So, a few days ago, Hollywood sent me a DM to Q sometime in January. Turns out they actually needed Q’s for the next 2 weeks (including today) so I happily obliged and in hind sight, “What the heck was I thinking?”
With a quick consult from Sugar Daddy on where he would be heading on his VQ and not to disturb and make it even more challenging for him, I developed a Weinke that avoided (mostly) the Flash PAX.
Stabling these (Freaks) Gazelles in F3 Waxhaw is difficult to do. I came up with a strategy to keep them in the coral but it only worked for a few minutes and then they were gone in a cloud of (rain) dust.
Warmorama:
Mosey to Crazy Pajama Dude Island and U turn back to the Yellow Brick Rd. for Paula Abduls using light posts on left of the path, up 2 and do 10 X Merkins, back 1 and do 10 X Plank Jacks.
Circle up at RPP and do some stretching for a few minutes until Flash PAX roll in and then…
Thang:
Find a lifting/running rock (insert evil laugh here) and mosey to sidewalk near Gym for a few rounds of partner work.
P1 does lifting AMRAP with proper form while P2 runs to top and performs exercise and returns to relieve P1, R/R.
Round 1: Curls/Donkey Kicks X 2 Rounds
Round 2: Rows/Mike Tysons X 2 Rounds
Round 3: Shoulder Press/Mike Tysons X 2 Rounds
Return Rocks and Mosey to HS Entrance the long way cutting between the schools and then around the front drive.
Round 1: Starting at Island, run to gate at Stadium and do Speed Skaters X 10 each leg and return to Island for “I’ll let you know” BBSU X 10
Round 2: Speed Skater/(Something awful I can’t remember)
Round 3: Speed Skaters/Reverse Plank Knee Up
7 minutes left so we start our mosey back to COT around the front drive and then taking a detour into MS entrance and around the lot before we end at COT.
Al Gore for 30 seconds and Time!
Didn’t get the typical 5-6 miles today (4.5 or so). This is ultimately a high-mileage-bootcamp, not runner training so we mixed it up a bit from the “norm”. I hope everyone got what they came for.
Great pull by the Gazelles and great push by the rest of us.
Hurry leading the way on pretty much everything. Dude is fast!
Chatterbox posted to his first Ignition and man did he come to work. Glad to see you break through the barrier that was keeping you away. Keep getting faster!
FNG – Prison Break joined us today, 23 Years old and just graduated from UNCC on ROTC scholarship. Now it’s time to pay the piper and he’s getting in shape for Army OCS. Good luck and thank you for serving this great country of ours. Keep bringing that youthful attitude and thanks for making Ice9 Dry-heave for us today! Thanks also to Transporter for bringing him out with us.
Announcements: See Flash BB
Sugar Daddy took us out
I always feel great when a workout is over! The same was especially true today for my “VQ.” It is nice having it ” in the books.” I wanted to do a good job for the PAX. I want to thank all the PAX for coming out to support me and all the kind words of encouragement. It was nice being a 50 year old virgin this morning– as a few of the PAX called me today!
Warmup: After the Disclaimers (of course)
The THANG:
Moleskin:
Announcements:
YHC tooks us out.
The rain was not much this morning, but was enough to make me throw away my cheat sheet for todays 1hr workout. All the roads to the high school parking lot was blocked /closed, so had to just use the middle school area, but it had enough routes for a 4 mile workout.
Arrived early and there was Posse who was quick to give me few tips for the changed plan. Few more Pax joined us.
DICCS given.
Warm ups:
Mose and stick to the oneway (Yes Fusebox we are going up the hill) to Deals road and back to the shelter near the entrance. SSH, Imperial walkers, Moroccan night club, calf stretch and few Merkins.
The Thang:
Partner up to do 100 Merkins, 200 Squats, 300 LBC’s. Partners take turn to run a lap around the student drop off loop. Then add some air presser’s. Mose to the next student drop off loop. Look at the numbers on the pillars and do as many bur-pies (Not my FAV too Blue screen). Start from 8 and go down till 1 (Total 36). Run a lap in between. What next … Run between the flag poles. 20 dips at one end and 10 incline merkins at the other … what next … 20 jump lunges and run a lap (Yes 2 is 1). Repeat 2 times. Next grab some rocks. Curls, overhead press, swings (I think). 1 more trip up the hill to deals road and back. Relax squat with back agains the wall. Chastian reminds me of the time. Mose (Sprint with Hurry) back to COT. Total 4.2 miles on my apple watch. Wow that was good.
Moleskin:
The encouragement and the push by each one of you took me thus far. Felt nervous and exited. Posse sent me this quote “If it excites you and scares the crap out of you at the same time, it probably means you should do it.
I love the “No man left behind policy”. Yes, that made me keep posting. There was always someone pushing and motivating me. Remember Wrigley making me run 2 driveways and walk 1 drive way at watchtower when I started posting and everyone who circled back to pick up the 6th.
Hurry was the 6th man. He started out in metro and has recently been posting with us after he moved here. He’s excited to be here.
No announcements.
Saturday is lifting day, so YHC came up with a weinke, loaded the bells in the car, and headed for the hot box at Calvary for another week’s edition of Olympus. It was cool and a little wet, so I expected numbers to be down. Unfortunately, the rest of the pax were apparently suffering from Black Friday hangovers and it was a beatdown for 1.. Not a problem when you’ve got a good playlist.
Appetizer: SSH, Sharon Towers, Arm Circles, Prying Squat
Main Course:
Repeat 4 times for 400 swings, 80 merkins, 32 goblet squats, 32 deadlifts, 40 clean and press.
Load the bells back in the car and join the RockZero crew for some Mary and COT.
Announcements:
Moleskine:
It was the day before thanksgiving and 17 PAX showed up early to get a start on burning calories so that they can consume more the next day.
DiCCS given and away we go…..
The Warm-Up:
Mosey up to the Five Stones entrance and return to the parking lot. Circle up for some warm-up exercises all in 1-2-3 cadence: Sidestraddle Hop x 20, Moroccan Night Club x, 20, Imperial Walkers x 2o Calfstretchers and Pantsrippers.
The Thang:
While one partner functions as the timer (run backward up Mt. Chiseled and back), the other partner begins the exercises. Each exercise is done “as many as you can” style one at a time until the timing partner returns triumphantly over Mt. Chiseled. The exercises included all of the following. Merkens, LBCs, Curls (21s w/ coupon), American Hammers, Low Slow Squats (w/ coupon), Diamond Merkens, Shoulder Press (w/ coupon), Bobby Hurleys and ending with Kettle Bell swings.
After a great showing by everyone, we are back doing a rifle carry of coupons again and back to the original starting point. Next, each PAX gets to choose their exercise of choice for the group. After some more grueling lifting of coupon blocks, we finish off the last 45 seconds with “have a nice day” Next is COT and Cargo tells his story as 6th man.
My very first Q is now complete! Thanks to everyone for the inspiration and support.
Moleskin
It took me a while to finally step up to lead a workout. I was inspired by one of Bottlecap’s speeches when he said that if you “pour yourself in to F3” you will realize even more of the benefits F3 has to offer and feel better about yourself too. That certainly held true for me and I’m looking forward to pouring more in (thanks Bottlecap). Also, thanks to Fusebox and Posse for helping me along in surviving this first Q and getting the Backblast posted.
Announcements
A reminder of The Chicken Little organized Turkey Trot in Briarcrest and the day after Thanksgiving workout to at Impromtu led by Rudy.
19 souls gathered to work off the over indulgence from yesterday’s Thanksgiving Feast. If you happen to re-enact Henry VIII at these settings like I do, today was going to suck even worse. Here’s what we did:
WarmUp – 1/2 Mile opening Mosey past High School to parking lot by the football stadium. 20 SSH, Jimmy Dugan’s, Calf Stretch, Runners stretch, downward dog, upward dog.
The Thang Mosey to the High School Gym entrance. Grab some wall. 40 Donkey Kicks / 10 Mike Tyson’s. Run down to the road, up the stairs, grab that same piece of wall. 36 Donkey Kicks/9 Mike Tysons, rinse and repeat down to the completion of 24 Donkey Kicks/6 Mike Tysons.
Mosey to YHC’s Poop Palace. Starting at the palace run up the path to the first lamp post on the right. 5 Big Boy’s. Run back to palace, 5 Merkins. Run to second lamp post, 5 Big Boys, run back to the palace for 5 Merkins. Run to the 3rd lamp post, etc., etc. After the 6/7/8th post for most, we gathered the pax and ran up the path to the Middle School. Grab some Wall. Continuation of web. 20 Donkey Kicks, 5 Mike Tysons. 16 Donkey Kicks, 4 Mike Tysons. One Minute Left – hot mosey back to COT.
Moleskin/Announcements
Not a lot of chatter today, lots of barbs thrown at me for starting with the Donkey Kicks and MT’s. Not a whole lot of chatter while running the path by the palace. A decent amount of mileage today, I registered just shy of 3 miles, others in the group registered 3.5 miles.
Welcome FNG – Mackinaw – From the UP and works on bridges.
Welcome FNG – Sea Sick – At the end of the workout he was splashing some Merlot and is about to join the Coast Guard, thought it was a fitting name. Brought out by Wedding Singer! Wait, what, I thought this cat now resides in the Rocky Mountains. He and his tribe came back east for the holiday, great to see you again brother!
Chicken Little – estimates $1,600 raised by the Turkey Trot 5K he lead – money will go to support a cancer survivor and cancer research, great job leading CL!
Tomorrow – Homecoming 1 Year Anniversary – Chatterbox on Q. If this guy’s transformation from the 6 to the front of the pax doesn’t inspire you, you are likely a schmuck. He’s gonna bring it tomorrow.
YHC took us out.
Extra helpings were the theme at dinner yesterday. It was a nice Thanksgiving. Different, but nice. Not sure about the rest of the Pax, but YHC needed to put in some good work this morning. Gotta try and equalize the Thanksgiving foodfest. 18 men joined me in the actual gloom this morning. Disclaimer was given and included the obligatory COVID statements about social distance. Voodoo would have approved, I think. Off we went.
Thang
We had 4 stops this morning. Chair plank was called for to regroup after each mosey and finished set.
Mosey into the bowels of Tartarus. Line up at the entrance. Plank up. Low Plank Jack x 10 OYO. AYG up the full first level. A bit of Mary and then mosey back down the deck and across 51 at the crosswalk. Back to launch. Civilian cadence Merkin set to 10: Regular/Offset Left/Offset Right. Done.
COT
Moleskin
Gotta tell everyone, the 0700 start was nice. Enjoyed the 60 minute boot camp. It allowed for a little more movement around the vast AO.
19 men out this morning. Green Bean was visiting from Atlanta. Chelms came out of semi-retirement. Couldn’t get Shoe to join him this morning. Too bad, we miss that guy. Chopper brought his nephew, Huey, who will be joining the Air Force to serve our great country. He was crushing the workout. Horsehead and Boondocks were site FNGs, surprisingly. A bit more about them later. Cage may have been site-FNG as well. Glad to have him, he was moving well out there. Hops has completed his 1/2 marathon and is now back in the boot camp fold. Sure I’m not the only one glad he is back to posting.
Horsehead was throwing out the zingers before the workout started. He asked Chelms if he cleared the post with the nursing home. Then Snuka showed up to add some fuel to that fire. Snuka told the crew that F3 keeps him young. He is usually out front so there’s that.
Had a chance to talk with Horsehead and Boondocks during coffeeteria. The conversation included custom golf clubs, disc golf, and morphed into fishing. Particularly, we talked about the mudfish. Mudfish refer to any number of elongated fish that are able to survive long periods of drought by burrowing in the mud. Boondocks catches the Bowfin. It looks like a fat snake with a big, strong tail. A lot of fun to catch, and, bonus, you can eat them. Care is needed in preparation due to the many small bones throughout. So, back to the mudfish and the ability to survive long periods of drought by burrowing into the mud. In YHC’s mind, this parallels what we are going through right now. Horsehead provided a reminder to reach out to Pax who have dropped off. A lot like the bowfin burrowing in the mud to survive, there are a lot of people who are “burrowing in the mud,” or socially isolating right now due to COVID. Guys we haven’t seen in a while. We know that social isolation is not a good thing for people. As much as we may like our time to ourselves, humans are social beings. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Love and Belonging comes in right after the basic Physiological and Safety needs in the hierarchy. Current conditions make it more difficult to meet this need. It gets dark early, people work from home and make virtual “connections,” spend more time on the screens and social media. Like Horsehead said in COT, reach out to someone you haven’t seen in a while. Ask them how they are doing. Grab a socially distanced coffee or lunch. If you are feeling isolated and lonely, don’t hesitate to reach out to your F3 brothers. We need to work together.
Lastly, I ask that you include Jennings Palmer in your prayers. He is Bout Time’s son. Jennings battled Acute Myeloid Leukemia and was in remission for 2 years. His sister, Caroline, donated bone marrow and he had a transplant. This week, the Leukemia came back. Please pray for Jennings and the Palmer family.
Thankful for each of you men joining us at Centurion this morning. That hour is like fuel in my tank to get through the rest of the day. Fellowship offered at coffeeteria is always a sweet bonus. Well done today, men.
21 PAX including an FNG were not discouraged by the report of rain and gathered in the gloom for the 4th Annual Turkey Jam. At 6:30am, after a disclaimer that would make Mermaid and Bottlecap proud, we launched from the Improper Pig. After a short mosey, we found ourself in the parking lot between Harris Teeter and a dance studio for the:
COT:
SSH x15, 10 merkins OYO, IW x 15, 10 diamond merkins OYO, LBC x 15. Split the PAX in half with Chopper stepping in to lead one group. Each group would perform the same exercises but at a socially acceptable distance within eye sight of each other. (War Eagle is happy) Mosey to the parking lot near the post office, one group gathered in front of The Wok the other group wandered a little father down, close to the new Atrium emergency room for:
THE THANG:
Two (2) rounds of 4 Corners. 10x at each corner. Merkins, diamond merkins, wide arm merkins and crucible merkins. Plank and mary waiting on the 6.
Mosey across Providence Rd to the parking lot between Starbuck and Whole Foods. Plenty of room for everyone to spread out the width of the parking lot and face Alta for the next called exercises.
Two (2) rounds of modified Beast. First round: Bobby Hurley Squats, Second Round: burpees. Plank and mary waiting on the 6.
Mosey trough the parking lot to the sitting area across from the hotel. Plenty of room for the PAX to separate and grab a chair for arm work.
Curls x 15, Tricep Extension x 15, and Shoulder Press x 15.
Find a spot on a wall for split leg squats, two (2) rounds 15 x on each leg and a set of incline merkins x 15.
Grab the chair again for Triple Lindy x 20.
Place the chairs back where we fond them and mosey to the parking deck. Divide into groups to the top and perform the called exercise on the way up. One group begins to run up the deck, 10 merkins at each level. The second group stays at the bottom of the deck doing mary and waiting for the first group to clear the 1st level. After reaching the top, pick a stairwell and the return to the start. The weinke called for mary while waiting for all PAX to return, but Elsa thought we would enjoy wall sits, so that is what we did.
Mosey back across Providence Rd to The Green Monster. Gather by the Christmas Tree for some broga (pigeon, frog and lunge) and finish up with nearly two minutes worth of elbow plank courtesy of Bunker.
COT: Name the FNG (Stuffing), each PAX expressed at least one thing they were grateful/thankful for and takeout by Middrift.
MOLESKIN:
We found ourself at Rea Farms again and the site did not disappoint. It may become the permanent home of Turkey Jam. This year we took it up a notch. Christmas Tree was decorated and lit, Christmas music closed us out and Trickle was giving away Bourbon. (Sweetwater and Prohibition hope you are taking notes).
Enron and Tuck led the secret, unannounced, and exclusive pre-run with Kirby making an ill-advised decision to join them near its conclusion.
Bunker’s bootcamp gloves made their annual appearance, while Fraiser seemed disorientated when asked to call an exercise that did not include running.
Turkey Leg and Tuck enjoyed being out in front and sharing stories about their 20 kids and how they feed them all.
Chopper was not the oldest PAX in attendance.
Elsa was crushing it this morning, thanks for the wall sit idea.
Teddy prefers sitting on a wall instead of using it for split squats.
Great to post with my old friend Floor Slapper, who showed up on time.
Midriff was so thankful for the mild weather that he displayed his gratitude by removing his shirt for all the onlookers.
Coffeteria followed with a number of PAX grabbing Starbucks and enjoying some fellowship.
Big thanks to Chopper for his friendship and scouting out the Q with me Wednesday morning.
It is an honor to lead such a great group of men.
Happy Thanksgiving y’all!!!
8 pax met up at Meathead on the day before Thanksgiving at the leisurely time of 0600. #holidayhours The plan for the day was to take turns leading portions of the workout while we got our 250 swings in. 5 rounds of 20 swings, 1 exercise, 20 swings, 1 exercise, 10 swings, 1 exercise.
Warm-up: 15 SSHs, 10 windmills
Main Thang (here’s what I remember of the other exercises):
Voodoo: 10 goblet squats, 5 clean + press per side, 15 merkins
Unplugged: RDLs, lunges,
Mighty Mite: 1 TGU on the left, 1 TGU on the right, 5 snatches per side
Frehley’s Comet: 10 merkins on your bell (5 per side), 10 squat/curl/press
Soul Glo: high pulls
That covered our swings for the day. Uncle Leo led us through a couple of rounds of racked carries, then Das Boot (site FNG!) called overhead carries and LBCs with the bell, and Sweetwater (site FNG!) called farmer carries. We wrapped up with 1:00 each of elbow planks, hollow body holds, and glute bridges.
Thanks to Frehley’s Comet for taking us out.
Announcements:
Moleskine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGFtV6-ALoQ
10 Frozen Turkeys, falling like bags of wet cement (or Anvils) from the sky. Oh, the humanity!
Geraldo, Point Break, Jet Fuel, Floor Slapper, Mr. Magoo, Lorax, Red Baron, Clover, Boondock, Horsehead
The Thang:
Warmup COP in one of the giant parking lots. Standard bootcamp fare – nothing exotic. Full pivot cadence with higher-than-expected audience participation.
P1 run to the traffic circle by the stupid rocks
P2 do 25 merkins, 25 LBC, 25 step ups, 25 Runstoppers
Repeat X3
Note: this was timed to perfection, even though the rep count was a huge shot in dark.
7s on the hill – burpees/merkins
Suicides at the lampposts – more merkins (variety pack)
Pinball run back to launch. This is a group AYG run to a distant object, with a mosey back for the six while we all regroup and prepare to hit the next distant object. It’s much better than the Indian Run, as the fast guys can really blow some steam off here. It’s also not on the list of banned exercises, which matters deeply to me. I think that Harry Potter and Catcher in the Rye are also banned now, but I’ll have to check.
2MOM
Moleskin:
Decent crowd, given that many had the day off and were possibly pre-medicating in preparation for a Thanksgiving Microsoft Teams meeting or whatever such obscenity that 2020 has prepared for your loved ones.
Jet Fuel continued with the full tuck, leaving only a meager tease of exposed bright white upper knee area that would have been viewed as scandalous in a previous time, but now I guess it’s just how people dress.
Lorax has reverted back to Dave Ramsey Baby Step #1 after dropping a significant amount of cheese on some Mopar LED Headlights. Think of all of the energy he is saving though. The man is basically a Green New Deal on Wheels. His math is a little shaky though.
Geraldo likes to walk around dragging giant bookbags filled with rocks, but he has a terpsichorean spirit when unburdened. The big man is light on his feet and dances across the campus, outpacing his group while (surely) doing all of the requested reps.
Clover has a good heart, but a somewhat odd sense of humor (pot/kettle). He’s the guy who makes this awesome suicide Polar Pop at the Circle K, but then puts a large squirt of blue Powerade at the end just to gross everyone out. He is also obsessed with evening soap operas from the 1980s.
Red Baron keeps getting faster (and smaller), just like the crappy pizzas. He’s a pilot though, not a pizza, and actually related to Joe Cool and Snoopy.
Point Break learned everything he knows about acting from Gailard Sartain and Gary Busey, who used to work together before they really hit it big. I’m not sure he has ever seen Hee Haw though. Sa-lute!
Dang it, now I have to keep going and write something special about everybody.
Mr. Magoo is awesome. My 2.0 Boondock likes to call everyone by “Mr.” and then their F3 name. So I guess he is Mr. Mr. Magoo.
Floor Slapper is shockingly on time these days. I think he takes turns with OT.
That about does it.
The purple airbrushed Horse Head shirt was my gift to you all. Things are so serious these days that I figured I might as well let folks have a laugh at my expense. That’s about the best I can do.
Reach out to somebody who you haven’t seen in a while. People are hurting this Holiday Season and need human interaction. Isolation is unhealthy.
Horsehead