9 men descended upon the hallowed, waterlogged grounds of Walter Elisha Park on this fine (no rain!) Tuesday morning for a Block Party. A few faces were new to YHC so after some introduction and a brief disclaimer, we were off. Here’s what we did:

THE THANG

Mosey down 160 towards downtown, through the light, and circle up in the parking lot in front of UC Synergetic. Exercises all IC.

SSH x 25

Cherry pickers x 15

MNC x 50

Merkins x 15

Plank-o-rama

Mountain climber x 20

Mosey to Springs Global side parking lot

Bear Crawl half the lot

Crab Walk the rest

Mosey to the back parking lot. 4 corners around the perimeter.  All x 20 OYO

Dips

Derkins

Squats

LBC

Repeat with new and improved exercises

Incline merkins

Bombjacks

Jumping lunges

Freddy Mercury

While we all caught our breath, YHC shared that this has been a hard year for my family. In this life, we are promised there will be hard seasons.  Trials will come.  Sickness and disease will strike.  But just as Cake Boss talked about recently at Chicken N Wisdom, I shared that God can make all things work together for our good – Romans 8:28.  But we have to let him.  As David Chadwick said last Sunday, when the rains and floods come in our lives, we can either get better or get bitter.  Through Paige’s cancer journey, she and I have gotten closer than ever.  We appreciate each other more.  This hard year has brought this out and has ended up bringing good things in our lives.  Make the choice to get better though life’s tough seasons.  AYE!

Mosey to the infamous brick wall in the side parking lot. This was a crowd pleaser from Saturdays WEP workout so, with a nod to Decibel, it was:

BTTW for a 2 10-count provided by the PAX

10 pull ups

Lunge walk across the lot, backwards lunge walk to return

Rinse and repeat for another round of BTTW and pull ups

Quick check of the watch revealed less than 15 minutes left. Enough time for Jacobs ladder down the big hill to 160?  Sure…  Bad idea

8 bombjacks at the top

1 burpee at the bottom

Continue until the ladder is reversed

We almost made it through but time and our strength was quickly expiring. We ended at the top and moseyed back to WEP for COT.

Announcements:

F3 leap efforts

Nov 16 – 21 – Welcome back Kotter week.

Dec 12 – Gladiator Games

Dec 19 – F3 the Fort Christmas Party

Jan 9 – Joe Davis Run

Prayer Requests:

Repeat’s 2.0

Various health needs of family members and M’s

Thanks Repeat for the opportunity to lead!

Flat Tire

7 men met on a warm, but wet morning to get stronger at the Block Party.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Mosey out of Walter Elisha Park and make the short jog to the Springs parking lot for COP:

All in Cadence:  SSH x 50, Merkin x 10, Windmill x20, Squat x 25, IW x 25, Rosalita x 25, Widearm Merkin x 20,

Form two lines facing each other for the start of the ST400

Round 1:  Merkin x 20, Squat x 20, LBC x 20, Burpee x 20, run one lap around lot

Round 2:  Diamond Merk x 20, MH x 20, Hello Dolly x 20, Burpee x 20, run lap

Round 3:  Widearm Merk x 20, Lunge L/R x 10ea, Crunchy Frog x 20, Burpee x 20, run lap

Round 4:  Staggered Merk L/R x 20ea, Lunge L/R x 10 ea, Flutter x 20, Burpee x 20, run lap

Round 5:  Military Merk x 20, Squat Jump x 20, Freddie Merc x 20, Burpee x 20, run together back to COT

I don’t make it to Walter Elisha much anymore so it’s always fun to get back and Q.  WEP gets pretty swampy after it rains so I opted to stick to the asphalt today. I like this work out because you get a lot done in a short amout of time and it doesn’t take up much space.   We had a good group out there today and everyone put out a strong effort.   Whenever McGuyver is in the group, I always run faster. It’s a privilege to lead the group, and great to see the Fort Pax who I don’t see very often.   Thanks for the invite, Repeat and I look forward to coming back soon (like Saturday

Announcments/Prayers/Praises

Prayers/praises:  Wheels back from injury – good to have you back, brother!  Rock Thrill’s house is sold after a long time.

Baxter 5k this Saturday benefitting the school at CAH,  Oyster Roast Sat, Nov 7, Thanksgiving convergence at the Ranch (someone may cook a Turkey), F3 The Fort Xmas part Dec 19, Joe Davis Resolution Run on Jan 9 to benefit Keystone.  A HUGE F3 event – support Rock Thrill and Keystone.

8 Pax (including the Q) showed up for a wet pavement (NO GRASS) workout! Anchorman kept saying, “Is it Saturday?” Or something like that…..and took it as a compliment!

The Thing:
-Mosey to Springs semi-circular loop
-Wind Mill – 15
-Low Slow Squat – 15
-Merkin – 10
-Imperial Walker – 15
-Windmill – 15

Grab some wall – Peoples’ Chair
– 3 x 10 counts

Mosey

-50 Dips OYO

Mosey to back springs parking lot for some pavement work.

Progressive Partner Workout
-200 Merkins
-300 Squats
-400 LBCs

Mary
-Russian Twist – 15
-Low Flutter – 15
-High Flutter – 15
-Russian Twist – 15

Mosey
Plank O’ Rama (5 min)

COT

It is difficult to get out of the fartsack when the weather turns miserable and the sun doesn’t appear until post gloom. Encourage your F3 Brothers to keep their First F First during this time of year. I wouldn’t be out there without them! As always….an honor!

11 Pax posted to Block Party in a frosty gloom to search for meaning/purpose/life in the midst of their daily humdrum routine.

The Thang

Extended warm up via modified drill bit routine — run park loop with stops at each marker for brief COP of three exercises, including mix of Mtn climber, SSH, IW, Merkin, CDD, Peter Parker, Sumo squat, Monkey humper, Parker Peter & the Makhtar N’Dyae

Mosey to parking lot circle as launch spot for remaining 25 minutes of workout

Freddy Mercury x20
Run Stairway to Heaven with 10 Merkins at each lamp post
Run down hill and across parking lot
Sprint to stop sign
Run back to circle
Rinse & repeat with Flutter kicks in circle and squats at lamp posts
AMRAP

COT

Naked man moleskin

With the calendar showing mid-October, YHC’s thoughts at work and on personal front are drifting toward 2016 — budgeting, planning, etc.  Yet, 10 full weeks remain in 2015, 20% of the year.  My word for 2015 is #Abundance. And, yes, the year has been filled with many blessings, some of which I’ve celebrated fully and most of which I’ve failed to truly savor.  In fact, much of 2015 has been marked by feelings of drudgery…just plodding through another day, week, month without recognition and appreciation of the gifts that life brings my way regularly.

As an antidote to my prevailing emotions for the year, today’s workout was framed around the challenge of finding life and its blessings/meaning/purpose in the middle of its monotony.  LSD (long slow distance) they call it in marathon training…just building those miles over the course of many months in preparation for 26.2 on race day.  Don’t know the mileage for the day, but there was plenty of suck and drudgery to be had.  The Pax did a terrific job slogging through, mostly without complaint.

All pax reminded themselves of their word for 2015.  Don’t let 2015 pass without a final push on those themes at the same time you consider possible themes for 2016.  And, keep an eye out for the #Abundance that lives in the little moments/tasks/activities of daily life.

Thanks to Repeat for the honor to lead and for his leadership at Block Party!

PS…YHC’s debt to Crab Cakes for ND loss to Clemson was paid post-workout with 46 burpees. Hoping for possible revenge in CFP — Go Irish!

The PAX came in from all directions (not really, pulled into the lot) and were ready for a piece of Cake from The Boss….aka Cake Boss. The Clock struck 5:15 and there were no newbies, so the PAX know the deal and away we went.

Run up through Springs parking lot and down street to front of Springs office to small parking lot

COP:

20 Mtn climbers

20 IW squats

15 Peter Parker

15 Parker peter

20 Squats

Run to Park downtown across from Caboose

Taking in some boxing action and 3 min pain stations. So for each of the following sets, we will do the 2 exercises for 3 mins. straight and then do a 30 sec activity as recovery

Round #1

10-SSHs

10-Merkins

Run Hill

Round #2

15-Squat

10-Burpees

Run Hill

Round #3

10-Dips

20-moracan night club

Run Hill

Round #4

20-squat jabs

10-inch worm push-up

Run Hill

Round #5

10-maktarji

10-broad jumps

Run Parking Lot

Round #6

10-leg raises

10-ski hops

Run Parking Lot

COT:

PAX worked hard and pushed themselves. The point of this workout is to see how much you can push yourself in 3mins. We are talking about you versus you and not comparing to the guy next to you, not seeing who is coming in last, but how much can you challenge and push yourself to be the best you can be. The PAX did well!

Lots of Prayers and Praises! Sky Q is working in the hearts and minds of the men of F3. Continue to look for ways to push yourself to be better in your relationship with God, the M, the 2.0s and the world we live.

Thanks for the Q Repeat!

Cake Boss