Round and Round

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Lightning Backblast

  • Scant disclaimer
  • 1-mile Warmup jog at SirTopham’s conversation pace (8:05 🤮 )
  • COP Stretch exercises (SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Cherry Pickers)
  • The Thang
    • 400m run, 400m recovery pace
    • 800m run, 400m recovery pace
    • 1200m run, 400m recovery pace
    • rinse and repeat
    • suggested stepping up the pace for the last 200m of each regular run part
  • Cool down lap or 2 and a quick stretch

YHC got a total of 5.7 miles in.  I believe MacGyver and STH got north of 6 miles.  Beasts.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead, Atlas!

Onward!
-old bay

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The Armory: Envelope Notes

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A lucky 13 PAX gathered in the not too cold late-January gloom for this rendition of The Armory.

Set the disclaimer into motion and the PAX soon followed moseying over to the far side of the church parking lot.

Warm Up:
Windmill x10
SSH x35 (sparked up Trucker’s legendary mumble chatter)
Mountain Climbers x10 (fast count)
Down Dog –> Honeymooner
Mountain Climbers x10 (fast count)
Down Dog –> Honeymooner –> Down Dog –> Standing forward bend (SFB)

Mosey towards bells but then right turn to the back side of the church

Imperial Walkers x10
Hillbilly Walkers x15
Merkin x 10 (slow count)
Down Dog –> HM –>  DD –> SFB

Mosey to bells

The Thang:

Circuit of:
Goblet Squat x20
Upright Row x12
Merkin x10 (modified to manmakers in the 2nd set)
Romanian Deadlift x12 (this was a lot)
Split Squat x8 each side (lunge isolating the reps to one leg before moving to the other side)
One arm press x8 each arm
Kettlebell Swings x20

Mosey a little — 8 snatches (each arm) — rinse and repeat.

At Trucker’s suggestion, we utilized the bell during the Merkins by modifying to 10 Manmakers. I’m not 100% sure that’s what he meant, but his input was helpful.

We made it through 3 sets. Somewhere in the workout we held a plank and everyone shared their word for 2019. I believe Deacon’s word is Maat or Ma’at which is Egyptian mꜣꜥt /ˈmuʀʕat and required a little explanation: the additional plank challenge was welcome. We also discussed at one point how feeling the weight of the kettlebell and gravity pulling you down also allows you to feel the earth holding you up.

After 3 sets, we sprinted to the end of the parking lot and back, did some pigeon lunges, and followed that with flutters until the hour arrived (we made it to 40).

NMM:
I referenced Mary Oliver‘s passing two weeks ago and none of the PAX were familiar with her work. So YHC took the opportunity to read some of her poem “The Summer Day:”

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention . . .
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild precious life?

Gotta up the culture and Third F challenges during the First F work. F3 is certainly more than a workout.

Announcements:
Joe Davis Run
Yeti
Paradise Reading Center

Prayers and Praises:
Shady’s M back pain
38 Special: 2.0 is having an EKG
Deacon’s dad is recovering well from surgery
Chicken Hawk’s extended family interpersonal
Trucker’s 2.0 is dealing with some illness

Official welcome to FNG’s from last week: Chunk and Pigeon. Must have missed getting into the system directly and should now be up and running as PAX of The Fort.

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11 at Alcatraz

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Eleven men rose to meet the day at Alcatraz with temperatures slightly better than forecasted.  Most came in cars or trucks; Funhouse and Judge Judy ran in from Northern Tega Cay, and Cable Guy emerged from the woods.  The following is my recollection of the events of the morning; I apologize for any unintentional errors, which I will attribute to the lack of oxygen during these events, and the fact that neither Q prepared nor followed a written weinke.

Trucker issued a disclaimer of sorts and got straight to work with some warm-ups and a brief mosey. Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers, Windmills, Morrocan Nightclubs, perhaps more.

Mosey ended at the top of the hill where  a round of Merkins was initiated, but got cut short by an approaching car.

To the bottom of the hill for a Quadzilla – backward run up the hill, 10 Merkins at the top, Mosey down and do 15 LBC’s at the bottom.  A few rounds of this with a forward run up as a variant.

Mosey back to the playground (passing McGuyver, who was out on a solo run) and split into 3’s for 3 rounds of: Step-ups (15), Derkins (15), and Pull-ups (10), before handing of to Smuggler.

Mosey to the small field wall for some People’s Chair while taking turns in a 30 yard Bear Crawl, Crab Walk, Bear Crawl, and Mosey.

Then on to an Ascending BTTW. Starting at horizontal, and working up one block at a time with a 10 count at each block until all PAX are vertical.

Mosey to the fence and back, before repeating one round of the People’s Chair.

On to the large field backstop for Elevens with 10 Squats at the bottom and 1 Bomb Jack at the top.  Repeat, reducing Squats by one and increasing Bomb Jacks by one on each trip until reaching 1 Squat and 10 Bomb Jacks.

A few rounds of 20 Dips and 10 Merkins on the backstop wall.

Back to the parking lot for 4 minutes of Mary, with some interesting yet painful ab and hip work. (PSA, Bolt is more flexible than most of the PAX).

COT:

Alcatraz will host a virtual run site for those unable to attend the 2nd Annual Christina Latini Memorial 8K in Huntersville on 3/30/19.  Register online for this race. If you can’t do it in Huntersville, register for the virtual race and run from Alcatraz.  Virtual Run will be held concurrent with the boot camp.

Sign up for the Yeti.

Post at the Paradise Workouts. We need men to help support this mission while some of the regulars are committed to youth basketball leagues.

Prayers for a family struggling with the loss of a parent, and those recovering from illness.

Thank you, as always, for the opportunity to lead.

Smuggler and Trucker

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Lucky 7 at the Yard

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7 was the number at the Yard on Saturday for a cool start to the day.  I got out there early to do a little pre work on the site.  Chalk is necessary item for school yard planning.  Went through the disclaimer and a brief intro to our coupon for the for the morning.  Mr. Kettlebell that signifies the burdens that we hold close to our vest and don’t share with other.  It was encouragement to have the pax think about men they would like to lock shields with and be held accountable. Kept passing it around to all the pax so everyone gets a turn.

After the brief intro it was on to the excitement with a mosey to our first stop.  Warmup consisted of Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Merkins, Mtn. Climbers, Moroccan night clubs and squats.

On to the meat and potatoes.  Short mosey over to the basket ball court for some four corners.  Three exercises at each corner 15 reps each. Corner 1 – Merkins, LBC’s, Squats. Corner 2 – Mtn Climbers, Rosalitas, Freddie Mercuries. Corner 3 – Carolina Dry Docks, Calf Raises, Flutters.  Corner 4 Side-strattle Hops, shoulder taps, LBC’s.

Brief word of encouragement and on to the next series of fun.  Short mosey to the light poles.  If you ever wanted to know how many light poles there are at the Yard there are way to many.  We ended up doing 13 with 20 counts of the following CDD, Freddy Mercuries, Hillbilly Walkers, Mt. Climbers, American Hammers, Shoulder taps, SSH, Flutters, Calf Raises, CDD, squats, LBC’s and Merkins.  Rinse and repeat. Yikes

Headed back to COT for a few minutes of Mary.  Off to Q Source.

All PAX took turns at hanging onto the bell.  Hopefully this allowed some reflection time to think of those back we could get into a shield lock with.

Thanks for the opportunity.

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The Workout!   16 Boot Campers and 2 Runners

After a lengthy disclaimer, we began the workout with a warm up –

  • 20 LSS
  • 25 SSH
  • 10 Merkins
  • 15 Seal Jacks
  • 10 WAMs

Mosey across 160 and down to McAllisters.  Here we took a break to talk about committing to a word of the year!

Dora #1

With partner run up stairs, across top of building, back down stairs and execute

  • 150 Merkins
  • 200 LSS
  • 300 Gas Pumpers

Dora #2 

Same running pattern with

  • 100 calf raises
  • 200 SSH
  • 300 LBC

A wee bit of stretching with a mosey back to COT.  This was perhaps a bit more than a “moderate,” but the admonition to moderate was liberally announced.  Good work by all and I think Maximus had worked up a sweat by close.

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22 at The Swamp on this cool January morning

We got a break from rain to come out and enjoy a good end to the week

We had 3 groups, Runners, Ruckers and Bootcampers

Those who chose the bootcamp route got YHC as Q

Was nice to be back, haven’t been to the Swamp in a bit so thanks to Cha Ching for the call-up!

We took a nice mosey over to Just Fresh where we circled up to get a warm-up in

Did some SSH, Squats, MC, Peter Parker, Parker Peter, Moroccan night clubs, Plank o rama, Plank Jacks, Imperial Walkers

Moseyed over to the Red balls to partner up and do some suicides with a twist of course

Start at the stop sign with your partner and do 1 Burpee, run to the first ball together and do 10 Partner handslap merkins and run back to start together and do 1 Burpee.

Run to 2nd Ball together and do 10 partner handslap big boy sit-ups and return to stop sign together and do 1 Burpee.

Continue this alternating plan until everyone completes 9 rounds

Early finishers do squats until the 6 was in

Mosey over to a wall where we did some wall sits while each of us takes a turn and runs out and completes one Burpee

Short rest then repeat but increase to 2 Burpees

Change it up next round and do BTTW and 1 Burpee

Round 2 BTTW and 2 Burpees but go 2 PAX at a time this time so our shoulder s dont crumble!!!!

Mosey back to COT area to finish up with some AB Lab

Announcements, Yeti coming up and some PAX training for a GORUCK Heavy in a few months!!! Good luck with training and stay healthy everyone.

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Rain And Pain

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So I pull up on a rainy, mild January morning at the PoopDeck and find all the Pax waiting for me under the storefront’s awning to avoid getting wet, but unfortunately for all involved, we got very wet.  Since we had an FNG I made a longer than usual disclaimer and then we did a quick mosey around the main parking lot and went back under the comfy confines of the storefront awning for a Wall Of Pain(instead of a Circle Of Pain).

SSHx30/Cotton Pickersx10/Abe Vigoda Windmillsx10

Since we were by a wall I decided to take advantage of it by doing Donkey Kick Off’s-5 Donkey Kicks/5 second BTTW-10 Donkey Kicks/10 second BTTW-15 Donkey Kicks/15 second BTTW

I then whipped out the famous F3 Deck Of Doom where we did 3 rounds of excercises with each Pax picking a card. There seemed to be a ton of Ab excercises.  So I started getting bored of the deck and called an Omaha to do a DORA.

50 Merkins/100 LBC’s/150 Wall sit overhead claps/200 oblique crunches while each partner ran out to the light post(starting to get wet).

Grand Finale 

I made a disclaimer that the PAX might hate me but I made the call anyway.  We went out to the middle of the parking lot and we did a Wave of Burpees(Pax holds plank while each member does 1-10 burpees in a ladder).  We only made it to 6 burpees as we ran out of time.  During the Burpee Wave it downpoured on us so the FNG got a good taste of what F3 is all about.

Prayers to Davinci for all the struggles he and his family are going through, prayers for healing of stage four cancer and for depression and suicide of a young man who had his whole life ahead of him.

Welcome FNG O’Riley!  Hopefully the rain and pain does not scare him away from posting again.  Till next time, peace!

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Pre-Paintheon Games @CrowsNest

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Well since the great #HIMs that frequent the #CrowsNest were probably not going to make the trip to the Badgers Den for logistical challenges I felt it was my duty as a #HIM in training to give it away. Full disclosure I am a huge fan of the stupidness that is the Paintheon Games and use it as a gauge to determine if I’m an accelerating man.
Arrived early for 1 mile route recon and to mark off 100 yard bearcrawl event. After a proper disclosure was given by YHC it was time for the PAX to sign in. TClaps to my shorties for the use of the huge box of sidewalk chalk they let me borrow. Each PAX wrote their name on the pavement in first column while YHC wrote the event names across the top, great mumble chatter followed. The events were performed in order listed until time was called. VERY proud of the effort these fine men put forth and very grateful for the opportunity to lead. For full description of event rules and scoring search for the backblast from ZIMA.
Summary of results shown below:

Event
MerkinsAMRAP2min
BBSUpsAMRAP2min
BurpAMRAP2min.
100yrdBearCrawl
1 mile Sprint.
B2TW

GREAT JOB Gents see you back in 6 months.
OLAF

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Pantheon – A little bit of everything

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6 Pax braved a possible deluge of 40% chance of rain. YHC was duped to take the Q by an unnamed #HIM that was on a mission to get YHC to post this week.  Mission was successful.  YHC took the bait, set the alarm and made a weinke.  Needless to say, YHC needed the kick in the ass to get moving after that start of this year.  So here it is:

The Thang:

Easy Mosey to Bus lot – COP

SSH X 50, Imperial Walkers X 20, Squats X 20, Mountain Climbers X 20, Merkins X 10, Hill Billy Walkers X 20, Moroccan Night Clubs X 20, Carolina Drydocks X 20.

Suffuciently warmed up, mosey to the hard top in back of school

Wind sprints by each Pax, other Pax did excercises (merkins, mountin climbers, flutters, etc) X 3 rounds.

Mosey to the amphitheater for a Jacob’s Ladder to 7 with Squats at bottom and Burpees at top.

Mosey to the Pillars o’ Pain in front of school and pair up.  Pair run small parking lot circle while the Pax pops a squat for a long wall sit.

A couple of minutes of Mary and done.

COT – Announcements – Yeti!  Step up to Q for March, especially if never Q’d.  P&P – Pray for my brother Scott going through a divorce, 38 Special has a doc appt for his back, BG’s mother in law recovery!

Naked Moleskin – PAX, as the guy who “tricked” me to Q, he reminded me this morning that “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falls, and has no one to lift him up”. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10  Notice that the verse DOESN’T say “Picks him up”.  It specifically says “LIFTS” him up.  My shield lock saw that I was down, he lifted me up. Seeing my need for help, he lifted me from my original sloth position and into a position to act, to lead.  The picking up is physical, the lifting up is everything that matters. Thanks unnamed fellow Pax.

 

#Jekyll

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Buffet at the Poopdeck

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5 Pax came out to a cold day in the gloom.

I decided to bring a Golden Corral classic to the Poopdeck.

COP

The usual assortment of SSH to warm up, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan Night Clubs, Windmills, Squats, Peter Parkers… maybe some more.

The Thang

9 rounds, Burpees, Merkins, LBCs, CCD, Squats, Elbow Plank, American Hammer, Peoples Chair with OHP, SSH with adding an exercise and reps to each added exercise (so 1.) 5 burpees, 2.) 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, etc.,) with a run around the parking lot in between each round.

Finished up with some Abs

Read your newsletter, and thanks Peg for the oppurtunity.

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