Some call it skipping
I knew I was in for a bit of a challenge today, as I was dealing with some late night disagreements between the M and 2.0 teen, leaving
me with only 5 hours of sleep before the Q. I was tossing and turning between the disagreement and what I was going to Q. In the end with this group of guys it doesn’t matter, they take you at your best and your worst, which I appreciate.
Warm-up
- Asked the Pax, should we go left to start or right. Complaints started right from the beginning when folks didn’t want to go left because of the gravel, so they picked right. Well, I really wanted to go left, but only partial, so this became a political discussion right from the beginning.
- Mosey from the parking lot past the circle half way to the bridge and back to the circle
- 20 Side Straddle Hops
- 10 Imperial Walkers (cut down from 20 after Fuse looking like he wasn’t liking to do 🙂 )
- Calf stretches
- Upward Dog / Downward Dog
- 10 Merkins
- 20 Plank Jacks
- Pants Splitters (Foot by hand) stretch
The Thang
- Tried to ask the PAX to start with door number 1 a burpee at every tree on the right to the rock pile or
door number two. Since the first selection didn’t work out, they chose burpees, but since that is not what I wanted
to do, we did what I called slow high knees to the rock pile, but some called it skipping. This took a toll by the time
we reached the rock pile. - Grab a lifting rock
- Rifle carry to a parking spot
- Mosey to a small hill for 7’s (Burpees on top, jump squats on bottom)
- Mosey back to parking spaces, where we will do 4 exercises and run a lap around the parking lot.
- Round 1
- 20 Mike Tysons
- 20 Dry Docks
- 40 Shoulder Presses with Rock
- 20 Moroccan Night Clubs
- Run a lap
- Round 2
- 20 Low Slow Squats with Rock
- Lunges from parking lot end and back
- 2o Prisoner squats (hands on head, down each leg 10 times)
- 100 Toe Raises, broken up 50 at a time
- Run a lap
- Round 3
- Rifle carry to the gym set for some rare pullups
- Three rounds
- 5 pull ups (need to start getting back to 10)
- 20 rows
- Rifle carry back to parking spots
- Round 4
- 20 Big Boys
- 20 V Ups
- 20 Thread the Needle , 10 on each side (holding up on your side, bring 1 arm in air and back through other side)
- 20 Side Lifts (10 on each side for those obliques)
- Run lap
- Round 5
- 50 Triceps Extension with Rock
- 20 Curb Dips
- 10 Plank pushups (in plank position, pushup off elbows)
- Run a lap
- Round 6
- 50 Chest Presses with Rock
- 10 Merkins
- 10 Side to Side Merkins (Lean to each side and pushup, repeat)
- 10 Curb Merkins, tapping each hand on curb after each Merkin
- Run Lap
- Rifle carry to bring Rock back.
- On six, call out exercise Chainsaw and High hat
- Mosey / Jailbreak back to COT (race between deep dish and Fuse, nice job)
The Moleskin
Like I mentioned, I was super tired and distracted going into it, but you can do no wrong with this group and was able to put my distractions
and tiredness past me. Great job gentlemen.
Thanks gentlemen for helping me provide some challenges today.
Announcements
Waxhaw cleanup 4/17
Waxhaw Trail Run 5/1
What’s the hook?
5 PAX met at Kohl’s for a brand new route designed with love by Bunker. Fit the second week in a row the route avoided Marvin altogether but that did not deter or diminish the conversation: shoes, vacationing, beach recs, 23-mile marathons and the heavy reliance on the sensors built into vehicles. PAX also realized a gate is down in lesser Longview allowing for easy access to run that short loop. The Somerset hook raises some questions but you can’t call it the hook route if you complete the circle. Great morning for a run, but hopefully the humidity stops at this. (It won’t.)
It’s only 15 Seconds!?
