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Throwback 5 – Day 5 – Riding the Murphy-Go-Round at Cletus

46 PAX IN THE GLOOM!  Way to end the week HIM!

EC: Norm, ShamWow!, Martini, DawgPound, Skidmark, Maybelline, Redenbacher, Pablo, Buford, Cowboy, Mr. Terrific

FNGs: NOPE

Warm Up:  YHC felt a little odd Qing the final Throwback of the week.  I wasnt here when these fine AOs were established.  I needed some star power…  I needed CrabLegs!!!

No, not those delicious buttery delicacies… This HIM!

I reached out and luckily enough he was available. CrabLegs was wrapping up some vacation in New England and he made the push to get back and join in on the fun.  Crablegs put the PAX through their paces in the warm-up.

  • SSH
  • Runners Pose
  • Pigeon Pose
  • Overhead Stretches
  • Daisy Pickers
  • Good Mornings

The Workout:

41 PAX were present when we started the workout with an initial count-off.  YHC watched as a few men filed in at various moments but was unable to get the count.  This called for 6 Burpees OYO!

PAX had counted off 1,2,3,4 and broke into 4 groups.  We were headed to the Murphy-Go-Round.  Most Murphs would last about an hour and we would have enough room for everyone to grab some pull-up bars.   We didn’t have that today and with 41 (later 46 PAX) there were some logistical challenges.  YHC had his heart* set on some sort of Murph-like event today so a contingency plan was in place to make it happen.

*One of my earliest memories of attending Cletus was when a Murph was announced instead of the normal workout.  As a new PAX at the time, I was intimidated and I remember being pretty shattered the day after.  It was brutal and humbling and oddly it now made me feel nostalgic and happy…  this F3 really changes a guy.

The Actual Workout  Finally…

We mozy’d to the railing on the greenway between the pond and the baseball fields.  The railing would serve as our pull-up bars, strike that Inverted Row bars.  Group 2 was dropped here and told to get started AMRAP until they were relieved by Group 1.

We mozy’d to the parking lot beyond the baseball diamonds.  As we entered the lot, we dropped off Group 3.  There job was to do AMRAP Merkins until they were relieved by Group 2.

We mozy’d down the lot to give some space and dropped off Group 4 off.  AMRAP Squats until relieved by Group 3.

From there, Group 1 set off on a Run around the Baseball diamonds until they got to Group 2.

The Murphy-Go-Round was set in motion and continued until time was called.

Mary:

Back to the tennis courts…

  • 6 inch leg holds
  • Boxcutters
  • Superman Ws and Ts
  • LBCs

Announcements:  Check Slack because my memory don’t work so good…  here is a round-up

  • Paradise City starts at 5:30 from now on
  • U-Turn launches from Panera from now on
  • Support a local Eagle Scout and the food pantry.  Donations happening now, building out a greenhouse later
  • Dumbo has setup a FREE CPR class at Hope next week – sign-up and show-up, you could save a life
  • Dad’s Workout 1/4 @9am Womble

T-Claps (Recognition):  To the OGs that set South Wake in motion.  Great representation this week from some of the earliest PAX including Howard.  Amazing leadership and great whetstones to reference as we push forward with the 2020 vision.

Prayer:  Those PAX that are working on physical and mental battles among us.  For our service members that keep us safe and guarantee our freedoms.  CrabLegs took us out.

Late Disney backblast

FNGs:none
Warm Up: lap around the soccer field, in cadence: SSHx20, IWx10, HBx10, good mornings x10, arm circles x10f&b, seal clapsx10, overhead x10
The Workout: mosey to the abyss for standard Dora 1-2-3 (merkins, LBC, Squat).  PAX did NOT share reps.  Exercises done at the top and 5 star jumps at the bottom.  Mosey to the park for 2 sets of 10: irkins, derkins, dips, Bulgarian squats.  Mosey to the wall for BTTWx10 and people’s chair x10.  Mosey to flag for Mary
Mary: LSF x10, H2M x10, Box Cutter x10, Pickle Pounder x10
Announcements: none
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: unspoken

Week 5 day 2

EC: Dawgpound, Pikachu, Emeril, Skidmark, Buford, Cowboy, Deadbolt, Roger Roger, Pablo
FNGs: …….. I’m noticing a theme here
Warm Up:

Onnit Warm Up 2

The Workout:

Work Fast Recover Faster 2

Mary:

Onnit Cool Down 2

Announcements:

No Onnit next week Old School Throwback week.
No Onnit Wednesday. Do Yogo on your own

T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:

Wallaby and his family
All Families during the Holidays.

Week 4 Day 5

EC: Dawgpound, Emeril
FNGs:  Once again I’m sad
Warm Up:

Onnit Warm Up 2

The Workout:

Work Fast Recover Faster 2

Mary:

Onnit Cool Down 2

Announcements:

Old School Q week

T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:

New Baby Winton
Sgt Peppers

Disney Plus Exclusive- Accountability in Cadence

Pre-Blast advertised a Co-Q exclusive with Deadbolt and YHC at Disney this week. With a new Top Gun trailer released earlier the day before, figured it would be a great idea to construct a workout centered on accountability, where PAX would not leave their ‘wingman.’  With a Disney-eve attempt to inspire a Midget post in this morning’s frosty 25 degree, YHC sent a clip from the original Top Gun, where Maverick looks to Viper for his ‘options.’ Midget had asked what his options were at Disney the following day, so it only seemed fitting that this would be YHC’s response.  As the dialogue continues, it all comes down to a confidence problem. Although the EH was strong, the confidence in Midget’s ability to properly set his alarm this morning was low. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.

Early morning text this morning revealed a late minute scratch from Deadbolt, who is currently battling a calve issue. This morning would be a solo mission. Rolling on my way to Disney, YHC sees a headlamp in the distance headed back up Optimist Farm Rd. Got to the parking lot, planted the flag, and see that those headlamps were Nemo and Pablo catching some EC before the Main Event. They wrapped up around the soccer fields back to the lot. We exchange some mumblechatter  about a somewhat meaningful game this weekend featuring the Bills. As we continue with the comical exchange, we then see a wayward vehicle miss the turn into Disney. Low and behold its Teen Wolf fresh of his second post, looking for a third beatdown. This guy is coming in Hot this week with some impressive first posts of F3

5:30 hit and we were off with the following warm-up.

Warm Up: Skinny lap around the parking lot. Circled up for SSH X20 IC, Imperial Walkers X20 IC, Prison Squats X20 w\exaggerated Ups and Downs, Good Mornings X10, Fazio Arms 10F\10B, Moroccan Night Clubs X20

The Workout: 4 man Indian Run from the flag to the Middle Creek HS Main Lot. As we approached the lot, we got a bit disoriented with direction as if PAX had a few swigs of Emeril’s cough medicine prior to this morning’s start. In any event, we made it to the starting point. Performed progressive exercises at each of the 4 corners of the lot with solid paced mosey’s in between. PAX remained as one unit (never leaving each other’s wingman) with exercises performed in cadence.

Round 1

Corner 1- 5 Burpees

Corner 2- 5 Burpees, 10 Prison Squats

Corner 3- 5 Burpees, 10 Prison Squats, 15 Star Jumps

Corner 4- 5 Burpees, 10 Prison Squats, 15 Star Jumps, 20 Broke Back Merkins (w\partner switch outs)

Round 2

Corner 1- 10 Burpees

Corner 2- 10 Prison Squats

Corner 3- 10 Star Jumps

Corner 4- 10 Broke Back Merkins (w\partner switch outs)

YHC instructed PAX to line up for another Indian Run back to the flag and then onto the soccer fields. This time the guy at the very back of the line would fall back and perform 3 Prison Squats before sprinting to the front of the line. Strong pace throughout the journey back and great communication as the guy in the back would call out his 3 count alerting lead PAX as to their proximity to adjust pace accordingly.

Soccer Field – Turn and Burn

For the second part of this morning’s workout, YHC had PAX line up at the baseline with their backs to the opposite end of the field. PAX would perform Ab exercises on the baseline and on the word ‘Go,’ would sprint to mid field to perform some Jack Webbs w\Cadence count. After Jack Webbs were performed they would then sprint back to the baseline to perform another series of Ab exercises.

Round 1

20 LBC, Sprint to mid-field, Jack Webbs 1 to 10 Ratio (1-Merkin; 10 Air Presses w\cadence count)

Round 2

20 Dying Cockroaches, Sprint to mid-field, Jack Webbs 2 to 10 Ratio (2-Merkin; 20 Air Presses w\cadence count)

Round 3

Sprint to far end of the field, 20 Pickle Pounders IC, Sprint to mid-field, Jack Webbs 3 to 10 Ratio (3-Merkin; 30 Air Presses w\cadence count)

Round 4

Sprint back to the baseline, 20 Pickle Pounders IC, Sprint to mid-field, Jack Webbs 4 to 10 Ratio (4-Merkin; 40 Air Presses w\cadence count)

Sprint back to the opposite baseline, where we started. Finished with 20 Low Slow Flutter

Mary: Series of pigeon, runners, and cobra stretches, downward dogs, planked heel calve stretches.

Announcements: Oakwood 24 this weekend. Encouraging everyone to run with Frey Daddy this weekend. YHC will not be able to Q Sunday at AGS, so I am encouraging PAX to arrive a little earlier to Womble that day and coordinate a clown car to Raleigh to run Oakwood Cemetery.

T-Claps (Recognition): Pablo and Nemo catching some EC. Teen Wolf with 3 straight posts, including a 5-mile run yesterday to kick off his start with this thing we call F3

Prayer: Prayers for Wallaby and those who are dealing with challenges during the holidays. PAX who will be travel this week and next. YHC took us out. As I am typing this, I also ask for additional prayers for our brother, Sgt. Pepper this evening. Keep him and his family in your prayers.

Thank you as always for the opportunity to lead.

How Pablo does Disney…

4 PAX, 2 for EC, decided to swallow the DRP to continue in their daily commitment to accelerate fitness, fellowship, and faith.  Q had posted a preblast commenting on the difficulty of his plans which may speak to the low attendance.  Who knows, maybe some PAX like easier workouts or they just heeded my advice to seek another AO?  Either way, 4 #HIM got stronger today seeing how Pablo does Disney…

EC: 187, Pablo

FNGs: None

Warm Up: All exercises in cadence: SSH x20; IW x10, HB x10, Arm Circles x10F x10R

The Workout: PAX moseyed to the back corner of the track around the soccer fields where the path forks with hill and partnered up.  Partner 1: run around the track stopping at the corners to complete 10 count merkin exercises  (corner 1 wide grip, corner 2 diamond, corner 3 regular) Partner 2: 5 burpees at the top of the hill, run to the bottom for 5 star jumps, run back to the top and repeat until partner 1 has made it all the way around the field.  Switch and repeat for 3 full circuits.  PAX then moseyed to the play ground for 2 sets of : Bulgarian split leg squats (10R 10L), 10 Derkins, 10 Erkins, 10 Dips, and 10 box jumps.  PAX moseyed to the wall at the restrooms where Partner 1 held BTTW while Partner 2 did an in cadence exercise then switch (first exercise freddie mercury x10, second exercise mountain climbers x10).  This was repeated except BTTW was changed to People’s Chair.  Mosey to the flag for Mary.

Mary: All exercises in cadence: LSF x20; Homer to Marge x10 regular, 5 right leg up, 5 left leg up; Box cutter x20, Freddie Mercury x10, Pickle Pounder x10

Announcements: CSAUP Frosty this Saturday, Hanging Christmas lights at Wallaby’s house today

T-Claps (Recognition): None

Prayer: Wallaby, Crablegs, Quiver’s Family, Unspoken

Week 2 Day 2

EC: Dawgpound, Emeril, Buford, Pikachu
FNGs:  Does Scrooge count??? I mean it is Dumbo, but Scrooge is a better name.  Just get your wife the real tree Dumbo!!
Warm Up:

Onnit Kettlebell Warm Up

The Workout:

Work Hard Recover Faster 1

Mary:

Onnit Kettlebell Cool Down

Announcements:

CSAUP December 7th
Christmas Party December 14th

T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:

Pilgram and his family
Quiver and his family
Wallaby’s and his family

Week 2 Day 1

EC: Dawgpound, Buford, Cowboy, Lucky, Emeril
FNGs: Nope… Unless we count the onnit guys
Warm Up:

Onnit kettlebell warm up

The Workout:

Persist and Endure 1 — We get to also do this workout Friday

Mary:

Onnit Kettlebell cool down

Announcements:

CSAUP December 7th
Christmas Party December 14th

T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:

All unspoken.
All pax going through difficult times in the holiday

We Tried to Kill Sliderule

Welcome to the first U-Turn following Richmond and HSHM. YHC was curious how many Pax would be out coming off off of some big races, but with recent PRs in their heads the Pax were looking for more and trying to find a way to keep accelerating. Plus YHC promised a couple BIG announcements coming today. There were lots of options for today’s workout. 3 mile option in play, 5 mile option in play, and a new Beta AO option for those that wanted to give it a shot. Emeril has been spending a lot a time in the kitchen lately and missed the talk about the new workout. Kudos to him for dropping the light vest and coming along.

EC: Aquaman and Shamwow at 0515, Sliderule, Bernie, and Skidmark at 0530, 187 and Alpine from home.

3 Mile: Oh Yeah!

5 Mile: Norm, Oyster, Cowboy, Aquaman, Shamwow, Full House, Katniss, Buford

Other option: Emeril, Pablo, 187, Lipstick, UTI, Alpine, Sliderule, Bernie, Skidmark

FNGs: None
Warm Up: SSHx20, IWx10, Hillbilliesx10
The Workout: 3 mile and 5 mile runs.

For those interested here is how the other workout went down:

3 Man Indian Run from Starbucks toward Buffalo Wild Wings: From now on when I say Standard Set it will mean 10 merkins, 10 LBCs, and 10 squats and all runs will be 3 man Indian Runs unless noted. Corner by BWW standard set. To New Hill Rd Standard Set. Thomas Mill Rd Standard Set. Sonshine Gymnastics Standard Set.

At Sonshine we did Triple Nickles. 5 merkins at the top of the hill, 5 merkins at the bottom. Repeat 5x.

At Premier Standard Set

Down to 55 auto works parking lot: prints one direction, mosey back to start  and 10 LBCs (repeat 5x)

Down to Green Oaks Standard Set.

Over to Irving Parkway Standard Set

Up to Thomas Mill Standard Set. At the top of the at Thomas Mill partner up. One partner runs to New Hill and recovers down the hills and sprints up. The other partner runs the other direction to the top of the next hill. This partner sprints down the hill and recovers up the hill. Return to Thomas Mill. Each partner went each direction 1x

Standard Set at New Hill

Standard Set at Tijuana Flats

At Tijuana Flats 2 set of Guantanamo’s around the Landscaping. Then did one set of raccoon crawls around the landscaping on the wall. This is a bear crawl on top of the wall.

Then we did some window shopping. Large group Indian run and we picked up some other U-turners and ran the whole shopping plaza on the side walk. Back to Starbucks and recover.

Mary: Have a nice day
Announcements: Shirt Order, CSAUP 12/7, Christmas Party 12/14, Beta AO, Skidmark brought Pie, U-Turn will be moving locations starting the beginning of the year. It will now start at Panera. Route will remain the same.
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: Wallaby, Good to see Norm

Thanksgiving Convergence

With Thanksgiving feasts on the horizon, 32 PAX wanted to make sure to start the day with a caloric deficit so they wouldn’t feel so bad about blowing it out of the water later in the day (or at least that’s how YHC felt).  With an hour long workout ahead of us and three mystery Q’s no one was quite sure what to expect.

FNGs: Welcome Captain Planet!

The Workout:

Pikachu started off the morning’s activities by announcing the first mystery Q, everyone’s favorite reason to have it burn when you pee, U.T.I.:

When did Thanksgiving become the holiday that just wouldn’t end!?  I thought I had made this amazing/awesome feast for everyone at R4TJ.  I just got this whole mess cleaned up. I knew there was some mumblechatter about the day of Thanksgiving.  Cletus 3x in 3 days, 3Qs at Tiger Blood or even flag football. It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have said anything…  I overheard the conversation and said “3 strikes is a Turkey in bowling” Apparently that was enough to ask me to set the table once again.  I do make a mean Turkey… but this is different… A CONVERGENCE!?!? I mean that could be HUGE – It’s the whole freaking extended family! At R4TJs Turkey Day, Chris (you remember – that guy that moves like lightning) assured me that there would be 2 other cooks in the kitchen but there was a catch…  He wouldn’t tell me who. I mean Emeril would be a big help but… you know… celebrity chef and all… Would he even show? I know he has a new gig something called “I’m On It!” – must be one of those Chef saves the day in a crappy restaurant reality things… I guess I would have to wait and find out.

I arrived promptly at start time.  There was talk of appetizers (about 3 miles of food was offered, just something light to get started but a bit more than typical) – I was planning on saving some room for dessert so I just showed up for the main course.  As you can imagine, it’s the holidays and with everything mostly shutdown there aren’t many options to get your fill. I counted 20 heads when I got there and more were filtering in from their appetizers. Final count was 32 as we gathered for the meal.

I was up first, the other 2 chefs were still unknown – probably still cooking up their best offerings.  I had prepared, had an idea, wanted to play on the bowling concept that got me into this mess in the first place.  Who am I kidding, bowling alley food for Thanksgiving!? Scrapped that and realized that I was the first course. I had to ease them into it.  It was a simple and recognizable offering, didn’t want to upset the pallet. Here is the recipe in case you liked it. Just keep in mind, as my friend Alan pointed out, you’ve got to let these ingredients rest a bit before you add the next one.  Otherwise your guests get a little cranky about the results…

  • 10 Burpees OYO – I didn’t plan to use this ingredient but Jaron (comic book character complex) and Florence insisted.
  • 30 SSH
  • 30 Frankensteins – I need to work on these, timing was a little off and Cousin BJ made sure I knew…
  • 30 Windmills
  • 30 LBCs

Big crew for dinner – I thought it would be best to split everyone up into 3 groups and seat them together.  Just more manageable – We split up in the front and made our way to where the first course would be served. There were Indians (aka native Americans) at the first Thanksgiving.  Theming the party is always fun and engaging your guests can really make the day memorable for everyone.

  • Indian Runs with 10 guests run to their table.

The main course was kind of a build your own.  Some basic ingredients were provided but guests were asked to push themselves and create a dish to remember.

  • 10 guests at each table, each group at a different end of the large oval-shaped venue
  • 1 to 5 social guests got to run the perimeter of the Oval as fast as they could, greeting the 20 that they weren’t seated with along the way.
  • The leftovers at the table got to focus on an ingredient of their choice while their friends were away being social.
    • My table did some American Hammers, Low Slow Flutters, Pickle Pounders, and I went out for some social time so I’m sure I missed something on the list.  Great work at the table – very delectable stuff.
    • There was a friendly new guy at our table too.  Talked a bunch! Glad to have that kind of energy at the celebration.

I know I started out griping about being asked to make another meal on short order but sometimes I think I just like to complain.  It’s always a pleasure to serve the family. Just as I was starting to really enjoy hosting, the 2nd Chef was tapping his tall glass of water (dude really enjoys some high quality H20) for everyone’s attention.  It was time for me to handover the apron.

Aquaman:

QIC Aquaman circled up the PAX and never let them go.  Today’s exercises were brought to you by the letters A, B, and S.  YHC can’t remember the exact specifics of everything we did but we started with protractors with the Q calling out the angle while PAX took turns calling out a 10-count all the way around the circle.  Rinse and repeat with LSF and then again while holding various plank positions (regular, chill cut, right arm up, etc.).  At Potts’ request we ended with Boat/Canoes with variations mixed in as well.  I’m sure I missed stuff but just know that everything was ab focused and there was a lot of mumble chatter regarding it.

Our third and final Q was none other than YHC himself, 16-bit:

Having received a text from Pikachu Wednesday morning about Qing the last 20 minutes of the workout didn’t leave YHC much time to plan.  I didn’t know how many people to expect but I did expect a fairly large group.  And I got that group.  I spent the night scouring the official exicon for new exercises that would accommodate a large group, took notes, allowed room for modification, and was satisfied.

Not yet breaking the previous Q’s circle the group started with Crowd Pleasers.  These consisted of an x:x ratio of merkins and groiners.  We started with 1:1 and worked our way up to 5:5 and then back down to 1:1.  These seemed to live up to their name and I look forward to incorporating them in to more workouts.

After this we moseyed around to the other side of the parking lot to make use of the curbs.  Admittedly things got a little messy here because the curbs weren’t equal and there was some confusion but I think, overall, it went well.  We started with inch worms.  Feet against the curb in full plank position PAX slowing inched their hands forward until they couldn’t reach any further and then inched their feet up until they were back in full plank postion.  Continue this until the other curb and then work back towards the other curb.

Next up was modified ascending curb crawls where we started with our feet on the curb and performed a derkin, bear crawled to the other curb and did another derkin. Bear crawl back to the originating curb to do 2 derkins, etc.  We did this until we did 3 and 3 because they sucked and it was hard.

The last exercise at the curbs were broken wheelbarrows.  PAX partnered up and wheelbarrowed from one curb to the other.  The broken part of it was that the partner holding the legs only held one leg.  Partners switched after they crossed the parking lot.  Each partner took two trips.  These also sucked.

Mosey back to the original circle location for our last exercise.  Someone thought it was time for Mary, but not quite yet.  The last exercise YHC had planned was a Circle Burp.  Per the exicon, everyone in the circle started chopping their feet while PAX around the circle called to do a burpee.  As fun as this sounded I don’t think anyone wanted to do 32 burpees so YHC modified and just called out when to do a burpee.  I don’t know how many we did but it wasn’t too many.  However, had I known I was going to get so much Jane Fonda related hate during Mary I might have just had us do burpees until time was out.

Mary:

Staying in our circle we started with Coolers.  These start as a side plank on your forearm and done IC.  On one we lifted our top leg up towards the sky, two brought it back down, three brought our top leg’s knee to our chest, and four took it back down.  10 each side.  Bring on all the Jane Fonda references.

Afterwards we went on to sleeping hillbillies and American Hammers.  I might have done more but honestly can’t find my notes or remember.  We ended with Happy Thanksgiving, aka Have a Nice Day.

Announcements:

Christmas party on the 14th, Frosty CSAUP on the 9th.

T-Claps (Recognition):

Aquaman and U.T.I.  for helping bring the pain in their own ways this morning.  I know, for myself, it was challenging planning a workout not knowing who else was Qing and what they were planning but it all came together nicely.  These guys did an outstanding job in helping everyone clear some waist line space for the impending feasts, especially Aquaman with all his gut busting ab exercises.

Prayer:

Our brother Wallaby is going through hard times right now, struggling with substance abuse.  He and his family could use our support so if you are able to help in any way I’m sure the family would appreciate it.  Hardy has the flu which is no fun ever but especially during a holiday.  Continued prayers as well for Quiver and his family.

 

I know I speak for my fellow Qs when I say that being chosen to have the opportunity to lead this workout was an immense honor.  I’m thankful for all of you on this day where we reflect on the blessings in our lives.  I count each and every one of you among them.

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