20 of this and 20 of that
Date: 2025-12-31 AO: sacs Q: Cheese Curd PAX: wildturkey, Roulette FNGs: None COUNT: 3 WARMUP: heavy march to Davie park w/ ruck and sandbag
THE THANG: 20 reps of one of the following at each light pole Swings Merkins Clean Squat Overhead press Full man maker
Ab break Flutter press Big boy sit ups American hammers
Swings Burpees Squats Bunny hops Merkins Overhead Press Sandbag over shoulder burpee
MARY: she showed up, we did it with sandbags and one time without
ANNOUNCEMENTS: AG convergence to meet up with A51 Nantan Hoover
COT: not much happening today. Both Roulette and Wt fought the fart sack after a hard week of posting.
Today was cold and the goal was to warm up and stay moving.
YHC had his trusty 4 legged companion. Not the miles she wanted, but she was happy to be out.
This wasn’t all that hard, but the difference between a man make and a burpee is limited.
Not a crazy workout to end the year, but freezing the over heads.
Happy new year! See you all in ‘26
THE THANG: 20 reps of one of the following at each light pole Swings Merkins Clean Squat Overhead press Full man maker
Ab break Flutter press Big boy sit ups American hammers
Swings Burpees Squats Bunny hops Merkins Overhead Press Sandbag over shoulder burpee
MARY: she showed up, we did it with sandbags and one time without
ANNOUNCEMENTS: AG convergence to meet up with A51 Nantan Hoover
COT: not much happening today. Both Roulette and Wt fought the fart sack after a hard week of posting.
Today was cold and the goal was to warm up and stay moving.
YHC had his trusty 4 legged companion. Not the miles she wanted, but she was happy to be out.
This wasn’t all that hard, but the difference between a man make and a burpee is limited.
Not a crazy workout to end the year, but freezing the over heads.
Happy new year! See you all in ‘26
Cold 800s
Date: 2025-12-30 AO: swift Q: soft_pretzel PAX: tagalong, fire_hazard, bunker, bratwurst, soft_pretzel, citgo, Gump, gumbo, fleetwood, shrinkwrap, Patches FNGs: 1 Patches COUNT: 11 WARMUP: 1.25 miles + dynamic THE THANG: 5 x 800 meters with ~2 minutes recovery MARY: please ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Prod, Super Bowl. Big week for SOB post New Years COT: named our FNG Patches and thank you Palmolive for the take out.
Meat and Potatoes
Date: 2025-12-30 AO: bagpipe Q: Palmolive PAX: Roulette, wildturkey, teddyf3, Snuka, Starch FNGs: None COUNT: 6 Got down to business
WARMUP: SSH, mountain climbers, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, 4 count merkins to get warm
THE THANG: Mosey to a slight incline on upper Ave next to the Amp for 11s with burpees and jump squats. Head to the Amp parking lot for a series of Indian run variants around the first two islands, first with bear crawl and bear merkins, next with lunge walks and squats, last with imperial squat walkers and merkins. Mary in between sets.
Continue over the 521 overpass for +1 merkins at each tree (up to 10), then +5 squats at the lights in the parking lot to the Brixham Hill lake (up to 30), and +5 dips at the picnic tables around the lake (up to 20).
Return to launch for COT.
MARY: LBCs, heels to heaven, Freddie Mercs, Chippy Cross
ANNOUNCEMENTS: No Phoenix this week. :football: :stadium: Super Bowl this Saturday!! Welcome to FNG, Patches!
COT: Prayers for Aaron and his family in a difficult time.
WARMUP: SSH, mountain climbers, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, 4 count merkins to get warm
THE THANG: Mosey to a slight incline on upper Ave next to the Amp for 11s with burpees and jump squats. Head to the Amp parking lot for a series of Indian run variants around the first two islands, first with bear crawl and bear merkins, next with lunge walks and squats, last with imperial squat walkers and merkins. Mary in between sets.
Continue over the 521 overpass for +1 merkins at each tree (up to 10), then +5 squats at the lights in the parking lot to the Brixham Hill lake (up to 30), and +5 dips at the picnic tables around the lake (up to 20).
Return to launch for COT.
MARY: LBCs, heels to heaven, Freddie Mercs, Chippy Cross
ANNOUNCEMENTS: No Phoenix this week. :football: :stadium: Super Bowl this Saturday!! Welcome to FNG, Patches!
COT: Prayers for Aaron and his family in a difficult time.
A Nant’an address on Anthropologie rocks, the worst dad joke ever
Date: 2025-12-29 AO: base-camp Q: hoover PAX: thunder_road, Tuna, O’Tannenbaum, Limey FNGs: None COUNT: 5 :us: My fellow pax, good afternoon. As your Nant’an I would like to take this moment to address a crisis in our midst. Look, folks—I inherited a mess. Festivus, which some people, everyone actually, is saying was the greatest CSAUP ever, gave the men of F3 inspiration to take a stand … any stand really, a Christmas tree stand made in the great U S of A as a starter. That stand would support a beautiful unadorned pole of aluminum, or maybe galvanized steel this Festivus season.
But instead we’ve turned to rocks, yes rocks from Anthropologie. Nobody knows rocks better than me. Believe me. I’ve seen a lot of rocks. Tremendous rocks. Strong rocks. Very stable rocks. And now? It’s incredible. We’re selling rocks. Made in the U S of A. For hundreds—sometimes thousands—of dollars. The economy is doing so well that we’re not even pretending anymore. Gone are the days of DEI scented candles, as my administration is moving us past comfortable furniture, beautiful art, and landing us exactly where capitalism always wanted to be: a rock.
Just a rock. No batteries. No Wi-Fi. Doesn’t even do anything. But the crisis in our midst is not the sale of useless rocks. It’s the poor, confused pax looking at this rock on Christmas morning. “That’s a rock.” he would say. Logical. Like clean coal. Strong thinking. Like bringing back West Virginia coal mining for the charcoal filtering that blends notes of Mt Dew, wintergreen Grizzly, and trailer-park levels of addiction into our Jim Beam bourbon. Very rational.
But suddenly his M, his 2.0s, his entire household turns and says, “No dad, no—that’s not a rock. It’s an Anthropologie rock.”
And that’s when poor confused dads know they’ve already lost. When placing a rock on a coffee table says, “We’re doing amazing, financially.” It’s a silent scream of success. A humble, extremely expensive flex.
And Anthropologie—very smart people, by the way they took the rock idea from me—what did they do? They leaned in. Fake ads. Fake online shopping sites. All accepting Hoover-coin for payment. Pretending the rock is sold out. Genius. Absolute genius. That’s marketing. That’s Making America Rock Again by taking a joke, (maybe) polishing it, and charging you $400 for it.
People say, “This is ridiculous.” I say, when our economy is thriving so much that irony itself has become a luxury good. We’re not buying things anymore—we’re buying the joke. And the dad? He’s wondering how a rock beat his retirement account.
So as the holiday season comes to a close, remember—if you’re upset about your family buying an overpriced rock, that means the economy is working perfectly. We’ve won. We’re rich. We’re now so tired of winning that we’re decorating with rocks.
God bless Anthropologie. God bless rocks. And God bless the dads—who still, very correctly, think this is the dumbest thing they’ve ever seen.
And now back to your regularly scheduled backblast … :us:
5 pax got in some upper body work today blended with moderate Monday levels of running. Definitely some Hops approved mileage levels. Writing this backblast and my shoulders are still sore, which will be great for my Q at SIBling Rivalry tomorrow.
WARMUP: Lap around the parking lot and some exercises, textbook stuff
THE THANG: Suicide Ladder across the parking lot – 2 rounds: line up at the benches, 5 dips, run to the first line on the parking lot, 10 squats, back to benches for 15 dips, other side of parking lot for 20 squats, 25 dips, back across parking lot for 20 squats, benches for 15 dips, back to 10 squats, and finally 5 dips. Mixed in some wall sits with air presses. – Move over to the ball fields for 7s on the sidewalk, diamond merkins and CDDs – Rock work at the top of the stairs: 3 rounds of curls, presses, triceps, mary – A quick jog across the parking lot to get Tuna some recon before his Q next week
MARY: she was spotted by Semi-gloss’s office, not surprised she ran off after that.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: – Tuna has the Q next week – New Years Day 15 year anniversary at AG Middle School, 0800
COT: Thunder Road with the take out
But instead we’ve turned to rocks, yes rocks from Anthropologie. Nobody knows rocks better than me. Believe me. I’ve seen a lot of rocks. Tremendous rocks. Strong rocks. Very stable rocks. And now? It’s incredible. We’re selling rocks. Made in the U S of A. For hundreds—sometimes thousands—of dollars. The economy is doing so well that we’re not even pretending anymore. Gone are the days of DEI scented candles, as my administration is moving us past comfortable furniture, beautiful art, and landing us exactly where capitalism always wanted to be: a rock.
