“Who wants the Q tomorrow?”

I read those words on Slack and debated the pros and cons for a moment. It will be cold. Perhaps starting the week off with more sleep is better. Maybe another day of rest for the body to recover is wise. Then another voice started getting louder.

“This will be perfect you can control the workouts. Work on what you want and can do. Plus you can share some family stories in the process!” After this internal dialogue, I knew it was time to put the “Q” back into Qing.  In other words, YHC signed up.

Warm-up

• Mosey to the parking circle
• Good Mornings (10)
• Overhead claps (10)
• Little baby arm circles (10)
• Seal claps (10)
• Reverse baby arm circles (10)
• Mosey to park

The Thang

YHC busted out the much-beloved Bluetooth enabled water bottle speaker and started playing music that would serenade the Pax throughout the morning. The Pax completed High knees from one end of parking lot and back during setup.

Modified Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) Challenge

• 5 min plank hold challenge
  • While music played Pax would hold perfect form
  • Upon break form, the individual Pax member would do 10 squats
  • Back to perfect plank position
• 1 min merkins
  • goal was to get 40
  • 2 pts bonus for each extra one completed
• 1 min big boy situps
  • goal 40 again
  • 3 pts bonus points per extra one
• perfect pullups
  • complete 6 perfect form
  • completed 6 more (because why not)
• Dips
  • 20 dips
  • discovered new areas in the playground to dip
• “Rope Climb”
  • We didn’t have a rope but YHC noticed a slide. Living up to the “I’m not a professional disclaimer” earlier in the morning I handed Toast the ruck told him to go up and down the slide. After discovering that the slide was too slippery to go up YHC instructed him to go down normally. What happened next will be a wonderful memory at The Rock. We now call him “Flying Toast McQueen” because what happened next was just epic. Flying Toast started to go down the slide while the remaining Pax members planked and witnessed him racing down the slick slide with such speed due to the added weight of the rucksack that his momentum carried far longer than the slide provided and he landed on his six with style and class.
  • The other pax members all completed their round of slides while others circled up for a combination of plank holds and squats. We kept reliving the Flying Toast moment over and over again.
• Presses
  • The Pax grabbed some heavy rocks to complete some bench presses
  • 7 rounds of 7 reps
• Curls
  • 5 reps, pur rock down and rotate to the left
  • 8 rounds until the circle was complete

Mary

This would be modified to the mosey back, plus we had plenty to talk about in COT so YHC cut it short.

COT

The Pax circled up and YHC asked what the theme of the morning music was to the group. Blank stares, burning biceps, and empty expressions looked back. There had been tunes from Michael Jackson, Lesley Gore, Sinatra, and some tune called “The Dude.” It was eclectic and YHC would unveil in a moment but first a  Veteran’s Day story.

YHC shared how this weekend I spent time with my 88 yr-old Grandma who shared plenty of stories and cherished memories. Her husband and my grandfather served in the US Air Force during the Korean War. He was a Lieutenant who survived the war and his closest encounter with death was actually trying to land his plan back on the ship in heavy fog. YHC had not realized his grandfather served in the military so a special new memory to share and honor this Veterans Day.

What does this have to do with the music playlist? It all comes back to Grandma. During one of our conversations together, she said “wait let’s call my sister about this.” Before I knew it I was on the phone with my great-Aunt. This phone conversation reminded me that my Aunt was Quincy Jones’ first wife. So it felt only right to have a playlist of songs produced by Great-Uncle Q himself this morning to remember all the family stories from the weekend.

A couple great quotes from Q

“You only live 26,000 days, I’m going to wear them all out”

“You have to dream so big you can’t get an ego because you never fulfill all those dreams.”

For those interested in learning more check out the new NetFlix documentary on Q here.

We ended with some reminders to check out Slack for the November “Serve a Neighbor” work that will be scheduled before “B Shares” is due in the Buffay household and also to join the flag making party this Wednesday at YHC home. The Pax shared prayer requests for Muzungu’s work travels, Milton’s wife test results, and other burdens on the hearts and minds of the men as we seek to support our loved ones around us as providers.

See you in the gloom again!

-Nickelback