15 men gathered on the eve of Fathers Day at Calvary to run some miles and take in some humidity. I had a recycled workout ready to be executed. I gave a disclaimer and told the crew we would be discussing “Dad moments” as we travelled. We took a turn toward exit 3 (I think) of the Calvary campus and ran toward Carrington Racquet Club. Here goes:
Warm Up:
IW
LSS
Merkins
The Thang:
I filled in the troops that we would be running the cul-de-sacs of Carrington and Bevington. At each cul-de-sac, we knocked out 15 of the stated exercise. I made up the exercises as we went (shocker, I know….and noted by Alf) but the ones I recall are:
Heels to Heaven
CDDs
Plank Jacks
Dolly
Merkins
HR Merkins
Freddy Mercury
Monkey Humpers
We finished up on Bevington and ran toward the South Charlotte Library. We ran past a post mortem deer on Rea which only exasperated the aggressive upward slope run. We did some Mary in the library lot followed by some calf raises while partners ran the lot loop. Some stern, angry looking librarians showed up for work so we got out of dodge.
We finished up with gassers in the Calvary lot with 10 counts and Mary exercises mixed in.
That’s a wrap….4.5 miles!
Moleskin:
During our run, I asked selected pax to answer questions about their Dads. Thanks for playing along. Here were the questions and answers by dude:
Stonecold: Q: Best vacation with your Dad? A: Surf City Beach in 1980 (bonus points for remembering the year)
Horsehead: Q: Line you always heard your Dad say? A: That’ll put spickarickum in your macaroni (copyright stolen for title)
Spackler: Q: Funniest thing your Dad did as a kid? A: Dragged weights out of the garage and lifted them in the driveway to pick up the ladies.
Prohibition: Q: What was your Dad’s favorite drink? A: Old Fashioned with cheap bourbon.
Alf: Q: What was the maddest you ever made your dad? A: Lied about turning the house upside down looking for Playboys.
My apologies if I forgot any Dad stories! Weigh in if I did. Great to be with you boys! Geraldo and Hoover, thanks for the privilege to Q! The Rock Zero site will always be dear to me! So many great memories and so many more to be made….courtesy of the men of A51! Happy Father’s Day studs!
Announcements:
Crane Relay is August 13
Grow Ruck is August 6
Floorslapper and his wife are expecting a child in one week! Congrats bro!
Flipper on Q next week
Prayers to Booyah who was very recently diagnosed with throat cancer. It is localized which is good news, but please keep him and his family in your prayers as they are understandably shocked and dealing with the surprise.
Have a great week, men!
Hopper
Posted on behalf of Limey:
Workout recap:
o sidestraddle
o imperial
o low slow
o windmill
o Peter Parker
o crab/lunges/bearcrawl/jumps
o calf raises x 40
o 1 lap around building
o 20x step ups, 20x inclines, lap – x3
o rock: curl while partner jogs down/back
o rock: bent row “”
o rock: tri “”
o rock: lying pullovers “”
o rock: front shoulder raises “”
o rock: bench “”
Enjoyed Q-ing Hawk’s Nest for the first time, good crowd as usual. Only got 3/4 through my planned workout, time flies when you’re having fun. Will have to cut out all that running next time. Especially the “FIA lap” that Spackler was so fond of.
-Limey
15 studs showed up for a forewarned running episode of Rock Zero. The temp teetered at 40, so a little nippy, but we came ready to endure. The kettlebellers were setting up their stage at Olympus while we prepped. It was time to roll. I made a quick disclaimer and off we journeyed.
ALERT: This BB has less info about the workout and more about the The Moleskin. After all, the observations and mumble chatter moleskins are 95% of why we show up….so let’s get at it:
Warm Up:
We jogged our way to Carrington Swim Club for some of the following:
We crossed 51 so we could use the newly paved triple lane sidewalk to get to Windswept.
The Thang:
Jog into Windswept. Did some LBC working recovery, then ran down to Binfords Ridge Rd. Partner up. Partner #1 runs to one cul de sac while partner #2 runs to the other. 10 merkins in each cul de sac, then 10 HR merkins when you meet up with your partner. Repeato, but flapjack on direction.
Lunge walk then jog to Nora’s Path Rd. Same idea as Binfords Ridge Rd, but Heels to Heaven in the cul de sacs then Freddy Mercury with your partner. Repeato a la flapjack.
Run out of Windswept and cross 51. Geraldo got tied up playing frogger so while we waited, we pleased the passing traffic with monkey humpers….rears facing traffic, of course!
Get to the library. Little plank recovery. Keep your partner. Partner #1 runs the parking lot island while partner #2 does said exercise. Flapjack. Exercises were:
Jog across Rea back to Calvary. One lap around North Face with CDDs at the end.
