Monthly Archive January 2019

2019 February Merkin, Pull-up & Core Challenge

Bros,

You may have been wondering, hoping or dreading whether or not this challenge would be back in 2019. As part of the monthly health and wellness challenge series for 2019, February will see the return of; a slightly modified version, the Merkin, Pull-up and newly added (you can thank Flipper for the push) & Core Challenge.

There are a handful of seltzer sipping, Kombucha choking, Non-alcoholic beer drinking, football watching and soda drinking fools finishing up the January wellness challenge – Dryuary, courtesy of Udder.

Take advantage of the shortest month of the year as February is your next opportunity to challenge yourself, in a more manly and “American” way. The challenge goes like this:

  • Merkins: (Can be any variation (Diamond, Wide-arm, Plyo etc.) Wk1 = 100 Merkins x Day; Wk2 = 150, Wk3 = 200, Wk4 (partial) = 250, last 2 days of the month = 300
  • Pull-ups – Wk1 = 10; Wk2 = 20, Wk3 = 30, Wk4 (partial) = 40, last 2 days of the month = 50
  • Knees to Chest – (using whatever method (bar/doorframe etc.) that you are utilizing for pull-ups, dead-hang and pull your knees up to your chest without letting feet touch the ground) Wk1 = 10; Wk2 = 20; Wk3 = 30; Wk4 (partial) = 40; last to days of the month = 50
  • Plank (for time, no bs ass in the air form) – keep the ass down and core tight aka Haggis style) Try to do no less than 1min at a time. If you can pound out 5 straight minutes at the end, well then go for it or break it up into more manageable segments Wk1 = 1min; Wk2 = 2min; Wk3 = 3min; Wk4 = 4min; last 2 days of the month = 5min

Any reps/time spent on these whether at F3, gym, home, work etc. count as part of the challenge. If you end up doing merkins IC (double-count) break them out as single count merkins.

TRACKING

If interested in joining the challenge, shoot me over your F3 name, Region and your email address so that I can give you access to the GoogleSheet to edit and input your daily totals. Email = zckasak@gmail.com or find me on Twitter @F3General

The link to the GoogleSheet is: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16bMyvjkpU2zGd-c6n9q8nXsFegCNwvy-yjW399Ez86A/edit?usp=sharing

Looking forward to seeing how many strong, chesty, shredded barbarians there are come March. Enjoy

OVER & OUT

General_ & One-Niner

Just keep moving

With the temperatures supposed to reach a high of 37* in Western Union County, a group of 10 strong showed up for the first iteration of Flash expecting to be kept warm. The goal was to just keep the heart rate up and keep moving.

Warm up:

  • 37 SSH
  • 15 Imperial Walkers
  • Jimmy Dugans
  • Plank to stretch back to plank
  • 10 Merkins

The Thang: like I said, just keep moving

  • Mosey on down halfway to Transporter’s shed, toe tap LBC’s
  • Squats, mosey to the shed
  • Air Presses and Donkey kicks, mosey to the stairs
  • Calf raises, mosey back to the back half loop over near the football field
  • Partner up, jump squats, merkins, and speed skaters. Mosey some more
  • Fence squats, mosey
  • SSH’s, mosey
  • WWII situps, mosey
  • To the side of the high school and more Air presses, mosey to the next opening
  • Air jabs, mosey
  • Bear crawl to the rock benches
  • Partner back up for dips and step ups, mosey
  • Middle school bus side portico and do squats, mosey
  • Front of the school for incline merkins
  • Mosey back to the COT

Moleskin:

We finished just north of 3.1 miles and never stopped moving while keeping the 6 close by. Old MacDonald looked like young MacDonald and Jingles is a sandbagging son of a biscuit. Someone say biscuit? Well done Boberry way to get back out there and press on.

For the other guys who didn’t get mentioned specifically great job. Way to fight off the fartsack. I appreciated the opportunity to lead you fine gentlemen and look forward to future workouts.

Banjo Squealed Like a Pig

Sorry for the delay in getting this out but basketball, baseball, birthday party and couch burning(see West Virginia upset over Kansas) got in the way.

14 Pax came out to Commitment as the rain held off and yours truly only had to refer to his Cabernet soaked weinke a few times. We had a great mix of guys and it was awesome to welcome Mad Dog back out. Contrary to the Don of the Briars and the Crest’s belief, Banjo enjoys leading this fine group of men and picking up extra points in the weight loss competition. I would like to mention the squealing during counting is next level stuff that can only be learned at Q school next weekend. Please sign up and let Moneyball teach you his Tennessee squeal.

DCCS given before we left the parking lot, multiple headlamps, vests and phones were in play along with a couple of Pax CPR certified so let’s Mosey….

Warm Up:

-20 SSH

-15 IW

-15 Merkins=5 regular, 5 wide grip, 5 Diamond with a primal squeal

-15 MC

-10 Jumping Knee touches

The Thang:

Mosey to Flagpole for Partner Bear Crawl with 2 burpee high fives when you meet up, complete one full lap

Stay with partner, P1 backpedal to light pole and sprints back while P2 completes 5 alligator merkins then runs around circle Rinse and Repeat 3 times

Indian Run to Millbridge clubhouse for Starfish:

5 merkin shredders in the middle 4 corners: 10 reps each of jump squats, jumping lunges, speed skaters and mountain climbers, Complete one cycle then grab your partner

Run with partner to first round a bout stopping at each intersection for 5 master splinters(bad idea). Run back down with partner doing squats at each intersection. Stop at the trail head and line up for Indian Run

Stop at the flagpole for 5 burpees and 10 jumping knee touches then mosey to school parking lot

Partner back up: P1 sprints to cones while P2 LBCs x 3 times, then line up opposite your partner for relay race with a burpee at the the first island, last bad idea of the day was a Banjo style same leg-same arm forward race.

Moleskin:

We ended up somewhere between 3.5-4 miles on the fancy watches. Bottle Cap and Easy Button pushed the pace while Fuse locked up the brakes on the Indian Run. Bottle Cap did a great job picking up the 6 on multiple occasions and everyone pushed hard to complete the workout. Inspector Gadget is hitting it hard and mentioned he is already down 6 lbs.

Mad Dog and Shop Dawg both brought up a great point in our COT: Check up on our brothers that haven’t posted in awhile. We don’t know sometimes what is going on in each other’s lives and a quick text or call can make a big difference. Shop Dawg shared with us what a big difference it made for him to receive multiple texts when he was going through rough times.

Announcements:

Get signed up for Q School! Never Qd, Qd a few times, need a refresher? Get signed up.

Open Door every Sunday at 7am @Five Stones Church

50 pounds gets heavier the longer you hold it.

12 PAX, no wait, 13 PAX showed up for Rock Zero this morning for the bi-weekly Heavy edition. I normally ignore all formal rules of the AO, but was worried about an audit today, so did my best to comply. So 3ish miles and “Heavy was on tap”

Grap a partner and each group grab a weight. 50# sandbag or 45# weight. Don’t worry what you get, they both suck.

Mosey around lot, sharing weight carrying with partner until we get somewhere in the middle. Drop weight for COP.

COP: SSH, IW, Merkins, Low Slow Squats.

The Thing:

Move weight to front parking lot. Once there P1 Lunge walks with weight, while P2 runs out and around all islands, meeting back with P1. They exchange weight and swap lunge walking and running. Continue until the pair has lunged walked all the way around islands.

Lifting work.

P1 – Bench Press, P2 – runs out an around 3 islands. Flapjack to 200 presses.

Same but with 100 Curls.

Catch Me If You Can to the Hot Box. But take the long way around the Church. P1 10 Merkins, P2 run with weight. Flap Jack to Hot Box.

