POSTED ON BEHALF OF ROCKWELL:
26 great men gathered this morning at Dromedary for a campus tour. Bottle Cap pointed out that I had some “Q Juice” going this morning! It could have been the old school rap cranking from Big 10’s Jeep just before we got started. I felt stronger than usual and just did my best to keep the PAX moving. Rocks, wet grass, walls… I tried to throw in a little bit of everything.
Here’s what went down:
WARM UP
THE THANG
MOLESKIN
As usual, it’s always awesome to see everyone up bright and early and working out with such a great group of guys. Bread Bowl continues to impress with his effort and I hear he may have his VQ coming up! That’s impressive! Thanks to Goodfella for stepping up and accepting the Hope Challenge. It takes a lot of courage for men to be vulnerable and to share their weaknesses with other men. We appreciate your leadership, Goodfella! Also, thanks to Goodfella for taking us out with a prayer.
Good effort by all today!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Need some Q’s for Dromedary. Next week is Fuse Box followed by Run Flat.
20 men gathered in the gloom to start their day off right (and that includes the decision to forsake Fast Twitch for the Hawk’s Nest beat down that would follow). Many of the usual suspects, some new faces (or Kotters – welcome back Escargot!), and seemingly all with something to say. Disclaimer given, with the usual critiques, and we were off.
Mosey down the entranceway towards the MAC, stopping off at a random parking lot on the left (when did it get there and why is that even there?) for the traditional Hannibal warm-up:
Mosey to Patten Stadium, around the back of the end zone over to the hill on the home side. From there, we embarked on the Latin Triangle:
Wall sits (or just talk, whichever you prefer) against the maintenance building behind the end zone, wait for the six to come in. Mosey back up the hill to the student parking lot south of the Auditorium for The Beast. 6 exercises, 6 stations, 6 rounds
Recover plank, with positions. Mosey to launch for 3 MoM (Flutters, Dollies, Rosalitas, LBCs, etc.)
Done
Ye Naked Moleskin
Really great crowd out this morning. The heckling started early, before we even launched, but YHC is a veteran and can handle it. Moreover, without it, I usually guess the PAX aren’t getting their money’s worth. Today’s workout was a straight-forward, what you see is what you get, beatdown. There wasn’t a lot of fluff, and some may argue not a lot of creativity. It was old school. If you put the effort in, you’ll reap the benefits later. Semi-Gloss called it “Dad Advice.” #Truth
It was great to be back on the old stomping grounds. It is true that YHC is an alum. But man, the joint has changed. #old The construction didn’t help either, as I was lost near the start, obvious to some of the PAX when we made a hard left into that unassuming parking lot for the warm-up. Back in the day, those “home bleachers” were a series of concrete slabs. Now, those slabs have been replaced with state of the art aluminum with rails and everything. #SlipperyWhenWet Kudos to the PAX for navigating those flawlessly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run that hill and those bleachers, and so it was good to be back. Thanks for enjoying it with me.
The Beast is just a beast. It’s a no holds barred, smack you in the face set of exercises that if you push through it, you’re better for it. Of course, you have the option to refusinik, and there are times to do so. Laziness isn’t one of them. Hats off to those who pushed through this morning.
Great to see Escargot back out this morning. First post in a year! Ironsides may have tweaked a hammy – get well brother. Margo gave up FT for 15 minutes of sleep to join the workout – appreciate that. Other Flattnin’ the Hills teammates were present (Gummy, Hopper, LazyBoy, Chelms) – once in the band, always in the band. Busch and Bulldog were swinging kettlebells early – kudos to you both. Harley doesn’t look the same without a visor, but great to have him out. Good to see Mermaid back from vacation, and from eavesdropping, sounds like he had some productive fishing. Hops, thanks for the takeout, as well as the opportunity to lead – it’s an honor to be handed the reigns with this group. Great work to all – see you next time.
Announcements
YHC was today’s substi-Q for Sony, who is facing some serious health problems that have the doctors stumped. (Prayers for his return to health!)
Pre-warm-up: “Passive stretch” while YHC read Devo.
