Tag: GasHouse (Page 27 of 53)

At 5:30 I went over the disclaimer for FNG (Jeremy Biddy) and it was time for the pledge.

Warm-up:
20 SSH IC
20 Merkins IC

Moseyed to the flag pole near the clubhouse at the baseball fields and partnered up.  P1 would run while P2 did exercise.  They would switch when the partner got back.  We did three rounds with LBC’s, Merkins and Squats.
Then we headed to the paring lot and knocked out lunges to the second light pole and ran to the shelter.  At this point we did 10 Derkins IC, 50 step-ups, and 12 Derkins IC.  After a meander to the track we ran backwards to the pull-up bar.  5 pull-ups each while the PAX planked.  This was Omaha’d halfway into squats.

At this time we headed back to AO.

Prayers for Gastone’s family, the York County Sheriff’s Office and the family of Deputy Michael Doty.

Welcome FNG Bed Pan.

It was great to see so many HIMS show up, one of the largest Monday’s I can remember.  Remember, YOU can change the world by your example.

Being my first Q, I figured it needed to match the intensity of previous Pain Labs from Rudolph and his previous posts. So here goes…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…no wait.

Call me Ishmael…hold on.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…

It was cool and icy in Ralph’s house. 3 Pax and 1 Q showed for Pain-lab. The goal for the day was KISS, Keep it Simple Stupid. Not hard for me, so that’s what I did. We broke it down to 14 basic exercises using the Tabata method: 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest between. Here’s the breakdown (sorry that the Lexicon for all exercises are not accurate)

Merkins 20 seconds-rest

LBC’s 20 seconds-rest

Wax On (shoulder rotations) 20 seconds-rest

Sumo Squats 20 seconds-rest

Tricep Dips 20 seconds-rest

Stair Step Ups 20 seconds-rest

Peter Parker 20 seconds-rest

Front lunges 20 seconds-rest

Hi Plank 20 seconds (brought in some yoga poses)-rest

Warrior pose 20 seconds-rest

Up Dog 20 seconds-rest

Down Dog 20 seconds-rest

Low Plank 20 seconds-rest

Warrior Pose Side Stretch 20 seconds-rest

Breaking those 14 moves down with 2 different times really put a beat down on the shoulders and hammys, so we decided to up the ante by running through all 14 exercises (+ another set of Merkins and LBC’s at the end) for a total of 8 minutes of solid workout….TWICE. While we didn’t run, cardio did play a factor in the training for the day. We kept it simple…No brains. We kept it body resistance…no weights. KISS.

Thanks for the encouragement from Rudolph and his confidence in letting me lead his Lab. Thanks for Short Sale, HIPPA, and Tube for following my lead. Hopefully they feel the pain from the lab. I also got to play my theme song for the workout. How many PAX get to do that!!

Peace, HFT

It’s still cold in the gloom.  Who knew how many would show as some of the Saturday regulars were working or participating in The Rooster.  Having not done my ‘Forrest Gump’ workout in a while, I decided a pre-Ruck was in order for some EC and recon to make sure ice would not be a problem.  Turns out the normal Lineberger Park sections for parts of the ‘Forrest Gump’ were icy and probably a little unsafe so we would have to improvise.

11 Total were ready to roll by 7:00 am including an FNG that showed on his own accord…..that’s strong, welcome Padre.  Quick warm-up before splitting off for the Pain Lab and Boot Camp with some IC work as follows:

SSH X 10

Imperial Walkers X 10

Pledge

Split off:  7 for the modified Forrest Gump & 4 for the Pain Lab led by Hot for Teacher

The Thang

The Forrest Gump is so called because it includes a little more running than some of our normal workouts and goes like this:

Mosey west along Garrison Blvd for the first stop at East Garrison Baptist Church for some IC work:

Merkins X 10

Squats X 20

LBC’s X 20

Mosey further west to second stop at Hillbilly’s:

Hillbilly’s X 20 (Appalachian Americans for T-Square)

Merkins X 10

Squats X 20

LBC’s X 20

Mosey to Lineberger Park.  However, the route to the flag area was covered significantly with ice so we stayed on the Garrison sidewalk up toward the upper field with the train track.  Time for some Dora 1-2-3

Partner up:  Partner 1 runs the path and circles around the fountain/water play area and back while partner 2 is performing the following exercises for cumulative totals as follows:

100 Merkins

200 Squats

300 Flutter Kicks

After the first round, we switched paths as the original path to the circle was iced over slightly.

After completION, we moseyed to one of the covered picnic shelters near the pool parking lot.  The normal location would be the picnic area inside the train track but the wooden walkway to that area was completely covered in ice so we improvised with some IC work:

Dips X 20

Step ups X 20

Derkins X 10

Dips X 15

Step ups X 20

Derkins X 10

Meander back to the Garrison sidewalk….is that a train?  Yes/no?  Not sure……how about 3 burpees since we weren’t sure.

Mosey back to Hillbilly’s for another round of IC work as follows:

Merkins X 10

Low-Slow Squats  X 20

LBC’s X 20

Mosey with one more stop at East Baptist Church (yes Freight, the Methodist stopped twice in a Baptist parking lot).  The tradition has always been to finish the ‘Forrest Gump’ workout with a set of Monkey Humpers toward the road….Monkey Humpers IC X 15……this was the glorious portion of the workout.

Final mosey back to the Schiele to complete the workout.  Great timing as the First Pres bells were ringing as we entered the parking lot.  My apologies to the Pain Lab for not getting back in time for any Mary.

Good work men and especially nice to have an FNG show on a Saturday.

Announcements – several prayer requests – Name-O-Rama

FNG naming – Padre

The Moleskin

As always it was an honor to lead the group this morning.  Several good discussionS along the route including the 5 tenets of F3 along with a quick discussion about why we are here.  It’s not about beating the guy beside you.  It’s about lifting up the guy beside you and trying to be better today than you were yesterday and being better tomorrow than you were today.

Keep Moving Forward.

Until the next one.  Aye!

Stroganoff

PS:  40 Days of Discipline starts today…….that Oatmeal at Panera was GOOOOOOOOOOOD!

The best way to develop habits is to have the discipline and willpower to follow through with your plans.  I struggle to be disciplined in all things and so I am looking to have a little added accountability from my F3 brothers in an effort to be a little more intentional about health and wellness.  Here is what you can help me with and if you are interested please join me!  This 40 day challenge begins on January 20^th and ends on February 28^th.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:  Workout a minimum of 5x per week from Jan 20 through Feb 28.  Don’t eat sweets, soft drinks, or junk food.  Four cheat meals.  You can earn more.  Don’t drink alcohol or if you do, limit it to one or two drinks.  Hold yourself accountable by tracking your efforts your efforts.

What is required?

Fitness:

You must work out a minimum of 5 times per week (at least 27 workouts in 40 days) using the #F3 250 model.  Any workout that is a minimum of 30 minutes counts.  This could include running, cycling, rucking, any F3 workout or workout you put together at home.  “Two a day” workouts count.  Example, you complete an F3 bootcamp in the morning and a minimum 30 minute jog in the afternoon=2 workouts.

Diet:      No gluten.  (Just kidding.  If we did this our COT would last all morning because everyone would have to talk about it.)

No Mountain Dew (T-Square), other soft drinks, desserts, sweets, potato chips, junk food, fast food, etc.  You know what your food vices are so stay away from them.  Fast food is allowed if it is salad or chili or eat the grilled chicken without the bun.  No fried foods.

Protein shake within 30 minutes of ending the workout.  This is the only expense. Get some protein powder and a shaker bottle and make it a habit.   Drink more water.  Google what “eating clean” means and stick to it.

You are allowed four cheat meals during this challenge and because this challenge falls during my birthday month I will be eating pizza and ice cream at least once.  Cheat meals must be named and claimed so if you “accidentally” find yourself having that chocolate covered brownies on a day you didn’t plan to cheat, then that is one of your cheat meals.  Tough stuff.  There is no try…only do.

If you work out more than 5 times per week, you can claim an extra cheat meal.  An example is a couple of slices of pizza but don’t blow it on a whole pizza.  Even though you will be getting the workouts in you can’t out work a bad diet.

Alcohol:  I am no nutritionist but have seen enough articles about red wine being good for the heart and beer being a good recovery drink.  However, you are an adult and I am not recommending anything here.  Moderation and limit yourself to one day a week if you have to have it.

You must keep a daily journal of both your workouts and cheat meals. The journal is for your eyes only.  (I use the “notes” on my Iphone since I always have it with me.  I tracked all my workouts on my phone in 2017.  It is helpful to look back and see what you did and when.  It is also helpful to make notes about any injuries or other worthy things to note.  You can also see where you failed to work out and why.  It is a good habit.

I will be sending some tips along the way like healthy snacks in between meals and some “garage” workouts that don’t require weights and welcome anyone else to do the same.  I have heard from some of you on Slack that you are doing this with me and I appreciate it!  Start now getting your mind right and try to push yourself to do a little extra leading up to this challenge.  Good habits are hard to break!

It was a great day to post to an F3 workout in the Gashouse.  Short Sale and I EH’d a friend to come to the workout and Short Sale even picked him up this morning.  Actually our friend’s M and 2.0’s were giving him grief so he couldn’t back down.  His message to us the night before was and I quote, “kill me now”.  I tried to think of a scalable beatdown that would be appropriate for all fitness levels.  Partner work seemed to be the best so I borrowed and modified a favorite from C-Span and set out some coupons a little early.

A total of 16 showed up with two FNG’s.  We also welcomed back Emoji who made his first post last Saturday.  T-Square brought a 2.0 with him to share the Gloom.  A brief disclaimer and introduction to F3 (it’s free and money back guarantee) and we began the warmup which included SSH, Appalachian Americans, Squats, Merkins, and LBC’s.  Since the painlab was closed we descended onto the nature trail and to the flag for the Pledge and a countoff and second core principal (peer led).

Then we were off to the FPC newly paved parking lot.  YHC began to introduce the “Thang” when he saw TimeFrame and Google coming up the hill.  No one including me realized they were back there (Q-fail).  The first lesson of TheTraveler’s Gift was shared.  “The Buck stops here.”  Stop making excuses for yourself. F3 is available to all men.

There were ten parking spaces with written exercises in each space.  Partner up and get to it.  Partner one runs a lap around the circle while partner two performs the exercise for cumulative combined reps.  The exercises were: 100 Jump Rope, 100 LBC’s, 100 Merkins, 100 Flutter Kicks, 50 burpees, 150 Squats, 100 dumbell shoulder shrugs, 100 shoulder taps, 100 Seal Jacks, and 100 Mountain Climbers.  The lesson of this is that in life everyone goes through the same things at different times.  It was a good push and even though our FNG QT said during a lap that he blacked out we all made it through without anyone splashing merlot.

Next we moseyed to the Grier track.  Partner One runs to the middle of the field and touches the football (YHC placed it there before the workout) and back to partner two who is lunge walking the track.  Whoopee stole the football so we had to take it back to the field.   We completed about half a lap but due to time we Omaha’d and moved on to Frisbee throws.  FNG QT threw the Frisbee onto the field and all the PAX chased it and then completed 10 burpees.  They repeated something like this again while Whoopee and I placed the cones that Short Sale brought to outline the football field.  We broke into two teams and played Ultimate Frisbee rules football for the remaining time.

Team one was superior to Team two today.  I think they had more players and they had JJ who was always in the right spot to make a play.  Plus the usually gentlemanly Stroganoff had on a company futbol jersey with number 90 like Julius Peppers and was handchecking more than Harvey Weinstein.  Emoji was in full momentum and almost crushed JJ into a little Reddick meatball but somehow JJ survived.  T-Square was a chameleon and kept pretending he was on Team two who kept throwing him the ball.  Next time we will play shirts and skins to better differentiate the teams.  By all accounts of Team two Emoji caught the game winner however Team One threw the challenge flag and it was overturned as Emoji had stepped out of the back of the endzone.  Team one quickly capitalized on the lull in the action and caught team two resting and threw several strikes down the field for the win.  As we collected the cones and moseyed back to start the bells were already ringing, signaling the end of the workout.  (Q-fail #2)  We circled up and named out FNG’s “Paw Paw” and “QT”.   At some point I covered all 5 core principles of F3 and got to the second lesson of The Travelers Gift…”seek wisdom”.  We should all strive to learn all we can from each other.  The more you know the more you realize you don’t know.  That brings on more humility and makes us more open to listening.

We had a large number at Coffeerama and we learned that Emoji has claustrophobia and that QT once crawled up the Grand Canyon on his hands and knees in the dark while getting soiled in Donkey scat.

Prayer requests go out to T-Square’s M and there was one more that I forget (Q-Fail #3) but I remembered it as we closed in the COT.

I am thankful for my F3 brothers and look forward to 2018 and the continued stories of changed lives and community impact.

See you tomorrow for a run at 0630 at either the Coconut Horse (Harris Teeter in SWGA)  or Common Ground in Stanley (NOGA?  EAGA?)

On a holiday weekend with a chance for rain, I wasn’t sure how many would make it out for the workout today.  As usual, I was not disappointed when 14 showed in the gloom including one FNG (welcome Emoji/Michael Ginther).

After some completely inappropriate mumble chatter just before the workout started concerning my Santa hat, we went through the disclaimer and got ready to get after it.

T-Claps to Roscoe for breaking out the 1987-88 Ashbrook High School Key Club shirt.  This was from my senior year of HS and really took me back……..take it easy.

We went through a quick IC Warm-Up:

There was a train in the distance that was heard by all but I decided to skip these burpees (we had some in our future) even though a few prematurely started them.

SSH X 10

Imperial Walkers X 10

Mosey to the big flag in front of the museum for the Pledge.

The Thang

Mosey to the track at Grier Middle School for the first annual rendition of Stroganoff’s 12 Days of Christmas.  I had not idea how this would go or how long it would take.  It went something like this:

Imagine singing along to the classic tune and inserting exercises for each day brought to you by your F3 Q as follows:

On the first day of Christmas, your F3 Q brought to you…….

1st Day – 1/2 Lap around the track

2nd Day – 12 Bobby Hurleys + 1st Day

3rd Day – 12 Merkins + 2nd Day + 1st Day

4th Day – 12 LBC’s + 3rd Day + 2nd Day + 1st Day (You get the idea of the repeated sets just like the song goes)

5th Day – 5 Buuuuuurrrrpeeeeessss (sung just like 5 Golden Rings with a much higher, out of tune voice) + first 4 days

6th Day – 12 Flutter Kicks + first 5 days

7th Day – 12 Squats + first 6 days

8th Day – 12 CDD’s + first 7 days

9th Day – 12 Hillbillies + first 8 days

10th Day – 12 Mountain Climbers + first 9 days

11th Day – 12 Side Straddle Hops + first 10 days

12th Day – 50 Moroccan Nigh Clubs + first 11 days

As the days stretched on, the mumble chatter became less and less as did the personal space intrusion during the squats.  This can mean a number of things, the workout sucks or the PAX is just mad.  Not sure what this one was.  I must admit the last few sets of Bobby Hurleys and burpees were not fun.  I will be sore.

However, we still had a few minutes so plenty of time for a set of my favorites at the picnic tables:

Dips X 15

Step UPS X 20

Derkins X 15

Mosey back to the Schiele for a quick round of Mary before the bells ring:

LBC’s X 20

Flutter Kicks X 15

Times up.

Good work this morning men.  I wasn’t sure how the multiple 12 reps would go and how long it would take but it turned out to be a good workout for myself.  I hope it was a worthwhile endeavor for everyone.

Announcements (there were some but it turned out to be a disaster).

Unfortunately we had several prayer requests including remembering those that may be experiencing their first Christmas without a loved one.  This can be difficult.

We finished off with Name-O-Rama that included the FNG – Emoji plus a quick note from a book I just finished – Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden.  His Father gave him a notecard when he finished elementary school with the following instructions on it that was the 7 Point Creed as a guideline for living each day:

1. Be true to yourself
2. Help others
3. Make each day your masterpiece
4. Drink deeply from good books, including the Good Book.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings each day.

Good words to live by.

For the Christmas Eve Eve effort, I handed out a copy of a book by Andy Andrews – The Traveler’s Gift, as a token of my appreciation for the attendance and the push all year.  If anyone else in the region would like a copy, just PM or text me and I’ll be happy to get you a copy.  I think it’s a great book and has helped my along the path.

Many thanks again for allowing me to lead the group this morning.  It was an honor.

Merry Christmas to all the Gastonia Region PAX and your families.  I’m grateful for each and everyone one of you.  Keep pushing the rock.

Until the next one.  Aye!

Stroganoff

Stroganoff advertised the GasHouse Q was available and I had a few ideas burning a hole in my bag of Weinke’s that I was interested to try…sign me up. The “Oh $h#! moment came when the weather forecast began calling for snow. I can’t back out now, can I? I recall last year a few fools, um, I mean PAX posted in the snow. Cursed those F3 5 Principles…so I double prepare with two Weinkes; one I hoped to use with all my bag of tricks and the contingency Weinke under the picnic shelter (I’m sure there is an off color remark that I should make but I’ll abstain for now). The alarm hits 0600 and I stagger from my cozy bed and stare out the window to check Mother Nature’s agenda: no snow, just wet ground and a chilly 35 degrees was thankfully absent any significant wind. Time to suit up and pack the coupons, we’re going with Weinke #1.

Tool Time texted on the way with a screen shot of a “Tool” song – he was getting fired up to fuel the mumble chatter. Stone Cold and Roscoe were in the parking lot talking shop. Roscoe had been on a crime scene since 0300 and came directly to the GasHouse so he could post #HIM. Stroganoff hops out of his car, plants the shovel flag, goes to his six to knock out 100 LBC’s; Roscoe joins him. Bandit rolls in with his two sons, ready to work. No one shows for Rudolph’s Pain Lab (he’ll get you back) so he joins us. As I’m giving the disclaimer to ensure the PAX are mindful of the wet ground and to be sure-footed, Madoff wheels in hot to join us. We stood at attention for the pledge. Now, time to get this party started.

Warm-Up:

• 5 Burpees OYO
• Toy Soldiers x 10 IC
• MNC x 10 IC
• Squat Merkins x 10 SC (this was a crowd pleaser, be on the lookout for it)
• Seal Jacks x 10 IC
• 5 Burpees OYO
• Follow me…to the amphitheater at the back entrance to the museum

Thang:

Using the 5 steps we’ll do 11’s starting with 10 SSH at the top and 1 LBC at the bottom; decreasing and increasing until 55 of each are complete. The thick stairs provided a nice burn on the climb. All PAX are planking…time to mosey to First Presbyterian Church back parking lot. Upon arrival I asked if any of the PAX were Beatles fans; got a few hands raised. Our two young men Goose and Reeses may  have to Google who “The Beatles” actually are. I suspect for the 10 other PAX they now have a new found association of hate if they ever hear the lyrics of “Let it Be” played again. What did we do you are now curious? Instead of the plank/merkin fun with Roxanne or Bring Sally Up, the PAX were instructed to bear crawl between the parking lot medians and each time the lyric: “Let it Be” was sung, stop and perform one merkin. In case you’d like to try this at home, there are 41 occasions for that line in the song and the song lasts four minutes…you’re welcome, and don’t hurt yourself. There was plenty of chatter during this epic event. I am Q at the Goat next week and don’t think for an instance this will not be introduced for your pleasure – you’ve now been warned. Lot’s more to do so we moseyed to the back entrance to the youth building at the church but instead of simply running up the slight incline, let’s perform side to side ski mogul jumps, just to get our legs burning as much as our arms and shoulders.

At the top of the hill were the coupon’s, the Q’s gift to the PAX. We divided into three groups where I now realized with 11 men, it should have been 3 groups of 3 and 1 group of 2 but instead I formed 2 groups of 4 and 1 group of 3 = Q Fail…blame it on the cold (which I will in just a minute). We worked through four stations of Tabata: 30 seconds on, 10 seconds off for three sets (throughly confused? I’m just glad I had a Weinke). The stations were:

• Renegade Row, Merkin, Burp with either bricks or dumbbells
• Block Curls (big block and half blocks – Slaw – needed your blocks)
• Rifle Squats with sand filled PVC
• Curtsy Lunge with rounded raise – this one takes a slight bit of coordination but quickly becomes painful lifting your arms with water jugs as your right leg crosses behind left lunge (you tube it)

I had a new set list for the workout. Once I realized Whoopee wasn’t going to post (benefit of the doubt that he is on call saving lives) I deleted my George Straight song. I made Roscoe happy with a few Dream Theatre songs. After that session we did a count off and offered the PAX a chance to catch their breath before the next segment where we went to the wooden benches left of the building. To my knowledge, they have never been used in one of our GasHouse workouts…until now. Spread out and grab some bench for:

• Derkins
• Bench Humpers (Rudolph named this one since I didn’t have a real name for it)
• Abyss Merkins (this is how they were actually intended to be performed)
• Dips

Once again, 30 seconds on/10 seconds off, 3 rounds until the cold zapped my phone battery and we had to adjust to my watch for the final set. Once completed it was time to return to the museum where we had about 8 minutes for Mary.

• Flutter Kicks x 20
• Chopsticks x 15
• Leg Lifts x 10
• American Hammer x 20
• LBC’s x 15
• Fifer Scissor Punch x 10
• Jingle Balls x 20
• Plank Jacks x 15
• Dying Cockroach x 10
• Rather than repeat the set, I offered PAX choice:
• Tool Time – V up Roll Up
• Roscoe – can’t remember
• Stroganoff – what else?? more Flutter Kicks
• TIME!

COT

Roscoe asked for prayers for the homicide victim that he worked earlier that morning. Bandit, Goose, and Reese’s aunt is improving with her chemo treatments, Tool Time’s co-working fighting cancer and my daughter’s concussion. Announcements for the Joe Davis event in January.

Moleskin

We had a fun group today pushing each other and working hard. At 35 degrees with snow flurries this could have easily been a small number of PAX. It was a good push by all the guys. Something sparked 10 other men (Bandit may have strongly encouraged his boys to join him…) to get out of the fartsack this morning, well Roscoe had to work before coming, but he posted. Maybe we’re a little insane…speaking of, Tool Time said he is sneaking into my garage to steal my workout dvd’s but I’ve committed these sinister acts to memory so there is no escaping. Sometimes you just have to “Let it Be.” Until the next time (which is Thursday at The Goat).

Short Sale