Super Duper Super Sets
8 pax lifted…hard. Here’s what we did.
SSH x 15
Merkins x 10
IW x 15
Merkins x 10
CDD x 15
Snatch x 10
Squat x 10
Curl x 10
Merkins x 20
Clean x 10
Lunge x 10
Upright Row x 10
Merkins x 20
Swing x 10
Deadlift x 10
2 Handed Press x 10
Merkins x 20
Partner up: Doubles
Same circuit x 5
NMM: No Mary at Meathead
We lifted heavier and harder than you ever have. Maybe next week you’ll join us.
“Vintage” Arsenal Backblast (not late)
10.5 Men made their way to Indian Land for a pre-run and beatdown known as Arsenal.
The thang:SSH x 15
[5 burpees]
IW x 15
[5 burpees]
Low Slow Squats
[5 Burpees]
Mountain Climbers x 15[5 Burpees]
Merkins IC x 10Mosey to Playground
5 Pullups, 10 merkins, 15 squats
1 Lap around Playground
X 5 setsMosey over to field, then audibled to hill for 7s
Merkins at Bottom, Squats at top, Up & down Hill in MiddleBreak into 3 teams of 3
2 partners BTTW or People’s chair while 3rd partner grabs Two 45lb plates and carries length of Front of school and back.
Next partner takes plates and walks/runs.
Race until all team members complete Plate Walk.Circle of Mary
Each Pax calls exercise x 10 reps.The End
Announcements: BROlympics this weekend.Moleskine:
This AO is becoming one of YHC’s favorites of the week. The hilly pre-run followed by a plethora of possibilities at the school makes it interesting and tough. It is also great to catch up with some interesting PAX that I don’t usually see at the Vine or StoneCrest. This Q was less organized than I would have liked, so YHC will need more opportunities to improve there. The Plate Carry, in particular shows promise, but needs fine tuning.
FireHazard sped through every part of this workout leaving YHC wondering if there should have been more Burpees during the warmup just to slow him down.
Ringer & General were out front pushing every run and breezing through the Merkins.
Kielbasa and Sauerkraut seem like they should be mentioned in the same comment. Both powered through the burpees and hills like it was a walk in the park. Kielbasa may have led the way in mumblechatter, but he also led the way with his canoe/boat choice in the circle of Mary. That was tough.
Erector made his second appearance at F3 and did not complain as he carried his body weight equivalent in plates the length of the school and back.
Madame Tussaud and Outback kept everyone honest on the hills and at the playground. Good to see the familiar faces out in Indian Land. I think have lost track of which one of MT’s impressions was Kiwi, Scottish, or English. I have a feeling his Russian, German and Dutch would sound surprisingly similar.
Mario & his dog made it to the morning run. Not too shabby for an 8-month old. The dog did OK also.
It was a pleasure being able to lead this group. SYITG
DMZ – Monday Math
12 strong stayed close to home but got some miles with some hill repeats.
Mosey from Carmel Park to Church at Charlotte parking lot for SSH x 20, merkins x 10, IW x 15. Mosey across Colony to Castellaine for 5’s (really 6’s) and 3’s (really 4’s). 5’s included jump squats at the top and merkins at the bottom. 3’s included lunges at the top and burpees at the bottom. Mary as we wait for the 6. Mosey back to the courtyard of Church at Charlotte for dips x 20 and step ups x10, repeat. Mosey to the bottom of the parking lot. Suicides to each street light and back with increasing widearms x3. AYG to the top. 6 minutes of Mary – LBC, Rosalita, Knee ups, protractor, heels to heaven, Boone LBCs.
Orlando cut it close this morning and chose wisely to try the church first vs. the Camp Gladiator route. He only missed the first 50 burpees and am sure he has done them already. Swiper, ’bout time and One Eye were flying as usual. Swiper’s attempts to oust the Q with facts, logic and speed were thwarted by the pax who could even follow the worst guidance. Good to see Gangsta back in the saddle. Albatross keeps coming back for more.
BRR training begins – Thursday nights 7:30pm Foxcroft Wine shop – mileage followed by adult beverages. Bulldogs Matters summer help needed (see Cuda). 6/3 Goat from Cotswold – Shawshank is pulling together again this year. Check the website for details.
The Foxhole
5 familiar faces gathered at Tha Hole this morning. Here is how it went.
Warm Up: Circle up for 15 IW, 15 merkins, 15 windmills, 10 MC/10 Plank Jacks/plank-o-rama
Main Event Part I. 4 sets of alternating Pull Ups and Double KB Cleans. 6-10 reps per set. Slow pace, focus on form, strength.
Main Event Part II. 4 sets of 10 KB merkins/10 Two Handed Swings/10 Overhead Presses/10 Two Handed Swings. Recovery = a 10 count in between each set and one set of flutters x 30 IC after 3rd set.
Main Event Part III. Mosey down to the soccer field and line up facing the field width wise. KB burpee ladder: 1 burpee, run across and back, 2 burpees, across and back, etc. AMRAP fashion and hit pause when the 6 gets to 3 reps. Then gather for 3 sets of one-arm rows/Mary. Mary was LBCs/American Hammers, Heels to Heaven/Pistol Crunches, Full Sit-ups/Side Crunches. Then re-start the ladder and go back down to one KB burpee.
Mosey back to launch and kill time with snatches (5 a side), high pulls (10 a side), and swings x20.
Moleskine: “Sometimes you wanna go… where everybody knows your name…” That is pretty much what it felt like this morning with Argonaut, Kirby, Fire Marshal, Luggi, and YHC this morning. YHC had been missing Foxhole lately for some Big House and some fartsack – it was good to be back.
Announcements: May 24 SOB convergence at The Maul with an FNG quota. Start thinking it through now and make it happen.
Back to an Old Bag of Tricks
23 pax mustered in the south Charlotte gloom for another Monday morning edition of BaseCamp. After a stumbling disclaimer by YHC, we launched into what is normally the most poorly lit AO in all of Area 51. Thankfully the sun comes up earlier this time of year….though a few of the pax are better seen in the dark. Didn’t see a shovel flag…Goonie? Drano? Perhaps I missed it..as I did Tebow…more on that later.
Anyway, below is something similar to what the downpainment entailed with some random commentary –
The Thang & Ye Olde Moleskine:
Jog down to the track and run one lap then circle up at midfield’s for COP.
COP:
IW x 15 IC
Slow Squat x 15 IC
H-R Merkin x 15 IC
Flutter x 15 IC
Carolina Dry Dock x 10 IC
Partner up for the following:
P1 AYG run width of football field while P2 does LBC’s. Flapjack. Rinse & Repeat.
P1 AYG run. P2 Jump Squats. Flapjack. Rinse & Repeat.
P1 AYG run. P2 Wide-Arm Merkins. Flapjack. Rinse & Repeat.
I think we did some Chilcutt with alternating leg lifts x 10 IC at this point.
YHC then grabbed the bag of numbered tennis balls for the next segment. Not sure who gave me that idea years ago, but Haze provided the tennis balls…glad he was there to enjoy it this morning.
Split the pax into 3 groups.
Then had one of the pax pull a numbered ball out of the bag (numbered 5’ish to 100). Can’t remember exactly what numbers were drawn – 8, 11, 12, 13, 22, 24, 30..I think? Anyway, each group ran from midfield to a separate corner of the field and did the following with the same number of reps in the corner and back at midfield:
Burpees, American Hammer, Diamond Merkins, Freddie Mercury, Merkins (Haze called that as my ad-libbing brain froze…thanks for the added creativity?), One-legged squats.
Goonie, Swing State (our guest from NoCo/Isotope/Lake Norman = Lake Nopotope = Identity Crisis for our northern brethren) & Adobe were out front on this bit. Goonie also had the nerve to call me out on my merkin form…I’m getting a second opinion from Champagne.
We finished with 9 minutes and 47 seconds of Mary consisting of something akin to:
Dolly x 13 IC
Makthar N’Djaiye x 10 IC…of course
6-count burpee x 10 IC
High Slow Flutter x 13 IC
Cumberland County Viaduct x10R IC & x10L IC..of course! Nobody likes love handles…
Jog back to launch lot.
SSH x 13 IC. I don’t know why I called these…I’m ashamed of myself. I can’t explain it. Simba was not happy at all.
Done
COT with Swing State taking us out.
Announcements:
# Goonie mentioned Savage Race, though it’s far to late to sign-up. Thanks for nothing Goonie.
# F3 Dads at Charlotte Knights (2.0’s get to sing the National Anthem on the field!) – Friday, May 26th
# Convergence at RockZero on Saturday before Memorial Day – don’t miss! Really cool with citations read of those decorated men who, indeed, gave their last full measure of devotion to our country and the preservation of our freedoms.
# Convergence Memorial Day at BaseCamp
Some other observations:
Simba talks a lot but also gets after it pretty good out there, and he picked up the tennis balls. #servant
Insomniac wore a nasty looking NC State hat this morning….backards at times (that’s Wolfpack for backwards)
Smash was mumblechattering the whole workout…ok, not really. Not at all. Just seeing who’s paying attention. Thunder Road was also talking junk the whole time….
Floorslapper was on time as was Adobe. #uncharacteristic
Compound, a recent addition to the pax via Metro, visited his old middle school stomping grounds this morning. Good to have you brother. He was mumbling something about his glory days on that gridiron….not really….though maybe? Maybe not.
Invited Swing State to join us this morning and figured it was him when I saw a vehicle pull into the wrong lot at 5:20’ish…as YHC did (allegedly more than once) a few years ago. Good to have you down from Lake Nocotope.
Apparently my Q’s are fairly predictable….I accept that. Goonie did call me out for omitting Burpee Broad Jumps & something else I can’t remember. I’ll do better next time boss.
And now for the apology portion of this backblast. YHC inexplicably and inexcusably skipped Tebow at the end of Name-o-rama. How could that happen? His beard is twice as long as Haze’s and much redder. #ginger No words. Cobains Tebow. I made sure the list listed you in the pax list.
Grateful to Goonie & Drano for tapping me to Q. It really is a privilege to lead you men through the workout. The 1st F doesn’t get easier, you just get stronger (if you push yourself). The 2nd F is why we want to keep posting and connecting with the pax (also takes effort/intentionality). And the 3rd F is ultimately the “why” we do anything we do. Drink deeply from all 3 wells men.
Christmas Comes ever earlier
2 Sleds, Bells and bags of fun. That was the plan for the morning. It was an energetic one at that, McGee made his Commitment comeback and 17 others showed up to beat the fart sack on the cool Saturday morning.
WU: 30 SSH, 30 MC’s, 30 LBC’s, 10 Potato Pickers, mosey to the side of school for some people’s chair, 20 donkey kicks OYO, grab a rock 15 Curl to press, 15 Low slow squats, 15 Lunges each leg. Mosey to the back of school grab a railing, 10 bottom rail (IC) 10 Middle (IC) 10 upper (IC).
The Thang:
Mosey over to the tack for a quick 400 so we could separate the group into 5 teams for what lay ahead. 3 teams had 3, 2 had 4 to find the practice field lined with 2 sleds 3 45LBS plates. 5 Kettle Bells and 5 Sand bags. The mission was simple, One person on the bags and one on the bells with the runner swapping out on the bags side. was suppose to be three sets but the first set was 150 Sandbag burpees, second was 200 KB swings, and the third was 300 Squats with the bag between each set was a 400 Indian run with the bag as a team. Mosey back and do a challenge race with the next fasted guy. Some quick Mary to finish up.
Moleskin: We never made it to the 3rd set. I hear a lot of grumbling about the 150 sandbag burpees, “there should be an audible on this,” that one stood out. The second I heard that, there was no way I was going to reduce the target. Any ways, there was a lot of sweat and determination. I saw a lot of heart, Damascus was killing the sled, Recalulating had a no quit attitude even with a hernia issue going on. MoneyBall and Shampoodle clearly has decided to kick it into gear and added Saturday to the mix, as always Doc, Goodfella, and Hollywood and Bottlecap gave their 100% and led the pax. Popeye has shaken the dusk off his wheel and has gotten back into the swing of things and Legal, have you all see this sleeper (car reference). He is getting faster, quickly! McGee was fast as usual and was all about the 150 sandbag burpees (after they were done). Gator and Foundation continue gain speed and Shop,,,well Shop is an interesting one, there’s an at the beginning of the work out Shop and there is an end of the work out Shop, clearly two differert Shops, one is good at speed, the other is substantially faster, at the end of the work out. Last but not least Orville, PLEASE Come Back, this was not a fair workout to start on, heavy on weights and high on intensity, with no explanation of modification from the Q, that was my fault. That all said Orville made his way back and got back in the game! Nice work
Announcements:
Sanctuary- Monday nights 7:30 Brooklyn pizza
Chariot Race- Tolkien has challenged us to find a race to Sponsor a handicap person to race with, lets do this!
