The Ol’ Bait and Switch
With the promise of new territory never before seen by a Cutty workout, I was able to pull some folks normally not interested in a Posse Q. Unfortunately for all of us, the rain just made it too wet to be safe. So instead, I had to flip to the something old, something new, something borrowed & something blue.
Since the mandatory headlamps would not be necessary for Plan B, we moseyed around the back of the parking lot to let Pax put their light away. But kudos for following instructions & being prepared! Moseyed to the second covering at the front of the Middle School.
Something Old
Partner with someone of opposite ability (if there was a Partner Police, Bottle Cap & Rockwell would be issued a ticket). P1 takes a hot lap & P2 does:
BOMBS
Burpees – 50
Overhead Claps (SSH) – 100
Merkins -150
BigGER Boi Situps – 200
Squats – 250
This is my go-to on a rainy day. The enhanced BBSU is courtesy of watching Flanders do these at Asylum. Start with full extension arms & legs. Hands touch pavement. On the up, keep your legs as extended as possible & touch the bottom of your feet. When I demonstrated, I could hear the indifference that was coming from most Pax. Come around the 75th BB, they start to see they aren’t ticking the reps off as fast. You’re welcome.
Playing the part of Posse today, Rudy joins in around Merkin time to even out the only 3 headed partnership.
Something New
3 short PVC pipes mounted together in a corner. Each Pax takes turns getting 3 playhouse balls to toss into the pipes, ala carnival games. If the Pax makes it, everyone else does a burpee; if he misses, he does the burpee. Pax throwing the balls calls out the exercise for the rest to do while he throws.
Most did their 3 burpees. A few did 2 & had everyone else do 1. I think only 1 person got 2 in the holes. Just what I was hoping.
That PVC thing came to my house just 12 hours prior to this workout! It’s gonna go to my wife’s school this week, but that seems like a great thing to make for an Appetizer/Clyent Dinner kind of afternoon.
Something Borrowed
Motivators
This exercise is done a lot in the Midwest & Northern regions. I learned about it from when I was Zooming in the Gloom a few months back. I can’t describe it, other to say it’s the only exercise done in unison, as opposed to cadence count or civilian count. I don’t think I explained that well enough, because I stopped us on the 3rd round to tell them I was the only person I was hearing. With the case precedence of Wolf v. Homecoming, I knew I was within my rights to start back at the top. This time, many more voices were heard, even with pissiness sprinkled in.
At one point, Chastain starts heading my way during this thing. I can’t tell if he’s looking to do a Kid in Play, Riverdance off, hug it out, or what. Was he wanting me to talk to him in Big Blatin again?
Something Blue
I wore blue shorts with blue lighting tights because the occasion called for it.
Mosey back to COT parking lot with alternating Speed Skaters & Romanian Deadlifts. I sure wish Zin had been there to judge my form. He already has a video of it. Schneider tries to convince Serge to cut a light or two short to make it back to COT (10 feet away) with 30 seconds to spare. I was having none of it.
Moleskine
Lots to apologize for today.
Prior to the start, I was surprised to see Shake walk up. So surprised, I called him Jingles. I was surprised because I can’t remember the last time Shake came to one of my Q’s. I’ve also asked him repeatedly to Q EITHER of the Saturday sites I’ve been a Site Q for, & he’s said no (unusual for him, I know). So I figured he wouldn’t show so I couldn’t ask him again. Since Saturday was Shake’s birthday, most assume he would Q on his birthday, like most everyone else does. That didn’t happen, so I assumed he was taking the entire week off.
Jingles, on the other hand, is a man I admire & miss working out with him. I long for the days when we ran The (1st) Rooster and the trails on Sundays.
And finally, it’s pretty common for people to get misidentified as Jingles. It’s happened to me, too. Ask Fuse.
I apologize for my mistake, Shake.
During one of my runs, I see the juicy booty of O-69 in front of me. I get a windmill going to slap my first piece of meat since going vegetarian last year. Come to find out in COT that both the shock and my hand placement put my man in some pain. I feel horrible about that, too.
