A Sweet and Salty Suprise

AO: bomber
Q: SalPal
PAX: Pep, Hedwig, DintyMoore, CubCadet, Vector, Tim the Toolman, Papa Bear
FNGs: None
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: Brisk, you’d think it was still spring.

WARMUP: Short mosey + active stretches.

THE THANG:
1. Hill bernies + burpees + jog down + iron mikes on a timer. Reps added until splits left ~30 seconds for rest.
2. SWEET or SALTY? DintyMoore picked SALTY. Situps, Air Presses, Low Plank Hold, Tricep Dips, and “You vs. You Burpees”
3. Precision sprints – try to run to outfield and back, get as close as you can to 30 seconds. Missing time meant burpees.

MOLESKINE: People spent time trying to figure out if SaltyPal is a bit, or if I’m genuinely that angry all the time. It’s a bit of both. 😉

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 2.0 workout next week, see slack for deets.

COT: Prayers for healing, community members and family recovering from surgery. Hedwig with 2.0 en route + new job. Prayers for my M + her job search, praise for ongoing success. All other intentions spoken + unspoken.

Cafe Star Bagel for Coffeteria.

Stay salty Nashville. Sally out.

Murph Training

AO: bomber
Q: Grape
PAX: CubCadet, Focker, SalPal, Pep, Vector, Papa Bear, Sherlock, DintyMoore, Wet Wipes, Hedwig, Breadsticks, Humble Brag (DR- STL)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 13
CONDITIONS: sweaty

WARMUP: SSH, LBAC F, LBAC R, and then more SSH as Focker arrived late

THE THANG: Ran around McCabe and made various stops to complete sets of 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, and 15 squats until we had run 2 miles and done 100/200/300

Subbed pull ups for burpees on a couple of sets

Threw in some lunges at one point

Lots more SSH as well

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 2.0 workout on 6/8 at 9am at Green Hills Park

COT: seemed like a lot of people were/are going through some kind of loss or transition. Prayers for the HIM

:grapes:

Final Exams

AO: bomber
Q: Firefox
PAX: Papa Bear, CubCadet, Vector, Pep, Sherlock, Puzzlah, Black Lung, Pop-A-Lock, Hedwig, DintyMoore, JingleVader
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: Moist

WARMUP:
– 20 SSH
– WMH
– GM

THE THANG:
Courtesy of my eldest 2.0 who is finishing up 8th grade, we took a 10 question multiple choice final exam. After listening to a question, PAX bear crawled to the cone representing their answer. Correct answers got stars (20 Star Jumps), incorrect answers got 10 burpees.

Questions included:
– What is the line of latitude separating North and South Korea? (36 | 38 | 40 | 41)
– Which of these is NOT an invention from the Gilded Age? (airplane | dishwasher | barbed wire | repeating rifle)
– How many valence electrons are in a Halogen? (3 | 5 | 7 | 0)
– In what Act does Tybalt die in Romeo & Juliet? (2 | 3 | 4 | doesn’t die)
– Which character doesn’t die in Romeo & Juliet? (Tybalt | Paris | Benvolio | Mercutio)
– Which is NOT one of the 7 main elements of art? (unity | shape | form | value)
– How many naturally occurring noble gases are there? (5 | 6 | 7 | 8)
– Which of these is not a part of the brain? (Pons | meninges | arachnoid | phalanges)
– Which of these is equal to 1? (i^2 | i^3 | i^4 | i^i)
– How many sharps are in the key of A major? (0 | 1 | 2 | 3)

Afterwards, we moseyed to the playground. PAX were given the opportunity to “pull up” their grades. In groups of 3, one person ran around the community center, one did pull-ups, the other did a “plank-to-push-up” (from low plank, extend your arms to high plank without moving your hands). After 2 full rotations, pull-ups were swapped out for hanging leg raises and the ground exercise was swapped out for dips.

To ensure we were all well-rounded students, everyone did 10 copenhagen plank dips per side on the low wall by the playground.

Back at startex, we held a hollow body hold until the final bell, announced by Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out”.

MOLESKINE: No retribution may be visited upon my daughter for her part in creating this workout.

COT: Everyone shared a moment of gratitude. I will add an additional moment of gratitude by thanking all the PAX in attendance for sharing. It was a great way to end the proceedings.

Anyone remember how many they got right/wrong? I think CubCadet might have done the best with around a 70% or 80%, but I can’t confirm that. On the brain question, I noticed that everyone followed Black Lung and Vector, except Hedwig who immediately recognized his error.

