Predictably painful Peak
With the stars out overhead and ideal cool, still air, 11 men gathered to see what kind of pain YHC had scheduled. Here’s how that worked out:
Mosey to back bus lot and around it 2 laps adding dynamic stretching second lap.
COP:
SSH-15IC Merkin ring 1X
IW-15IC Merkin ring 2X
Squats-15IC Merkin ring 3X
Seal Jack-15IC Merkin ring 4X
Windmill-10IC Merkin ring 5X
The Main Thang:
Mosey to playground equipment and find a pullup or supine pullup bar
Up & hold 5 count then 5-count descent
10 CDD OYO //REPEATO minus 1 CDD each round until 1 CDD
Mosey back to bus lot, partner up for some plank walks. Partners face each other in plank on same line (spread out!) and plank walk toward fields 5 lines, then back to start, stopping for one merkin at each line. Stay with partner.
Mosey to sidewalk. Lunge walk ~ 10 yards, then mosey to base of hill for 7s.
1LBC @ bottom, backward run to top, 6 squats, down, 2/5, etc
Mosey to near wall. People’s Chair w/palm up/down -20IC
Mosey to parking lot for Mary:
Flutter-15IC
Bicycle-15IC
Superman 10-count X2
Dolly-15IC
Dead bug-10IC
Superman 10-count X2
Bit of warm-down stretching and “time!”
COT
Announcements:
(From Tang) Mission trip opportunity: in March 11-21 to Chili (not the restaurant) to work with young faith leadership rebuilding from last year’s earthquake/tsunami.
Moleskin:
Merkin Ring, or Ring of Fire, or whatever it’s called, is one of those things that are easier to do than to explain. Fortunately, YHC had planned for us to get plenty of practice, with five rounds. Only 15 merkins total, but we really had to work for them.
Pullups are standard fare when YHC Qs, so shouldn’t have been any surprises this morning. Hopefully the 1-at-a-time method made it tolerable.
Plank walks are questionable as “moderate intensity” activity, but Slim Fast introduced them and he’s site Q, so please forward complaints to him. At least this time, we only did 5 each way, not like Slim Fast’s “five” which was more like 7.
Sounded like a teacher caught us practicing the Macarena while we were resting in our chairs. I’m sure that was fun for all, but the mumblechatter didn’t make it down to my end.
Thanks for keeping the count going while I tried to insert a comment here or there and totally lost track. I’m not a professional – but I do try to act like one (sometimes).
Thank you for the privilege of leading this morning. It’s fun to be back in A51 after long weeks in the wilds of Mint Hill.
Rebel Yell Back Blast
Thang: Keep it Moving…
COP
Imperial Walker X 15 IC
SSH X 25 IC
Merkin X 15 IC
Mountain Climber X 10 IC
Mosey to Circuit Training
Circuit: 3 Stations – Dips X 20, Merkin X20, Jump Squat X 20 (3 Rounds) finish w/ plank. Partner Up – “Push & Resist” 20 yards X 3. Mosey to Lot.
Lot: Supine X 30, Hand Slap Merkin X 25. Mosey to Speed Bump Alley mixing in lunge steps.
Speed Bump Alley: Suicide Burpees X 6 Speed Bumps. Finish w/ a mix of Mary. Indian Run to Wall at Launch area.
Wall: Peoples Chair – High legs, arm raises X 40, Donkey Kicks X 20 – 10 second hold & countdown on last kick. Mosey to Launch Area.
Mary – Wrapped it up w/ 5 minutes of Mary. LBC X 20 IC, Freddy Mercury X 20 IC, Heels to heaven X 20 IC & Russian Twist X 20 IC.
COT
Moleskin: Got of to fast start and never slowed down. Had a couple rabbits in the field who set the pace.. The PAX was all business getting it done… It was a real privilege to lead this fine group. Excellent work Men!!
Announcements
Site Q Meeting – Einstein Bagels this Saturday @ 8:30 AM. Encouraged the PAX to Double up Saturday w/ Stonehenge & Da Vinci.
True North
Dromedary pax is always a strong bunch just like any other post in this fine land we call F3Nation. As always we have one in the pax who challenges us to go harder or push our limits. Today was no different and when you are tired and ready for it to be over. More on that later…
Virtual Shovel Flag Planted
The Thang:
Jog over to high school entrance where the concrete is dry – disclaimer
COP
SSH x 25
Windmills x 15
Mountain Climbers x 20
Monkey Squats 10 Civilian count
Partner up:
P1 runs around island parking lot while P2 does
Merkins – Flap Jack
LBC’s – Flap Jack
Ramp rail sliders/ bear crawl to start – flap jack
Rinse and repeato – crowd favorite
All pax runs island parking ends with ramp rail sliders bear crawls are greeted with Popeye (slap arse) as the faster guys crawled under.
Varies planks and 10 counts thrown in between sets for good measure.
Take a trip around the world. 10 Merkins at light poles to wait on the six. At North South East West stop and do 5 Burpees or modify with squats. (Define true north)
Slow mosey back to cars for pax choice Mary. Done:
The Moleskin:
Never pay attention to the twitter talk about weather. There was a bit of a drizzle but no real rain so the plan was simply to have fun. By now most of the Dromedary crew knows that when I lead we run. Mumble chatter started on the run up to the high school. We circle round to pick up Bratwurst only to have birthday boy roll in late. Followed by 
who by the way needs to get on twitter.
After demonstrating the Monkey Squat, Bratwurst added a twist and called it “Monkey Squat Humpers” which will debut the next time he Q’s. As I mentioned above there is one in the pax who always questions theory. In the past I always ignored it, but lately I get caught thinking about it as do other pax. Last week it was temperature and falling stars. Today it was true north. As we approached the world on the far entrance at the school I instruct the pax to run around the world and do said # of burpees at North – South – East – West. Bratwurst asks “how do we know where true north is”? Oh boy here we go again. I would say Bratwurst was talking about this “True North”, but then I thought…. nope he is probably talking about this “True North”. Once you read all of that you realize how the site Q’s get the pax motivated to go stronger. You learn something while you are running or lifting rocks. Thank you for the opportunity to lead.
Bratwurst took us out with a meaningful prayer.
Announcements:
- F3 Family hike at Anne Springs Greenway : Sunday, Feb 21th at Noon
- New workout F3 di Vinci Saturday’s at Blakeney at 7am
- Local race March 5th at Southpark GoJenGo – Read her story here great cause to support
- Please sign up to Q at F3 Dromedary – go to f3area51.apphb.com > Schedule > tab 1st F Info > click sign up link under Dromedary.
- F3 Commitment is Saturday at Weddington High School 6:30 – 7:30 2nd F Coffeeteria at Chik-fil-A Wesley Chapel.
- There are 3rd F (Faith) around town if you get a chance please attend.
Tuesdays: Timekeeper, 0630, Einstein Bagels, Ballantyne
Wednesdays: Aftermath, 0630, Piper Glen Starbucks
Fridays: Compass, 0630, Chik-fil-A Arboretum
Fridays: The Stand, 0630, Panera Carmel Village
Saturdays: The Grindstone, McDonald’s, Sun Valley Commons, Indian Trail, 0830-0900
Super Sets are the order of the day.
14 beasts answered the call this AM and decided to start the process of getting SWOL in 2016 with a post to Anvil even after YHC commented on twitter it would be old-school beat-down that would leave you all swol.
Veteran Anvil crew so quick disclaimer was given to allow Deep Dish to join us and off we went.
Quick mosey around the parking lot to get the blood flowing
COP:
All in cadence
20 x IW
Arm circles – civilian count – need to get the shoulders loose and blood flowing
20 small forward
20 small backward
10 big forward
10 big backward
Slow Squats x 15
Slow Merkins x 10
The Thang:
Old School superset – time to get all swol.
3 groups of 3 exercise x 4 sets = lots of fun. All on Q’s count – to ensure slow steady and good form.
1st Group:
10 Jump downs (basically reverse of a jump-up – drop down off bench and explode back up)
10 derkins – slow steady form
10 dips – slow and steady
Rinse and repeat for 4 total rounds
2nd Group
15 Split squats – each leg
10 diamonds
10 skull crushers using the picnic tables
Rinse and repeat for 4 total rounds
3rd Group
20 raised leg lunges – each leg
15 crucible merkins
10 raised feet CDDs
Rinse and repeat for 4 total rounds
Quick mosey to Rock pile for rock work.
10 x teabag squats
10 x triceps extensions
10 x should presses
Rinse and repeat for 3 total sets – all on Q’s cadence.
Quick mosey back to launch.
Time for Mary
15 x old school leg raises – straight legs – knees locked 6 inches to 90 degrees
15 x small bridges – starting to get more back work in.
Finished.
NMM
Solid Crew today. Talking with Mermaid last night and realized he needed some help with the Anvil Q, so thougth why not, had some new ideas or better yet, old school ideas YHC wanted to use.
Enter a good ole’ fashioned bodyweight beatdown. Not sure about everyone else, but YHC felt this one all day. Thanks for allowing YHC to lead this morning and for choosing the Red pill and deciding to post with YHC. Its always an honor to lead these men thru the gloom.
And yes, the form police was in action today, but not in calling people out, but rather teaching. At times we get too caught up on quantity, instead of quality. For real strength gains nothing beats good solid form and slow deliberate reps. Again, thanks for humoring YHC. The pax were probably tired of hearing YHC talk by the end.
Serioulsy though, bodyweight stuff can be as hard and you want to make it. Those interested, check out the book – Convict Conditioning by Paul “coach” Wade. There are 6 beast moves in the body weight training world, the 1 handed pushup, 1 handed pull-up, 1 legged squat, hanging L-sit, Stand to Stand Bridge (you will need to look this one up to understand it) and the Daddy of them all the 1 handed handstand pushup. Wade can crush all of these and provides good guidance on how to get there thru bodyweight training – we used some of his stuff today. Its worth a look.
Thanks again Mermaid and YL for the chance to lead these men.
IH – thanks for the send off – always solid and on point.
Announcments
There is a need in the mentoring program at South Charlotte middle – if interested and you feel called, please reach out to Mermaid: at f3mermaid@yahoo.com
Lets give back to the communities where we workout and make them better.
Champagne Out.
Bean Birthday Bash
18 human beings reported to The Maul to sharpen themselves and each other, and to support Mr. Bean on his birthday. Done and done, including a special birthday coupon for the guest of honor.
COP
- SSH x 24 IC
- IW x 24 IC
- MC x 25 IC
The Thang
Mosey to parking lot in front of Target. At the end of each parking lot aisle, perform 20 merkin-based exercise reps or 40 core-based exercise reps, then sprint down the aisle towards Target and mosey back down the next aisle. Plank for the 6 upon arrival at the end of the aisle and to wait for next called exercise. Exercises listed below:
- Merkins
- LBC’s
- Diamond Merkins
- Flutter
- Werkins
- Rosalita
- Hand Release Merkins
- Dolly
- Offset Left Merkins
- Freddy Mercury
- Offset Right Merkins
- Straight-armed Mason Twist
- Derkins
- Heels to Heaven
- Incline Merkins
- Boxcutter
- Plank / 6 inches
Mosey back to theater lot for name-o-rama, announcements, BOM.
Moleskine
- Strong turnout for Bean despite 60% chance of rain. Solid, men. Luckily the rain held off.
- A total of 160 merkin-based reps and 320 core-based reps were performed. We covered just under 3 miles according to YHC’s watch.
- YHC must have been brainwashed by Haggis’ double Q this past Saturday, as the workout was limited to merkin-based exercises, core-based exercises and sprints. It might be a while before YHC remembers that other exercises exist.
- Apparently “in cadence OYO” is not a thing. Lesson learned. #QFail
- Thanks to Madame Tussauds for the brilliant idea of presenting Bean w/ a coupon that he would have to carry for the entire workout. YHC’s M wrapped a paver in birthday wrapping paper and ribbons, and attached a festive “Birthday Boy” balloon. It was entertaining to watch Bean sprint across the parking carrying his gift with balloon in tow.
- Thanks to the “birthday boy” for being a good sport, and for taking us out. Bean, only 730 more days until you get some respect.
Announcements
- SOB 2nd F tonight at Brazwell’s at 7:30
- Breaking news: Squid and Pop Tart co-Qing Stonehenge this week!
- Site Q Meeting this Saturday at 8:30 at Einstein’s
- Support Frehley’s 52nd birthday Q at next week’s The Maul.
- Family hike at Anne Springs Greenway on Saturday, Feb 20th at 12:00
- Sign up to Q The Maul
You can’t, you won’t, and you don’t stop.
13 lucky charms decided they wouldn’t melt in a little drizzle (fo shizzle) and posted Fast Twitch without the crappy Indian Run at the end Death Valley, where the field is dark and the Q has hair. Stagecoach was the only site Q present (and wearing a fine looking safari jacket, I might add), with the originally scheduled #BigHairyGloss claiming that he needed to study for some sort of test. 46 and raining . . . a likely story, but I fell for it so here we go.
THANG:
COP in parking lot – SSH and IW, plank for some instructions
Ramble offsite into Raintree to the fabled Rising Meadow hill, marking the site of the first time I died at Fast Twitch. Circle back as necessary to keep the group together. Let’s share the love.
Triple Nickel on the hill to the fire hydrant at the top (which is further than the Site Q considered necessary, but we ignored him) – Spiderman Merkins at the bottom, Jump Squats at the Top. Speedsters pick up an extra lap to catch the six.
Regroup with some planking while I located my pancreas and head back to campus.
“TO THE TRACK!”, I shout with gusto. “YOU SUCK AND WE HATE YOU!”, echo the pax. A glorious exchange indeed. They acquiesce, and we head down into the valley.
- Lap – 10 merkins at each corner
- Lap – 10 merkins at end zones only
- Lap – 20 merkins back at start
Mosey back up to the parking lot and take one more lap just to hit 3.5 on the GPS
Mary
- American Hammer
- Farting Frog
- Flutter with hands on belly
- LBC
DONE
MOLESKIN:
First Q at the Valley – hope you boys enjoyed it. Felt a little Gumpy today, so we did some running.
20 year old soccer players like to run, and are pretty good at it. #Dollywood
Was neck in neck with the Joker/Sensei Animal/Hawkeye Road Warrior tag team all morning, and almost got clotheslined with their towel/spiked chain a couple of times. TClaps to both of these men for doing what they do.
Joker likes free stuff.
Freedom was pushing it hard this AM, never giving in. Looked like a big train coming through the fog with tag that cap light going. You have made a ton of progress big guy, and every workout that you attend is a better workout for everyone there.
Stagecoach posted in some sort of safari jacket. No sign of Cecil the Lion.
Not sure if I should be honored or offended that Tawney chose this as his first Varsity workout (his words), but we were glad to have him. Looked like he did just fine. No turning back now – see you at Skunkworks next week.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
don’t remember anything – shout out in the comments if I missed something.
Horsehead
Leading from the Middle
Seventeen Pax hit the ground running on this chilly morning at 5:30 sharp. (According to Wingman the time keeper) Here’s what happened:
The Thang:
Quick jog to parking lot for COP and a warm-up of:
Windmills x 20, Low-Slow Squat x 20, Calf-Stretch x 20, Mountain Climbers x 20, Burpees x 5 (OYO)
Mosey to Varrow Parking Lot for a ladder exercise series.
5 hand-release merkins, run to stop sign and return run (Repeato), 10 hand-release merkins (Repeato) 15 hand-release merkins.
20 LBC’s, backwards run halfway, run to stop sign and return run (Repeato) 25 LBC’s (Repeato) 30 LBC’s, Burpees x 5
Mosey towards the Bull Ring. Stop halfway for Burpees x 5. Make it to the Bull Ring for one full lap. Stop at each door entrance (4) for Merkins x 20. Plank-o-Rama to wait on the six.
Line up for an Indian Run back to COT. Stop into parking lot for Mary. Dollie x 20, LBC’s x 30 and Protractor. AYG Jailbreak back to the COT.
Moleskin
The QIC is happy to be back leading the men of Bagpipe. I’ve been on the IR list for a while and while the calf feels great, the stamina needs improvement. The Pax were very understanding as I occasionally led from the front, the rear, and mostly from the middle. It was great to see Heartbreaker, Hops and Pebbles (who was 15-lbs heavy with some kind of vest) having a run-off for first place on the ladder. (Freehley’s kept a close second.)
Announcements – SOB Social tomorrow night at Brazwells, SOB Family outing changed to Sunday, February 21st.
Double shaft with a smile
There were seven of us this morning. Of that, I am sure. This is what I think we did:
THANG
Run the HT mile – avoid ice and large holes.
Run to the large playground – 10 knees to elbows, 20 dips
Run back the way you came to the sidewalk. Lunge walk x10 each side, 10 merkins (continue alternating until you reach the other driveway to the school).
Run to the other playground – 10 pull-ups, 20 squats.
Run back to the sidewalk the way you came. Lunge walk x10 each side, 10 merkins (continue alternating)…
Repeat several times then run the HT mile again, but with the added twist of surprise Mary at HT.
MOLESKINE
So yeah, there were seven of us this morning. We ended up forming groups around the initial mile finish, which provided some 2nd F and made the seemingly endless lunge walk more endurable. That was a lot more merkins and lunge walking than I anticipated. I think 40 merkins each way, so yeah…lot of merkins and lunge walks.
No Sundancer despite the Iron Mike / Talk Box car pool (two just isn’t enough to qualify as a clown car). McGee aka Horseneck was there and deep six all morning. Only one of those statements is a complete lie. He doesn’t live in SC, or even Union Co, as I was lead to believe. I didn’t recognize High Tide (shh…though in his defense he promoted Meathead on Thursdays at COT) until 2/3 of the way through. That beard, man…if he wasn’t a nice guy, I’d probably say he could join a Just for Men commercial, but he is a nice guy, so I won’t say that. I also won’t say that Hammer appeared to be pulling him along most of the morning. One Eye went beyond the stipulations found in the “EZ Rings Safety Handbook” with both reflective vest and kids’ head lamp – no blinky light #notBRRseasonYet. He also put up with yet another week of a ton of lunge walks. YHC struggled this morning, but after some time away, definitely appreciative of the boost provided by the Pax. This thing we have is something that is easy to take for granted.
Only announcement was about Meathead, I think.
Surprise Q or Q surprised
Showed up for a quick warm up run and get a text from Turnpike asking if I could start the workout for him as he overslept. Sure, no problem. Do a quick run-by of the playground as we’ve never used that during a workout so why not do something new. Other than black ice on the sidewalk leading to it, it looks willing so off we go…
The Thang
Mosey to the parking lot beside Carolina Courts
COP
SSH IC x30
Look, it’s Short Circuit showing up late. In his honor, 10 Burpees OYO
IW IC x20
Run up to the playground for some station work:
Round 1: 20 reps of Dips, Declines, Donkey Kicks using swings, Step Ups (each leg x20)
Round 2: 25 reps of Dips, Declines, Donkey Kicks using swings, Step Ups (each leg x25)
Continue step ups each time until everyone has finished
Indian Run to the commercial park down the road.
Bear crawl to 1st light pole, merkins x10
Lunge walk to 2nd light pole, merkins x10
Bear crawl to 3rd light pole, merkins x10
Flutters IC until everyone finishes
Guessing 50 yards between light poles but felt like 150 yards between each pole with some of the ice still on the road
Increasing pace run back to the entrance where you increase pace at the light poles with an all out sprint to the last one.
Indian run back to the playground
Round 3: 30 reps of Dips, Declines, Donkey Kicks using swings, Step Ups (each leg x30)
Continue step ups until everyone has finished
Mosey back to the parking lot with our cars
Partner up. Partner 1 runs to the steps, up them, down them and back while Partner 2 does burpees. Flapjack until you’ve combined for 50 burpees. Most teams did 3 or 4 runs. Being on team Countertop helps not have to make that extra last run.
Flutters IC until everyone is finished (I think that’s what we did)
4 MOM
Dolly IC x30
Dolly IC x20
Dolly IC x10
1 min of Protractor
DONE!
COT
Pray for HBs MRI coming up on Thursday for his knee.
Thanks to Short Circuit who made up for his lateness with a strong prayer reminding us of what we should be about.
Announcements
Hairband on Q at Overdrive. Bring your kettlebells. Screw my life
Glass Joe on Q at Outland. Do not bring your kettlebell. Maybe a EE split…maybe not if his M has anything to do with it.
Moleskine
Had to make this one up on the fly. And think it worked. The station work sucked. That was a crapload of step ups which if you did them following the sneaky donkey kicks, the legs felt it.
I rarely Q bear crawls. Mostly because I hate them. My eyes got the better of me when I said we were bear crawling all three light poles. I reminded myself why I hate bear crawls on the way to the 1st light pole and promptly decided to change it up for the 1st to 2nd light pole stretch. Nevertheless, the 2nd to 3rd light pole bear crawl was obnoxiously long and terrible.
Saving the burpees until the end seemed to be popular given the groans.
Countertop beasted out those burpees and saved himself from one additional run that most of us got. Countertop could probably auction off being his partner and get some real money out of it.
All the guys worked hard this morning. This Q was not a normal one for me. But it’s probably one that nobody expected and glad to finally use the playground area as that isn’t one we’ve done before. Seems like I continue to take us to new areas each time I Q. There is one additional one that I haven’t used yet….so your anticipation can build now.
Honorary 0.1 count for Turnpike who did pull into the parking lot and then decided ‘Screw this’ and sped out. Come to find out that it was an emergency Elvis. Good call brother.
Thanks for letting me lead and not heckling me too bad for it. Hoping it was the toughness that kept the heckling down.
Glass Joe
Skunkworks – Do-Si-Do
22 men braved the treacherous ice for a workout despite another day of school closures for CMS.
Grab a partner and Do-Si-Do…or something like that.
Warm-Up
– SSS
– IW
– Merkins
– Two-handed swings on your own
Farmer Carries
– Partner 1: carry both KBs
– Partner 2: 10 merkins, chase partner
– Switch
Doubles
– Partner 1: called exercise
– Partner 2: lap around road and church sign
– Set 1: double swings
– Set 2: racked double squats
– Set 3: double high pulls
– Set 4: double suitcase lunges
Hill 7s
– Drop partner, solo vs the hill
– Set of 7, burpees at top, KB press at bottom
Finish back at the parking lot w/ 10 snatches each side
Good work out there today. More running than I had thought when I drew up the plan. We did hit some nice patches of ice on the road through the woods, hopefully no one went down. There was at least one awkward hug out there when we broke up the partner work. It was cold out there…but not that cold. Several new faces really pushed the pace out there. Well done. Honor to lead the group.
Harley