YHC had the pleasure of dishing out a little pain while also making things a little fun (I hope) at Hammer. The pax spent quite a bit of time on YHC’s favorite field, the diamond, for a beat down and a little batting practice mixed. Needless to say, the Pax have a lot of work to do to get the call up to the big leagues!
Conditions: 80 degrees and 100% humidity…Muggy
The Thang:
In true form YHC form, we began with the Slaughter Starter: 20 burpees OYO (crowd pleaser)
Warm Up:
20 Little Baby Arm Circles Forward IC
20 Little Baby Arm Circles Reverse IC
15 Overhead Clap IC
15 Overhead Press IC
Grab the blocks and circle up:
20 Goblet Squats OYO- Plank when done
Lunge Walk with blocks about 50 yards towards the baseball (or softball) field
Stop halfway for 20 squats with block over head OYO
Finish lunge walk to the ball field
Once to the ball field the Pax were instructed to line up with their blocks near home plate.
Next exercise was Artillery Fire, an exercise introduced by Collar and named by Boo Boo. Keep the block on the ground, push it forward with both hands, then pull your feet forward to the block, keeping your hands firmly on the block. Trust me, it’s hard. The pax executed this exercise all the way to first base (about 20 yards).
At first base execute 20 merkins on the block
Next Artillery Fire from first to second base
At second base execute 20 curls
Next Artillery First from second to third
At third base execute 20 kettle bell swings with the block
Next Artillery fire from third to home
At home execute 20 clean and jerks
This point is where things got a little interesting. YHC wanted to reintroduce the PAX to something called pain balls. Our brother, Slum Dog, introduced us to his version of the pain balls, tennis balls with exercises written across the cover. YHC’s idea was to take baseballs and apply the same principles. The exercises included the following: burpees, merkins, Carolina dry docks, BBS, LBC, Plank jacks, jump squats, and a whole lot more.
Each pax would pull a ball with an exercise out the bucket and call the exercise for the other pax to execute while he ran around the bases. The thing is, YHC added a little twist. YCH brought an old 34 inch Louisville Slugger c271 (a hefty piece of lumber) and a batting tee that I’m sure any four-year old could hit off of. The deal was that each pax would place his ball on the tee and take a hack. If you hit the ball to the outfield, then you ran around the bases once. If you didn’t hit it out the infield, killed the tee, or simply swung and missed, then you ran around the bases twice, all while your fellow pax completed the called exercise.
YHC figured this wouldn’t be pretty, but I was quite surprised how lacking our hitting prowess really was. YHC will chalk it up to all the merkins, burpees, artillery fire, and whatever else, but the results were abysmal. Without naming any names, we were collectively 3 for 11 hitting the ball out the infield off the tee. That’s a .273 average (not good). We had a few complete whiffs and had one slippage of the bat (note-bring pine tar next time) which almost took out one of our faithful Pax (good thing we announced the disclaimer). At the end of the day, the pax performed admirably on the called exercises to make up for the pathetic hitting exhibition. Maybe we’ll try that one again one day to see if we can improve upon our batting average.
Once we finished up we put up the blocks and headed back to COT
Today was significant in that our AOQ, Billy Bob, passed off the shovel flag so that he could fulfill his duties as the new Nantan for our region. T-Claps to Billy Bob for his service and leadership to Hammer over the course of the last year. He talks the talk and walks the walk and I venture to say that he has inspired every single one of his fellow Hammer Pax.
We are all leaders in F3, but Hammer is home to numerous Pax serving on the leadership team of our new Nantan. T-claps to Misfire, the new Weasel Shaker, and Pinkman, the new 2nd F Q. Hammer is proud to have you men.
T-claps to RA for his efforts as the Columbia Weasel Shaker over the course of the last year. A job well done!
Splinter reminded the Pax about the foundation of the Hammer AO from its origin out of Swampfox. Check out Proverbs 27:17- “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
Finally, some guy named McNugget took over as the Hammer AOQ. Things could get really interesting with that appointment. Seriously, YHC is honored to serve with you gentlemen. Each one of the Hammer Pax has held YHC accountable and kept YHC motivated to post week in and week out over the course of the last few years. YHC looks forward to the challenges and fun that lie ahead…Let’s keep it rolling!!!
BOM- Billy Bob