Author Archive Puddin Pop

Crazy Little Thing Called Rain

Posted on behalf of Queen…
A little rain that was never stopped, but did let up some, didn’t keep 4 esteemed fine young gentleman from posting at Hydra this morning. Okay, we may not be that young in age, but if you’re willing to post in the rain, you’ve earned that label. Here’s how it went….
SSH X 30
Imp Walker X 25
Low Slow Squat X 15
Mountain Climber X 20
Mosey over to the playground and partner up.
1) Partner One does Merkins, Partner Two runs to Rea Rd and back. Continue until 200 Merkins are accomplished
2) Partner One does Pull ups, Partern Two runds to Rea Rd and back. Continue until 100 pull ups
Avoid puddle while running over to the benches near the baseball fields
12 stepups, 12 dips, 12 Carolina Dry Docks (repeat twice)
Jog it to the football field
Karaoke 100 yards, then turn around and Karaoke back
Lunge walk 50 yards then run 50 (repeat)
1) Partner One runs 100 yards and back, partner Two does air squats (repeat)
Mosey over to a baseball field
1) Partner One does LBC’s, Partner Two runs to fence and back (repeat)
2) Partner One does burpees, Partner Two runs to the fence and back (repeat)
3) Partner One does diamond Merkins, Partner two runs to the fence and back (repeat)
Go the the wall
30 second wall sit, 25 shoulder presses
To the basketball court
15 wide arm Merkins
Lay on stomach then run at full speed back to the starting point
15 Freddie Mercury’s
15 Rosalita
15 twists
Moleskin:
Solid perfermance by everyone. I didn’t feel like anybody was sandbagging and most importantly no one got hurt. I don’t know what the name of the “lay on the stomach then run at full speed is”, but last time we did it, I remember Good Hands running the first 40 yards in like 4.5 seconds, so I referred to is as the “Good Hands Special”. He held back a little today with the wet surface, but last time he would have impressed the Carolina Panthers Scouts. That was my first time ever posting in the rain, so I can’t really criticize the gentleman that decided to bail: Tackling Dummy, Brush back, Frosty Paws (I guess the paws can get frosty, but they can’t get wet?). Thanks for Puddin Pop for giving me the opportunity to que.
Announcements:
Memorial Day Monday convergence

The Four Horsemen

Tweeted out last night that it’s been a hot minute since my last post at a Saturday workout, but was more than willing to oblige Gummy on his request for Q this AM.  After getting some ground rules at The Rock from Gummy this week (i.e. make it tough, but not too tough, guys don’t like burpees or exercises to failure, don’t use steep entrance on Rea, etc.), I was ready to go.  The three other Horsemen showed up for the Main Event and off we went.

Under Card

SSH x 20

IW x 20

Squat Hold x 7?

Mtn Climber x 20

 

Main Event

Mosey to bottom of North Face, instructions for 7’s

Squat Jumps at bottom

Merkins at top

 

Mosey over to covered concession area…nah, there’s a dude setting up concessions for the sporting events of the day at Calvary, mosey to picnic tables under trees for circuit work.

Dips x 30

Jump/step ups x 20

Derkins x 10

Repeato x 3

 

Mosey to bottom of lil’ hill by futbol fields for more 7’s

LBC at bottom

Carolina Dry Dock at top

 

Mosey to rocks by the baseball field, pick a lifting rock and partner up

P1 does rock exercise

P2 run to second light pole and back

Flapjack until 200 combined reps are reached

Round 1 – Curls

Round 2 – Tricep Extentions (can’t go to the gun show without backstage passes)

Round 3 – Two hand push press

 

Put rocks back, mosey to outfield of baseball field, wave friendly hello to Day Zero pax who were buzzing the tower.

Stay with partner for more combined exercises to 200

P1 does excercise

P2 run to foul pole and back

Round 1 – Dolly

Round 2 – Flutter

Round 3 – LBC

 

Mosey to light pole closer to cars, empty tank whatever might be left for Gassers

Sprint to next light pole x 3

 

3+ miles, most of the body smoked, done

 

Random Thoughts

North Face is just really stupid.  Decided to start with it because A) I had to include it in the weinke, but B) needed to get it in first because I would’ve died if it was tried any other time during the workout.  Some of the pax actually started to bear crawl toward the top, the thing is just a mother.

If I had to describe the Pax as the Horsemen, I’d have to describe it as:  Jamboree is Flair, definitely not because of inflated persona, but he was always out front; Hammer is Tully, not a lot of talking, but just lets his work speak for itself; Geraldo and me are Arn and Ole, the two enforcers keeping everyone in line.

The Day Zero boys did radio in for permission to buzz the tower, were subsequently told that the pattern is full, but did their circus stunt flyby anyway.  Did anyone do anything with the Admiral’s daughter too??

Gummy/Hopper, thanks for the opportunity at this massive AO, always a pleasure.

Jamboree, thanks for taking us out brother.

 

Announcements:

F3 Dads with 2.0s at Knights Game

F3 Dads Camp

It’s all on the site

 

This isn’t FastTwitch?!?

Posted on behalf of Ironsides

 

11 men took the #DRP and showed up for another glorious morning at #Hydra. No new faces, so a quick disclaimer and off we went.

Warmup:

Mosey from AO to Windyrush and Knightswood and circle up for COP

SSH x 15 (Q cadence fail)

IW x 15

Mtn Climber x 15

Merkins x 15

The Thang:

Run .6 miles down Windyrush, stopping for 10 merkins at each speed hump (4), and 10 jump squats at each intersection (4)

Partner up for a triple-nickel of sorts around the Windrush/Abbotswood .4 mile circle:

Partners run opposite directions, meet for 10 hand-slap merkins, then return to the start for 5 jump squats. Flapjack, this time 9 merkins, 6 jump squats. Continue to 5 merkins and 10 jump squats (6 total circuits). After a little mumble chatter (and a check of the watch) Q audibled to 4 circuits.

Run back up to the AO via Summerlin, again stopping at every speed hump (3) for 10 merkins and intersection (4) for 10 jump squats. Hey at least it wasn’t burpees.

With a little time left and the useful arm muscles thoroughly worked, it was time to work the vanity muscles. Mosey to the playground for pullups (or in my case, that thing I call pullups). One set to failure, short rest, and another set to failure.

Mosey back to AO for 6 MOM:

Flutters

Rosalitas

Protractor

LBC

DONE

Moleskine:

Great work by everyone. A total of 3.3 miles were covered with 130+ merkins and 100+ jump squats. It was a little more running than normal for Hydra but you’re a better man for having done it. Good to have Slice out as a site FNG. Keep coming out, and check out Fast Twitch on Tuesdays if you’re interested in a little more running and BRR information.

Thanks to Puddin’ Pop for another opportunity lead a great group of men, as well as for the takeout.

Hydra Halfpipe

Posted on behalf of Marge

3 of South Charlotte’s Finest plus Hairball showed up for this week’s version of Hydra despite heavy overnight rain.  My weather channel app read 80+% chance of rain for this morning all week but alas, the sky cleared up just in time for 5:30 am.

 

All veteran crew (and no site Q’s) so very short disclaimer was given.

 

Mosey to Harris Teeter and circle up (actually square up) in the far parking lot on the other side of the Teet right off of Colony Rd.

 

Warm Up

  • SSH x 20
  • IW x 20
  • LSS x 20

 

Enough of that.  Mosey down Colony Rd. to Abbotswood Dr.  Stop for 10 pushups (yes, I accidentally called them pushups… Q Fail) halfway down Colony.

 

Right on Abbotswood to the top of the halfpipe

 

11’s on the halfpipe – Freddy Mercuries on one side, Carolina Dry Docks on the other.  5 jump squats at the Abbotswood/Summerlin intersection each time you go through the bottom of the halfpipe.

 

Slow mosey up Summerlin back towards the AO.

 

Just enough time to mosey to the church to find a lifting rock.  3-4 sets of 20 curls, 20 presses and 20 tricep extensions.

