Back by popular demand, January’s favorite kettle bell routine shined this Tuesday morn.

 

Warm Up:
Imperial walkers
Toy soldiers
High knees
Squats
Merkins
Flutter kicks
American Hammers

Around the world, 10 each way
5 halo each way
Squat curl press 10
Merkins 10
Knee to elbows – slow
K. Swing 15
REPEAT

Take a lap.
5 Burpies
Monkey humpers 10 IC
Zombie walk
Monkey humpers 10 IC
Zombie walk back

Dips
LBCs
American Hammers
Derkins
Curls
Calf Raises
5 Burpies
RELEAT

 

MARY for 13 minutes.

8 PAX joined me for a last minute beatdown at Folsom, all were ready to put in work. This is what I remember:

Pledge

Disclaimer

Warmup

10 SSH IC

RoL LoR

10 Gravel Pickers IC

R L leg up (quads)

Headcount-  8 + YHC

mosey over to the upper shelter for round 1

The Thang

Round 1

Dips x 30

Derkins x 15

Step ups x 50 hard count

Mosey around the splash pad plank for the 6. Rinse and repeat

Round 2

Diamond Merkins x 11

Oblique crunches x 11 hard count

Superman pull-ups x 11

Mosey around the splash pad plank for the 6. Rinse and repeat

Round 3

Peter Parker Merkins x 11

Lunges x 11 HC

Hillbillies x 11 HC

Mosey around the splash pad plank for the 6. Rinse and repeat

Round 4

CDD’s x 11

Squats x 11

Imperial walkers x 11

Mosey around the splash pad plank for the 6. Rinse and repeat

Round 5

Merkins  x 11

Flutter kicks  x 11 HC

LBC’s x 11

Wall work

Hip Slappers x 11 IC

Wall sit 1 minute

Dirty Hookups x 11 IC

Rinse and repeat 1x

Bonus Round

Burpees  x 11

Heels to heaven x 11

Freddy Mercury’s x 11

Finished up with Mary

COT

There are 309 days left in the year, but I reused the weinke from the goat so that’s why most sets are 3 workouts and 11 counts. 309 days left to push whatever rock you want. When this challenge is over, have something that you’re working on, some challenge to overcome. Never let yourself be ok with a complete stoppage in improvement. Flintstone asked me what I was working towards one time and I had some general target of better health, but nothing concrete. My process now is to identify an obstacle in my life and push it until it’s out of my way. Rinse and repeat. Still refining it, but the satisfaction of incremental accomplishments is way more motivating long-term than one big goal.

Announcements

Speed for need signup –

Community foundation run April 1st. Signup . To push talk to Broke.

Prayers

Haze family – walker

Stogies wife’s friend Barbara

Sarlaac’s MIL

Huck

Tooth Fairy – Daughter

Ratchet’s 2.0

Wire nut and his mom

Clavins and his M

Easy riders son

Turtleman

It was at this point that Chubbs pointed out that it can sometimes be rough leaving a workout knowing that our brothers/their families are struggling and that we should try to end COT with praises when possible. I thought that was a great idea and created a #praise-list so that PAX have a specific place to share uplifting news/posts or just answered prayers. Whatever you want fellas, I just thought we could use one.

Praises

Westsides buddy – nothing found on tests

Chubb’s Dad

Ratchet’s 2.0- Good report

Circled up and took us out in prayer.

The PAX pulled through strong today It’s an honor and a privilege to put iin work you gentlemen!

Maybe it’s Maybelline💋

We are looking to put 2 teams together to compete against other F3 regions (and each other) in Time Laps, a 24 hour relay run on the trails at the Whitewater Center on Saturday, starting 7 PM Friday May 19th and ending at 7 PM on Saturday May 20th.

Info from the WWC website:

“Camaraderie, camping, competition and a whole lot of trail running. Gather your friends and compete in a 24-hour trail running relay race. Points are awarded based on number of completed laps and level of difficultly. Idle team members will compete in a series of mini-competitions at Race HQ while team members are out running.”

This event is a perfect CSAUP for PAX of all abilities, as it can be customized so they can run 1 mile, 8 miles 15 miles, 25 miles, 40 miles, or anywhere in between.  It’s the camping and stupidity that will make it fun.  Think overnight relay, but no van, add tents and trails, and only a 30 minute drive home.

We compete pushing rocks.  We compete pushing trucks.  We’ve competed in the P200 in a historic duel between Dolph and Freight that is in the F3 Gastonia Pantheon of moments.  We push each other every morning in the Gloom, flipping bats when necessary.  Competition with our brothers makes everything that much more fun.

The goal is to have enough guys HC to have 2 teams, then have 2 PAX draft teams to see who lands where.  This will take about 18 PAX, but could be more or less depending on how many miles PAX are looking to get (for instance, Roundup would essentially count as 2 or more by himself)

Registration includes 3 meals, door prizes, a medal and a t-shirt.  Cost is $150 per PAX, but is completely all inclusive, with no van/hotel/meal fees to sneak up on you.

Please HC to Flintstone.  The first 16 PAX to HC will be guaranteed a spot on a team.

I’ve talked to multiple PAX who have done this event with other regions and they love it.  Looking forward to more completely stupid and utter pointless fun times, right in our own backyard.

Man I love a good relay.  The training.  The group runs.  The excitement leading up to it, and then the race itself, which never disappoints.  My second year at Dam to Dam had all the makings of a good relay, stories, laughter, catching up with other teams, team meals, bad singing, and PAX just crushing their runs and making projected times looks silly.

Here’s who we were, distance traveled, and overall pace for our runs:

1. Flintstone – Legs 1, 6, & 11 – 16.3 miles – 8:57 avg pace
2. Virus – Legs 2, 7, & 12 – 13.25 miles – 8:09 avg pace
3. Gator – Legs 3 & 8 – 11.7 miles – 8:28 avg pace
4. Gavel – Legs 4 & 9 – 9.1 miles – 9:34 avg pace
5. Bubba Sparxxx – Legs 5 & 10 – 12.9 miles – 7:36 avg pace

Lots of action shots were taken.  Lots of heckling of our runner on the course.  A little bit of driving up and down the route searching for something that was already found.  Some cramping.  Some Phish & Hank Williams.  Burgers at the finish line, and some coffee and nodding off on the way home.  All in a day’s work.

Results:

Team This is Stupid representing F3 Gastonia finished 34th of 106 teams, finishing the 100 kilometers in 8:58:05 for an overall average pace of 8:28 min/mile.  We finished 24 minutes ahead of schedule and beat our projected pace by 28 seconds/mile.  Not bad at all for a team with 2 rookies and maybe 10 total relays experience combined.

The 5 man team was a Goldilocks fit for us.  I’m sure we could have done 4, but then we lose the company of another teammate.  At the same time, another addition to the car would have made the ride tight (especially if that PAX was 6’5″).  We all got what we wanted out of it, and ran hard, feeling satisfied at the end of the day.

Special thanks to Virus for always being ready, being flexible, and answering the call when it came.

Special thanks also to the Sparxxx’s for lending their vehicle.  Bubba’s seat covers saved your noses, as we could only spread our stank so far.

Grateful for my teammates, and looking forward to the next time.

Yabba Dabba Doo

We have some really good sites for out AO’s, the Yank is certainly second to none.  However, the one thing missing has been a stash of coupons available anytime.  No more, a tidy stack of new blocks is now available for all to enjoy.  If you got em, may as well use em.

YHC started with the mission of F3, to plant grow and serve small workout groups for men, for the invigoration of male community leadership.   Warmup of SSH, Imperial Walkers, gravel pickers, burpees, arm circles, and stretching

Mosey the long way to the pit where fifteen nice shiny brand new heavy blocks await.  Grab one and let’s go.  Four exercises called, squat thrust, chest press, curls and blockies.  25 reps of each exercise and rifle carry the block across the parking lot and back.  Rinse and repeat going down by five reps each round. Last round being 5 reps.  Once everyone complete, change exercises to bent over rows and wind shield wipers while holding block extended over chest.  Replace rifle carry with farmer carry.

Had enough time for most to complete 25 down to 5.  Pledge.

Announcements:  Ruck events upcoming May 19 event at Crowder Mountain, June Grow Ruck event in Charleston.

Prayers:  Pilgrim Progress family friend with a daughter (Jenna ,19) who had brain aneurism, Radar sister, family of murder suicide victims, Volt’s son, Jane Fonda and family, Tesla and family, mother of friend of Orangeman with kidney failure, Tiger mom, Tooth Fairy daughter

YHC took us out

Always an honor

Tiger

Good crowd at GasHouse on a Q vs Q day. Tube had PainLab. We started with a quick warmup and ran thru the 5 core principles then split up. We moseyed to a big hill but I couldn’t tell you the name of the road. It was in a neighborhood across and downhill from the Schiele Museum. On the way we did some active warmup with some long jumps, lunges, and karaoke stuff then arrived at the hill. I really didn’t think I would make the extinction run, so I wanted to get some running in. Bad move on my part because I did make the extinction run but that’s ok. I love running. I really really really really love running actually. It is my favorite thing to do ever. Rules were given: 11’s on the hill-big boys at the bottom and mountain climbers at the top. Where is the “top?” Wherever you choose. Just go up the dern hill and do some mountain climbers. This took a bit of time. We moseyed our way home with exercises along the way then hit some Mary back at start. We finished with COT then took off.

We are coming up on the 8 year anniversary of GasHouse. Whenever I think about this, I am amazed. Not so much that we are doing well or growing or still going, but really that it has be 8 years. It has gone by really quickly for me and still wonder what I was doing before F3. Thanks for being part of this GasHouse thing and for keeping us going.

Whoopee

We had a veteran crew this morning so there shouldn’t be any whimpering & whining, …one would expect. We split from Gashouse and began our mosey to our favorite circle. This time I brought a curl bar and some smaller dumbbells to do standing flys. There happens to be five of us, so I set up five exercise stations that we will each take a turn at in rotation.

Set 1: 50 sec of work 10 sec to transition:

overhead press w/ 30 lbs weighted bar, Peter Parkers, American hammers, standing flys, mountain hip dips. rinse & repeat

Interim set: Friends don’t let friends miss leg day, so this one is called Aiken Legs. We line up at the concrete steps and do 20 squats, 20 step ups, 20 lunges, 20 inner calf raises, and 20 outer calf raises with no break. That’s when the whining began. We hell britches, if you would show up more than once a week, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt that sandy v 

Set 2: 50 sec of work 10 sec to transition:

overhead flys, curls for the girls, boat hold, baby makers, and CDD’s. rinse and repeat

Let’s take another break and nur (is that how it’s spelled?) to the far side benches. We did incline merkins, tricep dips, step ups and decline merkins. Let mosey back to the circle.

Set 3: 50 sec of work 10 sec to transition:

LBC’s. reverse LBC’s, ABC’s, shadow boxing, heels to Heaven. rinse & repeat.

Let beat it back to base and meet up with the rest of the dogs.

Good work men! We need to do core more often 😁

 

 

The forecast was for a 90% chance of rain this morning but we did not have a drop.  Those weatherman……..they just make stuff up and put fancy maps on TV, I should know.  Neither the rain or the OTO change of venue scared this group away.  Did more side to side than front to back work, Apollo would be proud.

You stay classy, Gastonia.

Anchorman

Disclaimer

5 burpees for the train

Warmup

10 SSH IC

RoL LoR

10 Gravel Pickers IC

R L leg up (quads)

Headcount-  11 + YHC

mosey to parking deck

The Thang

Round 1

Diamond Merkins x 10

Oblique crunches x 20

Superman pull-ups x 10

Bear crawl up to landing, mosey to other side. Rinse/repeat all the way up, stairs back down, plank for the 6 at the bottom.

Round 2

Peter Parker Merkins x 10

Lunges x 10

Hillbillies x 20

Bear crawl up to landing, mosey to other side. Rinse/repeat all the way up, stairs back down, plank for the 6 at the bottom.

Round 3

CDD’s x 15

Squats x 15

Imperial walkers x 30

Skipped bear crawls. Rinse/repeat all the way up, stairs back down, plank for the 6 at the bottom.

Wall work

Hip Slappers x 10 IC

Wall sit 30 seconds

Dirty Hookups x 10 IC

Rinse repeat then mosey back to pavilion for COT

Finished up with Mary

Pledge

COT

Announcements

Extinction Run – March 4th 9:30 primal brewery

Community foundation run April 1st. Signup . Speed for need signup – To push talk to Broke. 4 track commanders needed

Balljoint v Wirenut tomorrow in the Q challenge at Old School 7 am Folsom closed

2nd f lunch at JR cash 22nd

Prayers

Tiger and his mother who is battling cancer

Termite and his brother who is battling cancer

Mozart -volts son

Huckleberry

Tooth Fairy – Daughter

Ratchet’s 2.0

Wire nut and his mom

Clavins and his M

Easy riders son

Turtleman

Gumby and his family

Praises

Bedpan -promotion new job

Watts up granddaughter is in a play, support local arts and go see it.

I appreciate the opportunity to lead today.  The PAX kept the mumblechatter going and got this gloomy morning off to a great start.

Whenever life feels chaotic, I like pick up a Q to challenge myself, to gain perspective, focus on what actually matters and get back in my groove. If you’re feeling stuck or don’t know what problem to work on first, maybe grab a Q and kickstart that acceleration👊 

Until next time….

Maybe it’s Maybelline💋