F3 Dads at The Yank began with 5 burpees for the train!

We had 32 at The Yank for the first F3 Dads boot camp of 2023.  The atmosphere was perfect even before we started – the bells at the railroad crossing rang out at 0657.  15 seconds later, a long, lumbering freight train rolled by.  At 0700 as the train was still thundering through the intersection, I called out the inevitable:  “Welcome to F3 – 5 burpees for the train!” It was glorious.

After our burpees, all PAX took a quick mosey to The Yank for the pledge, then Watts Up split off with the regular bootcampers.  Dads and 2.0s moseyed up to the field and circled up for warm-up.  Started with 10 SSH, 10 Goofballs, 5 Merkins, and 10 Dying cockroaches (in cadence).  Some of these required explanation/demonstration.

Before getting right into the workout, we reviewed what the 3 F’s stand for in F3.  Since it was mostly a crowd of repeat-attendees, many of the 2.0s knew the answers right away!

Moving on to The Thang – first exercise is “Count to 100.”  Each family does 100 total (combined) reps.  Dads do merkins; 2.0s choose any exercise.  I immediately got accused of rigging things in my favor – with 4 2.0s in attendance, we only needed to 20 reps each.  But hey, there are advantages to being the Q, and I pointed out that I’m often at a disadvantage with these games and need to make up for it somehow.  Everyone finished the 100 reps pretty fast, so we did a round of 200 (everyone could pick any exercise).

Next, we went around the circle for everyone to introduce themselves by their F3 nicknames.  “FNG’s” received their nicknames at this time.

To get moving again, we played a game of “tag.”  First round, 2.0s are “it,” and when dads got tagged they had to do merkins until all the dads were tagged.  There might have been a few groans from the dads with that wrinkle in the rules, but it wasn’t long before all the dads were on the ground doing merkins!  Next round, same thing, but the exercise was squats after dads were tagged.  For the third round, we switched it up – dads were “it,” and 2.0s had to do side-straddle hops once they were tagged.  Oh, and dads could only tag their own 2.0s.  A couple of the 2.0s (RBI, Goofball, 1 or 2 others) were very slippery and took a while to catch.  Eh Y’all had to nearly tackle RBI so that Balljoint could catch up.  RBI accused them of cheating, but there really wasn’t a rule saying dads were restricted from helping each other.  For the last round, we went back to kids being “it” and dads did dying cockroaches once tagged.

Then we did some dads vs kids races.  Since it’s a long way across the field, I had to split the distance and create a “finish line” in the middle.  Hunchback’s 2.0 Wicket happened to bring a stuffed red fox that would be a perfect substitute for the ubiquitous orange cone.  She graciously allowed “Red” to help us out.  (The other “cone” was a white styrofoam cup that stuck out among various pieces of litter scattered across the field after some type of celebration in Belmont last night.) 

OK, on to the races – everybody lined up for dads vs. 2.0’s!  The loser had to do 5 merkins.  Winners were encouraged to do a lot of form-critiquing.  Four rounds total.  They went like this:
– First round – kids run across the field, dads bear crawl
– Second round – kids run across the field, dads nur
– Third round – kids bear crawl across the field, dads lunge walk
– Fourth round – kids nur across the field, dads run (finally we beat them!)

Next up was another classic, “Family Merkins.”  We started out with everybody doing 10 merkins (or as many as you can).  Next, dads did up to 5 merkins with 2.0s on their backs.  The first round was pick your lightest 2.0.  The next round was pick your heaviest 2.0.  The last round was have all of your 2.0s on your back.  The kids enjoyed this even if the dads didn’t have the greatest form!

The next game was a new one, similar to duck-duck-goose, but of course with a few twists.  We tightened up the circle, and everybody got into plank position.  When the Q calls one of the PAX, kids would run around the circle while dad chased them, but dad first had to do 5 merkins.  I forgot to mention that if kids get caught, everybody is supposed to do 5 merkins.  Fortunately, none of the kids got caught unless you count when Balljoint ran the opposite way around the circle to tag Gamer.  Next round, PAX in the circle hold Al Gore.  This time, dads bear-crawled around the circle and kids chased Dad after doing 3 squats.

Next up was Name-o-rama and COT, and then of course SNACKS! 

Great work by all who came out this morning, Dads and 2.0s alike!  Thanks to all who showed up, and be on the lookout for news about the next F3 Dads workouts on July 15th and sometime in August.  I’m honored to lead this fun event for PAX and families.

– Nutria