We’ll Drive Home Backwards

9 Men showed up at The Pit for a Kettlebell Workout from a Runner (not a professional).  YHC made a commitment to less than a mile of total distance.  Fortunately Odometer Fraud (look it up) works for the workout as well.

Here’s what we did:

COP – SSH, Windmills, IW, MNC

Paula Abdul

Carry the bell 2 lines forward, 1 line back, set of KB exercises, Repeat till end of lot

  • 20 Swings (160)
  • 15 Goblet Squats (90)
  • Interlude – KB Bear Crawl the Line
  • 10 Curls 5 Ea. Arm (60)
  • 10 Overhead Press (60)
  • 2 Man Makers alternating arms on the Merkin (12)

Mosey back for COT

TClap |
2

NO OYO at Quagmire

YHC took the last min Q with the normally scheduled programming interrupted by a last min Mannmon trip out of state. I had a shorty out of bed scenario at the home base so I was coming in hot to StartEx and was very surprised to see no one. Absolutely not a single car was in the parking lot. I had to check the “Steve” to make sure it was Monday. Yep just as I thought it was Monday morning and lots of regulars couldn’t find it in themselves to unfartsack and show up to get better. After planting the shovel flag I was surprised by a car I hadn’t seen in a while and was stoked to see the wearer of short shorts and the best damn goatee in the Fort. I was excited to see the former site Q of my VQ and true HIM Geronimo who must have gotten lost on his way to Honey Badger but like they say “any port in a storm” so I will take it.
The disclaimer was disclaimed as we started a nice jog around Rivergate.
For those who haven’t posted to one of my Q’s in a while, I am fine with it being the same general concept so of course, we were going to play a little game of CHARGE.

Lots of exercises were performed and I was reminded of how great Geronimo’s form is while my body was still trying to recover from the stupidness that was the fastest ruck shuffle I have ever done during the Dam2DamBar over the weekend. Lots of money was raised for a great cause and TCLAPS to all the HIM involved in the planning and execution.

It was great to spend some quality time with a true HIM pushing to get better. It’s actually fulfilling after all of these years of him pushing me to finally have made it to a point in my 1stF that I feel like I actually pushed him. Or he is getting soft. but I will leave it up to you to tell him to his face. Let me know how that went will ya?

Stay Frosty my Friends!
Olaf

TClap |
1

Take that, treats!

IIRC, the last and only time YHC has Qed at Golden Corral was partnering with Slapshot over a year ago, so when Lutefisk said there was an opening, it was time to step up. I had quite a few devious plans built up for Q-vengence over the years of getting my arse handed to me by HIM left and right and had a hard time settling on just one, but then, it came to me in a vision… The PAX were forewarned to bring lights.

the gloom

I pulled into the Corral just in time and saw Skipper, Half Shell, Lutefisk, Geronimo, Fire Marshall Bill, and Nasa waiting to see what awful nastiness would ensue. The disclaimer was disclaimed after I verified Skipper’s identity, because I’m bad with names.

Warm up

LOL, wut?

The thang

Run to the light (okay, no traffic, let’s cross at Burn) and head to Dunkin. Circle up for 15 SSH and 15 Monkey Humpers (faces facing away from Dunkin). This is where Olaf caught up with us.

The next leg was supposed to stop at Brewsters, but a couple of female runners were stretching in front of the building, and I don’t like looking like a creeper, so we just kept going until we got to Abbot’s (YHC was reminded a few times that we were doing a Bootcamp during this leg). 10x merkins and 10x monkey humpers.

Last leg, run to the Model A parking lot and look for any PAX from Colosseum (I talked to Slapshot and he said they’d make their way there if possible).

Quick DORA to wait and see if Colo shows up, only got past the first round but this is what was called:
100 BBSU, 100 Leg Lift, 200 LBC
Partners would run around the parking lot islands or bear crawl to the middle island and back (an option that was picked only twice!)

YHC kept a close watch on the time to ensure we’d get back in time, and with 20 min left, we retraced our steps. The first leg ended in the Gamestonks parking lot (at the top of the hill) for 10x Peter Parker and 10x Parker Peter.

The next leg, YHC began slowing down, but the PAX waited for me at Brewsters and were doing some very nice looking flutters. When YHC arrived we added 10x Low Slow Squat and 10x Imperial Walkers.

Next leg back to Dunkin, where I was smoked by the rest of the PAX, who were doing overhead clap when I arrived, and we busted out more monkey humpers before using the crosswalk.

Finally we converged on the S wall of HT for people’s chair with bear crawl chain. Then BTTW chain with a run (PAX really ran fast here). About 90 seconds left, we took our one and only ten count before a 45s BTTW (countdown by YHC) and back to COT.

COT

Hyped the Yeti and prayed for a Geronimo’s new job and some PAX who were hoping to find something new to do.  Wives were also mentioned (context omitted).

nmm

I generally try to find some kind of message for my Qs, but today was all about stupid fun. My original plan was a bit more ambitious than my body is prepared to pull off, and far more running than a BC should be (this idea will be a thing in the future, though).

Seriously, though. Fun is what I needed.  Fun has been in short supply over the last 11 months.  The kind of fun where you’re laughing, gasping and wheezing because you choose to do something a bit too ambitious and everyone smoked you, but it doesn’t matter because you’re all part of one big stupid group of fun.  And my Garmin says I burned 731 calories during this fun.

Monkey Humpers facing away from Dunkin and the ice cream shops were part of that fun. I hope security personnel get a hearty laugh or a “WTH” look on their faces if we were on camera, too.

TClap |
1

Double Trouble At The Hive

It was a dark and rainy morning… but that didn’t stop six Pax from getting up and after it at The Hive.

This workout is called Double Trouble and was named that before we lost our Metro brother of the same name, but this workout is done in his honor and memory.  Great high impact man who we just lost due to Covid.

The workout goes like this.  Each round of two exercises you complete 10 reps then 15 round two, 20 round three.

The exercises are:

Kettlebell swings
Shoulder shrugs

Goblet squats
Flutters

Curls
Merkins

Tricep extensions
Squats

Sumo squats (what more squats?!)
LBCs

Skull crushers
Rosalitas

Dead lift
Calf raise

Lawnmower
American hammer

Romanian dead lift
Dips

The mission of F3 is to plant, grown and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of mail community leadership.

I hope this one was a challenge and it was great to see Geronimo again, who we thought was leaving town already but has s reprieve.

Hope you have a great weekend and hopefully you enjoyed all the squats.

Thrill is gone!

TClap |
4

50th Birthday Beatdown Repeat

We started the chilly morning with a warm up that consisted of  windmills, cherry pickers , imperial walkers and Hillbilly walkers…we jogged up to the benches at NaFo.

The WOD was a repeat of my 50th Birthday beatdown

50 of each exercise:

Merkins.      Squats.    BIG boys.    Dips.   Shoulder taps.   Mt climbers.      Plank Jacks.   Lunges.    Flutters.    SSH.     LBC’s.  AM hammers.   Bomb jacks.  Donkey kicks.  And.  Derkins….when we were done with some time left they were able to pick what they wanted to do again….2 PAXs decided they had enough and did pull ups at the bars

Fun was had by all and we ended with COT

 

 

TClap |
1

Block Party Beatdown

YHC took the opportunity to celebrate MLK Day by spending some quality time with the M yesterday. During that time, we made our way down to WEP to get an update on the progress of construction of our new amphitheater. While strolling around downtown, I began to formulate my plan for pain at Block Party today. Who knew we had so many telephone poles in Fort Mill?

The plan was to challenge the Pax with both an upper and lower body portion in separate doses. YHC made the weinke, reviewed prior to the start and away we went.

19 Pax joined me today. There is definite acceleration at Block Party and this is largely due to the leadership of Bobber. Over the last 8 years, AO success has largely been due to two factors: Site Q and difficulty of the workout. Bobber has been a leader in both areas. T-claps to you!

Weather

30 Degrees but no wind; My “Steve” said pants; Tesh’s “Steve” said no shirt

The Thang

Disclaimer was read

Mosey to top of Massey hill – COP

IW – 15

SSH – 30 (always 30+)

5 Bombjacks

Mosey to church parking lot – COP

Merkins -12

Mountain Climbers – 15

5 Bombjacks

Mosey to John Boys – COP

MNC – 25

CDD – 15

5 Bombjacks

Mosey to Sweet Baby Jesus Church – partner up for a Leg Dora

Partner 1 runs around SBJ

Partner 2 does exercise

150 Squats

150 Forward Lunges

150 Side Lunges

Mosey to Ardrey Street – 9 Telephone Poles on right side

At each pole, do the following:

5 Inchworm Merkins

10 CDDs

16 Shoulder taps

Mosey back to AO for Mary – Feet up for the entire Mary

10 LBCs

10 Flutters

10 Hello Dolly

10 LBCs

10 Flutters

Moleskin

  • Prayers to Utah and his family as they support Colin
  • Jekyll taking over as site Q for Minnow Pond this week
  • Improper Pig has been added to Dam to Dam Bar 10k – Great leadership by Hardwood, L Train, Long Duck, Harry Carry and Floppy Disk
  • Continue to ask for prayer and donations for Harlans Heroes fundraising. Goal is $20k
TClap |
3

Pain posting at BAOPS

Alcatraz eventually became a prison on an island in the cold waters off the Northern California coast. It was known to be difficult to escape for the inmates that called Alcatraz home. The waters surrounding it were cold and rough, much like its residents.

When Trucker took over Alcatraz, he had a vision for our own little AO on the island, well, it’s really a peninsula but just go with me here. He wanted those that posted at Alcatraz to experience their hardest (or close to their hardest) workout of the week. The idea of coasting into the weekend wasn’t exactly his cup of tea. That said, for those of us that Q Alcatraz now, we have the Trucker-created acronym, BAOPS, in our minds when planning our pain. BAOPS stands for the Best AO for Pain on Saturday. You get the idea now?

For Ruby Slippers and I on this brisk morning, we knew we had to answer the call. The planning began earlier in the week when Ruby said he was incorporating cinder blocks. That’s when I knew this would be top-shelf. Ya see, when a man named after fancy footwear says he’s bringing pain like that, it’s time for the rest of us to bring our big-boy shoes. He shared his plan with me on Friday night and I had to chuckle; it was all I could do to keep from splashing at the thought.

To kick off this adventure, Fish Sticks, Trucker, Geronimo and I decided we needed to get to the AO early for a few rounds of pull-ups which has become quite the nice addition. At 0630, we had 17 of us gathered in the parking lot to embark on this journey.  While not swimming cold, choppy waters, we did see all the cinder blocks lined up and knew we were in for something special.

Ruby took control, disclaimed us and warmed us up with Wind Mills, Tappy Taps, Burpees, SSH, Merkins, Burpees and a few other things. Who does burpees in a warm up? We then all grabbed a cinder block, made our way to the field and counted off in 4’s for the 4-corner beat down. He had set up 4 stations in the corners about 15yds apart from each other.
Station 1: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Overhead Presses
Walk to station 2 with the cinder block in the rifle carry position, overhead.
Station 2: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Bent Over Rows.
Lunge walk to station 3 while holding the cinder block.
Station 3: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Derkins w/ your feet up on the block.
Walk to station 4 with the cinder block in the rifle carry position, overhead.
Station 4: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Curls
Lunge walk back to station 1 while holding the cinder block.

We continued on this circuit until our never-ending 30mins had expired. It felt like 30 days and holy smokes, the collective groan from the PAX almost woke the neighbors. We were all on the struggle bus after this and guess what, we were only 1/2 way through this wonderful nonsense.

Gee, THANKS TRUCKER!!! Now we’ll hand off to Maximus for what was intended to be the tour de hills of our lovely AO. Once I told the PAX about the 3 hills we were to be visiting, you could hear it again. That collective groan, yeah, it voiced itself again. Anywho….

Mosey to Hill 1 at the front of the neighborhood by the Fire Station:
Run down without busting your tail for 5 burpees and 10 Flutters I/C
Run up the hill for 2 squat burpees and 10 Flutters I/C
Complete this 4 times

Mosey to the next hill, Hill 2 down by the circle:
Run down the hill for (5) 8ct burpees and 10 Freddy Mercury’s
Run up the hill for (2) 8ct burpees and 10 Freddy Mercury’s
Complete this 3 times

C’MON MAN!!!! REALLY???? Did our time really expire before we can complete Hill 3? Yes, yes indeed. Fortunately, we got back to the AO in time do complete a few rounds of Mary.

Aaaannnndddd, there you have it. BAOPS lives on!!!

Announcements: FM Study Hall volunteers needed. D2DB reminder. Do yourself and your concentrica a favor by engaging in everything F3 has to offer. Spiderman cemented this by a call to action for the PAX to GET IN A SHIELDLOCK. There were more announcements but I apologize, my stenographer failed to show.

Prayers/Praises: Some serious things on the hearts of our PAX and if you want to know what they are, you should’ve posted. Praise for our boy, Skipper, now 1wk into this new chapter of his life with us in F3. Welcome.

Until we SYITG,
Ruby Slippers & Maximus

TClap |
9

Lucky Jokers, My Calves Hurt

8 HIMs reported to Varsity this morning, undeterred by the threat of cold weather and rain. We met at 0515 at the front entry awning of Nation Ford High School and promptly shared the requisite disclaimer, followed by a warmup.

We did some SSHs and then a bunch of planks, honey-mooners, downward dogs, and shoulder taps, and then I explained the game.

I decided to revise my deck of pain workout from The Armory to be used at Varsity, and I thought it worked out great.

We each took turns picking cards from the deck to determine what exercise and number of reps we would do…

Number of reps was determined by the face value of the card drawn, 2-13.

Spades = Jump Squats

Diamonds = Bench Dips

Clubs = Peter Parkers

Hearts = Derkins

Aces = 10 Burpees

Jokers = 100 SSH

We made it through the whole deck with about 7 minutes to spare, so you guessed it… Mary.

Each of us got a turn to pick an ab exercise, and we finished right at 0600 in time for COT.

Count-o-rama, Name-o-rama, and ended with prayers and praises.

Kelbasa shared a story with the group about a therapy patient he met who was a Green Beret in Korea and Vietnam who had a good attitude and kept moving even through a Covid diagnosis.

Prayers for those affected by Corona, and other needs. Many of us are battling mental and emotional demons, every day. Some are open about it, some have a harder time sharing our struggles. Never forget that sometimes we are the light or the rock for others around us, even if we don’t realize it. Post for eachother!

Thanks Splinter for the opportunity to lead this morning, I wouldn’t rather have shared this cold and gloomy morning with anyone else!

 

TClap |
7

Upside Down

SkyQ was stirring the Site Q’s spirit 30 days ago, suggesting he needed to loop YHC in for a New Year’s Eve Q at The Ranch.  Little did he know 12/31 happens to be my birthday, so there was no way I could pass up the invite. 12 pax posted in the damp (but not rainy) Gloom to make it official.

The Thang

Warm up yog around parking lot

Extended COP — familiar set of exercises interspersed after every two with increasing rounds of Burpees, starting with 2 and increasing by 2 each round up to 12

Mosey to the picnic tables and partner up

Partner 1 = 12 Derkins + Partner 2 = Balls to the Wall  / Flapjack (3 rounds)
Partner 1 = 12 Bombjacks + Partner 2 = People’s Chair / Flapjack (3 rounds)
Partner 1 = Donkey kicks + Partner 2 = Plank / Flapjack (3 rounds)

Mosey to soccer field and muster up

The next series will involve moving down and back across the soccer field…BUT…in recognition that 2020 was a year when “holding ground” qualifies as success, the objective is to make the trek with backwards or sideways moves (ie, Carioca, NUR, Crawl bear, Backward or sideways lunge,  side shuffle).  The only acceptable method forward is Bear Crawl)

We proceeded to move back and forth across the field and each down/back was marked with a set of Burpees declining by 2 with each series (10-8-6-4-2).  Final traverse for all pax was a Bear crawl

Circle up for Mary

Series of core exercises, capped off with Superman rendition of Happy Birthday song courtesy of JWOW and Backdraft.

Mosey home

COT

Thank you to Ruby Slippers for the opportunity to tie off 2020 —  it was truly an honor to be in The Gloom IN PERSON with the pax to finish the strangest year any of us have experienced.

It was an upside down year given that no one could have foreseen a pandemic coming.  Or a stock market rally in the aftermath.  Or legalization of pot in some states along with criminalization of holiday family gatherings.

This upside down and backwards orientation aligns perfectly with the Gospel and sets the stage for a new approach to 2021.  I’ll pick my One Word for 2021 (Now) and review 2020 and make plans for 2021…all the things that I would typically DO in prior years.  But 2020 has taught me that NONE of these matter unless they’re connected to the will of my Creator.  Rather than focus my energies on what I’m doing, I first need to create space for what He’s doing…and then fit my part in as accompaniment ( I think that might be a musical term, Band Camp?).

Thanks to the pax who posted to help me celebrate the completion of my 54th year on the Big Ball.  And thank you to all pax of The Fort for carrying me and each other through an upside down year.

Cheers!

TClap |
5

Christmas Trivia and Choices

Eight men showed up at Alcatraz this morning.  Two carried their heavy backpacks around the Cay for the hour.  Geronimo was still putting together his painful Q at 0630 so I began the workout with some warm-up exercises (SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Plank Stretches).

I decided to borrow this idea from a workout Double D and Old Bay Q’d back in 2017. Christmas Trivia with exercises sprinkled in between each question.  Penalty for missing a question was 5 burpees.  Oh, by the way, the burpee penalty was cumulative until the next correct answer.

Exercises:

10 Bomb Jacks

20 LBCs

15 Plank Jacks

10 Donkey Kicks

20 Monkey Humpers

15 Moroccan Night Clubs

20 Calf Raises

10 Plank Jacks

15 Mountain Climbers

15 Merkins

10 Lunges

15 Carolina Dry Docks

20 Squats

Luckily Skate or Die knows his Christmas Movie Trivia or we would have done alot more burpees.

Next, hand off to Geronimo.  He quickly told us to partner up and headed to the “Hill”.  As we ran down the hill, there were several signs with exercises lined up along the side of the street.  At the bottom of the hill, he instructed us to run up the hill and choose an exercise at each sign.  Sounds simple enough..what was the catch?

The exercises:

  1.  50 SSHs or 50 Merkins
  2. 50 Merkins or 50 Hello Dollies
  3. 20 Air Lunges or 50 Mountain Climbers
  4. 20 Squat Jumps or 20 Diamond Merkins
  5. Bear Crawl or Nur to Next sign
  6. 50 Squats or 100 LBCs
  7. 50 Flutters or 20 Flying Squirrels
  8. Crawl Bear or Broad Jump
  9. 20 Tuck Jumps or 50 Overhead Claps
  10. Run down the hill and back or run to the fire station
  11. 30 Big Boys or 60 Calf Raises
  12. 20 Burpees or 40 Burpees

When the teams got to the top of the hill, Geronimo instructed us to go down the hill and repeat the process, but do the exercise that you did not choose the first time.

Great work this morning..mind, body, and holiday trivia 🙂

TClap |
4