Brothers in Sweat
The Pineville Police lot filled up quickly forcing many to search for auxiliary space far afield. A quick disclaimer was delivered and we commenced a slow little baby jog to pick up the scattered Pax. Once united, we circled up for COP.
Warm-Up
Side-straddle hops x 20
Imperial walkers x 15
Low, slow squats x 10
Mountain climber x 10
Merkins x 5
Peter Parker x 10
Merkins x 5
Parker Peter x 10
Merkins x 5
The Thang
We shuttled over to the far lot for a trio or partner laps
10 partner slap merkins, run to end of lot, 10 partner slap merkins
10 partner sit-ups, run to end of lot, 10 partner sit-ups
10 partner slap burpees, run to end of lot, 10 partner burpees “slap on the clap” (trademarked)
Scoot to the picnic shelter
Partner up (someone new)
P1 20 dips, P2 Derkins until P1 is done
x 3
B.L.I.M.P
Stopping at each parking peninsula
5 burpees
10 Lunges (each leg)
15 Imperial walkers
20 Merkins
25 Plank jacks
Rinse & repeat
Back of the legs breakdown
50 Calf raises
20 baby makers (glute march on the curb)
Rinse and repeat
Grinders
(groups of 3)
P1 Maktar N’Daye, bomb jacks
P2 Heels to Heaven, American hammer
Mary
On your six, draw out in big capital letters the alphabet. (Some started singing the alphabet song, others just laid there.)
Time’s still on the clock, so…
4×4
Shoulder taps + Merkin x 10
In tribute
Low miles, but a full-body workout was complete, but that’s not why we were here today. F3 is more than a workout. It’s an outlet for men to come together to get stronger. When we start our F3 journey strength is about push-ups and race times. But strength is more mental than physical, it’s more communal than individual. Strength is pushing through pain. Strength is discipline. Strength is the ability to ability ask for help. Strength is service. Thank you to all those who came out to support Dumpster Fire and a tribute to his amazing brother.
Thomas Maxim
– Marine
– Graduate
– Lawyer
– Public defender, guardian of children
– Brother
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fitchburg/obituary.aspx?n=thomas-clifton-maxim&pid=189174248
Please consider giving to the Memorial Fund.
https://gacfmi.org/donation-form/ (search for “Maxim, Tom Memorial Fund” in the list of options)
Starfish x 2
15 made it out to the Matrix for a post Father’s day workout. The Q schedule at the Matrix is made once every 10 months or so with Pop Tart and Squid using some algorithm to assign anyone who posts a date. YHC was assigned June 18th back in November and had plenty of warning.
COP
SSH, 1 burpee, IW, 2 burpees, LSS, 3 burpees, MC, 4 burpees, and Cotton picker, 5 burpees
Mosey to rock pile, grab a lifting and/or running rock and mosey to center of field
Starfish x 5
Round 1 – center pole – curls x 10 with Rock
Starfish – 1) merkins x 20, 2) wide arm merkins x 20, 3) diamond merkins x 20, 4) hand release merkins x 20m, and 5) CDD x 20
Plank for 6
Overhead Press with Rock and Tricep extensions with Rock
Round 2 – center pole – squats x 10 with Rock
Starfish – 1) Jump squats x 20, 2) Sister Mary Catherines x 20, 3) Calf raises x 20, 4) Monkey humpers x 20, and 5) Heels to Heaven x 20
Plank for 6
Chest press with rock and flutter kick
Jack Webb with Rock…only up to 5 and back down
Mosey back to the rock pile to return the coupons
People’s chair – lunge walk out
Upper playground – 1) Pull ups x 10, 2) derkins x 20, and 3) dips x 30
Mary
COT
Announcements – need for speed for need pushers – https://speedforneed.org/
Thanks to Squid for his prayer. A pleasure as always to lead.
Do I confuse you?
22 Pax came out to Flash this morning and were led by a non-professional, Q school flunky for some work around the campus. The plan was to do some competitive team racing out in front of the school around the parking lot, but after realizing that either the competition included too much instruction or that the PAX is not adept at counting, it was a Q fail. All I kept seeing was Joe Pesci from Goodfella’s saying – Do I confuse you?
Either way we did a couple heat races around and calculated scores. We found that Fuse Box has another gear when needed and was able to see Ackbar cruise in for a heat race victory. When not on the track pax was doing either box jumps/incline merkins on Jack Webb cadence (1/4, 2/8, 3/12) and then changed to squats/dips on round 2. After realizing this was not going as planned, decided to call an audible and venture on. Will give Team 1 the victory for today.
