Pavlov’s Dog

Pavlov’s Dog

28 faithful showed for a Beatdown that they thought would be quite predictable. But was it??

The Thang

Pre Ball of Man led by Agony

Mosey to Carmel Middle with 10 burpees at each speed bump stopping at the school building for a little of…..

Peoples Chair x 1 min
25 Merkins
Peoples Chair x 1 min
20 Squats
Peoples Chair x 1 min
10 Burpees

Mosey to LAX Field for some Burpee-laddered COP

SSH
1 Burpee
Imperial Walker
2 Burpess
Low Slow Squats
3 Burpees
Merkins
4 Burpees
LBC’s
5 BUrpees
Jack Webbs
6 Burpees
I cant remember the rest but we went up to 11 burpees.

Partner up (size matters) and go to end of field.
Partner 1 carries P2 length of field then flapjack
Decline Partner Merkins 25×3

6MOM
Variety of excercises led by members of the Pax who have never led a workout.

Mosey back to school with some Karaoke, Merkins and Burpees thrown in along the way.

Moleskin
It was clear to YHC during the workout that the pax have gotten way to comfortable with certain “routines” which has developed at DMZ. Examples: We often run into CMS with no stopping and head to the left for the bus parking lot to do COP. But today, YHC had us stop at each Sleeping Policeman for a few burpees. Then for those in the Pax who chose to pull ahead of YHC in the ensuing run, YHC decided to take a little different route in – throwing off the guys who chose to forge ahead on their own. Same thing on the way back. Mumblechatter about those front runners being like Pavlov’s dog thus inspired the name of this backblast.
Great job and welcome to FNG Kit Kat. And btw, where was Hops?? We kept looking for him to sneak into the workout at about 0610. But alas, no Hops to be found.
Lastly YHC will promise to continue wearing his “speed-controlled” head lamp. For those too afraid to wear their own, feel free to “borrow” the light and run behind.

Announcements:
Check out F3/Mentoring – it will be one of the most rewarding life experiences you will ever have – whether you want to be mentored – or you would like to mentor someone younger.
We need more Mentees right now. Contact Swiper, Mentee Q, for questions: johnevantaylor@gmail.com
And click on the link below for more information and to sign up.
http://f3nation.com/2014/02/12/f3-mentoring-program-2014/

Beeps, clicks, and whistles

10 men answered the call and posted at Devil’s Turn for a triple (modified to quadruple) threat offense consisting of the following options between the 2-mile run to and from South Charlotte Middle School:

1)   4-mile option: 15 min of boot camp

2)   6-mile option: 8 laps at desired pace

3)   6-mile option: speed work = (3) 800m intervals on the track

4)   Pro option: run with Bratwurst through some sort of combination of 200’s, 1000’s, and 400’s

Once at the track, it was extremely dark and there were basically PAX running around all over the place.  Here is the rough breakdown of who did what (speak up in the comments if I missed something):

Option 1: Hops, Rock Thrill (1/2 marathon on Sat.), Horse Head, Wingman (modified version due to shin concern)

Option 2 (although there could have been some Option 3 in there): Jamboree, Long Haul

Option 3: Tiger Rag, Frasier, and Honey Bee

Option 4: Bratwurst (Frasier completed the set of 200’s on the way to the track)

Moleskine:

– Tiger Rag has entered the technology world with the purchase of a Garmin GPS timepiece .  From all the beeps, clicks, and random sounds (imagine a Speak and Spell) coming from him this morning, I would say he got his money’s worth.  However, some of the whistles may have come from the flock of tomatoes noticing a “clydesdale among whippets.”

– Rock Thrill told YHC that he was headed to SPEARHEAD today in lieu of DT.  Seeing his truck in the parking lot, I half expected him to jump out with a ruck on or something.  However, it sounded as if he and his alarm clock had some sort of disagreement resulting in a win for DT.  We wish him the best of luck this weekend at the Corporate Cup 1/2 Marathon.

– It was a good day at DT with double digit attendance and that is with freezing temperatures.  It may just get crowded around here when the weather is good and the Mud Run / BRR approaches.  All 10 pushed it out there today and it was good 2ndF during the fellowship runs and recovery jogs.

– Best wishes go out to the DT PAX battling injuries (or nagging pains).  Hops (IT band), Fletch (Achilles), Wingman (shins?), Stump Hugger (shins).  Get better and we will be praying for you.

That’s all for now.  See you next week.

Double dose at Rebel Yell

Nine manly men met up for a rumble in the concrete jungle at Rebel Yell on this brisk but beautiful morning.

THE THANG

Mosey to lot
SSH x 20
Split jumps x 20
IW x 20
Merkins x 15
Peter Parker’s x 15
Mountain climbers x 15
Lunges x 16

Mosey to fountain
10 burpee jump ups
20 tri dips
30 decline merkins
Sprint to store

10 burpee jump ups
20 nipplers
30 step ups
Sprint to store

10 burpee jump ups
20 incline merkins
30 squats

Partner and sprint opposite ways around shops loser does 20 merkins winner 10.
Repeato opposite way with loser doing 20 jump ups and winner 10.

Mosey to steep hill stick with partner.

50 combined manmakers merkins while partner scales hill.
People’s chair
40 combined dive bomber merkins while partner scales hill.
People’s chair
50 diamond merkins
People’s chair

Mosey to less of a hill
Jacobs Ladder to 7 with burpees

4 minutes of Molly

COT

YE OLDE MOLESKINE

The morning got started a little pear shaped with the KB Q showing up at 0506 and screeching in on two wheels and stealing from Browns weinke from yesterday. YHC forgot the Pill so we had tunes entertaining us from Spacklers car until about 0517 when his car battery died. At 0521 Semi Gloss had run out of ideas so the pax stood around getting cold for the next nine minutes as Soul Glow, Long Distance, Chipotle, and Alf joined the fiasco.

Things turned around quickly though as we got a taste of what the Rebel Yell site had to offer. Semi Gloss was very perky this morning (unlike his stomach) with almost a Zipadee type demeanor. A few theories were thrown out there as the cause of his merry nature but he must just be pumped about burpees. The burpee jump ups at the fountain got a few sighs especially from the lads who had endured Skunk Works and then Death Valley the last two days. Strong work by the fellas with the 10,20,30 reps times three. We partnered up and raced around the shops and had to dodge the guy in the white panel van which Alf commented was always a good lesson to live by.
YHC underestimated the steepness of the first set of hills as a climbing ax and crampons may have been helpful to get up and down. This was toned down for the double helping of hills for the Jacobs Ladder. This one just about finished us all off!
Good job by all today and thanks for allowing me to lead.

Bulldog

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Centurion anniversary tomorrow a Charlotte Catholic.
Cottonmouth on Q at Kevlar.
Joust on as scheduled at Charlotte Christian.

Third F’s tomorrow a 0630.

THE BURPEE MOUNTAIN!!!!

30 Men Welcomed a little warmer weather.

Mosey to the track

Butt-kickers, Knee Tucks, Karaoke Left and Right.

Circle up for COP:

  • 30 SSH – Cadence (maybe)
  • 26 Imperial Walkers – Cadence
  • 15 Merkins – On your own
  • 20 Mountain climbers – Cadence

Main Event:

Count off in fours

4 pain stations on the corners of football field

1st round:

  • 10 Merkins – Site one
  • 10 CDD – Site two
  • 10 LBC’s – Site three
  • 10 Flutters each leg – Site four
  • Run to the middle after completing yours 10 burpees run back to your site and the proceed to the next one.
  • Do this for 15 Minutes to see how far you can get

2nd Round – Increase:

  • 15 Merkins – Site 1
  • 20 CDD – Site 2
  • 40 LBC’s – Site 3
  • 40 Flutters each leg – Site 4
  • Run to the middle after completing each one 10 burpees again, run back to the previous spot and proceed to the next station.

Mosey around for a little clean up

Head to the parking lot for a little mary:  100 LBC’s on your own.

Moleskin:

  • Spring is starting to come but these mornings are still a little cold.  I felt that the men needed a little running because the listening skills at the beginning weren’t there yet, Mumble Chatter was at a max level for sure.
  • On the mosey down Saltlick was talking about the Burpees and how he hated them, oh if he only knew.  The run was simple enough but the pax almost turned on me when the cadence was a little off.  I am sure there will be a cadence you tube video in my email at some point.  After the COP, the pax quickly shifted into work out mode.  Instructions were given and the pax picked up quickly which was good because YHC was a little O2 deprived.  First 15 minutes there was a little complaining and almost an audible called but we pushed through.
  • After the first round, I decided to increase the limits and there was mention by TR for 100 lbc’s.  The mutiny was about to commence when I lowered it a little.  The pax weren’t excited about the burpee situation for the middle but they kept it going thanks for the support!
  • There was way too much O2 deprivation to try and do some mary so the 100 LBC’s from before came back up.  I believe everyone made it through.

Announcements:

  • Centurion anniversary This Friday.  Runstopper promises a ton of FUN!

Preblast: Devil’s Turn 3/6

Last week was a great run out to the middle school and back.  So why mess with a good thing?

Let’s go with the tried and true triple threat at Devil’s Turn this week.

Everyone will leave the greenway parking lot (at corner of Rea Rd. and Bevington Place) at 5:15 am together and head to the S. Charlotte Middle school through the neighborhoods.  I will have directions if you need them.

Once at the track, choose your poison:

1)   4-mile folks: 15 min of boot camp

2)    6-mile folks out for a cruise: 8 laps at desired pace

3)   6-mile folks wanting speed work:

a) 800m (2-laps) at T pace or faster (see http://www.runbayou.com/jackd.htm for T pace calculation)

b) 400m recovery lap (fellowship pace)

c) Rinse and repeat 3 more times (skipping the recovery lap on the last round) for a total of 8 laps

That is all.  See you in the gloom.

Lights Out

13, including 1 FNG, showed up to a pitch black Maul to get their hump day workout in.  I’m not sure if it was Mighty Mite or I who forgot to pay the power bill, but we’re working on our communication for the future.  I need to get him to stop using his pay check on beer and save a little for the bills.

The Thang

I took the Pax for a mosey in search of light somewhere.

  • SSH
  • IWS
  • 20 Jump Tucks
  • :30 High Knees
  • Merkins
  • MTN Climbers
  • 20 Jump Tucks
  • :30 High Knees – arms up
  • Shoulder tap merkins
  • something else
  • 20 jump tucks
  • :30 High Knees – arms up

Line up for Burpee Suicides

  • 2x
  • 4x
  • 6x
  • 8x
  • 10x

Plank recovery then…

  • Shuffle right
  • Shuffle left
  • Back pedal
  • Carioca
  • Sprint

Mosey to a hill with some light

Top of the hill Mak Tar Jai 10x, bottom 10 squats – X4

Mosey back to base and circle for Mary

  • :45 Left elbow side plank
  • :45 Right elbow side plank
  • :45 Left elbow side plank
  • :45 Right elbow side plank
  • :45 Regular elbow plank
  • PAX CHOICE MARY
  • Frasier went with slow – fast – slow – fast bicycle (brutal)
  • Dirty Bird = Heels to Heaven
  • Chipotle = Mason Twists
  • Pebbles = Dolly
  • Long Haul = Flutter

MOLESKINE

Who knew a few parking lot lights being out would be such a problem. It was odd to see how dark The Maul can be without them. YHC had to adjust a few things, but it all worked out. Hops commented during warm-ups that it wasn’t supposed to hurt already. I’m not a big warm up fan, I just like to get right to it. I guess Hops needs to dip his toes in for a bit before he takes the plunge. A big welcome back to Fraggle and Dirty Bird. It’s been a little while since we’ve seen their faces back at The Maul. Fraggle also closed with a great prayer.

MM tweeted some words of inspiration to me last night since he wasn’t going to be able to post. In his honor we did Burpee suicides.

Welcome FNG Foxy Lady (Carmello Smith). I’ve been working the EH for quite some time, so it was awesome having him make his first post at The Maul. It was a pleasure as always to lead.

 

 

 

 

Introducing The Crabbarrow

Excellent turnout this morning at Providence Day School. Once again the heated field turf made for a great workout surface on an otherwise cool morning. Regardless, we all warmed up in a jiffy.
The Thang:
Mosey around the PDS campus in the gloom winding our way to the heated track.

Run a lap with high knees, butt kickers, and karaoke.

Circle up:
SSH
I-Walkers
Copperhead Squats
Merkins
Mtn Climbers
Merkins
Mosey to far endzone.
11s
10 Burpees on goal line.
1 Turkish Getup on the 50 yard line, etc.
Plank it.
Parnter up
“Crabbarrow” (Crab walk with somebody holding your feet–Cruel? Yes! Unusual? You bet!) from sideline to sideline. Switch as needed.
Partner carry from endzone to endzone. Switch as needed.
Regular wheel barrow sideline to sideline.
Partner carry endzone to endzone
LBCs until everyone finished
Crabwalk to 50 yard line.
Bear crawl to endzone.
Plank it.
Mosey to parking lot for Mary:
LBCs
Dolly
Rosalita
Slow Freddie Mercury
Protractor
Diamond Merkins
Moleskin: Plug for Spartan Race, Nice closing prayer by Tesla. Barracuda challenged us not to give something up for Lent, rather to give something back. Huddle announced he is giving up 11s. Speak up if we missed your name. John Deere and I think we missed somebody.

11 for 11’s

8 men joined 3 iron swingers for a workout this morning.  The iron swingers didn’t know what they were getting into by firing up their arms and upper body before the workout even began.

Mosey around the parking lot and over to soccer field

COP

  • SSH x15
  • IW x15
  • Windmills x15
  • Shore shoulders x 30sec each (forward, back, in front, up and down)

Mosey up to the shelter

Pyramid

  • 5 burpees
  • 5 burpees / 10 knee tucks
  • 5 burpees / 10 knee tucks / 15 squats
  • 5 burpees / 10 knee tucks / 15 squats / 20 tricep dips
  • 5 burpees / 10 knee tucks / 15 squats / 20 tricep dips / 25 merkins
  • 5 burpees / 10 knee tucks / 15 squats / 20 tricep dips
  • 5 burpees / 10 knee tucks / 15 squats
  • 5 burpees / 10 knee tucks
  • 5 burpees

Mosey to the courtyard area with the astro turf. 

11’s (without the hill)

  • Exercise 1 = Hand-release merkins
  • Exercise 2 = Peter Parkers

Alternate between exercises with counts totaling 11 (1/10, 2/9, … , 10/1)

Mosey to baseball field, partner up, & choose a rock

Partner rock work

Partner 1 runs out and around the outfield while partner 2 does called exercise

  • Exercise 1 – bicep curls
  • Exercise 2 – overhead press
  • Exercise 3 – tricep extension

Mosey back to shovel flag for some MOM

  • LBC x 25, hold it
  • Dolly x25, hold it
  • Flutter x25

Moleskin:

It was a nice morning for a workout, especially in contrast to the bitter cold temperatures that were experienced just 24 hours earlier.  YHC didn’t get a chance to put a workout together until late last night, so to expedite the process I asked my wife (a regular FIA participant and site Q) to give me some ideas.  Well, needless to say, the FIA ladies know how to challenge themselves too.

Not long after getting into the COP and getting into some windmills and Shore Shoulders, the Jane Fonda / Sweatin’ to the Oldies references started (there are some great ideas on some of those old VHS tapes Haze).  I think the pax probably changed their opinion after getting into the Shore Shoulders though…deceivingly painful.

After heading over to the shelter for the pyramid warm-up (probably not a great idea), we headed over to the courtyard area for the main event….a combination of hand-release merkins and Peter Parkers that would have the pax in plank position for an extended period of time.  This exercise must be credited to FIA.  Hats off to the ladies for coming up with this ridiculous exercise combination.  YHC definitely had a moment of “if you can’t Q it, don’t do it” regret, but I think all the pax had a difficult time with this one.  We pushed through and I think it safe to say we’ll all be feeling that later today.

We were then into the home stretch with some partner work with rocks over at the baseball field, mostly doing more arm and shoulder exercises.  A little chatter from the pax…”I guess we didn’t get in enough shoulder work.”

Great work to all the pax out there today!  Thanks for coming and it was an honor leading.  T-claps to Champagne, Purple Haze, and Rock Thrill who came out early to get their KBs on and work on those pencil arms and hollow chests.

Announcements:

  • F3 Mentoring – only 4 guys from Area 51 so far.  Check out the F3 Nation website or contact Champagne.
  • Tutoring – schools TBD.  Contact Champagne
  • Blue Ridge Relay – contact Baracus if interested.  Need about 5 more guys for a 12 man team.

In Honor of HEAVY

9 Serious F3 GORUCK Custom men came out to SPEARHEAD for a solid hour of Log PT Training, in honor of our brother’s successful return from GRH…and had no Thorns About It! 

The Thang 

“Rucks ON….Rucks Off” – With Infractions

–          Upon YHC calling out “Rucks On”, Pax had 5 seconds to get Rucks on back and secure.  IF there were anyone still fidgeting around with the Ruck, team was assessed Infractions.

–          Round 1: (2) Pax didn’t make time; Merkins x 20

–          Round 2: (1) Pax didn’t make time; Merkins x 20

–          Round 3: (1) Pax (same guy) didn’t make time; Merkins x 20 

Mosey to Pull Up bar 

The Pull up was the timer.  When 1 Pax finished 10 pull ups, everyone rotated to the right.  Guy on the end moves into Pull Up position

–          Pax performs squat thrusts Non-Stop

–          X 9 Rounds 

LOG PT:  (3) Man Pole; (2) Man Log; 4 x (1) Man Log = 9 Logs: Teams performed all work with Logs (not to touch ground) 

Log Shoulder-to-Shoulder Press x 20 / With (3) HOLDS during routine approx 10-20 seconds long each

Log Squats x 20

Log Bicep Curls with HOLDS at Top x 15

Log Good Morning x 7…INFRACTION LOG HIT THE GROUND 

INFRACTION PENALTY:  Partner Bear Crawl 120 Yards 

Log Shoulder-to-Shoulder Press x 15 / With (3) HOLDS during routine approx 10-20 seconds long each

Log Squats x 20

Log Good Mornings x 20

Log Bicep Curls WITH at Top x 10

Log Crawl-Overs – Roll Right, Bear Crawl Back, Roll Left x 5

Log Group (Logs lines up in single row) – Log Crawl-Overs, Bear Crawl Back, Roll Left Length of log

Log Merkins x 20

Log Flutters x 30

Log Bench Press x 40

Log Decline Merkins x 20 

Low Crawl while pushing Logs x 60 Yards

Ruck Logs Back 

Log Shoulder-to-Shoulder Press x 20 / With (3) HOLDS during routine approx 10-20 seconds long each

Log Squats x 20

Log Bicep Curls with HOLDS at Top x 15 

Shimmy Shim Shim x 5 Minutes 

“Rucks ON….Rucks Off” – With Infractions

–          Upon YHC calling out “Rucks On”, Pax had 5 seconds to get Rucks on back and secure.  IF there were anyone still fidgeting around with the Ruck, team was assessed Infractions.

–          Round 1: (1) Pax didn’t make time; Merkins x 10

–          Round 2: (1) Pax didn’t make time; Merkins x 10

–          Round 3: (1) Pax didn’t make time; Merkins x 10

–          Round 4: Well Done = INFRACTIONS. (8) Count Body Builders x 5

COT 

Moleskin: 

Great morning and extremely good effort out there today gentlemen!  With less than 2 weeks away from the Custom, you’ve definitely come to the right place to get your body and mind ready for what is to come.  

Sorry for the last and short post.  I’ve been in meetings all day and a Huge apology to Crab Cakes, as during the Flutter Kicks I think I gassed him with a bomb that could have been used in Chemical warfare. 

T-Claps to Checkpoint and BTB who were at the GORUCK HEAVY 28 Hour Event this weekend and STILL posted on Tuesday!  Unreal, simply Unreal.

Mall Cop – get that Ruck set right or go shake Iron Horse for loaning you a dud…lol

Crab Cakes, despite what you say…you are absolutely ready for this!!!

TO ALL F3 PAX that are planning on doing the GORUCK CUSTOM and have not posted at SPEARHEAD, Make sure you come out at 04:45-06:15 at Carmel Middle (SPEARHEAD) Thursday morning.  The training that we have scheduled is extremely necessary and will set you up to be well prepared for what is about to come. 

Please sound off below if you have something to add to the post. 

As always it is an honor to lead you today.

Respectfully, 

The Hoff

Two For The Price Of One

So, last week apparantly F3Winston Salem posted two separate backblasts for the same workout.  Well, I’m not doing that… by I am posting one backblast for two separate workouts.

The Thang

March 1 – Area 51

Warm up… SSH, IW, Squat, Merkin

Little Baby Jog around soccer field

The Murph… 1 mile, 100 pull ups, 200 merkins, 300 squats, then finish with one mile

Little bit of Mary

Random stuff in the parking lot… lunge walk with merkins

People’s Chair… with arm presses

March 3 – The Matrix

Warm up… SSH, IW, Squats [sound familiar?]

Cinder block training:

-1/4 mile race, then 20 squats with cinder block

-1/4 mile race, then 20 shoulder presses with cinder block

-1/4 mile race, then 20 bench presses with cinder block

-1/4 mile race [this time, carrying cinder block], then 10 tricep extensions

1/2 mile Indian Run

Playground Stations [three cycles of each below]

-10 pull ups

-20 dips

-20 squats

Trail run

Mary

Moleskin [combined]

  • Really felt the lingering effects of the pull ups from the Murph.  Always a solid workout.  Ocho Cinco led the way for the mile run going out and coming back.
  • O’Tannebaum gets the “ugly shoe” award.  Not sure if I’ve ever seen a grown man with velcro strap shoes before. 
  • Good to see Fraggle back at The Matrix, after he admitted to a multi-month hiatus.  I could tell he was really “enjoying” the cinder blocks. 
  • Even with a cinder block on his shoulder Lobster Roll didn’t lose much speed.  That must have been a neighborhood game he played as a kid on the mean streets of South Boston.