12 PAX joined YHC at McKee Rd Elementary for a tour of the campus that serves as host AO of Charlotte South’s elder statesman of work-outs, Area 51. YHC was looking forward to getting back into the Gloom on a regular basis after being an infrequent participant due to a little 4/15 deadline that seemed to occupy most of my time. The morning brought the promise of a nice day for 60 minutes of hard work to get the weekend started off right.
Greeted two visitors, Rebel, who was up from the Fort, and Boo Boo, who is an Area 51 resident who has worked out with Metro crowd in the past as he works Uptown. Glad to have both of them out and would welcome them back anytime.
Led the PAX off on a light jog through the lower parking lot, around the 1st island and then back to the lower parking lot at top end of the soccer fields where we circled up for the COP:
After nice warm-up it was time to head over to the rock pile to pick up a pet rock. PAX was instructed that we would be taking our coupons along with us for a good while during the work-out, so pick accordingly. YHC would have been well served to have heeded his own warning. Live and learn.
With rocks in tow we headed over to the soccer field and lined up along the sideline for the following:
Grab your rock and let’s head over to the stumps behind the school
Head over to the grass and find a somewhat dry area for 6 MOM w/ our pet rocks
Leave the rocks in the circle and we headed over to the entrance of the nature trail
Time to head back to pick up our pet rocks before someone tries to steal them. Bear crawl up the hill at the entrance to the trail and then mosey back to our rocks.
Quick repeat of our 6 MOM
Back to the stumps for two more rounds
Enough quality time with our pet rocks, so we headed back to the rock piles and dropped off our friends. Headed back to the playground at the front of the school for a little circuit work
Head over to the wall at front of the school for People’s Chair
Short mosey to launch point and wrap it up with 5 Burpees OYO to keep DK content
COT
NMM:
Announcements:
8 PAX endured a ruthless beatdown in the Gloom at The Rock…. ok… it was actually a gorgeous morning…. and not quite a beatdown… but there were 8 of us, I know that for sure! We gave everyone until 6:59:59, then off we went!
We started with a warm-up lap which measured at just .4 miles. This is important as it became our repeat-o lap.
Circle up for PAIN:
SSH x 20
IW x 20
Hammy/Calf stretching x 30
Mountain Climbers x 20
Low Slow Squats x 20
Time for 30-40-50 Bingo… a game of skill and strategy in which EVERYONE’S a WINNER!!
2 bags containing strips of paper
1 – Exercises we know and love
1 – 30, 40, or 50… indicating the number of reps
Each round we drew 1 from each bag, did the exercise for the rep, then ran the .4 mile loop. Here is the “APPROXIMATE” order and reps:
1. Calf Raises x 30; lap
2. Bear Crawl x 50 (yds); lap
3. CDD x 30; lap
4. FLutter x 40; lap
5. Burpee x 40; lap
6. Man Maker Merkin x 30; lap
7. Dolly x 50; lap
In between #6-7, we stopped at the concession stand for Dips and Step-Ups (each leg) – 10/15/20
On final lap after #7, we stopped at the concession stand for some people’s chair – 2 x 90 seconds with 60 air presses.
Finished with 40 LBC – done! Total 3.5 miles covered.
Moleskine:
Always an honor to lead at any of the workouts! The Rock is always special to me because it was my second post ever, and where I had my first taste of Runstopper… everyone remembers their first taste of Runstopper!!
It was a slightly smaller crowd, but intimate. I enjoyed catching-up with some fellas I haven’t seen in a while, plus talk with Hammer and M (who is now renamed to Shock and Awe…. more on that); only to find out that I go to church with Hammer and should have known that! I will now!!
TR made executive move to rename M, who served his Country during 2nd Iraq Invasion — Operation Enduring Freedom. In honor of strong service, a strong F3 name is deserved… Shock and Awe!
There were a number of IR’s, including YHC rehabbing a groin, Runstopper rehabbing a knee, Tiger Rag is rehabbing a calf, Deep Dish is Prodigal Son… so hopefully my gimpness didn’t hold anyone back!
Always great to workout with Blades of Glory, and I finally got to workout with Flipper… great 2nd F all the way around!
We did have to endure Runstopper and Tiger Rag creating an unsafe environment involving splashing each other along with innocents! #somethingsneverchange!
Announcements:
1. F3 Golf 4/30 – Day Zero has called out The Rock in sponsoring a hole… we need to consider sponsoring.
Tiger Rag took us out with send-off prayer. Thanks, brother!
9 pax gathered for another session of iron sharpening, and today, the whetstone was The Moderate Murph. Here’s how it played out:
The Thang
COP
The Moderate Murph
Mary – 5 min intermission (recovery)
2 more rounds of 1/2 mi jog & 5 min of Cindy
Mary – part 2
Mosey back to the starting lot
Done
COT
Naked Moleskine:
Well, it was time today for the quarterly installment of “Cindy”, our 20 minute benchmark at Ascent, consisting of a rinsing & repeating of 5 pullups, 10 merkins, & 15 squats. However, with a soggy A.O., YHC was faced with what to do for the remainder of the hour that wouldn’t leave us muddy and in the doghouse. Cindy is, of course, close to The Murph, so that had potential, but Ascent is a moderate workout. Hmm…well…you can do almost anything for 5 minutes, so YHC split the runs and the work into 5 minute segments, inserted Mary halfway through for recovery, and the weinke was done.
The beauty of a timed segment workout is that pax of all abilities can moderate or push themselves as needed. Everyone pushed pretty hard today – not a lot of mumblechatter as we ground it out. It took awhile afterward for YHC to fully recover, and I’m expecting to feel it tomorrow. Assuming this will be a common experience.
Great having some former regulars back out amongst us again, for several weeks now.
Thanks as always for the opportunity to lead. (and, the door is always open for new Q’s at Ascent – let me know!)
Aye.
Today’s word problem: Two men met in the gloom to flex their muscles. Two more men joined them. Then two men left. How much pain was meted out?
Tha thang
Dear Abby Q:
Mosey over to the front of the school for quick COP:
SSH x 20
Merkins x 15
Mountain climbers x 20
Squat x 15
CDD x 20
Mosey down to the track and partner up
Partner chase around the track
Partner A runs around track. Partner B begins with 5 hand-release merkins, then goes to tag Partner A
Repeato with 5 jump squats
Grab a stone
Curls x 15
OHP x 15
Tricep extensions x 15
Curls x 10
OHP x 10
Triceps x 10
Back to the track for more partner chase
Partner A runs with the rock around the track. Partner B starts with 5 hand release merkins, then chases
Repeato with 5 burpees
Mosey out the backdoor. Handoff the Q
Hairball Q:
Mosey behind YR
Peoples Chair on wall. Hold while each pax runs to fire hydrant behind Yellow Rose and performs 5 HR merkins.
BTTW. Hold until each pax run 25 yds and performs 5 squats
Peoples Chair on wall. Hold while each pax runs to hydrant and performs 5 wide arm merkins.
Mosey behind shopping center back toward campus.
Triple nickel on Carswell Hill – CDDs at top, Squats at bottom.
Mosey back to campus to send off Radar and Dear Abby.
Supine pull-ups x50
Box squats x 40
Hanging knee ups x 30
High derkins x 20
Deck squats x10
Mary
LBC x25 IC
JLo x 10 IC
Freddy Mercury x20 IC
COT
Moleskine
One of the pax may have caught YHC sneaking a peek of my bicep during the stone work #curlsforthegirls There’s a perfectly scientific reason for it. The great Ah-nold says that you need to mentally get inside of the muscle you’re working to make sure you’re isolating it correctly. This member of the pax then pointed out that Arnold has said some pretty outlandish stuff in his day. Anybody seen “Pumping Iron”? If you need a hint check out the post title.
Great idea by Hairball to have some pre-workout kettlebell. Hopefully next time somebody who knows what they’re doing with a bell will show up because Hairball and YHC ran out of ideas pretty quickly.
Teddy was a monster on the track work and the Triple Nickel #noexplanationnecessary
Pleasure as always to work out at the most stimulating Saturday workout in Area 51.
Ten men gathered for Commitment, and 1 man left. Here is what the others did:
Warm-up
Rocking in the Free World
The Wall
The Underground
The Grinder.
Three man teams lined up on the track for grinders, cycling through:
The Wall Redux. Cycle through several rounds of dips, knee-ups, and decline merkins.
Finale.
COT.
Moleskin
Announcements. F3 Golf, some races, and lots of good stuff coming up in F3. Check the tab above for Events.
Happy weekend gents. Good to spend time with you this morning.
EE’s Outland Toyland began with 7 PAX arriving early all ready to take on the pain like a 2.0 in a F3 Candy Store! Mumble chatter and expressions of worry when the Q was no where to be found with only a few minutes before launch! The Late Show was assigned recon! With 30 seconds to spare the Q w/ 2.0’s appear jogging toward the PAX, with an smirk like Mr. Burns on The Simpsons. Toyland is complete! Disclaimer announced so let’s begin the Adventure!!
PREWORK
Excellent Job by GJ and Shepard on the 0600 Preworkout 5-Miler!! #ONEHOURISNEVERENOUGH
THE THANG:
Warmup Mosey including 21 Bus cheeseweaver and circle up behind last bus
Enough warmup, let’s mosey, Including Native American Run, to Elementary School Playground
Plank-O-Rama
Pain Station Circuits – (7’s Combos) – 3 Stations
REPEATO PAIN STATIONS
Long Half Lap Lunge Walk around Elementary Track
REPEATO PAIN STATIONS ONE FINAL TIME
2 x Track Lap Sprints with all you have left in the tank #death
Regroup and mosey to Toyland. On the way, Karaoke Right, Left, Backwards Run, Shuffle Right & Left
WELCOME PAX TO OUTLAND’S TOYLAND! – 13 Pain Stations / 25 minutes – GO!!!
Mosey back to Parking Lot for 2 MOM:
TOYLAND ADVENTURE CONQUERED!!
Thank you for the Strong Take out HB
Announcements:
Sound off, I can’t remember them all, sorry.
Moleskin:
Strong work today Fellas, no doubt about it. I thought this would be a gasser today, but I think it was a little worse than what I had anticipated! #STRENGTHTHROUGHPAIN. I will Repent GJ – Tomorrow! Not a lot of mumble chatter, but definitely a lot of hard work. Good to see HB pushing even though he is not 100%. Tough Skins and Big Trade – just watching the determination on your faces is motivating! Shepard and GJ tamed Toyland with no problem AND the 5 mile prerun #Beasts. Late Show is like Outland’s Ninja. The 2.0’s always add to the group of men and I hope they absorb all there is to learn from the group of F3 men on how to humbly lead while putting themselves 3rd!
Always an honor to be a part of this group of PAX!!
Double E
6 MEN decided they would start their weekend off right by posting F3 The Brave and getting better.
Breath deep the Gloom brothers.
Off we went.
Quick run up Ballantyne Commons Parkway past the Premier deck.
Turn left coming in behind the left deck – keeping a lookout for Barney Fife.
10 burpees oyo – run up to top (4 flights) – run across top of deck.
10 burpees oyo – run down other flight of stairs – cross over to next parking deck
Run up 4 flights to top – 10 burpees oyo – run across to deck
Run down 4 flights of stairs – 10 burpees oyo
All warmed up
The Thang
Mosey to soccer field next to parking deck and line up.
Bear crawl across the field – half way – 5 burpees oyo – bear crawl the rest of way.
Run down Ballantyne Corporate Parkway to bridge at your own pace – Larry Birds circle back for the 6. Today there really wasn’t a 6 – everyone was pushing it and bringing the A game.
Turn right after the bridge down the path, down the stairs and right again to the trees across the back. Slalom around trees across the back AYG – then run around the next pond back up to the parking lot.
Regroup for some slow / stop motion merkins x 5 – down – hold for 5 seconds, up – hold for 5 seconds = 1.
Run around the pond, turn right thru the woods and over the bridge back up to the next pond.
Run around the pond back to the parking lot behind the building.
Bear crawl 5 spaces – 10 CDDs, Burpee Broadjumps 5 spaces – 10 jump squats – rinse and repeat across the parking lot.
Run to next pond and around. Shout out to man with his dog walking in dark around pond that we were there. Mainly because YHC didn’t want to be bitten by a scared dog.
Run back up to picnic area overlooking the pond for some slow / stop motion squats.
Slow squat (1,2,3), then hold for 10 seconds then up = 1 – x 10
Run over to exercise trail
2 rounds of lower arm walk
2 rounds of upper arm walk – by going down one side and back up the other without touching the ground.
Run up to Lochness – run to first sitting area – 5 burpee oyo, run to next sitting area – 5 burpees oyo, run around Lockness back to stairs – up stairs and head for home.
Making it in right at 6:15.
NMM
Went back to The Brave roots today covering some ground – per Alf’s watch we covered 4.3 miles. Hope you guys got your money’s worth. YHC tried to keep us moving the entire time. While the mudrun may have just completed, it doesn’t mean you can’t start prepping for the next thing, be it BattleFrog, Spartan, week at the beach with the 2.0s.
Solid effort today by all – Larry Birds all around. YHC is pretty sure MT can do the bear crawl faster than YHC can run. Soft Prezel, Alf and MT all are fast – sneaky fast, and The Commish and Frehley’s both were right behind them. YHC had to work extra hard not to get left during his own workout.
Alf – Brave site FNG – thanks for making the trek down 51 brother – hope it was worth the trip. YHC needs to return the favor soon.
Thanks for coming out and keeping YHC from touring Btyne by himself. Its a privelage to get to lead these men on a little tour of Btyne. Thanks for the
opportunity.
Announcments:
Mermaid next up on Q at The Brave next week – its Mermaid – it will be polite and it will hurt.
SOB happy hour next Wednesday (22nd) – Duckworth’s 6pm. If you feel so inclined, you can double down and meet Spack at The Lodge at 4:30 then hit Duckworth’s at 6 – but might not be the smartest idea.
Frehleys – mark your calendar so you don’t miss it.
Thats all – if YHC left something off, please shout out below.
Champagne Out.
Beautiful morning to put in the Friday downpainment. Despite their best judgement 25 strong posted at one of the strongest AOs in the land. Some good mumblechatter to start things off, primarily poking the bear. And so it began….
circle up where we stand.
COP
mosey to front of CC stairs, partner up with like-size
Stair circuit
mosey across 51…..5k pace down to Greenway for circuit (1/2 mile)….Flutter x 25 IC for 6
Greenway circuit
Mary to wait for 6 to finish:
fast mosey back up 51 to road leading to Palatine Hill
Grab some curb at base of Palatine
Gather up and fast mosey back to launch to make it back at 6:16….lets not end it quite yet….5 HR burpees OYO….DONE
COT
Moleskinny
A lot of Q hazing last night via Twitter from the likes of Purple Haze and Chelms. Something about this likely to be easy and such; so tried to deliver an appropriate beatdown. Q harrasment continued in the COP; Chelms not a fan of stationary work…aka plank series….felt it was a nod to Runstopper’s wheelhouse. Maybe, maybe not. We got on the move after the stair/ramp work and didn’t slow down.
This AO brings out the best of the best in A51 and our resident Metro stud Checkpoint. Effort was strong and held true for the duration. Several Larry Birds on the 5k pace as well as the circuit work. I caught some slack for the merkins and HR burpees in the mud, but oh well…you get what i serve and like it!!! Nobody slowed down and pushed hard throughout the circuit.
Kotters to several today including Red Rocks and Plebe. Solid work put in men.
BOM – always meaningful takeout courtesy of Hops
Deep Thoughts and observations:
Announcements:
11 men gathered for a workout that may have lacked creativity but delivered a punch to the gut.
The Thang
Little Baby Jog to the track
Warm up lap
Mosey to 50 yard line
Warm up… IW; Squat; SSH; Merkin… all X 30
Continued warm up on the field with lunge walk; karoake; shuffle; and skipping [that’s right, skipping]
To the track
Quarter mile at full speed; finish with 20 merkins
20 LBCs on your own
Quarter mile at full speed; finish with 20 merkins
Mosey to the playground
Circuit work: 10 pull ups, 20 dips and 30 squats – full cycle for three sets
Mosey back down to the football field
Sprint from one goal line to the other goal line and back [i.e., 200 yards]
Plank stuff
Sprint 100 yards; 10 merkins; sprint back 100 yards
Plank stuff
Mosey to center of field for Mary… LBCs; Flutter; Dolly; Mason Twist; Back Scratcher
Finish with 10 burpees
Moleskine
-If you worked out at The Charge on Wednesday and Joust today you may have noticed that the workouts were eerily similar. YHC Q’d both workouts, and since I wore the exact same shirt today [without being washed] I decided I’d rely on the same Weinke [for the most part]. Speaking of that shirt, I got a stern lecture from my wife when I returned home this morning. Something to the effect of me being disrespectful to my fellow workout brothers by brining a bad odor to the workout. I told her it’s all part of the F3 experience, and I that I usually deliver bad odors during the workout anway.
-Good to see Skywalker out in the gloom again. He looked handsome and healthy; well, at least healthy.
-Triple claps to our brother Freedom. The guy is a grinder… pushing himself to the limit wherever he goes. This week was Skunk Works, Death Valley and Joust… he ain’t scared.
-Mr. Brady showed up today wearing a jaunty little summer running cap, and I believe he wore it for the entire workout. I generally keep my stylish workout gear for the colder months, but Mr. B’s spring apparel looks to have a bit of flair to it.
-Stone Cold… I didn’t get a chance to mention it during the workout… but I’m going to have to throw a penalty flag on those shorts you wore today. Just a wee bit short. Good retro look though #NBA-1980s. Speaking of wardrobe… Downtown busted out the sleeveless shirt today… I may have seen some mid-workout Kaepernicking at one point. And now that I think of it… Lobster Roll had on a turtle neck [actually, a mock turtle]; not what I expected for our resident tough guy from South Boston, but it didn’t slow him down on the track.
-That’s it for now gents. Have a great weekend.