19 PAX in forecasted rainy conditions that turned out better than expected until COT.  Some next level stupid with Bear Crawls that even Tesla might think twice before calling and a few too many Australian Mountain Climbers and Flutter Kicks.  Here’s what I remember:

YHC rolled up a little early to stare down the parking lot.  An idea was brewing, but what’s the right distance?  The incoming PAX saw the look and knew it wasn’t good.  They were right.

The Thang:

• 15 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 15 x Hillbilly Walkers (IC)
• 15 x SSH (IC)
• 15 x Peter Parkers (IC)
• 15 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)

Mosey one lap around the lower parking lot, and back to where we started.

So it was like a Bear Crawl Suicide, where PAX

• Bear Crawl to the next set of parking spaces
• 3 x Merkins (OYO)
• Crawl Bear back to start
• 3 x Merkins (OYO)
• Bear Crawl two sets of parking spaces (so twice as long as the first time)
• 3 x Merkins (OYO)
• Crawl Bear back to start
• 3 x Merkins (OYO)
• Bear Crawl three sets of parking spaces (so three times as long as the first time)
• 3 x Merkins (OYO)
• Crawl Bear back to start

Holy moly.  That was more crawling than was called for.  At the last set, one of the PAX looked over and said, “Do we Crawl Bear back?”, and YHC just thought for a minute, but before pulling the chute, the PAX said “I just wanted to know what you said”, and what was said was to Crawl Bear back, so we did.  Lots of modifying to lunge walks, but that probably wasn’t any better.

But it ended, thankfully, and we were on to the next part, which was the best part anyways.

To the student drop off lane on the side of the school for a round of Dirty Lindsays, which were your typical Lindsay reps with a run and burpees between each set.  Using the concrete barriers and benches provided by Gaston County Schools, and with the speaker pumping out hits like “Bang the Gong”, “Wish you Were Here”, and “Honky Tonk Women”, we really pushed out the work:

Dirty Lindsays

• 30 x Dips (OYO) / 10 x Step Ups (OYO 5 each leg)
• Mosey around the drive through line
• 5 x Burpees (OYO)
• Repeato for 25/15, 20/20, 15/25, 10/30

And that took up some time, but it was a blast.  A small spitting of rain, and plenty of PAX to chase made for a good time.

Last stop was the wall which was under cover, thankfully, as the rain picked up.  A whole routine was cut down to just cadence work, as time was short, so we did:

• 15 x Mountain Climbers (IC)
• 15 x Australian Mountain Climbers (IC)
• Wall Sit + 15 x Air Presses (IC)
• 15 x Wall Sit Marches (IC)

And with just over a minute to go, YHC called flutters to the bell, which resulted in

• 35 x Flutter Kicks (IC)

All in a day’s work.

Great group for a morning in the Gloom with rain in the forecast.  Heard it was stupid enough times, so must’ve done something right.  Had a blast.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

GasHouse, at least the bootcamp part of it has a small pod of regular attendees but even that has fluctuated with events this time of year. We have graduations and surrounding events, end of year parties, and just life events that keep us on the move. Add in some injuries and the “regulars” are a limited number. So I’ve been recruiting a bit and trying to get some fresh leadership on the docket. SA as the site Q of Downtown requested May Q’s so I filled his May 10th slot on the premise of I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine – you site Q’s know the drill all too well. I twisted SA’s arm just enough for him to agree to lead 5/18. I got a text Thursday evening at 9 pm with some bad news, SA had to work. He promised to make it up another time. Hey at least I got a text and not the “no show.” But the word didn’t really get out the Q schedule had changed, so we had a nice spice of non-GasHouse regulars (thanks for posting Oompa, Leppard, Wiki, and Seuss). I put together a Weinke that would be considerate of those also supporting the Extinction Run and raising money for Anchorman.

Warm-up:

• Seal Jacks, Imperial Walkers, Side to Side Lunge, Arrows (in honor of SA), Toy Soldiers, all IC x 10 and then some Merkins IC x 5. Moved to some lower body stretching to finish off the segment. We faced the flag for the Pledge. Time to split.

Thang: The Public Library has a fresh coat of new asphalt so we did a short mosey to the lower Churchill Dr side of the library. There was no circle but the PAX scattered about for the same Core Burner I led on my Friday Downtown workout the week before. Leppard was the only repeat customer. All performed IC x 15. I flipped on the speaker to grace the PAX with a playlist based on the theme of drinking or partying (DM me if you need the tunes). It did spark some conversation. I may have Leppard on the verge of attending the next Steel Panther show.

• Mtn Climbers
• Knee Touches
• Knee Taps
• Plank Jacks
• Reverse Crunch
• Freddie Mercury
• Raised Penguin Crunch
• Turtle Crunch
• Opp Hand / Opp Knee
• Regular Penguin
• Legs 90 degrees, alternate R hand, to L foot & L hand to R foot
• Genie Elbow to Knee
• Genie Knee to Elbow
• Ski Abs

We did a slow mosey over to the upper section of the parking lot for the next portion for a HERO WOD – the Zach Tellier. This has been done a number of times. I like to add a short mosey between sets to break them up. This takes up about 20-25 minutes for any PAX seeking ideas. It is a full body working with the mosey adding a bit of cardio. It is a 5 set stack.

• 10 Burpees, mosey
• 10 Burpees, 25 Merkins, mosey
• 10 Burpees, 25 Merkins, 50 Lunges, mosey
• 10 Burpees, 25 Merkins, 50 Lunges, 100 LBCs, mosey
• 10 Burpees, 25 Merkins, 50 Lunges, 100 LBCs, 150 Squats, mosey

With about 12 or so minutes remaining, I offered the PAX a choice – Core Burner again or 11’s. Seuss and Wiki wanted core, but they were outvoted for the 11’s. We moved to another section of the new asphalt that was side sloped.  Exercise 1 was Mike Tysons and exercise 2 was flutter kicks (because Stroganoff happened to be standing beside me, you’re welcome). That rounded out the workout and we scooted back to the base with barely a mile of running – mission accomplished.

COT: Prayers for Turtleman and his family. Events upcoming – Memorial Day Murph Monday, 5/27 at 0700 at Martha Rivers.

Sometime in the next few weeks or months, I’ll have SA back to Q – keep an eye on your calendars. But next up on the GasHouse schedule are Maybelline, BOS, and Breaker. Happy to have any of the other PAX take a turn at the OG Gastonia Region site.

11 HIM showed to know at the Fighting Yank on a perfect morning for pain. This is what happened…

Pledge of Allegiance

Count off

Mosey

We arrived around the corner on the street that runs parallel with the railroad tracks. We did some warmup type stuff highlighted by the patented Right Over Left. From there the first routine was explained.

Bearway to Heaven – Bearcrawl the street, stopping to do 5 squats at each line. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin was played for the enjoyment of all. YHC threw in random trivia questions and name that tune type stuff for the remainder of the workout.

Mosey from there to the alley beside Nelly’s for some wall sits and donkey kicks then to the small parking lot behind Cherry Wealth Planning for some 11s. I think we did Mike Tysons and Big Boys  with a lunge walk in between but it was too long ago to recall for sure.

Head around the corner and up the street to another wall where we did more wall sits and donkey kicks.

Back to the front of the old Suntrust branch for a round of ATMs. 15 Alternating Shoulder Taps, 15 Tempo Merkins and 15 Merkins then take a lap. We did a couple rounds of this before it got boring and we needed to do other stuff.

Mosey toward the start, picking up a random traffic cone along the way for what lay ahead.

Traffic Cone Basketball shots – just like what we tried at Midoriyama earlier in the week with a trash can, only this time we used the cone. Would the PAX improve on our totally pathetic performance from Tuesday. HELL NO!!! We suck at shooting these shots and we did a whole bunch of exercises as a result. However, we put work in and everybody had fun. It was great!

Sister Act requested Q’s for May. Why not help a brother out? Plus, I needed a good excuse to get up in the gloom. Last Friday on May 10th I was in the center of 13 PAX at the Downtown Rotary Pavillon. It went like this:

Warm-up: 5 Burpees OYO, Seal Jacks, Imperial Walkers, Side to Side Lunges, and Toy Soldiers all IC x 10, 5 more burpees OYO

Thang: stay in the circle and get into plank for a Core Starter all IC x 15

• Mtn Climbers
• Knee Touches
• Knee Taps
• Plank Jacks
• Reverse Crunch
• Freddie Mercury
• Raised Penguin Crunch
• Turtle Crunch
• Opp Hand / Opp Knee
• Regular Penguin
• Legs 90 degrees, alternate R hand, to L foot & L hand to R foot
• Genie Elbow to Knee
• Genie Knee to Elbow
• Ski Abs
• 5 Burpees OYO

We said the pledge. PAX didn’t like the IC to 15 – I’m sure their core felt some burn from it. Mosey toward York St and to the intersection of York/Main for the Route 198 – 3 exercises beginning at 1 rep and increasing to 11 using the light poles on the left side of Main. Exercises: HR Merkins, In/Out, Plank Jacks. Bullwinkle led the charge. Def Leppard was in the bat flippers – way to push Leppard. We did a 10 count once everyone was finished.

Move to the second level of the parking deck. School is finishing with exams so time for a test. Q set the clock for 0:20 seconds for two rounds of Merkins, Jump Squats, and LBCs. Take the average of the two sets and subtract 2. I know math is not some of your strengths so example: Set 1 of merkins in 20 seconds SA completed 20. In Set 2, SA completed 17. Divide 37 by 2 for 18.5 and subtract 2, round down for 16 required reps on the merkin segment. Each PAX had their individual goals (You vs. You, right?) for the 3 exercises. Now it’s time for the test – Every Minute on the Minute, complete the 3 different exercises at the individual rep limit. Most everyone finished with 15-20 seconds to rest. Then we ran to the other end of the parking garage and returned for the next round. I know, I know – it sounds complicated but really it wasn’t. The PAX managed fine.

COT – Extinction Run; Prayers for Turtleman, family, and guys on IR.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale

This workout started with your standard warm up, but when we took off on a mosey down to the ballpark with no stops along the way, the mumble chatter started with grumblings of this being a boot camp AO and not a running AO. We are so used to stopping at every silly light pole for some Mike Tysons or Burpees that we forget that a non-stop 1/2 mile run is perfectly acceptable at a boot camp!

ANYWAY we made it to the ballpark for a round of 4 corners on the outside parameter of the stadium. At each stop we did 10 Merkins, 15 American Hammers, 20 Flutters, 25 Imperial walkers, and 30 LBC’s.

When we finished up with that we did a “partner-timed Dora” where one PAX did AMRAP of an exercise while his partner ran the sidewalk to the end and back. Exercises were: Big Boys, Freddy Mercurys, and Squats.

Easy Rider started “clock checking” at this point, and rightfully so as we were “so far away from COT” (see above complaints). I’ll admit, I did alter the Wienke at this point to start us back in that direction. We made a few (5 to be exact) stops where we would revisit the exercises from the 4 corners but we’d drop one exercise per stop until we got back to COT! We did get 2 miles in but still think anything under 2.5 is boot camp mileage. I mean, Sargento had us at 3.5 a few Mondays ago and it was still called a boot camp!

Thanks Sister Act for the oppertunity to lead!

9 HIM showed up for defib warm afternoon beatdown at Midoriyama. Pre-start discussion was held about my patients who continually do not do what they need to do to improve their heart health.  This kiinds got me worked up so …Not so typical disclaimer was made – I had a rough day and was ready to take it out on someone.  Groans were heard far and wide –

Warmup

SSH, 5 burpees

Hillbillies – 5 burpees

Grass pickers, 5 burpees

The thang – mosey to retrieve blocks and mosey to parking lot where pax paired up and  –

You know what – what we did wasn’t as important as the interactions and conversations that were had.  F3 is not Crossfit where exercises are the raison d’ etre.  I’ll tell you what happened Thursday afternoon at 5:30 at Poston park – 9 men gathered and yes they sweat and exercised.  Truth be told most pax probably did not really want to exercise.  But they showed up anyway  – We pushed each other physically but more importantly, spending 45 mins outside in the heat led to strengthening emotional and social bonds.  We learned how to interact – sometimes with little maturity other times with deep respect and admiration.  Self actualization cannot be achieved in a vacuum . 9 men showed up yesterday not for themselves, not to “workout” but for the betterment of someone else.  I learned from them and I hope I contributed something for them.

Prayers:

Turtleman

Freight’s dad

Thank you men – Defib out

A dozen (!?!) at Bulldog where we disrupted the order of the universe and kept down last nights dinner.  Here’s what I remember:

6th Q in 8 days, and YHC has been trying to keep it fresh without spending too much time planning workouts.  Answers come to those who seek, though, and that 0400-0500 hour has been magic this week, and this day was no different.  Build a timer, grab the speaker and every kettlebell we can find and head to the Bulldog to find a lot of parking spots full.  Unload the car to Bulldog’s infamous time warp, and it’s suddenly 0530.  Time to get going.

The Thang:

• 10 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 10 x Gravel Pickers (IC)

Around this time, Sledge rolls in, and parks IN THAT SPOT.  If you’re a regular at the Bulldog, you know you don’t park in THAT spot.  Those politicians think they’re above the law.  Stagecoach gave fair warning, and the rest of us knew what was coming.  Sledge threatened civic retribution, and it was on.  The workout was just a prelude to the Mortal Kombat-style hijinks that was to come.

• 10 x Hillbilly Walkers (IC)
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)
• 10 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)

Sorry, y’all.  Short warm up today.  Plenty to do.

Simple Circuit – 8 kettlebell exercises.  45 seconds on.  22 (?) second break to take a breath, switch positions, and reload.

Round 9 of the circuit was a 2+ minute timer that was a combo Exercise/Hold that PAX could AMRAP before swapping to the other.

Punctuated it with a mosey around the lot and then some, with a short walk back to start the next round.  Walkers had a shorter loop, and we all ended up back in the same spot at about the same time.

Circuit Exercises:

• Halos (CW & CCW – switch halfway)
• Swings
• 1-armed Overhead Presses (switch halfway)
• Double Crunches
• Curls
• Goblet Squats
• 1-armed Rows (switch halfway)
• WW3 Situps

Exercise/Hold

• Round 1 – Merkins / “M” Hold (American Hammers without the “hammer”)
• Round 2 – Kettlebell Pullthroughs / Six Inches

We made it through 3 rounds of the circuit, and had about 90 seconds left, so the last Exercise/Hold ended up being a 90 second plank that PAX could interrupt with Shoulder Taps to move around a bit.  Planks were solid form, even though we were in the final minute of the workout.

Solid burn today, and seems like the effort level was there.  Heihei and Top Hat have been bringing it the past few weeks.  The Eastburn brothers add to the intensity and the mumblechatter.  The Site Q flew by me on a run today.  Woody brought his years of knowledge and coached up our form.  Virus made his debut at Bulldog.  And hey Bonzai proudly didn’t merlot.  Always good to see Sledge, Timeframe, and Winehouse too.  Everyone added something to the beatdown, and made it a great start to the day.

About halfway through the workout, I noticed a heightened awareness to events happening behind me, and I turned to see a car pulling in, presumably to its driver, into the same spot it always pulls into.  Then it stopped, and the fury brewed in that sedan until the door opened, and what came out no eyes could witness.  The unstoppable force came up against the immovable object, and it was on.  As we all threw Sledge under the bus, he learned who his real friends were.  The battle ended in a bit of a stalemate, with no finishing moves to declare the winner, and both warriors survived to fight again in the next round.

Moleskin:

Many thanks to Heihei, both for laboring through every bootcamp/gear workout I Q’d over the course of the past week.  Always nice to have the support, and knowing he’d be there kept me from repeating routines, and pushed me as a Q.  Also, if you haven’t seen his Slack post from yesterday, check it out.

Groups like today are what F3 is about.  Some looking to push the rock.  Some just trying not to merlot.  Some looking to find consistency.  Some battling injury.  Some looking to support a friend.  Some grinding it out and maintaining their acceleration.  Some with their minds elsewhere on how to serve the community.  And all hopefully getting what they need out of the Gloom.

Grateful for another opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Some Ran , Some Rucked … Few but Mighty we were

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