Tag: Thumb War

  • Life is a Grind @ the Mothership – from Triple Shift

    “Life is a grind” is an informal expression meaning that life can be difficult, routine, and tiring. It suggests that much of daily living involves hard, often monotonous work or tasks that can be emotionally or physically draining.

    Anyone that knows what I’ve been through the past year or so understands that phrase. I’ve prayed that this cup would pass but the good Lord doesn’t see fit that it passes anytime soon. So, the next best option is for me to get stronger. With that in mind, I get to work with 16 other pax members as they push me to get better.

    Warmarama – Head to the Peristyle for Slow (sometimes low) cadence exercises.
    10 LSS, 10 Tie Fighters (front and back) 10 Merkins, 10 Peter Parkers, 10 Shoulder Taps, 10 Floyd Mayweathers IC. Finished with 15 burpees IC (loved the audible grown when I hit ten with no voice inflection).
    The Thang 1 – Genuflect on the great lawn up to 10 genuflects / 20 lunges. Reverse plank for the 6.
    The Thang 2 – Run to the Children’s Museum and partner up for a modified dora with coupons. 50 blockees and 100 straight leg deadlifts while the partner runs up the ramp and does a pull up on the metal rails overhead and head back.
    The Thang 3 – Run to the baby foundry to perform 60 seconds (10 seconds on and 20 seconds off) of flexed arm hang while the other pax members held an Al Gore.

    Time is running out so we Indian walk while the last pax member sprints to the front and reach the flag at 7:31 am.

    Countoff, Namerarama, and COT – Welcomed FNG Nightingale (ICU nurse).

  • In Honor of Fr Kapan – from Mahatma

    The morning was crispy and after a long train 4 pax crossed the tracks to find Bogey in the cage doing a solo warm up as the clock was now 5:35 so no time to waste. All pax to line up on the goal line for a Red Barchetta – run the field 100 SSH, run back then 3/4 field 75 BBSU yet with the stickers in full bloom we all suffered a little pence then YHC modified to a square dirt patch to finish out – 50 air squats, 25 merkins and only 5 burpees.
    Followed by a short 3/4 track Indian run with the boom box baton – stopped at the pull up bars 3 rounds of 3 PU short run 5 merkins.
    Transition to several rounds of Mary
    Now 3 rounds of 3 PU short run 3 burpees.
    Transition to several rounds of Mary
    Head to the rock pile to grab a solid rock of choice for several rounds of: sitting over head hold, curls, chest press, squats, rows, pistons (thanks Rudy for the intro Handgranada said his back felt them from Monday) curl/sqaut/press, TriCep ext, and finished with curls again.
    Indian Run Back to pin.
    COT – Bogey threw out LQCO reminder for 2026 (better luck to Scantron, Uptown team, Frac/Triple and of course Handgranada)
    Prayers for intensions as well focus on Pride and Humility which Fr Kapan helped his troops endure while in Korean prisoner of war camp.

  • Gotcha – from Hawgcycle

    Warm-up: SSH, IW, GG, Merkins, Bobby Hurly
    On the line: open the gate, close the gate, high knees, butt kicks, scoops

    Mosey to Gym:

    Gotcha – 1 line at the 3 point line. First two pax have a ball. Pax 1 shoots a 3. If he doesn’t make it he gets his own rebound and tries to score before pax 2 scores. If he doesn’t he’s out. Continue until one man left. There was a way to buy back in.

    Buy-in #1 – 30 Abe Lincolns, 60 Monkey Humpers, 90 Big Bois

    As predicted by Mayhem, the buy in was too steep. Although a couple of us came close.

    The Architect won the first game and pretended to do squats while the losers finished up.

    We reduced the buy-in for game two. Fast Tax and YHC got back in to be quickly dismissed once again.

    Buy-in #2 – 20 Big Bois, 40 Monkey Humpers, 60 Abe Lincolns

    I assume The Architect won again. It was him and Mayhem at the end, but I was too busy to pay attention.

    We took a break from basketball to do some
    wall work – BTW. Chicken Peckers, BTW, Pecker Chickens, BTW, Pecker Mayhem

    We then divided up into 3 teams of 3. Teams 1 and 2 play a game of 3 on 3 sudden death wile Team 3 does 10 merkins, 10 Bobby Hurleys, 10 Big Bois, in perpetuity. The losing team swaps with the team doing exercises.

    We made it through three games and headed back to the flag

    NMM
    * There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that enjoy having fun occasionally and Mr. Rogers
    * Speaking of everyone’s favorite neighbor, I did Q a workout that made him remove the weight vest. That feels almost as good as making an FNG puke. I consider it a badge of honor.
    * My shot was off. Must have been the wind
    * At first I was skeptical of Mahyems 10-count hip-slap, shoulder-tap merkin. I’m now fully on board having developed what I have now decided to call the Pecker Mayhem. This will prove to be the pinnacle of Mayhemdom

  • Burpees in the Garden – from Fracsac

    YHC committed to take the Q a day before, which was good cause when the alarm went off anything but having the Q may have resulted in a fartsack.

    7 total posted to see what nonsense the Q had on tap. Not gonna lie, YHC delivered! It was total nonsense.

    It went like this:

    Warmup facing the bacon.

    Stations involving sand bags and a jump rope. The timer was run into the temporary garden for burpees x 10. It was originally only 5, but YHC had to take it up a notch when I heard the fountains and felt the peaceful and serenity like conditions. Perfect environment for burpees. Finished off with a bear crawl through the garden.

    Ring of fire around the closet art, burpees and squats.

    Mosey to the singing oak throwing the frisbee and last man doing 10 jumps with the rope. Burpees for a frisbee drop. 

    Frisbee toss to make the oak sing. Thumb War made a perfect throw…into the tree. Burpees for missing the chimes.

    Mosey back the using the same frisbee and jump rope nonsense. Sunday mornings x 3.

    COT

    What a start to a great day with a great group of men!

    SYITG

  • Celebrating with Mayhem Merkins – from Rudy

    Lovely 65 degree morning at the lakefront. A far cry from last week’s 40 degree gale force winds. 10 PAX to celebrate Mayhem’s birthday. YHC received a few texts suggesting that I use the Mayhem Merkin in the workout. Fear not, that was definitely included in the plan.

    5:30am sharp – a quick sing-a-long for Mayhem, then across the street for a warm up. Despite the warm temp, Squints refused to part with his NYY sweatshirt, celebrating opening day.

    Thing 1: Route 66, with Mayhem Merkins.

    YHC caused confusion by incorrectly calling it 11s. That’s what I had planned – until he arrived and saw how lovely the waters of Okwata were. Fortunately, people quickly figured out what was up. Frac played the roll of Triple Shift by critiquing my form as I demonstrated the MM. Jesus Juice seemed quite confused as to how it was a 10 count exercise. No amount of counting it could quite solve his issues. Thumb War managed to convince a few people to go Shoulder-Tap-Hip-Slap rather than the approved technique. Mayhem and High Rise led the way, while YHC brought up the rear.

    Thing 2: 3/27. YHC has a thing for numbers. Today: 3/27. 27 is 3 cubed. 3*3*3 = 27.

    Run the H8 loop. At each corner, do 3 burpees. Counting the starting and finishing point, that yields 9 stops. 3 burpees each. 27 burpees.

    Thing 3: The PAX utterly failed when given a choice between a) Repeating 3/27 2 more times (total of 81 burpees) or b) What YHC had up his sleeve. Confusion reigned, and voter fraud was widely reported. So YHC chose plan B.

    Top of the levee for a bear crawl indian run to the House of Pain. Then pair up for 5 stations: Pull-ups (or hangs), Big Bois, Dips, Sweat Angels – and the timer: run over the levee for 3 burpees and back.

    Bongo talked for the entire 15 minutes – something about how he received an email from a Nigerian prince and was now traveling to go collect his money.

    COT – Great to see Floaties out again. Becoming quite a regular already! Okwata never fails to disappoint, so many possibilities out there. And getting to watch the sunrise over the lake for a few minutes afterwards – offers YHC a chance to reflect on life and how to follow the example of these great men and “be better”.

  • 21s on the 21st – from Vagabond

    Black Jack 21
    Everyone carries a weight round pontiff

    Merkins
    Squats
    Lunges 1 is 1

    Shoulder taps
    Hillbilly 2 is 1
    Bobby Hurley

    Bleachers
    Hip slap
    Leg raises
    Step ups

    Nolan Ryan 1is1
    Side lunges 1is1
    Wife pleaser

    Plank jacks
    Squat kick 1is1
    Big bois

    Wall
    Walk ups
    Calf raises
    Plank ups

    Gazebo
    1 leg power ups
    Irkins
    Flashers

  • The Friendly New Guy – from Hawgcycle

    Conditions: Partly Cloudy, 64 degrees. Humidity 83%. Wind 10.5 m/h from S.

    As promised, an FNG showed up at El Diablo this morning. YHC took control and gave a very succinct and informative overview of the five core principles. Not to be outdone, Frac immediately started throwing his weight around and started making up stuff on the fly. He said YHC needed to assign a person to the FNG to get to know him throughout the work out. That person will then be responsible for sharing the information during the COT. Looking past the humiliation of having my power usurped I agreed to the idea and selected Pinewood for this task, given he was standing next to the FNG and they looked to be about the same age.

    Pinewood immediately declined the role, stating that he had no desire to get to know the FNG. Instead, he planned to put all of his efforts this morning into getting the Mt. Carmel girls running on the track to notice the mustache he has been carefully cultivating. For the next few minutes, we stared at him, asked him to move under the light, asked him to tilt his head in various ways, and then all finally agreed that we could indeed see the moustache he was talking about.

    I looked around the group seeing if there was anyone I wanted to pair the FNG with. Bogey had his hand raised high in the air as he jumped up and down yelling, “Pick me! Pick me!” I continued to scan the audience, looking for anyone. Bogey continued his jumping. I decided two people would be better than one, so I chose Thumb War and Mayhem.

    The work out went something like this:

    Warm-up: SSH x 31, Imperial Walkers x 15, Windmills x 10, Squats x 15

    Not wanting to make the FNG work out in the sticker grass at his first workout, I opted instead to circle up in a gravel pit at the end of the track. From there we did a Dirty McDeuce

    Round 1: Merkins, Lunges, Big Bois, Run a lap
    Round 2: Ranger Merkins, Monkey Humpers, Dying Cockroaches, Run a lap
    Round 3: Larry Craigs, Sumo Squats, Russian Twists, Run a lap
    Round 4: Carolina Dry Docks, Bobby Hurleys, Crunchy Frogs, Run a lap

    It was clear that Bogey did not care who was actually assigned to get to know the FNG. He was talking up the FNG from the very beginning, although we only heard Bogey’s voice…we never heard the FNG say anything.

    Next we moseyed to the wall for 2 rounds of Chicken Peckers and 1 round of Balls to the Wall.

    Then we moseyed to the playground for a station rotation:

    Station 1: L Hangs
    Station 2: Squats
    Station 3: Incline Merkins or Dips
    Station 4: Step Ups
    Station 5: Burpees x 10

    At this point, it became clear that Mayhem and Thumb War each thought the other was the FNG and they had spent the entire workout trying to get to know each other. So I suppose it as a good thing that Bogey at least took the initiative to tell the FNG all about himself.

    At COT, we welcomed Spanx to the fold. There was great discussion about who actually gets credit for bringing in the New Guy. Frac Sac tried to take credit since Spanx filling out his contact info on the national website eventually led to Frac getting a text. Bogey swears he Eh’d a runner at Pontiff named Brian, or Billy, or Bill. Triple will surely try to take credit since Spanx does his laundry there. But Spanx settled the discussion when he told us how he noticed this guy at Pontiff running with the F3 group in flip-flops. At that moment, he said to himself, “I want to be like that man. I need to get in that group.”
    So you’re welcome F3.

    After COT there was TLC and PLC. IYKYK.

  • Maintaining the Standard – from Fracsac

    10 Pax joined me at the Renni for what turned out to be a Q training session. All Pax were given the opportunity to call the count in cadence as per the F3 standard. We have no rules for counting, but leadership calls for a standard. Once you master the standard, feel free to tweak it to fit your style. A leader that can call cadence effectively exudes confidence, and this will lead to a successful beat down and assurance that our great organization continues to thrive.

    Ended with Sunday Mornings because that’s what we do.

    SYITG

  • Year of the Snake🐍 – from Thumb War

    Year of the Snake🐍-

    CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI
    (Happy Lunar New Year)

    I checked the field conditions when I got out there and felt it was dry enough for a field focused workout.

    As the pax gathered Bogey brought to everyone’s attention today is the start of the Year of the Snake which Hawg added happens every twelve years.

    Moseyed to center field for Warm-a-Rama:

    Abe Vigodas
    Low slow squats
    Grass Grabber
    SSH
    Mountain Climbers
    Parker Peters
    Thai fighters forward and back. I thought this was the spelling but Mayhem clarified during the warm up it’s Tie Fighters https://f3nation.com/post/tie-fighters

    The Thang – Dirty McDeuce

    4 sets of 3 exercises done to 12 reps 1st 2 exercises were on your own and the 3rd was on a 4 count.

    Set 1:
    12 Hand release Merkins
    12 squats
    12 Flutter kicks

    Run lap around track

    Set 2:
    12 diamond merkins
    12 Bobby Hurleys
    12 big boy sit ups

    Run Lap

    Set 3:
    12 Carolina dry docks
    12 alternating lunges
    12 hello Dollies

    Run Lap

    Set 4:
    12 wide merkins
    12 wife pleasers
    12 penguins

    Run Lap

    With time to kill, I added 2 extra sets to make it an extra Dirty McDeuce.

    Set 5:
    12 plank jacks
    12 calf raises
    12 Freddy mercuries

    Backwards jog to end of field and sprint back to Center

    Set 6:
    12 Merkins
    12 monkey jumpers
    12 LBC’s

    Backwards jog to end of field and sprint back to Center.

    Ring of Fire
    Al Gore’s and Squats
    Leg raises and flutter kicks

    Mary – Dealers choice with a 15 count max
    Thumb war – Freddie mercury
    Mahatma- crunchy frogs
    Bogey- LBT’s
    Vagabond – Pickle Pounders
    Mayhem – X Factor
    Hawg – Big Boys

    Finished up with burpees in the last minute to help Kilo with MABA Challenge

    Short mosey

    Naked moleskin:

    Mahatma had questions about Lunar New Year that we didn’t have answers too. Like what is the semblance of the wood snake.

    There was a soccer ball left on the field that mahatma initiated us kicking it around and passing until the end.

    My counting still needs work.

    Hawg was really pushing Kilo on deconstructing merkins.

    Hawg suggested I should have done a 12 animals themed workout

  • Routes to Fitness – from Mayhem

    53 degF 81% RH 4mph SE

    Beautiful conditions for YHC’s Renaissance VQ

    I knew I wouldn’t be alone since I picked up Thumbwar on the way… though I did not expect to enjoy a party of 18 total PAX. Let’s go to work.

    6:29 and Heisenburg and Fracsac were already starting their MABA burpees. YHC informed them that we had at least a few coming.

    Disclaimer at 6:30 provided and to work we went.

    Warm: face the bacon for a beautiful sunrise, windmills, grass grabbers, mountain climbers, peter parkers, tie fighters, fie tighters, mayhem merkins (10-count hip slap shoulder tap merkin – exicon worthy)

    11s of Motivaters and Burpees

    Route 66: big bois broad jumping between trees, Rudy was first (like ND in the beginning of the playoffs)
    Mosey to the second trash can and back, some were brave enough to touch it
    Route 66: merkins bear crawling between trees, not allowed to stand, Rudy was not first (like Notre Dame at the end of the playoffs)

    To the bacon, partner up, bonnie blairs with timer partner making loops and doing burpees, then step ups with timer partner reversing the loops

    Traditional Sunday Mornings 3x

    COT

    RCR, OMM, IOM – just sign up, everyone needs a t-shirt

    Prayers for Fracsac’s family, Pai Gow’s family, El Mundo’s family, Colonel Mustard’s friend’s family, an unannounced (today) present PAX’s personal intention, YHC’s unannounced personal intention, all those suffering from mental health issues, all those intentions held deep in our hearts

    Happy to have the opportunity to lead. Look forward to more.
    Special thanks to the other 17 PAX for sharing their morning with me. I needed it.
    SYITG