A dozen fine fellas made it out to a beautiful morning at Kevlar.
YE OLDE NAKED MOLESKINE
Don’t have time to rehash the details of such a quality workout. Just know it was good and worth coming out for! YHC did have to adjust the suicide portion of the plan due to Horsehead complaining of wet grass. Still worked out well and we were all still left in the dust of our 2nd oldest member Cage. The guy kills it just like Susudio used to however Cage actually does the right amount of reps and is just fitter at 57 years old than the rest of us! He does have a contender though in today’s FNG Nut Smuggler (nut is silent). The guy ran in from his house, nailed the workout, and ran home and he has Cage beat by ten years at 67 years young! Did he kick it? Yes he did!
PAX: Spackler, Pudding Pop, Cottontail, Cottonmouth, Horsehead, Pop Tart, *** Smuggler, Cage, Young Love, Manzel, Squid, Bulldog (Q)
What’s this you see, a back blast. You may ask what is a back blast. It is this thing we use to do in F3 SOB when a Q lead a workout. It was kinda of a requirement if you led. Admittedly, myself included, have gotten slack about doing a back blast. They are a cornerstone however of leading a good workout and so those that came can remember and those that did feel guilty for missing. I speak to you Free Range.
First Happy Birthday to our Nantan Thin Mint. Almost Master’s age.
What we did
A quick disclaimer was given. Upon leaving the parking lot instructions were given for the exercises we were going to do and the order we were going to do them in. I did a poor job explaining it clearly, my wife can attest to this. What was in my head and supposed to come out was every fifth light you will do five reps of the given exercise. The order of the exercises were merkins, American Hammer, and CDD. The group behind us thought they were supposed to do all three before running to the next light. Those that did that just got a bonus for the same amount of money. #lucky
We had several pit stops on the way around the big loop of Ballantyne. We stopped at the corner of Ballantyne Commons and Thornhill neighborhood, then at the pull up bars x 10 at the Thornhill neighborhood park, run up the Murderhorn, take a left on Elm to Endhaven, run to the bottom of White Hall neighborhood (at least I think it is called White Hall), back up to Endhaven down to Orchid Hill neighborhood, down to the bottom of Orchid Hill and then back up to Endhaven elementary’s pull up bars x 10, back across the street to the bottom of Misty Ridge Ln, back up to Endhaven to the corner of N. Community House and Endhaven, to the top of Wells Fargo parking deck, and finally back down back to the AO.
At some point we switched up merkins for diamond merkins and American Hammers for toe touch crunch. Everyone finished in time with the mileage ranging from 5.4 to 6.6.
Moleskin: Appreciate everyone showing up. 12 is a good number for The Brave especially since it was advertised as heavy running. One Niner lit the way on his bike. Thin Mint was feeling spry on his birthday and was at the front especially pushing hard up the Wells ramp. Fletch was always either on the heels or close behind. Transporter never misses an opportunity to push himself. Fire Hazard ran thirty (or maybe less) prior to the start. Wild Turkey changed his clothes several times to prevent from soaking the course. Tolken was there getting back after it. Buckeye never stopped despite coming back from an injury. Wingman encouraged the six the whole time. Bucky may have come to his first Brave? Either way he does everything well and made it look easy. Not sure if he sweated. Tuck continues to be consistent and encouraging as he also comes back from his injury.
Several announcements: Hope Challenge starting back up in September. One pax started early by sharing. Thanks for that it can be difficult to do but everyone benefits from it. Sandbox this weekend. We need Qs for The Brave starting next week.
Enjoy the holiday weekend and see everyone at the Waxhaw launch on Monday.
With the technical gliche of July haunting me for the past month… I found myself tossing and turning all nite. I even did some practice runs with the camera/video function on the mobile i device (what happens in a Lawson shower/ stays in Lawson) . Check. check, 1, 2, 3.. All Systems Go.
With temps in the 70’s the course was shaping up to be a fast track today – no rain, paths clear, Rocks all in place (Co-Site Q Hooch does a great job on course set up and filling our Q Schedule!). With that said 18 total out this morning to put in some work.
This is an opportunity to push/test/measure your physical progress – it gives you a baseline and then it’s up to you to see how you improve each month.
