Tag: Homebrew

Uptown Funk You Up

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It was one of those crazy humid Carolina mornings where YHC actually had to turn on the AC on the way to the workout. You know it’s muggy when you’re already sweating with no sun, and no exercise. Bring 15 dudes into the mix and it got real sweaty real fast.

Disclaimer made, then circuitous mosey around the parking lot.
Circled up for: SSH, weed pickers, merkins, superman, low slow squats

The THANG
Uptown 50
I got this one straight out of the exicon. I read about it probably two months ago and had been looking forward to trying it since then. Two markers were set up (about) 50 yards apart on the basketball courts. PAX partnered up. The idea is to do 10 burpees then travel 50 yards via the prescribed means to the other marker, where you then do 10 more burpees and travel back to the start by the next mode of transport. There were 10 total lengths of 50 yards so 10 x 10 =100 burpees… plus whatever it took PAX to do 50 yards of burpee broad jumps. Lots of burpees.

Here were the modes of transport in order: Burpee Broad Jump, Crab Walk, Partner Carry (P1), Partner Carry (P2), Alligator Crawl, Wheelbarrow (P1), Wheelbarrow (P2), Nur, AYG (Sprint!), and Bear Crawl

Due to mumblechatter from PAX not wanting to scuff their fancy pants new running shoes up, Omaha was called on the Alligator Crawl, which was substituted for bear crawls. Great effort by everyone on pushing through this till the end.

Ab Doras

100 Boxcutters, 200 Big Boy Situps, 300 Freddies (double count)

P1 ran down and up the hill, while P2 did boxcutters. Flapjack and keep adding till you get to your number as a team. After boxcutters, runners went to end of the school and back for the big boy and Freddy rounds. Each pair made it pretty far into the 200 Big Boy Situps by the time 6:00 rolled around, and a couple of teams managed to break into the Freddies. Mosey back to COT.

COT
Announcements are all in the newsletter. Read it.
Prayers for Whopper’s job situation, Cha Ching with son #3 due to arrive any day, and safe travels for Tinsel’s sister who is flying to Ecuador. Very sweaty BOM.

Big thanks to Bones for the opportunity to lead.

Stay Classy,
Homebrew

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BEYOND at Sea Legs with Royale

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I was honored that Maximus would reach out to me to Q the roaming BEYOND workout.  On a Tuesday choices were Golden Corral or Sea Legs for me, and with my new change in work schedule I needed the closest option, so our traditional running AO transformed into an ultra tough bootcamp for the day.  When I arrived the site Q Hauschka was there and let me know everyone was going to be doing the bootcamp…no runners today!

I’ve Q’d plenty, but this one left me with a pretty sleepless night.  Was my message going to be good enough?  I can make the workout as hard as I want?  I’ve been to several of the BEYOND workouts and the PAX before me have really done it justice.  Those men shared real stories and showed their vulnerability to others.  I needed to live up to that standard.  After the disclaimer I asked this question.

“What is the ONE thing you could alter in your life today that would make it better?”

The Thang

Started with a quick warmup lap around the parking lot with a short COP

-25 SSHs -15 Squats – 10 Merkins – 15 Mountain Climbers – 10 Diamond Merkins

Partner Up

1st partner was going to run over to the jungle gym for 10 pull-ups

2nd partner stays back and does jump lunges until you flip flop with partner 1

Get to 100 pulls ups each. (10 rotations)  This was a real crowd pleaser after the Memorial Day Murph yesterday…

We finished and from plank, I shared my “One Thing” – and that was my love of alcohol. It’s in my genes to want it…my father and most of his genealogy have been alcoholics, and I watched it destroy his productive life for decades.  It has a pull on me that I do not feel normal people get.  I have to make a conscious effort to maintain control when I drink or bad things happen.  It’s pervasive in my life – social events, my wife and I enjoy together, work events, Saturday nights when I don’t have to post Sunday – and I like all of those things!

We talked about the Jester, my favorite Q source read.  We talked about who he is, what he tries to do, and how he pulls you away from the proper path in your life.  I hope more will read of him here.  https://f3nation.com/2018/02/11/jester-q1-4/

Next phase mosey to the hill

7s on the hill

I learned a new exercise at the Memorial Day convergence in SouthPark from our Area 51 brothers.  The “True American” – 6 count exercise which is a hand release push up followed by a plank jack.

