While the Clemson/Bama fans were all fart-sacked away in their beds, visions of victory/defeat danced in their heads. But the real men of Skunkworks arose with a chatter (teeth that is), to grab their bells and their beans to see what was the matter. And what to their wondering eyes did appear, a Giant Red Boombox and David Bowie(RIP)they did hear.
So this chilly morning brought out the meek, the quiet and the cold but not for long. Within minutes, the chatter and hilarity ensued. …went something like this (fun stuff):
5:30… Lets go
1 Quick Lap around parking lot to the Rock and back.
Disclaimer… yada yada yada
COP:
SSH x30
IW x30
Grab your fav bell and mosey. I lap around track.
Circle up:
Header leads 2HS while I prepare the Jeep Juke for some musical scoring. (I don’t like to hear grown men cry)
So it begins… the Tabatas/Circuit work is on. Scored by some great artists, who Dollywood later proclaimed/labeled as old-school. … well… ouch… Just,….ouch.
Circle up, bells on the ground.
40 secs, Stretch lower back, hinge or squat and touch handle of bells.
5 sec rest
1:00 min Tea Bag Squats
30 secs Goblet reverse lunge right
30 secs Goblet reverse lunge left
5 sec rest
30 Secs 2 Handed Swings
5 sec rest
30 secs Cleans left
30 sec Cleans right
5 sec rest
30 secs 2 Handed Swings
5 sec rest
1:00 min Upright Row
5 sec rest
30 secs 2 Handed Swings
5 sec rest
45 secs Clean and Press left
5 sec rest
30 secs 2 Handed Swings
5 sec rest
45 secs Clean and Press right
30 secs 2 Handed Swings
5 sec rest
45 secs Gunslinger right (Swinging Hammer Curl)
5 sec rest
30 secs 2 Handed Swings
5 sec rest
45 secs Gunslinger left (Swinging Hammer Curl)
5 sec rest
30 secs 2 Handed Swings
5 sec rest
Grab your fav bell and mosey. I lap around track.
Return to Circle.
REPEATO entire circuit (grumble grumble)
Once completed, team up with groups of 3 and mosey/limp to the field with bells.
Two tires at one end of the field for each team. Varying sizes and weight depending on your adventure.
Team member 1 does two handed swings while Team member 3 goes to the other end of the field and does standing tricep presses with bell. Team member 2 moseys to other end with tires and trades. Rotate through several times. (5 minutes)
YHC then called an audible for One Handed Alternating Swings at one end and Overhead Chest Presses at the other, while one team member is constantly rotating and burning rubber. (5 minutes)
Put tires away
Mosey to Parking lot with bells.
Instructed Pax to get on their sixes approximately 2 feet apart in a straight row, with bells, all facing the same way.
5 Pull Overs, 5 Chest Presses, pass your bell to the right and the last pax in the group moseys to the beginning of the line. Repeato. 9 cycles of this. YHC called an audible for the last set, we did 20 Chest Presses.
The end.
moleskin:
Thanks guys for an awesome morning. I desperately tried to find an English voice for the Circuit but ran out of time. I sure hope it was fun, made you smile/laugh and allowed you to push yourselves to a new level.
Lots of pax out there working and pushing hard. You guys are always inspiring to YHC.
The whole concept in the last set was to allow you to use someone’s heavier bell. I think I ended up with StoneColds Smart Car sized bell for the last set. Don’t be afraid to go heavier. Form is the all-important prevention for accidents and injuries. As always, modify as needed. Anyone who has seen me at any AO knows that I practice that regularly.
Somehow we ended up with 1.16 miles. Great work everyone. Always a privilege and thanks for your patience and encouragement in YHC’s adventure.
Thanks to CCC. Thanks to Harley and Fletch for the opportunity and to all of you deranged ppl who showed up in 27 degree craziness.
Props to Header for the pre-5K and the out.
Swift will launch at 0515 on Tuesday morning from the Vine restaurant in the land of the Sons of Ballantyne. Come at 0500 for some extra warmup time.
