13 gentlemen ditched the fartsack and weathered the fog and wind to post at The Brave Friday morning. Before announcements and taking off Frehley’s informed everyone that there was 0% chance of gaseous expulsions…both of the solid and gas form. With that assurance YHC knew that these Pax were serious and ready to get down to business.
The Thang
Mosey to the parking garage on the corner of Ballantyne Commons and Ballantyne Corporate. Standard warmup of SSH, Hillbilly’s, potato pickers and mtn climbers. YHC took this opportunity to clarify that cherries grow on trees and potatoes in the ground, therefore potato pickers logically is the proper name for this exercise. After warming up we headed to the start of the parking ramp. Parking garage suicides were up next, run up one level and by the stairs 20 monkey humpers and 10 wide arm merkins. Down the stairs and then up to the 2nd level repeating until all 4 levels were covered. The six were our timekeepers so the overachievers that finished before the six were instructed to restart the suicides until the last guy finished.
After completing the parking garage we moseyed to the Lance building at the fitness trail entrance. As the runners reached this spot everyone circled back for the six…keeping everyone moving at all times. At the fitness trail partnered up. P1 runs to one pull up bar and P2 to the other pull up bar with 10 pull ups each. Meet back in the middle for 10 hand slap merkins. Flap jack pull up bars and meet in the middle for 10 shoulder taps (left and right = 1). YHC called for 6 rounds of this. After everyone finished it was time to head back to launch but since we were a ways from launch YHC called for taking it in sections. First leg was to the top of bagpipe hill over the bridge, with circling back for the six. At this point we stopped for 1 minute elbow plank hold. Second leg was to Ballantyne Commons, circling back for the six. Here we did a bit o’ Mary with heels to heaven. Final leg was back to launch rolling back right at 6:15.
Moleskin
As YHC’s first Q of The Brave I was not quite sure what to expect. It was YHC’s goal to a) get the prerequisite 4 miles in and b) make the workout challenging for all by keeping everyone moving at all times. Hence the call for keeping the suicides going until everyone finished and circling back for the six at each leg of any mosey. Overall we got at least 4.8 miles in and some upper body work. I don’t care who you are, 60 pull ups will make you feel it. Solid work by all, not a large gap between the thoroughbreds and the six. I think a few guys only got one extra level of the garage in before all were done.
Thanks Tuck for the opportunity to lead.
YHC just knew that this morning Rebel Yell would continue the trend of large crowds and then some with this being the first workout after New Year’s and all. With 2 minutes to launch there was about 4 guys then as we got closer to 5:30 the number bumped up to 9. I am going to go with the fact that guys were still out of town or still on holiday time. Me thinks next week will be the start of big numbers. Nevertheless the 9 PAX that said to heck with the fartsack were ready to get after it. After a disclaimer here is what went down.
The Thang:
Moseyed to parking lot in between HT and CFA for warm up. SSH, IW, Hillbilly’s and Mtn Climbers. One resolution YHC wants to add to his regimen is more stretching. So we did some sort of yoga stretch that C3PO brought out at Davinci last week and then finished off with some calf stretching. From here we crossed Rea to the parking deck at Brown Bag. Unfortunately The Bag was not open so we could not get a steak sandwich so instead we did a round of 7’s. Starting on the bottom level we did 6 Donkey Kicks, up the stairs to the other end of the parking lot for 1 burpee. Run down back to the bottom for 5 DK and then up for 2 burpees, repeato until we finished with 1 DK and 6 burpees. Long Haul ordered 6 inches until all were done.
From here we headed to the office along Ballantyne Commons ( I think it is an arthritis consultant) that has a great rock pile. Heard a couple of PAX note that they had not been here and was a rarely explored area of RY. Very true and should be utilized more. The PAX partnered up and grabbed a lifting rock between them. P1 started curls while P2 ran to the other end of the parking lot and bear crawled one of the parking lot sections. Flapjack until 100 total curls…wait check that. The PAX was flying through these so bump that to 120. Then P1 did triceps while P2 ran to the other end of the lot for 10 plank jacks…120 total. Final round was P1 doing overhead presses while P2 ran to the boulder pile and cranked out 8 derkins…120 total.
Moseyed back to launch stopping midway for Hot Yoga and Mic Check to call a couple of Mary exercises. Back to launch 1 minute past…sorry fellas for going long.
