August 20th, 2019 By Spud

21 men celebrated YHC’s F3versary by throwing the football around.  70 degree mugginess gave things a solid backdrop.  Here’s how we did it:

Warm up 

Mosey to Belk parking lot

• SSH x 20 (4c)
• Hillbillies x 10 (4c)
• Cotton Pickers x 6
• Arm circles/stretches

That thang:

Q strategically placed a football at the corner of the mall.  Pax are directed to throw junior sized football around the mall.  One pax throws, and then the whole pax runs after the ball, stopping to do an exercise where the ball lands as directed by the Q.  The next pax throws, and we continue on like that around the mall, with all pax getting to show off their inner JP Losman. All exercises were 10 reps apiece, including merkins, step ups, hip slappers, 180 squats, dry docks and many other exercises that the Q carefully planned well in advance of the beatdown.

Pax were advised to throw as far as possible, as the number of throws it took to get around the mall would represent the number of burpees required to be done once we returned to our starting point.  That number turned out to be 21.

21 burpees later, the Q realized there was time left, but not enough to go back around the mall, so all 22 pax lined up for a Cackalacky Choo Choo.  Then we moseyed back to the AO for…

Mary

• Ab Alphabet (uppercase)
• Supermans + Alt Supermans x 10 (4c)
• Runner’s lunge +down dog

Prayers said for all teachers and students going back to school.  Best of luck Mighty Mouse and Skinner.  Also T-Claps to Windex for busting his ass for the good of our community to help Beverly Hills escape destruction.  Welcome to FNG Josh Allman, dubbed SWAT this morning.  Keep coming back as you can, I know that work schedule is no joke.

Moleskin:

Not tons of running today, but still a lot of reps and sweat.  Whenever you try out something new without a sense of time, you have to be able to adjust, but I think 210 varied reps, plus 1.7 miles covered and burpees was a solid if not spectacular beatdown.  With football season coming up, I wanted to involve the pigskin in some way, and what better way than to have our crew of Al Bundys and Uncle Ricos play high school hero. The bounce of the football made the number of throws unpredictable, and I wasn’t sure how many burpees we’d end up with, 21 was a pretty fair number.  What to do when you look at the clock and it’s too early to go to Mary and too late to repeato?  That’s right, you fire up the train, and it was a long one.  I wanted to keep it going down hill, but it was time to cut it off.

At Mary, I made sure to do that Alphabet, because that was part of Mary from my first post a year ago, and I wanted to pay homage to Private Ryan’s beatdown which humbled me, crushed me, and inspired me to keep coming back and never be that weakling again.  F3 has been a big part of me working to get back to where I need to be healthwise.  When I started, I weighed 267 pounds, could barely run a quarter mile, and thought that 30 minutes on the elliptical meant I’d done my penance.  For some, your first F3 post is nothing more than a new group of guys to work out with.  If that’s what what it was for you, then you’re probably pretty lucky.  I was always athletic, always able to jump high, run fast in short bursts, catch a ball, and hit the shit out of a softball.  With all that, I thought I was in shape, thought that I would be that way forever. then injuries started hitting: Sprained ankles, torn calves, pulled hamstrings, sore backs, basically injuries sustained for weighing too much and not appropriately taking care of myself, although my sad clown self chalked them up to freak accidents.  El Ab and KGB had been on me for years about posting, but I’d always resisted: “It was too early”, “Oh, I play basketball for my workout”, “Oh running isn’t fun”, “I work in Southpark and have to leave my house at 6:30″…OK, maybe that last excuse was legit for awhile, but I constantly made excuses for why I couldn’t post, instead of figuring out how I could.  When I switched jobs to work back in Concord, I saw some pictures of myself after a beach trip and knew things had to change.  Finally I decided to give it a shot, as realized how out of shape I was, and decided it was time to get better.  I’m now 21 pounds down from where I started, can run miles without stopping (although a true freak knee injury has slowed that progression a bit), and have a local group of guys to share the sweat with.  F3 can, does and has change/d lives for the better, look all around after you finish a beatdown, and there’s something that keeps the guy next to you coming back for more pain.  The workouts are tough, but you have guys to share them with.  The time is early, but you have more time with your family.  The coffee time is some of the most fun I have in my day.  I’m on my way to where I want to be, but provided I keep posting, I can confidently say that I won’t be the slob I used to be, and that decision lies not only with me, but with the push that I get every morning to defeat the sack and share time with my F3 Brothers.

All that said, if you see someone experiencing the Sad Clown Syndrome, encourage them.  They can do it.  It’s hard, but they’ll change.  I thank all of you for helping me better myself, even Backdraft.  SYITG!

Aye

-Spud

“”It’s a celebration bitches”- Rick James” – Dave Chappelle

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