Monthly Archive March 2017

F3 Brolympics – Sat., April 22

Years ago, men stripped down, smeared themselves in olive oil and ran, jumped and wrestled for gold and glory. No, this is not the origin story of #f3hottubs, it’s an invitation to the F3 Brolympics. Brought to you by the Site Qs of Saturday’s finest AOs , Stonehenge and Da Vinci, we invite you to an epic convergence. Points will be awarding for placing in individual events.

When: Saturday, April 22, 2017, 0600 – 0800.
Where: Community House Middle School Track, 9500 Community House Rd, Charlotte, NC 28277
Who: All men of F3, all regions invited
What: 10 individual events developed to test speed, strength and mental toughness
How: No registration, just show up. Participants may choose to compete in as few or as many events in the allotted time. Points will accumulated by rank in completed events. To be eligible to be crowned champion, one must compete in at least eight events including the 1-mile and Phlegethon.
Why: How dare you?!

Tentative Agenda and Event List
Warmup/COP
• 100m
• 200m
• 1 mile
• Max arm-lock pull-ups in a row
• Max burpees in two minutes (w/ overhead hand clap)
• Max KB snatch in 2 min
• Tire flip
• Max reps bench press
• Football throw for distance
• The Phlegethon*: a 7-part individual medley that combines speed, agility, cardio & strength (2 min plank / 100m sprint on track / 25 burpees / bear crawl sideline to sideline to opposite side of track / 50 LBCs / 50 single-arm KB swings / 200m fireman’s carry w/ KB to finish).
Awards/COT

* A river of boiling blood and fire” in the 7th circle of hell in Dante’s Inferno.

Apparently Mary on Friday’s is a waste of time.

35 degrees.  In early March?  What happened to the balmy 60 degree days of February?

14 men showed up to start the workout this morning.  Joker and Floor Slapper showed up around 5:45 claiming something about how the “pre-run” went too long.  My guess is Joker suckered Floor Slapper into some off the books partner exercises.

If it wasn’t quite obvious I made this up on the fly.  I thought about the Hairburners, but the rest was up for grabs.

Mosey around Church and end up in the new circle between a couple of the lower school buildings for COP.

SSH, CDD, IW, Rotating Merkins, Maybe something else.

Partner up.

P1 runs to steps and back while P2 does exercise – 2 rounds, per partner, per exercise.  We did squat jumps, single leg squats, and dips on the bench.

Mosey over to parking lot and each team grab a plate.  A perfect 8 teams for 8 plates.

P1 – Hairburner to other set of parking spots and back.  P2 Merkins.  Flapjack and repeat to 100 merkins.

Do that again except 150 Monkey Humpers – that combo was awful.

P1 Grip walk to sidewalk, switch hands and come back (grip walk = grab plate one handed by the edge, not the middle hole).  P2 – Squats.  Flapjack for 2 rounds.

Do that again except flutters.

Now Hgirburner CMIYC – 10 merkins and chase.  Hairburner up to the road.

Now Grip walk CMIYC to cars – 3 burpees and chase.

7 minutes left – circle up in field for mary.  One at a time get up and hit pull up bars for 10 pull-ups to cover off on challenge requirement.  We sort of did, Flutters, Dolly, LBC, Bicycle, Russian Twist, CCV, Protractor, but mostly just laid back and chatted like 5th grade girls.  #FunFriday

Moleskine:

Right off the bat Horsehead is all worried I am doing the Merkin/Pull-up challenge and that would be what the workout was all about.  Well, I am not, and wasn’t planning on it.  But its never hard to knock out 150 merkins and 10 pull-ups at a bootcamp.  So we got close to it.

Lex Luthor came in at 5:30 on two wheels, then proceeded to take his sweet old time getting the ruck out of the car and installing it.  He caught up.  But I made him do CDD in COP as punishment.  Everyone knows CDD’s with a ruck on is awesome.  I mean, if you like getting hit in the back of the head with a back pack full of bricks.

Bulldog was impressed with the Q’s spin moves during COP.  Challenged him to do so during Merkins.  It was pretty.

Lots of ninja rolls over the Hairburners today.  Sorry fellas, the smooth parts of that pavement are nice and smooth, but that tar strips gums up the plate pretty quick.  Glad no major injuries.

 

Varsity Volleyball

Aye! 27 HIMs leapt into the gloom at Peak 51 on Thursday. We had a mix of newbies, veterans and those, like YHC coming out of a period of extended fartsacking. The first couple of “phases” of this workout were inspitred by my 16yo 2.0s volleyball coach, hence the name. And it goes a little something like this…

The Thang

Little baby job from launch to parking lot behind FBC Matthews.

COP
-10 Merkins
– 15 SSH
– 8 Merkins
– 15 Squats
-6 Merkins
– 15 LBCs
– 4 Merkins
– 15 Imperial Walker
– 10 Merkins

Mosey across the way to the BB&T lot.

Lucky 7
Count off in 1s and 2s for a set of “sevens” – two exercises where reps always add to 7.
Supine pull ups on bar behind BB&T; Merkins at other end of lot; jog in between
– 6 and 1, 5 and 2,…..

Mosey to parking lot behind Matthews Elementary School

Suicide Shuffle
Stay in groups and gather for suicide shuffle
Group 1: Suicides to each of the three light poles
Group 2: Exercises: Round 1 – Squats, Round 2- Merkins, Round 3 – LBCs
Flapjack after each round

Mosey to softball field

Bases of Death
Start to Home Plate
Bear crawl to 1B, 10 Squats
Lunge walk to 2B, 15 LBCs
Backwards job to 3B, 10 Burpees
Run to Home, 15 Merkins

Run back to launch spot and finish off with merkins and LBCs.

COT

Moleskin:

– Great work by all the pax. It was an honor to lead #Peak 51 and thanks to Booyah for getting me on the Q schedule. Hope everyone enjoyed the workout and got what they were looking for.
– Welcome to Matoke, our FNG. He is from Uganda and apparently Matoke is a fantastic banana dish. T-claps to Strikeout for bringing him out.
– After having been away from F3 for a while, it is great to be back. I realize how important F3 is overall to me and really missed the 2nd F.

All I got.

Dolphin

#FunFriday Bait and Switch?

18 men stepped into the probably typical but seemingly cold Friday AM gloom with the promise on the Twitter of some #FunFriday. This is how it went down:

Mosey to the near end of the track for quick circle and 20xSSH
Mosey to the far end of the track for a quick circle and 20xIW
Mosey to the near end of the track for a quick circle and 20xMtn Climbers (no one saw the forshadowing in that one)

Mosey to the far end of the track, next to Grandma Mountain for something new. Not 7s or 11s but 14s. Burpees at the bottom and squats at the top.

After that little bit of work we moseyed up Grandma one more time for some gym work. Partner up where P1 does AMRAP pullups while P2 does 30 LBCs and flapjack 3x.

Mosey to the far end of the field for a little push-a-rama – Merkins x10, Wide Merkins-10 and Diamond x5

Finally on to #FunFriday with relay races. 4 man teams for 25 yard sprints. In the Total Request Live segment, we did one round with bear crawls rather than sprints

Mosey back to cars for 10 burpees OYO

COT.

Moleskin:
1) Interesting how where you were yesterday influences what you think today. Stone Cold was in Tampa and this fine 35 degree morning felt cold. YHC had been in Pittsburgh this week where it was snowing with 23 wind chill yesterday this 35 felt great.
2) Yeti thinks we had a strong turnout due to a “magnetic” Q. YHC thinks it was the #FunFriday in the tweet
3) Why 14s up Grandma? Simple answer is that 1+2+3+…+14=105 so it’s another way to get to 100 burpees and a lot of trips up the hill
4) Amazing how fast you feel running on the flat track after all those trips up Grandma
5) Doesn’t appear the PAX watch many track or swimming relays. Somehow the 4 man relay had about 12 legs. Might have something to do with all the BRR training the PAX does. Relays don’t have to be 200+ miles…
6) Good to have Les Mis back for a time from South Africa for a bit

Lenten non-observance

19 men took the red pill, chose not to give up F3 for Lent, and posted at Centurion on a perfectly brisk friday morning.  YHC showed up just in time, stated the obligatory disclaimer, and off we went.

The Thang

Run up the parking deck.  Circle up for Imperial Walkers, Merkins, LBCs.

