Birthday #1s for My 54th

AO: bomber
Q: Vector
PAX: Black Lung, Cream Cheese, DintyMoore, Sherlock, Pep, Papa Bear, CubCadet, Chunks, Tim the Toolman, t-cell, Recharge, Focker, Spinal Tap
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
So, YHC turned 54 last week (What? I don’t look that old? Oh, stop with all the complements, you . . . ), so time once again for a Birthday Q. Today’s theme, blatantly stolen from a Hi-Viz Q a few years back, was #1 songs from my birthdays of days past.

CONDITIONS: 50s, light breeze – perfect for everyone except Focker who stated at coffeeteria how much he loves the mid-summer, 90s and high humidity workout. And he was serious . . .

PLAYLIST:
1970 (True Day of Birth #1) – Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel [NOTE: not the best workout song, bit of a downer, but that’s my true birthday #1]
1978 (8th Bday) Night Fever – Bee Gees
1980 (10th Bday) Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
1983 (13th Bday) Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
1984 (14th Bday) Jump – Van Halen
1988 (18th Bday) Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
1993 (23rd Bday) The Sign – Ace of Base
1997 (27th Bday) Wannabe – The Spice Girls
2003 (33rd Bday) In da Club – 50 Cent
2012 (42nd Bday) We are Young – fun.
2013 (43rd Bday) Happy – Pharrell Williams
2019 (49th Bday) Sucker – Jonas Brothers

WARMUP:
54 SSH as per Vector Bday tradition
LBAC x 12
Seal Claps x 12
Overhead Press x 12
RLBAC x 12
WMH x 10 OHO
Good Mornings x 10 OHO

THE THANG:
#1: Mosey to playground – 54s
5 exercises x 4 sets with Rec Center run in between each set.
50 Squats
40 Incline merkins
30 Big boy sit ups
20 Lunges
10 Pull ups
(Kudos to Black Lung for ensuring correct forms were followed)

#2: 54 sprint – 5 burpees, run up hill, 4 burpees

#3: DIDs: 18 each of Dips, Incline merkins, Decline merkins (18 x 3 = 54 . . . ’cause math!)

Mary with flutter kicks, boxcutters and some god awful exercise from Focker called Seal Crunches . . . form was definitely varied across the circle on those

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Thanks for Black Lung’s M with a new job
– bluemule beer event – check Slack (like literally EVERY single channel)
– Murder Mile next week at Green Machine

COT: Moment to take in the day and then thanks to the HIM who continue to push me and make me feel much younger than 54. I did appreciate hearing that many were gassed by the workout, with the highest praise coming from t-cell: “This is a workout that Vector would complain about if he wasn’t Q.” Well said, my friend. Well said. SYITG, Vector

Relay for Life

AO: handsomizer
Q: Hair Band
PAX: Natural Ice, bluemule, caprate, Chunks, Spinal Tap, Mansport, Plunger
FNGs: None
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: perfect English weather

WARMUP:
Mosey
Good mornings
WMHs
LBACs
Air press
Michael phelps

THE THANG:
Relay Race day! Two teams

15 burpees for lead off runner, rest of team continues to do burpees until runners get back
Runners Run ramp
Once all in winner is declared and winning team gets to choose a different exercise for themselves, that exercise can only be used once though. Winning team also adds 5 reps to their exercise each time they win
Rinse and Repeat

Final scores
Team blue mule, mansport, chunks, and Hair Band 3 wins
Team Spinal Tap, Cap Rate, Plunger, and Natural Ice 1 win

MOLESKINE:
Rugby might be the best sport?
If you are traveling to Scotland, start in Edinburgh or Glasgow and travel around the Highlands

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– murder mile at greenmachine, check channel for details
– bluemule hosting a beer tasting for his birthday, likely happening the 22nd
– Plankpril, check 1stf channel for details

COT:
– each man shared a prayer request, prayers for health, wellness, deaths of family members and friends, new jobs, job search, traveling mercies

As always, thank you for having me out to lead! It was an honor and a privilege to become more handsome at the Handsomizer.

Rock on,

Hair Band

Find your adventure

AO: handsomizer
Q: G-string (Eli Kresta)
PAX: Natural Ice, Rocket Mortgage, Freakonomics, Red Skull, Spinal Tap, Black Lung
FNGs: None
COUNT: 7
CONDITIONS:
Rainy and chilly. Perfect for a beatdown… in the parking deck.

WARMUP:
– Motivator X6
– Inchworms
– Mosey to the parking deck
– BACs
– Back-BACs
– Overhead Claps
– 20 burpee buy in (hero style)

THE THANG:
Split into two teams
Thang 1:
Rotate through the following exercises
– Pullups on the ledge
– endorphins with the sandbag
– Bear-crawl up the incline and back

Thang 2:
Complete the reps as a team
– 150 perfect merkins
– 200 sandbag rows
– 250 air squats

MARY:
– 25 big-boys
– 25 LBCs
– 25 slow leg raises
– 45 second hollow hold

MOLESKINE:
“The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.” -GK Chesterton
Looking back on my life, my twenties were full of adventures (travel, missionary work, moves, etc.), but now that I’m thirty, I am married with a child. There is a lot less obvious adventure in the day-to-day operations now. HOWEVER, it fills my heart just as much as the adventures did in my twenties.

How do we view adventure? How do we see the extraordinary in our daily lives? Do we see our roles as husbands and fathers as truly heroic, and do we treat them as such?

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Biscuit run tomorrow

COT:
Friend of PAX has lost multiple children in the last 12 months. Prayers for him.

Leap Day! (Almost)

AO: titan
Q: Grape
PAX: preacherman, Right Said, Crawlspace, Sherlock, Black Lung, Pep, Natural Ice, Firefox, greyalbum, Tim the Toolman, Spinal Tap, DintyMoore
FNGs: None
COUNT: 13
CONDITIONS: warm and windy! Got done right before the showers

WARMUP:
20 SSH
10 WMH OYO
10 Good Mornings OYO
10 LBAC F
10 LBAC R
10 OH Claps
10 Seal Claps
10 Moroccan Night Clubs

THE THANG: In honor of my son’s 1st real birthday tomorrow (he’s turning 4…or 1…or something) we worked on our leaping ability with a jump-themed playlist

Mosey
Stop at various points to do 20 crunchy frogs IC
At the ellipse, partner up for Dora

LEAP
100 LBC’s
200 E2K (mountain climbers)
300 APD’s
4:00 Plank (1 minute at a time with 20 seconds of rest)

Mosey to hill

FROG
Frog jump up hill, run down
Run up hill, run back down
Obama up hill, run back down
Grapevine run to startex

MOLESKINE: those frog jumps really wrecked me. Hope you guys enjoyed the Mary themed Dora. Thanks for having me!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: biscuit run, plankpril

COT: Grey’s adoption, upcoming surgeries, selfish parenting

Crumping

AO: westeros
Q: Wolfpack
PAX: Tim the TOOLMAN, Black Lung, DintyMoore, Grape, Natural Ice, Pep, Red Skull, Sally, Spinal Tap, Blueprint
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: Guns out, cut off sleeves type of morning

WARMUP: Mosey around. BACs. BACBACs. Imperial Walkers. WMHs.

THE THANG:
Split up into pairs (Choose a new Pax to pair with after every exercise). Theme was, if you can do 1, you can do 2, if you can do 2, you can do 10. Each Pax alternated with each other working up from 1 rep to 10 reps. 55 total reps per exercise per Pax.

Overhead Seal Claps
Mosey to tennis courts
Squats
Mosey to playground
Merkins
Mosey to stairs
Step Ups
Mosey to Playground
Dips
Mosey to tennis courts
Iron Mikes
Mosey back to flag

MARY
Same concept, but in a group working up to 5 reps.

Leg Raises
Shoulder Taps

MOLESKINE:
Crumping is a term in mountaineering/backpacking when every movement is tough and even the smallest steps feel hard. It’s in these moments that we need to realize that if we can take one step, we can take the next. And even more important to understand we don’t have to go at it alone. Ask for help where you need it and lend a helping hand when you can. “Leave no man behind and leave no man where you found him”

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Biscuit Run this Saturday (Westhaven to Loveless)

Next Tuesday (3/5) Bring Your Kid To Workout Day at TheKnoll in Bellevue. If you’ve ever wondered what a 2.0 workout looks like bring the kids and come out! (Recommended age 6+)

March 28th Murder Mile at Greenmachine

Plankril coming in April. See Grape for details and get ready to become ripped SkaterBoys

COT: A moment of silent reflection for all prayers spoken and unspoken. Cheers to you men!

Just Another Rainy Friday

AO: bomber
Q: hambone
PAX: Chunks, Tim the Toolman, Papa Bear, Pep, Vector, Aquafina, Avalanche, CubCadet, DintyMoore, Firefox, Spinal Tap, Puzzlah
FNGs: None
COUNT: 13
CONDITIONS: Wet and quiet

WARMUP:
15 x SSH IC
12 x IST IC
14 x TS IC
GMs OYO
13 x Squats IC

THE THANG:
Mosey to McCabe Pub, 5 Merkins IC
Mosey down the street; 5 mins of bear crawls
Mosey north for a bit, squats for the six
Mosey south for a bit, squats for the six

6 mins of Mary

Mosey to the bottom of our favorite hill; Pax completed Jacob’s Ladder (7 trips up the hill, increase burpees on each one)

MOLESKINE:
1) YHC wanted to do some moving around. Coming off of a busted ankle, I appreciate the pax putting up with some slow jogging as we checked the area out.

2) While walking into coffeeteria, @Puzzlah pointed out to me that his entire front size was wet but back side was dry. This is the upside to doing burpees

3) Distance totaled 2.5 miles for the whole workout

PRAYERS:
1) Prayers for Cub Cadet’s coworker being recently diagnosed with throat cancer. Prayers for peace and strength in a difficult time
2) Prayers for @Supernova’s mother-in-law after her passing after illness. We pray she is safe in the Lord’s arms and that his family finds peace in a difficult time.

