Another “Balmy” morning in the Gloom today. I love Carolina weather in July… Hot and sticky in the mornings and then just plain hot all throughout the day, followed by hot and sticky again in the evening. No use in complaining because it beats the heck out of being cold.
6 men joined me today at Cerberus for a “GEM hunt” in the COVID-Adjacent parking lot of Waltonwood Providence Retirement community.
Warmorama:
Mosey around back side of Waverly and circle up behind Menchie’s for 25 X SSH IC. Continue Mosey and find our way to Ardrey Kell Rd East and circle up at the island for 25 X IW, 15 X Merkin IC, 15 X Peter Parkers, Downward Dog, Calf Stretch L/R, Runner’s Stretch L/R, Upward Dog, Jimmy Doogans C/L/R & back to C. Mosey down to Waltonwood for…
Thang:
7 of Diamonds (or 4 of diamonds but we’ll get to that later…)
7 burpees at each corner of the loop (loop was ~0.3 mi) for 28 total (MARY for the SIX after each loop)
14 BBSU’s for the next loop for 56 total
21 Merkin on 3rd loop for 84 total
28 Monkey Humpers 4th (and final) loop for 112 total
9 minutes to go and ~0.8 mi back to COT so we started the long mosey back at this point and stopped along the way for a short MARY with LBC’s IC
AYG back to COT from Ardrey Kell East to Southgrove St. (nod to the ladies in front of CYCLEBAR as we pass by…) and back to COT.
Have a nice day for 30 seconds and DONE!
Not much to say about today other than it was great to meet a few of the PAX from Area51 along with seeing a couple of familiar faces (Swimmers & Posse). These men really worked hard and I couldn’t keep up with Alf or McGee. Spare Parts holding his own and The Commish (R) and Posse out there getting after it. I felt like I was racing with Swimmers the whole time but he was probably just letting me stay with him to build my confidence. (What a nice dude!)
Announcements:
Second Blood Drive going is in planning stages. Looking at Octoberish timeframe…
A lot of choices in Waxhaw for a workout on Saturday. McGee is on Q at Homecoming, Shop Dog at Blackhawk
YHC took us out #ctg
21 PAX ignored the #Fartsack and made there way to the premier Area 51 Thursday and chattiest boot camp and here’s what went down.
COP
We moseyed over to the bus lot for COP.
Half-Pipe
We headed off campus, making a left on Rea, then a left on Windyrush, then a right on Foxworth past Bedfordshire pausing at the bottom of the halfpipe. Partner up, Partner 1 runs to one side of the half-pipe and Partner 2 to the other side. Each partner performs 10 squats at the top of their respective hill, then meet again in the middle for 10 merkins each. Repeato for 3 rounds total.
Rock work
With the half-pipe done and the pax pleased, we headed over to the church for some rock work, but stopping at each light post on the right for 5 squats. We completed 3 rounds of curls, presses, and tricep extensions, running to the goodwill bin and back in between each set.
Bench Circuits
We moseyed back to campus, stopping at the benches, find a new partner, Partner 1 performs called exercise while Partner 2 runs to the basketball and back.
Mary
Moleskinny:
Announcements
3 PAX gathered for the Thursday Indian Land tradition known as The Arsenal. Here’s what we did.
Warmup
Jog around the right side of ILES back to the bus lot for COP. Lots of stretching, the PAX talk a lot about how we don’t stretch enough and we got a good 5 minutes in, YHC was tight from Carb Load’s beatdown at Dromedary yesterday, being the QIC has its benefits.
Thang
Mosey towards the Middle School stopping at each light pole for 1 burpee, last minute audible to go to the front of the middle school. Time for modified blimps, with a lap around the car line loop between each exercise.
B – 5 Bombjacks
L – 10 walking lunges
I – 15 imperial walkers
M – 20 merkins
P – 25 Potato pickers
S – 30 squats
Gather up and mosey back towards ILES, with everyone taking a round of mary on the way. Using the same light poles as before 1 bombjack at each pole until you make it to the playground for 20 supine pullups and a lap. Head back around to the front of ILES and done.
Moleskin
Small crowd with summer vacations and such, but we covered almost 2.5 miles and got a good mix of exercises in. The stretching at the beginning was a nice change of pace and necessary.
