***YHC Editor’s note – Any time you see the word brave, feel free to replace with the word Stupid!!

As the single digit temperature appeared for today’s Slow Burn, 14 brave (stupid) of Fort Mill’s Finest showed up to get some promised Benjamin’s (100 count of something).  Before embarking to the workout, very little inspiration was given, other than the PAX that showed up were brave for doing so.  Would’ve loved to give some other inspiration, but the fact 14 brave showed up was inspiration enough.  Many others were in the smart(fart)sack.

The Thang

Mosey on down to parking lot by Charandas/Empire Pizza.  take a nice warmup lap to get the blood flowing.  Mumblechatter of too much running.  Not much mumblechatter after that.  Lips must have frozen shut.

Circle Up

SSH X 19, IW X 20, Windmills X20, IW X 20, SSH X 21 (IC)

Mosey over the the side parking lot next to the Kid’s inflatables.  Explain that 2 members of the PAX will run to light-post and back while others do squats together.  Once first set or runners gets backs 2 others run.  Keep going till we hit the Benjamin (100).  Rinse and Repeat with 100 lunges. Then 10 sumo squats OYO.  Move PAX to wall, People’s chair for a Benjamin (100 count).

Mosey over to Sweet Frogs area and partner up. Partner A is doing 15 pullups on the rail while Partner B is doing step-ups on the curb.  Once A finishes pullups, a switch occurs.  3 rounds for each.  Plank when finished.  Merkins x 10, Dips x 10, Merkins x 10, Dips x 10 (all IC).  Mosey over in front of Empire and Circle up.

Now this is where it gets a little fuzzy as YHC Brain started to freeze.

Moroccan Night Club x 20

CDD x 10, then the next exercise is:

I forgot – luckily some brave soul shouted out Parker Peters (or was it Peter Parkers, not sure as this brave soul had no brain left) so we did 20 of them (IC)

LBC x 20, Freddie Mercury x 20 (i think, may have been 10. brain freeze)

Then 10 more CDD, 20 mountain climbers (you know, the one exercise I forgot), 20 more LBC and to finish a Benjamin’s worth of plank, any way you want, but hold for 100 count.  Jailbreak back to COT

Announcements 

Banks Trail 5K, IL OCR tomorrow, maybe some other stuff (brain frozen still)

Prayers 

Lots of prayers/praise today with 3 central themes – work, babies, cancer sucks

Moleskin 

As always, I’m honored to be able to lead this special group of men.  Even though this is my first Q at Slow Burn, its one of my favorite workouts.  Was told by some others, that they weren’t sure about coming to Slow Burn as they know I don’t do much in Moderation.  Which is partially true.  But as a leader we need to look at the people we serve instead of always looking to better ourselves.  I’m not against bettering yourself, but make the people around you better first.  Thank you to all 14 of the brave souls that showed up this morning.  Without you showing up, the iron doesn’t get sharpened.

CSPAN on Q

Disclaimer (first Q in some time that I did not need it) and quick review of what are the required components of a F3 workout.

1. Are free of charge
2. Are open to all men
3. Are held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
4. Are led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no formal training
5. End with a Circle of Trust

And off we went for a very slow mosey to Empire Pizza

COP

SSH, IW, Squats, Windmills, Monkey Humpers, couple of others…

Long warmup Plank-o-Rama series. …(not a crowd pleaser)

4 corner game around the Empire Building (starting with the Empire corner and all 10 reps = AMRAP in 20 minutes)

• CDD & LBC
• Bear Crawl to next corner
• SSH & Squats
• Run to next corner
• Burpee & Step-ups
• Crab walk to next corner
• Americans & Lunges
• Run to crosswalk / run backwards to next crosswalk / 10 pull-ups / run to start

Long Shanks lead the way with 4 full laps, I missed Back Draft & Waldo “pushing” my pace (get well brothers), the Clydesdale division stayed together, and Destiny told the most jokes #mumblechatter.

COT

Prayer & Praise, BOM, and a good discussion on watching your health, and being observant of the health of those working out around you #2ndF #F3Brotherhood

Moleskin:

Always an honor to Q, here is everything in my notes:

• 2^nd F is the glue, and Slow Burn has grown to needing a second Friday workout
• PHOP needs more attendance on Wednesday – see Padre
• Posh is launching Monday morning workout, yes you can do it
• If you haven’t Q’d , step up, it is what makes F3 work
• #HIM = High Impact Man
• #NoFatPants = Once you make the physical change of F3, burn the ship and those fat pants as there is no going back. A man who can’t get his 1^st F on track will never get his 2^nd and 3^rd Fs online
• Read “Freed to Lead” here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Freed-To-Lead-Unshackling-Modern-day-ebook/dp/B00JJQB2Z8
• Always make the 1^st F too hard, the 2^nd and 3^rd F will come only with deliberate leadership
• Appreciate the enthusiasm, and get your twitter account going, and follow me @CSPANF3 & @F3TheFort

CSPAN – over & out

18 bravos braved 19 degree conditions for a smelly few laps around Charanda’s and Empire Pizza and Baxter’s Playhouse. Lots of moseying, a few suicides thrown in to keep warm.

The Thang:
Slow mosey to COP SSH’s, Im Walker’s, Windmills, Night Clubs, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, and …… Peter Pointers! (ask me later)

Off in threes to do wall sits, ball walls and pull-ups on the provided handrails A few suicides while partners LBC’d it were well received.

Back to COP for a few more rounds of excitement (including Peter Pointers) and a good session of prayer requests.

Team Spearhead Ruck Sunday at 6:00p.
Change Order has a college friend with Stage 2 Breast Cancer, 2 kids, she lives in the DC area.
Stangs Dad having hip replacement soon.
Prayer for the young man mentioned with the DUI, for his mom, and for him to become a better man because of it.
Shooting at South Carolina — kids needs to be lifted up.
Prayers for our brothers on IR.

-Assassin

22 Strong posted on a beautiful Friday morning to kick off the first Slow Burn workout of 2015.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Run a big loop, nice and easy around the Lowes parking lot to COP:

SSH x 20, Mountain Climber x 15, IW x 15, Slow, Slow Squat x 15, Parker Peter x 15, Windmill x 15

Wide merkin x 5, hold, left arm/leg high, hold, flip to inverted plank, hold, 10 dips, right arm/leg high, hold, 6″ merkin, hold, regular, 6″ merkin, hold, recover

LBC x 20

Mosey to guard rail behind Lowes:

Moderately high step up left leg x 10

5 dips/1 derkin, 4 dips/2 derkin, 3 dips, 3 derkin, etc.

Rinse and repeat both, alternate leg on step up

Mosey to hill by Empire Pizza for Jacobs ladder (Diamond Merks  x 10 while waiting for the six)

5 trips up the hill, 1-5 burpees at top.  Do extra reps if you finish early.

At the bottom of the hill, lie on your stomache for Superman/parachutes (4 reps total)

Mosey to nice grassy spot for ab lab:

Dying cockroach x 15, slow, slow Freddie Mercury (on Q count), Hello Dolly x 15, Russian Twist x 15, Slow, slow merkins (on Q count) x 5

COT

Great group out there today on a cool SC morning.   This was my first Q at Slow Burn and I hope to do it again soon.  The first Q at a new AO usually requires an audible or two,  and today was no exception.  I hope the Pax enjoyed the change of pace .  Happy New Year, brothers!

Announcements:

Joe Davis 5K/10K, Saturday, Jan 10, 8am at Baxter Y.  Be there!

North Augusta F3 expansion. Clown cars leaving promptly at 4:45 tomorrow from Baxter Starbucks  Help support the F3 movement.

Dredd and OBT are coming to the Reservation (Indian Land) on Saturday to Q that workout.

Prayers for those battling illness and injury.

23 Pax shook off the holiday hangover and ventured out for a low-running quasi-moderate Slow Burn.  YHC had some free time and took advantage of the new F3 exercise lexicon which can be found here

The Thang
Dynamic warm-up of windmills in the Chik-fil-a parking lot before moseying down to the Empire lot with some high-knees, butt-kickers, and walking Imperial Walkers along the way.

Circle up and straight into a Dirty MacDeuce (4 sets of 3 exercises, in cadence, with no rest between exercises)
Set 1:  Merkin/LBC/Squats
Set 2:  Diamond Merkins/Freddie Mercuries/Monkey Humpers
Set 3:  Wide Arm Merkins/Hello Dollies/Peter Parkers
Set 4:  Knerkins (alternate:  Merkins)/Rosalitas/Parker Peters

Mosey to the wall for Peoples’ Chair sequence

Jack Webb Ladder:  Run to the first crosswalk for 1 merkin & 4 airpresses.  Run to second and third crosswalk and back increasing the number of merkins by 1 and airpresses by 4 at each crosswalk.  Return to start for 6 merkins and 24 airpresses.

