22 strong at Tequila Sunrise this morning.  Well done brothers, thanks for being out there for the birthday beatdown.

Kicked off with the disclaimer, Mission of F3, pledge, and a count-off….then a short mosey for some warmup.
SSH, Low (really) Slow  Squats, Mountain Climbers, Toy Soldiers, and 58 LBCs in cadence.  Despite Flintstone claiming I was 75 yrs old all week, he suddenly changed that to 20 when we started the 58 LBCs in cadence.  Go figure.

To the tennis courts.

Leg Wreckers – two groups, one holds Al Gore position and the second moves to the other side of the courts via Lt. Dan’s, then Elvis meets Forest, Duck Walk, and finally Apollo Ono.

Killer Bs – Bear Crawl halfway, Broad Jump the second half, finish with 5 burpees.  Rinse and repeat descending the burpees to 1.  At some point Tardi Gras told me to not invite him to any more of my birthday parties…..glad to hear he was having fun.

Back to the school for some Dora….100 Tap Jacks (great coordination men), 200 Jump Squats, 300 step ups….or as many as we got to do before time.

Announcements
1st F – Sign up for the Push the Rock challenge Push the Rock Signup
2nd F – Lunch 1/17 at Whisky Mill 2nd F Lunch for January
3rd F – We all carry some sort of burden, so reach out to a single PAX, or the whole PAX, to help you through.  We are surrounded by some incredible HIMs that want to help and strength comes in simply asking for that help. One minute devotional: Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. —Galatians 6:2

Prayers for Turtleman, Jackson Hall, Jackson Curti, Montana, and all of us who have requests in our hearts.  It was a honor to lead today.

~I’m Anchorman, you stay classy Gastonia.

Warm up
Thirty minutes of frisbee.
Suess won MVP. For real.
Fifteen minutes of arms/abs/legs.
Cameo by Swimmer

Prayer for
Turtleman
Huck
Hacksaw
Broke’s mom
Montross neighbor
Def Leppard’s friend
Jackson Hall
Others not mentioned

YHC took us out.
Pleasure to lead the group.

Well it’s a cold one out here this morning and there’s 4 others on the North Side that are willing to get after it with me this morning. With the cold comes a lot of stiffness and aches and pains that I had to sort through in the warmup so that involved a little more stretching and not so much of the jumping or plyo movements. Once warmed up and the stiffness is wearing down I’m taking this thang to the bottom parking lot to get sh!t done.  We started off with a little Route 66 with Walking Lunges being MOT and Squats being the work to get done. Once finished we moved on to a Rack ’em – Stack ‘em WOD with HR Merkins, Lunges, Plank Jacks, LBCs, and Hillbillies. After that we head back to the Flag and finish up with a few Kraken Burpees.

THAT’S TIME!!!

COT

Announcements

1/17 2nd F Lunch Whiskey Mill Gastonia

Pushing Rocks Sign Up is NOW

Prayers

Turtleman, Hall Family, Huckleberry, Broke’s Mom, Gumby’s Mom, Injured PAX

As Always Thanks For The Hard Work

Welcome and Disclaimer:
Short mosey to top lot for warm up.

Warm Up
SSHx10 IC
Grass Pickers x10IC
ROL/LOR
MNC x10IC

Reviewed the Principles of F3:
1) Free of charge (zero cost, never charge for a workout)
2) Open to all men (no matter the man, you are welcome)
3) Held outdoors (rain or shine, heat or cold we are out there)
4) Peer led (led in a rotating fashion by the men who attend)
5) End with a Circle of Trust (always ends with a COT)

Went to curb for some hamstring bridge work.  30 seconds per leg.

Stations were set up.  Do 10 of each exercise and mosey down center and back behind the group of business and up the stairs for the next set.  We increased reps 5 each round.  There were two trains that came thru and one was the loudest ever and we had to huddle up to get instructions, but the crew did it.

1. Merkins
2. Squats
3. Leg lifts
4. CDDs
5. Burpees
6. Situps
7. Reverse Lunge (Knee touch ground)
8. Calf raises

With 10 minutes left Mosey to bottom of hill at FD and NUR up, run back down and do it again.

Circle back up for French Fries x15IC and time.

Announcements:  Whiskey Mill for 2nd F Lunch 1/17 @12, Sign up for Pushing Rocks challenge (Check preblast channel on slack), birthday Q at Tequila Sunrise

TAP: Broke’s Mom, Orangeman’s friends, Rebars niece (missionary in Ecuador), those dealing with lifelong illnesses and disabilities.

Pledge

Step up and lead.  Take these Qs and Site Qs and lead.  We are called by the mission of F3 to  Plant, Grow and Serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.

Name-O-Rama

Started on time with Strogi coming in hot from EC straight off the IR. Gastone may have has some EC or could have just taken a long walk around the parking lot….Good to see those 2 faces that I have not seen in awhile.

Started with disclaimer, pledge, then warmup. During the warmup with started with 25 SSH. “Why do you care about how many SSH we did?” you ask yourself….well that is the number of years since I graduated medical school and last night I made my final payment for my medical school loans. I graduated in 1999 and finally paid them off. I’m not complaining about it because that was the only way I was going to go to school. It was just a big relief and something I was happy about. We finished with WU then moseyed to the turd shack for EMOM X 5 minutes: 4 Flying Squirrels, 8 Merkins, 12 Lunges. This was essentially a continuation of the WU with a little extra effort. Next we used the Turd Shack for our next exercise: Whole Lotta Hip Slappas. Wasn’t really a “whole lotta” them but I haven’t done them in awhile so it seemed like a “whole lotta” of them to me. Next we did some tempo running: 1 moderate lap at slow mosey speed for about 1 minute, increase speed to moderate effort for another minute, then give her all she’s got for a final minute. That first minute felt like about a minute…the second felt like about 7 minutes, and the final really felt like about 21 and 3/4 minutes or maybe even longer…..you get the point. We got a quick breather then moseyed back to start with 10 squats at each light on the way back to the main road then moseyed back to start. I had some coupons in the truck and got them out for the final 15-20 minutes. Errbody grabbed a coupon and moseyed around Pelican’s for a lap then we did some ab exercises. Repeat for a few laps then mosey to the wall for some step ups with Derkins while we dodged the cars coming REALLY CLOSE to our heads during the Derkins. Note to self: Middle position is safe. End position, not so much. Still had a few minutes so we moseyed down towards Gastone’s hill and back finishing at 0615.

Good crowd today with some important prayers for some of our pax, especially Turtleman and Easy Rider-we’ve got you both guys. Know you are in our prayers in the morning and thoughts throughout the day. Reach out if we can help. Also for Maybelline as he recovers from his respiratory infection and penile extension surgery.

Thanks for posting today.

Whoopee

PS-that thing about Maybelline up there was just a joke. I put that there just to see if anyone actually reads this. He didn’t really have a respiratory infection.

This is my second first offense of the New Year. Heck it’s the second one this week actually. This time I traveled south bound and down with the intention of delivering an Ass Whooping out on the soccer field at The Ricky Bobby. But after getting 1/2 a year’s worth of rain yesterday I thought better of that. Once I arrived I noticed a pretty good crowd already here and more coming in. Once everyone gathered at the Flag said the Pledge then we commenced to getting after it. After a warmup that consisted of SSH, Slow Pause Merkins (lots of complaints with these), Low Slow Squats, Burpees and a lot of stretching we were off. We started in the front parking lot with a round of Triple Nickel. Up top was Jungle Boy Squats and at the Bottom was Hand Release Mike Tyson’s. Once finished here we got in a little more stretching while we went over The Core Principles and I caught my second wind. Now around to the back parking lot for some 4 corners. Each round we did the same exercise at all 4 corners until the final round when we stacked all of the exercises at every corner.

• 1 -10 Perfect Form Hand Release Merkins
• 2 – 20 Lunges
• 3 – 30 Mountain Climbers
• 4 – 40 LBCs
• 5 – All of the Above

At this point it’s about time so we run back around to the Flag for the COT.

Announcements: 2nd F Lunch 1/17 Whiskey Mill – Gastonia

Pushing Rocks Challenge Sign Up Now!!

Lots of Praises and Prayers sorry I can’t remember them all.

Thanks Nutria for challenging me to swing by and do this. I enjoyed it.

Respects won the day, as 9 runners and 3 ruckers posted at Ground Assault for the Derecho route.  This route, named after our first running AO, takes PAX up the hill in front of the Storm, and across the campus of the Storm, spending ample time on the hills around the Storm AO.

From our F3 Gastonia Historian, Roscoe: “Derecho was started on 2/26/2016 as a running AO, the region’s first running AO.  It ended around January 2017 due to low(ish) attendance with the idea to move to Martha’s House Wednesdays to have a running workout parallel to the main bootcamp that day.”

I just remember posting once and running that stupid hill over and over and over again.

Anyways, the wind stuck around, Virus and Roscoe are fast, Alma Mater was late.  All in a good day.

Moleskin:

One year in, and Ground Assault is going strong.  The strength lies in the men that consistently post, specifically Virus, who has done a great job as Site Q, Anchorman and Dr. Seuss, who developed the ruck route and the standard for rucking at Ground Assault, and Gavel and Termite, who have been there nearly every week since the beginning.  It’s a good run, with trains as wild cards that will ultimately determine when you get back, and good timing for a potential early Coffeeteria on a weekday.  If insomnia hits on a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, come give it a shot.  Not even The Sword wraps up earlier.

Grateful for the opportunity to lead a fine group of old guys.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Mumblechatter was already going strong at 0530 as I joined the circle of pax.  We started with the pledge and a mosey to the front of the school to get out of the rain.  (It wasn’t raining too hard, but that could change at any time.)  An ideal Q, maybe a “professional,” would have scoped out the terrain and conditions ahead of time, but I didn’t arrive early enough to get that done.  Fortunately, the walkway wasn’t saturated with puddles. 

Warm-up commenced with a quick count-off and disclaimer and side-straddle hops.  Then we see headlights in the parking lot.  Once we confirmed Tesla’s unmistakable figure approaching, we did burpees until he joined us.  Next, on to The Thang:

• 5 core exercises, 10 each in cadence:  Star crunches, American hammers, Mountain climbers, Dying cockroaches, Big Boys (OYO)
• 11s:  Hand release merkins / Bobby Hurleys
• 5 core exercises, 15 each in cadence:  Star crunches, American hammers, Mountain climbers, Dying cockroaches, Heels to Heaven (OYO)
• 11s:  Scorpion merkins, (merkins with one leg in the air, just to mix it up) / lunges
• 5 core exercises, 20 each in cadence:  Star crunches, American hammers, Mountain climbers, Dying cockroaches, Big Boys (OYO)

Lively mumblechatter kept going with all manner of criticisms and grievances, but we worked through it.  During the last round of core work, mumblechatter gave way to grunting and groaning, so I knew something was right!  There was no giving in on those reps, even though it was tough to keep the cadence going.  But, every Q is a leadership learning experience.  As some pax were wondering why we had stayed under the covered walkway the whole time, the next set of 11s was an opportunity to give the peanut gallery what they wanted.  So, we went out in the rain with step-ups at the posts / benches followed by CDD’s in the middle of the parking lot.  We ran out of time halfway through and got back to the flag for COT.

Announcements:  2nd F lunch 17th at Whiskey Mill

Prayers:  Mayor’s M, Turtleman, others

It was awesome to have strong attendance in lousy weather – including a rare bootcamp appearance by Alma Mater and Cheesesteak’s first post at The Storm!  Thanks to all you  HIM’s for coming out and for the opportunity to lead.

– Nutria

A baker’s dozen for the first Midoriyama Beatdown of 2024, and we all witnessed the majestic skipping of a former Nantan.  Here’s what I remember:\

The Thang:

We started with

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)

I don’t know why.  Had something to do with the Site Q.

• 10 x SSH (IC)

Time to scratch the itch again

• 5 x Burpees (OYO)

Ok, enough of that, onto the regularly scheduled Weinke

• 10 x Don Quixotes (IC)
• 10 x Hillbillies (IC)
• Tesla Stretches
• 10 x Mike Tysons (IC)

Quick stop at the Turd Shack on the way to today’s location.  We weren’t going far from the flag today.

At the Turd Shack, we found some wall space and did

• 1 Minute – Wall Sits/Dwight Howards

Where the PAX would hold the Wall Sit as long as they could (or chose to) and whenever they stopped they did Dwight Howards until they started the Wall Sit again.  We would come back to this.

Quick mosey to the nearest parking lot, beside the cages, where we had all the playground toys:  chalk, jump ropes, a speaker, cinder blocks.  The usual stuff.

For our circuit, we would do 50 seconds on and 10 seconds to switch of the following exercises:

• Jump Rope
• Perfect Form Merkins
• V Ups
• Crab Marches
• Block Merkins
• Jane Fondas

The first circuit, and first exercises, there it was.  A creature, gliding effortlessly as the jump rope turned.  A running gallop, that can only be described as “skipping rope”.  The PAX were amazed and clapped and cheered and we all knew we were in the presence of greatness.  Or something like that.

We finished the circuit, then ran an oddly shaped lap around some parking lot and went back to the Turd Shack for round 2

• 2 Minute – Wall Sits/Dwight Howards

The thing about the Turd Shack is that there are corners, and people facing different directions, and YHC had no idea what was happening on the other side of the wall, so who knows what work was being done.

Back to the circuit, for round 2 of:

• Jump Rope
• Perfect Form Merkins
• V Ups
• Crab Marches
• Block Merkins
• Jane Fondas

Another lap, but this one shorter, and we just kept moseying this time to the Footmobile, which was strategically parked at a parking lot not far from where we were, and was where the next round of beatings commenced.

Choices.  As a benevolent Q, I presented choices to the PAX.  On one hand, there are guys that don’t want to do block work, but want to run.  On the other hand, there are those that just want to do block work.  Well pick.  Today, we did dueling filthy “Sevens”, though they could’ve been dirtier.  Seven minutes on the clock to do the work.

So think Triple Nickel, but with 7 reps and for 7 minutes:

• 7 x Burpees (OYO)
• 7 x Jungle Boy Squats (OYO)
• Run between

or

• 7 x Thrusters (OYO)
• 7 x Block Swings (OYO)
• Block Carry between

It was a grind, but everyone did it.  Seems like the block group was pushing harder than the runners, but maybe the Q was biased.  Anyways, back to the turd shack, again.

• 2 Minute – Wall Sits/Dwight Howards

And back towards the stations, but not to the stations.  We close with the core.

Cora Por Dies

• Partner 1: Alternate between 10 reps of American Hammers & LBCs until Partner 2 returns
• Partner 2: Run to the end of the lot and back
• Switch and repeat

Then Round 2:

• Partner 1: Alternate between 10 reps of Freddie Mercuries & Flutter Kicks
• Partner 2: Run to the end of the lot and back
• Switch and repeat

Do it all over again.  Another round with Hammers & LBCs.  Another round with Freddies & Flutters.

And that was it.  Another Midoriyama Beatdown in the books.

Solid start to the New Year.   This year, as every year, may we work towards being the men we need to be for those that need us, in our fitness, our fellowship, and our faith.

We’ve got a whole year of pages to write in.  Let’s make em count.

Thankful for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo