Author: Saab

  • Still plenty of ice to go around….

    13 maintained the fortitude to crawl out of their respect fartsacks and show up for a 6:00am workout at Dogwood Dell. Included a PAX from Charlotte and Chesney for his fairwell beatdown before he departs Richmond. This is how it went down.

    Mosey to a circle: SSHx30, DQx20, Squatsx20, LBCx30, Merkinsx20
    Carillon Stairs: 10 Merkins (bottom), 20 WWII Situps (Top) – 3 rounds
    Touch a Tree (Variation): PAX does Merkins at each tree. Merkin count corresponds to tree number you are at (1, 2, 3…). 3 Rounds (3 trees, 6 trees, 10 trees)
    Amphitheatre: From bottom to top…Progressive dips corresponding to each level. Standing-jump to next level. From Top to Bottom…progressive Derkins on way down.
    Field: Run suicides to 25, 50, 75, 100 yard line. At each point perform a squat jump. Increase count with each turnaround point.
    Pull Up Bars: Two sets of pullups (5) and “horizontal” pullups (5)
    7 minutes of Mary….

    Moleskin:
    Saab struggled with his cadence – particularly during the Merkins. He is re-thinking those lessons he received from Lockjaw. Progressive Merkins back-down the amphitheatre seemed like a good idea at the time. As HoneyDo said near the end, “it may as well be a million.” Should have just kept it at 1 each step. Consensus was triceps were too burned on the going up trip. Swirly, however, made it look easy and appeared to be the one to complete all steps. Awesome job Swirly!

    Field turned out to be too icy for proper suicides so Q called it after one iteration. Moseyed to the pull up bars before finishing up with 7 MMM. Charlotte PAX said it was one of the better workouts he had attended. He also had his first exposure to the Alabama Prom Date (in name only I presume) and quickly found the humor in it.

    We all bid a fond farewell to Chesney….Save travels

    Saab abides….

  • “It’s a Frickin’ Triangle People…”

    20 strong gathered at Mary Munford – about 1 for each degree it was above zero…

    The Thang:
    Mosey to far corner of school grounds along Grove.
    Warmup:
    Side Straddle Hop x 20
    Don Quixotes x 10
    Imperial Walker Squat x 10
    Merkin x20
    LBC x20

    Mosey to Field. Break into 2-4 groups (depending upon number). Each group advances to a different corner (i.e. station).
    Station one: Complete 10 Burpees. Run to next station*
    Station two: Burpees x 10, Merkins x 20. Run to next station*
    Station three: Burpees x 10, Merkins x 20, WWII Situps x 20. Run to next station*
    Repeat ….until Q says stop or 2 rounds (or rather triangles) completed:
    *Advance from station to station by running diagonal, then running to the right along the perimeter – thus forming a triangle.

    Plank up in center of field. Circle of fire. Complete 10 merkins, then Bear Crawl around circle until back in original position.
    Line up facing far end of field. Break up into groups of about 5 each. Group planks up extending across field about 6 feet apart. Person in back does alternating bear crawl (under) and jump (over) each member in line…indian style until entire field is traversed.
    Mosey back to flag:
    American Hammers x20
    Superman x 1
    COT

    Moleskin:
    Most showed up in long pants, while a few die-hards arrived in shorts. Those who couldn’t decide (DK), showed up in both (British-style we supposed). Saab was not coordinated enough to perform the Imperial Walker Squats, but he gave it his best attempt. He also understands now it is NOT Russian Twist but American Hammer (in the parlance of our times…). Ground was way too cold and resulted in many frozen appendages, and a few receded-ones I imagine.

    Started out with a lofty goal of 7 iterations of the triangle, but realized quickly we needed to scale down to only two in the interest of time, exhaustion, and potential frost bite on the fingers. Toga complimented Saab on his VQ. Saab reminded Toga it wasn’t his first, which either meant he was terrific on his second go-around, or his first time was that forgettable and it ended in a whimper. Bear crawls were equally as painful…frozen ground was described as crawling on rocks or gravel. Some said they even saw imprints from the Christmas Eve splashdown/mudfest.

    Anyway, learned not to ask somebody why they got to bed late the night before (DK). I didn’t consider the handcuffs or the spoon.

    Rock on TYA, Lockjaw… I’ll work to hit the trail run on Sunday, albeit in a conservative fashion.

    The Saabinator abides.

  • Christmas Eve Splashdown

    A total of 18 turned out for the Christmas Eve workout at Mary Munford (and to witness my VQ). Couldn’t ask for more pleasant and inviting weather…

    The Thang:
    20 x Merkins, 20 x WWII Situps, 10 x Mexican Squats, 10 x Turkish Prison (apologies Aisle 5)

    Bermuda Triangle Derivative: Broke into groups of 5 (or more). 3 stations. Each group does 10 of each exercise at each station. Rotated between Merkins, Burpees, and WWII Situps. Maxed out at 10 stations.

    Looking North (For Santa, Star of Bethlehem, or what have you)…One partner does burpees while other partner runs to mid-point of field (backward), does 10 Squats, then returns (forward of course). Alternate until 10 iterations (5 rounds each)

    Merkin Ring of Fire: Circle up (Plank), then Bear Crawl (one rotation), Then progressed Merkins (1-18) around circle, then descending count

    Moleskin:
    I took some heat for my Mexican and Turkish references, either misnamed or not entirely PC. (Learned later that Aisle 5 was somewhat taken aback by the Turkish Prison reference. Have it on authority he’s either of Turkish descent, or from New York…whichever.)

    As we descended upon the playing field, there were concerns expressed by Wilson regarding its condition and the further damage we would do. (The field was really more like an olympic-size swimming pool with a Mud-base.) Bleeder assured us this was the City of Richmond and not a neighboring county, so we could press-on. As for everything that happened after that, it was a blur to me. There were a few “airing of the grievances” but only in the most constructive light.

    As we circled-up, offshore introduced his (FNG) brother in law (Jamie Cox) from Alabama. Despite a respectable introduction and distinguished background given, Bleeder jumped right to (Alabama) “Prom Date”…everyone pounced and thus Prom Date was born (welcome!).

    In the end, DK said he had never been wetter, Saab had to continually pull his pants up since they were past the saturation point, and – by my understanding – Aisle 5 and Wilson drove home without any clothes on.

    Thanks to all for showing up today and for helping me along. As mentioned, unlike my other first-time, this one lasted much longer and I got a lot more out of it.

    Reminder, no workout/run on Friday.

    Abidingly yours, Saab