I have been looking forward to this Q – I had the concept for the “what” and only needed to wait for the opening in the busy schedule for Midoriyama. There is quite a following which speaks volumes for the AO that Def Leppard leads. As your Weasel Shaker, I track all of the numbers and our only afternoon workout averages 17.3 men for the two workouts each week. Why is that important? I had coupons and circuits that required a unique three-man rotation.

I had my work scheduled cleared and happily checked out of the office at 4:15 to ensure enough time to navigate traffic on I-85 and set up the small soccer field for the pain that was to come. I checked the temperature as I parked my car – 95 degrees it read. Hot but the humidity is yet to come for the Boys of Summer.  The PAX arrived slowly but surely. Swimmer suited up for a bike ride and the rest of us gathered into the circle. Time to clock in:

Pledge (in record time)

Warm-up (maybe another record)

• MNC’s IC x 1
• Don Quixote’s IC x 2
• SSH IC x 3
• Toy Soldier’s IC x 4
• Burpees 5 OYO
• Let’s mosey to the small soccer field

Whoopee would have loved the shortened warm-up. It certainly provoked some chatter and curious thoughts among the PAX as for the efficiency. Frankly, we needed all the time to get through the Weinke. We arrived at Field 1 on the right which had a short course arranged. Tiger came in hot and sprinted to catch us. I was prepared for as many as 30 but 15 would be ideal for the coupons. Tiger gave us 10 for the bootcamp so we divided into two groups of three and a group of four for the following:

P1: takes the newly purchased bricks and performs:

• MNC’s x 15 (sgl ct)
• Squat Press x 10
• Jack Webbs x 5

P2 grabbed a sandbag in each hand and farmer’s carried across the width of the soccer field. Q’s note this distance was too short and either needs to go the length or lunge walk to extend the time for P1 and P3 that are doing the exercises.

P3 is waiting on the opposite side of the field performing:

• Makhtar N’Diaye’s x 5 (low plank to high plank)
• Burps x 10
• Mtn. Climbers x 15

P2 exchanges places with P3 who farmer’s carry the sandbags across the field to exchange with P1. We went a total of 5 rounds (~10 minutes). In case you’re not digesting the concept, I’ll give you the Workout for Dummies version. This set was a  shoulder/upper arm focus with the bricks on one end plus the 10 to 25 lb sandbags to conclude with the plank exercises. About midway through the PAX verbalized their shoulder burn. I felt it then as well but the burn has continued as I rest my arms on the desk trying to type this BB. This will be felt and because of that, it is a keeper for future Weinke’s. So after that was done, it was on to Thang #2. This was something I did a few weeks ago at the Black Knight. Roadie reminded me he was present for that one and hated it just as much then as he did today. I did modify this version slightly because we’d be doing it in the afternoon sauna. But in honor my man Slaw, I couldn’t Q a Midoriyama workout without filling his pallet of burpees. Unlike his Del Frisco’s anniversary dinner, this serving was free. With a little pre-amble I announced we’d be doing the Slaw-ful. Beginning with corner #1 do 12 burpees. Then running the short end of the field to corner #2 for 11, then the length of the field to corner #3 for 10, then corner #4 for 9. It descended all the way down to 1 for a total of 78 (the total workout had 103 burpees for the day – just in case your counting). Of course Slaw was in the lead pack with Sister Act. Amid the afternoon heat this really amped up the heart rate making it hard to catch our breaths but we pushed through. Well done by all the guys to knock that one out.

We were about a half hour into the workout and next on the list was something I had advertised had never been done before. The idea came from a simple elementary field day game – the balloon relay. Of course I needed to add a bit of a twist. So I printed out an exercise and reps on a slip of paper and slid it into the balloon. With 10 men we divided into two teams with one member of each team running across the field to the bleachers to sit on the balloon, find the piece of paper and return to their teammates with the exercise/reps to perform before the next man took off. After the Slawful of burpees, the rest was welcomed. The game had it’s share of challenges as Pizza Man squashed his balloon so violently the slip of paper flew out, taking him several seconds to find, allowing team 1 to take the lead. It wasn’t necessarily a competition as nothing was on the line except of course pride, which is as valuable as anything among F3 men. The red, blue, green, and yellow balloons contained the following exercises that each team performed twice.

• Burpees x 10
• Merkins x 10
• LBC’s x 20
• Flutter Kicks x 15
• SSH x 20
• Sumo Squats x 15

Once this session was complete there was about 7 minutes left – just enough time to clean up and mosey back to the start for a little bit of Mary which was Low plank roll-overs x 20, Leg Raises x 10, American Hammer x 15. Pizza Man called 22 for the Vets: Time!

COT: lifted prayers for Def Leppard’s son Logan that is currently in the hospital this week where the doctors and team are trying to diagnose the source of his seizure’s and develop a strategy for treatment. WE also shared about a friend of Blart’s who son passed unexpectedly, Pizza Man’s niece battling addiction, Sister Act’s grandmother, Tiger’s daughter traveling across country, and all those traveling for vacation. Announcements – Third F event Friday night at 7 pm at First Presbyterian Church. Pockets and YHC are your guest speakers. CSPAN is the guest Q at Folsom on Saturday and some guys are hiking Grandfather Mountain Saturday leaving at 0630 from the Schiele Museum.

Moleskin: As I came in early, Blart passed me on an extra credit run – tough to do in the heat knowing the bootcamp would follow. In a similar vain this afternoon was the second post for Roadie attending Folsom and Sister Act running the Pub. It was certainly warm this afternoon but not too bad. Def Leppard brought a cooler of water to share – that certainly hit the spot – thanks for bringing DL. We had a few minutes of rain arrive during the balloon relay that briefly cooled us. But no sooner than it quit did the steam from the hot ground warm us up. You never know how some of these ideas will pan out. The PAX seemed to enjoy it so I hope to bring parts of it back soon. It is always fun to be among the chatter at Midoriyama. Thanks to Def Leppard for the chance to lead. Until the next one.