19 real American heroes were in the Nest (of the trust tree) this morning, undeterred by temps at which water transforms to a solid. Hops gave me some pushback on the start time, but then confessed that he doesn’t actually wear a watch. (Apparently he has Kramer-esque internal alarm clock skills). Regardless, the boyz looked chilly, so we gots to movin…
Thing 1:
Found a random parking lot (with lights this time) and circled up to get the blood flowin:
Mosey to the track…
Thing2:
Warmup lap with some karaoke, leaving the inner 2 lanes open for fellow civilians. (Several Geometry majors in the group seemed remarkably upset by this suggestion, realizing they’d have to put in at least another dozen steps this morning.)
Then (back by unpopular demand), the patented “a$$ wrecker” combo… sure to get your buns rock hard like those ballerinos in the Buttcracker Ballet:
Plank-o-Rama. Hold at 6″ until Revlon gets his fill.
Head to the turf…
Thing 3:
Mary circle at centerfield:
~30 LBCs
~25 Flutter
~20 HTH
Thing 4:
Line up abreast on the 50
Drop n gimme 20 merkins, run to the goal line (which is apparently farther away in soccer than in ‘Murican Football)…19 merkins, run back to the 50, wash rinse & repeat… 18, 17, 16, 15… finish back at the 50 yd line (or at least that was the idea.)
Thing 5:
Grab a shmediumish rock and head to the bridge, find a piece of wall and settle into people’s chair for another experiment that “looked good on paper”.
Drop the stupid rock and tell yourself the workout’s over and that you’re running back to parking lot…
Thing 6:
Instead of actually returning to start, follow YHC, who (in his first official full-length Q) clearly suffers from poor time mgmt skills and flounders to kill another 5 mins. Find a dark slab of icy asphalt. Bear crawl to 1st median, run to 2nd. Turn and repeat. (If your hands hadn’t already gone numb while holding the cold rock, this should certainly do it!).
Return to origin for ~25 Rosalita and 50 Freddy Mercs.
Some idiot noticed we had 30 secs left, so 10 burpees OYO rounded out the post.
Moleskin:
Upon commencing the polar bear crawls, I believe I heard Semi-gloss “call an Omaha”. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I believe it’s where you stand around while you watch other people exercise. (Sounds inviting… I’ll have to add that to my Weinke next time)
Hammer shaved a good 100yds off the workout by arriving at 5:31 and parking on the route toward our warmup circle (clearly a veteran move… I’ve still so much to learn!)
Doc McStuffins and Runstopper went for extra credit by knocking out another 14 merkins at the end of the merkin suicides. (For Doc, something was clearly lost in translation. For Runstopper, he starts his Merkins so close to the ground that I guess he needs the extra reps to make them count.)
Announcements:
Please keep Cooter and Huggy Bear in your prayers as they both face surgery today.
Hops encouraged us to consider reaching out a brother this season… a simple call can make all the difference in a man’s life.
Thanks to Hops for his leadership in this group, for asking me to lead this morning, and for trusting me not to screw it up (too bad). And thanks to Pastor Purple Haze for the solid sendoff.
21 men came out for a brisk tour of Wesley Chapel. We heard ferocious beasts barking, saw monster trucks driving, and witnessed Bread Bowl contemplating a game of chicken with an oncoming car. What a morning!? Oh, failed to mention- Q duty and YHC haven’t exactly been working out so well lately. Hopefully the warmer weather of January will signal a change in fortunes.
Warm-up:
Zig Zag lap back to where we started
20 SSH
20 Mtn Climbers
Jimmy Dugan’s and Calf Stretches
20 IW
The Thang:
Mosey behind Hickory Tavern and partner up
P1: Run suicide behind the buildings to pre-determined markers
P2: Mike Tysons
Must complete 50 as a team. Caveat- Game is not over until “6” team completes 50. If you finish early, you keep going. Mosey to Petco Petsafe lot.
3 Man Teams – 75 burpees as team
P1: Burpees
P2 and P3: Run to opposite end and back
Same rules, “6” team must complete 75 burpees
It was at this point YHC had yet another Forest Gump moment. It felt like something jumped up and bit me…only in the calf and not in the a..you get it.
Pax mosey while YHC drags bloody stump of a leg to neighborhood behind Target
Alternating cul-de-sac run
P1: Run to one end of cul-de-sac do 5 burpees and return
P2: Run to other cul-de-sac do 5 burpees and return
When pax meet, they exchange 10 Hand slap merkins. This done only twice due to my overwhelming guilt of watching pax run while YHC banged out squats and burpees. If Q won’t or can’t pax shouldn’t have to either!
Word of caution- neighborhood has some obvious shortcomings.
Mosey back to Circle Area. Pax curious about perceived early closing time. YHC can’t run any more, pax don’t either!
Circle Up
Plank, plank 6 inches, plank 6 inches with right foot high, plank 6 inches normal, plank 6 inches left foot high, plank 6 inches, recover
Jack Webb- 1:4 ratio of merkins to air presses. Made it to 10. Marge, “I had no idea air was that heavy”
American Hammer x 20
Flutters at varying speeds x 20
Over
Announcements:
Posse shared more details regarding the 1st grader he and his family are hoping to support. Sounds like actual family was found in Matthews. He’s working on finding out how to best support the little guy during this incredibly difficult time. Posse promises to keep us posted once he knows more.
Sheriff Cathey’s wife passed away. Please lift them up in prayer.
It was at this point we circled for prayer. Rubbermaid thought it was time to do Name-O-Rama…again. Thankfully, another of our #respects stepped up to inform everyone that Rubbermaid hadn’t forgotten, it was just that his hearing aid batteries had frozen up. We laughed, prayed (Thank you BC for taking us out), high-fived, and all went home.
Moleskine:
Great work by all who attended. First time YHC’s had the privilege of leading at the new Watchtower. Coincidentally, also the first time YHC’s had the privilege of hurting himself there, too!
Busy GroupMe morning already in the books- Learned post workout one of our pax overslept and left one of his brethren standing out by the mailbox waiting for the ride that never came. Also, Doughboy issued a serious plea YHC thought for sure was a joke. Apparently his truck broke down but the roads were too treacherous for AAA to come help. Thankfully his M sprung to action.
Oh, and Hooch is the first official nominee for a 2019 EFFEE award! #GroupMeFormPolice #BigLotsAndLawsonUnite #FormFriends
9 fine fellas posted in the chilly air at CDS today for a substiQ from yours truly.
THE THANG
SHH x 15
IW x 15
10 burpees/10 swings/10 tea bags
20 OH press/20 upright rows/20 hows your father
30 merkins/30 bicep curls/30 goblet squats
Partner up and catch me if you can to parking lot
Partner 1 runs lap – Partner 2 snatches – Flapjack
Partner 1 runs lap – Partner 2 high pulls – Flapjack
Partner 1 runs lap – Partner 2 clean and press – Flapjack
Partner 1 runs lap – Partner 2 alternating swings – Flapjack
KB suicides
10 swings – first median and back
20 swings – second median and back
30 swings – third median and back
Repeat with tea bags, OH presses, and flutters
Hit the hill
Partner up and 100 OH presses between the two as one runs hills
Repeat with tri extensions and two handed swings
Back to start
4 mins of Mary
YE OLDE NAKED MOLESKINE
Got the shout from Spackler yesterday that it was too cold for him to come out so I took the challenge. Good crowd today and we got a sweat on despite the freezing temps. Cage was killing it on the runs today.
Thanks for allowing me to lead. Have a great week!
BD
2 of Area 51’s PAX endured the gloom and made themselves better while you were warm and dry. Due to peer pressure a sense of responsibility and commitment, we both showed up to get some work done.
