Author: F3Banks

It was a chilly, but beautiful morning at AO Mastodon, and it looks like the timer to the lights was fixed as well, so we began our beatdown with light and the sun already coming up! 14 Faithful PAX (Banks, Big Mac, Cookies, DaVinci, Hotbox, Jolly, Katniss, Panhandle, SAGA, Shiplap, T-Bone, TBTF, Tortuga, Whittler) came out for what was billed to be a tough beatdown, but in a weird twist for YHC, there would be no burpees!

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7X Motivators
• 12x Abe Vigodas
• 16x Mountain Man Poopers
• 15x Merkins IC
• 25x Hip Hinges

The Thang:

At this point we started on a mosey around the outer loop of the AO with several stops along the way.

• Stop 1 – Flat Tire – The PAX partnered up to hold each other’s feet as 1 one PAX would take 4 steps in a wheelbarrow and then complete 1 Derkin. This progressed up in a 4:1 fashion, so 8 steps, 2 Derkins with the PAX trading with their partners as necessary until both completed 40 steps and 10 Derkins. Once all PAX were done, we moved on around the loop.
• Stop 2 – Monkey Bars – The PAX completed Captain Thor’s (1 BBS followed by 4 American Hammer’s progressing upwards in a 4:1 fashion) while they waited for their turn to cross the monkey bars and then complete 5 pullups, and then they would resume Captain Thor’s on the other side. Once all PAX were done, we moved on around the loop.
• Stop 3 – Dan Taylor Alley – The PAX completed Dan Taylor’s (1 Squat, 4 Lunges) progressing upwards until 8 squats and 32 lunges were completed. It should be noted that the mumble chatter was at a minimum at the point as I think the PAX were enjoying the sunrise and the pain that Dan Taylor Alley was delivering. Once all PAX were done, we moved on around the loop.
• Stop 4 – Base of Hoffa – We circled up and completed Jack Webbs (1 Merkin followed by 4 seal claps) we progressed upward until 10 Merkins and 40 Seal Claps were completed. YHC enjoyed looking around at all of the PAX and the smiles on their faces as the pain from the Seal Claps settled in. This one definitely was a great burn!
• The Finale – We sprinted to the top of Hoffa letting out a yell as each PAX saw fit. Unfortunately we only had time for 1, so we all moseyed back to the flags

COR/NOR/COT:

Thankful for the beautiful day and for all of the PAX being out there with me today. Prayers for Panhandle’s son and all of the students taking the SAT test today to have the right level of focus and do well.

Moleskin:

It is easy to do hard things with a group that you enjoy being around. The progressive nature of the 1:4 increasing ladder exercises is challenging, but through perseverance and focus, you go through it slowly and eventually you are done. Don’t ever stop moving forward, but keep doing the hard things!

It was a cool beautiful morning at the Tarpit, and the PAX enjoyed an amazing sunrise while they went through today’s beatdown. Since it was a Paxademy reprisal, all PAX knew what they were in for before they even showed up. 18 PAX came out in the early morning gloom on a Saturday (Shiplap, Jolly, Cookies, TBTF, Hotbox, Tortuga, Sparrow, Saga, DaVinci, Gummibear, Jliz, BigMac, Panhandle, Rainman, Beaker, Bloomer, Katniss, Banks). This was the beginning of the Banks-Saga double header that would conclude Glory Week and what a doozie to start out with! Since it was Glory week and all, we listened to some good old songs from the Glory Days while we worked out.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Windmills IC
• 15x Mountain Man Poopers IC
• 15x Merkins IC
• Slow Jog around the track mapping out the day’s activities

The Thang: Intervals

The purpose of interval training is to spike your heart rate and then actively recover. All of the exercises and focus for the day was to continually spike the heart rate, but also provide time to recover and bring it down.

We broke the track into 4 sections consisting of about 50m walking, 150m jogging, 100m fast paced run, and 100m sprint. The goal was to go around the track and give it everything you had in the sprint, and then recover with the walk. We completed 4 laps around the track using the intervals outlined above.

