10 for an old classic beatdown
Head towards the Stones for warmup
SSH
Imperial Walkers
Windmill
Head across Johnston toward the Premiere Deck.
YHC gave some convoluted instruction about counting lights. Note: use the lights in the media for counting.
Every two lights. 5 merkins at first stop, 5 squats at the next. alternating until we get to the corner.
Into the Premiere deck.
Run up a deck, Back down, 5 burpees, back up 10 Jump-Squats. Mary while we wait.
Repeat this pattern to the top. Gasser.
Mic Check hates if someone runs faster than him. Great seeing Lex out front pushing mic check. War Eagle and Teddy close behind.
Top of the Deck. Enjoy the view.
(Reminisce about the time a group of college kids was partying thru sunrise. It was uncomfortable running into them. we left quickly.)
Lunge Walk across the lot. Bear crawl back
Lunge Walk across the lot, Bear crawl backwards back.
Head down the stairs and towards the hill weave.
Wild Turkey led us in this old classic slalom. Where was MT? YHC forgot to tell Turkey to stop. I think he would have slalomed across the bridge.
Top of Bridge – grab some bridge and 50 air-pressses in cadence
Head to the Lance-lot (??)
Downhill suicides with PAX Called excercises at the stops.
Head behind the building for uncomfortable Balls-to-the-Walls with 5 presses if you got it.
Head to rock work for three rounds of
10-10-10 Curls
10 Presses
10 Tricep Curls
10 Bent-over Rows
10 Squats
Mosey Home.
Thine Only.
Great group today. Lots of enjoyable mumblechatter curtesy of Mr. Bean but giving it right back. It had been a hot-minute since YHC was at stonehenge. It was nice to go inside somewhere for coffeeteria.
Upcoming Items:
SOB Wars
WTF – Trail run
This is the story of 11 HIMs, and another HIM, and yet another HIM.
Lots of discussion before launch of long weekends and barely making it out of bed to start the week of right. Nevertheless, 11 HIMs took the red pill this morning and posted to Firestarter. Brief disclaimer provided to the group of vets and we launched promptly @ 5:30am.
The Thang
Quick mosey up to the 131 parking lot for a little warm-up.
Warm-Up Exercises in cadence:
Completed the CoP and we headed off up Blakeney Heath rd. to the top of the hill.
[This is where our story gets more interesting. I’m going to assume that it was around this time that One Star and C3PO both showed up. Albeit just a little ahead/behind each other and set off to find the elusive PAX unaware that we were headed to the little-used section of the AO headed toward Montessori.]
We ran to the top of the Blakeney Heath hill and stopped before getting to the Montessori school. At this point, YHC called for a Triple Nickle back down to the entrance to the Blakeney Heath neighborhood. At the bottom, 5 Mike Tysons, at the top 5 Heels to Heaven. I had forgotten how sneaky effective that hill is at gassing the group. Doing it five times added just the right amount of push.
Next we headed down to the Montessori school to some lifting rocks.
[By this point, I’m assuming C3P0 had already run through the shopping center, across to the medical park, and figured he’d try Blakeney before hitting up the Nail Salon. Assuming One Star had done the same, sans heading to Blakeney hill.]
Everyone grabbed a lifting rock from the very limited selection, and we did some upper/lower bodywork. Did two rounds of 20 Curls, 20 Thrusters, 20 Triceps Extensions, 20 Dips. It was at some point in the middle of our second round that C3P0 makes his way over the hill to join the group. Not sure how he found us though. That triple nickel took it out of the group, and we were just about silent during the rock lifts. Regardless, 12 men now headed back toward Blakeney to finish up the workout.
[At this point, One Star could have decided to grab some coffee and draft into CoT but instead, he continued on his search.]
We made our way back to the stairs near the My Gym for some pull-ups and timed runs. Split up into groups of three. Two PAX on doing pull-up under each of the two stairwells, with the third PAX as the timer. Run up, over, and down the stairs and tag out your partner. Did two rounds much to the delight of the group. Toward the end of the second round, One Star finally completed his quest and joined up with the group.
Mosey to the large wall next to Banana Republic for some wall sits and arm raises. 2 rounds of 50 arm raises. Wingman called out my ‘jazz hand’ form but I like to think they were more ‘raising the roof’ than jazz hands.
Mosey back to launch and were joined by 4 runners from Blakovery for a few rounds of Mary until time. Ended the workout 6 PAX stronger than when we left.
YHC with the takeout prayer.
Moleskin
Announcements
3 pax showed up at Calvary at 0700 yesterday for the latest edition of Olympus. After missing last week due to family travel (but not sorry to miss 20 minutes of snatches…), I was excited to get back out for an hour of bells. Mighty Mite and High Tide joined me on a cool morning.
Warm-up:
SSH x 20 IC
10 2-handed swings
Windmills x 10 IC
10 2-handed swings
2 prying squats IC
10 2-handed swings
Main Thang:
Neupert: 10 sets of 2 double clean and press EMOM
Complex: Merkin on the bells, snatch L, merkin on the bells, snatch R. That’s 1 rep. Do 10 sets of 5 reps. Rest between sets.
Easy strength:
Carry and Mary: farmer carry out, elbow plank, farmer carry back, elbow plank. Hollow body hold for 1:00, then glute bridge for 1:00.
COT with the RockZero pax. Thanks to Runstopper for taking us out.
Announcements:
Moleskine:
This was the first time I have q’d the hour long Saturday workout, and I apologize for the long awaited write up here, but this is seriously the first hour I may have been home this weekend… Yes, Sunday at 9pm!!! from a 6:30 saturday Commitment that was nearly forgot about and ghosted since the alarm had been set for PM! I roll up and there are a ton of cars……But no Pax, WTF is going on? the only other pax was Popeye! well, apparently there may have been a WTF tune up or something going on that the rest of us may have been unaware of. All in total, we had 2 Ruckers, 9 for commitment, and 8 doing WhaterverTF they were doing +1.5?!
Warmup:
DiCC’s called out… Quick mosey around and back to COT…. Wow, that was a great workout! Just kidding, we circled for Centerfold who came in on two wheels.
Thang:
Head to the Rock pile near the School, do 2-3 exercises then a long loop around the school lot
Finish up then head to the Club house playground stopping at every other driveway on the left alternating 5 Merkins and 5 Speed Skaters 2=1.
At the Clubhouse playground pair up 200 each of Dips/LBC/pullups/Step ups one runs, the other plays.
Finish up, head to the trail shortcut heading back to COT…..Wait, whats that? Who’s that? Where’d they come from? Where they going? the WTF’s just flew by us…. We stopped at the circle where each pax called out an Ab workout (too many to remember) then more Pax showed up Rucking!
Back to COT where we now have a Doubled group!
Moleskin:
My musical choice was going real well until Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name of” came on… but either way, it can be a treat to have some tunes on occasion to help get things going. I did get made fun of AGAIN by Goodfella.. Not for my Utility clip, but the Warmups being written on QB wrist holder… To be honest, I may have been able to wing it, but like to be somewhat prepared in case i engage in a little too heavy of a night prior.
As stated before, I hadn’t led the hour long workout in the past, so I was a bit worried at first, but the guys were all good with what I had in Store.
As always, its great to get out an lead the group, especially when the weather is so fantastic, cant wait to get at it again in May.
Announcements:
Welcome FNG Michael Wilfong -Peekaboo Originally from Union cty in Indian trail. 2 kids, one on the way. Works in Real Estate in Waxhaw, loves the outdoors, went to App state and Deadwood brought him out but Ghosted him! Peekaboo as he has the kids all under 6.. Initially asked if the name is Permanent?!?! Hes asking ME???? If it werent permanent, id have been changed long ago brother!
WTF May 1st 6:30 Blackhawk.. 13 miles per on a 3 Man team with Saturday Convergence. Kid Rock cooking up some good eats..
Need Q’s for Commitment
Blood Drive Sat June 19th
Ghosted Took us out… Man, some of you guys are just so good it seems scripted.. Way to take us out!
Better late then never, Now I can sleep… Sorry, not even gonna edit.. Sorry for grammatical errors.
Good Night!
