Early Risers at the Swamp

When I pulled into the parking lot near Best Buy, there were several cars already parked near the AO.  Based on the mumble chatter on social media, several of the PAX were getting in some early training for upcoming events.  There were 23 men at the work out, 13 for ruck, 8 for BC, and 2 runners.

After the disclaimer, we jogged to the front of Best Buy.  We started with a few warm up exercises (Butt Kickers, Toy Solders) before we moseyed over to the back of Just Fresh.

COP

SSH  x 20

Imperial Walker x 20

Windmill x 10

Plank Stretches

 

Next, we moseyed to the front of Home Depot for a round of Dora 1-2-3

100 Lat Pull-ups on the bicycle rack

200 Squats

300 LBCs

Next, we moseyed back to Just Fresh near the staircase for a round of Arod 3-2-1 (reverse Dora). Instead of running around the parking lot, we ran up and down the stairs.

300 Calf Raises

200 Lunges

100 Jump Squats

Next, we headed back to COT for one last exercise, the Merkin Gauntlet.  The Pax lined up in a plank position.  Each person performed 4 merkins in front of each person.

COT

Special prayers for Twister as he recovers from his eye surgery

 

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Block Party

It was a lovely morning at The Abyss. Light Rain falling and 8 men showed up to the Block Party. It was a simple workout, but a tough one.

We started with a mosey around the parking lot to warmup and stretch out a bit. Along the way we did some toy soldiers, butt kickers, and high knees. After that we made it to the back of the school where we started COP.

COP

15 Side Straddle Hops

5 Burpees

10 Temp Merkins

5 Burpees

12 Produce Pickers

5 Burpees

Now that is out of the way it’s time to party!

For the Main Event we moseyed around the corner where a long hill and 12 cinder block greeted us.  ( I wanted to use the grass hill which was steeper but because of the light rain I switched it up so no one busted their face slipping). The paved hill isn’t as steep, but it is longer so it evened out in the long run.

Main Event 

11’s with Block Snatches and Flying Squirrels with a  press…don’t forget to carry the block with you up the hill!

Once we completed the 11’s we moseyed with the blocks to the basketball court where things got real…In the spirit of Iron Pax season I wanted to do some friendly competition.

Block Relays– Heres how it went down. Two teams of four competed in three rounds. Each member of the team will run one by one relay style.  The losing team is punished with 10 bomb jacks while the winners got to laugh while holding a plank.

Team 1: Flux, Copyright, Whitesnake. Survey Says

Team 2: Royale, Grout, Homebrew, Bones

Round 1: Sprint down about 50-75 yards, do 3 burpees and sprint back. While you are not running you were still doing work! While the first team member runs the non runners where doing Jumping Spiders, 2nd runner runs non runners are doing IN and Out abs, 3 runner runs non runners are doing gorilla squats and last runner runs while the non runners are doing merkins. ( I admit this round was close. Me and Bones where neck and neck sprinting down; we finished burpees at the same time and started our sprint back to see which team would win round 1. Simply put I lost. He beat me by about 3 feet and I am still not over it). Because of that L our team did 10 bomb jacks.

Round 2: Each team member in relay format holds the cinder block over their head and runs/fast walks down the designated spot. While not running you did Peter Parkers, Lunges, Plank Jacks and Merkins. For all those wondering our team lost again. 0-2…but I was the Q so we split the bomb jacks between the teams 5 and 5.

Round 3: Each team member in relay format farmer carries 2 blocks while running/fast walking down to the designed spot. While not running you did Flutters, Crunchy Frogs, Box Cutters and Merkins…spoiler alert this round was not any different. We lost again 0-3. But yet again since I was the Q we split the bomb jacks between the teams 5 and 5.

After that the time was about up and the Pax insisted on helping me out by carrying the blocks back to my car. By the time we did that the clock hit 6am.

It was party but we did not have cake.

 

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Quagmire – Cake Walk around Rivergate

COP
Mosey
Shuffles
Karaoke
High Knees
Butt kickers
Gasers

Mosey to Home Depot lot and search for my chalk hopefully before sprinklers wash it away

Bear Crawl 10 lines (parking spaces)
Broad jump back
Run Lap

Partner up
Wheel barrow 10 lines
Switch
Run Lap

Side Plank Step right 10 lines
10 Partner Leg raises (partner pushes legs down)
Side Planks step left back

Power skip 10 lines
10 Partner derkins (legs on partner back)
Power skip back

Crab walk 10 lines
10 Partner dips (Dip while partner planks)
Crab walk back

Mosey to Fountain

AMRAP-1min each
Step ups
Box jumps
Irkins

AMRAP-30sec each
Step ups
Box jumps
Irkins

Mosey to COT

15 Airbornes each leg

15 LBCs

15 burpees earlier in the COP/Workout

Talked to the men about Fear and how it keeps us form being our best self. It keeps us from our biggest victories. Fear keeps us from getting better. 

We should have nothing to fear since Sky Q has given us everything including eternal life through  his son. With that fear removed, our focus should be on honoring the one that paid it all in all we do and the victories and achievements will be endless……because we are fearless!!

  • Prayers for CMS schools back in today
  • Prayers for Ms and 2.0s
  • Prayers for Twister and Duck Dynasty IR
  • Thanks for the Q  Jedi/Mile High. Awesome group of PAX!!

Cake Boss out!

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Do more pull-ups

6 Pax came out to the Abyss to answer the age old question, how do I get better at pull-ups?

We started off with a mosey around to the track for COP (MNC, produce pickers, squats, windmills, merkins, burpee x 10 each)

As site Q, I see it as my duty to jump on the new trends, so COP was followed by a mosey around the AO, down Tryon, and back to where we started.

The Thang
A Two Ferns inspired “Nicole” WOD. AKA AMRAP pull ups and lap around the track for 20 minutes.

The big hill was pretty slick, and a teacher was on the paved hill unlocking the gate, so YHC audibled back to the shovel flag for a quick DORA
Pax 1: 200 merkins
Pax 2: run to island, 10 squats and back to relieve Pax 1

Finished with some Mary and COT.

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I Love Cindy

Borrowed part of this #beatdown from  Dirty Pipes down at F3JOCO. Visited those guys at the Mad Mule in Benson NC and this workout just called for testing in The FORT.   Little did I know it would end up taking 12 cinder blocks, 4 pavers, 1 sandbag, and 3 rucks to accomplish the workout.  Having prepped and arrived early to setup I could see the headlamps of the pre-runners making early morning laps. All Set to COT for bring some pain. HOLY COW!!! The cars just kept rolling in to the lot. Clown Car after Clown car.  Thank goodness Copyright brought more cinder blocks than requested.

Quick Disclaimer and we are off. Had to tote the extra supplies with us as we ran to warmup.  Much appreciate the support of guys that jumped on the extra weight.

Mosey to the Fountain

Circle up.

SSH x 20     MNC x 20    Hillbilly Walkers x 15

Imperial Walker x 15     Weed Pickers x 15

Fountain work

Derkins x 15 OYO

Dips x 20 OYO

Irkins x 20 OYO

Decline Diamonds x 20

It ain’t fun unless you do it twice.

The Thang I Love Cindy

Partner up–6 stations

Station 1  OH press Max reps

Station 2  Blocked BBS Max Reps

Station 3 Block Squats Max reps

Station 4 Curls 1 block or 2 pavers Max reps

Station 5 Tricep Press 1 block or 2 pavers Max Reps

Station 6 GTOs Max reps

Partner 1 does max reps while Partner 2 runs 4 cone suicide. Plank the 6 rotate upon completion of group.

Talk to Group about Doubt in their lives.

Read- Pray- Surround Yourself with those to talk it out with. Don’t go into seclusion.

Partner Carry back to COT only ~600yrds—-It was awesome and the PAX loved it!.

Not sure what Punchlist and Lutefisk were going for with the midrift shirts in the Name-O-Rama but hey, You do You Bros!

Thanks for the Tap to Lead Cha-Ching. Awesome experience to lead a literal HERD of PAX through the Swamp.

Duck Out!

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Mile High Special at Quagmire

This was a Q I was looking forward to.  It marked my 1 year anniversary with F3 and it was at the A/O that I started at.  Not only was it my 1 year anniversary but some #HIM by the name of Jedi offered me to be the site Q.  This is an offer I could not turn down as this is one of the hardest A/O’s in the region and is in the middle of The Fort and Lake Wylie.

My F3 journey so far has been one of the best journey’s of my life.  I dropped a ton of weight (I am below 200 LBS for the first time in 20 years), I am in MUCH better shape than I was a year ago and I can kinda sorta hang with all the beasts in our region.  My life is far from perfect nor will it ever be but F3 has introduced me to a plethora of men that I am happy to call brothers and friends.

THE THANG

I pulled up into the parking lot with Lutefisk only to notice there were 20 men there ready to go! If you have Q’d a workout before you know all about the Qdrenaline and that kicked in right away for me.  After saying the disclaimer we were off.

Mosey from Chick Fil A to behind Home depot (0.4 – 0.5 miles).  Circle up.

  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • 10 Merkins in cadence
  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • 10 Merkins in Cadence

Mosey to the alley

  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • Balls to the wall 60 seconds

Mosey over to the parking lot by the stairs.  There I instructed the PAX to partner up.

The next set was inspired from a Cha Ching BB.  We were going to do 11’s but the one we usually do is both exercises have to add up to 11’s, in this case we did one rep of each exercise and climbed up to 11.

The exercises were Burpees & Merkins.  Method of transportation was bear crawls there and crab walk back. 

Round 1

  • Start with 1 Burpee
  • Bear Crawl to the end of the parking lot
  • 1 Merkin
  • Crab Walk back to starting point

Round 2

  • 2 Burpees
  • Bear Crawl to the end of the parking lot
  • 2 Merkins
  • Crab Walk back to starting point

You get the gist…. all the way up to 11.  Rounds 8, 9, 10 & 11 is where the partners came into play and the method of transportation changes from bear crawls and crab walks to wheelbarrows.  By about round 6 or 7 I never imagined 23 men could be that quiet in a workout.  The plan was working.  A few groups finished early so we did a few laps around the parking lot and then some squats.  With about 3 minutes left and all groups finishing the thang we moseyed back to COT.  

Router lead us of with a 40 or 50 count of American Hammers and I finished it off with a 20 count of Flutters all in cadence.

We named our FNG – Mighty Mouse.

Jedi handed off the shovel flag and I thanked him for the opportunity and his leadership at Quagmire for the last 14 months.

Went through announcements, prayers, praises and I asked Jedi to take us out with a prayer.

Needless to say, everyone got their money’s worth and went home better men.

 

 

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Baker’s Dozen for a Warmish, Humidish Sweat Fest at Quagmire

Great to Q at Quagmire, one of my favorite AOs (and where I was Site Q for a while.)

The Thang

Mosey to Home Depot for a little COP

SSDs x 20
Windmills x 10 (Nice n Easy)
Moroccan Night Clubs x 20
Low Slow Squats x 10
Mountain Climbers x 20
Downward Dogs + Honeymooners x2
Peter Parkers x20
LBCs (maybe?)

Mosey to BRBs in front of Target

Bearcrawl to first BRB > 5 Merkins
Lunge walk to next BRB > 5 squats
Repeat pattern to last BRB.

From other end:
Crab walk to first BRB > 5 LBCs
Backwards lunge walk to next BRB > 5 Bombjacks

Mosey to Fountain

Dirty McDeuces
12 each of CCDs + Dying Cockroaches + Squats > Run a Long Lap
12 each of Wide-Arm Merkins + Freddy Mercurys + Jump Lunges > Run a Long Lap
12 each of Decline Merkins + Flutter Kicks (DC) + Step-Ups (DC) > Mosey back to COT

LBCs til the clock ran out

We welcomed FNG “Alfalfa” EH’d by Tardy!

Honored to lead this great group of men. Thx for the opportunity, Jedi!

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Reminisce about the “Pain”theon

I haven’t been to one of my old favorite AOs in WAY to long.  We start to get spoiled with so many great  F3 options that it gets easy to stay close to home. I love Funhouse’s idea of Ass Kickin’ April and getting out to 30 different AOs during the month.  I challenge each of you to answer the call and post to a different AO and meet some new PAX once every few weeks!

So when I was asked to Q again at the Pantheon I answered the call.  I started DMing some of the Lake Wylie guys to see if they wanted to come with me and we had several show up this morning too!  I was quite surprised to see 24 PAX there at 5:15…. two were FNGs EH’d by Bones and two were 2.0s that Uber brought with him.  The FNGs were named “Grout” and “Safe Word”, respectively.  ALL of them did great on a challenging workout today.  Sorry to the 6 men that were cut out of the video Namorama.  I recalled 3 from my terrible memory, but 3 have been left off the tags…comment below and I’ll add you.

The Thang

Long disclaimer with new FNGs

Dynamic Warmup Lap

COP with SSHs – Imperial Walkers – CDDs – LS Squats – Merkins – Windmills – Mountain Climbers

I pulled some of my old favorite Weinkes from the Pantheon and put them together.

Evolution #1

Took two lanterns with me and we moseyed to the graded hill on the NE corner. Love that hill area and we did “8s” (because 7s is too hard of math for me it seems..)

Bottom of Hill 1 Bomb Jack

Top 7 Merkins

up and down the hill switching until you hit 7 Bomb jacks and 1 merkin

Evolution #2

I celebrated my one year anniversary back in 2016 at the Pantheon as Q.  I pulled out this terrible idea and we did it again.

Burpee Celebration

I counted in year 1 that I went to 147 workouts that year.  We would do the following.

17 burpees to start

Complete a lap in the parking lot

10 burpees at the start until we completed 13 laps. (10 x 13 = 130) + 17 = 147 burpees

With only 25 minutes of time that was a little ambitious.  Many finished 9 laps.  Some +/- 1 lap…

6am back to COT

Got to name our FNGs, Todd and Jason…both did great today.  Todd went first, said something about having a safe word after a pineapples reference that came from living in Hawaii…that was it for him…

Jason does sales somehow related to tile splash or tiles…Grout stuck!

Announcements – Prayers and time to go!

Thanks Bear Grylls and Fish Sticks for having me come out and share.  I really enjoyed being a part of the Pillars of Pantheon series as well!  Great idea and addition.

An Honor to Lead,

Royale

 

 

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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

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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10 Lanes of Pain

It’s been a rough week for YHC. Each day leading up to this Q has been met by sleeping through the alarm.  So no less than 3 alarms were set to get out of the fart sack this morning.  Only to be woken up by the M telling me to turn off my alarm…

8 gloom warriors appeared in this morning at the Abyss.  There was a small disclaimer on how unprofessional the Q may be, and the fact that all liabilities are waved like so many cell phone screens at a Weird Al concert (I would know, I was there).

A quick mosey to the back parking lot for a very brief warmup.  SSH and some windmills to get the blood moving.  We then moved over to the bus lanes, where most of the workout would focus.  We were about to start The Thang, but with only 8, I wanted to work in the shaolin exercise “Doji”.  (I probably spell it wrong, I never knew how to spell it in the first place).

The Doji is a series of six shaolin exercises meant to work the legs (I can only concretely remember only four).  It’s 30% leg work, 15% foot work, 5% arms, and 50% balance.  We performed only the first of the series.

Doji 1:

  1. Start by standing facing your direction and plant your right foot (by stomping) 90° from your body.
  2. The left leg steps out into a deep forward stance (a lunge, but the back leg is striaght).
  3. Using your left arm (which is in front) using crane (not explained today) overhead scoop behind your body while shifting your body weight to the right leg, straightening the left.
  4.  As your left arm swings down to the ground.  Shift your weight back onto the left
  5. Step forward with the right foot (don’t come up) and use an open palm strike (demonstrated but not explained today)
  6. Shift your weight forward onto the right.
  7. Repeat L and R until you reach the end.  Turn around and go back to beginning

I knew this was very new to everyone, and that it would likely feel awkward.  The PAX followed along very well when I remembered to call movements on time.  YHC was pleased to see everyone participate and keep from letting their bodies rise up.

The Thang!

10 lanes. 10 pains.  Each lane had transportation exercises labeled in chalk (some doubles).  The labels represented a list, not the direction for whomever was in the lane.  PAX lined up (two to a lane) and everyone did the first exercise until they reached the end of the bus parking lane.

When complete, jog to the far end of the lot, turn left and follow the track back to the same spot.  Everyone stayed together and waited patiently for their now humbled Q to catch up after each run. When we completed four exercises we shifted four spots so that we were always standing on something being called.  Here is the list of exercises.

The lanes
1. Dragon Walk
2. Broad Jump
3. Lunge Walk
4. Bear Crawl
5. Crab Walk
6. Dragon Walk
7. Broad Jump
8. Lunge Walk
9. Crawl Bear
10. Burpee Broad Jump

In all the PAX were able to accomplish the first 10 lanes and another 7 before it was time to mosey back to COT.  YHC was in last place during most of the runs and needed a couple ten counts to drop my HR.  I’m still proud of my performance compared to last year.

Mosey back to COT for 70seconds of Mary.  Most people were showing around 3 miles on their wrist gadgets when it was over.  I’m not going to lie, I thought I was going splash merlot every time I saw that diaper sitting under the middle basketball hoop.  I kept thinking “Have I made remark about how this diaper seems to be in the middle of each lap?  I think I have… or am I too tired to talk and just think I said it?” Well, I certainly forgot my age again at the end of name-o-rama, so it’s entirely possible I said nothing.

YHC is truly honored to get to Q at the Abyss.  There were announcements and prayers at the end.

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