YHC has always preferred to have a plan prior to Q-ing a workout, and this morning’s beatdown was no different. I wanted to do something involving blocks and a hill. With the Murph a day earlier, I wanted to focus on upper body and core. But that left figuring out how to get blocks down to Copperhead Hill. That’s when I recalled seeing a back blast from Shirley in SVU where they hauled blocks with a wheel barrow. After considering various ways to employ a barrow from the blockpile to the hill, I settled on an Indian-run variation where the tail would run the wheelbarrow to the front while the rest of the pax carried their blocks overhead.
Doubt crept into YHC’s mind as the headlights poured into the parking lot this morning. I had expected 8-10 pax equaling 240-300 pounds of cement, but as we moseyed to the far corner of the lot for CoP, pax were still rolling in. Following a brief warmup of SSH, Windmills, Mountain Climbers, and Dwight Shrutes, I had each pax grab a paver. There were several complaints about the light-weight option with the MQ threatening to take two. YHC knew that would be a #bluefalcon move and insisted one would be plenty.
With some difficulty, we got into a single-file line as I brought the wheelbarrow to the back. Instructions were laid out — the men were to Zamperini single file toward Copperhead Hill. The man at back would place his paver in the wheel barrow and mosey about 10 yards ahead of the front of the line where he would grab his block and take up a position at the lead. When the last man caught up to the stationary barrow, he would place his block in and head for the front. Repeat as often as necessary until we reached the back entrance to the school.
Rodeo opined that he would get more steps but less calories than his M with the silly routine, but things were about to change. At the bottom of the hill, each man reclaimed his block so that we could complete Skull Crushers. The Force claimed he had been doing that the whole time, but that’s not the Q’s fault — sometimes trying to outwit the Q fails miserably.
Following 15 reps in cadence, everyone was ordered to place their blocks in the barrow and then sprint up the hill for AMRAP WWIIs. How long you ask? Until YHC pushed the fully loaded barrow up the hill. A brief internet search suggests the landscape pavers weigh 18.5 pounds apiece so a full barrow was roughly 315 pounds. I’ll let the others chime in below on what they thought of the haul, but YHC found he was winded by the time he ascended the hill.
Once the barrow was at the top, the pax could recover, retrieve their block and return to to the bottom of the hill. Last man was asked to bring the barrow with him. At bottom we repeated the process with a different #HIM tasked with hauling the barrow of blocks each time.
At the top we also did CDD (an opportunity for a State/Carolina football jab), Dot the I, Flutter Kick and Oblique Crunches. In addition to skull crushers, we did Bent-Over Row, Curl, Overhead Press and Lawnmowers all with 15 reps in cadence. Many of the men complimented YHC on his outstanding stength on the latter although it was clear the right hand had a significantly better grip. Based on pre-workout conversation, I assume Q-bert was equally equipped.
I didn’t want to be at the bottom of the hill when 0615 rolled around so we called it after 5 rounds and filled the wheel barrow up for a hill ascent on Stumptown. Anyone who had not had a turn on Copperhead Hill was asked to take a turn on the long hill while the others sprinted up. A few industrious pax did some more core work as the Q sucked wind waiting for the blocks to arrive. Comment below if you got a turn — I only saw Carpetbagger as he powered up the last several yards. The plan was to let the sprinters take over from the church entrance to the school wall, but Pavarotti insisted on a turn.
At the school, the men again reclaimed their blocks and found a spot on the wall for People’s Chair. While the thighs suffered a slow burn, we did two rounds of School Bus Driver – something the MQ came up with in the past. Being in people’s chair (versus Al Gore) and using a paver (versus a cinder block) made it a bit easier, although Toxic was quick to point out that the 2nd round didn’t go as may reps. What can I say? With everyone schooling at home, the bus driver is out of practice!
With just a few minutes left, we returned to the cars and put the blocks aside for Suzanne Sommers which took us right to 0615 and a recover recover. By the time it was over, we had all completed something old and something new; something borrowed barrowed and something blue blew.
Honorable Mentions
- We went around the circle for prayers and petitions. Lots of reasons to lean on God during these difficult times
- Unless I misunderstood some names, FNG1 is Lager and FNG-2 is Torch (Soprano’s 2.x)
- Torch did an outstanding job this morning!
- For some of the overheard items, read the back blast; for others, comment below
- Kudos to Popcorn and the rest of the Fartlek crew for the flyby
- Frontier and Amen put in extra credit with a 0500 standard
- Carpetbagger is hosting a birthday Q in early December complete with bourbon and beer
- T-claps to the MQ for bringing the wheel barrow this morning!