19 PAX showed up on a beautiful, unseasonably cool morning.  We kicked it off with some warmups, including:
SSH, Imperial Walker Squats, Good Mornings, Spider Merkins, Swimmers, Mt Everest Mtn Climbers

YHC wanted to pick up on the “work – play” theme that was used a few weeks ago at the Vortex.  The “work” would be focused on improving our VO2 max, which is one common measure of overall fitness used by exercise scientists.  A high VO2 max translates into your body being able to use more oxygen when exercising, which generally translates into greater endurance and cardio fitness.

Recent studies provide guidance on the best methods to increase VO2 max. It turns out that doing several 4-5 minutes intervals where you work at near 85% of your max heart rate, followed by 3-4 minutes recovery, are most effective.

Normally this is done via pure cardio such as running or biking, but since this is F3, we attempted to it with bodyweight exercises.  I think we were pretty successful (at least I know my heart rate felt pretty high at times!).  The exercises were:  wide grip merkins, star jumps, diamond merkins, jumping lunges, dry docks, single leg hops (each leg)

We completed each of the six exercises at 20 reps each time, which was pretty strenuous and took about 4 minutes.  For our recovery interval, we focused on our core with the following exercises:
-High toe cruches, flutter kicks, side plank hip raises (each side), and WWIIs.

We then completed a second round of the bodyweight exercises, reducing the reps to 15 each time, followed by a lap around a single soccer field as fast as possible.

The next rest interval was spent explaining the “play” portion of the work-out.  Since it’s World Cup season, we divided into two teams and played Bears v Crabs soccer.  Each time one team scored, we switched which side was bears and which was crabs.  Use of hands and feet was permitted as long as players remained in the crab/bear crawl position with 3 points of contact on the ground.  The competition was intense and the team very evenly matched in scoring.

We finished with a final round of flutter kicks (IC x3o).

Things we learned today:

-Big Kat might try to stretch the rules to win, but is a good sport about it.

-Dean Wormer is good at making sure people comply with the rules (he may some professional experience with this).

-Shovel is really into this type of soccer and has a powerful kick from crab and bear position but not as much field mobility as some.

-Harbaugh is truly a maniac bear when it comes to beating defenders to the goal.

-Stevie Ray plays like a man half his age.

-One Dimension has considerable crawling speed.

-Champ chose to go to the Goat today instead of the Premier Tuesday Work-out.  He’s probably disappointed his morning only started with another bland run rather than something to kindle the fire of his inner athlete and become fodder for his next great sports commentary.

-The turf is hard on the knees and elbows when you slide.

Things we already knew:

-F3 guys know how to have a lot of fun together along with working out hard.