Author Archive Fuse Box

1000 Rep Challenge

12 Pax decided to join me on a cold (45 degrees) wet day to see what this 1000 rep challenge was all about.  I rarely steal workouts from my wife who is a personal trainer at the YMCA, but this one I thought would be good to adapt to F3.  The goal is to do 100 reps of 10 exercises for 1000 total reps.  For her classes, they only have 45 minutes to do this, and typically only the elite athletes get to all 1000 reps.  I wanted to incorporate more running into this challenge and put out on GroupMe that we would do 1000 reps and 3 miles.  Apparently that peaked some pax interest to the point that one of them bet me that if we hit 3 miles – he would do 15 Burpees.  Challenge accepted Money Ball.

WARM UP

Mosey up to the Kensington School.  Reclaculating reminded me not to shoot my wad too early.  (Thanks for the reminder).  Backed off my pace halfway through.  As we approached the school doors, Recalc again reminded me that we had 2.0’s in tow (3 of them) and that the separation was getting pretty far.  I audibled the plan and had the pax turn around to pick up the 6.  We then found a light to circle up (which as soon as we did, the light went out).  Proper disclaimer given.

THE THANG

50 SSH’s (calves burning towards the end)

Mosey down past the cars to the baseball circle.  Squats while we wait on the 6.

25 SSH’s

Jimmy Duggans

25 SSH’s

Mountain Climbers in sets of 25 with the count 2 = 1 (only count your right foot).  25 at the start, 25 at first light, 25 at second light, and 25 at the Park/school drive entrance.

Partner Up for rock work.  Partner 1 rock press, Partner 2 Run to school curb and back.  Each Pax does 100 presses on their own.  Keep going until last person has completed 100 (Some got way over 100 presses)

Partner 1 – 20 curls.  Partner 2 – 20 slow tricep dips for 5 rounds (until you reach 100 of each exercise).  Rocks up and squats while waiting for the 6 to finish.  

Short mosey to Millbridge neighborhood road.  Group 1 run two mailboxes up then start lunges.  Group 2, Lunge from the start until you see group 1 start lunges then run two mailboxes in front of them.  (I was worried that I would’t be able to explain this properly or that pax wouldn’t understand.  I was pleasantly surprised by how the group quickly picked up on this).  During this stretch I looked down at the watch to check time an mileage.  6:56 and 1.28 miles.  Yikes.  For the first time that day I had doubts that we may not get to 3 miles.  We reached the end of the road and I asked for the lowest count of lunges.  I heard 75, so as a group we did 25 lunges towards the Clubhouse.  Once you this 25, you jail broke.  It was towards the end of my sprint that I found a small lake.  I believe I scared Chainsaw as I was scrambling to get out of the middle of said lake.  I may have attempted to climb up him to get dry.  As my feet hit dry land, I hear Recalculating (who was ahead of me) say “oh yeah, watch out for that huge puddle right there”  Perhaps a little earlier next time recalc?

Find curb and do 100 toe taps on your own.  Squat while waiting for the 6.

I had planned to do the next exercise going up the incredibly steep and long hill at Millbridge, but with the number of 2.0’s we had along with having to dodge cars last time, I thought it best to stay in the parking lot.  10 Merkins at one island, sprint the parking lot, and 10 jump squats at the far island.  10 rounds for a total of 100 each.  Watch check….7:15 (ALREADY???!!!!).  I was running out of time.  I called an audible and asked everyone to meet up at the first island and knock out remaining merkins and squats without the run.  Most had gotten 7 to 8 rounds in already so it didn’t take long to knock out the remaining reps.

Quick mosey to the wooden bridge where I was hoping to find a dry spot.  I was worried about cars coming through, and saw an over hang that appeared to cover the sidewalk so I relocated the group the the sidewalk for 100 LBC’s.  It was not dry.  In fact, it was soaking wet.  As I did LBC’s, I kept hearing this strange suction noise my back was making against the wet concrete.  It sounded gross (Much like the sound I picture when Zin tells the story of the 400 pound girl he had the one night stand with in college.).  I think I lost a lot of the Pax confidence at this point as the mumble chatter got hot.  We did 50 civilian count with a 5 second Bread Bowl count break followed by 50 civilian count again.

Quick mosey back to “lunge” road.  Time check.  10 minutes left, but wait….what is this…..2.79 miles.  Oh, we can get 3 miles in 10 minutes.  Mosey to top of hill, turn around for 6.  Mosey to end of street, turn around for 6.  Shout out to Rudy for pushing really hard here.  Dude was at the front (yes FRONT) of the pack for this part.  Awesome job.   Quick watch check.  5 minutes and 2.9 miles.  Lets mosey some more…back past the cars to the circle.  Watch Check.  7:26.  2.99 miles.  Mosey back to cars picking up 6 along the way.  

3 Minutes left…needed an exercise we could do 100 of in 3 minutes.  Peter Parkers on your own.  When I hit 100 I went to grab my phone and asked the pax to do air presses once they finished.  Got back to the circle right as Recalculating called time.  Watch Check – 3.06 Miles!  Oh crap, I better stop the watch so the GroupMe haters can’t claim I got to 3 miles by going over time……and boom, workout watch time came in just under 60 minutes at 59:40.

Quick Summary of 1000 reps: 

100 SSH, 100 Mountain Climbers, 100 Rock Presses, 100 Curls, 100 Tricep Dips, 100 Lunges, 100 Toe Taps, 100 Merkins, 100 Squat jumps, 100 LBC’s, 100 Parker Peters.  For those good at math you will note that is actually 1100 reps.  Yes, I may have not been keeping up with how many exercises we did, plus we had 3 minutes to kill at the end.

MOLE SKIN

Great job today Gentleman.  Lot of hard work put in.  Really impressed by Rudy’s push today (was it because his son was there???).  

Always good having the 2.0’s out there.  I try my best to put together a workout that all fitness levels (and age levels) can do while keeping it hard for everyone.  That is often times easier said than done, especially with 2.0’s.  That being said, I think its great getting them out there and exposing them to our values (maybe not our culture, but our values are great).

Watch checks: Recalc over 4 miles.  Southern Belle and I’s Fitbit had us just over 3 miles with 801 (SB) and 853 (mine) calories burned.  Popeye had us a a freckle past a monkeys @$$, and Dough Boy laughed at us for having watches.

Interestingly enough, both Southern Belle and I had a max heart beat over 200 (I had 207 and he had 206).  Previously my highest heart rate had been 182.  Impressive.

Lively discussion at Coffeteria – which I always enjoy.  A few of the pax learned a new work term today – Ghosting.

We all need to say a prayer for Bread Bowl as he dropped Dough Boy’s large coffee (filled to the top) in the parking lot walking to the cars.  All I heard from Dough Boy was “Really Bread Bowl???!!!”  Poor kid.  It was a good 11 years Bread Bowl.  I will miss your insults hurled Zin’s way.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

I just recently learned of one of our brothers that went (and may still be going through) a hard time.  Shame of me for it taking 3 months to realize this.  I don’t know what they do or don’t want shared so I will leave it at that.  I urged/challenged the group today to reach out to other pax, especially this time of year which can be hard on some, to make sure they are doing well.  If you are having a hard time, let someone know.  I’ve offered it before and I will do it here in writing….I will buy the beer if you need to talk.

