The Cubs are in the World Series!! The Cubs are in the World Series!! Yesssssirrrrrr!! CUB-BIES!! CUB-BIES! CUB-BIES! If you haven’t heard, the Cubs are in the world series for the first time since 1945 and are looking to win their first title in 108 years…Shit that’s a long time. Like, FOR-EV-ER #sandlot. Curse that damn goat. There are people at the bars in Wrigleyville drinking at 8am this morning. For those who haven’t been to a Cubs game here’s how the experience goes: Head to Wrigleyville about 3 hours before the game. Drink at the bars, at a friends place (inside our outside; season doesn’t matter) or on a rooftop until the game starts. Then you watch the National Anthem and first pitch wherever you’re at and when that’s done, do you head to the game?? Nope you stay put and keep drinking. Around the 3rd or 4th inning THEN you stumble into the stadium at which you consumer more beer that costs roughly $50 per can. Well, not that much more like $8.75-9.50 (yes I looked it up). You then spend about 90% of the next 6 or 7 innings socializing and 10% watching the game. Mostly because the Cubs were garbage…Oh but how things have changed. People show up on time and actually watch the game! Shocking! Granted there are still quite a few people who have the #oldCubs mentality. But we can thank one man for the resurgence of the team…..Theo Epstein!!! The man literally saved the franchise (Joe Maddon had something to do with it too #props #fistbump) and all those long suffering Cubs fans can finally rejoice that they’re in the big game. Speaking of the big game, it’ll cost you about $3,000 on the LOW END for tickets, if you can find any. Some seats have sold for $22K…Yes TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS A PIECE. #Insanity. Being a Chicago native #bornintheburbs I’ve witnessed my fair share of Chicago celebrations. We’ve had MJ and the Bulls in the 90’s. The White Sox won it in..in, I don’t know, no one cares about the White Sox. The Blackhawks have been amazing to watch with 3 titles (’10, ’13, ’15) in the past several years. And yes, I’ve been to a handful of Cubs games. But I can’t even fathom the record level of anticipation/craziness/drunkenness that will be happening today and for the next 3 games. Bars are charging $100-250 cover and minimum $500 spent per table. So, I’ll be sporting my Cubs shirt tonight while watching this amazing season/postseason happen all the while cheering silently as to no wake up the 2.0. #FlyTheW
Oh, and we had 8 PAX show up for a workout led by YHC this morning. Here’s what went down
THE THANG:
Disclaimer given by YHC. No FNG’s so it was short and sweet.
Quick warm up with 10 of SSH, Merkins, LSS and off we went.
The RUN:
The PARKING LOT:
The RUN REPEAT:
MOLESKIN:
Thanks to the 8 men who showed up for YHC’s 2nd Q. After practicing my cadence in my run through yesterday AND in the car this morning #yesireallydid, I felt confident enough in my ability to lead the PAX in counting. Well, I failed on the first try. There was some snickering from Frehley’s and Tussauds and they informed me that the correct phrasing is “Ready position, exercise, move.” not whatever garbage YHC was saying. There was some audibles called during the Q as well because we ended up running short on time. Wanted to do more at the parking lot but will save it for another time. Big props to everyone who pushed and got better today. It’s not easy getting up and showing up for a workout at 5:15. It’s not easy running 4.75 miles, doing a bunch of burpees, merkins Mary, pullups etc. But you all did it. I appreciate all of you and appreciate the solid 3rd F today.
Highlight(s) of the Q:
Frehley’s showed up with about 2 minutes to spare and once he heard that YHC was Qing his response was “Oh Shit.” #priceless #highlight1. Little did he know how true this statement would become because he needed a quick break on the run back and ended up burying his towel. For all those counting that’s #3. RIP 3rd towel. #highlight2
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
12 brave men posted for a touching workout
Warmup:
The Main Event:
Pick a partner and a heavy bell, or double KBs.
Finish with – Freddy mercury’s, V-ups.
COT
The NMM:
Posted on behalf of Rockwell —
Only my second Q and my first Q at this location. Great group of guys working hard and it was nice to have an FNG too. We worked our way around the entire campus and towards the end I heard grumblings about the distance :).
The THANG:
The first quasi-chill of the season greeted five PAX this morning at Anvil. A smaller than expected crowd was present for the morning’s events meaning either not many saw YHC’s tweet about continuing #BurpeeFreeOctober or there are some sick individuals among us who seek out burpees. No matter, the watch found the satellite connection and we were off. First we ran to the AstroTurf pavilion for COP:
20 SSH IC
10 Merkins IC
20 Plank Jacks IC
10 Wide Arm Merkins IC
20 Mountain Climbers IC
10 Carolina Dry Docks IC
20 Imperial Walkers IC
10 Diamond Merkins IC
We attempted to explain each exercise to our FNG, Depth Charge, as we went, but nobody really had a good justification for the Imperial Walker beyond “it’s just something that we do”. Next we ran to the hot box for some more upper body work.
20 Dips, 20 Decline Merkins, 20 Incline Merkins, run a lap around the light pole and back.
15 Dips, 15 Decline Merkins, 15 Incline Merkins, take a lap.
10 Dips, 10 Decline Merkins, 10 Incline Merkins, take a lap.
5 Dips, 5 Decline Merkins, 5 Incline Merkins, take a lap. “Way to mix it up Ickey” said Lobstah Roll.
10 Dips, 10 Decline Merkins, 10 Incline Merkins, take a lap.
15 Dips, 15 Decline Merkins, 15 Incline Merkins, take a lap.
20 Dips, 20 Decline Merkins, 20 Incline Merkins, forgo the lap.
Run to the Avenue of Trees and gather at one end. Sprint to the other end then jog back, stopping at every tree along the way for 10 squats. Repeat and do 10 LBCs on the way back. Repeat and do 10 Flutters on the way back. YHC attempted to demonstrate the flutter to our FNG, where Hannibal was nice enough to allow my to finish before chiming in with “except keep your legs straight”. Hannibal was the war daddy today. #Old. Repeat with Russian Twists on the jog back. “Hannibal I’m thinking about puking” said YHC. Lest we forget, Hannibal was the war daddy today.
Run to rock pile and select a big, heavy, proud, manly rock. Time was running short so we only had time for 3 rounds of 5 straight leg deadlifts on the left side, 5 straight leg deadlifts on the right side, 5 curls, 5 triceps extensions, and 5 presses.
Run back to the launch lot for a bit of Mary including dollies, sit ups, heels to heaven, etc. During the heels to heaven this morning’s war daddy reminded the PAX to “get your butt up” which prompted Udder to immediately break wind. Sage advice indeed.
Welcome to Depth Charge, a software engineer from Indiana who is new to Charlotte and found us via an unidentified media source. We briefly considered Mellencamp as an F3 name, which in hindsight should’ve led us to a little ditty where we named him Diane. Chalk that miss up to an early hour, a hopefully strenuous workout, and a small group. Sign up for the Christmas party and the Joe Davis run. Hannibal was the war daddy today.
On a chilly Wednesday morning, 13 PAX made the journey to Death Valley to get their day started right. Although there were some new faces to me, apparently no FNG’s so a vague disclaimer was given and we got started on what would be a solid 45 minutes of pure enjoyment.
The Thang:
Mosey to the opposite end of the parking lot and circle up
Head down Strawberry Lane and right on 51 up to the soccer field/business park at the C/O of 51 and Raintree (a little over 3/4 of a mile). Partner up in the parking lot of the oddly located business complex.
Mosey to the small parking lot at the soccer fields for some quick Mary:
Head into the soccer area for additional partner work:
Partner 1 runs the length of the field while Partner 2 does a named exercise on the benches (flap jack)
Mosey back to AO for 2 sets of suicides between the 4 basketball goals.
That’s a wrap.
The Skin:
Got tapped by Semi Gloss yesterday asking if I could Q this morning. Truth be told, the timing wasn’t ideal for me but Gloss was putting some rhetoric out there about a bad knee or something so I told him that I would do it but didn’t promise a ton of originality. My goal was to get off campus as those usually seem to be workouts that sit well with the PAX. I also wanted to try and incorporate some exercises that I haven’t seen in a while during a post and they were met with mixed reactions…and some giggling. With the weather cooling off its always hard to know how many people are going to show up. I was glad to see that 13 made it out of the sack on the 42 degree morning. Spackler has deemed it beanie season and Bubbly had an entire sweatsuit on. Gloss looked like the Unabomber with some discreet solid black sweatshirt zipped up to his forehead and the hood up.
The COP started with the Seal Jack (basically a jumping jack but your hands in front of you as opposed to overhead). I heard giggling, saw some people looking at others trying to figure out what was going on and even someone say “this takes a lot of coordination”. It really doesn’t. I tossed in the burpees just to see what Spacker would modify to. He modified to standing there. Nice job. Skull crushers were not as well known to the PAX as I thought they would be. Same goes for the Spider Man push up.
With some new faces in the crowd I started second guessing my plan to run down to the park area on Raintree but decided to roll the dice. Everyone pushed hard. Ringer and Dollywood had the lead the entire time. But in all honesty, they do have the fountain of youth on their side. Bubbly was crushing it and Jello fought through it and finished solid. Nice work, man. Keep it up. It only gets easier. Great to see Strawberry out there. He fessed up that he hasn’t a good attendance record for the past month and blamed it on a case of the sniffles and overall laziness. We’ve all been there, Strawberry. I’m glad to see you took care of your leaky beak. Dumpster Fire continues to crush this workout and glad to see you becoming a regular. Great to see the Hydra site Q’s out there. Puddin’ did confirm that he only wears long sleaves when the temperature dips into the low 30’s. Bug and Deep Dish put out there usual strong performance.
By my count, we covered 3.1 miles, took approximately 5600 steps, and burned 430 calories. The goal was to incorporate some running, stairs, and hit the major body parts. I hope you boys felt it was worth your time.
I see that Dolly has left me off the upcoming Q schedule. Not sure if that is a reflection of my recent Q’s he has attended or just an oversight. Time will tell I guess.
Announcements:
Nine men of iron met in the ‘Nest to work out some of the kinks brought on by the Skunk and various other F3 sharpening activities. With disclosure given, it was time to “jump” into things. Which is just what we did, after a brief devo about a lifestyle of Forgiveness.
Savasana w/Devotion: Ephesians 4:31-32
The Main Thang:
TABLE TOP: Cat/Cow (5 Breaths) -> RIGHT leg straight then to left on toes and bend to left to look at right foot (5B) -> Cat/Cow (3B) -> LEFT leg straight then to right on tows and bend to look at left foot (5B)-> Cat/Cow (2B)
Plank -> Up Dog -> Down Dog (Walk the dog) -> Half-way Lift -> Forward Fold -> (i.e. Sun Salutations) once slowly with Q, then 2X OYO – follow breath, meet in Mountain
Step back to middle of mat and take a seat for HIP STRETCHING.
Put right let out, bend the left leg and draw it in toward your chest. Hold the knee and foot and press them together, or if you have the flexibility, cradle the upper leg with the knee and foot in the crook of your elbows and interlace your fingers. Then work into the hip joint by moving your bent leg slowly from side to side. Take time to move your hip through its full range of motion. 10 Breaths. Slowly release the left foot and straighten the left leg, draw the right in and repeato for 10B.
Switch to Plank -> Sun Salutations OYO 2X, stop at Plank 2nd time through and meet in Table Top. Push back to come to seated position for another HIP OPENER.
Put LEFT knee on right thigh and tuck right ankle under so shins are aligned (or as close as possible). Let gravity draw the knees down. If you can/want to increase the hip opening, lean forward and try to place hands in front on the ground. Keep weight even on both sit bones. Hold for 10 breaths. Flapjack and hold for 10B. DON’T RELEASE, but instead try to roll forward so you come to Table Top. -> Plank.
Sun Salutation all the way through OYO, stopping in Plank after 2nd time. Then meet in Table Top. Push back to seated.
IT Band Flow
Right leg over left leg with knees as close to stacked as possible and feet near hips. Spine tall, shoulders relaxed. Settle into this pose for 5 breaths. (This is sort of “Cow Face” for those keeping score at home.)
Twist to the right and draw up your right knee to your chest with right foot flat on the floor, left foot tucked next to right thigh. Right hand behind you. Let your shoulders and back do more twisting than your neck. Hold 5 breaths.
Rotate to left and place hands flat as you move into lunge with right hand on the INSIDE of right foot. Left hand in line with Right hand and Right foot. Left leg back and straight with toes on the ground. Goal is straight line from left ankle to head, gaze down in front of hands, right thigh part of the line formed by left leg/spine.
Hold for 5 breaths.
Walk hands to the left as you straighten right leg for wide-legged forward fold.
Hold for 5 breaths.
If your hands aren’t already flat on the ground, walk the out until they are, then twist left hand high. Try to twist shoulders enough to have left arm directly over right arm, which is on the ground.
Hold for 5 breaths. Flapjack and hold 5B.
Walk hands to the left and straighten right leg to get into lunge with left hand on inside of left foot. Straight leg/spine. Hold 5B.
Transition back to seated with LEFT leg on top. Twist to the left with same attention to feet, legs, back, shoulders and first twist. Hold for 5 breaths.
Gently move back to seated, uncross legs and come to Plank.
Sun Salutation 3X OYO. Stop in Plank after 3rd time and meet in Table Top.
Toe stretch: Place feet with toes on ground and push back to bring weight to bear on the toes as you either sit fully on your toes (i.e. Catcher) or keep some weight in your hands to soften the stretch. Take 10 breaths to relax into this pose, letting the tension go from your feet. Come back down to knees and hands and pick up toes and take a breath to flex them.
Crescent Moon: Push back into kneeling position. Step with RIGHT foot forward with knee bent so right thigh is parallel to floor. Stretch left leg back with knee and shin and top of foot on the mat. Hands on right knee, extend stretch deeper, keeping right knee over ankle. Raise both arms above head stretching all the way through to the finger tips. Lift the chest. Lengthen tailbone down toward floor and increase stretch on front left thigh. Let hips drop. Curve spine in the middle and gracefully extend arms overhead and back a bit as you press chest forward and up. Palms face each other. Gaze up to sky. Hold for 5 breaths before bringing hands down to floor, come back to Table Top and switch sides. Hold 5 breaths
Back to Table Top. Then Plank. Sun Salutation 3X OYO.
REPEATO Crescent Moon R/L for 5B each side
Lower down to sitting, bring soles of feet together and make back straight from bottom of spine to top of neck. Lean forward and grab feet with hands, and use arms to pull legs toward body and bend at hips, keeping back straight. 10 breaths.
Hug RIGHT knee while left leg straight 5B, then flapjack 5B. -> Extended Child’s Pose to ease lower back tightness. 10 Breaths -> up to Table Top ->
Toe stretch
TIME
Actually didn’t have time for COT.
Or announcements.
Moleskin:
Since we lost several PAX at the 6:15 point, and since YHC is not able/willing to roll his reveille back another 15 minutes, High Tide and I decided the 60-minute format will go on the shelf as a “tried that, didn’t adopt it” idea. We’ll continue to start at 0530 and end at 0615. We’ll just be sure to take time for the stretching to sink in during the 45 minutes we have. For those wanting to do more (like a certain seagull manager who shall remain nameless), there are plenty of other options, like pre-stretching (instead of pre-KB/pre-run), supplementing with OYO at home, or launching another flex workout.
We’re continuing to fine tune Gumby, so please feel free to offer input, well only if you actually post there more than once. Music is an ongoing opportunity, so no need to bring that up. Also, the latte machine will be back online next week.
Oh, and yes, after consulting with the proper authority, YHC can confirm that sun salutation does technically count as a modified burpie. Not sure who asked, but I hope that’s the answer you wanted. If not, feel free to forget what you just read.
Thanks for posting, gentlemen. It’s a pleasure and challenge to lead.
Ephesians 4:31-32 New Living Translation (NLT)
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Who signed me up for two days in a row after not posting for two months, that must have been me! For that I decided to give the men of F3 a good old beatdown on the famous hill of The Murderhorn. The legend has it that Frasier held the record up the beast at 50 something seconds. Tolkien decided one lunch break without any witnesses to beat that record held by Frasier, thats easy to do with your watch hanging out the car while driving. The record is now back in its rightful owners hands, well done Frasier.
Today, no records were broken, only good old fashioned sweat!
Ye Olde:
Quick disclaimer given, Loogie bitched about his shoulder and that he needed to modify, didn’t see much of that today my old friend, good push. Mosey down to the bottom of the Horn as Nar Dog and Marlin came in hot.
10 x ssh
10 x MC
Round 1
Bottom of the horn all you got to 1st, 2nd, 3rd street pole and to the top stopping to perform 10 burpees at each, mosey back down. Alf dished out some leg and arms high while waiting of the 6
Round 2
Bottom of the horn all you got to 1st, 2nd, 3rd street pole and to the top stopping to perform 10 Merkins & LBCs at each, mosey back down.
Round 3
Partner Up, Partner 1 runs to 1st pole while partner 2 performs LBCs, flap jack. Partner 1 runs to 2nd light pole, partner 2 performs merkins, flapjack. both partners all you got to pole #3, mosey back down.
Round 4
Mosey over to rock pile, pick up something thats going to hurt. mosey back to the bottom of the horn. run with rock to light pole #1 10 overhead presses, pole #2 20 overhead presses, now Alf, Tuck, Hazard, Squid and dog were out in front, I overhead Alf doubling up on the overhead presses, Alf is a legend just go with what he suggests!
mosey with rocks back to the pile, drop off and head to the playground. 3 rounds of 10 dips, 10 derkins, and 10 pull-ups. Mosey back to the bottom of the horn of the finale!
Round 5
quick huddle (Tuck style at his famous deck brave Q) let the men know give it all you got, this is what F3 is about, push each other hard.
run as hard as you can to pole #1 back to start and then all you got to the top, for good measure throw in 10 burpees. That part absolutely sucked. Game over.
A solid group of 12 men today, Loogie and Chippy coming back from injuries really pushed themselves today, Marlin, Cheddar and Commish hung strong and were not far behind the studs of F3, Alf, Hazard, Tuck, Squid and Nar Dog, the battle from the front of the pack was solid and respectful, great push gents. Nice to see Alf support another SOB workout, Alf has come to the dark side a few times this year, lets get out of our comfort zone SOBs and support our brothers in Area 51, F3 is one!!
Thank you for the opportunity to lead, keep up the good work Site Q’s Cheddar & Commish.
Announcements:
I made the personal announcement that my wife is expecting a baby in April, we are both very excited and let the ball breaking begin!
Joe Davis Run-Janaury 7th, please sign up to support Rock Thrill and his family
The Big House-NEW SOB WORKOUT SEE DUMPSTER FIRE & CHEDDAR FOR MORE INFO, STARTING AT PINEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT
F3 South Charlotte Christmas Party
Today’s workout was brought to you by the number 20:
The Thang
A quick Hairband mile in the parking lot led us to the COP:
SSH X 20
IW X 20
Windmill X 20
Burpees X 10 (OYO)
Mosey to the playground:
Squats X 20
Donkey Kicks X 20
Step ups X 20
Derkins X 20
CCD X 20
Dips X 20
Burpees X 10 (OYO) (to reach the requisite 20)
Mosey to the road. Sprint to each of 4 islands and in order do the following:
Dolly X 20
Freddie Mercury X 20
Rosalita X 20
Russian Twists X 20
A short break planking was followed by soccer field suicide.Turn-around points at top of penalty box, midfield, far penalty box and far endline included the following exercises:
Bomb jacks X 20
Mountain Climbers X 20
Rock hoppers X 20
Peter Parkers X 20
Upon finishing our suicides and standing at the base of the hill it beckoned to us for a round of 7s: burpees and LBCs. For added fun, we run up the hill backward each time. In time and with repetition this will become as easy and uneventful as running up forward. Right now, it is awful.
Mosey back to the wall with a few spontaneous stops along the way for merkins, LBCs, and Parker Peters. Everyone found a nice comfortable place on the wall and settled into the people’s chair for 3 rounds of arm presses: 50, 100 and 150. With quads burning we hobbled over to the final extra-credit COP:
Dolly X 25
Rosalita X 25
2 rounds of the protractor.
Announcments: F3 Christmas party sign ups are ongoing, Joe Davis 5k/10k sign ups started and there is a 5k this Saturday at Wingate University.
Hairband took us out giving thanks and praise where it is due.
The PAX at this AO are super solid men. Thrive has a high proportion of over-50 guys but do not be fooled…Shepherd, Lamont and (hopefully) YHC will outwork many men decades younger. Hairband is strong and consistent contributor to this AO. Great to have Bernanke and Hoodie on board this morning – they are always top performers. This morning Hoffa joined us for the first time and we hope there are many, many more.
5 pax read the preblast and decided to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight at Old Providence Elementary. Of course by “devil,” YHC means this week’s edition of SOFAWIB.
The Thang:
Run the Figure 8™ opening mile, ending at the corner of Rea and Edenbridge rock pile. Leaders were Cold Cuts and Kirk, followed closely by the peloton (everybody else).
Meet at Rea and Edenbridge for a repeat of the Figure 8™ mile, ending at the school parking lot.
El molesquín sin ropa:
Announcements:
YHC got this from Harley last week: “I highly recommend something to take the wind out of the smack talkers early, ha!”
So, the plan was made and 28 showed up to get the wind knocked right out of them!
Warm-Up
Good mornings x 10
KB Squat Stretch
10 Swings
5 Burpees
20 Swings
10 Burpees
30 Swings
15 Burpees
40 Swings
20 Burpees
10 count….yes, even at Skunk (sorry TR, we were gassed)
Mosey to Church lot:
Teams of 3
Pt #1: The Runner (Timer)
Pt #2: Single Bell man on the Hill (Goblet Squat, Viking, Snatch)
Pt #3: Double Bell man bottom of Hill (Cleans, Clean & Press, High Pulls)
Rotate around for 3 laps, doing said exercise at each until runner get to you, then switch.
Partner- catch me if you can around church back to parking lot
KB Abs:
Dolly press x 15
KB Crunch x 15
Flutter press x 15
COT
Ye Olde Naked Moleskin:
Harley, was that what you were looking for? Order up, enjoy!
6 men started out with the 0500 preSkunk to “catch Fletch” but instead ole Fletch had to catch us AND he did. #LIFO
The Team portion was easier executed than to explain…poor communication, I guess.
Nice to have Prohibition out for his virgin Kettlebell workout..go tell your skinny arm running brethren.
Lots and lots of moaning, groaning and grunting…F3 music. And yes, my bad for not having any tunes doing the Swing/Burpee kick in the teeth. I’ll leave that to Fridays at Kevlar.
Way to hang in there this am fellas. The catch me if you can at the end is not for the weak gripped man.
Announcements:
Christmas Party- sign up now
Joe Davis Run- sign up now for discount