Moleskinny:
You would have thought that this was YHC’s VQ because I kept making so many audibles. I had my weinke all laid out (huh huh) but the parking deck 7’s took a little longer than I thought. So I scrambled some of my exercises up to make sure that I got the ones in that I wanted to. And I was going to go with 120 reps at first but thought that I needed to shorten for time…should have known with this group to keep the bar high. Then I had the PAX start to put their rocks back after 2 rounds of partner work but then 2nd guessed and decided that we had enough time to get a 3rd round in. Thanks to Wingman for pointing these out and keeping me from getting a big ol Q head.
Nice work by all. The day after New Year’s is a tough one to motivate for but YHC hopes that you got your money’s worth. Observations: Long Haul stayed at the front with YHC to keep him company but I think that I was holding him back. Amazing that at 50+ he stays at the front and doesn’t appear tired when all is done. Not enough T-claps can be given to Loogie for posting and gutting it out with his shoulder hurting. He is the epitome of working through the pain and still improving. I am in awe. It is well known that Mic Check has some of the best exercise form in all of SOB land but apparently his warning form needs work. The PAX grumbled as Mic Check called out bumps and other hazards after they had already gone past them. Hot Yoga is a man of few words but he knocks it out each and every time. RY will look to get you on the Q calendar soon. Swine Flu is a model of consistency posting both in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd F’s. Thank you for becoming a pillar in SOB. Cooter (2) has made it back from his leg health scare to be better than ever. Impressive drive through that and awesome to see you back in the fold and then some. As noted above thanks to Wingman for leading the mumblechatter charge. I honestly think that mumblechatter is what makes our workouts fun and keeps guys coming out. This was YHC’s last week as site Q of RY. YHC would like to thank Olaf for being a site Q with me and being invaluable in keeping RY the best AO on Thursdays at the corner of Elm and Ballantyne Commons.
15 Pax rolled out of bed ready to work. They all arrived in a variety of modes of transportation…cars, runners, walkers, motorcycles and even a bicycle. The only thing missing was Steve Martin and John Candy realizing that the other hand is not between two pillows. One FNG present so a full disclaimer was given and off we went.
A lap around the Btyne medical building and up by Duckworths then circle up for COP. SSH, Peter Parkers (hold 6 inches), Hillbillys, Parker Peters (hold 6 inches) and then something else.
Mosey to Blackfinn at Btyne Village. Partner up. P1 runs out to the courtyard benches and does called exercise while P2 does people’s chair with overhead presses. Flapjack. Exercises were 10 derkins, 15 step ups and 20 dips. YHC messed up and did not clarify that the flapjack should occur after each exercise and not do all exercises and flapjack. So YHC clarified and called Round 2 of 15 derkins, 20 step ups and 30 dips. Then round 3 back down to 10 derkins, 15 step ups and 20 dips.
Mosey over to the condo neighborhood where the converted fountain/overly large flower pot thingy is. Find your partner. P1 bear crawls from the world’s largest flower pot down one of the walkway arms and back. P2 leans up on the flower pot and does 2 incline merkins then 2 inclined plank walks clockwise continuously until P1 gets back. Flapjack. After 2 rounds of the bear crawls YHC called for the plank walks to go counter-clockwise #gottaworkbothsidesevenly. Do this until each Pax bear crawls each of the 4 walkway arms.
Mosey back to launch for some Mary consisting of Pax circle 45 degree leg throw down. Then some called exercises by various Pax. Done.
Moleskin:
Mileage was kept relatively low at 1.75 miles but the upper body workout hopefully made up for that. The clockwork bear crawls/incline merkins/inclined plank walks was a YHC invention. You never know how invented exercises will go but there was minimal chatter so it appeared to be sufficiently taxing. Nice work by the Pax all around. Cooter keeps impressing by putting work in and biking from spot to spot. Welcome to FNG, Fonzie. Not necessarily because he rode up on a motorcycle but mainly because he has had like 13 knee operations because of said motorcycle.
Announcements:
SOB and Union County showed up and showed out with 42 Pax getting their Saturday started with some work.
Damascus’s portion:
Disclaimer given, FNG, Cell Phone, CPR identified
Warmup – Mosey to corner of Ballantyne Commons / 521- 15 SSH IC- 15 Mountain Climbers IC- Downward Dog- Calf StretchThe Thang
Moleskin- As expected, a lot of grumbling with the announcement of partner carries, but everyone who was capable pushed through.
