Category: Backblast

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Squat & Merkin Ladder


AO: >Lighting Rod

QIC: > Bunny

PAX: > Free Lunch, Ghost, Walkman, Kiwi, Giggles



CONDITIONS

Crisp and 36F to start the day right

Warm Up (Circle of Pain)

x25 SSH

x15 slow high knees

X15 windmills

x15 3rd grad exercise

x20 donkey kicks

x15 left, right jab

The Thang

Mosey down the street and hang a left into the park to get to “the hill”.

Merkin & Squat Ladder

Pax line up at bottom of the hill to start descending ladder of 25 merkins and squats. Bottom starts with 25 merkins, run up hill, 25 squats, run down hill, 24 merkins, run up hill, 24 squats etc. until we reach 1.

6MOM

Mosey back to courtyard

x20 incline merkins IC (hard count) because Walkman wanted a few more merkins

x25 LBC

x20 flutter kicks

x20 plank

x15 lbx

Moleskin

I discussed approaching the COT/BOM with intentionality regarding the 3rd F. So, whatever that means to you, just keep it front and center.

Moment of silence for prayer/positivity/ whatever the 3rd F means to you.

We had a FNG, who is now named Free Lunch. Great work from him on his first day.

Over and out,

Bunny

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4/10/21 – Step Aerobics

AO: Lava Field

QIC: Slash

PAX: Danish, Ghost, StrayCat, Treetrunk, Lumbergh, Samurai, Tater Tot, Slumberkins

Conditions

45F, wet from the rain last night but sun poking out for a beautiful morning. The PAX reminded me DMX transitioned from these mortal chains to Ruff Ryder heaven last night, so I pivoted the music selection to honor the man.

Warm up

SSH x 25

Imperial Walkers x 15

Fast High Knees x 20

Alligators x 15

Windmills x 10

Froggers x 10

Halos x 10

Mosey 400m

The Thang

Mosey to Bleachers, blasting DMX

Round 1

20 reverse lunges EC

Up the stairs – Tooth fairies. Put hands on the 3rd or 4th step (depending on PAX height and step size). Do an incline merkin and at elbow extension do a little hop with hands and feet up to the next steps. (We only did the feet hop since things were wet)

At top – 20 Jump tucks at top

Back down – 1 squat every step back down

Round 2

Same as above, but progressively accumulating merkins on way up (1st step = 1 Merkin, 2nd step = 2 merkins.) And progressive squats on way back down. Total is about 500 reps for each exercise.

Mosey back to field

Relay and “Recover”

4 groups.

While one group does a fast lap, the rest of the PAX performs the following (start a new set when the last of the running group completes the lap). All IC:

Plank-overs (shoulders in front of hands)

Reverse snow angels

Ankle grinders

Speed skaters

6MOM

Flutter kicks x 15 IC

LBFC (flutter kicks while doing LBC) x 10 IC

Straightleg big boys x 15 IC

Side plank raises x 10 IC each side

6 inches x 10 IC

COT

Who I want to be right now.

How do I translate the long term vision I have for myself into daily behavior? A tatic I’m trying is asking myself is “who do I want to be right now?”. The answer is usually one of values: kind, patient, empathetic, encouraging, etc. But often times, the stress or hecticness of the moment can influence me to stray from those. Asking myself this question throughout the day, helps me live into my values in a moment by moment way.

Great share from Danish about recognizing triggers when we’re not living our values. StrayCat and Samauri added solid points about breaking larger potentially intimidating goals into smaller chunks.

Off the coffeeteria to celebrate Ghost and TreeTrunk showing for back to back workouts as their firsts with F3.

Slash out!! RIP DMX

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4/9/21 – Arm and Hammer

AO: Lightening Rod

QIC: Danish

PAX: Bunny,FNG (Tree Trunk), FNG (Ghost), Giggles, Herbie, Kiwi, Lumbergh, Slash, Stray Cat, Walkman

Conditions

Absolutely Fxxkin’ beautiful, but cold enough for our fingers to go numb.

Warm up

Mosey to track with Coupons

Bear crawl to middle of track

SSH x 15

Bear crawl back to side line

3rd grade exercise x 15

Scissor arms x 15

The Thang

5 minutes of:

Overhead coupon press x 10

Bent over rows x 15

Merkins x 20

5 minutes of:

Reverse Lunge x 6

Side Lunge x 6

High knee x 6

Seal Jacks x 6

5 minutes of:

Overhead coupon press x 10

Bent over rows x 15

Merkins x 20

2 sets of 10 each with angle getting smaller each time

Over hand rows

Under hand rows

Over hand rows

Mosey back to LR

Flutter kicks

Flutter jacks

Flutter kicks

COT

If you died tonight, your employer would advertise to fill your job role by the end of month. But your loved ones ,chosen family and friends would miss you forever. Don’t get too busy making a living, that you forget to work on making a life.

