See the full back blast via http://f3metro.com/2019/03/04/chimbote-week-2-the-melting-pot/
Five strong men posted at The Fishing Hole, including War Baby Tolkein aka Chino Guapo aka Rip Van Winkle, who was able to awake from his post Chimbote trip and join us. Great having you even though you didn’t technically meet the site age criteria.
Workout – Bunch of ladders (5, 10, 15, 20) with rocks including curls at bottom of deck and jump squats on level 4, curls at bottom with bear crawl up ramp and merkins on ramp, and lateral extensions with backward run/karoke up and down ramp with flutters at top.
Drop off rock before some mary on level 2, wall sits on level 3 and another ladder at top with incline and decline merkins. Down to fence around football field for leg lifts on the fence (forgot name already) before mosey back to launch site and finish with 30 seconds of pulsating squats
NM – The average age was over 50, which is exactly where we want to be, and we kept the mileage down to a little over 1 mile. Lots of core work and Chino Guapo called out backward burpees, which was a new one for me.
YHC was quite tired after big win for the Heels last night. My Duke friends could not muster the fortitude to come hear me trash them but Zion exit early was clearly a factor. I was not thinking clearly when I agreed to Q the morning after the game – it could have been real ugly if we had lost as I would have been a tad grouchy.
I think Zion’s move demonstrates what can happen when a young man is placed high on a pedestal with lots of attention (President Obama, Spike Lee, etc). I think he was pumped up sky high (watch crazy pre-game dunk) and my guess is he tried to make a spectacular move at the start to justify the hype. A man his size is not meant to make a move like that (regardless of whether or not the shoe was defective). Less attention on this young man might have led to a different outcome. Don’t know if fair, but it reminds me to always keep perspective and the remember the credo “I am third”.
Enjoy the small group a TFH and the low mileage with high heart rate.
Annoucements – Joe Davis Run coming up in two week and please pray for Red Rocks, who had a stroke.
Maybe Tolkein will wake up and join us?
22 degrees and almost that many men (18 in fact) – strong showing for a cold morning. Alas, no one brought donations for Chimbote (follow me on twitter @pchepul for pre-workout tips) so we had to do some burpees (61 if you did all the Q called). YHC brought out a mixed pair of gloves to match the temperature but neither fit (they were warm – which is all that mattered this am). Several yahoos in shorts but I think the disclaimer covers questionable decisions like that as well. That disclaimer, which can seem annoying, was pretty smart idea given some of the characters that post in the gloom and their questionable decisions
The Thang – COP with IW x10, Merkins X15, Mtn Climbers X10, 1 burbee, slow squats X10, and 2 burpees.
Mosey over to rock pile to grab a rock. 11’s in the parking lot with squats at one end and merkins as the other (10-1, 9-2, 8-3 down to 1-10) while lugging your rock the entire time. Was planning on another set of 11’s with the rock on the hill but frost bite concern had me change the plan.
Circuits of curls, push presses, and lateral extensions – 5, 10, 15 and then some mary and 3 burpees to keep the PAX enaged
Drop off the rock and mosey down to the outfield of the baseball field. Another round of 11’s up and down the hill with dolly at the top and burpees at the bottom (pax was realizing donations would have been a good idea at this point). Seems to have been some refusink going on but maybe Mermaid and others just finished the set really fast – will have to look back at the tape.
Mosey up to pavilion for circuit of step ups/jump ups, dips, and decline merkins – 5, 10, 15. Walk around to other side of concession stand for a few minutes of peoples chair.
Back to the parking lot for some cardio –
Mosey over to other side of church for Wall-tar jais X10 and flutter X10, Rinse and repeat
Down to parking lot by the cars for sprints down and back with merkins at each end – 5, 10, 15, 20
Stop
NM
For a minute I thought I was at a FIA workout with all the complaining about the cold and having to get on the ground. It’s hard – get used to it. A few pax, led by Snowflake I think, apparently didn’t have on enough layers. I did give in to the complaining and didn’t keep the rocks as long as originally planned (getting soft in my old age)
Pro always seems to be complaining about Runstopper tights but he also always seems to be working out right next to RS – weird
Brushback tried to make fun of my directions (which are less than stellar sometimes) but failed miserably by calling out “Do as I say” instead of “Do as I do, not as I say).
Hops with a strong take out.
Announcements:
Joe Davis Run coming up in March. Get signed up and support our brothers who have lost loved ones to addiction.
Paper Jam has the Q Friday at The Brave so one of us needs to post so he doesn’t have to work out by himself
Track down Scratch and Win about a Men’s Retreat coming up in mid March. He was pretty convincing in his proclamation that will be worth the effort (probably a sales guy during the day)
Continuing to take donations for Chimbote trip – PAX can drop off at 3912 Brinton Place (put in the car port) or reach out to me to arrange a meeting.
Two old men remembered that fish are more active when the weather is bad and posted at The Fishing Hole to see what they could catch( See what I did there). I thought I might have to pull a Thin Mint and workout on my own but Chopper came rolling in right at 5:30 (like he always does). The Q was the War Baby so workout was off to a good start.
The Thang:
Grab two milk jugs from the stash and mosey over to parking deck. Warm up consisted of cotton pickers, IW’s, Merkins X20, Peter Parker X15, and Mtn Cimbers X15)
We grabbed the milk jugs and proceeded to alternate between exercises and a “movement” (not the kind Freely’s usually has at this AO).
Exercises – 20 curls, 20 OH presses, 20 squats then 10, 10, 10
Movements – Lunge walks twice, bear crawl/crab walk once, lunge walks, and bear crawl
In between we also did a set of BTW (balls to the wall), mary, people chair and wall merkins.
Mosey back to parking lot and drop off the jugs. The fishing was so good we finished 4 minutes early as we caught our limit.
NM
The nice thing about a 2 person workout is you get to learn a little more about your partners (shut up Spackler – we don’t need to get a room). A few things I learned about Chopper
His birth name is John
He is from Jersey
He was in the National Guard in both NJ and SC. He didn’t get to go to Iraq during Dessert Storm (or one of those campaigns) so he dropped out. Wondering if he had 11 toes and that’s why they wouldn’t let him go.
He talks less than I do
He has a TON of used clothes and left them all with me to take to Peru in a few weeks.
We didn’t run any as I’m managing plantar factia acting up but we got the heart rate up. Carrying two milk jugs for forty-one minutes will do that to you.
Take out – Short prayer by YHC recognizing the blessing God has bestowed on us and asking that the Holy Spirit continue to guide us.
Thirteen men came to hear Mermaid and Margo sing while also getting in a good workout. While they were disappointed that the show was postponed (or maybe not), they did get an elevated heart rate as we fused the Centurion Mile with a modified version of the Brintonion Mile (Dr B creation) . Here’s what went down:
Quick start to get the wet portion of the workout out of the way – Centurion mile (run up to Carmel, right to 51, right on 51 to CCHS drive-way, down drive to parking deck and up the short ramps to level 4 for 1 mile run.
Down the stairs for the Brintonion mile portion of the workout. Start on level 1 with 20 merkins, 20 sit-ups, 20 jump squats and burpee ladder starting with 1. Then run up short ramps to level 4 and back down the stairs to start. Complete as many laps as you can until Q calls an end to this madness. Your benevolent Q did give PAX option to run up the stairs or the ramps – your welcome.
Mosey up long ramp to level 3. Pulsating squats (see definition below) until Q yells go and then backward run half way down the flat deck and sprint the other half. Complete two more rounds of pulsating squats and run down the flat deck before finishing with a few minutes of planks.
Mosey down the deck and long ramp back to level 1 to finish with a few minutes of mary.
NM
Strong group out this soggy am as usual and this one hurt. Mixing the Centurion and Brintonian mile looked good on paper but not so good in practice. However, Brintonian mile includes 20 KB curls, 20 KB lateral extensions, and 20 KB squats so we did modify to make it less painful – your welcome. The rabbits got in 6 rounds while most of the rest got in 5.
Lorax and Brillo out front but old man (not sure he is really that old) Snooka right behind them. Cadillac pushed hard after a “hard” holiday break but he’s on a mission to lose weight so glad he posted. Everyone else gets an A for effort on this one.
pul·sate/ˈpəlˌsāt/verbgerund or present participle: pulsating
Lot of chatter when I called for the pulsating squats. Depending on your condition, your view might be that it meant pain or that it was exciting. Generally, the young guys were experiencing “victory in a pulsating semifinal” while the older PAX experienced more of the throb of blood vessels that created pain. Luckily, no one tried to apply the “surge, heave, rise and fall” part of the definition – saved that part for the weekend I take it.
