Tag: Downtown (Page 4 of 21)

Fortunately for me, Dr. Seuss reminded me at the PUB that I had the Q downtown.  With less than 24 hours to prepare I knew I had to put something together and declared the theme would be hard times.

Twelve men showed in the Gloom and we got right to it.  Disclaimer and then warmup right at 0530.

SSH/Merkins/LBC’s/Squats

Mosey to the bridge and bearcrawl the bridge.  We needed a countoff after that.

Mosey down to the County building near the ATM (street crossing one)  Assemble at the base of the steps for DORA.  Partner up…

The exercise at the bottom while the partner runs the steps, gives 5 burpees between the steps, and then runs back to switch for 100 Merkins, 200 Squats, 300 LBC’s.  This got the sweat rolling.

Hit staircase for calf work.  50 regular, 40 pigeontoed, 30 duck footed.

Mosey back to the intersection for street crossing two.  Squats while we wait for the light.  Mosey to the Pavilion where YCH got the speaker.

Mosey to the small community park for 30 dips, followed by another mosey to the top of the parking deck.

One minute EMOM exercises while the Dusty Rhodes “hard time” speech plays in the background with the Runkeeper app drill instructor telling us when the minute was up.

First round minutes 20 CDD’s + 10 Dying Cockroaches + 1 getup x 2

Second round minutes 25 mnt climbers + 20 Flutter Kicks x 2

Change the station to some Alice in Chains downtown playlist of “Sea of Sorrow” and “We Die Young”.

Get on one end of the parking lot for the Thang:

Hand release merkin burpee long jumps at each parking space line across the top of the deck to the other side.  (Crowd Pleaser-Was asked during this why the interesting song choice….are you not swimming in a sea of sorry?)

Mosey back and lunge walk the top of the deck and then mosey to start.

We finished up with two burpees before the clock struck 0615.

You never know when adversity will strike you.  Hard Times happen to all of us and if you aren’t prepared can take a toll.  We should consistently be preparing for adversity and hard times by keeping pushing ourselves to do hard things.  Voluntary tough things builds resilience.

Announcements: Convergeance April 17th , PT test on the 24th,  F3 Dad’s AO trash cleanup tomorrow (see Mayor’s preblast)  TronMoss 5/10k next Sunday at Crossroads at 0630.

Prayer requests:  GSM employees and families-Stroganoff.  Big Pappy’s son, James Lewis family and son, Flintstone’s sister, my FIL and the Frunzi family on the their loss of son Bennett.

I am glad Dr. Seuss reminded me of my Q (Accountability).  I signed up for this some time back when I was still recovering from a stress fracture and thought it would be a good goal to put something in the future to prepare for.  I am glad I did and grateful for the HIM’s that turned out.

Pledge

To windy and cold at the Pavilion so we  will Mosey to the parking deck, level 1, for the warm up:

SSH x 10

Merkins x 10

Mosey to level 2 for some suicide Burpee’s (Burpee  at each line on the right and 1  back at the beginning each time)

Mosey to level 3 for some suicide merkins (Merkin at each line on the right)

Mosey to level 4 for a ring of fire – circle up  for a lot of LBC’s (Pax perform LBC’s while each pax bear crawls the circle – one at a time)

Mosey to level 5 for a modified ring of fire – circle up for a lot of flutter kicks (Pax perform Flutters while each pax Nur to the end of the parking deck level and back- again one at a time)

Mosey to level 6 for a modified ring of fire – circle up for a few baby makers -elbow plank and start (while the pax perform said exercise each pax, one at a time, run stairs to level 5 across the level and back up the stairs)

Mosey back down to level one by running the outer most part of each level.

Mosey down to 2nd AVE just to realize we didn’t have the time for the next set so mosey on over to South Street for last little mosey.  Nur up South Street stopping at each pole on the right for squats i believe.  Cross Franklin and finish strong on the last 7 light poles on the  left with merkins (1 at first and finish up with 7 on the last.

Back to the Pavilion and time.

Announcements

Many prayer request

Out with Prayer

Great morning and thank you guys for the chance to lead!

Until next time – EZ out!!

15 men Downtown

Warm-up: Gravel Pickers, Hillbillies, 5 Burpees

The Thang:

Mosey to Post Office for some 11’s.

10 Big Boys at top 1 Imperial Walker Squat at bottom.  9 Big Boys at top, 2 IW Squats at bottom. Continue until finish with 1 Big Boys, 10 IW Squats.

Mosey to main street. Exercise called is Route 66  using light poles on left.  1st pole 1 Plank Jack Merkin.  Next pole 2 PJ Merkin.  Continue going up until you finish with 11 PJ Merkins.

Short mosey to parking deck.  Next exercise;

5 Rounds

10 Hip Slappers, run up stairs to top

10 Monkey Jumpers, back down other set of stairs

Still time, so we stayed in parking deck.  Bottom level do 5 Burpees.  Run and go up ramp to next level. Do 5 Burpees, 10 Hand Release Merkins.  Run up to next level for 5 Burpees, 10 HR Merkins, 15 American Hammers. Go to next level 5 Burpees, 10 HR Merkins, 15 AH, 20 Mountain Climbers.  We didn’t make it to the top because we were running low on time.

Back at flag, we had time to do the Worst Merkin Ever.  3 count exercise.  Werkin on 1 count, Merkin 2, Diamond Merkin on 3, that equals 1 rep.  I believe we got to 8 and time was up.   Those are awful!!

Announcements

Nameorama

Prayer Request

Great group of men this morning. Appreciate the push.  SYITG

Sister Act

9 men showed this Friday morning in order to improve themselves.

The Thang:

25 SSH

20 Imperial Walkers

Mosey to wall

2 rounds, 25 wall sit March, 20. (3 count) Monkey Humpers, 20 Lunges (count only right leg), 30 squats.

Mosey down the hil.
top of hill 10 hand release Merkins

mosey to corner for 10 squats

mosey to sidewalk railing, 1 lay down pull up

repeated the above until we flipped the outside numbers. 11’s with a twist.

mosey back. On the way 20 yards backwards and 30 yards lunges.

The Moleskin:

weather was great, strong group of guys that all have a purpose.
prayers for all that we mentioned.
Thanks for the opportunity, Gastone Out!

It was a great morning to be outside and 15 PAX took advantage and ended the work week with a Downtown workout. No FNG’s, short disclaimer, pledge and off we went to the parking deck.

Round 1

Lower level of the parking deck and on the wall for a round of Lindsay’s.

30 Wall Jumps/10 Mike Tyson’s, 25/15, 20,20, 15/25, 10/30

Up the stairs to the top level for some Core work:

25 Big Boys, 25 American Hammers, 25 Mountain Climbers, 25 LBC’s

Back down the stairs to the bottom level.

Round 2

Lindsay’s with Wall Jumps and Hip Slappers.

Same Core routine at top.

Round 3

Lindsay’s with Wall Jumps and Merkins.

Same Core routine at top.

Round 4

Lindsay’s with Wall Jumps and Werkins. (This was supposed to be HR Merkins, but the upper body was getting smoked at this point and YHC couldn’t Q it because he wasn’t sure he could do it)

Same Core routine at the top.

Mosey back down the ramps and to the Startex. Finished off with some Mary and 5 Burpee’s for the train.

COT/NMM

In order to keep from having soccer arms or chicken legs, you need a little balance in your workout and today we did 400 reps each of upper body, core and lower body exercises. We also need to maintain a balance in our lives in order to be the HIM that we are called to be. Too much focus on one aspect of your life will cause you to neglect others and no focus on certain aspects will cause you to continually fall short of where you need to be. Faith must come first, followed by family and then the rest. Keep it balanced.

Announcements

New AO in Dallas at Cloninger Park on March 27th at 7am

Freight collecting socks and reusable water bottles this month. Give to Freight, Broke or Sargento

Sargento taking donations for charity chosen by his Mortimer team

Prayer Request

CPAP and Dirt job search

SA and family

Plug In’s father passed

Joe Huffstetler

Turtleman surgery

Big Pappy’s son Elijah

YHC took us out.

I’m Broke

Crisp, cool morning Downtown for 11 strong Pax. Several questions about a Canoe or Slaw not being there. Sad Clown Syndrome is a real thing people!

Warmup: SSH, Cotton Pickers, Hillbillies, All x 15 IC, 5 burpees OYO
Pledge
Short mosey to the west side of the Pavilion where the blocks were waiting. Partner up and each group needs only one block for a Dora 1234 and yes a 4. We brought the blocks back to the nice, well-lit brick area to start our work.
100 Tricep Extensions
200 Squat Thrusters
300 Chest Presses on your 6
400 Curls
Lap around parking lot while partner performs exercises, then switch.
This was a tough one to get through. The team of Wichita/Wirenut made quick work of it and even helped some of us who were slower through the reps.
Run to the top of the parking deck taking the ramps and circle up for 30 LBC’s in cadence called by Haze, 30 Flutter Kicks IC called by Gastone. 5 more burpees OYO.
Back to the flag as time was close.

I read a few quotes from David Goggins who wrote a book called Can’t Hurt Me in which he makes a pretty convincing case that the body will do a lot more if we can learn to control our minds. I removed the foul language used in most of his quotes.

“I don’t stop when I’m tired, I stop when I’m done.”

“If you choose to do something, attack it.”

“The only thing more contagious than a good attitude is a bad one.”

“Only you can master your mind, which is what it takes to live a bold life filled with accomplishments most people consider beyond their capability.”

“You have to build callouses on your brain just like how you build callouses on your hands. CALLOUS YOUR MIND through pain and suffering.” (This is the one Freight likes to throw at me when I’m whining about something.)

Announcements: Strides of March, Saturday March 6th at 6:30 am.
Ball Joint VQ Tuesday, March 9th at Folsom. He has been getting after it since he joined us.
P200 and Mortimer Relays March 19th and 20th. I encourage the Pax to sign up for a relay as they are great fun.
New AO Option in Dallas at Cloninger Park at 7:00 am on March 27th.
PT Test in April
We had the Best February attendance in the history of F3 Gastonia so keep posting and EHing the sad clowns out there! There are so many guys who don’t even know how badly they need F3!

Prayer Requests: Big Pappy’s son having surgery this morning, Turtleman’s hip, Dr. Ellis Fisher, Huffstetler Family, Sister Act’s family, EZ’s friend who broke his upper arm, James Goudelock and others I may have forgot.

*NMM Thanks to all of the Pax who came out today. Blocks are always tough but I need them. I probably should’ve brought a Sparky block for Wichita and Wirenut as they made the 24 lb. block look like it was one of those fake, foam blocks. I usually like some rest days before a longer run event but SA reminded me Wednesday that I had the Q Friday so that made me think of the Goggins/Freight quote to “Callous the Mind”! I got called out by Wirenut, deservedly so, on a half-hearted effort on the squat portion of the Thrusters as I was trying to save my legs a little. Great to see Stinky Bird again and his calves. Watts Up’s shoulder must be better after he did all that work this morning. Haze’s outfit wasn’t too colorful today, just some red and black. I got to the flag around 5:28 and I could see Gastone was getting ready to take over if I had been any later. Wichita and I talked about how after every workout, we are always glad we went. Don’t let the fartsack win!

My second Q of the week, that doesn’t happen often but signing up weeks in advance, this can occasionally happen. If I were to be in different locations, I can re-use the Weinke, but the w/o on Wednesday was traveling simplicity. Both that workout and the one today reflect back to the many occasions that Gaston has Q’ed (go ahead and let out the collective grown – you’re thinking it at least). Gastone Q’s are not easy, that is for sure. I was 5 minutes before launch to find a hearty group of men ready for their end of week beatdown. I learned there was an FNG among us, he found us autonomously, having checked out the website. 0530 hit and a short disclaimer was announced – probably should have been more detail with the FNG but as the PAX often do, they rallied to translate and encourage. The Q had some veterans in the circle and their chatter was trying to take me off task – so my apologies for trying to focus on all the things a Q does; it takes a village.

Warm-up:

• Shoulder Tap Burpees OYO x 10 (tried cadence – didn’t work)
• Toy Soldier IC x 10
• Hillbilly IC x 10
• 8 Ct Body Builder IC x 5
• Side to Side Lunge IC x 10
• Imperial Walker IC x 10
• Pledge

Thang: began the mosey with 17 men following behind. Upon crossing Main St, YHC announced Zombie Walks until I “suggest” stop. Goal was to make it to the raised curb on the right side of the street. I requested the PAX to line up on the ledge – should have been more specific for these knuckleheads. “Line up facing south (on South Street no-less) with your right leg on the ledge that was 8-15” in height depending on your position. Which speaking of position, SA clears a circle as his ass trumpeted – good one. Single Leg lowers: 15 right, 15 left. A street curb is a little too small to have any effect but this height worked well to work the Vastus Medialis (VMO) muscle.  Quick PSA – strengthening and loosening this important quad muscle stabilizes your knee and can prevent injury. We finished and progressed down the hill to McQuitters Wall on South/Main in front of the church. Find a spot: 10 Box Jumps, 10 Dips, 10 Burpees – 3 rounds OYO. Modify as needed to accommodate injury or other. This was a good start to jack up the heart rate. Next, on down the hill. With a large group, we were spread, so I impromptu left turned into a parking lot and suggested Freddie Mercuries until the 6 arrived. Once everyone had at least a few reps, up and left out of the parking lot, left on 3rd St, left into the office parking lot. Because Sister Act was among us, actually,  I was doing this with or without him – his favorite – Triple Nickle. The parking lot above had a 15 retaining wall, which was perfect for Hip Slappers. Run to the top of the driveway for LBCs. You know the drill – 5 reps of each and 5 total circuits. The width of the driveway was tight for 18 dudes creating traffic. Round Up was in the zone, as usual, and pushing ahead. Mayor crushed this set as well. If you’ve not seen the Mayor lately, you may not recognize the svelteness. Props to Watts Up who just the other day took a hard spill onto his shoulder. He can barely lift his arm passed 70 degrees but he posted. I’m not pointing this out to make anyone feel bad for fartsacking, but…well, I guess if you feel guilty then I guess you do. So that was a warm-up for the main event. We retraced out of the parking lot going north on South St to the intersection with 2nd St. With about 25 minutes of playtime, I announced the next exercise opportunity – 11’s – the whole block between South and Marietta. The whole block you say? Yeah; begin with 10 Hand-release Merkins on South and 1 Mike Tyson at Marietta. Admittedly this was ambitious, but I wanted to offer a chance for the PAX to push, which they did. Again, Round Up was outfront, extracting all that he could from his opportunity. We (or at least I) didn’t make it but a few rounds. In hindsight, doing this routine in the future, I’d start this earlier and go west on 2nd Street, heading up the hill rather than the flat chested [hence the title – couldn’t come up with anything better] segment between South & Marietta. At a few minutes after 6 am, I Omahaed and steered the PAX north on South Street back to base. At 6:09 that was the perfect slot for 6MOM.

Mary:

• Flutters IC x 21
• Dolly IC x 10
• V-Sit Dolly IC x 10
• 90 degree crunch IC x 10
• Table Top crunch IC x 10
• Mayor, began crying about his obliques needing some work. So I handed the keys to him:
• Oblique crunch 50 each side…50!!! Ambitious – but he is svelte after all; Purple Haze (I think) Omahaed this to 25 each – TIME.

Announcements: Strides of March – we’re up to 23 – would love a few more. Prayers: Wichita’s friend, Folgers friend, Turtleman – hoping for positive diagnosis, Sister Act 2.0; I took us out.

Following two days of great weather, we had a nice spot this morning. Having 17 others around could have been indicative of a 48 degree clear morning? Good signs for the upcoming months as guys are looking to finish off their work week. I’ve been guilty of missing this opportunity and need to get Downtown more consistently on my schedule. During COVID, I’ve come to appreciate the afternoon workout – to get away from my work at home desk and burn off steam. But, on Friday’s I love having the workout completed early and out of the way. It makes Happy Hour more enjoyable. We had Antonio Marin post with us this morning. He’s 29 years old, graduate of Forestview and has a car repair shop on Franklin Blvd near Tony’s Ice Cream. He carefully avoided the pitfall questions. Tater Hole pushed for El Camino and only Mayor’s suggestion of Spur to compete, the Q went with El Camino – welcome to the brotherhood. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

The rain cleared just as we began.  Quick disclaimer and pledge.  No time for warm up, let’s roll.

Right out to Main St., barely even out of breath yet.  But what’s that in the far distance.  It’s moving slow but steady.  It’s coming upon us, is it the Gloom?  Close, but it’s Purple Haze rolling in hot and heavy, and groovy.  We got the Vibe as he strolled past.  I declare I think he was wearing some GSM threads.  Park your van Trippy, we’ll wait on Main St. for you.  Can you Dig it?

The Thang:

Main Street:

Partner Booyah’s.

Stop light to stop light run (each runs half), meet back and do a social distance Booyah Merkin with your parter counting up.  Do this for a little while.

Garage:

10 Merkins/10 Squats , alternate at each level, do this as we run to the top.

Rinse and repeat:

20 LBC/20 HomerMarge, alternate each level

30 Side Straddle Hop/30 Freddie Mercury , alternate each level, stopped about midway and headed for the top.

You take the High Road / I’ll take the Low Road

Count off 1/2.  1’s run down the ramps, 2’s down the stairs and jump squats while waiting on 1’s to reach them.  Alternate, rinse and repeat all the way down and all the way back up.

Back to the Street:

Had about enough time for group 1 to run a block down and back (EZ and Haze had to show off by heading to Franklin, most Pax were just happy enough touching the Butt (Light Pole)).  Group 2 holds plank.

Back to finish, one round around the Pavilion to complete 3 miles.

Time

Announcements:

Sign up for the Strides of March

Downtown needs a Q for the 19th

Mortimer

P200

Prayers/Concerns:

Folgers friend Pete is heading to Atlanta to deal with Stage 4 cancer

Broke’s Mother

EZ Rider’s son

EZ Rider’s former pastor (85 years) in hospital dealing with artery blockage

Honored to Lead this morning

YHC was informed on Wed. Couger would make a rare morning appearance.  Additionally Cougar would be bringing a FNG, who was going to be getting married at the courthouse later today.  (Cougar is the best man)  To pay homage to this event, YHC prepared today’s weinke with a marriage theme.

Alas, no FNG and no Cougar..

Disappointed? Yes

Change the Plan?  No

11 PAX where gathered around YHC by 0530.

Its go time…

We knock out The Pledge of Allegiance.

Warmup:

• 21 SSH IC  (Toward the end of this set, JJ decided it was finally go time for him, making the total 13)
• 2 Burpees
• 12 Merkins IC
• 2 Burpees
• 2 Burpees
• 2 Burpees
• Mosey to the Parking Deck a longish way.

Main Event:

Partner up…

The couples were:

BOS / EZ Rider
Purple Haze / Watts Up
Def Leppard / Sister Act
Flintstone / Slaw
Folgers / Round Up
Broke / Dirt
JJ

As you can see, JJ was the 3rd wheel.  He made the best of it by making threesomes with all the couples as the time progressed.

Level 1

One thing about marriage is you do lots of activities together with your partner…

Let’s do 11’s  with Hand Release Merkins on Level 1 and Squats on Level 2.  Take the stairs to get to Level 2, but run the ramp back to Level 1.  Partner 1 and Partner 2 do this together at the same time, at the same pace.

Meander to Level 2.

Sometimes a partner doesn’t feel well, is hurt, etc. and the other partner has to do all the work…

Let’s do 11’s again.  This time with Burpees on Level 2 and Burpees on Level 3.  Again, take the stairs up and the ramp down.  This time one partner works while the other planks…

• P1 – 10/1 Burpees, P2 High Plank
• P2 – 9/2 Burpees, P1 High Plank
• P1 – 8/3 Burpees, P2 Low Plank
• P2 – 7/4 Burpees, P1 Low Plank
• P1 – 6/5 Burpees, P2 High Plank
• P2 – 5/6 Burpees, P1 High Plank
• P1 – 4/7 Burpees, P2 Low Plank
• P2 – 3/8 Burpees, P1 Low Plank
• P1 – 2/9 Burpees, P2 High Plank
• P2 – 1/10 Burpees, P1 High Plank

Meander to Level 3

In a marriage, you work together to accomplish goals…

Time for some Dora 1,2,3  P1 does the work, P2 runs to Level 4 via stairs and back via ramp.  Then flapjack.

• 100 CDDs
• 200 Calf Raises
• 300 Dying Cockroaches

Mosey back to the flag, with enough time left to get 5 more burpees in for the train…

Time!

Announcements:

• Extinction Run tomorrow (Saturday, 13-Feb) @ Primal – Belmont 0900.  Weather is supposed to be perfect.
• Strides of March CSAUP  06-Mar

Prayer Requests were noted and lifted as YHC took us out.

Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Ecclesiastes 9:9
Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

Watts Up Powering Down

Six brave men showed to know this morning at the DOWNTOWN !

The last Tuesday of January I ended up at Midoriyama for a Freight beat down.

We ran suicide drills  for over 2/3’s of a very large parking lot (every line)  I heard we almost made it but ran out of time – no one wanted to take Freight up on staying for extra credit to complete.

Fast forward  to the following week on a rainy Friday morning to complete.

First the warm up – 10 SSH in cadence and 10 merkins in cadence

Mosey down South St to the parking deck.

LEVEL 1 – suicide drill (every line from  end to end)

10 count and mosey to level 2

LEVEL 2- route 66 merkins

10 count and mosey to level 3

LEVEL 3- repeat suicide drill

10 count and mosey to level 4

LEVEL 4 – repeat route 66 with mtn climbers – brawl crawl between lines

10 count and mosey to level 5

LEVEL 5 – repeat suicide drill

10 count and mosey to level 6

LEVEL 6 – repeat route 66 with squats

Complete but wait we have around 10 mins left

Mosey to the first level and since we have time we ran back up the stairs to the top and ran back down to the bottom again with 6 mins to spare.

With that amount of time we took the long way (main st down to N 321 route) back to the start for about 2 mins of LBC’s in cadence called by Slaw.

Note: We only got in 2.7 miles compared to Freights  3.32

Announcements: P200, Rooster, & Extinction run

Prayer request: Pax on IR and many others

Prayer

Pledge – Thank you JJ for reminding me.

Enjoyed it this morning and a honor to lead

EZ out!!