7 PAX made the right choice and posted at Rock Zero, perfect temps, great sunrise, and we got down to work.
COP
Road Trip
Head out of the Calvary parking lot make a left on Route 51, stopping at Elm for some Mary
Mosey to Day Zero AO for the following:
Move over to the lowest benches in the Area 51 region for parter circuit work. Partner 1 performs called exercise while Partner 2 takes a hot lap around the parking lot. Two rounds for each exercise.
On the move to Bevington Place stopping for the following:
Mosey to Stony Hill Lane stopping for:
Move to Elm stopping for the following:
Mosey Back to Route 51 for the following:
People’s Chair
Return to the AO and Grab Some Wall, for two rounds for Air Presses x 50.
Jack Webb
Head back to the start point for a dose of Jack Webb up and down 7.
Mary
Moleskin
Announcements:
YHC headed south to Q at the Arsenal, the premier Thursday morning bootcamp in Indian Land. YHC arrived a little early to do some scouting of the AO and passed Atlas and Brexit pre-running. I rolled down the window and yelled some form of encouragement to which Atlas and Brexit completely ignored YHC. Apparently they get catcalled on a regular basis during their pre-runs so it was nothing out of the ordinary for them. At 5:28 General rolled in to make 4. 5:30 on the clock so YHC began his disclaimer but what’s this? Cobbler rolling in on 2 wheels to make it 5 Pax. Disclaimer completed and we were off.
The Thing:
Mosey around the school to the playground area for a standard warmup. Then partner up. P1 runs to the monkey bars for 10 pull ups while P2 does an ab exercise and flapjack. 3 rounds of this with 10 pull ups each time and ab exercises consisting of flutter, J-Lo and box cutters.
Then we were off to run some hills. I know there are several hills at the AO so I asked Brexit which would be the best. This may have been a mistake as the hill that Brexit took us to was b-r-u-t-a-l. At this hill YHC called a triple nickel of 5 burpees at the bottom, 5 Carolina dry docks at the top for 5 rounds. The hill has a false top to it. The first level is fairly steep and when you think you at the top where it flattens out, you realize there is a 2nd level that is steeper than the first level. This was tough.
Once all had finished this suckfest we headed to the high school parking lot. Partnering back up P1 bear crawls towards the end of the parking lot with a merkin at each parking spot. P2 runs to the end of the parking lot for 5 wide arm merkins then runs and flapjacks with their partner, picking up where they left off. Keep this going until the guy bear crawling reaches the end of the parking lot.
Head back to launch with about 8 minutes left. First up is a 5 man round of Abe Froman (see Bagpipe backblast from 4/13/21 for an explanation of the Abe Froman). The 5 man goes faster than the 11 man version and leads to more merkins and less planking. General made quick work of the rest of us and took the title belt on this morning. We finished up the morning with each guy taking turns calling a Mary exercise.
Moleskin:
As always it was an enjoyable time down South. If you have not made it out to The Arsenal I suggest going at least once. It is a fun AO and good to change things up some. The hill was an unpleasant pleasant surprise and will remain in the Q bag for YHC. YHC was unoriginal pulling the Abe Froman out twice this week but it is such a good finishing challenge to burn everyone out and who doesn’t love a competition. Good mumblechatter throughout and great to catch up with some guys that I don’t get to see on a regular basis.
Four great minds joined YHC at Da Vinci on a fine April morning to workout with a celebration of two great things today — Haiku Day and the 70th anniversary of the major league debut of The Commerce Comet, The Mick, Mickey Mantle. Early on YHC tossed out the question, “What did George Costanza want to name his son?” Seven, of course, after Mickey Mantle.
Mission Haiku
To plant, grow and serve
Male community leaders
The F3 mission
DICCS Haiku
Cell phone, C-P-R
Modify moves as needed
Don’t sue, be alert
WARM-UP
Mosey to the medical center
Hillbillies x 18 IC (number of seasons Mantle played)
Moroccan Night Club x 18 IC
Plank Jacks x 18 IC
Stretching
THE THANG
Go to and through the neighborhood on McIlwayne Dr
Cross AK to the Lash/Dentist/whatever buildings for lifting rock work
Haiku Rock work with 5 of an exercise, then 7, then 5 (5-7-5). Complete one set, run backwards to the end of the island, return normal run. Repeat same set 3x (number of MVPs The Mick won) before moving as a group to next rock work group.