 

Back to AO for Mary

  • Dolly x 20
  • Russian Twists x 20
  • Rosalita x 20

 

Done

 

Moleskin

 

Great group this morning.  After seeing the forecast, my goal was to keep us on solid ground (pavement) and to try to get in at least 3 miles.  Mission Accomplished.  The 11’s on the Halfpipe sucked bad.  The pax did great staying together (thanks to Hairball for slowing down) and I felt like we got some good work in on arms, legs and core.

 

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

 

Angry Starfish

Carried the substi-Q this week as Gummy continues to rehab a bum foot.  Was a little weary of this one as a certain basketball game tips at 9pm (actually like 9:12), and a shortened slumber turned even shorter as YHC had trouble sleeping, being heavily perturbed with that pathetic final four minutes of the game.

Anywho, I digress, three other men decided to join me in this cold clear sky gloom to slay the starfish.

COP

SSH x 20

IW x 20

MC x 20

Squat hold (Eddie the Eagle) x 5

Here’s the Thing

Starfish

Corner 1 (far corner of practice field by parking lot) – Dive bomber merkins x 10

Corner 2 (outfield fence post of baseball field right by bball court) – Jump squats x 20

Corner 3 (railroad ties by batting cages of field 4) – merkins of choice x 20

Corner 4 (outfield fence by field 5) –  jumping sister mary katherines x 10

Home base (playground) – Dips x30

Covered two rounds of this, swapping dips for pull-ups x 5 (supine x 10) after first round

Changed up exercises after second round to:

Corner 1 – LBC x 30

Corner 2 – Dolly x 30

Corner 3 – Flutter x 30

Corner 4 – Rosalita x 30

Made it around 1.75 times during this circuit

Hit the practice field for AYG down and back

done

Thoughts/Observations

I’m not going to say anything more about the game…I’m just not.  Other than it was pathetic.  Let’s keep it G rated.

Anyway, I had plans for some three man grinders, but with four, had to audible and the starfish it was.  We ended up covering some ground as Buttermaker’s handy dandy GPS had us at 2.6…not too shabby.

Buttermaker and Marge were pacesetters as you would imagine, and Nuke was killing it on the pull-ups.

Nuke also has pretty good case for renaming a squat hold to Eddie the Eagle, as you look like a ski jumper in a tucked position in squat, and then explode up out of it upon take off.

Great group out there this morning hanging together, pushing one another.

Nuke, thanks as well for taking us out, brother.

Until next time, after some really good REM.

We Are The Champions

9 brave, esteemed gentlemen showed up and posted on a brisk, 18 degree morning.
Thang:
SSH X 25
IW X 25
Mountain Climbers X 25
Off to the pull up bars, at  your own pace, 50 pull ups and three runs to Rea Rd and back
To the bleachers, ladder of 9’s for quantitative squats and dips
To the football field for 100 yards or Karaoke and 100 yards back. 50 yards of walking lunges and 50 yards of backwards lunges. Then the Merkin ladder of 16 Merkins, 50 yard run, 15 Merkins, 50 yard run, etc down to 1
Back to the bleachers for ladder of 9’s with Carolina Dry Docks and dips

Over to the front practice field for partner relays of 40 yard runs
Back to the parking lot for Mary of Freddie Mercury (my name sake, had to do it), LBC’s, protractor, and the Russian/Mason twist (American Hammer)
 Moleskin:
Man, that was cold. Kudos to all that showed up, especially Seville making his first appearance at Hydra. Good work by all, Jamboree unleashed an impressive display of strength and speed with the pull-up run. A couple of us there had been called out for form on the squats that’s why I made those quantitative (butt has to touch the bench). Speaking of butt, someone to my left ripped on during Mary. It wasn’t as loud as I’d prefer. If you’re going to rip on, make the pavement rattle. Again, good work to all. Thanks for Puddin Pop and Good Hands for the opportunity to Q.

7’s and a Pyramid at Hydra

Posted on behalf of Marge…great VQ brother.

18 pax decided to take advantage of the warmer morning temps (~30ish degrees) for the first Hydra of 2016. Great too see this many folks here. Clock struck 5:30 am and off we went.

 

Warm-Up

Lap around the small track next to the parking lot. High Knees, Butt Kickers and Regular.

