On Tuesday morning, the weekly Interval workout known as Swift will launch from the Vine restaurant in Ballantyne for what sounds like a simple 2, 2, 2, but it’s actually much more treacherous.
The THANG:
Field trip! Bring your signed permission slip and a sack lunch. Regular launch time at 5:15. Wear reflective gear or vest since we may be around busier roads than normal.
9 men were bold enough to post at Foxhole this AM for my VQ at the AO. A good group of regulars out there ready to swing some metal. No site Q’s present. Something about alarm failure and a business trip, all weak excuses.
Gather up for brief disclaimer. Leave bells for a quick 300m stroll around the parking lot. Some SSH and Merkins to loosen the joints from the weekend.
The Thang:
Round 1: 20 2-handed swings, 20 Good Mornings, 20 Sumo-Deadlift High Pulls, 8 8-Count Body Builders. Complete 3 sets of this and then run the 300m loop.
Round 2: 20 Snatches (10 each arm), 20 Romanian Dead Lifts (10 each leg), 20 overhead lat pulls, 8 8-Count Body Builders. Complete 3 sets of this and then run the 300m loop.
Round 3: 20 High Pulls (10 each arm), 20 Tea Bag Squats, 20 Overhead press, 8 8-Count Body Builders. Complete 3 sets of this and then run the 300m loop.
Some Plank and Mary between rounds.
Finish with some Flutter with press and extra 2-handed swings.
Boom – Stairway to Heaven fades out and we are done. Like I planned it that way.
Moleskine:
This isn’t the first time I have used this workout format. Mostly because I really like it because it hits a bunch of different muscle groups with different movements and stresses the cardio of the pace as much as it stresses the strength exercises. Plus you can always change up the individual exercises and counts to fit your Q style.
Strong work out there by the men of Foxhole which included ⅓ Respects! A couple of guys rotating through KB’s and using the heavier ones for the leg work. Chopper went digging through the jeep mid-workout to find some more KB’s to play with! Soft Pretzel and Wild Turkey were moving through it quickly. Escobar and Nard Dog also keeping a steady pace. Frehley’s seemed to grumble on the tunes a few times. I am still not sure what Warrant’s Cherry Pie is referring to? But we started hard with AC/DC and finished up with Zeppelin so let’s assume everything in the middle was just as awesome. And Stairway started at 6:07 and closed us right out at 6:15.
Argonaut asked me what size KB was needed for today. Apparently he snuggled up too close to it last night and never heard the alarm to post. You missed a good one.
Thanks to Wild Turkey for the takeout.
-Alf
Announcements
Building the wall with Haggis – Saturday 3/18. Lift really heavy rocks with a professional really heavy rock lifter.
Brolympics coming a Saturday in May at Community House Middle School See DaVinci and Stonehenge site Q’s for details. If Wild Turkey and Tolkien are involved I am sure there will be 10,389,692 tweets on the subject letting you know it is going to happen.
Warm Up:
Thang:
Moleskin:
Announcements:
8 men posted in the chilly gloom of Ascent to get their Saturday going.
Pick a Partner, grab a kettlebell or two and mosey to the small field.
COP:
IW x 25 IC
LBAC’s x 20 Forward/x 20 Backwards IC
Overhead Claps x 20 IC
Front Claps x 20 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs x 25 IC
Grass Cutters x 25 IC
Mtn. Climbers x 20 IC
Partner up and line up at end of field for Dora 1,2,3 with KB’s. Partner 1 does KB movement while P2 runs approx. 30 yards and does called exercise and returns to start point. Flapjack until cumulative reps are completed.
Rnd. 1: 100 KB swings/x 15 CDD’s at other end
Rnd. 2: 200 KB curls/x 15 CDD;s at other end
Rnd. 3: 300 KB chest Presses/x 15 LBC’s at other end
Rnd. 4: 200 Upright Rows/x 15 LBC’s at other end
Rnd. 5: 100 KB Squat Thrusts/x 15 LBC’s at other end
Mosey to Playground for 6 Minutes AMRAP of:
x10 merkins, x 10 pullups, x 10 dips
Back to small field for ab work:
Run approx. 30 yards for x15 each of WWII sit ups, Russian Twists, LBC’s
Run back to start point for x 14 of each, run 30 yards for x 13 of each and keep running from point to point until x 10 reps of all completed. Costanza calls for a 25 rep merkin challenge between the pax, completed that and we’re done!
NMM:
Great crew out there on Saturday with the regulars from Hempstead (#clowncar) and the other usual suspects with DF and Drano back again, which was great to see. The shoulder work in COP was felt by all and finishing up the KB with the squat thrusts was a real crowd pleaser. Thanks for putting in the work men, it was an honor to lead.
Announcements:
Race to honor Richard Sheltra in Pinevelle on 4/29 (I believe). Ascent will plan on converging there that day.
Remember Dumpster Fire and his M as they will be delivering baby #2 on the 10th. It’s about to get real brother!
Gullah
14 young guns brought the wood to Basecamp this morning. A balmy 40 degrees – not too cool, not too hot. A disclaimer held together by duct tape and rubber bands, and a promise of no burpees (alternative fact) and we got after it.
The Thang:
We moseyed a good 50 yards or so to the front parking lot of the school for COP (+/- 15, all IC)
We headed down Strawberry Ln to Rosecliff Drive for the first Triple nickel – HR Merkins at the top, Sumo squats at the bottom (2nd light post on the right).
We headed back up Strawberry to the top of Woodfox for a 2nd Triple nickel – wide arm merkins at the top, diamond merkins at the bottom (cartpath crossing).
Plankwork on the sidewalk clear of traffic – elbows, arms high, legs high variety mix
Mosey to the wall on the school adjacent to the Suites de Gloss for Peoples Chair. Roughly 4 minutes in the chair with some overhead presses and leg lifts.
What’s a good try-hard exercise with ~15 seconds left? 5 burpees OYO. Promises broken.
Moleskinny:
Sheldon (great name, real or fake), dusted the crowd all day. I think he was holding back to not make Goonie look bad. I “encouraged” him to not let Goonie’s alpha presence overshadow his efforts this morning. All it took was a little permission and he was lighting everyone up on the woodfox triple nickel.
BOG may have the most flexible deep squat in NC.
Snooki fought the battle out there this morning. Coming off some rotator cuff work, I’ll just say, I wouldn’t challenge him to a one-armed SSH contest. Strong work, dude.
We finished up with 125 merkins for y’all doing the challenge this month, you’re welcome.
Drano, Goonie- thanks for the invite to lead. Enjoyed it homies.
Announcements:
Savage Race: May 13 – lots of guys out there looking for teammates. Keep your eyes peeled on Slack and at workouts for openings.
Providence Presbyterian wall rebuild – March 18 – keep your eyes peeled for a signup coming soon.
xoxo,
HB
25 PAX showed up in the gloom for a free campus tour. The THANG:
Short jog around the parking lot followed by some warm-up: Wind mills, cotton-pickers, imperial walkers, merkins, mountain climbers and pistol crunches
Jog up to the main school entrance, grab some wall for: donkey kicks x 20; mike tysons x 10; maktar jai x 10
Jog around to the side of the school for another set of the same with a slight modification: people’s chair with shoulder presses in place of the maktar jais
Mosey on around to the back of the school for a couple drills: (1) long jump burpees to the sign, jog through the second sign, (2) walking lunges through the sign and jog to second sign; (3) high knees to the fist sign, sprint through the second sign.
Mosey on around to another wall, another set of shoulder presses, donkey kicks and mike tysons. Same reps. Then, jog on around to the picnic tables for: (1) step-ups x 10 each leg, (2) 10 decline merkins and (3) 15 dips. One lap around the track after the full set is completed. Rinse and repeat X2. Jog on around to the cars and finish it out with some push-ups.