Heavy Dora + Futbol

AO: titan
Q: Detective Pikachu
PAX: Salpal, Freakonomics, Tim the Toolman, Black Lung, CubCadet, Spinal Tap, Natural Ice, preacherman, Good Morning America, bluemule, Avalanche
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: Slightly chilly

WARMUP: Grabbed coupons and mosey to oval track

THE THANG:
Round 1: Heavy Dora
100 block bench presses
100 curls
100 block squats

Intermission: Indigenous Peoples Run around oval track until everyone had gone. Sprinted back to blocks

Round 2: 50 reps of each instead of 100

Finale: Futbol. Took absolutely forever for anyone to score, but once the floodgates were open, Q’s team lost.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Final stretch of leanpax. Hang in there. Prayers for Salpal and M as M is finishing her PhD and they’re expecting 2.1. Prayers for my M as she passed her closed doctoral defense and will prep for open defense and start the job hunt

BlackLung Monday Mayhem #1

AO: westeros
Q: Black Lung
PAX: Spinal Tap, Crawlspace, Vector, Firefox, Pep, Chunks, Wolfpack, Siri, Natural Ice, Salpal, Grape, Tim the Toolman, Sherlock
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
Chunks decided that once a month, Westeros is holding a “Monday Mayhem” with intentionally difficult workouts. I was honored to be invited for the inaugural event and did my best to deliver.

CONDITIONS: Cold and dreary
WARMUP: non-existant
THE THANG:
Burpee apocalypse (10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3)
Run to tennis courts

Ab blaster:
30 WWIs, 30 4-ct flutter kicks, 20 leg lifts, 100 mountain climbers, 30 WWIs, 25 flutter kicks, 15 leg lifts, 50 mountain climbers, 20 WWIs

Tabata: (40 seconds exercise, 20 seconds rest); 3 sets per round (9 minutes):
Round 1: Jump Squats, Burpees, WWIIs
3 Tennis Court Sideline Suicide Runs

Round 2: Iron Mikes, Hand Release Merkins, LBCs
3 Tennis Court Sideline Suicide Runs

Run back to start just in time for 20 more hand-release merkins (~80 total) and 10 more burpees (~100 total)

Always a pleasure to lead. Thanks to Chunks for the invitation.

Garage of Wonders

AO: handsomizer
Q: Detective Pikachu
PAX: Spinal Tap, Rocket Mortgage, Freakonomics, Plumber
FNGs: None
COUNT: 5
CONDITIONS: Foggy, mildly chilly

WARMUP: Circuitous mosey to the top of the stairs. Stretches, BACs, Seal Claps

THE THANG: Garage of Wonders
Mosey between floors, with 100 reps of an exercise at every floor.
1: Merkins
2: WW1s
3: Squats
4: Single leg deadlifts
There are 7? total landings (we skipped some)
10 reps of each exercise at the top and mosey back to StartEx

ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Hunger Games tomorrow night at Natural Ice’s place. Firefox is bringing the games.

COT: Pray for my wife, as her doctoral defense is this coming Tuesday. Pray she prepares well and remembers what she prepares.

Oh, oh, it’s MAGIC

AO: titan
Q: Vector
PAX: Black Lung, Chunks, Detective Pikachu, DintyMoore, Firefox, Freakonomics, Good Morning America, greyalbum, hambone, Natural Ice, Pep, preacherman, Right Said, Salpal, Spinal Tap, Tim the Toolman, 15-Love
FNGs: 1 15-Love
COUNT: 18
As is often the case with a Vector Q, the workout planning involves weeks of theme playlist curating and then a frantic 24 hours of “crap, how do I create a workout to match my super cool playlist?” So, in that spirit:

While many may try to use instant supplements or crazy muscle building ideas to get swole, you can’t rely on magic to get fit. So in honor of Harry Houdini, born 150 years ago in 1874, I present a different kind of magic to get y’all in shape.

CONDITIONS: Damp yet perfect

WARMUP: Mosey around the parking lot to the far side of the Parthenon. Willy Mayes Hayes x 10, LBAC x 10, Seal claps x 10, Overhead Press x 10, Reverse LBAC x 10, and Good Mornings x 10 OHO

THE THANG:
MAGIC #1 – 150 reps of each exercise and a run around the Parthenon between each:
M – Merkins
A – Alabama Prom Dates
G – Gorilla Humpers (which I had to example multiple times . . . hmm)
I – Iron Mikes
C – Carolina Dry Docks
(Fair amount of mumbling that each leg should not count only 1/2 on these exercises . . . I did not waiver).

MAGIC #2: 150 reps but no running in between due to time
M: Mountain Climbers
A: Ass Kickers
G: Great Form Squats
I: Incline Merkins
C: Crunches (Little Baby)

Ended at time – welcomed FNG 15-Love a recently married tennis fan EH’d by Detective Pikachu.

PRAYERS: To Grey Album on impending adoption and associated stress, friend Yuri and family facing pancreatic cancer, and others I forgot (apologies!)

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hunger Games this weekend, Hike/Ruck with 2.0s to give M’s a break – see Slack for deets.

Honored to lead and that you all continue to tolerate my Q-uirkiness (see what I did there?) in leading . . . SYITG
Vector