I’ve been a part of this F3 Workout thing that really seems to be much more than a workout, especially in our large but tight-knit group in The Fort/Rock regions. I’ve been a regular at the bootcamps, an occasional regular at the running spots depending on the CSAUP schedule and as of late, some backpack-toting fellas got me into this ruck thing. I keep telling myself, it’s not that hard; just a mere walk in the park having some 2nd F with a few friends. Sit on that for a minute.

We all have our talents or areas of strength. As it relates to the 1st F, mine tends to be putting together a decent little beat down early in the morning. I have a few go-to’s and an occasional new idea that I try to work in after some time spent trolling the World Wide Internet. They stick around sometimes for copy-cat Q’s which is the finest form of flattery. Everyone loves getting the call out as the original knucklehead to introduce a new exercise. Imagine how Funhouse feels after his introduction of the Protractor and the various forms it has evolved into. But sometimes, they flop and get buried in the growing stack of Weinke’s (I have more of those than you can imagine). As Santini and Pusher told me during my first VQ some years ago, several of my exercise ideas have a tendency to look better on paper.

So how does this rambling lead into today? Not very well but hopefully, you’re still reading because this post was a decent one. Back to the rucking thing. Led by a few of the mainstay Ruckers and a few newer ones, the Fort has developed a rucking schedule for every day of the week and today, it happened to make its way to Nations Ford High School. I still feel a little guilty driving by the Ranch on a Thursday morning to go to this AO but once I pull into the parking lot and become surrounded by other backpack-toting, not-so-right, human beings, all becomes right with the world. I got my call from Spiderman for this cool morning of January 19, 2017 to Q this fine establishment and was joined by 7, I mean 9 other men.

Why the change in count you ask? You should really ask Bonsai because he wins the best “Bait & Switch” salesman award. He clowncar’d with Frat Boy and Shady so they could “drop him off” then go to the Ranch. The problem or benefit (I’ll let you decide) is that once they dropped him off, they never left. The Ruckers just so happened to have 2 extra rucks and coincidentally enough, there were 2 guys in need of rucks. It also helped that it was 0515 and they didn’t have time to change their mind.

I’m about 450 words in and not yet writing the exercises and rep counts. And, to be mentioned in the “oh by the way” category, Trucker posted today and killed it considering he thought fondly of playing karate with Edward Scissor Hands. My man has 16 stitches in his paw and still posted after I gave the “bring gloves” warning on the Machine. Go ahead, challenge his fortitude…I DARE YOU.

For the 1 guy still reading, here’s what we did…it all began with a brief jogging disclaimer that led to an abbreviated lap in the parking lot.
Circle up:
Rucks off:
SSH / Windmills / Carolina Dry Docks / 10 Burpees

Rucks in hand:
Upright Rows / Overhead Press / Front-ruck sumo squats

Rucks On:
THANK YOU ZIMA who is always good for a bad idea.
MAX-OUT MERKINS – Do as many as you can without taking a break then squat while you wait for the 6 or in this case, the beast.
Repeat with squats again while you wait
Repeat for one last time but then doing overhead presses while you wait

In formation to the pull-up bars and partner up.
Partner 1: Take both rucks and run/jog/shuffle to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill and return.
Partner 2: 5 Overhand pull-ups, 5 Diamond merkins, 5 Underhand pull-ups, 5 Wide-arm merkins. Repeat this cycle until your partner returns.
Flapjack

Two horizontal lines facing the parking lot (maybe that would’ve been easier to follow than what actually happened) with rucks on.
Bear Crawl to the stop sign followed by bicep curls
Reverse bear crawl 1/2 way back then lunge walk the rest of the way (slight OMAHA there) and a few bent-over rows
Flutters with ruck press
Protractor and hold the ruck overhead
American Hammer with the ruck
2 horizontal lines facing each other. Sit-ups while passing the ruck back and forth so that each man does 10.
In formation back to the parking lot for a variable-cadence set of Peter Parkers.

Well that’s all there was. I hope it was worth getting out of bed this AM. With the pre-post shenanigans by What-Did and Spiderman, I can only imagine how they’ll feel come lunch-coma time.

Announcements: Sign up for Pathfinder (Lee Fetter), YETI and all of its variations, Diversity meeting this Saturday at Eternal Church offices 0600

Prayer Requests: Spiderman’s mom’s cousin passed unexpectedly. Please pray for the family left behind, especially Spiderman’s great Aunt. Pray for the father of Bonsai’s friend who is battling brain cancer in ICU in Charlotte. Pray for the injured.

Always an honor and humbling experience to lead. As you were.
Maximus (889 words BTW)