Author: Short Sale (Page 3 of 19)

I re-committed to running another half marathon – a “thon” to Sargento. I began that journey in late 2022 only to have South Point schedule their athletic awards the same weekend as the Austin Thon, causing our trip leader to cancel. Ooompa takes the Texas bull by the gonads and commits in 2024 and that prompted Sargento to go for his Texas state running event once again. Now comes the physical and mental challenge of committing to that training (Again!). My last “thon” sucked because I failed to train properly. This time, I’m trying a new approach which is to strengthen my legs so they will be prepared for the mileage. I’m in week 2 of multiple leg focused workouts. Lots of squats, Romanian dead lifts, and Bulgarian split squats…basically any European based leg exercise. I decided to share this fun with the PAX attending my Q at the GasHouse. An hour of leg work and we only ran a mile and a half. I only did 20 total upper body reps. If there was ever a Q built for Quiche, this was it but alas, he probably chased Buckeye for another hypothetical half marathon. But here is the good news, Spiderman posted on a Saturday. The Bulldog Q wanted some sunlight, and it was a pleasant surprise.

Warm-up:

• Good Mornings, Toy Soldiers, Imperial Walkers, Side to Side Lunges and MNC’s all IC x 10
• Pledge
• Mosey

Five men followed me out of the parking lot and we headed to the front of the First Presbyterian Church at the circle. Leg day began with 5 jump squats then run the circle to the benches to do 10 Jump ups, run to the top of the circle, 5 jump squats, then 10 right leg step-ups, top of the circle for 5 jump squats, back to the benches for left leg step ups; top of the circle for 5 jump squats, then to the benches for 10 glute bridges. We repeated that routine.

Time to stretch. When Wojo Q’s his speed workout, I like that he does a warm up and then builds with stretching before adding the next phase. I demonstrated some hip mobility movement that can free the hips and upper thighs. We did some patented right over left followed by left over right. We then worked on calfs and hamstrings followed by glutes. This was done to limit some soreness from leg day.

Thang #2 – mosey to the rear of the church where there were 6 stations, only one card failed to be marked by the Q (q-fail).

1. Regular Squat – use kettlebell in any position
2. Deadlifts with 30 lb DB
3. Elevated front lunge left leg w/ 20 lb DB
4. Elevated front lunch right leg w/ 20 lb DB
5. Alternating Side Lunges w/ 30 lb DB
6. Heel Elevated Squats using the curb (no weight)

We all ran through this routine three times. Each round was 40 seconds on and 15 second rest. Without counting this was perfect for mumble chatter – which ensued into a variety of male subjects and humor. Roscoe found some Slavic leg competitions to entertain he and Whoopee…Spiderman surprisingly remained quiet and pushed through. JJ lamented over the Tarheels supposed improvement in defense,  Whoopee shared he was going to be in a car for 7-8 hours to Nashville with his M and daughter taking her back to school. Whoopee had done such a great job helping his wife recover from surgery, it was suggested the return home trip could bring the just reward of a road hummer (What on earth?!) Yes, the mere mention of this activity had all of us aging men reach deep into the memory banks for those dating years when such a concept actually had a snowballs chance in hell of happening. Man, leg day does challenge the mind.

We stretched a second round. Thang #3 occurred at the Youth PAD using the half wall for 5 Bulgarian Squats R then L then we lunge-walked through the porch and once at the other side of the parking lot, we did 10 Mike Tyson’s just to say it was not all legs. Two rounds of that were enough and it was time to mosey back. We had 3 minutes to spare – I introduced the bicycle pretzel crunch to much delight, followed by dollys and flutter kicks. Tube piped in with American Hammers and Spider/man finished it off with none other than Peter Parkers.

Announcements – Next Saturday at the GasHouse, Defib is digging into Hell and bringing a shovel full of Annihilation; it is best if you plan to fart-sack b/c pre-annihilation was awful. Crowders Mtn Hike next Sunday 8/27 meeting at the parking lot at 0800. Pack light as this will be a lengthy ruck ridge to ridge.  Sunday, 9/3 is the Coconut Horse Derby where Flintstone’s belt is on the line. I hear Gold Digger is not competing, so this opens things up for a competitive push of 5 miles. The next morning at 0700 at The Fuse (that is the big stadium down from the Leather and Lace – in case some of you need a landmark – we’ll have a Convergence inside the stadium. Parking is behind the field. Look for a re-post of the pre-blast b/c there seems to be confusion.

Prayers – Turtleman is battling his ass off…keep lifting him up; Norwood is recovering, a football player from Forestview was carted off the field, get well Mayor and Def Leppard, and there were a few more. I took us out.

Quiche – we missed you but you are loved in your absence.

I’ve been trying to get Sister Act to Q the GasHouse for the past few months. Dude’s really busy either going to the beach, working, or making excuses. I get his trepidation. The last time he co-q’ed, he went down in a heap of flames in the first round of Q vs. Q. Tentatively mark your calendars for Saturday, September 16th for the Redemption Tour (probably in pencil rather than pen for the time being). Once that was settled, I get the unexpected text saying “gonna make an appearance at Snooze tomorrow.” Wow, this is a surprise. SA has a doctor’s appointment for an MRI to finally get a look at that left knee. As I am building out my Weinke, I text SA if his knee can manage some squats or lower body work? A quick response: “I can handle what you got!” Why should I have expected diffrent? SA will figure out how to crawl at a 9 minute pace before he gives up. Keep on keeping on brother. I also learn another bat flipper is anticipated as Ball Joint desired some prep-work for his tri-athlon. Since I was the Q, I now had to plan a little more for the workout than I expected. TBH, I’d not really thought about until that point. Here is how it went down.

Warm-up (hey Def Leppard, I got there at 0738):

• Good Mornings SC x 10, SSH IC x 10, Imperial Walker Squat OYO x 10, Toy Soldier IC x 10, Side to Side Lunge IC x 10, 5 burpees OYO

Linus still has my shovel flag, so we had to mosey to the McAdenville Town Hall to get the pledge. We continued north up Main Street to reach the front of the YMCA, site of the Christmas Town 5k. Recall there are about 2.5′ brick walls that are about 20 yards apart. We’ll begin with 11’s: 10 Mike Tysons, bear crawl the 20 yards to then do 1 dirty hook-up. Jog back to the other side.  This was a shoulder burner. Thang #2 kept us in the same spot for the Triple Nickel: use the ledge for 5 derkins, run across and do 5 box jumps (or step ups); do it 5 times. Fellowship mosey to the back side with the concrete stands and the soccer field. We partnered up for a work and run thing. 2 PAX used the steps for 4 rounds:

• AMRAP: 5 Bulgarian Squats left, 5 right; flapjack
• AMRAP: Dips; flapjack
• AMRAP: Derkins; flapjack
• AMRAP: Decline Peter Parkers

My feet got wet on the dewy soccer field. That doesn’t sound manly but I don’t care – we moved to a paved parking lot on the back street behind the Main Street restaurants (former site of the Def Leppard party supplies; aka: the State Credit Union ATM). We ran a stacked 4 corners: building with 5 burpees + 10 Jump Squats + 20 Merkins + 40 Mtn Climbers. We had 5 minutes left, so moseyed back to the firepit for a little Mary. I introduced the bicycle pretzel crunch – it’s awesome.

COT: Announcements: 2nd F Lunch next Wed, Crowders Hike, Flintstone Belt derby, Convergence, F3 Dads 8/19 @ Folsom, JJ 5k will be 9/30. Prayers: Turtleman’s CarT treatment going on this week for another few days, Mayor’s knee surgery (today), triathlon participants (especially when Slaw is swimming), Def Leppard on the IR, SA’s MRA for knee. I’m sure there were others – consider your brothers in prayer – it’s helpful.

Snooze is winding down. We had the A-team this morning with SA, Balljoint, and Broker. No disclaimer required – just solid work, which I think they got their money’s worth. Seems the regulars are tapering at this point – which is the point of this summer time workout. School begins next week and Nutria has the Q (as of this moment, check the schedule). Judging by the traffic in McAdenville that gets pretty busy between 7 and 7:30, I imagine next week could be crazy with school going too. We’ll assess the situation and make a decision if we’ll finish the month or pull the plug early. SA and Balljoint were curious to see how Snooze worked. If you have some extra time on a Friday morning, stop by at 0645 to see what this AO has to offer before it ends.

It’s been a minute since my last Midoriyama post. The afternoons have been tough to plan when to leave ever since our team took on a project that finally implemented a few weeks ago. With things running somewhat smoothly, I was able to escape Tuesday afternoon to Q my first Midoriyama in a while. Nothing like waiting until the oven is fully heated before committing to this thing. I arrived early to set up a station work out. Pockets looking slim and trim was wrapping up his EC on the bike trail was kind enough to assist. At base camp, I counted 11 other idiots that needed extreme afternoon sun exposure – perfect for the station workout I had planned…until one more showed up. Ok, we have baker’s dozen. I pulled the men from the shaded awning of the turd-shack and let’s start this warm-up after a brief disclaimer: form over speed (SA’s not here, so good there), it’s hot, modify as needed (PAX took that literally to heart).

Warm-up:

• Seal Jacks – IC x 10
• Toy Soldiers – IC x 10
• Side to Side Lunge – IC x 10
• Core (these were done in part to demo what was to come…didn’t work so well either time)
  • Butterfly Sit Ups SC x 10
  • Frog Crunches SC x 10
  • Long Crunches SC x 10

Mosey to the soccer field on the left at the big parking lot. Divide into groups of 3. Wojo announced having back issues and went to do his own workout. The numbers worked well as we had 5 stations. Two partners will do work while the third PAX is the timer and runs to the fence which is in the shade and provides a few seconds of reprieve from the direct sun before returning to the other sideline. The 4 groups spread among the 5 stations. Each PAX had 2 exercises they would complete 10 reps of each as an AMSAPs (as many sets as possible).

1. Station 1
   1. 10 x Glute Bridges w/ 20 lb chest press & 10 x merkins
   2. 10 x Pullover Crunch w/ half block & 10 total Peter Parker (5 each)
2. Station 2
   1. 10 x Curls (w/ band) & 10 x CDD
   2. 10 x Leg Splits & 10 Rainbows
3. Station 3
   1. 10 x Renegade Row w 15 lb & 10 x Diamond Merkins
   2. 10 x American Hammer & 10 x Pretzel Crunch (5 each side)
4. Station 4
   1. 10 x Leg Raises & 10 In ‘n outs
   2. 10 x Butterfly Sit Ups & 10 Frog Crunch
5. Station 5
   1. 10 x Crunchy Frog & 10 x Freddie Merc
   2. 10 x Heels 2 Heaven & 10 x Long Crunch

We made it through two rounds which I thought we’d get three. Despite the demo of each exercise, the PAX still struggled to recall the form. There was a little upper body but this was intended to be core focused. Despite the best intentions of the Q to construct this somewhat simple (consider the source) workout with signs posted in the ground documenting each station and consist with 10 total reps, it was a struggle. Somehow the PAX stayed together and migrated through the stations reasonably well. But there was a lot of complaining about the Q not setting up the stations in the shaded area near the fence. I now see why F4 is doing trail runs “training” this summer as they are strolling happily through the shaded woods. I imagine plenty of water jugs – probably the super fancy Yeti’s or maybe the new rage the Stanley (per my 17 year old daughter). Anyway seemed kind of soft to workout in the shade. I mean this is Midoriyama – so what do you expect when you roll up at 1730 in the PM? Well maybe F4’s model is different. Hopefully it won’t soften up the hard core PAX too much.

Announcements – The Belt – Flintstone won it today; some CSAUP ruck options in the fall (make sure the route is shaded); Prayers: Turtleman, Norwood, Ratchet and 2.0

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale

I really envy you guys that hear your alarm and that’s it. Your day begins. The covers come off and your feet hit the floor. Better yet, you guys that wake ahead of your alarm – even better. But me, I have a process that in this iPhone age and time, no longer with the old clock/radio, I set 2 alarms. One is the pre-wake that I punch off. Then I rely on the 2nd alarm to rev the engine – warm the car if you will. Now I don’t officially get out of the bed. This is my struggle. If I was not posting, I will push the limits of exiting the bed. This often becomes my demise where 5 or 10 minutes of lying half-awake when I’m not falling asleep but I’m not doing anything much other than scanning random thoughts. In these moments, the idea of doing my own workout, stretching, or something useful and productive get smashed. This painful bad habit grabbed me again yesterday, throwing me off the pre-workout routine of getting on workout clothes, shoes, walking my dog, and feeding her medicine which rivals a 90-year-old geriatric. I sped toward the AO monitoring the various time/clocks in my car, realizing time was not on my side. Not good for an F3 workout, especially when I’m the Q. I arrive to see 4 men already into the warm-up (Thanks to Broke for covering). I’m sure those guys wondered if the Q would be a no-show, which I’ve done 1 time before in my career. The phrase better late than never could be said, but that just an excuse, kind of like the ones that dance through my brain after my alarm that keep me in the fartsack.

Picking up from Broke:

• Toy Soldier, Side to Side Lunge IC x 10
• Plank – press heels toward the ground for a calf stretch
• Plank – right foot by right hand, hold, left arm up, right arm up, regular
• Plank – left foot by left hand, hold, left arm up, right arm up, regular
• Inchworm into downward dog, hold, stretch
• Pledge

I had a brief thought when creating the weinke that I might do 20 minutes of deep stretching. If you’ve not been to Snooze, the parking lot is old gravel – so maybe the finale we’ll try that finding some smooth pavement. Alas, today would be something else I cooked up, we traveled west out of the lot and across Main Street to the McAdenville sign, turned down Poplar Street and found the larger parking lot behind the Main Street row of buildings. A little “walk the plank” action using the larger parking lines.

• Begin w/ 10 HR Merkins, Bear Crawl along the parking line
• 10 Diamond Merkins, side plank walk along the top of the parking line
• 10 Peter Parker Merkins, Joe Hendricks along the parking line
• 10 Plank Jack Merkins (down at the same time legs spread out), plank walk left to start
• Repeat 1x

This was a grinder with 80 merkins out of the gate and shoulder work to boot. I recall I normally call 5 reps, might do that the next time. We learned Leppard’s old ATM was in this lot years ago – he’d stop by on a Friday to drain the bank account so he could go out drinking that night. (Some parts of that are true, others are fictional to improve the story). Conveniently, this parking lot adjoins the McAdenville Greenway – we’ve not used this end of the Greenway, so let’s take a mosey. We stroll along the path and arrive at the base of Academy Street and mosey past a few houses to the base of the hill. For those that have run the Christmas Town 5k and had the pleasure of pushing the Speed for Need chariot, this is a nice climb. Recall you let it fly down Academy Circle then take a sharp turn and get this nice hill in your face. This is about 2.5 miles in at this point and often when I take over for my turn to push. This is also the point where I curse the speed groups that attempt to set PRs and I’m usually spent at this point only to have to suck up some courage to push the cart. Those aren’t bad challenges, but we love to whine about them.

OK – back to the workout – DORA – 100 Crunchy Frogs, 200 American Hammers (ct 1 side) and 300 Mtn Climbers (ct 1 side). Partner 2 ran up the hill and back. Still more time on the watch, let’s mosey up the hill some more and leave some space of elevation for the Triple Nickle: 5 LBCs, 5 Penguins, 5x. Broke busted out and led this one. About 8 minutes Q (paraphrasing Gumby), at every house on the left, do 5 squats, that burned up some time as we headed down the hill, past the fire station, past the coffee shops, and returned to base.

Announcements: 2nd F Lunch this coming week in Dallas at the Pita Wheel, Slaw Challenge. Prayers: Wirenut’s mother, Turtleman, Norwood, others I can’t recall.

Sorry to the guys for being tardy, but thanks for allowing me to jump in and guide you through a beatdown.

Until the next one.

Short Sale

We all have our goals be it things around the house, the office, projects, etc. In this F3 world most of us have fitness goals as well. Maybe it’s winning the iron skillet, a number of posts in a month, or running event like a race or relay. The past two years, I’d set aside June as my 30 for 30 month. As much as I’d like that to be solely based on F3 posts, I’m not there yet. Hat’s off to Slaw, Suess, SA, Broke and many others that make that push. No for me, it’s 30 workouts of at least 30 minutes of work in whatever form it is for that day to burn some calories. Leading into the final week I needed at least an extra workout – checked that box Tuesday. Well then I wake up Thursday not feeling it pushing off exercise to the end of the day, maybe a run, Midoriyama, or a OYO bootcamp? Wouldn’t you guess work gets sideways and throws off that plan. Guess Friday is a double post day now.

Warm-up:

• Seal Jacks IC x 10
• Imperial Walkers IC x 10
• Side to Side Lunge IC x 10
• Arrows IC x 10 – yes Sister Act – I called Arrows – these will warm-up your shoulders…SA is having none of this great warm-up exercise this hot, muggy morning. SA: “…look at Short Sale, we’re gonna do some archery today…” SA mockingly shoots arrows into the air. He would not make a good cupid. “Whatever”
• I had some other warm-up exercises we may have completed but at this point I was on the verge of calling the Slaughter Starter – I didn’t out of respect for the others in the circle. But I was close.
• Say the Pledge

We mosey to west side of the parking lot through the construction are, head south on Chester Street for one block. It was during this mosey that I took inventory of the PAX. A pretty solid group and SA is already barking at me a bit, so this is going to be good. But my only weapon to fight with was the level of intensity of the workout – let’s turn that up a notch.

We arrive on Main Street and I announce Route 198. What is that you inquire? It’s not a Short Sale workout if it doesn’t have a little bit of complicated mixed in, only this wasn’t that complicated. Instead of Route 66 involving 1 exercise escalating by one to 11. This routine is 3 exercises increasing by one at each lamppost on the left side (yes I said the left side of the street). So, we did LBCs, Hand Release Merkins and Parker Peters. Now that set may seem random to you but there is a purpose to the structure of crunching your core, followed by shoulder and plank work, then to hit your core again with the knee coming across to your opposite elbow. Using the lamps on the left took us a half block past South Street. We did a quick 10 count and back-tracked to South Street and found the benches for some full body work.

• Face south: step down left x 15
• Face north; step down right x 15
• 15 Dips, 15 Derkins
• Bulgarian Squats – 15 R / 15 L
• 15 Dips, 15 Derkins

10 count – mosey south, cross Main St (Seuss stuck w/ us), get to Second St, 5 burpees; mosey to Third St, 5 burpees. Mosey east on Third St and left down the hill of a parking lot that basically sits in a hole – nice – we’ll use this spot. Find a partner – I drew Slaw (now I have to push to keep up with him!) Dora: 100 Crunchy Frogs, 200 Freddie Mercs, 300 Flutters. Nice work by the teams. Stubing had to depart early for work at this point. Now we’ll slide over to use the concrete wall for a Triple Nickel since SA was with us. 5 Australian Mtn Climbers on the wall, run up the steep driveway hill for 5 Imperial Walker Squat (count the squat). As you have been told, 5 rounds. Let’s head back – North up South Street, we stopped for 5 burpees at the intersections of Second and Main. Back over to the benches as we have time for more bench work:

• Face south: step down left x 15
• Face north; step down right x 15
• 15 Dips, 15 Derkins
• Squats x 15
• 15 Dips, 15 Derkins

I think that may have been it – should have written this on Friday, oh well, I aim to please.

COT: Prayers for Ratchet and Jackson Hall, Norwood, Huck, and SA’s co-worker. Announcements – all events shared have now been completed. Check another backblast if you need info.

As I noted, we had a solid crew that I knew could be pushed. Whether they wanted it, only they can tell you that. I tried to keep the suggestions simple enough but difficult enough to be a challenge. We often say “good Q” after a beatdown, but when you receive that compliment in a text, call or verbal sharing following the workout, you know it was sincere. So even with a silly Arrow warm up (for the shoulder work ahead), I always aim to please. You’re welcome SA. I appreciate you too brother. As well as the other PAX that joined in without much complaining.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale

7 men gathered in the parking lot of the Harris Teeter, home to the Sunday AO of The Coconut Horse. As the clock struck 0630, a white suburban was coming in hot – no, this is not JJ as he was already present. This would be Maybelline, somewhat early. Four runners took off for the main loop. Maybelline had his ruck vest to join Hunchback and Scrat for the Heatherloch ruck. Flintstone hung back with the Q for a slower mosey of 4 miles. We all reconvened in the parking lot at 0715, right on time. Stroganoff led the way pushing the pace for the primary runners. It was hot and muggy; summer has definitely arrived.

COT: Announcements – July 4th Declaration of Independence special beatdown at the hands of Tesla, followed by the reading of the Declaration (0700-0800); Roscoe has the Q at the Storm that morning. Annihilation with Tiger on 7/15 at the Yank. Prayers: Norwood, Ratchet & 2.0, Maybelline’s cousin, Roscoe’s uncle, Radar’s sister, and Anchorman’s sister-in-law.

Q-Source – the final chapter of The Dichotomy of Leadership covered Focused, But Detached written by Leif Babin. If you’re similar to me, certain phrases get stuck in your vocabulary and used on a regular basis without thought. “I can’t see the forest but for the trees,” is one of those in my lexicon. It was not quoted in the book but summarizes the concept we studied. A leader sometimes will be involved in detail but can’t get too intertwined or else lose some needed vision to guide the team. There are times the leader must detach in order to have perspective on the situation. Consistent with the 12 chapters in this book is the dichotomy of when to apply the focus or the detachment. It can be a struggle to find that balance. One of the quotes in the chapter worth sharing came from Colonel David Hackworth written in About Face which says: “An organization does well only those things the Boss checks.” I found that to be true in my team as my former boss pushed me to thoroughly check on details, even when it was beyond the point of my confidence in knowing the answer. He had me make phone calls or share updates on progress. He was a bit old school in his approach, but his way turned out to be right more than wrong. The lesson is the boss should never become too detached otherwise the team may skip a necessary detail.

Our group enjoyed this study. It stimulated good discussion for us. Until the next time, grateful for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale

The initial shovel flag was planted in March 2015 for our region. We began to grow and expand. Along the way we’ve impacted a number of me, mostly in a positive way, though I’m sure a few in a negative manner, if we’re being honest (TBH as the kids say these days). In the early years, some dad’s brought their young boys to some of the workouts. One (Smalls) even led a workout (it was pretty good if memory serves). Yesterday was Father’s Day, which we take time to recognize men that brought us into the world, providing guidance and usually serving as a role model to shape our lives. So this morning, as our pre-game circle gathered, a youthful figure emerged, though he’s much bigger now. None other than one of Squirt’s twin boys: Papa-Johns. Same smile on his face as I remember about 5 years ago. Papa-Johns is now 16 and able to drive to the workout. Why did you drive himself? Because Papa-Johns beat the fartsack and Squirt didn’t. That’s ok – maybe now Papa-Johns will put the EH on his dad this time. Nice to have you back young fella.

Warm-Up: All IC x 10: Seal Jacks, Imperial Walkers, Toy Soldiers, Side to Side Lunges, Arrows, and some squat flingy thing I came up with to warm up the shoulders a big more (because they were gonna get ‘werked). Pledge, mosey.

Thang: we arrived at the parking lot of Planet Fitness. Whoopee was still heartbroken that Stroganoff called nary a one hip slapper Saturday. You see Whoopee wanted flex his muscle in front of his future son-in-law “Jackpot.” Okay – not quite son in law – but serious boyfriend. When the M says be kind to him, she’s already taking a shine to this guy so anyway – Whoopee needed to get this out of his system.

Against the wall – 10 hip slappers, bear crawl to the parking median, 15 merkins, run to the end of the parking lot, 5 burpees – do this for 3 rounds. Dying cockroaches waiting for the 6. Time to share a story from Fathers Day – Roscoe talked about dinner with his family at LongHorns and then a Honey Hunters baseball game. Good stuff.

Mosey through Food Lion to the Dollar General. Just to be douchy – Triple Nickel: Jump Squats and Mike Tysons. Oh yeah – someone sitting in their AT&T truck is nodding their head – you know you like it! More time for Father’s Day stories – Nutria shared his kids put him on a scavenger hunt for candy. Some others I can’t recall.

Mosey over to Gastone’s Hill (doesn’t Gastone need to post sometime or else we re-name this thing? your call). Let’s NUR up the hill and every 2nd mailbox, drop and do 5 plank jacks – more burn if you face downhill. Flintstone beat me to the top, I called Omaha at the first cross street. We did 50 LBCs OYO. Down the hill, running forward this time – every 3rd mailbox do 5 shoulder taps. At the bottom, some called Al Gore, the Q didn’t and ignored the mutiny. One more Father’s Day story  or two. Let’s go back to base. At Riverwood Trail, stop for squats. Q checks watch – plenty of time – we’ll go the long way, down the hill and through the trail to the park. Stop for core work: 20 flutters, 20 Freddie mercury, 20 American hammers. We had about 5 minutes left. As we began the mosey home, Amazon suggested pull-ups. So as a time-waster, I stopped at the pull-up bar and said 50 burpees unless our Nantan could execute a perfect form pull up. Roscoe asked which grip we preferred him to use – I said your choice. Roscoe hung briefly then easily maneuvered up the bar and held his pose. Ok – now 25 burpees or someone else step to the plate for 1 pull-up. Secretly I was rooting for Papa John’s to show off but JJ grabbed it instead. The PAX were saved by Roscoe and JJ. Good thing Whoopee didn’t get on it b/c he was ready to sabotage the PAX and NOT do a pull up so the PAX would need to do burpees. We migrated to the parking lot as time expired.

COT: Prayers for Ratchet and 2.0, Norwood, praise for Anchorman’s Sister in Law. Announcements for Lunch this Wednesday at Logans, Annihilation at Old School w/ SA, July 4th workout at TFY for reading of Declaration of Independence.

It was a lively group this morning at The Sandlot. Hopefully the PAX got their money’s worth. Great to see Papa Johns out there. Hopefully he will join us again and bring Squirt along too.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale

When Whoopee asked me to take over as Site Q of the famed GasHouse, it did not take long to HC. However, when not out of town, I tend to feel obligated to be there, whether I’m leading the workout or not. Any of you old Site Q’s feel that way? Other than the Q vs. Q challenge, I’ve been present each Saturday that I was in town. When filling the June Q list, I noticed Wirenut had an opening on June 10th. I recall last year he and Whoopee did a Q swap, so #repeat. It had been a minute since my last Old School Q. I do recall the beer workout being deployed. But Leppard’s trying to get cured off the White Claws these days so better not tempt him too much. The idea that kept coming back was the Weinke Freight used in his Q vs. Q. It was a good plan. It had a great mix of block work and running. So, my opponent that day likes to pay homage to F3 men with his WODs. While this grouping of exercises have nothing to do with his name but the inspiration certainly does. Let me spread my seasoning on it a bit and I give you “The Freight.”

Warm-up: all IC x 10: Seal Jacks, Imperial Walkers, Side to Side Lunge, Gravel Pickers, Arrows, MNCs

Grab a block and walk over to the street side of the paved asphalt. The workout has a start, middle, and end. There would be various ways of travel between the 3 segments.

