A new F3 Houston record 28 PAX – 8 at 0600 and 20 at 0700 – took their #DRP and posted on a cold, rainy day #InTheGloom

Disclaimer

• YHC is not a professional instructor #clipboarder. F3 workouts are voluntarily and free of charge. It is important to use good form to complete the exercises, so take a break, ask for a demonstration and/or modify if you need to. Push yourself, but don’t hurt yourself (see below). #YouAgainstYou  Notify the Q of any serious medical conditions. Aye!

Conditions

• 53° and windy with intermittent rain… #EmbraceTheSuck

The Thang 0600 

• Mosey out of the parking lot and take a L on Memorial Loop Drive, then the next L on Arnot Street and take another L into the Swimming Pool Parking lot and run to the far end for COP
• Circle of Pain
  • Plank Jack x 25 IC
  • Mountain Climber x 25 IC
  • SSH x 25 IC
  • IW x 25 IC
  • Windmills x 25 IC
• Move to the Polling Station for a series of exercises
  • Hop over the poll L/R x 20 each side
  • Hop over the poll Front/Back x 20 each side
  • Donkey Kicks over the poll x 20 each side
  • Dominoes. Pax line up in Regular Plank on the poll. 1st Pax does a Merkin, then shifts to R Arm High Plank, 2nd Pax follows, and then on down the line. The last Pax reverses and the dominoes come back to the 1st Pax in the L Arm High Plank. RnR x 4
• Mosey over to the Road Closed sign and go up and over. #ObstacleTraining  Then take a L on Haskell and continue to mosey to the Sister of Mercy’s backside. Along the way mix in:
  • Backpedal, Side Shuffle L/R, Karaoke L/R
• YHC runs through the SOM parking lot and then starts heading towards Mercy Street. Just when the Pax think they are safe, the Q abruptly reverses course back to the SAK Stack Shrine (there was much rejoicing… or not!). Each Pax grabs a 50lb bag of SAK-rete and completes the following set of exercises #LetTheGoodTimesRoll
  • Squats w/SAK x 10 IC
  • Overhead Press w/SAK x 5 IC
  • Run a lap of the parking lot
  • RnR x 3
• Move over the Wailing Wall and partner up for some more SAK work #GoodLivin’
  • Partner 1 does Hip Slappers, while Partner 2 hauls SAK down and back. Flapjack. RnR x 3
  • Partner 1 does Peoples Chair, while Partner 2 hauls SAK down and back. Flapjack. RnR x 3
  • Partner 1 does Decline Mountain Climbers, while Partner 2 hauls SAK down and back. Flapjack. RnR x 3
  • Restack yo’ SAK
• Mosey to Mercy Street and then through the Garden of Tranquility over to the Grandstand for more partner work.
  • Partner 1 goes up and down the bleachers, while Partner 2 runs around the bleachers, stopping for Knee Raises (Are you happy now Britney!?!) x 10, then Flapjack. RnR x 3
• Mosey back through the GOT back to Mercy Street and then to the Parking Lot for abbrevieted COT, Count-o-Rama and Name-O-Rama. Meet the 0700 Pax

The Thang 0700

• Mosey out the back of the parking lot to Mercy Street hang a L, Side Shuffle R to the end and reverse to SSL. Then hang a L on Durford Street and another L on Rodrigo to go around to the Sister of Mercy’s backside for COP.
  • SSH x 30 IC
  • Imperial Walkers x 15 IC
  • 6 Count Merkin x 10 IC
  • Slow Squats x 15 IC (Q has a Hammy blow out! Rolaids Relief Call to the Bullpen. Bishop steps in to Q)
• Mosey back out to Mercy Street, hang a left, head down to the Road Closed Sign on the R at the Polling Station parking lot. Go up and over then stop at the PS and partner up.
  • Partner Hand Slap Sit Ups x 25
• Mosey over to the Lost World Playground for an exercise set.
  • Burpees x 10 OYO then run a lap
  • Step Ups x 10 each leg OYO then run a lap
  • RnR x 3
• Mosey over to the El Camino Real for some more partner work in the Rest Area (grass median along the ECR).
  • Partner 1 does LBCs AMRAP while Partner 2 runs down and does Alternating Arm Raise Merkins x 10 then runs back. Flapjack. RnR x 3
  • Partner 1 does Squats AMRAP while Partner 2 runs down and does Hip Slap Merkins x 10 then runs back. Flapjack. RnR x 3
  • Partner 1 does Low Flutter AMRAP while Partner 2 runs down and does Tuck Jump Merkins x 10  then runs back. Flapjack. RnR x 3
• Mosey back across the ECR to the Shovel Flag for Six Minutes of Mary #6MOM
  • Rosalita x 15 IC
  • High Flutter x 15 IC
  • Dolly x 15 IC
  • American Hammer x 15 IC
  • R/L Oblique Crunches x 10 IC
• Gather around the Shovel Flag for COT

Count-O-Rama

• 28 men – a new F3 Houston record Pax and a new FNG record of 5 – T’claps Brothers! Strong work!

Name-O-Rama

• A Record 5 FNGs! Welcome Doug Shoemaker (Pace Car), Snowbird (Ivan Kozak), Kevin Weaver (Camo), Nick Beta (Pusher), Derek Roberts (Metric). T’claps to #ProudPapas Duggar, The Bishop and Inferno x 3!
• Remember to always be headlocking FNGs. #ABH

BoM (Ball of Man)

• We prayed for Cruiser’s friend, The Bishop’s friend’s brother, both of who died this week from cancer. We gave thanks for the successful surgery and postive test results for CA’s friend. TAPs also for Cruiser’s son (broke his heel in a car wreck) and his daughter-in-law (pending surgery).
• The Bishop took us out with a prayer. The #3rdF pulpit is open to any Pax member. All are encouraged to offer Thoughts and Prayers (TAPs) and to offer a prayer to take us out. You are all #freedtolead, and every leader needs to find his “voice” among other men. Offering TAPs is a great way to do that.

NakedManMoleskin

• T’claps to the Pax on great workouts today, and especially to the 4 who did the full #DoubleDown (Britney, Sidecar, The Bishop and Whiskey). For those of you keeping score at home, here are the workout summaries from my Garmin:
  • 0600: 2 miles and 740 calories
  • 0700: 2.4 miles and 700 calories
• Men in Blue Spandex!?! For those of you that are not on Twitter, you are missing out (more on Twitter below, but seriously sign up!). In advance of his VQ, Inferno Tweeted out a video to taunt and/or inspire the Pax. The clip is from the 1988 World Aerobics Championships, which prominently featured a bunch of dudes in way too tight blue spandex unitards. YHC decided to call him out on it by offering Inferno $100 to actually come to the workout in a blue spandex unitard. Britney joined the fray, so I added him to the challenge – offering Two FNGs named Ben ($100) if they both show up in blue spandex unitards. Being men not to back down when challenged, damned if they didn’t do it! I think I speak for the other Pax when I say it was a horrifying, but hilarious, sight #CannotUnseeThat  This was truly a moment that will live in infamy in the annals of F3 Houston, not to mention F3 Nation! #Fellowship  This is exactly the reason to have Twitter, because the photographical evidence was Tweeted out immediately. If I had the original, I would post it in this backblast, but unfortunately I don’t. (Hint: Duggar has it…)
• #OwnThisHouse. The rain and cold kept the non-F3 numbers way down at the park, so we were able to run on Memorial Loop Drive. Felt like we owned the place, which was awesome!
• Injuries. One of the standard F3 mantras is “push yourself, but don’t hurt yourself” (see the Disclaimer above). Despite that, injuries happen, and we were reminded of this at the 0700 workout when Inferno went down with a bad hammy. It was unfortunate, but it is also a good reminder. If you have a shoulder, knee other other body part that is hurting or doesn’t feel right, then it is important to modify or perform an alternate exercise. If an injury occurs during a workout, then stop and assess it immediately. If it still hurts, then don’t try to “tough it out”. We would rather have you not complete the workout and recover sooner. Most times when you have an injury and you try to push through it, the severity gets worse and the recovery longer. #SpeakingFromExperience #TrainSmart
• Holiday Season. It is officially the Holiday season. Although this time of year is filled with joy and happiness for many of us, there are many others for whom this is a very difficult time of the year, especially those who are jobless, homeless, hungry, sick, alone, sad, depressed, suicidal, addicted, etc… A couple of thoughts for the Pax:
  • Give the Gift of F3. It’s free and it lasts a lifetime! You will forever be the guy that positively changed another man’s life. #Fitness #Fellowship #Faith #GiveItAway
  • Spread the Spirit. Take some extra time this Holiday season to reach out to others who are in need. A simple hello, a warm greeting or a kind deed can be a positive turning point that lifts someone out of despair and into hope. #BeALightInTheWorld #BrothersKeeper
• Looking Ahead. A few of workouts you don’t want to miss:
  • CAs VQ. CA’s #VirginQ this Tuesday at 0530 at #TheHogg. He plans to open a can #CoonAssWhoopAss certain to smoke any member of the PAX strong enough to endure it.
  • Official New AO Launch – The General (aka Black Jack). This Wednesday 12/7 at 0530, F3 Houston is officially launching our 1st new AO at Pershing Middle School in West U. Park in the North Parking Lot (entrance on Stella Link Road  https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7025525,-95.4396391,17.42z). The General is a great new #playground  Let’s bring an Army of Pax to kick this off right, AYE!!!
  • 1/2/(F)3 Convergence. Each year on January 1st, it is traditional in F3 Nation to have a “Convergence” in honor of F3’s founding on 1/1/11. Since the 1st falls on a Sunday this year, we have called an audible to move it to January 2nd (and it also takes the hangover excuse of the table #NoExcuses). The 1/2/(F3) Convergence is intended to pull together everyone who has participated in a F3 Houston workout for a combined, extended event. A particular focus for the Convergence is for each member of the Pax to bring out FNGs (note: the plural was intentional!). Most guys are “New Year’s resolutionists” (“I need to get in shape this year…”), so it is a great time to bring them out to F3. It is also a great time to celebrate 3 months of F3 Houston #badassery  More details to follow.
• Twitter. YHC highly encourages the PAX to get on Twitter. It’s not a scary as it sounds, and it’s a great source of real-time updates, #MumbleChatter and now horrifying images(!?!) from the PAX. If YHC can do it, then trust me that anyone can. Suggested Twitter handle: @F3[F3name]. #CommunicationIsKey
• Word of the Day (WOD): VAPE: Acronym for the four F3 Leadership Skills: Vision, Articulation, Persuasion and Exhortation.
  • F3 seeks develop and support leaders in their communities. The #VAPE are the key skills that equip men to lead.

Aye! The Bishop