The third day of Christmas brought unseasonably warm weather and 10 PAX to the Vortex. After a warm up lap and some exercises to get the blood flowing, we transitioned to the meat of the workout with 25 cadence-count merkins before heading to the playground.
PAX did low squat hold with arms high during the rather lengthy instructions for the playground portion of our exercises, then divided into two groups of five. Group One did 20 merkins, 20 Australian pull-ups, 20 dips—and then repeated the same. Group Two did pull-ups (with a three-count at the bottom) to failure + five assisted pull-ups, 20 dry docks, variable air squats (until called upon to spot)—and then repeated the same. Predictably, the groups then switched before we moseyed back to the field.
We did 25 slow-count merkins before beginning fieldwork proper. First was a variant of “Vortex Pinball”—bear crawl c. 20 yards, 5 burpees, crawl bear back c. 20 yards, 5 burpees, repeat… We did this for c. 6 minutes, or long enough to produce muscle failure in most PAX, before partnering up for three rounds of DORA-inspired exercises (triggered by time rather than by number of repetitions). In the first round, PAX 1 crab walked c. 20 yards and sprinted back while PAX 2 repeated the bottom half of the burpee, fitting in as many rotations as possible. For round two, PAX 1 crab walked both ways, while PAX 2 did jump squats. For the final round, PAX 1 bunny hopped both ways, while PAX 2 did tuck jumps.
Following a bracing, full-field sprint, we partnered up again for ab work, taking turns throwing one another’s feet down. A ring of fire consisted of 15-count alternating high and low planks, followed by Freddie Mercuries and, of course, flutter kicks.
It’s great to know guys who find thrashing about at O-dark-thirty to be restful. A joy and a privilege to be out, as always!
