Author: F3Banks

12 Faithful PAX (8-Track, Banks, Cheese, Cookies, Giggles, Knight Rider, Panhandle, Ranger Rick, Saga, T-Bone, Tortuga, Toto) showed up on a cool Friday morning for a little run/ruck action at AO Ground Zero. We had 10 runners and 2 Ruckers. The runners headed north on the prairie path, cut through Lincoln Marsh and ended up at Monroe middle school to run some intervals on the “Track” and then headed back to the flag. All was good except YHC underestimated how dark it is now, Fall is truly upon us! We gathered at the flag and lifted up Cookies upcoming travel and that we all have a great weekend with the families.

Moleskin: It is better to run in the dark with friends!

It was part 2 of my back to back Q fest to help get our PAX ready for the fun that is Ironpax! It should be noted that there was some mumblechatter today that they will start signing up for Q’s more proactively to not allow me these glorious opportunities in the future. 9 Faithful PAX ( 8-Track, Aloha, Banks, Beaker, Big Mac, Milk Duds, Panhandle, Tortuga, Zorro) came out in some deceptfully muggy weather for today’s beatdown.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 10x Mountain Man Poopers

The Thang: Meatloaf’s Massacre

This was my favorite workout from 2019 Ironpax, so I thought it was fitting to pull back out for the PAX.

• 10x Blockees
• 20x Overhead Press
• 30x Kettle Bell Swings
• 40x Goblet Squats
• 50x Incline Merkins
• Run 4 laps of the track

Repeat the above reps and descend the distance to 3 laps, then 2, and then 1 for a total of 4 times through the reps and 10 laps of the track. Most PAX made it through 3 rounds before we ran out of time

COR/NOR/COT:

Prayers for the start of school and Tortuga’s arm. Thankful for this group pushing each other to get better and that we all have a strong finish to the week!

It was a hot/humid/muggy morning at AO Mastodon, but 17 faithful PAX ( 8-Track, Banks, Beaker, Big Mac, Bloomer, Cheese, Hotbox, Jolly, Katniss, Panda Express, Panhandle, Ranger Rick, Saga, Sparrow, TBTF, Tortuga, Wet Burrito) came out for what was promised to be a difficult part 1 to a 2 part back-to-back Q fest to help get us ready for Ironpax 2021 by YHC.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 50x Side Straddle Hops IC
• 10x Windmills IC
• 5x slow burpees
• Stretch OYO as YHC explains the thing

The Thang: The “Bert”

YHC chose a Hero WOD called the Bert for today’s activity, the PAX completed the following for time:

• 50 Burpees
• 400 Meter Run
• 100 Merkins
• 400 Meter Run
• 150 Lunges
• 400 Meter Run
• 200 Squats
• 400 Meter Run
• 150 Lunges
• 400 Meter Run
• 100 Merkins
• 400 Meter Run
• 50 Burpees

A few PAX were able to finish everything (Katniss, Big Mac), but all PAX worked hard and got better for it!

COR/NOR/COT:

Prayers for Noodles to heal and have a good start to the school year. Praise for Archive and his new job. Prayers for all of those going back to school over the next few days.

It was a beautiful summer day at AO Mastodon and 20 fateful PAX( Babysitter, Banks, Beaker, Big Mac, BOGO, DaVinci, Drumline, FNG- Fireballs, Jolly, Katniss, Panda Express, Panhandle, Saga, Shiplap, Sparrow, T-Bone, TBTF, Tortuga, Whittler, Yankee) showed up for what was promised to be a hard workout. YHC decided it was time to put the PAX through the ringer and put a few teams together to push all of us forward and get stronger together.

Warm-O-Rama: The Usual

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Windmills IC
• 15x Mountain Man Poopers IC
• 15x Merkins IC

Thang 1: Route 121

The PAX counted off into teams of 3 and lined up to complete a route 121 stopping at each light pole counting up from 1 burpee to 11 burpees and back down. The first team complete each earned a much coveted point to add to their totals. A wrinkle that was thrown into this evolution was that each team had a sandbag and they not only had to complete the reps at each light pole for each PAX, but also complete the reps for the sandbag. No team could move forward to the next light pole until all reps were completed for each PAX plus the sandbag. Team 1 won

Thang 2: Sprint to Hoffa

The PAX lined up and sprinted to Hoffa carrying their sandbag. The last place team received a 20 second head start over all teams, then the 2nd to last place team received a 10 second head start to sprint to Hoffa. Once all PAX were on top of Hoffa, they were required to complete 10 Mucho-Leggos for each PAX. Team 2 won and won a much coveted point.

Thang 3: Partner Races

At this point, we broke up into teams of 2 and completed races up Hoffa. Each team completed 20 Merkins, 20 BBS, and 20 Star Jumps and then sprinted to the top of Hoffa (All reps could be shared). The top 3 teams each received a point, and then added 4 reps to each of the exercises for the next round. This continued for 3 rounds since time ran out.

At the end of the day 3 brave PAX tied for the lead with 3 points each – Jolly, Shiplap, and Big Mac. All of the other PAX were very envious of these accomplishments, but all were glad to be done with the days’ beatdown

COR/NOR/COT:

Thankful for the group of PAX, and YHC is always amazed at how we all push each other to be better and do more than we ever thought imaginable.

It was a beautiful morning at the Tarpit, and there was a chill in the air that had not been seen these past couple of weeks. 6 faithful PAX (Banks, Beaker, Big Mac, Jolly, Shiplap, Urkel) came out for my official Black Diamond VQ.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Mountain Man Poopers IC
• 15x Windmills IC
• 15x Merkins IC
• Jogged 1 lap around the track

The Thang:

We started off with a 1 mile timed run AYG that would set the bar for each of us for the remainder of the workout. The times were written down once complete so we would not forget. After the mile, we completed the following reps together with our coupons:

• 25x Curls
• 25x Overhead Press
• 15x 1 arm rows (each arm)
• 25x Derkins
• 25x BBS

We then took our times from the mile, cut them in half and subtracted 10 seconds. This was our target for the timed 1/2 mile run we did. For every second you missed your time you had to do 1 burpee. After the 1/2 mile we completed the same exercises as above at 20 reps.

We then took our actual times from the 1/2 mile, cut them in half and subtracted 10 seconds. This was our target for our timed 1/4 mile run which again incurred penalty burpees for every second you missed. After the 1/4 mile we completed the same exercises at 15 reps.

We repeated the 1/4 mile run with the same time target and penalty burpees and then completed the exercises at 10 reps

We finished up with another 1/2 mile timed run using our previous time as the benchmark and completed the exercises at 5 reps then moseyed back to the flag for some Mary.

6 MOM:

• 50x Flutter kicks IC
• 25x oblique crunches IC (each side)
• 25x Double Crunch IC

COR/NOR/COT:

It was great to have Urkel come and hang out with us and have him and the rest of the PAX push me and each other to go harder, there were some pretty impressive efforts on those runs! We nominated Jolly to lead the next Black Diamond in July!

It was another beautiful morning at the AO, 70 degrees and humid! 15 PAX (Aloha, Banks, Beaker, Bloomer, BOGO, Crack, DaVinci, Hotbox, Jolly, Katniss, Little Debbie (DR from Tennessee), Panda Express, Shiplap, Sparrow, Tortuga) came out to see what they were made of when they were asked the question, “Can you do 5 of anything?” Most PAX knew what was coming, but that didn’t stop them from coming out to do the hard thing this morning!

Warm-O-Rama: The Usual

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Mountain Man Poopers IC
• Stretch OYO as YHC explained the thang

The Thang: 5 Alive!

The PAX would start out on the path and mosey around the AO stopping at each light pole adding 1 rep each time. There was a wrinkle thrown in that while crossing every bridge, your feet had to be on the hand rails and you had to cross on your hands. The first light pole was 1 burpee, 2nd = 2 burpees, and so on until the 6th light pole where it was 5 burpees and 1 Merkin. The Merkin count increased until the 11th light pole where is was 5 burpees, 5 Merkins, and 1 Star Jump. The Star Jumps Progressed until the 16th Light pole where Dive Bombers were added into the mix. At the 21st Light pole Mucho Leggo was added. At the 25th light pole, all PAX completed 5 burpees, 5 Merkins, 5 Star Jumps, 5 Dive Bombers, and 5 Mucho Leggos. All PAX finished around 35 minutes, and some were under 30 minutes to completion! For those of you keeping count, this results in the following:

• 115 burpees
• 90 Merkins
• 65 Star Jumps
• 40 Dive Bombers
• 15 Mucho Leggos

We then moseyed to the hill and completed 3 sprints to the top! (We ran out of time, so we weren’t able to get to the magic number of 5…)

COR/NOR/COT:

Archive came and joined us for coffee. Thankful for this group and how we accelerate each other, remember:

• Acceleration requires daily commitment
• The decision to accelerate is done in solitude, but the act of accelerating is done in multitude
• Acceleration only requires movement today that is marginally faster than yesterday

Prayers for Archive’s fingers, Babe and his M and new 2.0, DBC, and for all of us to have a strong finish to the week.

It was another beautiful morning at the Tarpit, and 16 PAX (Babe, Banks, Big Mac, Bloomer, Cookies, DaVinci, Draper, Emcee(FNG), Hotbox, Jolly, Katniss, Noodles, Panhandle, Rain Man, Shiplap, Tortuga) came out for another round of ultimate frisbee. YHC clearly stated that we would be playing Ultimate for most of the time, but also to BYOC (This means bring your own coupon for future reference). When YHC showed up and had his coupon out, all the incoming PAX rebelled and refused to get their coupons out, YHC adjusted on the fly, but they will all pay for this transgression…

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 10x Windmills IC
• 20x Merkins IC

Thang 1: Race

The PAX all lined up on the goal line and sprinted 100 yards out, then they did Bernie Sanders back. This was followed by 100 yards of burpee broad jumps, 50 Merkins and a 100 yard sprint to the finish. The first 2 PAX complete got to choose their teams for Ultimate Frisbee.

Thang 2: Ultimate Frisbee

COR/NOR/COT:

It was good to be out in the early morning doing something fun with these HIMs. Praise and prayers for Cookies as he transitions out of his job prayers for Dr Phil and family.

It was a cool Spring Morning and all of the PAX knew what was headed their way, it was one of our regularly scheduled PT Tests! Some PAX kept their normal routines leading into the event, other PAX took a few days off to prepare, but all were ready to put forth their best efforts! The point of the PT Test is a check-in to measure you against you and see how you have changed over the year, the goal is to push as hard as you can! 17 PAX including 1 FNG (Welcome Binford!) came out for the event!

Warm-O-Rama:

• 25x Side-Straddle Hops IC
• 15x Mountain Man Poopers IC
• 8x Merkins IC (Jolly voiced his complaints pretty loudly for this one)
• Mosey 1 lap around the track

While YHC Explained proper form and what the days events would look like, all PAX continued to stretch and get their minds right.

The Thang: PT Test

• 2 Minutes Merkins
• 2 Minutes Big Boi Situps
• 2 Mile Run for Time

Results:

F3 NAME: Merkins / BBSU / 2-mile
@Banks: 80 / 84 / 14:54
@Big Mac: 101 / 97 / 13:37
@Binford: 41 / 34 / 15:04
@Bloomer: 88 / 81 / 14:24
@BOGO: 39 / 24 / 18:36
@Crack: 64 / 49 / 14:26
@Da Vinci: 73 / 72 / 16:16
@Hotbox: 77 / 65 / 12:19
@Jolly: 55 / 100 / 15:45
@Katniss: 84 / 53 / 13:17
@Milk Duds: 61 / 41 / 17:24
@Panhandle: 77 / 83 / 15:57
@SAGA: 78 / 50 / injured
@Shiplap: 70 / 70 / 13:41
@TBTF: 52 / 40 / 17:24
@Tortuga: 85 / 79 / 12:35
@Whittler: 66 / 45 / 15:28

COR/NOR/COT:

There were some pretty impressive scores put out there today and I am continually impressed at how everyone continues to improve, great job men!

It was a brisk cool morning, but perfect for a Friday run club! We had 10 PAX join ( Banks, Beaker, Cheese, DaVinci, Hotbox, Katniss, Panhandle, Saga, Shamu, Toto) join for a run/ruck combo. Saga & Davinci took off rucking and the rest of us ran the prairie path using the mile markers as our targets. With the PT Test coming up next week, the goal was to work a faster pace into today’s workout. We ran to mile marker 1 as a warmup, then we regrouped and ran for time to mile marker 2. After a break to catch our breath, we ran for time back to mile marker 1 and took another breather. From there we jogged back to Ground Zero to wrap up the day.

It was a great day to be out and glad to have these men around to push me to go harder than I otherwise would on my own. Prayers for Cooper as he continues to heal and for Beaker as he travels to a funeral this weekend.

It was a beautiful morning at Tarpit even though it was a little on the chilly side for a May morning. The PAX all commented that it was light at the start of our workout, which is a nice change from the dark mornings of winter. YHC had 2 workouts planned, if there were 10 or more PAX we would play Ultimate Frisbee, and if less than 10 showed, it would be a devastating beatdown. Thankfully for all of us, we had 12 PAX (Archive, Banks, Big Mac, Jolly, Katniss, Noodles, Panhandle, Rain man, Rancher, Shiplap, Sparrow, Tortuga)show even with a few fartsacks!

Warm-O-Rama: The Usual

• 7x Motivators
• 10x Mountain Man Poopers
• 15x Merkins IC

Thang 1: Team Race

We broke up into 4 teams of 3 and headed to the football field. The teams sprinted 100 yards, and then turned around to complete Broad Jump Burpees back to the start. At that point, the teams needed to advance their sandbag 100 yards out and back. For the first 100 yards, for each 15 merkins the PAX completed, they could throw the sandbag, on the way back 15 Squats earned a throw.

This proved to be a good burn to get the heart rate up and get our bodies loose for some fun.

Thang 2: Ultimate Frisbee

We broke into 2 teams of 6 and played Ultimate Frisbee. It was pretty evenly matched as the final score was 5-4. YHC thought I was getting in better shape, but this event definitely proved me wrong!

COR/NOR/COT:

Thankful for the day and being out with all these HIMs. The games have been a lot of fun recently, and where else are a bunch of guys willing to get up at 5:30am on a Saturday to come hang out and play a game together! Prayers for our FNG/Kotter drive that started today and for growth of the group to reach men in the community who need what F3 has to offer. We also lifted up Cooper as he recovers, and the FiA group who is planting their flag in Wheaton/Glen Ellyn.