It’s getting hard to hide in these smaller groups that have been coming out to Skunkworks lately, so YHC raised his hand a week ago to take the reigns again and try another experiment. With some poking and prodding I proclaimed to Slack and Twitter about my impending visit to the legendary Area 51 AO, and being the hype machine that I am, I brought a crowd of 6 SW regulars. I guess the mainstream A51 pax is just too young to appreciate a good Mr. T reference and decided to hit the more trendy “Hawks Nest” instead, or perhaps there’s a reason I’m not in marketing. Oh well, I guess we’ll be the only swole guys at the pool this summer.
So last night I spent a bit cruising the YouTube for some ideas, and I found some fun things for us to try from caveman training.com Here’s what we did.
After a little warmup jog around the parking lot, we circled up for a few exercises to get the joints moving: Halos, Around the World, Figure Eights, Merkins, Mountain climbers, and I think we did some swings before getting to the main event…which was three rounds of kettlebell complexes, each followed by a suicide ‘sprints’ (hardly sprinting) in the parking lot. Each complex was repeated for 8 minutes, starting with 1 repetition on each arm, then 2 reps, and so on up to 5 reps and back down (as much as we could do)
Complex 1 – squat dead lift, hang clean, swing clean, snatch, press
(Suicide)
Complex 2 – clean and squat, snatch w/ windmill, then back to squat with shoulder press
(Suicide)
Complex 3 – squat curl, stand and press, back to squat position
(Suicide)
We finished with a little stomache… and that was a wrap.
Moleskinz:
There was something in the air this morning, and it wasn’t lemon fresh and didn’t smell like chocolate chip cookies. Horsehead took a bold chance by trusting a fart and Funky, as usual, couldn’t let Horsehead get all the attention. Strong work men!
Stone Cold, Horsehead, and Chicken Wing all went for back-up bells as these complexes were not friendly to the massive bells these guys were swinging… I probably should have put something in the pre-blast about bell recommendations, but who doesn’t like surprises? Definitely learned a few new moves this morning… hopefully no backs, elbows, or shoulders were damaged in this experiment.
Congratulations Lois on your first run since getting the boot off! And thank you for appreciating the alternative 90s music selection.
Thanks Funky for taking us out in prayer this AM.
As always, an honor to lead this fine group of men! Thanks.
Cold morning at Anvil. I rolled up with no time to spare. Jumped out of the car and blurted out a choppy disclaimer and off we went….here’s what we did.
Almost never ending warm-up jog over to the courtyard for COP where we did a few exercises: SSH, IW, LSS, MC, Peter Parker, Parker Peter, Merkin, Wide Arm.
Strolled from the courtyard to the rock pile in front of Calvary where each pax selected there own COVID friendly lifting rock. We carried them over to the front of the church and partnered up. Each partner would take a turn running while the other did the called exercises, which were: Squats, GLUTE BRIDGE WITH PRESS, curls, overhead press, Tricep extensions.
Mosey to the outer wall of the hotbox for some peoples chair and BTW, then on to the baseball field.
At the baseball field we reconnected with our partners. Partners took turns on the benches and bases. One partner rounded the bases doing bear crawls, gorilla walk, lunge walk, and burpee broad-jumps, while the other partner cycled through decline merkins, Tricep dips and step-ups…all of this twice.
Mosey back to the launch point to finish out with some monkey-humpers and LBCs.
Moleskin:
Lorax promised Mom and apple pie, but everyone got cold rocks, dirty hands, and glute bridges instead today. Horse Head is mailing a Stuckey’s Holiday Pecan Log basket for everyone’s enjoyment, so be sure to be on the lookout on your front porch…they only keep for 8, 9, or 20 years.
Glad to see Ductwork, Erin Brokovich, and Hammer chose boot camp over frozen disc catching with numb hands on a sub-freezing morning at Charlotte Christian… thanks for coming out to support! Let’s hope for warmer weather at Joust on Friday morning.
Floor Slapper mowed his grass under the stars last night. Not only was he NOT late, but he even arrived before the Q! It’s a little further to Calvary than I remember… been staying closer to home these days cause, well, I’m lazy and I enjoy my sleep.
Puddin’ Pop and Pro were whispering sweet nothings into each others’ ear during COT as they conspired on a meeting place to practice the Glute Bridge later today. I was surprised this exercise drew so much attention. So what if I got the idea from my M? She’s tough…our first baby came out sideways. Does Voodoo ever get this much guff from the pax when he calls for a Glute Bridge?
I understand Fiji, One Star and Smuggler made the trek up from Fort Mill today – fell for the old apple pie trick too. Thanks for coming gents!
My Hokie brethren Joker and I did not talk about the decline of Va Tech football. The glory days are gone.
Good to see Thunder Road and Mr. Magoo out there working hard this morning… two of the most dedicated Anvil pax, hardly ever miss a week.
It was great to be back at the site YHC launched with Young Love back in the day. Still going strong with great leadership! Thank you Lorax and Point Break.
Come out to enjoy Runstopper in tights next week!
Thought for today was to bring back a fan favorite, but must say I think the pax got off a little easy based on my inability to procure enough barbell plates so everyone could have plenty of hairburner fun. We got a little taste though. Here’s what we did…
Warmup
Farmer carry w/ 10 merkin chaser down to lot by the hill
Hill repeats while partners 15o reps of the following exercises
Grinders / Hairburners (groups of 3/4 – person at each end performs exercises while timer travels between)
Travel back to launch point for MOM
Moleskin:
Great job by all the pax today. I hope you all walked away feeling like it was worth getting up for. Could have been been worse I guess with a few more plates, or maybe the prowler or a slosh-pipe for the cout de gras. Nevertheless we settled for good ole’ hairburners. Horsehead promised the plates would be terrible to push, but the newly paved parking lot was pretty forgiving and they actually moved pretty well for most of us. Red Baron and a few of our taller, high center of gravity pax may still have some hate for me though. Good seeing you all this morning. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
Pax: Baracus, Cage, Chicken Wing, Chin Music, Funky Cold, Header, Lex Luther, Lois, Schmedium, Smokey, Stone Cold, Tulip
We are nearing the end of the Funky Tulip era of Skunkworks Due to injury and recovery, I’ve missed many workouts at one of my favorite AOs over the last couple years…so I was glad to get the opportunity to lead one of the final workouts under this leadership before it turns back the clock to old guard Stone Cold and Horsehead.
I checked the weather the night before, as I usually do, and didn’t really like what I saw… good chance of thunderstorms in the morning. Looks like we’ll be heading to the tennis court gazebo as a precautionary measure. Turns out the weather was a positive note for the workout today with a light, cooling rain. Beats the hell out of the steamy humidity we’ve been dealing with for the last couple months. Anyhoo…. here’s the skinny of what we did…
Gave the disclaimer and we took a warmup lap around the track, only to be displaced from our first COP by the garbage truck that I haven’t seen in quite some time at Skunkworks. We moved over to the grass to finish, which was only received by a few grumblings about getting shoes wet. There we did some swings, SSH, more swings, squats, imperial walkers, and more swings. From there we farmer carried our bells and chased our way over the pavilion.
After sending the pax on a short jog to the cemetery and back, YHC was all set to deliver the main event. Each 4 minute round of Tabata consists of 8 sets of 20 seconds of exercise and 10 seconds of rest. Although I had plenty more to give, we made it through 4 rounds:
Round 1 – 4 sets of squat thrusters, 4 sets of lawn mowers
Round 2 – 4 sets of dead lift / upright row combo, 4 sets of plank grab (move bell from left hand to right while staying in plank)
Round 3 – 4 sets of 1-legged dead lift, 4 sets of bicep curls
Round 4 – 8 sets of snatches
Rack your bell and head back to AO, stopping for some merkins, Louganis, and high pulls along the way, and finish in the grass then COT. Thanks Smokey for taking us out this morning.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead this morning guys… I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thank you Funky and Tulip for the opportunity to lead this AM, but more importantly thank you for your leadership at Skunkworks. This flagship Area 51 workout continues to turn out strong week in and week out.
The only announcement was for the Iron Pax Challenge that is being led by F3 Greenwood. You can follow and do on your own, or join a local workout that is participating (pay attention to pre-blasts).
It had to happen some time, so why not at Base Camp. After months of being on IR and a slow return to action, my first post-surgery Q occurred this morning at South Charlotte Middle School. The same school that hosts another workout that where I got my virgin Q many years ago…seems fitting. Fingers crossed that all my insides would stay, well… inside. Good news…all that mesh held with no spontaneous protrusions to speak of.
Started off with some of the usual in COP…. SSH, IW, LSS, STs and some MCs. Then we headed down Woodfox for Rounding Run in Raintree, stopping at the intersections to do some merkins (regular, wide, diamond). Partnered up and each went the opposite way around the RR circle, meeting on the other side for some partner derkins, then back on the other side for some handslap merkins and plankorama. One time around RR was enough, so we headed off to Rising Meadow…. dodging many cars along the way. Heavy traffic this morning… must have been trying to get to Bojangles Coliseum for some early tailgating before the Trump rally.
At Rising Meadow we did some hill repeats, with some shoulder taps and leg lifts. A little more plankorama and we headed back to SCMS – stopping at the intersections for a few jump squats. We arrived back at SCMS with enough time to play with the rocks – two times through with some curls, presses, and tricep extensions). A few CCVs to round out the core work and we were done.
Really enjoyed leading the way and spending time with this fine group of men. Thanks for the opportunity Thunder. Adobe closed out COT with a solid prayer to start the day.
I have to give credit where credit is due. While he turned down my request to ghost-write the backblast for me, Horsehead did inspire the title. The rest of the debacle that is described in this backblast is my doing. Maybe everyone got a decent workout in this morning, maybe not. This guy most definitely smoked himself… here is what we did to the best of my recollection.
Warm-up
Partner up / same size bell – farmer carry / 5 merkin chaser around the church. That hurt a lot more than usual… just ask Header who pulled up dizzy just as we got started. All I heard was ‘something, something…stupid pre-run… yada yada’. We all managed to get around the church, some taking shorter routes than others. When we got to the hill we did some LBCs as an active recovery. Then the suck continued…
Set 1 – on the hill (partner 1 runs up hill does 5 burpees / partner 2 does exercise). I kept the original plan for reps in here just for giggles so you could see how stupid this idea was.
Set 2 – hill guy does squats instead of burpees now
Kind of like Garth Brooks has that extra verse of “Friends in Low Places” that he sings at his concerts, I had a third set of exercises that I had planned to do. Fortunately for everyone I don’t sing and we didn’t get to this third set. But you can read about it and do it at home if you’d like.
Set 3 – switch from squats to heels to heaven
Farmer carry back to launch point where Chin Music, Cotton Mouth and Horsehead led us in some Mary exercises. Or not…. these guys put dry butts higher on the priority list this morning.
Thank the Lord that’s over with. Appreciate my partner Big League Chew carrying me through this ridiculousness – much respect! I think everyone put in a solid effort out there this morning. Appreciate you guys!
Great story TD hearing about the impact F3 has had on your buddy down in Birmingham! While not all of us has had the same dramatic physical impact on us, I think its safe to say F3 has played a huge part in all of our lives. I’m very thankful.
Thanks Funky for closing us out in prayer this morning.
My inaugural Meathead Q was supposed to be next week, but HT texted earlier in the week to switch… so here I am. After a brief disclaimer we jumped right in…
Warmup
Segment 1 (3 cycles)
Intermission: Partner up (same sized bell if possible)
Segment 2 (3 cycles)
Intermission – Partner up (same sized bell if possible)
Segment 3 (3 cycles)
Moleskinz:
My very first Meathead Q today. May not be invited back, but everyone got some work in. As I prepared the workout, it seemed to me that there is a very limited set of “Russian pure” KB exercises (that I know about), so decided to throw a few new things in for some variety (it’s the spice of life you know) and to see if they’d stick. Don’t think they will… the SSH with bell was good for a few laughs, if not a blown knee or head injury. I threw in a couple more twists, but the majority of the workout from this point forward was KB pure though…may have been a little aggressive with the reps, but easy enough to modify. Pax suggestions were taken throughout.
Had to pull out the Weinke very early in the workout… not even 50 yet and already forgetting everything. The pax let me slide though… Figure I’d given them enough material already with the SSH debacle.
Playlist got a few compliments. Put this one together especially for this workout…mostly 90’s grunge to take many of us back to our high school and college days. Even through in the Rocky IV training montage to give us the extra push as we worked through the final segment. TR mistakingly associated the tune with the 1980s (wrestling?) flick VisionQuest that is more aptly known by Madonna hit “Crazy for you”, which was definitely not on my playlist. Maybe next time.
Strong work by all. Thanks for putting up with me. Make fun in the comments.
Announcements:
Cheese Curd talked about some nonsense about doing a Go Ruck Tough and a Savage together on May 17/18th. Ask him for details.
Header – thanks for the take-out.
Perfect weather for a little South Charlotte workout this morning at the original South Charlotte Wednesday F3 boot camp… the same AO that YHC got his VQ back in early 2013. Tried to find the backblast from that one, but just not tech-savvy enough to navigate this ever changing website…so I brought a new plan for today. Once Puddin’ Pop strolled from his car to where the other 9 pax stood and waited to get rolling, YHC gave a brief, if not repetitive disclaimer and we were on our way…
Mosey to parking lot in front of Daycare Center for warm-up:
COP: SSHx25 / IWx20 / Squatsx20 / Merkinsx10 / MCsx10 / Peter Parkerx10 / Parker Peterx10
Run to Davie Park
Playground – Partner up.
Partner 1 does called exercise while partner 2 runs loop until exercise reps are complete: Pull-ups x 50 / Step-ups x100 / Derkins x150 / Dips x200
Grab Smokey’s hat and mosey up to soccer field for suicides: 10 merkin chaser each time we returned to the end line.
Mosey back to SCMS – stop for some Mary exercises along the way (Heels to Heaven, Freddie Mercury) – and finish with a sprint to the launch point.
Moleskinny:
Nice to return to this classic AO with a great group of guys this morning. Even though I got my VQ at this site, it hasn’t been on my regular rotation as of late and I realize how much I miss it. We reminisced about the early days when we rolled around in the dirt on the baseball field after a good rain or an adventurous hike through the dark woods to get to Davie Park instead of taking the roads. Almost every workout required a headlamp – and I can remember in my first Q doing COP on the football field with about 30 headlamps shining on me. We were young and dumb back then… ah, memories.
Lots of mumble chatter from the PAX as we got started with COP. One other person helped me with the count and Header pointed out that nobody was listening to me… things quieted down a bit once we got past Gummy least (SSH) and most (IW) favorite exercises and got on the ground for some merkins, mountain climbers and more. Then we took off down Hwy 51 toward Davie Park. The Q-drenaline got me going this morning…Stone Cold had to reel me in a bit on the way to the park. We all made it to the destination of the Davie Park playground as a group.
One of my first observations as we got started…these are not the same swingsets that were here 5-6 years ago. Maybe Jet Fuel, Geraldo, and Dolly could reach them, but they were not built for vertically challenged guys like me to do pull-ups on. A few of us wasted time looking for an reachable pull-up bar as our partners ran, and I had just enough time to get in a single pull-up to get Tulip and I started on our first set. Sorry Tulip… great job getting us back in the game!
Geraldo had an identity crisis this morning… not his identity, but for his partner. Initially he thought YHC was his partner instead of Header, then he called me Header, before finally getting clear who Header was and that he was his partner. Don’t worry Geraldo…we’re all getting older with you.
There was some interesting talk about Schmedium’s umbilical cord, a hernia operation, and an affinity for breast feeding. Just going to leave that right there.
Dollywood had to make an early exit. That guy is sneaky… one minute he’s there and the next minute…poof!
Pax should take note that I do know some Futbol terminology… correctly calling out the parts of the soccer pitch when describing which lines we will be sprinting to during the suicides.
Puddin’ left something unspeakable on the soccer field…which segued into Geraldo’s announcement during COT of the new F3 Beer – Puddin’s brown ale.
Great work by all out there this morning! Thanks Dollywood for the opportunity to come back and lead this group of fine men this morning. Thanks Puddin’ for taking us out in prayer.
Announcements:
F3 Beer Release at Stumptown Park
Prayers for UNCC students, faculty, and family following yesterdays shooting.
It’s been over a year since my last Anvil reunion… so I was thrilled to have another opportunity to lead at the best Area 51 Wednesday morning AO! YHC pulled into the parking lot with no time to spare (supposedly). Snowflake ran in from home, I gave a quick disclaimer, and we were off to the races.
Mosey to the parking lot for COP
The Beast (6 exercises / 6 sets / 6 reps – with running in between
Partner Work at the shelter
Partner Rock Exercises (One runs / One works, flapjack):
Mosey (quickly) back to launch for COT
Moleskin:
Great early spring morning for a workout…still a little chilly, but not freeze your nuts off cold. Philosophical question: are GPS watches chronologically accurate? Cause when I arrived at the launch point I thought I had at least two minutes before go-time, but everyone looked at me like they had somewhere they needed to be. Side note…My M actually sets her car clock ahead by 5 minutes… I have no idea why. She gets some strange sense of satisfaction when she thinks she’s running late and then remembers that she has another 5 minutes and feels a sense of relief. Just don’t get it, but I think Mermaid may do the same thing… I started late and ended late. Sorry Mermaid… we need to sync our watches. On a positive note…everyone got their money’s worth.
Thanks Brilleaux for putting up with your partner… sorry for the name mixup… YHC has very poor memory. I blame the alcohol.
Ickey – nice job with the burpees..October is a long time from now. This is they year the Bengals arrive.
Champagne kept calling out YHC for leaving the six behind, although I don’t see how you can do that when you stay in the same spot. Sorry – I’m not Q-ing as much as I used to and I’m out of practice. Good to see you brother!
Snooka and Scabby were big fans of the partner exercises… particularly the shoulder press exercises. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Uncle Phil and Lorax were looking good out there’ll. Lorax is looking to replace the Anvil shovel flag that is hidden somewhere in Lobster Roll’s house…what better way than with a shovel branded “Anvil”.
Good to have some Metro guests… Boondoggle came south to support YHC and Little Pig ( a recent F3 convert that lives in Matthews) came with. Thanks fellas! Boon… you killed it out there! Lead the way the entire workout.
COT: Keep praying for Red Rocks
14 pax came together to give Skunk Works a send off for 2018. Just like the original, this years version of the Skunk Who Stole Christmas fell on 12/18… so consequently the next two Tuesdays are Christmas and New Years. And just like the first time we went through TRs holiday creation (now tradition), the same three words can be used to describe it… “stink…stank… stunk!”
After some debate about the best location to perform this workout, we settled in and got going. You have to maximize your time with this beast being difficult to get through.
Warm-up jog to the rock and back. A quick explanation of how this works just like the song… each ascending day, do all of the exercises of the preceding days…with the exception of the burpee modification to help with time.
DAY 1 1 dozen burpees (count down by one each day)
DAY 2 2 Turkish Get Ups (1 ea side)
DAY 3 3 snatches (ea side)
DAY 4 4 renegade rows (ea side)
DAY 5 5 lunges (ea side)
DAY 6 6 shoulder presses (ea side)
DAY 7 7 clean & squat
DAY 8 8 Louganis
DAY 9 9 Russian twists (ea side)
DAY 10 10 1-handed swings (ea side)
DAY 11 11 Single Leg Romanian dead lift (ea side)
DAY 12 12 Two Handed Clean & Press
The Moleskin
To paraphrase Cousin’ Eddie… this workout “just keeps on givin’”. A wire to wire suckfest every time. But if nothing else, you know what you’re gonna get.
Stone Cold recommended we move the event to the parking lot from the grass field. TGUs are much less comfortable on asphalt, but we were dry. People spoke…Q listened.
Not too many complaints about the Christmas playlist this morning. Lois enjoyed the Christmas metal, Yeti and Smokey got their hands slapped for trying to take control. Funky Cold enjoyed the Charlie Brown Christmas theme music. Mr. Brady (I think) did his best imitation of Porky Pig singing along with Elvis’ Blue Christmas. We closed it down, appropriately, with the Grinch.
Chin Music kindly reminded me at time. Many of us were so close to finishing…just wanted to push and try to finish. Believe most got halfway through Day 12. Nice work!
Thanks for the opportunity to lead today!
Announcements:
Sorry. No data so far.