After taking some time off from Q’ing, I was chomping at the bit this morning to take the reins again and fire up a workout.  AMRAP presents a challenge because, as Chef Tell counseled me, “we get a bunch of weight and bring it into a big field and then we lift it.”  Awesome.  If you have not done so already, make a plan to get to this AO and bring some toys to make it even more fun.  Q it if you want, but caveat emptor: you need a plan, but you have to be flexible to deviate from it depending on what type of weight and how many PAX shows up.  For some this is terrifying.  For others, no sweat.  It is really no different from anything else.  You make a plan and try to stick with it, but shit will happen so be prepared.

As a group, we have done a lot of Spartaning and a lot of rucking.  What has occurred to me is that I do not really like any of it.  It is hard and painful.  What I love is that I do some of my best thinking while I’m out there, and then I get inspired reflecting back about what was discussed.  A lot of that introspection leads to good, healthy, planned action on my part.  It does not always go well, but it is a virtuous cycle, and it works for me.  Everything is hard and painful, especially if it is worth a damn, but you always recover. Indeed, an underrated superpower is recovering from crappy things quickly – adversity, 100 burpees, a meeting that goes badly, whatever.  What is really crazy is that we often stack monsters in front of ourselves and we make elaborate plans to vanquish them.  Why?  Because WE CAN, and how blessed are we for it!?

Put simply, it is a blessing to be able to have a plan and try to stick to it.  Today, we offered prayers to those whose fates were determined by forces always unpredictable, sometimes malicious, and often unbridled. Let us all be grateful, nestled here in our comfortable cocoons, for the lives we live.  Our predicament may be fraught with different types of peril and uncertainty, but we are alive and have the luxury of waking up with our plans and trying as hard as we can to stick to them.  It all seems pretty simple for a while after I witness natural disasters and senseless killings.  These events can leave the most devout lacking any conviction, and even the most flexible spiritual yearners scrapping for meaning and answers.  But if anything, a message can be gleaned from it all: for heaven’s sake, design a life for yourself and be thankful you can try to make it happen.  Be extra thankful that you have others who want to be a part of your plan, or even help you achieve it.  Then you are truly in rare air, sir.

Without further ado, here were the pain stations, in the exact order (give or take a few screw ups here and there, my bad) we crushed them.  Plan did not go as planned, but we got after it and did the damn thing. All AMRAP.  All badass.

Station 1: Juggernaut – Strap on 45lb. ruck, take two 45lb kettlebells in each hand and lunge walk. Duration: about 1 to 1.5 minutes, and he was our timer.

Station 2: 200+lb. farmer carry

Note: these two back-to-back were especially fearsome.

Station 3: 250lb. tire flip

Station 4: WWII followed by Russian Hammer with 45lb plate on your chest

Station 5: Binksy (70lb KB) push press X3 followed by KB swing X3

Station 6: Sweetpea (100lb. KB) sumo squat

Station 7: Cinder block series: 3 push press, 3 squat, then 3 merkins

Moleskine: Thanks to Chef Tell for helping me prepare for AMRAP.  Great to be back at it.