Author Archive Chastain

Diesel’s BACK

8 PAX at the official Diesel AO! It feels good to be back home. Nothing wrong with the Crests of Briar basketball courts, of course, but it just makes it feel more official to head to Five Stones. Of course, it’ll be even better once we start using all the gear from the box again, but we’ll take what we can get. Today was a coupon/dumbbell day tabata style. If you’re not familiar, tabata is a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workout where you work hard for a set amount of time then rest for a short period, usually cycling through multiple different exercises. It fits Diesel perfectly as we have a variety of stationary exercises that allows you to transition quickly between one weight or another.

DiCCS given

Warmup:

Exercise Time Rest
SSH 0:30 0:10
Imperial Walkers 0:30 0:10
Potato Pickers 0:30 0:10
Calf Stretch 0:30 0:10
Moroccan Night Clubs 0:30 0:10

The Thang:

Exercise Time Rest
Merkin 0:30 0:10
Big Boi Sit Ups 0:30 0:10
Curls 0:30 0:10
Overhead Triceps 0:30 0:10
Low Slow Squat 0:30 0:10

 

Exercise Time Rest
Irkin 0:30 0:10
LBCs 0:30 0:10
Shoulder Press 0:30 0:10
Seated Dips 0:30 0:10
Speed Skaters 0:30 0:10

 

Exercise Time Rest
Derkin 0:30 0:10
Kettle Bell Swings 0:30 0:10
Hammer Curls 0:30 0:10
Coupon Negative 0:30 0:10
Weighted Moroccan Night Clubs 0:30 0:10

Repeato The Thang 4 times. Aww yeah.

 

Moleskin:

Good seeing all these guys again. Drop Thrill made the trek up from The Fort? Indian Land? Eh…somewhere in South Carolina and brought his own kettle bells. Ponzi started F3 this past Monday so it was great seeing him out again.

Announcements:

  • Q Source – started a new session this morning at Cuthbertson Middle School and had 11 guys in attendance. Come check it out! It isn’t too late to start becoming a leader. You can order a book or just check out the materials for free here: Q Source Index – F3 – We’ll continue each Friday from 0700-0730 at Cuthbertson Middle School. Bring a chair and a coffee cup!
  • 100 PAX Challenge – Our goal is to get 100 PAX to donate $100 ($10,000 total for those that hate math) that we’ll donate to 2-3 local charities. It doesn’t have to be $100, though. Give $5, $20, $200, whatever you can give. We’d like to have it in by the beginning of June so get cracking. Details on GroupMe or reach out to Bottle Cap or Recalculating for more details.

Pursuit in the Crests

It was a Millbridge invasion today. Turnbuckle made the trek to the South Side and we all did a Pursuit-style run/walk workout. Some of us made it over to the Cortona neighborhood across the street to hit some hills while others stayed in the South Side and abused some coupons.

 

Good work fellas!

 

O-69 took us out

Frosty coupon morning

4 of us dudes fought the cold and the frost and did a Diesel/Tabata workout on the courts of the Crests of Briars. Coupons and dumbbells were the weapons of choice. No one wrote anything down so the order may be a little off

  • Merkin/Air Press Webb
  • Big Boy/American Hammer Webb
  • Curls
  • Shoulder Presses
  • Lateral Raises
  • Tricep Extensions
  • Coupon Bench Presses
  • Other things?

I dunno, it seems like a long time ago. My shoulders are reminding it wasn’t so long ago. I need a nap…

 

Happy Easter everyone!

Bushwood in the Crests

It’s Tuesday, the weather is good, and everyone could use a stroll on the greens to ease our minds and soothe our worries. Of course not everyone wants to drive all the way to Bushwood to get in a few holes, so why not bring Bushwood to the Crests?

