8 men committed themselves to personal improvement today at DaVinci.
A thorough but brief disclaimer was given and we headed off for some COP.
The Thang:
Head across to the bank parking lot for some warm up. Squats, Merkins, Reverse lunge, Windmill
Commute Trail #1: Head down the trail in back of Best Buy. On your 6 once in the neighborhood, LBCs on your own while getting instructions.
Headed right and down Bullock Greenway Blvd: 5 merkins at each break between houses and at the corner (30 total), plank it up, wait for 6.
Commute down Trail #2 – Mosey, then kick it up to a full run at the 1st split. After exiting the trail, head down to the stop sign at Beaver Brook way. 5 burpees at every other driveway on left (65 total), plank exercises at next left turn (Alma Blount Blvd) while waiting on the 6.
Partner up and head to the power lines (forevermore renamed to Gnat Hill).
Round 1: Start with 5 hand slap merkins, Partner 1: American hammer, Partner 2: run out and back…Flapjack
Round 2: 10 Hand Slap merkins+Flutter, Round 3: 10 Hand Slap merkins+LBCs, Round 3: 10 Hand Slap merkins+wait for the 6. (35 total hand slap merkins)
Mosey to Tomlin Green for some 4 corners. Instructions:
Leg 1: lunge, 10 squats at corner
Leg 2: shuffle facing South, 10 squats at corner
Leg 3: reverse run, 10 squats at corner
Leg 4: shuffle facing South, 10 squats at corner
Repeat with 10 jump squats, then 5 burpees at the corners
…Still time for some extended elbow planking – clearly a favorite.
Head over to the Best Buy parking lot for some modified Suicide Latter with 5 burpees, 10 merkins, 15 dying cock roach, and finish with burpees until the 6 returns.
Time is running short!!! Audible sprint to the stop sign at Ardrey Kell, while dodging cars in the lot, before crossing to Chick-fil-a for some COT.
Totals for the day (excluding warm ups):
3.25 miles
~100 Burpees (depending on how many you got in the final round)
40 Squats
40 Jump Squats
40 Merkins
35 Hand Slap Merkins
Several Mary and planks
Moleskin:
Notable comments: “We did a lot of burpees.” “Man those are a lot of gnats.” “Are you sure he’s an FNG?” “Where is that left turn!!!, I think we will exceed the 50 burpee estimate.”
It was a great morning for a workout today. And as promised it was a runner friendly regiment. The general consensus was that our legs were smoked. But that’s what you get when you let a soccer arm, no upper body endurance, runner, Q take over the workout.
The trails were a successful diversion today for the commute. And even though I have used this same route through the community before, no one in the PAX today were around when we took this loop the last time. Several of the PAX noted the over abundance of gnats at the power line out-and-back runs today. We have affectionately renamed that segment as Gnat Hill. Inevitably many gnats were consumed which I am sure added to the high spirits and overall energy of the group. Mighty Might was in full beast-mode today and was at the head of the group for most of the workout. Auger (a.k.a FNG) came out of the gate with a surprising hunger for punishment. Must be something in the water up in PA. It was also notable today that Bucky’s got game. During the quad burning jump squats, he schooled the group in form and height. Overall, the entire group laid down some serious work today. While focusing on the not so popular major leg muscles, all the PAX embraced the F3 spirit of the day.
Great start to the day this morning guys. Thanks for letting me take the lead today Tuck and Triple 7!
Announcements:
Convergence on Monday. Meet at the upper parking deck in Ballantyne Village.
21 Goats showed up at South Charlotte Middle School with one thing on their mind… Personal Best in the Timed-Mile… or “how soon can this be over…” one of those!!
We did some light stretching in the parking lot, then moseyed to the track for some warm-up laps and dynamic stretching… final instructions… then make it happen!