Some great commentary from Walkman, Lumbergh and Slash about how important the time with their Shorties in the morning and night is and a way to have that ‘happy time’.

We welcomed not one, but two FNGs this morning. It was great to get to know them and see them pushing so hard in their maiden Q.

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(04.07.21) Intention is 9/10ths of Beatdown


AO: > Lightning Rod

QIC: > Lumbergh

PAX: > Giggles, Herbie, Slash, Kiwi, Stray Cat, Danish



CONDITIONS

> The magnificent 7 got after it this morning, overcoming the gloom, humpday, only to come out better on the other side.

Warm Up (Circle of Pain)

  • Motivators x 10 count (3 rounds)
  • Windmill x 15 IC
  • Scissor Arm x 15 IC
  • Third Grade Exercise x 15 IC
  • Rotating Hillbillys x 15 IC
  • Slow High Knees x 15 IC
  • Butt Kickers x 15 IC
  • SSH x 15 IC

The THANG

Split the PAX in two groups. 2 rounds of each (one round is start to finish and back to start)

ROUND 1

  • Each group drops to plank
  • 10 Curls, pass the block to the next HIM

ROUND 2

  • Each group drops to squat
  • 10 OH Press, pass the block to the next HIM

For ten minutes

  • Run from LR up sidewalk to street
  • 10 Merkins
  • Run sidewalk back to LR
  • 10 Burpees

Complete each exercise

  • 100 LBCs
  • 50 Mtn Climbers
  • 25 Squat Jumps

6MOM

Finished on the 6

  • Small Flutter Kicks x 15 IC
  • Flutter Jacks x 15 IC
  • Big Flutter Kicks x 15 IC
  • Big Bois x 25 EC IC
  • Double Leg Raises x 20 EC IC
  • Dead Bugs x 20 IC
  • Big Bois x 25 EC IC

Moleskin

Intention is the engine that drives motivated teammates, and leaders must remain aware of the intentions they carry with their thoughts, actions and responses. Your mission statement establishes the framework for why everyone is doing their job, but intention is the meaningful fuel behind showing up and actualizing the mission. It deepens the teams understanding of how they fit within the group and its aims.

Intent-based leadership cultivates a culture and atmosphere where the men feel encouraged, valued and motivated to pursue their potential. The PAX extend their positive intent to one another, and this maximizes the energy of what this kind of leadership does. Those managed through intent-based leadership emerge motivated, inspired and prepared to take ownership of their potential, careers and actions.

> That’s a wrap, Lumbergh

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4/3/21 – 4,3,2,1

AO: Lava Field

QIC: Danish

PAX: Andy, Cherokee,Giggles, Lumbergh, Samurai, Slash, Stray Cat, Tater Tot, Walkman

Conditions

42F, slight haze but an tickle of excitement in the air.

Warm up

Mosey 400m

SSH x 20

Fast High Knees x 20

Squats x 10

Windmills x 10

3rd Grade Exercise x 15

Lateral lunges x 10

Janes Fondas x 15 each side

3 x 50 yards strides (60%, 75%, 90%)

3 x 50 yard strides with 20 yards of fast feet

The Thang

Non stop. This takes 24 minutes.

4 sets of:

3 minutes Burpees

2 minutes hard running

1 minute Merkins

COT

There was a TED article outlining the 7 types of rest you might need and how to go about getting it. The 7 types are: physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, and spiritual. Obvious advice would be to make sure you are carving out time for exercise, sleeping, screen-breaks, nature, and meditation. But two types of rest that I’ve never had words for before are emotional rest and social rest. Emotional rest is giving yourself time and space to freely express your feelings. (I think my twice-monthly therapy sessions satisfies this.) And to experience social rest spend time with positive and supportive people that “revive” you, and stay away from the relationships that drain you of energy.

Some great shares from Walkman, Slash and Lumbergh about how they incorporate tactics into their life to get these moments of emotional and social rest.

THEN OTB!!!

Over to Pfeiffer Park for the first annual Lava Field beer mile.

Lumbergh crushed it with a late surge over the final lap with Slash coming in second. Walkman rounded out the podium with plenty of foam being sprayed by Danish in 4th and Samurai shot gunning his way to 5th place.

We THEN randomly broke out into the Bring Sally Up Merkin challenge where Slash channeled the power of Zeus to somehow finish it out after everything we’d already done this morning. What a beast!

Posted on

Pick up the Six!

AO: Lightning Rod

QIC: Walkman

PAX: Herbie, Kiwi, Slash, Bunny, Giggles, Danish

Conditions

High 30’s and dry, pleasant way to start a Friday beatdown. Good attitude by the PAX with most of us chuckling about sore hip flexors from Slash’s Wednesday beatdown.

Warm up

Started to mosy but then realized Giggles is still rocking the ankle boot (what a champ) so we turned around and completed Windmill x 12, Slow high knees x 12, Monkey humpers x 12, third grade exercise x 12. Stuck around in the courtyard for the THANG.

The THANG

The Pax completed a Deck of Death featuring Merkins (hearts), Big Bois (diamonds), Squats (clubs) and HC lunges (Spades), with bear crawls around the courtyard on Jokers (ouch). We crushed this way faster than expected (~27 minutes). A DoD is 94 reps of each exercise, so we rounded out each movement up to 100 (April Challenge day 2 completed!), and then we added alternating dips & step ups on the benches – completing 50 HC dips and 50 step ups.

6MOM

Plank x 20, Left plan x 20, Right plank x 20, LBC’s x 25, Frozen Freddies x 10, flutter kicks x 15, LBX x 15.

Moleskin

I shared that my M decided to participate in a challenge with me this month, doing 100 HC lunges each day. She’s never done anything like this, but last night crawling into bed she mentioned that she had 30 left, and I encouraged her to complete them. She embraced it, and I jumped out of bed to pick up the six. Her response was ” you didn’t have to do that” and I loved taking the moment to share with her the value we find in always picking up the six. This is one of my favorite parts of F3 – there’s no virtue in being first (particularly if your form is bad), and there’s no real gain in being first, because then you’re going to go back and re-do the movement with the six. There’s a tremendous amount of value in developing that reflexive muscle of supporting a person right where they are, and putting in the work beside them. It’s a true execution of leadership, and I love this about F3.

Great work today!

Walkman

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3.31.21 Trip to the Zoo


AO: >Lighting Rod

QIC: > Slash

PAX: > Herbie, Stray Cat, Walkman, Danish, Kiwi, Dockers, Giggles

CONDITIONS

Mid 30’s and crystal clear. Giggles just got his leg brace off and was ready for action.

Warm Up (Circle of Pain)

x20 SSH

X15 Imperial walkers

X15 Fast high knees

x15 Alligators (fingers on temple, bring elbows together and back out flexing blades together)

x15 Gorilla Humpers

x10 Froggers (plank to wide squat to stand, back to plank)

x10 Grady corns (hands stretched in front, hands in T, hands together above head)

The Thang

Mosey to the curb for 15 curb merkins with right hand on ground and left hand on curb. Change sides 15 merkins. All in cadence.

Trip to the Zoo

Pax line up at goal line. Animal walk to 50yard line, with early finishers brining up the six:

  • Frog walk (like frogger warmup but moving hands forward each round and no standing up, aka Kill the Bunny with no coupon)
  • Duck walk
  • Sneaky gorilla (sit on right ankle and bring left leg forward laterally, shift weight to left ankle and bring right leg forward laterally)
  • Monkey walk (squat position body turned to school, move hands forward and hop feet up) rotate to other side at 25yds
  • Monkey lifts (like the walk but hand standing instead of hopping)
  • Bear holds to crab holds callouts, stationary on 50 yard line (left side flips up and over or right side flips up and over)
  • Scorpions (bear hold to crab hold with handstands while flipping forward while moving down to end zone). Rotate sides at 25yards (holy hell these got me dizzy!)

15 merkins every 100 yards, finishing with 30 merkins.

6MOM

Mosey back to courtyard

10 merkins to get to 100 total

Ran out of time for abs.

Moleskin

Compound interest

We’re at the end of the merkin challenge. The improvements we’ve made reminds me of the concept of compound interest – earning small amounts of interest on the original investment plus the interest on interest can really add up. Each round of merkins each day (maybe 10-15 at a time) has really added up! Physically and mentally. If you only did 100 each day, that’s over 2hrs of straight up merkins! I also learned I’m sick of merkins and need diversity in my challenge routine or else I go overboard.

Danish shared that adding modifications during challenges (different number of reps per set, wide/narrow grip) is a great idea to keep things fresh, progressing and prevent injury.

Walkman shared that go30 challenges goals should be personal and not necessary physical. It’s an impetus to do something meaningful that you would’ve had done on your own and want the group to hold you accountable to.

Rock on! SLASH

Posted on

Who needs Hamstrings?


AO: >Lighting Rod

QIC: > Bunny

PAX: > Herbie, Danish, Stray Cat, Walkman, Kiwi



CONDITIONS

Dreary and 37F to start the day right

Warm Up (Circle of Pain)

x25 SSH

x20 Windmills

X15 Left, right jab

x20 Donkey Kicks (10 on each side)

x20 3rd grade exercise

The Thang

Mosey up the street to the second roundabout and down to track. Chatter about weekends, spring break etc. Walkman said the fartsack was calling this am – I couldn’t agree more.

Lunge & Merkin challenge

Pax line up on one side of football field. Lunge across to the other side, and drop for 30 merkins. Rinse and repeat until you hit 300 merkins.

Most of us completed 6-8 sets for 180-240 merkins. Danish was the only to complete 300.

6MOM

Mosey back to courtyard

20 xLBC and we were out of time

Moleskin

We discussed the very real gains we are all feeling from the Merkin challenge, how important it is to stick with a goal, and ways to apply that to other parts of our lives.

Moment of silence for prayer/positivity.

Over and out,

Bunny

Posted on

3/27/2021 – 21.2

AO: Lava Field

QIC: Danish

PAX: Andy, Samurai, Tater Tot

Conditions

34F and sunny!

Warm up

Mosey 400m

SSH x 20

Slow High Knees x 10

Squats x 10

Janes Fondas x 15 each side

Forward arm circles x 12

Backwards arm circles x 12

Over head press x 12

Over head claps

3 x 50 yards strides (60%, 75%, 90%)

2 x 50 yard strides with 20 yards of fast feet

The Thang

For time:

10 coupon snatches

15 burpee box jump overs

20 coupon snatches

15 burpee box jump overs

30 coupon snatches

15 burpee box jump overs

40 coupon snatches

15 burpee box jump overs

50 coupon snatches

15 burpee box jump overs

Walk 100 yards for recovery

3 sets of 3 minute Tabatha (40 secs work, 20 secs rest)

Merkin

Plank

Squat

400m mosey

COT

I had thing to talk about but scrapped it and told the PAX how proud of them I am for pushing this workout so well. It was one of the hardest ones I’ve done so far so we all made some great gains today.

Posted on

Speak it into existence

AO: Lightning Rod

QIC: Walkman

PAX: Herbie, Kiwi, Samurai, Giggles, Danish

Conditions

Low 40’s and dry, pleasant way to start a Friday beatdown.

Warm up

Mosied down to the track and circled up for

Monkey Humpers x 10

Imperial Walkers x 10

Mtn Climber x 10

Donkey Kicks x 10

Wall sits with

Cherry Pickers x 12

OHP x 12

Moroccan Night club x12

Seal clap x 12

The THANG

Started at the end zone, completed Frog Merkins to the other end zone. A ‘frog merkin’ is a Merkin, followed by pulling your legs up to your arms like you’re about to stand up, and then falling forward into another Merkin. Took around 70 to get to the other side.

Mosied back to the starting side

Completed touchdown lunges all the way to the other end zone. A touchdown lunge is a lunge with your arms up like you’re indicating a touchdown.

Mosied back to the starting side

Completed Frog Merkin Broad Jumps down the field to the other end zone. This is a Frog Merkin, followed by a broadjump, back into frog merkin, etc. It took about 27 to finish.

Lots of chatter through these – they were hard! Pax did a great job picking up the six and seeing them through. YHC thought some pizza from the night before was going to make an appearance.

Headed to the wall for more wall sits, completed Chery Pickers x 10, OHP x 10.

Headed back to the ‘Rod.

6MOM

Potty break x 10, Pickle Pounders x 10, Big Bois x 15, Frozen Freddies x 10, Plank x 20

Moleskin

I had shared on Monday the results for the month of turning off the Jester of video games for me. It’s been incredibly impactful, and culminated with a dream job offer for me this week.

I told a friend of mine about it, and he said ‘man it’s so awesome that you defined what you wanted just a few weeks ago and now it’s happening. It’s like you spoke it into existence!” This is so true, when you define what you want and go after it, it can happen!

I also shared a story I’d been told last weekend, about a couple who decided to sell everything they owned and walk from Brooklyn to Louisiana last year. They hit a major hurdle around Kentucky, as the M’s feet were being brutalized. They tried new shoes, modifying shoes, everything they could find. They made a decision that at the next town, if they couldn’t fix it, they’d be done. That same day, they walked under a tree that had a pair of shoes in it. They turned out to be a brand new pair of high end walking shoes, in her size. They allowed her to finish the trip. The came to call it ‘trail magic’. They kept finding that once they spoke about what they needed, it would happen in crazy ways.

You can speak amazing things into your life!

Great work today!

Walkman