5 Strong men joined YHC this morning for what turned out to be a leg-heavy beating.
Showed up thinking there wouldn’t be anyone joining me as the parking lot was empty at 5:05 but soon after I thought that, Dasher comes rolling in for a 3/4 mile pre-run around the MS. Slowly other PAX showed up and all of a sudden it was 5:15:15… Oops! Got a little carried away with my DiCCS… and that will be the theme for the rest of the workout as those precious 15 seconds came into play, not once but two more times.
Warmorama: 3/4 mile mosey around front of schools and over to the parking lot by the stadium. Typical stretches, Downward Dog, Glidah, Upward Dog, high plank Jacks X 10, Low plank jacks X 10, Upward Dog and a Calf Stretch.
Thang:
Short Mosey to the street light at the stadium for :45 sec interval sprints X 5 up toward the entrance of the HS as far as you get in time allowed (first interval ended up being a full minute so there is the second time we were + :15 seconds) and then slow Mosey back to starting point with a 1-ish minute breather before R/R.
Mosey over to HS Cafeteria entrance for partner work, picking up Premature’s shirt along the way and allowing a little more time for Gerber to take a “load” off at the stadium shed.
partner 1 does Dips on wooden benches (Impromptu PAX were using the cafeteria tables so we used the wooden benches instead) while partner 2 runs 400 meter track around island. R/R until 200 Dips reached.
Next were 150 X Irkins, 100 Step Ups and 100 Staggered Squats (We moved over to the cafeteria tables for the last two now that the Impromptu PAX had carried on elsewhere)
Mosey to Rudy’s Palace for some wall work. (Peoples Chair against the wall while doing 50 X air presses IC and then 50 X jabs IC.
Paula Abdul back up the yellow brick road to COT with 5 X Merkins up and 10 X Speed Skaters back. Had to recover about halfway in due to time and ended up :15 seconds after 6:15. And that completed the final extra :15 seconds.
Moleskin:
BC, Gerber and Dasher led most of the way as usual any time they post and providing much wanted (and sometimes annoying) push to the rest of us “normal” guys.
Dunkin in only his second F3 workout (nursing a foot injury by the way) pushing hard and staying with everyone. Kid will be leading the way soon enough.
Premature, my Wildebeest brother, working hard, even with a knee injury that has plagued him for a while now.
Way to go fellas! You inspire me and anyone else you come into contact with. Thank You!
Announcements: See also Impromptu BB for official announcements…
Prayers and best wishes for Rubbermaid and Hollywood as they embark on a 50 and 25 mile respectively race up and down a mountain this weekend. Good Luck and see you at Ignition on Monday…
WTF… Waxhaw Trail Fest Saturday May 1st at 6:00 a. Sign up! You will regret it… $10 registration and shirt orders forthcoming.
Ricky Bobby took us out in prayer
These Pax had a fever for more “Rifle Carry”
Its Spring Break! The kids are ready to go have fun……So this BB will be Short and Sweet.
The Thang
Quick version—-We started with some intense merkins, air squats..and rifle carrys etc……..moved on to partnering up for 150 Curls, Overhead Presses, Chest presses, Squats …while the other partner–you guessed it Rifle Carries….Our upper body was toast. We moved on to some more exercises and Centerfold said “Sugar Daddy if we do more rifle carries I will shoot you with the rifle”…that was the “nice” version…….so guess how I ended the workout????????
Moleskinny
With only 6 pax it was a great time to let loose and have some fun–and get a tough workout in…. Mumblechatter is one of the great things I really enjoy about F3…today the Pax were funny, working hard and having great fellowship! Thanks to Centerfold, Brutus, Elmers, Mayhem, and Chastain for the laughs! and getting the weekend off to a great start. Awesome effort today by everyone!
Prayers:
Mayhem-possible company switch—interview’s today
Good health for Centerfold’s Mom…..
Continued fellowship today at Stacks with Centerfold and Mayhem—-great guys!
