Author: Carrier

31 men saving their vacation time for later in the year, passed up on the opportunity to take a spring break and posted for the return of YHC to GasHouse.   Again, YHC’s seasonal allergies meant the weinke included pretty much zero contact with anything green or growing.  Last year around the same time, those that were there, may remember the Islands of Pain – again – zero contact with grassy areas.

Speaking of the weinke, here’s what we did (approximately):

Full Sit-ups 10 OYO (something about engaging the core at the beginning of a workout keeps it engaged throughout)
Mountain Climbers 20x
Oblique Crunches 10x each side
Plank Jacks 20x

Now some exercise to get the mumble chatter going:

Sweet Sixteen 15x
Ballerina Squats 15x
Partner Sit Ups – partner 1 does full situps while partner 2 planks while holding partner 1 feet 10x

At this point, I’m pretty sure everyone wondered where this was going, but to tell you the truth, those exercises are harder than they sound if done correctly.

Mosey across the street to the drugstore wall:
Peoples Chair with air presses 15x
Balls to the Wall Mountain Climbers (what could be harder than hip slappers, which was one of the many suggestions provided by Dolph throughout the morning – all appreciated, most ignored)
Peoples Chair with air punches x15

Mosey to next parking lot for some curb-to-curb work:
Crab walk from one side to other and do 5 Mike Tysons
Bear crawl to start and do 5 dips on curb
Repeat this same thing with 10x and 15x of each exercise.

Mosey to next parking lot for Franklin Mint suicides (named after Ben Franklin in Metro because his suicides are hard, but these are more decorative and not sanctioned by the government):
Bunny hop to first island and run back to start, waiting for the 6th before continuing (as explained above, this is not your normal suicide)
Long jump to second island and run back to start
Karaoke to third island and run back to start
Backward run to fourth island and run back to start

Mosey to next parking lot for more curb and gutter work
Fast feet in cadence multiple times at varying speeds
SSH (that can’t be correct you might think, but that’s when we did them)

Mosey back to the previous parking lot to resume more Franklin Mint suicides
Run to first island and do 5 squats and run back to the start
Run to second island and do 10 sumo squats and return
Run to third island and do 15 jump squats and return
Run to fourth island and do 20 start jacks and return

Mosey back to drugstore wall
Donkey kicks 15x

Mosey back to library for LBC and Heels to Heaven before doing the Pledge of Allegiance

Mosey back for picnic tables for a couple of sets of dips
Lots of time left for Mary
Flutter
Merkins
Dying Cockroach
Wide Arms
Protractor
Stagger Right
Russian Twists
Stagger Right
Diamonds

NMM
YHC expected a smaller # today with it being spring break but was happy to see that it almost turned problematic.  GasHouse and Gastonia F3 has taken off!  Before last year when GasHouse kicked off, I really knew no one in Gastonia, but I wanted to help F3 spread.  F3 Gastonia is well on it’s way, and just as in Metro, there are a group of men involved.  It was great to get there and see all the cars in the parking lot, many belonging to the 2ndF group meeting at the picnic tables.

I appreciate my Metro bro, the Woof Master Snoop, for accompanying me to GasHouse on one of his rare Saturdays in the gloom.

Thanks to Bandit and Roscoe for headlocking me to Q at the 3rdF lunch back a while, and I hope we can get you guys to Q a workout in Metro in the future.  If anyone has a Sunday afternoon free, post to the Man Cave at Myers Park High School at 4:30 PM (yes PM).  We do 45 min and accommodate all levels.

Thanks for allowing me to Q GasHouse, and maybe we can make it a yearly thing.

Carrier

15 crewmen came aboard Carrier’s cruise to the Islands of Adventure.  All returned safely.

Itinerary

After a few welcome merkins we departed for Flagpole Island (located just off the coast of the Gastonia Library).

SSH x20

Everyone agreed to stop at each sand bar (speed bump) for 3 complementary churkins.

Cruise continues clockwise around the Library coast to Long Island where most everyone participated in some lively karaoke to the other end of the island, then we continued the fun with some Michael Jackson moves, which for most looked like the backwards run to the first part of Long Island.  From this end the beach was wide open again, so we got in our low riders and lunged forward and backward down the beach.

We were done with Long Island until the next trip, and headed for Holy H Island, named by the pirates of Gastonia after the place they never wanted to go, but today the cruise veered off for a nature outing.  First on the beach of Holy H Island we discovered crabbing, then it got real scary around the other side when we discovered there were bears.  We could get off Holy H Island quick enough.

We ended up a small deserted island with one lonely tree on it.  There was nothing there to do but lazily plank walk around the entire island with our feet in the water and our hands on the beach.  Oh, how we were ready to be rescued from what we called Spot Island.

When rescued from Spot Island we immediately returned to port at Flagpole Island.  But since we paid for a 2 day cruise, we kept our clothes on and went around the islands again after doing some odd dance called the Imperial Walker.  How fun was that !

Obviously it was not fun at all, so to liven up the trip, we had a guest visit from our favorite Jack Webb.  He kept everyone entertained so much they were falling on the floor and raising their hands over their heads hysterically.  If they weren’t raising their arms, there were a few that had such a great time they were sprawled out flat on the ground, and couldn’t even raise their arms to applaud how great a time they were having.

The cruise director originally thought “we will probably just do the cruise bit the whole time”, but very clearly, there were early signs of ship jumpers in our cruise party, so we went back inland for the balance of our time.

Back on drive land, we discovered the natives were very hospitable by providing a nice grouping of picnic tables to rest our feet on, but before we went on our picnics we went through the miniature obstacle course.  When through the obstacle course, we spent some time with doing brain exercises combining numbers that add to 7, while stepping on the furniture and almost lying on the ground except our feet were still on the furniture.  You never know what goes on amongst a group of picnic tables well hidden at the back of a parking lot behind a museum, although if you look carefully you could find evidence of some of those activities.  Someone was at least being careful.

Next up was a short exploratory visit to the trails with stops along the way to take a few dips – sorry the pool was no where to be found.  We were warned of the dead end we might find so we simply went up and down the same hill until it was time to return to wince we came.  To get back we played one last memory game which was to line up by age, followed by acting like we were back in the day when Indians roamed these same trails but were being chased out by the English settlers.  We raced out of the woods, to where we had a short visit with Mary, Peter, and Peter’s twin Parker.

With the cruise over, we said our good byes and returned to the real world.

Announcements:

Turns out there are other F3 workouts just up the road, so check the website and get your arse to other workouts.

The Fort takes the lead the next two Saturdays, so come back yourself, bring a couple of friends who you know you can run circles around them because you now have a cool F3 nickname, and they don’t.

It was an honor to Q at GasHouse.  Anyone that asks me – I tell them it’s one of the best AOs I have seen.  I love hearing when new guys recognize the potential of a trail or a bench, or the side of a building.  I look forward to coming back to GasHouse to see what the guys here make of it.

Carrier

It’s not Universal Studios!  But it still might be fun.

We will visit Flagpole Island, Long Island, Holy H Island and Spot Island while stopping in between to hang out on the sand bars.  There will be guest visits from Peter, Jack, and Mary.  We will act like kids again, running and jumping, and crawling around like toddlers.  Like a Caribbean cruise, we will jump from island to island, with some karaoke in between.  And later, we will gather for whatever favorite beverages you care to have.

Wear your favorites trunks and bring gloves so you can touch the native fauna and rock formations.

Your tour director has lots of activities planned so you don’t want to miss this trip to the Islands of Adventure.  We depart at 0700 sharp tomorrow morning from the back docks of the Shiele Museum.  Parking and admission are free.  Tipping is prohibited.

Oh, by the way, please be sure to read the F3 disclaimer before coming onboard.  No life preservers or life rafts are provided, and your captain is not trained; in fact, he has proven to be totally un-trainable.