When I started my walk with F3, I was hesitant to step up and Q a workout as I thought I had to come up with a perfect game plan that was entirely creative or unique. Well, that is a lot of pressure to put on one’s self, and, really, totally unnecessary. Truth is, there is a relatively high degree of likelihood that no matter how innovative or creative your plan may be, someone somewhere probably did something similar…and that is absolutely OK. I mean, truly, there is only so many ways you can dish out a merkin…

“Anyway, like I was sayin”, the merkin is the fruit of the thang. You can standard it, wide it, diamond it, EKG it, around-the-world it. There’s uh, merkin ladder, merkin pyramid, merkin DORA. Cadence count, single count, slow count, On-My-Down. There’s ranger merkin, clap merkin, shoulder tap merkin, fingertip merkin, knuckle merkin, Peter Parker, Chuck Norris, Jack LaLanne, offset, dry dock, wine mixer, jackass, elevated, decline, isometric, eccentric, dive bomb, prom night, handstand, planche, single arm, crisscross, leg lift, rotational, clock, corkscrew. That-that’s about it.”

Truth is, the Pvt. Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue School of Shrimpin’ applies perfectly to F3 workout planning. Start with basic items and see how many ways you can serve it up. It’s not rocket science. In fact, IMHO, one of the greatest attributes of having peer led workouts is that every Q is, by definition, unique and singular, and brings their own personality, style, and flair…and thus, every workout is, by definition, like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you’re gonna get. Couple that with the fact that the PAX of Churham are always up for the challenge, regardless of how crazy or goofy it may be. And that is what makes it all perfect.

INTRO

In preparing for today’s workout, I toggled between two different game plans. I went to bed last night still undecided. I figured, I would be moved by the great swirling energy of the Vortex and a plan would emerge as the “one true plan.”

Arrived at the AO a few minutes early to do some quick recon.

Made my way over to meet up with the group of guys getting on by the entrance to the soccer fields. 12 Vortexers? Vorticees? Vortexians? Vortimorts!…for this morning. Solid.

Greetings/fist bumps. A couple new faces. Nice.

One minute warning.

For some inexplicable reason, right after announcing the one minute warning, I went totally “astral” and found myself vortexed into the quark-gluon plasma, drinking deep from the primordial soup, enraptured by the infinities as I saw past, present and future entirely as one…thankfully, Assisi was able to snap me out of this hypnotic, out of body state by remarking on how things seemed to suddenly go oddly “silent and dark” during that last minute. Whoa. Note to self: Thai curry + staying up a bit too late before my Q = placing the hourglass sideways.

0530. Let’s roll.

WARM UP    

Entered the “Great Expanse” (aka the Double-Double of soccer fields) with the PAX. As is tradition, we started off with the “Lap.”

• Run lap around the soccer fields. Halt at SW corner. High knees to the SE Corner. Butt kickers from SE Corner to the midpoint between the two soccer fields. From the midpoint, cariocas (either going Left or Right) to the Northern most line. Reverse direction and carioca (go opposite direction of how you traveled up) back to the midpoint. Mosey back to the SE corner.

Circle up.

• Good mornings, x10 IC
• WMH (slow), x10 IC
• Mountain Climbers, x10 IC
• Spider Jumps (8 count burpee w/ 4 x-large Mtn Climbers in lieu of merkin), x10 SC
• SSH, x10 IC

MAIN EVENT 

Some of the workouts I have enjoyed most allowed for ample fellowship and mumble chatter opps. If there was a way to allow for that, plus get a decent workout, that is ideal. During the warm up, I was struck with some inspiration. Earlier this year, I had Q’d a workout that I called Evolution/De-Evolution. The idea was to start with a primitive form of movement, then move up the evolutionary chain so to speak, until you top out at something super-human, then back down again. Given the beautiful, cushy field we had at our disposal, I figured let’s go with something uber classy, you know, like a nice Ricky Bobby, and then, let’s evolve it. Aye?

The Evolution of Ricky Bobby 

We all know the basic premise of the Ricky Bobby. PAX line up, the man in back then gets into the passing lane, speeds to the front, merges back into the front position, then the next man goes, and so on and so on.

For this exercise, there would be 8 different stages of evolution and each PAX would Ricky Bobby 2x per phase. Breakdown was as follows:

• Stage One: PAX in line, hold plank. Passers: Army crawl (only arms, no legs)
• Stage Two: PAX in line, crawl bear. Passers: Crawl bear
• Stage Three: PAX in line, crab walk. Passers: Crab walk
• Stage Four: PAX in line, bear crawl. Passers: Bear crawl
• Stage Five: PAX in line, lunge walk (it was supposed to be duck walk, but oh well…). Passers: Lunge walk
• Stage Six: PAX in line, Bernie. Passers: Bernie
• Stage Seven: PAX in line, run. Passers: Run
• Stage Eight: PAX in line, skips. Passers: Bounds

Wound down the exercise with a short fellowship run while getting the 6, regrouping and lining up at the far end of one of the soccer fields. Finished with an AYG sprint the entire length of the field.

** The first few stages of evolution were quite long and arduous. Also, this got a bit chaotic and unwieldy at times. But despite that, the PAX battled through it with top form and great spirit. Kudos to Mayday and Papa for hanging tough, true to the #DFQ ‘tude. Props to all the PAX who did an awesome job crushing the workout all while supporting and encouraging one another. Loved the awesome attitude and adventurous spirit of this group.

Mary

Circled up. We hit shoulders and quads, now, needed to get some abs. Have time for one last exercise:

• Jack Knife/V-Up Combo, x15 IC

And Done. Strong work, brothers.

COT/BOM

Announcements

• Grunge: Keep the F3 Churham brothers who are participating in this weekend’s Blue Ridge Relay and the NYC 9/11 GoRuck HTL in your thoughts and prayers. Hope that they will crush their respective events and avoid any injuries, mishaps, etc. I am sure they will represent Churham well.
• Assisi: Brought up the fact that there are a bunch of brothers on the Injured Reserve list. Would be great to get a plan in place for modified workouts to allow those on the IR list to come out, get some fitness in (based on what they are able to do) and more importantly, fellowship with others. Perhaps we can have guys who would be willing to step up to lead on rotation at various AOs and times.
• There may have been an announcement for a special event coming up. I apologize for allowing the details to slip on this. Please post on Slack.

Name-o-Rama

BOM

YHC took us out in prayer. Thankful for the brothers of the Vortex who came out this beautiful morning. Prayed for wisdom, guidance and strength as we go about our day. Prayers for the F3 brothers heading to the Blue Ridge Relay and NYC GoRuck events this weekend. Prayers for our brothers currently on the IR list. That they may heal quickly and re-join us out the in the Gloom. Asked for guidance and resources that we may implement a plan to allow those who are unable due to injury to come out and workout and get a chance to fellowship with the brotherhood during their recovery and convalescence. Prayers for peace, protection, love and health today and each day as we move forward. In your name, amen.

Great group out there this morning. Love getting a chance to get after it in the gloom with brothers that I don’t often get to see. Also great meeting Mayday and Papa today. Thanks again for the warm welcome, for humoring me, and for all the awesome small, black pellet souvenirs. Love this AO. Definitely look forward to making it back out again soon. Until next time, aye!