As a father, as an F3 brother, as a man, Friday’s Arena workout was something special. I’m not a wordsmith guru like some of our well beloved F3 brethren, but there are some workouts that have stood out in memory over the last few years and this one was chock full of goodness in the midst of 30 minutes of pain.
A solid 23 PAX posted for another edition of F3 Raleigh’s favorite Friday afternoon workout. Today we officially christened some new equipment for our brothers at the Healing Place. My 2.0 Boog was the QIC today. More on that later.
The Thang:
Gather up in the courtyard and jog over to the volleyball court with the Shovel Flag in tow. Plant the SF by the new equipment and circle up.
Warmup: SSH x 20, Imperial Walkers x 20, Fazio Arm Circles x 10 Forward and 10 Reverse
Count off by 3’s for a circuit. 1’s grab a rock, 2’s head to the new pull-up bars, 3’s circle up for some ab work. All 3 groups rotate through each station.
- Station 1 (Rocks): Curls, Shoulder Press, Tricep Ext, Goblet Squats (10 reps each and keep rotating through until it was time to switch).
- Station 2 (Push and Pull): Pull-ups x 8 [or 5 if that’s AYG], Merkins x 15, Dips on bench x 15 (Rotate twice through)
- Station 3 (Abs): LBC’s, WWII Situps, Dying Cockroach, American Hammers (10 reps each and keep rotating through until time to switch)
After each group finished the circuit, we lined up on the volleyball court facing the hill and ran up to the 4th (or furthest) electric pole and back.
10 count after the return. Kudus to a few PAX for heading back out to get the six.
Bear crawl around the perimeter of the volleyball court then circle up for Mary.
Mary: LBC’s x 20, American Hammers x 20
COT / Count-o-rama / Name-o-rama / Announcements / Naked Moleskin / Prayer requests
- 30 minutes may not seem like much, but we packed it in today. Constant movement and some additional exercises thrown in for some groups that finished part of their circuit early before switching.
- 2 new FNG’s (Gruel and Snookie). Gruel was recruited by the master himself, Orwell. He shared from the heart at COT and it’s the title of this backblast. Orwell saw him standing around and invited him to participate…during COT he was shedding some tears and Orwell asked if he was ok. He shared that nobody had ever been that nice to him and as we were going around the circle, he understood that he did have value. Amen brother…yes you do. We all do because we’re made in God’s image. Welcome to F3 Gruel and Snookie. We post because we need the reminder and the encouragement men can give each other in this life.
- July 4th Convergence – 7am at the Art Musuem (park in the back parking lot)
- What an awesome sight to see a good crowd gathering walking into the courtyard for my son’s first Q. Today was a special day on many fronts. A year ago in June, my 2.0 Boog met with both Countrywide and Duff to discuss an idea for an Eagle Scout project at what was then called the Healing Place. These F3 brothers introduced Boog to the leadership at THP and several ideas spawned on paper. Along the way, these ideas got flushed out and eventually one floated to the top – build some exercise equipment for the men at Healing Transitions. A huge thanks to Lurch (Bret Batchelder) for his encouragement and guidance to my 2.0 over the last few months helping him get through the Eagle Scout process. As a father, there are so many men I could thank for their input and encouragement to my 2.0. Special thanks to Bob Villa for his engineering input on the design and materials. A huge help figuring out how to build pull-up bars. Thank you My Boy Blue for volunteering your awesome truck to pick up supplies. Thank you Kimbo Slice and Battery for all your help with the project last week. It was a real blessing seeing the men use it this past Friday. Thank you to my father-in-law whose constant support and encouragement to his grandson and me along the way kept him going. Thank you to the men of F3 for your friendship. Pay it forward my brothers….pay it forward.