The last of our Double Respect shirts were handed out today. We’ve given ones to Penalty Box (he also got a Triple Respect shirt), Blue Screen, & Chainsaw. Today was Draper. A man who’s been heavier on the 3rd F than 1st F lately as he’s recovering from injury (and sickness?). I always enjoy working out with him but didn’t give him the kudos he deserved in COT.
I took us out, but looking back, I could’ve done better, there, too.
Anyone else I miss? Yeah, my bad for forgetting you.
Announcements
Q School – Saturday, March 6 at Cuthbertson Middle 6:30 AM – 8:00 AM
45 minute learning workout & 45 documentation/discussion. A safe(r) place to mess up & ask ANY question you want. Giveaway at the end. RSVP by GroupMe calendar in Playhouse or News channel & choose GOING. Then, for both GroupMe & Slackers, click on this link to provide your email to send you docs beforehand. https://forms.gle/QmMgMUyEW2gHLDkh7
If you don’t know the difference between a starfish & 4 corners; why we talk DiCCS at the beginning; can’t name 2 different Webbs; or know what/who is a 6/Clydesdale/Gazelle, then this is the place for you. Plus, you know that when we do Q School, 1Q is coming soon.
The Rooster – Saturday, March 13 in Rock Hill, SC. 6:00 AM – ya done
Marathon relay for 2 or 5 person teams (women, co-eds & teens are ok!). Each person runs 1 mile at a time for 5 rounds, 5×5 = 25; then ALL 5 run the final mile together. Ruckers will do a half marathon. Here is the preblast: https://www.f3rockhill.com/2021/01/23/rooster-iv/
If you are going to be part of the Waxhaw teams – DO NOT FILL OUT THE FORM. We will create balanced teams to keep everyone together, then submit all teams at once (#Socialism). If interested, but not on GroupMe, DM Bottle Cap to get in on the action. If on GroupMe, choose GOING on the Playhouse or News calendar. Looking to GhostFlag this MF’er!
Prayers for Surge’s niece, Lauren. She was in a major accident & is in ICU.
Let’s Save That For Another Day
I had a plan for today. Something that I’ve been thinking about for a while. With sunny weather and good temps this weekend and only 30% chance of rain this morning today looked like a great morning to give it a go. I even had Rubbermaid scout out part of it yesterday and gave the all clear. He even gave a HC.
So I wasn’t expecting to wake up to this today:
Decision on today’s original plan:
Apparently HC Rubbermaid and Ignition regulars Easy Button, Dasher, and Hurry this morning:
Me on the drive to Cuthbertson now:
The Rain when we started would have made even Wolf proud:
DiCCS to the 5 pax that showed up:
Slow mosey to the front of the HS to warm up:
Mosey to Rudy’s shed for the First Thang:
- 10 Donkey Kicks at the shed
- Run up the path to where it turns left to go back to the school for 10 Merkins
- 20 Big Boy Situps under cover behind the middle school
- Bear Crawl the breezeway
- Run back to the shed
- Repeat for a total of 4 laps
It’s at that point we realized Sugar Daddy’s back was acting up:
Mosey to the awning on the side of the HS, looks like MASH is there, front of the HS
It was at this point the unmistakable sound of dry heaving and puking was heard. Was it Ice 9?
Noooooo, this heaving and puking had a different pitch, different finishing “umph”, not the Ice 9 heave we have come to know and love. This was Deadwood.
Front of the HS for:
- Captain Therkin Web
- 1 Big Boy
- 1 American Hammer in cadence
- 4 Merkins
- Increase Big Boy and Hammers by 1 until
- 10 Big Boys / 10 Hammers in Cadence / still 4 Merkins
Then:
- 10 Derkins
- 20 Dips
- 30 Step Ups
- Long lap that goes on road and sidewalk next to school
- Repeat for total of three laps
Final long mile mosey to finish:
Done! 4 – 5+ miles in the books
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Q School March 6 at Cuthbertson Middle School:
There is really no reason you shouldn’t be there. If you are reading this, get to Q school
Rooster is March 13th in Rock Hill. All you have to do is run 1 mile six times but with a 25-30 minute break between each loop. Lots of fun, don’t miss it, YOU WILL LOVE IT!