The Thang:
23 showed in the cold temps. After we tried to figure out what happened to our bus stop (it was totally gone, no cover from the rain anymore), we set off to uncharted territory. Those that read the preblast knew we were going to be running hills today. Some did not and they weren’t too happy.
The thang:
Run down Carmel, left onto Town and Country (thanks Runstopper for the illumination)
Right on La Gorce, stop at La Gorce/Sharonview for Merkins x 12IC
Left on Sharonview and stop at Valencia Terrace for Merkins x 12IC, Squats x 5IC #Beast
Continue down Sharonview and take a left on Winding Brook Rd.
–10 Merkins at each side street (3 stops) on Winding Brook and stop at Little Brook Lane
The Durker:
–Up Little Brook, 20 Merkins at top
–Up Little Brook, 15 Merkins at top
–Up Little Brook, 10 Merkins at top
–Up Little Brook, 5 Merkins at top
Mary Recovery:
–LBC x 25IC
–Russian Twist x 25IC
–Up Little Brook, 10 Jump Squats at top
–Up Little Brook, 5 Jump Squats at top
–Up Little Brook, 20 Jump Squats at top
–Up Little Brook, 15 Jump Squats at top #NotPredictable
Mary Recovery:
–Heals to Heaven x 20IC
–Flutter x 20IC
AYG up Little Brook (Just for Baracus)
Run back home, partner carry La Gorce to T&C, and run to church until watch clicks to 4 miles
–Flutter x 31IC
–Merkins x 12IC
NM
I discovered Little Brook when I had to pick up my 2 year old son from a sitter. That piece is steep. 8% grade. It is only 0.08 miles long, so long enough to hurt but not too long to kill you. We ran up and down 9 times. Thought about calling partner carries up the hill, but nixed it. I knew it would push the mileage up today since the hill was 1.2 from the AO, but I thought it was a worth the trek. I didn’t think we would hit 4 but we did #Top10Q. Maybe a DMZ record? Little Brook needs a name. How about the Durker (DMZ-Lurker)? Shoutout suggestions below.
Everyone was excited about the hill. Especially Spackler. He crapped himself because of all the excitement #Probiotic. Baracus took the role of Steinbrenner this morning as the most grumpiest. He kept asking to run up it again, so we did. Thanks to Sundancer for watching the six.
Good to see so many guys getting ready for the BRR. Egypt runs faster uphill than down. Kirk smiled the whole time. Swiper and Rachel up front all morning. One Eye kept us safe with his vest #SafetyFirst. Semi didn’t make it because his newly self-installed garage door wouldn’t open #WhydoIhaveAllTheseExtraPieces.
Baracuda was built for partner carries. Well, carrying people at least.
Annoucements:
Corporate Cup is 3/5. Big F3 contingent running.
SOFAWIB is tomorrow. Preblast here.
Support Runstopper’s son and his quest to hike the entire App Trail.
Wolf Blitzer: “Bizarre news coming out of the 14th district congressional race in North Carolina. Now, get this: Cam Brady, four-time congressman, [ran The Wiggler].”
Chris Matthews: “This is likely to hurt him with the Christian right, social conservatives. Really any group that opposes [running The Wiggler].”
Vote for The Wiggler. Corner of Foxcroft and Rothwood – 5:45 am launch. Tell your friends. Politician pace…
**The Candidate
Talkbox created this thing (which means he can’t FS out of it), and it is one of the few workouts that has litrally (intentional misspelling) made me curse…some variation of Love yourself. We haven’t recycled this one in the six months since, which should tell you something. In TR parlance, this is about as close to “workout so hard you will surely die” as I’ve experienced, and I don’t believe I’m overselling it in the slightest. Mileage will be lower than normal, a welcome respite for Sundancer after 4 miles of hills at DMZ, so if you’ve been putting off the challenge of the toughest workout in A51 on Tuesday that meets at an elementary school on Rea Rd, this is the one for you.
THANG
I can tell you from experience that despite being a short track, the burpee broad jumps grow to suck – a lot….so place some outsized importance on horse-whispering ability in your partner selection. I had to remind Brushback to breathe last time, which coincidentally may have been the last time he breathed without some form of crup, walking pneumonia, or other lung disease. It’ll be good to get him back out tomorrow.
Until then…enjoy the YouTube video (link in case it doesn’t insert properly):
It was a balmy 24 degrees and 14 PAX emerged from their cars 2.2 minutes before 5:30 to share their tips for keeping warm: preventing chapped knee caps is high on the list for some reason – go with pants or tights, yes tights were recommended.
Something of a disclaimer was issued; mosey to the parking lot for a couple laps of Jogging (or Yogging).
Circle up, IC:
SSH, IW, Mtn. Climbers, Merkins, all @20 ea.
Triple Nickles were on the winky for the day:
Run to the end of the parking lot for 5 Drydocks; run back for 10 Burpees, run back for 6 Drydocks, back again for 9 Burpees..run, rinse and repeat until you get to 10 Drydocks and 5 Burpees.
Fast guys get in some LBC’s, Flutters, and Planks while the rest of us gather.
Switch it up for 5 Russian Hammers and 10 Heels to Heaven – run, rinse and repeat.
Again, fast guys with the LBC’s and whatnot…I was still running with the rest of the normal humans.
On to 5 Diamond Merkins and 10 Merkins – try to keep up with Lobster, run, rinse and repeat
More planks, some kind of Turkey Leg led super situp leg lift kind of move that looked awful, and a bit of Da’Fluttah.
5 Mountain Climbers, and 10 Peter Parkers – run, rinse and repeat.
PAX stayed together for the most part on this last run – a brief plank and we headed up to the wall.
Peoples Chair with 100 air-presses and we were all wrapped up.
Clocked in at about 3.5 miles total, 200ish Merkins, 300+ Abs – a decent 45 minutes.
Announcements:
BRR sign up is upon us again – experts say it will likely be sold out by April – act now, supplies are running out – look for an email from last year’s captains if you ran it. If you didn’t run it, you should. Speak up – go against your better judgment and sign up.
Three cars were broken into while at Cavalry Church on Saturday – lock your doors, mind yo’ stuff and stuff.
A cold, still morning welcomed the 20 men of Area 51 who gathered under the soft glow of the parking lot lights, ready to start their Monday with a dose of downpainment. The stillness was broken by the Q, who announced he wasn’t a professional, then proceeded to demonstrate the fact. Here’s how:
Mosey to 51 and circle up:
20-SSH
Mosey ~ half-way to Windswept Dr and circle up
20-IW
Mosey to Windswept Dr and circle up:
15-full-range Merkins (3down/1up)
Mosey to playground for the Main Thang:
Starfish #1:
Legs = 10 pullups, 10 step-ups (each leg=1) on fixed bench, 10 merkins by back, 10 dips on picnic benches, 10 donkey kicks on swings
Center (at playground entrance) = 1 burpie + 1 each time you complete the entire set of 5 legs
(time = 10 minutes)
Starfish #2:
Legs = 10 squats by back left toy, 10 supine pullups (on swings), 10 speed skater by back center of playground, 10-sealjacks by back right toy, 10-lunge (each leg is 1) by swings
Center (at playground entrance) = 1 clap merkin +1 each time complete entire set of 5 legs
(timer = 8 minutes)
Mosey back to school, stopping at corner by Gateway for inchworm merkins until 6 arrives Mosey to parking lot for Mary:
12-Freddie Mercury
COT
Moleskin:
Welcome to our newest member of the F3 nation, Smithers.
Simba lobbied hard for FNG Matt to be called Dabo (underestimated, but leading). After some polite banter (after all, he is Site Q, and not afraid to remind us), we moved on to gather more intel, and based on his job description found a better fit with “Smithers.”
Simba, Insomniac and Smash demonstrated the core F3 value “I am 3rd” when we had one man go down on the way into the park. Balk took an unlucky step in a hole and injured his ankle. Smash stayed with him while Insomniac and Simba ran back to get a car and drive him back to his car. Apparently he was just getting back after 6 weeks out with an ankle injury on his other foot.
YHC offers sincere apologies to any pax that felt the moderate part of Base Camp’s designation “Moderate Intensity” was missing. I didn’t have any 10-counts and we didn’t plank to wait for the 6 after the runs. It wasn’t an oversight, but instead I wanted to offer a challenge to every level: faster guys got to do a few more reps of whatever the called exercise was, but everyone got to do some of that exercise. Also the design of the starfish is that you push yourself as hard as you want/can. So I thought I had the “moderate” part and the “intense” part both covered, but if I missed the target, I apologize.
Happy Birthday to The Fridge!
Warmup:
SSH x 47
Mountain climbers x 36
IW x 26
Mosey to front of school & partner up
Partner 1 do 3-6-9 (3 burpees, 6 merkins, 9 squats) as partner 2 runs a lap around parking lot. Flapjack until each partner has completed two laps.
Mosey to stairs
Partner up and alternate running stairs and exercising quantities as a team.
50 x Maryland Crab
100 x LBC
70 x Squat
Mosey to hill and grab a rock.
7’s
Triple crush at top of hill (curl, press, tri-extension)
Squat at bottom of hill
Mosey back to front of school, lunge walk along the way.
10 x box jump
10 x plank up/down on bench
10 x box jump
10 x derkin
Jail break to parking lot
Heals to heaven, dolly, Russian Hammer, protractor
And… Done.
Moleskin- thanks for the opportunity to lead today! I knew that I did well when I saw Dasher and Doc McStuffins sitting on the bench to take a break along the way.
Announcements:
1/16 – Convergence w/ Outland @ Commitment
Bad ideas seem to travel together. First, Countertop asked if I wanted to split the Q with him and sure, that seems like a bad enough of an idea. Then, Double E texts asking if we want to do a 10K pre-run. Hope fades. And we still have the workout to do and it was going to suck. At least we had a great coffeeteria to look forward to assuming we make it. Off we go…
Pre-Thang
Double E, Horsehead, Kiefer, Shepherd and Glass Joe on foot for the 10K. Boondocks on bike for the 10K. This shall not become a permanent thing but nevertheless, it was good. Some mention of Shepherd Christian cussing me (GJ) because I sort of talked him into this. The good Pastor wouldn’t say it’s true but we all agreed it was.
The Thang
Glass Joe on Q
Mosey to the Virtual Shovel Flag field
COP
SSH IC x 25
IW IC x 20
Mountains Climbers IC x 20
Mosey to the practice field
Two times across the field. 1) High Knees across/Buttkickers back. 2) Karaoke across and back
Mosey to the end of the field
Merkin Wheelbarrows long way across the field. Guessing 175 yards or so. Kicker is on the first time, do 10 merkins with your partner holding your legs and then start the wheelbarrow. Do 5 merkins to start on every flapjack. These should really be called decline merkin wheelbarrows. Plank exercises then squats until everyone has gathered.
Mosey to the building between baseball field/tennis courts
People’s Chair w/Air Presses and Donkey Kicks combo. No rest between them and add 25 air presses and 5 donkey kicks each round. 5 Rounds total looked like this: 1) 25 APs, 15 DKs; 2) 50 APs, 20 DKs; 3) 75 APs, 25 DKs; 4) 100 APs, 30 DKs; 5) 125 APs, 35 DKs
Attempted Balls to the Wall with Mountain Climbers IC x7. Looked over around the 6th count and pretty much most had failed so finished up with 7.
Mosey to the courtyard at the football field house and hand off to CT
CT on Q
10 burpee warm up moving into the yard where 10 Gear Stations were set up for the PAX .
1 minute each station 10 second break to move to next station. After 8 stations the PAX went for a short run around the parking lot to give everyone a few minutes to catch their breath and then back to the stations.
– Pop Squats – Big Tire
– Weighted step ups – Step up on the big tire with sand bag in arms/ over the shoulder
– Tire Flips Medium Tries
– Punch Out w/ 10 lb weights
– Sweepers
– Weighted Lunge Walk (w/sandbag)
– Alternating Waves with Firehose “battle ropes”
– Thrusters w/sandbag
– Jump Rope
– Kettle Bell Swings
The above were the original stations but since the PAX were left to their own devices several more stations popped up. A couple that YHC noticed were; high-knees through the ropes course, merkins, inch worm with tires and burpees w/ jumps onto the tractor.
Once the gear work was complete the PAX grabbed the sandbags and hauled them across the school campus.
Burpees OYO x10
COT
Thanks to Smokey for the strong take out
Announcements
Convergence with Commmitment next Saturday. No Outland. Doc McStuffins and EE on Q. We will start at 6:30 at Weddington High School.
Moleskine
GJ:
This was a tough one. Low mileage given I was half-Q and lots of stress on wrists, arms, shoulders with those merkin wheelbarrows for way too long of a distance and then CTs courtyard of horribles was just brutal on core.
I nearly puked on the HH ad hoc burpee tire jump ups. Just another bad idea added to the collection.
All the pax were working hard. Sajack is probably wondering what the crap has he gotten himself into. Strong work brother and hope to see you back out.
CTs recovery lap ended up not being anything of the sort. Somehow it turned into a race. EE won. This surprises no one.
HH tells me ‘I hate you’ during the merkin wheelbarrows. That’s how I define success.
The Pre-Outland 10K was in honor of Joe Davis. While we couldn’t get there to run the race today, we wanted to show we run in solidarity. Thanks to the brothers who gave a donation to EE which will go to Keystone who helps men with addiction.
I am thankful for all you guys who show up, never let up and push each other to get better. Iron sharpens iron but consider that it is an abrasive process. It takes a rough surface to sharpen. Each of us is the whetstone to each other and when you push hard, the man beside you who thinks he has nothing left will then push himself harder. This is how we are sharpened and why it truly does matter.
Glass Joe
Wake up to great weather for a burner of a workout! The PAX continues to find ways to punish our bodies at this AO. I feel we’ve still only scratched the surface though. One FNG shows up to add to six FNG’s added over just two weeks! And…Here. We. Go…
The Main Thang:
Viper (1st Half QIC) took us on a little mosey around the parking lot to get the blood flowing. Then circle up for a little…Circle of Pain (COP):
1st Half of Workout is done with much burning taking place!…Not done yet, though…Flashcard takes over with more pain in mind. We take a little mosey to the block pile at the back of the AO. Each member of the PAX grabs a concrete block (about 30 lbs.) and moseys to the football field. The sighs of some of the PAX would indicate a few already know a little bit of what is coming…drum roll….Four Corners! Before four corners, though, we need to add another element of pain for the PAX.
Partner Block Sit Ups: P1 & P2 lay on their backs across from each other and lock legs for leverage. Using the 30-lb. concrete block, each man starts sit up, passing the concrete block to this partner at the up position, then each drop back down…that’s one rep. Each grouping does 10 block passes, which is actually 20 sit ups. Drop the blocks and to…
Four Corners: The basic idea is the PAX runs four corners of a field, full football field or half, with various exercises performed at each corner…
After the 1st round of four corners…more partnered block sit ups (same as above)…then 2nd round of four corners. After dying from that, we return our blocks to the block pile. Then, Indian Run from the pile to the track.
Last COP:
Mosey back to flag…and…DONE!
Moleskin: It is encouraging to see yet another FNG (Cell Block) attend, and better yet, with his son (TrueBass). This makes the second father-son PAX members we’ve had. Refreshing to see them leading by example. The F3Anson PAX is growing…I think around 15 strong. Another refreshing sight are the original PAX who keep coming…week in, week out. All are determined to get better…one workout at a time!
Next post Wednesday morning (01/13/16), 6:00am sharp.
-FC