Late Monday afternoon, I picked up the Q at Midoriyama for Tuesday and wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do. I was already planning to post at Folsom on Tuesday morning for a cinder block workout with Tater Hole so blocks wouldn’t be a good idea. I decided to see what Tater Hole Q’d at Folsom, then I’d pull a weinke together based on what I felt I could still do!
Let’s take a quick step back to this past summer: I was inspired while visiting F3 Grandstrand in June. A HIM named Kitten led the workout and Q’d from a children’s book about, you guessed it, kittens. It was very creative as well as a tough workout! I had an idea to make it my own book similar to what he’d done, but just hadn’t gotten around to putting it together yet. I decided Tuesday morning I could put a little effort into this around lunch and pull it off.
I was able to get out of work in time to beat the traffic and arrived to see one lone HIM in the shadows of the restroom awning, escaping the light rain. Wojo! We chatted for a while about the rain, basketball, glory days, and what not as a few others arrived. I, for one, was NOT mad about the rain. I normally post in the morning so the typical Midoriyama heat would have sucked the life right out of me! It was a refreshing 77 F with light rain as the clock struck 5:30 PM and 12 HIMs clocked in for a trip down memory lane as we read the future New York Times Bestseller: Montross’s Nursery Rhymes For HIMs
Warmarama:
Side Straddle Hops – 15 IC
Toy Soldiers – 10 IC
Cotton Pickers – 10 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs as we patiently wait for one of our seniors to join the group. Honestly, our arms would have fallen off if we had waited for this unnamed Respect HIM to complete is wardrobe change so we got started, knowing he’d catch up.
So what is Montross’s Nursery Rhymes For HIMs? Just a little illustrated book I put together of well-known nursery rhymes and children’s songs from everyone’s childhood. Each page of the book has a different nursery rhyme and picture (all children’s books need illustrations, right?). There’s also an exercise that relates to the nursery rhyme in some way on each page. We didn’t cover every page of the book, but here’s what we did cover:
Slaw introduce the men to our first nursery rhyme. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick!
Exercise: Elevens featuring Jump Squats and Mike Tysons. Work on your ‘nimbleness’ as you tighten that core with the Mike’s and hop right over that candlestick over and over with those jump squats!
We took a little mosey down the street as I looked for a little hillside fitting for our next exercise. I didn’t pick the steepest hills due to the rain and safety. Up next: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down, bumped his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.
Exercise: Triple Nickel – 5 Burpees, run up hill, 5 American Hammers in cadence, run down the hill. Repeat 5 times. Fortunately, everyone was careful and no PAX ‘bumped their crown’. There may have been one PAX complaining about doing exercises on your on and in cadence. Well, 5 American Hammers isn’t hard enough for me, but hey, you vs you playa!
We take another short mosey down the street to a nice flat area as Slaw reads our next rhyme: Eeny, meeny, miny moe, catch a tiger by his toe. If he hollers, let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny moe!
Exercise: Partner Wheel Barrels – one does the wheel barrel while the other drives, do 10 SSH each (OYO, but also in cadence again LOL), flip-flow roles, repeate 10 SSH each. The book says repeat as time allows here and I thought about another round, but I wanted to get through as much of the book as possible.
The next nursery rhyme was saved for one specific HIM. Sister Act read the next one: Red rover, red rover, send a Douche Bag right over.
Exercise: Interval Running Training: Nur, Sprint, and then recovery walk to light poles for round 1. I wanted to do 2 or 3 sets of this, but it was just too slick for sprinting so we moved to the next round of training. High Knees, Butt Kickers, Karaoke for rounds 2 and 3 .
I could think of no one better to read the next rhyme than our very own Dr Seuss, a man who has been teaching this one for YEARS! It’s the “Alphabet Song”! A B C D E F G, H I J K L M N O P, Q R S, T U V, W X Y and Z.
Now I know my ABCs, next time won’t you sing with me.
Exercise: On your six, legs together. Write the alphabet in the air. Unfortunately I was unable to get Dr Seuss to sing the song, but we’ll let it slide this time! I did prove my handwriting is horrible.
I felt like we needed some singing at this point and if there was one HIM in this group I could count on for some flair who would not be scared to sing, it is Bedpan. He bellowed out a wonderful rendition of “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands!”
Exercise: Jacked Up! – 25 Side Straddle Hops, 20 Seal Jacks, 15 Plank Jacks, 10 Crossover Jacks, 5 Smurf Jacks, all in cadence. Yogi was practically begging for his life at this point but the 2nd-time poster pushed through. Frankly, Yogi pushed hard all workout long. Thanks to the PAX who helped support him along the way today!
We take a short mosey back across the parking lot to the area adjacent to where the flag was. It is only appropriate that burpee connoisseur Slaw read this next one: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again.
Exercise: AMRAP Burpees. 1 minute. It took too long for the clock to start so we got started a little early. Sister Act suggested working on form over quantity and many obliged. Good call. Take that Merkin all way to the ground!
Special shout out to Tater Hole for bringing the speaker. It was absolutely necessary for the finale of my Q of nursery rhymes and children’s songs. The Baby Shark Abs Challenge! If you haven’t seen it before, here’s a link! It is hard! Some completed it, some didn’t. Regardless, we can’t do it anywhere near as well as the young girls in the video. I challenge any of you to give it a shot.
We had a few minutes left so I figured we’d call a little round of Mary to wipe us out!
Slaw – Freddie Mercuries – 15 IC (I think that’s how many we did)
Sister Act – Plank Jack Merkins – 10 IC
Oompa led 22 for the vets (using his Drill Sargent voice!)
Time! YHC took us out in prayer.
Final thoughts: Thanks to you all for the opportunity. It is an honor to lead at Midoriyama! Many of those men pickup Saturday Q’s a Folsom for us and they bring it! I like to get out there from time to time myself and try to give it back! Midoriyama is a brutal workout because 1) you’re typically surrounded by some of the strongest and fasted guys in F3 Gastonia, but 2) the heat isn’t something most of us are used to working out in. That being said, if you have never been to Midoriyama, put it on your calendar and step up to the JV workout fellas! I’m also excited to see my friend Yogi make his second post and I hope to see him become a regular at Midoriyama and one day lead bootcamps!
Weinke Before
Weinke After