December 19th, 2017 By Man Down

5 wide-eyed with wonder pax showed up to The Precinct to receive the Twelvish Days of Christmas gift that I had for them. The basic idea for this was stolen from a workout Q’d by Exit 54 in Concord back in 2015.

First a little Warmorama with a mosey over to The Cell Block followed by some IC SSHs, ISTs, CPs, and WMs.

Then we grabbed some Cinder Blocks and got into The Thang. Each exercise was done for 20 seconds, each set building on the one before, with a 20 second rest between sets. So Set 1 was just CB Swings for 20 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds. Set 2 was CB Curls for 20 seconds straight into CB Swings for 20 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds. Get the picture? In between sets we rotated so that no one got stuck with the heaviest or lightest block the entire time. Here were the exercises…

1. CB Swings
2. CB Curls
3. CB Triceps
4. CB Shoulder Press
5. CB Lawnmower Pulls
6. CB Squats
7. ‘Mericans
8. Mountain Climbers
9. Plank
10. Burpees
11. Freddy Mercury
12. Crunchy Frogs

By the time we finished the twelfth day and put the blocks away, we still had a little time left, so each pax member gave a gift of their own:

1. Field of Dreams (aka “Feel the Dream” thanks to El Toro) – Running The Block…TWICE! Future Rabbit material here!
2. Skipper – Backwards run The Block
3. Brutus – Sort-of-like-Crunchy-Frogs-but-easier exercise
4. Trail Mix – Low Flutter xInfinity
5. Hot Wheels – Side Shuffle down the court nets and back

Recover Recover! COT and Announcements:

• This is the last week for Operation Sweet Tooth! Bring your gifts to Hot Wheels – either to his home or at The Academy on Thursday.
• Christmas Party at Hot Wheels’ palace this Friday, 7:30pm till. Ms and 2.0s welcome! RSVP HERE.
• While we’re on the topic of Hot Wheels, I came across THIS backblast he wrote in 2015 on the 12 Days of Christmas. EPIC stuff here!!!
• Remember to embrace the Good NEWS of this Christmas Season (see Luke 2:10). Here’s the full quote of what I was trying to share with you guys this morning. It’s worth reading slowly…“A gospel is an announcement of something that has happened in history, something that’s been done for you that changes your status forever. Right there you can see the difference between Christianity and all other religions, including no religion. The essence of other religions is advice; Christianity is essentially news. Other religions say, ‘This is what you have to do in order to connect to God forever; this is how you have to live in order to earn your way to God.’ But the gospel says, ‘This is what has been done in history. This is how Jesus lived and died to earn the way to God for you.’ Christianity is completely different. It’s joyful news. How do you feel when you’re given good advice on how to live? Someone says, ‘Here’s the love you ought to have, or the integrity you ought to have,’ and maybe they illustrate high moral standards by telling a story of some great hero. But when you hear it, how does it make you feel? Inspired, sure. But do you feel the way the listeners who heard those heralds felt when the victory was announced? Do you feel your burdens have fallen off? Do you feel as if something great has been done for you and you’re not a slave anymore? Of course you don’t. It weighs you down: This is how I have to live. It’s not a gospel. The gospel is that God connects you not on the basis of what you’ve done (or haven’t done) but on the basis of what Jesus has done, in history, for you. And that makes it absolutely different from every other religion or philosophy.” (Tim Keller, King’s Cross)