We’re gonna need a birth certificate POTS….

/in /by

SO EXCITED to be working on a Backblast… It was amazing to be back out, staking a Flag and being officially recognized as F3 in the gloom today!  I had a plan in mind, but like plans they are flexible. I decided early on that maybe we would do some homeschooling and see if PAX could help design our ending points along the way… I think it went well based on the grunts and modifications.

EC: Nemo, ShamWow!

FNGs: NOPE
Warm Up: Mosey along the topside of HT parking lot with butt kickers and across to Goodwill with karaoke along the way. Circle up at Goodwill.

First Exercise: SSH, YHC asked for a number during IC, between 20-35, 25 was called, x25 SSH. Next Exercise SSH, again asking for a number  between 25-35, 30 was called, x30 SSH. Third Exercise SSH IC – number called between 27-50 POTS said 45. SSH x45. He said we were lucky that he didn’t say his age…. RESPECT?  Frankenstien x10, Good Morning (slow) x10, LETS GO…

The Workout:

Mosey to the guardrail behind Jiffy Lube. Those numbers came back into play. Derkins, Dips and Erkins – 25, 30, 45 respectfully and REPEATO.

Mosey behind HT and around to the Abyss-like green way. Find the wall at the end.  Group 1: BTTW Group 2: 25 American Hammers IC + Switch

Mosey back behind HT and find a wall at the end of the building. Group 1: BTTW, Group 2: 30 LBCs IC + Switch

Mosey to Goodwill Wall: Group 1: BTTW Group 2: 45 Hallelujahs on knees IC + Switch

Ran near  to time here so a modified DORA was out. SO, Group 1 back to the Wall: Wall Sits (1 leg, halfway switch legs) Group 2: 30 LBCs  IC + Switch

Sprint to Flag

Mary: Popcorn 20 counts of dying cockroach, orphan annies, box cutters, LSF, fred merc, have a nice day.
Announcements: New AO Friday Kung-Fu brought to you by the Westcott Crew
T-Claps (Recognition): Deadbolt – Holding BTTW while others were quitting…You the man DB…RESPECT
Prayer: Fanny Pack’s daughter, Wallaby, unspoken, YHC took us out.

Avoiding the Quarantine 15

/in , /by

There are so many things I want to say right now. So many ways to begin this backblasts, all make sense, all important, but I don’t think I can truly find the right words to express what this morning meant not just to me, but for a lot of other Pax. On Friday, I went for a run and ran past a few AOs that had kicked off again. Each had 3 Pax, despite warm weather and a bit of excitement in the air. Saturday is a long run day and we know about SW’s reputation. Sunday AGS wasn’t as large as typical. So, what would today bring. And the Q promised 3 miles of high intensity bootcamp. I love this group of guys and we lean on each other more than we realize. 12 men posted at Paradise City this morning and the mumble chatter was on point.

2 for EC: ShamWow!, Skidmark

FNGs: Welcome McNugget and Chaps. Warning: Be very careful when disclosing your first job.
Warm Up: Group stayed together for 1 lap of warm up with SSH x 30, IW x 10, Hillbillies x 10, Good mornings x 10, and Fazio Arm circles x 10 F/R.
The Workout: Group split into 2 with Emeril and YHC taking over.

Emeril’s Q:
1. Erkins/Derkins/Dips on the guardrail
On the Tennis Courts:
2. Suicides, LBC, Preacher Chair
3. 11’s (Merkins/Squats), Balls to Wall, Preacher Chair
Mosey to Ticket Booth
4. Step-ups, Dips, Balls to Wall, Erkins, Balls to Wall, Derkins
5. Top of Ramp x 10 jump squats, Bottom of Ramp x 10 star jumps

Skidmark’s Q:
Stack up suicides: starting at basketball court. Stops at 1st island, bottom of ramp, halfway up ramp, top of ramp. 5 burpees each return to court. Stack em up and break em down.
1. 5 Star jumps
2. 10 merkins
3. 15 Plank Jacks
4. 20 Step ups

Mary: Stretching as a group of 12. Open those hips up and avoid injury.

Announcements: Not right now.
T-Claps (Recognition): Dumbo and Dawgpound PRing 1/2’s on Saturday
Prayer: Wallabe, Fanny Pack’s daughter Julia battling a stomach bug.

AGS Sunrise Services resume

/in /by

After a long hiatus from the gloom, AGS reopens to perfect conditions and a dramatic sunrise. Rolled into the lot 5 minutes before the start. Oboe and Boy George were already waiting for YHC. No ruckers this morning and no Redenbacher, who had HC’d the night before. 6am hit and we were off with the following warm-up

Warm Up: Mosey to the side lot adjacent to the baseball fields and circled up to the first corner for Imperial Walkers X10, butt kickers to the 2nd corner, stopping for Hillbillies X10, mosey to the 3rd corner for Good Mornings IC X10, mosey back to the main lot. Proceed with a set of Frankensteins to the middle of the lot and then a mosey to the far end. Circled up for one last set of prisoner squats X10.

The Workout: As we were officially reopening AGS this morning, we decided to do standard loop with counterclockwise route around the lake. Strong work by Oboe and Boy George pushing a good pace to the lake. Special shout out to Oboe for carrying YHC up the hills around the lake and pulling mediocrity out of the mud with several circle backs for the six…(that would be YHC). Plenty of social distancing at miles 4-5 and appreciated the pick ups. Arrived back to the main lot for Mary.

Mary: Not sure where she was this morning. Think she is still following stay at home order, but hoping to find her next time.

Announcements: AO’s reopening.. check your local listings and sign up on Q sheet

T-Claps (Recognition): PAX getting out this morning. Dumbo for completing his first half yesterday.

Prayer: Prayers for continued health both personally and financially in this tough time of Covid-19. Prayers for essential workers and leaders that will be making decisions in the upcoming months. YHC took us out.

Sheepdog 5/1/2020

/in /by

FNGs: none
Warm Up: loop around the school then some traditional F3 favorites; SSH, Sir Fazio your arm circles, , Moroccan night clubs, Frankensteins, toe taps.
The Workout: Transitioned to three sets of merkins and squats. Slow down the fast up. Moved to combat with some punch, elbow, knee strike combinations, then some block/strike combinations.  Sprinkled in some more squats, lunges, jump squats, and star jumps and we had ourselves a good time.
Mary: Capoeira push-ups, Crabcakes, LSF, and box cutters.
Announcements: welcome back into the gloom for many. Felt really good to see everyone out.
T-Claps (Recognition): Gump for making sure we got back at it.
Prayer: F3 Pax during this time, families, jobs, and t-claps to those who are going above and beyond right now.

Ground Pounder Reopened for Business

/in /by

FNGs: None

6 HIMs showed up to GP this morning. 

WarmUp:

10 Good Mornings, 10 Daisy Pickers,  20 Fozzie Arm Circles, 10 Emperial Walkers, 10 Hillbillies, 10 Willy Mays Haze, 10 3 ct Windmills,

The Workout

Mosey to the Rock Pile. Rotate around rocks between sets.

  • 3 sets of 20’s – Curls for the girls
  • 3 sets of 20’s  – Overhead Overhead Tri-press
  • 3 sets of 10’s – Ground Pounders
  • 3 sets of 10’s – Trunk Twists
  • 3 sets of 10’s – Bus Drivers
  • 3 sets of 10’s – Rutrows

PAX who chose puny rocks swapped out to small boulders

  • 4 sets of 10’s – Standard Bench Press
  • 10ct  Windshield wipers
  • 30ct 6 inches
  • 10ct Scissor Kicks
  • 10ct Box Cutters

Mosey to the Wall of Pain

  • 2 sets of 60ct Wall Sits (Prisoner and Al Gore style)
  • 1 set of 30 count BTW and 1 set of 30 ct Ascending Testicles

Return Rocks and mosey back for Mary

Cards of Pain

  • 2 sets 10 x 3ct Plank Jacks
  • 2 sets of 10 x 3 ct American Hammers
  • 2 sets of 10 Dips
  • 2 sets of 10 Rockies
  • 2 sets of 10 x 3ct Split Jacks
  • 2 sets of 10x 3ct Mountain Climbers
  • 2 sets of 10  x 3 ct Lunges
  • 2 sets of 10 Merkins
  • 2 set of 10 Burpees (courtesy of Pikachu who chose Jokers)

T-Claps for Dumbo running his first half marathon and for all those who joined him in support. T Claps for Fanny Pack for doubling down posting U-Turn prior to posting GP

Announcements:  AOs now open for business keeping rules of 6 ft spacing and circle of COT in place.  Run the Quay cancelled (virtual run available),

Prayer Requests:  Prayers for  Fanny Pack’s 10 yr old daughter recovering from a bout with stomach bug, prayers for Flojo’s wife recovering from a fall.  For our country’s leadership and for all those suffering physically or financially from the COVID crisis.

 

April 30 / at Disney (Middle Creek Park) QIC: POTS “Typhoon Lagoon”

/in , , , /by

April 30 / at Disney (Middle Creek Park) QIC: POTS “Typhoon Lagoon”

 Social Distancing was in place

 EC:

Nemo, Redenbacher

PAX:

4

 FNGs:

None

 Warm Up:

Side Straddle Hops (SSH), Good Mornings, Frankenstein’s, and Windmills

 The Workout: 

  • 3 rounds of “Peoples Chairs” and “Ball to the Wall” with a mosey around parking lot between each set.
  • 2 rounds steps ups with a mosey around parking lot between each set.
  • 2 rounds Urkins, Durkins, and Dips with a mosey around parking lot between each set.

 Mary:

The PAX took turns with several rounds of ab exercises to close out the Q.

 Announcements:

Check slack for further announcements.

 Prayer:

Unspoken

 

 

 

Opening for Business

/in /by

Men,

 

As I’m sure has been the case for the majority of you, the last month has been tough on YHC (that’s Your Humber Coordinator – aka me – for those that are wondering). I’ve fallen out of routines, gotten slack on my sleep schedule, and despite the virtual accountability and options (shout out to @16-bit for Containment Zone) feel a distinctive 45 minute hole sized gap in my life on a nearly daily basis.

 

Good news is – there are preliminary signs that the efforts of our greater community as a whole have been beneficial. Rather or not you agree with the science, at the end of the day social distancing is an act of love – love for those who are essential and must continue to have interaction for our society’s functioning, and those that are extremely high risk to this disease. Of course we all have our opinions, I simply implore all of you to consider the logic and reasoning that your brothers have for either a) working out or b) continuing to stay home. View things through their eyes, be considerate of their situation, and speak with love instead of vitriol.

 

All of that being said – the Wake County stay at home order has officially been announced to expire as of midnight on Thursday, April 30th. This will default us to the NC order, which allows gatherings of up to 10 people provided social distancing is maintained.

 

We have verified this path forward with HSPD (and would expect that Fuquay would agree as well although I do not know of a good contact there offhand) – meaning that as of Friday, May 1st we are clear to reopen provided that:

  • Workouts stay in groups of 10 or less. I propose we stay above reproach and target no more than groups of 7 or 8. Come prepared to Q every day (we have enough experience that pop up popcorn Qs should not be difficult) and make it clear to any passerbyers that we are abiding by the legal requirements
  • We maintain social distancing – this means >6 ft clearance between pax, no partner work, no shared coupons
  • Playground equipment is still closed and cannot be used (sorry Tea Time – Murphs will require modification for a while longer)

As always, we each work out at our own risk, and it is ultimately each pax’s decision as to when they come back out to group workouts.

 

Remember our mission – to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership (emphasis mine). Leadership in times like these does not appear as nitpicking, complaining, or criticising the decisions/prioritizations of other pax. Rather it appears as support, caring, and enabling our community to return to as close a sense of normalcy as possible so that we can continue accelerating for those close to us.

 

Individual site Q’s maintain leadership over their sites – please over communicate rather than under communicate.

 

The Gloom belongs to us – I’ll see you in it!

Pikachu.

Cletus Black Ops: Covid-19 Edition

/in /by

FNGs: None

Warm Up:  Motivated by POTS’ recent BB.  So I’m typing away at the keys this morning regardless of who I may or may not offend.  Reached out to the Masters for a small get-together.  Three committed to Cletus; two Brothers had prior commitments to another AO.  Super excited these HIM are STILL getting out and getting things done while respecting social distancing during this pandemic.  Doc and YHC had a quick run from the tennis courts to the opposite side of Womble hoping to meet up with a tardy/lost PAX member, Yogurt.  We were excited to see Yogurt after we executed some warm up exercises that included Good AM, overhead claps and seal claps.  Fazios and Don Quixotes.  Finished with SSH.

The Workout:  Bear crawled a ways down the parking lot; switched over to a reverse crab crawl the remainder of parking lot.  Mosey to the covered picnic area for 45 Count BTTW; up and over picnic tables; mosey to Dauber’s car for coupons.  Grabbed a 20# kb and two 40# dumbbells.  Took turns with each coupon.  Executed the following  10c exercises With multiple rinse and repeats:  curls for the girls, tricep extensions, rut-rows, overhead press, forward squats (coupon held to chest), backwards squats (coupon on shoulders).  Threw in multiple farmer’s carry with two 40# dB while remaining PAX executed merkins, Carolina dry docks, LBCs, plank stuff, lunges, etc.  We kept moving keeping it fresh. Added 10 burpees OYO for fun.  On our backs, we executed 6 inches with the coupon over our chest; lots of chest presses.  R & R.  Did more AB work including plank coupon slaps and American hammers.  Finished with some high speed soccer taps on the coupon.

Mary:  lots of static stretching, leg lifts, H2M, hello dollys, Catalinas, etc. with some much-needed mumble chatter.  Returned coupons.  Sanitized them.  Great mumble chatter.

Announcements: check FB/slack.

T-Claps (Recognition):  Breach for his leadership with the CoronaRucks and the PAX & 2.0s he inspired to take the challenge.  Love his quote, “if not me, than who”.

Prayer:  Truly appreciate the authentic conversation this am and the vulnerability exhibited.  Small groups allow this.  We are all suffering through this pandemic.  It’s OK to ask for help.  Love you men more than you will ever know.

 

Honor to lead you in the gloom.  I truly appreciate your headlock getting me back out in the early am. -Dauber

April 23 / at Disney (Middle Creek Park) QIC: POTS “Take’n the Hill”

/in , , , /by

April 23 / at Disney (Middle Creek Park) QIC: POTS “Take’n the Hill”

 Social Distancing was in place

 EC:

Nemo, Redenbacher,

PAX:

8

 FNGs:

None

 Warm Up:

Side Straddle Hops (SSH), Good Mornings, Fazio Arms Circles (forward and backward) Imperial Walkers,

 The Workout: 

 Take’n the Hill (backside of soccer fields)

 1st round 20 merkins, run up hill to frisbee golf hole / net, run to frisbee golf tee, 20 merkins, run back to bottom of hill.

2nd round 20 squats

3rd round 20 American Hammers

4th round 20 lbc’s

5th round 5 burpees

 Mosey’d to the Abyss for some 7’s which included Plank Jacks at top with Star Jumps at bottom.

Mary:

Some leg / hip work lead by Foghorn. Name of exercise yet to be determined.

 Announcements: 

Check slack for further announcements.

 Prayer:

Nemo’s Aunt and Uncle

Pablo’s Mom

Habits – Keep ’em going strong

/in , /by

Containment Area has offered a decent alternative to our traditional AOs.  If you are part of F3, really good chance you definitely prefer meeting up with a group at an AO in the gloom over the idea of being solo in your garage or bonus room and part of a zoom video meeting (after all, who needs any more of those in their day anyway?)  That said, I really appreciate the chance to see and connect with some guys who I know will hold me accountable and bring a strong workout every time.  I am getting really tired of running alone.  This was my first time taking the Q and I was happy to do it given 16-Bit, who has been doing a great job leading day after day, has been looking for a well-deserved break.  I posted a preblast letting everyone know we would be doing more cardio including some jog in place work.  Hit the garage at 520 (skipped EC) and fired up the laptop.  Redenbacher, who had reached out the day before, was already joined.  Doc soon followed, 187 and then right at the start Norm.  I was actually pretty excited to try this one out.  Not easy leading remote and not having the option of going on the jog and mosey.  Wanted to get the heart rate up, build a sweat and get some steps on the Garmin.

FNGs: nope
Warm Up: we did, some of the usuals Good Mornings, Daisy Pickers, Windmills, Imperial Walkers/Hillbillies, Sir Fazios
The Workout: We did 3 sets of a series that included:  4 mins jog in place alternating every 30 secs between an easy jog and a sprint, so 4 intervals of strong push.  Shoulder work with arms out for 10 count, keep em up whole time and shift to fazios, hold, seal claps, hold, overhead claps, hold again then recover.  Next was SSH ICx20 followed immediately by 10 merkins (I did a Goggins workout a couple weeks ago and this was what he did for like an hour straight – SSHs for mins on end, then push ups, then repeat time and time again).  We did the SSH/merkins for 3 rounds so 30 merkins total.  We did this entire routine 3 times with a bonus SSH/merkin at the end to round up the merkins to 100.
Mary: Quick 2 sets of LBCs to Six Inch Hold to Low Slow Flutters
Announcements: Check and post to slack, we don’t do announcements on Containment Area to avoid the typical conference call cliches of talking over each other
T-Claps (Recognition): 16-Bit for taking Q on this AO so many days in a row
Prayer: YHC shared a message about paying attention to our habits – keep up the good ones and avoid the bad.  Reach out to family/friends too.  Took a 10 count silent for any unspoken and YHC took us out.

Great to see you guys this morning and honor to lead.  Always appreciate willingness to try different things and patience to know they might not go perfectly as planned.