The Hammer decided that it’s time to up the preparation for the Spartan Beast in October. Since YHC is off for the summer, I get to write the backblast. It’s only fair, since he created the workout. 6 arrived at 5 for 6 stations, 1 minute at each station, then rotate. The stations: dirkins, knee ups, planter carries (grip strength prep), rifle carries, pull-ups (which for round two turned into knee ups, then for round 3 was a dead hang), and the last was a 1 minute plank. 3 rounds total in 15 minutes, give or take. Then we moved to the running. 20 burpees followed by 1 lap around the park. 4 rounds of this was rough. The chatter was on point as usual. YHC brought the music which reminded the music videos of ACDC. Unfortunately, I cannot remember which videos I was supposed to come home and compare.
One runner: Waterpik
3 ruckers went 20 minutes out, 20 minutes back: Russo, Chewy, and Akbar. From what I gathered, they nearly solved all the world problems on the way out, and focused on conspiracy theories on the way back. Something about chem trails….Not quite sure.
I believe that we are going to try and make this a Thursday thing for my fellow Spartan warriors. If you have any ideas to prepare for the Spartan, please share.
COT with Hammer praying us out. Intentions: continued prayers for Bird’s family, and a Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad’s out there. SYITG!
Tag: @Jose10k
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Tabata timer please!! – from Shooter
Big thanks to Moby for having the Tabata timer available this gloom as the YHC came less prepared.. 6 PAX converged on the corner by the gravel pit after warmups of 20IC/10IC Imperial walkers, Hillbillies, SSH, Cherry pickers, Arm circles, Good mornings and Mummy kicks..
30 secs work, 20 secs rest, 4 rounds of each and loops around the rail.. Rope, one arm kettle swings, curls, chest press, squat thrusters and Shoulder press..
Thanks to Hammer for COT and the headlock for 5 AM Spartan at the Scramble…
Appreciate the post gentlemen and until the next Gloom 👊🏼👍🏼✌🏼!!!
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Inquerious Questions of Guidance – from Steve
It took 3 attempts before auto-correct finally let that title stand as is. And even now I’m not sure it’s right… But there it is, in all its glory, preserved for the annals of F3 history. What the hell it means is anyone’s guess.
Rowdy crowd of 6 this morning at Granny’s, (7, if you count the monster mosquito hawk that was making a racket during warmup and Mary). So rowdy that a bleary-eyed Chewy and I wondered what the hell was going on as we attempted to keep cadence count. I mean, sure, Jose wakes up ready for a fight. That makes sense – teaching junior high you gotta be on your toes and ready to knock someone down a rung or two. (Plus, he’s got the additional 20 minute drive of wake up time.) And now that Bush has become the new grumble grumble, well, let’s just say the back and forth between these two has become a joy to witness. Though it does make counting difficult.
Luckily, we quickly moved on to the thang, a semi-random circuit of increasing reps that spanned most of the trailhead:
– Derkins
– Step Ups (ea. leg)
– Lunges (2:1)
– T-merkins
– Donkey Kickoffs
– Crunchy Frogs
– Apollo Ohnos (2:1)
– SSH’s
– Freak NastiesEach round ended with a set of x3 calf raises up the stairs, then start again, increasing the rep count by x5.
We mostly stuck together today, entertained by the barefoot Duke and his parkour moves. It was a big day for him, as he saw his net worth nearly double to $24.12 and, more importantly, learned the subtle distinction between the adjective demure and the verb to demur. Hard to believe one day we could be reading a backblast written by Wacker’s offspring. We can only hope he inherits his father’s love of flowery language.
And, of course, there were also the usual F3-type ramblings about Scientology, drinking vials of blood, moon landings – that sorta thing. Hey, Russo is right – the internet does indeed always win.
COT and Chewy prayed us out. Appreciate you gents, was fun to have a bigger group out there today.
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WE ARE F3 – AROO AROO AROO!!! – from Bushwacker
This fall, some of the PAX of the Northshore will be CSAUPing at the Spartan Beast obstacle race near Dallas. There is a palpably intense excitement in the air and this beatdown was designed to make sure all in attendance felt it. YHC, along with some some kind and committed brothers, arrived at 5:15 to begin setting up. We just beat the pre-thangers back to the flag in time to get things started promptly.
WARMORAMA
Warm up consisted of briefly attended tabata, and a garbled pronouncement of rules, regulations, and “the way things aughta go”, which, thanks to Jose’s requisite comments and interjections of others, were immediately and throughout the course disregarded, slightly adopted, and outright ignored. But a great challenge was mostly bested and a fun time was had by all teams of 2 who attempted.
1. Tire Shuttle – step in each of 6 tires while running through (QIC tripped and fell so never assume anything is TOO easy!)
2.Sandbag StepUp – holding 50lb sandbag, 10 Step Ups on sea wall (MAY have forgotten to mention the step up part)
3. Bucket Carry – 5gallon bucket filled with sand carried out and back
4. Sledge Hammer Slam – 15 wacks on the tire with a 10lb maul
5. Tire Toss – 2 tires tossed individually out and back
6. Sled Drag – 2 45lb plates on a minil sled pulled out and back
7. Battlerope – 3″ battlerope slung up and down for 15 reps
8. Rope Climb w/ Cowbell (not the short crunchy-frogging runner) – climb rope appx 12′ and tap the bell. As indicated prior to start, if a PAX was unwilling or unable to complete an obstacle, they were to complete 10 Burpees and move on. However, the rare and awesome challenge that a rope hanging from a tree posed caused a bit of a pile up by the time QIC and partner Shooter arrived. Immediately Shooter was pulled in by the tractor beam as well
9. Dummy Drag – appx 150lb hose dummy dragged out and back
10. Tire Pull – giant tire with long rope attached, pulled length of rope
11. Spear Throw – in addition to the Rope Climb, Farmer’s carry, Sand Bag, flags and cones our own Zoolander (aka Chaka Zulu)supplied his new favorite toy to be thrown at and stuck into a foam target strapped to a tree. However, our honorary FNG, Al Gore, let us know with great protest that we were committing arbocide and proceded to take picture of the crime scene, and tear down the foam target for good measure.
12. Farmers Carry – set of appx 30lb logs with handles carried out and back
13. Tire Flip – giant tire flipped end over end out and back
14. Sawhorse Hurdles – 4 8′ sawhorses spaced 6′ apart hurdled overStrong Work, great fun, fantastic teamwork!
COT
Count, Name, Grappler demurred praying us out in lieu of Rev Russo.
Just a small taste of thing to come in October, gentlemen. Thank you for allowing me to lead you in tackling this Fire/Spartan obstacle coursePost Script: Many thanks to the many hands who made light work of picking up the coupons!
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4 “Core”ners – from Jose10k
3 HIMS took the red pill this morning to better ourselves. The Q was open, so I decided to take it and focus on core today. Warm-ups: The ususal.
The thang: 4 “Core”ners. We did a series of core exercises at each corner. Penquins, flutter kicks, lbcs, big boy sit ups, and off course wife pleasers (with a fun extra twist). Lt. Dan to the next corner. Finished off with 3 minutes of deep stretches. COT, Moby prayed us out the intentions for Bird and his family with the loss of his first cousin. One other intention: we get to give DarkWing respect starting tomorrow, he’s officially turning 50! -
Coupons & Sweat at The Gipper – from Einstein
Good group of seven today at The Gipper
Warmup: toe touch, side straddle hops, arm circles, imperial walkers, scissors, hillbillies, hi jack hi jills, smurf jacks, etc.
Thang: 3 sets of coupon work interspersed with downtown trapezoid runs.
Fletch prayed us out. -
Every left turn – 20 Merkins – from Waterpik
A large crowd assembled today for the scramble. Instructions from Y.C. were run the lakefront route and every time we take a left jump down and do 20 Merkins. The watch said we got in 4.2 Miles and we did 100 Merkins a nice even number.
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Granny’s magic!! – from Shooter
Four rounds, four exercises and four loops was the magical number for our 45 mins in the Gloom.
After completing a loop around the Trace brief warmup of 15IC and 10IC Grass grabbers, Toe touches, Abe Vogadas, over head claps, Cherry pickers and arm circles..
Thang was 3 coupon stations and a jump rope station..
Timer was 1 min of work 30 seconds of rest 4 rounds of motion.
Coupon 1 Chest press
Coupon 2 Curls
Coupon 3 Overhead carry up and down the stairs. Intensity version shoulder presses while going up and back down.. After 4 one min rounds PAX made a loop around the Trace.
R/R till each PAX completed all stated exercises.. For you math folks out there, total work was only 16 mins of engaged movement not counting the loop’s.. Doesn’t seem like much but I promise by rd 3 the burn was real and I believe the PAX got their monies worth..Finished right at 6 and we announced multiple CSAUP opportunities ahead.. 4 on the 4th, BEAST, Turkey trot and I believe some other hot ass marathon or something… Not really certain, but one thing is certain, Cowbell lives and he mentioned a possible Saturday post for the Wacker Q..
Russo graciously took us out and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!
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Spartan Murph – from Zoolander
A random shout out from Zoolander for an evening Murph , with Spartan related coupons, gathered the likes of Bushwacker, Bird, Jose 10K, and Baby Yoda to the Marsh for some extracurricular activities on this wet Sunday.
YHC showed up early after dropping Yoda off at OLL for his Eagle scoutmaster’s conference, and starting unloading a bevy of intensification items to be sprinkled into the workout. A lone basketball player was on the court and, after being approached by some weirdo with a couple of logs with handles and a huge tire, was 100% in for some F3-style pain!
Grundy was the next to show. After a quick introduction to our new addition, he was off early. You see, he was going to be a little slow…because he had a 30lb ruck sack on!
Next to appear was Jose, always an exuberant advocate of La cosa nostra F3, he started preaching to the already converted upon meeting Devon Marques (Mr. Right Place at the Right Time).
Bird and Zoo rolled up having finished a 2 mile pre thang, and we got down to brass Tax.
THANG
1 mile run from Livingston to the Lakefront and back, then beginning 20 sets, as a group, of 5 Pull ups (varied grips called out by Zoo throughout), 10 Merkins ( some using the logs for deep reps), and 15 Squats (some using the logs as weights or for Squat Thrusters). Random lagniappe as desired was a rope climb set up by the swing sets, Tire Flip (or carry if you’re Grundy aka Tank Jr), and Lunge Walks with the logs.
Baby Yoda walked up and jumped right in around round 4 or 5 and started Sweating with the Oldies! Devon was really giving it hell for an unexpected event of such retarded proportions, and thrilled to be just where he needed to be… and then proceeded to splash merlot! But that didn’t keep the young buck down, as we finished up round 20 and prepared for an extended final mile, looping back down Marigny. Now, as the PAX was departing on our closing mosey, Devon planted his phone in a front yard on Lamarque so as to avoid losing it on the run. Upon our return, well, he lost it! The PAX gathered to assist him in his search, and Baby Yoda who can find anything from lost phones to lost trails turned up the prize.
COT
Count/Name special intentions for Devon’s quest of self-improvement, Jose prayed us out. Welcome ET (phone home)! Thanks to Zoolander (Chaka Zulu)for pulling this together. SYITG
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THIS IS SPARTA!!! – from Zoolander
Steve and Shooter are right, we need to be able to insert a GIF into backblasts. Y’all had the same image in your mind when you read the title, be honest. Welcome to a Spartan Murph!
A regular murph intensified with obstacles. 100 pullups, 200 merkins, 300 squats. The obstacles: rope climb, two logs used for squats or squat thrusters, and a tire flip station. Once you finished your 5,10,15, you got your choice of which “extra” equipment you wanted. As always, Grundy went full on beast mode doing the entire thing with a 30 pound pack. At one point, he picked up the tire and carried it around like a child. Bird, as always, intensified. Using the dip bars to do his deep merkins. Zoolander called out various grips and types of pull ups. The group even added an extra half mile at the end. We had a FNG, Devon, who kept repeating over and over again: “Yall are crazy”. He even splashed a little merlot in there.
COT, Jose prayed us out, and we named the FNG. We were thinking Merlot, Pignot…but once he lost his phone(the youthful eyes of Baby Yoda found it) we decided to call him E.T. Hopefully he’ll post tomorrow. Thank everyone for posting or if you’re just reading this backblast. SYITG