No Soft Surroundings
Red pill tasted pretty good this morning. But full-disclosure: YHC likely would have eschewed that pill had I not been tapped by Teddy & Wingman to Q the new Monday SOB bootcamp affectionately known as Firestarter. So after making Tonya-tine’s acquaintance (sorry about the nickname…but don’t ask for a new one as you know the outcome would be less to your liking) and making a brief, rambling disclaimer off we went into the SOB gloom.
Below is some semblance of the Thang and some rambling though hopefully thought-provoking Moleskinny:
Have been to Blakeney plenty, not so much for F3, though I think I was at the launch of DaVinci? That being said, had forgotten how little cover there was in that shopping labyrinth. We did find shelter in a couple places, however, including the bank branch drive-thru and the double stairwell. Did I mention we all took the red pill?
For the 3 of you reading this – here’s what the F3Nation lexicon has to say about the red pill (aka daily red pill or DRP): “the Q’s daily commitment to accelerate his fitness, fellowship and faith.”
So how is your daily commitment to these 3? Obviously, the fitness one is easy to measure a la Strava, spreadsheets and all the mileage/merkin/burpee counting and such among the pax. How about the fellowship? No – that’s not counting how many drinks you have daily, hopefully not by yourself. But how many men are you pursuing to see how you can serve and pour into their lives and the lives of their families? We were not created to do life alone. That’s why the isolation of the sad clown is so dangerous and insidious. And Faith? How often are you pursuing answers to the big questions of life: Origin, Destination, Purpose, Ethics. As men, we’ve got more than enough places to talk about news, weather, sports & politics. What about “accelerating” your spiritual pursuits? Just a thought.
Anyway…back to the ramblings about the downpainment.
We did 2 sets of 5 on the stairwell: H-R merkins + HTH on one end and DryDocks & Dolly’s on the other. It was alliterative. Then over to the bank branch for Mary in the drive-thru – flutters, Freddie Mercury’s, etc., etc. It wasn’t alliterative. Back over to the dual stairwells for 5 rounds of Jump squats & Burpee’s.
Speaking of alliteration: try saying “Tolkien, Teddy, Tonya & Trickle” 5 times really fast.
Spent a higher than average time in the people’s chair, did some Walthar N’Djaiye’s, overhead press, etc., etc.
So…the title of this backblast: “No Soft Surroundings”
For COP, the pax circled up caddy corner from a store named “Soft Surroundings”, ostensibly selling home accoutrements, clothing and other things to soften life for its customers as they struggle in the harsh realm of south Charlotte, Ballantyne, Blakeney and the like.
In my 10th year of F3, I’m grateful for the life-changing impact its had on me, many friends, my family, and our communities. But I’m also struck by how much time we spend trying to “cushion” ourselves from life. Life is, after all, difficult. The best teacher I’ve ever learned from said: “In this world you will have trouble.” So why is it so many of us live life as if the goal of life is to arrive safely at death?
So there’s your 3rd F consideration for the week. If someone asked you: “What is the goal of life? How would you answer them?
Kotters to Tolkien. Thanks to Wingman and Theodore for tapping me to Q (I love Q’ing the pax, it’s a privilege). Good to see Trickle and his “Cat in the Hat” Arsenal Gunners socks. And awesome to meet Tonya-tine…perhaps you should demand a rename from the Waxhaw pax…upon further reflection, it likely would end up better for you.
Thanks also to Tolkien for taking us out in prayer.
Announcements:
“The Rooster” crows sometime this Spring in Waxhaw? – it’s a team marathon or if you like to run marathons, you can run by yourself.
There’s a blood drive in the future. 40 pints drained from the pax last Friday. T-claps to Mighty Mite aka Dracula for organizing and recruiting.
And the Blakoverites will start stretching again when it gets warmer according to Tuck. He and Chopper did join the Firestarter pax for COT.
Passez un bon week mes amis.
