Not really a merkinfest…more a don’t stop movingfest

20 PAX gathered for a Jedi inspired chilly morning at the Swamp.  This Friday AO is a great place to run around, see lots of parking lots, check out stairs and look at the water feature fountain…hard to pass up and a good place to be if you’ve never been.  Quick disclaimer and YHC was shot out of a cannon.  With the first mosey stop at Petsmart, the PAX followed the leader for some parking lot shuffles, karaokes, high knees, and butt kickers before progressing to the previously mentioned fountain.

Prior to getting to the fountain, we stopped in the back parking lot for some warm-ups which included: low slow squats, slow windmills, merkins (all counts of 10).  Given this is a Cha Ching AO, what better way to get the PAX warmed up than a Cha Ching inspired 60 seconds of blood pumping 33 SSH and 7 burpee – rinse and repeat for a 2nd min.  This was followed by some up/down dog stretching and then on to The Thang!

Mosey over to the fountain where it was time to get our merkin on…(not that kind of merkin so calm down).

  • 20 regular merkins
  • 20 wide arm
  • 20 diamond
  • 20 decline
  • 20 ranger
  • 20 incline
  • 20 hand release

After every round of merkins, PAX were instructed to run to the stairs – up, down, back up, then back down and back to the fountain…for the next set of merkins.

Since this was not enough fun, we partnered up and did some Dora with our new partner.

  • 100 bombjacks
  • 200 CDD
  • 300 American Hammers (double count…well, because)

As partner 1 did exercise in the “warm-up” parking lot by the stairs, partner 2 took off to the fountain and did 20 dips before returning and relieving their partner.  This took a good amount of time but the PAX finished American Hammer’s with the 6.

PAX took off towards COT but with 5 or so minutes remaining, MARY was calling our name so we answered the call.  PAX went around clockwise with ab exercises until the bell was rung.

Normal mix at COT, but the highlight of the morning was welcoming FNG, now Chicken Noodle, to the party to join the lineage of other “chicken” inspired PAX.  Thoughts and prayers to all prayers and praises raised.  Thanks as always to Cha Ching for the call…enjoyed every minute of it!

Shady

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Hurpee Outbreak at the Quagmire

F3 grows through “addition by division”, this is a true statement and it’s a great thing to be a part of.  The downside is you simply don’t get a chance to get out to some of your original stomping grounds as often as you would like since there are so many choices closer to your home. Long story short, it was great to be out here and lead the other 11 men that showed for the Quagmire this morning.  I love the opportunities I get that brings me to these places (hint hint).

I’ve been working through the Exicon for most of my Q’s lately, it has been a nice change of pace to experience some of the craziness that our PAX have come up with across the nation.  So for better or worse, I give it a shot and see how it goes.  Today was the letter “H”.

We started with a mosey around the back of Best Buy which I guess isn’t normal because I heard some grumblings, but we did some shuffles and toy soldiers along the way and then quickly circled up for a round of Windmills in cadence.

1st routine was a timed “HIIT” exercise.  We only had what ever time we had left after we finished the below exercises to recover.

  • 5 “Hurpees” (Hand-Release Burpee)
  • 10 Hillbilly Squats (IC)
  • 15 Hello Dolly’s (IC)
  • 1 Minute timed x 6 Rounds

We then mosey’d to the parking lot behind the fountain (near the stairs).

2nd routine, which admittedly took longer than I wanted, was “Hindenburg Blimps”, though I ended up cutting the S off the Blimps so we did a “Hindenburg Blimp”.

Hindenburg Blimps are like 4 corners combined with Blimps so I took the parking lot islands and divided them up into 4 corners and we would run/sprint the long sides and bear crawl around the short sides of the islands.

  • Round 1 – 10 Bombjacks x4
  • Round 2 – 20 Lunges x4
  • Round 3 – 30 Incline Merkins x4
  • Round 4 – 40 Monkey Humpers x4
  • Round 5 – 50 Plank Jacks x4

3rd routine, we stayed in the same area and did some “Heartbreak Dora’s”.  Normally we would do this on a hill, but I thought the stairs would substitute nicely.  So we partnered up and did the following while the other PAX would run a normal lap around the parking lot islands and then up and down the stairs before tagging his partner and swapping.

  • 100 Hurpees
  • 200 Big Boy Sit-ups
  • 300 Squats

Nobody was able to get through the final routine, but that was more on me for having too much planned. I think about half of us were working on Squats by the time we finished up and mosey’d back to CoT.

