4 Pax chose to endure pain at The Mighty Oak today. Here’s what went down:
YHC showed and only one car was in the parking lot. It isn’t raining, so where is everyone? Does YHC smell bad? At least, no sad clown scenario.
Jellystone introduced himself. He was DR from Plainfield (outside of Chicago), heard that the Isotope brought pain like no other region, and wanted to experience it first-hand. Little did he know that YHC had asked for playlist requests the night prior to avoid the default being “Your M’s sample playlist”. Ironically, StubHub made requests but did not make the AO (insert bitterness here). Then Mulligan came running from afar and Estwing alike. They probably parked around the corner and just wanted the appearance of a long mosey into the AO. It was 5:30, so we moseyed to the school bus lot behind the school (where all good things happen) for:
Warmarama:
-SSH x50 (100) Yes!
-IST x20 (40)
-Toy Soldier x20 (40)
-Slow Windmill x10
-Long Snapper/Dwight Schrute/Slippery Dip Can/Soap locator/Carrot Pullers/Lil’ Professor x10
Then the tunes commenced:
Monkey Wrench-Foo Fighters (Pax requested)
Don’t Stop Believing-Journey (Pax requested)
Stacy’s Mom-Fountains of Wayne (Pax requested)
Wait…no more requests were made in advance based on YHC’s #pb, so the M’s Sample Playlist began. There were two special songs that if played during the random shuffle, would stop everything to do a special exercise. Those would be “Hey Mickey” and “Jolene”.
-Wannabe-Spice Girls (Mulligan liked this and it now resides in his playlist)
-Hey Mickey-Toni Basil (pain-see below)
-Top of the World-Carpenters (Estwing knows all the words)
-Single Ladies-Beyoncé (All Pax secretly like this song and will never admit it)
-Jolene-Dolly Parton (pain-see below)
-No Scrubs-TLC (fartsackers should pay attention to this one)
-Shake it Off-Taylor Swift (there was no “pan in” what she was doing in her box seat during our workout)
-Dancing Queen-ABBA (all Pax had memories of dancing with girls in their prime to this one)
-Girls Just Wanna Have Fun-Cyndi Lauper (overused)
-Adele-Hello (used for mobility moment-there may have been tears shed)
The Thang
Ropes and Blocks:
Toby’s long, thick, black, battle rope was utilized carefully and with proper form by each Pax. One would use the rope after a set of 3 exercises with blocks while the rest of the Pax did a 75% sprint to the fence at the end of the lot and back (I.e. lap).
Round 1:
-Skull Crusher x20 (40 IC)
-Overhead Press x20 (40 IC)
-Curl x20 (40 IC)
One Pax grab the rope and the rest do a lap
And then Mickey began to play. Fate meant for us to do arm planks (with proper form) until we heard the word “Mickey”. Each “Mickey” resulted in a Merkin (YHC prefers ‘Merican). Result=The longest 4:13 minute plank of our lives and 62 ‘Mericans.
Round 2:
-Block Swing x20
-Deadlift x20
-Lawn Mower each arm x10 (40 IC)
One Pax grab the rope and the rest do a lap
And then Jolene began to play. Fate meant for us to do continuous squats until we heard the word “Jolene” and then drop and do a burpee for each one. Result=31 burpess within 2:43.
Round 3:
-Bent-over Row x20 (40 IC)
-Chest Press x20 (40 IC)
-Christian McCalf Raises x23 (46 IC)
One Pax grab the rope and the rest do a lap
Round 4:
-LBC x20 (40 IC)
-Pillow talk each side x20 (80 IC)
-Leg Threesomes-Low flutter x10; Rosalita x10; Hello Dolly x10 (60 IC)
-Rocky Balboa/Muhammad Ali x50 (100 IC)
One Pax grab the rope and the rest do a lap
Blocks up
Mosey Back to Base
Mobility Moment (in tears due to “Hello”)
Recover, Recover
Moleskin:
YHC doesn’t ever want to do the “Mickey” or “Jolene” routine again, but would encourage future Q’s to do so if you want to make something so miserable that hurts so bad. It was good having Jellystone with us from Plainfield outside of Chicago. Always good posting with Mulligan and Estwing who crushed it as usual. Great job today gents. Those avoiding “said” weather forecast that never produced “said rain” missed out.thanks for lending YHC the keys to the AO Estwing (and for the Patch that YHC may or may not receive).
COT/Namarama
Prayer Requests:
-Mulligan’s grandmother and her hip surgery and recovery
-All Pax experiencing layoffs and finding new work
-Reach out to a Kotter
-Unspokens in all F3 circles
Announcements:
-Remember the Attendance and Q Patch that Estwing promised us? Well, he’s still waiting to get them to us, but YHC is certain it’s for a good reason.
-9-Lives, Scrappy, and Freedom are all planning for the 2024, 10th Annual Polar Bear, Urban Assault, Concrete Jungle, Taking it to the Streets, Kicking Asphalt! Dave the date for March 9th, 0630-Location forthcoming.
-Christina Latini Memorial 8k March 16th
-Kiawah Island Triathlon October 6th
-JFK 50 Mile Ultra November 23rd
-Bourbon Chase 200 mile Relay October 4-5th
-There are plenty of Q slots at all AO’s. Please sign up. For new Pax, volunteer to lead/Q (we’ll help you co-Q). For you seasoned guys, sign up for some Q’s.
-Invite a FNG or brother you haven’t seen in a while who’s a Kotter. Invite that #just1 who needs you more than you know (an invitation is a powerful thing brothers). If none of those work for you, just show up. No one will be left behind, but it all starts with the discipline to take one
Until next time…
Toby
(aka Tobra Commander, Tobra Kai, Tobi-Wan, Teletoby, Tobias, Tobadia, “Toe”bee, TobyMac, Tob-lerone, TOB-the-wet-sprocket, etc.)