Rubbermaid is a liar. 4 pax went to Morning Woods. They expected trails. The expected darkness. They even expected fog. They were TOLD the trails drained well and not to expect mud. Rubbermaid is a liar.
Fortunately, only the Chicken fell.
+1 to your post count.
First time Qing Flash (I know, right?) and I pulled into the parking lot to see it nearly of cars. Looks like everyone was eager to see what TWO weeks of prep for Mad Dog would bring for Ignition. Can’t blame them; if I wasn’t the Q then I’d have been at Ignition just to see if Mad Dog would stand us up twice in a row.
Warmup
Mosey to the front lot, circle and do Side Straddle Hops, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan Night Clubs, Calf Stretches, and Mountain Climbers
The Thang
Mosey to the front door benches and find yourself a partner on the way. One partner does a half lap around the center island and shares 100 Dips and 100 Step-Ups with the other partner.
Mosey to the covered walkway. The PAX do Low Slow Squats in cadence while 2 PAX at a time Bear Crawl from one end of the walkway to the other. Those 2 PAX continue LSS and the next 2 PAX go. All PAX do a burpee each time a PAX finishes the Bear Crawl.
Mosey to Rudy’s Poopy Palace and find a new partner on the way. One partner runs to the buses and back while sharing 100 Merkin Shredders, 150 Donkey Kicks, and 200 Air Presses (while on the wall)
OK, we didn’t quite do 100 Merkin Shredders. I got a few “whoa’s” and “reallys?” when I called the Shredders. After 1 round each, I called an audible and switched to regular Merkins (still 100 total rep). Those things are no joke. If you aren’t familiar. It’s a Merkin with a hands off the ground T-pose at the bottom, then 2 shoulder taps at the top. There’s a reason they call them Shredders.
Another mosey up to the covered stairs at the high school. A modified Webb with 1 Big Boi Sit-Up at the bottom of the stairs, 4 walking lunges (1=1) at the top then the long lap down the sidewalk. 2 Big Bois/8 Lunges, etc. After a few rounds, in the 4 to 6 range, we did a set of 10 American Hammers and 10 Box Cutters then made a long mosey back to the shed.
A handful of minutes remaining, head up the path back to COT and do 3 Burpees at each light post. After a few of those and less than 2 minutes remaining, jailbreak back to COT.
Moleskin
Not a lot of chatter today except the complaints about the Merkin Shredders.
Penalty Box turned 72 yesterday. The dude is amazing and if I make it to 72 and can still do half of what he does I’ll be doing alright
O-69 had his one year F3 Anniversary today. In the past year he’s dropped over 60 pounds. Every day he’s out walking and running and getting better. Great job buddy!
Announcements
F3 Blood Drive – January 30th, 9:00 to 1:30 at Five Stones. Sign up at https://www.redcross.org/ and search for F3
CSAUP – February 6th – Ruckers depart at 7:00am and everyone else at 7:30 from The Floater. Plan on it last until 11:00 or so. 2nd F at Waxhaw Tap House
Sanctuary – We are starting a new study Monday on listening to God. We study, learn, and fellowship over the Word, 🍕 & 🍺. Mondays, 7:30pm, Fellowship Hall at 6315 New Town Road. Open to all men.
Christ’s Closet – Giveaway in Wilmington this weekend in lieu of F3 10 Year Anniversary. Loading the truck on Thursday night.
Mad Dog took us out
The New Year is upon us and with it the completion of the Passport Challenge! Hopefully you decided to participate, stretch your legs, and get out of your comfort zone. Need a recap on what the challenge was about? From November 1st through December 31st PAX were challenged to visit as many unique AOs as possible and stamp their Passport. Not just 1st F activities, though! We threw in the 2nd and 3rd Fs to encourage men to really get outside their comfort zones and see what else F3 can offer. At the end, the PAX with the highest tally at the end would be crowned the Passport Champion and receive a prize befitting their tenacity: custom F3 Passport Challenge dog tags with their F3 name stamped in. No runners up or participation trophies here; just sheer determination and willpower to be at the top.
The deadline has passed. The final stamps have been tallied. So where do we stand? Who is on top?
First let’s take a look at the numbers
But after all that, what you’re REALLY after is who won?
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After a hard fought battle that went back and forth many times…
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Tallying 56 stamps and providing over 30% of the stamps for the SOB region…
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The second place PAX is Chopper! Great job buddy! Way to get out of your comfort zone, challenge yourself, and set a great example to others!
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And now…the moment you’ve been waiting for…
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The winner of the 2020 Passport Challenge…
Hailing from F3 Waxhaw…
Tallying no less than 60 Passport stamps and 17% for the Waxhaw region…
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Congratulations Das Boot !!! Well done! It isn’t easy getting up early, driving to sites unknown, taking time out of your weekend to participate in 3rd F activities, but you did it and you’re better for it. Thanks for inspiring and driving competition. Your dog tags have been ordered and we’ll get them to you ASAP.
Stay tuned for new challenges throughout the year. 2021 is just warming up and there will be new opportunities to grow, serve, and lead!
Happy New Year everyone! The new year is often a time for a reset. Time to evaluate what happened the previous year and make changes, hopefully for the better. 2020 was a…different year and one that was especially challenging for many/most folks. Relationships, resolve, perseverance, motivation, drive, survival were just a few things that were tested. One thing that was a constant was this group of High Impact Men from F3 Waxhaw. In this year of turmoil, we saw our numbers grow. We created several new AOs to provide First F(Fitness) opportunities to an ever expanding geography. Though social distancing limited our abilities to hold large, indoor, Second F (Fellowship) events like the Effees or monthly lunches we stayed strong with weekly Coffeeteria and events like the Makeshift Marathon and Turkey Bowl. Even more impressive was the explosive growth we saw in the Third F (Faith) area, where little old Waxhaw has impacted people’s lives ways we won’t even know with things like: Christ’s Closet, Rice and Beans, Blood Drives, Project Hot Wheels, and many more. We say it often, but it bears repeating: “F3 is more than a workout!”
This New Year’s Day 42 men arrived on a cold, blustery, rainy morning where we experienced all five of F3 Nation’s core principles. Not sure what those are?
1. Free of Charge – We never charge for a workout. Ever.
2. Open to All Men – If you’re a guy, you’re welcome. Regardless of fitness level, age, or experience you’re welcome and encouraged to be here.
3. Held Rain or Shine – If New Year’s Day wasn’t an indication of how true this is, I don’t know what is. Conditions were pretty miserable but we pushed through.
4. Peer Led – Rotating fashion of men leading each other. You got to see that on full show on this day as depending on which workout you attended you got to see Recalculating, Brutus, Fuse Box, and YHC all taking a turn at the helm.
I’m not sure what the other groups did for a workout, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is we ended the workout together in a Circle of Trust. It is, after all, the 5th of the five core principles.
5. Circle of Trust – Always ends with a Circle of Trust.
42 men gathered in a circle to acknowledge the completion of another step in the journey of bettering ourselves. I would invite challenge you to watch the Name-O-Rama and pay attention to the names you DON’T see. Why weren’t they there? Now is the time to reach out and check in on them. Invite them to come back out. Post with them. Encourage them.
F3 Waxhaw New Year’s Day Name-O-Rama
2021 is a new year with new challenges. Create some new habits this year and you’ll be better for it. Here are some suggestions from Bottlecap: Show up early, Pre-run, Try Ignition, Don’t modify, ask somebody if you can Q, Talk to a PAX you don’t know.
“Leave no man behind but leave no man where you found him”
Das Boot put the call out last night for a last minute substi-Q for the Body Shop and I jumped on it. I was already planning on attending and grabbing a Passport stamp, so why not, right? Besides, I’m a procrastinator and I don’t put together my weinke until the night before (or morning of) so this wouldn’t be any different. Right?
“You’ve been to this site before, haven’t you?”
Not exactly the phrase you want to hear in the middle of a Q. Well, I’ll get to that…
DiCCS provided to all, freely and lovingly. The lone MASHer, Penalty Box, informed us he’d be leaving and riding his bike at home if no one else showed up.
Warmup
It’s a bit gloomier in the gloom than usual with the fog swirling, so rather than take us down the entrance road like I planned I made a quick detour around the teacher parking lot instead, just in case Centerfold came in on two wheels per usual. Did the usual SSH, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan Night Clubs, Jimmy Dugans, and Calf Stretches while slowly moseying our way around the parking lot, back to COT, and then up the entrance road. Yeah, Penalty Box is gone. Counting off light poles we made our way to the 5th one to begin
The Thang
The idea here was to start at the middle light pole and get progressively further away. So, run to the closest light pole, do 7 Speed Skaters (2=1), run past the starting point to the light pole on the other side, do 6 Speed Skaters. Run past the starting pole and the first pole all the way to the second and do 5 Speed Skaters, and so on. Something like 2 4 6 S 7 5 3 1.
In my head it made sense. On paper it made sense. In reality it made sense, but GOOD LORD those light poles are a lot further apart than I remember. So I audibled a bit and instead our Back and Forths looked more like 4 6 S 7 5 3.
Now that might not look so different here in the backblast, but I’m sure anyone attending the workout this morning would agree that it made a big difference. The distance between the 2 and the 1 was a bit much.
Soooo…now that I’ve had the opportunity to see up close and personal how close (read: NOT close) together the light poles were, you’d think I would modify the next set of exercises accordingly. You would think wrong.
Everybody grab a lifting rock. “A lifting rock?” Yes, a lifting rock. I may be dumb and I may do a lot of dumb things when I Q, but running with rocks is NOT one of them.
So for this round we’re doing some 7s where the Down is Squats and the Back is laying on your back and doing a Chest Press.
Starting with 6 Chest Presses, put your rock OFF the road in case of cars, then run to the closest light pole and do 1 Squat. Return to your rock and do 5 Chest Presses, run to the 2nd light pole and do 2 Squats and so on.
Have you already figured out what happens next? Yeah, another audible. Those damn light poles are a long way apart. Actually, in my defense, the light poles closest to the school aren’t that far apart and I was thinking (that’s what got me in trouble; thinking) that all the light poles were that close together. Yeah, they’re not. So we audible and do the 4th set of Squats at the 3rd light pole and work our way back to the 2nd then 1st light pole. You’re welcome, everyone.
It was sometime around here that I was asked if I’d been to Body Shop before. Ouch.
Before we put our rocks away we did a little partner work too.
50 Curls, 50 Tricep Extensions, and 50 Weighted Squats as a team. One person runs the short loop around the nearest island.
Find a new partner then do 50 Kettlebell Swings, 50 Shoulder Presses, and 50 Bent Over Rows with a loop around the island.
Return your rock to the pile
Back to the starting lot and circle up.
10 Dry Docks IC, 10 LBCs IC, and 10 Lunges OYO then run the parking lot lap as specified below:
10 Merkins, 10 Big Boi Sit Ups, 10 Bobby Hurleys then run another lap in the same manner
10 Mike Tysons, 10 American Knockouts IC, 10 Bomb Jacks
Time’s up.
Moleskin
Everyone got in over 3 miles and some over 3.5 miles. Good thing the audible exists or we might still be running. It was good coming back to Body Shop. I hadn’t been in a while and I got to see a couple guys I don’t normally see. With so many sites in the Waxhaw region it’s easy to miss guys if you’re always hitting the same place over and over. I try to move around, but seeing these guys this morning is a good reminder I can do better. Get up a few minutes earlier and hit a site you don’t normally visit. Speaking of which, the Passport Challenge is nearly over. Das Boot and Chopper are neck and neck and have clearly taken the challenge to heart as they’re both head and shoulders above everyone else. Keep up the good work guys!
Announcements
Waxhaw Clean up this Saturday at 8am. Coffeeteria to follow
YHC did a lot of talking this morning with the Q, the Passport Challenge announcement, I was the 6th man, and YHC took us out
After running with the Ignition crowd yesterday I wasn’t feeling a high mileage workout today. Instead I decided to punish our arms and shoulders. A few audibles were made because I put some stupid ideas on the weinke.
FNG identified. DiCCS provided with extra emphasis on the “modify as needed” part. That was intended for the FNG but I think all took it to heart
Warmup
Quick mosey around the loop then a circle up for SSH, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan Night Clubs, Jimmy Dugans, Calf Stretches, and the Glidah Can Opener.
The Thang
Moleskin
45 Burpees, 115 Merkins (of varying sorts), plus a bunch of plank-style exercises (Mountain Climbers, In-and-Outs, and just a good ol’ Plank) mean everyone’s shoulders should be feeling pretty good right about now. Sorry if you were planning on going to Chiseled tomorrow. Mileage was right at 2, like I planned. Welcome to FNG Door Dash, thusly named due to working for Reinhart food supplier.
Announcements
Waxhaw Clean Up this Saturday immediately following the standard workouts. Coffeeteria at Crossroads AFTER
Weinke planning the night before and decided to pull out one from back in April when F3 shut down for bit. Used it for the WOD but never got the chance to personally inflict it on some unsuspecting PAX. Today was that day.
DiCCS provided then we moseyed towards the soccer fields and our ultimate destination: the pond loop.
A quick loop with a couple warmup exercises on the way was really just a chance to show the PAX the stations we’d be hitting along the way.
The Thang
The Ramp is, as the name implies, designed to start on the easier side and slowly increase the intensity. We started by doing the shorter loop and 10 reps each of Dry Docks, LBCs, and Squats. Repeato with 15 reps each.
Round 2 upgrades to the longer loop with 10 then 15 reps of Merkins, Big Bois, and Bobby Hurleys.
Round 3 is the longer outside loop and 10 then 15 reps of Mike Tysons, American Hammers, and Bomb Jacks.
Sensing the need for a bit of a reprieve we took a short break for some Mary, including Flutters, Box Cutters, and American Knockouts.
Back at it with the Final Round; a big figure eight with all reps done on the sidewalk between the ponds. For the finale we did Diamond Merkins, Jump Squats, and Burpees. 10 reps then 15.
With about 10ish minutes remaining I pulled out my handy dandy phone app with a random number generator. Setting it to dice mode I let the PAX choose the exercises as we made our way back to COT, stopping at various intersections to exercise. The PAX call cadence and the app chooses the total reps.
Back at COT we finished the remaining few minutes with some bear crawls, Lunges, broad jumps, and suicide runs.
Moleskin
Carb Load – Not only is he a Site Q for the Floater AND Blackhawk, but he’s constantly pushing me the whole time.
Rockwell – Apparently Rockwell showing up in Saturday is out of the norm (haha get it? You know, cause his name is Norm… Nevermind). You wouldn’t know it though cause he’s working hard and then went and ran the neighborhood 5k right after. Finally hit 50 but it isn’t slowing him down
Chatterbox – what a transformation! Started F3 back in July and now he’s leading 4+ mile Qs and running with Ignition. Way to go buddy!
Paper Jam – Moving down to Millbridge from SOB in the next month. It was good to meet him in person. Hopefully an announcement in the making. I’ll leave it at that as a teaser and provide details in the future
Chopper – Another SOB-land guy, Chopper was making the journey to get his Passport stamped. He’s currently in 2md place in the leaderboard and really racking up the unique AOs. If anyone is gonna catch Das Boot it’s him
YHC took us out
Hey PAX, we’re halfway through the 2020 Passport Challenge and I figured it was time for an update on the standings. But first, a reminder of what I’m talking about. The 1st F Q’s of A51, SOB, and Waxhaw put together a challenge designed to get PAX outside their normal routines/regions/comfort zones. Why? Because there’s a whole wide world of AOs and PAX you’ve likely never seen and you’re cheating yourself if you don’t at least try to get a taste. So here are the rules:
The 2020 Passport Challenge:
So what are things looking like at the moment? Check out the link for sure to see some fancy-pants bar charts that show which PAX, which AO, and which Region is currently in the lead, but if you want the quick and dirty:
Leading PAX: Das Boot with 24 unique sites!
Leading AO: 3 way tie with Firestarter, Flash, and Bushwood at 14
Leading Region: Not even close guys; Waxhaw at 184
So here’s the deal: We’re at the halfway point and maybe you’re just finding out about the Challenge. Not to worry, we accept back-dated additions to the spreadsheet, so if you know you attended a certain site or event back in November then go ahead and drop your name on the spreadsheet and put that date next to your name.
The year is nearly at an end. Let’s finish it out with a strong push! #SYITG
~Chastain, Cooter2, Madame Tussauds, Orange Whip, & Tuck
The temperature gauge read 24 degrees.
The clock read 5:23.
The parking lot at Dromedary was empty but for my own sorry self wondering if anyone else would post. Going back to bed DID sound nice as I looked at the frost covered mulch in the median next to my parking space. Then again, I already drove a million miles to the BFE that is Dromedary.
“Does anyone even live out here?”
“Who decided to put an AO out here anyways?”
“How did I agree to Q way out here on the coldest day of the year so far?”
“Why didn’t I make Premature agree to Q Diesel in exchange?”
These are the thoughts that made their way through my still half asleep brain.
The clock now read 5:24.
Headlights come into view. Aha! A reason to stay. A reason to justify my being here. A reason to…dammit it’s Ice9. There had better be some other PAX showing up…
A few more cars roll in but by the time everyone forced themselves out into the cold it was time for DiCCS. Too late to escape the cold and retreat to the warmth of the fartsack.
The clock read 5:30. Let’s mosey.
Warmup
A long mosey around the lot with a smattering of SSHs, Imperial Squalkers (a portmanteau of Walker and Squat; NOT Squawker as Ice9 griped wasn’t manly enough of a name), Moroccan Night Clubs, Calf Stretches, and Mountain Climbers.
Centerfold got there early (for him) and we picked him up along the way. Made a slight detour and grabbed Shake N Bake to round out the group to an even 8 idiots suckers PAX. Too bad I had no partner work planned. I always seem to get odd numbers when I do that…
The Thang
Jailbreak from the end of the lot towards the crest of the hill, crossing the median at the break, then alternate 5 Merkins, 5 Bomb Jacks, and 5 Big Bois at each tree for a total of 15 of each exercise on the way back down the hill. Repeato.
Mosey our way over to the lot next to the school for a little 4 Corners action where we deconstructed a Burpee. Or maybe it was 10 Burpees. 10 Squats, 10 In and Outs, 10 Merkins, and 10 Bobby Hurleys, but we do them all in cadence.
Another little mosey around the west side of the school to the first alcove. I’ve been on a bit of a Donkey Kick kick (c wut i did ther) recently, so we did some 7s. Donkey Kicks at the first alcove, a quick jaunt to the second alcove, and Speed Skaters (always 2=1) over thataway.
Back to the front lot for more 4 Corners of togetherness, only this time we did 10 Dry Docks, 10 Jump Squats, 10 Diamond Merkins, and 10 Walking Lunges (always, always 2=1). Again, in cadence because I said so.
Now we move over to the big lot and find your own little happy place along the curb.
This group is fast. Faster than I thought (hoped) so we have more time left than I thought (hoped) so we did a little repeato on the tree Merkins/Bomb Jacks/Big Bois from earlier.
A few minutes remaining so 5 Bobby Hurleys at every other tree back to COT. Audible at the top of the hill! 10 Dry Docks on the way down.
Grab some curb for some Dips IC and then some Mike Tysons IC.
The clock read 6:15.
Moleskin
I like to Q. According to Deflated’s fancy-pants website I’ve done so 36 (this’ll be 37) times this year. Some are easier. Some are tougher. Some are inventive. Some are boring. People (me included) have ribbed Zinfandel about advertising “for my xth Q” but honestly I think it’s great he’s talking about it. It’s great to have goals. It’s great to push yourself and get out of your comfort zone. It’s great to LEAD. After all, that’s a core principle of F3. It’s peer led. Recently we’ve had several vQs and that’s awesome. I missed one today at Chiseled where I’m sure Ex-LAX did a killer job. Sugar Daddy and Schnitzel were in attendance at Dromedary today and just had their vQs; both of which I attended and both of which were excellent. I guarantee it won’t be their last Qs either. If you’re reading this and you’ve never led a workout then it’s time you did. You’re ready. Talk to a Site Q. Talk to me. You won’t be on your own. We’ll help you build it, help you through it, and help you improve it for the next time.
Announcements
Rice and Beans – Helping serve meals on Wednesdays uptown – Today’s filled up, but there are openings for 12/9 and 12/16. Talk to Centerfold to sign up. M and 2.0 friendly
Painting project – You may recall the mother and kids who’s husband/father recently left and took all their things (furniture, food, everything). We’re showing them that people care and have a painting day this Saturday following morning workouts to get their house looking nice. Only a couple guys signed up right now and could use a few more. See Shop Dawg for details and to sign up.
YHC took us out