Category: Cannonball

Concentrica Cornhole… with Kettlebells!

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Today was my opportunity to lead the men at Cannonball.  This place has become a PAX favorite.  Many of the men enjoy the Peg Leg pre-run before the standard start at 5:15am, so I was setting up with plenty of men gathering early.  Great to see Trench out there pre walking to get his miles in too! RESPECT.

We got the PAX circled up with the normal disclaimer.  Elmer Fudd joined us for his 2nd Day in a row, and Airwolf seems to having posted everyday for the last two weeks!  Got some new guys ready to go all in…

Disclaimer and we left our kettlebells for a little warmup.  One short lap around the parking lot to get the blood flowing then COP.

I don’t recall all, mostly just make up what feels good on COP nowadays.

IWs – Merkins – Producer Pickers – CDDs – LS Squats – Peter Parkers – Parker Peters – Mountain Climbers

Time to get to work, so we grabbed our kettlebells for a small walk back into the parking lot to circle up.

I started the 1st evolution getting all the men used to the 12 exercises (below).  We completed an “in cadence” round of 10 reps of each of the kettlebell exercises below.  Once complete we moved to our game.

My goal today was to share a man’s Concentrica.  I’ve set up this game before a few times, but with so many newer guys around and with our discussions around Q source and how to become a HIM, a refresher seemed welcome.

I drew a large bullseye on the ground with the 5 Concentrica rings.  From Center –> Out the rings are M — Shorties — Shieldlock — Whetstone — Mammon.  I gave a brief summary of each circle and how a man needs to focus his “shots” toward the center to stay in relational rhythm.  We’re not always accurate, but the goal should be the same…you want more of your attempts in the center than the outside!

The PAX would stand about 20 yards away and throw cornhole bags at the target.  Wherever the bag landed, we would rotate between the 2 exercises in each category.

They were:

M = Center

  1. 20 KB Swings
  2. Overhead Carry with a walk

Shorties

  1. 20 America Hammers DC
  2. 20 Flutters w/ Press DC

Shieldlock

  1. 25 Curls
  2. 25 Tricep Presses

Whetstone

  1. 25 Goblet Squats
  2. 20 Bent Rows each arm

Mammon

  1. 20 KB Pistol Squats each leg
  2. 25 KB Thrusters

OUT

  1. 5 Turkish Getups each side
  2. 10 KB Snatch each arm

Everyone got a turn, some a 2nd chance…I think the total attempts and workouts were 17-18.

There were two highlights to the event.

  1. Two Ferns went 1st, and proceeded to miss the target completely.  We started with 5 Turkish Getups, which set the mood perfectly. When he got the chance to redeem himself later he threw the beanbag as far as he could… clearly determined to show his distain for the heckling!
  2. Our 2nd Day PAXer Elmer Fudd was the ONLY PAX to hit the bullseye “M”. Today’s hero for sure.

We finished right on time, put the bells away and finished in COT.

Lots of Announcements – plenty to do… start with the Invergence next week!

Prayers for Costanza’s co-worker Nikki going through health and addiction issues.  And for YHC’s old friend Katie McCloud who lost her Mother to pancreatic cancer in a month.

A honor to lead,

Royale

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Copyright’s Counterclockwise Claudia

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Cop

Pax started off with a full lap around the parking lot followed by some F your neighbor (exercise followed by everyone taking two-four steps to their left). AKA an excuse for me to share my 30#er.
Exercises included: bent over rows, tricep ext., Squats, moroccan night clubs

The Thang
Found this KB WOD on some CrossFit website. Claudia: 5 rounds of 20 KB swings, 400 m run

Kraken catch me if you can
Pax partnered up, P1 took two KBs and walked, P2 did a kraken burpee and ran to catch up and relieve partner for 2 laps.

DORA 100, 100, 100
P1 – KB thrusters, bent over rows (50 each arm), plank rows (50 each arm)
P2 – overhead carry to light pole (switch arm) and back

Finished with some Mary and a fan favorite counter clockwise nameorama.

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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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Life Skills with kettle bell babies at the Cannonball

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Disclaimer disclaimed while in plank.
Start the party with an Indian run complete failure on my part.
Circle up with kettlebells for some suicide squats, Merkins, and circle of kettlebell rows.
Bring your kettlebells and make a lap around half parking lot. a crowd pleaser for sure.

Then time for life skills. Again a failure on my part of explaining the difference between two rows or columns and two lines.
For the record, a line is what you learned how to stand in back in Kindergarten. You find the back of someone’s head and stare at it. That’s a line.

A row is where you are standing shoulder to shoulder with a fellow PAX facing in the same direction. If anyone wants to correct me I welcome the discussion.

Sadly in today’s broken world, there are some terrible, evil individuals out there they want to cause harm to innocent people. This mornings life training was an attempt to prepare fellow men for such a situation.
The first row of PAX dropped down to a plank with head up facing the church with the kettlebells in front of them. These PAX are going to be jumping up from plank, grabbing two kettlebells, their own along with kettlebell belonging to pax opposite them in row 2, and sprinting away from the starting point as if an active shooter attach was taking place and the kettlebells were their shorties. Use your imagination people! This could save someone’s life.
The row 2 PAX were instructed to also start in the plank position but facing the woods. When YHC says “go” the row 1 PAX jump up, grab kettlebells, and take off towards the woods. PAX in row 2 perform 3 hand release merkins before jumping up and giving chase to PAX in row 1 that just kidnapped PAX 2 shorties. Think of it as a modified “catch me if you can” exercise set.

Finish it up with a more successful attempt at the fuel tank farmer carry Indian run.
I had plenty more planned, let this be a lesson to newer Q’s: always plan at least double the amount of exercises than you think you have time to complete, but given the rapid growth of the @F3_LakeWylie region I wanted to get some future Q’s in the spotlight. Let us not forget that we are challenged to invogorate male community leadership. Great job to those men for going along with being voluntold.

Finish up with Count-A-Rama, then Name-A-Rama, praises and prayers before BOM.
Thanks for the opportunity TwoFerns to lead such a strong group of HIMs.
Until next time “Stay Frosty My Friends”
OLAF.

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4 Basic Exercises, Indian Runs, Achievement Recognitions and Pop Quizzes

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3 “Peg Leggers”, Me. Whitesnake and O’Reilly, met to get better (Cannonball Pre-run Staple to Peg’s house and back) before any other Pax showed up.

15 men Circle up on a muggy day and the disclaimer was given. I recently posted in Myrtle Beach and they added the Phrase “I do not know your injuries” to their disclaimer and I liked that so I added that.

We then moseyed to the far corner of the parking lot for my usual and now retired COP
Basically a Deconstructive “Worse Ever Merkin”
30 SSH in cadence – Because u should always do 30
20 Werkins in cadence
30 Seal Jax in Cadence
20 Merkins in Cadence
15 Smurf Jax in cadence
10 Diamond Merkins in cadence

A couple Kettle bell Indian Runs back and forth to the 2 parking lots with The “Thang” worked into them.

Also did 102 kettlebell burpees in recognition of O’Reilly loosing 102 pounds. My math was 102lbs divided by 15 pax = 10 each rounded up
Also recognized Costnaza and his weight lose and running achievements

3 rounds of The “Thang” in between the Indian Runs:
Kettlebell curls on my count till my arms hurt
Kettlebe Tricep ext. on my count till my triceps hurt
Goblet Squats with a kettlebell overhead press on my count till my legs hurt
Big boys with a kettlebell push over knees on my count till my gut hurt

Quiz with Kettle bell hold away from body until the new Pax told me F3 Mission Statement and 5 Core Principles (they did ok)
Quiz on Me – I asked a few personal questions about me and the Pax seemed to know me pretty well. Questions were pretty easy or I talk about myself to much.

A little time for some Wall sits and burpees and merkins sprinkled in.

My take on the whole thing, we all got better and very wet. So wet that I had to hang my clothes on my brush guard all day and they still didn’t dry by the time I went home. I guess that is what happens in 100% humidity and a lot of work getting done. Also, I told these guys again I didn’t want any new friends when I started this thing but crap now I do and I can’t see to shake them.

Till next time
Forever – I will be TWO FERNS!

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Buddies and Bells

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I’ve definitely had my fair share of Q’s at this point, but I still get a little nervous before each and every one, not out of fear, but desire to give everyone a good workout.  The PAX trust me with their time and I want to deliver, it’s as simple as that.  In any case, this morning was like most in LKW lately, hot and humid with a dozen+ PAX.  I showed up a little earlier than normal to setup and get ready.

At 5:15 sharp I gave the usual disclaimer and since O’Reilly was back-talking a bit I picked on him on the spot to give the F3 mission statement, he failed miserably, so I think we’ll start reviewing this before my Q’s.

O’Reilly, if you are reading this, here you go buddy.

The mission of F3 is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership.

We started out with a long mosey out and around the parking lot, sans kettlebells, that included some karaoke’s and shuffles along the way.  We then circled up for a quick Warm-A-Rama that consisted of only Windmills.

We grabbed our bells for the 1st routine.

We had 70 seconds to do 7 reps of the following:

  • kettlejacks
  • bent over rows
  • curls
  • triceps extensions
  • goblet squats
  • american hammers 2x count
  • bench press

We repeated this 7 times.  If anyone exceeded 70 seconds we would be penalized, however, fortunately everyone finished with 5-10 seconds to spare each round.  This was a great way to quickly get in just shy of 350 reps of kettlebell work in. Nice job!

The 2nd routine was a 4 corners/buddy workout.

Each corner/cone had an exercise to do with your partner, it was always 100reps (50 each) and then a way to move between the cones.  The long sides of the rectangle we would go half way down the line via bear & bell (bear crawl w/kettlebell), then apple turnover into crab walk position with the bell laying on our bellies the rest of the way.  The short side of the rectangles we would move via lateral goblet squats.  Pretty much just as it sounds.  And all the movement sucked.

At each corner we did:

1st cone: 100 kettlebells handoffs, partners back-to-back, twist, and hand of a single kettlebell.

2nd cone: 100 partner merkins (no kettlebell).  I failed at explaining this one correctly at first, most PAX assumed that when I told to have 1 partner in plank position with the other also in plank with their feet on the backs of their partner that they would be doing derkins.  Nope, I quickly corrected them and told them that the partner with feet on their backs would be doing the merkins.  Most didn’t like this and much grumbling and complaining ensued.  I must admit, it was brutal.  I know a lot of PAX substituted on this one and did it the “normal” way, Royale and I did the whole thing and I’m sure others did, but it was painful and a real winner.

3rd cone: 100 bench press + overhead partner handoff.  Partners would lay head-to-head. Slight adjustment to this one as well.  It was a bit scary to hand off the kettlebell after each rep, so I said it would be fine to pump out 5-10 presses and then hand off the bell.

4th cone: 100 partner sit-ups.  Partners sat feet-to-feet, did a full “big boy” situp and handed off the kettlebell to their partner, rinse and repeat.

Royale and Ricky Bobby had to cut out 5 minutes early for work so the rest of us finished up and circled up for a couple of ab exercises to finish out the final minute.

CoT

Prayers for safe travels for some of our travelling PAX, prayers for Tom who is having heart surgery, and also prayers for Olaf because his grandchild is due today!

It was a pleasure to lead and a ton of fun.  I definitely wouldn’t have the continued motivation to get up and get after it most mornings if it wasn’t for the company of you great men.

Until next time,

-FLUX-

 

 

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Where’s The P?

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On a rather comfortable June morning myself and 15 other PAX decided to get very uncomfortable at CannonBall. Last night as I was thinking up my weinke I was deciding between Kettle Dora’s or Escalating BLIMPS and I decided on the BLIMPS.  However, I noticed on the F3 Exercise page that the P in the BLIMPS are Mountain Climbers and one of the PAX rightly pointed out what was the P exercise so I changed the P to another M and we now have BLIMMS.

Started with a disclaimer and we did a mosey down the church driveway while holding our kettlebells overhead, then went into ketllebearcrawls then back to regular mosey up the other church driveway while also holding the kettlebell overhead till we circled up for some COP.

COP-KettleSSHx10/HALO’s clockwise/counter-clockwisex10/Hot Potatoesx10/Figure 8’sx10/Hold Kettlebell in front shoulder height and did 3 rounds of 10 counts

Main Event

BLIMMS-5 Burpees/10 Lunges/15 Imperial Walkers/20 Merkins/25 Mountain Climbers/30 Squats.  We started with 5 burpees then ran around parking lot with kettlebell then did 5 burpees/10 lunges in an escalating fashion till we finished with the squats.  The running with the kettlebell was the biggest challenge however as everyone was breathing heavy(even Flux!) You know the workout was good when Flux tells you that he hates you mid way through the workout.

With 8 minutes left on the clock I had us do 3 Turkish Get-Ups(each arm) then we grabbed some wall for some people’s chair. End Pax went out to do 3 burpees while the rest passed their kettlebells down towards the church shed where we store the bells. Our final exercise was putting the bells back in the shed.

Welcome FNG Dreadnought(real name Dave Redding-for real).  Hog and Coyote this weekend, Q school at Bermuda Triangle coming in July and other cool events happening around the region.  Prayers for Shakespeare and family moving to my hood and for those suffering with heart disease.  Thanks 2 Ferns for the opportunity to lead. Peace!

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No Turkish Get Ups

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16 PAX met in the gloom for my KB VQ. I wasn’t sure how it would go, so I came overprepared. The Q scheduled couldn’t make it, and I managed to get it from Two Ferns before Royale, who wanted to do 45 minutes of Turkish get ups.

After a thorough disclaimer, we mosied around the parking lot with KBs.

COP
Good Mornings x 6
MNC x 10
Sun God’s x 30
LSS x 10

The Thang
Had PAX pair up for the board of modified DORA (see picture). Run/farmer carry was with KB around one of the islands. Everything else was from one island to the next and back. Bear crawls/crawl bears with KB were more brutal than anticipated. I think everyone almost made it to the squats.

Thanks Two Ferns for the opportunity to lead (and for letting me borrow the KB). Welcome FNG Ricky Bobby (speeding ticket story/works on cars).

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Kettlebell Rounds

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F3 Lake Wylie remembers Badger
Cannonball – May 21, 2019

I was a bit nervous coming up with a routine at Cannonball. I had never done a ‘Q’ at a place where we use weights so I pieced together a workout that would hopefully benefit chest, arm, back, leg and ab muscles. And as always I love to run during my ‘Q.’

We had a run around New River Church and then circled up for the warm up.

Warm-Up
15 Goof Balls (IC)
15 Windmill
15 Seal Jacks (IC)
15 Mountain Climbers

Run lap

The Thang

Round 1
15 up right rows (left and right arm)
15 shoulder press (left and right arm)
20 tricep press
15 kettlebell curls (left and right arm)

Run lap

Round 2
25 kettlebell swings
30 goblet squats
15 kettlebell lunges (each leg)
15 traveling swings

Run lap

Round 3
20 merkins left arm on bell
20 merkins right arm on bell
40 chest press
20 kettlebell figure 8

Run lap

Round 4
25 kettlebell American hammers (count each side)
25 kettlebell little baby crunches
20 kettlebell sit and press
15 kettlebell v ups

Run lap

We had about 10 minutes left so I decided to do some ‘Mary’ with each Pax picking a kettlebell exercise.

Circle of Trust
Royale shared some thoughts on the celebration of Badger who passed away a year to the date. He was a big Wisconsin fan and all Pax were asked to wear red.

Aye,
Radar

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Kettlebells, Bear Crawls, Oh My

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Assumed the Cannonball AO was about as far from me as the Deep and left the house early, only to arrive at the AO a solid 12 minutes before kickoff.  Was surprised to see one of the Church doors open and kettlebells visible from the parking lot.  I guess that kind of red carpet service you get when the site Q is the Assistant to the Parking Lot Manager of New River Church and one of their pastors frequents this new AO.

Once the pax funneled in, I took them for a quick loop around the parking lot and knocked out the warm-up:  (in cadence) SSH x25, windmills x10, overhead press w/ KB x10, halos x10 (counter clockwise & clockwise), merkins x15, downward dog / honeymooners and an attempt at Supermans w/ KB in hand (went over real well lol).

Ran the guys w/ our KB’s down to the far end of the parking lot and we got started:

  • 4 cones set-up (1st at the far end of the lot), the next 3 about 7 parking spaces apart.  Quick and dirty – do an exercise at the first cone, immediately lunge walk (w/ twist) w/ KB to the next cone, drop the KB, run back to the first cone (every time) and bear crawl back to your KB.  Once there, you do the next exercise, lunge walk w twist to the next cone, drop weight, run to the very first cone, bear crawl back to weight (now 2x the original distance)….you get the point.
    1. Exercise #1 – plank rows w/ kettlebell (10 reps per side).  Key here being to maintain flat plank the whole time as you hold body w/ 1 arm and pull w/ the other.  Lunge walk, run, bear crawl, (wait for all Pax to finish bear crawl – those waiting did upright rows w/ KB), then
    2. Exercise #2 – wood choppers (crowd pleaser).  It’s a play on the KB swing, but a little harder.  Start w/ KB above your head to the left then swing it down to the right side of your legs, and then swing back up to the left side of your head.  Key here is to not blow out your knee, but to actually accelerate as much as you can on the way UP.  10 reps going left to right, 10 reps right to left.  Lunge walk, run, bearcrawl 2x the distance (wait for pax, those waiting did curls w/ KB), then
    3. Exercise #3 – single leg RDL’s (romanian dead lifts) w/ kettle bell in the hand of the leg that is going straight back.  10 reps per side.  Lunge walk, run, bear crawl 3x the distance (those waiting for pax to get back did thrusters w/ KB), then
    4. Exercise #4 – toe touches w/ KB (20 rep count).
    5. Turn around and rinse and repeat whole cycle, only double the rep count for all exercises above.  Good stuff.  Bear crawled out at this point.
  • Next up were some good old fashioned super sets – two exercises given, do them back to back, no complaining.
    1. Alternating merkins w/ one hand on the KB at all times (10 reps per side) / bent over KB tricep extensions (10 reps per arm)
    2. Get ups (hold KB in each hand 5x each) / KB jump squats (10 reps)
    3. Big boys w/ KB press (15 rep) / KB american hammers (20 reps per side)
  • Only had a few minutes, so we gave ourselves 10 parking spaces to get back to COT and everyone did bear crawls back to COT w/ KB in hand (use it as a hand, no dragging, switch hands half way through).

    I have to say the effort level by everyone was awesome to see – not a single person was half a$$ing it – all were finishing each set strong and suffering through each of the long bear crawls.  I was especially proud of one of their newest pax, Mysterio, who did not give up on that last KB bear crawl stretch.  The dude had some serious fight – he’s going to be good one.

    Thanks Two Ferns for the chance to step up and lead at the new Lake Wylie KB AO.  Didn’t really know what to expect w/ a KB workout, but had a blast – hope the others did as well.

    ChaChing

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