Recently YHC was given the opportunity to come on board as a site Q for Olympus “The Best Hour in F3”. I want to take the opportunity to extend an invitation to any and all PAX to come experience our unique brand of kettlebell swinging, truck pulling, weight lifting, tire flipping, sledge hammering craziness. If you’ve been wanting to check out a gear/kettlebell workout but don’t own a bell, just let Gullah or YHC know and we’ll bring our extras. A word of warning though, kettlebells are addictive and once you get your first one you will believe that you need several more in varying sizes. Allow me to lay out just a few of the multitude of reasons why Olympus “The Best Hour in F3” is something you need in your life:
Anvil set me up with the jab, Centurion stunned me with the hook, but it was Olympus “The Best Hour in F3” that knocked me out when YHC started coming out to this thing of ours last summer. Yes, YHC is watching boxing while writing this so sorry for the bad puns. Actually, not sorry…puns are great. So is boxing. So is Olympus “The Best Hour in F3”. See you soon. Oh, and we have put together a Q schedule spreadsheet so please feel free and encouraged to sign up to lead our merry band some Saturday.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-g2ciILC_Kh0koq57kZsxs68bx4jkXT6HOGD9Vpnxv4/edit?usp=sharing
It was a cold morning in the gloom but 12 men and 1 FNG made their way to Joust for an awesome workout. It was all about partner work and encouragment – I trust the benefit was felt.
After the disclaimer – 10 burpees
Ran to field where we split into two groups and did an Indian run around the track
circle up for some COP – SSHx20, IWx20, Hillbilly (thanks DDs) x15, Merkinsx15, mountain climbers x15, 6″ for 10 count
Grab a partner and run track opposite direction and do 20 partner Merkins do 20 partner Merkins again when you meet back up at starting line.
Run 1 lap w your partner and do 10 Carolina dry docks at first corner. Increase by 10 at each corner to end up doing 40 CDDs at final corner of track.
Run up stadium stairs and go to playground where the circuit was set up. Each pair rotated when one pair ran from the playground up the hill to blue door and back. 1, KB swings 2, Mason twists w medicine ball 3, partner Merkins 4, pull ups 5, hop over railroad 6, alternating rope swings 7, medicine ball squats 8, hair burners 9, Freddie mercurys
when we finished circuit we did 3 sets of wall sits while doing 25 shoulder presses.
Mlsey back to parking lot where we did LBCsx 20, heels to heaven x20, protractor
Great workout! The pax were shredding clothes early as we jumped into the run pretty quickly. The circuits seemed to be a nice change in pace where everyone had a chance to strengthen their core! Good job men – keep up the great work.
Don’t forget February is FNG month @ Joust. EH a man at work and bring him! All FNGs get an unofficial welcome gift during the month of Feb. See you in the gloom
*Posted on behalf of The Late Show*
Circle up:
Quick warmup with some Imperial Walkers, Peter Parkers, Good Mornings, and Side Lunges. (in honor of Donut Hole)
The Thang:
Simple, brutal, fun.
100 supine rows
100 pushups
100 russian twist
100 squats
Complete all exercises then move to the next. None of us are doing 100 rows in a row (row row your boat) so when you pause to rest hop up and knock out walking lunges to the mailbox (it was about 14 lunges total).
Modify as needed, but keep strict form as much as possible. fatigue + habitual bad form = bad news
We stop with about 5 minutes left for some Mary: back scratchers, then 30 seconds of burpees, dollys that never ended, done!
Moleskine:
Solid work by the crew this morning. The 0.0 mileage (.2 for Glass Joe who couldn’t resist a warmup Hairband Mile) was a novelty, but the beatdown was regulation. Nice to have a visit from Schedule C and Stump Hugger, who jumped in and slugged it out. Nice job by GJ and DT. This was a “you versus you” work out. No cheating on form, just modify the bodyweight you are pushing by leveraging your feet and hands. I will say that when we stopped for Mary I had yet to do my twists or squats, so this workout is one I will mark down to tackle again in another few months. Thanks to GJ for taking us out.