Warmup:

  • 18 SSH
  • 18 Imperial Walkers
  • 18 Moroccan Night Clubs
  • 9 Merkins
  • Calf Stretch

 

The Thang:

  • 1st hole
    • Out – 20 Speed Skaters
    • In – 10 Burpees
  • 2nd hole
    • Out – 20 Lunges
    • In – 20 Heels to Heaven
  • 3rd hole
    • Side Shuffle
    • Out – 15 Merkins
    • In – 15 Dry Docks
  • 4th hole
    • Jailbreak out, mosey back
    • Out – 20 Big Boys
    • In – 20 Gas Pumps
  • 5th hole – AMRAP
    • In – 1 minute of burpees
    • Out – 1 minute of Tysons
    • In – 1 minute of burpees
  • 6th hole
    • Out – 20 Freddie Mercuries
    • In – 20 Lunges (10 each leg)
  • 7th hole
    • In – 10 Staggered Merkins (each direction)
    • Out – 15 Low Slow Squats
  • 8th hole
    • 12 Bear Crawls
    • 8 Lunges
    • 4 Broad Jumps
    • Mosey back
  • 9th hole
    • In – 1 minute of burpees
    • Out – 1 minute of Tysons
    • In – 1 minute of burpees

Moleskin:

Managed to get all 9 holes in and everyone’s game looked pretty good. The 6:30am tee time is nice. Gonna be tough to go back to a 5:30am start once things are back to normal. One day at a time, though, boys.

YHC took us out #cradletograve

Crime Free Diesel

3 PAX posted on the empty basketball courts at Briarcrest. The rims have been removed, so are they really basketball courts any more? This morning they weren’t; they were our personal weight room. Turnbuckle parked at the clubhouse and was quick to lock his car doors upon stepping out. Not sure what kind of crime they have over in the Mill but Brutus assured him that the Crests of Briars is safe. I’m not so sure since there have been regular Deadwood sightings…

Anyways, thank you to Smithers for putting together this wienke, though pretty much ANYTHING would be better than that garbage Recalc put out.

Warmup
20 – SSH
15 – Imp Walkers
10 – Merkins
15 – Plank Jacks
5 – Burpees

The Thang

Reverse Ladder
8 bicep curl + 8 front raise, then 7 curl +7 raises, down to 1+1 (don’t put down coupon)

“Stations”
1 minute per station as many reps as you can, 15 second break between each (goal should be to get at least 20-30 reps per set). Should be able to get about 4 rounds of each

Triceps Press
Rows
Chest Press
Curls (if you get smoked from ladder can change to Big Bois w/coupon)
Deadlift
Shoulder Press
Squats

 

It was a great morning to be working out. Stay safe, fellas

YHC took us out #cradletograve

A Visit to the Tuscan Village

6 PAX made the harrowing journey across the street to Tuscany. Harrowing cause that bridge is slick in GOOD conditions. We were moving in the dark and the wet. We survived and no one busted their butt. At least not on the bridge. We all busted our butts with the Schneider Q. BTW, Schneider “doesn’t do back blasts”. Something we’re all gonna work on once we’re done with this quarantine. For now, YHC is “Your Humble Chastain”

Warmup:

Mosey to the T intersection

  • 15 SSH IC
  • 15 Imperial Walkers kinda IC
  • 15 Merkins
  • 15 Mountain Climbers
  • Calf Stretch

Mosey back to the start

  • 20 LBCs
  • 20 Low Slow Squats
  • 20 American Hammers (2 is 1)

The Thang:

A slow, careful mosey down the sidewalk, over the bridge, and across the road to Tuscany. YHC enjoys doing dumb stuff. Thrives on it sometimes. Running in the dark is NOT one of those things. We survived though. Up to the clubhouse.

  • 4 Rounds
    • 20 Heels to Heaven
    • Mosey to the wall
    • 20 Dips – Increase by 5 each time
    • 5 Derkins – Increase by 5 each time
    • Mosey to the top of the hill past the play set
    • 20 Bobby Hurleys
    • Back to the wall
    • 25 Dips
    • 10 Derkins
    • Mosey back to the circle
    • Repeato

Initially we were going to increase the Dips and the Derkins by 5 each time, but it was determined that no one wanted to do 40 Derkins in a row. So we increased the Dips each time, then did 5 Derkins, 10 Derkins, 15 Derkins, 10 Derkins, 5 Derkins. Or something like that

Mosey back to the front circle for the Circle of Fun. 5 Merkins to the right (Merkin, shift right, Merkin, etc.) then repeato to the left.

Mosey back to the wall for:

  • 10 Donkey Kicks
  • 10 Step Ups
  • Repeato for 3 sets total

A little confusion here. Chicken thought we were increasing to 20, and then 30. So that’s what we did. Kinda. I think.

Long mosey back to the COT where we finished up with several rounds of 10 Big Boys, 10 Pistol LBCs (each leg) and 10 American Hammers (2 for 1). Repeato, repeato, repeato. Wow, guys we need to do more ab work, this sucks. Finish the last 60 seconds with burpees.

Moleskin:

Not much to add here today. Glad we’re out here working hard. O-69 and Pinto got some mileage in for sure. They walked all of Tuscany and probably all of BC South Side too.

Schneider took us out #cradletograve

Brother’s Keeper

If you read nothing else, please skip down to the Moleskin.

The rest of the backblast is standard fare: we ran here, did these exercises, blah blah blah…

Warmup:

Mosey on down to the T intersection for a little something to get the blood flowing:

  • 10 SSH IC
  • 10 Imperial Walkers IC
  • 10 Peter Parkers
  • 15 Merkins
  • 20 Plank Jacks
  • Calf Stretches
  • Right arm, right leg high
  • Left arm, left leg high

The Thang:

  • Paula Abduls (mailboxes on the right) to the cul-de-sac
    • Up – 10 Dry Docks
    • Down – 10 Squats
  • Mosey back to the T intersection
  • Suicides
    • Run to corner – 10 Burpees
    • Back to start – 10 Burpees
    • Run to cul-de-sac – 20 Merkins
    • Back to start – 20 Merkins
    • Run to corner – 30 Bomb Jacks
    • Back to start – 30 Bomb Jacks
  • Ab work
    • Rosalita – 20 IC
    • Big Boys – 20
    • Heels to Heaven – 20
    • American Hammers – slow 20 IC
  • White Board of PAIN – down the hill to the cul-de-sac, exercise and back – each time ADD the next exercise
    1. 10 Merkins
    2. 10 LBCs
    3. 10 Speed Skaters (each leg)
    4. 10 Dry Docks
    5. 10 Peter Parkers (each leg)
    6. 10 Squats
    7. 10 Mike Tysons
    8. 10 Big Boys
    9. 10 Jump Squats
    10. 10 Burpees

 

We ran out of time on the White Board of PAIN, but managed to make it through the Squats before we grabbed the board and ran back to the COT. Arrived right on time at 7:15, but O-69 is nowhere to be found. Sounds like maybe he was going to do some walking over in Tuscany, so we make an after-hours jaunt over there to bring him home. Into Tuscany proper and there’s no O-69 to be found. Chicken Little gives him a call and wut? he’s back at the COT waiting for us. Just missed each other on the mean streets of BC South Side. Glad he’s OK. Oh well, got us an extra 0.4 miles in, which never hurt anyone. But it does lead us to the…

Moleskin:

We didn’t know where O-69 was. Since he’s walking it’s often that we get separated a bit during the workout. But we checked in on him because anything could happen. That goes for outside the workouts too:

CHECK. IN. ON. YOUR. BROTHERS. Especially in times like these where we’re separated, isolated, and it’s easier to just assume everything is fine. If you’re not seeing someone posting, whether it’s the Playhouse, Strava, or even Facebook or other social media, shoot them a text or give them a call. Stop and think right now: “Is there anyone I haven’t heard from in a while?”

Go on…

Do it now.

Think!

Got someone in mind?

Good!

Pick up your phone and reach out to them. Make sure they’re OK. Anything could be happening in their lives. Be a good brother and take 30 seconds to let someone know you’re thinking about them. It doesn’t have to be touchy-feely. Here, I’ve got a template for you:

“Hey man, haven’t heard from you in a while. Just checking in to see how things are going and making sure things are good with you. Hit me up and let me know what’s new with you”

Not hard. Not long. Easy peasy. Be your brother’s keeper.

It looked better sitting on the couch

Checked with the Chicken last night to see if he wanted me to Q. He said go for it, so I sat on my couch and typed up the weinke. Funny how the weinke always looks better when you’re sitting on your butt putting it together compared to when you’re actually running it. It turned out to be a burner, which I consider a success, but still, it sucked.

