Last night my first true love, the Philadelphia Eagles, found themselves ejected from the NFL playoffs. The week prior, I was the only pax to show up at Titan (not the first time, more on this later). So I’ll freely admit… I was not in the most positive frame of mind. Funny how a good workout and good mumble chatter along the way can turn that around. First the story of the workout, and then the story of things I’ve learned my first few months trying to MQ through a challenging AO situation.
STANDARD:
- Loop up to McIlwaine with Turnpike & 9-Lives, approx. 2.5 miles.
WARM-O-RAMA:
- SSH x 15
- IST x 15
- Cotton-picker x 15
THANG:
- Run to Tanners Creek Park
- Swing Crunch x 15
- Dip x 15
- Incline Merkin x 15
- Run to Pamela @ New Bond
- Squat x 15
- Makhtar Ndiay x 15
- WW2 x 15
- Run to Latta Springs Pool Pavilion
- Step-ups x 15 each leg
- Hanging leg-left (similar to a homer-to-marge) x 15
- Run to home base
MARY:
- LBC x 15
- Jabberwockeez x 15
- Plank countdown ~60 seconds
Approx 2.5 miles covered, right around 5.0 with the standard.
MOLESKIN:
- #1 thing I learned about today; how insulin works. I could go be a doctor now. JK, but seriously – 9-Lives is a wealth of knowledge on this stuff. Kudos for him not letting it hold him back.
- Ok, actually the real #1 thing learned today was about my failings as an MQ. Kidding / not kidding. Sometimes you need a little tough love, thanks Turnpike.
- When I write back-blasts, I usually find one I’ve posted in the past, copy, update what needs updating, and post it. So I’m going to apologize to Bob Ross because I just realized I led practically the same EXACT workout on Dec 17th, and Bob Ross was the only person to attend both. In my defense, I keep a few winkies written down so I can pull together a quick Q… but damn, I didn’t realize this one was a carbon copy from just four weeks ago. Sorry for the repeato!
- Welcome back Dirt, you’ve been missed! Congratulations on the Clemson win, I’m just glad you’re sober enough to run a week later!
- Another welcome back to Tantrum, who has Q-ed at Titan… but only to help me when I’ve been out of town traveling. I don’t think we’ve worked out together, at Titan, in 6+ months. If only there were a website where this information could be verified…
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING A BIT DEEPER:
Ok, let me just jump right into it I guess. I’ve been struggling as MQ of Titan for the past few months. Why? Well, the short answer is… it’s new and exciting to be an MQ at first, but it gets old fast if you let it. And I did. Filling the calendar can be daunting, clearly you don’t want to be stuck leading your own workouts all the freaking time. And at points, I have been leading too much – getting repeditive, bringing stale ideas. It’s easy to blame others, but sometimes what you need is a hard look in the mirror. This had been building through the end of 2018 in my case, but being the only man to show up to Titan a week ago didn’t sit well with me as I tried to start 2019 on a brighter note – it really just crushed the optimism I had for the new year for a few days.
On a semi-related note; this had happened to me once per month for three months in a row now. I’ve jokingly referred to posting (Q-ing) solo as being a sad-clown, but it turns out I’ve been misusing that phrase a bit. I was flipping though Freed to Lead a bit the other day, and I re-read this part where Dredd/OBT specifically refer to a sad-clown more in the context of a manliness thing in our culture, where men feel compelled to put on a strong & happy outward appearance, but they’re holding frustration and disappointment deep down. And that’s something I’ve been doing – so let’s talk about my frustrations and faults here for a moment.
I guess the frustration started when some our regulars started going M.I.A.. I felt like there was a core group I was expecting to continue to be there, as we had been together for the last 2+ years at Titan. Thus, lesson #1: things change. Sometimes regular attendance, and who you can ask to Q, will need to change too. You can’t expect things to work the same as they always did. I definitly did at first. In fact, it’s probably healthier for an AO to keep fresh blood coming in as opposed to a small but loyal crew. Initially I felt quite judgmental of guys I expected to come, but that’s just unfair – life gets in the way sometimes with families and travel and injuries.
For a while, even if I could get guest Q’s, it was often the same few guys. I found myself relying on Turnpike and Tantrum a ton, mostly because I knew they were nearby and available. Turncoat stepped up once or twice, I even remember Professor offering to Q out of the blue one time. I had been reluctant to ask, as I’ve felt like the right people to ask for a Q were those who attended regularly. That seemed to be what I always noticed other MQ’s doing. But what if I asked a guy who lived 20+ minutes away, or really hated posting on Mondays? I didn’t want to do that. But really that’s garbage thinking, you have to ask for the things you want in life. You find a girl you want to marry, you have to ask. You find a job you want, you have to apply for it. Why is this any different? You want to get some new faces coming to your AO and bringing fresh ideas to the Q… lesson #2: you have to ask.
I guess the final thing I’ve been reflecting on is the importance of supporting other AO’s and supporting other MQ’s. So lesson #3, it’s important to be a tourist. Go try a different AO. Put together a clown car and post somewhere you’ve never gone before. Offer to Q a workout you haven’t been to in a year. Just go do something different and mix it up. It’s so easy for us to fall into a rut with what we do, the type of exercises we call, or where we go… one of the best things we can do is to keep the diversity level high. Not saying you can’t have a favorite AO, or a place where you’re a regular. In my case, you can almost always find me at Titan, Night Ranger, and frequently at The Estate. I honestly think I only posted at two other AO’s in all of 2018. Maybe some of you are better about this than I am… but meeting new guys, trying new workouts and AO’s, and offering to lead somewhere different… it’s a really great way to keep F3 diverse and the experience fresh.
Well anyway, I’m starting to ramble now. Suffice to say, I’ve had a bit of a learning curve taking on the MQ at Titan, and I just thought I would share a few thoughts in case anyone else was in a similar rut. I’m not going to act like I’ve got it all figured out, but maybe I’ve learned a little along the way – hope you enjoyed the read.