Dr T and the Sad Clowns

by

Weather: Low 60’s and relatively clear skies, minimal humidity (for FL).

The pax sauntered-in and it was obvious THE CHAIR had a palpable EH on inquisitive minds, beckoning curious hearts as the 0515 approached. Mumble Chatter oscillated between a fixation on how much running was about to be thrown-down and on how the gloom might bring nothing more than an extended fartsack. Prognosticators would be wrong on both accounts. As the 0515 inched closer, “Don’t ask about THE CHAIR” whispers could be heard just above the whirl of a gentle morning breeze.

At 0515, YHC shared the disclaimer  and the 5 Core Principles, then led the pax on a short mosey that included one Nur and one stride-out.

CoP:

The pax circled-up (around THE CHAIR) and the following warm-ups commenced:

  • SSH x10 IC
  • Imperial Walkers x10 IC
  • Trunk Curls x10 IC
  • Mountain Climbers x10 IC

Pax grabbed their beverage of choice (a fleeting glimpse of a moonlit PBR could be seen in the gloom), while YHC grabbed THE CHAIR and away we went to the basketball courts. A lingering question still nagged all, “How much will I have to run to survive?” Like little boys eager for Christmas, thoughts of sugar plums and a “runner’s high” were all that could be imagined? Well, this gloom, there would be no runner’s high — only Dr. T and Sad Clown lows.

The Thang:

In the mid-2000’s, Dr. Tabata’s research showed that quick-burst efforts done in the right ratio of activity-then-rest, yielded better endurance (i.e., aerobic) and strength/speed (i.e., anaerobic) gains than traditional aerobic exercise alone. But, who reads research? Could this be true? Only 30-minutes to unleash your inner Lance Armstrong (well, less the enhancing injections)? In the end, each pax had to find out for himself.

The ensuing Dr. T beat-down involved a Tabata sequence of 6 different exercises performed at All You Got (AYG) effort in 20-second bursts, followed by 10-seconds of rest. Each exercise comprised 4-minutes of total activity (i.e., 20-sec AYG, 10-sec rest, 20-sec AYG, 10-sec rest until 4-minutes were up). A well-earned, 70-second rest was enjoyed by all (except for THE CHAIR attendant — see below for details) before transitioning to the next exercise in the sequence. Dr. T’s beat-down resulted in a total workout time of 28-minutes and 50-seconds.

The exercise sequence performed was as follows:

  1. Burpees, AYG
  2. Air Squats, AYG
  3. Lateral Slides (outside hand touch the ground), AYG
  4. Lunge in-place (final minute add Moroccan Night Clubs), AYG
  5. Scissor Kicks (w/ leg cross-over), AYG
  6. Peter Parkers (half-Merk position, if you could), AYG

Image result for sad clown chair

While enduring Dr. T’s wrath, THE CHAIR sat as a somber representation of Sad Clowns who should have posted in the gloom. For whatever reason, they chose fartsack over heart attack. Some might go so far as to say they chose it over a shart attack or even a sharpee (shart +burpee), but we digress.

In matters of Spirit and practice, when a Sad Clown no-shows, HIM are responsible to absorb the slack. As such, THE CHAIR was where HIM picked-up said slack. To determine THE CHAIR’s pain infliction, a random number from 1-44 was chosen prior to the workout. “44” was chosen by one unlucky pax. According to YHC’s secret decoder ring, 44 translated to Crab Walks. So, for the duration of Dr. T’s beat-down, a rotating legion of HIM had to tend THE CHAIR by Crab Walking from the free throw line to the mid-court line and back. Once a HIM completed his journey, another HIM had to jump-in and follow suite. If at any time, YHC perceived that THE CHAIR was grossly neglected, full-court suicides for all were to commence.

Luckily, THE CHAIR garnered the attention it deserved. Overall, 13 pax performed SAD CLOWN CHAIR DUTY for a total of 4 cycles, yielding 52 total Crab Walks (4 cycles x 13 pax). By YHC’s estimate, the pax traveled nearly 0.70 total miles by Crab Walking on behalf of the Sad Clowns. Well done.

In the end, everyone survived. Even though a few pax could be seen on their back, chest-heaving and counting (or seeing) stars, no one quit. No one cried (that I could tell). And, everyone got stronger. So goes the gauntlet of F3Nation.

Back to the parking lot we strolled for a quick round-of-Mary to close out the final 2-minutes of the Dr. T and Sad Clowns beat-down. The Mary included LBCs, Flutter Kicks, and American Hammers. Miraculously, all pax were able to stand-up and partake of the CoT.

The Moleskin – Dr. T represents the hard-work required to battle for our brothers missing-in-action, the Sad Clowns. We had to fight through Dr. T’s beat-down while tending to THE CHAIR. Truth be told, it’s worth it. We need the Sad Clowns out of the Fartsack as much as they need a HIM tranformation. In addition to our Faith, the Shield Lock among brothers is where we all can draw strength to achieve our Sky-Q purpose. Be thinking of the Sad Clowns in your life (unbelievers, co-workers, friends, family, acquaintances) and how you can be a positive spark for their journey. Sky-Q wants every man to be a HIM. Let’s do our part by taking the Daily Red Pill and also by helping connect Sad Clowns to their Daffodil (reference F3 Lexicon).

Thank you all for the opportunity to Q. I enjoyed the challenge, was impressed by the effort and most importantly appreciated the fellowship. Everyone brought their best, which inspires me. Be blessed as you go about your day. EH a Sad Clown.

Announcements:

  1. Sup n Run is no longer going to be a bootcamp/run, but a hard run effort put forth to honor wounded veterans.
  2. Zeus is looking for volunteers to help with parking at the race. Volunteer cars are not billed $5 for parking, which saves the Sup-n-Run moola.

Prayers/Praises:

  1. Prayers for Diesel’s dad who sustained a head injury.
  2. Prayers for Law Enforcement and all they do to keep our communities safe. Special prayers for the officer shot and killed in Highlands County, and prayers of comfort for those impacted by this tragedy.
  3. Prayers for Mr. Clean’s recon effort to explore Twin Lakes as a potential new AO.
  4. Prayers for Sad Clowns. For each man not walking in his purpose. HIMs are responsible to pick-up the slack until the Sad Clown crawls out of the Fartsack.
  5. Praise for all that is happening with the F3 group in Louisville.