Author: Edward Ball

11 Met in real gloom (fog and frozen grass, 36 degrees) to hit it for start of the work week.  Tardy on Q after a late night Q switch-o-rama decision.

The Pax:  Alexa, Soap, Xbox, Dilfer, Spotlight, Ping Pong, Bam Bam, Whiplash, Doner, Thrift Shop, Tardy (Q)

The Thang:

* Warm-Up – SSH, Imperial Walkers, Low Squat Cross-body punch, Mountain Climbers, Downward Dog and Yoga Peter Parkers

*Pick up 2 sandbag coupons and mosey to tennis courts

* Bear crawl 3 tennis courts, lunge walks 3 tennis courts, meet in Downward Dog, 2 sets of Yoga Peter Parkers

* 12 Days of Christmas:  Each person chooses an exercise and the Pax perform them a la the carol.  Lets see if I can remember the exercise/days: 1 Sumo Squat,  2 Burpees, 3 Mountain Climbers, 4 Julian Michaels, 5 WWI Situps, 6 Merkins, 7 Capitals, 8  Low Plank Jack, 9 Superman Merkins, 10 SSH, 11 Slurpees/Slow Burpees, 12 Jumping Lunges.

* First two to finish moseyed and picked up the sandbag coupons, Pax meets in Downward Dog

* Pairs perform Elf On The Shelf with sandbag while Pax performs AMRAP of following rounds of exercises (Reverse Lunges, SSH, Squats)

*Mosey to base with 2 Pax shepherding the sandbag  coupons.

*2 MoM:  Yogo Downward Dogs, Freddy Mercury

*COT

Spreadsheets:

*Some of the Pax were less thankful of XBOX for dialing up the Julian Michaels at position 4;  do the math, yes, that is 36 Julian Michaels.

* SOAP was not scared off by Saturday’s 60 minute session as FNG and returned with Alexa today for his second workout, strong!

* Monday morning ju ju or people being tired, not sure, but we Pax lose track of car keys, cell phone and hat during the work out.   By the time Coffeteria was over, all appeared to have been found.

* Words:  Great to have Site Q Alexa back in the fold. Alexa shared his appreciation for the crew and each individual keeping the AO growing while he was out due to injury and taking care of himself and his family after his father passed away. Some emotional words and strength.   In the workout, as in life, we worked through the gloom and “got right”.  Thanks for inviting me to Q and continuing my December to Remember.  RIP G. H. W. Bush – Respect.

 

 

13 Men Showed up and warmed up together on a not-too-wet not-too-cold Saturday AM to kick off the month with some holiday cheer and a sprinkling of holiday themed exercise and PYS.

PAX:  Alexa, Foley, Kramer, LegalZoom, Hansel, Gilligan, Wham-O, Blue Steel, Gemaine, Ping Pong, Cramps,  FNG Soap, Tardy (Q)

Warm-up:

SSH, Imperial Walkers, Low squat cross body punches, mountain climbers, downward-dog. Mosey to front entrance parking lot…

The Thang:

– Santa’s Ladder!   Run to end of parking lot, perform 10 burpees, return to start. Repeat, performing 9, 8, 7, 6 burpees at each lap.  At lap 5, switch to Merkins, performing laps with 5,4,3,2,1, Merkins.    Surprise the crew with Santa’s gift – Round 2 of Santa’s ladder, starting with Merkins this time for the 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 laps and Burpees for the 5,4,3,2,1 laps, ensuring even gains across the body.   We lost two PAX before the end of Santa’s Ladder – Ping Pong and Cramps – first two to finish round 1 Santa’ Ladder ran to back parking lot to check on them and confirm ok.

– Mosey to tennis courts. Bear Crawl across all 4 courts, meet in Downward Dog for some PYS.  From Downward Dog transition to some yoga core –  Left leg raise, left leg to left elbow, left leg to right elbow, left leg to nose and hold. Flap jack to same with right leg.  Introduce Sun Salutations, and greeted the sunrise with 5 Sun Salutations (arms to the sky, fold to touch toes, half way lift, fold and jump or step back to Plank position, upward dog, downward dog, belly breath, recover. Repeated in sunchronized breath and increasing pace.

Mosey to track. As a group perform one lap of Sprint 100 Yards + Back Pedal (or Carioka modification) 50 yards. Plank wait for the Six, 5 count rest, repeat 6 times.  Ended at the corner by the storage container.  Pax head to behind the container to pick up their gift of cinder blocks.

-Cindy: Hallelujah Carry the cinder blocks over to the track. Performed Overhead Presses,  Squats and “Elf On a Shelf”. With cinder blocks on the ground performed Step-over Merkins, Plank Jacks, and single leg elevated Bridges.  Hallelujah Carry cinder blocks to complete the Cindy. Mosey to COT.

-4 MoM:   “Jingle Bell Rock”on the Bose speaker supported our PYS “Bird-dog”, slow knee raises, PYS Knee-to-elbow/nose round 2.

COT:

-Tardy made clear that Woodenville and Hollywood does not have a monopoly on PYS.  Yoga is hard and yoga is good, mix it in!

-Welcome FNG Soup!  Soup came with Alexa and worked HARD this day.  Mentoring started immediately after Soup literally SPRINTED the first two rounds of Santa’s Ladder, setting an aggressive pace that few wanted to follow knowing what was ahead! 🙂    I prefaced Santa’s Ladder by recounting that my second work out was with AP as Q and doing Santa’s Ladder – a day I still remember well – I was the 6 all day, but was not last in Jacobs Ladder thanks to the person who had to stop and share Merlot in the bushes 🙂

-Welcome back Wham-O!  who came and completed the Hardest workout – returning for his second F3 workout. Well done,!

Announcements: Charity Poker Tournament at Chainline Brewery 15 Dec (see Facebook invite).  Eastside Food Ruck Sunday 9 December, meeting at Mod Pizza Totem Lake.

Words:   Kramer shared that he has been out for 2 weeks with Bronchitis, and was thankful for his health and what the F3 Pax has contributed to it. Its times of hardship that you most recognize and appreciate fellowship and the hard work of the journey that you and fellow brothers of F3 all are putting in.  Get after it today.  Thank you men.

6 Men started the week off with some 1st and 2nd F, and were treated to dry grass, empty tennis courts, star-lit sky

PAX:  Thrift Shop, Donor, Mash, Xbox, Jermaine, Tardy (Q)

The Thang:  WARM UP:  SSH, Imperial Walkers, Mountain Climbers, easy Merkins,  Side Plank.  Mosey to TENNIS COURTS. Paula Abdul (her new hit “two courts forward one court back”) – Round 1 =Bear Crawl and 5 6 Count Merkins each court, Karaoke back to other end; Round 2 = Lunge Walks and 4 Burpees at each court, Karaoke back facing other directions. Mosey to PARKING LOT for PAX call-out of exercise. Person 1 calls out an exercise for the group of 5 to complete AMRAP while person 1 runs lap of parking lot; Exercises = Merkins, Mountain Climbers, LBCs, Skaters, Crucifix Carry, and some crazy slow low squat that Xbox called the  “gungan” squat or something (umm, cross your arms and grab your earlopes with opposite hand…)… which was surprisingly nice, like I was giving myself a nice big hug (albeit preventing a full breath, so also reminiscent of hypoxia toward the end there).  MOSEY around the park perimeter to the SPIDER’S WEB play structure for 5 Pull-Up – 5 Chin-Up – 10 Australian Pull-Ups. MOSEY to start for 5 Mom; Slow Bird-Dogs, Yoga “knee to nose” abs, Side Plank, Freddie Mercury.

Words:  Jemaine offered up his feelings post Tough Mudder this weekend. Doing a challenge is so much better and rewarding when done with others. Of all the many adventure and outdoor races, events and challenges, my first one with F3 and with a group of guys was the best, SO FUN.  Of note, the 20+ F3 racers ended up naturally falling into 3 groups at 3 different paces, and everyone finished and was well supported, with no man left behind and every man stronger at the end. That does not happen naturally/organically in all groups gents. Clearly we are thankful for the humanity, connection and comradery of the F3 brotherhood.  Support + Accountability = platform for success gents.   4 of us did a short Coffeeteria at DownPour Coffee Bar, and the Q was treated to large Americano with which to continue winning the day with.

 

 

23 motivated on Saturday men came to KiMS, not worried about the potential rain in the forecast.  None were tardy (no LIFO’s)but the Q was “Tardy”.   A trip to Mount Merlot was in the offing, with studly yoga sprinkled in all across the 60 minute, 3.1 mile, 950 calorie work-out (per my Apple Watch).

PAX: Kramer, Swinger, Finstrom ,  Squirt (back in the fold after 1 year+ hiatus!), Mile High (also a “welcome back, have not seen you in a while”), Convict, Doaner, Grissom, Gekko, Handbag, Dunder, The Hof, Rudy, Gilligan, Cowboy, Maybe, Mifflin, Wooley Bugger, Lateral, Tardy (Q),  Turnpike (FNG), Primate (FNG).

The Thang:

• Warm-up;  SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Mountain Climbers, Downward Dog – Upward Dog series.
• Mosey to the planters in three teams, rotate into the following exercises:  Team one starts with bear crawl up the driveway and run back (acts as the timer), Team 2 performs decline planter walks, Team 3 starts in wall sits.  Rotate x 3.
• Mosey to planters #2 for 10-20-30 of:  box jumps, decline merkins, dips
• Mosey to Crestwoods Field for 2 rounds of Tyson: 5-10-15 sumo squats followed by 3-6-9 Jillian Michaels.  Meet in plank, then  yoga downward dog-upward dog series
• Mosey to Mount Merlot.
  • 1) Team 1 Bernie Sanders (run backwards) up to first telephone pole (its a long way), perform 10 merkins and return while team 2 performs yoga bird-dogs.  Swap and repeat.
  • 2) Run to the top of mount merlot, with extra: 5 diamond merkins at the bottom, 10 yoga (narrow) merkins half way, 15 merkins at the top, 20 wide merkins at the telephone pole on the way down
•   Mosey to Cross-Connector trail, where we pit stop for 10-20-30, cut short by strong men causing the fence beam to snap; exit the scene of the crime with intent to schedule a Working Party to make repairs at a future date
• 5 MoM and Sandbag work:  Unity Squats while passing two sandbags along the outside of the circle.  High swat passing two sandbags along the inside. 1 min flutters. 30 seconds yoga Boat Pose.

Announcements: Base to Space; if you are not participating please consider donating to our F3 Team and moving toward stretch goal of $4000 for Fred Hutch Cancer Center.  CSAUPs upcoming = Touch Mudder Sept 30 (Q: Grissom) and Custom F3 Ruck Oct 19 (Q: Buckeye)

Named our two FNGs – Welcome Turnpike and Primate!

Words:  Think carefully about your words/statements to others, be thoughtful… how others perceive or interpret your words can be surprising/unintended.  F3 can improve your confidence. Be confident enough to ask others for feedback and/or engage with people that you think may have taken issue with something you have said or done; leave the ego out.

Exit to Coffeeteria.

Thanks gentleman, great to start to the day and I followed it up with full day of time with 2.0’s and giving the M some time off, and made my “Go30” for the day.

4 Pax met at Peter Kirk Pool at 0530 for a workout in the water and had a great start to the day.

PAX: Guerra, Foley, Dig Dug, Tardy (Q).  Our expert swimmer and regular Aquaman Tuesday Q, The Hof, was missed (on vacation, dancing in Idaho last we saw), but we stole liberally from the past Hof workouts and created a strong session.

THE THANG:

• Warm up: 200 yards (4 laps) slow swim, mixed strokes as desired
• 50 yards legs only, using kick board + 100 yards (2 laps) arms only using leg bouy
• Repeato, 1 lap leg kicks 2 laps freestyle arms only
• 3 Sets of 150 yards, where in each set we mixed 50 yds “easy” + 50 “medium hard” and 50 “hard”
• 50 yards easy, sidestroke or stroke of choice
• Mosey swim to the deep end for 6 minutes of treading water water (drown-inducing or drown-proofing depending on your skill and effort
  • 30 seconds tread water normal, 45 seconds keep shoulders above water; repeato
  • 30 seconds tread water normal, 45 seconds raise hands above water and no-hands tread
  • 45 seconds normal tread ( considered “rest”); 30 seconds get shoulders out of the water ( hard!), then go underwater, hold your breath underwater for 10 count
  • recover to the pool edge

COT and ANNOUNCEMENTS.  Base to Space, Custom Ruck, and we talked a bunch about F3 cabin/camping opps and venues. For Sept Kachess Lake weekend Guerra heading out Friday AM to secure the site

WORDS:  Since none of the other Pax other than Tardy were at KIMS this past Saturday, I shared Cowboy’s words from this past weekend, which I thought were very good and impactful to me personally:  Find a code to live by. If  you have not  thought about this, think about it, write it down; what are your standards? At the end of every day if you reflect and determine that you worked and treated people IAW your code and held to are your standards a reference to the teaching of OBT and DRedd), that is winning and that will result in success regardless of the “successes”, “failures”, “what others think”, etc.

Hit the day hard after that.

 

6 men met at Grasslawn Park this morning to progress their journey as HIM.

PAX: ThriftShop, BamBam, Huerro, PingPong, Lateral, Tardy (Q)

Lateral was tardy, as usual skipping the warm up, but lighted  the jets quickly (also as usual). We quickly overcame being Q-less  after the 5:30 question posed by ThriftShop: “What does it mean when the Q Signup Page says ‘No Q’?”  5:31   Tardy assumes Q and group warms up on the grassy field that was less recently watered by high volume sprinklers.

–Warm-Up:  SSH, Slow-Low-Wide Squats, Imperial Walkers, Narrow Merkins.

– Mosey to parking lot on other side of Grasslawn (~400 yds)

– Parking lot laps:  1 person selects an exercise that the PAX performs while the 1 person runs a parking lot lap (~200 yds).  6 exercises performed: Sumo Squats, Step-back Lunges,  Merkins, Julian Michaels, Plank Jacks, Champions (?) (ThriftShop exercise involving bridging and touching hand to opposite foot; abs and coordination skills challenged!)

– Mosey to soccer field

– 529’er Style 4 Corners (modified): Made 6 stops while running large lap around the field. At each stop, 1 person calls out an exercise for the remaining PAX to perform, while the single performs AMRAP Burpees. 6 Exercises:  Merkins, Wide Squats, WWII Sit-Ups, Peter Parkers, Skaters, and I am forgetting one.

– Catch Me If You Can: Paired up, and each pair ran two laps of CMIYC. During Lap 1 partner 1 performed 4 Burpees before sprinting to catch backwards trotting partner, on lap 2  performed 3 Star-Jumps before sprinting to catch backwards trotting partner.      Shout-out: I had never worked out with PingPong before. He crushed this exercise and me with it. I had to truly sprint to catch him and make him do even 2 sets of exercises per lap.

– Jack Webb

– Mosey to “spider’s web” play area

– Playset bootcamp: performed following exercises on the bars, walls and benches this AO provides for fun: 1) Hungarian Pull-Ups x 10; 2) Chin-ups x 10; 3) Very Inclined Merkins x 10; 4) 20 Step-Ups. Mosey to starting point.

– 5 MoM:  PT and PYS inspired abs from Tardy included:  Bird-Dog (hold for 30 seconds x 2); Downward Dog yoga pose (calf & hamstring stretch); Downward dog, lift one leg, into “knee to nose” and “knee to elbow” holding poses; Cat-Cow x 5; Upper thoracic twists.

–  (1) Custom Tough CASAUP late August; Sign up, Buckeye has this wired for unique challenge. (2) Wolf still Q’ing Wed AM 5 AM Rucks, which PingPong wanted in on; Check the site or with Wolf as the starting point is changing and hike will be on pavement vice Bridal Trails. (3) Sept 15 weekend at Lake Katchess; Huerro is Q/Coordinator and would love help to select good events for the kids etc; Coffee is on Huerro for the meet-up to discuss

–Words: Tardy shared two observations from his week on “vacation” solo with his kids visiting family in NY.  1) His kids only see their cousins 2x per year, yet when they arrive they engage and communicate and act is if they were never apart; no reservation, total ease.  2) After high energy time together there are arguments, disagreements, etc (thus, no vacation for Tardy). However, after a break and/or once the next activity or meal is in play, all is forgotten; they hit the reset button, no grudges, enjoy fully the next conversation or video game or event. or family dinner.  TAKEAWAY:  As Leaders and HIM we can emulate some of this. Enter each conversation without bias and looking to get the most out of it regardless of the past. Enjoy engagement and interaction. Take a break when you know you need it, but come back for more, don’t miss the opportunity that is presented to be with others. Like a kid, don’t overthink or overburden, just get into it; whether that be family, friends, clients, work associates.

Thanks for hitting it today and inspiring me to grab the Q and lead without a prior game-plan.

Safe Travels to PingPong who departs Redmond for Bangkok and points far-east next week. He returns to teach the Fall Quarter at UW.  Until then he’ll be stuck paying for professional bootcamps and the stuff we give away for free, but we eagerly await his return.  Respect Respect