Islands in the Parking Lot
Keeping the BB short and simple
The Warmup
The Warmup started with a long Mosey to start dynamic stretching
- 15 SSH
- 15 IW
- 15 LSS
- 15 Seconds per leg Glidah stretch (runners stretch)
- 15 Seconds per leg Hurry stretch (Pigeon)
The Thang
PAX Mosey to large parking lot with islands in the middle to perform many different exercises. Workout was simple:
1) Get to first island due rep of (5) reps of the called out exercise
2) Move to next the island due (10) reps of the same exercise
3) Move to next island due (15) reps of the same exercise
4) Move to end of the lot due (20) reps of the same exercise
5) Mosey back to first island and complete the next exercise
Some of the exercises were pickle pounders, bobby hurleys, heels to heaven, merkins, LBC, flutters, mike tysons and the real treat was “how” to reach each island
- Mosey, run backwards, side straddle left side, side straddle right side, and then everyone’s favorite the bear crawl. All the PAX groaned at the same time and Sugar said that was BB material.
PAX got in three miles by going back and forth in a parking lot!
Announcements
6-man Twinkle Toes
Welcome FNG Stryker (Alex Sohn)
Rooster March 13 (more details will follow)
Three’s Company
It was brisk out at Calvary Saturday morning. Hoover and I met up at 0600 for a 60-minute pre-run. Both of us had slacked off this week and needed to get some miles in. We rolled back into Calvary around 6:59 and split up for our respective workouts. Mighty Mite and Frehley’s Comet were out of their cars and ready to rumble.
After a bit of small talk, we got started.
Warm-up:
- SSH x 15 IC
- IW x 10 IC
- Sharon Towers x 10 IC
Main Event:
- Neupert: 10 sets of 1 double clean and press. Each set performed at the top of the minute. Frehley’s Comet did a few swings after the first set to continue the warm-up.
- Complex: 1 swing, 1 high pull, 1 snatch, 1 clean, 1 squat, 1 press L/R EMOM for 15 rounds
- Carries: Overhead carry out/back with L/R, then farmer carries out/back. Approximately 1:00 per carry.
- Easy strength:
- 2 x 5 double deadlifts
- 2 x 5 double chest press on your back
- 2 x 5 single upright rows
- 4 x 5 double cleans
- 2 x 5 lawnmowers per side
- Mary:
- 15 flutter presses IC
- 10 Bulldogs OYO
Done. Circle up with RockZero for COT.
Announcements:
- Great job by Mighty Mite in organizing the blood drive yesterday. He also volunteered the whole time (7:45-2:00). 40 pints (5 gallons) of blood were donated. Thanks to all that came out.
- There will be a beer mile on 3/19 at the South Charlotte track. Join the beer mile channel on Slack or reach out to Hoover for details.
- Please keep the Palmer family in your prayers.
Moleskine:
- A small, but good crowd this morning. Now that Mighty Mite isn’t a site Q down in SOBland, he’s been posting at Olympus more. Frehley’s decided not to double down after doubling down on Friday.
- It was a bit of a deload workout on the presses with only 10 reps (after 18 on Monday). That was nice. 15 rounds per side of the Voodoo Complex got old after about 10 rounds.
- If you haven’t joined us for kettlebells yet, feel free to come on out. We usually have extra bells and can bring more if you give us a heads up (on Slack). Now’s the time to work on those arms before you head to Cancun for Spring Break.
Watch out for Foreign Objects
I’ve been nursing a knee injury lately so the idea of a split Q made some sense. Plan would be for Honeycomb to take the first 30 minutes and then I could do the final 30 with limited running. A nice 28 degree Feb. greeted the PAx and a 78 year old FNG – Eric Yarborough.
6ft DICCS(Social 6, Disclaimer, Cell, CPR, Safety) was given and shortly thereafter the D would be tested/questioned.
Honeycomb took us out through the parking lots by the buses and on the way there – ting, snap.. what the heck was that? Seems Zin stepped on some foreign object(machine or bus part) and rolled his ankle.
