Whether it’s running, gym workouts, or boot camps; sometimes trying to be too creative just doesn’t makes sense. Barefoot running…really? Crazy hip flexer movement with a barbell on your lap while bending over a bench (yes, I’ve seen that), or coming up with random, combo exercises that take too much time to explain and never really work that well. So…we did none of that today…instead 11 men embarked on the following journey:
Mosey to lower parking lot for COP: SSH, IW, Low slow squat x 20 each with 10 merkins OYO in between (regular, wide arm, diamond)
Mosey to lacrosse field…(Doh… sprinklers, sloshy wet grass, “Omaha!” to middle lot). Sprint to each light, 5, 10, 15 burpees at each light.
Mosey to kindergarten area, partner up, P1 exercises, P2 runs around circle lot and flapjack: Dips, step ups, derkins x 30
Mosey to rock pile, everyone grabs a legit lifting rock: Bicep curls, overhead press, tricep extensions, Thrusters x 25, run to back lot and back (near graveyard) between each set. Plank work waiting for six.
Mosey down to main sanctuary lot, three (or 4) man grinders, squats on one side, merkins on opposite, run 40 yard between, repeat approx. 7 times through.
Mosey up to main lot, AYG sprint backwards on fire lane back to start. Circle up for Mary, protractor, freddie mercury, rosalita, LBC (until it burns) and finish with burpees. DONE.
Unfortunately we had yet another miscommunication on the Q schedule, this time just a bad email address. So Cottontail showed up not knowing he had the lead today. No worries, the Kevlar site Q’s keep our feathers numbered for just this sort of emergency. Hence YHC stuck with what I know and what feels good around the Covenant Day campus. Hopefully everyone got something out of it. We will get Cottontail back on the schedule very soon. Thank you everyone for showing up. Thank you Horsehead for the takeout prayer.
Couple announcements: Good luck to all those running in Charlotte Marathon tomorrow with F3 and Speed for Need. Convergence at Kevlar with Joust the Friday after Thanksgiving. Also, 3rd F will be converging at ChickfilA with other sites, including Shore for support. Please see web site and more info from Bulldog.
And Happy Veterans Day to all those who have served in this fine country’s military. Thank you for your service. Have a great weekend!
For those of us around in the early 80’s, you might remember Bob Geldof who starred in the movie Pink Floyd: The Wall and also was the driving force behind the philanthropic song “Do They Know it’s Christmas” which led to the dual-continent fund raising concerts Live Aid in 1985 to help feed the starving people in Africa. Well before all that, he was merely the lead singer for the UK based Boom Town Rats whose only well known song was called “I Don’t Like Mondays”; a little ditty inspired by one of the earliest school shootings that took place in San Diego, CA in 1979. Being a proud child of the 80’s, I was crooning “Tell me why….I don’t like…” that tune en route to the The Matrix at 5am. However, upon arrival, I vanquished all soreness and grogginess and replaced it with a desire to give the men of F3 what they deserve on a beautiful September Monday morning. After a disclaimer, here’s what we did:
Great group of guys today. I haven’t been to The Matrix in awhile, great to see the regulars (OT, Madison, Smokey, Crabcake, Huggy and others) pushing each other hard. I took a quick lap around the AO to set up, the soccer field was in the best shape I’ve ever seen. I think we got in 6 loops, so that’s a lot of reps of cinder blocks and sandbags #getswole. I thought I heard No Regerts was new to The Matrix, hope it didn’t disappoint. Poptart didn’t make it out this am, but Squid assured us he did survive his first BRR. A few announcements; F3 Golf, signup soon. Susan Komen race coming up, F3 doing Speed for Need. Please check Slack, Twitter and email for more information.
Of course today is the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Thank you Squid for the takeout and words of encouragement as we go out today, think of all those who were affected and all the men and women who work to protect us and help us when tragedy strikes. God bless America.
Following an epic Solar Eclipse, 22 motivated PAX took it upon themselves to improve their fitness/cardio by embarking on yet another Fast Twitch adventure. Some many are “training” for the upcoming BRR, others just like to mix up their routine with a good run, while still others just enjoy camaraderie and August humidity. So here’s what we did…
THANG: After a quick disclaimer, we went out via Strawberry, hit Hwy 51 toward the Arboretum, crossed over 51 at the McDonald’s onto Arboretum View, quick left on Bon-Rea past the barricade, then right on Swan Run Rd. Took a right on Amanda Lane (aka Swan Meadow) and circled up at Lammers Lane loop for quick COP and instructions.
SSH x 10, IW x 10, 15 merkins OYO. Instructions were then given to run the Lammers Lane loop, stopping for 15 merkins each time around. Go!
Mid-way audible to swap LBC for merkins. Regroup for some mary (plank variation and LBC), head back via Springs Drive to Arboretum View then up 51 back to school.
Q-COMMENTARY: Although a bit sluggish from a relaxing weekend at the beach, I had to show up prepared since 7 of my 9-man BRR team were going to be present #gominions. Once we took off and didn’t stop near the three quarter mile mark at Arbo, the razzing and idle chatter started. “Where are we going?”, “I need some Imperial Walkers”, “He doesn’t have a plan yet” After crossing 51, the group fell into a nice cadence along the flat quiet stretch before the barricade. One Eye was getting choked up and nostalgic thinking we were going to visit his old AO of Sofawib. After the barricade, we were disappointed to see the Red Light district was not operational today…perhaps closed for repairs. The loops went really well, some were nervous about the 1.95 mile return run and whether there would be enough time. Tukey Leg and Rachel seemed to lead the charge with several others on their heels. After 4 loops for most, Runstopper says there’s a “shortcut” the cuts right through down at the corner. After a little confusion due to the group being spread out, we managed to converge at the far end of the loop. After some planking and LBC, we cut across the dead end, passed the well-used mattress near the dumpster to what can only be described as the perfect place to disappear and never be found again due to murder, poisonous creatures, injury or just plain confusion in a 40 yard length of creek crossing, loose footing, sticks, uneven trail, low branches and total darkness. BUT….we all made it to the other side safely, a couple twisted ankles, a little mud on the shoes and some spider webs in the eyes. Alas we made it back to the school with time to kill….so we stormed the track to scare the RFYLers for a couple laps. All good, fast guys were in the mid-6 total miles, most were above 5 miles…not bad.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: F3 Golf Tourney October 27th. Charlotte marathon team relay November 11th, group effort, short legs, pushing Speed for Need carts and kids…see Slack or Twitter to sign up.
Thanks to Purple Haze and Rachel for the opportunity to lead. Thanks to Semi-Gloss for the takeout.
In the height of all this “BRR” run training, I really enjoyed the solid bootcamp Alf threw down on Wednesday at Anvil. I liked it so much, I decided to use it this am at Kevlar. And with that said, 12 PAX (none of whom were at Anvil besides me) took to Covenant Day campus on a beautiful Friday morning to better themselves. Here’s what we did:
COP: SSH x 20, 10 merkins OYO, IW x 20 10 merkins OYO…mosey to covered tennis hut…
20 Dips, 20 Derkins then to rock pile…
With a decent lifting rock, 20 bent rows, 20 overhead press…
Mosey to field, run backwards across, 20 jump squats, then return across running backwards…
Run behind church parking lot for 20 old school situps then 20 heels to heaven…continue to benches near playground…
20 Bulgarian split legged squats (10 each leg), followed by 10 incline merkins…
Rinse and Repeat until 6:10. Done.
Moleskin: Great workout today. HH let me know he received a sign up genius from a James Hundley earlier in the week; a little confused since no one has used that method for anything in quite awhile, it turns our James just wanted to join us for a workout, referred by an acquaintance in Huntersville. His F3 name is now Godsmack. Also joining us for first time is John, who was a bit mysterious, seemed to move around a bit, didn’t share much else…he’s now known as Gypsy. Both guys pushed themselves and the veterans stayed with them to the finish. Strong effort by all with Rhapsody leading the charge early. Squid had plans on defecting to the Brave but doesn’t check slack so after driving around to find no one…he ended up with the regulars at Kevlar and took us out in prayer.
Check Slack or Twitter for upcoming Need for Speed race in September and Golf tourney is coming up as well. Peace out!
Since I’m writing this on behalf of Bulldog more than 14 hours since it went down, please pardon the lack of accurate information including WHO was there and WHAT we did. All I know is that about 18 PAX left Kevlar this am all beat up…thanks to Bulldog. Here’s what I recall…
The best start to a workout EVER!! Utilizing his badass bluetooth sound system, we circle up with the instruction,”Do SSH or IW until you hear the word “thunder” in the song, at which point you drop and do a burpee (or merkin). Queue one of the greatest rock bands of all time…ACDC and Thunderstruck. Please take it in…enjoy before reading on…
So 4 minutes 52 seconds later and a mere 31 burpees (doublecheck if you must)…we move on to some merkins in cadence, then the actual workout.