Just a rock. No batteries. No Wi-Fi. Doesn’t even do anything. But the crisis in our midst is not the sale of useless rocks. It’s the poor, confused pax looking at this rock on Christmas morning. “That’s a rock.” he would say. Logical. Like clean coal. Strong thinking. Like bringing back West Virginia coal mining for the charcoal filtering that blends notes of Mt Dew, wintergreen Grizzly, and trailer-park levels of addiction into our Jim Beam bourbon. Very rational.
But suddenly his M, his 2.0s, his entire household turns and says, “No dad, no—that’s not a rock. It’s an Anthropologie rock.”
And that’s when poor confused dads know they’ve already lost. When placing a rock on a coffee table says, “We’re doing amazing, financially.” It’s a silent scream of success. A humble, extremely expensive flex.
And Anthropologie—very smart people, by the way they took the rock idea from me—what did they do? They leaned in. Fake ads. Fake online shopping sites. All accepting Hoover-coin for payment. Pretending the rock is sold out. Genius. Absolute genius. That’s marketing. That’s Making America Rock Again by taking a joke, (maybe) polishing it, and charging you $400 for it.
People say, “This is ridiculous.” I say, when our economy is thriving so much that irony itself has become a luxury good. We’re not buying things anymore—we’re buying the joke. And the dad? He’s wondering how a rock beat his retirement account.
So as the holiday season comes to a close, remember—if you’re upset about your family buying an overpriced rock, that means the economy is working perfectly. We’ve won. We’re rich. We’re now so tired of winning that we’re decorating with rocks.
God bless Anthropologie. God bless rocks. And God bless the dads—who still, very correctly, think this is the dumbest thing they’ve ever seen.
And now back to your regularly scheduled backblast … :us:
5 pax got in some upper body work today blended with moderate Monday levels of running. Definitely some Hops approved mileage levels. Writing this backblast and my shoulders are still sore, which will be great for my Q at SIBling Rivalry tomorrow.
WARMUP: Lap around the parking lot and some exercises, textbook stuff
THE THANG: Suicide Ladder across the parking lot – 2 rounds: line up at the benches, 5 dips, run to the first line on the parking lot, 10 squats, back to benches for 15 dips, other side of parking lot for 20 squats, 25 dips, back across parking lot for 20 squats, benches for 15 dips, back to 10 squats, and finally 5 dips. Mixed in some wall sits with air presses. – Move over to the ball fields for 7s on the sidewalk, diamond merkins and CDDs – Rock work at the top of the stairs: 3 rounds of curls, presses, triceps, mary – A quick jog across the parking lot to get Tuna some recon before his Q next week
MARY: she was spotted by Semi-gloss’s office, not surprised she ran off after that.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: – Tuna has the Q next week – New Years Day 15 year anniversary at AG Middle School, 0800
COT: Thunder Road with the take out
Back to basics
Date: 2025-12-29 AO: run Q: frasier , PAX: bunker, fleetwood, gumbo, Gump, bratwurst, Polly FNGs: None COUNT: 7 WARMUP: THE THANG: We did the Hunter Oaks loop MARY: ANNOUNCEMENTS: COT:
Easy, Breezy, Singlebell
Date: 2025-12-29 AO: swole Q: flipper PAX: Soul Glo, Emoji, Uncle Leo, Unplugged, The Worm, flipper FNGs: None COUNT: 6 As YHC was contemplating his future on Sunday afternoon, he realized one thing… he was sick and freaking tired of doubles. Starting week 9 of a doubles program sounded like a fate worse than death, and so he leveraged the executive site-Q powers which absolutely nobody agreed to in order to introduce something different… and somehow worse. The congress of knuckledraggers will surely censure YHC for this breach of protocol, likely call it an abuse of power, but in the end the five other PAX who showed on a breezy but warmish December morning seemed to enjoy the change… or at least thats what YHC will say to himself in the mirror this AM. Enough with the hyperbole, lets get into the recap so a once again local, but not posting Toto can perform the workout in his driveway once he escapes the pull of the fartsack.
WARMUP: SSH, 10 swings, IW, 10 swings, ST, 10 swings LSS, 10 swings, Prying Squat, Arm Circles THE THANG:
“Small Bell” sets -2 reps of each, Clean, Press, Snatch, Squat six times through. Break, repeato on the other arm -2 reps of each, 3 times through on one arm then the other. Break, repeato as above
“Medium Bell” set -1 rep of each, six times through. Break, repeato on the other arm
“Heavy Bell” set -1 rep of each, switch arms repeato, three times through. Break, repeato
“Back to Light Bell” set -6 reps of each, one arm, switch sides, repeato on the other side.
Static holds -Medium bell rack hold with opposite knee at 90 degrees, switch repeato. Same thing in suitcase hold.
Not gonna lie, this one was TOUGH. Tons of reps, way more than Uncle Leo would say would be equivalent to the actual programmed set. That said, after 8 straight weeks of doubles, it was good to get some heavier single bell reps in, and keeping honest to the programmed movement pattern will hopefully see some yield as we return to doubles for another 3.67 weeks. Unplugged reminded everyone that YHC is good at providing reasons to hate him, and the mumblechatter was strong throughout. Good to have several PAX back from travel, including the always loquacious Emoji and the seemingly resurgent Soul Glo. The rain threatened but mostly stayed away.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Jan 1 convergence COT: Unplugged took us out.
WARMUP: SSH, 10 swings, IW, 10 swings, ST, 10 swings LSS, 10 swings, Prying Squat, Arm Circles THE THANG:
“Small Bell” sets -2 reps of each, Clean, Press, Snatch, Squat six times through. Break, repeato on the other arm -2 reps of each, 3 times through on one arm then the other. Break, repeato as above
“Medium Bell” set -1 rep of each, six times through. Break, repeato on the other arm
“Heavy Bell” set -1 rep of each, switch arms repeato, three times through. Break, repeato
“Back to Light Bell” set -6 reps of each, one arm, switch sides, repeato on the other side.
Static holds -Medium bell rack hold with opposite knee at 90 degrees, switch repeato. Same thing in suitcase hold.
Not gonna lie, this one was TOUGH. Tons of reps, way more than Uncle Leo would say would be equivalent to the actual programmed set. That said, after 8 straight weeks of doubles, it was good to get some heavier single bell reps in, and keeping honest to the programmed movement pattern will hopefully see some yield as we return to doubles for another 3.67 weeks. Unplugged reminded everyone that YHC is good at providing reasons to hate him, and the mumblechatter was strong throughout. Good to have several PAX back from travel, including the always loquacious Emoji and the seemingly resurgent Soul Glo. The rain threatened but mostly stayed away.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Jan 1 convergence COT: Unplugged took us out.
This one time at GoRuck …
Date: 2025-12-28 AO: donut-ruck Q: hoover PAX: Blanks, Gapper FNGs: None COUNT: 3 Three men beat the fartsack for a slightly moist edition of donut-ruck. ~4.6 miles today. 2nd F topics included past GoRuck experiences/events, personal F3 origin + ruck origin stories, injuries, and being a dad.
Welcome to Donut Ruck, Gapper. Look forward to seeing you at our other ruck options.
Blanks is hungry to get after it every morning, today was no exception. Shuffling and moving to keep pace. Strong work, brother!
Hops declined early in the AM, chalked up to not feeling well. Tis the season for the cold, the flu, and gastrointestinal issues. Hope it’s a quick recovery, Hops!
Assume many of the regulars were DR with the holiday. Until next week, men.
Your Area 51 Nant’an and Cap’n, Hoover
Welcome to Donut Ruck, Gapper. Look forward to seeing you at our other ruck options.
Blanks is hungry to get after it every morning, today was no exception. Shuffling and moving to keep pace. Strong work, brother!
Hops declined early in the AM, chalked up to not feeling well. Tis the season for the cold, the flu, and gastrointestinal issues. Hope it’s a quick recovery, Hops!
Assume many of the regulars were DR with the holiday. Until next week, men.
Your Area 51 Nant’an and Cap’n, Hoover
PG Rating
Date: 2025-12-27 AO: the-rock Q: Alf PAX: Tuna, O’Tannenbaum, Alf, jet_fuel, Mr. Magoo, Snuka, Limey, Cosmo (Durham) FNGs: None COUNT: 8 WARMUP: Library warmup with quick las THE THANG: Piper Glen peaks and valleys MARY: Did some. ANNOUNCEMENTS: several end of year convergence and changes. I don’t remember the details. It will likely be posted to slack 50 more times. COT: Flipper with the take out.
Was nice to have Cosmo out. I tried to break him quick but he hung in there. Started to fade on the run back. Snuka and Tuna with full credit. The rest will get partial credit on the reps.
Was nice to have Cosmo out. I tried to break him quick but he hung in there. Started to fade on the run back. Snuka and Tuna with full credit. The rest will get partial credit on the reps.
The Final Chapter (only of nuggets)
Date: 2025-12-27 AO: chicken-run Q: soft_pretzel PAX: Rubbermaid, Rob Rosenthal – Drive By, HazMat, Franky, das_boot, gumbo, soft_pretzel FNGs: None COUNT: 7 WARMUP: No THE THANG: Longview – fence jumping and house gawking MARY: ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Prod and next week’s launch of Super Bowl COT: joined by C-3PO and Johnny 5 for one final time in the shadows of Petsmart. Palmolive runs in last minute and does the final burpee!
A Set of Ruckers, A Proposal, and a Colorful Sombrero…Only One of Which Was Indecent
Date: 2025-12-27 AO: olympus Q: Krzyzewski PAX: flipper, The Worm, Mountain Momma, Wabbit, Toto, beaver, hoover, Schedule C, Blanks, Gapper FNGs: None COUNT: 11 As the pax descended upon Olympus this morning, they were enveloped in a thick fog – the kind you’d see in some sort of horror movie. However, it turned out the only thing that got murdered today were excuses. This iteration of Clean ‘Em Up featured our same lovely six elements, but across an added set for even more delightful pain. It wasn’t exactly enjoyable, but the satisfaction of slaying another week of this beastly weinke brought out the best in the pax. Speaking of the pax, it was a great turnout today. Though it was hard to see early on, by the time the fog lifted we had close to a dozen folks lifting heavy things and putting in work. Wabbit/Flipper won the early bird awards and YHC joined soon thereafter. Toto continues to seemingly abide by the rules of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village in that he doesn’t seem able to leave The Villages, but always a pleasure to have him join us virtually. Hoover and The Worm cruised in and fueled the mumblechatter as they always know how to do. Moreover, The Worm brought an absurdly large and colorful sombrero, which apparently is more of a nod to Arizona line dancing vs. your more traditional Texas version. The more you know. Great to have Beaver for a second week in a row, but YHC was glad we didn’t have to do Sharon Towers again this week, as YHC truly is terrible at doing things “in cadence”…this is why we hold the prying squat for “about 10 seconds” and YHC ends it when he sees fit. Mountain Momma came in HOT (as he warned) and regaled us with his good news of his engagement – congrats, man! Truly ‘a Festivus miracle’ as Hoover said. The future Mrs. Mountain Momma is a lucky lady, indeed. YHC finally got to meet the esteemed Blanks today – great to sweat alongside you today, brother. Lastly, Gapper and Schedule C, who completed an unannounced pre-ruck before 0700, left us to join The Rock, but after finding those pax elusive (honestly, where do they go? Calvary itself seems large enough, but who knows?), they joined us for a ruck-improvised gear beatdown (modify as needed, gentlemen). Great to meet you both and we hope to see you more regularly in Area 51. Mmmmkay, that’s enough chatter here, let’s get into the recap… WARMUP: Swings (10x), prying squats, hi-pulls (5x e/s), synovial circles, one-handed swings (5x e/s), slingshots (7x e/w) THE THANG: 1) Voodoo Complex (3 sets) – Voodoo complex (1x round e/s) – Voodoo complex (2x rounds e/s) – Voodoo complex (2x each exercise, but 1x round e/s) 2) Clean ‘Em Up 2.0 (4 sets) – Double clean (6x) – Double squat (6x) – Double snatch (6x) – Double press (6x) – Double swing (6x) – Double renegade row (6x e/s) 3) Swings & Chest Complex (5 sets) – Swings – L (10x; subtract 1x each set) – Chest press (10x) – Swings – R (10x; subtract 1x each set) – Merkins (10x) 4) March In Place w/ Double Bells – A couple variations of suitcase and racks for ~30 sec. each set 5) Five Alive Complex (2 sets) – Dealift to upright row (5x) – Lawnmower rows (5x e/s) – Reverse lunges (5x e/s) MARY: With ~20 seconds left we had just enough time for…nothing ANNOUNCEMENTS: :tada: F3 15 Year Anniversary Workout (1/1) at 0800 – see Slack for details. Hoover is apparently doing a ruck option COT: Flipper took out the joint groups in COT