I’ll stomp a decaying coon but I ain’t stepping on that!

/in /QIC:
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EC:  ShamWow, Katniss

It started out as a normal day.  I passed ShamWow as I drove in late for EC and he politely turned around to accommodate my lack of discipline.  We traveled the familiar route with some mumblechatter along the way.  At about the first mile along holly springs road, we abruptly parted from our path like the red sea did before Noah.  There was something in the road that caught both our attentions.  I can only describe it as a cylindrical object about 8 inches in length, purple-ish, and appeared to be made of silicone rubber.  Neither of us had any interest in positively identifying the object as we never broke stride as we abruptly (key word) parted from our path and continued on our way.

FNGs: Not today
Warm Up: 25 SSH, 15 Hillbillies, 15 Imperial Walkers, 10X Fazio Arm Circles FW & REV, 15X Overhead Claps, 15 X Seal Claps, 25 SSH
The Workout:

With a full week of rain, it was hard finding motivation to get back in the gloom.  I’m glad the Q sheet was open for Cletus forcing me to endure another workout in the rain.  It brought thoughts of discomfort and made me ponder why we seek comfort and shun discomfort.   It brought spiritual reflection.  My take away – I have never grown or gained anything by being comfortable.  We grow and gain from discomfort and hard work (discomfort).  Comfort is a time for praise and recovery so that we may go do uncomfortable things!  And balancing them is the trick.  I think everyone can find examples of this in their life by asking the question – What made you who you are?  I imagine there are some uncomfortable memories balanced with times of great joy.  As we get older it is much easier to accept the normal and seek what we have found to provide us comfort.  An F3 workout is a great 45 minute (only) discomfort embrace that provides the correct perspective for the rest of the day whether it brings us challenges or rewards.  We shall conquer the day and be thankful that mostly we have 1st world problems.  This message was less succinctly delivered during Thing 2 which brought a lot of discomfort.

Trying to avoid the downpours so headed to the shelter.  Divided into two groups.

Thing 1

Group 1 BTW  Group 2 10X Derkins Switch

Group 1 Preachers Chair Group 2 20X Dips Switch

Group 1 BTW Group 2 20X Erkins Switch

Repeat

Break in the rain so a trip around the soccer fields, plank hold for the six

Repeat Group 1 and 2 exercises with Derkins going to 20X

Trip around the soccer fields, plank hold for the six

Thing 2

Mosey to the rock pile to select 2 small rocks (some did not heed the advice)

Tabata – 1 minute AMRAP, 10 second rest

5 rounds – overhead press, squats, tricep extentions, curls for the girls, shoulder arm raises

Completed 2 sets, and needed a break, so a trip around the soccer field plank hold for the six

No time for a 3rd set and no time for Mary!

Mary:  Not today
Announcements: RUNE – last day to sign up, ShamWow dropped some knowledge on us and reminded us the treasure is in the journey and not the destination.  Should have been there if you want to know more!
T-Claps (Recognition):  All Pax for embracing the discomfort today in order to grow
Prayer:  Cupid’s grandfather is not doing well and has been battling cancer for a long time (10 years).  Prayers for Cupid, his grandfather, and family during this time.

May 15th Cletus: Started Friday off right but I stopped Short! as Hardy killed the Q

/in /QIC:
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FNGs:  YES!  Nick Singleton AKA Moped headlocked by Tetanus
Warm Up:  The usual – SSH’s, Fazio Arm Circles FW & Rev, Daisy Pickers, Good Mornings
The Workout:  A tribute to @Yogurt as we headed to one of his favorite places the Pit today.

Thing 1:  11’s Burpees and Plank Jacks across the field.  I tried to add an extra 11 Burpees at the end but got called out that I had it wrong (but Hardy would save the day!), so we headed up the stairs.

Thing 2:  Divided into two groups, 1 group BTW, 2nd group 10X merkins, Switch.  10 count Merkins was long enough so we went to 20 on round 2.  20 seemed to long but there was 1 PAX that couldn’t get enough.  For round 3, it was group 1 peoples chair, group 2 – I requested an exercise, no one had time to respond before Hardy called out Burpees. 10 X Burpees it was.  Repeat for round 4.

Thing 3:  Headed to rocks as I had pre-blasted last week and didn’t deliver on.  15X Curls for the girls, 15X Tricep extensions, 10X overhead Press, 10X Squats, Repeat

Mary:  Popcorn Mary – 15X Pickle Pounders, 15X LSF’s, 30 Merkins (Hardy killed the Q on this one as I was forced to “stop short” and forget what Florence called out next 15X of something), 15X Homer to Marge, and finally Have a nice day.
Announcements: Check Slack
T-Claps (Recognition):  @Moped for hanging in until the end
Prayer:  All those affected or helping with Coronavirus

May 8th Cletus: What have I done!

/in /QIC:
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FNGs:
Warm Up: The usual, SSH, Fazio arm circles FW and Rev, Overhead Seal Claps, Seal Claps, Daisy Pickers
The Workout:  Stack em and Un-Stack-em:  Around the soccer fields with a stop on each side at the parking lot, we stacked 10 Burbees, 15 Merkins, 20 Sumo Squats, 25 Freddie Mercuries and then repeated with a full stack and then began the un-stack.
Mary:  A core annihilation brought to you by Aquaman, I really don’t remember as I was forced to modify but it was intense and definitely had some boat/canoes in there.
Announcements:  I don’t remember, need to shake off the rust and start posting backblasts in a timely manner.
T-Claps (Recognition):  Everyone for completing this workout, it was a Mother#%#@!
Prayer:  Shame on me, I remember Fanny Packs daughter and her stomach bug but there was another significant prayer request that slips my memory.

May 1st Cletus: F3 is Back Baby!!!

/in /QIC:
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FNGs: None
Warm Up: The usual – SSH, Fazio arm circles, Overhead Seal Claps, Seal Claps, Fazio Arm Circles FW & Rev
The Workout:  Modified Murph, 1 mile stroll, 100 Merkins, 200 Squats, 300 LBC’s, 1 mile stroll
Mary: No time
Announcements:  We’re back Baby!
T-Claps (Recognition): Fanny Pack and Florence braving the gloom!
Prayer:  That this epidemic  shall pass

Cletus Black Ops: Covid-19 Edition

/in /QIC:
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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

Yoga, ‘Murica Style

/in /QIC:
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FNGs: none
Warm Up: Moseyed across Womble to the Grigsby lot. SSH x 25, Hill Billies x 10, Imperial Walkers x 10, Windmills x 10
The Workout: Mosey continued out onto Grigsby. Stopped for 5 burpees OYO and continued on to Sugg (field trip!). Once there, we circled up for some yoga+. Admittedly, I am not a yogi, and I don’t know the proper series of moves. But I know enough to get into trouble, so I improvised along the way.
Basically, we cycled through make shift sun salutation. Every time we came into high plank, we did 10 murkins. We also cycled in Warrior lunges, chair poses (like people’s chair, but without the wall) and even some boat/canoes. Moseyed back to Womble for Mary.
Mary: YHC called popcorn Mary. Apparently no one got enough murkins during the workout, because all PAX called for murkins. We had enough time to go around again and managed to break the cycle with some LBCs, Freddie Mercurys, plank jacks and a couple of other things.
Announcements: Stay-at-home order in effect, so AOs are going to be closed for a while. Not an excuse to get out there and get after it though. We can still get out and exercise OYO while maintaining a safe distance from others. Look for opportunities to connect online via video conferencing to connect for 1st and 2nd Fs.
T-Claps (Recognition): All PAX present for giving me a reason to beat the fart sack.
Prayer: All people affected by COVID.

Cletus – Who’s Got the Q?

/in , /QIC:
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Doc: “If I’d known that you were the Q, I would have skipped and saved this tight leg from your sprints.” Me: “I’m not Q’ing today.” But, after no Q showed, …looks like it I AM Q’ing! This was a great opportunity to Q on the fly. Benefits: Didn’t lose any sleep the night before while planning the perfect Q

Warm-up: Mosey to upper end of Ivan lot. SSH 25x, GMs 10x, Arm circles 10F/10B, Merkins 15x.

Thang 1: Mosey to amphitheater

Round 1: Dips 20x; BTW each Pax count 15

Round 2: Step ups 15x; People’s Chair each Pax count 15

Round 3: Jump ups 15x; BTW each Pax count 10

 

Thang 2: Mosey to playground & monkey bars

Two rounds: Pax popcorn ab/core exercises while one pax completes 5-10 pull-ups

 

Thang 3: Mosey back to Ivan lot for some railroads. Starting at top, each Pax occupies a parking stripe.

