Tag: Brick City

RETURN OF THE TABATA!

Since YHC’s award winning Cluster Q (that’s right, I got a medal) I retired the Tabata workout until I felt that I could really do it justice. Well after minutes of planning, I felt like I was ready to try it again. I sent out a message on GroupMe inviting everyone to attend because it was going to be glorious (only 8 PAX including YHC showed). No matter, it was still a well-organized beatdown.

Warm-up

• Disclaimer
• Mosey to parking lot entrance of Brick City
  • Burpee Broad jump to island 1
  • Lunge to island 2
  • Burpee Broad jump to island 3
  • Lunge to island 4
  • Grab a cinderblock and circle up

The Thang

TABATA

7 exercises with 7 sets and 7 cycles

YHC realized his mistakes from last time.

1. I tried to complicate the count by adding in random sets and cycles causing me to lose count
2. If I had paid for the app, I could do a lot cooler stuff (I refuse to pay for the app)

Exercises

Once in the app, I couldn’t go back to my notepad to see my exercises so I tasked the PAX to each remember an exercise.

1. Over-head press (crowd pleaser)
2. Curls
3. Chest Press
4. Hammers
5. Big Boys
6. Upright rows
7. Squats

Judge Judy tried to test my mind (and won) by calling out a different exercise than I asked him to remember. He blurted out Flutter-Kicks (which I originally had on there). I called out how we were going to do them when he said that it was actually hammers. This might be the only negative, or cluster Q, type of event that happened

Mary:

• Mosey back to Clinic
• 15 IC Merkins
• 10 IC Wide Arm Merkis
• 15 IC Reach-throughs
• Reach through stretches

 

Every PAX in attendance was in awe of how well put together my Q was. I’d like to thank my former life coach, Woodchip, for never giving up on me. (Just kidding, he dropped me like a sack of Arnold’s fresh castrated bull nuts. Speaking of which, Arnold recently asked Woody to be his life coach and neither of them where there….interesting.

T-claps to Groundblind for doubling down and wearing a ruck the whole time. Remind me to message your Cadre for your upcoming Heavy so I can let him know how easy it’s going to be for you.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to support me this morning Bodybag. Especially considering you worked out before my last one and left before I got there.

Devo

I asked the PAX to try and identify God moving though moments in our lives and speaking directly to what our souls need in that time.

 

Conditions: Atlantis and a little cold

Klinger and YHC were coming off a heck of a weekend having finished our second GORUCK Tough in Greenville. Fudger was also there and I think he may have laid his head down to rest on a park bench and is still at the Endex. Anyway, YHC grabbed the Q cause he wanted to workout, but did not want to run. That being said, the Thang included 4 exercises. Being the good Q that I am, I got there early (instead of late like Bowtie every week...get it together man!) and load 12 blocks in my car and drove them to the start point. My feet had just dried out from the weekend and I wasn't about to let them look like prunes again. I instructed the PAX to get a block from the back of my car and meet me under the roof.

The Thang:

1. Curls
2. Over-head press
3. Goblet Squats
4. Upright Row

In honor of the 26 miles we did in Greenville, we started at 26 reps and decreased by 2.

YHC started doing everything in cadence, but after doing the curls and over-heads I called an audible cause my upper body wasn't quiet back to normal. We worked through the reps and I told my war stories about having to carry Fudger on a stretcher and then lift him over my head at the Endex. We also had to do partner low crawls and he was on my team. If anyone has any ideas on how to erase memories, I'm all ears cause I will be having nightmares for years after that.

Mary:

1 minute of Knuckle Planks on the concrete (Be looking for this in my Qs from now on)

DEVO:

Paperboy said in his DEVO last week that we draw strength from each other. That was abundantly clear in the Tough that we did as YHC had thoughts of twice. Both were during our march. Once when someone asked a passerby that time it was. In my head, I knew it had to be 0330 or 0400. They said it was just past 0100. That took a lot of steam outta the tank and my body started hurting out of nowhere. The second time was during a march through the woods. Cadre Jake wouldn't let us use our headlamps so my eyes started playing tricks on me and I started seeing things cross the path and got a little loopy. Both times I thought about quitting, I looked around at the people with me. Some I knew, and most I didn't. We had fair amount of coupons and had a great rotation down of getting on and off each one. I knew that if I left, I would be making each person carry more weight for the rest of the night. For them, I would not quit.

There was nothing in that Tough that was impossible, but there were plenty of stuff that was hard as crap. I do these events to test the limits of my strength (physically and mentally). Most know, but I had a stroke at birth and my right arm is not nearly as strong as my left. These events (and pretty much every workout in F3) have shown me how to push past the identity that I am the label i received in school, "The kid with the weak arm". These events also show me that my mental "quit line" is not where I think it is. I am able to go where I think the line is and keep pushing way beyond it.

In the movie Evan Almighty, God (played by Morgan Freeman) says something to this: "Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous?..."

Welcome the challenges that you pray for. Look to God for strength because for YOU he will never quit.

AYE!

 

 

 

YHC decided to take the Q at Brick City after a string of #ClusterQ’s at the AO that he and the one previously known as Backdraft built to be one of lifting heavy things and putting them down...then lifting them again.  Too much cardio had crept in and not enough suck.  Stallion and Paperboy were the latest to taint what Brick City is all about with their #weaksauce tabata and whatever the hell Paperboy did. I kid...I just wanted to lead the strongest group in F3 Hartsville.

Conditions:

High 30's but not too bad.

Warm Up

• Imperial Squat Walker x 15 x IC *They say how one moves on the dance floor is a sign of how one moves in the bedroom.  Well Barfly looked like a high school freshman on prom night. Lord help his M*
• Ballerina Toe Squats – 15 x OYO *Crowd pleaser, brought back memories for Klinger of days past where he and his platoon buddies would hike up their dresses and practice their plie'
• Merkins x 10 IC
• LBC x 50 OYO

Main Thang

Grab 2 bricks - It's called BRICK city.

• Brick Merkins x 15 x IC
• Plank Punch (alternating arms) x 15 x IC
• Plank Punch Merkins (alternating arms) x 15 x IC
• Curls For The Girls x 100 x OYO – Elbows in, controlled going down
• Shoulder Press x 20 x IC
• Standing Chest Flys x 20 x IC
• Raise the Roof Close the Windows x 30 x IC
• Curls For The Girls x 100 x OYO - Elbows in, controlled going down
• Leg Thrusts x 10 x IC
• Jump Squats x 20 OYO
• Leg Thrusts Jump Squat x 20 OYO *These turned into burpees...because they were burpees*
• Curls For The Girls x 50 OYO - Elbows in, controlled going down

Form Teams of three. Each team needs 4 bricks and 1 block.

• Partner 1 cinder block rocker slides to 1^st light pole and back
• Partner 2 and 3 perform Wonderbra while squatting back to back
• Rinse and Repeat until time is called

Mary

• Hartsville Hammers x 30 x IC
• Crunchy Frog x 20 x IC
• BBS x 50 x OYO

Devo

You are free

Really…free. Free from the religious bull shit. A pastor once told me there is no B.S. like church bull shit. Free from the mindless & mundane rituals of religion that, although for the most part were developed by well intended men for good purpose, serve no purpose in the pursuit of creating union with God. Union with God. That is the point. Not just a relationship but oneness. John 17:21 Jesus prays for you and I to be one with him as he is one with the father. The religious veil is dangerous. And the devil loves it. It is dangerous because it gives the one practicing it an impression of holiness and lulls them into complacency. When in fact it is unholy and is keeping so many people in today’s church shackled. Speaking to the Pharisees Jesus said “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean” Mat 23:27. Thanks to Jesus you are free. When confronted with the religious just ask yourself “does this bring union with God”. Don’t remain shackled. Live the full life God has for you.

 

Naked Man Moleskin

YHC is convinced the Brick City faithful are the strongest Pax we have.  This is the AO for the committed, the ones who recognize the importance of starting the week off strong.  Always a pleasure to lead this group.

GO EH SOMEBODY

Warm-Up:

• 25 side straddle hops in cadence. About 15 in Wall-E finally graces us with his presence and does some jumping dance move with no arms…. We think he learned it from his children.
• 30 windmills in cadence. Would have been 25 but I wasn’t paying attention to the quiet pax as they counted numbers while shivering.

Groundblind arrives…. What’s up with those Askins brothers showing up late. In his defense he ran while I napped in my truck before the workout.

• 25 imperial walkers in cadence.
• Run to brick pile

The Thang:

• Dora exercises with two man teams, except for that one team of three..

Partner 1                                                                                                                                  Partner2

50 man maker hand release merkins                                Tire pull bear crawls to first light and back

66 Kettle bells (cause the Q felt like it)                         Suicides using the first & second light (no tires)

100 Chest press LBC’s                                                    Tire pull sprints to the second light and back

150 curls                                                                       Lunge walk (Knee to ground) 1 light and back

Burpees on the 6, then 100 LBC’s

This would have been perfect but there were some issues figuring out the man maker hand release merkins, and even with a demonstration half the pax struggled to do chest press LBC’s. Two things combined into one is hard #nomultitasking

Because we finished this at 5:56 we needed more. Being my brilliant self I was ready… partner one moves one spot to the right, partner two moves one spot to the left. Then the exercise was repeated in full, with the same struggles… #SMH

Afterwards we ran back to the parking lot for some good old fashion Mary.

Mary:

Guantanamo, while doing flutter kicks

Banjo bear crawls

At one point I heard Paper-boy saying this was not Brick City because there was too much running. Good thing Monday disagrees and I was the Q, ie. Brick City Running.

Closed it up talking about proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another”

7 men came out to get better and strengthen each other physically, but being there you also realize any of these men will be there for you in your walk with God whenever you need a hand.

Nothing like leading a workout for a bunch of jerks to start your week off right. If you ever feel that you are getting to cocky, just Q a Monday and the PAX will knock you down a few notches. Again, no one had signed up to Q Brick City and a call was put out on the chat. Paperboy scolded me bad about my last Tabata Q so I really wanted to show him I had gotten my act together and was ready to try it again. He provided a ton of great ideas and I wanted to do right by him. Sorry I let you down Paperboy.

WARM-UP:

Straight into it with a round of Jack Webbs and then moseyed over to the brick pile.

THE THANG:

PAX were instructed to get a block and two bricks and circle up.

TABATA:

1. Decline man maker merkins
2. Curls
3. Overhead press
4. Squats
5. Bench-press
6. Big Boys
7. Tricep Extensions
8. ….feel like I’m leaving one out…

So YHC setup the app last night with the intent of doing eight exercises in six sets. Well, I didn’t do that. I had it set to six exercises with eight sets. Oops. This occurred to me after the 9^th round of curls and the 10^th round of Overheads (Don’t ask). Benchwarmer caught on much faster and started counting the sets and that’s when the PAX got rowdy. They became very vocal, making sure I knew my shortcomings. “When is the next Q school? Stallion make sure you go.”, “Who taught you to count?”, “Don’t you work in IT?” and a barrage of more “constructive criticism” followed for the rest of the Q. Oh well, we lifted heavy stuff and got better together. That’s what counts right? I bet you the Brick City Q sheet will fill up now.

MARY:

Put bricks and cinder blocks away and moseyed back to the Clinic. My dumpster fire Q took us to 0615 so there was no time for Mary

DEVO:

When athletes train for a race/event, their goal is (typically) to acquire the gold medal. However, that gold will tarnish and discolor. We need to apply that same training, obedience and dedication to our pursuit of Jesus because his gold is eternal.

1 Cor. 9 26-27

“I don’t know about you, but I am running hard for the finish line. I am giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself”

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Mud run coming up. Talk to Arnold if you have questions.

Keep your ears open for a 3rd F opportunity for the Trent-Hill center (more from Lovebug once he gets the details)

I'm taking the Q Saturday and it is going to suck in a different way from this Q.

Sometime late Sunday there was a call put out that a Q was needed for Brick City. YHC saw the Bat Signal and sprang into action snatching it before Paperboy could get a grasp on it. However, with great power comes great responsibility. I had to plan a Q now.

Warm-up:

SSH x 20

Reach through x 20

Mosey over to brick pile and grab a cinder block

During the reach throughs someone mentioned that every AO calls them something different. Lazyboy advised us that the Revolution guys call them “chopping wood” to which Bodybag said, “them boys haven’t ever chopped wood apparently”.

The Thang:

Tabata (Jim informed me, and the PAX, that I was doing it wrong. However, I will still call it Tabata)

1. Curls

2. Overheads

3. Triceps

4. Squats

5. Hold block overhead

6. Hold block out in front

 

I thought you were supposed to run through all the exercises. Oops. We ran through all of these 9 times at 20secs of work and a 10sec rest. The PAX made sure to inform YHC how great my planning was and how easy tricep-extensions are with a cinder block.

 

Mary:

 

Dumper’s single double core.

 

Devo:

 

We never know when our last day will be. Get out there and make sure your priorities are right.