Fitness, Fellowship, Faith

Month: June 2018 (Page 1 of 8)

99 Bottles of Beer…

Whoopee vacated his Q slot for this morning’s bootcamp. Either his M failed to tell him or he failed to remember they had a garage sale scheduled bright and early this morning. Plenty of George Strait cd’s are still available I here. So I gladly took control for the boot camp while Bedpan was to have his VQ with the Pain Lab. When I’m on a work call that looses my interest, I open my excel file with all of my Weinkes and get creative. This idea had been brewing for a while and I tempted the PAX of Gastonia via Twitter and Slack, hoping to entice a big crowd.

I arrived in the parking lot after an EC run and was pleasantly surprised at the eager group of PAX. I had a strong feeling Udders from Greensboro would post. I was happy to see the return of the “the Streak,” as well as Hushpuppy. I attempted to lure Brownstreak to the bootcamp providing as much insight as I could (he doesn’t like surprises if you didn’t know) but he was leaning toward the Pain Lab. I checked my watch and 0700 struck – time to get this train wreck mov’in.  No FNG’s but a disclaimer was stated as there were some newer men among us. “You verses you, modify as needed, do what you want to do.” Did I say you verses you? I did…let’s go:

Warm-up:

  • SSH IC x 10
  • Squats (apparently I didn’t say “in cadence” though the PAX were following my lead quite nicely until HIPAA called me out) we finished 10 – in cadence
  • Rapid fire: LBC’s in rapid cadence x 8; Plank Jacks in rapid cadence x 8, and just for HIPAA: 5 Burpees OYO

Pledge – boot camp bid adieu to the Pain Lab

We moseyed to the Grier track for Part I. Once through the gate we circled and I was once again surprised that only 7 men followed me. I guess the temptation wasn’t strong enough or the PAX were skeered as they sometimes say. No matter – the PAX that faced me were ready for a beat down and I was ready to give it. The biggest form of flattery is to borrow from another man’s workout. The track work is a combination from Stroganoff’s world famous “Wolfpack Grinder” and one that Tiny Tank led in honor of his West Point classmate Dan Whitten. To perform the real Whitten – you need some equipment, so modifications were in order. However – if you have access to a dumbbell or kettle-bell and a medicine ball – look up this workout and do it when you can’t attend F3. You will be tested. So today’s version was originally slated for 4 rounds of 20 reps. After round 1, I modified unbeknownst to the PAX. Here’s what we did:

  • Steps-ups
  • Dips
  • Run 200 meters
  • Burpees
  • SSH
  • Run 200 meters to complete a full lap
  • Round 1 was 20 single count reps of the exercises; Round 2 was 15, and Round 3 was 10

I omaha’ed the fourth round because of time. Thanks to Roscoe for leading plank work waiting for the PAX to gather. Props to Roscoe for leading the charge with Udders closely following. This circuit was designed to elevate the heart rate. I’ve found that any occasion to run and throw in burpees will get your ticker pumping. A quick count off confirmed all eight men were still with us. Onto First Presbyterian Church’s PAD where the Main Event was waiting.

The set up took a minute to get the music going (thanks Rudolph for your speaker) and the cooler opened. Preparing for this Q was a bit unique and took me to three different stores to find the various coupons. I did fulfill a few requests but unfortunately those men were not among my PAX. Stroganoff titles many of his routines and this one deserved such distinction: 99 Bottles of Beer. Think all the way back to your elementary school days and those field trips. I feel certain that most if not all of us sang the song as the bus took off. I’m going to venture a guess that few field trips ever actually completed the countdown. I imagine in today’s PC world, young kids singing a song with “beer” in the lyric would be frowned upon. But today’s workout would bring smiles. So think of the “deck of death” workout but instead of cards, various bottles of beer were used. The time began with, yep you guessed it, a 99 second circuit, followed by a 30 second rest and then 98 seconds, and so on. I offered the PAX an asterisk that if they selected a bottle and didn’t like the exercises, they could “take one for the team” with a power chug of the ice cold beer. Some thought about it but none accepted the challenge, at least the drinking beer part. It went like this:

  • 99 seconds: Old English 40 – Single line suicides & V Ups
  • 98 seconds: Busch Light – Donkey Kicks & CDD’s
  • 97 seconds: PBR – Jingle Balls & Am Hammers
  • 96 seconds: Natural Light – Ski Abs & LBC’s
  • 95 seconds: Stella Artois – Step Ups & Derkins
  • 94 seconds: Ice House – SSH & Squats
  • 93 seconds: Mich Ultra – Hi/Low Wall Taps & Floyd Mayweathers
  • 92 seconds: Bud Light – Lt Dans & Flutter Kicks
  • 91 seconds: Miller High Life (Just for Medicine Woman – a no show) – Burpees & Dying Cockroach

You see two exercises – most tabatas are 30 to 45 seconds.  Doing any one exercise for 99 seconds; it’s not that easy. So the idea was to do the first exercise to failure and then start the second – keep the cardio and heart rate going as much as possible. The mumble chatter was pretty good. Roscoe announced each new round with “(name) get you a cold beer.” I also had a cooler of water for the PAX and we certainly enjoyed a few of those cold ones in the summer humidity. We completed 9 rounds before it was time to head home. Oh did I mention the play list? All songs about drinking cold beer or partying or just a cool groove, but mostly about drinking: Blooze (Junkyard), Party Like Tomorrow is the End of the World (Steel Panther), Had Enough (Tesla), Toes (Zac Brown Band), Day Drinking (Little Big Town), Metalingus (Alter Bridge). I hear that some bumpkin midget named George Strait has a song called “Cold Beer Conversation” but after listening to 30 seconds I decided the slow moving twang would have a negative effect on our heart rate. Maybe the next Q can use that song while doing yoga or an hour’s worth of star gazers?

PAIN LAB BB:

Shoulder press,lunge,lbc,merkin x20 three times.

Annie’s=planks one handed taking the other hand in the motion of cleaning the floor. Each side hold 20 seconds.

Bat wings x 20; 4 x each

Forwards, backwards circles; Seal claps, overhead claps x 20

WWII, Sandy V, Freddy Mercury’s, LBC’s, Flutter Kicks, Heel taps.

  • 5 burpees
  • 10 lunges
  • 15imperial walkers
  • 20 merkins

Sally up song w/ squats

15 super mike Tyson’s = mike Tyson then a burpee afterward.

15 minutes of battle rope alternating between planks

15 minutes of kettle bells

Rotated these two in groups.

COT: I ran with Madoff for some extra credit this morning. He was unable to post because his son had a swim meet but asked for a friend Nikki Bailey that is battling stomach cancer. We also lifted up prayers for Hushpuppy’s work friend Ashley that lost her battle with cancer leaving behind a family. Toto’s mother-in-law and his marriage. I believe Timeframe had a request that I cannot recall the specific name. We have a lot of PAX traveling home or to vacation destinations – we asked for their safe travels as well as safety and enjoyment as we look forward to celebrating July 4th.

Moleskin: Roadie was correct – the enticement of beer was a trap, well sort of. As noted, the PAX had the opportunity to drink one for the team. Of course splashing merlot would have come into play. I appreciate the 7 PAX that followed me out of the parking lot and allowed me to have some Q-fun with the workout. It was a grinder but the guys pushed through. Roscoe was on fire. Until you hear Moses say his age, you wouldn’t know by the way he pushes through the workout. Toto is drinking the F3 Kool-Aid like it was a free keg on the 4th of July. Nice to have Dr. Feelgood in the fold. Blart was quiet but had his typical dry witted comedic statement that got the guys laughing. JJ was steady as always, and Udders joined in as if he was one of us and not just visiting. Great work by the boot camp guys. Once the workout ended, we re-packed the cooler and I now have a collection of tall-boys, double-deuces, and an Ole E “fo-ty” that I doubt I’ll ever drink. High school and college was a long time ago and I have enough room in my budget for my standard Bud Light. So that means before this piss-water goes bad, I may need to bring the cooler to an AO near you. I’m scanning the Q schedule and you may very well find yourself participating in my version of 99 Beers on the Wall. That is unless Udders doesn’t snatch my Weinke and take this cooler to G-boro. It was a pleasure to Q.

