Author: willhlaw

I am a UX full stack developer and GIS mashup manager who has been working in emergency operations, cyber security, jobcinity.com, reminduslater.com, open source sharejPoint and other projects.
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Small Little HIIT Tasks

AO:  The General

QIC: Jenner

PAX: DR Naperville A-Fib, Fridge, Major Payne, Sam Adams, Fairweather, Buggy, Citrus, D’Artagnan, Traveller, Blue Cheese, Trolley, Orange, Lazlo

Half the PAX went to Notre Dame. Go Irish!

WARM UP: Imperial Walkers; Windmills; Arm Circles, and Willie Mays Hayes

THA-THANG:

HIIT Task #1: Mosey over to the bike racks for some aussie pull-ups.

5 Rounds of Aussie Pull-ups x10 with 1 Burpee after round 1, then 2, 3, 4, 5 Burpees

HIIT Task #2: Then, mosey over to the tennis courts for some merkins.

5 Rounds of Merkins x10 with 1 Burpee after round 1, then 2, 3, 4, 5 Burpees

HIIT Task #3: The PAX now moseys over to the back playground to find some knee height walls and benches for Toe Touches.

5 Rounds of four count Toe Touches x10 with 5 Burpees after round 1, then 4, 3, 2, 1 Burpee

HIIT Task #4: Mosey back to the field to the end zone for some Big Boi Situps.

5 Rounds of Big Boi Situps x10 with 3 Burpees after round 1, then 4, 5, 1, 2 Burpees

Fellowship Lap: Learned that A-Fib was an expert college cyclist who also ran track in High School. When he mentioned he ran the 400m as we were running a 400m, we both sped up a little (I think).

Static 90 Degree Wall Hang: The Pax spreads out and jumps up to grab onto the wall at the north end of the track where we pulled ourselves up to where our elbows are at 90 degrees and hold for a count of 30. Everyone manages to get themselves up, but the ones that fall continue on with some Jump Taps for the remaining counts. Way to persevere!

Plank and Name: The PAX moseys over and circles the mid-field. We hold the plank as we go around saying our F3 name. Then, YHC performs 5 merkins and calls over to Blue Cheese. Blue Cheese does 5 merkins and calls on Fridge, who does the merkins then calls on Orange, who does it and then calls on Citrus. See the pattern? We stop after a few minutes after everyone is called at least once.

MARY: LBCs then A-Fib calls out a quick paced American Hammers.

COT: I tried to do 50 burpees the other day, and just couldn’t do it. But I bet you if I had broken down the challenge into smaller tasks, I could have done it. Out here, we did more than 50 burpees. In our lives, we sometimes have big challenges that seem difficult to overcome. But break it down into smaller tasks and work on each one at a time, then you’ll find that you can overcome the challenge and achieve your goals. Also, infused throughout today’s workout were slight changes to how we knocked out the burpees. Starting low and ending high, reversing that, and even starting in the middle. Sometimes, changing your routine slightly might give you some psychological advantages, so don’t be afraid to tweak things every now and then as you might find a better way to more-or-less psyche yourself out. Out.

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Spring Forward

Screen Shot 2020-03-12 at 10.39.19 PM

AO: The General

QIC: Jenner

PAX: Sticks, Traveller, Buggy, Toolbox, and DRPAX from Chattanooga, The Count and Red Tees

Warmup:

SSH, Hillbillies, Arm Circles, Windmills, Cherry Pickers, Downward Dog, Calf Stretch, Merkins.

A Skips across the width of the field with High Knees switching halfway to Butt Kickers on the way back.

The Thang:

The 7 PAX grabbed the 6 cinder blocks and moseyed towards the bike racks. Using the cinder blocks or the sidewalk, performed right arm raised Merkins x 15, Air Squats x 15, then switched positions for left arm raised Merkins x 15. Continued to mosey over to the bridge overpass.

Ricky Bobby Curls with last man running to the front as rest of the PAX march forward while curling their coupon. The new leader at the front takes the coupon from the previous leader and so forth until all PAX pass their coupons forward and repeat. March all the way to the field next to the playground behind the parking deck.

Jog to 60yd, crawl bear to back to 40yd,  bear crawl to 60yd, sprint to the end line. Reverse it. Backward jog to the 40yd, bear crawl to 60yd, crawl bear to the 40yd, backward sprint to starting end line. Repeat-o.

PAX rotated throwing a weighted disc and doing wind shuttles while the other 6 PAX performed various hops until they reached the disc and ran back.

  1. Triple broad jump – right, left, right and then a burpee and repeat-o until reach the disc
  2. Tripe broad jump – left, right, left and then a burpee and repeat-o …
  3. Broad jump with block x3 and then a blockie and repeat-o
  4. Broad jump with block x3 and then a blockie and repeat-o
  5. Broad jump with block x5 and then a blockie and repeat-o
  6. Broad jump with block x5 and then a blockie and repeat-o
  7. Broad jump with block x? how ever many you wanted as long as you did 3 blockies before reaching the disc and running back

The weighted disc ended up breaking in half, twice. Good thing it was the bottom of an old lamp that had already been discarded. So we just threw it in the trash can on the way back to the stadium for Mary.

Mary:

LBCs, Slow Freddy Mercuries

CoT:

Everybody had to deal with springing their clocks forward this past Sun. If you remembered or if you forgot, you had to deal with it. Daylight Savings Time started in WWI to save energy taking suite from Germany. It stopped after the war, but resumed during WWII. Afterwards, several industries lobbied to keep it, which included the golf, department stores, and BBB-Q lobbies. Even the candy lobby got in on the action to extend the months we are in DST to include Halloween so they could sell more candy. So, in life, there are going to be bigger things at play making life complex, where you just need to do your best to navigate it. Rely on your support group, your family, colleagues, your F3 brothers to help you navigate life’s complexities and to spring forward.

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Don’t Drop The Ball

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AO: The General

QIC: Jenner

PAX: Major Payne, Traveller, Trolley, Leprechaun, Toolbox, Romo, Jag, Monk

Warmup:

It was a cold morning and YHC had come with balls in hand and a few cones.

SSH, Windmills, WMH, Arm Circles, deep lunge squat with knee push and then hamstring stretch, side lunge squat with hands forward in the volleyball dig motion and then arms straight over the head.

The Thang:

The PAX lined up along the goal line. In line, performed the following exercises.

  1. 4x4s until you reached the front and then you moved on to exercise 2
  2. Dwight Howards with side lunges tapping the goal posts
  3. 4 Broad Jumps out and 4 back

Then in the opposite direction.

  1. Bonnie Blairs until you reached the front and then you moved on to exercise 2
  2. Dwight Howards with side lunges in the other direction tapping the goal posts
  3. 4 Broad Jumps out and 4 back

Then the PAX ran to the middle of the field and knocked the volleyball around as a warmup. After you hit the ball, you did a burpee. The ball drops on the ground, everyone does a burpee. After a few warm up rounds, mosey for a lap around, sprinting for the last 50 yds back to the center of the field.

PAX split into two groups, 5 v 4, and played on each semi circle at mid field with cones bringing the sidelines in a little. We played 3 games to 5, adding a new rule each time to the basic rules, which are:

  1. Cannot win a point on a serve
  2.  Ball hit from one side of the court to the other must travel with at least a 2 feet arc
  3. After every hit, you must do a burpee

Game 1: team that loses point does 2 burpees while winning team does 1

Break for sideline to sideline side lunges switching sides half way

Game 2: one bounce per side is allowed (which was sorely needed since the light up volleyball wasn’t staying lit up very well – made in China 😒)

Break for sideline to sideline bear crawl switching to crawl bear half way

Game 3: additional cones were set up near each side’s net for a spike zone

Mary:

What Mary? We ran out of time trying to finish the best of 3 to determine a champion. We ended on a tie.

CoT:

So the metaphor here with F3 Volleyball is to do your best to get the ball out of your court. Don’t let the ball drop. Help others on your team whether it be your family, your F3 brothers, or you work colleagues. I had to look up some volleyball exercises for today, because you need to get outside your own court and your own comfort zone sometimes. You need to go to the edge of your domain and learn something new so you can help prevent balls from getting dropped. Don’t drop the ball.

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Naming Things is Hard

560

AO: The Patriot

QIC: Jenner

PAX: Bone, Lazlo, Two Percent, Sticks, Lucius

The night before, there was no Q. YHC had the [mis]fortune of talking with the Site Q, who was fighting the flue, and mentioning that they’d be backup Q, half regretting the offer as a sore throat and potential cold was coming on. Worse yet, the weather forecast called for rain. Morning came. Throat was sore. Rain pattered on the window. Fart sack? Nope. Suck it up. Here’s the story of the struggle.

Warmup:

The rain was fortunately light enough so we didn’t have to warm up under the roof ledge of the restrooms. Things are already looking brighter.

Side Shuffle Hops, Arm Circles, Imperial Walkers, Cherry Pickers, Downward Dog and Calf Stretch, Merkins.

The Thang:

Partners & Gravity: PAX moseyed over to the pull up bars to take advantage of the light rain in case it worsened and performed 2 rounds of 6 stations:

  1. Merkins w/ resistance (x10 and was the timer)
  2. Partner providing merkin resistance
  3. Chest to bar
  4. Pull ups
  5. Push press w/ resistance
  6. Partner providing push press resistance

Bike Rack Bonanza: PAX then moseyed towards the arena, but stopped at the bike racks for some Mobility Leg Swings. Starting in the center of the 30 bike racks, we swung right leg up and over followed by left leg up and over the same rack progressing towards the right for a total of 15 leg swings right lead leg. Then we ran back to the center of the bike racks and progressed left for a total of 15 swings left lead leg. We did 2 rounds of leg swings separated by 30s of Air Running Mans and 15s of Air Knee Ups where a PAX mentioned we could conveniently use the swimming clock as the timer.

UnderCover Unique Exercises: Pax then moseyed over to the corner of the school by the arena that had plenty of roof cover.

PAX split into 2 groups. First group performed lower body hyperextensions on the picnic tables while the second group performed Traveling Balls to The Wall – but since there wasn’t any good contiguous wall space without a window jutting out, we traversed the corner, which was interestingly tricky. YHC never done this corner traversal before. Bone says, matter of factly, “If you had, we wouldn’t be doing it.” Possibly, truth speak. Groups switched for a total of 2 rounds.

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Then, PAX performed some precision jumps. Starting at an intersection of four lines in the sidewalk, jumped forward and back to center and left and back, back and forward, and right and back in a counter clockwise circular motion for 30s. Then, we speed roped for 30 seconds. Then precision jumped in clockwise circular motion for 30s. Then we lined up on the wall and performed quadrupedal movement forward, then to the left, then backward, and to the right returning where we started (supposedly). Dubbed by the PAX as Square Bears, we did 2 rounds counter clockwise and 2 rounds clockwise. Then we did scissor jumps for 30s. YHC demonstrated this exercise after some confused looks. And PAX said, “Oh, so Bonnie Blairs”. “What? Uh…oookay, just not all the way down,” YHC tentatively agreed. Then a PAX said, “That’s how Bone does Bonnie Blairs.” “Boney Blairs!” someone shouted. For the record, this video shows what we did for scissor kicks aka Boney Blairs. Then, we performed some two legged butt scoots, 1 round counter clockwise and 1 round clockwise. Then one legged butt scoots forward and backward 1 round each leg. PAX dubbed this dubious exercise the Itchy A-hole.

Mary:

Still under the cover from the rain, the PAX got on their six.

Oh Yeahs for a 10 count. Slowing it down for the last two counts results in an entirely new exercise called, “Oh No Jenners”.

Reverse Elbow Merkins Progression for 2 rounds of 10. First progression was lying flat on back, arms stiffly by the side, upper body raised up on elbows for one rep. Second progression is repeating with both upper body and butt in the air with only heals and elbows touching the ground.

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CoT:

So YHC woke up with a sore throat and heard the rain and was so ready to fart sack. But name was on the Q Sign Up Sheet, shovel flag was in the car, so had to post and lead whatever men decided to show up. With 6 PAX out here, it’s a testament to the resolve and the self-dedication and also the accountability to the group that each of you have since you weren’t as compelled to be out here. So good for you. That is awesome. It’s what makes F3 so great and makes each of us better.

Moleskin:

These small area, under cover from the rain exercises inspired by these videos:

 

Inspiration for the name of this backblast comes from the saying in computer science that naming things is hard [ref].

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13 and 3

AO: The Patriot

QIC: Jenner

The PAX: Bone, Lucius, Major Payne

Superbowl LIII happened last night where the Patriots beat the Rams 13 to 3. Not all that exciting. Only YHC and 3 other PAX made it out of the sack and all would soon become familiar with the score of the game.

The AO had some remnants of the Polar Vortex as we found out during our fellowship lap. Patches of black ice were looming in the gloom, but the Patriot PAX managed to stay on their feet and work their way around the icy lanes back to the corner of the field to get started. Here’s what went down…

WU: 13 x SSH, 13 x Windmills, 13 Arm Circles Fwd and Reverse. 13 x Cherry pickers, 13 x Mountain Climbers, 13 x Merkins

The Thang:

Mosey to pick up a cinder block per PAX and carry over to the right side of the Toy Box.

Three rounds of 16s: PAX started with 13 x Wall Mountain Climbers and then 3 x Dwight Howards. Then 12 x Wall Mountain Climbers and 4 x Dwight Howards. Then 11 and 5. Then 10 and 6 and so on until the last set of 3 and 13. Split the work into thirds and separate with exercises below.

Split #1 Wall Ball Burpees: With a partner, throw tennis ball off the wall and then do a burpee. Catch the ball as partner throws it back off the wall and then repeat. If the ball gets past the partner, continue doing burpees.

Split #2 Ball to Block: With partner on opposite side of basketball foul line holding a cinder block, toss the tennis ball over so partner hits it back with the cinder block.

Split #3 13 x Curls, 13 x  Thrusters, and 13 x “Kettle Bell” Swings: Use a cinder block.

Mary:

Around the horn Mary. 35 x Flutter Kicks, ABCs, 10 x Heels to the Sky, 20 x American Twists.

COT:

Did not have anything planned. Thanks for taking up the recommendations and going along with some of the “experiments” with the tennis balls and cinder blocks. Maybe there’s something there when it gets lighter outside. Let me know. Always looking for feedback. Anyways, it’s awesome that we had the four of us out here. Thanks for coming out!