As the PAX gathered for Fight Club, Kirby and Fire Hazard reminisced about a camping trip where a soused Kirby burdened with an episode of the singultus, implored an equally blotto Howard Testerman to punch him in the breadbasket. Thus began another exciting episode of F3 FIGHT CLUB*
Round 1
P1 & P2 gloves & mitts
P3 & P4 gloves & mitts
P5 Heavy bag
2 min rounds, shuffle and rotate
Round 2
P1 & P2 spar in the pit
P3 & P4 gloves & mitts
P5 Heavy bag
Round 3
Regular crunch x 20
Toe-tap crunch x 20
Side crunch R&L x 20
Pistol crunch R&L x 15
Pretzel crunch R&L x 20
Chippy cross x 20
Freddy mercury x 20
Announcements
No Fight Club next week (Nov 25)
Christmas Party – SIGN UP!
Operation Sweet Tooth – Please purchase toys and other needed items to be donated to Alexander Youth Home
Jingle Bell Run – SIGN UP!
Joe Davis Resolution Run – SIGN UP!
*Let’s not talk about Fight Club while my M is present at Christmas party.
Pre-Run – Murderhorn Mosey
I promised a pre-run of Murderhorn repeats starting at 0500. I started alone, but upon my fourth ascension, Nard Dog appeared out of the mist to finish the climb and join me for a lap about Regal Cinemas. He took a second lap as a greeted the Pax and reset my phone.
Slipper-gate
As the crowd grew, Strawberry exited Heartbreaker’s car, but Heartbreaker peels off. Does he have to find a bathroom? No, he’s still wearing his slippers. After the disclaimer and on the way to COP, I told Frehley the story, but I’m not sure he believed me.
COP – All the Jacks
We trekked from Regal Cinema to the far side of Target for COP. One of the easiest, yet most maligned exercises in the side straddle hop. Rumors persist this exercise is dangerous. I’m not buying it.
– Side straddle hops x 10
– Seal jacks x 10
– Plank jacks x 10
– Smurf jack x 10
– Crab jacks x 10
That’s all the jacks. If I missed one, sound off in the comments.
Route 66
By now, you’ve visited the six speed bumps behind the Stoncrest Strip Mall. Do 1 burpee at the first speed bump, 2 at the second adding one additional at the subsequent bumps. After the burpees on sixth bump, about face and continue back to start for a total of 66 burpees. Heartbreaker conveniently arrives post-burpees with shoes, not slippers.
From the back of Target, we slogged all the way back to the western wall of Regal Cinema.
AMRAP minutes
– Curb taps (from the plank position tap the curb with alternating hands) [shoulders,chest]
– Toe taps (on your six, tap the curb with your foot – resembles flutter) [legs]
– Glute march (feet on curb, shoulders down, hips up one foot in the air; alternate feet) [booty]
– Baby cobra (on your belly , raise your shoulders) [back]
Wall Work
People’s chair x 20 arm raises
Head slappers x 20
People’s chair x 20 arm raises
Hip slappers x 20
People’s chair x 20 arm raises
Cliff climbers (hands on ground, feet on wall, resembles mountain climbers)
Hill Sprint Ladder
(hill behind Regal Cinema)
– 3 sprints up the hill
* 10 merkins
– 3 sprints up the hill
* 10 merkins, 20 squats
– 3 sprints up the hill
* 10 merkins, 20 squats, 30 American hammer
– 3 sprints up the hill
* 10 merkins, 20 squats, 30 American hammer, 40 Freddy Mercury
– 3 sprints up the hill
* 10 merkins, 20 squats, 30 American hammer, 40 Freddy Mercury, 50 mountain climbers
Run back to the front of the theatre.
Merkin-0-Rama
– 10 regular
– 10 wide
– 10 stagger right
– 10 stagger left
– 10 diamond
Moleskin
Thanks to the steady veteran crew today. We worked hard, stayed together and didn’t cheat to finish first (pet peeve). I always try to have a little fun, crab jacks had Frehley laughing and a new exercise – cliff climbers.
Announcements
Christmas Party – SIGN UP!
Operation Sweet Tooth – Please purchase toys and other needed items to be donated to Alexander Youth Home
Jingle Bell Run 5K
Lots of high fives and off we go! (It’s getting cold, get over it.)
Warm-Up
Side straddle hops x 15
Imperial walkers x 15
Mountain Merkins x 20
Constigan Park
Corner 1 – 10 jump squats
Corner 2 – 20 merkins
Corner 3 – 30 Mountain climbers
Corner 4 – 40 Flutters
Top of the Ballantyne Village Parking Deck – Tabata
Round 1 – Man-maker merkins
Round 2 – Side shuffle
Round 3 – Bulgarian ball-busters (Bucky!)
Round 4 – Burpees
Exit the garage, bear crawl to stop sign run to Duckworth’s for progressive wall climbs. We finished up with a busted relay race and Mary.
Moleskine
Two years ago, I was not in a good place. After moving to Charlotte, I had exactly zero friends who lived in the city, rarely worked out (3 mi in 30 minutes!), and was dealing with the immense stress of a “reorganization” at work. In fact, I was so stressed out, I broke out in Shingles. (This is pretty rare for someone under 40.) When I went to the doctor’s to deal with the Shingles, I tipped the scales at 199 lbs. #Beefy
Fast forward two years, I work out 4/5 days a week, competed in a 5k, 10k, mud run and trail run. I’ve posted in Summerville, SC; New Orleans, LA; Atlanta, GA; Fort Mill, SC (Q), and even ran the Mothership three times. I’ve enjoyed two summer of F3 Dads and F3 Camp last year. I can run a sub 7 min mile and weigh in the low 170s. I’ve endured 1000 tweets advertising a “down PAINment”. (Let’s retire that phrase, please.) Plus, I’m site Q for Stonehenge (Saturday 6 AM). Best of all, I have dozens of new friends in the gloom. For this, I am so grateful. #ISI
Announcements
Christmas Party
Joe Davis Run
10 men gathered in the Vine Parking lot and followed YHC to the lower lot of the Ballantyne Village Parking Deck.
WARM-UP!
Side-straddle hops x 20
Imperial walkers x 20
Mountain merkins x 15
READY!
Run to the top of the deck and meet JRR Tolkien with a 4 80# buckets and 4 45# plates. Form a group of three, P1 & P2 alternate bucket carry and plated lunge walk while P3 runs to the bottom of deck. Rotate through twice. Mary while we wait for everyone to finish.
GO! – Tabata Training
Tabata is a popular forms of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). It consists of eight rounds of ultra-high-intensity exercises in a specific 20-seconds-on, 10-seconds-off interval.
Round 1 – Bulgarian ball-busters (quads & glutes)
Round 2 – Man-maker merkins (chest & shoulders)
Round 3 – Lateral shuffle, length of parking spaces (hips)
Round 4 – Donkey kicks (back & core)
Round 5 – Burpees (full body)
Congratulations!
Exit the deck, bear crawl to the stop sign. Run to almost back to start. Finish with three rounds of relay races. (Outback, dressed in all black, may have spooked the car pulling up to the ATM.)
Field Notes
Thank you to everyone who turned down an opportunity to go apple picking observe the majestic fall foliage with their M to post this morning. #leafpeepers.
With Southern Discomfort and Big South 5k today, I determined most in attendance would prefer a little less running and the opportunity to make dirty innuendos #twss Tabata delivers a cardio and strength benefit. My tabata app supplied the timer and retro beats. It worked so well, I wasn’t even needed. #redundancy Also, four minutes of donkey kicks is about 3 minutes too long.
Big kudos and kotters to Loogie returning from shoulder surgery to join us and modifying as appropriate. (Keep posting! F3 is more than a workout.)
South Charlotte Christmas Party 2016
Signup and save the date for December 2nd at 7.30pm-11.30pm. Firethorne Country Club
2016 Jingle Bell Run – Charlotte
Saturday, December 10
St. Matthew Catholic Church
Festivities Begin at 8AM
Joe Davis Run for Recovery
The run this year will be on 01/07/2017.
Upcoming Q Schedule
See who is on Q this week
I saw the need for a Q on Slack and was about hit enter when, JRR Tolkien volunteered. Knowing he is both injured and sick (#trailpooper), I decided to share my availability. It was the right call. Get well JRRT!
Disclaimer was delivered, but heard the PAX mumble it was the worst disclaimer ever. (What a distinction.)
Circle of Pain/Warm-Up
Dash out the Vine lot, to the hotel parking lot
20 Side-straddle hops (jumping jacks)
10 ‘Mericans (push-ups)
15 Imperial Walkers
10 Offset right push-ups
10 Low-slow squats
10 Offset right push-ups
10 Arm circles
10 Diamond push-ups
Stage 1 – Loch Ness
Starting at the closest patio to the stairs, run one lap around the lake and complete 100 push-ups. PAX can decide where and when, just get in the full 100. (I came in last.)
Stage 2 – Brixham Hill
Run up Brixham Hill, jog back down and complete 10 Heels-to-Heaven
Run up Brixham Hill, jog back down and complete 10 Heels-to-Heaven, 20 Dolly
Run up Brixham Hill, jog back down and complete 10 Heels-to-Heaven, 20 Dolly, 30 Rosalita
Run up Brixham Hill, jog back down and complete 10 Heels-to-Heaven, 20 Dolly, 30 Rosalita and 40 LBCs
Stage 3
Conlan Circle Cones
Run up Conlan Circle, around the traffic circle & back (observe where cones are placed)
Run forward, backward alternating at each cone, around the traffic circle & back
(Running out of time) All you got up Conlan Circle, around the traffic circle and back to the Vine.
FIN
Observations & Notes
I had planned to do the cone work on Brixham Hill, but as I was placing them a man in a white Taurus, shouted, “Pick those things up. We don’t allow that here.” Drowsy and confused, I obliged, but he was a jerk. I brought the cones to Conlan, but it’s not an ideal place with a narrower street and Starbucks traffic.
A solid group of 10 posted today, the diminished numbers most likely due to sickened Panthers fans. All the men that did post ran hard (3.2 miles) through a hilly course. As someone who never considered himself a runner, I can’t recommend enough to mix in some running workouts. They will make you faster at boot camps. Both Bucky & Morning After crushed the final Brixham hill. Slum Lord & Frehley’s certainly don’t show their respectable ages pounding our ‘Mericans and finishing each sprint strong. Dumpster Fire, who dons a banada more often than Brett Michaels, is positing regularly again, losing weight and gaining speed.Paper Jam reminded us, quite loudly, that this workout isn’t Swift. Nard Dog is ready, ready to Q. Let’s get him on the calendar. I’ll be there.
I missed some folks on name-o-rama. Nothing personal, if you are missing, shout it out.
Today was like Algebra and recess combined.
With BRR taper in full swing, a mighty six arrived at Elon Park Elementary for an hour of fitness and fun.
Warm-up
Lap around the school.
SSH x 20
IW x 20
Good Morning x 10 each leg
LSS x 10
Mountain Merkins x 20
Playground
Burpees/Pull-up ladder
1 pull-up / 2 burpees
2 pull-ups / 4 burpees
3 pull-ups / 6 burpees
4 pull-ups / 8 burpees
5 pull-ups / 10 burpees
Outside classroom benches
1 burpee / 2 jump-ups
|
V
10 burpees / 20 jump-ups
Backside of school
Rock, paper, sitters
Pair up, from the people’s chair/wall sit play rock, paper, scissors until one PAX wins 10 times, winner gets for Mary until all finish
Rinse & repeat
Finished with bear crawl, crab walk out of the alley
Picnic tables
Arm wrestling tournament
Pair-up and compete vs both arms, tie-breaker is right arm
Rinse and repeat until we have a winner or until everyone is confused. (It’s early.)
Agility drill
3 lines of three cones spanning a parking aisle
Pair up. Each pair is trying to manuver the cones to points towards himself. One must side shuffle back and forth turning the cones. (You can’t sit at one cone and guard it.)
Rinse & repeat x 3
Wheel of merkin
5 inlcine, 5 offset R, 5 decline, 5 offset L
Repeat reducing the number by 1 until
1 incline, 1 offset R, 1 decline, 1 offset L
5 deconstructed burpees
6MOM
15 crunches
15 LBC
10 each side crunch knees R/L
15 box cutter
20 Sid the Kid (10 each side)
20 Freddy Mercury
Moleskine
I have a conference call in 7 minutes, so this will be brief. Thanks to everyone for coming out. Keep coming out! The burpee/jump-up ladder was a smoker! Thanks for induldging me in some new games. I think the cone agility drill was great. I’ll do that again.
I’ll be back to Fat Camp as Q in 2 weeks for the big 4-0. Be there!
Announcements
Fire Marshall Bill to host a 3rd F. Details will follow on slack/twitter.
Quick Warm-up
SSH x 15
IW x 15
LSS x 15
Merks x 15
The Drill
Everyone’s bells, in no particular order, lined up the length of the parking lot. There are three exercises per round. For each round, PAX will perform 10 reps (or 5 per side) at a kettlebell. After completing that exercise, PAX slides to the next bell until he returns to his original bell. If you finish before your neighbor, you get a short break. After each round we circled up short pause and instructions on the next three exercises. We (almost) finished 5 rounds.
R1
2 hand swings
Alt hand swings
Cleans
R2
Squat (goblet or teabag)
Bob & weave
Rows
R3
Lunge & press
Thrusters
High pulls
R4
Deadlift (single leg, if able)
Tactical lunge (from lunge position, circle bell around thigh)
Clean (single leg, if able)
R5
2 hand swings
Snatch
Racked lunge
This was my first non-boxing Foxhole Q and I was having trouble coming up for inspiration. I knew I couldn’t stand in the middle of cirlce for 45 min. (Too weak!) After scrolling through dozens of websites and youtube videos, I found the All Down the Line concept. I liked the idea of keeping up a decent tempo while trying a variety of weights. We had the perfect sized group with about a dozen bells of various poundage. Not a lot of mumblechatter today. The line-up didn’t facilitate much 2nd F. (It could be worse, at least you didn’t need to run through woods in the dark. #thebrave.)
An honor to lead! Aye!
If you haven’t already binge watched the Netflix series Stranger Things, do it. Without giving too much away, it’s about a boy who goes missing while cutting through the woods. Things do get strange as we learn he may or may not have fallen into a different dimension via a wormhole created by the Department of Energy and its experiments on psychic children. Plus, it’s got a drunken cop, a monster and Wynona Ryder (everyone loves a comeback). Where am I going with this?
Thirteen men, all old enough to know better, are staring at each other, under the 485 overpass. To even get to this point, we had stumbled in the dark, through a highly vegetated hobo-trail, past the Kid Pond on the backside of the Bull Ring. After 10 merkins, the call is move forward. However, we would go no further. The overpass crosses a swift moving, peter-deep creek. The right call was to turn back before we fell into a worm-hole.
I have to admit I was crushed our trailblazing ended a mere 15 minutes into the journey, plus I had no plan B. Here’s what I managed to come-up with.
7s on the hill behind the Kid Pond (very steep)
Merkins on bottom, burpees on top
3 laps of Kid Pond
10 merkins / 10 CCDs with each lap
Bull Ring lap and half
10 burpees at each half lap
From the front of the Bull Ring, run back to the center building and then to the Vine with 5 merkins at each cross street.
With 5 minutes left, we finished with a final lap of Conlan Circle and time bomb burpees. We managed just over the minimum 4 miles.
Moleskine
Thanks to the PAX who were pretty daring to even enter the woods and those who showed a lot of patience when it didn’t go as planned. Thank you.
Announcements
Pool Party Sat.
Ghost Flag team leaves for Shelby, NC 6 AM at Vine
As I approached the shovel flag, I hear the PAX mumbling about who take the lead. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m here I just couldn’t figure out where to park.”
We began with a quick lap around the lot with a smattering of high knees, butt-kickers and side-shuffles. With some direction assistance, 4 sheets of paper and a smart phone we descended into a small field.
HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training
Round 1
High knee – 30 sec
Squat – 50 sec
Merkin – 30 sec
Squat – 30 sec
Carolina Dry Docks (CCD) – 30
Lunge – 50 sec
Merkin – 30 sec
Lunge – 30 sec
CCD – 30 sec
Rest 50 sec
Round 2
Side Straddle Hop – 30 sec
Burpees – 50 sec
Side Straddle Hop – 30 sec
Burpees – 50 sec
Side Straddle Hop – 30 sec
Burpees – 50 sec
Side Straddle Hop – 30 sec
Burpees – 50 sec
Side Straddle Hops – 30 sec
Rest – 50 sec
Round 3
LBC – 30 sec
Flutter – 50 sec
LBC – 30 sec
Rosalita – 50 sec
LBC – 30 sec
Heels to Heaven – 50 sec
LBC – 30 sec
Dolly – 30 sec
LBC – 30 sec
Rest – 50 sec
Round 4
Sea turtle – 30 sec
Bird dog – 50 sec
Superman – 30 sec
Bird dog – 50 sec
Sea turle – 30 sec
Bird dog – 50 sec
Superman – 30 sec
Bird dog – 50 sec
Sea turtle – 30 sec
FIN
Back to start for Ark Loaders
Bear crawls
1 foot hops
Crab walks
Grapevine
The last few minutes for Plank Wars.
Moleskine
Thanks for indulding me in something different from the normal run here, run there F3 workout. I’m nursing a sore foot, plus I have no idea how to navigate to the large AO, so HIIT seemed like a good idea.
Thanks again to Bratwurst for bailing me out of a Foxhole Q. This was my way of paying him back.
Welcome FNGs Troilet and Ash Pond! Keep coming back!
After being away for way too long for vacation, business trip and another vacation, I have returned for three Qs this week. It was two, but Pebbles need a sub. (He Qs all the time, so I’m not giving him any static.) My plan was to keep us moving, not run too far and incorporate some new animal/primal movements into the set.
And away we go, go, go…
Side Straddle Hop x 20
Merkin x 15 IC
Imperial Walker x 15 IC
Mountain Climber x 20 IC
Run down to the wall at Ballantyne Medical Pl.
7 muscle ups & 7 donkey kicks then run to corner of Ballantyne Commons and back
14 muscle ups & 14 donkey kicks then run to corner of Ballantyne Commons and back
7 muscle ups & 7 donkey kicks then run to corner of Ballantyne Commons and back
Run to the Duckworth Parking lot
Crawl (knees elevated, but not bear crawl) to end of parking lot – which is VERY far when crawling, 20 Merkins
One foot-hop (switching half-way), 20 Carolina Dry Docks
Side Shuffle, 20 American Hammer
Crab walk, 20 flutter
Broad Jump, 20 Sea turtles
Duck walk, 20 glute marches
Circle-up
20 Kick-through
20 Prone Scorpions
More Walls
Now at the tall wall next to Duckworth’s we completed circuits of wall climbs
A quick round of pulsing squats x 10
Back to American Vine Kitchen for Plank Wars. Loser does five burpees.
Moleskine
It’s great to be back! I missed you guys. I’m hope everyone enjoyed the new movements. The primal animal moves help incorporate full range of motion and core stability including the back. Though I did hear some mumble chatter about wanting to “just run”. (Hey if you want to run, show-up for Swift.) Check out the video for more ideas.
If you enjoy my Qs, see me at Dromedary and The Brave this week.