(Didn’t have Weinke – left at home in rush to leave this morning – but this was mostly what we did)
Warm up with Sun Salutation (aka Vinyasa) together 1X then 3X OYO. Then on to the main thang:
Kneeling side stretch then swing leg across back of body to do Twist Side Hip stretch.
Flapjack and repeato
Vinyasa OYO (we did this between most sets, but to save space and b/c I’m in a hurry, I’m not going to keep putting it in here.)
Low lunge: Crescent/Revolved Side Angle 3X
Flapjack and repeato
Warrior 1. 2 then Peaceful Warrior to Side Angle 3X
Flapjack and repeato
Balance work: Tree Pose (extra credit for eyes closed)
Knee hugs (alt R/L) then Dead Pigeon R/L
Firelogs (one leg on top, then flapjack)
Prone Shoulder Flip R/L
Cross Shoulder stretch R/L
Frog (courtesy Millionaire Hoy on UToob)
Time!
Announcements
From Madison: Matthews Alive in downtown Matthews over LDW – look for chances to hand out F3 flyers and talk up F3 among the masses
Moleskin
Lois rocked the “Firelogs” pose. Most of us could only laugh and try not to fall over, but he was sitting as serenely as a Zen master.
Crickets still patrolling the floor of the Scout Hut – not scary, but unsettling to have one crawl up to you unannounced.
Is it a good sign that you need to stretch out a bit after Gumby?
YHC misspoke: 5 deep breaths is ~30 sec, not 45.
Devo:
From everymanministries.com a reminder to be grateful to God. Ref: Romans 14:17
14 men for this week’s edition of Fast Twitch. It’s BRR season so lots of running and hills are to be expected. YHC was happy to oblige. Though expected, that still doesn’t make it any more pleasant.
The Thang
Simple enough workout. Warm-up mosey to the bottom of Whitethorn where it meets 4 Mile Creek using Providence and Raintree. Hold there to give instructions. We would be doing a suicide on Whitethorn using the 5 roads (Nettlewood, White Dove, Stonemark, Deer Park, and Raintree) that are along the way as the turn arounds. When you get back to the bottom of Whitethorn, do 20 jump squats before continuing with the next running section. Meet at the Raintree end of Whitethorn at 6:10 to head back to launch. That was it.
Naked Moleskin
Nice work men. That was definitely unpleasant. Hope everyone enjoyed. The title is from Purple Haze. Before the workout YHC mentioned there were two options. So as we were moseying down Whitethorn he asked what was the other option. You see, Mr. Haze is not shy about his dislike for Whitethorn. It has been mentioned a few times before. But at that point it was too late for YHC’s other plan. Whitethorn it was. FYI the other wasn’t much better.
Nobody and nothing could live up to the hype that surrounded yesterday and Big 10’s VQ. By midday yesterday, the high of being led around campus by Big 10 was replaced by soreness in the chest, arms, and shoulders. He sneakily put a whoopin’ on us and did so without a single SSH…at least none that he called out!
Today’s festivities were to be decidedly different. 16 men showed up for a little #HeartRateExplosion. P.S. – NO GRASS, NO BURPEES, and NO MERKINS were involved. Here’s how it happened:
Warm-up:
Casual mosey around the front of school. Jingles’ punctuality has really improved as he was able to enter the parking lot under 50mph, on all 4 wheels and still join us at the opening mosey. Well done, Jingles. Good to see you again, too!
Circle up by Cars:
SSH x 20
Bottlecap was still in playground mode from yesterday and attempted a Q Jacking with a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Fortunately for the remnant Briarcrest survivors, the game didn’t take flight. It did however, deliver a great laugh!!!
Low Slow Squats x 20
Old Man Stretch
Mountain Climbers x 20
Jimmy Dugans
Calf Stretches
Mosey towards the bridge
The Thang:
Lunge walk across the length of the bridge and then mosey to the track.
To the surprise and chagrin of the pax this morning, we were using the track. There were gasps and promises uttered in hushed tones that our use this morning would never be spoken of publicly.
Four Corners – Basically run a quarter of the way around the track and do 25 squats. 4 stops = 100 squats
When complete, discretely exit track and head to short wall. Partner up for step ups. Partner 1 does step ups on the short wall while Partner 2 runs to bridge and back. Do this 2x
Mosey towards the stadium. At this point, YHC asked if the pax were familiar with the “3 S’s”. Some were under the impression it was referring to S#*+, Shower, and Shave. Not today.
3 S’s- 3 S’s included Squats, Stadium Stairs, and Speed Skaters.
Pax did 30 Squats, ran all Stadium Stairs, and did 30 Speed Skaters on the other side. The goal was to do this 3x but time was not on our side so we audibled to 2 for the lead pack and finish your last flight of Steps and Speed Skaters for the trail pack. Then mosey back over to short wall. People’s Chair against concession stand until pax arrived. Courtesy 10 count. We then did the unthinkable…went back on the track.
Low Squatting, Hand Slapping, Track Running Thing- Admittedly, YHC made this one up on the fly. Partner up arms length apart facing one another. Get in deep squat position and hold it. Then, alternate smacking hands until you reached 50 smacks. Partners run opposite direction on track until the meet again. Repeat. Partners run back towards where they started for one final set of 50 slaps. 150 total slaps whilst squatting.
Sidebar- YHC had the privilege of partnering with Shake N Bake. The glove situation on that man is nothing short of appalling. Keep him in and the rest of us in your thoughts as he chooses to wear those bacteria traps to our workouts! He did kindly remove them, but only after we were 20 smacks in and YHC had been coated in the hazardous sludge oozing from the palms of those well-worn mitts. Wish I could say the palm feel was better, but the glove funk was indeed fully transferable. Digression over.
Mosey towards front of school where we had 1 minute left. We SSH’ed for 1 full minute and that was that.
Circle Time:
Jingles, Dough Boy, and Shake N Bake continue to struggle in the glove department but crushed the workout today. Dancing Bear has YHC convinced he’s a seasoned wet t-shirt contest participant. Seeing way too clear an outline of those nips post workout, bro. If you’re not careful, you’re gonna wind up in a bloody nip meme like Foundation (OG story…pics exist and they’re awesome). E-Harmony’s recommendation of a shirt (and glove) order from F3 site could NOT have been better timed. Rubbermaid needs either contacts or windshield wipers on those glasses. Hard work really fogs up the windows, though. Great job, man. Deflated continues to get faster and we can’t wait for his finished t-shirt design- destined to be his second smash hit!
Awesome effort by all today. Good to see some old faces along with all you new guys. Everybody pushed hard. As mentioned, we did NO GRASS, NO BURPEES, and NO MERKINS. Some would call that a missed opportunity. YHC calls it 3.5 miles of fun with friends who are destined to have wobbly legs by noon today!
Announcements:
Please keep Snoop (Dean Longo), his wife Lynnmarie, and their family in your prayers as she’s battling cancer. Cancer sucks and she’s a wonderful lady.
Shirt order for UC mentioned earlier by E-Harmony. Haven’t seen him in the Playhouse, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t #lurk. Somebody can get to him for you if interested.
Thank you, Dough Boy, for taking us out.
Over the past few months at least 2 PAX in our region have been effected by someone close to them committing suicide. From August 2011 until August 2012, I struggled with suicidal thoughts. For me it was the grace and hope of Jesus Christ that got me through that dark time. So if you or someone you know is struggling in that area too, there is HOPE.
As men of F3 one of our tenants is that we strive to be #HIM (high impact men). So here is my challenge to all PAX:
Take 20-30 seconds to share a struggle that you were able to overcome in a COT. Share your HOPE.
It could be a struggle with your career, kids, marriage, alcohol, pornography, depression, anger, addiction, relationship, etc. And then take it one step further, post it on your regions private GroupME or Slack channel with the hashtag #f3hopechallenge. Cross the finish line when you make yourself available to talk to another PAX one-on-one who is struggling with the same thing right now.
If you have struggled with it, there are those among us who are struggling too. The hope you declare, just may be the hope that another PAX needs to hear to help him through his dark time.
This challenge will run until the end of September. That is when I turn 50. Without hope I would not have seen this milestone, I would be dead.
Here is a suggested format for COT:
I struggled with (fill in the blank) but I overcame it by (fill in the blank). So if you or someone you know is struggling with that too, there is hope. Reach out to me if you like to talk further.
Here is a suggested format for regions social media:
I struggled with (fill in the blank) but I overcame it by (fill in the blank). So if you or someone you know is struggling with that too, there is hope. PM me if you like to talk more. #F3HOPEchallenge.
AYE!
Well. Another should-have-brought-a-snorkel kinda morning at the Foxhole. Humid as hell. If it weren’t for the 5 steely eyed men waiting for a workout, it would have been a quittin’ kinda morning for YHC. Guess that’s why it’s better to do this in large groups. Harder to quit. In any case, there was no planned workout; just a faint whisper of what the first 30 seconds of the warm-up would be. Here’s what happened.
Off we went around the school, chasing roughly 100 U.S.A bunnies from various patches of grass. While the PAX were distracted with all the scurrying about, YHC went from zero to weinke, in 60 seconds. Back near the launch we warmed up with this circuit.
- 20 lunge walk steps
- Run Forward to the end of the lot
- 10 Merkins
- Backwards Run back to the start.
- 10 Merkins
- 20 lunge walk steps
- Run Forward to the end of the lot
- 10 Merkins
- Backwards Run back to the start.
- 10 Merkins
5 PAX, 10 bells… let’s whittle that down to ONLY the biggest, most bigly, bells. Final weightage was: 80 lbs, 55 lbs, 55 lbs, 45 lbs, 40 lbs . Those bells were each carefully backed into an empty parking space so as to give each man enough room to swing it. The following exercises are all sets of five, where each PAX gets a chance to use each of the bells. Here’s what we did:
- 20 Swings
- 5 Cadence Pull-ups
- 20 Swings
- 4 Cadence Pull-ups
- 20 Swings
- 3 Cadence Pull-ups
- 20 Swings
- 2 (5-count) Cadence Pull-ups
- 20 Swings
- AMRAP OYO Pull-ups
- 10 Sumo Deadlift High Pull
- 10 Hanging Knees to Elbows
- … (repeat 5 time)
- 7 Push-Ups (Right Hand on Bell, Left on Ground)
- 7 Push-Ups (Left Hand on Bell, Right on Ground)
- Pull-Ups (same descent as Set One)
- … (repeat 5 time)
- 8 Lunge Steps, Bell on Right Shoulder, Right Leg Only Lunges.
- 8 Lunge Steps, Bell on Left Shoulder, Left Leg Only Lunges.
- 10 second rest to switch bells.
- … (repeat 5 time)
Core strength is central. So:
- 10 cadence LBC (Argonaut)
1013 cadence Box-Cutter (Wild Turkey)- 10 cadence 6-inch LBC (General)
- 10 cadence Russian Twist (Transporter)
- 10 espanol cadence Rosalita (Mighty Mite)
- 10 french-japanese-spanish cadence 6-inch plank-jack (Argonaut)
No significant pre-plan still turned into a solid workout, at least according to attendees and YHC’s already DOMS-y muscles. The group covered roughly a mile and a half of ground and fought hard for it. Workouts like this are easier to read than do. If you are an F3er that only runs, and does bootcamps (which are predominantly running), you too can experience the benefits of adding some weight training (especially pull-oriented exercises), to your fitness routine. It’d be a lie to quote, “It doesn’t hurt to try”, it will hurt, but in all the right ways (when done carefully). Other notes:
Argonaut Out.
Published on behalf of Big 10:
Wow! 35 Pax came out to start the week off right! Or to see me fail, and fail I did but you all killed it! If I give it, I gotta take it. Fair is fair and I heard all of your comments, so payback will happen!
Waking up to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” was a great way to start this fiasco! So let’s do this.
Warmup:
Moseyed 50 feet (felt right)
* No SSH, because those are banned for being silly.
* Shoulder moves, a clue to the rest of the morning.
* Merkins X 10
* Potato pickers
* Lunges
Thang:
Mosey’ed to the hill. Time to work the shoulders and chest. And time to figure out what the heck we were gonna do. I really thought this was all a joke, in case you didn’t know.
* 25/20/15/10/5 Merkins and hill climbs between each rep.
* 7-1 burpees with hill climbs in between each rep.
* Moneyball with the count… he’s slow. Why I picked him.
At this point, I was not happy with the Q which was me and made it all the more awkward.
Mosey to the big lot. Time for some really bad decisions.
* 20 curb merkins to dry the shoes for the worst Q ideas in the history of worst Q decisions!
* Duck, Duck, Goose time. Big circle w/ planks and squats as we raced around the circle for a little competition. Beckham was the real hero today… he was chasing hard and met the pavement. Stuck it out like a trooper and had the scrapes to prove it!
At this point, realized this was an awful idea. Everyone took a lap around the big circle and we moved on.
Moseyed to find light poles and did Merkins and Squats until we reached the shed. 2nd bad decision to see if we could kick the legs up on the wall and do upside down merkins. I heard audible gasps at this point. Horrible idea.
* Hit each light with assorted 10’s until we reached the rally point.
* Dealer’s Choice to finish it off… which was of course SSH’s. Jokers.
What an awesome sight to see such a huge turnout. Thanks for making my first (and likely last) Q such a blast!
Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, the gone but not forgotten Saturday workout known as Olympus lived again, albeit only for a day at Ascent. YHC arrived early to set up the gear that would be used and pulled around the school to the basketball courts. Upon stepping out of the car, a loud and stern voice made me jump out of my skin. After taking a moment to compose myself and appraise the situation (looking around frantically and hoping nobody saw) YHC realized that an automated message was playing repeatedly warning that somebody or something had wandered too close to the coils on the air conditioning unit by Rea Road and that YHC needed to (“step away from the air conditioner” because “law enforcement is en route”). Now it was decision time, abandon the location set up somewhere else, or press on and risk the possibility of having to explain to the cops why I have a sledge hammer and some rope in my trunk. Not hearing any sirens, YHC decided to press on. YOLO, as the kids say.
Warmup:
20 SSH IC, 2o Imperial Walkers IC, 20 kettlebell swings, 20 mountain climbers IC, 20 kettlebell swings, 20 LBC IC, 20 kettlebell swings, 10 merkins IC, 20 kettlebell swings, 20 Freddie Mercury IC, 20 kettlebell swings.
The Perfect Pair:
Kettlebell swings and merkins: rounds of 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 of each exercise.
Olympus Portion:
Several gear stations placed around the basketball courts set the stage for a high intensity sufferfest. The timer was a jump rope where each PAX would take turns getting to 100 reps while the others rotated through the stations. The menu consisted of slam balls, sandbag thrusters, wall balls, battle rope pull ups, and kettlebell deadlifts. After three rounds through each station we moved on to desert consisting of a merkin mashup where we did regular merkins, wide arm merkins, and diamonds in rapid fire sets of 5 reps each, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep. A few minutes remained which we filled with Mary and plank work. The final exercise was to mule the gear back to YHC’s car which had been moved to the regular launch lot.
NMM:
It was good to lead a gear workout again. Olympus used to be my favorite workout of the week. My first or second week in F3 I gave the workout described as kettlebells and gear on the old website and was way out in Matthews a try. My first time there we smacked huge truck tires with sledgehammers, cleaned barbells, dragged sleds, and did other awesome stuff. As I became a regular there I got to pull pickup trucks with a harness, flip tires, experiment with homemade squat racks and yokes, and have a blast while not having to do much running. Maybe one day we’ll get a regular gear workout back in the region. It will take a group effort I believe though, since loading and unloading all the equipment gets old fast, especially on cold and rainy mornings. Thanks to the good people of Ascent for the invitation to bring my trunk full of nonsense out to play for a day.
What a way to celebrate my 2 years of F3, but at where it started – BASE CAMP! Being BRR season, I started the morning off with a pre-run of 1.8 miles.
5:30 rolls around and time to get going. Proper disclaimer was given (Benny still isn’t responsible if you get hurt). Let’s circle the parking lot while some cars pull in. Head down to the track…
Warm up:
15-IC SSH
2-IC burpees – I offered to do a demonstration, but nobody was interested. Sad.
15-IC Imperial Walkers
2-IC burpees
15-IC Windmill
2-IC burpees
15-IC Mountain Climbers
2-IC burpees
Main Thang…
Partner up. We had 11 today, so I flew solo.
Each partner runs in opposite direction to the other side of the track, where they would do 10 Hand slap Merkins. Run back and do 10 hand slap Carolina Dry Docks.
But, we’re not done yet. Partners run in opposite direction to the other side of the track, where you would do 10 Flutter Kicks (4 count) together. Run back and do 10 Heels to Heaven together.
We moseyed to just outside the fence at the bottom of the hill. In my 2 years of F3 and often posting at Base Camp, I don’t think we’ve ever used this hill. I could change that!
Triple Nickel –
5 Hand release merkins at the top
5 Low Slow Squats at the bottom
5 times
After all were complete, we started up the hill doing some Lunge Walks. About a 1/3rd of the way up, we did some Sumo Walk. Finish off the last 3rd with a nice jog.
Grab some wall and get in the People’s Chair…
50 Air presses
We were about to go into some 1 leg squats, when Marvel asked if we could move to the side of the school – good call. So we moved.
5 left single leg squats
5 right single leg squats
40 air presses
Time for some rocks…
P1 – Curls with Rock
P2 – run down to the bleachers and 15 dips
Switch
P1 – Press with Rock
P2 – run down to the bleachers and 15 supine pull-ups
Switch
1 lap around the parking lot and let’s finish with some Mary.
Protractor
15 American Hammers
Finished!
Rough estimate is that we got in 1.7 miles today.
Announcements:
Crane Relay – Coming up on Oct 26th. The rumor is that the slow guys are Team Captains. That might not be true, but it’s a rumor that I’m spreading.
https://f3southcharlotte.com/2018/07/14/the-crane-relay/
BRR – Sept 7th and 8th. Be safe in your training!
COTS – Good turnout at last Church on the Streets. Next one is Sunday, Sept 2nd – Labor Day weekend. A lot of good details provided by Strawberry. #HIM. I’ll be adding the sign-up genius.
Thanks for the takeout by Marvel.
Moleskin:
The basic idea of this workout, I stole from my first post at F3 lead by Goonie, https://f3southcharlotte.com/2016/08/08/pele-must-be-in-brazil/
I remember being paired up with Knight Rider (who I recognized from my neighborhood), what a running beast!
I’ll never forget that first workout. After the warm-up and during the hand-slap merkins, I was like “What have I gotten myself into?” Now I can answer, “Something pretty special!”
Dredd had some recent comment about doing Burpees “In cadence”, so that you can avoid doing the “Aussie Burpee”. Good thought. If you haven’t checked out the “43 Feet – leadership podcast” with Dredd and Dark Helmet, then you should.
The Triple Nickel and hand release Merkins are a favorite of Mermaid. He was the guy that kept talking about F3 while our daughters swam, so this was a good way to honor him.
The single leg squats were something that I had seen some ballerina do on Instagram. Except they held weights in the air – far tougher than me! I know you guys like when I work in some ballet. Besides, classes start up again in less than 3 weeks – have you registered?
I always like the Protractor during Mary. And nobody called “69” – finally, some grown up maturity.
Veteran group of PAX today working it out. Marvel is a young stud. Costanza celebrates his 2 years in about 2 weeks. Once upon a time, we were deep 6 together. Now we can definitely hang! Thunder Road is like the energizer bunny. He just keeps going and getting it done.
Finally, let me say “Thank you” (yes, the emotional sappy part)… I think back to the movies “Singles” and the Pearl Jam song, “State of Love and Trust” and the lyrics, “I’ll do this one myself”. Maybe, I could train for something like the BRR or a half marathon by myself. Frankly, I don’t want to! I want you guys in my life and hope to be part of yours. The fun is doing this together.
John 15:13 (NIV) Greater Love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.