WARMUP:
Slight mosey
Moroccan Night Clubs
Merkins
THE THANG:
Coors Light BOP
MARY: Check the BOP
ANNOUNCEMENTS: There’s stuff going on somewhere
COT: Grateful for life and loved ones
2 Pax showed post-Super Bowl (Rams defeated the Bengals). Destiny was on the Q-roster, but not present. Hopefully he just had too many wings watching the game. Miss getting to see that HIM in the gloom.
After some mumble chatter about going back home, we warmed up literally and figuratively.
– IW
– HW
– Windmill
– Shoulder Taps
– HUMANE BURPEE (15 swings, 5 merkins, 5 goblet squats, 15 swings, 4 merkins, 4 goblet squats, etc.)
Then we ran through some sequences. Among the work was:
Swings (one hand & two hand)
High Pulls
Plank Rows
Curls
Clean & Press
Push Press
Tricep Extension
Flutters
Chest Press
Burpee Snatch
Snatch
About 15 min in, Smokey and Sugarbug drove up in the coordinating Jeeps. Good thing we stayed with the workout initially. I hate to leave another guy hanging in the gloom.
Once our number was 4, we started rotating the who called exercises.
NMM:
Don’t quit. It ain’t over, ’till we say it’s over.
Prayers for:
Shatner’s Niece
Shatner’s Knees
Liquidate’s little girl undergoing surgery in Boston
—
Band Camp dismissed
9 PAX for some Q school
Esso hit on the 5 core principles that every F3 workout shares.
Then YHC took over
Warm-up
We reviewed counting in cadence
– Next exercise is:
– Starting positions MOVE
– In cadence:
– EXERCISE, 1, 2, 3….
Then we had some PAX work on counting in cadence with various exercises. We worked it like an actor on stage calling for their lines. I fed them the 4 lines and they took off. Occasionally we adjusted for some correction or pointers, but these PAX can lead!
We had folks count: SSH and Merkins more than once (gotta practice). Then I encouraged them to learn to call 6-count Burpees in cadence for when they need to quiet the mumblechatter down.
Then we moved over to the Thang:
Written on the pavement was:
Overhead Press
Tricep Extension
Merkin on the bell
Skull Crusher
Lawnmover pulls
Initially I discussed the importance of having a list of exercises (weinke) written down to rely on. Doens’t have to be on the ground. Could be on a piece cardboard, index card in your pocket, back of a 12 pack, or sharpie on your arm: it is helpful to have your notes with you.
The first set we did 10 of each then planked up for a discussion.
Then we did 10 more of each and planked back up. When you’re actively resting between sets in a plank, it’s often a good time to share a message. F3 has THREE Fs!! If you’re just working to accelerate the 1st F, use the opportunity to Q as a moment to reflect and share how you’re doing on the other 2Fs. Think about 2nd F with your family, or your 3rd F as where you are on your faith journey.
In the gloom, PAX can see how fit you’re getting. But how fit are you to be a father, spouse, partner, friend, son, colleague, boss, communicator, facilitator, supporter…? How fit is your mind and spirit? How are you working to accelerate there? Be encouraged to bring some message, no matter how brief.
Then I called 10 more of these, and followed that round by immediately calling 20. This FINALLY got some PAX to balk and protest. Every one of these exercises was arm heavy, this is a POORLY PLANNED set of exercises.
We moved over to another bit of chalk on the ground:
Manmakers 1
Snatch 5
Merkins 10
Lunge 16
Flutter 20
This set allowed us to focus more on the entire body rather than just working one set of muscles to exhaustion and encouraging bad form or injury. It also steps things up as part of the weinke rather than relying on the Q to call reps.
YHC discussed using this a set with holding Al Gore between rounds to keep PAX together. Or possibly having a loop distance to run and allow PAX to more at their own pace. I like to keep everyone together and help exhort the PAX to move to the next exercise or finish their current reps. If you’re concerned about your fitness level or your speed relative to other PAX. Setting up a list of exercises and a loop distance between rounds allows the rabbits to move like rabbits and the Clydesdales to move like Clydesdales. It can even encourage more 2nd F as guys pair up or group up to work together. Maybe as the Q you choose to group with a newer guy or stay with the six to encourage guys as they’re accelerating.
We then moved to the final set of chalk on the ground. I’d paired up some exercises and then listed a mode of transportation. We were running low on time, so I gave the heads up to overprepare the weinke, and be willing to adapt and adjust. You’ve sometimes got to modify up or down (especially considering run distance) based on the PAX present, or you’ve got to cut when you’ve over planned.
So we just did:
Swings 20
Merkins 20
Bear Crawl – Crawl Bear from one island to another
Single Leg Deadlift 10
Manmakers 10
Sprint the parking lot and back
We returned to COT at 5:56 for some Mary (only one minute behind my schedule)
I had PAX practicing calling some Mary in a circle. For the newer PAX, I encouraged them to just call the same exercise the guy before did. You don’t have to think of something brand new to lead. In fact, it’s hilarious (to me) when we get a string of guys that all call Flutters and everyone is grumbling. Sometimes it’s the Qs job to silence mumblechatter, and sometimes you want to encourage it!
Hope the Q-school session was helpful and/or this backblast is useful for someone planning their next KB workout.
One last point with the kettlebells, form is important. If you don’t feel comfortable with an exercise DON’T call it. If you can’t DO IT, don’t Q IT! Or if you do want to do it anyway and aren’t sure, call/text Tesh the night before to make sure he posts. Then ask him to demonstrate. (that’s what I do. you’re welcome)
—
Band Camp dismissed
9 Stallions greeted October at the Ranch for a Bootcamp and were joined by 2 Ruckers at COT.
The Thang:
Mosey to Square Field for Warm Up
Mosey to Middle School Back Parking Lot
Bearpees – Jack Webb Burpee 1×4 Bear Crawl
Escalator. One exercise with prescribed count (IC), run the full lot and back
Paula Abdul – 5 Burpees, Run Forward 3 Spots, Back 1 the length of the Parking Lot
Mosey around to back of School for Inchworm Merkins for length of the first building.
Mosey to Middle School Pickup Line for Merkin Gassers. Set of 10 of each followed by Gassers to each speed bump and back.
Indian Run back to start for 6MOM and COT
Announcements: Read your Newsletter.
Honor to Serve.
I’ve been reading a handful of books these days, and one phrase that has stuck within my mind (as well as my SL) is #StayHard. It has pushed me through the mindset of “I can’t do this” or “I shouldn’t do this.” How many times have we told ourselves that? My question for the PAX today was this: will you stay hard?
And with that, we moseyed.
Iteration 1 – Bus Loop Hill Elevens
Nur up grass hill
Run down grass hill
Bobby Hurleys at the top, CDD’s at the bottom.
Mosey around back of school to playground, switchbacking through the parking lot as we travel.
Iteration 2 – Playground Circuit
10 – 8 – 6 – 4 – 2
Pull Ups
20 – 15 – 10 – 5
Burpees – Merkins – Squats – Lunge Walk – Dips
Do one round of pull-ups, then one round of the BMSLD’s. Drop the count, repeat. Work your way down to the end.
Low plank in wait for the six between each round.
Mosey to front soccer field in a roundabout fashion.
Iteration 3 – Soccer Field Bear Crawl CMIYC
P1 Bear Crawls while partner Bomb Jacks, mosey to partner and flap jack.
5 Bomb jacks each round, 5 rounds total. It was just enough for a full out and back between goals.
Mary
20 x WWI Sit Up
10 x Gas Pumpers w/arms raised
10 x Crunchy Frog
‘Twas a wonderful beatdown that encouraged heavy breathing and sore body parts. 2.4 miles traveled in total. The men put in the work, and it was good. Remember when you’re feeling weak or sore, you can still push through your mental barriers. Stay hard.
Announcements
FIA Marathon – Support them any way you can!
Chikin N Wizdom Zoom tomorrow morning, 0630 – 0715 w/Straight Up!
Prayer Requests
Ruby Slippers’ co-coaches son, Levi, having seizures more often than usual – pray for this bout of his epilepsy to subside.
Those who are isolated due to COVID, in and out of medical facilities.
Cake Boss’ injury and being on IR.
Geronimo’s job search.
Thanks Ruby Slippers for scheduling me literally three months ago! Felt like forever, but YHC still didn’t have the weinke built until last night… hope y’all enjoyed it.
Punch List out.
As always, love having the opportunity to lead.
Today, kettlebells at The Snake Pit…
15 HIM looking to work hard came out for the latest edition of what I would like to characterize as a solid beatdown, most others would call stupidity.
Off we went. Hold up – I broke the cardinal rule of disclaiming the disclaimer…and what was worse, we had an FNG. Fear not, we have a astute bunch that quickly pounced on the oversight. So I disclaimed the disclaimer and we were off – for reals this time.
For those who have not participated in a SoD beatdown, running with the bells in commonplace. We mosey’d to the top of the hill, next to the football stadium, to collect the 6 and begin our warm-ups.
A cocktail of warm-up exercises including SSHs, windmills, imperial walkers, planks, and mountain climbers were served up over several stations as we made our way down the hill to the main event.
At the bottom of the hill, we found ourselves at the base of different hill perfectly suited to run up and down (with the bell). This was the main event…
Rotating through the exercises, the PAX were instructed to perform and 1 exercise at the bottom of the hill, run to the top, perform a different exercise, run back to the bottom, and then rinse and repeat with the next exercise.
Bottom:
(1)Plank Rows w/ merkin, (2) Curl into O/H Press, (3) O/H Press into Tricep Extension – all with the bell
Top:
(1) Box Jumps, (2) Step Ups, (3) Calf Raises – all with the bell
Once the PAX completed 3 sets 9 times up and down the hill, some additional upper body and leg work was completed (going up and down the hill), followed by a few “jail break” sprints back up the hill.
With several minutes left before COT, the PAX mosey’d their way back up the original hill to the reward of body destroyers until COT.
Count-o-Rama, Name-o-Rama, FNG Name:(Gilligan), Announcements, Prayers/Praises, Closing Prayer
As always, great to lead this group of HIM – everyone challenged themselves and put in some nice work this morning.
Just a heads up that this BB will be low on words (atypical for me) but hopefully, motivating for you to go try this.
Here’s the deal, simple yet effective was my intent today. For those that did the Bert at Honey Badger yesterday, this was a good round 2. The deck of cards entered my arsenal roughly 5 years ago and it’s been several months since they’ve made their way out to the gloom. That ended today.
14 men showed up today with the “threat” of rain (we had 2 ruckers join us at the end for COT).
Seeing a few new faces, check.
Disclaimer, check.
Mosey some distance making our way to a parking lot for a few warm-up activities.
Mosey to another parking lot in an effort to keep our voices from carrying over to “the house.”
For those not aware how this goes, each suit represents an exercise. Each number represents the number of reps 2-10. Jacks=11, Queens=12, Kings=13, Aces=14.
4 Jokers = 25 4ct Flutters
Diamonds = Mountain Climbers
Clubs = Jump Squats
Spades = Diamond Merkins
Hearts = 8ct Burpees
That totals (100) 4ct flutters and 104 each of the other exercises.
Until next time
SYITG
Maximus
8 pax came out for my first Q at block party and 2 Ruckers.
Started out with a lap around WEP, followed by COP. COP included Moroccan night clubs, squats, mountain climbers, cherry pickers, etc.
The Thang
YHC came with index cards, each with an exercise with a number in a different language.
Pax guessed the language, number and exercise, and we completed the guess.
We then completed the correct exercise, if guessed incorrectly.
For each incorrect answer pax had 5 burpees, and for good measure, we ran the hill after each turn.
Thanks Bobber for the opportunity. Great AO that I will definitely be back to.
Always good to Q especially a location that I was former site Q at. Start with a nice disclaimer and let everyone know they showed up to the best and hardest workout of the day in The Fort.
Mosey around school grounds at a brisk pace. Warmup 20 SSH, 20 merkins, 20 flutters repeat.
Mosey to pullup bars
5 pullups-20 big boys
4 pullups- 16 big boy
3 pullups- 12 big boy
2 pullups- 8 big boy
1 pullup- 4 big oy
work back up the ladder.
Mosey to bus parking partner up Wheel barrow around parking lot when you switch 5 bomb jacks each.
Mosey to wall Balls to wall/ chair sit with shoulder presses x’s 3 sets each
Mosey to benches 15 derkins, 15 box jumps, 15 dips
set 2 10 of each
set 3 5 of each
Mosey to COT
Announcements, Prayers, Praises
Keep everyone safe and injury free.
Keep praying for Cash.
Backdraft out…
After rescheduling this too many times due to conflicts, able to finally Q at this fine establishment. Special guest Partnerwork who’s kind of a big deal showed up. Gave the obligatory disclosure and we were off.
To get the blood flowing, began with a kettle bell mosey down to the lower entrance of the football field.
Warm up IN cadence:
Quick recovery and Partnerwork opened the gates with the keys to the castle. Questions about a random tire placed by gate arose but was ignored.
The Thang
Line up at the goal line to explain the objective. Carry your kettlebell every 10 yards and execute number of corresponding reps to the end zone. Cyclops pointed out this is a reverse pyramid.
Checking time, needed to call a few audibles.
Lined up on goal line for next field round.
Quarter Pounder
With time running out, decided to head back to COT but with a bonus. Inspired by Geronimo’s Q at Laces In, decided we should Indian run with our kettle bells with leader also carrying tire. It was met with enthusiasm.
Reached COT with a few minutes to spare, MARY Ab workouts in cadence until time.
Announcements: Thanksgiving convergence, Christmas party
Prayers/Praises: health, unspokens, upcoming travel
Thanks to Partnerwork for the field access , 3D for the opportunity, and the wisdom of other PAX for this junior Q.