12 Got out of their Fart Sacks and decided they wanted to become better men than they were yesterday!
WU:
50SSH, 40 MC, 30 Imperial Squakers (yes that’s correct), 20 Cotton Pickers, 10 Merkins
The Thang:
7 cones lined the road and explained the bulk of the work today, spread about 40 yards apart we ran up 2 than back one, each cone listed an exercise: 10 Burbees, 20 Heels to heavens, 10 Maryland Crab Merkins, 20 Flutter Kicks, 10 Jump Knee Tucks, 20 Supermans, 10 Burbees. Finish- Plank it up with a partner for some paddy cake, 20 rock hoppers in cadence, 10 J-lows (the Q was busted out by ice on form, apparently J Low is sexier than I am)
Mosey over to the Hill, for some stairway’s to 7’s Low slow squats at the bottom, Carolina Dry Docks at the top- Plank it up when done- it is here some of our story begins, while were planking Ice starts telling Doc about him getting back into it, feels a bit sluggish, guys are patronizing him a bit, “you can do it Ice…” Keep up the good work” More to the story later….
Mosey over to the round about and pick a partner for 40 burbees 10 in rotation while the other grabs the railing and does supines while they wait.
Mosey on back toward the cones, quick stop for 20 american hammers in cadence then mosey over to cones. As the Q, I state we got enough times to run the cones back and do the exercises… ICE asks. HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT TO DO?? I tell him, “Don’t worry keep showing up and an you’ll get it:)” He quickly realized the exercises were written on the cones still. Finished the cones at 615 promptly for a count and namorama…
Moleskin:
I realize that I tend to get a bit sappy…but,,, suck it up buttercup and deal with it…. I continue to be motivated and impressed by these men who choose to leave the comforts of their cozy beds and challenge themselves to be better. Not only better in physical fitness but better husbands, fathers, workers, we challenge each other, we have fun (ironically enough at 530 in the morning), and we keep showing up. I love it.. So my take on the players of #F3 Flash today- Popeye- you continue to impress me the most, all heart, pace is picking up, your giving it 110%– DON’T STOP! T-Ball, Shampoodle, Shop Dawg, Captain Phillips and Shooter- The progress you all have shown is exponential and impressive, hoping to see some Q’s (or at least partial) out of you guys shortly. Turtle and Short are pulling quickly in to beast modes and both bring a level of energy and fun to the group. Frack and Doc,, your just Freaks, you both have past beast mode and entered into a league of your own! Ice, you are the rock! Your leadership and energy is infectious, you push us all to be better physically but more than that, your leadership as a husband and father impacts us more than you know. I appreciate you all and am glad to be part of something bigger than me.
Short Circuit, thanks for taking us out! Your prayer hit home with me today.
Announcements:
Don’t forget about PLAN B- Posse will send out an calendar shortly
Spartan Race- April 9th
February 6- F3 Family Fitness Day 8:30 Kid friendly (even if they only last 15 min, still come)
30 PAX posted in the Gloom at Commitment for the Union County Convergence.
Kiefer and EE ran 5.25 miles prior to the workout. At least that’s what they told the PAX, no witnesses.
The workout went like this:
COP
50 SSH IC
20 Merkins IC
40 Imperial Walkers IC
40 Squats IC
30 Mountain Climbers IC
The Thang:
Mosey to the Hill in the back of the school, and did the Sevens, starting with 1 Burpee at the top and 6 Jump Squats at the bottom, extra points for sliding down the hill on your six.
Mosey towards the football field, cross the bridge doing Lunge Walks, then half the distance between the bridge and the flag poles we did Bear Crawl.
At the entrance of the track we divided into two groups, one group sprint clockwise and the other counter-clockwise to the other side of the track then:
15 Merkins IC
30 LBCs IC
20 Squats IC
Sprint back to the start point and did:
15 Diamonds
30 Bicycle
20 alternating lunges
Sprint back to the other end again.
Done with my part and time for Double E’s 30 minutes of misery.
EE’s THING
EE’s UN-Famous 100 Yards of Kamikaze Suicides
At Football Field Start on One Goal line
Run 10 Yards and do 5 x Burpees, 5 x BombJacks, 5 x Carolina Dry Docks
Backwards Run back to Goal line and do 15 x of either LBC / Flutter / Dolly – Pick your poison but mix’em up
Run to 20 Yard LIne and Repeat 5 x Burpees/BombJacks/CDD
Backwards Run back to Goal line and repeat 15 x LBC/Flutter/Dolly
Repeat for 30 Yards, 40 Yards up to 100 yards!
After you complete the last set, run the 100 again with exercises for Extra Credit!
Move to Bleacher Wall for:
PC w/ AP x 50
10 x SpeedSquats
PC w/ AP x 40
10 x Speed Squats
2 Lines Indian Run back to Bridge
Lunge Walk over bridge
All you’ve got back to the front of the school
2MOM
Protractor 6″ w/ 5 x Dolly
45 degrees w/ 5 x Dolly at 45 degrees
90 degrees w/ 5 x Rosilita
10 x Heels to Heaven
25 x LBC IC
10 x Burpees for good measure #ThankYouHorseHead
DONE!
Announcements:
-Sign up for the Blue Ridge Relay, F3 Union county are putting a team together.
-Transporter is putting together an F3 team for the upcoming Spartan Sprinter, more details to follow.
Thank You Smokey for the heart-felt Take Out!
The Moleskin:
From Double E:
– Great day to converge with the Men from Commitment and Outland and many of us from Outland are still bitter about losing the Attendance Challenge.
I foresee future AO Challenges more often and would like to see more convergences! 30 PAX and 4 x PSF’s was an awesome site in the dark gloom!
– Doc McStuffin’s no doubt has the fastest Cadence Count in all of F3. It is like hitting the fast forward button on the chipmunks.
– This ended up being a great day for Mud Run Training event as the Doc McHill we ran was the definition of a slippery slope and the Football Field was a soupy mud fest!
The morning sounds of THUDS as the PAX slipped and fell all over the hill and whatever sound that lower part of your back makes when you are doing LBC’s in the Mud #couldbegas #willneverknow
– 100 Yards of Kamikaze Suicides proved its a worthy beatdown for sure. Kudos to Udder and Smokey for leading the charge and all who continued to grind through the pain and mud. After the first 50 Yards, we had secondary groups forming their own painstations and PAX chanting “Audible to the 100” or “This Q Sucks” and “You are Uninvited here again”. Always appreciate the “Great Job Q” at the end of the workout #withintermittentbreathcussing
– Recommend Keifer name change to Key-Fob since we spent at least another hour digging through the mud to find it!
– Good to See Electric Slide back out after 3 Years MIA
From Doc McStuffins:
Great to see the Pax today getting together for the F3 Union County convergence. Put some faces with the names, and have fun doing what we love.
I heard some complaining about the warm up being too long and fast, but most of the complains came from the visitors, I was just trying to make them feel part of the Commitment family.
Sorry about the Hill, was way more slippery than I expected, but I saw the 2.0s having a blast on the way down.
Loved how everybody push hard on the track. I was definitely pushing hard, when Double E took over then I quickly regretted it, I will never look at that football field the same after this convergence.
Thank you all for attending and pushing hard, looking forward to many convergences in the future.
8 brave pax showed up for some off campus running and working recovery through Piper Glen. This was a recycled workout, but one I really enjoy……and that’s the beauty of Qing, right? A quick disclaimer was provided along with notice that the wheels would be in use today for sure. And away we go….
Warm-Up/COP:
Properly warmed up, we headed out of entrance #3 and crossed Rea Rd to make our way to Carrington Swim & Racquet Club on Cary Ridge. We stopped and did an unbalanced right arm/right leg high plank before a club member pulled into the lot and broke up our momentum….no sweat, we will balance out the left side of the plank later. I took the interruption as a chance to explain our workout….No Outlet Hell. There are 8 cul-de-sacs between where we were standing and the intersection of Bevington/Rea Roads. At each cul-de-sac we will stop for 20 of the called exercise. Here is how it went down:
…..the intersection of Rea and Bevington. We headed right on Rea and made our way back to entrance #4 at Calvary. We made two trips up and down the ramp of entrance #4. Run down forwards and run up backwards….unsavory!
Mosey to the hotbox. 15 reps of dips, incline merkins and jump-ups. 10 count then 10 reps of repeato. Two CMPD officers (and a German Shepherd) who were hanging out near the pavilion heckled us and told us to run faster. We would have yelled something back, but you know….they have weapons. Truth told, they were very cool. We appreciate the heightened security!!
Mosey to one of the many lots of Calvary for recovery mary, including:
Mosey back to the vehicles…..that’s a wrap!
Moleskin:
Great work men! The 8 pax stuck together the entire way so it ended up being a very evenly fit group….impressive! There was a lot of good 2nd F as we ran from cul de sac to cul de sac. Good to meet Green Bean who was visiting from Atlanta (parents live in Piper Glen so a good guy to have along if you want to grab a glass of water during the workout). E Trade smoked us all on the AYG sprints on Pembry Links! Great group of dudes and great momentum the entire hour! We covered 3.9 miles total. In hindsight, I should have thrown in a couple of 100 yard dashes at the end to get us to 4, but I did not have much left in the tank, frankly!
Announcements:
Hopper, out!
The Thang….
This week’s Stonehenge started at 5:45 with a 1.3 mile pre-run. At 6:00 we swung back by the Vine parking lot to pick up all of the folks that wanted to start at the actual start time. We then moseyed over to the parking lot by the Hotel.
Here 3 exercises were completed in cadence:
12 – SSH
12 – Low Slow Squats
12 – Merkins
We had no FNG’s so an abbreviated disclaimer was given and we headed off to the hill by the Snyders Building.
YHC gave the instructions and we were off. The PAX needed to run up the hill to the bridge and complete 12 Burpees and then back down the hill and complete 12 drop squats. This would be rinsed and repeated 3 times. When complete head back to the six and finish with them.
From here we headed over the parking lot beside Snyder’s where we completed a long bear crawl with 12 merkins every 4 parking spots. The first set was in Cadence the other 4 sets were civilian count.
We then moved on to some assorted sprints across the lot from a prone position.
As we had to end early so that many of the PAX wanted to head over to daVinci, YHC decided that we should start heading back to the Vine. On the way we divided into teams of 3 and headed down to the exercise trial for 3 rounds of 12 dips, 12 pull-ups and 12 supine pull-ups.
Then head back to the Vine parking lot with some Al Gore’s and Russian Twists.
The Moleskin –
As the Pax soon found out it was the YHC’s 1 year anniversary in the F3 Nation and since it would be boring to do 1 of everything YHC chose to go with the month count of 12. The Pax (Champaign my fellow site Q from the Brave mostly) made sure to remind YHC that he does not know how to do cadence count properly.
It was a good crew today and just as on YHC’s FNG workout Frasier was way ahead, although YHC could almost keep him within eyeshot this time. So there have been some gains made in YHC’s overall fitness. Everyone in the PAX pushed hard. Semi Gloss (who I don’t believe has attended Stonehenge since YHC started a year ago) pushed especially hard and completed both the pre-run and a pre-pre-run.
As usual it was an honor and a privilege to lead this group of men in the gloom. YHC would like to express his sincere gratitude for all the men of F3 that continue to push him and Frasier for the original EH.
Announcements:
-Family Hike on Jan 23rd at Anne Springs greenway.
I’m a little late on this BB, and my memory of that morning is a little gray-so I’ll just do the best I can
Warmup
1-min swings R
1-min swing L
15 Overhead Press (OP) R
15 OP L
15 Upright Row (UR) R
15 UR L
25 Squats
15 Clean and Press (C&P) R
15 C&P L
Take a lap
Warm was finished with a routine made famous by legendary MMA fighter Bas Rutten aka “El Guapo”
Complete the following evolution without rest
10 swings R
10 C&P R
10 Snatches R
10 swings L
10 C&P L
10 Snatches R
Take a lap around the parking lot
Stop for merkins (15)
Stop for drop squats (20)
Enter the Playground
The PAX each had a turn pushing the sled while the remaining PAX completed alternating sets of pullups and merkins.
Take a lap and stop for squats and merkins
We loaded down the sled with some weight and repeated the sled push. PAX not pushing the sled completed power clean and press.
The PAX completed a little cardio session to finish the workout.
Rd 1
Kettebell farmers walk, sprint back
20 merkins, sprint out
Kettlebell farmer walk back
Rd 2
Kettebell farmers walk, sprint back
5 burpees, sprint out
Kettlebell farmer walk back
Rd 3
Kettebell farmers walk, sprint back
20 squats, sprint out
Kettlebell farmer walk back
COT-
Moleskin:
It was a cold morning, but YHC tried to keep the blood moving by prescribing a little more mosey than is usual
It was great to see the die-hards out there on such a cold day.
It definitely hard to get out there in weather like this, but it days like this that really help you develop grit, determination, and discipline. Its also puts your training one day ahead of all the other PAX who decided to fartsack until spring.
Sorry again about the late BB
See you in the Gloom
In honor of the All-Pro Panthers, we set off to honer their selection. Mosey around the school, disclaimer stated, and off we went.
COP:
20 SSH, 20 IW, 15 Merkin, 20 LSS
The Ryan.Kalil: #67
Line up, and suicide type run. Run to first bus parking stop, 5 merkins, back to the line. Run to the last bus parking spot, 5 merkins, back to the line. Run to the second parking spot, 5 merkins, and back, then to the second to last parking spot, 5 merkins, and back. Keeping going until you hit all 13 parking spots, then 2 extra merkins when done for 67 total.
The Cam Newton, #1
1 burpee
The Mike Tolbert: #35
Mosey to the first townhomes. Run down the main street, then down each side street for 5 merkins. Once you have run all 6 side streets, run back to the entrance for 5 more merkins. Total of 35.
The Greg Olsen, #88
Mosey down to the next townhomes, then down to the bottom of the entrance. Run around the oval lap, performing 22 merkins at each corner. 88 total.
The Thomas Davis, #58
Mosey over to the traffic circle. Run to the end of each road, 13 monkey humpers, then back to the circle. Once done with all roads, 6 more monkey humpers. 58 total
The Luke Keuchly, #59
Run to the end of each road, 13 merkins, then back to the circle. Once done with all roads, 7 more merkins. 59 total
The Kawann Short, #99
Mosey towards the entrance to the fountain for the next set. 33 dips, then down the road around the traffic circle. Repeato 3x for 99 total.
The Josh Norman, #24
8 derkins at the fountain, then down the road around the traffic circle. Repeato 3x for 24 total.
Indian run back to the AO for COM.
COM:
25 LBCs.
10 x Right leg cross crunch
10 x Left leg cross crunch
20 x Dolly
10 x Right leg can opener
10 x Left leg can opener
7 x Rocky Balboa Protractor
10 x Opposite toe taps
20 x Rosalitas
20 x Flutters
Moleskin:
Joker pulled a floor slapper and showed up late, wearing his below 20 degree gear. Apparently he didn’t know that there is a weather app and forgot to check it thisy morning. Luckily he didn’t overheat and pass out. Slapshot was thankful for the extra chest workout so he can impress the ladies at the YMCA pool this summer. Beaver impressed with his determination to the mileage and Uncle Leo was very concerned about the strange numbers that were called out for each exercise. He kept guessing what the numbers meant, until he was told whoever guessed the theme behind the numbers had to do a burpee. That silenced him quickly. I wasn’t sure how many miles we would get, but we got in 4.07 total, possible a new record for the site.
