Tag: GasHouse (Page 6 of 53)

Sometimes you never know what you will experience during the workout. This turned out to be true once again on this Saturday morning.

I arrived to find some disappointed PAX who’d expected me to post at NUOS that morning. My post on Slack was merely to say that we would make up for the lack of running at NUOS during the bootcamp workout, not that I would make it to NUOS.

Warm-up
SSH x 16
Merkins x 16
LBCs x 16
Imperial Walkers x 16

Pain Lab w/ Tube while Boot Camp went for a mosey

Stop at the flag for The Pledge

Mosey down Garrison towards Lineberger Park

Before we could get to the first stop at the church, we found police cars blocking the road. Then, we noticed that someone had crashed into the telephone pole across from the church. The line was on the ground and smoking like crazy.

The PAX had stopped to assess the situation, and YHC was trying to find a way around this crazy scene. At that point, several people had come upon the scene, and one gentleman close to us said, “Hoss, you can’t go that way. The line is down across the road.” I appreciated his notification of the obvious as I was merely looking for a way around the chaotic scene.

We moseyed around the back of the church into the parking lot as sirens continued around us and cars did u-turns in the middle of the road.

Merkins IC x 10
Squats IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10

Mosey to Taxco Mexican Grill parking lot. Where if you let your imagination run free, the smell of BBQ still floats in the air.

PAX Choice of exercise at this stop
Whoopee – 20 Big Boy Situps
Watts Up – 20 Big Boy Situps
Flintstone – 20 Freddie Mercury’s

Mosey to the park

Had planned to partner up, but with 4 PAX we just worked as a group. Each PAX picked an exercise to start. While three performed the exercise, the fourth ran up the stairs and back. When they returned, the exercise rotated around and the next PAX ran. Exercises included burpees, squats, lunges, and big boy situps.

We did 3 rounds of this until it looked like we were in the way of the guy trying to clear off the sidewalks. So we moseyed to the playground.

At the picnic tables, 2 rounds of Dips, Step Ups, and Flutter Kicks

Start the mosey back. At some point, Flintstone made a comment that I interpreted as he wanted to do more burpees. So on the run back we did 5 burpees (or so) for every green street sign on our side of the road and 3 (or so) for every street sign on the other side of the road.

At one point while we were doing burpees, a guy in a truck stopped to tell us something. YHC thought he was going to tell us we had bad form on our burpees. Whoopee thought he was going to tell us we had good form on our burpees. He just wanted to let us know the road was blocked because of a power line being down. Thanks, Hoss.

After a quick detour through the neighborhood to avoid the power line still smoldering on the ground near Garrison and countless burpees, we arrived back at the Schiele.

A couple rounds of Mary while we waited for the Pain Lab guys, and then the bells.

Announcements
Turtleman pet scan looked great no signs of cancer; continued prayers as he finishes out chemo over next couple of months
July 9th concert series, F3 to help pass out water
Monthly items – Nail clippers and chapstick

Prayer Requests
Rudolph travels
Wreck on Garrison
Principal assignments for upcoming school year

The Pledge again for the whole group

Prayer to take us out

At certain points during our mosey to the park and back (and again in the COT), I shared with the PAX the prior week’s sermon points from our pastor. I’d really thought through those leading up to Father’s Day, and thought they were good words of encouragement on Father’s Day Eve.

Three ways to make like count
The first is to start serving (we only got point #1, so I’ll have to share the other 2 at a latter Q)
To truly serve you must:
1 Choose desire over duty – Not because you have to but because you want to
2 Choose giving over getting – Don’t confuse influence with income
3 Choose being an example over being on control – Influence measured not by how many people are under you but how many are behind you

The whole reason for serving was further emphasized in my devotion that morning before posting. With the three points above in my head, I read Romans 14:8.

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

We serve not for ourselves and the glory it will bring us. We serve others because our Savior came to serve and set an example for us to follow.

Until next time.

Warm up:  Cadence

Merkins x 10, SSH x 10, Flutter kicks x 10, Merkins X 5

Boot campers mosey up to the Grier School parking lot for 2 sets of exercises

Suicide Burpees ( about 11 parking space lines – one at each line and back to start for one)

Suicide Merkins  (same as above)

Mosey to Parkwood for some Dora: Partner up – one with the exercise below and the other runs from the bottom of hill to the basket ball court and back

Merkins x 100

LBC x 200 (modified from 400)

Flutter kicks x 300 (modified from 600)

Mosey to Grier and down to the baseball field: for some 6s (not 11s)

hip slappers at bottom and top

Mosey to the running track:

Mosey the turn and nur the straight away  for the first lap

Next lap four corners (make your own corner)

Merkins x 10

LBC x 20

Squat x 30

Flutter kicks x 40

Mosey back toward start stopping at the entrance for some calf raises  of different forms

Finish up with a little Merry

Time!

Pledge

Announcements

Many Prayer request

My second Saturday Q , the first one was about 30 degrees and raining.

No use to the extra 15 mins

EZ out!!

We had five this morning and here is what we did.
coupons used:  5 rucksacks, dumbbells (35 and 40) one kettlebell, one piece of granite, one 40# sandbag. One well travelled wheelbarrow, one speaker

Warmup:  throw coupons over fence and then jump the fence to Grier track and run one lap

Next with rucks on, 5 sets of the following:  Ten squats, ten merkins, ten Ground to overhead press with ruck  off (use as coupon)

Next police up gear and roll to the start line on the track and partner up

P1 and P2 work together one pax wears ruck w/sandbag on shoulders and farmer carries 35# dumbbells a lap around track. Switch as needed.

P3 and P4 put everything else in the wheelbarrow and do a lap together, switching as needed.

P5 bearcrawls ten yards and does flutters w/bag up and then lungewalks back to start and does American hammers.

repeat until everyone has completed the laps four times and the solo work once. The last lap was all together with the wheelbarrow loaded with everything to include rucksacks but we had to modify since the wheelbarrow was going to fail. you could hear it groan and the wood was about to splinter.  You ever see a large woman whose buttons on her pants are about to pop after a meal at the fish camp?  (Reminds me of the time we were doing defensive tactics training and one of my friends broke his pinky after rolling around with another larger guy with a pretty big gut. “What happened to your finger?”  A:  “it got stuck in Lee’s belly button”. (You had to be there)).

Remove and carry coupons as needed to get the weight balanced and complete the lap, jump the fence, and put all the coupons up. Working time was approximately 45 minutes.

Glad Whoopee asked me to lead and glad we had more PAX participate. If you get Short Sale fired up on any topic he will carry 140 pounds for an entire lap and not notice that he is doing all the work.

Watts up is a beast but his shoulders don’t seem to accept a sandbag.  We may need to figure out if the problem is the bag or the technique?

Voodoo showed up early ready to go and definitely “N’ed Up” this am.

Whoopee is a consistent rock pusher and doesn’t complain about anything. His aim is to get the Gashouse back as the premier Saturday workout and grow it so make sure you get into the habit of EH’ing everywhere you go.

We had a few minutes to hydrate and change shirts before EZ rider took it to us for the normal 0700 beat down.  We have heard it many times when we do hard things together due to  FOMO that we “need better friends”.   I don’t think so. I think I need more guys like you.

roscoe

On a Memorial Day Saturday with some early summer heat and humidity with a light pax at the AO YHC had a plan and it definitely involved being a little different. Which is a good thing! After 5 straight posts and a some pretty challenging work all week long YHC was a little spent today. Throw in the first roll of heat and humidity and it was a sluggish start – but it didn’t stay that way. Here’s what happened:

COP:

Arm stretch

SS – burpees X 5

Foot to had stretches

Grass pickers X 20

Bootcampers off with me to the track, painlabbers stay back.

Bootcamp work, six shooter variation.

10 burpees, lap

20 Big boys, lap

Over to the tables.

Dips, Stepups (each leg), Dirkins, inclined big boys

3 repeats, 10X, 15X, 20X.

Back to the track:

30 Werkins, lap

40 squats, lap

Down to the area next to the baseball field for “chop-chop burpees” Chop-chop is where you run in place then hit the ground on Q’s “down” call and do a burpee. Do 5X then run up the hill and back around. Repeat 4X.

Back to the track:

50 merkins , lap

60 SSH. Decided not to do the lap but come back to the COT. Except we decided to do the lap! Then mosey back.

On the way back we saw Clavin leaving out for work and we had no pain labbers present. so we made up the story about Clavin and the pain labbers. As only we could do. But we weren’t done!

Rugby sprint v2.0

Skip between islands, run back, walk back.

1st round: LBCs X 20, AHs X 20, Heels to Heaven X 20

Rinse and repeat above, hold plank for 2 minutes. Keep expanding on the Clavin story. Where minds can go! Ha Ha Ha!

Done and pledge as pain labbers return, squelching our story line via Clavin. It was fun while it lasted!

NMM:

Great work by a skelton crew today. Congrats to grads and parents. Been an interesting year to say the least. Now everyone is on to better things – we hope and pray. Not a 2nd F today, we need to work on that here. it’s usually pretty good. But again a holiday Saturday contributed. But let’s put the effort in here guys! YHC went over ot Fighting Yank’s 2nd F. 24 pax and at least half attended coffeteria/breakfast. We can do that here.

Enjoyed leading. Great group!

Tesla

Today Linus handed over the keys to me for site Q at GasHouse. He and Stroganoff have been the only site Qs at GasHouse since the beginning of GasHouse. This would be my inaugural post as site Q so I wanted to make sure it was tough enough. Knowing that we had the Amoeba Ruck, I didn’t want to push the legs too hard.

We started with a quick disclaimer and pledge then jumped into the warmup. Tube took the PainLabbers and I took the boot camp guys up the hill to the parking lot in front of Grier. We Nurred up Garrison-too bad Gastone wasn’t there, he always enjoyed a good Nur. Once we got to the top we did some high knees across the lot until we reached a good stopping point. We got right to it with some 11’s: burpees and jump squats. Strogi gave some side-eyed comments but I persevered. Short Sale tried to throw some mumblechatter at me….that makes me smile and at least in the beginning of the workout, think about burpees. We moseyed sound to the track for some more good stuff. We did a few Bojangles laps (fast-ish on the straights then walk/mosey the curves. Once we finished a lap, we did some Whoopee Burpees. “What the F are Whoopee Burpees?” you say. Why let me tell you. Whoopee Burpees are not something you do with your wife in the boudoir. They are Burpees with extra Merkins built in. Add a merkin-part with every additional Burpee in a set of (insert number here) burpees. We did 3 of them (not so hard) to start. The next lap we did a pyramid up to 5 then back to 1…..because that is what 1 particular PAX requested. It was at this point the my phone mysteriously disappeared so we went to the wall and did some Hip Slappers. The phone was quickly recovered so we just did 2 sets of 10 HS. I wanted to head to the steps at Grier but the gate was locked so we took a long mosey over to FPC and used the stairs to the PAD for the next thing which was called 10/20/30. I picked 3 pax to think (not say) an exercise then randomly assigned either 10, 20, or 30 to that pax and that was the number of reps we did. After each round we took a trip up the stairs for (I think) jump squats. It was fortunate for the pax that I was paying particular attention to how many reps I did and made sure I did not miscount at this point. At all. I can’t remember what we did but it was a total of 3 rounds of 10/20/30. At this point we needed to get back home so we moseyed back to start to join the pain labbers for COT.

During COT, Roscoe read a treatise composed by (I believe) Linus. It designated me as the new Site Q and outlined several of the responsibilities of both me and the pax. Think: confirmation covenant between the student/confirmand and the members of the church with mutual responsibility for the success of that particular individual. As usual with Linus, it was well thought out and although humorous, still thought provoking and challenging. I am taking on this responsibility with serious focus and hope to keep the tradition of quality Site Q going. Linus and Stroganoff have set the bar high and I intend to give it my best effort. I am sure ShortSale will be on my ass if I start to slack off and hope the rest of you will do the same. ShortSale brought Site Q t-shirts and handed them out to Stroganoff, Linus, and me. That was excellent! It also emphasized the importance of this role for me and hopefully will motivate me to help continue to grow the GasHouse.

At the end of COT, I challenged myself and the others to bring an FNG (at least 1) sometime in the next month. I have been slack in that department for too long and have seen the effects of low FNG numbers. Hopefully we can also get some Kotters out soon as well. I am hoping for a little rain sometime in the near future and maybe we can get Bandit back out for a little slip n slide to liven things up. Watch the weather report……you never know.

Whoopee

May 15, 1971 yours truly entered the world. I have enough memory left to think back through some of the moments of my life, some of which was shared in my prior BB from Friday’s Downtown Q. Birthdays are the mile markers which we pass annually, some are more memorable than others. As we progress, they tend to get grouped in deciles so if you’ve done quick math or just paying attention, I crossed the respect threshold. Many of you grab the Q to celebrate your birthday and I followed that trend. You recall in elementary school when it was your birthday and maybe your mom sent or brought in a special treat like cupcakes or cookies to share with you classmates. Similarly for my Q at the GasHouse, I swung by Krispy Kreme to get some treats for my PAX. I hid them in a box just to stir some curiosity for the gathering of the circle. At 0700 I called for attention and provided a brief disclaimer, mostly an apology for what was about to happen. I cracked open the box of freshly glazed, warm Krispy Kreme donuts. The PAX eyes lit up and mumble chatter ensued. Whoopee was #2 in line and quickly circled to another spot ahead (that is unofficial confirmation from a cardiologist these delicacies are not that bad for you…even eating 2 at a time). Some PAX declined – good for them, though this isn’t a test of willpower. So, with the donuts distributed, time to start:

5 BURPEES OYO!!! – I checked the circle to see if anyone puked – seeing none – continue with my Seconds Timer and heavy metal/hair metal tunes blaring in the background, well sort of – speaker issues but finally got it working.

• SSH – Guns & Roses – Nighttrain
• 4×4 – Iron Maiden – Wasted Years
• Squat Jack Twist – Junkyard – Blooze
• 4 High Knee/4 Jab – Godsmack – Speak
• Shoulder Tap/Plank Jack – ACDC – Back in Black
• 8 Ct Body Builder – Black Sabbath – Neon Nights
• Jump Ropes – George Strait – Amarillo Morning (for Whoopee)
• Ski Abs – Ratt – Lay It Down
• 180 Squat Jumps – Van Halen – Unchained
• Crab Cakes – Steel Panther – Glory Hole
• All exercises at 30 seconds; rest came after set 1, then we went through it again

So – 10 minutes of straight cardio to begin the event. Still no one splashed merlot, I thought for sure but everyone held on. Regardless our cardio was up. We did the pledge and then split the bootcamp and Pain Lab. I had 6 guys take the pill of courage and follow me out of the parking lot. We moseyed and moseyed a bit further than usual. Across the street, up Churchill Dr, passed the library. We hung a right on Wilkins and then another right on Scotch. To my knowledge, GasHouse has never worked here before. Well it’s a hidden gem of a cul-de-sac that has a hill – not like the Mortimer, but enough for us to have fun with the Triple Nickel. 5 Burpees at the bottom and 5 Mike Tysons at the top. Watts Up reminded me that we did that routine on Friday – yes, yes we did. Sorry I’m a bit senile in my new old age. We tackled the hill, Whoopee was in the lead. After that appetizer, we fellowship moseyed SW along Scotch Dr. Roscoe was with me and since this was his old stomping grounds and we happened to be passing Pam Price’s house, I asked him to recount a story of his 9th grade prom date…(sorry show to know that one). At  the bottom of Queensgate and Scotch Dr is a yield sign with a green piece of paper taped. It listed the following:

• Burpees x 20
• Curl & Press x 25 (full block)
• Squats x 40 (half block)
• Cross Pulls x 25 (stretch band)
• Farmers Carry up/back (sand bags)
• SSH x 50

A lot of good F3 workouts are riffed from someone else. I’m no different so gave credit to the source I got my version which is one Tiger did at the Yank in Eagle Park. I hated that workout. I hated so much I’ve wanted to replicate it at the GasHouse so others could hate it too. Without further adieu, we now have the Over the Hill routine. You see, I’ve wanted to name a workout like Stroganoff has with the Forest Gump or the Wolfpack Grinder. We have the Vern and others that PAX groan when they hear that is what will be suggested.  If I can figure out how to make this worse than it already is, I’ll have Over the Hill 2.0 for your enjoyment soon. For now, the 7 of us took turns with the coupons so the order could be however you wanted or whatever coupons were available. Between each exercise, the PAX would traverse the hill a steady incline up Queensgate until you reach the stop sign at the intersection of Nottingham Dr. Up and back it’s 0.33/miles. At the Bourbon Chase, Freight shared the definition of an uphill climb as a “Soul Crusher” in one that you never feel you’re ever going to reach the top. Though short, I think this terrain qualifies. We spent about 25 minutes pushing our bodies and legs up and back – 5 times was the watermark for this occasion. I’ll be sure to adjust the schedule for the next one. With about 5 minutes to spare, we hustled back to the circle for the COT.

