Battle Rope Monday

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