Mermaid noted its time to sign up for the Joe Davis Run to be held in March this year (since last year was sub-15 degree weather). Extra burpees each week at Centurion for PAX that have not signed up. https://racesonline.com/events/joe-davis-run
Please consider finding a third F activity and get involved. Snowflake is our region’s 3rd F Q or you can contact me if interested in getting involved in middle school mentoring.
Aye
5 wise men, who know how to stay dry on a rainy day, posted at CCHS for The Fishing Hole. YHC thought I might be solo but alas the parking deck won a few over (at least BOG said so).
The Thang:
Mosey over to deck for warm up – Cotton pickers, slow lunges, and imperial walkers
Circuit work with burpee ladder at start on level one, run up long ramp to level 3 for shoulder work, then run down to other end of level 3 for ab work before heading down the steps to the start line at level one. We started with 5 burpees and made five trips so as to finish with 10 burpees at the end while also sprinkling in some peoples chair before shoulder work on level 3
Round 1 shoulder work was regular merkins, stagger right, and stagger left and ab work was dolly and low flutter
Round 2 shoulder work was CDD and wide arm merkins and ab work was Rosalita and high flutter (lunge walk half way down level 3)
Round 3 bear crawl up to car then run to level 3 for shoulder work of regular merkins and diamonds and ab work of box cutters and knee ups (backward run half way and karaoke other half on level 3)
Round 4 crab walk about 20 yards before run up to level 3 for shoulder work of balls to the wall and planks and ab work of LBC (backward run half way and karoke other half down level 3)
Round 5 we ran up middle stairs to level 4 and then down the stairs at end to level 1 (only time we got all the way in the rain except beginning and ending mosey)
Finish with peoples chair and 20 merkins OYO
Naked moleskin
One of the PAX guessed 7 burpees on round 3 of the circuit (aka Nostradamus) and other quickly caught on for last two rounds. Old guys are really smart. I bet more guys would have posted if they had known Nostradamus was going to post. He’s even more famous than OBT and OBT drew a crowd of 14 but the weather was infinitely better that day (timing matters).
Blades of Glory was stumped when I asked him how tall was the tallest skater to ever win an olympic medal but he said we would research and get back to me. I could not find on google but did find this comment
“Lysacek, like Boitano, is tall for a singles skater. Most seem to range in the 5’6 – 5’8 range
Ladies are lucky to be an inch or two over five foot.
Scott Hamilton isn’t even five four, neither is Paul Wylie. They are dinky even by mens figure skaters standards.
expand your horizon and watch the other disiplines, you’ll be presently surprised.”
Google can be harsh – calling BOG is “dinky” is just wrong. If they had seen him slogging it out on the deck this am they would a least given him a “stylish” rating
Caddilac surprised me by being ready on time for the car pool pick up much less being out at all. He is starting to get his act together (age will do that to a man) and his fitness is coming along nicely.
Chopper didn’t find any loose change on the deck floor so his running tally is still $25.29. Cooter asked if he could manage that stash but found out he is also a financial planner and didn’t need help – thank you very much. I think Chopper and Cooter both went back after COP to look for more change.
As always, an honor and a privilege to lead this am.
Announcements
Christmas parties coming up and Joe Davis Memorial run sign up is available (race moved to March).
15 men decided not to coast into the weekend and post at the Best Friday AO in Charlotte. The pressure was on to set the bar high given the site and the fact that Mermaid has the Q next Friday. The “easy” solution was to grab coupons from our favorite hiding place and find a partner. One partner selects a sand filled jug and the other grabs two pavers.
The Thang:
With coupons and partner, mosey over to parking deck for quick warm up. IW X10, Cotton Pickers X10, Slow Squats X10, Mountain climbers X10
With partner, run the short ramps stopping at each turn for ascending partner hand slap merkins. 2 at first turn, 4 at second, all the way up 12 at top deck before heading back down the stairs to the starting point.
With coupons, mosey off campus via Chipotle cut thru and run down to greenway entrance. Partners do 25 combined pull ups (50 if you performed Australian style). Partners switch between pull ups and squats until the 25/50 pull ups are completed. Run back to parking deck (about 1/2 mile each way).
