9 Pax gathered for this week’s edition of Firestarter. Weather was a blissful 50 something and had YHC energized. Teddy sauntered up with shovel flag in tow. The Firestarter shovel flag has a sweet “fire” light at the top which apparently needs either new batteries or an instructional manual. YHC gave a disclaimer but added a reminder about the mission of F3 to Plant, Grow and Servce small men’s workout for the invigoration of male community leadership. During these odd times I think that it is important that we keep that at the forefront. Mosey to 131 Main for warmup with additional stretching.
The Thing
First up is some 4 corners at 131 Main focusing on upper body. Starting up and out and working our way inwards the corners were: 1st corner = 10 Carolina Dry Docks, 2nd corner = 10 wide arm merkins, 3rd corner = regular merkins and 4th corner = diamond merkins. Run through this twice.
Second round of 4 corners focused on the lower body. 1st corner = 10 squats, 2nd corner = 10 right leg lunges, 3rd corner = 10 left leg lunges and 4th corner = sumo squats. Run through this twice.
Mosey to the stairway by the yoga studio for a triple nickel. Split up with half of the Pax running up one stairwell and the other group up the other. At the top 5 Kraken burpees and at the bottom 5 Sister Mary Katherine’s for 5 rounds. Once we suffered through this head over to the fountain/playground area. Partner up with P1 running to the playground for 5 pullups while P2 does dips. Flapjack until both partners have made 2 trips of pullups for 20 total among the teams.
YHC then remembered that he meant to lead the group in The Motivator after the COP so this was a perfect burnout exercise. After The Motivator was done and calves were burning there were a couple of minutes left for each Pax to lead a round of Mary.
Moleskin
Great group out this morning. A few observations. Odd Job was marveling at Rousey’s energy and made a comment to the effect that Rousey must have already had his coffee. To which I replied he must put Red Bull in his coffee. Odd Job then decided to stir the pot (pun intended) and challenged Rousey to some sprints between the corners during 4 corners. Greenwood calls them Bonnie Blair’s but Sweetwater is not having it. The jumping lunges are Sister Mary Katherine’s and not Bonnie Blair’s. YHC agreed and appreciated Sweetwater’s dedicated stance on the matter so we called them SMK’s. Point Break and Noonan were consistently at or near the front all morning long. Sign those guys up for some of these P200 or BRR relay teams. Yard Tool…does that guy take a day off? He is a machine quickly becoming a pillar of the SOB community. Speaking of pillars, Midriff somehow crushes his workout while also encouraging and bringing others along. Teddy is the silent assassin and getting in top-notch honeymoon shape. Look out future Mrs. Teddy.
Announcements
7 Pax gathered at this week’s edition of The Bottom Line. If you have not made it out to this AO what is stopping you? What other AO can you say that you have worked out in NC and SC at the same workout?
The Thing:
Mosey out of the Bridgehampton clubhouse and down a nearby cul-de-sac and back for a warmup. There won’t be a whole lot of running for this workout so let’s get some in upfront.
Circle up for COP warmup consisting of IW, potato pickers, Mtn Climbers, Peter Parkers and Morrocan Nightclubs. Now that we are warmed up time for the Motivator. Motivator was picked up by YHC at Slaughter’s Q at Centurion a couple of weeks ago and liked it. Motivator is in quick succession SSH x 10, partial SSH x 10, feet out and ins x 10 and calf raises x 10…then down to 9 reps, 8 reps, etc. until 0.
For the main event YHC wanted to do some exercises to help those going through the Iron Pax Challenge. Walk over to the rock pile and grab a lifting rock. Partner up. P1 runs down to islands for called ab exercise while P2 does called lifting exercise with rock. Keep flapjacking until the team hits the designated number. The exercises went like this:
Round 1 = 200 total bicep curls with 15 H2H as timer.
Round 2 – 200 overhead presses with 15 flutter kicks as timer.
Round 3 = 150 tricep extensions with 12 big boy situps as timer.
Round 4 = 125 squats with rocks with 12 J-Lo’s as timer.
Return the rocks and circle up for last 5 minutes of Mary taking turns going around the circle to call ab exercises. Everyone got to call one to not only work the abs but practice cadence counting and leading men in a workout.
Moleskin
Great work by all. Thanks to everyone for putting in the work and leading Mary when the 6 was finishing their reps. The Brexit crew is getting stronger and faster out there in Bridgehampton land. Toro and Inkwell HC’d to join Brexit tomorrow for his Q at The Maul. Good job supporting each other and holding each other accountable. Schooner noted during Round 3 that YHC was getting them ready for battle. Either that or getting you ready to dominate the sailing circuit this year. Glad to hear that F3 is helping Gimbells recover from hip surgery as he definitely puts in the work. He will be lapping everyone soon. Sweetwater had to leave us a little early but not before he selected a boulder for the lifting portion and rep’d it out without breaking a sweat.
Announcements:
Let’s get right to it shall we?
The Thing:
8 early risers moseyed through the Calvary parking lot (with ideas and threats to stop for 100 monkey humpers at the Meathead group) to a parking area near the hotbox. Here was a standard warmup with SSH, Steve Earles, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, and Morrocan nightclubs. In the middle of COP Floor Slapper came out of the shadows to make our group 9. I am still not sure where he came from.
Jogged over to a parking lot adjacent to Hwy 51. There were 8 grassy islands in said lot. Here we did a suicide ladder running to the 1st island for 1 burpee and 3 squats. Back to start and run to 2nd island for 2 burpees and 6 squats. Back to start…so on until finishing the 8th island with 8 burpees and 24 squats. Snuka, Tagalong and Mr. Magoo crushed this like it was nothing and led Mary for the rest of the group to finish.
Next headed over to the rock pile in front of Calvary. Grab a lifting rock for sets of 20 curls, OH presses and tri extensions. Rest and then repeat. Blimey noted that he lifted the day before so he modified to hit areas that were not jelly from the prior day’s lifting #getyoked. YHC on the other hand dropped his rock when shaking the arms out before the last round of tri extensions #rookie
Time to partner up and select the best rock between you for a rock carry Indian run around Calvary. P1 starts out running carrying the rock while P2 drops for 5 shoulder tap merkins. P2 catches up to P1 and flapjack until back at rock pile. Due to odd number YHC hopped in with Emoji and Floor Slapper. Not sure if this helped or hurt bc as Emoji pointed out it led to extra credit rounds of shoulder tap merkins. I was amazed at how fast the Pax knocked this out. Point Break and Snowflake were early finishers of course. I joked about having time for a 2nd trip around. This was met with groans of which YHC was one. I did not want to do that again.
Moseyed to the hotbox. Back with partners. P1 runs around and down hill to soccer/football fields for 10 2 cone shuttles. Then back up the hill to relieve P2 who is cranking away at the 100 step ups needed combined. When teams finished that we repeated but with Bonnie Blairs at the bottom of the hill and 150 dips combined at the hotbox.
Moseyed to launch as the clock hit 6:15.
Moleskin:
Great work all around. I was amazed at how fast we got through the exercises. Good push from all.
Thanks Point Break for tapping me to lead and heal up Lorax.
Announcements:
– F3 Nation Nantan, Slaughter, on Q Aug 27th at Centurion.
– F3 10 Year Anniversary Oct 8-10 in Cape Fear, NC
– SOB Blood Drive Oct 29th at Matthews Town Hall
The beauty of being the Q is that if there is something you want to work on you get to call it. Need to get that vo2 Max up then make the workout running heavy. Need to swole up those soccer arms? Call lots of rock curls. This week YHC felt the need to pay special focus on the abs and core and noted as such on Slack the night before. 16 total Pax apparently agreed and here is what transpired.
Da Thing
Mosey to the HT parking lot for a warmup. Mosey over to Firebirds/Tipsy Taco and partner up. Round 1: P1 runs the 1st parking lot island loop while P2 does derkins, then flapjack. Round 2: P1 runs the 2nd parking lot island loop while P2 does incline merkins, then flapjack. Round 3: P1 runs the 3rd parking island loop while P2 does standard merkins, then flapjack.
Mosey to the Stonecrest fountains by Chipotle. Partner back up. P1 runs the loop around both buildings while P2 does step-ups then flapjack. Continue until your group gets 100 step ups. As we were finishing this round the early morning cleaning crew that do real work that early in the morning were coming through to blow out the area. Time to audible to the next stage of the workout. No worries, just more time for the ab work that I promised.
Mosey to Chick Fil A. Find your partner for the last song of this square dance. Round 1: P1 does LBC’s while P2 runs around the CFA, flapjack until your group gets 200. Round 2: 150 J-Lo’s. Round 3: 150 Chippy Crosses.
Head back to launch for about 3 minutes of Heels to Heaven, Flutter and plank.
Da Moleskin
Great crew out there this morning. We kept it moving and put some work in. As Rousey noted on Slack it was a nothing fancy old school circuit. Sometimes those are needed especially to concentrate on a specific area. It actually worked out that the grounds crew had us leave the leg portion early because if not we would not have been able to get the whole ab section in and that was the main focal point for YHC. Thanks Circuit City for tapping me to lead.
Announcements
With July 4th falling on a Sunday and most people off on Monday the 5th it was a no-brainer to extend the Independence Day celebration another day. And what better way to celebrate than a 2.0 friendly workout where all Pax can release their inner 2.0 as well. An emerging hot spot for outdoor activities, Ballantyne’s Backyard, was the decided upon terrain where we could roam far and wide. 8:00 hit and the crew of 21 was pulled in for a disclaimer and off we went.
The Thang:
Circle up on a putting green for a warmup of SSH, Mtn Climbers, Peter Parkers and Arm Circles. Mosey to the tee box on the next hole. Here YHC, Mary Kay and Midriff had set up a relay course for a partner relay. Farthest tee box P1 bear crawls to the end of the tee box then flapjack. Once both partners have bear crawled the tee box sprint to the next tee box. Here several dozen eggs and spoons were strategically placed for an egg spoon carry. P1 carries an egg on a spoon down to the end of the tee box then flapjack. If your egg falls you have to start over. Once both partners have finished on to the 3rd tee box for crab walks. Once you and your partner have finished the crab walks both sprint down to cones in the fairway. Turn at the cones and then work your way back through the relay course to the start. This relay ended up being more of a grinder than I anticipated but Sabertooth and the robot crew of T1000, Johnny 5 and C3PO smoked the course. Kudos to the couple of dads that had to bear crawl and crab walk while carrying 2.0’s.
After a 10 count we moseyed back to the putting green where we warmed up. Here we broke out into 2 groups for a relay race: Pax that were 15 years of age and under in one team and Pax that were over 15 years of age in another team. In order to even out the number of Pax in each group Midriff and Taco Stand smartly volunteered to join the under 15 age group. The first person on the U15 team had to run up a shorter hill and do the number of merkins that matched their age. They then ran to the back of the line and the next Pax went until everyone had gone. The Over15 team had to run up a much taller hill and do 20 merkins. The other stipulation was that the Over 15 team had to plank until the last person had gone. Not surprisingly the U15 team crushed the relay and to add salt to the wound planked themselves until the O15 team was done.
Finally time for the main event, the inaugural F3 kickball game. We had about 35 minutes to get 5 innings in. Teams were divvied up and it was time to start kicking. Many highlights came from this one both from the older and younger Pax. Despite some questionable calls from head umpire, Mary Kay, it was a very cleanly played game. Ultimately Team 1 came out on top 7 – 5. The post game party consisted of bottles of water and popsicles.
Moleskinny:
This one was a lot of fun. None of the 2.0’s seemed to be bored and they all stayed engaged the whole time. And they really put in the work and did the activities in the relays.
There was a drone flying overhead much of our kickball game. Either it was filming us for a Northwoods Properties promotion or a police drone following Kirby’s every move.
We welcomed FNG “Crash Test”. Crash Test owns a company that sells safety gear and after tweaking a knee during kickball he noted that he could test his products on himself…thus “Crash Test”.
Announcements:
What: A workout celebrating our country’s independence
When: Monday, July 5th at 8:00 AM
Where: Launching spot for The Brave. The Community House shopping center with Another Broken Egg and the bar/restaurant formerly known as The Gibson.
July 5th celebration you ask???? That’s right we are extending the celebration of our country’s independence with a workout on Monday, July 5th, since most of us will be off from work that day. And not just any workout, this is a 2.0 friendly workout. But do I need to bring a 2.0 for admission into this exclusive workout you ask? Not at all…this workout will be suited for kids of all ages including the Pax that are kids at heart.
We will meet at the launch site of The Brave and head over to F3 SOB’s newest playground, Ballantyne’s Backyard. 100 acres of sprawling fairways, tee boxes and putting greens. There we will have several workouts capped off with the most intense game of kickball this side of the Four Mile Creek greenway.
This will be a great reason for your 2.0 to get out of bed and not waste the day away (shakes fist at sky) and a great reason to invite that FNG that keeps mentioning that he wishes he had a way to celebrate Independence Day with a kickball game.
-War Eagle, Midriff and Mary Kay
YHC took the reigns for this week’s Firestarter and with 12 other motivated fellas kicked off the week. Initially there was a only handful of us but just like the mad rush as the church doors are closing for the start of a service, guys flooded in at 5:30. A full disclaimer was given and we slow moseyed from launch to provide time for the aforementioned last minute arrivers to fall in.
The Thing:
Moseyed to the 131 Main parking lot for a warmup of Steve Earles, SSH, Peter Parkers, 6 inches, Parker Peters, right hand by right foot with the right elbow dropped trying to touch the ground (a new favorite of YHC’s taught to him by C3PO that really stretches the hammy’s), left hand by left foot and big ol arm circles.
Then it was off up Bryant Farms to the rock pile by the Montessori School. Instructions were given to grab a lifting rock and follow YHC for curls in civilian count. The first set was 20 reps then quickly followed up by 19 reps then quickly followed up by 18 reps. It was at this point that the Pax realized the trend and Hops provided the title of this BB and asked YHC if he was going to the beach later today. Not today but hundreds of curls are always good for beach season in general. It was also at this point that One Star along with a couple of others regretted their rock choice. In order to allow for a dispersion of rock weight YHC instructed the Pax to shift one spot to their left. Unfortunately YHC was beside One Star and had to lift his boulder for 17, 16 and 15 reps…which sucked and YHC’s form was getting sloppy. We shifted again and made it to 10 reps.
At this point it was time to momentarily break up the curlfest and head to the playground up Bryant Farms. YHC split the group in half for:
Group 1 did 20 merkins while Group 2 did 10 step ups on the wall then flapjack and do for 2 rounds.
Then, Group 1 did 10 pull ups while Group 2 did 20 out & ins on the wall, then flapjack and do for 2 rounds.
Headed back to the rocks and instructions made to find your original rock. We finished our curlfest countdown starting at 10 and rotating over to our left a couple of times until done. Moseyed back towards Blakeney stopping at the wall as you enter the shopping center off of Bryant Farms. Big Tuna complimented the wall structure that we used at the playground so YHC figured that he would be equally impressed with this wall. Instructions were given to partner up with P1 doing 5 wall climbs while P2 does burpees until P1 finished the 5 wall climbs. Then flapjack and do for 4 rounds. YHC was out o’ breath after this and called some Mary and asked for friends to call some as well. OK, some breath has been recovered so we jogged back to launch for enough time for 1 minute of Al Gore and 1 minute of plank.
Moleskin:
Fun crowd and good to catch up with some guys that I don’t get to see and talk with as much as I would like. Good mumblechatter throughout and some good moans and groans at times which is always a good sign too. YHC likes to have workouts where there is a little time to mumblechatter and make it fun but also I hope to shut it down with some butt kicking at times too. Hopefully both were accomplished this morning.
Announcements:
Thanks Wingman and Teddy for tapping me to lead this morning and thank you for leading yourselves with Firestarter.
4 Pax stepped out into the humid morning air ready to see what this week’s edition of The Brave had in store. Spoiler alert, it had over 4 miles with lots of various things thrown in the mix.
The Thing:
Half hearted disclaimer since all 4 were seasoned vets and we were off down Ballantyne Commons. Bang a left into Thornhill and continue into the tennis/playground area for a standard warmup. Mosey down to the rockpile to grab a lifting rock. The Murderhorn half pipe suicides worked like this:
20 each of curls, overhead presses and tricep extensions with your rock
Run to the furthest light pole at the top of the Murderhorn for 15 merkins
Back down to the rock pile for 25 squats with your rock
Run the other direction of the Murderhorn, towards the playground for 25 LBC’s
Repeat going to the next to last light post up the Murderhorn, etc. etc. etc. for 4 total circuits
What goes down must go up so we headed back up the Murderhorn stopping at every light for 15 jump squats then moseyed down Elm to Ballantyne Commons. At this point we were at about 3.5 miles with 1 mile to get back to launch and about 8 minutes to do so. YHC called 10 lunges (R=1 L=1) at every turn cut in. Wingman didn’t think we would make it in time. Happy Meal stated that the Q has to do 10 burpees for every minute over 6:30. Oh ye of little faith. Turns out they were right and we made it back at 6:32.
Moleskine:
Great group making an absolute suckfest of a workout bearable. I had a feeling that it would be rough, at least for YHC, but the hustle run back after the half pipe suicides was unexpected and a gasser. I told the group that I stole the idea from a workout that Teddy did at Nightmare on Elm with something similar. That following Saturday Mic Check told Teddy that his workout was the first to make him take a nap when he got home, so I figured that it must be good enough for The Brave. Also, it was suggested to rename that exercise the Mic Check Sleeper Hold. I owe the crew 20 burpees for being 2 minutes over. I didn’t have it in me at the time.
Announcements:
Thanks Taco Stand and Sweetwater for the opportunity to lead and for overseeing the beaut that is The Brave.
As is often said in a backblast, better late than never. Sometimes work and life intervenes. But I am within my 1 week window, so it still counts as an official BB. Here is what we did at The Bottom Line and The Maul last week.
The Bottom Line
The Thang:
Disclaimer provided to the 10 Pax and off we went. Moseyed up Bridgehampton drive to an area that YHC had eyed for our first exercise and here we partook in a standard warmup. The area where we were was in the middle of 4 cul-de-sacs. The group was broken up into 1’s and 2’s with 1’s headed one way and 2’s the other. Run to the furthest CDS and perform the exercise that YHC had laid out. Run back to the center meeting point for 15 sumo squats then work your way around the 4 CDS. Exercises in each CDS consisted of 15 diamond merkins, 15 wide arm merkins, 15 right arm staggered merkins and 15 left arm staggered merkins.
Headed back to the basketball court beside the launch site. Here YHC had laid out some gear for some 4 corners. The group counted off by 4’s. Corner 1 was the timer and was tasked with running to the parking lot for 5 burpees then back, Corner 2 was bicep curls with cinder blocks, Corner 3 was goblet squats with kettlebells and Corner 4 was tricep extensions with plates. Whenever Corner 1 finished their burpee run we rotated stations. 2 passes through the stations for everyone.
A little time to kill so we gathered around the gaga ball pit for some clock work. Get in incline merkin position and where you were on the wall was your 12:00. Someone called out a time and we hand walked to that time followed by 5 incline merkins each time. 5 minutes of Mary and done.
Moleskinny:
Great core group out there at The Bottom Line. Appreciate the first timers like Sweetwater coming out and checking it out. Brexit is doing a phenomenal job building TBL up and setting the stage for future Indian Land sites. Inkwell and I even EH’s a homeowner who was coming down his driveway to check out why a bunch of guys were doing pushups in his cul-de-sac. He asked if it was that M3 thing. I said yeah its F3 and we will see you next Tuesday at the clubhouse. Schooner and Myrtle continue to kill it out there. I can’t wait for the 2nd F get together with you guys in the F3 cul-de-sac there in the neighborhood. Mighty and Midriff obviously have invented a way to clone themselves because it seems like these guys are everywhere at every workout.
The Maul
The Thang:
12 Pax were properly disclaimed and off we went stopping at the Wells Fargo ATM to circle up for the warmup. Prior to warming up we knocked on the ATM for a while to try and stir Escobar but to no avail. After a COP of Hillbilly’s, merkins, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters we noticed a shadowy figure racing to our group. As we all waited with baited breath the mystery 13th Pax was none other than Big Tuna. Sorry to Tuna for finishing the warmup just as he got there but we had places to be and things to lift. Time to pick back up our mosey over to St. Matt’s.
At St. Matt’s instruction was given to grab a lifting rock but fair notice was also provided to expect high reps. Rocks were chosen and we then lined up abreast along the bushes in the parking lot. Partner up with P1 staying and performing the lifting exercise while P2 runs to the clearly designated area between the 2nd lightpost and grassy island. Upon reaching said spot P2 does the called exercise and runs back to flapjack with P1 until reaching the designated number of lifting reps. Here is what each round consisted of.
1 = 250 total bicep curls and running exercise was 10 J-Lo’s (R+L = 1)
2= 200 total squats and running exercise was 20 H2H
3 = 250 total overhead presses and running exercise was 10 dying cockroaches
4 = 200 total lunges (R=1 L = 1) and running exercise was 20 flutters (I think)
Not sure that we fully made it through the lunges but it was time to head back to launch stopping halfway at the Wells Fargo ATM (still no sign of Escobar) for some Mary. 1 minute left at launch for some plank then time.
Moleskin:
This is one of my favorite workouts because with those many reps you definitely feel it. And you get to throw in a little running and abs. Solid work out there by everyone. I got the pleasure of working out beside Olaf and Cold Cuts. It was great catching up with Olaf who is back stronger than ever from the IR and great meeting Cold Cuts. Enjoy those Phillies games with the daughter…those types of things to bond with them are priceless aren’t they? Big Tuna obviously was not winded by having to track us down at the start because he was ready to sprint it home to launch. Tuna loves the sprints. Thanks to Loogie and Patent Pending for doubling up with me this week and making both my Q’s. Speaking of posting a lot, my man Frankie is hitting the pool/beach season head on and posting like a fiend. T-claps. Kirby as well with the solo pre-run. TnT (the new nickname that I am going to start pushing for Teddy and Tagalong) are dynamite leaders in F3. Thanks fellas for all that you do. Good to see Mic Check making it back from his back injury. Mic Check said that he is getting there and not 100%. A 100% Mic Check is going to be scary. Most of us can barely keep up with him at less than 100%. The IT pro in Wingman came out when I was explaining the “general area” to run to for the ab exercises. You know by now there are a lot of generalities in a War Eagle Q.
Announcements:
YHC headed south to Q at the Arsenal, the premier Thursday morning bootcamp in Indian Land. YHC arrived a little early to do some scouting of the AO and passed Atlas and Brexit pre-running. I rolled down the window and yelled some form of encouragement to which Atlas and Brexit completely ignored YHC. Apparently they get catcalled on a regular basis during their pre-runs so it was nothing out of the ordinary for them. At 5:28 General rolled in to make 4. 5:30 on the clock so YHC began his disclaimer but what’s this? Cobbler rolling in on 2 wheels to make it 5 Pax. Disclaimer completed and we were off.
The Thing:
Mosey around the school to the playground area for a standard warmup. Then partner up. P1 runs to the monkey bars for 10 pull ups while P2 does an ab exercise and flapjack. 3 rounds of this with 10 pull ups each time and ab exercises consisting of flutter, J-Lo and box cutters.
Then we were off to run some hills. I know there are several hills at the AO so I asked Brexit which would be the best. This may have been a mistake as the hill that Brexit took us to was b-r-u-t-a-l. At this hill YHC called a triple nickel of 5 burpees at the bottom, 5 Carolina dry docks at the top for 5 rounds. The hill has a false top to it. The first level is fairly steep and when you think you at the top where it flattens out, you realize there is a 2nd level that is steeper than the first level. This was tough.
Once all had finished this suckfest we headed to the high school parking lot. Partnering back up P1 bear crawls towards the end of the parking lot with a merkin at each parking spot. P2 runs to the end of the parking lot for 5 wide arm merkins then runs and flapjacks with their partner, picking up where they left off. Keep this going until the guy bear crawling reaches the end of the parking lot.
Head back to launch with about 8 minutes left. First up is a 5 man round of Abe Froman (see Bagpipe backblast from 4/13/21 for an explanation of the Abe Froman). The 5 man goes faster than the 11 man version and leads to more merkins and less planking. General made quick work of the rest of us and took the title belt on this morning. We finished up the morning with each guy taking turns calling a Mary exercise.
Moleskin:
As always it was an enjoyable time down South. If you have not made it out to The Arsenal I suggest going at least once. It is a fun AO and good to change things up some. The hill was an unpleasant pleasant surprise and will remain in the Q bag for YHC. YHC was unoriginal pulling the Abe Froman out twice this week but it is such a good finishing challenge to burn everyone out and who doesn’t love a competition. Good mumblechatter throughout and great to catch up with some guys that I don’t get to see on a regular basis.