Tag Archive for: abacus

Possum Pump III; Bigger, Badder, Hairier

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Every franchise has that third one. The budget goes to explosions, the plot goes out the window, and somebody jumps a shark. Every third installment also needs a name on the poster to put butts in the seats, so YHC is pleased to report that Rico turned up for his first Possum Pump. Nemo and 16-bit came back for the second week running. Four men, coupons on the asphalt, and the sun still an hour out.

The Pump has also moved off the tennis courts and down to the asphalt between the baseball fields. Coupons and tennis courts do not mix, and the retaining wall down there does more work than any piece of gear YHC owns.

Warm-Up

Mosey to loosen up, then circled up for:

SSH Good Mornings Frankensteins Imperial Walkers Hillbillies Sir Fazio arm circles Seal Claps Overhead Claps

The Thang

Two blocks. A block is one man’s Tabata: three exercises, four cycles, 50 seconds on and 15 seconds rest, with 30 seconds to recover between sets. About 15 minutes a block. Each block holds its own gear the whole time, so the men rotate and the weights stay put.

Block 1 — Coupon Chest Press, Box Cutters, Squats with a dumbbell. Block 2 — Derkins with the feet up on the retaining wall, Pickle Pounders, Step-Ups on the wall.

Two groups opened on opposite blocks and swapped at the halfway point, so everybody got both.

Notes from the field: Derkins were modified down to Erkins or standard Merkins as needed. On the abs, PAX alternated Pickle Pounders and J-Los, two rounds of each.

Mary

The clock had a little left, so YHC called stretching to close it out.

COT

Announcements: SOmbrero led Bass Lake services project Friday 9/11

Prayer: Rico family matters, YHC’s son starting last year in pre-K

Closing Remarks: Two weeks ago the Pump drew two men. Last week four. This week four again. Southwake’s oldest AO is not going quietly. Come find out.

Honored to lead! YHC out.

The Possum Pump Continues

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Last week the Possum Pump drew two. This week it drew four. Doubling is doubling, and YHC will take it. Southwake’s oldest AO had iron on the ground before the sun was up, and the plan was simple: 2 blocks

Warm-Up

Mosey around the tennis courts to get the blood moving, then circled up for:

  • Good Mornings

  • Willie Mays Hayes

  • Imperial Walkers

  • Hillbillies

  • Sir Fazio arm circles

  • Seal Claps

  • Overhead Claps

The Thang

Two blocks of Possum iron. Timer at 50 seconds on, 15 seconds rest, three exercises through four cycles, about 15 minutes a block. Each block owns its gear the whole time, so the men rotate and the weights stay put.

  • Block 1 — Chest Press with the 50lb KB, American Hammers with the 25lb KB, Squats with the 40lb DBs.

  • Block 2 — Sandbag Rut-Rows, Norma Jean Rileys on the ab roller (say the name before you can come up), Weighted Lunges with the 30lb DBs.

Slot Machine and YHC opened on Block 1 while Nemo and 16-bit took Block 2, then the groups swapped and everybody got both.

There was a Block 3 in the bag — Hammer Swings, Box Cutters and KB Swings — but at four PAX it stayed in the bag. That is by design. The plan scales on headcount, not on how much any one man does.

Mary

About five minutes on the clock at the end, so YHC called stretching instead:

  • Reach to the sky, then all the way down the legs

  • Downward Dog

  • Cobra

  • Runner’s Pose

  • Supine spinal twist, right leg over left with the shoulders pinned to the ground, then left over right

COT

Announcements: Sombrero leading Bass Lake mulch drop on Friday 9/11

T-Claps: none

Prayer: School starting up. Nemo #empty-nestinglyfe

Closing Remarks: Fully-body got worked, but I got a feeling the ab workouts will be felt the most tomorrow.

Honored to lead! YHC out.

A Possum Tabata Pump

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The pre-blast promised iron and questionable tunes in honor of Southwake’s oldest AO. What showed up was two men. Turns out the possums round Possum Trot are about as easy to find as a big crowd on a Wednesday morning, but YHC and Lube got the work in anyway.

Warm-Up

Moseyed around the tennis courts, then circled up for:

  • Good Mornings

  • Willie Mays Hayes

  • Imperial Walkers

  • Hillbillies

  • Sir Fazio (fwd + rev)

  • Seal Claps

  • Overhead Claps

The Thang

Ran both 15-minute Tabata circuits back to back:

  • Circuit 1 — Farmer Carry (40lb DBs), Jump Rope, KB Swings.

  • Circuit 2 — Wonder Bra, Skipping, KB Snatch.

Mary

Ran short on time, so no formal Mary today. Lube stepped up and led some back-strengthening work instead to close us out.

COT

Announcements: Nothing stated.

T-Claps: None stated.

Prayer: Continued healing for Lube, coming off back surgery. Prayers for families navigating the school year kicking back into gear. Prayers for injured PAX working toward getting back out here with us.

Closing Remarks: Two men doesn’t fill a soccer field, but it still counts as a beatdown. Southwake’s oldest AO doesn’t need a crowd to keep going, just somebody willing to show up in the gloom. Grateful for Lube this morning.

YHC out.

Image-from-iOS

BOARDING ACTION!!

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FNGs: N/A

Warm Up: The Usual. F3 Mission Statement and 5 core principles were stated correctly.

The Workout: in today’s gloom we ran a competition pitting Queen Anne’s Crew (Gump, Flip Phone, and Finkle) against Vane’s Rebels across 4 stations of equipment and body weight exercises. With the help of a 50 second tabata timer, members of one crew would lift the heavy things and put them down (farmer carry, kettlebell swings, sandbag burpies, and curls for the girls) while the other crew did body weight exercises of their choosing (too many to name). The crews would switch and see if they could lift up heavy things better than that of their rival crew. 

See history lesson on Blackbeard and Charles Vane below.

Mary: No time!

Announcements: None

T-Claps (Recognition):

Prayer: Prayers for injured PAX and PAX on the job-hunt.

History Lesson: Blackbeard vs. Charles Vane

Charles Vane and Edward Teach — better known as Blackbeard — were both prominent pirates operating in the Atlantic during the early 1700s, and their rivalry stemmed from competition over territory and resources in the Caribbean and along the American coast. Vane was known for his brutality and refusal to accept pardons, while Blackbeard cultivated a fearsome reputation through theatrics and intimidation. Towards the end of Blackbeard’s life, the two were competing for dominance in pirate havens, and Vane’s aggressive tactics alongside Blackbeard’s declining influence created tension between their crews. Though they never directly clashed, their rivalry represented the cutthroat nature of piracy in that era — fitting inspiration for today’s beatdown.

Chilly and Breezy at UFO

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FNGs: Welcome FNG “Hi-YAH”

Warm Up: SSH IC and stretching

The Workout: 60 minutes of Ulimate Frisbee with ascending burpees on the score.

Mary: None

Announcements: Q-em All Challenge and Triple Ruck Series for Holly Springs races in 2026 with Breach.

T-Claps (Recognition): The guys who helped the Hope Closet over the weekend.

Prayer: Ausfart’s wife and our military in the middle east. 

Curling on Heroin Hill

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FNGs: NoneWarm Up: SSH IC, Good Mornings IC, Sir Fasio Arm Circles, and stretching.

The Workout: A mix of elevation gaining exercises of Murder Bunnies and Moonwalks up Heroin Hill (rocks in tow), Dips and Urkins on the guardrail at the top, something resembling Olympic shot put/curling/bocce on the way down, and Burpees and WW1s at the bottom. Some complaints were filed by some competitors alleging that the rocks were not uniform and that some competitors in the shot put had an unfair advantage. To settle the controversy, rocks were rotated among each man with a rotation of Ground Pounders, Curls Fu Du Gurls, Tris Fu Du Guys, WW3s, and Overhead Presses.

Mary: LSF IC, Homer-to-Marge IC, LBCs IC, and a 45 second chill cut plank hold

Announcements: None

T-Claps (Recognition): None

Prayer: Buttermilk upcoming ablation to relieve back issues, Ausfart’s wife is having brain surgery for a tumor, and Motor Boatin’ is still looking for work.

Tumbleweed’s Virgin Q

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Note: Abacus filling our the backblast for Tumbleweed

FNGs: None

Warm Up: Standard

The Workout: We split up in teams of three and did 100 merkins, 200 Carolina dry docks, and 300 curls for the girls while one person alternated between bear crawls or broad jumps and another held a plank. Followed by an Indian run.

Mary: Popcorn Mary

Announcements: 1776 Workout

T-Claps (Recognition):

Prayer: Abacus neighbor, Popeye friend, horse face traveling mercies

Passing the Baton

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Probably close to two years ago Fonzie and I took over as site Q’s at Possum Trot.  As one of our favorite AOs it was fun to keep it running, Qing as much as we could, and making sure things went smoothly.  Over time, and with injury, we lapsed in our duty.  It became evident that new leadership was needed so we reached out to local PAX to find potential candidates.  After a lot of searching two stepped forward, almost at the same time.  Both Stovepipe and Rubiks wanted to help lead South Wake’s original AO and felt up to the task.  YHC picked up the Q for the day and asked the two of them to be there for the official hand off.  All in all, 11 other men joined the three of us for a beatdown and the official handoff of the site.  

FNGs: None

Warm Up:

SSH x27 IC (that was the temperature when I looked when I woke up)

Windmills x10 IC

Daisy Pickers x10 IC

Imperial Walkers x10 IC

Hillbillies x10 IC

Sir Fazio Arm circles x10 IC forward and reverse

The Workout:

We started at the back corner, by the rock pile, to begin a four corners workout.  Each corner would be some sort of leg or ab workout with the exception of the first because I finally feel like I can lift a (small) rock.  

Curls for the girls x10 IC

Tris for the guys x10 IC

Rut Rows x10 IC

Chest press x10 IC

We then did a backwards mosey to the next corner, by where the parking lot met the road.  

No Surrender x10 IC

Bobby Hurley x10 IC

Star Jumps x10 IC

We then proceeded to the next corner, on the other side of the tennis courts.  We made our way there via Walk like an Egyptian.  This is a lunge walk Indian Run where everyone steps in to a lunge while the guy at the back lunge walks to the front of the line.  Once they get there everyone steps in to a lunge with the other leg while the next guy goes.  This got a little unruly at times and, honestly, took way longer than I thought but all the complaining really fed my soul.  

The next corner was abs.  We did an LBC cycle

LBC x10 IC

Reverse LBC x10 IC

Side LBC x10 IC each side.  

We did a rinse and repeat and then did a slow mosey to the next corner for some squat rounds

Squats x10 IC

Wide squat x10 IC

Feet together squat x10 IC

Two rounds of that as well and then it was a duck walk back to the rocks to do another round of what we had done before. After that we returned our rocks and went to the tennis courts.  We started with a set of calf raises.  After that, there was a lot of mumble chatter which made YCH feel like he hadn’t worked everyone hard enough so we went in to a round of suicides across the width of of the court.

Mary:

American Hammers x16 IC

Sleeping Hillbillies x10 IC each side

Box cutters x16 IC

Announcements: 

Prayer outreach with Rubiks down town Raleigh at 7:00pm

Prayer:

Bleeder recovering from surgery

 

Always an honor to lead and it has been an absolute privilege  to have led this AO.  I look forward to what new leadership will do.  

 

010000

3 Amigos_rocks

Amigos and Boulder Bases

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FNGs: Welcome Sombrero!

Warm Up: slide straddle hops, good mornings, Willie May Hayes, imperial walkers, hillbillies, sir fazio arm circles, seal claps

The Workout: Boulder Bases: 8 PAX moseyed to the rocks, grabbed our pick of the litter to play a game YHC calls Boulder Bases. Along the road surrounding the tennis courts, we started at one corner (1st base) doing rock exercises of 10 clean/squat/press, 10 curls for the girls, 10 lunges, and 10 rut rows. Rifle carried our rocks to 2nd base and dropped them before doing body-weight exercises at each base: 5 burpees at 2nd base, 5 burpees + 10 merkins at 3rd base, 5 burpees+ 10 merkins + 15 big boy situps at “home plate,” and 5 burpees + 10 merkins + 15 big boys + 20 squats at 1st base. From there, we moseyed to 2nd base to do another round of rock exercises. Then we rifle carried the rocks to 3rd base. We carried on this routine until we could get the rocks to “home plate”. We changed up the body-weight exercises throughout, but kept the same structure.

Mary: No time

Announcements: F3 SouthWake meeting on Tuesday, Bass Lake Park.

T-Claps (Recognition):

Prayer: Prayers up for men struggling in their marriages and relationships.

Tabata Sweat and Christmas Soul

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Date of Q: 12/19/22

FNGs: None

Warm Up: slide straddle hops, good mornings, willie mays hayes, imperial walkers, hillbillies, sir fazio arm circles, seal claps

The Workout: 3 Rounds of Tabata all to the soulful Christmas melodies of Mariah Carey, Josh Turner, Hanson, and more. Each round consisted of 14 sets of 30 seconds ON and 10 seconds Rest. we switched between 2 different exercises to make 7 sets each.

1st Round: balls to the wall and people’s chair
2nd Round: clean/squat/press with rocks and dips
3rd Round: curls for the girls and bear crawl circles

Mary:low slow flutter, box cutters, LBCs, Homer to Marge

Announcements:None

T-Claps (Recognition):None

Prayer: Praise to Fonzi being 1 year out from Achilles injury and seeing improvement. Praise to Pumps getting back out there after back injury. Prayers for families coming together at Christmas time. Thankfulness for Him who is the reason for the season.