The theme was “failure” on this rather brisk* morning, with the idea of pushing our bodies past their
capacity as many times as possible.
After a quick run around the field (complete with another shooting star!) and some windmills (20), sideshuffle hops (many), and mountain climbers (15) to warm up, we primed the pump for failure by doing a few more merkins (30 cadence count) and jump lunges (20ish? cadence count) than usual.
Then to the playground. The Q had been expecting more people and had an elaborate rotation scheme planned for the playground, which ended up just being confusing. But we finally managed a sequence of low rows on the swings, prisoner squats, Carolina drydocks, sideshuffle hops, dips, and pull-ups (minimum of eight, muscle failure + one). The timing for each exercise was keyed to the pull-ups, and the number count varied among the PAX. We went through the sequence twice, and there was a lot of muscle failure. Then back to the field.
We paired up, and one person sprinted to the far end line and back while the other did merkins. Then switch. Then repeat. There were granny merkins and muscle failures, though everyone was remarkably fast.
We divided into three teams for a race. Teammates rotated through four slots: one person ran around the soccer field, stopping in the each corner for 10 merkins; one served as foot catcher/thrower; one lay on the ground holding the catcher/thrower’s ankles and trying to keep his legs up while the catcher/thrower tried to push them back down; and one did burpees. The team with three PAX saved all of their burpees for the end, with the shortsighted result that they were ineligible to win because they had to key their timing off of another team! Grown men were rolling around on the ice-covered ground holding their abdomens. Muscle failure. We finished the “race” with a euphoric round of sideshuffle hops (10) in cadence.
In-cadence Freddie Mercuries (20) and Russian Hammers (20), followed by Plank-O-Rama to finish.
Good word from Weurffel about the third F and closing prayer.
*The temperature fell from 32 degrees at 5:45 to 28 degrees at 6:30, with gusts at 12 mph. Lovely.