Announcements:
WTF is May 1st
CELEBRATING THE 99TH DAY OF THE YEAR
21 men showed up this morning between Impromptu and Swarm to celebrate the 99th day of the year. The weather was fantastic and the overall mood of everyone seemed light. The reason I chose to celebrate the 99th day of the year is that I had no idea what other theme to use or what other significance April 9th had in history. (other than Robert Jenkins ear being cut off by the Spanish Guarde Costa in the Caribbean , later being the catalyst for the war between Brittain and Spain) – but how do you build a workout around that? So 99th day of the year was the theme and I set out to do 99 reps of each exercise but upon thinking about that for half a second, 99 reps seemed rather aggressive, so I just picked 4 areas to workout with a total 99 reps at each area.
The Warmup
Moseyed from the COT to the front of the High School
–33 side straddle hops
-Calf Stretch
-Runners stretch
-33 Merkins
-33 LBC’s
THE THANG
Moseyed over to the wooden benches
-33 dips then took a lap around the Geeb Jungle (look on google maps, that’s what it’s called)
-33 step-ups then took a lap around the Geeb Jungle
-33 Incline Merkins then took a lap around the Geeb Jungle
We then Moseyed over to the overhang area with the steps by the high school
we did 3 sets of
-11-donkey kicks
-11 big boys
-11 drydocks
Each set followed with a lap around the path and up the steps with a burpee counter at the end of each
-Calf raises on the steps while waiting for the six
We then Moseyed over to the front of the middle school.
-33 heels to heaven then ran to overhang by the bus lot and bear crawled under the over hang and back to front of the middle school
-33 LBC’s then ran to overhang by the bus lot and bear crawled under the over hang and back to front of the middle school
-33 American Hammers then ran to overhang by the bus lot and bear crawled under the over hang and back to front of the middle school
Moseyed back to COT, did 30 seconds of flutters and called time.
Announcements:
Keep Rubbermaid and Hollywood in our prayers as the do their ridiculous run up Crowders Mountain
Next Saturday downtown cleanup in Waxhaw
Memorial day some guys are doing the Murph. Kid Rock is trying to organize training for it. Look to Playhouse or News channel for info.
THE Moleskin
This was only my second time leading a workout at this site. I really do like this site, there are a lot of options and areas to get a good workout in. Thank you to Chatterbox for asking me to Q this site and thank you to all the Pax who came out to support me on this wonderful morning.
Completing the Square with that guy from the Gazebo
On a beautiful morning in Downtown Matthews, nine Pax gathered to begin their journey. They would soon be joined by one……
Here’s what we did:
- Mosey to the Mobility & More Parking lot and circle up
- Side Stradle Hope
- Imperial Walkers
- Mountain Climbers
- Mosey toward the Pizza Peel benches- however there was someone already sitting there so didn’t want to scare her with this motley crew
- Audible towards the stone circle near the Library- while ignoring the ominous snoring coming from the Gazebo
- At the stone circle:
- 10 Decline Merkins
- 10 stepups (each leg)
- 10 dips
- Repeato, except incline Merkins
- Mosey towards the corner of the Library- and we turn around to find that Safelite has joined us to bring us up to 10! Apparently he had been sleeping in the gazebo last night to ensure that he made it to Peak on time, and just missed his alarm. Much rejoicing was had, and we began the main Thang:
- Begin a Four Corners ladder
- Begin with Corner 1, with 10 merkins.
- Run to Corner 2, and do 10 Carolina Dry Docks
- Back to Corner 1 for merkins, then 2 for CDD, then add Corner 3 for 10 Burpees (ugh)
- All the way back to corner one doing every exercise, then to corner 4 for LBCs (yes doing the exercises at every corner)
- All the way back to the starting corner, hitting every station, and then to complete the square by running every corner, including corner 1 on the back end (exercise was 10 squats).
- Run all the way back around the building, making sure to stop at every station.
- Split up and run around the building to find Hot Corner, who went back for some more pain
- Begin a Four Corners ladder
- Woof. From there, mosey back to Pizza Peel, and grab some wall
- People’s Chair
- People’s Chair with arm raises
- People’s Chair holding arms straight out the entire duration
- Back to Launch and finish up with some Mary
FIN
Moleskine
A good crowd out today for a good beatdown. The burpees on Corner #3 really helped to bring the pain for everyone.
Hot Corner joined us for his first site visit- Apparently F3 Mint Hill was trying to get in touch with their feelings or stretch or something and he wasn’t having any of it. He was out front steadily pacing us- and also loved the four corners so much, he went back for more. Glad to have you out, hope this is not your last visit to Peak.
Spammer also showed up for the first time! He’s become a consistent presence at Mountain Goat on Fridays (5:15 at South Charlotte Middle) and he decided to stretch his wings and fly onto bootcamp workouts. A lot less running today, with a lot more burpees.
Smokey and South Paw were out front leading the pack as usual. South Paw’s got the stride of an antelope- which helps trying to keep up with the force of nature that is Smokey.
Gullah and Beaver were looking strong the whole way. I hope to one day grow up to be as cool as Beaver- I would say the same about Gullah, but he roots for GA Southern, and that’s just gross.
I also have a confession- Safelite didn’t sleep in the gazebo. But upon arriving fashionably late, he proceeded to run around downtown Matthews until he found us (dedication!). Next time we’ll hide for the first 20 minutes so he ends up running around for 3-4 miles, and eventually has to link up with the Sparta guys.
Slim Fast and Sensei were there as well, talking through how to fix America’s broken political system, or determining the theological implications of different kinds of BBQ- or something.
Prayer Requests
Continue to pray for Slim’s buddy Chris who is continuing to recover from a stroke. He has made good progress but still has a long way to go.
Thanks Sensei and DAS BOOT (Lois) for letting me lead- always a pleasure to be in the Gloom!
New Phone, Who Dis
Got a text on Monday from a strange number that said I had SACS this week…then the texter announced himself as Cheese Curd on a new personal cell. I’m glad he clarified otherwise my reply could have been quite embarrassing.Nonetheless…Three weirdos still got together in the dark and headed to the SCMS track for some SACS fun. Here’s how it went…The Work1/2 Mile Ruck2 Rounds
- 15 x Deep Goblet (Ruck) Squats
- 15 x Ruck Overhead Lunges
- 15 x Ruck Swings
1/2 Mile Ruck2 Rounds
- 25 x 4 ct. Ruck Mountain Climbers
- 15 x Ruck Push-ups
- 15 x Ruck Upright Rows
1/2 Mile Ruck2 Rounds
- 15 x Single-Arm Lawnmower Ruck Rows (left)
- 25 x 4 ct. Flutter Kicks
- 15 x Single-Arm Lawnmower Ruck Rows (right)
1/2 Mile Ruck2 min. AMRAP Ruck Press Sit-upsENDEXThis workout is a PATHFINDER Ruck Training “Ruck+” workout and are my favorite go-to’s for the SACS crew. Although it was only an intrepid trio this morning we still put in the miles and the reps and the sweat and the work.The ruck overhead lunges were pretty much awful…so awful that I told the guys to get their minds right because they might show up again later in the workout if we had time to start the sequence over from the top. Fortunately we smoked ourselves with those awful lunges and slowed ourselves down and didn’t have to repeat.I know Curd’s ruck is pretty damn heavy — I heard that ominous iron thick *clunk* every time he set the bag on the deck — respect be on him for gutting those lunges out with that weight.Geraldo Larry-Birded every single set we did…even when he got a little light-headed on the last lawnmower ruck sets and lost count — he still finished up first with a few extra reps in there. Strong work, brother.SACS is my fave AO now. It’s the perfect place for any pax to try out some rucking and ruck PT. You don’t even need your own ruck or weight. We have plenty to share. Come join us sometime. We’re good company.Dora out.
A Tradition Like No Other
I was told that there is pressure “from above” to write a backblast, and honestly I took that to mean Jesus, so here goes.
Inspired by The Masters, 4 threesomes (+ 1 single) of pros took an early tee time and played 18 holes.
Each hole = a called exercise. The threesome is to do 72 reps at each hole (par for Augusta) among all three (=24 each). Mosey to the next set of holes.
Here goes:
Hole 1: Tea Olive = SSH
Hole 2: Pink Dogwood = Merkins
Hole 3: Flowering Peach = Lunge Walk
Hole 4: Flowering Crab Apple = Step-Ups
Hole 5: Magnolia = Incline Merkins
Hole 6: Juniper = Scorpions
Hole 7: Pampas = Squat Jumps
Hole 8: Yellow Jasmine = Plank
Hole 9: Carolina Cherry = American Hammer
Make the turn!
Hole 10: Camelia = Freddy Mercury’s
(Our version of Amen Corner, in front of Wesley Church)
Hole 11: White Dogwood = Flutter Press (with fore-caddy duties to run the dogleg right to end of parking lot and back here and after Holes 12 and 13))
Hole 12: Golden Bell = Bicep Curls
Hole 13: Azalea = Romanian Deadlifts (aka Bird Pickers) (practice that one legged pick-your-ball-up-from-the-hole!) (greatest hole in golf gets the lamest exercise)
Hole 14: CDDs (with fore-caddy duties to run the dogleg right to end of parking lot and back here and after Holes 15, 16 and 17)
Hole 15: Firethorn = Curtsy Lunges
Hole 16: Redbud = Squat Pulses
Hole 17: Nandina = Plank Jack Shoulder Taps
Hole 18: Holly = Wall Sit + Arm Raises
Take a victory lap back to the Clubhouse, and that’s a wrap.
3.0 miles covered (roughly 1.24 miles short of walking Augusta); 480 reps total for each golfer. Not the same as being there, but with vaccine passports in 2022 we’ll be back. And I don’t care what anyone says, the BBQ sandwiches are the *best* thing on the menu at Augusta and I will fight anyone that disagrees.
I wish I could report more on the scuttlebutt amongst the gallery today. Sling Shot and I had a nice lap around the baseball field lamenting how being creative these days usually involves too much complexity. One day the two of us might team-up for a Q and really take it to an 11. Most refuseniks were on Hole 13, though they started in earnest on Hole 1 (I would expect nothing less). DEFCON 1 for Puddin’ and Limey got to hear all about the history of bowel movements and F3. Motor Boat continues to exult the transformative services of Stretch Lab.
Oh, and something about Phoebe Cates (ask Geraldo).
One More Again
7 PAX joined YHC for a birthday Q this morning. Becky, Funny Farm, and myself began The Valley EC loop for the 1 mile pre-run promptly at 0515. McStuffins enters the parking lot as we’re leaving campus, so we hold up for him to join. Returning to launch, we’re joined by Cold Cuts, Huddle House, and GOP. Cold Cuts and Huddle House have the exact same vehicle and GOP is on a bike.
The Thang
No disclaimer given, these guys know the drill.
Head towards the intersection of Huntingtowne Farms Ln and Goneaway. Stop for COP – 20 SSH, 20 mountain climbers, hold runners stretch, 10 merkins OYO.
Continue on Huntingtowne Farms Ln towards the greenway. Stop at the parking lot to South Park Swim Club and line up on barrier to keep people from driving on the greenway. 1 burpee on each side of the barrier until 10 total.
Get on greenway and mosey towards bridge to bear crawl across. Continue on greenway towards South Park Station hill AKS piss your pants. At the base of hill partner up, partner 1 grabs a rock and does curls, triceps extensions, and overhead presses (sets of 10) until partner 2 returns from running up hill and performing 34 squats. Partner 1 and 2 switch, then as my JV high school football coach would say “one more again” – this time 34 calf raises instead of squats
Continue on greenway towards next bridge and lunge walk across. Head towards trail in the woods and connects back to Birmingham Dr and Charlotte Tennis Academy. Before leaving Charlotte Tennis Academy parking lot, stop for Mary.
