Old School Merkinfest

Six total for an Old School slow and methodical beatdown.  As YHC pulled into the lot, Broke was there early as is his habit, and Slaw was returning from a solo 4 mile EC.  Great work!

Here is what took place in the not so Gloom.

Disclaimer

Warm Up:  SSH, Merkins, LBC’s, Squats, lap around the track

We lunge walked across the parking lot and back.  We did the hummingbird.  I think at this point my hammy got tweaked which I felt on the second set of squats.  Modify as needed.

Form Police:

The Pax partner up.  Demonstration on proper form for the following:  Merkins, Squats, WW1’s.  We discussed the various things we see when PAX have poor form.  The “neckie”, the CDD merkin, the worm, etc.

P1 criticizes P2’s form while they perform 20 slow and deliberate merkins.  Flapjack then take a lap

Do the same for Squats and WW1’s with a few more laps.  We then did 15 of each.  We discussed the 5 core principles and F3 credo.  The criticism was nowhere to be found but the compliments were overflowing.  There was some good form this morning.

The next event was the partner merkinfest.  P1 and P2 face each other ready to do merkins.  P1 begins and merkins to failure.  P2 starts and merkins to failure.  This continues until one of the PAX cannot complete 5 consecutive merkins.  Kudos to Gumby and Slaw for their efforts making it look easy!

After a cool down lap we went in the picnic shelter for step ups and dips.  We did 50 step ups IC and then ten very slow dips.  During this portion, Blart declared that he was swole.  The triceps had been activated.

The weinke called for partner carries but a modification was needed.  Cancel that.

Mosey to center of field for Dora.  100 Merkins (what else), 200 Squats, 300 LBC’s.  Due to the pre-exhaust method of all the previous merkins, the merkins in the Dora took more time that usual.  While P1 was doing the exercise, P2 ran to the soccer goal and did two burpees and returned.  Great effort all the way with everyone on their six at the end knocking out the rest of everyone’s LBC’s.  Teamwork

Next we chinooked back to start and discussed what impact F3 had in our lives.  A common theme that everyone agreed upon was that F3 has brought us to have a higher standard of friends.  (I supposed this could be debated as I have heard several PAX declare “I need better friends” when the get out of their car at 0300 hours for some CSAUP that another PAX thought of).  Some other examples:

“Increasing my friend pool 500%”

“Less selfish…it’s not about me”

“Accountability”

We circled up for the last few minutes of Mary with a few exercises before time was out.

At the end of the workout we didn’t rush the COT and gave some time to share what was on our hearts.  The announcement included the men’s retreat next weekend.  There are still spots available.  Lots of CSAUP running events coming up.  Rooster, D2D, Mortimer, SMR, P200, Ville to Ville

Prayer requests included Gumby’s back, Def Leppard, Purple Haze and his M this week,

Moleskin:  This was a veteran F3 group and because it was low numbers there was lots of fellowship built into the workout.  YHC was worried the pace of this workout might be a little slow for these veterans, but when you have good form and make each rep count, the payoff will be the soreness we should feel tomorrow.  It wasn’t about who was the fastest today.  It was how much you concentrated on the movement.  Slaw taught us a lesson on lunges.  You should walk “on a tightrope” but rather make your steps go out a little to reduce pressure on your knees.

The gratitude I feel when I am at an F3 workout where men are all pulling in the same direction is palpable.  A friend is someone who wants what is best for you.  In this group, YHC has made many more friends and is a better man for it.

Always a pleasure to lead,

Roscoe