F3 New Orleans

Tag: Money Cat

  • Double or Nothing

    Extra Credit

    Side Effects offered some extra credit for a few pax that showed early. After 5 rounds of 30 seconds of burpees topped off with a couple rounds of pull ups, we felt pre-warmed up.

    Warm up

    What’s the second greatest time of year? You guessed it- The NBA Finals. On the heels of feeling inspired that LeBron James and I started the Finals from the same place this year, it was time to get off the couch and engage in competition fit for the gym.

    We moseyed to the nearest circle for a round of Ring of Fire. This time only called for defensive slides. Then the following:

    15 Al Gores
    15 Bobby Hurleys
    15 merkins
    30 circle of merk(ins)

    The Thang

    With the teams assembled and no basketball court in sight, it was time for a different competition: Ultimate Frisbee. After explaining the rules (props to Shangeaux for the Spanish translation for our FNG) and playing a warm up, it was time to get serious. Enter sports betting. The winning team places the exercise bet (er, punishment) that the losing team must fulfill before the next game. Games were first to 3 points.

    The punishments that followed:
    8 wolverines (if burpees and Peter Parkers had a baby…)
    20 Bobby Hurleys
    20 Heels to the Sky
    Something forgotten here…

    With the series tied 2-2, we started the tie-breaking game. 10 Doctor W’s to the loser. The winning team won and Topanga, refusing to go down easily, doubled down the bet to 20 Doctor W’s for one more game. Fortunately, the rematch did not change the outcome and Topanga soon became very acquainted with Dr. W, an experience his abs will not soon forget.

    Count-a-rama. 11 Pax
    Name-a-rama
    COT

    Big Easy

  • We Played With Jugs (#NotWhatYouThink)

    The Scene:  The Knoll

    Conditions: Early. Cool. Breezy. Gloomy like we were on the set of the movie The Fog.

    We took a photo early so we wouldn’t forget.
    Oh, look…a cast member from the movie The Fog joined us for the workout.
    Sadly, it couldn’t keep up with us and faded into the wind……….

    Welcome

    Disclaimer 

    Warm-a-Rama:

    20 rep warmups at the shovel flag

    • Arm Circles Forward
    • Arm Circles Reverse
    • Squats
    • Several types of stretching so we wouldn’t blow our quads. I told the guys to just watch me and count in cadence.
    • Mosey……

    1st Circle 

    I cannot recall what we did here but I hope to remember so I can type it out here but if I don’t then you have this fun sentence to read. Mosey to the sundial.

    Sundial

    • Squats
    • Upcline Merkins
    • Mosey to the 2nd circle.

    3rd Circle

    • Side Straddle Hops – 20
    • Side Straddle Punch – 20 *I made this one up. The foot motion is the same but the punch is out and in. Basically, we all looked pretty goofy doing this darn thing. It’s harder than you might think because it’s an imbalance in the mind.

    Return to Shovel Flag

    • Arm Circles Forward Forward 
    • Arm Circles Reverse Forward
    • Squat stance 20 count rep
    • Several types of stretching so we wouldn’t blow our quads. I told the guys to just watch me.

    The Thang: 

    Grab milk jugs of H2O. Start walking. I did inform the guys for those that wanted to modify they could go ahead and mosey to each circle area but once they arrived the water jugs had to be lifted outstretched and hold the position till the six arrived. Of course the younger guys mosey’d and the season’d gentlemen walked.

    • Hammer Curls to 1st Circle

    First Circle:

    Squat with jugs held to chest #NotWhatYouThink- On your own

    Hammer Curls to the Sundial

    Sundial:

    • Butterfly’s on the wall – 30 count
    • Flutter kicks on the wall – 30 count
    • Water jug snatch – in squat position, pick up jug, raise above head, lower down and repeat with other arm – 30 count
    • Crunches on the wall – partner steps on feet while the other is crunching on the wall – 30 count

    3rd Circle:

    Hammer Curls to the 3rd circle. The season’d gentlemen decided to have fun with the younger guys and we slowed down our walking pace as we neared the 3rd circle.

    More squats in 30 count and then held in squat position for a 30 count. I told the men I love the sound of groaning in the morning.

    We all mosey’d to the shovel flag so we could release our hands from our jugs. #NotWhatYouThink

    Mary:

    Jane Fonda – 30 – No jugs were handled during this excercise.

    American Hammers – 30

    Bicycles – 10

    Count-o-Rama

    Name-o-Rama

    COT / BOM: 

    Prayer request for needs and concerns.

  • Our White Knight

    The Scene:  The Knoll

    Conditions: Cloudy. Chilly for a Baton Rouge March.

    Welcome

    Disclaimer

    Warm-a-Rama:

    Looked like a b-class soccer team as we jogged about 50 yards, and then in pairs went to a lightpole about 20 yards away and did:

    High Knees/Butt Kicks/Side shuffle/Knee over-unders/Jog backwards

    Jogged to the sun dial for some fake jump roping! all reps of 20x:

    Regular jump rope/ side to side/ one legged/ one legged side to side/ double jumps.

    Now that we were nice and warm!

    —

    The Thang:

    11 is the #!

    11 reps of six different exercises followed by 11 burpees after each set.

    Box jumps/pistol squats/split squat jumps/paper beneath hands merkins/derkins/merkin walkout(which is underrated!)

    Our white knight came sprinting across the land halfway through this exercise^^^ that helped us grind through it.

    Ran over to the jungle gym and split into three groups. Each group had to do 100 total reps of each exercise:

    Al gores/big boy sit ups/inverted row

    Mosey’d back to the flag!

    Mary:

    15x:

    starfish/flutter kicks/upper circle crunches(brutal)/plank work

    Count-o-Rama

    Name-o-Rama

    COT / BOM:

    Great times before the humidity!

    Announcements:

  • Its a fine morning to get better

    The Scene: 

    The Knoll

    Conditions: 

    A nice 65-degree morning, thankfully no rain…yet

    Welcome:

    5 men posted, Snack Pack stopped by to encourage us. Could not post due to hand surgery.   Hats off for that act of kindness! Some men won’t get up to  exercise at all and he comes all the way out to the AO just to shake our hands. Now thats a friend

    Disclaimer: “I am not a professional trainer”

    Warm-a-Rama: 15 reps for all  

    SSH, Al Gore’s, Toy Soldier, Arm Circles both ways, Wind Mills, then mosey around track to benches for Freak Nasty and incline merkins. Moved to picnic tables for step ups.  Warm up complete

    The Thang:

    From the Movie Full Metal Jacket “This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend.”  Well, lets just use a rock from the creek!

    This is MY ROCK!  Time to mosey to the creek for some Jacob’s Ladder.  Each Pax selected their rock to cuddle with for the remainder of the hour.

    Started at bottom of the hill, only to sprint to the top “with your rock”. At top we did set of merkins x 10 on our rock. Sprint down the hill, careful not to drop the rock. At bottom, we did Peter Parkers x10 then quickly gathered the rock for another sprint up the hill. Then it was time for 5 burpees’, then another sprint to the bottom for a final set of monkey humpers x 10.  20 second rest count!

    With you Rock! It was of on a mosey through the park trail to the football field to continue the Thang.  We paired up for relay.  One team member sprinted to the 25 while the other partner did merkins until they reached the 25-yard mark. Then that partner sprinted to them and did merkins while they made it to the 50, then repeated for 75- and 100-yard line. Rinse, repeat back the other way.  20 second rest count.

    Moseyed back to creek still holding our rock to carefully place them back for another day!

    Moseyed back to flag for some Mary’s:  Leg Lifts ¼ to full up position and down same for x 10, Baby Crunches x 15, scissor kicks x 15, Jane Fonda’s left and right x 10, finished with American Hammer x15.

    Count-o-Rama

    Name-o-Rama

    Prayers and request: asked for us to be leaders in our family and workplace. Prayed for our F3 brothers that were not able to be with us.

    After prayer we discussed the need to reach out to past participants, try to get them back out.

  • 70-0. First Round Draft Pick!

    70-0. First Round Draft Pick!

    The Scene:The Knoll

    Conditions:41*, Overcast, and slightly wind. Park was rather abandoned…

    8 Pax made it out of bed and posted! Where did the warm weather go from this week? 

    0700 – YHC was the only one not wearing a jacket…but of course he was the Q, so he knew how warm we’d be getting in our beatdown! He brought out a speaker…what would that be for?? The Pax would see.

    The flag was flying better than ever with a nice steady wind. It was cold and rather depressing looking outside like the scene from an abandoned town. A few brave souls were jogging, but no cross-country meet was taking over the park.

    No Disclaimer since there were no FNG’s…hopefully we’ll get some out next week.

    Warm-a-Rama:

    1 lap (opposite way as usual) around the “track.”

    Finkle Swings x11

    Goofball x16

    Plank jacks x12

    Smurf Straddle Hops x14

    Seal jacks x20

    Peter Parker x10

    The Thang:

    YHC pulled out his phone, connected it to the speaker, and played Thunderstruck. Pax were instructed to get in plank position and do a merkin every time they heard the word “Thunderstruck.” Backflip wanted to get even more buff, so he added merkins to the word thunder too. Some Pax joined in. A few minutes later, our arms were shaking, and we resented the ACDC artist for singing “Thunderstruck” so frequently at the end of the song.

    YHC had mercy on the PAX and decided to let the next the next ACDC song play while we stretched. As “You shook me all night long” played, we stretched hamstrings, glutes, groin, hip flexors, calves, etc.  

    Backflip gave a recovery countdown while YHC put the stereo away… Pax played Frogger and moseyed across Highland road to the baseball field.

    The scene was set…it was a baseball game that had 4 innings…

    In inning one, YHC announced that PAX had allowed 7 runs, so we did 7 burpees at each base, moseying in between. 

    In inning two, YHC announced that PAX had allowed 14 runs, so we did 14 merkins at each base, moseying in between. 

    In inning three, YHC announced that PAX had allowed 21 runs, so we did 21 flutter kicks at each base, moseying in between. 

    In inning four, YHC announced that PAX had allowed 28 runs, so we did 28 Al Gores at each base, moseying in between. 

    70 runs allowed!

    Yes, it was a fake game, but the workout was as real as it gets…Any team that bad would be deserving of the first-round draft pick!

    Then Pax moseyed back across highland to the pav.

    Partner exercise – one partner did a wall sit while the other ran to the pullup bars for 10 pullups, then ran to the sundial for 10 freak nasty’s and finally rounded the corner with 10 merkins at the last “base.” When your partner got to the sundial, the wall sitters added air presses as well. Dagwood showed his real speed, earning himself the gold medal…we all coveted Shangeaux who was paired with Dagwood and therefore had the shortest wall sit…good father/son combo.

    Finally, we finished off by visiting the zoo with a duckwalk and bear crawl back across the path followed by a crab walk and frog hop back. Snack pack enjoyed the bear crawl the most since he was rocking his Baylor Bears gear.

    Mary:

    YHC grabbed a coupon from the car…

    American Hammer – 5 each with the coupon, passing it around while the rest of the Pax did non-coupon hammers when it wasn’t their turn. 40 total. The overachiever once again was backflip who cadenced his 5 hammers making them 10.

    LBC’s – same as hammers but with coupon held over the head.

    Count-o-Rama

    Name-o-Rama

    COT/BOM:

    Prayer requests:

    Worms announced his daughter passed a retest at OT school that she had failed the first time…answer to prayer. 

    Backflip’s baby is due in April…now we see why he was overachieving (trying to avoid the dad-bod!)

    YHC prayed… thanked God and lifted up baby backflip.

    Most Pax left, a few went to lighthouse coffee house for fellowship afterward.

    Ready for warmer weather…see you Wednesday at the Coliseum!  

  • Operation Turkey Leg goes live. Annual Thanksgiving Day F3 event

     

    So glad I showed up!

    All hats off to the great TESLA who organized this first annual Operation Turkey Leg.  He wrote the Backblast below and I get to post it so I get to add some background of my own. This guy hits me up on Text about a beatdown on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving?  Gotta be kidding. No one would show up and miss their turkey!  But we were wrong.  Tesla is from North Carolina.  He’s ok guys. North Carolina is still on the right side of the Mason Dixon Line.  He shared with us some new exercises  and near wore out this old man, and almost everyone else too. Its AMAZING what a 58 year old like Tesla can do.  This old 58 year old had a hard time keeping up with him!  We loved the Plank/Bear Crawl Slolom  Whats that?  Maybe we’ll show you if you didn’t show up. Maybe not.  Might just keep that secret.

    Tesla has been with the greats in F3 for many years.   He said he runs The Yank in Saturdays in Belmont, NC. Gaston region. Still works out two days a week in Charlotte Metro. Workout once a week in The Fort (Fort Mill, SC)

     

    Here’s Tesla’s report!

    QIC: Tesla

    Pax in the Pix: SnackPack, Banjo, CAT5, Shaengo, Moneycat, Tesla and the Worms.   We need a semi-professional photographer next year.

    So as YHC always spends Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge, La. And knew that F3 had started down that way it only made sense to reach out and establish contact with the boys in BR and see what they do for a Thanksgiving Day convergence. Turned out one was not planned. However, with some diligence and support (credit F3 Baton Rouge and Worms in particular) we were able to get one together using the LUS Parade Ground as the AO. And what an AO it is!

    So without knowing who might show up (though Worms felt at least four others would show) YHC made the trek over and found a shovel flag and waiting participants. The three became four, then five, then six! A hearty mix of men on a brutally cold (45 degree) Baton Rouge morning! Everything else went something like this:

    Mosey to the center of the field for COP

    SSH X 20

    2 burpees OYO

    Some arm and leg stretches

    IW X20

    4 burpees OYO

    Copperhead squats X 20

    6 burpees OYO

    LBCs X 20

    8 burpees OYO

    Mtn Climbers X 20

    10 burpees OYO.

    Now for a little Carolina culture, YHC NOT being a UNC or Dean Smith fan, we decided on some four corners.

    Mosey to the first corner

    10 hand release merkins

    Mosey to the 2nd corner:

    10 WWI situps

    Mosey to the third corner:

    10 Carolina Dry Docks

    Mosey to the fourth Corner:

    10 LBCs

    Assemble at center of the grounds and mosey over to the law building for 11s.

    Bottom of the Steps: Jump Squats

    Top of the Steps: Merkins

    Mosey over to the Union

    Step ups, Dips, Dirkins X 10, 15, 20

    Mosey back to center of the grounds

    Tesla Special!

    Bear Crawl slalom, 2X

    Agility run, 2X

    A crowd favorite!

    Coming back:

    10 burpee Broad jumps

    10 frog hops

    Do this to mid field

    Crabwalk to the end.

    Mosey back to the flag for some short Mary and a pledge.

    Done!

    Naked Man Moleskin:

    Awesome day with the guys down here. Great 2nd f afterwards. F3 is in great hands here and we are going to help them push this on up and out! Baton Rouge can be a great F3 city with all the AOs and willing participants to draw from. Nobody wore a spacesuit BTW! Not THAT cold!

    Glad we were able to put this together. Worms gets the credit. Now we have a tradition unlike any other down here! Next year let’s have a real turkey leg to chew on. I’m thinking 20-30 pax next year at least at the 2nd annual.

    Tesla Out!

  • 15 Reps For The 15th

    15 Reps For The 15th

    The Scene: The Knoll
    Conditions: Sunny. Not too humid. Crowded with college cross country participant’s
    Welcome: Hi y’all!
    Disclaimer: Don’t hurt yourself guys.

    The 4 brave  50 yr old F3 men and one twenty-something whippersnapper planted the F3 shovel flag inside the grass area of the walking path. Youthful college eyes were on the “elder” motley crew wondering who we were. The men of F3 in no sense felt intimidated by the amount of athletic youth present at the park for a college cross country event. It was obvious the college kids were jealous of our varicious pump-ah-tude in our pectorals. It’s not our fault we made the gurley men jealious. Money Cat was the Q for this beautiful Saturday morning. It was announced since the date was the 15th that all reps would be in the count of 15.

    Warm-a-rama:

    15 – arm circles forward.
    15 – arms circles backward.
    15 – overhead claps.
    15 – hamstring stretches.
    15 – windmills.

    The men of F3 mosey’d on the walk path and stopped at the area of the workout bars for pull up reps. Since other men were working out in this area the F3 men took separate turns with pull ups and ab exercises. Reps of 15 were still the count for the day.

    Money Cat kept an eye on the time wanting to keep each stage of the workout at 15 minutes.
    Finishing up at the bars the men of F3 moved down to the hilly landscape towards Highland Road for working out the quads. At this time Mistletoe joined us after finding us amongst the crowded park. We obviously stood out with all the yooooth’s in the park. We walked backwards down the hill and walked up it backwards several times. More leg exercises were to come and we moved across the street to climb the bleachers at the softball field. This exercise was only done once since the morning dew on the metal bleachers could have caused more damage than we would have liked. Staying at the field we performed pushup reps of 15 by using the parking lot bars or the ground. Afterwards, we lunged down to an area of the parking lot and did more pushup reps. We walked across Highland Road and climbed the hill backwards toward the flag.

    Money Cat keeps a coupon in his vehicle for spontaneous moments when a work out might breakout. We lined up with our six on the ground and passed it around keeping our feet off the ground.

    We completed our Mary’s in this area since we were in the shade.

    15 – left leg raises.
    15 – right leg raises.
    15 – both leg raises.
    15 – right side Jane Fonda’s.
    15 – left side Jane Fonda’s.
    We got up and walked backwards to the flag for Count-o-Rama and Name-o-Rama.

    Ended in prayer for our F3 brothers in North & South Carolina enduring Hurricane Florence.

  • Chumbawamba!

    Chumbawamba!

    The Scene:  The Knoll

    Conditions: Sunny. Humid. Watery grass.

    Welcome

    Disclaimer

    Warm-a-Rama:

    Looked like a b-class soccer team as we jogged about 50 yards, and then jogged backwards to the flag.

    Butt kicks about 20 yards out and then high knees back to the flag.

    Shuffle facing the road about 20 yards and then shuffle back.

    Brought us to the real warm-a-rama.

    Q asked the pax if they loved 90’s music. Chumbawamba was mentioned (t-claps to Shangeaux for supporting this).

    Proceded to play Chumbawamba’s only hit, Tubthumping. Performed SSH the entirety of the song and everytime the song said “I get knocked down, but I get up again…” the group did a burpee. It started with fun smiles and ended with everyone hating the repetitiveness of this hit.

    —

    The Thang:

    Indian run to the football field.

    Wide football sprints in place (think remember the titans but without the up-downs. We did not get blood on our uniforms).

    Lined up under the field goal. Sprinted to the other field goal post. 15 second break. Did this 4x overall for a real punch to the gut.

    Lined up three cones five yards apart for shuttle runs. Line up at middle cone, sprint to one cone and touch the line, run to the farthest cone and then back to the 2nd cone. Pax planked while everyone went through this d-lineman drill.

    Took three cones and made a ‘L’ shape, 5 yards apart. Start at one cone, run around the middle cone and make a hard u-turn around farthest cone, and then sprint back to original cone. Pax did six inches for six while everyone did this drill.

    —

    Made a baseball diamond with the cones. Pax divided into four teams of three. Each team starts at its own base. Teams completed a cumulative number of reps of different exercise at each base:

    100 team merkins at first, 100 team crab cakes at second, 100 team lunges at 3rd, 100 team squats at home, and then sprinted to each next base. Each time a team passed a station, it got a point. Did this for a 15-minute period.

    A solid competition ended with 2 teams having 13 points, one with 12, and one with 11. A masterful effort.

    As reward, the 13-point teams ran to midfield and back, the 12-point team 75 yards and back and the last team ran to other field goal post and back.

    Mosey’d back to the flag!

    Mary:

    Crunchy Frogs x20 in honor of Snackpack being back!

    Count-o-Rama

    Name-o-Rama

    COT / BOM:

    Great to see Snackpack and Trooper!

    Announcements:

  • Backblast for 7-8-18. The Knoll

    The Scene:

    The Knoll

     

    Conditions:

    Surprisingly refreshing for a July Saturday morning at 7am.

     

    Welcome:

    8 men posted.

     

    Disclaimer:

    Money Cat: “I am not a professional trainer….huh? Why’s that funny to y’all??? Seriously guys…why is that funny?? Stop laughing or I’ll bring back Fastball and make all of y’all feel the pain!!!”

    Warm-a-Rama:

    Money Cat led the first third of the workout. I told the guys we would start off on a mosey but would call out a change and to mimic my movement regardless if I was at the front or the back because I’m usually in the back on these running kinds of things. At the sundial I called out a fast walk. At the next change I called out a mosey and after that was a fast walk. I decided to try something different. I called out a left side straddle mosey. During the side straddle mosey I called out to switch sides and lead with the other leg…(that means we now switched to leading with the right leg.) By now we had mosey’d the course almost two times and felt for the last 50 yards (I’m guessing) to the sundial we needed to do a full sprint. I could tell the guys were itching for me open it up a bit. I had the lead the entire way until I yelled out “FULL SPRINT!” And suddenly Mega Dad passed me up. What he doesn’t know is I allowed him to pass me on my left side. I didn’t want all the attention by getting there first so I turned down the after burners and slowed up a whole lot….it’s my story and I’m sticking with that. Remember….don’t question the Q.

     

    Money Cat called out a recovery countdown….it sure seemed to go by fast.

    We began our morning exercises.

    20 Arm Circles Forward

    20 Arm Circles Backwards

    20 Raised Arm Claps

    20 Dips

    20 Mexican Dips

    20 Walking Al Gore’s

    10 Burpees

     

    I was glad to turn over the next 3rd of the Q to my F3 brother Work Horse.

    Workhorse jumping in!  Well, missing Fastball’s beatdowns I decided to combine his “quarterpounder” and the “Murph”.  We based in the Sundial as it’s called, so it went like this!

    I had four F3 brothers pick an exercise, Topanga (Al Gores), Dagwood (Little Baby Crunches), Big Easy (Merkins), and Shangeaux (Side Straddle Hop). The strategy was to do a 25 count on exercise #1 and then run a lap around the running track and at the last turn heading back to sundial, turn and run backwards to complete at sundial. Plank until the last man was in!

    #1 – 25 Merkins and Lap

    #2  – 50 Little Baby Crunches and Lap

    #3 – 75 Al Gores ( which Shangeaux hijacked from Topanga )

    #4 – 100 Side Straddle Hops (which actually “unfortunately” with Topanga’s count ended up being 200) then a Lap, but changed the turn at last corner to a sprint to the sundial.  Shout out to youngster Trooper, he was in the mix leading the charge back to complete.

    At this point, we began a mosey back to the flag to do some Mary’s to close it out.  Megadad took over from there.

    • Lay Flat sit ups
    • Buddy Back Squats (wall squats on partners back)
    • Crunchy Frogs
    • Jane Fonda’s ( 3 ways right and left) for Rocket
    • Partner Leg Toss ( 10 straight, 2 left and 2 right)

    Circle of Trust

    • Name off and prayers ( special intention for F3 brother “Trooper” recently lost his daughter )

  • Stretching & Sweating in the Sun

    Backblast.  June 30, 2018

    So who else is noticing that after exercising for a couple of months and more that your T shirts must be shrinking?

    By Worms, with comedic assistance from Moneycat | June 30, 2018

    The Scene:  The Knoll

    Conditions: 82F, got warmer as it went. Ahhhh….the “cool of the morning” in BR.

    Welcome: 9 men posted.

    Disclaimer:

    “I am not a professional trainer….well, you guys know the rest.”

    (Sorry about the pics guys.  Even if I flip the image upside down on my computer before uploading the photos they still come out upside down on the Backblast posts.  Just so everyone knows, we were not doing head stands to take our photo.  That came later.)

    Warm-a-Rama:

    The local MADD group had a festive event going on at the park this morning, not to be confused with DAMM, Drunks Against Mad Mothers. They were taking over OUR parking places, so we moved over a little down the parking lot.

    Had some new exercises this morning requiring new coordination. Some of us neared falling down on some of these.

    Capri lap Squirm.  Not a “run” but can still call it a “mosey”.  (A squirm is a fast walk  To be “walking” you have to have one foot on the ground at all times.  “Running involves a moment in time where no foot is touching the ground. Its about 4-9/13  microseconds, I believe.)

     

    Goofball – A standing mountain climber (running in place) while you alternate your arms up and down (like climbing a ladder). Call it goofball b/c you look exactly like one when doing this.

    Annie – This exercise instructs pax on the art of clean floors, be warned some pax may break out in song and dance. Hold plank and rotate one arm in a circular motion while holding plank with the opposite arm.

    Sky Reaching – Long reaching upwards with your fingertips high.  Can be as strenuous as you want to make it.  You can be lazy and just point up like you want to ask a question, or you can stretch about 64 muscles till they hurt if you like.  If someone was asking a question I ignored them. Sorry. No questions can be asked once the counting begins.

    Sun God’s – This exercise is the rotating of shoulders through act of moving outstretched arms (with purpose and intensity) forward or backward in circular motion – Options for little Sun Gods and/or Big Sun Gods for desired effect.

    Batwings – Progression of arm exercises that are deceivingly difficult and named after Austin’s bats. Start with 20 x Forward Arm Circles, hold, 20 x Backwards Arm Circles, hold, 20 x seal claps, hold, 20 x overhead claps. Everything is on a 4-count. Remember to enjoy the pain on the faces of your fellow men.

    Fabreze – Certainly not the first production run of “Fabreeze” air “freshener”.   How do you make air “fresher” by contaminating it with “pretty” smells?   My sinuses rebelled with that stuff and I told my wife to throw it out and never buy it again. On your six, do 2 Big Boy Situps. Remain upright after last BB and lift feet up 6″.  Do 10 Air Presses.  (Thanks to Sparknut, visiting from Raleigh, pointing out that this is an arm press in the air, not a leg press.)  Back down for 4 BB followed by 20 Air Presses with legs held 6″. Repeat using increments of 2:10 ratio. (2:10, 4:20, 6:30, 8:40, 10:50, etc…). Didn’t quite do the numbers as planned because the Worms was tuckering out.

    Goose Step – Marched 65 paces just like the Nazis though we don’t hold to the fascist model otherwise.  A real leg muscle stretcher.

    Finkle Swing – Named for the infamous kicker “Ray Finkle” it is said that this was the stretch that lost him the big game. Pax swings one leg at a time back and forth to warm up those hips.

    Happy Jacks – Do 5 side straddle hops in cadence then after the 5th one everyone does two jump squats. Like this… Side Straddle Hops IC: One, two, three, ONE! One, two, three, TWO! One, two, three, THREE! One, two, three, FOUR! One, two, three, FIVE! Quickly followed by two jump squats. Repeat 4x or until no one can breathe.  Cool activity twist on some familiar exercises.

     

    Mozy to the sundial for da thang……..

    Dem Thang

    Freak Nasties – One stand, straddle other’s head.  Man on ground feet up high grasps the standing man’s ankles for support.   The stander throws the other man’s feet straight away 2 times.  To left 2 times, to right 2  times then over again.  SWAP positions.  That was the plan but I think most of us just did the throw straight away routine.  16 reps

    Hillbillies – Similar to Imperial Walkers but knee comes up to elbow on same side of body as side that knee is raised. About 16 reps

    Happy Feet – Arms out to sides.  Feet do rapid running in place but spread shoulder width apart.  Commonly a football exercise.  20 reps.

    Stormtrooper: Another similar to Imperial Walker but with a twist. Extend arms straight out in front of the body. Twist arms to one side of the body while raising and twisting the knee and hip the opposite direction. Can be done IC or OYO. Repeat both sides until the Q halts. Like a pretzel, twisting, sprinkler head thingy. Good back and hip stretch. Sound effects optional.  16 reps

    Ring of fire with a twist: A spin on ring of fire. Pun intended. In a walking side squat, rotate in a circle until the Q gives an order to “SPRAWL” then back to the squat walk. We went in CW and then CCW directions.  The Q would instruct everyone to “sprawl” after a varying number of steps.  (“Sprawl:  body straight like in a plank. Arms straight.  Bow your middle body down deeply towards the ground while attempting to face upwards as high as possible.  This is an exercise used by wrestlers and other marshal arts as a beginning to other actions.  I’m not talking about the scripted, choreographed entertainment some of you watch with the wild outfits and raging threats to their opponents, then the girls with the signs. What do those signs say?)

     

    Sometime during the exercises at the sundial Moneycat took a catnap in the shadow of the sundial brick. The Cat looked a bit woozy in the sun. It was probably the heat. We all heard him loudly purring on the other side of the wall. The cool of the dew must have caused him to fall asleep very fast. But his catnap didn’t last long as he quickly woke up to go play with rocks. He must have heard ball…….

     

    Mosey to the creek for fun with rocks (coupons).

    -find the rock you like and lineup

    -chest pass the rock with 2 hands, up the hill, as far as you can, pick it up and chest pass over and over until we make it to the plateau of the hill. About 6-10 throws, depending on how well you chose your rock and how far are your throws.  Choosing the pea gravel ain’t fair.

    -chest pass up the hill.  Rocks don’t move uphill by themselves, despite evolutional theories to the contrary.

    -Alternating right arm then left arm shotput throws, down the hill.

     

    Posed for a rock picture at the base of the hill by the creek.  We’ll call that a Rock Shot. The “older” guys might be mistaken for Rolling Stones ( minus Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. ) There was much “Satisfaction” in this exercise.

     

    Mosey to benches at the pavillion.   Did step up with right leg first, 20 reps.  Then did step up with left leg first.

    Mosey’d back to the flag for Circle of Trust and a group pic.

     

    Circle of Trust, COT

    Welcome to the new member Cyborg and thanks to Sparknut for bringing him.  Sparknut is from BR but now lives in Raleigh.  Super glad you all posted with us this morning and looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

    Ended with prayer.

     

    Five met at Starbucks for coffee, water, cool down and man-talk.  Great conversation. After a quick search on Facebook,  Moneycat realizes he went to college with Sparknut’s wife! Amazing connections.  This means 4 men missed out on the social time with the Pax:(

    Thanks to all for posting this morning and putting up with the old man’s beat down.  Did you sweat?  Its been 16 hours now and I’m still sore from this mornings beat down, but I know I’m getting stronger for it.