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64 degrees at arrival, a serendipitous number, the square of 8, the cube of 4, and the sixth power of 2. Even the weather desired to demonstrate its mental aptitude as did 7 faithful PAX (Shiplap, Banks, Da Vinci, Noodles, Tortuga, Mose, & BigMac).

Warmup: motivators, mountain man poopers, tappy taps, good mornings, arm circles

Mosey to the field.

The Test: Section A – (AKA Thang 1)

Each HIM takes turns choosing one of the available exercises (Goblet squats, Rows, Blockbees, Bonnie Blairs, Derkins, Overhead press, Murder Bunnies). Then the Q gives a question and all PAX perform 10x the number of PAX who answered incorrectly of the exercise chosen (or 5x for the blockbees).

1. What is the official term for a duel between 3 people (a “truel”) – Tortuga answered correctly, Shiplap chose blockbees – 25x
2. Why are there 100 folds in a chefs hat? They represent 100 ways to cook an egg, once you know them, you can wear the hat…unfortunately none of us knew that so 60 rows (Banks)
3. Which country has the unicorn as their national animal? (Scotland) again no one answered correctly so 60 Bonnie Blairs (Tortuga)
4. What is the most common state bird? The cardinal (only 2 incorrect answers), 20 murder bunnies (Noodles)
5. What is the painting ‘La Gioconda’ More usually known as? The Mona Lisa (100% correct) but we did 20 derkins anyways, #overachievers (Da Vinci…duh)
6. Which bone are babies born without? Knee cap (is that a bone…) 60 goblet squats (Mose)
7. What is the most expensive home in the world? Buckingham Palace (Mose got it correct!) 50 overhead presses

The Test: Section B – (AKA Thang 2)

All HIMs guess a numerical answer and then everyone does the difference between the actual number and the worst guess.

About how many grapes go into a bottle of wine? 700 (worst guess was 200 off) 200 air squats.

How many Grammys did Elvis win? 3 (worst guess was 17 off) 17 burpees

Approximately how much does a blue whale’s heart weight? 400 lbs (worst guess was really really far off) 200 lunges

What fraction of the speeches in Shakespeare’s plays are by women? 17% (farthest off – 90%) 73 big boy situps

How many states in the Estados Unidos de Mexico? 32 (farthest off 7) 25 coupon swings.

Thang 3: 8 minutes of abs

No breaks:

25 crunchy frogs

25 bicycles forward

25 bicycles backwards

25 wide-leg up and out cross sit-ups

25 slow 4-count flutter-kicks

25 alternating sit-up V-reach

50 American Hammers (both sides counts as 1)

Corrective: lawn-mowers

Exam Results: We’re not necessarily good at random trivia, but we’re happy to make up for it in hard work. 100% all around.

Moleskin – Life is full of choices but what is freedom? Classical view – the ability to fulfill the purpose for which you exist, Modern view – A removal of constraint on your decision making.

CoT – Praise for great weather and a happy ending to Da Vinci’s legal matters.

Thanks for a great morning!

Backblast 

Thursday, 10-8-20

19 PAX came out this morning for the 5:30 AM beatdown at MASTODON.  Weather was about perfect.  Tortuga was a little nervous for his first big Q.

Theme was James 1:2.  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds.”

Warm o Rama:

IC 7xMotivators, 15x Tappy Taps, 20xGoofballs

OYO arm circles, Michael Phelps

Thang#1: Mosey to Dan Taylor Alley.  Teams of three PAX.  First PAX does 20xBonnie Blairs (each leg = 1).  Second PAX does Bobby Hurleys and third PAX does Nolan Ryans until Bonnie Blairs are finished.  Switch roles.  AMRAP

Thang#2: Mosey to Hoffa.  15xSlow dips IC, 20xslow squats IC, 10x slow lunges IC. (I got bored at this point and decided to move on.  Had planned on more and slower reps.)

