Tag: The Storm (Page 16 of 26)

Some folks have been after me for a while to Q again so I stepped up as required and ended up with two Qs in the same week.  I thought about what I would do until Brownstreak kept asking when are you going to do the Bermuda triangle, when are you going to do the Bermuda triangle.  I figured I would divide everyone up into teams of three and pull out the classic, but alas, not enough were there to make it work, so a quick Omaha to an AMRAP.

Disclaimer…yes

Warm Up…no

Pledge…yes

Mosey to upper lot where the thing was dispersed.  From the center of the bottom lot, 20 Mericans, run to upper right speed bump for 20 lunges, run to upper left speedbump for 20 squats and repeat for 10 minutes or so for as many rounds as possible.

Second verse same as the first, but with some changes.  Exercises were SSH x25, side lungesx20, Moraccan night clubsx50…AMRAP for 10 minutes.  There was a lot of competition during this one between Tiny Tank and Dolph.  Good job men.

Third round exercises were shoulder taps x20, calf raises x30, dips x40…AMRAP for 10 minutes.

After this was all said and we circled up for some Mary.  The PAX took this time to count in cadence alternating numbers from Mayor and Love.  Fortunately Juice Box was steadfast and kept the count rocking so we brisked thru 25 IC.  Homer to Marge, where the rarely seen Dirty Homer made an appearance and some dancing chilcutts.  During this there were some less than positive comments made and one about Jane Fonda.  So YHC took it upon himself to have the PAX do 10 kneeling leg extensions to target the glutes…..and everyone participated.  We finished with a quick sprint back and 10 burpees to make up for the two trains we heard prior to the workout.

Announcements:  BurpeeThon 4/29, Mud Run in May ??, 2017 and the P200 march 24 and a one driver is still needed.  SIGN UP.

Prayers:  Tophats family T-Square, Jim Abernethy.

COT – Thanks to streak for taking us out.

Moleskin:  I learned last night that an officer (Jim Abernethy) I have come to know and like in my little town who had suffered his second massive heart attack last week, was given 24 hours from noon yesterday.  As I write this now, at 10pm, I don’t know his condition, but I found myself thinking about this all day.  I called and spoke to his mother last night and just thought about how he’s 47 with two young grandchildren and probably wont be around to see them.  I thought about my life, health, family and spirituality.  While I struggle to move forward at a faster pace and find myself getting spit out the back of the pax when going for a mosey, I reminded myself that I just don’t quit and have no plans to start.  My takeaway is that you are the only YOU there will ever be.  Regardless of how you do it, move forward and live the best life you can because no one is promised tomorrow.  There has been a lot of loss and strife within the pax so lift each and everyone up around you.  I thank you all for the role you have played in my life and I am grateful for F3.

Today could have been a reasonable excuse to stay in the warmth of a fartsack, snuggled (or spooned) next to our significant other, conjuring methods of cardiovascular excitement not named SSH or Merkin (or maybe they do? Yeah – I almost went there…). Instead, this Valentine’s Day began for 16 HIMs in the gloom, in a shield lock to support Tophat who lost his brother last week in an accident. My first Q at The Storm happen to coincide with these two events. I had a couple of ideas to ensure the PAX would get their money’s worth. It took a few minutes to set up the workout so I arrived to the center of the circle at 0530 to learn we had two FNG’s ready to do battle. I manufactured a quick disclaimer: “Modify as needed, don’t kill yourself, don’t try to keep up with Dolph…” PAX: “Dolph is QIC at Folsom.” What? My very first exercise was just for him:

• 5 Burpees OYO
• Seal Jacks – IC x 10
• Toy Soldiers – IC x 10
• High Knees – IC x 10
• Don Quixote – IC x 5…(hit Whoopee’s limit for warm-up)

A very short mosey to the tennis courts. An early recon mission failed to find the lights that would have been nice to illuminate our movements but we’re used to dancing under the pale moonlight. QIC Fail #2: the speaker was not fully charged to play the soundtrack built for the workout. I was excited because I finally down-loaded George Strait to fit Whoopee’s odd musical appreciation (odd because of his disdain for Rush which were songs #4 and #13 on my playlist). Next time I’ll be better prepared. YHC earned one athletic letter at Ashbrook High School. At 5’9”, 130 lbs, my scrawny frame wasn’t suitable for the gridiron or hardwood at the high school level, so I focused on tennis. I was privileged to play with some good guys on a good team that finished 2^nd in the conference, won regionals and top 5 in the state tournament. Our team’s bonds exist to this day. Nearly all of our practices and match warm-ups began with two drills that I wanted to share with my F3 brothers.

The Thang:

Set I

• “W” drill – from the baseline, run to the net, backpedal to the “T”, run to the net and backpedal to the baseline. Upon explaining this and noticing Anthrax and Roscoe were present, likely for the first time since “The Incident,” another disclaimer was shared (not sure who – Stroganoff?) – “if running backwards, watch out for people that may be on the ground behind you…” We had 4 courts with two sides of each court – that was 8 reps. Oh yeah, perform 2 burpees between running each court.
• “Tracers” – begin at the baseline, run down the alley to the net, backpedal to the service line, side-step to the center line, forward to the net, side-step to the alley, and backpedal to the baseline. Perform 8 reps moving along each side of the 4 courts. Between each court execute 5 jump squats (Tophat’s choice).

Set II

The Ultimate Four Corners – instead of 4 exercises at each corner, we ran all 4 courts. At 8 different points was a cone, arriving at each cone perform the following:

• Merkins – 15 x 8
• Flutter Kicks 15 x 8 (omahaed from 30)
• Freddie Mercury 20 x 8 (each leg) – that is 40 total

Set III

Time was running out so I offered the PAX a choice between Dora or Mary. They chose Dora. So partner up: P1 runs a suicide among 3 cones while P2 performs the exercise in aggregate:

• WWI x 50
• Plankjacks x 100
• SSH x 150

COT:

After the first set, I shared a brief summary of the shield lock, how the Roman soldiers formed a tight pack and used their shields to protect them in battle. Roscoe helped me with additional color. He shared the soldiers wouldn’t be upset if a fellow fighter lost their sword but would be if they lost their shield. The importance of remaining a protected, cohesive unit. Arriving at base, I offered a brief devotional:

Joshua 1:9 – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

In challenging times, our faith provides the comfort and guidance to shepherd us through. For those of us in the gloom, we have come to believe in the three elements of F3 which work in concert to provide a foundation of support to help fellow brothers, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. Presence can be a silent motivator to push the next guy through, not to meet your goals but to get to his.

We performed name-o-rama and named our FNG’s. Davidson Hobson is the Director of Admissions at Gaston Day School. He earned the name Mr. Hand after giggles from Whoopee, Bandit, and Roscoe quoting lines from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Next we had Josh Valentine (coincidental name?). Josh is the interim youth pastor at a church in Gastonia (I can’t recall the name). He is also the son-in-law of Mastodon. While working on an appropriate name, Josh’s stomach evidently was reeling from the workout. As he splashed merlot in the high school parking lot, the PAX named him Zofran. We assured him that was a badge of honor that not many PAX have earned. As the QIC, I has mixed emotions. Concern over for our friendly new guy’s wellbeing, but also a devilish sense of pride the workout had pushed the limits.

It was great to have a larger audience today. The mumble chatter was a little louder than normal (despite Mayor fartsacking – he loves burpees). It was a fun group that pushed each other through the misery of each rep. Godspeed to Tophat and his family in their time of tragedy. Thanks for the opportunity to lead. Come back next week at The Storm for round 1 of Mayor week in Cramerton.

10 #HIM chose to beat the fartsack this morning. YHC was on site ealry to log the .25 mile track that would be used this am for the easy part of the blockbuster. I haven’t performed this workout in a while and was a little rusty with the number of reps, forgive me Mayor.

WarmUP; SSH 20 IC, Mericans 10 IC, LBC’s 15 IC, Flutter kicks 15 IC.

The Thang; Run 2 laps which is a 1/2 mile, perform 6 excersies 10 reps IC or OYO. Run 1/2 mile, repeat exercises, Run 1/2 mile, repeat exercises, Run 1/2 mile.
Exercises; Curls, Squats, Front Raise, French Curls, Squat Press, Good Mornings. All performed with a 8″ block, Squat presses were 10 OYO.

Moleskin; The mumble chatter was pretty good at the stretch session but it didn’t take long for it to die down. During the first set of exercises YHC was informed that 20 IC was crazy, so we Omaha’d to 10 IC. Good call at least for time anyway. We logged approx 2 miles as well. There were 2 DIFFERENT TRAINS this morning as well, so we were able to stick to the rule of it can’t be a F3 workout without Burpees. AYE! Nice work by all men this morning. Thank you guys for the oppurtunity to lead and thanks for the push. #ISI

COT; Pledge, Announcements- 4-29-17 Burpeeathon, This is a lot of fun for a good cause, P200 Meeting tonight. Prayer Requests. BOM, Thanks Streak for taking us out.

The ground was wet, the fog was thick, and one by one 9 brave PAX rolled in, with an FNG patiently waiting to experience the first day of the rest of his life.  There’s no better way to start a Tuesday!  Tiny Tank’s curiosity got the best of him and needed to know how I got the name Fresh Prince.  I’d tell the story now but if you don’t already know, show up at the next workout and I’ll tell you in person.  The clock struck 5:30 AM so we got started.

Disclaimer – Short and Sweet but I covered the main points.  I’m an idiot so don’t sue me…

Warmup :

• 15 SSH (IC)
• 15 Imperial Walkers (IC)
• 15 HillBillies (IC)
• 15 Merkins (IC)

Pledge

The Thang:

Mosey plus some around the parking lot with Butt Kicks, High Knees, Sprint, Karaoke Right, Karaoke Left, Bear Crawl to the entrance of the School.

Here I said something like good news, the rest of the workout will be in this area so we’ll try to stay dry.  Bad news, I have a fresh deck of cards!

• Hearts = Crunchy Frogs
• Spades = CDD
• Diamonds = Squats
• Clubs = Merkins
• Face Cards (Regardless of Suit) = Lap Around the parking lot
• Ace (Regardless of Suit) = 15 Burpees OYO

The deck was placed in the middle of the circle and each PAX took turns picking a card and leading the exercise (IC or OYO was determined by PAX who picked that card)

We had the pleasure of 2 trains this morning so add in 2 sets of 5 burpees OYO.

We didn’t make it through the deck before time was called but we put in a solid effort

We mosey’d back to the flag where there was 1 minute left, so 50 Moroccan Night Clubs (IC)

Announcements/COT/Prayer/Naming FNG – Weezy

Moleskin: It was an honor to lead you today, solid effort, and looking forward to my next Q.

Bright and early on the freezing cold morning after the College Football Playoff (#AllIn), YHC sat in the parking lot of TheStorm watching the clock and hoping no pax showed.  Alas, with 2 minutes to spare, a pickup truck suspiciously circles the parking lot and parks where the pax normally warm up.  Unfortunately for Shad Rap, his grand entrance and debut at TheStorm was only witnessed by YHC.

I’m sorry fartsack I cannot return to you this morning, disclaimer given and on to the workout…

Warm Up:

To cold for a warm up! Long mosey around the parking lots ending at the softball fields.

The Thang:

3-2-1.  3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, 1 minute of abs.  Used cinderblocks during strength exercises for added fun.  For strength we did a minute thirty for two separate exercises and a minute for two exercises of cardio.  Abs was a minute for one exercise per set.  After each set moseyed to the parking lot and back to keep the body warm.

• Set 1:
  • 3: Squat Press & Curls
  • 2: Burpees & High Knees
  • 1: V-Ups
• Set 2:
  • 3: Lunges & Merkins
  • 2: Plank Jacks & Fast Feet
  • 1: America Hammer
• Set 3:
  • 3: Squats & Dips
  • 2: Side Straddle Hop & Mountain Climbers
  • 1: Flutter Kicks
• Set 4:
  • 3: Overhead Press & Tricep Extensions
  • 2: Squat Jumps & Seal Jacks
  • 1: Supine bicycle

Finished two minutes over time and moseyed back to start to close out.

Pledge

Announcements:

• Need Q’s at TheStorm!

Prayer Request:

As always I appreciate the opportunity to lead. Special thanks to Shad Rap for showing up and making me conduct the workout and not head back home to my fartsack!

YHC been has been slack on posting the BB, with some of the pax applying a little to pressure to post it, here it is.
It was wet and misting a little when YHC made it to the parking lot and shorlty we had our 8. After the stretching and chatter 5:30 hit.

Warmup;
SSH x 20
CDD x 20
Mericans x 20
Squats x 20
Vups x 10
Manmakers x 4

The Thang;
Mosey to 4 corners
Partner Up
Sprint to corner 1; 10 mericans, 10 sit ups, sprint back; sprint to corner 1; 10 M’s and 10 SU; sprint to corner 2; 10 and 10; sprint back to corner 1; 10 and 10; repeat all the way to corner 4.
Mosey to gym wall; partners; wheel barrow to first island and 5 burpees; switch and go to next island 5 burpees; switch to next island 5 burpees; switch to next island 5 burpees; each partner wheel barrow twice
Partners; P1 Bridge while P2 crab walks to next island and bridge P1 crab walks to island and P2 crab walks to next island repeat to the end

Moleskin;
As the Pax were waiting for 5:30 we had some fun trying to guess which Pax was coming in hot. Madoff ended up being Freshprince and Anthrax; TinyTank you’re 0 for 2 sir. As the mist stopped falling and the parking lot was still damp Mayor was chattering about the Q’s choice to just do 10 or so core excercises just to get wet. YHC intended not to disappoint. After the warmup and the Q”s busted attempt to count the manmakers; my apologies guys; the mumble chatter had started as we headed to the upper parking lot near the gym for the 4 corners. After some questions about the sequence and why did we need to partner up we started and it wasn’t long before the mumble chatter came to an end. Sargento was giving an effort as he would give a MUMBLE MUMBLE when he would get close. YHC made sure all PAX wished they would’ve brought a towel or a change of clothes; think my seat was wet all day. Way to push through men. It was definitely a hard one for YHC and the fact that we all were soaking wet due to Mayors request, all Pax worked hard. It was an honor to lead you men, thanks for oppurtunity. #DRP

COT;
Namorama
Prayer requests- TopHat father, Shrimpboat traveling and spreading the gospel, fellow Pax
Announcements- Palmetto 200 meeting, After Christmas Party
Pledge
BOM- Streak took us out.
Till next time men.

With Christmas in the rearview and all decorations/lights already removed from YHCs home, the only remnants of the holiday in sight are a few extra pounds of turkey weight in my waistline and a Lego Advent calendar with all the mini builds tucked neatly away inside.  Those two items really resinate with YHC and Christmas because I see many more building block sets and instances of “meat sweats” in the future.

So what better way to bring Christmas to an end then with cinderblocks and a lot of man sweat. On to the workout…

Warm Up:

• SSH x 20 IC
• Imperial Walker x 20 IC
• Moroccan Nightclub x 20 IC
• LBC x 20 IC
• Merkin x 20 IC

Finished off the warm up with a mosey around the parking lots ending at the softball fields.  Interrupted in route by a train, 5 Burpees OYO.

The Thang:

Set to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas, work out progressed like the song.  Starting with Day 1, then Day 2 and Day 1, etc until Day 12 – Day 1 was completed.  All days, except for Day 12 were done in 4 count.  Most of the singing died down around Day 5 and Dolph modified exercises as needed to make them harder achieving ‘Pro Level’ on multiple exercises.  Other than small 10-15 second rests between Days and 1 train interruption for 5 Burpees, the Pax powered through with minimal mumble chatter and got a good sweat going!

• Day 1: Blockee (4 count)
• Day 2: Big Boy Sit-up holding cinderblock (4 count)
• Day 3: Tricep Extensions w/ cinderblock (4 count)
• Day 4: American Hammer w/ cinderblock (4 count)
• Day 5: Squat Press w/ cinderblock (4 count)
• Day 6: Merkins on cinderblock (4 count)
• Day 7: Cinderblock curls (4 count)
• Day 8: Dips, cinderblock on lap optional (4 count)
• Day 9: Flutter Kicks holding cinderblock (4 count)
• Day 10: Hip Slappers, no cinderblock (4 count)
• Day 11: Lunge holding cinderblock (4 count)
• Day 12: Burpees, no cinderblock

Finished three minutes over time and moseyed back to start to close out.

Pledge

Announcements:

• Palmetto 200 meeting to be held on 4 January.  Location TBD.
• Holiday party at Whoopee’s on 7 January.  Bring the M or girlfriend, but leave the kids at home.

Prayer Request:

• Top Hat’s father is in the hospital and not doing well.
• Friends with young 2.0’s going through tough family situation.

As always I appreciate the opportunity to lead and thank the Pax who put in work with me today!

Tiny Tank waited. YHC arrived with a few minutes to spare. It looked like we would be left to lift the flag on our own until in the distance we saw lights slowly coming in from opposite directions. I’d like to say they were coming in hot but although that wasn’t the case, Madoff and Gonzales appeared out of their steel cages for an early morning workout. Gonzales mentioned that he hadn’t posted in 8 months but his work schedule freed up for him to make it again. Glad to have you brother!

A short disclaimer was given and it was on the the warmup.

Small arm circles x25 IC, Hillbillies x15 IC, Don Quixotes x15 IC, Rocky Balboas x25 IC I think.

Without a mosey YHC explained the Circle Burp, we would all chop our feet until one of the PAX called for us to drop (like in football practice) down to a burpee. We would each take a turn calling the drop. Repeato x3.

Slow mosey over to the parking lot next to the gym for Four Corners. At each corner we would stop for 10 reps of the given exercise and mosey in between corners. 1st lap, Merkins, 2nd Squats, 3rd Lil Baby Dips, 4th LBCs.

Pledge of Allegiance

A Bear Crawl halfway down the side walk. YHC called for a round of Dominoes. Hold plank position with right arm raised, PAX one drops down for 5 Merkins, then the next and so on. Once completed, we started with our left arm raised and repeated the routine. Dominoes.

Fellowship mosey (more like a walk) to set up for Lazy Dora, no mosey. 100 Merkins, partner 1 does 10 Merkins and #2 holds plank position, 200 LBC, partner 1 does 20 LBC and #2 holds 6″, 300 Squats, partner 1 does 25 squats while #2 holds squat position. It was pretty tough.

Walk to the nook for 15 hip slappers IC then 10 Australian Mountain Cliimbers IC.

Mosey back to the start for Dying Cockroaches, Merkins and Big Boy sit ups. Aye!

Moleskin: I’m amazed by the variety of different exercises and routines listed on the F3 website and make it my goal to incorporate at least one that I haven’t used in a previous workout. Today we got in 5 new ones.

Announcements: new 3rd F on Tuesdays, new running workout on Thursdays, Tiny Tank site Q of the Storm

Prayers requests. Close with prayer. BOM.

It was a pleasure leading as always men!!!