Four decided to get some work in at Peak 51. Pretty simple …
Mosey out of the back of the alley, around and up by Pappy’s Cuts, over to the Mobility & More parking lot to circle up.
COP
Thang
Mosey down the Canyon of Heroes to the front of the Library/Town Hall circle. Time for one of YHC’s personal favorites, The Beast: 6 reps at 6 stations with 6 exercises.
Mosey back to launch. YHC recorded 2.2 miles.
Fin.
Moleskine
So, the theme of this workout was “Slim Fast and Smokey just stay way out in front and chitchat.” I have no idea what they actually discussed, so, I’m just going to take a few guesses.
I might be wrong. I don’t think I am, though.
Six to seven hearty PAX Made a visit to one of Peak’s classic locales for a beatdown that can only be termed as “Old School Peak.” Why do we say 6 to 7? Read on …
YHC, Slim, Tweetsie, Smokey, Benny and Octane took off from the new launch point, which we will call the Back Alley and set out toward Peak’s classic launch point. Stopping off at the small shopping center with the compounding pharmacy to circle up …
COP
After that, mosey behind to the FBC Matthews gym parking lot.
Time for a classic — the starfish …
The four corners:
Back at the middle, a twist: When you first come back, hold plank for a 5-count. After the next corner, 10-count. After the next corner, 15-count. After the final corner, 20-count.
We did that. Then it was round 2:
Back at the middle, same routine, except hold a sumo squat for 5-count, the 10, blah blah etc.
After that, it’s time for a round of 7s. Starting off, it was 6 supine pull-ups at the bar, run down to the other end, 1 big-boy sit-up. Then 5 pull-ups, 2 sit-ups, you know the routine.
It was some time during the 7s that all of a sudden, Safelite appeared! It was pure magic.
Mosey over to FBC proper. Find some wall. Next up, two rounds of the people’s chair, with 50 arm-raises, civilian count.
Then some Mary — LBCs, flutter and Freddy Mercury.
Mosey back to launch, join up with Sparta for some box cutters, heels to heaven and protractor. Maybe some more stuff in there.
COT
Counting, naming, Tweetsie with the takeout.
Announcements
Benny is not doing some races, because there are no more races. He will share with you all of the races he is not doing.
Moleskine
First off, good to see Octane back for his second workout. You know, that second one is usually the hardest one. This is important because, well, hang on …
First off, Smokey pointed out that I was not in the middle during COP. I am a Q of the people. Let me stand with my comrades.
Okay, so, germane to Octane, as we approached the parking lot for the main thing, Benny, in discussion of races he is not doing, mentioned a race, maybe you’ve heard of it, called the “B. R. R.” So then Octane asks the magic question: What is that?
Needless to say, given the group’s composition, this was a mumblechatter gold mine. We noted that the lovely Blue Ridge Relay is a team relay race where you will see lots of lush scenery and enjoy only the finest luxe accommodations.
So yes, we lied. Well, lied is strong. We committed various sins of omission. Please see yourself to the nearest confessional booth.
During the starfish, Benny seemed to have problems with both the exercises called and the amount of repetitions for each one. He was vocal with these objections. He failed to realize that this was only adding to his agony, and the rest of us.
Safelite is a great BRR driver in that he has some sort of built in GPS, as there was really no other logical expectation for how he found us.
On the mosey back, Tweetsie and Smokey were having a theological discussion moving from the Acts of the Apostles to “Waterfalls” by TLC. Also, I showed off my great Biblical knowledge by quoting my favorite verse: “You shall not cast your visor on grass before referees.” It’s in there.
Strong showing all around, honestly. You know what you are going to get with these guys. Plus, getting back to the old favorites just felt good.
Sensei was missed. I don’t think he is missing us as he works on his tan.
Oh, and, stop me if you’ve heard this before — Slim knows people that you know as well. Turns out, he and Octane have some degree of professional cross-over. I still think it’s just because Slim knows everybody.
Finally, Benny claims he is going to show up to Skunk Works soon. He is required to alert both me and Tweetsie before this happens. If this happens, we will get the word out.
Oh, and finally finally, this week marked my four-year anniversary with F3. You guys got me through an extended period of joblessness, some bad football seasons, y’all picked me up on so so so many occasions and still continue to help me get better, in the many ways you can interpret that. You guys rock.
So, a couple of weeks ago, YHC turned 40. For reasons surpassing understanding, YHC Q’d Skunk Works that morning and ran a workout that was terrible. You can read about it if you want.
Fast forward to today, YHC was tasked with leading the fine men of Peak 51, and for reasons also surpassing understanding, decided to run a similar workout.
But Lois, you might ask, Skunk is a kettlebell workout. Peak is a regular boot camp, how are you going to change a KB workout to a non-KB workout and keep the same oeuvre? Also, did you just use “ouvere” in a backblast? Did you use it correctly, Mr. “I got an A in French at South Carolina”?
Answers in reverse order:
It’s 5:30, let’s mosey to the FBC Matthews parking lot. Run a figure-8 around the islands. Lumberjack already entering refusenik mode, reminding YHC that Sparta launches at 5:15.
It’s going to be a day, y’all.
COP
THANG
First-up, two round of suicides, using the middle lamp posts as the light unto our path. First one, back, second one back, back of the parking lot and back.
Okay, time for the first remix of the birthday Q. I’m now terming this routine “existential dread.”
Partner up.
Partner 1 stays at the bottom and does 40 reps of a called exercise. Partner 2 does something awful. Partner 1 runs and gets partner 2, they both run back to the bottom and flapjack.
Round 1 —
Round 2 —
Round 3 —
Enough of that, let’s mosey to the next parking lot over.
Second phase of the workout, 40-second AMRAPs.
Start at the corner right by the entrance to the FBC Matthews Family Life Center.
40 seconds, AMRAP of merkins.
Mosey over to the supine bars for, you guessed it, 40 seconds AMRAP of supine pull-ups.
Mosey to the next corner next to the church office door. 40 seconds AMRAP of jump squats.
Mosey to the last corner, 40 seconds AMRAP of LBCs.
That was fun, so, let’s do all of that again. This time, instead of LBCs on the last one, 40 seconds AMRAP of burps.
Yikes. Okay, mosey back to launch, stopping at the wall.
2 rounds of people’s chair with 50 arm presses (civilian count).
2 rounds of balls to the wall.
MARY
Time.
COT
Peau de Môle
Yes, I got an A in French at South Carolina. I got a B in Italian as well. What of it?
Anyway.
The PAX were in rare form with mumblechatter this morning, starting with Lumberjack’s accusation that I was going to turn this into a running workout. Man, no, I have to have some sort of gas left in the tank for Mountain Goat tomorrow morning.
I can’t tell if Slim Fast was confused by the first part of “existential dread” or if he wanted to try and confuse everyone else. He started trying to explain how teams advance in that Champions League Communist Kickball nonsense they play over in Europe. Like how when the teams go 0-0 during several games, it goes into how the aggregate kicks per game are taken into consideration.
I have no idea.
During the inchworm-ing in round 2, Snoopy said, quite clearly, “Man, I’d rather Bear Crawl.” Now, that was the plan all along to do that in round 3, but, even if it wasn’t, that would have been the easiest audible in the world to call.
Cocktail also accused me of telling an untruth. He said of the first round of CDDs and lunge walking that those were two of his least favorite exercises, and only burpees would have made it worse. I said to this, “well, I think we might stay relatively burpee free.”
I tell no lies here. I learned this from Smokey, who wasn’t in attendance today because he’s on the west coast, gorging on In-and-Out Burger and surfing in Malibu. No, really, he is.
Also, there was a lot of chatter during the two rounds of BTTW worthy of the @HeardAtF3 account on Twitter dot com.
In all seriousness, a great group putting in the work this morning. It’s an honor to lead, both in terms of this morning and leading this group as a Site Q. It’s true what they say, it’s the camaraderie that makes getting up at 0-dark-30 and getting after it easy(-ish).