We stopped to do the warmup and Gerber Esq. stepped in to investigate – looked over the evidence, tagged it for chain of custody and then we all discussed who would pay for this act of negligence. At the end of the day we’re responsible for our own safety and given the Big D upfront Zin would not be hitting the Lawyered up Lotto. So please all add the FO to the front of the the DCCS – Foreign Objects…
The Thang
Honeycomb had waiting for us a total of 7 cones laid out in a line about 20 yds apart. An exercise was written on each cone. Partner up and attack from each end. Cone to Cone- back to first cone with burpee.
Exercises included , BH, Merkin,Squat, plank jack,H2H, and some others for a good course.
Mosey to second parking lot – for 4 corners – 7 reps of merkins, squats, snow angels lbc
Q switch and we’re off to school
10 minute 11’s. Every Minute on the Minute. 10 Burpees/1 Bobby Hurley, 9 Burpees/2BH, 8 Burpee/3BH…….1 Burpee/10 BH
Ab Web of Big Boi and American Hammers
Mike Tyson Laps – start with 10 Tyson’s run lap..9 tysons lap…. we got to 6 and then took off for COT stop for some donkey kicks.
COT – Triple Respect FNG Eric Yarborough- hung with us the entire workout. Lots of inspiration on the First F to help you push your fitness further. Blue Screen 2Respect bringing out a 3Respect for a total of 140 years- I’m not sure of their secret but I can bet it’s being active and leading a fairly healthy lifestyle…..
Welcome FNG Eric Yarborough – Trailhead. He’s an avid hiker, senior games track star and a math tutor!!!!
Good effort all around today
Welcome back Damascus – who just shows up without a hat or gloves in the Rocky sweat suit and gets to work.
Dasher and Gerber adding in some of their own brick work to amp up the routine
Honeycomb – dude is prepared on the Q front and God Love his music selection… Men at Work and some other smooth Jazz to get you through the workout.
Sheldon – a tad late but due to the “foreign object” delay was able to join in and crushed it. He’s doing some interesting Data Science stuff on his own –
Blue Screen – knew he would bring out a guy in shape… Blue Screen landed his 3rd stint at Microsoft so congrats and maybe you can bring back Mr. PaperClip guy for us.
Last but not least – Zin – battled through a twisted ankle by digging deep into those leopard skin tights and finishing the entire workout.
Announcements
Rooster and Beer Mile coming up- check the NewsChannel.
I think I’m in my 5th year with F3 and my recent knee issue has kept me out of the normal workouts for close to a month, my longest IR. I can tell you that my overall energy has dropped off the past few weeks and especially this past week – from work, interaction with the family, chores, I’m moving at a slower pace, not engaged like I should be. I’m an introvert at heart but thrive with a TEAM – and F3 is that Team. For me the 1st F energizes me, pulls me to the 2nd, 3rd F , family, kids, work….life….
I’ve been lucky to have you all check in on me while I was out, hang with the Mash crew when able and been able to take part in the GroupMe shenanigans.
Sometimes we need to open the medicine cabinet and make sure to choose to take the DRP (Daily Red Pill) everyday.
“The second, third and thousandth Red Pill is just as tough to swallow as the first, but that initial Movement gives birth to Acceleration which leads to Momentum and Momentum ultimately leads to joy.”
Brick Barre Bar
Some rain in the forecast and all around Waxhaw PAX were huddled in the their warm beds. Four men headed to the bar for the Last Call with a teetotaler tending…
WARM-UP
Mosey to the front of the high school for…
- Hillbillies x 20 IC
- Imperial Walker x 20 IC
Hey, Posse drove up and might not find us, so let’s go get him!
Mosey back to the front of the high school
- Hillbilly Rockettes x 15 IC
- Potato/Strawberry/whatever Pickers x 10 IC
Mosey
THE THANG
Long Mosey to the baseball fields
Grab a pair of bricks
PAX do various exercises while one PAX runs across lot to do 5 Bobby Hurleys. Same exercise for each round, until all 4 PAX have run, then switch exercise.
- Move arms in X formation
- Arm circles in front of body
- Angry Al Gore air jabs
- Overhead press
Switch to a Webb of Romanian Deadlift and side leg raises. Complete 1-7.
- Lateral arm raises/flys
- Overhead tricep extensions
Complete the Webb 8-10 with the leg raises switched to about 45 degrees behind body (4 o’clock or 8 o’clock)
Hurry back to COT
MOLESKINE
Days and days of rain. But the funny thing is that it isn’t difficult to avoid the rain and four PAX saw that on Friday. YHC was confident that for the third week in a row, it would be dryish at the bar and it continues to be a great place to avoid the downpours while getting a little extra rest. If it had been pouring, weinke out the window.
It was a great morning for good conversation and chatter. The weinke was partially derived from the M’s old early 90s Firm videos, just lacking the leotards, legwarmers and odd naked-dude statues. (Does that inspire women to work more?) The leg lifts in the Webb paid homage to the new Barre studio in Marvin. The long repetition of bricks as weights makes those light weights tough and provides some functional strength with some of the odd exercises. And the runner-as-timer allowed for chatter without having to remember your count. YHC loses track in the counting too often and would rather not have to do keep a tally of anything before 9 AM.
Honeycomb was the first PAX to show this morning and has excellent brick selection skills. One Star never fails to bring laughs to the game and we wish him luck in his weekend role as Volleyball Dad. Posse is not an offical Truebador AFAyhcK, but he has a story about someone from every region and brings a good mix of conversation to each workout.
YHC may have disappointed the crew with no pickle pounders, but they were on the weinke and may see some action Tuesday at Bushwood. Also, no drinks from this teetotaler, but there was plenty of rosehip oil afterwards.
Bong Bindian Buns
7 pax at Clean Slate for a last minute substi-Q. So what do you do when you’re a last-minute Q? You steal from your previous Q’s. And what do you do when you have an idea for an exercise? You over use it until you absolutely hate it.
Got to the site a bit early to pre-run and make sure the site was safe. Cold temps and rain had me concerned about the possibility of ice, but we’re in the clear.
Warmup
Mosey towards the elementary school with a few stops along the way to warm up. Lots of SSHs, as well as a few stretches and miscellaneous others.
The Thang
No one else but me had done the killer B’s, so they had no idea what they were in for. Same format as yesterday and just as awful.
- 1 Burpee
- 2 Burpees, 2 Bonnie Blairs
- 3 Burpees, 3 Bonnie Blairs, 3 Bear Crawls
- 4 Burpees, 4 Bonnie Blairs, 4 Bear Crawls, 4 Broad Jumps
- 5 Burpees, 5 Bonnie Blairs, 5 Bear Crawls, 5 Broad Jumps, 5 Bobby Hurleys
- 6 Burpees, 6 Bonnie Blairs, 6 Bear Crawls, 6 Broad Jumps, 6 Bobby Hurleys, 6 Bomb Jacks
- 7 Burpees, 7 Bonnie Blairs, 7 Bear Crawls, 7 Broad Jumps, 7 Bobby Hurleys, 7 Bomb Jacks, 7 Big Bois
- 8 Burpees, 8 Bonnie Blairs, 8 Bear Crawls, 8 Broad Jumps, 8 Bobby Hurleys, 8 Bomb Jacks, 8 Big Bois, 8 Box Cutters
There is some good distance between each of the schools, so from here on out all moseys are Indian runs. I promised the Pax that if they didn’t Indian Run (meaning the sprinting to the front from the rear) we would just keep running. They mostly complied.
Front of the HS for some partner work.
- Short lap around the front island and a collective 200 Dips and 150 Step Ups for each pairing.
Another Mosey to the bus lot for a Starfish. Again, if you’re reading this and you also read the Swarm backblast then it’ll look a bit familiar.
- 20 reps of Dry Docks, 20 LBCs, 20 Squats, and 20 Plank Jacks. 5 Burpees every time you complete a corner.
Another Mosey, slowly making our way to the middle school car line. With some nice long straightaways we did one round of track work.
- Race speed, recovery speed, finish line speed, and recover.
Posse then refused to give me a 10-count, so Catfish did it for me. Weird.
A quick Mosey to the back of the school for a little Ring Around the Pax. Each Pax calls out an exercise and runs away while the rest of the Pax have to do the named exercise. Exercises included (but not limited to): Squats, Dry Docks, Merkins, American Hammers, and more!
Nigh out of time we bid our adieu to the middle school and made the long journey back to COT.
Moleskin
Posse attempted to turn every exercise name into a killer B (hence the title) but I think I was the only one who laughed. Anchor Bolt made his second post EVER this morning and just kept trucking along. Great job! Draino was quiet and I don’t think he likes me. Slidah, uh, injured himself elsewhere. Something about an overuse of his hand. Sketchy on the details. Regardless, he didn’t let that slow him down and even went above and beyond with some leg lifts during the step ups. Dilbert didn’t complain at all. Apparently I didn’t run him enough. Next time!! And Catfish kept our spirits up with a Foo Fighters soundtrack for the whole hour. Good job as a new Site Q buddy. Sometimes your plans fall through and you’re stuck without a Q. He was prepared to Q it himself but at some point remembered that I’d promised to tour the campus for him. Thanks for the invite buddy!
Announcements
Q School – March 6th, 6:30 to 8:00 at Cuthbertson. All are welcome. If you’ve never been you should definitely sign up. If you’re looking for a refresher then please sign up. https://forms.gle/iqsQ1jp3BVsuziCt9
Catfish took us out
Better Together
17 gathered in the very chilly gloom and YHC attempted to show the 1st F virtues of togetherness. Here is how it went:
Mosey to the Burton’s parking lot and try to forget the fact that we lost half the PAX crossing the road. My bad.
Warm up: 30 SSH, 20 IW, 10 MNC, 15 LSS all IC and finish with five “up downs.”
Next part was a bit of an experiment. PAX were advised to keep up to the best of their ability as YHC ran… slow at first, increasing speeds steadily and going ~200-800 meters each time in random directions around the shopping center. We did four rounds and each time finished with Mary. 1) 20 big boi sit ups, 20 AH IC, 10 pistol crunches IC; 2) 20 Freddie Mercury, 10 side crunches each side, 10 LBCs all IC; 3) 10 dollies IC, hold 6 inches while *YHC gives a speech for like 2 minutes*, 30 flutters IC, 4) elbow plank until the six arrive.
*My speech was on the benefits of running together. I told the story of Makeshift Marathon, when Tiger Rag ran the half with me and pushed me to a pace that was about 20 sec/mile better than my last race. Sometimes I try to duplicate that pace on my own now and I fail miserably. It’s a miracle really… how much more we can do together than apart.
Special call outs for Mic Check and Rousey for pushing up front and big time respect for Big Ben – the guy gave it his all and kept pace much of the way!
Next legs. 20 squats IC, lunge walk 30-40 lunges, 10 single leg Romanian dead lifts per leg, about 75 speed skaters IC because nobody was counting during the cadence, 10 broad jumps, backward lunge walk 30-40 lunges.
Mosey to the neighborhood behind the shopping center and gather at the entrance. YHC completely misuses the word “permutation” in an effort to explain what we’re doing next, which is this: increasing number of merkins at each driveway until no PAX can do the prescribed number of reps. We made it to 14 with Rousey taking the title of last man to tap out. So that’s 105 merkins on the way up if you did them all. Can’t say where everybody came in but hopefully we all got as many as we could. Mic Check was of course hammering them and One Star as well. The way back down the ladder was a bit of an S Show as cars and barking dogs kind of chased us off course. We regrouped though and I would estimate another 50-60 merkins at least.
Run backwards up the hill to the rock pile and grab a rock. OH presses and tricep extensions until the six arrive. Then the PAX split up with half going up the hill for 3 sets of pull ups and squats, the other half staying and alternating curls and squats. Awesome job by T1000 banging out the pull ups! Then finish off with another three rounds of alternating OH Press and Tricep Ext.
Run back to COT with stops along the way to gather PAX. 20 peter parkers IC, then AYG dips at the fountains. One minute late for COT.
Announcements: Time to step up for Roof Above. Choose a site you post at and get with your site Q to coordinate your donation!
This one was for the old F3 Pax- RIP Day Zero
Back in the day there was a workout called, Day Zero. Much like the Stonehenge / Da Vinci weekly battles, The Rock and Day Zero would always go head to head to see who’s workout was harder. In the end, it was determined that they both were hard and we combined the 2 AO’s to make one bad a$$ Sat workout…or at least that’s how it was told to me. Either way, Day Zero has a few stupid ideas. The one day I attended DZ, a now infamous workout, Alf was the q and we had 4 guys to grab 3 things (rock, 45# plate and something else) and we walked to Charlotte Catholic and back. Since then and in the world of Covid, no coupons were shared, but we manage to pay tribute to that fine morning. If you did not see the prebalst, you missed it. It was sent on Thursday on the #SACS slack channel. Why… Because every Wednesday at 5:15 at South Charlotte Middle we Shut Up and Carry $hit, I just felt it was appropriate to only put it there. I mean if I preblasted it, would we have had more or less numbers this am?? Either way at 6:58 I stated to review the plan, 6:59 we had everyone (but Hoover) and like clockwork GPS stated 0700 we took off and Hoover rolled in after 6 miles (strong)
Warm Up
Easy jog to the rock pile. Instructed to get a lifting rock…ok, I said we were not running, but nobody asked about a fast mosey.
The Thang
Once we secured the rock, we made the 1 mile journey to the original, Day Zero. I am not sure how often this site is used by the The Rock Zero guys, but today we got to see it in its full beauty! Head over to the basketball court were there was a white board sitting there with todays plan.
10 exercises, perform 10 reps total of each and take a full lap on the track. Repto 10 times or until time is called
Exercises:
- Hand release Merkins
- LBC
- Curls w/rock
- Overhead press w/rock
- Burpees
- Bunny hop
- Triceps w/rock
- Squats w/rock
- American hammer
- Dry Dock
After the 3rd lap and the 4th round of exercises and the watch @7:40, the Pax started getting nervous about the trip home, so we ended short and made the 1 mile, long, uphill grind home.
Once back, discard rock where you found it. Little bit of Mary while we wait for the 6 and then head back to launch. 3 more minutes of mary and
DONE
Announcements: Congratulations to Mighty Might who was able to convince Pax to donate over 40 pints of blood- T-claps! And there is another blood drive in spring
YHC with the take out this AM
Ye Old Mole Skinny
- Thank you Geraldo for the opportunity to lead
- Thank you to the Pax for following my lead
- Todays workout was not terribly hard physically, but was a mental grind…well done
- Few comments from the cheap seats:
- Stone Cold- We use to do this stuff all the time, now we just complain about it
- Hoover- although late to launch follows the SACS channel, knew the plan and wisely grabbed his ruck….cheating
- Possible that we broke Geraldo today- Sorry brother, hope those shin splints go away quickly
- Gummy and Stone Cold welcome back to Sat boot camp
- Gummy not the best workout for your shoulder…way to power though
- Hops thanks for offering up your rock switch, but I had to grind this one out
- Floor Slapper was on time!
- Sling Shot was in the lead most of the morning
- Focker claimed his rock was work friendly as he had a few Sat jobs
- O’T did you bring a rock..I think you had one for exercises…borrowed? Strong work
- Double E, great to see you again, strong work powering thru
- Horse Head left Boondocks to fend for himself. Boondocks has been there for years and is getting stronger.
- Not sure who hid my rock (if you cant q it, don’t do it), unsuccessful! Nice try
- That lap was longer then I remember 1/3 of a mile
- Yes, I am to cheap to pay for Pandora without commercials
- Sorry, my phone failed to record and missing 1 pax…let me know and I will make this correction
- Anyone who said Q’ing is hard, isn’t doing what you enjoy. I was so nervous about this Q because I thought it was going to suck and it did. But it was the first thing that popped into my head when I was asked, so go with it