1. 10 burpees; murder bunny to middle cone, run to other side – 10 more burpees
2. Run to middle for 10 hop overs, return to start
3. 20 Turtle crunches, run to middle for 10 hop overs, murder bunny to track
4. 20 OH Press, Murder Bunny to middle, bear crawl to start, 10 CDDs
5. Run across the field, take a full lap around the track
6. 20 Heels 2 Heaven, run w/ block, 10 blockees, run w/ block, 20 SSH
7. 10 Curls, OH Block Carry, drop block, run, 10 HR merkins
8. 15 jump squats, run, grab block – lunge walk to other side, 15 jump squats (legs were shot by now)
9. OH block carry to middle, 20 derkins, leave block, run, 20 merkins
10. Take a full lap around the track, broad jump to middle, 20 rocky balboas, murder bunny, 10 hammers and 10 big boys
11. NUR across to other side, 20 Imperial Walkers
12. 10 Mike Tysons, run to middle, 10 Parker Peter, run, 15 block curls
13. 10 Thrusters, run w/ block to other side, 10 block pull overs
14. 20 Penguin crunch, run to other side, 20 Turtle Crunch
15. Take a half lap around the track, murder bunny to the middle, 20 dips, crab walk, 20 Genie Knee to Elbow
16. 20 OH presses, carry block to other side, 20 skull crushers
17. Run a full lap; murder bunny to the middle, carry block to other side – >> END

COT: Prayers for Gumby’s family, Ratchet (Jackson Hall), Norwood, Anchor Man’s Sister in Law procedure. Announcements for 3rd F Lunch 6/21 at Logans, 7/4 TFY – 0700 – 0745 workout, then reading of Declaration of Independence.

Notes: Flintstone organized the Lightening EC at 0600 which many of the PAX completed. That took a bit of wind out of the sails, especially the First F Q.  Just remember, extra credit is extra. It’s not the Q’s fault to make your second workout easier. Always good to test yourself, but be prepared. I was happy with today’s workout. Block work is always a tough one but add in the running and keep the pace going, the heart rate remains elevated. The chatter wasn’t too bad today but notably some of the louder voices were missing, so that made it easier on the old Q. The Q swap was as good as expected so I could get to a different AO and be around the NOGA crowd – especially to get Timeout afterwards.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead,

Short Sale

A few weeks ago, JJ had the Q for Annihilation and it damn near killed me. I was not mentally nor physically prepared for that assault. How do you get better? You tackle tough challenges so with today’s GasHouse Q, I focused on the second element of JJ’s Weinke and built from there. More on that in a moment. I’ve been out of town the past two weeks, so nice to be at the friendly confines of the GasHouse, only the landscape has severely changed as the reconstruction of Grier Middle School has leveled the athletic fields and old gym where back in the day as a gangly pimple faced kid in the mid 80’s, life was beginng to swirl. But I digress, there is a workout to lead.

Warm-up:

• Seal Jacks IC x 10 (except I was about to cough at 8 so the inflection changed while I tried not to barf in my mouth, so some PAX ceased fire)
• Side to Side Lunge IC x 10
• Runners Lunge Twist – Right (no cadence, just hold)
• Runners Lunge Twist – Left (here ends the YOGA portion of the workout)
• Arrows IC x 10
• Pledge

Mosey – Hushpuppy was rolling hot and asked where to meet – Garrison Boulevard Business Park – see you in a few.

We arrived at said location and I shared the plan of “The Nasty JJ”. It was not received warmly, even by JJ who created this monster. At the low point of the parking lot, 11 Mike Tysons, run up the hill, stop at the entrance for a burpee, continue to the Business Park sign, 11 Imperial Walker Squat (count the squat), run down the hill, stop again for 1 burpee. Each exercise was 11 reps each time. We did this for 11 minutes and hence the Nasty JJ will live on in lore forever.

Once complete, the next phase began for Every 2 Minutes on the Minute. The PAX would mosey to a pre-selected destination but along the way every two minutes would break for:

• 10 SSH
• 10 Tabletop Crunch (aka Turtle Crunch)
• 10 Penguin Crunch
• 10 Merkins
• 10 Squats

Now some of you are thinking, this sounds simple, how does this get all “short-saled up?” It didn’t, just stuck to the plan, weird, huh? Felt weird, but we moseyed and had 2 stops along Laurel Lane until we arrived at the intersection of Nottingham and Laurel for the 3rd installment. This is where the Watt’s Up portion of the workout kicked in. Maybe a year or two, Watt’s Up Q’ed GasHouse and we arrived at this same spot for a terrible version of 4 corners using Laurel, Woodvale, Dorset, and Nottingham as our corners and had a handful of exercises to complete. Instead of doing multiple rounds, I opted for 1 due to time. But like Watt’s Up’s version, its was a burner where we completed the same count of the aforementioned 5 exercises. Once all 4 corners were done, we then moseyed back down Nottingham to left on Dorset to right on Scotch – time for one more set (this made 8 total sets). We then continue to the end of Scotch which is a nicely elevated cul-de-sac; perfect for a quick Triple Nickle. Somehow saying Triple Nickle doesn’t sound right unless it’s Sister Act’s gravelly voice. So now repeat after me: “Triple Nickle.” There, you’ve got it. Only we’re not doing the standard SA set of burpee, IMT, IWS, HRM. No, we’re running low on time, so I opted for 5 plank jacks at the bottom and 5 shoulder taps (sgl ct) at the top, for 5 rounds. We had 7 minutes to get back to base upon which we arrived right on time.

COT – 7/4 at TFY – reading of Declaration of Independence following the workout; Seek to add Flintstone’s Thunder & Lightening challenge to your schedule. Prayers: Hunk a Junk shared about an acquaintance in Mt. Holly who’s son took his life; Hushpuppy asked for prayers as his new relationship which combines two families with 6 (?) kids of all ages.

Moleskin: 1Peter 2:21 “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” I didn’t share this verse today, but reflecting on the workout and discussion among PAX, it is fitting. I mentioned the idea of the workout came from two strong men in JJ and Watt’s Up. Both have strong discipline in visible areas of their faith and fitness. Today’s plan came together from previous workouts they had led and it was a bit daunting to see if we could tackle, but we surely did. Our group of 5 ended up with 3 miles under our belts (Stroganoff at 8 after some EC before). At various times whether in F3, our familes, our communities, churches, or workplaces, we take a leadership role. But in most instances, we followed some path set before us. Jesus did that for us. Hearing Hunk A Junk share that a young man ended his life is tragic. Life is not easy and there will always be a challenge to face. Trust in the Lord and seek a brighter path that can pull you through is a reliable source.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale

I woke up at 5:06 am this morning. If I were posting normally, I’d begin frantically running around to get contacts in and into workout attire. But not this morning. I relieved myself and then crawled back in the fartsack. Only today, the fartsack would eventually be defeated. I slept another half hour before I began morning duties of walking our dog and getting her fed. I had plenty of time that I arrived at the newest AO in our region located in McAdenville. JJ and Flintstone were already in the parking lot, Flintstone having completed some EC in the form of his new EC “Thunder” workout. The cavalcade of vehicles began rolling into the lot. It was time to go. A brief disclaimer opened, and some light chatter ensued.

Warm-up:

Imperial Walkers IC x 11, Toy Soldiers IC x 10, the Patented Right over Left IC followed by the Patented Left over Right IC (apparently, I don’t count the cadence correctly), Arrows IC x 10, SSH IC x 10

Thang: stay in the circle, we’re doing Mary first b/c the former Nantan requested a core workout since he is limited by a bum elbow. We did all of these exercises for 30 seconds each w/ no rest between.

• Reverse Crunch
• American Hammer
• Raised Penguin Crunch
• Turtle Crunch
• Legs at 90 degrees, Alt Toe Touch
• Bear – R hand to L knee
• Bear – L hand to R knee
• Burps
• Genie Crunch: elbow to knee
• Genie Crunch: knee to elbow
• Heels 2 Heaven
• Crunchy Frog
• Hollow Hold
• Ski Abs

The offer was made to remain in the parking lot and do 4 more sets of that – the PAX quickly opted for a mosey. We exited the parking lot and played frogger to move up Main Street. Thankfully no PAX were harmed in the travel. Once passed Terra Mia and the salon, we nestled into the small lot between buildings. Ready for the Stack and Run? Sure you are…goes like this. 50 single count SSH’s run down Poplar Street (the back street) hang a left and another left to circle back up Main Street to our spot. Follow this routine stacking the exercises after each lap:

• 50 SSH, lap
• 50 SSH, 40 LBCs, lap
• 50 SSH, 40 LBCs, 30 jump squats, lap
• 50 SSH, 40 LBCs, 30 jump squats, 20 HR Merkins, lap
• 50 SSH, 40 LBCs, 30 jump squats, 20 HR Merkins, 10 Burpees, lap

This is where time was running low. The Q’s M had scheduled an 8 am vet appointment for our sick dog so I had to cut this short a bit. Hustle back to the base.

COT: Annihilation at the Yank tomorrow w/ Boudin, FIA starting in Belmont – tell your M, July 4th at the Yank 7-8 am workout followed by reading the Declaration of Independence. Prayers: Orangeman asked for prayers for the Grant family and shared praise for his daughter and family relocating to Gastonia. Next Q’s for Snooze will be Tesla on 6/9 and Radar 6/16, and Oompa on 6/30 (open is 6/23).

Debrief with Flintstone, we may relocate where we meet in McAdenville. Navigating the 3 point intersection could be problematic so moving up Main Street could alleviate that and still leave plenty of room to explore at this new AO. We had 7 guys double post having suffered through Breaker’s Q at Tequila Sunrise. A handful of guys walked to the coffee shop for 2nd F. Hopefully one of your summer Fridays allows you to hit the snooze button and still get to a workout.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale