Month: July 2021 (Page 10 of 11)

9 men showed at The Goat to put in some work.

Warm-Up

The Thang:

Short mosey to main street in front of the fire station.  Start with the first pole on the right and do the exercises at each pole until you reach the church at the top of the hill:

5 Burpees

10 Hand Release Merkins

15 Squats

We stopped at 10 poles along the way.  This was a crowd pleaser!!

Next we grabbed some wall in front of the church.  Exercises called here were:

10 Dips

10 Derkins

10 Dirty Hoodups

We got in 3 rounds of this.

Mosey back towards the start, stopping at the corner in front of  Doffer’s.   Here we started a BLIMPS exercise routine.  Start with 5 Burpees, and run a lap around the downtown area.  Then 5 Burpees, 10 LBCs, run a lap.  5 Burpees, 10 LBCs, 15 Imperial Walker Squats, run a lap.   5 Burpees, 10 LBCs, 15 IW Squats, 20 Merkins, run a lap.  5 Burpees, 10 LBCs, 15 IW Squats, 20 Merkins, 25 Plank Jacks, run a lap.  Finish with 5 Burpees, 10 LBCs, 15 IW Squats, 20 Merkins, 25 Plank Jacks, 30 Smurf Jacks.  Time!!

Announcements

Prayer Request

Nameorama

Appreciate the opportunity to lead.

SA

Four years ago we started a tradition in Belmont where we read the Declaration of Independence aloud by all pax present and reading on rotating basis. Sound familiar? Went like this as the boot campers and Bunker boys all united in the effort. Boot camp went like this:

COP:

SSH Burpees X 5

IW X 20

Cotton Pickers X 20

Grapevines

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Up to the track and Field of Dreams for some six shooters:

10 burpees – lap

20 Big boys (hands locked behind head) – lap

30 merkins – lap

50 CDDs – lap

60 SSH – lap

Over to the hill for half pipes X 3

Top – 5 plank jacks

Pad (bottom) – 5 burpees

Playground time! What kid doesn’t love a playground! Here’s the game we played:

25 pull ups

50 Merkins

100 squats

Best done in increments of 5.

So, it’s about 7:42 am at this point. Damn near the 4th quarter. So, what do WE do in the 4th quarter? WE KICK SOME ASS! Why wouldn’t we?

Let’s start with a bear crawl slalom. We used the walkway and everyone got 4 turns! How about that!

So now it was time for a triple nickel on Heartbreak Hill

Bottom- 5 HR merkins

Top – AHs X 5 each side

Time for a half pipe and a half. We did it in honor of both the Union and Confederate boys that 158 years ago fought in Pickett’s Charge in Gettysburg. If you have not done the half pipe or been to Gettysburg you might not understand why the half pipe here is emblematic of that day but the top of Heart Beak is very much like Cemetery Ridge where the Union forces were dug in defending and the Confederate forces were marching up from Seminary Ridge much like where main is which is much lower than the top of Heart Break. My southern ancestors were in the NC 55th (Alexander and Wilkes Counties) and almost broke through on the left side. My Union ancestors were in the 82nd Ohio defending that day. You didn’t want to be there boys. Trust me on that one. But they were.  And they sucked it up and did their jobs. We honor them on both sides as Americans that after that war came together and between 1865 -1900 built the country we know that saved freedom three times at least in this world since then. I marvel at the commitment and ability to overcome enmity and other hardship to do what they did after that war together which included building a transcontinental railroad and an industrial base that became the world’s leading economic power less than 50 years after the cessation of hostilities. Are we worthy of such men today? When I stood last year on Cemetery Ridge occurred to me  on an early June morning run last year as the sun rose in the east as I looked across that field from Little Round and the memorial up there and surveyed that entire field of past fire, death, and heroism of common men doing remarkable things I wondered that then.   There is little wonder President Eisenhower, the greatest American of the 20th Century choose to retire on that ground. We are in eternal debt to all of them. And many others who have blazed the trails of freedom with sacrifice.

June 2020

Back to the pad for a 2 minute plank and up to the The Yank for our ceremony honoring the day:

NMM:

As pax gathered we read the Declaration aloud and as fate would have it about the time it got to Orangeman who handled with grace and competence. We got through it. Afterwards Rev. Sam Warner gave us a great invocation regarding the Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. And that of those ideals Liberty was – and is the most important and the linchpin of who we are and what we do. And I agree with Sam! Liberty empowers us to do great things. Like go to the moon and save the world on a periodic basis!

Are we perfect. Hell no! There is no perfect (Tesla Engineering Truth Axiom 101). Can we be a more perfect union. Hell yeah! What do you think F3 is all about boys? It’s up to us men. I’m going to be bringing that message front and center and asking, imploring you all to be part of the solution. I expect it. It will happen. Because that’s what we do.

We will do this again Monday, July 4, 2022.

Tesla

Disclaimer – No FNGs

Warmup – short mosey around the two parking lots to get the blood flowing and bodies and little limber, Gravel pickers x10IC, Don Quixotes x10IC, ROL/LOR, Arm circles forward and backward.

Thang – 25 reps of exercise and run a lap.  Exercises were merkins, SSH, squats, heels to heaven.  Second round we reduce to 15 reps and repeat.

Partner up for Dora 123 (Merkins, Squats, LBCs).  One works while the other grabs a lap. When finished, we switch partners and go for Super DORA 246 (lunges, shoulder taps, flutter kicks).  We Omaha the shoulder taps to 200 to get to the flutters.  Run until time and mosey back to start.

Announcements –  1st F challenge for July, F3 Dads on 7/17 still needs another Q to help WoJo, Shell Shock traveling next few weekends, Cookout right after Dads/Gashouse/Painlab workouts (Location at Presby Church?) and open for all to come instead of coffeeteria.

Prayers – Gavel (Travel), Big Pappy (Family), Sister Act (Family), Shell Shock (Company changing HQ)

Praise – Turtleman (Progress)

Name-0-rama

COT

Small group Just 3 of us with  a 4 corner workout.  Great time of fellowship though! Went as follows:

Warm up  50 SSH

Leg Flutters

Superman and a short mosey around the track. Then the real work began we did 4 rounds escalating

4 corners:

Corner 1: Crunchy frogs and LBC 10 ( accelerate by 10 each round)

Corner 2: Star Jacks and Little Gumby in the Woods 20

Corner 3: Merkins and Diamond Merkins 30

Corner 4: Squats and Leg Flutters 40

You get the picture by round four it was 40, 50, 60, 70 would have done 5 rounds but the chatter was so intense and we were moving in slow motion by then… Take a few more laps at the end around the track and we finished. The pledge felt pretty special this day being right before the 4th… @ wirenuts needs to tell everyone the story of why we have fireworks because most do not know. Feel free to chime in…

Prayer request: Big Pappy and family, Essay and family, Allentate father in law and turtleman.

Anouncements: Snowbird conference

Great workout !

Thanks for allowing me to lead.

Termite out

Once NUOS was completed, I turned my attention to my Pain Lab Q. It had been on my bucket list for 2021 to check off at least once. I built a Weinke with a bunch of stuff I didn’t use, so I’ll grab another slot in the future. With this weekend being the 4th of July, lots of vacations and plans, so I budgeted for 10 PAX and happy to get six and a half guys to join me. Why that number you wonder? Well Rudolph took the first 30 minutes or so to complete his Iron Wolf Burpee challenge. Can anyone other than Sister Act and now Rudolph imagine 30 minutes of burpees? Brutal.

I set up 10 stations and then culled down to just 5 strength exercises that would be done for the length of time it took the 6th PAX to farmers carry two sand-bags around the parking lot medians – maybe 90-120 seconds of time. Stations were:

• Right leg lunge and Right straight arm raise w/ 20 lb dumbbell
• Left leg lunge and Left straight arm raise w/ 20 lb dumbbell
• Alternating Single Arm Flys w/ 10 lb dumbbell
• Kettlebell swings
• Stretch band – double arm pulls
• Timer – sand bag carry

We rotated through one circuit – it took longer than I anticipated.  Next was the Core Challenge for July. As I said in the challenge – for week 1, try to complete the full sets at least 3 times and the Q can incorporate into their workout if they like. We got after it with Rudolph joining us in the 2nd set. Crowd favorite seems to be the Turtle Crunches. All of these are designed to work various parts of your core, some in direct opposition. Think you’re fully stretched and then crunching or twisting.

Upon completion I offered the PAX a choice – go back to the stations or go to the picnic tables. PAX picked option B which was 30 seconds of the following set completed 3 times:

• Step-up Right
• Step-up Left
• Derkins
• Dips
• Bulgarian Squats Right
• Bulgarian Squats Left
• Decline Peter Parker
• Incline Merkins
• Rest

Only thing good about that set is I didn’t have a ruck sack on my back. While our group was at the picnic tables, Roscoe snuck his boot-camp back to our pain stations to finish out his weinkeless, make it up as you go workout.

Bootcamp covered the COT so read that for prayers and announcements. The only exercise on this list that I created was decline Peter Parker. Everything else is borrowed from someone else. The Pain Stations were built around the first two exercises F3 Fonda (Shane Redmond) had me doing. Unlike us, he is a professional, so why not take his idea and build around it. It’s a good cardio and strength combination. Which is a good thing about the Pain Lab that I have to remind myself is an important element of fitness – strength training. I love the high cardio burns and though running isn’t my favorite, I do appreciate how it pushes my heartrate. But Fonda has taught me that strength training will provide additional calorie burn longer. Rudolph and others probably know this and have preached those lessons. All this to say, we now have multiple Pain Labs now so take a mosey over to that workout and check it out.

Whoopee created an organized Saturday Extra Credit session a few weeks back Nut Up or Shut-up (notice the last word is hyphenated so hence the 4-letter acronym; that seems to be an issue for some…) Q’s have been rotating around so it was my turn. Whoopee was on call, smearing his sexiness all over the hospital, so really I was free to create my own workout as the framework is pretty loose: rucksack required but don’t really ruck. What made it a little challenging for me is I also had the Pain Lab at 0700 so to create two workouts that didn’t overlap too much.

JJ was in the parking lot when I arrived. Roscoe was next and Watts Up was the final train car. I had only two coupons – a bucket with a sandbag – let’s say it was 100 lbs give or take 75-ish. I also had a PVC pipe filled with sand. Since it was my Q and we were to do some heavy lifting, I called a few warm-uppy, stretchy exercises. No need to get hurt at our old age, well JJ’s not officially respect yet, but at 0600 we needed to get the blood flowing a bit. Once complete, grab coupons and head down the nature trail. We said hello to the goats and they replied. We gathered at the bottom of the hill near the bridge. I had music too – my normal 80’s noise.

The timer picked up a coupon, rucked up the hill to visit the goats and return. Frist was the PVC pipe – rifle carry that with arms fully extended. Round 2 was farmers carry or barrel hug the bucket/sandbag. The three remaining PAX did:

• 10 Merkins (Ruck on)
• 10 Squats (Ruck on)
• 10 Ruck Press (you guessed it genius, ruck off)

You repeated those sets continuously until it was your turn to to carry the load. After two rounds we left the coupons and moseyed along the trail and to the picnic shelter.

• 20 Step Ups Right
• 20 Step Ups Left
• 20 Dips
• 20 Derkins

The ruck stayed on for the entire circuit. After a brief rest, we stepped down the reps to 15, then 10, then 5. Nothing like Derkins with weight on your back – our arms were getting toasty. We re-traced our steps, retrieved the coupons and with a few minutes to spare, finished the session with some core work.

• Flutter Kicks – hold ruck overhead x 20
• Heels to Heaven – hold ruck overhead x 20
• American Hammer – w/ ruck x 20

That was time – good work put in by the PAX. NUOS is a friendly workout to get your Saturday started (a bit early). You’ll get your muscles loose. Your legs will get some work but not in the same fashion as running a bunch of miles, so your ready for the bootcamp but not exhausted to the point where you’ll be the 6. If you’re a hungry for an extra workout in your monthly goal – this is a great way to get one. Put it on your schedule and post in GasHouse of TFY.

SS

I was a pinch hitter for Stinky Bird today.  I was glad to help fill in.

The goal today was to see if we could make Folgers upchuck again… (he didn’t know it though)

We started with the Pledge … proud to be here.

Warmup – Side Straddles, bridge ups, blah blah  – let’s run to the playground for some fun.

It went down like this…. 25 dips, 20 hanging knee ups, 10 pull ups, 25 squats, 20 pushups, 15 CDDs, 25 single leg calf raise (then do other side for 25), and 10 underhand close grip pullups.  Run a lap around the playground area, where we enter the playground and do set number two.  We did 4 sets.  We ran back to the Martha’s entrance, 50 LBCs, with a sprint back to the Labs parking lot where we finished with some abs round robin.

Did he upchuck?  Nope.  Not even close.  Pay attention here… I am proud of you Folgers.  It’s been super cool to watch your progression.  Captain Stubing, EZ Rider, it was a pleasure to work out with you guys!

Prayer Requests – for families.  For Stinky Bird’s back.

So with the horrendous forecast of massive storms and floods of Biblical proportion YHC made up a workout base designed to handle flood or drought situation. Glad we did, took a hybrid approach and it worked fine. Fairly thin crowd but very enthusiastic pax today and it went like this:

COP:

SSH X 20

Cotton Pickers X 20

Grapevine Stretches

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Mosey over to the upper lot and the shelter with on and off rain. YHC is a vet. Don’t mind summer rain but not everyone else cares for it.

Set 1:

Smurf Jacks X 20

HR Merkins X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

Big Boys (locked hands behind head) X 20

CDDs X 20

Repeat the step ups and run

Set 2:

SSH X 20

Diamond Mekins X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

LBCs X 20

Air presses X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

Set 3:

Jump Squats X 20

Dips X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

Heels to Heaven X 20

Dirkins X 20

10 stepups each leg, run the lot perimeter.

Time for some Blimps. Started with Burpees and built from there. Run the lot after each step on the ladder. Went like this:

Burpees X 5

lunges (Bonnie Blair version) X 10

IW X 20

Merkins (Inclined) X 25

Plank Jacks X 30

Squats X 40

Pledge and done.

NMM:

Small but dedicated group today. Great to see Termite back from the west! A man after my own heart. Great push! Didn’t get too wet and certainly no lightning which was YHC’s main concern. Turned out to be a great morning with great men!

Tesla