Waited for the final heat to finish, and then quickly called for a mosey towards the buses much to the dismay of the Clydesdales. Once at the top of the hill we did some Smurf Jacks waiting on the 6. There may have been some short/bald jokes traded between Bottlecap/Goodfella at this moment. Once we completed our set of smurf jacks we ran to end of buses and did some plank work waiting on the six. Another set of smurf jacks at the bottom and sprint back up the pavement hill.
At top of hill go over to curb and did abbreviated merkin ladder (Starting at 1o reps, and work down to 5 reps) on the curb.
Short mosey towards the steps and partnered up. Partner 1 do 5x calf raises each step and mosey around back to bottom of stairs. P2 does Jack Webbs (merkins/air press) until P1 returns.
Mosey back to other side of buses and did some flutters waiting on the 6.
Quick backwards run up the hill by the buses. Made sure to warn pax not to run into mirrors on buses going up.
At top did some pistol LBC until 6 is in. Then mosey back to front of school. Did some toe tap LBC and then head back to start.
Fin
Moleskin:
- Lots of mumble chatter about Q fail with too complicated idea, will be looking to attend next Q school for sure
- Damascus told us of how he scared off many hikers this morning when they spotted a silver haired bear in the woods on trail.
- Deflated will officially be MIA as he has reached his prom dress weight and will be taking in beauty sleep for balance of weekk
- Believe we left as a TBD for Big 10’s list.
Announcements:
- Sanctuary tonight Brooklyn Pizza (Wesley Chapel) 7:30 PM – Ice 9 leading discussion of Parables of Jesus
- Open Door Bible Study Sunday 5 Stones Church Ofice 7:00 AM – Bottlecap leading discussion on John Chapter 16/17
- July 4th Pig Roast at Noonan’s House all families invited. Will also have bounce house and snow cones for kids. Sign up with family so we can get head count- http://evite.me/d48SXfU5H9
- Foley on Q next Monday at Flash
Mic Check Found His Shoes
The PAX of Blackhawk headed north today to Q, Erector to Stonehenge, One-Niner/General to Q School, and YHC to da Vinci.
This was only my second visit to da Vinci, decided to arrive a few minutes early to use the uh facilities at Chik-fil-a, unfortunately for me they weren’t open yet. Luckily Bucky was quick thinking on his feet and pointed me to the Starbucks across the street and would lead the PAX over to meet over there.
Shortly thereafter 11 PAX arrived, I was a few pounds lighter, and we were off.
The Thang
Mosey to the parking lot (not the one I wanted, but it worked)
Partner up, size/speed don’t matter
Partner 1 – Called Exercise (Don’t remember them all but included Flutters, LBC, Drydocks, Squats, Dips, Air Presses, etc.)
Partner 2 – Run to other end of parking lot and do burpees (5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5) come back to Partner 1 for handslap merkins
After completing the pyramid we headed up Blakeney Heath Road towards the rock pile with stops along the way for the six to catch up.
Partner up again
Partner 1 – Curls, squats, and presses with the rock
Partner 2 – Run to the playground max out pullups (round 1) dips x 15 (round 2)
Head back to launch with Bucky/Mic Check/Soft Pretzel/Teddy and others that I forgot regrouping on the six and leading exercises along the way while I peeled off to retrieve my truck to drive back to the launch.
Finished up with some running, backpedaling, and burpees outside Chik-fil-a to kill the clock
Moleskin
Thanks Bucky for inviting me out to Q, I’ll be back.
Mic Check found his shoes after his aborted Stonehenge attempt at 0600, we had no idea until Mighty Mite saw it on Slack as we were finishing up breakfast.
Great group and work, we covered 3+ miles with plenty of burpees and merkins to go around. Regret I didn’t get all the names, did the best I could off of memory.
Announcements
Soft Pretzel highlighted upcoming Sandbox opportunities to help families in need, laying pavers next weekend and an upcoming woodworking project.
Convergence at The Arsenal at Indian Land Elementary school on Thursday. Come for the cheap gas, fireworks, and liquor, stay for the workout.
You know, my kidneys feel a lot better in this position
6 men gathered for a not-so-moderate workout this morning. Well, 5 gathered, Moon River found us in the church’s front yard at about 7:05. Anyway, we did a bunch of exercises that you don’t care about if you weren’t there. Suicides in the church yard, some rock work at the church, Dirty McDeuce at the new benches and using the short track, people’s chair, escalator with merkins then later with jump squats, some Mary, a few pullups and so on.
Moleskine:
– Tclaps to Deep Dish for running in and out (3 miles one way). I stopped on my way by him (because he was walking, but he waved me on). Apparently Runstopper wasn’t as nice and just heckled him as he drove by. I heard that Runstopper almost hurled at RockZero later. #kharma
– Lots of good chatter about parenting teens. My oldest goes to college in the Fall (App State). Deep Dish is deep into 17-year-old boy parenting. It’s not easy. Talk to someone who has already been through it and get some advice. The big takeaway from this morning: If you’re still doing your teenager’s laundry, stop now.
– Furley’s name came from his love of Three’s Company. Apparently we already have a Mr. Roper. Chrissy would be a good nickname for a fast FNG.
– It gets really hot at these 7:00 am workouts through the summer. Don’t be a hero. None of us get paid for this. Snoopy was cramping up during our workout (upon questioning, apparently not menstrual). I heard from the RockZero crowd that Runstopper had a little episode. Take care of yourself. Drink water if you need to. Take a break. Qs – watch the PAX. If you see a guy struggling in the heat, be smart.
Thank you, Costanza, for the invitation to lead. I always enjoy taking the wheel at Ascent. Good work by all the guys this morning.
Announcements:
– Convergence at the Big House in Pineville on Monday to support Dumpster Fire whose brother died recently. Let’s get a big crowd out there.
Did Mic Check find his shoes?
My first Q at Stonehenge began with a nice pre-run where we thankfully avoided someone not paying attention on the road. They ran straight through the red light. Glad we were paying attention. We came back to the Vine to pick up the rest of the PAX for the workout and Mic Check pulled up and said he forgot his shoes. Not sure if he was driving barefoot or what. We didn’t see him again, so I don’t know if he showed up or not. Here’s what we did.
Mosey toward the Bullring and stopped about halfway for some warmup: windmill, SSH, mountain climbers, 4 count merkins, and LBCs. Continue mosey to the Bullring. At the Bullring, we ran the full ring at a hard pace stopping at every 200 meter division for exercises: 20 merkins, 20 squats, 20 diamond merkins, and 20 lunges.
Mosey to Bagpipe hill for some more fun. YHC gave options for those wanting a little less hill: 10 burpees at first parking lot entrance on hill and 20 mountain climbers at the second. Those wanting a little more hill ran to the second parking lot entrance for the burpees and to the top of the hill for the mountain climbers. We then did a few bonus merkins and squats before heading toward the fitness trail.
At the fitness trail, the PAX split for the options between pull-ups and supines. Bear crawl from center of this part of the trail to their respective bars, complete 10 pull-ups/supines, bear crawl back to center, and then complete 10 REAL Caroline Dry Docks (demo given before start). We then took one lap around the pond and returned for more. This time adding dips to the mix: 10 dips, 10 dry docks, 10 pull-ups/merkins (for modify) with bear crawl/walking lunge in between. Mosey back to COT for a little marry where Fraiser and Haggis joined us after their 10 mile run this morning.
Overall, I had a great time Qing at Stonehenge. I was given a couple reminders that this was not Swift along the way, but the PAX did great pushing through. Thanks for the invitation and for sticking with me this morning!
Announcements
Welcome to FNG Business Casual! Nice work this morning!
Convergence at the Big House on Monday and at the Arsenal on Thursday.
F3 dads on Saturdays at 9 am.
Speed for Need Anniversary run coming up July 4th at the American 4miler UPtown.
Continued prayers requested for Dumpster Fire and family with the loss of his brother.
The Centurian Almost Mile
The Thang
- To everyone’s delight YHC started the workout with an unannounced Centurion (almost) mile ending up on top of everyone’s favorite parking deck
- COP (SSH, IW, Hillbilly, Cotton Pickers, LS Merkin, Peter Parkers)
- Take the long way to the bottom of the deck
- Round 1
- Up the parking deck stairs on the far left to the 2nd level – 10 hand release burpees at the top, jog to the middle set of stairs – 10 hand release burpees, back down the stairs. Head back up the original set of stairs – 10 hand release burpeees, jog to the middle set of stairs – 10 hand release burpees, jog to the far right set of stairs – 10 hand release burpees, then back down to the ground level. (50 total hand release burpees)
- Mary at the bottom while waiting for the six
- Round 2
- Same as above, except for we went to the 3rd level and did merkins at each set of stairs.
- Mary at the bottom while waiting for the six
- Round 3
- Same as above, except for we went to the top level and did carolina dry docks at each set of stairs.
- Mary at the bottom while waiting for the six
- We then moseyed to the rock pile and grabbed a lifting rock
- 10 x curls
- 10 x overhead presses
- 10 x ls squats
- 10 x tricep extensions
- Repeat 2x
Moleskin
- We had a bit of smaller group than usual, but everyone put in great work. YHC may have a little overzealous with the workout plan, but everyone hung in there with limited mumblechatter. Welcome to Big Wheel, he had a solid workout and had no problem keeping up on his first day out. Thank you for the opportunity to lead, it is always a blessing.
Announcements
- Convergence on Monday (6/18) at The Big House to celebrate the life of Dumpster Fire’s brother, Tom Maxim, and to stand with DF as he mourns the recent loss of Tom. Please join if you can and, if not, keep Dumpster Fire and his mother and entire family in your prayers. Pre-run @ 0500; Boot camp @ 0530; https://f3southcharlotte.com/2018/06/11/celebration-of-life-convergence/
- Q School 101 this Saturday, 6/16, at 0600 at the Panera in Ballantyne. 1 hour workout followed by coffee/discussion.
thebraveheadssouth
Admittedly I didn’t have a solid plan going into this mornings work and to be honest I tend to get a bit nervous q ing the brave because I know there are high expectations for an effective beat down. Spending most of my evening writing papers I didn’t all me to plan as effectively as I normally do so I headed in this morning with a Doc Mcstuffins approach. That said, I picked a direction and headed to my comfort zone, schools:)
WU: HEAD SOUTH. .5 run to the warm up simple 20 SSH, 20 MC and 10 merkins
The thang: Hit every road on the way to some school and do 10 Burpees, total 50 Burpees, do some mary till 6 is in. 1.75 miles in the the book.
School 12’s- run around facing the sunrise doing air squats down to 1 at each corner.
Basketball Burpees- 6 hoops start at 6 down to one, Carolina dry docks way back.
Head back to Brazwells- hit same stops on the way down 10 merkins at each stop hit the top of the hill 3.87 miles in. Circle back for the six.
Finish with a quick run around the block so everyone gets their 4 miles in and for those that circled for the 6 we were close enough to do a couple sprints to push the running over 5 miles. Everyone got between 4.5 and 5.3 miles in.
Moleskin: It was a great morning to breath and push ourselves. Mario claims he’s too old to be Mario, Frehleys (R) was going to choke him for saying that:) Frasier, Rachel, Uncle Rico, Hollywood led the pax. It was good to see Enron again and although my brain was fried from a tough weekend it was awesome to connect with Cheese Curd at a work out just after we did some Sandbox work together on Sunday. For those of us that didn’t know Fire Hazard runs faster backwards than forwards and Enron said he felt like he was back in union county with me throwing in American hammers in the middle of the q. Mic check had to make a pit stop that made him a mystery find for a minute. Again, thanks to this mystery pax, I think his name is Tuck or something for inviting me to q.
Yes, Mountain Goat BBs Still Exist
11 gnarly goats gathered and galloped into the thick, humid Gloom for this week’s #trackFriday edition of Mountain Goat. Conditions today were hot, muggy, and quite frankly gross. But we ignored all that and became better, stronger, and faster.
The Thang
1600 meter warm-up followed by dynamic stretching.
400/800/1200/800/400 ladder at I-pace with 400 meter recovery between each rung.
800 meter cool-down.
Ye Olde Moleskine
First of all, YHC must apologize for the recent dearth of backblasts after my Mountain Goat Qs. Sometimes when you Q a running workout, there’s not much to report. That’s no excuse for not posting a backblast and recognizing the dedication of the Pax who wake up early Friday mornings and make Mountain Goat a great site. My bad, sorry about that.
Today’s Weinke was simple yet brutal given the high humidity and low 70s temperature. It hurt, especially the 1200, but in a good way. Fleetwood led the way this morning and even put in a few miles on a solo pre-run. YHC is pumped to have him on my BRR team. With Slim Fast DR, Insomniac was given the keys to the magic towel and teamed up with Sensei for a solid effort. Sensei may have been dragging him around the track just a bit. Kotters to Beefeater, great to see you this morning, running as strong as ever. Jello was a great driver last year, but having had a taste of the BRR he wanted more, and has become quite the runner in 2018. Word on the street is that he’s a HC for Kilowatt’s team this year. Day-Z crushed it as usual and was engaging and informative as always. Gullah and Kilowatt got it done, respect-style, with committed, tireless efforts. Awesome to have Stye join us as a site FNG (I think). What can I say about Lois? The man, the myth, the legend. He’s getting stronger every week and never has a shortage of humor and good cheer. Thanks for the excellent take out as well.
