Author Archive Voodoo

08/04 Meathead

9 pax posted for some cool temps and AC/DC Radio at Meathead last Wednesday morning. Fresh off of a couple of trips, it was good to be back and leading a strong group of men.

Warm up:

  • SSH x 20 IC
  • Halos x 5 each way
  • Windmills x 10 IC
  • Prying squat x 2

Main Course:

  • 5 sets of 5 double cleans followed by 5 double front squats with 1:00-1:15 rest between sets
  • 11s with 10 snatches/1 merkin, 9 snatches/2 merkins, all the way to 1 snatch/10 merkins
  • Grip smoker: 3 lawnmowers, 3 high pulls, 3 swings EMOM for 10:00, alternating arms each minute
  • Static holds: :20 double overhead, :20 double rack, :20 farmer holds. Recover for 1:00 and repeat.

Mary:

  • 1:20 of elbow plank
  • 1:20 of hollow body hold
  • 1:20 of glute bridge

Announcements:

  • Adult (26” wheels or bigger) bike collection at RockZero on 8/14. Stone Cold is collecting bikes to be refurbished for transportation.
  • F3 10 year anniversary will be held in Wilmington on October 8-10. This should be a great event with tons to do and the opportunity to meet pax from around the nation. There will be activities for the whole family, so Ms and 2.0s are welcome. See F310year.com for details and hop on the Slack channel to connect with other South Charlotte pax that are attending.

Moleskine:

  • Cobains for the delay in getting this posted. Been catching up on work since returning from travel.
  • Thanks to the pax for posting and pushing through a tough workout. Double front squats get the heart rate up and tax the legs. The static holds seem easy, but are grueling.

 

Testing out the new speaker

I rolled into Calvary this morning unsure what I’d find. Summer is always tough with travel and the hot/humid weather. Fortunately, Mighty Mite was there when I showed up and Frehley’s pulled in as I did. I busted out a few kettlebells and a new speaker I’d picked up on Amazon and we got to work.

Warm up:

  • SSH x 20 IC
  • Prying squat x 2
  • Windmills x 10 IC
  • Halos x 5 each way
  • Merkins x 10 on your bells

Main Thang:

  • 100 swing set – 10 swings, 1+1 press, 15 swings, 2+2 presses, 25 swings, 3+3 presses, 50 swings, 4+4 presses
  • Complex – The Eagle/Goshawk – 8 squats, 20 meter carry x 8 sets. Use doubles or singles.
  • Easy Strength – 4 sets x 5 reps of each of the following exercises:
    • Single leg deadlifts (per leg)
    • Floor presses
    • Lawnmowers
    • Double cleans
  • Static holds – :20 double overhead/:20 double racked/:20 farmer holds. 4 sets with 1:00 rest between each round.
  • Snatches – 10 snatches per minute for 10:00

Mary (1:00 each):

  • Hollow body hold
  • Glute bridge
  • Hard-style elbow plank

COT – RockZero mixed things up by joining us for COT this morning.

Announcements:

  • HDHH on Wednesday at Stumptown Station, probably at 5:30, but keep an eye on Slack for more details.
  • Crane Relay – October 13th at 9pm. Teams take turns running 3, 4, and 5 mile loops.
  • F3 Foundation survey – If you’re on the F3 Nation mailing list, you should have received an invitation to a survey for the F3 Foundation. The survey is intended to provide direction for the Foundation’s efforts. It’s very short, so please fill it out if you’ve received it. If you’re not on the mailing list, please go to F3Nation.com and click the F3 Newsletter Signup button on the left.
  • F3 10 year anniversary – F3 Cape Fear (Wilmington, NC) is hosting the 10-year celebration October 8-10. Originally scheduled for January, the event was postponed due to COVID. Visit the website for more information.

Moleskine:

  • I decided to upgrade my speaker to get a little more range out of the Bluetooth. It can be hard to hear the mumblechatter while keeping the music loud enough for the pax to hear. Unfortunately, the new speaker’s range wasn’t quite as long as hoped. On the bright side, it did seem a little louder.
  • Today’s playlist was provided by Spotify’s Van Halen radio, which received 2 thumbs up from the pax. It can be hard to find music that spans the decades, but this one worked pretty well. I’ll have to file it away for the future.
  • Everyone was pushing hard out there. Between the Goshawk complex and the snatches, this workout was full of unsavory exercises. Thanks for coming out and pushing moving some iron with me this morning.

