Walk the Plank

Arrgh matey’s…that is enough of the pirate theme…the expression fit the concept of the main exercises for the downtown workout, but there was no reason for YHC visit Party City for a Captain Jack Sparrow costume to lead the PAX. The pre-workout tweet asked all PAX thinking of posting to loosen their arms and shoulders in preparation for an upper body workout. There were no FNG’s but a disclaimer was provided. I concocted this workout several weeks ago and introduced small parts in a few opportunities. The full onslaught of punishment continued to be crafted with great care, even practiced in spare moments under the premise “don’t do it if you can’t Q it…” For that reason, we went with “7’s” rather than “11’s” as you will read below.

Warm-up: During the disclaimer, I started the PAX with forward and backward arm circles, then the formal warm-up began.

• Moroccan Night Clubs IC x 20
• CDD’s IC x 10
• Merkins (w/ back push to stretch legs (didn’t work so well)) IC x 6

Pledge

Thang

We moseyed from home base toward First Methodist Family Life Center parking lot, flying by the standard stop of the brick wall that so many Q’s stop for wall sits or hip slappers. Upon arrival, the demonstration was provided and instructions given: find an empty parking space where we will do 7’s beginning with Merkins then side plank walk (about 4 paces) to the other parking lot line for Ski Burps. Almost as challenging as the physical toll on the shoulders is to keep track of the descending and ascending counts. Increasing the challenge was the gentleman waiting on his bus providing commentary as we worked through the set. He resisted multiple EH efforts from Bandit and T-Square despite his familiarity with F3 “Y’alls the dudes I see runn’in down Garrison…man, Y’all crazy”. He was infatuated with Roscoe getting after it, commenting he must be trying to get in shape for his lady. So many things could be said here but I’ll leave it alone….with the exercise completed, we bid our fan a good day, reminding him to join us next Friday at 0530.

A short mosey around the corner of the building to perform a Whoopee favorite: Hip Slappers. We did two rounds IC x 10 each. Between sets Slaw began quoting A Few Good Men (sans the Nicholson accent): “…you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall…” The PAX tried to catch their collective breath but I wanted the heart rate to keep pumping so we quickly moved across the parking lot for another round of “7’s”. This time we began on the curb for 6 baby dips, crab walked forward along the parking lot line about six paces to then perform crab cakes (right elbow to left knee; left elbow to right knee = 1 rep). We completed 1 rep before backwards crab walk to the curb for 5 reps and so forth, never letting our 6 hit the pavement.

Once complete, I sought to give our arms and shoulders a slight break. Single Line Suicides were announced. Since this is new, no mumble chatter…until the demonstration. Again using a parking lot line, the PAX would hop side to side over the line, twisting and crouching (a little ab work) to touch the line. Three rounds escalated from 20 seconds of action, 20 seconds of rest; 30 seconds of action, 20 seconds of rest; 40 seconds of action, 20 seconds of rest, and finally a full minute. The chatter started as I announced a mosey to the parking deck. The pace was slower than the 4:30 dinner bell at Covenant, but eventually we arrived.

I borrowed a page from Stroganoff, announcing we would partner for “22’s”. Using the deck’s concrete wall P1 would perform 22 donkey kicks against the wall, plank walk four paces to perform 2 merkins. P2 would run across the width of the deck and tap in where P1 left off. Thanks to T-Square and Monk for reminding me of Stroganoff’s special rule to decrease/increase the reps by two (my apologies to the PAX). This was a good activity further increasing the burn in the shoulders. I knew my mission had been accomplished when Squirt exclaimed his Jerry Clower “HAAAAWWWW!”

Once finished I went for the final push. This is the one where you have to dig deep and fight through to the end. We returned to individual exercise, finding a parking spot to perform “7’s” beginning with 6 LBC’s then crab walking six paces forward to perform 1 Freddie Mercury; reverse crab walking to do 5 LBC’s and so on. Afterwards, bodies were scattered on the deck. I gave an extended look to be sure Ash Pond and Roscoe were breathing. The Chamber should dry clean T-Square’s shirt as he was nice enough to mop the dirt off the pavement. I checked my watch: 6:09 – I pulled the troops together to head back to base.

Time for Mary: Dying Cockroaches IC x 20; Flutter Kicks IC x 20; LBC’s IC x 10; Pretzel Crunch R IC x 10 & L IC x 10 hitting the limit.

Announcements: All PAX in attendance have signed up for our CSAUP. It is going to be a fun event that we need all of our region’s PAX to attend. Freight is heading up the Nomads beginning this Saturday at 0530 leaving from Eastridge Mall parking lot. This week the team is headed to SOB to grab the ghost flag. Early reports are there will be 14 going and could outnumber the locals. We’ll use this great idea to meet some other F3 brothers but also spread the word about our CSAUP.

Prayer Requests: Easy Rider has a friend whose daughter, Trinity, is battling some health issues; Floppy Disk’s wife, Bandit’s Mother.

Moleskin: In my few Q’s so far,  I try to come from a different angle, to be creative in the workouts. I appreciate the latitude among the PAX to allow me to throw out some unusual things. The next time Walk the Plank is performed, I’ll make BINGO like cards to track the counts. I keep an F3 excel file and when I find my ADD like mind drifting during another boring work meeting, I go to the file and get energized thinking of fun ways to workout with my F3 Brothers.  Speaking of, I should have mentioned this in the COT, but will do so here. We were thankful to have Roscoe back with us after doing his public duty to protect Charlotte in the events that transpired last week. The men and women in uniform do so many great things for us that we don’t often recognize. It was great to see Roscoe in his F3 uniform this morning.

Name-o-rama and I led us in prayer. Thanks for the opportunity to lead. Aye.