Author Archive Chastain

Simple, not easy

I’m an excellent procrastinator. I really excel at it. When it comes to putting together a weinke I really work hard to make sure I put it off until the very last minute. Often times that means I’m still making up what we’re gonna do while sitting on the porcelain throne at 4:30am. TMI? Hey, at least I got my business done BEFORE the workout, unlike a certain Transporter who made more than one trip to the gas station restrooms.

Anyways, so I’m working on the weinke and running out of time when I suddenly decide I’m making it too complicated. Waaaay too complicated. So I dumbed it down. Even Damascus couldn’t screw this one up. It all fit on one white board.

Warmup

Rifle carry your kettlebell from COT to the curb in front of Petsmart and sit it down. We’ll be back. A quick mosey (7 min pace) around the Target parking lot to get the blood flowing then circle up back in the Petsmart lot for a quick round of 20 SSHs in cadence. The only in cadence exercise of the day. Ice9 calls it lazy. I call it smart Qing. That’s it. We’re done warming up. Gasps of disbelief! I could tell Damascus was going to be a problem. The complaining was already started and they hadn’t even seen the whiteboard yet. I conceded to a quick calf stretch to curtail the moaning only to remember that calf stretches get Damascus moaning like a cow giving birth. Surprisingly that wasn’t the most disturbing sound of the morning. More on that later…

 

The Thang

Out comes the whiteboard, conveniently stashed next to the Petsmart entrance. The exercises were as follows:

  •  Shoulder Press
  • Curl
  • Tricep Extension
  • Squat Thruster
  • Lawn Mower Pull
  • Sit-Up Chest Press
  • High Pull
  • Goblet Squat
  • Plank Pull Through

Here’s how it works:

  • 10 reps of the exercise (ie. Shoulder Press) then sprint to the far curb and back
  • 20 reps of the same exercise then 5k pace around the Petsmart
  • 30 reps of the same exercise then 10k pace to the Brooklyn Pizza, over to Hickory Tavern, then back to Petsmart
  • Kettlebell Swings until the 6 is in
  • Repeato with the next exercise

I warned the pax ahead of time that I didn’t know how long this was going to take. We might not make it through the whole list. We might do the whole list 3 times. We’d figure it out together but this was all they had to look forward to.

As it turns out we only made it halfway through Sit-Up Chest Presses before we were out of time. With 2 minutes left I made the call to sit your kettlebell down regardless of what reps you were on and make one last lap around the Petsmart. Give it all you got.

Oh yeah, about those disturbing sounds. Ice9 was in fine form this morning. It was good we weren’t working out in a neighborhood or we might’ve gotten a visit from the police. It’s also good we don’t work out near any elk or caribou habitats as the noises coming out of Ice9 are similar to what I’d imagine their mating calls sound like. You can tell when Ice gets his money’s worth.

 

Moleskin

So lots of moleskins sound something like “everyone pushed hard and got their sweat on”. That was certainly true of today. Heart rates were high and lots of effort was given. I didn’t see anyone slacking off or giving less than they had to give. Hopefully you can say that for whatever workout you attend each day. We don’t get up at the crack of dawn to half-ass our workouts. If you are then you’re cheating yourself. If you’re having a hard time motivating yourself to find that next gear then make an effort to find another pax that can motivate you to step up your game. Make it your goal to catch them. Make it your goal to surpass them. TELL them your goal is to beat them and that’ll motivate them to push harder.

Announcements

Iron Pax Challenge starting soon. Proctored workouts will be on Wednesdays and Saturdays with the return of the IPC relay on Fridays. More details soon

F3 Waxhaw 2 Year Anniversary – Monday, September 6th – Labor Day convergence – Bootcamp, Mash, and 5k options. 2nd and 3rd F opportunities too. More details soon

Prayers for Gerber’s son Archer (F3 Name Orkin) – Had a trip to the ER last night and placed on some antibiotics. Home now and recovering. Prayers for him and his family

 

YHC took us out

Slow and Steady

At F3 workouts we often talk about using proper form. In fact, we even have some self-proclaimed form police that show up at various workouts and yell at people when their butts aren’t low enough or their arms didn’t bend enough or other abuses. But do we ever stop to think maybe we’re just going too fast with our reps? Maybe proper form is difficult cause we’re trying to force too many reps. Today was a test to see if lower/slower reps = better form = still a good workout.

Warmup

Mosey around the side parking lot and circle up for some slow SSHs, slow Imperial Walkers, slow Windmills (or Abe Vigodas if you’re old and know who that is), and calf stretches. Mosey to the edge of the parking lot and grab some curb.

  • Gassers
    • Run to the close curb and back
    • 10 Mike Tysons
    • Run to the far curb and back
    • 10 Bonnie Blairs
    • Run to the close curb and back
    • 10 Curb Jump Burpees

That seemed too short so we did a lap around the lot, back to our original spots and then repeato.

Now we mosey to the middle of the parking lot and each person grab a parking space for

The Thang

  • 10 sloooooow Merkins IC – run a lap
  • 10 low sloooooow Squats IC
  • 10 Big Bois – run a lap
  • 10 sloooooow Calf Raises IC
  • 10 sloooooow Diamond Merkins IC – run a lap
  • 20 sloooooow Mountain Climbers IC

Mosey to the front of the school to the rock pile. There’s a massive spiderweb hovering right over it so we cross the street to the backup rock pile. The rocks here are less impressive but they’ll do. Grab a lifting rock and rifle carry it to the first street light.

  • 10 sloooooow Curls IC
  • 10 sloooooow Presses IC
  • Run to the sign that reads “Pull up to this *oint” I’m not sure what an *oint is and since there weren’t any bars around to do pull ups, we modified and did 10 sloooooow Merkins at the *oint instead
  • Back to the rocks
  • 10 sloooooow Tricep Extensions IC
  • 10 sloooooow Goblet Squats IC
  • Back to the *oint for 10 Big Bois
  • Back to the rocks
  • 20 sloooooow Squat Thrusters IC

Rifle carry the rocks back to the pile and set them free

Now we mosey all the way to the swings. 1 pax does 10 Jump Squats, with proper form, of course while the remaining pax do Swerkins on the swings. Swerkins = feet in the swing, hands on the ground in plank position. Bring your knees to your chest and back to plank. Then do a Merkin.

Jump Squats are the timer. Rotate pax until everyone has done the Jump Squats and too many Swerkins

Mosey to the basketball court. One pax names an exercise and then runs a lap around the track while the other pax do that exercise sloooooowly and in cadence. Repeato until all pax have named an exercise and run. Those exercises were: Freddy Mercuries, LBCs, Plank Jacks, Crab Cakes, and then Recalc threw Bobby Hurleys at us while he ran.

Less than 3 minutes remaining we moseyed back to COT for some sloooooow Curb Squats IC and sloooooow Merkins IC

Moleskin

Overall I was pretty happy with the result. I gave the pax a heads up at the beginning that all exercises would be slow. Of course I got some whining that the moseys didn’t seem very slow but I have kids so I’m used to ignoring complaints. Form looked pretty good too. Chief of the Form Police, Recalculating, was in attendance and I didn’t hear a peep from him about any violations. Apparently I almost managed to take out Recalc when we ran past some extremely bright lights that were aimed upwards. I guess he tripped or almost injured himself and considered going to join the MASH group. Ah well, maybe next time.

Speaking of MASH, Mayhem led that group and the highlight (was it?) was pushing his car around the lot. Mayhem tried to tell everyone that it was part of the workout but I think he was really trying to get everyone to help him push start it. Next time someone has to sit in the driver’s seat and pop the clutch.

Announcements

This Saturday at Cuthbertson Middle is the Cuthbertson Campus Cross Country Course Cleanup day. 8am. Bring your shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, chainsaws, and leaf blowers. We’re giving back to the campus we use 6 times per week.

Prayers for Mayhem’s mom, Alice, as she deals with Covid

Prayers for Mayhem’s friend Ken who is dealing with alcohol issues

Prayers for Recalc’s mother-in-law who broke several bones, Recalc’s wife who is taking care of her, Recalc who is supporting his wife, and the rest of F3 Waxhaw who have to deal with Recalc

 

YHC took us out

Pre-hate

Got a text message from O-69 last night: “FYI Chastain, some people pre-run. I pre-hate you”

Well if that doesn’t set the tone for today’s workout, I don’t know what will. Seeing as I hadn’t even begun to think about what I’d put in my weinke, I took even MORE time to really soak in the hate and make sure all that hate was worth it.

It’s clear we’ve been using the coupons too much. Guys are getting out of their vehicles and immediately pulling out their own coupon or heading towards the gear box to grab one there. No no no no no…I’ve got all the gear you’ll need already set up. Gather ye round and hear of my DiCCS.

Warmup

Taking a page from Popeye’s book we started with a very quick lap around the lot then circle up for SSHs, LBCs, SSHs, Merkins, SSHs and another quick mosey. Up, down, up, down, up is a good way to get people moving and the hate blood flowing.

Another lap around the lot, this time to provide instructions for the upcoming Thang.

The Thang

As aforementioned, all the gear is set up, station-like, but spread out in a biiiiiig circle that encompasses half the parking lot. 2 pax to a station, they are as follows:

  • Kettlebell swings
  • Coupon Shoulder Press
  • Dumbbell Curls (for the gurls)
  • Coupon Goblet Squats
  • Tom Brady Special (AKA Bobby Hurleys with a slightly underinflated slam ball)
  • Pull My Hose (drag the fire hose)
  • Tire Hammer Slam
  • Tire Flip
  • Dumbbell Tricep Extensions
  • And for the timer: Hair Burners!!! (or a boring coupon rifle carry if you must)

So we’ve got the standard station rotation whilst you wait on the hair burner team to go down and back, right at 100 yards if you were wondering. Yeah, it’s terrible but you’re better for it. Except Dough Boy. He used the opportunity to complain about hair burners, more than any other pax, while instead carrying a coupon in a rifle carry. Hi-larious.

Anyways…So you do your station until the hair burners are done then rotate to the next station. ONLY THIS TIME, you have to do a full lap around all the stations, back to your original station, and THEN move forward one station. So we had that going for us, which was nice.

I wasn’t sure how long all that was gonna take. Would we get two rotations? Three? Five? Nah, we got a whole ONE.

Side note: The fire hose was donated from Tupperware/Rubbermaid like two years ago. I used it for a Q at Asylum but I’m not sure it’s been brought out since. I saw it rolled up all by its lonesome in the forgotten corner of the gear storage area and I felt bad for it, neglected as it was. Don’t neglect your hose, guys. It’s probably 30 feet long and weighs at least 70 or 80 lbs. Throw that sucker on the ground and drag it while you attempt to run and you’ll see why it’s mostly left alone. Don’t worry though, I love playing with my hose, so it’ll see more use in the days to come. But I digress…

Less than 10 minutes remaining, I decided against making another go of the station work and instead instructed the pax to line up width-wise across the parking lot. Some pax need special guidance to get them in their spots but we eventually got there. Instructions: island suicides. Island one and back then 5 burpees. Island two and back then 10 Bonnie Blairs (2=1 suckas). Island three and back then 5 burpees. Extra instructions to include a merkin in that burpee, just in case some pax needed clarification.

We got started, then had a few cars come in the lot so I modified all the suicides to just the first island and back for safety purposes. Curb dips when you’re finished.

5 minutes remaining: Back to whatever your next station was supposed to be. Ready? Grab the gear and walk it back to the gear storage area. I don’t wanna pick up all this crap by myself. It took me forever to get it out there.

2 minutes remaining: Circle up for some SSHs and then Big Bois until time is up. We’re at 8. OK, 2 more so we’re at a nice even 10. OK, now you can be done.

Moleskin

I’d been planning to do some station work the next time I was on Q at Chiseled. We’re finally back to using gear so I wanted to make sure we used as much of it as possible. I think we accomplished that mission.

