Tag: Circus Maximus

YHC got used to pulling into the parking lot at Circus Maximus to a crowd of cars and men carrying around chunks of iron so imagine my surprise when I pulled into an empty lot at 0525.  After briefly contemplating whether the AO would turn into a mix of running and bells an unfamiliar vehicle rolled up next to YHC.  Welcome to Circus Maximus Bunny Slope.  A couple others rolled in before the warm up and then 2 LIFOs from DaVille to make a total of 6.

THANG

SSHx25, DQx10, Helicopter x15, ArmCircles x15 each

1 Burpee:4 KB Swings, increasing by 1 and 4 each round OYO for 5 minutes

Super Six

• ½ Get Up (Turkish Getup with only situp portion)
• Goblet Squat
• High Pull
• Reverse Lunge w/ under the leg pass
• Clean
• 1 arm alternating swing

Do 30 reps of each, run an easy lap around the curb islands, 20 reps, run a lap, 10 reps, run a lap

Captain Thor (Hulk Style) – 1 WWII:4 American Hammers w/ KB, increasing by 1 and 4 each round OYO about 4 minutes

A little time remaining so – 10 Snatch each arm, 10 Alabama Honeymoons, 25 Flutter Kicks w/ KB held high

NMM

A lighter crowd today than the past few weeks at CM.  Between the HDHH and MANNdate starting up yesterday in DaVille the fartsack ruled the morning.  Those that escaped the fartsack got to enjoy a simple yet effective beatdown.  Good to see another new face at CM, Bunny Slope was a first timer but seemed to know his way around a workout and KB.  That’s at least 3 days this week for him and after the sandbags yesterday, that’s impressive commitment early on, I’m  sure Corporate will take note of this.  As always it’s a you against you workout and after the Captain Thors Emoji said he thought he lost.  I disagree, I say he won, the only way to get better and stronger is to push and challenge yourself.  YHC was glad to help Mudface delay a decision to go up in weight, apparently today was enough to put that off for a few weeks.  Shockwave made it back out and was a little shocked to have a day below 30 and only 4 to start after his first CM post of 60 degrees and double digit PAX.

Note to other Qs if you are going to try a new exercise, try it out first with the full weight.  The ½ get ups were tried at home with the Ms 10 lb KB for form but the 35 did not work out so well for YHC.

Great job today, lots of swings, lots of time under weight and lots of arm fatigue as I type this with my toes.

Announcements:

See EF Hutton’s backblast from NoToll earlier this week, he summed it up well.

Lucky number 13 posted for some kettle bell slinging action and still managed to get in their 1 mile challenge committment.

Thang: Warmup COP= SSH, merkins, Bridge and Reach, Spiderman Twists, unweighted goblet squats

Round 1: Sumo Squat and press x10, Deadlift and drop squat x10, Switch Swing x10: Repeato x2 (some random KB swings and ab work thrown in)

Round 2: Execute 40 push press and 10 goblet squats then run the circle.  Repeato while decreasing  presses by 10 and increasing squats by ten each round (30-20, 20-30, 10-40).  Heal touches over bell to collect the six

Round 3: Head to the columns, partner up and partner 1 bear crawls with kb while partner 2 executes 10 swings.  Run to partner and switch then repeato with 10x cleans and 10x snatch until each partner has completed each set.  Finished with varied speed Freddy Mercuries

Round 4: Mosey to curb for pull overs and heal touches over bell

Mosey back to parking lot for assembly line bell passes

COT

NMM:  Ye old back was still feeling it from the Anemone of Doom that Sippy Cup doled out yesterday.  That said, the PAX was ready to go and there seemed to be some expectation that YHC would be in rare form after it was insinuated that JVille was the grumpier.  YHC was in too good of a mood to reset the bar today, but there will be opportunities in the future.  The leading theory is that JVille is only the Mayor of Grumpville when leading.  YHC would encourage the PAX to test the theory.  White Deer stepped it up to sit in the heckler’s chair today, but most conversation was ended in round 2.

YHC remains humbled that the PAX gets it done no matter what you throw at them.  Having never done the circuit we did in round 2, it was hard to gauge how long it would take.  Rosie and Gumbo rolled right through it with everyone else not far behind.  Honey Do then put his kettle bell dragging knuckles to work and was part of the only team to make it down and back during round 3.  Well done by all!

Stay Classy,

Toga

Eleven eager souls, including 2 Mumford defectors, broke free from the endless cycle of baser humanity to post at the Circus on a beautiful Thursday morning.

COP – SSH, Boat-Canoe w/KB, Scorpions, DQs.

Mosey to back of school for Groundhog Loop- 15 Donkey Kicks against the wall, Lunge across road then exercise at the grass. 4 rounds of exercise- 15 Halos each way, 30 double hand swings, 10 Situp Presses, 15 Groundhog overhead press. Boat-Canoe while waiting for the 6.

Plank up after round 1, wake up to Sonny & Cher then repeato.

Mosey to main lot for Musical Kettlebells- PAX bear crawl around circle and stop on the Q then do called exercise. If you are in open spot – 10 Burpees.  Exercises were Clean & Press, Curls, Swings.

NMS- YHC is a huge fan of the movie Groundhog Day. YHC remembers learning about Plato’s Tripartite Soul in Ethics class 20 years ago from this movie. So the movie was our theme for the day.

The plan was to do at least 3-4 Groundhog loops, but it took much longer than anticipated to do 2 times through.And the I Got You Babe was only player once, not as planned. Still the PAX persisted. Ronnie took to the theme by thinking of other movies from our youth to base a theme – Spies like us, Three Amigos, etc. Ronnie shared some other facts that YHC is choosing to post in the BB…

The Daville takeover of CM continues as there were 4 “northerners” posting today, including Spare. All put in solid work.

The Musical Kettlebells is fun as there is a large range of weights in the circle- 20-40 Ibs. This turns out to be a great way to sample bigger bells- ISI!

Seriously YHC sees a lot of Plato’s Tripartite Soul in the I am Third concept in Free to Lead. It ties in perfectly and the idea of Sad Clowns reliving the same day endlessly and how F3 can help them. YHC was planning on doing some more philosophy during the beatdown but was afraid Earthworm would be there and start quoting the original text in Greek.

Announcements – HDHH is Lockjaw’s this Feb, sounds like Ardent on 15th is in the works.

A sold out show at the Circus, as 16 brave men embraced the spring-like morning and jumped at the opportunity for fitness, fellowship and faith while swinging some weighted bells around.  It went a little something like this:

COP –

• SSHs x25 IC
• LBCs x25 IC
• Helicopters x10 IC
• LBCs x25 IC
• Halos x10 clockwise then x10 counter-clockwise IC
• LBCs x25 IC
• Slow Goblet Squats x20 IC
• LBCs x25 IC

Mosey to the circle for Catch your Partner – Partner 1 takes both bells and lunges around the circle, Partner 2 performs 3 burpees and catches Partner 1 for the flapjack.  Lunges audibled to waiter carry for second half of the loop.

Mosey to covered columns for the main even, the Suck Relays.  Form two lines of 8 and spread out 2 men at each column down the line.  While one duo ran the loop, the PAX stationed at the columns performed various exercises, then bear-crawled to the next station when the rabbits completed their lap.  During the second relay, the rabbits performed 50 LBCs instead of running the loop and the transition between stations was lunges.  Exercises at the columns included: two-handed swings, clean and press, squat and press, snatch, WWII situps and press and something else that completely escapes YHC at the moment and wasn’t on the weinke because frankly YHC didn’t expect so many patrons at the Circus today.

Once the Suck Relays were completed, the PAX moseyed back to the parking lot for a ROF – PAX held six inches with bells held high and each PAX took turns completing 10 WWII situps and presses.

LBCs x 25 IC

2 minutes of swings to take us out.

COT – number-rama, name-a-rama and YHC took us out.

Announcements:

• Listen to the podcasts and for Godsake, someone get Saab a kettlebell!
• Ragnar – trail run and camping – see Toga
• Mountain Relays (Smoky and BRR) – see TYA
• The Shining every Thursday in DAVILLE – show up for some great 3rd F and Food (the other, more pleasant 4th F; not the one often produced by Wilson)

Moleskin:

What a morning at the Circus.  First, the gloom was hardly gloomy.  Second, the cars just kept rolling in.  Great turn out this morning fellas. And, thanks for indulging the Suck Relays.  Heavy on the swings and upper-body today, but all PAX members pushed through.  Kudos to Mud Face for sucking up the heavier bells at each station to keep Emoji from blowing out the other shoulder.  I thought it was odd that all the 30 and 35 lb KBs ended up on the same side of the columns — MEN TO THE RIGHT!

Strong work men.  A pleasure as always to step out front.

Make the most of Today.  No more Gumbo for you!

14 (no, that’s not a typo) posted for what was written up as the “Nine Minute Complex from Hell.”  The hard working PAX made it look easy.., for the most part.

Thang:

Warmup COP with failing bluetooth speaker: SSH, Good Mornings, Scapula Merkins, Scorpions, Don Quixote, Mtn Climbers, unweighted goblet squats

Ten towering redwoods posted to CircusMaxims this morning with kettlebells in hand, two of which are F3 veterans but newcomers to CircusMaximus. It was wet and warm out, but not raining. Johnsonville (YHC) took the Q, and this is how it went down, more or less.

speedy warmup: ssh, scissor lunges, arm circles

Deck of Death —

Aces — 50 mountain climbers or 50 LBCs (amended after 2 rounds to 100 LBCs since 50 mountain climbers is 300% harder than Lame-O LBCs)
Hearts (garden variety) — Merkin (kettlebell) Row
Hearts (face cards) — 10 plank walks with jump
Diamonds (garden variety) — Single Arm Swings (1 per arm per value on card)
Diamonds (face cards) — 10 burpees
Spades (garden variety) — Goblet Kettlebell Squat Press
Spades (face cards) — 10 jump lunges
Clubs (garden variety) — Sit up with Kettlebell Press
clubs (face cards) — 10 crab cakes

It is hard to get through a deck in 45 minutes. Thus, we had almost no downtime.

For some reason, we only did 10 crab cakes. I know there were 52 cards, so we must of doubled or tripled up on some other things. Q’s brain don’t function too good sometimes.

Rosie finished many sequences first even though he was swinging a big KB… show-off. Offshore had flashing lights on his shoes (psychedelic man) and a brand spanking new Christmas-gift-looking gray kettlebell. He and KevinBacon are the CircusMaximus newcomers. They rocked it, and it was great having them out (if for no other reason, so Offshore can optimize some processes and other shi** and so KevinBacon can keep you up to speed on the status of your past classmates and distant relatives).

HoneyDo quietly took care of business, and had to roll immediately after. Gumbo seemed to want more mericans than was on order. WhiteDeer appeared quiet to YHC (who was fairly busy trying to flip cards and translate them into exercises); others say he was his normal chatty self. Stay gold, Ponyboy.

FlipPhone arrived late, but that is ok since he came from ChurchHill. Earthworm was with us, but did an alternative exercise for nearly everything. That is better than an FS.

YHC faced a verbal assault when be tried to describe what cards signified what exercises. Apparently, this PAX does not accept any level of complexity. YHC stopped to allow the assault to subside, and DK hilariously asked if YHC was having a “Wilson moment.” Those who have seen Wilson react to unexpected events during a Q know what that means… Anyhoo, it was quite funny and delivered with DK’s lightning-fast wit. We do love you, Wilson.

It was hard to follow Toga’s Q from the prior week, where here brought out a mixture of jiu jitsu, acrobatics, and Michelangelo painting The Last Judgment. But, I did what I could. Thanks for permitting me to lead — it was a pleasure.

Jville

Nine, that’s right nine, posted for some kettlebell fun at the Circus.  Sunny and 70 with the regular clanking of kettlebells in the morning.

Thang:  Circle up for warmup COP.  Consult weinke for first pair of many exercises.

• Sumo squat and press + kb swings: alternating 3×10 ea.
• Deadlift to jump squat + curb pullovers: alternating 3×10 ea.
• Swing switch + curls: alternating 3×10 ea.
• Plank pass + single arm row (5 ea. arm): alternating 3×10 ea.
• Reverse lunge (5 ea. leg) + kb drivers: alternating 3×10 ea.
• Single leg deadlift (5 ea. leg) + hip-up/sit-up: alternating 3×10 ea.

Circle up for lots of conveyor belt kb passes, and Attila took us out in the COT.

NMM: It was good to be back at the Circus, and it was great to see such a solid PAX.  Per the list above, we tackled several new exercises, and YHC often leveraged a weinke to make sure the pairings were correct.  In the middle of the first set Rosie observed, “you need a weinke for this?”  At my advanced age, yes, but it should be noted that the mumble chatter was pretty nonexistent.  The PAX may have decided to conserve their breath as we progressed through the list.  It’s also worth noting that Santa  delivered Rosie a nice new 35 lb kb for Xmas.  It’s all about the gains!  YHC was also truly impressed to look up from my swings to see perfect form from Gumbo.  YHC started to draw the PAX’s attention to Gumbo as a Maximus icon when it became apparent that Gumbo was using some kind of lightweight, FitnessLady brand kettlebell.  Maybe Gumbo was on the naughty list and didn’t get a nice new 35.

Strong work today by all!

Stay Classy,

Toga

3 regulars & 1 visitor braved a soaking rain to post to a Kettlebell beat down @ Godwin High School that went something like this:

THANG

Mosey to bus loop shelter

COP: SSH, DQs, Tempo Merkins, Crunchy Frog, Crab Cakes, KB Press with PAX backs to one another

Quadruple Check/KB Stations

1) KB Wall sit (millennium falcon), KB Swing, KB Press/Bridge & Over, Forward lunge 3 columns & back

2) KB Halo, KB Goblet Squat, KB clean-rack-press, Backward lunge 3 columns & back

3) KB Standing Row, KB Merkin Row, KB Lawnmower, Bearcrawl 3 columns + Crawlbear back

4) KB Around the World, KB tricep press, KB Bob & Weave, run to end of bus loop + 5 burpees + run back

5) Wall Plank, KB Figure-8, KB Swing – pause with KB overhead, KB Death Crawl (Bear Crawl w/ KB) 2 columns & back

6) Left hand KB swing, right hand KB swing, Alternating single hand KB Swing, Crab walk 2 columns & back

Plank-o-rama into COP: plank dips, flutter kicks, LBCs (fast-slow-fast)

COT – Atilla took us out

NM:

Nice to meet Dr. Evil after seeing his name in RVA backblasts in the past. Dr. Evil visited the Circus for the first time and arrived without a KB. No problem. This gave us the perfect opportunity mix in some none KB activities so that nobody maxed out throwing weight around.

YHC had nothing planned and thought a hot-potato workout was in order. However, Johnsonville was operating on very little sleep and didn’t appear capable of calling a cadence. So, he & Atilla helped YHC incorporate many KB exercises we use at Circus Maximus. It was a good intro to anyone new to KBs. Thanks for everyone’s help!

The bus loop shelter provided sufficient cover from a constant rain, though some exercises were still performed in the rain.

We’re all thinking of Earthworm and hope that he gets better soon!

4 regulars posted for a Kettlebell beatdown after the longest night of the year. It went something like this:

COP: SSH, Mountain Climbers, DQ, LBC, Merkin

KB Waiter’s Carry around the bus loop

Long Tabattas for the longest night: 8 rounds of 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off then 10 count then KB Waiter’s Carry

4 Long Tabattas achieved: Standing KB Row, KB Goblet Squat, Rosie’s KB Bridge Press & Over, KB Clean + Rack + Press

Some Mary: Flutter Kicks & Hello Dolly

COT – Gumbo took us out

NMS

Lots of Redskins & FF mumbling this morning. Chum & YHC took Monday night’s loss the hardest. Why do we even care?

Discussion around Flashdance & Flipper’s Man-o-rama calendar…or is it a car wash? Either way anonymity ensued as fellow RVA PAX members were named as potential owners of banana-hammocks for the car wash. Lab Rat & Abacus were mentioned. Any questions, see Flashdance.

Gumbo is preparing to embark on 3 days of birthday xmas polooza. Enjoy the merriment!

Johnsonville is Qing a 2.0 friendly workout at GridIron on Christmas Eve. See you there.

Happy Holidays to all!