Monthly Archive February 2017

No Shoots? Just Ladders!

7 PAX showed up even though Goodfella pre-warned them about the merkin party. Tapping on your front shoulders should bring instant flashbacks to this mornings workout.

THE THANG:

A long mosey to the rock pile (lunge walk across bridge). SSH x 25, Merkin Ladder x 55, Squat x 20, IW x 25.

Grab a running; I mean lifting rock and partner up. Partner 1 run with the rock / Partner 2 does 3 burpees and catches P1. Flap jack until 2 laps are completed. Catching Hollywood is plain awful.

Mosey to half wall (bear crawl across bridge) : Dips x 25, Decline Merkin Ladders x 15, Dips x 15, Incline Merkin Ladders x 55

Mosey to block pile: Partner 1 run with 2 blocks / Partner 2 does 3 burpees and catches P1. Flap jack until 1 lap in completed. Block Triceps Extensions x 12,  Un-even Merking Ladders: Left Side x 15 and Right Side x 15.

Mosey back to start for peoples chair combined with bear crawls.

Finish off with a quick round of merry.

We did a bunch of running with weighted objects and the group did a great job staying together.

 

 

PAXsutawney Phil pays a visit to the Peak!

Groundhogs are not usually indigenous at such high altitudes… but given the festivities of a day such as Groundhog’s Day… the excitement couldn’t be contained!!  27 bleary-eyed PAX shunned the comforts of their beds to join in the festivities… and after a sincere disclaimer, here is how it went down:

The Thang

Mosey to bus parking lot for COP:

SSH x20
Merkins x10
Low Slow Squat x20
Imperial Walker x20
Mountain Climbers x15
Miscellaneous Planking

Mosey to playground, and line up in two STRAIGHT lines behind Beaver and Sensei…. the Principal of Matthews Elementary would have suspended everyone of you… but I digress.

Partner with the hog across from you.  With your partner, do:

  1.  P1 Planks, P2 crawls under P1, does a jump squat, then crawls back under, and does a jump squat on the other side… etc… for 10 jump squats… then flapjack.  And since it is Groundhog’s Day… rinse and repeat!
  2. P1 Planks, P2 does 10 decline merkins on P1’s back… flapjack… rinse and repeat!

Mosey to the bus parking lot for some grinders… not the sandwiches… the exercises!  Split up into teams/groups of 5 x 5… again some were math-challenged by the advanced calculations… but I don’t think we lost anyone!  Next time we will allow calculators!
P1 – LBC’s
P2 – Step-ups
P3 – Incline Merkins
P4 – Dips
P5 – Runner from P1 to P2… then P2 runs and P5 does step-ups…
Everyone did every exercise 2 times… because it’s Groundhog’s Day 2/2!!! Get it??

Mosey back to parking lot… are we done?  Are we circling up??
No… YHC disclaimed again, and we mosey’d back to the bus parking lot for a COP replay (only we ran out of time… )
SSH x20
Merkins x10
Low Slow Squats x20

Out of time!!  Back to parking lot for COT.

Moleskine
Ok… parts were lame… I wanted to have a little fun with Groundhog’s Day… which is one of my all-time favorite movies.  Hopefully everyone got a good full-body workout, and as I always like to demonstrate… it doesn’t take a gym membership to get a good workout.  Just some good exercises and all of sudden you’ve worked out for 45-minutes!

I also really like the partner exercises like the over/under stuff… that was highlighted by the Sonny and Cher rendition of “I Got You Babe”, played twice for total annoyance maximization!

Great to have Elrod back out with us from his premier last week!  Great stuff out there!!  Keep coming back!

Also great to have Sheldon join us on loan from Columbia, and One Man Band, who was christened in Greenville.  OMB also gets t-claps for running in/out from down the street near the baseball fields.  Very strong!  Come join us for the pre-run!!

Great to have a few other new faces… Bonhoffer and Beaver… you guys aren’t regulars, but AWESOME to have you join us!

Kotters to Lamont!

Geraldo gets props for bringing the ruck, then expertly transferring it to Smokey midway through the workout!

Announcements
1.  Sign-up to Q… see Sensei or Booyah
2.  Sign-up for BRR in September… see Slim Fast
3.  Ronald McDonald House volunteer activity over President’s Day weekend
4.  Richard Shelter run April 29.

Pele let us know that his wife is 2 years cancer-free today!  Amen!  Thanks for the take out prayer from Little Mike!

Dead legs walking

21 PAX showed up even though a “fun and different” workout “with cones” was posted.  Since no many of those things happened, including no “400/4” (whatever that is), it seemed like the workout was a loss, until later in the day and the next morning when it became apparent the workout definitely left a dent.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – Hollywood and Bratwurst for a pre-run that mostly consisted of throwing down some cones that wouldn’t be needed, running laps of the parking lot, and catching up on all things soccer.  We’re going to draft Hollywood for the Soccer Arms cup onto the Area51 team… Most pre-runs are as high in 2ndF, but better in scenery.  Show up at 0500 or 0515 next time to get in some extra warm-up.
  • 0530 – Disclaimer, follow me.
  • Run reverse course around half of the parking lot.  Thankfully, Posse was on time this week and didn’t take us out.
  • Running Form drills in the parking lot:
    1) High knees 3 sets of 40 meters each
    2) Butt kicks 3x40m
    3) B skips 3x40m – foot striking on ground, snapping motion
  • Running Power exercises:
    4) Walking lunges for 3x25m – generate 90 angles
    5) Cone hops 3x25m – feet together hops over each cone (or pretend one is there) that are about 1m apart
    6) Diagonal cone hops 3x25m – side to side with each cone offset
  • Run to Middle School back porch. Partner up. Find someone you don’t know.
    P1 5 Burp-Mountain Climbers (1 burp + 5 MC each leg), P2 rest
    P1 15 jump ups, P2 start BMC
    P1 run a little loop on sidewalk out to bus lot, down the sidewalk towards the track, back up the hill to patio.  P1 rest until partner P2 returns. When P2 returns, repeato.
  • Scrap partner idea, work at the same time.
  • Inch worm Plank x 10
    Scorpion Fighter x 10 each side (derkin position with feet on bench.  Bend left leg, swing left knee towards right shoulder, then back left as high as possible keeping derkin form / Flapjack to other side).
    Run the small loop
    Plank for the six
  • Circle Up,
    Side Plank with Leg Lifts IC x15 each side
    Windshield Wipers IC x15 each side
    Squat hold 60 seconds
  • 30-20-10 = 5 rounds of 30 second mosey (and regroup to the Six), 20 second regular run, 10 second sprint.  Route was back towards the launch point.
  • COT

The Moleskin:

  • For runners, the first six exercises (plus step ups and some 50m strides) are suggested to do two days per week after easy runs.  Purpose to practice good form, focus on strength in the running muscles, and stress the small ones around the normal running muscles (i.e. Hamstrings, feet, lower leg).  YHC hasn’t been doing these consistently, but we are all encouraged to do them.  If you are sore today and walking on 80 year old legs like Goodfella, or if you are battling the stairs today like Tuck, or creaking when you get up from your chair at work like SoftPretzel, then you need this as much as YHC.
  • The last part of the exercises are some of those core exercises that runners also need to focus on.  The Scorpion Fighter and Side Plank with Leg lifts were particularly pushing YHC to the max on the reps.
  • A great AO, but only got to use 2 parts today.  Let’s hope that StumpHugger pushes the outer boundaries next week, or YOU CAN by signing up for one of the two of the remaining Q spots in February at https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10c0d4baeaf29a46-dromedary
  • If you liked the structured running, check out these other workouts during the week – Swift on Tuesdays, DevilsTurn on Thursday (mostly free running on set course), and MountainGoat on Fridays.  Word on the street is that our patch of Union County needs a similar Swift workout sometime during the week.  Since Watchtower is so close to one of the nicest tracks around at Weddington HS, look out for a possible guest Q soon, or sound off in the comments for other ideas.  Perhaps a Tuesday Swift can relocate for a time or two.
  • Also check out the #run Channel on Slack at http://f3sclt.slack.com for impromptu weekend runs and other running stuff during the week.  Let YHC know if you would like a Slack login – all we need is an email address.  There’s also a “#theHaw” channel for many of the Waxhaw area pax that could be an augment / replacement for the current Cuthbertson-area GroupMe.  Something to ponder.
  • Never thought GreaseMonkey would appreciate a running-ish workout, but he said just as much.  If you all haven’t been to Mountain Goat (no matter how novice you are), then you are missing out on a great group of PAX trying to figure out this running thing like all of us are.
  • Not many of us ever truly Sprint, or feel comfortable to because we don’t know how long it’s going to last.  However, try the 30-20-10 workout on your own sometime.  Do 5 minutes of it, then a 2 minute jog, then 5 more minutes of the intervals, 2 minute jog, 5 minutes of intervals, etc. up to about 4 sets.  A good start to cover some ground while never getting “too” bored with running.
  • Of course no one can take on Lawson right now if it came down to a who’s neighborhood has more PAX, but the Chimneys is quickly growing.  Seemed like Tuck, Soft Pretzel, Bouche, Aztec, and perhaps one more were trying to plot to take over Lawson dominance.

Announcements:

  • Sign up to Q at Dromedary – https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10c0d4baeaf29a46-dromedary
  • Thursdays have bootcamp workouts at Arsenal (Indian Land), Watchtower (Weddington Elem), Rebel Yell (Stonecrest).
  • Sign up for Slack messaging for South Charlotte PAX.  Posse and Enron are on there!

No Running does’nt mean Easy Workout.

10 Pax chose to take on the beast known as Hydra this am.

Short Disclaimer provided – all regulars – so everyone knew what to expect, or so they thought.

Quick jog around the school to get the blood flowing – then head to the small field

COP
SSH x 15 in cadence
IW x 15 in cadence
Low Slow Squats x 10
Slow Merkins x 10

Mosey to concession stand area

The Thang
Round 1 ( 3 x )
10 Jump Ups
10 Dips
10 Derkins

Round 2 (3 x)
Split Squats x 10
10 skull crushers
10 wide merkins

Round 3 (3 x)
10 hovercraft squats – Hops get the credit.
10 Diamond merkins
10 CDD

Playground – 5 minute AMRAP
5 pull ups
10 merkins
15 squats

Six Minutes of Mary – actually 5
Protractor – lost count
Flutter x 20 in cadence
Dolly x 30 in cadence – waiting for everyone to count before calling it.
Done

NMM
Dusted this one off and brought it back out. Every now and again, its good to get a full body beat down without the pounding of all the running we normally do. It shows you can get a pretty solid workout without moving from one spot.

Lots of chatter out there (Harley) but also lots of work going on. YHC thinks Arena and Marge talked the entire time – guess next time YHC needs to make it tougher.

Queen, Deep Dish, and Jet Fuel were putting in some hard work – granted the taller folk have a hard time with these low benches when doing the split squats and hover crafts.

Haze (Kotters), Hops were keeping YHC company, while Good Hands and Harley were trying their best to ignore the Q.
Solid work by all – thanks for the chance to lead – it is an honor and privilege.

HOPS – thanks for the solid takeout.
Keep McGee and Lorax in your prayers.

Announcements

Area 51 HH this Friday – Rusty Onion – 4pm ish.

Champagne Out.

Lulu = #rungainz

At least 24 PAX posted at the Swift workout today to find out if the wind breeze, hill rise, bikers with spotlights tomatoes with torches, cars distractions, cold air cool temps, or free Lululemon shirts performance run gear could slow them down from running 6 consistent 3minute intervals at a Hard effort.

The THANG: check the PreBlast, pretty much what we did and why –

#PreBlast – Landing strip Intervals

 

The Moleskin:

  • Very interesting to watch the Strava Flybys for the 17 of 24 PAX that were out there today.  Note the regrouping, when to crossover the median, and how the group spreads out.  Since these are specific things that YHC would like feedback on (some including RockThrill, Atlas, and FireHazard have already left comments on the Slack #run channel), please also suggest improvements no matter how small.
  • Gotta stick together – not necessarily on the intervals, because you’re always chasing someone, but on the warm-up, recovery, and cool-down.  We try to facilitate that as much as possible with the regrouping, but especially when we have two options to get back to COT, it’s great when the PAX can stick together.  Perfect example were DasBoot and Troylet who decided to take the #RedPill and the long way home, but came in together and didn’t require a search party.
  • If you watch the Dr. Jack Daniels video from the PreBlast, you’ll see the purpose of these types of intervals.  To get up to the Heartrate / effort level where you are maximizing the oxygen intake without going into Oxygen debt.  This VO2Max level is hard to measure without a complicated test (the kind where you see people on a treadmill with that oxygen mask on, or taking blood samples to measure lactate levels), but it’s approximated in this kind of workout when you are running hard enough to be heavy breathing but the muscles aren’t tiring rapidly.  Like the video says, you can run harder than your VO2Max, but it’s not worth the effort in this kind of workout when you are trying to maximize your time at that level.  Run hard enough, but too hard and it’s wasted effort.  We’ll try to dial this in with a Time Trial this Spring.  The 2mile / 3200m race pace is the same level that we’re shooting for on the I-pace / “Hard” intervals.
  • Regrouping – always the source of the greatest confusion and chance for running into someone or not knowing what the guy in front of you is going to do.  Need suggestions here on the mechanics of it.  YHC always thought the best thing is to immediately head towards the Six (the only one not turning around and heading there is the Six), so that there’s very little chance of running into someone who hasn’t turned around yet.  And also never running with vehicle traffic to find the six.
  • Nice torch – what was thought to be a bike due to the 2000 lumens of light at eye level heading toward us in the bike lane over the 485 bridge was merely a well-lit tomato.  I picked up “torch” from some British show, and it sounds a lot better to compliment a woman on her torch than her headlamps.  Still got no reaction from her.
  • Uphill / upwind – the mild increasing grade of southbound on North Community House was aggravated by the headwind.  Very unpleasant and perhaps the only thing slowing Fahvra down (that and the Stop button on his watch that someone made his whole run world record pace).
  • JRR Tolkien was back (Kotters) and evident that he talks more on Slack than in person (not the only one).  Still had it through the first half of the workout, and keeping healthy will help that 2nd half push.
  • The HBs (HairBall and HoneyBee) were absolutely crushing it out there.  While TigerRag was able to make a game of it for a while, in the end, Hairball found a way to pull away.  He must found some juice somewhere #balco, or that free run outfit from Lululemon was hitting all the right places.
  • Getting some newer Swift PAX like Atlas (still no prerun even though you were there on time – come on man!) and Rebar keep the PAX growing and the shared pain of running more spread out.  There was another Swift FNG there, and he got renamed to “WifeSwap”.
  • There was an Orange Safety cone, in alternate attire, who has started back again at Swift and was obviously happy with his effort .  Hope everyone can feel this way even if you aren’t hitting what you think you should!  The effort is the critical component.
  • DepthCharge – Where has this guy come from?  While he was chasing the leader Bunker on the return trip, YHC and Fahvra were chasing him and hardly made up any ground.  Strong work out there.

SYITG,

Bratwurst

 

Baggage @ The Arsenal

YHC loves a good sand bag workout and felt like doling one out despite coming off a heavy Fat Camp Q by Argonaut the day prior. A 15-minute Pre-run was in order in which YHC had set a lofty goal to hit 2 miles in that timeframe. Bird Cage brought me down to earth and we settled for 1.25. Not 1, but 2 FNGs rolled up with their respective EH’ers (Tuck & Fallout). A bakers dozen it was, disclaimer given and off we went:

Warm-up

  • SSH x 20
  • Merkin x 10
  • LSS x 10
  • MC x 10

The Sand Bag Thang

  • Partner up (one group of 3…more to come on these guys)
  • P1 – Carry Sand bag up the hill and back down, P2 Burpees (x2)
  • P1 – Carry Sand bag up the hill and back down, P2 hold 6inch (9 for me) plank & Flapjack (x2)
  • P1 – Starts off with a backpedal sandbag drag, P2 sprints to P1 and takes over draggin’ the ole bag and P1 sprints back to start point and back to “relieve” P2 (Entire length of practice field)
  • Same concept as above, except swap backpedal sandbag drag with bear crawl sandbag pull-throughs (Entire length of practice field)
  • Partner Bag sit-ups (Team of 3, you’re up)
    • P1 does sit up with bag, handing to P2 (standing above), does sit up without the bag and takes bag from P2 = 1 rep (x10), flapjack
    • The team of 3 decided to modify in a “cute” way aka “The Loveboat” with all 3 PAX not naming names (Ringer, Copay, Fire Hazard) nestled in close holding the same sand bag doing situps….twas the sight to see
  • Grab some Wall for deep squat bag pass down and back
  • Partner Sprints
    • P1 Sprint to 1st “light pole” while P2 does sandbag squats
    • Flapjack, P2 sprints to 2nd “light pole” while P1 does sandbag squats
    • Flapack…to 3rd and final light pole
  • Quick round of Mary
    • Flutter x 20
    • Superman (arms out front, Fire Hazard SHarT blast, arms behind, lean right/left)
    • Freddie Mercury x 20
  • COT
    • Welcome/Name FNG’s, Family Ties (EH – Tuck) and Yellow Jacket (EH – Fallout)
    • Sign-up for the Savage Race

Moleskin

Solid group at the Arsenal today and working in partners really seemed to push everyone. I know that we joked about my poor choice of words “relieving one another” in the sandbag workout but it was good to see the PAX pushing through the sprints to relieve their partner doing the heavy lifting on the bag portion of the workout. Look for everyday opportunities to ease the burden of those struggling with one.

T-Claps to:

  • Fallout and Tuck for their EH work of FNGs. Both FNGs were solid and I appreciate your leadership in pushing and encouraging them as partners during the workout
  • Kielbasa for the EH and bringing Sauerkraut out to Day 3 and to Sauerkraut for stringing together 3 posts in 5-6 days
  • Fire Hazard for providing the bulk of the gear…although he almost sh*t his pants during mary
  • Ringer, Bird Cage and Fire Hazard for putting in the extra work with the pre-run
  • Copay = still the fastest man

Always an honor to lead and have a solid rest of the week. Over and Out

-General

 

Meathead Spring Break

17 Bros committed to getting ready for spring break. Even though it’s not what it used to be for us anymore, any reason to lift, is a good one. Here’s why we’re better:

 

COP:

SSH x 20
CDD x 10
Good Morning x 9

39 reps to begin.

Thang:

1×10
Curls
Jump Squats
L arm press
Jump Squats
R arm press
Jump Squats
Upright row
Jump Squats
Tricep ext
Jump Squats
Lateral ext
Jump Squats
2 handed press
Jump Squats
L Lawnmower
Jump Squats
R Lawnmower
Overhead ext
Jump Squats

 

Curls
Lunges
L arm press
Lunges
R arm press
Lunges
Upright row
Lunges
Tricep ext
Lunges
Lateral ext
Lunges
2 handed press
Lunges
L Lawnmower
Lunges
R Lawnmower

Lunges

Overhead ext
Lunges

 

Partner up:
Super sets
P1 works P2 rests

Chest super set
Flat
Merkin
3×10

Leg super set
Alternating lunge
Deadlift
3×10

Shoulders super set
Arnold press
Shrugs
3×10

Arm super set
Curls
Overhead tricep extension
3×10

Back super set
Bent over row
Scarecrow raise

3×10

Swings x 20

39 merkins to finish

 

moleskin: great crowd as always. Especially those who came out to the ‘Nanners beatdown at Skunkworks. It seems the jump squats on the first circuit got the heavy breathing going early. Not a whole lotta chatter this morning. However, lots of guys getting after it. Always good to see. Thanks for everyone’s dedication. Thanks to YL for the great out as well.

 

Announcements:

This Friday 11:30 Nan’tan conference-call featuring @WitchDoctor_F3 on a proper athletes diet. DM him for more details.

F3+diet= #HIM

 

Rocks and Runnin’

It was so nice getting out in the gloom this morning w a great group of men. A dozen dudes showed up ready to go. Before we set off, a disclaimer was given and then the YHC asked the pax if they knew what the mission of F3 was. Crickets were all I heard… I preached a sermonette, an offering was taken and off we went. As we began to mosey, I heard “I thought the mission was Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith!” Oh boy – the site Qs have some work to do!

The thang –
Moseyed around the parking lot down to the track and one lap. Stopped in the corner for some COP. SSH x25, IW x 25, merkins x 25.

2 laps around the track at a quick pace. LBCS while we wait for 6. 1 Lap at quick pace, LBCS while we wait for 6.

Meet in corner of track for 10 reg merkins, 10 diamonds, 10 wide arm, 10 reg merkins, 10 diamonds, 10 wide arm.

Mosey to rock like and grab a rock. Mosey to parking lot. 30 overhead presses – run to end and back. Rinse and repeat w 20 and then 10 overhead presses.

Rinse and repeat w 30,20,10 curls.

Mosey down to bleachers. Partner up. p1 runs w rock to stairs while P2 does said excercise. Flap jack. Excercises were merkins, dips, and pull-ups.

Mosey w rock to Semigloss’s office (bathroom) and wall sit. Over head presses till your arms fell off while sitting.

COT

It never gets old when asked to Q! Thanks for the opportunity. Welcome back Uzzo! Last time out he said we pushed a jeep around the parking lot. Nice one Dollywood! Hope to see you again. And welcome to Sheldon also! Introduced to F3 down in Columbia and just started coming to A51. Not a whole lot of mumble chatter this morning as it was intended to be a tough workout. Dollywood triggered a shot over the bow as he said “The old Header would not have struggled with those merkins”. Sometimes you just have to ignore the young punks.

Imma Make You Sweat, Vinyasa Edition

18 #PAX quit the #fartsack to throw their iron in the slow fire. We got our sweat on.

This was my #VQ at #Gumby. Let’s get our mats out for some full-range motion and some light music.

After a preliminary slam on last week’s music choice by High Tide we did a body scan and check-in, in the corpse pose while I walked the pax through the devo. Then we did a half-spine twist on each side to get a baseline, we will return to this posture at the end. The late, but thorough, disclaimer was proclaimed. Then came…

The looooonnngg warm up: 10 Sun Salutations. Introduced the idea of the vinyasa, a movement between poses. Lots of mumble chatter until #6, then it got mysteriously quiet. All told we did 22 sun salutes this morning. After the long warm up everyone was good and wet, so we moved onto to…

The Thang:

We did all these poses with a sun salutation between each one: Mountain, Tree (both sides), Side Angle, warrior one, warrior two (or was it warrior two and then one. It was some kinda warrior), leg raises with protractor, shoulderstand (much groaning), plough, bow (even more groaning).

Cool down:

Three slow sun salutes, half twist again to check our mobility and the attending improvement, corpse, and done!

Moleskine

This was my VQ of any F3 workout. I hope the men got what they needed out of it. I know I was sweating. I decided to keep the lights on and the music Titanic free.  I’m glad to see that F3 is not limited to the full bore beat down 6 days a week. I’d like to thank Madison, High Tide, and Swiss Miss for the encouragement. Gullah for the fist bump, and Paperjam for the assistance with the protractor (this man also helped me through a Centurion workout a few weeks back).YHC took us out, think I may have stolen it from Stone Cold. I really enjoyed being Q, think I’ll try it again, you should too. Finally, I’ve attached a you tube video of some of those mobility moves we did. Y’all take care of your bodies now, it’s the only one you have.

Peace, Jail Break.

Donut Run

8 ran and then had Donuts and coffee. Semi had a big gulp. Looked like coke, which is strong after a 6 mile run. Fletch ate some sort of sandwich. It was probably made especially for him since he has a close relationship with the employees there. I was told that sometimes he shows up before they even open.

Guys ran all sorts of paces from 845s to 6s.

Enjoyed it and see you all next week where we might do something crazy like run the route in reverse!