More squats

5 pax showed up at Meathead to get their swole on. The Worm wasn’t there, but he said he wouldn’t post. Something about mulch. Mighty Mite told him to post anyway, but then elected not to post himself. I guess that’s pay back for my Monday fartsack. Touché, my friend.

5:30 – time to get down to it

Warm up:

  • SSH x 20 IC
  • Swings x 10
  • Halos – 5 each direction
  • Prying squats – 2 with long holds
  • Swings x 10
  • Windmill x 10 IC
  • Swings x 10

Main Course:

  • Racked squats – 5 sets of 4+4 racked squats with overhead holds between sets. Don’t put the bell down. Go heavy since reps are low and it’s singles.
  • Voodoo complex (swing, high pull, snatch, clean, squat, press, L+R) x 10:00 EMOM

Easy Strength:

  • 4 sets of 5 double deadlifts
  • 4 sets of 10 floor press with single or double (I think just Soul Glo) bells
  • 4 sets of 5 upright rows
  • 4 sets of 5 double cleans

Mary:

  • W-Y x 10 OYO (sort of like a Superman, but moving your elbows down by your side for each rep)
  • Dead bugs x 15 OYO
  • Elbow plank x 1:00+

Time. Thanks to Frehley’s Comet for taking us out.

Announcements:

  • Grow Ruck Muthaship – 1st weekend of August
  • Crane Relay – 8/13 – see Bunker’s Slack post for sign-up details

Moleskine:

  • Good mumblechatter this morning as the pax talked about people that weren’t there, most notably The Worm and Mighty Mite. Unplugged and High Tide were spared since they were both on road trips.
  • Rage Against The Machine came up on the playlist (Audioslave Radio by Spotify), which of course triggered a discussion about socialists charging exorbitant amounts for online guitar lessons. Seems like it should be free, eh Comrade? This led into a broader discussion of contemporary politics and the age of our elected leaders.

2.5 stars – lacks variety

5 of us posted at Olympus on 4th of July eve. Rather than running around, chasing the human flagpole that is Hoover, we decided to stay in one place and lift some weight.

Since the Q rolled in hot from his pre-run #cobains, High Tide did the honors and led the warm-up, which culminated with 25 swings, which just so happened to be the first item on the weinke.

On to the Main Thang:

  • 2 sets of 5+5 single leg deadlift with moderate weight
  • 5 sets of 5+5 single cleans and 5 goblet squats – go heavy since it’s singles. For recovery between sets, do 10 merkins, 20 lunge walks, 10 merkins, 20 lunge walks back.
  • Waiter carries – 2x out and back for :45
  • 3 sets of 5 reps of single arm swing/clean/snatch/push-press/reverse lunge (L+R is 1 set)
  • 1:00 elbow plank
  • 1:00 hollow body hold
  • 2 more sets of the 5 rep complex above (L+R is 1 set)
  • 1:00 glute bridge

Time. Circle up with the RockZero crew for some COT.

Announcements:

  • Metro Grow Ruck is scheduled for the first weekend of August. 120+ pax signed up so far. If interested, reach out to Cheese Curd, Hoover, or Wild Turkey.
  • Crane Relay 2021 will be held on 8/13 in Ballantyne. Get signed up soon – see Bunker’s post on Slack for link. You don’t have to be a runner to do this relay, you just have to be crazy enough to do a few runs in the middle of the night with some of your closest friends.

Moleskine:

  • Thanks to the pax for starting their 4th of July weekend with me at Olympus. We listened to Spotify’s Garage Rock Revival, which had some hits and some misses.
  • The two complexes we did today were pretty awful. 20 lunges is way too much between the squats. The Voodoo complex-like second complex didn’t seem too bad on paper, but added up quickly with all those reps. I think everyone was ready for both of those sets to be done well before they actually ended. Thanks to the pax for sticking with it.

2021 2nd Half Kettlebell Program

After a long run, we’re retiring the Geoff Neupert doubles program we’ve been using since January. Based on pax feedback, we’re going to stick with the same workout structure with a more defined portion and some suggestions for the remainder, but the actual exercises open to the Q’s discretion.

The defined portion will be taken from last year’s SFG Level I training program. This consists of alternating days of (i) cleans/squats/deadlifts and (ii) presses/swings/snatches followed by some sort of carry (farmer, waiter, suitcase, etc.). While the spreadsheet (you knew there’d be a spreadsheet) might call for double front squats, the Q has discretion to do other types of the same exercise (i.e., goblet squats, single racked squats, etc.). The goal is to work the same muscle groups, not to do the exact same exercises. The same goes for rep count. If you’re not creative (like me), you might stick more to the written exercises/reps, but if you want to mix it up, go for it. Instead of deadlifts, which are hard to do with enough weight with kettlebells, you might mix in some sort of lunge (walking, weighted, reverse, etc.).

The more flexible portion will be similar to what we’ve been doing since January, with complexes and/or easy strength. The spreadsheet is editable, so please add complexes or exercises that you find that would be challenging for the pax. Feel free to come up with your own stuff, as long as it’s not something as ugly as Mighty Mite’s snatch 11s.

Feel free to mix up the order of the sections – you don’t have to start with the SFG portion before doing the flexible portion. You don’t have to do the carries at the end. The order can be another source of variety to keep things interesting for the pax (and the Q). Another source of variety can be load. There’s nothing wrong with following a heavy week with a light week or mixing in the occasional medium week.

Here’s a link to the Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e6d2kFOHbqlBHyFsd2P7DpAQviAYErDgrmnseN4S3wI/edit?usp=sharing

See you in the gloom,

Voodoo

 

A cool morning in June?

9 manly men posted at Meathead yesterday for the second round of the new kettlebell program. With weather in the 60s, a few pax noted that it was almost chilly when the wind was blowing. I’ll take the unseasonably cool weather in June instead of the usual wind that’s hot and thick like dog breath.

After a brief disclaimer (it was a veteran crew), we got down to business.

  • SSH x 20 IC
  • 10 swings
  • Halos x 5 each way
  • 10 swings
  • Prying squats x 2
  • 10 swings
  • Windmill x 10
  • 10 swings

Main Course:

  • 5 sets of 5 DCL and DFS. Pax choice as to whether you do all the cleans, then all the squats or clean/squat x 5. Just get it done. Since it’s doubles, we took ample recovery time with 1:30-1:45 for each set.
  • Voodoo complex x 10:00 EMOM (swing, high pull, snatch, clean, squat, press L/R)
  • 3 lawnmowers, 3 high pulls, 3 snatches x 10:00 EMOM, alternating arms every minute
  • Waiter carries x 2 per side for 1:00 each

Mary: glute bridge until time expires

COT – I volunteered Ickey to take us out and he did a fine job.

Announcements:

  • Grow Ruck Training Event – first weekend in August
  • Crane Relay – second weekend in August (8/13). See Slack/website for sign-up details

Moleskine:

  • This was the second round of the new kettlebell program. It started with some pretty terrible squats and then went right into some interminable single arm complexes. Hopefully everyone got what they paid for.
  • The music on Wednesday was much better-received than Monday’s playlist (“too much Smashing Pumpkins”). This was Spotify’s 90s Rock Anthems, so it was a pretty big hit. However, it did lead to a discussion between Ickey and Frehley’s about what constitutes an anthem. Since they’re usually on the same side of most arguments (at least outside of football season), it was like watching a married couple fighting. Uncomfortable.
  • The respects were all in a line yesterday and they were getting after it. Strong work by some guys that are setting a great example by continuing to get stronger.

Is Mighty Mite a Druid?

Seven of us showed up in the sandy parking lot at McAlpine Elementary on Monday. Mighty Mite had promised a new kettlebell program and he more or less got it. Here’s what went down.

Warm-up: SSH, Windmills, etc.

Main event:

  • 6 sets of 5+5 military press (that’s 5 per side)
  • 8 sets of 10 swings EMOM, alternating sides
  • Complex: DCL x 8, DFS x 5, DCL x 5, DFS x 3, DCL x 3, DFS x 1
  • Double deadlifts for 4 sets of 5, merkins on the bells for 2 sets of 10, lawnmowers for 4 sets of 7
  • Farmer carries for :90 x 2
  • Mary: hard style elbow plank until time expired

COT

Announcements:

  • Grow Ruck Training Event – first weekend in August. It should be a good crew, so get signed up if you’re interested.
  • Crane Relay – August 13th in Ballantyne. Check Slack/website for sign up information.

