50. Seemed like a good theme for the day for 12 men at Centurion. Warmest temps of the week with light rain made for a good morning to be out. Plus there is a parking deck. We spent sometime in the rain but worked a good bit under cover as well. I also didn’t want to get Champagne too wet on his 50th. I wonder if he’s ever gotten soaked during an athletic endeavor? Hmm… If there was only a picture of him, somewhere, anywhere, of him working out drenched and trying to wipe the water from his eyes. Maybe it exists and it could turn up.
The Thang,
Disclaimer, Mosey, Parking deck COP – The usual. IW, Mountain Climbers and some low slow squats. Run up a flight and circle up again for 25 x 8-Count Body Builders in Cadence. Judging by the mumble chatter, everyone loved this. Thinking we should do it again before the workout ends.
Back down to the lower deck for a few rounds of 50.
Round 1: 25 Merkins and 25 Jump Squats at the bottom. Up stairs and repeat. Down stairs to Peoples chair
Round 2: 25 Wide arm merkins and 25 Donkey Kicks – top and bottom
Run a hot lap around stadium
Round 3: 25 Sit ups and 25 box cutters – top and bottom
Round 4: 25 Staggered arm Right Merkins and 25 Jump Squats – top and bottom
Round 5: 25 Staggared arm Left Merkins and 25 RDL’s – top and bottom
Hot lap up the ramps to the top and mosey down the steps two levels
25 8-Count Body Builders in Cadence – finisher.
Mosey back to lot for 60 seconds of planks.
Done.
Moleskine:
OK – So this is my record for latest BB ever. Cobains. On the bright side, at Champagne’s advanced age, he still thinks the workout was this morning. I can’t say for sure, but it appeared to be some heavy modifications out there even from the guys who didn’t need to. Snuka was not one of them. War Daddy smoked us all on the high speed runs around the stadium and up the parking deck. Haze hurt his baby soft hands on the parking deck pavement and wished he kept his gloves on. Kirby and Bugeater had strong work with non-stop motion and no down time for wall sits.
Other things likely went down but I can’t remember them all and need to get this BB out before New Year’s, so that’s a wrap. All announcements are probably too late now.
-Alf
On a (annoyingly) cold spring day, four brave souls made their way to Peak 51 in the heart of Area 51. Here’s what we got into:
Head towards the shopping center parking lot
SSH
Imperial Walkers
Mountain Climbers
7s- 1 Merkin, 6 LSS to start out with
Travel- stop by Mac’s Speed Shop to smell the BBQ, and end up at Cotton Gin Alley for some Hill Billy’s
Continue Traveling to Pizza Peel-then to the Pizza Peel
Partner up- Travel opposite directions, 10 hand slap merkins when you meet
Round 1: Run
Round 2: Lunge
Travel to Brakeman’s
Head inside to get warm, and grab some java
Head back outside and run (with said Java) back to launch
Done!
Moleskine
Upon arriving and realizing it was going to be a light crowd, I decided to emulate the great (and unfortunately now somewhat mythical) Drano and treat the PAX to some Brakeman’s- so all of today was geared towards getting us there.
The “Java run” with actual Java in hand was waaay too entertaining, and may make a return appearance sooner rather than later.
Great group of guys- initially it appeared to only be three, then BullWinkle three wheeled it into the parking lot at 5:31.
It was a little sketch today- apparently (sources after notified me) the 4th graders at Matthews Elementary were going on a trip- but that mean that parents had their kids in one of the parking lots that we use around 5:40. It was mass chaos- parents moving parking spaces for no good reason, kids just randomly appearing out of the gloom, all the while the bus didn’t come until the very end of the workout.
Thanks to Lois and Sensei for allowing me to Q- see you in the gloom! (yes you- it’s warm now so you should make a return appearance and stop slacking).
8 brave souls gathered in the most overused phrase of 2019 in “the last days of winter.” Every time we seem to think we’re at the end of winter, something happens (like snow), and we’re back. The thermometer read that we were barely over freezing, and the PAX dressed accordingly in hats and gloves. Got to get running to get and stay warm. After a brief, but self-proclaimed satisfactory disclaimer, we were off.
The thang:
Brisk mosey to the courtyard on the far side of Calvary to start our warm-up and stay out of any wind that there was. Somehow, that area always feels like being inside to me, and as one who hates cold weather, YHC felt that was a good and appropriate place to start.
Time to relocate. Mosey to middle of the Calvary field towards the intersection of Rea & 51 and circle up again. This time:
Got to keep moving – it’s cold. Bear crawl halfway to the sidewalk along 51, lunge walk the other half. Regroup and then jog down 51 to the light, cross and head down Rea to Sundancer. Left on Sundancer to the top of the hill for instructions.
Partner up. Partner 1 runs to the right and does 10 LBCs upon reaching the cul de sac. Partner B runs to the left and does 10 squats upon reaching that cul de sac. Return, meet in the middle for 10 handslap merkins. Repeat, alternating running directions until 5 rounds (50 handslap merkins) have been completed. Repeat entire set with partner decline merkins replacing the handslaps, again for a total of 50.
Wait for the six (oh, wait, I was the six) then 3 mary exercises (dollies, rosalitas & flutters) to catch our (my) breath. Mosey back to the Calvary courtyard for 2 more rounds of mary (heels to heaven, LBCs). AYG back to launch. Done.
Nekkid moleskin:
Small(er) crowd out this morning. Not sure if was the weather, tax season (Lorax), or someone remembering YHC’s last Q. I’m going with the first 2. In looking at Google Maps last night, those cul de sacs must have previously been hidden by the clouds because they are too good not to use. Gummy thinks maybe he’s seen others on Strava roaming those haunts, but I think it was new ground for everyone in our group this morning. Besides the distance to get there (which wasn’t that bad, especially for those who have been/thought we were going to Five Knolls, I think it’s worthy of being in the rotation. Ickey said he was putting this arrow in his quiver.
Not a lot of chatter this morning. #niceguys Some complaining about doing COP in a field when we had just left dry ground, but getting a little wet and dirty is good for you every once in a while. #oldschool We had an even number in the PAX, and so the partner exercises went well, even if we did get split up a little on the runs. Fortunately, the cul de sacs weren’t too far from center and so we did stay mostly together. However, if there was chatter, I didn’t hear a lot of it.
Brilleaux and Snooka were out in front the entire time. Gummy and LazyBoy weren’t too far behind. Always a pleasure to have Bugeater out there, who partnered with Ickey, who incidentally had few words (and a totally confused look) when Gummy asked him what he thought of Auburn being in the Final Four. Great partnering with Magoo this morning – dude is fast and was carrying me on the main event. Also, we were the safest team sporting our high vis yellow tops.
We got a little over 3.2 miles in according to my watch. Not a Hops-approved bootcamp due to the distance, but I think everyone got their money’s worth and hopefully took a centimeter or so off the old gut. Thanks to the site Qs for the opportunity to lead at Area 51’s historic and maybe finest AO, and thanks to Gummy for the takeout.
Announcements:
As YHC returned from a time-shortened prerun, he found several cars awaiting in the parking lot. Turned out, only one of them was for this workout. (Thanks, Plasma.) But, as the clock struck 0700, Cooter wheeled in, followed several minutes later by Goon to round out our foursome. Here’s how we passed the time over the next 60 minutes:
The Thang
Disclaimer
COP:
Leave your bells and mosey to the new playground
Playground EMOM (every minute on the minute):
Mosey back to the bells
KB EMOM (round 1):
KB EMOM (round 2):
Leg Destroyer (in lieu of Turkish Getups):
Mary
Time
COT
Announcements
Iron Moleskinne:
Small but spry group this morning, which meant lots of 2nd F and mumblechatter. We eased into the morning with a “relaxing” warmup during a COP interspersed with chitchat. 100 swings in, we went to check out the playground, wondering how to use all the new equipment, during our rest breaks. Luckily, we found the sign “how to play”, so as long as the kids have learned to read, they can play on their new playground. Otherwise, it’s back to the books.
Hope you all are enjoying your next day “comfortable” soreness as I am.
Aye.
HT
20 Pax decided to skip Saturday morning sex with their wives to join me for a day of fun and games. I was hoping to add something different in today that would add a sense of competition to the workout and push the pax just a little bit harder. I put the call out that there would be teams of three….some decided to team up early and wear costumes…..more on that in the moleskin.
Shop was first to arrive and said he came because he knew we wouldn’t be doing 5 miles. I hinted to him that the opening mosey would be our longest run of the day and that the workout was filled with HIIT sprints. He smiled in approval.
6:28 DCCS Given
6:30 Mosey around the loop and up to the entrance of the middle school.
WARM UP
Stop off at the entrance and hold Al Gore while we wait on pax to fall in. Zinfandel coming in hot. Decided to do a longer warm up in order to let the “Jingles” of the day catch up.
Potato Pickers. Hold Center, Right, Left.
T Merkins in Cadence. Attempted to slow count the 2 in order to get a good burn in the back delts and back muscles, but the pax in my direct vision didn’t seem to grasp the concept so I assume no one else did either. Fast counted the last 5 for a total of 20.
THE THANG
Jack Web Carolina Dry Docks (counting down) and Bear Crawl/Crawl bear (Counting up). I wanted to take advantage of the sloping down and up hill there going to the school while also flipping the counting (one ascending and one descending) so that it hurt all the way through. We did bear crawl going down the hill to put extra load on the shoulders. We hit the valley right around 5 and 20 so I stood everyone up for a break and then changed the bear crawl to a crawl bear (again putting more load on the shoulders and changing the movement into a push backwards). Lots of grunts and groans. Honestly I couldn’t finish the crawl bear myself so hats off to those that did all 40.
Mosey to back of the school and team up in groups of three. I got this idea from Banjo at his Chiseled Q a few weeks back. I decided to tweak it a little bit by adding distance, adding merkins, and adding some competition to it.
Two partners spaced approximately 60 yards apart with a runner in between. 5 Merkins while you wait on the runner to tag you out. Once everyone has run 5 times, you are done. First place team does 0 burpee tuck jumps. Second 2 Burpee Tuck Jumps. Third – 4 BTJ. Fourth 6 BTJ. Fifth 8 BTJ. Sixth 10 BTJ.
Grab two slam balls and line up against school in two teams. Wall sit while passing 20 lb slam ball down and back, down and back for a total of 4 times. Losing team does 15 merkins. The losing team apparently had issue with my explanation of four times (a common theme with me is that I struggle getting whats in my head properly explained to the pax – it doesn’t help when my heart rate is coming down from 170.). Round 2 was a “sunshine” pass. Taking the ball from your side, over your head and back down to your side where you pass to the guy next to you. Again 4 times. The other team lost and did 15 Merkins.
Mosey to Playground for pull ups in your teams of 3. Partner one does 10 pull ups. partner 2 holds feet (if needed). Partner 3 does LBC’s. Rotate until everyone has gone 3 times for a total of 30 pull ups.
Separate again into two groups at either end of the parking lot with each Group getting a basketball. Someone rolls the basketball down the parking lot while two pax chaise after it. Losing pax (no ball) does 5 jump squats). Return ball to other group so that it moves in a circular motion. Once again, easy in my mind but didn’t get explained to the pax that well. We finally got the hang of it and I saw some hands on knees trying to catch breaths so mission accomplished.
Mosey to the equipment. One group does some variation of a curl using equpment (27 lb bar, 20 lb bar, 25 lb dumbells, 30 lb dumbells, 35 lb keddle bell, 20 lb slam balls). Other group runs to the school, does 2 burpee tuck jumps and runs back to switch out. Go until everyone has done a weight 5 times.
Round 2 of Equipment – shoulder presses, sunrises using 12 lb dumbells, 20 lb medicine ball toss against backboard, and triceps dips. The cardio side did 15 In/Outs. Switch when both you and your partner had done 15 weights and mountain climbers. (My shoulders were smoked at the end). Deadwood claimed lifting the weights was easier than the In/Outs, though that was early on. Both killed me.
T clamps (Top half of a SSH) as we walk to pick up my speaker. I asked pax to get 50 in. I only got 35. Several pax appeared spent so I audibled and called for a mosey back to the front.
Arrived with 6 minutes left…..Recalculating called it correctly as I asked pax to circle up. AC/DC Thunderstruck. Mountain climbers until you hear “Thunder” then do a merkin. Two short stoppages to do air presses in the middle before getting back after the mountain climbers & Merkins. Someone made the comment that they have never been so glad for air presses only to find they were hard after the shoulder workout. I agree. If I remember correctly its 33 “Thunders” in that song. About halfway into the song we picked up a new pax – Twinkle Toes, who arrived to run and saw the F3 flag and decided to join. He normally post with SOB but sounds as if he may join us for some workouts as he lives closer to nesbit.
7:30 – count it off.
MOLE SKIN
A lot of “old timmers” today mixed in the the new guys. I always enjoy hanging with the guys that I started Commitment with back when it was at Weddington. Good to see Shop Dawg, Run Flat, Posse, & Dough Boy today.
A big thanks to Wolverine who offered up some additional dumbells last night and also returned to help me get my equipment cleaned up. May have also EH’ed him into a Chiseled Q. As hard as that dude pushes during workouts – I can only imagine how bad a workout let by him will hurt.
I think as we Q we all have things that we know we can improve upon. My Achilles hill has always been getting whats in my head out to the pax in a way that’s clear and understandable (though some may argue my real issue is relying on gear too much and not doing enough running). The usual suspects who always ask for clarification were not there today so I know it was bad Q explanation and not just pax not listening. Thanks for bearing with me. I know its a weakness and I will continue to try to improve.
Zinfandel, Deadwood, and Dana came dressed in a team costume. I can only describe it as the uniform I would imagine attendants at a gay bath house would wear (according to Dancing Bear – not my own experience). Cut off Flannel shirts with a jiz rag towel cape attached. Cudoz for going above and beyond and dressing up for the Q. Zin consistently goes all in on these types of things and I figured he had something planned when I put a call out to wear Large Lots shirts and he didn’t seem 100% on board. Nice work guys.
Love the addition of Honey Comb and Centerfold. Guys always show up with a great attitude and a smile on their face. They are solid “pick you up” guys. Lord knows we need those kind of men with the likes of myself and Recalculating around.
Large group and I got to get to baseball so that will be it for the moleskin. Solid work today from a great group of guys. Enjoy your Saturday.
Meathead – tunes and tons (of iron)
Side straddle hops x 10
Imperial walkers x 10
Halos x 10
Around the world x 10
Figure eight x 10
Thang – Multiplier Ladders
Round 1
1 burpee, 2 squats & 3 Russian swings
2 burpee, 4 squats & 6 Russian swings
3 burpee, 6 squats & 9 Russian swings
to
10 burpees, 20 squats & 30 Russian swings
Round 2 – same format
1 American swing, 2 rows & 3 deadlifts
to
10 American swing, 20 rows & 30 deadlifts
Round 3 – same format
Sit-up and press, Russian twist and flutter press
Moleskine
Not a lot to report today. Quiet group focused on getting in the reps. It was nice to meet some new people – Homer and Plasma and others who I don’t bump into too often Soul Glow, Fletch and Gypsy. Moreover, it’s good to take break from the miles to focus on the gainz. Thanks for hosting me.
Commish was either trying to pull a fast one or is a brilliant book keeper. We had the normal 8 or 9 regulars plus 10 or so Rebel Yell men who joined us for a “convergence”. I thought workouts only converged on special occasions but apparently Commish found a loop hole in the rules and ran right thru them like Hershel Walker running thru the Auburn defense (had to take that shot since War Eagle’s “football” school just beat my Heels in basketball – what is the world coming too). However, YHC was happy as it allows me to claim Q’ing the largest PAX in TFH history (as far as I know) and, even more important, being able to claim that I Q’d a larger number than when OBT visited #Royalty.
The Thang – PAX knows what we did but the cliff notes are warm up with a bunch of burpees and other exercises. Mosey over to aquatic center lot for some “I go, you go” work alternating between called movement up the lot and called exercise (merkins, LBC, etc). Mosey over to rock pile by practice field for more “I go, you go” alternating the rock to do curls, push presses, and flutters while partner holds a squat (and a few let loose during said squat). Next mosey to parking deck for more “I go, you go” with partner 1 doing called exercise while partner 2 runs up stairs to level 4 and back down (we did dragon flies, dolly, and 2 rounds of one legged squats). Mosey to brick yard for some dips and then back to launch site to finish our burpees and a few minutes of mary.
Naked MS
Great group out this am although I only remembered 17 out of 18 names due to the number of large number of guys visiting from Rebel Yell. I think using a smart phone to remember names is lazy and trying to remember names forces you to learn new guys names. I only missed one to not to bad – Shoe can’t even remember 17 of 18 with a smart phone.
Cobains to Tag Along since I told him we didn’t need gloves for bear crawls and then quickly proceeded to call out some ground work in the aquatic pool lot. At least I picked the smoothest paved lot in Charlotte (maybe all of NC).
The Rebel Yell pax helped to lower our average age today by like 20 years (I think Happy Meal still gets the kids menu when he goes out to eat). However, Olaf was usually out front even though he is of the appropriate age for TFH.
War Eagle is lucky I did not know his name before the workout or I would have cooked up some revenge for last Thursday night. I would pull for them this weekend except I picked Va to win in my pool and winning some dough is higher on my priority list.
There apparently was some decent mumble chatter based on the chuckles but I couldn’t hear so not sure what was going on. I think Old Cooter was using the Joe Biden method to convey his cat calls and was hugging nearby pax and whispering in their ear. I bet the DNC/National Media could take out a guy named Old Cooter in one episode of Rachel Maddow (#whowatchesthatcrap)
Announcements:
Please consider signing up for Church on the Streets, including this Sunday. Meet at the Star Bucks at Stonehenge at 5:45 for clown car or meet downtown around 6am under the 277 bridge that crosses over N Tyron. It’s a great experience and will make you appreciate your blessings even more than you already do.
Tolkein asking everyone to sign up for just one Speed For Need race this year. You can’t miss his advertising if you try a little.
Shoe asked that we pray for a young man at CCHS who has been diagnosed with cancer. He then led us in saying The Lord’s Prayer to close out.
Quick disclaimer as we did have one FNG.
Mosey to the corner of Trade and John for quick
COP: SSH x 10 IC
LSS x 10 IC
IW x 10 IC
Mountain Climbers x 10 IC
Diamond Merkins x 10 IC
5 burpees OYO
THE Thang:
Head southeast on John at warm-up pace stopping where sidewalk ended on the right for 25 merkins. Continue mosey to Council Pl which is almost touching 485. 25 merkins. Instructions given to head back to the corner of Trade/John at a hard pace. Once there 10 burpees. Head southwest on Trade to Fullwood at hard pace. 25 merkins. Head north on Fullwood to Covenant Day entrance at a hard pace. 25 merkins. Mosey through CD lot to rock pile which was being chaperoned by the local 5-0. 10 squat thrusters, 10 OH press, 10 front shoulder raise. Hard mosey on Covenant Church lane to John stopping at Trade/John. 10 burpees. Head north on Trade to 51. 25 merkins. AYG back to launch to show up just in time for the COT with peak at 5:17. About 6 miles, give or take.
Moleskin:
Second post for me at Sparta and 2nd Q. I need to go there more. Great AO, lots of places to go, and solid crew showing up to put in work. Gypsy and Madison have done a great job spearheading this site. First time meeting the infamous Tiger Rag. I expected him to be 7 feet tall and shoot lightning bolts out of his arse from all the stories… I don’t think anyone was shooting lightning bolts out of their arses but TR was putting in some hard miles just like the rest of the crew. Maaaybe a few more miles than some wanted/expected and the rock call garnered some grumblings but all in good fun. Great to see the big # of PAX out this morning, pretty ideal weather and a great group of men. OW brought out a FNG (college buddy living in the ATL) that was named Infiltrator. Pretty poor showing by all of us at COT trying to come up with a name for a former marine that looked like a modern day Viking. Infiltrator is his second favorite movie and apparently none of the PAX have seen it either. Great having you out and nice push today. Look forward to seeing you next time you are in town.
Thanks to Orange Whip for the takeout and bringing Infiltrator out!
Thanks to Gypsy and Madison for the opportunity to lead these men today!
11 pax came out for a venture through some new area.
Mosey to brynwood
COP
15 IW Cad 15
MC Cad
15 Merkins Cad
Thing. Go from there to colony. Doing 15 Merkins and 15 CDD alternating lamp posts. (Should be 10, it’s early though) lead runs back and picks up six
Partner work. One partner runs colony to lea rea road and then other partner runs summerhill ridge. Meet up
3 rounds Partner hand slap 15 Merkins Partner plank and sit ups (20) Partner derkins 15 Squats 20
Triple Nickel on Stonecroft – Merkins/jump squats
Run back to launch.
Mary/Merkins – 30 Boone Crunch CAD / 15 Merkins CAD / 15 Dolly’s CAD/ 15 Wide Arm Merkins CAD 50 LBC’s CAD
FIN
Observations.
Well it was the first q since the new board came on at Hydra. Lots of texting yesterday from Gummy asking me waaaaay too many questions. Calm down, it’s going to be fine. Got up early this morning in excitement and decided to try some new areas. I get tired of Summerlin and the rock work sometimes so it’s good to change it up. Thunder Road is a tracker, if you lose something reach out to him and he will find it. That was a strong find today man. One eye and sprockets decided to partner up, which makes sense because they are the fastest out there so no one could keep up. Lots of complaining coming out of everyone when the merkins/CDD/light pole call was made. It’s swimsuit season, your wives/girlfriends/whatever will be impressed with you not having the “dad bod”. Sleepy made it out, great seeing you and welcome back. HIPAA and one eye ran in, that seemed excessive, we did about 3.5 miles today, sorry about that. Not a mountain of chatter out there to note but please sound off. I’m excited to hear. Announcements – Brewery race/drinking/uber/limebike coming up. Get on Slack or pester Gummy Prayers being lifted for Red Rocks and Family.