It’s time for the latest edition of Gumby. With both Site Qs out of town, one of them for some reason decided to lend me the key to the Scout Hut and lead the workout. I mean, I hope the guys in the Boy Scout troop are strong enough to move an empty keg or two …
So, for this stretching and recovery extravaganza, it was a small, but hearty trio of YHC, the much-respected Beaver and fellow Gamecock Cocktail.
Here’s what transpired, under the mood lighting of the Bambi Lamp and the smooooooooooooth selections from a Spotify “Yacht Rock” playlist:
Devotional — stolen (is it polite to say one “stole” a devo? asking for a friend) from Dawn Staley’s Twitter account, as she often posts the devos offered by Jack Easterby, perhaps better known for his similar work with the New England Patriots. The topic was about how we approach the seen and the unseen of life, but in the end, God sees both.
From corpse pose, knees up …
Windshield wipers
Bridge
Sit up for a couple of rounds of butterfly.
Left leg out, right leg tucked in, reach for the left leg. Flapjack.
Both legs out, reach for both ankles.
Move to table top …
Cat/cow
Bird dog (left arm out, right leg back), then flapjack
Child’s pose, shifting left/right/middle
1 1/2 sun salutations, holding in down dog on the second (hence, the “half”) …
Left leg back, holding three-legged dog, swing through into lizard.
Push up into what YHC calls “cheerleader,” lunging with hands on knees.
Then arms up into a crescent stretch.
Back down to cheerleader … back down to lizard … kick out and finish the sun salutation.
Flapjack and do all that again on the other side.
After that, a round of chair, with a move into dancer, which, well, YHC did not execute gracefully. On either side.
After that, another 1/2 sun salutation, stopping in down dog. Left leg back, holding three-legged dog, swing through into Warrior 1.
Move to Warrior 2 … then Peaceful Warrior … back to Warrior 2.
Turn and face the wall in Starfish, fold over, hands in the middle. Reach back toward your 6, then move to the left and right.
Move back up and back into Warrior 2, then Warrior 1, then back to Mountain.
Flapjack and do all that on the other side, but subbing in the Ninja pose on the left and right after the starfish.
The yacht was close to running ashore at this point, so we moved into plank and did a round of everyone’s favorite — PIGEON — on each side.
Return to corpse pose, a quick devo redux, and that, as they say, is that.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Crane Relay coming up. Details are out there. Probably some other stuff.
NAKED GUMBY GREENSKINE
A nice amount of mumblechatter amongst the small group. We laughed at some of the various songs. Cocktail’s favorite was “Working for the Weekend.”
I mostly groused about how things hurt and how random things hurt on different sides. I am plunging down the canyon of grumpy old man-dom.
Beaver applauded the relative lack of sun salutations, and, sometimes they are what I nickname them — yoga burpees — effective, yes, but too many can derail an otherwise enjoyable, productive workout.
Also, a pro tip — if you go visit Cocktail at the Gin Mill and it is especially crowded, you should order an Old Fashioned. He will give you a special recipe.
We all went on a journey together … wait, Journey? Yeah, that’s a totally different band.
Oh, hey, if the Scout Hut folks have changed the locks on Swiss Miss and Tweetsie by next Wednesday, you guys should use this backblast, which is entirely comprehensive and authentic, to illustrate that there were no shenanigans. We also have no idea why the security camera footage was replaced by a DVR’d recording of the 2013 Outback Bowl. That Jadeveon Clowney hit isn’t going to rewatch itself, y’all.
This morning, YHC woke up with an extra creak in his knees … an extra pang or two of discomfort … it’s almost as if YHC turned over his odometer. Strange. Well, no rest for the weary, time to put in some Works with Skunks.
A large crowd gathered at Covenant Day. Here’s what they experienced.
COP
It appears that we did 40 swings in total as part of the warmup. This was less confusing to the group than the 40 SSH. But, prescient nonetheless.
Anyway, partner up for some Catch Me If You Can (10 merkin chaser) — head from launch to the lacrosse field over at Christ Covenant proper.
THANG
Line up on the line and stay with your partner.
Round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
Another round of CMIYC, heading from the LAX field to the courtyard where we run staircases — which, we did not do today.
LBCs while we wait for the 6.
This time, starting at the courtyard, do 40 seconds of called exercises AMRAP. After that, mosey to the next church entrance, 40s of same exercise, AMRAP, mosey to next church entrance, blah blah etc.
Mosey with your bell back to launch.
Time called.
COT
-30-
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None.
SKINE of the MOLE
Yes, as it came out during the course of the workout, today was my 40th birthday. It was also the first time in my F3 lifetime that my birthday fell on a day with my regularly scheduled workout. So, I thought, might as well lead.
Thinking of ways to incorporate the milestone birthday was harder than I originally thought, because, well, I was happy to make everyone else do this mess, I wasn’t looking forward to it. As I told Tulip, Funky, Tweetsie and Soprano (kotters) afterward: “This looked bad on paper. It was worse in practice.”
The field was a little damp, so, the backpedaling was originally supposed to be inchworm-ing, but, given the curls and presses ahead, I figured that having soaked hands/gloves would not be conducive to getting that done … well, safely anyway.
Good to see a mix of regulars and legends this morning.
I would launch into a Horsehead-worthy existential fever dream surrounding a major milestone birthday, but, I’ll spare y’all that. What I will say — I’ve been waiting 12 years for this moment, because, well, let us not forget the wise words of one of my Spirit Coaches, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, who famously barked in 2007: “I’M A MAN! I’M 40!“.
Thanks to Tulip and Funky Cold for the opportunity, and thanks to everyone who showed up. This workout is a backbreaker every week, but, it’s always fun because of the crowd.
10 men made the right decision and gathered at 5:30 at Matthews Elementary to start their day off right. YHC switched things up today and went with a mostly upper body workout. Disclaimer given and we took off to the driveway beside Mac’s for COP.
After hearing complaints about false advertising for an upper body workout, we went right to Jack Webb, up to 5 (kind of) and back down to 1. Q got excited and skipped numbers, or he just couldn’t count correctly. I believe we went 1, 2, 4, 3, 5. No reps were missed and the crowd kept me honest.
We then did an Indian run to Baucom Park for some circuit work.
Repeato with Decline Merkins.
Mosey back to FBCM side parking lot and partner up.
Repeato decreasing by 1 until done.
At this point Q heard no more complaints about this being an upper body workout.
Mary
Mosey to the wall for some PC
Mosey back to launch and time was called.
Moleskin
Seems like I always comment on the weather, whether good or bad. See what I did there? I’ll claim my getting older. The weather was fantastic today though! Temps in the 50s with no humidity. We’ll take that as long as we can get it.
Great to see Blue Hen and Nomad back out. Come back anytime fellas.
Somehow Tweetsie acquired a F3 Boone t-shirt despite never having posted in his hometown.
Lots of chatter and conversation this morning. As always, great getting work in with the Thursday morning crowd.
It was a pleasantly chilly morning as 6 gathered at Matthews Elementary for this week’s edition of Peak 51. Hey, it rained last night. Say, Lois, where is the shovel flag? Those two thoughts are, ahem, related.
Anyway, let’s go. Take the long way to the First Baptist rear parking lot.
COP
All were done in cadence, but with varied counts, just to keep the PAX (mostly Slim Fast) on their collective toes. Speaking of, YHC ended Hillbillies at 20, since Slim was using his fingers and toes to count.
THANG
Mosey to the church office/back of bank parking lot. Partner up.
Two rounds of hand-release merkins. Two rounds of bomb jacks.
Mosey to the back bus lot for some Grinders … not Grindrs. That’s a whooooole other subject matter. NSFW, ya know?
So, Lumberjack and Poser did dips over on the wall. YHC and Cocktail hustled to the far corner for lunges. Slim Fast and Sensei started off as the runners. Runner run to the lunge corner, then lungers run to the wall, dippers run to the lunge corner, etc etc etc etc etc etc.
After a couple of rounds of that, let’s mosey to the wall, the big one over near launch.
People’s chair — arms out in a hold, then 50 air presses, then more holding, then, recover.
We make a thrilling discovery. Somehow, YHC’s kettlebell was sitting over by the wall. Weird!
Back in the people’s chair, pass the KB down the line and back. Recover.
Lumberjack and Cocktail both showed how swole they are by doing some KB exercises. Skunk Works is on Tuesday, guys. If Smokey is on Q there, avoid it. You might not make it. YHC speaks from experience.
Big League Chew is on Q this upcoming Tuesday. That’ll be a good time.
Where were we? Oh yes, well, since those guys were so excited about doing KB exercises, let’s pass the bell back down the line, but this time, do 5 curls before passing. Pass/curl back down the line. Recover.
Repeato one more time, this time with 5 overhead presses, and only one time down the line.
Recover, back to launch, here come Joker, Funky Cold and Red Card in from Sparta, and we move to …
COT
Counting. Naming. Funky Cold with a strong takeout.
-Finito-
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Step up and Q Peak. If you didn’t get an email from Sensei with a boatload of dates going forward, let either one of us know.
SKIN
I mentioned Smokey nearly killing PAX on a Q at Skunk Works. We reminisced about the time Smokey was on Q at Peak and we did the supine pull-ups with our dear friend Sally. That was horrible. I mean, what we did today was no picnic, but, in a world of moral relativism, at least it wasn’t THAT bad.
Even though Tweetsie has gone Hollywood this weekend — no, really, he’s off again, this time to SoCal — I led us in the hillbilly in tribute. By the way, I’ve typed “hillybilly” several times in reference to that exercise.
He is betraying his Boone roots in a big way. Bet big on kale futures when he returns. Note, I’ve attended the Academy Awards, and I don’t have that problem. Mostly because attending that event reminded me in a big way that I am, in fact, from the upstate of South Carolina.
NCAA Tournament update: It’s halftime of Yale/LSU. Kenny Smith looks like he’s wearing a velvet suit jacket.
I should probably talk more about the people who were there today, as I’ve dedicated a lot of time to throwing Smokey and Tweetsie under the bus, and neither was there this morning.
NCAA Tournament update #2: Pizza Hut still sells P’Zones? According to this commercial, the answer is “yes.” Who knew?
It was a small, but solid group. We all lamented the AMRAP supines early in the workout because, well, we all got to a decent number. Ow.
Overall, I wanted to switch it up and do some stuff to help us with upper-body, but not neglect the rest either.
For anyone Qing Peak in the future, which, again, YOU SHOULD SIGN UP FOR A SLOT, feel free to shake it up and make it your own, whether it’s traveling to an underutilized spot in downtown Matthews, or bringing toys, or whatever. Remember: Moderate != Easy
Now I’m making SQL references. I think it’s time to get back to basketball.
Editor’s Note: Lois posting on behalf of Sensei
8 smart dudes took advantage of the cool-ish weather this morning and posted at Peak 51. It is March, so at best we have a few more weeks before the temps and/or humidity starts to rise. No FNGs, so the standard disclaimer was given and we took off and did the following …
Mosey around the front of FBC to the side parking lot.
Gather at the bottom of the church parking lot and partner up. P1 runs suicides to the other end of the lot, while P2 does called exercise.
Mosey 20 feet or so to the bottom of the paved hill behind the church for counting exercises:
11s on the hill, Merkins at bottom and Squats at top
Everybody on their 6 for Mary!
Longer mosey to the wall for some PC — 2 rounds, 50 air presses each
Mosey over to the bus parking lot for some AYG sprints … we got in 4 total
Head back to launch and time.
Moleskin and Observations:
That’s it, as always it is an honor to lead the good folks at Peak 51.
Tweetsie with the strong takeout.