5 roundtrip gassers in the parking lot with Mary in between.
LBC’s and merkins to finish.
Moleskin:
My reflections below:
We covered 4.5ish miles and worked in a few exercises. We also got to meet up with 6 of our Olympus bros for COT! Very cool! Geraldo and Hoover, thanks for the chance to lead! Rock Zero and that AO will always be near and dear to me! Gummy, thanks for the prayer, man!
Announcements:
Beer mile on 3/19
Dark Helmet at Stonehenge next week
March Madness Challenge is on. Read Flipper’s blasts
Functional Strength Challenge coming in May. 3 Categories of lifting and also categorized by age. High Tide is developing the plan!
You know, sometimes when I write these backblasts I can struggle with what to say. We did this, we did that, and so on…….
But today’s workout gave me plenty of material. To start, after I sent out a Slack notice about the workout yesterday, the first response was from Snuka! Yes, Snuka is on Slack! Who knew? That alone might be enough for a backblast, but, men…..there’s more….
14 studs showed up today for a cold Anvil morning. As I pulled into the lot, I was honored and overwhelmed that Lorax and Point Break had ordered a construction lift that would raise me above the heads of all of the pax so I could offer the disclaimer like Benito Mussolini. Isn’t that thoughtful? Much to my chagrin, Point Break lost the keys to the lift so I could not be properly elevated to address the crowd…..disappointing!
Secondly, as we were stretching Lorax reported to several of us that he had to liquidate his kids’ 529 plans to pay for new headlights on his Jeep. I won’t tell you the price, but certain previously owned vehicles cost less than Lorax’s headlights.
I started to spew my disclaimer, but told the men I had woken up twice in the night fearing I had slept through my alarm….never happened to me before so I was relieved to have even been there. In terms of the disclaimer, I told them I adored them, but was not responsible for them. I am not sure anyone believed either of those statements. So, off we went:
Warm Up:
Jog to the grassy knoll courtyard in front of Calvary, for:
The Beast:
We sashayed to one of the lamp lights near the hot box and I instructed the pax we would be running the main thoroughfare connecting 51 to Rea Rd, stopping at six lamp lights for six stated exercises. I got to catch up with Mr Magoo on Buckeye and Big 10 football at this point, which made it all worthwhile. We repeated this four times back and forth (those lights are far apart from each other and frankly….I got tired) with:
We circled up for some working recovery mary a la dollys, flutter and crunches.
The Tree Lane:
We yogged to the main lane that connects the outer thoroughfare of Calvary to the church. At each tree you come to, rotate through lunges, broad jumps and bear crawls until you get to the end of the lane.
Rock City:
We journeyed to the front of the church, partnered up and grabbed a lifting rock. Partner 1 runs back to the grassy knoll courtyard while Partner 2 days stated exercise, then flapjack:
We had about 7 minutes left so we jogged to one of the front lots of Calvary for 10 quick 40-yardish gassers. We were about 3 in when Snowflake said “Hopper, this will be reflected upon negatively in your YELP review!”. Horsehead immediately responded with “You know you have done something wrong when Snowflake talks smack to you”. Amen! Fortunately, I know Snowflake is the forgiving type and he and I will be good, but I did have to check myself after that one.
Jog to the cars to finish up! That’s a wrap!
Moleskin:
I met some new dudes today…..Chopper, Fargo, Midriff, Chastain, Das Boot. It was my pleasure boys! Funny how you can meet new dudes at a F3 workout and by the end of it, you feel like you knew them for a while. Lorax, Orange Whip and Point Break killed most everything and most of us were watching their backs for 45 minutes….strong! Snuka was his normal 29 year old self disguised in the body of a 59 year old! Fast and furious! Horse Head’s and Puddin Pop’s stand up comedy routines made my legs and lungs hurt less in the moment, so thank you for that boys! Mr. Magoo….all I have to say is “O-H…..”. Snowflake, I might have been overzealous this morning, but we share the same birthday so you have to forgive me…..#birthdaybrothers.
Lorax and Point Break, thanks a ton for allowing me the honor and Midriff…..excellent take out prayer!
Announcements:
Orange Whip is hosting Q school this Saturday after Rock Zero. Come workout at 7:00 then join the Top Gun instruction. Great way to learn the 1st F mantra and how to keep the pax moving and motivated during a workout. We have a lot of new guys who are certainly Q worthy so come out and get up to speed on how to lead a workout.
2020 Passport Challenge goes through 12/31 and includes any F3 activity
Canned food drive at Hydra tomorrow morning
Site Q Note: Not only did Amber VQ earlier this week, but he actually wrote a blackblast to go with it! In the words of Deniece Williams…..”Let’s Hear It For The Boy!”. Stellar example! Here you go men:
A strong group of 21 showed up for my VQ and it was really time to make everyone feel like they are 33 again. With the humidity turned down and the anxiety of our Clemson football brethren inching one step closer to the day Trevor Lawrence sits out for the year, the team was ready to work.
