Empire Strikes Black Ice

Empire Strikes Black Ice

It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy.

Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters led by Wild Turkey has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Stone-Hoth-enge.

The evil lord Darth Helmet, obsessed with finding young(ish) Wild Turkey, has dispatched thousands of backblasts and into the far reaches of space….

Camera zooms to Wild Turkey and Lex “Solo” Luthor riding tautauns for a pre-run. Along the way Lex wryly states, “There isn’t enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser.” No sooner did he finish his words, did Happy “Wampa” Meal emerged from a snow drift . The trio return to the rebel base to find it bustling with hearty soldiers emerging from ice-crusted vehicles. Without warning, the AO is under attack from Empire Star Destroyers who’ve located the pax. With shields breaking down and an ion cannon providing cover, the rebels narrowly escape. “You will go to the Dagobah Parking Garage”, whispers the voice of Luke’s fallen Jedi Master O-Mr. Bean Kenobi. Training proves difficult. A despondent Turkey is told by Yoda, “Do or do not, there is no modification!” INSERT training montage with Turkey  and Pax swinging on vines, doing flips and running with Yoda in a rucksack.  Their Jedi training (nearly) complete the pax zoom to Cloud City with the promise of safety. Despite the pax’s best efforts, the crew end the workout in peril. Lex in carbonite, Turkey missing a hand and working out daddy issues, and a besmirched Tagalong who after declaring his love to Lex was given a smirk and told, “I know.” Awkward. Tune into 1983 when the Pax fly to Endor to learn to prepare for GoRuck by carrying logs with Ewoks.

Warm-up
SSH, horizontal SSH (snow-angels), mountain climbers and plank jacks

Tusken Raider Sand(people) bags
Thrusters, flutter press, curl & press, sit-ups

Dagobah Parking deck
20 push-ups, 20 squats and 20 lunges each level going up
Burpee elevator 10 – 6 going down
assorted wall work – air press, donkey kicks, shoulder taps + Mary going up
Polar bear crawl challenge in the snow at top
Burpee elevator going down 6 -1

Return home and endex. 3+ miles  ran.

Moleskin
I was truly relieved and flattered by the strong showing. Thank you for braving the weather. The veteran crew put in the work this morning!

  • Great to see Site-Q emeritus JRR Tolkein and 2.0 Simba! Kudos for raising the new generation of HIMs.
  • Happy Meal gets a gold star for a solo 2 mile pre-run. (And nice vest Happy Meal.)
  • Tagalong invented a new slow-plow move on the bear crawl. His full snowmobile suit may have helped.
  • Nutmeggers Lex and Billygoat had no issue with weather. Billygoat even did burpees with us.
  • Snowflake laughed at the paltry snow and crushed the workout.
  • Teddy has put in the work and dropping weight and pant sizes

May the force be with you!

 

Do you have the GUTS to take on the Aggro Crag?

From Sons of Ballantyne in Charlotte, North Carolina welcome to GUTS The Brave, the action sports show that’s gonna make you sweat!

The action sports show that asks, “Do You Have It????” AUDIENCE: GUTS!

And now, let’s meet today’s fearless players!

  • Frehley’s “Farting Up a Storm” Faster Than You Can See A” Comet
  • Mary “Can’t Touch This” Kay
  • Rudy “Ruthless Morales”
  • Jerry “How about Dem Boys” World
  • “Rowdy and Ready for Arousal” Rousey
  • Taco “Best Damn Band in the Land” Stand
  • Sweet “Baby Jesus! Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter” Water            And last but not least
  • “Don’t Worry, I’ll Be Your” Wingman

Today, our players will be tackling our radical parking deck, the Aggro Crag, where almost anything can happen! The pax with the most points at the end of all of our events is the winner and he will be take home a glowing piece of our awesome rock! Now remember folks, all of our events here in F3 are specifically designed with our players’ safety in mind! They will be wearing safety equipment, and they will have a professional stunt director and stunt spotters with them at all times, are led by peers in a rotating fashion with no training or certification necessary, so please, do not try this at home!

It’s time… to… AUDIENCE: SPILL YOUR GUTS!!!

The Aggro Crag

  • All nine contestants raced to climb the 8-level parking deck, completing a series of called exercises (commonly referred to as “actuators”) on their way to the peak
  • The first contestant to successfully activate each actuator, including the final one at the peak of the mountain, earned first-place worth 725 points. The second- and third-place contestants earned 550 and 375 points, respectively
  • Round 1: ascending double merkin burpees at top of ramp (36 burpees, 72 merkins), 10 jump squats at bottom of each ramp (80 total)
  • Round 2: 10 6-inch plankjacks at top of ramp (80 total), 10 big boy situps at bottom of each ramp (80 total)
  • Round 3: 10 merkins at top of ramp (80 total), 10 broad jumps at top of each ramp (80 total)
  • Donkey Kicks and Jump Ups as we made our way down the Crag
  • 6-inch plankjacks, jump ups and dry docks before making it back to launch

Final Scores

  • Wingman: 725 points. Jetted ahead of the pack, called Mary at the peak and led the way back. Earned bacon and eggs for a hearty breakfast.
  • Rousey: 550 points. The people’s champion and rallier of spirits. -25 points for out-of-cadence grunting
  • Jerry World: 400 points. Beasted it up the mountain showing no rust after not posting for months. Took off and never looked back. Reminds me of Lebron James – just keeps putting in the work and has that bald spot on the back of his head
  • Taco Stand: 375 points. Ready and steady in his approach and likened the deck to Kiliminjaro. Overheard singing the chorus to Tutu’s “Africa”.
  • Rudy: 350 points. +100 points for making his first post to the Brave. Stopped to take in the beauty of Ballantyne in the Gloom after reaching the first peak. His whole life people have been telling him what he could do and couldn’t do. He’s always listened to them, believed in what they said. He doesn’t wanna do that anymore.
  • Mary Kay: 350 points. +75 points for posting multiple times in one week and not backing down from taking on 8 parking deck levels. His beauty secret: confidence.
  • Sweet Water: 325 points. Enjoyed broad jumps so much he doubled the rep count at each level and was still hopping in excitement. +50 points for Qing Da Vinci tomorrow.
  • Frehley’s Comet: 300 points. Winner of his age bracket and did more this morning that what most men his age will do for the rest of the year. -75 points for farting in the stairwell and gassing out everyone in his wake.

Announcements

  • Metro/Waxhaw Blood Drive
  • Sweetwater with the Da Vinci Q. Don’t let the cooler temps keep you from taking the daily red pill
  • Waxstravaganza CSAUP on 2/12. More miles and bootcamps this year. Can’t wait
  • SOBeer Run on 2/26

Truth Nuggets

  • Shared a story about the Great Sad Clown Pagliacci. Male isolation/depression/loneliness is real. Real among us and for many men in our circles. Sad Clown Syndrome is something we struggle with. It reminds us to be present in the lives of others and call them into greater community.
  • Definition of a Sad Clown from the lexicon: A man who seeks external Happiness rather than internal Joy. He goes through the motions of life in the manner in which he perceives is expected of him from the culture rather than in the manner for which he was created. Damn that’s deep.
  • Encouragement that we are not alone, we show up for each other to push through these workouts. We show up to push each other towards becoming better fathers, brothers and husbands. Let’s push each other to speak encouragement into the lives of sad clowns around us.
  • What’s the opposite of a sad clown? HIGH IMPACT MAN: A Disrupter who is Committed to making forcible contact to strong effect. Abbreviated: #HIM

Where is the Weather?

The weather was great compared to what was expected. A little damp and windy but above freezing at Last Call. Two brave Pax ventured out and had a final workout for the week. As we approached 5:32 DiCCS were given and we were off.

 

Warmup

  • Mosey to High school cover
    • 20 SSH
    • 10 Imperial Walkers
    • Calf stretch
    • Merkins

Thang

  • Paula Abdul to the globe
    • 10 dry docks
    • 10 LBC
  • Mosey to brick wall, while on wall scale to the gate
  • Middle school tables
    • 25 Derkins, Dips, Big Boys, then run around busses, Bear Crawl back along dumpsters.
    • Decrease by 5 each round.
  • Paula Abdul trees up
    • Squats
    • LBC
  • Suicides trees down
    • Adding one Burpee to 5 then take one away to the bottom (1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1)

Announcements

  • Blood drive tomorrow at WUMC come volunteer if possible
  • Christ Closet Folding party 1/28 and 1/29 (if needed)
  • Effies 2/4
  • Waxtravaganza 2/12

Always Difficult, Never Impossible

YHC had the honor of leading this week’s installment of The Brave.  The night before YHC teased a surprise guest and specifically targeted it towards Happy Meal.  Time for launch and sure enough the surprise guest, Mary Kay showed.  Happy Meal and MK have a whole Felix and Oscar, Odd Couple, dynamic going on so YHC knew their reunion would be entertaining for all. YHC was looking to try and put on old school Brave workout that got the prerequisite 4 miles and a you versus you component, so the night before he advertised that attendees bring their big boy pants.  5:30 hit, the group was properly disclaimed and off we went.

The Thing

Over to the adjoining office park for some warmup of Hillbillies, potato pickers, low slow squats, Mtn Climbers, 6 inches, merkins and SSH.  Next phase of the warmup was to run down the office park stretch on the right stopping at every building for 10 merkins.  7 buildings altogether which gave us 70 merkins and had the upper body warmed up.  Next we moseyed down Community House to Endhaven which was about a mile.  After crossing 485 YHC stopped to let the 6 catch up only to be surprised that there was no 6, everyone was staying together.

At Endhaven Elementary YHC had plans for an AMRAP circuit.  The first circuit we did together and then it was every man for himself.  Circuit was 25 squats, over to the monkey bars for 10 pull ups, sprint to the benches for 30 dips, book it over to the basketball courts for 10 Carolina Dry Docks each bball goal (3 goals) then finish with a lap around the soccer field.  We got about 3-4 total circuits in before YHC called time.  True to character Felix errr…Mary Kay got a head start and headed to the next spot and Oscar …I mean Happy Meal peeled off to keep him company.

No time to rest so the group headed to the parking deck behind Cabo Fish Taco.  Starting at the bottom level we built a parking deck ladder of core exercises with an exercise at the bottom, run up the ramp backwards then forward at the flat level.  At the bottom level we did 10 J’Lo’s run up the ramp backwards, forward to the next ramp.  Continued that way up the levles with 20 H2H, 30 Dolly’s and 40 Alabama Elbows before it was time to run down the stairs and jail break to launch.

Moleskin

Good work out there by all.  It was a grinder but as Wild Turkey so aptly stated The Brave is always difficult but never impossible.  WT is always good for a wise saying or 2 that become SOB sayings (You can’t outrun your diet, The only way to get fast is to run faster, etc.).  The AMRAP worked well because we broke into two groups and for the most part guys stayed in groups which allowed for some camaraderie while pushing it.  The parking deck ladder had an excessive amount of mumblechatter at first but the 30 Dolly’s and 2nd round of backwards running seemed to quell that a bit.   Always enjoy getting after it with this group on Friday mornings.

Announcements

  • Blood Drive 1/22 at Weddington Methodist. Please see sign up on Slack as there is an urgent need for donors and plenty of open spots for this drive.
  • Passport Challenge
  • Help out others who need it during the winter weather and in general

Not-so-calm (post) before the storm

Warmup

Mosey to the bridge and back to circle.  SSH, IW, Moroccan Night Clubs, Arm Circles, Mountain Climbers.  Stretching – calves, runner’s pose, up/down dogs.

Thang

From circle to rick pile, 15 SSH’s every other tree.

To rock pile, partner up.  120 reps per team of curls, overhead press, tri’s, row’s and chest press.  While partner lifts, run to end of road for 10 toe taps and return.  Each partner finish with super set of all 5 previous exercises.

Mosey to front parking for 4 corners and middle station.

Corner 1 – Merkins x 15, Bobby Hurley’s x 15

Corner 2 – Big Boys x 15, Squats x 15

Corner 3 – Dry Docks x 15, Speed Skaters x 15

Corner 4 – LBC’s x 15, Plank jacks x 15

Middle – Burpee’s x 3 (after each corner)

Repeat above with corner reps x 10 each.

Mosey around back side of school to entrance road.  15 SSH’s every other tree to COT.  Ab’s at COT with protractor, big boys and hammers.

