House of Pain is a no frills AO. Luckily for us (and for this backblast) it is a yes railroad ties AO, which provides ample opportunities to dole out pain, packaged firm, cold, and hard, to any PAX ready to steel his mind for the challenge. Indeed, I prefer my House of Pain just like I prefer Superman: full of steel, speed, and covered in sweat. What? Well, that is how we had it today, and despite the humidity we managed to pick up a full head of steam and sustain an intense pace for this workout.
We enjoyed a warm up potpourri and fired up the steel with a few push presses, squats, and merkins just to get our muscles moving. Then we had some high knees, butt-kickers, and 50% sprints to warm up the legs. We start slow so we can go hard.
Push press X 50, all together with steel; Overhead hold. Showtime.
Lunge walk X 4, squat X 4 with steel, repeato, to the first island. Great burn here for the legs.
Sprint a lap and a quarter (starting from first island, so two trips up the hill), no steel.
Mountain climber merkin escalator: cadence count of 1 mountain climber, 1 single count merkin; 2 mountain climbers, 2 single count merkins; up to 10, down the hill. Mosey to next island.
- From that island, backward lunge with steel to next island.
- 4 step smurf walk followed by 4 jump squats, repeato, to next island (with steel)
- 180 degree jump back and forth to next island (with steel)
Sprint a lap and a quarter with steel (again, so you go twice up the hill)
Mosey to bottom of hill.
Partner wheelbarrow to first island, switch, other partner wheelbarrows back.
Steel returned, we finished with a Mary of russian hammers, flutter kicks, and proper bear crawl holds.
CoT: Prayers to Lo Pair, to all those battling cancer, and each of us working day in and day out to better our relationship with our wives and families.
Moleskine: Welcome FNG Checkers! Don’t challenge him in backgammon. Take my word for it.