COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA:
PAX: Alright Alright, Draper, Special Sauce, Chairman Mao, Pow Pow, Oatmeal, Zamp, Landing Strip (New Orleans), Rocky (Kansas City), Skipper (Raleigh), Monstar (FNG, Raleigh)
QIC: Sally
AO: SMU
F3 DISCLAIMER & WELCOME: Given
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH x 15
IST x 20 (Doak Walker rushed for 1,520 yards while at SMU)
“Pick Your Vegetable” Picker x 10
Jail break to the Doak Walker statue. Hold a plank ’till all-in.
Starting from the Doak statue, sprint to and around the Mustangs statue and return to the Doak statue. Hold a plank ’till all-in.
THA THANG:
Channel our inner HEISMAN.
Starting at the Doak statue, run around the SMU football stadium (roughly 0.5 miles); upon returning to the Doak statue, complete an exercise of the HEISMAN as listed below. Repeato until finished or time is called.
Hand-release burpees (25)
Elf-on-a-Shelf (25, double-count)
Imperial Storm Troopers (25, double-count)
Sweat Angels (25, double-count)
Merkins (25, double-count)
Apolo Ohno’s (25 each side)
Nolan Ryan’s (25 each side)
MARY:
Done intra-workout.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Prayed for those in the path of Dorian and for all those travelling, including the families of some of our PAX.
MOLESKIN:
Upon arriving at the warm-up circle and seeing 4 new faces, YHC thought perhaps the recent QSource topics (VAPE’ing) was increasing our effectiveness at EH’ing, but turns out it was a contingent of PAX from Raleigh, New Orleans, and Kansas City. Glad they came out, always an honor to host men from around the country whom you know hold similar values.
The “Pick Your Vegetable” Pickers during the warmup (@Aaarrrggghhh) brought some laughs and confusion, and even some mumblechatter: “Why does it have to be vegetables? Why do we discriminate against fruits?” This was promptly silenced with “Well, because fruits don’t grow in the ground..”, which brought some laughs.
YHC had asked some PAX for ways to improve his Q’ing, and was told that more and more intense cardio at the beginning may be helpful in 1) making workouts harder and 2) preparing PAX for strength work later in the workout. We implemented this with two sprints to start, which did turn out to be pretty effective in getting the PAX both winded and pumped up for the rest of the workout.
The Thang (The HEISMAN) turned out to be an effective blend of cardio and strength / core work. The lap around the stadium was a nice switch-up from the normal routine, and also seemed to be an excellent distance for accelerating our cardio. PAX were also afforded the opportunity to see each other, mumblechatter, and work on strength at the Doak statue. Also of note, the west side of the stadium had A/C pouring out of it, and PAX were afforded a 6-second blast of ~70 degree air while running by.
While the entire workout was difficult, the 50 sweat angels in a row and the 50 merkins in a row were both particularly killer. For a fun piece of trivia/reference point, the physical requirement for Navy Seal candidates (not graduates) is 50 merkins with perfect form in 2 minutes. And most candidates have to complete 90-100 to stay competitive.
No PAX completed the entire HEISMAN. The furthest one got was completing the lap after the Apolo Ohno’s – about to start the Nolan Ryans. We’ll have to bring this back in the future and see if we can best our previous records.
Rocky is so named because he is a geologist.
Monstar was so named because his given (hospital) name is Michael Jordan. This was quickly deemed “too easy,” although we struggled for a long while to find a name distinguished enough to honor Mr. Jordan. We played around with ideas such as Single-A, Minor League, Air Jordan, Blue Devil, and Space Jam, before finally settling on Monstar.
If you have an extra 60 seconds, this Space Jam / Monstar refresher is probably worth your watch.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. Tour de France workout tomorrow at Burleson.
2. CSAUP is officially 8 weeks away from today. The planning SLT had a meeting this morning and the event is taking shape quite nicely. We’ll all need to put in some extra training for it, stay tuned for more Extra Credit rucks. You can start tomorrow at 0615.
Postscript – Facts about Doak Walker:
While researching for the workout, YHC learned the following fascinating facts about Mr. Walker:
During his 1948 season at SMU, Doak not only acted as the team’s primary halfback, but he also completed 26 of 46 passes (from the tailback position) for 304 yards and six touchdowns. He also played defense, intercepting three passes during the season. And if that wasn’t enough, he also returned punts and kickoffs, performed significant duty as the SMU placekicker, and acted as punter for the Mustangs, averaging 42.1 yards per punt (which, for reference, would have had him besting some punters in today’s NFL).
In the NFL, he was a fantastic running back, but he also kicked a field goal and an extra point in two straight Super Bowls (one of which he won with the Detroit Lions).
He was described by a reporter as “having a jaw as square as a deck of cards and a mop of brown hair that made girls bite their necklaces.” He was also described as “so shifty you couldn’t have tackled him in a phone booth, yet so humble that he wrote the Associated Press a thank-you note for naming him an All-American.”
A true #HIM.
