Category: Abyss

Hearts-a-Pumpin at the Abyss

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Twas a warm but damp morning when 6 PAX chose to beat the fartsack for a Wolverine beatdown at the Abyss.  Here’s the dealio:

Warm-o-Rama

  • Brief mosey to the back to the school
  • 8 Windmills, IC
  • 20 SSH, IC
  • 15 Imperial Walkers IC
  • 10 Merkins, IC
  • Downward Dog
  • Honeymooner
  • 20 Moroccan Night Clubs, IC

The Thang, Part 1

  • Each Pax, at his own pace would execute 40 pull-ups and 5 laps around the track behind the school

The Thang Part II

Using 8 cones, 10 yards apart, alternating tall and short cones:

  • Suicide to large cones, 1 burpee at the 1st, 2 at the 2nd, 3 at the 3rd, 4 at the 4th
  • Lunge between large cones, execute called out exercise (merkins/squats etc.) broad jump to next cone etc.
  • Break from cones over to wall for People’s Chair – 3 burpees down the line while others hold
  • BTTW for 30 seconds
  • Back to the cones
    • Team suicide – entire team of 2 or 3 finishes together
  • More action between cones with exercises – crab walk, bear crawl, crab cakes, pistol squats

Moleskin

It was a relatively quiet bunch as we were counting and sucking wind.  Upcoming convergence announcement around the “one word” for 2020. Praise and prayers for a prosperous 2020, sick and injured pax.  Prayers for widsom and gratitude for Grace.

It was an honor as always,

Aye, Wolverine

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Snowman suicide visits abyss

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This morning was all about the struggles of life and the constant need to keep pushing forward. Even when life causes you setbacks and you must retreat for the moment to regroup so that tomorrow you may push forward and gain new ground.

The PAX followed YHC for a short mosey where we placed cones and performed each exercise. The exercises alternate between upper body and lower body to balance out the body.
Exercises were as follows:
Burpees
pull ups on playground equipment
SSH
suicide squats
ChaCha merkins
monkey humpers
kryptonite night clubs
bear crawl then crawl bear back up the steps by 49

After the exercises were explained we started the suicide but instead of going all the way back to the beginning we would only go back to the previous cone before proceeding to the next cone. Think of it as two steps forward then one step back. It makes for a lot of running and keeps the PAX together bc if the leader passes you on his way back from the previous cone you turn and run with him to the next cone.

Lots of hard work was put in and I am grateful to @Copyright for the opportunity to lead.

Stay frosty my friends!
OLAF

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8 Cinderblocks of Christmas

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Always glad to take on a Q at the Abyss! Great AO.  6 Beasts + YHC came out for the Iron Pax inspired “8 Blocks of Christmas” Having Q’d 3 beat downs recently with no Cindys I felt it was time to call that number. Thank Goodness Copyright keeps an emergency Cindy in the van at all times. Otherwise someone would have been carrying a 25lb weight or a 45lb paver.

0515- All veteran Pax so quick disclaimer and a short mosey around the front parking lot.. Circle up for COP

Windmills x 10 Imperial Walkers x 20, Hillbilly Walkers x 20, MNCs x 15, Front and back Arm Circles x 15 each.

End COP with 21s- 21 SSH IC only counting the first 5 out loud, with all Pax stopping at 21 together. Burpee penalty if we get it wrong.  IT was real early cause there was still some audible counting after 5.  Needless to say we missed on the 1st go round. 3 Burpee penalty. Got it right on the 2nd round. Mosey to the truck and everyone grab a Cindy.

I have been nursing a hamstring the last couple weeks and decided to forego alot of running in this workout. So instead of running we did an OH Cinderblock Carry(OHCC) from front parking lot to rear track area. Mumble chatter started quickly on how long a walk that was.

The Thang -8 Blocks of Christmas                                                                                                                                 8 total exercises, 4 per side  with the mode of transport being the OHCC of ~80- 85 meters.               Exercises

  1. 50 x OH Presses  OHCC to other side 1a. 50 x Curls for the Girls OHCC back to other side ( you should get the picture)
  2.  50 x Block Squats OHCC —>2a. 50 x Block Big Boy Sit ups- No it was holding the block not setting it our your feet.
  3.  50 x Ground to OH –> 3a. 50 x Squat Thrusts
  4.  50 x  Block Swings —> 4a. 50 X Switch Arm Block Merkins- 1 hand on the the block 1 a hand on the ground and do a merkin- Switch and repeat. Thanks for that great Idea Survey Says.

We completed then Whole Thang and OHCC back to COT.

All in all the Pax did in the ballpark of 1100 meters of OHCCs and 400 cinder block reps across 8 exercises this morning. Key takeaways- Cinderblocks get really cold when sitting the the back of the truck all night. Get thicker gloves.  The feeling comes back in your fingers around GTOs and Squat Thrusts. Copyright can always be counted on to have at least 1 “emergency” Cinderblock in the van at all times.

Prayers for CAH and Decibel’s mentoree.  Pax/ family of Pax dealing with Cancer/ family loss, marriages.

PreHype for Jan 3rd Shovel Flag hand off at he Swamp.  Beatdown will be kicking off at 0500. Co-Q event with a fast and burpeeish 30 mins and a hard and heavy 30 mins. Spread the word. Plan accordingly.

Thanks Copyright for the Opportunity to Lead these #HIMs this morning.

Duck Out.

 

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Ebyss

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Lucky 7 PAX showed up today to get better.  Today we were tackling some routines that start with “E” and it Ended up being very Effective.

After the disclaimer we went running towards the back basketball courts throwing in a little side shuffles along the way.  When we arrived we circled up for a quick warm-up.

  • 20 SSH
  • 9 Windmills
  • 10 Low Slow Squats
  • 15 Moroccan Night Clubs

Then we quickly backtracked a bit and lined up at the top of the grassy hill for some “Elevens”

  • 10 Merkins at the top
  • 1 Flying Squirrel at the bottom and then you know the drill
  • Fowards down, backwards up made it more interesting until we finished with 10 Flying Squirrels and 1 Merkin

A few of us finished so I called it just a bit early and off we went back towards the basketball courts/track.  I let the PAX catch their breath a bit while I explained the next routine, “Escalators”

  • 10 Burpees, 2 laps around the track (1/4 mile)
  • 10 Burpees, 20 Bombjacks, 2 laps around the track
  • 10 Burpees, 20 Bombjacks, 30 Merkins, 2 laps around the track
  • 10 Burpees, 20 Bombjacks, 30 Merkins, 40 Squats, 2 laps around the track
  • 10 Burpees, 20 Bombjacks, 30 Merkins, 40 Squats, 50 Lunges, 2 laps around the track

This took up all the remaining time.  Only Bones and YHC was able to get through this, but Copyright wasn’t far behind.  Everyone did a Excellent job though.  The workout was really Efficient and Everyone kept moving until the End.

Totals:

  • 2.25+ Miles
  • 55 Flying Squirrels
  • 50 Burpees
  • 80 Bombjacks
  • 145 Merkins
  • 80 Squats
  • 50 Lunges
  • A LOT of SWEAT

We wrapped up in typical fashion and announced our LKW CSAUP on 10/26, get your teams of 3 ready!

Prayers for family and loved ones and prayed for what was on our hearts left unsaid in CoT.

Thanks for the Q Copyright, The Abyss is and always will be one of the best spots in Lake Wylie.

Until next time,

-Flux-

 

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Remembering the First Responders on 9/11

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Getting the opportunity to Q on 9/11 is a big deal.  I’m happy to see that all the men who were given that chance took advantage by creating a tribute to those who lost their lives on that day 18 years ago.  I was not going to disappoint the men who showed up at the Abyss.  4 of those men arrived to kick it off at 5:15am so I shared my thoughts.

A special treat was having Boogie Down join us a few minutes into the warmup. As I was talking with him during the workout he shared with me that he lived in NYC during this terrible event. More on that later…

Today I wanted to honor the first responders who lost their lives on September 11th 2001.  They were:

343 firefighters (including a chaplain and two paramedics) of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY);

37 police officers of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD);

23 police officers of the New York City Police Department (NYPD)

But that was not personal enough, so I gave each PAX a name of one of those 403 first responders and asked each of them to take some time today to look up this person.

I pulled the name of Martin McWilliams, who died at the age of 35 and was part of FDNY Engine 22.  He was a new dad, his daughter (Sara) was born only a few months before his death.  He was great at fixing things, he loved house projects and working on cars.  He played golf whenever he could and was an avid skier.  He was a daredevil, who tried flying lessons and skydiving.  His sister recalls that he was a terrible joke teller.  He would be 53 years young this year.

To pay tribute to these fallen heroes we did the following.

7 Burpees

Then 9 rounds of:

11 Pull-ups

11 Push-ups

11 Sit-ups

11 Squats

Finish with a 403 m Run around our small track = 2 laps

The combined reps for this workout would equal 403. I demanded that the PAX not short any of their counts today, as each rep represented a life lost.

We finished with 10 minutes to spare so we went to our regular hill.

Run down, at the bottom = 9 Bombjacks

Run up, at the top 11 Flutters (DC)

We finished up at COT.  I asked Boogie Down if he would share some of his recollections from that day.  It was moving, and I’m so glad he joined us to share his experience.  What caught my attention the most, was his remembrance of the smell of burnt “stuff” that lasted in Manhattan for months after the attack.  If he wants to share more, ask him next time you see him.

An Honor to Lead

Royale

 

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6

Block Party

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It was a lovely morning at The Abyss. Light Rain falling and 8 men showed up to the Block Party. It was a simple workout, but a tough one.

We started with a mosey around the parking lot to warmup and stretch out a bit. Along the way we did some toy soldiers, butt kickers, and high knees. After that we made it to the back of the school where we started COP.

COP

15 Side Straddle Hops

5 Burpees

10 Temp Merkins

5 Burpees

12 Produce Pickers

5 Burpees

Now that is out of the way it’s time to party!

For the Main Event we moseyed around the corner where a long hill and 12 cinder block greeted us.  ( I wanted to use the grass hill which was steeper but because of the light rain I switched it up so no one busted their face slipping). The paved hill isn’t as steep, but it is longer so it evened out in the long run.

Main Event 

11’s with Block Snatches and Flying Squirrels with a  press…don’t forget to carry the block with you up the hill!

Once we completed the 11’s we moseyed with the blocks to the basketball court where things got real…In the spirit of Iron Pax season I wanted to do some friendly competition.

Block Relays– Heres how it went down. Two teams of four competed in three rounds. Each member of the team will run one by one relay style.  The losing team is punished with 10 bomb jacks while the winners got to laugh while holding a plank.

Team 1: Flux, Copyright, Whitesnake. Survey Says

Team 2: Royale, Grout, Homebrew, Bones

Round 1: Sprint down about 50-75 yards, do 3 burpees and sprint back. While you are not running you were still doing work! While the first team member runs the non runners where doing Jumping Spiders, 2nd runner runs non runners are doing IN and Out abs, 3 runner runs non runners are doing gorilla squats and last runner runs while the non runners are doing merkins. ( I admit this round was close. Me and Bones where neck and neck sprinting down; we finished burpees at the same time and started our sprint back to see which team would win round 1. Simply put I lost. He beat me by about 3 feet and I am still not over it). Because of that L our team did 10 bomb jacks.

Round 2: Each team member in relay format holds the cinder block over their head and runs/fast walks down the designated spot. While not running you did Peter Parkers, Lunges, Plank Jacks and Merkins. For all those wondering our team lost again. 0-2…but I was the Q so we split the bomb jacks between the teams 5 and 5.

Round 3: Each team member in relay format farmer carries 2 blocks while running/fast walking down to the designed spot. While not running you did Flutters, Crunchy Frogs, Box Cutters and Merkins…spoiler alert this round was not any different. We lost again 0-3. But yet again since I was the Q we split the bomb jacks between the teams 5 and 5.

After that the time was about up and the Pax insisted on helping me out by carrying the blocks back to my car. By the time we did that the clock hit 6am.

It was party but we did not have cake.

 

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Do more pull-ups

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6 Pax came out to the Abyss to answer the age old question, how do I get better at pull-ups?

We started off with a mosey around to the track for COP (MNC, produce pickers, squats, windmills, merkins, burpee x 10 each)

As site Q, I see it as my duty to jump on the new trends, so COP was followed by a mosey around the AO, down Tryon, and back to where we started.

The Thang
A Two Ferns inspired “Nicole” WOD. AKA AMRAP pull ups and lap around the track for 20 minutes.

The big hill was pretty slick, and a teacher was on the paved hill unlocking the gate, so YHC audibled back to the shovel flag for a quick DORA
Pax 1: 200 merkins
Pax 2: run to island, 10 squats and back to relieve Pax 1

Finished with some Mary and COT.

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To the Moon and Back

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5 Pax came out for a Tesla Q in honor of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s return to earth.

Warm up
Side straddle hops
Stretch merkins
Imperial walkers

Mercury

P i m p s
Pull-ups
Imperial walkers
merkins
plank jacks
squats
Partner ran up hill and back

Pax took a lap around the AO

Gemini

5 burpees
Bear crawl around Island
10 big boy sit ups
Bear crawl to next Island
15 CCDs
Bear crawl around Island
Couple more rounds I don’t recall…

Hill work/triple nickels
5 plank jacks
Run down
5 hand release merkins
Run up
X 5

Sprints to finish

COT

Great Q Tesla

– Copyright

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Mountain trip to Dupont State Forest on August 3rd with Trail Running, Rucking and Biking options – there will be a 2nd F afterwords

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3rd F

Alright we are 2 years ago we did a mountain trip to Roan Mtn. it was one of the best trips I have made with my fellow F3 brothers. After 10-16 miles we went to Daniel Boone Inn to refuel.

With this in mind I wanted to continue to do this hopefully every year. So on August 3rd we are going to do another mountain trip. This time it will be Trail Running, Biking and Rucking options.

Our destination will be DuPont State Forest. We will leave from the Newport Walmart at 6 am it is a 2 1/2 hr trip. we will either go to the Hooker Falls Access or the Lake Imaging Access. For runners we will try and get 12-18 miles in for Mountain bikers Vuvuzela has about 20-30 mile rout lined up.

 

2nd F

Afterwords will will go to Daddy D’s and refuel.

 

Make sure you bring water and something for energy do not come unprepared you will regret it. I did exactly that last time. This will be an unforgettable trip that we will try and do every year. we need to clown car to get there since there are no rental vans available.

Reach out to me if you have any questions.  I have attached links below.

Dupont State Forest Trail Map-1

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g49206-d2069003-Reviews-Daddy_D_s_Suber_Soulfood-Hendersonville_North_Carolina.html

www.Dupontforest.com

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10 Lanes of Pain

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It’s been a rough week for YHC. Each day leading up to this Q has been met by sleeping through the alarm.  So no less than 3 alarms were set to get out of the fart sack this morning.  Only to be woken up by the M telling me to turn off my alarm…

8 gloom warriors appeared in this morning at the Abyss.  There was a small disclaimer on how unprofessional the Q may be, and the fact that all liabilities are waved like so many cell phone screens at a Weird Al concert (I would know, I was there).

A quick mosey to the back parking lot for a very brief warmup.  SSH and some windmills to get the blood moving.  We then moved over to the bus lanes, where most of the workout would focus.  We were about to start The Thang, but with only 8, I wanted to work in the shaolin exercise “Doji”.  (I probably spell it wrong, I never knew how to spell it in the first place).

The Doji is a series of six shaolin exercises meant to work the legs (I can only concretely remember only four).  It’s 30% leg work, 15% foot work, 5% arms, and 50% balance.  We performed only the first of the series.

Doji 1:

  1. Start by standing facing your direction and plant your right foot (by stomping) 90° from your body.
  2. The left leg steps out into a deep forward stance (a lunge, but the back leg is striaght).
  3. Using your left arm (which is in front) using crane (not explained today) overhead scoop behind your body while shifting your body weight to the right leg, straightening the left.
  4.  As your left arm swings down to the ground.  Shift your weight back onto the left
  5. Step forward with the right foot (don’t come up) and use an open palm strike (demonstrated but not explained today)
  6. Shift your weight forward onto the right.
  7. Repeat L and R until you reach the end.  Turn around and go back to beginning

I knew this was very new to everyone, and that it would likely feel awkward.  The PAX followed along very well when I remembered to call movements on time.  YHC was pleased to see everyone participate and keep from letting their bodies rise up.

The Thang!

10 lanes. 10 pains.  Each lane had transportation exercises labeled in chalk (some doubles).  The labels represented a list, not the direction for whomever was in the lane.  PAX lined up (two to a lane) and everyone did the first exercise until they reached the end of the bus parking lane.

When complete, jog to the far end of the lot, turn left and follow the track back to the same spot.  Everyone stayed together and waited patiently for their now humbled Q to catch up after each run. When we completed four exercises we shifted four spots so that we were always standing on something being called.  Here is the list of exercises.

The lanes
1. Dragon Walk
2. Broad Jump
3. Lunge Walk
4. Bear Crawl
5. Crab Walk
6. Dragon Walk
7. Broad Jump
8. Lunge Walk
9. Crawl Bear
10. Burpee Broad Jump

In all the PAX were able to accomplish the first 10 lanes and another 7 before it was time to mosey back to COT.  YHC was in last place during most of the runs and needed a couple ten counts to drop my HR.  I’m still proud of my performance compared to last year.

Mosey back to COT for 70seconds of Mary.  Most people were showing around 3 miles on their wrist gadgets when it was over.  I’m not going to lie, I thought I was going splash merlot every time I saw that diaper sitting under the middle basketball hoop.  I kept thinking “Have I made remark about how this diaper seems to be in the middle of each lap?  I think I have… or am I too tired to talk and just think I said it?” Well, I certainly forgot my age again at the end of name-o-rama, so it’s entirely possible I said nothing.

YHC is truly honored to get to Q at the Abyss.  There were announcements and prayers at the end.

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