6 Trues Americans at top of hill

Run down

1 burpee – you know the rest!

As I crawled up the hill for the last round I was gassed.  I had one phase to go.

Wall sits

The PAX on the ends will bear crawl out to the road – complete 5 merkins – bear crawl back.  Continue down the middle until all PAX have bear crawled.

Mosey back to COT for 3 minutes of Mary

-Freddies – Flutters – LBCs

Closed my discussion with Hope: I know where I would be today, 3 more years down that path to failure…if it wasn’t for F3, my brothers in arms, and my PAX relationships that help me, guide me, point me on the right path in accountability and by who these men are.  I look up to all of you and have learned something from EACH of you! Continue to be my role models for success!

An honor to Lead…

-Royale

 

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A Primal Beatdown

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On a warm sticky morning at the Crow’s Nest 7 Pax rolled into the parking lot while I was preparing for my first ever Q and I was pumped!  After about 10 weeks of following all the great Q’s of my past workout’s I was eager to prove my mettle and present a challenging workout with a theme of how animals move in nature.

Warmup

I had an instant COP to warm up the morning stiffness

20 SSH

10 Cherry Pickers

Arm Circles

10 LSS

Then I had the Pax do an Indian Run to the main event area with the rear Pax doing 1 Burpee to continue the warming up period.

The Thang

I pulled out a deck of playing cards for the beatdown

Spades were Bear Crawls

Clubs were Crab Walks

Hearts were Donkey Kicks

Diamonds were Pull Ups (Monkey)

Jokers were 14 Grasshopper ‘Mericans

Rep ranges were 2-14 depending on the card with BC’s and CW’s  going a certain distance corresponding to the card.  Thanks to Flux for the helpful modification on the BC’s and CW’s.

During the beatdown I pulled out 2 scripture readings, the first being on how our bodies’ are our temple’s to SkyQ from 1 Corinthians and with the word of the month being Accountability I knew a great passage from Ezekiel on being watchers on the wall.

After getting through most of the deck we moseyed back right on time for COT.

Thoughts and prayers for this country on yet another school shooting.

 

 

 

 

 

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Of Relays and Dance Parties

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Truth be told, YHC is losing his mind.

When I was asked to Q at the Deep for the return of the 0630 launch, my first thought was, “Hey! That AO is at a school. I don’t normally post at schools. I should do something to commemorate that.” Forget the fact that the majority of our AOs are at schools. That’s irrelevant. But, it does set us up for the dumb ideas that followed…

My memories of middle school in May involve basically two things: Field Day and the end-of-the-year dance. So, to harken back to the days of old, that became our theme for today. Twelve PAX (including one FNG) joined YHC for a baker’s dozen at Oakridge Middle. Here’s what we did (kinda):

Warm-up

Mosey around to the back of the school for our “field day” warm-up. Split into two teams for four relays:

  • Sprint (i.e., the basic relay)
  • Bear crawl
  • Broad jumps
  • Crab walks

That got our heart rates up and ready for the dance party. We moseyed back around to the front of the school for the fun to really begin.

The Thang

When I think of middle school dances, I think of songs you can’t really dance to, weird mixes, and lots of wallflower moments. So, we relived my childhood. Six songs. Wallflower between (people’s chair or balls to the wall each time). Today’s playlist:

  • Jukebox Hero – SSHs (slow and fast to match the music) during the verses, Rock Star jumps during the chorus/refrain/hook
  • I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – Imperial Squat Walkers during the verses, bear crawl and crawl bear during the “well I would walk” segments, and donkey kicks during the “da da da da” parts. You know what I’m talking about, because you’re singing it in your head.
  • The Middle – LBCs during the verses, flutters during the refrain, and some Freddie Mercuries during the bridge/interlude/guitar solo
  • Smooth Criminal – Plank jacks during the verses and a merkin for every “okay” (“Annie just freaking answer him already!”)
  • Sorry – Hold boat throughout, dropping down and completing one V-up for every “sorry”
  • The Devil Went Down to Georgia – curb dips during the “singing,” crab cakes during the musical interludes/fiddle or guitar solos
  • I Will Survive – lateral plank walks with merkins during the refrain (longest version of this song ever, but the brief rain made it a little more manageable)

We actually left out the song with the burpees. That’ll be reserved for the next dance party.

Quick mosey back to COT.

No earth-shattering announcements that can’t be found in the newsletter, so read your newsletter. Prayers for teachers (and students and parents) as school wraps up, and for Whopper in his job search/potential promotion. Late request added for the shooting that happened down in Texas.

Cofeeteria at Dunkin because it’s cheaper (in many aspects of the word).

As for the (somehow now infamous) FNG naming, well, that story can be saved for a verbal diarrhea run with Q*bert. You’ll also want to ask Cha Ching about his comment regarding the arrival of “Mr. Wood.” Um…………

I appreciate everybody participating in the stupidness of this morning. I wanted it to be fun and different. I think that happened. Thanks to Shakespeare for the opportunity to lead, for changing the launch time to 0630, and for the speaker to blast the music.

-Jedi

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Russian Roulette

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To start:

Simple stretching while I explained the idea of what I call Russian Roulette.  During the workout, rock songs from a 90s and 00s playlist were blasted on shuffle.  One song on the playlist would function as a punishment song and, if played, the entire group would have a punishment to complete during the length of the song.  Naturally, that song was by Nickelback because they might be the worst band of all time (as if having to listen to Nickelback wasn’t bad enough, the group would have something terrible to do during that time as well).

 

The Thang:

PAX split into pairs to work through 6 different stations of various exercises.  Each set of exercises were completed twice before moving on to another station.  Each station were as followed:

  1. 2x40lb Sandbag Farmers Carry, Medicine Ball Balance Merkin, LBC’s w/ 10lb weight
  2. Agility Ladder SSH’s, Dumbbell Tricep Extensions, Flutter Kicks
  3. Burpee Medicine Ball Slam, 40lb Sandbag Bicep Curl, Big Boy Situp w/ 10lb weight
  4. Jump Rope, 40lb Sandbag Squat w/ Overhead Press at the top, and Freddie Mercury’s
  5. Ski Jump Over Jump Rope, Carolina Dry Docks, Medicine Ball American Hammers
  6. Plyo Box Jumps or Step Ups, Band Chest Press, Dying Cockroach

Based on my observation, most PAX completed one full round plus a few extra stations in the time that we had.  Luckily for us, Nickelback never played.  Next time, when I shorten the playlist, we may not be so lucky.

 

P.S. – Just in case you weren’t aware… Nickelback sucks.

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Lots of wallsitting at the Deep

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I fluctuate between wanting to do something super original and brutal and just going with repetition. Saturday I did both. I had COP fairly close to COT, saving the moseys for later. I had us go to the hill but instead of elevens, I entertained the idea of low crawling up the hill. We did it twice, running back down both times. Has potential but lots of anthills. Decided to mosey us to the nearest corner of the school to do indian wall sit. All of us lined up on the wall and sat it, with caboose bearcrawling to the front. we did this till the end of the western wall of the school.

I underestimated the length of the far end of that middle school.

took about 30 minutes to make it to the end. Moseyed to the football field for the main event.

BLIMPS x2, the second set of blimps in reverse order of reps, to get the burpees in hardcore. 120 yards each way, 1440 yards total. Took long enough leave us with time for  5 minutes of ab lab, started with my favorite, Freddy had a fat girlfriend.

Felt really sore sunday in my shoulders, given that we didn’t go super hard on shoulder stuff, not sure why haha.

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Gambling in the Abyss

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What happens when you’re granted the honor of Qing at an AO you’ve not been to much and therefore, not to familiar with? Why, you scout it on Sunday with your kids after Church of course. Completely normal, right? For this group, you’re expected to “bring it” so you’d better know the turf. For those Ft. Mill’ers who’ve not frequented The Abyss, put it on your short-term bucket list. I didn’t explore much of it due to our card playing but this place is a gem.

Once the 16 of us rolled in on this beautiful Wednesday morning, I quickly noticed the footwear NASA was sporting and got a little concerned…for him. He let me know that he and a few other PAX would be breaking off to do a busted-foot-friendly-workout so I felt a little better about what we were getting into. The people-pleasing side of me wanted to make sure I had a little something for everyone so after typical butchered disclaimer, we took off for the basketball courts for our warm up:

Windmills

Side Straddle Hops of course

Super mans

Hand-Release Merkins

Jump Squats

Mosey back to the main lot and I had to grab the deck of cards I slipped under the cone. As many but not all were familiar with, each suit is a different exercise and the number on the card represents how many reps. Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13 and the Ace = 14 (not 1).

Hearts = Wide Arm Merkins

Clubs = Carolina Dry Docks

Diamonds = Jumping Lunges

Spades = BURPEES (Yup, we did that)

After we recognized the deck must have been front-loaded with Wide-Arm Merkins and Jumping Lunges, it wasn’t long until we started getting smoked and a few 10-counts were necessary. In the end, we completed it all which totaled 104 of each, that’s right, 104 Burpees.

There was still a little left in the tank and on the clock so we had to round it out with Dying Cockroaches, descending 10ct leg lifts and the finisher…Lt. Dan’s. The latter was a lesson I would remember the rest of the week.

Bones, I appreciate the opportunity and I look forward to the next time.

Leave no man behind but leave no man where you found him.

Maximus

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What was Paula Abdul doing at the Poopdeck!?

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There were 11 PAX including Adretti, who we lost to I.R. a couple months ago, at the Poopdeck on a nice Thursday morning.

At 5:15 sharp I gave  a quick dislamer we moseyed to the gravel-filled parking lot below where we circled up for some cadence exercises.

Warm-A-Rama

  • SSH x20
  • Moroccan Night Clubs x20
  • Windmills x10
  • Imperial Squat Walker x10
  • Evil Lance Armstrong x20 (10 each leg) Got this from our F3 Plano brothers.  It consists of extending 1 leg out 6″ off the ground and then doing a Freddy Mercury with the other leg.  And then switching legs.  It pains so good.

1st exercise: Spartans runs

After warming up a bit I discussed our first exercise of the morning which were some Spartan runs.  I had setup some cones about 100 yards apart.  We were going to sprint 100 yards “AYG” and then 20 merkins (5 each of wide, normal, diamond, ranger).  We repeated this 5x. Grand total 100 varied Merkins and a whole lot of heaving breathing and a couple of premature starters (Royale, Wolverine).  I wonder….

2nd exercise: Del Brown

I had some additional cones setup 25 yards apart.  We were to do 5 diamond burpees, crab walk 25 yards perform 5 wolverine burpees (thanks to our false starters) crab walk back 25 yards and do 5 more diamond burpees.

We did this 2 times, although I felt bad and called and Omaha on the Wolverine burpees during round 2.  I figured once was enough punishment.  Grand total 5 normal burpees, 20 diamond burpees, and 5 wolverine burpees, and 100 yards of crab walking. FUN!

3rd exercise: Paula Abdul!

Yep, she was spotted at the Poopdeck and as it turns out, I think the Poopdeck is just where she belongs.

I had 6 cones about 50-60 ft. apart.  Each of the 6 cones had an exercise written on them.  In typical Paula fashion, we were to Bear Crawl to the 2nd cone, perform the exercise, and then Crawl Bear back the 1st cone.  We were going to do this until we got to the end.  So, 2 cones forward 1 cone back, breakdown as follows:

  • Cone #2 – 15 Flutters IC
  • Cone #1 – 15 “Hand Clap” Merkins (did we skip this one or did I just black out?)
  • Cone #3 – 10 Crab Cakes IC
  • Cone #2 – 15 Flutters IC
  • Cone #4 – 10 Donkey Kicks
  • Cone #3 – 10 Crab Cakes IC
  • Cone #5 – 5 Kraken Burpees
  • Cone #4 – 10 Donkey Kicks
  • Cone #6 – 10 Jumping Spiders
  • Cone #5 – 5 Kraken Burpees

Then a nice mosey back to CoT for 4 minutes of “Ablab” where 4 of us called out some exercises which ended up consisting of LBC’s, Dying Cockroaches, Flutters, and Big Boy situps.

We finished up with the tycial Announcments, Praises, & Prayers.  We prayed for our children, specifically, prayers to overcome struggle as they grow into adulthood.

This was  a tough workout, we all survived and got better.  Shout out to Andretti’s for making it through a tough workout to return to.   Thanks for the Q Peg.

Until next time…

Flux

 

 

 

 

 

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Assault on Hill 5-11(Crows Nest)

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This is the first Q I have had since at least january.  I knew I wanted to do something that would be a slog and make good use of the terrain at Crows Nest. After a brief mosey to do COP, We did a Bataan Death march(five burpees for the man in front) to the fence behind the elementary school and back to the big hill overlooking the baseball field.  The main event was to be a series of 5 elevens. hence the title:

1.Squats at top, merkins at bottom, (starting with 10 on bottom for all evolutions)

2. freddie mercury  top monkey humpers bottom

3. LBC top and Burpees bottom

4.Jump squats top and mountain climbers bottom

5.big boy sit ups up top and peter parkers at bottom

We only got to the third evolution about midway in, and I mixed up the order reading my winky in the dark, so the third evo we did jump squats up top instead of LBCs. Its probably good we hit time, because I could tell in myself and the PAX that we were running out of steam, practically walking up hill at the end.

I mentioned this to PAX in attendance that it dawned on me that the repetitive and difficult nature of the thang I devised was not unlike what I feel I am currently going through professionally. I have been working for nearly two weeks straight with no day off and no overtime compensation because I am salaried. I find myself in a job and career field in which I have no future I could see myself in. I live alone and with a schedule like mine its practically impossible for me to have a normal social or romantic life. But day after day I go in, because I am certain that this is not the end of the road. I know that six o clock will hit and I will not collapse. So too will I find a new opportunity. We didn’t take Hill 5-11 but we fought through it till the end.

 

 

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More Than a Workout at “The Creek??”

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I was wondering whether or not to post a backblast, since this was an unofficial gathering. But the 5 core principles were met, there was a shovelflag, and more importantly – this is exactly what F3 is all about.

One of our dear PAX, Witch Hunt, who – I found out after a long time digging through his entire Twitter feed to find his VQ date – is one of the original core reasons we have any AOs on this side of the bridge, has been unable to post almost at all since the birth of his 2.2 (his third kid, still not sure how counting them works, wouldn’t the first be 2.1 and so on and collectively they are your 2.0s?). It had been decided at recent CoTs that we were going to try and bring the workout to him. So we got some guys together and found a time that Witch Hunt could go for a run and Royale met up with him and they ran over to the clubhouse to find several of us waiting for him. Surprise!!

Why did I need to find Witch Hunt’s VQ date though? Since this was a surprise mainly to get him back to a workout, I went and found his first BackBlast on the website so we could do the same Thang. May 14, 2016. I didn’t have much time to do recon in my neighborhood to see exactly how we could replicate this workout but I had some vague ideas of what was around.

After some hellos and virtually no disclaimer…, sorry lots going on in my head at the time and no one was listening to me anyways since it was so informal, we did a long mosey through the neighborhood trail and found a deep, steep hill to attempt some hills with Krakens at the top. This was a quick Omaha since the hill was not “flat” at all….. and you could barely find any footing. So instead we did laps around the gazebo and did 5 Krakens, then 4, 3, 2, and finally 1. This was simply labeled ‘The Deep’

Next we ran all the way back to the clubhouse for some ‘F3 Baseball’. Seems I have not spent much time, if any, on a baseball diamond so our diamond was much much larger than I’m told it’s supposed to be. One pair of PAX would run a lap around the clubhouse and pool while the rest did an exercise at the current “plate”. All pairs had to finish a lap before moving on to the next “plate”. This was a lot of merkins…

Home – Merkins
First – Squats
Second – LBCs
Third – SSHs

Something I added in to the mix, my neighborhood is redoing the mulch on the playground so I offered to move a couple of pallets of mulch from the parking lot =)

We then did a few hundred feet or bear crawl to get back to home plate.

Last thing on the original backblast ‘Walk the Plank’. This needed some modifying because I’m not sure what a front plank is, when there was also a pushup plank and a forearm plank on the list. Either way, we started in plank for :30 rotated up on one side for :30 rotated to the back for :30, other side for :30, then forearm for :30. This was definitely pushing the limit, which means it was the perfect time for 5 burpees to finish things off.

Name-o-rama
Announcements
Prayers/Praises and a super long 2nd F in the parking lot afterwards. YHC had a blast on this one everyone. This is the real reason I keep posting.

P.S. Jedi could not stop laughing the whole night. Also, be warned if you ever ask him about a Doctor in Paraguay.

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