Safety First

9 PAX for some miles at R4TJ.

FNGs: Nope
Warm Up:Nope
The Workout

Stayed on the same side of 55 for some hilly miles. Cemetery Hill, Elm Street, and Library Hill were enjoyed by all.

Mary:
Announcements:
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:

Honoring African American Inventors at Thunder

After a fantastic TED talk on Tuesday YHC felt inspired to lead a workout honoring some African American inventors in honor of African American History Month.

After some good Googling I decided we would honor the following greats:

  • Garret Morgan – 3-way stoplight
  • Lewis Latimer – carbon filament
  • Jesse Ernest Wilkins, Jr. – math models for gamma radiation
  • Frederick McKinley Jones – refrigerated trucks

The weather was nearly perfect for 5 pax to gather for a fun time and a great history lesson.

FNGs:

None today sadly.
Warm Up:

Mosey to the shelter since the ground is still super saturated by the tennis courts.

SSH until Rams made it over to us from the facilities.

Daisy Pickers x10 IC

Arms up into Sir Fazio – they stayed up until after good mornings

Sir Fazio x10 forwards/backwards IC

Seal claps x10 IC

Squatted overhead clap x10 IC

Windmill x10 IC

Good evening x10 on my down/up
The Workout:

Mosey to the central parking lot. In honor of Garret Morgan we did green/yellow/red lights:

  • Green – bear crawl
  • Yellow – duck walk
  • Red – chill cut plank hold

We went all the way down and back

We then moseyed towards the alleyway between the baseball fields. We stopped at the entrance and pax were introduced to the next workout honoring Lewis Latimer – we stopped at each light for 3x SSH IC, Merkins, and Squats, building (so 3x, 6x, 9x, etc) until the 6th light where we did 18x.

Some walkers encouraged burpees while we were stopped at the main Womble Park sign so we added in 5x burpees!

After making to the end of our line of lights we ran it back, but this time changing the exercises to honor some other inventors:

  • 3x Homer to Marge (Exicon version – leg raises, not South Wake style) – for Jesse Ernest Wilkins, Jr.
  • 3x Chill cut plank jacks – for Frederick McKinley Jones
  • 3x Star Jumps – just cause I like these

We repeated these the entire line back building from 3x each to 18x each. Rams especially liked all those star jumps – looked like those Peloton muscles translate well to that movement!

After finishing up we took a nice mosey back to the tennis courts where YHC grabbed a speaker for some Mary.

Mary:

Roxanne – seemed like a fitting combination of some of the things we had been doing. Plank hold the entire song, merkin on Roxanne, Plank Jack on red light.

Yoga – childs pose, puppy dog pose, puppy dog shoulder stretch
Announcements:

Q School Sunday the 21st at 3PM. 2nd F to follow at Bass Lake Ale House patio.

A great TED talk was given by F3 Greensboro pax on Tuesday. Link is online to watch for those that couldn’t make it.
T-Claps (Recognition):

Rams for killing those star jumps and getting the pax hype about them.

Foul Ball for getting after it the entire workout.
Prayer:

Continuation of good COVID numbers in our country and local community.

 

As always – an honor and privilege to lead. This workout was especially fun to plan as I learned a lot along the way. It’s too tempting and easy to boil African American History down to slavery and a few well known inventors – we can, should, and must be better. Aye!

What the Heck is This???

33 degrees…sideways rain…the best of conditions for a workout. YHC was determined to get some EC running in this morning and got just a hair over a mile and was done. Every step was a splash on my planned route. I had planned to do 4 miles ECEC. A point of acceleration for me will be to go ahead and do that sometime soon. But,  I’m glad I parked at the community center with the major construction going on at the normal meeting spot on a day like this. After a mile, YHC decided this was probably going to be the place of residence for today’s workout. Nice awning, a couple benches…do we really need anything else? Did 30 mins. of some kettlebell snatches and then grabbed the shovel flag as promised and planted it in the spot promised and up rolls Bobby Boucher…the only PAX…glad not to be alone.

FNG’s: on a morning like this???
Warm Up: moseyed over through the driving rain to the community center. Promised Bobby Boucher I would give him a lift back to the parking lot. I knew the shovel flag might go down while we left it and it did. I hate that…but it’s the cost of going out even with the weather, adhering to Core Principle 3. SSH x25, Daisy Picker, Hillbillies, Frankenstein, Windmills, Sir Fazios all IC and between 10-15 counts. Finished with 25 SSH IC again.
The Workout: All these moves were previously planned in some way on travels through the happiest AO on earth…with the weather, YHC modified. Did a series of: Derkins, Alternating Lunges IC, Merkins, Alternating Lunges IC, Irkins, Alternating Lunges IC. We did rounds of 20, 15, and 10 reps. This followed with a descending ladder of Mickey Mouse Merkins and either Squats or Squat Jumps. 5 MM Merkins, 25 Squats, 4 MM Merkins, 20 Squats, 3 MM Merkins, 15 Squats, 2 MM Merkins, 10 Squat Jumps, 1 MM Merkin, 5 Squat Jumps. Moved on to a dual move descending ladder of Step Ups and Dips. We did sets of 20, 15, and 10 followed by 25 SSH.
Mary: 20 Counts of LBC’s IC, LSF’s IC, Freddie Mercury IC, H2M IC, WW2’s,  American Hammers x 15 IC, Pickle Pounders x 10 IC, Superman’s x for a while. We finished with Cobra Stretches, Child Pose, Downward Dog, Pigeon Pose, back to Child Pose, to Cobra Pose.
Announcements: Q School Sunday. 3:00 PM, Womble Park. Needmore Ruck and cleanup of roadside to follow, 0600 on Sunday.
T-Claps (Recognition): Bobby Boucher…this guy gets it! Any other PAX who got out there on a ridiculous morning like this.
Prayer: Our brother Forceps and grief, sick PAX, injured PAX, recovering PAX. YHC took us out. We are lucky and blessed men to be out here…even in weather like this.

We like it cold and wet…

FNGs:none

PAX: @Martini, @Gamecock, @Spoonman, @Finkle
Warm Up: SSH, Seal claps, Hillbillies, Imperial Walkers, Sir Fazio Arm Circles
The Workout: Since it was cold and rainy we took shelter under the pavilion.  We played a fun game of Princess UNO or rather OH-NO

Rules for the game:  Draw 4 means we did 10 counts of 4 different exercises, same with draw 2.

Red cards were switch lunges, Blue cards were LBC’s, Green cards were Groiners, Yellow cards were Merkins.  If we happen to pull a Wicked Stepmom with the Poison Apple we had to take a lap around the whole parking lot in the rain…very nasty.
Mary: 10 counts in cadence of Boxcutters, Low-slow-flutters, E2Ks, and reverse LBC’s
Announcements: Q-School on Sunday Feb. 22nd
T-Claps (Recognition): To all the guys who came out in such wonderful weather.
Prayer: @Finkle took us out.  @Martini has a big audit coming up at work, @Finkle travel mercies.

Backtits at Captain Caveman

FNGs:none
Warm Up: mosey, ssh x20, daisy pickers,good mornings, foot trace, sir fasio arm circles and thumbs up
The Workout:  all exercises are with weighted mace

1st set- wonderbra x10 in cadence per side, arm extension plus curl in cadence x20, push up with arm lift x10 per side

2nd set- side plank with arm extension x10 per side, bridge press x20, burpee x5

3rd set-45 second exercise 15 sec break- barbarian squat, bow draw, bent over row

4th set- 45 second exercise 15 sec break- lateral lunge, lunge w/ joist, behind the head pendulum(don’t hit those back tits)

5th set- wonderbra x10 in cadence per side, arm extension plus curl in cadence x20, push up with arm lift x10 per side

Mary: ring around the Mary
Announcements: see slack
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: pumpkin spice household over covid, Dumbo recovery

33.33% of Shirt Earned / 100% Shirted (and then some)

YHC was an easy mark, taken in, fell hook line and sinker, drank the Kool-Aid, took the bait, etc, etc.  I signed up for 3 Qs at TBD for 2021…

But hey…  as mentioned in the pre-blast.  There seems to be some sentiment that YHC needs to wear more shirts.  So why not!?  TBD could use a shot in the arm, something to make TBD > R4TJ, if even just for one gloomy morning.

Contrary to the pre-blast I was 100% shirted.  It was cold this morning, there was wind, and Snap immediately requested that he be kept warm throughout the workout.  LET’S ROLL!!!

EC:  YHC

FNGs:  Afraid of the skin I suppose

Warm Up:

  • Mozy to the opposite lot
  • 20x SSH
  • 10x Daisy Pickers
  • Mozy back to main lot
  • 20x Goofballs
  • 10x Windmills
  • Mozy to outdoor stage

The Workout:

Broke out into team 1 and team 2 – Shoulder taps B2W and Overhead Claps with People’s Chair were in play at YHCs discresion – Went through this for 3 rounds

  • 1 – Box Jumps (20)
    2 – Balls 2 Wall (shoulder taps)
  • 1 – Dips (20)
    2 – People’s Chair (Overhead Claps)
  • 1 – Earkins (20)
    2 – Balls 2 Wall

Mozy to the rock pile – 3 rounds of squats and Quiver Crushers + 1 Bondo Special

  • 20x squats with Rocks
  • 20x Quiver Crushers (WW2 with an overhead press in the middle)
  • Bondo Special – 20x Curls for the Girls

Return the rocks, return for Mary (we went the long way because YHC was cold and needed to warm up)

Mary:

  • Box Cutters
  • Flutter Kicks
  • Homer to Marge
  • Good Mornings

Announcements:

  • TED Talks avaialble online – watch them and bring the conversation to your Shield Lock, your COT, your 2nd F, where ever you can.
  • Shield Lock – A Challenge will come in the summer but in the meantime, get educated on what a Shield Lock is.  Talk to some PAX that have been around for a while and ask some questions.  There is material online but the experience of your brothers will help you understand it better and get their take on what its all about.   Expect a TED talk at some point on this topic as well.
  • 2nd F at Panera

T-Claps (Recognition):

  • Continued praise to Shredder and Tetanus for their work on the TED Talks – go watch em
  • Fanny Pack and Tetanus for their innovative shirt enablement program

Prayer:

  • Quiver’s daughter headed back to in=person, prayers for all students and teachers
  • Bondo’s freind going in to remove a brain tumor today

 

Faces have been removed to avoid the improper usage

of this photo without authorized consent 😀

Catch That Cheater!!!

YHC doesn’t get out to the Trot enough. While running EC, it was just cool to run through downtown Varina… that’s right…. and see a few fellow PAX from the FV mob along the way. YHC wanted to bring a good routine that would encourage competition, good 1-liners, accountability, and some fun thrown in there.  I think we accomplished that, so let’s get to it!

FNG’s: nope
Warm Up: Warm up mosey around the lot followed by: Good Mornings x15, SSH x 35, and Sir Fazios, Imperial Walkers, And Hillbillies x 10-12.
The Workout: To the tennis courts for a 4 corners “as many rounds as possible” you vs. you challenge. The timer would be a PAX bearcrawling the length of all 4 courts and mosey return. Each corner consisted of a constant 4 exercises in reps of 5. At the end of the four corners and as a group, we would count our total rounds completed. Exercises on Court 1 were: Merkins, Squats, Mountain Climbers IC, and LBC IC. The group wound up with 53 total rounds completed.  On to Court 2…

Same routine, but different challenge. This was the us vs. us challenge. YHC threw down the challenge of completing more than 53 Roy F’s doing 4 slightly different exercises. Exercises this time we’re: wide grip merkins, squat jumps, burpees, American Hammers IC. Wouldn’t you know it… we had a draw…53 rounds again. Only a half penalty of 5 burpees was assessed.

The other challenge was the us vs. you challenge. Otherwise known as “Catch that Train”. 1 PAX would start out sprinting from am standing position while all other PAX did mountain climbers IC. The sprinting PAX could leave the start line whenever they wanted during the count.  The rest of the PAX had to catch him, or face a 5 rep penalty. If the sprinting PAX was caught, only he did the 5 rep penalty.  YHC got caught along with a few others, but some escaped, including POTS who just simply took off early and somehow out gunned us! Penalty exercises consisted of: burpees, SSH, Squats, Squat Jumps, Merkins, Diamond Merkins, And Shoulder Taps. Moseyed back over to the tennis courts for Mary.
Mary: Actually wound up finishing 20 cts. Of exercises YHC had intended on adding on to the competition, but that’s for a different Q. Exercises here were 20 counts of: hand-release  merkins, monkey humpers IC, plank jacks IC, and WW1’s. Followed by 22 counts of Dying Cockroach, H2M, LSF’s, And chill cut hold.
Announcements: Needmore Ruck plus cleanup this Sunday.  Also this Sunday, Q School at Womble. Norm is gathering a mud run team.  Check Slack. Sometimes in life, it can seem like us against the world, if we watch the media it can seem like us against us sometimes, but the biggest battle will always be you vs. you. Do you have the discipline, the heart, the accountability, and leadership to stand and accelerate when the chips are down? Sometimes we do… sometimes we don’t. But we make each other stronger in that battle through F3.
T-Claps (Recognition): Teachers Pet getting out to his 2nd Post and hitting it hard!
Prayer: A family in Sprinklers Church, Teachers Pet mom recovering from COVID. Military, first responders, and the unfortunate number of 22 former service men and women who take their lives each day… for purpose, peace, and a path.

Prison Yard 2/16/21

4 Pax took to the yard to get an obstacle course style beat down

Spoonman,  Bondo, 8-bit and the Warden(Breach) on the Q

Warm-Up: a Little mosey around the parking lot, circle up for 22 reps of SSH, Imperial Walkers/Hillbillies, Windmills, and Frankensteins

The Workout: 7 stations of suck. 2 mins of work followed by 15 seconds to get to the next station.

Station 1 (Battle Rope) Round 1:  arm waves, round 2: Figure 8

Station 2 (Sandbag) Round 1: Romanian deadlift, round 2: Power cleans

Station 3 (Sand Bags) Round 1:  shoulder shrugs, round 2: Farmers carry

Station 4 (Kettlebell) Round 1:  swings, round 2: Figure 8

Station 5 (Ab Wheel) Round 1: Abs, round 2: Abs

Station 6 (Weight Plate) Round 1:  Curls, round 2: Tricep extensions

Station 7 (Med Ball) Round 1: Squat and Throw, round 2: Overhead Slams

Announcements: Hilltop clean up Feb 20th after the Hilltop Ruck

Bondo closed us out in Prayer

First Dingers

A much warmer, yet still misty morning at The Nest. YHC cooked up a much different routine that required far less running than the Q yesterday at Mutiny. We would be doing a pronounced upper and lower body attack during our workout today. I just needed to make sure the stage was clear for us to use the area down by the ballfields. As Gamecock and I passed on the EC run, YHC saw that we should be good to go. Good thing Sprinkler pulled in for the main event. The first routine of the day was inspired by him as he had previously shared a story about his first little league home run being hit at the field at the Nest. In addition, he shared that his 2.0 hit his first homer on the same field. Good story.

FNG’s: none
Warm Up: Windmills, Frankenstein’s, Moroccan Nightclubs, a squat hold series with overhead claps, seal claps, and more Moroccan Nightclubs, and Daisy Pickers.
The Workout: A short mosey over to the ball field for a baseball inspired stack up series. Each stack was followed by a 5, 10, 15, or 20 count per PAX of alternating Balls to the Fence or People’s Chair. We added an exercise each go around as noted below until the last round where we did all of them in order. Wound up with 7 rounds total.

SSH x5 IC (Single)

Merkins x10 (Double)

Fence Squats x15 (Triple)

Pickle Pounders x20 IC (Home run….of course)

Star Jumps x25 (2-Run Shot)

WW2’s x30 (3-Run Homer)

Diamond Merkins x35 (The Grand Slam)

Another short mosey back up to the parking lot for a suicide series that included a bear crawl, reps of squat jumps, lunge walk return. We did this across each of 8 parking lines, each line was a rep count (ie. 8th line = 8 squat jumps). We blew it out at the end with Monkey Humpers x10 IC, Shoulder Taps x25 IC, and Merkins x25.

Mary: American Hammers x20 IC, LBC’s x25 IC, LSF’s x20 IC, Hand Release Merkins x 25, Freddie Mercury x20 IC, Dying Cockroach x25 IC. Have a nice day!!!
Announcements: Hilltop Needmore Ruck followed by roadside cleanup this Sunday! Q School this Sunday, 3 PM, Womble.
T-Claps (Recognition): Martini was grateful a couple HS PAX as well as a few irregulars joined today at the Nest.
Prayer: PAX who are hurt, sick, injured. Finkle has got a heavy week at work. Sprinkler took us out.

Rocks x50000

FNGs: none
Warm Up: Moseyed over to the rock pile for our rocks, then met up behind the library for:
SSH x20, Windmill x10, Good mornings x10, Fozio Arm Circles x10 forward / x10 backward, Seal Claps x10, Overhead Claps x10, Maracan Night Clubs x10
The Workout: YHC is still nursing his Achilles, so we didn’t travel much. We started out on one side of the half-circle with the following:
– Curls for the Girls x30
– Triceps x30
– Ground Pounders x30
John Cusacked our rock to the other side of the half-circle.
– Ruh Roh’s x30
– Overhead Press x30
– Tempo Squat x30.
Lunge-walked back to start.
Did a second round, decreasing the reps to 20. Then one last round with reps at 10. Returned our rock and moseyed back to start for Mary.
Mary: Went with Popcorn Mary. I like Popcorn Mary because it gives everyone a chance to lead some. It also gives Q a break from having to think of exercises.
Low Slow Flutter x15, Pickle Pounders x20, Heel Taps x15, Freddie Mercuries x15 and finished with Fox Holes (push up, roll over to sit up, back to push up, repeat) xlost count. We were thoroughly soaked at this point.
Announcements: TEDTalk at 8pm tomorrow (2/16).
T-Claps (Recognition): Warbucks for getting back out in the gloom. Good to have you back!
Prayer: Praises for those recovering from Covid as well as prayers for those still going through it.