16 men gathered for a pollution-free Olympic Games at McKee Road Elementary School. No mosquitoes, green water, or synchronized divers were in sight.
1/2 mile warm up run
Standard warm up – Side Straddle Hop / Imperial Walker / Squats / Merkins / LBCs
4X100 relay race – round 1
4X100 relay race – round 2
Dolly / Flutter / Back Scratchers / LBCs
Lunge walk / karaoke right / karaoke left / butt kicks / high knees, with various forms of merkins in between sets – wide arms, regular, military, diamond and fingertips
To the playground for Joker’s mandatory circuit work… 10 pull ups / 20 squats / 20 dips… three rounds of each
1/4 mile Indian run… 25 merkins
1/4 mile Indian run… 25 merkins
Moleskin
11 men exercised at South Charlotte Middle School from 5:30-6:15AM today.
What we did:
Observations
14 men gathered for an early morning workout at McKee Road Elementary School, and this is what they did:
Moleskine
17 men pounded the pavement around South Charlotte Middle School for a fairly high intensity low-intensity workout. Here is what we did:
SSH X 50
IW X 50
Squats X 50
Merkins X 20
Warm up run… 3/4-ish of a mile
Station work by the bleachers:
Dips X 20 / Pull Ups X 20 and LBCs X 20… rinse and repeat… rinse and repeat
Mosey to the track
Warm up lap
400 meters with 15 merkins in each of the “four corners”
Recover with some ab work
400 meters with 5 burpees in each corner
Recover with some ab work
400 meters with 10 CDDS in each corner
Recover with some ab work
400 meters at full speed to finish workout
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Great group of men this morning, with a mix of cagey old veterans and new guys.
Until recently I didn’t really have a reputation as a guy that pulls into the parking lot 30 seconds before the workout, but that seems to be my MO lately. So, pulled in at 5:29:30, and lucky me… the PAX were already in a circle. So, I jumped right in and off we went.
Gummy accused me of not planning my workout. Not true. I gave it deep thought from about 5:25 – 529AM. Workouts should never be too scripted, right? I’d rather keep it free-flowing, like a [very short] Grateful Dead concert.
Bratwurst and I noticed while doing pull ups that the men of F3 are putting a hurtin on what used to be grass under the hand rails used for pull up bars. I guess that’s what happens when you have grown men tearing up the campus four days a week. Speaking of Bratwurst, who says the guy doesn’t do bootcamp workouts? I saw him do merkins and burpees with my own eyes today.
I told Fireman Ed he was looking trim today, but his response was that he’s “still 220”. Hey man, you wear it well… plus, you can’t be some skinny New York Jets fan anyway.
Booyah has been a regular at various South Charlotte workouts for quite some time now. Always pushing it out there… and always with that high-top hat [which I hope gets washed from time to time].
Great to see Smash… one of the Base Camp originals… still going strong.
I neglected to write down names from the workout today. I think I got about 95% of the names right, but made a few educated guesses at the end. My contract with F3 says my backblasts don’t have to be accurate, so please forgive me.
Warm up lap… 1/4 mile
Plank… yes, that was the opening exercise
SSH X 30
IW X 30
Merkins X 30
Pair up and retrieve cinder blocks from the woods
Partner 1… 1/4 race as fast as you can; partner 2… curls with cinderblock… flapjack
Partner 1… 1/4 mile race; partner 2… bench press… flapjack
Partner 1… 1/4 mile race; partner 2… tricep extensions… flapjack
Partner 1… 1/4 mile race; partner 2… bent row… flapjack
Return cinder blocks
Run back to school… People’s Chair, with sets of incline merkins and decline merkins mixed in
Run to playground… three sets each of pull ups X 10 and squats X 20
Stomach stuff… Dolly, Flutter, LBCs
10 burpees OYO
Moleskin
18 men did manly things at South Charlotte Middle School this morning.
Warm Up
SSH X 40
IW X 40
Squat X 30
Jog around parking lot twice, with some shuffling, butt kicks and back pedals mixed in
Partner up for the Gopher
Partner 1 runs down to the track, does one lap then runs back to the outhouse. Partner 2 runs down to the bleachers between the baseball fields and does 20 dips, 20 pull ups, 20 CDDs and 20 LBCs, then runs back to the outhouse. At the outhouse, Partner 1 and Partner do a total of 20 burpees. Then, Partner 1 and 2 flapjack. This routine was done was done for about 35 minutes.
Work the Core
Backscratcher X 30
Dolly X 30
Flutter X 30
LBCs X 30
LBCs X 30
Color Commentary
Despite the fact that I was reminded just a few days that I was on Q this morning… if it wasn’t for Simba’s late Sunday night “pre-tweet”, I might have missed the workout… so, thanks Simba.
The first time I did the Gopher workout was 2-3 years ago when 49er led the workout. I know it’s not the most creative of workouts, but it get the job done in terms of cardio and upper body work. Good work by everyone out there this morning.
I guess I should have explained at the beginning of the Gopher that we would keep doing it for at least 30 minutes or so, as guys were asking, “do we keep going?” Of course we do!
Had an FNG today introduce himself as “No Name” during COT. I thought that was his actual nickname. We went with Care Bear, but No Name wouldn’t have been half bad.
Great work by Booyah… showing up with new toys for the Alexander Youth Network toy drive.
Men of Area 51,
As many of you know, F3 has a longstanding relationship with Alexander Youth Network [AYN]. AYN is a non-profit organization that provides professional treatment to children with serious emotional and behavioral problems. There are up to 36 kids [boys and girls, ranging from 8-14 years old] that live at AYN, receiving daily treatment over a number of months. Many of these kids have come from rough circumstances, including physical and emotional violence. F3 has had a partnership with AYN for over a year. We’ve done about 15 workouts with the kids; we hosted a cookout for the kids, and the F3 Foundation has purchased outdoor sporting equipment for AYN.
With Christmas right around the corner, we’ve decided to embark on a “Christmas toy drive” to buy NEW toys for the boys and girls at AYN. We have assembled a group of Toy Qs that will get the word out and coordinate the toy collection efforts across Area 51 during the next few weeks. The Toy Drive will end on the morning of December 19th. See below for a list of the Toy Qs, and also for the wish list items that have been provided by kids at AYN.
Toy Qs
Alexander Youth Network 2015 Holiday Wish List
During this busy holiday season, Alexander Youth Network is honored that you would consider donating new toys for our children. Below is a list of their greatest holiday needs this year, based on wish lists collected from their children.
24 men braved the elements [well, not really] at Joust [or are we still Jevlar?] this morning.
The Thang
Jog down to the track
Run up/down stadium steps, zig-zagging our way across
Standard warm up… SSH / IW / Squats
Field warm up… shuffle right / shuffle left / butt kickers / back pedal… each 50 yards
Lunge walk from 50 yard line to goal line – stopping every ten yards to rep out 15 merkins
Partner up [see Moleskine for more information on what should have been an easy task] and do as follows:
-Partner 1 full speed 400 meter run while Partner 2 zig-zags up/down the stadium steps; meet at exchange point and do 100 merkins [in aggregate with your partner]; then flap jack with Partner 2 doing the 400 meter full speed run and Partner 1 on the stadium steps; meet at the exchange point and do 80 merkins in aggregate
-Repeato
-Repeato
-Repeato… for a total of 4 laps per partner, with some change ups in the exercises we did at the exchange points as we switched from partner 1 to partner 2 each time on the track
Did some planks throughout the workout, threw in some LBCs along the way and Carolina Dry Docks.
Finished the workout with mason twists and 20 merkins OYO.
Moleskine
Great group of men out there this morning. Enjoyed having a chance to lead. Few noteworthy items I recall:
F3 initiated a relationship with Alexander Youth Network [AYN] in January 2015. AYN is a non-profit facility that provides professional treatment to children with serious emotional and behavioral problems. The work we’ve done at AYN has been with kids that are in the residential program. These kids – typically ages 6-12, and mainly boys – live at AYN for months at a time as they receive treatment. Thus far during 2015, men of F3 have led ten Saturday workouts at AYN, we’ve led and funded [thanks to the F3 Foundation] a fun summer cookout on the AYN campus, and we attended the annual AYN celebration/fundraising luncheon held in uptown Charlotte. And I’m pleased to report that in September we are scheduled to deliver new sports equipment to the AYN campus, thanks to a $1,300 grant from the F3 Foundation that will enable us to purchase all sorts of gear [e.g., footballs, basketballs, volleyball set, disc golf set, ping pong table, etc.] for the [up to] 36 residential program participants that live on campus at any given time.
In late 2014 when I reached out to AYN I wasn’t sure if anything would come of it, or even what the possibilities were. But, I knew for sure that men of F3 would rise to the occasion if we put a program in place. Interestingly enough, after connecting with AYN I learned that two men of F3 were/are serving on the AYN Board [which I suppose shouldn’t have been a surprise]. We launched our workouts in January and since that time we’ve been present and we’ve been consistent. 20 men of F3 have been involved in some capacity during this period. We know the kids and they know us. And while I suppose it would have been worthwhile to have done just one workout with the kids at AYN, I believe the reason we are having an IMPACT is because we’ve created a sustained partnership. One of my best my moments at AYN was at an event where after seeing one of the kids a couple times during the same week he said to me, “I see you everywhere.” Our work with AYN is yet another example of how men from all across F3 Nation take action and make a difference. Triple claps to the men that have been involved, and thanks goes to the F3 Foundation for supporting our efforts.
Joker
10 men worked out and this is what they did:
Joker on Q
Warm up 1/4 mile
Standard warm up – SSH, IW, Squat, Merkin, LBC
Parking lot leg warm up – shuffle; karaoke right; karaoke left; back pedal
Joker’s 800 meter run [which we think is closer to 1,000 to 1,100 meters]
Circuit work on playground – pull ups, dips, squats and some plank mixed in
Lunge walk and people’s chair with air presses
Huggie on Q:
Mosey to center pole in the newly landscaped field
Three pole Starfish –
Phase 1
Center – 10 squats
1st pole – 10 lunges
2nd pole – 15 jump squats
3rd pole – 15 Carolina dry docks
Phase 2
Center – 10 merkins
1st pole – 10 wide arm merkins
2nd pole – 10 diamond merkins
3rd pole – 10 hand release merkins
Mosey to rock pile for a “lifting rock” – circle up with your rock on the field
Each PAX calls out a rock based exercise for the group to do while the caller runs two laps around the circle
Curls, Squats, Rock burpees, Greg Louganis, Shoulder presses, merkins on your rock, run to the pole (w/o your rock), hold your rock prone, tricep extensions.
Mosey to back playground with the stumps for some circuit work –
15 jump ups or step ups
15 tire jumps
20 donkey kicks on the wall
Mosey back to the parking lot, circle up, and on your six for some Mary –
15 x Flutters
20 x LBCs
20 x Back scratchers
Protractor
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Moleskine