Monthly Archive January 2021

Fresh Set of Eyes

Because of the faithfulness of one Das Boot, YHC was given the opportunity to Q the Body Shop this morning on a V post to the site.  Arrived with all the usual nervousness: did I get the time right? (yes), am I in the right spot? (not exactly but close enough to see One Star’s car pull in and move), did I get captured by the security cameras last night driving slowly around Rea View Elementary as I was preparing a workout? (maybe, time will tell), etc.

But apparently my newness let the PAX see some different parts of the AO than usual and they weren’t totally sorry I was there.  So without further ado…

Warmup: Mosey through the lot with some high knees, butt kicks, and karyokes.  Circle up for 10 merkins IC and the customary stretches (customary more to Waxhaw than SOB – a good idea to model).

Mosey down to playground A and partner up.  P1 does 1 pullup, 4 merkins, 2 pullups, 8 merkins, etc. while P2 runs ~25 yards out and back w/ 10 jump squats.  Flapjack and repeat so that every PAX goes twice trying to see how high up the ladder he can get with pullups/merkins.

Mosey to the hill at the bottom of the soccer fields.  Perform an exercise IC, sprint the hill and jog back.  Exercises were 10 speed skaters, 10 eight count burpees, 10 mountain climbers, and 10 plank jacks.  YHC was so gassed from these that we stopped for Mary halfway through and did 20 flutters, 20 dollies, and 10 LBCs IC.

Mosey to playground B and partner up.  Same format as last time but substitute squats for merkins and donkey kicks for jump squats.

Head to the small track for “Catch Me If you Cans” with 5 jumps squats/run/bear crawl repeat all the way around the track.  Finish with AYG pullups.

Back to the hill.  P1 holds elbow plank while P2 sprints the hill twice.  Flapjack and repeat.  Repeat again with six inch plank.  Mosey to the front of the school for H2H x 10 and pistol crunches 10 each leg.  Then a hot lap that is about 300 meters.  Then 20 BB sit ups, 10 LBCs IC and 10 Fred Mercuries IC.  Mary complete.

Finish the workout with alternating peoples’ chair and 10 broad jumps.  2 rounds.  Done.

Moleskin: Loved all elements of the workout this morning but by far my takeaway was the words offered by Long Haul during “the six” in COT.  LH talked about his first post and shared how at the time he was commuting weekly to Charlotte and didn’t know anybody.  He spoke about the men who came up to him after the workout and made him feel welcome.  He says this more than anything kept him going with F3.  That was seven years ago!  Since then he has paid it forward, keeps paying it forward, and encourages others to pay it forward.  Think about the impact!!

On a way too personal note, Long Haul’s words touched a nerve for YHC.  Truth is, I was never very good at doing the very thing he spoke of: simply welcoming men to F3 and taking the five minutes post workout to be a friend.  I very well may have been at Long Haul’s first Bagpipe seven years ago and I can’t say for sure if I was one of the guys he was talking about.  That stings a little and it should!  I will do better.  Thank you Long Haul for getting to the heart of F3 and sharing a thought that should linger with all of us.

Announcements:  New Workout  Friday’s at Marvin Ridge High School 0600.  Last Call is the name.  Come out tomorrow and support.

Hill top 2 Hill top!!

10 men got together in the gloom to run, walk, or Ruck.  From one hilltop to another.  My normal elevation gain on morning woods which is 8 miles of trails is 550 feet.  My Strava was over 600 Feet for todays run.

 

#blooddrive

#csup on the 6th

Want to see who your friends are? Call Burpees post COT

Spoiler, I was the only one who did burpees.  Details in the Moleskin.

18 Pax came out for a beautiful morning (any time its above 40 and not raining its perfect weather in my book).  DiCCS provided and a couple pax with nervous laughter when I told them we would not be crossing the railroad tracks or Providence Rd.

THE WARM UP

Mosey to the other church – not sure the name but its about a .2 mile mosey away.

15 SSH’s.

Attempted to do the active stretching I hinted about in Monday’s BB.  Trying to figure out ways to stretch with out the heart rate plummeting.  Jury’s still out as I wasn’t thrilled with how it went…any who…

Calf Stretch Right over left with Merkins.  Flap Jack for more Merkins.  I believe we did 12.

Downward Dog with Dry docks mixed in… I think we did 10.

I got bored and knew time was of the essence so ended the warm up early.

 

THE THANG

Mosey back to launch for Progressive 4 5 corners.   Stop to do exercises on the out, run without stopping on the way back.  For purposes of this BB, I will break it up into the “rounds” we did.

  • 5 Turkish Get Ups, Run to Corner 2 for 10 Merkins, Run back to Corner 1.
  • 5 Turkish Get Ups, 10 Merkins, 15 Jumping Lunges.  Zinfandel confirming 2 = 1…Yes, why would we do an odd number?  Apparently Chastain wasn’t on the same page and attempted 1 is 1 until being corrected.    Run back to Corner 1.
  • 5 Turks, 10 Merkins, 15 J Lunges, and on to Corner 4 for 20 Dry docks.  Run back.
  • 5 Turks, 10 Merkins, 15 J Lunges, 20 Dry Docks, and 25 Curb Shoulder Up Up Down Downs (???  no clue what to call them).   Run back.

I scouted the distance before and this got us 1.3 miles.  I wasn’t intending on the jumping lunges to hurt that much and I expected the shoulder curb things to hurt more.  Lessons learned.  Moving on.

Mosey to the bottom of Keith Jong Hill and partner up with someone your same ability.

  • P1 does 100 reps as follows: 25 LBC’s, 25 T Claps, 20 Jump Squats, 15 Merkins, 10 In/Outs, 5 Burpees
  • P2 Does light pole suicides up the hill (three light poles on the right).  If the runner finishes before P1 does – everyone stops there, no matter what rep they are on.  If P1 finishes the 100 reps before the runner gets in, the team must do a 5 burpee penalty together.

I specifically picked out some easier exercises for the 100 reps as I intended it to be more of an active recovery from the hill run and I wanted to make the runners work to make it in on time.  I also didn’t see many people doing penalty burpees (my partner didn’t seem too keen on doing them) so I let it slide.

2 Rounds of this.  As we finish up we hear the train coming.

Backwards run up the hill.  Short recover to regroup everyone and then jailbreak to the stop sign.   Look over to Ice 9 and ask him for a 10 count, he then proceeds to attempt to have us do burpees….NOPE.  Jail break to COT.  As we are collecting at COT, we have reached 6:15, but we still hear that train whistle in the distance.  Quick Count, Name-O-Rama, and Announcements.  Train is getting closer.   I took us out with a prayer and the train was on us.  Burpees!  I look up after burpee number 1 to see the backs of everyone.   Some gentle coaxing and name calling and no one is turning around (Really?  Not even one “I don’t agree with you but I won’t make you do them alone” guy?).  Picture is taken and I’m still doing burpees.  I think I got to burpee number 11 by the time the train had “passed” (who knows).  I’m not mad.  I’m not even disappointed.  I’m more surprised.  It wasn’t the reaction I suspected from this group.  Sure I figured pax wouldn’t like it.  But I figured one or two would fall in with me and the pressure would get to the rest.  Instead, 17 guys took the easy way out from a group that typically prides itself on going beyond.

 

MOLESKIN

  • Apparently the burpee train rules need to be revisited and clearly stated at this AO.  A couple weeks ago we had a Pax attempting to claim if  you cant see the train you don’t do burpees (that’s never been a thing).  I’ve been there before where we have done burpees before 5:30.   So if we will do them before the workout, why not after?
  • Chastain towards the front of the group most of the day, though after hearing he attempted 1 = 1 jumping lunges, we now know why.
  • Ice 9 Dry heaving as he was running towards me might be the scariest thing that’s happened to me in 2021.
  • Easy Button stepping up to chat up the new Pax Hot Tub and make him feel welcomed.  Nice job.
  • Zinfandel on point all morning being the Anti Damascus.   Correcting counts, helping pax remember what exercises to do, and reminding guys of the penalty burpees.   Thank you.
  • I wish I had High Hat’s energy this early in the morning.  He almost scared away hot tub talking about a time he played in a reggae band and why one of the guys had the nick name bone.  I did a double take when he told me he was in a reggae band.
  • Zinfandel pointing out that Banjo and I had matching Rocky Suites on.   Banjo and Hot Tub also commiserating on the West Virginia connections.   Discussions included what holler they were from and which cousin they married.
  • Thanks for Carb Load for the invite.
  • Some end of workout watch comparisons had mileage from 2.9 to 3.5.  With mine being the highest at 3.5 miles, many pax were skeptical…as am I.
  • I didn’t get a no out of Shake this morning (that I heard at least).  Much like “Oh Yeah’s” from Loafer, I look forward to making shake say “No”.  I guess its back to the drawing board for increasingly more difficult or stupid stuff for the next Floater Q.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Blood Drive Jan 30th at Five Stones.    Sign up and get people signed up.   Additional slots recently added.
  • CSAUP Waxtravaganza Feb 6th.  13 Miles of First F and beers at the Tap House afterwards for 2nd F.
  • Centerfold organizing a group for next Wednesday for Rice and Beans in uptown.

46th

17 Pax showed up to start the day off right.   Since today was the day the 46th President of the Republic was inaugurated, today’s workout would revolve around the number 46.

Warm Up – Run up to Cuthbertson, down to side of Mt. Chiseled.  Jimmy Dugans, Calf Stretch, Can Opener.  Mosey down to end of parking lot back to COT.  Moroccan Night Clubs.  46 SSH in Cadence.

The Thang – Grab brick, rifle carry to Mt. Chiseled.  Grab a partner.  Some exercises were done with a partner to achieve a total of 46 reps while the other ran around Mt Chiseled, while others were done on your own for 46 reps.  Here’s what I think we did.

46 curls – oyo

46 Blockeyes – Partner

46 block swings – Partner

46 block merkins – partner

46 block squats- partner

23 lbc’s in cadence oyo, run around mt. chiseled, 23 lbc’s in cadence

46 military presses – partner

46 toe taps – partner

46 second plank

Rifle carry block back to COT.  46 second plank, mary, finished

Announcements – Blood Drive on 1/30, 5 stones church.  2/6 – CSAUP – 7:30am downtown Waxhaw, F2 following at Taphouse.  Prayers for family members impacted and fighting Covid19.

Hey Bob, you’ll love it

7 men gathered for another running of the cowbell. You know what we did. We kicked the snot out of ourselves with kettlebells and sprints for 3+ miles, continuing the shredding process making it difficult for the cowbell pax to walk without swaggering.

Poor Damascus. He has been dealing with a veritable mountain of troubles for months, barely posting, getting no exercise, and gaining weight. Knowing this, Bottlecap got that mischievous grin on his face that we all know and love.

  • Bottlecap said something like “Hey Bob, you should come out for Cowbell. It’s a new workout where we swing kettlebells.”
  • Damascus, thinking (correctly) that Bottlecap was his friend and (mistakenly) that Bottlecap had his best interests in mind, probably said, “hey thanks Lou. I’ve been wondering what my first workout back should be.”
  • Bottlecap, barely believing his scheme would work, said, “great, I will see you Wednesday.”

So Damascus showed up with a kettlebell that — by its size — should weigh 74 pounds. [Due to the helium it contained, no one was able to verify its true weight.]

Damascus then walked up to the line like he smelled something bad enough to choke a maggot. When he arrived, and saw Hurry and Tool Time looking nervous, Dasher faking lingering effects of COVID, and Sugar Daddy having lost his smile for the first time, Damascus suspected that Bottlecap had been talking with his tongue out of his shoe. And when the first long sprint was called, he had no doubt. To his credit, though he hung in there and pushed.

When confronted later about his prevarication, Bottlecap merely grinned, raised his hands, and replied, “hey I’m in sales. I may have left out a few details.”

So ended the third running of the cowbell. Thanks to Hurry for taking us out, and reminding us what a great gift we have in F3. Damascus was polite enough not to disagree.

Funk and Fibonacci

The 46 degree temps lured 8 Meatheaded Pax out of their fartsacks to continued journey into the Kettlebell life.  Arriving at Calvary around 5:10 for awkward broga,  the wind greeted me with an evil howling laugh.  This wind would make the double KBs extra sucky today.

COP 

  • SSH IC
  • Arm Circles IC
  • Pryer Squat with a curl, repeat, repeat, repeat

The Thang

Double Swings  10 X 6  Work/Rest 20/40 10 min

Complex – Fibonacci Sequence  – AMRAP for 15 min

  • 1-Double Snatches, 
  • 2-Double Cleans, 
  • 3-Double Military Press 
  • 5-Double High Pull
  • 8-Double Rack Squats

Easy Strength  – Doubles

  • 2 X 10 Deadlifts
  • 2 X 5 See Saw Press
  • 2 X 5 Bent Over Rows
  • 2 X 5 Goblet Squat Press (1 bell)

Carries 1 min out and back

Farmers

Mary

  • Plank 1 min
  • Hollowed Body Hold 1 min

Moleskine

Well the good news is that this workout sucked so much that most of the PAX forgot about the wind, especially when the double rack front squats arrived…..I HATE ME TOO!.  Great work by all the PAX today.  Thanks to Voodoo again bringing the speaker for my old school Funk playlist and your leadership!  Per usual, Ickey had a random musical fact about 80’s wrestlers covering a James Brown song.  His depth of musical trivia always entertains.  Soulglo while working hard tweaked his back.  Heal soon brotha.  War Eagle put in solid work while nicely reminding Soulglo of Alabama Football dominance, perhaps that’s what tweaked his back.  Frehleys per usual doing solid work whilst telling stories that shall not be repeated!  Uncle Leo, our meathead accountant, had to love the Fibonacci complex, what with all the counting and math and such.  High Tide thanks for the idea to do a Fibonacci workout….all good ideas are stolen.

Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician who discovered a common sequence that occurs in nature.  The pattern formed in pine cones,  flower petals, pineapple skin, seashells, and even galaxy spirals all follow this pattern.  Essentially:  1,2,3,5,8,13,21…. Add the previous number to obtain the next number.   Personally being Italian and a bit of at math geek, I love Fibonacci.  Creation has math and order built right in.

Teacher gonna teach.

Announcements:

  • Blood Drive.  Do it or Mighty Might will egg your house.
  • CSAUP opportunity at UNCC from our brothers in F3 MeCA.

I Got Woods

So Chicken and I had this great idea to avoid all the traffic coming out of Nesbit that we would launch from my back yard. Little did Chicken know but I have a pool back there and he jumped in thinking I had the heater on. Never knew Chickens could move that fast. He leaped out of the water and said let’s go! So we went. Him sopping wet and me just surprise he’s alive and didn’t get hypothermia.

 

We ran into a few more PAX as we traversed the somewhat dryer than last week thread trail. First it was Paper Jam who got behind so he could “become one with nature”, then came Rubbermaid who was trying to avoid us but we tackled him and made him stop. While lassoing him to the tree stump for who knows what Chicken was going to do to him, Hollywood showed up and said “make sure to tie his ankles too! You don’t want him getting away”. So we took a photo that could use a lot of editing and more likely should not be shared on social so as not to scare anyone just so we had proof of our stupidity. (Like we need anymore proof?!)  So long story, short. 5 dudes ran in the woods. We ran a long way and it was scary at some places because it gets dark under all those trees.

 

 

Half way is better than no way

I hadn’t done webbs in a while so I wanted to incorporate some into the workout today. 4 webbs, to be exact. However, that seemed like it might take too long so I decided we’d modify and do Half Webbs. Besides, it’s Wednesday and we’re halfway through the week!

11 other dudes joined me for the bootcamp and 2 MASHers (Penalty Box and Bunyan) did their thing in relatively warm weather. I had to look at my weather app on my phone twice this morning to make sure I was looking at Waxhaw. 48 degrees? That doubled yesterday’s temps!

DiCCS done.

Warmup

I like to do a moving warmup, so we circled the student lot, stopping at different locations to do SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan Night Clubs, Calf Stretches, Glidah Stretches, Hurry Stretches (we’re real inventive with the names here), and ending with some Mountain Climbers. Mosey back to COTish area

The Thang

Now begin the Half Webbs. What’s that, you may ask? A standard Webb is a 1:4 ratio. The Half Webb is a 1:2 ratio. So we started with 1 Merkin and 2 Air Presses and worked our way up to 10 Merkins and 20 Air Presses. On one hand, it’s easier because there are less Air Presses. On the other hand there’s less of a break between the Merkins…Regardless, everyone was happy they were done. Or so they thought.

Mosey half a lap to the opposite corner of the student lot

Half Webb number two: 1 Jump Squat and 2 Bonnie Blairs (1=1). I think it was Tanyatine who said this one probably looked better on paper. He was correct. Sticking with the “half” theme, I audibled and we made it to 5 Jump Squats and 10 Bonnie Blairs and that was quite enough. Mosey another half lap around the student lot to the corner we started at.

Half Webb number three: 1 Big Boi Sit-Up and 2 American Hammers (1=1). We went back to 10 and 20 with this round, but someone (Das Boot swears it wasn’t him) was trumpeting some noxious gasses nearly the whole time. It sounded like maybe someone thoroughly enjoyed Taco Tuesday. Another half lap mosey.

Half Webb number four: 1 Burpee and 2 Side Straddle Hops. On the mosey I mentioned this one might get another audible and I was correct. We finished with 5 and 10.

With the Half Webbs out of the way we made our way to the rock pile and grabbed a lifting rock as well as a partner. Standard partner work now with one lifting and the other running until all reps are complete:

  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Weighted Squats
  • 100 Shoulder Presses
  • 100 Bent Over Rows
  • 100 Curb Dips

Dispose of your rock and your partner and mosey back to the Jump Squat/Bonnie Blair/Burpee/SSH corner.

With roughly 8 minutes remaining we needed a bit more running. Starting with one Merkin and incrementing by one at each stop, we snaked back and forth along the parking lot lanes. One at the bottom of the hill, 2 at the middle crest, 3 at the COT end, 4 at the middle, and so on until you reach 10 Merkins or until time expired.

Moleskin

4 Half Webbs using half the student lot parking lot. Still better than fartsacking. Dromedary is a bit further than most of the other workouts I go to (Clean Slate notwithstanding) but it’s good to get out there as I see PAX I don’t normally see. Crazy to think that I had never been until the beginning of September. We did the Passport Challenge, which was an attempt to get PAX to travel outside their comfort zone. Even though that’s over for now, I’d still encourage guys to try a new site every once in a while. Get up 5 minutes earlier. Drive a bit further. Meet some PAX you don’t know or don’t know well. There are some cool AOs out there that you’re missing out on.

Announcements

Blood Drive – Saturday January 30th from 9-1:30 at Five Stones

Waxtravaganza CSAUP – Saturday February 6th from 7:30 to 11:00ish+. Starts at The Floater and ends there too with 2nd F at the Waxhaw Tap Room following. Get out of your comfort zone and do something stupid

Praise – Shop Dawg has returned after a bout of COVID

Prayers – Shop Dawg’s dad is hospitalized with COVID and is on a ventilator

YHC took us out

 

Back to School

So I told C3PO last week I would get back to him about Qing Appetizer this week and while on a Mosey at Clyent Dinner said I was Qing Appetizer and C3PO overheard and said “Oh Really?” Anyway… so I never got back to him until that moment and today he regretted ever asking me…

So pulled up to Rea View about 15 mins early to check out potential pain stations while it was still light out. This AO is going to be ripe when the days get long again. No lighting outside of the parking lot so we had to stay on the paved surfaces today but can’t wait to explore the fields when it gets light out. Meanwhile as I was off on my adventure, several PAX started rolling in and before I knew it we had 20, yes 20!, 1:1 ratio of PAX to 2.0. Perfect!

warmorama:

shortest mosey ever around COT lot and circle up for the standards. SSH, IW, plank up for the Glidah stretch L/R and then up and down dog with Moroccan Nightclubs to bring it home.

Thang:

mosey to rock pile and grab a lifting rock or (2 year old 2.0) then long mosey to back parking lot for…. Billy Madison

In the movie, starring Adam Sandler, Billy has to repeat all twelve grades in school and pass in order to take over his family’s business from his father. In the same vein as 12 days of Christmas we did…

exercises were all X 12

1-Dry Dock

2-Squat

3-Calf Raise

4-Curl

5-Shoulder Press

6-Tricep Ext

7-Row

8-Big (Person) Sit-up

9-American Hammer

10-LBC

11-Superman

12-Burpee

So we were able to complete the 11th grade with Superman but we had to return the rocks and do 12 burpees by the rock pile until we had just Uber a minute left. Oh well. At least we did the burpees, right???

return rocks and back to COT. Done!

All of the 2.0’s seemed to have fun and enjoyed being with their Dad for a little bit of exercise and a whole lot of smiling. Great to witness but even better to be a part of.

 

Great seeing a couple of PAX that don’t post in the “deeper” parts of Waxhaw (Dwight & Trickle).

Trickle even brought his daughter Sabrina originally from TX and we named her Tumbleweed.  Welcome Tumbleweed to the crazy! We hope to see you every week you’re able to post.

Announcements:

Blood Drive January 30th. More appt. times are available now that we reached our milestone of 40 so keep checking Red Cross website for times.

https://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/drive-results?order=DATE&range=10&zipSponsor=F3

Waxtravaganza – Waxhaw World Tour. February 6 7:00 a for Ruckers 7:30 for the Bootcampers.

 

 

Watchtower Backblast

Warm up

Warm up lap around the big field in front of the elementary school and circle up in front of main entrance to the school.

20 x SSH

20 x imperial walkers

***Pause while shake-n-bake strolls in late***

5 merkins

5 diamond merkins (for most, Zinfandel is somehow not capable of putting his hands together in a diamond shape, so just 5 more regular merkins for him)

Various stretches.

14 mountain climbers

The Thang

Run over to flag pole area and partner up. P1 run lap around the field while P2 does exercise. Then switch.

200 big boi’s

150 Bobby Hurley’s

100 Merkins

Mosey around to back of school grab some wall.

20 Mike Tysons and run lap around track.  Finish with wall sit until 6 is in.

15 Mike Tysons and run lap around track.  Finish with wall sit until 6 is in.

10 Mike Tysons and run lap around track.  Finish with wall sit until 6 is in.

5 Mike Tysons and run lap around track.  Finish with wall sit until 6 is in.

Mosey to entrance of bus lot.  Jail break from stop sign at bus lot to the stop sign near COT.  Just so happens that there is a strava segment here.  Thanks Chastain for setting that up!

 

The Moleskin

Another successful post at Watchtower.  I’ll tell you what, the site Q’s have really taken this AO to the next level. They are amazing and every other site Q has a lot to learn from them. Great group of guys this morning!  Appreciate you letting me lead you.  Special shoutout to the Mash Unit.  Those guys continue to show up and bring it in 20 degree weather.  Way to go guys.

Announcements:

Blood drive January 30th

CSAUP event – Feb 6th