Finish off the rock by bear crawling and pushing the rock back to its home.
2 Laps around the triangle island with alternating exercises at each corner
Head to Blakeney for 7x Wall jumps + 7x dips repeato once more
Back to AK for the hill on the south side of AK for Merkin Clock with 7x merkins as each PAX called a time
Run back to COT (through sprinklers!)
Superman x 16 civilian count (number of All Star appearances)
Mickey Haiku
Amazing player
Terrible husband but which
is more important?
MOLESKINE
It was a great morning to Q at da Vinci and YHC appreciates the opportunity and the support of the PAX in attendance as they put up with some goofy themes for the day. YHC was looking for a different route to the Lash Rocks and none of the PAX remembered using that street before, so mission accomplished. Also may have used the hill along AK across from Blakeney for the first time as well.
Kudos to Soft Pretzel for quickly showing off his Seinfeld knowledge and setting the group up for reps of 7 throughout. He and Sweetwater led the pack throughout and stayed strong. Dwight had the guts to call the biggest shift on the merkin clock going from 6 to 12. Kirby powered through a knee injury, just like Mickey did for years and the sprinklers were a welcome way to clean the profuse bleeding. Maybe not profuse, but fortunately we don’t often see blood at F3. No word whether he’ll attempt to sue the small strip mall of offices for the dangerous rocks they have on site. Kirby also discovered some muscles he didn’t know about between his legs, so that was interesting and may make for a fun Saturday night.
The rock work with the lunges and backwards running, along with gorilla humpers into a mosey was all sneaky difficult and should feel fantastic later tonight or tomorrow morning. The goal was to use some moves to target less-frequent muscles and hopefully that was accomplished.
YHC was a big Mickey Mantle fan growing up, especially drooling (almost literally) in person over a 1952 Topps card. But as the years have passed and off-the-field issues are exposed, it’s a reminder that we’re all human and celebrity isn’t always to be celebrated. YHC has no plans to take a wife and a mistress to a retirement ceremony and will never don the pinstripes for the Yanks, but what YHC can do — what we all can do — off the field is highly important and that’s where the current focus is.
I don’t see Atlas as the backblast writing type. I hope I’m wrong, but just in case I’m not…here is what we did at Blackhawk today. If nothing else, perhaps he writes one too and I get double credit which will send Zinfandel (Zinfendell, Zinfindel, Zanfendelli?) into a tail spin of angry gifs which should make for a fun afternoon of beer drinking and catching up on GroupMe. Now that I have that paragraph long run on sentence out of the way…here is what Atlas made us do.
WARM UP
Run. We kept running. I look down at my watch and we have gone .7 miles on this opening mosey with no end in site. I let out the proverbial “Dad, are we there yet”, but all I got back was “No, quiet down back there”. We finally reach 521 for some stretching, Merkins, the the worthless exercise known as imperial walkers (which offers no stretch, cardio, or muscle building movement, but I digress).
Another mosey towards the pickle ball courts enjoying the wonderful sky as we went (really, I’m a sucker for morning sunrises with pink, purple, and orange colors and we were treated to all three this morning).
THE THANG
21’s. Really? 13’s are boring enough but he called 21’s. Ok. Merkins starting the 1, run to other end of court for 20 squats and run backwards back to start. We went until we got to 11 Merkins and 10 squats and he thankfully called it. I was starting to lose my mind (I’m mentally weak).
Mosey to rock pile for rock work with runs in between. Curls, tricep, presses were first round. American Hammer, flutters, and chest presses were round two (yes with the rock). I found my rock too big for the American hammers so I simply split it in two with my bare hands (true story – apparently my large granite rock was ready to split).
Mosey to what naturally looks like the launch point (yet they don’t launch from there?) for 10 each of dips, irkins, and dirkins followed by a lap. Repeato 3 times.
Bigger lap to get us back to the naturally looking launch point that they don’t launch from for 6 minutes of Mary. LBC’s, Windshield Wipers, Jack Hammers, Boat Canoe, and In/Outs were called.
30 seconds left and Atlas called have a nice day. I was repeatedly reminded by Shop that Have a Nice Day is for internal reflection and you have to close your mouth for that.
MOLE SKIN