Monthly Archive March 2017

Bagpipe Backblast

Shout-out to Haggis for posting at Bagpipe and Frazier for Swift after running the Palmetto 200+ this weekend. Of course Frazier says, “Anyone can do it, you guys should sign up next year!”  I’ll be sure and mark may calendar..

Warmup: Mosey to parking lot by the Marriott. SSH X 20, MC X 10, Merkins X 20

Workout: Run to fitness trail. 2 sets of dips X 10 and Pullups X 10. Plank and 6 inches hold for 10 count. Run across wooden bridge and parking lot to the street. 15 Merkins. Run to top of hill and hold preachers chair on bridge for 1 minute. 25 count arm raises. Run to parking deck (beside helicopter pad) and run the staircase – 5 Burpees at bottom and run 2 levels of stairs, 10 Merkins. Return to bottom for 5 Burpees and run the steps to the top and 15 Merkins. Return to bottom.

Mosey / Run to cross Ballantyne Commons and run to Harris Teeter shopping center to knee wall / fountain near Bad Daddy’s. 2 sets Derkins X 10, Dips X 10, Jump ups X 10. 3 sets Mary LBC X 15, Dolly X 15, and Scissor Kicks X 15. Mosey to cross Johnson Road and into the parking garage for a series of sprints and exercises at the top of each ramp including Merkins, Mary, Jump Squats, CDD, LBC. Return to launch.

Covered 2.8 miles. No 10-count rests. Brisk pace. Thanks to all for coming except for Nard Dog who “says” he was there but couldn’t find us. Nardy, any witnesses?

Saitama “One Punch Man” Training Day!

By the time I pulled into an eerie empty parking lot, the rain stopped and it was a cool 58 degrees…perfect running/bootcamp weather. I was joined by 8 strong PAX who wanted to start the day off right. I attempted a quick disclaimer but had to wait on Rachel pulling in tardy and then his car alarm as he fumbled with his keys to assemble with the others. Alas, little did they know what was coming…

https://youtu.be/5tu5iNUMuc8

YHC shared the vision as we left the school toward Hwy 51, then West, then onto Carey Ridge. At that point I provided more details. Saitama, the “One Punch Man”, trains by doing 100 push ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and 10k run every day! My goal was just to get the PAX started and let them decide if they wished to complete the 3 year journey toward Anime Superhero status.

We quietly circled up at the cul-de-sac on Colburn for the “kickstart”, in cadence 50 squats, 30 merkins and 40 LBC. From there it was each man for himself running the full distance of Colburn (0.6 miles) aka “Half Pipe” back and forth, doing squats on near end, merkins at the valley, LBC at the far end. Reps per set can vary as long as you completed 100 of each exercise. And off we went with Alf, Turkey Leg and Rachel quickly jumping up front and never looking back. The rest of us spread out with PopTart reluctantly embracing his inner BRR-self, Semi-Gloss consistently kicking ass with a smile and Margo breaking in his new kicks the real man’s way…running hill repeats over 5+ miles…badass. Utah, Mermaid and YHC took our position in the back of the pack where we can talk about family flu bug and poor sleeping habits.

At 6:05 we made our way from Colburn up Rosecliff to Strawberry for the classic Indian Run back to the school. Maybe one of the toughest I’ve ever been a part of…ouch! The faster guys broke the 10k mark with everyone else just short…Saitama didn’t mention hills…ugh. And of course with a few minutes left we had to sneak in a couple parking lot sprints while Semi-Gloss toweled off by his car. He made up for it with a nice takeout though…thank you. And thanks to everyone who made it this am. Tough workout, felt good. Enjoy the video.

 

Everything is better with Cheddar

15 Fine Men showed up for the Cheddar Special on a perfect Saturday Morning

COP

20xSSH In Cadence (IC)

20xMerkins IC

20 Mountain Climbers IC

20 Peter Parker IC

Get to the Track

On the way 10 merkins on your own (OYO)

And 10 merkins (OYO)

Thang

Triple Nickel

Get to the Track

10 merkins Run to stands  10 freddie mercury and back – 5 times

Each pax does  200 LBC and 100 merkins OYO, also try to finish your 40 pullups from the bars when available

Partner Up – Catch me if you can around the track . When you meet your partner 3 burpees

Wall Sits

Arms horizontal

1 leg high – hold – leg down – 10 sec

Other leg high – leg down – 10 sec

50 Civilian count arm raises

Mosey to the big Football behind

1 set of 10 merkins then to the first field goal post Broad Jump burpees

Triple Nickel –

10 merkins then run horizontal side of the field and then 10 bomb jacks (star jumps) on other side

Mary – Flutter 10 IC

Mosey to some concrete closeby and did 10 merkins IC

Mosey next to the wall – Dips 16 IC – Recover –  17 IC- Recover – 18 IC

Mosey Back to base with some dolly 10 IC

 Box Cutters – 10 IC

There were a few Mary called out which I can’t remember when so you can give yourself credit on it

End

Moleskin

 

First of all just wanted to say I was excited to come to this AO-Commitment as it has so much to offer. Second reason I was excited was because the pax here are simply warm and welcoming. If you haven’t met the pax at F3 Union Co, you need to put a date on your calendar and come by. Initially I was all in to give 250 merkins and 40 pull-ups. Well YHC needed some “workout redesigning” lessons cause we could only get to 20 per pax. I asked them to do them on their own later in the day. #WillDoItWhenYouQAgainHere

Damascus was all in for his Merkin Pull up Challenge and inspired a few on his technique . Great going brother.

Bottlecap and DocMCStuffins gave a solid performance. Remember him and bunch of others from the Debbie’s House Project

Shop Dog  helped in the middle while YHC was recovering .

Transporter was solid as usual and kept the pax together.

I remember pushing Legal Zoom on the Catch me if you can – Great job brother

SwissCheese gave a good effort also showed us how we need to be accountable by completing the task at hand. Sorry brother I didnt spot you at field but I should have.  #QWorkinProgress !

Rest of the pax who I can’t remember names but I know pushed it for sure

It was great talking to youll after the workout At Chick-Fil-A. I am always looking forward to 2nd F coffee. Also thanks to Snowflake for getting a bunch of the guys coffee including mine.

Happy Birthday to Transporter – all the pax ended up doing some burpees to reach the number 38. Gave some bonus burpees thanks to our great Math skills!

 

Announcements:

4/1 – Convergence – Monroe at Outland

Pizza Place (next to Chick -Fil-A) 3rd F – Mondays 730pm

BRR – looking for 3 more runners if you are interested – grab your spot before it is all gone
Cheddar out.

Build the wall!! Build the wall!!

YHC woke up at 3:58am not from nervousness about my VQ but from a nightmare where I was being chased by INS (immigration for you non-foreigners). I think the trigger for the nightmare was a “tip off” earlier in the day from AKA: JRR Tolkien who said “his source” heard of a security leak that told him INS would be in the area. My plan of blending into the American dream in suburbia could be blown. I was thankful that the gloom could provide some cover, I came up with a plan to blend in among the PAX by promoting a build the wall workout. I figured this would throw off any INS agents in the area.

The Thang:

One was to let the PAX experience what crossing the Rio Grande with a baby in 5ft water would be like by carrying a 20lb paver overhead to Best Buy lot. Since I was only expecting 2 or 3 to show up I was surprised and unprepared when 16 showed and I was 5 pavers short.. Fail #1.. Out of the gate I had to audible to partner up and this threw off my whole Q since I had not planned for curveballs.. VQ fail.

Once at BB then 15 count in cadence of:

Side straddle hop, Imperial walkers, windmill,  and mountain climbers.

Then 2 rounds 10 count of:

Supermans and hollow rocks.

Don’t forget baby and mosey over to Blakeney playground for 3 rounds of:

10 pull-ups, 15 merkins (switching each round between wide arm, military and heart to heart), 10 box jumps, 10 overhead brick lunges and then run around Bath & Body Works building (about 200m). Plank or LBCs after each round and wait for others before going again.

Next circuit, 3 rounds of:

15 paver thruster squats, 15 over your toes LBCs, 15 paver push presses, 10 side to side push-ups and run around building again. Plank when finished and wait for the others.

Mosey over to water fountain for 3 rounds of:

10 derkins, 10 dips and 20 touch your toes LBCs, switching to Star Fish LBCs (thanks Tuck)  for the last 2 rounds.

Partner up, pick up 20lbs “baby” and share custody while moseying over to the wall behind Old Navy.

