Author: wstark

6-7 beatdown
Pax:
Tarnished
Shepherd
Jersey
Ukulele
Meatloaf
Crawdad
Irish Hoss
Stalker
Goldstar
Finkle
Bobber

The Thang:
* PAX choose either "Six" or "Seven" each round. Do the reps at the top and the bottom.
* Six side performs 6 reps of the exercise and runs the hill.
* Seven side performs 7 reps of the exercise and runs the stairs.
* Repeat through all 15 rounds.

SIX (Hill)
1. BBS (Big Boy Sit-Ups)
2. Jump Squats
3. Bonnie Blairs
4. V-Ups
5. Diamond Merkins
6. Burpees
7. Hand-Release Merkins
8. Tuck Jumps
9. No Surrenders
10. High Knees
11. Perfect Merkins
12. Hillbillies
13. Mike Tysons
14. Squats
15. Bear Crawl

SEVEN (Stairs)
1. Carolina Dry Docks
2. Merkins
3. Speed Skaters
4. American Hammers
5. Lunges (2:1)
6. Lt. Dans
7. Plank Jack Shoulder Taps
8. Flying Squirrels
9. Imperial Walkers
10. SSHs
11. Absolutions
12. Freddie Mercurys
13. Surfer Get-Ups
14. Butt Kickers
15. Bear Crawl

Backblast: June 6th, 2026

AO: The Battlefield – The Shops at Fallen Timbers – Maumee, OH

PAX:
Photon – Q
Arcy
Bulldog
Crawdad
Echo
Fancy Feast
Four-Banger – FNG
Geppetto
Irish Hoss
Purdy
Quick Draw
Rudy
Runt
Shepherd
Sherpa (The Original from 2021)
Spaulding
Ukulele
Waldo
Yoshi

Workout: BURPwEEk Day 7 Part 2 – The Gulley

FNG’s: Four-Banger

Mission and Principles:
F3: Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Mission: To plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.
The core principles of F3 are that it is always:
1. Free of charge
2. Open to all men
3. Held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
4. Led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary. You versus you. Modify or stop an exercise if you need to. The most important thing is that nobody gets hurt.
5. Ends with a Circle of Trust
Credo: Leave no man behind but leave no man where you find him

Warm-up: N/A

Who’s got time for warmups when you’re trying to knock out 451 burpees in 51 minutes?

The “Thang”:

For each 1 minute round, perform X number of burpees and rest the remainder of the minute. Repeato for 51 rounds. Burpee counts by round are as follows:

Min. #Burpee
1 10
2 10
3 10
4 10
5 10
6 10
7 10
8 10
9 10
10 9
11 9
12 9
13 9
14 9
15 9
16 9
17 9
18 8
19 8
20 8
21 8
22 8
23 8
24 8
25 7
26 7
27 7
28 7
29 7
30 7
31 6
32 6
33 6
34 6
35 6
36 7
37 7
38 7
39 7
40 8
41 8
42 8
43 9
44 9
45 10
46 11
47 12
48 13
49 14
50 15
51 16

Tot: 451

Ended with:
Count-O-Rama: 19
Name-O-Rama

The Six – Arcy

LDP3

Ball of Man

Spreadsheets from the Gloom: 75F with 75% humidity, but the rain held off. Well…we did it. We made The Gulley worse. And it wasn’t just a little bit worse…we made it 12.5% harder by adding 50 more burpees. Same format. Same amount of time. One additional burpee per round. And you felt it. But… It pushed guys harder. The last rounds were still impossible, but everyone completed more burpees. Even PAX who couldn’t keep up on the final ascent got in more burpees than the old Rev. 2 version. Now the question is…can we add one more rep to each round on TOP of this for a Rev. 4 and push for 500 burpees in 51 minutes? Guess we’ll have to start pushing the boundaries on this.

Once again we had an FNG out for The Gulley. Like Fancy Feast before him, Four-Banger jumped into F3 feet first by taking on The Gulley. Hope it didn’t scare him away too much.

BURPwEEk 2026 was better and harder than 2026, and Rev. 3 of The Gulley was the same. Shepherd and Spaulding were sitting on 10 unfinished reps a piece at the end that we completed together, with YHC, Ukulele, and Purdy close behind. In total, I think 5 PAX hit the 451 mark. And those who didn’t still put in significant work on a hot, muggy day. Veterans, FNGs, and Kotters alike. (Welcome back Sherpa 1.0! Or is it Erpa, now?)

Stole a page from the Burpee 500 for a playlist edit. The starting track has to be bodies…there is no other choice. Also stole a couple of other heavy hitters that slid right into the themed track listing.

“Bodies” – Drowning Pool
“Your Time Has Come” – Audioslave
“Heavy” – Collective Soul
“Suffer Some” – Jane’s Addiction
“Let Me Drown” – Soundgarden
“In 2 Deep” – Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band
“The Hand That Feeds” – Nine Inch Nails
“The Pretender” – Foo Fighters
“Get Free” – The Vines
“Shallow Be Thy Game” – Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Take The Power Back” – Rage Against The Machine
“Pushin Forward Back” – Temple Of The Dog
“Make Yourself” – Incubus
“Why Go” –Pearl Jam

This concludes BURPwEEk 2026. It was a blast to put on and a significant achievement for all who participated. I appreciate the support whether you like burpees or hate them. I’m still hopeful that I can change a few minds if I run enough of these…

Cumulative BURPwEEk Burpee Totals:
• Day 1: The Wait: 070
• Day 1: The Eclipse: 110 (30 were dirty man-makers)
• Day 2: The drEMOM: 132 (or more depending on person)
• Day 3: The BURPH: 200
• Day 4: The Slaughter: 210
• Day 5: The Chain: 121 (w/ 110 extra merkins built in)
• Day 6: The Party: 173 (w/ 3rd round of burpee broad jumps)
• Day 7: The Ruck : 050 (all were with rucks)
• Day 7: The Gulley: 451

BURPwEEk Total: 1517

Date: 06/06/2026
Time: 6:30 – 7:30 AM
Location: The Fortress

Fortress Beatdown

Pax: 10 Total
Landslide
Stark
Coconut
Oil Change
Norm
FNG Minotaur (Coconut)
Chanel (Stark Kotter)
Crocs
Nelly
Tarnished – Q

F3 Fitness, Fellowship, Faith

Mission: To plant, grow, and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.

5 Core Principles:
Free of charge
Open to all men
Always held outdoors
Led in a rotating fashion by men participating in the workout
Ends in a circle of trust

Disclaimer

Thang:
Warmup: SSH, Chain Breakers, Willie Mayes Hayes

Beat the Clock, Fortress Style – Used the 1/4 mile loop around the playground and the playground for a beatdown that got the heart rate up with running and exercises at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock with the playground at 12. The PAX started at playground (12 o'clock) and did 1 rep of the exercise and ran clockwise to 3 followed by 6, 9, and back to 12. For each lap, the rep count increased by 1 until you get to 12 reps of each exercise at each station.

3 O'Clock – Imperial Walkers (2×1) and Hillbilly Walkers (2×1)
6 O'Clock – Pull-ups and Dips
9 O'Clock – Merkins and Diamond Merkins
12 O'Clock – Manmakers and Squat Thrusters

Commentary from the Q – No rest for the PAX this morning between the heat and the work. If you weren't running, you were doing the work. A couple of PAX got to the 9'clock hour before time ran out. We finished up at 12 o'clock with Manmakers and Squat Thrusters in cadence via Chanel. Well done!

COT
Count-O-Rama
Name-O-Rama
6: Stark
Announcements
LDP – Exhortation (Q3.7) – Incentivizing the Breach of Obstacles
Prayer

Date: 06/06/2026
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 AM
Location: The Fortress

Leadership Ruck

Pax: 9 Total
Callahan
Isosceles
Stark
Oil Change
Norm
Mantis (Stark/Coconut Kotter)
Longhorn
Coconut
Tarnished – Q

F3 Fitness, Fellowship, Faith

Mission: To plant, grow, and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.

5 Core Principles:
Free of charge
Open to all men
Always held outdoors
Led in a rotating fashion by men participating in the workout
Ends in a circle of trust

Credo/Disclaimer

Discussion:
Q Source Leadership Discussion: Exhortation (Q3.7) Incentivizing the Breach of Obstacles

1. Obstacles Stop Movement
The Q Source teaches that leadership is about creating and sustaining movement. Obstacles are anything that threatens that movement. Without exhortation, even a compelling vision can stall when the first obstacle appears.
Question # 1: What obstacles most commonly stop men from pursuing growth today?

2. Fear Is Often Worse Than Reality
The lesson argues that the fear of pain and chaos is usually more powerful than the actual hardship itself. Once we step through the obstacle, we often discover we were capable all along.
Questions # 2: What is a challenge in your life that looked like a mountain before you started but became a molehill once you got moving?

3. Exhortation Requires Both Empathy and Correction
The effective leader can say: "I've been where you are."
But he can also say: "You're capable of more than you're currently demanding of yourself."
Empathy without correction becomes enabling.
Correction without empathy becomes bullying.
Exhortation requires both.
Question # 3: Why is it difficult to balance compassion and accountability?

Final Question: Can a leader exhort people through an obstacle he has never personally faced?

Takeaway
Exhortation = Empathy + Correction + Action
A leader says: "I know how hard this is because I've been there. But I care too much about you to let you stay there."
That idea tends to generate some of the best discussion because nearly every man can identify either a moment when someone did that for him—or a moment when someone should have.

Commentary from the Q: We had the bonus of seeing Thor and family just before leaving for their summer trip out west during our ruck. Safe travels! Great to meet Mantis and having him return to the gloom.

COT
Count-O-Rama
Name-O-Rama
6: Mantis
Announcements
Prayer

Backblast: June 6th, 2026

AO: The Battlefield – The Shops at Fallen Timbers – Maumee, OH

PAX:
Photon – Q
Arcy
Bulldog
Crawdad
Cybertruck
Echo
Fancy Feast
Olive Oil
Purdy
Quick Draw
Rudy
Runt
Ukulele

Workout: BURPwEEk Day 7 Part 1 – The Ruck

FNG’s: N/A

Mission and Principles:
F3: Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Mission: To plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.
The core principles of F3 are that it is always:
1. Free of charge
2. Open to all men
3. Held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
4. Led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary. You versus you. Modify or stop an exercise if you need to. The most important thing is that nobody gets hurt.
5. Ends with a Circle of Trust
Credo: Leave no man behind but leave no man where you find him

Warm-up: N/A

The “Thang”:

After the shenanigans last year, we rucked a short Easterly loop to ensure that we made it back in time by the beatdown proper. We stopped five times along the way to perform 10 rucked burpees, totaling 50 rucked burpees during the duration of the ruck. We got back a few minutes early, which was probably necessary going into Rev. 3 of The Gulley.

Ended with:
Count-O-Rama: 13
Name-O-Rama

The Six – Runt

LDP3

Ball of Man

Spreadsheets from the Gloom: 72F and humid. Rucked burpees suck, there’s no way around it. They’re hard and the stupid weight slams into the back of your head on every rep regardless of how you orient your plates or rucksack in general. But…it was great preparation for The Gulley. Normal burpees feel so much easier once that 30lb weight is lifted.

Ukulele had a great idea this morning. More rucked burpees. They suck, but they make us better…so we should do more. Also, sewer ruck…

All in all, this went way more smoothly than last year’s ruck. So we’re getting better!

Current cumulative BURPwEEk Burpee Totals:
• Day 1: The Wait: 070
• Day 1: The Eclipse: 110 (30 were dirty man-makers)
• Day 2: The drEMOM: 132 (or more depending on person)
• Day 3: The BURPH: 200
• Day 4: The Slaughter: 210
• Day 5: The Chain: 121 (w/ 110 extra merkins built in)
• Day 6: The Party: 173 (w/ 3rd round of burpee broad jumps)
• Day 7: The Ruck 050 (all were with rucks)

Goldwing's Workout

The Pax:
Goldwing (Q)
Doogie
Footloose
Waldo
Fat Amy
Viper
Manchester
Yoshi
Norm
Archy
Fancy Feast
Purdy
Vespa
Osha
Rudy

The Thing:
The workout consisted of the following
– 20 Big Boy Sit-ups at the base of the hill
– 10 Burpees at the top of the hill
– 10 Merkins at the top of the hill
– 25 Squats at the back of the hill
– Run back to the front of the hill
– Repeat

The COT:
In true Goldwing fashion, he surprised us with a watermelon party after the workout. I'm already looking forward to when he Qs again next year!

Backblast: June 5th, 2026

AO: Nightmare – Municipal Park – Perrysburg, OH

PAX:
Photon – Q
Bobber
Coconut
Geppetto
Gold Star
Irish Hoss
Longhorn
Spaulding
Ukulele

Workout: BURPwEEk Day 6 – The Party

FNG’s: N/A

Mission and Principles:
F3: Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Mission: To plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.
The core principles of F3 are that it is always:
1. Free of charge
2. Open to all men
3. Held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
4. Led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary. You versus you. Modify or stop an exercise if you need to. The most important thing is that nobody gets hurt.
5. Ends with a Circle of Trust
Credo: Leave no man behind but leave no man where you find him

Warm-up: In cadence

Windmills – 10
Chainbreakers – 10

Arm Circles OYO while YHC explained the workout.

The “Thang”:

PAX lined up and then paired up by weight.

Two rows of cones were spread 50 yards apart from one another. 6 cones in the starting row and 5 in the far row, each containing a MOT for the PAX to follow. Each pair started off with 10 burpees each. Then each pair of PAX chose a starting cone and followed the MOT across the 50 yard burping lot to the next cone, at which point they did 10 burpees each before traveling back across the 50 yard burping lot, using the new cone’s MOT, to the starting line of cones. PAX continued this, using a different cone to direct the MOT each time, until all 11 cones of MOT and 110 burpees were complete, or until time expired. MOTs called out on the cones were the following:

Burpee Broad Jump
Bear Crawl
Crab Walk
Lunge Walk
Sprint
Partner Carry (P1)
Partner Carry (P2)
Wheelbarrow (P1)
Wheelbarrow (P2)
Burpee Broad Jump (Again)
Repeat Previous MOT

Ended with:
Count-O-Rama: 9
Name-O-Rama

The Six – Irish Hoss

LDP3

Ball of Man

Spreadsheets from the Gloom: 65F and dry, but that 10 degree jump from the rest of the week was noticeable. The burping lot was covered in sweat after this one…and it was supposed so be the reprieve of the week. Despite the sweat, this one was fun as always. Plenty of MOT variety, and the partner work is typically uplifting. Though I wouldn’t actually know because of all the times I’ve run it, I’ve only had a partner once. And today didn’t change that thanks to Stark’s fartsack. Though I am pleased to announce that I was his first. Feels good, man.

Speaking of feels good, three PAX actually finished this time around. Coconut and Ukulele ripped through the field and finished with a few minutes to spare. So The Party needs to get harder. Either add another cone (another burpee broad jump? Block-less murder bunny or apehop?) or add more burpees before each cone? 5 more per cone would be 55 burpees total, which would probably eat up all of the extra time that those PAX had today after finishing.

The playlist was abysmal, just like last year. P!nk, LFMAO, DMX, and Miley all in one beatdown. It’s hard to believe that YHC would ever put together something so bad but staying upbeat and on theme is worth more than pride and reputation.

“Fight For Your Right” – Beastie Boys
“Get The Party Started” – P!nk
“The Party Song” – Slave
“Party Rock Anthem” – LMFAO
“Let’s Make This Party Jumpin” – Funky Destination
“Party Up” – DMX
“Don’t You Wanna Party?” – Basement Freaks
“Party In The U.S.A.” – Miley Cyrus
“Ain’t Nothin’ But A Party” – A Taste Of Honey

Day 6 of BURPwEEk did not disappoint. Hard work and good fellowship. Was awesome to see Geppetto and Longhorn out despite the injuries they are going through, and to see Bobber for a 3rd time this week. Already making his presence felt. Was a pleasure to lead.

Current cumulative BURPwEEk Burpee Totals:
• Day 1: The Wait: 070
• Day 1: The Eclipse: 110 (30 were dirty man-makers)
• Day 2: The drEMOM: 132 (or more depending on person)
• Day 3: The BURPH: 200
• Day 4: The Slaughter: 210
• Day 5: The Chain: 121 (w/ 110 extra merkins built in)
• Day 6: The Party: 173 (w/ 3rd round of burpee broad jumps)

PAX: Bob Ross, Kolson, Southie
Workout
Big Boy Sit-Up: 100
Squats: 100

5 minutes of Lunges
5 minutes of American Hammers
5 minutes of Monkey Humpers
5 minutes of Gas Pumpers
5 minutes of Sit-Ups
Alternating running between each exercise block

End with COT

Backblast: June 4th, 2026

AO: The Wall – Riverside Park – Perrysburg, OH

PAX:
Photon – Q
Big Spoon
Carmen Sandiego
Coconut
Cybertruck
Flo
Irish Hoss
Longhorn
Q*Bert
Spaulding
Stark

Workout: BURPwEEk Day 5 – The Chain

FNG’s: N/A

Mission and Principles:
F3: Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Mission: To plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.
The core principles of F3 are that it is always:
1. Free of charge
2. Open to all men
3. Held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
4. Led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary. You versus you. Modify or stop an exercise if you need to. The most important thing is that nobody gets hurt.
5. Ends with a Circle of Trust
Credo: Leave no man behind but leave no man where you find him

Warm-up: In cadence

Windmills – 10
Chainbreakers – 10

Arm Circles OYO while YHC explained the workout.

The “Thang”:

Inspired by a playlist that chained song titles together, this beatdown worked in a similar fashion. Every round, an additional movement was added to the single exercise chain. The formula was simple, but the Chain tightened its stranglehold as the beatdown went on.

Run the stairs. Complete 11 reps of the single exercise chain. Repeato, adding a new link to the chain every round. Follow the last round with a final stair climb. Links in the chain below:

Rd. 1 – Squat
Rd. 2 – Add groiner @ the bottom
Rd. 3 – Add jump @ the top
Rd. 4 – Add merkin @ the bottom
Rd. 5 – Add 2nd merkin @ the bottom
Rd. 6 – Add 3rd merkin @ the bottom
Rd. 7 – Add 1 mountain climber between each of the merkins
Rd. 8 – Add makhtar n’diaye after 3rd merkin
Rd. 9 – Add bear squat before makhtar n’diaye
Rd. 10 – Add plank jack between makhtar n’diaye
Rd. 11 – Turn top jump to box jump

During the 11th round, PAX were basically combining a 10-ct body builder burpee, a bear squat, an absolution, and a box jump all into a single exercise. It was awesome.

Ended with:
Count-O-Rama: 11
Name-O-Rama

The Six – Spaulding

LDP3

Ball of Man

Spreadsheets from the Gloom: 57F and dry. Who said burpees can’t build strength? The Chain flips traditional burpee workouts on their head and pushes muscle groups instead of just the cardiovascular system. Upper bodies were failing well before lungs on this one thanks to 231 merkins. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a burner in every sense. Interesting feeling the fatigue migrate from the legs, to the lungs, to the arms over time. That said, we did have some finishers this time around at The Wall. Shortening the warmup was all it took! Spaulding, Coconut, Big Spoon, and YHC finished with about a minute to spare, reinforcing that the length is right where it should be. Ukulele probably could have finished too if he hadn’t fart-sacked. Also, the modification to add the makhtar n’diaye before the bear squat worked really well. Kept the progression fluid and eliminated the awkward bear squat transition.

Didn’t chain-ge anything with the playlist this time around.

Supermassive Black Hole Sun.shine Of Your Love Me Two Times Of Trouble.d Times Like These

“Supermassive Black Hole” – Muse
“Black Hole Sun” – Soundgarden
“Sunshine Of Your Love” – Cream
“Love Me Two Times” – The Doors
“Times Of Trouble” – Temple Of The Dog
“Troubled Times” – Screaming Trees
“Times Like These” – Foo Fighters

Appreciate the guys who showed up for this one, especially those who knew what they were getting into. That’s 5 straight for a recently returned Irish Hoss. What a comeback! Was an honor to lead.

Current cumulative BURPwEEk Burpee Totals:
• Day 1: The Wait: 070
• Day 1: The Eclipse: 110 (30 were dirty man-makers)
• Day 2: The drEMOM: 132 (or more depending on person)
• Day 3: The BURPH: 200
• Day 4: The Slaughter: 210
• Day 5: The Chain: 121 (w/ 110 extra merkins built in)

BACKBLAST
BLACK UPS RUCK
Thur June 4
Dora, Southie, Besse, Colson
3 mile ruck
COT – read a beautiful passage of Lord of the Rings and prayed.