Not You Father’s Chiseled Workout

Closed my eyes at 9:34 pm and reviewed my checklist: Weinke-check, ride-check, gear-check, flag-check, workout clothes set out-check, scratch my balls for 30 minutes-double check. I then fell into a deep sleep. 1:13 open my eyes as I thought I heard my alarm. False alarm. I fall back to sleep. 2:33 am awake again. This time I start to question myself: Did I have a good plan? Would we have enough gear? Would it be challenging? Wonder what Moneyball is wearing right now? (Awkward) Fall back to sleep. 3:47 wake back up. No turning back now. The Q juice was flowing. I laid in bed like a kid on the night before Christmas until the alarm sounded at 4:25am. I sprang out of bed and was ready for Southern Belle for a 4:40 pickup. We are off!!

16 PAX posted for Chiseled today. A handful came for a prerun, and 1 said, “It looks like you set up for Soccer drills” Oh if they only knew the pain they were about to endure.

 

The warm up:

Was a mosey to each set of pain stations. 4 corners with 3 pain stations at each one. Disclaimer was stated at the beginning.

The Thang

We broke it into 4 corners. Each corner had 3 pain stations. PAX would hit one pain station and then run to another corner. You could not choose the same one again until all pain stations were hit once.

Corner 1:

Rope-go as long as you can

Pit of Misery-20 dips and 20 step ups

Steps-Good Mornings-20 reps

 

 

Corner 2:

2 merkin ladders with a bear crawl after each one

Overhead rock walk-walk with rock overhead down to island and back

Tricep extensions: choice of two different weighted dumbells-20 reps

Corner 3:

Run up Mount Chiseled with weight-10 times

Bent Rows 2 choices of weight-20 reps

Front arm raises light weight-20 reps

Corner 4:

Military Press single dumbbell, two choices of weight-20 reps

Curls two choices of weight-20 reps

Weighted Squats two choices of weights-20 reps

 

Moleskin:

We kept to our roots of using gear at Chiseled. We mixed in more running and added music to the corners. 2.29 miles covers along with some serious reps at pain stations.

Welcome Keith Burnette aka Short Circuit.

Favorite Station-Merkin Ladder with Bear Crawl. Some quotes included-“I hate you” “That sucked” “You brought the pain with that one” “That was terrible” SUCCESS!!! Thanks Southern Belle for that one.

There was not a whole lot of talking today as the PAX pushed really hard but when they mustered enough strength to actually say something, it was usually a complaint. (see quotes above) You know it was a tough workout when you get complaining from Hollywood and Old McDonald.

It truly was a pleasure to lead this group of misfits today. We had ages 16 to 59 represented today which was simply amazing to see. It appeared everyone left sore and sweaty.

Thanks Old McDonald for taking us out.

 

Announcements

  •  eFFee’s Black tie affair Friday night-8pm @The Estates at Briarcrest
  • Bible discussion Monday Night-730 @Brooklyn Pizza
  • Collect Hoodies and Jeans and Give to Bottle Cap for Church on the streets
  • Briley (Dancing Bear’s daughter) will be at eFFFe’s at the beginning to collect donations for Shampoo Crew and thank those who have donated. Please consider bringing socks, gloves, hats, scarves etc.

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas…

or is it Dana’s freshly washed gloves.  I arrived early today to find the Christmas Tree lot up and lit which provided some nice lighting for the typically dark Pet Smart lot.  Southern Belle rode with me and was gracious enough to allow me to borrow some of his dumbbells for the umteenth time for one of my Q’s.  (Thanks again SB).

The plan today was to do exactly the opposite of what it appeared Ice 9 did last week at this site.  I read that the group last week got 3.6 miles in 45 minutes. (Wide Eyed Emoji).  So instead, I wanted to keep our heart rate up via small bursts of runs mixed with weight exercises.  I also wanted to throw in some new moves to spice things up.  5:15….lets go.

WARM UP

Mosey towards the traffic circle then sling shot around it towards target and circle up in the back parking lot.  Our dislaimers have been lazy and non complete lately so I wanted to make sure I did a full and complete disclaimer.  For your reading pleasure:

“Welcome to F3, my name is Fuse Box.  What I ask you to do today is only a suggestion.  Please workout at your own pace and modify as needed.  Do not sue me, the stores, or the developer of this shopping center.”

We only did one exercise for the warm up….but it was a good one.  Thanks again to Money Ball for bringing this one to the group as it has quickly become a favorite of mine to warm up with as it hits multiple body parts, gets the heart rate up, and gives the Q a chance to collect his thoughts.

Deconstructed burpees starting with the Q.  There was 9 of us so we went 9 rounds with each pax calling out a round.

9 Squats, 9 merkins, 9 in/outs, 9 Bobby Hurley’s.  Then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.  Zinfandel had some trouble with the initial counting but he recovered well.  Knish lucked out and only had to count to 1.  Being a West Virginia guy, I wasn’t quite sure of his counting skills so I made sure when I started that we went to me right to allow him only a 1 count.

THE THANG

Quick mosey to Pet Smart partnering up along the way.

One partner does inch worm merkins towards the Christmas Tree Lot while the other partner runs to the cart holder for 10 supines and then back.  Initially thought we would to to the tree lot and back to the cart holder, but saw that would bee too much.  Modified to 3 rounds.

Quick Mosey to Hickory Tavern where Gear was waiting on us.  I had intended to do a minute of toe taps on the curb before we started, but forgot (I hate Winkies).

Partner 1 does Scorpion Derkins into a one legged lunge (One Legged Derkin then moving the one leg into the air down to the ground to perform a lunge).  Partner 2 runs the loop around Hickory Tavern.  It was shortly into round two that I noticed some of the pax were way faster than me….wait a minute, they weren’t doing a full loop!  One pax said, well you said run around Hickory Tavern.  Well, yeah…but that’s not what I meant!  Yall aren’t mind readers?  Quick further explanation of instructions to include a run around Hickory Tavern AND Brooklyn Pizza buildings.  This exercise always reminds me that I have poor balance and if done enough, I tend to have sore obliques the next day.  Unfortunately, because the Q poorly explained the running portion, I don’t think we got enough in to make the abs sore.

Next Round of Partner work included a lap around the parking lot while partner two did one of the following exercises.  Went until each pax completed two rounds of each weighted exercise.

  • Military Press with 30 lb dumbbells.  (Drop one dumbbell and press the single 30 when the two together got too heavy)
  • Flamingo reach for the stars (I had no name for this but Zinfandel called it this and it sounds as good as any I could come up with).  With either a 15, 20, or 25 lb dumbbell in right hand, reach the weight down to the left foot then do a one legged good morning into a one handed press.  This tests the pax balance probably more than any exercise I know.  More on the balance part later….
  • Upright row with two 15 lb keddle bells
  • Bent Over Row with Sand bag

Final round of partner work was a sand bag step up (Sand bag across your shoulders) while your partner runs to the stairs and crawl bears backwards up the stairs then runs around the short parking lot back to hickory tavern steps.  Several pax compared the crawl bears to the movie American History X claiming they were about to eat pavement.

MOLE SKIN

  • A great group of men today.  It is so much easier Q’ing a smaller group so today was a nice change of pace from Q’s past were there were 20 plus.  Still a solid 9.
  • Thanks to Damascus for the invite to come out.  We did a Q swap at each of our sites and after I heard he killed ’em at Chiseled, I knew I needed to try to bring something special today.
  • Speaking of Damascus, I complemented him on how well he was keeping his balance on the Flamingo reach for the stars exercise.  He proclaimed that it was because of his wide, Fred Flintstone Feet.  I said tongue in cheek that it likely has more to do with dick size and that its like a tale on animals…the larger ones can use it to balance better.  It was shortly after I floated this joke/theory that I lost my balance and had to go to two feet…..I will pause now to let the laughter and jokes subside about my lack of balancing parts.
  • Southern Belle was the unlucky one that got me as a partner today.  Good work SB.
  • Zinfandel and Dana appeared to crush it today.
  • First time meeting Chastain.  Fast Gazelle that kept Damascus moving all day.  Good work by you both.
  • A favorite Respect of mine Shop Dawg pushed hard today.  Always good seeing Shop.
  • Akbar working hard as usual and teamed up well with Knish today.  Those two got after it.
  • While running the parking lot loop I did stop (in my head, not literally) to smell the Christmas Trees.  Nice to see decorations going up and taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the season.
  • According to Zinfandel’s $500 watch, we got 2 miles in today.  Good work by everyone.  My Q’s tend to be less running but still getting the heart rate up.  About the time you get comfortable with a low mileage Q I will throw a Gazelle 3 miler in on ya.  I’d say we are getting close to that Change Up Pitch.
  • As usual, I had much more planned but ran out of time.  We will save the sand bag farmer carry relay for another day.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Christmas Party Nov 30th
  • Effee Awards Dec 7th, Briarcrest Club House @ 8:00.  Those that arrive early are welcome to pregame tailgate.
  • Zinfandel’s Jingle Jangle Beer Exchange Dec 15th in his driveway.  A favorite of mine every year so make sure you attend if you can.  Bring a communal six pack, throw it in a huge ice tub, and start trying new beers.  Drinking games and corn hole are there to help get the beer down quicker.
  • Dancing Bear’s (Fart Sacker) Shampoo Crew Charity is collecting gloves, hats, and socks on top of the toiletry items for the homeless.  For those unaware, once the shelters are full, they hand out socks, hats, and gloves to the over flow folks to help them survive the below freezing temperatures.
  • Wedding Singer has a VQ tomorrow at Watchtower – 5:30 Brooklyn Pizza.  Solid guy that has been coming often.  Make sure you come out to support his first Q (I will be out of town).

Ladder Work

7 pax decided to join me for a cool crisp fall workout.  I knew today’s numbers would be low with some of the usual Saturdayer’s participating in Need for Speed and Bone Frog (thank god we won’t have to hear anymore announcements).

The general theme of today’s workout was ladders – both count and actual ladders.  I had the speaker on and ready to go.  6:30 – lets get it.

Warm Up

Mosey around the parking lot down towards the cul de sac.  Circle up.

  • 20 Big Ten’s (SSH)
  • Deconstructed Burpees (Complements of Moneyball) in ladder count down.  I started with 7 squats, 7 merkins, 7 in/outs, and 7 bobby hurley’s.  Went to my left with the next pax counting 6, then 5, all the way to 1.  I enjoyed passing off the count to help me catch my breath to allow some of the newer guys a short opportunity to lead.  (Knish is slatted for a VQ at Chiseled in January – but I challenge the other site Q’s to get him leading before then.  Chainsaw is another one I’d love to see a VQ from in the coming weeks).
  • Jimmy Duggans – center, right, then left.

The Thang

Partner up for Partner Pulls up the hill to the parking lot entrance switching out as you are tired.  Since there were 7 I played odd man out and lunge walked.

Partner Push from the parking lot entrance to the Elementary School Entrance.  I jumped in with Popeye and Jingles to do a 3 person round robin.  Legs were burning pretty hard by the time we reached the school entrance.  Recalculating and Knish killed it and beat us there so I had them Mary with SSH’s to keep the heart rate up.

Rock Work

  • One Partner curls while other partner runs up the hill to the main road and back.  2 times (no curl count).  After running to the top of the street I decided it was a little far and asked the pax to modify to the second neighborhood road to cut off a 100 yards from the first run.  Mary waiting on the 6
  • One Partner does overhead tricep extension while the other partner runs up hill towards the school.  2 rounds.  Put rocks up.

Grab curb for tricep dip ladders.  I started count with 7 and passed the counting down to each pax  until we reached one.  I challenged to pax once we started not to go down and try to hold.  I made it to 2 before my arms gave out.  Good work from those that lasted until the end.

Mosey to the bus parking lot where I had weights and ladders waiting on us.

Circle up for LBC’s and Pull Ups.  Two pax perform a minimum of 10 pull ups (more if you can) while the rest of the pax start LBC’s.  Challenged those that couldn’t do a pull up to do a modified jump pull up.  Goal was to do 100 LBC’s in the time it took all pax to complete 10 pull ups.  Timing was just right.

Weights and Ladder Work.  One Partner does weights while the other runs to the other end of the parking lot for a ladder exercise then returns to switches out with weights partner.  Asked pax to try and stay together at the ladder and run back together so that the two groups don’t get separated.

  • Weights (Dumbbells):
    • Chest Press with 30 lbs
    • Hammer Curl with 20 or 25 lbs
    • Tricep extension with 40, 25, or 20 lbs
    • Front raise & side raise with 15 or 10 lbs
    • Upright Row to chin with two 15 lb keddle bells
    • Military press with one 40 lb dumbbell
    • Goblet squat with 50 lb
    • Good morning with 50 lb
  • Ladder – two rope ladders put together.  If you ever played football, these exercises should be simple to follow.  Unfortunately I learned several pax today didn’t play football.
    • SSH’s with feet going outside ladder and then inside ladder
    • High knees – Chop each foot inside each square with high knees
    • Heisman – hard to explain, easier to show.  Start with left foot outside left ladder, chop both feet inside ladder, then end with right foot on right side of ladder.  Key is to keep your arms moving.
    • Bunny Hop – Outside left, inside, outside right, inside…….
    • Up Up Down Down – Facing side of ladder, chop feet in each square and back below each square the length of the ladder
    • Plank Jack hand walk – Plank Jack feet outside ladder and then inside each square.  (Found it easier if I did it mixed with a bear crawl?
    • Plank hands right – plank position and move hands to the right.  No Merkins
    • Plank hands left

Finished the 8 round weights/ladder work with only minutes to spare.  Lets mosey back to the start.  We arrived at the start right at 7:30.  I had planned to finish up with AC/DC Thunderstruck but ran out of time….or did I?  I left it up to the pax….do you want to end on time, or do you want to go 5 minutes over and fulfill my promise to get 100 Merkins in.  Vote was almost unanimous…Thunderstruck it is.   Pax do mountain climbers until you hear the word Thunder at which point you do a Merkin.  There are two points in the song that give opportunity for air presses.  We took advantage of that.  Appropriately 33 merkins performed.  I was gassed, and  by the look of it, so was everyone else.  Zinfandel got it on video.  I’m sure social media team will use it against me soon, be on the look out.

Moleskin

  • Great work today.  Everyone worked hard.  There was very little complaining (even by the Q).
  • Thanks to Southern Belle for allowing me to use his dumbbells and ladders.  He was a last minute scratch as a pestering cold has got him down.  Briarcrest currently has several on the IR list.  Beckham (knee), Dancing Bear (calf), Southern Belle (cold), and Schnieder (bar).  We hope to get our strong Briarcrest numbers back up to normal soon.
  • It was great seeing Popeye out there today.  Guy is always a ball full of positive energy and love having him out at workouts.  Just a genuinely good dude.  Glad to hear his wife is recovering well from knee surgery.
  • Jingles and Zinfandel passed me several times on the up hill runs.  I may have let out a cuss word in their direction.  My apologies boys.  Just my own frustration at myself coming out and being manifested towards you.  Great work today out of both of you.
    • Jingles has always had sneaky speed when it came to running.  At what point do I realize this and it is no longer sneaky speed?
    • Zinfandel’s hard work has been showing results.  When he first started he was the six….like the kind of six that stops running 1/4 way through the workout and modifies everything.  Dude is killing it and has passed me in cardio ability.  I believe I’m ready to hand over my form police badge and whistle to him as well.
  • Knish worked hard today along with Recalculating.  Love seeing the new guys come out and stick with it.  Adds new elements – oh who am I kidding, it just gives me fresh meat to pick on.  Keep it up!
  • Recalculating was his normal “get off my lawn” grumpy old guy self.  I’ve been accused of being a younger, much more out of shape version of Recalculating lately – scary.   Good work today and thanks for keeping the Q’s accountable.  You push us to work hard and work the pax harder.
  • Chainsaw worked hard today.  Cut a couple jokes at his son-n-laws expense which of course I enjoyed.  Glad to have him a part of the group.  He’s jumped right in and become one of us.
  • We burned 685 calories while only covering just over 2 miles.  I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but I will take this time again to remind the pax that there are other ways to burn calories than running.  Be creative with your Q’s.  Some of us (me) hate running and the reason we do bootcamps is to sneak our cardio in through other means.  We burned 685 calories in 2 miles while the 5+ mile Q only burned 650.  Ok, enough soap box.

Announcements

  • Thoughts are with Mad Dog as he goes through additional tests this morning.  Apparently the overnight nurse saw something she liked last night according to his GroupMe post.
  • Dancing Bear dropping off toiletry donations to the Charlotte Homeless Shelter on Monday.  Get your last minute donations in at Flash or Ignition.
  • Christmas Party Nov 30th at Providence Downs South Clubhouse.  Look to GroupMe News Channel for more info.
  • WUC Effie awards at Friday, Dec 7th at the Briarcrest Club House.  If you can make it, I highly recommend it.  Its a great opportunity to laugh with pax over a beer.  I got a fairly good ab workout in from laughter at last years 1st annual Effie Awards.
  • Dunkin Doughnuts for Coffeteria.  Unfortunately the Wolfpack lost on Thursday night so no free coffee (Wah Wah).
  • Thanks to Zinfandel for taking us out.

 

A F3 Music Bug

As Mike Tyson is claimed to have said “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”.  I arrived early, ran through the areas I planned to use, then parked the car.  Started getting the playlist going only to find an urgent email I needed to answer for work.  Once I finish I look up to find a bakers dozen worth of pax giving me grief for having my head buried in my phone.  I get enough of that from the M so lets not start that with the F3 crew.  As others arrive I notice my playlist is only playing the first song and stopping.  Last week I caught wind of a similar technical glitch with Goodfella at Dromedary.  I am beginning to think there is an F3 technical bug making its rounds….keep a look out.  I look up from trying to fix the playlist issues in time to see a 4 deep clown car filled with one star, boytana, lazy boy, and Krusty (more on Krusty later).  Watch check – 5:29, quick disclaimer and then off we go on the pre warned 1/2 mile mosey.

WARM UP

Mosey behind brooklyn pizza, through Chick Fil A parking lot, past the gas station, through BB&T, and back down to target to get our half mile in.  Somewhere around brooklyn pizza the music gave out on me again.  Unfortunately for me, Deadwood was near and decided then was a good time for him to give me a lecture on how to use You Tube to create playlists.  I be honest, I caught about 1/4 of what deadwood was saying but I did hear YouTube and playlist.  He might have given me the secret to life but I was fixated on finishing the half mile mosey without dying and trying to fix my playlist issues.  As we rounded the corner at BB&T heading to target I notice a large looming shadow coming at us at a pretty good pace.  At first I thought we have picked up a late arrival, but then I see the light reflect off the glasses of a much smaller pax behind him and realize that once again, Bread Bowl had to make a pit stop.  God bless the patience of Dough Boy and his ability to wait on his son.  May I suggest a prerun down the driveway at the house as it always hits him in the first 15 steps.

Circle up at Target (while I continue to attempt to fix my music troubles).

  • 30 SSH’s – started hearing some groaning around 25.
  • 15 mountain climbers
  • 15 T Merkins
  • 8 Potato Pickers.

THE THANG

Mosey to back of Target parking lot where there are 6 trees located.

  • 5 In/Out Merkins per tree.  Mary at end waiting on the 6.
  • 5 Peter Parker Merkins per tree.  (For those keeping count, that’s 75 merkins so far – goal was 150 after having my legs destroyed by Money Ball at Flash).  It was at this point that Jingles pointed out they did a lot of Merkins with Frack the day before (really?  Frack likes merkins?  I had no idea).  Sorry Jingles….two merkin heavy workouts in a row for you.

Mosey to Pet Smart (I will add that when I scouted the location at 5:00 this morning, Target was dark and pet smart was lit up like Legalized on a trip to Colorado – yeah, that doesn’t make any sense, sorry Legalized).  Anyways, at some point during our opening mosey – target lit up one light and Pet Smart went dark….enough moonlight out that we only had a few run in casualties at pet smart.

Station Work – 4 “weight” stations on the perimeter with a cardio station in the center.  1 min at weights and then meet in the center for 1 minute of cardio.  Pax split up evenly into the four weight stations.  We preformed two rounds of 4 so 8 total.

Weights:

  • Carolina Dry Docks
  • Diddle Merkins (Wide, regular, diamond)
  • Supines
  • Low Slow Deep Jump Squats.

Cardio:

  • Mountain Climbers
  • SSH
  • Lunge/Squat/Lunge
  • High Knees
  • Parker Peters
  • Burpees
  • Jump Squats
  • Station Run

There was just enough time left to do an AC/DC “ThunderStruck” beat down.  Unfortunately my amazon music account still decided it wasn’t ready to wake up.  So what do good Q’s do – improvise.  What do bad Q’s do….plow through, regardless of how bad it gets.  We plowed through with me randomly yelling thunder and Bread Bowl breaking the silence with calls for my head.  Merkins on the word thunder, mountain climbers in between.  Two “rest” breaks to do air presses.  Attempted to mimic the 33 merkins from the actual ThunderStruck song as best I could.  We had about a minute left so we finished out with LBC’s.

 

