5 HIMs showed up to The Woodshed ready to work, but quickly reverted to elementary school mode once the cinder blocks hit the playground. Turns out grown men with coupons on a playground aren’t much different than kids with building blocks. We kept everything legal to not have ourselves added to the list of “Must stay 500 yards from a playground.” According to the troll climbing through the playground tunnel, here is how it went down:
Warm Up: Mosey to the playground to check out options followed by various stretches. Grabbed coupons and headed to the playground via rifle carry and farmers carry.
COP 1: Quintuplet Check x 2 rounds:
- Box Jumps on Bench
- Coupon Curls
- Lunges with Coupon(s)
- Up/Down Merkins on Bench
- Runner to the Lamp Post and Back
The combination kept the heart rate up while testing both strength and conditioning before moving into the featured event.
COP 2: 99 Bottles of Blocks on the Wall
Partnered up and counted down from:
99 Overhead Press → 89 Curls (Block Horizontal) → 79 Dips → 69 Chest Press → 59 Goblet Squats→ 49 Bus Drivers→ 39 Curls (Block Vertical)→ 29 Skull Crushers→ 19 Bent Over Rows → 9 Up/Down Merkin Pull Thrus
Each station featured a different cinder block exercise. While Partner 1 knocked out 1/2ish of the reps, Partner 2 stayed active utilizing various portions of the playground equipment for strengthening, stability, coordination, and balance work. Switched off so each PAX member completed exercises and playground activities. Lots of hanging, stepping, balancing, and creative movement that reminded everyone why playgrounds were invented in the first place.To keep things honest, we mixed in laps around the playground mulch between rounds, adding a cardio element and ensuring nobody got too comfortable. Returned blocks back to the pile via riffle carry and farmers carry and ended with 1 minute of flutter kicks.
Numbers, Names, Announcements (Boys of Summer – Basketball tomorrow at Timberwolf, Boys of Summer Celebration 6/25 at X-Golf – Talk with Crabgrass for details, 4th of July Convergence – Details TBD), Prayers (None spoken).
This morning was a perfect reminder that fitness doesn’t always require fancy equipment. Give a group of men some cinder blocks and a playground, and they’ll find a way to turn recess into a beatdown. Strong work by all 5 HIM who embraced the chaos, stayed moving, and left a little stronger than they arrived.