This is YHC’s anniversary Q! Therefore, I felt it would be appropriate to see how my fitness has changed over the last year. So, the PAX who gathered in Historic Downtown Hillsborough during the gloom of December 7th, had the opportunity to relive the workout from my very first post. During that fateful morning one year ago, I was naïve of the trial that I was about to place on my body. Suffices to say, my body was not prepared, and the workout left me broken and swollen (not “swole”) for a week. So…why not try it again to see if the outcome was improved after a year’s worth of F3-style intervention.

Warm up

• SSH x25 cadence count
• Good mornings x10 cadence count
• Jump squat x10
• Merkin x15 slow cadence count

The Thang

Starting at the bottom of the parking deck, the PAX performed laddering buddy buyah burpees and air squats. At each bend in the parking deck the PAX would perform a burpee and four air squats. The number increased by one burpee at every bend in the deck (keeping the 1:4 ratio; e.g., 1 burpee and 4 squats, 2 burpees and 8 squats, 3 burpees and 12 squats, etc.).

After reaching the top of the parking deck, the PAX took a fellowship jog back down to the bottom and to the open lot by Weaver Street.

There they performed a series of exercises where one PAX carried the Bulgarian training bag from one end of the parking lot back, while the remaining PAX performed: 1) traveling burpees, 2) lunges, 3) bunny hops, 4) inch worms, and 5) crawl bear. Once the PAX carrying the bag returned to the group, he handed it off to the next PAX and the group switched to the next traveling exercise.

Once complete, the PAX regrouped at one end of the parking lot. While one PAX swung the Bulgarian training bag (over shoulders if possible), the remaining PAX ran from one end of parking lot back. Once returning  tothe swinger, the bag was handed to the next PAX member and the run began again.

Mary

Ring of fire:

• Hold plank and perform 5 merkins, and repeat
• Hold right side plank and perform 5 leg lift
• Hold left side plank and perform 5 leg lift
• Six inch leg hold and perform 5 Homer to Marge, and repeat
• Hold Superman and perform 5 Superman pulls (good form: left chest as you pull arms in and bring shoulder blades together while keeping legs off the ground), and repeat

Moleskin

It’s been 12 months since I first made my way out into the gloom to meet a bunch of random men in the parking lot  of Weaver Street. I heard about the workout group from Nickelback while enjoying a pre-Thanksgiving feast at our kids’ preschool. I don’t recall what it was that sold me on the idea. I don’t know why I decided that it was a good idea to set my alarm a little earlier the next morning or to venture out into the cold dark morning gloom that December. Perhaps, I thought that this was the only time in my day that I would be able to get a good workout in. Truly, as with most of the men that I’ve met at F3, our days are full with work, errands and spending quality time with the M and 2.0s; there’s often little time left to focus on fitness. Over the last year, F3 has certainly provided the opportunity to test my strength and endurance in ways that I’ve never done before. However, it has provided so much more as well!

Anthropologists have used the term “communitas” to refer to the sense of intimacy and equality (true community) that members of a group develop as they share a common experience or trial. Usually this is experienced during a time of transition, or through a rite of passage (e.g., Boot Camp; boys taken to the “bush” by a village elder to learn what it means to be a man). This is known as a time of “liminality” – when the participant “lacks social status or rank, remains anonymous, shows obedience and humility, and follows prescribed forms of conduct, dress, etc” (thank you Webster). Does this sound familiar to anyone else?

Through F3, I have found true community among the men who gather in the cold, dark, sometimes-wet mornings to stress their muscles and endurance. By encouraging and testing each other, we not only improve our fitness but build bolds that tie each of us together. The benefits of this communitas extends beyond ourselves. It strengthens our marriages, our relationships with our 2.0s, and the communities that we live and work.

It has been an amazing blessing in my life and I’m am thankful for every one of the men who continue to encourage me to be a better HIM.

Thank you.