MOLE SKIN

  • I learned today that Boytana has the most awkward looking deep squat form I’ve ever seen.  Looked more like a ballet dancers plie (sp) than a squat.
  • Krusty attempted to change his name during name-o-rama.  I let it slide and decided to consult with the F3 elders on the matter.  It was determined that Ass Crack violated the unwritten rule of could you call the name out in public with kids around.  Couple that with the fact that he also hated the name Krusty meant Krusty must stay.  The random name change vote from COT has been voided and Krusty will remain Krusty.  As per F3 rules, you can’t name yourself so if One Star, Boytana, or Lazy Boy can come up with a name that Krusty hates worse than Krusty – he may have a chance at a name change in the future.
  • I need to get to know the boys from the one star clown car a little better.  They fit in well with the Shenanigans of WUC, but I only see them at Watchtower.  Tip of the hat to One Star for growing his crew.
  • Speaking of One Star – he killed it today.  Heard mumble chatter about running from a dump or something as to why he was so fast today….perhaps Bread Bowl needs to show him how to release during the opening mosey.
  • And speaking of Bread Bowl – I made his list today!  I’m so excited.  I’ve been waiting for this moment for awhile and was disappointed my last Q wasn’t tough enough to get there.  I wish I had a better acceptance speech ready, but at this time I just want to thank Bread Bowl for allowing me to push him beyond his limit to the point of his disdain for me.
  • Money ball made it out for the second time this week coming off his torn labia calf injury.  Yes – I stole that joke from Zinfandel, but it was too good not to use again.  Considering I beat Money Ball yesterday (in one exercise and yes he was on my heels) and he appeared to struggle today, I’d say I got him right where I want him for another weighted vest bet.  Got to act quick as he will quickly pass me in stamina again (likely before weeks end).
  • Preciate Eli making it out for a rare appearance in support of Briarcrest.  Good work today.  He must have still been flying high from his Eagles beating “Eli”.
  • Lots of mumble chatter and jokes today during the round.  At one point, the talk between Money Ball and the rest of my weight station group had me laughing to the point that I was having issue completing reps (maybe Frack is right???).  I appreciate the humor this group has and its what keeps some of us returning.  I can go to a gym and stare at a tv on a treadmill all I want, but it gets old quick.  The camaraderie amongst us pax is what drives me to get out of bed.
  • Someone attempted to actually sing ThunderStruck.  It might have been Zinfandel…either way, it was a decent impression.
  • Mad dog and I matched shirts and shorts.  Neither of us made it very far in the game of chicken to check underwear.  I guess I will have to trust Mad Dog that he wasn’t wearing a thong.
  • Dana and Wedding Singer both pushed hard today.  Long over due VQ’s needed for both of them.  If your a site Q and have openings please reach out to them.  I will throw chicken little in that bunch as well though he was not there today (#complimentarypost).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Wednesday Bible Study at 5 Stones at 6:15 am.  Bottle Cap will be attending this week and is pushing to get some other F3 folks to stick around after his Chiseled Q.
  • Posse announced something but I forgot what it was (Sorry).  Was it the crane relay?  Please post to Playhouse and News Channel and I can update the back blast to include it.

 

A Successful Chiseled Launch

15 Pax came out to see what this gear workout was all about.  Thanks for the support today guys.  I was worried what the numbers would look like since there was an already successful site open on Wednesday’s and Briarcrest’s finest (Hollywood) was on Q there.  From what I hear, they had 19 so combined both sites had 34…Impressive for a hump day!

I arrived to the site at 10 til 5:00 not knowing how long set up would take and full of launch day jitters.  I arrived to find Shake N Bake in the middle of the parking lot stretching for his pre run…alone, oh so alone.  I had things set up within 10 minutes and had to decide, do I continue to look busy and wait on pax to arrive or do I suck it up and try and find Shake to join him in on the prerun.  About the time I was about to decide to look busy, up comes Rubbermaid and Tupperware.  Rubbermaid to join in the prerun and Tupperware to help set up equipment.  I couldn’t tell if Tupperware was happy there was not equipment to set up or upset that he now had to prerun…either way, thanks for coming out early to help.  Enough of the preworkout details….lets get to the good stuff.

WARM UP

Lengthy disclaimer given about not dropping equipment on the pavement and not suing the church.  I then explained to the pax that we would be running the last kilometer for Samantha Davis who passed away at a local cross country meet this past Saturday.  A very sad story.  Many schools in the state will be running a last kilometer today in her honor.  Thank you to Hooch for keeping us up to date with that story.  I’m not sure who’s idea it was to run for Samantha Davis today, but thank you for the suggestion.  Hopefully the link below to the map of our run in her honor will show up: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cf8m7d0fwft2te9/IMG_5390.PNG?dl=0

Off we go on a .62 mile (or 1 Kilometer) run.  Headed towards the 5 stones entrance which I thought there and back would get us to the .62 miles….it didn’t.  Leaders circled us out around the side of the church, back to the cars, and then I saw Deadwood (distance keeper) come to a stop and fidget with his watch.  He called out done.

Circle up for ACDC Thunderstruck.  Mountain climbers during the song, merkins on the word thunder.  I read somewhere online that if you were using this as a drinking game, it would be 34 shots.  I mentioned that we would be doing 34 Merkins and halfway through the song was met with several jeers that we had done way more than 34 merkins.   During a long interlude that I knew didn’t include the word Thunder, I called out a modify and we did air presses until Thunder came back into play.  It was just long enough of an interlude to where the air presses were burning.  Good work from the pax as this was my first time trying this and it was much harder than I had bargained for.

THE THANG

The rest of our time would be spent doing station work with equipment.  Being that I made 90% of this up on the fly, it makes it that much tougher to remember what we did for the back blast.  As I’ve already said, gear workouts are so much harder to plan for.  Will we have 6 pax or 26.  The difference in numbers can change things dramatically.  Anyways, I digress.  First round went like this:

  • Military Press with either 20’s, 35’s, or 40’s.  Modify to one 40 pound dumbbell once you were wore out – which for me was after 10 reps.
  • Up right row with a stone paver or 25 pound keddle bell (bring hands up to your chin working your lats).  I think the stone paver weight around 20-25 pounds.
  • Bent over fly with bricks.  Bricks were roughly 10 pounds.
  • Front Raise with Landscaping block.  Block was around 15 pounds.
  • Side Raise with dumbbelle or keddle bells.  15 pounds each.
  • Good Mornings with the large block.  In this exercise you keep your knees relatively straight and bend at the hip.  It works your hamstrings.  The block was around 30 pounds.
  • Supines on the railing.  This proved a little trickier than Weddington’s rails as they went down steps with flat steps on one side and a sloped hill on the other.  We made it work.
  • Partner Pole Squats.  This is a new exercise I introduced to the group that we use to do when I played baseball.  Using a 2″ PVC pipe about 2 feet in length, one partner squats all they way to the ground (seated on the ground) while his partner helps to safely lower him down and help him back up with the pvc pipe then flap jack with the other partner squating.  In theory if done correctly, one partner gets a deep squat workout while the other gets a little bit of a squat and some row action.  Both should have tired forearms from holding the pipe.  In reality…we had a lot of guys lay out on the ground laughing after falling.  In high school we used a smaller broom stick which I’m not sure worked the fore arms more or less, but I know it had a heck of a lot more grip than the slick pvc pipe.  Thanks for being good sports and letting me try something new.  My guess is Money Ball is currently laughing a body part off now thinking what other insanely dumb exercises did my baseball coach have us do – the answer is plenty, but not as much as my football coach.
  • On to the pit of misery as it will now be named.  One legged step ups.  Switch legs however you prefer (ever time or 10 each leg).
  • Foot release squats.
  • Dips
  • Back out of the pit of misery to our timer exercise.  Chariot Runs.  One partner is inside the weighted rope while the other one holds the ends to add resistance.  Run to last island, flap jack and run back.  If done right, it was a killer.  Some pax turned it into a rope carry.  Either because the Q didn’t properly explain, or because they were lazy…my money is on Q fail.  I originally called them partner pulls, so thanks to the pax that renamed them Chariot Runs.

Once everyone completed every station, I gave them a short break to explain our next series of work.  At some point in the station work above we lost Shake N Bake, Bread Bowl, and Hooch.  Was it really that tough???   Nah, just a bathroom emergency and getting kids to school.

  • Curls (20, 35, or 40 pound dumbbells)
  • Tricep Kick Back (Bricks)
  • Good Mornings
  • Supines
  • Diddle Merkins (Wide, Regular, Diamond, Regular, Wide).  Sorry Shake N Bake….you left too soon for your favorite exercise
  • Step ups.
  • Foot release squats
  • Dips
  • Rope work.  1 partner alternating rope waves while the other does 25 LBC’s.  Switch when partner finishes LBC’s.  Timmer when both partners finished LBC’s.

We didn’t quite get through all our final stations before time ran out, but did get more than halfway.

MOLESKIN

  • Thanks again to everyone that came today.  Hopefully you enjoyed a little change of pace (actually a lot less pace and a lot more lifting).  The quick change out of stations added with the Chariot Run had my heart rate rocking the first round.
  • Thanks to Rubbermaid who made a solid donation towards the site.  Deflated – if you were able to get the weights you posted about I will get you Rubbermaid’s donation.
  • As you can see from the first stations – we have plenty of equipment and space to grow.  I had stations ready to go for 12 groups or 24 total people.  Based on equipment we currently have, this site has no problem supporting 25-30 pax.
  • Thanks to Southern Belle for bringing some “big boy” dumbbells.   He had 20, 30, 25, 40, 45, and 50 pound dumbbells in his truck and made the Q smile when he saw the extra big boy equipment there he hadn’t planned for.
  • Thanks to all those that donated equipment.  Dasher’s weighted rope has been a fixture at the soft launches and official launch and is much appreciated.  Other equipment in the works are pull up bars to hang trx bands, a tractor tire to flip, and some additional weights (keddle bell, dumbbell, and plates).  Hopefully soon we will be able to store equipment on site which will make set up and break down easier for Q’s.
  • And Speaking of Q’s.  If your interested in Q’ing a gear workout, please let Banjo or I know.  I’ve reached out to some directly already and have a few more on the list I’d like to get Tee’ed up.  Don’t wait on me though, if you have interest….let us know.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Keep Samantha Davis’ family and friends in your prayers.  They are going through a difficult time in the sudden and unexpected death.
  • Keep the 6 year old boy from Gastonia who has been missing since this weekend in your prayers.

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

8 pax showed up to Commitment on a day of slightly changed location (Kensington Elementary) and with Q School also going on.  Thanks to those that decided to come out.  Those that went to Q School, I expect you to put what you learned to work soon.  Come visit one of the site Q’s for a day to Q….don’t wait on us to come to you.  (Dana – I’ve asked you several times now….no more excuses).

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  I warned Mad Dog before we started that I was ripping his Q from two weeks prior since I liked it so much…with what I hoped was a little added Fuse Box flair.  Most of the pax picked up on the part I said about making it better.  Poor Mad Dog got ragged on for 2 minutes straight….my bad.  Lets get this 90’s rock alternative party started.

WARM UP

Run around the school parking lot…only to find out the chain blocked off an easy path….through the grass to circle up.

  • 20 SSH’s
  • 20 T Merkins
  • 12 Peter Parkers
  • 12 Potato Pickers

THE THANG

Run down to the rock pile to grab lifting rocks.  Walking curls back to the cars (so I can grab my speaker playing 90’s rock).  At the cars switch to walking shoulder press to the basketball courts.  Near the end Damascus comments that he wished his shoulders didn’t burn out so easily.  I think that’s everyone’s shoulders as mine where burning as well.  Find a cone (8 cones total and 8 pax made for the perfect number) and drop your rock.  Meet in the middle where I left the speaker to explain exercises.  First round – different exercise at each rock with cardio exercise in the middle.  Timer whistles 70 seconds for rock work and 60 seconds for cardio.  Cones were spaced roughly 30- 40 yards from the center running to the rocks or back to the center each time you hear the whistle.  Trust me when I say its much easier to understand and explain when you are there vs the back blast which is making this sound very difficult. Rock Exercises:

  • Military Press
  • Front Raise (2.0 rock)
  • Curls
  • Triceps press
  • Goblet squat
  • Explosion merkins on the rock (which for most lasted about 2-3 times before it became one hand on rock merkin then switch hands).
  • Front Raise (2.0 rock)
  • Good Mornings.  Legs straight, bend over with the rock slightly touching the ground and then raise up.  Targets hamstrings.

Cardio:

  • Mountain Climbers (Mad Dog was polite enough to let us know we “only” had 20 seconds left…..Bread Bowl politely told him where he could stick those 20 seconds…ok, maybe not that harsh but that’s how I would like to remember it).
  • Jump Lunge, Jump Squat, Jump Lunge.
  • 3, 6, 9’s
  • SSH
  • In and Outs
  • High Knees
  • Cone Suicides (Run to your cone, run to middle, run to next cone, run to middle…..until you have touched all 8 cones.

Round 2: Same Rock exercises but abs in the middle.  Stressed the importance of running to and from rocks on the whistle in order to keep heart rate up.

Abs:

  • LBC’s
  • Heels to Heaven
  • Right Side Crunches (At least three pax were on their left side)
  • Left Side Crunches (Bread bowl claimed he couldn’t do these yet when pushed to do them, he did them.  Classic mind getting in the way of what your body can really do – a problem I have as well).
  • V Ups
  • Russian Twits American Hammers – thanks to the pax for reminding me…and no, I’m not a Communist or involved in Russian Collusion as some then suggested.
  • Wind Shield Wipers – Arms out, legs up in the air, and twist legs to the left and right.  I offered the modification of bending your legs which I then quickly took.
  • Ended with Cone Suicides again.

Put the Rocks up.  Glad to see some of the stronger pax run with the rocks over their heads.  I hung back because I was wore out to check on the 2.0’s.  Meet back at the cars….pax finished SSH’s just in time for me to let them know that we had 2 minutes left and we were going to spend them doing T Merkins.  A lot of audible groaning, but we finally got it going.  With 30 seconds left I informed the group that we wouldn’t stop until Spinach did 3 T Merkins.  Good work to push through those last 3 young man…..We Done!

MOLE SKIN

  • Thanks to Mad Dog and the other pax for not giving me too hard of a time for repeating a workout.  Hopefully yall felt I improved on it slightly, and if not…keep your opinions to yourself.
  • I believe I heard we got in just under 2 miles today which was very surprising to me considering we didn’t cover a lot of ground today.
    • A good reminder that you don’t have to run 4 miles to get the heart rate up.  Running is only one of a plethora of cardio exercises you can do to get the blood pumping – shots fired at Ignition.
  • I was surprised to see Half Back there but he was a welcomed addition.  Mad Dog let it slip that he picks and chooses his workout sites based on who is on Q – only going to Q’s he things are tough.  I had assumed I would never see him at one of my Q’s since I was a Clydesdale, and today’s visit was more likely due to Commitment being the only open Q in the area than it was his desire to be led by me.  Hopefully he felt he got a good workout in today.  He pushed himself hard (as usual).
  • Speaking of Mad Dog….I’ve given him a hard time lately but he is such a great dude and I’m glad he is there to push all those around him to get better.  Thanks for your leadership in our small F3 world.
  • Bread Bowl continues to shed weight.  Keep it up dude.
  • Dough Boy pushing hard as usual.  He was behind me in the cone suicides and I had to push a little harder to keep him from passing me.  Looking trimmed down as well.
  • Spinach showing up while his brother fart sacked.  Nice work today bud!  Half the battle is getting out of bed.
  • Popeye working hard as usual while also yelling coaching his boy to work harder.  Same can be said for Dough Boy and Bread Bowls F3 relationship.  I’d love to get the 2.0’s in a circle sipping on chocolate milk one day.  I bet bread bowl has some good dirt stories on his dad.
  • That leaves Damascus….another pax I enjoy giving a hard time to….mainly because he will give it back.  Dude works hard for a Clydesdale.  I keep threatening to take his Clydesdale card away.  After everyone left today he stayed back to complete a burpee challenge – I believe 30 or 40 more burpees after an hour long workout…..crazy.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Damascus starting a new site on Oct 1 (Mondays) at 5:15 (that’s 5:15, not 5:30) at Brooklyn Pizza.  Advertising it as a medium to hard bootcamp class.  Get with Damascus for more details.
  • Chiseled – Officially launching this Wednesday at 5 Stones Church at 5:30.  The site is being billed as a gear workout, but more importantly we are pushing it as a muscle addition class.  Focusing on building muscle, proper form, cardio via movements (and not always the running kind).  Please join us for the Launch this Wednesday.  I’m still looking for equipment donations please (either temporary or permanent).
  • Damascus spoke about Alf’s recent back blast where we found out his 22 year old babysitter committed suicide.  Several pax spoke out about how important it is to talk to someone if  you are going through a rough time.  Damascus challenged us all to ask each other how we are doing.  To get past the trivial “How are things” question and get deeper.  How’s the wife?  Job going well?  Kids driving you nuts?  If your having issues, please reach out….either to the group or to one of us individually.  Popeye made a great point that sometimes just talking regular stuff (sports, work, ect) over a beer can be as impactful as a full sit down therapy session.  Don’t be afraid to ask…..or offer! (I love beer!).

An Almost Q Fail

With Q school quickly approaching (This Saturday), I pose the question – What is the biggest Q fail?….easy.  Over sleep and miss the workout entirely.  And since I almost did that very thing today, I deserved some punishment…unfortunately for the pax, they endured it with me.

I woke up this morning, rolled over and saw 5:23 staring at me…..Oh no!!!   Jumped out of bed, quickly dressed and out the door to the car only to realize…..I forgot my keys, wallet, and phone back in the bedroom.  After sprinting up the stairs, and surely waking the entire house up, I was back in the car by 5:26 and on the road.  Quick detour through Damascus’ neighborhood will get me there right on time….NOPE!  Gates closed.  5:29.  If I drive around I will be late.  If I hop out and run I may just make it…..I run.  Leaving all the equipment I had planned to use behind.  I get within eye site of Brooklyn Pizza to see the last group of pax take off around the loop and a faint murmur of trash talking about yours truly.  I meet the pax on the other side of the loop, apparently to some pax’s surprise and others disappointment.

 

 

WARM UP

Continue moseying to Target parking lot and circle up.

  • 25 SSH – just kidding, lets make it 50.  I had intended to do 25…but I felt good so I kept going.  We got to 40 and we were too close to 50 to stop.
  • Reach for the sky Merkins – 4 count, no 8 count, no….just count on your own.  I asked the in shape pax to do 20 and the rest of us to do 15.  Someone asked how you know your in shape….I will leave the answer off of this Back Blast….had to be there as it is not repeatable.  Thank goodness for the 50 SSH or the mumble chatter would have been way worse (most pax were still breathing hard).  Posse did have enough lung capacity left to remind pax of Q school coming up.
  • 10 Peter Parkers
  • 10 Potato Pickers

THE THANG

Mosey to rear corner of Target and alternate 5 Merkins and 5 jump squats at each tree.  50 LBC’s at the end and then bringing it back for alternating merkins and jump squats back to start.  Halfway in….(in my best Joe Dirt voice) “dang that’s a lot of trees”…may need to modify.  Get to the end and holler out the modification….no return trip.  Apparently Mad Dog didn’t have his hearing aids turned up this morning as he started back.

Mosey to my car parked behind the gate to grab bricks and rope.  Presses while we waited on equipment gathering.  Run back to Brooklyn pizza.  At this point I realized there were way more pax than I had planned for which severely inhibited my plans (I also left two keddle bells I had planned to use).  That mixed with Shake N Bake’s constant “I Hate You”, “Did I tell you I hate you?” talk made for an interesting mosey.

Split into two teams.  1 team ran the loop while the other team performed brick exercises and rope work.  2 people from the bricks did rope work and we rotated rope work through out the rotations.  Switch out when the runners returned.

  • Presses & 2 people rotate out squat hold with rope waves (hands out front lifting ropes back and forth to create wave motions)
  • Curls & 2 people on rope
  • Tricep kickback or press & 2 people on rope
  • Bent over fly (Reverse fly) & 2 people on rope
  • Presses & 2 people on rope.

Once everyone had their turn on the rope we caught our breath with some ab work.

  • 25 4 count LBC’s.
  • 10 each side side crunches.
  • 20 Heels to Heaven

Back to team work.  Bricks & rope for one team and run the loop for the other.

  • Presses & 2 people did low slow squat into a jump squat with a rope slam
  • Curls & rope
  • Tricep & Rope
  • Bent over Row and Rope.  By this time enough people had left early that we didn’t need a 5th round to get all the rope work in…..and it was 6:15.  We done.

MOLESKIN

  • My apologies to the pax for running late.  From what I understand I gave Doughboy a little scare that he may have to run the workout.  I set the time, but failed to set the alarm on my clock.  My lateness mixed with the number of pax required several audibles this morning.
  • Chicken Little called himself Dancing Bear during COT.  Dancing Bear was nowhere near him which promps the question….why was Dancing Bear on Chicken Little’s mind?  Hmmm…….
  • My plan was to keep us moving so the Gazelles didn’t get upset, while also incorporating some gear.  I believe based solely on that very limited goal, I achieved it.
  • The Rope was a nice adder today.  I’ve got a lot more planned for it at Chiseled.  Big thanks to Dasher for that donation.
  • Good work by the group today.  I through some new stuff at you and you kept up.
  • Legalized becoming a regular and his endurance is improving.  Keep up the work.
  • Briarcrest contingent was strong (as usual).
  • Shake N Bake has been working his tail off and somehow talking deadwood and Rubbermaid into joining him.  Good work on the pre run guys (I can only assume yall preran since I was late).
  • Doughboy thanked me for showing up and preventing him from having to Q on the fly.  Thank you Doughboy for allowing me to Q.  Sorry to give you a scare this morning.
  • Almost a swamp round 2 this morning with Bread Bowl, but unlike his brother…he found a portajon close enough to avert disaster.
  • 19 pax at watchtower is impressive.  I love that we as a group are growing and bringing in new blood.  Lets keep it up as we begin expanding the number of workouts in our area.  Ask your neighbor, your co worker, the baseball dad that sits near you at games and doesn’t judge that you cracked a cold one at 10:30 on a Saturday.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Q School this Saturday at Cuthbertson at 6:30.  If you are looking to get better, learn how to Q for your first time, learn how to write a Back Blast, get credentialed to write a back blast, or just want to go give Money Ball a hard time…I suggest going.   This is a once a 6 month event so don’t miss it.  I would include a link to sign up but Posse’s link is to a used car site.  I guess he is sick of the Prius.
  • Chiseled is starting a week from tomorrow (Sept 26th) at Five Stones Church.  This is a gear focused workout intended to add some muscle on the pax.  We have a lot of skinny pax running around from boot camps…not its time to put some muscle on those frames.  There will still be running at this site, but reduced as compared to a typical boot camp.  Looking to to 1- 2 miles vs 2-3 miles at a typical workout.  Banjo and myself are Site Q’s.  If you have gear you would like to donate to the cause (either temporarily or permanently), please get with myself or Banjo.  We can never have too many plates, dumb bells, or keddle bells.  Sandbags, large stones, weight ropes, ect. are also welcomed.

