When you get up by 6:30AM on New Year’s Day to break a sweat, you are off to a good start to the year.
The Thang – Stagecoach
Group 1:
COP:
Hill work:
Little bit of people’s chair, wall planks and wall mountain climbers
Group 2:
Ring of fire:
1 Pax calls exercise for group to perform while he runs around circle
10×10
Group 3:
Core Starfish:
Bear crawl with incrementing merkins at each parking space
Ring of fire:
1 Pax calls exercise for group to perform while he runs around circle
Little bit of people’s chair, wall planks and wall mountain climbers
The Thang – Young Love
Group 1:
Off-road trail run to lower baseball field.
COP:
Mosey to baseball diamond for some work on the base paths:
Fast mosey to upper baseball field for some speed work:
Mosey back to parking lot.
Group 2:
Off-road trail run to lower baseball field.
COP:
Mosey to baseball diamond for some work on the base paths:
Fast mosey to upper baseball field for some speed work. Brief pitstop at rails for 25 supine pullups:
Mosey back to parking lot.
Group 3:
Off-road trail run to lower baseball field.
COP:
Mosey to baseball diamond for some work on the base paths:
Fast mosey to upper baseball field for some speed work. Brief pitstop at rails for 25 supine pullups:
Mosey back to parking lot.
The Thang – Joker
I also had three groups, and frankly, all of the exercises have started to mesh together in my mind. Can’t say I remember exactly what each group did… so, here is a mash up of what we did across three separate groups:
Moleskin:
(7) men emerged from their fartsacks this morning to get back to their rucking roots at SPEARHEAD.
Thursday morning workouts began on 8/29 as the PAX were preparing for what would become GORUCK Challenge Class 815. Thursdays were designed to get some miles on our feet, test our shoes/socks, and generally practice good moving form and coupon management.
Culkin, the proven master of the Thursday distance workouts, lead us through the gloom, into sprinklers – strapless and without kidneys. (See 8/29 backblast)
Today, we decided to get back to our roots. The goal was distance and pace. We covered 5.84 miles total, and here’s how it happened.
The Thang:
We maintained approximately a 15:30/mi pace during the timed portion of the ruck. 15:48 overall including work in the parking lot. Maintaining this pace will meet or exceed the selection standard for ruck time; however, we were not individually loaded down with as much weight as the selection standard requires. Overall a great performance.
Moleskin:
Announcements
Follow @SPEARHEADf3 on Twitter and www.SPEARHEADf3.com for future announcements.
12 Pax are stayed true to their New Year’s Resolutions and helped welcome Rebel Yell to it’s new home at Stonecrest.
The Thang:
Jog to Wendy’s parking lot for a COP warm up.
10 Burpees OYO
SSH X 20
IW X 20
Slow Squats X 20
Mosey over to the fountains for some 10, 20, 30.
FIrst set; 10 derkins, 20 wall jumps, 30 dips. Jog to Chicos and back.
2nd set. 10 dips, 20 wall jumps, 30 derkins. Jog to Chicos and back.
3rd set 10 Incline merkins(irkins?), 20 wall squats, 30 decline dips. Jog to Chicos and back.
4th set 10 decline dips, 20 wall squats, 30 irkins. Jog to Chicos and back.
Mosey to the back corner of Target for a Pax led Mary Go Round.
LBC X 25, Back Scracthers X 25, Heels to Heaven X 25, Flutter X 25
Burpee up the hill ladder: Start a 1. End at 7.
Mosey to the loading dock.
Front lunge walk to the first speed bump.
Side lunge walk to the next two speed bumps.
Bear crawl to the next speed bump.
Crab walk to the next speed bump.
Burpee broad jump to the end.
Mosey to the back to the theater for 10 verkins.
Mosey back to launch point.
Moleskin:
Many of the pax were discussing the amount of time spent drinking football and watching beer in the previous 36 hours. All the more reason to make a Thursday morning post!
Thanks to Spackler for reaching out to me and giving me the opportunity to welcome Rebel Yell to it’s new home. Hopefully I gave the site Q’s plenty of painful ideas for the coming weeks.
Great effort by the pax out there today. As promised, this wasn’t my most creative Q, but hopefully it was one of the more painful ones.
Announcements:
Rebel Yell will be meeting at Stonecrest from here on out. Meet in the parking lot on the far side of the movie theater.
Joe Davis Memorial Convergence and 5K is Saturday at Walter Elisha Park in Fort Mill. Convergence at 7. 2ndF Coffeeteria at 8. Race 9. Pax should consider participating in any or all of these portions of the event.
Lone Survivor on 1/10 at the Arboretum Cinebarre. The Murph at all Saturday morning sites on 1/11.
Tomorrow’s Kevlar beatdown will involve a whole range of home fitness equipment so dust them off and bring what you can. I’m talking ab rollers, perfect push up handles, the Reebok step, and even those stretchy chest springs that can trap your chest hair. All will be put to good use. If you don’t have anything no worries as there will be plenty to go around.
Any questions or good ideas please sound off below.
Bulldog
So it is back to work for many of us tomorrow, the day after New Year’s. What better way to shrug off the depression of going back to the office than a 6 mile fellowship run to start your Thursday.
Our own Rock Thrill has agreed to lead us to lands unseen on a 6 mile exploration at a moderate “no drop” pace. The emphasis will be on fellowship and tapering leading into Saturday’s Joe Davis 5k.
Show up in the greenway parking lot at the corner of Bevington Place and Rea Rd. at 5:10 am for some stretching prior to the run starting at 5:15.
If others would rather do a 4 mile run, there is the option to leave from the same spot at 5:30 am. An out and back route on the greenway or a run to S. Charlotte Middle School and back would be right at 4 miles. This will be non-Q’ed unless someone speaks up in the comments.
See you in the gloom!
Written by Good Hands – posted by BD.
16 PAX evaded the temptation of the fartsack to venture out into the gloom for one last Skunkworks beatdown for 2013. Here is what we did:
WARMUP
SSH x 25
IW x 20
Mtn Climber x 20
Stagger Arm Merkins on KB 10 x Right Arm and 10 x Left Arm in cadence
Partner up (like-size KB) and head to the back entrance, rack ‘em while we mosey. Catch-me-if-you-can farmer’s carry around church. Partner 1 runs with both KB’s while partner 2 does 10 merkins and then sprints to catch up with Partner 1. Flapjack until lap complete. Rotate merkins between regular, wide-arm, and diamond.
Plank at bottom of the stairs by the hill until all PAX complete.
Stay with partner for 100’s hill work. Partner 1 performs called exercise at the bottom of the hill while partner 2 runs up the hill, does called exercise and runs back down. Flapjack until team performs designated number of reps at bottom of the hill:
100 2-hand swings/10 regular merkins
100 goblet squats/10 wide-arm merkins
100 upright rows/10 diamond merkins
150 bicep curls/30 LBC’s
100 tricep extensions/15 Heels-to-Heaven
75 high pulls/5 burpees
Mosey back to parking lot, throw in some forward and backward lunge walks for good measure. Circle up for COT.
10 burpees OYO to finish it out.
Moleskin:
Great effort by all the PAX today. YHC didn’t hear a lot of mumble chatter out there, but maybe that’s just from a lack of oxygen in the brain. The PAX crushed the Farmer’s Carry lap, not sure if that was from the Christmas ornaments some were carrying or just flat-out beastness. I did hear TR mention that the lighter KB-toting PAX should have to do more merkins, so I’m sure that’s in the back of his mind for future workouts. It was also mentioned that in Russia the women use 35lb bells so Horsehead immediately put himself in the Russian infant category! #fairwarning #newbellforthenewyear
Great send-off as always by Busch, thanks brother.
Thanks for allowing me to lead such a fine group, it’s an honor. Happy New Year!
Good Hands
Announcements:
– Jan 10th 730-1030 serve opportunity at Charlotte Rescue Mission. Contact Busch for details.
– Jan 1 convergence at Death Valley, 0700-0800.
– 2nd F opportunity Jan 10th for showing of the movie Lone Survivor. See weekly email for evite, or contact Stone Cold. Happy Hour at Vintners prior. Thanks for organizing this Stone Cold!
Posted on behalf of Iron Horse
7 men chose to join the fun at SPEARHEAD, ensuring they would not make the midnight ball drop this evening….so we took a stroll around the Carmel Middle School Times Square instead .
The Thang:
Stroll down to the football field for COP (Rucks off):
Rucks ON and New’s Years Hats distributed.
Line up at the 50 yard Times Square for broken 8 count burpees as follows:
Rinse and Repeat with 10 Reps.
Rinse and Repeat with 5 Reps.
As someone in the PAX correctly pointed out that we should limit our running under weight, we changed theme.
Partner Up – size doesn’t matter.
Hooters passed out (no, the ones that play music….no, the ones you put in your…..ok, forget it).
Around the Square:
SPEARHEAD REST = Dolly’s in cadence while pressing ruck + 15 curls.
Back to start:
SPEARHEAD REST = Flutters in cadence while pressing ruck + 15 overhead presses.
Back to start:
SPEARHEAD REST = Louganis with Ruck + 15 Squatting O/H Presses.
Cool Down: 15 x CDD OYO.
MOLESKIN:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
8 men showed up for the New Year’s Eve edition of #F3FastTwitch. YHC tried to make it fun…hopefully it was. If nothing else, we stayed on the move. Here’s what we did:
The Thang
Little baby jog around the parking lot to let the incoming #clipboarders know we own this place then down to the baseball field on the left. Gather in CF for COP:
Divide up so that we have guys at each foul pole doing exercises with guys running hard in between the foul poles tagging in/out. Exercises were:
Mosey to home plate for some speed work:
Back to the foul poles for some hard running:
Back to home plate for more base running drills:
AYG from home plate to right field foul pole. AYG from right field foul pole to left field foul pole. AYG from left field foul pole to home plate.
Mosey to CF, circle up and on your six for Mary:
Mosey to the parking lot for COT.
Moleskin
6 men showed up by 0515. 1 at 0516. And Twister, an FNG to #F3FastTwitch, found us on the baseball field by 0525. Why does #F3FastTwitch start at 0515? One of life’s great mysteries…the world may never know.
Only one didn’t see the pre-blast tweet and showed up in the new shoes he got for Christmas. @slimer08 followed @PurpleHazeF3 immediately after the workout. Thanks for the follow Soul Glow…hope the shoes clean up ok.
The right field foul pole area was extremely wet…so thankfully YHC picked the left field foul pole for the hand release merkins. Perhaps YHC should have audibled to switch it…just to make sure the FastTwitchers could not be accused of being soft. The merkins and CDDs should keep us from being hollow chested and pencil armed, as we were accused of being in the #Skunkvergence BB last week.
Hopefully the speed work on the base paths was fun. YHC thinks it certainly beats sprints on the track. If nothing else was gained, Rock Thrill said he learned a lot about running the bases this morning. All the men certainly ran hard. There were no lollygaggers to be found.
Announcements
First, a special mention goes to Run Stopper for gracing us with his presence at Bagpipe! Come again, you’re always welcome!! So the theme of the day was a mixture of 3 different exercises (variations of merkins, squats, and Mary) – so for most of you don’t let the title fool you and get your minds out of the gutter!!! We started with a mosey over to the Stonehenge statues for a quick warmup and then jogged over to the parking deck by the movie theatre which hadn’t been invaded since the Haggis downpour about a month ago where Frehley’s (me) proceeded to strip off layers of clothes. Anyway, once on the garage we proceeded with the Treacherous Triage in the Garage…
Warm-ups:
SSH x 25; Imperial Walker x 25, Merkins x 30, Dips x 30 on the concrete benches
Mosey to parking gargage for combinations of various squats x 10, merkins x 15, and Mary x 20 followed by sprints to each end of the ramps (top and bottom) where the 3 exercises were repeated. 10 sets of 3 (30 total) exercises with sprints in between.
Set 1; jump squats, merkins, lbc
Set 2: squats, wide merkins, dolly
Set 3: jump squats, narrow merkins, flutter
Set 4: peoples chair (1 min including 15 sec 1 leg holds), diamonds, heels to heaven with dolly
Set 5: jump lunges, merkins, bicycle
Set 6: peoples chair (1 min including 15 sec 1 leg holds), wide merkins, mason twists
Set 7: peoples chair with 50 overhead presses, carolina dry docks, lbc
Set 8: squats, wide merkins, flutter
Set 9: jump squats, diamond merkins, protractor
Set 10: Mary Ladder: 10 reps of various Mary exercises followed by merkins (2) and squats (2), then 4 merkins and squats, then 6, etc – up to 10 and then back down to 2.
15 Burpees to close out the garage session.
Mosey back to Vine restaurant and brought in 2014 with 20 merkins and a 14 count of 6 inches on the 20th rep.
On a serious note, thanks to all for a wonderful 2013. I’ve enjoyed getting to know so many great guys and looking forward to an even better 2014! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
15 committed fellows made the decision to join me in the gloom this morning and follow me around McKee Road Elementary for the weekly gathering known as The Matrix. All chose the red pill and down the rabbit hole we went…
The THANG
Quick mosey around school, across parking lots, through fields and around track. Circle up for COP:
COP:
Mosey to Playground for circuit work:
Mosey to other side of school for wall work:
Mosey to track and line-up:
Fast Mosey back to Home Base for COT
COT
Moleskine:
– Excellent gloomy conditions this morning. A nice (in an F3 sort of way) damp chill to the air created the perfect conditions for 16 mouthbreathers to generate a significant amount of steam around the playground during the circuit work. Interesting to visually observe the amount of CO2 we exhaled – provided a nice gauge to the intensity of the workout.
– Felt like good 2ndF throughout, even though there wasn’t a whole lot of talking. Interesting what bonds can be formed on the gloomy fields even though we don’t say a lot and can barely see each other at times. Probably the real reason folks came out this morning, although I’d like to think it was in eager anticipation of my beatdown.
– Nice lead by Zip to get us back to the COT. I felt it was fair to let the guy complaining about 30 seconds of OT set the pace so we could get out of there. Apparently some (one?) of us wanted to get to work on time this morning.
– Note to self for next time: fast mosey after a BTW session doesn’t work so well. Almost did a faceplant after my first two steps due to the rapid return of blood from my head to my body.
– Thanks for following my lead today, fellas. Always a pleasure to lead the PAX. And on the last The Matrix of the year, provided me an extra moment to reflect on how I have grown in each of the 3 Fs this year past. Another year of similar growth is one of the things I am looking forward to most in 2014.
Announcements:
– Convergence workout 1/1/14 at Death Valley – 7-8 am. All other Wednesday workouts closed.
– Convergence workout 1/4/14 at The Fort – 7-8 am, with Joe Davis 5k at 9 am. Preblast with details went out or click here: http://f3nation.com/2013/12/29/preblast-convergence-and-5k/
– Most South Charlotte/Area51 workouts will be closed 1/4/14, but a few (e.g., The Rock) will be open. See weekly email for more info.
– Area 51 “Lone Survivor” movie (Jan 10) and Murph (Jan 11) is coming up. Movie theater reserved by Stone Cold at Cinebarre. Looking for a big presence for the movie (remember to bring cash). All Saturday workouts will run “The Murph” the following day (Jan 11) . Tons of details here, including logistics for movie, evite, and HDHH opportunity prior to movie: http://f3nation.com/2013/12/27/area-51-2nd-f-preblast-lone-survivor-movie-friday-followed-by-murph-saturday/
– More announcements and details in the weekly email. Read it.