37 years ago today. Live Aid. July 13th, 1985. For those of us of a certain age, it might be hard to overstate how big of an event this was. This was early MTV days (music videos!). Concerts were still treats (because I had no real source of income). But I remember watching and listening to the whole thing – the mystery of Phil Collins hitting BOTH stages. IN THE SAME DAY. So today, as I earn my name on the bat alongside Hokie, I put together a Live Aid playlist.
The Workout:
Filled up the MINI with a whole bunch of toys from around the house. Battle rope. Bricks. Cinder Blocks (oh, I’ve missed you aNDy!). Logs. Weights. Cones. A lonely Medicine Ball. Thanks to the early arrivers (War Eagle, Charmin, Bogey) who helped me haul all of this from the car out to the field. Get them arranged in a circle and then ponder the eternal Q question “Uh, how many PAX today?” Would I need 6 stations? 16 stations? One never knows.
Warm Up: somewhere around 10 PAX in the circle at 530. So a mosey around the football field border. Vagabond coming in hot. Then Hokie. BooBoo with the usual Orange Waterbottle (is he EVER without that?).
Circle up next to the flag (yup, I even brought one of those). SSH, IW, Windmills.
Meanwhile, the playlist is pushing out Bryan Adams “Summer of 69”
Next up: trying to herd cats. we’ve got 13 people. so make do with 12 stations. The timer is run a half-a-lap holding the Wood-let/Toothpick overhead.
* Burpees
* Medicine Ball PushUps (Diamond or Stagger, your choice)
* Big wooden Stump Crunch (or Hammer)
* Butter Fly w/ Weights
* Battle Rope (in Squat)
* Dips (yup, we hauled a bench out to the middle)
* Bear Crawl/Crawl Bear (about 20 yds out & back)
* Rifle Carry a Cindy Block (again, about 20 yds0
* Calf Raises on the other Cindy (WHOA Pillsbury! You ok there??? Hold onto the Flag!)
* Brick Shoulder Taps
* Curls w/ Weights
* The big old log – Overhead or Bench Press
12 stations. I do appreciate Frac BARKING instructions when it was his turn to run with the bat. We need more PAX who are less disruptive! (nah, that’s no fun…)
Oh by the way, any PAX could buy a “skip” for the cost of 6 burpees for themselves PLUS 2 burpees for Charmin. (One time Charmin attempted to tell YHC that the Q couldn’t just tell 1 PAX to do something. I believe he has been corrected of that misconception.)
So as we skipped through Sting’s Message in a Bottle (too slow), We Are the World (too cheesy) Madonna’s Get Into the Groove (Madonna?!?) and a few others – Charmin got plenty of burpees in (so did War Eagle for that matter).
2 songs were Q-declared NO SKIP ALLOWED: Roll with the Changes (REO!) and Radio GaGa (Queen)
13 loops through got us to 605. Partner up with one pair bricks each. PAX1: Floyd Mayweather. PAX2: Crab Walk/Walk Crab 20 yds out & back. Rinse and Repeat. Finish with a final 3 burpees for Charmin as we hit 615.
COT: Count Off. Announcements. My word for the day – Intentionality. Asked all the PAX to frame a thought of something they are thankful for, and then commit to INTENTIONALLY showing their thanks to that person today. Not accidental (i.e., we all try to be nice to our family). But intentionally. Above and Beyond the norm. Something done specifically AND explicitly to show appreciation and thanks.
War Eagle took us home. And THANK YOU to the PAX for helping me haul all this stuff back to the car (where Hand Gernada discovered, apparently for the first time, that YHC has ND stuff plastered all over his car….)
