Category: Uncategorized

It was a crisp 59 degrees last Saturday morning at Stonewall. There were 12 brave men, plus BaggerVance who joined after a shitastic run/ruck that left the Kroger bathroom violated.

The night before this workout,  I was researching heart rate monitoring devices,  and had a great idea for the workout I was about to Q.

The goal was to achieve max heart rate in the first 15 minutes to warm up.  Then spend 35 minutes in a cross training circuit with 6 different exercises, and finish with 10 minutes of Ab work.  This workout was inspired by scientific studies and theories from a man name Dr. Orange.  Don’t bother trying to find him on the World Wide Web.  This guys stuff can only be found at local libraries on microfilm. 

The workout went pretty much to plan, with the exception of a few fumbles that I will most certainly point out as I know some interested eyes will add comments if I don’t volunteer. 

To begin, my Q’ing skills showed a little rust. I started with the disclaimer to appease the bosses and then jumped into  “jumping jacks”….excuse me! Side straddle hops. It took me a few seconds but eventually I got my “one, two, three” on and we were off.

25 Ssh’s

13 windmills

13 baby arm circles forward and then backward

15 imperial walkers

15 hillbillies

10 count Willy Mays hayes

10 count quad stretch each side

The pack was led on a 4 minute light jog around the perimeter and thru the basketball court and back to the parking lot

We mosey over to the parking lot entrance and I begin to explain the goal of the first Dr. Orange Workout.

The goal was to achieve a solid warm up based on your personal max heart rate. Currently, my max heart rate calculated by the Doctor was 175 beats per minute.

The goal was to progressively run from Granny White down to Leland on side street increasing heart rate over a 6 minute progression. The Doctor told me that a good jog would get most people to 65-70% of max heart rate. So that’s where we began.  Each member was instructed to push themselves on each minute mark attempting to go from 75% rate up to 100% rate by the sixth minute. It was up to them to run at a pace that felt like they were progressing their heart rate up. The Jeweler was the clear alpha in this excercise. Granted, it was not a competition against others but rather  with yourself. I assume you would want to know who was the one who dominated.

We finished the warm-o-Rama and moseyed over to the covered pavilion.

Now the confusing part. The workout.  Dr. Orange had specifically told me that building muscle was essential to good health and using weights was necessary to do that. He also said it was important to keep your heart rate at a certain level to burn fat.

The goal for the workout was to complete 4 rounds of 6  stations and  to stay somewhere @ 85%  of max. Heart rate.   Each station lasted 1 minute  then we switched quickly and began the  next.

1st station – deep squat with kettle bell (preacher squat)

2nd station -forward twisting lunge with barbell held with both hands in front

3rd station – standing on toes, jump switch and do arm curl with dumbbell (Princess Aurora was confused  mentally and with his muscles on this exercise)

4 – over head press with weight while slightly squatting with back straight pressed against wood beam.

5 – picnic table dips- only do 10 during one minute. Goal was slow and deliberate movement on each one lasting 6 seconds.

6- one push up – this was to take exactly one minute. Goal was to go down as slow as possible and then back up as slow as possible. This was hard

We paired up, and approached each station with a partner and began.  PA and I started with Preacher Squats.

It was a slow and steady grunt fest and coupled with no music it was quickly a grind.  Mid way thru Dr Orange decided to throw a curve ball and sent the local trash man toting and dragging on an unfiltered Marlboro Red.  He decided to change out the trash cans in the pavilion and took his sweet time.  The smoke he exhaled began to fill our lungs and provided increased heart rates and a cool, burning sensation. . Bagger joined soon after and let everyone know that he had shit himself on his run and felt bad for the janitor at Kroger.

We finished the 6 station drill at supposed heart rate of 90% as the last minute I announced they needed to push themselves harder.

We circled up in the parking lot and each member led their ab exercise for a 15 count.

Finished with Ball of Man in prayer.  PA was like a poet. His enunciation was majestic.  And he masterfully and effortlessly closed out our science based exercises with words from the heart.

Amen.  And thanks for opportunity to lead.

FtTal

 

3 HIM came out for an OTB boot camp so they can cross the Ironclad finish line of 40 posts.

PAX:  Crawlspace, PA (co-QIC), Vector (co-QIC)

Conditions:  40 degrees, practically balmy

Vector:
Mosey around to the upper parking lot for the

Warm-o-rama:  

Imperial Walkers x 15
Reverse LBAC x 15
Overhead Squats x 15
“Normal” Merkins x 10
Cherry Pickers x 15
LBAC x 15
Air Presses x 15
Dry Dock, Carolina Style x 10

First Round:

DORA –  50 Dips, 100 LBCs, 150 Squats while 1 or 2 PAX runs around traffic circle

Playlist – Comprised of the Cheesiest Tunes from 80’s Training Montages (It was Cheese Whiz x 10, my friends)

Eye of the Tiger – Survivor [Rocky III]
Theme from Rocky – Bill Conte [Rocky . . . duh]
Far from Over – Frank Stallone [Staying Alive as well as from one of the classic SNL skits from the 80’s about male synchronized swimmers:

The Final Countdown – Europe [just ’cause]
Burning Heart – Survivor [Rocky IV]
You’re the Best – Joe “Bean” Esposito [The Karate Kid]
No Easy Way Out – Robert Tepper [Rocky IV]

Second Round (PA):

• Pull-Up Reverse Pyramid – 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1
• An attempt to do pull-up hold at top, but some HIM (cough, cough . . .me) failed that one miserably.
• Jacob’s Ladder – Bernie Sanders up the back driveway to main lot, clerkins at the top, run back to bottom increasing reps to 7

Mary: 
[10 burpee penalty as shovel flag had fallen over]
Alabama Prom Dates x 20
Right and Left sided Leg Lifts x 20

COT:

• Tonight:  Need any last Ironclad F2 or F3 credits (or not, the fellowship is still good for you)?  Meet us at Edley’s in Sylvan Park at 2000 for beers and some Q Source.
• Warpath 4-13-2019 in Franklin
• Gauntlet 5-4-2019 with Nolensville HIM
• T-shirt order for F3 Nashville open now.  Ironclad and Revised Scorpion to come soon.

Thanks to PA for creating Ironclad and pushing us to be better.  Has been hard work but definitely see the benefits — more comfortable being Q, stronger, can now tolerate some running, glad to have tried out new AOs and met more HIM.  Highly recommend doing it next go around if you weren’t able to this time.

Vector

9 of Nashville’s fastest posted for a beautiful first spring morning of the year (to preempt the calendar nerd comments, farmer’s almanac online tells me the vernal equinox did not occur until 4:58 CT on 3/20).

PAX: Pop-A-Lock, Money Shot, Life Champ, Big Stick, Too Tall, Lumberg, Razor, Prevac, Razorback (Q).

WOR: Field lap, SSH x 20, GM x 10, WMH x 10. We then did 20 yds of the following to get the legs loose: high knees, butt kickers, walking single leg RDLs, high kicks, heel taps, A-skips.

THANG: 100-yd sprints x20, with each sprint starting every 75 seconds. At the end of each sprint, 20 reps of the following:

• • Sprints 1-10: merkins (east goal line), squats (west goal line)
  • Sprints 11-20: LBCs (east goal line), ‘Bama prom dates (west goal line)

Impressive pace set by the Big-Tall-Shot trio, and a winded group at the end of the 20th sprint. Had a few minutes left so added some lateral movement to round it out: side shuffle line drill to the 10/20/30/40/50 yd lines and back, with 10 merkin speed bump each time you hit the goal line. Mosey back to parking lot for abbreviated Mary and it was time.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

3/29 Leadership lunch at Richland with Ret. US Army Ranger John Belman.  See Slack for details or contact Bagger.

3/23: Westside CSAUP The Scorpion.  Begins at Titan and ends at West Park.  See Slack or contact Princess Aurora for details.

4:13 starts back up next Thursday morning.

#wps

A strong Cruelhall pax of 17 made their way out into the gloom on this beautiful 49-degree morning to get better.  At the request of Baggervance, very little cotton made an appearance.

Pax: Flutag, Ludwig, Baggervance, Blue Devil, Offshore, Brother-at-law, Black Lung, Sterno, A_R, Blackwidow, PSL, Bigstick, Reefer, Dmish, Lumbergh, Capslock

WOR: Little bit of everything to get rid of the slight chill in the air.

-Quick mosey around the Cruelhall Castle

-15 SSH

-20 Good Mornings

-15 Willy Mays

-15 High Knees

-15 Arm Cirlces forward & reverse

-Possibly some extracurriculars that I’ve missed

THANG: We started out light and built round by round, keeping the pax together with Flutterkicks in between.  Got 7 great rounds in before we almost had to call it due to time, but the pax wouldn’t have it!  We squeezed in that 8th round because that’s what we came for.

ROUND 1 – 5 burpees, Parking Lot Loop

ROUND 2 – 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, Parking Lot Loop

ROUND 3 – 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, 15 WWI, Parking Lot Loop

ROUND 4 – 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, 15 WWI, 20 Block Curls, Parking Lot Loop

ROUND 5 – 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, 15 WWI, 20 Block Curls, 25 squats, Parking Lot Loop

ROUND 6 – 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, 15 WWI, 20 Block Curls, 25 squats, 1 minute elbow plank, Parking Lot Loop

ROUND 7 – 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, 15 WWI, 20 Block Curls, 25 squats, 1 minute elbow plank, 35 Side Straddle Hops, Parking Lot Loop

ROUND 8 – 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, 15 WWI, 20 Block Curls, 25 squats, 1 minute elbow plank, 35 Side Straddle Hops, 40 shoulder presses w/block, Parking Lot Loop

Mary: To add to the fun we closed out with some additional burpees, crunches, and a brief conversation with the Sky Q before making our way over to the always tasty and delicious spice enhanced coffee.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

3/29 Leadership lunch at Richland with Ret. US Army Ranger John Belman.  Details will be in slack or contact Bagger.

3/23: Westside CSAUP The Scorpion.  Begins at Titan and ends at West Park.  See Slack or contact Princess Aurora for details.

Prayers:  Bagger’s friend unexpectedly losing a baby at delivery.  Apologies if I forgot somebody’s intention but I think that was it.

Run with faster men.

Movin On Up

-28-

16 of Nashville’s finest celebrated this 50’ish degree morning with a healthy dose of lateral exercises and running.  Short sleeves, gloveless hands, and even bare chests were all reported.  It’s spring men.

Pax: Floppy D, CCR, Hot Route, Princess Aurora, Porcelain, Firefox, Crawlspace, Right Said Fred, Crablegs, Blue Mule, Pumpskin Spice, Hi Viz, Preacher Man, Harvey Updyke, Cunning Linguist, Brother at Law (Q).

WOR: Kind of did a bunch all over the place.

10 SSH

Run a bit

10 merkin speed bump

Run a bit

Walking lunge and twist to a flock of seagulls

Run a bit to backside of Parthenon

Then circle up at the porcelain dragon: SSH x30, GM x10, WMH x10, LBAC x10, Reverse x10, Navy Baby Seal Claps x10, Overhead Press x10

THANG:

Mosey up to upper level of Parthenon and perform the following as we made our way around entire perimeter: squatted side shuffles long side of parthenon, Lateraltenant Dans short side (side lunge one leg, side lunge other leg, squat), then repeat the other long side and other short side.

Next we revisited one of my favorite types of sets, a roughly 5 minute AMRAP super set with some hearty running in between:

Set 1: 10 Ariana Grandes (lateral lunge to lateral slide, push back up and repeat on opposite leg) x10; 2) Mike Tyson Merkins x15

Run Ellipse at roughly 70% effort

Set 2: Lateral box jumps x10 (modify with lateral step up); repeat other side x10; Carolina Dry Docks x10

Run Ellipse at roughly 70% effort

Set 3: Low, slow, deep skaters x20; Uneven merkins x10

Mosey to side parking lot and split into two roughly even groups for two sets of suicides.

1. Group 1 runs light pole suicides while other half does atomic merkins; switch out.
2. Group 1 runs light pole suicides while other half SSH; switch out.

Mosey to statute of virtue for MARY:

American Hammers x20

Leg crossed single leg Alabama Prom Dates x10 each leg.

Alternating Shoulder taps x20

Side Plank roughly 20 seconds each side

WMH x10 for a final side to side stretch.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

3/29 Leadership lunch at Richland with Ret. US Army Ranger John Belman.  See Slack for details or contact Bagger.

3/23: Westside CSAUP The Scorpion.  Begins at Titan and ends at West Park.  See Slack or contact Princess Aurora for details.

PA will throw a generic F3 Nashville shirt order up on the website for newer F3 members to get in on the fun (pyramid scheme).  The Scorpion also has a shirt up there for participants.  Look for the link on Slack.

Couple of births among the PAX.  Congratulations and prayers offered up to Preacher Man and Bad Boy.

Prayers: New family members, Hot Route’s family friend died in a plane crash leaving a widowed wife, and Bagger’s friend unexpectedly losing a baby at delivery.  Apologies if I forgot somebody’s intention but I think that was it.

Always an honor to lead and be lead.

Brother at Law

-30-

Monday, March 11, 2019

Conditions: – breezy, 48 degrees, dark, and gloomy – quentissential  Irish weather

PAX: Bagger Vance, Venus, En Fuego, Money Shot, Cowboy, Fox Trot Talks Alot

QIC: Tiny Dancer

Warmarama:

Lap around the park back to the parking lot

Soundtrack: Blood of Cu Chulainn, Jeff Danna and Mychael Danna (remember the Boondock Saints?)

17 SSH

10 Good mornings

17 LBAC (forward and reverse)

17 Slow and low squats (little quick for BV’s taste)

40 Merkins on your own

The Thang

(Mosey to the soccer field)

Sevens – (had to pick lucky / holy number seven on St. Patrick’s Day week) pull ups on goal post, run the length of the soccer field, burpees at the opposite goal post.

Soundtrack – slightly Pogues-heavy:

1. If I Should Fall from Grace with God – The Pogues
2. Irish Rover – The Pogues
3. Whiskey in the Jar – The Pogues
4. Streams of Whiskey – The Pogues
5. The Body of an American – The Pogues

(Mosey back to the parking lot to retrieve the 30lb ruck sack) (Shout out to Pop-a-lock for the loaner!)

One HIM would don the ruck sack and run solo counter-clockwise around the track, while the rest of us ran an indian run in the opposite direction, using my bluetooth speaker as the baton. Each time the lone runner would meet the remaining six, we’d share a five- burpee handoff, and the ruck sack would be passed on to the next HIM. We rinsed and repeated until all got a turn with the ruck. We then did 20 merkins and moseyed back to the parking lot. At some point during this evolution, Foxtrot finally arrived, allegedly after already working out at his house.

Mary

40 flutter kicks

10 Hello Dollys

Surprise end of Mary for meditative burpees and atomics, much to Bagger’s dismay. For meditation, we digested select quotes from St. Patrick himself in between burpees and atomics

1. Check them out! This guy was a stud… https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/688258.St_Patrick

Quote 1: 20 burpees

Quote 2: 15 Atomics

Quote 3: 25 WWI’s

Quote 4: 15 Burpees

TIME

All told, we ran 9 laps around the track (3 laps = 1 mile). With the running during the sevens,, we managed between 3 and 4 miles. Extra respect to Cowboy for all the one-armed merkins he cranked out in order to compensate for his injured shoulder.

Prayers were sent up for Bad Boy, his wife, and his soon-to-be-born 2.0!!! Also, we prayed that we follow in St. Patrick’s example by answering God’s call in our lives. He is a timeless example that one God and one man can change entire nations.

It was an honor to lead you and to get better with each of you. The Skunk lives on!