Break In The New Banjo

19 Pax showed up on a nice and breezy morning to break in the new VQ Banjo.  The Pax took it relatively easy on me for reasons unknown.  Possibly because of the name and fear of being led down a dark alley to where banjo music was being played abundantly………

Warmup: 

Run to Dreamchaser and circle up.  Dana then announced that if things start to go really south with this this hurricane bearing down on Charlotte he would take refuge in Dreamchasers!  Love where his head is at.

15 SSH(Big Ten’s)

15 Mountain Climbers with calf stretches at end, walk it up to Jimmy Duggans

15 Imperial Walkers

10 LSS

 

The Thang

Mosey around downtown Waxhaw to sidewalk at Bike Depot and grab a partner

Station 1:

Partner 1 mini suicide runs, while partner 2 does dips (rounds 1 and 3)

Partner 1 mini suicide runs, while partner 2 does step ups(rounds 2 and 4)

 

Station 2:  Dean Smith 4 corners

Merkins, jumping squats, LBC’s and SSH’s at each corner, 20 reps each time

4 laps, pick up the 6 when done

My first negative backlash came from Recalculating as he mentioned we do AMRAP’s at the end of the month not today.  My Q had begun.

 

Station 3 Kim Jon Hill:

Partner back up, Partner 1 runs while Partner 2 does LSS

Everyone back up the hill and pick up 6 on the way

People’s Chair with air press while we wait for 6 at the top

One last light pole suicide sprint to finish us up

 

MOLE SKIN:

Had a lot of fun leading this group around Waxhaw this morning.  Briarcrest came out strong to support the vQ so I really appreciate that as well as all the others even Lawson.  I’m sure the next time you guys won’t take it as easy on me but until then don’t go down any dark alleys that have Banjo music playing.

 

Announcements:

Dancing Bear thanked everyone for the great response to his charity

Fuse Box needs supplies for new start up spot at 5 Stones

Ghost Writing a VQ

I was asked in advance by Southern Belle if I could ghost write his first Back Blast due to an early morning trip to Wilmington.  I warned him that as I’ve said in the past, if I have to ghost write it….I’m bringing the pain as to deter others from not writing the BB.  He agreed and said go do it because otherwise the BB wouldn’t come at all.  So here goes….

17 Pax showed up to see if an old man could make it through his own workout.  Many were disappointed to find out he could.  Southern Belle stepped out of the car with a determined look on his face and a head band that looked similar to what the ski bunnies (or maybe honeys?) wear on the slopes.  As with most VQ’s, it started with some questionable counting and flubbed exercise names.  Well – actually he got the exercise name right….I think the pax just didn’t want to do it so they pretended to question the name.

WARM UP

Mosey to the….wait…..what, no mosey?  Has this guy lost his mind.  We always start with a mosey.  Even Big Ten did a 10 foot mosey.  This Q has lost his mind.  Is he going to skip Side Straddle Hops too?????

  • 10 Side Straddle Hops (I saw the tip of the hat Southern Belle gave Big 10)
  • 10 Potato Pickers. We almost lost Frack.  The yoga comments started flying.
  • 10 Imperial Squawkers.  Wait what?  An imperial what?  Many of the pax appeared to be confused – or just put on a really good show.  Q actually had this exercise right though.
  • 10 Merkins (I think.  Remembering the counts when you didn’t develop the workout is surprisingly tough)
  • 10 Mountain climbers
  • Calf Stretch

 

THE THANG

Mosey to Main Street area.  Not sure the road name but its the one Mary O’Neil’s is on.  Q called out a light post workout.  5 Burpees at the first 5 light posts, 10 Q Jacks at next 5 light posts, 10 Mountain climbers at last 5 light posts.  Q was near the front….q juice was strong this morning.

Lunge Walk past dream chasers then alternating 10 merkins and 10 squats at the lights.  Go to end of the road and then bring it back.  This was a variation of a transporter workout in which we did 10 merkins at each light.  I initially thanked Southern Belle for adding squats in as it didn’t make it feel as bad….though now as I’m writing this I am realizing the doubling back part means we did just as many Merkins as transporter….but also that many squats.  You ole’ sneaky B****** (Insert what ever B word you wish there, I for one like the 7 letter one).  Q doubled back past me way faster than I was expecting.  Mary waiting on me the 6…..they appeared to be waiting awhile.  Probably because most of the Clydesdales were talking about how we could Q jack the workout and do keg stands at dream chasers instead.

Light post work again.  10 Plank Rotations at first 5 lights, 5 jump squats at next 5 lights, followed by 5 hand release merkins with a bear crawl in between the lights.  For me, the plank rotations are a deceptive ab workout.  I could feel my obliques tightening up towards the end.  Made some ground up on the jump squats….probably because I had bad form and not because I was faster.  Got to the hand release merkins and decided the heck with this to modify most of the bear crawls.  By this time there was lots of complaining from the pax about hands hurting and rough asphalt.  Southern Belle seemed to have a gleeful smile listening to the whining, or perhaps he was just glad that someone finally through out rubber maids gloves (by the way, mad love to the person that did that.  We all owe you one).  Southern Belle called out dips and step ups to mary as we waited on the 6 (which for once wasn’t me).

5 minutes left….what to do, what to do.  Southern Belle decided we would mosey back to start for abs.  Frack took an early lead and never looked back.

  • Southern Belle started us off with flutters…25 maybe?
  • He then passed the baton to Shake N Bake which I believe we can all now agree was a mistake.  I think we did 40 dollies?  I blacked out lost count.
  • Someone did Freddy Mercuries…I forgot who.
  • Rubber Maid did protractor and threw it to me… I was confused as to if he wanted me to continue counting protractors or do a new exercise….either way I kept doing protractors for a sneaky 10 count down then up.
  • Southern Belle attempted to shorten his own Q by 30 seconds but I wasn’t having it.  The newest Pax Eli closed us out with an attempted 10 back scratchers.  Southern Belle rudely interrupted him at 8, though I must admit they felt more like back scrapers that scratchers on that asphalt.

 

MOLE SKIN

  • Great first Q for Southern Belle.  He had a plan and stuck to it.  Nice work.
  • Eli staying strong for only his second post.  Good meeting you today.
  • Chicken Little and Zinfandel stayed ahead of me most of the day which is depressing for me.  I thought I’d enjoy not being the 6 for a little while longer.  Good work.
  • Dana battled through a back injury….or apparently was floating that as an excuse to modify today.
  • Lawson vs Briarcrest battle was a tie today by my count….4 vs 4.  We would of had you beat but Dancing Bear decided to fart sack claiming he had an injury.
  • I think all the pax were in agreement that they paved downtown Waxhaw with a mixture of asphalt, rocks, and glass.
  • I really tried hitting Southern Belle in this bb….but its hard to.  He’s too nice of a guy and I have relatively little dirt on him.  His Dawgs are coming off one of their best seasons in years, kids are well behaved, no embarrassing stories.  Other than the fact that he is old, only slightly taller than Goodfella, and occasionally wears head bands; I don’t have any other ammo.
  • Frack continues to show he has turned over a new leaf.  I lobbed a couple softballs his way today and he didn’t hit back.  Stayed strong during stretching exercises, and even cracked a beer drink during announcements.  I kinda miss being called fat and slow by the new joyful Frack.  (Yeah, i’m kidding – thank god Frack has turned over a new leaf)
  • Rubbermaid and Shake N Bake on a 3 mile pre run.  Both sheding some weight recently and looking cut.  Good work.
  • Damascus was abcent….I guess he is still drinking cleaning up the spilled wine on the dog.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Sandbox looking for volunteers to mow the Commodores grass in Indian Land.  They have someone for this weekend but still need help through the fall.
  • No takers on the Hope Challenge.

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