We had 6 men post for my version of the 12 days of Christmas. It wasn’t the usual bunch as some had to run a race against a crew of senior citizens (Joker) and others were out of town. None the less, I brought my cardboard cut out with the 12 days of Christmas scribbled out and here is what went down.
We moseyed around the parking lot to the back lot for some warm up exercises.
20xSSH
20xIW
10xMerkins
Mosey across the soccer field to the rock pile and grab a lifting rock. We moseyed back to the parking lot in front of playground for the main event.
1: Chest Press x 20
2: Tricep Extensions x 20
3: Overhead Press x 20
4: Squat Trumps aka Squat Jumps x 20
5: Curls x 20
6: Russian Twist x 20
7: Rows x 20
8: Lunges x 20
9: Shoulder Press aka Shoulder Raises x 20
10: Sit ups x 20
11: Squat Press x 20
12: Rock Burpees x 20
Then take the rock back.
Moleskin:
I got a lot of grief for my version of the 12 days of Christmas because according to Alf you aren’t suppose to do more exercises than the number of the day, but I figured 1 curl with a rock was weak. So, we just did 20 of each. Also, my English ain’t so good as evidenced by my slip of using the word trump instead of jump, and duplicating an exercise by accident. I had to explain what I meant. I think Alf and Cold Cuts were the ones that noticed it since they got to the called exercise first. However, Cold Cuts started to slow down when he used a manly rock, instead of the pebble he started with. I also wanted to bring some excitement to the workout with some Christmas tunes, including everyone’s favorite, Silent Nights by the Jingle Cats. I think Cold Cuts and Huggie Bear peed their pants they laughed so hard. Strong effort by everyone involved. Fautline hates me for all the rock exercises, Squid still has the best form, and Huggie Bear looked like he just got out of the shower when we finished. Noone got through all 12 days, but we did all get at least 10 rock burpees at the end. Thanks for letting me lead and the takeout Squid.
Joe Davis Run Jan 6
Summary
19 men showed up to the toughest SOB workout of the week… THE BRAVE. More on that later…
Thang
An AMRAP disguised as a “challenge”.
REPEAT SEQUENCE TO LEVEL 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2 > Tolkien Challenge Complete!!!
If finished… GO BACK UP 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8
Moleskine
Had a really great time with all of you this morning. A PERFECT group of guys to sweat with. Hats off to Kirby, for posting last time YHC did the deck AMRAP, coming again this time knowing it was going to be pain, giving his all, and making it a goal of 2018 not to PR a race, but be fit enough to give a special kid a push in a SPEED FOR NEED racing chair #HIM. Props to outgoing Nantan Madame Tousseau as well, for always looking out for others and covering the 6, not just today, but at almost every workout YHC has done in my 3+ years of SOB workouts. Incoming Nantan Thin Mint led the way (along with Mario) and completed the Tolkien Challenge. He will be leading the SOB region and we should all give him our full support and step up our game. Speaking of the silverbacked Mario, it’s been quite a successful year for him racing, and even though he’s 26yrs old, we can all learn something about dedication and hard work to get better. Hollywood fell just short of completing the challenge but took 3rd place honors… well done and welcome. In the battle of the highest hairdue, Wingman and Mr. Bean gave an old fashioned solid effort, and it was really great to see many long-time SOBs show up and put in the work. Tuck chased down YHC and Doc McStuffins on the 5th level, and is poised for a breakout 2018. After Q’ing dozens of workouts all over Charlotte in 2017, it was great to suffer with all of you Friday morning, for my last Q of the year. Thanks for coming.
The Brave used to be my favorite SOB workout… still is. In fact, back when Slack was still alive, we’d argue where it ranked in the Top5 F3 Nation Charlotte workouts, which says something already to even be in the conversation. Forget pre-running, you’d need that energy for the workout. Want to mumblechatter? Post on Saturdays for that. And there were even less refuseniks on called exercises, because anyone who showed up to the Brave was looking for… EXPECTING … a beatdown, from the Q and themselves, and at 0515 it was time to put in the work. This is the Brave.
It was Tuck who popped the cherry on “Room 101”, the new Bissell 8-story parking deck on Community House Road back on 6/9/17 during his 8-Deck Tour. It had not even been fully constructed at the time. Well it’s done now, and YHC thinks the Brave is supposed to make visiting Room101 a regular stop going forward. Why? Because this is The Brave! a 8 story parking deck right in our backyard, willing… waiting… to test all abilities, and provide a measurable challenge each and every time. Structure the workout right, and you’ll have fellowship from the first pax to the last. It’s SUPPOSED to be hard, and going up 8 levels (140 steps) to the top of the staircase is tough to beat. Here’s another challenge, how bout we each set a benchmark to measure how many times up and down the 8-story staircase and back to launch in a hour? Frasier once held the record at Metro’s The Muthaship of 16X up and down the dizzyback spiral.
All that being said, it’s been a year almost exactly to the day since YHC Q’d the Brave, and YHC has only been to a few Brave workouts in 2017 mostly due to marathon training. But it’s almost a new year, and YHC is challenging myself, and all of you, to post at the toughest SOB workout of the week…The Brave.
Thank you Private Benjamin for the takeout.
Announcements
SYITG ~JRR TOLKIEN
In The Big Apple, every year Radio City Music Hall hosts a show called Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and what a spectacle it is. With a splendor and gravitas which can only be achieved on Broadway, every commercial element of the holidays is trotted out accompanied by music, dance and the delighted applause of thousands of fans. YHC alongside co-site Qs Boerewors and Hoover hoped to bring every bit of the holiday cheer to RockZero but with less glitter and fewer kick-lines…
The Thang:
Mosey from the launch point over to the fake grassy knoll, accompanied by only the best Christmas soundtrack curated by yours truly, a joy which continued throughout the following 60 minutes. Upon arrival at the knoll circle up for a Hoover led COP:
SSH x2
Merkin x20
LSS x20
Mosey to the hotbox and assume peoples chair for slam ball overhead presses (both 20# slammers down to the end and back.) After handing off the 2nd slammer PAX ran into the parking lot for a 5 line merkin suicide run then over to the sidewalk where party favors await. Line up and perform “ball-over” merkins, walking hand over hand down the line sideways (2 40 pound slammers and 6 sandbags, so 10-15 merkins depending on how you did them.)
Upon completing the circuit return to the wall and repeato.
After completing the 2nd circuit the PAX divided into groups and played some catch me if you can with the sandbags (ranging from 50-100#). First circuit, 10x merkins, Pax ran out to the church along the road parallel to 51, across to the road which terminates near the kitty litter and back to the wall. Assume the chair, this time slam then press each of the 4 slammers (plenty of whining about the 40 pounders).
Repeat CMIYC this time with jump squats.
Mosey to the field where the weights (plus a couple 35# plates courtesy of Hoover) were loaded into the waiting wagon. Turns out one of the wheels was very flat, just make the next part harder. In teams of three the PAX pulled the wagon around an equal sided triangle (with one PAX riding, the other two pulling using the affixed battle rope). Those not participating in the sleigh ride completed team 15s on the hill (jump squats at the bottom, merkins at the top), with the team element meaning only one of the 3 was running at once, the other two waiting in plank at the bottom of the hill for their turn. After all the teams completed their sleigh ride we proceeded to Boerewors delight.
PAX line up abreast, perform a called exercise, then AYG for about 15 yards, line up again and repeat. 5 burpees, 10 diamond merkins, 10 LBCs then for the last run to the fence and return.
PAX gathered all the weights and returned to the cars for some Mary of various types for about 5 minutes until time.
YE NAKED MOLESKIN:
YHC, Hoover and Boerewors felt festive and wore various seasonal attire, including a fearsome representation of the wild South African Reindeer. A disturbing number of antler jokes were made but thats this group.
Hightide clearly had no clue what was in store as he was seen completing TGUs and pull-ups in the parking lot for a significant period prior to launch… T-Claps sir.
