It was a breath through a straw kind of humid morning, but with a 6:02am start time at least we had a little sunrise sky to enjoy as we started off on our mosey. My daughter turns 14 tomorrow so in honor of her, and hoping she doesn’t turn into a bratty teen soon, we did 14 of everything today.
Our warm up exercises were 14 of each, SSH, Mountain climbers, Goof Balls & Merkins.
We continued our mosey to a nice flat parking lot area and started a bear crawl indian run. We each got into a parking space and the pax on the end called out an exercise for the group to do while he bear crawled to the front of the line of pax. We continued this for 2 rounds. I think 5 pax called out burpees which generated some good mumble chatter.
Did some more mosey to the front of the middle school and did a round of the Motivator from 8 down to 1, doing SSH, Seal Jacks, No Hand Jacks, and Skier Jacks.
Mosey to back of middle school where we found our first surprise. Some middle school kid left a white board with some exercises written on it, and darned if he didn’t write 14 next to each one. So we decided to give them a try. This was a stacking routine 1st round was 14 step ups, then a lap around the field with 2 burpees halfway. Round 2 was 14 step ups, 14 derkins, then burpee lap. Round 3 was 14 step ups, 14 derkins, 14 snow angels, burpee lap. Round 4 was 14 step ups, 14 derkins, 14 snow angels, 14 smurph jacks, burpee lap. We did Mary in between each round to let the 6 catch up.
We finished that up, finally, and what did we discover? There was more! The bottom of the white board was covered with some paper, and under the paper there were even more exercises written, with 14’s next to them, wow!
14 each American Hammers, dips, Bobby Hurleys, Donkey kicks- we did them all together.
Mosey back towards COT, stopped half way for some Mary, each pax called one out and we did 14 reps, some in cadence some single count.
Mosey to COT with 5 min to go. I think everyone thought I was getting my phone out of my truck for name-a-rama, but wait, there was more! I pulled my tractor tire out of the truck bed, much to everyone’s delight!
Each pax took a turn calling out an exercise for the group to do while they flipped the tire 10X. Most guys called out something kind of easier for this one, no more burpees thankfully. And that was time.
My watch hit 6:30am and I was the only pax in the lot, so I started my watch and began my warm up mosey (after thinking about getting back in my vehicle and going home to make waffles). I had only run a few minutes when a car pulled in and it was Judge, thank you Judge!
I knew Judge is a runner so I called an audible and decided to run the cross country trail with some pain station stops.
The stops included: SSH, squats, LBC’s, snow angels, curls and making X’s with bricks at the brick pile, curb dips, American hammers.
When we got to the football practice field we ran over to the bleachers and ran up all 8 of the stair sets. At the bottom we did 2 burpees, at the tops we alternated between 5 uneven arm merkins (using a high bench and a low bench) and 10 squats.
When we got back to the parking lot we pulled my tractor tire out of my truck bed and one of us flipped it 10 times while the other did plank jacks, then another round but doing LBC’s. And that was 7:30am.
I forgot to take a picture, but Judge can back me up, this workout really did happen.
I’ve been to a lot of great workouts at F3, but never a true 5 Star workout, so this was the day for one. We warmed up with a lap around the parking lot and then ran in the shape of a warm up exercise at each point of the star (SSH, seal jacks, merkins, low slow squats, and I’ve forgotten the last one). Then we did a mosey to the band field and did our next star, this one much bigger, with 10 side lunges at each point of the star. Then off to the cross country trail that goes around the Weddington campus. It’s about a 5k if you just do the trail, and it goes in and out of the woods at different points.
Our first stop on the trail was at the brick pile where we did 10 overhead presses with bricks. Back on the trail we continued till we came to some benches at the high school and did 10 dips, then kept going till we got the the hand rails where we did 10 supines, or however you spell it, then kept going. Our next star was in the high school parking lot where we did 5 LBC’s at each point of the star. Then back on the trail.
When we came out of the woods on the elementary school entrance we saw Posse running down the road. He had driven all the way out to Clean Slate and no one was there, so he came back to Homecoming! That is dedication! I would have just gone straight to Dunkin, but Posse is the man.
We kept following the trail and stopping along the way for more exercises (merkins, bobby hurley’s, snow angels, autrailian snow angels, and a bunch of other stuff) We did our last two stars in the bus parking lot and the middle school bball lot. Then finished out the trail and came out pretty close to where we started. Overall we did about 4.5 miles of running so it was a good workout. Nice job fellas!
I thought it was appropriate to have an egg hunt since this is Easter weekend, so I put in a request to the Easter bunny, and he delivered!
We did our warm up behind the middle school (we needed it since it was 30 degrees out) with some seal jacks, skiier jacks, imperial walkers, plank jacks, calf stretch, runner’s stretch and merkins.
Then we started out on our Easter egg hunt, Paula Abdul style. Luckily we found our first egg pretty quick. We always passed up the egg and ran to the next one, did 5 merkins and then ran back to the egg we passed and opened it to find a surprise. The eggs were filled with wonderful exercises with reps, much to everyone’s delight. We followed the trail of eggs out to twelve mile creek and then in the elementary school entrance.
The last egg on that trail gave us instructions to head over the the middle school b-ball courts, where we found a pile of coupons waiting. Most Easter bunny’s leave candy, this one wasn’t nearly that nice. We did some murder bunny relay work (paybacks to the mean Easter bunny) with speed skaters on one end and crunches on the other. Then we switched to bear crawls with squat jumps on one end and American hammers on the other. Just when we wanted to do more murder bunny’s, we noticed another egg hiding there, how could that be?! So we opened it and it told us to go to the flag pole. Off we went, what an adventure!
There was another egg waiting at the flag pole that said we were at the wrong flag pole and we need to go to the other flag pole, but first do 20 step ups. Then over to the other flag pole we ran, only to find yet another egg that told us to go to the swings, but to first do 20 derkins. What could be waiting at the swings? We were captivated with anticipation. There we found another egg that told us to go to the rock pile, but to first do 15 swerkins. At the rock pile we found another egg that told us to get a rock and do 20 curls, 20 overhead presses, and 20 tricep extensions, and then go to the front of the middle school. Chastain started talking about doing donkey kicks that he did at the last workout he Q’d and how much he loves them. The Easter bunny must have been listening because the next egg told us to go to the lunch tables but first do 20 donkey kicks. At that moment we all knew the Easter bunny was real. So over to the lunch tables we ran where we found a case of Body Armor and a box of granola bars. Wow! What a surprise the Easter bunny left for us.
But there was still some time left so we ran back over to the coupon pile and did some partner work. One pax did curls while the other ran, then one did goblet squats while the other ran, then one did coupon crunches while the other ran, then one did coupon swings while the other ran. Then we carried the coupons and the goodies back to COT.
We all agreed that the 30 degree temp felt pretty good by the end of our egg hunt. We’re pretty sure we found all the eggs. And we are definitely all believers in the Easter bunny now, but next year lets get a better Easter bunny that will leave some candy.
Nice work today, and happy Easter fellas!
It was a pretty warm morning today at around 59 degrees, so it was a perfect day for making Sweat Angels all over the pavement at Marvin Ridge. So that’s what we did.
Warm up:
Short mosey to circle up and do SSH, hillbilly walkers, plank jacks, and a few stretches.
Then we split into two groups by partnering up with someone of equal speed and then rock paper scissors, winners on one team, losers on the other. But I assured everyone not to worry because we are all winners.
I had two lines of cones set up with exercises and reps on each, one line for each team. We did a suicide race as teams. The cones had merkins, heels to heaven, speed skaters and smurph jacks, 20 of each. Each time you ran back to the base line you did one burpee, and you had to bear crawl to the first cone. After each round the winning and losing team had different exercises to do as a reward, the crowd favorite was the snow angels or sweat angels, whichever name you like better. 3 rounds of this routine was enough, smurph jacks really suck!
Then we mosied around the school stopping half way to do a set of Aiken Legs while the 6 caught up: 20 reps each of squats, bobby hurleys, speed skaters and lunges. Then we mosied over to the middle school entrance where we did a round of the Motivator, in honor of Posse who introduced us to this a few weeks ago.
Motivator is great: you start at whatever number you want, we started at 8, so we did 8 SSH, 8 Seal jacks, 8 no arm jacks, 8 skier jacks, then go to 7 of each, all the way down to 1 or each. It takes some special coordination to keep up with this one as we all count together and it moves pretty fast. Shop Dog showed off his dancing skills with some fancy footwork while Ice 9 harkened back to his childhood days of jump rope for hours and hours. It was fun, just not for the calves.
Then we mosied around to the back of the middle school where I had some more surprises waiting. We did a routing of 5 burpees, 10 merkins, 20 step ups, 20 dips, 20 bonnie blairs, then we mosied back to the front of the school for 3 rounds of Mary: Snow Angels, Austrailian Snow Angels, and Heels to Heaven. Everyone took a moment to admire their snow/sweat angel, then we were off.
Mosey to back of middle school and repeat the routine: legs were definitely feeling it.
Mosey towards the finish line stopping half way for more Mary called out by various pax. Shake-n-bake called out flutter kicks and cadence counted them up to 40, it was brutal as we thought he’d go on forever. He even came early for a pre-run, that guy’s a beast!
Final mosey and then jail break to COT. It was good to be done!
The first ever Winter Olympics was on January 30, 1924. Everyone loves curling and that other event where you ski and shoot guns so of course, we had to have our own version of the Winter Olympics to celebrate. Since we didn’t have any bowling balls with handles, and we can’t bring guns on school property, we had to go with some different events.
Warm up
Mosey to the back bus parking lot and did:
SSH, Imperial Walkers, Mtn Climbers, Merkins, Calf Stretch, runners stretch.
First Olympic event: Ski Jump
We all lined up in a plank and for the first jump we ran 10 paces, did 10 burpees, ran back and did a plank till everyone was back.
2nd jump: run 20 paces, do 20 merkins, run back.
3rd jump: run 30 paces, do 30 of something, I can’t remember because I had a different pax call out each exercise.
