Monthly Archive April 2021

Swing and Misssssssssss…Not

Brothers:  14…Penalty Box, Popeye, Chicken Little, O69, Swimmers, Bunyan, Lambeau, Elmers, Centerfold, Ball & Chain, Landfill, Chastain, Spitz, and Mayhem

This morning was spring training for F3’s first baseball tryouts.  Did not find any diamonds (ie Babe Ruth, Bull Durham) in the rough, but plenty of “Smalls” stepped up to the plate.

14 F3 brothers sported their favorite gloves, baseball hats, and team logos for a fun workout this morning.  Yes, Fitness (F1) is important to all of us.  Fellowship (F2) in our communities (ie CPR training, blood drives, Christ Closet giveaways) are equally important.  Don’t forget the 3rd F (Faith).  Q Source meetings on Mondays and Fridays, bible study on Zoom calls and in person on Saturdays and Sundays, and discipleship study (with pizza and beer) on Monday nights.  My point…be a positive change agent (aka Him) in your homes and communities.  Friends, family members, and strangers need you.  Will you engage?

Exercises (if the Lexicon is incorrect, asking for grace).

Thangs:

Wiffle bat stretches

Side straddle hops

Dead stop pushups

Side planks (3 x 20 seconds)

Rotator Y’s and W’s

Lateral hurdle hops over bricks

Bulgarian squats

Single arm dumbbell rows

Rotational bat (instead of bonze ball and cable on Smith machine) rows

Low slow squats with bat behind head

Double coupon (instead of trap bar) deadlifts while partner completes side straddle hops

Ended with 5 minutes of stretching and breathing led by Bunyan.  Need more of this brothers.  A lot of banged up people out there.

I’m sure I forgot something.  Oh well…

Thanks to Chastain for “voluntelling” me to Q.

Later brothers.  Thanks for who you were, are, and will be moving forward.

Mayhem out.

Modify on the run

Bottlecap asked me to Q the Afternoon Delight earlier this week but I didn’t start planning it until my drive over to the park. 30 minutes? No big deal.

4 pax ready to roll at 12:30. DiCCS given then off we go. I had a general plan to loop all the trails in the park and throw in exercises at random. I figured there had to be a rock pile somewhere on site too so there’s be plenty to do. Turns out I was right so that’s what we did.

Loop the trails. Pick up some rocks. Run back and forth while your partner picks up some rocks. Shoulder Taps, Bomb Jacks, Squats, and Tysons. Finished with some Step-Ups and some Side Straddle Hops to kill the clock.

We did about a mile and a half. Nothing crazy but we didn’t avoid running either.

I was really worried about tripping and falling at WTF tomorrow so I decided to do it today instead, much to the amusement horror of some poor lady walking her dogs. Sure glad I got that out of the way so I didn’t embarrass myself tomorrow.

Fun-Fact Friday and almost closing out the April Q-challenge

I noticed two things this morning. First: 10 degrees more make a huge difference to your transpiration! Second: as a Q you never know what to expect. Last time I Q’ed Last Call, we were 11 Pax, before that at Dromedary (same location) we were  23 Pax. Today, we were only 3! But: this is what makes you a stronger and better leader when you Q because you always have to adapt! When One Star announced last Wednesday at Dromedary that I am Q’ing Last Call, he said that I will share some history from Germany and bring an international flair to the workout. FFF aka Fun-Fact-Friday was born! First Fun-Fact was given during DiCSS: The largest Class Action Settlement in the USA was the Tobacco Settlement for $206 billion. The third biggest was the Volkswagen emissions scandal for $14.7 Billion. Volkswagen also had a class action settlement in Germany – worth only $830 Million… so: you cannot sue F3, the school / location, me and you should not sue each other.

Warmup

Schnitzel-classic or better: Waxhaw-classic!  warm-up mosey then the next Fun-Fact (FF): When JFK visited Berlin, he infamously said “Ick bin ein Berliner”, which also translates to “I am a jelly donut”… so let’s get rid of the donuts we ate over the last days and weeks! 15x in cadence: Side Straddle Hops, Maroccon Night Clubs, Imperial Walker, Mountain Climbers – then calf and runners stretch.

The Thang

We moseyed a few yards on the parking lot and started a star-fish: 15 merkins, 10 big boys, 10 Mike Tysons, 20 Freddie Mercury’s and 3 burpees in the middle. Repeat to have 2 rounds. We learnt that One Star is more of a “Drive-way” than a “Big-Gig in the Taphouse” singer. But hey – I would not even come close to a Mic! Next FF: If you think this workout section was bad – think again! Chancellor Angela Merkel has a Barbie doll made after her! Urgh…

During the mosey to the main entrance I was planning to say “partner up”… but… with 3 in total, this is a difficult exercise… So Deep Dish was running first the small loop on the parking lot in front of the entrance as a timer, while One Star and I started with the exercises… sit against the wall – jabs, then donkey kicks, then sit against the wall – air presses, then bobby hurleys. We repeated until I said stop (I think it was almost two rounds). One Star and I had to leave Deep Dish out of our conversation, since he was always running away, but One Star and I talked about Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and how crazy success-driven they are. In other words: if you really want to achieve something, you can do it (with a little bit of talent)! Next FF: If you think that this was a rather long section of the workout – think again! “Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft” is the longest published word. It is 79 letters long! And no, I will not translate it for you, because this would eat up another 10 paragraphs… 🙂 And something short / narrow: in my home town in Reutlingen is the world’s narrowest Street. It is called “Spreuhofstrasse” and is 31cm (one foot) wide at its narrowest point!

Mosey down to the parking lot again, finding 4 corners: 20 dips, 20 speed skaters (one is one), 5 Burpees, 20 LBC’s. Total of three rounds. With a little time to kill we lunge-walked “fuenf Baueme” (5 trees) up the street. Next FF: 65% of the highways in Germany (Autobahn) have no speed limit. And: In Germany, there is no punishment for a prisoner who tries to escape from jail, because it is a basic instinct to be free! Now – if you count 1 and 1 together… you got it! Jailbreak to COT!

With two minutes to go we did Floaters and big boys in cadence, and finished strong with a 10sec “have a nice day”.

Moleskin

Having only 3 Pax in a workout makes it naturally a bit more intimate, calm and serene since there is no BS in-between… But we all did a great job in pushing ourselves again and enjoyed a beautiful morning. My assumption was, that I am closing the April Q-Challenge, but learnt later that the Noon-Workout still took place… deng it!

Announcements

  • Last Call needs more Q’s for May! I saw there were a lot of VQ in April
  • tomorrow is WTF and workout-convergence at Blackhawk where Shop Dawg will give you a beat-down.

I closed it with some more FF for the weekend: there are over 1,500 (or 5,000 – depending on the source) different beers in Germany, pured under the German purity law (only barley, hops and water). There are over 300 different kinds of bread in Germany. There are over 1,000 kinds of sausages in Germany. Beer is officially considered a food in Bavaria and – last but not least – The “Weihenstephaner Brewery just north of Munich has been operations since 1040, making it the world’s oldest brewery (sorry, Yuengling!). So, try and stay healthy during the weekend!

Small and Intimate

Rousey threw Taco Stand and YHC a curve ball this morning when he drove into the Gibson lot on two wheels with 70’s R&B love songs playing. It really set the mood for what was a small, but intimate setting for some solid 1st F and even better 2nd F.

The Thang

  • Warmup: mosey to lot behind Wingate University building for 1 burpee, 10 low-slow squats, 2 burpees, 20 merkins, 3 burpees, 10 low-slow squats, 4 burpees, 30 LBC’s, 5 burpees. Mosey to Hampton, rotate between 5 merkins/5 squats at each light post
  • Hampton Hill: 10 LBC’s, run up the hill, 20 LBC’s, down the hill, 30 LBC’s, up the hill, finish with 40 LBC’s. Mosey across Johnston and stop in middle of traffic circle.
  • 10 Derkins, run clockwise, 10 Inclined merkins, run clockwise, 10 diamond merkins, run clockwise, 10 wide arm merkins. LBC’s then repeat clock again, but doing 5 reps each and remove the run. Mosey to nature trail behind Pike’s. Headlamps on, run to parking lot off Johnston Road.
  • 4 Corners: 10 merkins, 5 burpees, 20 LBC’s, 5 burpees, 30 squats, 5 burpees, 40 LBC’s, 5 burpees. Mosey back on Johnston to SpringHill Suites parking lot. 1 burpee, bear crawl to next line, 2 squats, bear crawl to next line, 3 merkins, bear crawl to next line. Repeat for 20 spaces. Mosey back to launch, doing 5 merkins/5 squats for 10 light posts
  • Mary for last three minutes: protractor, more LBC, freddie mercury, regular plank, elbow plank

Moleskin

  • YHC wanted to craft a “simple” and low-stress workout in light of WTF race happening tomorrow. Easier said than done. Simple workouts are rarely easy workouts. I stuck with 4 basic exercises and attempted not to deviate. 4.27 miles later I was winded and dripping in sweat.
  • During one of our first moseys, I quizzed Rousey and Taco Stand on the mission of F3 and focused on the “grow” component towards invigorating male community leadership. Growth happens through depth and width. Building deeper bonds with each other and inviting new brothers and friends into the fold.
  • T-claps to Taco Stand for making his first post since extended vacation. I know you enjoyed this one buddy ;D
  • T-claps for Rousey and Taco Stand for opening up to share life stories. YHC left encouraged, humbled and immensely grateful for both of you. When you’re running next to them at an upcoming workout, ask them some questions. Both have much wisdom and encouragement to share.
  • Shoutout to Mary Kay for the glam shot of Taco Stand and YHC afterwards. One day we’ll make it into the Ballantyne Magazine. One day….

Midriff

Shirty Marvin Miles

4 PAX showed for the 0600 version of Marvin Miles and with temps a hair over 60° and humidity doing its thing, the big surprise may have been that Polly didn’t drop the added fabric ounces. Grand Canyon follow up, high school track, Waxhaw Trail Fest, Boston tomorrow’s Myrtle, foot pods — the usual fine array of conversation that is more consistent than “flat” miles. On the run home, YHC also unintentionally scared a squirrel into oncoming traffic, resulting in a sad start/end to that furry guy’s day.

Lessons reminded of today:

1 – Run with fast guys in order to improve

2 – Watch out before running into the street

Monday waxing strong

The man from Myrtle, the stud of statues, the purveyor of pop paraffin, Madame Tussaud took the Q at Firestarter on the last Monday in April. There were stairs, suicides, sets and reps. The PAX Hall of Statues is in progress.

Conquering the Beast…

12 HIMs (feels awkward not putting an ‘s’ after HIM) rolled into Carmel Commons on a moderately warm morning ready to put in their work before the sun came up. YHC spent a little time preparing since grabbing the substi-Q for Flipper and was ready to try a few new things out with the PAX. If they worked, great. If not, I’d blame Flipper and the lack of time to adequately prep.

Perfect disclaimer provided and off we went into the gloom.

Here’s what went down.

The Thang

Mosey from Amelie’s over to Charlotte Catholic and took the short ramps to the top of Tartarus for CoP.

Warm-Up Exercises in cadence:

  • SSH x 15
  • IW x 15
  • Peter Parkers x 10
  • Merkins x 10
  • Parker Peters x 10
  • LSS x 15

Mosey down the stairs to the base of stairwell #1.

