YHC spent March rolling through Flipper’s annual March Madness challenge and when the final week rolled around, the task was 300 merkins, 50 pull-ups, 50 starfish crunches and 5 minutes of plank each day. The goal was to work a good chunk of that into the Weinke in order to avoid a second workout later to complete it. (At this point, it is requisite to mention that the author of said Challenge had long since bailed on it this season, dropping before Kentucky even knew what a St. Peter’s Peacock was.)
WARM-UP
Mosey to the Synchrony parking lot for…
THE THANG
Mosey back to near COT for 3x wall jumps across from COT, run to Sabor for 5 merkins
MOLESKINE
As noted, it was a selfish Q designed to hit a good chunk of the challenge. Unfortunately, as often happens when focused of self, stupidity happens. YHC miscounted the crunches and only hit 40 instead of 50. We did, however, get half of the merkins and plenty of added pain thanks to the Bonnie Blairs.
Solid mumblechatter as YHC had to explain what a starfish crunch looked like and how raccoons walk in a straight line. There was also good discussion as to what to call the long lines in the parking lot. YHC called them vertical and was soon corrected and informed that none of the lines were vertically leaving the parking lot and pointing skyward. Perpendicular was the desired word, but someone suggested longitudinal and that won the day. Good use of a 5 syllable word, guys!
It was YHC’s VQ at Bagpipe after all these years and it is a strong air with plenty of options and a great crew of PAX, to boot.
Apparently I am known for covering a lot of miles during my Q’ing… I wonder what the Swarm guys would think about that from two weeks ago! Haha! Well: let’s change that perception! At least that was my goal which I openly told Premature. Although the MRH campus is absolutely amazing and you can cover quite some ground, I decided to stay on the parking lot(s) today. Thankfully they are quite big as well, so we could get a few “yards of running” in as well. Just because we are not Prickle and Goo! 😉
Warmup
After giving the usual DiCCS, mosey a big “S” on the parking lot to arrive a the North East lot . Circle up and: 15x SSH, 15x Moroccan Nightclubs, 15x Imperial Walker,15x Potato Picker, 16x Mountain Climbers, calf stretch, runners stretch, downward dog, upward dog,… Done!
The Thang
Mosey back to COT and circle around to the North-Western lot. Indulging in the good old Star Fish with 3x Burpees in the middle, 20x Freddy Mercury (2-1), 20x Side SSH, 10x Heals to Heaven, 10x Mike Tyson at the corners. Repeato! Some American Hammers as a Merry until everyone finished the second round.
Mosey around the North-Eastern lot, coming back to the middle and do “7’s” at the South-Western lot. Start with 1x V-up at the top then do 6x Big Boys at the bottom. Everybody was pushing good and we finished all together at the bottom.
Mosey through COT, around the South-Easter lot to the middle lane and arriving at the curbs of the North-Easter lot. Run to the first Parking lot line, do 2x Merkins, come back to the curb, do 5x jump squats, run to the next parking lot line and do 4x Merkins. And so on up to the other curb with 8x Merkins. Repeato the same, but change the exercises to 4x (6-8-10) 6″ Plank Jacks and 4x Sister Mary Catherine’s (2-1).
Indian Run around the North-West lot down to the center of all 4 lots. Plan was to have 1 line only, but I guess a few were injured and decided to start their own line… In the directions to COT: run 2 trees forward, do 5x Merkins, run backwards 1 tree back, do 5 big Boys,… until time is up. Back to COT (this time for real!).
Moleskin
I think this was a more traditional Bootcamp workout where everybody can stay together and there is not too much running involved. Nevertheless, we still got almost 3 miles in! On a parking lot!
All in all a pretty un-eventful workout – but hey, we had great weather!
Announcements
Shop Dawg led us out – thank you!
YHC was the first to arrive at the AO known as The Lycan this morning, followed by Posse, Dunkin, Chainsaw, and Ghosted at 05:30:21 – LIFO. Dunkin planted the shovel flag – bless you brother!
No disclaimer given to this crew…not necessary…and they were fully aware this was YHC’s first post at The Lycan…what could go wrong? Did a quick drive to the bus lot at the back of the school before parking…that was the sum total of recon conducted.
We launched at 05:30:47, having waited for Ghosted and thought there was another pax in his car; but turns out that was a Waxhaw Elementary employee deftly navigating the small print of the “No Smoking” on campus….while school is in session/students are present.
On our first run around the back towards the bus lot, there were apparently a couple other employees exercising the right to darken their lungs before first bell. Also may have been an illicit exchange of some kind going on back there…but this report was unconfirmed at the time this backblast went to print.
So a little Thang to go in this Moleskinnage: We did some 7’s on the hill with burpees & hand-release merkins. The AO was pretty well-lit (it’s no SCLTMS – darkest AO in all of South Charlotte). Posse suggested headlamp, which I grabbed but never turned on and ultimately put on top of my truck during a run-by. We never left campus….it’s a bootcamp workout.
Anyhoo, Posse also corrected and educated YHC on the difference between 7’s and Jacob’s Ladder. During some People’s Chair, he screamed: “Check the Exicon you jack wagon!”
Gave Ghosted some grief for his NY Jets lid, but did add that the Jets are much preferred to the Giants. Posse was surprised Ghosted didn’t retaliate with a colorful New York retort or two.
Was going to call some jump ups on the benches in front of the school, but that would have meant an immediate F3Waxhaw service project opportunity this weekend. Add that to the list, men. Seriously. I’ll join you.
Speaking of PSA’s: Blood Drive this Saturday at Weddington UMC – 11am to 3:30pm. Sign up (don’t have link?) because it’s the right thing to do. Scratch that…it’s the loving thing to do. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” – Jesus of Nazareth
We did some other stuff including some inclines, derkins and dips on a the ‘little baby wall’.
The last 4-5 minutes of the downpainment got a touch dangerous with all the smoking educators rolling in. Breathe deeply, men! Love the faint, distant smell of a pipe or cigar….cigarettes not so much. Nothing like plankorama and 6 MoM with a Marlboro Red burning the nostrils.
One last thing, T-claps to Posse for following YHC about 12 miles north after the downpainment as my truck was laboring greatly. No Man Left Behind….my Silverado might not be so fortunate.
Good being with you, men. Thanks to Dunkin for the Q-tap.
Go EH some guy. He needs it, and so do you.
TL;DR: 6 pax committed to fight sad clown syndrome through INTENTIONALITY. Intentionally sharing what’s on minds/hearts during COT and pressing into deeper conversation. Reiterating the purpose to grow as leaders and push each other beyond our comfort zones in the 2nd and 3rd F.
Thank you Mrs. Brexit for the delicious appetizers and beers and Brexit for hosting this restless group of men. Within minutes, Rousey was inquiring if he could rent out Brexit’s mancave/basement.
Kicked the meeting off with mission of F3 (Easier to remember in three parts: 1: P/G/S 2: small workout groups 3: male community leadership), expectations of each leader and Q source truth nugget on sad clown syndrome (related: deep down sad clown). This helped set the tone and helped us turn inward before sharing ideas.
One Actionable Idea Per Person
Theme of the meeting was INTENTIONALITY and SHIELD LOCK. These were ideas we acknowledged to put into practice:
That’s right! WTF is back for a second year.
For those of you that did not make it out last year, or are unaware of what WTF is… Here are the basics:
Waxhaw Trail Fest will take place on Saturday April 30th. This is a team event, that will run relay style on 3 different trail legs setup at Walnut Creek Park in Indian Land SC. The loops all start and stop at the WTF village where you and your fellow PAX can relax and enjoy some 2nd F until your next leg. The race is complete when each member of your team runs each loop once, totaling approx 12 miles per runner. With a 6:30am starting line time, I would expect the final runners to be coming in around 12 noon, so plan accordingly. Arrive at least 30 min early! This may be the first time meeting your teammates, and you want to be prepared before the 6:30 start.
This year, we are able to go bigger! Thanks to Movement Mortgage, Waxhaw Taphouse, and John Cassidy Photography we have been able to provide every runner with even more! Registration is $10…. Included with every paid registration will be:
1 entry into the race; 1 WTF t-shirt, food and drinks in the village, and race photos
Awards given to top overall team
Each person will register as an individual. We just need your info, including best estimated 5k road pace. Race directors will assign all runners to evenly matched teams of 3. Join us at The Waxhaw Taphouse 2 days before the race, on Thursday 4/28 from 6-8pm for packet pickup and team assignments. Presence for packet pickup is suggested, however every registered runner will get an email with updated Team information, in addition to last minute packet pickup the morning of the event.
UPDATE: Registration date to be guaranteed a shirt has past. All shirts have been ordered. Any entries after this point will receive whatever sizes are remaining day of the event if there are any left. We have ordered extras, however they are in limited quantity.
In the village we will provide music, coffee, hydration, a BBQ grill setup with a selection of food, including sandwiches, chicken, burgers, and bacon and eggs. Please bring your own chairs and a team canopy if desired. Any team snacks or preferred drinks are up to each team.
Please send money to YHC via:
Venmo @TonyAmore
Paypal: tonyvamore@gmail.com
All extra money raised will be donated to F3 Waxhaw partner charities including Christ’s Closet and Rice N Beans.
Recap:
$10- Registration Fee
Thursday April 28- Waxhaw Taphouse 6p-8p for packet pickup/team assignments
Saturday April 30th-race be there at 6am (10521 Walnut Creek Pkwy– follow parking attendants to tennis courts)
Great 2nd F event with breakfast/lunch, snacks, music, games
Top overall team award
Revisit the badass event with race photos
Spread the word. Open to all. Last year was a great event, and this year is shaping up to be even better!
6 brave souls ventured into Ballantyne gloom
Low slow squats, merkins, LBC’s, burpees
Smooth blacktop, concrete decks, parking lots, sidewalks
Dark trails, tall fences, poisonous fumes and mysterious crossbones
“That’s why they call it the jungle, sweetheart”
Man – I was shocked on Thursday morning, when my reminder popped up that I have to Q Swarm the next day. I totally forgot that I signed up for it! And – as any good Site Q would do – Sugar Daddy sent me a message later that day if I am still in… Yes, of course! So: time to come up with a Weinky! Then I realized that this is the first hour-long workout I ever Q’s… what does it mean? will I struggle in the end to fill the time? It turned out that we were a nice group of 8 people, as some faster guys are going nuts on a 200mi relay… good luck to them!
Warmup
I gave the DICCS and off we went past Rudy’s (shit) shed to the big parking lot at the stadium. Circle up and: 15x SSH, 15x Moroccan Nightclubs, 15x Imperial Walker,15x Potato Picker, 15x Mountain Climber, calf stretch, runners stretch, downward dog, upward dog,… Done!
The Thang
Mosey to benches and Partner up. One is running the loop around Geep Jungle as a timer, the other is doing the exercise: Dips, Heels to Heaven, Inclined Merkins, Squats. Audible in the middle: instead of running around Geep Jungle, just run around the circle.
Mosey to the top at the main street, crossing into the neighborhood. Every Street light on the right alternating till cul-de-sac: 5x Merkins, 5x Sister Mary Catherine (2-1). Rainman made a concerning remark at that time: wow – that’s another mile just to the cul-de-sac… Well on google maps, it looked much closer. But hey – I have to fill the hour, right? Going back the same way, this time alternating at every street light to the left: 5x Big Boys, 3x Burpees. For the slower guys (including me!) there was an audible: just make it back to the street… either just keep on running or reduce the number of reps.
Going back the road towards the stadium, halting half-way there, partner up. One Partner runs to the next street entrance, the other one back to the island. 10 Peter Parkers at the end, meet in the middle, do 5 partner-hand-clap-merkins, go to the other side and back for the partner-hand-clap-merkins.
Mosey back to Rudy’s shed. Rainman said: we’ve done 4.7mi already! Wow – it feels more like a Ignition workout!
At the shed, we had to work our way around the Impromptu guys… 20x donkey kicks OYO, 20x air presses, 20x donkey kicks OYO.
Back to COT, 3 Merkins at every street light… and: Done! I got 5.2mi (granted, on the Apple Watch). What a surprise – not only to me!
Moleskin
I did it! I made the hour-long workout… and I did not even complete my entire weinky! Wow… I was not expecting that! But with a great group of people it is always easier. Time flies if you have fun!
Although everybody – including me! – was surprised about the high mileage, nobody was really complaining about it. At least not audible – or trying to Q-jack the workout! Thank you guys – very much appreciated!
Announcements
I’d like to refer to the Impromptu BB, if it is out there… 😉
Mad Dog (Impromptu Q) led us out – thank you!
Das Boot, in an effort to lure Abacus to Body Shop, invited YHC to Q. Alas, 30 days out from April 15 is not great timing for a tax guru and thus the attempt failed. We can try again after April 15.
8 men showed up for a workout with 2 sticking with gear work and the other 5 deciding to see what YHC could bring. In an effort so slow down the younger guys, I brought some sand bags and we had the perfect match with one bag for each set of 2 partners.
The Thang:
COP with SSH, Squats, Merkins, Mtn Climbers, Plank Jacks, and 5 burpees
Grab the sand bags and mosey to kiddy track for some partner work. Partner one runs the track while partner 2 does called exercise.
Round 1 and 2 – Squats with sand bag and run
Round 3 – Dolly with sand bag and run
Round 4 – Flutter with sand bag and run
Round 5 and 6 – LBC and sand bag carry over head across field and back
Round 7 – Boone’s and carry sand bag around the track
A few minutes of plank before taking sand bags back to the car and dropping them off.
Head over to parking lot on other side of school with bear crawl and side plank walk down the parking lot and back.
Line up at bottom of big hill for Jacobs Ladder – Run up the hill and back down and do 7 burpees. Run up the hill and back down and do 6 burpees. Repeat all the way down to 1 – I smoked myself here.
Back to parking lot for some back ward run, karaoke, and BTW sprints. Back to starting point for a few minutes of wall sit, mary, and then squat jumps to run out the clock.
Naked Moleskin
Great group this morning and YHC needed the invite to get me outside my comfort zone. Posse, who reminded me that we were once team mates on a Ragnar race, demonstrated pro skill mumble chatter. Das Boot (I think) got YHC with the old “when do we stop” question as I answered “when I say stop” and the Pax got a good laugh at my expense.
Great AO but it costs me $40 to drive this far south (thanks Putin/Biden) so I’ll have to ration how many times I visit. As I said earlier, it was good to get outside my comfort zone. That is also why I always tell guys they should do at least one grow ruck. It’s long but not that bad if you properly train and everyone at Body Shop this am can do it (believe me as I saw guys in much worse shape grind thru Growruck24).
As always, I am honored and blessed when I get to Q a workout.
Announcements
Blood drive coming up in a few weeks – our community needs us
Waxhaw trail race on April 30 so check it out
Trade Career Day on April 2 from 8am to 2pm. Over 25 companies will be demonstrating what they do and it’s a great event to expose youth in your Concentrica (kids, family, church, school, etc) to these career options.
The program we’re going to do at Swole/Meathead/Olympus for the next 8 weeks is the single bell version of the Kettlebell Only Muscle Gain (or KB OMG) program from Joe Daniels of Swing this Kettlebell Club. I had spent my spare time over the last few days trying to take his somewhat colorful spreadsheet and convert it into our usual format. With time running out before Meathead tomorrow, I decided to throw in the towel and just go with his sheet. It’s a little all over the place, but hopefully you can get the hang of it. In addition, there are helpful links embedded in a couple of places to walk you through different exercises and mobility work. He’s got some original exercises, so it might be worth watching some of the videos if you are unfamiliar with them. If you’re Qing a workout, please make sure you know how to properly perform the exercises!
Here’s the program.
This is an 8-week program with 4 workouts per week. Since we have more time at Olympus on Saturdays, I would suggest performing the 3rd and 4th workouts combined or cherry picking from the two to come up with 60 minutes of exercises, but it’s up to the Q. If you have extra time, please feel free to use some of the complexes we’ve been doing. They can be found on the Complexes tab in this spreadsheet.
Sorry for the brief pre-blast, but I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have at a workout.
See you in the gloom,
Voodoo
Been a while since I had been out to the Basecamp AO, too long, however, when a new AO gets fired up 2 minutes from your house, well, you know how it goes. Regardless, happy to be out in the gloom this morning with the Basecamp faithful. Several requests for no/little running which were summarily dismissed. Horrible disclaimer delivered, and the running began…
The Thang
Quick lap in the bus lot and then over to the Preschool for CoP.
Light run down Hwy 51 to Davie Park and line up at the baseline of one end of the soccer field. Now it’s time to introduce the Welsh Dragon.
Starting on the end line of the soccer field
Not sure why, or how, but the soccer field seems to be artificially chilled. The ground was freezing as if there was an ice rink hidden underneath. Anyone have any details on this??
Now that the shoulders are completely smoked, let’s do some rock work. Mosey over to the rock pile and pick your rock. Limited selection so the PAX took their time. Maybe they were just recovering from the Welsh Dragons…
Mosey back to Launch Point.
Mary until time is called (Flutter, Dollies, Windshield Wipers)
Called time and COT.
Moleskin
Announcements