A new AO launched almost a year after #F3Anson launched. The Anson launch was during a Tropical Storm and now we launch #F3Monroe in a hurricane. #GJtradition Thanks to Hurricane Matthew, I’ve got FNGs dropping like crazy. But then, hope arrives. 1 FNG (Friendly New Guy) forsake sanity to brave the hurricane. No wait, 2 FNGs. Now it’s on. Let’s go!!!
Mosey to the cement area in front of the stairs for some COP
COP (Circle of Pain)
Horsehead quickly refuses to demo LBCs. I had no plan to actually do LBCs here but I just wanted to see if I could get him soaked right away. He, of course, refused like the champion he is.
SSH IC x20
IW IC x20
Mountain Climbers IC x20
Merkins IC x10 (YHC warned to not Google merkins – For us, it’s short for ‘Merican style pushup. For Google, it’s, um, not worth googling or so I’ve been told by those who have – which I have not since I was warned #purity)
What do you do during a Hurricane? You run to the High Ground of course.
Run up the hill to the flagpole.
Pledge of Allegiance at the top.
Run back down to the cement area.
Partner Up for Dora 1/2/3
P1 does merkins while P2 runs up the hill and back down.
Flip flop until:
100 merkins combined
200 squats combined
300 LBCs combined
During the 200 squats, the hill really started to suck bad.
Mosey to the covered shelter (who knew there was something covered out here. My bad guys! You got wet for nothing).
At the benches:
20 step ups each leg
20 dips
20 derkins (decline merkins)
Repeato
Repeato
Dry time is over. Let’s mosey back to the hill.
Bear Crawl up to the top of the hill then run down the steps.
Repeato
Repeato
Stop in the cement area to teach some standard F3 leg/core exercises
But let’s start with Burpees OYO x10. Thanks TLS for the Demo
Dolly IC x10
Rosalita IC en espanol x10
Flutters IC x10
Freddie Mercury IC x10
Enough of that. Let’s mosey to the swampy field. Get with your partner again
Wheelbarrow to the curb around playground. Switcheroo back
Of course, Partner carry to curb. Switcheroo back
Lunge Walk w/ Forward Jump to curb and back.
Bear Crawl to curb. Crab walk back
Lunge Walk w/ Burpee to curb.
Mosey to the bottom of the hill.
Jailbreak run (All You Got) to the flagpole.
Mosey to cement area
5MOM (Minutes of Mary)
Protractor
Dolly IC x30
LBCs IC x20
Carolina Drydocks IC x15
We have a minute and a half left according to EE who is terrible at time keeping.
10 minutes of burpees to finish. Felt like 10 minutes at least.
DONE!!!
COT (Circle of Trust)
Grateful for the prayers for my M and thankful for a clean MRI
Thankful for HBs job
Prayers for DT’s second interview
Prayers for #F3Anson Weiner for some lumps they found. Praying they are nothing
YHC took us out (with a moment of apology for having to say Weiner in a prayer though God knows who it is – just #awkward)
Moleskine
– It’s a hurricane. Rained the entire time. The hill was slick. The field swampy. But 34 men ignored danger, accepted being soaked and followed me for a hour (felt like 2 hours).
– Best nickname for the hill I heard was Hotdog Hill for the guys willing to run down it. #dumb #Iwasoneofthem
– So grateful to pax from Fort Mill, Anson Co, Gastonia, South Charlotte as well as the Union Co guys who came to support this launch. I am thankful for you men for your support.
– FNG Bundy (Evan) did great out there (even in the wind jacket) and was a total shock as I didn’t know him before today and he just saw it on social media and said ‘Why not!?’ Knowing nobody and show up from a post on social media during a hurricane. #HIM (High Impact Man). Youth Pastor who made sure to let us know his first love is God and he’s married w/ children. Thus, Bundy! Short for Al Bundy from Married w/ Children. Already planning to be back next week with others. #beastmode
– FNG Blowout (Will) was busting it out there. I knew he was in good shape already (he’s in the Sunday School class I teach) but he was beasting out there. Got named blowout as he is a driller and we were working with Deepwater Horizon and then Chelms got us to Blowout. A really great guy that is another #HIM already. And he HC’d (Hard Commit) himself yesterday when the rain messed up his plans. #strong
– Horsehead mocked me the whole time. #hategrowing
– My signature squeaky cadence showed up. Another solid reason I’m named after Mike Tyson’s Punch Out
– We’ve only scratched the surface of Belk-Tonawanda park. There is lots available to us (some actually flooded today) and we aren’t restricted to just the park. Hint Hint
– Great to see Electric Slide back out. One of the early #F3UnionCo guys.
– And yes, Viper (my Dad) was there so I may have been the oldest 2.0 in F3 today. BTW, he turns 60 this November #doublerespect
– Let guys know and bring them out. No Hurricane next Saturday on the 10 day forecast.
Appreciate you guys letting me lead. It’s humbling to lead such a group of men.
Glass Joe
Repeat quote for me, but necessary. It was moist. Regardless, 7 men showed up to put in work. Sure, a few of them might’ve been there for the cancelled kettle bell workout, but still.
Meager disclaimer provided, Little W introduces himself as McGee’s dad. Interesting development. Onward. Did I mention the rain? Yog over to the covered entrance with the fake grassy hill. Warmup in relative dryness – SSH, IW, Mountain Climber, Squats, Peter Parker.
Over to the rock pile near the entrance. Select a lifting rock, then jog it over the hotbox. Select a picnic table. With the rock, 10 curls, 10 overhead presses, 10 tricep extensions. Run to the 1st trashcan. Repeat with all 7 trashcans. Recover with a little mary.
Jog back to the fake grassy hill. Old school: He Hate Me – 10 lunges each leg, 10 burpees, 10 old school situps. Keep going for 9 minutes. Recover with a little mary.
Back to the hotbox. People’s Chair on the wall. AYG to the church entrance and back (qtr mile-ish). Recover in chair. AYG to second light post. More chair. AYG to closest light post.
Around to the tables. 5 right leg step ups. 5 incline merkins. 5 left leg step ups. Run to the last trash can. Repeat with all 7 trash cans. Recover with a little mary.
Grab your rock and head back to the covered entrance. 15 squat thrusters with rock, 10 HR merkins. Repeat. Take your rock back the pile. Indian run back to cars. 1 more minute for Peter Parker and Parker Peter. Done.
Moleskin
Good times. I was surprised to see a fair sized group of guys when I rolled in, not so secretly hoping nobody showed up and I could go home. That’s why we post though – nobody would do that workout in that weather on his own. It was fun having a couple of Metro guys from the CORE workout group – Little W and Hoe Down. Little W is McGee’s dad. He took it pretty easy on McGee despite our questions. McGee hopes he’s in that good of shape when he’s 59. The rain was with us the whole time, but it wasn’t terrible. I sweat so much that I wasn’t any wetter at the end than I have been all Summer.
Announcements:
Sign up for Southern Discomfort (10/22)
Kettle Bell Clinic rescheduled for next Saturday (10/15)
Joe Davis Run is coming up in early January
Evidently last week really put a blemish on the reputation of the Kevlar AO and it’s ability to continue to be seen as one of the tougher workouts of the week. YHC wasn’t there (probably a late Thur night) but the stories have been endless. Matter of fact, the phone was buzzing by 9am that morning from one of the site Q’s to remind YHC of what was expected at Kevlar. In addition, another phone call was made to me yesterday afternoon just to be sure. It was sheer panic. Everybody just calm their tiaaaats. Enter stage left Spackdizzle to save the day, and really the site for that matter.
First and foremost, 5 MEN double downed with a little pre KB work. You know, to go along with the theme that this place is just crazy hardcore. 12 others completed the group before 5:30 for a total of 17, disclaimer was given and we were off.
Thang
Mosey down to the lot for a preferably short COP and some mockery – 15 SSH
2 lines at end of lot for an indian run around the loop.
Get in groups of 3 and grab a plate for partner work
Partner 1 does exercise while Partner 2 runs with a plate down to Partner 3 who was about 200 yards away doing some other exercise. We did a few rounds of this with merkins, squats, CDD’s and lunges.
Return the plates and head back down to school lot.
2 rounds of running with exercises at 3 different street lamps (roughly 100 yards) – Merkins first round and Monkey Humping the 2nd round.
Complete that same format but just windsprints
Mosey to hill for Triple Nickel – Dolly at bottom, Diamond Merkins at top – running up hill backwards
Return back to the parking lot for the ultimate finishing exercise, The Eternal Flame.
Done
Moleskine
Besides epically tougher than normal workouts (besides last week), what makes this AO stand out is the chatter. Some things or comments YHC picked up today in no order:
And lastly, I NOT DOINGGGG DAT!
Announcements
KB instructional Q tomorrow at Calvary at 8am – rain or shine
F3 Egypt2 to start this weekend in Monroe
Low 60’s and the lightest of rain. YHC’s favorite workout conditions. Drove past Udder who was running in. Jamboree either ran in or was doing a pre-run. Everybody was standing around exchanging pleasantries. Cars continued to roll into the Centurion lot. A thorough disclaimer was requested by Hannibal, who was our #26 this morning. He left a little early. Blood donation yesterday left him slightly off his A-game. We missed him in the count. Thorough disclaimer given. Personal safety and well-being is the responsibility of no one but yourself. Work hard, be safe, watch out for the men around you. Let’s go.
Thang
Mosey north through campus out the 51 entrance/exit. Continue north on 51 to Wells Fargo lot and circle up.
COP
IW x 10 IC
Merkin x 20 IC
MC x 10 IC
Mosey north on 51 to shopping center at Carmel and 51.
Triple Triple
10 Merkin/10 Jump Squat/10 Carolina Dry Docks
Run up stairs, across 2nd floor walkway of shopping center, down stairs and back to launch.
Repeat x 2. 3 exercises/3 reps. Triple Triple.
Plank-o-rama to regroup. High plank and low plank. Various moves and holds. Of note were the Alternating Leg Lifts In Cadence x 15. Stolen directly from Hops Q on Wednesday at Anvil. No shame in stealing ideas. That’s why we write backblasts.
Mosey out of shopping center down 51 back to campus. Enter Tartarus (parking deck).
Reverse plank. YHC took a moment with the captive pax to share feelings of gratitude this morning. Thankful to be able to be with these men this morning. To lead a workout. To be able to run and share the experience with 25 pax.
Flop over to high plank. AYG to top of Tartarus at YHC’s signal.
Plank-o-rama to regroup. Checkpoint appreciated the elbow plank on the rough deck surface.
Descend stairs to ground level at stairwell 1.
Triple Nickel–Full Tartarus version
AYG up stairwell 1. 5 Burpees. AYG across deck to stairwell 3. Down stairwell 3. 5 Burpees. AYG to launch. Repeat x 4. 5 Burpees/5 Burpees/5 repetitions.
Mary
Start at 6 inches and hold after each exercise.
Flutter x 10 IC/Heels to Heaven x 10 IC/High Flutter x 10 IC/Dolly x 10 IC/LBC x 10 IC
Merkin x 5 IC. Stopped at 5 due to car pulling in. Enter Tartarus.
AYG to top. Plank series at top. Merkins x 10 IC. Down stairs to ground level. Continue mosey to launch lot. Done.
COT
After COT, YHC had to double time it home. Shower, shave, get dressed, coffee, breakfast, help get kids ready, and out the door by 0655. Hate to have to leave so abruptly after workouts, but fatherly duty calls. Thoroughly enjoyed the workout with this group of men.
Speaking of this group, the ages ranged from 18 to 55. That is a 37 year spread. Fantastic to have 8 Respects with us. These guys crushed it. Checkpoint took top honors on the Triple Nickel, which is a beast of a set. 50 Burpees. 20 stories up and 20 down. At least 1000 yards of AYG running. The Triple Triple was a good warmup for the Nickel. Cane put up a good push on Checkpoint. Several others close behind. Brilleaux, Marconi, Hops to name a few. Great to have our SOB brothers join us today at Centurion.
So where was Chelms? Fatherly duty called him this morning too. His M is traveling. Missed him out there this morning.
A bit more on gratitude. Heavy on my heart today after listening to a podcast that Tiger Rag recommended. Gratitude is the quality of being thankful. YHC was thankful to be out this morning. Thankful to have the ability to lead this group and complete this workout. A few short months ago that ability eluded YHC. Paper Jam took us out with a strong prayer. He prayed that we each be thankful for the day and all the days that we are given, regardless of circumstance. Life is tough sometimes. Continue to be thankful. Have heartfelt gratitude.
Announcements
Ragnar today and tomorrow. Anne Springs Close Greenway. Go out and support/heckle your F3 brothers.
10/22 Southern Discomfort. Sign up.
Joe Davis Memorial Resolution Run. Registration open. Register.
Ok… inside/carry-over joke from Thursday’s Peak 51… the “duck” stops here!!
But just know this for those that did NOT heed the MANDATORY Fart Sack evacuations… The Mouth, I’m looking at you… Early Bird…. Slice… Voodoo…Strange Brew!! several others… here’s what you missed…!!!
We skipped, pranced and frolicked up and down Strawberry Ln for an hour… stopping only occasionally to poke the duck…!! More on that later.
Here’s what went down…
5-5.5 miles… DONE!
Moleskine
Well, you couldn’t call it rain… because we didn’t get wet… but then the ground was wet, and something was hitting us in the face and reflecting off of the headlamps… it was definitely a “ducky” morning! I’m not sure how we got on to the ducks… but at one point, Nomad extorted the PAX “Don’t Poke The Duck” in reference to questioning how many rounds we had left.
Welcome to Cornrow and Thurston as site FNG’s. I met with Thurston yesterday to talk about running workouts, and out he came! Excellent job… please come back! Cornrow was EH’d by Draino… despite that… please come back!! 🙂 Just playing… both of you guys did great!
Speaking of Draino… getting stronger and stronger! Consistently out front today for a lot of the intervals… great stuff!
Geraldo and I swore the jeep in the parking lot belonged to Zombie… but NO Zombie!! After 2 rounds, Geraldo breaks off to go see if he can find Zombie… NO Zombie…!! We finish up, and as everyone is heading out… there goes Zombie’s jeep… but NO Zombie…!! Was he mad at us? Did Sensei offend him yesterday?? Questions that needed to be answered… until I think I figured it out… Draino has a jeep… Am I right?? If Zombie is reading this, hopefully it will bring a tear to his eye that Geraldo cared enough to go looking for him!!
Joker… out front… all morning… ’nuff said.
Tweetsie and Lois just keep getting better! You guys are such a blessing to me and the group. Can’t wait until BRR 2017!
High Tide was strong… of course he brought his “comfort”-bells… isn’t a workout for High Tide without some bell swinging! Yes… I’m jealous!
Retread… consistent… solid!
Dumpster Fire is making the biggest move of the group! He joined me for a pre-run, and then showed some flashes of Glory Days with a :30-second Brian’s Song re-enactment. We also got to see his lady friend that now walks her dog early in the morning in hopes she will be able to spot that shirtless Zeus pounding out LBC’s on boring Strawberry Ln… Cue the Harlequin music.
Nomad took us out in prayer.
You guys are awesome!! More than an honor to lead you guys!
Announcements:
1. Joe Davis Run Jan 7, 2017. Sign up now… you don’t want to miss it… (See… that let’s YOU be in charge of the decision… don’t make me have to sign up FOR you!!)
2. Southern Discomfort Saturday Oct 22… sign-up if you enjoy Rashambo!!
Last Friday night General, One-Niner, and YHC rucked around the greenway for the last Black Diamond. General couldn’t go get a beer so One-Niner had no choice to hand the baton to Mighty Mite.
Elon Park is one of the better AOs in the region and closest to my house so we met at 0500 and got after it.
THE THANG
Warm Up 12 SSH, 12 IW, 12 Windmills
Each pax picks up two bricks and gets instruction:
1 mile run to and back from the clubhouse in the woods with bricks
100 pullups on the playground(no bricks)
200 man maker merkins with bricks
300 squats with bricks
400 lbcs with bricks
1 mile run to and back from the clubhouse in the woods with bricks
MOLESKINE
Black Diamond is supposed to be a more difficult than average workout and I think we accomplished that. None of the pax finished the 2nd mile and only a few were able to finish the reps and get a short run in at the end. Most of the mumblechatter was complaining about the workout. Adding brick man-makers in the merkins was the biggest #crowdpleaser.
In the spirit of fostering leadership amongst the pax, the next Q was given to Fallout. Stay tuned for his decision on the next time and location.
Announcements:
YHC to Q Stonehenge this Saturday. We’re going to do a lot of 30 sets. DaVinci is converging with with Stonehenge. If you’re not out running in the woods for Ragnar, come for the birthday celebration. Even try to come by if you have enough time between Ragnar legs.
The Brave and Fight Club both closed on 10/7.
Pray for all those in harm’s way from Hurricane Matthew
I pulled in the parking lot and saw a few more cars trickle in. I tied my shoes, started the watch, and then off we went on a mosey. I wasn’t sure exactly where we were going at first, but we circled up close to Smoke for our warm-up.
COP:
20 x SSH
20 X IW
15 x Merkin
The Thang:
Mosey over to the wall between Firebirds and Cantina. 10 dips, 10 derkins all on my count nice and slow. 3 rounds.
Mosey over to the fountains for some more fun. I felt bad for those of us with chicken legs, so I decided to throw in some leg work. And to allow for recovery on our chest and arms, we added in some running.
10 x 1 legged squat, each leg
10 x crucible merkin
10 x skull crusher on wall
Run a lap around both buildings. Repeat 3 times.
50 LBCs for recovery
Mosey down to the parking lot in front of Mattress Firm. Same concept.
Lunge walk to other end of parking spaces
10 x merkin
10 x Diamond merkin
Run around both buildings. Repeat 3 times.
On the last lap we stopped at the Chick Fil A and then did an Indian Run back to the launch point. We had a few minutes left for Mary. Each Pax called a different exercise.
COM:
Russian twist, Flutter, Freddy Mercury, Boat Scrubber or something insane, Merkins, LBCs, Heels to Heaven, Rose a Lita, and something else Goonie called that I forgot.
Moleskin:
Thanks for letting me lead Heartbreak and Strawberry. Strawberry had a cold and stuck to the home remedy of Fireball shots. The group was off to a rough start. Heartbreaker faked a shoulder injury during the warm up because he must have known we were going to do a lot of Merkins. I think he modified the whole workout and just went to eat breakfast at Chick Fil A. Commish was pushing it hard as always, and I could already see his pecs protruding from his shirt. But he doesn’t like a fast cadence during the warm up. He likes it nice and slow. (that’s what she said) Frehley’s was complaining that his chest was already big enough, but he participated anyway. I think it was Bucky, Tag Along and Goonie pushing the runs every time, along with Morning Sfter. All the men really got after it. I heard a lot of complaining, grunting, and I saw a lot of swollen chest and arms today. Great work everyone and mission accomplished. Shout out to Champagne for the idea. He ran a similar workout earlier this year and it sucked even worse. He didn’t let us recover. I couldn’t handle it without a little recovery so I through the running in between.
Announcement:
Sign up for Southern Discomfort
Keep Huggie Bear and Frasier, and their families in your thoughts.
No. No, it isn’t. Nothing disparaging to say about my formerly favorite Thursday workout, prior to Meathead that is, but this ain’t Hydra. Our unplanned posting pax was joined by 13 planned pax plus a very late LIFO to make 15 who made the optimal choice this Thursday. Let me tell you a little som’thin’ about what they did.
A Moleskinish Thang:
So, Tackling Dummy was posting to Hydra today. Trouble is, he was riding with his neighbor, Sidecar, who was posting to Meathead. No worries, brother. Here are a couple KBs to keep you company. Enjoy!
No newbies today, but a thorough disclaimer was provided anyway, plus something about modifying as needed, make it easier or harder as you deem fit, it’s your workout, blah-blah-blah. Something like that; I wasn’t really listening.
COP:
With our warm-up complete, YHC audibled to flip the script (#weinke). A preflight on Tuesday had convinced him that the grinding portion of today’s festivities should come before the met-con portion. This was a smart move. Another smart move was dropping a bell size due to the exhaustion & soreness from Tuesday.
So, partner up with like-sized bells for some doubles. Presses are involved, so choose wisely.
Double Your Fun:
Audible – after 7.5 minutes, everyone had completed 5 sets, so we moved on to other things. And, by “moving on”, I mean we did long waiter carries (locked out overhead). Simba asked whether this violated the #0.0 clause of the Meathead constitution. I argued, no, because (1) we were walking, not running, despite my having called it a “mosey”, and (2) Brown wasn’t here to enforce #0.0.
So, a long waiter carry across the parking lot to the school, over to the track, and to the playground (about a 2.5 minute walk – yes, I timed it), switching sides halfway or as needed.
Playground set – 7’s:
YHC offered his plan to do a set every 3 minutes (giving ~1:1 work:rest ratio), which would be 7 sets, totaling 49 pullups, 98 snatches, & 147 merkins. Or, whatever suits you.
Shout out to Bulldog for…encouraging the pax with his call-outs of the remaining time, each met with groans from the pax. After about midway through, we were all ready for the end.
Speaking of midway, somewhere along here was the sudden appearance of LIFO Hard Hat. Welcome! You’ve got some catching up to do. (Thx, Witch Doctor, for first helping with snatch form and then recommending a modification to swings.)
Completely spent, YHC calls for racked carries (bell on your chest/arm, fist under your chin), back the way we came, around the track and across the parking lot, back to where this little party began. It was remarked that, hey, it’s shorter to cut across here (about 2:00 shorter – yes, I timed it), to which I replied, sure, but if you go that way, we’ll have more stuff to do when we get there. So, we each opted for the long way home.
We arrived Done.
COT
Announcements:
Thanks, Chin Music, for the take-out.
No High T this week. We are joining with the kettlebell clinic and having fun in the rain.
17 PAX departed the Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne with running on the mind on Tuesday. Pretty much everyone got their fill… and then some.
The THANG:
The Moleskin:
Without a recording from COT, had to go off memory and Strava to put together the PAX list. Keep me honest.
SYITG,
Bratwurst