Recover and move towards Burnt Mill. At the intersection of Burnt Mill and Tall Oaks, backwards run up Tall Oaks to the first stop light then back down. Next backwards run up Burnt Mill towards the first stop light and back down. Mosey back up Tall Oaks towards Huntingtowne Farms Ln. Stop at intersection for more Mary.
Mosey back to launch to continue Mary, each Pax calling out an exercise. Recover and move towards end of the parking lot. Flat on bellies and count of 3 AYG back to the other end of the parking lot.
615 workout ends.
Moleskin
I was able to get Huddle House out by telling him I would boycott his Q tomorrow at Centurion – it worked and he showed up.
GOP stayed on that bike the whole time and joined us for exercise along the way – knee has him on IR from running.
Thanks to Becky for taking us out in prayer.
Elevator up and Elevator Down
Floater offers an unlimited canvas for constructing a Q – lots of ground to cover, various hills, schools… but that wouldn’t be necessary today. The spirits of the long forgotten AMRAP began calling out to me yesterday, a whisper here and a whisper there. So I decided to pull together a routine that would please the AMRAP Gods and keep the PAX from realizing it was an AMRAP.
DICSS – wouldn’t need much light or reflective gear…not many street crossings. cell phone/cpr/distance/safety/modify.
Warm Orama – Mosey to the Lutheran Church Parking lot. SSH/Plank Jacks/T merkins and a few knee slaps.
Mosey back towards launch – single burpee at a few streets to get the blood flowing.
The Thang – Elevator Up and Elevator Down.
The track would be the block around the Waxhaw Methodist Church (our launch point for floater)
Simple math says the block has 4 corner aka 4 floors and the church corner would be the lobby. Go to the first floor and perform 1st exercise – return to lobby. Go to second floor perform 1st exercise +2nd Exercise>>> return to lobby. Go to third floor perform 1st+2nd+3rd>>>return to lobby. Go to 4th floor perform 1st+2nd+3rd+4th…
Exercises:
1st floor – 10 Burpees
2nd Floor – 20 T Merkins
3rd Floor – 30 Knee Slaps
4th Floor – 40 Big Boi
So on the way up a total of 40 Burpees/60 T Merkins/30 Knee Slaps and 40 Big Bois
Time to take the elevator down.
So on the way down 160 Big Bois/90 Knee Slaps/40 T Merkins and 10 Burpees
We ran out of time and most made it back down 3 floors – some on their way down to the lobby.
Mission accomplished on floor 4 as Ice9 put on the heave show for us—-
Those taking the express elevator included Ice9/BlueScreen and Carbload(although he may have missed a floor if it involved counting by 1).Dasher was able to somehow find floor “R” for (Rudy’s Shed) and still knock out the plan.
Mission accomplished on floor 4 as Ice9 put on the heave show for us—-
Hats off to Elmers – 2 months in and been doing great attending every-other-day. I put the pressure on him yesterday to hit Floater and he showed up and put in an incredible effort.
Chatterbox back at it after time off for some recovery; he was back to keeping the pace moving. Little reminder that the T Merkin is with a BIG T and not the lower case—
Smithers – what can I say – he has the stride of a professional race walker but the time of a miler. Apparently he’s not that much into the lifting weights game – which he shared with us.
We spotted O-69 doing some sprint work – you keep lifting us up brother – amazing.
My company in the solid middle of the pack included Sugar Daddy – sporting the knee brace and +1 on the chronometer- 57 years young and killing it. Schnieder the trusty diesel – just keeps going same pace up hills or down hills, straight or curves -doesn’t stop. And Zin pulling emergency site-q duties, because what could be better than 2 site Q’s at floater – not. Q’s were a no show so Zin decided to stepped up to circle back for the 6 which may have been a lonely conversation or not?
2.7 miles covered all in basically one block.
Welcome Back MY Friend AMRAP – WE MISSED YOU!
Announcements:
Waxhaw Clean up – next Saturday 8AM- bring equipment(rakes, blowers, gloves..)
WTF – Shirt order by the 16th?
Prayers – and wrong way Name-Orama