Pantheon Triple Respect

Nice work by the 4 Pax that posted on March 2nd.  The baton was passed between each Pax to knock out a solid workout.  Fogerty shared the Q in an attempt to nourish fellowship amongst the four pax. Flounder (triple respect) did not disappoint by arriving on his bicycle and departing via his bicycle after the Beat down.   The group started with a 10 min warm-up, followed by a round of burpees, core exercises, legs, and chest.  38 Special provided the burpees and some calf exercises that left all the Pax mumbling.

Warm-up:

SSH, Moroccan NightClubs, Merkins, Squats, Windmills, LBCs, and warm-up stretches.

The Thang:

Started with some 9’s ( 03/02/22 – 3+2+2+2) – Merkins and Squats compliments of Fogerty.

Burpee fest  – Mosey with stops at multiple cones with burpees at each cone  – compliments of 38 Special.

Flounder circled up the Pax and pushed us thru a bevy of exercises that focused on the core.

Bass-o-Matic pummeled the group with burnout of arms and shoulders.

Good fellowship was had by all during the workout,  followed by a COT of prayers for safe travels, Ukraine, and our local Pax health.

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D2D FoMo- Hill Repeats

9 was the number that descended on the Earth Fare parking lot for a cool Monday beatdown. Quick disclaimer that I was not a professional and we took off towards South State Bank and ultimately towards the challenge that was presented by YHC on the Dave Gibson Hill.

However before that I took the PAX down the hill and back towards Gold Hill Middle School and shared that I was very disappointed that I missed the relay and I was hoping to relive the experience with the unsuspecting PAX that showed including several HIMs that conquered the relay just two days prior. Maybe I should have had more mercy? 🤷🏽‍♂️

We stopped at the entrance to Gold Hill and I laid out the challenge. Run to the opposite end of the parking lot towards where Colosseum COT takes place. Challenge: run there and back and complete 100 Merkins in any combination rep total of your preference, just get 100 done before you get back to the start.

We took off and YHC decided to do 20 at a time and so make my 5 stops along the way with Badlands pushing the pace. Despite that Fishsticks somehow finished first and we waiting for the 6 in the plank position.

Now for the meat and potatoes, We were to run hill repeats from one set of cones to the next at the top of Dave Gibson approx .5 miles and then proceed to complete 1 Monkey Humper at the top of the hill and then 7 burpees at the bottom. Repeat, but next round its 2 Monkey Humpers and only 6 Burpees at bottom. Stretch Goal is to get 7 laps. None achieved the goal. Misery was had by all and the time went quickly and painfully slow at the same time.

Good mumble chatter from the PAX and it was great hearing about the D2D relay.  Around 5:55 we headed back to COT.

3.5-4.9 miles were achieved, with a minimum of 100 Merkins, 20-30 burpees and 10-15 monkey humpers and 300-400 ft of elevation gain 💪🏽 were completed. Upon reflection I should have made the monkey humpers in sets of 10.

Announcements were announced, prayers were prayed and praises were given to the Most High! Great work men!

Poppins Out ✌🏽

 

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STL – Just Keep Going

9 PAX at Sweep the Leg

3.75 mile route through Baxter, some got a little extra at the end.

Every stop we did the following exercises for the 6 to arrive. When the 6 was in, YHC called either one more exercise or we went back to moseying
Exercises:
5 burpees
10 merkins
15 squats
20 flutters
25 lbcs
Mostly we continued on after squats or flutters

When we arrived at Alison Park everyone had 5 pull-ups, but they called the up and down. Other PAX were doing merkins because there’s only one pull-up bar in all of Baxter. 40 merkins and 5 pull-ups for everyone at Alison. From there we continued our route

NMM:
The workout was designed to model the following scenario. Sometimes things are rough and you want them to change. But you find the change is just as rough or worse. So, you go back and forth. The point is: you don’t stop.

An honor to lead such a fast group.


Band Camp Dismissed

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Hide and seek

YHC was looking forward to my return “East of the Peach Stand”. Had my board, gloves, keys, and phone and, as usual, about to go out the door when the 2.0 needs attention. Never fails. Knowing that letting the M deal with the situation would NOT go well for me, I got the boy back in bed and left for my Q late.

the gloom

I knew I was hella late (3 whole minutes, really) and arrived to a parking lot with three vehicles and zero PAX. So I got out and strained my ears trying to echolocate the PAX I was reasonably certain were around somewhere. That failed miserably, so it was time to take a self guided tour of the area. Grabbed my headlamp outta the car and traveled down to FMCoG. No PAX there, the game of hide and seek begins. Up the stairs and through the back lot for FBCFM, nope, through the north entrance up to Tom Hall St. Still no luck. West to Main, south and down the stairs with a left at Emmets Social Table (if they were open, I’d probably have stopped there). Dang, nothing!

Down Academy and, what’s that? 3 figures in the dark? Yes, I think I found them crossing the road, headed to FMCoG! Picked up the pace and met up with the PAX to some light hearted ribbing. Did I mention i was carrying the exercise board the whole way? No??

the thang

The board displayed a number of exercises and rep counts, after each set, run around the 221 building and move down the board. Easy

20x Squat
20x Merkins
20x Lunges (single count)
20x One Leg Deadlift
20x Alternating Superman
20x Apollo Ohno*
20x 4-count SSH
20x calf raises
20x BBSU

We made it through to the SSH + a lap with about 5 minutes left on the clock, so we ran up to the FBCFM parking lot, did our calf raises, up/down the stairs and ended with some leg stretches.

*YHC mislabeled these as Bobby Hurley’s, but if you know anything about me, you know sports are not of interest, and I’m okay confusing the two. The board said “Bobby Hurley (skaters?)”, so you know what I was going for.

Cot

A lot going on in COT today with a lot of heavy prayers needed. YHC took us out imploring to Sky Q to give us wisdom to deal with these things

nmm

Every time I get to hang out at Footloose there is a lot of mumblechatter, and today was no exception. I’ve never really gotten to hear a lot from Kielbasa, so today was his day to shine, and boy did he have some great stories to tell. At one point I found myself asking him to lead the count for SSH just so we could get some work done.

There was also a VERY generous helping of ribbing from Small World and Sticks. Just the right amount, I think, for a Q that is late.  Every time I named an exercise they seemed to have already done it! However, I saw through their game and, as I said before, if the M is unhappy, things will not go well.

And, hey, that’s what F3 is about. Getting fit physically, mentally, and spiritually requires a lot of reps, mumblechatter, and bearing ones soul. If it’s not a “black diamond” Q, then mumblechatter away my fellow PAX.

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Gaming at the Swamp

When I arrived this morning to check the road conditions around the AO, Grass Knoll and Slapshot had already started their prework activities.  It’s always great to see guys pushing themselves to get better. Once 38 Special arrived, we began the workout with a jog to the far side of Home Depot.  Warm up exercises:  SSHs x20, Imperial Walkers x15, Windmills x10.

We continued our journey to the front of Kohls.  We started with a lunge walk to the next cross walk.  At the crosswalk, we did 15 merkins and 10 squats.  We continued forward with butt kickers and toy soldiers stopping at each crosswalk for merkins and squats.

Next, we moseyed to the fountain.  Two guys ran a half lap around the parking lot while the other two men did the below exercises.  The groups flip flopped after the lap.

Exercises:

Dips

Derkins

Step-ups

Burpees

On our way back to COT, we did the sidewalk shuffle (sideways bear crawl) along the store fronts. We arrived at COT a couple minutes early for some LBCs and burpees.

During the workout, I shared a story about my childhood.  I enjoyed going to the arcade and playing videos games.  Back in the day, the ongoing joke was “Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”  We may need to explain this joke to some of the younger guys.  I wanted to buy an Atari but my parents were not willing to spend the money to buy one.  I was able to find a few jobs like shoveling snow and coal around the neighborhood.  Each week I would accumulate a little more money until I finally had enough money to pay for the gaming system. I felt proud when I made my big purchase.

The story is similar to your physical health.  It takes time to become stronger, run faster and longer.  Consistently attending workouts each day and even adding pre-workout activities will help improve your physical health.  “Each day” was emphasized since I am a firm believer that you should train your body to recover from a workout within a 24 hour period.  There are obvious exceptions like running races and participating in ruck events.

If you are struggling to get on track, please reach out to me.  We’ll put a plan together.

Fishstix

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Pantheon Party of 4

YHC rolled into Pantheon about 10 till 5:15 to find Slapshot cooling down from doing what he does at ungodly hours of the morning. Shortly after 38 Special pulled up and there was some mumblechatter until 5:14 and we could see Flounder rolling up on a bicycle to make 4 PAX

We promptly began, YHC disclaimed the bunch and we started a warmup right there with the following:

Windmills

Cherry Pickers

Plank Position- Honeymooners and Downward Dogs, stretched out the dogs considerably

SSH

Low and Slow Squats

Moroccan Night Clubs

Cyclops

After warm up we moseyed over to the bike racks and I told the PAX the plan

DORA

We broke up into two teams, plan would have been to break up into two teams regardless of PAX showing. Point is to keep the group together in cadence to ensure proper form, picked that up from Boss Hog a couple weeks ago and loved the idea

Job was to complete the following:

100 Merkins

200 Dips

300 Squats

Team 1 PAX began on the Merkins and Team 2 went off to run a lap (Small lap around parking lot)

When Team 2 returned we picked up where team 1 left off and continued through the progression.

Once completed we Moseyed back to the front of the parking lot where a series of cones were set up for a series of exercises making our way across the parking lot.

At first cone 5 burpees OYO then we jogged to 2nd cone where we did 5 more burpees, then we lung walked to 3rd cone where we did 5 more burpees, next we bear crawled to the next cone did 5 more burpees and finally broad jump burpeed to the final cone where we finished with 5 more burpees

Last challenge was at the Ampitheatre, quick mosey over to the base and YHC explained the challenge.

Starting at bottom of hill we did 3 Worst Merkins Ever

Moving up to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th levels of Ampitheatre we did 10 big boys at each level and then finally did 30 monkey humpers

Mosey back to shovel flag for 2 minutes of Mary

Hello Dollies and the lowest hurdle ever (stretch)

Fishsticks joined us then, he was running the streets of TC for the fun of it and we think using Drones to spy on us 🙂 j/k

YHC shared a message I have picked up from David Goggins “Can’t Hurt Me” about hardening our bodies and minds to prepare for the next inevitable obstacle, challenge, trial etc. To do this we need Discipline not Motivation, which is fleeting.

Flounder shared a new year challenge to re-engage, re-commit to being the best men we can be and getting back into good habits like spending time in the Word.

Prayers, Praises and Announcements were said and then YHC worked in the namorama I had temporarily forgotten.

Great Morning, Aye

 

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Chills, Thrills, and Hills at Sweep the Leg

Chilly morning. Could be worse ….at least it wasn’t raining. No FNGs. Disclaimer disclaimed and off we went.

Quick run around the lot to find a dark road for COP warmups. 15-20 of each:
* SSH
* WM
* IW
*MNC

Then to the top of the hill at Dave Gibson Blvd. Noted this to the PAX as the top point of our journey. Then down the hill to where the cell phone access area is near the creek. This is the bottom point of our workout.

Hills of Thrills
* Start at the bottom of the hill. Do 5 reps each of merkins and plank jacks.
* Run to the top of the hill and then do 5 reps each of flying monkeys (jumping monkey humpers) and LBCs.
* Back to the bottom to repeat.
* Each round the reps of each exercise increased in increments of 5.
* So it was 5 reps of merkins and PJs. Run the hill. 5 reps of flying monkeys and LBCs. Run down the hill. Then 10-10, run up, 10-10, run down, 15-15, run up, and so on. Stopped at 25 reps of each at both points.
* In total we did approx 3 miles and 75 reps of each exercise.

Back to the parking lot for a loop around the lot. Short ends we did LT Dans. Long ends we sprinted.

Back to COT/endex.

Announcements, P&P:
* A LOT going on, read your newsletter
* Santa Boss, Christmas Eve convergence on 12/24. If you run AND do the convergence, an anonymous donor will give up to $75 for D2D causes.
* Prayers/praises for the coming of our Lord!
* Prayers/praises for Vuvu as he meets up with his boss after a long time apart
* Prayers for Yard Sale as he breaks away from a bad work situation and starts off on a newer more positive one
* Prayers for healing, patience, and support for those in need

Golden Nugget quote of the day…..heck the decade…..from Quack Attack:
Remember that every day we wake up is like Christmas, every evening is like Thanksgiving, and every night before bed is like New Year’s Eve. We are blessed to wake up every day and start over.

Man that one really puts things into perspective. Each day we are truly blessed to be here, each day is a blessed gift. As the day ends we should be thankful we were here for it, and as it ends we should celebrate being a part of it and look forward to the new beginning of tomorrow.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead. God bless.
– NASA

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My pain, your gain

When given the option to Q on the 11th or the 18th, YHC made the right choice. Last week I was not sick, now I am.  I wanted to make sure that whatever I did would prepare me for Sugar Daddy’s mountain party, and thereby make everyone a bit stronger for the experience.

I asked OTG if he would be so kind as to bring along a truckload of cinder blocks, and he obliged. This also gave me the ability to truthfully say I was not bringing cinder blocks, with the hope that it might attract a few more PAX.

The warmup

Quick mozey to the big parking lot for some SSH, squats, imperial walkers, and windmills. Then back to OTG’s truck.

The thang

Very simply, grab a block and follow me to the base of the hill. What’s that? The gate is open to the stadium? YHC called an audible and we took our cinder blocks to the bottom of the road.

The workout was simple. 21s.  Start with 20 murder bunnies at the bottom, run up to and around the traffic circle, 1 squat.  There was not enough time to finish this big bowl of stupid but, as expected, the PAX were easily able to overtake me.

COT

Some prayer requests went out and we talked announcements. There’s a lot going on

NMM

I overheard a good deal of mumblechatter during the workout as Yard Sale, JWoww and BattleBot easily lapped me. OTG hung back to help me feel better about the sorry state I’m in. LOL

But it’s never bothered me to be in the six. When I Q I try to make sure that all levels can work against themselves and get something out of it.  And since there was Q school going on and 2 of the PAX were relatively new to F3, I felt it was worth expounding a bit on that in CoT.

The best workouts aren’t always defined by an insurmountable burpee count, but by the fellowship experienced under that load.

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Two Minute Drill

Six runners met at Earthfare for some early morning speedwork at Brayden.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

After watches were set, the pax were disclaimed as we did a warm-up mosey along Len Patterson drive into the Brayden neighborhood.   We took a left at Emory Lane, off of Brayden Parkway,  and paused at the intersection of Emory and Helton Lane.    The plan for this morning was  to run the loop formed by these two roads and alternate between 5K pace and a recovery jog,  every 2 minutes.

The Pax completed 7 or 8 intervals and then ran a cool-down jog back to COT.  As this AO is listed as running with pain stations, we finished with 30 merkins, 30 Freddie Mercury’s, and 3 Superman holds (20 sec ea).

COT

NMM

This is one of my ‘go-to’ running workouts that I’ve done for years to break up the monotony of running at the same pace, day after day.  It’s similar to a track workout, but to me is more fun on the road because of the addition of hills, and things to look at along the way.  Not as fun in the dark at 5:15, but still a good day on the roads!

Announcements, Prayers, Praises:

Memorial convergence and service for our brother, Shop Vac , this Saturday at the Armory  (Palmetto Funeral Home).

Senator Tressel’s frend, Joe with cancer;  Cornerstone (kidney stone), marriages

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One more beach body workout

This week’s Q was constructed under a very sobering atmosphere. With the news of the passing of ShopVac, YHC tried to find a way to honor him with our actions this morning. However I’d only worked out with him a handful of times and hadn’t been able to attend any of his Qs. So the only way I know how to honor a HIM like that is to sweat it.

The gloom

7 appeared in the gloom at Pantheon, including Scalp, whom I had been trying to recruit to Q for some time. Guess I’ll have to pester him some more

warmup

A quick mosey down to the west side of the parking lot and over to the crosswalk for:

10x SSH
10x Cherry Picker
10x Imperial Walker

The thang

Today’s workout is a derivative of Slapshot’s “pendulum” workout, but with a simpler twist. Rather than keeping track of separate counts, just start at 15 each side and only subtract one each round. Less confusing and more painful, really.

PAX started at the crosswalk and ran east to the end of the sidewalk. Down on the six for 15 BBSUs. Back to the crosswalk, pausing for 3 burpees, and then running around the bend to the bike racks for 15 4-count flutters. Back to the crosswalk for another 3 burpees. Do this again with 14 reps, then 13, you get the idea.

With about eight minutes left Senator Tressel was able to get down to 4 reps, having lapped most of us TWICE. (He may be wearing a knee brace, but he doesn’t perform like it). Scalp was on 5 reps, and the rest of us on 6.  At this point I asked the PAX to let me know when we had five minutes left, to which they replied “we have two minutes left”.

“LOL, sure we do, guys. It’s a tough workout <changes watch screens>… oh, crap. Let’s get back to COT!”

Original plan was to use the last five minutes to do Lutefisk’s delightful “vacuum cleaner” routine in ShopVac’s honor. But it just wasn’t meant to be.

cot

Name-o-rama with all PAX opting to say “ShopVac, 56, Sean Kelley”.  YHC asked all present to speak any words they may have about ShopVac, followed by a brief discussion about being seen in the dark (in no way referring to our brother’s circumstances, of which none of us are cognizant). And prayers for the family and all involved…

nmm

Use your time well…

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