Well the Daylight savings time change nor the return of the cold temps could keep these 8 HIM away this morning.

It was a simple but effective workout.

We started with a warmup : SSH, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Gravel Pickers, Hillbilly Walkers, and Moracin Night Clubs.

We mosied over to the Kintegra parking lot for a set of 11’s with SSH and Bigboys.

We went from there to the Food Lion parking lot for some “Paula Abdules” with Lunge Walks and Squats.

We stayed in the parking lot and partnered up for a Dora with 100 Merkins, 200 Squats, and 300 LBCs.

We had some more time so we made our way to the  wall in front of Terminex for some Step ups, Dips, and incline Merkins, we did 2 rounds.

Just enough time left for a round of Mary: Freddy Mercurys, Obliqe crunches, Flutters, Dying Cockroaches, and LBC’s.

A good time was had by all!

The forecast called for rain. It didn’t say anything about a monsoon for this Saturday at Painlab. Some guys joked about changing the name to Rainlab for the day. That’s a little too cheesy, even for YHC. This is what happened…

We did the usual group warmup with the bootcamp guys, except today Shorty wanted to take most of our time for a monologue-length disclaimer and to workshop some of his new aerobics exercises. We indulged him until even he realized this was going nowhere fast, so we split up.

The Painlabbers counted off and 4 HIM would do the work. Apparently, its protocol to bring your own kettlebell but YHC switched it up by bringing a load of bricks for the fun of it. Grab a couple bricks and head down the nature trail behind the museum. We maneuvered down the inundated trail, forded the raging creek and arrived at the lone dry spot on the property. From now on, it will be called the Hut ‘O Tears!

The Thang –

Full disclosure, YHC didn’t know who, if anyone, would show up for a Sargento lead low impact, low cardio beatdown. The fact that we had 4 was perfect for the Hut ‘O Tears and, lucky for us, there was even a table to use for the Deck of Death. That’s right, the most no-brainer beatdown there is was just what the meteorologist ordered on this less-than fine morn.

We did the straightforward method, do the exercise stated on the card thing, except Tube tried to monopolize all the fun and just went to steady picking. YHC had to give him a lesson on DOD etiquette (pull one card at a time and that’s your turn then rotate clockwise). We’re all here to get better and learn, right?

Anyway, we modified some of the exercises for lack of space and the ever-present downpour that varied from steady to torrential. All in all, we got work done, lots of Merkins varieties were done today too.

We moseyed back toward the start, pausing at the even smaller oupost at the top of the hill that shielded some of the rain, where we waited for the bootcampers to show up. They never did, (you hate to see it) so we said our own Pledge of Allegiance and finished COT. Thanks for voluntelling me I had the Q today way back in December Hunchback. Keep Qing that site and Shaking that Weasel. Aye!

Twelve HIMS met at Members Only for Running and Rucking this fine morning and then retired to discuss The Queen, the complement of Fitness which is keeping control of your weight. Good coffee and conversation flowed from a brisk morning workout and the Q Source.

8:1 Ruckers to runners on a post-Mortimer Sunday at the Coconut Horse, with another 3 (Stroganoff, Defib, Short Sale) for QSource making for a strong showing on a day when I’m sure it’d been easier to just stay in the Fartsack.  FNG on Daylight Savings Sunday too made for a good time as we welcomed BetaMax to the group.

It’s Q’s Choice at the Coconut Horse QSource, so YHC stuck to an old favorite – Bricks & Guardrails.  No notes were taken, so here’s what I remember:

Our goal is to continue to accelerate, and at the same time, life throws us, and there’s inevitable wrenches in the plan.  We can’t spend all our time being careful though and just avoiding mistakes.  As we careen down life’s highway, it’s important to lay the bricks that make up our guardrails.

Bricks are positive habits that are advantageous to ourselves, others, or both.  Examples of bricks include:

• Posting
• Maintaining a healthy diet
• Journaling
• Prayer
• Reading
• 2nd F opportunities

There are times in life when stress rises and we’re tested.  At these times, will we be the men our beliefs tell us to be?  The strength comes from support, and will be based on the groundwork we laid prior.  As stress goes up, support needs to too.  We should resist the urge to retreat and try to handle it on our own.  It’s at these times that the Shieldlock is vital, and the relationships we’ve built give us a boost and keep us strong when we need it.  We also benefit from resisting the urge to be selfish and finding a way to give back, even during hard times.

How can we help be a support in someone else’s guardrails?  By knowing them well enough to hold them accountable to their standard.  From QSource: “Enforcement requires the intercession of another person to measure one’s actual performance or behavior against the standard he previously agreed to set for it…. Without Enforcement, a man’s Blind Spots will lead him to continually lower his own standards to meet his own declining performance until both meet at the bedrock of his life.”  And it’s important to get back on track as quickly as possible.  In F3, we have this agreed upon standard of just posting.  If you haven’t seen a guy out lately, at the very least, you can hold him to that standard.  Then the better you know him, the more accurate and impactful your enforcement can be.

Finally, if we find ourselves decelerating, what do we do?

• Reestablish fundamentals – In the course of accelerating, we take on a lot.  When we crest the peak and start down the other side, all those things that we juggled just fine before can get tough.  Make sure the basics are intact and build from there.  Keep an eye on your Concentrica.
• Show up – It’s simple.  Our actions can take over when our head’s not in it.  Show up anyways.
• Mistakes are inevitable.  Avoid the 2nd Mistake – If we mess something up – diet, Fartsacking, or anything else – it’s not a good thing, but it’s just a single mistake.  When we do it again, that’s the start of a bad habit.  Again, get back on track as quickly as possible.
• Train for Chaos – No excuses.  If your acceleration and principles only hold up in ideal circumstances, they’re not worth a whole lot.  As much as we don’t want to admit it, most of our growth comes from chaos.  Stay aware in the storm, learn from it, and be better prepared for the next one.

So grateful for the opportunity to lead and the opinions shared by the PAX at the Horse during QSource today.

Big volunteer opportunities on the horizon, with Rice & Beans (Anchorman) on Tuesday, Food Ruck (BOS) Saturday and Dream Center (JJ) workout coming up by the end of March.  Contact the PAX leading those efforts for more details.

Thanks again for being the HIM and examples that you are.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Disclaimer: I had to give a disclaimer that I was in fact, not a slender or trim individual in the event that anyone there was unaware and that we would be talking about daily discipline of eating as it was pointed out to me by a fellow F3er mechanic.

Lots of good discussion and we went five minutes over.  Here is the brief list of topics hit on outside of the socratics and an email link to a quick YouTube video.

Does it matter what you eat or how much of it?
What is healthy eating?
What is the best diet?
Hard to get in shape spiritually if you only workout on Sunday.  Same with food
Tim Kennedy Israel statement
Childhood obesity
Social media and comfort.  Eat out of shame or if bored?
Many calories and tracking and accuracy of tracking using fitness watches and heart rate monitors are usually still at best 93%
Best practices of weighing in and accountability

Announcements:  April 13 SFN > send Purple Haze a DM if you can run this, Rice & Beans send Anchorman a DM if you can attend Tuesday , Donations for mens clothing (Hei Hei) give to him anytime, BOS is leading a food ruck starting at 5:45 at the Yank on 3/16,  Austin 3:16 beatdown at Folsom, Extinction Run on 4/20 @ 10:00, 2nd F Lunch Bad Daddys on 3/20

TAP:  Stogie and the retina troubles , Purple Haze Family (travel mercies), EZ Rider (Family), Anchorman, Jason Hall (Jackson), Haiti, Slaw and Chili’s dad with COVID

Name-O-Rama

YHC took it out.

17 showed up this morning at the Yank, 15 complained that their hair got wet. Tesla cried the most.

Warmups: Immediately mosey to shelter (this is where Tesla started to cry) 15 SSH IC, 15 Moroccan Nightclubs IC, 15 Gravel Pickers IC, 15 LBC’s IC

The thing: Circle of death, add 10 to each numerical card, 25 for face cards and Jokers meant whoever pulled the card, called the exercise. After the 5th card was pulled, run 1 lap around the track and back (this is where Orangeman cried uncontrollably in the rain). After the lap was completed, a trivia question was answered and the corresponding workout if it was answered wrong. Then repeat for the next 5 cards, lap, trivia, more tears and complaining. Repeat until finally bacon was smelled and time was up.

Events: Rice ‘n’ Beans 3/12 5:30, Gear Ruck Next weekend before the Yank to Harris Teeter, Extinction Run 4/20 at Primal

Prayers: Anchorman, Fonda’s house, Breakers family, unspoken prayers

End in the COT and sprint to breakfast (it was the fastest they moved all morning)…Tesla stopped crying when we gave him a juicebox

The core group participants of the GasHouse are gathered in a Kia Sportage, traveling the hills in Watauga County in the annual Mortimer. My original thought as the bootcamp Site Q was to fold in with the Pain Lab led by the Big Cheese himself. Earlier in the week, Flintstone encouraged me to keep the bootcamp Q because you never know. There is a reason he’s the Nantan – he was correct. Despite an ominous forecast of rain (at least it was low 50’s) I reviewed some old workouts and extracted a few ideas to build the newest Weinke, keeping in mind the conditions were going to be miserable and Flintstone’s knee is a bit jacked-up at the moment (speaking of – where is the Jacked Up Leg these days?). Sure enough this morning, it was a steady rain, but not terrible – the only thing more terrible is running all night long on mountain roads and trails (shout out to the Mortimer team HRB). I posted the flag and the circle gathered. Turns out we have some men that bought into the core principle #3 that we do this outdoors, rain or shine. I shared this and the other F3 Nation Core Principles in my disclaimer this morning because Hei Hei brought an FNG – Joshua Owen (more on him in the COT). Sargento asked about 2 minutes into my disclaimer if there would be a workout? Of course – here ya go:

Warm-Up:

• Toy Soldiers IC x 10
• Good Mornings (no cadence, just down & up) PAX didn’t count so we did more than 10, I think
• Alternating right over left (not patented though!) and good morning – what a combination! PAX were confused at this routine. But the chick on YouTube that I saw leading it was hot so guess that was the difference – Q-fail #1
• Side to Side Lunge IC x 10
• Imperial Walker IC x 10
• Another New Thing – Squat hold + Squat jump Stack. Lower to a squat, hold for 1 count, explode into 1 squat jump; lower to squat hold for the count of 2, do 2 squat jumps…you get the idea. PAX chattered a bit…when I got to 6, they really groaned so I knew I had to go to 7 and that was all my legs could take – it seemed to be a crowd pleaser so this will find its way into my rotation.

We split and to my surprise, six men followed me out of the parking, including the FNG. Glad I thought about what I was going to do on this Q. So, we hustled across the street to the back of the pharmacy building beside the library. Hot Corner said he’d do the boot camp as long as I didn’t make him lie on the wet ground – I gotcha big fella. We began under the covered awning against the brick wall for this routine:

• Hip Slappers x 10
• normally would bear-crawl but opted for the lunge walk instead
• Merkins x 10, mosey back to the wall
• 3 rounds
• Round II
• Dirty Hook-ups x 10
• Backwards Lunge Walk
• Parker Peter x 10, mosey back to the wall
• 3 rounds

Find a partner for the Dora

• Merkins x 100
• Imperial Walkers x 200 (count both sides)
• Flutter Kicks x 300 (count 1 side)
• other partner takes a lap around the building – Hei Hei said he was down with this running

Need a change of scenery but it’s raining harder now…let’s move to the front of the pharmacy for the good ole Route 198; “What chu say Willis?” It sounds complicated, but really its not. Instead of 1 exercise to stack, you have 3. Do it 11 times and you have 198 reps. To make it easier, the set combination works well because you begin with a shoulder tap, then a plank jack, then a burp (aka “in and out” – insert Michael Scott tag line “that’s what she said…”). Without 11 light posts, we used the brick columns on the pharmacy building as our exercise markers, so not much more than a few steps between. But doing the routine at set 5 and set 6 was a grind since it was an up and back routine. Since I had not practiced this, I soon realized, and hopefully the PAX did too this constant plank really burned the shoulders – point noted…another one for future Q’s. Upon completion, I had about 20 minutes left, and my Weinke was exhausted. Now time to make up some shit…we’ll stay under the porch for some core work.

• LBCs x 10
• Reverse Crunch x 10
• Alternating kick with clap under x 10 (I’d have to demo this)
• Run across the parking lot and return; do the circuit x 3
• Set II
• Penguin Crunch x 10
• 90 Degree Toe Touch x 10
• Alternating Leg Drops x 10
• Run across the parking lot and return; do the circuit x 3

That was it. The rain was now in a steady downpour, and we had only a few minutes to return to the AO. Q decision supported by the PAX to do the COT on site.

Prayers for Turtleman and Jackson Hall; Announcements for the Food Ruck and Community Foundation Run. Our FNG was pushing the whole time. At 38 years old, Jonah Owen is obviously fit and seemed to embrace the craziness of this brotherhood. Originally from Oregon before living in Alaska with his wife to be near family, he migrated to this area to train people on moving dirt and grading. We tossed out a few ideas, but I liked Band Camp’s suggestion of “Daylight” and we welcome him to the fold. What a first post in the miserable rain. Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of an hour in the rain but to switch the mentality – I can do about anything for an hour…well maybe not everything but working out in the rain and it’s over 50, so it won’t kill me. Pleasantly surprised at the numbers we drew this morning. Band Camp was back for like his 3rd or 4th Saturday straight – even without his dad posting – strong work BC, keep it up. Normally Cheesesteak has stuck at the Pain Lab on Saturdays, and it was good to have him at the BC. Hot Corner’s first post to the GasHouse and Hei Hei was back again. The mumble chatter was light, but Flintstone kept me in check. All in a day’s work at the GH. Thanks for the opportunity to lead…even in the rain. (Hey Hunchback – BB done in 4 hours – don’t put me on your list)

Warmups- under the shelter

• Stretched it out first
• SSH- 20
• Hillbillies- 10
• Gravel Pickers – 10

Then we worked on our core

3 Rounds of 10 reps each

• LBCs
• Flutter Kicks
• Freddie Mercurys
• Penguins

Then we grabbed some blocks… wanted to instill brotherhood and togetherness so we did some rep work and stayed together on the reps… and to help instill that trend of brotherhood I selected a Motown Play List 😁…

• 10 rounds, 10 reps of 7 exercises all with the blocks 💪🏻
• Blockies
• Thrusters
• Overhead presses
• Tricep Extensions
• Curls
• Squats
• American Hammers

After round five with the help of some of my brothers we started a lap after each round, doing 4 laps all together.

On round 9 with minutes to spare we went on our own to try to get in 10… we got to round 10 but didn’t complete it before time ran out….

INCREDIBLE work men 💪🏻

Pledge 🇺🇸

Announcements-

Lunch – 3/20

Rice and Beans – 3/ 12

Food Ruck – 3/16

Convergence – 4/13

Community Foundation speed for need-4/13

Prayer Request:

Walker Family

Huck

Turtleman

Jackson Hall

Oompa

Stogie Eyes

Westside’s wife’s friend that’s pregnant had a mass getting checked for cancer

I prayed us out !

10 men made it past the wreck on Dallas-Stanley Highway and put in work at Midoriyama.  Guessing there might have been some who wish they would’ve just gone home.  Here’s what I remember:

An early season girls soccer tournament brought out the traffic, but we stayed far away from all that.  For the most part.  Radar was right in the thick of it as a referee, but no COT = No Rep.  Adjustments were made to the weinke to stay out the road and away from the fields.  We wouldn’t have had time anyways.

The Thang:

• 10 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 10 x Imperial Walkers (IC)
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)

Grab blocks.

Original plan had us carrying to the soccer fields and stopping at each light pole, but we adjusted the warm up a little

• 10 x WW3 Situps (Yeah, that’s more like it)
• 10 x Oblique Crunches L (IC)
• 10 x Oblique Crunches R (IC)

Short parking lot by the batting cages and turd shack.  Long ways.  Use a light pole as a guide.

• Block Carry to light pole
• 5 x Block Swings (OYO)
• 10 x Bent Over Rows (OYO)
• Block Carry back
• 5 x Blocks Swings (OYO)
• 10 x Bent Over Rows (OYO)
• Repeato for a total of 3 down-and-backs

Slow start, but the locals knew we were there, as Wirenut brought the mumblechatter.

Cross the street to the long parking lot by the softball field which was conveniently vacant except for an old Chevy Lumina van (as far as you know) and an old dude on a lawnchair that in hindsight we should have EH’d to give Leppard some company.  Q Fail.

• 10 x WW3 Situps (OYO)
• 10 x Oblique Crunches L (IC)
• 10 x Oblique Crunches R (IC)

Alright, so no clipboard for the routine, but there probably should have been, as the exercises and rep counts weren’t standard.  Blart made a Short Sale reference if that gives any clues as to the way the instructions went.  Truth is, the only one who needed to know was Broke, because the rest of the PAX were gonna be smelling my farts anyways and could just follow along.  Here’s what was so difficult:

5 Rounds total

• Top of the Lot – 5 exercises – rep counts per round 5/10/15/10/5
  • Double Crunches w/block
  • American Hammers w/block
  • Pull throughs w/block (L+R=1)
  • OH Presses w/block
  • Curls w/block
• Mosey to the bottom of the lot
• Bottom of the Lot
  • 15 x Perfect Form Merkins
  • 25 x Flutter Kicks (Count Left Side Only)
• Mosey back to the top of the lot
• Repeato for 5 rounds total, adjusting the rep counts for the block work only and keeping the same reps at the bottom

So maybe it was confusing, but it was more awful to do than it was to understand.  Round 3 brought the faucet and YHC realized it was 70 degrees and sweat season again.  Was a total grinder and was glad to have the push of Broke and Wiki.  Finishing felt good, but we had to call it before everyone could get done to return the blocks.  Everyone pushed hard and got their money’s worth.

Between the pull throughs and the sweat, it felt good to leave our mark out there.  Here’s to pouring out a lot more sweat in 2024, especially at Midoriyama.  Thankful for the opportunity to lead this group today.

Yabba Dabba Doo