Author: Tesla (Page 6 of 17)

So YHC has been on a tear about back blasts of late. And for very good reasons IMO. First, Guys read them. And they serve as a permanent record as to not only what we did but why we were there. We also use the stats for growth plans from new AOs to new regions to how we do 2nd and 3rd Fs. They are not important. They are vital! YHC has said and maintains that your Q does not end until the back blast is posted. I stand by that assertion. Know what? We as a region are getting better about this of late. Because we know how important it is to the organization.

With that said one of the best ways to get a back blast done is to plan a simple workout. Also, one of the best ways to have a beatdown type workout is to keep it simple. So we followed that model this morning at Tequila Sunrise. Went like this as we moseyed onto the field near an end line to do the work.

COP:

SSH X 20

IW X 20

Grass pickers X 20

Grapevines

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Escalator time! Went like this:

Burpees X 5

Jump Squats X 10

HR Merkins X 15

Big boy sit ups X 20

CDDs X 25

Run halfway and we do 5 up-downs

Run to the end and we do 10 SSH

Mosey back to the start and climb the escalator. All this is done as a team. No individual stuff here.

Start with burpees and add each one going up to the CDDs. Then at the top (CDDs) start coming back down. Run each time and do the up-downs and SSHs. Makes for a simple -but effective formula. And YHC is a simple guy!

Mosey over to the COT area for a 3 minute plank to wind things up with . Which provided epic mumble chatter. Always a good thing!

Pledge and done.

NMM:

Skeleton crew here today at 10. Lots of pax heading out for the weekend if not already gone. Awesome morning. 57 degrees, clear, low humidity. Not like Monday – Wednesday at all was it! A little taste of fall, YHC’s favorite season.

Prayers for our nation now as it feels it’s way through a tough time. A self inflicted tough time at that. We need some introspection nd getting back to what works and why it works. And it’s all simple and effective which leads to consistency and durability. And that gets us through these times.

You guys know what to do. Let’s just keep doing it.

Tesla/Uncle Ted

YHC a few weeks ago picked up the reins on this edition of Belmont’s premier nonrunning “low impact” Saturday workout a few weeks ago from HIPPA. It as decided that “low impact” would not translate into “low effort”. In fact, it was time to show just the opposite. So with a collection of kettle bells, ruck weights, and attitudes the pax got with it. looked like this:

COP (bootcampers and bunker together)

SSH X 20

IW x 20

Asphalt Pickers X 20

Grapevine stretches

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Split off, Bootcampers with Oompa Loompa, Bunker with YHC.

Bunker activities:

This was going to be a get with morning as we got the bells all lined next to the wall and counted off by 3s.

1s – Down to the other end of the lot, do HR merkins.

2s – Bear Crawl to the 1s and relieve them

3s – KB swings until relieved by 1s, bear crawl and relieve the 2s.

Cycled through this 4 times using bear crawls and HR merkins.

cycle 1 – KB swings

cycle 2 – Kb squats

cycle 3 – single arm presses

cycle 4 – tricep extensions

Recovery jog to the end of the lot and back.

2nd Set

1s – big boy situps

2s – lunge walk and relieve the 1s.

3s – Bell work as follows below:

Cycle 1 – Renegade rows.

Cycle 2 – Chest presses

Cycle 3 – Overhead presses

complete this cycle, same run and jog recovery.

Hair burner time – with bells. It’s the 4th quarter men! Time to get tougher

1s – SSH until releived, do LBCs

2s – push KB fro, 3s to 1s.

3s – Mike Tysons

Everybody gets 2 up and back cycles.

Back on the line for a set of suicides:

1st set – run to a parking spot, drop and do 1 burpee, back to start.

2nd set- Run beyond 1st stop, drop and do 5 merkins

3rd set – Run past 2nd stop, drop and do 10 jump squats.

4th set – run past stop 3 and do 15 LBCs

Time to gather up the trash and get on over to the Yank.

NMM:

Great group here today and we put in the work in the humidity and growing lat summer heat. Great to see Hunk O Junk, Clampett, others. Hippa has done a great job getting this off the ground. Great AO for nonrunning. Not so much for noneffort! Wold we all not agree? Big group today. I count @ 11. Lot of bootcampers today as well. Would have loved to join Oompa for his Q but guess it was old goat day in Belmont. Maybe that’s why they were having a funeral in the park when we left Cherubs and breakfast? Not one of our guys was it? Asking for a friend. Never seen something like that in a public park.

Great morning and great push by the pax at AOs. Shouldn’t have missed it if you did!

Tesla

YHC wasn’t sure if he ad the Q at The Ricky Bobby but figured out pretty quickly he did once at the AO about 3 minutes prior to go time. So YHC ran back to his car and grabbed his phone with the attitude that my lack of preparation was not excusable for not having a quality workout delivered to pax who had obviously shown up expecting to be well led and having an expereince owrth getting out of bed to get to on a voluntary basis. So , YHC dug into his bag of tricks to deliver as necessary with no complaints. Went like this:

COP:

SSH X 20

IW X 20

Grass Pickers X 20

Grapevines

Peter Parker X 20

Mosey to the back lot for BLIMPS

You know the drill by now but just to repeat it’s Burpees, Lunges, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, Plank Jacks, Squats.

P1- Run the length of the lot (@ 150 yards) and back.

P2 – Do the work as prescribed.

Rinse and repeat through the BLIMP.

Over to the playground for a little nonrunning work as we count off by 3s.

1s- Pullups X 10

2s- Merkins X 10

3s- Big boys X 10

Cycle through 3 times.

Some burpee suicides: Broad jump two parking spaces, nut back one, drop and do 3 burpees. 5X total

Time for light pole suicides, where we run to each light pole (3 total), drop, do an excercise and run back, then go to the next one.

1st set – Hand release merkins X 10

2nd set – big boys X 10

A little taste of the APFT as follows

HR Merkins X 2 minutes (passing: 40)

Butterfly situps X 2minutes (passing: 50)

Mosey up to the field and bleachers:

10 dips OYO

10 stepups each leg

10 inclined big boys

Run across the field and 5 burpees

Jog back to COT.

Hold 3 minute plank.

Pledge and done.

NMM:

For something made up on the fly this worked out pretty good. Expereince helps a lot here and at almost 8 years in and averaging close to six workouts a week every week you eventually pick up on that so you can do things without a script. Which YHC has found in life in general real leadership emerges when the chaos erupts and you don’t have a script, what do you do then? How do you lead. Well, it’s my own experience is you just start moving and getting it done! Don’t wait for a script. Will there be failure? Of course! But like Churchill said the best way to get through hell is to keep moving! Paralysis kills. All the time. Not that you don’t need to get ahold of the situation before you determine where to move but you have to take the first step. Then one after that and then one after that. Leaders initiate and sustain such movement so as to move the organ they are charged with moving to advantage. This can be true when a threat arrives we need to either liquidate or escape from or an opportunity we need to take advantage of that we never saw coming. You may not be scripted and prepared for either given a situation. However, you need to BE prepared to handle it when it does happen. We did that today and had a pretty solid beatdown in the post Fred humidity.

Happy to serve this morning. Great group to serve with. Look forward to next time. Great to have Plan B in from New Bern, NC.

Tesla

So YHC shows up to the Goat on Thursday with no plan and maybe limited enthusiasm from not having a rest day for some time. However, with Q on the docket, that’s no excuse. Leadership means doing it when you’re needed, not when you want to. So it was time to lean on some experience and moxie to get something executed that would be above the line of acceptable for pax who had rolled out of bed and shown up to do some work. Went like this:

COP:

SSH X 20

IW X 20

CP X 20

Grapevines

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Decision was made by YHC to mosey across both bridges and to the parking lot on the other side of the island. Had thought about going down to the basketball courts but that was a long dark run along a road so safety first! And gave us more options on what to do which was still somewhat in the thought process:

Four Corners:

5 HR merkins in the center then to each corner and back to the center for 5 HRMs again.

1st corner: 10 Big boy hand locked situps

2nd corner: 10 CDDS

3rd corner: 10 jump squats

4th corner: 10 Diamond merkins

Rinse and repeat, total 2 rotations.

Parking lot Suicides:

End to 1st light: Burpee broad Jumps, 10 SSH, return

End to 2nd light: Broad jumps, 10 merkins, return

Return to park area, lunge walk bridge.

On benches:

10 inclined merkins

10 step ups each leg

10 dirkins

10 Bulgarian Split squats

10 step ups each leg

10 dips

10 Step ups each leg

Over the main bridge for the finale’

Triple nickel from the fire station up to the third light poles on the right up the Big Hill.

Bottom: Plank jacks X 5

Top: LBCs X 5

We were able to get three repeats in here before time expired. So back to COT, pledge, etc.

NMM:

Small but dedicated crowd, I had actually blown the fact that I was Q this morning but was able to rely on past experience to pit together a reasonable beatdown. Certainly was helped by the humidity. Welcomes to July boys!

Made the call to go across to the island because of safety concerns. Absolutely no question that going over those bridges and being in the lot is a lot safer than running down to the basketball goals. Though with the sidewalk that is fine. But I think we all need to keep things like that in mind since we work in the gloom.

Again great work by the crowd here. Always a pleasure to lead at The Goat!

Tesla

Being a short work week and a holiday week YHC figured today at The Ricky Bobby might be a little thin. In terms of numbers it was. In terms of quality it was not! Went like this:

COP:

SSH X 20

IW X 20

Cotton Pickers X 20

Grapevines

Peter Parker X 20

Head to the field for some Kevorkians

1st set:

Burpees

P1 – Run 1/2 way and do 5, run back

P2 – do then until P1 returns

Flapjack

2nd Set

P1 – same run, 5X hands locked big boys

P2 – work until P1 returns

Flapjack

3rd Set

P1 – same run as above, 5X diamond merkins

P2 – same as above

Flapjack

4th Set

Same order as above, Jump Squats

Over to the benches for some triple nickel

Bench – 5 dirkins

half lap – 5 plank jacks

Finish lap.

5 laps total

Benches as follows:

Bulgarian Split Squats X 10 each leg

Elevated big boys (hands locked)

Dips X 10

10 step ups each leg

Run 1/2 way across the field – 5 HR merkins

Run rest of the way across the field – 5 HR merkins

Run back

Return to benches, repeat as per previous

Run back as follows:

1/2 way – burpee broad jump

rest of the way – NUR

Back to COT for Mary and a 3 minute Plank to end

NMM:

Small but dedicated group today. Enjoyed the push! Bubba Sparxx had one hell of a vacation return! Went ot the dogs for sure. Prayers up for Turtleman and our traveling pax and families right now. look forward to all your returns!

Tesla

Four years ago we started a tradition in Belmont where we read the Declaration of Independence aloud by all pax present and reading on rotating basis. Sound familiar? Went like this as the boot campers and Bunker boys all united in the effort. Boot camp went like this:

COP:

SSH Burpees X 5

IW X 20

Cotton Pickers X 20

Grapevines

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Up to the track and Field of Dreams for some six shooters:

10 burpees – lap

20 Big boys (hands locked behind head) – lap

30 merkins – lap

50 CDDs – lap

60 SSH – lap

Over to the hill for half pipes X 3

Top – 5 plank jacks

Pad (bottom) – 5 burpees

Playground time! What kid doesn’t love a playground! Here’s the game we played:

25 pull ups

50 Merkins

100 squats

Best done in increments of 5.

So, it’s about 7:42 am at this point. Damn near the 4th quarter. So, what do WE do in the 4th quarter? WE KICK SOME ASS! Why wouldn’t we?

Let’s start with a bear crawl slalom. We used the walkway and everyone got 4 turns! How about that!

So now it was time for a triple nickel on Heartbreak Hill

Bottom- 5 HR merkins

Top – AHs X 5 each side

Time for a half pipe and a half. We did it in honor of both the Union and Confederate boys that 158 years ago fought in Pickett’s Charge in Gettysburg. If you have not done the half pipe or been to Gettysburg you might not understand why the half pipe here is emblematic of that day but the top of Heart Beak is very much like Cemetery Ridge where the Union forces were dug in defending and the Confederate forces were marching up from Seminary Ridge much like where main is which is much lower than the top of Heart Break. My southern ancestors were in the NC 55th (Alexander and Wilkes Counties) and almost broke through on the left side. My Union ancestors were in the 82nd Ohio defending that day. You didn’t want to be there boys. Trust me on that one. But they were.  And they sucked it up and did their jobs. We honor them on both sides as Americans that after that war came together and between 1865 -1900 built the country we know that saved freedom three times at least in this world since then. I marvel at the commitment and ability to overcome enmity and other hardship to do what they did after that war together which included building a transcontinental railroad and an industrial base that became the world’s leading economic power less than 50 years after the cessation of hostilities. Are we worthy of such men today? When I stood last year on Cemetery Ridge occurred to me  on an early June morning run last year as the sun rose in the east as I looked across that field from Little Round and the memorial up there and surveyed that entire field of past fire, death, and heroism of common men doing remarkable things I wondered that then.   There is little wonder President Eisenhower, the greatest American of the 20th Century choose to retire on that ground. We are in eternal debt to all of them. And many others who have blazed the trails of freedom with sacrifice.

June 2020

Back to the pad for a 2 minute plank and up to the The Yank for our ceremony honoring the day:

NMM:

As pax gathered we read the Declaration aloud and as fate would have it about the time it got to Orangeman who handled with grace and competence. We got through it. Afterwards Rev. Sam Warner gave us a great invocation regarding the Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. And that of those ideals Liberty was – and is the most important and the linchpin of who we are and what we do. And I agree with Sam! Liberty empowers us to do great things. Like go to the moon and save the world on a periodic basis!

Are we perfect. Hell no! There is no perfect (Tesla Engineering Truth Axiom 101). Can we be a more perfect union. Hell yeah! What do you think F3 is all about boys? It’s up to us men. I’m going to be bringing that message front and center and asking, imploring you all to be part of the solution. I expect it. It will happen. Because that’s what we do.

We will do this again Monday, July 4, 2022.

Tesla

So with the horrendous forecast of massive storms and floods of Biblical proportion YHC made up a workout base designed to handle flood or drought situation. Glad we did, took a hybrid approach and it worked fine. Fairly thin crowd but very enthusiastic pax today and it went like this:

COP:

SSH X 20

Cotton Pickers X 20

Grapevine Stretches

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Mosey over to the upper lot and the shelter with on and off rain. YHC is a vet. Don’t mind summer rain but not everyone else cares for it.

Set 1:

Smurf Jacks X 20

HR Merkins X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

Big Boys (locked hands behind head) X 20

CDDs X 20

Repeat the step ups and run

Set 2:

SSH X 20

Diamond Mekins X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

LBCs X 20

Air presses X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

Set 3:

Jump Squats X 20

Dips X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

Heels to Heaven X 20

Dirkins X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

Time for some Blimps. Started with Burpees and built from there. Run the lot after each step on the ladder. Went like this:

Burpees X 5

lunges (Bonnie Blair version) X 10

IW X 20

Merkins (Inclined) X 25

Plank Jacks X 30

Squats X 40

Pledge and done.

NMM:

Small but dedicated group today. Great to see Termite back from the west! A man after my own heart. Great push! Didn’t get too wet and certainly no lightning which was YHC’s main concern. Turned out to be a great morning with great men!

Tesla