I love the F3 #wasnow stories. Judge Hairy went from 365 pounds to flat-sexy. The Judge knew he was dead in 15 years if he didn’t do something. His knees hit the dirt, and he asked God for help. God gave him F3. Floppy disk lost 48 pounds and started being able to focus on others. Columbo was a 265 pound cop, moonlighting at a school during an F3 workout. Now the guy has logged 225 workouts in one year, and is closer to his wife and kids. No Help was struggling with purpose after leaving the Marine Corps, in a dark place, and even lost his faith. Yet with F3’s brotherhood, he regained his purpose, and his faith. In describing the difference it makes, he rightly notes that “Brotherhood is love, and YHC loves this brotherhood. Truly a blessing.” Kato was suffering dizzy spells in his 40s, and easily winded at any attempt to play with his kids. Kato reminds us that a leader needs to kick a new guy’s butt to show the new guy esteem. In each story, with new brothers, each man achieved what he could not alone. There is a lot of hurt in the world. As Cindy points out in 10 minutes, F3 is part of the solution.
At #Horsey today, 45 men shredded their legs. I needed that. But what really drove me was the men at my side. Stinger, my partner, was running his guts out. How could I do less? Posse, who had trouble running any distance a year ago, arrived from Union County with a full head of steam and never stopped. Stickbug, Mr. Brady, the Leg, Alf, Belly, Swiper, McStuffins – all killing it. And what can you say about my brother Fishwrap? The man has gone from awesome to inspirational.
Great to be with you all this morning.
God bless.
Quick Warm-up
SSH x 15
IW x 15
LSS x 15
Merks x 15
The Drill
Everyone’s bells, in no particular order, lined up the length of the parking lot. There are three exercises per round. For each round, PAX will perform 10 reps (or 5 per side) at a kettlebell. After completing that exercise, PAX slides to the next bell until he returns to his original bell. If you finish before your neighbor, you get a short break. After each round we circled up short pause and instructions on the next three exercises. We (almost) finished 5 rounds.
R1
2 hand swings
Alt hand swings
Cleans
R2
Squat (goblet or teabag)
Bob & weave
Rows
R3
Lunge & press
Thrusters
High pulls
R4
Deadlift (single leg, if able)
Tactical lunge (from lunge position, circle bell around thigh)
Clean (single leg, if able)
R5
2 hand swings
Snatch
Racked lunge
This was my first non-boxing Foxhole Q and I was having trouble coming up for inspiration. I knew I couldn’t stand in the middle of cirlce for 45 min. (Too weak!) After scrolling through dozens of websites and youtube videos, I found the All Down the Line concept. I liked the idea of keeping up a decent tempo while trying a variety of weights. We had the perfect sized group with about a dozen bells of various poundage. Not a lot of mumblechatter today. The line-up didn’t facilitate much 2nd F. (It could be worse, at least you didn’t need to run through woods in the dark. #thebrave.)
An honor to lead! Aye!
The Thang,
Run around the parking and then hit some SSH’s, Merkins, and Windmills (I was sore from Swift and really needed this).
Next we moved to the 7 stations:
We did this circuit a few times with the Kettle bell swings as the “Pace Car” (thanks for that idea Soft Pretzel). We also ran a lap around the parking lot after a each circuit.
Then we went to the fields and sprinted, did Mary, and Planks.
Moleskin.
I took the Q for this one on Tuesday night so it wasn’t very creative, but everyone pushed hard and at least I was smoked by the time it was over.
As always it is an honor to lead these fine men. A few of which I was meeting for the first time.
Announcements. Since I am late anything that was said is now over.
9 men showed up at McKee Rd Elementary for another 60 minutes of fun on a Saturday morning. All were on time this week, with O’Tannenbaum even making it to the AO before 0701 hours. Think we can thank Tiger Rag as he had forewarned OT about my Tweet the night before mentioning heading off campus down towards the fire station. Had 2 site FNGs as Lumberjack and DQ joined us for the first time on a Saturday morning. With everyone in tow and the clock indicating 0700 hours we headed out for a warm up lap in the lower parking lot by the soccer fields and circled up for COP.
COP:
Properly warmed up and giving any last minute stragglers the opportunity to find us before we headed off campus, YHC led the crew on a mosey down the sidewalk along the soccer fields and we made our way to the rock pile. Quick stop to work on the soccer arms. Pick a friend for a some light lifting:
Return the rocks to their resting spot and we continued our jog down to the fire station. Circled up and everyone completed 25 Carolina Dry Docks OYO.
At this point we had reached our final destination (sort of), which was the South Hall neighborhood just across McKee Rd from the fire station. Made our way down South Hall Dr into the neighborhood and made a quick stop at the first side street to gather the 6.
Continue down the main drive into South Hall with 2 more stops along the way, prior to our final destination, with LBCs x 25 IC at Stop #2 and Flutter and Dolly x 15 IC at Stop #3. One last straightaway on Warwickshire Ln and we arrived at Derbyshire Dr for the main event.
Derbyshire Dr is about 1/4 mi long with a nice little up and over to a dead end. 4 decorative street lights spaced evenly along the length of the street. Perfect set up for a modified Triple Nickel.
Idea was to run up and over Derbyshire Dr, stopping at east light post along the way and with a final stop at the end for 5 reps of the called exercise at each stop. Plank and wait for the 6 a the end of each round. Completed the following exercises during the series:
At the wrong end of Derbyshire at the end so we alternated Lunge Walk and Sprint between each of the light posts and the other end at Warwickshire before heading back to the launch point. Made our way back to McKee Rd Elementary with a couple stops along the way to gather the 6.
COT
NMM:
Announcements:
It has been too long since YHC had posted (or led) at The Rock. Thank heavens I have a phenomenal co-site Q. That said, I pulled out a favorite workout plan of mine I affectionately call “No Outlet Hell”. We gathered for a quick disclaimer (both legal and admittance that I gained 5 pounds on vacation last week and it would show it in my performance) and headed toward the front lawn of Calvary.
Warm-Up:
I explained to the men the premise of No Outlet Hell. We will run along Cary Ridge and Bevington and back up Rea Rd. to Calvary. That stretch equals about 3.25 miles. At each cul-de-sac (there are 8) we will stop for 20 of the stated exercise. Here’s what we did:
As we waited on the six back at Calvary (I was part of the six by the way), extra LBC’s and planking.
Mosey to the hot box:
During hot box time, Marlin mentioned he volunteers at Calvary and is responsible for soccer field management, including moving all of the soccer goals (there are about 18?) to the side of the field so he can chalk line the fields. Time for an audible….
Mosey to the soccer fields. Pair up and each pair runs to a soccer goal and carries it to the far left of the soccer fields near the sidewalk. Once you put down the goal, run to the next one and repeat.
Mosey back to the cars
COT:
We covered 4.25 miles and got in a lot of good work along the way. We also got a chance to help out Calvary, a great partner for us all in F3! Thanks to Marlin for the idea. I forgot to mentioned we had some youth with us today…..Drago, Nemo and Rapper’s Delight are all in their teens. A few of us got dusted by them during anything sprint related. E Trade, on the other hand, hung with them and sometimes led them….awesome work you four! You’d be even more impressed by E Trade’s speed if you saw the shoes he was wearing. Let’s just say my father (who is 74) has a similar pair.
Thanks men! It was a pleasure!
Announcements:
Area 51 pool party tonight at Candlewyck
Gummy, thanks for the great take-out!
17 dudes ready to start the weekend out right posted at one of the finest AO’s in the nation, either due to excellent marketing or habit. Here’s what happened next:
Low Slow Squat x 10
mosey back around the launch point to pick up Kamamcho and a growing band of late-comers (Posse, Ranger, Kevorkian) #billylap
NOTE: If you kept your time separately, and the above is off, sound off below and I will adjust.
With not a ton of time remaining, begin 11s on the long gravel hill (~55ft in 2 tenths)).
– Burpees at the bottom.
– “Phelps Merkins” at the top.
After Doc and McGee were down to 4 Burpees, 7 merkins, we huddled up at the bottom, did some burpees and started back towards the launch.
– Mosey to the bridge.
– Broad jump across
– Plank for the six.
– Mosey to the high parking lot.
Exercise Name: We did something today that we called a Phelps Merkin, but several other names were suggested: Lochte Merkin, Prone Jack Webb, and Phelps Merkin. The exercise itself is meant as a surefire way to enforce full range of motion on regular merkins, and get a little extra shoulder burn. Starting in full plank, the cadence count goes like this:
1. Chest to the ground (i.e bottom of a merkin)
2. Hands off the ground and then extended all the way out in front of you.
3. Hands back to your side in “pre-pushup” position.
4. (PAX Count) Push up until arms are fully extended.If you have any bright ideas for what to call this, or know what it is called already comment below.
We got 3.5 to 4 miles in today. By all accounts, that was not pleasant. Doesn’t read like much was done in the hour, but starting with an all out 1-mile gasser added an element of extra fatigue that snowballed throughout the morning, at least for YHC. Good effort from all on said mile run. A couple sub-5 minute efforts (T-claps McGee and Doc) and I’m sure Dasher may have been in the 5-min club if he hadn’t run stadium stairs before the workout began. Also a shout-out to Dirty Bird who almost got in sub-10 minutes on the mile and ran a very aggressive last 200 meters.
A couple other observations from a sweaty morning:
– The ants were ubiquitous this morning, particularly whenever we hit the deck for merkins or mary, and particularly near Transporter.
– Tip of the hat to Redskin (a local fitness legend in the area) for unlocking the track for us after the mile, so we didn’t have to prison break out.
– Tranporter found some choice facilities (an great port-a-jon, in his words) just as we were starting the 11s. He ended up missing the whole thing, but did a set of 15 burpees in a show of camaraderie (nearly all the PAX joined in after 5 solo reps). A quality moment, way to join in Snowflake and force us to do the same.
– No rocks were touched today, although many looked longingly at them and made comments about their proximity.
Argonaut Out
YHC hit up the Ole Stonehenge this morning for a highly anticipated Alf Q. Definitely a scorcher with the Parking Decks and stairwells. YHC lost track of time and 40min burned by quickly. Figuring out that the launch point was over a mile away and I was on Q at 7AM led to a frantic dash back to the launch point and a 65mph drive down Rea Rd. YHC arrived at DaVinci to 4-5 cars dawning F3 stickers…However, none were there for DaVinci – rather it was the BRR group of Soft Pretzel, Gnard Dog, Overhead, and Beaker that had taken off at 6AM to maintain their soccer arms for 10+ miles.
YHC took off on a hot lap around the parking lot and caught up with Triple 7 zooming into the AO with Thin Mint just behind. All 3 of us weary legged and wearing on our second shirt for the day, it was GO TIME.
THE THANG
Moleskin
Over and Out – General
12 men, including 1 FNG started their Saturday way too early in the morning for my liking. 5:58 and PAX were given 2 disclaimers.
Disclaimer #1: I think leaving early to double down at another AO is blasphemous. So if anyone plans on it, the rest of the PAX is getting upgraded punishment. Oops – General is Qing DaVinci
Disclaimer #2: Standard, if you die you can’t sue anyone stuff.
6:00 and we were off.
Head to intersection of Johnston and B’tyne Commons. Low Slow Squats while we wait for the traffic light. Seriously? 6AM on a Saturday in the summer? Where are you people going?
Continue east down B’Tyne Commons. This is when Wild Turkey pipes in:
WT: You do know all the Premier Decks are off limits, right?
Me: Which ones are Premier?
WT: I think all of them.
Me: Well, too late now, the weinke is already done. Pretty sure its against policy to change it 5 minutes into a workout.
Cut into the office complex through some bushes, some of them roses. Clearly I don’t know where I am. Circle up in front of a couple of parking decks for IW, Merkins, Mountain Climbers and Plank-o-Rama.
1st Deck: 20 Merkins at bottom, Up stairs, 20 Merkins at top, down stairs, 20 merkins at bottom, up ramps, 20 merkins at top, down ramps. Glute Bridge’s while we wait on the six.
Mosey down walking path (not a golf cart path). Stop for 30 dips on bench.
Hit another set of parking decks, wander until we find stairwell. Locked. Audible.
2nd Deck: 20 Romanian Dead Lifts (10 each leg), run up ramps, 20 RDL’s at top. Open unlocked stairwell at the top, run down and back up, 20 RDL’s, run down ramps, 20 RDL’s at bottom. Plank-o-rama while the six finishes.
3rd Deck: Whoa, General rolls out (without even a goodbye) audible out of plan and go with Burpees. 15 at bottom, run up ramps, 15 at top, down ramps, 15 at bottom. Lunge walk up the ramp while we wait on six. I didn’t feel like wandering around to find the stairs on this one.
Head back down walking trail and stop for 30 dips on bench. LBC’s to gather the PAX.
Head back to Deck 1. 2 quick trips up and down the stair case. Flutters at the end.
Back to B’Tyne Commons. AYG to Johnston, a third of a mile-ish. Wait forever on traffic light. Listen to Tiger Rag nag about how we are now 30 seconds over time. Bolt across Johnston and the marginally aggressive morning drivers.
Back to launch 2:30 late. Sorry, but I am sure you appreciated the extra stair climbs that put us over time. And traffic is unpredictable.
Moleskine:
Thin Mint is fast. And he smiles a lot while he runs past you. Very Fraiser-esque of him. Now he needs the swish-swish shorts. The General was all moving quickly as well, but I guess you can put in a little extra effort when you are only doing half the workout. Probably just broke out the yoga mat’s at DaVinci and talked about their feelings. Fault Line claimed I was giving him Plantar Fasciitis with all the stairs. Probably not good for your BRR teammate. Lot’s of guys gutting it out and giving it all they had this morning. I appreciate the effort.
After the last deck a white OJ Simpson style SUV passed by. Wild Turkey claimed it was Security. We acted cool. Nothing to see here. They moved on, as they should have.
Thanks to TR for the take out.
-Alf
Announcements: Golf, next April. Pool Party in 2 hours. Curd still needs a runner for BRR.
9 PAX woke up early to attend EE’s Motivational Metal Beatdown Seminar. What a great way to start your Friday morning. Let seminar begin!
Disclaimer Given – We are not professionals, This workout is all on you, GO BUY KETTLEBELLS, You are stronger than you think!
THAT THANG
Hairband Ultra Marathon over Hill and around bus lot back to SVMS Parking Lot mixing in Karaoke R/L, Shuffle R/L, Backwards Running, Backwards High Knees, Butt Kickers, High Knees
Circle Up For COP
25 x SSH IC
15 x IW IC
10 x Slow Windmills (Get a Good Stretch) IC
15 x Eiffel Tower Crunches IC
15 x 3 Count Slow/Hold Merkins IC
Mosey to Flag Pole where Kettle Bells / Dumbells Await!
Main Event – The Matt Foley
20 x Two Handed Swings
Run Hairband Mile Stopping Halfway for 15 x Merkins
Repeat for 19 Swings/Run, 18 Swings/Run, 17, 16.
Stop for some plank work
Form 2 Teams each with 25# KB
Line Up and alternate Over/Under (Just like Elementary School Gym time) with 25# KB
Man in the rear runs to front when they receive the bell and start again
We did this about 15 times through each team
Circle Up facing outside circle and Pass the Bells to the man to the right
Continue until Reverse is called and pass the bells around the circle the other way
Head to EE’s Famous Epoxy 44.5# Plates
In Teams, one man pushes plate #plateburner around Hair Band Mile parking lot while team members alternate between exercises, switching with the pusher after each exercise
Round 1:
20 x Crunches
20 x Merkins
7 x Burpees
Go back to Bells
15 x Ground to Overhead Thrusters
Run Hairband Mile Stopping Halfway for 15 x Merkins
More Plank-O-Rama
Back to Team PlateBurners
Round 2:
5 x BombJacks each time then switch pushers
4 MOM
15 x Flutter IC
HOLD LEGS UP
15 x Dolly IC
15 x Eiffel Tower Crunches IC
Protractor Holds
D-O-N-E
COT
– Continued Prayers for GJ’s M
– Continued Prayers for DT and his move South of the Border
– Continued Prayers for the Count’s Family
– Continued Prayers for Donut Hole’s Move
Big Thanks to Woody for taking us out! Great Words Brother!
MOLESKIN
– Solid Work today by all that showed up. Good to see Spielberg back out from the #Fartsack to come swing and push some metal around for 45 mins! Keep on coming out brother.
