F3 Rosemary – 08.17.18 – “Beach Bomber”

3 PAX hit the shores of Rosemary Beach for a SEAL worthy beatdown administered by yours truly.

QIC: Princess Aurora

PAX: Diamond Cutter, T-Cell

Diamond Cutter and I were staying in a house together and hit the beach early for a 3/4ish mile run to meet up with T-Cell at what we thought was a good halfway point. Except it was more like 300 yards from T-Cell’s spot.  YOU’RE WELCOME.

THE THANG:

Once 0530 hit, it was time for a warmup mosey down and back along the shore, throwing in some side shuffles to really work the angles. Followed that up with COP of SSH, Merkins, Squats, WMH, and LBACs.

Now it was time to get our sea legs! Three stations, 3 rounds each:

  1. Knee Jumps
  2. Skater Lunge Jumps
  3. Broad Jump 20 yards and back (PAX serves as timer)

With the legs a’quivering, it was time for some sandy 11s featuring Hand Release Merkins and Hydraulic Squats with a Bear Crawl there and Backwards Run to the start.

This seemed like the perfect time for a rinse, so we got in the water and on our six for some Flutter Kicks and Crunchy Frogs (Difficulty Level MAX). Then we turned it over for 15 Surfees OYO, and some static holds in the bottom of Merkin position as the tide crashed over us.

Closed it out with 25 Jump Squats and then COT/BOM.

MOLESKINE:

The beautiful thing about F3 is the ability to pull together a workout on short notice with some guys on vacation. F3 Rosemary is pushing legit regional status. Twas also glad to have Diamond Cutter back in the mix with us, even if he really had no choice in the matter. I don’t see 4:50 guys throwing together workouts at the beach…

BULLHORN:

  • 9/29 – 4th Anniversary Boot Camp at Stonewall – Q/Grow School to follow. Please make plans to be there!
  • Final push for checking off those Ironclad requirements. You’ll have until 11:59pm CST on 9/2 to get your entries in. Let me know if you have questions.
  • Libeery tonight at Fat Bottom starting at 2000. Bicentennial Man will Q this discussion over Tim Keller’s The Reason for God.

PA out.

 

International Funyuns Committee

PAX: Offshore, Joey Freshwater, White Gold, Black Widow, Boone’s Farm, Olan Mills, FNG Jimmy= Foxhole, Umbrella, Funyuns, Backlash, Toga (QIC)

11 posted for a little remedial Iron PAX challenge.  Week 2 looked so interesting, and YHC didn’t get a chance to work it in last week, so.. we got it today.  We had a brief mosey and warmup followed by the challenge.

You know the drill from Bagger’s award winning backblast.  4 exercises executed for eight minutes each with a two minute rest in between each exercise.  Keep track of your reps to get a total score and submit (or not) on F3 Greenwood’s page.

The exercises were Thrusters, Curls, Swings, Manmakers

  • Offshore: 150, 150, 175, 60= 535
  • Joey: 125, 175, 200, 51= 551
  • Toga: 150, 130, 175, 45= 500
  • Black Widow: 100, 175, 150, 43= 468
  • White gold: 150, 148, 75, 43= 416
  • Boone’s Farm: 175, 100, 150, 50= 475
  • Olan Mills: 100, 175, 116, 48= 439
  • Funyuns: 85, 195, 125, 51= 456
  • Foxhole: 100, 100, 50, 61= 311
  • Umbrella: 84, 158, 137, 50= 429

Furious Flutter Kicks to bring it home.  COT

NMM: Offshore and YHC were a bit worried about the heat at the beginning of the workout but thankfully it started raining while we were doing the scorpion stretch and never really stopped.  The PAX brought an interesting array of weights consisting of dumbbells (25-30), plates, and one random ruck (75 lbs).  Apparently we all need to invest in cinder blocks as manmakers with the ruck or dumbbells is not awesome.  As an added bonus, Offshore slipped some additional weights and 40 carbiners onto the ruck when YHC used it.  Foul!  In a similar moment Funyuns filed a complaint with the Intl. Funyuns Committee re YHC’s form when doing thrusters with the ruck.  Aren’t you just making it harder for yourself if you aren’t using your legs much?  YHC argues that his thrusters were more difficult.

Solid work by all and looking forward to seeing lots of folks at 4:13 for the last workout for this class.

PS:  PARK IN THE BACK OF THE LOT BEHIND THE SCHOOL TO AVOID GETTING HIT OR TAKING SOMEONE’S COVETED SPOT!

Stay Classy,

Toga

National Relaxation Day

Conditions: Relaxing 70s, overcast

PAX: RedSkull, Offshore, JoeyFreshwater, WhiteGold, Black Widow, Funyuns, Dimples (NC PineHurst), Cinderella, Hot and ready, CapsLock, Chiwawa, Pope, and YHC.

Warmorama: Mosey to top of the Parking Garage, 10 SSH, 10 GM OYO, WMH OYO, 25 Cherry Pickers as YHC Describes today’s Thang

Thang: Relax and put your feet up for 11’s

SIde 1: Derkins, Side 2: Hip slappers. Burpie Broad Jump as a mode of transportation both ways . 11’s quickly was changed to 7’s. YHC didn’t realize the 30yards one way would add up quick. (took us 20-25 mins to complete)

Mosey to the pullup bars: Put your feet up. 10 Toes to bar, other PAX do Flutter kicks. Flapjack and RNR. Notes: Cinderella is a pro at these and gets extra credit. YHC got called out on flutter kicks, with legs not being straight. Fuyuns filling the void of Bagger Vance.

Merkin Lovely Day: Hold Plank and perform a merkin everytime “Lovely Day” is Said in the song. Bill Withers FTW

Mary: Supermans 20 IC, LBC 50 IC, 20 BBSU OYO, 60 sec plank

Moleskin: Don’t settle for the Status Quo

Prayers for Spicoli, group prayer tonight @ Jaden Stevens House 7pm

CSAUP: 9-11 at Percy Warner stairs. Might have 2 options.

1: 440am Start with 30# ruck

2: 515am start no no ruck

both options will be done by 615-620

 

SYTIG,

BigBang

We Improve That Which We Measure

PAX: Boone’s Farm, Princess Aurora, Foley, Cowboy, Reveille, En Fuego (QIC)

Conditions: Idyllic

5:30 AM: Disclaimer given then we mosey to the football field for…

Warmarama: SSH, WMH, LBAC, GMs and fan favorite Scorpion Stretch (thanks and kudos to Toga).  YHC informs the PAX school is back in session this week at III Pillars – what better time to undergo a physical assessment, which will be completed the final week of the school year as well to track progress.  YHC chose not to go the APFT route – opting instead for the proprietary III Pillars version.  We stress proper form and no sandbagging.  Here goes…

The Thang:

Complete the following in order, for time.

  • 40 Merkins, run 2 laps (.25 miles)
  • 40 Merkins, 30 Jump Squats, run 2 laps
  • 40 Merkins, 30 Jump Squats, 20 Burpees, run 2 laps
  • 40 Merkins, 30 Jump Squats, 20 Burpees, 10 Big Boy Situps, run 2 laps
  • 40 Merkins, 30 Jump Squats, 20 Burpees, 10 Big Boy Situps, run 4 laps

All in the PAX completed 200 merkins, 120 jump squats, 60 burpees, 20 big boy sit ups (400 collective reps) and ran 1.5 miles.  Not a lot of mumble chatter – other than Rev expressing his impressive self control in keeping two potential splashes swallowed back into the system (good work Rev!)

Results:

  • Princess Aurora – 22:43
  • Boone – 24:00
  • En Fuego – 27:00
  • Cowboy – 28:00
  • Foley – 29:30
  • Rev – 33:00 (with an impressive AYG sprint his final 100 meters)

No time for Mary – mosey back for COT.

Great effort by the six in getting the school year started right – by no means an easy assessment, but guaranteed to be easier when we go again in May.

