24 degrees of Hydra
I realized something today. Free workouts work. Even at sub-freezing, frozen tundra, finger numbing, heart slowing 24 degree temperatures. A great show was put on by the pax who escaped the fartsack and man style posted in the frozen wintry gloom. Not too mention The Hoff who came rucking into Hydra like we were some kind of base camp.
The Thang:
1 Lap
Burpees x 5
1 Lap
Mosey to frozen field for COP:
Side Straddle Hop x 20
Imperial Walker x 20
Mountain Climber x 30
Carolina Dry Dock x 20
Rock Hopper x 10
Partner Up for Prairie Fire Mary Left x 10, Center x 10, Right x 10
Now time for the Pyramid Run (50-yard sprints/runs)
At end of each 50-yard run do the following 4 exercises:
Burpees, Merkins, Heels to Heaven, LBC x5, x10, x15, x20, x15, x10, x5
Those waiting jog in place 1 minute
Those waiting Burpees x 10
Indian Run around Olde Providence School
Back to Field:
Partner Drag There and Back, flapjack as needed
Mosey to Playground and partner up:
Pullups x 10
Old School Situps x 20 (partner plan on feet)
Decline Merkins x 20 (partner plank)
Mosey to COT for 2 minutes of Mary:
Mason/Russion Twists x 20
Flutter Kick x 15
45 minutes of adrenaline rush complete. mission accomplished. Good work fellas.
Moleskin:
So the sight to start was worthy of a picture. The breath of every man visible. Those few in shorts, most gloves and hat. Introductions seemed necessary because not only is it dark gloom at 5:20 AM these days, but the winter garb makes us all look like undercover workout artists.
Audible off the bat to get some blood flowing, some laps were ran. Did not originally plan the laps, but man, when the chattering is from teeth banging together and not just yapping, it seemed like the right thing to do. So a couple laps we did…
Even after COP folks were still a bit chilled to core. Enter Pyramid Run and workout game changer. This treat of a workout was instantly welcomed, or at least accepted by the group as an innocent enough exercise. How hard can it be. The idea of 4 exercises pyramiding up to 20 and back down with a tiny 50-yard gallop across the field can’t be that tough. Boy, the grunting and mumblechatter and work put on by the pax over that next 20 minutes was awesome. Work to the core, the bodies finally warmed, and the peak at 20 reps each were accomplished and the ride back down to 15, then 10, then 5 reps was handled. Our business was done.
The Hoff either heard and repeated from another pax or originated from his own brain “This is better than sleeping” at one point through the pain fun. Quote of the morning we will call it. Nice to see you Hoff and everyone should take a crack at the Kettlebell Olympus workout on Saturdays!
In the end, we put in 80 reps each of the 4 exercises during the pyramid run. nice work! And those that did the 10 bonus burpees got themselves to 90, add the 5 we did after the first lap and the five more you do when reading then post, then you have arrived at the century mark for the day. Good job. If you read this and do the 5 burpees, then you gotta reply to this backblast to share it and earn the points brother!
Good work by all, keep coming to Hydra, let’s keep these numbers up there. Let’s not let the cold keep us away. All weather all the time baby! Keep pushing, keep posting, keep getting better.
We had several Hydra newbies today, welcome to Chicken Wing (brought out by The Hoff), Judge Smails, and Ribeye!
Announcements:
3rd F led by Carrier at Atrium uptown Wells Fargo 11:45 AM Thursdays, starting today, come on over if you are uptown.
Tiger Rag is looking for convergence on next Thursday. I think he is doing an F3 Maui tour so he will not be leading, but some of us not travelling need to step up and help lead this band of brothers before we OD on turkey for the day.
Ace and Gary bring it home
15 (yes 15) men, a good mix of Area 51 and Metro pax, decided to brave the wintry conditions and head out for some Ace and Gary frolicks. Spackler was not a happy camper with his 11 at Death Valley meaning that The Charge topped the SCLT pax charts just 2 weeks in!
THE THANG
Ace (Double D’s) as Q.
Moly around lot waiting for stragglers.
10 burpees on your own.
Jog around track with butt kicks, karaokes, high knees etc
On field start at goal line.
Sprint 20 yards do 10 merkins length of field. Sprint back.
Repeato with LBC’s.
Partner wheel barrows length of field switching every 10 yards.
Piggy back partner to 50 and flapjack.
Repeato
Gary (Bulldog) on Q
Burpee ladder with 1 burpee at beginning and 1 on 10 yard line.
Increase each 10 yards adding burpee each time all way to 50 and back.
Plank.
Mosey to stadium steps.
Partner 1 – sprint steps and back down
Partner 2 – decline merkins until partner 1 returns
Repeat 3 times
Partner 1 – sprint up steps
Partner 2 – tricep dips
Repeat 3 times
Partner 1 – sprint up steps
Partner 2 – bench jumps
Repeat 3 times
Partner 1 – sprint up steps
Partner 2 – decline merkins with shoulder touches
Mosey to parking lot
Wide arm merkins in cadence x 13
LBC’s x 21
Stagger arm merkins x 8 each side
Backscratcher abs x 25
Diamond merkins x 10
Oblique LBC’S x 13 each side
10 burpees OYO
Plank
COT
MOLESKIN
With the lure of an Ace and Gary type workout on the pre blast 15 very secure males ventured onto the icy PDS campus ready for what the English Q’s had in store. Sadly the school’s maintenance staff failed to turn on the heated track in time for the 0530 start. Not to worry though as Double D’s got the body heat flowing with some good partner work involving piggy backs and wheelbarrows. “Screw the side straddle hops” was the call as the temperatures called for more vigorous exercises getting up close and personal.
YHC took the reigns and headed for the stadium steps with a montage of bodyweight exercises coupled with stadium step sprints. A few lads had to grab the rails on the way down due to some serious O2 deprivation but all made it through. Hats off to Mutt (Eric H) for being the only PDS staff member along with DD’s to venture out so far. Kudos also to Snookie and Doctor X for digging deep and also to Horsehead who is in his element at The Charge and appreciate you not spilling the merlot on the posh track.
With The Hoff lined up to Q next week it may be another light morning for Spackler and the DV crew.
Cheers lads and keep a coming.
BD and DD’s
21 Degrees
Posted on behalf of Chipotle:
Waking up on an earlier and freezing November morning to snow on the windshield, 12 men decided not to fart sack.
Warm up:
25x SSH
25 x Imperial Walkers
Mosey in front of firebirds and partner up
Partner 1 (Merkins) while Partner 2 runs about 75 yrds to do 50 squats, switch and perform until combine 200 merkins between partners
Partner 1 (Dips) while partner 2 runs about 75 yards to do 50 LBC, switch and perform until combined 200 dips between partners
Mosey to fountains
Partner 1 (decline merkins) while Partner 2 does 50 bicycles, switch and perform until combine 100 decline between partners
**Started out with 200 combined until audible was called to 100 after hearing grumbling in PAX**
Partner 1 (dips) while Partner 2 does lap around buildings, switch and perform until combine 200 dips between partners
Mosey to side of Regal Cinema for some electric chair 2 x 45 seconds
Short Mosey to do some Mary
10 x J Lo’s (special request from Mic Check)
25 x LBC’s
25 x bicycles
10 merkins
Moleskin:
Today was the coldest day in the history of The Maul. All the PAX were bundled up and ready for what Chipotle had in store. He proceeded to give us a triceps and chest explosion. Lots of dips and merkins to keep the blood flowing.
You had to be careful in the mosey to avoid the various icy spots on The Maul cement. During the workout the sprinklers were going and soaked a number of our cars. Loogie’s car was covered in a sheet of ice by the time we were done.
For Hops eyes only: Mighty Mite was rocking a classic kids NC State beanie complete with tassles hanging down that looked like pig tails.
Preblast: Devil’s Turn – Short, Slow, and Happy
NOTE: The start time for running the 3 mile Thunder Road taper is 5:30 am (not the regular start time)
Since the majority of the Devil’s Turn regulars are participating in the Thunder Road Half or Full Marathon on Saturday, we will be doing a “get the kinks out” run tomorrow.
We will keep it short at ~3 miles and slow for a fellowship pace to keep us all healthy and happy leading into Saturday’s main event.
Blue Pill: Start at 5:30 am from corner of Rea and Bevington and enjoy a liesurely 3 mile run
Red Pill (no Q): Start at 5:15 am and get in a quick 6 miles on the greenway or other location.
See you out there tomorrow!
Honey Bee
Who’s Qing today?
Posted on behalf of Frehley’s Comet
Anyone know this site? Mic Check stepped up to the plate. PAX believe it to be Frehley’s Coment in charge. Saw his car earlier then it left. Wait, now he’s back…
YHC hopped out of the car with seconds to spare to begin promptly at 5:30.
Ran to lower parking lot for warm-ups – all in cadence
Side Straddle Hops x 25
Squat Straddle Hops x 10
Imperial Walker x 25
Squats x 25
Merkins X 15
Ran to 1st knee wall around the lake
Jump-ups x 15
Dips x 15
Decline Merkins x 15
Sitting (on the wall) Knee-up crunches to chest x 15
Ran to 2nd wall around the lake
Steps-ups with calf raise x 10 (per leg)
Incline Merkins x 15
1-Legged Wall Squats x 10 (per leg)
Sitting (on the wall) knee-up crunches to chest x 15
Ran around lake to fitness trail
10 Burpees
2 sets Supine Pull-ups X 15
2 sets Chin-ups x 10
(Merkins or Squats during “down-time” between sets)
Planks, rotating arm high and leg high
Ran to parking lot and lined up horizontally for sprints / exercises
sprint to middle with 1 exercise, sprint to end with 1 exercise, sprint back to middle with 1 exercise, sprint back to start.
Repeats with the following exercises:
1st set: Merkins: Regular x 10, Diamonds x 10, Wides x 10
2nd set: Burpees x 3 (9 total).
3rd set: Jump Squats x 10 (30 total)
4th set: Mary x 20 (60 total): LBC, Dolly, Bicycle
5th set: Mountain Climbers x 20 (60 total)
6th set: 1-arm behind back Planks – switching arms x 10 (30 total)
7th set: Jump Lunges x 10 (30 total)
Stayed in Parking Lot for Mary
Each exercise of 15 in cadence with 10 Merkins between EACH set of Mary:
Dolly then Merkins x 10
Flutter then Merkins x 10
Rosalita then Merkins x 10
Bicycle then Merkins x 10
Mason Twist then Merkins x 10
LBC then Merkins x 10
Ended with 3 sets of holding a 6 inch Merkin position for a 10 count (30 count total)
Ran back to Lake. Ran 1 lap around the lake “all you got” .
Ran back to the start at Vine Restaurant
Moleskin
Green Hills? May not be right…YHC apologizes; he announced himself as an FNG but only at this site…it threw me off. Can’t understand the recording…
Announcements
Read your email.
The Semi-Gloss
Area 51’s finest ‘converged’ upon the dark, cold and unkept (ehum) site we all know as #F3DeathValley. Just breaking records here weekly with the domination put forth. YHC’s phone had some recording issues but I managed to get 11 PAX. If you were there, you know it…..and so do your legs.
The Thang
When it is sub 26 degrees, waiting around for PAX to arrive turns seconds into minutes. Must have been even more brutal for Semi Gloss on that metal commode #hovercraft. So we headed off earlier than 5:30 this morning for a quick little jog around the track. Threw in a few butt kicks, side shuffles etc.
Circle Up
SSH x 8 then 5 burps
SSH x 11 then 5 burps
IW x 10 then 5 burps
We are warm – mosey to bleachers by the diamond and partner up
Partner 1 perform called out exercise while Partner 2 runs back up to the frozen commode and around the outer perimeter of the baseball diamond and back to Partner 1 then flapjack
Exercises included Dips, Squats, Step Ups, Supine Pull Ups and LBC
Mosey to the hill for 11’s (crowd pleaser) – Diamonds and Jump Squats
Mosey to the frozen commode building for what we now call People’s Chair but have effectively renamed this exercise ‘The Semi Gloss’.
3 rounds of ‘The Semi Gloss’ with CDD’s (30,20,10)
Circle up for 1 minute abs (YHC likes his beer gut) – 36 Dolly in cadence
Moleskin
Strong effort by all the PAX today. YHC wanted to keep things moving and I think we accomplished that……. Speaking of ‘moving’, we are convinced Semi Gloss pulled a #hovercraft this morning in an effort to keep his cheeks from sticking to the commode. Being that we basically had convergence numbers at #F3DeathValley this morning, we held a vote and it was unanimous that ‘People’s Chair’ is now effectively referred to as ‘The Semi Gloss’. Thank you Purple Haze for motioning this to council. Semi Gloss is a machine that just continues to generate fame. T-claps to SaltLick, Uncle Leo and Header – not shocking, but all 3 put all out effort this morning and were the leaders in the clubhouse in each exercise. Hey Header – Stagecoach has committed to mowing that hill so next time you can lap us 3 times #domination. Thank you Sussudio for taking us out in prayer. Sussudio may have the best name in F3. Always humbling to lead and always a pleasure doing so with such fine men.
Announcements
- Get signed up for Mud Run – today is last day
- Rock Thrill’s brothers 5K 4th Jan
- Dec 7th Christmas party
- Young Life 5K on charlotte motor speedway and church service afterwards
The Monkey What?!?
Ball-o-man
Circle up
SSH x40
IW x30
Hand Release Merkins x20
Carolina Dry Docks x20
Peter Parker x12
Parker Peter x12
Prisoner Squat x25
Monkey Humpers x10
Mosey to large SCMS Parking Lot & count off
Divide onto opposite sides of parking lot.
Sprint
Shuffle Left
Shuffle Right
Backward Run
Sprint
Sprint
Karaoke Left
Karaoke Right
Backward Run
Sprint
Mosey to School to grab some wall.
2x 1 min wall sit
Jack Webb (guest Q- RunStopper) ladder up to 50 overhead presses
People’s Choice Mary
Skywalker- Dolly x40
RunStopper (Going Rouge x20 Burpees)
Iron Mike- LBC x40
? – Flutter x30
Line up for Indian Run back to parking lot with 6 min to spare.
10×6- 10 burpees per minute for 6 minutes (sorry missed the 100 burpee mark for the day)
COT
The Udders Deck
On a brisk Monday morning a little extra energy ran through the pax as we were all very thankful for all those who served to give us the freedoms we all have. Thank you
The hungry pax of 14 power houses entered the gloom for a beatdown and an Udderly good time.
The Thang:
Warm up:
Little baby jog to the front of the school with high knees and ankle slappers.
5X burpees, 20X SSH, 15X IW, 10X Merkins, 10X slow Squats, 10X MC
Little baby jog to the baseball fields
3 stations of pain by bleachers and rail
1st round
10X pull-ups
10X dips
10X Carolina dry docks
Plank when done, plankarama by Strange Brew
2nd round
10X squats
10X setups each leg
10X pull ups
Little baby jog to football field with bunny hops up the steps on the way.
The Udder takes over. Line up on the end line of the end zone for some udderly awesome card play,
We went through the whole deck going up and down the field; see what each card meant for pain below:
Reps = 2,4,6,8,10
Diamonds = merkins
Hearts = ccv
Clubs = lbc
Spades = dollies
Jack = 10 yard sprint
Queen = 20 yard 75%
King = 30 yard 60%
Ace = 10 count recovery
Joker = burpies x last rep
Little baby jog around half the track
Line back up on the end line
Time for running jack webs
1 merkin 4 air presses run 20 yards, 2 merkins and 8 air presses run 20 yards, etc up to 8 merkins and 32 air presses with running 20 yards in between each.
The Udders Joker 8 burpees
Little baby jog to the bathroom, time for the Udders Chair AKA (peoples chair with hands straight out and then hands above) two times
Circle up in the parking lot for Mary
Oh wait 5 burpees first
20X LBC
11X dolley
11X freddy mercury
11X flutter
11X heels to heaven
11X mason twist
Moleskin:
Strong work by the pax this morning, lots of respect going around at the end. Great idea Udder coming up with the different exercises using a deck of cards very creative keeps base camp interesting. Excellent poem read by Strange Brew in remembrance for those who gave their lives so we would have the freedoms we have today, very fitting for today. Thank you for taking us out too.
Announcements:
• Thunder Road
• Rock Thrill’s brothers 5K 4th Jan
• Dec 7th Christmas party
• Young Life 5K on charlotte motor speedway and church service afterwards
• Remember your 2nd and 3rd Fs
A Deadly Duo on Q tomorrow at The Charge
Not since “Ace and Gary” has there been a better pairing than tomorrow’s Q’s at the Providence Day School stadium as Double D’s and Bulldog head up “The Charge.” With temps forecast to be in the 20’s a spandex suit may actually be a good call at 0530 hours. Last week the Area 51 pax questioned the luxurious facilities at PDS and attempted to rename this workout “The Spa” but there will be nothing fancy about this doozy of a workout. Bleachers, burpees, and big bollocks will be the name of the game. The question we are asking is who can handle it? The Men of Metro of the Athletes of Area 51…we shall see!
See you at the heated track where hot tea and crumpets will be served at 0515 – Double D’s and Bulldog
Eight for 800’s – Nice and Slow
The virtual shovel flag was planted and 8 men woke up early for an easy race week Fast Twitch.
The Thang
COP for warm-up
- SSH X25
- IW X25
- LBC X25
- High flutters X25
Light running – alternate slow 400’s and moderate 800’s with 1-2 minute rest in between each. We completed 4 sets and had plenty of time for third F.
Line up on goal line
- Backward run 100 yards
- Karoke right – 100 yards
- karoke left – 100 yards
- Sprint – 100 yards
Lunge walk half way back to parking lot and then mosey
COP – Slow squats in cadence to 6 (slow enough to burn)
COT
Nake Moleskin
Small group this am as some must have started to taper for Saturday a little early. We went nice and slow which was a pleasant change (and will not happen again for a long time as the Q does not plan to run another half marathon but rather switch back to Spartan Beast in the future)
Soul Glow was donning the brightest tobaggan I have ever seen. No need for a head lamp with that beacon on your noggin. Frasier was once again out front but he did dial it back a bit this am. Too many Hates (was I the only one over 40) so I laid low in the COT.
Need some new Q’s for Fast Twitch. Reach out to Turkey Leg after he recovers from the Avian Flu or whatever bug he caught from his 2.0. Hope your back to full strength by Saturday TL.
Only announcment is reminder to sign up for Spring Mud Run soon.