Partner up, P1 runs the small track, P2 does suicides on field with tires as markers, burpee or handslap merkin at exchange, all that X4.
We all move to Covenant Day outdoor workout arena to find many many stations set up (Bulldog got their really early…huge props to the QIC). Two times around, 40 seconds on 10 second break then 30 seconds on and 10 second break of the following stations:
Dips, Massive Rope wave thingy (whoa!), straight arm plate raise, TRX flys, Kettlebell swings, box jump, jump rope, tire flips, jump rope, medicine ball Russian twists, Kettlebell goblet squats, barbell curls (not sure weight but heavy enough for me), Louganis with plate, deep merkins using blocks, bear crawl w/merkins, decline sit-ups. Holy crap!
Circle up for misc. Mary work…done!
Random observations…I forgot the shovel flag due to a broken garage door nightmare, Turkey Leg actually looked tired today (can’t imagine why), Cheese Curd made showed up for his 2nd workout in all of 2017, due to injury, glad to see you back. Spackler somehow snuck in without any obnoxious sounds or comments…worked hard as always. Cottontail does not like dismounting the decline sit-up equipment, Orange Whip pulled the “locals only” pre-run to and fro, Lex Luthor is a solid partner even though we struggled with partner merkins, and finally Squid is NO JOKE with a jump rope…kind of like this….
If you per chance you’re reading this and weren’t there. If you see Bulldog has a Q somewhere…get your ass out of bed and do it. Thank you Bulldog and all the PAX who proved Kevlar is the real deal. God bless and have a great weekend.
By the time I pulled into an eerie empty parking lot, the rain stopped and it was a cool 58 degrees…perfect running/bootcamp weather. I was joined by 8 strong PAX who wanted to start the day off right. I attempted a quick disclaimer but had to wait on Rachel pulling in tardy and then his car alarm as he fumbled with his keys to assemble with the others. Alas, little did they know what was coming…
https://youtu.be/5tu5iNUMuc8
YHC shared the vision as we left the school toward Hwy 51, then West, then onto Carey Ridge. At that point I provided more details. Saitama, the “One Punch Man”, trains by doing 100 push ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and 10k run every day! My goal was just to get the PAX started and let them decide if they wished to complete the 3 year journey toward Anime Superhero status.
We quietly circled up at the cul-de-sac on Colburn for the “kickstart”, in cadence 50 squats, 30 merkins and 40 LBC. From there it was each man for himself running the full distance of Colburn (0.6 miles) aka “Half Pipe” back and forth, doing squats on near end, merkins at the valley, LBC at the far end. Reps per set can vary as long as you completed 100 of each exercise. And off we went with Alf, Turkey Leg and Rachel quickly jumping up front and never looking back. The rest of us spread out with PopTart reluctantly embracing his inner BRR-self, Semi-Gloss consistently kicking ass with a smile and Margo breaking in his new kicks the real man’s way…running hill repeats over 5+ miles…badass. Utah, Mermaid and YHC took our position in the back of the pack where we can talk about family flu bug and poor sleeping habits.
At 6:05 we made our way from Colburn up Rosecliff to Strawberry for the classic Indian Run back to the school. Maybe one of the toughest I’ve ever been a part of…ouch! The faster guys broke the 10k mark with everyone else just short…Saitama didn’t mention hills…ugh. And of course with a few minutes left we had to sneak in a couple parking lot sprints while Semi-Gloss toweled off by his car. He made up for it with a nice takeout though…thank you. And thanks to everyone who made it this am. Tough workout, felt good. Enjoy the video.
I had several themes to choose from, but opted not to choose one, rather went for the essential elements of a Friday bootcamp style workout. Being a little chilly this am, I wasted no time with a quick disclaimer and 13 of us mosey’d from the parking lot, this is what we did…
The Thang
Mosey’d down to lower lot for COP – SSH, IW, Merkins, Mtn Climbers x20. Continued around parking lots up to new sports field where sandbags awaited, apparently left by Leprechauns. We broke into groups of 3 for grinders over the full length of the field. Bag side – Overhead Press, curls (briefly), tricep extensions, flutter press while far side was Jump squats and Romanian deadlifts. After about 8-10 full sets we ran back to main lot sharing bag carries along the way.
Once back at the mini-field and track, circled up for a group exercise while one PAX named the exercise then ran the mini-track carrying the slosh pipe. Exercises were burpees, 8-count body builders, heels to heaven, full sit-up, merkins, 6 inch plank, flutters, Turkish getups and others I can’t recall. Finally, we lined up for mid-field suicide sprints and full field sprints. Done.
Moleskin
Overall solid workout, not too much chatter, we logged a few miles, threw around some weight and gutted through some sprints. I’m always fan of grinders, seemed like everyone pushed hard, the sandbags were especially heavy today. Bulldog asked me to “race” him the last leg. I felt like Clark Griswold chasing Rusty to the entrance of Wally World. Only half the PAX were able to experience the novelty and difficulty of the slosh pipe because Turkey Leg decided it was much easier if you just bang one end on the ground, knock the cap off and dump the water out. We audibled with sand bags so it all worked out. In conclusion, thanks to everyone for coming out, I was impressed with the numbers considering the NCAA tournament was going all night and it was 27 degrees this am. Poptart mumbled some announcement about Savage Race, just look it up. Thank you Squid for the takeout. Have a great weekend!
I’m happy to confirm 14 PAX showed up for a Friday bootcamp at Covenant Day this am. Since I now understand the #51counts should only come AFTER the workout, rest assured for 14 motivated souls, the world is a better place. And with a thorough disclaimer, off we went…
THANG: Mosey to parking lot for COP n the parking lot, SSH x 20, 10 merkins, IW x 20, 10 merkins, Mtn Climbers x 20. Mosey across Fullwood into new neighborhood. Partner up, each runs opposite direction of the big outer loop, meet up for 10 handslap merkins, continue around and do 10 deep squats. Repeat x3. Mosey back over to new field at Covenant Day. Run 7’s with burpees on far end and plank jack on near end. Plank up for group. Mosey across campus to far East side. Triple nickel with derkins (feet up on wall) x 5 run across field, 5 squats, then back x 5. Mosey out of campus then AYG crossing the street and back to the cars for some Mary; Freddy Mercury, Flutter and LBC x 15 each. Done.
MOLESKIN: Pretty basic bootcamp today. Had a little confusion by half the PAX as to which outer loop to run in the new neighborhood. All good though. Lots of new manhole covers and some thick mud to deal with. YHC called an audible to the field to help clean everyone’s shoes. Great group, not too much chatter, we kept moving for 45 minutes. YHC took us out in prayer.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Check out iTunes F3 podcast today at 11:30am as Witch Doctor is talking about nutrition. Having been the recipient of his prescriptions and advice at BRR last year, I think you should listen. Reminder to be sure to check with a site Q if you’re leading a workout and plan to attend a location on a different day than normal as these schools and churches are usually only aware of our presence on specific days and times.
Thank you everyone for coming out this morning and have a great weekend.
Beautiful cool weather rolling into the parking lot this morning. Everyone seemed to arrive at the same time. After a little banter, I woke up Van Pelt from his customary drivers seat nap and 15 PAX rolled out after a quick disclaimer.
The Thang:
We shot out on Strawberry to 51 and into Raintree. Circled up on the pad at Willow Point for COP for a brief overview of the plan. In honor of McGee who suffered the loss of his mother, we would fulfill his commitment of 100 Burpees this am. So we started off with 10 burpees. From there we did suicides on Willow Point with three points of 10 burpees each. Some planking to wait for the six then moved down Raintree.
After that quick mozy we hit up dreaded Windbluff out and back to Providence x 2 with 10 burpees at each end. Plank and come back for the six. Then mozy down Rounding Run to Woodfox. 10 more burpees. Then back to the school to finish the remaining burpees to total 100. Done!!
Moleskin:
Going into day two of back to back Q’s for the first time, YHC wanted to make sure I didn’t get lazy. I had a loose plan with mild exercises and various lengths and hills in Raintree. Fortunately, Prohibiion reached out with the 100 burpees idea out of respect for McGee. Thanks Pro, solid idea, the execution was brutal. We covered 6+ plus miles on top of the 100 burpees…rough combo.
Thank you to the site Q’s for the opportunity to lead this elite group of men. Thank you Duct Work for the moving takeout.
Annoucements: Savage obstacle race coming up in May. See Poptart or check online for details. CSAUP this Saturday at McAlpine at 7am.