• When: 2018-08-18
  • QIC: Hawg & Fountainhead
  • The PAX: Misfire, Garnish, Lincoln, Venti, Gaston, CessPool, Rhonda, Eldrich, Hawg & F'head


#Battle: IronPax Edition

The kids are headed back to school.  Friday night football has kicked off and Saturday games are just around the corner.  But for a Labor Day break, vacations are all in the rear view mirror.  Summer is darn near over and it’s time to get back to work.

Conditions: High 70’s and muggy like a swamp.

TheThang:

Hawg brought toys, concrete blocks from Hammer all stacked in his flat bed ready for the pax.  No one was excited as he handed them out and started running.  Around the fences we moseyed, blocks getting heavier with each step, to the football field where a cross country meet at Flora was setting up.  We were welcomed to the turf, though, and for a warmup, Hawg had us do the following:

  • Bear Crawl 20 Yards
  • Side Plank Walk 20 Yards (swamp sides at 10)
  • Crab Walk 20 Yards
  • Duck Walk 20 Yards
  • Backwards Bear Crawl the last 20 Yards
  • Sprint back to the far ends zone… warmup done.

At this point , YHC introduced the F3IronPax Challenge that’s been kicking around for a couple weeks now out of F3Greenwood.  They’ve got a twitter handle dedicated to this little project and specific instructions on how to execute each weekly challenge.  As much as the straightforward challenge would have sucked, at #Battle we go harder.  The published challenge is:

4 sets X 8 minutes with industry standard 25lb CMU.  Perform as many reps of the set exercise as possible in those 8 minutes.  After every 25 reps, run 25 yards out and back (50 Yards total) before continuing with the same set exercise.  Count reps and rest for 2 minutes.

  • Set 1 – Thrusters w/ Blocks (8 Minutes)
  • Set 2 – Curls w/ Blocks (8 Minutes)
  • Set 3 – KB Swings w/ Blocks (8 Minutes)
  • Set 4 – ManMakers w/ Blocks (8 Minutes)

First of all, the Hammer Blocks we borrowed for #Battle are the old structural CMU of the 20th century.  Those fragile CMU you buy at Lowes are the regulation standard, 25lb dry weight.  The nasty beasts we used were at least 40 lbs.

Second, between each set, instead of taking a 2 minute breather, Hawg called:

  • Plank Gyrations X 25 4CT IC, Then reverse direction and repeat 25, 4CT IC (after Set 1)
  • Side Plank Thrusters X 25 4CT IC, then flip and repeat opposite side for the same (after Set 2)

It was decided we all preferred the 8 minute sets to Hawg’s #JaneFonda routine.  After the third set YHC took over the in-between exercises and I called:

  • LBC’s X 25, 4CT IC and Flutter Kicks X 25, 4CT IC (after Set 3)
  • And the same again (after Set 4)

Otherwise, though, the F3IronPax Challenge of the week was completed on time and as programmed… Thrusters, Curls, Swings & Man-Makers for 8 minutes each.

Somewhere in there the cross country team took over the field and so we spun around and reversed course for the 25 yard out and back “sprints”.  It was nice having a peanut gallery of kids watching us old guys get after it.  I don’t think half of them had ever seen a concrete block much less a bunch of guys working their tails off with them.

Finally, with all four sets complete and the ab work accomplished, the pax gathered the blocks and lugged them back to the parking lot.  With but a few minutes left to burn, the following Mary was appreciated:

  • 6 inches
  • Protractor
  • Sky-Ups X 10, OYO
  • 6 inches
  • Sky-Ups X 10, OYO
  • 6 inches
  • Sky-Ups X 10, OYO
  • And a long, slow countdown to end the day.

COT with fist bumps all around & BOM

Announcements:

  • Next Saturday, a clown car will gather at AC Flora for the drive to River Bluff High School to participate in their Kriptonite workout.  They gather at 6:00 and so we’ll need to be at AC Flora around 5:15 to make the drive.  It’s early but how often do you get to show up those Lexington guys on their own turf.  Look for CessPool’s email with extra details on timing directions.
  • Our fall kickoff convergence on Labor Day is not to be missed.  All AO’s will be closed that Monday morning and we’ll meet at #Thunder for a big leauge gathering of men.

NMM:

  • T-Claps to Venti who could have made a clinic out of the morning’s workout.  There was some uncertainty as to whether he hit 510 or 540 reps in total (who can count that high?).  Either way, he, along with a number of the pax, made the challenge look easy (which it was not).
  • Nice to see Oscar among the AC Flora cross country crowd.  While his name isn’t on the roster for the workout, he did a number of reps with us and a good bit more running than anyone but, perhaps, Misfire who felt the need to double the proscribed out and back distance.
  • And #Kotters to Lincoln who posted at #Battle earlier in the year but was away for the summer.  Nice to have some youth among the rest of us old guys.

Aye, F’head