I always like it when a Q actually has something to say during the course of a workout. Diet, mental health, perseverance, staying strong, whatever. It’s just cool when you can learn something or get motivated. HIPAA needed a Q per his announcement at Bulldog sessions (go to this AO guys, perfect location), and I told him the usual: if no one steps up, I got Painlab. But only if no one steps up. i think Q’ing Painlab or Bulldog may seem strange if you don’t have 500 pounds worth of weights, ropes, racks, etc., but that’s not the case. Anyone can do 1000 merkins and call it a workout, leadership is what counts.
Anyways, it just so happens that I knew my neighbor would come after several years off, and Oompa Loompa said he had an FNG. Sounds like a good chance to actually put some words behind the weights. I decided to make the theme “a new day”, as we all take a new step every day, whether we’re 3+ years in F3, or this is our first day. Gotta keep grinding, because the grind makes us badass. Along with that, let’s delve into the 3 F’s that make F3.
Timeframe warmed us up, it was an already perfectly warm morning, the large pack of guys who were there for Painlab followed me over to the picnic tables. I gave disclaimer about Painlab – MODIFY, ZERO to LOW IMPACT, DO NOT QUIT. Forgot about the “don’t sue me part”, I need to get better at that before I lose my house. I told the guys that we just did the warmup, and F3 in the morning is a great warm-up to everyday life. Not much will get to you after a workout with the boys in the morning.
I. PAINSTATIONS – I had everyone partner up, partner 1 does an equipment type exercise, partner 2 does a non-equipment exercise. The stations:
-Battle ropes – Squats; Slamball – Merkins; Curls – Burpees; Swings – Lunges; Around the World – LBC; Thrusters – CDD’s. Or something like that. When we rotate I asked for 3 claps from the group. They got it quick, and when I asked why 3 claps, at least one person said “I can’t count higher”. Facepalm….
We did that x 2 cycles. I explained we just got stronger, and fulfilled one part of the FITNESS requirement. With muscle work done, let’s move on to agility:
II. PAIN-RING – time to work on our skills in the boxing ring. I love this stuff, and if you do it right, you’ll be gassed fast. I gave brief intro on how/what punches really are, after that it’s truly up to the guys to make themselves work. I gave specific instructions for 2 rounds (I was getting pretty gassed barking instructions), so for Round 3 I told them to use all the moves (jap, straight, hook, uppercut, shuffle, bob and weave) to go after it for 3 minutes. Everyone did good work. I attempted to box with Pockets, but upon approaching him, I thought I might throw up on him. Let’s not do that….
I told them that in the Creed movies, Rocky tells him “take it one punch at a time, one minute at a time, one round at a time”. I like that. Just like every new day, take each and every moment as it comes and make the most of it. You can’t eat an elephant in one bite. Agility done, let’s go to stamina:
III. CIRCLE OF PAIN – this one’s easy. I set a timer for 5 minutes, hold plank. At no time may more than half of the pax be on their knees taking a break. Hold plank. 5 minutes. Some of us did some merkins, some did Nolan Ryans. Lots of, well, pitiful mumble chatter. I think this was a crown pleaser. Before we started, I told the guys to look around the circle at the other guys, and asked them to say they wouldn’t let each other down. Instead of saying “you” they all said “I won’t let you down”. Facepalm again. But the mission was accomplished. The point here again was you can take a break, but you may not quit. There was a word on Fellowship here, everyone in the circle had each others back. So we covered Fitness and Fellowship, how about….
IV. DORA, THE QUEEN OF PAIN – Faith time. Hard to make an exercise expressing Faith, but how about the fact that you have faith that your partner will bust their ass for you, helping share a load of work? Works for me. Pair back up with partners, easy work that focused on muscle groups we had not hit yet:
300 calf raises on curb
200 overhead claps
100 dips
one works, the other runs around that island (if you can run). I tried to fake-collide with a few of the guys, actually did collide with Short Sale, my bad yo. And up yours, Clavin, for not giving me some skin in passing, rather pulling a Fonz on me. Brutal. But what do you expect from someone with pink tights?
Here comes Linus and the crew, and Timeframe had told me before they left that he had a new core exercise. I think it was called the Variable Leg Extension. This sucks. It’s like a V-Up only your legs continually work from straight to an L, while doing crunches. Don’t do it. When we circled up I noticed that we had our leader, Nantan, a Kotter, an FNG, Site Q’s, those we RESPECT (50+), and those we HATE (young ‘uns). That was pretty dang dope. Gashouse is strong.
MOLESKIN – motivation can be hard to come by, so any work at F3 should be a good dose of it. I’m pretty easily persuaded/activated/motivated by my elements (song, movie, book, people) so it’s easy to get into a groove, for me, at F3. When you’re surrounded by guys who know that iron sharpens iron, I get pretty jacked up. I hope that same sensation was conducted, purposefully, today. See you around the schoolyard, obliged and humbled to be a part of F3 Gastonia. One last thing…I told the guys whether it was your first day, or your 400th F3 workout, each new day is the same – you’re not getting it back. 12/1/2018 is gone, and you had just ONE shot at it. Proud that you all started it right.