A Day of Celebrations

AO: bomber
Q: Firefox , Pole Dancer
PAX: Vector, Black Lung, Tim the Toolman, CubCadet, DintyMoore, Puzzlah, Pep, Poppa Lock
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: Arctic

WARMUP: Pole Dancer led us in some active warm-ups:
– 50 SSH
– A skips
– B skips
– Zombie walks

THE THANG: Pole Dancer and YHC could not decide which Feb. 21 national day to celebrate; so, we celebrated all of them.

Thang 1: Sticky Buns Day
To celebrate National Sticky Buns Day, YHC had us do a bit of leg and bun work. PAX did the following circuit as many times as they could within our allotted celebration time. Everyone finished 2, some were about done with their 3rd when we called time.
– Iron Mikes (20x/side)
– Bulgarian Split Squats (20x/side)
– Jump Squats (20x)
– Raised Alabama Prom Dates (20x, with feet elevated on a bench)
– Bear crawl around the circle behind McCabe

Thang 2: Grain-Free Day
To celebrate National Grain-Free Day, Pole Dancer had us do a number of exercises that looked familiar but were ultimately worse. After each set, we ran a bernie around the circle
– Navy Seal Burpees (merkin, knee tuck, merkin, knee tuck, merkin) – 25x (but many shortened to 20 because, wtf)
– Deep Squat Star Jumps – 25x
– Something else, I forget

Thang 3: Caregiver’s Day
To celebrate National Caregiver’s Day, YHC had us partner up. First 1 PAX did sit-ups while the other held feet in a high plank position. We did this for 50s and then swapped. We did 2 rotations of this and then switched to Partner Decline Merkins. 1 PAX held the feet of the other who did merkins for 50s and then swapped. 50s is a long time, y’all.

Thang 4: Boiled Peanuts Day
Pole Dancer was unfamiliar with boiled peanuts and other things we eat here in the South (if we’re not allergic to peanuts). He led us in a number of Southern-themed exercises, with a short jog to the parking lot in-between.
– Carolina Dry Docks
– Alabama Prom Dates
– Hello Dolly’s
– Ragin’ Cajuns (elbow-to-opposite knee crunches)

MOLESKINE:
– Definitely was fun collaborating with Pole Dancer on this!
– Much discussion of the Tomb Raider-esque amalgamation of YHC and Pole Dancer. Vector called it pornography.
– So cold.
– If you want to do a Co-Q mash-up with another of our respected brethren, send me a DM! We’ve got a couple others lined up for the spring.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Saturday Breakfast Q at Focker’s
– Game night next Friday
– Other things that are on the calendar

COT:
– Much gratitude

A Walk

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles
PAX: morning stār, Malibu, Étouffée, Stubs, Half Lyfe, Sooie
FNGs: None
COUNT: 7
CONDITIONS: 13 degrees

WARMUP: Ruck to pick up Malibu

THE THANG: Ruck for 2.5 miles while passing around 60lb sandbags.

MOLESKINE: YHC was smoked from late nights and sick kids. Great to enjoy a challenging ruck and good conversations. Loved seeing everyone want to take on extra weight.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

Snow Q, Get That Heart Rate Up

AO: greenmachine
Q: Hair Band
PAX: Betty Ford, Cowboy, Shania, Bear, Esposa
FNGs: None
COUNT: 6
CONDITIONS: cold and snowy

WARMUP:
Mosey a lap around the track
50 SSHs
High knees x 30 sec
Butt kicks x 30 sec

THE THANG:
30 lunges (15e)
10 burpee broad jumps
Run to next corner
Repeat until one lap is finished around the track

Jog a lap

50m Sprints with 30 secs of drop squats on a timer

Repeat Lunge, BpBJ, run lap

Mosey back to start-x

MOLESKINE:
On days like today a balance between leg soreness & staying warm had to be made. We warmed up and kept that heart rate high.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Night Moves Thursday March 6th, check SalPal post in main channel
– AOQ Grow School, Sat March 22nd tel:0600-0800
– Spring Fling by Natural Ice – CBO in early April

COT:
• prayers for general family health and wellness, for the new fathers in the group (shout out to Bear for his 1mo old), safe travels to Shania as he flies to Canada today

Thanks for having me out to Q today! Always a pleasure to spend time at the machine

Rock On,

Hair Band

Tortoise & Hare – Final Run for Class 2025-01

AO: thestronghold
Q: Red Skull
PAX: hambone, Michelin Man, Decaf, Barney, Whoopi (Franklin), Big Rig, Toadstool, Toots, Square Root, Airball, Yes Chef, D Pole, Jackie Moon
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
CONDITIONS: Perfect running weather – 30 degrees with a nice cold breeze.

WARMUP: Standard pre-run warm-up – SSH, Squats, IWs, Stretches

THE THANG: RUN!!! We had 4 PRs today! We had 5 of the 8 men from 4:13 Strong finished sub 30:00 and we had an “all in” time of 32:12.

Since we finished the run so quickly, there was plenty of time for Mary – Burpee + Squat Apocalypse.

MOLESKINE: Thank you to the F3 PAX that joined us on Tuesday mornings. Your participation was a huge encouragement for the 4:13 Strong men and made a meaningful difference in the journey. Sometimes the little things we do mean a lot more than we know.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Signing Day this Friday at 11:30am. All are welcome to join.

COT: Prayers for family, discernment, strength and healing.

Hazzaah!

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles
PAX: Stubs, Wolfpack, Half Lyfe, El Capitan, Malibu, Sparrow, morning stār, Pitmaster, Bumblebee
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS:
Cool trending toward cold

WARMUP:
Mosey to retrieve coupons
Bacs
Bac Bacs
Don Quixotes
Slow Squats
Stretch OYO – Mission stated, 5-core principles

THE THANG:
Split into two teams. One team completes 100meter MOT while the other works. 2 rounds for each exercise.

Exercises with coupon:
Deadlift
Snatch
Overhead Press
Floor to Ceiling

MOTs:
Lunges
Bear Crawls

Mosey to return coupons
3 min of Plank Ups/Ring of Wolfpack
2 min Mary

MOLESKINE:
Super impressive to watch the evolution of PAX from FNG to seasoned PAX. Everyone was bear crawling like a champ today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Lot’s of opportunities to socialize on slack

COT:
I was up most of the night worrying about things. Money, job, housework, etc. It’s been a long time since I’ve worried. I blame it on not being able to workout for a week. Working out is critical to overall wellbeing.

Prayers offered for families and those without shelter.

We Ran to Love Circles (+Burpees)

AO: westeros
Q: Michelin Man
PAX: Pep, Young and Restless, Red Skull, Michelin Man, Bull Chutes, BTU, Grape, bluemule, Tim the Toolman, Vector, Go Green Go, Merch
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: NOT cold (after a minute)

WARMUP: pre 5:30am warmup to “Lean On” by Major Lazer. No time to warm up during my Q.

THE THANG:

The Pax love to run in circles after today. And we’ll do burpees. Q also called for Constant Movement (TM) meaning if we stopped, we did “resting” exercises.

Music: 1st: Pink Pony Club by Chappel Roan. Then hits from 1998… the year Chapel Roan was born. Feel old yet Vector?

Thangs 1: We ran a circle around the park 3x, performing a running burpee apocalypse along the way. Sprinkled in copious Side Straddle Hops, Plank Jacks, and Indian Runs along the way to wait for various 6s. bluemule fell down.

Thang 2: We then ran to the school loop and did timed runs around the circle. Each time we had to beat our time to decrease the burpee counter. First run was 38 seconds/5 burpees around and we made it all the way down to 27 seconds/1 burpee before failure to beat time. We then did 5x burpees since we didn’t beat time. Pep completed some of the circle runs… creatively.

We returned to startex to do plank jacks and Side Straddle Hops and Mountain Climbers.

Then we let our heart rates come down. Constant Movement (TM) completed. We live to run in circles.

Fin.

MOLESKINE:

For President’s Day:

“For his fellow-citizens, if their prayers could have been answered, he would have been immortal. For me, his departure is at a most unfortunate moment. … His example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.”

— John Adams, second President of the United States, in a Dec. 23, 1799 reply to Congress following the death of George Washington nine days earlier.

We Ran to Love Circles (+Burpees)

AO: westeros
Q: Michelin Man
PAX: Pep, Young and Restless, Red Skull, Michelin Man, Bull Chutes, BTU, Grape, bluemule, Tim the Toolman, Vector, Go Green Go, Merch
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: NOT cold (after a minute)

WARMUP: pre 5:30am warmup to “Lean On” by Major Lazer. No time to warm up during my Q.

THE THANG:

The Pax love to run in circles after today. And we’ll do burpees. Q also called for Constant Movement (TM) meaning if we stopped, we did “resting” exercises.

Music: 1st: Pink Pony Club by Chappel Roan. Then hits from 1998… the year Chapel Roan was born. Feel old yet Vector?

Thangs 1: We ran a circle around the park 3x, performing a running burpee apocalypse along the way. Sprinkled in copious Side Straddle Hops, Plank Jacks, and Indian Runs along the way to wait for various 6s. bluemule fell down.

Thang 2: We then ran to the school loop and did timed runs around the circle. Each time we had to beat our time to decrease the burpee counter. First run was 38 seconds/5 burpees around and we made it all the way down to 27 seconds/1 burpee before failure to beat time. We then did 5x burpees since we didn’t beat time. Pep completed some of the circle runs… creatively.

We returned to startex to do plank jacks and Side Straddle Hops and Mountain Climbers.

Then we let our heart rates come down. Constant Movement (TM) completed. We live to run in circles.

Fin.

MOLESKINE:

For President’s Day:

“For his fellow-citizens, if their prayers could have been answered, he would have been immortal. For me, his departure is at a most unfortunate moment. … His example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.”

— John Adams, second President of the United States, in a Dec. 23, 1799 reply to Congress following the death of George Washington nine days earlier.

What rain?

AO: the-castle
Q: Strutter
PAX: Dilbert, Every Other, Zinfandel (Waxhaw), @every other
FNGs: 1 @every other
COUNT: 4
CONDITIONS: RAINY

WARMUP: A quick mosey to get under roof. We performed the following exercises IC:
30) SSHs
20) Hillbillies
20) IST (Imperial Walkers)
30) LBACs 15 each direction.

THE THANG: A series of 5 exercises as follows:
Merkins
Dips (I Omaha’d to SSHs after our 2nd or 3rd round)
American Hammers
Inclined Merkins
LBCs
We started with 10 each IC, and followed that up with 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 10. No wonder I am tired. I think we were on our 17’s when Zinfandel arrived.
We ended with Mary, and the exercises included
Freddie Mercury’s
Mercury Freddie’s
Box Cutters
And Homer to Marge.

MOLESKINE: it’s always a pleasure to spend time with the men of the-castle.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

Movie Night

AO: pain-train
Q: The Merchant
PAX: FLO, Half Lyfe, Lady Liberty, Sooie, Wolfpack
FNGs: None
COUNT: 6
CONDITIONS:
A little chilly but clear skies

WARMUP:
BACs, BAC BACs, Motivators (5)

THE THANG:
HIIT Workout set to a playlist of songs from movie soundtracks

30 sec. of lunges
10 sec. rest
30 sec. of push-ups
10 sec. rest
30 sec. of mountain climbers
10 sec. rest
30 sec. of imperial walkers
10 sec. rest
30 sec. of low plank
90 sec. rest

If someone guessed song and movie it’s from, do 10 reps of whatever exercise they recommend during rest. If nobody guessed, do 10 burpees during rest.

MOLESKINE:
Make an effort to be fully present in daily life. Try to find time to be alone with your thoughts and not in front of a screen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Biscuit run and board game night coming up. Also keep an eye on the petition regarding Percy Warner park.

COT:

Love is . . .

AO: bomber
Q: Vector
PAX: Pep, Firefox, DintyMoore, sooner, Sherlock, Right Said, Tim the Toolman, Puzzlah, Fish Food (DR)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
YHC was the Q-pid for today’s Valentine’s Day prep for the PAX. I even had a bow . . . seriously.

CONDITIONS: Chilly, 23 degrees with love in the air

PLAYLIST:
Theme of “Love is . . .”
Love is like Oxygen – Sweet
Love is a Battlefield – Pat Benatar
Love is an Open Door – Kristen Bell/Santino Fontana (from Frozen, not Moana sooner)
Love is the Drug – Roxy Music
Love is the Answer – Aloe Blacc
Love is a Stranger – Eurythmics
Love is in the Air – John Paul Young
Love is Blindness – Jack White
Love is the Answer – Dan Seals
Love is Dangerous – Fleetwood Mac
Love is Strange – Mickey & Sylvia
Love is a Long Road – Tom Petty

WARMUP:
Mosey in heart-shaped circles
LBAC x 20
Seal Claps x 20
Overhead Presses x 20
RLBAC x 20
WMH x 10 OHO
Good Mornin’s x 10 OHO
SSH x 20

THE THANG:
Q-pid started his work by having the PAX partner up and do several partner themed exercises:
Partner merkins x 20 (with clap between rep)
Partner WWI x 20 (with claps at top)
Partner chair squats x 30 sec x 3

Mosey to playground for some LOVES
Lunges x 100
Overhead presses x 100
V-shaped Pull-Ups x 100
Excellent form incline merkins x 100
Sexy squats x 100

[Aside: at some point sooner got caught up in the love and might have been twerking on the swing set pole . . . Q-pid supports all kinds of love, so go crazy HIM)

Mosey to flag for V-Day Mary of Alabama Prom Dates, J Los, Monkey Humpers, Jane Fondas to get those special parts trained for the day. So good, we rinsed and repeated.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– No Beer Ruck this weekend
– Game Night at Firefox abode Feb 28 at 7p
– Night Moves March 6 at 7:30pm

COT: Words of gratitude, prayers, and praises lifted up. Listened to the morning for a bit. Thankful for all of the HIM during what for me has been a very stressful time in both my personal (losing my mom) and professional (funding uncertainties, colleagues losing jobs abruptly) lives. Thankful to the PAX for pushing me each day.

SYITG, Q-pid (aka Vec)