Author: Toby

  • Welcome to Futon’s Cafe!

    On a clear and relatively temperate morning, 15 HIMs made the decision to suffer together rather than be comfortable alone. One PAX member had some family obligations that required them to stay close to home, so never wanting to leave a man behind, YHC took the PAX on a longer than usual mosey to a temporary pop-up AO on said PAX member’s street – Welcome to Futon’s Cafe, boys! Where the workouts are hard and the coffee is always cold!

    Warm-a-rama: To celebrate 7/11 Day we did seven exercises, 11 reps each – SSHs, Don Quixotes, Ukranian Soldiers, Hillbilly Walkers, Cherry Pickers, LBCs, and Alabama Prom Dates.

    Thang 1: To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the self-titled breakout album by the rock/reggae band 311, we did a modified version of 11s YHC dubbed 311s. Instead of 10 squats > run > 1 merkin, etc. we did three sets of 10 squats at three consecutive mailboxes before running to do a singe set of merkins. YHC found this more difficult than anticipated, but embraced the suck and was grateful for the PAX pushing each other.

    Thang 2: Next up was a triple check with some coupons. Curls with 40# sandbags, bent over rows with resistance bands, and the real kicker, farmers carry with two cinder blocks. The Duke, full of youth chutzpah, ran his last farmers carry, which inspired the rest of the PAX to (try to) do the same.

    Thang 3: Last was a brick-by-brick shuttle run to kill the remaining time. The PAX split into two groups, separated by approx. 30 feet. Group 2 each had two coupons in front of them. Members of Group 1 did the shuttle run by picking up a coupon at Group 2’s line, returning it to his line, then retrieving the second coupon, returning it to his starting spot. Meanwhile, Group 2 is doing shoulder taps awaiting their turn, and then rotate between the two positions. 

    We then did numbers and names, including welcoming an out-of-town F3 brother who will be relocating to the area and their FNG nephew who shall henceforth be known as Elevator. Announcements included the Home Grown Half, The Bridge next Saturday, and rucking CSAUP in September. Prayer requests for the continued recovery of Fandango’s son and for Wildcat’s son who recently suffered a facial fracture.

    To show his appreciation for the PAX coming to him, Futon served up iced coffee. YHC appreciates the PAX’s flexibility in shifting location and for the opportunity to take the Q.

  • Ripping off the Band-Aid

    On this clear and cool morning, 18 men came out to support YHC on his VQ. Ten weeks ago, I came out to the Alamo after seeing a Facebook post and haven’t looked back. I’m grateful for the motivation and support offered by the PAX, so it seemed only right to try and give a little something back.

    After a brief mosey, we warmed up with some SSHs, Arm Circles, Cherry Pickers, Side Shuffles, Karaokes, and Ukrainian Soldiers. Then it was down to business . . .

    Round 1:

    15 Walkout Merkins > Run > 30 Squats > Run > 45 LBCs > Run back to start

    Round 2:

    15 Mike Tysons > Run > 30 Lateral Lunges > Run > 45 American Hammers > Run back to start

    Round 3:

    15 Diamond Merkins > Run > 30 Reverse Lunges > Run > 45 Under Knee Touches > Run back to start

    Round 4:

    15 Merkins > Run > 30Lunges > Run > 45 Freddie Mercurys > Run back to start

    Next, we headed to the tennis court to partner up for some Rock-Paper-Scissors. After bear crawling to your partner, the PAX played Rock-Paper-Scissors with the loser completing 5 Burpees while their partner did SSHs. Once complete, it was Crawl Bear back to opposite sides of the court. This was repeated, with varying consequences for winning and losing, for four rounds. Rudy and Heist needed a tiebreaker round, so the PAX chose a player to back with the losers completing 10 Burpees.

    I’m a big fan of the Paul Petzoldt quote, “Plans are crucial, and plans are crap.” And this, dear reader, is when YHC realized his plan was crap. With ten minutes remaining, I did not have enough planned (classic rookie mistake). After some Broga, there was still time on the clock and the PAX would not be shorted. Shout out to Nancy for calling for a Ring of Fire and to the PAX for getting us to the finish with some ab work.

    Then it was numbers, names, and Announcements (Boys of Summer and Summer Tour continue). Prayer requests for Fandango’s father who was recently diagnosed with a hole in his heart and Bobsled’s family as he looks for a new opportunity to relocate to Florida.

    I want to thank Warby for hyping up my VQ, Heist and Crabgrass for reaching out and offering help beforehand, and to everyone who came out.