Thang#3: Mosey to Dan Taylor Alley.  Broad jump burpees from sidewalk to lamps across the field.  Once first PAX made it all the way (Big Mac), everyone else moseyed over.  Plank for the six.

Thang#4: Mosey to Hoffa.  Teams of three PAX.  First PAX does 10xside pull ups on swing sets.  Side Pull up: torso is perpendicular to the bar.  Raise your head next to one side of the bar.  Dip below the bar and raise your head on the other side.  (each side = 1).  

Second PAX does shoulder taps and third PAX does flutter kicks until side pull ups are finished.  Switch roles.  AMRAP

Swing sets were higher than I remembered and wet.  (When asked for modification options, I suggested some for the flutter kicks and the shoulder taps.  Not helpful.)  Options for modifying the side pull ups – merkins or decline merkins.  AMRAP

CoR: Archive, Panhandle, T-Bone, Sparrow, Double Beef n’ Cheddar, Big Mac, Captain Crunch, Jolly, Gummi Bear, Shamu, Noodles, TBTF, Cookies, Smokey,Hot Box, DaVinci, Wet Burrito, Saga, and Tortuga (VQ – not counting really small EC’s).

COT: Praise for God’s faithfulness in Hot Box’s job search.  New position has been secured!  Prayers for Sparrow’s son who broke his arm falling out of a tree yesterday.  (It was the landing that caused the break, not the actual fall.)  Archive’s wife is due super soon.  DaVinci is going to jail. (He’s not, but that’s what @Gummi Bear heard.)  In all seriousness: prayers for some legal issues DaVinci is in the midst of.

It was an especially clear and beautiful morning at the Tar Pit this morning. YHC showed up around 5:15 and to my surprise Sparrow (who didn’t HC) was already stretching and preparing for the beatdown. I would also like to welcome the newest member of F3 Wheaton, Mose. He has been commuting to Naperville the past month and now is ready to join us as he lives in Glen Ellyn. Welcome Mose!

PAX: Mose (welcome), Sparrow, Big Mac, Captain Crunch, Da Vinci,

QIC: Shiplap

WOR: Motivators x7, Goof Balls IC x 15, Abe Vigoda x 15, Arm Circle Circuit OYO, Tricep Stretch OYO

Thang 1: Burpee Mile
Moseyed around the Tar Pit stopping 4 times to complete 12 Burpees

Thang 2: Beach Body Dora x 2
Accumulated Reps with a partner – While partner 1 runs up the stairs and down the ramp, partner 2 completes the exercises.

200 Coup[on Shoulder Press
400 Coupon Press
600 Coupon Curls

COT/NOR: We give praise for the group, our attitudes, and our beautiful new AO. We pray for motivation at work, at workouts, and in all phases of life.

Moleskin: Since Shred-tember ended I have lacked my normal motivation. If I were working out on my own, last week would have been the week I stopped. Only because of this group I still showed up. This week started the same, but DaVinci’s Q and then doing my own Q today really turned it around. I feel the energy and enthusiasm back and I’m ready to rock and roll. It’s proof that this group allows each one of us to push harder and keep us more engaged than by ourselves. If any of you are feeling a lack of motivation I challenge you to sign up for a couple Q’s – It will get you out of the funk!

19 PAX (including an FNG) enjoyed a warm spike on October 6th as we achieved 10,000 reps together under the moon between an unusually bright Mars and Venus.

Warmorama: Motivators, Batwings, and then leg stretch as we broke through to Zeta in the Greek alphabet as we make our way through the alphabetized sayings of the Desert Fathers (I’m using this edition but there’s a free PDF version here).

“A brother asked Abba Euprepius about life and he said, ‘Eat hay, wear hay, sleep on hay, and acquire a heart of steel.” Yes, the desert fathers go a good bit overboard, but if you showed up today, sleep is but hay to you.