Announcements:
Counter Top and Shepherd (leading his first Q) on tap for Outland Saturday at 7 am.
Mud Run is coming soon…. if you are in speak up.
Good luck to Glass Joe and Horsehead as they run a 15k tomorrow.
Enough typing… as Horsehead says, “Let’s go.”
“You got a question? You ask the 8 Ball.” David Puddy
[Shaking the magic 8 ball….] “Will there be a Kevlar Backblast today?”
[The All-Knowing Dodecahedron of Omniscience twirls in blue toilet water, contemplating a response…. ]
The 8 Ball is a hopeless optimist. Or a people pleaser. Maybe both. Today, however, it was the bearer of bad news: “Fat chance, pal.”
Not many takers on the pre-KB. Alf blasted us yesterday; Bulldog changed jobs; Harley mangled his fingers at Skunk (DISCLAIMER); Busch, Fletch, Cottontail all DR, AWOL, etc. Sussudio sat in his truck with his little dog. Spackler sat in his heated seat and seat-danced to the rhythms of Central American supermarket Muzak.
Our Q, Sussudio, disclaimed the Pax–not a professional, modify, at your own risk, etc. It would have been a good time to note that carrying a speaker for the workout would be ill-advised. He led us straight to the pile, instructing the pax to grab a rock acceptable for both exercising and running. Thus began the quarter-mile rock run with pain stations, the first being diamond merkins on the rock. Enter: The Kong. DK emerges from the shadows, without a rock, and not receptive of the offer to carry mine. DK, rather, spends the next five minutes rooting and grubbing the adjacent woods and/or duck pond for a rock suitable for his sophisticated tastes. Which he does and joins us for a round of Rock Louganis.
Proceed to flagpole area. Group 1 exercises with rock. Group 2 runs to the gate and back to the benches to relieve Group 3. Rock exercises included curls, tri extensions, squat and press, overhead press, and Divot the Sidewalk. [I may or may not have gotten a little saucy at this point and , regardless, recommended we move rocks to the asphalt]. Bench work included dips, step ups, incline merkins, and jump ups. Running work included running up the hill then running back down.
Move to the underused, underlit playground area, where we mostly pretended to do burpees, as well as meerkins and unmentionable things with the swings. Redeposit rocks, line up along the shoulder of the road for instructions. Next exercise is the Jail…..breeeaaaakkkk, go! (insert doppler effect of Sussudio running away from the Pax while calling the exercise). I think Uncle Si still beat him, though. Various Mary to round out the event.
Plenty of announcements in the COT: Golf, BRR, Mud Run, Church On the Street. Unknown to most, but stated as a matter of fact, it was announced that Sussudio is the newly installed co-Site Q at Kevlar, As if one fleet-footed, diminutive British soccer Site Q wasn’t enough. Given the jingoistic developments, there’s little choice but to solicit new names for the Site. Like Bagpipe, we need a name fitting of the personalty(ies) behind it. [Which for Bagpipe was me, by the way; Haggis wanted to call it Corporate Takeover. Rolls right off the tongue….] Stiff Upper Lip? Winning entry gets a can of Spotted D.
Turns out Sussudio has never read a backblast. Claims he can’t find them. Bookmark this, my friend: http://f3nation.com/locations/charlotte-south-nc/.. He did manage to create a Twitter account @sussudioF3. But I suspect Minimum set it up and runs it.
That’s it.
Cheers, lads.
12 frozen SOBs, including 1 FNG, assembled at 0515 at the Vine Restaurant at the Ballantyne AO to to prepare of the mud run on April 11. We covered 4 miles on the parking decks in Ballantyne. Here’s what we did:
The Thang:
We ran down Ballantyne Commons, east towards the premier parking deck.
COP – SSH X 15, Burpees OYO X 10, Merkins X 15
Run up to the top of the Premier parking deck and turn around to the back of the PAX and finish the run together. 10 burpees OYO.
Run 4 laps around the top level of the parking deck at your own pace, jumping two 5 foot walls each lap. 10 burpees OYO.
Head over to the far premier parking deck. Run up to the top level with stops for burpees and merkins on the way up. Divide up for work on the 8 foot wall. After technique instructions from the Q, each man take turns climbing the wall 2 – 4 times. Run down the stairs to the 1st floor of the first parking deck for the following ramp work:
Bear Crawl half way up the ramp, sprint to the top and wait for the 6, return to the bottom
Crab walk half way up the ramp, sprint to the top and wait for the 6, return to the bottom
Inch worm half way up the ramp, sprint to the top and wait for the 6, return to the bottom
Partner up, bear crawl half way up for under and overs, flap jack, sprint to the top and wait for the 6.
Run down the stairs towards the COT.
Frazier led 6MOM until 0615.
COT
Moleskin:
It was a cold 23 degrees, but the PAX warmed up pretty quickly. There was a lot of mumble chatter at the start of the post, but the PAX were quickly quieted when I announced we would be running up the whole parking deck without any rest.
YHC invited a buddy, Ricky (Vuvuzela), to The Brave after talking about possibly signing up for the mud run in April. I told him I could help in prepare for the run by posting at The Brave. I think Vuvuzela got more than he bargained for. The workout this morning was pretty tough. Vuvuzela did a little more running than he’s used to, but says he will be back out at Bagpipe on Tuesday.
Shout out to Wahoo visiting Area 51 from Anderson, SC. It was great to have you out brother!
Always a pleasure leading the men in the gloom.
Announcements:
Sign up for the F3 golf tournament this May.
Register by March 1 for the Spring Mud run and email your teams to Madame Tussauds at dgoldberg1838@yahoo.com.
19 strong pax joined the one handed Q in balmy 20 degree weather to work the Abs and legs. YHC is in a cast and having hand surgery on Tuesday and was forced to adapt by working the legs and Abs more than usual. Here’s how it went down:
The Thang:
Fast Mosey to the parking lot beside Panera.
COP:
Fast Mosey across Hwy. 51 to Pallantyne hill
Fast Mosey back across 51 to the front of CCHS at the picnic tables
Mosey to Walgreen parking lot
Mosey back for COT
Announcements:
Sign ups for Mud Run, BRR and Golf (benefiting F-3 Expansion – Leap) are all live. Sign up for the Brain Tumor Race (5k or 10k) March 21st to benefit brain cancer research
Sign up for the Q school if you have been coming to F3 for 3 months and have never Q’ed or maybe only Q’ed once or twice or want to get better at it. Run Stopper leading the next session next Saturday.
11 PAX took the Red Pill and collected their DownPAINment at Peak 51.
The Thang:
COP:
Stonehenge Circuit:
Let’s take a little mosey and head towards the tranquil sounds of AO’s water feature at the aforementioned Stonehenge, 18″ is the actual size as per Spinal Tap.
Mini-Murph
Mosey back to the track and playground for a Mini-Murph.
People’s Chair:
Let’s go and grab some wall for the People’s Chair (AKA “Semi Gloss).
Suicides:
Move to the bus parking lot for two rounds suicides.
Mary:
Moleskin:
Announcements:
This Thursday morning brought out a record number 18 PAX to Meathead. There is some strong KB action going on this week with 39 posting at Skunk two days ago.
The theme this week was Ten. As in Pearl Jam’s Ten album and the number of reps we were hitting each set.
A quick COP warm up
SSH x 25 IC
IW x 25 IC
Start Pearl Jam 10 album on “Once” and let it roll. Some mumble complaints from the audience about the tunes but hey, while you can’t please all of the people, all of the time – you can certainly disappoint most of the people, most of the time. And frankly I was tired of mash-ups of Quiet Riot and the Bangles.
2 – Handed Swings x 20 OYO
Good Mornings x 10 OYO
Tea Bags x 10 OYO
Romanian Dead Lifts x 10 R and x 10 L on your own
Main Event
First cycle:
1 handed swings x10 R x10 L
Cleans x10 R x10 L
High Pulls x10 R x10 L
Presses x10 R x10 L
Repeat the cycle over every ~3 minutes for 5 rounds
Second cycle
2-bell Deadlifts x10
Good Mornings x10
Tea Bags x10
RDL x10 R x10 L
Repeat the cycle over every ~3 minutes for 4 rounds
Mary
Flutter with press x 10 IC
Dolly with press x 10 IC
Louganis x 10 OYO
Pull over x 10 OYO
Finish with 2 handed swings for 1 minute.
The Moleskine:
It was a relatively warm morning for a change, just not warming enough for Run Stopper to leave the tights at home and put some shorts on. I was looking forward to my first Meathead Q. 0.0 was a challenge for someone who likes to push the cardio and have no breaks. So let’s keep the work nearly continuous and the suffering high.
Unfortunately my flannel plaid dry fit shirt was at the cleaners, but Pearl Jam 10 still came out to emphasize the theme “10-count” theme. And while TR was grumbling about Eddie Vedder’s mumbling lyrics it was evident he had spent enough time listening to that album to throw in the appropriate radio edits for the few expletives throughout the songs.
Spackler wants it to be recorded that he was a site FNG on a record breaking day. I figured that information was obvious to all when he modified into KB curls during the routine. Don’t let TR see you doing that, you might get scolded.
Solid work by all the PAX today. 5 rounds (80 reps each) of single armed exercises certainly tests the grip. When I dry ran this one I thought 3 minutes was enough for the cycle. Forgot to consider the short arm speed advantage so pushed it to 3:30 each round for my Orangutan like cohorts.
Thanks to Purple Haze for officially correcting my grammar on twitter. You’ve got you’re (<- see that) work cut out for you to keep up with F3’s grammar. And speaking of Haze. Appears that both you and Brown welched on your bet’s to post at Meathead and Fast Twitch respectively. Maybe that payoff starts next week?
Splinter suggested some sort of back rub conga line type activity towards the end. No takers on that one, but I did look up to see Chanel taking off his shirt, so maybe there was someone considering the offer.
Thanks for letting me lead and gratitude to Semi-Gloss for the send-off.
-Alf
Announcements:
Sign ups for Mud Run, BRR and Golf are all live.
Q School – If you A) have been coming to F3 for 3 months and B) have never Q’ed or maybe only Q’ed once or twice or C) want to get better at it. Sign up for the Q school. Run Stopper leading the next session, pretty sure there will be burpee training.
Well, it looked pretty good on the napkin…11 pax showed up to Olde Providence Elementary and it went something like this…
1 lap around track (bkickers, high Knees, Karaoke Left, karaoke Right)
Mosey to Circle up on Field behind school:
SSH x 30
Carolina Dry Dock x 15
IW x 20
Hillbilly x 20
Exercise is called Four Corners. This is where it got complicated for about 30 seconds. When it takes more than 30 seconds to explain the exercise you may have made it too complicated. Note to self.
Form teams in groups of 3. This way you can stay together. You will have to find your partner at the track or at the field. The school runner will always go to track. The track will go to field. The field will become school runner.
Partner 1) station 1 track – 4 corners – merkin variations, wide, regular, diamond, regular x 10
Keep going until school running partner finds you.
Partner 2) station 2 field behind school – bear crawl long side, crab walk short sides
Keep going until track partner finds you.
Partner 3) run lap around OP, 5 burpees at 4 corners of school
School runner goes to track, track always goes to field, field always becomes school runner.
Mosey to Lot next to basketball courts:
Partner 1 mountain climbs – side A
Partner 2 plank walks
Partner 3 jump squats – side B
2 rounds
Mosey to Cross street to Wesley Church to get a big non-running rock:
Bicep Curls x 10
Overhead press x 10
Tricep extension x 10
Low Slow Squats x 10
Cross street back to OP playground to pull-up area:
Partner 1:
30-20-10 (dips, step ups burpees)
rotate
Partner 2:
Pull-ups x 5, Merkins x 1
Pull-ups x 4, Merkins x 2
Pull-ups x 3, Merkins x 3
Pull-ups x 2, Merkins x 4
Pull-ups x 1, Merkins x 5
Rotate with partner 3
Partner 3:
Freddy Mercury x 10
LBC x 10
Heels to heaven x 10
Rotate
COT:
Mason Twist x 10
Protractor of various degrees some kind of Pilates mumble chatter)
FLutter x 20
Count-o-rama (1,2,3…11)
Namo-o-rama
Prayer Send off (ball o man) – by YHC
Moleskine:
Yep, when plotting the workout it seemed like I was getting a bit ambitious. I figured I would try it anyway. It did work out. There was a serving of pain in the gloom this morning. We offered up good shoulder, core, legs, lungs, back and arms. No muscles left behind program going here. From the sound of the chatter it proved to be a good time well spent. Pax got moneys worth. It was great to see 316 and Nuke back from their FNG posts last Thursday at Hydra. Welcome back gents. Strong output today.
Donkey Kong was his usual self, “sir, why don’t you call 100 burpees now” “sir, can we scale the olde Providence school building and do burpees on the roof for a while” Sir, I bet I can touch the top of the flag pole”. He did mention he will turn 29 in March so the man is closing in on his 30’s. Good stuff and always awesome having DOnkey Kong at Hydra. We started this site together May 2013. A whole lot of workouts later…
I think Chico or Flutie Flakes called out some Pilates business on the protractors. Hey boys, we do it all. WHen we start out with Hillbillies you just never know what will be next.
I did see some tired pax out on the field part of 4 corners. The bear crawls and the crab walks were fan favorites for sure.
Props to Lost Weekend for running in from Chadwycke.
Chico will be out next week in New Orleans. Seems Mardi Gras is a great time of year for an attorney convention. Also great carbo loading for Corporate Cup Run waiting upon your return.
Announcements:
Blue Ridge Sign ups (see weekly A51 email)
Mudrun SIgn ups (see weekly A51 email)
Annual A51 Report Posted and available in Weekly Email from last week
12 Men showed up a Stonecrest this morning to focus on a lot of good form merkins.
Warm Up
20 SSH
20 IW
Before we moved fwd with the workout QIC gave a warning that we will do a lot of merkins today and only good form would be tolerated….thanks Frehly for the demo
Jog over to the speed bumps behind shopping center
10 x merkins at every speed bump then running to each speed bump (total 70 merkins)
Run back 5 x diamond merkins (35 merkins)
Run back 5 x wide arm merkins (35 merkins)
Run to fountains and partner up
50 derkins between partners while other partner runs around buildings (25 merkins per)
50 incline merkins between partners while other partner runs around building (25 merkins per)
Run to first light post by Firebirds and 5 merkins making stops at each light post back to parking lot (forgot number of speed bumps, but easy another 35 merkins.
Circle up for Mary…..and said no more merkins
20 crunches
20 LBC’s
10 Merkins (I lied)
20 side crunches to right/ 20 to left
5 merkins
some other merry can’t remember followed by 10 merkins
some other merry followed by 10 merkins
ran to theater wall for 1 minute of peoples chair, 5 merkins
COP
Great work by all, maybe we should have incorporated some Keg exercises since Might Mite had a keg in his car due to a bachelor party he was heading to right after until Sunday, man I would like to travel back to the days where I was 27….have fun Mighty Mite
Hope everyone wakes up sore in the morning……and always a pleasure to lead
Chippy