Six PAX show up to the AO to get the burn on! Gameboy shows up with an FNG cause he just doesn’t want to keep all the pain to himself….good move! The FNG’s keep pouring in and that is great to see. Let’s get it started…
Warmup Hairband mile around parking lot. Everyone circle up for a little pain…
COP: (Circle of Pain)
Mosey to the AO track for a little D, D, D, Dora 1…2….3! Here is how it went down…
The Thang:
Teams of two partners worked together to reach cumulative exercise goals of 100 x Merkins, 200 x Little Baby Crunches (LBC’s), and 300 x LSS. P1 performed as many reps as possible while P2 ran one lap around the track (1/4 mile). Flapjack until team goal is reached. Exercises are a top-to-bottom of body progression. Each team easily got in 1-1/2 miles on this one alone. But…not done yet…must. keep. going.
More Pain:
PAX lined up for an Indian run to the bus lot…the long way! From track past field house, around back ball fields to lot (more than 1/4 mile). At bus lot…time to…
COT: (Circle of Trust)
PAX gathered up around flag, our normal place of closeout. A little Name-o-rama and Flashcard took us out in prayer.
Moleskin:
PAX is getting better and better with recovery…the cardio is definitely helping, although sometimes not fun in the moment. A new FNG (Mason W.) shows that the PAX is getting out there inviting guys to join us…keep it up! Guys are showing up to get stronger and faster, while having vital fellowship in the process. Still look forward to continue the growth and building a solid group of guys who are tired of settling for the easy road. Let’s continue to push each other!
Next post Wednesday 01/20/2016 at 6:00am sharp…a quick 40 minute workout.
Thanks PAX for allowing me to Q.
-Flashcard
8 posted (a 9th was lost somewhere in the A51 AO – watch Twitter for formation of a search party) for the inaugural Ascent/Olympus convergence (ongoing, until it’s not) and a kettlebell (KB) clinic to introduce this versatile implement to the uninitiated and prepare them for future KB workouts at the site.
The Thang:
COP/Warmup:
Swing Progression:
Recovery & TGUs:
Clean Progression:
Snatch Progression:
Grab Bag:
Metal Mary (all with KB):
Extra Credit:
Done
COT
Announcements:
Ascent/Olympus – will continue to converge weekly at Olde Providence Elementary School until further notice. Format will vary from week to week, depending on the Q, intending to split between gear/KB and bootcamp workouts (watch weekly newsletter). Despite the format, options to moderate will be offered and encouraged at each workout – You v You.
Naked Moleskine:
What an honor to Q the first workout in the convergence of two of my favorite sites and to host a KB clinic to boot. Really looking forward to introducing gear to a wider pax audience and mixing up my own Saturday workouts between boot camps & gear.
Hopefully everyone came away with something today, whether new familiarity with KB exercises or just a good workout. The goal today was to spend a lot of time on progressions and form to provide a solid foundation for future workouts, so no effort was made to really count reps. For more instruction, of course, a professional is your best bet. Short of that, there is tons of good information on the internet, such as Dragon Door/RKC, Strong First, Pat Flynn, Dan John, but some of the best free information I’ve found is at BreakingMuscle by Andrew Read. Try this link to his Swing instruction, and from there, you can find his links to instruction on other moves.
A couple of us were discussing afterward some of the versatility offered by KBs. You likely noticed how winded sets of swings or snatches could leave you, while presses & TGUs were more of a grind. You can really tailor the workout to your desired goal (if you’re Q’ing or working out #sadclown) – I’ve had full grind workouts and full cardio/conditioning workouts and everything in between. When you’re not Q’ing, just adjust your bell size.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t plug our other Area 51 KB/gear options:
Oh, and The Mouth clocked us at 0.69 miles, much of it with weight, so we had that going for us too.
Thanks for the opportunity and honor to lead.
Aye.
11 PAX posted in the Gloom on this glorious winter morning at AO Impromptu for a beat down.
It went like this:
COP
50 SSH IC
20 Merkins IC
40 Imperial Walkers IC
30 Mountain Climbers IC
The Thang:
Mosey to the media in front of the school, run to the first light and did 1 rep of an exercise, second light 2 reps adding a rep at each light finishing at the last light with 7 reps, then sprinted back around the media to the starting point. Exercises were:
First set: Merkins.
Second set: Jumping Squats.
Third set: Burpees.
Mosey to the benches at school entrance for:
20 Incline Merkins IC
15 Decline Merkins IC
30 Triceps Dips IC
Mosey to the bus lot, grab a friend:
30 Biceps curl IC
30 Squats IC
20 Biceps curl IC
20 Squats
Mosey back to the front of the school and did 40 Dips IC.
Sprinted to parking lot and did 40 LBCs.
Moleskin
As always it was great to lead this group of great guys this morning.
On the sprint back to the parking lot YHC was second to Transporter when suddenly heard somebody sprinted pass everyone to catch up to me and it was Popeye, that guy is getting fast!, I think if the sprint was just a little longer he would have gotten to the parking lot first.
Everyone pushed really hard, very proud to be part of this group.
Announcements:
Union county convergence tomorrow FYC and Double E on Q.
Spartan free workout this Sunday morning at 9 am at Harris YMCA.
Thank you Transporter for taking us out.
So I had to skip out on my scheduled DZ Q back in December. Probably had to take my kids somewhere, or cut the grass, or rearrange the sock drawer. Who knows. But none of those excuses were as lame as Radar’s excuse of Yoga and Soccer practice.
Prohibition asked me on Monday to make up my Q this week which I was happy to oblige. The weinke called for multiples of 4 men. We had exactly 16. Sort of a good thing Radar had Yoga I guess.
Disclaimer – quite necessary this morning.
COP – No time for that.
The Thang –
Break into 4 groups of 4 men. Each group grabs one stone from the pile, one 50# sandbag from the trunk and one 45# plate for the trunk. Except for Prohibition who fished around to the bottom of the pile for the 35# plate. Way to step up. Teddy, Cheese Curd, and Turkey Leg were also the beneficiaries of Prohibition’s veteran choice.
As a team, get your sandbag, your rock, and your plate to the staircase of the Charlotte Catholic Parking deck as fast as you can. Pays to be a winner. For those doing the math at home that’s 1.5ish miles away.
Plank while receiving instructions:
At the deck, P1 & P2 take plate and do CMIYC Hariburners up to the set of cones half way and back around to the stairs at level 2. P3 does fireman’s carry with the sandbag up to the top of the stairs and back down. P4 does thrusters with a rock. P3 & P4 flapjack. When all 4 team members return do 20 Handclap Merkins. And Rotate. P3 & P4 do Hairburners to level 3 of the deck, while P1 & P2 do Fireman’s carry and thrusters. Finish with 20 Handclap Merkins.
Repeat the whole thing except come down the ramps and replace Thrusters with Louganis with a rock.
When all are done each team takes their sandbag, rock, and plate and heads back to McAlpine.
A little Plank work while we wait on the six.
Done.
Dead Cat Skin:
So unfortunately Mittens the cat didn’t make it across the street last night and lay dead on the sidewalk along 51 between Charlotte Catholic and McAlpine. As sad as this is, all would agree everything else in the workout sucked way worse.
McGee had the idea for the shortcut through the back field of the school to grab and hold the lead with his team all the way to CCHS. I think he secretly wished he took the long route to get a little more work in. Witch Dr’s 2.0, Rad, was crushing it out there too. The 14 year old was lugging a sandbag that nearly weighed as much as him and had to keep up with his partners Mermaid and Margo. Although he may or may not have taken the elevator down the parking deck on the fireman’s carry.
McGee, Flipper, Fault Line, and Dear Abby took the lead on both the out and back. Congratulations. I’ll get your prize to you next time I see you. You’ll each receive losing lottery tickets from last weeks Powerball. Just think how you’ll be able to tell your grandkids about the framed lotto ticket from the first ever $1B+ jackpot!!! Very special indeed.
Good work from my team of Hairball, Bounce and Spackler moving up and down 51. Big props to everyone for grinding through this one. As much mental as it was physical. No, no, it was physically more awful.
Chew on some ibuprofen today. Your going to need it.
Thanks to McGee for the send off.
-Alf
Announcements – none. Everyone was in too much discomfort to think of one.