Appreciative of the opportunity to lead,

En Fuego

 

 

Open Gates

6 stepped up to get a little better this morning at The Purple Cow.  Here’s how it went down:

PAX: Backlash, Boone’s Farm, Olan Mills, Umbrella, Black Widow, Toga (QIC)

Quick disclaimer, grab a coupon and head to BHS track, yes, the track was open!

Deposit coupons by the track and begin warmup COP.., the usual stuff.

Side shuffles, backwards run, power skips/Chauncey Woof and Poof

Begin tempo run drill= 2 min slow pace, 1 min uptempo pace, repeato x4

Partner up for to execute exercise with coupons while partner runs 100 yds and repeato x2.  Exercises = kb swings, overhead tricep extensions, single leg deadlifts, and APD up and overs passing weights to the partner after every 5 reps (Note: EPIC fail)

Back to the parking lot for COT.

NMM:  Backlash and YHC arrived early to determine whether or not the track was open.  The PAX showed legitimate wonder at this fact but ran the laps nonetheless.  It really is a nice facility, and YHC is certain we’ll find our way over there again.

Stay Classy,

Toga

Birthday @ Bomber: Third Saturday in October Edition

PAX:

Keep the Change, Blue Mule, Hambone, Firefox, Frequency, Crab Legs, Right Said, Lunch Lady, Hi-Viz, Trapper Keeper, The Baptist, Reveille, En Fuego, Tiny Dancer, Dewey Decimal (FNG), Porcelain, Bad Boy, Vector, Lemon, Crawl Space

CO-QIC:

T-Cell and YHC Harvey Updyke (VQ)

22 (including 1 FNG) gathered together in the early dawn, commenting on the beautiful cool morning; by some unexplainable mystery of nature, the temperature seemed to rise by 15-20 degrees over the course of just a few minutes…

Co-QICs T-Cell and Harvey Updyke educated the pax on the history of the University of Tennessee and University of Alabama football programs, two of the most storied and successful SEC schools in history. T-Cell got things started with the disclaimer and led the first 15-20 minutes.

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Mosey to the small parking lot near the McCabe roundabout on the golf course side
  • SSH x25
  • WMH x20
  • Merkins x10

THANG, PART 1:

Mosey down the greenway past the driving range, 3-4 minutes or so to a fairway with a hill. T-Cell proceeded to commemorate the “Voice of the Vols”, Tennessee sportscasting great John Ward, one month to the day since  his passing. Ward was widely known for his trademark touchdown call “GIVE…HIM…SIX!” As such, we honored his memory with Sixes: 1 Merkin at the bottom, run up the hill, 5 Jump Squats at the top, back down the hill – each round, adding one Merkin and removing one Jump Squat from the count until we fully inverted to 5 & 1.

T-Cell brought the tunes along, blasting Rocky Top at the bottom of the hill. Counterintuitively, the pax were noticeably faster running up the hill away from the music than they were running back down. T-Cell also reminded the pax that the goal line at the bottom of the hill was the speaker; some mumble chatter may have arisen about purposely stopping a little shy, as this was the UT portion of the workout, after all.

THANG, PART 2:

T-Cell turned over the ball (hehe) to Harvey Updyke to take the pax home. Wise decision, as you never want to count on UT in the second half. YHC led the pax in a mosey back to McCabe community center, and took them on a quick history lesson: the day was October 21, 2006, and YHC was a freshman at the fine University of Alabama. Head Coach Mike Shula was in his final season at Bama, and unfortunately the Tide could not get it done against Phil Fulmer’s Vols in Knoxville. Fortunately, this was one of the final straws that led to Coach Shula’s dismissal, and as most of us know, his replacement turned out aight. So aight, in fact, that that sad day was the last time that UT downed Bama. It’s been 4,290 days since the Vols have found success against the Tide.

As such, we completed a total of 42 Burpees, along with 90 second intervals around an 8-station Ring of Fire, in the following order:

  • 21 Burpee buy-in
  • Ring of Fire, 90 seconds AMRAP at each:
    • Ranger Merkins
    • One-Legged Calf Raises
    • Lt. Dans
    • Low Country Crab
    • Travoltas
    • Imperial Walkers
    • Dips
    • E2Ks
  • 21 Burpee buy-out

MARY:

Back in the parking lot, we celebrated each of Bama’s National Championships with a rep in a pax-determined core exercise – so 17 of each:

  • Freddie Mercuries – YHC
  • Scissor Kicks – Vector
  • Crunchy Frogs – honestly don’t remember who called this one, the pain was too great and my glasses are usually fogged at this point

COT:

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and welcomed FNG Carlos Shivers aka Dewey Decimal (he’s a librarian). Great to have you out with us man, be sure to come back! Reminders about TN Can Ruck – meet at Fat Bottom Brewery at 1:45 tomorrow – ruck starts at 2 sharp. Prayers for:

  • TK’s wife’s grandmother Marie is in the ICU, prayers for healing and peace among the family
  • Reveille’s cousin continues her recovery process
  • Reveille’s dad and brother both ship out soon, prayers for safety
  • Right Said’s friend getting the ole’ wisdom teeth yanked. Prayers for no dry sockets but maybe some YouTube-worthy pain med vids

It was an honor to co-Q with T-Cell, take on my VQ, and celebrate my 30th birthday with such excellent men. Thank you for the opportunity.

Fastest Mule!

PAX: Lots of FNGs= Mufasa, Sachmo, Avatar, Lil Tony, Claud, Teddy, Can’t Get Right, Fallout, Bruh Bruh, Biscuit, Big Ticket and Gussy

Old Timers: Redskull, Right Said, Hambone, Brother at law, Blue Mule, Frugal McDougal, Life Champ, Toga (QIC)

Twenty, yes twenty, redwoods found some time to get better at The Stronghold.  It went something like this:

Thang: Disclaimer (yes, before we ran a step) and mosey around the complex to the road above the STEM  center for Warmup COP: usual stuff…

Lineup on road for curb crawls= bear crawl to other side of the road for 1 merkin, crawl bear back to other side for 2 merkins… up to five and back down to 1.

Mosey down hill to STEM building for 40 lunges, 30 sec wall sit, 38 lunges, 30 sec wall sit… 36, 34, 32, 30 lunges and 30 wall sit

Divide into teams of 3 for ye ol’ triple check:  P1 wall sit, P2 WW2 sit-ups, P3 run up hill and across lot and back.  All players rotate through all three exercises three times.

Mosey to basketball court for shuttle run of doom= 10 yd shuttle with increasing reps EMOM.  We started with 5, and you had to drop out and work on Mary if you didn’t complete the reps in the minute.  Blue Mule made it to 16!!!

COT:  Reminders for Warpath, Can Ruck and prayers for brothers dealing with illness.  QIC took us out.

NMM:  The PAX was excited to welcome the new 4:13 class, and they got after it.  Lil Tony decided he wouldn’t be held back by the Q’s mosey pace, and took off.  Several of the PAX were right there on the Shuttle Run of Doom up till the 15 rep mark.  Someone is going to overtake Blue Mule’s 16 rep record real soon!

Re the lunges and wall sits, YHC is sure there are some sore glutes out there today.  You’re welcome!

Stay Classy,

Toga

Oh Brother at Law, Where Art Thou?

PAX
Donuts, Skidmark, Black Lung, Lumbergh, Yumi and Dupree, Yard Sale, Too Tall, Dilly Dilly, Ludwig, Tidy Cats, Accounts Receivable, Grisham, Dine N’ Dash, Brother at Law (Co-Q), CCR (Co-Q)

It was a late arriving crew this am. The northeast anchorage boys “leg-pooled” together, but later commented that they may have chosen the wrong day for that. There is never a wrong day to do something for the betterment of mother earth. The clock struck 5:30 and Brother at Law led us all on an enjoyable mosey down Trousdale, up the bus loop with some stretchy exercises and ultimately back to the parking lot to circle up.

WOR
SSH, WMH, GM were all done in cadence along with some mountain climbers, merkins, arm circles each way, air presses, baby seal claps and 1000 burpees. All of that is true except for the burpees. After counting off 1s and 2s, we were off to grab coupons and line up at the edge of the pavilion for some hill work.

THANG PART 1 – Soggy Bottom Boyz
We will be celebrating the Coen Brothers as me and Brother-at-Law are just a couple of Co(Q)’N Brothers in law. A savagely curated spotify playlist made up of hit songs from Coen Brothers movies accompanied our work during the first half of the morning.

All 1’s would run down to the holler, perform 3 reverse burpees (aka Soggy Bottom Boys) and run back to the pavilion. During this time, all 2’s remain in the pavilion enjoying music and performing AMRAP of the exercises listed below. Flapjack, repeat for all exercises. Coupons uses for all exercises.

– Squat / Thrusters
– American Hammers
– Deadlift / bicep curls
– Chest press w/ legs 6″ off the ground
– Kettle block swings
– American Hammers
– Squat / Thrusters

THANG PART 2 – Oh Brother at Law, Where Art Thou?
CCR takes over, 2’s return coupons to their home, all pax circle up in the parking lot. I informed everyone that we were going to play a little game called “Oh Brother at Law, Where Art Thou?” We gave Brother at Law a 2 minute head start as he took off running toward Sir E. The rest of us performed 10 burpees on the minute for 2 minutes before we took off after him. The goal was simply to find him and bring him safely back to the school. With the entire neighborhood at his disposal, I feared it may take a long time to find him. With increasing grumbling, the Donuts-led group made their way down Hogan and we decided to run through the Crievewood United Methodist parking lot on the off chance he was there doing burpees on the church steps. By pure coincidence and a stroke of luck, we found him the first place we looked and still had about 10 minutes before time ran out on our workout. After 20 more burpees, we decided to make our way back home with a speed bump of sorts at every driveway we encountered. I believe there was a total of 12 driveways. With 10 merks followed by 10 tuck jumps, my math skills tell me there was a total of 120 reps of each.

MARY
With only a few seconds to spare, we squeezed in 10 Flutter Kix in cadence before it was time.

COT/BOM
After name-o-rama, we started a trial run of something called the 6th Man. The basic concept is that whoever is 6th during the count-off will be featured similar to how an FNG tells us about himself before being named. Today’s lucky winner was Gresham. We learned many things about him. He is a lawyer and his brother in law is T-Cell. He lives behind the school. If you want to know more, just ask him. He is really nice.

BULLHORN
TN Can Ruck, WARPATH and Stonewall all going on this Saturday. Please bring canned goods to as many posts as possible this week to help supplement the various drop boxes at breweries.

MOLESKINE
A true pleasure to co-Q with my brother(at law).  Really glad to see Yumi (and Dupree) and Lumbergh back out for more.  My apologies to those who thought part 2 was anything more than a short play that we used to disguise a run down to the ag center and back. Come out Friday to see if Yumi and Dupree make it out together again. Dupree will be at the helm, so you know it will be a good one.

Until next time, on behalf of my better half,
CCR/BAL

Just Keep Showing Up

PAX: Big Bang, Olan Mills, Canary, Umbrella, Joey Freshwater, Black Widow, Ebola, Yeti (FNG), En Fuego (QIC)

Conditions: Better than the day before, with a beautiful sunrise in place for Warmarama.

5:30 AM: Disclaimer given – not a professional but have been doing F3 for one year today so there’s that; proceed mosey to top deck of LBMC parking garage.

Warmarama: SSH, LBC, WMH, Scorpion Stretch (PAX-pleaser) and GMs.  Proceed to bottom floor of the garage to begin…

The Thang: We go back in time and perform the same workout that greeted YHC at my first F3 post one year ago today – Q’d that day by HIM Olan Mills.  Details:

  • Sprint up ramp of parking garage to first corner; perform 15 WWIs
  • Bear Crawl right to next corner; perform 15 Burpees
  • Lieutenant Dan down length to next corner; perform 20 2-count American Hammers
  • Broad Jump to next and final corner; perform 15 merkins.  Wall sit until PAX are all in.  R&R 4x.  End with final sprint at top of parking garage and mosey back.  Time.

COT: Welcome FNG Yeti (neighbor of Ebola); prayers for Olan Mills father; Reminder that Warpath and TN Can Ruck are both this weekend.

Great work by the PAX today – appreciate you allowing YHC the opportunity to make first Racetrack post in nearly 12 months and lead you while doing so.

As I was driving home following the gathering in the gloom, I was thinking about this workout today compared to the same one 12 months ago on my Day 1.  As one would hope and expect, while by no means an easy endeavor today, it certainly wasn’t as painful as the first go round, where I was fairly certain and quasi-hopeful that life was going to end after just two sets of the above.

And in thinking about it, the only thing YHC can take credit for since that Day 1 to allow for a more successful 45 minutes today is the fact that I’ve just kept showing up.  Nothing more, nothing less – just kept showing up.  Good reminder of how that same discipline applies to so much more than F3.  In our marriages, with our kids, in our friendships, in our careers and in our spiritual walks, regardless of the conditions of your gloom, sometimes at the end of day all you can do is keep showing up.  And while the fruits of that daily discipline aren’t always as visible as we’d like, make no mistake that in doing so seeds are not just being sown but are being sown well.  Look no further than F3 as proof.

SYITG

En Fuego

They Don’t Get Easier, You Just Get Better

PAX: Boone’s Farm, Princess Aurora, Bicentennial Man, En Fuego (QIC)

Conditions: Hot & muggy; missing a good January gloom

5:30 AM: We mosey, where halfway into it YHC realizes no disclaimer was given.  Disclaimer given mid-mosey.   Head to the soccer field for…

Warmarama: SSH, LBAC, WMH and GM.  During GMs, YHC informs the PAX that tomorrow is QIC’s one-year F3 birthday and thanks the PAX for coming to kick off the birthday festivities.  In honor of that birthday celebration this week, we’re going back in time reliving a couple milestones, including YHC’s first Q, delivered 9 months ago at the friendly confines of The Skunk – and in doing so testing the old F3 adage that the “workouts don’t get easier, you just get better”.  With that, we begin a slightly modified (soon to be regretted) version of that first Q.

The Thang:  We celebrate the 2nd F of F3 and bring Fellowship to the forefront.  QIC informs the PAX that from this point forward everything we do we do in two’s – so we partner up.  Fireman carry to the end of the soccer field to commence the following:

Partner 1 begins suicide utilizing length of soccer field – 1/3rd, 2/3rd and full length with one burpee, two burpees, and three burpees at the respective stops.  Second F twist is that Partner 1 doesn’t stop facing Partner 2 throughout suicide, so half is performed running backwards.

Partner 2 commences the following, with partners flapjacking until the below is complete:

  • 100 Burpees
  • 100 Jump Squats
  • 100 Power Merkins (modified from merkins in initial Q; regret sets in)
  • 100 Iron Mikes (modified from lunges; further regret)
  • 100 BigBoy Situps (modified from LBCs; modifying now a foolish decision at this point)

We’re all in, completely drenched, and PA is now shirtless.  With the latter, our lady friend from senior housing appears – mumble chatter between her and PA ensues; no questions asked.  Fireman carry to center sideline, where Partner 1 wheelbarrows to midfield; switch partners for return trip and end with 5 irkins and 5 derkins.  That’s one set; r&r 3x – increasing to 10 count of each on the final set.

Final minutes comprised of mixture of pull ups and sprints with Mary’s baked in.   Time.

COT:

  1. TN CAN Ruck this Saturday – reach out to PA for details.
  2. Prayers for Reveille’s cousin and brother; Bicentennial’s mom

As always, great effort by the PAX – appreciate you coming out to the party today and certainly thankful for the fellowship and accountability you’ve provided over the last 12 months.