9 men got better as One Star took out 2020 with a reflective and introspective Body Shop Q that challenged both the body and the mind. He urged positivity in the coming year, and gratitude for whatever good we experienced in 2020.
94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In an effort to literally one-up the 8 neighboring PAX at Meathead this fine morning, 9 PAX arrived about 200 yards away at Anvil, the nation’s premiere Wednesday boot camp at a church named Calvary. It was quickly pointed out by Limey himself that he was starting his day with a poor decision by posting in near-freezing weather.
WARM-UP
Mosey to a location near the Rea entrance
Hillbillies x 10 IC
Mosey to a location closer to the church
Motivators – Begin at 10 and count down, only making it to 8 before the pain of boredom and imminent PAX refusenik set in
Mosey some more
Nancy Kerrigans x 10 IC / flapjack to other leg
Moroccan Night Club x 15 IC
THE THANG
Run along the back of the parking lot from the cemetery to the Hot Box, stopping at each light pole for 6 shoulder taps.
Mosey to the rock pile for a lifting rock.
Head to the nearest parking area where the PAX lined up with their rock. One PAX would call an exercise then run to the far light pole, do 2 burpees and run back, acting as timer while the remaining PAX did said exercise. Repeato for all PAX. (Thrusters, Squats, raised-rock flutter, chest press, curls, Triple Lindy, tricep extenstions, bent-over rows.)
Bear crawl to the first light pole, while dragging or pushing the rock. Terrible idea leading to returning the rocks.
Return to lot adjacent to 51, grab a line and do 10x line jumps/ski slalom jumps, run to next section and repeat, through 6 sections of parking lot.
Mosey to an area. Angry Al Gore x 10 IC. (Al Gore with punches) Little Baby Dips on the curb x 30 IC.
Run back and at each light pole, do 6x Monkey Humpers.
More Angry Al Gore.
Mosey to COT and American Hammer to finish.
MOLESKINE
YHC based much of the weinke on a nice aerial view of Calvary Church, as provided by our dear friends at Google. Lies. All lies. It was planned that there would be running between parking islands, some Supermans and backwards runs, some burpees. These parking islands were not as expected and, frankly, not to be seen. Around that same time is when the Motivators kicked in and we realized how terrible an exercise that is, especially if going for the full 10-to-1. Didn’t happen.
Another unfortunate event was that Limey — who already knew he was making a poor decision — strained his back somewhere in the early moseying. But the man stuck with it because… maybe because he couldn’t find his keys right away to drive home. But he gets credit. That should have been a sign to YHC to nix the plans for the bear crawl with the rock push/drag, but it wasn’t. That was a terrible decision. Hairburners are rough — rock hairburners are miserable. Maybe that’s why it seemed like the only other PAX who didn’t opt for walking lunges (Q-jack anyone?) was the site Q who roped YHC into Qing, Point Break. Your guilt/pity is appreciated.
A51 got a flavor of YHC’s penchant for digging into the depths of the Exicon and some, like Bounce, came away with their eyes opened and minds enlightened. Bubblewrap’s bad decision was to show up without gloves, and Hammer has skating potential after the Nancy Kerrigans. Good to cross paths with Rachel again after a long time and Snowflake ran off into the gloom after we wrapped, leaving Lorax and Point Break to regret inviting a Q from the ‘Haw.
Good times and unfortunate events along Area 51.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Blood Drive. Mighty Mite has more details, but he was at the other workout at Calvary, so we didn’t get the full deets.
8 pax posted in the cold morning air at Calvary this morning for the first episode of Meathead for 2021. This would be the second workout of the new kettlebell program. After a quick disclaimer for a veteran crew, we started to shake off the cold.
Warm-up:
Main Thang:
Neupert: 10 sets of 6 double swings EMOM
Complex: The Goshawk: 8 goblet squats, 20 meter suitcase carry for 8 sets (64 squats and 160m of carries). Don’t put the bell down the entire time.
Easy Strength:
Single bell complex: 5 swings, 5 cleans, 5 snatches, 5 presses, 5 reverse lunges per side. Repeato
Mary:
Announcements:
Moleskine:
There has been debated in the past of how to spell Blakovery. Since BBs are rarely, if ever, written YHC today declares that it is Blakovery. PAX gathered. PAX ran. There may have been some route confusion and grievances were shared early and often about the route.
