Backblasts

During the evening news Monday night the weather man called for a “frost warning” – my first thought “awesome, this beatdown will be perfect for a nice brisk morning.” My second thought “shoot I planted my plants already and they are going to freeze” luckily the excited for my first thought made me quickly forget about the plants! With a new F3 playlist on amazon music, your QIC was ready to rock and roll

WOR: SSH x 30, Picking Daiseys, quad stretch, Arm Circles, Merkins Slow cadence x 15

The Thang: Musical Dora and Greta meet for a party. Like a typical Dora each PAX was given a partner – the PAX would complete one of the “Greta exercises” while a song played. When a new song came on the groups switched exercises. While Partner 1 completed the exercise – partner 2 rand Hoffa.

Exercises: Blockees, Thrusters, Coupon Swings

6MOM: Flutters IC x 30

NOR/COT: Baby Sitter, Da Vinci, Saga, Banks, Panhandle, Aloha, Dress Code, Babe, Ralphy (FNG), Big Mac, Gummi Bear, Jolly, TBTF, Sparrow, Tortuga (Respect), Whittler, Crack

Moleskin: Everyday you will get better or you will get worse. None of us will stay the same. The choice is yours.

10 PAX – Sparrow, Katniss, HotBox, Panhandle, Shiplap, Shamu, Crack (and Dually Dog), Tortuga (respect), Jolly, TBTF QIC – if I missed anyone let me know as we didn’t record the NoR

The runners started early, circled back to the flag at 530AM and were off again for a nice morning run (didn’t get the miles).

The Ruckers did a quick WoR consisting of Abe Vigodas, Tappy Taps, and Imperial Walkers and we were off. We rucked about 1.25 miles to the Lincoln Marsh Prairie Patch Park where we got in some quick PT. PT consisted of a total of 50 derkins, 50 overhead presses, 50 squats, and 5 laps shuffled around a walking path at the park (roughly 15 minutes of PT). We then rucked back to the AO picking up various pieces of garbage on the side of the road to add weight (@Sparrow :)). Ended up at about 2.5 miles under ruck and 15 minutes PT

CoT
Prayers for Dr. Phil and his family after the passing of his brother; continued prayers for Cooper and the Bloomer family in Cooper’s ongoing recovery/rehab process

This one is two months overdue, sorry about that fellas. Better late than never!

13 brave and daring PAX arrived, some for a double header after a Tortuga beatdown, and some fresh meat waiting to be tenderized. This was a particularly fun Q for me, as it not only gamified the beatdown and took our mind off the pain, but also added some funky spunky switch ups to how we do things. Had to think “outside the box”, which is the name of the game in the UK hit gameshow, “Taskmaster”, my inspiration for this Q.

Posting HIMs included:

1. Captain Crunch
2. Archive
3. Crack
4. Crash
5. Double Beef n Cheddar
6. TBTF
7. Sparrow
8. Nickerdoodle
9. Tortuga
10. Cookies
11. Banks
12. Jailbreak
13. Jäzz Händ

WoR
TASKMASTER COUNTING
IN CADENCE— COUNTING GOES AROUND THE CIRCLE PAX-BY-PAX
1 —> 2 —> 3 —> ONE 
1 —> 2 —> 3 —> TWO  
——
7 motivators 
20 arm circles forward IC
20 arm circles backward IC
20 goof balls
Daisy pickers (left + right + center)

This took about 7-10 minutes. Many silly faults, lots of penalty merkins for miscounting.

THANG 1
Taskmaster Coupon Carry. 
West lot to Pool House (street ending)
TWO TEAMS.
—> 1 MINUTE RELAY, 30 SECOND AMRAP COUPON EXERCISES — RINSE AND REPEAT <—
First team entirely across YELLOW BARRICADE by pool house wins. NO SHORTCUTS – use road only.
Start in west parking lot by flag, move along dry road to the pool house. Stay together, COMMUNICATE. 
Every 1 minute, Q’s alarm will sound: we stop, do AMRAP for 30 SECONDS of these in rotation: 
1) blockees    2) goblet squats    3) grave diggers    4) raised-coupon flutter kicks    5) derkins
After 30 second timer ends, resume coupon carry circuit. 
EACH PAX/TEAM will follow the following rules:

• Only one person  per team can move at a time. 
• After each AMRAP, you must switch what carry style from what you previously used.
• Each team must have at least 3 different coupon carry styles at all times.
• You must always be within 10 feet of someone on your team. 
• Penalty for breaking rules: entire team at fault does 10 burpees.
• Other team will be your whistle-blower.

I don’t remember which team “name” it was, but the other team (not mine) won this relay! Our team faulted twice due to @Sparrow ’s using a “UK foot” instead of a US foot to measure the 10-foot rule 🙄. This new routine took about 30 minutes.

THANG 2
Taskmaster Spelling Bee
Start at the northern most end of the pool house parking lot , end at Basketball Courts to the south. End goal is to spell “F-3” with coupons as a team on the basketball court. 
—> 20 SECOND TIMERS, REPEATING <—
Begin – all PAX line up at the starting line. Begin planking. Whenever timer sounds, someone calls new plank, and the Q released one PAX at a time from the starting point in 20 second waves.
Hands must stay below your knees at all times to transport your coupon. Take any path you choose. Options are bent over carries, murder bunnies, coupon drag—open to interpretation. 

Destination is out of sight so PAX can’t see results until they arrive. Each PAX adds their coupon to the growing creation that should end up spelling “F-3” on the ground on the basketball court. You can’t adjust previous PAX’s coupons when you arrive. When you are not transporting your coupon, you should be planking. Anyone can call a plank position for all PAX to hold. Switch every 20 seconds as PAX depart/arrive.

When the final PAX arrives, if the arrangement does not please the TASKMASTER QIC (YHC), 25 burpee penalty for everyone.

This worked very well and the Taskmaster QIC was pleased – no penalties! However poor @Jolly broke his coupons doing murder bunnies on the pavement! 

THANG 3
Taskmaster “Sing” of Fire
Circle up. Ring of Fire / doomsday clock (don’t remember which name is correct) – planking + merkins, one pax at a time.
Begin going around CW with merkins, one per PAX in order. In opposite direction CCW, one PAX sings first word  of “I’m a little teapot”. Next pax sings the next word. So on and so on. If someone gets it wrong or waits longer than 3 seconds to sing their word, everyone does punishment: 5 extra merkins at that moment. (There are about 22 words in that song.) Keep going. 

Eventually PAX gave up on singing portion and it came down to a couple PAX standoff for the last remaining PAX. I believe it was Archive and Captain Crunch but my memory is foggy on this one. 

Recover. Slow, zombie mosey carrying our coupons back to the flag for…

CoR/NoR/CoT

Coffee

Kevin Lipp

A rosy-fingered dawn greeted the PAX who gathered for a beatdown set to 90s music, freshly imported from actual compact discs that were listened to in the 1990s.

Warmorama: Sidestraddle hops during Live’s “I Alone” with a burpee for “I Alone.” Arm circles, Daisy pickers and calf stretches.

The Thang: PAX choose two cards from the dexicon, do the exercise (number card = 30+, royal = 50, Ace + 100). After two cards completed, sprint to goal post, job 75% to the chair placed half way, jog the rest of the way. Repeat. The 90s glory kept drawing the runners back to the deck.

Moleskin: F3 talks about “the Warrior” (mentioned previously), so we discussed “the King” from Rohr’s From Wild Man to Wise Man:

The calm king sitting on his throne is the archetype of centeredness and security within himself. He is, therefore, a symbol of fertility and creativity within himself. To be in the king’s good graces is to be at the core. The king in a man is secure neough to recognize, affirm and bless goodness when he sees it inn others. he is not threatened by the growth or maturity of others, because he knows and loves who he himself is. You cannot threaten the king because he does not need you, or even need your admiration. He is the principle of healthy autonomy and very clear boundaries. the greater the king, the bigger the realm he is able to hold together. Some are kings for their own limited racial group, some hold together a “rainbow coalition,” others preside over the whole domain and hold it together in unity. Thus Christians rightly speak of Jesus as “King of kings” because his universal rain “falls on the good and bad, the just and the unjust.”

COT: Cooper, mothers, FIA sister group, Dr. Phil’s boro, Saga’s friend, Big Mac’s students.

NOR: (can anyone tell me what NOR means? I think it means people who showed): FNG: @Draper, @Banks, @SAGA, @Banks, @Beaker, @BigMac, @Katniss, @Shiplap, @Tortuga, @Panhandle, @Jolly, @DaVinci Q

Bonus: Summary of coffeteria discussion: We discussed the extreme stress of football coaching culture (and American work culture in general), the cost to families, and the sacrifices necessary for “greatness,” sacrifices that are often not worth it. Better a whole person perhaps than to give it all to exceed in one area.

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.

WOR: Side Straddle Hops / Arm Circles / Tappy Taps / Merkins / Mt Climbers

THANG 1: SAGA’s 100 Yard Dash of Salt and Pain

Feast begins at the endzone.

ROUND 1: 10 blockees + sprint to 10 yard line and back

ROUND 2: 20 skull crushers + sprint to the 20 yard line and back

ROUND 3: 30 goblet squats + sprint to the 30 yard line and back

ROUND 4: 40 derkins + sprint to the 40 and back

ROUND 5: 50 coupon curls + sprint to the 50 and back

ROUND 6: 60 overhead press + sprint to the 60 and back

ROUND 7: 70 lunges (one-is-one) + sprint to the 70 and back

ROUND 8: 80 bent over rows + sprint to the 80 and back

ROUND 9: 90 LBCs + sprint to the 90 and back

ROUND 10: 100 air squats + sprint to the other end zone THEN 10 burpees and back…

pick-up the 6

THANG 2: Elevenses

Rifle carry to 10 yard line & do 10 squats + 1 blockee

Continue rifle carry to the 20 yard line and do 9 squats + 2 blockees…

…all the way to the end zone where you do 1 squat + 10 blockees

Rifle carry back 100 yards

MARY: 3min of flutter kicks & low plank

CoR/NoR/Cot: 9 PAX in attendance: @Babe @Da Vinci @Hotbox @Jolly @Milk Duds (respect) @Panhandle @SAGA (Q) @Shiplap @Tortuga (respect)

Prayers for @Dr Phil’s brother who had a severe stroke, @Babe & @SAGA churches dealing with disciplinary issues, @Hotbox’s M and 2-year-old, Cooper’s recovery from brain surgery (@Bloomer’s son)

MOLESKIN: #sword-swallowers—if you can’t remember the verse, at least remember the 3Gs… 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of work, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good work which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Eph 2:8-10

15 PAX POSTED: Crack, Banks, Katniss, Beaker, Tortuga, Jolly, Panhandle, Babysitter, Shiplap, BigMac, Sparrow, Saga, Hotbox, FNG Aloha! and Gummibear.

When I arrived I was not surprised to see Sparrow talking with the FNG I invited, perhaps attempting to brainwash him into thinking Sparrow invited him. Sparrow is very convincing.

All of the above were present for the first ever Wheaton Joker Q. We were solemn and yet brimming with anticipation as Shiplap passed out the deck of cards. The last card was given to me…I looked and there, on the piece of red and white glossy cardboard was the image of a court jester. I knew right then that I had the Joker. That’s when it occurred to me that I would be leading, right then after I saw the Jester which is a Joker, that’s when I knew.

WARM O RAMA:

An entire beautiful story could be written on the precisely choreographed warm up. But it is enough to state here that it achieved its purpose with grace and dignity; of preparing the pax for the workout to come. The warm up was not appreciated in its own time, but often genius is overlooked for the normal and expected. A great big sleek looking and ornately made musical box was present on wheels as well; compliments of Shiplap. Ode to Katniss and Archive: One must recognize and give homage to those who have gone before and inspired him to greatness.

The Thang:

We paired up and moved over to the pull up bars.

Pull ups I/C: Sets of 10,8,3 with the final pull up including a hold.

Race to the hill: Partner teams raced around the small loop to the hill. Partners alternated between doing Rifle Carries and Murder Bunnies and conducting either Overhead Squats and Blockees while waiting for the partner to catch up. Katniss and Hotbox were the first to the top of the hill.

ANB: Anything But MARY I/C. When we all arrived at the top of the hill the pax formed a circle and the Q graciously gave each pax (except Jolly and Sparrow) a turn at calling whatever exercise their heart desired as long as the pax could perform the exercise, it was not an ab exercise, and the pax could call cadence for the exercise. The q quickly realized that he should have not been so magnanimous and should have placed more specific parameters on his unruly subjects. Crack, Banks, and Saga started out all calling some form of a push up exercise with Banks performing 20 I/C burpees. I also learned that bigmac has an impressive vertical as he performed 20 I/C star jumps and Shiplap led a forearm exercise to simply show us we are all weaker then he. And of course when we arrived at hotbox and told him he could lead us in one exercise, he took great liberties and led us in three exercises.

A final sprint to the the top of the hill ended the first joker Q.

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.

Sgt. Zachary D. Tellier, 31, of Charlotte was a combat infantryman with the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, at Fort Bragg. He died Sept. 29, 2007 of wounds sustained while on a ground patrol in Afghanistan. In April, Tellier’s unit was on a mounted patrol when one of its vehicles drove over and detonated a bomb, which set the vehicle on fire, officials said. Tellier pulled two paratroopers to safety, suffering severe burns to his hands. He was awarded the Bronze Star with valor for his actions. Tellier also had received two Purple Hearts. After he was burned, Tellier jumped up in the turret to return fire, said Sgt. Michael Layton, a member of his unit. A lieutenant made Tellier get out of the vehicle because of his injuries

WOR: Motivators / Goofballs / Tappy Taps / Mt Climbers

THANG 1: 5 rounds for time… w/a @Jolly here or there

ROUND 1: 10 Burpees

ROUND 2: 10 Burpees + 25 Push-Ups

ROUND 3: 10 Burpees + 25 Push-Ups + 50 Lunges

ROUND 4: 10 Burpees + 25 Push-Ups + 50 Lunges + 100 Sit-Ups

ROUND 5: 10 Burpees + 25 Push-Ups + 50 Lunges + 100 Sit-Ups + 150 Air Squats

THANG 2: round the track we go for a SAGA mile:

10 burpees + lap / 10 merkins + lap / 10 sit-ups + lap / 10 lunges + lap / end w/10 squats

CoR/NoR/Cot: 8 PAX in attendance: @Banks @Big Mac @Milk Duds(respect) @Noodles @Panhandle @SAGA (Q) @T-bone (respect) @Tortuga (respect)

Prayers for @T-bone’s M’s friend, Caroline, whose father died in Africa and she is unable to be present / @Noodles and his job search / @Bloomer’s son Cooper and his healing and recovery after surgery / Ms & 2.0s

MOLESKIN: The gift of a PAX and those who have gone before us and gave their lives to secure our freedom. We too are called to daily give our lives for others.

remember #sword-swallowers:  

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of work, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good work which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Eph 2:8-10

#3rd-f opportunities: Exodus World Services + $ to get a gift for @Bloomer’s son Cooper