Author Archive Soft Pretzel

Foxhole

11 strong came out to get stronger at Foxhole.  Cold, rainy, Monday morning… yuck.  But nothing good comes without sacrifice… so here we go.

The Thang:

Circle up for warm-up with: 20 SSH, 20 slow squats, 15 Peter Parker merkins (all IC).

Divide into 4 groups for a “4 Corners” style rotation.  About a minute at each station then haul your bell to the next station. Did two rotations.  Called exercises were: two-hand swings, shoulder presses, squats, rows, one leg deadlifts, upright rows, KB merkins, high pulls.

Mosey over to jungle gym and divide into 3 groups.  Rotate through stations for pull-ups, man-ups, and overhead KB presses.

Back to the parking lot.  Lunge walk to the first speed bump, run to the second.  Then 10 KB burpees IC (8 count).

Mosey to “the faculty lounge” (covered area at the front of the school) for Mary. Partner up for weighted sit-ups, then P1 runs lap while P2 does dolly press, flapjack and repeat with flutter and LBCs.

Finish with a lot of plank rows and KB merkins.

Moleskine: Great to see the PAX this morning.  YHC definitely needed the extra motivation that only F3 can provide!  Introduced the man-ups after getting introduced at Indian Land workout (#Arsenal).  This is a great exercise… seems simple but really puts you to the test.

Thanks to Mic Check for taking us out.

Announcements: Mud Run sign ups almost over!  Get signed up this week.

Stonehenge

Temps were a little warmer and the PAX were in a chipper mood.  Time for a classic beatdown at the Henge.  Here’s what we did.

The Thang:

Mosey to parking lot for warm-up:  25 SSH, 20 IW, 15 merkins, and 20 mountain climbers (All IC).

Down to the lake for Ladders and Chutes.  Ladder #1 = squats and decline merkins (11’s) and a lap around the lake.  Ladder #2 = step ups and dips (11’s) and a lap.

Mosey down to the exercise trail and… AUDIBLE!!!… it was covered in ice.  So continue on and do something different for upper body work (made up on the fly).

Partner up.  P1 CDDs while P2 bear crawls across the lot and back.  Flapjack.  Then P1 does merkins while P2 crab-walks across and back.

Mosey across the street for some hill work.  P1 runs up and down 3X while P2 does dollies.  Then flapjack and repeat with flutters and finally LBCs.

AYG to the over pass and 3X people’s chair.  (Regular, arm raises, arms out front)

Long mosey down to the soccer fields.  (Note: had we tried the garage, that security guard was waiting for us again.  Best to stay out of there for  while.)

Circle up for a ladder up burpees with Mary in between.  5, 10, 15, 10, 5 X burpees alternating with heels to heaven, dying cockroach, LBC, peter parkers.

Mosey home and do some merkins to wait for the 6.

Moleskine: Mumblechatter was high throughout.  Great group of guys and a real pleasure to lead.  It’s only going to get better boys, this winter is on it’s last legs!

Announcements: Be on the lookout for some new 3rd F coming to Ballantine.  Will probably be Tuesdays following Bagpipe at Einstein Bagels.  Hops is looking for 2 men to lead – please reach out to him if you’re interested.

The Brave – Friction Creates Warmth

With the temps hovering around 10 degrees this morning, what better time to max out the misery index by introducing hairburners to The Brave!

The Thang:

Run to closest parking deck for warmup: run to the top and on the way down, 20 SSH and 15 IW at level 3, 15 merkins and 20 squats at level 2, 20 mountain climbers and 10 burpees at level 1.  Continue down to the basement.

Set one: “People’s Monkey Balls to the Wall.” (Stole the name from Bratwurst… Dromedary favorite) 30 seconds of people’s chair, 30 sec of donkey kicks, 30 sec of balls to the wall.  Repeat 3X then run to the top of the deck and back.

Set two: Divide the length of the basement into thirds. 1/3 = lunge walk, 1/3 bear crawl, 1/3 broad jumps.  Down and back.

Run ~1 mile to parking lot for hairburners.  Partner up.  P1 run up and down the side hill 5x.  P2 does hairburners across parking lot (note: nice slope on the parking lot as well). Flap jack.  Rinse and repeat.

Run back to launch point and finish up with alternating burpees and Mary until time expires.

