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Tower of Power/Pain

No-Nonsense Workout Centered Around Tower and BTW/Preacher’s Chair. EC: YHC and Cowboy.

Warm Up: SSH, GM, arm circles (f/b), plank/runner’s lunge/downward dog, Merkins, lunge walk to top of lot
The Workout: Introduced the Tower of Power–the softball fieldhouse. A 25 count of Preacher’s Chair and 25 count of Balls to the Wall served as the hub–literally and figuratively. From the hub, we explored the four corridors–or spokes–between the fields.

Spoke 1 (batting cages): Dips 25 and Derkins 25 on small wall surrounding batting cages, back to Tower for 25 Preachers/25 BTW

Spoke 2 (west to greenway): 10 Burpees OYO, 25 derkins, back to Tower for 25 Preachers/25 BTW

Spoke 3 (flag poles): 25 LBCs in cadence; 20 WWIIs, back to Tower for 25 Preachers/25 BTW

Spoke 4 (handrail by pond): Inclined pullup (hang from handrail, pull up), 25 squats, back to Tower for 25 Preachers/25 BTW

Circle up by Tower for Round-the-Clock Merkins.  Apparently these were military clocks because I kept going past 12 at 12 o’clock. Then, I did it again at 9 o’clock. Oooops, was on a roll. Running low on time, we rushed back to tennis courts for Mary.
Mary: Kid Cracker led 20x exaggerated low slow flutter, YHC led American hammer 20x
Announcements: Holly Springs Spring Classic preview run, 8 am Saturday; Burger Feet (F3 Raleigh): F3 Raleigh travels to Wallace NC every Saturday to rebuild homes affected by hurricanes/floods. Raised $143k already with help from Rebuilding Together. Just picked two homes to rebuild. Breathtaker: Bidding war between Breach and Burger Feet $250. Breathtaker is heading to Raleigh for the week!
Prayer: Keep the PAX strong and healthy

RESPECT to 50

Another day in Paradise…City that is. 13 total PAX showed up to get stronger in a drizzling gloom this morning. We lost one about mid-workout due to some health concerns. Flag was planted, speaker was hidden, no FNG’s. Let the party begin!

Fartsack: ShamWow! (late scratch)
Double Fartsack: Crosby (EC + HC)

Warm up:
Run up to top parking area near tennis courts. Carioca, both sides.
Smurf Jacks x20 IC
Windmills x10 IC
Bat Wings x20 IC (4 sets)
Daisy Pickers x10 IC

The Thing:
Partner Up
Miyagi Merkins x20 (Always look eye) – head up for better form

Mosey over to parking spaces near restrooms
Wheelbarrow the parking lines with 5 merkins at each corner facing the same direction, switch partners, Rinse and Repeat

Mosey over to short wall at top of ramp
P1 – Box jumps x15
P2 – Monkey Humpers x15 IC

BTTW Beast Mode – shoulder taps on 1 & 2, vertical shoulder press on 3 & 4 x10 IC

Side step squats down the ramp. Sumo squat then tight squat alternating about 20 yds, lunge about 20 yds, then run to bottom of the ramp.

At the bottom of ramp. Contra burpees (add 1 merkin each rep) x10 (45 total merkins)

Ramp suicides. 4 cones. Run to 1st, run back, run to 2nd, run back, etc… squat hold for 6 when done at bottom

Mosey to lower parking area
Nipplers x10 IC
Right leg up nipplers x10 IC
Left leg up nipplers x10 IC
Hand release merkins x10 IC
All with no break, stay in plank
Mosey back to bball court

MARY: 6 mins 47 secs of Mary (Length of Paradise City song by GnR)

Start at the beat drop
Freddy Mercury x28 IC
Stop at first whistle blow

Start at singing
American hammers x15 IC
Stop at course

Start at guitar riff
Box Cutters x18 IC
End at course

Start at “So Run”
LBC’s x29 IC
End at drum roll

2 min warning, all IC double time, start at fast part
Homer to marge x20
LSF x20
Pickle pounders x20

Talked about RESPECT factor. Men that are over 50 doing in F3 should be an inspiration to the younger guys. For me to even think about doing F3 for another 10+ yrs and reach 50 would be a challenge. Use these men to lean on. They have been around the block a few more times and can share wisdom to all of us. Hats off to you guys!

Name-O-Rama

Announcements:
See FB and Slack today for updates, Fritter Foundation should have big induction this Friday (especially since M4L is paying)

Prayers:
Shredder should get results today, Crab Legs and those battling ALS, all of our marriages (V-Day this Thursday)

Thanks to Skidmark for accepting my Q request at PC. I hope everyone enjoyed the new stuff and the Mary session left you pumped up for the day. It’s great to see so many new PAX there. Blessed that I could lead this morning.

BS Out!

Fly like an airplane

PAX of 18 braved another frozen morning for the 2nd edition of a VQ from YHC. YHC cracked open the Exicon once more for a little variety, but not too much.

The clock struck 5:15 and 3 PAX headed out for a 2 mile EC loop: Cowboy, Double Doink, and YHC.

Warm Up:

YHC gave brief instructions to PAX to keep arms out on the mosey while doing Sir Fazio arm circle repeats (5 fw/5 bw/5 hold). PAX reluctantly did their best airplane impression and 3-2-1 blast off for the warm up lap around the soccer field. A few stops along the way for:
20 SSH
15 Imperial Walkers
10 Hillbillies

Circled up on tennis court for:
10 Windmills IC
15 Morocan Night Clubs
20 Randys IC

The Workout:

With shoulders warm, PAX lined up on the sideline of the court for some Bottom Feeders (Tiny 11’s). It looked like this:
Bear crawl to other baseline
10 prisoner squats
Crawl bear back to start
1 WWII
This continued in normal 11’s fashion until 1 prisoner squat and 10 WWIIs were done.

Next, PAX split into 2 groups for some BTTW Bear crawl tunnels. Each group lined up and held BTTW against the fence. The last PAX in the line bear crawled through the tunnel to the front and held BTTW. Each group worked its way to opposite ends of the court and back, well 1 group did. The other group’s bridge collapsed, with no causulties, and the mission was aborted.

PAX moseyed over by the rock pile for some Jack Webbs. PAX went from 1 merkin:3 air presses up to 10:30.

Rocks were obtained and carried to the parking lot.
John Cusack rock around the lot with stops at the 4 corners for Wonder Bras. Starting with 5 at the first stop and adding 5 at each stop, ending with 20 at the last stop. Rocks were returned and PAX moseyed to the tennis courts for a date with Mary.

Mary:

Circled up on the tennis courts for Mary.
YHC led some plank-o-rama then PAX called out exercises.
10 Pickle Pounder IC
15 LBCs IC
10 Low slow flutters IC
10 Burpees OYO (thanks Lucky)
20 Foreign-national hammers IC
Have a Nice Day

Announcements:

NC Spring Classic on 4/27/19
New Running AO Thursday evenings – Sheetz Show (3-5 miles all paces welcome)
Blue Hen wins Breathtaker auction and donations for February to go to ALS.

Prayer:

Moby’s Dad, Injuries: Dumbo, Brexit, other PAX

YHC took us out.

Compression packages

U-Turn continues to grow every week. If this is any indication Wrightsville is going to be a BLAST. A 7+ mile route was developed for the Pax but Pax modified as needed.

Fartsacks: UTI – Alarm Misfire??

Warm Up: SSH x 20, IW x 15, Hillbillies x15, Mountain Climbers x 15, SSH x 10
The Workout: Go for a run
Mary: Coffee
Announcements: Q-Swap – we are going to Carpex next week, BRR meeting 1/22 at Blackdog, 2 Shirt orders (Wrightsville shirt comes with a $5/shirt donation to ALS)
Prayer: Raleigh Police Officer – Special thanks to our First Responders and Military, Daubers mom, Buford

A hunt for Pizza

A group of 8 gathered for an on road AGS.  And then low and behold Lipstick showed up in what we can only hope was muddy shoes to make it 9.

