Why It’s a Chest Fest!

Why It’s a Chest Fest!

7 1/4 beasts were awakened early on this wet / soggy morning (some earlier than others) and entered the gloom to feast on today’s daily dose of downpainment.  More to come on the some earlier than others and the 1/4.

The THANG:

Nomadic Warm up

  • SSH x20
  • Imperial Walker x20
  • Run to soccer field
  • Mountain Climbers x20
  • LBCs x20
  • Run to practice field
  • Supine pull-ups  x10
  • Squats x20

 Mosey to field House 

  • Balls to the Wall – Walk the Wall to the end,
  • Carolina Dry Docks x20
  • Repeato x3

 Mosey to soccer field for Chest-o-rama

  • Merkins x20
  • Wide Arm Merkins x20
  • Diamond Merkins x20
  • Burpees x10
  • Left arm Stagger x10
  • Right arm Stagger x10
  • Superman pushups x10
  • Burpees x10

 Indian Run to Middle School

  • Dips x20
  • Decline Merkins x10
  • Rinse & Repeat

Zip gets tagged in for the 2nd half

Mosey around the school and everybody grab some wall:

  • Peoples Chair (how low can you go?) for 1 minute
  • Peoples Chair for 1 minute adding in 30 air presses (in cadence)

Mosey around the backside of the school and head for the Courts:

  • Bunny Hop up the steps X20ish

Court Work:

Enter the tennis courts for unfinished business, anyone remember Set #3 from “Game Set & Match”? 

  • Bearcrawl the width of 2 tennis courts and sprint back, 5 Burpees.  Rinse and repeat ladder style down to 1!

 Enough Tennis, vacate the courts and head for the Pitch and circle up at mid-field:

Remember “JACK WEBB”?  Well he’s not here today.

  • MERKIN IMPOSSIBLE : Merkin pyramid starting at 1 up to 10 and back down holding plank position for 5 seconds after each completion.

Mosey to the Stadium for some Bleacher Work:

  • Run the stadium bleachers to the top
  • Run the width of the stadium to the opposite side and back down
  • Plank -O- Rama

Head back home toward the VSF only to stop short at the bottom of the  hill for some Plank -O- Rama

On your bellies but don’t get comfortable.  On QICs command “GO get it Boyz” — jailbreak to the VSF.

MOLESKIN:

Although a bit damp, cool temperatures again this morning which is a welcomed change from this summer’s heat and humidity.  However, I think it has the PAX dazed and confused fast forwarding their mindset to October and the fall.  Quite a few comments on how we should be watching football or stockpiling the candy bins for Halloween trick -or- treaters.  Not yet my friends, Not YET – Old Man Winter won’t be making an appearnce early.  Sister Summer will remind us of that this week coming up.

YHC was tempted to added Hardwood to the list of PAX who put in some work today and posted but thought better of it and we’ll just cover it in the moleskin.  Early reports prior to launch were that Hardwood was fartsacking and opting to hit the gym instead.  Comments such as he doesn’t like to get wet, dislikes the rain and just isn’t a mudder.  It was nice to see him finally post at 745ish only to watch from afar at the recycling center to watch in amazement at the strong beastly men.  Hope to see you next week HW weather permitting of course.  We love having you out.

We launched with 6 strong and increased to 7 when Cocoon could be seen in the distance motoring across the field like Seabiscuit #thouroughbred as the PAX was enjoying Balls to the Wall.  Saw a little Sass out of Blue Print this am when QIC Countertop suffering from 02 deprivation and requested a 10 count but asked “what’s your name again”?  Response #YouNamedMe!!!!  Although, he backed it up by being out front for the entire workout.

Spielberg, great to have you out today and co-Q’s really appreaciated your energy and encouragement to all for the entire 60 minutes!  #spiritaward #ivegotspirithowboutyou….  Keep coming out brother and look forward to seeing you post next week.  #youlive1mile away #noexcuses!