Audible due to time mismanagement and switch man maker with overhead brick push press to just 1 regular burpee and 1 wall climb. Repeat 10x

Run back to base and audible again for 4 sets of call ’em LBCs since Tolkien’s watch had 5 minutes left vs mine with only 1 minute ( per Verizon and GPS system…)

Moleskin: I definitely created a lot of confusion. I think some thought I was Qing in Spanish but I think eventually most caught on or implemented their own workout.  The goal was to get everyone huffing and puffing with minimal running. But only as an attorney can object, Patent Pending called me out and yelled “you lied” we ran 2.9 miles. Cockey decided to pile on. I was definitely disappointed since the goal was to stay below 1.5mi. Nard Dog tried to keep me company in one of the runs but decided I was too slow and dusted me. Mighty Mite, Tuck, Nard Dog and Bucky are beasts as they finished the rounds  as most of us were starting the run.  JRR Tolkien tried to break me down by telling me how short the workout was and showing me that he wasn’t even out of breath. Thanks for the constructive criticism. Loogie kept me from sobbing by telling me how I was good enough, nice enough and that people liked me. Thanks brother! Tuck sent me to the drawing board a few times and gave me a C for effort at the end but somehow I still qualified to get my DaVinci sox which I will proudly wear next time. Definitely enjoyed the privilege to lead all 16 of you and the kwoffee talk. Thanks for putting up wit the gear grinding and good thing the INS thing was a hoax and I won’t get deported to mexico where I’m NOT from.

Announcements:

April 22 Brolympics 6am-8am at Community House school

F3 featured report on the TODAY show on Saturday 25.

 

 

The Winter Makes for Soft Hands

14 men posted at The Matrix to get the week off on the right foot.  The Q showed up with a few ideas but no real weinke.  (you may have noticed.)

The Thang:

Mosey the long way around the school with some shuffles in the lower parking lot.  Circle up by playground for COP in Cadence:  Merkins, Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, Low Slow Squats, Plank Jacks.

Head to path on side of school for modified triple nickel:  At playground do 5 pull-ups, at Stumps do 5 Jump ups.  Every time you pass the path do 10 decline merkins with feet on railing. (both directions = 10 passes and 100 derkins)

When finished some Mary by the cars while the 6 completes the work.

Head to blocks and partner up.

P1:  Overhead press     P2: Sprint to far light post and back.  flapjack to 200 OH presses

Repeat with 200 Flutter with press

Repeat with 150 Good Mornings and shorten sprint to first light post but add 5 burpees at the turn.

Various plank-o-rama in between.

Return blocks.  Sprint field, first have backward then turn and finish forward.

1 minute left for 10 burpees on your own.

Moleskine:

Really strong group today.  Rhapsody was crushing the triple nickel and using the high railing for derkins.  McGee complained it wasn’t hard enough, but still had gloves on in 60 degrees.  Mile High was back after his FNG post there last week – looking good and hanging in there.  Always great to see Young Love get the chance to escape the herd of children for an hour.  I know it can’t be easy – and he brought the take out prayer with him.  Great stuff.

Thanks to Squid for managing the site and being my partner today.  Slow, steady and impeccable form.  More may have happened but it’s been a crazy day and you are lucky I got this out at all.  And as for the title – I think most guys were feeling the rough pavement after they wintered over with gloves on for the workout.  Time to get the man hands back.

No announcements.

-Alf

 

Simple but effective

16 strong men assembled at Base Camp for their trek to start the week off right. After a thorough disclaimer for the veteran crew (#notneeded), we were off into the gloom.

THE THANG

Mosey to the side parking lot and circle up, waiting on a couple LIFOs coming in on two wheels to join us. COP #1.

  • SSH x25
  • IW x20

Mosey down Woodfox, and stop about 200 yard in for COP #2.

  • Mountain Climber x20
  • Peter Parker x20

Continue down Woodfox to Burning Tree Dr. 30 yards into BTD COP #3.

  • LBCs x20
  • High Flutter x15

Mosey to the end of Woodfox, hang a left down to Rising Meadow for the Main Event.

  • 7s up the hill, with the option for burpees or merkins at the top, squats at the bottom
  • Plank exercises while the 6 comes in

Slow recovery mosey back to the top of the hill, and make way to the cul de sac with a combo of lunges and backwards run. COP #4

  • Heels to heaven x20
  • Something else that was interrupted by the paper delivery guy

Back down Rising Meadow, stopping at each driveway for LBCs x5.

At base of Rising Meadow, partner up for Catch Me If You Can back to the school, with 10x merkins (modified to 5x) as the called exercise.

People’s Chair with arms extended, followed by air presses (x10 normal cadence, x10 double time). Rinse and Repeat.

Done.

MOLESKIN

Looked like a lot as I type this out, but it was all pretty basic. Some running, with some strength (mostly merkins) and ab work (mostly LBCs) mixed in. My watch read 2.4 miles, and there’s nothing wrong with that! My goal was to create a workout that would give everyone something – push the experienced guys and still be challenging, but not to a fault, for the others. I hope I accomplished that. There seemed to be a lot of heavy breathing, and nobody died (that I’m aware of), and so that seems good.