The great McGee actually appeared for the first time in a bit and resumed with equal strength of mumble as the last time he graced us with his presence. Nice to know a second mini-mcgee hasn’t dampened his spirit at all…
While many RockZero regulars were missing, it was great to share the suffering with some no often seen faces. Purell and Squid Twin (Costanza) did a great job despite hailing from a “moderate” home AO, Sony would have been proud.
Kotters to Dora, don’t think we’ve seen him since this AO was known as TheRock, evidenced by his attempt to park his big red truck in the wrong parking lot. Also falling into the Kotters category was DropThrill, great to see them both despite the long absence.
As always, its an honor to lead, to suffer and to celebrate with this great group of High Impact Men. Thanks to Iron Horse for the send off and Merry Christmas to all!
PS- There was almost a Purple Haze sighting, a rare thing indeed, but it was across the street from coffeteria as he stretched for an apparent run with a mystery fellow nobody recognized. Mumblechatter shouting occurred and off he went… c’est la vie.
Four PAX showed up in the fog for #F3 Sparta Thursday AM – 3 in shorts and Arsenal wearing his traditional long pants. The pre-blast promised to make the workout less predictable than your favorite Hallmark Christmas movie. How do you do that at a running/bootcamp workout? Glad you asked. Read below.
Give disclaimer and depart Socrates Academy promptly at 05:15. Mosey to intersection of Simifield Church & Weddington Ridge for COP:
SSH X 20 IC
IW X 15 IC
Mosey to the bottom of Weddington Ridge for the Main Event.
As we approached the bottom of the hill where Weddington Ridge intersects with Cameron Creek, Smokey promptly noticed 2 strategically placed items – a grab bag and a Kettle Bell. The bulk of the workout went like this: Reach into Santa’s sack and pull out a Christmas ornament. Perform the exercise & reps on the ornament, return to bag & run up the Weddington Ridge hill to the 2nd speed bump. U-turn at the speed bump & return to the bottom. Rinse & repeat until it’s time to return to Socrates for stretching.
The 24 Christmas ornaments were labled (2 each) with the following exercises:
20 Merkins, 10 Diamond Merkins, 5 Burpees, 10 Jump Squats, 20 Monkey Humpers, 10 Romanian Dead Lifts (5 ea leg), 20 LBC, 20 Carolina Dry Docks, 10 2-handed Swings & 20 Flutter (R+L = 1). A trip to the 2nd speed hump & back is approx .35 miles. When it was time to return to Socrates, each PAX logged somewhere between 4.1 – 5 miles.
Moleskin
You probably noticed the #51Counts twitter tag claimed 5 PAX showed but the BB started claiming only 4. We were on our way up the hill for the first lap when what to our wondering eyes should appear a jolly ole figure looking like the lead reindeer. For a moment, we thought we were on a collision course with Rudolph, but luckily it was just Hair Band running with a red headlamp (for some reason). He was provided instructions and fell in line with the rest of the crew doing the hill repeats.
Announcements
Reach out to PAX who are on IR or are MIA – they need to hear from you
Keep Bout Time & his family in your prayers. His 2.0 has leukemia & his M just delivered twins this week
Hair Band on Q at Overdrive
YHC on Q at Outland
Summary
17 Pax posted for a good old fashioned Merkin heavy beatdown. Clearly favoring my personal likes and dislikes this workout was heavy on upper body exercises and short fast runs. Any time the Pax were gathered in close proximity there was the distinct smell of Fox’s Pizza Den and Dreamcatchers wafting about. Clearly many of the Pax parents didn’t warn them about posting pics while they’ve been drinking as the #playhouse holds evidence of a late evening for many. However, in true F3 fashion Dreamwreckers was not able to claim any victims and keep them away. With a quick warm up and the usual legal disclaimers out the way we moseyed to the start of Cutty’s service road to the back fields.
The Thang
1. Ran the back service road, stopping at each light to do 5 burpees. Ended at Transporters office for some wall work.
2. Grabbed wall for 30x wall squat air press, 15x squat jump’s and 15x donkey kicks.
3. On to the rock pile to grab a lifting rock. Partnered up for each pair to do 100x curls, 100x military presses, 50x front raises and a bonus round of 50x curls. Partner sprinted to end of fence line when not working the rock.
4. Ran to the “stairs” for a side Merkin climb. At the top we re-paired to do 75x Merkins, 100x LBC’s…one partner worked while the other ran to the bottom of the stairs to knock out 5 burpees each time before heading back up.
5. Quick run to the covered lap area for some split sprint/recovery alternating laps.
6. Moseyed to the front of the school to grab some bench for 50x dips and 50x incline Merkins.
7. Back to the start for rotating ab work.
Moleskine
Asked at the eleventh hour to sub-Q for this workout, I just couldn’t get one of Frack’s favorite thoughts out of my mind, as frankly he put into words what I’ve thought my entire life. “If a chick with muscles looks like a guy, then what does a guy with no muscles look like?” Deep thought by Frack Handy. That thought also turned out to be apropos toward the end as the FNG was named. More on that in a minute. Everyone hung well…good mumblechatter told me we were getting the job done. To steal an old adage from the Corps that is certainly appropriate for F3, “the only Marine (or F3er) that you worry about is the one who isn’t bitching.” After the ab work, countarama and namearma we moved on to naming our FNG. He started by sharing his life story with us. A word cloud of it would include these words, “Air Force, entrepreneur, smoking hot wife (too which Goodfella asked what his name was), runner…”. Somehow, as things usually do, the offering of names quickly focused on hot wife, runner and Goodfellas lingering question of her gender…which unfortunately for Justin aka FNG, earned him the name Jenner. At least Bruce was left off. The dejected look on Jenner’s face only affirmed for the Pax that they had chosen wisely.
Announcements
• Joe Davis run (see newsletter)
• Start time next Friday is one hour later at 6:30
• Push to get people to show for commitment tomorrow a.m.
Several pre-runners arrived at various times for the final Foxhole of the year. Fire Hazard, NardDog, Paw Patrol, Cobbler, Argonaut and 2 FNGs… that’s right, 2 FNGs out there pre-running.
After with 4 additional on-time, regular time PAX, the final number was 11. Prime. Not ideal for the planned partner workout.. whatever, we’ll audible the whole thing. Here we go.
- 30 Side Straddle Hop (Cadence)
- 20 Low Slow Squats (Cadence)
- 10 Merkins (Cadence)
- 5 Good Mornings (Cadence)
- Lap Around the School with: Butt Kicks, High Knees, Karaoke, and Back Pedals.
The goal of today’s workload was to spend some time in the low-rep, high resistance zone, some time in high-rep, low resistance zone, and some in between.
Grab a partner (or group of three), and set up Bells about 5 ft from the edge of the curb. Partner A places hands on bell handles, feet on curb, Partner B places palms of hands on Partner A’s shoulders and applies the requisite amount of down force.
- Each PAX gets 3 rounds of 6 deep, abyss merkins. Partner provides sufficient resistance to limit reps to 6, simulating heavy weight.
- Fast 400m lap around the parking lot.
Everyone line up, with KB in front of you. Complete the following circuit, AYG.
- 10 KB High Pulls
- 10 KB Squats
- 20 Swings
- 10 Pull-ups
- 10 KB High Pulls
- 10 KB Squats
- 20 KB Swings
- 5 Pull-ups
Shoulder your bell and jog it slowly down to the mouth of the Devil’s Driveway. Prepare for an AMRAP. There are 4 speed bumps along the 1/2 mile sloping track.
- 10 KB Press
- Speedbump Suicides (each speed bump perform 2 more reps of both merkin and jump squat than the previous speed bump)
- Round everyone up for a 180 yard AYG sprint.
- Recover
- 10 KB Press
Gather all the PAX at the launch for a 8 minutes of core work. A mix of leg lifts, vertical flutters, LBC, horizontal flutters, etc.
Welcome to our two FNGs:
Too much time has passed for an adequate rip at a moleskine, and time is running out tonight. It’s been a great year at the Foxhole, and this was a great way to end the year. A good group of guys continues to get better.
Until Next Year.
Argo
Moleskin
Started with a short run to center parking lot for morning warmups. 25 side straddle hop,imperial walker, and mountain climbers.
Hop over to separate parking lot with a slight hill. Started with 5 sets of 20 reverse pull up with a sprint across the lot after each set. 4 sets of 15 lbc, then 3 sets of 10 jump squats, then 2 sets of 10 derkins.
Next was a break… navy seal (or the singer seal, not sure) sit-ups. Split group in 2, and lined up facing each other. Drop on your six and lock arms. 20 count of team sit-ups. Fun and awkward!!!!
Then 4 sets of 20 merkans with a sprint.
Headed over to the wall we usually end up by to do some air chair with arm press. 2 sets of 50. Then a group protractor session for some last minute an workout. Also threw in 20 lbc on your own to finish it up.
Needless to say, I’m going to be sore! If I left something out, it’s cause my daughter ripped up my copy of the workout. The whole group worked hard and stayed in it the whole time!!
‘Tis the season for 12 days of Christmas-themed workouts in F3. Not to be left out, YHC came up with an original, not-to-be-confused-with-Skunkworks 12 days workout after many hours (alright, it was 30 minutes) of YouTube and Pinterest research. #google
9 pax posted, including High Tide in a Christmas hat and Bulldog in a Christmas Vacation shirt. #strong Country Livin (no apostrophe) joined us for what Bulldog said was his second post in 4 years. Hopefully he’ll become a regular. If not, we’ll see you in 2021!
Warm up:
The Thang:
Each day builds on the last, so day 1 = exercise 1, day 2 = exercise 2 + exercise 1, etc.
Mary:
COT: Thanks to Bulldog for a great take out.
Announcements:
Moleskine:
Nice and early BB today. Yes I am golfing. Bloody Mary’s by 9.
Per the pre tweet – We ran 3+, we did merkins, we stayed off the grass (not the ganja) and we had some gentlemanly 2ndF.
Total of 8 pax.
Observations
Bounce said he would post. Got a text from him at 3am as he was making his own All Star breakfast at Waffle House saying he wasn’t going to make it. #HeIsGettingFat. http://people.com/food/south-carolina-man-hilariously-cooks-himself-breakfast-at-waffle-house-while-employee-sleeps/
Bananas HC’d yesterday. No show. He drinks too much #holidays
Buttermaker keeps saying he wants to make an F3 comeback. Today was a great opportunity. He evidently had some mayoral duties to take care of over at OT. #OhHiMike #HeIsTheOTMayor
Bulldog chose his warm gummy bear yoga this morning over Hydra #Bullocks
Tiger Rag – Seriously how long does a broken pinky toe keep one on IR? IT HAS BEEN HALF A YEAR. He’s got to be pushing 240 by now. Everybody needs to start peppering him.
Semi Gloss broke, BROKE, his foot 2 months ago and was out this morning. Notwithstanding his constant whining, I am proud of him. #Gross
Otherwise, it was a very gentlemanly crew this morning. Not very easy to talk smack to the likes of Purple Haze, Marge, Queen, Lazy Boy, Hopper, Sleepy etc. It was a very clean workout, the exception being Gloss’ 2 inch inseam running shorts #DudeYourBallsAreShowing
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, Feliz Navidad,
20 men exercised for 20 seconds, 64 times, at #F3Dromedary in the afterbirth of #MoneyTuck.
Thang
Ciabatta refers to Tabata, a form of high-intensity interval training developed by… a Japanese scientist? Each exercise is performed for 8 cycles of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest; 4 minutes total for each exercise. Doing eight different exercises this way is a full F3 Ciabatta Cycle.
Moleskine
Announcements