Moleskin

Over 3 miles with plenty of rock reps and corners.  Perfect workout prior to shelter-in-place snow/ice weekend.

Announcements:

Set-up & tear-down volunteers needed for Gibbs funeral service today.

Blood drive Saturday 1/22 at Weddington UMC.

Waxtravaganza Part Deux 2/12/22.

Christ closet delivery and folding party weekend of 1/28.

Revamp leadership beyond Qsource.  Mad Dog and Zin working on detail…stay tuned

da Vinci 6-year celebration

da Vinci was my first encounter with F3 back in February 2020. Heartbreaker Q’d an absolute leg/squat smoker which humbled me as I nearly vomited and could barely walk up a flight of stairs for the next week. Not to mention being bested by men twice my age in nearly ever called exercise. But I digress. Can you believe it’s been 6 years since Mic Check and Tuck launched this thing? I wanted to keep things simple and run with the theme of 6. So we stuck to the good ‘ole BLIMPS format and sprinkled liberally across six pain stations.

The Thang

  • Warmup in lot next to Best Buy: Burpees, Lunges, IW’s, Merkins, Plankjacks, Squats. Mosey to the BBT bank parking lot.
  • Station 1: 5 burpees, run, 10 lunges, run, 15 IW’s, run, 20 merkins, run, 25 plankjacks, run, 30 squats, run. Cross the street to fountains.
  • Station 2: Partner 1 runs to light and back, Partner 2 does lunges. Repeat for squats then jumpups. Cross the street to stair case by the gym/yoga studio.
  • Station 3: Plankjack party. 15 PJ’s in cadence, then run up stairs. Repeat 3 times and alternate 1-armed plankjacks with regular plankjacks. Call audible and mosey to wall by Target for wall sits and jump ups while Soft Pretzel and Mic Check corral Mary Kay+1.
  • Station 4: Reverse LIMPS behind Target. Backwards run, stopping for 30 squats, 30 pj’s, 30 merkins, 30 it’s and 30 reverse lunges. Mosey to cozy corridor by hair salon.
  • Station 5: Balls to the wall for 10 shoulder taps IC, then 20 merkins. Repeat 3x. Mosey to Best Buy parking lot.
  • Station 6: Sprints and jumpsquats.
  • Final few minutes: Around the world 30 burpees

What you Missed

  • Shoutout to MaryKay for keeping the streak alive with two consecutive posts! Keep up the solid work.
  • Abba and Mic Check crushed the sprints at the end. Mic Check’s got that sneaky speed and Abba’s got that beast mode gear.
  • CFA dining still closed
  • Countless references to Dumb and Dumber (Aspen, gloves in the rockies, etc.)
  • Frehley’s caressing Market Timer’s dome before taking off with MightyMite to Olympus
  • The 2021 passport champ and two aspiring champs at the same workout! Shoutout to Abba, MARTA and Das Boot. It takes mental fortitude, planning and grit to stamp that book as much as they are. Well done
  • Thanks Wingman for the photo and post-beatdown nourishment!
  • I remember Bucky sharing once during CoT that F3 doesn’t run itself. Men step up to Q, to site Q, to serve as Nantan, etc. That solidified my desire to Site Q da Vinci. What’s your next step to accelerate your leadership in F3?

Announcements

  • Make sure to get those stamps in the passport challenge
  • Waxhaw/Metro Blood Drive. This is a huge need right now
  • SOBeer Run on 2/26
  • Waxtravaganza approaching, also in February

Por Vida

On the 12th Day of January…..

Big Tuna gave the 12-Brave Souls at The Maul a Hill-acious Birthday Workout that should have everyone reaching for the advil the day after. Here’s what happened:

Introduction, Disclaimer & to share the Bad News……It’s the Q’s Birthday [51], so immediately 5-Burpees!

Mosey from the Launch to the side lot next to the theatre for SSH x 15, IW x 15, Merkins x 15, Carolina Dry Docks x 15 and Stretching.

Tempting the Pax with a possible Murder-Horn workout, we took a hard left on Elm and circled back to the Speed-Bumps for a simple Mike Tyson x 10 at each one. (Total 60)

In the back corner-lot we circled up for a round of Lt. Dan’s beginning with 12, then in declining order, 11, 10, 9…. all the way around the circle until we go to 1. (1 Lt. Dan = A Backwards Lunge of each leg plus a Squat)

Next was up the Hill with Merkins x 10 at the top, Repeato x 3.

Long Mosey to the Fountain for some partner work;

200 Calf-Raises & 100 Dips – One partner runs while other does exercise

150 Step-Ups & 100 Dips – Repeato

Head for the Tall Hill behind Firebirds for a once-up & 10-Squats

Mosey a few yards to do some Ab-Work – Heels to Heaven x 10, LBC x 10, Chippy-Cross x 10

Get in Plank Position for Jail-Break back to COT

Final Exercise……1-Burpee!

Moleskin:

The Q was excited to Lead on his 51st Birthday, but he didn’t follow tradition. We started with 5-Burpees and ended with 1-Burpee. The Q isn’t quite over the 50 he logged in last year. I also parted with my usual Murder-Horn workout since Goonie called me out. (Goonie, this was the 3rd Q I’ve stayed off the MH, so I think I’m ready to go back.) The Mike Tyson’s were no fun, but the Lt. Dan’s really did a number on preparing the legs for Hills. All credit for the Lt. Dan’s goes to Mad Dog (Waxhaw), they are quite terrible. A lot of familiar faces, but all good to see. Omnicron is still beasting it and good to see Cold Cuts back. I partnered with ABBA, who I’d only worked out the day before with in Weddington. (He’s punching that ticket on the Passport Challenge.) Anyway, great partnering with ABBA and getting to know him.

There were some announcements that are posted on slack or you can just ask Patent Pending, like I usually do. (Thanks PP!)

Graveyard Spirits

DICCS given for 3 PAX

Warm-up

Mosey behind school and fields to cement pad.

Imperial Walkers

Plank, 6″

Mountain climbers

Calf stretch

Mosey to front of school

Side straddle hop

Plank, 6″

Merkins

Runners’ stretch

The Thang

Pick up Posse and head to the graveyard

Loop and at each turn an exercise

15 x Bobby Hurleys

15 x Heals to Heaven

15 x Mike Tysons

15 x Shoulder Taps

Repeat

Mosey down the hill to old school

Partner up (which was easy with 4)

Partner 1 does bear crawl then runs backwards the width of BB court x 2, Partner 2 does dips. 2 rounds

Partner 1 does bear crawl, then runs backwards the width of BB court x 1, Partner 2 does incline merkin, 2 rounds

Web of merkins and big boys…got half way though.

Mosey up hill, back to graveyard.  One more round of loop since we had time

10 x Bobby Hurleys

10 x Heals to Heaven

10 x Mike Tysons

10 x Shoulder Taps

Mosey back to COT, 10 merkins to finish.

Great job boys!!!!!!

Announcements

I can only imagine what those people driving by thought when they saw a few headlamps bouncing up and down in the graveyard

Ramp build in Monroe was a success.  Thanks Magi and Shopdog for leading the effort

If you haven’t seen a fellow Pax in a while, reach out…they may need your support

CPR training opportunity Saturday 1/22/22, 10am, Five Stones Church

Christ Closet Furniture pickup needs assistance

Please take pictures of all 2nd F and 3rd F events so we can market all that we do

Thanks Posse and Dunkin for asking me to lead and giving me the chance to have my VQ @ Lycan

Surge

 

Back to basics…

Kicked off 2022 at Anvil with a basic old-school beatdown. Nothing fancy. 2ish Miles with lots of bodywork.

Pulled into the lot @ 5:20am giving myself plenty of time. Passed a random car with their lights on, parked in the wrong area of the AO. Maybe a passport challenge PAX? 5:30 rolled around, 6 more PAX showed, but the random car never ejected its driver. Oh well, we’ll run a lap by just to make sure. Lap completed, driver shaken by the presence of 7 men running around his car, but alas, he decided against joining us. Oh well, off we went into the gloom.

The Thang

Mosey our way around to the turf semi-circle.

CoP upon arrival at the semi-circle:

  • SSH x 15
  • Hillbillies x 15
  • Mountain Climbers x 15
  • LSM x 15
  • LSS x 15

Karaoke and High Knees down the main straight to the grassy knoll for 11’s

WAVE 1: 11s on the Grassy Knoll

  • Starting at the top of the hill, run down, CDDs x 10
  • Backward run up the hill, Jump Squat x 1
  • Repeato down/up with decreasing CCDs and increasing Jump Squats until we get to CCD x1 and Jump Squats x 10.

Mosey to the “Avenue of Trees”

WAVE 2: BOMBS down the avenue

  • BOMBS down the avenue.
    • B – Burpees x 5
    • O – Outlaws (Right x10, Left x10)
    • M –Merkins x 15
    • B – Big Boy Sit-Ups x 20
    • S – Squats x 25

Mosey over to the gym wall, grab a seat

WAVE 3: Shoulder Work

  • Assume the ‘People’s Chair’ position. Overhead Claps (on my up) x 30
  • Plank Walk / BTW Wall Walk across the flat wall
    • PAX line up abreast, across from the wall, in plank position.
    • 1st PAX gets up, heads to the wall and BTW ‘wall walks’ across
    • Next PAX plank walks to the beginning, then BTW ‘wall walks’ across
    • When PAX reach the end of the wall, return to plank walk back to starting position
  • Back to ‘People’s Chair’, Overhead Claps (on my up) x 40
  • Repeato Plank Walk / BTW Wall Walk but in the opposite direction
  • One more round of ‘People’s Chair’ and Overhead claps x 30

Mosey back the Avenue of Trees and ran two more sets of B.O.M.B.S. back the other way.

Indian run back to launch.

Mary until time is called

Called time and COT. 

Moleskin

  • After last week’s Thighland workout by Abba, many PAX in attendance were feeling the backward runs up the hill. 7s may have been more appropriate but the 11s really made us feel the burn!
  • The BTW Walks helped each PAX show off their own distinct form. Some bad, none great (YHC included). Having that pole in the way ensured we had to get our feet high in the process.
  • Overall, a pretty quiet morning. Not a lot of mumblechatter to be had as we kept the pace up throughout the workout.

Announcements

  • A friend of Abba and Stalker has a little girl named Eden (7-8 months old) who is fighting cancer. Please pray for her and her family as they go through this trial

It’s Just a “Little Dot”

Upon arrival, a few raindrops were on our windshields.  Q and PAX were perplexed as rain was not in the forecast and Q’s weinke had very little plans for under canopy work.  That being said, Q checked the radar and advised the fellow PAX….”no worries, the radar shows just a little green dot of precipitation”.  Let’s go!

Warmup

Mosey around parking lot.  SSH) in cadence x 15, IW in cadence x 15, Merkins x 15, Moroccan Night Clubs x 15, Arm circles & Mountain Climbers in cadence x 15.  Stretching – up/down dogs, calves, runner’s pose.

Thang

7-count ladder with plank jacks and dry docks and run from curb line to center island.  Green dot spitting just enough to be annoying.

Mosey to middle school patio for step-ups (20), wall air presses in cadence (25), wall air jabs in cadence (25), dips (20) and derkins (10).  Rinse and repeat all.  Green dot let up while under cover.

Mosey to lower track and rock pile.  3 sets of 20 each of curls & overhead press.  Run/jog a lap around track after each set of 20.  At opposite corner of rock pile, 10 each squats and 10 each speed-skaters (2 is 1).  After 6th lap, super set of 20 curls and 20 overhead press.  Green dot sporadically let us know he was still there.

Mosey back to COT and finish with 25 SSH in cadence and Fiji’s / UNC’s infamous fast feet-drop downs.  Green dot no where to be found.

Moleskin

8 Pax logged close to 3 miles and plenty of reps while getting (somewhat) wet from that damn green dot.  Schnitzel set the fast pace and stayed out in front with his headlamp providing a good beacon of just how far out in front he was….nice work!

Announcements / Closing

Centerfold reminded all to take a look at the “3rd F” component for new years resolutions.  Rice-and-beans being a perfect, weekly opportunity.  One star shared “API” – Assume Positive Intent.  Or in other words, as you talk to others at work and at home, forget about the negative and past mistakes.  Open your mind and give others the benefit of the doubt leading into the conversation.