Month: December 2021 (Page 3 of 11)

Talked one of our brothers from the North to come down and across the river to Q at The Yank.  Gnarley Goat has been around a while and was open to the idea right away when we discussed open dates.  The weather was the weather for this time of year.  Cool, wet, chance of rain leading up to and through the day 80%.  Did we get wet?  Not really unless you were counting sweat.

Warm up at the flag by Nutria our Bunker Q.

SSH and Moroccan Night Clubs and that was all I remember before we split and went our different directions.  Nutria, Doodles and Voodoo headed to the shelter on top of the hill.  The rest of us headed up main street to look for fire hydrants.  Gnarley Goat retired a few years ago from Charlotte Fire so he had us catching fire hydrants.  We ran hydrant to hydrant up main street stopping at each one to knock out the called exercise.  There were merkins, LBCs, squats, monkey humpers, step ups and more as we made our way up to the popcorn factory and back to the park.

Now for the fun part, Heaven to Hell.  GG had us start at the playground with one pull up followed by a run across the tracks to Twisted Sugar for some deep stretching.  There was more groaning and chatter at the stretching than at the pullup bars. Back to the playground for five rounds increasing your pull ups by one each time.

Next round toes to bar replaced the pull up.  This one was new to some of us and a challenge for most.  Except for the back flip Gator pulled off during his dismount.  Kids…

With five minutes on the clock we hit the hill for a quick triple nickel before making our way back to The Fighting Yank to meet the Bunker men.

Great group of guys came out.  The stretching was a great addition to the workout.  It was nice to have a Q join us from another region to mix it up a bit.

Enjoy your day!

BOS for Gnarley Goat

Warm Up:
13 mnt man poopers – in cadence
20 Side Straddle Hops – in cadence
15 Gravel Pickers – in cadence
22 Merkins – for the vets (called by Wichita)

Pledge!

Mosey to Tennis Courts

Tha Thang:
On the first day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 3 count Bobby Hurly…
On the second day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 2 Tuck Squats
On the third day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 3 Flutter Kicks…
On the fourth day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 4 CDDs…
On the fifth day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 5 Burpees!!!…
On the sixth day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 6 Stogiefied Gas Pumps…
On the seventh day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 7 ‘Roccan Nightclubs…
On the eighth day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 8 LBCs
On the ninth day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 9 skater Lunges…
On the tenth day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 10 Star Jumps…
On the eleventh day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 11 Peter Parkers…
On the twelfth day of Christmas my dear Q gave to me… 12 Parker Peters…

I had the pax split up into teams and run in triangular patterns on the tennis courts. We did this twice on one side and then ran to the other end and repeated the pattern.

We met in the middle and circled up for some mary. Burpees were called, cherries were picked, and there were some Kraken, hand release merkins, and one pax who called a combination of two things (but no one (if smart) dares to defy Hacksaw).

With 5 more minutes to spare we ran or walked two lapse around the courts.

THAT’S TIME!

The triangles we ran were meant to create a star shape (to better remind us of the reason for this season and who we should celebrate every day of our lives). Sadly, I stink at Strava Art (first attempt was a failure). According to one of the Pax’s Strava it was a moderate exercise (which according to Round up really means “You suck and need to step it up”).

Regardless, thanks to all who showed up. I am grateful for each and every one of you. I wish you and yours a very, merry Christmas and a very, happy New Year.

Announcements:
Convergence at Mydoriama January 7th at 7am.

Prayer Requests:
Big Pappy’s family, Gaston County foster kids, Ozark’s in-laws, Sister Act’s family, Police Officers (but specifically the family of the lady officer that passed away this week), any requests spoken that I forgot, upspoken and otherwise.

Smoke ’em if you got ’em (or better yet, say you did and don’t).

I’m Stogie, and I’m out!

6 HIM posted to the southernmost AO in all the region for some low impact but hard work today. As YHC pulled up, over 5 minutes early I might add, the PAX were lugging kettlebells and stuff out of their cars. They didn’t need them today. This is what happened…

No disclaimer, all veteran PAX

Pledge of Allegiance

Warm Up – Don Quixote to Abe Vigoda, Goofballs too

Walk over to the parking lot for Apple Turnovers. Bear crawl three spaces, switch to crab walk for 3, back and forth to the end of the lot.

Stay there for Bat Wings. Arms out for 20 Forward arm circles, hold, 20 backward, hold, 20 Seal Claps, hold, 20 overhead claps. Feel the burn

Walk to the covered area at the other end for the The Thang.

The 12-21-21

Yep, that was today’s date, the shortest day of light of the year. Partner up and while #1 goes around the loop, # does exercises. It’s like Dora but it’s not.

120 Sweat Angels

210 Jingle Balls

210 Randy’s

Walk over to the foggy greenhouse thing by the cafeteria for a round of Little Merkin Boy. Hold plank during Bing Crosby’s “Little Drummer Boy” and do a merkin every time they say “pa rum pa pum pum”. Feel the burn.

Walk to the start for a couple rounds of Mary to finish up. Great work men!

This AO a lot of fun if you give it a try and these guys are up for more moving around that you might think! Thanks to Time Frame for leading this AO for quite a while. It’s time to pass the torch and he’s looking to give another willing PAX the opportunity to keep this AO awesome. Who is up for the challenge?

Announcements – Convergence at Midoriyama January 1st at 7:00, Half Marathon in Biloxi, Smokey Mountain Relay last weekend in April

Prayers=- Those travelling during holidays, Covid, Tube’s friend’s mom had stroke, many PAX know folks with cancer, Turtleman may return in March!!!

It was an honor to lead today men, thank you for the push! AYE!!!

34 degrees and clear morning on this Monday morning before Christmas.  An excellent way to prepare for the sugarplums and fruit cake we are all sure to enjoy later this week.

It was really great to see the guys, some have been longer between than others but none the less great to see all.

5:30

Pledge

Relocate to the bank parking lot next door in efforts to not be on the shores of Lake Whoopeegonnagetcha.  Some mumblechatter about the roughness of the parking lot  but we all prevailed in champion fashion.

Some stretching and a few yoga poses were preformed in order to get us warmed and going.

Over to the BOA (yes, another bank) parking lot for the thang.

The theme was the Walls of Jericho.  This consisted of 7 trips around the bank stopping at each of the 4 corners for some exercises.

Corners 1-3 were 7 reps each of 7 different exercises.

SSH

Squats

Plank Jax

Merkins

LBC’s

Heels to Heaven

Windshield Wipers

In turn 4 we did 5 burpees.

All pushed hard, talked some junk, got a sweat going, acted a little stupid, and had a great start to the week.

Arrived back at the flag 2 mins early where Watts Up called approx. 30 IC flutters until time.

Announcements

Sat Jan 1, 7am Convergence at Madoriyama

Prayers

Watts Up’s daughter and family

Stinky Birds friend going through a rough time

Gastone’s friends

Thank you for the opportunity.

Merry Christmas

AYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Timeframe

The gloom was gloomier than usual at The Ricky Bobby this morning.  Something was off.  Every Wednesday morning, the soccer field is reliably illuminated as “The Sentinel” walks the track.  If you’ve ever posted here, you’ve seen him.  But today, the lights were off, the field was dark, and The Ricky Bobby seemed as dark as Tequila Sunrise.  OK, not really that bad, but close.  At 0529, 3 HIM’s emerged from the shadows and commented on the eerie atmosphere sans-Sentinel as the clock ticked over to 0530.  Let’s get going!

Warm up with SSH (in a cadence that continued until Bubba Sparxxx got his gloves on) and Hillbilly walkers (15xIC), then a one-minute chop-chop drill:  PAX circle up and “chop chop” (Boudin called it something different that I can’t remember) until Q calls “Up” or “Down” and PAX respond with either 2 high-knees jumps (Up) or burpee (Down) for a total of one minute.  It’s a really long minute but gets the blood flowing on a cold morning.

The Thang:
Partner up.  Partner 1 lunge-walks while Partner 2 runs around pre-positioned orange cones (a little further than to the edge of the covered walkway and back).  Before switching, partners do 10 hand-slap or “boo-ja” merkins.  1 full lap was a lot of lunge-walking, so before round 2, partners wheelbarrow to the middle cone (about halfway down the walkway) and back.  Then, rinse and repeat the lunge-walk relay with hand-slap Big Boys before partners switch.

Next, circle up for some PAX choice exercises.  One calls an exercise while the PAX to his left runs to the far cone and back.  Second round is Carioca to the cone and back.  Next three rounds are bear crawl twice around the circle.  This was dubbed “Crawl ‘n’ Call.”  There were lots of ab exercises plus several variations of merkins and squats mixed in.  The last 5 minutes went by pretty fast.

Announcements:
Convergence Jan. 1 7:00 am Midoriyama
Rice & Beans – see Tiger or Slack
Grow Ruck – late March in Greenville, NC
Other CSAUP events – check Slack

Prayers:
Bubba Sparxxx’s brother-in-law, spine surgery
Gator’s coworker whose mother passed away
Boudin traveling
All those with stress and anxiety during holidays

As always, a privilege to lead!

 – Nutria

9 kicked off the week with Moderate Monday and just a fun beatdown at The Sandlot.  Here’s what I remember:

EC has been strong at The Sandlot for a while, thanks to Dirt, Watts Up, and EZ Rider, but we’re starting to see some more PAX out there logging EC miles.  Race season is right around the corner.  Come get some in on Monday mornings.

0530 came, and YHC launched into a longer than usual disclaimer, while also stalling for the last few PAX to get in.  Once everyone was there, we got going.

The Thang:

• 10 x Goofballs (IC)
• 10 x Imperial Walkers (IC)
• 10 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 10 x Squats (IC)
• 5 x Arm Circles Forwards (IC)
• 5 x Arm Circles Backwards (IC)

Say goodbye to Sargento as he heads out to run and neglect his soccer arms while we mosey to the entrance to Martha Rivers Park

• 10 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• 10 x Heels to Heaven (IC)
• 10 x Michael Phelps (IC)
• 10 x Shoulder Taps (IC)
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)

Brief mosey to the walkway to the center of the fields and the flag.  At this walkway, the instructions were to go in doing anything but running.  Lunge walk, bear crawl, Apollo Ono, Nur, Partner Carry, Wheelbarrow, Walk if you have to.  Just don’t Mosey.  Guys were creative.  Nutria & YHC teamed up to wheelbarrow in.  Good times.

At this point, we partnered up and set a timer for 1 minute.  During this minute, the PAX would alternate between:

• Flutter Kicks
• M – Hold (Think American Hammers with no Hammers)

Mosey out one spoke of the proverbial wheel and back.  Once everyone was in, we held Wall Sits and talked about bad Christmas gifts.  If you bought a draft snake for your father, return it.  Trust me.  Then we marched it out for another 10-count before moving on to the next one.

Here we found new partners, and partnered up for 1 minute of

• Merkins
• Low Plank

Mosey out again and back for more Wall Sits, and more stories of bad Christmas gifts. If you’ve been gifted a towel warmer this Christmas season, chances are, it was originally given as a gift from Whoopee to his father who let it be known that he’d be regifting the towel warmer soon, and that person would probably do the same.  Marched it out again before one more round, new partners, and 1 minute of:

• Freddie Mercuries
• 6 inches

YHC told the PAX to “hold 6 inches” and that was it.  1 minute of very appropriate jokes about you name it.  Needless to say it was cold out, and, well, you can imagine.  If you can’t imagine, you should have been there.

Mosey out and back.  Wall Sits.  March.

Next, we headed out in whatever way, just not running.  The wheelbarrow was up and running again, but it was squeakier than the last time, and probably needed some grease.

Mosey back to the flag, jailbreaking the final stretch, and time.

Announcements:

• Convergence: New Year’s Day
• New Site Q @ Labyrinth
• Mod Mondays through the end of January.  Come out and bring a friend

Prayer Requests:

• EZ Rider & family
• Wojo & family
• Kids with Exams

Moleskin:

For this workout, instead of a 10-count, one PAX talked about himself, his hospital name, a brief introduction, and goals for 2022.  Folgers is the most interesting man in F3 Gastonia that you don’t know.  Goals were for post counts, mileage and weight loss, but also for family well-being, healthy relationships and growth in leadership.  Today was fun, and I was happy to have had the chance to lead it.

2021 was the best year, fitness-wise, of my life.  That’s just crazy.  I’m learning a lot and having a blast doing it.  Thanks F3 Gastonia for all the support.

Looking forward to the stories we’ll get to tell about 2022.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Fortunately for me, Slaw was kind enough to remind me that I had the Q today! What seemed (in my mind, at least) like a sure-fire beatdown a month ago turned into more of a “what can an ailing Montross come up with”. I dusted off an older “12 Days Of Christmas” weinke from 2 years ago, made a few tweaks, and showed up to Midoriyama with only monents to spare with playlist and cardboard sign in hand.

First thing first, you can find my playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5zlfnAtzQbmiffUTSA1h6n?si=mcVrQ5FgR_6uNp_EQR5zfQ&utm_source=copy-link

Quick warmup with 10 SSH IC and 5 burpees. Lets get to it.

12 Regular Merkins
11 CDDs
10 Peter Parkers
9 Parker Peters
8 Slaw Squats (nice and low fellas)
7 Backward Lunges
6 Imperial Walkers
5 MONKEY HUMPERSSSSSSS
4 Mountain Climbers
3 Plank Jacks
2 Hillbillies
And a Merkin and a Burpee
(Count right leg only on 10, 9, 7, 6, 4, 3, and 2)
Run a lap around the parking lot.
Repeat for about 40 minutes.

We had a litle time left so Slaw led us in LBCs. Time!

Pretty simple. I was pretty gassed after 30 minutes but the bat flippers kept pushing the pace. That is exactly why I did this workout so all good. On one of my final laps, I noticed a PAX on the edge of the parking lot taking a leak. I had P200 flashbacks of Pockets on the Cooper River Bridge. Another PAX was spotted peeing near the horseshoe pit and a third PAX (whose name rhymes with Dr. Moose) was accused of peeing near SLAW’s spot. The “Moose” story is just a rumor so you may want to ask him to either confirm or deny. Needless to say, the quantity of urine was alarming tonight.

COT – convergence 1/1/2022 7 a.m. @ Midoriyama. Prayers for people who are sick and Broke’s family.