Author: wstark

1 September 2026 Backblast: Besse, Fudd, and Southie posted.

IPC: DJ Keller WOD
4 Rounds:
5 man makers
11 WWIII sit-ups
26 thrusters
31 lunges
141-yard run

End with COT.

F3
RUCK
The Necropolis
9/1/26

PAX:
Runt
Zimba
Comeback Kid
Ten Pin
Van Wilder
Hannibal
Q: Huckleberry

F3 (Fitness, Fellowship and Faith)

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

Principles:
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
5. End with a Circle of Trust

THANG:

RUCK…to downtown Perrysburg to Hood Park and do the stairs and then back to start…approximately 2.85 miles.

COT: Sixth was: Van Wilder

Backblast: August 28th, 2026

AO: The Rabbit Hole – Whitehouse Library– Whitehouse, OH

PAX:
Photon – Q
Doubtfire
Echo
Fat Amy
Footloose
Goldwing
Purdy
Rudy
Ukulele

Workout: Worst of BS '25 Day 6 – The Vurph

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”:

Run to the hill.

100 Burpees
200 Diamond Merkins
300 LBCs
500ft Elevation Gain (10 Hill Sprints)

Run back to parking lot.

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

The Six – Echo

LDP3

Ball of Man

Spreadsheets from the Gloom: Viper was kind enough to let me lead this one in his absence, and The Vurph did not disappoint. While it wasn’t quite as bad as the version 10 hours the 24hrs of F3 event, the standard version is plenty awful all on its own. So. Many. Diamond Merkins. YHC could barely finish round 6, but that cannot be blamed on the rest of the week, because Ukulele, who had also been to every beatdown, was able to get into about round 8. No finishers, this time around, but plenty of good mumble chatter.

All in all, it was a good addition to the “Worst of BS ‘25”. While I would have preferred to have Viper present with us, I appreciate the opportunity to lead.

Backblast: August 27th, 2026

AO: The Armory – Waterville Library – Waterville, OH

PAX:
Photon – Q
Bourbon
Carmen Sandiego
Doubtfire
OSHA
Shepherd
Stark
Ukulele
Vespa

Workout: Worst of BS '25 Day 5 – Thriller

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”:

This was a 12-round ladder workout where a new rung was added to the ladder each round, each rung being an exercise out of the plank position. After each round, all PAX ran a four-tier suicide. For the work portion, the PAX lined up side-by-side about 6 feet apart from one another in three lines drawn off by three rows of dots. This spacing was used to ensure every PAX had enough space to perform the Thriller routine without any collisions. On the Qs count the routine started, with YHC calling out cadence throughout its entirety. During the last 4-count of each “rung” in the routine, the Q also called out what the next movement/exercise would be in the progression. This continued until the routine was complete for any given round. Run the suicides and repeat until entire routine was built and run in succession. The culmination of this was a 1:30 minute, in cadence routine performed by all PAX, from the plank position, to the backing Thriller track.

Dance exercise were as follows…and yes, they were included to try and mimic the dance moves MJ actually used in the video.

Rd. Reps
1.) Forward Bear Crawl Slow/fast: 4/8
2.) T-Cross Hand Release Merkin: 4
3.) Zebra Butt Kick (2 is 1): 4
4.) Kick Through (2 is 1): 4
5.) Plank Skier (2 is 1) 4
6.) Plank Jack Shoulder Tap (2 is 1): 4 (waterfall from 3rd row)
7.) Lateral Bear Crawl Right/left: 8/8
8.) Reverse Flying Squirrel 4
9.) Travolta (2 is 1): 4
10.) Peter Parker (2 is 1) 4
11.) Pickle Pounder (2 is 1): 4
12.) Plank Compass: 16

No encore this time around as we only had 45 minutes total to work with. Finished up round 12 just in time.

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

The Six – Doubtfire

LDP3

Ball of Man

Spreadsheets from the Gloom: When Thriller was originally nominated for hardest beatdown, I actually thought to myself, “There are so many Photon workouts harder than Thriller”. Runnin’ Down A drEMOM, Unlucky 6’s, The Photon 500 to name a few… But this rendition was a perfect reminder of how tough Thriller really is. All twelve rounds plus one bonus run-through crammed into a 45 minute beatdown resulting in an AVERAGE heart rate of 168 over the 37 minutes. It hits that sweet spot of difficulty with fun. The latter rounds are absolutely brutal and push even the heartiest of PAX.

As for presentation, the men killed it out there today, hitting the moves and staying in position. The 3×3 DOT matrix kept things clean and tight. That said, the presentation can still be improved! Each row of dots can be offset from the rows ahead of it to ensure more PAX are visible during the routine without any actual crowding occurring.

All in all, it was a fun reprieve from the suck of the “Worst of” week while maintaining the difficulty and intensity that the week was designed to create. It’ll continue to be a yearly staple in the Swamp, and we may even see another entry into the MJ series before next year.

Backblast: August 23rd, 2026

AO: The Pump Station – Hood Park – Perrysburg, OH

PAX:
Photon – Q
Bobber
Shepherd
Ukulele

Workout: Worst of BS '25 Day 1 – Burpee Guley

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

Who’s got time for warmups when you’re trying to knock out 400 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 9
2 9
3 9
4 9
5 9
6 9
7 9
8 9
9 9
10 8
11 8
12 8
13 8
14 8
15 8
16 8
17 8
18 7
19 7
20 7
21 7
22 7
23 7
24 7
25 6
26 6
27 6
28 6
29 6
30 6
31 5
32 5
33 5
34 5
35 5
36 6
37 6
38 6
39 6
40 7
41 7
42 7
43 8
44 8
45 9
46 10
47 11
48 12
49 13
50 14
51 15

Tot: 400

Ended with:
Count-O-Rama: 4
Name-O-Rama

The Six – Shepherd

LDP3

Ball of Man

Spreadsheets from the Gloom: This was the first day of the “Worst Of Black Swamp 2025” week and it started with…4 PAX. Does the title scare guys off? Maybe guys are just tired of doing 400 burpees in a sitting? Summer holiday interference? Whatever the reason, we still had four strong for the Gulley, with Bobber taking his first stab at it. Fortunately for us, it was probably the most favorable weather to date for a run through of this beatdown. It was cooler, dryer, and a nice wind kept us feeling fresher, longer. So fresh, in fact, that we finally had some finishers IN THE ALOTTED TIME. Both Ukulele and Shepherd both finished the final round of 15 with time to spare. And proceeded to complete the final 18 reps with Bobber and I. Was a great feat and a reminder that the Gulley can be harder (and has already been made so). Now we need to see if anyone can complete the 451 burpee version in the allotted time.

No sense in messing with the playlist for this one. Banger after banger to keep energy high. How this doesn’t get nominated for “Best Playlist” is beyond me…

“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

Despite the low numbers, it was a great start to the “Worst Of” week. Awesome to see a couple of PAX actually complete it in time. Look forward to more participation the next time around.

Backblast: August 22nd, 2026

AO: The Fortress – Grace Church – Perrysburg, OH

PAX:
Photon – Q
Binford
Carmen Sandiego
Comeback Kid
Crocs
Meatloaf
Nelly
Tarnished
Ukulele

Workout: 3-Man 5K-arry

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: I cannot remember. I’m 4-deep in missing backblasts. It was probably nothing because that would me a Photon thing to do.

The “Thang”:

Very simple concept.

Count off into teams of three. On “Go”, move the whole team of three an entire 5K in distance using only two men to propel the team forward at any point in time. Meaning that one guy has to be carried or dragged the entire duration of the 5K distance. Any method of carrying is allowed and there are no restrictions on how often, or for how long any given PAX can carry or be carried.

This was performed in the parking lot between two sets of cones set 50m apart. Reason being that this would provide a set 100m distance that teams could use to switch on and off if necessary. Parking lot was chosen for speed and due to it being dry.

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

The Six – Nelly

LDP3

Ball of Man

Spreadsheets from the Gloom: So this happened. Or at least, it was attempted. Some of these ideas can sound so good in your head yet be absolute abominations when attempted for real. That was the case here: good idea, terrible execution. First of all, 5K is a long way. And PAX are heavy. And a given PAXs ability to carry heavier weight does not increase linearly as that PAX increases in weight himself. That was probably the ultimate downfall of this approach. I do think that 3-man teams can work, but it would have to be a very specific 3-man team. Think YHC, Coconut, and Ukulele. So this would absolutely be a viable CSAUP type event where teams were pre-made and the goal was extremely clear to everyone well in advance. But if you have some guys just showing up to an AO without any idea of what is going to be happening, you’re in for a bad time. Because modifying a partner carry is not the easiest thing if you want to keep the spirit of the event intact. The goal is to partner carry for a 5K. The partner carry is the heart of it. With this in mind, I would love to float this idea out again in the future, well ahead of any actual event, to try and get a few teams willing to try it as intended, as a 3-man team.

All that said, we did modify about 7 minutes into the workout We started with two teams of 3 (with 3 other PAX just walking laps with different weight) and modified into a single team of 5 PAX when one of the originals dropped out. Amongst the 5 PAX remaining, the team was able to partner carry the entire 5000 meters. Typically 2 guys were being carried for the duration of this. Significant carry volumes were piggy back, but a couple of two-man carries were included as well. The right group of three could probably complete this in an hour beatdown, but the number of PAX capable of fitting into that team structure would be very small.

Note to anyone considering anything similar in the future. Not all people being carried are equal. Center of gravity matters…a lot. The koala-like clinging of Ukulele was infinitely superior to Nelly’s skewed center of gravity due to his height. Carmen even had 15lbs on Nelly, yet was still easier to carry due to his more favorable center of gravity.

There was a particular theme that carried the playlist today:

“Carry On Wayward Son” – Kansas
“Carry ON” – Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
Carry Me Away” – The Doobie Brothers
“Hold On” – Commodores
“Hold The Line” – Toto
“Hard To Handle” – The Black Crowes
“Heavy” – Collective Soul
“Never Let You Go” – Third Eye Blind
“The Distance” – CAKE
“Never Let Me Down Again” – Smashing Pumpkins
“Carry That Weight” – The Beatles

Overall this could have been way worse. I still think it’s possible and would love to try it with the right group. I appreciate the PAX present to encourage me to find a way to make it work without making a fuss. Maybe we’ll see a tailored CSAUP version of this in the future.

Backblast: August 31st, 2026
AO: Gauntlet

PAX:
Guardian
Geppetto
Hannibal
Longhorn(Q)

Opened Up
Our mission is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.


Five principles are open to all men, always free, always outdoors, always led by a member of the pax. Only you know your medical history so modify if needed. End in a circle of trust.

Credo is leave no man behind, but leave no man where you find him.

Workout name: Clowning Around

Warm Up:
Potato Picker IC – 12
Windmills IC – 10
SSH IC- 20

The THANG:
Mosey on over to the Soccer Field by big hill
Went to playground and did a dead hang for as long as possible.
Then mosey back to soccer field area

***AFTER EVERY STATION RUN A LAP AROUND THE SOCCER FIELD INCLUDING RUNNING UP AND DOWN THE BIG HILL***

Station #1
4 LIME's (LUNGE R, LUNGE L-IMPERIAL WALKER WITH BLOCK-MANMAKER-ENERGIZER BUNNIES), we did 2 out and 2 back
10 Blockies

Station #2
Bear Crawl To cone and back- about 20 yards
30 burpees

Station #3
Murder bunny to cone and back
15 absolutions

Station #4
10 around the world
15 rows

Rinse and Repeat

Rinse and repeat until 6:05 about 1 or 2 rounds.
Recover, mosey to pavilion, pick up blocks and head back to flag for COT.

Count-o-Rama: 4
Name-o-Rama

The Sixth: Guardian
Announcements: Check Mumble chatter due to low on time
LDP3- Talked about low E Faith is foundation of our song.
Ball of man

Notes from the Gloom: It was a beaut of a morning, around 75 degrees, a bit humid but manageable.

Pax

Footloose-Q
Norm
Gulliver
Carmen San Diego
Landslide
Montoya
Spaulding
Lyman
Lego
Rudy
Waldo
Slinky
Meatloaf
Poe
Fat Amy
Isosceles
OSHA
Bobber
Shepherd
Coconut
Tarnished
Rumor
Ukulele
Mike high
Photon
Thor

IPC 2026 Week 0

Pinto's Beatdown

Pax:
Armstrong
Deliverance
Fallout Boy
Pinto (Q)
Raven

for this last day of the month 31 reps of each exercise:
Arm Circles (forward then backward)
Squat
Freddie Mercury
Muricans
Monkey Humpers
– Lap (of parking lot) –
Wall Sit (31 count)
High Knees (2:1)
Lunges
Superman
Lunges
Squat
– lap –

8-31-26 Cell Block C

Vespa – Q
Doubtfire
Manchester -6
Purdy
Arcy

Welcome, 3 F’s, mission, 5 core principles, credo.
Warm up: SSH, imperial Walkers, windmill.

Beatdown:
Burpee
5 Lt dans
10 merkins
15 flutter kicks
20 dips
25 squats
Run the yard.
Repeat

Countorama (49- no respect! Everyone else 50+!!) Namorama, 6, LDP3, prayed out.