Where’s the Backblast?

It’s been a couple of weeks since Tesla had Rev Flo Rida come to the Yank for a guest Q, but still no backblast. Since Rev is not a Gashouse regular and unsure whether or not he would be able to withstand the wrath of our Weasel Shaker for his failure to perform, I decided to step in and bail him out.

 

A pretty good indicator of how the workout was going to go down was when Rev pulled up to the curb in his vintage F150 and declared, “Where can I unload my toys?”. After he and Tesla disappeared for a few minutes, they were back and it was time to clock in.

 

Here’s what I remember:

 

Disclaimer

Warm up (We did one, but no idea what we did)

 

Mosey to the middle school for Hair Grinders, Farmer’s Carry, a bunch of ab work with coupons and 11’s on the hill.

 

Mosey back to the start for some Mary until time was up.

 

I know there were announcements and prayer requests, but my memory isn’t that good.

 

Rev took us out in prayer.

 

Sorry there isn’t more to the BB, but at least there is now a record that the workout actually happened. Thanks to Rev for crossing the river and delivering a great beatdown.

 

Broke

Been Far Too Long

It’s been far too long for YHC and taking a boot camp Q. So today at the Yank I wanted to incorporate a lot of the exercises that I haven’t been able perform because of my injury …. 11 mighty men came along on the journey with me it went something like this!

 

 

Warm-up:

SSH- 25 IC

Moroccan Night Clubs- 30 IC

Squats- 10 IC

Merkins – 10 IC

Mosey to the shelter.

The Thang:

Core time by Tool Time initiated

 

In and Outs with arms up -25

Freddie Mercury’s forward with arms up in seated V position – 25 /Then Backwards for 25

Crunchy Frog – 25

Wide leg sit-ups – 25

Fifer Scissors- 25

Hip Rock and Raise – 25

Heels to Heaven- 25

V-Up/Roll-ups -25

Oblique V-ups Right Side -25 /Then Left side -25

Leg Climbs Right leg – 12/ Then Left Leg 12

American Hammers -50

 

Good now that our cores are engaged …lets mosey…..

Mosey to the track….. Sprint down and back wait for the six….then 5 Burpees OYO rinse and repeat x5 about this time we lost Dirt….YHC hollered to ask if he was ok and got the thumbs up back  so the rest of us moseyed on …

On to the pull up bar….

5 Pull ups

10 regular Merkins

5 Chin Ups

10 Military Merkins

5 Close grip pull ups

10 Diamond Merkins

5 Vaulter Pull ups (right hand forward)

10 Staggered Merkins (Right hand forward)

5 Vaulter Pull ups (Left hand forward)

10 Staggered Merkins (Left hand forward)

 

Mosey to the picnic tables for a little Dips

25 Dips IC

20 Dips IC

15 Dips IC

Mosey to the concrete path…

Zombie walk to the fountain (at least it was downhill men)

We hit Core, Back, Chest, Arms and Leg ….now finish it up with a mosey around town.

Time

COT

Announcements

Whetstone get signed up. Convergence in Rock Hill July 4th (Folsom Crew Clown Car down there) , Convergence and SpeedForNeed American 4miler July 4th .

 

Praise- Lynn Hamm for good report from the doctors

Prayers- F3 Sly and all the soldiers in Afghanistan

 

1 Corinthians 16:13 (NLT)

13 Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.[a] Be strong.

1 Corinthians 16:13 (HCSB)

13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong.

Proverbs 27:

17Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.

 

Great work today by all PAX. It was an honor to lead you men!

Tool Time

Beast Mode: An original by TOTO

As I write the title, it prompts me to start singing  “I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa, Gonna take the time to do the things we never had.”  Dang, TOTO was a cool band at one time.  Alexa – play some TOTO.  Any how, I digress…..

Back to the F3’s TOTO’s original.  Another beautiful morning in the gloom.  18 posted for a VQ hosted by TOTO and TurtleMan.  This included two FNG’s – Jerry Best and son Samuel – welcome to F3 guys.   Tuesday night TOTO and I were texting to develop a game plan.  I mentioned to him, let’s use an Animal Kingdom theme.  It was more jocular being that a dog and a turtle were going to be Q’ing.  TOTO said he was going to write down what he wanted to lead and send it to me.  I looked at it late and said to myself, whatever works.  Editor’s note – remember to always read the disclosures and fine print details.  So we start sharp at 5:30am, welcome the FNG’s, Disclosure (I am an idiot), Whoopee assist’s with the 5 principal’s of F3 and then pledge.

The Thang

TOTO provides a few words, mentions the animal kingdom theme and sternly shouts “we are going Beast mode”.  What we didn’t know, couldn’t hurt us…. right?  He jumps straight into warm up

Warm up

Mountain Climbers x 20 IC

Merkins x 20 IC

Side Straddle Hops x 20 IC

Let’s Mosey

Down the parkway stop at first intersection for 50 LBC’s OYO

Mosey to the back lot of the doctors office.  Beast mode begins

Shuttle merkins x 12 OYO

Calf raises x 12 (front, side, back)

Hindu merkins x 12 OYO

Rinse and repeat  x3.   At some point Sargento shows up, followed shortly by Hippa.  Have no idea how they found us.  We could of been any where.

Line up back of parking lot, lunge walk across to the other side

Mosey towards Gastone’s hill, stop at next intersection for 50 monkey humpers OYO

Continue Mosey, stop at bottom of hill

TOTO leads us through

Archer merkins x 12 OYO

Squat jumps x 12 OYO

Pike press merkins x 12 OYO

Rinse and repeat x3

Bernie Sanders up the hill to the cul-de-sac at the top

Plank waiting on the six

50 flutter kicks OYO

Mosey down hill, plank for the six

Mosey towards Snoballs

Stop for 50 squats OYO

Jail break to finish

The moleskin:

Great to have FNG’s Jerry Best (Honey) and son Samuel (Cheerios) join.  F3 Gastonia continues to grow and expand.  Results are clear and word is out.  Everyone is playing a key role.  You may not realize it, others are watching or listening.  It’s due to efforts such as TOTO.  He randomly shows up two weeks ago, stops his truck in the middle of the road, asks if he can join us (sure, come on) and has hit it hard daily.  And already jumping into VQ his first post.  Within 2 weeks!  It takes each of us to make this work.  If you haven’t Q’d  lately, follow TOTO’s lead and jump in full beast mode.  I may just fartsack the first time he carries his first solo Q.

We had a strong turnout.  Good work guys.  It’s a privilege and was an honor to partner with TOTO to lead.  Think the shoulders and arms will be sore for a day or two.

Turtleman

 

F3 Gastonia WHETSTONE update 062918

Last night I emailed everyone who is currently signed up for Whetstone letting them know who is their Blade or Stone. Nearly everyone who asked to be a Blade was paired with a Stone. Not everyone willing to serve as a Stone was given a Blade.

Blades and Stones  should be contacting each other in order to arrange their first meeting sometime during the next 2-3 weeks. Slack or email me if you need contact information.

We will communicate via the Whetstone group in our F3Gastonia Slack channel. If you have difficulty joining, email me or HIPPA.

It’s not too late to sign up. In fact, it’s never too late. If you’re not signed up and decide you’d like to participate, sign up at this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeA1L2_-3iZoItOEx1F7o8Q3JbXLHjjKj8hlynkThx7YQOBmw/viewform

Monk

Just in Time!

I knew it was going to close. For the record (you know who you are), I didn’t speed or run red lights;) I hit the middle of the PAX at 5:29:57, and started a few seconds later. Spiderman smiled.

Disclaimer & Pledge

  • Warm-up: SSH, Merkins, LBC, Toy Soldiers, burpees, Wal-mart Burpees,* monkey humpers
  • Thang:
    • Run to top of lot; pair up for…
    • Blueberry biscuit BOMBS: one partner runs down a flight of stairs, across parking lot towards the other side, stopping halfway to perform 5 Burpees , and then completes lap. Partner 2 begins
      • 100- Overhead Claps (during which Toto said something about how his grandmother could do the overhead claps until (see Bat Wings below)
      • 150- monkey humpers, instead of Merkins. This was the promised “arm friendly” part of the workout until (see Bat Wings below)
      • 200- Big Boy Sit-ups
      • 250- Squats
    • Bat Wings* as described on the F3 Exercise page: “Progression of arm exercises that are deceivingly difficult and named after Austin’s bats. Start with 20 x Forward Arm Circles, hold, 20 x Backwards Arm Circles, hold, 20 x seal claps, hold, 20 x overhead claps. Everything is on a 4-count. Remember to enjoy the pain on the faces of your fellow men.” I did.
    • Run to Pavilion
    • Monkified partner combination of bear crawling up and down stairs with boo yah merkins atop the Pavillion riser and squats at the bottom of the stairs off the riser.
    • Gastone led flutter kicks
  • I browsed the F3 Exercises page. Apparently these were new exercises for everyone. Reference to Wal-mart in particular provoked cryptic mumble chatter at Slaw.

Announcements: Whetstone pairings went out last night via email. Stones and Blades are now contacting each other to get started sometime during the next three weeks. Others may sign up at any time, whenever they’re ready.

Prayer requests: Toto’s mother-in-law is in very poor health

Monk-out

Iron Flag Challenge

On Twitter, I noticed F3 Grandstrand does an “Iron Flag”. It is an honor given to any PAX who posts 20 times in 30 days. They have about 5 who have earned it this month and a few more who are close.

First off, I loved the concept. It is like chasing the Iron Skillet, but more of a you vs you concept and can be more about meeting a goal than just “outposting” everyone. Then I thought ‘How many can Gashouse get?’ So, I want to issue a challenge to F3 Gashouse for July.

I want to see how many of you are willing to push the rock all month and post 20 times in July. I want to challenge you all to go for the Iron Flag this month!

Nantan supports the idea, Short Sale suggested we add it to the newsletter along with the skillet. A few Folsom HIM are already in. Now all I need is some more of you to committ to the challenge. I believe we have 12 men who can earn the Iron Flag this month. It won’t be easy but, based on the May posting totals, I know we can do this!

I will be looking for HCs on Slack and Twitter. We will share this with F3 Grandstrand and ask them to set a goal as well and generate some chatter through Twitter. It will be a great opportunity to push our workouts, push each other, let more F3 regions know what Gashouse is all about, and have some fun doing it.

Let’s see some HC’s!

Stolen Weinke

06/28/2018
Not being the creative type, Weinke creation never comes easy for me. I spend too much time thinking about the distance of the runs, the distribution of the exercises to the muscle groups, what parts of the AO may or may not be available, who may or may not be posting. So I always try to remember routines I think I could Q and Short Sale is so good at the Weinke why not “borrow” from the master. This was mostly “borrowed” from Short Sale’s Q at Downtown a few weeks ago. 7 for the boot camp while Swimmer and Two Stroke rode mountain bikes, and if you have ever ridden with those two, and I have, them boys are fast!
Pledge
25 second timer with no rest in between.
(Another thing I realized when “borrowing” from Short Sale is I don’t know what half of his exercises are even though I just did them at his Q so I have to use the ones I can remember and also perform, so here we go).
Seal Jacks
Mountain Climbers
Imperial Walkers (Yes, Freight I did the first one wrong)
High Knees (Wojo liked these)
Merkins (Butt was down)
LBC’s (Where’s my boy Huck)
American Hammers (If Ash Pond were here, he would have taken off his shirt)
Flutter Kicks (Always Stroganoff’s fault)
WWI Sit Ups (I am not good at these so we have to keep doing them)

Mosey to the small Soccer Field

Short Sale Death Lap
The plan was to stay together on the first lap and then let the hard chargers (Slaw and Shocker) complete as many laps as possible but unlike Short Sale I had my lap distance a little too long so we all stayed together which worked just fine.
Dips x 10, mosey to the back parking lot near Turd Shack 2
Burpees x 10, mosey around the parking lot to the sidewalk near the big soccer fields
SSH x 10, mosey to the corner of the back large soccer field
Merkins x 10, mosey to the bottom of Dog Park Hill
Monkey Humpers x 10, mosey up Dog Park Hill touch the fence and return
Plank Jacks x 10, mosey to the bleachers of the front large soccer field
Box Jumps x 10, mosey back to the small soccer field bleachers.
Everyone was gassed so I told everyone to be sure to read Billy Madison’s back blast where he shared his story about how F3 helped pull him through a tough time (and I mean about as tough a time as anyone will ever have). This is a reminder to be there for all of the guys around you to help them. That said, REPEAT the Short Sale Death Lap. After the second lap, Short Sale was not a popular guy. I tried to defend him the best I could.
We set up the field for Frisbee Football. This time actually using a Frisbee instead of a football. We had uneven numbers yet, despite the disadvantage my team won again and this continues an unprecedented undefeated streak that my teams have in Frisbee football. It appears that I have never lost a game in which I write the back blast! Good fortune! After the game, I reminded everyone of the reason we played Frisbee was for fun. Like our friend Billy Madison, always look for a chance to have fun. Mosey back to the flag.

Announcements: Sign up for Whetstone if interested (F3 mentor program).

Prayer Requests and COT

*Nice push from everyone today. Wojo ran an EC 7:05 minute mile and finished at 5:29 pm just in time to start the workout. Blart shows late and misses the entire Tabata 25 second exercises warmup. He was offered the chance to make these up but he declined. Hipaa wore the weight vest and this was after he posted in the morning. Shocker shared about his children making decisions at church this past weekend which is always great news. Sparrow can sling a Frisbee an entire soccer field and straight and watch out Moses, Sparrow might be gaining on you in the running. Slaw always pushes hard and gets there first and then picks up the six, which was often me today.

Who needs a map?

Monk asked me to Q the Pub about a month ago. This was my first chance to do so due to my schedule. Be careful what you ask for. Some PAX had done extracurricular work earlier in the week and it was said that their arms “hurt too much to run”. YHC says there is no such thing! #sandyv

Pledge of Allegiance

Mosey, in fellowship formation, through the neighborhood where PTL, Spud and probably others live. The PAX was concerned that YHC didn’t know where we were going. Pfftt! As if!!! It was a pretty twisty, turning route, I’ll give you that. That’s why we had an experienced guide and a map men. Also I figured that because it was uncharted territory for most we would probably stay together. This was the case which allowed for a high degree of conversation, banter and encouragement. It was almost like a 2nd F event, my specialty. We finally made it back to the start. Great work men!

Announcements: Several 4th of July events out of region

Prayer Requests: college kids preparing for the journey, Boudin’s son’s shoulder

COT

Jonah at the Forge

06/27/2018
I knew several of our regulars were vacationing but three showed for a quick word about Jonah. Recently at the Forge we have been studying different men in the Bible and I selected Jonah as I haven’t studied much about him in years and thought it would be interesting. I wasn’t really interested in the historical part of Jonah but more about what life lessons we could get from studying his story. We quickly covered the familiar story about how Jonah ran from God but was eventually used to achieve God’s purpose even though he didn’t want to. He even hated the people who would benefit from his actions. One author I read, said Jonah was a lot like the Grinch in that his heart was two sizes too small. A few points we can learn from Jonah’s story:

1) We tend to notice others’ sins much more than our own.
2) Do not take God’s grace and love for granted.
3) Believers should always remember that we were once non-believers.
4) God can use a reluctant, even defiant person for His purpose.
5) God’s plan is always for good.

I think Jonah and many of us could use this verse. In Ezekiel 36:26 God promises “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”

Ask yourself these questions:
Have you ever felt like God was pushing you to do something helpful that you really didn’t want to do?
Do you dislike anyone enough not to minister to them if they needed you?
Have you ever looked back and saw where you missed a chance to something God wanted you to do?

We had a great discussion about this and several other topics. Thanks for the chance to talk with these fine gentlemen!

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