6 men met at Grasslawn Park this morning to progress their journey as HIM.
PAX: ThriftShop, BamBam, Huerro, PingPong, Lateral, Tardy (Q)
Lateral was tardy, as usual skipping the warm up, but lighted the jets quickly (also as usual). We quickly overcame being Q-less after the 5:30 question posed by ThriftShop: “What does it mean when the Q Signup Page says ‘No Q’?” 5:31 Tardy assumes Q and group warms up on the grassy field that was less recently watered by high volume sprinklers.
–Warm-Up: SSH, Slow-Low-Wide Squats, Imperial Walkers, Narrow Merkins.
– Mosey to parking lot on other side of Grasslawn (~400 yds)
– Parking lot laps: 1 person selects an exercise that the PAX performs while the 1 person runs a parking lot lap (~200 yds). 6 exercises performed: Sumo Squats, Step-back Lunges, Merkins, Julian Michaels, Plank Jacks, Champions (?) (ThriftShop exercise involving bridging and touching hand to opposite foot; abs and coordination skills challenged!)
– Mosey to soccer field
– 529’er Style 4 Corners (modified): Made 6 stops while running large lap around the field. At each stop, 1 person calls out an exercise for the remaining PAX to perform, while the single performs AMRAP Burpees. 6 Exercises: Merkins, Wide Squats, WWII Sit-Ups, Peter Parkers, Skaters, and I am forgetting one.
– Catch Me If You Can: Paired up, and each pair ran two laps of CMIYC. During Lap 1 partner 1 performed 4 Burpees before sprinting to catch backwards trotting partner, on lap 2 performed 3 Star-Jumps before sprinting to catch backwards trotting partner. Shout-out: I had never worked out with PingPong before. He crushed this exercise and me with it. I had to truly sprint to catch him and make him do even 2 sets of exercises per lap.
– Jack Webb
– Mosey to “spider’s web” play area
– Playset bootcamp: performed following exercises on the bars, walls and benches this AO provides for fun: 1) Hungarian Pull-Ups x 10; 2) Chin-ups x 10; 3) Very Inclined Merkins x 10; 4) 20 Step-Ups. Mosey to starting point.
– 5 MoM: PT and PYS inspired abs from Tardy included: Bird-Dog (hold for 30 seconds x 2); Downward Dog yoga pose (calf & hamstring stretch); Downward dog, lift one leg, into “knee to nose” and “knee to elbow” holding poses; Cat-Cow x 5; Upper thoracic twists.
– (1) Custom Tough CASAUP late August; Sign up, Buckeye has this wired for unique challenge. (2) Wolf still Q’ing Wed AM 5 AM Rucks, which PingPong wanted in on; Check the site or with Wolf as the starting point is changing and hike will be on pavement vice Bridal Trails. (3) Sept 15 weekend at Lake Katchess; Huerro is Q/Coordinator and would love help to select good events for the kids etc; Coffee is on Huerro for the meet-up to discuss
–Words: Tardy shared two observations from his week on “vacation” solo with his kids visiting family in NY. 1) His kids only see their cousins 2x per year, yet when they arrive they engage and communicate and act is if they were never apart; no reservation, total ease. 2) After high energy time together there are arguments, disagreements, etc (thus, no vacation for Tardy). However, after a break and/or once the next activity or meal is in play, all is forgotten; they hit the reset button, no grudges, enjoy fully the next conversation or video game or event. or family dinner. TAKEAWAY: As Leaders and HIM we can emulate some of this. Enter each conversation without bias and looking to get the most out of it regardless of the past. Enjoy engagement and interaction. Take a break when you know you need it, but come back for more, don’t miss the opportunity that is presented to be with others. Like a kid, don’t overthink or overburden, just get into it; whether that be family, friends, clients, work associates.
Thanks for hitting it today and inspiring me to grab the Q and lead without a prior game-plan.
Safe Travels to PingPong who departs Redmond for Bangkok and points far-east next week. He returns to teach the Fall Quarter at UW. Until then he’ll be stuck paying for professional bootcamps and the stuff we give away for free, but we eagerly await his return. Respect Respect