Author: Whoopee (Page 13 of 25)

4 real men posted this am at Diablo. Four. Real. Men. The girls were at the Pub, but more on that later. We started with the pledge, grabbed a sandbag and took off for a quick ruck to 7/11 (the store)-we marveled at the empty shelves and multiple boxes of stuff, wondered when it would be open so we could consider getting a slurpee or some diesel for our trucks (insert guttural growl and crotch scratch at this point)….no battery charger in site for a damn Prius (sorry HIPAA), then got to work.

The first rule was no straps-pick up your ruck and do 11 Squats then carry the ruck (again, no straps) to the other side of the 7/11 parking lot for 11 upright rows. We did this 7 times….then we did it 1 more time just because we liked it so much. And because we liked it. Next we got the sandbag and walked around the 12 gas pumps and did 20 Clavin’s (calf raises) at each pump. The sandbag was generously shared by all. This achieved the desired burn at about pump #7.  At this point we started seeing some Pubbers arriving so we did our usual cat-calls and “Hey pretty boy, you want a date?” taunts but unfortunately only Sargento took us up on this-he came over and tried to “citizen arrest” us for being at the 7/11 before it officially has opened. A few fist bumps later and he was gone. We kept moving towards the Great Golden Horizon (Waffle House) but had to stop at the gas station due to time. The price of gas was $2.29 so we did 2 squats, 2 monkey humpers, and 9 Merkins (229: you see what I did there Stroganoff? If not, I’ll ‘splain it to you later). We then headed back to start in time for a lap around Pelicans with merkins, squats, and upright rows before the quick COT.

Along the way we discussed a lot of things, as usual. Voodoo provided the only meaningful topic that I remember….maybe because I talked too much and really didn’t have anything meaningful to say???? He brought up I Corinthians chapter 13. Although you may not remember it by chapter, you probably remember the verse: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud….Voodoo mentioned his pastor recently preached on this and suggested that his congregants replace the word “Love” with their name: “Voodoo is patient, Voodoo is kind…” I think the point was something along the lines of this: Are we really loving those around us-everyone around us, not just the ones we find it easy to love or when it suits us? Are we really loving others like we should? Sure, it’s easy to love our wives when things are going well-kids are in bed, got a nice cool Colt 45 in a can, you and the missus are sharing some beanie weanies with some ketchup, and Marvin Gaye or Barry White come on the radio….mmmmmmm, can it get any better???? Why yes, Whoopee, it can get better!!!! But not on this BB because this is a family show and we are keeping it rated PG.  Change that channel right now Slaw. We will have none of that.

How about when things are not going well? How are you doing then? How about the “unloveable” people in our lives that we tolerate because we work with them or live near them? Think about this: maybe God put them there to teach us something. Find a way to be patient and kind. It really is not that hard to love others if you decide that it is important. Anyway, that was something that stuck with me throughout the day-thanks Voodoo. I needed that push. Hopefully I can remember this for awhile.

Good work men. You too, ladies of the Pub. You did ok today. We (men of Diablo) are proud of you.

Whoopee

5 Men showed for another serving of the Diablo Sammich. We started with the PLEDGE then got some Merkins and Butterfly SitUps to start. Then we moseyed with our rucks, a sandbag, and kettle bell to Martha’s. We got to the (sort of) hill by the picnic tables for the first part: The Donkey- Put all the rucks, the sandbag, and the kettle bell in a pile. Each man took a turn carrying everything he could carry up the hill to the picnic tables and back. While that was going on, the rest of the PAX did reps of various exercises to keep us moving. We figured there were 3 rucks weighing about 45-50#, a couple rucks weighing 20-30#, a 40# sandbag, and a kettle bell (?15-20#). We figured the load was over 200# for several of us. I think it was harder than I expected. The sandbag “fell” off my shoulders on the way up…thank the Lord. We moved on to the picnic tables for some step ups then worked our way back to start after hitting each light with some exercises-we started with 10 reps of the new exercise and did 5 of all of the previous exercises. We started with 10 Merkins then followed with the rest: Squats, Mountain Climbers, American Hammers, and Flutter Kicks. I can’t remember the order. We did a few more things at the remaining lights and finished coming out of the park with Hand Release Merkins-thanks Watts Up, they sucked. We got back to start and did some upright rows to get our final 45 seconds’ worth.

We had a quick COT then split for work.

It was another great day with the rucks. If you have not come to Diablo or another ruck workout, you are missing out. Give it a try and come join us.

Whoopee

Clear your calendar, cancel your haircut, move your wedding date, reschedule your dog’s bath, whatever it takes get this date free because you don’t want to miss this.

We’ve got our 5 year anniversary on this day, and to help celebrate it, Allen Tate has offered to let us shoot some guns and eat some food at his place. The Shoot ‘Em Up will start at noon on Saturday, 3/21/2020 at Allen Tate’s place. Bring your own guns and ammo and whatever you want to drink. We will have coolers and food there (minimal $$ contribution to help cover cost). Bring an FNG if you want. We will have several HIMs there acting as marshals to ensure safety. This will be a MEN ONLY event, so no 2.0’s unless they are considered adults (> 18 years old).

Save March 21, 2020 so you don’t miss this epic event.

We will have more details available as the date gets closer so be on the look out for that. Also, for planning purposes, we need a headcount-I need HCs from you before 3/14/2020. You can text, email, carrier pigeon, morse code, smoke signal, sign language, or just tell  Whoopee (that’s me) anytime between now and then. I’ll keep a running list so if things change we can adjust if needed.

Bring your own beverage, guns, and ammo. Food will be there. Event ends by 3pm so Allen Tate can shower, wash his hair, and get to bed early before church on Sunday. Hope you can make it.

Whoopee

It is late and I don’t remember what we did. If Watts Up did not remind me, there would be no BB. The only thing I remember about this is we had an FNG who lived in Australia for the last 10 + years and his F3 name is CYE, Concentrated Yeast Extract. This is the other name for vegemite. Betcha didn’t know that…..You’re Welcome.

Week 2, GoRuck Training…we are badasses. Plain and simple. Bad. Asses.  At least that is what I have to tell myself when I get in bed on Friday nights from now on thanks to Freight. These workouts are tough but a LOT OF FUN. I started on my Weinke last weekend on my way home from the inaugural GoRuck Training with Freight and think I made some adjustments last night before falling asleep.  Boudin wanted some EC so we did a couple miles before 0600 so when we got back to the parking lot an hour before the start of GasHouse with a bunch of cars in the parking lot, I was a bit surprised.

We started with a short mosey to the steps behind the church to pick up part of a telephone pole I had obtained a few months back. We took turns 2-person carrying this back to the track at Grier. We had a couple 40# sandbags and The Rock as coupons. The Rock is a couple pieces of granite wrapped in a towel that we used some Alabama chrome to attach a speaker so we could listen to Whoopee’s favorites this morning. Thanks for the assistance with this modification to The Rock Voodoo. Once we got to the track we  go to work. The group carried the above coupons in 1 direction and 2 Pax carried the telephone pole in the other direction. The group did 10 squats every quarter lap while the pole carriers kept a steady pace in the other direction until they met. At that time, the pole carriers swapped out for 2 semi-fresh pax. This process continued until all of us had a chance to carry the telephone pole for a lap. I think we went 37 laps in total (see above reference about Bad Asses).

We moved onto the grass for the next part: Bear with Me. This is a GoRuck exercise that we have done before at Diablo so there were some groans when I announced this. We moved the sandbags as our 10 yard markers and started up. The exercise involves Bear Crawls back and forth between the markers and 1 set of exercises at each end. The first round included the following: 20 reps of Squats, Merkins, Ruck Curls, Flutter Kicks, and Mountain Climbers. To be clear, this goes like this-bear crawl, squats, bear crawl, merkins, bear crawl, ruck curls…. For round 2, we did squats, upright rows, ruck curls, chest presses, and flutter kicks (I think). This took us the better part of the first hour so we headed back the long way to start to meet up with the BootCampers/PainLabbers with all of our coupons.

At this point a few of us re-hydrated, said the pledge with everyone, then headed out again after trading the telephone pole for a 60# sandbag (thanks a bunch Boudin). We started walking without any definite plans and miraculously ended up back at start at 0755 just in time for the COT. We got back in time to re-video the joke for my 2.0s about the telephone pole and calling Joe and Angie…..and the Pax ask: “Who are Joe and Angie?”……..Jo-Momma Angie-daddy (say it fast and it makes sense). Thanks guys, they enjoyed that.

If you have not been out on a ruck workout, you are missing out. Whether it is 1 on 1 or a crowd of 5 or more, the camaraderie and 2nd F that goes on is really what F3 is about. We all took turns with the coupons and no one really got too worn down. I will say it is every bit as tough as a typical F3 workouts because it is You vs You and you get your money’s worth out of these rucks if you do this right. Come check it out next week at The Yank starting at 0600 with Boudin as the Q.

At breakfast there was some chatter about IronMan races (technically a half ironman but that is a minor issue) for 2020………the goal may or may not eventually involve a trip to Hawaii……

Whoopee

So Freight got us out early for some GoRuck EC. It was tougher than I expected. We carried stuff and did some ruck thrusts so the legs and shoulders got a good warmup before my planned beat down. If you are looking for some EC over the next few months, look out for some info on this on both Twitter and Slack. We are meeting an hour before Saturday AOs for a 2 hour ruck training session and will finish with the Saturday AO COT. First week was Folsom and next week will be Schiele followed by The Yank with us alternating the Q. We will rotate between the AOs so we are coming your way eventually. All are welcome, but don’t expect us to just walk around with our purses-we are putting in some work.

After finishing the first half of EC, Freight, Watts Up, and Tiger split off from us. I tried to say a few things and get the WU started but…….the mumble chatter started sooner than I expected. Rookie mistake on my part…..been awhile for me so we did 3 or 4 reps of SSH then I just started running towards the flag at the front. I tried to hit every puddle (thanks for the info on today’s day HIPAA) with very few followers. Thanks Roscoe for obliging me on 1 big puddle. Just FYI, y’all are missing out. Jumping in those puddles is actually fun and I challenge you to do it without smiling. We made it up front to the flag for the pledge without too much trouble and did a few exercises on the way that I cannot remember. At the flag I gave a quick talk about Dredd’s speech at a prior CSAUP and his message that centered around 3 points: Roscoe remembered all of these with a little prompting on #3. I think a few others also remembered a few of these. The 3 points were the following: 1) Ask-Listen-Remember, 2) It all starts with Love, and 3) Fatigue makes cowards of us all. We briefly talked about these during the workout as this was not a time to lecture (SA was begging for more time to rest and talk but I just was not up for that). I wanted to remind us all about these 3 important points.

After the pledge we headed to the Turd Shacks with some mumble chatter, puddles, and a few exercises on the way. Once at the TS, we partnered up for some exercises. P1: run to TS from parking lot and do 3 Hip Slappers for each leg while P2 does exercises AMRAW. What is AMRAW you ask? Sounds a little like AMRAP, does it not? Well AMRAW is much better…..much more challenging……much more memorable (I think)……AMRAW is (drumroll………………….) As Many Reps As WHOOPEE.

The exercises were as follows: Bonnie Blairs (ouch), Merkins, Mountain Climbers, and BB sit-ups. I was planning on 2 rounds of this but HOLY NUTS those Bonnie Blairs kicked by arse…..so we moved on to the picnic tables for some reps AMRAW again. Grab a table and start going through the exercises as follows: Derkins (not so many), Step Ups (meh), Dips (again, not so many), and some BB sit-ups (I’ve been working on these and could tell progress for me personally).

Next we moseyed up to the tennis courts for some more AMRAW. We started at one corner and did 1 Burpee. Mosey to next corner and go up by 1 Burpee at each corner (2 at second corner, 3 at 3rd corner, 4 at 4th, 5 and 5th, and so on for AMRAW:As Many Reps As Whoopee). The night before I had dreams of hitting 20+ burpees on this-it was like I was Ralphie in the movie A Christmas Story and his theme paper. In my head all the pax were lining up along the tennis court lines clapping and cheering as I sprinted past them, confetti being thrown as I blew through those burpees, Folsom Women lined up for kisses and such as I finished my 50th burpee barely breaking a sweat…and then Saturday morning happened. I was sucking eggs as we  hit number 6. The number 50 was not in my vocabulary. My only motivation was trying to keep up with SA. Finally we hit 9 and all I could do was take a full lap before hitting the final 10 burpees and then we called it quits for the tennis courts.

We moseyed back to the Turd Shacks for some more AMRAW: I let the pax pick the exercises and P1 did 5 Hip Slappers each leg while P2 did the exercises. I can’t remember what we did but I do remember Montross picking Bonnie Blairs which I promptly vetoed and we did something else initially. To finish up we lunged and zombie-walked our way back with a few squats and planks along the way until we got back to start for some short Mary before calling time.

COT: prayers for Lyn Hamm, several pax with sick family members, pax with coworkers going through some rough times, among other requests.

Remember your brothers guys-those Kotters that are not showing up need you to reach out to them. Get them out in the gloom-it is the best antidepressant you will ever find and spending time with these GREAT HIMS of Folsom will make your day better. Thanks for the invite to Q. I needed this more than y’all realize….and the breakfast was covered by Allen Tate aka Chief of Folsom aka SeaBiscuit aka Mr. Ed aka Secretariat.

Whoopee

It was Monday. Whoever was Q had something come up. Not sure who it was but did not matter. This is F3 and that is not a big deal. Hope whoever had Q is ok and nothing big happened. Gastone tried to take the Q but Defib and I wrestled it from him. Been there before. I have regretted getting on that train before and it does not end well.

Defib and I decided on the fly I would take the first half and he would take the second half. This was 100% based on the fact that he had a watch and I did not-we need to finish on time and it was just that simple.

We started with a quick warmup:SSH, Merkins (good form), and LBCs. We then started to lunge to the park and (officially) I made it to the edge of the park border and then we started a slow mosey. We did a little plank or something else to let the 6 catch up then headed over to Clavin’s Hill for some work-5 squats at the bottom and Jack Webb to 7 at the top in escalating fashion (5 squats, up hill, Jack Webb 1, down hill, 5 squats, up hill Jack Webb 2, down hill, 5 squats, up hill Jack Webb 3…). We then moseyed toward the picnic tables. On the way we stopped for some plank (I think). When 6 caught up, we headed to picnic tables for some step ups……this was the point at which I started to erupt. I had been thinking about something for a few days and being the Q today was just what I needed to unpack this “thing” I was thinking about.

On Saturday I could not make the workout-family stuff that I needed to be home early to take care of-so I went in early for some EC. I got there at 420 am and did some stuff on my own until Anchorman and JJ showed up at 6 am for some ruck stuff. When we got back for start of GasHouse at 0700 there was a big crowd, probable about 20 or so. Out of that 20, about 15 went to PainLab-you are probably thinking “Where is Whoopee going with this?” or “What’s wrong with 15 guys in PainLab?” or “What the heck was Whoopee doing at 420am at the Schiele Museum by himself?” or “What were Anchorman and JJ doing riding together to the Shiele at 6am still in there PJ’s?” Oops, I told them I wouldn’t tell anyone. Please forget that last part. Well I’m gonna answer some of those questions right now so just hold onto your hypothetical horses.

Of those 15 guys, I could not tell you how much they have been posting during the week. Now, part of that is my fault because I don’t post as often as I used to and we have a lot of AOs to choose from so in their defense, they could be posting other places that I am not aware of, HOWEVER, I do not think that is the case, which is the point I am going to eventually make…..It is my opinion that many of the Saturday PainLab folks are just that: Saturday PainLab folks. If we are F3 and our mission is what it is, then our goal should be ACCELERATION-whatever that means to you is fine, but to me it means I not only need to get myself better, it also means I need to sharpen those men around me and help them accelerate. I told our group that I thought we all, but particularly the guys that have done a GREAT JOB with Painlab, needed to help get these PainLab folks out to some other AOs during the week. My words were something along the lines of if you are going to PainLab then you should be giving these guys a friendly earful…..get them to be accountable and post at some other AOs during the week. Maybe you can’t run (now) but you can mosey and you can do Bulldog or Diablo Sammich-get their butts out here. In the Gloom. With the other men. And get better-ACCELERATE. Look at Watts Up-Last year at this time he was a different man. Now, he can post anywhere, anytime, and keep up with every single one of us if not stay ahead of us. We should rename him Jules’ Wallet (from Pulp Fiction) because he is a bad mother………..sorry, got a little carried away. I’ll try to keep this rated PG. Again, don’t get me wrong, PainLab has been phenomenal. It has gotten a lot of men into F3 that would otherwise not even consider it. My point is DON’T STOP THERE! Take this to the next level. Get them to explore 2nd F and 3rd F and post more often. Remind them it is You vs You.

I got a pretty good rush from this rant so what else could we do but head across the way to the Turd Shack for some Hip Slappers. After a few sets Defib took over. We did a quick mosey to get in place for 11’s with Mike Tysons and Squats. About number 8 on the Mike Tyson’s I blacked out and don’t remember anything else. I think they carried me back to start for the COT. Not sure if we did the pledge at the beginning or the end (pretty sure we did it at some point-heck I could have sung the French national anthem for all I know). After everyone left I called 911 and an ambulance came and got me. Apparently I got some IV fluids and the paramedics dropped me off on my front steps. My wife found me a few hours later and brought me inside. Guess that will teach me to open my mouth.

Thanks for the fun-Whoopee

5 + 1 for Diablo-the plus 1 was Hushpuppy, soon to be known as Rushpuppy since his mile time has dropped significantly with all the running he has been doing. We started with the pledge then headed to Gastone’s hill. I had my nice warm winter gloves on so my plan was make it a leg day. We stayed true to this and hit each mailbox on the right with 10 squats on the way up-I was cussing Clavin on the way up after about 8 or so mailboxes-WHY SO MANY MAILBOXES, CLAVIN????!!!!! I think I will now call them “hellboxes.”

We finally made it to the top then did again in reverse with only 5 squats at each mailbox-nur on the way down which was not so bad. Once we go to the bottom we headed over to the school and stopped for some step-ups at the brick wall along the breezeway. 20 each leg with rucks on got a little burny on the legs (yes Stroganoff, burny is a word. If you would spend more time reading instead of watching TV your vocabulary would probably improve). We then headed sort of towards the steps but I got sidetracked when I saw the grassy hill-this was much better than the steps and I plan to return soon for more work on said hill. We went up and down a few times then headed back to start. We got back in time for the COT then all headed out.

Along the way DaVinci volunteered to Q next week then we got to planning a Waffle House trip-initially we figured this would be good to do during January around the birthdays of HIPAA or Defib, then after some discussion it seemed better timing to do it when we could spend a little more time at breakfast (such as a holiday). WELL WHAT DO YOU KNOW, NEXT THURSDAY IS THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS AND IS PRETTY MUCH A HOLIDAY AND AS FAR AS WE KNOW, NONE OF US HAVE TO WORK???!!!!! We thus proclaimed next Thursday our Waffle House Convergence for Diablo Sammich. We will invite the Pubbers and offer to drive them back to their cars if they would like-of course they are welcome to ruck with us back to Diablo Sammich start with us after getting some scattered and smothered good stuff then we can drive them back. All are welcome-come join us next Thursday at the new Waffle House on Union-we should be there by 0600. If you are lucky, they have a juke box and I’ll bring the quarters….

Whoopee

Good crowd today at Diablo. As usual, lots of second F and good pace to get the sweat going. Good to see DaVinci out here-hope to see him more regularly. If you get a chance, reach out to the Kotters and get them back out here with us-any AO, just get them coming back out or at least reach out so they know they are missed. One day we will be STOPPING FOR BREAKFAST at Waffle House.

Late post, but here it is. There were Diablo Sammiches for Thanksgiving and we had a good crowd considering it was a holiday. We rucked to Waffle House, took a picture to taunt the Pubbers with, then came back home. On the way back I sent the picture to BedPan who responded with a Happy Thanksgiving to the Sambriches from the Pubbers. Finally, this has been hanging over my head.