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:
Ode to a decade when cars were fast, rock was king, and a slide ruler was a calculator.
Musical Bears made its debut.
Shredtember Day 2
WOR:
50 Side Straddle Hops
Butterfly stretches. Arms Circles. Toe touches.
Rock Around the clock.
Clock merkins, 1 per hour, forward and back. (24 merkins)
Clock Burpees, 1 per hour, forward, and if you can make it, back.
Jailhouse rock
Any combination of Grave diggers, Kettle bell swings, and bent over rows
The Twist
Any combination of American hammers, Block weighted American hammers, and the twist dance move.
(Workout, Crawl, Find a spot)
Setup: Arrange coupons in a tight circle, 1 per pax. Remove 1 coupon and pax from the circle and move them to the center of the circle.
Action: Call out an exercise (i.e. big boy situps to 50) everyone in the circle begins the exercise. Whenever the first Pax gets to 50, he begins to bear crawl around the outside of the circle clockwise. The pax who was in the middle of the circle immediately jumps out to fill in the open spot vacated by the first PAX. This means that now there is one spot too few, like musical chairs. After the first PAX completes a full trip around the circle, he looks for an open spot to land (signified by an unoccupied coupon).
Finish: As each PAX finishes the rep count, he begins to bear crawl clockwise around the circle. Everyone must go their original spot, or if it is occupied, past it until they find a new spot. The last PAX will not be able to find a spot. He ends up in the middle of the circle. It’s his job to call out the next exercise, with either 25 or 50 reps.
We did a lot of rounds of Musical Bears. Most Pax agreed that this workout was harder than expected.
Sparrow, Panhandle, Davinci, Aloha, Wet burrito, Bad Debt, Bloomer, 8-Track, BOGO, Panda Express, Big Mac, Beaker, Saga, Jolly, Crack, Banks, Cookies, Cheese, Tortuga, Y2K, Katniss, Gummi Bear
Disclaimer: If you eat cinderblock today, that’s on you. I told you not to hold it above your mouth.
Tweet
WOR: National Aerobic championship theme. About 50 Side Straddle Hops, along with Mountain Man Poopers, Block Kicks, Side Lunges, Arm Circles.
Repeat each exercise until they song names the next number.
Comparable to the basketball game HORSE, but on the Monkey Bars. Done to the tune of “My Shot” from Hamilton.
You and a partner spread out around the playground. Weaker PAX issues the first challenge, i.e. “traverse this section of monkey bars backwards without touching the ground.”
If the challenger succeeds and the second pax fails, he gets the letter M, and so on until one pax spells MONK or MONKEY and the game is over. Loser does burpees until the other pax finish.
(Note, we played this game for quite a while, since PAX were evenly matched and the challenges kept coming.)
Once one of each, anytime Julie Andrews says it.
Do – Burpee
Re – Starjump
Mi – Squat
Fa – Bonnie Blaire
Sol – D Bombers
La – Bird dog
Ti – Mtn Climbers
Do – Burpee
I think She sings these words at least 10 times. Near the end of the song, it got pretty absurd.
Divide into two groups. The “American Colonies” group runs while “The British Empire” group does burpees. It’s up to the revolutionaries to decide if or when they return and let the British stop burpeeing and run. The only required parameter is that the Americans be back before the 3.5 minute song is over.
In a brilliant twist of genius, Benedict Arnold Saga reset the song, thereby giving 1.5 minutes of Burpees to the Americans. This is what games were made for.
Moleskin: Say no to dueling.
COT
NOR
Welcome 8 Track.
Having missed out on the previous three weeks of nonsense, YHC was eager to dive back in, and SAGA had provided the perfect opportunity, a chance to Q a musical-themed beatdown. 14 unsuspecting PAX (Beaker, Katniss, Hot Box, Sparrow, SAGA, Crack, Jolly, Tortuga, Big Mac, Cookies, Panhandle, Shiplap, DaVinci, Noodles, Captain Crunch (QIC)) posted with me to start the week in style.
Warm-o-Rama
No One Mourns the Wicked (6:40) / The Wizard and I (5:09)
Intro to Rivalry: green team vs white team. Best team in each category earns one point
What is this feeling? (3:33)
Popular (3:45)
Defying Gravity (5:54)
Penalty Time: No Good Deed goes unpunished!
No Good Deed (3:32)
For Good (5:07)
Despite having planned to be done with time to spare, too much time adding up scores to determine which team won made transitions larger than budgeted. Even dropping a song, we ran overtime.
COR/NOR/COT: Prayers in celebration of Cookies’ housing situation being sorted for the near future — prayers for the PAX traveling
MOLESKIN:
Planning this Q, it was really fun remembering how much I loved this musical when it came out.
The bulk of the play is messing with the ideas of who is good and who is wicked, and who gets labelled or judged as good or wicked.
As a literature major, let me be the first to say that there is plenty of hogwash in Postmodernism, but one of the goods it provides is a wealth of opportunities for gaining a new perspective. It’s an opportunity to maybe judge people a little less, to see them (hopefully) a little closer to how God sees them.
Listening through it again for this Q, I was reminded by the harsh, foolish and ill-informed words of the crowds that we should be slow to judge others. Jesus tells us twice in the Gospel of Matthew that what we bind on earth is bound in heaven and what we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. In a very real sense, what judgements we render upon our neighbor are damnation or salvation to them. May we be slow to judge others, and abounding in mercy, even as God has shown us mercy.
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.
As a beautiful sunrise lit up the clouds over MASTODON, 14 PAX (Archive, Aloha, Jolly, Sparrow, Whittler, BOGO, Jailbreak, Cookies, Bloomer, Banks, Beaker, Katniss, Captain Crunch) wandered their way into some pleasant weather and some odd muscle groups.
Warm-o-rama
Motivators IC x 7
Mountain Man Poopers IC x 15
Abe Vigoda IC x 7
Michael Phelps OYO
Squat Form (90 or bust!)
40 Certified Squats – no one goes up until everyone is at 90
MOM-E:
5 Bonnie Blairs (each side)
5 Derkins
5 Dips
Plank for remainder
(then 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, then descend back to 5)
Work Like an Animal
Around the BASE of Hoffa – Bear Crawl 1st half / Crab Walk 2nd half
Dutch Skate while the fireman watches on
Broad Jump(Frog) / Duck Walk to the parking lot
6MOM
Curb Stomp your partner
Crunchy Frogs (aka Dutch Bazookas) IC x 40
COR/NOR/COT: prayers for traveling PAX — praise for DBC’s safe return — for Archive’s return to the Gloom — for our eyes to see and our ears to hear those who need us this week.
After a surprisingly eventful night of severe weather, the midsummer dawn arrived serenely as 14 PAX (Banks, Big Mac, Shiplap, Da Vinci, Jolly, Panhandle, Dr. Phil, SAGA, Noodles, Cookies, Getaway/Babysitter(disambiguation?), Reels, Babe, Captain Crunch(QIC)) arrived groggy but ready for their weekly dose of monday. 2 Runners, 5 Ruckers, and 7 Murphers.
After a warm-up:
– 10 Mountain Man Poopers
– 10 Goofballs
– 10 Abe Vigodas
– Arm Circles OYO
Ruck Crew got a treated to a classic Crunch prayer-walk:
– Merkin Mile (Mile Loop, 25 Ruck Merkins on the quarters)
– A brief stop at Rucker Point to lift up those who will find there way to F3 Wheaton in the future.
– Thruster Mile (Mile Loop, 10 Thrusters on the quarters)
COR/NOR/COT: prayers for Banks’ son, heading to camp for the first time — for Panhandle’s son off to the Dominican Republic on a missions trip — for Tortuga, DBC and other PAX travelling or soon to be travelling — for Cookies’ M’s friend and her many struggles — for those who walk alone and need F3 in their life
MOLESKIN: It was easy to see and feel the difference of time from 2018 to now. I am grateful for the impulse to pray for unknown PAX during those months, and overjoyed at the current form of Mondays.
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.
Backblast
AO Mastodon, 5/18/21, 5:30AM
Twenty-eight PAX posted for a friendly beatdown this beautiful morning. After a quick WOR of 5 count motivators, OYO arm circles and Michael Phelps, and 10 copperhead merkins IC, we moseyed over to Dan Taylor alley for Thang One.
Thang One: KUBB 1
With way more men than I anticipated, I made some modifications to my plan as we moseyed to Dan Taylor. KUBB was set up between two soccer goals. Men partnered up. I sent seven pairs to one side of the pitch and seven to the other side. In each partnership, one HIM ran around a marked route while the other earned tosses and tossing. A toss was earned with 30 merkins, 30 lunges, or 30 squats. When a team knocked a block down, the PAX present on that team ran a short lap around their soccer goal before continuing. When the runner of the pair returned, partners switched roles.
Instead of tossing a baton at the blocks, PAX could choose to take a frisbee and attempt to hit a set target. A successful hit resulted in a free block knock down.
Once a team knocked down all the blocks they did ten burpees before attempting the king.
Team 1 was victorious in round one.
Thang Two: KUBB 2
Same as round one with shorter running route, 15 reps each: hand release merkins, Bonnie Blairs, jump squats.
Team 2 won this round.
Mary/ tie breaker
Back at the flags teams circled up for a plank-off to determine the winner. After a few minutes of planking, merkins were mixed in. With six or seven PAX left we went to plank with arms bent to 90 degrees. It came down to Waterboy and BigMac with Waterboy pulling off the win. Go team 2!
NOR: Gummi Bear, Wet Burrito, Doublemint, Panda Express, Ralphie, Achtung, BOGO, Captain Crunch, Shiplap, Saga, Binford, T-Bone (respect), Hot Box, Cookies, Cheese (respect), Bloomer, Panhandle, Jolly, Crack, Sparrow, Getaway, BigMac, DaVinci, Waterboy, Watson (respect, respect, FNG), Beaker, Heist (FNG), Tortuga Q
COT: Prayers for Crack’s M with a doctor’s appointment for a long term problem on Friday, Crack’s family as K-Pop graduates, his oldest comes back home from her internship, and all the changes coming their way, Tortuga and his M go to a new psychologist this Friday for some intensive therapy for her anxiety.
Praise for bodies that work and men to push us on.
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.
F3 Wheaton 