Swift Pre-Blast: Chinese Fire Drill Intervals
Bratwurst is out… Tolkien is in, but don’t worry… the fabled Fortune Cookie Run won’t be back. Instead we’re running a Chinese Fire Drill. Mongol style!
The THANG
0500 – 0515: warm up the legs and core by pulling each other in rickshaws for 15 minutes, sneak in a little Tai Chi to get the mind right. Shots of ginseng to chase down a GU packet right before the main event.
0515-0615: In drive mode (coasting, no pressure on the gas) one PAX starts driving Tolkien’s truck around the bull ring with the rest of the Pax in the cab or in the bed. The person in the back of the bed, hops out of the truck, runs around the truck without getting hit, enters the driverside door, pushes the driver in, and the PAX move towards the back of the truck. Repeato until all PAX have cycled through. That’s round 1. Round 2, add 5mph to the truck speed and repeat until 0615 or until there is a casualty. Remember the disclaimer that is given at the start that you exercise at your own risk.
or….
We could go with the Bratwurst plan, so set your watches accordingly:
- 3min HARD (2mi race pace) followed by 2min recovery
- 4minHARD (2mi race pace) followed by 3min recovery
- 3min HARD (2mi race pace) followed by 2min recovery
- 4minHARD (2mi race pace) followed by 3min recovery
- on and on and on until 0615
PACE Groups:
(R) ICH Pace – if you can afford a fancy watch that will override your heart rate to something ridiculously low and pump your VO2 MAX into the 60s fictitiously. Bunker leads pace group.
(I) NJURY Pace – if you have sprained an ankle for good or bad reasons in the last year, you have a free pass to this group. Fire Hazard, Tolkien and Tuck are the pacers…. in arrow formation, like Nike’s Breaking 2hr marathon pacers did… only 2hrs slower.
(P) URGE Pace – follow Frasier, Citgo, Fahvra, and whoever else has no body fat who will be running at lightning speed, and purge the food they ate four days ago in the woods somewhere to stay lean and mean.
See you tomorrow…. maybe
“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our F3DOM!” ~ @JRRTolkienF3
Good Livin’ At The Big House
7 PAX made the right choice and posted for their #DRP at the Big House and here’s how it went down.
COP:
Take a warm up lap around the parking log, circle up for COP.
- Burpees x 5
- SSH x 20
- Burpees x 4
- Merkins x 15
- Burpees x 3
- IW x 10
- Burpees x 2
- 4 Ct Flutter Kicks x 15
- Burpees x 1
Return to the van and pick up Coupons (2 Rucks & 1 Kettlebell) to exchange for some Good Livin’ then return to the parking lot with said coupons. Partner up, size and speed does not matter. Catch Me If You Can back to the parking lot, Partner 1 carries the Ruck/Coupon while Partner 2 completes 5 Merkins, flapjack.
Staying with your partners, Partner 1 takes a lap around the parking lot while Partner 2 performs called exercise with the coupon, then flapjack. Each partner completed the round, plank it up and wait for the Six. Change coupons between rounds and move on to the next exercise.
- Overhead Presses
- Squats
- Curls
- Lunges
- Thrusters
Staying with your partner, Catch Me If You Can heading back to the starting point with the coupons. Stopping for a quick circuit of 10 Derkins, 15 Dips, and 20 Squats at the benches. Pick up you coupons and return to the starting point.
Mary:
- Flutter Kicks x 20
- LBCs x 10
Moleskinny:
- Great work by the PAX today, YHC only posted to this AO once before and it’s great getting out and meeting other PAX in the Area 51/SOB region. I highly recommend it.
- YHC wanted to change things up a bit and introduce Rucks to the PAX. We had one at GORUCK Light weight (4 bricks), one at Tough weight (30 lb Plate). Thanks to the PAX for indulging me.
- Outback looked very comfortable with Ruck on, handled it like a champ.
- Outback is a good sport when folks assume he’s from Australia. #PatientKiwi
- We were able to add some more burpees to Cadre Danny’s 1 million burpee challenge, see information below.
- Madame Tussaud and his truck wrere missed.
- Cheddar launched F3 Birmingham this past weekend. #GiveItAway
- As we returned to the parking lot to retrieve the coupons YHC heard something to the effect of “It’s bada$$ when you pull coupons from a mini-van”. Mini-vans are great for transporting coupons.
- Thanks to Dumpster Fire and Cheddar for the opportunity to lead and please sound off with any mumble chatter.
Announcements:
- Cadre Danny Stokes (F3 name Linus) is organizing rucks in every U.S. capital city in 2017 raising money for Operation Enduring Warrior and will be in Columbia, SC and Raleigh, NC this fall. More information here: 2017 http://capitaltour2017.com/register/
- Donate Burpees to Cadre Danny’s 1 Million Burpee Challenge here: http://capitaltour2017.com/burpees/
- Ballantyne Corporate Cup: http://racesonline.com/events/run-ballantyne-8k5k
A Mongol Leads a Bunch of Savages at the Matrix
SUMMARY
21 men (including 1 FNG) showed up at The Matrix for a last minute obstacle course training cram session, led by the Mongolian Banana, ahead of this weekend’s Savage Race. Shovel flags (F3 Hot Tubs, and The Matrix) were planted, and thank goodness no one else showed up or else there would not have been enough gear…. teams of 3 were formed for some HIIT. Suppose credit should be given to Paper Jam and Madison for a prerun, even though they COULD have helped YHC set up stations #lonely. Madison gets a free pass, for collecting a TON of gear for the Charlotte Rescue Mission and Men’s Shelter workouts MIP and Fortitude. In the end, everyone should have issues writing with a pen today, squeezing a tube of toothpaste, and … whatever else requires some level of grip strength (use your imagination… or NOT).
THE THANG
The objective of the day, was to simulate a little bit of the Savage OCR Race that 50+ A51/SOB/UC PAX are participating in. That means sprinting from one obstacle to another, conquering the obstacle, and hoping you have enough grip strength to make it to the finish line with 100% completion. Failure to complete an obstacle for ELITES results in a DNF time. A little different rules for the Open, but no one wants to fail an obstacle. After a quick lap around the parking lot to loosen the legs, instructions were given in High and Low plank position to PAX to allow YHC to “hear the sound of my own voice, and show off the chesticle strength that benched 41.99 reps of 135lbs at the BROlympics” VIDEO EVIDENCE…. at least that’s what ALF ws yapping… or something like that. SMH. Anyway, plan was to complete 2 rounds at 7 stations, spending 2:20 at each station, and sprinting :30 to a point and back during the transition. 40min of HIIT total.
- Station 1: Dead-arm-hang / toes-2-bar at the pullup bars (grip/core)
- Station 2: Supine rope pullups with thick rope (grip / back)
- Station 3: ~20lb sandbag tosses to partner (total body)
- Station 4: Reverse burpees with 25lb or 35lb kettlebell (abs/legs)
- Station 5: Thick Tug-O-War Rope Resistance pulls (grip/back/core)
- Station 6: Farmer’s Carry with choice of 45lb kb’s / 45lb plates <with grip holes> / 35lb plates <fingertips>
- Station 7: ~85lb Heavy Home Depot Bucket Carries
Somehow the last station was missed from either PAX revolt, oversight, or being out of time (extend these 45min workouts!) Load the gear back up in the truck, and FINITO!
