Tortoise & Hare, Run #2

AO: thestronghold
Q: Red Skull
PAX: Wham-O, bluemule, Michelin Man, Chunks, Right Said, Crawlspace, hambone, Young and Restless, Hair Band, Judy, Decaf, Toto, Road Trip, Old Maid, Step Back, Beyonce, Puppy Chow, Purple Rain, Napoleon, 1 Star, Go Fish, Speed Date, Black Jack, Cow Pie, Cool Runnings, Clorox, Big Mama
FNGs: None
COUNT: 28
CONDITIONS: Moderate temps and high humidity created an absolute sweat-fest at The Stronghold.

WARMUP: Standard pre-run warmup routine: SSH, Squats, IWs, WMH and any other body part needing a stretch before running.

THE THANG: Pick your group (Fast, Medium and Less Than Medium) and RUN!!! Thanks to the great showing and encouragement of my F3 brothers, 8 out of 14 4:13 Strong men set a PR today. Thank you for showing up and offering encouragement.

MOLESKINE: Hard things are easier when you do them with someone else. Thank you F3 for such a strong showing this morning. I think this was the biggest run group we have ever had on a Tuesday!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 50 mile CSAUP on Aug 29…get your 5 man team together now. There are several 4:13 Strong men that are interested in participating so if you are looking for a fifth, let me know.

COT: Prayers for wisdom, strength and endurance.

The Meaning of Life is 42: Tales from the Fog Breathers

AO: westeros
Q: hambone
PAX: bluemule, Tim the Toolman, Old Maid, caprate, Drop Trow, Black Lung, Michelin Man, Shy Guy
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: swampy AF

WARMUP: do that on your own time

THE THANG: SSH, IST, merkins, mosey

more mosey, more merkins

bear crawl x 10

pull ups + count up on burpees

lunges + bear crawls around tennis court

UH OH, WHAT’S THAT!?!?! Black Lung penalty is in effect for 21 minutes late. hambone multiplier is also in effect for 2x effort. The meaning of life is 42, and 42 burpees were done (mostly).

MOLESKINE: I don’t think I’ve ever seen bluemule hug a tennis court net–definitely a first. I also have a suspicion that our heralded AOQ was not out of the FS until 0517 this morning based on the poopyness level in the face.

Old Maid, you looked concerned during the sprints, but then you had a blast of energy and you crushed it. I saw the back give out on the burpees–sorry, it’s a short man’s game. Speaking of which, I think Tim the Toolman probably did 50+ burpees; he’s a show off, but he missed the meaning of life (which is 42).

caprate and Shy Guy had their moment of doubt, but once they remembered the Q was a wide man shaped like a barrel, they knew he would tucker out.

Black Lung you’re not late, you’re just chronologically challenged. You found us, and that’s what counts. Speaking of finding us, Drop Trow only had one parking lot to look in so it was easy today.

Michelin Man, I did keep it to 5 push ups. There was also a half-decent amount of running. To be honest, I planned for more, but the arrival of 42 helped redefine the meaning of the workout.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: silent crew

COT: silent crew, but we prayed to Jesus Christ and asked for the improvement of our lives.

PLAYLIST RATING: C’mon, you knew what it was going to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtXby3twMmI

House of Cards

AO: greenmachine
Q: Goose
PAX: Pep, Focker, Esposa, Michelin Man, Topanga, Matador, Betty Ford, Super Soaker
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: Humid

WARMUP: Willie Mays Hays, Forward Fold, Good Mornings, Cherry Pickers

THE THANG:
-Deck of Cards:
Clubs=Squats
Diamonds-Merkins
Spades=SSH
Hearts=WW1
Aces and Faces=Run to goal line and back
-100 yards lunges
-100 yard bear crawls and squat jumpps
-Circleof Mary

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

50 Mile CSAUP last weekend in August, Focker has details

Tortoise & Hare – Run #1

AO: thestronghold
Q: Red Skull
PAX: bluemule, Decaf, Young and Restless, Barney, Michelin Man, Wham-O, Chunks, Road Trip + 14 FNGS
FNGs: None
COUNT: 23
CONDITIONS: Sun light and very humid!

WARMUP: Standard Warm-Up – SSH, Squats, IWs, WMHs, stretches

THE THANG: Break into 3 groups – Fast, Medium and Slow…and then RUN!!!! Our fastest time was 23:25 and our “all in” time was 50:07. We had a great effort by several men who worked really hard and a couple men who decided to test the clock and leave some room for improvement.

MOLESKINE: A great first run. Now the mystery of the run is gone and everyone knows they can do it. Next week we will see improvement.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: None

COT: This is a big class full of energy and personality. The 4:13 Strong men are anxious for change and crave fellowship with positive men who can offer encouragement.

Monday Morning Blues

AO: westeros
Q: Old Maid
PAX: CubCadet, Natural Ice, Pep, Red Skull, Tim the Toolman, Vector, Michelin Man, caprate, Old Maid, None
FNGs: 1 None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: Warm and humid

WARMUP:
30 SSH IC
30 Arm Circles IC
10 Meekins
Hamstring / Glute stretches
Willie Mayes / Good Mornings OYO

THE THANG:
Mosey to the circle by the gym.
Split into 2 teams. With one member from each team running the circle, the rest of the PAX performed squats. When the runners were finished, then next team members in line took a turn running, while the rest of the PAX continued to do squats. Continued until all members ran.

Repeated process four more times doing Freddy Mercuries, Carolina Dry Docks, Reverse Lunges, and Merkins.

Also did:
– 30 WWIs
– High knees / burpees
– Mosey back to start
– 5 minutes of merry

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
July 4th convergence at Handsomizer

COT:
No call outs. Prayers for leadership and the country

Bomber Nostalgia – A Legend Returns

AO: bomber
Q: Vector , t-cell
PAX: Papa Bear, Hedwig, Sherlock, Puzzlah, Grape, Tim the Toolman, Michelin Man, Firefox, CubCadet, DintyMoore, Topps, Steampunk
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
Firefox arranged another hybrid Q bringing back a Bomber legend, t-cell, to Q . . . along with some other dude. In order to “set the mood,” the playlist focused on the Qs’ guilty pleasure: pop music princesses. That’s right – not a single song prior to 2014. That means no 80s songs or Beatles tunes, Pep. One disclaimer: YHC was struck when reviewing the playlist how many F bombs were dropped by these talented women. C’mon, you don’t need to curse to attain pop superstardom – ask Salt N’ Pepa . . .

CONDITIONS: Nostalgic

WARMUP: t-cell leads in a mosey around the AOQ. There may have been some signs of tears as he recalled the days of princessaurora and Hi-Viz (who??).

THE THANG:
#1: t-cell favorite – parking lot shuffle with escalating exercises of burpees, 2 jump squats, and some merkins. A little bit of mumblechatter about speaker volume and the tawdry subtext of these fine pop tunes.

#2: After being gassed from the shuffle, YHC took over to do DIDs at the startex (another t-cell classic) followed by a partner run around the Rec Center Circle highlighted by more burpees, squats, Iron Mikes, and merkins.

Mary to round it off with my 2.0, Steampunk, brazenly throwing out fingertip merkins as the next exercise. Needless to say, I a) was a proud papa and b) totally modified those buggers.

COT: Words or praise, prayers, and gratitude shared. This was also a celebration of my 2.1’s graduation from St. Cecilia Academy later Friday – she’s her own diva/princess of whom this dad is extremely proud.

Ended with a demand that coffeeteria heads to Dose to keep with the nostalgic spirit as well as the demands of our guest – the way many PAX became salty after that announcement made YHC think t-cell had asked for another round of fingertip merkins. Sheesh . . .

Always great to see F3 Nashville royalty at the Most Respected AO in Nashville. Come back again!

Animal Movements

AO: bomber
Q: DintyMoore
PAX: hambone, CubCadet, Vector, Chunks, Crawlspace, Puzzlah, Pep, Michelin Man, Papa Bear, Poppa Lock, Salami
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: Near perfection

WARMUP: mosey to south green tee box
10 Merkins
Arm and Leg warmup routine
10 Merkins

THE THANG:
The HIMs of greenmachine completed this Q last week- it was only slightly modified for Bomber lot incorporate the #merkinmadness since no one posted at GM. The goal was to test the animal prowess of the two PAX.

Animal Movements
Animal 1 and 2
Inchworm :worm:
Crab walk :crab:
10 merkins

Animal 3 and 4
Frog Jumps :frog:
Leaping Lizard :lizard:
10 merkins

Animal 5 and 6
Duck walk :duck:
Donkey Jumps 🫏
10 merkins

Animal 7 and 8
Kangaroos :kangaroo:
Coyote :wolf:
10 merkins

Bear Crawl :bear:
T. rex :t-rex:
10 Merkins

Mosey back to start X for Mary – pit stop for extra merkins and dips.

MOLESKINE:
Be a positive light to someone in your world today. Lots of pain and hurt (outside our workouts) in the world and people need that one caring friend.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
NightMoves next Thursday
New 4:13 cohort starts next week

COT: Always a pleasure to lead, SYITG

Texas Independence Day 2025

AO: westeros
Q: sooner
PAX: Pep, Vector, Papa Bear, Grape, Michelin Man, Young and Restless, Natural Ice – CBO, Tim the Toolman
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS:

WARMUP:

THE THANG:

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

We Ran to Love Circles (+Burpees) AGAIN!

AO: westeros
Q: Michelin Man
PAX: Crawlspace, Young and Restless, Tim the Toolman, Spinal Tap, Natural Ice – CBO, Pep, Michelin Man, bluemule, Puzzlah
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS:

NOT cold (after a minute). Pep had some brand of gloves on.

WARMUP:

Pre 5:30am warmup to “Lean On” by Major Lazer. I love :heart: that song.

THE THANG:

The Pax learned to run :runner: to love :heart: circles :large_green_circle: today. And we did burpees. Q also called for Constant Movement (TM) meaning if we stopped, we did “resting” exercises.

Music: Throwback Bangers to the early 2000s. Debate between Natural Ice – CBO and Puzzlah over whether these songs were recorded in the ’90s or ’00s.Vector feeling really old now…

Thangs 1: We ran an Indian Run with a medicine ball :large_green_circle: in a circle :large_green_circle: around the park 3x, performing a running burpee apocalypse along the way. Sprinkled in copious Side Straddle Hops along the way to wait for various 6s, though overall the PAX kept up well. Pax loved :heart: it.

Thang 2: We then ran to the school loop and did timed runs around the circle :large_green_circle:. Each time we had to beat our time to decrease the burpee counter. First run was 32(?) seconds/5 burpees around and we made it all the way down to 21(?) seconds/1 burpee before failure to beat time. Much better showing than last week. Pep efficiently completed the circle :large_green_circle: runs. 1 pax carried the medicine ball :large_green_circle: on each trip. Pax loved :heart: it.

Thang 3: We ran to the bottom of the parking lot hill and did sprints up the hill with 5 burpees descending to 1 burpee after each sprint. 1 pax carried the medicine ball :large_green_circle: on each trip. Pax loved :heart: it.

We returned to startex to do SSH plus toss the medicine ball :large_green_circle: in a counter-clockwise fashion. Pax loved :heart: it.

Then we let our heart rates come down. Constant Movement (TM) completed. We run :runner: to love :heart: circles :large_green_circle:.

Fin.

MOLESKINE:

I honestly was in a terrible mood on Sunday, feeling very de-energized and burned out. This post really inspired my day so thank you for that PAX.

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.