15 pax saw the pre-tweet and posted for a strength-focused beatdown today at Meathead. What, you say, aren’t all Meathead beatdowns strength-focused? Well, yes. And, so, if that’s the norm and this one is called out specifically as strength-focused, then you best gird-up your loins and prepare to grind.
Disclaimer
The Thang
COP (with more “P” than our typical warmup):
Mosey with your heavy bell to the playground
Turkish Getups (TGUs) – 3 per side
After the first 2, pretty much Voodoo and YHC were the only ones doing them (#SMH), so an audible was called to ditch them and replace them with another set of Ladder work. (you can lead a horse to water…)(veggies are good for you, but kids still won’t eat them…)
Ladders Up
Mosey back to the parking lot and collapse on the ground
Meathead Mary – still with your heavy bell
Done
COT
Announcements:
Metal Moleskinne:
For our first Meathead of 2017, YHC wanted a focus on the basics and strength. That means heavier than normal bells, lower than normal reps, and less exercise variety than usual. Maybe it was too hard, maybe it was too boring, maybe it was the veteran crew. Whatever the reason, there were more refuseniks today than YHC has seen in a while. (Some refuseniks were, in fact, modifications due to physical needs, which is strongly encouraged.) Regardless, hopefully, you got what you were looking for. If you followed today’s program with an appropriate bell size, you’ll be stronger for it, guaranteed. If not, your results may vary.
YHC used to bring out TGUs pretty regularly but understood they were not well tolerated by some, so they had been largely eliminated at Meathead. However, due to their relative acceptance at other sites, and Meathead’s respected KB status, a moderate dose of TGUs was expected to be accepted. Well, “figured” wrong on that one.
Anyway, the method to today’s madness was, during COP to get us warmed up, limbered up, and get the heart/metabolic rate up. The heavy racked carry was an “easy” low-impact warm-up, followed by 100 one-hand swings to ramp up the heart rate and begin taxing the grip, interspersed with traditional warmups to continue the limbering up and to break the 100 swings into manageable chunks.
The TGUs are a great overall body grind, developing the shoulder girdle, proprioception, abdominal tension, and lunge strength.
The ladders were chosen to allow an appropriate level of volume for strength work while keeping the reps low enough to allow a higher weight to be utilized. Pullups for the back & biceps; press for the triceps, shoulders, & chest; reverse lunges for the quads, glutes, & hammies; and the cleans for the biceps and overall posterior chain development. (T-claps to Brown for slingin’ the 32kg/70lb on these!)
Ab work to balance out our back development. (funny comment during Fireman Ed & Bulldog’s audible – FE told BD they needed to do some lower back work to balance out their ab work. BD replied that he didn’t need any back work because he doesn’t work his abs, so they are balanced.)
Anyway, whether you followed today’s program as Rx’d or modified as needed, YHC wanted you to know why we were doing what we were doing today and hopes you got something out of it. Like soreness tomorrow. Ha!
Always an honor to lead. Thanks, guys.
Aye.
7 Pax gathered on this crisp morning to get well acquainted with a cinder block of their choice.
Warm-O-Rama
Mosey to Football Field
SSHx25
IWx25
The THANG:
Mosey to Half Wall
Jump Up x20, Dip x30, Burpee x10
Mosey to Cinder Block Pile for some partner work
P1 down hill burpee x2 and back up / P2 cinder block merkins. Switch until combine merkin count of 150 (at this point Transporter lost the scarf).
P1 down hill burpee x2 and back up / P2 cinder block rows (6 sets). Switch until 12 sets complete.
P1 down hill burpee x2 and back up / P2 cinder block triceps extensions. Switch until combine triceps count of 200
P1 down hill with cinder blocks and back up / P2 squats. Switch until squat count of 200 (pretty sure this is where Docs string was exposed; did you buy that small block off bottle cap?)
Cinder block shoulder press x 60
Mosey back for Mary & COT
-Crunch x 25, American Hammer x 25, Heels to Heaven x 25
Enjoyed leading you fellas this AM.
YHC showed up at 0445 looking for all those pre-runner I’ve heard about….no SlimFast, no Booyah, no Sensei..hmmm, oh well this sadclown hit the road anyway. Then strolled back in around 0520 to see quite a caravan of urban chariots turning into the lot. 20 bundled up gents circled it up with some “you think it’s gonna snow” mumblechatter before we launched into the gloom.
The Thang:
Warm-up mosey to bus lot- high knees, butt kickers, backwards, karaoke (left/right)
Circle it up:
SSH x 20 IC
Burpee x 1 OYO
IW x 20 IC
Burpee X2 OYO
Merkin x 10 IC
Burpee X 3 OYO
Squat x 15 IC
Burpee X 4 OYO
Monkey Humper x 10 IC
Burpee x 5
Gopher Time (partner up):
Pt # 1: run a lap
Pt # 2: To the benches for 10 dips, 10 LBCs, 10 CDDs
Meet partner back in the bus lot for 10 partner merkins; flap-jack, Repeat 4 times each side
Plankarama
Mary:
LBCs x 20
Flutter x 20
Dolly x 20
Prairie Fire Mary x 10(?)
Inch Worm 20 yds then Bear Crawl 20 yds
Gorilla walk 20 yds then Crab walk 20 yds
To the Wall:
People’s Chair w/ Arm Raises x 20 IC
Donkey Kick x 10 OYO
Rinse and Repeat
Back to Cars for COT
Ye Ole Naked Moleskin:
YHC is grateful for Sensei asking me to Q Peak51. I have to admit I have not posted there in quite some time. It was awesome to meet so many new guys (well, new to me) and see some faces I haven’t seen at F3 in a long time (Dora, Happy, Frostbite). So thank you Sensei. It’s a good reminder for all of us to move around to different AOs and meet some new brothers in the F3 community.
This Weinke was courtesy of Geraldo. YHC stole it without his permission from his Q back in October. Hey, it looked good to me. Why re-invent the wheel. Thank G if you liked or didn’t like it.
Lois and Tweetsie are both getting stronger and faster. These guys have been consistent for the past 3 months and come to think of it I rarely see one without the other. What’s the story there? Best Friends? Neighbors? Co-workers? Brothers?
Lots of strong hard work going on out there this am in the cold gloom….like we’ve said many times at F3, “It doesn’t get easier, you get stronger!”
Announcements:
Joe Davis Memorial Run is ON! connect with other for Clown Cars (Tweet, Email, Slack, etc.)
I wasn’t sure how I was going to run the workout since it stormed for two days, and kept raining during the workout. I got there 20 minutes early with Squid and saw the pond out in the field. Unless everyone brought their scuba gear or a boat, there wasn’t much we could do out there. I had to come up with something quick, which I am not good at. Everyone got out of their cars right before 7 and off we went. Mosey around back parking lot then head to the front lot for our warm-up.
20 x SSH
20 x IW
10 x Merkins
The Thang:
Head over to the rock pile to get a lifting rock, then back to the start of the park entrance parking lot. Partner up.
Round 1: Partner 1 bear crawls length of cars then runs lap around back lot and bear crawls length of cars on the way back. Partner 2 performs curls. Flapjack.
Round 2: Partner 1 does the same as above, while Partner 2 performs over head press. Flapjack.
Round 3: Partner 1 lunge walks length of cars both ways, runs lap. Partner 2 chest press.
Round 4: Same as Round 3.
Mosey over the the playground for a circuit. 5 pull-ups, 20 derkins, 30 tricep extensions, and run a lap. 3 times.
Circle up for Mary. Each Pax call an exercise. We had can opener, LBCs, flutter, rosalita, parker peter parker parker, dolly, etc.
Take rocks back and time.
Moleskin: I wasn’t sure how many Pax would post, but apparently there were only 10 brave men. Either the rain, or the New Years hangover kept them away. I had a play list based on celebrities that passed away in 2016. Star Wars them song, some George Michael songs, Merle Haggard, David Bowie, and Horsehead’s favorite, Cover album by Prince’s cousin Steve downloaded with a breakfast cereal scratch off code. I was limited to what I could find on Amazon Prime, but HH knew immediately. Either way, we had fun in the pouring down rain. We had an FNG, John aka The Bandit come out. He was in town from Raleigh, and even made it out. He was invited by Smokey, who fartsacked. How rude.
Announcement: Joe Davis run, 1/7/16
Filling a last minute request for a Q left me a little unprepared so I reverted back to an oldie but goodie. 4 Pax showed up to participate in the misery.
Warm Up:
Thang:
15 min EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute) rotating exercices each minute.
Exercises:
A total of 5 rounds.
Mosey to the field with bells in tow to work through the Deck of Death, as it was affectionately named by Wild Turkey.
An exercise was assigned to each suit in a deck of playing cards. Pax took turns drawing cards and announcing the exercise and reps, as determined by the value of the card. (Ex: 9 of Diamonds = 9 KB swings)
Exercises:
Slow stroll back up for COT
Moley:
Small crowd today but huge effort put in. Everybody pushed hard. EMOMs always seem like a good idea before you start so it’s easy to be a little ambitious in choosing reps. A last minute audible was called to reduce the Merkins from 21 to 15. But once we got in it seemed like 21 was doable. By the end, though, the reps came in a little slower. This part of the workout was pretty brief at only 15 min and the rest of the time was spent at the field.
Quick explainer was given and Mighty Mite started us off with the first draw. As we worked our way through the deck it seemed like every card was replaced with an Ace, Joker, or high value heart. A lot of burpees and sprinting right up front. Mighty Mite happens to have a knack for drawing the most hated cards in the deck. Who shuffled these things anyway?
Suprisingly, we were able to make it through the entire deck performing a total of 84 of each exercise and sprinting across the field and back 6 times. We did, however, notice that the deck must have been missing a card due to how the rotation ended. YHC could feel the stinging glare of exhausted Pax when suggesting 10 more burpees just in case we missed some.
We finished right on time and wrapped up with a solid COT. Good work men.
Good number of men already on site upon YHC’s arrival. Several more pulled in subsequently. With one minute, a quick survey shows a large group. Then Radar walks majestically out of the gloom. Or was it a hallucination. A shake of the hand assured YHC of his physical presence. Wait a minute. Is that Purple Haze behind him? Negative. 0530 hit and a quick, thorough, disclaimer was given through the thick mumblechatter of 25 PAX. Let’s go.
Thang
Mosey through SCMS parking lot to Strawberry up to the daycare lot. Missed the 1st entrance so we ran around the bushes and into the lot. Q fail. Thought there was an entrance and exit onto Strawberry.
COP
SSH x 10 IC
IW x 10 IC
MC x 10 IC–no PAX counting at this point
Merkin x 20 IC–alas, mumblechatter extinguished. For the moment.
Low Slow Squat x 10 IC
Mosey back to entrance to bus lot of SCMS. Start point.
Run down Strawberry to Fairway Downs Ct (0.2 miles). 10 H-R Burpees
Run back to Start Point. 15 Jump Squat. Plank series to regroup.
Run down Strawberry to Rosecliff (0.33 mile) 25 Merkin.
Run back to Start Point. 30 LBC. Plank series to regroup.
Run down to Fairway Downs. 10 H-R Burpees.
Run back to Start Point. 15 Jump Squat. Plank series to regroup.
Mosey into bus lot.
Short-rest parking lot sprints from Plank start x 8
5 MOM
Flutter x IC/Heels to Heaven x 10 IC/Dolly x 10 IC/High Flutter x 10 IC. Feet up for all.
Short break for the bus to roll through.
LBC x 15 IC
Merkin x 10 IC
1:45 of Burpees to close it out.
COT
3.10 miles, as advertised. Burpees, as advertised. Pretty simple plan this morning. Running was short-burst with exercise breaks throughout.
Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, of McMaster University in Ontario, is a genetic metabolic neurologist who is a firm believer that exercise can be used as medicine. Exercise has long been thought to be essential for good health. In 400 B.C., Hippocrates famously wrote: “Eating alone will not keep a man well. He must also take exercise.” Next year, the US NIH will launch a big study with the aim of documenting what happens in the body in motion with the goal of proving that exercise is medicine. Both preventative and restorative.
Facts: Only 20% of Americans get the recommended 150 minutes of recommended cardio/strength work per week. More than half of baby boomers report no real physical activity and 80.2 million Americans over 6 years are entirely inactive.
This above 2 paragraphs taken, in part, from a Time article that can be found HERE
So we know that people need exercise. The benefits are tremendous and increase longevity, as well as, prevent disease. Soon we will likely know much more, in significantly greater detail. Couple this with the 2F benefits we receive as adult males. Next add in the 3F. Who needs F3? The real question is, who doesn’t? EH those around you. Give them the gift of F3. You could lead with, “Hey, you want to live longer, be less prone to disease, feel better, do more? That should get their attention.
Thank you to Dollywood for the opportunity to lead at Death Valley. Great job running this site.
Observations:
Frasier was taking it easy on some stuff today. He was the fastest out there when he chose to be.
Orange Whip, Dollywood, Joker, Swiper, Witch Doctor were fast and worked hard throughout. Well done. If I left any front-runners out, my bad, 25 dudes and I was a bit smoked. First F3 post since 12/23.
Heavy breathing and sweat prevalent today. Strong work by this group of 25.
Spackler is sans Tito’s, for how long, no idea. Said he felt a little different without his special sauce. Probably better, if YHC had to guess. He was pushing hard, though was not observing performance on Burpees.
Mumblechatter was almost overwhelming from the QIC perspective at times. Great to see guys crushing it and still having a good time. Adult recess.
Awesome to see many YHC doesn’t post often with. Skywalker took the day off Cross Fit to join us. Always great to have his positive attitude.
Did Flutie Flakes move back, or just a visit?
T-claps to Swiper for the takeout.
Lastly, Radar posted. Is Haze next?
Announcements
Converge at Rock Zero for McGee Q if not running Joe Davis Run for Recovery. 0700 Calvary Church.
To avoid that, register for Joe Davis Run HERE
9 PAX paid no attention to #Cantore and posted at a workout with no shelter alternatives. Swift has no parking decks to hide in, no awnings to pause under, and we keep it going week after week anyway. PAX that posted were rewarded with a cool and precipitation-less morning.
The THANG (from the PreBlast):
http://f3nation.com/2017/01/02/preblast-222/
The Moleskin:
Announcements:
10 Men came out to a end of year celebration – Sorry for the delay on this but I completely forgot, you give up the Site q duties and everything falls apart.
It’s been a week so I can hardly remember everything so please forgive me.
The Thang
Run to Rose Cliff – 11’s on the hill. DD’s at the bottom and LBC’s at the top.
Mosey back to the Launch – Partner work
One partner does called exercise with Block while the other runs to ball fields – 30 Sup-pines, 20 Dips, 10 derkins
Repeato
Fin
Moley skinny
Wow took me an entire week to write this. Hannibal gave me crap today about this and I completely forgot. So here goes.
There wasn’t a ton of mumblechatter out there this am. Might be because it was at the end of the year and the usually suspects were in the FS still snoozing. It could also be they knew that might workout wasn’t going to be of the caliber they were looking for during this time of the year. Still with the other sites posting low numbers I took solace in knowing that it might not be me.
When we jogged down to Rose Cliff and the call for 11’s was made there was a lot of complaining and I know right then that this was the correct call. So many people passed me it was hard to keep up. Marge and Swiper were crushing it as usual. Hannibal in his consistent way proceeded to lap me several times but at the partner work complained so I will only give half credit. Smokey was literally flying through the workout so that wasn’t happening. Salt Lick and Jet fuel were hard to keep up with, always great to see both of them out. Puddin, your my boy blue great running with you and Good hands as always.
It’s the end of another era at Death Valley. We have done a ton of things in the 5+ years that this site has been around. It’s moved twice before landing at South Charlotte Middle school. There have been site Q’s that have come and gone and left their mark upon it. The only time I see Stage Coach is at the Y when I am too cold to go outside and workout. With Smokey and Dollywood at the helm I see them growing in F3 and putting their own stamp on this site. It continues to pull in great guys and awesome workouts. In addition the Chatter level is always expert in the gloom of this AO, I guess that will always be the same. I am very happy to have found two great guys to pick up the torch and lead this site to it’s next season.
Joe Davis Run — Looks snowy out there boys.
Dryuary in full effect. Google if need be.
SG out
Either there was an unannounced convergence at the Maul this morning, or YHC is developing a reputation for a hard Weinke. Or possibly, MT went on a text/DM/Slack/MySpace advertising campaign last night to prove to everyone he still posts. Nevertheless, 28 pax, including one FNG, showed up at the Maul this morning. Who knows how many regretted it. Here’s why:
Thang:
Warm up lap around movie theater parking lot, circle up
SSH x 10 IC
ISW x 10 IC
Plank for the Sally Challenge (to Moby’s song “Flower”)
Major #Qfail when YHC tried to modify the screen on the phone and it skipped to the next song. Only got through about 1/3 of the song. Oh well. Had to go with it. There was plenty on the docket. Mosey to the bottom of the Murderhorn.
AYG up to the top. LBCs and Dolly x 15 IC while waiting on the 6. Recovery mosey back down to the bottom. Merkins and plank-o-Rama while waiting on the 6.
Repeato. LBCs and other Mary while the 6 comes up. Recovery mosey back down for Plank-o-Rama.
AYG to the first street on the left, recover mosey back down.
Collect everyone at the bottom and mosey to the rockpile for 2 rounds of:
Overhead press
Tricep curls
Bicep curls
Squats
Bent Rows
First round was x15. Second was x10. Put rocks back where you found them, mosey to bottom of MH. AYG to the top one last time. Mary while we collect the 6.
Mosey to launch lot for “Flower” round 2: ab version. Hold 6 inches and bring up to 90 degrees and back down every time “Bring Sally Up, Bring Sally Down.” Harder than it sounds.
Finish with 30 seconds of Protractor. Done.
Skinny:
The mumblechatter began early with this motley crew and only escalated with a disclaimer that only a mother could love. Not many fans of the first Sally Challenge at the beginning of the workout #crowdpleaser. Unfortunately, we didn’t get through it all #Qfail. YHC knew what was coming, so there wasn’t much worry.
Rachel, Mic Check, Wingman, Heartbreaker, and Squid led the way on the Murderhorn. Bean and YHC were right behind that group. Didn’t see who was right behind us #suckingwind. MH is slightly easier when you know exactly how many are going to be called #Qvantage
T-Claps to Lex for rucking this one. He probably wasn’t expecting MH repeats, and probably not too happy when they were called. Thanks for coming out. Don’t know if we’ve ever posted together, but it was great to meet you.
Good to see some guys Back out in the gloom: Philmont, Madame (too much travel), Big Tuna (old and breaking down), and Torpedo (strained vagina).
Other things we learned:
– Bean had to leave early to pick up pickles and ice cream for his pregnant wife. Over/under on how many times that kid is going to hear “That’s so cute you live with your mom and your grandpa!”
– Frehley’s Comet ran the New York marathon in 1967
– All the marathon training has paid off for Wingman. He was moving out there. However, his wife still finished ahead of him at the Kiawah Marathon #trainhardernexttime
– Mic Check is mourning the firing of Chip Kelly. He was certain that was the coach to lead the Niners back to glory.
Need to wrap this up to head to a meeting. Thank you all for a showing up. As always, it was an honor to lead.
Announcements:
Joe Davis this Saturday. You can still sign up. Might be fun to run a 5 or 10K in snow.
MT is running Timekeeper on Tuesdays. He posts about it all the time on Twitter and the website, so just look for it.
Thanks Lex for the takeout.
15 men gathered to bring in the New Year at Skunkworks. With rain expected, YHC was unsure as to what kind of turnout we might have. With so much unknown, a reconnaissance mission was done on Monday to determine places that we could work out in the event of inclement weather. During that mission, YHC noticed that the overhead lights were left on at the tennis courts pavilion– making for the perfect landing spot, rain or shine.
Upon arrival, I was impressed to see the dedicated pre-runners doing their thing and plenty of other dedicated men rolling in early. At exactly 5:30, the disclaimer was given and the PAX was reminded to modify if needed, especially if the holidays forced you to take a hiatus from posting. COP began promptly following the disclaimer and it went like this:
SSH x 20
IW x 20
LSS x 20
KB swings x 20 (OYO)
Good mornings x 15
Merkins x 20
KB swings x 30 (OYO)
The PAX then moseyed to end of parking lot with KBs where the group was instructed to further mosey to the tennis courts pavilion. Once at the pavilion, the group of 15 was split evenly into 5 groups of 3.
The Thang–
Circuit training at its finest. 5 stations and 4 rounds of varying exercises to produce the full body workout.
Round 1: Station 1– 2-handed KB swings
Station 2– Goblet squats, butt to bench
Station 3– Incline merkins
Station 4– Cleans
Station 5– Run/Timers (ran to circled parking lot at end of street and back)
Round 2: Station 1– 2-handed high pulls
Station 2– Romanian dead lift/Good mornings
Station 3– Decline merkins
Station 4– Snatches
Station 5– Run/Timers
Round 3: Station 1– Bicep curls
Station 2– Step ups
Station 3– Tricep press
Station 4– Overhead press (1 or 2-handed)
Station 5– Run/Timers
Round 4: Station 1– Freddie Mercury
Station 2– Dips
Station 3: LBCs with KB
Station 4: 1-handed rows
Station 5: Run/Timers
Farmer carry back to parking lot and the workout ended right on time.
Moleskin–
My first Q at Skunkworks and I have to admit that the weather did keep me up at night. The Bible tells us not to worry about things we can’t control, but I didn’t want to fail the PAX in my first Q! I thoroughly enjoyed this group, and I definitely think the light at the pavilion added a different element. I realized how unusual it was to be able to see faces while we worked out. And I also think seeing faces brings out better sarcasm and jokes, from Bananas and Brown in particular!
Though some exercises got a bit long in duration, it gave us time to consult Bulldog on all things England– travel, currency exchange rates, and Brexit. Who knew you could get an international current events lesson at Skunkworks!
The Skunkworks guys continue to impress. Dedicated, hard-working, and relentless work ethics make this site truly one of the best in Area 51. Thanks to Harley and Fletch for the opportunity to lead. And thank you to Lex Luthor for the take out prayer.
Announcements– None.