Announcements: Amoeba Ruck 5/22 at 0900; Blood Drive in June – see Tiger’s BB; Site Q change at GasHouse 5/22 – come celebrate Linus’ final moments as Site Q – he’s been a good one – steady for almost 3 years. Prayers: Turtleman, Big Pappy, Sister Act & 2.0, jobs for Dirt and CPAP. I took us out.

Moleskin – 50 years of life. I couldn’t have made it without family and friends. I joined F3 in November 2015. My M calls it a cult which it can be, but I prefer brotherhood as a better term. This gift we have is powerful. Think of that for a second – life is a free gift from the Lord with the only cost is for you to believe and trust in him. John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” And for F3, there is no charge, just your commitment and participation.  I mentioned Tiger’s workout that happened a few years ago. I had this one in my excel file, tweaking along the way and waiting for a good occasion – no time better than this milestone. More so to prove to me I’m not dead yet – though I was pretty sore after the workout. I guess that’s what I have to look forward to now that I’m over the hill.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. You guys are a great group to be a part of. Thanks to the PAX who allowed me to lead.

Short Sale

9 strong at Gashouse to look at some photographs, low plank in a poorly maintained parking lot, and discover the modern luxury of the lawn at First Presbyterian Church.  Here’s what I remember:

In preparing for the Amoeba Ruck, YHC began to wonder how the points were going to be communicated.  “What if they just gave us a picture and said, ‘Go find it.’?” YHC wondered aloud to no one in particular.  Regardless of how they do the Amoeba Ruck, that sounded like fun, so YHC went and took pictures at 7 sites and planned some stuff at each one.  YHC also threw out a little teaser on Slack with the first picture for the workout.

The Thang:

• 10 x SSH (IC)
• 10 x Side-to-side Lunges (IC)
• 10 x Mountain Climbers (IC)
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)
• 10 x Low Slow Squats (IC)

After a short discussion on where the FNG would end up, we split from Pain Lab and moseyed to the end of the driveway at the Schiele to explain my dumb idea.  First picture was shown and we were headed to:

Grier Middle School:

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)

Some rumblings about how this was stupid and complicated and were we sure Short Sale wasn’t in on this.  Next some Frogger on the way to:

Parkwood Baptist Church:

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)
• 10 x Bobby Hurleys (OYO)

YHC introduced the days ab circuit which would go like this: Partner up. One partner does a hold while the other does an exercise.  Switch after 30 seconds.  Holds/Exercises were:

• V-sit Hold / Double Crunches
• Low Side Plank / Oblique Crunches (One side only)
• 6 Inches / Flutter Kicks

First time through the circuit at Parkwood, we repeated the whole circuit and switched sides for the Low Side Plank / Oblique Crunches for the second side.

Lots of grumblings about picking a better lot for the Low Side Plank with the PAX’s elbows feeling a bit ouchy. Sargento was a hero for pointing out that gloves could be removed and used as padding.  Buckeye pushed the FNG with a little friendly form criticism.  FNG gave it right back.  Our next photo featured an inverted Flintstone at what appeared to be a car wash at:

7 Eleven:

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)
• 10 x Bobby Hurleys (OYO)
• 15 x Hip Slappers (OYO – Count Left Side Only)

Following this round, we had a quick discussion about mastery, acceleration, and patience from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.  A quick recap: Improvement doesn’t come as quickly as you’d expect.  Just because you did 50 merkins yesterday, it doesn’t mean you’ll do 51 tomorrow.  If you run at a 9-minute/mile pace, your next run won’t necessarily be 8:59.  The truth is, it takes a long time seeing little to no progress to actually see results.  It’s frustrating, but if you have the patience to wait it out, the growth when you start seeing results will be way more than you’ve expected, and your 50 merkins become 100 or your 9 minute pace can drop into the lower 8’s or even the 7’s.  A quick quote:

“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it.  Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it–but all that had gone before.”

Bottom line – If you start something new, especially something hard, don’t give up before you get to the point where you’re seeing results.  Stick to the plan, even if it’s frustrating and even if you can’t see the progress you want to see.  If you’re doing things the right way, it’s only a matter of time before you see results.

Anyways, YHC didn’t talk that long, but there’s more room in print, so I’ll take advantage of it.  Hopefully none of you have anywhere to be, or if so, you probably stopped reading already.  Regardless, time to move on to:

Sherwood Elementary:

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)
• 10 x Bobby Hurleys (OYO)
• 15 x Hip Slappers (OYO)
• 20 x Pull Ups (or something that resembles a pull up – OYO)

When finished, another ab circuit of:

• V-sit Hold / Double Crunches
• Low Side Plank / Oblique Crunches (One side only)
• 6 Inches / Flutter Kicks

No time for two though, gotta go to

The Pad @ FPC:

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)
• 10 x Bobby Hurleys (OYO)
• 15 x Hip Slappers (OYO)

More “Storytime with Flintstone” (“Can we do wall sits or something?” – “Sure, it’s you v. you”)

Mastery also requires practice.  Lots of boring practice.  What’s the difference between the best athletes and everyone else?  Well there’s a lot of things that you can’t change (like genetics), but “at some point it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same lifts over and over.”  Successful people FEEL the same lack of motivation as everyone else.  The difference is that they keep showing up in spite of their feelings of boredom.

This is something to remember when workouts or work or life get to be a grind.  It’s easy to do it when it’s new and fun.  How you react when you’re bored and over it is what makes the difference.  Whether you’re finding a way to keep things fresh by changing up your routine or trying to Q every AO in the month of April, or you lean into good habits and and a strong sense of personal integrity and responsibility, the key is to keep showing up, even when you don’t feel like it.

Next picture is from:

FPC Front Driveway:

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)
• 10 x Bobby Hurleys (OYO)

Time’s running out, but last Ab Circuit (cut a little short)

• V-sit Hold / Double Crunches
• Low Side Plank / Oblique Crunches (Other Side)
• 6 Inches OR Flutter Kicks

Lying in the grass for this last round was quite a luxury.  Sargento was quick to point out the support the FPC front lawn provided to his back.   You just kind of sank into it like a memory foam mattress or a Sleep Number bed.  It was almost as good as the Fartsack.

With time running out, we skipped the last photo (The Library) and went back to the entrance of the Schiele for

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)

and we came in right on time as Bandit wrapped up some Dying Cockroaches to the ringing of the FPC church bells.

Announcements:

• New Gear workout at The Fighting Yank, PainLab style, starting May 15th
• Amoeba Ruck – May 22nd (linked above)

Prayer Requests:

• Ava Gaddis
• Turtleman

Moleskin:

Nope, this is long enough.  See above.  You’re welcome.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Last year I was on for Gashouse Q on a rare Saturday off from work and had a great Weinke lined up ..and then all $&@ broke loose and F3 was on hold ….. so I had this gem stored away On the top shelf hoping not to be forgotten.
Yesterday had me texting Linus and I realized he had asked for a Q today …… well no better time than the present as they say!
Pledge
Announce that today I feel like a Bond villain or perhaps a villain from a B rate spy movie …. More on that …..
Speaking of movies ….. “ in the words of everyone’s favorite cowboy …..Reach for the Skyyyyyyy!” We raise arms over head and would lean back , right and left and then ….” There’s a snake in my boot!” Reaching down to our toes.

Plank position for 16 IC merkins
I’m feeling generous so we stay in plank for 12 plank jacks IC
Imperial Walkers IC 10x
SSH IC x 10

Are there any who will be doing Pain Lab , I ask.
Some slight mumble to which I say , “ Not today!! You’re still with me!” More grumbles to which I say , “ No joke, follow me!” Unbeknownst to all I approached Double Stuf early to lay ground work on this asking if he was ok with me high jacking another 5 minutes off him.
We went to amphitheater for something Rudolph showed a while back
Bear crawl up small ramp and bear crawl top level crab walk next side lunge one direction and then next each level and finish with bear crawl …. Then plank for the six.
Thankfully I only lost balance once on way up for all to film and enjoy! Im sure that blooper reel will be forthcoming.
I NOW ask again are there any takers for boot camp ….. suddenly most are willing to stay for Pain Lab so I say , “ that’s all right, I didn’t want y’all anyway!”
In truth im glad they showed and hope they enjoyed my little ‘stunt’.
Stroganoff had moseyed over to the track so we would detour to check on his status for which he said he was good.
So we are now the Three Amigos! Steve Martin, Martin Short and Chevy Chase!
Or, Clavin, Linus and JJ. Interestingly today’s theme is ……. 3
We would go to the steps behind First Presbyterian and tap each step once
Over to benches for abyss merkins 10 count 3 times through …. This is where mutinies began and talk of deep wells …. I started getting nervous ….
Back to steps and double tap each step….
Now over to the main event … BAH BAH BAHHHHH!!!!
The hill in front of the old hospital …? I asked Linus last year if anyone had ever used this he said either Freight or Sargento maybe ….
My sister in law is getting married today and her oldest , my nephew as chance would have it had a favorite story growing up …. The Three Billy Goats Gruff

bear crawl up to tarmac … had planned on crab walk down and chose to magnanimously change to crab walk to tree mosey to crest of hill and crab walk rest of hill …. Suddenly references were made that I was perhaps Gru and JJ does a really good impression! 
next up same theme as we perform 3 burpees and lunge walk 10 paces  all the way up and yes! ALL THE WAY DOWN!

3 merkins and mosey to approximation of ten lunges all the way up and down 

finish with 3 flutters each side ( or six total) nur up hill approximate again up and down 

run back ending up 1 minute late ( sue me) 

announcements for new Pain Lab Bulldog style workout beginning 5/15 at the Yank

Ameoba ruck

Fuse event tonight 

prayers for law enforcement ( esp Watauga county) 

GSM and Dr Lesslie families 

much thanks to all who participated today … I enjoyed this and am glad to have stepped up … thank you Linus and Double Stuf

Former 1st F Q Broke created the PT Test during his time leading the Fitness portion of our organization. It’s a great idea to measure your performance over time, consistent with the common You vs. You theme, though there was chatter about breaking Pizza Man’s 29:14 mark from the first iteration last July. Not much fanfare for this one. A light crowd with other AO’s open and plenty of things going on. Here’s what went on:

Warm-up:

Toy solider IC x 15, Imperial Walker IC x 15, Side to Side Lunge IC x 15, Moroccan Night Clubs IC x 15. And since the patent holder of the newly created fabulous warm-up exercise was among us, I had permission to request Right over Left followed by Left over right toe touches. Apparently my version of counting was incorrect. Oh well – sue me.

Time to mosey to the track. Only a few guys stayed behind for Pain Lab that Sargento was scheduled to lead but as a true HIM, he said damn whomever can’t run – I’m making the Pain Lab perform the PT test. So another HIM, Rudolph stepped in to lead the Pain Lab for Top Hat and El Torro. The SLT is taking this situation under advisement and will render a decision if Sargento gets credit for his 80th Q of the month.

Arrived at the track – the routine bared repeating once again and several times through. Amazing how the mind fails to focus but it does wander a bit when chaos looms.

• Run a lap
• Perform in sequential order: 100 merkins, squats, LBCs, and SSH’s
• Run a lap
• Perform the same set at 75 reps each
• Run a lap
• Perform the same set at 50 reps each
• Run a lap
• Perform the same set at 25 reps each
• Run 4 laps
• Total is 250 reps of each exercise for 1000 reps and total of 2 miles

This is a challenge for all skill levels as there is no break. All agree merkins are the most challenging, especially the first 2 sets. Despite having April as a “challenge month” replicating the 3 primary exercises, if you’re like me, you’re breaking up into sets. In my opinion, it takes an elite athlete to power through 100 push-ups consecutively. So, once past the merkins come the squats and this is what gets me all the time, PT Test or the Murph. Note to self – do more squats on a consistent basis to prepare otherwise my Adductors feel like root canals for a few days.

Here is the good news, Les Nessman and Hermie improved from 3 laps remaining the first time to finishing with several minutes before time was called. Then Linus has shown steady improvement all three occasions: 1 lap remaining in July to 85 seconds ahead of time in November and this time finishing with 9 minutes to spare. Big shout out to those guys. Now for the rest of the group that had previously done the test at least once, all those times were slower by a minute. I’m not sure if there is an excuse but as Coach John Fox once said “it is what it is” or maybe he also said “we picked a bad day to have a bad day?” Maybe both of those apply. Or maybe he wasn’t a good coach and had a lot of lousy excuses. In either event, we’ll get ’em next time. And there will be another PT Test for you slackers that didn’t post. Start doing some squats and merkins.

Announcements: Thursday – 2nd F Lunch at Wild Wings in Gastonia. See Allen Tate for details…check that – ask someone on Slack for details. Prayer requests: Turtleman, Big Pappy, Sister Act 2.0, and others.

I tried to video the event to gain some evidence in case the form is called into question. Rookie mistake and clicked the camera off instead of on when I moved it so limited footage. Qfail. Everyone pushed hard despite slower times but we all finished which was a great accomplishment.

SS