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Cletus: Yogurt 4 yr & 57 yr – Takin’ Care of Business

EC: Abe, Alpine, Bleeder, Cupid, Lipstick, Skidmark, Pikachu, UTI. In May 2018, @Skidmark invited me to an F3 workout. Probably the easiest headlock ever. On May 13, 2022, 27 men posted to celebrate my 4 years of F3 and 57 years of life. When we came rolling in from EC at 5:27 am, I was overwhelmed by more than two dozen men, circled up, ready to go.

Special invitation: Yogi, who was at my first workout. When it was time for my F3 name, after fruitless discussion around Raleigh native, environmental worker, and more, I got the “What was your first concert?” question. Answer: BTO, you know, Bachman Turner Overdrive, who sing, Takin’ Care of Business. Dorton Arena, ~1975. Yeah, Yogi chimed in, Takin’ Care of Business – TCoB! Slide Rule heard “TCB” and immediately thought TCBY – The Country’s Best Yogurt. Ok, your name is YOGURT!

Warmup: 1) Run to top of Ivan lot. 2) Circle up for 57 SSHs. Count off: 27! 3) Mosey to amphitheater lawn area. 4) Jack Webbs to 30; 19 pickle pounders, 19 squats, 19 Catalina wine mixers. (19 x 3 = 57) 5)  Mosey up to greenway, on your six. Guantanamo. Wide range of pushes from nice and easy to brutal by Pikachu. Long time to circulate 27 PAX. Mosey to truck to pick up gloves. Note: Should have picked up speaker too! Mosey to rock pile. Each PAX grab a rock.

During the workout, I missed several counts and received much-deserved grilling. During my days of Q’ing Cletus, I was never known for counting.

The Thang 1: Count off in 1s and 2s. Simple exercise – 1s bear crawl to top of parking lot and back, while pushing your rock. 2s do AMRAP curls for the girls (Round 1), rut rohs (Round 2), prisoner squats (Round 3).

The Thang 2: Circle up in “grassy” lot. Similar to Banana Seat’s and Pikachu’s AC/DC Thunderstruck workout, I used Takin’ Care of Business as the song and we did a burpee with every “Takin’ Care of Business.” That’s 27 (compared to 31 for Thunderstruck). Volume was way too low, so yes, should have grabbed speaker while at truck. Anyway, everyone grilled me for that.

Mary: Circle up on tennis courts, where it all began. Big boy sit-ups, Pickle pounders, Box cutters, Protractor. Have a nice day.

Announcements: #Junechallenge and more on Slack. Highlighter running for Congress.

Prayer requests: Yogi prepared a list of goals at the suggestion of his pastor. Boy George selling house and moving family. Highlighter pointed out those who need help mentally may not be reaching out. Find them.

Message: Thanks for all the F3 support over the years. It’s a real privilege to be part of this group. Each one of you has been a positive influence in some way. Thanks for keeping the F3 SouthWake standard high. F3 is the real gift.

Violet Snake

FNGs: none
Warm Up: SSH, Good Mornings, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Hill Billies, Sir Fozio Arm Circles, Seal Claps, Overhead Claps
The Workout: PAX moseyed over to “That Hill™” and held squat at the bottom while YHC laid out the plan. PAX would run to the first intersection, perform an exercise, run to the top of the hill, perform another exercise, run back to the first intersection, perform and exercise and then run back to the bottom and squat hold.
• Round 1: merkins, squats, big boy sit ups
• Round 2: mountain climbers, side lunges, LBCs
• Round 3: shoulder taps, forward lunges, low slow flutter
• Round 4: merkins, merkins, merkins
• Round 5: squats, squats, squats
• Round 6: big boy sit ups, big boy sit ups, big boy sit ups

After this, we moseyed over to Good Will and held People’s Chair with a 10 count down the line for a total of 70. Rinse and repeat for a total of 3 rounds. Then back for Mary.
Mary: Popcorn Mary and a little yoga to finish things up.
Announcements: 3 Alarm is back home. Send some encouragement his way.
T-Claps (Recognition): All of those that got up before the butt crack of dawn this morning to get it done. Keep the momentum going!
Prayer: Bobby Boucher’s wife’s job, Nemo and his son traveling.
Moleskin: I’ve yo-yoed a bit over the past few months, gaining momentum and losing momentum. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that it’s much easier to get up at 5am and go work out if you’ve built up that consistency. That means it takes a good week or two of dedicated fart sack avoidance to get in the groove. If you’re already in that groove, awesome! Keep it up! If you’ve fallen off the wagon (as I have), dedicate yourself to getting up and getting out there. Stick with it and you’ll be back in the groove before you know it.

#75Hard & Krispy Kreme influenced workout

FNGs: None
Warm Up: Short jog, 10 burpees, 10x good morning, windmill, imperial walkers, hillbillies, arm circles. 10 burpees
The Workout: Five sets 25,20,15,10,5 SSH, Merkin, Low Slow Flutter – total 75; 10 burpees; Rock work: 10 burpees, 3x curls/triceps 75 sec on, 15 off; 10 burpees; 3x press/rows 75on/15 off ; 10 burpees; 2x balls to wall/people’s chair 75on/15off; 10 burpees; 2x squat/ground pounder 75 on/15 off;

Mary:15 burpees
Announcements: Q source each Wednesday, 6:45AM at Panera
T-Claps (Recognition): None
Prayer: Stub’s son potential medical concerns; Stub’s MRI this Friday, Davis recovery from surgery, Pumpkin Spice role/possible job change, Wild Turkey mother in law surgery for cancer.  Read James 5:13-18

Finished off with Krispy Kreme.  My first donut in 75 days after completing #75Hard

Rollin’ with my PAX

FNGs: none
Warm Up: Quick mosey around the library. Hasselhoff was able to catch up with the group after parking late and taking a wrong turn down Library Hill (penalty burpees were skipped accordingly). SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Sir Fozio Arm Circles, Seal Claps and Overhead Claps
The Workout: YHC brought the workout die. We moseyed around downtown as we let the die decide our fate. Exercises performed included

  • frog squats/jumps
  • People’s Chair
  • planks
  • mountain climbers
  • and 30 burpees.

We got a little over 1.5 miles along the way.
Mary: Popcorn Mary all around including 30 Murkins (thanks Pumpkin Spice).
Announcements: Keep PAX that are training for events in your thoughts and offer some encouragement. Also, donate blood!
T-Claps (Recognition): Hasselhoff for tackling Library Hill solo!
Prayer: Stubs’s upcoming MRI, Best in Show’s neighbors.

F3 Welcomes Baseball Season ’22

FNGs: none
Warm Up: SSH, Good Mornings, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Sir Fazio Arm Circles (front/back), Seal Claps, Overhead Claps
The Workout: My daughter had her first baseball practice of the season last night, so that gave me a good idea.

Thing 1: Diamonds on the ball field.
PAX gathered at home plate. Bear crawl to first base where we did squats. Bear crawl to second base where we did squats and merkins. Bear crawl to third base for squats, merkins and WWIIs. Finally, bear crawl home for squats, merkins, WWIIs and side lunges. One more round as we start taking exercises off.

Thing 2: PAX split into two groups. Group 1 holds squat while group 2 sprints to the fence and moseys back. Switch. Then group 1 holds plank while group 2 sprints out and back. Switch.

Thing 3: People’s Chair, 10 count down the line x8. Balls to the Wall, 10 count down the line x8.

Moseyed back to the parking lot for Mary (both tennis courts were taken!).
Mary: A couple of Mary exercises (can’t remember, sorry) and group stretches before closing out.
Prayer: Lots of guys dealing with sickness or injury, either personally or in their inner circle. Three Alarm’s upcoming surgery. Reach out to your fellow PAX that you haven’t heard from in a while.

Q by Committee at Purple Cobra

FNGs: none
Warm Up: Nemo took the warm up. We did a quick jog and then went into some SSH, Good Mornings, Sir Fozio Arm Circles and a few other things (memory is failing me at the moment).
The Workout: Woody took over for round 1. We gathered at the bank and partnered up. 6 Patty Cake Merkins at the ATMs. Run to the other side, 6 more Patty Cake Merkins. Run back. We did 5 rounds.

YHC (Abe) had round 2. We ran around the back of the shopping center and grabbed 2 palm-sized rocks. Lined up on the wall, we held People’s Chair with arms extended. 10 count down the line for a total of 70. Recover. Side arm raises with the rocks, 10 in cadence. We repeated for a total of 3 rounds.

Next up was McNugget for round 3. We lined up on the guard rail for some dips and durkins. 10 each, 3 rounds.

Last but certainly not least, Wild Turkey for round 4. Over to “that hill” for 7s. Burpees at the bottom, star jumps at the top.

With everyone properly beat, we headed back for Mary.
Mary: Bobby lead Mary to close things out.
T-Claps (Recognition): PAX that stepped up and took turns Qing this morning.

President’s Day 2022 – Which President is on the $100 Bill? Fanny knew the answer. 

Warm up: Bat Wings: Fozio Arm Circles 10x forward/reverse, 10x seal claps, 10x overhead claps; repeat

Mosey to lower corner of parking deck near tower stairs. First trivia question: Which president is on the $100 bill? Fanny Pack knew: None. Benjamin Franklin was never president.

Benjamin Franklins ($100). Partner up. One partner goes to top of stairs and back while other does SSH. Shooting for 100. With required two trips per PAX to the top, most pairs far exceeded 100. Al Gore (Vice President) while we wait for the six.

Mosey around the entire building to the top corner of the upper parking deck. One each corner, I marked a pain station with a cone and printout of four denominations of currency: $5, $10, $20, $50. We kept partners for “accountability” only. We raced station to station, with the first PAX to arrive announcing the exercise that he had found.

I asked trivia question at each station. I planned for the winner to keep the printed “bills.” But, then I lost track of who won what. I was close at the end. Winners: Fanny Pack, Cornholio, Bondo, U.T.I., and Full House (see below).

$5 Lincolns: 5 burpees OYO. Where is our very own @Abe when you need him?

$10 Alexander Hamilton: 10 star jumps. Who is on the $10 bill? Even with the printout, it took a while to get this one? And was Alexander Hamilton ever president? No! Cornholio got this one. How did Hamilton die? Lost to Aaron Burr in a dual. Yes, a dual.

$20 Andrew Jackson. 20 Merkins.

$50 Ulysses S. Grant. 50 Mountain climbers. Was Grant ever president? Yes.

 

Mary: Bobby Boucher got it started with some low slow flutter while I grabbed my phone. I immediately went to Pickle pounders. An obvious shout out to President Bill Clinton. And you should have heard @Full House’s imitation: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Hilarious!

Announcements: Wilmington Marathon this weekend.

Prayer Requests: Unspoken. YHC took us out.

Happy Presidents Day. Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Hand drawn vector portraits isolated on white background.

Little Bit of Everything

YHC took the helm of the Downtown Train on a rainy, cold morning. The plan was to travel a good amount…so we did!

FNG’s: Welcome aboard Bird Flu!!!
Warm Up: Did some SSH and some Good Mornings. Went on a mosey down to the pool! We did Imperial Walkers and Hillbillies.
The Workout: Jack Squats ladder. 1 Squat = 3 squat jumps…we did that up to 5, then went back down. Headed over to Library Hill for some BOMBS! Partner up and run opposite directions on the hill, turn around and meet up for: 10 burpees, 15 Overhead Clap IC, 20 Merkins, 25 BB Sit Ups, 30 Squats. Went up and bear crawled 1 traffic circle, followed by lunge walk on the next. Mosey over to grab rocks and went to the barber shop. We did a series of 5 ct. per PAX People’s Chair, then bear crawled out to rock for a 15 ct. rock exercise. We did 15 x 2 of: WonderBra, Curls for the Girls, Rut-Row, Tricep Press…each time bear crawling back to the wall for more People’s Chair.
Mary: We returned rocks and moseyed to the garage for Mary with rain falling harder. We finished with a 1:3 Jack Webbs up to 5.
Announcements: Long Ass Run Saturday, details from Skidmark.
T-Claps (Recognition): Great to see Brexit again…and … welcome FNG BirdFlu.
Prayer: Folks with COVID, Hasselhoff’s parents. YHC took us out. An honor to lead boys!

Library Day Part Deux

shut itFNGs: none
Warm Up: Mosied down Library Hill to the pool parking lot. Circled up for: SSH, Good Mornings, Imperial Walkers, Hill Billies, Windmills, Sir Fazio Arm Circles (forward/back), Seal Claps, Overhead Claps.
Mosied back up Library Hill and met in front of the amphitheater.
The Workout: YHC was looking back through Downtown Train backblasts for inspiration and decided to redo a workout from Nov 2020. It’s not complicated, but it’s effective.

Thing 1: Diamond.
4 exercises, one at each corner. Start with 5 reps, increase by 5 each round, going up to 20 reps. Exercises were Merkins, LBCs, Squats and Side Lunges.

Thing 2: Rocks!
Curls for the Girls, Triceps, Ruh Rohs. 10 in cadence each. Drop the rocks, SSH x10. Repeat two more times.
Mary: WWIIs, American Hammers, Low Slow Flutters, Chill Cut Plank, Pickle Pounders. Wrapped up with some stretches and yoga.
Announcements: Donate blood! Q Source on Wed mornings at Panara
Prayer: Praises for Quiver’s sister on the mend, praises for PAX getting back in the gloom after being out with injury and illness, continued prayers for those still healing.
Moleskin: Sometimes I fall out of the habit of rising early and getting out to an AO. It gets pretty bad if I let it go on for a few days. I have found one way to cure this is to sign up for a couple of consecutive Q spots. The additional accountability that comes with knowing a group of guys is waiting for you to show up and lead is a good motivator to get out of bed. Once you’ve got that ball rolling for a few days, it’s easier to get back into the routine.

Good Start

A great start to the work week! A new start for YHC taking on another gig starting today…why not step up and lead out of the gat this morning? Ice spots everywhere…running difficult.

FNG’s: nopes
Warm Up: Did Sir Fazio’s, Frankensteins, Good Mornings, Imperial Walkers.
The Workout: A quick mosey to the long stretch of non-icy road between the parking garage and end of Earp St. Suicides with Star Jumps to each light pole. 10-20-30. Mosey to the garage for some 11’s with Dirkins and Dips. A quick jaunt over to the wall for some People’s Chair x 30 IC, then 30 Prisoner Squats, then 30 SSH IC…repeato except count was 20. Followed by BTTW x 30IC, Foxhole Merkins x 30. Then repeato on that to 20 ct.
Mary: Back to the flag for Mary for LSF’s, Lunges, Pickle Pounders, and Homer to Marge.
Announcements:
T-Claps (Recognition): Moose continues to come out blazin’!!!
Prayer: All those with COVID, injured Pax.