Sledding in the Rain

Sledding in the Rain

14 men ventured out after a night of lightning and loud thunder to make a little noise of their own at The Maul.  We were givien perfect 50 degree weather.

Posted by Mic Check on behalf of Chipotle who is still claiming he can’t post on the site.  Nobody actually believes him.

  • 25 IW
  • 15 Merkins
  • 25 SSH

Run to fountains and partner up for a series of exercises

  • Partner 1 Incline Merkins until Partner 2 completes a lap around the building (Flap Jack)
  • Partner 1 Squats until Partner 2 completes a lap around the building (Flap Jack)
  • Partner 1 Derkins until Partner 2 completes a lap around the building (Flap Jack)
  • Partner 1 Dips until Partner 2 completes a lap around the building (Flap Jack)
  • Partner 1 Step Ups until Partner 2 completes a lap around the building (Flap Jack)

Mosey to Firebirds and partner up

  • 100 combined Merkins (Partner 1 doing Merkins while Partner does 25 squats)

Mosey to parking lot

  • Partner Sleds
  • Partner Pulls

Circle up for Mary

  • Cockroach
  • Flutter
  • Dolly
  • LBC

MOLESKIN

Great work by all, and those that went to Bagpipes on Tuesday, I felt that some extra chest work was needed.  Partner Sled and Pulls where fun, especially watching Haggis and Mighty Mite go at it.

XO XO , Chipotle

PAY IT FORWARD

Twenty four Pax stepped up in the gloom to share the Q…some for the first time.

THE THANG

Pre Thang Ball of Man

Mosey to Soccer Field and circle up

PAX COP

Each Pax contributed, save 5 or 6, to Q’ing an exercise of his choice to include:

Side Straddle Hop

Sister Mary Catherines

Slow Squats

Jog around the school

Starfish with 3 stations

Merkins

Burpees

LBC’s

Rock Hoppers

Side Straddle Hops again

After roughly 20 exercises, Q called audible to mosey to Football Field

Exercise RAMP adding a new exercise with each round so that round 1 has one exercise, round 2 has the first and a second exercise, etc. as follows:

1. Partner over/under x 10 then Flapjack (Later switched to CCV’s x 15 in cadence)

2. P1 Cartwheels to 10yd then Bear Crawls back while P2 LBC’s then Flapjack

3. By round 3, Pax chose to do 10 Burpees to select a new first exercise…Cumberland Co. Viaduct, then added the third exercise…Wheelbarrows to 20yd then Flapjack

Planks between Rounds

COT

Welcome FNG’s Pusher and Locksmith!!

Moleskine:

YHC attempted to “pay it forward” to the Pax in an effort to let everyone get exposure to Q today. It was very interesting in many ways.  A shout out from one of our Pax (Preemy?) that it was only his second F3 attendance and he was already leading an exercise was quickly met with two FNGs getting the chance to lead.  #baptismbyfire With roughly 10 more Pax participating than the Q expected, and when Kirk and Calloway took the COP into a lap around the school and a starfish routine, the Q needed to call an audible to recover any semblance of the original weinke by moseying the Pax to the Football Field for a mud bath. #bringtowelsorsubscribetoanAutoBellmembership

All delivered handsomely on the over/unders yet likely averaged somewhere near a 7.5 when it came to the cartwheels.  However, the Pax noted that Mary Lou Retton has nothing on Donkey Kong. 

It appeared that a number of Pax were taking a post Hydra jog at first glance.  YHC didn’t realize that our FNG, Bean Counter, had lost his car keys and was joined by fellow Pax to begin searching for the same. We are sorry for your loss. You are now RENAMED LOCKSMITH. 

Thank you for the opportunity to lead.  You guys are great!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Please reach out to @LabratF3 if you might have an unwanted flag that you wish to retire.  His church’s Boy Scout Troop is accepting these now. He will be at Joust and Compass, tomorrow, and at Olympus this Saturday.  THE DEADLINE FOR THIS IS SUNDAY

 

 

No Log, Pole or Tree Left Behind

11 Men went on a scavenger hunt through the woods with 1 mission in sight…Find or Chop down a tree that we could carry for 3 miles

The Thang:

Coupons: Telephone Pole, Tree, (2) Man Log, (1) Man Log, Bonecrusher (65lbs Sandbag), SPEARHEAD Flag, and on the last ½ Mile Humans

 Launch 04:45

The team set off with all coupons minus of course the tree listed above.  The mission was to have the only people not carrying coupons to scout ahead at each section of woods along the way. Guys were brave enough to head into the unknown woods at 04:45, limited vision and uneven terrain in search of the perfect coupon.  Fortunately for all of us, we didn’t need to travel far when Crab Cakes hit the mother-load while deep in the woods.  After traversing a few briar patches, YHC instructed the PAX to leave the (2) Man Log and (1) Man Log so that guys could swap on and off the big log.  Apparently no one listened, and as we headed out of Carmel Park and down Carmel, YHC asked, “why aren’t people switching on and off the log”…to our surprise, the PAX had picked up all coupons and there was NO ONE to swap and NO relief at all…nowith enters the suck!  

Once the team made it around the loop and back to Carmel Park it was time to drop the big tree.  For the final ¾ Mile the Pax thought it was going to get easier without the tree, however YHC had another horrible idea in mind.  Let’s make it harder.  Thanks to BTB and Dora for Spearheading up the partner carry class (pun intended), our team was now trained on how to properly carry a human. 

The last stretch was a beast and guys were being killed of left and right.  Mad Props to the Pax for shouldering so much weight without any breaks.  This was exactly like how it will be in the GRC, except it will last 7-9 more hours.  Haha.

If someone could remember what the runner girl said to us when she passed us, please comment about it below as it was hilarious! 

Again it was a pleasure leading this group and I appreciate the honor.

Respectfully, The Hoff

Where is everyone?

Men all over Area 51 looked out the window when they awoke this morning and had a decision to make.  9 pax decided to deny the fartsack in order to get their daily downPAINment.  5 even showed up for the KB pre-work.

 Warm-up lap around the parking lot.  Throw in some high knees and butt kicks for good measure. 

COP:

  • 1 legged burpees x 7 each leg
  • Slerkin (slow merkin) x 15 (hold it)
  • Mountain Climber x 20 (hold it)
  • Plank walk CW/CCW
  • SSH x 25
  • Imperial Walkers x 24

THANG:

Find a partner (size doesn’t matter) for merkinfest:

  • Partner A does 20 merkins while Partner B does squats until partner A is done. Flapjack.  Repeat with 19 merkins, then 18…all the way down to 1. That’s 210 merkins each.
  • Star-plank until everyone finishes

Mosey over to concession area.

  • People’s chair x 60 sec.
  • Wall plank (keep it as horizontal as possible) x 20 sec.
  • Wall mountain climbers x 10
  • Rinse and repeat

Welcome, Skywalker.  Glad you could join us.  You should knock out 210 merkins to catch up.

Jog down to the track and gather by bleachers.  Run ½ way around track to other bleachers and complete called exercise until last guy finishes 20 reps.  Run ½ way around track back to starting point and complete same called exercise until last guys finishes 20 reps.  Repeat for a total of 4 laps around track.  Called exercises:

  • Lap 1 – Ski Abs x 20
  • Lap 2 – Heels to Heaven x 20
  • Lap 3 – Dolly x 20
  • Lap 4 – Flutter x 20

1 minute left – 10 burpees OYO

COT

 Moleskin:

  • The strong thunderstorms rolling through Charlotte at about 2 a.m. must have caused most to second-guess their plans to post this morning.  If it makes you feel better, there was only a light drizzle for a few minutes of the KB workout, then no rain the rest of the workout.
  • So, Bananas sends out a tweet yesterday for the KB pre-work at Death Valley this morning.  There was even mention of a focus on arms so clearly he had a plan in mind.  Good Hands stops to pick up Bananas at his house this a.m., texting him to come on.  Nothing, dark, no sight of Bananas!
  • Skywalker sets a new Area 51 record for being late to a workout.  He strolled in at about 5:55, which most pax (YHC included) would question should they even bother posting.  Glad you decided to post anyway.  You still owe us 210 merkins. 

 Announcements:

  • F3 Mentoring program will be launching soon (details:  http://f3nation.com/2014/02/12/f3-mentoring-program-2014/).  Reach out to Skywalker if you have any questions.
  • HDHH tonight, 6 pm at The Lodge – Check Twitter this afternoon
  • Blue Ridge Relay sign-ups going on now.  Don’t miss out!  Contact Baracus to sign up or with questions.

Last minute workout

The Thang

Jog to the small courtyard area near front of church.

COP

  • SSH x30
  • IW x30
  • Slow squat x30
  • Mtn Climbers x30

Push-o-rama Superset

  • 5 merkins / 5 wide-arm / 5 diamond
  • Peoples chair for 1 min
  • 5 merkins / 5 wide-arm / 5 diamond
  • Peoples chair for 1 min (20 air presses)
  • 5 merkins / 5 wide-arm / 5 diamond
  • Peoples chair for 1 min (25 air presses)

Jog to the shelter

  • Jump-ups x20
  • Tricep dips x20
  • Decline merkins x20
  • Repeato x3
  • Peoples chair for 1 min (30 air presses)

Jog to the entrance hill and partner up

  • P1 runs down hill and bear crawls back up while P2 does burpees – flapjack
  • P1 runs down hill and lunge walks back up while P2 does squats – flapjack
  • P1 runs down hill and bear crawls back up while P2 does merkins – flapjack
  • P1 runs down hill and lunge walks back up while P2 does squats – flapjack

Indian Run back to the (virtual) shovel flag for some MOM.

  • LBC x20, hold it
  • Dolly x20, hold it
  • Freddie Mercury x20

Moleskin:

YHC woke up to cracks of thunder that shook the entire house at 3am and not long after that our youngest crawled in bed with us.  Not much sleep after this as I wondered if the storms would let up in time for #F3Anvil this morning.  Before walking out the door I got the text from Purple Haze who woke up sick this morning.  I’ve got the Q.

Well…it turned out the weather was just fine.  Spring is starting to show itself with some warm temperatures (and of course the rain).  Perfect conditions for a beatdown this morning and I was ready to deliver some spontaneous pain.

Some other impressive stats for this morning.  50% of the pax showed up early for extra credit… Boutique and YHC for a 3 mile fellowship run and Semi-gloss to swing some iron around.  Good thing the lightning was well beyond us at this point.  Nice work fellas!

I tried to bring a little bit of the pain I anticipated Haze would bring this morning with the push-o-rama…I hope I did it justice as this has become a trademark move with Haze.  The supersets are guaranteed to deliver the pain.  While I don’t think this was the most creative workout, we definitely got to see plenty of the church campus and used some of our favorite pain delivery methods.

Great work by all 6 guys out there this morning!  I enjoyed the company and always enjoy the privilege of leading the group.

20’s all the way

22 of Area 51’s finest non-fartsackers stepped out into the gloom for their weekly dose of Skunkworks pain. Here is what we did:

WARMUP
– SSH x 20
– IW x 20
– Merkins x 15 IC
– Mtn Climber x 15 IC
– Slow squat x 15 IC

The THANG
– 20 two-handed swings
– Sprint to the buses and back
– 20 two-handed swings/20 curls
– Sprint to the buses and back
– 20 swings/20 curls/20 Tea Bag Squats
– Sprint to the buses and back
– 20 swings/20 curls/20 Tea Bag Squats/20 Upright rows
– Sprint to the buses and back
– 20 swings/20 curls/20 Tea Bag Squats/20 Upright rows/20 Tricep Extensions
– Sprint to the buses and back
– 20 swings/20 curls/20 Tea Bag Squats/20 Upright rows/20 Triceps/10 each leg lunges
– Sprint to the buses and back
– 20 swings/20 curls/20 Tea Bag Squats/20 Upright rows/20 Triceps/10 each leg lunges/10 each one-arm presses
– Sprint to the buses and back

Partner Up – like-size KBs

P1 LBC’s/P2 firemen carry both bells around loop, flapjack

Mosey back to field, just enough time for some Russian Twists x 15 IC

Moleskin

Good work by all the pax today. T-claps to Header, Lab Rat, and Su-Sudio for logging a few miles prior to the workout. Strong work brothers. Not a lot of mumble chatter out there except for some moans and groans each time the number ‘20’ was called. The “Partner 2” group in the firemen’s carry got to flex their muscles as they sped past a couple of ladies out for their morning run, and those of us in the Partner 1 group could hear the sounds of the ladies laughing at the pax. Something about taking hold of a kettlebell or something…..not quite sure what was going on up there. YHC had a couple more laps of that planned, but thankfully we were out of time. Several options thrown around for FNG Robert Lee, settled on Premature aka “Preemie” after he rattled off his name/FNG during the count-off. Thanks for coming out, hope to see you back out soon!

Thanks to Su-Sudio for sending us out, and thanks to all the pax for allowing me to lead. It was an honor. Sound off in comments if I missed anything above.

Good Hands

Hills, ladders, tomatoes, and fellowship – doesn’t get much better

The virtual shovel flag was planted and nine men gathered for the weekly running of Fast Twitch.  Four showed up early (4:45?) for some kettle ball work and gave the Q extra incentive to push it hard.

The Thang:

COP for warm up

  • SSH X20
  • Merkins X20
  • Squats X20

Run over to Windbluff Road (to be renamed Winded after the ladder) via Woodfox and Rounding Run for a burpee/jumpt squat ladder to 7.   Burpees at bottom of hill and jump squats at the top.  Got the heart rate up this morning.

Run back to Rounding Run and partner up.  Partner 1 runs up to street light at top of hill and back.  Partner 2 does called exercise until Partner 1 returns.

  • Round 1 – Knee ups
  • Round 2 – Dolly
  • Round 3 – Jump Squats

Run back to school parking lot to join the tomatos in some circuit work.  Plank while PAX catches up and then partner 1 runs backward while partner 2 does two burpees and than sprints after partner 1.   Tag out and switch.   Two laps around the lot while trying to avoid (or maybe not) the tomatos.

Group karokee down and back.

Three minutes of mary (high dolly, low flutter, Rosalita).

COT

Moleskin

I like the smaller group at Fast Twitch, espeically since it makes remembering the names for the backblast easier (no high tech devices necessary).  We covered over 3.5 miles even with the ladder and partner runs as we kept moving the entire time.

I show up to find four men swinging kettle balls, including the trouble maker PH.  Twice in a row where he feels he needs something extra since I’m the Q.   Heading to Lowes to buy some cinder blocks for next trip to Centurion.  Plus, I was not on the exclusive invite list and missed the extra work which would be great in preparation for mud run.

I picked this featured image merely to drive traffic to the back blast (well, maybe that is not the only reason).

Announcements:

Still trying to put together one more BRR team from the south.  Contact a site Q or Barracus if interested.

Several races coming up including 10 mile run this Saturday.  Sign up now at http://charlotte10miler.racesonline.com/ for $45 or $50 on race day.

YHC trying to get some brownie points with the wife and fill a table for a luncheon for Samaritan House on March 6th at 11:30 at Covenant Presbyterian Church on Morehead.   Cost is $40 and there are 6 spots left.  Contact me at pchepul@gmail.com or shout out below if interested.

Partner Carry Catch Me If You Can…Really??

14 Strong and a True FNG moved some weight, some humans and some logs today at SPEARHEAD 

The Thang 

10 Stations:

1- 15 Pull Ups

2- Merkins

3- Sandbag Squat  Thrust Press (side-to-side)

4- Kettle Bell Swing

5- Farmer Carry up hill (2) Kettle Bells

6- Tea Bag Squats

7- Reverse Bear Crawl up hill

8- Bicep Curl with dumbbells

9- Burpees

10- Monkey Humpers

11 – Burpees

12 – Monkey Humpers

13 – Burpees

14 – Monkey Humpers  

The Pull up was the timer.  When Pax finished 15 pull ups, everyone rotated to the next station

7 Rounds in “AUDIBLE” 

YHC called remaining guys on the end 10-14 to get every Log we had in the woods: 

Telephone Pole Work: Telephone Pole, 2 Man Log, 3 (1) person Logs  

Split into two Teams: Alpha and Bravo (7 on each team) 

Round 1:

Alpha Team was Timer:

–          Low Crawl x 120 yards

Bravo Team:

–          Shoulder-to-Shoulder Pole Press x 20

–          Hold Pole above heads x 10 Seconds

–          Shoulder-to-Shoulder Pole Press x 10

Flapjack

Bravo Team was Timer:

–          Low Crawl x 120 yards

Alpha Team:

–          Shoulder-to-Shoulder Pole Press x 20

–          Hold Pole above heads x 10 Seconds

–          Shoulder-to-Shoulder Pole Press x 10 

Round 2:

Alpha Team was Timer:

–          Bear Crawl x 120 yards

Bravo Team:

–          Good Mornings with Pole x 10

–          Side-to-side right with pole x 5, left x 5

–          Good Mornings with Pole x 5

Flapjack

Bravo Team was Timer:

–          Bear Crawl x 120 yards

Alpha Team:

–          Good Mornings with Pole x 10

–          Side-to-side right with pole x 5, left x 5

–          Good Mornings with Pole x 5 

Infractions!!!! ( Teams weren’t stayinh together and mumble chatter was indicating the workout needed a boost) 

(8) Count Body Builders x 15

On Your Belly, On Your Back, On Your Feet 

In Cadence:        “On Your Belly” (Forward Leaning Rest Position)

                           “On Your Back” (Swivel from Forward Leaning Rest in one motion to Laying on Back)

                            “On Your Feet” (Similar to Turkish Get Up) 

Cadence went as Follows: On your belly, On your back, On your feet.  During this cycle, we would pause and perform exercises at key moments of the cadence

On your belly, on your back on your feet x 9

On your belly…pause Merkins x 10

On your back…Flutter Kicks x 20

On your feet

Rinse and Repeat x  3 Cycles 

Partner Carry – Catch Me if You Can…Really??? – Yup! 

Teams of 3

P1- Carry P2; P3 Dollys x 25 – P3 Runs to P1&2 picks up P2 and P1 Performs Dolly’s x 25

Flapjack/Rinse and Repeat ¼ Mile 

Tunnel of Love x 50 yards

Shimmy Shim Shim x 10 yards 

COT 

Moleskin: 

This routine wasn’t as physically taxing as a typical Hoff special and I hope we did enough for you guys.  Having a knee injury made it a little difficult to plan the workout and YHC had to call an audible 10 minutes in as the planned routine wasn’t quite working out.  The Pax surprised us with 14 and what was planned was only written out for 8…but sometimes, these “on-the-fly routines can actually work out well.  

Strong work all around from the Pax.  Welcome to our 2 FNG’s today and we look forward to helping getting you guys and all others prepared for the GORUCK Custom which is quickly approaching and will be here before you know it!  

SPEARHEAD is a site dedicated to GORUCK preparation.  Some of the things we do are unconventional by design.  Some routines focus solely on smoking your cardio, strength and muscle endurance.  Others target mileage under heavy weight (Thursday mornings at 04:45) and some, like today, give you a mix of a few things the Cadre’s may throw at you (i.e. Shimmy, Shim, Tunnel of Love, Backwards Bear Crawl, Partner Carry, etc).  You never know what to expect when you post at SPEARHEAD, our guys a little out there…(I believe I heard someone, maybe DK or Liquor Cycle asking to get in a creek today…lol you guys are awesomely insane), but we love what we do and welcome all to come and see what a taste of GORUCK is like.  We promise you’ll leave tired and dirty. 

