Fitness, Fellowship, Faith

Day: May 28, 2018

Options are Good

It was a beautiful morning in the gloom (May 23rd) at the dark knight (aka snowballs… or pelicans).  As our Uber driver picked us up, I mentioned the idea of repeating YHC’s Q from two weeks ago or trying something new down in the park.  My previous Q was when the weasel wanker took the bull by the horns and posted the back blast.  I figured a rinse and repeat would be good with the Murph upcoming and to set the record straight.  Anyway, I decided to take option B and into the park instead.

The Thang:

No FNG’s, let’s jump in

The Pledge

40 SSH’s IC

20 DQ’s aka wind mills:  used to loosen core and yes technically an exercise

Mosey to the park

Find the first hill and complete

25 incline LBC’s  (mumble chatter was saying the hill made LBC’s easier…. hmmm, let’s see what happens)

25 monkey humpers OYO

Rinse and repeat x 4 :  the chatter quickly dissipated

Mosey to the wheel spoke for 10 burpees

Mosey to lower field for Black Jack:  WW III sit ups (chatter about what those are  – for the millennial’s aka WWI) and plank jacks.   Started with 20 sit ups ran across the field and then one plank jack, rinse and repeat, each time going down or up by 1.  The key is that you always make 21 – black jack….. Sounded good in concept.  Until we got to 18 and it was going to take forever.   Omaha’d to reduce by 2 each rotation.

Planks waiting on the six

Quick count off – 14 strong

Slow meander to playground

Modified Cindy – 5 pull ups, 10 merkins and 15 squats x 5 OYO

Quick mosey to the field by the turd shack for the crowd pleaser.   My version of a turtle run, renamed live action, thanks Whoopee.  It’s an Indian Run modified with bear crawls instead of running.   Last person in line raced to the front while the line moved.  Made it through all 14 and time was about up.  Will incorporate this one for sure in future posts.

Mosey back to Dark Knight.

Gastone took us out with flutters.  TIME up

The Moleskin

A great push by the Pax.   I am continuously amazed and in awe of how everyone continues to raise their game.  Everyone is hammering away and pushing the rock.   It shows.   Shout out to Island, who is absolutely killing it.  Thanks for the privilege to Q.  Good work men.

Also, I appreciate the weasel wanker holding me accountable on posting the back blasts.

Have a great week.  Till next time

Turtle Man

 

 

 

 

 

SWOLE PATROL at the Pain Lab

YHC purchased a Pain Lab T-shirt several months ago because it was cool and had the Iron Maiden “Eddie the Ed” feel with the famous Gashouse mascot on the back.  HIPAA is quite the designer and is basically an F3 Genie.  Think of something and he gets it done the same day.  The problem I had was I had never attended the Pain Lab although I have had great respect for Rudolph for the vision that really allows for a more realistic F3 experience for those that are on IR or unable to mosey.  I decided I needed to Q and earn my shirt.

I had a vision for what this Pain Lab was going to be and had printed out sheets of paper with exercises and in my mind I was going to do the workout in the parking lot with the car stereo bringing the tunes.  HIPAA agreed to bring his Pain Lab accessories and Short Sale agreed to bring his dumbbells we were all set until 0658 when the rain started.  Modify as needed.

JJ warmed us up with SSH and Merkins before we hit out sixes and did some LBC’s in the puddles of water and listened to the funny noises our now wet shirts were making on each rep.  We moseyed to the flag for the Pledge and then we broke into our groups.  Realistically I thought I had 3 HC’s for the Pain Lab.  When we broke up I realized that we had 9 for the Pain Lab.  We got back to the parking lot and the rain was steady.  I knew I needed to modify the plan and so I ordered everyone to grab the Kettlebells, jump ropes, Slam balls, mats, and dumbbells and take a hike on the nature trail for some pain by the pond.  The farmer’s carry with the weights could have been the worst thing called all day as the forearms and shoulders were spent by the time we made it to the pond.  There is a small cabana of sorts with a roof and I set up the pain stations which were something like this…1.  Goblet squats 2.  one leg deadlift  3.  100 reps jump rope  4.  One arm ground to overhead  5.  7×7 (in order without stopping…grab dumbbells, 7 curls, 7 overhead press, 7 triceps extensions, 7 bent rows, 7 jump lunges each leg, 7 burpees with weights to overhead)  We had multiple kettlebells from #20-#50 and dumbbells from #20 to #35.  The 7×7 with 35’s was a kicker.  Basically this was an AMRAP but since we had more people than pain stations we began to modify and add to the workout.  We added slam balls, wall balls, pond runs, picnic table presses, kettlebell swings, and curls.  I did some dips on the memorial benches by the pond that some #HIM’s donated in memory of a good friend who is no longer with us.  Basically everyone got after it for about 45 minutes.

Because I didn’t have a plan for music since I couldn’t bring my car to the pond, I played my IPhone which was not adequate at all for the large area we were covering or to overcome the steady and pounding rain.  I got heckled and tried to say something about bringing my son’s Beats Pill speaker and the Honorable Mayor shut me down immediately.  Something about not taking extreme ownership.  This was my favorite part of the workout.  I knew I had failed and I got zero slack for it.  Thanks for keeping me humble and accountable Mr. Mayor!

We continued on.  BA broke the jump rope.  The Mayor lamented having to use the #35’s each time.  When everyone was totally soaked from rain and sweat and with a little time on the clock YHC called Omaha and we circled up for Mary.  Each PAX had to pick one weight and then call an exercise in order for 5 reps.  Pretty standard exercises were called until we got to BA who called his favorite exercise…you guessed it….”Neckies!”  His instructions were clear.  Put your hand on a weight and do 5 Neckies.  Classic BA.   Glad to have him back in the Gloom.  He is one of the early and reliable Q’s and original Gashouse Pax.  Now to EH that Godfather fellow!

When we finished with Mary it was time to Farmer’s Carry the gear back to the parking lot.  JJ had the rest of the PAX waiting for us for more Mary but the bells rang before we could do the next exercise.  JJ covered the COT in his backblast so I won’t rehash it here, but this was probably the longest COT in the rain in F3 history!

I will admit this was a rough week for me with many things going on and not much down time to work on the Weinke.  But as usual a little spontaneity and lots of good men stepping up helped us make it a decent workout.  There was no clock and no particular order to do the workout.  You could take what you want and it was you versus you.

I appreciate the opportunity to lead and be held accountable.   I admit this BB is posted late as well.  I won’t even make a defense as to why it is late.  Thanks Mayor!

I promised that the PAX would join the “Swole Patrol” and I can say most were probably at least a little pumped up.  Hopefully everyone is feeling the effects of the workout and you got your money’s worth.  I am looking forward to my next post and/or Q at the pain lab.  What a great thing we put on the menu for the men of F3 Gastonia.   Take advantage of it sometime!

 

 

 

 

Crossroads Pre-Launch Run

5 showed for a pre-launch run of the new running AO, Crossroads.  The official launch date is set for 6/3.

All men ran today with everyone getting around the 5 mile mark.  Good run on a humid Sunday morning!

 

COT:

Announcements

Prayer requests:  Continue to pray for Self family and each other

Name-o-rama

 

As always, it was a pleasure.  Looking forward to seeing everyone out here at Crossroads starting 6/3!

 

Sister Act

Q School

9 men showed for a soggy rainy morning at Folsom.  I  was looking forward all week to being out here with my F3 brothers on this morning in particular.  I have been working out of town for the last 13 weeks, and Friday was my return back home.  I was fortunate to be able to return home on the weekends, but wasn’t able to hardly make any workouts throughout the week.  Fortunately, we have some of the best HIMS in all of F3 Nation right here in the Gastonia region.  Keeping in contact with my F3 brothers,  held me accountable,  so I was driven to continue to push the rock as much as possible while out of town.  But being away,  you realize the significance of having your fellow F3 brothers beside you,  pushing you,  step by step.  Thats why you’ll continually hear veteran guys expressing the importance of just posting, and being there for one another.   So with my out of town work now behind me,  I was excited to be back with my F3 brothers.    So I figured the best way to celebrate an end to my work assignment, is a good ole fashioned beatdown.  Started the morning off with a little EC run with Tyson and Slaw to get the blood flowing.  Huck and Roadie got in some rucking.  Sorry,  Huck rucked solo, as Roadie slept thru a half dozen alarms.   Roadie did manage to make it to the workout.   With PAX continuing to roll in,  good to see that Squirt has joined us. time is almost at hand, rain is in the air,  6:30 hits and its go time.  No FNG, short disclaimer.

 

Warm -UP:    SSH, Hillbillies, 1 Burpee,  Mosey to lower parking lot

 

The Thang:

First exercise called has become one of my favorites.  Im pretty sure, if you’ve attended a workout when I was the Q,  that I always include some form of 11’s.  Good way to include 2 exercises with a lot of reps.  With that said, lets do 11’s, with Burpees and Booyah Merkins.   Told PAX to partner up.  P1 and P2 will start together in middle of lower parking lot.  Start off with 1 Booyah Merkin, then partners run opposite directions to ends of parking lot and perform 10 Burpees.  Meet back in middle,  2 Booyah Merkins, then run opposite directions to ends of parking lot with 9 Burpees.  Continued this until 10 Booyah Merkins completed in middle, and 1 Burpee at the ends.  This was a real crowd pleaser, and the mumble chatter was starting to increase.  I must admit, YHC was definitely feeling it after this.  Booyah Merkins combined with Burpees are no joke.  The shoulders were feeling pretty smoked and some PAX(which will remained unnamed), actually started to question my Q ability.  I just ignored their comments, and continued on.

 

Next up!  Not much of a surprise here, but more 11’s are called.  This time we switched and started from the side of the parking lot.  11’s are called with Tiger squats on the one side, Tuck Jumps on the other.  If both of these exercises are completed with form in mind, they can be brutal.  With the mumble chatter (complaining) in full swing,  figured I might as well give them something worth complaining about.  Lets make these Dirty 11’s!  2 Burpees are to be performed in the middle on each trip across parking lot to next exercise.   Start off with 10 Tiger Squats, mosey to center with 2 Burpees, mosey to side for 1 Tuck Jump, mosey back to center  with 2 Burpees, then back to start.  Continue with 9 Tiger Squats, 2 Burpees, 2 Tuck Jumps, 2 Burpees.  Continue this until you do 1 Tiger Squat, 2 Burpees, 10 Tuck Jump, 2 Burpees.    This was a tough exercise to complete, and it being really muggy outside, the sweat was really rolling.  Then the Sky Q  blessed us with some much needed relief.  The skies opened up, and it poured heavily until completion of this exercise.   And yes, Slaw did take his shirt off!  Good work by all PAX on this one.

 

Next lets mosey to the small Pavilion.   The rain continued to fall, more shirts were off, and the mumble chatter was still present.  With shoulders and legs smoked, lets do some more shoulder exercises.  This is really where one of our “Respected” members of F3 started to question my Q ability.  Kept on talking about going to Q school.  YHC made an observation about the increased amount of Sand present today!  I can’t exactly remember the amount of reps and sets done here.  Lots of distractions here, from the mumble chatter, to Montross and Slaw doing water puddle angels, to Slaw’s questions about Just For Men(Show to Know).  YHC had to quickly attempt to regain control of this  situation.  Exercises called were as followed:

Hip Slappers,  Derkins, Big Boys, Arm Squats,  Mike Tysons

We completed at least 10-15 reps (IC)  of each exercise for at least 3 sets.  Shoulders were done at this point.

Next lets mosey to flag pole at entrance to Folsom for the Pledge.  We did stop and do 3 more Burpees at some point along the way.  With time running short, mosey back to parking lot with shovel flag.  TIME!

 

COT:

Announcements

Prayer Request:  Self family, YHC grandmother, each other.

Name-o-rama

 

It was an honor to lead today.  I feel very blessed to be associated with F3 and all my F3 brothers.   Great push by all PAX today.  It really is an awesome experience to Q, I encourage everyone to get out there and sign up to Q a workout.

 

Sister Act

Memorial Day Honor Flight

So I wrote the preblast for this and was talking it up a bit. What this is, is a flight for vets of WW2, Korea and Vietnam up to DC, a tour around the city and visits to the memorials and then a flight back home with a welcome. It was one of the most remarkable times of my life. I encourage everyone to try and do this if you can and if you know someone who is a vet of these wars and hasn’t been, reach out to qchonorflight.org and see what you can do to get them on it.

The family and I showed up at the airport around 7:15 and parked in the hourly deck. When we walked in, Whoopie texted me and said there was a line so don’t get in a hurry. We waited in line and got the parking validation and our boarding passes to clear TSA. We made our way all the way to the end of concourse D. That’s where Whoopie and his family were waiting. As we all caught up and talked about this and that and watched my youngest 2.0 terrorize the isles and play with bullwinkle, the crowd kept growing and growing. At the time of our sign up, there was over 400 people. On the way in, I chatted up the USO volunteer who said there were over 600 people expected. It got to be time and people were hustling around and honor guards, patriot riders, young Marines, etc. were taking their place. We heard the bagpipes and here they come. Each era group behind their own banner. First the WW2 vets. Leading them was a 100 year old pilot. Whoopie and I did some rough calculations and about the youngest age you could be is 94 if you were a WW2 vet. The greatest generation is getting away from us, both literally and figuratively. Imagine if we still held the ideals and promise of that generation.

Next was Korea and then the Vietnam Vets. It was a sight to watch all of the revelers welcoming these men and their chaperones home. There were family members with awesome signs. The girls made up some signs for the troops and on the back of them were Stanleys local hero Nic O’Brien and Tiny Tanks friend from west point Cpt. Daniel Whitten.

All in all, the procession lasted about 15 minutes. Whoopies M got after it. She was screaming the whole time and waving the American Flag and grabbing a hand as they went by and telling them Thank you. I was speaking with another Vietnam vet at church Sunday (Walter Hobbs USMC) who is a member of the Rotary that puts this on or helps out and he was saying they sent people home in ones and twos and he landed in Charlotte at 0400 and his parents picked him up….a long way from a parade. There were a couple of men who recorded their walk thru and one remarked that this was overwhelming. we did our parts to make sure these men know how much they are appreciated. I remembered the old pictures you see on facebook that says “that old man was way more of a badass than you will ever be.” How true those words are. There are just no real words to capture everything we felt, but I hope I did it justice.

Be good brothers,
Mayor

I put some pictures up and supplemented one I saw on Facebook that was clearer.

The Murph

I won’t say I was nervous about being the Q today, but I wanted it to be good. I wanted it to be memorable. I wanted to say something that would be worthy of the reasons we gathered today for The Murph. I realized during my preparation, nothing I could say would be worthy of the lives of those we would be remembering today. I could, however, make sure it was worthy of your time getting up and coming out on a rainy morning to honor those men and women who gave everything so I could live in a country where I could put on a pair of clean socks this morning, stop by the Harris Teeter and get some water for this workout, and park my car in a parking lot with 30 + men who got out of the fartsack to bust their butts with me. A country where I can complain about having to wait in line for a drink and that is the worst part of my day, and hopefully I realize that waiting in line for a drink is really not worth complaining about. We have it pretty darn good here in the USA and every once in awhile we need something like The Murph to remind us of that.

I started by calling on Roadie to clarify the difference in Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day-look it up if you were not there. Roadie nailed it and I am sure there were others out there like me that maybe a week ago, may not have been able to tell you the difference. I talked a little about who Murph was, but really wanted the guys out there to look that up and learn on your own-there is plenty of info out there on the internet to fill you in on the details. I wanted to share the end of a book I got from Stroganoff called With The Old Breed. This book by E.B. Sledge describes his experience in the Pacific Theater during part of WWII. This book helped form the basis for the HBO mini-series “The Pacific.” Reading this book will open your eyes to a small part of what the military went through on Peleliu and Okinawa. To quote an article I found on the internet, “On Okinawa, Sledge and his fellow Marines fought in mud-mud that gave them trench foot and was often thick with maggots, rotting bodies, flies, and feces. Each battle was an ordeal, a fight against a fanatical enemy that was dug in and determined to fight to the last man.”

I read the last few paragraphs of the book this morning then gave the book to Roadie for him to read so I can’t quote everything I read. I did find part of what I read online: “War is brutish, inglorious and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to endure it. The only redeeming factors were my comrades’ incredible bravery and their devotion to each other.”

As a non-military man over age 25, I don’t know that I will ever fully understand what the above paragraph means. I can, however, appreciate that it truly sucked worse that anything that I have ever gone through (including BRR). I can make sure I am appreciative of the sacrifice that others have made, and I can make sure my kids do the same. I was able to do this with my kids (thanks Mayor) this past week watching the Honor Flight return at the airport. If I can help some of my brothers down this road also, I will be satisfied.

We said the pledge. We did a (sort of) disclaimer. We did NOT do a warmup, then we did The Murph. We then joined the 6 on his final mile as a group, which was my favorite part. It was not planned-it just happened that way. Great way to end the workout guys-together.

We then named our 3 FNGs and went for coffeteeria after a quick prayer. Later this morning I taught my youngest 2.0 the difference in Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day while I waited in line for some food with a smile on my face.

thanks for being my brother and keeping me on track-Whoopee

 

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