Warmup:

Started at the intersection at the entrance of the Briarcrest Enclave, henceforth known as Briarcrest South Side. Did a little mosey action down to the far intersection for some warmups including:

  • 15 SSH IC
  • 10 Imperial Walkers IC
  • 10 Potato Pickers IC
  • Calf Stretches
  • 10 Merkins on my down

The Thang:

  • 3 Corners (a nice little L shape that’s about 1/4 mile round trip)
    • 10 Dry Docks
    • 10 LBCs
    • 10 Low Slow Squats (emphasis on proper form)
    • Repeato with 15 reps each
    • Repeato with 20 reps each
  • Mosey back to the starting intersection
  • 10 Mountain Climbers IC
  • 10 Plank Jacks IC
  • Mosey to the opposite cul-de-sac
  • 10 burpees OYO
  • Burpee run back to the starting intersection
  • 3 Corners – Round 2
    • 10 Merkins
    • 10 Big Boy Sit Ups
    • 10 Bobby Hurleys
    • Repeato with 15 reps each
    • Repeato with 20 reps each
  • Mosey back to the starting intersection
  • 10 Peter Parkers IC
  • 6 Inches for a 10 count
  • Mosey to the opposite cul-de-sac
    • 1/3 run
    • 1/3 sideways running action who’s name escapes me
    • 1/3 sideways running facing the other direction
  • 10 burpees OYO
  • Burpee run back to the starting intersection
  • 3 Corners – Round 3
    • 10 Mike Tysons
    • 10 V Ups
    • 10 Jump Squats
    • Repeato with 15 reps each
    • Repeato with 20 reps each
  • Back to the entrance of BC South Side with a burpee run
  • Captain Therkin to finish!
    • 1 Big Boy Sit Up
    • 4 American Hammers
    • 2 Merkins
    • Increase the Big Boys and the Hammers – 2/8, 3/12, etc.

Moleskin:

Not sure how the Chicken is doing it WHILE practicing some safe social distancing, but he somehow managed to bring not 1, not 2, not even 3, but FNGs this morning. Granted only two of them finished with us, but that’s some hard core EHing right there.

FNG #1, now known as Donovan, is the Chicken’s niece Julia. She’s 16, plays soccer for Parkwood, and hung with us all morning. Kicked our collective buts on the Big Boy Sit Ups, too! Since she’s a soccer player she got the name Donovan after Landon Donovan from the US Men’s National soccer team. It seemed fitting since YHC was named after a female soccer player from the US Women’s National soccer team.

FNG #2, now known as Olive Oil, is down from New Jersey for work. He’s an aviation mechanic and we would’ve named him after the pilot from the movie Airplane! but no one could remember the name. Instead, we found out he’s Greek and got dubbed Olive. Shortly after we appended Oil just for funsies.

Again, it was good working out with folks. Thank you everyone for being respectful of our personal space and practicing good social distancing.

YHC took us out. #cradletograve

Chasing the Chicken

Thursday – 9:41 PM – Chicken texts me on GroupMe to let me know it’s on for 6:30 AM in BC south side. Boom. I’m in.
Thursday – 10:00 PM – I tell the M I got the baby in the morning. I mean, she sleeps til 8:30, so plenty of time
Thursday – 10:34 PM – I’m done. Lights out.
Friday – 5:48 AM – Awake before my alarm goes off. Pumped to be posting with some PAX again. Let’s do this!
Friday – 6:18 AM – The baby is awake and she is HUNGRY. The pacifier will NOT do. *sigh* I told them M I’d get the baby. GAAHHHH!
Friday – 6:30 AM – Baby is fed and changed and back in the crib. Text the Chicken I’m running late but on the way!
Friday – 6:33 AM – Parked at the Chicken coop but no Chicken to be found. Start running the cul-de-sacs, hunting Chicken.
Friday – 6:37 AM – GAH!! Start my watch
Friday – 6:41 AM – Found the Chicken! And a few others. Let’s get this party started

The Thang:

  • 3 corners – fast mosey in between each
    • 15 Big Boy Sit Ups
    • 15 Mike Tysons
    • 15 Heels to Heaven
    • Repeato a few times
  • Jack Webb
    • 1 Merkin
    • 4 Air Presses
    • Up to 5/20 for now
  • Long mosey
  • 20 Low Slows Squats
  • Long mosey back
  • 20 Walking Lunges (10 each leg)
  • Long mosey with some backwards running thrown in for funsies
  • 20 Jump Squats
  • Mosey
  • 20 Dry Docks
  • Mosey
  • Finish up the Jack Webb
    • 6 Merkins
    • 24 Air Presses
    • Up to 10/40
  • Finish up with a long mosey down the hill and back up
  • YHC does a few solo laps of the cul-de-sac to round out 45 minutes

Moleskin:

Much thanks to the Chicken for inviting me to join their group. I did the solo thing twice this week but it sucks and it’s hard to stay motivated. I hope you guys are all staying safe and practicing good hygiene and safe social distancing. It’s picking up in NC with the number of cases going from 45 to 123 in just 2 days. Keep on the look out for each other, keep posting, and stay safe

Schneider took us out. #cradletograve

Burpee 101: Intro to Burpees

22 guys showed up for some burpees, burpees, and uh, more burpees. Whipped out an extended DiCCCS today, with an added C for Coronavirus. 3…2…1…mosey!

Warmup:

Quick mosey around the lot and circle up for:

All IC: 15 SSH, 15 Imperial Walkers, 10 Potato Pickers, Calf Stretches (with obligatory fill-in Damascus groans), stay in plank while instructions given for:

Deconstructed Burpees: 4 corners

  • 10 Squats
  • 10 Merkins
  • 10 In and Outs
  • 10 Bobby Hurleys

Repeato – Gazelles pick up the 6

Now that we know how to do a proper burpee, prove it! 5 burpees OYO

Mosey to the bus lot

It’s been a while since we’ve done this exercise so…5 burpees OYO

Circle up on the basketball court

The Thang:

Pyramid

  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • 10 Merkins – “On my down. One! Dangit, every time…Down!”
  • 15 Hand Release Merkins – <Insert groans here>
  • 20 Mountain Climbers IC
  • 45ish second Plank
  • 20 Plank Jacks IC
  • I may have “forgotten” the Hand Release Merkins here – no one called me on it though. Curious…
  • 10 Merkins
  • 5 Burpees

Mosey to the school and find a spot on the wall for a little 11s action. Start with 1 Donkey Kick then run back to the basketball court for 10 Squats. Wall for 2 DKs and courts for 9 Squats. Repeato until we’ve swapped. This one took a bit more time than I thought. I actually asked Posse at one point if this was dragging on too long. His response was “11s always take too long” which I took to mean “carry on”. For those who finished a bit ahead, Zin led with some Mary, including some stupid Hip Dip, hippy dippy, hippity hippity hip hop dip exercise that I never want to do again.

Mosey to the track for a few laps. 5 burpees on each of the long sides and 10 V-Ups and 10 Heels to Heaven on the short sides. 2 rounds of that and we’ve got 3 minutes left. Mosey back to the COT for a Burpee Minute!

Moleskin:

I don’t like burpees. I won’t say I hate them, but it’s a pretty strong dislike. I also know burpees, if done properly, are a great full body exercise and if I could only pick one exercise to do, it’d be a pretty good one. So we did about 40 burpees plus however many you got in during the Burpee Minute at the end. If you really want to up your burpee tally you can reconstruct the deconstructed burpees and that’ll give you another 2o. Oh, but it could’ve been worse. As mentioned above, the 11s took much longer than I anticipated (the run between the wall and the court seemed shorter in my head). I was really hoping to close us out in front of the school with a lightpost/burpee/suicide run. Ah well, there’s always next time.

RE: Coronavirus – We did a good job with elbows instead of fist bumps and a wide berth COT. I know many believe it to be overblown by the media and I’m not going to argue, but it never hurts to take some precautions

Announcements:

  • Speed for Need – Dash for Down Syndrome 5k is on March 21st. About 7 PAX signed up right now but could use a lot more. Sign up with code: SFN2020 at https://dashfordownsyndrome.raceroster.com/registration/28122/entry
  • Christ’s Closet – Fold-o-rama this Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00
  • Gladiator – Once a month, higher intensity workout – Zin on Q this Saturday at Cuthbertson Middle
  • Coffeeteria Convergence – Following Homecoming/Commitment/Gladiator – Cuthbertson Middle from 7:30 to 8:30

YHC took us out #cradletograve