At Hot Box, P1 does Left Legged Step ups with weight. P2 runs to last trash can and back. Flapjack to 50 step ups. Repeat with 50 on Right Leg.

Same thing but Good Mornings with weight to a combined 100.

CMIYC back to cars with 3 Burpees and chase.

Mary throughout and back at car for closer. Includes Flutter, Heels to Heaven, Planks, Elbow Planks, Elbow Plank Jack, Dolly, LBC, Freddy Mercury and maybe others. Spackler modified to the now coined: Spack Jack. Be careful – this one could hurt.

Done.

Moleskine:

Thanks to Snowflake who endured the Alf Q trifecta the last 4 days. Not sure what bet you lost for that, but thanks for joining me.

I had a much larger plan for today, but forgot how much carrying crap slows you down. We didn’t even make it to Hairburners! Surprised no one reminded me. Next time.

Lots of strong effort out there this morning, as this was a grinder that I am going to be feeling for the rest of the weekend.

Happy Birthday this week to Jet Fuel and Nemo. They are a combined 65 years-old.

Thanks to Snowflake for the takeout.

-Alf

Announcements:

Sign up for Joe Davis Run: https://joedavisrun.racesonline.com

Chutes and Ladders

Word on the street was that there was a SOB/WUC powwow post Cerberus this morning and there would be a sizable and fast crew looking to get their Friday beatdown. Several of the Brave regulars, so I had to make sure they got 60 minutes of work done in the 45 minute boot camp.

I showed up a little early and chalked out the workout on the top of the parking deck.

At launch – thorough disclaimer, no FNG’s but Boss Hog was on post #2 and a few guys working their way back into the fold for the new year.

Get the Mosey on, off into the parking deck and run the ramps to the top. Circle up.

COP: Squats, SSH (I think) Merkins, Mountain Climbers.

Head over to the staircase and pick a partner – someone you don’t know or don’t usually partner with. Trying to make sure that the big group mingles a bit at the only workout that brings 3 regions together. Yes 3. Congrats WUC.

From the top of the deck. Everyone runs down stairs. P1 proceeds back along the ramps (chutes) to the top. P2 heads up back up the stairs (ladders) and begins the work. When P1 gets back to top both guys head back to bottom then flapjack and continue work. Keep going until time is called.

The work – Cumulative reps per team:

  • 400 Overhead claps
  • 350 Calf raises
  • 300 Shoulder taps (single count)
  • 250 Flutter (single count)
  • 200 Merkin
  • 150 Sit ups
  • 100 Donkey Kicks
  • 50 8-Count Body Builders

Run back to launch.

Moleskine:

An aggressive weinke put an end to the running without about 13 minutes left. PAX stayed at the top and tried to complete all reps. Some groups got to the Body Builders, not sure if anyone finished.

Overhand claps got a few chuckles at first, but after 200 a piece to soften up the shoulders and then follow up shoulder taps guys were feeling it. At least I was last night.

Went with a Partner AMRAP-esque type of workout. I like it when you have a large group with a variety of fitness levels. Everyone gets as much as they can take – and hopefully a bit more. No time for resting.

Another great perk is the plug for WAMRAP – the original Waverly AMRAP workout every Wednesday. It’s the best/worst workout you can get each week, you always leave smoked.

Sorry for the delayed backblast but you know, things.

7 men for Q Source at Panera after the workout to discuss Group as a foundational element. Man is not meant to be alone.

Thanks to Taco Stand for the takeout.

-Alf

Announcements:

Q School – Saturday 26th at Cuthbertson Middle School, Posse has the details: http://bit.do/qschool

3rd F Opportunity – Christ’s Closet – March 2nd Freedom Drive @ The Movement School giving stuff away. See Ice 9.

2019 WUC Challenge Update

So the 2019 challenge has been more challenging then many can imagine, due to YHC having to be at corporate have not had much time to dedicate to tracking, reviewing scale pics (many need some pedicures), and sending out update. But have decided to schedule a “conference call” to get out first round of updates.

Note: Current scoring excludes unofficial weight loss #’s will try to get a good update from all next week to include.

TeamPts
Deadwood / Tupperware12
Rudy / Recalc10
Foundation / Rubbermaid10
Zin / Dancing Bear9
Banjo / Jingles6
Wedding Singer /Knish1

Deadwood /Tupperware – it appears in week 1 they do what they know best and that is Q. Unfortunately points for Qing are capped, so Deadwood will not be able to Q himself to victory here. But he has taught the young jedi how to gain points by Qing at Chiseled last week and have started off with a solid 12 point posting performance. Also – Kudos for bringing along a FNG

Rudy/ Recalc – appears that Recalc is going to lean on the Golden Domer to bring home a victory in this competition. Rudy not only timed up his VQ correctly, he was consistent in posting even if it meant coming in at Jingles time to make Chiseled. Recalc went MIA for a bit during week and was off normal posting schedule but was able to still break out the Karate Kid headband for a 4 pt performance. We will see if Coach Hurley will inspire a better performance in upcoming weeks

Foundation /Rubbermaid – Unfortunately Help Desk was hit with injury bug, but thankfully Rubbermaid has stepped in. Get better soon Help Desk and look to see you back out there soon. YHC has tried to come out gate strong and maybe counteract the late night cookies by attending extra workouts and ensuring a Q mixed in. Excited for opportunity to work with the Lieutenant and finish in the money

Zin having to carry the weight by attending workouts, but Dancing Bear doing best to send others to workouts while catching a few extra Zzzz’s in the morning. Dancing Bear – way to work the loop hole and still collect points from comfort of bedroom.

Banjo / Jingles – have split duties with Banjo attending workouts and Jingles on the mend for few he has resorted to starvation to collecting points. Jingles has unintentionally assisted YHC with losing appetite by sending scale pic with those gnarly talons in focus

Wedding Singer / Knish – started in hole this week and Knish/Commish has been MIA, but we expect to see a resurrection in the coming weeks and rumor has it that Wedding Singer has resorted to only baby formula until competition is over to further slim down.

Overall – good week it appears with many ensuring to attend workouts and push beyond comfort zone. Look forward to seeing results in upcoming weeks.

Hammer Curl Time

Showed up this morning to a balmy 43 degrees feeling slightly overdressed. Heard plenty of comments that I didn’t roll in at my usual 5:29am. I didn’t want to stress Mermaid out too much, I guess. Everyone watched as a mysterious white van parked in the lot, which turned out to be Escargot (who might be an Amazon delivery driver on the side). Gave a quick disclaimer a minute late since apparently my Fitbit time is not official. 14 men headed off.

Thang

Headed up to Panera parking lot

COP

LSS x 10

IC MC x 10

IC Plank Jack x 10 IC (heard some grumblings)

Merkins x 10 IC

Freddie Mercury x 10 IC

HTH x 10 IC

UBreakIFix

At shopping center, do 10 hand-release merkins, head up stairwell #1, lunge walk to UBreakIFix sign, run down to stairwell #2 and around – repeat 5 times

Bicep Burn

Mosey over to rock pile on McMahon Dr. Partner up with lifting rock. One partners down to the circle in the shopping center, other partner does a set of biceps then repeat. First set: curls. Second set: hold halfway. Third set: hammer curls (or from middle point to chest).

Picnic Benches

Mosey over to picnic benches. 10 one leg squats (each leg), 20 dips, 20 incline merkins. Repeat 3 times Finale Run to short ramps on parking deck. Do 5 burpees at each turn. Circle up for some mary (LBCs and flutter). Find wall. Do set of 10 donkey kicks / 10 carolina dry docks / 10 monkey humpers. Wall sit. 15 of each. Head back to launch.

