Author: Faceplant

  • Two Keydets, One Hill

    Two Keydets, One Hill

    In typical YHC fashion, just a few days late with the BB. Batteau was looking pretty quite when YHC arrived on Monday morning, but thankfully another Keydet showed up to join in the fun. In typical Batteau fashion there was a big steaming hot potato waiting for us when we got there. Flatline picked up the potato to start us off with some warm-up exercises that consisted of… Helicopters, Donny Q’s, reverse scopions, and several other exercises that are escaping YHC’s memory now.

    The potato was passed on to YHC, and having just read through the Exicon before exiting the car, the ideas were flowing. Mosey on down to the bottom of the hill, and since there were two of us, a little Burp-Back-Mountain was in store. Burp-Back-Mountain went like this. One of us is at the bottom of the hill and starts doing 100 Burpees, the second person does Bernie Sanders up to the first light pole then runs back down to pick up on the Burpees, while the other is Bernie Sanders-ing up the hill to the light pole, and so on and so forth until we get to 100 Burpees. THEN mosey on up to the next light pole up the hill, rinse and repeat, this time 100 WW2’s if YHC recalls and Bernie Sanders up the hill to the next light pole. Next came 100 Merkins, but no Bernie Sanders, that was replaced with Bear Crawl. Then last but not least 300 air squats/lunges with Bernie Sanders run up the hill. This was more than enough for the two Keydets to get done, so we moseyed on back to the flag after all was said and done.

    Flatline took us out with some very thoughtful and calming words. It was a heck of a morning and YHC is probadly forgetting some things. Very thankful to have Flatline join YHC that morning. It was a great start to the week!

  • Batteau By Yourself

    Batteau By Yourself

    One lone PAX at Batteau this morning ready to do battle against the fart sack. Thankfully YHC did a quick read through the Exicon and Lexicon and was fresh full of ideas.

    YHC started out with some light warm-up stretches, then quickly proceeded to do the first exercise – Burp Back Mountain. This usually requires two but since there was one, it was modified and YHC did everything. Started out at the bottom of the big hill, did 10x burpees then Bernie Sanders up to the first light pole, then run back down, and repeat the run 5x. Do 10 more burpees, then Bernie Sanders hill run 5x, and repeat until 10 rounds are complete – 100 total burpees.

    YHC overestimated and it took the entire time to complete the entire thing. Moseyed back up to the top after completion and there was a quick prayer and no announcements 😉

    Can’t wait to break out Burp Back Mountain next time to share this great routine.

  • Happy Friday on a Thursday

    On the eve of our Nation’s independence day weekend five morning warriors arrived at Mary to find that no one had the Q. Bodos stepped up and took the potato and we all moseyed on over to the blacktop for some much needed stretching.

    It went down like this… some Swirley bend over and touch your toes stretching to begin, Donny Q’s, Helicopters… YHC’s memory is failing on the rest of the warm-up exercises as the Independence Day weekend beverages are already in play.

    YHC feeling insipired volunteered to take the potato… and apparently the BB too. Moseyed over to the far corner of the blacktop for Hindenburg BLIMPS. It went down like this. Six rounds, start with ten reps of an exercise in each corner of the blacktop, running between each corner. Second round, change the exercise and increase the reps by 10, so 20 exercises in each corner running between corners, and on up to 60. First exercise was burpees, second round was air squats, third round was side straddle hops, fourth round was YHC forgot, fifth round was team effort merkins, each person took ten merkins for a total of 50 at each corner, sixth round was mountain climbers.

    Passed the potato on to Handshake for a modified five person Dora. Two people doing dips, two people doing wall sits, and the last lone ranger timer ran to pull up bars and did 5x pull ups. Did that for 3 rounds.

    Potato got passed then to Hitchhiker, for what was a very tough exercise… Moseyed over to the tennis courts, starting on the baseline bear crawls to the net, 10x walk out merkins, then polar bears to the opposite baseline, 20x LBCs, then polar bear back, 10x walk out merkins at the net, and bear crawls to the baseline.

    But we still had 2 minutes left, so Hitchhiker was kind enough to pass the hot potato on to Pucker for the final round. Ran up and down the baselines and karaekoed along the net, for all five tennis courts. Final mosey back to the flag.

    Numbers and names to round us out and, Pucker took us out with some kind words. YHC took the BB since the Hindenburg Blimps took up 90% of the time. Great work this morning gents.

  • Vacation is over

    Two Keydets showed at Batteau this morning, one coming off a nice family beach vacation, the other getting ready to go into a similar battle in the coming days. in typical Batteau fashion the hot potato had the Q this morning.

    YHC moseyed everyone over to tennis courts for some good stretching. It went like this – various reps of Donny Q’s, helicopters, imperial soldiers, right leg over left leg, the reverse, Fuddskies, Wilsons, and some side straddle hops to get the blood pumpin.

    Mosey over to the parapet area where we proceeded with three rounds of 10 incline merkins, 15 dips, run to the top of the hill and back. To balance out the muscle groups, next three rounds included 20 WW2s and 30 flutter kicks.

    Flatline took the potato and ran us down to the lake. First lap around the lake 3x merkins at each light pole, second lap 5x jump squats at each light pole.

    Mosey back up the hill to the tennis courts with time to spare for a little Mary. We did some WW2s, hand release merkins, Freddie Mercury’s, plank at various heights, and some other fun exercises that have escaped my memory.

    Back to the flag for names and numbers. YHC appreciated having some quality Keydet time with a fellow alum that he has great respect for. Flatline took us out with some kind words.

    Also props to Flatline for posting while on family vacation!

  • A Trip Down Exicon Lane

    Feeling like groundhog day, the same three warriors descend upon Forest Hill Park as last Monday. When Hardywood asked what YHC did this past weekend, YHC really had to think hard because every weekend just seems to be the same thing over and over. Where’s the excitement in that. In an effort to mix it up YHC decided to paruse the good ole’ F3 Lexicon and Exicon for some fresh ideas.

    What started out as a hot potato quickly became a full on Q and YHC didn’t even know it. In typical Swirley fashion, we moseyed on down to the coupon pick up zone but no coupons for us this morning. Swirley lead us in proper stretching

    YHC recalls the following, some bending over and touching toes, helicopters, right foot over left foot and touch the toes and vis-a-versa, merkins, and WW2s. As Swirley went on, YHC decided to try and impress the PAX and volunteer for the next hot potato. YHC took the potato and the PAX moseyed on over to the great valley of Forest Hill Park.

    Arriving at the valley YHC introduced the PAX to the run routine called Hindenberg BLIMPS which is modified version of BLIMPS. YHC further modified the routine from 6 rounds to 10, because we just wanted to be extra on a Monday morning. It goes down like this – picked four points, two on either side of the valley to make an approximate square. Round one starts out with 10 reps of an exercise at each of the four points of the square, with of course running in between to get to each corner. Started with 10 reps for round 1, then 20 reps for round 2, 30 reps for round 3, and you quickly get the picture here, on up to 10 rounds. The exercises for each round was as follows:

    1. Burpees
    2. WW2s
    3. Plank Jacks
    4. Imperial Walkers
    5. Side Straddle Hops
    6. Freddie Mercury’s
    7. Group Merkins – PAX split up all 70 (24 each)
    8. Single Count Mountain Climbers
    9. High Knees
    10. Victory Lap – No reps, just run as fast as you can touching each corner

    Some of the ones in the middle were a bit fuzzy to YHC due to the extremeness of this workout.

    YHC tried to hand off the Q to Hardywood with just seconds to spare to try and get out of writing the BB, but Hardywood was too smart for those shenanigans. YHC moseyed the PAX back to the start and lead everyone in some final exercises that consisted of Wilson’s, Fudd’s, and finished out with the Have-a-Nice-Day in the cool grass while the rain fell on our faces.

    Names

    Numbers

    Announcements: July 4th Convergence – Don’t forget it! Stay tuned for an announcement on BRR replacement… Sounds like something is in the works in replacement of BRR.

    Hardywood took us out with some thoughtful and kind words.

    Always a pleasure gentlemen.

  • Extreme Social Distancing

    Policeing my own today… If a Faceplant posts in the woods of Batteau all by himself does he post a backblast? The answer to that question is a resounding yes as I embrace Big Data now.

    Since Faceplant was the sole poster this morning, the potato was cold and was carried the entire time by one.

    It went down like this, stretches in the requisite tennis court area. Then run down to the gym for a pull-up ladder starting at 5 down to 1 then back up to 5.

    Moseyed on down to the pit area, 10 incline merkins, 10 dips, run up the hill do 20 air squats then repeat 5 times. After that headed down the hill to the lake for a Faceplant favorite lap around the lake – Stopping at each light pole for alternating 5 burpees and 10 WW2s. Made my way around the lake, and headed up the hill of ill repute, alternating between lunges and running between each light pole. At each light pole stopping to do 20 Merkins. Ended at the top of the hill right at 6:15.

    Names and numbers were quick, Faceplant took us out.

  • Hogatron

    YHC wants to thank all that came out this morning to help remember a good friend and get some exercise in too. The morning went down like this.

    Brief introductions, social distancing warnings, and all the obligatory commentary. We started out with a warm-up of three Don Quixotes, and then the PAX was ready. We moseyed on up Grove towards Lexington/Albemarle, went through the neighbhood, came out on the other end, and headed to Hillcrest Ave. to go wake up TYA. Once we arrived at Hillcrest Ave, YHC had conveniently left a chalk starting line drawn on the pavement. For anyone counting it is exactly one mile away.

    YHC explained that April 2nd is the birthday of a good old friend of two of the PAX-ers who had passed away in 2012. Today would have been Shawn Hogan’s 36 birthday, and that was the magic number of the day. Shawn was an avid runner and exercise enthusist, and YHC would have liked to think he would have enjoyed a good workout on a hill. So hill we did, the PAX started out running down Hillcrest Ave, until we arrived at an exercise drawn in the pavement with chalk. Memorize that exercise then run back up to the top of the hill and do 36 of said exercise. With each exercise we ran further down the hill and had to run further back up. The exercises went like this:

    1. Merkins
    2. LBCs
    3. Burpees
    4. WW2s
    5. Side Straddle Hops
    6. Burpees
    7. No one will ever know…. We didn’t get past this one.
    8. More mystery

    At an appropriate time for all we moseyed on back to the flag, and with time to spare because YHC assumed it was going to be a much slower run back, we finished our 36 Burpees, then stretched it out with Wilson and Fuddskie, Right Knee Right Elbow, Left Knee Left Elbow, and a new one. YHC was introduced to while posting to some Raleigh area F3 locations. It’s called the ‘Have-A-Nice-Day’. Let YHC explain: you lie down on your back, that’s it.

    We wrapped up with names, and numbers, and no announcements. YHC took us out.

    Thank you again to everyone that joined in to help remember a dear friend to me (and least we forget Handshake’s old college roommate!). I was happy to share some stories about a good dude, who has left an indelible mark on my life. Until next April 2nd!

    For those of you that want to learn more about the inspiration for today’s workout:

    Army Green Beret Captain Shawn G. Hogan

    https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApps?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=218784

    https://www.runforthefallennh.com/army-capt-shawn-g-hogan.html

  • Tour de Batteau (for a new visitor)

    Keeping with YHC tradition this post is of course late, and a Swirly never forgets so I had to make sure that this post did not lag into 2021. Monday morning we were well below our government mandated maximum number of people and we all practiced extreme safe social distancing for the grand total of 3.

    When a first time Batteau visitor shows up on Monday, we always like to make them feel welcome with a full tour of all that the Richmond City Park System has to offer. Swirly kicked us off with stretches and warm-ups at the tennis courts. YHC noted all the usual Swirly warm-up routine stretches, plus a few new ones added into the rotation like touch your toes, a new favorite of YHC. We rounded out the stretching with a series of exercises in the front lean and rest position and alternated between ‘HOLD IT’ position at 3 inches, and up to the regular merkin position.

    After warm-up Swirly mosey-ed us over to our second Batteau stop to pick up some of the Richmond regions finest and heaviest granite boulders. Since all of the weight lifting gyms are closed because someone ate a bat, Swirly led us in a series of boulder lifting exercises. Start out with 20 curls, run down steps with boulder and do 20 dips, run back up, do 20 curls, then add 10 overhead presses… repeat down to the bottom 20 dips. Then we kept going adding to our series of exercises ‘bench press’ with boulder, squats with boulder and I might be missing one.

    Swirly handed off the potato to YHC, and we headed down the hill in the dark to continue the Tour de Batteau. We then started one lap around the lake stopping at each light post (lit or un-lit) and did 5 Merkins, and we waited in the front lean and rest until all were done then we all got up and ran to the next light post. Once we got back to the finish we had to make our way out from the bottom.

    On up the hill of ill-repute, one person started to lunge up the hill while the remaining two stayed at the bottom. The ‘timer’ did 30 side straddle hops while the other did flutter kicks. Once timer was done, timer sprinted up the hill to swap out with the lung-er. Former lung-er ran back down the hill and started doing flutter kicks, and flutter kick-er became the ‘timer’ and did 30 side straddle hops. Repeat until someone got all the way to the top of the hill.

    Once we all got to the top of the hill we still had extra time so 20 OYO WWIIs. Moseyed on up to the start where we did numbers and names and announcements.

    Big thank you to Jaque Penné for joining us this Monday morning, Batteau regulars hope to see him back to experience everything else that Batteau has to offer! Jaque Penné took us out with some inspiring words.

  • Batteau or Bust

    Numbers were light this morning but the motivation and mumble chatter was high this morning. In typical Batteau fashion the potato showed up to Q and we were off and running.

    Swirly started everyone out at the tennis courts with some windmills, don quixotes, lighting stretching, planks, reach for the skys, reach for the toes, and merkins.

    The kids moseyed over to the playground and proceeded to wipe it down with cholrox wipes. At the playground we did 3 rounds of 5x pullups, 10x decline merkins, and 15x dips. Rinse and repeat. Then we headed over to the picnic tables for snack time. Snack time had us doing 3 rounds of dips, step-ups, and incline merkins.

    YHC was passed the potato and we moseyed on down the trail taking us on the full tour of Batteau. On the uphills we stopped intermittently to do 5x burpees, then on the up hills we continued to stop intermittently to do 5x burpees. Moseyed all the way doing the burpees here and there until we got to the steps of doom. Proceeded to bear crawl up steps and do lunges on the sections without steps. All the way to the landing, 5 more burpees, then finished out the remainder of the steps doing bear crawl.

    YHC didn’t want to hog all the fun so handed off the potato to Flatline. We moseyed on down to the bottom of the hill (always a YHC favorite!). Triple check ensued with LBCs, lunges, and running to the top of the hill. The LBC location would move with the transition point of the lunges. When everyone had done one round we finished out with bear crawls to the top. Flatline took us down to the bowl area and we did 50 step-ups to round out the morning.

    Headed back to the flag for COT where we adhered to the new COT procedures. We did numbers, names, announcements, and Flatline took us out with some kind and inspiring words.

    Have a wonderful Monday everyone and stay safe and healthy out there!

  • Three Men and a Dog

    Three harriers plus one four legged mutt naked Parker met at the usual spot for Sunday Funday. The crew headed out on the north bank towards Belle Isle, did a lap around the island then headed back on the south bank over the nickel bridge and back to the parking lot. All in all we did about 7.4 miles. It was a good run. Numbers and names. EF took us out.