You never forget your first

Great group of HIMs from all over the region converged on “Martha’s House” for a little nostalgic beatdown courtesy of the one and only — Outhouse.

YHC had been excited about this workout for days leading up to it, and the excitement was too much, as I was primed to start the workout at 5:27.  The PAX assembled at that time all noted that the flag and signs were gone from the bank across the street.  All signs (or lack thereof) pointed to it shutting down, and taking its flag with it.  5:30 came, and with it a couple more men to join the PAX, and we kicked things off with a disclaimer, but the pledge would have to wait.

The Thang:

• 20x Hillbilly Walkers (IC)
• 20x Plank Jacks (IC)
• 25x LBCs (IC)
• 15x Freddie Mercuries (IC)

To The Footmobile for supplies, in this case, bricks, then we moseyed towards the park, took the first road we saw and followed it through the dark to the rocks where we zigzag ran before heading to the center of the ballfields where a well positioned flag was waiting for us for the pledge of allegiance.

At this point, I disclosed to the PAX that all we had done so far, and the workout that brought out the bricks was from August 5th, 2015.  On that day, 12 men took a similar journey, with Outhouse the QIC.  All I knew showing up that day was I needed to bring gloves, don’t worry about the names of the exercises, just copy what everyone else is doing, and when it comes time say my hospital name, my age, and “FNG”.

The workout was called “Wheel of Bricks”.  Starting from the center of the ballfields for each spoke, we did the following exercises with a brick in each hand:

• 25 Standing Chest Flys
• Apollo Ohno halfway
• 15 Chest Flys
• Apollo Ohno to end
• 10 Chest Flys
• Plank for the Six
• 5 Merkins (IC)

Run out counterclockwise and down the next spoke to the center

• 25 Bent Over Raises
• Duck Walk halfway
• 15 Bent Over Raises
• Duck Walk to end
• 10 Bent Over Raises
• Plank for the Six
• 5 Merkins (IC)

Run out counterclockwise and down the next spoke to the center

• 25 Overhead Presses
• Frog Hop halfway
• 15 Overhead Presses
• Frog Hop to end
• 10 Overhead Presses
• Plank for the Six
• 5 Merkins (IC)

Run out counterclockwise and down the next spoke to the center

• 25 Skull Crushers
• Zombie Walk halfway
• 15 Skull Crushers
• Backwards Run (NUR?) to end
• 10 Skull Crushers
• Plank for the Six
• 5 Merkins (IC)

Well right as we got started with the Chest Flys, Stinky Bird comes rolling in.  I have no idea how he found us, except just sheer luck, or lack thereof.  He ran back to The Footmobile for his bricks and caught up.

Lots of mumblechatter about Outhouse: why he made us do all that running (was it from his marathon training days?), what’s he been up to?, maybe we should just throw these bricks at his house as a sign of appreciation.

We rolled through the Wheel of Bricks, and moseyed back the way we came, zig zagging through the rocks back to one of the picnic areas.  This is the only place where my workout diverged from the original.  Here we did:

• 30x LBCs (w/bricks OYO; from Outhouse’s workout)
• 15x Step Ups (each leg, w/bricks OYO)
• 30x Michael Phelps (count 1 side, w/bricks OYO)
• 15x Step Ups (each leg, w/bricks OYO)

Mosey back to The Footmobile to restack the bricks, then 5 burpees to finish things off.

Announcements:

• November Challenges
• Christmas Party (Dec, 12)
• Shirts (order them)

Prayer Requests:

• EZ Rider’s family
• Our country
• Sargento’s Prayer List

Moleskin:

It was great to see Cinderella back at it.  Y’all know I’ve not been a regular, so all I really knew about Cinderella was he showed to Buckshot’s VQ in a physical state that was obviously not cleared by his doctor.  That’s the kind of HIM I want to learn from.

It’s amazing how these mornings in the gloom leave their mark.  I can go on for as long as you want about workouts and how they’ve shaped me, whether it’s Wet Nutz bear crawls, Sargento’s bluetooth speaker, T-Square’s Memorial Day beatdown, Whoopee’s “NO RUNNING” workout, the Wolfpack Grinder, Roscoe’s 40 days of discipline, running the Hill at the Storm with JK2, Virus’s WOJ, Gastone’s Hill, the 5 mile loop at the Coconut Horse, or any other of the countless number of mornings (and afternoons at Midoryama) that I can recall by how it felt to be there.  It’s the best remedy for Sadclown Syndrome, and I’m just glad to get to be a part of it.

Last, but not least, thanks to Outhouse.  For the beatdown, sure, but also for the name.  It coulda been a lot worse.  Been proud to be “Flintstone” ever since.

Yabba Dabba Doo