COT

Great group of men out today. Always motivating when 55+ year-olds are leading the pack like Checkpoint and Snuka do. Mermaid brought his “A” game for sure, which I think is related some anger he was releasing based on a couple of stories I overheard he share about getting hit by a car and also breaking his cell phone. Random coincidence on the UBreakItIFix set. I did some scouting to find that milestone marker and apparently Mermaid was there yesterday getting his phone fixed. Accountants were well represented, which leaves no excuses for the rest of you slackers considering the time of year. Haze also made the claim that he’s at Centurion “pretty much every week”, which I challenged and will start to monitor more closely.

That bicep set was killer, which I stole from Snowflake. There was some mumble chatter as to whether my “hammer curl” call was legit since we only had one rock, but I think everyone got the point. Tried to avoid triceps since they were toast after Wednesday’s Anvil workout (thanks to Udder). Wanted to do one more rep of that last set but ran out of time. Next time.

Always an honor.

Announcements

Clothes collection for F3 Chimbote Mission Trip. Next week is last chance to bring your clothes, shoes, luggage, etc.

Praise that Cooter’s knee infection lead to an additional surgery that helped remove some lingering cancel cells. Continue to pray for his full recovery.

Joe Davis Run for Recovery 03/09/2019. All money to benefit Keystone Substance Abuse Services in Rock Hill, SC. The race is in Fort Mill, SC and has historically had very strong F3/FIA support. Please consider supporting. Run, Sleep in for the Cause, Sponsor. Check it out HERE

Miles & more…

As warned via tweet, I went into today focused on running after missing my run/workout yesterday, 13 Kevlar PAX were the beneficiaries of my guilt. So after a quick disclaimer and explanation of the workout, off we went. All stations flagged with two orange cones… the first at the top of long driveway was the LBC station (option to other ab work OYO) x50. Continue 1/3 mile down into parking lot was station two, curls with cinder blocks x20….then around the church near the lacrosse field was the last station for Merkins (again widearm, diamond variations welcome) x20. Then back around and keep going for 40+ minutes.

Worked out well with all classy veterans present, no one got lost or confused…just kept it going. Rhapsody led the group followed by Cage, Squid, Poptart and YHC. The large group was everyone else, must have been some quality banter since they stayed together. Horsehead kept them honest I’m sure. Slight mutiny at the end, half went back to launch, other half one more station to use all the time. Mileage ranged between 3.5 and 4.25…(4-5+ laps).

Announcements: Donations of shoes and warm weather clothes welcome for the F3 group gong to Peru…bring clothes to workouts for Witch Doctor or Tolkien (Fast Twitch / Hawks Nest) or DM Witch Doctor. Joe Davis run March 9th, signup now!

Thank you Squid for the takeout prayer.

Since the form isn’t working, PAX Included: Squid, Poptart, Rhapsody, Homer, Tackling Dummy, Puddin Pop, Spackler, Cage, Horsehead, Witch Doctor, Bananas, Fault Line (sorry I’m missing one, memo didn’t save).

It’s all about the abs.

For my first Impromptu Q and the Gremlin (still time to sign up) tomorrow preparing the winke was a challenge with staying away from the buses, do we run under 1 mile or over 3. Arriving into the parking lot Chicken Little was starting a pre-run/dance combo that would make any wedding proud. Then a text from an FNG came through saying “I’m on the way”. 

21 Pax were about to enjoy the 3 minutes of preplanning I had completed.  DCCS given with a couple of minutes to spare and Deadwood grabbed the vest and phone, while others confirmed they were CPR certified.

It’s now 5:30 and we mosey to the front of the middle school. The disclaimer was given with an emphasis on not running in front of a bus.

Warm Up:

  • 20 SSH
  • 20 Merkins
  • 20 Mountain Climbers
  • 20 10 Imperial Walkers (audible due to lack of air)

The Thang: – always pick up the 6


Mosey to the road in front of schools alternating lights

5 Merkins

5 Squats

Mosey to middle lot 8 islands alternating

10 LBC

10 Dry docks

Mosey to circle near football field, partner up while one partner runs around the island and back  

150 Supines

200 LBC

Benches behind Middle school new partners partner runs to end of school past classrooms does a burpee and back

100 Derkins

150 Dips

Moleskin :

We ended with just over 3.3 miles. If you did not notice this was the first Q were I called for burpees. The last exercise will need to be saved for next time due to the time where more burpees and merkins were going to be handed out.

