Backblasts

It was a chilly morning, with the car thermometer reading -1^oF as the PAX gathered. Crash was on Q, so YHC was excited to see what kind of beatdown he had in store for us. After the usual disclaimers, we got started.

Warm-o-Rama:
Side Straddle Hops – IC, 20
Tappy Taps – IC, 15
Bat Wings – IC (forward arm circles (10), backward arm circles (10), seal claps (10), overhead claps (10)
Michael Phelps – OYO

Thang 1: The PAX moseyed around the A.O. in a counter-clockwise direction, stopping at each light pole for 10 merkins. Upon reaching Dan Taylor Alley, the Q announced that we would be performing 10 Dan Taylors (1 squat, 4 lunges, increasing reps each time to a final of 10/40), and then we would turn around and repeat them back to our start point. This meant a total of 110 squats and 440 lunges.

Thang 2: The PAX moseyed back to the base of Hoffa, for a modified Heartbreak 1,2,3.
PAX split into groups of 2 (or 3). Each group was to perform 50 pull-ups, 100 picnic table presses, and 150 air squats. One partner would perform the exercises while the other sprinted (as best they could) up Hoffa and back down. Once the required reps were completed, the teams started to repeat the sequence until time was called.

Name-o-Rama: Sparrow, Double Beef ‘n Cheddar (hate), Cookies, Bloomer, Crack, Jailbreak (FNG, welcome!), Crash (hate) (Q)

COT: Lifted up the PAX, specifically Cookies and his family as they start partnership development with Wycliffe next month.

I rolled into Tar Pit about 15 minutes early. My cars thermometer showed 1 degree but was relieved there wasn’t any wind like the day before at ground zero. That being said YHC had to plan various Q’s based on HC’s and sandbags available. Luckily beatdown #3 was locked and loaded and fit our amount of HIM that posted.

WOR: 2 laps around the parking lot, 51 SSH IC, 15 Goof balls IC, picking daisies, Michael Phelps, arm circles

Thang 1: split up in 3 groups and jogged to the base of the gerbil wheel. Using the ramp side – we ran up the ramp then completed 10 Merkins IC. The QIC shouted out what % of a sprint to run.

50% – 10 Merkins, 50% – 10 Merkins, 75% – 10 Merkins, 100% – 10 Merkins, 100% – 10 merkins

Thangs 2: separated into 3 groups of 3 and 1 group of 2 – each group with a sandbag. One partner ran about 50 yards and back, one completed a sandbag exercises and 1 completed an ab exercise.

All exercises with a sandbag

150 clean and press/flutter kicks

200 squats / LBC

150 Rows / 100

200 Chest press / crunchy frogs

150 OH press / American hammers

200 BBSU / leg lifts

NOR: Cookies, Archive, Big Mac, Beaker, Captain Crunch, DaVinci, Banks, Katniss, Shiplap (Q), Jolly, Noodles

COT: praise for a beautiful morning and giving the PAX some mental toughness to post on a frigid day. We prayed for Cookies and his new endeavors, Captain Crunch fruit loops and their family as they continue to work through fruit loops health concerns, and the overall health of the PAX and the American people

7 PAX gathered at AO Tar Pit on a brisk Wednesday morning for a beatdown orchestrated by YHC, Beaker.

WAR:

Motivators ic x7

Abe Vigodas ic x15

Tappy taps ic x10

Arm circles OYO

Thang 1a Bataan death march:

The Pax moseyed on the road from the bleachers, around the parkway/peninsula and back to the bottom of the sledding “hill”, occasionally stopping for some burpees.

Thang 2a Bear crawl 1-2-3s:

Partners worked together to complete 100 merkins, 200 LBCs, and 300 squats. While one partner was performing the exercises, the other bear crawled to the pine tree and back.

Thang 1b Bataan death march revisited:

More moseying, more burpees; we returned to our coupons at the bleachers.

Thang 2b 1-2-3s revisited:

After bringing our coupons to the base of the hill, partners completed 100 overhead presses, 200 side lunges, and 300 coupon rows. While one partner worked on the exercises, the other ran to the top of the hill and back, completing 3 SSHs at the top.

NOR:

Katniss, Tortuga, Banks, Noodles, Shiplap, Big Mac, Beaker

COT:

Thanks for bodies that work, prayers for T-Bone’s root canal today, prayers for a leak in Beaker’s roof/siding, Prayers for fat campers in their fourth week as the weight loss challenge begins to drag on, prayers for the sword swallowers as they dig in to James 1.

@saga, @tortuga, @jolly, @cookies, @banks ,@crash, @shiplap, @bigmac, @panhandle, @DaVinci (Q) showed up for a Candlemas history lesson with a workout interspersed between speeches.

Warmorama: Arms and legs on your own during speech about the origin of Groundhog Day (Candlemas). Then Side straddle hops on the beat to Blinding Lights by The Weekend with Goofballs on the Chorus (note the theme of light).

Five stations set up with Candles around the AO (including sledding after last station, 20 burpee penalty for wipeout) where wisdom was ready by candlelight.

10 Pullups

Q Source, First Leadership Virtue: “He must have Candor, which is the Habit of graciously telling the hard truth and demanding to hear it from others.”

Desert Fathers: Abba Isidore said “Persons under instruction must love those who are their instructors like fathers and fear them like rulers, neither diminishing fear through love nor obscuring love through fear.”

20 Picnic Presses

Q Source, Second Leadership Virtue: “He must have Commitment, which is unwavering loyalty to the Group and unflinching determination to accomplish its long term (not short-term) Mission.”

Desert Fathers: Abba John said, “I never preferred my own advantage over my brother’s benefit.”

30 Derkens

Q Source, Third Leadership Virtue: “He must be Consistent, in that he is unchanging in nature, Standard or effect over time. In-Consistent Leaders cannot be fully relied upon and ultimately, they produce inconsistent results.”

Desert Fathers: Abba James said, “There is no need only of sayings, for there are many sayings… But there is need for action; that is what is sought, not sayings, which bear no fruit.”

40 Picnic Curls

Q Source, Fourth Leadership Virtue: “He must possess Contentment, which is the stability of emotion engendered by the consistent pursuit of Joy rather than happiness. Only a Contented man can abandon the pursuit of his own Personal Comfort. “

Desert Fathers: Abba Joseph said, “You cannot become a monk unless you become altogether like a flaming fire.”

50 Merkens

Q Source, Fifth Leadership Virtue: “He must be a man with Courage, which is the Habit of Setting aside fear to turn hardship into grace… The Virtuous Leader accepts fear as the natural and necessary human emotion and overcomes it thorough Preparedness and self-control.”

Desert Fathers: Abba Isaac said: “I never brought into my cell a grudge against a brother who had offended me and I endeavored not to let a brother go to his cell who had a grudge against me.”

Moleskin: At the end of the summer, John the Baptist is celebrated (“I must decrease, He must increase”) as the days decrease in length. Until, that is, the light of Christmas, when the days begin to increase. The candles, traditionally blessed at this time of year, symbolize the increasing light of Christ.

COT: Prayers for carrying other’s burdens, a podcast, decreasing ego and increasing light of Christ. During coffeeteria a man appeared to share with us that “most people go to God when they’re in the shit… thank him for beautiful days like this.”

BTW, Groundhog predicted more winter this morning. Enjoy it!

10 PAX (@panhandle, @davinci, @bigmac, @shiplap, @archive, @SAGA, @cookies, @beaker, @captaincrunch, and @banks) trudged through shin-deep snow around the AO, pausing on occasion to knock out some merkins, squats, overhead presses, and big-boy sit-ups. Finished off with some shoulder taps on top of Hoffa. No burpees. Good start to the week!

Backblast: 01.28.2021 “Strike”

Late is the hour that I type this, but it must be done. Because if it is not accomplished now, it may never be, much like the non-existent backblast from when I was q over a month ago.

16 pax present: {tags tortuga, archive, hotbox, saga, beaker, big mac, katniss, shiplap, shamu, cookies, sparrow, banks, Rainbow Bright, panhandle, jolly, gummibear.

Warm Up:

The q, arriving precisely at 5:30am was a bit miffed at how many pax showed up early, intent on making him look tardy. No matter, let bygones be bygones. At 5;32 am the session commenced, as there were a full two minutes dedicated to awaiting hotbox to join the circle who was sauntering up as though time was of no consequence and to perhaps suggest that the q can direct but not command him, for hotbox is his own man.

Perhaps, it cannot be said that there was not time devoted in the planning of this workout, but it can be said that the Q had very little idea of what the warm up would entail. As he pondered this at 5:31am, thankful now to hotbox’s cavalier meandering, he blurted out that 15 burpees should be accomplished, which were done with excitement and vigor.

We then jogged around the monument and back.

THANG

Upon completing the warm up we went over the rules (see below) and divided into four teams of four:

Team 1: beaker, big mac, katniss, shiplap

Team 2 : tortuga, archive, hotbox, saga

Team 3: shamu, cookies, sparrow, banks

Team 4: Rainbow Bright, panhandle, jolly, gummibear.

We then gathered on the bridge to begin the game. It was at this point that the q lost control, with teams beginning the race at their leisure.

As our team put our foot over the starting line to begin our long journey, we were excited and confident at our potential for victory and glory. On our second step, we were hit with a “strike” from Cookies. This was a bit deflating and surprising. Our team was surprised, and Cookies’s team was surprised that he should unleash his bazooka so quickly and expend all ammunition. As I finished writing a few reminders in my little black notebook to include the words “cookies, remember to get even” We again set off on our journey. We noted that team 2 had gotten a racing start while teams 1 and 3 hung back a bit.

As we set off rifle carrying, Rainbow Bright voiced what we were all thinking; that the block that had been sitting overnight in each of our respective vehicles, gave a nice cooling sensation to our fingers now. We stopped and hid where all could see; about 10 feet from the road and with no cover. We completed all our exercises, except our burpees, with Jolly and Panhandle doing more than their fair share. It was cold doing the exercises in the snow, but it also felt liberating to not be rifle carrying our coupons.

As we set out, halfway to the pool house, stopping intermittently to complete burpees along the way, along comes bigmac on his way to the finish line and carrying two coupons. I yelled out to him asking him if he had the pleasure of being struck yet, and wondering if we should give him that pleasure. He responded “maybe”, and at that point I believed him, but in hindsight I should not have.

Shortly after, the entire team 2 came running past us on their way to the finish line. We decided to strike them. I courageously left my team with the coupons and jogged without any weight to seek them out and provide a strike. They did not seem happy at first but eventually accepted their fate. I returned to my team, But at this point, with time running out, and only being halfway to the poolhouse and tired of rifle carrying, teams 3 and 4 began our return to the finish line.

As we arrived we witnessed a race to the finish between teams 1 & 2, with team 1 barely edging team 2 out by only about 300 hundred burpees. All three losing teams accomplished 15 burpees to finish it out.

NOR/COT: Prayers for Davinci and his writing deadline.

Moleskin: I am very thankful for a group of guys that will just perform a silly game as the one invented here, without any complaints and with good, joyful attitudes. Such an encouraging environment fosters creativity. Truely, it is a pretty incredible thing to be a part of such a group. May we not compromise, but rather sharpen and encourage one another.

Game Rules: “Strike”

Mission: To be the first team to transport the coupons From the western most bridge to the pool house and back.

Teams of 4

Constraints:

• When traveling (advancing) your team must travel on the “route” (road): be on the road and be visible.

• Prior to crossing the finish line your team must have accomplished the following sometime along the route:

  • 250 Coupon Curls

  • 250 Coupon overhead Squats

  • 250 Coupon Shoulder presses

  • 250 Big Boy sit ups (without coupon)

  • 250 spiderman pushups (without coupon)

  • 250 leg spreaders (without coupon)

• The only way to advance the coupons along the route is either of the approved carries:

  • Coupon Rifle Carry

  • Coupon farmers carry (for farmers carry- one team member must have 2 coupons and only one team member may be accomplishing this at once)

• A team member can be jogging without the coupon, performing exercises on the side, “striking” another team, or defending.

Strike: Each Team has one and only one “strike” that they can use against any other team. The only member of a team that can call and use a “strike” is a member without a coupon. That member may jog up to any member of any other team that has a coupon and call a strike against that team. In order to call a strike you must be within 10 feet of another team. The team who has a strike called against them (if this is the first strike called against them) must accomplish 250 burpees sometime prior to crossing the finish line. If a team is victim of multiple strikes during the crunch mile route campaign each successive strike they receive has a diminished blow of 25. For instance the first strike they receive they must accomplish 250 burpees, the 2nd strike 225, the third strike 200.

Defense: A team is only impervious to a strike when all team members are together (within 10 feet of one another) and are moving along the “route” and all three team members are performing a coupon rifle carry. The moment one team member stops the carry, they are no longer in defense.

Miscellaneous:

• Your team does not have to stay together, but you must cross the finish line together.

• While you must remain on the route to advance and travel along the route, one or more members may hide off route at any time to perform exercises in an effort not to incur a “strike”, while you are performing exercises. However, you must enter and exit the route at the same location.

• After all teams have crossed the finish line each team will have a punishment due, that is dependent on what place the team finished.

• Exercises accomplished by no means need be split evenly or at all across your team. You could have one team member accomplish all the non-advancing exercises if you really wanted to be cruel.

@ A.O. Mastodon | 5:30am

It is a dark time for the Rebellion, having to gather in the gloom of a 5:30am blizzard. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy (currently the trials of both Fat Camp and MABA have left them hangry and fatigued). Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters led by SAGA has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth. The evil lord Loneliness, obsessed with finding young SAGA, has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of space….

To make matters worse, Sparrow has been trapped like a Han solo in a motionless state. Other PAX where voiceless as the pre-blast went forth through slack. There was fear that our beloved Nantan would be used like a dead tauntaun—oh how we longed for such warmth. But any of the fear was mere foolishness as the Q arrived, wearing the ancient shawl of a humble Jedi warrior who is not a professional, he knew the danger ahead but decided to play (cue star wars theme music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8&list=PLdKFtHTuSEuN3va3L9yj8bkJYTQfrMSIx)…

WOR: 15 imperial walkers | 15 imperial squat walker | 10 burpees for a downed flag | 10 Jedi arm circles

THANG 1: “Mos Eisley” to base of Hoffa to get the blood pumping—ran up Hoffa and yelled like a dying tauntaun at the top and then did 10 burpees, back down the hill…

THANG 2: Echo Base on Hoth: circled up—Q started while all the PAX held a blizzard gazing Jolly the Hutt (aka a Jabba) until the first exercise got to them—for the first round, Q did a select # before the next PAX begins after Q yelled “F3 name of neighbor”…when it got back to the Q a new exercise was initiated while the PAX kept doing the exercise they were on until the newly called exercise arrived at them…

1. Star Wars Jumps
2. Lifting the Emperor (aka Overhead Press)
3. Skipping Yoda (aka Bonnie Blairs)
4. Kissing Your Sister (aka DERkins)
5. Make like an Ewok (aka Squats)
6. Make like an Ewok getting ready to throw stones (aka Goblet Squats)
7. Han & Leia (aka Birthbees)
8. C3PO Flutter Kicks
9. Obi-wan Rows (aka Bent Over Rows)
10. In the Death Star garbage compactor (aka Skull Crushers)
11. Lando baby Calrissian (aka LBCs)
12. Use the Force (aka Blockbees)
13. Burpees for the rebel alliance
14. Jabba (aka Jolly the Hutt)

THANG 3: 10min reconnaissance mosey around Hoth from Echo Base over to the road toward the pool and then back around Hoffa—final rebel alliance victory run up Hoffa to cry one more time like a tauntaun with a 10 burpees OYO and back down the hill: recover, recover.

CoR/NoR/Cot: The force was strong in the 15 PAX who joined the Jedi Council: Da Vinci, Tortuga (respect), Captain Crunch, TBTF, Cookies, Double Beef n’Cheddar (hate), Hotbox, Beaker, Archive, Panhandle, Jolly, Banks, Shiplap, Katniss, SAGA (Q)

Prayers lifted up for purity, Da Vinci’s book project, Bloomer’s 2.0, + gratitude for the fellowship.

Moleskin: A reminder that we are in this journey together. Listen for the echo of your name among the PAX. Show up, be a man, and share your struggle.

We closed drinking coffee to our hard won day, ready to go out into another…