Some folks were out in front trying to break the course record – BottleCap, Legal Zoom, Deflated (he meant business today – own headphones/music – in the zone, Sprinkles and Dasher hit the gazelle mark of 4 laps – way to set the pace for the rest of the group.
Lots of folks on the course for the first time who went at it hard today:Rudy, Smithers, Spike, RickyBobby, loafer, High Hat
All the returning Pax made improvements over last amrap – CarbLoad, Foundation, Hooch, MadDog and Xerox !!!!!!! This shows that if you come to the workouts you will see results!!!!! Great work fellas.
The tracking sheetwith current and past results: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yYT-1uxSDSvpsCPV7fWjzsi0eVUcv_Fb/view?usp=sharing
Be accountable to yourself!!! Put these results on your Refrig at home>>> look at it everyday – work hard when you post and make it a personal challenge to go 1 or 2 stations further next month.
Announcements:
Waxhaw Region Convergence!!!! It’s here – To all the leaders and fellow Pax that have helped grow our numbers, sites and outreach in Waxhaw- Thank you for your hard work. Monday – Show up early 6:30 – help with set up. Welcome fellow F3 travelers- show them why we are the fasting growing region in F3!!!!!
As always honored to be part of such a supportive and group of leaders!!!
Everyday, we all push ourselves to wake up, not quit and find a way to show up for some form of torture. This morning, 19 people joined me for an attempt to match the previous pain delivered by Gerber, Deadwood and the many others who find some torturous hill in downtown Waxhaw. Today was about less hills and more Merkins to get a good stretch in after Frack enhanced all of our chests.
Let’s Mosey: We ran to the vet parking lot. A new scene for many. We started with 25 side straddle hops, 25 mountain climbers, 20 crab cakes, some potato pickers, calf stretching, and finished with some upward dog.
Next Up: Mosey to the street behind the BB&T bank for two steps forward and two steps back. We ran two lights forward, 10 merkins, run back one light and do 15 squats all the way to the brewery.
Next Up: Some laps over the bridge. We started with 15 jump squats, bear crawl up the bridge, 20 LBC’s and finish with IMperial walkers on the other side of the bridge. Repeat the loop 4 times for fun.
Finally, lets Mosey to the new wood wall near the church and finish with a Derkin – Dip- Web. We made it to 6 and 24 when time ran out.
Everyone enjoys something different. I always try to change it up and BRead Bowl was more than willing to add on the exercises in the pre-planning session the night before. Great workout to the crew.
Announcements
PAX: Foghorn, Hopper (R), Marge, Sprockets (Co-Site Q), Amber, Pop Tart, Mr. Magoo (R), Ductwork, Chico (Kotters), Queen, Puddin Pop (@trifusenik), Spackler (@trifusenik), Semi Gloss (@trifusenik), Motorboat, Gummy (Co-Site Q), Deep Dish, Jet Fuel (QIC)
17 PAX gathered in a Charlotte Mecklenburg elementary school parking lot at 0530 hrs for a heaping spoonful of misery. For now, the school is named Olde Providence Elementary, but the sewing circle mumble chatter / scuttlebutt / rumor mill says that may change in the future to Trifusenik Senior High School. Can anyone hazard a guess as to the new school mascot? The Sloths has a nice ring to it. But YHC digresses. Now, to the business at hand of writing a tagless backblast utilizing the wonky WordPress application.
Introduction: weak — Disclaimer: weaker — Mosey to bus lot: glorious
COP
Main Event #1
Mosey to behind school. Count off 1’s and 2’s, which turns out to be difficult for this Clemson-heavy group. 1’s run to oak tree benches, do 10 jump ups. 2’s run to bike rack benches, do 10 derkins. Flap Jack. Repeat 3x. Mary while we wait on the 6.
Main Event #2
Mosey to Rea, take right. Right on Summerlin. Merkins at Wessynton. Mosey to end of Wessynton. Triple Nickel up Cornwallis Camp Drive.
Mosey to end of Wessynton. Mary. Avoid rapidly approaching car. Mosey to launch.
Main Event #3
Partner up, which was executed flawlessly after the 1’s and 2’s debacle, thus restoring my faith in the PAX. Partners run to opposite ends of parking lot. Return to middle for alternating burpees, 5 ea. for 10 total between partners. Repeat until time. @trifusenik in FULL effect for this one.
Done.
Moleskin
Many a PAX have poked fun at YHC over the years for tucking in thy workout shirt, but today provided vindication in the form of plank knee ups. While the PAX wrestled with creeping shirts and bare midriffs, YHC calmly performed said exercises while demonstrating flawless form and maintaining his dignity. This is why Dick’s and Academy Sports pay YHC the big bucks for modeling their latest fashions. It’s hard work making a simple workout shirt look that good.
Today was heavy on running as evident by the 3.3 miles logged on a PAX’s Garmin mileage tracker doo hickey thing-a-majig. YHC possesses a Timex Indiglo Ironman digital watch with ZERO mileage tracking capabilities. Hell, YHC barely knows how to use the stopwatch on the darn thing. YHC would apologize for the lack of lifting heavy things, but the apology would be insincere. As Pop Tart queried, “are we ever going to work out today?” Ummm, no. Run baby run.
Spackler and Gummy crushed the bench-to-bench circuits, but the glory was short lived as the Trifusenik Tractor Beam sucked Spack back into its black hole of mediocrity. By the time we hit Triple Nickel, the Trifusenik reigned supreme as their numbers swelled. A chorus of “nos” was heard upon calling burpees at the end. Run to the light, Carianne. Mission Accomplished. YHC heard lots of mumble chatter today, but his laser focus compromised retention of the conversation topics. Anxiously awaiting the PAX to fill in the blanks on the After Action Report.
It is always an honor to Q the finest workout in Area 51. YHC had the theologically sound take-out.
Roll Tide (had to say it)
A couple of weeks ago, Cobbler put out a plea on Slack looking for Q’s for The Arsenal in Indian Land, SC. YHC attended a Rockwell Q there a few months back, and this AO is awesome. Three schools all in one location, plenty of area to roam, and only 10 minutes or so from Millbridge (which now hosts 2…yes, 2 workouts a week with Pursuit and Commitment!).
This would be a great opportunity for someone from the newly-formed Waxhaw Region to step up…so that’s what happened. Q accepted! Time to spread the word, prepare the Weinke, Cross the Border and try to crush our F3 Brothers to the South!
The THANG:
10 of us showed up today to a low-60+ degree temperature, including 3 of us from Waxhaw (YHC, Rockwell, and YHC’s son, Hawkeye). With a good feel for the AO after visiting Google Earth and a visit yesterday, the Weinke was strong, so the music needed to be as well…80’s Rock! Let’s get rolling…
Short Warmup around the front lot of the Elementary School…Circle up for:
Need to point out and recognize that one of the strong and loyal SOB/Arsenal Pax, One Niner, showed up today even though he is on the IR with a foot injury. He came with his Cruiser Bike + Headlight so he could get some cardio in while we all ran around, but would jump off the bike and do the exercises with us when it was time. Incredible commitment and creativity, brother! It was awesome to see and I will be sharing this with the WaxPax so we can incorporate into our M*A*S*H Unit.
Grab a wall out front for a new &
improved exercise called the “Merkin-Donkey-Derkin”. Pretty self-explanatory but we need to
come up with an actual name for it (like “Awful” or something like that). YHC introduced the “Donkey-Derkin” at The
Floater recently, and it wasn’t received well, which tells you it was hard! Here
is how the new & improved version goes:
From the sounds YHC heard, this was something “special” that needs to be stolen by others and used again soon.
Long mosey to the front of the Middle School Circle (via Bus Route). Quick directions to Partner Up for some Core Work:
Mosey to the High School Parking lot, but on the way take a pit stop for some Incline Merkin Ladders on the curb. Start at 1, work our way up to 10. Brutal! Done!
Mosey over to the High School Student Parking Lot for “4 Corners/Starfish”. Here is how it went:
Note: Big Boy Burpees = 1 Merkin during the 1st Burpee, 2 Merkins during the 2nd Burpee, 3 Merkins during the 3rd Burpee, 4 Merkins during the 4th Burpee, 5 Merkins during the 5th Burpee. Repeat 4 times! Smoked!
Only 7 minutes remaining…time to skip the planned trip to the Football Stadium Stands where we would have done some more work! Mosey back to the Elementary School via the Bus Route, stop at the wall when YHC realized some Pax were worn out. (50) Air Presses. Done!
Mosey back to ES for the “Cube of Pain”…a silly rubber ball/hexagon/octagon/many-a-gon with various exercises written on it. I think we did:
Moleskin:
It is always great to get out of our comfort zones, try something/someplace new, workout with Pax you don’t normally work out with, push each other, and walk away with satisfaction knowing you prepared a solid workout that challenged your brothers (and your son!). It was an absolute privilege to cross the Border to lead today a great group of guys in Indian Land, SC. Thank you to Cobbler for throwing the opportunity out there, and thank you to the men who posted and supported my Q. Especially Rockwell, who HC’d this week and showed up (unlike others who HC’d and didn’t…you know who you are!).
Welcome to our FNG, “Janitor”, who has 4 kids and does much of the dirty work at home. We also couldn’t agree on a name that matched his background, so Janitor it is! I look forward to leading at The Arsenal again in the future, fellas. We just need to find/plant some lifting rocks/cinder blocks around that campus somewhere!
Announcements:
13 men drove in and one man pushed himself a little harder with a vigorous run in. Well done Haze. Thorough disclaimer given to the group that included encouragement to push hard for 45 minutes, AKA, 4% of your day.
Tags not working well this AM
Real PAX list: Snuka, Bout Time, Man Tooth, HIPAA, Brilleaux, Way, Spackles, Clover, Marge, Puddin Pop, Champagne, Purple Haze, Lorax, Mermaid
Thang
Mosey out Entrance 3 and cross Rae to South County Library. Circle up
COP: IW x 15/Squat x 15/MC x 15/Peter Parker x 15/Merkin x 10/Flutter x 20
T-claps to Champagne for counting. Pretty sure he was the only one. Spackler and Puddin were talking away, intermittently paying attention to the workout and the QIC.
Line up for Repeats. 3 Speed Bumps and one Tree at the end of the loop around the parking lot. Stop at each of these 4 for 15 reps: Merkin/Heels to Heaven/AYG with no exercises/Squats. Plank-o-rama between each repeat.
Mosey up Entrance 3. Quick trip down and back up North Face. Marge is site FNG and needed a thorough tour. Continue mosey through campus to Entrance 2 Rock Pile. Lifting Rock.
Curl x 10/Press x 10/Tri Ext x 10. Repeat. One lap around turnaround. Bear Crawl between One Way signs.
Repeat Rock Set x 3. One lap around turnaround with rock over head. Drop rocks.
Indian Run back to launch.
Mary/Plank combo to 0615.
COT
Moleskin
Spackler is responsible for the title. This was his response to Haze running in this morning.
Kotters to Champagne after 3 weeks away from F3. Glad to have him back.
Kotters to HIPAA. The man came down from the mountains.
Welcome to Marge, site FNG. Glad to have Bout Time join us, he might have been site FNG as well.
Spackler was crushing the repeats. Until he wasn’t. After the AYG he told the crew he was needing to get out some mumblechatter and would join the back of the group. When asked by the Q if he was getting tired, he responded, “I just crushed you on that AYG. Was waiting for you to catch up.”
Haze left the Q alone this week. He was relentless on Lorax last week. Probably because it involved counting and both are CPA’s.
The group mostly stayed together and appeared to work hard today. Way demonstrated solid form all morning. Clover and Brilleaux as well. Snuka cannot fully extend his legs for flutter kicks. Haze did not leave that one alone. At least we know why now. Puddin Pop may or may not have blown ass. Someone did during the Mary/Plank at the end. Silent but deadly.
T-claps to Brilleaux for the takeout prayer. Sign up to Q a workout at Anvil. See below for the SUG. Keep EH’ing men around you.
Once upon a time 3 guys met in the woods. One came from the North. One came from the South. And one came from over there a ways. This is their story:
COP: None
The Thang:
Ruck: 3 miles at 15 min/mile pace
PT: Stopped half way through for the following exercises led by YHC and Pusher:
Ruck Swings
Ruck Curls
Ruck Overhead Press
Ruck Squats
Ruck Lunges
Bear Crawls with Ruck
Crab Walk with Ruck
Merkins IC
LBCs
Flutter kicks with Ruck Hold IC
Finish with a short ruck run/shuffle to endex
Moleskin:
YHC knows these guys from work and we’ve been talking about rucking together for a while and this was their first foray into rucking, so welcome! Pusher is an active F3 brother from The Fort but new to rucking. He borrowed his ruck from F3 Cake Boss (T-claps to Cake Boss for the loan). Charlie Fernandez is an FNG from the Metro region, and while new to rucking like this, he just finished a 100ish mile backpacking Boy Scouts trip lugging 50 pounds in his pack, so he came ready today.
Start point was the greenway at Rea and Bevington. Head lamps were required as we walked into the dark woods. No other people. No deer today. Just a few animal noises from the swamp and woods, and the jingle jangle of weight plates bouncing around in Charlie’s ruck after the bear crawls dislodged them . Lot’s of talk about F3, GORUCK, Pathfinder, Heavy Drop Training, The Bear Climb, Boy Scouts, College Football, the highs and lows of raising teenagers and the joys of family, how having a goal helps us motivate to get up and get out and push ourselves. No talk about work.
YHC considered whether or not to make this an F3 workout and whether or not to write a BB. Since we had 2 F3 pax and an FNG, the decision was made to start with a disclaimer and lead on in F3 fashion, so we did. I think every FNG deserves a back blast, so here it is. YHC was motivated by Horse Head’s recent back blast: https://f3southcharlotte.com/2019/08/23/614/
I think this hits several of his reasons to write a back blast: reason # 1 for sure, and if you are still reading, then that satisfies reason #2.
While many names were considered, Charlie was dubbed Man O’ War because although the Fernandez family is from Louisiana, the name is Portugeese. With a strong name like that he is expected to post again.
YHC is a little rusty as I’ve been doing some solo ruck PT/rucking and have been away from F3 and Q’ing, so I forgot the Take Out. Let’s all take a moment to make a short gratitude list. No matter how bad things get, we can always find something to be thankful for. For me, that get’s me out of my head and away from my selfish thoughts and desires, and re-directs me towards others. What are you grateful for today?
Aye!
The excitement started yesterday, texts came in, Swimmers, Bottlecap. Hey! Spike got his citizenship lets celebrate it and make it an American theme. OK, no doubt, citizenship is a big deal. I personally have always respected it as I find the folks that go through this process take pride in it and typically know more about our government structure and our history than most Americans, or at least more then me. So, I’m game, although I didn’t want to do the Star Spangled Banner music for the entire workout I thought a red, white and blue dress along with some 13 based warm up cadence and a quick 50 american hammers should show the support for Spike that we were celebrating with him. Getting ready for the party was a bit like Super Bowl in 2015, 5:15 I arrived in my red white and blue attire, 525 Bottlecap shows up with his sexy 4th of July socks, a few others certainly were on the theme as well, then Swimmers flies in at 5:28 blaring Neil diamond’s “America” and runs in to line up with the same sexy socks as BC then ……530 start…… and….NO Spike………Deflated (sorry Marc:) but we still made it a win regardless;)
Oh Well, happens, still a theme worth celebrating and we did in honor of him.
WU- mosey, 13 SSH, 13 Merkins, 13 MC’s,
The Thang: 6 stations, curls, staggered merkins, farmers carry, thrusters, reverse row and worm burners. 3 stations short run, 3 stations long run. this three times. Finish with 50 american hammers
Moleskin: Although Spike didn’t make it we are proud of you, we know it is a long process and takes a lot of work, so, we all worked hard on your behalf this morning. 13 Bars 50 Stars, a country born out of “no taxation with out representation”….Everyone gets a voice….Make it count.
18 PAX climbed out of their #FartSacks and made their way to #F3Skunkworks for some KB work that was full of #MumbleChatter.
The Thang:
The PAX was properly disclaimed and we took off for a couple of laps around the track be fore circling up for a little COP.
COP:
We moseyed, most walked across the street to the lower parking lot and lined up across from the hill for a little Jacob’s Ladder up to 7. Start with swings at the bottom and Merkins at the top
Partner Up, and line up on one side of the parking. Partner1 sprints across the the parking lot light while Partner 2 performs called exercise, flap jack.
Staying with your partner, Partner 1 farmer carries both bells to the nearest island while Partner 2 performs called exercise, flap jack.
Mary:
Return to the launch point with a few minutes left for some Mary.
Moleskinny:
Announcements: