Wheel of Man Makers

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It was a misty morning at The Snake Pit as 10 Iron Slingers and 3 Runners decided to brave the elements and get better! Quick disclaimer and we were off.

Moseyed over to the next parking lot for some warmups:

  • 20 Side Straddle Hops
  • 20 Windmills
  • 20 Cherry Pickers
  • 20 Low Slow Squats
  • 20 Mountain Climbers
  • 20 Peter Parkers
  • Up/Down Dog

Moseyed over to the hill for some partner work. Partner 1 left their bell and the top of the hill and we all ran to the bottom of the hill together.

The Thang: Partner 1 was the timer and ran to the top of the hill to do a certain number of reps with the bell while partner two did a bell exercise at the bottom of the hill. When partner 1 made it back down the hill then flip flop with partner.

  • Round 1 – Top of Hill 20 snatches (10 Each Arm), Bottom of Hill KB Swings
  • Round 2 – Top of Hill 20 Figure 8’s, Bottom of Hill Goblet Squats
  • Round 3 – Top of Hill 20 Skull Crushers, Bottom of Hill Curls
  • Round 4 – Top of Hill 20 Shrugs, Bottom of Hill Rows
  • Round 5 – Top of Hill 20 American Hammers, Bottom of Hill Bell Flutters

Did a quick round of suicides up the hill. We did five burpees and the first light and 10 burpees at the second light, then ran back down the hill.

We grabbed our bells and Moseyed back to the parking lot near COT.

We had some time left so I introduced the “Wheel of Man Makers” (patent pending). This was a real crowd pleaser. The idea was to do 3 Man Makers at your bell and then rotate right to the bell next to you, and do 3 more. We went all the way around the wheel until we ended up back at our own bell. There were 10 PAX so do the math. .

Circled up for 6 minutes of Mary to end it off.

Back to COT for prayers and praises.

JWOW OUT!

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Ohhh Milk!

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The gloom was upon us as we watched our former brothers @F3_Polaroid and @birdcage_f3 ran away out of unadulterated fear and loathing to find a safer path known as Whites Road…

A custom playlist was created for this one, along with fully laminated and Snake Pit logo’d work out stations, as per usual for a UHaul led workout.

The PAX arrived once again to the rockish crooning of Bob Seger’s Like a Rock to put us in the mood for strong, unbothered by responsibility, handsome younger versions of ourselves that probably never existed outside of our own Sad Clown younger selves, but I digress…

Warm ups were had by all while Maroon 5 played us a Wake Up Call so we could limber up for the pain stations which would be 3 in number to allow for a rotational situation…  Two groups of 3 and one group of  2 would cycle through…

Station

  1. Standing Shoulder Press x20 while others executed Hello Dolly or Box Cutters, switch, repeat… White and Nerdy – Weird Al
  2. Kettle Bell Swings x25 while others executed Air Dramas until their legs or sphincter gave out, switch, repeat…  All Summer Long – Kidd Rock
  3. Hammer Curls x25 while others pretended to do as many Shoulder Taps as possible, switch, repeat…  Jump – Van Halen
  4. That anger management candidate Malcolm showed up again to chase PAX around while they tried peacefully to carry their bell above their head…
  5. Skull Crushers x25 while others whose sphincters had recovered did Low Slow Squats, switch, repeat…  Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen
  6. The UHaul in cadence x10 while others executed copious numbers of Plank Jacks, switch, repeat…  Down Under – Men At Work
  7. Laying Press x20 while others hammered out American Hammers until their abs twitched, switch, repeat… You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
  8. Malcolm shows up again…
  9. PAX are freed to choose their next exercise and all merely move to the next station as they would have if they were not freed…  Shut Up and Drive – Rihanna which I believe I skipped to get to I Want You to Want Me – Letters to Cleo
  10. PAX collected for Laying Chest Press x25 and Sumo Deadlifts in an alternating fashion while Rodney Atkins reminded us that If You’re Going Through Hell you should just keep on going because you might get out before the Devil knows you’re there…  It didn’t work, the rinse/repeat cycle was fully engaged and no one escaped…
  11. As has become the tradition at UHaul led workouts, the PAX gathered for 5 minutes of Mary while R.E.M. drove home the point that Everybody Hurts and it doesn’t stop until 0600.

Name O Rama included a strange outburst from @hunteregnor that you should watch…

Announcements, Praises and Prayers were shared by all…

https://twitter.com/F3_UHaul/status/1186954000463212544?s=20

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Music, Lamination and a Chainsaw at the Armory

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Second Q in 48 Hours for a limpy YHC…

While the PAX mingle and stretch we are serenaded by the smooth stylings of Bob Seger reminding us of his time being Like a Rock.  Standard warm up situation began with Huey Lewis singing about his desire for a new drug, leading to some pain stations with partner work…

Stations

  1. Skull Crushers x20 while partner bangs out as many Box Cutters as possible, switch, repeat…  Wake Up Call – Maroon 5
  2. Kettle Bell Swings x20 while partner bangs out as many Air Dramas as possible, switch, repeat…  All Summer Long – Kidd Rock
  3. Curls x20 while partner bangs out as many Shoulder Taps as possible, switch, repeat…               If You’re Going Through Hell… – Rodney Atkins
  4. Quick wander with bells overhead while Malcolm solves problems with his chainsaw
  5. Overhead Press x20 while partner bangs out as many Sumo Deadlifts as possible, switch, repeat…  Jump – Van Halen
  6. The UHaul x10 while partner gets in as many Peter Parkers as possible, switch, repeat…          Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen
  7. Laying Press x20 while partner hammers out American Hammers, switch, repeat…                          You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
  8. More wanderings while evading Malcolm and his chainsaw
  9. Upright Rows x20 while partner maxes out on Low Slow Squats, switch, repeat…                            Down Under – Men at Work
  10. Rinse Repeat stations
    1. Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
    2. Shut Up and Drive – Rihanna
    3. Malcolm chases us back to COT
  11. 5 minutes of Mary while R.E.M. reminds us that Everybody Hurts
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You want me to take that coupon to the top of that hill HOW??

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The morning started simply enough with a warm-up mosey around WEP with stops at each pain station to warm up and explain the ins and outs of the first half workout…

Station

  1. Carolina Dry Dock to Bear Crawl in the direction of the next station in an ascending fashion…
    1. 1:4, 2:8, 3:12, 4:16, 5:20 and then run to the next station
  2. 5 Burpees then 25 Low Slow Squats finishing with 5 burpees before running to the next station
  3. 25x Shoulder Taps in cadence to 25 Lunge Walks (each leg) then running to the next station
  4. 60 count Honeymooner to allow for reset, 20x Merkins in Cadence, 20x Low Slow Squats in cadence and running to the final station
  5. 25x American Hammers in cadence, 25 Plank Jacks in cadence
  6. Rinse and Repeat course until halted by JWow

Then began the real pain…  after unloading coupons in the shape of cinder blocks from the back of the Slash-mobile we wandered off to a secluded portion of the park…

JWow found many ways to carry the coupons up a hill in an irrational and chaotic way…  A grand time was had by all.

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Nine at the Hive

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Nine at the Hive

Today marked the introduction of lamination at The Hive with the crew once again counting on a partner with station work to #Accelerate.

Began with the standard warm up situations while Welcome to the Jungle’s melodic tunes played…

Station work began with the following exercises…

  1. Skull Crushers x20 while partner executed as many Box Cutters as possible, switch, repeat… (Wake Up Call – Maroon 5)
  2. Kettle bell swings x20 while partner executed as many Air Dramas as possible, switch, repeat… (All Summer Long – Kidd Rock)
  3. Curls x20 while partner executed as many Plank Shoulder Taps as possible, switch, repeat… (Jump – Van Halen)
  4. Break to walk with bell over head while Malcolm chased all PAX with a chainsaw…
  5. Overhead Press x20 while partner executed as many Sumo Deadlifts as possible, switch, repeat…  (Golden Years – David Bowie)
  6. “Out & Up” x20 (most modified to 10) while partner executed as many Plank Cross Unders as possible, switch, repeat… (Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen)
  7. Laying Press x20 while partner executed as many American Hammers as possible, switch, repeat… (You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC)
  8. That darn Malcolm showed up again…
  9. Upright Rows x20 while partner executed as many Low Slow Squats as possible, switch, repeat… (Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen)
  10. Rinse and repeat while the following played
    1. Down Under – Men at Work
    2. I Want You to Want Me – Letters to Cleo
    3. One last chase back to COT by Malcolm
  11. Finish with 5 minutes of Mary while R.E.M. serenaded us with Everybody Hurts…
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11 braved the gloom and supported my VQ at the Tomahawk this morning.

Set up was in stations and with partners to facilitate the proper acceleration from each participant.  Songs set the beat and the timer with a periodic visit from our favorite Chainsaw wielding problem solver, Malcolm.

Playlist was as follows:

  • The Boys are Back in Town
  • Welcome to the Jungle
  • Wake Up Call
  • All Summer Long
  • Jump
  • Malcolm the Chainsaw Man
  • Golden Years
  • Crazy Little Thing Called Love
  • You Shook Me All Night Long
  • Malcolm the Chainsaw Man
  • Fat Bottomed Girls
  • Down Under
  • I Want You to Want Me
  • Malcolm the Chainsaw Man
  • Everybody Hurts – for 5 minutes of Mary
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Kettlebells of Catan

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YHC is quite thankful for the opportunity to Q the Armory. I’d been avoiding bells for a while to try to up my running game and down my BMI game, and throwing a bell in the back of the car gave me that warm, familiar feeling…

Rolled into the parking lot and saw an impressive fleet of vehicles in the gloom.  Quickly dropped off my small box of goodies and joined the pax just in time to disclaim that I’m no professional.

Warm Up

Things started off with a quarter mile mosey around the parking lot. Followed by some SSH, zucchini** pickers, merkins, mountain climbers, and windmills.  Then grab the bells and head to the NE lot where my box of stuff was.

What’s In The Box?

After we paired up I pulled out the box’s contents. 4 pens (all I could find this morning) two dice from my wife’s copy of Settler’s of Catan, and 8 sheets of paper.

Math? Really…?

Stats, yeah… If you’re familiar with the distribution of a die roll of 2 six sided dice, you’ll see why rolling 2 and 12 are particularly painful, the odds are 1/36 for each, while rolling a 7 is 1/6.  Let’s look at the bell curve (more of a triangle).

This is the core game mechanic in the game Setttler’s of Catan.  Using probability along with some randomness, the game rewards people 5/6ths of the time and punishes them 1/6th of the time.  YHC thought long and hard on how to include that mechanic in our morning workout, but decided on loyalty to the beatdown. Perhaps later more will be added to that 7 roll.

Enough of that noise…

Back to the Thang, the least likely rolls were assigned the more difficult tasks, while the more probable rolls had tasks that PAX could more readily repeat. Each sheet was identical:

2. 20x man makers
3. 20x upright rows
4. 10x man makers
5. 8x each/16x both arm curls
6. 10x goblet squats
7. 15x swings
8. 20x chest press
9. 8x each plank row
10. 20x dead lift
11. 5x each Turkish get up
12. 20x man makers

YHC quickly explained that every team was to roll the dice, and the roll dictated the exercise they were to do.  The counts on the paper were per person, not per team. A team was free to divide the exercises how they saw fit. So if 20x man makers was rolled, then they could split it 20/20 or have one guy do 35 and the other 15. Bandcamp swiftly pointed out that it should be 35 and 5, and YHC with matched rapidity reminded everyone that he is not a professional.

So, having to do 20 man makers each should be relatively rare. And, yet, they were rolled 13 times by teams that recorded their pain.

Each team performed the set and could mark them down so that they could keep track of their randomized beatdowns. After each completed set, the teams would run across the parking lot (~50M) perform five big boy situps, then run back and roll again. We did this for the entire workout.

