Record numbers at SWOLE

Record numbers at SWOLE

12 pax posted on a sticky July morning for swings and other assorted goodies. After an admittedly weak disclaimer (hey, at least I remembered one!), we launched into the Warm Up:

  • SSH x 20 IC
  • Windmills x 10 IC

On to the Main Event:

  • 15 swings followed by 5 presses on your non-dominant side (alternating to dominant next round) and 5 goblet squats. Recover until the 2:30 mark
  • 35 swings followed by 15 explosive merkins. Recover until the 4:30 mark

We did 4 sets and on the 5th set, we combined the swings into 1 set of 50 swings, followed by 5 presses per side, 5 squats, and 15 merkins. #crowdpleaser

We then did 1:00 overhead carries (switching to suitcase when you wear out) with 1:00 recovery, twice with each arm. Elbow plank for a little over a minute to finish it off.

Announcements:

  • The Impact Local 5k/10k raised $4,500 on 7/17, which will be distributed to 5 different charities. Keep an eye out for a backblast and thanks to all that contributed. Kirby and Strawberry did a great job of organizing it and getting the word out.

Naked Man Moleskine:

  • Great turnout for a Monday morning with 1 FNG (Tri Delt, née Mike J.). He was a fraternity brother of Madison’s, hence the sorority nickname that Frehley’s came up with. We also had a kotters with The Worm joining us. Another recent gear junkie, Beetlejuice made his 2nd or 3rd gear post after getting EHed to bells at the RockZero COT a couple of Saturdays ago. The rest were regulars that were getting after it as per usual. Wild Turkey got there early to jump rope and Unplugged did his “old man yoga.”
  • This program looks easy on paper, but really builds up over 5 rounds. If you’re finding it’s not challenging in the last couple of rounds, reach out to one of the regulars about borrowing a larger bell.
  • If you’ve got feedback on the program or would like to Q (the weinke is pretty straightforward), please reach out to Mighty Mite or YHC.
  • Thanks for posting and allowing me to Q. The pleasure was all mine.

 

 

Hey Sprockets…where are you going??

An even 20 for this weeks addition of Hawks Nest (remote edition).  After 12 days being out of touch in the woods of northern WI, I emerged more rested and slighlty out of shape, as I did nothing but consume beverages and snacks.  Enough about me, lets find out what happened to Sprockets….more on that.  GPS hit 5:30, no FNG’s, weak disclaimer and we were off.

 

Warm Up

Head out the parking lot, around the DD back to the far lot for a short bit of ladder work

 

The Thang

Of Course we hit the appetizer- SSH x15 / IW x15 …what can I say, love the oldies, but then hit main course

Ladder beginning at 10 reps down to one

6 count Burpee / Monkey humpers / LBC  / Merkins

 

Mosey to the Church with the rocks…near DD

Some ab work to have the group catch up

 

Rock work

Grab a lifting rock and line up at the first light.

Curls, Triceps ext, Squats all x15 and then hold rock over head to the next light and drop rock. Back peddle to first light and back to rock //Repto 4 lights in total

Some ab work in between

Mosey to the Harris Teeter fountain

 

Fountain work

Incline merkins x10 / Decline merkins x10 / Bulgarian split squats x10 each leg / Dips x20  after each round run around nearest bush and  repto 2 more times

 

Finish up with some AB’s to kill the clock and head back to launch….well, Sprockets did an all out, but too where???

 

Announcements: None

Take Out: Thank you Snow Flake

 

Ye Old Moleskin:

– Thanks for Hopper and Hops for putting me on the Hawks Nest schedule- would be great to actually see Hops, but whatever, his better half was there

-So glad I had the Q today, I am sure I would have fartsacked this morning away otherwise

-For the ladder work, some refused the Burpees in the beginning….hell, some of you may have refused them the whole time.  I was to busy counting and trying not to F’it up. You be the judge and comment…if not, I did an awesome job.  Much better then the last time I did this in SOB land

-Thanks Duct Work (also not in the Pax this AM), but apparently he really liked the Rock work from 2 weeks ago which he recycled from my DMZ q 2 weeks ago.  I guess some of you that showed up at Rock Zero over the weekend already saw this.  Sorry, no BB, so I don’t believe you..and we did it again

– Lastly, yes Geraldo…technically the fountain work was 4 exercises, but rather then listening to, “you called for 20 Bulgarian split squats, is that 20 per leg?” I said it was 3 – 10 per leg

-We only covered 1.7 miles, but that felt longer today with the humidity

-Did you think I forgot about the Energizer Bunny..Sprockets??  So I hit him up mid day today to check on him.  You see when I said, “lets go back to home”, he shot off like a rocket and before we knew it, he rounded the corner at the HT and was never seen again.  But where did he go and why?  Well, early speculation was he had a code Brown and based on the speed, plausable!  Some quietly thought he lost his mind and went to the wrong “home”- Hydra/ OP- but who would do that?  Honestly, I was behind him and yelled his name 2-3 times, but like a hunting dog chasing his prey, Sprockets heard none of that and headed back to OP.  Based on the text message, he was at Hydra doing pull ups waiting for us.  Seriously dude, you are not that fast.  Also, who calls an all out from HT back to OP @6:14…kinda a long run.  Either way, eventually he figured out that today was Tuesday and ended up coming back to HT to pick up his boys to run home.  PLEASE NEVER LET HIM FORGET THIS!  Honestly this was so funny on so many levels.

-Always a good morning to be out in the gloom.  Have a great week!

 

A lesson in fire ant bite protection

DiCCS given (Disclaimer, Cell Phone, CPR, Safety).  YHC mentioned we’d be crossing Providence during the Safety portion of DiCCS, thinking this would be the most dangerous part of the workout.  Boy was I wrong.  Here’s what went down…

Warm Up

Mosey down to ABC parking lot.  20 SSH, Jimmy Dugans, Calf Stretch, 20 Merkins, some Moroccan nightclubs.

The Thang

Mosey to hill adjacent to apartment parking lot.  7’s.  Squats/Bobby Hurleys.    After a few reps, I gave the Q to Fusebox.  I knew if I continued with any more Bobby Hurley’s (jump squats) I was going to empty my dignity in my pants or in a nearby bush.  Being that I am known to succumb to these bouts of intestinal rage I strategically started the morning by the Quick Trip Gas Station, whose facility was top notch by the way.  Upon my return I find the PAX back in the ABC parking lot doing T Merkins.

YHC takes back the reigns and off we mosey to the traffic light on Providence.  I shouted “We all cross at once”.  And by that I mean when I go.  Well, thank goodness the Pax have a lot more common sense than I and waited until we had the light to cross.  Obviously my bout in the Quick Trip office drained any sense out of me as I began a game of frogger as I crossed Providence Rd.

Anyway, we continue en route to our destination, the hand rails/guard rails at the top of the Bank of America parking lot.  I saw this the day prior during my scouting mission of the AO and thought wow, we could get in a whole bunch of supines.  I called 25 Supines, 25 Merkins, Rinse and Repeat for a total of 75 each.  At this point Fusebox let me know they did 100 merkins in the ABC parking lot during my potty break.  Audible to 15 each, still 3 sets.

Here’s where it goes awry.  Transporter begins screaming like he’s being eaten alive after the first set.  Seems he laid down on a Fire Ant hill (was still dark out) during supines and the whole pile of aunts decided to scatter about Transporter’s body and begin biting him.  He takes off his shirt and is flailing about, slapping his chest and neck.  He continues to slap a few off and pushes through the set.

Next mosey to parking lot in front of bank. Bear crawl length of parking lot.  20 WW2 sit ups (Big Boy sit ups in Waxhaw parlance).  Crawl Bear back to start, another 20 big boys.  Again, Transporter lets out an even greater shrill, he begins stripping off articles of clothing, shirt, socks, shoes, shorts.  At this point it was evident the ants were ALL over his body.  So, several of the Pax rushed over and began patting and slapping the naked body (he did leave on his tighty whities) of this grown man, right on Providence road at the beginning of the morning rush hour.  All awhile Transporter pranced and danced around, screaming in pain (though from a far I’m sure it looked like a man in Ecstasy dancing in delight as 5 other sweaty men slapped and rubbed all parts of his body).  We finish up here (removing ants and the exercises) and mosey across Providence, back into Waverly.

