Backblasts

Date: Monday, 06/06/22
AO: #ao_mastodon
PAX: @Zoro @Big Mac @Cheese (Respect) @PromKing @Dr. Phil @Jolly (Respect) @Archive @Sparrow @Panda Express @Jailbreak @TBTF @SAGA
FNGs: 0
Q: @SAGA
Total: 12

Conditions: bright and beautiful
Warm-Up: Side Straddle Hops / Mountain Climbers / Stretch legs OYO

The Thang:
Celebrating the convergence of the anniversary of D-Day (78 years ago) and my wedding (24 years ago) the PAX gathered to run/ruck around the A.O. Ran from base of Hoffa to cooties and did 24 burpees. Circled back the way we came and met up with the ruckers and circled up for 78 Squats. Continued on back to Hoffa and a manrise and ran the mile back to cooties again accomplishing three miles of running. At cooties we celebrated love and did two rounds of 10 merkins + 10 squats + 4 burpee pull-ups. Completed some Marry with rep counts celebrating D-Day and my anniversary years. Full sprint to flag to finish, but wait, we sprinted one more time to end of lot and back because love never quits.

Mary: 24 Flutters in cadence / 78 LBCs OYO

Moleskin:
Love is war – stay next to your companion and fight the good fight.

Prayers for our relationships and @Zoro’s move & @Archive’s upcoming week

Date: 6/4/2022
AO: #ao_mastodon
Pax: @Bloomer @Crack @WATER WINGS @Jailbreak @Sparrow @Pink Drink @bumble @Hancock FNGs: 0
Q: @Bloomer
Total: 8

WOR: The first challenge was getting to a.o. Mastodon by navigating around all the barricades in place for the Cosley zoo run. Many guys had to carry their coupon from a couple blocks away. We started with squats (ic) x 15 then jog around, arm circles then jog, merkins x 20 then jog, Mt climbers x 15 jog. Stretch on own

Thing: Completed a lunge and squat challenge to Will Smith’s Switch song which was painful.

Went to the Cootie for a modified Cindy AMRAP. 15 min of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 sit-ups.

Finished up with a partner exercise. One part Durwood Farmer carry two coupons around the island in the parking lot back to the starting point, well the other partner did an exercise. They would both complete the farmer carry and the exercise before switching to a new one. Exercises were step ups, burpees, calf raises, hand release push ups, planks.

We finished up with 5 min of Mary as we got pushed out of the parking lot by the 10k Cosley race runners.

COT: @Jailbreak’s M is being induced in a little over a week, @Pink Drink has a student who just had serious back surgery, @WATER WINGS’s gma just finished chemo treatment, Ukraine, all the families grieving loss in the recent shootings in America.

Date: 5/31/2022
AO: #ao_mastodon
PAX: @Nate Thom (Pit stop), @Panhandle @Jolly @Banks @Tortuga @WATER WINGS @Beaker
FNGs: 0
Q: @Beaker
Total: 7

WOR: Motivators (x7, ic), Batwings (x25), Michael Phelps (oyo), Tappy taps (x10, ic)

Thang 1a: Burpee mile (first half).

Run to the baseball diamond next to Dan Taylor Alley. Complete 15 burpees about 1/2 way there. Complete 15 burpees by the baseball diamond. Ignore @Banks who decided that 15 burpees is too many and that he knew better than the Q.

Thang 2: Seven of diamonds.Advance through the bases on a baseball diamond, complete a multiple of 7 reps at each base and home plate.

Round 1 – Bear crawl and 7 diamond merkins
Round 2 – Bernie and 14 shoulder taps (2 is 1)
Round 3 – Karaoke and 21 air thrusters (advance as a group, picking up the 6 on the way)

Thang 1 b: Complete the Burpee mile

COT: @Banks has a big day, Uvaldi survivors and families of victims, Ukraine, PAX injuries and praise for bodies that work.

Backblast – Armed Services Day
Date: 5/21/22
AO: #ao_mastodon
PAX: @Bloomer @Captain Crunch (AJ) @Pink Drink @Hancock @Sparrow @Mockingbird
FNGs: 1
Q: @Hancock
Total: 6

Conditions: 60’s, overcast, dew on the ground
Total distance travelled: 1.04 miles

Warm-o-Rama: Arm circles, Picking Daisies

We toured the AO, tying in different exercises to different branches of the US armed forces branches.

Thang 1: Marines
Zombie crawl up Hoffa
Motivators x7
Lunge down hill
The Marines motto: Semper fidelis – always faithful

Thang 2: Navy
Screaming manrise (screaming charge up Hoffa, 5 burpees at top)
Zip line & choice of merkins or BBSU’s while waiting
Navy motto: semper fortis – always courageous

Thang 3: Army
Game. Instead of “steal the bacon”, it’s “deliver the cannon.” Teams are about 60 feet apart. Once start is called, each Pax does required reps. When one Pax finishes, he goes to the middle and tries to move the table until tagged by an opposing team Pax, and both are out. Repeat rounds until table has been moved to opposing team’s side, when winner is called.
We did one round, 20 burpees, and that was enough. Maybe fewer reps would have led to more rounds.
Army motto: this we’ll defend

Thang 4: Coast Guard
Mosey to “island” area of AO Mastadon (short jog from Hoffa). Lunge for ~50 yards. Mosey back to Hoffa.
Coast guard motto: semper paratus – always ready

Thang 5: Air Force
Each Pax is to do 100 merkins and 100 BBSU’s. Do not cheat on qty of reps. Do not cheat on form. And, you may do 10 bench table presses to take off 15 merkins and 15 BBSU’s for another Pax.
Air Force motto: integrity first, service before self, excellence in all we do

Thang 6: POW
Pax were not informed about what they were asked to do, or for how long. Run up Hoffa and do Guantanamo. Q decided 3 rounds. Then, planking and recovering on Q’s command. Then mosey.
All branches were serving, but if you’re a POW, are you not still serving? You don’t know how long you will be there, if or when you will be rescued. You only know you suffer today.

Moleskin: Firefighter motto: “you go, we go.” Every branch of the military lives this out – no man left behind. The Bible tells us that, when a brother falls, we are to gently restore him. As our armed forces and our God calls us to do, that is our example, and that is what we should do.

CoT: @Bloomer’s brother-in-law is recovering from horse riding injury, but needs prayer now regarding the insurance. Ukraine. I forget if there was more we prayed for.

AO: #ao_mastodon
PAX: @Beaker @Hancock @T-bone @Panhandle @Jolly @Archive @Bloomer @Sparrow FNGs: 0
Q: @Bloomer
Total: 8

Conditions: mid 50s with some dew on the ground

Warm-O-Rama:
Stretch on own, run 1/2 the parking lot and 20 side straddle hops, run 1/2 of parking lot and do 20 squats in cadence, run 1/2 of parking lot and do arm circles, run 1/2 of parking lot and do merkins.

Thang: We partnered up. One farmer carried 2 coupons for two light poles while the other partner ran ahead and did squats. That happened back and forth until we hit the north parking lot. Ever 2 light poles the exercise switched from squats to merkins to BBSU to lunges.

At the baseball field we did 6 sprints on the street. We finished our farmer carry switch off back to Hoffa. When we arrive we did three sprints up with various exercises down the hill. We finished with 5 minutes of Mary at the flag.

COT: Prayed for Ukraine, shootings in buffalo, @Bloomer’s brother in law who broke his pelvis

Moleskin: talked about taming our tongues, which have the power to give life and bring destruction.

Backblast – Pick up the Six
Date: 5/10/22
AO: #ao_mastodon
PAX: @Tortuga @Hancock @Panhandle @Jolly @Panda Express  @Banks  @Bloomer @Da Vinci @Bo-Peep @Katniss @Shiplap @Zoro
FNGs: 1 @extension
Q: @Tortuga
Total: 13

Conditions: beautiful

Warm-O-Rama:
SSH, tappy taps, Picking daisies, goof balls, copperhead squats, air thrusters

Thang: Five Alive, with modifications
First lamppost, one air thruster, second lamppost, two air thrusters, up to five.  At five, go pick up the six.
Top four finishers shift to five thrusters with blocks, everyone else, sticks with air.  Adding curls, one more per lamp up to five, pick up the six.
Top four finishers rifle carry, ten thrusters, 5 curls, adding blockees, up to five, pick up the six.
Top four double their blockees, adding bent over rows, pick up the six.
Finished adding block merkins.Grab a partner, farmer’s carry back to the flag using hands, not forearms.

COT: @Hancock looking for a place to rent, Ukraine, @Bo-Peep’s wedding, @Sparrow’s newest 2.0 and family.

Moleskin: Are there other areas in your life where you can pick up the six?  If the dishes need doing, do you wait until the M gets it done, or do you help her out by giving her some reps?   Look for ways to pick up the six in your life.

run/ruck
Date: Monday, 04/25/22
AO: #ao_mastodon
PAX: @Panda Express @TBTF @Sparrow @Tortuga (respect) @8-Track @Davinci @T-Bone (respect) @Cheese (respect) @Panhandle (respect) @Jolly (respect) @Katniss @SAGA
FNGs: 0
Q: @SAGA
Total: 12

Conditions: a cool morning with some cool PAX

Warm-Up: stretches, squats, mtn. climbers

The Thang: some ran, some rucked – all had a good time …

Moleskin: See the challenges as an adventure.

Date: Saturday, 4/23/22

AO: #ao_mastodon

PAX: @Bloomer @Hancock @Noodles

FNGs: 0

Q: @Noodles

Total: 3

Conditions: Beautiful, bright and sunny day. In the 60s at the start of the beatdown.

Warm-Up: Motivators x7, Ave Vigodas x15, Tappy Taps x15, Ballerina Toe Squats x15

The Thang: AO mosey, an audible well suited for the day.

I came prepared for an old fashioned coupon beatdown. However, this week proved to be filled with COVID struggles for many PAX and all of them doing what’s best, staying home and riding out the wave. Upon arrival to AO Mastodon, it was lonely but the sun was out and birds were chirping. I thought, let’s mosey and call some exercises in the go. We took the following route:

https://onthegomap.com/?m=s&u=mi&d=4027&f=c56f9bcbd0&n=1&dm=1&context=share&r2=udp~7~pvvGY19W1g2s1y1Oy20i24SCEi1W42e2B_13w1w3i1s25m14ICu3Da3u2SAU1_1TO2c12m1Nq1JY1Hg10k25o317pCf1Z30n9y3f1c1Bc32o25a39a31W33e33c33Bp73Z62j29p6v6~C5Dr33p991WAd8CIc14Mj142Y7Jm1n12N2C_AX984e8n70Hn5Bd1d51v33p2Z1r10BGVk2Ec2IO2e12s14w1

Along the route we stopped for the following:

Merkins x25

Burpees x25

Donut (Tire) Flips x6 – made a stop behind North’s football field. Each PAX performed 6 tire flips while the other PAX performed their choice of core exercise.

We continued our mosey and took Ellis back towards the park. We passed up Captain Crunch’s home. He who was nowhere in sight but did see Fruit Loops waving through the window.

We ended at the parking lot and alternated between the following:

Pickle Pounders x25, 20, 15, 10, 5

Stumphumpers x25, 20, 15, 10, 5

Mary: Supermans, Seal Stretch, Lunge Stretches

CoT: Praise for Bloomer’s son and his one year anniversary of having brain surgery. Prayers for Hancock and his M as the go through the journey of buying a house.

Moleskin: The day was was great. Good beatdown, slow pace, and great conversation. Often times, we get wrapped up in the fast pace of our day to day lives. Today was a reminder to slow down and enjoy the moment and each other’s company.

Backblast: Prairie Path South
Date: Friday, 4/22/2022
AO: #ao_ground_zero
PAX: @Tortuga@T-bone@Toto@8-Track@Cheese@Panda Express
FNGS:0
Q: @Tortuga
Total: 6

We ran.  South.

COT: Cheese’s 2.0 is sick, prayers for our marriages, parenting, PAX with COVID

Moleskin: Remain and repair.  @Da Vinci’s shared article encourages us to do just that.  Especially as it relates to our marriages.  Don’t give up on yours.  Things will break down, just like in your house.  Don’t throw it all away. https://t.co/OYUD0WlbK0

Backblast: This should hurt
Date: Tuesday, 4/12/2022
AO: #ao_mastodon
Pax: @T-bone@Banks@Gummi Bear@Panhandle@Jolly@Hancock@Pink Drink@WATER WINGS@Sparrow@Beaker@Captain Crunch (AJ)@Panda Express@SAGA@Tortuga
FNGS: 0
Q: @Tortuga
Total: 14

WOR: SSH, T-bone Burpees, goofballs, arm circles

Thang 1:
Farmer’s Carry around the obelisk and back to Cooties.
Pull ups to muscle failure,
Jog around the parking lot east of the obelisk and back
Good form, full extension, elbows in merkins to muscle failure,
Jog around the street side of Hoffa and up then reverse,
Good form, deep squat jumps to exhaustion.
Repeato.

Thang 2: Line up on the edge of the infield, just off the outfield grass between 2nd and 3rd.   First to the fence yells “fence,” then everyone turns around and returns to the infield using the same movement.
Weighted lunges (@Jolly), rifle carry (@Sparrow), broad jump burpees (@Big Mac), Bernie (@Gummi Bear)
Rifle carry back to the flag.

Moleskin: All sin separates us from God.  Thankfully, God gave us his only son to live a perfect life among us, take the blame for our sin, pay the penalty for that sin in full through his death on the cross, and give us the gift of life through him.  Friends, believe the good news of the gospel: In Christ Jesus our sins are forgiven.  If you confess your sins, and put your faith in Jesus, God is faithful and just and will forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

COR/NOR/COT
Prayers for good transitions in new jobs for @Gummi Bear and @Hancock.  Thanks for bodies that work and for an awesome savior, Jesus Christ.