Backblasts

AO: Olympus

QIC: Maj Payne

The PAX: Hightower, Glee, Mule, JoBu, Jenner, Nano, Banner (2.0), Apollo (2.0), House (HT Sister), Underdog (House 2.0), Sharkbait (2.0), Obadiah

It was a hot and muggy morning in the Capital. We call those Saturdays here. The PAX wanted a beatdown, and that’s what they got, plus some kickball!

Warm-Up:

• Double Time SSH
• Imperial Walker
• OH/Seal Clap Combo
• WMH
• Merkins

Main Event:  

Partner up.  3 Rounds, with 3 exercises and 1 movement type per round.  One partner performs exercise while other partner performs movement.  Switch upon movement partner’s return (i.e., Partner 1 does Exercise 1; Partner 2 does movement.  Partner 2 returns and does Exercise 1; Partner 1 does movement.  Partner 1 returns and commences Exercise 2; Partner 2 resumes movement; etc.).

• Round #1
  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • Flutterkicks
  • Movement: Tracers down and back across three parking spaces.

• Round #2
  • Hand-Release Merkins
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Crunchy Frogs
  • Movement: Full sprint down to end of really really long parking lot (or it might be an 747 runway…not sure) and back.

• Round #3
  • Merkins, with an alternating shoulder tap at top
  • Jump Squats
  • Freddie Mercury
  • Movement: Sprint to end of the planet; backwards run back.

With the PAX thoroughly smoked and time ticking by, YHC decided to forego a final round.  Mosey onward for a game of F3 Kickball.

F3 Kickball

Count off 1-2.  Ones in the field; Twos kick first. Pitcher calls out an exercise for the kicking team to complete 10 reps of.  Kicker focuses on kicking the ball. Fielders must do 3 x burpees once the kicked ball bounces.  So, if the ball is kicked into the air, the fielding team can attempt to catch it for the out, but once that ball bounces, hit those burpees!  Kicker must bear crawl around the bases.

Great fun for all on this one. Worth thinking about whether bunting should be permitted.  The PAX decided to allow it, and it made for a painful amount of burpees for the fielding team. May also want to think about limiting the kicking team to two time through the kicking order.  Maybe YHC needs to improve kickball skillz too.  This was a great opportunity to become covered in sand, and all likely took a fair amount of sand home with them.

COT: Prayers for several of the PAX who are experiencing some challenges in their life.

BOM: Great to lead the PAX as always! Today we knocked out a tough modified Dirty McDeuce and then moved on to play a great game of kickball (albeit with lots of burpees). It’s important to work hard and play hard in everything we do.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Tackle life with vigor! Enjoy the weekend and cherish your families.

Aye!

AO: The Patriot

QIC: Maj Payne

The PAX: Lucius, Jag, Jenner, Sunshine, FNG Crumpet, Poe, Laforge, Vegan, Lazlo, YNAB

Warm Up:
SSH
IW
LBAC front and rear
Mosey to the gauntlet for a bear crawl / lunge walk series. Switch up at each lightpost
A quick set of 10 x Derkins/Erkins/Merkins in the park
Mosey onward
25 x BWS (neighborhood count)
Continue Mosey back toward the stadium
20 x Carolina Dry Docks
Return to stadium for the main event

The Thang:
Count off by threes.
Group 1 starts with farmer carry 45# KBs length of end zone and back.
Group 2 starts with coupon 200m run (w/sledge hammer and body armor bundle)
Group 3 – starts with sets of (5 x pull-up, 10 x Merkin, 15 x BWS )at far end of track. Repeat until relieved. t

The routine is Group 2 runs to Group 3, group 3 grabs coupons and runs to Group 1. Repeat and repeat again.

After two rounds, Q sweeps up the groups.

Finish with a length of stadium stairs with a few extra rounds on the final set of stairs.

Mary: Short on time. Just a 25 x flutter kick in cadence

COT: Great job.  Always an honor to lead this group. We crushed it today.  Go out and crush it in your life today.  Make an impact and improve those around you.

Aye!