As always it is an honor to lead you today. 

Respectfully, 

The Hoff

 

 

It was over too fast

22 men showed up for a traditional Bagpipe beatdown.

The Thang:

Mosey to parking lot for warm up: 25 side straddle hops, 25 Imperial Walker, 10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1 merkins with 10 second plank in between each set.

Mosey out for lap of Loch Ness.  Return to wall.  Plank while waiting. 10 slow durkins, 10 slow dips, 10 slow squats (all in cadence), 10 burpees at own pace.

Mosey out for second lap of lake.  Plankerama with Mic Check.  Repeato as above with 15 of each.

Follow Mighty Mite to big parking lot for burpee suicides.  1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9 burpees with run back to line in between.  Plank up, then 10 merkins just for fun.

Mosey back around the shore of Loch Ness to 1st parking lot for Mary Merkin Madness: 2 merkins, 25 flutter, 4 merkins, 25 dolly, 6 merkins, 25 heels to heavens, 8 merkins, 25 right side raise, 10 merkins, 25 left side raise, 8 merkins, 25 rosalita, 6 merkins, 10 slow bicycles (punctuated by chatter from Philmont and Freeleys Comment)

Mosey back to the Vine.  Plank up for a minute, then 20 fab merkins to finish.

Moleskin:

– A great turnout today and a great push from all.

– Minimal mumble-chatter, Frahelys Komet of course being the exception.  Laughing during slow bicycles does in fact increase the pain.

– Mic Check on Q next week.

 

Oh, the burn…

 

12 PAX including 1 FNG braved the post-Snowmageddon frozen tundra, which itself was trembling with the fear in anticipation of a morning of upper body exhaustion.  The FNG was praying for preferential treatment on this his birthday, but I’m sure all PAX can guess what that earned him….BURN

THE THANG…

–>COP

(Reps x20)

SSH
Imperial Walker
Golfer’s Grip Arm Circles
Reverse Golfer’s Grip Arm Circles
Fly Stretches
Merkin
Carolina Dry Dock
CDD Crunch
Slow Squats

–> MOSEY to field for some UPPER BODY BURN

-10 Burpees OYO
Up/Down Variants with YHC’s whistle around the neck!
– 5 mins Up Downs
– 5 mins Up Downs w/ merkin’s on down till whistle
– 5 mins Up Downs w/ CDD’s on down till whistle
10 Burpees OYO
PlankORama

Jack Webb Ladder!
Jack Webb up to 7
Jack Webb down from 7

PlankORama

–>MOSEY TO THE TRACK

Partners DASHES TO 60
-> P1 -100 Meter Dash & Back, P2 CDD Start, flapjack
-> P1 -100 Meter BACKWARDS Dash & Back, P2 LBC Start, flapjack
-> P1 -100 Meter KAROKE Dash & Back, P2 Lunges Start, flapjack

–>WOULDN’T BE A PASSPORT Q, WITHOUT SOME SLED AND ANCHOR

-> Push/Sled: P1 down, p2 back
-> Pull/Anchor: P1 down, p2 back

–>MARY ROULETTE

Including: Flutter, Dolly, LBCs, Oblique Crunches,

MOLESKIN

YHC was most pleasantly surprised by the resiliency of the PAX all.  Despite a near tumble or two by Utter e’ ruck, and a few muscles tighting up across the crowd, all PAX helped me prove to YHC and others that Basecamp is #redefiningModerate.  Serious improvements at group, and increasing intensity makes for an optimal Monday AM workout.

Long Distances shouts to Katniss on Q in F3WS.  The lead bow man of your clan (Robin Hood) continues to impress and inspire.

Happy Bday to FNG “The Mouth”…  Literally the longest “time from intro to EH completion” ever!

And YHC is OUT!