Author: Toga

  • Coupon Monday or, How to Prevent Lab Rat from Squeaking

    Eight souls ventured out for a gloomy Coupon Monday.  Two 25s and one friendly cinderblock (aka. coupons) joined us through all phases of the workout, and the PAX was thankful for their attendance.  Here’s what the coupons did:

    Mosey to the basketball court for welcome and blah blah blah.  Warmup COP

    Mosey to playground area for 10 high/low merkins, 8 pull-ups, and 15 froggers: repeato x3

    Mosey back to basketball court for coupon fun.  Round 1: suicide with coupons, 15 secs AYG merkins, 15 burpees

    Round 2: suicide with coupons, 15 secs AYG merkins, 20 flutter kicks

    Round 3: suicide with coupons, 15 secs AYG merkins, 10-2 count little man jumping jacks (a real crowd pleaser)

    Round 4: suicide with coupons, 15 secs AYG merkins, 20-2 count dry docks

    Mosey back to flag for coupon races:

    Round 1: Divide into two teams of 4, coupon holder completes 12 shoulder presses while the PAX holds a squat and pass down the line: repeato x4

    Round 2: coupon holder completes 20 flutter kicks while holding coupon above head while the PAX holds a high plank and pass down the line: repeato x3

    Circle up for 20 American Hammers, 20 fast cadence SSH, and 10 Little Man SSH

    NMM: It should be noted that most of this workout came from Nashville when YHC was fortunate enough to post down there.  It was also an experiment to see what it would take to reduce some of the mumble chatter commented on recently.  The speaking was almost non-existent till YHC noted it, and then it was pretty much back to normal.  YHC should have never mentioned it!

    YHC also tried looking Fudd in the eye, repeating the count of the first circuit three times, and repeating it once more as we started.  He asked again how many rotations we were doing somewhere in the middle.  YHC is open to ideas.., maybe a whiteboard with the workout we can put around his neck?  Maybe fish oil supplements to help the memory?

    PSA:  One of our members recently posted in NC and was questioned about his plank form.  Look at every F3 workout as a chance to get better at this.  It’s also heading towards swimsuit season, and we all need to tighten the cage a bit.

    A special welcome back to Bleeder who went through a very unfriendly knee workout for his first time back running with the PAX.  Strong work!

    No new announcements

    Stay Classy,

    Toga

  • Balls in the mist

    21 brave souls ran into the morning fog for a different kind of Toga Q.

    Thang:

    Mosey to basketball court for COP: 10 burpees, 30 jump squats, 13 merkins, 13 lunges, 13 mtn climbers, 30 squats, 40 flutter kicks: repeato x2 then 10 burpees, 30 jump squats, 13 merkins (ran out of time) for the full mess

    Mosey to tennis courts for inaugural F3 Dodgeball.  It’s just like dodgeball, but you move to the side and do 10 burpees when hit.  You can then return to the game.  Play 8 minute periods with the winner being the team with the fewest people doing burpees at the 8 minute mark.  Winners do 10 burpees and losers for 20.  Team Spotlight and Team In the Spotlight were tied going into the 2 minute speed round with no final winner in the end.

    Mosey to flag for 30 American Hammers.  COT= Viral took us out

    NMM:

    YHC had a package of balls to deliver to the tennis courts, so we had a jackrabbit start to the workout.  As stated, YHC often gets accused of grumpiness and a general lack of cheeriness during Qs.  To combat this perception the idea was hatched to get some quick work done in a COP then play a game.  Thus F3 Dodgeball was born.  It must also be reiterated that YHC delivered the requisite disclaimer at the beginning of the workout.

    Likely coming from his tactical training at VMI, Bleeder kept the floodlight from his monster bike in the eyes of team In the Spotlight for the first round.  It should be noted that the fog and darkness only made the ability to see the balls flying at your head even more difficult.  YHC took one to the noggin and got Viral and Lab Rat confused.  In retaliation Lab Rat ran over my sack of balls.  Splinter and Swirly had a helmet to helmet collision that took Swirly to the sidelines for a minute.  Can anyone explain how that happened with the height differential?

    Special welcome to FNG Blacklight.  The race is on for someone to find his episode of Room Raiders.

    There you have it.., several ball jokes ready and waiting.  Balls balls balls

    Stay Classy,

    Toga

    Announcements:

    • See TYA if interested in BRR
    • HDHH 2/17
    • 4/25 Charity Golf Tournament to raise funds for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention- see Fudd if interested

  • A More Egalitarian Workout

    3 posted at the frozen tundra that is LHES.  After a couple of laps around a semi cleared parking lot, it was all snow all the time.

    Thang:

    2 laps around lot then COP: Russian Soldiers, SSH, Merkins, Flutter kicks

    Pick a parking spot for Gorilla in the cage:  Gorilla walk forward and back x3 then one rotation right and one left: repeato x2

    Mosey to pavilion for triple check: dips, flutter kicks, run to where the sidewalk should have been

    Mosey to basketball court for The Beast: squats, lunges, merkins, LBCs, mtn climbers, snurpees

    Mosey to flag for quick round of American Hammers then COT

    NMM:

    Pelosi and YHC saw the backblast for the rogue f3 workout in our neighborhood on Sunday and felt more than a little rejection.  It’s totally understandable to leave YHC off the list, but Pelosi is a good fella.  Apparently EF Hutton was also ostracized, and Oyster didn’t get the note either.  At least we keep things open for the people at The Punisher.

    YHC was also a bit late as the time to break through a newly plowed wall of snow at the end of the drive was not taken into consideration.  Poor Oyster was about to start running laps as Pelosi and YHC rolled in.  He may have preferred the laps after we started punching through the snow.

    The snow certainly makes everything.., interesting.  You quickly find out where any openings might be in your winter ensemble.  Last year came back to YHC as snow drifts and those frozen/crunchy spots presented themselves to the PAX.  The PAX gutted it out with zero complaints!

     

  • Well that was different

    Cold weather changes things, but not all of it is for the worst.  Alright, YHC can’t think of any reason that it helps except that it is good for pushing yourself.  16 (I think?) posted for a glorious 17 degree morning at NoToll, and here’s most of what happened:

    Pile up the iron in the parking lot before COP: SSH, Mtn Climbers, Russian Soldiers, maybe something else.

    Grab your favorite weight and bear crawl with it down the parking lot.  Lunge back while doing through the legs passes of the weight.

    Circle up for:

    • Goblet squats
    • KB Swings
    • Discus, ea. arm
    • Shopping cart/High to low side press ea. arm
    • King Kongs/clean, curl, press
    • Bear crawl with weight up the parking lot then partner up for farmer’s carry (your weight plus partner’s) back to cars while partner does mtn climbers: repeato x4
    • Bear crawl with weights back to circle
    • AMRAP: 10 swings, 10 goblet squats, 10 shoulder press for 5 minutes
    • Plank for 30 sec and goblet squat for 1 min: repeato x4
    • Hold hip thrust for 1 min and deadlift for 1 min
    • Take the weights back

    COT

    NMM:  Where to begin on this one?  First, I think the workout above is a rough estimate of what we did.  It was pretty much a stream of exercises and on the fly changes based on some notes scribbled on a weinke (Yes Wilson, I had a weinke.) and a desire to keep moving.  Great work by the PAX in what was not the usual F3 workout.

    Notes in no particular order:

    • Everyone is a music critic, and Toga’s music selection got as many positives as negatives.  It’s still better than staring at each other.
    • Damn, that was a lot of goblet squats.
    • Welcome back to TYA, and it was good to see he and DK sharing a special love for all things London.
    • YHC lost the roll call because the iphone froze (not kidding).  YHC also almost didn’t get home when the key fob froze and Mr Durango didn’t think it was there.  The fob was warmed to finally get it to start.  Don’t ask how I warmed it.
    • Great to see Monkey Wrench back after his first post just yesterday!
    • See TYA if interested in the Frostbite 15k
    • Tell your friends and other sad clowns about F3.  Let us know if you have ideas for other AOs or workouts.

  • BT Doesn’t Think He Posted?

    As one of our illustrious brethren from NC once commented, “I think I worked out, but I’m not sure because there is no backblast.”  Enter Brain Tumor who is not sure he posted for DogPile yesterday till he can read about it/see his name in lights.

    16 posted for lovely morning at DogPile with a split Q between Wilson and Toga.  Wilson was kind enough to give YHC part of the Q to harken back to the DogPile days of old.

    Thang:

    Quick mosey around the VITA and back to the circle for COP: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Side Tri Press, Merkins, LBCs

    Partner up and mosey to bars for pull-up circuit: 5 pulls, 10 decline merkins, 10 hanging leg lifts, 10 dips: repeato x4

    Pass to Toga and mosey down Love Hill to the pump house rd.  Stay with partner for alternating runs to sign near pump house while partner executes broad jump burpee, walkout merkin, lunges. After everyone made it to the sign we went back the other way with the partners executing bear crawls, crawl bears, and side bears.

    Mosey back up hill to the flag for Mary: flutter kicks, American Hammers, LBCs

    COT: Wilson did a solid taking us out.

    NMM:  Apparently BT needs to read the BB to see if he was mentioned.  YHC would like to submit that we rename BT Mirror Mirror or Rupert (for Rupert Murdoch).  The writing of this post also benefited from Wilson’s weinke.., that’s right, Wilson had the warm-up COP well documented in case he forgot SSH.

    The PAX did a great job today on what was a fairly busy little workout around the facilities at DogPile.  While we did not do the official Love Hill installment that YHC planned, the PAX should plan to wear headlights till mother earth grants us an earlier sunrise.  Speaking of sunrise, Fudd managed to miss the run, and Goldberg managed to make Fudd look early.  Do we need to consider moving the time back for this workout?

    Bleeder herded the PAX on his bike and kept Pele moving.  Apparently Pele has been going to the TYA school of SSH and may need some help unlearning that technique.

    Offshore made for a jaunty figure in his new VCU running shirt and designer running pantaloons.  It should be noted that following several comments about how good this looked Offshore decided to pick up the pace.  Re attire, special thanks to Aisle 5 and Goldberg for keeping all their outfits on throughout, and following, the workout.

  • Burpee Buffet at NoToll

    12 Posted for a beautiful morning at NoToll.  Guess what?  It rained at NoToll.  It would have been odd if it hadn’t!

    Thang:

    Mosey to center of parking lot for COP:  Russian soldiers, Imperial Walkers, Scapula merkins, SSH

    Mosey to field for the beginning of the myriad of burpees:

    • 10 feet together burpees, run field, backwards back
    • 5 feet up on bleacher burpees, run field, backwards back, 5 more with feet up
    • 5 single leg burpees, bear crawl to mid field, run the rest, backwards back, 5 more single leg burpees
    • 5 single arm burpees, bear crawl to mid field, run the rest, backwards back, 5 more single arm burpees
    • 4 minutes of ciabatta squats getting your 6 all the way down on the bleachers
    • 4 minutes of ciabatta modified muscle ups on the top bleacher
    • Mosey to parking lot for 5 quickstep burpees on parking barricade
    • 5 lateral quickstep burpees on parking barricade
    • Mosey to tennis court for burpee shuttle run with 5 burpees at each end up to 25

    Circle up for Mary: American hammers, heals to heaven, slow Freddie Mercury, Alabama prom dates- ROLL TIDE!

    Lab Rat took us out

    NMM:

    The PAX expected a Saab’esque mud fest, but Toga had more respect for the fields.  YHC also recently saw a video on different styles of burpees= instant workout plan.  In hindsight, the 5 rep burpees should have been replaced with 10s, but we’ll save that for another day.  It turns out that there is no limit to the fun this exercise continues to provide, and the PAX did a great job with all of them.

    There didn’t seem to be a lot of mumble chatter during the workout, but Wilson seemed thankful for a solid head-start on his burpee challenge.  Lab Rat also informed the PAX what he wanted to do with Aisle 5 in the back of a car.  Innuendo be damned.

    Special thanks to Dr Evil for posting with us and not showing us up too much.  Lab Rat also did a great job closing us out.

  • Good Times in the Rain

    20 souls decided to enjoy the warm temperatures and steady rain at No Toll this morning.  Here’s how it went down:

    The Thang:

    Mosey the big loop around all the fields at Huguenot Park to arrive at the pavilion in the center.  Following a brief welcome and intro, commence with 24 single leg Alabama prom dates, 12 Bulgarian split squats, 25 derkins, and 15- 2 count stepup jumps.  Switch legs on the prom dates and Bulgarian split squats on the repeato.

    Mosey around the complex to meet back at the pavilion for 15 jump to stepdown and 15 donkey kicks to the bench, repeato.

    Mosey around the complex to the bleachers by the first field.  While holding the underside of the bleachers execute 50 rows, 40 modified muscle ups, and 25 single arm rows with rotation for ea. arm.

    Mosey around the complex and back to the road for lunges back to the flag (~.25 miles or 157 Irishman lunges).  Mtn Climbers till everyone was present.

    NMM:

    YHC packed the family truckster till midnight in preparation for a lovely drive to WV later today.  Needless to say, this left YHC feeling a bit the Grinch initially.  Not to worry!  Aisle 5 promptly announced the need to take off his clothes when he found out who was Q.  My preference would be to leave this comment alone and not ask for an explanation or details.

    Last week saw a bunch of VQs.  This resulted in lots of creativity and new blood in leading the PAX, so YHC felt like something new and different was required to keep that going.  Fudd announced his displeasure with the workout, and that’s an early Christmas present in YHC’s book.  Obviously some of these things will get repeated, and some won’t (unless we have some structure that can support 20 dudes doing rows and muscle ups).

    Special thanks again to Guinness for bringing some Charlotte cheer to the PAX.  He also gave us a lunge count on the trek back to the flag.

    Great work everyone, and Merry Christmas!

  • Fun in the sun

    8 posted for our first return to below freezing temps.  There was no sun, and I’ll let the PAX decide if there was any fun.

    Thang:

    Mosey to area by the Xmas tree selling lot (yes, that’s there now) for COP: 30 count side plank on ea. side, 10 2-count merkins, 10 rotating merkins, 10 squat hop to plank, lateral lunge jump (we are not good at this): repeato x3

    Mosey to parking lot, partner up, run the loop, and then alternate partners so that each has to execute two partner carries and wheelbarrow with runs around the lot after each.

    Mosey to Xmas tree lot for bear crawl and crab walk slalom around the posts, repeato x2

    COP for 10 plank jacks, 10 side oblique dips on ea side, 10 2-count sprinters: repeato x3

    Wheel of Mary w ea. PAX choosing what was supposed to be an ab/core exercise= WW2 situps, mtn climbers, rosalitas, jelly rolls, burpees, Freddy M, something else

    Once more swiftly around the lot and back to the flag.

    NMM:

    Strong work today as we got right to it with no counts in between.  It was interesting to get back to some colder temps.  Last yr it still held some mystery, but there is none to be found now.  The Xmas tree lot was an interesting surprise, and it was nice to use the posts for something before they get lined up with trees.  It should also be noted that Bleeder and Wedding Singer led the partner carries and wheelbarrows.  I don’t know if this involved the use of a time warp, Bleeder’s bionic knee or performance enhancers.

    Announcements:

    0700 Thanksgiving workout at Mary Munford

    Various Turkey Trots to attend

    It’s a great week to be thankful for all that you have been given!

    Stay Classy,

    Toga

  • Lovely Morning at the Zoo

    6 nature lovers posted for what was billed as “the most gimmicky workout ever.”  Here’s what the zoo had to offer:

    Warm-up COP: 20 Gorilla Squats, 10 spider merkins, 20 Froggers

    Mosey to parking lot for the Gorilla Cage: Gorilla walk fwd and back, Gorilla lateral walk counterclockwise, fwd and back, then lateral clockwise: each for 1 min

    Mosey to basketball for walk around the zoo: bear crawl, bunny hop/broad jumps, crab walk, duck walk x2 with ab fun in between

    Mosey to playground for: 5x monkey bars/pull-ups, 10 walking stick merkins (regular then crawl to incline merkin position), 10 lava lizards, flutter kicks and cockroaches in between, repeato x3

    Back to the zoo promenade for one more bear crawl, bunny hop/broad jumps, crab walk, duck walk

    Mosey back towards flag for more gorilla squats and flutter kicks.., maybe something else

    NMM:  Who doesn’t love a day at the zoo?  YHC told the PAX this would be gimmicky.., mission accomplished.  The amount of groaning for the zoo walk sure made it sound like we were at the zoo.  Somehow Earthworm got early blueprints of my design, but apparently only the gorilla portion was compromised.  The rest was all Toga’s ark.  YHC also waited till the end of the workout to inform the PAX that duck walks are guaranteed to provide several days of leg pain.  The applause was deafening but unnecessary.  Toga just wants to give it his best shot, and the Good Lord willin’, things will work out.

  • The 4 Corners of LHES

    10 posted for the rain that never came.  Fun was had by all, and here’s what it looked like:

    Mosey to field for COP:  Seal Jacks, Scapula merkins, Plank Jacks, something else

    Mosey to corner of LHES grounds, partner up, then one lap around grounds with 10 burpees at ea. corner

    Meet at basketball court for ab fun then, partner wheelbarrow, suicide, wheelbarrow, suicide.

    Run around LHES with 10 hand release merkins at ea. corner.

    Meet at basketball court for ab fun, partner carry, and suicide.

    Run around LHES with 20 flutter kicks at each corner

    Meet at basketball court for ab fun, partner carry and then head back to shovel flag.

    NMM:  Mr Bucket was good enough to let YHC take the Q on what looked to be a torrential downpour.  It turned out not to be, but I think we got a good tour of the grounds and most everyone now knows where the potholes are hidden.  The PAX put forth a solid effort and various trips were made across the Canadian border during our carries and wheelbarrows.  It was a great way to start the week.