Everyone got a good workout in; the gazelles circled back and supported/motivated the 6 to continue. Breadbowl never stops amazing me, how can this 11 year old come out here day in and day out and continue to give it. Dasher made the Quellin participation 100% greatly passing 2 other hoods participation percentages, but we do not want to rub it in.  To all the Pax I am proud of you.

Welcome FNG Kevin Bo-Berry.

Special thanks to Rudy for taking us out today, 2 Qs and prayer this week you are killing it.

Anouncements:

Gremlin tomorrow UNCC still time to sign up

Deadwood is looking for Pax for the Spartan in Asheville

Lou is hosting Open Door every Sunday 7am @ Five Stones Church  

Droppin’ BOMBS

TLDR: #dontcarewonNATTY

Full Blast: YHC and the WSP Clown Car joined a solid 16 Pax for a soggy field workout morning. Upon emerging from the truck, one Pax noticed YHC’s Clemson shirt and asked “Oh, Clemson… didn’t they just do something important?” which I replied in my best Kevin Hart accent: “You gon learn today!”

Quick disclaimer and let’s roll. Mosey around front of OP to warm up in the bus loop with:

  • 11x Imperial Walkers
  • 11x Low Slow Squats
  • 11x Side Straddle Hops
  • 11x Merkins

You might ask, “why 11?” But I need you to focus on the bigger picture here. 11 reps 4 times is the same number of points Clemson scored against Alabama in the recent National Championship beat down.

From here, we mosey’d down the dirt road to the back football field. Multiple comments about ‘wet holes’ were mentioned while focusing on foot placement dodging potholes.

Pax circled up on the field and poured out a measly 16 burpees to represent the few points Alabama was able to obtain against the stout Clemson D two Monday’s ago.

The real beat down was about to begin. Pax partnered up to model the B.O.M.B.S that Sir Trevor Lawrence was dropping to Clemson wideouts.

Partner 1 did exercise while Partner 2 ran endzone to endzone. Swapped out and continued until each of the of reps were completed:

  • Burpees – 50
  • Overhead Press – 100
  • Merkins – 150
  • Big Boy Situps – 200
  • Squats – 250

No call out’s, but there was a drastic difference in some of the counting across the teams getting through their 750 total reps.

After about 30 mins of B.O.M.B.S, we moved on to a little Braveheart action. Split into 4 groups of 4 and took positions at each corner of the field for an exercise called William Wallace.

  • One Pax from each team sprinted to a chair that was positioned in the center of the field where they did 1 burpee before returning
  • Remaining Pax were alternating Plank and Six Inches while waiting on the runners to return
  • Cycled through ever runner twice.

We finished up as a Pax in the center of the field for a little mosey back to the landing zone for a little Mary

  • 20x America Hammers
  • 20x Dollys
  • 20x LBCs

COT, Counterama, Namerama, Announcearama and the Ball Of Man for a take out from YHC

Only one Announcement shared by Scratch and Win where he notified the Pax that YHC will migrate from HATE HATE to only HATE age on the 28th of this month. Thanks Scratch!

Moleskin:

I didn’t have enough fingers to count the number of complaints paid to the soggy and cold field conditions, but IMO they don’t put championship rings on smooth clean hands…

When I overheard Marge and Gummy stargazing and pointing out neighboring planets while running I was concerned the beatdown wasn’t up to snuff.

Shortly after, that concern was alleviated with several compliments paid during the endzone to endzone routes. The greatest of which was from Bugeater: “You know it’s working when it gets quiet…”

Thank you Marge and Queen for the opportunity to Q Hydra.

“Every man dies, not every man really lives”