Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
RUN/RUCK AT GROUND ASSAULT.
2023 GASHOUSE BRACKET CHALLENGE STARTED WITH ABOUT 12 PAX PLAYING. IT ENDED WITH GAVEL ON TOP AND FLINSTONE IN SECOND. GAVEL WAS AWARDED SOME ANTICHAFFING CREAM FROM SLICKNUTZ AND AN F3 CAMO HAT. FLINTSTONE WAS AWARDED SOME ANTICHAFFING CREAM FROM SALTY BRITCHES FOR HIS SECOND PLACE EFFORT. IT WAS FUN GUYS.
ANNOUNCEMENTS.
FREIGHT2023 POCKETS2024
This year marks the fourth year for the Mental Battle WOD (workout of the day) and this year I’m happy to share that the boys in Winston-Salem North Carolina, @F3WinstonSalem on Twitter have designed a great starfish type workout.
Workout was designed by Spicoli and mental health stats were provided by Giles, an NC licenses psychologist who specializes in working with men.
With further ado, here’s the WOD:
This workout is inspired by the 5 Core Principles of F3:
1) Free of charge.
2) Open to all men.
3) Held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold.
4) Peer led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certificate necessary.
5) Ends with a Circle of Trust.
It’s #5, the COT, that brings us all back together; gives each man a chance to listen and be heard; bring praises and concerns to the man next to him. In my opinion, it is the most powerful principle and allows for forming and strengthening bonds between each of us.
Warmarama
Suggestions for exercises to be done in cadence:
Side Straddle Hops
Imperial Walkers
Abe Vigodas
Grabbing Grass with a clap
Merkins
Broga stretches
The Layout for the Workout:
In a field or large parking lot, create a box with five markers where the center marker is fifty meters from each of the four markers used to make the corners. Each of the four corners will be a specific station.
Starting in the middle, run to Station 1, do the exercise, then run back to middle, do burpees, then run to Station 2, do that exercise, then run back to middle, burpees, and so on. Once you’ve gone to all 4 stations with burpees in between, that round is over and you’ll progress to the next round. Add an exercise at each station each round.
For example: during round 3, at Station 1, you’ll do ten hand release merkins, ten clap merkins, and ten toe tap merkins, then run to the middle, do eight burpees, go to Station 2 and do the three exercises there, etc.
1 round= 1 trip to all 4 stations, coming back to the middle in between
For the First Round Only
For the first round, keep the PAX together. The Q will read two of the statistics about mental health (below) each time you come to the middle to do burpees. After that, progress through the other three rounds of the workout.
Middle Station (COT)
Round 1 = 2 Burpees (for a total of 8)
Round 2 = 4 Burpees (for a total of 16)
Round 3 = 8 Burpees (for a total of 32)
Round 4 = 16 Burpees (for a total of 64)
(Double Burpee count each round, so Round 4 would be 16 burpees each time you come to the middle)
Station 1 (Free)
Round 1 – Hand Release Merkins x10
Round 2 – Add Clap Merkins x10
Round 3 – Add Toe Touch Merkins x10
Round 4 – Add Mike Tysons x10
Station 2 (All Men)
Round 1 – Shoulder Tap x15 (Double Count)
Round 2 – Add Mountain Climbers x15 (Double Count)
Round 3 – Add Peter Parkers x15 (Double Count)
Round 4 – Add Donkey Kicks x15 (Double Count)
Station 3 (Held Outside)
Round 1 – Monkey Humpers x20
Round 2 – Add Bonny Blairs x20 (Single Count)
Round 3 – Add Side Lunges x20 (Single Count)
Round 4 – Add Jump Squats x20
Station 4 (Peer Led)
Round 1 – LBCs x25
Round 2 – Add Freddy Mercuries x25 (Double Count)
Round 3 – Add Heels to Heaven x25
Round 4 – Add Superman 25X
Modify as necessary. Need a longer workout? Repeat Round 4 until you’ve filled the time. Add a few minutes of Mary at the end..
__
Here are some statistics regarding mental health and its effects on our community, especially for men. During the First Round, the Q will read two statistics at the middle station each time the PAX comes back to do burpees.
Men are about 2x less likely than women to seek help if problems do occur.
Almost 50% of men feel that they are struggling more than they admit to people in their life.
Depression looks significantly different in men than in women… Women tend to present as sad and withdrawn, while men tend to present as irritable and angry.
Men are 2-3x more likely to abuse substances in an attempt to manage their mental health, which often leads to other health problems.
Suicide rates in men have been steadily increasing over the past 20 years, and at present, men are 4x more likely than women to die by suicide, and this risk increases with age.
Therapists that specialize in working with men often use different strategies to make therapy feel more approachable… therapy doesn’t have to look like sitting in an office and crying about your feelings!
Therapists have historically done a pretty crappy job of helping men, though things are slowly changing. Men often go to therapy at the urging of a loved one, but men tend to drop out of therapy sooner than women because they find it unhelpful. This is a legitimate problem, and you’re not crazy if you’ve tried therapy before and it wasn’t helpful for you! If you’re thinking about reaching out to a therapist, consider finding one that has specific expertise in working with men. (from Giles, who is a therapist and can offer this opinion form a place of experience).
Thanks again to the boys in Winston-Salem and follow the F3 Mental Battle on Twitter at @F3Battle and on the Nation’s Slack as well at #f3-mental-battle-challenge.
With that, the Thrill is gone and keep getting after it sharing the battles with your brothers!
Drop Thrill out.
ANNOUCEMENTS
FREIGHT2023 POCKETS2024
This year marks the fourth year for the Mental Battle WOD (workout of the day) and this year I’m happy to share that the boys in Winston-Salem North Carolina, @F3WinstonSalem on Twitter have designed a great starfish type workout.
Workout was designed by Spicoli and mental health stats were provided by Giles, an NC licenses psychologist who specializes in working with men.
With further ado, here’s the WOD:
This workout is inspired by the 5 Core Principles of F3:
1) Free of charge.
2) Open to all men.
3) Held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold.
4) Peer led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certificate necessary.
5) Ends with a Circle of Trust.
It’s #5, the COT, that brings us all back together; gives each man a chance to listen and be heard; bring praises and concerns to the man next to him. In my opinion, it is the most powerful principle and allows for forming and strengthening bonds between each of us.
Warmarama
Suggestions for exercises to be done in cadence:
Side Straddle Hops
Imperial Walkers
Abe Vigodas
Grabbing Grass with a clap
Merkins
Broga stretches
The Layout for the Workout:
In a field or large parking lot, create a box with five markers where the center marker is fifty meters from each of the four markers used to make the corners. Each of the four corners will be a specific station.
Starting in the middle, run to Station 1, do the exercise, then run back to middle, do burpees, then run to Station 2, do that exercise, then run back to middle, burpees, and so on. Once you’ve gone to all 4 stations with burpees in between, that round is over and you’ll progress to the next round. Add an exercise at each station each round.
For example: during round 3, at Station 1, you’ll do ten hand release merkins, ten clap merkins, and ten toe tap merkins, then run to the middle, do eight burpees, go to Station 2 and do the three exercises there, etc.
1 round= 1 trip to all 4 stations, coming back to the middle in between
For the First Round Only
For the first round, keep the PAX together. The Q will read two of the statistics about mental health (below) each time you come to the middle to do burpees. After that, progress through the other three rounds of the workout.
Middle Station (COT)
Round 1 = 2 Burpees (for a total of 8)
Round 2 = 4 Burpees (for a total of 16)
Round 3 = 8 Burpees (for a total of 32)
Round 4 = 16 Burpees (for a total of 64)
(Double Burpee count each round, so Round 4 would be 16 burpees each time you come to the middle)
Station 1 (Free)
Round 1 – Hand Release Merkins x10
Round 2 – Add Clap Merkins x10
Round 3 – Add Toe Touch Merkins x10
Round 4 – Add Mike Tysons x10
Station 2 (All Men)
Round 1 – Shoulder Tap x15 (Double Count)
Round 2 – Add Mountain Climbers x15 (Double Count)
Round 3 – Add Peter Parkers x15 (Double Count)
Round 4 – Add Donkey Kicks x15 (Double Count)
Station 3 (Held Outside)
Round 1 – Monkey Humpers x20
Round 2 – Add Bonny Blairs x20 (Single Count)
Round 3 – Add Side Lunges x20 (Single Count)
Round 4 – Add Jump Squats x20
Station 4 (Peer Led)
Round 1 – LBCs x25
Round 2 – Add Freddy Mercuries x25 (Double Count)
Round 3 – Add Heels to Heaven x25
Round 4 – Add Superman 25X
Modify as necessary. Need a longer workout? Repeat Round 4 until you’ve filled the time. Add a few minutes of Mary at the end..
__
Here are some statistics regarding mental health and its effects on our community, especially for men. During the First Round, the Q will read two statistics at the middle station each time the PAX comes back to do burpees.
Men are about 2x less likely than women to seek help if problems do occur.
Almost 50% of men feel that they are struggling more than they admit to people in their life.
Depression looks significantly different in men than in women… Women tend to present as sad and withdrawn, while men tend to present as irritable and angry.
Men are 2-3x more likely to abuse substances in an attempt to manage their mental health, which often leads to other health problems.
Suicide rates in men have been steadily increasing over the past 20 years, and at present, men are 4x more likely than women to die by suicide, and this risk increases with age.
Therapists that specialize in working with men often use different strategies to make therapy feel more approachable… therapy doesn’t have to look like sitting in an office and crying about your feelings!
Therapists have historically done a pretty crappy job of helping men, though things are slowly changing. Men often go to therapy at the urging of a loved one, but men tend to drop out of therapy sooner than women because they find it unhelpful. This is a legitimate problem, and you’re not crazy if you’ve tried therapy before and it wasn’t helpful for you! If you’re thinking about reaching out to a therapist, consider finding one that has specific expertise in working with men. (from Giles, who is a therapist and can offer this opinion form a place of experience).
Thanks again to the boys in Winston-Salem and follow the F3 Mental Battle on Twitter at @F3Battle and on the Nation’s Slack as well at #f3-mental-battle-challenge.
With that, the Thrill is gone and keep getting after it sharing the battles with your brothers!
Drop Thrill out.
ANNOUCEMENTS
FREIGHT2023 POCKETS2024
RUN/RUCK
EQUIPPING,
BE A BUILDER OF MEN. EQUIP YOUR BROTHER FOR SUCCESS AND LEAVE NO MAN WHERE YOU FIND HIM.
ANNOUNCEMENTS.
FREIGHT 2023. POCKETS 2024 COMMON GROUND 5K MAY 26TH
The Ville 2 Ville is one of my favorite relays and after being relegated to van driver last year due to a back injury I was glad to be able to join back in on the running this year. Since I had the Q, I got to make to make the rules and the mumble chatter started as soon as I put out the leg assignments. I got the worst legs, I ran those last year, that downhill sucks…shut up and stay hard MFer’s. We were originally slotted in the 0500 starting group (which we should have kept, more on that later), but worked out a trade with the Mrs. Buckeye team for a 0800 start instead. We get to sleep later, they don’t have to worry about a late finish, it’s a win win, or so we thought. Now on to the event.
The plan was to depart Ingles in Dallas at 0515, however, Freight took it upon himself to decide that was too early and intentionally showed up 15 minutes late. We’re off to a great start. The drive up was fairly uneventful and after a stop for breakfast we arrived in Asheville to perfect running weather and what we thought were a bunch of celebrities on hand to cheer us on. Hi from Raising Arizona, the Pink Ladies from Grease, the Muppets and various others mingled with the crowd. There was even a shirtless, grape smuggling, wanna be Viking with a beer belly doing meditative yoga lunges trying to summon up some kind of weird spirits to help him run.
0800 hits and Gumby leads us off. Over the mountain and thru the woods then back up again before a short downhill finish. The Viking decided to sprint the last 50 yards and overtook Gumby at the line which amused SA and pissed Gumby off. Unfortunately that team fell well behind us and Gumby didn’t have the chance for the revenge he desired on the next leg. He killed a difficult starting leg and handed off the Slawbag.
Since Slawbag was a V2V virgin he got all the downhill legs. He might have had a small knoll (700’ in 1/2 mile) near the start of his run, but it was all downhill after that. He cruised through the run typical Slaw style but for some reason came in looking like Def Leppard after a Burpeethon. This also amused SA.
Buckeye took off on Leg 3 after stating, “I’m going sub 7”. Almost 8 miles in the 6:40’s, the dude was moving! Must be the mustache.
At this point the temps started to rise and the Canoe took off on a 7.5 miler that rolls like the hills of Kentucky. He said he was gonna take it easy, I guess sub 8 minutes pace is easy to him???
As soon as Freight took off on Leg 5 the temperature jumped to 105 (should’ve started at 0500) and that’s where it stayed until the end of Leg 6. He went out on a mission to pass the F3 Fort Mill team and made it happen with a mile to go. Nasty uphill near the end of this run and he made it look easy.
YHC ran Leg 6 (temp still 105) and about halfway up Mt. Everest got smoked by a hippie that wasn’t even sweating. Dr. Seuss’ brother?
The temps cooled back down to a moderate 80 degrees for the start of the second round and Gumby again hammered out a great time on an all uphill run that took us to the NC/SC line at the top of the mountain. Once again, Slaw ran downhill for his entire run and set a PR for every distance EXCEPT 400m. WTH man, you gotta do better!
Leg 9 is the longest and most difficult run in this event and once again it was Buckeye who accepted the challenge. Runners were cramping up and being taken off the course by this point, but Buckeye is from Michigan so he should be used to hot weather right? Nothing to it, almost 10 miles in the low 7’s and he’s done. Must have been the kiss he got from Mrs. Buckeye around halfway that got him through.
SA wasn’t happy that he was having to run again in the heat and he let everyone know it. Evidently some of the other teams heard it as well because when one of the ladies blew past him on the course she told him to “Pick it up” (this amused everyone except SA). He pushed through anyway and then laid down under a tree yelling “I’m done with this crap, this was the last one”. (He’s already signed up for next year).
The weather was crazy, the temp went back to 105 (should’ve started at 0500) when Freight went out on his last run. A great leg through Furman on the Swamp Rabbit Trail and he cruises at a 8:00 pace the whole way. Freight is a runner.
YHC had the glory leg and the finish line was a welcome sight. The Gashouse team crossed together and another V2V is in the books. It was a great time, with an even greater group of guys. It’s a blessing to have the ability to participate in these events and an honor to be a part F3 Gastonia.
Until the next one,
I’m Broke
Sunday’s Run, Ruck, & Walk…
Connection in Faith, Fellowship, & Fitness with a Great Group of Gents.
Announcements
Prayer Request:
Praise Report:
No one getting hurt on Ville to Ville
Warmup: SSH, Imperial walkers, Merkins, Nolan Ryans (10xIC) and 5 burpees OYO.
Took a lap around the track and stopped at the benches for dips, step-ups, and derkins (10x each). Took another lap around the track but diverted to the back parking lot for a series of “4 Corners.” To keep things moving along, the first PAX to finish the assigned number of reps called “Done” and everyone moved to the next corner.
1st corner = 15 hand-release merkins
2nd corner = 30 Bobby Hurleys
3rd corner = 45 plank jacks
4th corner = 60 flutter kicks (count one side)
We carioca-ed the long way across the parking lot, between corners 1-2 and 3-4, and bear crawled the short side.
2nd round of 4 corners was PAX choice:
1st corner = 15 burpees
2nd corner = 30 CDD’s
3rd corner = 30 Mike Tysons
4th corner = 45 reverse crunches
Rinse and repeat both sets, but the second time around we nurred between corners 1-2 and 3-4. Then moseyed back around the track to the benches for more dips, step-ups, and derkins (10x each). That took us right to the end for pledge and COT.
Announcements:
Convergence 4/29 Midoriyama
2nd F lunch 4/19 at Papas and Beer
Time Laps 5/19 see Flintstone or Slack
Prayers:
Tesla’s friend Sam Warner and Sam’s wife
Orangeman’s cousin Mark Wilson having heart valve surgery
Marriages
Thanks to these HIM’s for another great start to the day at The Ricky Bobby
– Nutria
Gashouse parking lot was near capacity at 0657. Word must have spread about the awesomeness of today’s Pain Lab beatdown. I managed to find few open parking spaces to set up a circle of seven stations of exercises written on note cards. Whoopee led a warm-up and moseyed off with the Gashouse crew. Pain Labbers assembled heavy objects around the stations. Exercises were:
Squat-curl-press
Hand-release merkin pull-throughs
Kettlebell swings
Clean and press
Reverse lunges
Box cutters
Windshield wipers
Out of a brown paper bag came a bluetooth speaker and a jumbo-size red die. I set up the music and explained the simple instructions: Do the exercise at your station. PAX at the first station (squat-curl-press) does 20 reps then rolls the big red die. PAX move clockwise that number of spaces. Rinse and repeat. The design (7 exercises) was intentional so that nobody did the same exercise twice in a row. Note “in a row” means two consecutive rounds. After the first 2 rolls were 6 and 1, grumbling commenced from the peanut gallery. Tough $hit. Keep working and may the odds be in your favor next time. Mumblechatter commenced with occasional grumbling mixed in.
At 0725, after all PAX had visited each station at least twice (I think), we changed things up and flipped the note cards over for a whole new set of exercises:
Star crunches (20 reps, 10 each side)
Nolan Ryans
Lawn mowers
Superman pull-ups
Babymakers
Flutter kicks
Hello Dollys
Same rules applied. PAX doing Star crunches did 20 then rolled the die to initiate rotation. There’s always good mumblechatter when babymakers and Hello Dollys are on the agenda, but it was especially entertaining to explain the meaning of Nolan Ryans. Thanks for that opportunity, El Toro!
After about 20 more minutes, we flipped the cards back to the original set of exercises and pushed hard til the end.
Announcements:
2nd F lunch 4/19 at Papas and Beer in Dallas
Convergence 4/29 0700 at Midoriyama
Check Slack for CSAUP details
Prayers:
Turtleman
Huckleberry
Praise for Stroganoff’s son earning his private pilot’s license
Privileged to start out the weekend with a fine group of HIM’s today
– Nutria
Bootcampers were low numbers but high quality. We were outnumbered by the Painlabbers but that is a good thing. They had a good showing.
We started with a WU that was actually longer than I usually do. I was not really feeling the F3 vibes this morning-reeeeaaaaallllllly wanted to fartsack this am but thankfully I was the Q and didn’t have the option. No flag when we started but Tube came rolling in with the flag during the WU then jumped right in. Quick disclaimer for the veterans just to be complete then we split off from Painlabbers.
4 corners in the lot to slowly ramp up from the WU: 5 Merkins at C1, same and add 10 SSH IC (thanks Strogi) at C2, same and add 15 Monkey Humpers at C3, same and add 20 Imperial Walkers at C4 then mosey to the library no parking zone up front. Partner up: P1 does exercise AMRAP while P2 hops across the no parking zone and then moseys back to start then swapparoo. Exercises were as follows: Mike Tyson, Squat, BigBoy setups, Monkey Humpers, and Merkins. No rest-mosey to pharmacy parking lot and this is when the fun started with some GOOD MUSIC from my Spotify playlist-just for the record, everyone loved my music, especially one pax that will go unnamed but kinda rhymes with rogan-cough. Some might describe it as “enamored” with how he felt about the music. At the parking lot at the pharmacy we did 11’s with flutter kicks and jump squats. Keep rolling-mosey to the football field…….son of a nutcracker, the gate is locked so we moseyed out to the lot in front of the school after hitting the wall on the way with some hip slappers because of someone’s smart allecky comment that may or may not have been related to the music…..keep rolling to do some Bojangles Biscuits X 2 (run the strait then mosey the turns-anyone catch that pun??? does anyone even read this??? beuler??? beuler???? do I really care because I am enjoying it anyway!!!) in the lot. After the Bojangles we moseyed to other side of the lot for a triple nickel with an occasional splash in the puddle-Monkey Humpers and Mtn Climbers. Weinke was on empty but still had about 15 minutes….dang, there’s a wall and at some point wanted to throw in some Dirty Hookups so we did some Hip Slappers, Wall Sits, and Dirty Hookups while listening to a little Guns and Roses (I Used to Lover Her) as well as the O’jays (Use ta Be My Girl) which really didn’t get much reaction at this point. Suspect they were missing the George Strait but didn’t want to tell me. We lunged back across the lot, moseyed down the hill, then hit the wall for some Donkey Kicks, Hip Slappers, and Dirty Hookups. We moseyed back to start for a quickie with Mary.
Let the record reflect that we enjoyed my Spotify favorite songs this morning. All of us enjoyed the songs. Even Stroganoff. I think I heard him say something like “this is waaaayyyyyy better than Rush.” After the workout he asked for my Spotify password so he could just log on or connect or whatever it is you do to get into my Spotify account that way he could just listen to my favorite playlist. That would be illegal so I did not do it just for the record.
We finished with COT with some prayers and praises. It was another really good morning.
I almost forgot, Rush sucks.
Whoopee
If you haven’t heard, I was the Champion in the QvsQ challenge recently. I think all but one person have accepted that honor. Those of you that are golfers will know the British Open winner is crowned with the title Champion Golfer of the Year. I think since the PAX have spoken the same accolade applies here. So with that honor, the 5 PAX that posted this morning Downtown were the beneficiary of what would be a most excellent beatdown. No rookies so we started like this:
Warm-up:
No need to mosey, we’ll stay under the shelter even though it wasn’t raining. Mary will get some love on the front side. Each exercise was 30 seconds of core work: Leg lifts, American Hammer, Raised Penguin Crunch, Turtle Crunch, 90 Alt Toe Touch, Plank position: R hand to L knee then L hand to R knee; go to elbow plank – hip roll-overs, bank on your six: Genie crunches, elbow to knee then knees to elbows, Heels 2 Heaven, Crunchy Frog, Hollow Hold aka (douche) canoe, and Ski Abs to end. I gave demos where needed but the instructions were clear, so no complaints.
Now let’s mosey to the parking deck. Way back in Round 1 of the QvsQ challenge I uncorked Walk the Plank but the mumble chatter was high and the PAX were not listening well. My 5 students were curious and attentive – much easier to communicate the plan which requested they find a parking spot on the wall side of the deck. At the beginning of the parking lot line do 10 HR Merkins then Joe Hendricks along the parking line toward the wall. Stop and do 10 Donkey Kicks. Then plank-walk left toward the other side of the parking spot. Stop and do 10 Australian Mtn Climbers. Then bear crawl along the line to the left side opening. That completes the square and by now the shoulders are feeling it a bit. So, let’s go two more rounds.
To give a break to our upper body, we went back to the core with 20 LBC’s, 20 Raised Penguin Crunches, and 20 Ski Abs.
Moving on – PAX still listening to what instructions I have. No challenges, how nice it can be sometimes to enjoy this fine group of gentlemen. We’ll use the levels of the parking deck for a 4 level escalator instead of 4 corner. Round 1, Level 1: 5 burpees – run to Level 4, descend the stairs. Round 2: Level 1: 5 burpees, Level 2: 10 eccentric dips – run to level 4, descend the stairs. Round 3: Level 1: 5 burpees, Level 2: 10 eccentric dips, Level 3: 20 jump squats, run to level 4, descend the stairs. Round 4: Level 1: 5 burpees, Level 2: 10 eccentric dips, Level 3: 20 jump squats, Level 4: 40 merkins, descend the stairs.
At this time we had 8 minutes left so I offered the PAX a choice – run it back or head back for more Mary. Purple Haze said option C – stop at the wall at the condos on MLK for some wall sits and dirty hook-ups. Seuss selected wall sits with marching and arm extension varieties. We hustled back to the pavilion and did flutters and big boys until time.
COT: Prayers for Stephanie (Pallbearers niece) that is dealing with cancer diagnosis; Stephanie – Watt’s Up teammate dealing w/ health issues; Ratchet’s 2.0, Huck, and Gump (Seuss visited with him yesterday and he learned of his sentence). Announcements: 2F lunch in Dallas this upcoming Wednesday, Flash relay (see Flintstone), 4/29 Convergence at Midoriyama 0700.
The rain held and we stayed dry – I guess some Q’s have that kind of command on the weather. The attendees bought into the instruction and supported the instruction to receive a core focused workout that will only benefit them. Thanks to those men to enjoy the fellowship. Oddly Pallbearer was the only under 50 PAX, hence the title.
Until the next one – thanks for the opportunity to lead.
Short Sale
Champion Q of the Year
© 2024 F3 Gastonia
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