Panting, the Brit tells the barkeep, “Give us ten shots of your best whiskey—quick!” So the barkeep sets them up and the three men knock them all back in seconds.
“Why you drinking so fast?” asks the barkeep.
“You’d drink fast too if you had what we have,” says the Urkrainian
“Why, what do you have?” asks the barkeep.
“Only twelve cents.”
Circle Of Pain:
In reflection of it being both my VQ and BQ as well as the start of the magnificent 6-Nations Rugby Championship we started this weeks COP with an introduction to the principles of the game of rugby and linked it to one of our key guiding lights of “Leave no man behind; but leave no man where you find him”. There was a big focus on working together as a team and encouraging the hares to run back for the tortoises. Pre workout warmers and post workout refreshments had a 6-Nations (English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, French and Italian) offering.
Disclaimers:
I am not a professional.
You are here of your own accord.
Modify as necessary.
Push yourself don’t hurt yourself.
Everything I tell you to do is a suggestion.
Warm-A-Rama:
2 laps jogging and passing a rugby ball down two lines; when at the back, run to the front
Warm-Up Exercises:
Arm Circles
Side straddle Hops
LBCs
American Hammers
Forward Lunges
Mountain Climbers
The Thang:
The Beast – Sprint but run back to bring the last men home:
Burpees
WIIs
Merkins
LBCs
Squats
Side Straddle Hops
Poles – Core:
Flutter kicks
Freddie Mercury’s
Heels to Heaven
Hello Dollies/Lo-Lites
Planks
LBCs
Teams of Three:
Jog
Step Ups
Dips
Circle Of Trust:
Count-o-rama
Name-o-rama
Announcements
Shout-out/words of wisdom
Closing prayer
Playlist:
Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs
I Predict A Riot – Kaiser Chiefs
Sheriff Fatman – Carter USM
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Wonderwall – Oasis
Alive – Pearl Jam
Def. Con. One. – Pop Will Eat Itself
Loaded – Primal Scream
Common People – Pulp
Panic – The Smiths
I Am The Resurrection – The Stone Roses
Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve
Don’t Let Me Down – The Wonderstuff
Thursday night, 9th of February 2130 hours no Q on the sheet. Gypsy had recently texted that he would “in dispose” and we had no Q. YHC didn’t want to figure out a route and thought to himself “has there ever been a Hawt Potato Run?” There likely hasn’t, but who says there couldn’t?
Friday morning, 10th of February 0530 YHC calls “Hawt Potato Run” and we are off. North on Pump and right on Ridgefield. Next up Mr. Rogers excitedly calls for a left on Cox. YHC hadn’t officially released the Q but had been planning on a left anyways, so YHC let Mr. Rogers feel in control (he has a fluffy dog, he needed a win). Well it was the First Inaugural Currahee Bro-Code Hawt Potato. There were more turns and everyone made it back in time.
Blue Moon and Pigskin were keeping the AO safe as they were walking the AO and doing various exercises.
NMS – it was a fun time, and a perfect number of people to make such nonsense work
Thanks for the embracing the randomness.
It almost came to fruition….70 and sunny(well not quite sunny). Give it a few more months and it will be at that time. When I arrived, Oyster was getting his mile run in. In my mind, I had the ideas where I wanted stuff and how it was going to come about. I started seeing everyone arrived when it hit 10(I was like I may need to adjust). 13 warriors came out at first they were lead to believe that Oyster had the Q today(NOPE). It was my turn today(scary part was when I woke up this morning, I had an idea for something and went into my garage to see if I had what was needed). When 530am hit, a little mosey down to the stop sign and back(when I came back up, it looked like we were in line about ready to take the green flag at a race). Into the circle for a quick warm up with: SSH, Don Quixotes, Helicopters, Cherry Pickers, Copperhead Squats, Merkins and LBCs.
Then the fun part began, at first i had I believe 9-10 stations with the person running to the fire hydrant and back with the 20-25 pound sandbag as the timer: By about 5-10 minutes, I had everything covered with exercises so here’s what was on the menu: The run with the sandbag, squats with a band on the shoulders, curls with a kettlebell, WW2s with a 20 pound slam ball(alternating WW2 with, set it by the feet, do one without then grab it for another, Bulgarian Split Squats/Toe taps, Clean and presses(choice of the kettlebell or a 50 pound sandbag), standing American hammers with the band, jump rope, scoop the poop(my 35 pound Thor hammer grabbing it by the handle and flinging up to each shoulder, battle ropes(something I have been wanting to bring there for a while). My thing was to watch, if I saw something a miss help or show real quick(I would do bits of things here and there).
Next…..something no one knew it was coming. I have these real heavy bands so the idea was to partner up, band(s) around the waist and do certain things at a 1 minute interval. First part….run(a light jog for 40 seconds, then all out the last 20). Next….Bernie(yes running backwards) same pace 40 seconds light, the last 20 all out. Broad jumps next(this time it was 1 minute as many, as far as you can go with the band around you). Finally, lunges and with that to get your balance, then your legs hitting a few extra little muscles it normally does not hit. We did have an odd number so I ended up doing a few rounds of burpees(not bad doing 6-7 in 20 seconds, broad jumps just bodyweight only and lunges). I will bring them back….there’s a nice hill nearby more to do
Last little bit….a ring of fire. Different varieties examples Alligator, Diamond, Chuck Norris, Pylometric…with a clap, Dive Bombers, Hand release, regular and wide grip
No announcements…..YHC lead out in prayer. Multiple places to workout Saturday(I will be at Rock and Roll), Nancy Lopez had his surgery today(get well and recover), all those on IR or nursing those little nagging injuries(heal up will see you out there soon). One final thing, Heist brought a FNG out today(Dime Bag). Welcome to F3….hope you continue to come out more and more
I wasn’t sure what to expect for my VQ. I spent all week thinking about the direction I wanted to go with kettlebells, until I finally sat down last night to create the workout. For better or worse it was influenced by my experience with Crossfit. I spent well over an hour combing through the Lexicon and Exicon, trying to find the proper names for all the exercises I wanted to perform (a mental workout I was not expecting). By the time I was finished pulling the Q together, I was seriously questioning my sanity (I think at least one other pax questioned it while we were suffering through the EMOM). Turns out jumping rope isn’t as popular as I thought it was going to be. I think it ensured the runners would never join in on any of my future Q’s. All in all the guys put in good work and I was happy to hear the midwife noises. FEBA
W/U – Down drive at B.W. (5-7 minutes)
Stretch (1-2 minutes)
Super set x 3
EMOM x3
Super Set x3
Abs x3
Numbers, Names, Announcements, Prayer
Shared by Doublemint – The 5k Walk and Roll for The Virginia Home is coming up in April. Consider taking a Saturday to spend time with the residents walking around Swan Lake. https://thevirginiahome.org/events/walk-n-roll/
More people didn’t return for COP than departed this morning but nonetheless we still had fun staring at each other. Route was posted late(ish) yesterday afternoon. Some (one) saw it in advance and the other(s) still needed instruction. Off we went on a quest for doughnut smells and scratch & sniff peaches.
The Route
https://onthegomap.com/s/m1gmjafa
Numbers, names, silence, YHC took us out.
Announcements
RAMM proper has had lower numbers for a few weeks. Ask a friend or FNG to come out to join us. If you need directions to the AO, don’t ask TYA.
Splinter out
10 SOJ dudes put in some work with last minute substitute Q Timberwolf.
I knew the guys were looking forward to the Boberry playlist this morning, so did what I could and grabbed my mini Bluetooth speaker.
Arrive around 5:27 to a crowd hungry for action. Someone makes a joke about whether I would play Taylor Swift. Challenge accepted….Shake it Off by Taylor Swift to get things going.
Mosey to bus loop for some random circles.
Work way towards Love hill. Disclaimers, etc.
Warmorama: SSH,Ukrainian Soldiers, Dead Man Hang, Muricans, Sprinter Lunge Stretch, Plank position calf stretch, 45 seconds for Pax to stretch OYO. More mumble chatter if Katie Perry was next….ok guys you asked for it. Fireworks
Rocky Soundtrack is queued up…
The thang:
Part 1: Love Hill 11s with WW2s and “Rocky squats”. Jab jab squat = 1. Began with 10 Rocky Squats and 1 WW2.
20 count. Recover.
Part 2: Triple check. Runner touches bus (about 100 yards away). Others do flutter kicks and lunges. Playlist was:
Mosey towards the light plays, Only the Young – Journey
Part 3: Pole alley with burpee pyramid. Cant stop – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Start with 1 burpee increase by 1 each pole for 11 total sets that looked like this: 1/2/3/4/5/6/5/4/3/2/1
30 count. To the courts.
Part 4: Put on Welcome to the Jungle – Guns And Roses to start our relay race on the courts.
2 teams. 1 through 5. Down and back. Next man sprints. Pax does SSH waiting.
Team Honeymoon, DK, McGruff, Dry Rub, and Bullseye FTW. Barely…
Part 5: I put on some random alt rock playlist for next part (Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana)
Quick “madam of the night” 4 corners routine on the full set of tennis courts. Run up to next corner and back. Exercises were build ups of 10x SSH, Muricans, WW2s and squats. Working up and down. Like this:
A few minutes left. Back to the flag. I put on Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash. Of course you know what we did for 2 minutes at the flag…
Done.
Outro: Numbers and Names.
Announcements:
Prayers – Oyster took us out.
Other thoughts: Tough to Q and pick songs.
12 Dudes showed up to a House Party Q not knowing what to expect. All they knew is that YHC was carrying around a blue bag…Here’s what happened.
Mosey to the tennis court
10 SSH
10 Don Quixote’s
10 Imperial squat walkers
10 Merkins
10 WW’s
Mosey to the football field
YHC pulled a speaker from the bag and turned on some tunes. Figured the amazon classic rock workout playlist would get the PAX going. PAX partnered up while one exercised for a count, then alternated exercises. Exercises where done until the song was completed (sometimes) then PAX ran 200 yards, to the opposite end zone and back. Once back, the PAX completed the next round of exercises. Exercises consisted of:
10 Merkins while the other does flutter kicks
15 American hammers while the other does SSH
4 burpees while the other does monkey humpers
20 yard bear crawl while the other does squats
15 WW’s while the other does shoulder taps
10 Carolina dry docks while the other does heels to heaven
With a little time on the clock YHC figured we’d throw in a 4 corners around the football field
5 burpees
15 Merkins
30 squats
45 LBC’s
Its been a while since YHC has Q’d a workout and it was the first AO outside of Rock N Roll. Its always great to see the forge faithful. Thanks for letting me lead today fellas!
House Party
The Chickasaw story “Ghost of White Deer” is one of the most well known Native American legends. I am going to tell it terribly and wrongly.
A brave young Circus Maximus warrior, Atilla, fell in love with Bright Moon, the daughter of a chief (possibly a F3 runner with recent knee troubles). The chief did not like the young man, so he created a price for the bride that he was sure Atilla could not pay.
“Bring me the hide of White Deer,” said the chief. The Circus Maximus believed that all white animals were magical. “The price for my daughter is one White Deer,” the chief laughed. He knew that an albino deer was very rare and would be very hard to find. White Deerskin was the best material to use in a wedding dress, and the best White Deer skin came from the albino deer.
Atilla went to text and then went to his beloved, Bright Moon. “In one moon’s time, I will return with your bride price and we will be married. This I promise you.” Taking his best bow and his sharpest arrows, Atilla began to hunt.
Three weeks went by. Atilla was hungry, lonely, still gassy and scratched by briars. Then, one night during a full moon, Atilla saw White Deer, who seemed to drift through the moonlight in a weird side straddle hop. White Deer walked around the school, leading Atilla, a down range Garden Nomad and the other six Circus Maximus band of brothers on an upper body focused workout. At each red door, they did 10-20 reps of either curls, halos, lawn mower pulls, high pulls, sit and press along with some lunges, step ups and death crawls.
At the end, when the deer was very close to where Atilla grunted, he shot his sharpest arrow. The arrow sank deep into the deer’s heart. But instead of sinking to its knees to die, White Deer began to run (which has not been seen for years). Instead of running away, he charged straight toward Atilla, with his red eyes glowing and his horns sharp and menacing…
Time passed and Atilla did not return as he had promised Bright Moon. But Bright Moon never took any other young man as a husband, for she had a secret. When the moon was shining as brightly as her name, Bright Moon would often see White Deer in the smoke of the campfire, doing his weird side straddle hop, with an arrow in his heart. She lived believing White Deer would finally fall, and Atilla would return.
To this day White Deer is sacred to the Circus Maximus people.
5 davillans enioyed the short sleeve weather to get in miles.
Route was the Craney Island loop via Giles Farm Rd then back over the flyover for what became dealer choice til finish 4 to 5 miles
Was great morning and for YHC it was great to finish a run without walking. The PAX didn’t appreciate the dark road that is Giles Farm Rd so guess that will not be used again
Spit On That!