Come “Steal” my Sand Bags
12 men took the red pill and posted at Centurion this fine morning on 10/14. The age range was 38 (ish) to 62 (Snooka) but it was hard to tell much difference in physical ability. Bat Man did stand out but he is the youngest.
The Thang
COP – SSH X35, Merkins – Down count to 15, Squats – down count to 15
Divide up into three teams (YHC has a hard time with math and originally divided 12/3 for 4 teams – only had 3 sand bags). Each team grabbed a sand bag and we headed over to Palantine Hill for some team work. One PAX does squats with sand bag while other team members run to top and do 10 squats and return with each team member taking turn with sand bag. We switched hills after the first run up as the grass on the top of hill one hasn’t been cut since pre-Covid and we almost lost 4 pax.
Mosey to bottom of Palantine for Bermuda triangle with a twist. We ran one loop for directions (15 dips and incline merkins at picknic tables, 20 flutters and dollies at end of drive way, and ascending burpees at bottom of Palantine). Twist was one team member runs with bag in opposite direction until meeting up with team member for switch. I think we did 3 rounds.
Mosey back to starting point for some COP and then bear crawl/burpee broad jump/sprint work on the parking lot. Finish with 1 minute of monkey humpers.
NM – Great group. Bat Man was the first person to ever explain how to properly do a monkey humper but Shoe was the only one listened. I have no idea if he was correct as I googled it and could not find a You Tube video to confirm. That is the first time I have ever Googled anything and not gotten an answer and that includes:
- How do you boil an owl
- Is a woman ever rational
- Did Cadillac really graduate from UNC
- How many clowns can fit in a volkswagon bug
Emoji tried to spring past Four Square and I had a feeling it would not work. The problem is I forgot to block Four Squares path – that one is on me.
The men of Kingswood encourage any pax to steal the sand bags and cinder blocks at end of drive way. They do get good use in our neighborhood workouts.
COT – Continued prayers for Shoe’s mom and starting prayers for Bat Man’s family who is dealing with stressful living situation. Praise for my Mom’s return to health and pending move to Charlotte to be close to two of her sons.
Honored to get to lead such a great group of men – and Homeboy.
Promises made, promises kept (this time)
Eleven strong entered the Area 51 hotbox known at Centurion. Per Emoji, 110 degrees in Nevada is like 75 in Charlotte since they don’t have much humidity. Pay attention and you can learn something every day (regardless of how true it may or may not be) I promised Homeboy and Shoe I would keep the miles under 2 miles and we came in at 1.6 miles. Average that with last time I promised an under 2.0 mile boot camp and I am just under 2.0 miles. Your welcome
The Thang:
Warm up with ascending Burpees from 1 to 10 (we skipped 7, 8, and 9 – more later) and called exercise in between each number. Mosey across 51 after short bear crawl and head over to the rock pile off McMahon Drive. Tested out a new exercise with rocks – lift, overhead press, and throw the rock. Thankfully no one got hurt and YHC decided to consign that exercise to the closet, never to be seen again (works fine with sand bags). Curls, push presses, skull crushers and rock carry up McMahon and back.
Ditch rock and head down to the swimming pool lot for some partner work. Partner 1 does called exercise up the lot while partner 2 does called exercise at bottom. Thanks to reminder from SlimFast, we did 7 burpees we skipped during warm up. The other PAX were very grateful that SlimFast reminded me that I had skipped 7-9.
Head over to the old starting spot next to the now open art center for CCHS (I will reach out to see if we can go back to parking there for Centurion) for a few minutes of mary. Complete 8 burpees (once again the pax thanked SlimFast
Head over to road between parking deck and football field. Bear crawl to wall, jump/climb over wall, head to opposite wall for 5 donkey kicks and then back over wall and back to fence. 15 Dragon Flies in cadence and then repeat the bear crawl/wall climb/donkey kick circuit.
Up stairs to top of deck and then finish the burpee circuit with 9 burpees. Back down stairs over to the brick patio for some incline merkins, slow squats, and decline merkins.
Mosey back to starting point and run out the clock with burpees.
Naked Moleskin
Great group and shitty weather (humidity of 125% if that is possible). My posse from the neighborhood showed up to help get our count over 10 and much appreciated. It is easy to get stagnant so change is good. Also, we have to continue to headlock guys to grow. Landfill showed us the way by recruiting Dinero – good work.
Not only can I see into the future, as Emoji pointed out, by moving the pax off the road right before a car came plowing thru, I can see into the past, per Snuka, when I called the exact same circuit as last week with the wall climbs.
Shoe has the baddest motorcycle in Charlotte – a Ducati. Looks like Tom Cruise when he rolls in on that thing. Can’t wait to hear how it goes when/if he gets it over 25MPH.
Slim Fast likes to poke the bear since he is under 30 and can run circles around the rest of us. The extra burpees helped him reach his goal.
Per Horsehead (stolen from another BB), there are only 21 frosted flakes in a serving and that seems stingy.
As always, I am blessed to have the opportunity to lead such a fine group of men.
Announcements:
Please consider participating in Tour de Turns on August 6th. Great family event to support to great causes – Loaves and Fishes and Friendship Trays. http://www.tourdeturns.org/
Working on effort to ramp up men involvement in schools. Look for more information in August/September. We need more men involved in our schools to mentor young men.
Das Boot asks for a kick in the rear – mission accomplished?
Das Boot, in an effort to lure Abacus to Body Shop, invited YHC to Q. Alas, 30 days out from April 15 is not great timing for a tax guru and thus the attempt failed. We can try again after April 15.
8 men showed up for a workout with 2 sticking with gear work and the other 5 deciding to see what YHC could bring. In an effort so slow down the younger guys, I brought some sand bags and we had the perfect match with one bag for each set of 2 partners.
The Thang:
COP with SSH, Squats, Merkins, Mtn Climbers, Plank Jacks, and 5 burpees
Grab the sand bags and mosey to kiddy track for some partner work. Partner one runs the track while partner 2 does called exercise.
Round 1 and 2 – Squats with sand bag and run
Round 3 – Dolly with sand bag and run
Round 4 – Flutter with sand bag and run
Round 5 and 6 – LBC and sand bag carry over head across field and back
Round 7 – Boone’s and carry sand bag around the track
A few minutes of plank before taking sand bags back to the car and dropping them off.
Head over to parking lot on other side of school with bear crawl and side plank walk down the parking lot and back.
Line up at bottom of big hill for Jacobs Ladder – Run up the hill and back down and do 7 burpees. Run up the hill and back down and do 6 burpees. Repeat all the way down to 1 – I smoked myself here.
Back to parking lot for some back ward run, karaoke, and BTW sprints. Back to starting point for a few minutes of wall sit, mary, and then squat jumps to run out the clock.
Naked Moleskin
Great group this morning and YHC needed the invite to get me outside my comfort zone. Posse, who reminded me that we were once team mates on a Ragnar race, demonstrated pro skill mumble chatter. Das Boot (I think) got YHC with the old “when do we stop” question as I answered “when I say stop” and the Pax got a good laugh at my expense.
Great AO but it costs me $40 to drive this far south (thanks Putin/Biden) so I’ll have to ration how many times I visit. As I said earlier, it was good to get outside my comfort zone. That is also why I always tell guys they should do at least one grow ruck. It’s long but not that bad if you properly train and everyone at Body Shop this am can do it (believe me as I saw guys in much worse shape grind thru Growruck24).
As always, I am honored and blessed when I get to Q a workout.
Announcements
Blood drive coming up in a few weeks – our community needs us
Waxhaw trail race on April 30 so check it out
Trade Career Day on April 2 from 8am to 2pm. Over 25 companies will be demonstrating what they do and it’s a great event to expose youth in your Concentrica (kids, family, church, school, etc) to these career options.
Options are good when the plan is a 45 minute COP
10 pax took on the first cold morning of the fall with gusto. Prohibition had not been to Centurion since Covid forced us off CCHS campus (and by the looks hadn’t posted since pre-Covid anywhere). Waffle House came in short sleeve shirt and no gloves – I guess the fuel at Waffle House keeps one warm a long time.
As YHC has an ankle ravaged by gout but needed to get out of the fartsack, I chose a plan, unconventional for sure, that was adapted for my ailment but also allowed the PAX OPTIONS.
COP – We did 45 minutes of typical COP exercises plus some ridiculous modified bear crawl called by Point Break. However, each time YHC yelled Option, pax could decide to stay in COP or run to Cabo at other end of shopping center and back. If I yelled Option Belding then the PAX followed Dr Belding to the hill behind the shopping center for some work (I have no idea what since I didn’t leave COP).
Naked Moleskin
I appreciate the PAX allowing me to Q a workout that involved zero running (if you chose that Opion). Emoji and Snowflake evidently also have gout as they stayed with me for most if not all of the 45 minutes. Either that or they just love me and didn’t want me to be by myself.
Appreciate the opportunity to lead at Centurion where long, long ago (maybe 20 years) I was site Q.
The Man Who Invented the Fourth Tire was a Genius
We did flip a big tractor tire and it reminded me of the joke that the real genius was the guy who invented the fourth tire. 13 men, including a strong 4 from Kingswood neighborhood, got the weekend started off right (Get Right) at Centurion. Weather was oddly not that hot but very humid. Two PAX over 60 made YHC feel young (but look bad) but Slim Fast (at 28) was barely beating Snooka (60 – WD) in the sprints.
The Thang:
COP with squats, Mtn Climbers, Peter Parkers, Diamonds, Stagger R and L, and burpees.
Mosey across 51 with brief stop in office lot for bear crawl up the parking lot and crab walk back.
Mosey to rock pile off Little Ave and grab a rock. Some suspicious excuses about lack of choices when I queried a few pax about the small size of their rock. Up to top of deck for rock exercise and deck sprint combo. We did 10, 15, 20 of curls, overhead presses and squats. Heart rate and sweat level were quickly elevated.
Over to flat part of deck for rock pass. Pax sit down shoulder to shoulder and we pass two rocks down the line. Once you pass the 2nd rock you get up and run down to other end to move the line. We went half way down the deck with precision and perfect planning (two rocks with 13 pax was just right).
Mosey back down to rock pile to drop off the rocks and then hit the practice field. COP for a few minutes of mary with flutters, dollies and Boone LBC’s. Then divide into two groups with each group finding a tractor tire. Flip the tire mid way across the field and then back. Tires were extra heavy as they were water logged.
Mosey up to school for sprint/merkin combo down to other end of deck and the lunge walk. Mosey back across 51 and line up for a few more sprints from flat/six inches position. Mosey back to starting point and finish up with LBC’s, boat/canoe, burpees, and squat jumps.
NM
Great group this am with wide dispersion in ages – 27 to 60. I tried to mix it up so there was something for everyone. Kingswood won the neighborhood turnout contest (I think) with four. We all need to headlock (EH) guys proximate to us and get them out to F3 as we all benefit. At one time we had 20+ consistently at Centurion and that should be our goal.
Next week we have special guest appearance as F3 Nantan Slaughter has the Q so spread the word. Pax from The Brave will converge with us.
Announcements
GOP coordinating a trail run at Marion Diehl back yard trails on 10/30 so mark your calendar – should be a great event.
Blood drive – Please consider signing up for the next F3 Area 51 blood drive. Sign up can be found on Slack channel.
Pray for the Waxhaw pax who is struggling with Covid and also for a Raleigh guy that just passed away. We never know when our time here may come to an end so let’s make the most of every day.
As always, it was an honor and a privilege to lead this great group this morning.
Is it a sand bag or should we call a coroner?
7 pax gladly (?? – no advance notice of my plan) helped me with Grow Ruck training this am. Emoji, fresh transplant from F3 Richmond, quickly asked if I had a dead body in the taped up bag I brought. He was relieved, for a moment, to find out it was just a home wrapped sand bag. The “plan” was to wing it and see how things played out.
The Thang:
COP for warm up with SSH, Merkings, Mtn Climbers, and Cotton Pickers
YHC picked up the bag and led the pax over to CCHS. We took turn carrying the sand bag down the entranceway and past the deck down to Little Ave. PAX would lunge walk or broad jump until bag carrier got a head start and then would sprint to catch up. The “winner” got to carry the bag for the next segment. I think Hops, Point Break, Snooka, and Snowflake all got turns.
