Hair Club for HIMs & others Conquer the Rooster

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10+ pax of The Fort posted in The Gloom of Rock Hill amid heavy rain, high winds & falling temps to chase the rooster around the loop for 26+ miles.  Pax from Gashouse & Lake Wylie plus some FiA teams also joined the HIMs of The Rock for the CSAUP adventure, raising funds for Bethel Men’s Shelter in the process.

The Thang

Team relay consisting of 1 mile loops

25 loops completed in the following order:

JWOW
38 Special
NASA
Old Bay
Double D

Team completed 26th lap together for a total of 6 miles each, finishing in 3:35.

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

Congrats to HCHIMs on a great morning!  New milestones reached included:

  • First relay for JWOW and 38 Special
  • Return to The Gloom for Old Bay
  • Renewed lessons for NASA in tent set up in the midst of uncooperative weather
  • New glamour shots for YHC & JWOW in mullet wigs

Shout out to IJ, Longshanks, Cornerstone, Straight Up and Vuvuzela on their successful finishes with RH teams.

T-claps to Blueprint and Ponytail in Rock Hill for putting on a great event and to Catfish and Reborn for keeping The Rock solid!

These CSAUP events are as much about the fellowship with pax of The Fort and other regions as they are about pushing through the pain of the fitness elements (and the weather!).  A COT that includes a cold beer is a pretty good thing!

Six days until the Yeti!  Make it great!

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2

SQUALL AT THE FORT

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Seven men posted at WEP. Three for Milkshake, and four for The Fort.
Not a tempest, not a gale, but squall best describes the initial conditions (rain and gusty winds).
Us bootcampers broke off and did:

Ran around the band shell a couple of times and then circled up on the band shell stage.

Warm up:
SWIMLAPPS
SSH (IC 15x)
Windmill (IC 7x)
Imperial Walker (IC 10x)
Mountain Climbers (IC 10X)
Low Slow Squats (IC10x)
Arm Circles, forward and backward
Peter Parkers
Plank stretches, up dog, down dog

Performed across the stage floor:
Toy soldiers
Lunge walk
Duck walks

Thang 1: Prison yard burpees
Start with 6 burpees at end 1, bear crawl to other end and do 5 burpees, bear crawl back and do 4 et cetera until 1. Total is 21 burpees.

Thang 2: HIIT routine
Chapter 1: Do the below 32 seconds on, 10 sec standing rest in between
Merkins
monkey humpers
Squats
Pickle pointers
Bobby Hurley’s
Chapter 2: Do the below 40 seconds on, 20 sec rest in between (rest is a Low Plank)
Mountain Climbers
LBC
CDD
American Hammers
Peter Parkers
Chapter 3: Do the below 45 seconds on, 15 sec standing rest in between
burpees
Imperial Walkers
Squat jumps
step ups
SSH
Repeated the three chapters

Mosey run into the neighborhood. Ran up/down stairs. Came across the Milkshake guys.

Back at the AO right at 0730, with the Milkshake guys alongside.
Fini

Strong work by all men. Sometimes foul weather can be fun.

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3

Failure is an Option

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Disclaimer:  I didn’t plan my workout the way I should have this morning, but I did have a topic we would run (literally) with this morning.  Failure. No one wants to hear the word.

synonyms
loser · born loser · incompetent · nonachiever · underachiever · ne’er-do-well · disappointment · write-off · no one · nobody · inadequacy · insufficiency · deficiency · lack · dearth · scarcity · shortfall

Back to the workout, first stop was the Subway parking lot.  I gave the Pax a few minutes to think about how many merkins they could do in 2 minutes, similar to APT.  Next, we each did our best to meet or exceed the goal.  I asked the Pax who didn’t meet their goal how they felt..most disappointed.  We briefly discussed failure.  How do we teach our kids how to handle it? Do we help them through it or let them learn on their own?

More discussion later as we moved to the next location.  After 13 years in the area, I still can’t remember street names.  We took a left at Hardees and I right on Hill (I called it Shady street) which wrapped around to 160.  We ended up at the Presbyterian Church.

Three rounds: Half the group ran around the front of the church while the others did an exercise.

Round 1:  Squats

Round 2: Burpees

Round 3: Plank

Next stop was First Baptist Church parking lot.  The group was split in half again.  Two pax were lined up on opposite sides on parking lot approximately 50 yards apart.  The other pax ran to the far end of the parking lot and switch places with the other pax.  It short, continuous sprinting back and forth for seven minutes.  With a few minutes left, we caught our breath, compared our heath rates, and moseyed back to the flags.

We had some extra time on the clock for some Mary.  Jekyll shared his experience with his 2.0 working on his Eagle scout project. The tricky balance between helping him navigate and letting him learn on his own.  Whether you call it a setback or failure, the more you learn how to handle these situations, the more the boulder becomes a pebble.

Keep getting better, Don’t give up!

 

 

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2

It dit-int rain

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We had a few at a damp parking lot, but no rain (U-haul.)

Started by stretching just enough to get Funhouse a little grumpy ’cause he could feel something coming.

A sampling of a few groups of exercises with a light jog in between:

KB Swings 15
Lawnmower Pulls 15 each arm
Tricept Extensions 15
Halo circles 20
Hillbilly Walker with Bell 10 each leg (20)

Squats 15
Deadlifts 20
KB Swings 20
Tricept Extensions 15
Around The World single count 20 

Lawnmower Pulls 15 each arm
Clean press 10 each arm (20)
Halo circles 20

Squats 15
Around The World single count 20
Shoulder Press 15

Lawnmower Pulls 15 each arm
Tricept Extensions 15
Deadlift 20
Clean press 10 each arm (20)

Unfortunately, at one point, we lost Funhouse. Something got pulled. Hope you are doing much better soon.

Prayers to the Cyclops fam.

We talked about the Mental Battle podcast dropping Friday with DH, DThrill and C-Span (who is moving to Dallas?)  Also great fellowship with the young turks who are married and engaged in being strong dads. I am glad to see so many under 40’s taking advantage of F3 and what it brings in building the I am Third. I am more than happy to chat about the mistakes I made as a young dad trying hard to make my mark (before F3 existed.)

Thanks to 3-D for the opportunity.

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5

Psychedelic

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Five pax, and one pooch, posted at Bushwood.  Conditions were slick, but no rain was falling despite the prediction. Disclaimer given and us bootcampers took off for a mosey run to the back of the high school.

Warm Up
Arm Circles, forward and backward
SSH (IC 15x)
Windmill (IC 7x)
Imperial Walker (IC 12x)
Low Slow Squats (IC10x)
Mountain Climbers (IC 12X)
Plank stretches, up dog, down dog

Main event: Psychedelic HIIT Routine Playlist from 1960’s psychedelic rock begins.
Chapter 1: Do the below 32 seconds on, 10 sec standing rest in between
Merkins
monkey humpers
Squats
Dips
Bobby Hurley’s
Chapter 2: Do the below 40 seconds on, 20 sec rest in between (rest is a Low Plank)
Mountain Climbers
LBC
CDD
Amer Hammers
plank jacks
Chapter 3: Do the below 45 seconds on, 15 sec standing rest in between
burpees
Imp Walkers
Squat jumps
step ups
SSH

Group run around bus loop.

Repeat chapters 1 and 2, and did burpees from chapter 3.

Fini

Ran back to shovel flag for COT.
Praises: Assassin’s cancer check-up was all good.
Prayers: Patience with the kiddos.

playlist:
Good Vibrations, Beach Boys
Tomorrow Never Knows, the Beatles
See Emily Play, Pink Floyd
White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane
Paint it Black, Rolling Stones
Crimson and Clover, Tommy James and the Shondells
Hurdy Gurdy Man, Donovan (Guaranteed that Donovan has never been played at an F3 workout before today)
Helter Skelter, the Beatles

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Pantheon OYO

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The night before:

Rain in the forecast…

Site Q called in sick…

There is a distinct possibility I could be running this thing solo in the morning. What am I going to do if no one shows? Execute.

 

I roll up at 6:05 to an empty parking lot. 6:10 – no cars, 6:15 – no cars. We’re doing this.

Warmup:

20 SSH… OYO

10 Merkins… OYO

 

Mosey to the hill on Hubert Graham Way for 2 hill repeats. Not a sprint, but not slow either.

 

4 corners:

 

corner 1:

20 scapular merkins… OYO

20 shoulder taps… OYO

20 hello dollies… OYO

20 CDDs… OYO

 

corner 2:

20 diamond merkins… OYO

20 bomb jacks… OYO

20 Big boy sit-ups… OYO 

The weinke called for leapfrogs, but since no one showed up, I just did a couple of broad jumps… OYO

 

corner 3:

20 wide grip merkins… OYO

20 Freddie Mercuries… OYO

20 jumping lunges… OYO

Again the weinke called for there to be other PAX, but the weinke was disappointed. We were to do 20 buddy pulls (alternating one man standing one man on the ground) to get some pulling work in. So instead, I pulled myself up and continued to corner 4.

 

corner 4:

20 burpees… OYO

Side note: I noticed a distinct lack of complaining during today’s workout.

 

Modes of transportation were to be crowdsourced from the PAX, as that is usually good fun. For the short legs of the corners, I opted for some bear crawls and crab walks. For the longer legs, I did big skips and the sideways juke things (I can’t remember their name). After the first round, I just reverted to running between the corners.

Made it 3 full rounds finishing the last burpee right at 6AM, then hit COT for name-o-rama, no announcements, a prayer for tougher men, and drove home with the satisfaction that I continued accelerating. Good fun was had by all.

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21

Are you running to or running from? And Duck Donuts

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SWEEP THE LEG

Monday, 3/7/2022

11 PAX – @Cubbie, @Vuvuzela, @Maximus, @Skipper, @Pusher, @Trucker, @38Special, @Shady, @FishSticks, @Badlands,@FireMarshallBill

Duck Dounts Workout Plan:

Run over to Brayden

Run 1 donut lap – 0.6 miles each

Complete next exercise

Donut lap is Emory to Helton, Helton to Emory

 

Lap 1 (Maple Bacon)

Exercise 1 – 20 Merkins

Lap 2 (Cookies and Cream)

Exercise 2 – 30 Dips on the curb

Lap 3 (Peanut Butter Paradise)

Exercise 3 – 50 squats

Lap 4 (Strawberry Shortcake)

Exercise 4 -Mountain Climbers – 50 each leg

Lap 5 (S’Mores)

Exercise 5 – Freddie Mercuries – 50 each leg

Extra Lap (Coconut Island Bliss) (@Vuvuzela, @Maximus, @Badlands, @Fishsticks, others??)

Exercise 6 – 50 Flutter Kicks

Head back for COT

PAX Notes:

Cubbie learned there are 5 rules to F3 not 3. Great start. Cubbie led PAX across 160 and went first while others decided not to become road meat, smart choice. We met at Emory and Helton by Brayden mailbox for workout plan. Trucker and 38Special got a head start, then ran in the reverse direction with Fire Marshall Bill. Cubbie ran with Skipper and helped with the hills. Mumblechatter helped push through. Vuvuzela, Badlands, and FishSticks led. Maximus, Shady, and Pusher followed in pursuit. Those 6 were able to complete Lap 6 / Exercise 6. Vuvu and Badlands stayed behind to catch remaining PAX and almost beat Cubbie back to COT.

4-5 miles ran

Covered plus/deltas for Cubbie VQ. Need more rest, less cardio in between running. Need to not shout at the nice Brayden neighbors during exercise explanation. Good plan with nice visuals and theme. Good workout, everyone seemed like they gave it 100%. There was some complaining about no actual Duck Donuts but the way I see it everyone had at least 5 while others went for half dozen.

Closing message before Announcements, Prayers, Closing Prayer – Are you running to or running from?:

STL is a running style workout. We are running around our communities, running for ourselves, running to be better men. We are running to these things – What are we running from? Is it that:

  • Anger that comes out when we are disciplining our children
  • The need to be in control
  • Joker in your life: Porn, Alcohol, drugs
  • Relationship with your wife that you want to improve that you don’t know how, with your children, with God

I had to start to get right in my mind to what I am running from. After being defeated, exhausted, and spent, I realized I couldn’t outrun my own Joker. By facing it head on, I was able to start that journey. I realized I need to be honest about myself and where I wanted to go. Most important I realized I could not go somewhere I had not gone before by using my same old mindset. I am not perfect and still struggle every day. But I try to be 1% better than the day before.

Start your journey today. Be honest about your struggle, get help professionally, join a Whetstone or Shieldlock, and start to attack your problems head on. And that is where each of us can become a better co-worker, leader, coach, Cub Scout leader, Dad, Husband, Son, and a man.

Honored to lead VQ. Thanks to those who showed and got stronger.

Cubbie out

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4

F3 AMRAP 4 AUTISM

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F3 AMRAP 4 AUTISM

B.L.U.F.

Saturday April 2nd there will be a #BEATDOWN of epic proportions (AMRAP style) at Alcatraz.  This #SNOTWOGGLER is being delivered in order to support families with autism (like mine) get the resources they need.  The average cost for ABA therapy is $60,000 per year and can be much higher depending on the severity and need.  Autism Strong Foundation is a local non-profit that is “Founded on faith and led by inclusion, our mission is to provide the strongest support, community and hope for those touched by autism. All funds raised by Autism Strong are mindfully donated to our community in the way that will make the greatest impact; connecting families and children to the resources they desperately need.” Give HERE if you feel so lead.

THE WHY:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord…” Jeremiah 29:11

My son Noah was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in June of last year.  The verse from Jeremiah is a truth that my M and I have hung on to ever since that day.  Admittedly there have been many days where we have doubted, more than I’d like to admit, as we’ve worked to learn and navigate this new world we were thrusted in to.  When we do doubt, Noah is quick to bring a smile to our face with his infectious laugh or just his sweet demeanor – reminding us that while this world may be new to us, he has been here all along and we must only try to see things from the perspective God has gifted Noah with.

Through our journey we have found an amazing community and organization with a local nonprofit called Autism Strong Foundation.  The foundation was started to help families that cannot afford to help their children get the care they need for autism.  My M and I know firsthand, after battling with insurance for coverage, how difficult it can be to carry this burden on top of everything else.  We know many families are losing that fight or just cannot afford to help their children with the extremely high cost of therapy.  Some families must make a choice between paying the power bill or therapy for their special needs child, could you imagine that decision?

 

THE WHAT

  • F3 AMRAP 4 AUTISM is taking over Alcatraz on Saturday April 02.
  • 0630 launch with brief warmup and explanation of the day’s event
  • 0650 Event Start. AMRAP below workout for 32 minutes (Partner or OYO)
    • 54 shoulder to overhead with coupon
    • 54 yard walking lunge with coupon
    • 54 KB swings to eye level
    • 54 squat cleans with coupon
    • Run 1 lap around the park
  • 0722 Clock Stops
  • 0730 COT & Winners Announced
  • 0745 Coffeteria

 

 Other Details

  • Workout is open to ALL MEN – regardless of if you donate. #CorePrinciple and all…
  • We will be gathering as many coupons as we can. If you have a sandbag, kettlebell or cinderblock please bring it.  Recommend no more than 50 lbs.
  • AMRAP 4 AUTISM is an annual event started by Autism Strong Foundation in 2013.  April 30 is the “official” event.  It will be at Matthews Sports Plex and is going to be a TON OF FUN.  Check it out HERE and register or just plan to come hang out and enjoy this awesome community event!  The workout is the same as above and they will have sandbags for all participants.

 

How you can help

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16

Adopt-a-Highway First Clean-up 2022

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Thank you to all the Pax who attended the Adopt-a-Highway litter pick-up on Saturday, March 5th.  The group arrived with 2.0’s, Ms and eager Pax.  We had approx 25 participants ( no official count was taken)  – which will be improved at the next event.  My apologies for not doing a better job with documenting the attendees.  Special thanks to all who participated and Poppins who donated approximately 10 pick-up tools to enhance the experience and add to the supplies needed for a thorough litter pick-up.

Our 2 mile stretch of US 21 from the Peachstand south to Sutton Rd. did not disappoint as evidenced by over 72 bags filled at the completion. 3 tires, a bumper, remote control, beer and margarita cans, boxes, cigarette butts, and bottles that were aged by over a decade were observed in the stacks of litter roadside.  SC DOT was very impressed with our efforts that had many of the PAX deep in the woods making the extra effort.

3 more pickups will be available in 2022.  Once a quarter will be the goal.  Much much appreciation for all who attended.  The pick-up lasted approx 2 hours and 15 mins.  Pax came and went depending on their schedules.  Community Service was evidenced and much fellowship was shared via the conversations over-heard.  Nice work!!

We are all blessed to be part of F3!  The effort & attendance put forth clearly indicates that we are all accelerating in the right direction!

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5

Pantheon Triple Respect

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Nice work by the 4 Pax that posted on March 2nd.  The baton was passed between each Pax to knock out a solid workout.  Fogerty shared the Q in an attempt to nourish fellowship amongst the four pax. Flounder (triple respect) did not disappoint by arriving on his bicycle and departing via his bicycle after the Beat down.   The group started with a 10 min warm-up, followed by a round of burpees, core exercises, legs, and chest.  38 Special provided the burpees and some calf exercises that left all the Pax mumbling.

Warm-up:

SSH, Moroccan NightClubs, Merkins, Squats, Windmills, LBCs, and warm-up stretches.

The Thang:

Started with some 9’s ( 03/02/22 – 3+2+2+2) – Merkins and Squats compliments of Fogerty.

Burpee fest  – Mosey with stops at multiple cones with burpees at each cone  – compliments of 38 Special.

Flounder circled up the Pax and pushed us thru a bevy of exercises that focused on the core.

Bass-o-Matic pummeled the group with burnout of arms and shoulders.

Good fellowship was had by all during the workout,  followed by a COT of prayers for safe travels, Ukraine, and our local Pax health.

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