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Community Q & 3rd Cousin’s 18lb Suck Tubes

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With pollen and the fresh sent of hot garbage in the air at U-Turn, YHC was on the fence about posting at Ground Pounder this morning. Dauber applied a quick headlock in the Panera parking lot and before I knew it, I was in the Jones Park parking lot. Dauber in a fresh ‘newer’ smelling shirt was planting the flag as 3rd Cousin opened the back tailgate to his truck. It was about 7:26am by that point and none of us knew who ultimately had Q as we hadn’t seen site Q Forceps yet. Dauber quickly put a plan in place to have each one of us Q some element of the workout, where he would take the warm-up, 3rd Cousin would take the Main Event, and YHC would wind things down with Mary.

As that plan was put into place, Forceps and DOA arrived just in time to find out we had a trifecta Q planned for this morning.

7:30am hit and we were off with Dauber’s warm-up.

Warm Up: Quick lap around the lot and circled up for SSH X20, Fazios X10F\10B, Seal Claps X10, Imperial Walkers X 10, Hillbillies X10, Daisy Pickers X10, Frankensteins X10, Morocan Nightclubs X10 all in cadence. Once we were all good and warmed up, 3rd Cousin jumped in without missing a beat.
The Workout: Quick Mosey to behind the bathroom shelter for some People’s Chair with all 5 PAX calling out 10 counts in cadence, followed by 10 Merkins, then 5 count Balls to the Wall from each PAX, Rinse repeat 2 times. Once complete, 3rd Cousin took us back the long way around the bathroom shelter back to his truck. Apparently, he had fabricated several aluminum tubes each weighing 18lbs a piece. They were about shoulder length wide and really took the guess work out of picking out the right size rocks this morning and wondering what crazy crater someone would leave the other within rotations. He had informed PAX that these aluminum tubes are primarily fabricated for the suction tubes usually found at car washes. We affectionately referred to them as ‘Suck Tubes,’ primarily because of the exercises and reps 3rd Cousin had us do with them.

Round 1- Curls for the Girls X20 (cadence Count), Tricep Extension X20 (Cadence Count), Squats X20, Bus Drivers X10 (Cadence Count), Ground Pounders X20 (Cadence).

Round 2- More of the same except decreasing reps to 15

Round 3- More of the same except decreasing reps to 10

3rd Cousin then passed the Q off to YHC, leaving about 17 minutes.  YHC took PAX on a mosey around the lot and headed to the fences with 2 rungs surrounding the playground.

Each PAX occupied a space on the fence for some Erkins, Derkins, and Dips on the top rung X20 a piece. YHC instructed PAX to the lower rung for same sequence X10. By that point, YHC was getting rave reviews  based on the audible grunts and groans. Called for another rinse repeat mosey around the lot and then back to the low cement walls surrounding the playground. Called for PAX to perform step ups X20 (10 each leg), followed by 20 more Erkins.

Quickly mosey’d back to the lot where each of the 5 PAX occupied a parking space. Each lunge walked to the curbs situated between the lines and performed 20 Shoulder Taps in cadence. Lunge walked back to start, 5 Burpees OYO, Lunge walk back to curb to perform derkins X20, Lunge walk back, 5 Burpees OYO, lunge walk back to curb, Dips X20, lunge walk back to start, 5 Burpees OYO. Circle up for Mary..

Mary: LBC X20 IC, Low Slow Flutter X20 IC, American Hammers X20 IC, Freddy Mercury X20 IC, Pickle Pounders X20 IC, Nipplers X 20 IC, followed by a series of stretches and a Shawshank to cap off the morning.

Not alot of mumblechatter this morning, but definitely alot of effort and hard work. Great job, Men!

Announcements: Check Slack
T-Claps (Recognition): Those running virtual 1/2’s and Full Marathon’s this morning. Dauber on the double down this morning with U-Turn and Ground Pounder. 3rd Cousin for bringing some great new toys. YHC is a big fan of these tubes. The weight and shape is perfect and easy to perform exercises.

Prayer: All those impacted by COVID-19, Military and First Responders. Forceps took us out.

Shenanigans at the Nut

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St. Patrick’s Day has always been one of YHC’s favorite days of the year. Though with all going on throughout this crazy planet right now, this St. Paddy’s day will be different. Not nearly as much social drinking, celebrating, or general hooligan-ship. But no reason to not have a wee bit o Irish influence upon the workout today. Originally planned to have some tunes such as the Dropkick Murphy’s, Flogging Molly, and “The Foggy Dew” going, but rain in the forecast cancelled those plans. 4 pax got their miles in ( Skidmark, Pikachu, Slide Rule, and Cupid) while the rest of us got down to lollygagging.

FNG’s: With COVID our there…good luck EH-ing!
Warm Up: Mosey lap out front followed by 10 counts of GM’s, Sir Fazio’s, and Moroccan Night Clubs. Mosey to the back to grab some bricks and mosey back to the map circle. 10 counts of IW’s then HB’s. Now something YHC  did not know and pax did not inform until COT…this AO played with bricks yesterday too! Thanks pax for respecting the Q and giving me the sad news at the end.
The Workout: John L. Sullivan. First heavyweight champion ever and an Irishman too! Guy had hands like bricks. Today, pax were told that their hand would be attached to these bricks almost the whole workout. 2 rounds of exercises with bricks in sets of 20. Shoulder Press, Front Raise, Lateral Raise, Rut-Rows.

Irish Car BOMBS! Pax partnered up to complete these exercises as a pair. 1 pax ran the length to the gate and back holding bricks, while other partner did the exercises. Keep switching until done, all exercises and runs done with bricks except burpees.

25 burpees, 50 overhead press w/ bricks, 100 Merkins, 150 BigBoy Sit ups, 200 squats.

Next. The Rocky Road to Dublin. Pax lunge walk with bricks about 100 meters. Lay bricks down. Bear crawl back to start, the run back for the bricks. With bricks back in hand, we did Curls for the Girls and Tricep Press to a 13 count (my lucky number) the mosey back to the beginning where we did 7 counts (the lucky number) of each of these along with 20 mountain climbers to close out the trip to Dublin.

Mary: All exercises done during AO, returned bricks, and moseyed back to flag to greet our running faction as time expired.
Announcements: Stay with the COVID regulations for AO’s. Skidmark running constantly this week…join him sometime! Remember to laugh despite the seriousness of the situation..,connect with your ShieldLock.
T-Claps (Recognition): Banana Seat and all racers who continue to change plans for this weekend’s race.  Tough decisions…but that’s what HIM’s do!
Prayer: Those sick and those with fears around us. Our leaders and country, those with plans that have to change them, the depression that can be brought on by these crises. YHC took us out.  Thanks for letting me lead the St. Paddy’s Day celebration.

Time for some Containment

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Exponential growth is a wonderful thing when you’re talking about money.  It’s terrifying when it’s the spread of a disease.  It’s even more terrifying when we can see what happens in other countries where people don’t take the threat seriously.  Add on to that the fact that there’s a lag between infection & symptoms and a longer one until hospitalization is necessary….there’s a very real scenario that there are already too many people infected & who will need hospitalization in our communities to be adequately treated by our healthcare system, they just don’t know it yet.

Pikachu put out a solid post about living 3rd last night.  Part of that, to me, is recognizing our leadership potential in the community and being examples for those around us in how to handle this disease.  We can’t ask people to practice social distancing and then voluntarily spend time with 15-20 guys working out in close proximity — it undermines our credibility.  To that end, my goal is to lower the size of workouts and lessen the chance we accidentally spread this throughout our Pax; I figure a good way to do this is just add more workouts.

Nutcracker will now be 5x/week — Mon-Fri.  My hope is other neighborhoods / shield locks / circles will follow and start working out in smaller groups to lessen the potential spread from one of us to another.   

This morning we met at 12 Oaks Clubhouse.  We will meet at Oakview going forward.

FNGs: Nope
Warm Up: YHC led with some tennis lines, and other standard WU stuff and a call out for popcorn Q’ing.
The Workout:
Slide Rule:
– suicides in the lot; stop at every parking median and increase 5x Merkins.  Got to 25 before we ran out of time.

3rd Cousin:
– Tennis Court work with lunges and bear crawls
– Irkins / Dirkins / Dips
– WWII

Da Business:
Mosey over to the hill, where we Squatted at the bottom, Sprinted up, and Monkey Humperd at the top (pretty sure our buddy’s Ring doorbell got a great show this morning)

Pigpen:
5 minutes of abs followed by suicides on the tennis court

Mary: Pullups & Static V-Sit

Announcements: Be safe, be aware of the community around you.  Kids who rely on schools for food; spouses who rely on work as a reprieve from their families; small businesses who don’t have margin to sit on the economic sideline for months at a time.

T-Claps (Recognition): Thanks for responding to the call guys.  It means a lot

Prayer: Lot of concern for aging parents this morning.  It’s going to be a tough month or two.

Final Note: (no one will read this, I know):  This is a unique opportunity.  Many of us are #HIM who are pulled in dozens of directions; some of us use that as an excuse to be less invested in our families than we could be.  For the next month, our worlds are going to be very small — hopefully we can take time to pour into that center part of the Concentrica, the people who need us the most.  It’s time to be a leader and truly live 3rd.

Slide out

I Wonder Why He Moved That Trash Can?

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The Downtown Train didn’t stay at any stop for long today. Not sure how many miles this train clocked, but it was more than usual at least in YHC’s experience on the Train. 10 passengers got stronger and faster on the DT express today.

FNG’s: None

EC: Coal Ash, Nemo, Yogurt
Warm Up: Moseyed a reverse traditional loop around the front of the stores and back into the parking deck. Circled up for SSH x 30 and 10 counts of GM’s, Sir Fazio Arm Circles, Seal Claps, IW’s, and HB’s. While doing this YHC moved the rubbish can away from the wall. A pax said, “I wonder why he did that?” We’d be need that wall and all items cleared for later in the workout.
The Workout: Upstairs we went.  Fast feet the curbs to one end of the lot. Squat hold for 6. Typewriter the curbs in reverse direction. Squat hold for 6.

Moved on to 7’s. These were done the length of the parking lot. We waited until the 6 was in on each pass before pax did exercises on YHC’s  “up” and “down”.  Full range of motion was the focus here. And pax sprinting and pushing hard was encouraged. Exercises were Prisoner Squats and Hand Release Merkins with Superman holds on the “down”.

Mosey down the stairs and around the block to the knee wall. YHC called: dips x 20, irkins x 15, dirkins x 10, dips x 15, irkins x 10, dirkins x 5.  Most pax opted for some reason the knee wall sections that had the bars on them.  Had to caution the pax not to concuss themselves on the wrought iron fence during irkins.

To the Wall. Cleared the rubbish barrel from here earlier. Each pax 5 counted for People’s Chair. To the far wall we ran. Each pax does 4 count for BTTW. Back again. 3 count People’s Chair. Back again once more. 2 count BTTW. Lucky Charms is noticeably an absolute beast. This guy goes from sprinting to handstand to BTTW to handstand wall push-up. People are crazy…

YHC called a line series where each pax had a parking line. Bear Crawl along the line to the wall, perform an irkin, lunge walk back, and do a Merkin. We did this 5 times with reps on each end increasing to 5. Once again, Lucky Charms probably got to 8-9 reps for some EC while waiting for the rest of us.

Finally, straight outta Yogurt’s playbook. Let’s empty the tank fellas! Sprints from one end to the other of the parking deck. When 6 got there, squat hold for 10 count and take off again. At each end we decreased squat hold count from 10,8,6, and 4. This gave us 4 hard sprints.  Great work pax!
Mary: Back to flag in time for what I think was LSF’s x 20 IC. Thanks Nemo for taking up the count when YHC started gagging on a snot rocket.
Announcements: upcoming Q’s for pax (POTS Tuesday at Purple Cobra, Yogurt Wednesday at TBD, YHC Friday at Cletus).
T-Claps (Recognition): Pax running hard today. Lucky Charms for giving us all some moves to aspire to!
Prayer: YHC had some pre-cancerous watch spots frozen, scraped, removed last week. Just another wake up call. Pumpkin Spice neighbor that he would get his drivers license today and have healing from grief. YHC took us out. Honored to lead!

Oh! It’s a car thing!

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Abe was set up to Q Cletus, but his 2.0 was under the weather and he needed to stay home to be a good husband and father.   YHC stepped into the void to lead this AM.  Much to Da Business’ disappointment, I did not popcorn the Q and instead went for a regular Cletus beatdown.

FNGs: Nosir
Warm Up:
Run the lines on the courts
SSH, Imperial Squat Walkers, Mtn Climbers, Merkins

The Workout:
Bear crawl the lines, then repeat-o the other direction (star jump x10 between)
Hop the lines, both legs, both directions (merkin x10 between)

Burpee-indian-run, then double-burpee-indian-run
Plank Hold for indian bear crawl
Indian run to lot

Grab a fence, 10x derkins on the low run, 10x derkins on the high run
Sprint to end of fence, 10x sumo squat jumps, sprint back
Repeat 8x, 6x. etc

2 line indian run to the playground for
PULL UPS (and 90 degree hangs)

Mary: POPCORN! (just for Da Business)
Announcements: Please make Wrightsville a priority.  Also, 2.0 workout tomorrow
T-Claps (Recognition): we all had fun.  not a lot of chatter, so appreciate everyone pushing themselves this morning
Prayer: FloJo’s accident; Crab Legs, Forceps, Lipstick’s sister, lots of others

Pulled Some Fire Hose For A Barn Burner

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I pulled in at South Park around 5:00 am to set-up. One vehicle in parking lot. Could not tell who it was. Looked back at 5:05 and they were off. I got everything in place and the vehicles started rolling in. I was worried that we may have too many PAX and not enough props. It all worked out. So, I made mention that we may have a Fire Drill. Comment made, what is a Fire Drill? I stated it was a surprise…show up and he did not (Dauber). 14 PAX showed up for a barn burner of exercises and some fire hose workouts with no water this time.

FNG: None

Warm Up: Moseyed a lap around the track. Circled up for the following: SSH-25, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, Moroccan Night Clubs, Fazio Arm Circles, Daisy Pickers and we are off to the workout.

The Workout: Moseyed to where the props(stations) were staged and explained what was about to take place. It was complete silence especially when PAX saw the PALLET. M4life was even quiet, I know that’s rare!

1st  partner did station while the other did the following exercises and they would rotate until that station was finished…move onto next station. Rinse and Repeat for almost 4 rotations all the way through

Merkins, LBC’s, Squats and towards the end whatever you had left.

1st Station, 100’ 3” fire hose drag from one end of the parking lot to the other

2nd Station, Farmers carry with 44lbs each arm

3rd Station, 150’ 3” fire hose on your shoulder. Run from one end to the other of parking lot

4th Station, More tractor weights (1) lunges one end to the other of parking lot

5th Station, Rotational Hose slams around a tree with 1 3/4″ fire hose

6th Station, 100’ 3” fire hose drag from one end of the parking lot to the other

7th Station, The most fun for all PALLET PUSH with 50’ 1’ ¾” hose on pallet. You guessed it from one end to the other. It was rough so we had partner push it back to starting area.

8th Station, Tractor Weights John Q form one end to the other of parking lot.

Mary: I knew it was too good to be true M4life started bumping those gums.

Low slow flutter, Box cutters, Downward dog, Leg and pigeon stretches, Have a nice day

Announcements: Check Facebook and Slack

T-Claps (Recognition): EC: Beater by himself. Gamecock for running to AO from his house. Great job to all. It was a tough work out!

Prayer: Beater, Uncle and Cousin Palliative Care called in. Modify sister-in-law broke her back (Molly), passing of Wiggly Dad, Fedex co-worker 50lb box fell on his head, still out of work, Forceps Family

It was a Honor to Lead! Sprinkler

Fruity Pebbles with a glass of OJ

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I’m going to get straight to the point. No talking smack on those that didn’t make it. No talking smack on other AOs. As long as you took the plunge today and did a workout with your brothers you are good in my book.

FNGs:  None have shown up.  They must have gotten lost.  I hope they are okay

Warm Up:

Jogged to the basketball hoop and circled up
30 Side Straddle Hops.  I meant to only do 25 but I missed my exit.
5 Foot traces both directions both feet
5 Legs swings both directions both feet
Wring out the shoulders.

The Workout:

Jog to pickup the bricks.  2 bricks per pax.

Bear Crawl with your bricks across the field
Cusack to the basketball hoop and circle up

We stacked the bricks on top of each other.  Then we got in a merkin position with one hand on the bricks.  Did a merkin and the hand that was on the ground we did a shoulder tap.  This will be referred to as Brick Merkin Taps

2 Rounds:
10 Brick Merkin Taps Right hand on bricks
10 Brick Merkin Taps Left hand on bricks
20 Goblet Presses
20 Exaggerated toe touches with the bricks in hand

We then airplane to the wall by the playground.  Arm’s straight out to the side.

We all took a spot on the wall.  Holding your bricks either out in front or close together depending on how you felt.  Three pax went and did pull ups till fatigue.  Once they completed they rejoined the wall and the next pax took their place.   Once all pax completed the pull ups we moved to the flags.

1 Round:  — Should have been 2 but I noticed I was running out of time
10 Fruity Pebbles — T merkin into I, with the bricks
5 Reverse to Forward Lunges Right leg with bricks overhead
5 Reverse to Forward Lunges Left leg with bricks overhead
20 Hello Dolly’s ‘I think that is what they are called’

Cusack to the bus drop off.

Pax got into two lines.  Plank jacks until you get to the front of the line.  Then once in the front boo boo bear crawl.  Switch legs at the median.  Run back to the line and continue the plank jacks.

Moved back to the flags

1 Round:  — Should have been 2 but I noticed I was running out of time.  Also dropped the Hello Dollys
10 Fruity Pebbles — T merkin into I, with the bricks
5 Reverse to Forward Lunges Right leg with bricks overhead
5 Reverse to Forward Lunges Left leg with bricks overhead

Airplane to the wall

We all took a spot on the wall.  Holding your bricks either out in front or close together depending on how you felt.  Three pax went and did pull ups till fatigue.  Once they completed they rejoined the wall and the next pax took their place.  Once all pax completed the pull ups we moved to the basketball hoop.

1 Round: — Should have been two and I dropped the toe taps
10 Brick Merkin Taps Right hand on bricks
10 Brick Merkin Taps Left hand on bricks
20 Goblet Presses

Return the bricks and jogged to the flags.  I was going to wheel barrow the bricks back across the field but no time.

Circled up for Mary

Mary:

Bring sally up/Bring Sally down  6 inches to 45 degrees
Homer to Marge
Luges
Supermans

Announcements:

Long Ass ATT run this weekend
Thursday 2F at Lowe’s Food 2.50 pints

T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:

Forceps and his family.
Wallby and his family as he continues his journey.
Lipstick’s sister.

I was hoping for 5.

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YHCs first Q in 2020 at Downtown Train. Decided we would go on a little field Trip. Seven PAX took on the challenge, worked hard, and hopefully got a little stronger this morning.

FNGs: None. Almost a year of Q’ing and still haven’t had an FNG.

Warm Up: Jog to Womble. Circled on tennis court for: 10 burpess OYO, Hangy things 10 count x 2, SSH x 25, Merkins x 10

The Workout: Mosey’d to rock pile for rock then headed to picnic tables for the following full body workout:

Round 1: Step ups with rock 3 rounds x 10, 20, 30. Between sets of step-ups SSHs in cadence x 30, x 20, x 10

Round 2: Irkins x 5, x 10, x 15. Between sets goblet squats with rock x 30, x 20, x 10.

50 LBCs in Cadence

Round 3. Dips in cadence x 10, x 15, x 20. Between sets of dips, curls for the girls in cadence x 30, x 25, x 20.

50 Mountain climbers

Round 4. Lunges x 5 each leg, x 10 each leg, x 10 each leg. In between sets American hammers in cadence x 15, x 20, x 25.

Feel like I am forgetting a round, but…

Returned rocks and lined up for hallelujah Indian runs. YHC was hoping to do this the entire way back to Downtown Train home base, but was running short on time and we eventually just pivoted to a brisk jog back.

Mary: Got back in time to honor Da Business’s request of 5 burpees OYO.

Announcements: Long run Saturday on the ATT, multiple distances available ending at Mellow Mushroom in Durham. Multiple 3rd F opportunities coming up. Greenhouse build 2/29.

T-Claps (Recognition): All PAX this morning for working hard.

Prayer: Minute of silence for Forceps and his family.

What is this, a glow run?

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Whether it’s training or Shield-Lock, or the combination of both, there was a strong showing of 34 PAX for U-Turn. After warming up, the group disbanded into a large bobbing body of neon light. A thought come to me, ‘What is this, a glow run’?…. A pretty cool sight!

Warm Up: Mosied around parking lot, side shuffling between lots,  then circled up for SSH 30x IC, mountain climbers 15x IC, Daisy pickers 15x IC, right over left and contra leg stretches, inner thigh stretches(some called it groin stretches).

The Workout: 3 mile, 5 mile, and multiple PAX with more mile routes. Picking up the six and good convos.
Mary: Nowhere to be found
Announcements: Nope
T-Claps (Recognition): Martini for pushing hard with EC and long route ME. To everyone picking up the six.
Prayer: Fumunga prayer request for a friend.

Cold Start and Unexpected Opportunity

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The temperature read 28 degrees as I stepped out of the car this morning to be greeted by 7 fellow PAX who decided like me to get stronger and forsake the fartsack. After 2 mins of mumble chatter it became apparent that we would call an audible since it was 05:30 and no Q present. YHC took the opportunity to lead these mighty men for the workout today in what became my VQ. Now… if I could only figure out what Thangs we would do.

QIC: Fanny Pack

Pax: Da Business, Fanny Pack, Mr. Terrific, Oboe, Quiver, Shredder, Tetanus, 3rd Cousin 

FNGs: None
Warm Up: Mosey the standard loop around the parking deck. Circled up in parking deck for: SSH x 20, GM’s x 10, Sir Fazio’s x 10 F/R, Mountain Climbers x 20, Hillbillies x10, and Imperial Walkers x 10.
The Workout: Now I had a plan, or at least half a plan. We ran 7’s down the length of the parking garage starting with standard merkins on one end and dips on the other. Each PAX ran hard in between. Moseyed over to the rock pile.  Circled up for what was primarily 2 exercises at each rock (we would rotate counter clockwise) an upper body move and a lower body/core move. Each exercise had a 10 count. Let it be disclosed that YHC miscounted on a couple of moves. After each pair of exercises, pax did merkins starting with 1 and going to 10 before shifting spaces. Thanks to Shredder for reminding YHC to move the circle to a safer place in the parking lot.  Exercises: Curls for the Girls x 20, Shoulder Press x 20, Tricep Extend x20, Ground Pounder x 20, Bus Driver x 10, Squats x 10, Torso Twist x 10, Goblet Squats x 10, Rut Rows x 20, Rock Spanks x 20, Dying Cockroach w Rock x 10, LSF x 20, Homer 2 Marge x 10.

Mary: YHC called 10 counts of: Shoulder Taps, Freddie Mercury, and Catalina Wine Tasters (I referred to these in error as Catalonia Wine Smellers which caused some confusion). Remaining PAX took turns calling out 10 counts of the following: Fire Hydrants, Box Cutters, LBC’s, Mountain Climbers, Pickle Pounders, American Hammers. Plank Hold was done for a 5 count by all PAX.
Announcements: YHC’ s non VQ will be at Purple Cobra Tuesday. Quiver let us in on some fine arts he’s had the pleasure of viewing recently.
T-Claps (Recognition): Shredder for keeping me on time. I did not expect to need my watch today.
Prayer: Our Armed Forces and Nation, those PAX that are ill these days, unspoken.  YHC took us out.  It was an honor to lead you fellas in getting stronger this morning.