Proud to have the opportunity to lead such a great group of men
War Eagle’s portion:
Moleskin – It was awesome having so many guys from SOB and WUC and really glad to meet a lot of the guys. Now I can put faces to names on Slack and Backblasts. YHC was pleasantly surprised by the turnout but seeing as the pond portion of the workout was already going to be tight because of the turf renovation, due to the large number the audible was made to break the Pax out among the cones. Lots of mumblechatter trying to figure out how to count off by 6 and go to a particular cone but once we got going the group naturally spread out and all laps were completed in a strong showing by all. There was too much time after the pond to head to launch. YHC knew the Bear Crawl Banjo with so many Pax was an aggressive bite to take but he knew everyone was up to the task and would thank him later (although I did watch my back at COT for a serious Loogie Smash). The Bear Crawl Banjo lead to a jail break back to launch and perhaps a minute or two over.
Welcome to our FNG’s, Vespa and Cartman. Vespa is Chopper’s nephew hence the name. Cartman is Chopper’s brother and if I connected the dots right he has a son named Timmy so he is now Cartman.
Announcements:
With the NBA All Star game in Charlotte there are a lot of world class athletes around but five guys rolled up at Davinci to make a starting five that would rival any in town (for F3 workouts anyway…not sure if they can play basketball at all). Rain? Pfffffftttt…what rain? 6:30 hit, disclaimer made and we were off to get better. Here’s what went down.With the NBA All Star game in Charlotte there are a lot of world class athletes around but five guys rolled up at Davinci to make a starting five that would rival any in town (for F3 workouts anyway…not sure if they can play basketball at all). Rain? Pfffffftttt…what rain? 6:30 hit, disclaimer made and we were off to get better. Here’s what went down.
The Thing
Mosey over to Blakeney and find a good spot for warmup.
SSH x 15
Hillbillies x 15
Peter Parkers x 12
Mtn Climbers x 12
Morrocan Night Clubs x 15
Mosey to 131 Main for some 4 corners in honor of the all star game. Partner up with P1 running one way and P2 the other way. 10 merkins at the first corners, 10 jump squats at the next corners with P1 doing 10 partner plank merkins when partners meet at the middle. Then finish the 4 corners with the jump squat and merkin corners with P2 doing their partner plank merkins at the end. Repeato with 15 reps then a 3rd round back down to 10 reps.
Next off to the Montessori School stopping halfway for Mary. At the School grab a lifting rock. Circle up for lifting consisting of curls, into overhead presses, into tricep lifts and then bent rows. Started with 16 reps of each then 14 and reducing reps by 2 at each set. After 2 sets put our rocks down and took a step to the right using that person’s rock. YHC questioned this trading of rocks when he saw Mighty Might’s rock. Holy cow it sucked doing the reps with that rock, especially since it was so slippery from all the rain. Continued the sets until 0 reps left. Leave your rock and lets mosey.
From here a jog to the playground further down Blakeney Heath. Partner back up. P1 does 10 derkins on the wall while P2 does 10 pull ups. Flapjack then repeat for 3 rounds. Next P1 does 10 step ups on wall while P2 does 10 pull ups. Flapjack and repeat for 3 rounds.
Back to the Montessori School where our rocks awaited for a Double Triple Nickel. 10 reps of side to side plank jumps followed by 10 reps of jump shot squats with your rock for 5 rounds. Lots of mumblechatter regarding this one. Yes, I know the concept of a triple nickel calls for 5 reps but that is why it is a “double” triple nickel. Jump with your rock and thank me in two days when it hurts to squat down.
Head back to Blakeney during which Chopper even stopped to pick up an unusually large bag of trash and throw it in the dumpster. F3, continuing to give back in so many ways. We continued until stopping at the stairs at the yoga studio. P1 start at one side doing 10 supine pull ups with P2 at the other side doing the same. Run up your stairs meeting in the middle for 10 hand slap merkins. We got 3 rounds of this in and then time to head back to Launch.
Moleskin
I feel like a broken record because I feel like I type this with every one of my Backblasts but what looked to be a nasty, rainy post ended up rain free and comfortable. I know that he has bigger things to deal with but it makes me smile thinking that just maybe the man upstairs is pleased with us waking up early to improve ourselves and says “Boom, here you go. Here is 60 minutes of rain free weather”. Nice work by the starting five out there. One Star has come back from what sounded like an injury heavy January to regain his form and be at the front of the workouts. Gilbert gets noticeably faster and stronger every time I see him at a post. Looking forward to his VQ at Davinci March 2nd. Chopper does impressive work for any age but at 59 it is incredible. T claps my friend. Mighty Mite continues to pick the biggest and heaviest rock for lifting. MM had his own Swole challenge going with the boulder he chose this morning. It almost bit the rest of us in the butts when we swapped rocks during the lifting portion of the workout. We will feel that one.