Run down and across 51 to Pallantine Hill for a triple nickel/Bermuda triangle:

  • Run up the hill, 5 burpees.
  • Run to the benches, 5 derkins & 5 dips.
  • Run to the road, 10 jump squats.
  • repeat 5x
  • Plank-o-rama and Mary for the overachievers who finished early.

Run back to the CCHS picnic tables via McDonald’s carpark, resisting temptation to order hash browns.

  • 10 step/jump ups
  • 10 derkins
  • 10 dips
  • repeat 3x

Run back to base the long way, via wells fargo branch.

  • Various Mary and core exercises with burpees – a vain attempt to satisfy McGee’s insatiable appetite for burpees.

Done.  Announcements:

  • New 3rd F after the Maul on Wednesday at Stonecrest starting soon (date?)
  • The Stand 3rd F after Centurion @ Panera

Good work by all today.  ~3mi covered based on my watch.  Always a privilege to lead @ Centurion!

2-for-1 Special at Meathead

13 posted for #gainz courtesy of a promised #0.0 and TGU-free beatdown.  What transpired over the next 45 minutes solidified their reputations as beasts, efficient ones at that.

Disclaimer – not really needed for this group of vets, so something along the lines of a brief “I’m not a professional; don’t hurt yourself” was given.

The Thang

YHC adapted a plan from StrongFirst Master SFG Jon Engum called Deep Six.  His plan was written expressly for use with groups and was estimated to last ~45 minutes.  Perfect.  For our purposes, a few modifications were made to (a) substitute overhead reverse lunges in place of the original TGUs (you can lead a horse to water…), (b) eliminate some of the rest periods (’cause we hate standing around), and (c) reduce the jogs to walks to preserve our #0.0 status.

Additionally, YHC noticed, after making the original #weinke, that Jon had an “advanced” version of the same workout in a ladder format.  Hmm, we’ll save that for future use…or, will we…

 

COP – aka Deep Six – Round One

Left side:

  • 5 one-hand swings
    • rest until all pax complete
  • 5 snatches
    • rest until all pax complete
  • 5 cleans & presses
    • rest until all pax complete
  • 5 racked front squats
    • rest until all pax complete
  • 1 overhead reverse lunge
    • rest until all pax complete
  • 2 walking laps around the circle
  • Rinse & Repeato on the Right

Round Two

Left side:

  • 5 one-hand swings + 5 snatches
    • rest until all pax complete
  • 5 cleans & presses + 5 racked front squats
    • rest until all pax complete
  • 1 overhead reverse lunge
  • 1 walking lap around the circle
  • Rinse & Repeato on Right

Round Three

Left side:

  • 5 one-hand swings + 5 snatches + 5 cleans & presses + 5 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
  • 2 walking laps around the circle
  • Rinse & Repeato on Right

Round Four

Complete on Left side + Right side without setting the bell down:

  • 5 one-hand swings + 5 snatches + 5 cleans & presses + 5 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
  • 2 walking laps around the circle

Done!  Wait, that was supposed to take us 45 minutes?!  It’s only 5:45!!

 

Audibles:

Playground Circuit for the March Pullup & Merkin Challenge

  • 25 pullups (yeah, we overachieved) + 100 merkins

Advanced Deep Six – Ladders

(Complete on Left side + Right side with setting the bell down)

  • 5 one-hand swings + 5 snatches + 5 cleans & presses + 5 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
    • 2 walking laps around the circle
  • 4 one-hand swings + 4 snatches + 4 cleans & presses + 4 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
    • 2 walking laps around the circle
  • 3 one-hand swings + 3 snatches + 3 cleans & presses + 3 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
    • 1 walking lap around the circle
  • 3 one-hand swings + 3 snatches + 3 cleans & presses + 3 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
    • 1 walking lap around the circle
  • Note:  we did two sets of 3 since laddering down to 2 & 1 was too easy

Meathead Mary

  • Flutter with Presses – 15 IC
  • Russian Twist with KB – 15 IC
  • Pullovers with Presses – 10 OYO
  • Louganis with Pullovers – 7 OYO
  • Racked carry (Left) to 3rd median (try not to scare the arriving teachers) & back (Right)

(Bulldog – are we going until 6:30 today?  YHC – no, it just feels like it.)

 

Rinse & Repeato – Advanced Deep Six – Ladders

(Complete on Left side + Right side without setting the bell down)

  • 5 one-hand swings + 5 snatches + 5 cleans & presses + 5 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
    • 2 walking laps around the circle
  • 4 one-hand swings + 4 snatches + 4 cleans & presses + 4 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
    • 2 walking laps around the circle

(Bulldog – no, seriously.  What time is it?  YHC – 6:13; time enough for one more round.)

  • 3 one-hand swings + 3 snatches + 3 cleans & presses + 3 racked front squats + 1 overhead reverse lunge
    • 1 walking lap around the circle

6:15  Done!  Yes, really this time.

 

COT

Announcements:

  1. Sign up for golf – after someone signs up to Q it…

Naked Moleskine:

Good group out today.  After the thunderstorm last night and the brisk temps this morning, it was good to see a Meathead Dozen (13) out today.

There was some initial mumblechatter as we began our COP/warmup in Round One, but that quickly subsided, either due to us being in our pain caves or because Meatheads have to concentrate to count to 5 and remember 4 exercises.

Well, it’s a good thing that YHC always makes contingency plans and had the Ladder work in mind.  Never thought we’d blow through that in 15 minutes!  We should have picked up a few minutes, as a few rest breaks (laps) were cut out, but that doesn’t account for our speed.  It’s probably more a testiment to our workout style (typically very few breaks and lots of reps) and the fact that our bells are relatively light.  As Rx’d, most should have been using a 20-24 kg, depending age, weight, & KB experience.  But, it also depends on your goals. No matter; by the end, it seemed everyone was ready for the end and got in a good workout.  2 workouts in 1, in fact.  Plus, knocked out the pullups & merkins for today.  Bonus.

Saturday, 3/4, marks 4 years in F3 for YHC.  Noticed that Baracus & Wingman also celebrated 4 years this week.  Like them, I’m thankful for all the iron-sharpening and, most of all, your friendships & comradery.  It’s no comparison to the #sadclown workouts I was doing at the #fern before F3.  Thank you.

Thanks, Header, for the take-out today.

And, thanks for the opportunity to lead today.  It’s always an honor.

Aye.

 

Uphill at Hydra

12 men survived some serious uphill running at Hydra.

Warmup
– SSH
– IW
– Time to move on out of the wind

Big Hill Suicide
– Run to bottom of Summerlin
– Run to first speed bump, 10 merkins, return, 10 squats
– 2nd speed bump, 10 wide arms, return, 10 squats
– Rea road, 10 diamonds, return, 10 squats
– Various mary and lunges at bottom of Summerlin

Small Hill 7s
– Run to bottom of Foxworth
– 7s with burpees at top and squat jumps at bottom
– Various mary

Back home
– Run up Windyrush, 10 Carolina drydocks at lightposts on right, 10 lunges at lightposts on left (more CDDs)
– Finish with mary

Solid group out this am, I think we were all ready to move after standing in the wind waiting to get started. I’m feeling out of shape, so wanted to get some running in this am. We hit 3.5 miles according to Flutie Flakes, so mission accomplished with lots of elevation change thrown in. Too much smack talk to recount here. No announcements, on with the day. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Harley

Happy Birthday, Lauren Conrad

17 pardy-hardy gents released their inhibitions and felt the rain on their skin this morning at DT to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the LC at 5 Knolls. No coddling of the pax today with chalk arrows today – read the preblast, or get lost. A mediocre explanation of the course, and we were off. What was once a seemingly unattainable challenge of 3 full laps up the LC now seems commonplace with some speedsters lighting up the course. Notably, Fahvra nabbed the CR crown for the LC. Frasier was either not there, or forgot his watch – both plausible excuses.

Other sightings were sparse this morning. I drove from the backseat this morning:

  • TR rolled in bumping The Hills Intro song – strong music game, as always
  • Tolkien jogged everything that wasn’t a strava segment
  • Fahvra beat everyone. Even a rested Tolkien on the segments
  • Prohibition partied too hard at the CIAA and almost puked in an Uber
  • A DT site Q did a lot of pushups at a running workout (tsk tsk)
  • Depth Charge is getting sneaky fast. Watch out for this guy
  • Guarantee the average speed at DT is 30-45 seconds faster than it was a year ago. Running is fun
  • O/U was 15 on pax this week. Anyone that didn’t bet the over doesn’t like fun

Ball out this weekend,

HB

Four Years of F3

Disclaimer given with a minute to spare and we were off.

