Alligator...

Date: November 20th

AO: Firepit

QiC: Shoota

PAX: Winger, Plunger, Whoopie, Movin On Up, Jorts, Braddock, Lump, Noble Virus, Click Bait, Red Tees, Hoser, Shocker, HackFace, Beans and Oregon Trail.

QiC made a proclamation the night before that we are bringing back the old school pre-parties. Back in the day they were a staple...time to relive the past so we're kicking off at 5:30. Shout out to the men who answered the call and joined me for 10 burpees on the minute for 10 minutes, followed by a bunch of slow motion squats. At some point, our runners showed up, way to push men.

Warm-o-rama

25 SSHs

WMHs and GMs

Lets go....

Burpee Jax Apocalypse - (We should add this to the exicon, anyone know somebody with some pull?)

10 burpees, 10 SSHs, 9 burpees, 9 SSHs...all the way down to 1 burpee and 1 SSH. Solid way to combine a little extra warmup with some actual work! Now mosey over to the corridor between buildings

Ascending Balls to the Wall - Feet on wall at 90 degrees and do 10 merkins, feet on wall at ~145 degrees and 10 irkins, get parallel to the wall and 10 shoulder presses....lots of groaning and moaning so I think these proved to be a crowd pleaser so we should do them again but 5 this time to give everyone a chance at completing.

Wall sits - each pax counts to 5.

Then a rotation of 20 squats, 20 donkey kicks...we did a few rounds.

Next up Merkin Jax - a 1:4 ratio of merkins:plank jacks. Went up to 5:20 and then back down to 1:4.

Mosey to big parking lot and line up by curb

Toe Taps on curb, drop and do 3 merkins on command

Apple Turnovers - 10 merkins, bear crawl half way across lot, 10 merkins, crab walk remainder of lot and 10 merkins at end.

going back - 20 squats, broad jump halfway, 20 squats and duck walk remainder, 20 squats.

Suicides across parking lot - 10 merkins and 20 squats, sprint half way, 10 and 20, sprint back to start and 10, 20, other end of lot and 10, 20, back to start and 10, 20.

Then it happened....the crowd pleasing Alligator Merkins! The cheers from the PAX were resounding! Alligator merkin across the lot...1 merkin with every single "step". Questions were asked, souls were crushed and life lessons were learned...but we all got better for it.

Mosey the long way back to the shovel flag for a Shoota staple, Captain Thors. What's that? Still time left you say? Flutter kicks until the clock strikes 6:30....I think we got in about 10 in cadence before my watch said the work was done.

Moleskin - Thanks to everyone that donated towards the 4:13 Strong dinner. Shocker and I shared some stories about the men to reiterate the need for us to keep pushing forward and participating in this program. I can't tell everyone how much of an impact it has had on me. I so badly want these young men to succeed. They are good men that were dealt bad hands and made mistakes, something many of us can all associate with. They're on a path to redemption and need men willing to believe and invest in them, that is something nearly all of them have never had. In return, I get just as much from them as I give as they sharpen me and hold me accountable for being a better man and believing in others and second chances. I went into the program wondering if it was worth the 25 minute drive over to their campus and look back now disappointed it took me that long to commit.

No prayer requests so we just sent up thanks for the gifts and blessings we all have in our lives. Remember to be positive and focus on the good, don't let the bad stuff in life shade your shine.

Shoota out!