Blood, Blocks & Bear Crawls at The Bunker

10 strong at the region’s newest AO.  Here’s what I remember:

Breaker Breaker left with a group of bootcampers leaving us to settle in and throw down in The Bunker.  YHC reached out for an assist from HIPAA, as no Bunker beatdown is complete without music to work to, and YHC hasn’t invested time in a playlist or money in a bluetooth speaker.

The Thang:

To the Footmobile for coupons with a variety of bricks and blocks available.  Back to the circle for an extra round:

• 10 x Hillbilly Walkers (IC)
• Standing Toe Touch Stretch
• Seated R/L Core Twist Stretch & Flapjack
• 10 x Heels to Heaven (IC)
• 10 x Reverse Table Ups (IC)
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)

Next, we launched into the beginning of our circuit.  With our coupons ready at the concrete barriers we started with:

1 minute of each:

• One-legged Glute Bridge & Flapjack
• Cinder block Overhead Press
• Bulgarian Split Squats L & R
• Lift cinder block on concrete barrier, Climb up and over, Take cinder block off wall, Repeato

Carry block to cone for:

• Crab walk to wall, pushing cinder block with feet

Once at the wall, we played a little 21, Bunker-style.  Partner up.  One partner performs a hold while the other performs an exercise.  Increase counts from 1-10, so 1 -1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4… 10-10.  At 10-10, you and your partner have “20” and need to make a basket to get “21” and be finished.  Otherwise, it’s back to 8-8, 9-9, 10-10 before getting another shot.  After getting to 10-10, each partner had 3 shots at the basket.  Once teams were finished with theirs, they could jump in and help the other teams, both with the exercises and additional shots at the basket.

Exercises/Holds were:

• Round 1: Merkin/Plank
• Round 2: Aquaman/Superman

Each round, there was 1 team who didn’t make the basket, so we split up the reps among us and had more than enough opportunities to make the next shots.  After 21, we needed to get back to the start, so we did:

• Bear Crawl pull throughs with cinder block

Back at the start, we had Storytime.  All PAX held the “M” position (think starting position of a Crunchy Frog) while one PAX talked about how they got to F3 and what it meant to them.  Barney accused YHC of kidnapping him, which was only partially true.  HIPAA mentioned being EH’d by his cardiologist, and doing any number of stupid things including running a half marathon, and the importance of the 2nd F and getting to know each other.  Gavel took round 2, talking about his upcoming 1 year anniversary and being a part of a relay team.

Storytime over and back at the barriers, we got to repeat the full circuit again, for a total of 2 full rounds.

I wish I could say no PAX or coupons were harmed in the making of this beatdown, but sadly, it was not true.  Slim Shady lost half of his cinder block on the first round, and the rest crumbled on the second.  Pilgrim’s Progress had to get another after his cinder block crumbled.  Barney put his blood into the workout, along with the sweat and tears as he scraped his leg going up and over the concrete barriers.  Add in the skid marks left by the coupons on the crab walks and the pull throughs and needless to say, there was plenty of evidence of work done on this day at The Bunker.

After the 2nd round, we started our trek back to the Yank, lunge walking the entire way, stopping at the top of the hill for

• 20 x Toe Touches (IC)

and at the Old Stone parking lot for

• 20 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)

Oblivious was out in front, with YHC behind and a couple long-legged PAX, Anchorman & Nutria, cruising along with the lunges, mentioning that they were always thankful for the times that their God-given bodies were made for the work they were doing.

With Anchorman back in town, YHC asked if he’d take us home leading the last exercises once we returned to the Yank.  He obliged with

• 20 x American Hammers (IC)
• 20 x Nolan Ryans L (IC)
• 20 x Nolan Ryans R (IC)

Wrapping up with

• 9 x Monkey Humpers (IC)

for the returning bootcampers.

Moleskin:

It’s starting to hit me how much I missed being an athlete as a SadClown.  I’m starting to feel more comfortable using that label, even as I’m right now as old as I’ve ever been.  At 38, I’m likely as fast or faster, and definitely stronger, than I’ve ever been.  But just being able to have different gears running, do push-ups without shaking, open a dang jar that’s stuck; it’s a good feeling.

Putting together the Weinke for a low-impact workout was much more challenging than I expected.  It’s not easy to put something out there challenging yet still attainable for all PAX.  Even just deciding on what coupons to use, if any at all, was tough.  For someone like me, who tends to overthink everything anyways, there were a lot of new things to think about and questions I’d not had to answer before.  I liked the challenge and look forward to the next one.

Don’t think that low-impact workouts are JUST for those who don’t want to run.  Anyone who wants to get stronger will benefit from these workouts.  Ditch the soccer arms, be well rounded, and work some gear or ruck training into your schedule.

I appreciate the support from the PAX today.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo