Just Post the Freakin Backblast, Wimpy!

The PAX always seems to be motivated for Monday morning, especially when it is raining outside.  Although this might not be entirely true, 12 men showed up for some fun (at least it wasn’t cold).  As Papa Smurf would say, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad equipment.  Gazelle admitted that he wasn’t going to come until he saw on the twitter machine that it was going to suck.  Cousin It and the PAX were giving Wimpy a hard time for not posting the backblast from Saturday (over 48 hours late at this point).  The Q made a quick spiel on the importance of form over quantity and the PAX was off.

Warmup

No Foreplay today

The Thang

Pick a partner that is of a similar speed.  Since he was late and not fast enough to ask a date, Tin Man got stuck with the Q.  Although he may have thought it was going to be bad, he didn’t have anything to worry about.  He’s plenty fast on his feet.

• Run to San Fran’s House
• WWII Situps for the Six (Gazelle and Cousin It may have actually knocked on the door if comments were not made, but decided to use the front yard instead to ensure they were caught on camera)
• At Every Other Mailbox Headed Back to the Park (6 Mailboxes):  3 Burpees, 6 Chest to Ground Merkins, 9 Low Squats
• Stop at top of neighborhood and WWII Situps for the Six
• Run to Rock Pile at Entrance
• 15 IC Goblet Squats, 15 IC Tricep Presses, 15 Should Presses  RR x 3
• Run to Picnic Shelter
• 6 Rounds of 5 Merkins, 5 Situps, 5 Squats
• Run to Flag for SloCo Exercises and Mary
  • 15 Tempo or SloCo Merkins
  • 15 Tempo or SloCo Squats
  • Flutter Kicks and V Hold (Bookworm)
  • Box Cutters (Deuce)
  • Superman (Tin Man)
  • Jane Fonda Hip Dips (Wimpy, of course)

COT/BOM – Led by Splinter

Announcements

Lunch on Tuesday, Some of the PAX will be running in the Dash for Cash next Sunday, If you are a rucker think about signing up for the GoRuck event in Chapel Hill on 1/9 (MJ, Tonka, and Gazelle are already signed up).  2nd F at Tapped on Friday, 12/4.

Moleskin

Over and over again, we see Backblasts with high repetitions of a particular exercise.  Reading these Backblasts are inspiring and telling the story of 300 Merkins, 200 Squats, 100 Burpees, 3 + miles of running is gratifying.  Men come to play at 0530 am because our workouts are hard.  The Man’s goals vary but improvement in health and fitness are generally at the center of the 1st F goals of the PAX.  So why does form sometimes take the backseat at our workouts at the cost of high repetitions?  Part of it is competition amongst the PAX and the other part is the responsibility of the Q.

If Lebowski finds himself working out next to Johnny Drama and notices that Johnny Drama just cranked out 30 Merkins, Lebowski is generally going to find a way to crank out 30 merkins as well, even if it means sacrificing the objective (to get leaner, faster, stronger, etc.). The goal should be to accomplish as many good Merkins as possible in the allotted time and move to the knees if necessary while maintaining good form and full range of motion.  In some cases this is not possible because of a man’s shape or physical ailment, but in most cases it’s because the man was given a target of 30 and that is exactly what he intends to deliver, even if it means performing a 1/4 merkins (twitching the triceps while in a plank position to give the appearance of completing an actual merkin) or a cobra(keeping the pelvis down to decrease weight to the arms, pushing the chest up first and risking hyperextension of the back).  You might say at this point “well, I’m out there and that is better than doing nothing.”  That is the voice of the Sad Clown and we need to tell him to be quiet.  It’s not worth doing unless we give it our all and maintain integrity in the process.  Johnny Drama, “next time you are looking like a beast cranking out 30 Merkins, take the time to look over at your brother Lebowski and explain that there is no shame in doing Merkins from his knees or doing fewer, slower reps.  In fact, he may benefit more that way.

The other issue that I see (and am eternally guilty of) is getting caught up in that “Badass” Mentality and attempt to deliver rep schemes that are unachievable to accomplish for most within the time given or with good form (sometimes even for the Q himself).  This generally translates to poorly executed exercises for the entire PAX.  Even when the Q is conscious of this fact and thinks to adjust his rep scheme, if he is not demonstrating good form and encouraging the PAX to do the same, the point is lost.  If you ask me to do 100 squats and I look around and see that the Q and many of the PAX are doing quarter squats, what do you think I am going to do?   I am not suggesting that we forego high repetition but rather to be conscious of what we are asking.  Good leaders should be able to watch the pax and provide feedback and adjustments as necessary.  If you are seeing planks turn into downward dog, merkins turning into cobra position or tricep twitches, and squats into 1/4 squats then reinforce the basics.  The pax will appreciate you for it and you can go home knowing that you did your very best.  It’s important to mention that I am guilty in all of the aforementioned items.  So this is meant to be one hungry guy who found a piece of bread, telling the other hungry guys where he found it.