– Madison was in beast mode this morning and lead the Swings/Run most of the time. But I guess he felt guilty swinging the #Lollipop that was available and pressured by the Q’s disclaimer, so he went and bought a couple #Mansized bells to bring to the workouts! Great Job and everyone needs to go out and Buy a KB – recommend 35#+. Again, you are stronger than you think and we have plenty of smaller bells to start out with!
– Good to see Hoodie back out and Bernanke and Shepard both were smoking the plateburners. Shep muscles them around like they are #dimes!
– Woody’s northern accent is awesome. He even grunts and breaths in a northern accent. Don’t lose it or let it become southernized!
– PLATES – They are awesome and always bring out the best in the group! The best Grunts, Moans, Complaints, whininig etc. These are never easy but the PAX stepped up when it was their turn and gave it all they had!
– GJ misses HorseHead and needs his buddy to heal up and get back out in the gloom. They both have tweaked their backs and need each other for a helpful deep tissue massage. This also helps us to realize that although injuries will happen, stretching is mega important and make sure we practice good form during warmup and COP. Windmills can be a great back stretch warmup and as with most exercises we do, FORM IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN JUST SPEED. Drink Milk, brush your teeth and Practice good form daily!
– SIGN UP TO Q OVERDRIVE AND OUTLAND – WE NEED Q’S TO STEP UP. YES YOU READING THIS ARE QUALIFIED AND NEED TO SIGN UP:
OUTLAND (Saturday 7:00 – 8:00)
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d4cae2-f3outland
OVERDRIVE (Friday 5:30 – 6:15)
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f49aaaf2baafa7-qsignup
Thanks for allowing me to shift into Overdrive!
Double E
20 of South Charlotte’s finest gathered in what used to be a very dark parking lot. The new light additions are overwhelmingly bright. YHC tweeted earlier in the week that the PAX will be running the #CenturionMile. Chelms requested the mile run at the beginning so he could be at his “peak”. YHC announced the course directions followed by the disclaimer and the PAX got into the plank position. Off we go (no false starts either)
THANG:
Centurion Mile – Ending at top of the parking deck.
Ab work while waiting for the six
Flutter x 25 IC
Heels to Heaven x 25 IC
Mosey over to the old library to grab a lifting rock. Circle up for 3 rounds of lifting (Curls, Overhead Press, Tricep Extension)
Round 1 – 25 reps each
Round 2 – 20 reps each
Round 3 – 15 reps each
Mosey down slippery hill to practice football field. YHC decided to be creative and brought a glow stick but there was a Q fail when the glow stick did not light up when cracked. (Embarrassing) Should have known that the kids glow stick that sat in a camper for 18 months may not work.
The Plan:
1. YHC throws glow stick
2. PAX runs to glow stick
3. PAX performs exercise called
4. Assign someone in the PAX to throw glow stick and repeat.
Round 1 – Jump Squats x 10
Round 2 – Burpees x 10
Round 3 – Burpees x 15 (grumblings)
Round 4 – Bear crawl up hill and reverse crawl down x 5 (At this time the Glow Stick was lost. Thanks Mermaid! The kids cried all day when YHC got home and told them)
Round 5 – Merkins x 15
Round 6 – Squats x 30
Mosey to Parking deck and partner up.
Round 1 – Partner 1 broad jumps to 2nd column and runs to end of long ramp and back. Partner 2 performs CDD.
Round 2 – Partner 1 bear crawls to 2nd column and runs to end of long ramp and back. Partner 2 performs squats.
Round 3 – Partner 1 runs to end of long ramp and back. Partner 2 Planks.
Wall chair at bottom of parking deck while waiting on the six. One final sprint up short ramps to top of parking deck and down stairs back to launch site.
MOLESKIN
Strong work today by all. The #CenterionMile at the beginning worked was a great warm up. Cane thought for sure that the mile would be called again to end the workout. Next time for sure! Nice to see some new faces from Metro (Carrier, Bust Boy, U-Boat & Driver). YHC will bring the glow stick back and will plan better next time. Less than 3 weeks until BRR which leaves 2 weeks left for intense training.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pool Party – Right now!
Southern Discomfort – 10/22
Up and Over – Needs another runner (9 man team). Get with Cheese Curd if interested