We had 16 pax today ranging from 35 minutes – 120 minutes. Kotters to Ultron and congrats on finishing the Sharknado with time to spare! I heard someone say this was Mufasa’s 1st post of 2025 as well! It was cold, but we all got through it. Well done fellas. Hope to see you all tonight for the brew ruck. Rumor has it that it will count as a double post since it is a 2nd F event. 3rd F events get triple points. and if you combine the 2 like we do for the stations of the cross-walk/ruck, that will be 5 posts!
Lights Out
Doing Stuff and Trying to Stay Warm @ The Hub
6 PAX came out on what we can only hope is the last, or one of the last, bitterly cold days of the winter…but who knows. The goal was to keep moving and focus in on working through some different planes of motion. and different muscle groups.
Warmup
- Parking Lot Lap
- Bean Pickers x 10 IC
- Imperial Hillbilly x 10 IC
- SSH x 20 IC
- Axe Swing/Chop (or whatever it’s called) x 10 IC
- Around the World Lunges IC
- Repeato two times, increasing cadence pace
Mosey to the other side of the parking lot, second light pole.
The Thang
Moving East toward Broadway in the parking lot
- 10 backward lunges (each leg)
- 10 left side lunges
- 10 right side lunges
- 10 forward lunges (each leg)
- Run out the rest of the straightaway
- Repeato two times
Turning to the right down a line of parking spots:
- Run to the end of the row, 10 burpees
- Run back, 10 merkins
- Run to the end of the row, 10 perfect squats
- Run back, 10 merkins
- Run to the end of the row, 10 mountain climbers (2 count)
- Run back, 10 merkins
- Repeato two times
6:15 return to flag
Moleskin
I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t want to be out there today. I was pretty miserable during yesterday’s Steamwhistle run, then I had a bad night and got very little sleep. Not looking for sympathy, but if I weren’t Q-ing, I would have stayed home. There was a point in the middle of the night I considered tagging some of the Hub regulars asking to pick up this very last second Q. But that just didn’t feel right. So I dragged myself out the door, cursed at the first flag I saw blowing straight in one direction on the drive there, and waited in my car until 5:29:55. It was a slow start, and the first parking lot lap was no fun. Then the funny thing happened as soon as I started calling out cadence with the first exercise. The mind gets a singular focus, and pretty much everything else goes away, kind of similar to when I raced the mile in college. By the second and third time through the warmup, I was challenging myself: “Speed up the cadence, get the count right, keep good form.” And I felt good…awake, focused, and even warm.
Sorry, that’s my little bit of reflection and just another example why F3 is so important to so many people. For me, despite the dark, and negative windchills, it was exactly what I needed this morning. Credit to everyone who posted, I don’t know whether you liked the workout or not, but it felt really efficient. There was virtually no down time, there was very little to explain, and we moved from one set to the next, and from one circuit to the next, within seconds. And that kept us moving and relatively warm. Really well done everyone!
I could shout out everyone individually who posted, because there was inspiring stuff all around, but want to give PacRat a nod today. Man, the level of energy and positivity you bring on a freezing morning at 5:30 is always appreciated. You never fail to bring that, and we’re all better off for it.
Thanks everyone for lifting me up today, and allowing me to lead.
Until next time, Pheidippides
Backblast – 2/13/25, The Hub A.O. – Back to Blasting in the Chaotic Gloom
7 pax hit the icy ground running on the last Hub beatdown before Valentine’s Day, and Cupid made a rare visit in the form of Editor. What made the morning even more eerie was that the first person to arrive was the long-lost Q who took January off from a.m. bootcamps but came through to show the boys that he had not in all that time exactly gone soft using alternate approaches. Here’s what we did:
Warm-Up
Take coupons to Portico, Light Pole Lap jog
Snow Angels/Eagles x59 plus E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles to pay a quick homage to the Super Bowl
Coupon Good Morning x8, Hillbilly x10, IST x10, Bean Picker x12, Windmill x10, Arm Circle Complex
THANG 1 – Chaos is a Ladder
The Chaos Pushup is super fun – Merkin, opposite shoulder tap, merkin, other shoulder tap, merkin, opposite knee tap, merkin, opposite knee tap, merkin, foot tap, merkin, foot tap, inchworm up, squat – that’s ONE. (The true online version had two more toe taps in pike position plus a Mike Tyson before the inchworm up to squat, but in due time, in due time.)
Ladder – at each light pole go up 1, down 1 starting with 1 Chaos Pushup, 5 squats, 2/4, etc.
THANG 2 – Portico House of Pain (Jump Around)
Coupon Complex x12, 25 vertical jumps touching a wall or pillar
Goblet Squat x12, 20 vertical jumps touching a wall or pillar
Side Lunge x10, 15 vertical jumps touching a wall or pillar
Split/Sumo/One-Legged Squat, 10 vertical jumps touching a wall or pillar
Partner Dora, w/half light pole lap as timer
100 upright coupon rows, 150 coupon swings, 200 coupon bench press (I can’t recall the numbers exactly but something close to that)
MARY
Coupon plate chop x10 each side OYO
Coupon Side Bends (but please don’t lose that butt)
6-ct Diamond Crunch x12
4-ct Flutter Kicks x20
From leg lift position, write “Happy Valentines Day” w/your feet
MOLESKIN
What can I say? Life gets in the way, and people disappear. Celebrating a return is too bombastic for us non-lawyers, so let’s just leave the past absences to the immutable past and use the Lord’s strength to change the things we can. Sometimes backblasts take a week. It’s all about perspective. Are we working hard all the time? Do we have a growth mindset? Are we building each other up and staying in touch through thick (or thicc) and thin, balancing family and work and everything else? If so, GOOD. Let’s keep it going. It was great to lead the men of F3 in the icy gloom again, and shout out to the Bethel plow crew that made the terrain very safe. I liked the workout and found it to be Ibuprofen-worthy on the day before a 4-day break from the day job. Great to see all those who posted, and I look forward to finding some more consistency with my own efforts to share the mornings with you HIMs.
OCB’s Manniversary
Date: 02/15/2025
PAX: OCB (QIC), HHH, Class Act, Heisenburg, Lights Out, GingerBilly, Atticus, The Mick, Peyton, Rusty, Dr. Freud, Crash, BooBoo, Mickey Tints, Gummy Bear
Warm-Up:
Parking Lot Lap
25 – SSH
10 – Windmills
10 – Toy Soldiers
10 – Arm Circles Complex
10 – IST
10 – HB
10 – Bean Pickers
10 – Perfect Squats
10 – Perfect Merkins
10 – Burpees
Repeato
The Thang:
Take coupons to the Portico
10 – WMD’s
10 – 8 Count Step-Ups
10 – WMD Squats
10 – 8 Count Step-Ups
10 – WMD’s
10 – 8 Count Step-Ups
10 – WMD Squats
10 – 8 Count Step-Ups
10 – WMD’s
25 SSH
Parking lot lap
10 – 8 Count Coupon Complex
10 – Coupon Deadlifts
10 – Coupon Curls
10 – Coupon Presses
10 – Skull Crushers
Repeat 3 times with Parking lot laps in between
Mary:
15 – LBC’s
15 – Freddy Mercury’s
20 – WWI’s
15 – BJJ Sit-Ups
10 – Reverse Pickle Pounders
10 – Pickle Pounders
Repeato
Moleskin:
Three years have passed and I’m still here! Thank you each and every one of you for being there for me for each other and for yourselves. F3 is a wonderful organization and has blessed hundreds (thousands?) of men all across the world. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this special group and look forward to many more years of Fitness Fellowship, and Faith. The beatdown today was better than I thought it would be because the lot was plowed and the temps were warm. Aside from a little water on the ground the conditions were fine. I have officially earned the coveted Golden Sombrero and I have to tell ya that it was tougher than I thought it would be. My main takeaway from the experiance was that Qing is a pretty big responsibility and that the Q has a big role in shaping the experiance that the PAX will have. People may be tired and lazy first thing in the morning, but once you’re rolling, people want a good beatdown! If they wanted to just take it easy they could have stayed home! So it is important to keep the difficulty manageable but challenging. I learned that cadence calling needs proper breath management! You need to schedule your breathing within your cadence calling if you want to be able to keep up. Also, writing out your Q’s helps a LOT when it comes to BackBlasting. Well, I think I’ll be taking a little break from Qing but I’ll be there when needed to fill in. We need a form week pretty soon to sharpen up some of that form out there across NWIND and I’ll definetly be out there Qing one of those Beatdowns so that I can nitpick all of your movements XD. Thanks to all of the PAX who came out and thanks to all of the well wishers wishing me a Happy Manny. Lets all take a moment to appreciate this wonderful group and to rededicate ourselves to posting and Qing.
Gummy Bear Manny #2
Date: 2-11-2025
AO: The Hub
PAX: BooBoo, Heisenberg, Scarecrow, Campbells, Lights Out, 2005, Gummy Bear (QIC)
WARMUP:
- Arm Circles
- Seal Claps
- OVH Claps
- Bean Pickers
- Windmills
THE THANG:
- 30 ct Down Dawg
- 30 ct High Plank
- 30 ct Up Dawg
- 30 ct Merkin Time Bomb
- 15 ct Merkin Timebomb FTH
- 30 ct R Leg Lunge Timebomb
- 30 ct L Leg Lunge Timebomb
- 30 ct Al Gore Timebomb
- 30 ct Al Gore into Jump Timebomb
- 30 ct Alabama Prom Date FTH Timebomb
- 30ct (4cts) Low Flutter Timebomb
- 200 Burpees As a Group (~28/29 each)
- DORA: Timer is a short Bear Crawl, Broad Jump Back… As a team do
- 100 Deadlifts
- 100 Curls
- 100 Overhead Presses
- 100 SkullCrushers
Bring the coupons home…
MOLESKIN:
What a great way to celebrate 2 years with F3. My real manny is 2/13, my Fleet Feet Anniversarry is 2/12, and celebrated being with my wife 2 years now on 2/11 so busy 3 days of anniversaries! Can’t thank everyone enough for the love and support you’re blessed me with and welcoming me with open arms. May God bless us all with many many more years of this community just as it is and for it to grow into something greater! Hope everyone’s shoulders feel better after this one!
Prayers were lifted for Dr. Freud’s boy Zeke and the Family Peyton’s talked about.
Take Care, God Bless!
-GB