Grab a rock and head down to the practice field via the treacherous path down the hill. Partner up. We did series of partner runs and exercises (one partner runs and other does called exercise). Curls, Overhead presses, Curls, and then running partner carries rock (or sand bag) while exercise was Dolly, Flutter, Boone LBC.
One minute of perfect form sit ups while partner holds feet and then flap jack (hands locked behind head).
Over to tires with two teams of four flipping tire for a few minutes.
Grab rocks and head back up to parking deck, dropping off rocks on the way.
Bottom of short ramp for more partner work. Backward run up and back, karaoke up and back and run up and back with merkins, dolly, and burpees.
Up to level 4 via short ramps with merkins at each turn (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 – that sucked). A few minutes of wall sit before heading back to Amalies. We repeated the sand bag chase up the lane in front of school.
Finished with another round of perfect form sit up for one minute each partner.
Naked Moleskin
Welcome Emoji from Richmond. In addition to asking odd questions about dead bodies he got referrals for dentist, doctor, chiropractor, masseuse, bookies and who knows what else (Snowflake had to get out his dusty contact book).
Welcome back Mild Dew after a stint to see if he could become a world champion kick boxer. I think you can convince the guys at Meathead to do a few rounds of kick boxing with you.
Average age today was over 50 with two 60’s, several in the mid 50’s and only three under 50. Snooka and Snowflake prove that age doesn’t have to hold you back if you keep after it consistently.
PT test – 52 sit ups (hands locked behind head) in 2 minutes, 42 merkins in two minutes, and two mile run in under 18:30. Work on it even if you are not interested in a Grow Ruck.
For a real challenge, check out Shorecard on Tuesday morning (5:15) in lower deck of parking deck next to Poppy’s bagels at Providence and Sharon Amity or SACs in Area 51 (Cheese curd runs a tight ship there).
Anouncements/prayer requests
Please continue to pray for Jennings Palmer and About Times family as they continue on journey to beat Jennings cancer. He is doing great but they still have a long way to go to make sure they are out of the woods.
As always, an honor and a privilege.
Simple but effective (or keep it simple stupid – you pick)
Ten men decided to accelerate on hump day (maybe to earn our happy hour). Cool temperatures and a fairly old group (4 over 50) made for perfect conditions for YHC. Luckily, Lorax posted today instead of tomorrow (he mentioned something about Labor Day getting him off track – I worked out on Labor Day so I was Prepared).
The Thang:
COP – 1 burpee, 10 SSH, 2 burpees, 10 IW, 3 burpees, 10 Mtn Climbers (PAX was likely happy after thinking burpees would end at 10)
YHC assigned partners and we moseyed over to the rock pile to grab one rock per team. Then we moseyed down to right field of the baseball field for some partner work. Partner one runs down to fence at field while partner two does called exercise and then flapjack.
- Curls and run
- Push presses and run
- Skull crushers and run
- Squats and run
- Flutter and run
- Merkins and run with rock to infield
- Curls and bear crawl 25 yards
- Push presses and karaoke to infield
- Skull crushers and backward run to infield
- Merkins and lunge walk 25 years with rock
- Dolly and run to fence
- Six inches and run to fence (all together)
Mosey up to picinic area for a ladder of 15, 10, 5 with both dips and step ups. Finish with 25 decline merkins
Mosey to other side of concession stand for a few minutes of wall sit. One partner holds rock out as long as they can and then hand off to partner.
Mosey back to rock pile. Monkey humpers for a 30 seconds (evidently, Smokey had never done monkey humpers before).
Mosey to middle of parking lot. Partner 1 does burpees while partner 2 runs down to next light and back. Flap-jack.
Finish with a few minutes of mary
NM
Hard to believe a Respect has never done monkey humpers. He probably went home and tried to demonstrate for his M.
Snooka’s gold chain was shining in the morning moonlight and now YHC may be in trouble with the mafia for making fun of it. However, he beat Lorax in the first few sprints so Lorax is probably the one in trouble. The guys is 20 years older (supposedly).
