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Better, Stronger, Faster – $6 Million or TOAST?

One year F3 anniversary Q apparently had an impact: “I think you toasted us all,” was the compliment coming from Banana Seat.

But, it wasn’t me really, it was all the workouts that I’ve done over the past year. Today, I simply incorporated memorable parts of those beatdowns.

EC: Intervals for Slide Rule, Warbucks, YHC
Warm Up: Mosey to amphitheater, SSH x 55 (shout out to The Natural, who Q’d the entire week of his 55th birthday); yoga moves (shout out to Slide Rule, who Q’d yoga last summer); Bat Wings (shout out to Banana Seat, who always brings excellent material).
The Workout: 15-20x Dips on the ledge, followed by 15-20x Australian Mountain Climbers (shout out to Blue Hen, who brought AMCs to my first Nut Cracker workout–in the rain). Rinse and repeat 3x dips and Australians today.

Mosey to greenway. Guantanimo until each PAX had moved to the front 3x.

Mosey to parking lot: Partnered up. Wheelbarrow to top of parking lot. Add a burpee every time you switch drivers (shout out to Moby, who brought this to Nut Cracker one day). Next, Merkin shuffle (shout out to 187, who seems to like this one). This is where some real “toasting” occurred.

Lots of “recover on the run,” which is my favorite from CHiPs and Emeril Q’ing Paradise City.

Mosey to dirt parking lot. Time for some Jack Webbs to 21. Shout out to Nemo for burning up Disney with this one hot Thursday.

Mary: Slide rule led LBCs while I got ma phone. Next, I led low slow flutter, Hello Dollys, pickle pounders, and Banana Seat led Australian Snow Angels.
Announcements: 2.0 workout Saturday Womble 9 am, check Slack, FB
T-Claps (Recognition): All those great workouts and Qs over the past year.
Prayer: Nemo’s mom’s friend, who fight with cancer is about to end, Breach doctor visit today, Banana Seat’s father in law.

Devil Burpees!!!

FNGs: none, but welcome back Cobol!!!

The pax were warned this was an homage to my very first f3 workout.  It was led by M4Life, who I thought would attend.  Alas, was not to be.

EC: Shamwow with a mile PR! Maybelline and Slide Rule out there early as well.
Warm Up:

Quick lap, ssh, good mornings, merkins, imperial squat walkers

The Workout:

11s on the Half Pipe

Merkins on one side, wwii on the other.

EC burpee in the middle if you wanted…. Looked like everyone wanted.

Extra trip of 10 each if you finish early.

Shamwow hit his stair goal during this portion.

 

Abyss!

The PAX were introduced to a new workout move, the *Devil Burpee*.  As we all know, the Blue Devil takes the already insufferable Bobby Hurley (slap the floor like a d-bag, then miss a jump shot) and captures the more full essence of Duke with a defensive flip.  So, jump squat+ Turkish get up.

The Devil Burpee adds another layer of d-baggery by adding a Burpee before getting up off the floor (seriously, after flopping, doing push-ups before standing back up, ugh).

These are 100% guaranteed to spike your heart rate or your money back.

 

So, head to bottom of Abyss, 2 Devil Burpees.  Top, x4, Bottom x6, etc.

Stop at the top with 12x Devil Burpees.

Audible was called where the 12 could be skipped if the pax raced someone up the stairs.

Mary:

Traveling Mary!  Start on baseline of field, do 10x Mary exercise, Sprint to mid field.  Repeat x8, sprinting half field each time.

 

Recap:

Holy cow.  My heart rate averaged 141 for this nonsense.  29 flights of stairs, just over 5 miles (including EC), and will over 1k calories burned on the morning.  Great job everyone pushing hard.  Not a lot of mumble chatter, whole lot of really heavy breathing.

 

Announcements:

2.0 Saturday.  Spartan race (see Shamwow, Dahmer)

T-Claps (Recognition): great job to glass jaw pushing himself!  And Shamwow with the mile PR!!

