17 men ventured out into the gloom to try their hands (and shoulders and legs) on the Week 0 IronPax workout. Shout-outs especially to [tag Hotbox] and [tag Katniss] for breaking the 30-minute mark.
Workout:
100 Merkins
800 meter run
75 Merkins
1,200 meter run
50 Merkins
1,600 meter run
25 Merkins
2,000 meter run
Who showed up:
PAX:
Heist, Sparrow, Cookies, Shiplap, Hotbox, Tortuga, Katniss, Jolly, Gummi Bear
WOR:
– air squats
– merkins
– bent over rows
– curls for the girls (and for the arms race)
– arm circles
THANG:
– Murph. Only Murph.
MOLESKIN:
July 4th provides an opportunity to celebrate our country and the freedom’s we enjoy. What is freedom? Freedom is the capacity to choose wisely and to act well as a matter of habit (and virtue). When considering how to be free, we should remember the weaknesses and vices we must first conquer. St. Thomas Aquinas defines effeminacy (not to be confused with femininity) as an unwillingness to put aside pleasure in order to pursue what is difficult, and sloth as an aversion to what is difficult. In other words, the effeminate man skips the Murph because he enjoys sleeping in. The slothful man skips the Murph because he loathes the hard work of the Murph. We must conquer both of these weaknesses if we want to be properly free and choose the Murph (or any other good). So let’s be grateful for F3 for teaching us the discipline necessary to conquer weaknesses that limit our freedom, let’s be grateful for the freedoms we have inherited as citizens of this country, and let’s strive to be men that deserve what we have been given.
COT:
Prayers for . . .
– the Armenians that have recently encountered Sparrow and the Gospel for the first time,
– Cookie’s entering his last week of work,
– Tortuga’s wedding anniversary is today,
– Hotbox 2.0 has a birthday today,
– Heist is expecting a baby Sept 20.
This workout was designed so that someday, somewhere, a man would make an intelligent comment about the Old Testament, and get some raised eyebrows from those around him. “How would you know anything about that?” they ask incredulously. “Well, you see, I one time did this workout…
“Motivators”, which were actually side straddle hops.
Tap-y-Taps.
Calf stretches.
Mountain man poopers
etc.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Hold Superman like you’re hovering over the face of the waters.
Progress to Al Gore
God makes man: Man Makers X 10
Calf raises around the garden. Eye to eye with your fellow PAX, enjoying relationship and a non-stressful exercise. Pass an apple from PAX to PAX until somebody succumbs to temptation and bites the apple.
Saga bites the apple. All hell breaks loose. 10 burpees.
Pax pair up and complete 100 merkins and 100 squats together, then choose an animal and do that crawl up the hill, two-by-two. Circle up at the top of the hill to form an ark, then do flutter kicks and leg raises. The ark lands on Mt. Ararat.
“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, … And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower… and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” PAX TOWER/Human Pyramid.
God calls Abraham to leave his home. Abraham follows God. Abraham believes God’s promise even though in his own lifetime he didn’t see all of it fulfilled. The promise was true, and Abraham became a mighty nation. AMRAP Big boy situps 2 Minutes.
We give Isaac a miss.
Jacob grasped the heal, we do one set of pull ups, your personal max. God renamed Jacob into “Israel” Jacob had 12 sons, who became the 12 tribes of israel. One of them was Joseph.
Chest presses while we learned that Joseph was enslaved by his brothers. God had a plan for Joseph to be the leader of Egypt, a savior of his people, and the training ground for all of that was slavery and prison. Joseph saved his family by storing up grain before the entire world got hit by a famine.
Joseph’s family (Israel and his sons) were saved by traveling to Egypt and getting fed, but eventually things took a turn for the worse. Pharaoh enslaved the Jews. They spent their time making bricks. The PAX did 20 grave diggers, then a rifle carry up hoffa.
God gives Moses a special upbringing and leadership training, and then tells him to go talk to Pharaoh. Moses complains, but it turns out God was right. Moses tells Pharaoh that God says “let my people go.” During the 10 plagues, God told his people to paint their doorways with the blood of a lamb, so that the angel of death would pass over their house. That sounds strange, but Christians also believe that the blood of Jesus is also able to spare us from death. PAX do squat thrusters reminiscent of painting an overhead doorway.
After 10 plagues and the death of his son, Pharaoh lets them go.
God gives Moses the 10 commandments while they are in the desert. Pax do 10 block merkins (later in the workout).
God’s people make it right up to the edge of the promised land, but they refused to obey God and go into it, so he told them they could wander for a while (40 years) while they thought about it. PAX go for a fast jog (a fog) with an emphasis on picking up the 6, which creates the sensation of wandering.
PAX enter the promised land and enjoy some much needed rest.
The Old Testament is a beautifully written collection of history, poetry and prophecy. It tells the story of a God who desires relationship with us. If you find yourself asking “Why God?”, read the Old Testament and ask yourself “Why People?” People do some silly things, and God keeps moving towards us in relationship.
COT. Prayers.
As we continue our FNG/Kotter drive, today proved to be another successful drive and PAX brought in 3 more FNGs. Per usual Ruckers remained and Runners ran like the wind.
WoR: Motivators x7, Abe Vigodas, x16, Tappy Taps x15
The Thang: Ruck/Shuffle/PT
PAX went on a ruck around the AO and stopped for the following PT stations:
Station #1 – Bolt 45s (15 squats down to halfway position and return. 15 squats from halfway down position to full squat position and return up to halfway position. 15 full squats or jump squats.
Station #2 – Dan Taylors x7 (1 squat, 4 lunges, 2 squats, 8 lunges, etc.)
Station #3 – 1 Round of ATMs (15 shoulder taps, 15 slow tempo merkins, 15 fast tempo merkins)
Station #4 – Bear Crawl Snake up Hoffa (Snake up Hoffa, PAX at the end weaves in and out to the top of the line, next PAX at end of the line begins crawl).
Plank for the 6.
Got a nice lather in for the day and encouraged some of the running PAX along the way.
NoR – .
CoT – Praise for Whittler’s recent engagement. May God continue to bless his relationship and plans for marriage. Praising God for F3 and the recent growth. Allow old and new PAX to recognize the benefits of this group. Allow us to continue planting seeds with other man that need F3 but don’t know it yet.
As we continue our FNG/Kotter drive, today proved to be another successful drive and PAX brought in 3 more FNGs. Per usual Ruckers remained and Runners ran like the wind.
WoR: Motivators x7, Abe Vigodas, x16, Tappy Taps x15
The Thang: Ruck/Shuffle/PT
PAX went on a ruck around the AO and stopped for the following PT stations:
Station #1 – Bolt 45s (15 squats down to halfway position and return. 15 squats from halfway down position to full squat position and return up to halfway position. 15 full squats or jump squats.
Station #2 – Dan Taylors x7 (1 squat, 4 lunges, 2 squats, 8 lunges, etc.)
Station #3 – 1 Round of ATMs (15 shoulder taps,
Station #4 – Bear Crawl Snake up Hoffa
Plank for the 6.
Got a nice lather in for the day and encouraged some of the running PAX along the way.
NoR – .
CoT – Praise for Whittler’s recent engagement. May God continue to bless his relationship and plans for marriage. Praising God for F3 and the recent growth. Allow old and new PAX to recognize the benefits of this group. Allow us to continue planting seeds with other man that need F3 but don’t know it yet.
We did PT with sandbags. Pretty simple stuff.
WOR:
20 Bat Wings
20 Goofballs
40 Slow Merkins lifting alternate leg (the moaning started here)
THANG 1:
PAX take turns with Sandbags going from lantern to lantern around the AO Path
At each lantern:
PAX with the Fat Man (120lb sandbag) calls an exercise from the pool of suggestions or comes up with something of their own and all the PAX do that exercise.
Fat Man does 10 reps
Small Bags do 20 reps
Bagless do 40 reps
Once complete do the holding exercise for the 6
Drop the bags and someone else carries it.
|
Sandbag |
Bagless |
Holding Exercise |
|
Chest press |
Merkins |
People’s Chair |
|
Side Lunges |
Plank |
|
|
Bent over Rows |
Tricep Dips |
Boat |
|
Squat-press |
Air Squats |
Reverse Plank |
|
Curls |
Leg curls |
Canoe |
|
Good Morning |
Al Gore |
|
|
Overhead squat |
No Surrenders |
Side Plank |
|
Split Squat |
Low squat |
We had enough sandbags and PAX that everyone had one turn with Fat Man, and had a small bag about every 2nd or 3rd lantern.
THANG 2:
Man Rise up Hoffa, sandbags included, Sandees/Burpees at the top. Shiplap did his sandies with the Fat Man followed by Nantan Banks getting in his own 10 bonus reps. YHC tried one with the Fat Man and found it could barely be lifted overhead, so the workout ended abruptly.
Mosey back to the flags was definitely slow today.
NOR: Aloha, Archive, Banks, Beaker, Big Mac, BOGO (FNG), Cookies (Q), Dress Code (FNG), Gummi Bear, Hotbox, Jolly, Katniss, Picasso, Shiplap, Sparrow, T-Bone ¡Respect!, Tortuga ¡Respect!, Wet Burrito ¡Welcome Back!
10 Pax for a Town & Country run (Archive QIC, Banks, Shiplap, Tortuga, Whittler, Shamu, Dr. Phil, Hotbox, Panhandle, TBone). Route was as follows: Town: east on Prairie Path to Parking Garage. To the top of the garage. North past library. West on Lincoln to Prairie Path. North on Prairie Path. West through the Marsh to overpass. East on Childs to startex.
COR NOR BOM: Prayers for Boomer and Cooper, giving thanks for wonderful surroundings to run in.
Moleskine: “Be kind for every man is fighting a hard battle”
One month ago YHC attempted to create something Super, but as has been observed lately, this PAX never does anything half-assed. In this case it was not only too complicated, but also an insane quantity of reps that even the valiant baker’s dozen HIMs could not complete. Now, with the warmer weather, a new version of the SuperDora has emerged, and the PAX of F3-Wheaton were ready to meet the challenge: Banks, Beaker, Big Mac, Cookies (Q), Da Vinci, Hotbox, Jolly, Katniss, Panhandle, Saga, Shiplap, T-bone, Tortuga, Whittler
WOR: Daisy pickers and some leg stretching, Arm circles and some arm stretching.
THANG: SuperDora, revised version
Instead of pairs, the entire PAX was challenged to complete exercise reps including both cardio exercises and PT. Carry your coupon with you everywhere you go, and don’t linger at any one station too long. Exercise completion tracked by moving tokens from one bucket to another at 4 stations:
Station 1 – Hoffa: 50 tokens
1 Redrum up and down Hoffa per token
Station 2 – Cooties: 100 tokens
5 Pull ups or 10 Inverted rows or 10 Kettlebell swings or 10 Derkins per token
Station 3 – SHOP: 150 tokens
10 Curls or 10 Chest press or 10 Overhead press or 10 Tricep Extensions or 20 One arm rows or 5 Picnic table press per token
Station 4 – lamppost: 200 ‘tokens’
10 BBSUs or 10 Outlaws or 10 American Hammers or 5 Hodors per token
The PAX split up and got to work. It turns out that the Cooties and SHOP were very popular and all reps were finished before 6am, but there were plenty of Mary and Redrums still on the board to keep the PAX going to the end. With one Redrum token remaining and less than a minute left a beautiful Manrise rounded things out and the Q deemed the SuperDora complete!
In the early dawn 12 PAX (Banks, Jolly, Panhandle, DaVinci, HotBox, Katniss, Beaker, Bloomer, Saga, Gummi Bear, Tortuga, Capn Crunch(QIC)) found themselves at a frost covered TAR PIT where YHC was eager to start the clock. After a quick warm-up of usual exercises, and some mumbled comments about leg-work. They shouldered the available sandbags and ruck (120/65/65/30, respectively) and did a recon mosey of the south football field, ultimately deciding to make due with the IronPAX field despite its tarp cover.
Having attempted a full Spartan at the Mastodon without success on multiple occasions, the Q had his eye set on the full 30 rounds today, with ample time available if they didn’t mess around. He had full faith in the PAX.
Warm-o-Rama:
The Spartan:
Having attempted something like a Spartan a few times, always with heavy modification, this would be the first time the F3-Wheaton crowd had done it vanilla (i.e., flat ground, 100 yards, no coupons), and the routine was new to many of the PAX. Thankfully it was incredibly easy to explain. But that didn’t stop the Q from failing to fill in all the details, opting instead to start the PAX off with just the first third having been verbalized.
Rounds 1-10: The Time Hack
Rounds 11-20: The Millennial Mosey
Rounds 21-30: No Bag Left Behind
Finishing with a few minutes left on the clock, they rounded out with some Mary, and appreciated just how much hip-flexors are involved in our favorite “ab” exercises.
3MoM:
MOLESKIN: Break your tasks into small chunks and keep chipping away. Achieve what you set out to do.
COR/NOR/COT: Prayers for Jazz Hands’ friends Bryan and Lauren — Wisdom for Hot Box and M as they seek to navigate family conversations — For Tortuga’s M and Saga’s M — for all the brothers, that they would lean into life / work / family as well as they do their workouts, and that we would both have and give support in those spheres.
Glad to hang with the TAR PIT boys after a long time away, seeing faces old and new and appreciating just how much is going on across F3 Wheaton in a given week. Not captured on film, but seared in my memory of this morning: The glory of Gummi Bear’s tireless flying across a field of frosted grass yards ahead of the pack. DaVinci’s dogged grip on his bag for the full 100 yards plus the merkins and the return. Bloomer cleaning 120 pounds just like everyone imagines themselves doing in the moment before their first attempt.
Backblast, 3/6/21, 5:30am AO Tarpit
Poison Pill
Tortuga – QIC
Eleven PAX posted on this beautiful nearly spring morning. After a quick WOR of daisy pickers, Michael Phelps, 4 count motivators (Hotbox style – run in place rather than jump), and 10 slow merkins IC, we split into teams. Needing teams of three and falling just short of a handy multiple of said three, I asked for two volunteers to be a team of two. Shiplap and Banks took up the challenge.
Thang one: Poison Pill
Each team had chalk, a gallon of water, and two coupons. Only the six staircases starting on the southeast corner of Glenbard West and moving west to the southwest corner were used. Teams were required to carry their supplies up an unoccupied staircase. At the top, if there was no exercise listed in chalk, they wrote one, descended the same staircase, and went to a different staircase. If there were any exercises listed, the team had to complete 100 reps of all listed exercises. Upon completion, the team added a new exercise to the list. Repeat.
If there were three exercises listed when a team arrived at the top of a staircase, they complete the 300 total reps, erase all the chalk with their water, score one point, and go to a new staircase. Teams earned a five point bonus for completing all six staircases, regardless of the number of reps needed.
Exactly one coupon exercise per set of three listed exercises was required. No team may do the same staircase twice in a row. They must complete a different staircase before returning. Only one team at a time was allowed on each staircase.
Shiplap and Banks were given a slight head start and a reduced number of reps (75. They asked for 66.) Team DaVinci, Hotbox, and Tortuga wrote burpees at the top of their first staircase then climbed the staircase vacated by Jolly, Cookies, and Katniss. They left us blockees. Sweet as. This trend continued throughout the beatdown. There were very few soft reps. Our team had one round of lbcs, but that was it for easy. Hodors, blockees (again), burpees (2x), lunges(2x), curls, Peter Parkers, BBSUs, were completed by our team.
Time was called at 6:25, and all PAX returned to the parking lot for some Mary.
Team Banks and Shiplap tied with Team DaVinci, Hotbox, and Tortuga with seven points. Squat off to determine champ went to Hotbox.
Mary: Flutter kicks, 4 count, IC, 50.
NOR: Panhandle, Shiplap, Banks, Cookies, Saga, Jolly, Hotbox, Beaker, DaVinci, Katniss, Tortuga (Q). Guest appearances from Crack and Crash at the end with some biking down the stairs by @Crash who, thankfully, did NOT live up to his name this morning.
COT: Praise for a beautiful morning, a God who loves us, friends to push us, and a good workout. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James chapter one (somewhere in there).
F3 Wheaton 