Day: October 19, 2021

As I recall, 6 HIM ran the best route ever. Even Stroganoff made it out after a few quarters on IR recovering. It was awesome, you should’ve been there.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead men!

9 of F3 Gastonia’s finest got out in The Gloom for some bells, B.O.B. and B.Y.O.B.  Here’s what I remember:

2 consecutive Qs.  2 consecutive missed shovel flags as I missed the site Q’s message that he wasn’t going to make it.  This time we pledged to T-Square’s shirt.  No worse than a phone I suppose.

The Thang:

• 15 x SSH (IC)
• 15 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 15 x Toy Soldiers (IC)
• 10 x Around the Worlds CW (IC)
• 10 x Around the Worlds CCW (IC)
• 15 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)

When we broke out the bells for Around the World, Rudolph grabbed a ruck and hit the parking lot.  He set a strong example, posting while on the IR and pushing the rock anyways however he could.

We walked the parking lot too, starting with

• Waiter’s Carry (L/R for half the parking lot each)

Once we got back, we started the Tabata.  One minute of 5 different exercises.  2 sets, 30 second rest between sets.

Round 1:

• CDDs
• American Hammers (w/KB)
• Front Raises
• Halos
• LBFC

After the second set, we hit the parking lot again, this time with a

• Goblet Carry (full lot)

And YHC’s arms were officially on fire.  Modifying the Weinke seemed like a great option.  YHC secretly did a rep of the next exercise before the next round started just to make sure he could do it.  It was awful, but not impossible, so we pressed on.  YHC has these runners arms that haven’t done that kind of work lately, so the whole thing probably wasn’t awful, but was a shock to the system.

Round 2:

• Incline Press Outs
• Pull Throughs
• Oblique Crunches (L & R, 30 sec each)
• Pullovers
• Heels to Heaven

YHC asked Les Nessman to take care of the playlist after the last Q at Bulldog which was a timer with no music.  He came through for sure.  During Round 2, we heard Bombs Over Baghdad and B.Y.O.B. which got the crowd chirping.  Come to find out that Bedpan actually knows the words to B.Y.O.B., which got the rest of us singing the 4 words we could recognize randomly throughout the rest of the workout… and the rest of the work day… and even now.  It’s an earworm.  So Taylor Swift got queued up and played right as the teachers started showing up and we were doing Oblique Crunches.  Being idiots, it never felt all that awkward, really.  Rudolph tried to fix it, but realized the quantity of Taylor Swift songs that were coming, gave up, and left us to fend for ourselves.

After Round 2 was over, we went back to

• Waiter’s Carry (L/R for half the parking lot each)

and made a detour to the bus lot to kill the remaining time.

Partner up.

• Partner 1 – Carry both partners’ bells however he wants around the bus circle.
• Partner 2 – Hold plank til Partner 1 returns
• Switch roles and repeat

While the men wanted to keep going, time was wrapping up, so we went back for COT.

Announcements:

• Extinction Run
• Chad 1000
• Blood Drive – November 10th
• 2nd F opportunity at Shelter 1 @ Martha Rivers Sunday, 10/24, 3-6 PM with Rudolph and T-Square as the guests of honor.

Prayer Requests:

• Rudolph’s son, Dobby, recovering from a broken ankle
• PAX looking for jobs
• PAX on IR
• EZ Rider’s son

Moleskin:

I’ve still got a lot to learn in these Gear workouts.  I have found that I like a Tabata timer, multiple rounds of the same exercises, and carrying things.  Now to find new ways to combine these things.

Roscoe’s challenge marks a milestone for me.  Last year, the “November Challenge” was when I really started getting out there and putting in work.  I learned a lot about how my limits were mostly in my head, and I was capable of more than I thought.  If you haven’t started yet, it’s never too late to get started.  30 days of discipline are better than 0.  If you jump in, just know that a lot of other men in this region got your back.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

It’s been a while…not since leading a workout but posting at one. I checked my calendar and the last one was the Convergence. Then Sargento’s positive COVID put me in quarantine and then my daughter got COVID (but I’m still blaming Sargento because it’s more fun to blame him). Not to worry, I’ve had 4 negative tests, a jab and the antibody infusion. But the other reason for lack of posts has been training for the Bourbon Chase which was another great relay with my F3 brothers (that BB is in the works).

So time to climb back on the bootcamp horse and get going because after all, we’re in the midst of a 40 day challenge. So I picked up the open slot for the nation’s premier afternoon workout. After a brief disclaimer which I’m not even sure the PAX were listening, we kicked off things like this:

• Warm-up
• Toy Soldier IC x 10
• Imperial Walkers IC x 10
• Don Quixote IC x 10
• MNC’s IC x 10
• Pledge

Mosey up toward the soccer fields. I intended to use the small one but some guys already there with cones out to practice soccer, so we moved to the larger field – sign in the field said “Do Not Use Field.” Even though we were going to lightly run across it, we’re F3 men and need to set the example, so we followed the rules and moved to the next field to set up shop. Today’s workout would be fairly simple; unique for one of my Q’s but when you put the Weinke together on short notice, that’s what it will be. But nothing wrong with simplicity. Sister Act’s exicon only has about 10 exercises.

• 20 SSH + 20 Squats + run the width of the soccer field and return
• 20 Lunges (10 R/10 L) + 20 LBCs + run width
• 20 Merkins + 20 Dips + run width
• 20 Flutter Kicks + 20 Plank Jacks + run width
• Repeat 4-ish rounds

I had 5 rounds on the card. The larger soccer field extended the time to run so had to cut it short.  But that was okay – the PAX were quiet during the first few rounds…throw a bunch of exercises and reps at them and they have to use their noodles a bit. Slaw and Seuss were out front followed by SA. Blart pushed Freight along. Lil’ Sweet performed in his work uniform and workboots – that’s dedication, even handled a work call between reps. Tiger took a piss break in the woods and those were the highlights. It took about 3 rounds before the complaints started. The PAX had come expecting one of my creative Q’s…okay, so let’s give them something. With about 15 minutes left I call off the first Thang and announced: “Partner 11’s with Boo-Ya merkins making it dirty.” Sounds about right for one of my complex Q’s. So how does this algorithm work you’re dying to know?

Use the width of the 18 yard box front the soccer goal. Partners stand on opposite sides and begin with 10 Mtn Climbers. They run toward each other (think Bo Derek in 10 from back in the day. That movie was considered soft porn in those times but now that stuff is on Disney in the afternoon). Partners arrive in the middle for 5 Boo-ya merkins, then proceed to the opposite side which they came to do 1 Imperial Walker Squat (count the squat). Return to your starting side, stopping in the middle for another 5 Boo-ya merkins. Arrive at your starting line for 9 Mtn Climbers and so on…we got to 5 Mtn Climbers and 6 Imperial Walker Squats before calling it a day. For the record that was 55 merkins per partner in the middle. Return to base.

Announcements: Sign up for the Extinction Run on 11/6; Blood Drive on 11/10. Christmas Party is 12/11. Prayer requests: Goudelock family, Tiger’s M and kids (I forgot that one in the prayer), SA and 2.0. I took us out in prayer.

Nice to be back in the fold. The workout was simple, sort of but effective. Guys got to run their traps and get a full body push of upper, lower, running, and core. Wojo gets credit for workout out with his son practicing football on the corner of the field beside us. Don’t worry, he got in a “Good job Leppard” to encourage our rock pusher (who was on his second workout of the day). Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

6 men got the better side of their battle with the fartsack and smashed some bricks on a cold December, err October morning in The Gloom.  Here’s what I remember:

YHC loaded the Footmobile up on Sunday with coupons for the day, but forgot the shovel flag.  We pledged allegiance to the flag image on the Amazon sales page for a flag poster.  Close enough.  After that, we got down to business.

The Thang:

• SSH x 10 (IC)
• Hillbilly Walkers x 10 (IC)
• Don Quixotes x 10 (IC)
• Dying Cockroaches x 10 (IC)
• Mountain Climbers x 10 (IC)
• Low Slow Squats x 10 (IC)
• Calf Raises x 10 (IC)

Open up the Footmobile.  Everyone grab 2 pavers.  And we’re off to the bank across the street that’s really still a bank (not to be confused with the bank across the street that closed or the bank that’s up the street a little ways that’s still a bank) as a well lit spot for what’s next.

Triple Nickel

• Side 1: Single brick merkins – One brick horizontally placed on the ground beneath your chest.  Grab with both hands and merkin.  More like a diamond merkin than anything else.
• Side 2 – Jump over the brick – Choose however you’d like to place down the brick and hop back and forth over it
• In between – Karaoke

YHC came up with this routine as a simple, unique way to warm up into brick work.  It did the job nicely.  About halfway through, Folgers brick cracked in half.  Not sure whether he broke it in half like a communion loaf or he broke it over his knee like Bo Jackson with a baseball bat, but it was a clean break.  They don’t make ’em like they used to.

Next we paired up for some partner work.  Partner 1 stayed on the sidewalk doing exercises while partner 2 did some work that required leaving and coming back.  Partner 2 functioned as the timer, and once he returned, they’d switch.

Round 1:

• Partner 1: 6 inches Skullcrushers
• Partner 2: Zombie-ass Lunges (Lunge walk with your bricks extended either in front of you or to the side, or alternate as necessary.  Not to be confused with “Zombie Walk” which, I think, is Lunge-Lunge-Squat.  This probably already has a name in the Exicon, but I didn’t want to look it up, and just got lazy and on the spot threw the word “ass” in there to make sure to differentiate it from the Zombie Walk.  Needless to say, Dredd isn’t going to ask YHC to name anything.)

Round 2:

• Partner 1: Curls
• Partner 2: More Zombie-ass Lunges

Round 3:

• Partner 1: Side Lateral Raises
• Partner 2: High Knees Skip

The goal with all this work was just to move slowly and control the bricks.  Makes it tougher, but more worthwhile.

We hadn’t run much yet, so time for some 4 corners through South Pines:

• Corner 1:
  • 10 x HR Merkins (OYO)
• Corner 2:
  • 10 x HR Merkins (OYO)
  • 20 x Freddie Mercuries (OYO)
• Corner 3:
  • 10 x HR Merkins (OYO)
  • 20 x Freddie Mercuries (OYO)
  • 30 x Rocky Balboas (OYO – Count Left Side Only)
• Detour to the wall in front of the bank across the street that closed to join Whoopee for
  • 10 x Step-Ups (OYO – Each Leg)
• Corner 4:
  • 10 x HR Merkins (OYO)
  • 20 x Freddie Mercuries (OYO)
  • 30 x Rocky Balboas (OYO – Count Left Side Only)
  • 40 x Flutter Kicks (OYO – Count Left Side Only)

So that added another 3/4 of a mile or so to our journey, and messed with the PAX some when we took Corner 3 from the Snoballs parking lot.  We wrapped up back where we started, grabbed the coupons (or in Folgers case, what was left of them) and moseyed back to the Snoballs parking lot where the shovel flag should have been to wrap up with:

• 1:00 of 6 inches Skullcrushers (OYO)
• 1:00 of Curls (OYO)
• 1:00 of Side Lateral Raises (OYO)

Whoopee came back from Chad1000 training somewhere in there, and time was called.

Announcements:

• 40 Days of Discipline
• Chad 1000
• Qs available at The Sandlot – See Flintstone if you want one

Prayer Requests:

• EZ Rider’s Son

Moleskin:

It was great to have Sausage back at The Sandlot.  Lookin forward to continuing to get out in The Gloom and pushing rocks.

The same can be said for all the PAX that frequent The Sandlot.  Real supportive men who just keep gettin after it.

Another Monday down.  Still putting in work.  If I can keep showing up every Monday, I can’t get that far away from the path I’ve charted.

One day at a time.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead

Yabba Dabba Doo