Author Archive MoneyBall

Guest Q and Guest Backblast Writer

Growing up as a baseball player, YHC’s father always said, “Great play + bad throw = zero. Finish the play.”

Our QIC didn’t finish the play. I couldn’t let his great Q and the great work from the attending PAX turn into a zero! Time to finish the play with a backblast.

From memory-

Warm up lap to side of Dreamcatchers

SSH x 20?

Mtn Climbers x 20?

Some other standard warm-up exercise and we were off

The Thang:

Stop Signs and Burpees. We took a running lap through backside of Waxhaw. Those of us with intimate knowledge of the downtown area expected to meet one of our brave boys in blue as we were heading dangerously close to the sacred playground.

Not sure how many stop signs, but seemed like 8-10 with 3? burpees at each. We ran all through Waxhaw with this stop and burp cadence. Then headed to #keithjonghill for the real fun.

Goodfella found a large collection of boulders blessed by our resident Rock Rabbi, Frack himself. We partnered up grabbed a rock.

Round 1: Curls and Runs

Partner 1 did curls while Partner 2 scaled #keithjonghill to the stop sign and returned. I believe it was 150 curls per team

Round 2: Curl to Press

Partner 1 did curl to press while Partner 2 scaled #keithjonghill to stop sign and returned. 150 on this one as well (the Q probably knows)

Round 3: Triceps extension

Partner 1 did curl to press while Partner 2 scaled #keithjonghill to stop sign and returned. 150? Again, the Q most likely knows.

YHC most likely missed an entire segment of the workout in the above backblast, but #thefloater has a spotless backblast record (in spite of GF and Stubby’s best efforts) so we couldn’t let the streak end…not like this.

Moleskin

Great to have Goodfella come run the Floater for us. He did a great job, always comes up with a good workout, and really pushes us. We just need to have him be as motivated to write backblasts as he is to win AMRAPs and burpee challenges! 🙂

Announcements

Moving Shake and Bake to our area on Saturday- see Posse for more details

F3 vendor tent at Lawson- show up and show out. Maybe we can all do burpees or merkins in the Millhouse parking lot to show them what we got

F3 Saturday Family workout- 9ish 2 workouts. One semi-serious and another one a bit more fun and lower impact. Details being ironed out

Open Door Bible Study @7am at 5 Stones Office Sunday Morning

Thanks, Mad Dog for taking us out. Sincerest apologies if I missed any of you. I believe the number was 10…

Look Ma! Still No Hands!!!

I had a benign fatty growth removed from my shoulder 2 weeks ago. Pathology report and stitches out yesterday. I was back in business…or so I thought. Nurse who removed stitches said I should probably take another week without doing any push-ups (I refrained from asking her if she was familiar with merkins). Her logic was that it would be possible for the wound to pop open exposing a golf-ball sized hole in my shoulder. I went with her advice and modified the Q I signed up for 2 days prior. No upper body work would be performed. What do we do now?

Warm up:

Lap around the back of the school all the way to the rock area and large parking lot.

Disclaimer and apology (no upper body work). Frack would have left right then and there. Several probably wish they had.

SSH x 20

Squats x 20

Potato Pickers x 20

Old man stretch OYO

The Thang:

Though Posse was not in attendance, I’m certain he’ll be disappointed to learn no PRTs were included in the workout. If you don’t know what a PRT is, I’ll show you…in a week.

Light Pole Suicides – 3 sets of Abs and then from the speed bumps by the steps, run the first row of the parking lot. At each of the lights, do 5 exercises and run back. When back to base, do 5 more.

Round 1. Abs (IC): LBC x 25 / Pistol LBC x 20/ Pistol LBC x 20 – then Bobby Hurley’s (to send basketball out in style)

Round 2. Abs (IC): American Hammers x 25 / Bicycles x 25 / Flutters x 25 – then Squats, but this time run to far pole first and work backwards from there

Mosey to bridge. Walking lunge all the way across or Bear Crawl (Foundation Bear-crawled it in honor of Doughboy).

Head to half-wall. OYO 20 step-ups each leg

Beside the half wall, partner up. Partner 1 does squats while Partner 2 runs back across bridge, up the hill and touches the steps, and comes back. Many said it was ‘too far’. I agree. 300 total squats

Mosey back to stairs for calf raises

10 straight/10 out/ 10 in while going up the steps. Bottle cap cracked the code and decided to stay put on one step. Unlike Damascus, he does not look forward to breathing on other men’s necks!

Mosey back to home base for Circle Time. 3.25 miles covered and not a single merkin accomplished. Frack (both of them most likely) would be so disappointed.

Announcements: 

Opportunity to serve through Sandbox by simply mowing a family’s lawn- tractor provided. Signup Genius below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aMXRc6HSvFeawYvPVYh_ii0XtXhvw5j-sbgdDDU0_A8/edit#gid=0

Prayer Requests:

Carbon Copy having clavicle surgery today

One in our group’s wife was recently diagnosed with cancer. We don’t know who it is yet, but God does and we’ll ask His favor and healing on this precious M

 

Thanks, Damascus for taking us out. May God protect you and your family out in Vail. Just promise us no downhill skiing piggy back rides while you’re out there!

7

So…have you ever struggled naming a workout on a Backblast? I didn’t…At least not after this morning’s GroupMe explosion. It all started with an innocent question from BC- “So…what was up with the numbers this morning?” I should have never mentioned my little OCD deal with numbers and them being equally divisible. Needless to say, the 14 Gifs/Memes mocking my condition were an awesome way to start the day. Wife: “Are you laughing at your boys again?” Me: “Yep.” Wife: “Carry on.” Foundation started pushing my buttons towards the end though when he started in on Tennessee and their ineptitude. I came close to having to ask for the title of that book again, but luckily I had a gif from the movie Goodfellas to remind me…YHC digresses. Anywho, here’s today’s buttoned up, equally divisible workout – all in tidy little increments of 7:

Warm-up: Xerox (R) came in on two wheels with 7 seconds to spare. He quickly exited the vehicle and joined the mosey past Doughboy’s office and to the church parking lot.

  • SSH: 28
  • Merkins: 14
  • Mtn Climbers: 21
  • Cherry/Potato/Cotton Pickers: 21
  • Mosey to the “Half Goodfella Wall” for the first event.

The Thang:

  • 7 light poles down the street. At each light pole, do 7 burpees for a grand total of 49 burpees. We then Mary’d until 6 (should have called him the ‘Seven’) and then moseyed over to visit our most gracious and compassionate mascot, Keith Jong Hill.
  • Keith Jong Hill blessed us with, you guessed it, 7 light/power poles up his glorious mound. So…we ran to each pole, did 28 squats, and returned to the starting point. We did this until we reached the stop sign at the very top of KJH. The benevolence of our great leader knows no bounds. Upon the speediest of climbers finishing, we gathered the group and did a little Mary at the first stop-sign on KJH.
  • A little more running was needed as none of us had lactated yet (gotta keep up with the boys at Pursuit, after all!).
  • We took StubHub’s .4 loop and at each corner did 14 Merkins. Upon completing the loop and one final pass up Keith Jong Hill, we did a little Mary until the “Seven” made it in and staggered our way on to the Half Wall.
  • Grab some wall- 28 air presses in cadence, and 28 jabs in cadence. This took us to exactly 6:15, which is how it should always be. A 45 minute workout!

Moleskin:

Great effort by the group today. Keith Jong Hill is a tyrant and merciless. Don’t tell him I said that. Bottlecap led the charge, Foundation and Button were flying as well. The Clydesdales acquitted themselves quite nicely and the (R) crew had a great showing too. FNG Spitz and 2nd time visitor Cherry Picker seemed to enjoy our mascot as well. At least it sounded like that’s what they were muttering as we went up and down KJH.

Keep the pressure on, boys. EHs seem to work quite well in our group. We’re glad to have Spitz and Cherry Picker join the fold and trust the 1 and done days of Orville are long behind us!

Announcement:

Only 1- Open Door Bible Study at the Lawson Millhouse @ 7 Sunday morning. Discussing 4th Chapter of the Book of John. A guy named Jesus says some cool stuff. Check it and Him out. Pretty good dude.

Thanks, Mad Dog for taking us out.

 

Doodie, Doodie, DON’T TOUCH IT!!!

34 men touched cotton at The Floater.

Thursday, February 1st 5:25 am- Stomachs are churning, people are flop sweating, we all have chills. YHC and Bottlecap arrive at the Water Tower. We exit the car and notice an armada of vehicles and see men with headlamps running our direction. SOB had a case of the pre-runs.

Clearly they weren’t aware of the WUC boys’ ability to fully purge the bowels!

Introduction: Circle Up…Big circle. 34 pax. Disclaimer filed, notification of the Burpee Train tradition (is it a tradition if its never happened before?). And that was it.

Everybody assumed the position and we began.

Warmup IC:

Mosey past Doughboy’s office. Transporter wasn’t having that. Late in the workout, he  got jealous and decided to leave his ‘mark’ on the toilet there as well. #OfficeForTwo #SharedSpace #OpenConcept

Mtn Climber x 20

Peter Parker x 20

Merkins x 10

Squats x 20

Count 1/2/1/2 around the Bowl. Bottlecap took the #1’s and YHC took the #2’s. Let’s Mosey

Two Stations- The Half Wall (aka The Full Goodfella) and Station 2 “The Upper Decker”

Station 1 (The Full Goodfella)

Interval Work. #StrainAndBreathe 1 minute on/30 second recovery…because hemorrhoids suck and toilet paper is expensive.

Box Jumps 1:00

LBC :30

Derkins 1:00

Flutters :30

Left Leg Step Ups 1:00

American Hammer:30

Right Leg Step Ups 1:00

X’s:30

Irkins 1:00

Diamonds :30

Dips 1:00

Dolly :30

Station 2 (The Upper Decker)

At each ‘portico’ or deck, to the SOB’ers, do 30 exercises, and run over the rail bridge. On the top of the bridge, do 40 of the same. x2

First Exercise: Squats. 2nd exercise, Bobby Hurley’s. We flushed it once and then gave it a courtesy half-flush to end it. We then walked away. Also, Goodfella decided against cheek to seat and did half reps. Nobody was surprised.As it turns out, the #1’s couldn’t find toilet paper so instead of 40 of the exercises on top of the bridge, they waddled as if they had no toilet paper. Sorry, #2’s. we all walked away feeling dirty.

Groups mosey to Keith Jong Hill. Keith Jong Hill is named after our #respectaBALL pax Recalculating. He turned 50 here…once. We run the hill in his honor- time and again.

Oddly enough, the #2’s show up before the #1’s. This is a direct violation to nature’s design, but regardless, we MARY’d until they all made it down ‘main street’. It’s time for Keith Jong Hill. Yes, it is a hill. Yes, it is a nightmare. Here we go:

Keith Jong Hill- 300 each of Merkins and Squats

Partner up (preferably with somebody you’ve never met)

Partner 1 runs to bottom of hill towards the light (like a turd) and return. Partner 2 does merkins or squats. We need 300 of each, so you better push like you have a meeting in 5! Everybody gets to 300 of each and we jog back to the Water Tower. Great Success!

Moleskine/Mumblechatter combo (Mumblechatter here was too good not to call out):

  • Chocolate Delight: Hollywood lost his keys…before we ever worked out. We likened this for him reaching under the stall for a spare square of TP
  • Keyster Cakes: 4 headlamps from SOB showed up post-pre-run sooner than 4 car headlights from WUC showed up to workout
  • Craic Splitters: SOB boys surprised at the actual Crack sales taking place at Mary O’Neill’s
  • Brown Tears: Teller can talk. Those of us who know who Penn and Teller are cried and laughed… a LOT
  • Skidmarks Scrubbers: Wingman looking to push the Floater to 7, meanwhile YHC and Cheddar had problems counting to 7

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Scepter presentation to Thin Mint . . . Our #Mantan
  • Church on the Street:  First Sunday of every month.  Great opportunity to serve with M’s and 2.0’s.  Please reach out to Strawberry for more details
  • F3 Dads Camp in April:  Check #F3Dads channel on Slack or check with Frazier for more details
  • Bro-Lympics:  Feb 24th at Weddington High School.  Check with Tuck for more details.  Also, please remember that Frack will win the Bench Press again
  • Richard Sheltra Memorial 5k/10k on April 28th in Pineville

 

46…47…48…49…49…49…49…

The Setup: A charter member of the #ballpit (in fact, the proprietor of the #BALLS meme that started it all) had a long awaited BIG day today. After several previous attempts, Recalculating officially turned 50!!! Far be it from the goons of WUC to let such a joyous occasion pass without a little fun. They say a picture is worth a thousand words…How about 11 different pictures? With several NOT SERIOUS text exchanges and phone calls, the plot was hatched. With a TON of help from our resident PhotoShop Guru, Deflated, it all came together this morning at the last unofficial Floater workout.

The Pre-Workout: A collection of #ballpit members had a pre-run of sorts. By that, I mean we arrived at the AO 30 minutes early to run back and forth from my car to grab another sign and duct tape and apply it to the areas we were going to workout. As it turns out, Waxhaw’s finest post up next to the playground most of the night in order to catch riffraff attempting to vandalize or do the drugs down by the monkey bars. As soon as we’d been ID’d we walked over to the officer. Bottle Cap informed him we were “A part of a men’s workout group”. Luckily, he bought it. He told us the playground was closed from sunset to sunrise, but he’d let it slide this time so long as nobody called in complaints. We thanked him, hung some signs and got on to the next station. By 5:27 we made it back to the COT to take part in a healthy dose of laughs, smiles, and birthday well wishes to Recalculating. Oh, did I mention the Floater shovel flag was unveiled…? It’s got double the flags for double the fun!

The Thang: 5 decades of Recalculating. 5 Stations. 1 additional encounter with local law enforcement. Ready…Go

Station 1: The Warmup (all x10)

SSH, Mtn Climbers, Merkins, Potato Pickers, IW and Mosey to Station #2

Station 2: The Half Wall (both x20)

Box Jumps, Step Ups, and Derkins

Station 3: The Playground (both x 30)

Supposed to be Partner work. Pull-ups and Derkins – Station 3 was interrupted by the same kind police officer. He asked us to leave. Somebody called and complained. Probably Tuck or Goodfella over in Mill Bridge. We cleaned up our signs and moseyed on to Station 4.

Station 4: Railroad Bridge Loop (both x 40)

Dips and Bobby Hurley’s (Recalc’s favorite man and exercise)

At both of the bench areas, do 40 dips, run the loop and/or go over the bridge and do 40 dips at the other side. Then do the same with the BHs.

Mosey to Station 4.9. A little Mary at the LaundroMat. 49 American Hammers…the count might have actually been a little higher, but Foundation had trouble getting past 49…just like Recalculating has for the past couple years.

Station 4.9: Keith Jong Un Death Hill (Partner Up and run to bottom of hill)

Partners combine for 49 burpees. One partner runs to top of hill while other does burpees at the bottom. All under the watchful eye of the hill’s fearless leader Keith Jong Un.

Yet again, we got stuck on 49…it’s happened at least twice.

Two trips up and down the hill for both partner regardless of burpee count (so we did more than 49 burpees, several more…I’d say at least 49 or so).

Mosey back towards COT- found another half-wall. As a final show of respect to Keith Jong Un, we did People’s Chair and 49IC air presses to finish it off.

Circle Time:

It was a privilege to be a part of honoring the #ballfather himself this morning. He’s a great friend and someone many of us look up to (both in age and in character). Happy Birthday, Recalculating. So glad you’re with us. I don’t mean to speak for everybody, but I feel like you’re now worthy of a lot more #RESPECT!

Two FNGs came out this morning. The birthday boy brought his friend with the ironic last name ‘Young’ out today. Mr. Young is now affectionately known as ‘Button’ – as in Benjamin. The second FNG has been a long time coming and a testament to consistently inviting people. Transporter’s 3 year EH finally paid off! Mr. Brown was rendered ‘speechless’ at the end of the workout by how difficult it was. Because he was rendered mute, we named him ‘Teller’ – as in Penn &. Welcome to both of you. We’re thrilled to have you and hope you’ll come back often!

Announcements:

Thursday, February 1st at the Waxhaw Water Tower, The Floater is OFFICIALLY in water. This is the biggest site launch since Cabela’s opened last Friday in Waverly. Come on out for a good time!

AMRAP tomorrow at Impromptu. Come out and test yourself…or just do what the rest of us do and chase Goodfella.  He sets and breaks all the records we’ve ever had!

Collage of the many faces of Recalculating will be posted on Slack for reference. Have a great day, Gents!

 

1,000 Reasons

From shorts and short sleeves on Friday to frozen tundra on Monday, this winter has been a wild ride. 14 men braved the cold and set off on an “ab”normal workout with YHC at the helm.

Warmup:

2 parking lot laps – added an extra lap to give Jingles time to come in hot on two wheels but to no avail

20 SSH

20 Imperial Walkers

20 Mountain Climbers

The Thang:

Mosey to the rock pile past Transporter’s office for some 21s.

Bicep curls half way up x 7, half way down x 7, and full curl x 7 = 21

We did 3 sets of 21s and added in 3 sets of shoulder presses for good measure. Might not have been the best idea. Rocks were a little cold for some (BC). Not for YHC, however, as I was forced to wear ski mittens due to an unfortunate run in with a kitchen utensil the night before. Fingers were nice and warm…at least the 9 I have remaining.

Moseyed over to and up the steps for a little ab work. YHC told the pax we were going to 1,000 ab exercises. Ice 9 thought it excessive, but regardless, a plan is a plan and YHC was sticking to it!

Partner up. First partner runs lap down the sidewalk and up the stairs while other partner does ab exercise.

LBC x 200

American Hammer x 200

Freddy Mercury x 200

Flutter x 200

Rosalita x 100

Box Cutter x 100

Limited mumble chatter and lots of grunting, so I guess it worked! After we got to 1,000 we moseyed back to Transporter’s office for a standard burpee return to the barn.

At each light pole do 3 burpees all the way to the parking lot. Upon completion, circle back and finish with the 6. NO MAN LEFT BEHIND. The pax powered through it and best I could tell, there were only 1.5-2 light poles separating the entire group. Awesome effort.

We got to the parking lot and had time for one healthy suicide. Four touch points the length of the parking lot. Banged that out right as Goodfella’s watch alarm sounded. That was it.

Announcements: 

Incredible sadness to learn of a brother (Gremlin) passing away during a workout. Lift his family up in prayer and also the brothers who were with him that day. Thin Mint says he’ll keep us posted if there’s anything we can do to serve.

Convergence at Cerberus this Friday. Waverly shopping center at Viva Chicken

Welcome FNG Table Slam. From Buffalo and a Bills fan. If you aren’t familiar with the Bills Mafia, look them up (at your own discretion). Table Slam crushed it today. Great job and welcome!