Mosey in front of Whole Foods.  YHC instructs pax to form a line facing Whole Foods.  25 Monkey Humpers.  Oh, did I mention right behind us, about 25 yards was a group of folks doing a paid bootcamp class.  What better way to say Good Morning than 8 men showing you the proper form of Monkey Humpers.  Transporter didn’t feel comfortable with the Monkey Humpers in front of of this group of fellow athletes.   As always, modify as needed (but I did remind him he just stripped down and was patted down by several grown men on a very busy street in south Charlotte).

Mosey to parking deck behind Whole Foods.  Circle up.  30 LBC’s in cadence.  Next, 5 squats, run up to next deck, 5 squats at every turn until we reach the top of the parking deck.  Once on the top deck, grab some wall.  40 donkey kicks, 10 Mike Tysons.  Mosey back to COT, again with 5 squats at the beginning of each parking deck.  Arrive at COT.  Circle up.  40 flutters, 20 merkins, have a nice day.

Moleskin

Everyone pushed hard.  YHC especially at the Quick Trip.

Running with Rocks

Bushwood Site Q One Star <perform odd hand gesture> stepped up as a substi-q on short notice at The Body Shop a few weeks back and shared with the PAX the joy of running with rocks.  YHC decided to return the favor at the best country club AO this side of the Mississippi and here’s what happened…

WARM-UP

Minute o’ mosey.

  • SSH x 18 IC
  • Mountain Climber x 18 IC
  • Nancy Kerrigan/Sun Goddess x 18 IC
  • Morroccan Night Club x 18 IC

THE THANG

Grab a running rock and head for the neighborhood. Add in a burpees at the two lightpoles on the sidewalk that follows the Marvin School Road because it’s a dumb idea to add unnecessary burpees.

Once in the Marvin Creek neighborhood, the group stayed mostly on the southern half of Autumn Blossom and the two cul-de-sacs that jut from the street.

  • 1st ‘sac – 18 side lunges with the rock
  • Faster-than-mosey to the second cul-de-sac
  • 2nd ‘sac – 18 Peter Parkers
  • Faster-than-mosey to the roundabout for a Circle Merkin to 36 total merkins
  • Run on Running Horse to the other roundabout
  • Circle Burp on the roundabout to 32 burpees
  • Supermans x 18 IC

Repeato on Autumn Blossom

Back to the cul-de-sac we entered on for another 18 side lunges then head back to the school.

Mary with rocks:

  • American Hammer x 18 IC
  • Protractor legs and arms, 2 rounds through the PAX
  • LBCs x 18 IC
  • Flutter x 18 IC
  • Return the rock with love

Mosey back to COT.

 

MOLESKINE

YHC learned early on in life to not run with scissors.  He never learned the lesson to not run with rocks… until today.  It didn’t take long for YHC to have numerous mental images of GOB on “Arrested Development” saying, “I’ve made a huge mistake.”  YHC tried to listen to another GOB quote — “It’s not a trick, it’s an illuuuusion” — and that somewhat dulled the anguish.

One Star went for one of his favorite rocks from the pile, but was reminded that it should be a running rock and he opted for a more appropriate size.  Kotters to Krusty (Aaassss Crack) for rejoining the PAX on a lovely morning — he must’ve brought the humidity of a thousand heat-lamped Krusty Burger buns with him because it was not so bad on Monday.

YHC apologizes for the poor choice of 36 circle merkins, sticking with the Bushwood course theme but depriving some PAX of an extra merkin.  Kudos to Spaulding and Krusty for lining up to go early on the burpees and J-Woww for going for the extra merkins.  Fiji and One Star even threw in additional, unplanned burpees on the way back to the school.  Kudos to Noonan on wearing the appropriate attire for Bushwood and it’s great to spend more time on the AO course with Hot Yoga, who recently moved out from city life and gets the work done.

Running with rocks is not as fun as, say, an afternoon at Top Golf, but it’s always good to be at the Bushwood CC.

 

YHC with the take-out.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Spaulding on tap for his VQ next week!

Sad reminder that weekday sites move to 0530 starts beginning Aug 3rd.  Back to the gloom!

Set my Alarm Cock

Happy Friday Tuesday everyone.

DiCCS were given (Disclaimer, Cell phone, CPR, Safety) – Centerfold late again

Warm Up:

  • SSH – 40 seconds
  • Imperial Walkers – 40 seconds
  • Moroccan Nightclub – 40 seconds

The Thang:

TABATA

Group 1 – Use a small brick or nothing (4 rounds) (40 Seconds)

  • Front Shoulder Raise
  • Lateral Shoulder Raise
  • Shoulder Press
  • Triceps Kickbacks
  • Squat and Hold

Group 2 – Use Dumbbells (4 rounds) (40 Seconds)

  • Bottom Half Curls
  • Top Half Curls
  • Full Curls
  • Over Head Tri Extensions
  • Squat and Hold

Group 3 – Use a Coupon, small brick, or Dumbbells (4 rounds) (40 Seconds)

  • Coupon Press
  • Dumbbell Fly’s
  • Skull Crushers
  • Overhead Tri-extensions – 30 seconds
  • Coupon Shoulder Press – 30 seconds
  • Tri Kick Backs – 30 seconds
  • Hammer Curls – 30 seconds

Group 4 – All Ab’s and core (everyone called out an exercise

Group 5 – Monkey Humpers and Speed Skaters until time was up

MOLESKIN:

Today was a great workout and even a better time. If you have never been to Diesel, you are missing out. You can get some great work in and enjoy a ton of fun mumble chatter. Proximity is a breeding ground for Scooby Do behavior. This week’s star pupil was Popeye. The workout started with a rooster waking everyone up. Popeye mentioned that he is looking to have that as his alarm. (Cock jokes started) We had silly references to about a dozen movies. I really need to watch King Pin again. Thanks to all for helping me get thru the session and picking up on the Ab work.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • ALL WORKOUTS WILL RETURN TO PRE-COVID STARTING TIMES BEGINNING NEXT MONDAY, AUGUST 3.  As schools start back up teachers and staff will be returning to school early in the morning and traffic in the parking lots of most of our AOs will be getting busy.
  • Look for an announcement concerning our F3 Waxhaw Official 1 Year Convergersary.  Date is Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2020.  Mark your calendar.

 

 

You’re a Champion, We’re all Champions

What’s the best thing to do at 5:15am on a Monday morning after a long hot weekend?  Hit the crowd favorite Champion Forest of course.

No Hollywood, Wolverine, Easy Button or the newest Ignition regular Recalc but the show must go on.

DiCCS (Disclaimer, Cell phone, CPR, Safety)

Warm Up:

  • Mosey .9 Mile into Champion Forest down Waynewood to the 4 way Stop
  • SSH x 15 IC
  • Imperial Walkers x 15 IC
  • Merkins x 10
  • Mountain Climbers x 10 IC
  • Calf Stretch

The Thang:

Mosey to Bauer Place

  • 5 burpees
  • Plank for instructions
  • 10 Merkins at the top
  • 10 War Hammers (1 Big Boy situp with 2 single count American Hammers) at the bottom
  • 3 sets

Mosey to Whitaker Place

  • 5 burpees
  • Plank for instructions
  • 10 Hand Release Merkins at bottom
  • 10 Heels to Heaven at top
  • 3 sets

Mosey to beginning of the Waynewood culdesac

  • 5 burpees
  • Plank for instructions
  • 10 T-Merkins at top
  • 20 single count Flutters at bottom
  • 3 sets

Mosey to beginning of Chisholm Court

  • 5 burpees
  • Plank for instructions
  • 10 Dry docks at top
  • 20 single count American Hammers at bottom
  • 3 sets

Mosey to the Waynewood and Dobson intersection

  • 5 burpees
  • Plank for instructions
  • Mosey back to stoplight at Cuthbertson alternating between 10 Merkins and 10 single count Speed Skaters at every street light
  • 5 burpees at the stoplight

Mosey to the benches in front of the High School

  • 20 Dips
  • 10 Derkins
  • 20 Step Ups
  • 20 Dips
  • 10 Derkins
  • 20 Step Ups

Mosey back to AO

Done!  About 5.5 miles in the books

MOLESKIN:

Champion Forest always takes a toll but this morning seemed worse than normal.  The humidity, the loooong hill coming back up from the bottom, the long Chisholm Ct. repeats, it grinds you down.

The Original Plan was to start with the True Burpee Mile.  But, after Dasher’s 150 Burpee Iron Pax preview two days earlier that was not happening today.

