Two weeks ago, Squatter busted out a battle rope at FWD. I loved how much I hated it, so I ordered one for my home gym (aka, 8 square feet in my garage, usually covered by tricycles).
Fast forward to my VQ. A-Team leans problematic, and I suspected the VQ trainwreck might draw some additional bodies, so I tried to brainstorm some ways to corral the masses. I settled on Battle Rope Monday.
Thirty (!) Pax showed, so I was glad I had a gimmick.
Our Nantan was in attendance and immediately noticed that I’d forgotten my watch on the only day I actually need it, so we’re off to a great start.
Gulp. Disclaim. Pledge.
Mosey about 10 yards, where I’d stashed the 50-foot battle rope. (I know it’s just a rope, but I think battle rope sounds cool so that’s what I’m calling it.) The Pax grabbed ahold, lifted it overhead, and we moseyed to the batting cage parking lot.
Warm-Up
- 7 Good Mornings
- 20 SSH
- 20 Imperial Walkers
- 10 Standard Merkins OMD
Grab the rope, mosey to the volleyball courts.
Thang 1:
- 50 Yard Dash across the courts. “Sack hop” back. Repeato. Repeato.
- Split the Pax in half for tug-of-war.
Grab the rope, mosey around the pickle for some cheap mileage, then head to the ninja park.
Thang 2:
- Battle Rope Lateral Bear Crawls
- Battle Rope Squats
- Battle Rope Quick Hands
- Battle Rope Prisoner’s Squats
- Battle Rope Plank One-Arm Extension
- Battle Rope Jump Lunges
- Battle Rope Quick Feet
Grab the rope, mosey through the greenway to The A-Team Hill.
Thang 3:
- Divide the Pax in half. Group 1 takes the rope and mounts the hill. Group 2 does 20 merkins, 20 squats, and 20 LBCs. Trade off. Repeato.
Grab the rope, mosey to the baseball parking lot for Mary.
Mary:
- Battle Rope WW2
- Battle Rope Freddy Mercury
- Battle Rope Leg Lifts
- Battle Rope LBCs
COT, count-a-rama, announcements (Crazy Train), prayers/praises (Intimidator’s mother).
NMS:
In my head, the sand was a good idea. There was a field day vibe to Thang 1, and jumping in the sand is hard, so why not try the whole thing in a sand pit? Unfortunately, 90% of the sand wound up in our shoes. Sorry guys.
For posterity: the Battle Rope Leg Lifts also failed.
Those mistakes aside, I liked the battle rope gimmick. Thangs 2 and 3 generally went liked I wanted them to. There was a lot of mumblechatter, but I kept the plane in the air.
A couple quick thanks:
- To everyone who didn’t forget their watches and helped me keep track of time.
- To Smokey, for recording all the names.
- To the Pax who usually hit other AOs on Monday but showed up just because it was my VQ. I really appreciate it. I did a mental fist-pump when I saw each one of you guys.
- To Disco Duck, who is the freaking man. Disco Duck teed up my taking this Q and was a sounding board for all my questions. He also teed up my first EC run, checked in on me when I got hurt a couple months back, and generally has been as great of a leader as you’d expect from the HIM of the Year. I’ve gotten so much more out of F3 because of him.
- To Denali, for consistently talking up F3 until I finally was ready to pull the trigger. I owe you one.
- To Carpex and F3 in general. I often hear people say, “F3 fills a hole in your life you didn’t know you had.” I’m sure that’s true for many, but in my case, it fills a hole I knew I had but just didn’t know how to fill it. I’m only four months into F3, but I’m already happier and healthier and just better. I can’t wait to see where things go from here.
I promise I won’t write this much next time.
-Captain Jack