Well I felt I had no choice but to sign up for the Q Tuesday 9-11-18 since I’m a firefighter and want to always remember the sacrifices by brothers in New York gave for people they didn’t even know. It’s a shame that sometimes we are willing to give more to strangers than our own families. I’m learning the hard way. But hopefully I’m learning!!! Anyways enough for reflecting on values we should all think about!!!
Of course there was not much to this Beatdown or was there? The twin towers had around 1071 steps in them so to my calculations that means we had to do 86 times up the Trailhead steps. Only there is no elevator to take us down so that means 86 times down as well adding to the difficulty of this task.
Since I am participating in the New Orleans memorial stair climb I decided it was time to Bunker up for this one and to no surprise I couldn’t keep up with my F3 brothers. Only finishing 50 with full gear. In the allotted time. We then circled up for our normal count off and prayer. Since I waited so long for blast I can’t remember who prayed us out but there was prayer. Congratulations to all the guys who were there it means a lot to me. And also great job finishing the 86 Climbs.
Waterpik reminded us that Chewy had Q today at gloom-o-clock, but he was yet to be seen. Knowing of his penchant to come rolling up as the scramblers begin to scramble, we gave him an extra couple of minutes before beginning a round robin warm up.
Bushwacker – SSH
Garfield – Windmills
Coconuts – Good Mornings
Waterpik – Hi Knees
Captain Sparkles – Mercilessly robbed of his opportunity by an overzealous-to-get-running Waterpik!
YHC had offered yesterday to run with Captain Sparkles in an effort to coerce his post. A triumphant mental note was made of his presence upon arrival, and when the PAX began to roll, we adopted a comfortable 10:00m/m pace while the rest of the wild stallions were loosed from the corral. Shortly before reaching Monroe, Captain Sparkles informed YHC of his intent to skip the loop and head straight for sunset point, where there were a couple of conveniently located port-o-lets. With the remaining PAX a good 50 yards ahead, I dug deep, pushed myself, and gave it all I had (and any number of other motivational effort-based cliches one can summon). Starting to sputter at 10 yards back around the half-way mark of the loop, my presence was made known through various huffs, puffs, grunts, and other noises that substituted for my ability to form words at that moment. We passed Captain Sparkles headed in the opposite direction on sunset point, having, I later learned, skipped doing his duty. We also learned that Garfield’s long-running passion for…er, running has faded as of late. Some may say it was his age, being in his 7th decade, but I know better. He has spread his fitness wings here in F3, and added so much to his repetoire that running is not so much a priority among his exercise outlets. Being fairly regular on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, he’s a beast! A mighty effort was indeed put forth by each and every member of the PAX this A.M. , and that continued through the decadent Mary that proceeded the run.
25 Merkins
15 Rosalitas
15 Hello Dollys
15 Flutter Kicks
15 Freddy Mercurys
15 J Los
30 second plank
15s left plant
15s right plank
15s mission impossible planks
15s forearm plank
100 oyoLBCs
15 Putins
Prayed out by the fresh-from-Wednesday-night-worship Captain Sparkles
This morning , your humble correspondent was feeling like Sir Richard Branson because I had the privilege of leading my VQ. Thanks to the PAX in attendance for covering up for all of my oversights and garbled instructions. Y’all were clever enough to do all the right things that I meant to say rather than whatever nonsense came out.
CONDITIONS
72°; > 90% humidity; 6:43 AM sunrise
DISCLAIMER
YHC started the session by informing the PAX that he was definitely not a professional.
THE WARM UP
The assembled PAX warmed up with the following sequence, all exercises done IC.
YHC believes that F3 Bros don’t let F3 Bros skip leg day so we worked through a sequence of 7 jumping leg exercises.
1. Mario’s (Single leg knee hop) 10 each leg IC. Chewy introduced me to this exercise. I didn’t remember the official name so to us they were Mario’s.
2. Single leg burpees 10 each leg OYO. Thanks Bushwhacker for introducing me to this one.
3. Ohno’s (Skater jumps) 15 OYO
4. Split squats 10 each leg IC (assembled PAX were kind enough not to point out that technically this wasn’t a jumping exercise)
5. Wojciechowski’s (F3Nation.com calls these modified jump squats Bobby Hurley’s, but I’m from a slightly different era and will refer to these as Wojo’s whenever possible)
6. Shaun Whites (snowboard hops) 15 each side OYO
YHC had never done this exercise before and regretted calling out 15 reps by the time my burning legs reached the end of the set.
7. Box jumps 10 OYO
Mosey to Turbo Alley aka the intersection of E. Gibson and N. Vermont streets
THE THANG Part 2: Running Strong
F3.com has a sprint routine called “the Spartan,”, but YHC lives a long way from the Peloponnese and decided to make some major modifications. We went with the semi-Spartan instead.
PAX lined up and sprinted 100 yrds, doing 10 merkins at the finish line. PAX in the lead were rewarded with 10 bonus air squats. PAX walked back to the start all together for the next round. Rinse and repeat.
I can report that the last set seemed faster than the first and the assembled PAX did their best Usain Bolt impressions. YHC cried uncle after 8 sets and we mosied back to the Trailhead.
MARY
Due to the Q’s time management issues we were limited to “2 minutes of Mary”
Some combo of Freddy Mercury’s, Putins, Flutter kicks, and LBC’s.
CountORama, NameORama, and COT
YHC prayed for the assembled PAX
Thanks gents, for the fellowship, the beatdowns and for being willing to follow my lead.
Do you remember right after September 11th, 2001 when we all came together to support each other? We still do here in F3 with faith, fellowship, and fitness. It’s pride in all three and strength in shared values that brings us together at each and every AO. It’s not the evils of this world that makes the goodness bright, but the hearts of our fellow man, truly filled with love and compassion that lights our way through the darkness. Never forget to love and show appreciation for those around you and the gifts we all share.
WARM’N IT UP
Toe Touches
Imperial Walkers
Abe vigodas
DOIN’ IT
Fire Drill – PAX in a circle doing hi knees. Each takes a turn to call out “fire,” at which point we all drop, roll right, merkin, roll left, merkin, and back up
Global Warming – All in Al Gore shuffle to the left until Q calls Mountain Climbers x10, reverse Al Gore shuffle until Plank Jacks x10, reverse shuffle again, then groiners, reverse, monkey humpers
One-Leg Burpees – x10 right, x10 left
Fireman Carry (or piggy back) – Come here big boy, let’s get reacquainted! P1 carry P2 across the basketball court, switch and back then x10 SSH (maybe), back n forth, Merkins, etc, seal jacks
4 Corners Escalator (plus a bonus back where we started) – goof balls/merkins, x10,x20,x30, x40,x50
MARY MARY
Crunchy Frogs
Roslita
Hello Dolly
Flutter Kicks
Freddy Mercuries
J Los
30 second Plank
Coconuts prayed, the choir sang, and we all lived happily ever after!
Nine pax posted last night for our evening workout and F2.
We passed the Q from pax to pax throughout the workout in what turned out to be a memorable beat down as the sun set.
Throughout four circles of pain the pax went through several warm up exercises, merkins, dips, burpees, unique games, and some Mary to wrap things up.
Shout outs to three pax who took the Q for some unique activities:
Bushwhacker a series of animals that he had been planning all day
Coconuts for introducing a new paper rock scissors burpee penalty game
Turbo Tax for a balance game that started out with skeptical pax holding hands, but turned into an intense challenge
Three more pax joined us for F2 after the workout: EiEi, Ocho, and Captain Sparkles. And special shout outs to Coconuts for buying the first round of beer and to Shooter for the second. We owe you one (or two).
Wishing Ocho the best as the final decisions of the 610 Stompers are announced.
There we were, gathered in the 73 degree gloom, preparing for pedo-strata combat like a small band of wearily tremulous skirmishers, ready to embark on Part 1 of, what would be for some, a 2-part F3 kind of day. The insights were keen, though the conversations garrulous as, with the under-the-wire arrival of Chewy, we were off without so much as side straddle hop or imperial walker.
Perseverance was the battle plan of the day along the scramble route. For some it was giving it their all to keep up and catch up, while for others it was the sporadically concerted effort to not far out-pace the rest of the illustrious PAX. And for yet at least one other it was keeping his bowels under his own power.
For those of us who are acquainted with the mastery of skill over his craft that Chewy has, there is a respect, admiration, and appreciation. Having tweaked his back in the arduously entertaining ultimate frisbee beatdown of his own design last Saturday, Waterpik, was quick to accept the grace of physical therapy-on-the-go that YHC, among others, have been the the recipient of. Further proving his worth, Chewy was tapped by YHC to take us out with 10 minutes of ballistic stretches and yoga, but not before Garfield and Coconuts were initiated into the Dice of Doom fraternity with 10 putins and 15 side straddle hops.
For part 2, a Maverick-induced 8:00pm beatdown followed by F2 will be a fun change of pace this evening.
YHC prayed us out with a disjointed rambling of appreciation and acknowledgement for the influence that we all have in others’ lives and they in ours, and how we are all held in one set of almighty hands.
Thank you, gentlemen, for another rousing scramble!
With coupon assistance provided by the Northshore’s unquestionable leader Turbo, 7 men posted at the Gipper this Gloom to complete week 3 of F3 Greenwood’s ISI challenge… By far this weeks challenge in the mind and body of the YHC has proven to be the toughest.. But like any other beatdown, men of F3 always come willing and ready to tackle whatever challenges the Q may dish out.. With Coconuts and YHC having tasted a small nugget provided by Bushwacker at the Marsh on Monday, we briefly chattered about the misery we were about to subject ourselves to and the thought of what inspired us to do so… As one knows we don’t actually pay for this type of torture but simply make a DOWNpainment of sorts in mind and body and ultimately become better from it…
Quick Warmup of 10 IC Windmills, 20 IC Toe touches and 10 IC Good mornings…
Moseyed to the justice center to retrieve our coupons from Turbos vehicle which has become the home of multiple 26.6 Lbs blocks in recent weeks.. Assume our positions along the grass patch West of the Justice center with 4 men on one side and 3 on the other… Instructions given as to the exercises to complete which began with 15 Burpees, 50 Hand release Merkins, 10 yard broad jump out and back, 14 Burpees 50 goblet squats and 10 yard broad jump out and back, 13 Burpees 50 leg raises and 10 yard broad jump out and back… As many rounds as possible in 30 mins while descending the Burpee count.. YHC could see the relief on the faces as time had expired and even with a slight drop in humidity here on the Northshore, each man on this Gloom would leave the Gipper with a different color shirt filled of perspiration. Turbo actually broke a sweat on this Gloom as well, which for F3 Northshore men to see is somewhat of an exception as he consistently performs effortlessly at most post with an impression of what’s next…
Returned the coupons and Moseyed back to the flag for count, announcements which included a reminder of Mavericks evening Q on Thursday 8/23 at the Mothership (Lakefront) for a round robin Q with F2 at the Barley Oak to follow, Big Thanks to Barely Legal for praying us out into the day!!!
Always enjoy the fellowship and beatdowns with the opportunity to lead!!
Some of us have the God-given ability to sweat rivulettes of salty, man-musky, liquid WORK. For others, to reach such epic proportions of perspiration it requires a beatdown from above…or at least a little further north – say, South Carolina and the Iron PAX Challenge. As a disclaimer, there was a Monday modification called by YHC shortly after beginning. Instead of 50 reps of varying exercises after the BBJOs, we previewers of this weeks challenge reduced the number to 25.
WARM-O-RAMA
15xs IC:
Toe Touches
Forward Arm Circles (golfballx5, basketballx5, beachballx5)
Same in reverse
Windmills
THANG
This weeks Iron PAX Challenge (with slight modification):
15 down to 1 Burpee Block Jump Overs, each set followed by 25 reps of a rotating choice of hand release merkins, goblet squats, and leg raises with coupon in extended chest press position, followed by broad jumping out 10 yards and back 10 yards….AMRAP for 30 minutes! Pre-administered T Claps to Shooter (the sweetest sweatiest swamp beast this side of the Marsh) who will be leading Covingtons finest and subjecting himself to the full version at the Gipper wednesday.
MARY (kinda)
Coconuts took the reigns, sharing duties with The Wackiest Wacker (nod to our absent brother Steve) for his VQ! With little time and less energy remaining at the Marsh, the PAX eagerly anticipated some time on our sixes, only to be lead to the playground. Alas, Coconuts was to bring it proper for his first time in the lead.
While the PAX planked, each man individually did 1 pull up. After all had accomplished this, each man returned to the monkey bars for 2, then 3, and, running out of time, 2 more before wearily returning to center court for COT
Many thanks to Shooter for praying us out, with special intentions for our own Captain Sparkles.
Congrats to the weekday-warrior Coconuts for poppin his F3 cherry! We look forward to following your lead often.