The Thang:
For the workout, we started in our circle of trust/death (to each is own) with some imperial walkers and some side shuffle hops.
Next we moseyed to the hills where we Triple nickeled with jump squats and Fred Mercury or Mercisons. Shoutout to Slingshot for leading the way up the hill.
Following the brutal 5 hills, we lunged down the flat into a side shuffle basketball style which Hopper swiftly abandoned for the grapevine.
Next we moseyed to Hope Church where we faced the toughest challenge yet. It was lifting time, and some were serious about their arm day. 10 Curls, 10 OH Presses and 10 OH Tricep Presses, followed by a run down to the church entrance for 10 Merkins and back……5 times. Some barely made it out, but we never leave brother behind.
We moseyed back to wall where we dodged some near fatal slips and sat against the wall for a good old classic wall sit. So that we didn’t leave the rest of the legs unsore, we followed with some leg raises on the fountain and then back to the launch for a circle of trust / death abs workout.
Moleskin:
In short, it is an honor to lead this amazing group of men who help make each week go by much easier and continue to challenge me to be a better man, dad, husband and brother. While my only wish that didn’t come true was to have an FNG attend my VQ, I suppose wishes can still come true in the future.
Amber
On Friday, Cake Boss from The Fort sent a message to Voodoo informing him that Cash, a F3 brother, is in his final days of a battle against cancer. All pax attending Saturday workouts were requested to wear black in his honor. 16 of us showed up to do just that at Rock Zero. None of us know Cash personally….but, we don’t need to. He is a F3 brother, a family man and someone who needs to know others are here for him and his family….so a tribute was planned. Parts of the workout would line with some famous Johnny Cash songs.
A disclaimer was provided and off we went:
Warm Up:
Jog to the large front lot of Calvary, for IW, Low Slow Squats and MC’s. Jog to Entry #1 of Calvary on 51 to start the formal workout.
I Walk The Line:
Native American Run from Entry #1 to Elm Lane. Kudos to whoever recommended we cross the street to the newly paved sidewalk on the North side of 51 (thank you City of Charlotte). After breaking up the line, we jogged down Elm Lane to Old Well and Challis Hill Lanes. We half-piped it (kind of an elbow pipe if you will) with 10 plank jacks at the top of each pipe and 10 Sister Mary Catherines at the valley/midpoint. Some kind gentlemen on Challis Hill was walking his dog wondering why in the hell we were charging the hill and conducting exercises at the top (we all wondered the same)!
A little Mary for working recovery at the bottom of Challis Hill. Run back up to Elm Lane. 15 or so Monkey Humpers (McGee suggested our rumps face the street…we all complied). Native American run back to Calvary.
Wall work against the hotbox. In the midst, two Mens Group members showed up to claim the hotbox for what appeared to be a bible study group (they get right of way on that one)….so time to switch the plan a little:
Don’t Take Your Guns To Town:
Time to address the guns! Grab a rock next to the sand volleyball courts. Bring it over to the picnic tables. Conduct the following with your rock:
After a set, run to the nearby island and back. Repeat all of the above.
Ring of Fire
This one is awful, yet effective. You know the drill! Plank in a circle while each man runs around the circle. I believe it was OT who asked “why do my knees hurt so bad when I plank?”. Amen, bro….amen!
After a little Mary break, we headed to the baseball field to pick up a hybrid/lift/run rock. Lift it over your head and walk about 100 yards to a specific street light. Put the rock down and run the roundtrip distance to the baseball field and back. Repeat.
We had a little time left so we jogged closer to the cars and did two quick gassers (quick, not fast).
That’s a wrap!
Moleskin:
We joined the men from Olympus (Voodoo, Beetlejuice, Frehleys Comet, Unplugged) and circled up. It was a quiet COT as we all knew why we were there….to honor a brother. Unplugged offered a great take-out prayer and we took a pic to memorialize why we were there. Much love to Cash and his family! We are with you!
Thanks to Geraldo and Hoover for the chance to lead! Thanks to all of you men who came out! It was an honor.
Hopper
27 pax showed up on a morning so humid it felt like we were wrapped in our grandmother’s afghan blankets from the start. BRUTAL! The site Qs (Gummy and Sprockets) have been daredevils lately and both are on IR. So, I quickly disclaimed the men and we headed out for a journey through Olde Providence. Here’s how it went:
Warm Up:
20 or so IW….15 or so Low Slow Squats….15 or so Mountain Climbers
The Thang:
Jog to the intersection of Windy Rush and Knightswood. Instructions: Running down Knightswood, stop at each street light for 5 Heals to Heaven (a personal favorite for some reason). Stop at Bedfordshire. I started to explain that our current location would be one top of the half pipe. I was met with feedback that sounded something like this….”Queen did this exact workout last week”. Ugh, so much for trying to be original. Queen, once again, outshined (outshown??) me. Oh well….we are gonna see this one through. On Bedfordshire, 10 merkins at the top of each hill and 10 jump squats at the mid point. We did three rounds. While running the halfpipe, I heard more about what Queen did last week, which gave me time to improvise. We did a little Mary on Bedfordshire for working recovery, then headed to the Foxworth hill.
Pick a partner. Partner 1 runs up and down the hill while Partner 2 does various Mary exercises. Three rounds. Lunge walk and jog down the rest of Foxwood to that eerie cul de sac at the bottom of the hill. Plank work.
Native American run up Windy Rush, but with the last two runners charging up the hill, instead of one (Semi Gloss tried to sell me on forming two lines….I resisted and tried something new….I should have listened to him). We got out of formation quickly, but we still all took the Windy Rush hill in 290% humidity, so….yeah us!!!
Bench work on the bus lot side of OPE. 10 dips, 10 step ups, 10 upright merkins (x2).
Short jog to the bus lot and line up abreast (that one was for you Gummy)! Crab walk, karaoke left and right, backward running and bear crawl exercises.
We had few minutes left so 5 gassers of about 40 yards just to make sure we sweat out every ounce of liquid we had in our bodies.
I think we did some Mary from time to time throughout the morning, but I can’t remember when. #oxygendeprivation.
That’s a wrap!
Moleskin:
We covered a 5K in total (for those not following the metric system, that is 3.1 miles). Observations:
Gummy and Sprockets….heal up well and fast boys! You are missed. Thanks for letting me lead.
Baywatch, thank you for the take-out prayer!
Toodles, Hopper!
On the night of Valentine’s Day, the banter began about the Area 51 Cold War era of The Rock vs. Day Zero (the combined entity which is now Rock Zer0). Good vs. Bad. Capitalism vs. Communism. Hope vs. Suppression. Horsehead launched the grenade saying The Rock should just reclaim its name, now that Good, Capitalism and Hope have won out (fine, those are my words, not his). Sad, misdirected commentary followed from both Prohibition and Purple Haze as if the were journalists from The Daily Worker. Horsehead later commented that we were clearly crushing Valentine’s Day by re-opening old wounds and taking time to comment on Slack instead of being with our M’s. He had a point!
But Saturday was a new day! A fifteen year old (Skipper) was ready for his co and VQ and my daughter was turning 11 (hence the rep count on most everything we did). This was a day to move forward, not backward. Hence, that is just what we did as sixteen sleepy studs showed up for a Rock Zero soiree.
Warm-Up:
After a half-butt disclaimer, we jogged toward the basketball court areas of Calvary for:
Hopper Q:
The pax was told to run fellowship-style to the corner of Elm and 51. They did and we did 11 Monkey Humpers at the intersection, much to the disgust of the oncoming traffic. We jogged into Rea Woods and found two hills and partnered up. One partner runs up hill 1 and does 11 of something, while partner 2 runs up the other hills and does 11 of the same thing. Meet back and do 11 of something together. Flapjack the hill:
Skipper Q:
We ran back to the Calvary campus (thanks to Spackler we found a shortcut in the fence line), and went to the hotbox:
The above was completed for there rounds.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Skipper called for tunnel of love. Spackler played supervisor.
Hopper Q:
Wall work and some sprints to one of the light posts and back.
Skipper Q:
North Face challenge. Three rotations up the hill and LBC’s in between each one.
Hopper and Skipper Q:
8 or so 50 yard dashes with Mary in between each one for working recovery.
Skipper finished us up back at the cars with a round of called angles on the protractor.
That’s a wrap!
Moleskin:
Observations by Skipper during his VQ:
There you have it!
Thanks Geraldo and Hoover for giving my 2.0 and I a chance to co-Q! That was awesome! Thanks to the pax for giving him encouragement while he was leading….he enjoyed being with y’all! Alf rightfully asked at one point when we were going to get some real leadership and have Skipper Q…..couldn’t agree more, man!
Happy 11th birthday to Rowan Smith! I love you.
Levi, thank you for a great take-out prayer!
Announcements:
Doc McStuffins is recovering well after heart surgery a couple of weeks ago. He is up and walking and making progress.
Keep Bugeater and his family in your prayers. His family had a fire at their home, but it was contained and everyone is OK. Remember to clean your dryer vents!
Hops on Q next week!