CoT

  • Nessie on 10/26!
  • Prayers for Lutefisk and his father battling cancer and Duck Dynasty’s sister who is having complications with her pregnancy.

Thanks for getting me out here Mile High!  I always enjoy it.

Until next time,

Flux

 

 

 

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OLAF’S Inchworm Suicide at TheSwamp

Disclaimer was disclaimed and a short mosey was started…. Or so the unsuspecting PAX thought.
So plan is to mosey around the whole outer prerun loop of Rivergate stopping every tenth of a mile to perform an exercise all together in cadance. Once we make it back to Best buy it’s everyman for himself for the next loop. But where does the Inchworm Suicide come in? Glad you asked. Instead of going from one cone to the next you must first go back to the previous cone before proceeding. So start at Best buy and jog to stop sign going towards home depot. Free space ten count, lucky you. Go back to best buy then return past free space and to next cone at turn into homedepot garden section. 10 SSH cadance count style. Next back to cone for free space 10 count then to wall beside Target for 5 over the wall jumps. U get the idea so to save everyone some time bc reading is hard I’ll just list the remaining exercises and post a picture of the workout summary map.

10 burpees to start the party,
Free space 10 count,
10 SSH,
5 wall getovers
10 Merkins,
5 Suicide squats aka goldilocks squats,
10 Chacha merkins,
5 Regular squats,
10 CDD,
5 lunges,
One other uperbody exercise,
10 burpees to end the party.

Warm hugs as promised to all surviving PAX at COT.

Over 4 miles logged by most, suspect the front runners got closer to 4.5miles. Great work gents and thank you to @ChaChing for the opportunity to lead. Until next time
Stay frosty my friends!
Olaf

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Steadfast

Observations:  13 Pax posted for a hideous workout at Quagmire. Today’s workout looked better on paper but still successfully completed the Board Of Pain. FNG Zoolander fit right in with the mumble chatter. #EPIC

The Thang:

Mosey to Home Depot’s Parking Lot:

SSHs (20x), IWs (20x), Parker Peters (15x), Slow Sumo Squats (15x), WMs (15x), Box Cutters (20x), Windshield Wipers (15x)

Mosey to Kohl’s Parking Lot.

The Buffet Of Pain included the following  exercises. 

  • 100 Yard Dash
  • Jumping Lunges (Double) 
  • Big Boy Sit Ups
  • Wide Arm Merkins
  • Jumping Squats 
  • Burpees
  • American Hammers (Double) 
  • Carolina Dry Docks
  • Donkey Kicks 
  • Flutter Kicks (Double)
  • Dips
  • Diamond Merkins 

COT

Moleskin: We are constantly feeling good and bad pressures during our journey of life. Life has valleys and peaks with both bad and good experiences. Life is also like a train on parallel tracks, we continually find ourselves between the good track and the bad track. When things go well in life, we are soon challenged with a tragedy or a loss. Remain steadfast. Be aware of when you become unbalanced toward the bad track where evil one awaits. Choose God and move forward.

 

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Captain Clutch @ the Abyss

We had 7 HIM post at the Abyss today and here’s what went down

Traveling Warm up:

Stop 1:

Side Straddle Hops 

Windmills

Stop 2:

Hillbilly Walkers

Produce Pickers

Stop 3:

Mountain Climbers 

Peter Parkers

Stop 4: 

Moroccan NIght Clubs

Imperial Walkers

Thing 1:

Dora 1, 2, 3 

100 Bulgarian Split Squats (double count)

200 Dips

300 Incline Merkins

Thing 2:

11’s

Jump squats 

Jump Lunges

Mosey back to COT

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Tour De AO

9 Boot Campers braved their Friday for a Lutefisk Q at the Swamp. 3 ruckers and a runner joined up for COT.  Brief disclaimer given with no FNG’s and we were off.  Took a stop in a random parking lot for some COP warm-up activities.  Mosey to the famous Target balls.  Informed PAX that a fellow PAX’s brother was just diagnosed with MS as he was having leg pains.  They feel they caught it early and can do a lot for him to live an active life, so YHC dedicates this workout to Dennis The Menace’s brother!  Having no winkie, YHC decides to have these HIM check out the places at this AO that I have come do despise.  Hence, Target balls.  We did the balls three times over with partners going every other ball with burpees, lunge jumps, squats…. great times. Bad times on your legs.  Mosey to the only hill near the bank.  11’s, burpees up top, dips down below.  Mosey to the fountain for some partner catch me if you can.  Did a few laps ( first one didn’t look so good, poor planning) and got back to COT on time.  Simple, but effective.

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Random Pain at Quagmire

YHC had a busy weekend and no time for winkie writing.  So, just show up and inflict random pain!  Noticed an f3 shirt-wearing HIM but unrecognized.  Eighty Eight is the name, from California. Said PAX lived in Lake Wylie/FM area for a while and moved to CA and mustard seed’ed an AO!  Leadership, AYE!

Quick yet proper disclaimer was given, and a mosey began. Wait, is that Duck Dynasty pulling in? Guess we’ll make a quick lap.  Duck joins, and wait, is that Olaf pulling in? Might as well grab him too!  Off we go for a decent run to an unnamed parking lot. COP had windmills, mountain climbers, produce pickers, werkins, imperial walkers, and a slow lbc with hands & feet touching the ground after each rep. Mosey to the wall between target and home depot.

Split up into two teams. Wall sit while PAX one at a time ran to the other wall, jumped and slapped the wall as high as they could, dropped for 5 merkins, and ran back.  YHC’s team was in an early slump but somehow caught back up FTW. Moseyed to target where we lined up the winners. Each winner chose a partner from the losing team for 2 sets of vacuum cleaners. If you don’t know what they are, you’re lucky. #exicon. Then, kept partner and grouped up about 40 yards apart facing each other. Method of transportation changed, but we met our partner in the middle and knocked out some exercises. Don’t remember exactly what they were but it was cool. Crab walks, bear crawls, crawl bears, burpee broad jumps. Yay.

Next mosey back to the walls for some wall work. Incline on the wall for 10x shoulder taps, followed by feet on the wall for 10x shoulder taps. Wall sit for an apache 10-count for our CA friend eighty eight. BTTW position for 10x double count peter parkers. #crowdpleaser

Mosey to random parking lot for some Captain Thor (thanks Tinsel). Mosey to mattress firm for Jack Webbs. Mosey to Best Buy parking lot for the finale which was 4  lines, bear crawl one at a time to the other end and sprint back for a relay race. Waiting PAX are to do SSH or squats or something to make them better. A little competition never hurt, right?

COT, read newsletter (duh), nessie, prayers for travel, kids, marriages, praise for eighty eight accelerating on vacation (it was like 1-2 am his time). 16 HIM got better on a Monday!

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Ebyss

Lucky 7 PAX showed up today to get better.  Today we were tackling some routines that start with “E” and it Ended up being very Effective.

After the disclaimer we went running towards the back basketball courts throwing in a little side shuffles along the way.  When we arrived we circled up for a quick warm-up.

  • 20 SSH
  • 9 Windmills
  • 10 Low Slow Squats
  • 15 Moroccan Night Clubs

Then we quickly backtracked a bit and lined up at the top of the grassy hill for some “Elevens”

  • 10 Merkins at the top
  • 1 Flying Squirrel at the bottom and then you know the drill
  • Fowards down, backwards up made it more interesting until we finished with 10 Flying Squirrels and 1 Merkin

A few of us finished so I called it just a bit early and off we went back towards the basketball courts/track.  I let the PAX catch their breath a bit while I explained the next routine, “Escalators”

  • 10 Burpees, 2 laps around the track (1/4 mile)
  • 10 Burpees, 20 Bombjacks, 2 laps around the track
  • 10 Burpees, 20 Bombjacks, 30 Merkins, 2 laps around the track
  • 10 Burpees, 20 Bombjacks, 30 Merkins, 40 Squats, 2 laps around the track
  • 10 Burpees, 20 Bombjacks, 30 Merkins, 40 Squats, 50 Lunges, 2 laps around the track

This took up all the remaining time.  Only Bones and YHC was able to get through this, but Copyright wasn’t far behind.  Everyone did a Excellent job though.  The workout was really Efficient and Everyone kept moving until the End.

Totals:

  • 2.25+ Miles
  • 55 Flying Squirrels
  • 50 Burpees
  • 80 Bombjacks
  • 145 Merkins
  • 80 Squats
  • 50 Lunges
  • A LOT of SWEAT

We wrapped up in typical fashion and announced our LKW CSAUP on 10/26, get your teams of 3 ready!

Prayers for family and loved ones and prayed for what was on our hearts left unsaid in CoT.

Thanks for the Q Copyright, The Abyss is and always will be one of the best spots in Lake Wylie.

Until next time,

-Flux-

 

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Tour of Quagmire….9/16/19

9 PAX showed up this morning to push their limits and start their week off right.  After the disclaimer and verifying that no injuries would prevent “full” participation we started with a Mosey.

Mosey took us around Home Depot to the far corner of the Target Store.

Warm Up

Using the Red Balls of Target we worked our way down warming up our muscles.

  • High knees to 1st ball.  Windmill (10 count)
  • Butt Kickers to 2nd ball.  Weed Pickers (10 count)
  • Lunge Walk to 3rd ball.  Merkins (10 count)
  • Crab Walk to 4th ball.  LBC’s (10 count)
  • Side shuffle (facing Target) to 5th ball.  Mountain climbers (20 count)
  • Bear Crawl to 6th ball. Slow Low Squats (10 count)
  • Side shuffle (facing away from Target) to 7th ball. Moroccan Night Club (20 count)
  • NUR to 8th Ball.  Parker Peter’s (10 count)  Downward Dog
  • Broad Jump to 9th Ball.  Seal Jacks (25 count)

Mosey to Tuesday Morning’s parking lot.

PAX lined up across parking lot.

Using next two parking rows ran “suicides”. (80% effort)

  • 1st run…..followed by Wide Arm Merkins (10 count)
  • 2nd run….followed by Squats (20 count)
  • 3rd run….followed by Peter Parker’s (15 count)
  • Bear Crawl to 1st parking row…..Crab Walk back…..followed by Flutters (20 count)
  • 4th run…..followed by Jump Squats (10 count)
  • 5th run….finished

Mosey to Fountain

Using bench completed following exercises

  • 40 Step ups (20 per leg)
  • 15 Derkins
  • 25 Dips

10 Flying Squirrels

Mosey to grass outside Mattress Firm

Jack Webb’s……to 11.

Mosey to COT for 5 minutes of Mary.

Prayers included injured PAX and those struggling to be consistent with posting.  Encouraged to reach out to guys and encourage them to post.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead…..

Bones

 

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Remembering the First Responders on 9/11

Getting the opportunity to Q on 9/11 is a big deal.  I’m happy to see that all the men who were given that chance took advantage by creating a tribute to those who lost their lives on that day 18 years ago.  I was not going to disappoint the men who showed up at the Abyss.  4 of those men arrived to kick it off at 5:15am so I shared my thoughts.

A special treat was having Boogie Down join us a few minutes into the warmup. As I was talking with him during the workout he shared with me that he lived in NYC during this terrible event. More on that later…

Today I wanted to honor the first responders who lost their lives on September 11th 2001.  They were:

343 firefighters (including a chaplain and two paramedics) of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY);

37 police officers of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD);

23 police officers of the New York City Police Department (NYPD)

But that was not personal enough, so I gave each PAX a name of one of those 403 first responders and asked each of them to take some time today to look up this person.

I pulled the name of Martin McWilliams, who died at the age of 35 and was part of FDNY Engine 22.  He was a new dad, his daughter (Sara) was born only a few months before his death.  He was great at fixing things, he loved house projects and working on cars.  He played golf whenever he could and was an avid skier.  He was a daredevil, who tried flying lessons and skydiving.  His sister recalls that he was a terrible joke teller.  He would be 53 years young this year.

To pay tribute to these fallen heroes we did the following.

7 Burpees

Then 9 rounds of:

11 Pull-ups

11 Push-ups

11 Sit-ups

11 Squats

Finish with a 403 m Run around our small track = 2 laps

The combined reps for this workout would equal 403. I demanded that the PAX not short any of their counts today, as each rep represented a life lost.

We finished with 10 minutes to spare so we went to our regular hill.

Run down, at the bottom = 9 Bombjacks

Run up, at the top 11 Flutters (DC)

We finished up at COT.  I asked Boogie Down if he would share some of his recollections from that day.  It was moving, and I’m so glad he joined us to share his experience.  What caught my attention the most, was his remembrance of the smell of burnt “stuff” that lasted in Manhattan for months after the attack.  If he wants to share more, ask him next time you see him.

An Honor to Lead

Royale

 

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