Author: Flintstone (Page 19 of 23)

It was this time last year (10/26/2020) when YHC had his VQ at The Ricky Bobby.  Nothing like milestones to show us how far we’ve come.

6 strong at TRB put the track, the neighborhood, and the turd shack to good use.  We even had an opportunity to EH a weary resident with a few monkey humpers.  Here’s what I remember:

Nutria was away, so The Sandlot shovel flag pinch hit at TRB.  Weather’s great.   PAX are ready.  Disclaimer given.  Let’s roll.

The Thang

• 25 x Goofballs (IC)
• Mosey to the track and half a lap
• 15 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 5 x Burpees (OYO – Train)
• Mosey half a lap
• 15 x Hillbillies (IC)
• Mosey half a lap
• 15 x Toy Soldiers (IC)
• Mosey half a lap
• 20 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• Mosey half a lap
• 15 x Heels to Heaven (IC)
• Mosey half a lap
• 10 x Hello Dollies (IC)
• Mosey half a lap
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)
• Mosey half a lap to the bleachers
• 20 x Dips (IC)
• Mosey the rest of the lap and back to the flag
• 20 x Monkey Humpers (OYO)

Pledge

• 10 x Seal Jacks (IC)
• High Knee Skips to the other side of the school’s front driveway
• 20 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• 15 x Heels to Heaven (IC)
• 10 x Hello Dollies (IC)

10 Count (Watts Up)

• Mosey to the neighborhood in front of a certain house on Winder
• 20 x Monkey Humpers (OYO)
• Mosey up the hill, right at the stop sign, to Spooler
• Mosey down the hill to the cul-de-sac
• 10 x Merkins (OYO)
• Mosey back up the hill
• 10 x Merkins (OYO)
• Repeato up and down the hill with Merkins 4 times (5 times total)
• Mosey back to the house on Winder
• 20 x Monkey Humpers (OYO)

Heading back to the flag, we passed a white car that slowed, revealing none other than The Big Cheese himself.  Radar provided an appropriate salute, and we were back on the road.

• Bear Crawl the length of the school’s front driveway

Code Brown for one of the PAX.  The 24/7 turd shack is an underrated asset at TRB, so we pointed him in the right direction.  In the meantime, it was time for:

• 44 x Flutter Kicks (IC)

Mrs. Breaker broke up the bid for 50, pulling in and sparing the group a few flutters.

• 20 x Monkey Humpers (IC – Not directed at Mrs. Breaker)
• 20 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• 15 x Heels to Heaven (IC)
• 20 x Hello Dollies (IC)

Time

Announcements

• Do your Backblasts
• Extinction Run – November 6th
• Chad 1000 – November 11th – See Whoopee’s post in Slack about Jocko’s donation
• Blood Drive – November 10th – See Bubba Sparxxx’s post for available times
• Christmas Party – December 11th @ 7 PM – HC in Slack

Prayer Requests

• Our nation
• Families during the holiday season
• FNG Whopper’s wife is pregnant with their son

Moleskin

Planning this beatdown, I just wanted to go.  We spent the whole workout pushing tempo.  Not a lot of time given for breaks.  The PAX pushed hard today.  No complaints within earshot of the Q.

My confidence and abilities to plan and lead a beatdown are just so much better now than they were.  Looking back, it’s hard to believe that it’s only been a year.  Thanks for letting me screw up a lot.  I promise there’s a lot more screwing up to come.

I needed to lead today.  Thanks for the opportunity.  Strong work men.

Yabba Dabba Doo

1 rucked.  2 ran.  Facilities used.  All on a a typical Sunday at the Coconut Horse.

Welcome FNG Whopper!

Announcements:

• Extinction Run – 11/6
• Going away party for T-Square and Rudolph today at Martha Rivers from 3-6

Great work by all.

Yabba Dabba Doo

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

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

9 strong to start the week at The Sandlot.  Well, 8 strong.  YHC made it, but it wasn’t pretty.  Or on time.  Here’s what I remember:

I was up at 4:15.  I didn’t go back to sleep.  No snooze buttons.  Nothing.  Just the perpetual call of nature.  Had to phone in for backup, but luckily Whoopee had HC’d at Coconut Horse yesterday, so he stepped in and got in the pledge and the warmup while I was pulling in.  From a distance, I saw some SSH, Big Boys, Flutter Kicks, and Squats.  There were probably some Step Ups and Hip Slappers too that I missed.  Whoopee with an assist at a critical time in The Gloom.

I was glad to be there with a Weinke I liked, so once I hit the circle, we moseyed on our way to the entrance to the park to fight off those soccer arms with

• 10 x Moroccan Night Clubs (IC)

That was it for the arms today.  Well that and planking.  We did plenty of planking.  Next we moseyed to the picnic shelter at the park where we got to work

The Thang:

• 1:30 Step Ups (OYO)
• 10 x Oblique Crunches L (IC)
• 10 x Oblique Crunches R (IC)
• 10 x Heels to Heaven (IC)

Mosey to the center of the ballfields.  Partner Up.  1 partner does exercises the other does a hold.  Switch as either partner needed.  Keep at it for 2 minutes.  3 rounds of this, went something like this:

• 2:00 Plank/American Hammers
• Run around 1 field
• 20 x Monkey Humpers (IC)

After the morning I had, Whoopee warned the rest of the PAX of maintaining a safe distance with the monkey humpers. Cinderella doubled down on the joke with a “Yabba Dabba Dookie”.  We’re all idiots.

• 2:00 People’s Chair/Squats
• Run around 1 field
• 20 x Monkey Humpers (IC)

My partners took off on me, as Maybelline and Watts Up were movin.  I had to faster than I wanted to to keep pace.  That’s a good push.

• 2:00 Low Plank/Flutter Kicks
• Run around last 2 fields

Mosey back to the picnic area and do it all over again as time allowed:

• 1:30 Step Ups (OYO)
• 10 x Oblique Crunches L (IC)
• 10 x Oblique Crunches R (IC)
• 10 x Heels to Heaven (IC)

Mosey back to center of the ballfields

• 1:30 Plank/American Hammers
• 1:30 People’s Chair/Squats
• 1:30 Low Plank/Flutter Kicks

This round felt the right amount of awful.  Sucked enough to hurt, but stubborn enough to push through it.  Mosey to the entrance of the park.  One more round for the neighbors

• 20 x Monkey Humpers (IC)

Back to the flag where we ended it with the disclaimer and an introduction to the Q, since YHC jumped in midstream.

Announcements:

• Extinction Run
• Chad 1000
• Nessie CSAUP – Lake Wylie
• Bourbon Chase is this week
• F3 Gastonia has a P200 slot that needs runners.  The race is in March.  See Stroganoff for details.
• Blood Drive – November 10th
• New Sunday Running AO in Belmont – starts October 24th at Harris Teeter

Prayer Requests:

• Guys traveling
• Unity in our nation

Moleskin:

Mondays.  Nobody likes ’em, but they set the tone for the week.  It’s a prime day for resolutions and focusing on acceleration.  The craziness of the weekend is over, and we return to structure and routine.  It’s the perfect day to start new habits, and a day we should all be sharp to keep good habits from going bad.  Strengthen your Mondays.  Post somewhere.

Thankful for Whoopee being always ready to step up.  A true HIM who bleeds Badass Black.

Happy Race Week

Yabba Dabba Doo (kie)

4 HIMs hit the Coconut Horse Loop at 6:30, with no rucking or EC or Omahas of any form.  I guess that only seems unusual because YHC has a tendency to ruck or do EC or change the route as needed.  Solid work by everyone, as it seemed that we all pushed a little harder than we expected going in.

Whoopee joined the runners for QSource, and we talked about Food & Drink, 2 topics we don’t necessarily talk about as men very often.  Dredd had some good points in QSource about the Queen.  We also talked about drinking, knowing our limits, and setting a good example.  While we didn’t talk about it at QSource, I think this article is interesting in it’s discussion of kicking addictive habits.

There were sightings of Outhouse and Woody in the wild.

Announcements:

• Extinction Run
• Chad 1000
• Nessie CSAUP – Lake Wylie
• Bourbon Chase is this week
• F3 Gastonia has a P200 slot that needs runners.  The race is in March.  See Stroganoff for details.
• Blood Drive – November 10th
• New Sunday Running AO in Belmont – starts October 24th at Harris Teeter

Prayer Requests:

• Continued improvements with BOS’s sister-in-law and Flintstone’s sister

Always honored to lead QSource at the Coconut Horse.

Yabba Dabba Doo

10 of us gathered in The Gloom for a borrowed Beatdown, courtesy of the PAX in F3 Shelby.  Here’s what I remember:

YHC spent some time over the weekend with Woody and Latte.  Woody gave a SC to Q, but with words like “probably” involved, YHC was sure to have a backup plan.  Well, 0530 and no Woody.  The backup plan became the plan, and YHC wasn’t mad at all.

The Thang:

• 10 x SSH (IC)
• 10 x Abe Vagodas (IC)
• 10 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• 15 x Toe Touches (IC)
• 15 x Penguins (IC)
• 15 x Heels to Heaven (IC)
• 15 x Hello Dollies (IC)
• 10 x Low Slow Squats (IC)

Mosey to the Turd Shack at Martha’s for some Lazy Dora

Partner Up.  One person holds a position while the other does the reps.  Switch off however you want, just get em done.

• 100 Merkins / Hold Plank
• 200 Squats / Hold People’s Chair
• 300 Flutter Kicks / Hold Six Inches

Watts Up carried us, as my Merkins weren’t rolling today.  Anyways, still plenty of time left, but YHC had some complicated nonsense that was going to require some explanation, so we better get to it.  There were plenty of well lit areas, as the lights on the fields were on, but YHC stubbornly stuck to the Weinke and chose the dark field at the bottom of the hill as the site for the rest of the Beatdown.

It’s fun hearing what goes on in other regions, so my regular conversations with Latte often turn to what stupid things we’ve been doing in The Gloom.  Latte told me about a Beatdown in Shelby where Go Greene Go had them running laps around a block or a park or a track or some form of something where they could run a lap.  The idea was to see how many laps they could get in during the Beatdown.  To add to the intrigue, the Q offered bonuses of 1/2 lap for every 10 burpees completed and 1/4 lap for every 10 merkins completed.  The goal was, obviously, to get more laps in than everyone else.

Sounds like fun, right?  Well except for the fractions.  Having taught math in high school, I’m well aware that we as humans are averse to fractions, so I multiplied by 4 and called them points instead.  The game went like this:

• 4 points per full lap completed around the soccer field
• 2 points per 10 burpees
• 1 point per 10 merkins
• You can stop at any point in the lap to do merkins/burpees
• Get as many points as you can

This was fun.  And very You v. You.  Everybody put in strong work.  Here were the point totals:

• EZ Rider – 32
• Flintstone – 32
• Cinderella – 30
• Defib – 28
• Nutria – 27
• Dirt – 26
• Watts Up – 26
• Linus – 25
• Folgers – 22
• Dry Rub – 20

We burned up the rest of the time moseying back to the flag and sharing scores.

Announcements & Prayer Requests were taken, but as this backblast is late, all are already done.  We continue to pray for unity in our nation.

Moleskin:

I loved this workout.  I’ll do it again.  Think 4 corners, but at your own pace and choosing how much of each exercise to do.  Add in the competition, and it was a lot of fun.  Kudos to Go Greene Go and Latte for the idea and for sharing it.  If you’re looking for a Weinke look no further.  It’s even a month old at this point, so it’s not even going to be redundant if you do it soon, as everyone who was there has probably already forgotten about it.

Sorry for the late backblast, Watts Up.

Thanks to all for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

We had 12 at The Ricky Bobby for some sideways shuffling and a venture off the grounds of TRB for some exploring.  Here’s what I remember:

One of them mornings to start.  Missing equipment.  Time is ticking, so join the PAX right at 0530 and get to work.

The Thang:

• 20 x Goofballs (IC)
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)
• 10 x Nolan Ryans R (IC)
• 10 x Peter Parkers (IC)
• 10 x Nolan Ryans L (IC)
• 10 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• 10 x Hello Dollies (IC)
• 10 x Heels to Heaven (IC)

Mosey across New Hope Road to the church.

Everyone pick a parking space.

• Start in Plank
• Plank Walk Sideways R to the end of the parking space
• 1 x Diamond Merkin
• Plank Walk Sideways L back to the beginning
• 1 x Diamond Merkin
• Repeato for 3 minutes
  • Modify:
  • Side Lunge R to the end of the parking space
  • 5 x Squats
  • Side Lunge L back to the beginning
  • 5 x Squats
• Count only your Diamond Merkins and we will see who has the most at the end

The 3 minutes actually went faster than expected.  Seems like most modified at some point during the time.  Nutria took the gold medal with 12 diamonds.  Many had 11.

Next up we kept on down New Hope Road.  Seems the prevailing thought was we’d end up back at the main entrance for Cramer Woods.  YHC had different plans, and we made a quick right into Tomshir Estates, moseying down the road from the main entrance to the median where the road forks in the other direction for some more work

• Start on the left side of the road
• Shuffle R to the curb
• 1 x burpee
• Shuffle L to the curb
• 1 x burpee
• Repeato for 90 seconds

Shoulders were getting a good workout.  Sargento was concerned.  We weren’t even halfway in and it’s been a lot of shoulder work.  What’s left?  Mosey to the cul-de-sac at the end of the main road to find out

The idea was simple.  Do some exercises.  Run a lap.  Normally, these exercises would be in cadence, but with us being in a different neighborhood and respecting those still in the fartsack, we did them OYO.

• 20 x Toe Touches (OYO)
• 20 x Penguins (OYO)
• 20 x Freddie Mercuries (OYO)
• 20 x Flutter Kicks (OYO)
• Run a lap

The lap was from the cul-de-sac, stay right at the fork, make a left at the dead end, make another left at the dead end, and run straight back to the cul-de-sac.  Estimated more than 0.3 but less than 0.5 miles.  The run was strong too.  Good push from the group.  Back at the cul-de-sac, we did it again.

• 40 x Toe Touches (OYO)
• 40 x Penguins (OYO)
• 40 x Freddie Mercuries (OYO)
• 40 x Flutter Kicks (OYO)
• Run a lap

After the 40 rep round, YHC’s abs were doing some talking.  Seemed like the right amount of pain.  Maybe not for Cinderella and Stone Cold, as they bailed on the run.  Took a minute to figure out who was missing, but the initial countoff helped, and we got back after it.  (Cinderella had to leave early w/2.0 duties.)

Last Round

• 20 x Toe Touches (OYO)
• 20 x Penguins (OYO)
• 20 x Freddie Mercuries (OYO)
• 20 x Flutter Kicks (OYO)
• Run back to the neighborhood entrance at New Hope Road

Everyone accounted for, we moseyed back to the flag for

• 10 x Nolan Ryans R (IC)
• 10 x Nolan Ryans L (IC)
• 10 x Peter Parkers (IC)

In spite of the early shoulder work, it didn’t turn out ridiculous, and was given a stamp of approval by Sargento, MHC President.

Announcements:

• Convergence – 10/2 @ Downtown
• Last week of IPC – Midoryama and Tequila Sunrise options
• Labyrinth needs a Site Q

No prayer requests voiced today.

Moleskin:

It’s easy to be open and honest when things are going well.  Not as much so when they’re going sideways.

Lean on your brothers.

Be someone who others can lean on.

We’re not meant to do this life on our own.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Had 2 different plans in the works.  Depended on who showed.  When it was time at 5:30, everyone who was there was signed up for the Iron Pax Challenge.  With only 1 of me, and no need to split up, we all did the IPC.  Gator showed up a few minutes later and joined in and still beat me.

The Thang:

IPC Week 0

The track at TRB is 0.2 miles long, so it’s a little short, so we improvised a bit, and here’s what we came up with:

• 100 Merkins
• 2.5 laps
• 75 Merkins
• 4 laps
• 50 Merkins
• 5 laps
• 25 Merkins
• 6 laps

Work for time.  All keep track on their own watches.  Was a tough beatdown. Good push from all PAX.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo