Violet Snake

/in , /QIC:
PAX: , , , , , ,

FNGs: none
Warm Up: SSH, Good Mornings, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Hill Billies, Sir Fozio Arm Circles, Seal Claps, Overhead Claps
The Workout: PAX moseyed over to “That Hill™” and held squat at the bottom while YHC laid out the plan. PAX would run to the first intersection, perform an exercise, run to the top of the hill, perform another exercise, run back to the first intersection, perform and exercise and then run back to the bottom and squat hold.
• Round 1: merkins, squats, big boy sit ups
• Round 2: mountain climbers, side lunges, LBCs
• Round 3: shoulder taps, forward lunges, low slow flutter
• Round 4: merkins, merkins, merkins
• Round 5: squats, squats, squats
• Round 6: big boy sit ups, big boy sit ups, big boy sit ups

After this, we moseyed over to Good Will and held People’s Chair with a 10 count down the line for a total of 70. Rinse and repeat for a total of 3 rounds. Then back for Mary.
Mary: Popcorn Mary and a little yoga to finish things up.
Announcements: 3 Alarm is back home. Send some encouragement his way.
T-Claps (Recognition): All of those that got up before the butt crack of dawn this morning to get it done. Keep the momentum going!
Prayer: Bobby Boucher’s wife’s job, Nemo and his son traveling.
Moleskin: I’ve yo-yoed a bit over the past few months, gaining momentum and losing momentum. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that it’s much easier to get up at 5am and go work out if you’ve built up that consistency. That means it takes a good week or two of dedicated fart sack avoidance to get in the groove. If you’re already in that groove, awesome! Keep it up! If you’ve fallen off the wagon (as I have), dedicate yourself to getting up and getting out there. Stick with it and you’ll be back in the groove before you know it.

Q by Committee at Purple Cobra

/in , /QIC:
PAX: , , , , , ,

FNGs: none
Warm Up: Nemo took the warm up. We did a quick jog and then went into some SSH, Good Mornings, Sir Fozio Arm Circles and a few other things (memory is failing me at the moment).
The Workout: Woody took over for round 1. We gathered at the bank and partnered up. 6 Patty Cake Merkins at the ATMs. Run to the other side, 6 more Patty Cake Merkins. Run back. We did 5 rounds.

YHC (Abe) had round 2. We ran around the back of the shopping center and grabbed 2 palm-sized rocks. Lined up on the wall, we held People’s Chair with arms extended. 10 count down the line for a total of 70. Recover. Side arm raises with the rocks, 10 in cadence. We repeated for a total of 3 rounds.

Next up was McNugget for round 3. We lined up on the guard rail for some dips and durkins. 10 each, 3 rounds.

Last but certainly not least, Wild Turkey for round 4. Over to “that hill” for 7s. Burpees at the bottom, star jumps at the top.

With everyone properly beat, we headed back for Mary.
Mary: Bobby lead Mary to close things out.
T-Claps (Recognition): PAX that stepped up and took turns Qing this morning.

Interrupt Q, burpees for you. And everyone else.

/in /QIC:

PAX: Woody, Abe, Bobby Boucher, Bobby Dall, Yogurt, Moose, Wild Turkey, Tom Tom, U.T.I, Shredder, McNugget, Bondo
Warm Up:  6 for EC – Tom Tom, Woody, Abe, UTI, Wild Turkey, McNugget.  ME Warmup – Good morning, SSH, Fazio
The Workout:  Once again I showed up with only a vague idea of what I was going to do, and almost immediately called audibles along the way.  Partnered up, moseyed to the bank where we ran a few rounds of patty-cake merkin meetups.  Moseyed to the hill for 7’s, YHC asked for suggestions and Abe shouted “WWIIs and Squats”, to which a handful of complaints were voiced regarding the wet parking lot, so of course, WWII and squats it was.  However, after more griping, the squats were converted to star jumps.

Mosey to the rail for dips, with alternating leg raises.  Mosey for sample platter merkins – standard, wide grip, diamonds.  Mosey to rock pile for Derkin Carolina Dry Docks.  Goodwill building for Balls to the Wall-Walkers:  BTTW, then “walking” uphill about 15-20 feet.  3 Rounds each.  People’s chair, 5-count each.  Back to the rail for more alternating leg-lift Dips.  Goodwill parking lot for sample platter merkins.  Mosey back to start, with a stop for 1 round of Train Track Hops.    … I think that’s it.

Everybody kicked ass today.
Mary:  Down Dog Crunches:  DD position, raise a leg up then swing it to elbow for a 4-count, return, swing to forehead 4-count, return, swing to opposite elbow for 4-count.  Both legs=1 round.  2 rounds done.    Freddy Mercury, WWI, have a nice day.
Announcements:  3-Alarm bootcamp/run, request was made for someone to be there by 5 if possible.
T-Claps & Prayer:  Bobby Boucher starting a new job today!

Let Sleeping Truckers Lie (Abe Q 4 of 7)

/in , /QIC:
PAX: , , ,

FNGs: none
Warm Up: SSH, Burpees, Good Mornings, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, Fozio Arm Circles, Seal Claps, Overhead Claps, Moroccan Night Clubs
The Workout: Mosied over to that hill. A trucker was snoozing on the side of the road, so we kept our voices down. Hope he got his beauty sleep.
Started with 11s. Squats at the bottom, Merkins at the top. Bear crawl on the way up and mosey back down. Someone might have suggested that bear claws are better than bear crawls, but YHC is skeptical.
Wrapped that up and mosied over to just past the oil change place. PAX grabbed two palm-sized rocks and lined up at the end of the parking spaces.
Curls for the girls x25
Triceps x25
Ruh Rohs x25
Overhead Press x25
Sprint down, sprint back. Repeat.
The rocks were cold and unforgiving, so YHC took pity and decreased the count to 20 on the third round. Returned the rocks and mosied back for Mary.
Mary: Popcorn Mary (YHC’s favorite) with some LBCs, Box Cutters, Low Slow Flutters, etc. Wrapped it up with some brief yoga.
Announcements: Jan 17th day of service, Tiger Blood moving to a new location (see Slack)
T-Claps (Recognition): UTI for his 3 miles of EC.
Prayer: PAX sick and injured, UTI’s father and Uncle (prayer/praise for continued recovery), Sprinkler’s family for their loss.

Mountain Jacks, Plank Merkins, Squat Jacks and the like…

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PAX: , , ,

FNGs: none
Warm Up: mosey, GM’s, SSH IC, DPs IC, Sir Fazio forward/reverse, seal clap, overhead clap, LBCs
The Workout: 4 HIM set out to set up shop behind HT – UTI comments on how the workout isn’t planned…oh you just wait buddy.  PAX gather for pyramid/stack em ups/whatever the hell you call them – 5 merkins at first stop, 10 plank jacks at next, 15 squats, 20 mountain climbers and 25 WWI’s at the last stop.  The MPSMW is born…catchy name!  Between each set, run back to the beginning for 5 start jumps, stopping on the way back to hit each exercise again.  PAX thought it was funny that I kept screwing up the names of each exercise…YHC was up late and no coffee, so a bit off kilter.  Regardless we pressed forward.  After we decided to audible on the pyramid, we hit balls to the wall x 2 with people’s chair in between.
Mary: calf raises, homer to marge, low slow flutter, freddy mercury’s, up, out, together, down to round out with have a nice day to finish.
Announcements: Thanksgiving meal drive for HS food cupboard, HS half marathon
Prayer: UTI’s uncle in hospital with COVID – speedy recovery; injured PAX

Over the hill

/in , /QIC:
PAX: , , , , ,

FNGs: None

PAX: Bobby Dall, Maybelline, Nemo, Hasselhoff, Wild Turkey, Kosher

EC: Bobby Dall, Maybelline, Nemo, Wild Turkey

I arrived around 5:24 to find only one car in the lot. Hasselhoff stepped out, otherwise all quiet on the western front…

One by one the PAX started to roll in. Nemo emerged from the gloom from his EC, then Bobby Dall. A headlamp rounded the corner and out popped Wild Turkey right around 5:29. Then Maybelline came strolling in right at the 5:30 mark.

Time to get to work! YHC had decided ahead of time that we would keep things moving, but we would avoid THAT hill…

Warm Up: SSH x 25 IC, Good morning x10 IC, Imperial walkers x15 IC, Hillbillies x15 IC, Sir Fazio Arm Circles forward and backward x10 IC

The Workout:

PAX moseyed over to the bank parking lot and did a quick lap around it, stopping by the ATMs. YHC asked the PAX to partner up. Then the fun began:

Making deposits at the bank:

Thang 1: All PAX completed 10 merkins, 15 plank jacks IC, and 15 WW2 together. We then partnered up and ran in opposite directions around the bank. When PAX met up halfway around the building, we stopped and did 10 patty cake merkins. Completed the lap around the building, 10 more patty cake merkins.

Thang 2: Once PAX were back at the starting point, we did 10 wide grip merkins, 15 plank jacks IC, and 15 LBCs IC. Another lap around the bank with 10 patty cake merkins on each side of the bank.

Thang 3: One more round of fun around the bank. PAX completed 10 diamond merkins, 15 plank jacks, and 15 LSF. One more lap around the bank with 10 patty cake merkins on each side.

Riding the rail:

We then moseyed behind the shopping center down to the rail next to Jiffy Lube. We completed 3 rounds of work there with a mosey around the building in between each round.

Round 1: Dips x20, Derkins x10, Erkins x 15

Round 2: Repeato round 1

Round 3: Gave our arms a break. Bulgarian Split Squats x 15 on each side, Prisoner Squat x 15, Monkey Humpers x 15

Rocking it out:

We moseyed back around the building to the rock pile. YHC asked each PAX to grab 2 rocks, then we went over near the wall for the following with the rocks

Round 1: Wonderbras x 15 IC, Shoulder press x 10 IC, Tricep extension x 10 IC. Drop rocks, over to the wall for BTTW and People’s chair x 10 count from each PAX.

Round 2: Curls for the girls x 15IC, Ruh rows x 10 IC, Skullcrushers x 10 IC. Drop rocks, back to the wall for People’s chair and BTTW – again 10 count from each PAX. YHC mentioned doing it backwards and Maybelline proceeded to do some questionable things to that wall….

YHC instructed PAX to return the rocks, then moseyed back over to the parking lot in front of Pet Mania.

Suicides – are we done yet?

YHC lined up the PAX and instructed them to sprint down to a black truck that was a few curb stops down. We’d do exercises at one end, then sprint back, where we’d complete more exercises. We did 3 rounds of this:

Round 1: Sprint down, 10 merkins, sprint back, 10 star jumps

Round 2: Sprint down, 10 squats, sprint back, 10 WW1

Round 3: Sprint down, 10 merkins again (I think?), sprint back, 10 breakdancers with Hoff on the count

Wild Turkey mentioned that this must have been a Woody inspired Q. YHC was happy as I knew I’d have made my co-site Q proud, even if he was down with the warden at Prison Yard this AM…

Mary: Just the tip for Mary and we ran out of time. Homer to Marge x 15 IC. Have a nice day…

Announcements: 3 Alarm 1st and 2nd F tonight, Holly Fest, Warbucks driving meal box collections for HS Food Cupboard – get on this if you haven’t already. See Slack for more details.

T-Claps (Recognition): T-Claps to Bobby Dall, Maybelline, Nemo, and Wild Turkey for getting in some EC.

Prayer: Unspoken, first responders and military. YHC took us out.

This Backblast sponsored by our friends at Academy Sports & Outdoor

/in /QIC:
PAX: , , , , , ,

FNGs:  None

PAX:  Tom Tom, Wild Turkey, Cupid, Kosher, Warbucks, Hazmat
Warm Up:  Good mornings, frankensteins, sir fazio, seal claps, overhead claps
The Workout:  Merkins, merkins, merkins.  I really enjoyed my Q at DT a few weeks ago, hammering upper body, so I took the lazy route by copying/pasting that whole thing, with a few tweaks here and there.  Started out with 11’s on the hill, merkins and star jumps.  That’s enough legs for the day.  Mosey to rock pile, curls for the girls (hindsight, those little rocks aren’t great for curls, I should’ve done shoulder raises instead), mosey somewhere for merkins, mosey to the rail for dips, mosey to merkins then back to the rock pile.  Here we ditched curls and did Carolina Dry Docks instead – repeato, repeato, repeato, with variations on the merkins along the way – wide grip, diamonds, etc.

Mosey back to starting point, stopped again for merkins, then jailbreak to the flag.

Shoulders, chest and arms sufficiently toasted.
Mary:  Started to call a classic P90X core move, realized we were over time, audibled for one last set of merkins, instead – lol.
Announcements:  Not so much, but YHC shared a story of what happened to me the night before.  A guy I’ve known for 12-14 years, an acquaintance, lacrosse parent (his 2 sons, my 1), never knew him past pleasantries and getting drunk at travel lacrosse tournaments, he battled bladder cancer last year.  Nasty stuff, took a toll on him.  Last time I saw him, maybe 8 months ago, he was frail, shuffle-walking, wife steadying him, due to chemo.

A couple weeks ago, saw him out for a run on the street and was genuinely excited for him!  I mean, I clapped and pumped my fist as I drove past.  Happened to see him last week at a lacrosse tournament in Wilmington, he told me he’s clear of chemo and has some fitness goals, getting back to where he used to be, and beyond.  Very uncharacteristically for me (before F3), I hunted down his number, reached out and offered to go running with him any time.  He accepted and we met the next night for a 3 mile run/walk.

It turned out to be a pretty terrific moment, for both of us.  We immediately dove into a deep, meaningful conversation – far beyond what we’d been limited to previously – he shared his struggles, I shared mine – life moments, kids, work, faith, 2nd chances; all of it.  He thanked me 2 or 3 times for reaching out, it was clearly as meaningful to him as it was for me.

The point of the story – I don’t think I would’ve made that move had I not been in the F3 state of mind.  Life changing stuff, this is.  Keep it going, Gents.  Small gestures can make huge impacts.

T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:

I HAVE THE POWER!!!

/in , /QIC:
PAX: , , , , ,

EC:  Let it be documented that Full House and UTI ran EC on this day.

FNGs:  The title of this backblast makes me think of a once FNG we had at the Cobra.  He was named Snarf for his love of Heman (I think that was the story) also something about a pet he had named Snarf.  I’m gonna reach out once I write this backblast.  Chat soon Snarf!

Warm Up:  Typical stuff – Windmills, Merkins, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, Goofballs, etc.

I’ll put this next section in the warm up because it was more about me having fun, but we worked out too.  I didn’t let the PAX know what I was doing so they thought I’d gone crazy or simply had no plan and was wondering the parking lot.  Some might recall a Q of mine from way back when where I marked Purple Cobras.  Back then, I was inspired by some graffiti that was sprayed on the now Dollar Store across the street from the Cobra and decided compete for tagging dominance and properly mark my territory.  See my earlier backblast for the exciting details – https://f3southwake.com/2018/12/18/pffffttttt/

We ran around completing exercises along the way.  Plank Jacks, SSH, WWIs, and Squats were dished out.  At one point, Full House said something like “I think he is writing something…”  DING DING DING DING DING!!!!  Kosher\Woody congrats on taking the next drink of Kool-Aid at F3 and becoming site Qs just know that this AO has been marked for UTI (POWER).  Once you get a UTI, it’s not always easy to get rid of…

Photo

 

We went through the bank lot and around to the back of Teeter where we ran Carioca each side, then ran in reverse as we washed ourselves in the odor of the HT dumpster.

It was about here that Full House was afflicted with a calf issue.

The Workout:

Thing 1:  Earkins, Derkins, Dips, run around the Jiffy Lube 2x – Full House was asked to sit the running part out but he is stubborn and he soldiered through it.  I pulled the plug on this workout due to time and a concern for my friend.  But mostly for time (There was more to do)

Thing 2:  Mozy to the Thrift Store lot and partner up.  Using the islands and the curb facing HT as our boundaries.  Something shy of 11s with Broken Wheel Barrows in between for transportation between said island and curb.  Star Jumps and Prisoner Squats on the ends.  There was highly accurate counting in play thanks to my brother that always brings A Dash More, 16-bit.  In the end, it didn’t matter – I got bored of the workout and the counting somewhere in the middle to the end…  NEXT

Thing 3:  There was a wall nearby and I had recently invented/stole/borrowed/found something I call Ball Walkers.  So we did them!  Assume the Balls to the Wall position and shimmy down the wall on your hands.  We went down the wall 2x.

Back to the flag!

Mary:  Pickle Pounders, Homer to Marge, Dying Cockroach, and some calf stretching courtesy of Full House.

Announcements:  Holly Fest Sign-ups, Brute Squad this weekend, Purple Cobra wants you to sign-up on the Q sheet

T-Claps (Recognition):  Shredder is shredding – nearly done with his 75 Hard Challenge.  Good Stuff

Prayer:  Kosher’s co-worker recovering from brain surgery for cancer, Wallaby’s mom with early onset of Parkinson’s, 16-bits friend that recently passed and left a wife and 3 kids behind.

 

As the workout wrapped and everyone left.  Kosher and I talked shovel flags and said hi to Dahmer as he pumped gas.  Dahmer looked well rested, he said that he had just come from Caveman.  That makes sense…

 

Dahmer left and Kosher and I both went to leave but when he turned the key just some light clicking came from his truck.  I had done it… I had put on a workout of such greatness that I even managed to suck the energy out of Kosher’s truck!

America’s Favorite Pastime at Purple Cobra

/in , /QIC:
PAX: , , , , , , , , , ,

FNGs: None

PAX: Lipstick, U.T.I, Woody, Warbucks, Shredder, Full House, Cupid, Mr. Terrific, Wild Turkey, Maybelline, Kosher

Warm Up: SSH, Good Mornings, Daisy Pickers, Hillbillies, Imperial Walkers

The Workout: YHC had sent out a pre-blast saying that everyone’s favorite hill may or may not be in play, and that there may or may not be competition involved. THAT hill and competition were both in play.

After our warmup, we moseyed over to the parking lot in front of Town Hall Burger for a little baseball (aka America’s pastime). In honor of postseason baseball getting underway, YHC had gone out early in the gloom prior to the workout and placed my 2.0s rubber bases at various points throughout the parking lot, effectively creating 4 corners with a pitcher’s mound in the middle.

We split up into 2 teams for a several competition style rounds around the 4 corners. YHC informed the PAX that each trip around the bases would consist of various exercises at each base, and that a “prize” would be in play for whichever team completed the exercises and arrived back at home plate and then the pitcher’s mound first at the end of each round. YHC encouraged each team to push and stick together as the round was only complete once the last man on each team was back at the pitcher’s mound.

After each round, once a winner was declared, we moseyed to the bottom of THAT hill. Little did the PAX know that their “prize” consisted of the winning team selecting an exercise to complete at the top of THAT hill after we collectively sprinted to the top. PAX moaned about YHC’s choice of a “prize” – but we continued nonetheless. After each trip up THAT hill and exercises were complete, we went back to the baseball diamond for another trip around the bases. The exercises consisted of:

  • Round 1 around the bases: 1st base – Merkins x15, 2nd base – Squats x15, 3rd base – WW2 x15, Home plate – Star jumps x15, hold for the 6 at pitcher’s mound.
  • Round 1 up THAT hill – Sprint to top, Team 1 called out dips, U.T.I. dished out the count for 40 of ’em on the rail. PAX wondered if he would ever stop counting.
  • Round 2 around the bases: 1st base – Wide grip merkins x 15, 2nd base – Prisoner squats x 15, 3rd base – Crab kicks x15, Home plate – SSH x15 IC (I think), hold for the 6 at pitcher’s mound.
  • Round 2 up THAT hill – Sprint to top, Team 2 called out Turkish getups. Lipstick led the count with PAX shouting out random numbers. Lipstick wasn’t amused and punished us with more. I think we did 20 total.
  • Round 3 around the bases – 1st base – Diamond merkins x15, 2nd base – WW2, 3rd base – merkins x15, Home plate – WW1 x 15, hold for the 6 at pitcher’s mound.
  • Round 3 up THAT hill – Sprint to top, Team 1 called out Bulgarian Split squats. Woody led the count for 15x each leg.

After 3 “innings” – YHC led the group to the wall behind the shopping center. Mumblechatter about monkey humpers led to YHC spontaneously calling for us to to 25 Monkey Humpers IC over near the bushes. Mumblechatter was high around monkeys humping in the bush.

YHC took the PAX to the wall for balls to the wall – 5 count from each PAX, followed by Preacher’s chair 10 count from each PAX.

We headed over to the rock pile and picked up 2 rocks each for rounds of: Curls for the girls, shoulder press, rows, American Hammers with the rocks, and skull crushers.

Time to mosey back to the flag.

Mary: YHC called on various PAX to pick an exercise. We completed Freddie Mercury, LBC, 6 inches, and box cutters before we called time.

Announcements: Hollyfest (see slack for signup), 3 Alarm 2nd F signups (see Slack), Wild Turkey Trot run – see Wild Turkey for details

T-Claps (Recognition): Mr. Terrific for getting back out in the gloom! Great to see you, brother!

Prayer: Unspoken

YHC took us out. Prayed for the sky Q to help us be the light in our communities. Prayer for our military and first responders.

Always an honor to lead!

P.S. Woody and I are taking over co-site Q responsibilities from Cupid after him serving solo for 18 months. Great work holding it down, Cupid! Woody and I look forward to seeing many more of you out at Purple Cobra in the future!

The People’s Q

/in /QIC:
PAX: , ,

FNGs:nope
Warm Up:
ssh, daisy pickers, good mornings, sir fazio arm circles, merkins
The Workout:
mosey to loading dock.
hold peoples chair for 10 count down and back 60 count total
repeat for BTTW
1 minute plank hold.
We repeated 3x with chill cut plank on round 2.

Mosey to guard rail for 10x irkins, derkins, dips. After each set, we moseyed to Sunset Lake Rd and back. 3 rounds were completed

Mosey to bottom of “the hill”. backward run, bear crawl, and crab walk to top, mosey back. at bottom we did merkins, squats, lbcs. 3 rounds were done.

Mary:
LSF, LBCs, stretching
Announcements: See Slack
T-Claps (Recognition): Lots of prep went into BRR training.
Prayer:
Unspoken, BRR health and travels