Round 1: Starting at top, Pax 1 jumps over planking Pax to first open stripe. Continue Indian run/Railroad style to end of parking lot. Mosey back.

Round 2: Same with 5x Derkins on curb and plank hold

Round 3: Same with 5x WWIIs and Low slow flutter

 

Thang 4: Run to end of parking lot, step ups on curb 10x in cadence, run back

Run to end of parking lot, 5 burpees, run back

 

Mary: Mosey to tennis courts

Popcorn ab work at least two rounds, maybe three

T-Claps (Recognition): HaxMat’s third F3 workout

Prayer requests: The Natural’s brother – hip surgery. Our world – stop spread of Coronavirus

Announcements: Census 2020 is here. Town of Holly Springs and all communities rely on Federal funding for hospitals, libraries, schools, roads, fire stations, and emergency  services. When applying for such funding, an important criteria is, How many folks does would the project serve? Thus, it is very important to have an accurate head count of the community. So, please complete your Census 2020 as soon as you receive your code in the mail.

Coronavirus is here too. Two staff in Doc’s NCSU Dept. of Applied Ecology are on a team of modelers on a nationwide team that is predicting (modeling) the spread of the virus. Numbers are astounding if the current pace continues. Each one of us must do our part to slow the spread and “flatten the curve.” Among other things, practice social distancing!

Will We Get Wet Today???

/in /QIC:
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A quiet workout among the pax this morning. Lots of reasons I suppose… but, whatever the reason, the pax showed up ready to work. Some rain came in earlier this morning and altered YHC’s plans for significant ground work along with a few elements YHC wanted to refrain from given the whole COVID goings on lately. (ie. we laid off the picnic tables and playground equipment) It’s ok…more up the sleeve and after a few LSF’s on the back, YHC opted to keep the pax dry today. Flag planted. 5:30. Go!

FNG’s: Not this morning.
Warm Up: Circled up for Frankenstein x 20, then 10 counts of: GM’s, Seal Claps, Overhead Claps, IW’s, Hillbillies, and Windmills all IC. Mosey over to the old Ivan lot.
The Workout: 3 rounds of some 4 Corners.

Round 1: 3,6,9, & 12 count burpees in the corners. Run long stretches, lunge walk the short ones. OYO. LSF’s for the six. This is where 187 tried to get some mumblechatter going.

Round 2: Repeato above but 5,10,15, & 20 count shoulder taps on the corners. Round done IC.

Round 3: OYO again. 5,10,15, & 20 count star jumps at the corners. Bear crawl short ends instead. 187 unsuccessfully tried to get mumblechatter going all along the way. Hardy was blowing the entire pax away during this series. Acceleration in the making!

Mosey to the bandstand. YHC wanted to throw some credit to 187 for breaking the silence a lot this morning, so I thought 1+8+7=16. 16 counts of dips, irkins, and step-ups/boxjumps (for those who see well in the dark, not me). Repeated this cycle twice. Also, hit up 16 count for each pax while doing People’s Chair x 2, and spilt it up for 8 count each pax doing BTTW x 2. Mosey over to picnic shelter.

Pax splits into 2 groups. Group 1 does SSH AMRAP, while group 2 calls on ‘ol Jack Webb up to a 5 count on the down, 15 count on the up IC. Switch Groups.

Repeato except group 1 does alternating lunges while group 2 does the Webb’s.

Burpee Indian run around the track until we got into the Cletus cage for Mary. Pax grabbed ahold of some fence for 20 count fence squats and 5 count each pax People’s Chair once more.

Mary: About 2:30 of regular and chill cut planks closed us out.
Announcements: Pay attention to Pikachu’s guidelines for AO’s and COT’s. Listen to the NAN TAAN!

YHC shared a minute. At times like these and other personally crazy times in life, we can feel surrounded by chaos and we look for peace…no matter what side of this COVID thing your mind has taken you to. This morning, the blood, sweat, and tears that I left out on this pavement and in these parking lots and the brotherhood of the pax brought peace and familiarity back to me. I hope it did for all pax today too, regardless of where you posted, who you posted with, or the miles a lot of pax banged out. #stayhard.
T-Claps (Recognition): All the pax getting out there today.
Prayer: Flojoe’s dad recovery from surgery, Katniss co-worker who passed and his family for peace. Our Nation, the sick, the injured.

Loud and Proud (QIC Yogi)

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FNGs: David cross country runner who is ready to slay opponents.  Yogi inspired “David” to look opponents in the eye and consider cutting off their head with their own sword.  Ok, this would not be PC today, so maybe just remember where David got his strength.

PAX: Yogi, David, GoGurt, Yogurt, DaBuisness, Florence, Katniss, Double D

Warm Up:  Like clockwork, Flo Jo rolled in right on time at 5:30 sharp.  Yogi, relying on DD’s watch insisted Flo Jo was Late (I believe both Yogi and DD have old school wrist sun dials which are not accurate at this time of the day).  Hello 10 burpees.  Yogi then looked around the circle, pondering the mission of F3.  He called on SloJO.  Stumped Flo Jo took credit for an addition 20 burpees.  Yogi’s pursuit of the F3 mission and its core principals, along with mis-naming Flo Jo (SloJo, MoJo, GoJo, backhoe, etc.) significantly delayed our start of the actual workout.  Note that we are not here to save the whales or hug the trees (pay attention DD and DaBusiness).  This discussion was our warm up.  All kidding aside, Yogi was making a point and it’s an important one.  You should know the true mission and purpose of F3, we are all apart of it

The Workout:  Yogi had walked off 50 yards in the parking lot.  Then he pulls out a deck of cards and demonstrates his shuffling ability with gloves on (granted they were fingerless gloves).  Yogurt was certain it would end at a game of 52 pick-up.  But no, Yogi divided the deck and placed a stack at each end of the 50 yards.  At each end, one PAX flipped a card.  We did reps based on the face value and exercises as follows:

Hearts = burpees

Diamonds = diamond Merkins

Clubs = WWII’s

Spades = Squats

For the next 35 minutes we ran back and forth.  Many threw down the glove, challenging others to sprint.  Let me tell you, “David” and Go-Gurt are fast!

DaBusiness, who loves burpees, flipped only high hearts from the deck.  No two’s or three’s from him; all business!

Mary:  She didn’t show up.  Pretty sure she was calling the cops about all the noise coming from Womble.
Announcements:  Forceps’ family service Saturday
T-Claps (Recognition):  Yogurt for sending me “notes”  It was the entire backblast!
Prayer:  Forceps and family, Yogi’s kids to come to know God in their life,  12 yr old Alex (bone marrow), Hardy (Bible competition – like Jeopardy)

I thought you were lying.

/in , /QIC:
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Had 6 come out for some fun at Cletus. YHC had a few workouts in mind heading into Friday but the weather threw any plans out the window. The only thing I knew for sure was that we were going to do 100 burpees. Not sure if anyone was actually going to show, YHC, was somewhat surprised, given his love of burpees, to see Da Business ready to roll. When I got out of the car it was at that point he informed me that he hadn’t read the slack announcement of 100 burpees until about 1 minute before I arrived. I briefly thought about changing my mind….nah. Hardee, Flojo, and Nemo rolled in and off we went. Early in the workout Flowjo hurt his knee so he and Hardy left. Hope the knee is ok!

FNGs: Nope

Warm Up: Moseyed to picnic shelter. To get our 100 burpees in we had to start strong. Slaughter Starter 30 burpees OYO; SSH x 50 in cadence, windmills, fazio arm circles (forward/backwards), overhead claps, seal claps, jack webs; 10 burpees OYO.

The Workout: Partnered up for…

Round 1: Peoples chair (partner 1), bear crawl to end of pavillion crawl bear back (partner 2), 3 set each exercise

10 burpees OYO

Round 2: Balls to wall (partner 1), lunge walk to end of pavillion and back (partner 2), 3 sets each exercise

10 burpees OYO

Round 3: Peoples chair (partner 1), log jumps/bunny hops to end of pavilion and back (partner 2), 3 sets each

75 LBCs

10 burpees OYO

Round 4: Balls to wall (partner 1), sprint forwards to end of pavilion backwards back (partner 2), 3 sets each

10 burpees OYO

Round 5: Peoples chair (partner 1), bear crawl to end of pavillion crawl bear back (partner 2), 3 set each exercise

10 burpees OYO

Mary: Each Pax called out an exercise…6 inch leg lift/low slow flutters, homer to marge, Freddie Mercuries, American hammers, 10 burpees OYO (100 total)

Announcements: Big run tomorrow, Forceps son’s service moved to next Saturday.

T-Claps (Recognition): All PAX for coming out in less than ideal conditions and putting in the hard work.

Prayer: 1 minute of silence for Forceps son.