Great to see some of the regulars – Goonie (who was flying), Fireman Ed, Smash, Insomniac, Triple-7, amongst others. Great also to workout with some guys I don’t see very often and met for the first time. Thanks for the privilege to lead, and I already look forward to the next one. Thanks to Insomniac for the takeout.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Savage Race – May 13. Sign up.

#PreBlast: Feel like stretching the legs?

If you are one of many participants of a race over the weekend, or you have one coming up next, we’ll have the Potpourri-inspired Swedish/Danish Fartlek to keep us entertained this week as we mosey around the Ballantyne Corporate Park.

All festivities start at the Vine Restaurant Parking lot in the SonsOfBallantyne AO.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – Early 15minutes to get in some easy running
  • 0515 – Warm-up jog for 10 minutes.
  • 0525 – 5 minutes of Running Drills
  • 0530 – Start 4 rounds of 30/20/10 Swedish/Danish Fartlek. One round is:
    • 30 seconds Jog
    • 20 seconds Normal
    • 10 seconds SPRINT
    • x 5
    • 2:00 recovery jog between rounds
  • 0558 – Various Build the Running Body Core exercises
  • 0615 – COT
  • 0630 – TimeKeeper 3rd F – talking about showing your spouse love through Words of Affirmation and Quality Time.

SYITG,

Bratwurst

Never try to look at another man’s weinke

17 strong pax met up at Calvary Church Saturday morning for YHC’s oft-rescheduled RockZero VQ. YHC was pleased with the turn out considering I was up against the Palmetto 200, 2 VQs (Escobar at DV and Moon River at Ascent), Madame Tussaud’s Adventure Race at Stonehenge, and Floor Slapper was bringing the heat at Area 51. After a quick disclaimer that covered most of the high points, we were off.

Warm up jog to the giant lot across from the launch point.

Circle up for COP:

  • SSH x 15 IC
  • Low slow squat x 15 IC
  • Low slow merkin x 10 IC
  • Peter Parker x 15 IC
  • IW x 15 IC

Run to base of North Face and partner up

  • P1 – bear crawl up NF and run back down (after first round, audible to running around and coming down the usual hill)
  • P2 – Jump squats

Flapjack

Repeato with Makhtar N’djiaye, plank, something else

Mosey over to the avenue of trees near the playground and pavilion:

5 pain stations each lap:

  • Merkin x 10
  • Squat x 10
  • LBC x 10
  • Jumping lunges x 10 total
  • Burpees x 5
  • Return to start and plank for stragglers (the Q)

Repeato for 3 total laps. Pax-led Mary, merkins, planks between rounds.

Head over to the Pavilion:

  • 20 dips
  • 20 bench squats
  • 20 derkins
  • Run to 1st trash can

Repeato with 10 reps of each exercise until you’ve circled all trash cans (about 7)

Head to the other side of the pavilion for Peoples’ Chair. Find your partner from North Face:

  • P1 – Peoples’ Chair with air presses
  • P2 – run to the lightpost and back

Flapjack, then repeato with balls to the wall

Mosey to the rock pile by the baseball field, pax were instructed to find a LIFTING rock

Each exercise done for 10 reps – Q calls up or down, Pax counts:

Curls/Tri extensions/Overhead press/Squat. 4 rounds (plus one extra of curls). Pax rotate one position to the left each round

Head back to the COP lot for Mary:

  • Left side pistol crunch x 15 IC
  • Right side pistol crunch x 15 IC
  • Heels to Heaven x 15 IC
  • 6″ plank until time

COT – Thanks for the take out McGee

Announcements:

  1. Savage Race 5/13 – the latest discount has expired, but there will probably be another one. Get signed up!
  2. Smoky Mountain Relay – Team Up N Over is looking for a 9th. See Cheese Curd, Sundancer, etc. if you’re looking for another masochist running event this April.

Moleskine:

  • A lively group this morning meant a lot of the 1st and 2nd Fs. The mumblechatter started almost immediately during the warm up with Gummy doing only the top half of the SSHs. It continued throughout the workout at North Face, during the runs through the trees, etc. Some of the pax were impressed with YHC’s weinke, which was typed. I’m not sure what most people do at the office on a Friday afternoon, but that’s a good time to put your thoughts down on paper. Since I’m usually pretty smoked during a workout, I like to have the weinke for reference during brief interludes. McGee was determined to sneak a peek, but YHC politely declined. I didn’t want him stealing any of my material during his Q the next week.
  • Thanks to Flipper for having me out. I’ve been slacking on Saturdays, so it was good to have the push to get out there. I also appreciate his flexibility in dealing with my multiple deferrals.
  • And thanks to the pax for following me around this morning. I hope everyone was as sore on Sunday as I was. These hour long workouts are long!
  • YHC pulled into the lot to find Flipper sitting in his car. This was interesting because he had tweeted out a pre-run the night before. When we got out, he mentioned that he had an alarm clock fail and didn’t get up until 6:20. We’ve all been there. Prohibition rolled in solo a little while later and proceeded to crush the workout as if he were fresh.
  • A lot of Larry Birds out there today, although that’s not surprising considering the crew. There were some new faces (at least new to me) and some Metro visitors – it’s always great to see RIBEYE.
  • I forgot one name – please sound off in the comments and I’ll update the PAX list.