Tool Time and Glidah were pushing the pace and set the bar high today.  Ice 9’s heave-o-meter was active early which is always an indication of how hard he’s working.  Bottlecap and Dasher made it through all those hand release and back exercises shirtless and are in the lead for the Iron-Bax challenge.

As we approached Chisholm Ct. today we saw Fuse Box pulling out on his way to Asylum and almost right into a couple of deer on Dobson.  That would have been a great way to start the morning.

73 degrees with a 72 degree dew point and 94% humidity is no joke and everyone really worked hard and pushed each other, great job!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • ALL WORKOUTS WILL RETURN TO PRE-COVID STARTING TIMES BEGINNING NEXT MONDAY, AUGUST 3.  As schools start back up teachers and staff will be returning to school early in the morning and traffic in the parking lots of most of our AOs will be getting busy.
  • Look for an announcement concerning our F3 Waxhaw Official 1 Year Convergersary.  Date is Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2020.  Mark your calendar.
  • Waxhaw Express tomorrow at 5:30am at Cuthbertson.

Like fine wine or whiskey, good backblasts take time

Beaver sent this BB to me minutes after the workout, but it was to my work account which sits inside a WordPress-proof firewall.  So I emailed it to my home account and got to it as quick as I could remember.  Which is lame, I know.  But at least I got er done (finally).  So with apologies to Beaver, and no further ado, I give you the long-overdue Gumby BackBlast!!

Devotional

 

Warm up:

Sitting hamstring and calves stretches – varietals

Butterfly stretch

8 Brocades (Ba Dua Jin) Qi Gong practice –

  • Two Hands Support the Heavens
  • Wise owl turns its head to eliminate fatigue
  • Bending over and wagging the tail to calm heart fire
  • And another one

 

The Thang:

Mountain

Sun Salutation (x3)

  • Arms reaching overhead
  • Full fold (heavy body)
  • Up to halfway lift
  • Into plank
  • Down into up dog/cobra
  • Move into Down dog (walk the dog)
  • Step into Lunge, then move into full fold
  • From full fold to mountain

Back to Mountain

Begin Sun Salutation until Plank

  • Warrior 1
  • Warrior 2
  • Peaceful Warrior (repeat warrior flow on other side)
  • Starfish

Pigeon – both sides

Brocade – forward fold, with backward stretch at top

Standing/Stretch to Corners Pose – Right and Left

Dead Pigeon

Happy Baby

 

Moleskin:

 

Today’s Gumby was mostly easy stretching and included a bonus stretch at the end!

 

Great to see Taquitos and Cocktail!  It was an honor to lead.

 

Substantially Similar

YHC came in on two wheels at 6:59, threw on shoes and off we went at 7:00ish on a humid morning to celebrate 3 years of F3.

Warmup

Jog from the Rec Area parking lot over to the arbor by the pond for dips, merkins, windmills, SSH, etc.

Continue up the hill on Walnut Creek Parkway (and eventually down the other side) towards the residential area under construction stopping to do 5 merkins at every other light pole circling back for the 6. One-Niner made a brief appearance and was gone almost as quick as he appeared.

The Thang

In my first Q at the original incarnation of Blackhawk 3 years ago we dug deep into the Exicon to dig up Burpback Mountain, it has occasionally appeared since then and hadn’t made an appearance at Blackhawk 2.0 until today.

For those that haven’t had the pleasure – Partner 1 does burpees, Partner 2 runs up a hill until a combined 100 burpees are completed. Its as horrible as it sounds, but the PAX pressed on and Gronk complained he wasn’t forewarned on the ride in and TB opined he was told Blackhawk was the Saturday option with less running.

After that was complete off to the rockpile pile of mud with some rocks in it for curls then a sprint. Upon returning to the rocks Twinkle Toes somehow wound up with another rock so YHC instructed the Pax to pick up their rock or a substantially similar one to press on, more on this later. We repeated with the rocks doing shoulder presses, tri-extensions and more curls mixed in with sprints and backwards runs.

Rocks back to the mud and we began our way back to the launch stopping along the way for more merkins, dips, mary, squats and others I forgot. Return around the back side of the pond to the launch and end.

Everyone covered between 2.5 – 3 miles, maybe more.

Moleskin

So the term Substantially Similar comes up in my line of work occasionally and it came out second nature during the workout when Twinkle Toes wound up with a new rock, prompting some fun mumble chatter.

Props to TB for pushing himself during a brutal workout and being down 50 lbs.

Shop Dawg leading and encouraging all of us to be the best we can be.

Carbload and Twinkle Toes alternating between leading the way and circling back for the 6 and both being a huge part of Blackhawk 2.0.

And to my little man Gronk for coming out, pushing himself and getting better.

As mentioned this was my 3rd anniversary Q, can’t really describe the impact F3 has had on my life.

We moved here in 2017 not knowing anyone and F3 really helped us get settled in. 3 years later my wife has a job she loves working for an F3 brother, my son is a regular and I honestly can’t picture life without F3 in it. In year 4 I want to get more involved in the 2F events and maybe get a Tuesday AO launched at Walnut Creek.

There’s too many of you to mention that have had a positive impact but thank you for your leadership, friendship and pushing when we don’t want to be pushed.

Announcements

Blood Drive a success and to become a regular event.

Shop Dawg on Q next Saturday at Blackhawk

Corona hours ending, return to original times August 3.

 

Back to School – Q School

Spent the morning with 12 great individuals learning how to become a better leader to Q a workout.

Warm Up

Each Pax in a circle picked a different workout to learn how to proper start, stop and count in cadence a exercise.    Each Pax learn how to be better at counting in cadence to lead a group.

The Thang

FuseBox took off like Usain Bolt as an example what not to do when Qing.  Keep the group together.  Nobody is left alone.

Completed Merkins, Jump Squats

Completed 20 of the below workouts on each corner of the parking lot in front of the middle school.  Also learn various other workouts.

  1. Crap dips
  2. Dry docks
  3. LBC
  4. Flutters

Ran in a line while the last PAX did Burpees, then ran to the front of the line.

Ran to Rudy’s shed, where we ran to the fire hydrant and back while your partner did Derkins

Ran over to the rock pile and completed Shoulder presses, Bicep curls, and Triceps extension (10 each).

Then two up one back along the light post while heading back to the COT.  First light post we did 5 burpees, 2nd light post did 10 American hammers.

At the time we were a bit over on time, and Chastain taught keeping track of time, and offer examples of work outs if you need more time.

The Moleskine 

It was a great two hours, and well worth the time investment to learn how to lead a workout.  Al ready scheduled to Q’s Client Dinner 8/6.  Can not wait to use the new skills I learned.  Thank you again Chastain and FuseBox for taking the time.

Announcements 

Blood Drive was a success, 79 F3 gave blood.

 

Oh Susie Q school – baby I love you.

The Warm Up

Spent some time going over proper cadence calling, speaking loud and clear.

Each PAX led a warm-up exercise to practice leading

Fuse-box did an excellent job of ‘what not to do’ in calling cadence and beginning a mosey.

The Thang

  • Mosey to front of school.
  • Went through some abdominal exercises as examples of a good ‘Mary’ while group waits for the six.   Learned about 7’s or 11’s where we did squat-jumps and Merkins
  • Learned about stage exercises and use ‘4 corners’ to cover (dry-docks, crab dips, LBC’s, flutter kicks)
  • Moseyed a little further and did some bear crawls and partner exercises (partner 1 does Dirkens and partner 2 Runs to hydrant and back… then traid).
  • Mosey using Indian Run with Burpees.    Arrived and rock pile and covered some improvised gears exercises with rip/rap rocks (curse, shoulder presses and triceps extensions)
  • Learned about Paula Abdules (two forward and one back) between light poles.   Burpees and American hammers at each stations.    An audible was called due to lack of time.   The group did a ‘Jail Break’ hard run back to the parking lot to conclude the workout.

Mole Skin

This was a well led school which gave clear examples of well led and poorly led activities.  After the workout, the group went through a document which summarizes key points on what a well let Weinke looks like.   Important emphasis was given to safety and care for the participants.

Start on time. Remember the DiCCS.   Be mindful of people in the 6.   Keep the team active.  You are the leader so LEAD.

Chastain shared the ‘Invictus’ poem

 

Announcements

Continued prayers for Centerfold’s wife.    Mayhem’s friend returning to Texas