5 pax from The Fort were joined at The Deep by 3 Gashouse Nomads (traveling Gastonia pax) looking for a fresh helping of Saturday morning pain.  The Gashouse crew explained the nature of their weekly Saturday morning nomadic adventures and made several complimentary comments about the AO at The Deep.  Then, after Geronimo posted at 0515 sharp, Crab Cakes promised a 20-minute warm-up, covered the Cliff Notes version of the Disclaimer and led the pax out.

The Thang

Warm up run in parking lot, high knees, butt kickers, side shuffles, karaoke

Line up for CC’s signature GORUCK session

Bear crawl as a group (must stay together) about 60yards (rinse and repeat)

Partner push sprints (partner 1 pushes partner 2 30 yards, then sprints 30 yard out and back and pushes partner 2 30 yards to starting point). Flapjack. Rinse and repeat.

Rugby sprints (pax start exercise IC and then on Q’s call sprint 30 yards out and back, wall recovery before next exercise)
Round 1: LBCs
Round 2: Flutter Kicks
Round 3: Mtn climbers
Round 4: Slow merkins

CC time check…17 mins in…oh no, it’s about to get worse!

Perfect merkin session — each pax does AMRAP merkins (perfect form to exhaustion, stop when form breaks down), then runs parking lot loop (rinse and repeat 2 more times)

More rugby sprints
Round 1: Peter Parker
Round 2: LBCs
Round 3: Freddie Mercurys
Round 4: Merkins

Handoff to Double D (for those keeping score, there was very little warm up and CC pushed to 30 minutes)

Pax moved to lower end of parking lot with a series of Crab Walks, Bear Crawls and Backward Bear Crawls.

Partners match up once again for 16 Trees session — each pair moseys via lunge walks throughout entire parking lot to cover each island with a tree (16 total). At the 1st tree, Partner 1 does 16 merkins, while Partner 2 planks (any form). Flapjack when pair reaches 2nd tree.  At 3rd tree Partner 1 does 16 CDDs while Partner 2 planks. Flapjack when pair reaches 4th tree.  Start cycle over at 5th tree and continue until all 16 trees are completed.  Pairs choose order and direction they want to cover all 16 trees in the parking lot.  Finish at the starting point.

Mary session — Rosalitas, Dollies, Flutters, Penguins (crowd pleaser), Sea Turtles

Monkey humpers x20

Hip slap derkins x10

Burpees x10 OYO

AYG run back to Shovel Flag

COT

Naked man moleskin

We had a very lively and energetic gang on this beautiful morning.  The single digit numbers meant there was no room to hide.  No worries, though, this group came to give it all they had!  Thanks for the enthusiastic participation.

T-claps to Crab Cakes for laying down a blistering 1st half.  The body language at the start was a solid head fake — no one escaped that portion of the workout without feeling a bit rung out.  It was a solid “welcome” to The Fort for the Gastonia pax…lots of chatter as we approached the 30-minute mark about whether workouts at The Fort go longer than an hour.  Good work, CC, and thanks for joining me!

Apologies to our visitors this morning for not taking more advantage of what the AO has to offer.  Recent backblasts revealed that running (including the track) had been a common theme, so the Qs opted to keep it close to home…very close!  It was kind of like when the solicitor rings the doorbell and you keep the conversation on the front porch!  It is a nice parking lot for sure, but there is more to the AO than that.  Sorry for the lack of hospitality in that regard.  Hopefully we will see you back in the future for a fuller tour of The Deep.

It was great to compare notes with our Gastonia brothers before, during and after the workout.  Engaging with pax from other regions reinforces the notion that this gift called F3 truly has universal appeal and application.  And we are each enriched by the breadth of experience each man brings to the brotherhood.  Thanks to the Gashouse Gang for putting the coordinates of The Deep into the GPS today!

For the pax of The Fort, take up the challenge of getting outside our region.  Gas up the car and hit the road.  You will represent The Fort well, and you will expand your F3 experience and circles.

S/O to Royale — thanks for the invite to Q!   Always a privilege to lead the pax.