Back pain or SV?

My first QIC for Downtown required a bit of preparation. Several trips to Lowe’s Home Improvement for PVC pipes, concrete blocks, rebar, sand, and duct tape (can always use more duct tape). On toasty summer evenings, I sat in my garage filling the PVC with sand – a mad F3 scientist at work to design the perfect beat down. Idle time on long winded conference calls shifted my ADD mind to crafting a Weinke to employ my new toys to good use. Everything was set until Tuesday when I went to visit the boys at Midoriyama. We all have our internal goals and my bucket list includes a subset to visit all of our regions AO’s at least once. Freight and the boys welcomed me to share the oven they call home two afternoons a week. Somewhere along the way, maybe an extra flutter kick or crunch that my lower back did not appreciate, pushed me to the bench for a few days. But I was determined to post and do my best to guide the PAX.

Thursday night, with my family out of town, I practiced my warm-up cadence and routine for an audience of one. The dog stared at me quizzically as if I had truly lost my mind. It was a good exercise in many ways as a few jolts of pain up my spine had seal jacks and side straddle hops soon replaced with back friendly stretches. Applying the standard moniker of “if you can’t Q-it, don’t do it,” I performed a trial of the tabata circuits and running listed on the Weinke leaving me sweaty and sore. After a shower I washed down 1000 mg of ibuprofen with a bud light, coated my back with a healthy squeeze of Ben Gay and set my alarm for 4:30 am, hoping I would hold up to lead the session.

Friday morning after a brief stretch and using the seat warmer to kick start my tender back, I arrived early to set up shop on in the parking lot west of the Rotary Pavilion, with my 8 stations of pain. I was happy to see 9 PAX were gathered, stretching, and waiting for instructions. I made sure to give the disclaimer that YHC failed to heed earlier in the week. Let’s get to it:

Warm-up:

Grass Pickers – IC x 15; Side to Side Lunge – IC x 15; Squat/Jack/Twist -> Merkin IC x 15; Step back Lunge w/ twist (new – good stretch to do) – Sgl Count x 10; Seal Jacks -> Superman – Sgl Count x 20 (thought about going the whole 45 minutes with this but Whoopee was itching to do something more fun – I’ve come to realize he hates long warm-ups); Side Straddle Squats -> (this was going to be a new one…don’t worry, you’ll see it soon enough) -> CDD – IC x 15

The Thang:

Moseyed east around the big block for 0.5 mile run with my new mini-speaker playing the theme from Rocky. Whoopee climbed all three steps to Gastonia’s wonderful convention center raising his hands in victory – nice that building got some attention. We circled back to the Rotary Pavilion to see the 8 pain stations with brand new tokens ready to be touched for the very first time (did I just quote a Madona song? Guess I did…). Directions were provided to complete a Tabata circuit for 20 seconds of the exercise with a 10 second rest, moving to the next station. We went two rounds, ran a lap, came back for a final round with another lap.  We partnered for the stations – I was lucky enough to draw Stroganoff – he was on fire today…

1. Cinderblock curls
2. American Hammer with homemade duct tape rebar stick (made a kayak motion to burn the abs)
3. Chair Squats with sand-filled PVC
4. WW I Sit Ups with sand-filled PVC
5. Side to side hops (over a block)
6. Merkins
7. Medicine Ball Chest Pass
8. Dumbbell Swing (squat and raise the dumbbell to eye-level as you stand up)

We did a total of 3 circuits and ran 2 miles. We finished with two minutes for Mary: Plank Jack with Arm Taps and Pretzel Crunch (left then right). Whoopee reminded of Anthrax’s challenge regarding our Military Veterans where on average each day, 22 of these brave Americans take their lives due to the challenge to acclimate after their service. We knocked out 22 ‘Mericans. You can continue this OYO.

COT:

Pledge; Namorama;

Announcements: Stroganoff has the Q at Fighting Yank; I forgot to mention to the PAX F3 Dads this Saturday, 10 am at Martha Rivers Park – contact JK2; Whoopee reminded of Advisory Board Meeting Sunday night at On The Border – open to all. We circled for the prayers which highlighted continued prayers for Godfather, his M, and their family; new prayer lifted for a former student of Monk’s also beginning their grief journey.

Moleskin:

Had I not been QIC, I may have deemed myself to remain on the IR, rubbing my sandy V, but the opportunity to be with a group of men and push to become better was what I needed. There are many other folks dealing with far worse and I need to consider the blessings I’ve received, one of which is opportunity to be among F3. Thanks to the PAX to allow me to lead the fun. Until next time – Aye!