Cold and gloomy on the morning of 5 December. 2nd anniversary Q for YHC Porcelain. Pax: Hambone, Badboy, Pumpkin Spice, Preacher Man, Crawl Space, Right Said, Hi Viz, Reveille, Bicentennial Man, Trapper Keeper.
Kicked it off with a little Shovel flag run alike a drive by EH by Badboy. After encouragement by the the. Fiancé now M, Ashley, ultimately got me to join the Pax over two years ago at Titan. Knew I had to warmup the pax quick.
The thang: DID sprintsx2. Introduced these a few weeks ago off a T-cell DID fest. Sprint the Parthenon ellipse then 20 dip-15 incline merkins-10 decline merkins. May not have been clear on instructions as some got 3 sprints in. Indian run headfake to collect tables.
The thang: Table Chariots of Fire. We all know it’s not one of my workouts without some form of coupon. Indian run taller than man in front of you move forward to form two groups tall and short. 1 modify kept teams even at 5. Mosey with tables back to Parthenon. Moleskin: stations established at base of Parthenon (the house of Athena) and the suffragettes statue in honor of the M for encouraging me and continuing to do so.
Carries across ellipse between sets.
20 ground to overhead table team
30 overhead press table team
50 bent row table team stayed at Parthenon station
100 derkins total team (20 each)
125 leg raises total team (25 each)
150 step ups total team (30 each)
175 dips total team (35 each)
200 crunchy table frogs total team (40 each)
Had some additional Bulgarian split squats in mind but for time moved to return the table. Mosey to front of Parthenon for Mary.
Mary-circles up with pax for a pick you exercise. Made it about half way through before time.
Honored to lead the pax. Happy to see the lights with helicopter Santa up. He helped my wife and I get engaged. Glad to have all the pax in my life helping me grow in my relationship with my wife. Chariots of Fire scene was my teaser because both the M and I enjoy running. If you don’t run, you can’t win.
‘Tis the season for a variety of themed holiday parties, and not even the PAX of III Pillars could escape the UGLY SWEATER PARTY.
QIC: Princess Aurora
PAX: Boone’s Farm, En Fuego, Harbaugh, Life Champ
THE THANG:
After a little mosey over to and around the track, PAX hit midfield for the COP:
SSH x 100 IC
Squats x 20 IC
LBAC F/R x 20 IC
Good Mornings x 20 OYO
Mosey on down to the base of the hill for the festivities. PAX would complete the following circuit followed by a Bernie up the hill, 5 Burpees at the top, and return back to base to hold People’s Chair for the six:
Underhand Merkins x 10
Gorilla Humpers x 15
Lunges x 20 (10 ea)
Y-Raises x 25
RnR with two trips up the hill, then again with three.
Mosey with one last Bernie up the hill as we head to playground for Pull-Ups. Pulling PAX calls out an exercise for the group and completes AMRAP with good form. Rotate through all PAX. RnR with Pull-Ups x 5.
Make our way down to the stone circle at the drop-off point and grab some wall for:
Step-ups x 15 R/L
Dips x 20
Incline Slow Crossbody Mountain Climbers x 20
RnR subbing Irkins with alternating glute raises for the MCs then mosey back to the parking lot for COT/BOM.
MOLESKINE:
Solid group for a chilly morning and an admittedly last-minute Q. YHC had En Fuego’s Slack preview to thank. Hope the U.G.L.Y. Q lived up to the name! Also really appreciated some one-on-one coffeeteria with ol’ Boone’s Farm.
BULLHORN:
Christmas Day is a Tuesday. III Pillars has decided to let its people celebrate the day, though PAX are welcome to converge with Sir E should it happen. Otherwise, workouts will be OYO.
NYD Convergence will be at The Hill
This Friday is our last Friendly Friday of the year. Hit that FNG quota to close out 2018 strong!
5 PAX got better this morning at The Cow. 32 degrees and gloom factor was high as we shook off the weekend.
PAX: Toga, Backlash, Boone’s Farm, Black Widow
QIC: Umbrella
Mosey to the parking lot at Granny White Park.