4th jump: run 40 paces, do 40 of something else.
5th jump: run 50 paces, do 50 of another something else.
Mosey
Snow Angels
What do you do in between events at the Winter Olympics? Snow angels, of course!
30 snow angels on your back, just like it sounds. Run a lap around the parking lot.
30 Austrian snow angels (on your stomach). Why are they called Austrian? I don’t know, I guess they are weird over there, no offense Von Trapp. Run a lap.
30 WWI snow angels. Do a snow angel on your back, do a WWI sit up. Run a lap.
Olympian Training
Next we did some upper body shoulder training which every Olympian needs more of.
30 big arm circles. 30 reverse big arm circles. 30 seal claps. 30 overhead claps. Wow, those felt great!
Mosey
Next Olympic Event: Bobsled!
I had a course set up around the parking lot with cones (which were supposed to be track turns) marking off exercises, 30 of each, and we started with a short bear crawl to get our sleds moving fast!
The stations were 30 each of: Bobby Hurleys, Merkins, Speed Skaters, LBC’s, Low Slow Squats, Heels to Heaven, Plank Jacks, Side Straddle Hops.
More Olympian Training
Time for some lower body work which really helps with the downhill skiing.
20 each of squats, lunges, speed skaters, bobby hurley’s. I don’t know why I didn’t do 30 of each, I guess because my legs were already dead.
Next we circled up and each pax called out an exercise that we all had to do while he ran to the other end of the parking lot and back. No one called out burpees, but one guy did call Smurph Jacks which are almost as bad.
Our last fun activity was another tribute to the number 30 (Jan 30th, 1924) we all ran in a big circle around the speaker to the song “Lick it up” by Kiss, and every time they said “lick it up” we did a burpee. There happen to be 30 “lick it up’s” in that 4 1/2 minute song, which felt like a lot more than 30. Zin almost drop-kicked my speaker at the end. Then we did 45 seconds of Have a Nice Day and the next song on my playlist was Lovely Day, so it was perfect. And that was time.
There were a few comments about my playlist which included some country, some 80’s, some current stuff, and a few weird songs that I have no idea how they got on there. I can share my playlist with anyone who is interested.
Welcome to FNG David Marsh, new nickname is “Berry” because he’s on the waiting list to become an elevator mechanic and Cherie Berry is our current Commissioner of Labor and her name is inside of every elevator in the state. Zinfandel came up with that one, very good!
I’m looking forward to being the c0-site Q at Homecoming this year with Zinfandel. My one word for the year is “lead”. That’s lead as in being a leader, not lead as in lead weight. I don’t really like to lead, I’d rather be on the back row and just do my own thing. But I guess God has other plans for me right now and I’m being asked to lead more at my church, and now at F3. I like being a part of something bigger than myself. F3 has so many core values that I share, and it’s full of great men who I enjoy being around. I’m looking forward to a great 2021 with all of you, my brothers. Thanks for pushing me to be better!
14 pax posted this morning for a windy workout just a few hours before Hurricane Zeta comes in. This was sort of a last minute Q for me because Deep Dish was scheduled to Q but he’s waiting on Covid test results and had to stay home (good luck Deep Dish!). Inspired by Zinfandel’s costumes this week, I dug out my favorite Napoleon Dynamite wig, my old glasses from middle school, a Nasa shirt I found at Target last night, and made some tater tots too, which unfortunately I forgot to bring, GOSH! I had enough to share. Oh well, more for me to enjoy today.
We did a warm up mozy and a few exercises (SSH, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, Mtn Climbers, calf stretch). Then we mozied back to the front of the school for a 7 of diamonds drill. 1st lap was 7 merkins in each corner, 2nd round was 14 plank jacks, 3rd round was 21 LBC’s, 4th round was 28 squats. This one takes a while to complete and we did some Mary while the 6 came in. My wig had to come off during this, that thing was way too hot.
Next we did a merkins & air press web and went straight through to 10 and 40, which was pretty painful by the end. I could tell some of the pax were not enjoying this web and there may have been some mumble chatter, but I didn’t care. It’s my Q, I’ll do whatever I want, GOSH! My shoulders are still hurting right now as I eat my tater tots and type at my desk.
Then we went over to the playground area and did a round of 7’s (Swerkins on the swings, inspired by Das Boot) and Speed Skaters on the opposite end of their little track. This pretty much killed our time.
Our 6th man in the COT was One Star. He played football in college and played with a guy who was an amazing 5-star recruit. I don’t remember the guys name, but he EH’d One Star and brought him out to F3. I guess One star was more of a 1-star player, haha! Gotta love F3 names. Never tell us your weaknesses FNG’s!
On a serious note, I asked everyone to pray for the Garrett family, who is one of my neighbors. Their only child, Morgan was one of the pilots who crashed last week in Alabama on Naval a training flight. She graduated from Weddington High with my oldest son and was a great kid. She went to the Coast Guard Academy and ran track for them and was training to be a pilot. Very sad.
Thanks to all who came out today, I enjoyed working out with you all. We will see you tomorrow!