Announcements

  • F3 Dads Camp – Still some openings available. It’s gonna be great. We have well over 300 dads and kids signed up and there’ll be pizza, movies, archery, BB guns, the blob, swimming, and plenty of other shenanigans. Don’t miss it! August 20-22
  • Cuthbertson Cross Country Course Clean-up – We used Cutherbertson Middle/High Schools for SIX different AOs on a weekly basis. Their Cross Country course needs some work to get it ready for meets in the next 3 to 4 weeks. Rubbermaid has volunteered to lead the clean-up initiative but he needs help. This is an EXCELLENT opportunity to give back to our community and show what F3 is about. Look for details in the News/Playhouse for upcoming work days where we can spread mulch, rake leaves, pick up debris, etc. and get the grounds in top shape

YHC took us out

So many cherries

Today I was accused of making up the weinke on the fly. That hurts. Ad-libbing, yes, but making it up? How dare you?

 

11 men plus a Chicken in a towel arrived at the humpiest site in Waxhaw. Moments after departing their air conditioned vehicles they were already dripping and I hadn’t even given the DiCCS yet.

Warmup

Mosey around the HS lot and circle up near the top for SSHs, Moroccan Night Clubs, more SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, Calf Stretches, Glidah Stretches, waving our hands in the air like we just don’t care, and ending with even more SSHs.

A very quick mosey to the curb to really get loose. Line up along the curb for some suicides.

  • To the center and back
  • 5 Mike Tysons
  • To the far end and back
  • 10 Bonnie Blairs (2=1, duh)
  • To the center and back
  • 5 burpees

Heart rates in the optimal position, we mosey.

The Thang

Long mosey to the first alcove on the left of the school for some 7s. Starting with 6 Donkey Kicks and a quick run to the next alcove to do Speed Skaters (2=1). Repeato until finishing with 1 Donkey Kick and 6 Speed Skaters.

Another mosey past the roundabout and towards the back of the school. Another curb. Another lineup. Broad Jump Burpees. Lots of groaning. From one curb to the opposite and back. Burpee with a broad jump instead of jumping straight up. Did I mention the groaning? Fine. Audible. We won’t go back. Instead we started picking cherries. Drive By didn’t see what the big deal was about picking cherries. You’ll see…

So we did a modified version of the Broad Jump Burpees. 2 Broad Jumps, 4 Walking Lunges, and 8 Bear Crawls all the way to the other curb. Pick those cherries, drop’em in a bucket. Do it again. Do another round of Broad Jump, Lunges, and Bear Crawls. Pick more cherries. Drive By started to get the point. It was somewhere around here I was accused of making it up as I went. Maybe the cherries were made up, but they got the job done.

Back to our regularly scheduled weinke…

Mosey back to the roundabout for some Paula Abduls. 2 light poles up, 5 T-Merkins. 1 light pole back, 5 jump squats. Repeato for a few rounds.

Partner exercises: 75 Dips, 75 Step-Ups, and 75 Derkins while the other partner does a half lap. Running low on time so a final little mosey to the trees in the center of the parking lot. 5 Bobby Hurleys at every other tree to the top of the hill. Then a jailbreak to COT.

Moleskin

The Chicken was waiting for us at COT. At some point while we were doing the 7s a law enforcement officer stepped out of the bushes. It was kinda weird. He said hey but mostly ignored us. He was checking all the doors and entrances to the school. Makes me wonder if a half naked Chicken standing in the parking lot is what prompted his arrival. I think that’d disturb anyone…

Announcements

F3 Dads camp still has a few spots available but prices go up TOMORROW. Sign up fools

Prayers for Johnny Utah’s friend Rick who is dealing with colon cancer

yhc took us out

Gettin’ Froggy with it

On your mark, ready, set, let’s go
Parking lot pro, I know you know
I go psycho when 5:30 hits
Just can’t sit
Gotta get Froggy with it

OK, I’ll spare you the rest. 15 dudes. 5:30. DiCCS. You know the drill. No rain during the workout for the second day. I gotta admit, I was a little disappointed. No worries though, there’s plenty of humidity and I’ll get you wet either way (yeah baby!)

Warmup

Mosey to the north east lot for some standard stuff. SSH, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan Night Clubs, Calf Stretch, Glidah Stretch, 6 inches, 6 inch Plank Jacks

The Thang

Not sure what you wanna call it: 4 corners, 5 corners, Starfish, Pirate’s Booty…As long as you do it, I don’t care: 5 burpees in the middle, then 20 reps each of Merkins, Squats, Big Bois, Step Ups, and Dips at different “corners” and coming back for 5 burpees after each. On that sweet, sweet Weddington asphalt, who could ask for more?

With that out of the way, mosey onward past the bus lot to the road leading off campus. Quick anecdote: putting together the weinke last night I had it in my head that we were still meeting at New Town Elementary, so the next few exercises were put together with that AO in mind. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your opinion of today’s Q, I remembered the move to Weddington and was able to adapt it to the new AO and actually showed up at the right location.

So at each light pole heading down the road – 1 burpee and 5 jump squats. Swimmers thinks jump squats need a fancier name but didn’t offer one up so we’re stuck with what we’ve got. All that jumping must’ve been some foreshadowing for what was next.

A quick mosey down Twelve Mile Creek Road and back to the “safety” of the school campus road. Pretty quickly discovered we’re just target practice for incoming teachers/faculty. Look out!

Here’s the bulk of the pain right here with the Mark of the Beast: 6 light poles. 6 exercises. 6 reps.

  • Merkins
  • Big Bois
  • Squats
  • Mike Tysons
  • Heels to Heaven
  • Bomb Jacks

Run to the first pole and do the Merkins then back to the start. Run to the first pole and do Merkins then the second pole and do Big Bois. Repeato in this fashion until all 6 light poles have been reached.

Somewhere along the line Zinfandel and Swimmers learned about the birds and the bees (and the frogs) when we encountered a couple amphibians gettin’ froggy with it. A few pax wanted to stop and stare but we had exercises to do and it didn’t seem polite.

Finally done with that garbage we continued around to the car loop at the middle school and partnered up for the final set of exercises. Partner 1 runs the loop and partner 2 does the exercises, shared of course: 100 wall sit air presses and 100 In and Outs (like the burger joint but less appetizing)

A little more than 2 minutes remaining I considered having us run up the hill on the entrance road but Swimmers suggested heading back to COT and saved me from a (likely) mutiny. Instead we finished with American Hammers and American Knock Outs which was a far better choice.

Moleskin

I’m not sure what the learning curriculum is at Weddington area schools, but some pax got a different sort of “physical education” this morning with the aforementioned frogs. Good ol’ Union County edumacation at it’s finest

Announcements

  • F3 Dad’s Camp is coming up. There are still a few spots left
  • Aspen – Hard launch tomorrow Thursday at Antioch Elementary – 5:30 start with Swimmers on Q
  • The Lycan – Waxhaw Elementary – 5:45 start time

Rock Paper Scissors SQUAT

Anyone who has been to one of my rainy day Qs knows I’m not afraid to get people wet. That said, today I was hoping the rain would hold off cause I had a plan that would be hampered by a constant deluge. Still, I had a backup weinke in my pocket just in case.

Fortunately, since the rain appeared to be on the way out I was able to go with plan A. Here’s how it unfolded:

 

Warmup

I needed us to get to the high school parking lot, so I opted for a moving warmup. Mosey, circle up, Side Straddle Hops. Mosey, circle up, SSH, Imperial Walkers. Mosey, circle up, SSH, Calf Stretch, Glidah Stretch. Mosey, circle up, SSH, Merkins. Mosey, circle up, oh good we’re here.

The Thang

Move to the middle of the parking lot under the big street lights. The following exercises are written in chalk (hence the need for no precipitation) on the sidewalk, each spaced out about 15 feet:

  • 30 Toes Raises (apparently this should have been Calf Raises or something…wah wah wah figure it out)
  • 15 Big Bois
  • 15 Mike Tysons
  • RUN! (Down to the opposite curb and back)
  • 15 Derkins
  • 4 4x4s (4 Merkins then 4 Mountain Climbers IC)
  • 15 Curl to Presses (pick a rock, any rock)
  • 15 Plank Jacks
  • 15 Bomb Jacks
  • 15 American Hammers (2=1)

Hopefully everyone knows the rules to Rock, Paper, Scissors. This is a slightly modifed version where you squat each time you count. So it looks like “Rock” (squat) “Paper” (squat) “Scissors” (squat) “SQUAT!” (squat and throw your choice of weaponry). The loser runs to the sidewalk and completes one of the above exercises then returns to the center. The “winner” stays and plays again against whomever else remains. I put “winner” in quotes because if you “win” several times in a row you start to regret it with all the squats you’re doing. The game continues until all pax have completed all the above exercises. The law of averages prevailed and we all finished at roughly the same time. Whew!

Next, form two single file lines. Everyone knows what’s coming but they’re powerless to resist. Indian Run to the loop in front of the high school. Simple as this exercise may be, it’s regularly flubbed, so I was sure to explain it clearly. Slow jog in the front. SPRINT from the back to the front. Slow jog. Repeato.

In front of the high school, partner up. P1 runs the short lap. P2 does exercises. Switch.

  • 50 Merkins
  • 50 Step Ups
  • 50 Dips
  • 50 Big Bois
  • 50 American Hammers (2=1)

5 minutes remaining. Mosey down the front road to COT. Watch out for the bus. All you got from the stop sign to COT. Heels to Heaven and American Hammers for the remaining 2 minutes

Moleskin

It’s fun to mix things up sometimes. We still got in a good workout but it was just something different to try. There really weren’t any winners with the game because you had to do all 10 exercises anyways. Thanks all for humoring me. I’ll put that one back in the weinke box and bring it out again when you’re least expecting it.

Announcements

  • Crane Relay coming up on August 13th – Similar to the WTF except it’s overnight. Paper Jam has more details maybe
  • The Lycan is back up and running and this time it’s at 5:45. Looking for an excuse to fart sack a little longer but not miss out completely? Try it out. Waxhaw Elementary has some great options
  • Aspen – Official launch is this Thursday at Antioch Elementary School. 5:30 launch time. Come support a new AO

 

YHC took us out

Swarm invasion

About a month ago Gerber asked who I had signed up to Q Diesel for today’s date. He had the Swarm Q and wanted to do a mini-convergence between the two sites. I said I’d take the Q (Site Q’s prerogative) and we’d make it happen.

Fast forward to this morning and I’m setting gear out and the cars just keep rolling into Diesel and my mind is spinning trying to figure out whether I have enough stations. I figured between the two sites we’d have 20 pax total. Gerber is texting me telling me they have 6, no 7 at Swarm. No one at Diesel and no one at Swarm has any clue what’s about to go down, so no worries, we’ll figure it out.

5:30 – DiCCS provided. Emphasis on form. Modify as needed, not as desired.

Warmup

Honestly, between figuring out stations and what gear we’d use, and how we’d pair up, and all the other logistics I hadn’t given any thought to what we’d do to kill time until Swarm arrived. They’re running across the street and I didn’t want to give away what we’d be doing so everything in the warmup was made up on the fly. Apologies if I leave something out…

Side Straddle Hops, Imperial Walkers, more Side Straddle Hops, Merkins, Calf Stretches

Now grab your coupon (or the giant tractor tire) and bring it to the base of Mt. Chiseled.

Sit your gear down and circle up for…

More Side Straddle Hops, Slooooooow Merkins, Big Bois, Super Mans, T-Pose Merkins, Box Cutters, Low Slow Squats, Diamond Merkins, Heels to Heaven and maybe more????

Then, out of the gloom comes a loud whistle (kudos to whoever can whistle like that, it was pretty sweet): Swarm has arrived!

The Thang

With 16 from Diesel and 8 (I think) from Swarm it wasn’t gonna be exact, but partner up, if possible, with someone from a different AO than you. Stations were laid out as follows:

  • Hair Burners (35 lb plate)
  • Merkins and Coupon Lunge Walk
  • Bent Over Tricep Extensions (8 lb Dumbbells) and Curb Dips
  • Alternating Front/Side Raises (8 lb Dumbbells) and Coupon Chest Press
  • Smash the Tire with a Sledge Hammer
  • Slam Ball Hurleys and Foot Release Squats
  • Lawn Mower Pulls (25 lb Kettle Bell) and Coupon Curls
  • Big Boi Sit Ups and Turkish Get Ups

The timer for these stations varied depending on whether you were a Diesel pax or a Swarm pax. Diesel pax were to Rifle Carry a coupon to the far curb and back. Swarm pax were to run up and over Mt. Chiseled and back around to the front. With about 4 minutes prior to launch I timed both of them to make sure they were roughly equivalent. Originally the goal was to make it more of a competition where the loser had to do 5 burpees, but with the large numbers and commotion of even more pax showing up I completely forgot about it. Oh well.

We made it through 1 round of the above before Swarm had to hit the road. We stopped for a good group picture and then they were gone.

Diesel pax weren’t off the hook though. We continued to push through the stations until a few minutes were left where I forced everyone to carry all the gear back to COT so I didn’t have to pick it all up.

Moleskin

That was a great idea, Gerber! Thanks for putting it out there. It’s a good opportunity for pax that don’t normally see each other to interact and work out together. Fuse Box brought out an FNG from his neighborhood who has already committed to Commitment tomorrow morning so it couldn’t have been too terrible of a workout. With the last name Ledbetter we went down the Pearl Jam route and named him Butter Man. Why not Better Man? Because years ago YHC heard a radio show that had callers name songs they’d misheard lyrics for. One of those was Better Man/Butter Man and now I can’t hear that song without thinking of that. Sorry buddy, but welcome to F3 Waxhaw!

Announcements

Q Bites – Following Asylum (5:15 to 6:00am) this Monday (7/12) is a discussion on Racism in America. Come prepared to listen and discuss

F3 Dads Camp is coming up! I think there might still be some spots available, but check with Radar for details

Prayers for Magi. His mom passed away yesterday

 

Death Valley Circuits

8 pax at Clemson did some circuit work. Not gonna give the details because it was fun and I plan to unleash it on the pax in the nearish future.

Down here for vacation and discovered Monday’s site is less than 0.5 miles from the AirBNB I’m in. Did a little pre-run to the AO worked out with some dudes and ran back.

Prior to the workout I did a few laps around the track. If there’s ever a time to be wearing a headlamp it was today. Glad I packed mine. Midway around the first lap the beam of my headlamp caught to glowing eyes in the middle of my path about 15 feet ahead. It took me a few steps to register and another few to stop. Good thing I did as the two glowing eyes I thought belonged to a cat instead belonged to a skunk. We stared at each other as I quickly, but not suddenly, reversed directions and ceded the track to him.

I’m glad we didn’t have a closer encounter or I might be sporting a new name upon my return to Waxhaw

A Really Bad Idea

2 minutes before start time is when the DiCCS is given. By the Q. Usually. But that requires the Q to post. At the correct site. No worries, we got this.

3 pax at The Lycan got to explore the hills I’d been planning to visit the next time I Qed. Turns out that was this morning. Woohoo!

Warmup

Mosey to the back of the school, hit the handicap ramp then back up the stairs. Shine your headlamp in the parked car to freak out whoever was sitting in it. SSHs, calf stretches, Glidah stretches, mountain climbers, Merkins.

The Thang

Mosey down the gravel road past the baseball fields and find the little trail that leads to Hermitage Place neighborhood. They were nice enough to install some light posts around the roughly half mile loop. I needed to figure out what the hills looked like for the next set of exercises so for the first loop alternate 5 Merkins and 10 Squats at the lights. Turns out there’s a few hills in this neighborhood and I found a perfect one right near the entrance. After completing a bit more than one full loop we’re now at the bottom of the newly named Really Bad Idea hill, so we did some 7s: Mike Tysons at the top and Big Bois at the bottom. Yuck.

I promised Dunkin we wouldn’t do that hill again so we took the long way around with a few Merkins, Flutters (2=1, duh), and Walking Lunges thrown in for fun. Back out of the neighborhood and to the bleachers between the ball fields. Dips and Step-Ups. 30/20, then 20/10, then 15/5. Over to the playground. I used the excuse that the monkey bars were too wet so we could avoid doing pull-ups. Instead we headed to the swings to do some Swerkins. 10 OYO. Up the grass hill to the wall of the school for some “Chastain’s a Jackass”. 10 Donkey Kicks with a 10 second hold at the top. We worked our way down to 5 DKs and a 5 second hold before tapping out and moseying to the front of the school. With a few minutes left, some nicely numbered parking spots, and some suggestions from Gerber and Dunkin we did (in cadence) 9 Heels to Heaven, 8 Box Cutters, 7 American Hammers, 6 somethings, 5 Burpees, 4 Bomb Jacks, 3 of another thing, 2 things I don’t remember, and 1 Mike Tyson.

A final mosey back to COT and 30 seconds of Squats to finish us out.

Moleskin

The Lycan is a good site. Plenty of options with parking lots, playground equipment, neighborhoods, hills, and easy access to the offerings of the Floater. If you haven’t checked it out you definitely should. Get out of your normal routine and try something new. It won’t hurt (much).

Workout in the Cloud

Sounds like a virtual workout but it wasn’t. I assure you it was quite physical. “What could be more humid? How about if we workout inside a cloud?” Gerber was right. We had a foggy morning and it was nasty. The great part about these muggy mornings is you really feel like your money’s worth.

7 guys for Homecoming. DiCCS provided and were off. A nice warm up Mosey up the entrance road hill with some stretches and such at the top. Down to the bottom for a couple of hill repeats. 10 Merkins at the top and 10 Dry Docks at the bottom. Repeato.

Partner time. We don’t get enough ab work on the regular. I was aiming to fix that. 150 Big Bois, 150 Flutters (2=1), 150 and In and Outs. Partners alternate running the loop.

Mosey to the elementary school side. At each of the numbered columns, starting with 8, do burpees then run a loop, working your way down to 1. Instant whining from the pax. Apparently Chatterbox just did this on Tuesday. Yeah, but I’m nicer and we started at 8 and work our way DOWN so it gets easier as you go. More whining. Fine. Audible to only the even numbers.

Apparently not all the pax heard the audible so a few got some extra burpees. You’re welcome.

Mosey to the lot near the playground and grab a lifting rock. Take it to the curb.

  • 10 curls
  • Rifle carry to the opposite curb
  • Sit your rock down and Sprint to the starting curb and back
  • 10 Curls
  • Rifle carry back to the start
  • Repeato with 10 Shoulder Presses tenement again with 10 Tricep Extensions

It was here that I decided to rename Fuse Box to reFuse Box. It’s one thing to modify as needed or even Q Jack. You get a name change (unofficial) when you blatantly reFuse to follow instructions.

My first thought was to shame him into compliance but quickly realized he has no shame. Instead I decided we’d run more. I know he enjoys that. For unknown reasons the playground is now entirely fenced off. So instead we headed through the trails in a big loop that lead us right back out to the parking lot we started in. Oh well…

We still need to get to the other side of the playground so we made a big detour around the fences to the road. 5 Merkins at each light pole (4 total poles) until we’re at the basketball goals.

Mosey to the sidewalk for the last round of exercises.

  • 15 American Hammers in cadence
  • 15 LBCs in cadence
  • Suicides to the center line and then the far curb. Sprint!
  • Repeato

Mosey back to COT for a couple Box Cutters and then 30 seconds of Have a Nice Day.

Moleskin:

“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member” – Groucho Marx reFuse Box

So reFuse Box knows what he’s doing with his reFusenik behavior. He knows that he can mess with me and I’ll put up with it. What he ALSO knows, and for the life of me I’m not sure why he’d choose MY Q to play this game, is that I have a compromising photo of him…

Announcements

F3 Dads – Every Saturday from 9:00-9:45 – Bring your kids, boys and girls, and have some good quality time with them

Blood Drive – Saturday June 19th at 5 Stones from 9:00-1:30. Sign up NOW

Homecoming is looking for Qs. Get off your butt and Q something

 

YHC took us out