WAVE 1: The Beast

  • Starting at the bottom of stairwell #1, do 6x called exercise, run to the top of stairwell #1, do 6x more. Run to stairwell #2, 6x, bottom of stairwell #2, 6x, run to stairwell #3, 6x, top of stairwell #3, 6x. Wait for the 6. Once the 6 is in, reverse and repeat with new called exercise. (6 Rounds, 6 Stops, 6 Reps each stop = The Beast)
    • ROUND 1: Merkins
    • ROUND 2: LBCs
    • ROUND 3: 180 Squats
    • ROUND 4: CDDs
    • ROUND 5: Heels to Heaven
    • ROUND 6: Jump Lunges

Mosey to the bottom of stairwell #2.

Wave 2: Racoon Walk, Wall, and Dragonflys

  • Racoon Walk. It’s like a Bear Crawl but you do it across the top of a wall. (Foraging through trash at the end is optional)
    • From stairwell #2 (on the first floor) to stairwell #3, jump up on the wall of Tartarus and make your way across. Hopping down and back up at each support beam.
  • Next was a series of wall sits with arm raises inside the deck, wall hurdles, and dragonflys using the fence to the football field. Random # of arm raises, 6 hurdles and 30 dragonflys total.

Mosey back to Launch Point with some quick Mary before time was called. LBCs and Protractor.

YNC with the take out prayer.

Moleskin

  • The ‘Beast’ turned out to be just that. Running it in a parking deck and adding the stairs added another level of burn that helped this live up to the name. Mermaid pleaded with the Q to take it easy on the 6th round and not call something everyone would refusnik. I had Jump Lunges already planned but will definitely be adding burpees to the end next time.
  • I stumbled across the Racoon Walk in the Exicon a while back but never found a suitable place to try it out. Tartarus proved to be the perfect spot, so with much hesitation from the PAX we jumped up and put in some work. Turns out it’s a bit harder than I thought. It basically turns into a compressed bear crawl on a really narrow ledge. Lots of muscle groups being fired. About half the group reverted to bear crawls along the way. Regardless, definitely another one to add to the repertoire.
  • At one point as we were jumping over the wall between the deck and the football field Lorax mentioned he wanted to see me hurdle the wall rather than jump/climb it. I informed him that my body is built like Fred Flintstone, all torso and short legs. Hurdling has never been an option.
  • The Security Guard at Charlotte Catholic continues to engage and be impressed with the PAX. He says he’ll never join us, but I think we can turn him around if we keep at it.

Announcements

  • Continue to keep the Palmer family in your prayers. Recent news and progress are positive, but they continue to need our prayers.
  • Speaking of conquering the beast, I have a bible study that meets right after Centurion on Fridays. Today was a great session where we discussed all the pressures and responsibilities that often become overwhelming and cause us to lose our momentum in life. It’s easy to get lost and lose motivation. But having faith that God has already conquered the biggest challenge in our lives is inspiring. I’m hoping to rekindle my motivation this week by trusting in Him and living it out to those around me. The men we fellowship with each morning @ 5:30 is a great place to start.

WAH!! I need to rest for WTF…

AO: Impromptu   QIC: bluescreen
Pax: Schneider, Ricky Bobby, carb load, doughboy, fuse box, chatterbox, Akbar, Zinfandel, Beetle, Bottle cap, maple syrup, shop dog

Whining started before we ran that some PAX were at pursuit to “rest” for tomorrow’s WTF.  My last chance to Q for April today… couldn’t let Chatterbox down.

Run to bathroom (that didn’t sound right!)
Plank and calf stretch
Runners stretch
Potato pickers (Q lacked rhythm on this exercise and almost quit and went home!)
Monkey humpers

Run backwards to each light
Run Karaoke back
Lots of near collisions… Stay to the right please!
5 merkins at each end

Had to modify a bit for some whiners who did not want to run backwards or karaoke…

Run to circle
Loop back to fence
Bottom 5 burpees
Top jump squats
X4

Run to wood benches
20 Dips
Run to metal bench by door
20 durkins
X4

Run to football parking lot
Grab a rock
Top of parking lot w rock
20 presses, Curls, chest presses, rows Followed by ascending brickies two, four, six, eight

Slow cool down mosey Run to COT. Carb loads competitive nature kicked in….and all of us ended up sprinting at the end!