Start at bottom of stairs and perform 2 partner decline merkins (each). Run to level 4 and perform 4 pdm (each). Run down to top of middle stairs and perform 6 pdm (each). Run down the stairs and perform 8 pdm (each). Run to far end stairs (well one team followed the direction) and perform 10 pdm (each). Run up the stairs to level 4 and perform 12 pdm (each). Meet in the middle and perform 14 pdm 9 (each). Squat waiting on the six.
Start at top in middle with 4 flutters (8 total movements) and then run down the short ramps, stopping at each turn for increasing flutters (8, 12, 16, 20, 24).
Drop off coupons and head back up the short ramps for a burpee ladder, performing burpees at each turn (1 to 6). People chair for a few minutes waiting on the six.
Head down the stairs and pick up coupons before returning to parking lot. Finish with some plank work and exercises from Orange Theory (Hops wants royalties on the modified Cumberland Cty viaducts).
Naked Moleskin
Nice to see a few new faces sprinkled in with mostly familiar faces (most of the familiar faces are pretty darn ugly). Zuckerburg back from long hiatus so maybe not the best one to make your comeback at but you survived. In sync also looked like he got his money’s worth with the coupons.
Runstopper conveniently only grabbed one paver and didn’t have to do any partner work since he was last (and late) and the odd man out. He was way ahead of the PAX so one paver much weigh down a man more than I thought. I was comforted to realize at end that he didn’t try to break the one in half and reduce is load even further.
Purple Haze hates pavers and that’s why I love bringing them out. Plus, it slows down the young fast guys and gives me a slight chance to keep up. The complaining was relatively light so I may have to replace the hand held pavers with something larger.
The pull ups don’t really work with a PAX larger than 8 so we had to modify and throw in Australian style to maximize use of all the “equipment” at the Greenway.
I’m guessing we got close to 3 miles but someone can verify via comments.
Announcements:
Joe Davis Run sign up starting soon. Race moved to March (I think) to see if they can get better weather. Last several years have been either really cold or wet.
Please pray for Hannibal’s M, who has skin cancer that has to be eradicated. Hannibal is confident they will beat it but it’s still upsetting.
As always, an honor and a privilege to lead this group.
Anvil today was my third Q in 3 days and I had to try to motivate myself – leaders can’t quit on their men. However, I usually only have a rough plan when I start and today was no exception. 11 men gathered on time and were properly disclaimed before following the Alpha Stallion – wait Alpha Stallion leads from behind – before following YHC down the lane by the church.
The Thang:
Mosey over to middle parking lot for some warm up:
Partner up and mosey over to rock pile to grab 1 lifting rock per team. Partner 1 runs down to end of lot and back while partner 2 does called exercise:
Round 1 – Backward run down and sprint back while partner does curls – flap jack
Round 2 – Karoke down and sprint back while partner does overhead push presses – flap jack
Round 3 – Bear crawl to first light (about 25 yards) and then sprint down to end and back while partner does squats – flap jck
Mosey to parking lot down near fields for some shoulder/core work. Partner 1 does called shoulder work while partner 2 holds the rock while doing called Mary
Round 1 – Flutters and merkins
Round 2 – Dolly and CDD
Round 3 – American hammer and Diamonds
Mosey over to picnic area for dips X20, incline merkins X10 and dips X20. Mosey to other side of building for people chair with rock while partner does balls to the wall. Flap jack twice
Mosey back to rock pile to drop off rocks and then circle up for more Mary. Rosalita, High flutter, dolly, flutter, and side crunches
Back to parking lot closet to 51 for a modified beast. Three rounds with six stops at each island in the middle for 6 of called exercise.
Round 1 – Squats
Round 2 – Lunges
Round 3- Burpees (always finish the beast with burpees even if modified)
Mosey back to launch point for two quick sprints down the lot to kill the remaining minute
Naked MS
Glad to have this stretch of 3 consecutive Q’s is over. It wasn’t as bad as I thought even with Fast Twitch in the middle. We kept the mileage down and that kept Purple Haze happy since he ran about 7 miles with me yesterday (well not with me as I only got in 6). First time working out with Clover, Muwana, and Cocoa. Snooka continues to amaze the pax with his speed for old man as he refuses to tell us what PED’s he uses for his fountain of youth. Caddilac is now posting regularly and good to hear plus he gets bragging rights for at least a day over Dr Belding who fart sacked. Appreciate the invite from Lorax to Q even though I didn’t plan on 3 in a row when I originally accepted.
Apologies for the one PAX I forgot. I spent so much time remembering the names of the new guys that I forgot one of the regulars (I think he is a regular but not sure since I FORGOT). (EDIT – Utah was there. He beat me in a 10K few years ago and I still have not forgiven him. HIPPA made me add his name)
Announcements – Get out in the community and lock shields with other F3 men to make an impact. We need more leaders now than ever and there are all kinds of needs.
As always, humbled and honored to lead such a great group (and Haze).
Somehow, the Fast Twitch site Q got the “brilliant” idea to ask YHC to Q the hardest workout in Area 51 – he may get fired this week. Not sure if site Q asking me to lead or me accepting was the dumber decision although likely me as the site Q figured it would be a taper week with me on Q (or maybe not). The site Q hasn’t seen me because I generally don’t do running workouts anymore (although I am huge fan of Ragnar now). I generally now hang out at best mid-way during boot camp and in the way back for running portions. I even tried to switch with Swiper, who had the Hawks Next Q, but he wouldn’t take the bait (or help an old man out).
So, Monday night and I am asking myself how I can lead this crew when I can’t see most of them during the workout. I remembered a Spooky John post from last year about “Leading from Behind” and knew I had the answer. Here is an excerpt from his back blast
[“Leading from behind” was a thing a few years back, right? Something out of Harvard Business School so it MUST be legit. That’s right, now I remember. Just a quick call up to Foggy Bottom and I should be set.
Me: Hello, I need Mike (1)
Operator: Who?
Me: Rex! You know, the SECRETARY!
Operator: Sorry sir, he is a little busy right now. You have heard there are a few things going on right now right?
Me: Uh… yes, but this is important. I need to learn to Lead from Behind and I hear you are the guys to teach me.
Operator: Sorry sir, that is SO last administration. These days its all about MAGA!!!
Me: Hmmm… MAGA doesn’t really fit with my theme ma’am.
Operator: Well, how about America First?
Me: Well — -not really. These guys I work out with are all about being third or something like that.
Operator: THIRD!!!??? Our boss calls third the second loser.
Me: Yeah, well I don’t think he would quite get it. So, no more “Lead from Behind” experts up there anymore???
Operator: No.
Me: Alright, I’ll try elsewhere. Thanks for the effort and good luck with the world and all that.]
(1) Updated from original post to reflect current office holder, who replaced Rex Tillerson
Herds of horses (yes HORSES, what could be better?) are lead by an Alpha Stallion. And guess what? He leads them FROM BEHIND. Oh yeah. That works. The Alpha Stallion might even bite a beta horse or two just to keep them in line. No biting but I did nudge a few guys to run faster. Seriously look this up and feel free to call me Alpha Stallion from now on.
Oh, and we ran 6-8.5 miles (Rosie said he ran 8.5) doing a merkin/burpee ladder on Raintree with merkins at each intersection X4 (first intersection = 4, 2nd intersection = 8, etc) and burpees of round X 1 (1 burpee after round 1, 2 after round 2, etc). Rosie and a few others got close to 6 in while the rest finished at least 5. Strong work. Alf was disappointed because only an Ethiopian marathon runner could have finished all 8 legs in one hour but I say set the bar high and see what you are capable of – might surprise yourself.
Rosie out front all morning but he should be at 19 (I am almost 3 times his age – damn). Ironsides kept me company in the back while Full House tripped on a toy a few weeks ago at Fast Twitch and was nursing a sore knee. Alf will be nursing a bruised ego all day since no one finished all 8 rounds but everyone pushed hard and got in at least 6 miles. Surprisingly, Haze was not grumpy this morning and Gummy didn’t complain much (or I was too far back to hear them is more likely). Strong work by all 12 (even Gummy).
All will be good with the world if I can just get my wife to call me the Alpha Stallion.
PS – Hopefully, Spooky Jon (the original Alpha Stallion) will not read this and sue for royalties. This is my 2nd Q in a three day stretch of Q’s so creativity is hard to come by. Post at Anvil tomorrow for completion of my tri-fecta, especially if you don’t want to run a lot tomorrow.