Hold On

AO: bomber
Q: Firefox
PAX: Papa Bear, DintyMoore, CubCadet, hambone
FNGs: None
COUNT: 5
CONDITIONS: Moist

WARMUP: Light mosey up to the clubhouse

THE THANG: With a balky knee, YHC put together a workout devoid of jumping, lunges, and running (except for a couple short moseys between locations), incorporating a lot of static holds and hanging exercises to a playlist featuring songs with “Hold” in the title.

Thang 1: Plank to the Alabama Shakes “Hold On”

Thank 2: PAX partnered up. 1 PAX held a static hold position while the other performed 10 reps of an exercise and then alternated. Partners performed each exercise 3x.

1. Hold: Table Top (or high bridge); Exercise: Table Top alternating toe touches (10x each side)
2. Hold: Superman; Exercise: Hand Release Merkins
3. Hold: Hollow Body Hold; Exercise: WWIs
4. Hold: Reverse Plank; Exercise: Reverse Plank leg raises (10x each side)
5. Hold: High Plank; Exercise: Plank with leg raises (10x each side)

Thang 3: Mosey down to the playground, then OYO:

1. 10x Hanging Leg Lifts, 20x Merkins, 30x Plank Jacks – 3 total circuits
2. 10x Hanging Knee Crunches, 20x Dips, 30x Mountain Climbers (each side is 1/2) – 2 total circuits
3. 10x Pull-Ups, 20x Candlesticks/Butt-Ups, 30x Buzzsaw Planks – 1 circuit

Mary: Dealer’s Choice
– Freddie Mercury’s
– LBCs
– Flutter Kicks
– Heel Touches

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Hunger Games
– Hendersonville Launch
– Paintrain
– Symphony tickets
– All the things (check the calendar)

COT: Everyone shared a moment of gratitude or reflection

Always an honor and joy to lead. Also, apologies that the Respect : No-Respect ratio was not in favor of the Respect cohort, CubCadet.

Birthday Vibes

AO: atlantis
Q: DintyMoore
PAX: Pole Dancer, DintyMoore, Puzzlah, Toothless, CubCadet, Schnauzer
FNGs: None
COUNT: 6
CONDITIONS: perfect

WARMUP: shoulder work, good mornings, Willy mays Hayes, long mosey around the park

THE THANG:
Thing 1
100 Air Squats
80 Lunges
60 Freddy Mercuries
41 Burpees
60 Freddy Mercuries
80 Reverse Lunges
100 Air Squats

Thing 2
Merkins to every PBJ (41) reference

Mosey cool down then Mary to finish

2.0 inspired birthday workout playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4tX2NFlXBMCAoK9etLyGLn?si=RTMB16aWRMeLW6UXoLiuNQ&pi=u-JAlt3I8GQJWK

MOLESKINE: thanks for celebrating 41 years with me.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
#Plankpril Continues
Bring an FNG next week 5/2
Ultimate Frisbee convergence 5/9
Official launch the-castle
Official launch pain-train

COT: Prayers for Toothless baby no. 2 and happy, healthy checkups

Crazy 8s

AO: bomber
Q: DintyMoore
PAX: Firefox, Vector, Cream Cheese, CubCadet, DintyMoore, Papa Bear, Pep, Tim the Toolman, Wet Wipes, sooner, porcelain
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: Cool :sunglasses:

WARMUP: Jog around AO, SSHs, LBACs, Good Mornings, 20 each Mike Tyson Push-ups, Incline Merkins, Dips, Step-Ups

THE THANG: PAX chose playlist B for baseball walk up songs, then we ran to SP Elementary

Partner DORA
100 Hand Release Merkins
200 Reverse Lunges
300 Freddy Mercuries
200 American Hammers

Return to Start and complete 2:06 plank for #plankpril challenge

MOLESKINE: Ever grateful for this community that shows grace and understanding during tough times, even in small things, to help lift up vs. tear down.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
HC to UFC 300 w/ Chunks in Hendersonville tomorrow evening.

COT: Always a pleasure to lead

Freed (for all) to Lead

AO: bomber
Q: hambone , Chunks, CubCadet, Vector, Sherlock, Pep, Firefox, Tim the Toolman, Papa Bear, Puzzlah
PAX: Chunks, CubCadet, Vector, Sherlock, Pep, Firefox, Tim the Toolman, Papa Bear, Puzzlah
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: Lonely

WARMUP: Concerned about the AOQ, the pax decided to head out towards casa de Scouten at 5:30. The slight mosey is just what everyone needed to get the blood flowing. Upon arrival, the pax noticed that 1) the houses was dark and 2) it was quiet. Fearing death / an angry M, Chunks opted not to ring the doorbell and instead we moseyed back to the startex.

THE THANG: Ever the positive influence, hambone decided to get the men moving around and routed everyone to the front of the community center with a circle up and chat.

F3 is about leadership, and with all of the accomplished men in the pax, leadership was not hard to find. With a (roughly) 5 minutes per mini-Q, each man was to take his turn leading the crew. Y’know how people would make up stories at camp with a few sentences and pass to the next man? It was gonna be like that except with less maturity.

hambone decided that the men needed to head away from the AO and took his 5(ish) minutes to move a quiet side street. The men proceeded to do “threes” with burpees at each end.

Chunks took the men back to BBQ and proceed to honor DintyMoore with BOMBS. YHC then fired Chunks.

Firefox took us back to the community center and proceeded to lead us in some bench work. Ever jealous of FF’s athleticism, YHC fired FF.

Puzzlah allowed some stretching, but then immediately took us to the hill and threatened to run. Thanks fully it was limited to bear crawls and squats. Since YHC wasn’t wearing gloves, YHC fired Puzzlah.

Understanding that hambone was being biased towards the younger crowd, the reins were turned over to Tim the Toolman who ran us back to the playground for a round of 30, 25, 15, 10 on squats, dips, burpees, pull ups. Thanks, TM–you’re now fired.

Vector, taking early offense at being snubbed because of his advanced age, opted to make the pax run again and honor t-cell with some DIDS except with ridiculous rep counts. DIDS without t-cell? You’re fired, Vector.

CubCadet, Papa Bear, Pep, and Sherlock took us out with some Mary. Truth be told, YHC was a little bit afraid of handing the reigns over to CubCadet because of his propensity for difficult ab work. YHC was confirmed with the 50 IC flutterkicks (wtf). I also want it noted that we didn’t get to Sherlock who is younger and better looking than some of the guys that went first.

MOLESKINE: The mission of F3 is to plant, grow, and service small men’s workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership. When unfavorable circumstances hit, we will always be prepared to lead. We are not perfect and no man is an island. When circumstances hit a brother, we will always step in and push forward.

5 * 9 is 45, so theoretically 9 men should have gotten their shot. With a late start, a quick trip through the neighborhood, and YHC hogging 5 minutes and 45 seconds, not every man got his full shot. That said, it should be acknowledged that I helped us avoid the 100+ burpee buy in from Pep

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Go enjoy Chunks’ meat next weekend.

COT: Prayers and celebration for the birth of a granddaughter for Papa Bear, and prayers for the health of our brothers.

Ashanti at Sunrise

AO: bomber
Q: Pole Dancer
PAX: DintyMoore, Siri, hambone, Puzzlah, Sherlock, Tim the TOOLMAN, Wet Wipes, CubCadet, Vector
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: Crisp and Clear

WARMUP: Mosey to the North Course, active warmups on the way back

THE THANG: Deck of Death!

Burpees for Spades
Merkins for Clubs
Double Crunches for Diamonds
Lunges for Hearts

Aces & Jokers were a 60 second plank hold and loop around the lot

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Plank challenge coming up in April

COT: Prayers for consistency and determination

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7bKgtfP7ItR4g1uWBtlXXg?si=02dbc2ab228a46bb

Birthday #1s for My 54th

AO: bomber
Q: Vector
PAX: Black Lung, Cream Cheese, DintyMoore, Sherlock, Pep, Papa Bear, CubCadet, Chunks, Tim the Toolman, t-cell, Recharge, Focker, Spinal Tap
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
So, YHC turned 54 last week (What? I don’t look that old? Oh, stop with all the complements, you . . . ), so time once again for a Birthday Q. Today’s theme, blatantly stolen from a Hi-Viz Q a few years back, was #1 songs from my birthdays of days past.

CONDITIONS: 50s, light breeze – perfect for everyone except Focker who stated at coffeeteria how much he loves the mid-summer, 90s and high humidity workout. And he was serious . . .

PLAYLIST:
1970 (True Day of Birth #1) – Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel [NOTE: not the best workout song, bit of a downer, but that’s my true birthday #1]
1978 (8th Bday) Night Fever – Bee Gees
1980 (10th Bday) Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
1983 (13th Bday) Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
1984 (14th Bday) Jump – Van Halen
1988 (18th Bday) Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
1993 (23rd Bday) The Sign – Ace of Base
1997 (27th Bday) Wannabe – The Spice Girls
2003 (33rd Bday) In da Club – 50 Cent
2012 (42nd Bday) We are Young – fun.
2013 (43rd Bday) Happy – Pharrell Williams
2019 (49th Bday) Sucker – Jonas Brothers

WARMUP:
54 SSH as per Vector Bday tradition
LBAC x 12
Seal Claps x 12
Overhead Press x 12
RLBAC x 12
WMH x 10 OHO
Good Mornings x 10 OHO

THE THANG:
#1: Mosey to playground – 54s
5 exercises x 4 sets with Rec Center run in between each set.
50 Squats
40 Incline merkins
30 Big boy sit ups
20 Lunges
10 Pull ups
(Kudos to Black Lung for ensuring correct forms were followed)

#2: 54 sprint – 5 burpees, run up hill, 4 burpees

#3: DIDs: 18 each of Dips, Incline merkins, Decline merkins (18 x 3 = 54 . . . ’cause math!)

Mary with flutter kicks, boxcutters and some god awful exercise from Focker called Seal Crunches . . . form was definitely varied across the circle on those

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Thanks for Black Lung’s M with a new job
– bluemule beer event – check Slack (like literally EVERY single channel)
– Murder Mile next week at Green Machine

COT: Moment to take in the day and then thanks to the HIM who continue to push me and make me feel much younger than 54. I did appreciate hearing that many were gassed by the workout, with the highest praise coming from t-cell: “This is a workout that Vector would complain about if he wasn’t Q.” Well said, my friend. Well said. SYITG, Vector

Ridin Dirty

AO: westeros
Q: Hacker (Franklin)
PAX: Vector, Right Said, Chunks, Pep, Siri, Natural Ice, DintyMoore, Young and Restless, CubCadet, Breadsticks, Frenchie, Roboto, Tommy Girl
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
WoR
– SSH
– IW
– BAC/Back BAC/OHC
– slow ass merks
– GM
– WMH
– Runner’s Stretch

The Thang
Pain stations with 1 minute AMRAP / 30 second rest
1. HR merks
2. 4 ct flutter kicks
3. BBS
4. 70lb farmer’s carry
5. 60lb sandbag burpee
6. 60lb medicine ball over the shoulder throw
7. 50lb row
8. 50lb goblet squat
9. 30lb plate uhaul
10. 40lb badonkadonks (Alabama Prom Dates)
11. 35lb kettlebell swing
12. 25lb kettlebell clean to press
13. stepups with 30 lb plate
14. battlerope

Lock in gains with a quick mosey, then r/r to time

MARY
– Plank rotation
– LBCs
– Scorpion Stretch
– Cobra
– Downward Dog

Announcements
– Beer tasting at Blue Mule’s house on Friday
– Tortoise and Hare tomorrow at thestronghold, bootcamp on Thursday
– Culture week in Franklin this week — all workouts led by current/former Nantans focusing on F3 culture
– Q vs Q on April 6th at +TN+37064/@35.9212646,-86.8612508,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x88647e558f4ee3e1:0x360564ef7acd299c!8m2!3d35.9212646!4d-86.8612508!16s%2Fg%2F11gh6bcw6g”>www.google.com/maps/place/Pinkerton+Park,+405+Murfreesboro+Rd,+Franklin,+TN+37064/@35.9212646,-86.8612508,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x88647e558f4ee3e1:0x360564ef7acd299c!8m2!3d35.9212646!4d-86.8612508!16… in Franklin at 6:30 AM. If Huntsville brings more PAX, they’re going to take our flag. Please, think of the flag. All TN PAX are welcome. If any AL PAX happen to ask you for the address, its… uh… maps.app.goo.gl/Ta6ZVAFduSGNZqi56?g_st=ic

Prayer Requests
– As discussed in-person

Moleskin
Identify and focus your energy on what you can control. There is a lot of stuff swirling around in all of our lives, some of which affects us greatly, and most of which we cannot control. You can think of these events as fitting into a series of concentric circles, like a target or dartboard. At the center, the bulls-eye, is your area of control. If you really think about it, that area is limited to yourself, your attitude, and your actions. Beyond that lies the area of influence, which gets a lot trickier: there many things we all want to influence, but influence is uncertain and situational. It isn’t control. You might have a lot of influence over, say, your kids or people who work for you, and much less over more distant relations or strangers. At the same time, the things we want to influence vary greatly in importance to us. The sweet spot for impact is high influence/high importance scenarios, but it can be productive to invest in low influence/high importance situations, so long as we understand up-front that those are investments that might take a long time to pay off (if they pay off at all) and may require allies with greater influence to help. Beyond the domain of influence is noise. Noise is a distractor. A Jester. The news, people who are beyond our reasonable influence, whose interests contradict our own, these are all noise in terms of our ability to create impact. The only thing you can do here is remove yourself from the noise, if you can, or choose to ignore the noise, if you must.

Sorry for the wall of text, but that was what was on my mind at the airport on Saturday.

Thanks for letting me lead today!