Oracle Backblast 2-25-23
02/25/23
11 Degrees, slight breeze
PAX: 14 – Z-bo (Q), Mahomes (Hate), Black Flag, Slow Pitch, Skipper, Ice T, Easy Rider, Vandelay (Respect), Stitches, Cheap Seats, Chiclets (Respect), Hoser, Hei Hei, Canadian Bacon (Respect Respect)
0600 – greeted the PAX and went through the regular intro:
Three F’s
· Mission statement – to plant, grow, and serve small men’s workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership
· Core principles – Free, open to all men, always held outdoors, lead in a rotating fashion, ends in a CoT!
· Disclaimer – real risk of injury, so stay safe.
· No FNG’s
PAX took a quick mosey to the parking lot south of the stadium and circled up for a warmerama of Tappy Taps, Big Ones, and Groin Stretches with Twist.
Pre-Thang
It was super cold and we needed a good way to warm up quickly, so I opted for a cardio warmup. It was 3 rounds of the following exercises, each exercise for 30 seconds, and each round faster than the one before.
- Jog
- Squat Jacks
- Apollo Ono’s
- SSHs
- Butt Kickers
- High Knees
- Squat Jumps
After this we were thoroughly warmed up and out of breath. We moseyed to the football practice field (the one with the track) for the Thang.
The Thang – Z-bo’s Star-O-Pain
YHC welcomed the PAX to Z-bo’s “Star-O-Pain”. After counting off into 3 groups, the beatdown was explained. Groups would start at different points of the star to maintain some distance, but each group would be doing the same beatdown. At each cone, perform the exercise and number of reps, then use the listed moving exercise to move to the next cone. Order of movement is to start at a point, return to the center cone, then to the next point of the star in a clockwise direction. Always return to the center before going back out. IF the group can make it all the way around, rinse and repeat!
10 BURPEES -> DUCK WALK
20 MERKINS -> BEAR CRAWL
30 BIG BOYS -> ARMY CRAWL
40 AIR SQUATS -> CRAB WALK
50 PLANK JACKS (ON OPEN) -> BEAR CRAWL
10 ALARM CLOCKS ->SUPER MARIOS
20 HYDRAULIC SQUATS (IC) -> BROAD JUMP
30 CAROLINA DRY DOCKS -> CRAWL BEAR
40 LOW DOLLIES (ON OPEN) -> LUNGE WALK
50 SSHs -> WALK, YOU DESERVE IT!
The ground was frozen and lumpy which made some of these painful. Chiclets found a pointy object with his knee on the first Hydraulic Squat, so I called an audible and changed them to Sumo Squats. That was better anyway…Hydraulics are the worst. After a round and change, Omaha was called and we circled up at center field.
But wait! We still have to do…
THE FINISHER
To finish the beatdown, we did a minute long AMRAP of 7 squat-hops/7 merkins. The true Omaha was finally called! The PAX moseyed back to the shovel flags. Some of them Bernie Sanders’ed for some weird reason – I didn’t ask.
Mary
Quick round of rancid hammers.
Name-o-rama
Announcements
Cereal drive for the schools by The Maize/Labyrinth coming up. Halfway House tomorrow with all paces welcome.
Prayer Requests
Laser Jet – cyst on kidney. Family friend of Cheap Seats who’s pregnant but has had issues with miscarriages in the past.
CoT
I’ve had two questions that I’ve been focused on this last week. We are now in the season of Lent, and we’re on this journey towards the cross. The obligatory question comes around every year: what are you giving up for Lent? Almost out of reflex I will usually throw something out – this year I’m fasting once a week with a couple friends and giving up social media. Sounds great. But then someone asked me this last week, “What are you filling that time with?” Well…I’m watching more TV? But if the purpose of Lent is a season of preparation where we renew our focus on Christ and his ultimate sacrifice for us, I certainly shouldn’t be filling it with mindless things like watching more Netflix. There should be purpose to that time. What are you filling your time with? Is it valuable? Is it contributing to your growth and leading you towards something bigger than yourself? Or is it mostly mindless, time-filling junk?
The second question I’ve wrestled with this last week is: Who are you allowing to have an influence over you? Who are you listening to or who are you allowing to influence your heart and mind? With phones and social media we have more access than ever to people who are able to speak into our lives, and we get on Facebook or YouTube and hear someone say something cool or that we agree with and Like, hit subscribe. Now all of a sudden we’re inundated with their thoughts and messages that can have an influence over us. News can do the same thing – politics, drama, war – all of this can have an impact on the way we interact with other people. So I’ve been thinking for myself and my children – how can I control who I’m allowing to influence me and how should I filter some of that out to allow God to speak more clearly into my life?
What are you filling your time with, and who are you allowing to influence your life?
Prayer
Offered up a prayer of thanksgiving for the opportunity to work hard together in the gloom. Prayed for the prayer requests mentioned. Help us to make more space for You to work in and through us so that we can be impactful men.
Aye! And SYITG!
~ Z-bo