Pax ran a loop of parking lot waiting on other fools pax. Nada.
COP:
SSH + Squats under cover
Mosey down to Highway 51, head fake left towards William Davies Park, about face and land at the day care/pre-school next door.
Main Event:
Parking lot sprints
Parking lot loops alternating with a series of body weight exercises pax pulled from a big orange Home Depot bucket while staying somewhat dry under cover.
Tire flips and sprints in the rain.
Mosey back to launch for COT. Done.
Moleskin:
2nd F was strong this morning as YHC celebrated 3 years in F3 while getting after it in the rain along side site Q Thunder Road. One of us wore hiking boots and arrived home with dry feet. One of us wore running shoes and arrived home with cold, numb feet. Original plan weeks ago was for strength work and sprint work on the field. Forecast and a nagging neck/shoulder injury cancelled those ideas. Considered running 1 mi to the Rain Tree shopping center and using cover there and doing stair work. Last minute audible was called after actually experiencing the cold rain a little getting set up this morning. The adjacent day care/pre-school provided good cover for today.
1st F was also good today. YHC likes to break up the exercises with short run bursts and this was the perfect place to do it today. No long runs in the rain. No strava here. #Iamnotaruuner. However, YHC started the “Map My Hike” app at launch #IamaRucker, and was surprised to see we covered 94.16 miles in 44:33 with an average mile pace of 0:28 and burned 1519 calories. Last time I ran 94 miles I burned more calories, therefore the app must have been wrong.
Orange Home Depot bucket idea was stolen from an Egypt Q from SOFWIB a couple of years back, right before it closed. #RIP.
After all exercises had been pulled from said bucket, YHC spotted 2 tires sitting “over there”. Perfect. Nothing like tire flips in the rain to end a beat down.
YHC is grateful for F3 and for the leadership of men like Thunder Road who get up in the gloom (35 degrees and raining is the gloom) knowing kids are off school and come out to get wet and get stronger. YHC was hoping he’d respond by text last night to just cancel but am glad we pulled it off. Was fun to get to know each other better. Time flies when having fun. Maybe this Q will pull me out of the deep fartsack I’ve been enjoying for a few weeks. We’ll see. Goonie was DR, otherwise I’m sure he would have joined too.
F3 certainly has changed my life and provided me a platform for fitness and given me the confidence that I too can be in shape, a belief that I had just about lost hope in over the years. Shout out to Fireman Ed who was my partner for my first post at Base Camp and gave me enough quiet encouragement to keep me coming back. As we all do though I keep coming back for the fellowship. It’s great to see old friends and meet new friends and see each other get stronger while sharing the suffering. Strong bonds. Preaching to the choir here. Does anyone still read the BB? That’s all. Peace to you all my brothers. Stay third this holiday season. SYITG.
12 of Area 51’s finest PAX made the right choice and posted at Rock Zero before buying up their milk and bread ahead of the #Snowmageddon
COP:
The Thang:
Take a warmup lap around the church lot then head back to the cars, grab the rucks and sandbags and mosey over the hot box. There we find some more Partner up a Sandbag Murph, Partner 1 performs called exercise while Partner 2 runs to the D2 light post and back. Flapjack and continue the exercise until the team completes the number of reps per exercise.
Circuit work
Take a break from sandbags for 3 rounds of circuit work: Derkins/Incline Merkins x 10, Dips x 15, and Step-ups x 20.
Cadre Roony WOD Sampler
Gather the sandbags/coupons and head back to the start point to deposit the coupons and then we were off to the front of the church.
Mary:
Moleskinny:
Announcements:
Even though there were colder temps last Saturday, there had been a good showing of 14 pax, so there was a strong expectation of a good turn out today. I arrived at 6:50 giddy with excitement that I was about to have the opportunity to inflict pain upon my F3 brothers in order to make us all better men. It was a comfortable 41 degrees, overcast but dry; rain didn’t start until later in the morning. Perfect for working out once you get moving. Costanza rolls in at 6:57.
In wonderment we asked each other, “Where’s everyone else? They must be getting bread and milk for the impending snowmageddon.” So the watch tolls 7:00am and we must begin promptly with or without any additional pax. So here’s the Thang:
20x incadence; SSH, IW, HB, MC, Peter Parker, Parker Peter.
Mosey onto short track; Bear Crawl backwards, BC forward, Lunge forward, Lunge backward.
To the benches by faculty parking: 10x Step-up squats, Dips, Derkins, Inclines.
Quick pace to back playground for 5x slow release pull-ups.
Onto benches by bus parking lot for more bench work.
Run to Old Providence Neighborhood. Each light pole start with 10x merkins decreasing by 2 each pole.
Hill work; 2x Heels to Heaven at bottom increasing by 2. Top of hill 10x Burpees decreasing by 2 each round.
Run back out the neighborhood; each pole 10x Monkey Humpers.
Bench work.
Slow release Pull-Ups.
Bench work.
15x Calf raises; Out, Straight, In.
Thanks Costanza for giving me the opportunity to Q. Enjoyed the F2 along with F1. Hope everyone has plenty of bread and milk for Snowmageddon.
Hoover has Q next week, should be a good one! Costanza needs Q’s for 12/22 and 12/29. If your looking for an opportunity to improve your Q’ing skills and make your F3 brothers better, then please contact him at F3Ascent@gmail.com.
YHC was asked by Gypsy to take the lead Q on the Spartan this week. So, in preparation, I laid out a plan for a five mile run with some pain mixed in. Six Pax in total dared to brave the cold and become stronger (ISI). It went something like this…..
The Thang
At 0530 I gave a lousy disclaimer, then to warm us up we did the following:
SSH x20 (x denotes cadence)
Cotton Pickers x10
Merkins x10
Begin our mosey out of the parking lot, making a left on Trade, and another left on the Four Mile Greenway Trail. Mosey through the trail to Squirrel Lake Park. Once in the park we stopped by the first exercise station and did: Low Flutters x10 & Merkins x10.
We then ran out of the park, turning right on the trail making our way to John Street. Once there we did: Low Flutter x12, Merkins x12.
We ran all the way up John Street where our faster runners took off ahead and we met up at the corner of Trade and John in front of Zab’s Place. Once there we did, you guessed it: Low flutters x10, Merkins x10.
I led the Pax into Matthews Station, around the library/Town Hall, made a right on Matthews Station and a right on E. Matthews, left on McLeod, left on Matthews-Mint Hill Road and waited on the corner of MMHR and Trade. While waiting for the six we did Air Squats (I changed it up ?)
We all headed down Trade St., crossed over John St., made a left on Sadie and took the furthest entrance on the right to the First Baptist Parking lot. There we snaked through the parking lot islands and meandered our way to the parking lot. I circled us around the parked cars for a little
more distance and was then promptly “Q-jacked” for another lap because someone’s watch didn’t display the correct mileage (time to buy a new watch).
YHC still had a few minutes left on the clock so I took the Pax to some nearby stairs and showed them MECA’s version of “reverse-spiderman’s”. Afterward, we ended with a little broga stretching and met up with the AREA 51 PAX for ……
Count-o-Rama/Name-o-Rama
Announcements: The Gremlin is Coming! The Gremlin is Coming! 1/19/19, 6am-12 @ UNCC
COT – Madoff took us out (?)
Naked Moleskine
1. Thanks to Gypsy for nominating me to take the lead. It is a very humbling experience to lead men you have never met before but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger….I think.
2. Great running that morning, you guys are fast. Kudos to Joker ..strong!
3. Enjoy the “reverse-spidermans”, use them in your next lead as you have a lot of steps around there that could use a little attention.
4. Merry Christmas to all Pax if I don’t see you before the holiday. I look forward to posting there again soon. If you ever feel like travelling one morning, come up to The Vet or Pain at Bain in Mint Hill – open invitation.
Friday 12/7 was a night for the ages as 26 Pax from WUC had the opportunity to celebrate the 2nd Annual EFFEE Awards hosted by Briarcrest.
To kick off the night the red carpet (which Dancing Bear confirmed that the cat did not pee on) welcomed some of the pax finest outfits.
So as the cocktail hour concluded, and guest were told to please proceed to their tables the Lawson group was ready to be ushered into the main clubhouse for the featured event – oh wait, this is it….Ok, everyone, please find a seat and let the show begin!
Unfortunately, Lt Rubbermaid was unable to attend this evenings event, but luckily, he sent General Pyrex to provide an opening address to the group and our first toast of the night!
At the conclusion of the opening remarks, the MC regained control of the microphone and proceeded with a pinning ceremony for all Participants from non Briarcrest with Participation Ribbons, and then presented all Briarcrest Residents with slightly larger, but most definitely over compensated ribbons to wear for the evening.
Next, we were able to check in with Recalc who was on special assignment as the Field Reporter for the night to get a sense of the crowd. For his efforts he was awarded a special “49 and Bitchin’ sash.
The next measure of business was to complete a year in review of GroupMe by Bottlecap which included the announcement that in 2018 we have outperformed our forecast of 15,000 messages for the year and have already reached 17,500 YTD. This was followed by a few charts that showed even with a slow Q2 (related to potential M&A discussions with Slack that GroupMe rebounded in Q3 to reach all new levels.
And after the completion of our trended reports it was now on to the awards. Below is a list of the awards presented:
At the completion of the awards our MC provided closing remarks and that was a wrap. Another year in the books and what a year it was. Can only imagine what 2019 will bring. Remember if it shows up in GroupMe it has a chance to make into an EFFEE.
In all seriousness it was a great 2nd F opportunity with plenty of laughs at each other’s expense along with true appreciation for how F3 has extended beyond just a workout in the morning with a handful of guys. Want to especially thank all those that helped with putting on the production and participating amongst each of the EFFEE committees and sub committees. Want to especially thank Zinfandel for hosting us in the grand standard ballroom for tonight. To Deflated for all of your artwork and effort, “we” did a great job on putting those slides together. To all the pax that could be in attendance it was good fun and should anyone be offended by anything that was said throughout the night be sure to fill out the form on the backside of the program.
Is the back blast a recap to the workout only?
Is it an homage to the sweat and pain we suffered through together?
Or is it a written reminder to the men of F3 as to our bound. I am guilty of what I am about to type, therefore I cast no stones… but I challenge each of you that read this to spread the word and decide if you to have become a little to focused on the F1.
When I review the Back Blasts of my peer Qs, I note the new creative and interesting ways that the members find to deliver a quality beat down… but far to often I do not make it the true meat of the Back Blast…The COT, the announcements, the mole skin, the prayers. I mean… it is allllll the way at the bottom. As such, going forward, YHC will be writing my Back Blast in reverse order from the norm. F3 is way more than just a dedication to the 1st F that tends to get the majority of the focus and I will do my best to highlight the 2nd and 3rd before you reach the TLDR; state.
Announcements:
A mens luncheon to celebrate F3’s investment in Caring for Our Community
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/f3-come-to-the-table-luncheon-tickets-53361868786
Thank you Snow Flake for taking us out in prayer this morning. Honored to have the A51 3rd Q at Stonehenge to take us out in prayer and I look forward to seeing you in Church soon.
Moleskin:
Saturday AOs are by far my favorite. Not only the extra 15 mins, but also the Coffeeteria. Sure it is great to get a post beatdown meal and coffee. But honestly, over the 16 various Saturday AOs in 2018, I have to say getting to know the back stories for so many guys is simply amazing..Today at Stonehenge we had 8 pax for the beatdown and all 8 at the F2 Coffeeteria.
You learn things like:
Happy Meal seriously thinks it funny to give your F3 name for your order to make them call it out when it’s ready. When he told us to do it he smiled so big i had to laugh myself. Ok.. it was funny watching the faces of the workers calling out orders for Happy meal and Christmas. 🙂
Gruden had a paper route when he was a teen and killed a Ford Ranger driving 200+ miles in the Northeast winters with all the extra weight he would have to put in the back to keep it from being a giant sled.
Wild Turkey worked at Denny’s for 5 years until he was 21. Working his way up from dishwasher to server. I am sure this did not come up when he was being named as an FNG. I vote on a renaming: Moons over MyHammy or GrandSlam
Fire Hazard seems to know a bunch about the French and Canada.. Not sure why.. More to that story I’m sure… and I will have to ask next time I see him at Gumby
Cul-de-sac…. A little inside joke on this one… anyone want to sit down and watch a PROGRAM
Snow Flake As mentioned above, did you know he is the A51 3rd F Q? If not or don’t know what that seat on the board does, I encourage to reach out to him in SLACK or come meet us at Waypoint Church on Sundays at 10AM.
Christmas is my neighbor and once again I appreciate him holding me accountable to get my butt out of bed on time to make it to post. Little known item is he is the one that talked me into this little thing called F3. So if you loved the beatdown today, you can thank him for it.
Great core group of guys today as 8 men decided to leave the warmth and comfort of home to join YHC for a perfect fall morning to push ourselves and sharpen our edge.
The Thang: Ole’ Glory
Ole’ Glory is a WIB that is supposed to be a bootcamp beat down book ended by a 1 mile F2 pace run carrying the shovel flag. No one out runs the flag and for an added bonus, we introduced a 2nd flag today that was carried by the last member leaving all pax members running between Ole’ Glory.
Last night I spent a good amount of time on Plot-a-route trying to find exactly 1 mile of route to lead us into a parking lot close-ish to the launch site. Well.. seeing it on Google Maps and running it in the dark are two different things…soooooo.. the 1 mile run ended up being 1.5. But as indicated at the beginning.. I am not a professional.
We eventually ended in the parking lot behind the Einstein Bagels and the mubblechatter began immediately when a 25ft fire hose was pulled out of the back of my truck that just so happened to be parked in this specific parking lot. Hummmmm…coincidence. I think not
Thang 1
Pax lines up side by side and all members select an index card that has an exercise on it (except the pax closest to the fire hose. That pax unknowingly volunteered to be the 1st timer.)
As the timer drags the fire hose to the far side of the lot and back, the pax performs the exercise on the card. The timer goes to the end of the line and everyone shift down to perform the exercise the person on the right was performing until all pax have had 2 turns as the timer.
Exercise: Wide Arm Merkins, Mountain Climbers, Jump Squats, Flutters, Bomb Jacks, Plank Jacks, and American Hammer
Thang 2
Hampton Roads Dora
Partner up. Pax 1 runs to designated spot and performs 2 burpees and back while Pax 2 performs exercise until Pax 1 returns. Swap so Pax 2 now runs to the designated spot while Pax 1 continues the exercise. (repeat until set number is completed)
100 Scorpion Merkins
200 Peg Leg Squats
300 Crab Cakes.
Grab the flags for second half of Ole’ Glory run back to the AO launch site.
Arrival back at launch site and we had 3 mins of Mary available.
Mary: LBC, Heels to Heaven, Box Cutters
F2: Great fellowship in this PAX as all members attended Coffeeteria.
F3: Excellent take out Prayer by out 3rd F Q.
F1: Solid performance by all as we pushed our bodies over 3+ mile
v/r
Gypsy
Old Cooter is up for Q tomorrow at Ascent. (Prayers and blessings to Young Cooter.) By rain or by sweet be prepared to be wet! Don’t worry about the cold. I’ll keep us moving so it should be HOT!