With five minutes left, and Divac rolling yet another 2, YHC called a ‘2’ for all the PAX and with 90 seconds left we carried our bells back to COT.

COT

Announcements
There’s probably a convergence on Thanksgiving
Join Slack
Read up on the Vasectomy Channel!
Read your newsletter

Prayers
YHC reminded everyone that the COT is a real trust, and that no one would be going home to talk about so and so to their M’s, and it should be considered a safe place. Went around the circle (starting with YHC) and asked each of the PAX to issue a praise or prayer, most chose praises.  My heart was warmed by the praises that were offered and we had a quick prayer before dispersing.

Always a pleasure to lead a workout.

The team’s sheets

Links to the photos in my google drive. Enjoy

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Te3AZzotv81cexq5A
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AbvHzjagrPdvNGu28
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qxes3Wo4PaGQnKW78

** Last week Gears called this the “potato picker”. Pretty sure in the lexicon it’s “tappy taps”.  One of my goals will be to completely obscure this until it’s utterly recognizable to anyone outside fo the Fort.

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Swamp Pain

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17 HIM pushed through a nasty beatdown by YHC today at the Swamp.  YHC got to the AO about 15 mins early to check out the Broga dudes… no wait it was to prep the winkie.  Anyway, I ran the hidden greenway trail behind best buy to home depot (not target) and wrote 5 pain stations.  3 for the starting line and 2 halfway through the loop.

Started on time (barely) with a windmill warmup and that was it.   Mosey to the start.  The trail is about 0.65 miles with the loop back around a half mile.  We did it twice with the 5 plank position pain stations (ending with 25 burpees of course). Moseyed to COT area for COP burpees or flying squirrels, diamond merkins or merkins (all dependent upon how far you got on the loop). Hold  Did right arm and leg and left arm and leg for a while and ended with worst merkin ever x 5.  Recover for some painful Moroccan night clubs.  Next hold Al Gore and went around the circle naming some positive things going on in each PAX life.  Way to lift each other up!

Lastly we did some random parking lot drills in time for COT.  In COT we had a couple of guys get out of their shells and open up.  What a great thing!  Shield Lock!!!

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Hurpee Outbreak at the Quagmire

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F3 grows through “addition by division”, this is a true statement and it’s a great thing to be a part of.  The downside is you simply don’t get a chance to get out to some of your original stomping grounds as often as you would like since there are so many choices closer to your home. Long story short, it was great to be out here and lead the other 11 men that showed for the Quagmire this morning.  I love the opportunities I get that brings me to these places (hint hint).

I’ve been working through the Exicon for most of my Q’s lately, it has been a nice change of pace to experience some of the craziness that our PAX have come up with across the nation.  So for better or worse, I give it a shot and see how it goes.  Today was the letter “H”.

We started with a mosey around the back of Best Buy which I guess isn’t normal because I heard some grumblings, but we did some shuffles and toy soldiers along the way and then quickly circled up for a round of Windmills in cadence.

1st routine was a timed “HIIT” exercise.  We only had what ever time we had left after we finished the below exercises to recover.

  • 5 “Hurpees” (Hand-Release Burpee)
  • 10 Hillbilly Squats (IC)
  • 15 Hello Dolly’s (IC)
  • 1 Minute timed x 6 Rounds

We then mosey’d to the parking lot behind the fountain (near the stairs).

2nd routine, which admittedly took longer than I wanted, was “Hindenburg Blimps”, though I ended up cutting the S off the Blimps so we did a “Hindenburg Blimp”.

Hindenburg Blimps are like 4 corners combined with Blimps so I took the parking lot islands and divided them up into 4 corners and we would run/sprint the long sides and bear crawl around the short sides of the islands.

  • Round 1 – 10 Bombjacks x4
  • Round 2 – 20 Lunges x4
  • Round 3 – 30 Incline Merkins x4
  • Round 4 – 40 Monkey Humpers x4
  • Round 5 – 50 Plank Jacks x4

3rd routine, we stayed in the same area and did some “Heartbreak Dora’s”.  Normally we would do this on a hill, but I thought the stairs would substitute nicely.  So we partnered up and did the following while the other PAX would run a normal lap around the parking lot islands and then up and down the stairs before tagging his partner and swapping.

  • 100 Hurpees
  • 200 Big Boy Sit-ups
  • 300 Squats

Nobody was able to get through the final routine, but that was more on me for having too much planned. I think about half of us were working on Squats by the time we finished up and mosey’d back to CoT.

CoT

  • Nessie on 10/26!
  • Prayers for Lutefisk and his father battling cancer and Duck Dynasty’s sister who is having complications with her pregnancy.

Thanks for getting me out here Mile High!  I always enjoy it.

Until next time,

Flux

 

 

 

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Taint Kicks and Vulnerability

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‘Twas a beautiful morn to get our sweat on in the gloom. A crisp 42 degrees with no moisture in site, and the clearest sky I’ve seen for a few weeks now. I pulled up to see that Smokey and Sugar Bug were keeping Pennywise alive and kicking for a long ruck. Makes me proud.

As we all arrived and settled in, I was looking forward to leading the PAX in a text book Exicon taint kick. The clock struck 5:15, the disclaimer was disclaimed, and we moseyed.

Mosey .10 miles

COP
Lil’ Baby Arm Circles x 10 each direction
SSH x 20
Tappy Tap x 10
Imperial Squat Walker x 10
Merkins x 10
Yoga Flow to warm up and stretch the back: Child’s Pose, Cat/Cow, etc.

Mosey To Middle School Benches – Round 1

Aiken Legs x 2
20 Squats
20 Box Jumps
20 Lunges (10 each leg)
20 Split Jacks
First round OYO, Second Round as a group.

Between rounds 1 and 2 I spoke to the PAX about F3 Mental Battle and our inability to share our vulnerabilities with other men. We fear we will look weak, when really it involves great strength and self awareness to open up and share where we are struggling. Plus, once we open up to each other it typically is received with open arms and responses that the other guy is struggling with the same thing.

To be honest, I feel like a failure of a husband and father almost daily. I don’t feel like I am able to give everything to them that they deserve, and I feel I spend too much time focused on things other than my family.

Mosey to Rear of Middle School – Round 2

Inch Worms from first door to second door
Bear Crawl to next door

I spoke again about vulnerability here, how I am coming out on the other side of something with my M right now. How her sharing of her struggle caused another PAX to open up to me about his struggle. This is important – because it shows there’s a chain reaction of people opening up. We are in this together.

Back to work.

Inch Worm to next door
Bear Crawl back two doors to round it out

Mosey Around Corner to Brick Wall – Round 3

People’s Chair Hold – 75 seconds

Raise each leg and pulse 10 times while holding one legged people’s chair – rinse and repeat for a total of 3 times each leg.

BTTW Hold – 60 seconds

Repeat People’s Chair with 3×10 leg pulses each side after 75 second hold

Bataan Death March Back to COT – Round 4

Indian Run with 5xSquats/Merkins in a CMIYC style, Tap Rear Pax as you pass and they stop to do their 5 exercises.

We arrived back to COT with a few seconds to spare so we held 6 inches and transitioned to boat to keep the abs warm. The ruckers arrived just after we finished to join COT.

NMM

Life is full of ups and downs, with highs and lows. Why do we stress to look like we have everything under control? I know I don’t have control, and if I fake it, I’ll suffocate. We all face that fate if we hide our struggles. Open up. To a friend, a family member, your M, to yourself, in a journal, or to God. James 4:6.

#NoOYO.

Announcements

Nessie this weekend. Sign up!

QvQ Championship next week.

Prayers/Praises

Shield’s wife is having shoulder surgery tomorrow. Pray that the surgery goes well and her recovery is quick.

Jiffy is going to see some multigenerational football in Nebraska with both his father and his son this weekend! What a great memory. Pray they enjoy their time together.

Pray for my M and I. By the grace of God we have our 2.3 on the way and we want the baby and my M to be healthy through the delivery and beyond.

Thanks for the tap, Jiffy.

Punch List out.

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