A not So slow Burn

There was perfect weather for 29 PAX that came out for YHC third Q. I wasn’t feeling extremely confident because my first two attempts at Qing were less than stellar and this was a large turnout. After spending some quality time earlier this week coming up with what I thought would be a not-so-moderate workout I took a deep breath, said a little prayer and got busy.

The Thang

We started promptly at 5:15 with a welcome to my first FNG, the disclaimer and then we moseyed down the hill to the parking lot across from Lowe’s for some stretching.

COP:

Broga (toe touches, elbow lifts, leg stretches)

Hillbilly walkers x 25

Cherry pickers x 15

Windmills x 15

Moroccan night clubs x 25

Side straddle hops x 25

Burpees x 5

After the warmup was done we moseyed to the parking lot behind Lowe’s where the real fun began. We partnered up and started with a round of Dora 1-2-3s.

Parking lot runs and….

100 Merkins

200 LBCs

300 Overhead claps

We threw in an extra parking lot run for good luck and knocked out another 5 burpees before moseying to the parking lot in front of Empire Pizza.

COP:

Imperial walkers x 20

Low slow squats x 25

Hello dollies x 25

Burpees x 5

Moseyed back for CoT and had a little time to fit in 25 American hammers, 20 monkey humpers and more broga before calling it quits.

CoT:

Count-o-rama

Name-o-rama

FNG – My coworker and good friend, Gary Del Toro, was welcomed and almost immediately dubbed “Strawberry” because of the Mets t-shirt he was wearing. Later in the morning at work he said he really enjoyed meeting everyone and definitely planned on coming back.

Announcements

Praises and Prayer Requests

It was a great group of HIMs that definitely made me stronger mentally and physically, I hope I returned the favor. Thanks Smithers for the chance to lead!!

Barney Fife

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Moderately Crabby

Thanks to Smithers for allowing me to lead this morning.  23 HIMs started with the disclaimer and then took a little twist on the mosey down the hill to the back side of Lowes for the warm-up and beat down. Two lines formed up at the shovel flag and proceeded to Blacksnake all the way to the warm-up.  It was noted that surprisingly no one was injured bobbing and weaving while running in a line.

The Warm-Up was short and sweet to get the muscles ready and not tired.

  • Brisk 25 SSH
  • 25 Moroccan Night Club
  • 20 Imperial Walkers

The familiar Burpees that are often limited or lost at Slow Burn were tweaked slightly to provide a little 4×4 action!

Immediately following the 4x4s, we jumped right into a round Batwings.  All to a 4-count cadence:

  • 20 Forward Arm Circles
  • 20 Reverse Arm Circles
  • 20 Seal Claps
  • 20 Overhead Claps

After the shoulders were smoked, we met up along the wall of Lowes facing the side parking lot.  Everyone partnered up for some 123’s with a rotating exercise for the traveling partner. The partners completed their 100 Merkins, 200 LBC’s and 300 Squats while crossing the parking lot performing either Bear Crawls, Crab Walks, Lunge Walks, or Toe-Walks.  The parking lot had 3 distinct rows of spaces along each PAX to determine the length of their crawls or walks.

Following the 123’s we circled up for a bit of core work; Abs and Back.  I thought it was important to incorporate the most often forgotten part of the core.  This is where the real “crabbing” started among the PAX.  All exercises done in cadence:

  • 20 Crab Cake
  • 20 Crunchy Frog
  • 20 Crab Humpers
  • 20 American Hammers
  • 20 Crab Jacks
  • 20 Big Boy Sit Ups
  • 20 Mountain Climbers
  • 15 Merkins done with several pauses at 6″

The PAX moseyed its way back up to the top at their own pace in preparation for COT

At COT, the origin stories for  a couple of PAX were shared so that we can all get to know one another a little better.

Great work from all the HIMs who pushed through some serious shoulder exercises and goofy crab work.

 

MOAB…out

 

 

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The Hive_Friday Leg Day for A$$kickin April

A$$kickin April rolled into The Hive this Friday and it was a gorgeous day indeed.

