Mark “Pitbull” McDowell WOD

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We had 9 PAX at Honey Badger for a hero WOD in honor of my friend and classmate Capt. Mark “Pitbull” McDowell. Conditions were stellar (29 degrees and clear skies). Many of us saw multiple shooting stars this cold December morning. Here’s what we did:

The Thang

  • Run 1 Mile
  • 5 Minute Plank to honor the 5 service branches of the US Armed Forces
  • 200 Calf Raises
  • 300 LBCs
  • Run 1 Mile
  • 100 Muscle-ups on the wall behind the bleachers
  • 200 Merkins
  • 300 Squats
  • Return to COT

NMM

Monday we honored my friend Mark. Mark was a 4.25 GPA student, captain of the soccer team, and an all-around great young man. He was the guy you wanted to hate because he was good at everything. But once you got to know him, you learned that he was the type of guy you strived to be. When he graduated high school, he attended the Air Force Academy. Upon graduation in 2005, he completed Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. Captain McDowell completed the Basic Qualification Course – F-15E in May of 2008 and was assigned to the 336th Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.

Mark’s plane went down in Afghanistan. He left behind a wife, loving family, and many friends. As his grandfather said at his service, “He was born to fly and he died doing what he loved.”

If Mark were here today, he would have been the guy crushing the workout from the front with a smile on his face. He would have been the guy to encourage the whole time. Remember, we GET TO do this. Some others aren’t as blessed.

Aye!

Italian Job

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Honoring YHC’s Old Man

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67 years ago today, father was born.

I thought it appropriate to dedicate the Weinke to my old man. We would honor a man who shaped me. He influenced my life and left an impact that many others did not. He didn’t always get it right… but he was there and he tried. 

His birthday was 12.10.1954. Today he is 67. I texted him at 0430 to tell him he was old.

UHAUL asked what the music choice should be, and I told him my dad like Toby Keith. So we kicked it off with “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.”

Side note: I’ve never once Q’ed at The Hive and it not rain. This morning was no different. And it was glorious.

 

COP

67 SSH IC

 

Weinke

Suicide Circuit – Do prescribed number of reps, run to next row of parking spots and back. Work your way up and work your way back down. 12 reps, run. 10 reps run farther. And so forth.

First Set

12 Bicep Curls (each side)

10 OH Press (each side)

19 Goblet Squats

54 Flutters w/KB Pressed

Plank for the six

 

Second Set (Rain picked up here…)

12 Halos

10 Bent Over Rows (each side)

19 KB Lunges (each side)

54 Around the World

Al Gore for the six

 

Third Set

12 Burpee Snatch (6 each side)

10 Turkish Get Ups (5 each side)

19 Kid Launch (AKA ½ UHAULs)

54 LBC’s w/Bell

 

Walk back breathless to COT.

 

Mary

American Hammer IC x 10

 

NMM

While holding an Al Gore I asked the men to share one thing that their dad did well. It wasn’t exactly the most positive conversation. Upon reflection – I get it. I spent the majority of my twenties trying to figure out what I could be mad at my father about. Turns out – and I’ve prayed/talked/read a LOT about this – my dad did a pretty good job. And being on this side of fatherhood with four 2.0’s makes me appreciate what my father did one-hundred fold. We the PAX know that fatherhood is NOT an easy path. And we have to continuously focus on it, lest we leave a negative imprint on our children that will last throughout their lives.

Whatever we do to/with/for/against our kids will be something they navigate throughout their existence. We are in a position to make or break them. My dad jokingly calls me Isaac (as in Old Testament Patriarch) and tells me I need to take what he has built and grow it more.

My father did many things right. He did many things wrong, too. But the good far outweighed the bad. And if we really focus on the good things… even if the minority… I believe our perspective and outlook can shift.

The one thing that has left a lasting impact on me is that he always ended every conversation with the words “I love you.” To have a dad who said that to me that often is…. quite rare… I’ve found. What if we all told our children we loved them every day – if nothing else? What could that do?

 

The workout was wet and methodical today. Thanks to Airborne for tapping me to lead.

Punch List out.

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Nas on a Nasty morning at Varsity?

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11 met on this misty/chilly morning at The Varsity. Band Camp led off with disclaimer that covered both he and I (fortunately). Then 3 PAX went on their own for a long run. The rest of us followed Band Camp the get started.

From Band Camp:
This morning I kept the yoga simple under the awning as rain was approaching:
We built up in segments to flow through Surya Namaskar A. Then had time for one sequence of Surya Namaskar B.
YHC passed the reins over to Kermit at exactly 0530. Always an honor to lead any workout, but leading Broga is an enjoyble chance to maintain focus through some excellent mumblechatter and groaning from the PAX.

From Kermit:
I thought we should wrap up the work week with some fun. And with the dry conditions and good lighting under the awning, I gave my “message” to the PAX: “Everything will eventually come to an end, So try to savor the moment, cuz time flies don’t it. The beauty of life, you gotta make it last for the better, cuz nothing lasts forever.” – Nas

Let’s get to work.

We left the dry comfort of the awning and moseyed through the rain to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill.

The Thang
ELEVENS – burpees at bottom of the hill and pull ups at the top of the hill.
We may have referenced the lyric “savor the moment” a couple of times.
Band Camp and Poppins led the way, and finished with a few minutes left in the gloom. A DORA of merkins, squats and more hill running was waiting for them.

Back to CoT, and joined back up with the runners.

NMM, Announcements, Prayers & Praises.

Thanks to Bodywash for the opportunity to lead.

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A wet and cold pusher!

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Today at the swamp it started off just a little chilly but by the time we moze it over to the home Depot parking lot for a quick warm up, here came the rain! Warmed up with 15 of each exercise: Moroccan Night Club, Hill Billy Walkers, plank, Mountain climbers, down dog, up dog and ended with some produce pickers. Then we moved over to an area behind home Depot and Target for a DORA.

The Thang:

100- American Hammers

200- Sumo Squats

300- Side Straddle Hops

Then we moved it over to Old Navy for some balls to the wall and burpees. Completed it and then moseyed over to a grassy knoll. We did 11s which included monkey humpers and wide arm merkins. Finally continue to run back to cot but before we got there concluded with a Jack Webb.

Concluded at COT with a 20 count of LBC’s and plank. Did name-o-rama,  announcements and prayers. Great work gentlemen and thank you for the opportunity SlapShot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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3mi of Sole Work

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Instructions I received were to complete a minimum of 3mi while working in exercises. Roger that.

Small crowd, especially after the Shieldlock group split off.
Shoddy disclaimer by YHC.
Made mention that this would be miles with core work, that’s it.

Took off to “other” parking deck for:
25 Hello Dolly’s w/ a press I/C
25 Freddy Mercury’s w/ ruck up I/C

Ruck up to top level which wasn’t far considered where we started was actually the middle level
1 lap around the top deck then ruck shuffle down to the starting point.
Ruck shuffle up then down again.
25 Flutter’s w/ press I/C

Ruck shuffle around the entire parking lot
25 Leg Raises with ruck in air

Ruck shuffle around the lot again and end at the Lash circle
25 In’s/Outs I/C

Ruck down the back road and turn right onto Kingsley then stop at LPL Pkwy
25 Peter Parkers

Ruck to corner of back lot behind Panera
Shuffle down to SBUX drive thru entrance lane and back.

Ruck back to COT
25 LBCs I/C

Thank you again.
Maximus

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Rain and Malachi

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The heavens burst forth this morning.

5 PAX gathered in truly gloom 41 degree weather. At about 0520, the rain really poured for about 10 minutes and then let off to only a solid shower.

YHC modified my plan with the rain. I really just tried to warm us up (literally and figuratively) under some cover. Then we braved out into the rain. We stopped occasionally for exercises. I was flying a bit of the cuff among the exercises I called in cadence in various locations:

  • SSH
  • Merkins
  • Bulgarian Split Squats
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Imperial Walkers and Hillbilly Walkers
  • Squats
  • Inverted Merkins (from BTTW position)
  • Derkins
  • More Derkins in a different spot
  • More Bulgarian Split Squats
  • Pull-ups – called up and down
  • Toes to bar – called up and down
  • Burpee Pull-ups (8 count)
    • that was “fun”
  • Pistol Squat with a poll for support
    • we only did 3 each leg, relax
  • A few wall sits in different places
  • Tibialis Raises (thanks River Rat)
    • these don’t look hard, but DANG

OYO we did deconstructed burpees towards the end. I think we hit about 15-20 before 0600

Kaiser asks for the Q to bring a scripture. Since I’ve been working on a Bible-In-One-Year plan, I recently read the beginning of Malachi. Chapter 2, Verse 3 really hit me. “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.”

How do we setup our children for failure with God?
How were we set up by our forefathers for failure?

How is the $!.^ from our celebrations rubbed back into our faces? Or are the very things we try to offer up to God as a showcase of our faithfulness sent back to us as markers of our inadequacies?

I was also really glad for the rain this morning. To think that even though we may have dung smeared on our face, God send a rain like we had this morning to wash it away. We just have to be brave enough to go outside and tolerate it.

An honor to lead. And an honor to have 4 other PAX there in the inclement gloom to share the morning with. I know for a FACT, I would not have done very much without the other men around me this morning. Instead my heart rate monitor said we torched about 700 calories.

Also wanted to share that on the pull-up bars my phone randomly began playing Juliet’s Death from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. It’s a trombone choir arrangement. Here it is for your listening pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkDK2L9mpBY Listen especially to the chord circa 30 seconds in and then the resolution around 57 seconds in. Try hanging from a pull-up bar at that moment and contemplating Malachi…..maybe it wasn’t random that my phone started playing that.

—

Band Camp dismissed

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Changing of the Guard

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28 PAX joined in the gloom for a brisk morning at Block Party. Though the temps were in the high-40s, the wind cut and made it feel much colder. Most were ready to get started and warmed up.

Bobber led off with the disclaimer, then we moseyed to the bank parking lot and circled up for 25 SSH IC. Moseyed to the Hobo’s parking lot for:
15 IW IC
10 Windmills IC
10 Cherry Pickers IC
10 Merkins IC
10 LSS IC
Held low squat for 10 MNC IC

Bobber, fighting back tears, then let go of his beloved BlockParty and passed the shovel flag to YHC. It was quiet as a mouse, absolutely no chatter was mumbled. So we did 5 burpees OYO to get back into it. 

The Thang
I explained to the PAX that I started F3 on a Monday at STL, where Pusher (in attendance) led a great workout, and I was encouraged enough to return the next day. The next day happened to be BlockParty, with CakeBoss on Q. It was a brutal morning, full of pain, so I thought we would do it again. 

3 lanes of bear crawls
5 burpees to exit the low side of the parking lot onto Main Street
Run up Main Street, back to the parking lot entrance on Clebourne Street.
5 burpees to enter the parking lot.
Plank for the 6.
This circuit continued, but the lanes changed to:
3 lanes Burpee Broad Jumps (a whole lot of mumblechatter and requests for a suggestion box)
3 lanes Duck Walk
3 lanes Toy Soldiers

Jogged back to Cot for 3 minutes of Mary.

Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Prayers & Praises. 

Thanks to Bobber for his leadership while Site Q, and providing the opportunity for YHC to continue the tradition at BlockParty. 

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Run, exercise, rinse, repeat

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Simple but effective is the kick I’m on right now. I’m notorious for overcomplicating things so I want to avoid that in the gloom. Fortunately, 13 men joined me at Sweep The Leg and we were going to keep it simple with a count of 10 for each of 4 exercises, with an estimated .5mi run between each set.

I stared with the disclaimer and began to give the overview of exercise and the course but I was losing attention spans.
Our exercises were:
10 Grave Diggers on the right side
10 Wide-Arm Merkins
10 Grave Diggers on the left side
10 Dips

Here’s the course:
Around the back of Earth Fare then L/T down the side access road and L/T onto Dave Gibson to Patricia Ln.
Do the exercises

Run to GHMS, around the drop-off lane and to the front door
Do the exercises

Run out and back up to Ben Casey Drive
Do the exercises

Run across 160 and onto Emory and wrap around to the intersection with Brayden Pkwy
Do the exercises

Take a L/T onto Brayden then L/T onto Afton and take that all the way back to the left bend in the road
Do the exercises

Continue running on Afton around the loop then R/T and run out to Galbreath.
Do the exercises

Run back to COT
Do the exercises

Add on as necessary.

A learning for next time would be to ensure all crossing of 160 is done at the stop light. No need to add risk in the gloom. It was my pleasure.

SYITG
Maximus

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Beyond The Lighted Stage

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Ten of Fort MIl’s finest met at the newly remodeled Walter Elisha Park for a combined boot camp (The Fort)  and IR/walk and ruck(Milkshake).  I heard that the milkmen did a tour of downtown Ft. Mill holiday lights.  Here is what the boot campers did:

The Thang:

Senator Tressel on Q

After the standard disclaimer, the group moseyed around the parking lot and headed into the park before doing a 180 and jogging back to the pavilion stage for COP.

All in Cadence:

SSH x 25, windmill x 15, merkin x 10, IW x 20, squat x 20, CDD x 15, Freddie Mercury x 20, jumping lunge x 20, wide arm merkin x 15

Mosey to the playground:

Round 1:  10 pullups, lunge walk from the playground to the side walk, 20 merkins, lunge walk back

Round 2:  10 pullups, run from the playground to the walking path, 10 burpees, run back, 10 bomb jacks

Round 3:  10 pullups, bear crawl from the playground to the walking path, 20 diamond merkins, karaoke back

Boat and canoe x 5.

Hand off to Grinder

Dora 1, 2, 3  (100 merkins, 200 calf raises, 300 LBC).  Partner runs around the playground.

Mosey to the small lot at the park entrance and circle up.  With the pax in a circle, one person in the center did a modified American Hammer (20 count with a brick) while everyone else performed an exercise.  Everyone took a turn selecting an exercise and sitting in the center.  Today, we did merkins, flutter kicks, burpees, and others I cannot remember

We finished off with the ACDC hit, ‘Thunderstruck’.  Every time the band sang the word ‘thunder’, the pax did a burpee.   It was a crowd-pleaser and now I don’t like that song as much as I used to.

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

What a pleasure to be back at the Fort on a Saturday!  Alcatraz is my usual Saturday stop, but Grinder asked me to Q this past Sunday and I gladly accepted.   It’s been close to a year since I’ve been back to Walter Elisha Park and well over three years since I’ve Q’d a workout here.  Wow – how different it looks now! The town did a great job with the upgrades to the park and it was pretty cool to do COP from the stage of the pavilion.  I see many more there on future Saturdays.

It was a pleasure to be back at WEP and to lead the group on a beautiful morning.  Good to see my brother Cable Guy back in action after an extended absence, and yes, I just put another reference to my favorite band Rush into an F3 backblast (RIP Neil Peart).

Announcements/Prayers/Praises

  1.  Adopt a Highway starting today (way to go Fogerty and F3 for continuing to give back to the community).  #HIM
  2. Prayers for ST’s friend Joe with cancer, and for those suffering from Covid 19.
  3. Praise for DD’s friend (a single parent) who raised a son graduating from HS.
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4 Corners…In All 4 Lots

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For my 3rd and final Q of the week, 12 of us tied ’em up tight at Laces In Thursday for a bit of a twist on things. The weather was nice and the guys were ready for some work.

Warm Up mosey up the entrance hill then circle up back at the bottom for a few warm up exercises, your typical fare.

Now, here’s the deal. In each of our 4 parking lots, we’re executing 1 exercise at each of the lot’s 4 corners with 5  burpees in the center.
So, start in 1 corner, 15 Wide-Arm Merkins, run to the center, do 5 Burpees, run to the next corner, 15 Jump Squats and run to the center. Do 5 Burpees, then run to the next corner, 15 Carolina Dry Docks and run to the center for 5 more Burpees. Then, run to the last corner for 15 Dying Cockroaches and run to the center for one last time for 5 Burpees.

We ran to the next lot, did the same routine, then the next lot for the same routine again. We than ran to the final lot for a repeat performance. Once we completed that 4th lot, our totals were:
60 Wide-Arm Merkins
60 Jump Squats
60 Dying Cockroaches
60 Carolina Dry Docks
80 Burpees

We then moseyed to the area near the pull-up bars for the following:
20 Pull-Ups
20 Merkins
20 Flutters I/C

We made our way back to COT while stopping for a few SSH in 2 lots.

SYITG
Maximus

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