Prayer: Crab legs, Glass Jaw employment opportunity

Eleven for 11’s

11 PAX showed out in perfect weather conditions to get stronger. 62 degrees with low humidity. Great conditions for an early morning beatdown to include a field trip to the industrial park.

Wiggly was out due to allergies so I stepped in fresh off of a 4 day family cruise and ready to work off all the time spent sitting in front of a plate full of food from the buffet. (I did manage to get to the gym on the ship and work in a run – and did some rock climbing so not all eating and laying around. Also had a 4 year old to keep up with which sometimes feels like a workout.)

EC: Blue Hen, maybe Flanagan, maybe others? (Clearly YHC was not among them.)

FNGs: None.

Warm Up:

SSH x20 IC
Imperial Walkers x15 IC
Hillbillies x15 IC
Monkey Humpers x15 IC
Leg stretches – 10 count each leg
Arm stretches – 10 count each arm
Michael Phelps it out

The Workout:

Field trip to industrial park (Rovisys) with exercises en route…
Run
Merkins x15
Run
Derkins on the rail x15
Run
Irkins on the rail x15
Run
11’s on the hill: WW2 at the bottom/ Shoulder Tap Merkins at the top
Run back to the school…
Run
Dips on the rail – x22 (Breach)
Run
Sumo squats x 5 run 5 count – repeat 2x – Blue Hen
Run
LBC’s – x25 IC –
Run

Mary:

Pickle Pounders x22 IC (Breach)

Announcements:

Q Source to follow at Starbucks

See Slack/FB

Prayer:

The Natural – friends who recently lost a family member

Moby’s Dad is home

Shredder’s recovery

 

It’s an honor and a privilege to lead you HIM.

Travis Manion WOD 4/29

PAx of 5 showed up at the RTP Frontier for the Travis Manion Workout of the Day (WOD)

Slide Rule, UTI, LED and Leuintent Dan from Raleigh

Breach on the Q

Warm Up: Jog around the parking lot and circle up for some SSH, Imperial WAlkers and Good Mornings

The Workout: 7 Stations Tires, Fire Hoses, Cynderblocks, Weight Plates, Pain Sticks, 2 x 4’s and Burpees

The workout consisted of  7 rounds of 29 squats with the various equipment and then 400-meter runs. Rinse and repeat.

Mary: Circle up for a moment of reflection, for the military which volunteers to protect our way of life. Freedom is not free and some pay the ultimate price in defense of things they feel are more important than they are.

Prayer: Closed in prayer

Thunder at Crazy Ivan; Welcome New Fritters

Arriving at Womble at 0445, I planted the shovel flag (more than once due to winds) and took off jogging testing a gimpy hammy before EC officially started at 0505.  I cruised in at less than 100% but not deterred seeing the glow of Noxgear and headlamps in the parking lot.  I was elated to see my future fritter brothers (Doc, Modify, Cupid and WAIT – Where was R-22?)  Did he succumb to the fart sack?  We had lost a fritter wanna-be the morning before when Beater was unable to get to Disney due to a lot of stuff going on on the home front.  Pikachu, Bullseye and Aquaman had arrived for their fritter too.  It was 0530 and keeping with all AOs, Crazy Ivan began on time, Pikachu led the PAX out toward downtown for the two-mile run.  Note: Maybelline had joined the PAX for EC after hastily parking.  Running alongside the soccer fields, we noticed a silver Pathfinder coming in hot.  I cannot confirm or deny seeing sparks coming from the bottom of the vehicle after navigating over the Womble speed humps.  The driver could have had some experience as a stuntman as he adeptly handled the obstacles.  I did some research and found he had indeed done some driving in Hollywood before.  (See pic below)  Turning around, I saw it was no one other than R-22!  He sped by me as I waved him on pointing him in the direction of the PAX 100 yards ahead of me.  It was going to be a great day knowing R-22 was fritter edible!

 

FNGs:  None and No Merlots

Warm Up:  Pikachu brought the PAX into the parking lot after a nice warm-up run.  R-22 was drenched.  Cars kept coming in to the parking lot.  Anticipating a large turn out, Dauber communicated with Pikachu the night before during the First Responder Training and solidified a co-Q game plan.  In the end, 28 PAX came ready to get “thunder-strucked!”  Dauber had PAX circle up in the parking lot and got their heart rate going with 25 SSH, 10 Seal claps, 10 T-Claps, 10 Cotton-Pickers, 10 Fazio Arm Circles (F/R) and some static arm stretches.  There would be minimal running today so the warm-up focused on arms/shoulders.

The Workout:   Weinkes were created the night before (one workout focusing on Kettle bells, the other on a boot-camp style workout) and discussed as Pikachu took 14 PAX to the adjacent parking lot starting off with build a bears.  An abundance of LBCs, Merkins and Squats were thrown in for good measure.  Dauber began the kettle bell workout with a variety of Kettle bell exercises that included Swings (25), Bus drivers (15), Lawn mowers (10 L/R), Goblet Squats (10+), Figure 8s (10 L/R), Halos (10 L/R), Sumo Squats (10+).  LBCs, SSH, Mountain Climbers were thrown in breaking up the Kettle bell exercises.  Dauber called on Sir Dawgpound sharing his expertise of executing pistol exercises. The planned list on the Weinke went by the wayside as Dauber caught sight of Pikachu coming back from the amphitheater preparing to swap out for kettle bells.  The 80’s/90’s Hair Band continued in the background while Dauber led PAX to the amphitheater for some boot-camp exercises.  Alternating left/right leg step ups; Star Jumps; Merkins; Australian Mountain Climbers; Seated Chair; Balls to the Walls.  Dauber slowed things down and got the PAX stretching with various leg stretches leading to compromising positions and salty mumble chatter.  PAX were in a good mood cutting up while executing Yoga positions like pigeon and cobra.  Mosey back to the parking lot.  Timing was off as Pikachu was leading his PAX in kettle bell movements.  Dauber audibled and began prisoner lunges in the grass protecting our sensitive knees from the asphalt.  Merkins and pickle pounders were thrown in when Pikachu asked if we were going to do Build-A-Bears.  Well of course we were!  Off to the adjacent parking lot.  Build a bears were executed (unlike other group of PAX who executed 1-8 merkins), we executed 1, 2, 4 and 8 merkins (timing you know).

Mary:  Both groups of PAX circled up.  187 did not like yours truly hanging over him while I tried walking behind him near the curb trying to get a peak at the playlist.  (Sorry 187!). Pikachu was very excited looking at his playlist and seeing how close we were to AC/DC – Thunderstruck.  Some plank stretches and plank holds/pickle-pounders were executed before we heard Bon Scott/Brian Johnson lead singer scream out the lyrics to Thunderstruck.  A burpee was executed every time PAX heard the word Thunder/Thunderstruck. For those interested, there are 34X this word is mentioned.  SSH were done during the rest of the song.

Announcements:  We discussed some key takeaways from the First Responder training PAX attended yesterday. One pearl was to know where you are at all times!  When calling 911, follow and answer the Qs of the operator – don’t provide any unnecessary verbiage (the operator is filling in set fields).  Stay calm.  Assess the situation – step back, do not just jump in – You could make things worse and become a victim.  See Slack and FB for announcements!  Come out to Ground pounder and cheer on runners for 8K and 16K.

T-Claps (Recognition):  Cowboy for setting up First Responder Training!

Prayer:  Breach (wearing Breathtaker) took us out.  Unspoken, Crab Legs, Shredder, Moby’s dad…

A Journey to the Abyss

16 PAX, 10 for EC, decided to swallow the DRP, climb out of the fartsack, and post at Disney to get stronger.  Q was happy to see a few brothers (minus 1 fritter quitter) braving their first journey for the coveted Fritter and the best speech zero dollars can buy.

FNGs: None

EC: Doc, Modify, R22, Aquaman, Bullseye, Dauber, Dahmer, Pikachu, Pablo

Fritter Status: New fritters: Doc, Modify, R22, Cupid; Repeat fritter: Aquaman, Bullseye, Dauber, Pikachu; Fritter Quitter: Beater

Warm Up: Led by Emeril: mosey around the baseball field to the small parking lot for a light warm up and a series of stretches.

The Workout: From the parking lot, the PAX moseyed to the Abyss to get the workout started.  Q had conveniently placed two 35lb kettlebells at the top of the abyss to be used throughout the workout.  After arriving,  PAX split into 2 groups and lined up in 2 lines down each side of the stairs.  With the kettlebell, the first PAX did one shoulder press and then passed it to the next PAX in line down the stairs.  PAX were instructed to run to the end of the line down the stairs to continue passing the kettlebell until they reached the bottom.  At the bottom, 5 burpees OYO.  The PAX lined up again to repeat up the stairs but this time with two shoulder presses and then 5 burpees OYO at the top.  Once at the top, PAX partnered up to complete a Dora 1,2,3 (100 merkins, 200 WWII, 300 squats).  Partner 1 started his reps while partner 2 traveled down the abyss into the darkness where they had to complete star jumps (start w/ 5 and add 1 rep for each journey down) until all reps were completed.  PAX were encouraged to carry a kettlebell or two, to keep them company, as they descended into the abyss.  As PAX completed their reps, they were instructed to continue up and down the abyss with the star jumps until all PAX were complete.  On completed, all PAX then moseyed (some carrying the kettlebells) back to the parking lot for Mary.

Mary: All exercises in-cadence for a 20 count: low slow flutter, homer-to-marge, freddie mercury forward and reverse, pickle-pounder

Announcements: PAX are encouraged to step up to Q a workout, CPR/Safety meeting at Fire Station tonight, Check FB and Slack

Prayer: Crab legs and his status in the clinical trial, unspoken prayers…

Tearing down the walls

It was a pleasure to lead guys.

Several showed up for ec including: dauber, doc, r22, Cupid, modify, pikachu, beater, aquaman, h1n1, Messi, bullseye, led

FNGs:Trojan – Eric Julien
Warm Up:20xSSH, 20x Moroccan night clubs,10 forward and reverse Fabio arm circles, 10 hillbilly’s, 10IW, 10 burpees OYO
The Workout:Walls of Jericho

7 exercise @ 7 reps with jog around courts inbetween

prisoner squats, run, diamond merkins,run, captain Thor’s, run, mountain climbers, run, wide merkins,run, Red Bull jacks, run, burpees

Burpee break down suicides on tennis court

bear crawl to 1st line 4 star jumps

bear crawl to 2nd line 8 squats

bear crawl to 3rd line 12 in/out planks

bear crawl to 4th line 16 merkins

Great job picking up the six guys!!

Mary:Several pax’s contributed to Mary doing the following

lbcs, LSF, boat canoes, burpees, American hammers, pickle pounders, box cutters, hello dolly, windshield wipers, Freddie mercuries

Announcements:see slack and FB. 16 k this weekend cheer on pax’s after ground pounder

T-Claps (Recognition):breach and the breath taker
Prayer:pray for several health issues among pax family and friends. Cancer, mental health.

Rendevous with Rama

The theme of the day was “everything in 3’s”.  It was supposed to be a 3 mile EC, 3 Q’s, 3 stations, where pax in 3’s would rotate 3 sets of each workout.

But SkidMark is a jerk and guilted EH me into running a 4 mile EC.  Thanks to him, I PR’d 5k & 1 mile distances and set strava segment PR’s on pretty much every segment we ran.  Then somehow 22 guys showed up to the ‘Nut, throwing off the groups of 3.  And then my timing was rubbish so we didn’t get 3 reps in.  But, whatever, we pushed ourselves and got stronger.

As Dredd & Dark Helmet said on the 43 Ft Podcast, if you want to run faster, find someone faster than you and run with him.  If you want to get stronger, find someone stronger than you and work out with him.

F3 is a whole lot more than a selfish accountability fitness group.  But, I hope it’s at least that much for all of us.  Find someone who pushes you, and push yourself.  And once you realize another guy can help you get into better shape, think about how someone can be pushing you to be a better husband, a better father, a better employee, a better person.  Don’t let the impact of F3 be limited to your 5k Time or Merkin Reps.  #Accelerate

FNGs: Philly Special

EC:

Skid Mark & Slide Rule: 4

Buford, Dawgpound, Bernie: 2-3?

Flanigan, Blue Hen: Commute

Warm Up:

Led by Martini.  A lap, some SSH, Daisy Pickers, Good Morning, and Fazio Arm Circles.  Our FNG arrived midway through, a quick disclaimer was called, and we were off.
The Workout:

PAX split into groups of 3, with 2 cinder blocks per group.

Round1:

Cinder blocks curl their way to the playground, odd man run & do 5 burpees

Rotate through 1 legged Romanian Dead Lifts & Pull Ups, 10x each

Recover on the BTTW.  I think there were some merkins in there

Round2:

Cinder blocks tricep extend their way to the track, odd man run & do 10 burpees.  Da business demonstrated the agility we all expect from seasoned professional referees

1 Lap around the track in 3 man indian run.  Indian drops for a merkin before sprint to the front

Round3:

Head to the short wall.  You know, the short wall.  Yeah, the short wall.  Odd man 5 burpees

2 pax do Goblet Squats while 3rd does a BTTW crawl the length of the wall

Repeat Round2

Repeat Round1

Intermission: Backwards up hill; duck walk down hill as other 2 chillcut plank.  Repeat 3x

Repeat Round3, only on a more differenter wall

Mary:

Led by Cowboy.  LBC x1000, Big Boy Situps, Homer to Marge

Announcements:

Thursday First Responder Training, Monday Workout in RTP

T-Claps (Recognition):

Today was Spanx last post.  He’s moving to Richmond, VA to take a new job.  Dude’s been hitting it hard and is going to find folks up there to work out with as soon as he gets his feet on the ground.  Good job, Spanx, it was a pleasure getting to know you.
Prayer:

Moby’s dad is getting released from hospital soon, Pilgrim’s Dad, Shredder

Shitter Quitter

It looked like there was going to be a Dumbo sighting at PC this morning. He drove Pablo to EC and as soon as he stopped the car he made his way to the Port a John. I think he finally ran under a 9 minute mile on the way to the John. He said to start EC without him. So we did. When YHC got back from EC Dumbo’s Truck was gone. Pablo was looking nervous for his ride just left him. Good thing 187 was there to provide Pablo a ride home. Apparently Dumbo’s Easter dinner did not sit well with him. Or maybe it was the Indian food from Friday. I hope to see Dumbo back out in the gloom soon. We don’t like seeing #shitterquitters.

EC: Slide Rule, Cowboy, Buford, Dawgpound, Emeril, 187, UTI, Aquaman, Pablo, Lipstick, Bernie, ShamWow
Yogurt Ramp Work EC: Yogurt, UTI, Lipstick, ShamWow!
Vests: Breach (breath taker), Foghorn (The biggest vest I’ve ever seen)
Warm Up:

Jogged to the bottom of the ramp and circled up.
I read somewhere that Burpees are the best warm up exercise.  Gets multiple joints going and is a very dynamic exercise.

5 Burpees
Fazio Arm Circles Forward and Backward
4 Burpees
Deep Squats
3 Burpees
Hairy Rockettes
2 Burpees
1 Burpee

The Workout:

The thang started with a count off. We had 21. Not a good number to be divided by either 3, 4 or 5. We formed four Indian Run groups. I had an idea of an Indian Run Indian Run. All I can say it didn’t work out. It was supposed to be two Indian runs passing each other in an Indian run format. sigh. I also had a dream about an Absolution BTTW. Did not attempt today. Maybe a future workout.

We started in the Indian Run Indian Run. At the basketball court 5 Burpees. At the corner 5 Burpees, 10 Superman Merkins (I was trying to get a bit of back in there with the merkins). At the dumpster 5 Burpees, 10 Superman Merkins, 15 Squats and 20 LBCs at the bottom of the ramp.

We completed two laps of the Indian Run work. Then we jogged to the tennis courts for some old fashion elevens. Though we didn’t make it through the elevens. Got halfway.

One side did Carolina Dry Docks. The other side Absolution with a pushup. This was a fun cadence count to call. Seemed like Pax was not that familiar with Absolution so instead of a count it was more instructional count. Started with 10 absolutions and worked down to 5. Started with 1 CDD and worked up to 6, but you don’t do 6 you do ten.

Mary:

Some Yoga Stretching:
Chair Pose
Chair Pose with a twist
Sun Salutation flow into an upward dog
Repeat above to the other side
Downward Dog
Pigeon Pose
Repeat Pigeon Pose to opposite side
Downward Dog
Runners Pose
Repeat Runners pose to the opposite side
Have a Nice Day

Announcements:

Safety class Thursday. Bring 9 volt batteries and smoke detectors for donations.

T-Claps (Recognition):

Buford for working hard getting back out here. He could take it easy and post once a week, but has been consistently posting 3 to 4 times a week. Great job on working on recovery from surgery.

Prayer:

Moby’s Dad (I haven’t heard an update in a bit)
Shreddeer
All unspoken prayers

1 Year Anniversary for Ground Pounder

Pax of 19 for the 1 year anniversary of Groundpounder

Foghorn, Kitty Litter, 3rd cousin, Dumbo, Mookie, Messai, Pikachu, Pumpkin Spice, Noahs Ark, Doc, Q-bert, Emeril, Dutch Over, Dauber, H1N1, 16-Bit, Deadbolt

Forceps and Breach on the Q

Warm Up: 20 counts of SSH, Good Mornings, Daisey Pickers, Imperial walkers and Hillbillies

The Workout: The workout was a Co-Q with Forceps teeing things off

Mosy over to the pavilion Split into 3 groups for some

Aiken Arms 20 dips, 10 shoulder tap planks, 15 plank jacks, and 15 hand release merkins

Aiken legs 20 Squats, 20 steps ups, 10-star jumps, and 15 mountain climbers

Akien Abs 15 American hammers, 20 ct 6 inches, 10 Rockies and 30 ct chill cut planks

Mosey over to the rock pile and grab a rock to share, 3 sets of 10 count Curls for the girls, Tricep extensions and Groundpounders rotate clockwise between sets.

2nd half belongs to Breach,

Stations of fun, Partner up for a Tabata style 30 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds to rotate. Partner 1 uses the tool and partner 2 does merkins.

Station 1 Firehose front squat, Station 2 Pain stick truck twist, Station 3 Fire hose back squat, Station 4 Pain stick sumo squat, Station 5 Tire flip, Station 6 Pain stick overhead squat, Station 7 Med ball throw and med ball slam, Station 8 Sledgehammer ax chop, and battle rope waves. Station 9  Pain stick up and over twists

Mary: Pax callout exercises, squats, homer to marge, Freddie Mercury’s, and heels to the heavens

Announcements: First responder training on Thursday check the socials for details, Apr 29th workout in Durham check the socials for details

Prayer: COT: Crab legs and Shredder, that all have a great Easter with family and friends.