Tesh was nowhere to be found and YHC got the call to the bullpen to Q, so I jumped at the opportunity.

  • Warm up
  • We did a bunch of Leg exercises with Kettle-bells and ended with 100 calf raises
  • Kettle-bell suicides between stations

During the workout it was like the two old Muppets in the balcony, listening to Spitz and Lugnut discuss the dark side of the moon. Not the Pink Floyd album but the actual moon and if its visible…..no idea where that was going or coming from.

  • Prayers for many dealing with health concerns
  • Prayers for kids going to prom this weekend
  • Prayers for Badger and all PAX going through tough times of life

Our worthiness is not what we should focus on when in need or struggling but rather the Love of God and his son. The fact that even in our mess, he gave it all for us….which proves we are WORTHY!

CB out!

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CSPAN Returns to The Coop for flutter kick freenzy

Perfect weather and 52 degrees

disclaimer in detail because we had 2 FNGs (T-claps Paul Bunyon and Sasquatch)

and we were off

mosey around until I got tired…

Warmup-O-Rama

Mosey around until I got tired…

Some abs and some core

Mosey around until I got tired…

partner up – 3 rounds of flutter, squats, and LBC while your partner ran the parking loop

Mosey until I got tired…

Same partner 4 rounds flutter kicks and pull-ups

Mosey until I got tired…

10 flying squirrel countdown with sets of 10 flutter kicks…

and I ran out of time…

COT/prayer or praise/BOM

welcome Llama and Puppy…weird that they were both animal names today…?

read your newsletter, and make a difference today, and my abs still don’t look Tesh…

AYE!

CSPAN

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Last Minute Q at Footloose with a promise of no stairs

So I took the Q at the last minute to help out Beacon, and during the initial twitter planning there was a request made for no stairs, so I decided to make today’s beat down leg friendly in the event any P200 guys were going to post.

So we started out with a quick disclaimer, and then a short mosey to the entrance on the left side of the church where we circled up for a warm-up:

  • SSH’s in cadence – 25
  • Overhead hand claps in cadence – 25
  • Windmill in cadence – 10
  • Moroccan Nightclubs in cadence – 25
  • Cherry Pickers in cadence – 10

Mosey to the back lot under the overhang for the start of the main course

  • LBC’s in cadence – 15
  • Flutter Kicks in Cadence – 25
  • Boat/Canoe single count – 10

A quick discussion on the word of the month (Abide).  We discussed how one of the critical components to being able to abide in something is trust.  Then once the trust is established we need to relinquish control and trust in whom we abide (specifically in Christ)

Rinse and Repeat

Took a quick mosey around the parking lot, then over to the wall for some People’s Chair

  • Each PAX popped out of the chair for 3 strong burpees, starting at both ends and working to the center

Around the corner for some more core work:

  • Hello Dolly’s in cadence – 20
  • Freddy Mercury in cadence – 20
  • Big Boy Sit-ups single count – 10
  • American Hammer in cadence – 20

Back around the corner for some more People’s Chair

  • Each PAX popped out of the chair for three strong bombjacks, starting at both ends and working to the center.

A quick on the spot question to Lugnut asking how he got his name and what F3 has meant to him, then back around the corner for some upper body work:

  • Merkins in cadence – 10
  • Diamond Merkins in cadence – 10
  • Carolina Dry Docks in cadence – 10
  • Wide arm Merkins in cadence – 10

Rinse and Repeat

Mosey around the parking lot and back to under the overhang.  Another quick on the spot question to Spitz asking how he got his name and what F3 has meant to him, then a lightning round of core work:

  • LBC’s in cadence – 15
  • Flutter Kicks in Cadence – 20
  • Hello Dolly’s in cadence – 20

Mosey back to COT for a bit of stretching lead by Kilbasa

Done.  All that planning for a P200 friendly workout and the only one remotely interested was Anchorman who started training for the P200 today 😉

Smithers – Out

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The Big Event – Shovel Flag Handoff

So the hype has been great, and the STRONG showing this morning proved it has value!  26 HIM’s all came out on what was a pretty cold 48 degree March morning (that WIND).

This was not an ordinary workout.  Barry Manilow was handing over the shovel flag to YHC, as I was stepping into the role of Site Q for Slow Burn.  Barry started the workout for the first half, and then we handed off the Q to me for the last half.

I’ll do my best to get Barry’s portion right:

Mosey all the way down to the far side of Lowes and circle up for the following:

  • OH Hand Claps 10x
  • Moroccan Nightclubs 10x
  • LBC 10x
  • Imperial Walker 10x
  • Travolta 10x
  • Dying Cockroach 10x
  • Hillbilly Walker 10x
  • HR Merkins 15x

Mosey to the Triangle Lot

  • Moroccan Nightclubs 10x
  • OH Hand Claps 10x
  • Grave Digger 7×2
  • Squat 10x
  • Mak Tai Jai 10x
  • Knee Tai Jai 10x
  • Calf Raise Regular 10x
  • Calf Raise Toes Out 10x
  • Calf Raise Toes In 10x

Mosey back to the side of Lowes

  • Wall Sit with Pop Out Burpees
  • Bear Crawl/Toy Soldier to the second island and back
  • Wall Sit with Pop Out Burpees

The official Q Handoff….Barry Manilow Done, Smithers is up…

Mosey back to the Triangle Lot for 4 corners, circle up and count off in 4’s

Three different rounds at each corner station.  Finish one round and rotate to the next corner.  Once returning to where you started, perform the next round’s exercises.  The Rounds looked like this:

Round 1:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 30 LBC’s in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 20 Carolina Dry Docks in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 30 SSH’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 20 Low Slow Squats in Cadence

Round 2:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 15 Flutters in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 15 Shoulder Taps in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 15 Peter Parker’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 15 Calf Raises in Cadence

Round 3:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 15 Wheezy Jefferson’s in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 30 OH Hand Claps in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 15 Imperial Walker’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 15 Jump Squats OYO

Mosey back to COT

Countoff (26), Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Prayers, and the Shovel Flag Handoff!

I’m really looking forward to this opportunity as Site Q for Slow Burn.  I will do my best to keep the Q schedule full and diverse, remember it’s a moderate site, but challenge us to push it just a bit more than comfortable (and beyond).

Smithers…Out

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The Baby Yeti

It was a beautiful morning…not too warm, not too cold, a bit breezy, and a bit of a foggy gloom.  Perfect!

Attendance was light…but today was The Yeti CSAUP.  In honor of all those men running in the main attraction for the day, we did a Baby Yeti at The Yard

We started out with a mosey around the back of the school for the following warmup:

  • 15 SSH’s
  • 15 Imperial Walkers
  • 15 Moroccan Nightclubs
  • 10 Windmills

Off we went on another mosey, continuing around the property towards the bus entrance.  We stopped at the bottom of the hill and partnered up.  The first partner would run to the top of the hill, two light poles away, while the other performed a series of exercises.  Those exercises were as follows:

  • Wide Arm Merkins
  • Squats
  • Shoulder Taps
  • Monkey Humpers

We talked a bit about the word(s) of the month, worry/anxiety and how it makes us feel.  Then, after the talking portion of this program, In true Yeti style, off we went with another mosey to our next pain station for more of the same type of thang, just with the following exercises:

  • LBC’s
  • Carolina Dry Docks
  • Hand Release Merkins
  • Overhead Hand Claps

We had a little time for Short Sale to share ways he tries to fight the worry/anxiety of this world…Then we were back on the run again…to a super secret hideaway in the woods that my 2.2 (she attends Fort Mill Elementary) told me about.  At the top of a little known set of wooden stairs, up into a clearing in the woods you will find BENCHES!  They are perfect for dips, irkins, and derkins.  So we ran the following circuit:

  • 10 Dips, Double Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Irkins, Single Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Derkins, Single Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Count
  • 20 Dips, Double Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Irkins, Single Count, in Cadence (Was supposed to be 20, but these guys were spent)
  • 10 Derkins, Single Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Count
  • 10 Dips, Double Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Irkins, Single Count in Cadence

Then we headed back to COT for some stretching.  It was something that Stang did at the END of the workout the day before at Slow Burn, and it was very well received.  I’m thinking of incorporating that into my Q’s as I see real value in it.

Thanks to Short Sale, Spitz, and Lugnut for coming out this morning.  It was literally the first workout I have Q’d with only Respectible’s in attendance…and boy do I respect them!  As for me…#norespect

Smithers….OUT

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Be Still

18 pax posted ’round the Shovel Flag at Slow Burn for some usual Fri 1st F and 2nd F engagement. Well, at launch, we actually had 17 pax and reports of an 18th enroute.   Disclaimer was proclaimed.  February theme of #Worry was noted and the pax were informed that YHC would not disrupt the the Slow Burn rhythm of #moderation and #mumblechatter, though this adventure would force them to talk out their worries.  With that, we launched.

The Thang

Warm up run around CFA through Drive Thru lane

Karaoke lap around CFA through Drive Thru lane

COP alongside CFA — SSHs, Hillbilly walkers, Imperial walkers, Mtn climbers, Windmills

Lugnut posted at this point, so we moseyed on down to the parking lot between the retail strip and Lowes

10 strong form burpees OYO (requested by Twister)

SSH

10 strong form burpees OYO

Partner up to complete all exercises together and talk out your anxieties/worries
Round 1: Merkins x5 + Squats x20, Merkins x10 + Squats x15, Merkins x15 + Squats x10, Merkins x20 + Squats x5
Round 2: CDDs x20 + Bombjacks x5CDDs x15 + Bombjacks x10CDDs x10 + Bombjacks x15CDDs x5 + Bombjacks x20
Round 3: Partner legthrows x20 + LBC x5, Partner legthrows x15 + LBC x10, Partner legthrows x10 + LBC x15, Partner legthrows x5 + LBC x20

Line up along curb

Bear crawl to center parking line, sprint to other side, jog back
(Rinse and repeat for 3 total cycles)

Run home

COT

NMM

Slow Burn has such a great vibe.  It’s always a treat to Q at that AO — it’s Fri, plenty of energy, plenty of mumblechatter, guys looking out for each other and challenging each other, great 1st and 2nd F warm-up for 3rd F experience at CnW afterward.  S/O to Hard Drive for launching it and to Barry Manilow for continuing to carry the torch.  Well done!

As the pax gathered, it appeared Spitz would be the last one in…until he made it to the circle and alerted the crowd that Lugnut was still inbound.  Glad we were able to get him onboard before departure.

I kept the Weinke in the moderate zone, and there were plenty of breaks to discuss Worry and Anxiety.  Somehow I awoke on Sat with a little soreness in spots, so clearly my fitness level needs some attention.

Thanks to pax for engaging fully in dialog and sharing re personal anxieties.  If you haven’t read Chicken Hawk’s February theme one pager, take a look here.

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)   This has become one of my go-to verses in times of worry and anxiety.  I could go on forever about worry/anxiety…I’m closer friends with those two than I ever thought I was or wanted to be.  But when I leave it all in God’s hands and just allow myself to “BE,” I mostly come to realize that (a) my worry is worthless, (b) it’s mostly CREATED by me and (c) it’s too much ABOUT me.  There are many ways to turn this verse into a meditative prayer that cuts through anxiety.  Here’s one:

Be still and know that I am GOD
Be still and know that I AM God…
Be still and know that I am God…
Be still and know THAT I am God…
Be still and KNOW that I am God…
Be still AND know that I am God…
Be STILL and know that I am God…
BE still and know that I am God.

Here’s another:

Be still and know that I am God…
Be still and know that I am… 
Be still and know that I…
Be still and know that…
Be still and know…
Be still and…
Be still…
Be.

Try ’em and let me know what you discover.

Thanks to Barry Manilow for the chance to lead.  Always an honor.

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Read directions and go…

Short mosey over to band practice parking lot with some high knees, butt kickers, and high skipping.  Next we circled up for the following warm-up:

  • SSH, Imperial walkers, cherry picker, mountain climbers, Moroccan night club, hillbilly walker
  • Stretching – downward dog, honeymooner, sitting down with knee up pressing elbow on knee to stretch your back, and last we laid on our backs and pulled knees to chest

Then on to the fun.  Staying on the practice field parking lot, we had 2 sets of activities spaced out 40 yards.  One station had cinder blocks for us to play with.  We split into 2 groups where the goal was to perform the first exercise on the list (some OYO and some in cadence) then run the 40 yards to the other set of activities starting at the top of the list, performing that exercise, then back to station 1, etc.

Station 1 – w/ blocks

5 Block shoulder press (x2)

10 Lunges (10 each leg) with block

20 Curls

30 Dips on block

40 American hammer with block (single count)

50 LBC

60 Ski jumps

60 Calf raises

50 Plank jacks

40 Squats with block

30 Bench press

20 Row with block

10 Merkins using block alternating arm (10 / arm)

5 Plank alternating shoulder taps (5 each)

 

Station 2 – no blocks

5 Burpee

10 Diamond merkins

20 Knee to chest jumps

30 Mountain climbers

40 Monkey humpers

50 Seal jacks

60 SSH

60 Moroccan night club

50 Shoulder presses

40 Crab cakes

30 Flutters

20 Flying squirrel

10 Durkin (get partner to put feet on back)

5 Dive bombers

 

Wrapped up and mosey’d back to COT and met up with #lacesout group.  We all had the pleasure of having FNG – Gilligan join us from Florida.  Thanks Pusher for dragging him out!  Had a great time and glad we made it through all exercises with no PAX left behind!

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A Primer on The Mission and Principles of F3 served with a side of pain.

Another day at The Ballroom dawned clear, cold and windy. Kept the Shovel Flag in the trunk for fear it would be blown away. Excellent mixture of veteran and new pax were ready to get warmed up and take on the Weinke. Think that we got some Pax scared away from Jedi’s Q at Golden Corral.

Mosey around the school for  COP:

  • Windmill* 10
  • IW * 15
  • SSH * 20
  • Merkin * 10
  • Squats * 15
  • Plank-O-rama
  • DIAMOND MERKINS *10

Mosey to hill between PKES and PKMS. Word on the Misssion of F3: For our NEWER PAX: WHAT IS THE MISSION OF F3? PLANT, GROW AND SERVE MEN’S SMALL WORKOUT GROUPS FOR THE INVIGORATION OF MALE COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP.  The Nation is here to serve the Pax not the other way around.

Partner up FOR MODIFIED DORA 1,2,3

P1 RUNS TO TOP OF HILL, P2 DOES EXERCISE

54 Donkey Kicks TOGETHER with your Paartner, 108 MERKINS, 216 LBCs, 324 SQUATS. PLANK ON THE 6

Mosey to wall- Word on the  Core Principles of F3:

  1. Free
  2. Open to Men of all ages, fitness levels
  3. Outdoors, rain or shine
  4. Peer Led
  5. Ends with a COT

Peoples Chair while each Pax does 5 Bombjacks. Mosey to field-partners do 20 leg throws, 20 cherry pickers, 20 Big Boy sit ups (ouch)

Circle up for some scorpion dry docks & Jack Webb.  Back to COT and a word on one of my favorite F3 themes- PROVERBS 27:17-AS IRON SHARPENS IRON, SO DOES ONE MAN SHARPEN ANOTHER.

The camaraderie and banter among the Pax today was great to experience. Never hurts to remind the group how this crazy thing called F3 came to be and, more importantly, what it stands for. Always a pleasure to lead even when the Q-drenaline means a night of fitful sleep.

This is Short Sale bidding you a pleasant adieu.

 

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