YHC was working on his workout plan the night before Q’ing Bagpipe when Cooter gave me an idea. On Slack the night before Cooter promised YHC would provide a tour of the Bagpipe AO. While the Bagpipe site is quite expansive with several directions to go YHC decided to focus on an area with some of the “named” landmarks. 5:30 hit and 14 Pax had gathered ready to go. A disclaimer was given and we were off.
The Thang:
Mosey to the parking lot of a nondescript office building across from the Bull Ring (1st named spot). Fun fact, YHC used to work at said nondescript office building 10 years ago before beginning the uptown commute. Here we warmed up with SSH x 15, IW x 15, Potato Pickers x 12, Peter Parkers x 10 and Parker Peters x 10. Some Pax were struggling with balance on the Parker Peters so it was time to move on.
Moseyed over to the pond affectionately known as Loch Ness (2nd named spot). As we all know there are three workout areas as you run around Loch Ness. At the first do 10 derkins and 20 American Hammers, at the second do 10 box jumps and 20 American Hammers and at the third do 20 dips and 20 American Hammers. Repeat for a 2nd round and plank for the 6.
Saunter over to the rock pile and grab a lifting rock. Overhead carry your rock through the parking lot to the base of Bagpipe Hill (3rd named spot). Put your rock out of the way where you will know where it is but yet out of the way of cars. Run up Bagpipe Hill with 10 low and slow squats and back down Bagpipe Hill. At the bottom find your rock for 15 right hand offset merkins with right hand on the rock. Repeat up and down the hill with squats at the top and then 15 left hand on the rock offset merkins at the bottom and repeat a 3rd time with squats at the top and diamond merkins on the rock at the bottom. As guys finished (mainly Sweetwater, Cable Guy and Midriff) there was time for some good ab work with the rocks. YHC called flutter with rock presses, Tagalong called chippy cross with the rocks (which was sneaky tough) and I think YHC called American Hammer with the rocks. Carry your rocks overhead back to the rock pile and return them.
Start back towards launch stopping at the Wells Fargo parking lot for some various Mary called by various Pax. Then AYG sprint back to launch with a minute plank to hit 6:15.
Moleskin:
While running up Bagpipe Hill someone mentioned Ben Nevis being one of the other Bagpipe landmarks (the long hill up Ballantyne Commons heading towards Lancaster Hwy). Midriff asked how it got its name. YHC was not sure but asked Tagalong since he is a grizzled F3 vet of many years. Tagalong did not know but got home, did some research, and forwarded a description to YHC that Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles. Since it is located in Scotland common sense would dictate that it was named by Haggis. So there is your Bagpipe trivia for the day.
Strong work by all. Loch Ness is a scenic spot and Bagpipe Hill is no joke and provides for an extra challenge rather than just running. It has made more than one Pax spill merlot in its history. All pushed through and finished the circuits admirably.
Announcements:
What you are about to read is called a Backblast. It is something that used to be written and posted to the world wide web that would summarize a workout, possibly make the reader laugh, and sometimes impart nuggets of wisdom. Currently, backblasts are as rare as finding flour, toilet paper, and ground beef on a single Harris Teeter run. Unless they come out somewhere called “Waxhaw”, which I’m not even sure is a real place that exists. “Waxhaw” sounds like a karate instructor from Mississippi trying to teach a pupil to block punches by rubbing turtle wax in a circular motion on and off a fleet of classic cars.
Back to the matter at hand. Nine of us gathered this morning to pursue strength and knowledge while not running a single step. The current program’s core element is 250 swings per workout supplemented with other kettlebell and bodyweight exercises, and now that we’ve been at it several weeks, the pressure to come up with new combinations was weighing on me. Also weighing on me was the pressure to come up with a playlist that would motivate, entertain, spark conversation, and elicit appreciation for the artists. My last playlist was curated around my first love, Sunset Strip Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, and was pure auditory bliss. Not everyone has the proper reverence for this era however (I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed), so I went in a different direction for today. Play button pressed, we jumped right in to the first of five rounds of the swing sandwich, which is 20 swings (the bread), 20 weighted crunches (the cheese), 10 clean & press (the meat), and 20 swings (the other bread). In between rounds we mixed in merkins, chest presses, flutters, and deadlifts. With 200 of the 250 swings now complete, we topped it off with a final set of 50 swings so we could move onto some personal favorite exercises. Next we did three rounds of overhead squats and three rounds of the Sots Press, which is a wonderful exercise that is as awkward to perform as it is difficult. I noticed a lot of “modify as necessary” on this part. I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. A handful of core exercises capped off the morning as dawn was breaking and the geese were defecating. A threatened/promised fly by monkey humping from Spackler and the Anvil crew never happened, so they must’ve been having too good a time over on Five Knolls.
Today’s playlist focused on alternative rock hidden gems from the mid-nineties and seemed to be well received, I even had some requests to share it so I’m calling it a win. We didn’t get to the selections from Letters to Cleo, Buckcherry, and Goldfinger though, so I enjoyed those on the drive home. The next playlist may involve professional wrestling entrance themes, but the idea is still percolating. Only a handful of announcements including the upcoming blood drive being spearheaded by Mighty Mite and Beetlejuice. At least I think that’s what Mighty Mite was saying, it’s hard to make him out from 45 feet away. There’s a happy hour tomorrow at the cougar bar in Ballantyne, I can’t remember the name, but you know the one. There’s an Iron Pax challenge going on, and undoubtedly every rep of every exercise will be done with perfect, Chelms-esque form. In closing, let’s recommit to writing quality backblasts (insert jokes about starting that right after this particular backblast) so we can read about places other than Waxhaw, or Narnia or whatever it’s called.
Off from a short hiatus, Tweet and Meat is back! What is different? Well 4 guys came out into the gloom to find out. Gathering in the parking of SCLT Middle at 05:15, a little latter for Cotton Mouth, but eventually he joined us.
Warm Up- 1 trip around the lot…that should do it!
The Thang
Good Mornings x15
Merkins on the sandbag and offset (left and right) hand x10
Squats x15
Head to the Pavilion to grab a running rock
3 sets of the following with one full lap of the track in between
High pull x15
Sand bag burpees x10
Alt lunges x15 / x15/ x10 per leg
1st lap with sandbag / 2 lap with rock / 3rd lap with sandbag
Head to the field (freshly mowed field)- start at the back of the end zone
LBC with sandbag press x10
Bear crawl drag / Side drag left arm / Side drag right arm then backwards drag to mid-field – 10-15 yards per movement
LBC with sandbag press x15
Bear crawl drag / Side drag left arm / Side drag right arm then backwards drag to end zone – 10-15 yards per movement
LBC with a sandbag press x15
Mosey to the stairs from the track
Triple Nickle
Power cleans at the bottom / Thrusters at the top
Russian twists to run the clock out….DONE
Ye Olde Moleskin
– Thanks to the Pax who came out, looking to do something different
– Trying to make this a weekly thing, so if you missed it or have some interest. We each had an extra bag, plus a ruck available, just reach out
– This is still in trial phase, hoping to make it a regular thing, so right now it sits on Wed 0515 at SCLT. Depending on the group or interest we could look at moving it. Still shopping for a permanent location as well. SCLT has been quite since the “Death at Death Valley”. However, still a good campus
– I forget how dark this location is, which is one of the reason I love it. Just the gloom! I also forgot that it was a CMS maintained school property. Apparently they have not cut the grass on the field since the beginning of Covid and we gathered a lot of the clippings on the field work today- yuck!
– Geraldo is an old pro moving heavy things. Today he brought out a #40 lb sandbag and was killing it, leading most of the AM
– Cotton Mouth rocked #50ish lbs and was hating the pavilion work with the extra 10lbs. Good work
– Lex Luthor had #40lb in a ruck which seemed to work well. He actually bought the sand when he could have just brought it from the beach. Either way proved that this workout works for both rucks and sandbags
-YHC was also rocking #40lb sandbag today
– Flipper HC’d but bailed this AM…however he agreed to Q next week, so we are good. He always brings it come out!
– This BB is dedicated to the boys in Waxhaw that seem to be dominating the BB page on the interwebs. Nice job men!
Belated BB from Tuesday. After the VQ Saturday at Commitment, had to re-fire the ovens for the Bushwood halfway house diners. Whether cold or hot, leftover deep dish is a tastier experience so the weinke had to bring something special.
Warmup
Mosey around the bus lot, along Marvin School Rd to the upper parking lot. SSH, IW, Merkins & Mountain Climbers all x 18. Stretching – calf followed by up/down dogs.
The Thang
Grab a rock, pick a lane and line up at back line of parking lot. Sets/reps consisted of:
Curls x 20, run to opposite end of lot for squats x 10. Repeat twice for 60 total reps. Alternate squats & Bobby Hurley’s at opposite end.
Tricep Extensions x 20, run to opposite end of lot for squats x 10. Repeat twice for 60 total reps. Alternate squats & Bobby Hurley’s at opposite end.
Shoulder Press x 20, run to opposite end of lot for squats x 10. Repeat twice for 60 total reps. Alternate squats & Bobby Hurley’s at opposite end.
Rows x 20, run to opposite end of lot for squats x 10. Repeat twice for 60 total reps. Alternate squats & Bobby Hurley’s at opposite end.
“11’s” – Run length of parking lot in same lane as rock-fest above. Alternate between dry docks and plank jacks at each end.
Return rock to pile and mosey to bus lot and wall.
Grab a partner – 100 air presses, 100 donkey kicks while partner does lap around bus lot.
PAX in a circle, on your six. Counter clock-wise around the circle with PAX calling out ab exercise of choice, 10 reps each. Figi audibled with a set of cross-handed diamond merkins claiming that was ab related. “Conveniently” ended right on time prior to Jwoww calling the 2nd audible for plank, forearm push-ups.
Moleskin
Bushwood members were cooked and thoroughly enjoyed the leftovers as validated by One Star stating “not a lot of chatter this morning”. Bellies aching and full, on to COT.
Announcements / Closing
Waxhaw F3 2nd blood drive on 10/17/20 at Waxhaw American Legion. TB has details.
Deep Dish shared story of life and heroics from Monday afternoon. Co-worker suffered a heart attack while walking to a client interview / presentation on Trade Street uptown. Fellow co-worker jumped in to administer CPR and was able to “bring him back”. EMT’s and ER doctors confirmed that the CPR saved his life. Thanks to his actions, we still have a co-worker, friend, husband and father of two with us today. Good reminders for how precious life is, how it can change in a second and the immeasurable value of CPR training / certification.
Late Post from last week, August 11, 2020
The Waxhaw Express took off today with an attendance record, 12 in attendance.
Today was also a field trip proctored by Tool Time who wanted to re-create that nostalgic experience from back in May.
The workout that day was (200m/200m recovery, 200m/200m recovery, 400m/400m recovery) x 4
Today the goal was to repeat that May workout but try to get in 5 sets.
Some did, some didn’t, but all worked hard.
Great job to all who came out. Waxhaw Express is a great opportunity to push yourself and get faster. It’s open to all and it was great to see the larger than normal numbers.
QIC: Circuit City
Pax: Hooper (R), Queen, Spackler, Jet Fuel, Puddin Pop, Marge, Huddle House, Motorboat, Buc-ee’s, Mayday, Thunderoad, Geraldo, Deep Dish, Sling Shot, Sweater Set, IHOP, Hops, Brandy, Limey, Baywatch, Beetlejuice, Amber, Snuka (R), Benny, Pack & Place, Floorslapper,
28 PAX arrived at the famed Dunkin Donuts with a noticeably cooler temp from last week’s workout. Humidity, however, has NOT budged. With a minute before launch, the half a dozen Old Providence neighborhood contingent came running in off of Rea. Must be some fertile ground over there for EH’ing the guys in the hood. Good work! At 0530 YHC took a big nervous gulp when noticing the nearly boundless circle of men at launch. After a subpar and probably unnecessary disclaimer – we were off to mosey towards OP Elementary.
COP
Many of the fan favorites showed up in COP. YHC lead off with the “sprinkler” – once called by Clover during a past Q of his. Litte more “stretchy” than the IW, me thinks. About Clover, he wasn’t there this morning but YHC might have lost his composure dealing with his usual cadence antics when combined with the boisterous mumblechatter so common with this group.
Triple Nickel(ish):
Round 1: Two groups split out for Dry Docks and Heels. YHC called for three “revolutions” (á al Snuka) with reps of 10 and 15, clearly negating the concept of the “nickel”. Things got worse when Sling Shot brought it to YHC’s attention that we were on “revolution” four — now confusingly past the called 3 but short of the nickel for those wanting full comp. YHC called it at that point and moved to the next round.
Round 2: Same groups. Better communicated TN this time to give everyone their money’s worth (ba-dum-bump-tss). Jump squats and the under-utilized calf raise. In his heyday, Arnold Schwarzenegger used to do calf raises with 1000 pounds on him — 6 days a week. It was tough to find that many coupons to accommodate so we crushed the body weight version instead this morning.
Run back for fountain work at HT:
Quick round of 10 set-ups each leg, 15 dips, 15 derkins. Repeato.
Crawls and Lunges:
Moseyed back to the office buildings for a crowd-pleasing bear crawl/lunge walk combo. Repeato. Back to launch for some Mary – which included a perilous round of “nutcrackers”. No nuts were cracked from the sounds of it. Threw in a sneak attack of 10 burpees OYO to close it out.
COT
Moleskin
Great morning to be out in the gloom! Thanks to Hops and Hopper for their leadership and giving me the keys this morning. All men had already crushed the 1st challenge of the day and that was just showing up. 28 did, in fact. Well done! YHC has made a habit in recent months of venturing to different AOs – some in A51 and SOB. My location makes it feasible for me but would recommend it as I found it great to meet even more PAX, hear “new” exercises called, and explore new turf. Another way we might be able to challenge and grow together.
The Waxhaw Express can be a lot of things.
It can be your Tuesday morning dose of speed work. It can be at CMS one week and New Town Elementary the next. Maybe one day it will make it to Briarcrest but the support for the track extension has not panned out.
Either way, after the 800m repeats with bricks at Ignition yesterday, the thought was to mix it up a little bit and get some base miles and then a kettlebell workout.
So, that’s what we did. 5 miles at a moderate pace followed by 4 kettle bell or dumbbell stations: Shoulder Press, standing row, squats, curls. All stations x 20 reps and rotate.
Good fellowship on the run and during the station work.
Transporter’s shed is back open for business thanks to school back in session and is in tip top shape.
Stay safe out there and be careful right now with people’s schedules changing there might be new or more traffic on the roads or in the parking lots in the morning.
Quick DiCCS including rant about my headlamp dying on prerun and we’re off.
Mosey behind the school and to the bus lot
Focus is on circling back for the 6. If you choose to stay and Mary alternate between Big Bois and LBCs.
Mosey to the adjoining neighborhood and stop at intersection at top of culdesac – 10 Tysons IC
Head to next intersection on your 6
Team to do 20 reps of each exercise at each intersection then run to next intersection in a figure eight around the neighborhood. When you hit next intersection circle back or Mary. Foundation has to do 39 birthday reps and then chase us.
First – American Hammers
Foundation not only completed the extra reps but chased everyone down and was first to the next intersection. He must have used all his energy on that because he stuck with us the rest of the time. Next intersections
Mosey back to the top of the culdesac. Triple Nickle Just go down and back 5 times
10 Bobby Hurleys at top/10 Merkins at bottom
On 3rd round switch to 5 and 5
Someone understood that as after the 3rd round we are done (maybe because I give terrible great directions and whispered spoke very loud and concise) either way I was glad to stop
As we laid there doing some abs, Mad dog made a joke about about how the lack of headlights made this a lot less safe (especially Zin’s sweet ninja outfit). Mid sentence a car whipped around the bend and we all sprang up before we became just a couple more bumps in the road.
Let’s mosey back to the school and stop at the first light pole
Paula Abdul –
Run 2 light poles do a burpee
Run back 1 pole do 5 jump squats
After first one decided we should increase burpees by 1 every time and got to 5 at the end
Mosey to the parking lot and Foundation will count us out for 39 more American Hammers IC
Shaking off a little rust after months of not Qing or even being out here. Great push by everyone and circling back kept us all together for the most part. Glad to be back out here with you guys.
As a Watchtower regular, I do love pulling back into the parking lot and seeing a ton of guys mashing. Those guys make no excuses!
Today was a good reminder of why DiCCS and safety is so important. I know we got a little complacent seeing no cars on the road but the past few days have had more cars than I even remember before Covid and it seems they have the same mindset not expecting cars (or people) on the road. Let’s keep emphasizing Safety (also I hope I am not at the workout where Mad Dog has to make another announcement).
2 FNGs today – welcome GameBoy and Magnolia!
Motorboat tried to sneak in as an FNG for a name change but just too good of a name!
Labor Day – First Anniversary Convergence at Cuthbertson Middle
Iron Pax Challenge – Sign Up!
The last time I Q’d base camp was March 2, 2017. I had a few years of F3 under my belt at that point and was feeling pretty cocky in my Qskillz. I remembered a set from a prior SCMS workout at the benches beside the Chili’s Arboretum so that is what we did that day. Except that prior workout was the hour long Fast Twitch and that Chili’s is a lot further away then I had remembered. Goonie at the time said that was the most Base Camp had ever run and I was never invited back. Until today, a few site Q’s later and I’m back in the saddle, temps in the 70s but still pretty humid.
Rocking my son’s fitbit with some watch face I could barely read, I think it said 5:30 so off we went.
COP
Ran to the preschool for COP. I was then informed by Clover it was Cadence Preschool and that I should attend. It was one of those jokes I laughed at, and then went on to think how many times this joke has been made. I put the odds of 75% of the time the PAX step foot in this lot. It’s like Hops saying he is sleeping with the Carmel Christian admissions director (his wife).
IW x 15 IC
Sharon Towers x 10 IC
Merkin x 15 IC
Mountain Climber x 15 IC
The Thang:
Continued up Strawberry Lane remembering the aforementioned right turn to the Arboretum, so this time we turned left to Davie park. YHC had bought the F3 deck of cards a few years ago that have sat in my bedside drawer ever since. Upon returning from a backpacking trip last night and putting away my flashlight and knife I saw them. Figured I was exhausted from the weekend and was going to sleep but this could be something so I grabbed them on the way out the door this morning.
We got out the deck at Davie and did 8 rounds (1 for each PAX) of the exercise on the card and then a hot lap around the parking lot. Face cards were 25 and low cards were the card plus 10. We then grabbed a lifting rock and did 3 sets of curls, push press and tricep extensions (pax choose descending 20, 15, 10 reps) followed by a walking lap around the lot with rock overhead. Put the rocks back and headed back to SCMS.
Wall sits at the shelter/bathrooms waiting on the six, then air presses x 50 civilian count. Switched up some leg lifts, Magoo and Point Break with some 10 counts, then time for Mary.
American Hammer x 15 IC
Flutter x 15 IC
Freddy Mercury x 15 IC
Rosalita x 15 IC
Heels to Heaven x 15 IC
Floorslapper with the Take Out Prayer.
Moleskin:
Glad to be back out and seeing some faces I don’t usually see. Everyone stayed together and not much waiting around. Limey has been a posting machine lately, I think 5 was the count last week and already 1 for 1 this week. That mustache was holding him back. He’s like the fall 2020 version of Point Break, now to get him on the Q schedule. Clover’s electric BMW sounds like a space ship. I’m not sure if this is a new one, or if the white one was, or if he just upgraded the engine, but sounds like something out of Star Wars. Great catching up with Hopper, Sardine and Floorslapper and Magoo, thanks for representing the site Qs. Appreciate the opportunity.