What is it about guys from Briarcrest that troubles me in BBs?  I can never remember if it’s IE or EI in Schneider??? And RickyBoobie sounds better than Bobby…

And if FuseBOX and ChatterBOX check in during Name O’ Rama sequentially… isn’t that a bit odd?

DOWN! SET! HIKE!

The PAX: Drive By, Baio, Radar, The Bean, Elsa, Zinfandel, The Dude, Jenga, Chastain, Wrangler, Sharpedo, Pink Power, Glidah, Player One, Rockwell

16 strong for Clyent Dinner!  I’ve been to Clyent Dinner several times, but this was my first time on Q.  It’s a 2.0 friendly workout which is awesome!  With it being NFL Draft night, I thought it would be appropriate to bring a football for the group to toss around while making our way around the campus.

Cue the music!

The disclaimer was given, and we were off…

Warm up run to the front of the middle school

Warm up exercises:

  • Side Straddle Hop x 15
  • Imperial Walker x 15
  • Mountain Climber x 15
  • Plank Jack x 15

Mosey to picnic tables behind the school

Dips x 20 then run to wall and back (Repeat 2 x)

Step Ups x 20 then run to wall and back (Repeat 2 x)

Derkins x 20 then run to wall and back (Repeat 2 x)

Mosey to the front of the high school and partner up for some short track racing

Partner 1 works while partner 2 runs 3 hot laps around circle

  • Broad Jumps
  • Bobby Hurley’s
  • Shoulder Taps

Everyone does 2 rounds of each

Mosey to wall at Middle School – same partners

Partner 1 works while partner 2 runs a lap with Bear Crawls on sidewalk under the covered area

  • Donkey Kicks
  • Air Presses
  • Wall Stands

Everyone does 2 rounds of each

Mosey back towards the COT parking lot while doing Overhead Claps

Football time!  2.0s vs the Dads!

Play the game like ultimate frisbee but using a football instead.

Honestly, I didn’t plan for the football game at the end of the workout, but it was a blast competing with the 2.0s!  The 10-minute game ended in a 3-3 tie thanks to a last second, buzzer beating TD by Team 2.0!

I always enjoy leading these workouts, but it makes it that much greater when there are 2.0s involved!  It was a great push by everyone!  These men (and their children) never cease to amaze me!

Announcements:

  • WTF this Saturday. If you haven’t signed up to run, then come out to help and to enjoy some 2nd
  • Black Hawk is the only Saturday AO due to the WTF event

Ole School

The morning was very reminiscent of ole school days.  Some coupons, a hungry group of men and a rough game plan.

WU:  Mosey around the lot,  SSH, Stretches, Merkins and something else

The Thang:  Bring your cinder block,  mosey over to chiseled hill and set team for variations of swings,  smashballs, squats,  upright rows and deadlifts.  All exercises were quantity based while one person did an exercise on the other side of mt. chiseled and one person was the traveler that carried the block and stopped and did a burpee along the way.

 

Moleskin: Again, it was very reminiscent of the ole Waddington days of Commitment.  Variation of exercises and groaning made for a good resistance work out.  Not as much running and more grinding.  The thing that makes these work outs different is the fact it is more of a mental game and you have to commit to the work,  running around is slightly different,  there is always somebody faster and you have to push yourself to keep up.  In coupon world you have to decide if you are going to to do the work and I saw it.  Elmer’s was sweating like crazy. Schnider, rather Draper, was not shy of the work either.  I remain impressed on Ex-Lax,  he is committed and shows a no quit attitude,  it was Chatterbox’s 5th work out in 2.5 Days.  Everyone else showed up to work and it was an honor to lead.