Good to visit a different site as Centurion has been my only F3 workout for about 5 months. Trying to get my neigbors to wake up earlier and travel with me some instead of working out in our hood every morning. They had the gall to call me JV for not working out with them even though we started 30 minutes earlier.
Fallout’s family has had a rough period (COVID is the least of his worries) so let’s keep him and his family in our prayers.
As always, it was a privilege to lead this group this morning. Let’s all keep accelerating.
Announcements
Please consider finding out a way to help your local public school. Lots of families could use help with supplies and food so call your PTO president or contact me for ideas.
Thanks
Directions written in Japanese would be easier to follow
At least Lorax thought the instructions for our main event were in Japanese. He clearly doesn’t pay attention for more than 5 seconds of instruction. I think he still got his money’s worth even though he took a short cut on one of our sets. Snooka was only too happy to play dumb and follow along in order to skip a ramp run. Floor Slapper and Motor Boat also cut off one set of stairs but it’s ok to do that when you are not in the lead and the short cut doesn’t put you in front. 8 other men basically did the correct routine as clearly communicated in Japanese.
The Thang:
COP with 5 burpees, 15 IW, 10 burpees, and 15 mountain climbers.
Run over to the facility next to the CCHS practice field and grab a decent size rock. Head up to top of parking deck via stairs at northwest end of deck for instructions on our main event:
- Perform 20 curls, 20 push presses, and 20 skull crushers with rock.
- Run down stairs, across to middle stairwell and back up to top of deck
- Perform 20 merkins
- Run down stairs, across to other end of deck and back to top of deck
- Perform 20 squats
- Run down stairs to level 1 and then up the ramps back to rocks.
- Grab rock and head back down stairs, over to middle stairs, and back up to top
- Perform 20 curls, 20 push presses, and 20 skull crushers
- Down stairs, over to other end, and back up to top
- Perform 20 merkins
- Down stairs and up ramps to level 4
- Perform 20 squats
- Down stairs, over to middle and back up to level 4
- Grab rock, back down stairs, over to end of deck and back up to level 4
- Perform 20 curls, 20 push presses, and 20 skull crushers
- Back down stairs and then up ramps to level 4
- 20 merkins
- Back down stairs, over to middle, and back up to level 4
- 20 squats
- Back down stairs, over to end, and back up to level 4
- Finish set
COP for a few minutes of mary waiting for pax to finish up. Take rock back down to resting place and mosey back to starting point. Finish with a few minutes of exercises (don’t recall what they were – I was smoked at this point).
NM
Great morning and strong group of 12. Hops was actually early so the morning was perfect, even the directions. Cane has been getting his money’s worth in the gym and he hung up around front all morning while Lorax and Snooka took a DQ for the short cut. Hopefully the new faces experienced a good workout.
It’s good to see the numbers consistently above 10 as 10-16 is a perfect number in my view. Next time we will flip the tractor tires down on the practice field.
As always, it was a privilege to lead such a great group of men.
Announcements – Hawks Nest still meeting at Dunkin Donuts until at least Labor Day. Will find a new AO if Charlotte Latin campus doesn’t reopen then.
A Merkin is once again a push up
Per Q Source, disruption is part of leadership. Humans tendency is to stay “comfortable” and not change. A leader realizes that disruption is needed in order to move a group toward advantage. With that in mind, 13 PAX got to experience another attempt by YHC at disruption. We also got to learn from failure. Some examples of my attempt at disruption:
- Calling for push ups instead of merkins. This caused a lot of disruption with Mermaid contemplating revoking my life time membership at Centurion
- Trying a new theme – The Equalizer. This quickly morphed into Equalizer 1.1 and 1.2 is already being designed
- Calling for high dolly when I meant high flutter
If nothing else, the PAX got in some quality running and a few pain stations.
The Thang – Warm up with SSH’s, Mtn Climbers, and a ladder of burpees and jump squats (1/2, 2/4, 4/6, and 6/8)
Mosey up to top of Tartarus where YHC attempted to explain the Equalizer before quickly realizing I am better at showing then telling. Run down steps and then do called exercise at each corner (four corners) around outside of football field before turning around and retracing steps to the start. Idea was to let the PAX turn around as soon as the Rabbit came by on his way back. The rabbit wasn’t fast enough on the first round so all the PAX made it to the fourth corner and thus still had to do the bear crawls. I modified for round 2 and 3 to have the rabbit run all the way to the fourth corner and then start the exercises at the fourth corner. This saved the 6 all of about 10 yards and one set of exercises.
Round 1 – Pushup, Round 2 – LBC’s, Rounrd 3 – Jump Squats
I quickly decided to put the equalizer back into R&D so we moseyed down the short ramps to level 1 for a few minutes of mary before we partnered up for some alternating sprints and exercises.
Round 1 – Sprint and push ups
Round 2 – Backward run and CDD
Round 3 Karaoke and LBC’s
Mosey over to the brick benches for a few rounds of Dips with step ups and decline merkins in between. Then back to launch point for last 5 minutes with more mary, a minute of burpees, and jump squats.
NM
Nice to see the numbers climb up into the teens with strong group. Escargot showed up for the start but had to bail during warm up due to bad back.
Icky should be renamed cheetah – fastest man in the 20 yard dash but has to lie down and take a nap at yard 21.
Work week has worn me out so I’m got nothing else except kudos for the PAX for indulging me this morning.
Speak for Yourself
It’s hard to get it up – Anonymous
I don’t have trouble getting it up – speak for yourself – Snooka
I don’t get no respect – Rodney Dangerfield (and YHC)
I haven’t spoken to my wife in years. I didn’t want to interrupt her. Rodney Dangerfield and Snooka
The Fishing Hole is at CCHS on Thursday morning but old men and their stories of big feats showed up on this Friday morning. YHC noted how my soccer arms are not conducive to pull ups and several PAX took it as an opportunity to brag about their manhood.
The Thang:
COP – SSH x20, Merkins x10, Mtn Climbers x15, Jumping lunges x10, Squats with jump up x10
Mosey over to lane beside football field for the beast – 6 trips down and back with 6 stops to perform 6 of called exercise
- Squats
- Merkins
- LBC’s
- Mtn Climbers
- Imperial walkers
- Burbees (of course)
Mosey over to rock pile across the road and grab a rock (Champagne is once again an over achiever) for a series of exercises
- Curls x20
- Skull Crushers x15
- Curls x20
- Skull Crushers x15
- Lunge walk with push press
- Squats (rock should touch the ground)
- Side lunges
- Shelf Stackers – 10 each side
Mosey back to the school for a few sets of incline merkins and pull ups. This is where Mermaid noticed my need to use a little body motion to “get up” toward the end of the pull up set. Snooka smartly jumped in to disassociate himself from YHC
Run up far right stairs to level 4, down stairs in middle to bottom, and up to level four on far left stairs.
Partner work – P1 sprints down half way of deck and P2 performs called exercise. Flapjack after P1 gets back. We did peoples chair, decline merkins, LBC’s and burpees
Down the stairs and over to brick yard for descending ladder of 20, 15, 10 step ups and dips.
Mosey back to launch point and finish with squats
NM – The banter was constant. Just like Sondland, I “believe” there were impeachable offenses committed in the discussions but I didn’t hear all of the conversations so its not admissible. Clover was discussing sci fi movies (I think) while Snooka made sure everyone knows his performance at home is just as strong as at the workout. That was his claim and it probably is impeachable.
Getting older is a hurdle to accleration. I am no longer able to push the PAX like I once did and thus I have had to learn to accept this and push to dish out the hardest workout I can even if its not the same. The workout is a chance to get better no matter what age. We can make small positive changes in our life each day until they become habits. Then make another small change until it becomes a habit. Find a blade to help with accountability – its hard to accelerate if you don’t have someone pushing you. New Years Resolutions often fail because the change is too drastic to become a habit. Small changes (bricks per Dredd) will allow you to build up guard rails over time. Then you are prepared to accelerate and in turn you can help others accelerate. Good read in Q Source on this – . https://f3nation.com/2018/05/13/positive-habit-transfer-q2-4-2/
Announcements – Check the web site/ or Slack for holiday week workouts/convergences. No Centurion next Friday at there is convergence at Cerebrus
As always, I am blessed to be among such fine men that help me push myself and get better.