Converge with Colosseum

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12 men showed up this morning at Golden Corral (with their man cards) including Geek Squad who was in town from Tennessee.  We began the workout with a trek down 160 to Brewsters.  Unfortunately, no ice cream, just a couple scoops of merkins, squats, and LBCs until the six arrived.

Next, we headed to the garden center at Walmart, a little over a mile from our starting point. We had time to complete another round of merkins, squats, and LBCs before Shady arrived with the Colosseum Pax.

Shady called out the instruction for a Dora, 100 wide arm merkins, 200 squats, 300 flutters.  Partner 1 did the exercises while Partner 2 ran across the parking lot to the front of the garden center and back.

We had just enough time to complete all of the exercises before running back to COT.

Great job by everyone this morning.  We covered 3 miles which is alot for some of the men who showed up this morning.  This is how we get better, do the hard things, push ourselves, and keep coming back.

 

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4 Square Dancing at the Ballroom

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4 posted to the Ballroom this morning. Personally I enjoy the small numbers: better conversations.

Warm Up
– Windmill x10
– Imperial Walker x10
– Hillbilly Walker x10
– Mountain Climber – Slow x10
– Updog/Downdog
– Monkey Humpers x10

Moseyed around a bit

Caught some wall for People’s Chair – some single legged
Found some benches for Bulgarian Split Squats

Kept moseying
Lunge walked the basketball parking lot, twice…I think

Found the 4 Square courts
Find a square, we’re moving clockwise
– Merkins in cadence x 10 –> bear crawl to the next square
– Squats in cadence x 10 –> bear crawl to the next square
– LBC in cadence x 10 –> bear crawl to the next square
– Rosalita in cadence x 10 –> bear crawl to the next square

There were 5 total 4 Square courts

Had some cones set up on the hill next (4 Cones lit on a hill)
– I’ve been thinking about backing ourselves into a
problem and then having to work our way out of it, so:

Crawl Bear down the hill to first cone (maybe 10 ft?)
1 merkin
Bear Crawl back up
1 merkin
Crawl Bear down the hill to first cone (maybe 30 ft?)
2 merkins
Bear Crawl back up
2 merkins
Crawl Bear down the hill to first cone (maybe 60 ft?)
3 merkins
Bear Crawl back up
3 merkins
Crawl Bear down the hill to first cone (maybe 100 ft?)
4 merkins
Bear Crawl back up
4 merkins

Ran some cupcakes from the bottom of the hill to cut the lights in the cones off

Moseyed back the long way around
Here’s the route:
https://www.strava.com/activities/5546875884

COT

NMM:
Thoughts on appreciation for respectable PAX that pour into younger PAX

Thanks Drop Thrill for the call to lead; always grateful for an opportunity to Q

—
Band Camp dismissed

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Carolina Day

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Disclaimer
Simple stretches

SSH 38X in cadence

Run to pull up bars, high knees and butt kickers along the way
Six pull up
Six chin ups
Six switch grip pull ups

Grab a cindy and bring it to the curb (we’ll use it later); hold plank out there

Run as a group down to base of hill
Do alt shoulder taps 28X IC
Flag Indian run: flag stays at front, last pax drops and does two merkins

Stopped at bottom of the hill and went through Battle of Sullivan’s Island / Carolina Day story

PRECISION: Six count Burpees, in a moderate-paced cadence, 6x

Run back up the hill

Cinder block routine:
Timer is sled pull: down to stop sign and back (four blocks in sled)
Pax did: Thrusters, Curls, Bent over rows, Squats, Flutters/chest press, KB swings, Uneven merkin/plyo, Overhead carries/walk
Each pax got to pull the sled twice.
Pass the Ammunition
All pax line up at the curb, about an arms-length apart, plank with hands on the curb. We do six curb merkins in cadence; after which the pax at the end pulls through the cinder block down to the pax next to him. Block gets passed all the way to the end of the line and then gets passed back to the first pax. Upon block’s return at the start, pax did another six curb merkins in cadence. Repeat.

Run suicides:
Run to post #1: do two bobby hurleys, run back to start, run to post #2 and do two bobby hurleys, run back to start. Repast, but do three bobbies this round.
Mary:
Big Boy Sit ups (17X IC)
LBC (17X IC)
Protractors
Amer hammer (17X IC)
Flutters (17X IC)

Fini, COT

Carolina Day (formerly known as Palmetto Day): Established to remember/honor the Patriot victory at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island.
This was a battle that the Patriots should have lost as the odds were greatly against them:
The British were well trained
British had twice as many cannons as the Patriots
Patriots had limited amounts of gun powder and ammunition
The fort at Sullivan’s Island was only half-way finished (Two of its four sides were barely constructed).
This is where Divine Providence comes in:
* Early in the battle, a British cannonball/bomb hits the fort’s magazine, but it does not detonate.
* One of large British ships was just a little too far away from the fort and thus put extra  gunpowder in their cannons, and when fired, the cannons broke their mounts.
*British Marines landed on Isle of Palms to attack the fort from the rear, based on the info that they could cross the river to Sullivan’s island with ease. However, the intel was wrong and the gap was too wide and deep. The patriots were able to easily keep the Marines away.
*The British sent in three lighter ships further up the channel to lay heavy cross-fire in the fort. Even though their guides/pilots said the ships could make it, each British ship ran aground and could not lay fire on the fort.

Col. Moultrie for the Patriots used his limited gunpowder and cannons wisely. Making calculated, precision firing resulting in considerable damage to the British ships.
Battle lasted about 10 hours.  Small amount of losses on the Patriot side, heavy on the British side.

About the South Carolina flag:
Indigo color because the surrounding low country grew lots of indigo, and was the color/dye used for the patriots uniforms.
In the battle, a British shell knocked the fort’s flag down. Those watching from Charleston were shocked and expecting the worst to happen next. But Sgt Jasper bravely ran out to the fallen flag, affixed it to a staff used for stuffing cannons, and hoisted it up again. Jasper later would be decorated for his actions.

Impact of the victory:
It took 17 days for the victory news to reach George Washington, and he used it to encourage and boost the morale of his troops. The victory showed the Patriots could stand up to the strongest military in the world and be successful.

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Ballroom: Talking about Feeling and running 2mi ish

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11 PAX at The Ballroom for a mini cannoli run …… moderate means modify as needed.

  • Couple of warm up exercises
  • Mosey for .94mi to Pleasant Knoll Elementary entrance
  • Along way do some exercises
  • 3 rounds of repeats to 5 light polls
    • 10 Merkins
    • 20 Squats
    • 10 America Hammers
  • Mosey back to COT with exercises on the way
  1. The Barry – July 1 7pm
  2. Fastest 5 – July 31
  3. Prayers for Sen Tressel friend Joe
  4. Praises for Yoshi and time with Grandpa

We are all managers….not just in the workplace but in everything. The better word is steward. From the air we breath to time to finances to the very words that come out of our mouths, we need to manage them and ask ourselves are we using this to the best of our ability or wasting it?? Steward all of your resources well!!

Thanks Drop Thrill from the opportunity to Q

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The Seven WOD at the Badger Den

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Today at Honey Badger we honored the seven.

“The Seven” is in memory of seven US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers and one Jordanian officer who were killed by a suicide bomber at a remote base in southeastern Afghanistan on December 30, 2009.

The bomber was posing as a potential informant reporting on Al Qaeda.

Killed in the attack were CIA officers Jennifer Lynne Matthews, 45; Scott Michael Roberson, 39; Harold E. Brown Jr., 37; Darren LaBonte, 35; Elizabeth Hanson, 30; and security contractors Jeremy Jason Wise, 35, and Dane Clark Paresi, 46.

7 Rounds

  • 7 pull ups
  • 7 man makers
  • 7 Knees-to-Elbows
  • 7 bicep curls
  • 7 merkins
  • 7 overhead press
  • 7 triceps extension
  • Run down the hill, NUR back up
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Casualties carry at Currahee

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Today’s non moderate ruck WOD brought some mumble chatter at the beginning but then most of us got gassed and out of breath so barely any words were being said.

buy in: 1/4 mile run, 50 BBSU.. main event: one mile carrying casualties (ladders loaded with sandbags for 240# and 230#) with Tabata every two minutes, stop, put casualty down, 10 push-ups with ruck on alternating with 10 squats with ruck on. Pick up casualty and keep moving. We finished the mile in 33 minutes :muscle:, buy out: 1/4 mile run and 50 BBSU, Tabata clock was still ticking so more push-ups every two minutes. Endex: 1/2 mile ruck with sandbags, switching bags with partner every time the alarm went off.  Totals: movement 2 miles, +- 200 merkins, +- 80 squats.
Great push everyone!!

 

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Old Glory and Burpees

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13 PAX gathered in the almost gloom
That 0600 start time does feel friendlier on my legs…just saying

NMM:
Honestly as a FM native, I love Baxter and all the folks that have migrated to Fort Mill. The diversity of backgrounds and influx of culture has made Fort Mill a better place on many levels. Traffic is rougher, but c’est la vie. Every time I drive through Baxter, I notice the inordinate amount of American flags hanging, and there was some recent controversy over someone flying a Trump flag as well (which, as someone who doesn’t live in the neighborhood, is quite funny). When I see the American Flag, I have a lot of different thoughts. I want my country’s to flag to be a symbol of hope that truly represents for liberty and justice FOR ALL. But in reality, I know that’s not what the flag represents to everyone.

Thinking specifically about the “Soiling of Old Glory” by Stanley Foreman
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24874670.

Look at this photo (1976). It’s pretty clear the American flag might mean different things to you based on where you grew up, the color of your skin, the country of your birth (or your parents’ birth…), etc. Something we should all be mindful of when so many flags are flying on a quaint southern street.

To make the workout mindful of the flags, we did a burpee for every American flag we passed. (it was a good amount of burpees)

Warm-up:
SSH
IW
HW
Squat
Split Squat
Merkin (slow count)
Yoga
Peter Parker

Mosey through Baxter:
stopped along the way and called some exercises in cadence for the 6 to catch up
Hit the clubhouse/swimming pool lawn
Started Jack Webbs w/ merkins and overhead claps went to 9 and 36
– bear crawled the entire lawn
– finished the 10 merkins and 40 overhead claps on the other side of the lawn
Keep Moseying
Sprinted the Lower Assembly hill up to Sutton (monkey humpers for the 6 on Sutton)
Regrouped in the Urgent Care parking lot
Did some Mike Tysons –> lunge walk –> burpees across the parking lot
Mosey back towards COT
– did not stop for burpees at each flag, but YHC kept count. We had 12 burpees at COT counting the shovel flag. I chose a judicious path; it could have been MUCH worse.

Prayers:
Cooter’s mother-in-law
Remembrance of family members that have passed on

Thanks Sugar Daddy for the opportunity to lead!

—
Band Camp dismissed

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FieldDay at Paintheon

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My shorty was really excited about having a field day at school so I thought I would bring back some elementary school memories and lead the PAX in some old school field day activities.
I don’t usually put this much effort into a Q because there is a lot of stuff to figure out and prep beforehand. Luckily I have been riding the good vibes of June FNG Jamboree so I was willing to put in the extra effort in hopes the PAX have fun while still getting a workout in.

Started the PAX off with some standard exercises then moved right into the games.

The following games were played. If you want to know more then you need to show up next time. Thank you to Lutefisk for joining us while on IR and for capturing some incredible footage of the games.

Sharks and minnows and bears. The bear crawl is the only mode of transportation. then around with only being able to NUR which turned out to be way more dangerous than expected.

The next field day game was the egg toss.
Wanting to continue to have access to the facilities of the elementary school the eggs were swapped out for golfballs. Eggs smashed baking in the sun while the kids stand in the car rider pickup line would not be great for fulfilling the mission of F3.
Golf ball egg toss rules. If you drop the golf ball you and your partner must perform 3 burpees before moving back to the next cone. Note that golf balls were also dangerous. Especially with the limited photons present in the gloom.

On to the second to final field day game. The famous water relay. Everyone is split into two teams. Each team member will perform exercises while the first person in line will fill the holy cup,(it’s a cup with holes in it to let the water leak out thereby encouraging running) and run down around the farthest cone then back to a second cup that is to be filled. Exercises are merkins, squats, plank for the guys not running with the leaking water jug.
This was one of my favorite parts to watch as PAX had different theories and strategy was definitely a factor in the outcome. There were some cheaters so the rules had to be adjusted to only carrying the jug with one hand. Great job fellas pushing yourselves to win for your team. (IT especially was running fast)

Last but not least was the “nobody is watching my six” dodgeball.
Pax around the circle perform seal jacks while trying to hit the person in the middle. If you hit the person you then go into the middle and take a turn dodging while they take your spot around the circle. At first, it was only one person and one dodgeball which was pretty elementary so we had to add more excitement by adding a second person in the middle and a second dodgeball. So now there are two people in the middle and two dodgeballs in play. It became much more chaotic which I enjoyed and many more guys were getting into the dodging action. The game also added some chaos because with only two out of 4 dodgeballs in play at a single time everyone had to be aware of the sequence at which the dodgeballs were allowed to enter the game. To make it as easy to remember as possible we established that the order of balls that could be in play was green, yellow, red, and finally blue. So the game starts with the green and yellow balls in play and if one of the green or yellow balls ends up outside the circle then the next ball which is red becomes active.