Announcements
- Convergence on Monday (6/18) at The Big House (Pineville police station) to celebrate the life of Dumpster Fire’s brother, Tom Maxim, and to stand with DF as he mourns the recent loss of Tom. Please join if you can and, if not, keep Dumpster Fire and his mother and entire family in your prayers. Pre-run @ 0500; Boot camp @ 0530; Celebration of Life Convergence
- American 4 Miler on 7/4: Speed for Need race and F3 convergence. See Slack or Twitter for details.
Visiting Hours
Downtown Matthews provides numerous scenic routes for the weekly running/bootcamp workout known as Sparta. Ironman training is on hold for a couple of weeks and YHC was on Q for the first time in what seemed like forever, so it was decided that we would visit parts of town that have yet to be explored in the early morning hours of our training runs. I was joined by the usual cast of characters, Arena, Arsenal, Horse Head, Gypsy and Thurston.
It went down a little something like this.
Give Disclaimer.
Leave Matthews Elementary and hang a right on Trade Street. Run for your life (literally) as you cross the intersection at John & Trade, cross the railroad tracks and hang a quick left into the public parking lot beside Seaboard. Circle up for COP.
IW x 20 IC / LSD x 15 IC / Merkins x 10 IC / Mosey
Exit the public parking lot via the back entrance. Hang a right. Run 1 block & hang another right (don’t know the street names). Cross Trade and mosey down Matthews-Mint Hill Rd to the Harris Teeter sign warehouse. Somewhere along the way there was a lot of grumbling about too much running at a running work out, so to silence thhe discenters, we gathered at the entrance of the Harris Teeter sign warehouse. When the six regrouped, we headed to the bottom of the hill and YHC called our first exercise. I called it a triple nickel — 5 burpees at the bottom of the hill, run to the top, 5 burpees & return. Repeat 5 times. (5/5/5) There was immediate discussion & debate on what a triple nickel actually is, but everyone worked hard despite the mumble chatter. Pick up the 6 and head back towards downtown with a detour onto the Novant Matthews campus.
My scouting trip at 7PM on the day before led me to believe that the access road was a good place to exercise — low traffic and plenty of options. This was half true — there are plenty of options for pain stations. However, between the nurse shift change and the people arriving for their outpatient colonoscopies, the service road has to be the busiest street in town at 05:45. Not needing any day surgeries, we took our chances anyway….
Starting at the 1st light pole, perform called exercise. Sprint to next light pole, perform called exercise. Repeat until the end. If the light was on your left, exercise = 10 Merkins. If light is on the right, 10 Squats. In total, we did approximately 100 Merkins & 100 Squats. To return to our starting point, the called exercises were sprint intervals — sprint to light, recover to next. Repeat until we were back at Matthews-Mint Hill Rd.
Time to mosey back to the AO, but first a quick stop back at the public parking lot for 2 sets of 20 dips on the rock wall OYO. When done, head back to Matthews Elementary for various stretching exercise & regroup with the guys from Peak51 for COT.
Moleskin
We covered 4.25 – 4.5 miles along the way, did 50 burpees, 100 merkins, 100 squats & 40 dips. The initial grumbles about routes & distance were quickly replaced by heavy breathing and sweat — a perfect Sparta workout (but I may be biased). Horse Head used his time at Sparta to advertise a Monday morning running workout — Horsey McHorseface. I guess he was just trying to keep his mind off of the burpees. Gypsy is a beast. He’ll be on a BRR team before long. In fact, Arsenal, Arena & Thurston should be on everyone’s short list for team members. Tell them I volunteered them, just expect Arsenal to wear long pants. I’m starting a clothing drive to provide him with some workout shorts. Arena showed up in the M-mobile due to a fender bender caused by a distracted driver, #donttextanddrive, but despite driving the mini van, he punched his man card by killing the workout. Thurston doesn’t say much. Or, maybe he does, but he’s so far out in front that I can’t hear what he says. I’m going to tie his shoes together on my next Q so I have a chance of keeping up with him.
We have a solid group of regulars and as the BRR approaches, our numbers are expected to grow. We hope to see you at Sparta next week. Expect a solid beat down because Gypsy is on Q.
Announcements
American 4-miler is 7/4. It’s a SFN race. Come support, push, race, or volunteer
Thanks for making Sparta part of your weekly F3 workouts. It’s an honor to lead but more of an honor to call each of you friends.