Dan Taylor (see lexicon):  leg version of the Jack Webb.  Start at 1 squat and 4 lunges.  Increase until 5 squats and 20 lunges.  Crowd pleaser so we repeated it back the other way.

Mary time, starting with Guantanamo (again, see lexicon).
LBCs
Russian Twists
Crunchy Frogs
Moroccan Night Club (because, why not?)
Protractor
Freddie Mercuries

Back to the shovelflag @ Chik-fil-a, AYG

1 minute left, so 1 minute of burpees OYO

Moleskin
With CSPAN’s tour of Rt 160 last week, and with Senator Tressel as Q next week, I figured a low-running workout was needed this week or Slow Burn might get a reputation as a running workout.  #NotOnMyWatch.  To plan the work out I spent some time on the Exercise Lexicon that @AP set-up.  There is a lot of great information on there and if you Q any F3 workout I encourage you to spend some time on it.

The Dirty MacDeuce was fun, although judging by the amount of #MumbleChatter I believe I will need to ramp-up the exercises in the sets.

The Dan Taylor was fun, although YHC apparently didn’t explain it correctly judging by the number of Pax that started to sprint on the start.  Either that or far too many folks follow CSPAN blindly.

Guantanamo was fun, especially with 23 pax.  It was more fun when I figured out it worked better trying to pull down the legs by running inside the circle instead of pushing the legs down from outside.  Thankfully no faces were stomped.

The Crunchy Frog looked easier in video.  Bad form on the Q’s part not being to execute it well.  I punched out after 5 reps b/c #DontQItIfYouCantDoIt.  Also don’t threaten to hold the protractor while the mumble chatter persists if @Trucker is posting… he can hold it.   And he can chatter.

Great effort by the Pax and I had a blast on Q.

Look for the Q1 2015 Slow Burn Q schedule to be posted in the next couple of days. I’ll plan on rotating in anyone who’s Q’ed Slow Burn so far.  Let me know if you want in through email, in the comments below, or on twitter (@jeff_gray)

Announcements:

1/1/15 – Ranch is open.  0630 launch
1/3/15 – Clown car down to N. Augusta.  See CSPAN
Joe Davis Run 1/10/15, see preblast

YHC got a last minute call to Q the now infamous #SlowBurnF3…

High quality disclaimer…read the website…not a professional…read it in Hebrew or Greek…

Quick prayer for Tatanka’s meeting

In your best Forest Gump voice “and we were running” down to Harris Teeter…

COP and Plankorama…could have been too much or not nearly enough…perspective…

In your best Forest Gump voice “and we were running” down to Auto Zone…

ABLAB to 100 reps…potentially different perspective…

In your best Forest Gump voice “and we were running” back down to Harris Teeter…

COP in reverse age order, started with Senator and finished with Waldo.

Circle-o-Rama, Name-o-Rama, Prayer or Praise, & BOM.

Mosey at your own pace back to Chicken-&-Wisdom

Cobains to all that did not enjoy the tour, I keep talking about needing more cardio, got about 2 easy miles in today…

Merry Christmas

Another fine morning in the gloom with 19 fanboys of the First and Second F.  After a short speech by YHC on the merits of Moderate and the disclaimer, we took off.

Indian Run to Front Lowe’s Corner
SSH
Windmill
IW
MNC

Indian run to back of Lowe’s Lot
Dips
Incline Merkins

Indian run to front of Lowe’s Lot

4 corners:
Monkey Humpers
Lunge Hop
Squats
Plankorama led by First PAX to finish

4 corners:
Crab Cakes
Recline Dips
CDD
Plankorama led by First PAX to finish

People’s chair while each person does:
10 Merkins
20 SSH
20 Squats

Mosey to Empire Lot

Six Minutes of Mary:
Wheezy Jefferson
Rosalita
LBC
Superman/Banana

Dealer’s Choice Ab Work by PAX

Jailbreak to CFA for COT

Naked Man Moleskin
I read Freed to Lead recently and discussed the merits of a “Core” workout with a few of the PAX while running last week. When Hard Drive asked me to lead Slow Burn this week, I thought it was a good opportunity to remind the PAX that while we like being stronger, we need to think of the guy who leans on Excuse #1 to keep him from his first post.

Slow Burn should be for that guy, and I want to feel like I am not lying when I tell the neighbor I have been EH’ing that he can handle moderate. This means we need to try to keep it moderate even when there are no FNGs so that it is our culture, not just an exception.

Regarding the actual workout, I was initially disappointed that I ran out of Ab work on #SixMinutesOfMary, but the PAX stepped in with no complaints to fill the void. I got kudos from the PAX after and, while I was driving home after Chik-n-Wisdom, I thought of how we aren’t required to have it all together.

What we are required to do is to be willing to get out of the fartsack and lead. This isn’t limited to F3 workouts, but is applicable to all aspects of our daily lives.

From Isaiah 59:15-16 – “The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.” The Lord gave us his righteousness through Jesus, so let’s be the Arm of the Lord to intervene in this world till he returns.

Lead your family.

Stand Up.

Push Back against The Curse.

Make a Difference wherever you have an opportunity.

Lastly I want to give shouts to Assassin for recommending the butt kickers/high knees on the Indian Run to keep it Moderate as well as all the PAX who show up every week to keep Slow Burn strong even when we’re sub-30’s weather.

Announcements:
Party Tonight at 1800, see the preblast from Crab Cakes
Baxter Trail Run on New Years Day, 15K and 5K option
Joe Davis on Jan 10th

Prayer Requests:
Many Prayer requests this morning for those who are sick (I believe it was Destiny’s sister, Blackhawks friend) or have lost loved ones (Airman’s father).

God has a plan, we just need to be willing to do his will and keep pushing back against the temptations of the flesh with the Lord’s help and our Brothers (thanks for the 3rd F this morning Anchor Man).

19 Pax heeded the call of the pre-blast and took on the Moderate Cup challenge at region’s best Friday workout. The challenge was simple, who among the pax could do the most reps OYO of 4 simple moderate pain stations in a 20 minute period?

The Thang:

Mosey down to the lower parking lot where YHC somehow led from the middle in a series of karaoke, backwards jog, high knees, and butt kickers.  Worked about as well as it sounds.

COP for a brief warm-up before the main event:
SSH x10
Imperial Walkers x15
Merkins x10 with a hold at the end to keep everyone honest
Windmills x10
Slow Sumo Squats x10
Moroccan Night Clubs x 20 or so
Mountain Climbers x 10

Mosey to the crosswalk where the Q explained the Cup challenge:  OYO run around the strip mall stopping on each side for one of the following:  Merkins x10, Squats x20, LBC x20, Supine Pull-ups x10.  Sounds moderate right?  The Pax had 20 minutes to complete as many circuits as possible.  The winner would earn the coveted Moderate Cup.  (I brought 2 cups expecting to break into 2 groups:  Hates and Hate-Hates in one, Old on up in the other.  Turns out we’re mostly Old so forget it.).  YHC vaguely warned about leaving enough in the tank for a tie breaker if needed…

Usual suspects were up front including CSPAN, Backdraft, and Waldo.  Thoughts about the 10k Merkin challenge must have drifted into CSPAN’s head b/c he fell off the pace leaving Backdraft and Waldo the challenge winners.  I know they must have lapped me at least 3 times.  #SteadySixWinsTheRace or some such #goo.

The tiebreak was 5 Burpees OYO (which may not sound like much, but by then it was) and then jailbreak for the Shovelflag, winner take all.  By CSPAN’s account (see note above about being the Six) it was Backdraft with the late burst to win it securing the first ever Moderate Cup.  Backdraft couldn’t even hold it up over his head in victory either because he was too tired, or he was too embarrassed by the cheap Hong Kong novelty trophy, either/or.  I’m going with the former.  Waldo took home the Hate Division Moderate Cup, because honestly what was I going to do with it?

Announcements:
Need Q’s for Slow Burn schedule starting next week.  DM me on Twitter @jeff_gray
Joe Davis Run on 1/10.  See Preblast for details
12/12 – Christmas Party.  See preblast for details and signup
12/13 – F3 Dads, 0930 @ Alcatraz
12/17 – 12 Days of Christmas led by Double D at PHOP
12/24 – Christmas Eve convergence at The Coop.  No Christmas Day workout!