Fast Twitch visits The Rock
13 Pax enjoyed a lovely first full morning of Fall getting some miles in while enduring death-defying obstacles that make the Mud Run obstacles look like FantasyLand at Disney World. For some of you, you will take death-defying OVER FantasyLand, and I get it… I digress.
The Thang:
After a heartfelt disclaimer, we circled up for a quick COP
20 x SSH
20 X IW
The group ran to Calvary Church with a stop at Davie Park entrance for 50 squats, a stop at the corner of Rea for 20 merkins, and then congregated at the park in Calvary Church.
For the next 25 minutes, 3 groups ran between 3 stations that were a feeble attempt by YHC to simulate some activities/muscle groups that are used in the Mud Run:
Station 1: Team climbs The Rock helping each other get to up and over. Then run towards the playground with a stop at the baseball field to climb up and over the back of the bleacher.
Station 2: Team hops over the playground fence (not using the open gate as Gummy pointed out), do 10 pull-ups on the tire swing crossbar, do hand-over-hand down the swing set (about 30 ft.), then team climbs the back fence to head towards the snack bar.
Station 3: Team crawls under 4 picnic tables, then does 20 dips on picnic tables. Team heads to Station 1 to climb The Rock… etc.
We did 2 full cycles of this, and the 3 teams stayed together to help each other with the climbing and bar work. Purple Haze’s team self-assessed themselves a penalty of SSH and Freddie Mercury’s when they didn’t stay together… also simulating the Mud Run.
After the 2 cycles, we did 4×100 sprints, then headed back to the SCMS with a stop at Davie Park for LBC’s.
We made it back at approx. 6:16 for Name-o-rama and BOM. We covered 4.8 mi.
Moleskin
Thanks for the opportunity to lead a great group of men, and at a great site location! I wasn’t sure how the activities would actually play out, and the jury is still out! But I did enjoy thinking through trying to simulate some of the movements we would use at Mud Run combined with some miles. It can be improved for future execution no doubt!
Weather/temp was great, and as always, I really appreciate the way the PAX push me personally.
Mr. Brady, thanks for the great send off prayer.
Announcements:
1. Congrats to Hairball as he and the M. are expecting their first li’l Hairball next Spring!
2. Mud Run participants be sure to reply to Gummy on bus trans.
3. Ragnar Trail Run in Atlanta April 4-5, 2015. Contact Champagne if interested.
Lots o’ Swings, so Share your Bell
A big crowd gathered in the cool of the first day of Fall, ready to get after it and swing the iron.
The Thang:
Warmup-
Good mornings x 15 (Waiting for Bananas….)
SSH x 25
Two hand swing (THS) x 10
IW x 20
THS x 15
KB squat hold x 30 sec
THS x 20
Mosey to Church entrance (partner up with same size bell)
Catch me if you can:
PT #1 Farmer’s carry wiht shrugs
PT #2 10 hand release merkins chase
10 THS together when caught then flap jack
Around the church back to field by parking lot (Circle Up)
THS x 10
Move clockwise 5: if you get a smaller bell then One hand swings x 10 ea hand; if you get equal or larger bell then 20 THS
Move 5 more clockwise: Rinse and repeat
AYG- one lap and back to your bell.
THS x 10
Move counterclockwise 5: if you get smaller bell then clean and press x 10 ea arm; if you get equal or larger bell than 10 clean ea arm.
Move 5 more counterclockwise: rinse and repeat
AYG-one lap and back to your bell
THS x 50
Mary with bell
KB dolly press x 15
LBC x 30
KB flutter press x 15
AYG- Lap and back to bell
THS x 30
Naked Moleskin:
Not sure how many swings we got in today fellas, I’d say close to the 300+ mark depending on too many things. #10Kswings (but according to TR, swings during a regular workout don’t count, sorry)
A Big Area 51 welcome to Carrier, Ribeye, and Sundancer. It was great to have you guys join us this morning. Come on back down south anytime, ya hear!
Bananas: why were you late? that’s not like you.
YHC had a full weinke with lots of sharing of the bells so the PAX could get a good sense of how some of the heavier (and lighter) bells feel. Those bigguns make you fire the hips (proper form).
Other moleskin: sound off in comments as YHC was smoked and can’t seem to remember much. Although I do recall quite a bit of mumblechatter from Dog, Busch and Bananas, perhaps more running is needed, next time.
Announcements:
Union County is expanding. EH those friends, coworkers, etc that live out that way. Countertop and Hairband are leading this effort
F3 Mentoring program at Matthew Elementary. See Champagne for details.
Manic Monday
13 men showed up for a manic Monday at #F3BaseCamp. The goal was to stay on the move. Think we did that.
The Thang
Little baby jog for one lap around parking lot. Lap #2 we threw in some high knees, butt kicks and carioca right & left.
Mosey to the front parking lot for COP:
- SSHs x 10 IC
- Merkins x 10 IC
- IWs x 10 IC
- Mtn Climbers x 10 IC
- Low Slow Squats x 10 IC
- SSHs x 10 IC
Run from SCMS to grassy knoll on side of 51:
- Triple nickel – 5 reps of jump squats at top, 5 reps of merkins at bottom, 5 times up the hill
- Jacobs ladder – 7 times up the hill with increasing number of burpees 1-7 each time
- 5 sprints up the hill
- 5 backward runs up the hill
Mosey back to the front of the school for some push-o-rama:
- Merkins x 10 IC
- SSHs x 10 IC
- Wide-arm merkins x 10 IC
- SSHs x 10 IC
- Military merkins x 10 IC
Mosey down to home plate on the baseball field for some speed work:
- Infield single
- 1st to 3rd
- Tag up to home
- Double
- Score from second
- Triple
- Tag up to home
- Inside the park homer
Mosey out to CF for Mary:
- LBCs x 10 IC
- Flutters x 10 IC
- Dollies x 10 IC
- High Flutters x 10 IC
- Rosalitas x 10 IC
- LBCs x 10 IC
- Elbow plank for 1 minute
Time for a couple of foul pole to foul pole AYGs.
COT
Moleskine
Great group of men at #F3BaseCamp who pushed themselves hard throughout the workout. Everyone moved with a sense of purpose and made quick work of the hill on 51. Without question everyone out there this morning is ready for a regular intensity workout. #PrimeTime
Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
Announcements
See Champagne for Area51 tutoring opportunity.
Lucky 7 take on Jack & Prevail
YHC arrived just in time at 0659 to plant the SF. Found 5 PAX ready to head out and get their Saturday morning started off right. That said, Beaver led the group out into the Gloom and we headed over to the soccer fields. After brief jog around the fields circled up for COP:
- SSH x 20 (IC)
- Merkins x 20 (IC)
- Wait for late arriving PAX member to join in. Floor Slapper arrives after celebrating his 41st birthday the night before.
- Slow Squat x 15 (IC)
- IW x 20 (IC)
- Peter Parker x 20 (IC)
- Maybe one more
Line up for Indian Run down to fire station and back through neighborhood
Stop by the rock pile on way back in and find a rock for the following exercises:
- Rock curls x 20
- Rock presses x 20
- Tricep Ext x 20
- Rinse & Repeat
Return rocks to rock pile & mosey over to the playground in front of school for some circuit work:
- Pull-ups x 10
- Merkins x 20
- Dips x 20
- Rinse & Repeat x 2
Mosey over to the track and partner up on one side of track:
- P1 – Run across infield of track and back
- P2 – LBCs until P1 returns
- Flapjack until complete 200 LBCs as a team
Head over to wall at front of school:
- BTW wall walk x 20-25 ft (always PAX favorite, or not)
- Lunge walk across parking lot
- 20 Incline Merkins
- Rinse & Repeat
Hand off to YHC for 2nd half:
Jog back over to the soccer fields for the Stack:
- Run approx. 50 yds, 5 Burpees
- Run back, 5 Burpees/10 Squats
- Plank it up & wait for Six to wrap up first 2 rounds
- Run approx. 50 yds, 5 Burpees/10 Squats/15 CDD
- Run back, 5 Burpees/ 10 Squat/15 CDD/20 Sister Mary Catherines
- Plank it up & wait for Six to finisih
Short mosey and circle up for 6 MOM:
- Dolly x 20 (IC), hold’em
- Flutter x 20 (IC), hold’em
- Rosalita x 20 (IC)
- Mason Twist x 20 (IC)
- Back Scratcher x 20 (IC)
One more short mosey over to end line of soccer field & circle up for Jack Webb:
- Start w/ 1 merkin/4 air presses and work way up to 10 merkins/40 air presses
- Special request from DK (Seconded by Turkey Leg) to ladder back down, so YHC decided to oblige and we worked our way back down from 9 merkins/36 air presses to 1 merkin/4 air presses (Crowd Pleaser)
Line up on end line for 1 more round:
- Run at 75% to mid-field
- AYG sprint back to end line and then mosey back to launch point for COT
Moleskin:
- Strong VQ by Beaver at Area 51. Brought a lot of variety and pushed the PAX with his 1/2 of work-out.
- TClaps to Floor Slapper for posting, even if he was a little late, after celebrating his 41st birthday the night before with a few cold beverages and Poker night.
- BTW wall walk always seems to bring out the Mumble Chatter and no exception this morning. Few comments as to how the PAX loved this exercise.
- Jack Webb is always another crowd favorite. Lots of excitement when DK and Turkey Leg requested ladder back down and YHC agreed. Your welcome and your shoulders are too.
Announcements:
- Trips for Kids – Next scheduled ride at Colonel Francis Beatty Park is set for 10/11. Far Side and Chelms can provide directions.
- Mud Run participants need to sign up and pay for bus ride and sundries.
Century Mark
22 men assembled in the Gloom for a little core workout and got more of the same. BURPEES…
The Thang’
Jog into Carmel Middle School, stop along the way for Quite mirkens – at each speed bump. The first set of 25 in cadence was abruptly interrupted by a car, second set was on the sidewalk so no one escaped the pain.
COT in bus lot east of the Campus
SSH x25
Burpees x20 OYO
Imperial walker x25
Burpees x15 OYO
Wide Mirkens x15
Burpees x10 OYO
Mountain climbers x20
Burpees x5 OYO
Prisoner squat x20
Burpees x10 OYO
Diamond Mirkens x10
Burpees x15 OYO Mirkens Something x20
Burpees x20 OYO
Partner up and mosey to football practice field
- 2 rounds of following
- Partner patty cake Mirkens x20
- Partner up and over’s make that x10 / Flapjack
- Wheel Barrow width of field. Active Recovery on feet until all are finished with exercise.
- Flapjack – Wheel Barrow width of field Repeat-o
- Partner patty cake Mirkens x20
- Partner up and over’s make that x10 / Flapjack
Gain composure and move as a unit to the rock pile. Grab a respectable size rock. Line up three rows deep facing the Q.
Jack Webb with your rock
1 Mirken, 4 arm raises with rock
2 Mirkens, 8 arm raises with rock
3 Mirkens. 12 arm raises with rock
Continue until 10 Mirkens and 40 arm raises with rock
Wall sits for 1-2 mins – while performing arm raises in cadence x25
Mosey back to cars. Done.
COT – Finish up 5 Burpees to hit the century mark. DONE
Naked Moleskin:
- Swiper was on fire today, well at least he was happy (I think) about the Burpees! I mean he reminded us that we still had 5 to go before we hit 100! Thanks for the reminder!
- Hats off to Big Willie – He was my partner this morning and he held his own, he even helped co-lead the Jack Webb portion of our workout. excellent work!
- Good to see Blades of Glory back out in the gloom. Guess he only likes to workout in fall and winter. #noskatesneeded
- Solid work by all this morning, I want to give a special shout out to Simba, because it appears this is the only way he can hear me! #O2DEPERVATION
- If you have one, two, three (or more) extra running shoes that you have sitting around the garage collecting dust and are in good shape, please reach out to Swiper. He will be leading an effort to collect said shoes for men at crisis assistance or urban ministry. This will be a Charlotte wide initiative so let’s start collecting those old running shoes. Also, if you have a contact at one of these places, please see Swiper. More on f3 Nation site as information becomes available.
Pull-Ups!!
6 men entered the foxhole this morning. Here’s what we took on.
The Thang:
Mosey to the playground for warm up: 20 SSH IC, 15 Merkins IC, 20 Slow Squat IC. Run 50% for ~50 yards, run back AYG.
For the rest of the workout, every time a set of pull-ups was called, each PAX did 1/2 of his one set max.
Round 1: pull-ups, 20 two hand swings, pull-ups, 20 clean and press, 20 mountain climbers IC, pull-ups, 20 high pulls, 12 KB merkins (2 hands on bell), 20 upright rows, pull-ups, 10 burpees, 15 KB squats, 20 KB merkins (one hand on bell), 15 tricep extensions, pull-ups.
Fellowship run around basketball courts.
Round 2: pull-ups, 20 two hand swings, pull-ups, 20 clean and press, 10 dolly presses, pull-ups, 20 high pulls, 12 KB merkins (2 hands on bell), 10 flutter presses, pull-ups, 10 burpees, 15 KB squats, 20 KB merkins (one hand on bell), 10 dying cockroach w/ KB, pull-ups.
Partner up and do a combined 100 LBCs while partner runs with KBs to sign and back (~50 yards total).
Finish with people’s chair and curls (max out), then upright rows (max out).
Moleskin: Have been told many times that pull-ups are a good exercise to prep for the mud run and believe that to be true based on my experience in spring. The small group worked in our favor as we transitioned quickly in and out. Nice effort by all today and nice to have some cooler temperatures!
No new announcements.
F3 and Trips for Kids – Round 2 (Round 3 to be on 10/11)
F3 partnered with Trips for Kids and took 11 Bull Dogs Matters kids to Francis Beatty park for some mountain bike riding.
The Thang: Farside and Linda Walden, Crossroads volunteer, piled 11 kids into 2 cars due to mix up with church van and head out to Francies Beatty. T-claps to these 2 as the cars were packed for the ride.
Distribute gear (helmuts, gloves, bikes, and water bottle), provide some guidance for new kids, and head out. Ride about 5 miles, with a few jumps and only one wreck, before lunch. Perfect day and kids had an awesome time.
NEXT RIDE IS OCTOBER 11 at 9am. Please consider joining us. Contact Farside or Chelms for directions to the starting point.
Photos from alligator alley
Farside with the kids (Chelms needs some photography lessons)
Follow up from program coordinator –
Hey All,
I am so glad to hear the ride went so well. The pictures are awesome! Brittni and Carmen came over on Saturday after the ride and they were telling me all about it. They said they had a great time although it was hard work! Thank you for taking them and offering these kids such a wonderful and special opportunity!
Blessings,
Rebekah
A poetic disclaimer and a few quality reps
#F3Swift Preblast – Just 2 minutes
#F3Swift will launch at 0515 from the Vine Restaurant at the Ballantyne AO on Tuesday.
There will be an option for the next 2 weeks to do a Mud Run simulated workout with M. Tussauds, but those not doing the Mud Run prep (even though the Mud Run is mostly running over the 5+ miles and you could benefit from some Fast interval running….) will be in for an Interval workout where the longest interval is no longer than 2 minutes. PAX will regroup to the Six on each recovery, so it doesn’t matter if you are are Swift like an Eagle or feel like you’re running with a Rucksack on full-time, this workout is doable by all. Bratwurst will have the wrist computer programmed for this:
- 2 minutes Hard, then 1 minute recovery
- 1 minute Hard, then 30 seconds recovery
- 30 seconds Hard, then 30 seconds recovery
- Rinse and repeat
About 5 miles total over the 60 minutes – 12:00/mi pace average.
STAD-O-LYMPICS (or Tour-De-Stad as we have come to know it)
A nice cool Saturday morning for YHC to kick things off and get the weekend started right!
Mosey to the shovel flag for
COP:
SSH x 20
IW’s x 20
Slow Squat x 20
Mosey to the stadium, along the way Double E calls out to grab some rocks at the Hornets Nest (No sign of our nasty little friends this morning) to bring with us since we will be spending the entire beat down in the stadium.
Once at the stadium, drop the rock and onto the track.
Everyone line up head to toe in a plank for… Indian Bear Crawl!
Those in line/plank are doing Merkins while guy at the end of the line bear crawls to the front x3 rounds.
Everyone stay in line but on your six, next up Indian Crab Walk! Those in line are doing LBC’s while the #Empanage Crab Walks to the front. Also 3 rounds.
Recovery mosey for 1/4 track, drop for 20 Merkins, mosey 1/2 track some plank work including an ode to Bulldog with our wannabe British accents, mosey back to start, diamond merkins. #ShineBright
Add in some Flutters and Dolly’s for fun and that’s about all I can remember at this point. #O2Dep
Double E on Q
Excellent Job by Hair Band – Now LET’S GRAB SOME WALL
PC with 30 Air presses
BTW Inverted Peter Parkers X 20
PC with 20 Air presses
BTW Inverted Peter Parkers X 15
PC with 20 Air presses
BTW Inverted Parker Peters x 15
Time to Grab your Rock Buddy!
Mosey to Stadium Stairs for some Stairway to Heaven w/ Rocks
3 PAX per Group (2.0’s had group of 2 and worked twice as hard! Great Job!)
P1 Runs to top of stairs with Rock while P2 & P3 do called exercise until your turn to run
P2 Runs when P1 finishes stairs followed by P3 when P2 finishes
Repeato until each PAX in group has run Stairs Twice per exercise
Exercise 1 – Burpees
Exercise 2 – Bleacher Dips
Once finished Drop Rock and hit the Track
Sprint curved ends then alternate Karaoke Right / Left & backwards run the straights
PLANK-O-RAMA
Back to Bleachers for more STH w/ Rocks
Exercise 3 – Ground to Overhead Press Thrusters with Rock
Exercise 4 – Rock Curls & Rock Tricep Extensions with Rock
Grab Rock and head to Stadium Entrance for Mary with Rock
25 x Flutter w/ Rock Press
25 x Russian Twist with Rock
25 x Dolly w/ Rock Press
Endless Protractor with Zips Famous Slow Spanish Countdown
Return Rock to Rock pile and mosey to Base of Hill – ON YOUR BELLY
Jail Break up Hill and sprint to PSV
Moleskin
HB: Great work out there! Almost lost count laughing as I was doing the cadence spin during SSH seeing Belly Flop with gloves way too big flopping around and someone called him out as the Hamburger Helper mascot.
Thanks to another BB I saw, I wanted to test out the Indian Bear crawl/crab walk that I may bring to my Q at Peak51 this week also. What caught me by surprise was the silence during it. We are usually full of #Mumblechatter which made the silence deafening. Strong work boys!
EE: Incredible work today by All PAX @ #F3Outland! The Sun Valley High Track & Stadium proved once again that the options for Olympic caliber O2 deprivation are endless and HB and I thought an entire hour workout there would be a very suck-a-rific! It did not disappoint! At one point HB was counting in Japanese (Toy Reps??) (HB:I was wondering why Zip was dazed & confused at my directions, either O2dep made me say it wrong or made the PAX hear it wrong… or somewhere in the middle.) and Zip’s classic slow Spanish countdown adds an additional mental level of pain to the Protractors 6 inch holdout. #Absofsteel
Announcements:
- F3Overdrive beginning Friday October 10 @ 5:30am
- Start EH’ing your neighbors!
- Full preblast about expansion will be out soon also!
- Prayers for HorseHead to get well soon – Shoulder & Hip Flexor have him on the IR
It is always a Pleasure to lead such an Incredible Group of Men!!! AYE!!!
EE & HB