10 burpees (x20 pax, rounded up for mathematical ease) = 200

Burpee Road (5 stations of 10 burpees) = 1000

Abba Euprepius got robbed and chased down the thieves to offer his staff that they forgot: Lesson is radical generosity.

Baseball BOMBS (home: 20 burpees; 1st base: 30 outlaws; 2nd base: 40 merkens; 3rd base: 50 BBSU; pitcher’s mound: 60 squats) = 4000

Rinse and repeat = 4000 (we were a bit short but we made it up with LBCs)

Total count was (about) 10,000

Our FNG is now Jolly (short for Jolly Good Fellow as he is a fellow in the accounting world). Prayers for schools, for a family struggling with cancer, for baby Archive. We concluded with Abba Zeno’s counsel to pray for one’s enemies with all your heart. That’ll burn more than a thousand burpees.

It is my opinion that the majority of male friendships develop gradually. Rarely do you say “You and I are going to be friends, so go ahead and tell me your life story now, so that I’ll know the details moving forward.” Sometimes years go by before you find out your friend knows how to fly an airplane, speak Spanish, or catch catfish with his bare hands. Those are important details.

Today, we hit friendship head on, sharing relevant personal details voluntarily, instead of waiting for a back alley run in with a polish street gang to teach you which of your friends is a closet bilingual. Relationships were built.

Begin workout:
Warm ups, with special attention to calf stretching.

Thing:

22’S

20 calf raises + two squat thrusters
18 calf raises + four squat thrusters.
Etc.

Ruck to Dan Taylor Alley,
DTs up to five.
Ruck back.
10 merkins

Along we the way we shared important details for future friendship.

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It was YHC’s first Q at our newest AO, so I figured a little exploration was in order. It was a chilly morning, but without any wind it was quite nice out. 3 PAX (Katniss, Shiplap, Banks) braved the early morning gloom on a Saturday to come out and see what Tarpit has to offer.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Windmills

Thang 1: Exploration

We started off with a Bataan Death March mosey to explore the Tarpit grounds. We went up the hill and across the street ending up at the tennis courts. *It should be noted that at this point, YHC injured himself and could not really run any more so the workout was heavily modified from this point forward…

• Bearpees – We went across the courts 1 way completing standard Bearpees, then went the other way with double burpee bearpees. *It should be noted that at this point, we noticed the Fox that call Tarpit it’s home closely monitoring our every movement… Shiplap and Katniss scared it away for the time being
• 20x dips at 2 different stops along the way

We then moseyed to near the track and completed some lunges along the way

• We stopped and completed 15x Merkins IC

We then moseyed to the playground equipment and completed 1 round of the below circuit with the pullups as the pace setter:

• 10x Pullups
• Derkins
• BBS

At this point, we moseyed back to the cars to acquire some heavy things to lift.

Thang 2: Heavy Lifting

We set up 3 stations and completed the following with the person on the sandbag being the pace setter. There were 2 main sets we completed and then repeated with decreasing reps:

• 25x Sandbag Bent Over Rows, other stations were Blockees and Hodors
• 10x Sandbag Burpees or “Sandees”, other stations were coupon squats and curls
• 20x Sandbag Bent Over Rows
• 8x Sandees
• 15x Sandbag Bent Over Rows *At this point, we noticed our friend the Fox joined us and was creepily watching us from the edge of the track… Katniss ran at him to scare him, but at this point he didn’t move, which in turn scared us… We decided to perform our remaining exercises facing the Fox…
• 6x Sandees
• 10x Sandbag Bent Over Rows
• 4x Sandees
• 5x Sandbag Bent Over Rows *At this point, the Fox had had enough and ran off… It looks like we have an official mascot for the AO!
• 2x Sandees

Each PAX completed 75x Sandbag Bent over rows, 30x Sandees, and lots of Blockees, Hodors, Coupon Squats and Curls.

After being sufficiently gassed, we headed back to the start to circle up for some Mary.

3 MOM:

• 30x Flutter Kicks IC
• 25x Each Side Oblique Crunches Each Side IC

COR/NOR/COT:

Prayers for these men who came out and joined YHC in the early gloom. Thankfulness for the beautiful day and strength to stay focused on our families this weekend.

Tortuga, Gummi Bear, Crack and Katniss hit AO Tar Pit under a full moon for some EC run club / burpees at the usual 5:30 slot.

W.O.R: Motivators (7X), Tappy Taps, Quad stretch, 5 burpees.

Run thang: Mosey around Lake Ellyn on the short path, stop for 50 burpees at the boat house. Continue for another mosey around the neighborhood until the traffic and bikes threatened safety in the gloom. Headed back to the high school where we proceeded to the stairs.

Stairs: Run up all stairs, 10 merkins, run down hill, 10 squats. Repeat 5X.

Hit another ~.75 mile run around the lake and took the long way back to the parking lot where we knocked out another 50 burpees.

~3 miles and 100 burpees + some stairs. A successful EC!

COT: Prayers for tough work weeks ahead for Crack, his M and kids. And Thanks for Gummi Bear’s successful test to snag his Michigan real estate brokers license.

It was the worst of times and it was the best of times. It was the worst of times because shredtember was over. And it was the best of times because shredtember was over. It has been nice to sleep in without threat of a point docked against you in a punitive manner. This week we perhaps are all a bit more productive at work, as we need not look at our phone every few minutes fearing that we may miss an EC session. However, this week our numbers are down as many of us miss such workout sessions on account of our new freedom. While others of us such as bigmac and wetburrito continue to call ECs, albeit wet burrito also partakes in sleep during such sessions.

As I said before, our numbers have been down comparatively, but not on this day. A large crowd gathered this day in the anticipation of who would be announced as Mr. Shredtember. Large crowds at times lead to mobs which at times leads to looting, and today was no exception.

To warmup we jogged in pairs through through the west end of the AO, sharing something that we have been working hard on as of late with our running mate. As we crossed the last bridge and approached our coupons, coupons that were planned to be the foundation of today’s q session, we were shocked, stopped in our tracks, and flabbergasted to realize that not one coupon was there. They had been pillaged. Somewhere, some 15 or so guys are working out with our coupons and laughing because they didn’t have to pay the $1.50 per block like we fools did. We contemplated calling the police, but didn’t want anyone to go to jail on our account.

We quickly collected ourselves and found our bearings.

Warm Up Part 2: we performed 7 motivators and 10 burpees.

The thang:

Split up into three teams.

Teams moved from six different stations beginning from the westernmost bridge and ending at the southern most bridge. Teams had to move utilizing the bear crawl, lunge, and crabwalk in between stations. The following were completed at the respective stations:

station 1: 30 burpees

station 2: 40 spiderman pushups

station 3: 50 jungle bois

station 4: 60 bouncing betties- jumping lunges

station 5: 70 imaginary block leg overs

station 6: 80 squats

Team one finished first and was able to knock out 18 pullups while waiting for the other teams.

NOR/COT: Many paxs were here today as the video will show, including an FNG, who is new no longer; Quarter. Great to have everyone here.

Shiplap and Archive announced the winner of shredtember. It was and it is Davinci. The block he was presented with is beautiful and glorious and a true work of art. We were all very much moved. We wanted to hug but did not, due to social distancing. Songs were sung, photos were taken, tapestry’s were painted. poems were penned, and a legend was born today. We also thanked the founder of the feast; shiplap, for making shredtember possible.

NOR/COT: When I asked for prayer requests, captain crunch scolded all of us for sleeping in so much during the past three days. No rest for the weary. Amen.

PS: Crunch in all sincerity thanks for holding the line. Wetburrito you were an animal at shredtember last month and if anyone deserves a fartsack it is you. Davinci I am very happy you won shredtember. Nice job to Tortuga as well coming in a close second.