Weather: 74 degrees, not terrible
QIC: BRUTUS
PAX: Sniper, Sir Wallace, BP20, Red Card, Top Secret, Lancelot, Bing, Flavortown (quasi-FNG), Captain Ron, Pick Axe (quiet little fella), Shotgun, Manziel, Pudge, Snapshot, Pin Cushion (FNG), Defib, Chili Pepper, Mr Clean, Crabcakes, Condenser, Big Mac, Goob, Lifeboat (DR from ATL), Brutus.
5 Core Principles were recited, and YHC remembered them all.
Mosey (bring your waters, ain’t comin’ back) the long way around to the base of the tower with nur, high knees and butt kickers mixed in, then circle up for SSH, Abe Vigodas and some static stretching of legs (left, right, center), agitators, Michael Phelps and arm circles. No time to mess around…
THE THANG:
YHC prefers the highly choreographed beatdowns, and this one was 36 minutes on the money, using the Seconds app for timing and a Spotify playlist. Pax were split into 2 groups: #1’s and #2’s. Whiteboard of pain was presented, but no one really cared; YHC just likes to write stuff and make people look at it to ensure confusion; success was achieved in that realm. The board showed a map with a circle and arrows depicting that the #1’s would perform prescribed exercises in the middle of the circle defined by cones, while the #2’s would circumnavigate said circle via a specific mode of transportation (kind of like a mosh pit, right? Yeah, whatever). Then the 2 groups would swap, with the #2’s going to the middle of the circle for the exercises and the #1’s circumnavigating via the mode of transportation. Then the groups would swap again, moving to a 2nd exercise and mode, and repeat this cycle for the (22) exercises in the beatdown. SO that went to heck in a hurry, as there were cones all over the parking lot, and people went everywhere. YHC did a bunch of pointing and yelling to reign the pax back in. Organization ensued within a minute or so, and the pax got into a nice cadence. The playlist was designed to keep the energy level up, and was lead off by the mosh masters, Anthrax.
EXERCISES (in the middle of the circle, each from 30 to 60 seconds in duration timed by Seconds app – AMRAP “to failure” for each) – in this order: Exile Merkins, LBCs, Hot Chick Squats, Superman Swimmers, Flutter Kicks, Jump Lunges, Evander Holyfield, Heels to Heaven, Al Gore, Plank Right Arm Up / Left Arm Up, American Hammer, Imperial Walker, Moroccan Night Club, Box Cutter, Chili Dips, Reverse Planks / Tricep Dips, Big Boy Sit Ups, Peter Parker, Carolina Dry Docks, Gas Pump, Calf Raises, Burpees
MODE OF TRANSPORT (around the circle, YHC assigned Bing to call out the modes for the #2’s). I can’t remember them all, but Bing was very creative. Clockwise and counter-clockwise, run, skip, nur, toy soldiers, bear crawl, crawl bear, crab walk, straight leg bear crawl, inchworm merkins, and more!
There was a jailbreak in the midst of this, and even the 3 minutes that Seconds allowed for the round trip was inadequate, so the beatdown continued while the pax returned. Also, there was a transition to a 2nd circle along a specific path, with the intent to make a block letter OHIO for those tracking on Strava. This was ill-fated and for naught, as Garmin wound up being down for several days, and YHC forgot to make the horizontal line in the H. Lessons learned: simplify, and more time for each exercise; a lot of time was spent in non-value added transition. Dudes just want to get beat down!
Playlist:
Anthrax: Caught In A Mosh
SR-71: Right Now
Stone Temple Pilots: Right Now
THE Ohio State University Marching Band: Buckeye Battle Cry
Olivia Newton-John: Physical
Bowling For Soup: 1985
Sum 41: In Too Deep
New Found Glory: My Friends Over You
Tantric: Breakdown
blink-182: All The Small Things
Van Halen: Unchained
FNG: Pin Cushion was welcomed to the group. Also Flavortown, a fellow Ohioan joined this “sanctioned” F3 beatdown (had previously only been to 2 Outlaw runs)
Announcements: F3 10 year convergence – time running out. Sniper’s obstacle course event has been postponed. Big Gauva tour continues – collect points for you and your team! Flavortown getting married August 1.
Praise: Brutus to F3 for a great addition to YHC’s life, Ben’s continued recovery.
Prayer Requests: Zeus for a quick recovery, USA and the world, our collective psyche, first responders and medical personnel.
Thanks for letting me lead – it’s less and less outside my comfort zone each time I lead (or, is it that my skin is getting thicker from the barrage of mocking that is dished out…?). It’s awesome to lead HIM’s, it’s humbling to have HIM’s trust and follow, and I will do it more.
O — H…!!!