25 PAX showed up in the gloom for a free campus tour. The THANG:
Short jog around the parking lot followed by some warm-up: Wind mills, cotton-pickers, imperial walkers, merkins, mountain climbers and pistol crunches
Jog up to the main school entrance, grab some wall for: donkey kicks x 20; mike tysons x 10; maktar jai x 10
Jog around to the side of the school for another set of the same with a slight modification: people’s chair with shoulder presses in place of the maktar jais
Mosey on around to the back of the school for a couple drills: (1) long jump burpees to the sign, jog through the second sign, (2) walking lunges through the sign and jog to second sign; (3) high knees to the fist sign, sprint through the second sign.
Mosey on around to another wall, another set of shoulder presses, donkey kicks and mike tysons. Same reps. Then, jog on around to the picnic tables for: (1) step-ups x 10 each leg, (2) 10 decline merkins and (3) 15 dips. One lap around the track after the full set is completed. Rinse and repeat X2. Jog on around to the cars and finish it out with some push-ups.
MOLESKIN:
The PAX did a great job with not a lot of chatter and hard work put in by all. Appreciate everybody putting forth the effort. Dromedary Q is open for the foreseeable future. Here’s the link to the sign-up page. Have at it: http://f3sclt.apphb.com/schedule?utm_source=Pax&utm_campaign=9154409851-Weekly_Email_20170222&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e2070eb2f3-9154409851-65429897#/schedule
Good job everyone.
As many a Charlottean is aware, often February will lull you into a false sense of spring before March swoops in and dashes your dreams of sundresses and sweet tea. Today was that wakeup call, the dash read below freezing at 0650 as YHC exited into the brisk morning air, it was a good thing the weinke called for plenty of movement else many a PAX would be cold. 13 men answered the call and headed off into the lightening gloom for a downpainment
The Thang:
Mosey to the fake grassy Knoll for COP
20 SSH IC followed by 5 Burpees OYO
20 IW IC followed by 5 Burpees OYO
15 Low Slow Squats followed by 5 Burpees OYO
20 Merkins IC, hold plank, 20 Mountain Climbers IC, hold plank, 10 Peter Parkers IC, hold plank, 10 Parker Peters IC, 5 burpees OYO.
Mosey back to cars to pick up party favors and partner up. Party favors consisted of medicine and slam balls weighing in at ~20 lbs and 2 25 Lbs weight plates.
With partners Mosey to adjacent parking lot and line up abreast. Partner 1 runs weights to the 2nd light pole and leaves it then sprints back while partner 2 does Merkins, Flapjack with partner 2 sprinting out and returning with the weight.
Upon completion Partner 1 runs to playground to perform 5 pull-ups while Partner 2 Completes low-slow squats, flapjack
Repeat prior 2 sets substituting jump-switch lunges and slow slow merkins respectively.
Mosey weighted objects back to cars and retain 3 slam balls. Slam ball indian-run (pass balls back along line, when ball arrives at the back sprint-carry it to the front) down to Rea then up the ditch towards 51. Plank up in front of the sign waiting for the 6 who had to drop for a cramp.
Shoulder to shoulder sitting and facing outwards, assume boat position and pass balls around to the right, performing a leg tap and overhead press each time you received the ball… much grumbling to start about how stupid it was until people started complaining about how much it hurt. Flip over for Jack Webb to 5. Back on the 6 to pass the balls around to the left a bit then back over into plank and 20 count mtn. climbers in cadence.
Resume indian run around towards the front of the church and pause in grassy round-a-bout for 20 LBCs in cadence. Resume Indidan run to the top of north face.
AMRAP (As many rounds as possible) of the North Face short course, 5 jump squats at the bottom of North Face and 10 merkins at the top, did this for about 7 minutes.
Mosey to open lot near the cars to complete final exercise, two lines facing each other passing slam balls diagonally down the line, after each throw perform burpee. Down and back 2x then mosey back to the cars for COT.
Moleskin: As ever, YHC was determined to bring something different to the table, and while some of the elements of today’s weinke were non-traditionally it seemed all PAX were sufficiently smoked to end the hour. As ever Pro, Gummy and Ickey donated half-witticisms in between panting while Rachel and Nemo made us all look slow and old. We all understand how Nemo’s youth gives him the advantage but Rachel? Dude is just a machine. YHC may have cursed him a few times out of pure unadulterated jealousy…. Tecumsah was in from Raleigh and brought our first FNG in about a month, David was a trooper but picked a helluva first post. At the end he was talking about how stoked he was to get after it back with the PAX of Greensboro from whence he hails, solid effort Toto and hope to see you at RockZero again down the road.
Announcments:
AYE. A dirty dozen emerged from the humid Gloom for the weekly Anvil beatdown. Here’s more or less what transpired.
THE THANG
Mosey to COP for warmup
14 x SSH
14 x Burpees
13 x Imperial Walkers
13 x Burpees
12 x Something that’s not a burpee
12 x Burpees
Head to the big knoll on Five Knolls
12’s on the hill from the overfull trashcan at the top to the overfull trashcan at the bottom
Start with 12 burpees and 1 jump squat
3 rounds in, YHC felt a bile gusher arising and decided to shorten the track a few times
True 6 minutes of Mary at the top of the hill after the last round
Sprints, lunge walk, mosey back to the VSF
Plank/Merkin/Mtn Climber combo until the clock expires
YE OLDE MOLESKINE
1. That sucked. I’ll admit it. Raquel didn’t seem to have a problem with it but everyone else was gassed. Alf and Scabby made respectable showings. The rest of us were just trying to survive. That hill is wicked. If YHC hadn’t shortened the track, we would have gone into OT for sure.
2. Callout time – Ickey sent me a text later that day that he had a muscle spasm and almost collapsed in a heap at work.
#horseneck OUT
28 men got after it, uh, a week ago…and this is what I remember.
The Thang:
Mosey to Selwyn/AG.
COP (mountain climbers, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, x20)
Split into 2 groups: first, to AG rails for 3 sets of 10 pull-ups, 10 jump (or straddle) overs…second, to previously invisible (to the Q at least) benches in AG bus parking lot for 3 sets of 10 dips, 10 derkins…switcheroo…and then plank-o-rama
Mosey to intersection of Colony and Runnymede…for “Route 66” BS up to Selwyn: 1.25 miles, with 11 stops for each “intersection” — yes, MPHS driveway counts … as does parking lot of barre workout facility [Dredd, what’s your lexicon for this?] — of escalating chgerkins (chest-to-ground merkins). Mary whilst we wait for the 6. Repeato back down with sumo jump squats this time…and Mary on the AG track.
Partner Pyramid across AG field (partner 1 runs across width of field and back…partner 2 completes exercise…partners must complete total reps of each exercise as a team before moving to next exercise): 100 merkins – 200 flutters (double count) – 300 squats – 200 flutters (again, double count) – 100 merkins
150 LBCs for early finishers (#cheaters)…100-ish for next group…50-ish for some others…none for others #youvsyou
Mosey back up Colony and then backwards run all the waaaaaaaaaay up Spacklers. #turrible
Run back down and return home.
COT
Naked Moleskin:
Mustang Is Still Booming. Great to see another huuuuuuuge crowd at Mustang. #MakeMetroGreatAgain Even better to see a lot of folks I hadn’t seen in a while. (I’m sure the feeling was mutual…mostly.) Lots of dudes flying out there with A/C leading the charge on both Route 66s…and Dredd spreading the #Mumblechatter and #TruthNuggets throughout our little adventure.
Addition Is Still Hard. Team-based addition is always fun. Add in some running and fatigue, and it’s always amusing to hear the Pax fumble with counting. Add in double-count flutters (or maybe IC counting flutters for some of you), and that equals a #Math-tastrophe.
AG Rails Are Still High. They are really high. Some Pax have the hops to do it. Others just avoid the jump overs. Superman decided that he would just straddle the bar facedown and slowly move his legs over the bar and therefore put all of his weight in his nether regions. #MyEyes! After ‘Shank questioned Superman’s form, Superman dryly responded, “I’m done with kids.” #truedat
Dredd Is Still Chatty, or Never Question the Spiritual Naantan (Sorry, Always Question…). Welcome to 2 new FNGs. Proehl is a sophomore (and wide receiver) at MPHS and his dad Broken Arrow is some kind of mad, blue-haired nuclear physicist for the Panthers (might have that one wrong though). Proehl had clearly never heard of the real Ricky Proehl, and I’m sure he ranted about it in a Snapchat or on his fake Instagram account (that’s Finstagram for you millennials) following the workout. Our Spiritual Naantan was resolute in the naming, and I was just glad his reference was from the ’90s and ’00s so we gave it to him. Hope to see both Proehl and Broken Arrow back soon.
—Lee
“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.” —Aristotle
11 men checked the weather the night before and posted anyway at DaVinci this morning. Not that it was that cold but something about having 2 weeks + of spring and then having to get the gloves and hats back out is a kick in the teeth. But enough complaining, lets get to it.
The Thang: 25 SSH IC in the lot to wait for One Star and FNG Room Service to join us. Read disclaimer and set off. Mosey to other side of Rea and finish warm up with: 15 low slow squats, 10 burpees (6 count IC; these could also be re-named the “low slow burpee” of if you prefer, “Actual Burpee” because if you go slow and in cadence, people actually do them.)
Mosey to the fountains for one set of elevens and one of sevens. 11’s = dips and jump ups, 7s = derkins and hip slappers (so stay in plank the whole time). One lap around parking lot after each.
Mosey to the bank parking lot and pay homage to the NFL Scouting Combine: Shuttle Run. Two groups running an ~20 yard shuttle run. Move quickly so that everyone goes 4-5 times and PAX that are waiting do the called exercise: merkins, squats, CDDs, diamond merkins. Next, Mary: 20 American Hammers, 20 flutters IC, then OYO 20 backward lunges with arms overhead and a side bend at the bottom of the move (good for the core). Sidenote: espn.com ran an entire feature yesterday where Todd McShay breaks down every exercise in the Combine – description, why its used, what to “watch for” this week… seriously. Only in America.
Mosey to the long running hill outside the shopping center. Stops along the way for merkins, planks, Mary, conversation, planks, etc. Stop when we get to the rock pile. Partner up and select one rock per team. P1 runs to the bottom of the hill and back while P2 does the sequence of 10 curls, 10 presses, 10 triceps extensions and repeat until repeat until your partner comes back without putting the rock down. Flapjack.
Long journey home with many stops. Finally, we discover that on the sidewalk opposite the bank and 121 Main, there are various exercises written along the way: lunges, pushups, planks, etc. So of course we do each one for the helluvit. Finish in the BB&T lot with some merkins and Mary while the 6 arrives and that’s all folks.
Moleskin: Really enjoyed the group today and was a privilege to lead. One FNG, 2 R-E-S-P-E-C-Ts, some newer guys and some vets. Perfect mix for an F3 workout and 2nd F after. Thanks all for turning out.
Announcements: April 22 = Bro-Lympics. Check web site for Pre-Blast and contact Tuck or Wild Turkey with questions. 6-8 a.m. at Community House Middle. DaVinci and Stonehenge will converge. April 29 = Richard Shelter 10k in the morning then… Bucky announced what sounds like a great 2nd F opportunity to support a good cause. Takes place in his neighborhood and multiple local breweries and food trucks will be out. Also live music. Reach out to Bucky if you are interested and listen for further details after workouts.
After a quick Ballantyne lap with Fire Howard and the Palmetto Boys (Thin Mint, Frasier, Bunker & Bratwurst), I panted the disclaimer and headed to familiar territory.
Courtyard by Marriot Lot Warm-up
Side straddle hop x 20
Imperial walkers x 15
Mountain climbers x 10
Low, slow squat x 10
Peter Parkers x 10
Arm circles x 10
Mountain climbers (Right arm up/left arm up) x 10
Loch Ness Lap – Triple 7 Tribute
7 Bulgarian split squats (each leg), 7 squats at patio 1, patio 2 & picnic tables
Fitness trail – Savage Race circuit
Shimmy across low parralell bars, swing across high paralell bars run across bridge to pull-up bars for five good ones. Repeat three times.
Bagpipe Hill
Partner-up for Catch Me If You Can. P1 runs, P2 does five hand-release merkins and tags P1. Switch and repeat up the hill and across the bridge.
John J. Delaney Burpee & Bear crawls
5 burpees at five parking lot islands
5 bear crawls at next set of islands
Ballantyne Village Deck Ascent
Burpees at each ramp with escalating merkins from 1 to 8 at top of the deck.
