14 PAX (plus 1 runner) ignored the potential downpour of rain and met at Depot for a long awaited Q by YHC.
Conditions:
75 degrees. Mild. Intermittent drizzles. A light 3mph breeze.
COP:
Always a Pothole favorite – if you recover before I say recover, 10 Merkin penalty.
Merkins x 10 IC
Little Arm Circles x 10 (forward) IC
Aaaaand a 10 Merkin penalty. Seriously. It’s too easy with you guys.
Littler Arm Circles x 10 (reverse) IC
And another 10 Merkin penalty. So quickly!?
SSH x 10 IC
Through The Tunnel x 10 IC
Squats x 10 IC
Could I get another 10 out of everyone? Maybe?
SSH (again) x 10 IC
Windmill x 10 IC
YES! Another 10 Merkins!
Tha Thang:
Round 1
It’s time to keep the heart rate up and going. You should be able to move fast enough to hold a conversation before feeling short of breath. So, partner up.
Starting at the parking lot, run down the main entrance, right onto Bird Rd, right onto the side entrance, right onto the gravel parking road, end back at the parking lot. 5 burpees.
Rinse and Repeat x 3.
Alternate between 5 Merkins and 20 flutters while waiting on the six.
Round 2
Everyone grab a block and meet on the track. It’s time for some Form School.
Let’s start with Merkins. I still see some PAX doing Merkins incorrectly. Granted, I was very proud of Depot at the convergence and I was happy to see more of us had the better form vs other AO’s when it came to Merkins. However, we ALL need to be the best at doing Merkins. Depot should be the standard. And there is a standard to doing Merkins. The best training tool for doing Merkins properly, is on the block.
Place your block in front of you. With your thumbs pointing forward like a field goal, grab either side of the long end of the block. This keeps your hands in the proper position and forces your elbows to graze your sides. Bring your chest all the way to the block and then back up. Congratulations, you just did a proper Merkin.
Now, some complained that their chests/shoulders are too wide. We’re all smart here, get another block and widen your stance a bit. The point is, from now on, when you do Merkins, imagine you’re doing them on the block and you’ll do them correctly every time.
Now that you know the proper way to do Merkins, take one mosey around the track and do 10 PROPER Merkins on your own.
Now do another 10 because I didn’t say recover after.
Let’s move on to shoulder presses.
I see a lot of these jackrabbit shoulder presses. You know who you are. You quickly push the block at about 45 degree angle so quickly that you don’t even get full extension. Your goal is to see how fast you can do them and therefore you’re missing all the good parts: proper form and muscle building. So start with the block touching your chest and extend your arms ALL THE WAY ABOVE YOUR HEAD as if your were Cusaking. The key is full extension ABOVE your head. Congratulations, you just did a proper shoulder press.
Now take another lap around the track at your chosen speed and do 10 PROPER shoulder presses.
Finally, let’s talk squats. A lot of you do not even do a 1/2 squat. It’s more like a 1/3 squat. Some of you look like you’re trying to twerk. So here’s another tool to help you do a better squat.
Stand just in front of your block with your heels touching the outside corners. Lower yourself and sit on the block keeping your feet stationary. Keeping your arms at your hips or out in front of you (not pushing yourself up), stand up. Congratulations, you have now performed a proper squat.
Now take a lap and do 10 PROPER squats.
Round 3
Time for some friendly competition.
From time to time, it’s good to pit yourself, or a buddy, against someone else. The PAX voted that Chubbs was the fastest of the group and that Shredder was the slowest. No medal or shame in either of these titles. Some people are just faster than others. Shredder was given a fair headstart of his choice to which he feel he could beat Chubbs. If Chubbs wins, everyone does 10 burpees (an exercise he hates). If Shredder wins, everyone does LBC’s (an exercise he enjoys). Box Wine chooses for everyone to do jump squats while we watch the action.
It was dark, so we couldn’t confirm, but Shredder may have gotten more of a headstart than was originally agreed upon. But damn if Chubbs didn’t give it a kickass effort. Still, Shredder would not be denied. 10 LBC’s for everyone.
Oh, and 10 Merkins for recovering before the Q says so.
Since Chubbs was surely spent, the PAX voted that Updyke and Fool’s Gold are the next two fastest. With an Updyke win, everyone does burpees. With a Fool’s Gold win, everyone does squats. Moose chooses for everyone to do calf raises while watching the action.
Would Updyke show everyone he should be considered the fastest? Would Fool’s Gold be denied a race win yet again!? The two took off. They seemed pretty evenly matched early on. The disappear into the darkness. Who would emerge ahead. Into the light, they’re still evenly matched. Up the hill. There’s no clear winner. Would it come down to the line?
No.
Pretty sure they conspired to make it a tie. So everyone does both exercises.
Recover-Recover
Count-O-Rama; Name-O-Rama
Announcements:
- Don’t forget about the Iron PAX Challenge for the month of September.
- Don’t forget about run groups that are available
Moleskin:
Good showing and decent numbers today. Be sure to work on your form from now on. Be the standard because Depot is the standard. And part of the standard is not being afraid to Q a workout. It’s really not that difficult. Fool’s Gold made a good point: The workouts at Depot are free. But we pay it back by Q-ing. Can’t have a free workout without a Q.
Pothole out.