Author: JJ (Page 15 of 16)

While in Tennessee over Thanksgiving, YHC posted at Stonewall which is an AO of F3 Nashville. After that hour, YHC was about as spent as he’d been after a post. It could have been several days of constant eating and watching football, or it could have been the beat down that was placed upon us. No matter the reason, YHC thought it was a workout that needed to be shared with the PAX of the Gashouse. YHC couldn’t bring back the massive duct-taped bricks that we used as coupons or the Stonewall surrounding the park in which my sorry carcass was dragged, but YHC had some ideas on how this could work.

Under the light of a super moon, a good crowd started to gather at the Black Knight.

Disclaimer for the FNG. This weinke was being brought across state lines so any injuries could result in federal charges if things got out of hand.

Warm-Up
SSH x 15
Merkins x 15
Moroccan Nightclubs x 15

The Pledge

Mosey (watch out for the hole) to the KFC rock quarry to pick out a coupon.

Mosey with coupon to the parking lot of the old Harris Teeter. As the PAX started to line up in the parking lot, I quickly realized I would have to Omaha on some things from the TN workout.

In groups of 2 to 3 (at first I had the bright idea that we might do this one at a time, uh no), the PAX ran a coupon lap around a section of the parking lot while holding the coupon above their head. While one group ran, the others stayed in line and did Squat Lifts with the coupons. When a group returned, the next group ran the coupon lap. After all groups ran, we cycled back through the groups with each one running another lap. During the second coupon lap, the other groups did flutter kicks while holding the coupon above their chest.

Mosey with coupon to the wall of the old HT (not a Stonewall, but a Brickwall will have to do). Line up against the wall for Dragonflys. What are those you ask? Lie on your back with your head against the wall with your legs extended. Pull your feet over your head and touch the wall. Good for the core. YHC called for 50, but that was met with groans and bellyaching so YHC being the merciful Q, we Omaha’d to 25. In hindsight, 25 were probably enough.

More Coupon laps. The PAX got in groups of 4 (or at least 4 was called; there was a group of 3 and a resulting group of 5 to make things add up and maybe some actual groups of 4; YHC lost track) and ran to the other end of the parking lot with their coupon and did 5 Merkins. To prove we could actually get into groups of 4, we tried the routine one more time except this time we only ran to the first curb. Once the group got to the curb, this time they did 25 Merkins.

Mosey around the back side of the building to the front of Bellacino’s. The PAX got back into groups of 4 (successfully to our credit this time) for one more round of coupon laps. This time each group would choose an exercise for the other 3 groups to perform. While the other 3 groups performed that exercise, the group ran to the dock, jumped the wall, and bear crawled back down the walk way and returned to the group. Once they were back, the next group ran, jumped, and bear crawled while the PAX did their called exercise; rinse and repeat until all 4 groups had ran, jumped, and bear crawled.

Group 1 chose Sumo Squats; Group 2 chose Leg Lifts; Group 3 chose Burpees (funny, hunh?); Group 4 chose Merkins.

To return the favor for Group 3, YHC called for a reverse. This time, the group would perform the exercise they chose for the other 3 groups, while the other 3 groups ran, jumped, and bear crawled. We cycled back through all 4 groups.

Mosey to the wall in front of the bank (watch out for the hole).

Coupon Step Ups x 20

Mosey to return the coupons to KFC

Back to the wall for Dips x 20

Mosey back to Snoball’s

Finish off with 22 Merkins for the vets.

COT
Announcements
Advisory meeting on 12/17

Prayer Requests
I don’t think any were mentioned, but if they were, I apologize. I failed to type them on my phone.

Naming of FNG Bookman. In hindsight, this was appropriate at a Q by JJ (different JJ, but still). Dynomite!

Prayer

Moleskin

After a weekend of fellowship at the Bi-Annual Christmas party and Convergence, it was great to see so many out on a Monday morning. F3 is truly a special group made so by the men who make it up. I was reminded of this in Nashville in my two attempts to work out. On Thanksgiving, I went to the gym with my nephew. I’m sure the gym serves its purpose, but it just felt empty. No mumble chatter; no jokes about a man walking into a doctor’s office covered in… Anyway, I didn’t look for the plant mentioned in Freed to Lead, but I did see a guy who looked just like a slim version of Kelvin Benjamin. I never actually saw him lift a weight in the hour I was there, but he seemed to know how to strut around. Contrast that to the F3 post at Stonewall. I immediately bonded with four other guys that I’d never met because we were there to push each other and make each other better.

Thanks for the chance to lead this morning. Aye!

Inspiration can come from many different sources. It can come from books we read (the Bible usually works well), coaches who lead us, or family that loves us. Inspiration for development of an F3 workout weinke can sometimes come from the most obscure places. After the most recent beat down from Gastone, I volunteered to lead a workout at Martha’s. On the way to work that morning, Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ came on the radio, and I knew I had the inspiration I needed to develop a weinke.

I arrived a little earlier than usual (which is typically 5:29) to find a few men already stretching. A few more rolled in prior to 5:30, and it was time to get started.

Warm-up
SSH x 15
LBC x 15
Merkins x 15
Imperial Walkers x 15

The Pledge

Mosey to the building at the center of the baseball fields at the park.

To allow everyone time to quickly catch their breath, I explained the ‘9 to 5’ theme of the workout to the PAX. Dolly Parton is known for her famous pair… of talents… those would be singing and acting (of which she did both for the movie ‘9 to 5’). So in honor of her famous pair of talents (singing and acting), we paired up with a partner for some Dolly Dora 1-2-3. Partner 1 ran to the end of the path between the baseball and softball fields. Partner 2 worked to complete the sets of exercises. Once Partner 1 returned, flip flop and Partner 2 does the running. Exercises were:

Merkins x 95
Squats x 195
LBCs x 295

With this completed, mosey to the picnic shelter near the restrooms. Had to get in 95 reps here:

Step-Ups x 30
Dips x 15
Steps-Ups x 30
Dips x 20

After some mumble chatter about the performance of the cast in ‘9 to 5’ (Yes, Dabney Coleman was in that movie. Think it was Stroganoff who got that one.), mosey around the running path to the bottom of the hill near the picnic shelter.

Here we did some 9 to 5’s:

Run to the top of the hill and do 1 American Hammer (using 4-count)
Run to the bottom of the hill and do 5 Burpees
Run back to the top of the hill and do 2 American Hammers.
Run back to the bottom of the hill and do 5 Burpees
Repeat until you’ve made it to 9 American Hammers.
Think most of the PAX got to 9. At some point, I believe I lost count of American Hammers. Time and my lack of oxygen required that this be called at whatever point you were at.

Mosey back towards Pelican’s.

To gather everyone together, we stopped on the curb near the entrance for a round of Derkins (total of 9 in a 4-count).

Mosey back to Pelican’s.

To finish it off, a round of Dolly’s x 14.

Announcements:
Burpee-thon

Prayer Requests:
Bandit – Aunt, Nancy Todd
Easy Rider – Brother
? (sorry) – Friend’s Son – Deployment to North Korea
Udders – Missionaries in Guam
Stroganoff – Dropping son off at college

Prayer

At this point, the PAX is just sort of standing around and not dispersing as normal. I felt something was wrong but couldn’t quite place it. Then, T-Square mentioned, “The Nameorama”. Oh yeah, that’s what I was missing. And how could I have missed that? I’ve been to countless F3 workouts, and each one has contained a Nameorama. Yet somehow in my attempt to not make a mistake, I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

So we circled back up for a better late than never Nameorama.

Thanks as always. Let’s do it again sometime. In the meantime, I’ll be working on a Steal Magnolia’s themed workout.

Been a while since I posted at Martha’s, so first of all, thanks to Gastone for the encouragement to Q. As I thought about a theme for the weinke, I was still thinking about the NBA draft last week. I’d heard the Hornets had drafted Monk and traded for Bacon. My excitement dwindled when I found out that neither one was our F3 brother of the same name. I also thought about a tweet from Freight that night questioning whether I had started to accept my F3 name. I had to look back and see where my namesake was drafted. He was drafted 11. And there was my theme.

Warm-Up
SSH x 11
LBCs x 11
Imperial Walkers x 11

The Pledge

Mosey to Gastone’s Hill for the first round of Eleven’s.

Sumo Squats at the bottom of the hill. Lunge walk up the hill a little ways. CCD’s at the top. Run back down the hill. Between the mumble chatter and the lunges, I lost count of what round I was on. Given that and the fact there were several more rounds of Eleven’s, YHC called that round of Eleven’s early.

Mosey to the Dollar General parking lot for round two of Eleven’s.

American Hammers on one side. Bear crawl to the other side. Plank Jacks on the other side. Run/Jog/Walk back. The pax made it all the way through round two.

Mosey to the old Harris Teeter/Lowe’s parking lot for round three of Eleven’s.

Hip Slappers against the wall. Flutter Kicks on the other side (1-2-3-ONE, 1-2-3-TWO, etc. was the count on the Flutters). The pax also made it all the way through round three.

Wall Sits with Shoulder Presses x 11

Mosey the long way through the parking lot and stopped at the wall in front of the bank.

Dips x 22

Mosey back home. We had time left so one round of Mary. Stone Cold – LBC x 20

Announcements
New site coming to post backblasts. Continue to use current site for now.

Prayer Requests
Gastone – Mother-in-law
Easy Rider – Unspoken
Outhouse – Brother-in-law
Special prayers for T-Square – If you’re readying this, we love you brother. We are all praying for you, your M, and your family.

Prayer

It was great to be back out at Martha’s this morning. Thanks to everyone for the push and the encouragement. Until next time…

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up to Q at Martha’s so that I would have extra motivation to get back in the gloom after the P200. At that point, my bracket was still perfect, and I had no idea what to expect from my Tar Heels after their collapse in the ACC tournament. Fast forward a couple of weeks, the P200 went great, and the Heels are still alive and looking strong. Since it is still basketball season in our household, the workout had to have a bracket challenge theme.

As with the NCAA tournament you must have the First Four as a warm-up…
SSH x 16
LBCs x 16
Merkins x 16
Imperial Walkers x 16

The Pledge

Mosey to the park with a stop at the building in between the baseball fields.

Now that we have the First Four out of the way, it’s time to do the real dancing. As with any dance, you need a partner, so partner up! Partner 1 runs to the end of the path between two of the baseball fields. Partner 2 does the following exercises. Once P1 gets back, flapjack and P2 does the running. The counts were 1-2-3-# instead of single counts to extend the fun.

Merkins x 64
Freddie Mercuries x 64
Squats x 64
LBCs x 64

Pete Chilcutt Planks until everyone is done

Mosey to the next round down to the shelter near the playground

Once again 1-2-3-# counts, not single counts.
Step ups x 32
Calf Raises x 32
Flutter Kicks x 32
American Hammers x 32

Mosey to the next round next to the restrooms

Congratulations on making it to the Sweet 16!
Hip slappers x 16
Bobby Hurley’s x 16 (Yeah, Duke DID make it to the Sweet 16 this year!)
Dips x 16
Derkins x 16

Mosey to the next round up through the parking lot

For the Elite Eight, we partnered back up.
Partner 1 ran to the other side of the parking lot while Partner 2 did 8-count Body Builders.
Each partner did 4 laps across the parking lot (that’s a total of 8 rounds)

Mosey back to Pelican’s for the FINAL FOUR!

4 Burpees OYO

We had time left so the PAX were able to get a few additional bracket selections in…
Gastone – LBCs
Bulldog – Sumo Squats
Hushpuppy – Merkins

Announcements
Davinci moving on April 29 so contact him if you can help
3rd F moving to 6:30 before the Gashouse workout starting 4/8; Hushpuppy working to get someone to Q the 3rd F in Belmont

Prayer Requests
Bandit – Aunt Nancy Todd Surgery on Friday
Hushpuppy – Co-worker Ashley going through Chemo treatments
Gastone – Jim Tisdale battling through final stages of cancer

Prayer

Gentlemen, as always it was a pleasure to lead this morning. I tried to keep the workout as non-partisan as possible so as not to cause a mutiny. Great work by all! Go Heels!

When I was a kid, I thought anyone 40 years old was just that, old. As a kid who loved sports, I watched Nolan Ryan, Jack Nicklaus,and Carlton Fisk who were all competing in their 40’s, and they were old. Now as I stand on the precipice of what I may have once perceived as the beginning of the end, I am once again reminded that life is about perspective. Age is just a number and not a defining characteristic. 5:30 is not really that early for a workout if you are up for a challenge and enjoy the fellowship of the guys that are pushing you. Burpees really are a fun and entertaining way to spend time at a worko… OK, I’m still working on that perspective.

So to prepare me for the life altering change that I am about to face, the workout had a 4-0 theme.

Warm-Up
Side-straddle Hops x 40
Moroccan Nightclubs x 40
LBCs x 40

The Pledge

The Thang
Mosey to the field beside the playground in the park.

Being 40 is something that doesn’t just happen overnight so you have to build up the years (or decades). So some 4-corner work should help with this. Run to each corner with exercises at each stop.
Corner 1 = Merkins x 10
Corner 2 = Squats x 20
Corner 3 = LBCs x 30
Corner 4 = Flutters x 40

Starting tomorrow, who knows if I’ll ever be able to take the stairs again so I need to learn to use the escalator? So Four Corners Escalator it is… Same exercises, but you take the earlier reps with you as you go.
Corner 1 = Merkins x 10
Corner 2 = Merkins x 10, Squats x 20
Corner 3 = Merkins x 10, Squats x 20, LBCs x 30
Corner 4 = Merkins x 10, Squats x 20, LBCs x 30, Flutters x 40

We took the escalator up, but we don’t want to be stuck on the top floor at Belk’s at the mall one day waiting for our M to find us and tell us to go get the car… So reverse escalator.

Corner 1 = Merkins x 10, Squats x 20, LBCs x 30, Flutters x 40
Corner 2 = Merkins x 10, Squats x 20, LBCs x 30
Corner 3 = Merkins x 10, Squats x 20
Corner 4 = Merkins x 10

Mosey to the large soccer field at the bottom of the hill.

In old age, you get dependent on others to help you through the simple tasks. So some partner work is in order.

Partner 1 runs to the other side of the field while Partner 2 does reps. Then flapjack, and Partner 2 does the running while Partner 1 does the reps. The plan was 4 x 100 giving us 400 reps, but time required us to Omaha to 50 reps on the last 3 exercises.

CDDs x 100
Lunges (single leg count) x 50
WW2 Situps x 50
Dying Cockroaches x 50

Mosey to the shelter

Right Leg Step Ups x 20
Left Leg Step Ups x 20
(That’s a total of 40)

Mosey back to Pelicans, but first a pit stop.  Gotta get use to making extra stops on long trips because I hear the ol’ bladder just can’t hold it like it could in the younger days.  Grab a spot on the curb.

Dips x 40 (I did say dips, not drips; don’t believe there were any bladder issues)

Complete the mosey back to Pelicans.

COT
Prayer Requests
Bandit’s aunt- cancer
Easy Rider’s uncle Keith
Mr. Jenkins’ friend w/ cancer
Family and friends of teenager involved in recent car crash
Our country

Praise for Dr. Feelgood’s dad. Glad to hear he is doing well. Look forward to you being off IR and back physically in the gloom with us.

Prayer to Close

4 took part in an impromptu Coffeerama at HT/Starbucks. Really enjoyed the conversation guys.

Thanks to the men who showed up this morning, and the Gastonia F3 PAX as a whole who have pushed and encouraged me for almost a year now. As I said earlier, it’s all about perspective. We talked last week in our study of the book, Freedom From Fear, that it’s all about attitude (Tuesday mornings, HT, 6am, not too late to join). You’re only as old as you feel, and that rock you’re pushing is only as big as you allow it to be. Our main verse yesterday in Sunday School was Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Look to God for that peace that only He can provide, live that peace in trying times, and share that peace with others who are in need.

Let’s do it again sometime.