Fast finish
Down the steps and jail break the last 100 yards home
Merkins & Mary fin
Moleskine
Today was cold, especially if you didn’t wear gloves. We covered more than 3.5 mi and handily fulfilled the merkins/pull-up challege challenge. I’m proud of this group of vets and newer folks. Despite the higher milage, we mostly stayed toghether (unless you Gumbo at left your hat at Bagpipe Hill). Frehley called me out for recyling the mountclimber-centric warm-up. (I will retire it.) Special thanks to Brat for arranging the pre-run to circle back to the Vine. After three Qs and three BBs, I’m out.
Announcements
Providence Presby Wall Project March 18
Brolympics April 22
10 PAX ignored the freezing temperature to get swole at my guest Q in the Valley of the Sun. Since Madison, Scalper and Champagne ran me into the ground this week, I was concerned about becoming a runner and developing soccer arms, so it was time to focus on arms and abs.
After a quick disclaimer it was a short mosey to the baseball diamond (spring training has begun) for the:
COP: SSH x 15, IW x 15, arm circles x 15, toe tap crunch x 15 and 5 merkins OYO in between each of the exercises.
The Thang:
Mosey across the street to the Goddard School parking lot and grab a lifting rock: 3 rounds of 20 reps: curls, shoulder press and triceps extension, triple lindy between rounds.
Mosey back to the middle school and find the tennis courts for ab escalators. At each corner perform the given exercise: flutter (10), heels to heaven (20), toe tap crunch (30), LBC (40)
Mosey to the benches near the yellow buses. Round 1: Dips (25), incline merkins (20), Round 2: Dips (25), incline merkins (20), diamond merkins (10). Round 3: flutter (20), heals to heaven (15), TTC (15).
Mosey to the playground in between the elementary schools for pull ups and decline merkins. Three rounds: 5 pull ups, 10 decline merkins. Then circle up for some abs:protractor (chosen by Smokey) then back scratchers (chosen by Double E).
Mosey to the practice football field for Field of Plank. Jog to a line, perform the called plank. Elbow plank, regular plank, elbow plank, right arm high, left arm high, elbow plank, reverse plank and finish with 10 reps of Makhtar N’Diaye (some trivia: his middle name is Vincent).
Return to the launch site with some time left for 3 Rounds of supline pull ups and merkins 10 of each and finish up with LBCs. (Forgot to mention: on the way back found a small hill for 10 more incline merkins)
Moleskin:
When Madison reached out to me for a guest Q slot he told me that this was a fun AO. He was not kidding, I felt like I only scratched the surface of all the fun that a Q could have at this site. This location rivals Hugh McRea Park in Wilmington as one of the best sites that I have visited.
I appreciate Madison and Double E taking me for a “tour” of the grounds right before we launched, I had performed a drive through and looked on google maps, but there is nothing like running around the site to make sure what you had planned would work.
I discovered some interesting things in Union County (1) Madison likes to wear running tights but no shorts, (2) Woody wears a scarf to an F3 workout, (3) Shake & Bake doesn’t follow me on Twitter or he wouldn’t have showed up with a Boston Red Sox license plate (10 burpees for that), (4) Bullwinkle likes to make an entrance, showing up late and triggering a UC tradition of a 5 burpees penalty for everyone (I am an SOB so I respectfully declined), (5) Manziel is a proud Browns fan (maybe he should go see Fraizer for that issue).
For those involved in the pull-up merkin challenge, the final numbers are 135 merkins and 45 pull ups.
One of the blessings of Qing outside of your area is meeting other great F3 PAX and realizing we are all part of one big community.
Thank you Smokey for taking us out and I am always humbled and honored to serve the men of F3.
As Abacus mentioned, old man winter returned just when we thought it was time to put away the cold gear. 9 men gathered including an FNG and we were off.
Mosey to lower parking lot for COP
SSHx25, IWx20, LSSx20, Mt Climberx20, Merkinsx10, Peter Parkerx20
Mosey to blocks, grab a lifting block and mosey to the center light pole in the field for a 5 legged starfish.
At the center pole – 10xcurls, 10xpresses, 10xsquat with the block
Merkins at each of the five legs x20 – regular, wide arm, diamond, hand release and staggered hand
At center pole – incline merkins
Now a round of block exercises – Triceps, One Arm row, John Cusak (Block over head), and Block straight out
Rinse and Repeat
Mosey back to put the blocks away
Bear Crawl to center of the field, lunge walk the rest
Mosey to bus parking lot for suicides.
First set – regular suicides
Second and third sets – added exercises at 5x, 10x, 15x – Carolina Dry Dock and LBCs
Mosey to woods for cross country laps and exercises at the end – first set dips, second set derkins
Mosey to front parking lot – 10 pull ups
Circle up for some Mary – LBCs, Flutter, and Russian Twist
Time called
Excellent turnout for the cold. Lobsta Roll attempted to Q-jack with some initial burpees called in the COT. Pop Tart got his 10 pull ups. Great to see Iron Sheik getting into F3. Lex Luthor brought out FNG Foley. We had to go to Google do find Foley’s name – there was some confusion (Pop Tart) as to whether that was permitted – YHC made a decision to allow. Great to see Cold Cuts as he only has to jog a short distance from his house. Great to see Joker (the original) at A51. Thanks to OT for taking us out (we had also debated bringing in Squid on the phone to take us out). Great workout – I always find leading causes you to work out harder. Iron sharpens Iron x2.
We are always looking for Q’s at Area51 – contact YHC or Abacus if interested. If not, we will contact you…
Have a great weekend
A small team of tough men for this morning’s Brave. A good thing too – it was physically and mentally unsavory from start to finish.
The thang:
Run hard to the first lake. Do 30 6-count burpees. Run hard to the next lake. Do elbow plank for 70 seconds (10 second count per man). Repeat until we have visited every lake. Total 4 miles or so.
Bonus pull up session: The pax elbow plank while each of us in turn performs three real pull ups. Here’s what a real pull up looks / sounds like: Hang on the bar, fully extended. Pull your body up until your chest touches the bar. Hold for 1 second. Let yourself down gently, and hang fully extended for 1 second. It’s difficult to do three of these. We did three sets each.
Moleskin:
The workout was set up to keep a group of different paces together with faster guys doing a full 30 burpees and others joining in at each lake whenever they arrived. In the event, it was a fast group all around, and everyone got a full share of burpees.
Easy to forget how unpleasant it is to run hard, do 30 burpees, then run hard again. Need to practice the Spartan spear throw – you don’t want the penalty.
With the announcement of the Brolympics, the pull up session was timely. Pre blast mentions full lockout. Will they hold us to it? Pull ups are hard to do right, and pretty pointless if you cheat. Kinda like life, brothers.
A strong group today, and an honor to lead. Thanks to the men of F3 and the SOBs for all that you do.
16 PAX gathered in the [hopefully] final chilly morning for a much anticipated installment of 5-5-4-4-3-3 intervals. After disclaiming… I think… we headed to Strawberry for the following:
Done! Finished 5-5.5 miles!
Moleskine
Always a pleasure to spend my Friday with this group! It is great to have Retread on as co-Q, and it is such an honor that you guys have made this workout your priority for Fridays. Truly an honor!
Great to have Mr. Brady join us as part of his recovery regimen. He will be back to his fleet ways in no time at all. Please keep coming back!
Same for JRR Tolkien. He has been out a few times as he has been recovering… always welcome! And thanks to JRR T, I now know the only thing you need to say if you own a Chinese Buffet… “You stay too long! You pay NOW!” Hilarious!
Retread, Marlin and Goonie were all leading the pack today. Excellent job by each of you! And Nomad was never far behind!
Sensei allowed me to lead him this morning, despite the “incident” from yesterday… (ask Nomad). Let’s just say it was not something I’m proud of… old-self was on display!!
Great to have Sensei and Freedom starting to come regularly, all thanks to Freedom providing the transportation… although Sensei has indicated he may start driving himself… more to come!
Sony made a long-awaited appearance! Great to have you… all of the other AO’s that you post to on Fridays are a bunch of losers… you need to keep coming back to Mtn Goat!!
Drano, Gullah, Beaver, Kilowatt, Tweetsie and Lois… solid as always! You guys get stronger every week! Kilowatt only comes because I guilt him… but whatever it takes!!
Again, excellent job! I do encourage each of you to find an app, a device, or a combination of both to track your mileage. Can even be a pencil and paper! But it is important to document how many miles you are running as this will both be an encouragement as you see what you are achieving, and also show how much you need to achieve before the end of the week.
If you are interested, ping me, text me, grab me after a workout and I can share some methods I’ve used in the past pre- having a GPS watch.
Announcements:
Thanks to Mr. Brady for the send-off prayer. Retread on Q next week!