Kudos to Uber for his world-class dodgeball skills.

Hope you guys enjoyed it and it was great to see Tinsel back out in the gloom after his rabdo scare.

Thanks for the opportunity 38 to lead. Stay frosty my friends,
Olaf

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Must meet the standard to make Varsity

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Now that the Journey 3rdF meetings have finished my Friday has opened up for hitting some AO’s that I haven’t hit in a while to meet some of the fresh guys who share the Gloom. Little did they know what to expect. Being that the Q point for this week is Accountability which is Q point 2.5 if you happen to be following along with the idiotic numbering system it was time for some accountability at Varsity. My original Q plan got tossed as soon as the number of PAX hit more than 8 so I modified from an accountability rotation where we would all hold a plank and watch each man perform the exercise using their best form while the remaining PAX observe and critique to something more familiar while still tying back into standards and enforcement. The old school APFT was introduced to the unsuspecting PAX after we performed some SSH and some Merkins, and a few peter parkers. Same as always, 2 mins as many correct reps as possible. 2 mins of merkins where must go at least down far enough where your upper arms are parallel with the ground, extending all the way up to lock out arms to complete the rep. No resting on the ground, no removing hands or feet from the ground or the count is terminated. Partner up to make sure the standard is upheld and enforced. Next exercise is the big boy situp. Hands must be interlocked behind the head. No resting on the ground. Feet and hips must remain on the ground during the event. Chin must come up further than your tailbone in order for rep to count. Scoring was based on as many correct reps as possible in the 2 minute allowed time. Final portion was the 2 mile timed run. Thanks to splinter for maintaining a great relationship with the local AO authorities who allowed us to use the track. Clock was started and everyone was off. 8 laps around the track and remember your time when you cross the finish line. Everyone did a great job pushing and encouraging each other to finish strong. Great job fellas. Head back over to COT for CountARama, NameARama, announcements, prayers and praises. Encourgment to find another man or three and lock shields to allow yourself to become fully unlocked. Thanks for the opportunity to lead Splinter on a great morning and was wonderful to see all of the new faces. June FNG Jamboree is in full swing. Find someone and bring them out to F3. Stay Frosty my friends, Olaf
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Some light running and form

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It’s been a while since YHC has gone all the way to Footloose, so how could I say no to the early morning drive east of the Peach Stand?

The car said it was 60º F, and I couldn’t have asked for a better morning for working off a slight hangover.

the gloom

YHC arrived not at 0515, but my watch still said 0515 when I got out of my car so I was basically sorta, not really, but kinda on time.  Barry Manilow and Anchroman had meandered off already and so I asked Assassin and Small World how they felt about taking “moderate” up a half a notch.  With their permission, we set off toward main street.

the thang

My original plan was to take the crowd down to FMCoG’s lower parking lot for some stairs and Dora fun. Works great for crowds because there’s always someone to complain at, but with 3 people, you can’t dora properly.

We immediately started off towards main street. Pulled into the lot behind Amor and Improper for:
20x SSH
10x low slow squat
10x Merkins

Every time we stopped after that it was the same thing:
10x lunges (each leg)
20x monkey humpers
10x BBSU

Stops were made:
By that animal hospital
The post office
The steps of United Presbyterian
Parking lot for 1873
The town hall
Back at the animal hospital
Across from the police station on Academy where we ran into quite a few Minnows
The lower lot for FMCoG

Then we ran up the stairs, realized we were SO CLOSE to 2 miles that we overshot COT, wrapped through the parking lot and back to hit that sweet, sweet 2.0 mark.

cot

Anchorman and Barry Manilow were waiting for us at CoT where we talked about the various upcoming events, such as “The Barry”, and others.  Did you know that there are going to be prizes at The Barry? I didn’t.

Everyone had a prayer, and they were prayed.

nmm

It was a good day to be in the gloom. We had great weather that was just cool enough to keep what was in my stomach where it belongs. I’ve known Assassin for a while and it was good to hear his take on things again. I’d met Small World a while ago when he first started posting, but didn’t get a chance to know him, so I am quite thankful for the easy pace and good mumblechatter from this morning.

Thanks to Small World for inviting me out. SYITG

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