Here the results…. congrats to EVERYONE! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!
| Name | 5/26/17 Timed Mile | |
| Frasier | 5:00 | |
| JRR Tolkien | 5:19 | PB |
| Turkey Leg | 5:50 | |
| Top Gun 2(Joker) | 5:52 | |
| Sensei | 6:23 | PB |
| Goonie | 6:45 | PB |
| Retread | 6:59 | PB |
| Benny | 6:59 | PB |
| Huggie Bear | 7:07 | PB |
| Slice | 7:08 | PB |
| Insomniac | 7:48 | PB |
| Tweetsie | 7:52 | PB |
| Drano | 8:00 | PB |
| Lois | 8:37 | PB |
| Gullah | 9:10 | PB |
| Kilowatt | 9:39 | PB |
| Big Bang | 10:30 | PB |
| Pele | 10:34 |
14 out of 18 runners set PB’s!! INCREDIBLE!! Again, I can’t say how proud I am for each of you… !!
Have a great weekend to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for us to have the freedoms we have! I’m thankful for those freedoms, and I’m thankful for each of you guys.
Enjoy your weekend… you deserve a break! Safe travels!
Announcements:
1. #F3SpeedForNeed – Find a way to become involved.
2. Saturday Convergence at Rock Zero – Calvary
3. Monday Convergence at Base Camp – South Charlotte Middle School
This AMRAP workout is starting to catch fire in Waxhaw. It not only appeared in GroupMe, but also got press coverage on #The_Haw channel on Slack.
WARMUP
Mosey to front of school. Disclaimer given. SSH x 25, MC x 25, Merkin x 10, MC x 15
THE THANG
AMRAP challenge. Consists of about a 1/3 mile lap with 7 exercise stations along the route. 30 minutes to complete as many laps as possible. Stations included:
After 30 mins, we gathered up the PAX and headed back with some Mary along the way to get to the COT.
MOLESKINE
Impressive push by the PAX. EVERY returning AMRAPer beat their previous performance by a significant amount. Great job! We will try and beat these distances on the last Friday of every month. Here are the results:
Returning AMRAPers:
New AMRAPers:
Apologize for the lack of wittiness. I’m trying to type this so I can get to the pool and drink a few beers. Enjoy the long weekend. Thanks to all who have served this country so bravely.
Announcements:
Commitment: Saturday 0630 at Weddington High School (Open Q)
Flash: Monday 0630 (special time) at Cuthbertson Middle (Popeye Military-style)
Jimmy Johnson Fit Fest: Monday at Anne Springs in Fort Mill. Kid friendly spartan events and adult trail runs and bike races
6 gathered at the pre-dawn hour of 0510, 1 showed at 516. The 1 never caught the 6, but not for lack of effort.
Run back passed the launch, up Ben Nevis, into the neighborhood at the top and down to the playground at the bottom of the hill. Along the way, we stopped 6ish times for 35 seconds of continuous, unbroken leg exercise and 35 seconds of continuous unbroken merkin varietals:
At the playground there is an octagonal monkey bar set with relatively thick bars on the outside and skinny ones on the inside. We engaged in some pull-up/grip work:
Step over to the swing set, jump up to the fat bar on the top, dead hang as long as you can. (q-fail on this one, some peeps couldn’t reach the bar)
Partner up for a pair of exercises:
repeat for 2 rounds
Run back to the launch point, pausing approx. 2 times along the way for 35 seconds of continuous leg exercise and 35 seconds of continuous seconds of merkin-ish stuff:
Back at the launch, circle up for some Mary.
Bucky with a solid takeout in COT.
Nice fast group at Brave today. We were thankful for the even number (for partner stuff), even if that meant leaving Fallout to run about the AO in search of us. Apparently, he searched all the usual Argo haunts: Hell-a-pad, Harris Deck, etc. to no avail. YHC had no idea what to do today, and was thankful for the supportive crew and the push. Jump lunges look a little off, especially when one puts their hands on the hips and smiles too much (Flipper…some sort of Gene Simmons comment here), but… the lunges made the 4+ miles harder to earn. All in all, it seemed we were all pretty gassed by the end in a workout that kind of wore on you as the morning went on. Well done all.
31 men showed up at Centurion this AM. There was a line of cars pulling in at 5:25AM ready to see what this VQ had to offer, which reminded me of what Kevin Costner witnessed from his family farm in the greatest movie of all time (at least for any Iowan like myself). Gave a brief disclaimer (graded as a C by Hops – but as a fellow Wake alum he knows all about grade deflation) and we were off.
Thang
Took a scenic route off-campus to an office parking lot about .7 miles away
COP – all in cadence
IW x 10
LSS x 10
Alt Leg Lunges x 20
Merkin x 10
Peter Parker x 10
Parker Peter x 10
Freddie Mercury x 20
H2H x 10
10 burpees OYO
Hill Work
Short mosey over to parking lot in next to big hill. Did sprints to bottom of hill 10 x merkins, up to top of hill 10 x merkins, back down to bottom 10 x merkins and then sprint back. Next set was 10 carolina dry docks, then 10 jump squats then 5 burpees
Ran back towards football stadium, partnered up. Shuffled the length of the football stadium to the bottom parking lot.
Partner Work
Partner #1 did a lunge walk the length of the parking lot and sprinted back. Partner #2 did incline merkins, dips, and pull-ups on ramp railing. Goal was to get to 200 merkins, 200 dips, and 100 pull-ups together. After a few rotations, YHC calls the exercise off early as most teams had completely lost track of their count.
Garage Work
Did a modified suicide run up the ramp, coming back half way, and then all the way back. Ended with some more Mary (dolly and flutter) and then all-you-got back to the launch point for some COT.
Moleskin
Really enjoyed my VQ experience with this great PAX, especially with lots of men who were at Anvil when I first posted almost a year ago. Big group to manage for my first go-round, but the energy was great and I didn’t hear too much grumbling. Time flew by and modifications and an audible had to be made accordingly. I was too busy trying to keep track of time to notice who killed it, but great efforts all-around.
I know now to avoid higher-level math in the future so as to not cause trouble for the non-accountants in this PAX.
T-caps to everyone who pitched in to help with the site clean-up at 5AM (Margo, Lorax, Hops, Abacus, Van Pelt and others). It was the cleanest clean-up I have ever participated in so I’m guessing students have been serving detentions outside recently.
Announcements
Convergence at Calvary at 7AM tomorrow, includes 3 citations from solders who died in battle and 100 burpees in silence. Should be incredible.
JRR Tolkien announced that about $29k has been raised for Speed-4-Need. Amazing.
Also, congrats to Tool Bag for his soon-to-be new baby!
Boxing is an excellent addition to your fitness regimen. Runners can work on arm strength and maintain cardio fitness, lifters/KB guys can use all that power and new guys can build stamina and technique. Today we had a solid mix of rookie and veteran fighters. The station format allows for some to modify drills including shadow boxing and sparring.
5:15 The Clinic
This week we started 15 minutes early to focus on technique. This week the focus was on stance and footwork. A boxer’s punch and defense is defined by his ability to maintain proper form and rhythm. In essence a proper stance allows a boxers to move to minimize being hit and increase the ability to land a solid punch.
Stations:
P1 – Jump rope
P2 – Kettlebell
P3&4 Gloves/pads
P5/6 Gloves pads
P7/8 Gloves pads
P9 Heavy bag
1:45 rounds
3 Cycles
Core Meltdown:
Crunch x 15
LBC x 15
Side crunch R/L x 15
Pistol crunch R/L x 15
Pretzel Crunch R/L x 15
Toe-tap crunch x 15
Chippy cross x 15
Moleskine
Loogie, Chipotle, Speedbag and Tiny Dancer provided extra guidance to newer boxers including punching combinations, stance and defense. It’s great to see Icing, Baggins and Coal Ash all very new to F3 join us at Fight Club. Keep coming back!
In what has become a tradition, on Saturday, May 27th we will honor the fallen heroes of the US Military with our Memorial Day Weekend convergence. On May 25th, 2013 Radar and Purple Haze launched a new AO called Day Zero with the thought of pushing ourselves further by keeping in mind the sacrifices that others have made for our freedoms. The following year on its 1 year anniversary, with what has become this annual tradition, we did nearly the same workout we will be doing tomorrow. Even though the days of DayZero are behind us, the tradition lives on at RockZero. All AOs and PAX are welcome to join us.
RockZero Memorial Day Weekend Convergence 2017:
Again, all PAX are welcome and please bring your shovel flags as we will carry these with us to each area of campus we stop at.
Put your mind in the right place by remembering what this weekend is truly about by joining us tomorrow at 0700 at Calvary.
*ATTENTION*
We are changing up the schedule for Fat Camp, the Ballantyne area Gear/Strength/Speed workout will be changing times effective next Wednesday, May 31. Workout start time will be moved from 5:15AM and will still run until 6:15AM. You may be wondering, why are you shortening our beat down time. Well in fact Fat Camp will now feature 2 different pre-run options:
At 5:30 we will start the Fat Camp workout. Benefits to this change include:
Once again, these changes go into effect immediately starting on Wednesday, May 31. Look forward to seeing you brutes at Fat Camp this summer. Keep a look out for the PreBlast of our Summer “Fat Boy” course series that will feature a strength and speed combo course running once a month Jun – Aug which will push PAX against one another in competition in addition to providing a Uvs.U opportunity.
Over and Out – General
Fun Friday was tweeted out and 21 dawgs showed up to experience the Junkyard. TR asked YHC mid week to sub for him and the wheels started turning, so I went to the toybox and grabbed a few that aimed to please the Pax.
0530 hit on the Garmin, disclaimer was recited. Cottontail stepped on a duck and so we had to evacuate the circle, mosey around the lot to relocate by the flagpole.
The Thang:
5 Burpees, SSH x 20, Jog around lot (Shovel flag shows up and was planted)
5 Burpees, Merkins x 13, High knees around lot
5 Burpees, Mountain climbers x 15, Carioca around lot
5 Burpees, CDD x 20, Backward around lot
10 Burpees to finish warmup
To the Junkyard and the toys, Partner up:
Pt #1 runs a lap (timer) while Pt #2 does exercise station (flapjack), move counterclockwise
1. Tire flips
2. Pull-ups
3. Balanced merrkins
4. Slam ball
5. Dips
6. Sandbag squat and press
7. KB snatches
8. KB swings
9. Sandbag lunges
10. Agility Ladder
11. Kb Farmer carry
Back to Circle with Partner:
Partner Decline merkins x 20 (flapjack)
Race partner around track
Partner leg shoulder presses x 10 (crowdpleaser, some refusnik)
Race partner around track
MARY- lead up Uncle Leo (thank you!)
LBB, Flutter, Heels to Heaven, Side crunches, probably Dolly too.
One more race around the track
COT- Squid with the Takeout.
Announcements:
F3 Dads starts next weekend: Alf on Q at Beatty park
NEED for SPEED- donate and looking for a race in S. Clt
Witch Dr- Nantan Pod cast: God’s diet for your Health
Kevlar Q list- see Whip to sign up.
Naked Moleskin:
Skinny Semigloss shows up early to many workout to run instead of the warm-up. Somebody might want to join that sadclown for a pre-run.
Harley is very aware of his surroundings. He immediately noticed the yard full of toys and I believe cracked a smile.
Thank you Uncle Leo for leading MARY for YHC. I’ve still got some lower ab issue.
YHC really only called the race your partner to see how fast Rhapsody and Orange whip could get around that track. They were kicking up the dirt fo sho.
Not many like the Partner Leg Shoulder press, probably because they cannot do it. Ha!
Agility ladder- we all need a few more reps on that one to get it down- brand new toy
Balanced Merkin- YHC always get a few “I like that one” from the pax. Happy to please ya.
YHC love to work in the toys (gear) when we can. Hopefully everyone enjoyed it today and maybe even had a little Friday Fun.
Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend with your loved ones and please remember to reflect on those who have given their life for us to have our freedom.
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”
11 faithful welcomed the long weekend with what made America great…education and hard work!
SSH x 20 IC
KB 101 – introduce a teaching point and perform 10 swings each time
Transition to 7…uh, 5 Implements of Doom due to Q’s long-windedness
Scorpion Merkins – demo only – push-up while looking to the left and taking your left leg over your right leg as you lower. Repeat on the other side.
Get in teams of 3…one is the runner, one is KB flowing, and the other is hitting one of these 5 options:
Once the threesome has rotated through implement, run, KB, then the whole group moves to the next implement and repeat.
COT
Announcements:
Shake and Bake encouraged a Terrain Run coming soon.
Conviction (new UC moderate AO) opens 5/31. Site Q’s are Bullwinkle, Jabberwokky & Playoffs
Moleskin:
It was an honor to share some gloom with this group of guys this morning. Big love and encouragement to DT…proud of your hard work brother, keep it up. Thanks to HB for the invite and the rest of the Pax for the warm welcome and being open to the KB clinic. Aye!