Monthly Archive April 2021

The Bottom Line – Official Launch

This backblast is going to start with a little history leading up to this workout and will get a little long. But I’m enjoying this little journey of launching an AO so deal with it.

Mid-October of 2020, The Arsenal had a sort of CSAUP workout Q’d by Dark Helmet (F3 President, HIM, and generally great guy). Happy Meal and YHC billed it as an FNG workout, and I dropped a post in my neighborhood’s Facebook group inviting men. It received some interaction as likes and comments, but nobody showed up. Side note: YHC is kind of glad nobody showed because if you attended this workout, you’d know that Waxhaw showed up in full force to win the ghost flag leading to a 90ish PAX in the middle of Covid lockdown times, albeit in SC.

Anyway, fast forward 5 months later to the end of March 2021, I’m having some neighbors over to finally meet them now that Covid is starting to wind down. We’re several drinks in (where most EH’s happen, right?) and someone asks about my Facebook post and if I’m still doing the “workout thing”. YHC begins to explain F3 and the benefits it’s had on YHC’s life – the 3 F’s, really. I explain the core concepts, and everyone is super interested. Now, anyone who’s EH’d someone knows what happens next… “We start at 5:30″… And immediately, all interest is lost! It’s amazing really. But YHC persists. YHC had a pretty kick ass EH’r myself. Fire Hazard would Q some unofficial in-neighborhood workouts that used to kick my ass. I immediately thought of that and asked these guys, “What if it were at your front door?”… Immediate buy in, which was kind of a pleasant surprise. I get them to agree to a workout if I bring the F3 to them. Perfectly happy to do that. YHC pours another round.

That Tuesday, YHC had the pleasure of Q’ing a workout for a couple of my neighbors and Atlas came to support my efforts. I’ll call it a psuedo-F3 workout because we didn’t end with a COT. The workout itself was fun. We got in a couple miles, did a set of 7’s, Dora 1,2,3 on the playground, and Indian Ran back to the cul-de-sac. It got great reviews and I had commitment for another workout. On top of that, another neighbor wanted to join the next Tuesday. Seems like an obvious next step to start an AO if three men in my cul-de-sac alone are interested in repeat attendance. YHC has a couple of weeks to figure it out because the following week is spring break.

Bringing up the idea of starting an AO in Bridgehampton to the board was met with a response that seemed like they had been waiting for me to do it since I moved in. YHC had immediate messages from War Eagle, Kirby, Taco Stand and Mighty Mite that they’d attend, Q, help me market, etc. War Eagle and Mighty commit to coming to my next workout and scope out the scene.

The next workout is attended by two of my three neighbors as well as Atlas, War Eagle, and Mighty. YHC hits some of the site’s highlights and we do a per-driveway merkin ladder lap around a street that loops back to the clubhouse, some BLIMPS across the basketball court and soccer field, some bear crawling, and finish with a Jack Webb for time. This time we do end with a COT and get to name some FNG’s. Welcome Toro, who owns a commercial landscaping business, and Schooner, who has double respect and races sailboats in retirement.

At this point everything is in place and there’s really no reason to not make it official and start marketing the workout… except it needs a name. This might have been the hardest part of the whole thing for me. YHC just couldn’t get anything that clicked as “the one”. Every name seemed flawed. YHC went through all sorts of variations of bridges, trolls, borders, junctions, mascots, streets, and more. The two groups YHC was brainstorming with, Mighty/War Eagle and the Indian Land PAX, eventually stopped responding after YHC resolutely declared a name final… three times. The M grew annoyed with YHC asking her to rate ideas. Then one day, six days into it actually, “the one” finally comes to YHC, a play on the border, a definitive statement, with limitless Stone Cold marketing material – The Bottom Line. You better like it, but if you don’t keep it to yourself. If it came to YHC any later, the AO would have been stuck with “the unnamed AO”. But it did come, and just in time to get some marketing in for the next day’s workout.

Tuesday morning, the cul-de-sac clown car takes off to the clubhouse for the official launch. Toro, Schooner, and FNG (to be named Myrtle) and YHC arrive to a small group who have come to support the launch. Lo and behold there’s another FNG that War Eagle has EH’d from church who lives in BH. A few more PAX arrive, disclaimer delivered, and we’re off.

WARMUP

Mosey to the entrance of the clubhouse for a classic F3 warmup

• 20x SSH
• 20x IW
• 10x LSS
• 5 Burpees OYO

THANG

• Mosey down in to the SC side of the neighborhood, back toward some brutal hills that I’ve run before. On the way, stop at every intersecting street and do 5x Bobby Hurleys for a total of 30.
• Turn in to the first intersection of the back entrance of the neighborhood for a triple nickel on the hill. 5x Mike Tysons at the bottom, 5x Bomb Jacks at the top.
• Mosey back to the clubhouse area the same way we came, this time doing 5x WW2 sit-ups at every intersecting street.
• Mosey back to the soccer field for a round of 4 corners. 10x of an exercise in each corner and return to the center between each for 2x burpees. The 4 corners are Makhtar N’diayes, J-Los, Flutters and LBCs.
• Partner up and line up across the soccer field. Partner 1 bear crawls toward the other end, while partner 2 runs to the end, does 2 burpees, and runs back to flapjack. Repeato back across with duck walk and air squats.
• Finish in overtime, but we’re near to launch and get back only about a minute late.

COT / Announcements

• Thanks everyone for making it to the launch of The Bottom Line. Come on back y’all and bring your friends.
• Midriff with the reminder of the mission of F3 – to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.
• I think WTF was brought up, and I might be missing some others, but YHC was gassed from the workout.
• Got to name 2 FNG’s
  • Gimbels – Lives in Bridgehampton and saw our trial run workout when out on his morning walk, recognized War Eagle as a member of his church, and contacted him to ask if he could join the fun. Huge kudos, and glad to have you join. Gimbels works for Belk and was named after the department store, mostly known by our generation as the department store where Buddy the Elf works.
  • Myrtle – Myrtle was the original HC for the first workout. Myrtle’s name is from Crape Myrtle – his hospital name is pronounced Tree and he lives in South Carolina. I seriously think that’s one of my favorite F3 names.
• Thank you, Periscope for taking us out.

MOLESKINE

• This section probably isn’t needed because of the longevity of the intro. Instead, I want to give some shout outs.
  Schooner, Toro, and Myrtle for partaking in the fun and giving us a reason to launch this AO.
• Gimbels for having the spirit to join us after seeing only a brief part of what we do. Hope to see you out every Tuesday.
• Atlas for joining, without hesitation, the workouts I was doing pre-launch to support it.
• War Eagle and Mighty Mite for helping me make decisions and guide the launch.
• Cobbler for making the long haul up from Van Wyck.
• Patent Pending, Loogie, Midriff, and Periscope for coming for the official first workout.
• The SOB board for helping me launch this and jumped on any opportunity to help.
• Everyone who has offered to Q which is a lengthy list. I’m still working my way through it, and I’ve got May filled.
• You, if you made it this far and read YHC’s entire BB.

And that’s The Bottom Line,

Cause Brexit said so.