27 PAX, including 2 FNG’s, hit the pavement for some Dora’s with Ping. Welcome Stan and Cat Lady.
Warm Up
SSH x 30 in cadence
Willie Mays x 15 in cadence
Ray Lewis x 15 in cadence
Squats x 35
Merkins x 25
2 Lap mosey
Dora – Sprint slab by amphitheater
50 Burpees
100 Merkins
150 Dutch Skaters
200 Delivery LBC’s (wide leg)
250 Raise the Roof
300 American Hammers
350 High Knees
30 Burpees
Plank to “can’t wait to be king”
10 Burpees
Welcome to summertime in Alabama. 72 with 95% humidity. 23 PAX along with three FNGs put in work. We were privileged to have Namaste back with our group. The other big news is Wildfire and Blue Grass made sure the post workout was well hydrated as they hosted Coffeteria at the park. Nice cold refreshments ranging from bottled water to brewskies were consumed.
Warm Up
Mosey to Manhattan
Dawson Baptist Church (Back parking lot)
Mosey to Central Park
Circle up. Announcements. Name o Rama. Prayer. Lead on 3.
The tease of Nolan Richardson did not go unfulfilled. 30 PAX gathered at Homewood Central Park for The Vulcan AO at 5:30 to get better. What followed:
Warm-ups:
0.8 mile mozy with 2 stations of 10x burpees to Edgewood Elementary
Modified Nolan Richardson 40 minutes of hell:
0.8 mile mozy with 2 stations of 5x burpees back to Central Park
Captain Thor – 1:4 Ratio of Big Boy Situp to American Hammers – Completed 5:20
Ended to Bring Sally Up with Merkins
18 PAX and two FNGs did the hard thing and got better. Along the way we helped out the PAX taking part in the 10,000 Merkin Challenge.
Warm Up
Mosey around track (2)
Set 1
Set 2
Set 3
Set 4
Mosey to Grundl Mountain
Mosey to Homewood Central Park
Set 5
Finale
Circle up. Announcements. Name o Rama. Prayer. Lead on 3.
Intro to the pace clock
Another great turnout at The Vulcan on a cool morning (for mid-August in Alabama). We introduced a new toy for the workout inspired by my former swimming career – a pace clock. I purposefully kept the PAX off the ground until the end so that the sweat from the hard work would not be mistaken for wet grass.
Warm-up
15x Side Straddle Hop
20x Imperial Walker
Mosey a lap
From a line up:
High knees across the field, back pedal back
Kick your butt, bac pedal back
Frankenstein/Lunge, back pedal back
Run at 60%, back pedal back
Run at 80%, back pedal back
Run as fast as you can stand, mosey back
The Thang: ON THE CLOCK
Every Minute on the Minute: 9x small loop (about 200 yards)
Descend your time and increase your effort from the 1st to the 3rd lap, the 4th to 6th , then 7th to 9th. The 9th should be your fastest.
For 11 minutes:
TABATA: 20 sec of work, 10 sec rest
Alternate: 1 minute Box Jumps, 1 minute mtn climbers
For 9 minutes:
Every Minute on the Minute:
Min 1: 2 Burpees
Min 2: 3 Burpees
Min 3: 5 Burpees
Min 4: 7
Min 5: 9
Min 6: 11
….Min 9: 15
if you miss, you plank. **Interval was interrupted because the flag fell. All PAX did 20 burpees during the 5th and 6th min. It was a killer.
Until next time –
Shilling
Noting a brisk note in the air the night prior, YHC decided to bring back an @F3Jackson favorite…..PAIN POKER.
Arriving at The Vulcan around 5:15, YHC observed what looked to be a disrupted ant hill of PAX progressing from parking lot onto The Vulcan green. Many of the PAX had seen YHC’s tweet of a deck of cards from the night prior and the anticipation had surely caused some sleeplessness with some.
Circle up and YHC asked for a count off to confirm what looked to be a NEW RECORD for Vulcan PAX. Sure enough, 32 PAX confirmed including 7 FNGs! New high water mark! Time to bring the PAIN!
THE THANG
SSH (4ct) x 30
Squats x 30
Merkins x 30
Flutter Kicks (4ct) x 30
Supermans (45secs) x 2
PAIN POKER rules:
PAX preform all exercises together. Number on card dictates number of reps, face cards progressing up from 10 (i.e., Jack is 11, Queen, is 12….ACES ARE ALWAYS HIGH!)
Spades=Burpees Clubs=Hand Release Merkins Hearts=Big Boy Situps Diamonds=Squats
After completion of assigned number of reps, PAX run 40yd gasser (if number on card 10 or greater) or 60yd gasser (if number on card 9 or less).
Rinse and Repeat for +/- 35minutes…..MEN WENT TO WORK!!! Lots of pain spread across the PAX faces as we progressed through the deck. Big time Kudos to Cocky, Peanut, Dispatch, and Namaste for leading the pack on most of the gassers! Got through about half the deck and YHC ensured the proper placement of plenty of face cards….especially those showing spades!
Back to circle for:
Dive Bombers (4ct) x 15
Flutter Kicks (4ct) x 45, mixed in “easy opens”
Finished!
Quick Nameorama and welcome to FNGs, Peaches, Needle, Strip Search, Breach, Neuter, Hugh, and Spew!
F3 Birmingham’s largest turnout yet on a sunny Thursday morning…
Warm-up
Around the shovel flag….
40 IC SSH
15 IC Merkins
25 IC Prisoner Squats
30 IC Flutter Kicks
30 IC Ray Lewis
25 LBCs OYO
DIAMOND MERKINS OYO – TO EXHAUSTION (YHC’s new favorite)
The Thang
Indian Run – 2 Groups (starting 20 seconds apart), single-column, 600 meter run of the figure 8
THE SWITCHBACK
At the Amp and starting a the end of the first row of seating, we bear crawled ALONG THE NARROW STONE SEAT (not in the wider grass walkway / burr minefield) to the end of first row, up to the second row and back and forth to the top – like a switchback road. What made this more challenging is that we intentionally tackled it single file as a PAX of 21. This meant that you could only go as fast as the men in front of you were moving, which prolonged the amount of time in the bear crawl position. PAX instructed to SSH at the top while waiting for the six. Weinke had “rinse and repeat?” written next, but one trip on The Switchback was enough for this day.
Decline Merkins before leaving the Amp, as we can’t pass up the opportunity to use the stage wall for work.
CORNERS
REPEAT OF INDIAN RUN
Around the shovel flag….
Schilling and Marion Barry each called out an IC exercise.
COT
Welcome to FNG Bird Dog. We are pleased to have him. Thank you to Schilling and Marion Barry who have stepped up and are co-Qing on Tuesday. If you are following Twitter you already know a beat-down by Banjo (who flew in from F3 Cary Apex in NC) is planned for 0700 on Saturday. As for YHC, The Switchback made it a tough workout. Thank you to everyone who came out to get better on this day.
See you in the gloom,
Barney Fife
Economists call strong consumer enthusiasm after a recession or depression: pent up demand. Alabama lands F3 after NC, SC, GA, FL, LA, TX, TN, MS…and several other states. There were 20 PAX at the launch on Saturday and only three days later at 0530 an inspiring showing of 17 men posting – 5 FNGs. Impressive. The demand is here…and it’s on.
WARM UP
25 IC (in cadence) side straddle hops
15 IC shoulder rotations each way
25 LBC (little baby crunches) OYO (on your own)
20 SC (single count) Merkins
THE THANG
1 lap of the figure 8 pathway (about 600 meters)
“BELLE ISLE” (ancestral home of Fletch in “Fletch Lives”)
At the large pond-shaped, rust colored play top that looks like a bit to YHC like a toxic marshland (Belle Isle) we paired off. While one man makes TWO round trip sprints across the toxic marsh and back, his partner does flutter kicks to kick off the toxic mud from his high tops.
REPEAT 5 TIMES (10 round trip sprints per man). A bit of a smoker for most of us.
Mosey to the cone for a bit of relief after hell isle.
20 SC Merkins
25 IC Ray Lewis
10 OYO diamond pushups
Mosey to the amphitheater
15 right leg step ups
15 left leg step ups
20 dips OYO
“BEAR SCRAMBLE” (not a Tide reference) at the amphitheater
In partners (instructions to finish together) we scrambled up the amphitheater and then bear crawl down the grassy sides (downhill bear crawl, but as a gift to ourselves….feet first)
REPEAT 5 TIMES.
20 more OYO dips
10 OYO DECLINE Merkins
Mosey to the cone
20 SC Merkins
25 more IC Ray Lewis
Then…..something else in there I forgot about
Finish strong with 1 lap of the figure circle pathway (about 500 meters)
Name-o-rama for 5 FNGs
A few words from YHC about F3
Prayer
I aspire to write future Back Blasts of more lasting artistic merit. For now, my focus is just to Q what I can do. It was great to be with you men Tuesday morning. Iron Sharpens Iron. F3 Counts. Coming Soon: A 200 Merkin workout. Scam has Thursday’s Q.
See you in the gloom,
Barney Fife
More than a year in the making, F3Birmingham exploded on to the scene Saturday with 20 pax present, 14 of whom were FNGs. #TClaps to BarneyFife and Scam for putting a solid EH on their city leading up to the launch date. Mad props to Cheddar for making the trip down from Charlotte to make sure his buddy (now known as Mini) posted.
Conditions: Surprisingly sunny and about 50* – perfect weather for a launch!
The disclaimer was issued followed by a quick demonstration on how we count in F3. We then got down to business.
CoP
Mosey over to Y in the sidewalk near Oxmoor
Mosey over to the grassy area near Oxmoor
Mosey across the bridge to the #GrassyKnoll
Countorama went off without a hitch. These boys in Birmingham learn fast!
Nameorama was wholly entertaining from start to finish! More on that in the Moleskin. . .
F3 is not aligned with any religion. Every F3 workout ends with a ShoutOut where the Q can share a quote, say a prayer of his choosing or do nothing at all. YHC, as a Christian, offered a Christian prayer. All the Q asks is 30 seconds of respect and will return that respect to other Qs. Aye.
NakedMan MoleSkin