MOLESKIN:
The PAX did a great job with not a lot of chatter and hard work put in by all. Appreciate everybody putting forth the effort. Dromedary Q is open for the foreseeable future. Here’s the link to the sign-up page. Have at it: http://f3sclt.apphb.com/schedule?utm_source=Pax&utm_campaign=9154409851-Weekly_Email_20170222&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e2070eb2f3-9154409851-65429897#/schedule
Good job everyone.
As many a Charlottean is aware, often February will lull you into a false sense of spring before March swoops in and dashes your dreams of sundresses and sweet tea. Today was that wakeup call, the dash read below freezing at 0650 as YHC exited into the brisk morning air, it was a good thing the weinke called for plenty of movement else many a PAX would be cold. 13 men answered the call and headed off into the lightening gloom for a downpainment
The Thang:
Mosey to the fake grassy Knoll for COP
20 SSH IC followed by 5 Burpees OYO
20 IW IC followed by 5 Burpees OYO
15 Low Slow Squats followed by 5 Burpees OYO
20 Merkins IC, hold plank, 20 Mountain Climbers IC, hold plank, 10 Peter Parkers IC, hold plank, 10 Parker Peters IC, 5 burpees OYO.
Mosey back to cars to pick up party favors and partner up. Party favors consisted of medicine and slam balls weighing in at ~20 lbs and 2 25 Lbs weight plates.
With partners Mosey to adjacent parking lot and line up abreast. Partner 1 runs weights to the 2nd light pole and leaves it then sprints back while partner 2 does Merkins, Flapjack with partner 2 sprinting out and returning with the weight.
Upon completion Partner 1 runs to playground to perform 5 pull-ups while Partner 2 Completes low-slow squats, flapjack
Repeat prior 2 sets substituting jump-switch lunges and slow slow merkins respectively.
Mosey weighted objects back to cars and retain 3 slam balls. Slam ball indian-run (pass balls back along line, when ball arrives at the back sprint-carry it to the front) down to Rea then up the ditch towards 51. Plank up in front of the sign waiting for the 6 who had to drop for a cramp.
Shoulder to shoulder sitting and facing outwards, assume boat position and pass balls around to the right, performing a leg tap and overhead press each time you received the ball… much grumbling to start about how stupid it was until people started complaining about how much it hurt. Flip over for Jack Webb to 5. Back on the 6 to pass the balls around to the left a bit then back over into plank and 20 count mtn. climbers in cadence.
Resume indian run around towards the front of the church and pause in grassy round-a-bout for 20 LBCs in cadence. Resume Indidan run to the top of north face.
AMRAP (As many rounds as possible) of the North Face short course, 5 jump squats at the bottom of North Face and 10 merkins at the top, did this for about 7 minutes.
Mosey to open lot near the cars to complete final exercise, two lines facing each other passing slam balls diagonally down the line, after each throw perform burpee. Down and back 2x then mosey back to the cars for COT.
Moleskin: As ever, YHC was determined to bring something different to the table, and while some of the elements of today’s weinke were non-traditionally it seemed all PAX were sufficiently smoked to end the hour. As ever Pro, Gummy and Ickey donated half-witticisms in between panting while Rachel and Nemo made us all look slow and old. We all understand how Nemo’s youth gives him the advantage but Rachel? Dude is just a machine. YHC may have cursed him a few times out of pure unadulterated jealousy…. Tecumsah was in from Raleigh and brought our first FNG in about a month, David was a trooper but picked a helluva first post. At the end he was talking about how stoked he was to get after it back with the PAX of Greensboro from whence he hails, solid effort Toto and hope to see you at RockZero again down the road.
Announcments:
AYE. A dirty dozen emerged from the humid Gloom for the weekly Anvil beatdown. Here’s more or less what transpired.
THE THANG
Mosey to COP for warmup
14 x SSH
14 x Burpees
13 x Imperial Walkers
13 x Burpees
12 x Something that’s not a burpee
12 x Burpees
Head to the big knoll on Five Knolls
12’s on the hill from the overfull trashcan at the top to the overfull trashcan at the bottom
Start with 12 burpees and 1 jump squat
3 rounds in, YHC felt a bile gusher arising and decided to shorten the track a few times
True 6 minutes of Mary at the top of the hill after the last round
Sprints, lunge walk, mosey back to the VSF
Plank/Merkin/Mtn Climber combo until the clock expires
YE OLDE MOLESKINE
1. That sucked. I’ll admit it. Raquel didn’t seem to have a problem with it but everyone else was gassed. Alf and Scabby made respectable showings. The rest of us were just trying to survive. That hill is wicked. If YHC hadn’t shortened the track, we would have gone into OT for sure.
2. Callout time – Ickey sent me a text later that day that he had a muscle spasm and almost collapsed in a heap at work.
#horseneck OUT
28 men got after it, uh, a week ago…and this is what I remember.
The Thang:
Mosey to Selwyn/AG.
COP (mountain climbers, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, x20)
Split into 2 groups: first, to AG rails for 3 sets of 10 pull-ups, 10 jump (or straddle) overs…second, to previously invisible (to the Q at least) benches in AG bus parking lot for 3 sets of 10 dips, 10 derkins…switcheroo…and then plank-o-rama
Mosey to intersection of Colony and Runnymede…for “Route 66” BS up to Selwyn: 1.25 miles, with 11 stops for each “intersection” — yes, MPHS driveway counts … as does parking lot of barre workout facility [Dredd, what’s your lexicon for this?] — of escalating chgerkins (chest-to-ground merkins). Mary whilst we wait for the 6. Repeato back down with sumo jump squats this time…and Mary on the AG track.
Partner Pyramid across AG field (partner 1 runs across width of field and back…partner 2 completes exercise…partners must complete total reps of each exercise as a team before moving to next exercise): 100 merkins – 200 flutters (double count) – 300 squats – 200 flutters (again, double count) – 100 merkins
150 LBCs for early finishers (#cheaters)…100-ish for next group…50-ish for some others…none for others #youvsyou
Mosey back up Colony and then backwards run all the waaaaaaaaaay up Spacklers. #turrible
Run back down and return home.
COT
Naked Moleskin:
Mustang Is Still Booming. Great to see another huuuuuuuge crowd at Mustang. #MakeMetroGreatAgain Even better to see a lot of folks I hadn’t seen in a while. (I’m sure the feeling was mutual…mostly.) Lots of dudes flying out there with A/C leading the charge on both Route 66s…and Dredd spreading the #Mumblechatter and #TruthNuggets throughout our little adventure.
Addition Is Still Hard. Team-based addition is always fun. Add in some running and fatigue, and it’s always amusing to hear the Pax fumble with counting. Add in double-count flutters (or maybe IC counting flutters for some of you), and that equals a #Math-tastrophe.
AG Rails Are Still High. They are really high. Some Pax have the hops to do it. Others just avoid the jump overs. Superman decided that he would just straddle the bar facedown and slowly move his legs over the bar and therefore put all of his weight in his nether regions. #MyEyes! After ‘Shank questioned Superman’s form, Superman dryly responded, “I’m done with kids.” #truedat
Dredd Is Still Chatty, or Never Question the Spiritual Naantan (Sorry, Always Question…). Welcome to 2 new FNGs. Proehl is a sophomore (and wide receiver) at MPHS and his dad Broken Arrow is some kind of mad, blue-haired nuclear physicist for the Panthers (might have that one wrong though). Proehl had clearly never heard of the real Ricky Proehl, and I’m sure he ranted about it in a Snapchat or on his fake Instagram account (that’s Finstagram for you millennials) following the workout. Our Spiritual Naantan was resolute in the naming, and I was just glad his reference was from the ’90s and ’00s so we gave it to him. Hope to see both Proehl and Broken Arrow back soon.
—Lee
“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.” —Aristotle