Frehleys comet was thrown off. We did Imperial Walkers First

The Thang
Imperial Walkers x 15 In Cadence (IC)
15 Windmeal x 15 IC
15 Side Straddle Hops IC
10 Merkins IC
15 Mountain Climbers IC

Mosey to Elm
Find Five Street Lights
at each light:
Over the small hill
Down the big hill
10 Merkins
Back up and over
Move to next light

Doc McS decides he needs a sixth round…
plank-o-ram-a while we wait on the six. followed by 6-inches

Mosey back down the hill
Backward run to the stop sign and circle up in front of target

M100
10 Burpees
10 Mountain Climbers (Cadence Count)
10 Double Squat Thrust Jumps
Repeat until total rep count hits 100. That is 3 rounds plus ten extra burpees. Surprising how foggy the brain is in the gloom
Various six-exercises while we wait for the pax to finish up.

Mosey to Fountains
10 Derkins
10 Box Jumps/Leg Steps
10 Dips
Repeat for three rounds

All-you-got to Cantina 1511

Mosey to the hill behind Firebirds

Triple-Nickel
5 LBCs
Up the Hill
5 Squats
for 5 rounds

Back to Launch for exactly 7 Minutes of Mary
Starting position move of all exercises is 6-inches.

20 Rosalita IC
20 Fluttah IC
20 Dolly IC
20 Opposite elbow/knee LBC IC
Protractor various angles
20 Heels to the Heavens IC
Boat/Canoe

Thine Only Dirty Skine
Great to see some new faces out there: Tiny-Dancer, Toolbag. First to admit you may have been out for a while, however YHC has been suckling the warm insides of the Yoga Studio. YHC believes this is Choppers 4th week. Great work man, keep pushing. To the front-runners today: Doc McS, Goonie, Bucky, Heart Breaker. The reverse hills were no joke, but you all tore threw them like that fajitas YHC had last week. Always rock-solid and steady: Tuna, Van Pelt, Strawberry, Frehleys, Marlin.

YHCs 4-year anniversary. Can finally say YHC weighs less than at start. Iron-Sharpens-Iron, fantastic memories, great friends!

Now i have 1011 pull-ups to do and I’m off to Hot Yoga. Double-Down!

Announcements
Sign up for the Merkin/Pull-up Challenge – 100 merkins achieved already today!
Richard Sheltra 5k/10k Reminder
www.firstgiving.com/ggcckenya – Orphanage/ Boarding school in Western Kenya that came to be to support orphans from HIV/AIDS crisis. Up to > 700 students
Savage Race

A date with Lauren Conrad

1 year ago (3/3), the hills of 5 Knolls were discovered. Like Christopher Columbus sailing off the edge of the flat world (sup, Kyrie Irving), 14 dudes ventured into uncharted territory. Less than 1/2 a mile from one of the biggest AOs in A51, lay one of the biggest hills in A51 – the southern segment on 5 Knolls Drive – affectionately known as LC to those in the biz. Frasier holds the CR and is the lucky lad teed up to take LC to prom. Will anyone dethrone him and take the prom king crown?

**Update: upon further investigation, LC hasn’t decided who she’s taking to prom – Fahvra and Frasier share the CR, and there’s only room for one winner.

 

The challenge stands 1-year later:

Head north on Rea across 51, switch to left side of Rea. Take 3rd Left on Five Knolls Rd. Head down (and up) Five Knolls til you hit the dead end, about face back to Rea. One lap from the corner of Rea/Five Knolls to the dead end and back = 2 mi. Repeat as many times as possible and head the 1.1 mi back down Rea.

Here’s the breakdown, including the run to Five Knolls, and the return run back:

  • 1 lap = 4.2mi (Avg. pace to complete in 60 mins = 14:17/mi)
  • 2 laps = 6.2mi (9:40/mi)
  • 3 laps = 8.1mi (7:24/mi)

Adjust your laps accordingly to get back to the start by 0615.

xoxo,

HB