October 4th, 2021 By Man Down

After completing the laborious monthly task of clearing out all the #slackbot spam from my channels last night, YHC came across the need for a Highlands Mettle Q the following morning. For various reasons, my workout attendance has been a bit spotty the past several weeks, and once the deceleration starts it is tough to get back on the gas. I have found over the years that the best way to get back into it and be accountable for showing up to a workout is to sign up to Q one. Done.

When looking for a workout idea, I sometimes like to Google “this day in history.” Glad I did so last night, becuase I discovered that 10/4/1957 was when the Russian satellite, Sputnik, was launched into orbit. This 23 inch, 184-pound ball also launched the world into the Space Age, and to this day the first full week in October is celebrated as World Space Week for this reason. And what else is of Russian origin? Why Kettlebells of course! Cue some Russian workout music and we are good to go! Here’s what we did:

• Full disclaimer and description of today’s fun given.
• Warmorama consisted of SSH, ISH, arm circles, slow mosey with some butt kickers, high knees, and carioca.
• Pick up KB. This is now your satellite, which you must keep in orbit for the duration of the workout. If you let your satellite drop out of orbit, pay a 1 burpee penalty.
• Partner up where P1 will do a Strength-focused exercise while P2 does a Mobility-focused exercise. We did 8 different strength exercises because 23 (Sputnik’s diameter) x 8 equals 184 (Sputnik’s weight). And each pair did 104 of each Strength exercise for 10/4, which calculated out nicely to 4 sets of 26 reps. Too much math for 0530, I know.
  1. Swing and Figure 8
  2. Shoulder Press and Slingshot
  3. Curl and Halo
  4. Squat Press/Thrust and Derby Double Taps
     Take a break with Farmer’s Carry to end of lot and back, swapping arms at turnaround.
  5. Tricep Extension and Windmill
  6. Situp Press and Deadlifts
  7. Upright Rows and Figure 8
  8. Bentover Rows and Slingshot
• Recover Recover!
• Announcements: Poutine is checking into an Adopt-a-Street plan for Highlands.
• Prayers: Woodstock’s friends in NYC, Shazam’s court/adoption case w/ Josiah, Man Down’s situation w/ his dad, Larry.

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