Tabata on the menu for a Q at BrickCity

Looking at the headline I am struck by how words do not have any meaning until you can somehow attach a meaning to them. So, let me see if I can provide some quick context.

1 -- I am in a group called F3Hartsville, which is part of something called the F3Nation and this is a workout group that was begun in Charlotte a few years back and seems to be quickly growing in the Southeast and along the East Coast. F3 stands for Fitness, Faith and Fellowship. The group was started to sharpen Men and increase the numbers of men taking leadership within their communities. The guys I work out with in Hartsville are generally between 28 and 53 with a couple of us older and a couple younger.  I appreciate them letting me hang out with them in the early mornings for this group exercise. The experience has helped take my late-60 fitness to higher levels.  I am known by "Radar" in this group.

2 -- Q is what we call the workout leaders and the general workout as in "Good Q" when the group appreciates the pain or exertion demanded from the workout chosen for the day. The person who chooses and leads the workout is called the Q. This morning I was Q for my second time -- and had the fun task of taking some 13 other PAX through the workout. PAX is the name for the workout group.

3 -- Back  at the Hartsville YMCA Robbie McLendon designed a lot of workouts for special workouts of the day and that is where I was first introduced to the concept of Tabata . This exercise concept is High Intensity Training for maximum effect.  I hate the workout, which means it is probably really good for me. You take a number of different exercises, from four to six generally, and you put in eight sets at full-out effort for 20 seconds per set with a ten second rest between. You go through all the exercises planned using the 8x20 seconds and you generally have a full body, exhausted workout in just over twenty minutes.  That was the design for this morning's workout.

4 -- Brickcity is what we call a place at Byerly Park in Hartsville that the F3Hartsville PAX  uses for storing cement blocks, filled sand bags, and bricks that we use in some exercises. When we say Brickcity we mean there will be extensive lifting in the exercises that day.

5 -- So today we had block or brick shoulder press ups -- eight sets of 20 seconds each followed by air squats with either bricks or blocks in eight sets of 20 seconds; chest press ups (like bench press) with blocks at eight sets of 20 seconds each and then man maker push ups with bricks same reps. As Q I probably should have added the curls but was fearful of the time.  I am guessing there were not many of the PAX who were totally disappointed we stopped before the curls.

Tabata is a good workout because it is totally up to the individual to give their max for each of the sets over the time. Using a combination of different weights helps all fitness levels demonstrate their personal best without the worry of competition with anyone but yourself. I like Tabata on the menu because it allows you to work on form, work on your own intensity and work to your maximum effort and besides I don't have to count, just pay attention to the tabata clock and lead the starting and the resting.

So, when should you start to exercise?

Today --

The front page lead story in THE STATE from Columbia, SC for Thursday, June 4, 2015 is about Bob Coble, former Mayor. The former Mayor has just returned home from rehab after a quadruple heart bypass. He is thankful for a "Second Chance."  Inside the article Mayor Bob acknowledges that the medical professionals who helped him recover said he was in good shape but it was his lifestyle - lack of exercise and eating habits that may have triggered his episode.

Mayor Bob got one of those terrible wake-up calls as he battled that heart problem. Now, since many of us are in SC, we know we could be getting the same call. I have a saying I use for my students -- experience is learning from your own mistakes; education is learning from the mistakes of others. While exercise might not prevent every potential heart attack there is a great deal of evidence showing it makes a difference for a healthier life. Learn from Mayor Bob's story and start your exercise program -- Today.

Why did it take so long to discover YOGA?

A small change in the normal exercise routine opened a choice that I had not previously given myself. I had an opportunity to take YOGA, something I had been arguing with myself about for way too long but somehow I never took a class.

Yoga, it is being taught at the Hartsville YMCA by Jessie Avant Smith, feels like it is making a significant difference in the way my muscles are relating to each other -- even though I have only taken about four classes. Could be there is a large psychological factor in this improvement but either way, it sure feels like it is working to be stretching muscles instead of only contracting them.

Are there things I have to "get over?" You could say that. I have no form. What I do and what a Yoga pose is supposed to look like often bear no family resemblance. I can stretch myself enough to even fit into the simplest of the resting poses. But, the class is mixed with beginners to veteran yoga masters and they do not seem to mind the incompetence on the mat. Mostly, exercising when you are older means you have to "get over" thinking it matters what you look like doing the exercise. The ONE and the ONLY thing that really matters is that you are doing an exercise. Moving your muscles and working your body is a miracle health treatment. Try it!

Exercise is a fountain of youth

It is amazing to watch people evolve who begin and stick with an exercise program.

The past seven weeks or so I have been part of F3Hartsville, which is part of F3Nation -- a men's group focused on Fitness-Fellowship-Faith. The group has expanded quickly with recruits believing it is now time for them to get "back into shape." It has been really interesting watching how quickly these younger guys have made significant differences in simple things like the bounce in their step, the energy in their morning greeting and the number of 'merkins' (F3 jargon for pushups) they are not able to do. In some of the first workouts many of them had trouble putting together ten pushups in a row -- now several of them are pushing out a couple of hundred or more in a 45-minute workout.

Since I began this blog about working out after 60 I have been a big believer in the fountain of youth properties of exercise. Now, watching significantly young guys get relatively younger each week as they continue to push it is even more obvious that movement (sometimes serious movement) can make major differences in how we attack life.

So, the message is that it really does not matter how old you are -- you should be taking advantage of the fountain of youth called Exercise -- because it works.

For those in an older category, this short blog on Go4Life talks about a possible connection between helping keep the brain young and exercise. There are lots of reasons to exercise but I maintain the hardest exercise of all is taking that first step out the door to the Y - to the trail - to the neighborhood walk. Quit waiting on yourself and GO NOW!

Trying new ways to accomplish old things - F3

YOUNGER NEXT YEARyoungernextyear.com

So, in the book , YOUNGER NEXT YEAR,  the author suggests trying new things and setting goals for yourself so you build and enrich your own life without waiting for others to do it for you.

Lately, in the keeping in shape side of things I have been working out with a group called #F3Hartsville. This is a Men's only outfit that was founded in Charlotte, NC and it sprouting chapters all over the country. F3Nation is obviously filling a need. The Three F's stand for Fitness, Fellowship and Faith. The group -- with accountability as key value - provides lots of ways to grow in those F's while trying to keep at least one additional F - the family - at top of mind.


My F3 name is "RADAR" yeah they were thinking of M-A-S-H though I am still not sure where it came from. All F3 members have their nicknames - part of the deal. As one of the older members in our group (okay, right now probably the oldest) I get the RESPECT cheer as we go around our circle. The younger guys do not really understand that my mind does not think my body is any older than they are. But -- convention of the group and when I am able to respectfully complete a challenging work I do even have some added respect for my willingness to have taken that challenge.


That is the key to this discussion. F3 is out of the comfort zone and it is a different challenge. The F3 workout is a stretch --even with an old-age modification or two. The challenge is the blessing because it moves me off the plateau and makes me reach just a little further than I thought I might or than I thought I could.


Now, the question, what are you using for your motivation to do something just a bit more challenging?