Several months back, Turnpike issued a challenge to the pax: Q somewhere that you haven't Q'd before or otherwise (if you've Q'd everywhere) Q somewhere that you haven't Q'd in a while.
Having never Q'd at #Gladiator, and (for some reason, despite living nearby) having seldom posted at #Gladiator, YHC promptly got on the Q calendar. Thanks for challenging the pax, Turnpike.
YHC was already thinking, in the days leading up to today, of doing something a little different for the pax, but after attending Swing State's upper body smoker at Arnie's on Monday, it was sealed. Zero burpees for YHC and the Gladiator pax today. Zero blockwork. (Almost) zero mericans.
YHC preblasted "core and agility work," and upon arriving at the AO, Cousin Eddie mentioned that that had piqued his interest. YHC explained during warmup that the general plan was to perform one plyo/agility/footwork drill, followed by one core exercise, and then repeato both of those twice before moving on to the next agility/core combo.
Once we got into it, the pax remarked that it felt like they were being transported back to their HS basketball tryout days, which is sorta what YHC was shooting for.
Anyway, here's what we did:
WARM-O-RAMA:
Mosey through parking lot with some low side shuffles, followed by some diagonal low side shuffles. Circle up. Disclaimer.
- SSH x 25 IC
- Windmill x 10 IC
- Finkle Swings x 5 IC (each leg)
- Mountain Climber x 15 IC
- Plank-to-Pigeon Stretch (each leg)
- Slow Squat x 10 IC
THANG:
Mosey to next lane of parking lot.
Set #1:
- Suicides – 7 parking space lines
- WWII Situp x 20 OYO
- Repeato above x 2
Set #2:
- Low Side Shuffle back/forth from one end of parking space line to other end – 30 sec
- Low Flutter x 15 IC
- Repeato above x 2
Set #3:
- "W" Cone Drill – sprint up to first cone, backpedal diagonally back and to right, sprint up to next cone, etc., until last cone (7 total) – all pax 2 times through
- LBC x 15 IC
- Repeato above x 2
Set #4:
- Ladder Footwork Drill – quick step into and out of each "box" (20 total), moving down line to right – all pax 2 times through
- Suzanne Somers x 10 IC (each leg)
- Repeato above x 2
Set #5:
- "X" Pattern Drill – 2 parking space lines per pax – sprint diagonally up and to right, low side shuffle straight left, backpedal back and to right, low side shuffle straight left back to starting spot (forming an "X") – 30 sec
- The W x 15 IC
- Repeato above x 2
Set #6:
- Frog Jumps – jump over parking space line, then jump back, touching ground each time – 30 sec (audibled to 20 sec for repeato rounds)
- Crunchy Frog x 15 IC
- Repeato above x 2
Set #7:
- Figure "8" Drill – sprint from tip of one parking space line to tip of parking space line immediately across lot and back, circling around the tips in an "8" pattern
- Rosalita x 15 IC
- (only had time for one round of these)
Mosey back to cars.
ARMS-AND-SHOULDERS MARY:
- Merican x 10 IC
- Carolina Dry Dock x 10 IC
Recover, recover.
NMM:
- Many thanks to the pax today for indulging YHC and rolling with the format. YHC needed a break from upper body work, and hoped that the pax would enjoy something a little different.
- The pax definitely brought it, and were going HARD on some of the drills. Tractor was really pushing YHC on the ladder drill. He should have been ahead of YHC on that one, as I was definitely slowing him down. Pax footwork was impressive on several of the drills…. YHC could sense there were some former ballers in the group.
- YHC didn't have any actual cones for the cone drills, so I grabbed some empty 6 pack boxes before leaving the house and used these instead. The pax wanted to know where the beers were that were missing from the boxes. YHC also tried to assure the pax that the watermelon shandy box was not really his. Really, guys – I'm not sure where that box came from!
- It was YHC's first time attempting Finkle Swings, which I found in the F3 Exercises database. What a mess. It would have been helpful to have had something to hold onto.
- If not running the Huntersville Half on morning of (Sat) Dec 8, please consider signing up to work a water station and cheer on the pax who are running. Signup Genius is linked at the bottom of this preblast page: https://f3lakenorman.com/announcement/speed-for-need-huntersville-holiday-5k-half-marathon
- Thanks to Travolta for letting YHC lead the pax this morning. I will definitely be back to Gladiator soon…. no excuse not to post at the Tuesday AO closest to YHC's house!
- Thanks as always to Auto and Eeyore for the EH back in June 2016 – I'm forever grateful.
Aye,
TC