Keep it Simple

I had planned out the workout the prior evening, but as more and more men (+ 2 FNGs) showed up I decided to simplify the workout.  Albert Einstein said “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. ”  After the disclaimer, we jogged to the backside of Harris Teeter by following the trail of garbage truck juices freshly dropped on the payment like an early morning rain shower.

COP

SSH x 20

Imperial walker x 15

WIndmill x 15

Merkin x 10

Plank Stretches

Mountain Climber x 15

Peter Parker x 10

 

Next, we partnered up for Dora 1-2-3.

Exercises:  100 merkins, 200 Squats, and 300 LBCs

One partner ran to the end of the parking lot and back while the other partner performed the exercise above.  Switch roles when returned.

Next, we killed some time with a burpee broad jump between  the light posts.  It seem to be a crowd pleaser on Monday so I thought it would be good to see if it got the same response. We then mosyed to the retaining wall behind the service station for two rounds of dips (15), derkins (15), and step ups (20).  We finished up with a wall sit/bear crawl combination the length of the Harris Teeter building and one set of flutters.

Returned to COT.

We had two FNGs this morning.  Q who works as a engineer for a company that designs car seats.  His name “BOB” – Baby on board.  Mike who is from PA enjoys hockey. His name “Slapstick”.  TClaps to Wrangler for bring both guys out to the workout.

 

Prayers

Injured Pax

 

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Armory

11 men showed up this morning at the Armory for my second Kettle Bell Q.  It was good to see Trucker in the crowd.  I made sure to emphasize “Modify if necessary” since he is recovering from an injury.

Warm-up:

Leg stretch (Butt kickers, knees to chest)

Plank stretch (Honeymooner, downward dog)

SSH x 15

Merkin x 10

Windmill x 10

Next, we moseyed to the main parking lot near the light post for some partner exercises. Partner #1 would perform a stationary exercise while Partner #2 would be in motion.  Once Partner #2 completed the exercise, he would flipflop with Partner #1. Below are the exercises:

Round                    Stationary                      Motion  

1                                KB swing                          Jog around the parking lot

2                               Squat                                  KB carry between light poles

3                               Figure 8s                            Bear crawl

4                              Upright row                      Burpee broad Jump

5                               Curl                                      Lunge walk

6                               Shoulder press               Jog around the parking lot

7                               Skull crushers                  Inch worm merkins

8                               Tri-extensions                  Squat walk

 

Great job this morning! Lots of good chatter and encouragement.

 

Prayers:

Families in Alabama impacted by the Tornado

Comfort for families grieving a loved one

Healing and comfort for families dealing with illness

Healing and speedy recover for injured Pax

 

 

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Black Diamond #3 at the Ranch – Get Some

Expected rain all morning, but instead we got a comfortable 40 degrees with wetness all around us.  Perfect for what we were about to get into.

Reminded the Pax that this was a Black Diamond workout and immediately had a reaction that made it clear that some were unaware lol.  Since I dislike warm-ups, I got right to our “warm-up”.

1 – I’ve done this before  w/ my speaker & the Seconds app on my phone (get it if you don’t have it – it’s an awesome timer / tabata app w/ the ability to add music).

  • First 5 minutes of warm-up:  each minute on the minute, we’re all going to do 35 really fast side straddle hops and 8 burpees.  Every minute.  End result is 175 ssh’s and 40 burpees in 5 minutes.
  • Next 5 minutes of warm-up:  no break, right into merkin mode.  11 merkins, 10 diamonds, 9 merkins, 8 diamonds, 7 merkins…down to 1 merkin.  I think we were warm.

2 – 1/4 mile burpee fun:  we moseyed over to the circle in front of the Middle School, which is a perfect 1/4 mile loop w/ some hills in it, which I failed to recognize when throwing this together.  We partnered up and I gave the Pax the bad news.  I set up my phone w/ it’s bright light stop watch timer to help.

  • Sprint with your partner the 1/4 mile loop as fast you can.  Why you might ask?  Because when you finish and see your time for that loop, you both have that many burpees to split halfsies on.  Back in High School, low to mid 50 seconds was acceptable for the 400m dash.  That’s not what we’re capable of anymore – ranged from 70 seconds to 85+ seconds, which meant each partner had 35 to 45 burpees to do apiece.
  • Round 2 – do it again.  Only this time, the challenge was that if you beat your prior lap time, you can cut the burpees in half.  Well no one beat their time, haha, so we still cut it in half anyway.  Most laps were in the 80-90 seconds range this time, which meant, 40-45 burpees to split w/ your partner, or 20-25 a piece.

3 – Pretty sure after this the Pax hated my guts.  From there we hit the longest straightaway I could find.  Same partners as before.  This time Partner 1 lines up 10-20 yards away from Partner 2.  Partner 1 starts back pedaling as fast as they can while Partner 2 has to sprint to catch them.  Wherever they are caught, you stop right there and do an exercise, then a mode of transportation back to the starting line.  We did 4 of these (each partner chased 2x and back pedaled 2x):

  • First round (once caught) – 15 bear crawl merkins, followed by broad jumps back to starting line
  • Second round – 25 lunge jumps (do each leg and that’s 1), followed by bear crawl back to starting line
  • Third round – 35 american hammers, followed by lunge walk back to starting line
  • Fourth round – 45 wide arm merkins, followed by bunny hop back to starting line

4 – We had 5 minutes, so had to make the most of it.  Quick DORA against the Elementary wall by CoT.  Partner 1 does Jump Squats and the timer was Partner 2 running to wall and doing 15 Mike Tyson merkins (those are honestly some of my least favorite merkins:  feet flat on wall at base of wall, merkin position, bring you six to the wall with feet staying put and then all the way forward so that your hands are almost at your ribs as you go down for merkin).  Once Partner 2 finished their 15 rep count, the partners switched.  Think most teams got to 100 or so jump squats before our time was up.

2 Ruckers, 1 Runner and 16 Black Diamond Boot Campers was the count.  Thanks to Jiffy for the chance to do whatever I want without having to worry about how terrible it sounds.  Appreciate everyone kicking a$$ and finishing it all.

Prayers:

  • Dark Helmet’s M is traveling this weekend – travel mercies
  • Dirty Harry’s M has last day of work / transitionary time for new opportunities / jobs
  • Olaf’s continued progress on limiting ADHDs adverse impact on his life
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13 HIM showed up on a blustery Tuesday to make the choice to get better.

Warm Up

  • SSH
  • Cherry Picker
  • Windmill
  • Hamstring stretch
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • Moroccan Night Clubs
  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • Mosey to the playground

The Thang

“500”

100 reps of each exercise in sets of 20 with a run up the hill and back after each set.

  • 20 Merkins (x5)
  • 20 Pull-ups (x5)
  • 20 Big Boy sit-ups (x5)
  • 20 Dips (x5)
  • 20 Squats (x5)
  • Run up the hill (x5)

That took most of the time. We mosey-ed around the park as a cool down and it was time for the COT. Pull-ups suck. Must do more.

https://youtu.be/7w02YaC0j1k

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The Coop Shovel Flag Hand Off

It was a crisp February morn… crisp enough to wear short sleeves, in fact. A change was in our midst and you could feel it coming in the air as Phil Collins would say.

Three weird-O’s (NASA, Dirty Harry, and YHC) showed up at approximately 4:10-4:13 to pre ruck four miles. Wegmans joined in somewhere along the way to get his daily mileage in, and then peeled off to get the field ready for his Weinke.

As Wegmans prepped, we finished our rounds and met up with other PAX around the shovel flag, which would soon be in my possession. Sixteen was the count.

Wegmans called the time, disclaimed the disclaimer, and then took us to the field.

We moseyed, we circled up, and we wind milled. Three times, in fact. Just enough to get Ginsu going about his affection for this specific movement. I cannot recall the other warm up exercises, but they were all counted to prime numbers in true Weginator fashion.

It was at this moment that I realized I had to utilize the best part of the AO. The toilet. I truly understand why NaFo is the #bestAO now.

Wegmans counted us off by 1’s and 2’s as I ran for the facilities. I took my break and found there was a 100 yard race of burpee/tire flips (one at a time), and my team has lost. This meant we did 10 Burpees while the other team did monkey humpers in our direction. We had a second chance, and we just about prevailed until shenanigans took place. Wegmans punished all of us with Burpees. That was fair.

Then he handed it off to the new site Q. I had some plans as well…

Football Field Circuit

Partner Workout

Each Partner Wheel Barrows every other 10 yards, both partners complete workouts equal to yard marker on the field that you land. Start at one end zone and work toward the other.

Endzone – Burpee Broad Jumps x 7
10 – Donkey Kicks
20 – Hand Release Merkins
30 – Jump Lunges (each leg)
40 – Air Squats
50 – LBCs
40 – Air Squats
30 – Jump Lunges (each leg)
20 – Hand Release Merkins
10 – Donkey Kicks
Endzone – Burpee Broad Jumps x 7

Gotta go back across the field.

All Together
Bear Crawls every 25 yards, stop for a workout
25 Yards
15 Bomb Jacks
25 Yards
15 Jump Squats
25 Yards
15 Bomb Jacks
25 Yards
15 Jump Squats

Props to Shield for kicking this weinke’s tail on his second post.

End with some Jack Webbs to burn the shoulders – made it to 5 Push Ups & 20 Claps.

Headed back to COT to do some quick Mary.

Ended with a shovel flag hand off. Looking forward to Site Q’ing the Coop for the foreseeable future. Hopefully I can keep the same momentum that Wegmans had working. Thanks to Wegmans for what he’s done with this AO. A true HIM.

Due to my slacking and not submitting this backblast immediately… I’ve lost track of the prayer requests. Please forgive me for that.

Some @HeardatF3 Mumblechatter…

Dark Helmet: “I wonder how this split Q is going to be?”

Wegmans: “Well I’ve already seen PL’s Weinke… so…”

Punch List Out.

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SlowBurn – Wegman’s Send off to Chimbote

Today at SlowBurn it was about Wegmans and his choice to say YES to a calling to serve. He heard this calling and it spoke to his heart and he accepted the opportunity to be vulnerable, uncomfortable and go into the world for his creator Sky Q. The cool thing about mission trips is we think its about serving others, but in reality its about Sky Q working on us.

38 PAX came to show Wegmans support. They were running, rucking, boot-camp and even Broga was represented. for 45 mins everyone got better in some fashion, but for YHC I felt led to honor Wegmans by pulling some of his work from previous workouts. I felt the best way to respect a man is to use his material. So away we went.

The Thang:

Warm Up mosey to lower lot

  • Typical COP stuff 5-7 exercise moves
  • Line up at end of lot for some others
    • High Knees
    • Butt Kickers
    • Karaoke
    • Shuffles
    • sprints

Mosey to far side of Indian Restaurant

DMB from Wegmans Ranch workout

  • Duckwalk – 20 yards
  • Merkins – 10
  • Bearcrawl back – 20 yards
  • 3 rounds

Mosey to Far side of Lowes

From the Wegninator’s Coop workout

  • Partner up
    • #1 = Wall Sit
    • #2 =
      • 10 Broadjump Burpees
      • 10 Powerskips
      • 10 Plankwalks (right and then left)
    • Flap jack
    • 3 rounds

Mosey to opposite side of Lowes

From Wegmans’ Slow Burn workout – The Triple Check

Groups of 3

  1. Al Gore
  2. Plank
  3. Run Lap around parking lot
  • 3 rounds, with each person rotating position

Mosey back to COT

Wegmans’s shared his WHY during the workout and serving others and his willingness to be vulnerable in a strange place and open to see what Sky Q will do.

Many in the group have been on mission trips before and I believe that we all have intentions of serving and helping others, however these trips are about what Sky Q teaches us about ourselves. Gives us perspective and understanding that everyone around the globe are all children of HIS and we should love each other.

Best to you Wegmans and look forward to hearing the lesson’s learned.

Cake Boss

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2019 Q1 PFT – The Coop

YHC decided that 2019 needed to have an old tradition re-instituted, the Quarterly Physical Fitness Test.  So, Wegmans has given me the last Wednesday of every 3rd month to test and track the progress of the Pax.  The Thang:

Pull Ups – 1 minute

Situps – 1 minute

Pushups – 1 minute

1 mile run on track

Done – here are the results, in no particular order.  Just how they showed up on the sheet.

DNP – Did not Participate (these guys did a pre-run!)

Name Pull Ups Sit Ups Push Ups 1 Mile Run
FunHouse 5 45 37 6:40
Sk8orDie 5 39 37 DNP
DarkHelmet 22 42 64 7:21
Kaiser 15 22 61 7:38
SugarBug 3 29 36 8:41
Esso 12 38 43 8:25
Sasquatch 24 54 64 DNP
ChickenHawk 25 43 60 7:37
Wegmans 1 26 24 8:54
Husky 13 45 52 7:34
PunchList 12 39 33 6:48
DirtyHarry 5 50 50 7:28
Youts 18 44 51 8:49
Slash 8 26 31 8:45
Xray 3 12 25 9:15
Chunck 2 32 20 8:32
Tinsel 22 38 36 8:43
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The Armory: Envelope Notes

A lucky 13 PAX gathered in the not too cold late-January gloom for this rendition of The Armory.

Set the disclaimer into motion and the PAX soon followed moseying over to the far side of the church parking lot.

Warm Up:
Windmill x10
SSH x35 (sparked up Trucker’s legendary mumble chatter)
Mountain Climbers x10 (fast count)
Down Dog –> Honeymooner
Mountain Climbers x10 (fast count)
Down Dog –> Honeymooner –> Down Dog –> Standing forward bend (SFB)

Mosey towards bells but then right turn to the back side of the church

Imperial Walkers x10
Hillbilly Walkers x15
Merkin x 10 (slow count)
Down Dog –> HM –>  DD –> SFB

Mosey to bells

The Thang:

Circuit of:
Goblet Squat x20
Upright Row x12
Merkin x10 (modified to manmakers in the 2nd set)
Romanian Deadlift x12 (this was a lot)
Split Squat x8 each side (lunge isolating the reps to one leg before moving to the other side)
One arm press x8 each arm
Kettlebell Swings x20

Mosey a little — 8 snatches (each arm) — rinse and repeat.

At Trucker’s suggestion, we utilized the bell during the Merkins by modifying to 10 Manmakers. I’m not 100% sure that’s what he meant, but his input was helpful.

We made it through 3 sets. Somewhere in the workout we held a plank and everyone shared their word for 2019. I believe Deacon’s word is Maat or Ma’at which is Egyptian mꜣꜥt /ˈmuʀʕat and required a little explanation: the additional plank challenge was welcome. We also discussed at one point how feeling the weight of the kettlebell and gravity pulling you down also allows you to feel the earth holding you up.

After 3 sets, we sprinted to the end of the parking lot and back, did some pigeon lunges, and followed that with flutters until the hour arrived (we made it to 40).

NMM:
I referenced Mary Oliver‘s passing two weeks ago and none of the PAX were familiar with her work. So YHC took the opportunity to read some of her poem “The Summer Day:”

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention . . .
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild precious life?

Gotta up the culture and Third F challenges during the First F work. F3 is certainly more than a workout.

Announcements:
Joe Davis Run
Yeti
Paradise Reading Center

Prayers and Praises:
Shady’s M back pain
38 Special: 2.0 is having an EKG
Deacon’s dad is recovering well from surgery
Chicken Hawk’s extended family interpersonal
Trucker’s 2.0 is dealing with some illness

Official welcome to FNG’s from last week: Chunk and Pigeon. Must have missed getting into the system directly and should now be up and running as PAX of The Fort.

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Intentional

Today’s brisk temperature did not stop the Pax from posting at The Coop. We had 3 pre-ruckers that joined us for a high impact workout. All 15 of us pushed each other to get better.  What an amazing morning with my F3 brothers!

The Thang:

Mosey to the parking lot in front of the school

COP: SSH (30x), IW (20x), WM (15x), Sumo Squats (15x), MC (15x), Moroccan Night Clubs (15x)

Mosey to the pull up bars: Jacobs Ladder with burpees at the bottom, pull ups at the top 9x

Mosey to FMES:Balls to the wall, People’s Chair 4x

Moleskin:  

High impact men, you must be intentional with your time. Our time on this planet is limited and life moves at very a fast pace. Respond to the Great Commission by intentionally investing time to build God’s kingdom. Do not let the ways of the world distract you from His calling. Be intentional with your family by studying and serving them. Identify and address the needs of your wife and children.

“Impact is never about knowing all the steps ahead, but about taking one intentional step after the other.” ― Bidemi Mark-Mordi

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The Cornerstone – Challenge ( One Year Long )

To all the Pax of F3 Nation

Are you prepared to challenge your self for 2019? I am challenging all Pax’s to join me for 2019 we will take on one exercise for January (merkins single count) 100 reps every day. Then in February we will add another exercise which will be done every day on top of the 100 merkins and so on and so on. We will increase by adding one exercise each month.  These exercises will be above and beyond when you post. So by the end of the year there will be 12 exercises that need to be done everyday at the reps set.

Do you accept the challenge? Do you want to get better?

I will set the next month exercise and reps the week before to keep you on your toes

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