The DaVinci Cones® Redux

Forecast called for a warmish start for December, but a high chance of rain, so I wasn’t sure if we’d have a crowd or just a few. Very glad to see a bunch of cars when I pulled up. We ended up with 14 including YHC.

The Thang

Ran around the parking lot to warm up the legs, with a little side shuffle then circled up for some COP:

SSH x 15
Low, slow squats x 15
Slow, old-man windmills (just 10, since I was reminded it’s just a 45 minute workout
Merkins x 10
A little downward dog and honeymooner to stretch out
Mountain Climbers x 15

Then a short mosey to the traffic circle in front of school. I spoke briefly about our theme of the month, which is “Gifts.” At other workouts, the Qs have spoken about Gifts, be they tangible, material things that we give and receive, or intangible, like the gifts of time and support and love.

My message was about the holiday phenomenon of the REGIFT.

Today, I decided to reuse a workout I led earlier this year at the Abyss. It worked pretty good then, and worked well today, too.

Here’s what we did:

Partner 1 acts as a timer, going halfway around circle drive to the Cone using the prescribed means of conveyance (bear crawl, crab walk, etc), then runs the second half while Partner 2 does the prescribed exercise (squat jumps, merkins, etc); then switch

1. Bear Crawl | Squat Jumps
2. Lunge Walk | Merkins
3. Crab Walk | LBCs
4. Lt. Dangers | Plank Punches

Then a mosey around to the side of the school for some Wall Sits.

Have a seat, won’t you? A PAX from either end of the row runs out to the center stripe in the driveway, does 3 burpees, then runs back to the wall.

Finally, a mosey around to the track behind the school.

This is one of the set-it-and-forget-it workouts I like to uses. It’s self-paced and allows for some cardio as well as a variety of body-weight exercises. Plus, if someone finishes and there’s still time on the clock, we can always rinse and repeat.

Start at Cone #1 at one end of the track, do the exercise and prescribed reps, run to the other end of the track, do #1 on Cone 2 at  that end, and so on.

Cone #1
1. Slow Squats (20)
2. Curb Dips (20)
3. Mtn. Climbers (20 d.c.)
4. Curb Derkins (20)
5. CDD’s (20)

Cone #2
1. Imperial Wlkrs (20 d.c.)
2. Jump Lunges (10/leg)
3. Freddy Mercurys (20 d.c.)
4. Flying Squirrels (10)
5. Peter Parkers (10 d.c.)

NMM

All jokes aside about gifts and regifts, at COT I shared my feelings about what a gift F3 is to me. I was able to thank DarkHelmet again for EH-ing me for weeks, finally convincing me to post at the Deep on a warm Saturday in April of 2016.

I was hooked from the very first workout.

Mind you: it nearly killed me (curse you, Jack Webb!), but the remarkable thing to me was how I felt welcomed from the moment I got out of my car. I was supported and encouraged during that first workout, and that encouragement and support has continued to this day.

I challenge each of us to continue offering support and encouragement to FNGs and long-time PAX alike.

The world may beat us down. This group can help build us back up.

So during this time of giving, I want to thank all of my brothers for their gift of friendship and support and encouragement.

I feel blessed to be a part of this group.

DaVinci

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Brickhouse VQ @Poopdeck

Less rainy than what they called for.

Disclaimer

Off for a mosey

warmups

4 corners:

Corner 1: Brick webbs

Corner 2: Crab humpers

Corner 3: Cinder block burpee

Corner 4: Monkey humpers

Mosey to the wall

Balls to the wall w/2 burpees each

COT: Marriage maint, prayer etc

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“Maybe Just a Little” Bear Crawl’s at The Abyss

Another great morning in Lake Wylie at the Abyss.  After my last Q, I promised another PAX little to-no Bear Crawl’s/Crawl Bear’s and tried to stay true to my word.  YHC wasn’t feeling spry on this fine morning after 2nd F the night before (1st annual Lake Wylie FFB draft), but we all hung in there and every PAX did a great job!

After a quick disclaimer we moseyed around the school and did some toy soldiers and karaoke’s along the way until reaching the basketball hoops where we circled up for some warm-up exercises.

15 SSH IC
15 Squats IC
15 Windmills IC
15 Cherry Pickers IC

Still at the hoops, DORA 1-2-3’s awaited us for the 1st excercise.  We partnered up and ran to the 4th hoop and back (maybe 50 yards each way?)  while splitting 100 Merkins, 200 LBC’s, and 300 Squats between us.Once we were finished, I thought we needed some more running so we did some Spartan sprints to the 4th hoop all together as fast as we could.  Moseyed back to start and did 5 Merkins.  We repeated this 5x until we were all pretty winded.

Short mosey to the hill that leads up to the gate and then Bear Crawled up to the top and Crawl Bear to the bottom.  Everyone seemed to mutually hate this, including YHC, but none of us quit on each another and it’s always nice to see everyone pitch and finish the last few yards with the sixth together.  5 Burpees awaited us at the bottom.  We repeated the hill again, but this time went backwards-up and forwards-down and 5 more Burpees at the bottom.  Time was running short so we only made it about half-way up the 3rd time while doing some Lt. Danger’s before heading back to CoT.

Thanks Bones for giving me the opportunity to Q The Abyss, everyone did outstanding today as always. I have a feeling I’ll be back…

-Flux

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Crawlin’ at the Deep

It was a beautiful Saturday morning at the Deep, cool with no humidity in sight (finally).  Since this was my first opportunity to Q I showed up early to scope the lay of the land and prep for the beatdown that was to follow, I wanted to make an impression after all.  The minutes leading up to the workout were suspenseful for me with most of the 9 PAX that posted rolling in at about 6:28.

@ 6:30 sharp we were all ready to begin.  No FNG’s in sight so I gave a quick disclaimer and we immediately circled up in the parking lot for some warm up exercises:

15 Windmills IC
15 Cherry Pickers IC
15 Moroccan Nightclubs IC
15 SSH IC
15 PJ’s IC
15 Alternating Shoulder Taps (Plank position) IC
15 Low Slow Squats IC

We then moseyed the long way around the parking lot with a few toy soldiers along the way until stopping at the top of a grassy hill for the first routine.  This consisted of running down to the bottom of the hill and backwards back up to the top where 5 CDD’s  awaited us before repeating 5x and adding 5 CDD’s each time.

Back to mosey across the street to the elementary school playground where the next routine awaited which consisted of 5 dips & 2 pull-ups and a lap around the perimeter of the playground.  Repeat 5x adding 5 dips & 2 pull-ups each time.  Grand total about a half mile of running, 30 pull-ups, and 75 dips.

Short mosey from the playground to the track & field where we spent the rest of our time.

First up was a little baseball, F3 style, as we attempted to hit for “The Cycle”.  I found this little gem on the Exicon, which I must admit, seemed a lot easier on paper.  After a little grumbling and a lot of crawling we all finished the exercise.  The Cycle consisted of bear crawling to 1st base (about 75ft to each base in our version), performing 3 burpees, and crawl-bear back to home (backwards bear crawl).  Then another bear crawl from home to 2nd base (rounding 1st), 6 burpees, and crawl bear back to home.  From home to 3rd base with another bear crawl, 9 burpees, and crawl bear back to home.  Finally, the last bear crawl all the way around the bases where 12 more burpees awaited…

…We called and audible and nixed the crawl bear back around the bases to the relief of all.

The last routine was another goodie I found on the Exicon named after Del Brown.  This consisted of performing 10 merkins, 25 yd. crab crawl, 10 diamond merkins, 25 yd. crab crawl back, and 10 more merkins.

Mosey back to the parking lot with a couple of minutes to spare.  I called on some PAX for ab exercises and we filled the last couple of minutes with Boxcutters and Hello Dolly’s before recovering to CoT.

Thanks Royale for the opportunity to lead, it was an honor and I’m already thinking about the next one.  All the PAX worked hard today and a few of us met up for Coffeteria after at the local Dunkin’ Donuts for a little 2nd F.

-Flux

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4 Corners at the Poopdeck

We had 13 guys roll up and get ready to go at the Poopdeck. Had a new FNG who heard a few of the PAX at the new Dunkin Donuts on Gold Hill road talking and decided to look up F3! So he joined us this morning! I knew Davinci and Witch Hunt were pre-running on the bridge so they were going to be late.  Long disclaimer for the new guy.  And then we took off.

Dynamic warmup jog around the parking lot

COP

25 SSHs – 10 Windmills – 15 IWs – 10 Merkins – 15 Mountain Climbers – 10 WA Merkins

Moseyed over to the marina parking for four corners

Count of into 4 groups

Each round will start at a corner.  Complete the 2 exercises then run to next corner. (This parking lot is BIG) There are three rounds of this…

Group 1 with Paver stones

Lap 1 30 curls 20 Overhead presses

Lap 2 30 curls 20 tricep extensions

Lap 3 30 curls 30 bent rows

Group 2

Lap 1 20 Ranger Merkins 10 Lunges

Lap 2 20 Ranger Merkins 20 calf raises

Lap 3  20 Ranger Merkins 10 Jump Lunges

Group 3

Lap 1 5 burpees 10 squats

Lap 2 5 burpees 20 mountain climbers

Lap 3 5 burpees 10 Parker Peters

Group 4

Lap 1 40 SSHs 20 LBCs

Lap 2 40 SSHs 20 Flutter Kicks

Lap 3 40 SSHs 20 Freddie Mercuries

Quick little piece I shared on Discipline.  Don’t give in to the voice in your head saying the little things are OK.

Mosey back to Bowl-n-Bounce for some wall sits.

People’s Chair while we go down the lines.  2 burpees each PAX

BTTW 3 10 counts

People’s Chair  5 merkins each PAX

BTTW again

Last mosey around the parking lot to COT

COT – count – went through the 5 principles of an F3 workout for the FNG

Eric our FNG works for the patent office and cringed when the name Copyright came up…so there you have it!

Announcements -praises and prayers.

The PAX worked hard today!

An honor to Lead.

Royale

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More than a Workout (at the risk of sounding cliche)

It was an 80 degree humid, gloomy morning at the Abyss. As we waited for the majority of the PAX to arrive, Witch Hunt pointed out something unique about this AO (important for anyone who with a VQ coming up). At around 5:12, just when you think not many PAX are going to show up, 7 cars come barreling in. Always good to see a lot of PAX at this great AO.

There were no FNG’s present so a super brief disclaimer was given and a challenge question about discipline was issued by YHC. Without question, the men who consistently post and workout in some fashion are disciplined enough to get up early and improve physically. What is an area of your life where you lack the same level of discipline?

And with that we moseyed to the bus circle behind the school (high knees, butt kickers, side shuffles) to warm up.

Warm up (IC)

20 SSH
20 IW
20 WM
30 MNC

The Thang

Mosey to the paved hill

Round 1 – Lunge Walk halfway up, run the other half, 10 merkins at the top, run down to the bottom for 10 merkins (plank for the 6)
Round 2 – Duck Walk halfway up, run the other half, 10 burpees at the top, run down to the bottom for 10 burpees (plank for the 6)
Round 3 – Bear crawl halfway up, run the other half, 10 deep squats at the top, run down to the bottom for 10 deep squats (plank for the 6)
Round 4 – Lt Dan’s (walking lunge, lunge, squat), 10 donkey kicks at the top, run down to the bottom for 10 donkey kicks (plank for the 6)

Recover

Mosey back to the bus circle and partner up

Round 1

P1 – Two suicides* (using the 4 basketball goals as our mark each time)
P2 – Hold a plank
Flap jack

*Later named Twoicides (TM by DaVinci) on Twitter. Nice work!

Upon announcement of the twoicides, and during, the mumble chatter was everywhere and none were too happy with YHC.

Round 2

P1 – One suicide
P2 – Hold a one armed plank
Flap jack

After a few 10 counts to recover, we moseyed to the wall

Peoples chair while PAX (one at time ran to the blacktop for 5 Monkey Humpers)
1/3 of the way through we lowered on the wall, 2/3 of the way, lowered again

With legs thoroughly burning and mumble chatter about inevitable soreness, we slow moseyed back to the shovel flag for some ab work (IC).

American Hammers
Modified Freddys (Knee, Knee, Crunch)
Protractor (6 inches to 20 degrees)
Hello Dollys

COT

Check the newsletter (Ragnar, Nun Run, etc…)
Prayers and Praises

Cornerstone’s wife – kidney stones
Cornerstone’s daughter Emma
Cobra Kai’s wife Jennifer and treatment
Wild Thing and Wife’s new baby born 8/22
Witch Hunt – Good report from the Dr. and he’s back!

Moleskin

It was another great day to post and always great to be out with F3 brothers. Great job grinding it out by all the PAX!

As mentioned earlier in the workout, discipline is something each of us has or we wouldn’t continue to post. But what part of your life lacks that same discipline and causing you grief? I could list some examples but you know what I am talking about. Give it some consideration and ask God for guidance and strength.

I have been involved in F3 since September 2015. After struggling through the first couple dozen workouts, I felt better than I had in a long time and I was thankful to my F3 brothers for pushing me and proud of myself for doing something about getting in shape. I wish I could remember the workout when it finally clicked that I was doing really well in some areas of my life while failing in others. I was putting in efforts, sometimes even doing well but I wasn’t the best husband or father I could be. I was a walking heap of good intentions. I fully intended to help more with chores, spend more time with the kids after a full day at work, etc… But I was failing to turn my good intentions into action.

I was living 1st instead of 3rd and there were areas of my life that needed to be overhauled.

Over the last 2 years, there have been many folks along the way (too many to name) that have helped push me and encourage me to be a better man. Just know if I have posted to a workout that you Q’d or posted along side you, Thank you!

When I have the privilege of leading a workout, my goal is to encourage you to be better men as well. I hope that you felt encouraged today. You certainly did that for me!

Thank you Bones for the opportunity!

Until next time…

Hauschka

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Not Too Much Running

So 8 Pax showed up at the Deep for a muggy 78 degree early morning beatdown.  Cha Ching asked if there was going to be a lot of running, to which YHC responded, “Not too much” (We will come back to that).

No FNG’s were present but a short disclaimer was given anyway to ensure the PAX knew they weren’t being led by a professional.  With that, we were off for a mosey around the back of the school with butt kickers, high knees and toy soldiers.

Warm Up

15 – SSH
15 – IW
15 – Mountain Climbers
15 – Peter Parkers
15 – Parker Peters
20 Moroccan Night Clubs (Cadence called by my 2.0, Omaha, which was really cool)

The Thang

Mosey to the parking lot on the side of the school for some 4 corners

We spent a minute talking about discipline and using our time exercising to think of areas of our lives where we lack discipline and need to make improvements.

5 Kraken Burpees in the center, head to a corner, perform the exercise and back to the center for 5 Kraken Burpees, etc…

Corner 1 – 30 Carolina Dry Docks
Corner 2 – 30 LBC’s
Corner 3 – 30 Jumping Lunges (each leg with lot of mumble chatter)
Corner 4 – 30 Diamond Merkins

Rinse and Repeat X 2 (Audible for 15 jumping lunges each leg and 20 diamonds for subsequent repeats)

Mosey to the side of the school and grab some wall for People’s Chair

Pax 1 bear crawl to the track (15 yds.) for 5 squats, next Pax, etc…
Rinse and Repeat X 3 and alternating on one legs holds for the repeats
Final Wall Exercise, hold BTTW until failure. Nice job Brickhouse for leading the way!

Mosey to the elementary track for some running (not too much)

Pax were instructed to run a mile at their own pace. Each lap was to be preceded by 5 Kraken Burpees. Sort of a Kraken Burpee mile. After all of the Pax finished, and great job to all, we moseyed back across the street for stretching and COT.

The Moleskin

Thanks to all the PAX for enduring more running than I thought I had planned. When we finished up, my watch read 3.1 miles. My “not too much” running ended up being more than usual. Sorry Cha Ching for the unintentional false advertising.

As we circled up we finished with a few words on discipline. As we think about our lives and all of the good things that we have to be thankful for, including those areas where we are very well disciplined (like coming to a workout on a Saturday morning), we are forced to think about the area(s) of our lives where we lack that same discipline. Hint: The area(s) we have much work to do are those that we repeatedly ask for forgiveness from God and/or others. The writer of Hebrews refers to it as “the sin that so easily besets us”. If we ask God for help in these areas, he will surely offer help. We just have to ask.

Prayers

Brickhouse – upcoming adoption
Cobra Kai and wife Jennifer’s recent test results
Injured Pax
Tater and ongoing trials with his eye. Prayers that the latest treatment will help.
Cornerstone’s daughter Emma and ongoing treatment

Great job guys! Thanks Royale for the opportunity to lead!

Hauschka

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17 at Poopdeck Did Supersets of Pain and Laid Waste to the Demons Inside Pandoras Box!

17 at Poopdeck worked through the pain inside Pandoras Box!

Warmup – jog around parking lot with high knees, butt kickers, lunges, l/r shuffle, and duck walk.  Then circled up for 5 reps in cadence of wide, normal, and diamond merkins finishing with box cutters.

The Thang:  partnered up and explored the stations of Pandoras Box.  One partner would use the equipment and another would do an exercise with equipment.

Round 1 – Donkey kicks for one partner and then the other partner completed 20 reps or other rep count stated of each:

1 – TRX curls, rows and tricep extensions,

2 – 20 slam ball slams,

3 – BearGrylls Bear Crawl sled w/40lbs,

4 – 115lb Deadlifts,

5 – Pullups or dips on equipment,

6 – Superman pumps w/8lb bar,

7 – 100 lb water jug carry,

8 – 60 lb water jug standing row,

9 – 2 foot box jumps,

10 – Battle Ropes – Wax On/Wax Off, Squat jump arm circles, A Frame Power blast.

Quick cool down run, then circled up for 5 reps of each in cadence – Morraccan Nightclubs and Hello Dolly’s.

Round 2 – Jump Knee Tucks for one partner and then we were able to get through 5 stations based on time.

Announcements – Bear Grylls Seeking BRR team or offered to drive,

Prayers – Some M’s going through cancer treatment, School Teachers and Officials for wisdom, BearGrylls friend Rob for forgiveness.

Praises – successful adoption.

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Keep calm and no running

So long story short… I haven’t been posting much this year, the last 5 times I posted I had Q for first 3 and Kenyan Q’d last 2 in a row.  Kenyan is training for a marathon.  After last week I vowed to have a NO-RUN Q  to be funny but it was harder than I thought.  In all seriousness, what I love about F3 is the constant variation which is truly the best workout for your body.  Cheers to Kenyan for pushing me to do what I need to do, not what I want.  As always also for being a good sport!

So the warm ups start right where we gathered of course.  SSH, Abe Vigoda, plank stretches, merkins and Moroccan NC.

Well I need a curb for the next trick and wouldn’t you know its all the way across the lot!  So naturally we did karaoke across so as not to run.  We start out with 10 curb dips, crab walk down the curb to an undetermined distance.  Repeat dips and shuffle back to start, repeat dips.  Next we did up downs with hands on curbs then feet.  To wrap up the curb we do 5 merkins with one hand/foot on curb and continue down curb in bearwalk.  10 more and return curb length opposite hand.  side shuffle to the wall for BTTW plus each pax bearcrawls one at a time to the end of the line and gets back on the wall.  Resting LBC’s then back on the wall plus CDD for added wall time.  Stroll back to front of shopping center for bearcrawl/lunges length of the center.  Lt Dan back the length.  Round up for Bearcrawl RIng of Fire and ab lab.  Special thanks to the PAX for sticking out my lunacy! For some reason, cant tag Dr Evil

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Fun filled morning at The Deep

I have to admit I was excited to get the invitation from Royal to come out to the Deep and Q.  This gave me the opportunity to visit another AO and share the Bonsai Tree which deep down all Pax have a love hate relationship when they hear me call that exercise.

So I started out the workout with the typical F3 disclaimer, but really reinforced the part about pay attention to your body because it was already extremely warm and very humid.  Last thing I want is for someone to have a heat stroke.

After that bit of a warning we moseyed over to the track and football field for a little warmup and quickly I realized I left my wienkie at home so I had to try and remember everything I had planned.

Warmup:
SSH
Hilly Billy Walker
Merkins
…honestly I can’t remember if there was anything else

The Thang:
We started out with the first half of the Merkin mile and for the merkin count we did (9 merkins and 6 merkins) for laps 1 and 2.  The way this works is you do 9 merkins at the begging of the lap and then at the opposite corner you do 9 again.  Then on lap 2 you do 6.

After everyone completed 2 laps we moved over to the middle of the field and luckily there were flags placed out on the field 3 in a row going across the field and a series of about 8 rows (NOT BY THE Q) so we used them to do the following:

Start on one side an do a cross country skier action and you work side ways toward the first flag and then bear crawl to the next flag.  One you reach the end of that row jog up to the next row.

Row 2: Hop down the line moving feet apart and back together working down the line to the flag.  Repeat bear crawl until the end

Row 3:  Ski hop down to flag, repeat bear crawl

Row 4:  Face toward goal post with feet together and hop to the right toward flag, repeat bear crawl

Row 5: Face left and repeat same as #4.

Rinse and repeat back up the field

After completing this series of exercises we moved over to the track and did LBCs and flutters so I could catch my breath before the completing the merkin mile.

Complete merkin mile with merkin counts of 3 and 1

Move back over to the field where we partnered up and did the following:

Partner 1 put exercise band around waist and Partner 2 held band with resistance as #1 broad jumped to next row of flags.  Then partners performed 5 rounds of the Bonsai Tree each.  Rinse and repeat for Partner 2

Next Partner 1 has band around waist and with resistance from P2 runs to the second row of flags (approx 30 yds).  Then P1 and P2 take turns doing hamstring curls.  Rinse and repeat going back.

At this time the sun was starting to peak over the trees and it was time to head back to the truck for some coupons (aka cinder blocks) and grab some water.

After grabbing the blocks we started with over head carry as we worked our way around the school stopping to do various exercises such as chest press, LBC, upright rows, wall sits.  However Olaf decided to bring his poppers with him and thew one toward the Q while on my six so we had to stop and do burpees for his shenanigans.  After several exercises we would continue make the loop around the school with overhead carry while moving.  We also stopped for balls to the wall and burpee box jumps (do a burpee and then jump on top of cinder block then jump to other side of block and do another burpee (repeat 5 times).

After completing the loop we ended back up at COT just in time and maybe a minute or two more of extra credit.

Lots of prayer request where thrown out for Pax and families including Lutekfisk mother, Cornerstone’s 2.0, jobs and 2.0s and Ms.

Gentlemen it was an honor to be invited to Q and lead a bunch of #Hims.  Thanks to the fellow Fort Mill (Lake Ridge) pax for coming out and thanks to Lake Wylie pax for showing as well.  This is a great AO and I encourage others to go out and check this place out.

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