Moleskine:

At The Brave, we’re always looking for ways to make running harder.  One of the best ways to improve your time in a mud run is to practice coming out of a tough pain station or obstacle, and continuing to run at a good tempo.  The sets we did in the parking garage were tough, and as we all know, hairburners are as bad as it gets.  If you can keep running after stuff like that, you’re ready!

Thanks to MT for bringing the plates, stashing them and coming up with a good format.  I thought it worked well but also think we could do an entire Brave workout one day around hairburners.  Food for thought.

Announcements: Sparten Race is day after Mud Run.  Several guys looking for others to ride with.

Bagpipe Pre-Blast: Bagpipe is a “Go”

Sons of Ballantyne,

With the inclement weather approaching, wanted to let everyone know that Bagpipe is on as scheduled for tomorrow so that anyone who doesn’t mind a little ice can still get their beatdown.  With that being said, we encourage everyone to use good judgement when it comes to travel.  A couple of our leaders, namely Outback and Haggis, live really close to the AO and have bravely volunteered to be there.  POP is on Q but will be checking road conditions in the morning, as will I.  Be smart if you think the roads where you are will be bad.

Aye!

Foxhole

13 strong posted at Foxhole this morning to enjoy some kettlebells and what may turn out to be the best weather of the week.  Here is what we did.

The Thang:

Warm up lap and circle up for 20 SSH, 15 slow squats, 10 merkins and 20 mountain climbers (all IC).

Mosey to pull-up bars for 1st set of exercises.  5 pull-ups, 10 overhead presses, 15 two hand swings.  Repeat 5 times and run a lap around parking lot.  Plank when finished.

2nd set: 5 burpees, 10 KB squats, 15 curls.  Repeat 5 times with a lap and plank when done.

Mosey back to the parking lot and get in groups of 3.  Partner 1 does weighted sit-ups w/ P2 holding feet in a plank position.  P3 carries 2 KBs and runs to second speed bump and back (~50 yds).  Switch up every time the runner gets back and repeat until Q calls time.  Think we did this about 10 minutes.

Finish with Set 3: 5 2 hand KB merkins, 10 dying cockroaches w/ bell, 15 deadlifts.  Lap and plank.

Moleskin: Plenty of mumblechatter to start things off today but it fell off a cliff when we started alternating the swings, pullups, etc.  Hearty to welcome to our brothers from Indian Land: One Niner and Pebbles.  These guys were smoking it throughout.  Great to have you out pushing all of us.

Great to see everyone out this morning and always a pleasure to lead.

Announcements: They’ll be doing The Murph this Saturday at Indian Land Middle.  Check web site for schedules at all the Indian Land AOs.  They have built out a nice set of workouts – good opportunity for AREA 51 PAX to mix it up a little.

The Bag Pipe 600

19 strong men unknowingly set out to complete 600 hundred reps and 6 laps around the pond.  8 Swifter’s took a different and perhaps wiser path.

First disclaimer given – check

The Thang:

Mosey to the closest pond and set up four pain stations at each end of the pond.  The challenge was to run around the pond to each pain station and complete 5 exercises and 100 reps for each completed lap.  Each lap went down something like this:

First Lap – Warm up (100 reps and one lap)

  • 1st station 30 side straddle hops then run to station 2
  • 2nd station 20 imperial walkers then run to station 3
  • 3rd station 15 merkins then run to station 4
  • 4th station 5 burpees then run to station 1
  • 1st station 30 x side straddle hops

Second Lap – Legs: (100 reps and one lap)

  • 1st station 30 step ups (15 each leg) then run to station 2
  • 2nd station 20 sit to stand then run to station 3
  • 3rd station 15 jump squats then run to station 4
  • 4th station 5 burpees then run to station 1
  • 1st station 30 step ups (15 each leg)
  • Hold peoples chair and then a 10 count

Third Lap – Chest: (100 reps and one lap)

  • 1st station 30 merkins then run to station 2
  • 2nd station 20 wide arm merkins then run to station 3
  • 3rd station 15 diamond merkins then run to station 4
  • 4th station 5 burpees then run to station 1
  • 1st station 30 merkins
  • Hold peoples chair and then a 10 count

Forth Lap – Triceps and Shoulders: (100 reps and one lap)

  • 1st station 30 dips then run to station 2
  • 2nd station 20 Carolina dry docks then run to station 3
  • 3rd station 10 derkins then run to station 4
  • 4th station 5 burpees then run to station 1
  • 1st station 30 dips
  • Hold peoples chair and then a 10 count

Fifth Lap Abs: (100 reps and one lap)

  • 1st station 30 lbcs then run to station 2
  • 2nd station 20 suite case crunch then run to station 3
  • 3rd station 15 Jay-Lo each side (thanks for clarify what a Jay-Lo was Chippy) then run to station 4
  • 4th station 5 burpees then run to station 1
  • 1st station 30 lbcs
  • Hold peoples chair and then a 10 count

Six Lap: Warm down: (100 reps and one lap)

  1. 1st station 20 lbcs then run to station 2
  2. 2nd station 20 flutters then run to station 3
  3. 3rd station 20 Rosalita’s
  4. 3rd station 20 Dolly’s
  5. 3rd station 20 merkins
  6. Run back to station 1 to complete the lap and the mosey back to the AO

Arrived back at the AO a few minutes early so we cranked out as many lbcs as we could before time run out.

Thanks to all of the PAX for giving it your all today and setting a solid standard in the short 45 minutes we had.

Announcements

  • Thanks to all that participated and supported the Joe Davis Run last Saturday
  • Sign-up for the Spring Mud to start soon. Please start thinking about your teams
  • Fight Club workout to begin this Saturday at the Vine Restaurant at 8am

Foxhole

7 brave men escaped the fartsack for kettlebell work at Foxhole.  Here’s what we did.

The Thang:

warm up lap and circle up.  20 SSH, 20 IW, 15 merkins, 20 slow squats (all IC)

Partner up.  Set 1: P1 carries both bells to light poll and back (~50 yards) while P2 does merkins.  Repeat until 100 merkins combined.  Set 2: P1 sprints to light poll and back while P2 does 2 hand swings.  Repeat until 100 swings combined.

Back to circle.  Alternate kettlebell burpees with the called exercise. Ladder of KB burpees – starting at 1, up to 6, back down.  Called exercises as follows:

bent over rows x 15 each side, curls x 15, squats x 20, upright rows x 20, tricep extensions x 15.  Repeato.

Mosey over to covered entrance of the Elementary school for Mary.  (Note: don’t think we have ever used this space before and it was a nice way to stay dry.)  Around the circle for PAX choice Mary: LBCs x 20, flutter x 20, heels to heaven x 20, dolly x 20, russian twist x 15, full sit-up x 10.  (Threw in 20 2 hand swings in the middle of the Mary just to mix it up.)

Time left so circle back up for: 20 high pulls, 20 one hand KB merkins, 10 clean and press (one hand) and 15 squat and press (2 hand).

Moleskin: Tough morning to escape the fartsack.  Cold, wet, couple days before Christmas, etc.  Really appreciate the guys who made it out to push each other and get a strong workout in.

No new announcements but check the we site and e-mail for info on convergences, movie night, and Joe Davis Run.

The Maul

15 hearty souls arrived at The Maul this morning for a healthy beatdown.  Here’s what we did.

The thang:

Mosey to center parking lot for warm up: 20 SSH, 15 merkins, 20 mountain climbers, 20 slow squats.  (All IC)

Mosey to fountains for: 15 derkins IC, set of 11’s – dips + step ups, 1 lap around both buildings, 15 derkins IC, 10 burpees OYO.

Back to parking lot and get in groups of three.  Line up ~20 yds across from one another.  For every group, one man bear crawls from one side to the other, and the group relays back and forth while the two on the outside do dollies and LBCs.  Keep going for 5 min.  This was somewhat challenging but not terrible.  Good for the abs and core.  10 burpees OYO.

Mosey to back hill behind movie theater.  Nice and steep.  Set of 11’s with donkey kicks at the bottom and merkins at the top.  Judging by the reactions of the PAX, this was the low point of several peoples’ week… and a borderline bad idea.

Parking lot of Mary: 15 Russian Twists, 20 flutters, 15 heels to heaven, protractor.

Finish with another hill exercise.  In groups of three, take turns running up and down while the 2 waiting do “in and out” merkins, i.e. one regular, one wide, one regular, one narrow, one regular, etc.

Announcements:

Convergences in Area 51: next Wednesday 12/24 at Anvil and Wednesday 12/31 at the Maul

Movie Night: “Unbroken” January 10 at Stonecrest.  Details on weekly e-mail with link.

Moleskin: For YHC, my first time back at The Maul since Dromedary started a few weeks back.  Wanted to deliver an old-fashioned beatdown to honor the site where so many great ones have been handed down. Thanks to MT and the PAX for the opportunity to lead.

Bagpipe (posted by Soft Pretzel on behalf of Outback)

First sign of trouble on my first Q started the night before when my co Q, Mr. Bean, pulled out.  Something about pneumonia, I still think that was a soft excuse not matter what you M said.  Seriously get better soon.

On game day a total of 20 fool hardy men entrusted the Q to a Kiwi named Outback.  Given the tremendous language barrier that existed it was always going to be a struggle. With the disclaimer provided (thanks for the reminder Soft Pretzel) we started the pain.

The Thang:

SSH x 20

Imperial Walker x 20

Merkins x 15

At this stage Q was running out of breath on the counts so first audible was to start the main event a little early.

Mosey to the Premiere Deck

Based on extensive planning and a site visit the night before, this virgin Q had planned an extensive parking deck workout.  Good so far,  we started off in the peoples chair and got to enjoy 20 deep squats as the winkie foretold.  Second sign of trouble, Security arrived.  Not sure what Freshley’s had done to or on the decks in the past (sorry mate had to blame someone) but we were asked to leave.   Not looking good on the virgin Q to have the entire F3 team banned from the parking deck. No time for sorrows so Q called his second audible and we headed to the soccer field.

On the soccer field we started with the legs:

20 Deep squats

20 Front lunge (10 each leg)

20 Side lunge  (20 each leg)

15 Sumo squats

Between each we backwards ran across the field, sprinted back and held a squat until all together

Enough with the legs time for some Merkins

10 Diamonds

20 Wide arm

30 Hand release

20 Wide arm

Diamonds until failure

20 Dry docks & 10 Burpees

Between each we sprinted to the other end of the field and held plank until all together

Last set titled let’s find that six pack.

30 LBCs

30 Bicycles

30 Russian twists

30 in and outs (10 std and 10 each side)

30 Plank jacks

20 J-Lo’s

Between each we sprinted to the other end of the field and held the protractor at 6 inches until all together

At this point Q’s brain was frazzled as I know we did another quick set which I believe where Merkin’s, Dolly’s and Rosalita’s and then started a nice mosey home.  Interrupted the mosey with 20 front lunges, plank and a squat hold waiting for traffic.  Across the road safely to CVS, Q called jail brake and away we went.  We arrived at the AO with 3 mins to burn so decided to cool down with the protractor.  Q called time however, Swift was not back so Mic Check called the six inch plank hold until are other brothers arrived (good call).

Thanks to all who joined in the pain this fine morning, it was a pleasure taking the lead.

Announcements: Joe Davis Sign-ups still going on.

Sermon of Pain

Our man POP (Pastor of Pain) had his virgin Q at Bagpipe Tuesday.  Nice job on the disclaimer adding that he’ll be praying for the PAX with what he had in store… nice way to get us going!!  Here is what we did.

The Thang:

30 Side straddle hop

20 Imperial Walkers

20 Merkins

21 Mountain Climbers

Hold Plank / Recover

20 Jump Ups

20 Decline Merkins

Plank it Up

15 Jump Ups

15 Decline Merkins

Plank Up / Recover

20 Jump Ups

20 Dips

Plank

15 Jump ups

15 Dips

Plank- Right arm, Leg, Left arm, leg High.

50 Burpies w 5 Jump squat sprints

Partnered up Partner 1- Sprint up grassy hill, 5 jump squats, back down

Partner 2- Burpies (rotate until you accomplish 50 total burpies)

Plank Up Recover

Run to the Bridge and LBCs

Partner 1- Run to the bridge

Partner 2- LBCs

Rotate

Handoff to Soft Pretzel.  Mosey to back parking lot for merkins and Mary.

Do 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 merkins in between called exercise.  Go around the circle for PAX choice: (all IC) flutter x 20, heels to heaven x 15, rosalita x 20, Freddie Mercury x 20, Mason twists x 15.

Line up and do: bearcrawl halfway across, 20 squats, bearcrawl rest of the way across.  Come back with lunge walk halfway, 10 burpees, lunge walk rest of way.

Mosey back.

Moleskin:

Great to have a new leader for Bagpipe and POP did a great job with his first Q.  PAX were smoked too! A big group as usual at Bagpipe and everyone brought their effort.  Nice job!

Announcements: Sign up for Joe Davis Run!  This is a great event and it felt great last year to see the support from F3 and Area 51.