Announcements
Joe Davis March 9th
SOB Happy Hour Thursday, February 21 at The Gibson at 5:30
Rebel Yell and Davinci are looking for Q’s for March and April
(War Eagle posting on behalf of Teddy)
10 men braved the cold weather and worked on their winter physique.
The Thang
Mosey around the movie theater lot to warm up the legs. Circle up for, 15 SSH, 16 IW, 15 Mrkn, 15 WM
Mosey to the speed bumps behind the Stonecrest Shopping Center for suicides. 10 merkins at starting line followed by 10 full sit ups at each speed bump. Repeat X6
Mosey to the St. Matthews parking lot and grab a lifting rock for 3 sets of 11’s. • 10 shoulder press with rock/1 burpee, 9 shoulder press with rock/2 burpee, etc… • 10 curls with rock/1 LBC, etc. • 10 triceps extension/1 squat with rock, etc.
Mosey to fountain in Stonecrest and partner up. Partner 1 – 10 merkin, 10 derkin, and 10 incline merkin – partner 2 runs around building – Switch and repeat X3 Mosey back to launch.
Moleskin
Thanks to the PAX for letting me lead this AM. Was a little sore and tired from the Thin Mint beat down the morning prior, so wanted to keep the mileage manageable and work on the ole physique. Plus, I always like to throw Paper Jam for a loop as he asserts that, “I’m a runner and we must be running”. Happy Meal and Yogi were killing it out of the gate and helped set the pace for the rest of us – Nice work guys! I found out quickly that the first set of 11’s with the rock, shoulder press and burpee, was a horrible idea. Q had to ask for a 10 count at the midway point as I was already gassed and did attempt to put the blame on Paper Jam. You can imagine what happened from there and I can always count on Mary Kay for letting me know it was a horrible idea – so the banter kicked off…So much so that I was having challenges maintaining the proper count. Lucky for me, War Eagle was close by keeping me in check with the count or maybe more accurately, adding his contribution to the banter. It was back to the cold weather but it didn’t seem to bother the PAX. Nice job all around!
Announcements
Joe Davis Run March 9th – sign up – https://f3southcharlotte.com/2019/01/01/preblast-2019-joe-davis-run-for-recovery/
DaVinci Anniversary on Saturday – Mic Check to take the Q – Happy Meal the Q at Stonehenge
MT’s 5 year anniversary Q at The Brave tomorrow
Prayer Requests Alabama Football
15 men decided to combat the gluttony that comes along with the holiday season and post at Bagpipe. Speedo season will be around the corner soon fellas. We did not even attempt a tour of the Ballantyne Corporate Park and due to the sketchy winter weather of late took it straight to the Ballantyne Village parking deck. Here is how it all went down.
Warm Up:
Mosey to Ballantyne Village with an extra lap around the parking lot with shuffle left, butt kickers and then shuffle right. Then to the warmth of the deck for
15 SSH
15 IW
15 Hillbilly’s
15 Mtn Climbers
15 Morroccan Night Clubs
The Thang:
YHC created what I like to call the Advent Calendar of Pain (c). Partner up and we ended up with 7 teams which was right on the money. Since we have 14 days left until Christmas YHC pre laid out 7 exercises, numbered 1-7, on the next level up with 7 more, numbered 1-7, on the level above that (see what I did there?). Instead of a piece of candy behind each day until Christmas, the Pax were lucky enough to discover an exercise behind each day. YHC gave a team number 1-7 to each pairing of Pax. It was at this moment that Kirby pointed out that he and Frehley’s were Team #1. Noticing that both guys had on their Clemson attire and not missing an opportunity to pounce on the ever increasing Bama/Clemson rivalry YHC stated that he should have made them Team #2. In full disclosure Clemson was my preseason and current pick to win it all.
The idea was for the teams to take off and find the exercise number that corresponded to their Team #. Do that exercise then run up the ramp and do the corresponding exercise. Run back down and do the next exercise in order then repeat. So for example, Team #3 did #3 on the bottom, ran up did exercise #3, ran down did exercise #4, ran up and did exercise #4…until all were completed. YHC had a surprise and had a bonus exercise for Christmas Day, more on those later. The exercises were:
Lower Level:
#1 – 15 diamond merkins
#2 – 1 minute 6 inches with legs
#3 – 25 heels to heaven
#4 – 15 hand slap merkins
#5 – 24 J’Lo’s
#6 – 1 minute elbow plank
#7 – 25 LBC’s
Upper Level:
#1 – 24 chippy cross
#2 – 25 Freddy Mercury’s
#3 – 15 Carolina dry docks
#4 – 12 partner plank derkins
#5 – 1 minute protractor
#6 – 25 hand slap sit ups
#7 – 25 flutters
The Christmas Day bonus was on the bottom the teams had to partner wheelbarrow back up the ramp. This sucked but was manageable. The Christmas Day bonus on the top was to crawl bear (backwards bear crawl) back down the ramp. This sucked even more than YHC imagined that it would. Honestly YHC had to heed his own disclaimer advice and modify as necessary on that one. Once everyone was in we ran back up to collect the papers, ran back down collecting the papers and headed back to launch getting back right at 6:15.
Moleskin:
Awesome work by the Pax this morning. Everyone was back and forth on the ramps cranking out the exercises and busting it to the next. With the back and forth nature of the workout it was tell who crushed it out front but I appreciate the Morning Brisket Team for getting in and leading Mary until everyone got in. And it looked like the Happy Mic Check Meal Team may have finished and run an extra round up the ramps. Not sure if Mic Check had the weight vest on under the layers of clothes but solid work nonetheless. YHC gave specific instructions to stick with your partner and not move to the next exercise until both guys were done. Everyone adhered and hopefully enjoyed some 2nd F throughout this workout. Thanks to Tagalong for pulling my slow tail along and keeping the workout fun with talk throughout. YHC has been feeling a little extra Kris Kringle weight with all of the holiday fetting so I went heavy on the ab and core exercises. We should be able to enjoy some extra haystacks (YHC’s favorite Christmas treat) and craft brews this season. Thanks all for posting, giving it your all and making it fun.
And in the words of Snake from Home Alone, “Merry Christmas ya filthy animals.”
15 men braved the winter like temps to post at Rebel Yell and get better. Before we got going it was accurately pointed out that Mic Check looked like a SWAT member with his black weight vest and Happy Meal looked like a robber with his bandana face mask. I really wish we could have had video of the two of them running put to “Yakety Sax” for a Benny Hill cops and robbers montage. A proper disclaimer was given and we were off. We slow moseyed out of the gate as the Briskatica Rafter clown car pulled up as we were launching. We jogged to the parking lot between HT and Target and got started. Here is what went down.
The Thing:
Warm up
SSH x 15
4 burpees OYO
IW x 15
4 burpees OYO
Mtn Climbers x 15
Peter Parkers x 15
At this point we began our first game of chicken with a curb cleaner going through the parking lot. It became obvious that we were in the area he needed to hit and he was not interested in waiting on us. Since we were warmed up enough YHC decided to blink and let him have his spot.
From here we headed down Rea and hung a left on Ballantyne Commons and into the office complex on the left. Everyone grab a lifting rock. Do called exercise, sprint to the boulders for 10 derkins and then bear crawl the parking area with a merkin at every line (10 lines). Called exercises were first round 20 curls, 2nd round 20 overhead presses and 3rd round 20 tricep lifts. During the first round a security guard drove near our area…I think that it was Happy Meal’s robber look that raised his suspicion. Mary Kay graciously volunteered to skip the bear crawl/merkins to move the lifting rocks so that they were not in the road for the security guard. Thanks for taking one for the team MK.
Next we moseyed over to Uncle Rico Land for some parking deck work. YHC called 7’s starting with 6 Carolina Dry docks at the bottom, up the stairs, 1 burpee at the top and down the side street. We finished with 1 CDD at the bottom and 6 burpees at the top. The first finishers led some Mary waiting for the 6. We had time for a couple of rounds of Mary and then time to head back to launch.
While heading back to launch YHC overheard Grammatica say that he did Monkey Humpers for the first time at another post. He said that he really enjoyed them and felt like they were effective at working often overlooked muscles. Either that or he said they were the dumbest, most awkward looking exercise ever. Regardless we had 1 minute to kill at launch and filled it with Monkey Humpers in honor of Grammatica.
During Name O Rama and Announcements our curb cleaner friend returned, even though we were at the total opposite end of the shopping center. Again, he had no intention of waiting for us to finish so my recording of names and announcements is overtaken with machine noises. Very stalker like tendancies. Maybe we should have extended an olive branch and invited him to join us for burpees and merkins.
Awseome work by all this morning. Thanks to the first finishers for leading plank and Mary. Always a pleasure to get out early in the gloom and lead such a great group.
Announcements: