AO: Top Rope | Aldrich Elementary
August 30th 2023,
67 degrees, crisp, cool morning, big beautiful moon in the west sky. Time to do it!
PAX– Da Fridge, Papa Smurf, Flatstick, Bollywood, Juke Box, Z-Bo, Black Flag, Mahomes, Supafly, Doppler, Macanudo, Boji, Romeo, Barbershop, Steeple, DeVito, Hei Hei, T-Swift, Yodel, Mulligan, Star Lord, Big One, Tug Boat, Cadbury
Q: Roadhouse
I woke up ready to go, bouncing out of my bed, ready to change some lives. I grabbed my phone to check the time and it said back to me: 12:21 AM. What the fuck? That can’t be right can it?
I laid back in bed and closed my eyes. My opportunity to lead would have to wait. That opportunity came at 1:18 AM. Mother fucker… Then again at 2:36 and once more at 3:27. Finally I fell asleep and was awoken by my alarm going off at 4:30. What a night!
I got myself ready and headed to the Rope! I arrived at the perfect time; 5:02. Too late to catch the pre-runners but early enough to go for a nice walk. I headed out and practiced my COT a few times… I don’t know if anyone else in F3 practices their COTs but I like to run through it a few times to make sure it lands the way I want it to. It is too important.
At 5:25, the PAX started gathering around the shovel flag and by 5:30 we had 26 studs, ready to go! And what a mix. New guys, veterans, RESPECT guys, HATE Guys. It was a fantastic blend, an orgiastic feast for the senses.
I stumbled my way through the introduction. Nailed the 3 Fs. Crushed the 5 core principles. Messed up the mission. Completely forgot the credo. There were no FNGs. I let the PAX know that we were going to explore the site and run a bit… so get ready! And with that, it was time for warm-a-rama.
WARM-A-RAMA:
Silent SSH’s
Big Ones
Imperial Walkers
Sun Gods
Goofballs
After WAR, we took just a few steps towards the North wall of the school. It was time for some wall work. Wall work is always a great way to start a work out. It’s hard and pushes you early on in the beatdown. It sets a tone.
Pre-Thang:
10 Donkey kicks
Balls to the wall 10 count
10 chicken peckers
10 Australian mt climbers
After the wall work, it was time to mosey! I wanted to explore the site. I have great memoires of Aldrich Elementary. When Covid hit, it became our go-to site. We were there 3-4 times a week and it will always hold a warm place in my heart and I wanted to share it with this group. We headed East up the road until we got to the first parking lot.
We circled up and got ready for some core work. We hit our six and I called out some LBCs. Then I asked Doppler for a core exercise and he went with Flutter Kicks. Supafly then called out Box Cutters which I always see as a tribute to one of my favorite PAX members, Vandelay. The box cutter is a simple exercise but when done with the precision of the best architect in the Midwest, it turns into an interpretive dance. Then I called on TSwift, always a risky move and he got us on our feet. Another tribute to Vandelay… Shinooks with a hip thrust. The group thrusted in sync and upon direction inched closer and closer to the Q. I am not gonna lie… it was hot! A very sexy ball of man!
Core:
LBCS
Flutter Kicks
Box Cutters
Shinooks with a Hip Thrust
Core was over and we were off on another mosey. Continuing up the hill until we got to the next parking lot. The group did an amazing job of picking up the six on this special morning. We circled up and prepared for some leg work. And to me, there was only one option for legs this morning. With our man Tugboat in attendance, it was time that this group got a free lesson in how to do a proper air squat. He led us in 20. Then 20 more. And then 20 more, each time seemingly getting lower and lower. If you have not seen Tugboat do an air squat, put it on your list of to-dos! The guy is the world champion is both form and tenacity.
Legs:
Air Squats
Air Squats
Air Squats
And with that, we moseyed through the parking lot until we hit the street just North of the lot. We took the street to the next parking lot and again, picked up the six and circled up. It was time for shoulder. We knocked out some 20 pickers, 20 dry docks and then a whopping 50 air presses.
Shoulders:
Cherry Pickers
Carolina Dry Docks
Air Presses
After we worked those delts, we moseyed back to the school. We were headed for the front of the school when T-Swift told me he had to get going. While my heart was broken, I held back my tears and swallowed my emotions. I bid him adieu, and as he ran to his car, I slowly reached my hand out for him. Farewell my friend, you will be missed.
We lined up on the road in front of the school. It was time for some Merkins. 5 sets of 10. 50 in total. It was hard. We were tired and gassed after the long run but we did them and we did them together.
We took one last mosey around the back of the school and returned to where we started. We circled up on the basketball court and knocked out 25 hammers to close out the beatdown.
MARY:
American Hammers- 25
And with that, we were done. We had finished.
Name-a-rama:
Name-o-rama went pretty smooth. Good energy, great mix!
Announcements:
Bennington sites opening in September
Doppler gave t-claps to the group and the mix we had today. He encouraged us to keep it up.
Prayers:
Mulligan’s son Xavier is getting out of treatment center today. Pray for his strength as he navigates from here.
COT:
I recently started a new job after 15 years at my old company. One thing I loved about my old job was the relationships I had. I had friends and family there and I loved the people I worked with. Coming into this new organization I wanted to create the same kind of relationships I had at the old place.
Now in my past, because I am a man and a selfish one at that, when I met people, the focus would always be me. My stories, my jokes, my life. I wanted to impress them and get them to like me. But over the years, I have learned that it can’t be about me. It has to be about them.
Some advice I got a few years back when it comes to connecting with people and building relationships is to find out what’s important to people and make it important to you. It is that simple!
Because when you do that, you build benefit and value in that relationship.
When you find out what people care about, what they are passionate about, what their hopes and dreams are and what matters to them the most, it allows you to take that relationship so much deeper and more meaningful.
Now here is the interesting thing. You might be thinking about this concept and how it can help you with new relationships in your life. New co-workers, new classmates, new friends or new F3 connections. But what I realized upon reflection was that this was a concept I needed to use with people I have known for years. Friends, family, partners. I figured out that I didn’t know what was important to anyone in my life. And that is why I did not have great relationships and so often failed in this area of my life.
So here is my challenge. Reflect on who you want to take your relationship deeper with. Could be a new person or someone who has been in your life for years. And find out what is important to them and goddammit make it important to you!
Because having hundreds of surface relationship will leave you empty and hollow. But having some deep and meaningful relationships will make life worth living!
I love you all.
Roadhouse, CLB