Another great night for working out with your 2.0 at The Appetizer. We had a record number of 2.0s (and I can’t remember all their names and know I missed at least three). As our Q mentioned (several times), I put in the humble request to “include some burpees” in the workout. Lucky me (and all the PAX) the workout was burpee filled. Here’s how it went, roughly:
DISCC given
Mosey around back of school to parking lot for some warming up: SSH, LSS, Merkin, InOut, Bobby Hurley
Stretching: Plank, bring right for forward to Can Opener, elbows down (if you can), reach for sky, rinse repeat on left
Mosey to the rock pile and grab a lifting rock.
Burpee breakdown (or rather PAX breakdown via burpees). Half of us started running to the first cone, the other half started with the burpees:
– 5 burpees with lifting rock (actually makes you miss doing burpees without the rock)
– run to first cone, merkin x10, return
– 5 burpees with lifting rock
– run to second cone, in-out x10
– run to first cone, merkin x10, return
– 5 burpees with lifting rock
– run to third cone, jump squat x10
– run to second cone, in-out x10
– run to first cone, merkin x10, return
– 5 burpees with lifting rock
That was so much fun we did it twice. Well I got through two rounds, some other PAX probably passed me though by the end I was happy to still be standing.
Next, partner up for alternating running or lifting:
– runner goes to second light and back, while
– lifter uses rock to do AMRAP each of curls, tricep, bench press
A couple rounds of that and then we did one round hitting some abs:
– runner goes to second light and back, while
– partner does 20 big boys, 20 LBCs
Mosey over to side parking lot to wrap with ACDC. To the tune of Thunderstruck we do one burpee everytime we hear the word “Thunder” and in the meantime “keep moving” however we choose (though all PAX choose a slow mosey while fearing the next rampage of “thunder”).
That took us to the end and COT was held in the same lot we were catching our breath from being thunderburpeestruck. Oxygen starved as my brain was I initiated count-o-rama in the wrong direction (FYI there’s a right direction and wrong direction)
Two FNGs joined us this evening, both older 2.0s who seemed to take the workout like a walk in the park. The Appetizer is an ideal time to lead by example with your 2.0s and this evening the PAX were out numbered by 2.0s. Great job men.
Next time you’re thinking about making a request to the Q to modify his workout think twice as you may get a lot more than you asked for. I started this MABA challenge 4 days late so I have some catching up to do, so I’m not complaining at all. I just hope the PAX that came to the Appetizer aren’t afraid to come back. But after our last three workouts, anyone who comes back isn’t afraid of a serious beating.
Thanks to HighHat for leading us through a great night of sweating and suffering together. He ended with some strong words of appreciation for F3 and the real source of strength and support it has provided him during the last year. This is a place where men can be vulnerable. So do not hesitate to lean on your brother. Though it may feel like it sometimes, you are not alone. Thoughts echoed by Zinfandel and shared by YHC among others.
Blood drive on January 30th (aka Fastpass exit from Dryuary)
Burpee Challenge (Make America Burpee Again) is 100 burpees a day for the month (how hard can it be?!)
Publicize your Year’s Goals on the Google Spreadsheet
I don’t much care about getting counted, but my fellow Pax do.
Walking around Das Boot & C3PO’s neighborhood of Hunter Oaks for an hour. There are plenty of SOB & Area51 guys in this huge development, and Das made a valiant effort to get them to show. Zero did show, but Prohibition gave a nod to imply he would be there for next week’s walk through Providence Downs. We did run into
What I notice in these walks is every time a Pax reveals something about themselves that would never come up in a workout, someone else will always reply with an element of “Me, too!” Whether it’s a place they used to live or trouble with their kids, it always reassures us that we are not alone in our struggles, regardless of the struggle. If you feel like you’re the only one going through something, you are believing a lie.
Announcements:
Blood drive: https://teamup.com/event/show/id/yXfKGGqXNMRyeebH1oebB1n8NcJn4j
Habits > Public Goals > Private Resolutions – Be vulnerable & transparent in what you want to accomplish this year. Just like we mock most guys for trying to hit the gym for the first 3 weeks in January & never go again, you fall into the same trap when you make a private resolution. You increase your chances for success by telling others what your goals are for the year. Chances increase further when you put them on this spreadsheet for your brothers to read: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14kBctLBRG1Ii4SPnLHR4dCs8Zoyn9V–6LTfOhoocT0/edit?usp=sharing
It covers all the popular topics: Word of the Year, 1st, 2nd, & 3rd F, Concentrica, & Other. At the beginning of each month, this sheet gets publicized again to show your progress.
I didn’t get everything accomplished that I wanted last year, but I got way more than I ever did in years past when I just did it alone. I’ve read “The Power of Habit” & “Atomic Habits”, so I feel even more confident about breaking these goals down into components that have to be done on a daily or weekly basis to hit that accomplishment.
New AO: Clean Slate in Porter Ridge 630-730. This Saturday has IL’er (even though he lives in Waxhaw) Passport on Q. Yes, he will be driving close to an hour to Q at an AO because he knows the importance of #GiveItAway. Tons of FNG’s to harvest in that area!
New AO: Last Call at Marvin Ridge Fridays 600-645. First Q goes to Goodfella
New AO: Cowbell at PetSmart in Wesley Chapel 530-615. First Q (today) was Ice9 🤮
F3 Chisseled |-1/6 /21
DICCS – Always have to give the DICCS (Disclaimer, CPR Check, Cell Phone Check and Safety Reminder) Done.
Warm Up-
Top of parking lot … running stretches … high knee …butt kickers … right hand right knees – left hand left knee… Karaoke
Run – top of the parking lot
21 side straddle hop
Stretch the Legs
Stretch left and night middle
Plank -upward dog
Stretch shoulders
Calve stretch
The Thang
Find your favorite block
21 curls
Rifle carry
21 bench press
Rifle carry
21 Military press
Rifle carry
Mt chisel
Bear crawl up Run to the other end mt chisel
bench press- til partner returns
Run to the other end mt chisel
Curls – til partner returns
Run to the other end mt chisel
Military press- til partner returns
Mosey w block to the other end of parking lot
Top parking lot – partners
LBCS – waiting on the six
Merkins on the curb
21- left hand left foot curb
21- right hand right foot
Riffle carry – COT
Mosey around island
Find some curb run to center of the lot do 21 dry docks In the middle both ways
Run back COT
Nice work to all men!!
Encouraging Word –
“Be on guard; stand firm in your faith [in God, respecting His precepts and keeping your doctrine sound]. Act like [mature] men and be courageous; be strong. Let everything you do be done in love [motivated and inspired by God’s love for
Roll into the Country Club at 0515 to get acclimated with the site and warmed up. As PAX trickle in, I take note of club members that are in violation of dress code (sleeveless, collared shirt) and issue a one-time warning, with fines to be applied for future violations.
This workout roughly marks my first full year of F3. The community of friendships I’ve formed over the last year has been a life-saver to my faith, my family and my fitness. Really wanted to focus on working with a partner and contributing to common goals. With disclaimer and overview we were off into the gloom.
midriff out
9 men at the inaugural launch of cowbell prepared themselves for fight or flight with hundreds of reps and sprints totaling 3 miles.
The cowbell concept is simple: keep the body in constant stress and the heart rate up with continuous kettlebells movements interrupted only by sprints. We started with a minute on mechanics: in short, make sure you swing and push the bell from your hips and legs, NOT your back. Watch the form especially when you start to fail. Then we were off.
We lined up in front of the Petsmart and did a lot of the following exercises.
Reps were punctuated by long sprints to the Brooklyn Pizza, the Chick Fil’ A, the Target, and, for rest, to the far curb and back. Leaders did swings until the six caught up, which was usually very quickly. Toward the end, we also took a break with a mini mind eraser with merkins and plankjacks when it looked like the troops would mutiny if asked to pick up their bells again. Also, a few idiots ran a couple miles before the workout, led by Hurry.
The workout was wheelhouse for Tool Time and Zinfandel: standouts for both speed and power. Tool Time was up front all morning. Zinfandel had some story about only being there because he overslept, but no one believed him. Every man pushed hard. Sadly, though, there was no merlot. So no man found his limit, leaving room for improvement next week.
Thanks to Bottlecap for taking us out with the word, and for his leadership as our Nantan.
Sign up for the blood drive, or they will find you. Christ’s Closet is loading up a truck for a giveaway in Wilmington, in place of the 10 year giveaway, and could use some strong guys like you readers to help load the truck Friday the 15th at noon on your lunch break. Great to be with these men this morning. Working out regularly in F3Waxhaw has been one of the many blessings for me from the trial of Covid.
Ice9 Out.