14…the answer is 14.
The question is how many oxen-like men does it take to dominate the Circus of Pain?
Thang:
Overhead Bell carry to end of lot for COP
SSH – 15
IW – 15
Full-body Mobility Circles – 4 each way
KB Swings – 20
Scorpion Merkins – 10
Prying Squats – 5
KB 101 and KB Flow set – make it up for 1 minute
Overhead Bell carry back to the Circus
Get in teams of 3 for IOD (Implement of Doom), KB Flow, and Run 100-ish yards with 1 burpee. Runner is the timer. Keep rotating in your group until all 3 have hit the IOD.
Today’s 8-ring Circus included:
75lb. Steel Log
Tire flips or sledgehammer (users choice)
Battling ropes
Dolly sidewinders or knee tucks
65lb. BB (users choice) – curl, press, or one-arm snatches
40lb. MB Squat and Launch
Banded lunging rainbows
Slosh pipe (Thanks Chanel!)
COT – Group takeout with some heavy requests. Thanks for sharing
NMM:
I was honored to lead for the first time at Foxhole. Many thanks to Chanel and Voodoo for the invite. Great group of dudes and even had a couple of Diamondhead brothers (Ickey and Tootie) post today.
Personal Highlight #1 – After a brief discussion on KB swing technique, the War Daddy New Trick tremendously improved his form. Great job! You lived up to your name!
Personal Highlight #2 – COT prayers – I remember what was mentioned and will continue to lift those things up today.
Small soap-box rant – I don’t know why more fitness professionals don’t attend F3. I have learned so much as both part of the Pax and Q over the years. Now that I work for my church full time, I think it would be like a minister who only preaches and never sits in the congregation or kneels at the altar. We all have to check our ego and be served in order to better serve. I am thankful for all of the F3 brothers from Metro and Area 51 that have enriched my life and made me better.
Double E, Glass Joe and Shepherd arrived early for a 4.0 mile pre-run. T-claps to this crew who consistently goes the extra mile or 5 prior to the standard beatdown.
The remaining PAX kicked off the daily beatdown at 7:00 a.m.
The Thang
Que with Wienke in hand (pocket) confidently launched the beatdown and all mosied over to the disc golf course for COP. Those familiar with Outland know that this is typically where the shovel flag is planted. YHC failed to get the Shovel flag back this week (Que Fail). A big thanks to The Late Show for coming through with a Mini Flag as a stand in for the missing shovel flag. The mini flag was planted by the parking lot so we had proper representation.
– SSH x25 – IW x25 – 4 count squats x25 – Perfect Merkin x10 – Arm circles and shoulder stretch – Plank and runners stretch
Mosey over to the front of the stadium for a quick hop over the half wall and… DENIED. So here’s where the beatdown was turned on it’s head. The inner gate, which is a little too high to jump, was locked and the PAX were lined up in the gauntlet with no place to go. Loving jeers of “Que Fail” echoed from the walls of SVHS to the the bleachers of the stadium as we headed back over the half wall and onto the front lawn of the school. So… with good intentions… said Que led the PAX the long way around the HS to get to the back entrance of the stadium. One Indian run and a couple of pain stations later we were at the concession stand in the back of the school with semi-smoked PAX and no time left for the original plan of “Stairway to Heaven” on the stadium steps. In the spirit of adapt and over we lined up with backs against the wall of the concession stand.
Aside from some grumbling about tearing should out of the socket the wall Planks seemed to be a crowd pleaser. Added to the WIB.
Line it up and Indian Run over to the Dip bars. Grab a side and lift. The PAX moved the bars close to the Pull up bars at the obstacle course and then continued back over to the SVMS with some back peddling, and karaoke added in for good measure. Strong work by all. There was no lack of mileage in today’s beatdown and the PAX stayed together and stayed tough. 2 minute water break at the cars, circle up in Core Strengthening position, move into active plank work and then mosey back over to the obstacle course.
11’s at the pull up bars/dips bars – 10 hanging leg raises on the pull up bar and 1 Inverted row (supine Pull-up) on the dip bars – 9 hanging leg raises on the pull up bar and 2 Inverted rows (supine Pull-ups) on the dip bars – etc…
3-4 MoM – Reverse Crunch x20 – Dying cockroach x20 (on you back feet in the air toe touches)
– Walk the plank across the Over / Under Obstacle (Left then Right) x3 – Burpees between the Over / Under Obstacle. So do 1 burpee plank walk under the poles you just plank walked across, do a burpee in between and keep going. (2 rounds). Plank it up and wait for everyone to finish. Another Que Fail here as we had to call it before all PAX could finish because we were running over time.
Mosey back over to the parking lot and mini shovel flag for COT.
Moleskin: Impressive showing by the PAX today, especially the newer guys. The Count, who’s been out a few weeks in a row and The Undertaker who was an F3 FNG Friday at Overdrive and the returned for more pain on Saturday, both left it on the fields of Outland. It’s good to have two new strong brothers. Also, good to see new leadership and commitment growing in Shepherd (consistent pre-run participant) and The Late Show (many-time Que) who’ve been regulars at Outland for while now… See above for additional commentary.
The Thang:
Eyes Open and Focus on the clock saying 5:21am.
Jump squat out of the bed and into short shorts and singlet.
Sprint to the car, realize you left your keys, sprint back into the house, Rinse&Repeat.
Single leg lift as driving while putting on shoes; Flapjack.
Fly into parking lot while the rest of the PAX are doing SSH.
Run to Carmel middle, stopping at each driveway for Agony’s Exponential Merkins:
Mosey to the track
Rest while Agony ties his shoes.
Timed Mile–Kirk taking the tape in a 6:07.
Partner up
Partner Durkins (15); Shoulder–Frontal, Lat, and Presses (15); Partner Durkins (15)
Partner Mile–while
Jack Webbs to 10
Mosey Home
Native American Run Home
MOLESKIN:
> Regardless of popular opinion, I dress myself.
> Realized this workout turned into a tribute workout: The MerkinMile was a tribute to SwampFox, The TimedMile was for OneEye, the unnecessary JackWebb was for RunStopper.
> Good work from the PAX to push themselves.
> Unfortunately, the PAX missed the initial call as I parked my car for 10 Burpees as Kirk had Qed the waiting for sleepyhead. Grateful though cause it would have ruined my Burpee Free Guarantee.
Yep – you can quote me on that. 19 big hairy brutes showed what kind of men they are for a progression interval and merkin party.
We ran around a lot to start with and did some really sloppy merkins to show what poor form is. Then we started doing merkins properly.
We ran to the Bull Ring and ran 1 minute out, 1 minute back, 1 min out, 1 min back, 1 min out, 1 min back. Everyone at their own pace and the idea was to increase your distance each time. It was a great way to keep everyone together, but I think that no-one, including yhc, was able to increase their distance. In other words, we all started out too fast.
To settle down, we settled down for 50 perfect-form merkins. They were not easy. In fact yhc developed a brief, flashing migraine as a result, which I think I hid from the pax well. To get rid of the intense pain (broken blood vessel, stroke?) we took a break for some Mary. Mary always does the trick, so we were then able to mosey off to the bottom of the hill.
At the bottom of the hill we started things off with 5 x “6-count” burpees. Then we ran for 30 seconds up the hill, then returned to the bottom for 6 x “6-count” burpees. We repeated this fun little ladder all the way up to 10 burpees, the idea being to increase your run distance each time. Mr. Bean, Big Tuna, Dolphin, and Wingman all finished this portion of the workout extremely strong.
After this we wandered off to a patch of grass and did another ladder, this time the old favorite: Merkin Mary Madness. This continued until we sadly had to head home. After a quick stop on the way for a few more merkins, we finished up with an all-you-got sprint to the parking lot. At this point Mr Bean was so excited to finish up and get to his bagel at Einsteins that he jumped through a hedge on the way back.
Yhc’s sole objective for the workout was to punish Mic Check after the hideous beating he laid down on us last week. MC is always saying that he hates running, so I tried to include a liberal sprinkling of running in the hopes of wearing him down. It didn’t really work. The fact is, MC Scrapper can hang with the best of us on running, merkins, burpees, or whatever you care to throw at him. And then still talk smack at the end of it.
It was great leading the group. I for one was totally exhausted at the end.
Great to have Sanction out for his second workout.
Also great to overhear Mighty Mite mentioning that the workout wore him out. Anytime you wear down the big man it’s gotta be a good workout.
Dolphin has the Q next week. He has been getting progressively more excited over the last few weeks and at this point can hardly contain himself. Rumor has it that some kind of “back waxing” (???) will be included in the beatdown. Don’t wanna miss that.
Thanks y’all. See you at Fight Club Monday morning.
2 weeks in a row and we had 15 men out for Ghost Runner for the easiest Q of the week.
Confirm route knowledge, check for emergency phones, synchronize GPS watches, head out of Arbo for 4-6 miles of hills. A couple of hits of rain on the route as the summer “scattered showers” made their way through.
Moleskine:
A solid group for week 2, many of the same, but a few new ones as well. A pretty even split between the 4 and 6 mile groups. Second week in a row one of the lead PAX stopped for a bathroom break on the route and still beat me to the end. This is getting old, but the flowers and trees in Raintree have never looked so great with all this added fertilizer.
We may have looked a bit awkward starting the Ball of Man, half of us shirtless, when a car stopped and asked for directions. TR let them know we were just doing group back rubs in the parking lot.
Thanks to TR for the send off.
About a dozen or so made it over to stink up Vinter’s for the next 90 minutes. I wonder when they will start automatically reserving a table for us outside on Thursday nights.
Standard announcements. See your morning workout Back Blast’s for details.
-Alf
Yeah so this is way late. Had to make sure we had the posting Tag up and ready and then some other things came up so I forgot.
15 men showed up for the first night of the 2015 Ghost Runner.
The Thang:
Run 4 or 6 miles. Or whatever distance you want.
Moleskine:
About 9 guys made the quick left on Raintree for the 4 mile option while the remaining 6 headed out to SCMS for the few extra loops that make this a full six miles. I can’t speak much to the pace on the 4 mile crowd, but the 6 mile group was pushing the pace and is looking to be fairly strong come BRR time. Brady had to make a pit stop among the trees and still beat me up the hill on Raintree after giving me a few 100 yards lead.
-Alf
15 SOBs intent on getting better posted in the Gloom at The Brave.
Veteran crew – so short disclaimer was given then short mosey over to Loch Ness.
The Thang:
YHC was at a summer swim league meet late Thursday night so zero creativity went into this workout. Its a complete reheat from earlier in the year.
1 Lap around Loch Ness
1 exercise lap – with exercises at the two patios and the picnic tables – 10 derkins, 10 jump ups, 10 dips, finish lap.
2 laps around Loch Ness
1 exercise lap – 20 derkins, 20 jump ups, 20 dips, finish lap.
3 laps around Loch Ness
1 exercise lap – 30 derkins, 30 jump ups, 30 dips
4 laps around Loch Ness
1 exercise lap – 40 derkins, 40 jump ups, 40 dips
Then go back down the pyramid.
If you make it all the way back down, you are a beast.
One wrinkle on the exercise laps, when you are on the brick patios ( for the derkins and jump-ups) you must bear crawl until off the bricks and back to the path.
6:10 time called and quick mosey back to launch.
Finished
Solid work by everyone today. With the 10K merkin challenge, lots of modifications going on today, but still solid efforts around. YHC thinks most got to the top of the pyramid and most were started back down.
YHC only made it to the top (bear crawl = YHC Kryptonite) and that was 100 derkins, 100 jump-ups, 100 dips and approx 4.6 miles from and back to launch. Most got more work done than this.
Didn’t hear a lot of mumble chatter today, so if YHC missed something, shout out below.
YHC and Wingman did have a run in with a large crawfish that some how got confused and was doing laps with us today – it was a bit too big and angry for us to bother so we ran on by.
Thank you guys for the opportunity to lead this great group. Its a privilege.
Announcements:
The Fort is running the Hog and Coyote – June 20th – check it out: http://f3nation.com/2015/04/28/2nd-annual-hog-and-coyote-hc2015/
Look for Area 51s version – Southern Discomfort coming in August
F3 Dads started this Saturday at Beatty Park at 9am – will be thru the end of June
Sign up for F3 Dads Camp. – http://f3nation.com/2015/05/13/3rd-annual-f3-camp/
There is simply no finer way to begin a Saturday than by swinging a heavy ball of iron in a multitude of ways. Five men understand this and posted to Olympus to become bigger, stronger, faster, and dare I say thanks to YHC’s playlist, more cultured. Instead of a traditional warmup we dove headfirst into the Ickey 500, which is 5 supersets consisting of 2 exercises, 50 reps each.
The 500 – 50 reps of each of the following:
Gear Stations:
7 stations set up throughout the playground, get after each one hard for 2 minutes then rotate. Stations consisted of:
After everyone got 2 times through each station we moved on to the finisher which consisted of 100 kettlebell swings.
Moleskine: Please allow YHC to shamelessly plug for Olympus. It’s a great workout and a nice change of pace from the bread & butter bootcamp style workouts. We try to deliver a lot of different things centered around kettlebell work. Kettlebells and gear work can help your running, weight loss, strength, and essentially whatever your particular fitness goals may be. It would be great to start seeing some new faces. Give it a try, you’ll be hooked.
Announcements:
Blue Hen could use some assistance moving next Friday/Saturday. If you are able to spare some time either Friday evening after work or Saturday morning following workouts contact Turkey Leg (smastbrook@metlife.com) who has a schedule.
Piledriver in Mint Hill has been up and running a few weeks now but officially launches 6/13 with a multi-Q extravaganza.
F3 Dads 9:00 am at Beatty Park in Matthews each Saturday in June. Or be like YHC and mistakenly think the start time is 9:30 and arrive in time for the last 10 minutes.
86 awesome dads and 2.0s posted this Saturday AM at Colonel Francis Beatty park for the 2015 kickoff of Area51 F3 Dads.
The Thang:
COP:
Water Break
Ark Loader – race your dads:
Water Break
Smaug’s Gold Game:
Split large group into 5 teams by counting off. Each team takes a bandanna. Smaug (Dad) in the middle of circle guards the gold (bandanna) while the Hobbits (2.0s) try to steal it from him without being burned up (tagged). If the 2.0 steal the gold, they pick another dad to be Smaug.
Tunnel of Love – two lines: #crowdgoeswild. Dads make tunnels, 2.0s go through the tunnels. Near Mutiny here, but we held it together.
COP:
Done
Moleskine:
Great showing for the kickoff of this fun event. It was hot out there, but it looked like everyone was having a great time. It’s always fun to get the smaller kids and the daughters out for these events, as well as to see other guys who we don’t normally post with.
Lots of Dads got smoked by their 2.0s on the Ark Loader. I got owned on the bear crawls. Oh, to be tiny and pain free . . .
Tunnel of Love was rough, lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth by the #SuperDads out there. I wonder who the jerk was that told the kids to go back around and get in line again? I tried to go through the tunnel myself, but it somehow collapsed on me.
The bandanna game was a gamble, but it seemed to go over pretty well with everyone. It looked like the 2.0s were having their way with most of the teams . . . and then there was Alf. Crouched like a panther, with the bandanna rolled into a tiny ball on the ground, Alf swatted away Hobbits like an angry Cave Troll. Reminded me of Bratwurst mercilessly running the kiddos down last year during Sharks and Minnows, which I think Alf Q’d ironically. #justkidding bud – looked like everyone was having fun out there.
Fun Times
Horsehead
8 PAX took to the campus of Weddington HS at 0630 on Saturday for the weekend show known as Commitment.
Here’s the THANG:
Moleskin:
Announcements: