Rewind 2 years ago to a rainy Saturday morning in April when YHC was coaxed into coming to his first F3 workout. Being an avid runner I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to handle, not to mention my buddy Amnesty that EH’d me didn’t exactly seem like an American Ninja Warrior. Surely I could keep up with these guys…several of them looked older than me…surely it would be fun. Well things quickly went downhill when I was doing jumping jacks in the rain, slipping on the soggy grass, then face down for push ups in a bed of mud/fertilizer/feces that would later be nicknamed “duck diarrhea”. We were only five minutes in and it really was starting to suck…reminding me of my pledge semester back in the old fraternity days. Being that YHC was not one to give up easily, I pushed through a bit longer and managed to complete an hour with these guys.
Two years and 5,000 Burpees later, I was standing in City Park this past Saturday ready to Q a workout that I had envisioned to be a compilation of the “greatest hits” from beatdowns that wore me out, especially in those early days. YHC wanted to pay homage to some of the memorable exercises and circuits lead by various Qs that brought the sweat and brought the burn. There were too many to count and dozens of PAX that pushed me to get stronger so picking a select few wasn’t easy.
As the PAX rolled in, I gave a quick brief on the “F3-versary” plans followed by the disclaimer. Quick mosey to the Great Lawn for a warm-up COP:
SSH x50 IC (Roots did me in with these once)
Arm Circles x20
Peter Parkers x20
Pickle Pounders x20
Burpee Countdown (thanks OBT!) x10, x9, x8, x7, x6, x5, x4, x3, x2, x10…yes 10 #lagniappe. That’s 64 total. OBT had us doing them in gravel last year so I went easy on the PAX by planning these in the grass.
Slow jog near the amusement park to line up along the curb for Rocky Balboas OYO for one minute. (Splash got us with these one time and it seemed like a really looooooong minute.)
Heart rates were up at this point and sweat was prevalent. Quick countdown and mosey to the back of the stadium. The mumble chatter and speculation about heading to the “Tool Wall” was in fact correct, and how could I not incorporate a structure that was nicknamed after YHC. While somewhat tempted to reenact the all so famous 2000 calf raise workout by JV that YHC was absent for, I decided to not kill the PAX just yet. Since “11’s” always seem to push me and make for a long, grueling circuit, I wanted to work that in but had to up the rep count and decrease the trips back and forth since we had lots of ground to cover afterwards. So here’s what we did at the two sections of “The Tool Wall”, with sets totaling 50 reps ea:
Declined Hip Slappers on left side x40, mosey across for Calf Raises x10, back for DHSx30, CRx20, DHSx20, CRx30, DHSx10, CRx40.
Procession down to The Refinery (aka “Baby Foundry”) for Pull Ups mixed in with Squats. This would be an OYO, 4 minute circuit totaling Pull Ups x20 and Squats x60, broken up in any fashion. We allowed a 2 count Body Row to substitute for a Pull Up since bars were limited. Most PAX finished in time and a few added some lagniappe.
Off to the Museum for fun with our favorite concrete ledge. A few rounds of Dora were in store, mainly to pay homage to Shorty when he had us doing an absurd amount of reps a year or two back. I find Dora can keep the PAX from slacking by making everyone stay on course with the rep counts and working as a team.
Dora Round 1:
150 Side Step Up w/Knee Lift (75R, 75L) w/second PAX running 20yds to sign for Squats x5 (the original plan included bunny hopping the museum stairs but a boot camp group had them tied up)
Dora Round 2:
120 Dips w/second PAX running 20yds to sign for Squats x5
YHC had hoped to work in more Dora but had a few more things on tap. The PAX gathered up near on the beginning of the neutral ground of Lelong Ave and split up in two groups. After a very botched explanation by YHC, we lined up on opposite sides of the street in order of how fast you are, with the speed demons in the rear and the almost-fast guys near the front. This would be a 1/3 mile running race but in order to level the playing field, burpees were assigned in an ascending order with x2 for guy in front of each line, x4 for next, x6,x8,x10,x12, and finally x14 for the last guy. T-claps to Bubba and ??? for knocking those 14 burpees out. Once done your burpees, then off to the races where the guys all pushed hard, despite being worm out from prior leg and cardio circuits. T-claps to Walleye for taking the lead followed by Yo Yo and others. Since it’s 2017 and everyone gets a trophy, we were all treated to Jump Squats x15 as our race prize.
After catching our breath, we had just enough time for a round of Tooth Fairy, which was one of Side Effect’s favorites that often had me sore for a week. This was slightly modified from the original since space was limited near the museum stairs. PAX lined up along the upper set of stairs and started with Inclined Merkins x2 on first step, the x4 on second….all the way to top step which was x16??? We were nearing the buzzer so some of us had to cut it short, not to mention arms were numb.
Gather up for a group mosey back to base. About halfway through the field YHC remembered an oldie but goodie called “Sudden Change”, typically 10 Burpees, which was something randomly done in a workout that Roots and others would surprise the PAX with. After a quick reminder of what a “Sudden Change” entails, we cranked out what were some ugly but rewarding burpees to seal the deal for the day. A not-so-brisk mosey back to the virtual flag and we called it a morning.
COT included T-claps to Yo Yo (Triple Shift’s 2.0 age 14) for posting approx a dozen times in the past month or two. And a few others things that I was too woozy to recall. YHC thanked the PAX and F3 for pushing me to get in even better shape than I was before and providing the platform to motivate each other. Also, YHC recognized that F3 can be a natural “remedy” or “therapy” for many of the stressors that we all deal with in our lives. The early morning “sweat-fests” seem to allow us to blow off steam while strengthening both body and mind.
Thanks again for two years of great workouts.
Tool
P.S. Thanks for the continued prayer requests for my 13 yr old son, Brady, who has autism and Down syndrome. He struggles with many simple things that we all tend to take for granted. He has a very unique set of issues that perplex his doctors, therapists, teachers, and most of all his family. I strive to do what I can for him and since starting the F3 workouts, I find I have more energy and a bit more patience which both help when spending time with him. I tried to insert a picture of he and I walking the City Park track yesterday but my tech savvy skills are not up to par. If all goes well I’ll get him out in the gloom one day.