F3 > Gladiator @ the Big House

YHC wanted to hit the Big House early to scope out the terrain and make sure it was appropriate for the planned workout. In the distance by the baseball fields there was another car sitting there. Curious as to who else would be at outside at 5AM when it’s below 30 degrees, YHC made a pass by to see a guy with a table and cone course set up in the parking lot and a “Gladiator” sign. While trying to read the sign YHC inadvertently ran over one of his cones and yeah, I kept going. Turf wars are on. I circled back to the launch point to see 6 PAX awaiting their Monday medicine. Quick disclaimer given and off we went:

COP

  • SSH x 25
  • MC x 25
  • Windmill x 10
  • Cherry Pickers x 10

The Thang (far parking lot from launch)

  • Sprint to 1st island, recover to the end of parking lot (repeato x4)
  • Merkin Walk along the curb
  • Dips x25
  • Turbo Leg Ups x25 each leg
  • Full Parking Lot Sprint + short recover loop past Gladiator man and back
  • Diamond Merkin Walk along the curb
  • Dips x25
  • Box Jumps x25
  • Full Parking Lot Sprint + short recover loop past Gladiator man and back

4 Corners (partner up) = Exercise for 30 sec high intensity, then rotate to next station

  • Merkins
  • Partner Ab work
  • Dips
  • Burpee broad jumps

YHC thought he remembered a hill from the last time posting at The Big House. The “Hill” was not quite as daunting as I remembered, however it did the trick for a backwards Bear Crawl ladder:

  • x5 (bombjacks at the bottom, bear crawl to the top, burpees at the top, jog to the bottom)
  • x4 (bombjacks at the bottom, bear crawl to the top, burpees at the top, jog to the bottom)
  • repeato until 1
  • COT

Moleskin

Definitely appreciate the invitation from Dumpsterfire and Cheddar to come out and Q the Big House. Hopefully your free workout courtesy of YHC was better than what Gladiator man was cooking up for roughly $30 a pop. Solid work by Tagalong and Shrink Wrap as they have been constants at this site and Fat Camp. Tagalong brought the speed on the sprints. Pulp Fiction didn’t even seem winded, almost as if he was down for another 45min. Great to meet Tool Bag in person, seen the name many of times now have a mug to put to it.

  • Sign up for the Savage Race and Sheltra memorial run (fallen fire fighter)
  • Q School coming up, read your newsletter

Over and Out – General

 

Sale of the Century

Seven contestants showed and six remained at the end of the show. This is the sweet spot in the calendar when you don’t need to layer and you don’t immediately overheat.

Warm-Up
Quick parking lot lap
Side-straddle hops x 15
Imperial Walkers x15
‘Mericans x 10

Round 1 – Two-handed swings
x 40, run to playground for 4 pull-ups
x 30, run to playground for 3pull-ups
x 20, run to playground for 2 pull-ups
x 10, run to playground for 1 pull-ups
Total of 100 of called exercise, 10 pull-ups

Rinse and repeat with the following
Round 2 -Goblet squats
Round 3 – Snatch
Round 4 – Lunge

Showcase Showdown
Cleans until time runs out ~ 2 min.

The Winner?
The ball of iron with a handle crushes all players.

Moleskine
Loogie (FIFO) came to drop off some extra bells, joined us for a quarter hour and headed to Dunkin Donuts to deliver his 2.0 a treat before jumping on the bus. #gooddad.
Argonuat screeched in on two flaming sneakers finish a 5K PR prior to his time with heavy iron.
Voodoo saved the day, pulling a Bluetooth speaker out of his Batmobile. The tunes helped, a little. He also loaned me his small bell, 53# for the lunges. #thankyou?
Patent Pending That dude is everywhere now! Great attitude, awesome effort. Keep on posting you are crushing it.
Chopper  Here’s another not-so-newbie who getting after it! 100% pure grit this morning.
Mighty Might – For most rounds, double-M was out front, proving he’s strong and quick. #doublethreat

Announcements
Brolympics – April 22, 6 AM Community House Middle School