Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

9 SOBs met in the chilly gloom this morning for their weekly installment of KB-induced pain at Foxhole. The pain started early with Frehley’s showing up in COP modeling the latest in lumberjack workout gear. It consisted of an oversized, insulated flannel shirt and loose tights (oxymoron?) with shorts somewhere in between. After some good-natured heckling, Frehley’s dropped the flannel. Thankfully, he didn’t drop the tights.

We had an FNG and a few friendly, relatively new guys, so a disclaimer was delivered.

Leave the bells in the lot and run down the side street between the school and the trailers. At the playground, start side shuffling left. Switch to side shuffle right when we get to the end of the playground. At the back corner, switch to backward run. Where the sidewalk ends, switch back to forward run and head back to COP for warm up.

Warm-up:

  • 20x 2H Swings OYO
  • 10x Good Mornings
  • 10x Halos – 5 each direction
  • 10x Snatches each arm
  • 5x prying squats

Leave the bells again and all you got back down the road between the school and the trailers, around the back and up the side to the picnic tables. 50 dips OYO on the picnic benches. Run back the same way to the bells.

Main Thang:

Lock out the bells overhead and carry them to the back of the school building on the picnic table side. Partner up (size and speed don’t matter). P1 will run across the four basketball courts to the farthest white line, then come back. P2 will perform the called exercise. Flapjack until the cumulative total is reached.

  • Exercise 1: 100 snatches
  • Exercise 2: 200 cleans
  • Exercise 3: 300 2H swings

Some LBCs were performed between sets to allow teams to finish up.

Out of time, hustle back for COT.

Thanks, Wild Turikey, for the take out.

Moleskine:

YHC was DR this weekend and wasn’t feeling particularly creative at 10pm on Sunday night, so I resorted to my usual tricks of “recycling” another workout that I thought looked good. This one was from Fletch last week at Skunkworks. I made some very slight modifications (no one likes walking lunges anyway), but kept the good stuff (100 snatches – yes, please).

Coco (our FNG) and the other newer guys (C3PO and Vice) weren’t intimidated by all the reps and worked hard throughout the whole workout. Mighty Mite did his best Larry Bird impression, beasting through the 50 dips, then saying “that’s stupid” when YHC told him we had to go back around the school building the long way. #symmetry Wild Turkey and YHC made the wise choice of partnering with Chanel, who flew through the exercises – less for us. Loogie cursed my name during the sprints, but what doesn’t kill him makes him stronger.

Thanks to Chanel for keeping an eye on the newer guys out there. He hung back and instructed, allowing YHC to keep the workout moving.

Announcements:

  • Area 51 Turkey Bowl @ Matthews Sportsplex this Thursday morning. Let Spackler and/or Brown know by the end of the day which team you’re on. Gear vs. Boot Camp vs. Running.
  • Area 51 Christmas Party @ Sardis Swim & Raquet on December 12. Sign up so Geraldo and Baracus can get a count. The pre-blast is here.
  • Area 51 Holiday Toy Drive for Alexander Youth Network – Details to come.
  • 4th Annual Joe Davis Run – January 9th in Fort Mill. Options include 1 mile fun run, 5k and 10k options. Supporting Keystone Substance Abuse Services. The pre-blast can be found here.

 

“You’re in a pretty lousy mood, huh?”*

Del: You’re in a pretty lousy mood, huh?

Neal: To say the least.

Del: You ever [run The Wiggler] before?

[Neal shakes his head]

Del: Hmm. Your mood’s probably not going to improve much.

Don’t be a grumpy-pants.  Run The Wiggler!  5:45 am Tuesday – corner of Foxcroft and Rothwood.  Holiday-week pace…

*Planes, Trains and Automobiles

#PreBlast – JoeDavisRun Week 2/8

The men of #F3Swift will launch from the Ballantyne AO at the Vine Restaurant at 0515 on Tuesday morning for Week 2 of 8 for the @JoeDavisRun 5k or 10k. If you want to follow along with a plan, here is an option = https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qd3qxzsr9lDR-p-XuCX1PhmG_jATPbhgKkj9zJBVzwg/edit?usp=docslist_api

The quick speed workout of this week is the familiar 400s. We’ll try new format to keep it fresh, but be prepared to head out to the Bull Ring to run 400m intervals at Repetition Pace. 400m jog recovery.

Find your repetition pace here:  http://runsmartproject.com/calculator or also available via the app VDOT Running Calculator by The Run SMART Project, LLC. Here are downloadable links:

A cold start to Thanksgiving week

20 men braved the first sub-30 degree weather (I believe) to start off Thanksgiving week right.  This was my first VQ at The Matrix and I appreciate the opportunity to lead.  We were off at 5:30am for a quick run around the school for warm up and we circled up at the lower lot.

SSH x 20IC followed by 5 burpees OYO
IW x 20IC followed by 4 burpees OYO
Low Slow Squat x 20IC followed by 3 burpees OYO
Mountain Climber x 20IC followed by 2 burpees OYO
Merkins x 10IC followed by 1 burpee OYO

Team up in groups of 3 for circuit work around the school.
First playground near the cars – pulls up x 10, dips x 20, derkins x 20
Back playground – jump squats x 20, lunges x 20, calf raises x 20
Each team member is either at one of the playgrounds or in transit
Each PAX does 3 reps at each playground

Time for some Jack Webb (or Joe Webb in honor of our 10-0 Panthers) up to 8 merkins/40 presses and back down.

Time for some Mary
LBC x 25
Flutter x 20
Russian Twist x 20
Dolly x 15
Back Scratcher x 20

10 burpees OYO and a quick run to and around the lower parking lot and back to get us to exactly 6:15

Name-o-rama and COT
Announcements –
– Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving at the Matthews sports complex – get with Turkey Leg if you’re looking for a team
– Christmas Party on 12/12 – tickets by 12/4 – hard commit
Thanks again to Squid for taking us out in prayer and thanks to everyone for this opportunity – Huggie Bear.

Fairwell Nesbit

SSH x 25 IC

MTC x 25 IC

LBC x 25 IC

Plank Jack x 25 IC

Merkin x 20 IC

 

High Knees 15 yrds

Butt Kicks 15 yrds

Burpee x 10

 

 

Run to the first road by the school.

Run to every third mailbox

10-jump lunge

10 merkins

10 dying coach roach

 

End of road plank

Rotate high to elbows

 

Millbridge parking lot

Hill run x 8

At the bottom of the first 4

15 Derkins

LBC x 20 IC

Plank Jack x 20 IC

Bicycle x 20 IC

At the bottom of the second 4

15 Dips

 

3 Laps around the Millbridge parking lot

Lap 1

10 Jump Squats

run

10 Hand release Merkins

run

Plank

Lap 2

10 Monkey Humpers

run

10 Hand release Derkins

run

Plank

Lap 3

10 LBC

run

10 CDD

 

Run gravel road back to parking lot

10 MTC

10 LBC

rinse and repeat

We said farewell to Nesbit Park this morning with a major beatdown.  It will be one the PAX won’t forget.  Looking forward to our new AO Cuthbertson Middle school.  We will need to welcome that next Monday with a big F3 welcome.

What can I say about the Pax.

McStuffin is a beast, he really pushes the PAX is all aspect of the workout.

Transporter is Mr. consistency, always at the front helping motivate the Pax.  Not sure he was a fan of the Monkey Humpers today but who is.

Short Circuit has come along way since he first started his F3 workouts.  Pretty soon he will be running his own workout.  Thats what happens when you commit to 3 days a week.

T-Ball, I can’t really talk about the a guy that wears a sweat shirt with “the team up north” however I think he is a little confused.  He wore a Michigan St. shirt Saturday and Maze and blue one today.  Enough said!

Popeye. I am not sure but I think he took a spill on one of the speed bumps on the dark gravel road this morning.

Frack has volunteered to lead one of the workouts in the upcoming weeks.  Know his workout style it will be a major beatdown.

Thank you for taking us out Short Circuit.

Agony’s Playground: Dirty Thirty

Aye…20 Pax posted with the thoughts of putting some long hard miles in pre-Thanksgiving.  But Santa’s sled, disguised like every other middle aged man in southpark, a volvo wagon, made an early appearance with some toys for the pax.

The Thang: 

Mosey with KBs and WallBalls through the hole infested back side of RTS

Dirty Thirty (30reps)

  • Hand Release Durkins
  • KettleBell Swings
  • Lunge Walk
  • SitUps
  • Dips
  • Wall Ball
  • Donkey Kicks
  • Tire Flips
  • Shuttleruns
  • Burpees

Equalizer: Plankorama, Mary: LBCs, Dolly

Repeat above at 20reps

Equalizer: Mtn. Climbers, Russian Twist

Repeat above at 10reps

Mosey home: Team weighted individual fartlick runs in a line

Moleskin:

  • A post-race season workout that as the hibernation kicks in focused on muscle than speed.
  • Some pax took to doing the worm rather than handrelease durkins
  • #Cobains to the ‘hood for the tireflipping-thuds at 5:45
  • Discovered the YMCA no longer will allow their trainers to call them “Indian Runs” or “Suicides.”
  • Cuda was priming his med alert bracelet during the first circuit of donkey kicks, but pushed through.
  • PAX–you are no stronger and prepared to carry in the frozen turkey (or Tofurky)

411:

  • Dunkin Donuts and Bible time at Rally Point
  • Thanksgiving Day convergences–check the website
  • A running race in Jan–check the website
  • Area 51 Christmas Party–check the website

Warm it Up!

(Posted on behalf of O’Tannenbaum)

8 men showed up at McKee Rd Elementary for the start of the weekly beatdown at Area 51 and a 9th joined us during the COP.  Shovel flag was planted in the turf and O’Tannenbaum led the group for a slow mosey through the lower parking lot near the soccer fields and over to the lower field.  OT took a deliberate pace in order to allow any late stragglers to find us, but none showed us.  After circling up for COP in the lower field and completing the first couple exercises, Beaver joined the group after utilizing his bloodhound talents to track us down.

COP:

  • SSH x 25 IC
  • 5 Burpees
  • IW x 25 IC
  • 4 Burpees
  • Seal Jacks x 15 IC (Had to start, stop, & then restart this one as OT found his rhythm
  • 3 Burpees
  • Squats x 20 IC
  • 2 Burpees
  • Parker Peter x 20 IC
  • 1 Burpee

Now that we have properly warmed up, time to make our way to the infield of the track at the front of the school. Partner up in the middle of the infield and each partner runs to opposite ends of the infield.  Run back to middle of the infield for 10 Hand Slap Merkins.  Rinse & repeat x 4.

Head to fence around the small playground behind the school.  Complete bug/plank walk the length of the fence and then complete 20 Decline Merkins w/ feet on fence.  Rinse & repeat x 2.

Time to work on the arms and legs, so we made our way back over to the soccer field and everyone claimed a cinder block.  Carry blocks to the other end of soccer field for some circuit work.  Complete the following:

  • Military Press x 10 IC
  • Triceps Ext x 10 OYO
  • Goblet Squats x 10 IC
  • Curls x 10 OYO
  • Drop the block and run length of soccer field & back
  • Repeat exercises
  • Run to midfield with your block.  Drop the block and complete rock hoppers x 5 IC on the blocks.  Run to other end & back to midfield.  Pick up block and back to starting point.
  • Repeat exercises
  • Run length of soccer field with block and return it to its home

Mosey to the back of the school to the historic NC playground, stopping at the top of the lower lot for backwards bear crawl up the hill to the school grounds.  Find a stump and complete 3 rounds of the following:

  • Jump ups/Step Ups x 20
  • Dips x 20

Move over to the disc golf course and line up at the disc golf hole for some 7’s:

  • Start w/ 0 squats, run to other disc golf hole/cage and complete 7 Burpees
  • Back to start for 1 squat and then 6 Burpees at the other end & continue for 2/5, 3/4, etc.)

Back to launch point for 6 MOM:

  • LBCs x 20 IC
  • Pull-ups x 10
  • Freddie Mercury x 20 IC
  • Toes to Bar x 10

COT

NMM:

  • Covered most of the AO this week as OT had us traverse the school grounds a couple times as we moved from station to station
  • COP was held at the lowest spot on the grounds.  With all the rain we have had the past week or so, ground was pretty soupy and PAX found themselves with some cold hands and wet feet.
  • Probably had no candidates for the Rockettes on hand during Seal Jacks.  Stopped midway through in order get the form working properly.
  • Lots of chatter/grumbling during the bug walk along the fence as OT had us lay on our backs and shimmy across the ground with no use of arms or legs.  Made for a challenge, but all seemed to power through it.
  • OT questioned about his call for 7s with the Burpees/Squats.  Standard protocol is to start with 6/1 combination and continue through to 1/6.  PAX questioned whether we were completing 8s when OT called for 7 Burpees to start, only to be informed that 0 Squats were to be completed at start and, therefore, technically we were doing 7s.

Announcements:

  • Sign-up for F3 Area 51 X-mas party are due by 12/4.  X-mas to be held at Sardis Swim & Racquet Club on 12/12
  • Joe Davis Run to be held 1/9/16 in Fort Mill.  Sign-up for 5k/10K can be found here:  http://joedavisrun.racesonline.com/register
  • F3 5 Year Anniversary work-out to be held 03/05/2016.  Anniversary Celebration to be held that night at The Fillmore.  See Weekly E-mail for more information.

The Great Smokey Mountain Pain Train

17 men of Union County Posted for a tour of the grounds and a sturdy beatdown.

The Pre-run Thang:  Glass Joe, Double E, Kieffer AKA “24” and Horse Head kicked off the morning with a 45 minute run… 5ish miles i’m guessing.

The Main Thang:  (edits may be forthcoming from Smokey)

Our appointed Q for the first half of the beatdown was the venerable Smokey.  At 6:58 we were all starting to check for emails, texts, tweets or “smoke” signals to indicate where he might be. As it turns out Smokey was right on time as he rolled into the parking lot at 6:59, Goofy foot in tow, to lead the PAX for the first half of the beatdown…  by 6:59:30 we were headed off for the first COP.

Glass Joe was a little nervous due to lack of distance between the launch point and the first COP.  He seemed to be having flashbacks to Friday’s Easy Is as Easy Does Overdrive pain, as much grumbling was heard about not having left the SVMS parking lot in weeks.  Have no fear Glass Joe,  Smokey has something horribly fun up his sleeve.

COP:

  • SSH x20
  • IW x 20
  • Merkins x 20
  • etc.

Smokey heads off the lot calling “follow me” (Glass Joe smiling all the way) and we all mosey toward Shiloh Elem.  One Brief stop at SVES along the way for an impromptu pain station or two as everyone catches up and then the PAX land on the Shiloh track for some fun.

Pick your favorite spot for 7’s

  • 7 Pull ups / one lap around the track ~ 1/8 mile
  • 6 pulls ups / another lap around
  • (all the way down to 1)

This proved to be a gasser as each PAX picked a pull up area personally challenging and went to work.  Some PAX were on the monkey bars, some the parallel bars for some supine pull-ups and others were hanging from the rafters (Literally) at one of the pavillions around the playground.

Once complete we all loaded back onto Smokey’s pain train and headed back to SVMS with another pain station along the way and, thanks to some poking from Donkey Kong, wrapped up the run with a sprint back to the busses.

We were short on time so Smokey reined in his Wienke right about here and we moved through one round of stations at the school.

  • Step ups x 20
  • Dips x15
  • Lung walk the length of the gauntlet

And with that Smokey and Goofy headed off into he sunrise to basketball practice.  Smokey succeeded in leaving the PAX smoked.

YHC picks up the lead and we head back out toward SVHS.  At this point i get a little confused as I hear Glass Joe grumbling about getting a solid 10 miles in this morning due to his early morning pre-run.  I didn’t hear  our other pre-runners, Double E and Kiefer complaining, but I think secretly GJ loves covering the extra miles but is trying to hide it.

Mosey up the Sun Valley Crossroads for some Navy Seal style sit ups x20 (Link arms and keep your buddy close).  Recover and beat feet down the road again.  one more pause in the run as we lunge walk a bit and then break into two lines for a mosey through the parking lot.  Donkey Kong, who claims to have been hibernating for the past few months but doesn’t seem winded at all, takes this opportunity to nettle YHC for calling some confused commands during this part of the trek across campus.  In my defense, i was 02 deprived… so on with the beatdown.  Back peddle, avoid the fence and we find ourselves staring at the pot o’ gold.  some big ole tires 🙂

TIRES –  Pick a station and get to work

  • Station 1 Tire burners
  • Station 2 Tire Flips with jump throughs
  • Station 3 Steps ups and Tire Pop Squats

We had to cut the fun short due to a fast clock but we’ll revisit and have more fun with the tires another day… Line it up and Indian Run back to the shovel flag.

Moleskin: See above for commentary.  Additional call out to all the usual suspects who left it all on the field.  We covered a lot of ground and pain stations were not in short supply.   T-Claps to the up and comers like Hoodie, Lamont, Crab Legs etc. who crushed it today.  Plus a special call out to our newest member “Mr Jingles”, very strong showing!  Keep on posting and lets see strength of character to match. (Poke) 😉

 

That is all. – CT

Show up or else

It’s Christmas. And one of the best parts of Christmas is the act of giving. In that spirit, the innumerable men of Outland would like to give a challenge to the couple of men that post at Commitment.

The 100 burpees of Christmas Challenge:
We challenge Commitment to see who can get more pax to their December 19th workout. Whichever workout gets less that day has to do 100 burpees immediately after their COP at their December 26th workout. No break. No 10 count. 100 straight burpees.

For example, let’s say Outland gets 33 pax at our December 19th workout and Commitment gets 4 on the same day. That means the few remaining men at Commitment on December 26th will have to each do 100 burpees. And yes, I know you will complain that you actually tweeted out that you had 8 but to count towards this, they must have a Y chromosome. And we fully realize this means we won’t be able to count Horsehead but we will win this easily anyways.

In true Christmas spirit, we are compassionate to your handful of men. If you need to spend your entire Dec 26th workout doing a ring of burpees to get to 100, we understand and won’t hold it against you.

One last thing, we know you guys don’t really do burpees so here is a demonstration video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATaJwxtgaww

Merry Christmas!

Glass Joe

Stonehenge kicks abs – the workout that keeps on giving

20 men got their abs handed to them at Stonehenge.  The backblast is late, but this was the workout that keeps on giving.  It ain’t over yet.  Anyone not in severe pain today… wasn’t doing it right.

The boys set it up as a form workout.  We did a little of that, and also got introduced to a new method of planking which hurts like heck.

The Thang:

Quick warm up with a little of this and a little of that.  Lesson one was how to do a proper elbow plank:

Lie face down flat on the ground, put your elbows on the ground in front of you, and lift up your mid section on your knees (“ON YOUR KNEES, FIREMAN ED!”).  Tuck your arse in, then lift up your knees.  Hang out for a while.

After the warm up we moseyed over to a parking lot for a few merkins and a bit of running.  Incorrect form was aptly demonstrated as we ran through the sneaky cheat merkin, the saggy arse merkin, the metro merkin, and of course the go-ruck merkin.  After that we stopped wasting time and did some proper merkins with a partner to hold us accountable.  In between we did a lot of (proper) elbow planking.

Then we ran along to Loch Ness for timed mile.  3.3 laps is all it took – Frasier destroyed the field.  The rest of us struggled along behind.  When we finished we did some elbow planking for good measure.

After this the lads were begging for more merkins, so yhc obliged with the Mighty Mite merkin ladder across the parking deck.  It sucked.

Next to last we set off for the pull up bars and all pax did two pull ups, one at a time.  Feedback was requested and vocally given.  The rest of us planked while this went on.

To finish we stopped at a parking lot for some 6-count burpees then did a jail break back to the parking lot.

Moleskin:

It was a strong performance by all today, with many notable instances.

Honey Bee was very good at demonstrating both the arse-up and arse-down merkin, but then he knocked out two pull-ups that were absolutely perfect. Plus, he kept up with Frasier on the mile (almost).

Mr Bean had cold nipples which prevented him from doing some of the elbow planks.

Fireman Ed got a bit worked up and started yelling during the Mighty Mite merkin ladder.

Mike Check showed us all how to do perfect merkins.  Every one was spot-on.

Great to meet Icicle and Early Bird.  Thanks for coming to Stonehenge.

The elbow planks hurt a lot.  My abs have been agony all day.  How was it for you?