Also saw some competitiveness out there in the closing.  As QIC Z directs the PAX on their bellies for the jailbreak up the hill to the VSF, he hears Electric Slide next to him say “I got YOU”!!!  #ivandrago #iwillbreakyou…..  and he bolted up the hill on command at Mach 3 as if shot out of a cannon.  #wheels.

Hairband, although you’ll always be known as Powder Puff to me brother — Not being satisfied with only the Saturday workout and posting at the weekdays, you noticeably continue to get stronger and faster at each and every workout.  #3weekstopsuntilyourQdebut!!!!

Announcements:

Please keep Lisa (M-Electric Slide) in your thoughts and prayers as she’s on the waiting list desperately needing a dual transplant.  Please also keep the family of the SV Middles school Teacher who tragically died in a car accident 10 days ago in your thoughts and prayers as well.  The guilt here 15 yr old daughter (driving) must feel as if insurmountable.

 

Where’s the Moderate Workout?

8 pax braved the cooler temps and light rain for a moderate intensity start to their weekend.

The Thang:

Baby jog to field for COP (in cadence):

  • 15 SSH
  • 15 IW
  • 15 Mtn Climbers
  • 15 Squats
  • 10 Merkins

Visit the Zoo:

  • Bear Crawl (25 yrds)
  • Reverse Bear Crawl (25 yrds) (crowd pleaser)
  • Frog Jumps (20 yrds)
  • Crab Walk (20 yrds)

Jog to Track for Interval training:

  • 30 sec Sprint/Run/Jog  (pax encouraged to push themselves all out, but modify as needed to complete all intervals – try to go all out each time, but it will get harder for the last few cycles)
  • 90 sec Recovery (Walk or light jog)
  • Repeat for 8 intervals (smoker!)

Jog to field to catch breath and guest Q from Low Tide (LT)

  1. Jack Webb to 5
  2. Jacob’s Ladder to 5 – Burpees and Supine Pullups – jogging btwn field and playground btwn exercises

Jog to playground for Circuit 1 (HT on Q):

  • 10 Pullups (or modify with supine pullups)
  • 10 Decline Merkins (modify as needed)
  • 10 Bowler Squats (5 each leg)
  • Complete 3 circuits

Jog to concession stand for Circuit 2:

  • (due to time and to maintain moderate intensity, audible to cut planned reps in 1/2)
  • 10 Dips
  • 10 Jump Ups (or modify with Step Ups)
  • 5 Burpees
  • Complete 3 circuits

Jog to field for Mary (LT on Q):

  • 10 Maktar N’jai (switch direction 1/2 way through)
  • 12 Mason Twist
  • 10 Flutter
  • 12 LBC’s
  • 12 Dolly
  • 12 Rosalita
  • Protactor (extended session – thanks, LT!)

COT

Moleskin:

T-claps to the entire pax today!  We really pushed ourselves and will be feeling it tomorrow (and the rest of today!).  The interval training is perhaps a little more intensity than usual, but we were all encouraged to modify as needed, balancing pushing ourselves for improvement and being smart about listening to our body.  Hopefully we all hit a good balance and will emerge stronger for it.  Thanks for indulging YHC on this one – you all know how I hate running…

T-claps to Low Tide on his first co-Q.  He has been asking to Q for a few weeks, so with the rain, YHC thought it might be just the two of us, so why not?  Even with the larger group, we took a chance and LT Q’ed a couple exercises and Mary.  He did great, experiencing the same challenges of any first time Q.  In training up the next gen, the future of F3 is secure!

Remember:  moderate intensity isn’t supposed to be easy!  Otherwise, what’s the point?  Keep coming out, keep smartly pushing yourself (modifying as needed), and we’ll all see the results.

Thanks as always for allowing me to lead this pax.  It’s truly an honor.

Strength and Endurance…not Power

7 rucked-up beasts assaulted Carmel Middle for the second installment of the SPEARHEAD. Here’s how it went down…

The Thang

Ruck up and grab all four coupons (1 40lb GORUCK sandbag, 2 35lb KBs, and 1 25lb Dirt Bag) and mosey down to the 50 yard line for…

COP

– Drop rucks
– 15 SSH in cadence
– 15 IW in cadence
– 15 UDT Flutters in cadence
– 15 Flutters in cadence
– Grab rucks
– 15 Squats w/rucks overhead in cadence
– Ruck up
– 10 8-count Body Builders, single count, #GRC707 flashbacks for 3 PAX

#dowork

5 Sets of the following exercises for 3 minutes AMRAP at sprint pace while maintaining form, 1 minute rest between sets:

– 3x Ruck Thruster
– 6x Merkins
– 9x Squats
– Repeato

Ruck up, grab coupons, head to the track with 5 minutes left for:

– 600 meter Indian Run
– Coupons up front
– Last man sprints to the head of the column and each coupon is passed forward one man.

COT

AAR/Moleskin

An admirable turnout for the second SPEARHEAD workout including four new faces: SoCal, The Hoff, Coop Dog and Island Time. Q put together an ambitious workout plan culled from Spartan WODs and the GORUCK PT blog but ended up only using half of it. Somehow when we finished Part I of the beatdown there was only 5 minutes left and no time for Part II. At least we used every minute.

The 3/6/9 AMRAP looked and sounded innocent enough but proved to be an endurance maximizer. 3 minutes is a looooong time. The PAX ended up doing 4-6 repeats each set. That’s 60-90 thrusters, 120-180 merkins, and 180-270 squats — all under 20 minutes. This was at ‘sprint’ pace meaning all PAX were pushing 100% to the end. Several PAX ended up on their knees to suck as much O2 out of the gloom as they could in those short 1 minute rests. Strong work, men. Strong.

The Indian Run was a true GORUCK clusterfrack as the PAX had to move as one, carry heavy coupons, and figure out how to pass them and in which direction to pass them, all the while having to keep the call/response of “I say ‘GO’ you say ‘RUCK'” whenever the last man began his sprint to the top…exactly the type of mess-with-your-mind-mess-with-your-body games that Cadre love to play.

As you can see from the workout listed, it wasn’t a 100%-ruck outing, nor was it 100% GRC simulation. This is an F3 workout that includes the ruck as a workout tool, and peppers the exercises with the flavor of a Challenge. SPEARHEAD’s aim is keeping our rucks out in The Gloom and providing the building blocks of strength and endurance, not power, that all endurance events require of you. So come out and give SPEARHEAD a whirl whether you have a ruck or not. You provide the body, SPEARHEAD will provide the pain.

Dora out.

Demonstration of 10,000 fails concept

The shovel flag was planted and 20 men (all accounted for) headed the call of the alarm clock even after a Panthers Thursday night game for their weekly does of Centurion.

The Thang:
Jog up 51 and cross street to shopping center parking lot for COP

SSH X30
Push-o-rama Merkins X10, Diamonds X10, Wide Arms X10, Carolina Dry Docks X10, Stagger right X5, Stagger right X5 (Pax once again questioned if this qualifies as warm up)
Slow squats X3 (boring)
Imperial walkers X20
LBC X20

Run back to CCHS for shoulder and leg work

Balls to the wall merkins X10
Peoples Chair
One legged squats X10 right, X10 left
Wall mountain climbers X10
Balls to the wall merkins X9 (Q gave out and couldn’t get back to 10)

Mosey to parking lot for Burpee/Squat Suicide ladder

Run half way to first light pole for 1 burpee – back to start for 10 squats
Continue ladder up to 8 burpees and 3 squats – stopped here given the parking lot is more than 100 yards long and pain was fully engaged

COP for Dirty McDeuce
Mary – X12 (LBC, Dolly/Flutter, Rosalita, High flutter/dolly)
Run down to street and bear crawl up hill back to start
Shoulder and core work X12 (Merkins, Mnt Climbers, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters)
Run down to street and bear crawl up hill back to start
X12 (SSH, Squats, Imperial Walkers, Jumping lunges)\
Run down to street and bear crawl up hill back to start
Plank – John Travolta X12 (right and left) two other exercises to 12 I forgot

Run to benches for Dips X15, and step ups (10 each leg)

COP

Naked Moleskin
Q was a little off this am as beer and Panther game the night before had an effect. 10,000 fails concept was perfectly demonstrated several times during the workout (mainly trouble remembering dolly versus flutter). Pax enjoyed the fails at my expense but that will just add fuel to the fire for next time.

The suicide ladder will be back – just need to figure out a better pattern so we don’t have to cut it short.

Announcements
Looking for some new guys to step up and Q. If everyone is getting comfortable than Escargot, Runstopper, and YHC will step up the intensity as incentive for someone else to step in.
Purple Haze will lead some 2nd F at Panera Bread right after Centurion starting in Septmeber. Put it on your calendar.

Fitties, not Fifteens

Dangerous start to the day, left the iphone alarm on vibrate, almost sabotaged myself and fartsacked my own Q.   I’m sure that would have made Bulldog’s weekend.  

The Thang:

Quick COP

20 SSH

20 Imperial Walkers

Mosey to entrance, run a half mile-ish lap at fellowship pace.

Back to entrance, same lap with pit stops.

1 – 50 Merkins

2 – 50 Squats

3 – 50 Carolina Dry Docks

4 – 50 Lunges 25/leg

5 – 100 LBC’s

6 – 50 Mountain Climbers

7 –   50 Wide Arm Merkins

8 – 100 or 99 as Fletch called me out, calf raises, in out middle x 33 per.

Mosey back over to the soccer field for some tire work, tires are locked, audible time….

Partner up

First exercise: Partner 1 Dolly’s while partner 2 runs gassers full field and back, flapjack and repeat.

Second Exercise: Partner 1 burpees, partner 2 run, Flapjack, no repeato. #ihateburpees

Third exercise: Partner 1 bear crawl to midfield and back while partner 2 LBC’s, Flapjack, repeat.

Head to wall for People’s Chair, stay with your partner.

Partner 1 People’s Chair, partner 2 lunge walk,

Partner 1 BTW, Partner 2 sprint, flapjack and repeat.

6 Minutes of Mary (in cadence)

Flutter x 20

Mountain Climbers x 20

Rosalita x 20

Merkins x 20

Call to Stone Cold for last exercise…….bad move, Burpees x 10 on your own.

Moleskin: 

Thank you guys for letting me lead this group of beasts today.  If you haven’t noticed I’m moving towards a little mud run training, doing bench press with The Hoff in the basement of some shady office building will not help, running might.  A little jogging was nice in this 62 degree fall morning in the middle of August.  Reports of EARLY merlot spillage (lap 2) were reported but not verified. #brushyourteeth.  The cool weather and exhilerating exercises led Big League to some vertical honeymooners in the holly bush during the calf raises.  Thanks for the material Big League!  That bush by the church sign will never be the same.  Hope you guys have a great weekend and thanks again.

 

 

SPEARHEAD Preblast 0530 Carmel Middle Friday 8/16

SPEARHEAD returns to Carmel Middle Friday morning 0530.

Ruck requirement: 6+ bricks. That’s 6 bricks plus extra. How many extra? That’s up to you, but pain is the goal, and you don’t want to be called out by Dora being a…kitty.

No ruck? No worried. Be there anyway and pain will be provided.

See you in The Gloom…

 

The Wall

24 Pax chose not to fear the three headed monster; unlike two well rested and HDHH socializing brothers who shall go unnamed (Bananas and Fireman ED).

Warm up:

-Jog to field; 25 SSH’s, Merkin pyramid up to 10 and back down holding plank position for 5 seconds after each completion

The Thang:

-Burpee run to Colony Shopping Center (.75 miles) each time YHC blows the whistle the pax drop and complete 5 burpees.  Pax were allowed to modify as needed and the over achievers were given addtional burpees if they passed YHC during the run.  The goal was to keep the pax together. Success.

-Run to wall behind Harris Teeter for wall work: Peoples chair, BTW (extra credit for push ups), one leg people’s chair, wall push ups, one leg people’s chair, decline wall push ups.

-Run to lower parking lot for suicide run; touching each line in parking lot (approx 15).

-Burpee run back to OPE.

-6 MOM; LBCs, protractor, mountain climbers.

-jog to parking lot for plank-o-rama

Moleskin:

-Pax have started to fear the whistle/burpee run was noted by Bananas at HDHH and as evidenced by his fartsacking today.  The individual audibles and modifying options were just the fine tuning this exercise needed to keep the pax together for the .75 mile run.  For those who wanted to push themselves to their limit and for those who needed to take a less intense route…. mission accomplished.

-T-claps to Zipadee for being the only pax that was able to yell out the entire count during the merkin pyramid… although by the end he was sounding like 13 year boy going through puberty.

-Don’t worry fartsackers… you will definitely get a shot at the Hydra Wall.  We’ll be back!

-On the burpee run back to OPE Bugeater, Wolfman and Lost Week were really begging for pain as they continued to run ahead of YHC even as Mall Cop hopelessly warned them not to.  I think the final 10 burpee audible to said pack worked as it appeared that Wolfman was doing knee merkins at the end.

-Nice effort by all.  I hope everyone pushed themselves to the point of failure…that was the intent.

Announcements:

-Check website for Thunder Road Marathon and Half Marathon info.  There is an F3 discount and this will also be a team event this year. Area 51 needs to represent!  HC and sign up today.  Specific workouts and training runs to come.

-New Thursday workout coming soon at Polo Ridge Elementary.  Crabcake Q.

-New Friday 3rd F- The Stand starting on Sept 13th at Panera Bread near Centurion.  Champagne Q

 

 

#F3DevilsTurn – A breath of Fresh Air

#F3DevilsTurn launched at 0515 with 4 PAX and at 0530 with 1 PAX.

The Thang: 6miles or 4miles along the 4 Mile Creek / Lower McAlpine Creek greenway starting at Rea Road parking area.

Moleskin:

  • It was AWESOME weather today.  Truly a breath of fresh air from our Natural surroundings when it screams COOL…  Brighten someone’s day with an uplifted spirit.
  • Preblast indicated 2nd F for the pace today, and it did not disappoint.  While still a good workout to get the miles in, it was more about talking Marathon training plans (Honey Bee and Turkey Leg are EH for Thunder Road Half or Full) and BRR fun (Turkey Leg, Bratwurst, and Mighty Mite are all in).
  • Not sure if this was the first time, but Mighty Mite joined the 6 mile crew.  He was even still talking towards the end, “I didn’t think I could stay with you guys.”  If you are able to complete the 4 Mile week in and week out, try the 6 one week.  You might surprise yourself.
  • This is a great venue for a early morning run and will make sure you get in some training for the day.  Use it as a Recovery day, challenge day, or 2nd F, but come out and enjoy.

Announcements:

  • Rumors of a F3 discount for Thunder Road in November.  Stand by.

The Silence

11 brothers quietly gathered around the SF in the early morning gloom to hopefully share some 2ndF while participating in 1stF.  A few minutes later, the only fellowship occurring was the powerful bond that comes while suffering in silence together…

The THANG

50% jog around the parking lot (watch out for the speed bump!), mixing in some backpedaling for good measure, and down to the soccer fields (keenly avoiding the portion of the fields under sprinkler).

Extended COP

  • SSH x25
  • 10 burpees
  • IW x20
  • 10 burpees
  • Slow Squats x20
  • 10 burpees
  • Merkins x10
  • 10 burpees
  • LBC x 20
  • 10 burpees
  • Peter Parker x10
  • 10 burpees
  • Parker Peter x10
  • 10 burpees
  • 20 CCD OYO
  • 10 burpees
  • Reverse Lunges x20
  • 10 burpees
  • Flutter kick x20
  • 10 burpees
  • and finally, 10 more burpees just in case we missed any

Mosey to rock pile (watch out for the speed bumps!), pick rock, mosey with rock to softball field.  Line up somewhere between 2nd and 3rd base.

Pair up

Partner 1 – sprint to left field fence and back

Partner 2 – perform exercise with rock

Flapjack and do the set 2x.  Plank until folks are together then move on to next exercise.

Exercises: curls, squats, ovehead tricep extension, curls, squat, overhead tricep extenstion

Return rocks from whence they came and mosey back to middle of parking lot for COT

COT

Moleskine:

Not a lot to say after that beat down.  During and after the extended COP/warmup, no one was saying anything.  I mean, it was eerily quiet.  The only noise was our gasping of humid air and the sprinklers churning in the distance.  Funny thing is, I was so gassed myself that I didn’t realize it was quiet until we had about one more set of rock exercises left.  Tried to liven it up a bit with some good natured jokes and an attempt at an AYG race on the last set of sprints.  Everything seemed ok, though, as evidenced by the quality COT to close us out.

Good working out with you men.  Always a pleasure and a privilege to lead the quality individuals who are the PAX.  Thanks for the opportunity and thanks for following me, even if we did pass through a quick set of 110 burpees.

Announcements

Anvil Q opportunities are available for September.  Reach out to me or Baracus if interested.  If you don’t, we will hunt you down.

New 3rdFs starting in September on Wednesday and Fridays.  Check website or weekly email for more info.

HDHH tonight.  Vitner’s in Arboretum unless otherwise notified via twitter.  Don’t let your brothers drink alone.

Really, 100 Merkin Rows?

(20) Pax came out to enjoy a hump day full body workout. Even the neighborhood fox stopped to stare.

The Thang:

With a partner you would perform a combined 100 reps of each exercise. While partner 1 was

performing the exercise; partner 2 would be sprinting roughly 40 yards and back. The partners would

then switch until they reached 100 total reps. The first exercise we sprinted up the hill; but quickly

changed that idea.

¼ mile warm up jog

100 burpees  / sprint up hill in between

100 dry docks / sprints in between

100 russian twists / sprints in between

100 merkin rows / sprints in between

100 heels to the heavens / sprints in between

100 diamond push ups / sprints in between

¼ mile cool down job

Mic Check finished them off with a little protractor

– Posted on behalf of Frack

Moleskin:

What a smoker of a first time Q!  The pax started off with burpee and hill work and it never got any easier.

After another visit from our vulpine mascot, Wingman wants to rename this site to The Mad Fox.  We might face some copyright issues with The Foxhole.  Market Timer and Honeybee would probably sue us and the litigation could get ugly.

Haggis was still getting plenty of grief for his “un F3 comment” from Bagpipe yesterday.

YHC and Mic Check dropped the ball on getting our FNG Polo’s contact info.  Please sound off in the comments or send an email to poole.trip@gmail.com if you have an email address for Polo or Philmont.

Announcements: 

Not much in the way of announcements in this morning.

As always, Mic Check and YHC are always looking for new pax to step up and guest Q.  We’ve had a couple good ones in the last few weeks and have some others scheduled for the next few weeks.  If you have any interest in leading a half or a whole workout, please see one of us.

There will be a new Thursday workout starting at Polo Ridge Elementary but it won’t be starting this week.  Stay tuned.

There are, however, plenty of other workouts to go to on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week.  Go to them.