Q:  Jenner

AO:  Patriot

The scene:  DR PAX from Pittsburgh who just completed a 4-5 day bike ride for Veterans Leadership Council arrived early in the gloom to checkout what DC F3 had to offer. Lets see if we can deliver.

Pax:  Major Payne, Roddick, Bone, Jag, Sunshine, and 4 DR PAX from Pittsburgh including Gobbler, Lindbergh, Puppy Chow and Roadie.

Warmup:  Side shuffle hops, imperial walkers, windmills, downward dog to calf stretches, donkey kicks, and single leg merkins.

The Thang:  We started with a mosey around the track, trading stories with the DR PAX. Two fell back early, taking it easy on their knees. YHC thought quickly to switch up the workout a little so there would be less running and less need for modifications. It would still be a tough one. The format that was advertised for this fun Friday workout was a hard 15-20 minutes followed by a new game, F3 Volleyball.

We trotted to the center of the field, trying not to notice the cones that were set up bisecting the midfield circle. We then got our hearts ready to pump some blood with 5 knees up and then run to a corner to do 10 of an exercise. If a PAX were to finish 15 before everyone did 10, then everybody can stop. This encouraged everyone to go hard. After each corner, we ran back to the middle of the field to do 5 knees to chests. Here is what we did at each of the corners:

1. Big Boy Sit-up-Ups x10 (x15 cutoff)
2. Big Boy Sit-up-Ups Burpees (also called Rollup Burpees) x10 (x15 cutoff)
3. Single leg squats x5 each leg (x15 cutoff that we didn’t get to, everyone finished 10 first!)
   1. Skipped the run to midfield and knee ups as we bear crawled to 4th corner and those that finished early picked up the 6. Oh, and Roddick tried out his partner bear hug exercise with YHC.
4. Single leg burpees x5 each leg (x15 total cutoff)

Now, it was time for F3 Volleyball. We split up into 3 teams. The midfield circle was divided into a pizza with 3 slices with cones. Each time had a slice as their court. Rules were pretty simple.

• Ball lands on your court or you hit it out of bounds, you get a strike
• Team can hit it a max of 3 times and then they need to hit to another team’s court
• Cannot spike the ball…ball has to obviously move upwards at least 2 feet
• Can’t win a point on a serve

– Whenever there was a mistake, everyone did a burpee with knee to chest.

– Whenever a team got 3 strikes, they had to go to the next corner and repeat that exercise. Once finished, their strikes reset and they resumed play.

Though YHC team had the 4th person, we did not fair very well. Jag made some valiant dives, but Major Payne was there at “the net” to thwart him. Roddick seemed to be at home with his tennis background and quickly learned to find the green. It was good to see everyone get involved and to rush back after having to do a penalty station.

Mary: With little time to spare since we needed to do “just one more round, a championship round”, we ended with the Ring of Fire – planks and rotate 5 merkins per PAX. Pittsburgh PAX quote, “We gotta bring this back to the burg”.

COT:  This workout may have been harder than each of us expected, especially after JAGs Fourth of July workout. But I hope the variety and the fun made it all worth coming out in the gloom. Let’s all continue to celebrate our country’s independence and have a great weekend. Thanks!

Q:  Fish Fry

AO:  Patriot

The scene:  About 70 degrees, way humid and wet from storms last night

Pax:  11 Pax strong today with Fish Fry, LaForge, Moonshine, Vegan, Bone, Sunshine, Kodachrome, Dr. D, Jenner, Major Payne, Lazlo

Warmup:  Slow squats, seal jacks, lunge into warrior position, lunge into triangle stretch

The Thang:  YHC led the bold warriors through a workout of various Americana/patriotic songs to get us ready for celebrating Independence Day.

We began with an homage to the great American hero story of Rocky IV of Rocky avenging the death of his friend Apollo Creed by the evil Ivan Drago.  We reenacted the barn scene in Russia of Rocky doing hanging situps by doing War Hammers in cadence on the upbeats to the verses of “Living in America” by the legendary James Brown, and switching to Dollies on the chorus.  YHC is not sure how Dollies would help defeat Ivan Drago, but it certainly beat down the Pax.  YHC ignored the mumble chatter about the resemblance to jazzercise and moved on to the next number.

R.O.C.K in the USA by John Cougar Mellancamp was up next.  As before, exercise in cadence to the upbeats.  Aussie pullups on the bike rack to the verses and dips on the chorus.  From the bike rack, we moseyed to the benches for the next round.  Once we rearranged the benches, The Boss paced our workout of Split Squats into Derkins.  Though YHC could not keep up on the Derkins, he miraculously could keep the count to lead the brave men through the song.  Perhaps we need a new saying that those who can’t do, lead.

At this point, the workout strain was building up,but the crew was ready to go.  We broke from the workout in cadence to flat out exercise.  Bear crawl suicides were up next with American Bad A** by Kid Rock playing to provide some motivation for the grind.  Bear crawl to the first mark and then burpees, and crawl bear back were the drill.  Suicides started at the 5 year line and increased to the 25 yard line.  Burpees count started 5 and then dropped to 1.  Only a few elite Pax were able to complete the drill.

For the grand finale, just like any good 4th of July ended with fireworks, or “Firework” which was close enough.  Though the concept was incredibly corny, the exercises were anything but.  Returning back to our cadence theme, no American-themed workout would be complete without Merkins.  We did Merkins in cadence with breaks for star jumps on the chorus.  A few 10 counts were needed to get through this song.

We rounded out with some Mary of Freddy Mercuries, LBCs and even more American Hammers.

COT:  The simple thought from the COT came from a pattern that YHC noticed when curating the playlist for the day.   Many of the song reviewed for themes of love of America stemmed from a love of passions people have in America.  Songs honored warriors, praised farmers, partying, singing, faith, and a wide range of other things. From that, it was a good reminder to be about something.  Get up beyond the grind and think above the grind.  What inspires us is what prepares us to live for a greater purpose.

AO: The Patriot

QIC: Maj Payne

The PAX: FishFry, Lazlo, Poe, Wiffle (2.0), TwoPercent, Bone, Jenner, RedCard (2.0), Kool-Aid (DRPAX from C-Ville), Moonshine, Vegan

It was a beautiful morning in the Capital gloom, and 11 PAX posted at The Patriot for some ultimate fun!  Here’s how it went down.

WU: YHC was a minute late, and launched into the 5 burpee late penalty alongside Jenner and 2.0 RedCard, thus missing the WU exercises. It looked to be SSH, IW and a couple other exercises. Thanks to the PAX who dutifully began at 0530 sharp!

The Thang: Somewhat typical F3TheCapital Ultimate Frisbee! All PAX drop for a burpee any time the frisbee hits the deck. Each score results in some shared beatdown. Our normal routine includes 100 x LBC after each score. Today, we shook it up a bit.

1st score: Ol’trusty – 100 x LBC
2nd score: 50 x BWS
3rd score: With DRPAX Kool-Aid recovering from shoulder surgery, he removed himself from the mayhem of the Ultimate game and decided to run some 400m repeats. The PAX decided to join him after the 3rd score for a lap.
4th score: back to ol’trusty – 100 x LBC
5th score: there’s a rhythm to this – 50 x LBC
6th score, which came at the 0613 time mark, another fellowship lap with DRPAX Kool-Aid to finish up.

It seemed like we did a lot more burpees than normal, and didn’t have as many scores. It goes to show that F3TheCapital Ultimate Frisbee will catch up to you one way or the other! Total running amounted to about 3.5 miles for YHC. Plus or minus a bit for each of the PAX. Great time had by all!

No time for Mary.

COT: One of F3’s principles is that it’s open to all men. And it’s important to gather together to spend time with a group that becomes like an extended family. It’s also great to have 2.0s out to share in the fellowship. We gather to compete, and push ourselves hard to score, sometimes sacrificing our bodies (e.g., Jenner, TwoPercent…), and we love winning. It’s not about beating each other down, but instead lifting each other up and sharing in the joy of being outside with fellow PAX. Go out and share the joy, and lift up those around you to make the world a little bit better.

Aye!