13 of the finest kettlebell slinging gents in the south joined up for a complete body grinder. Loss of grip strength, lean muscle building, complete fatigue and nearly 2 miles. What’s not to love??
The Thang:
The Warm-Up:
SSH x 20 IC
Merkin x 20 IC
2 Handed Swing x 20 OYO
Prying Squat x 5 IC
Farmer Carry – go from first speed bump to the 3rd and return back. Oh yeah, no running or speed walking!
The Main Event:
Mosey to the school for the Challenge
Presentation of Instructions: The Challenge is written in chalk on the pavement. You must do these exercises in order and must finish each exercise before moving on to the next. Alternate R/L hand as needed. Move as quickly as you can to complete The Challenge in the allotted time.
The Challenge:
Round 1: 50 KB Snatches, 5 Burpees, AYG around school (approx .33 miles)
Round 2: 100 2-Hand KB Swings, 5 Burpees, AYG around school
Round 3: 50 KB Squats, 5 Burpees, AYG around school
Round 4: 50 KB Cleans. 5 Burpees, AYG around school
Round 5: 100 High Pulls, 5 Burpees, AYG around school
Round 6: 100 Merkins, 5 Burpees, AYG around school
Extra Credit (when finished with The Challenge, perform as follows until time is called):
The Moleskine:
Great group of guys out there this morning. It’s been a while since I’ve made a return to SOB land, much less my favorite AO (Foxhole)! When Argonaut asked me if I would Q again I was honored, and then realized I better get back in shape immediately so I could hang with you guys. No where near where I was but it felt great to be back out there. It is great to see this AO grow and the quality of men that were out there today. Great to see some old faces as well and swing the bell with you again.
The “chalk challenge” started a couple of years ago by Young Love. It put such a whoopin on me then I have brought it out a few times to make others suffer as I did. This time I reduced the burpees from 10 to 5…mostly to account for the long lap around the school. To date I don’t know if anyone has completed the challenge in time, but several of you got close today and everyone else was right on their tail. It was great to see some new guys to the bells doing so well today. Keep at it guys! The KB is a great way to build lean muscle and raw strength.
Thanks for having me out to lead this morning gentlemen and for giving it your all!
Thanks Soft Pretzel for the great takeout!
Announcements:
10 of the mightiest men in SOB Nation weren’t afraid of Father Time and a mediocre loss of an hour of sleep. While most were soft and asleep fantasizing of how tough they were, these Tenacious 10 sharpened iron by slinging cannonballs around for fun.
The Thang:
The Warm-Up:
SSH x 20 IC
Merkin x 20 IC
2 Handed Swing x 20 OYO
Prying Squat x 5 IC
Field Farmer Carry
The Main Event:
Mosey to the school for the Challenge
Presentation of Instructions: The Challenge is written in chalk on the pavement. You must do these exercises in order and must finish each exercise before moving on to the next. Alternate R/L hand as needed. Move as quickly as you can to complete The Challenge in the allotted time.
The Challenge:
Round 1: 50 KB Snatches, 10 Burpees, AYG around school (approx .33 miles)
Round 2: 100 2-Hand KB Swings, 10 Burpees, AYG around school
Round 3: 50 KB Squats, 10 Burpees, AYG around school
Round 4: 50 KB Cleans. 10 Burpees, AYG around school
Round 5: 100 High Pulls, 10 Burpees, AYG around school
Round 6: 100 Merkins, 10 Burpees, AYG around school
Extra Credit (when finished with The Challenge, perform as follows until time is called):
The Moleskine:
It’s been a while since I’ve been at Foxhole and man I have missed swinging those bells! Voodoo had requested a while back that I bring this challenge over to this site and I was more than happy to oblige. This challenge has been attempted a few times now and it always puts a good whoopin on those that attempt it. Hope you guys are all the better for it! Today most made it up to the round for Cleans before we had to call time and jump over to 5 rounds of 20 merkins to satisfy MT’s need to fulfill his quota for the merkin challenge.
Great to see Gomer Pyle back out swinging bells again! Argonaut showed up a beast and has continued to impress week to week. It’s great to see Freon out there continuing to show what tough really is. MT, impressive showing especially after Balrog! Great to have Chipotle out this week and I’m sure we can all look forward to a butt kicking next week for his Q! For all you other regulars I hope you enjoyed something a little different…I promise I’ll bring the gear out next time!!
Loogie, thanks for the great takeout!
Announcements:
18 of the strongest, baddest dudes on a Tuesday with a Kettlebell weren’t afraid to answer the call of a BROfessor challenge despite sub 20 degree weather. Maybe you went somewhere else today and did a little running? That’s cute. We did running and threw around 50lb cannonballs. Just sayin..
The Thang:
The Warm-Up:
SSH x 20 IC
Merkin x 20 IC
2 Handed Swing x 20 OYO
Prying Squat x 5 IC
Field Farmer Carry
The Main Event:
Mosey to Church/Playground lot for Challenge
Presentation of Instructions: The Challenge is written in chalk on the pavement. You must do these exercises in order and must finish each exercise before moving on to the next. Alternate R/L hand as needed. Move as quickly as you can to complete The Challenge in the allotted time.
The Challenge:
Round 1: 50 KB Snatches, 10 Burpees, AYG around church (approx .33 miles)
Round 2: 100 2-Hand KB Swings, 10 Burpees, AYG around church
Round 3: 50 KB Squats, 10 Burpees, AYG around church
Round 4: 50 KB Cleans. 10 Burpees, AYG around church
Round 5: 100 High Pulls, 10 Burpees, AYG around church
Round 6: 100 Merkins, 10 Burpees, AYG around church
Extra Credit (when finished with The Challenge, perform as follows until time is called):
The Moleskine:
Young Love originally had a challenge like this a little over a year ago that I remember being terrible and that no one completed. So of course I thought we’d give it another go when it was my turn to Q this time. Even though there were some questionable routes on the “Church Loop” (YHC must have not given clear instruction), again I don’t think anyone completed the challenge this time either. I had just made it to the 5th round before time ran out. Sound off if you made it further this go around.
Great to see so many guys out this morning despite the 18 degree weather. It is always a pleasure to lead such a fine group of men. Cobains to Header and the rest of the men for not having music for the main event, although I feel like it would have taken away from the camaraderie of the joint suffering. I was in my own pain cave this morning and didn’t pick up on any of the usual antics, sound off on any notable occurrences that I missed.
Thanks to Harley and Fletch for the opportunity to lead!
Freedom, thanks for switching weeks brother and thanks for the great takeout!
7 PAX arrived excited for the promise of toys early this year, only to be greeted with 12 “toys” of mass destruction and pain induction! Woooooo!
The Thang:
The Warm-Up:
Kettlebell Ladder:
We began with an admittedly aggressive ladder. This thing got ugly fast and I decided to cut the last two rounds for the sake of time and so the PAX could actually save some strength for the implements.
The Main Event:
Grab your bells and lets head to the other end of the parking lot. Once there PAX partnered up with like size bells.
*After the 4 rounds of P1 Kettlebell exercises we moved to a 1 minute per implement cycle to ensure every pain station was visited.
The Moleskine:
‘Twas the night before Foxhole, and all through the PAX minds
were nightmares and visions of Chanel not being kind.
Promises of toys and pain made them aflutter,
only 7 brave PAX would come…who obviously did not know any better.
Voodoo was nestled all snug in his fartsack,
while the brave 7 wrestled slosh tubes and tires while straining their backs.
Feeling tired, worn out and hung to dry
they morphed from men to beasts in the blink of an eye.
Chanel’s toys were brutal that was for sure,
but nothing these brave 7 could not endure.
When time was over they sprang to their sleighs,
fearing when Chanel and those toys would be back another day.
It was an honor to lead you men out there today. Great work by everyone and I hope you enjoyed something a little different!
Thanks for the strong takeout Rock Thrill!
Announcements:
Posted on behalf of Probation…
6 full grown men showed up on a soggy gloomy morning to better themselves and get huge.
Modify when needed
Democracy rules, the Q had to modify his workout. No running today.
Slow Good Mornings x 20
Hand Slap Merkins w/ Partner x 20
Swings x 1 min
LBC x 30
Merkins x 20
Tiger Rag Curls x 1 min
Flutters x 20
Diamond Merkins x 20
Cleans x 1 min
High Knees x 30
Wide Arm Merkins x 20
KB Chest Press x 1 min
Burpees x 10
Merkins x 20
Preachers chair x 30 sec
Preachers chair w/ KB Press x 30 sec (good idea on paper, not so much)
Lawnmowers x 15 each side
High Knees x 30
Plank x 1 min
Diamond Merkins x 20
Form Groups Of 3 – Rotate 2 Times Through
Double KB Press x 15
Dead Stop Swings x 10
Alternating Arm Cleans x 10
High Knees x 50
Tiger Rag Curls x 50
LBC x 50
Moleskine:
Great to see the Foxhole men aren’t scared away by a little rain. We quickly grouped and found the perfect shelter for some good ol’ fashion kettlebell work. Originally planned some running mixed in but torrential rain and slinging cannoballs around don’t mix well so we through in a bunch of other stuff to wear everyone down. Great to have Wild Turkey out to Foxhole for the first time and hope he continues to come out! Great effort by all out there, the regulars doing their thing and some of the new guys taking on more challenges.
Announcements:
Joe Davis run on 1/9
Area 51 Christmas Party is 12/12 at Sardis Swim and Racquet Club 7400 Thermal Rd, Charlotte, NC 28211. Save the date
Gladiator Games 12/12
8 men showed up for the promise to be battle tested and survived the invasion from our Indian Land brothers.
Posted on behalf of Pebbles…
The Thang:
The Warm-Up:
The Main Event:
Round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
Run a lap around the playground.
Round 4:
Run a lap around the playground.
Mary:
The Moleskine:
Great to have Pebbles come up and Q for us and bring with him Mario, these guys from Indian Land are the real deal. Kotters to Madame Tussaud, great to have you back brother. Freon is making a regular appearance at Foxhole and is getting stronger each time. Every week he says the same thing, “It being tough just proves I need to be here”. I love that. This guy is committed and I can’t wait to see him get stronger, faster and become a leader in F3. This is why we do this. Frehley continues his strong efforts and moving up to bigger bells and Strange Brew is becoming a regular albeit a little tardy (Foxhole can be haul for some folks but they still come because its awesome sauce). You can tell Voodoo is running too much these days, I hope we don’t lose another Meathead to the dark side (you know who you are). Great workout and we look forward to having Pebbles Q again!
Announcements:
12 PAX arrived at Dromedary and were stunned by the odd gym equipment, cones, tires laying around what is usually a boot-campers haven. Not today gents, today we get country strong Union County style!
The Thang:
The Warm-Up:
Four Corners:
Run from corner to corner of the parking lot performing exercises at each corner, approximately 0.45 miles.
KB Refresher/Tutorial for those not accustomed to swinging bells regularly
Running out of time for the fun stuff, let’s move on!
The Main Event:
Form groups of 3 for Implements of Doom (IOD)
Rotate through until everyone has a turn and then move to next implement
Implements of the day:
Just enough time for some quick Mary:
The Moleskine:
It’s been awhile since I’ve Q’d Dromedary and it was great to see so many new faces. I’m sure most of you came expecting something different but hope you enjoyed the variety of doing some kettlebell work and the various implements. For those of you new to this it is a great way to strengthen areas that might normally not get worked as much in a typical bootcamp. The implements require you to engage your entire body to flip the tires, man handle the slosh tube, or inch across the pavement with metal plates. Kettlebells, while intimidating at first, are one of the best ways to expedite your fitness goals. Often viewed as a meathead or bro weightlifting tool, these actually create strength and lean muscle, not bulk. They have been proven to increase stamina, strength and even benefit runners by creating strength in the hips and core that are needed for sustained runs. Embrace the kettlebells folks, they are your best friend.
Great effort by all of you today out there, this was not an easy workout by any means and the 200% humidity didn’t help!
Great to meet some of the new guys today and I look forward to seeing you more often. Great to have Cornhole back this week. Short Circuit, you are a lucky fella. I had that name for 5 seconds before it went quickly to Johnny 5 and then Chanel #5. Things can go bad quick in the naming process!
As always it was an honor to lead you men today. Thanks for the strong take out Bananas.
Announcements:
It was the first Monday after the return of Football. It was cold. Not many could meet the challenge of facing the toughest workout of the week, but 5 rose out of their slumber and dusted off their Monday morning blues with a good ol’ fashioned Kettlebell butt whoopin’. Here’s how it went:
The Warmup:
SSH x 20 IC
Halos x 10 (5 each side)
Deadstop Swings x 5
Goblet Squats x 20 IC
Swings x 20 OYO
The Thang:
Grab your bells and let’s mosey to the back of the school, stopping 3 times for a 10 Merkin break.
Partner up with like sized bells and face the hill..
Round 1: 5 Reps Double KB Swings, then run up hill and 10 merkins – 5 rounds each partner
Round 2: 5 Reps Double Clean, then run up hill and 10 merkins – 5 rounds each partner
Round 3: 5 Reps Double Squats, then run up hill and 10 merkins – 5 rounds each partner
Round 4: 5 Reps Double High Pulls, then run up hill and 10 merkins – 5 rounds each partner
Running out of time! Farmer Carry back to basecamp with 15 LBC chasers.
Round 5: 5 Reps Double Snatches – 5 rounds each partner
Just enough time for some 2 sets of Mary, Voodoo called Freddy Mercury and Loogie called Heels to Heaven. Done!
The Moleskine:
This is one of those classic KB workouts that doesn’t look so bad on paper and then crushes you. The 5×5 is a sneaky tough workout in of itself but today I added the hill runs and merkins as a new addition today to keep the heart rate going and well just to be a little cruel. Welcome Kid Rock to Foxhole! It was great to have you out there today brother and I’m sure we will see you out again; for a first timer you did awesome out there..heck for a regular you did awesome out there! Voodoo and Loogie seem to always partner up on days I’m Q’ing and they always crush it. You won’t find a better support system to motivate one another to get through a workout than those guys. Frehley stepped up today and kept pace with me the whole time. Initially throwing a refuznik on the doubles he consented and killed it! The man is also great at counting which is a Q’s best friend, he totaled 230 merkins today as the count.
As always men it is an honor to lead you in the gloom. I hope you got what you wanted out of it and maybe a little more than you wanted!
Announcements:
11 ignored the temptation to sleep in on a Saturday and rose to the challenge of becoming Immortal Olympians. The Warm-Up:
The Thang:
Part 1:
Luck of the Draw: 1st PAX draws 2 cards, one from individual stack and one from group stack. Group performs their designated exercise until individual completes his.
| Individual Timer Exercises | Group Exercises |
| 50 Merkins | Lunge w/ KB |
| 30 Goblet Squats | Lawnmowers |
| 20 Pull-ups | Squat & Press |
| 25 KB Presses | Merkins |
| 40 Upright Rows | KB Clean & Press |
| 30 Merkins | KB Halo |
| 50 Swings | KB Press (on back) |
| 20 KB Merkins | Good Mornings |
| 40 Dips | KB Cleans |
| 50 Lawnmowers | Alternating Swings |
| 30 Tricep Extensions | High Pulls |
| 20 KB Presess | Lunge w/ KB Press |
| 50 KB Presses | Goblet Squat |
| 25 Swings | Deadlift |
| 6 Turkish Get Ups (3 per side) | KB Merkin |
| 15 Squat & Press per side | Figure 8’s |
| 40 Alternating Swings | Tricep Extensions |
Part 2:
Pair up for some football skills and circus of pain. The timer is a pair of men who are throwing and receiving the football for 200 total yards, down and back to the group. One guy throws it, then sprints by the guy who caught it, etc. Every drop equals 3 burpees for the footballers. During this time the other PAX are on the below pain stations:
Ended with 5 minutes of Mary
The Moleskine:
First, let me thank the Site Q’s past and present for putting this site out there and allowing me to come out with all my toys. A full hour is much different than the normal 45 mins, but it also gives you the opportunity to do a great many of things all in one workout. That’s what we did today. We hit everything. Luck of the draw had everyone sweating and feeling good. A solid 20 minutes of straight kettlebell action, no breaks. Next we headed over to my favorite part, all of the stations for feats of strength. Our timer for this was two guys showing off their best football skills…let’s just say there were a lot of burpees out there today, except for Probations 2.0 who at 9 is already a baller. That kid was running 50 yd outs and never dropped one. Speaking of Brutus, he also conquered the tire and flipped it over all by himself. That kid is going to be a beast. Hoff as expected is a beast, however instead of just pulling the tire with the harness he threw it around his neck and then proceeded to crab walk pulling the tire…that is incredible. We should have recorded that and sent to JJ Watt for a challenge. Winterplace was a stud today but made no friends when he said 20 Burpees when called upon for Mary. I’m afraid he may never be called upon again, at least from any of these guys. We’re all better for it though! Sound off on any more notable mentions. It was an honor to lead you all today gentlemen!
Announcements:
3 PAX were brave enough to face the KB Pentathlon challenge and now have tangible results of their ridonkulous strength. Others must have seen the pre-blast and hid in their fartsacks with shame.
The Thang:
No time for warm-ups, we’ve got exactly 45 grueling mins to get through this.
Score = (#Reps) x (Adjusted KB Size) where Adj. KB Size = Wt of Bell (in kg) / 8.
EX: 100 swings with a 24 kg bell = (100 reps) x (24 kg / 8) = 300 pts.
Spreadsheet is HERE if you want it.
Ye Olde Moleskine:
Voodoo decided to bring back this gem since he missed the original back in March and then missed it again this time due to illness. Somethings are just not meant to be brother. YHC stepped in to lead the Q and was met this morning with 2 PAX who admitted they had not seen the tweets or pre-blast, otherwise they may have joined everyone else in the fartsack. The KB Pentathlon is brutal, there is no denying it. As much as I loathed doing this again it is the only thing we’ve done to date that puts an actual score to your KB fitness and thus gives you something tangible to improve upon. If I can convince Mighty Mite and Teddy to do this again it would be great to see how they improve and in what areas. Those guys are beasts and they left it all out there today. I attribute a lot of those last few reps to those guys pushing through and challenging me. IRON SHARPENING IRON at its best.
Here are my numbers from March & today, evidence that what we do at Area 51 gear sites produces results:
| Date | KB Size | 1H Swing | Snatch | Press | Clean | Racked Squat | Adj Total |
| 3/9/2015 | 50 lb | 210 | 90 | 85 | 135 | 80 | 1703 |
| 8/24/2015 | 50lb & 20kg | 212 | 113 | 138 (20kg) | 134 | 114 | 1971 |
Announcements: