I had the privilege of being able to Q at the Poopdeck this morning.

While I was pondering what I wanted to do during the workout I thought about trying to incorporate blocks into the workout.  Now that we have finished I think it was a fabulous idea!

When I pulled up in my truck I proceeded to announce to everyone that I had presents.  Everyone turned and looked at me like I was crazy (at get that a lot so that is normal) and then I dropped the tailgate to show them the cinder blocks.  Then I got looks of “are you kidding me”!!!

Started with a quick disclaimer while everyone was grabbing their present and then did a lap around the parking lot with a slow indian run (with blocks) and then continued over to another lot where we stayed for the remainder.
20 Side Straddle Hops
8 Wind Mills – schedule for 10, but wasn’t feeling it so I modified
10 Hill Billy Walkers
10 Merkins

Repeat Each Set of exercises 2 times
10 Jumping Knee tucks
Level 1 Drill – (4 Merkins, 10 mountain climbers, 10 hip thrusters)
One leg hops down and back switch at the turn
10 180 degree Squat Jumps
Carry cinder block to other side of parking lot and leave it there and run back (Repeat )

6″ to Heels to the sky for a ladder 10 to 1 while holding blocks arms extended when Heels where to the sky.

With the blocks
15 Tricep Extension
Walking Lunge down and back
20 Rows
20 – 6 inches with chest press
Run to wall and back w/o blocks (Repeat)

5 Partner Merkins with block – Cobra Kai came up with this!!
– partner up and get shoulder to shoulder with one block at someone’s side.  Pull the block under you to your partner and then will pull the rest of the way across.  Do a merkin (1) and reverse order.

20 LBC
15 CDD
20 American Hammer
10 Bomb Jacks
Run to wall with block and leave it and run back. (Repeat)

20 Plank Jacks
20 Dips
5 Burpees
Run to wall and back

Headed back to COT where we finished out the workout with a few abs exercises

Announcements – Christmas Party, Joe Davis and read your news letter
Prayers – Royal’s dad and the less fortunate families during this time of year

We also talked about hope during the workout and reiterated to the group that we need to make sure we have our hope in God and only God because if we don’t it will always fall short.

Good work gentlemen and it was a pleasure to serve!

During this morning’s workout at the PoopDeck, I heard three words I never thought I’d hear while running:

“DaVinci, slow DOWN!”

Me. The chronically last guy in. So much that I figured my F3 name would eventually be changed to “Six-Is-In” since that’s what I heard or said so often.

When I posted to my first F3 workout at The Deep on April 16 of this year, never would I have imagined seven months later that I would be out here in the gloom, in the cold, and be happy to be there. Yet, here I am, posting four or five times a week, running and doing merkins and frickin’ burpees and partner carries all the other crazy things we do — all at a ridiculous hour of the morning.

And not only am I participating, but I am stepping up to lead  workouts! What?! Which brings us to “The Thang” portion of this Backblast.

The Thang

We had an FNG (Welcome, Andretti!) this morning at Poopdeck, so I gave a fairly detailed disclaimer and took off for a couple laps around the parking lot. First lap to get the blood flowing, the second lap to do some butt-kickers, high-knees, side-shuffles and karaokes. Then we circled up for the warm-up exercises:

SSH x 20
Imperial Walkers x 20
Windmills (nice and slow)  x 10
Low Slow Squats x 15
Mountain Climbers x 10
Slow Merkins x 10
Honeymooners and Downward Dog to stretch out a bit
LBCs x 20

Then we turned on our headlamps and moseyed around the back of the Bowl ‘n’ Bounce, across the way to the back of the adjacent shopping center where we paused our run for some Toy Soldiers before completing our run around to the front parking lot for the (read over imaginary stadium loudspeaker): “Parking-ing-ing Lot-ot-ot of PAIN-pain-pain!” Or as, DarkHelmet refers to it: the “Workout in a Box” (with no reverb or echo effect).

So, basically, I struggle with coming up with cool workouts. And sometimes, I feel like there are muscle groups that don’t get worked some days. So I chose a series of exercises to cover the bases:

Flying Squirrels x 20
Carolina Dry Docks x 10
Freddy Mercurys x 20
Peter Parkers x 20
Imperial Walker x 20
Burpees x 10 (for DarkHelmet)
Squat-Raises x 20 (Low Squats ending in calf raise on standing)
Merkins x 20
Sumo Squats x 20
Mountain Climbers x 20
Diamond Merkins x 10
LBCs x 20
Flying Squirrels x 10
Parker Peters x 20

Each PAX picked a parking spot to start, did the prescribed exercise and then ran a lap around the parking row islands and progressed to the next exercise in the series. We all ended the circuit with around 8 minutes to spare, and before we began our mosey back to COT, our FNG Andretti, familiar with the area, suggested we take the scenic route back and led the return trip. The duration was perfect, as we arrived back at the flag with a minute to spare.

COT:

Prayers for Witchhunt’s Father in Law, praises for Wild Thing’s mom and her great prognosis following surgery.

Honored to serve. Grateful for my Brothers in F3.

Aye!

~ DaVinci

It was week 3 of our newly established AO the “Poopdeck” in Lake Wylie, and I volunteered the week before to pick up this Q. The whole week as I drove past I was excited about what I had in store for the PAX. We had a few cars in the parking lot by the time we hit 5:15am. I was really happy to see Old MacDonald back from his FNG post the week before. In total we had 5 PAX, said the disclaimer and we were off.

Mosey around the full parking lot with some Dynamic warmup exercises.. you know, the regular stuff.
High Knees – Butt Kickers – Side Shuffle – Toy Soldiers

Circle up by the YMCA for COP
25 SSHs 25 MNCs 15 IWs 10 Merkins 20 MNCs a little yoga to stretch

Then came my big surprise, we were going off the reservation and running to the new Copper Premium Pub up over the Lake Wylie hill. All week I’d been driving this road seeing this massive hill. I clocked the distance in my car, and it was exactly 1 mile from our AO to the Copper Pub parking lot. I warned everyone the night before to bring a headlamp. After a few grumblings, we headed off. The PAX did great, and it was really encouraging that we could show Old MacDonald what F3 was really about. Being his 2nd week in the group, he warned me he was not much for running. About a quarter mile in, he said, ‘just leave me and go ahead…I don’t want to slow you down.” How many times have we heard this brothers? And how do we respond? We’re not here to set personal records, our to beat the guy next to us (most of the time) but to encourage others to become the best they can be. Here was just the most recent chance to share that message to a new member of our F3 brotherhood. And so I did. Old Macdonald and I brought up the 6, but still with a respectable 9:15 mile to the parking lot. The hill wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it’s still something I like to tell the wife I ran that thing in the pitch black cold of a Thursday morning!

But wait there’s MORE!

Once we arrived, now we could work. So here was our Ladder of exercises for the next 10-12 minutes.

50 LBCs
40 Side Straddle Hops
30 Ranger Merkins
20 V-Up Twists
10 Burpees
10 Count
20 Jump Squats
30 Merkins
40 Squats
50 Mountain Climbers

With that complete, we needed to head back. Only one way to go so we started running.

1 mile back, a little more downhill than last time. And happy to say Old MacDonald ran the whole time back! Witch Hunt kept running back, he probably put in 1.5 miles to our 1… but he’s always great about sharing words of encouragement and keeping the guys together.

Finished up just a few minutes early…we earned it.

Annoucements
Read you Newsletter and check out Margin

5 PAX = 5 great prayers during COT, I can’t do them justice here… but will work at keeping better notes on these.

Always an honor to lead.

Royale

The fun never ends and the party never stops, so we get up another day and keep working.

So, I don’t know if you were aware or not but the night before this post was the WORLD FREAKING SERIES! Spoiler alert: The Cubs won and made baseball relevant again to the general public! And as exciting as that is, we lost a number to #worldserieshangover… It happens.

I pulled up to the AO and was joined by Royale, Bonsai, and Witch Hunt shortly thereafter. Then, off in the distance I see two men approaching us. I don’t recognize them, but it’s dark… Are they friends? Foes? Crossfit guys coming to tell us to get off of their turf? Could they be Cat Lady’s nephews coming to tell us to stop scaring the crap out of her in the morning when we run around the corner while she feeds cats out in back of the Chinese Restaurant? Yeah… unrelated note: remind me to NOT eat there…  Not the kind of Pu-Pu Platter you’re looking for… I promise.
Aaaaaaaaannnnnddd ADHD release in 3…2…1… So anyway, they were FNGs! EHed by a dude who came out for the first time last week! This whole “having a YMCA at the end of the strip mall and working out in front of the folks walking in” thing is gonna work out well, I think. REALLY tough to give the “I can’t get up that early” excuse if we are watching you walk into the gym at 0500… Just saying…

Well, with two FNGs, we gave a quick review of the core principles and very thorough disclaimer and moseyed off for a lap around the strip mall.

Circle up down at the YMCA end of the lot for:
Windmills x 15
IW x 15
SSH x 30
Merkins x 10
Mountain Climbers x 20
Moroccan Nightclubs x 20
Squats x 15

Mosey to the front of the Y and then burpee broad jump down to the Bowl ‘n’ Bounce (about halfway) and jog it to the end. Then we took a lap on the loop through the neighborhood behind the AO (about 1/2 mile).
From here it gets a little fuzzy because I was making it up. The original plan was to burpee broad jump the entire front of the strip mall, then take the 1/2 mile lap around and repeato until we ran out of time. That was possibly going to be the most terrible idea I may have ever had. I think that I was glad that two FNGs showed up so I had to modify… At any rate, I’ll do my best to remember and I’ll let the Pax correct me in the comments…
I think next we bear crawled halfway down the front and jogged it out. Then I remember something about crab walking and Witch Hunt doing break-dance burpees… Pretty sure he plans on doing these at the Christmas Party.
Then we went to the very end and ran the front of the mall under the overhang. One man after another ran to the low wall, jumped up and then broad jumped to the middle. That was awful. Let’s do it again!
Jog it back to the end and then repeat. Then jog it back for Partner Carries. New guys must be initiated… I have no idea what is wrong with me. I’m going to stop doing those. I’m tired of catching crap about it all the time. Just kidding, I don’t care at all. We’re going to keep doing them. Because they are really difficult. And an F3 workout is supposed to be a little difficult.
After the carries, it was time for some wall work.
I call it “Pink Floyd”:
Wall sit for a 30 count
BTTW for a 30 count then
Descending Testicles (1 merkin vertical, then 2 at 45 degrees, and 3 with feet at about 12 inches up the wall)
Repeat 3 x.

Enough is enough after that scatter brained Q, let’s go back to the cars, do 30 flutters and call it done, name some FNGs, and go home.

NMM:
I’m coming up on two years of this foolishness. I know I’m not alone in this sentiment, but it is almost laughable how much happier/better I am as a man than I was two years ago. I remember one Saturday, Dredd had come down to work out with us in Indian Land and we were doing the Gladiator Games. We happened to be standing next to each other at one point and I just felt to lean over and say thanks to him for doing all this and bringing this to us. Then he hit me with something that changed my thoughts and feelings. He said, “This isn’t mine, brother. I didn’t do this. I couldn’t come up with all this stuff and make all these things happen. This is yours.” F3 doesn’t “belong” to anyone. If Dredd won’t take credit, then no one can. Therefore, if it’s not ours, then we must GIVE IT AWAY. It belongs to everyone, so we must find all the everyones that there are and get them to free themselves.

Helmet, out. Aye!