Next we did some EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) Intervals. 5 rounds of 10x burpees and 5x Star Jumps.

We then completed 4 more interval laps followed by 5 more rounds of EMOM consisting of 15x Squats, 15x Merkins, 5x BBS.

We finished off the thang with 4 more interval laps for a total of 12 interval laps or 3mi and another 5 rounds of EMOM consisting of 10x burpees and 5x Star Jumps.

COR/NOR/COT:

Praise for the day and prayers for Tortuga and Saga’s M’s as they go through challenges. Prayers to focus on being present this weekend and enjoy the time with family.

It was a calm cool morning and 5 brave PAX (Tortuga, Katniss, Shiplap, Hotbox, Banks) showed up for what was promised to be an intense beatdown. YHC promised the PAX they wouldn’t be cold for long and from the looks of it, the beatdown lived up to that promise.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Windmills IC
• 10x Merkins IC
• Short Jog around the parking lot to warm up

Thang 1: Burpees

YHC has been keeping track of my PR for 100 burpees, so I figured I would challenge all the PAX to see what they could do. So we completed 100 burpees for time. Tortuga showed us all up finishing around 7:30, and YHC brought in the 6 at 10:30, but everyone was warmed up after that!

Thang 2: Bataan Death March

One PAX would drop and complete 3 burpees and then move to the front of the line, we completed 5 rounds of all PAX as we jogged around the lake.

Thang 3: Lifting Heavy Things

We would complete a circuit of various exercises while the person with the sandbag would complete a set number of reps and then we would rotate.

Round 1:

• 25x Merkins with Sandbag on your back
• Bent Over Rows
• Overhead Press
• Curls with 1 coupon in each hand
• Goblet Squats

Round 2:

• 12x Burpees with the Sandbag (Sandees)
• Tricep Extensions
• Derkins
• Star Jumps
• Lunges

Round 3:

• 12x Ground to shoulder with Sandbag
• Skull Crushers
• Big Boi Situps
• Chest Press
• Hodors

At this point, we took a quick break for some squats to the song “Flower” by Moby.

3 MOM:

• 20x crunches elbow to knee each side
• 15x Crunchy Frog IC
• 4x Delayed Leg lowers

COR/NOR/COT:

Praise for Greta and her new heart, and prayers to take advantage of the time with families this weekend and make the most of it.

MOLESKIN:

I am really thankful for this group of HIM. I never would have been able to complete this workout on my own and they pushed me to go farther than I would on my own.

Urkel Guest Q:

THE SCENE: 18 STUPID degrees and with the wind chill, felt like 12! Stupid Winter.
New year, new HIM. What a way to start the week then by Rucking a few miles with a
whole lotta Burpees (Thanks St. Louis!) and other pain mixed in? Great mix of
Naperville and Wheaton PAX. Lots of 2nd F happened as well!

F3 WELCOME AND DISCLAIMER:
-Welcome to F3
-I am not a professional
-You are participating at your own risk
-You are responsible for your own well-being
-You are here voluntarily, and you are not paying to be here
-Know your limits and do the best you can, all exercises can be modified and are
only suggestions.

WARM-O-RAMA: (warm up)

• -Good Mornings (ICx10)
• -Deep Lunge stretch both legs (Countdown from 10)
• -Hammy stretch both legs (Countdown from 10)
• -SSH (ICx25)
  
• THE THANG 1: Indian Ruck with Burpees for the First Mile
  HIM got in a straight line and Indian Ricked the first mile (stole this from @Pi, thanks for
  the idea). During this we stopped twice to get 20 Burpees in (Thanks St. Louis!)

• THE THANG 2: Man, That’s a Long 100yds!
  PAX lined up and did a series of hard moseys and exercises for the length of about
  100yds.
  -Walking Lunges, Hard mosey back to start
  -Broad Jumps, Hard mosey back to start
  -Traveling Peter Parkers, Hard mosey back to start
• Squat Lunge Walk, Hard mosey back to start
  PAX finished off with 20 more Burpees. (Thanks St. Louis)
  
• (6MoM)
  Weighted BigBoi’s (IC 15x)
  Heel Touches (IC 20x)
  Plank Static Hold until done
  

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA:
25 Rucking Champions! (Setting records for Wheaton)- Pi (RESPECT), Webelos, Flush,
Mayhem, Wine in a Box, Elway (RESPECT), Banks, Shiplap, Beaker, Da Vinci, Jolly, Crack,
Sparrow, Picasso (DR), Cookies, Panhandle, Captain Crunch, Hotbox, Wet Burrito, Big Mac,
TBTF, Archive, Katniss, Noodles, Urkel (QIC)

CIRCLE OF TRUST:
● Today, we prayed for this new strand of Covid to die out, for everyone going back to
work or school, and for everyone fighting the pandemic.

MOLESKIN:
I recently heard a good sermon that made me think. I’m not normally a heavenly man, but I did want to have you ponder on this. Our bodies are vessels, containers, literally of organs and bones, but on a deeper level, we are vessels of hope and light. Times have been dark for too long now and we carry with us, wherever we go, this precious treasure of the good that we have inside of us all. God has chosen us, just earthen vessels of human frailty, to be filled with Himself—the very essence of who He is, so that we are His vessels of light, hope and love to the world around us.

We can take this everywhere into our everyday lives: our workplaces, schools, sporting events, social media. We should bring Hope, love, and light into the places of hurt, anger, bitterness, hate, and selfishness—shining the light into those dark places of depression, fear, torment and anxiety.

We are just ordinary people, just ‘jars of clay’, whom God has deposited a priceless, precious
treasure to take to the world around us.

From (John 15:5). “He has chosen us to be His vessel so that His power and greatness will be
seen through us—clearly revealing that it is from God, not from ourselves. Apart from Christ, we
can do nothing, but united with Him, we can do extraordinary things.”

We are strong, We grow, We build, We succeed! Here’s to the men of F3 Naperville & F3 Wheaton!

Did I do that?!
Yes, yes I did!
-Urkel

It was another beautiful morning at AO Mastodon. The sky was clear and the air was still making for a brisk but beautiful workout. 18 PAX (Archive, Captain Crunch, Panhandle, Big Mac, DBC, TBTF, Wet Burrito, Bloomer, Shiplap, Katniss, Beaker, Sparrow, T-Bone, Jolly, Crack, DaVinci, Tortuga, Banks) showed up for what was promised to be a great beatdown to help get everyone in the holiday spirit!

Warm-O-Rama:

• 35x Jumping Seal Claps IC
• 15x Windmills IC

The Thang: 12 Days of Christmas

The premise was to complete a day of Christmas, run to the top of Hoffa and back, and then complete the next day of Christmas along with all of the prior days until you get through all 12!

• Day 1 – 20x Curls
• Day 2 – 20x Tricep Extensions
• Day 3 – 20x Overhead Press
• Day 4 – 20x Murder Bunnies
• Day 5 – 10x Burpees
• Day 6 – 10x Big Boi Situps
• Day 7 – 10x Alternating Shoulder Taps
• Day 8 – 10x Hand Release Merkins
• Day 9 – 20x Goblet Squats
• Day 10 – 10x Nipple Scrapers (a special homage to Saga as he is away for the week)
• Day 11 – 10x Elf on the Shelf
• Day 12 – 20x Blockees

Admittedly YHC was a little ambitious on this one in the allotted time, but the 10 Days of Christmas just doesn’t have the same ring to it! We switched to doing all 12 days for the last few minutes, but most PAX finished day 9 and a few got through day 10.

COR/NOR/COT:

Prayers to finish the week strong and for Crack’s neighbor. It feels great to be back at it consistently with such a great group of HIM there to support!

It was another beautiful morning at AO Tarpit and very quiet at 5:30am on a Saturday! YHC had been out for the last 2 weeks quarantining, so it was time to get back into action in a big way! 9 faithful PAX (Shiplap, Captain Crunch, Saga, Davinci, Big Mac, Beaker, Katniss, Hotbox, Banks) came out for the early morning beatdown.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Windmills IC
• 15x Mountain Man Poopers IC
• 10x Merkins IC
• Slow Jog around the track mapping out the day’s activities

The Thang: Intervals

The purpose of interval training is to spike your heart rate and then actively recover. All of the exercises and focus for the day was to continually spike the heart rate, but also provide time to recover and bring it down.

We broke the track into 4 sections consisting of about 50m walking, 150m jogging, 100m fast paced run, and 100m sprint. The goal was to go around the track and give it everything you had in the sprint, and then recover with the walk. We completed 4 laps around the track using the intervals outlined above.

Next we did some EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) Intervals. 5 rounds of 10x burpees and 5x Star Jumps.

We then completed 4 more interval laps followed by 5 more rounds of EMOM consisting of 10x Squats, 10x Merkins, 5x BBS.

We finished off the thang with 4 more interval laps for a total of 12 interval laps or 3mi.

Mary:

• 20x LBC IC
• 20x Oblique LBC IC on each side

COR/NOR/COT:

Prayers for everyone as we descend into another lockdown and we ask that everyone stay strong through the holidays, prayers for Captain Crunches family as they celebrate Thanksgiving and Birthdays without being able to be with family.

Moleskin:

Being forced to stay away from this group for 2 weeks while quarantining definitely sucked. It was hard to stay motivated in everyday life without getting up and accomplishing something hard first thing in the morning. It definitely reinforced how impactful this group truly is and how glad I am to be able to be a part of it!

It was another beautiful morning as the PAX showed up to AO Tarpit for another beatdown. After IronPax in September and a few workouts under our belt at the AO, it is starting to feel like home. 9 PAX (Sparrow, Shiplap, Katniss, Mose, BigMac, Davinci, Wet Burrito, Archive, Banks) showed up for what was promised to not be easy. Our inspiration for today was a quote from Thomas Edison – “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”, so all PAX were looking for their “Opportunity” to get better.

Warm – O – Rama: The Usual

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

Thang 1: Burpee Mile

We completed 4 stops with 12 burpees each as we moseyed around the AO. (It should be noted that after the first set of 12 burpees, @shiplap pointed out that they had done the burpee mile last week… YHC needs to get better at reading backblasts… Undeterred by redundancy, we proceeded to complete the burpee mile as planned.

Thang 2: Heavy Lifting

The PAX broke out into 9 stations and completed the exercise for that station while the pace setter did an assigned number of reps.

• Pace Setter – 12x Sandees (Sandbag Burpees) – All PAX Anxiously watched this person struggle to complete 12 reps so that we could all rotate.
• Overhead Press – Coupon
• Tricep Curl – Coupon
• Squats – Coupon
• Curls – Coupon
• Bent Over Rows – Sandbag
• Blockees – Coupon
• Hodors – Coupon
• Star Jumps

We made one full rotation, and then made 3 stops in a lightning round where the pace setter only completed 3 reps.

During all of this, we paused twice as some special songs came on so that we could complete those exercises:

• Bodies (Drowning Pool) – We completed Donkey Kicks on the 1, 2, 3, 4, and then a Merkin every time “Bodies” was said
• Flower (Moby) – We completed Squats according to the lyrics “Bring Sally Up, Bring Sally Down” ( Which I learned today is actually “Green Sally Up”… no idea what that means…)

COR/NOR/COT:

Prayers for Archive and his M as they are expecting their newest addition any day now. Prayers for Shiplap and his M as they go through some trying times. Prayers for all of us to finish the week strong.

It was YHC’s first Q at our newest AO, so I figured a little exploration was in order. It was a chilly morning, but without any wind it was quite nice out. 3 PAX (Katniss, Shiplap, Banks) braved the early morning gloom on a Saturday to come out and see what Tarpit has to offer.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Windmills

Thang 1: Exploration

We started off with a Bataan Death March mosey to explore the Tarpit grounds. We went up the hill and across the street ending up at the tennis courts. *It should be noted that at this point, YHC injured himself and could not really run any more so the workout was heavily modified from this point forward…

• Bearpees – We went across the courts 1 way completing standard Bearpees, then went the other way with double burpee bearpees. *It should be noted that at this point, we noticed the Fox that call Tarpit it’s home closely monitoring our every movement… Shiplap and Katniss scared it away for the time being
• 20x dips at 2 different stops along the way

We then moseyed to near the track and completed some lunges along the way

• We stopped and completed 15x Merkins IC

We then moseyed to the playground equipment and completed 1 round of the below circuit with the pullups as the pace setter:

• 10x Pullups
• Derkins
• BBS

At this point, we moseyed back to the cars to acquire some heavy things to lift.

Thang 2: Heavy Lifting

We set up 3 stations and completed the following with the person on the sandbag being the pace setter. There were 2 main sets we completed and then repeated with decreasing reps:

• 25x Sandbag Bent Over Rows, other stations were Blockees and Hodors
• 10x Sandbag Burpees or “Sandees”, other stations were coupon squats and curls
• 20x Sandbag Bent Over Rows
• 8x Sandees
• 15x Sandbag Bent Over Rows *At this point, we noticed our friend the Fox joined us and was creepily watching us from the edge of the track… Katniss ran at him to scare him, but at this point he didn’t move, which in turn scared us… We decided to perform our remaining exercises facing the Fox…
• 6x Sandees
• 10x Sandbag Bent Over Rows
• 4x Sandees
• 5x Sandbag Bent Over Rows *At this point, the Fox had had enough and ran off… It looks like we have an official mascot for the AO!
• 2x Sandees

Each PAX completed 75x Sandbag Bent over rows, 30x Sandees, and lots of Blockees, Hodors, Coupon Squats and Curls.

After being sufficiently gassed, we headed back to the start to circle up for some Mary.

3 MOM:

• 30x Flutter Kicks IC
• 25x Each Side Oblique Crunches Each Side IC

COR/NOR/COT:

Prayers for these men who came out and joined YHC in the early gloom. Thankfulness for the beautiful day and strength to stay focused on our families this weekend.

It was a cool fall morning, and the first one we started off in the 40’s! The weather was perfect for what YHC had in store for the day. Since it was the day I turn another year older, I thought what better way to celebrate than to take a test and be measured in our physical abilities. 18 faithful PAX showed up to be tested, and all pushed their hardest.

Warm-O-Rama:

• 7x Motivators
• 15x Windmills IC
• 15x Mountain Man Poopers IC
• 7x Merkins IC
• Run Around Hoffa and converge at the Coupon Stack

The Thang: PT Test

The PAX partnered up and helped each other by monitoring form and counting for the test. We alternated between partners and each PAX completed AMRAP in 2 mins of Merkins and BBSU. From there we went on an individually timed 2 mile run… Let me tell you, this group of PAX is fast!!

Results: (push/sit/2mi)
Crunch 67 / 65 / 13:35
Big Mac 96 / 100 / 14:00
Tbone 64 / 72 / 14:42
Katniss 66 / 53 / 14:25
Shiplap 63 / 67 / 15:08
G. Bear 65 / 81 / 12:57
Hotbox 76 / 51 / 13:05
Banks 66 / 71 / 16:36
Archive 100 / 81 / 15:28
Smokey 21 / 44 / 18:35
Tortuga 60 / 75 / 12:47
Sparrow 80/ 62 / 16:26
DaVinci 69 / 67 / 16:12
Bloomer 73 / 80 / 14:30
Saga 70 / 47 / 16:00
Wet Burrito 69 / 70 / 16:20
Panhandle 47 / 53 / N/A
Cookies 41 / 33 / N/A 

COR/NOR/COT:

Prayers for Cookies as he searches for a new job, and blessing upon all of us and the country as we go through this divisive time during elections.

Moleskin:

It was great to see all these PAX turn out and push their hardest to see where they stand. We pushed hard during Shredtember, and it is good to pause and reflect upon how far we have come. Most PAX did more than they thought they could and pushed me to do better than I thought possible. It is great to spend another year on this Earth with this group of HIMs and I appreciate all of you as we continue to push each other to be better!