Mosey to the field behind the parking lot for COP

Short disclaimer given as this was a veteran crew

SSH x 20

IW x 20

Low slow squats x 10

 

Thang

 

Mosey down Rea Rd in front of school to the top of Windyrush.  

 

Stop at each street light for 5 merkins on the way down Windyrush to intersection at Foxworth.  

7’s with Merkins at top and jump squats/squats at bottom (I saw folks doing both).

Plank until Pax finishes

 

Mosey through the dark path in the woods to the baseball field between playground and concession area. (Thankful I bought a headlamp yesterday)  

 

Gather in center field for Pyramid of Pain

5 Burpees, lap –  to 3rd base – home plate – 1st base – back to center

5 Burpees, 10 Hand Release Merkins, lap

5 Burpees, 10 Hand Release Merkins,15 jump squats, lap

5 Burpees, 10 Hand Release Merkins, 15 jump squats, 20 Carolina Dry Docks, lap

5 Burpees, 10 Hand Release Merkins, 15 jump squats, 20 Carolina Dry Docks, 25 Little Baby Crunches, lap

5 Burpees, 10 Hand Release Merkins, 15 jump squats, 20 Carolina Dry Docks, lap

5 Burpees, 10 Hand Release Merkins, 15 jump squats, lap

5 Burpees, 10 Hand Release Merkins, lap

5 Burpees, lap

Flutie Flakes and Hairball led the group in Flutter while Pax finished.

 

Mosey over to the school for one round of People’s Chair with 50 civilian count air presses.

 

Mosey back to the parking lot

 

Mary

Rosalita x 20

Dolly x 20

 

NMM

 

Great job out there by all today.  I tried to keep the pax together but wanted to get in some extra running to burn some holiday calories. Several pax ran in to OP this morning (someone said maybe I should be offended that they would run in to my Q as if they weren’t expecting a tough workout from a VQ) so they got even more running in than most.

 

Solid work on the 7’s at Foxworth. I saw several pax pushing it and I think we finished them in 10 minutes or so. Spackler finished early enough to go water the bushes on one of the corners of Windyrush & Foxworth. Hairball noticed a deadspot in the yard. Maybe that’s Spackler’s favorite spot.

The Pyramid really sucked. I think the worst part was the 70 Hand Release Merkins. Burpees always suck too. Everyone finished the Pyramid within 1-2 minutes of each other.

 

I’m glad I got to pop my VQ cherry at Hydra. It was my first post back on December 11, 2014. Thanks to Hairball for introducing me to F3. I knew after that first day that I was hooked on F3. It’s definitely improved my fitness, provided extra accountability for workouts that I didn’t have before and made me an all-around better Husband/Father/etc. I also always remember 12/11/2014 and that first Hydra workout because as I walked back into the house that day, my wife was waiting on me to tell me she was pregnant with our second child (who is now 4 months old). So lots of good memories from that first Hydra post.

 

Thanks to Good Hands and Puddin Pop for letting me lead this group today.

 

Announcements:

 

Joe Davis run this Saturday. 5k and 10k options. Not too late to sign up. (https://joedavisrun.racesonline.com/)

For those not participating in the Joe Davis run – Ascent, Day Zero and Meathead are converging at the Rock this Satuday. Normal time. 7 am.

Kevlar re-launch tomorrow.

The H8tful 8

As the most recent Tarantino gem has come out, another eight pistoleros decided to escape the fartsack for another installment of Hydra.  As YHC tweeted out last night, the right shoulder is tweaked, so staying in an upright position was pretty heavily evident in the weinke.  Veteran crew out there today, but disclaimer given anyway (especially with Chico the attorney in the house).

Line up behind me for Indian Run to far parking lot next to Harris Teeter (+/- .75 miles).

Circle up for COP:

SSH

IW

LSS

Mtn. Climber

Thang

Go to one side of parking lot, line up behind me and zig-zag touching far points of parking spaces down and back.

Mosey to one side of office building for wall sits, arms out, arms up; repeato

Mosey down Colony Road, hang a right on Abbottswood, continue to top of one side of half pipe.

Instructions given for 11’s from one side of half pipe, down to center intersection, up the other side (approx 100 yards from one end to other)

Dollys at one end

Jump Squats in the middle

Flutters at other end

Mosey back up Summerlin hill, left on Rea, back to OP lot for Mary

Rosalita

LBC x 50 oyo

Protractor

Russian Twist

done

BOM

 

Observations:

Taking three weeks off for a bum shoulder can take the shape right out of you, the pauses in the runs was for YHC for sure.

11’s suck out loud, thought the half pipe version would be cool; nah, not so much.

Rachel and Chico were Larry Birds for sure on 11s and back to lot, but as I was the 6 today, everyone was working real hard.

Happy New Year to all, thanks for the opportunity to lead such strong group of men.

 

Announcements:

Congrats to Daisy and his M; proud parents of a baby girl Hadley Kate Terrell born on Boxing Day (12/26)

Chico is looking for a final member of a 9 man Palmetto 200 team; see him for details

Shuffle Up and Deal

Posted on behalf of Ironsides

 

Three (3), just 3 men were man enough to brave the wet weather to get dealt a deck of pain at Hydra.

At 5:30 the rain had slowed so short disclaimer and we started off with a lap around the school.  We began to mosey to the concession area but called an audible upon seeing the puddles in the way and the lack of light YHC needed for the day’s selected routine.

The three of us sought shelter in OP’s dropoff area and YHC explained the proceedings of the day: The Deck of Death.

Card value was the number of reps, with Ace being high (14), and the suits were:

Hearts – Jump Squats

Diamonds – Merkins

Spades – Carolina Dry Docks

Clubs – Imperial Walkers

2 Jokers – 10 burpees each

Once done we had completed 104 reps of each exercise plus 20 burpees.

When I posted at Myrtle we did the DoD and didn’t make it through the whole deck in 45 minutes.  At Hydra we did the whole deck in about 25 minutes.  Oops.  Time to improvise.  The rain had stopped, so let’s do another lap around the school.  Naturally here comes the rain.

After the lap back to our shelter for Mary.  At Iron Horse’s suggestion, we used the cards again, this time assigning the suits as follows:

Hearts – Heels to Heaven

Diamonds – Flutters

Spades – Freddie Mercury

Clubs – LBCs (the IW of Mary)

We made it through 31 cards for a total of 41 Heels to Heaven, 65 Flutters, 72 FM, and 72 LBCs, plus one 10-burpee Joker to finish on.

NMM: The DoD is a workout that feels relatively benign at the start but gets increasingly more difficult as you work your way through the deck. The PAX (and YHC) were beginning to wonder what happened to all of the 2s, 3s, and 4s; it seemed like every card coming was a face card!

Thanks to Iron Horse for the take-out. Thanks to Puddin Pop for the chance to lead again.

No major announcements, just Joe Davis 10K on Jan 9.  Also check Twitter for updates on possible convergences next week.

That is all.

 

Full Body Beatdown

Posted on behalf of Queen…

 

9 fine gentlemen posted on a dark damp morning. I heard Semi-gloss mutter someting about not wanting to run a lot, so I sub’d in a bunch of Merkins instead. Any complaints on the number of Merkins can be directed his way 😉
Here is what we did:

 

Warm up:

SSH, IW

 

Head to the football field for a couple of sets of Karaoke, then sets of Merkins Ladder (20,19,18, etc with 50 yard runs in between). Good Hands, without the benefit of a calculator, let us know the Merkin count with that is 210.

Two sets of step ups x 20/dips x 15

Partner up for air squats/pullups while the other partner runs around the school (no cutting through the grass today, too damp and that’s just not how One-Eye rolls)

Plank up

Two sets of walking lunges +/- 50 yards each way

 

To the church across the street, partner back up. Partner 1: lift, Partner 2: run to the Salvation Army Donation Center and back. Lifts were press, squat, and bi curl.

 

Good work gentlemen. Lots of effort and very little complaining. Thanks to Puddin Pop and Good Hands for giving me an opportunity to Q.

Semi-Gloss, thanks for taking us out.

 

Announcements:

Turkey Bowl, get on a team if other people like you.

Veterans Day convergence this coming Wednesday…DV and Maul converge at Anvil.