Warm Up:

Circled up for:
Good Mornings
Hillbillies
Imperial Walkers
Frankenstien Kicks

The Workout:

Run down Stinson to Base Lake. From Base Lake we ran to the Lowe’s where the facilities where checked by M4L.  After Lowe’s we ran to Homegrown to see if we could get a Pie in the early morning hours.  They where closed 🙁 .  Next up was running down Crossways to Domino’s to see if they could fix my Pizza itch.  They too where closed at 7 o’clock in the morning.  It was then decided to run back to the car and go to Dunkin instead.

Mary:

Ummm…

Announcements:

Q swap

Prayer:

Buford Surgery
Yogurt (Government Shutdown)
H1N1 and Messi travels to Disney for Half Marathon.  No Dopey or Goofy challenge this year.

Friday Fun Run

QIC: Lucky Charms. A dark rainy morning in the Gloom, 13 solid lads out for a lil’ jog.

Warm Up: Oh that’s so sweet, but No Thank You!

The Workout: Indian Run, 50 x parking bump slalom weave, 50 x parking bump mogul jumps, Indian Run, 25 x Sumo Squats, Indian Run, Fozzy Arm Circles 25 F x 25 R, Indian Run, 25 x Dips, Indian Run, Imperial-walker x 24, Hillbillies x 24, Indian Run, Picnic Table Urkins x 30 & Durkins x 30, Indian Run, Bear Crawl together x 25 in cadence, Side Stradle Indian Run, Balls to Wall shoulder taps x 30, Indian Run, Bunny Hops together in cadence x 25, Indian Run to the PIT, Machine Gun run up stairs, Side Straddle-Hop x 100, Quickfeet down the stairs, Uphill Lunge walk together in cadence x 25, Indian Run

Total Indian Run 3.3 miles

Mary: LBC x 50
Announcements: Blue Ridge Relay meeting 1/22;  Mason Jar; Q-Source starts next week- 3 times available; remember to wear red on Fridays to recognize all deployed military (honor his friend)

Breathtaker 20lb. weight vest, Healing Transitions fundraiser auction:

Pikachu: $100, $160, $200, $225 ***WINNER***

Nemo: $120, $140, $170, $180

Breach: $110, $130, $150, $210

Prayer: Prayer to lead us out: Kid-cracker: (Pikachu) his niece, Evelyn, 14 yrs. old seizures & cancer, ICU @ DUKE PEDS; (Skidmark) Doug Stein, multiple leg injuries while running, wife pregnant; (Roger Roger) his grandfather (97) very ill.

Git your motor runnin’… Head out on the highway…

Privilege to lead you fellas out there today. Great to see Crab Legs and all in the gloom and second F…

You’ll want to CRANK UP the link below!

Warm Up: Imperial walkers, hillbillies, good mornings. Revved up our engines with some Red Bull Smurf Jacks (SSH from squat position, 3x speed cadence x20). That will crank your tractor, or whatever you got! Mosey to greenway at Grigsby Avenue. More warmups of Fozzio? arm circles (still don’t know if its Fozie/Fozzio/Fonzie?), Moroccan night clubs, stretches.
The Workout: Two Indian run-type workout formations. 1. PAX planks up head to toe with heads uphill. Last PAX runs to front, yells “Down,” entire PAX does one Merkin, repeat until each PAX has run twice. Lots of groaning while holding plank for so long with 28 Merkins mixed in! 2. Good ol’ Guantanimos, again with each PAX running the line twice.

Headed out on the highway (Grigsby Avenue), Lookin’ for adventure. Failed attempt at 2-line Indian run. Lesson: Don’t make PAX THINK in the morning, just let them DO. Found adventure in Park Avenue subdivision–yes Park Avenue. Perfect 1/3 mile block for the Burpee mile: 3 stations of 6 burpees x 3 laps. That’s 54 burpees. Lots of different paces, of course. Thanks to Lucky, Double D, and others for picking up the 6.
Mary: Crunchy Frogs x10
Announcements: $50 for HS Half until Jan 1, when price goes up. UTurn Saturday minimum 5 miles. Hill run at Sugg organized by Boy George.
Prayer: Our brother Crab Legs, who posted today. Double D’s dad, Moby’s wife who’s expecting a little Moby any day now, Noah’s Ark after shoulder surgery, Ausfart, others I’m sure…

Nemo’s Last Stand

14 months as Disney Site Q came to an end on a perfect late Dec morning with a true baker’s dozen and a strong showing of 8 on EC.  It’s been an honor to be on Q and I appreciate all the #HIM who supported me, put in the work, and stepped up top lead.  I look forward to guest Q’ing sites around South Wake in 2019.

Warm Up: Regular jog around fields, circle up for variety of standard exercises. On the jog to circle up again beyond the half pipe and we did a burnout of Fazio Arm Circles.
The Workout: On the jog to the lower lot we set up on the benches for sets as follows, all on the 15 IC or cadence: tempo dips, plank hold, shoulder taps, low slow flutter, SSH. Set up for Indian Run all the way to The Abyss – keeping it clean and in line, with the exception of a drop out to make a special visit to the woods. Set up in 2 groups for spacing.  Stayed with the groups and at the top we did 10 squat star jumps, at the bottom 15 merkins. 5 rounds total. On the jog back to the start.
Mary: Quick 3 rounds of LBCs, Homer to Marge and Pickle Pounders
Announcements: Lots of new activity in 2019 – Post challenge, breathtaker, Q swap, 3rd F Q Source, new HS race this spring 8k and 16k
Prayer: Ausphart (who was named at Disney) in his recovery, Double D and his family, Crablegs, silent 10 count for unspoken and YHC took us out

Out In Out In Out Out In Out

Read this to the end, there’s a special surprise announcement!

 

Man, Womble Park was LIT this morning.  60 degrees, raining, and the Pax had a host of options.  In order, they were:

Crazy Time (modified Murph) (4:30 AM): Pikachu, Cowboy
Pre-Ivan Yoga (5 AM): Emeril, Slide Rule
Pre-Ivan Run (5 AM): Dawgpound?  (Dunno, go read the Ivan Backblast for more info)
Pre-Cletus Yoga (5:15 AM): Pikachu, Slide Rule, Kid Cracker, Emeril
Pre-Cletus Run (5:15 AM): Yogurt, Cowboy, Warbucks
Crazy Ivan (5:30 AM): Go read theirs, dunno
Cletus (5:45 AM): Tagged pax (16)
2nd F @ Dunkin (6:45 AM): Not me, sadly

Warm Up:

As mentioned, it’s the first day of winter and raining.  But, true to NC form, it was also 60 degrees.  16 Pax started continued their morning with running the lines on the courts, SSH, Imperial Squat Walkers, Good Mornings, and  5 burpees OYO

Given the Pax’s newfound love of Yoga, YHC opted to do a brief demonstration of what “Yoga” has meant for the EC crowd the past two weeks.  We did a quick 5-10 count of Runner’s Pose, Warrior 1 & Warrior 2, with added time to discuss form and for YHC to figure out right leg from left leg.  Once everyone was limbered up, a slow mosey to the rock pile to start:

The Workout:

Part 1:

Pax went shoulder to shoulder in a plank.  End Pax ran to other end, while everyone else did a Merkin.  Rinse, repeat, two trips through.  Somehow we added up to 30 when there were 16 of us.  Math is hard, friends.

Part 2:

Split into 5 groups of 3 with 1 rock each 4 groups of 4 with 2 rocks each and head to the play ground.
Each Pax does one of:
– Wonderbra, Deadlift-overhead press, Merkin, pullup x5.  Pullups act as timer.
Rotate through 5 times for 25 pullups.

Part 3:

Head to the pavilion for everyone’s favorite Irkins, Derkins, and Dips (+ Bear Crawl).  Crawler acts as timer and everyone rotates through 3x

Part 4:

Reverse burpee indian run (front Pax goes to rear, everyone does a burpee when he gets to back of line) 1/2 around fields.  Regular Indian run back to courts

Mary:

Ain’t got no time for that.

Announcements:

Lots.  Draper announced 8/12K races?  Something something Holly Springs festival.  Something something heartbreak hill.  Something something.  Hit him up on Slack for details 🙂

Slack is, you know it, back.  Guys have been using it more and more.  2nd F lunch today, lots of chatter about the game, 3rd F postings.  Please, if you haven’t checked it out (or you checked it out last year and stopped), give it a try.

QSOURCE
This is a biggy.  We are going to make an intentional effort to do better at 2/3F in 2019.  To that end, we’ll be joining with the rest of F3Nation in a weekly study of the “QSource”, a leadership / human development program.   The 4 broad categories are Get Right, Live Right, Lead Right, and Leave Right.

Pikachu will be leading a group Tuesday mornings, 6:30 AM @ Starbucks (U-Turn location)
Breach will be leading Wednesday evenings, 8 PM @ CBC

Details will be, you guessed it, on slack.  (and facebook too, but it’s the worst)

Prayer:

Many guys were lifted up during prayer.  Focus on building our Shield Lock, the group of 1-3 other men who can hold you accountable because they actually know you.  We’ll be talking about this more in 2019.

Exciting new thingarama:

You made it!  Ok, exciting news.  In 2019, we’re going to revive an old challenge and make it more awesomer.  You remember breathtaker, right?  That 25 pound lump of suck that some poor Pax picked up at Cletus COT and wore to 5 workouts the following week?  Well, it’s baaaackkkkkkk.

But, this time, there’s a t-shirt.  Pax who successfully wear Breathtaker to 5 F3 workouts (EC are not a workout, but other region AO’s still count if you can’t stay in SW) in a week (Sun-Sat, including Ground Pounder!) will get a shirt with their name (and all the other successful HIM names) at the end of the year.  Names will be in order of completion of the challenge, so first week = first name.  If you complete the challenge more than once, your name gets bigger (think word cloud).

but wait” you might be thinking, “isn’t there going to be a mob trying to get their name on the shirt?  How will we decide who gets to go next/first?”

Have I got great news for you.  We will be auctioning off the next spot in the challenge every week.  All money will go to charity (charities will be chosen throughout the year as part of broader 3F efforts).  Bids start at $50.  Bids will close at Cletus COT.  Might have to call Shredder at Sheepdog to let those guys join in the live auction fun.  There will be a spreadsheet posted online (ahem, slack) to bid ahead of time (even weeks in advance if you want to plan ahead).  But, Cletus COT will always have a live option to bid more.

As a super added bonus/penalty: the pax who donates the most over the course of the year gets to keep Breathtaker.  Put it on the grill of your truck, mount it on your shovel flag, or wear it to bed proudly every night (please don’t wear it to bed, or, like, ever again).  Heck, burn it for all we care, but you earned the right to do what you want with that thing.

So, who’s going to step up to the challenge?  Who’s got the most breathtaker 5 packs in them this year?  Who’s going to wear it FIRST (and who’s going to wear it LAST)?  And, most importantly, what kind of impact can SouthWake have with a $50+ donation every week?

It’s an honor and a joy to be part of this crew.  Let’s go past the magnet (1F)  in 2019, get even past the glue (2F), and start building some dynamite (3F).

Slide Rule OUT

HSHM

The morning was brisk but the sun was on the rise. All the work over the past few months went on display. PRs abound. All the Pax brought the A-Game. Injured ones battled through some pain or decided to ruck. All in all another fabulous showing by the F3 pax.

Warm Up: Deadbolt led warm up of SSH, IW, Hillbillies, Mountain Climbers, Frankensteins
The Workout: 13.1
Mary: Beer
Announcements:
Prayer: Thank you for the glorious day. For the pax that couldn’t be with us today. For all our servicemen. To help us be better leaders in the community.