WOR:
20 x SSH
10 x LBAC Forward
10 x Seal Clap
10 x Shoulder Press
10 x LBAC Reverse
10 x Good Morning
10 x WMH
10 x Cotton Pickers
10 x Tempo Merkins
10 x Tempo Squats
Thang:
Santa’s Ladder:
PAX Run 50 yard to building perform ladder down of below exercises. Each time you are perform that ladder number – “sprint” to starting point and back. Resume next rung on ladder. Ladder was as follows:
10 x Burpees
9 x Burpees
8 x Burpees
7 x Burpees
6 x Burpees
5 x Worst Merkin
4 x Worst Merkin
3 x Worst Merkin
2 x Worst Merkin
1 x Worst Merkin
RNR with descending ladder of:
Mountain Climber Merkins
Burpees
PAX mosey over to parking lot for parking lot suicide sprint as follows:
Sprint to first parallel parking line – 5 x squats – reverse mosey to start.
Sprint to next parallel parking line – 10 x squats – reverse mosey back.
PAX continued across parking lot increasing squats by 5 x each time and maxed out at 25. Always reverse mosey back.
Indian Run from Granny White Park back to BMS for quick Mary:
20 count Flutter Kick
20 count American Hammer
10 count Alabama Prom Date
Massive fail by the group to bring their YES gifts resulting in 18 burpee penalty. Toga only one to bring gift but still endured burpees with group.
Mumble chatter was high this am as PAX were not happy about RNR of Santa’s Ladder, but great effort put out by all.
COT with a brief recap of Dan Klein’s My 3:59 talk from Friday’s Leadership Lunch.
1’ Plank
10 Burpees
10 Man Makers
10 8 CT Body Builders
MARY:
Pistol LBCs
Flutter Kix
Speed Skaters (part of YHCs PT)
Time
NMM:
Small but hearty group for Hero WOD Laredo.
YHC shared the My3:59 concept in COT.
Prayers up as we are 9 days into Advent that we may humbly live and share the Story.
15 PAX shivered over to The Forge this morning to celebrate Christmas Vacation in the snow and cold.
But first… Preparty: A disappointed Little Miss Piggy and soggy CheezWhiz were bummed to discover no one had planned a preparty, so they made one up. It looked like lunges and toy soldier kicks.
PAX: Nimbus1500, CheezWhiz, Little Miss Piggy, Netflix, Two Star, NumbTucks, Show Me, Creeper, Tebow, Altidore, Typo+, MicDrop, TV Guide, Stats, RagDoll (QiC).
Today’s theme is the 1989 cinematic classic Christmas Vacation, and we’re gonna channel our inner Griswold for the hap-hap-happiest beatdown ever.
Mosey:
At 35 degrees with flurries flurrying we hit the pavement to the tune of the movie theme song. We keep it merry with a little winding and jolly zig zagging.
Warm Up:
Simple warm ups this AM. LBAC’s, forwards and backwards in cadence. Stretch out the legs with some cherry pickers, toe touches, and that move where you reach your arm all the way over your head and down your opposite leg towards your toes.
Ruby Sues:
Remember when Clark’s niece showed up and her eyes weren’t crossed anymore? “She falls down a well, eyes go crossed. She gets kicked by a mule, they go back to normal. I don’t know.”
We did about 10 Ruby Sues. They were kinda silly.
From standing position, fall down the well: Drop to the ground into a descended Merkin position.
Then get kicked by a mule: Rise to atomic position and do 4 mule kicks -(each leg straight back, 2x each).
Thang 1: Cut Down Your Christmas Tree
We gotta select the perfect Griswold family tree. Partner up and form a line. Here’s the routine.
First you give your tree some love. Both partners Al Gore for a 5 count.
Next you cut down your tree. Perform 10 Lumber-Plank-Jacks. That’s a Plank-Jack in diamond position (both arms together like the trunk of a tree). I know, it’s a stretch.
Finally you carry your tree back to the car. Partner 1 carries Partner 2 approx 20 yards then mosey back to starting line.
Flapjack this nonsense, alternating partner carries until Q calls time.
Thang 2: Griswold Family Dinner
Nothing could be quite as awkward and miserable as Christmas dinner with the Griswold’s … except maybe for bear crawling through this wet sludge. But it wouldn’t be complete without Snot the dog tearing across the dining table chasing a loose squirrel.
So here’s the routine. Partners form a line at one end of the parking lot and then:
Partner 1 bear crawls the width of the parking lot (approx 60 yards) while
Partner 2 runs like a dog the width of the lot and back, until he’s caught up with the bear crawling partner at which point they switch, and
Partner 2 continues bear crawling the width of the lot while
Partner 1 runs like a dog, the remaining width of the lot, back to the opposite side and finally back to his bear crawling partner.
Flapjack the above until partners have collectively bear crawled the entire width of the parking lot and back.
Rinse and repeat this family dinner, except swap bear crawls for lunges. Then a third time with crawl bear.
Round about this time we mosey towards the playground until we make a pit stop for…
Sally
This has nothing to do with Christmas. This has everything to do with giving our arms a break for 3 minutes and 26 seconds because we’re gonna need it.
To the song Flowers by Moby, starting from a squat position on every line “Bring Sally up”, rise to a stand, and on every line “Bring Sally down” lower back to a squat.
There’s more squats than stands, I’ll tell ya that right now. It’s good fun. Thanks Stats for the inspiration on this one.
Thang 3: 25 Days of Merkins
Upon passing through the playground fence, whence we PAX did so commence, a Merkin fest so ripe with pain we thought the Q had gone insane.
To ease the pain, between each 25-rep set of Merkin variations we recovered by recalling one of our favorite Christmas Vacation quotes.
25 Merkins
25 Army Crawl Merkins
25 Derkins
25 Spider-Man Merkins
25 Ranger Merkins
At this point Coach Numbtucks was in full force. Something about his grandma doing push-ups better than Tucker’s present form. Show Me lost his Christmas spirit. Netflix said he hated the Q.
We forge ahead…
25 Diamond Merkins
25 Merkin Jacks
25 Travoltas
With mutiny drawing nigh we moseyed back to the parking lot.
Nameorama / COT
Appreciate your prayers for my (RagDoll’s) family this week as we celebrate the life of my 93 year old Grandpa. We had a safe trip to Nebraska today following the workout and looking forward to some time with family.
Announcements
For those partaking in the Advent devotional, there’s a tentative coffeeshop discussion to chat about the book scheduled for the morning of December 20th (following workout at The Pound). Stay tuned for more details – NumbTucks on point.
Always a pleasure to lead you gentlemen. Thanks for hanging out this morning – see you soon!
9 were present for today’s cold and wet squaredance. @Bigstick, @Baggervance, @lifechamp, @hambone, @deepdish, @thejeweler,@pumpkinspice, @carebear, and me. We began with quick warm up of SSH, BAC, Willymays, Goodmornings, ImpWalkers and Hillbillies, and slow and low Merkins. Mozy around the outedge of park over to the mud filled soccer field. Turned right up the hill towards tennis courts and began.
The thang:
Derrick Henry scores 4 touchdowns on Thursday night. His number is 22. And because he’s such a beast of a man, I figured we could really only measure up to half of him. Half of 22 is 11. Get it?!
So, we performed 4 different exercises of 11’s (10 to 1 and 1 to 10)…with some audibles thrown in.
The first of the 11’s was a 40 yard run beginning with Merkins and ending with Squatjumps.
Then mozy thru tennis court to b-ball court. Begin 4 line suicide runs for an 11 count. At suicide #6 we ran to half court and back and full court, then proceed to end.
Quick break with wall sit to hear BV talk about Roger Bannisters sub four minute mile and the teamwork that it required to do so.
We then counted of into 3 teams of three for the next exercise. Mozied to outside corner of tennis courts.
Then began the following: one teammate was to run around the tennis courts while other two performed 11 exercises with a team count of 110 reps.
First exercise was merkins, then single leg squats, then LBC’s, then Carolina dry socks, then incline Merks, then dips, then slow and low squats, then fence grabbers, and finished with Burpees. I forgot two of the excerices.
We mozied over to the covered pavilion and did next 11 with Pull UPS and Leg Lifts whilst on the picnic table.
One-minute warning at 0529 was followed by a brief disclaimer at 0530 (and after which YHC heard mumblechatter from some PAX about its verbosity), and then a brief mosey along Greenway to open area near the small playground for Warm-a-rama:
SSH x 20
LBAC x 15
rLBAC x 15
WMH x 16
Slow and Low Squat x 20
Count off 1-4 then another Mosey through the neighborhood and re-entry to Bomber near the smaller baseball diamond for Thang 1.
THANG 1: Field of Dreams
4s at Home Plate do 15 Burpees
1s at First Base do AMRAP Squats
2s at Second Base do AMRAP Merkins
3s at Third Base do AMRAP Big Boy Sit-ups
When 4s as a group are done with Burpees, all bases advance via Bear Crawl and perform next move. Wash, rinse, repeat. End once 4s return home.
Mosey to benches near the Community Center for Thang 2.
THANG 2: Forties
Round 1:
30 Dips
10 Merkins
Followed by full lap around Community Center
Round 2:
25 Dips
15 Merkins
Another lap.
Five full rounds then planks until all have returned.
Circle up for THANG 3.
THANG 3: Circle Burps
YHC began by vocalizing “Down,” and all PAX performed Burpee. Moved clockwise along circle until all PAX have said, “Down” and we have performed as many Burpees as there are PAX.
Mosey back to parking lot area for 4MoM on our sixes:
Freddie Mercury x 15
American Hammers x 15
Boxcutters x 12
Flutter Kicks x 15
LBC x 15
Then, CoT for Count-a-rama, Name-a-rama, Sixth Man (Preacher Man), Announcements, Prayer Requests, and BoM, all followed by a heavily-attended coffeeteria.
MOLESKINE:
YHC must admit that he is humbled by the turnout today and equally humbled that he is granted the opportunity to lead this group of HIMs. Every time YHC takes the Q, YHC is positively transformed and the hope is that the PAX feel even the slightest bit of that same transformation.
Today’s lesson learned was YHC focused ever-so-slightly on upper body to the detriment of the lower body, but seeing as it’s not a Friendly Friday, can we just consider that a minor flaw?
BULLHORN:
Let’s get a few more Qs on the sign-up sheet! Deets on Slack. YHC is 100% willing to co-Q with anyone who hasn’t taken the Q yet.
Libeery on the 18th at 7:30pm at Fat Bottom. Book is Freed to Lead. Google it. It’s the well-written backstory of a men’s workout group that originated in Charlotte, NC. For more details, hit up Bicentennial Man on Slack.
4 PAX in Attendance: SoccerMom, BoyBand, BackLash & 3D (QiC)
BG Music provided by Tedashii, BlackSabbath, Foo Fighters, Colony House, Van Halen , Greta Van Fleet and others.
Warm-Up
Dancing Bear Pyramid: PAX perform 1 Merkin and then recover to perform 1 Dancing Bear (Andean Bear from Nashville Zoo on news…basically a jump squat and OHP). R&R going up until 10 & 10. Then back down the other side of the pyramid back to 1 each. Great way to get in 101 Merkins and OHP Jump Squats in ~6 minutes. Everyone warm? Good!
Whoops, YHC forgot something in my car, Imperial Walkers OYO until my return.
SJ IC x 10
BigACs x 5 Forward and Reverse
30 seconds GM OYO
Mosey to the Parking Garage and sprint up the ramp to floor 2
The Thang(s)
BearCrawl 11s Pyramid
Pax lined up in the parking lot for 10 Mountain Climber Merkins, Bear Crawled to a middle line for 1 War Hammer (a WW1 with a 4-count American Hammer at the top) Crawl Bear to a third line for 10 Iron Mikes. Pax then Bear Crawl to the middle line for one more War Hammer, Crawl Bear to first line. Plan is lowering reps at the end lines & increasing reps at the middle line. Audible called after round 1 to skip ahead to 6:1:6:1 for time’s sake.
Let’s Sprint the garage ramp again, shall we???? Got the Pax worried we were about to R&R the pyramid, but nope…more fun planned…
Lastly…that thing I forgot in my dash earlier:
The Deck of Death: 4 suits, 4 exercises. Do the number of reps on the card, all face cards are 10, Aces=11. Joker is 20 of Pax’s choice (mix & match or all of one). For today: ♥ = Iron Mikes (each leg = 1/2) ♠️= pull-ups ♣️= Burpees ♦️= WWIs
Everyone got multiple turns and for some reason the burpees were very under-represented, so YHC had to draw 10 to finish.
Down the stairsMosey to the Shovel Flag.
CoT/Numbers/Names
Moleskin
Make sure to sign up for Q slots for F3 F3nashville.com under Q Sign up (created a link in this sentence)
Shared a little about how there are no substitutes for getting up and making the right decision to post and work hard, but there is one situation where a substitute was absolutely necessary. Christ lived the life we could never live, died the death that we deserved, he rose back to life and now through Him in faith and repentance, we are loved by God. This is the real reason for Hope and Joy found in this Christmas season. Enjoy the rich words of Christmas Carols that proclaim this truth, and then get motivated to show up and work hard in all phases of life 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake, He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God”
Everyone is getting stronger, faster and better the more you post. GREAT WORK!
Good coffeeteria discussion re: first real jobs, BoyBand’s staying in Nashville since offered a contract at Vandy
Week One of the Winter Hillympics is in the books! See the end of the backblast for more details on scoring and some of the changes to this year’s competition. It’s not too late to come out – join us next week!
Today, we broke into three teams and got work done in beautiful 27 degree weather.
PAX:
Team Red – Yard Sale, Boy Band, Too Tall, Hot N Ready, Life Champ
Team White – Blood Clot, Umbrella, Frugal Macdoogal (QIC), Black Lung, Prevac
Team Blue – Tampa Libra, White Russian, Venus, Bagger Vance
Here’s what happened:
Disclaimer then mosey down to the amphitheater for WOR:
SSH x 12, GM x 12, WMH x 12, FBAC x 12, RBAC x 12, Overhead Claps x 12, Shoulder Press x 12, Seal Claps x 12, Imperial Walkers x 12
We divided into our three teams and grabbed a barbell with weight (65lbs. total) and the battle ropes.
Competition One: Curls
First team to complete 200 curls wins.
Additional rule: someone had to be doing the battle rope at all times – if the ropes were dropped then that team would have a -10 rep penalty on their curls. The rest of the team was rotating between wall sits and abs.
1st place (2 points) – White
2nd place (1 point) – Blue
3rd place – Red
Competition Two: Upright Rows
First team to complete 200 upright rows wins.
1st place (2 points) – White
2nd place (1 point) – Red
3rd place – Blue
Competition Three: Shoulder Press
First team to complete 200 shoulder presses wins.
1st place (2 points) – White
2nd place (1 point) – Red
3rd place – Blue
Competition Four: Squats
First team to complete 200 squats wins.
1st place (2 points) – Blue
2nd place (1 point) – Red
3rd place – White
Competition Five: Battle Rope
One representative from each team would do the battle rope as long as possible.
1st place (2 points) – Blue (Venus)
2nd place (1 point) – Red (Yard Sale)
3rd place – White (Frugal)
Return weights and then mosey to top lot for COT.
Reminders:
First Friday/Leadership Lunch tomorrow at Richland Country Club. Let Umbrella know TODAY if you’re in.
Bring a gift to next week’s workout to support YES. Check with Tampa Libra and slack for more details. Hillympics points awarded.
Great job today and look forward to the second annual Winter Hillympics!
Till Next Time,
Frugal Macdoogal
SCOREBOARD:
Red – 5
White – 7
Blue – 6
DETAILS ON THE WINTER HILLYMPICS:
The Winter Hillympics is a competition over the months of December and January to have fun, get better, and encourage attendance during the cold/bad weather time of the year. After talking with some of the PAX, we’ve made one big change this year – we’re going to have two separate competitions: Team and Individual. See below for those dates. Here’s the point system and a few more bits of information:
Points:
Competitions:
1st place: 2 points
2nd place: 1 point
3rd place: 0 points
Attendance (Team Competition):
75% or more of your team in attendance: 1 point
At least 50% of your team and temperature below 20 degrees: 1 point
At least 50% of your team and constant rain: 1 point
75% and temperature below 20 degrees: 2 points
75% and constant rain: 2 points
At least 50% of your team and snow on the ground: 2 points
At least 50% of your team and temperature below 10 degrees: 2 points
75% and snow on the ground: 3 points
75% and temperature below 10 degrees: 3 points
Additional Points (Team Competition):
Shovel Flag:
1 point per week if your team has a shovel flag.
YES Christmas Drive:
1 point for each person who brings in a toy/item for the YES Christmas drive to the workout on December 13 (max of 5 points per team).
Other Details:
The Team Competition will run for six weeks until January 10. This competition will be between 3 teams (Red, White, and Blue). PAX that were not at Week One will be placed on a team at their first post during the Hillympics.
On January 17, the Hill will converge at 413 Strong to support their new class.
The Individual Competition will run for two weeks on January 24 and 31 with a crowning of a Winter Hillympics champion.