Atlas with the double prerun before we got going and Happy Meal put in his usual strong work. Not my best between the humidity and soreness, but the show must go on.
As usual great AO and we hit some rare ground with the front of the middle school. If you haven’t been in a while check it out, reach out to Happy Meal or Brexit and take a Q.
Six to seven hearty PAX Made a visit to one of Peak’s classic locales for a beatdown that can only be termed as “Old School Peak.” Why do we say 6 to 7? Read on …
YHC, Slim, Tweetsie, Smokey, Benny and Octane took off from the new launch point, which we will call the Back Alley and set out toward Peak’s classic launch point. Stopping off at the small shopping center with the compounding pharmacy to circle up …
COP
After that, mosey behind to the FBC Matthews gym parking lot.
Time for a classic — the starfish …
The four corners:
Back at the middle, a twist: When you first come back, hold plank for a 5-count. After the next corner, 10-count. After the next corner, 15-count. After the final corner, 20-count.
We did that. Then it was round 2:
Back at the middle, same routine, except hold a sumo squat for 5-count, the 10, blah blah etc.
After that, it’s time for a round of 7s. Starting off, it was 6 supine pull-ups at the bar, run down to the other end, 1 big-boy sit-up. Then 5 pull-ups, 2 sit-ups, you know the routine.
It was some time during the 7s that all of a sudden, Safelite appeared! It was pure magic.
Mosey over to FBC proper. Find some wall. Next up, two rounds of the people’s chair, with 50 arm-raises, civilian count.
Then some Mary — LBCs, flutter and Freddy Mercury.
Mosey back to launch, join up with Sparta for some box cutters, heels to heaven and protractor. Maybe some more stuff in there.
COT
Counting, naming, Tweetsie with the takeout.
Announcements
Benny is not doing some races, because there are no more races. He will share with you all of the races he is not doing.
Moleskine
First off, good to see Octane back for his second workout. You know, that second one is usually the hardest one. This is important because, well, hang on …
First off, Smokey pointed out that I was not in the middle during COP. I am a Q of the people. Let me stand with my comrades.
Okay, so, germane to Octane, as we approached the parking lot for the main thing, Benny, in discussion of races he is not doing, mentioned a race, maybe you’ve heard of it, called the “B. R. R.” So then Octane asks the magic question: What is that?
Needless to say, given the group’s composition, this was a mumblechatter gold mine. We noted that the lovely Blue Ridge Relay is a team relay race where you will see lots of lush scenery and enjoy only the finest luxe accommodations.
So yes, we lied. Well, lied is strong. We committed various sins of omission. Please see yourself to the nearest confessional booth.
During the starfish, Benny seemed to have problems with both the exercises called and the amount of repetitions for each one. He was vocal with these objections. He failed to realize that this was only adding to his agony, and the rest of us.
Safelite is a great BRR driver in that he has some sort of built in GPS, as there was really no other logical expectation for how he found us.
On the mosey back, Tweetsie and Smokey were having a theological discussion moving from the Acts of the Apostles to “Waterfalls” by TLC. Also, I showed off my great Biblical knowledge by quoting my favorite verse: “You shall not cast your visor on grass before referees.” It’s in there.
Strong showing all around, honestly. You know what you are going to get with these guys. Plus, getting back to the old favorites just felt good.
Sensei was missed. I don’t think he is missing us as he works on his tan.
Oh, and, stop me if you’ve heard this before — Slim knows people that you know as well. Turns out, he and Octane have some degree of professional cross-over. I still think it’s just because Slim knows everybody.
Finally, Benny claims he is going to show up to Skunk Works soon. He is required to alert both me and Tweetsie before this happens. If this happens, we will get the word out.
Oh, and finally finally, this week marked my four-year anniversary with F3. You guys got me through an extended period of joblessness, some bad football seasons, y’all picked me up on so so so many occasions and still continue to help me get better, in the many ways you can interpret that. You guys rock.
If you didn’t know Mt. Chisled before, you probably wanted to grab one of my extra sledgehammers after this workout to knock it down to size. At least there was some hard-driving classic rock to get us all pumped along the way.
DiCCS given and away we go on the Sledge-O-Matic VQ
The Warm-Up:
Mosey up to the Five Stones entrance and return to Mt. Chiseled grabbing a lifting rock on the way back if coupon-less. Circle up for some warm-up exercises all in 1-2-3 cadence: Sidestraddle Hop x 20, Moroccan Night Club x10, Potato Pickers x10, Imperial Walkers x10.
The Thang:
While one partner functions as the timer (run 1/2 around Mt. Chiseled the long way then up/over and back), the other partner begins the exercises. Each exercise is done “as many as you can” style one at a time til the timing partner returns triumphantly over Mt. Chiseled. The exercises (song: Duane Allman’s guitar gets us started – bring on The Whipping Post!): 1. Merkens, 2. LBCs, 3. Curls (21s w/ coupon) (song: The Who challenge us to find The Real Me), 4. Low Slow Squats (w/ coupon), 5. Diamond Merkens (song: at Chiseled…we “Ain’t Talkin ‘Bout Love”), 6. American Hammers, 7. Overhead Tricep Extensions (w/ coupon) (song: you’ve been Thunderstruck), 8. Monkey Humpers, 9. Carolina Dry Docks (song: Creedence reminds us that the next exercise is always just Up Around The Bend), 10. Flutters, 11. Curls (slow w/ coupon) (song: Springsteen’s got us thinking at this point that Roulette – – russian style – – might be a good option about now), 12. Shoulder Press (w/ coupon), 13. Off-Set Merkens (w/ coupon) (song: Pearl Jam’s got us looking in our Rearview Mirror to see to see who’s got the lead on exercises), 14. Big Boy Sit Ups, 15. Bobby Hurleys (song: Little Steven Van Zandt’s got got us scrambling for Guns, Drugs, And Gasoline to blow up Mt. Chiseled). Certainly some made it to the Bobby Hurleys (I know Bottlecap got there), but not all – – IMPRESSIVE!
The Beastie Boys Sabotage us and we’re off on a couple minutes of sprints! The lifting rocks are returned while other PAX plank up and we all line up at the edge of the parking lot and sprint All You Got to the COT area then sprint back only to the next parking lot island and back to COT again. In a pure rookie move, yours truly prematurely calls a Have A Nice Day with 3 minutes to spare…Fuse Box and Posse graciously call out the error and Sledge-O-Matic audibles Burpees to close us out the last 2 minutes.
Whew, my VQ is nearly complete! I tried to strike a happy medium for the runners and boot camp-ers…my mileage was 1.99 miles, so for certain many others ran more than that.
Announcements & a Triple Respect FNG!
Turnbuckle and Rudy will be organizing a follow-up Blood Drive capitalizing on the hard work and success of the one headed by Fuse Box last week…more to follow. Bottlecap reminded us all about 3rd F opportunities (Open Door) to grow spiritually no matter your faith on Saturday mornings via Zoom and Sundays at Five Stones – check the News Channel for specifics. Ricky Bobby introduced us to a triple respect FNG, a former NHL player, now known to F3 Nation as Penalty Box. Penalty Box shared some sage words of wisdom about the importance of faith and fellowship…well done!
Take us Out…
I am no preacher and I’m not the best practicing Catholic, but I was very glad to take us out this morning. The welcoming and supportive attitude of all F3 PAX I’ve met has inspired an awakening in me physically and spiritually. I said some days are diamonds and some days are rocks and that’s true as a matter of fact, but also as a matter of fiction. We all have the ability to cultivate diamonds from rocks with the right tools and attitude…the fellowship and faith prongs of F3 speak to me and I am grateful. Rave on men, Sledge-O-Matic.
MEMORY LANE
Remember the OLD Brave? YHC does… barely. Good thing we have backblasts, so we can #relivethememories . Back in the day we’d run the Ballantyne Village parking deck, which is, um… tiny. We had guys from all different F3 regions come down to do the workout. We did sopping wet shirtless partner carries up steaming stairwells, well, Mario and YHC did. We did AMRAPs and challenges, and week after week Q’s would try to crush the souls of PAX right before the weekend. There was no LSD on Saturdays which required tapering on Fridays. If you wanted one of the toughest workouts in F3 Nation, you posted at The Brave. PERIOD.
Not sure why YHC mentions this, other than a stroll down memory lane. Truth be told, YHC wouldn’t be able to handle the old workouts anymore anyway. But they were great memories… which is why YHC has written a backblast for 100% of the workouts Q’d, regardless if BB are en vogue or not. Here are two of them from the archives…
12.24.16 – The Brave Backblast
Anyway… back on track here. 9* brothers showed for YHC’s annual Q at The Brave for the past three years (according to WordPress history). Let’s get on with this…
THANG
MOLESKINE
Couple of morning musings…
ANNOUNCEMENTS
#WHOPUSHESWHO ~ JRR Tolkien
Warm Up
On a fine summer morning we went to school…and then it was over.
Chastain and Fuse Box explained what we would be doing until 8:30am, preached the DiCCS format and then we were off…no that was Fuse Box…with no weinke
Thang
We moseyed towards the front of the school trying to keep Fuse Box in sight. An example of what not to do as a Q. It also didn’t seem like Chastain knew how to count but again a lesson for us to do it right.
Merkins
Jump Squats
4 corners (split the group/on your own)
Moseyed to the school bus lot for some work with a partner. No partner carry exercises allowed now with Covid (phew) so we caught a break. So while one partner did derkins, the other ran ~40 yards then back to change exercise positions with said partner.
Short mosey to rock area…
Curls
Shoulder press
Tricep press
Used the lamp posts by the shed/field to practice american hammers…only twice and then sprinted/jail break to the COT.
Moleskin
I really appreciate everyone taking the time to help me learn how to Q (after being here only 3 weeks) especially Chastain, Fuse Box and Posse. Apologize for submitting this 3 days late (from time I could access).
Announcements
n/a. Chastain took us home with something other than a prayer
16 brave souls followed me into the gloomy morning dew to find our comfort zone and move passed it. (some more than others)
DiCCS Delivered and reminded the PAX to stay together as we cross HWY 75 (S. Main St.) a total of 4 times during the workout. Proceeded to tell the PAX we were going to Open House at the schools around town…
Warmorama:
Mosey from COT to Sports Court behind S. Providence School for – IW IC X 20, Plank it up for Merkin X 15 IC, Calf Stretch L/R, Downward/Upward Dog, (This is where Rudy had to make a quick trip to the conveniently-placed port-a-potty over at the Shotgun houses near the school)
Thang:
For the first bad idea of the day, Mosey to the other side of the school and find some wall for 11’s with 1 DK and 10 MT up/down to 10/1. Stopped at half way mark bc I was smoked to check if Rudy was back yet. (Nope) Let’s finish it! (All while thinking… “What the heck is Rudy doing in there?”). Rudy rejoined somewhere during the last few sets so all present and accounted for.
Next up – AYG up Bad Idea (Second bad idea of the day) Mary for the SIX when you get there. Thanks Ice 9!
Mosey to last loop of cemetery near entrance and do four corners. First round do 10 Peter Parkers at each corner, Round 2 Merkins X 10, 3 BBSU or V-Ups and Mary for the SIX. Thanks again Ice 9!
Mosey to Waxhaw Elementary and start at farthest corner of front parking lot next to Hwy 75 and AYG to other side (long side) and BC around curbed curve (or bend for clarity…) back through the middle isle and repeat BC around curve and AYG to the opposite corner from where we started. We did reverse back to other corner but this time we Lunge Walked X 10 each leg around the curves.
Last (and worst bad idea of the morning) – Mosey from Waxhaw Elementary to crosswalk for Pedestrian bridge (~1.0 Mi). Mary for the SIX. Thanks for leading it one last time Ice 9!
Cross over pedestrian bridge (SHOOT! 2 mins left!) Find a curb on East N. Main St. for – 20 Dips and 20 Curb Jumps Ups/Step Ups and then AYG to COT.
Done!
All in all, I think the Pax that joined YHC this morning got something out of the workout. Everyone was sweating at least… (Of course getting out of your car and standing for 5 minutes would make one sweat in this humidity so…) By the way… When Shake N Bake is given a choice rather than a yes or no question, his answer is still an emphatic “NO”!
Announcements:
3 significantly similar but separate times for 3rd F with Open Door on the weekends. Join and lead if you are so inclined or just participate in the discussion so you can get to know your fellow PAX on another level.
Thank you to Foundation for stepping up to Co-Site Q THE Floater with YHC. Really appreciate the help getting solid Q’s for each workout.
Welcome (Formally) Shake N Bake (NO) to your new role as Co-Site Q for THE Floater! (We needed a reason for him to post more often so why not ask him to Q a site???) Kidding aside, (Not really) I welcome you to the #87thworstF3AO in all the world and I’m sure with your leadership skills you will get it to #88 eventually…
A Few great options for workouts this Friday with Dasher on Q at Swarm, Doughboy on Q at Impromptu and YHC is at Cerberus if you want to venture out of the bubble a bit…
YHC took us out #CTG
I’m not big on birthdays. I tend to keep it simple with a small celebration with the family. But this year, I saw The Body Shop had an opening on my birthday and I thought “Why not make some guys miserable on my birthday”. And so here it is:
WARM UP
Mosey 10 Aussie Burpees where you stand.
Mosey about 100 yards for another 10 Aussie Burpees.
Mosey about another 100 yards for another 10 Aussie Burpees.
THE THANG
After a short mosey around the parking lot, we circled up for:
Quick mosey to parking spaces to avoid Covid sweat pile crossing. Jack Web of Carolina Dry Docks and Crawl Bear. Somewhere around 4 and 16 I screwed up the counting. Being the idiot that I am, I decided we needed to start over (Bad Idea). Some pax groaned…others laughed. Several suggested I needed to go back to Q School – touche. Approaching the last round I had intentionally planned on ending at 37 since perhaps the pax didn’t quite register why we did 37 merkins earlier….but Posse decided it was his turn to Q Jack the count. Nope! I just kept repeating 37 over top of his 38, 39, and 40.
Quick Mosey to the rock pile for rocks. Partner up. Partner 1 Jail breaks 100 yards, takes a 10 second walking recovery, and jail breaks back 100 yards. Partner 2 does a lifting exercises. Keep rotating through.
It was at this point I noticed I was getting lapped and the angry elf in me called for those fast bastards to keep going until I was done. Once the 6 finished (me) we joined back together for 37 sumo squats accompanied by Form Police Posse reminding us to keep our backs straight (mine wasn’t straight and almost never is during squats so feel free to call me out – it takes me back 20 years ago to my football coach yelling the same thing at me – I’ve never had good squat form).
Lunge Walk back towards the rock pile. Apparently some pax heard mosey…I quickly nipped that one in the bud and had everyone lunging. Rocks up and circle up for a final 7 Aussie Burpees (Haha, I made y’all do my birthday burpees with me…suckers). It was at this point that the first light headed moment took place. Very quick and passing. (Serves me right for making yall do my birthday burpees with me I guess) Lets mosey to the speaker near COT.
5 minutes left, just enough time for Thunder Struck….damn it, black out coming again. This one a little stronger. Faked a music hick up to give myself a little extra recover time (I’m not sure we covered that at Q School – “What to do when your passing out”)….there we go, I’m back. Ok, AC/DC Thunderstruck…Mountain Climbers until you hear Thunder then do a Merkin. During instrumentals we stood up and did air presses. It’s a fan favorite. Every pax wishes we did this more often. Ended right on time depending on your definition of “On Time”. I’m never on Hooch time (a guy that use to do F3 (shots fired) in Waxhaw that typically ended his workouts 3 minutes past time), but sometimes I do like to apply Clemson Football Coach Danny Ford’s famous quote “Hit through the echo of the whistle” to F3 (Posse is grinning from ear to ear seeing that I mentioned Clemson Football). We ended at 6:45:35 instead of 6:45:00 as some pax apparently feel is required.
MOLESKIN
ANNOUNCEMENTS
I’m a bit delayed in publishing the results of Monday morning Flash Q. For that I apologize and promise to keep it brief.
23 men showed up to another early morning humid workout. A day that promised to bring temperatures in the 90’s for the like the 20th one of it’s kind in a row. The temperature was fine but the air was like how I like my women, THICC
Chicken Little offered to take part of the group if we got over 20, so we took a minute to divide the group proving once again that counting off by 3’s is impossible. I didn’t write a weinke so let’s just pretend both groups did the same thing.
The Thang:
And done. Thanks for letting me lead this great group of men. Look forward to the next time.
Announcements were Frackesque, there were none
Prayer was Deflatedesque, quick, low volume and probably incoherent