It’s All in the Grind

AO: the-knoll
Q: Malibu
PAX: AAA, El Capitan, Ex-Pat, Malibu, morning stār, Papa Bear, Sooie, Stu Cook, The Banker, Timber, Wolfpack, BumbleBee, Smoltz, Samwise, Iowa
FNGs: None
COUNT: 15
CONDITIONS:
Spectacular morning- clear skies, full of hearts, can’t lose.

WARMUP:
Mosey to stop sign, circle up in field.
SSHx 20 with one amazing silent count of unified side straddle hopping in silent cadence.
Slow squat and push-ups, BAC and BBAC.
Mental prep for the Thang.

THE THANG:
An old coach taught me that professionals grind out the work. For today’s grinds, work steadily but not frantically:
(1) 20 minute grind: 6x hand release push ups, 1 or 2 pull ups/reverse pull ups, 6x Lt. Dans
(2) 15 minute grind: 30 seconds of WWI/WWII (user choice), 30 seconds of twists, 30 seconds of standing founders up and down.
(3) Final Grind: SooieBrew

MOLESKINE:
We need our bodies for life, work, and our vocations and men and fathers. Drawing from knowledge and training from a S&C coach Rob Shaul, that means we are professional athletes with particular, specific fitness demands. Our demands as- in my case a suburban dad- are perhaps different than other professional athletes but still there. We can best fulfill our individual callings in life when our bodies are capable of the mission before us.
Professionals are also willing to do the work when the tough gets going and relish the grind when it comes. Today’s workout gave us a time to set about our hard work steadily, not frantically but working through a long 20minutes and another 15minutes.
Being a professional athlete also demands a burden of constant fitnes. In my F3 journey I have found that this burden is best carried in the encouragement and presence of others, especially in The Gloom. Some days feel great, other days feel like a grind. Relish the grind! Put one foot in front of the other, and Just Keep Swimming! Cheers,

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Gallivants Travels ends this week.
September 11 Convergence at 0530 at TN Capitol Steps, plan for an hour.
F3 Nash decade anniversary coming up too.

COT
Prayers for presence, and peace amidst returning to school and work routines.

Case of the Mondays

AO: toratoratora
Q: Goose
PAX: 40 Minutes, The Bobs, Ultratecht, Culture Shock, Daylight, Giving Tree, Invictus, Longcut, Chemical Brother
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
Conditions: Perfect
Warmup: Forward Fold, Willie Mays Hays, Arms stretches, Forward Fold
-Lunges, 10 squates every 5 strides
-Dora: 200 merkins, squats, WW1s, SSH while partner runs
Circle of Mary

Missed Opportunities

AO: westeros
Q: Michelin Man
PAX: Pep, Tim the Toolman, Young and Restless, DintyMoore
FNGs: None
COUNT: 4
CONDITIONS: heating up

WARMUP: SSHs, Burpees, WMHs

THE THANG:
With no Q in sight we all took to heart the words of our assigned Q and former nantan that we are all free to lead.

Tim the Toolman started with a mosey to the bridge with 5 merkins at all driveways and 10 burpees at all cross streets and ended with lunges across the bridge.

DintyMoore took over and led everyone on a mosey left toward West End with stops in memory of FALCON from STL and 26 reps for each exercise.
Flying Squirrel Burpees
American Hammers
Lunges
Curls
One Lap across 440
No Cheat Merkins

Finished with 14 SSHs to commemorate the ORIGINAL Q.

Pep finished off the workout with Sevens of WW2 and Carolina Dry Docks before he decided to end the workout early in order to make time to right a code that triggers Michelin Man alarm clock on days when he is scheduled to Q.

MOLESKINE: While we are all freed to lead, we are here for one another and each of us are capable and being present is enough sometimes.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
9/11 Convergence at Percy Warner steps
9/14 Nashville 10-year Anniversary

COT: prayers for Pep getting off the bench.

FALCON

AO: mistymountain
Q: DintyMoore
PAX: Linus, Transporter, McAfee, Rockies, Skeet, Sanders, Mountain Men x 4, Tater
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: Pristine

WARMUP: Big Mosey around CDP

THE THANG:
Four Rounds x 14 Reps

14 SSHs

Flying Squirrel Burpees
American Hammers
Lunges
Curls –
One Lap – 400m Run
No Cheat Merkins

14 SSHs

Finished with Mosey and Mary Go Round

MOLESKINE:
This workout was in honor and memory of falcon who passed away earlier this year during the naming ceremony of his first workout in St. Louis.

He was the 14th member of the PAX that day. We did 14 reps of each exercise in his honor although the original work out was 26 for the last two digits of his zip code where he volunteered regularly and I missed that part.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
9/11 Memorial Convergence – Percy Warner
9/14 F3 Nashville Anniversary Convergence
Misty Mountain traveling to bomber next week
Skeet still looking for some Spartan Men
Orienteering begins at Centennial Park

COT:
Coffeeteria was aided by the best sunrise to date on my gullivers-travels-challenge :sunrise:

FNG Friday

AO: thebuffalo
Q: Hipster
PAX: The Bobs, Hot Route, Ultratecht, greyalbum, Brian Schneider (Chemical Brother)
FNGs: 1 Brian Schneider (Chemical Brother)
COUNT: 6
CONDITIONS: Pristine

WARMUP: Mosey down to the pond, stop for standard warm-a-rama movements

THE THANG:

Pt. 1 At the south end of Sevier Pond, each man grabs a bollard for 1 min AMRAP for each of the following, with a 1 minute mosey between each movement:

– Box Jumps
– L and R Step Ups
– L and R Split Squats
– L and R Romanian Dead Lift
– L and R Step Downs
– Box Jumps

Mosey to pavilion

Pt. 2 – Murph EMOM

Every minute, each PAX does 4 pullups, 8 merkins, 12 air squats
Repeato 4 rounds

Interlude – mosey over to and up the cave spring path, lunge up the steps, trudge up to the tennis court parking lot then playground

Pt. 3 – Mary and Finisher

Dealer’s choice Mary, with 5 burpees to finish us out thanks to some late “Name That Tune” success from the PAX.

MOLESKINE: Lots of nostalgia for the 90’s music scene, but some struggles with band names and titles at times.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Convergences coming up 9/11 and 9/14, check slack

COT: TAPs for Neal and his crew, and everybody else going through some shit. We’re all in this together my dudes.

Bust a Move

AO: handsomizer
Q: Old Maid
PAX: Spinal Tap, Rocket Mortgage, Freakonomics, Strutter, caprate, Dragon Spark, Natural Ice, Cuban Missile, Old Maid, Young and Restless, Donkey Hammer, Patty
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS:
Clear, blue, and 22

WARMUP:
Good mornings OYO
Hamstring stretches
Willie Mays OYO
SSH

THE THANG:
Non-stop fun paired with some glorious tunes.

1. Squats – Flower by Moby
2. Mosey to stairs- You Make My Dreams (Come True) by Hall & Oats (3:11)
3. Low Plank, Merkins, Side Planks, more
Merkins — I Love Rock N’ Roll by Joan Jett
4. Stair run (x3) – Watch Your Step by Ted Hawkins
5. Bear Crawls, Tricep Dips, Mosey to turf –
Bust a Move by Young MC
6. Circle Burp (Up Downs) – The Spark by
Kabin Crew
7. SSH, Mosey – Fire In My Soul – Tom
Staar Remix
8. Bicycle Crunches, WWls, American
Hammers — Gas Pedal Dave Audé Remix
9. Frog Jumps, Flying Nuns (Lunge walk with little baby arm circles) – Come and Get Your Love by Redbone
10. Merkins low and slow, Planks – End of the Line by Traveling Wilburys

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

– Convergence w/ Detention coming up soon
– Natural Ice is looking for 2ndf suggestions
– Something else I can’t remember

COT:
– Prayers for those training for half and full marathons
– Prayers for injuries and recovery

ThunderBunny Beatdown (aka LrThe’s Awakening)

AO: pain-train
Q: El Capitan
PAX: Wolfpack, The Banker, G-string, Sooie, Bean Burger (Fairview, TN), Cheeks, Timber, Siri, Pitmaster, FLO, El Capitan
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS:
clear skies, low 60s, almost Yosemite

WARMUP:
– Downward dog + cobra + sprinter-stretch merkins 3x both sides, PE stretch
– BAC + BacBACs + Turkish Moroccan Night Clubs: 12x
– Willie Mays Hays OYO
– PAX collected coupons (one each) and returned to sidewalk

THE THANG:

Part 1: ThunderBurpees

– All PAX circle up, play song “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC.
– SSH throughout – burpee every time you hear the word “Thunder”. :skull_and_crossbones:

Part 2: Sudoku Murder Bunny Special

SOUNDTRACK: Weezer Blue Album

Downloaded two easy sudoku puzzles from internet, printed on 11×14″ sheets, laminated, supplied dry erase markers + paper towels

Split up into two teams.

Six stations. One PAX from each team per station, lined up along sidewalk.

Station #1: Plank, work on a sudoku puzzle

Station #2: Murder bunny to cone with coupon, carry on shoulder back. (All PAX rotate to next station when he returns.)

Station #3: floor-to-ceilings with coupon

Station #4: straight-arm squats with coupon

Station #5: sky thrusters on back with coupon

Station #6*: wild card! options include…

1. 6x hops + elevated elbow-to-knees over coupon (3x per side)
2. bench press on back with coupon
3. American hammers with coupon
4. Speed step-ups on coupon
5. Curls with coupon

Rotated until PAX (almost?) solved the puzzles.

Bonus Round at 6:10 AM: in lieu of sudoku, each team tried to name all 25 AO’s in F3 Nashville while rotating through the reps.

MOLESKINE:

Shared how grateful I am for the fellowship of the PAX and encouraged those who may be nervous about Q’ing to reach out for help/advice – it is worth it. Such a joy to lead y’all this morning!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Check Slack for September updates (including 9/11 and 9/14 anniversary convergences) coming soon!

COT:

Countorama, Nameorama, shared requests, and closed in prayer.

Special shout-out to Wolfpack for the delicious & courageous LupusBrewpus rebound this morning!

We are grateful for you & hope that your kitchen counters recover from any & all coffee-related trauma.

:el-capitan:

Trivia Time

AO: thestronghold
Q: Chunks
PAX: bluemule, Skeet, Decaf, Right Said, Red Skull, Dan Tanna, Natural Ice, Ripcord, Young and Restless, Lightweight, Speed Walker, Trajectory, Baby boy, Longway, Skid Mark, Temper Tantrum. Five Points
FNGs: None
COUNT: 17
CONDITIONS: Nice

WARMUP: Gave a 5 min warning to stretch, cause we had a lot to cover

THE THANG:
5 rounds of Questions with running and burpees in between

Round 1 – F3 and 413 Values
Round 2 – Bible
Round 3 – Financial Literacy
Round 4 – Workplace
Round 5 – Requirements to graduate

Team Concrete was victorious.

On our way back to the Startex we stopped at the stop sign. I gave bluemule a 7 second head start and the rest of the PAX had to catch him or do burpees.

A couple of men caught him and gave up right at the end and didn’t finish strong. bluemule gave a rousing speech about not quitting when you see the finish line.

I always make a point to tell the 413 men at this point that I love them and am proud of them. Then implore them to keep working hard cause the next phase is the hardest.

Always honored to lead here.

This is a big week for the 4:13 men. Final run on tuesday, final workout on Thursday and Signing day on Friday.

Mark your calendars now and make it a point to come encourage these men this week. They will be fielding job offers and can always use a sounding board to make the best decision.

SYITG, Chunks
MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

The Rocky Road to Dublin…er….West Park

AO: atlantis
Q: Pole Dancer
PAX: Schnauzer
FNGs: None
COUNT: 2
CONDITIONS: A perfect 50

WARMUP: Joint Mobility, Mosey around the fields, active warmups and stretching

THE THANG: Been on an Irish kick after a conversation with Toothless over the weekend, so set this workout to some of my favorite Irish folk and punk tunes.

As for the exercise, my 32nd birthday meant sets of 32 exercises separated by a run around the tank.

Burpees
Supermans
Squats
T-Rex
Dips
Mountain Climbers

Then tried out a new song-based challenge, The Rattlin’ Bog. For each layer of the bog, add one pushup. It was an ill-advised choice to pick an extended version of the song, when after 6 minutes we were tasked with a total of 105 pushups.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QO8bWGNPyo…

PLAYLIST: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2kORRE4ZxEEPJjmgFdvKVf?si=fe68591bc0c1421a

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 9/11 convergence & 10 Year Nashville Anniversary

SUMMERISOVER

AO: greenmachine
Q: Grape
PAX: Triple Pane, Focker, Rocket Mortgage, Michelin Man, Cowboy, moneyshot, Sherlock, Haines
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: in honor of the name of the workout, it felt like Fall

WARMUP: SSH, LBAC F, LBAC R, Michael Phelps

THE THANG: spelled out summer is over with 12 reps each on an escalator:
S- SSH
U- Hammers
M- Merlin’s
M- mountain climbers
E- E2K (LBC)
R- Reverse lunges
I- IYT
S- squats
O- Original burpees
V- V ups
E- E2K (Peter Parker)
R- Reverse burpees

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 9/11 convergence, 9/14 convergence, check slack

COT: prayer for Focker to be unselfish with a pregnant wife and sick child