16 guys looking for a little early morning fun were in for a surprise party, at the 2 year F3versary of Waffle House.
Not Listed: Maxwell House, plus Three FNGs: Ty, Mike, and Aaron all in town visiting Omega. Three cities they hailed from were Houston, Chicago, and Seattle.
WarmUp:
Jog from parking lot to Washam Potts toward the grassy field, with 20 yards each of high knees, butt kicks, L/R side shuffle.
Circle up in the field
SSHx10
ISTx10
ToySoldierx10
Hand-Release Man-Maker Merkinx10
MountainClimberx10
Mosey to street corner, partner up and do the following exercises, with flapjack
Partner 1 – Carolina Dry Dock; Partner 2 Power Skip to next corner, 5 merkins, jog back
P1 – Squats; P2 Quadraphelia, 5 merkins, jog back
P1 – Metro Burpees; P2 lunge walk, 5 merkins, jog back
P1 – 8 count body builders; P2 karaoke, 5 merkins, karaoke other side
Mosey to rail at Bailey and Oakhurst for team goal exercises
200 Australian pull-ups, plus jog up Oakhurst toward Delmas (first one we went to Delmas, then went to a white car part way up the hill after that)
150 Dips
100 Incline Merkins
Mosey back to grassy field (and partner up again)
Help-me-ups x 10 each side
Partner leg throwdowns x 30
Alternating sit-ups (with ankles locked) x 15
Mosey to parking lot
Mary:
LBCx15
Pretzel Crunch x 10 each side
Low Flutter x 15
J-Lo x 15
Recover, Recover
Moleskin:
– It was an honor to lead these men on my 2-year F3versary; while present at Fission, thoughts were also with Olive, who had his first Q back at Samson this morning. Today marks 5 months since Christina passed, and Olive gave me some words to share with the PAX: "Live life, own every second, and don't take anything for granted". Wise words from a brother that has been there.
– Thanks to DriveThru, who was also the Q at Arnie's Army at my very first post, for taking us out this morning in COT.
– T-claps to Omega for bringing not one, but THREE FNGs to the workout (and, a rarity, arriving 10 minutes early). Hope that Ty, Mike, and Aaron got a good work out and that you guys can make it out to The General tomorrow!
– I appreciate all the guys that came out today. Not a lot of chatter, which hopefully means you got a good workout. It was good to see everyone giving all they had, including my partner Ludi. Good job hanging in there, brother. It's great to see you back out on a regular basis.
– Yes, I had a winkie this morning. Lots of exercises to keep straight and an important quote from Olive that I wanted to get right.
So it's been two years in F3 and also since we moved to town (from Belgium, if you wonder where the "Waffle" in my name came from) and I can't begin to express my gratefulness for this organization. When my family and I moved to Charlotte, I had just lost my job and we were in a new area to us, which meant no friends for the kids, only a couple for me and my M that I knew we wouldn't see very often, and a new school for the kids — not to mention the depression that comes with moving to a new place from the greatest place on Earth if you're a beer fan (to my pleasant surprise, it seems the US is catching up).
So imagine the stroke of dumb luck that I moved in two doors down from Moses — with Beetlejuice, DriveThru, Primo, Ludi, Alcatraz, Bama, Thug, and Mayhem just down the street. Well, as you might imagine, Moses EH'd me within probably 2 hours of my arrival, and though still a little jet lagged (and let's face it — with no job, I really didn't have a reason to get up early on a Monday morning), I said "yes, I'll go to a workout at 5:30 tomorrow" mainly because I was afraid that if I said no, I wouldn't get asked again. So, clearly I had only just met Moses, because he would have kept asking and prodding and badgering and coercing until I finally gave in (glad I could make it easy on you). Well, the workout was as advertised at Arnie's Army, as DriveThru led a great full body workout. So I was hooked.
What I didn't know yet was the extent to which I was hooked — the friendships that would develop, the help that would be extended to me (e.g. Moses hooked me up with Kid Rock who had a connection that led to a job interview and eventually job), and the support that I would lend to others, though I wish nobody had ever needed it.
I've had a tough year with my knees so my posting has been sporadic. But every time I've been out, someone has said something like "Good to see you out again Waffle" – and it means more than you think. And thanks to my boys in the 'hood for dragging me out from time to time, even to stretch. It's this concept of care, and that we want to see each other succeed — in health, our family lives, communities, and jobs, that makes F3 such a great thing.
The men of F3 actually give a sh*t, which is why I keep coming back. Thanks guys.
Waffle House