Author: Flintstone (Page 20 of 23)

Pulled in to find some familiar vehicles vacant with some PAX already out in the road. Maybelline’s wasn’t one of them, and YHC got a text saying he’d be late. YHC sent off the PAC with an uninspired disclaimer and waited around to give Maybelline a tour of the the infamous Coconut Horse. We ran the loop backwards and saw all there was to see til we came to the last group, then turned around and went forwards again.

As always, some ran. Some rucked. Everyone did something.

QSource was a quick discussion on willpower, discretion, guardrails, and acceleration. Happy birthday mom.

Announcements:

• Iron Pax Challenge starts tomorrow. The Ricky Bobby and Old School will be hosting it this week (if there are others, please post to Slack)
• Chad1000 on Veterans Day
• The Extra Mile Challenge. See preblast from Short Sale
• The Yank needs Qs
• Labor Day workout in McAdenville @ 0700. Mt Hollywood and The Sandlot will be closed. Sword open for a double post.

Prayer requests:

• Roscoe’s FIL
• Flintstone’s inlaws
• Flintstone’s sister

Glad to have a strong group today. Good to see everyone pushing the rock however they can. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

5 at The Sandlot for a Cougar-less Monday beatdown.  Here’s what I remember:

I’d been in touch with Cougar to try to connect on a workout.  I had 2 plans, one if he was there and the other if he wasn’t.  No Cougar, so plan B was in order.

The Thang:

• 10 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 15 x Hillbilly Walkers (IC)
• 20 x Mountain Climbers (IC)
• 10 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• 15 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)
• 20 x Toe Touches (IC)
• 10 x Hello Dollies (IC)
• 15 x Mike Tysons (IC)
• 20 x Moroccan Night Clubs (IC)

Thoroughly warmed up, we took a shortcut and moseyed to Fidelity Bank, stopping to

• Lunge walk between the two driveways

Cross the street to the funeral home, which wasn’t as well lit as I expected.  As long as I’ve been posting at The Sandlot/Labyrinth/Martha’s House, I’d never been there.  It’s a great place for 11s though, so we did something like that:

22s

• 2 x Squats (OYO)
• Run halfway down the driveway
• 1 x Burpee (OYO)
• Run the rest of the driveway
• 20 x Merkins (OYO)

Add 2 to the Squats and 1 to the Burpees, and subtract 2 from the Merkins, til the last round you have 20 Squats, 10 Burpees, 2 Merkins

It was a grind, and we were either all fast or all slow, because we stayed together the whole time.  Stinky Bird and EZ Rider kept the mumblechatter going, as YHC was having a hard time finding his legs, much less talking at the same time.

Once that wrapped up, we moseyed back, stopping at Fidelity Bank to

• Lunge walk between the two driveways

We then moseyed the rest of the way back

Circled up at the end, we finished the way we started, with:

• 10 x Hello Dollies (IC)
• 15 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)
• 20 x Toe Touches (IC)
• 10 x Hello Dollies (IC)
• 15 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)

And that was that.

Announcements:

• Sandlot and Mt. Hollywood to join forces at 0700 in McAdenville on Labor Day

Prayer Requests:

• Stinky Bird’s family & business
• Turtleman
• EZ Rider’s family
• Flintstone’s grandmother

Moleskin:

Rough. I’m dragging a bit this summer.  Still rocks out there that need to be pushed, so gotta keep grinding.  It’s days when I go when I’m just not feelin it that I know that I’m still accelerating.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

13 PAX for a traveling beatdown and 1 rucker for a total of 14 putting in the work on a fine morning at Tequila Sunrise.  Here’s what I remember:

The Thang:

• 10 x SSH (IC)
• 10 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 10 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)

Orangeman wanted to know how close we were staying.  Not very close.  Today, we’re going to be moving.  As he’s emerging from IR, he decided to ruck, and the other 13 PAX in attendance were off.

We moseyed slowly down the drop off lane on the park side of Belmont Central, keenly aware of holes that put our Site Q on the IR.  Once we got to Park Drive and the threat of stepping in holes decreased, we picked up the pace, to the sound of groans from the PAX.

The destination was First Presbyterian Church in Belmont, but it was going to take a while to get there, so we had a couple stops along the way to get some work in.

• 1st stop: Corner of Elizabeth and Eagle
  • 10 x Burpees (OYO)
• 2nd stop: end of Eagle
  • 10 x Burpees (OYO)
  • 20 x Monkey Humpers (OYO)
• 3rd stop: entrance to the church off Main
  • 10 x Burpees (OYO)
  • 20 x Monkey Humpers (OYO)
  • 30 x LBCs (OYO)

Not a lot of room at the end of Eagle, but no PAX were run over.  Alls well that ends well.  Once the rhythm of the work was established, Buckeye and Seuss put the pedal down, with Bubba Sparxxx right on their heels.  YHC just let them know where to, and they were off.  Boudin kept an eye on the Six.

We finished our mosey to the circle drop off off of South Point Rd where YHC announced a little DORA 2-4-6.  Nothing’s ever simple with YHC at the helm, so there was a catch.  3 PAX would be grouped together: 1 doing exercises, 1 with a hold, and 1 running.  With a baker’s dozen PAX, that meant there would be a group of 4.  Rebar was the last to join, and it probably took him a solid minute to decide which group to join.  Stall tactics that I’m sure the rest of the PAX didn’t mind.  Anyways, here’s how it was set up:

• 200 x Merkins / Hold: 6 inches
• 400 x Australian Mountain Climbers (count one leg only) / Hold: People’s Chair
• 600 x Flutter Kicks (count one leg only) / Hold: Plank

Run: Around the first set of parking spaces and back

So we broke into those Australian Mountain Climbers, and there was no way we were going to get them all done in time, not to mention, we didn’t really want to get them all done in time, so we omahaed to counting both legs really quickly.  Same went for the flutter kicks.  Looks like YHC’s eyes were bigger than his stomach.

They say time flies when you’re having fun, so we must have had a great time, as the weinke was full of more surprises that there was just not time for.  We needed to work our way back, so we headed back around the church to the entrance off main and started undoing what we’d done earlier:

• 1st stop: entrance to the church off Main
  • 10 x Burpees (OYO)
  • 20 x Monkey Humpers (OYO)
  • 30 x LBCs (OYO)
• 2nd stop: Park across from the American Legion
  • 10 x Burpees (OYO)
  • 20 x Monkey Humpers (OYO)
• 3rd stop: Under the cover of the drop off line at Belmont Central
  • 10 x Burpees (OYO)

And we were back with 2 minutes to spare.  Quick, let’s get in some Mary!  Boudin, start us off!

• Boudin: 5 x Burpees (OYO)

Shoulda seen that coming. Ok, Rebar, you’re next!

• Rebar: 10 x Lunges (OYO)

That’s enough of that.  Time was called.

Announcements:

• F3 Dads – July 17th @ Gashouse

Prayer Requests:

• Uranus & family on the loss of their daughter, Sadie
• EZ Rider & family

Moleskin:

Somber end to the morning as Tiger broke news of Sadie’s passing.  It’s good and important to have each other and the COT.  At the same time, the pain and heartbreak are very real too.  We were all sad and shook.

As of this writing, I’ve been back in The Gloom for a year now.  I can’t say it’s gone quickly.  Lots of work and sweat and miles and burpees and ten-counts and pearls of wisdom and just utter stupidity over the course of this year.  Thank you to all who have invested in me, as I’m stronger because of it.

Looking forward to another long and stupid year.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Today’s topic at QSource was a PAX generated discussion of lessons learned, but as always, the memorable moments came when we least expected it.

Large gathering of idiots to ruck the Coconut Horse loop @ 0600, with Oompa showing up even earlier.  About a mile in, Whoopee got a text from Dr. Feelgood asking whether it was a run or a ruck today. Shortly thereafter, a car flies by, parks at the Waffle House, and Dr. Feelgood joins in on the fun.  Oompa took off running after a little while.  Sargento carried the torch for the runners, as the only PAX who ran from start to finish.  After Sargento caught the ruckers, Whoopee took off to run, while still toting his ruck.  Dr. Feelgood kept rolling past the COT to get his ruck smothered, covered & chunked.  All in all, lots of curious decision were made between 0530 and 0730.

QSource has been open to the weekly Q’s direction for a number of weeks now, and in preparing for this week, YHC decided to open it up and just give the HIMs of the Coconut Horse the opportunity to share lessons that they’ve learned along the way.  Classic teacher trick of getting a lesson in without having to do much.  YHC did put it out to Slack just to make sure it wouldn’t blindside anyone, and to make sure that it was known that was the plan all along and the Q didn’t just forget to plan something.  As always, the discussion was rich.  Here’s some of what we talked about:

• Decisions are best made from a position of strength, not stress.  Decide in advance, and carry out the plan.
• Don’t base decisions on emotion, as it provides opportunities to mess up your acceleration
• Putting work in in The Gloom allows men the opportunity to make the rest of the day about taking care of their Concentrica
• Stay prepared.  You never know when dark times may come.
• As much as we tend to think otherwise, action comes before motivation, not after.
• Don’t let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.  While generally a great piece of advice, it’s also specifically helpful when dealing with the IR.
• The only thing you can control is your attitude and your activity.
• Your only limits are in your head.
• Surround yourself with like minded people.
• The indirect mentoring that happens in F3 keeps us all pushing the rock.  Everyone is constantly watching others and being watched.

And that’s just some of what was discussed.  We all got a little into what brought us to F3 and what keeps us accelerating.  It was cool to hear everyone’s stories.

Hey speaking of stories, you’ll never believe what we talked about out on the Coconut Horse loop.  You should have been there.

Announcements:

• Woody is moving.  More info coming.
• F3 Dads 7/17 @ Gashouse

Prayer Requests:

• Uranus
• Turtleman

Thanks for the discussion this week.  Next time, I’ll have something prepared.

Yabba Dabba Doo

5 strong for a post-July 4th Beatdown that wrapped up with the PAX choosing the lesser of all awful options.  Here’s what I remember:

EC was strong today, as Dirt, Watts Up and EZ Rider went out for the standard EC and JJ ran to the AO all the way from home.  YHC was the only one who didn’t do EC.  JJ also ran home after it was over.  Tough bunch to get out in The Gloom after a late night of fireworks AND put in EC.

The Thang:

• Slaughter Starter – 20 x Burpees (OYO)

Next, avoid the incoming truck who was waiting for us to go somewhere, but we weren’t really moving.  We stayed at Snoballs for

Dora – One partner runs around Snoballs while the other works on the exercises

• 150 x SSH
• 150 x Crab Marches
• 150 x Dying Cockroaches
• 150 x Wall Sits w/Moroccan Night Clubs

Made quick work of that, so we moseyed to the baseball fields, stopping at the outer walking path for

• 20 x Burpees (OYO)

Some PAX started looking at their watches and realized we had a lot of time to go.  It started looking like it was going to be one of those never-ending Beatdowns today.

• Bear Crawl halfway to the flag pole
• 20 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)
• Crawl Bear to the flag pole
• 30 x Flutter Kicks (IC)

F3’s founding fathers gave the PAX the freedom to exercise, or really the freedom to “modify as needed”.  What is meant as a disclaimer, really gives PAX the opportunity to customize the workout to their fitness level.  While we often say “you can make it harder”, not sure I’ve seen a lot of PAX take the bait, and I know YHC uses the freedom to modify when needed to make it through some awful stuff.  Well the last round of exercises focuses on the idea of customizing the workout.  We’d have 4 stations, one at the center of the ballfields and a station at 3 of the walkways that lead to the center.  The first time through, we would do all 4 stations and run between them.  Then the next time through, each PAX could choose which station to skip (but he would still have to run to all 4 stations, just wouldn’t have to stop and do exercises at the station).  The idea was to keep working through the 4 stations, dropping another exercise each time, until the PAX just run to all 4 stations without stopping to do any exercises.

So now in the center of the ballfields, YHC announced that we would be running through the stations.  Each station would have 2 exercises, further allowing the PAX to choose their own workout.  Stations were:

• 20 x Hip Slappers/Shoulder Taps (Count One Side)
• 20 x Bobby Hurleys/Bonnie Blairs (Count Each Jump)
• 20 x Burpees/Flying Squirrels
• 20 x Big Boys/V-Ups

So mine looked like:

• Hip Slappers/Bobby Hurleys/Burpees/V-Ups
• *Skip*/Bobby Hurleys/Burpees/V-Ups
• *Skip*/Bobby Hurleys/*Skip*/V-Ups

And with that, we ran out of time.  We took the long way back, as I didn’t want the PAX to miss out on that last run, but doing so caused us to be 1 minute late.  So after COT, YHC did another 10 burpees for bringing the PAX in 1 minute late.

Announcements:

• Upcoming F3 Dads
• Bob the Builder’s VQ @ Downtown

Prayer Requests:

• EZ Rider’s Nephew
• Turtleman
• PAX traveling

Moleskin:

Keep grinding.  Summer can be miserable.  Don’t get complacent.  Do whatever you need to do to keep accelerating.  We want to be stronger in August than we were in July.

Grateful for the opportunity to lead.

12 at The Bulldog on a fine Tuesday morning.  Oompa ran laps around us all.  Here’s what I remember:

The Thang:

Circle up to start with some work in cadence:

• 10 x SSH
• 10 x Don Quixotes
• 10 x Imperial Walkers
• 10 x Mike Tysons
• 10 x Plank Jacks
• 10 x Dying Cockroaches
• 10 x Low Slow Squats

Grab the bells and ditch the cadence for some time based work.  1 minute on with a 15 second break for each of the following:

• Around the Worlds
• Pullovers
• Overhead Halo/Backwards Lunge (or as Double Stuf calls it, “the T-Square”)
• Curls
• Swings

YHC is well aware that music is needed when breaking out a timer.  Q fail to not bring it.  This led to bad songs by bad artists being sung badly, while the PAX talked about how bad the music is.  Anyways, the mumblechatter got going a little bit, so we just kept rolling.

Next meander with the bells to the track for a couple laps.  Basically, each lap had a specified carry and a couple exercises at each end of the track.

Lap 1

• Waiter Carry to far end of the track
• 15 x Goblet Squats (IC)
• 15 x Ski Abs (IC)
• Flapjack the carry and Repeato

Lap 2

• Goblet Carry to far end of the track
• 20 x Plank Pull-throughs (OYO, count L & R)
• 20 x Bonnie Blairs (OYO, count L & R)
• Repeato

Next, the parking lot where some cinder blocks were strategically placed.  PAX lined up 4 deep behind the blocks.

• 1st PAX – Farmer’s Carry the block and the bell to the bright light in the distance (or the covered area at the end of the parking lot) and then do 10 merkins on the block, 5 with LH off the block and RH on, and 5 flapjack.  Then Farmer’s carry it all back
• 2nd PAX – Flutter Kicks (AMRAP)
• 3rd PAX – Freddie Mercuries (AMRAP)
• 4th PAX – LBCs (AMRAP)

The 1st PAX was the timer, and everyone repeated the exercises til they got back, then moved up a position.  The PAX who finished the Farmer’s Carry went to the back of the line for LBCs.  Turned out to be a lot more ab work than YHC was expecting, so there was some stargazing while trying to get in reps.

We left the blocks by the Footmobile, and went back to the circle for another round of:

• Around the Worlds
• Pullovers
• T-Squares
• Curls
• Swings

Time was short, so we didn’t get in a full minute of each.  We did, however, get in a good laugh as while we did the Pullovers, Les Nessman informed us that they were Roscoe’s favorite exercise.

Announcements:

• Service Project – Chap Stick and Nail Clippers
• 2nd F events this week – Lunch Thursday, Axe Throwing Saturday

Prayer Requests:

• Turtleman
• Linus’s Dad

Moleskin:

I appreciate the support of the PAX on what was my first attempt at Qing a kettlebell workout.  I’ve still got a lot to learn, but grateful for the HIMs of the Bulldog that I can learn from.

I’ve known Les Nessman for a long time, since the days when our kids were eating high quality orange wedges on the sidelines on Coach Daniel’s soccer team, and I’m better for it.  Besides the consistent mumblechatter, he’s the guy that EH’d me into trying a kettlebell workout at some point.  I’m glad he was there, and hopefully it was more beneficial than that extra hour of sleep he could have had.

Grateful as always for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

13 got in some work on a fine summer morning.  Here’s what I remember:

The Thang:

• 10 x SSH (IC)
• Stretches (seated toe touch, R foot over L knee and twist, flapjack)
• 10 x Dying Cockroach (IC)
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)
• 20 x Penguins (IC)
• 30 x Toe Touches (IC)
• 20 x Crab Marches (IC)
• 30 x Flutter Kicks (IC)
• 20 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)

Mosey to the parking lot by the neighborhood pool.  Partner up for

• 2 minutes of Plank/Merkins – one partner starts merkins, goes til he can’t, then tags in the other partner and holds plank, alternating til 2 minutes is up

Mosey down the path to the park and find a new partner for

• 2 minutes of Double Crunches/Six Inches

Mosey to the picnic tables by the Turd Shack and get another new partner for DORA

• 100 Dips
• 200 Bulgarian Split Squats
• 300 Superman Pullups

Mosey back to the flag for

• 15 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)
• 15 x Penguins (IC)
• 25 x Toe Touches (IC)
• 15 x Crab Marches (IC)
• 40 x Flutter Kicks (IC)

Announcements:

• F3 Dads – 6/19 @ The Yank
• Blood Drive – 6/16 @ Techworks in Belmont
• Service Project – Chap Stick & Nail Clippers
• Keep EHing Kotters and FNGs

Prayer Requests:

• JK2’s oldest daughter
• Turtleman
• Roscoe’s Father in Law
• Joey Denton
• Stinky Bird’s wife

Always a good way to start the week.  Strong work by a good group of men.  Keep pushing the rock.

Thankful for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Bubba Sparxxx EH game is strong, pulling in a FNG and a Kotter to join 10 others for a dirty dozen on a fine morning at Tequila Sunrise.  Here’s what I remember:

The Thang:

Started in the circle with all exercises done in cadence:

• 10 x Seal Jacks
• 10 x Mike Tysons
• 10 x Jane Fondas L
• 10 x Jane Fondas R
• 15 x Crab Marches
• 15 x Dying Cockroaches
• 25 x Flutter Kicks
• Knee to chest stretch L & R
• 10 x Single Leg Glute Bridge L
• 10 x Single Leg Glute Bridge R
• 25 x Penguins
• 25 x Toe Touches
• 15 x Ski Abs

15 minutes and 0 miles to show for it.  Time to get some runnin in.  Down into Eagle Park to the intersection of Assembly and Blueberry for some hill work.

Triple Nickel

• Bottom of the Hill – 5 Burpees
• Top of the Hill – 5 Burpees

Repeat 5 times

We returned to the flag with the sun on it’s way up and a much lighter area.  The PAX noticed an area marked off by cones and 2 gym bags full of round objects.  Rewind the tape to Saturday when YHC had the Q at the Bunker, and we used the dodgeballs to play 21.  I had a few PAX say that they thought we were going to play dodgeball that day and sounded disappointed we didn’t.  Well another opportunity presented itself, so YHC wasn’t going to let the PAX down twice in a row.  After counting off, we played 3 rounds of dodgeball.  Some real rifles for arms among this group of PAX, which should be expected because for most if not all of us, we were athletes in a past life.  There were a few shots below the belt, but we escaped the stupidity largely intact.  Good times.

Wrapped up with a little more work in cadence:

• 10 x Crab Marches
• 5 x Single Leg Glute Bridge L
• 5 x Single Leg Glute Bridge R

and that was that.

Announcements:

• Blood Drive – June 16th
• F3 Dads – June 19th – Bubba Sparxxx , Gavel, & Nutria to Q
• NUOS workout at Gashouse and The Yank

Prayer Requests:

• Turtleman
• Orangeman
• Rebar
• Doodles
• Buckeye’s roomate
• Rudolph’s family
• Breaker Breaker’s son moving

Moleskin:

Two great additions to the TS PAX with Gator and 5 degrees.  Both men pushed strong through the Triple Nickel and rolled right along with the group.  Neither was the Six, which speaks to their level of fitness coming in.  Looking forward to seeing both men regularly at TS.

Good to see BOS and Virus back after their time away.  Both have been vital to my personal growth, and stuck with me in my early days when I was just struggling.  “So I’ll see you tomorrow?” was a typical  response from BOS, and without a good reason not to, I guess I just had to keep coming.  Better for it.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo