circuit:
    • 5 standing bench press with the rock
    • 10 curls with the rock
    • 15 shoulder press with the rock
    • 20 squats with the rock
    • _
    • When Group 1 was done with the 400 meter run, we switched, and then Group 2 ran the 400 meters while Group 1 did the circuit. Each group did the 400 meter run & the circuit 3 times. After that, we changed it up a bit and had:
    • Group 1: run 200 meters out & 200 meters back, but this time it was an Indian Run with each PAX carrying their rock during the run
    • Group 2: while Group 1 was doing the Indian Run with their rocks, Group 2 did merkins using their rocks. 10 merkins with the left hand on the rock, and then 10 merkins with the right hand on the rock, and then rinse & repeat as many times as possible before Group 1 got back. Then we switched & had Group 2 do the Indian Run with the rock & Group 1 do the rock merkins
    • After that, we circled up on the grass & did the following exercises in cadence:
    • 15x bench press with the rock
    • 20x bent over rows with the rock
    • 15x American Hammer (with or without the rock)
    • 20x Rocky Balboa’s using the rock
    • 10x burpees (no rock)

    After these exercises were done, Bogey pointed out that time was winding down, so we returned our rocks and Mosey’d back to the flag. Fortunately for the PAX, we still had 2 minutes left when the six reached the flag, so we each did 10 inchworm burpees on our own & then according to the $5.99 watch I ordered off of Amazon last week, we had reached 6:15am (however; according to Rudy’s watch, it was only 6:14am, so he was grumbling that the beatdown had ended prematurely. Classic Rudy, am I right).

    COT: Next we did the count-off, the name-o-rama, & announcements. Hand Grenada had a birthday last week, but the PAX decided a good old fashioned pat on the back would suffice in lieu of having the PAX sing happy birthday to him in unison. Next we did intentions & then closed with a prayer. Thanks for letting me lead, fellas. Enjoyed it!

  • YaMomAnEm’s VQ

    Warm Up: 30 side straddle hops, 25 imperial walkers, 20 plankjacks, arm circles (10 forward, 10 backwards)

    The Thang: Route 66 – there was some debate on whether or not there were 10 or 11 planters on the lakefront. Turns out i miscounted, and there was actually only 10 planters. One Pax ran to each of the ten planters and did an increasing number of decline merkins (ended with 10 decline merkins on the 10th planter), while the other Pax did dying cockroaches. The Pax partnered up and alternated until all 10 planters had been completed. We then mosey’d down the lakefront and did a set of BLIMPS (5 burpees, 10 lunges, 15 imperial walkers, 20 merkins, 25plankjacks, 30 squats). We then mosey’d to the levee and did 2 sets of Bernie Sanders while the Pax at the bottom of the levee did burpees. We then mosey’d to the flag for the COT