Moleskine:

  • #cobains for taking so long to get this backblast out there. I’d give you an excuse, but it’s not really excusable.
  • As noted above, we decided to retire the doubles program we’d been running since the beginning of the year. I’m still working on writing up the new program, but the thought was to take portions of the SFG Level I training we did early in 2020, but to modify it to allow the Q to make some of their own choices. That will basically mean there are some sections that are more or less fixed (similar to the doubles portions of the recent workouts) and some that allow the Q to come up with their own exercises. Hopefully that will keep things fresh week to week.
  • The title of the backblast relates to the fact that Mighty Mite pointed out Monday was the Summer Solstice, which is the longest day of the year. That seems like something a Druid would know.
  • It was good to have War Eagle back out for some bell work. I know he likes to mix it up and hit a bunch of workouts, so we appreciate him joining us.
  • There was a bunch of sand in the parking lot and Uncle Leo informed me that it had been piled high a few weeks earlier when I was DR. Apparently, they’re putting it on the soccer fields. All I know is that I’ve got 2 huge shoe prints of it in my (dirty) car.

Why do they call it AC/DC Radio if there’s no AC/DC?

5 pax circled up at Calvary on Saturday for the latest edition of Olympus. With 4 vets and 1 site FNG, a full disclaimer was provided.

Warm-up:

SSH, IW, Windmill, prying squat, swings

  • Main Event:
  • Neupert: 10 sets of 6 double swings EMOM
  • Complex: Voodoo EMOM for 10:00 (swing, high pull, snatch, clean, squat, press L/R)
  • Easy strength: 4 sets of 5 reps of: SLDL, lawnmower rows, and floor presses
  • Ballistic: 10:00 of :15 on/:15 off with swings, cleans, snatches. Alternate arms every :30
  • Carries: Overhead 1:00 out/back, rack 1:00 out/back. 1:00 rest between
  • Mary: 1:00 each of elbow plank, hollow body hold, glute bridge

Announcements:

  • Crane Relay – 8/13 at 9pm. Teams of 5 complete 3 different courses of varying mileage.
  • GrowRUCK Metro – 8/7. Over 100 pax signed up. Leadership training and CSAUP all in one.
  • Ghost Runner is back on Thursdays at the Arboretum. Keep an eye on Slack for details.

Moleskine:

  • Saturday’s playlist was one of the Sonos artist radio channels. I picked AC/DC since it’s a kettlebell mainstay and I figured we’d get a good mix of their music and similar awesome rock tunes. While there were some good songs, there were also some clunkers. And we probably didn’t hear any songs from the eponymous band until about 45 minutes into the workout.
  • Cobains for the delay in getting this backblast posted. We had a family trip on Sunday, so Saturday was spent preparing and Sunday driving, then it was work time.
  • Thanks to the pax for getting out there and getting after it on a steamy Saturday morning. 3-Way even made the drive from Steele Creek after I harassed him on Friday. Welcome to the kettlebell club!

I found this on the internet

10 pax showed up at Calvary for Wednesday’s edition of Meathead. While humid, the weather was still cool (for June). After a semi-solid disclaimer, we got down to business.

Warm-up:

  • SSH x 15 IC
  • 2-handed swings x 15
  • Windmill x 10 IC
  • 2-handed swings x 10
  • Squat and hold/pry x 5 IC
  • 2-handed swings x 5

Main Thang:

  • Neupert: 10 sets of 5 double clean and military press
  • Complex: 3 lawnmowers, 3 high pulls, 3 snatches EMOM for 10:00, switching sides every minute
  • Easy Strength:
    • 2 sets of 10 somersault squats
    • 2 sets of 10 upright rows and merkins – super set
    • 50 swings however you want
  • Static hold: :20 overhead/:20 rack/:20 suitcase – singles or doubles, 1:00 rest. Repeato.
  • Mary: 2:00 elbow plank to end of workout

COT: Thanks to Strange Brew for taking us out.

Announcements:

  • Beer Run tomorrow at noon. Launching from Devil’s Logic. Often confused with the Beer Mile, the Beer Run has a much higher beer to running ratio, making it the preferred event for most pax. 6-12 beers and only 3-4 miles. See Slack or Tuck for more details.
  • Muthaship GrowRuck – first weekend in August. Leadership training, F3 history, CSAUP, fellowship, all rolled into one. Approximately 80 pax have signed up with several attending from South Charlotte.
  • The Crane Relay will be held on August 13th at 9pm. Teams of 5 battle for South Charlotte running supremacy. You’ll be home by 5 and your kids will never know you left and will wonder why you’re sleeping all day. You probably want to knock out your honey do list beforehand.

Moleskine:

  • Thanks to the pax for coming out the other day and following my lead. Sorry for the delayed backblast posting, but I had trouble getting logged into the site for some reason. Maybe I’ve upset Udder and/or Wingman…
  • I keep bribing Strange Brew to come to workouts by giving him Wii games and controllers. It’s been great having him out with us and he’s been putting in hard work. Eardrum has also posted at Meathead (and Base Camp) 2 weeks in a row. He’s still working on picking up the movements, but he’s making great progress.
  • The somersault squats a/k/a weighted monkey humpers were a huge hit, although some thought an exercise with two giant balls between your legs should have a more colorful name. I will leave that up to the more creative pax among us. I found that exercise on Instagram, where Joe Daniels of Swing This Kettlebell was doing them. He’s got huge quads, so they must work. There were plenty of complaints about quad soreness, so these will be making another appearance.
  • I’ll be DR the next 2 weeks, but Unplugged and Soul Glo will be stepping up to lead the workouts. Keep an eye out for a new program in July that will incorporate more singles.

 

 

Kicking off Summer at Olympus

6 pax decided they wanted bells instead of boot camp this morning and posted 1 lot over from the RockZero pax.

Warm up:

  • SSH x 20 IC
  • 20 swings
  • IW x 10 IC
  • 15 swings
  • Windmill/Sharon Towers x 10 IC
  • 10 swings
  • Prying squats x 2
  • 5 swings

Main Thang:

  • Neupert: a slight break in reps today with only 10 sets of 4 double clean and double military press
  • Complex: 3 swings, 2 cleans, 1 thruster L/R for 5 sets with :45 rest between sets
  • Easy strength:
    • 3 sets of 5 double deadlifts
    • 3 sets of 8 lawnmowers per side, then 10 merkins on the bell
    • 5 sets of 4 double cleans
  • Static holds: :20 overhead/:20 rack/:20 farmer. Repeato for 4 rounds with 1:00 rest between sets.
  • KB burpee complex: merkin, snatch L, merkin, snatch R = 1 set. Complete 1 sets

Mary:

  • 1:00 hard style elbow plank
  • 1:00 hollow body hold

Finish up by joining the RockZero pax for their final ~2 minutes of burpees.

COT with RockZero with the takeout by Orange Whip (RZ Q).

Announcements:

  • Memorial Day Area 51 (and SOB?) convergence at Base Camp at South Charlotte Middle School at 0700. Thunder Road is on Q and says you won’t run too much, so you might want some gloves if you have soft hands. Runs & Guns will be launching a Murph at the same time from the same location.
  • Beer Run (not to be confused with the Beer Mile) will be next Saturday at noon in Plaza Midwood. Keep an eye out for a pre-blast from Tuck if you’re interested.
  • Grow Ruck in August in Metro. Leadership + CSAUP all rolled into one. There are a number of HCs from south Charlotte. If you’ve ever wondered what all those pax with backpacks are training for, this is it.

Moleskine:

  • It was great to get a good crowd out to Olympus today. The humidity was high, but the temps were comfortable and there was occasionally a nice breeze.
  • Strange Brew had HCed a few days prior and it was great to have him out. Urlacher has been working a bunch, but fought off the 12 beers and night of couch sleeping to join us this morning. High Tide had been resting his knee since last weekend’s inaugural Functional Strength Challenge, but committed to coming out and put in strong work. Cottonmouth showed up to ask if any pax knew what kind of tradesman installs a washer and dryer, but stuck around for the workout. Frehley’s eschewed the double down this morning and was early to the workout. He was killing it with the double 24s for most of the workout. Joker showed up a little after 7:30, already sweaty from some track work at SCMS. He chose to do some of the bell work before bailing for the 10:00 of burpees at RockZero.
  • I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend. Please keep in mind why we have the long weekend by remembering the servicemembers that have fought and died for our country for almost 250 years. Let’s not dishonor their sacrifice by allowing those who profit from dividing Americans succeed in pulling us apart. We have different faiths, beliefs, and backgrounds, but we’re all citizens of the greatest country on Earth. God bless America!