NAKED MOLESKINE
YHC lives all of 1.8 miles away from The Matrix AO, yet has NEVER posted there in nearly 3 years of F3 (Take that back, YHC met Turkey Leg there for a marathon training run once, came back, and crashed COT once). Guess what… YHC is NOT sorry! How can anyone build any sort of self-esteem getting dusted by the likes of Orange Whip, Joker, and Lobstah Roll. Those dudes are so in sync you should watch their perfectly synchronized bucket carry turns. Another reason NOT to show up to the Matrix is how can anyone focus on working out when Poptart and Alf are going toe-to-toe on snarky comments for 45minutes. Alf, moving the cone distance shorter mattered today, and Poptart, no one saw you running with the two 45lb plates but everyone heard you whimper in the following bucket carries for doing so. Some of my SOB loyalists were in attendance as well (NOT referring to Paperjam) in Tuck and Wild Turkey #SaturdaySiteQsRule or at least they used to. O’Tannenbaum nearly forgot his name in COT because either he was too busy gazing at Patdown, or … was still delirious from the workout. Welcome FNG Pauly D, a New Yorker named after the baller from ‘Jersey Shore’, who is Tuck’s brother here visiting. Smoky showed some afterburners on some of the sprints, giving Rachel a run for his money, which was 0 since F3 is Free… unknown if he was running fast, but it looked that way. If we had been short a heavy bucket, Prohibition offered to carry Turkey Leg, since they both weigh about the same. Arena made the right call, and made sure to do his toes-to-bar away from Poptart, who was doing a different exercise called ‘Hands-to-hips-feet-to-ground’. Witch Doctor, Crabcake, and Squid all put in solid silent work as YHC has seen them do at a similar workout at RockZero and other workouts.
Thank you to Squid and Poptart for the invite to come lead the Matrix. It was long overdue, and YHC promises to post before my next 3yr anniversary.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Nash and JRR Tolkien are bringing speed pushing racing chairs like Team Hoyt and Ainsley’s Angels of America, to F3 Nation, a charitable initiative called F3 Speed For Need. The official preblast and marketing launch will be coming in a few days but in the interim, please spend a few minutes to watch the video in the link here, and read a little bit about the initiative in the top section of the link: F3 Speed For Need Pre-Preblast (watch video)
- Join your fellow SOB / A51 / Indian Land brothers in the Charlotte Craft Course on Saturday May 20th from 1200-1530 starting at NoDa Brewing Co. Basically the point is to run to as many breweries as possible, get blasted, try not to puke (in the bar at least), and try to also not get hit by a car or sprain an ankle. Have your M pick you up if you’re not already in the doghouse for this, or stay at Tuck’s House since he has plenty of room, even with a hoard of 2.0s….. contact Tuck for details or check Slack. You can register on : CLT Craft Run Signup
- If you are not doing Savage Race, consider Q-ing Outland workout this coming Saturday which is at Sun Valley Middle School at 0700. Contact Madison @JeremyFDraper
“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our F3DOM!” ~ JRR Tolkien
Pre-Blast: Summer Kick-Off “FNG” Convergence
TL;DR -> Bring an FNG or two to the Maul on Wednesday, May 24th at 5:30am
One day, somewhere between 5 years ago and yesterday, it was your first day at an F3 workout. Whatever you thought after that first post, you liked it enough to come back, and you’ve since joined the community with enough vigor to be reading a “pre-blast”. Take the opportunity to find a new guy, share why you’ve benefitted from F3, and invite them to their first F3 workout.
This is what it is.
At the core, this event is a regular workout that will follow the normal rhythm and cadence of an F3 workout. It is being designated as a special opportunity to bring brand new guys out, or bring those guys that haven’t posted in a while back out to a workout. It is essentially, “bring-an-FNG-to-post” day.
Here’s why.
This event serves to bring guys together from the region in an effort to grow our influence in the region and add some new guys to our number. It is easier to get new guys to come in the warmth of the summer, and perhaps marginally easier to convince them to come if they know there will be other new guys present.
The when and the where.
The Maul (Regal Cinema @ Stonecrest Shopping Center), Wednesday, May 24, 2017, 5:30a (regular time)
Asked and answered.
Q: Will this be a moderate workout ?
A. No chance. Not a moderate workout at all, though certainly will have room for new folks to “modify as needed”.
Q: Will there be a pre-run ?
A. Absolutely. 5:00am.
Q: Do I need to bring anything special ?
A. Yes. A new guy or two. There are a few links below you can share with folks you are bringing.