Crowded Colosseum

As I caught my breath after a two mile pre-run with Straight-Up and Shady, I noticed the line of headlights from the cars arriving.  I wasn’t expecting to have as many Pax this morning, but this was a good problem.  In addition, we had an FNG, Jorge, dressed with cut-off sleeves and ready to roll.

After the disclaimer, We moseyed to the elementary school parking lot for the standard warm-up exercises (SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan Night Clubs, and Planks Stretches).  Lots of chatter so it was time to step it up a notch.  We ran down to the bottom of the hill on Dave Gibson Blvd.  The next exercise I borrowed from Spiderman’s Q at Alcatraz.  We partnered up and wheel barrowed up to Patricia Lane.  Each time the partners switched up, they had to perform five burpees.  Extra credit Ab work for those who completed early.  We were not done yet, we finished up the wheel barrow exercise at the end of Patricia Lane.

Next, we jogged over to the office building for a round of Dora 1-2-3.  Same partners, one partner would run around the parking lot while the other started on the list of exercises ( 100 Hand-Released Merkins, 200 Dips, 300 Squats).  Mumble chatter died down, men were focused.  Once complete, we had enough time to jog back to COT.  I mentioned to stay with your partner and find out something new about him.  I think it is good for us to make those personal connection to reinforce F3 is more than a workout group.

Great job by all!

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Bataan Memorial WOD

BATAAN MEMEORIAL WOD

To honor the men who endured and lost their lives during that death March for 8 days.

The WOD 9 rounds

10 Burpees

11 Deadlifts

12 Thrusters w/ Ruck

13 American Hammers w/ Ruck

14 Arm Circles

15 Neck Circles

16 Big Boys w/ Ruck

We had four that endured the pain and honor those men.

We had time for a round of Mary and we ended with COT

 

 

 

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A Bo-Berry Good Time

YHC was joined by 8 #HIM at the Ranch. After a brief disclaimer, here’s what we did:

The Thang

  • 10 SSHs (IC)
  • 10 Imperial Walkers (IC)
  • 10 Low Slow Squats (IC)

Mosey to picnic tables

  • 15 Irkins
  • 15 Derkins
  • 15 Dips

Mosey to back of the school

  • 4 Corner Elevators (add 5 reps at each corner – 10, 15, 20, 25)
    • Merkins (70 total)
    • Calf Raises (70 total)
    • LBCs (70 total)
    • Overhead Claps (70 total)

Mosey to the Middle School Track

  • Bo-Berry Biscuits (sprint the straights, jog the shorts add 10 Burpees each lap)
    • Total Burpees – 40

Long mosey back to COT

3 Minutes of Mary

  • 10 Boxcutters (IC)
  • 10 Hello Dollys (IC)
  • 10 Freddy Mercurys (IC)

NMM

Thank you for the opportunity to Q this morning. It was an honor to break a sweat with you men by doing the hard thing.

Sometimes we need a reminder that success is often on the other side of fear. What is the thing that has held you back from accelerating? Is it fear of the unknown? Fear of the “what if?” Is it lack of confidence? Lack of courage? What opportunities have we missed because we were afraid of trying something?

I’m reminded of the story where Jesus walked on water. His disciples and their boat were getting tossed around by a roaring sea. They were afraid. Through the wind and rain, they saw a figure coming towards the boat. After first assuming it was a ghost, they realized it was Jesus. He told them to take courage and not be afraid. In typical Peter fashion, he replied, “If its you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus replied, “Come.”

He gave no further explanation of how to go about walking on the water. Was it left foot first? Jump in? He just said, “Come.”

Peter took that step of faith and then he grew afraid. The water was deep, the waves were high, what if he drowned? As he began sinking, Jesus reached out his hand to save him.

What will it take to have water-walking faith today 2,000+ years later? Maybe its realizing that what you assume is a failure is really just an opportunity for learning. Maybe its realizing you have a support system of people who will not let you fail. Perhaps its time to reevaluate your circumstances and consider trying that new business venture. Maybe its time to have a little faith that you’re in good hands.

“Take courage. Do not be afraid.”

Italian Job

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Answering the Call

It started off with the shovel flag blowing in the wind and a warmup with imperial walkers, hill billy walkers, Moroccan night clubs, Cherry pickers, and a mosey around the big loop.

The workout:

Upper Body 4 Corners

4 corners:
1st – 10 merkins

2nd – 10 diamond merkins

3rd – 10 wide grip merkins

4th – 10 merkins

4 laps (parking lot loop)

Before each lap:

5 burpees

10 tricep dips

10 CDDs

10 shoulder taps

25 LBCs

25 Superman’s

Leg Day Pyramid:

5 Jump Squats

10 lunges

15 squats

20 sumo squats

25 calf raises

30 SSHs

Run to light pole

Ended with COT.

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Humane, Inhumane, Inhuman

Some 14 PAX broke off from the larger Bushwood/Snake Pit conglomerate with a kettlebell in their hand

Warmup:
Yoga – much to everyone’s “enjoyment”
KB Windmill – nobody even pretended to like this one
SSH
Large Arm Circles
Shoulder Taps
Mountain Climbers

Short Mosey:

Dan John’s Humane Burpee
15 KB Swings
5 Goblet Squats
5 Merkins
15 KB Swings (It was here that BOB tweaked his back)
4 Goblet Squats
4 Merkins
15 KB Swings
3 Goblet Squats
3 Merkins
15 KB Swings
2 Goblet Squats
2 Merkins
15 KB Swings
1 Goblet Squats
1 Merkins

Short Mosey

YHC interpretation of an Inhumane Burpee (5 rounds)
15 KB Swings
5 Goblet Squats
5 Merkins
15 KB Swings
5 Goblet Squats
5 Merkins
15 KB Swings
5 Goblet Squats
5 Merkins
15 KB Swings
5 Goblet Squats
5 Merkins
15 KB Swings
5 Goblet Squats
5 Merkins

Short Mosey

Break from the routine:
10 R Single Leg Deadlifts
10 L Single Leg Deadlifts
10 R High Pulls
10 L High Pulls
10 R Racked Split Squat
10 L Racked Split Squat

5 R Single Leg Deadlifts
5 L Single Leg Deadlifts
5 R High Pulls
5 L High Pulls
5 R Overhead Split Squat
5 L Overhead Split Squat

Short Mosey – taking a new path

YHC’s addition of Inhuman Burpee (5 rounds)
15 KB Swings
6 Goblet Squats
6 Merkins
15 KB Swings
7 Goblet Squats
7 Merkins
15 KB Swings
8 Goblet Squats
8 Merkins
15 KB Swings
9 Goblet Squats
9 Merkins
15 KB Swings
10 Goblet Squats
10 Merkins

(interspersed this with 1 rep of pistol squat or burpee snatch between for variety)

NMM:

Genesis 3:9
First question in the Bible is God asking “Where are you?” Let us be the men who can answer and not hide. To say “here I am Lord.”

Praises: Gotcha Day, that we still have work, new babies
Prayers: job losses, work surprises, cancer, snake bite, surgery recovery, BOB’s back

Thanks for the opportunity to lead 3D:


Band Camp dismissed

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Month of the M

YHC was fortunate to be called out of the bullpen by Bobber.  Prior to the workout, YHC was asked to offer a few thoughts on marriage during the beatdown.  Being a novice at that topic (but constantly trying to improve through learning and practice), it seemed appropriate to consult the Q source.

Last evening, fittingly, the M and 2.0’s came with me on a tour of downtown Fort Mill where YHC furiously scribbled out 5 stations worth of exercises designed to align with each of the 5 points of M preparedness as cited in the Q source.  YHC’s M fittingly remarked that I was getting a workout before the workout.  She was right.

Upon arrival this morning, YHC pulled in the lot at 5:08 to be greeted by numerous PAX – some of whom (Stang, cough, cough, Stang), arrived sans gloves.  All were quickly reminded to get them if they did not have them already.   After a few PAX scurried in at 5:14,. all were disclaimed and we moseyed off to Kimbrell’s after the 5 core principles of F3 workouts were voiced.

The COP – because Slapshot was present (and because YHC felt like it), 5 burpees were done in between each of the following exercises done in cadence:

Windmills – 10 D/C, Imperial Walkers – 10 D/C, Low Slow Squats – 15 then holding people’s chair while doing 10 D/C  Moroccan night clubs I/C and 10 D/C air presses I/C.  Then we moseyed off to M preparedness station #1 – Maintenance = deceleration

Station 1 – Unity Presbyterian – because status quo enables no movement, we decelerate, therefore PAX were asked to do 7’s in a jacob’s ladder format – kracken burpees at the top and squats at the bottom of the driveway.  Planking was done until the 6 arrived back at the top of the hill.  The lesson was reinforced and on we moved to station 2.

Station 2 – Fort Mill 1st Baptist Church – Culture is a Jester.  When it comes to our relationship with the M, culture denatures and softens marital relationships (we meet each other halfway, etc.).  PAX did the following circuit – an exercise for each of the light poles with some free exfoliation for those who went gloveless as there may or may not have been some bear crawling between stations.  40 squats, 30 SSH’s, 20 wide arm merkins, 10 hand release merkins, 20 regular markins, 30 SSH’s and 40 squats before returning to the parking lot entrance to re-emphasize culture’s hindrance of acceleration and moving on to station 3 – the crowd pleaser.

Station 3 – Fort Mill Church of God – There is NO 50 yard line.  The relationships with our M require more than 50% effort.  It requires our best to be aligned because we know if we aren’t aligned at home in our most important earthly relationship, it becomes next to impossible to have alignment in the other relationships within our concentrica.   Since we must operate in the red zone, PAX were instructed to bear crawl more (maybe much more) than 50 yards downhill to the red zone where 5 burpees awaited   Then PAX returned to the start via crawl bear (crowd pleaser) uphill.  The return was somewhat slower than the start…….somewhat.

Upon completion – movement to Academy street left YHC to cover the last two points – because one of  the PAX incorrectly answered that the M is our best friend (spoiler alert – point 4 – the M is NOT our best friend), YHC had to graciously call out the gaffe and assign 5 burpees for the miss.  We then proceeded to articulate the 5th and final point – Joy trumps happiness and then moseyed back Academy Street – safely crossed the railroad tracks and sauntered into COT – roughly 2 1/4 miles later.

Announcements were made, prayers were offered for Stang’s mother in law, Pusher’s Mom/Esso’s MIL, and fittingly for marriages. Stang graciously took us out in prayer.

NMM – to look around the group this morning, YHC could not help but be filled with a feeling of gratitude.  Mumble chatter, fellowship, hard work doing things together we would very likely not to do on our own and the feeling that YHC has so many other brothers beside him to do life.  It eases the feeling of burden we often face.  YHC has said before that Q-ing is an honor.  And when Bobber made the call asking YHC to stamp the passport and trek east of the Peach Stand, there was only one answer.  I am better prepared to face each day because of those who choose the hard thing and encourage YHC to the same.  For that, my thanks and gratitude go out to each of you.

Meantime, study and practice the 5 points reviewed.  Alignment at home means greater alignment and impact downstream – the call being asked of each of us.   Until next time, thank you, gentlemen.

Cyclops

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Sweep The Leg: Called in off the Bench to Close this one out!

Respect the Claves as started a few days early! Vuvu called me up to fill in and I happily accepted.

The Thang:

19 PAX emerged from the gloom at Sweep the Leg for a Monday morning kick in the teeth.

  • Mosey to the Baxter mushroom pool and do lunch walks until 6 arrives
    • Take a .5mi lap and then complete the reverse board of pain, dropping one exercise each round
    • 10 Dips x1
    • 10 Merkins x2
    • 10 Squats x3
    • 10 Big Boys x4
    • 10 Burpees x5
  • Back to COT with anywhere between 3-4mi and potentially 50 burpees

Cyclops got the Bundt cake prize

River Rat had the actual birthday

Shortstop prayed us out and it was surely a gift for sure!!

 

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Forrest at the Badger

Four pax posted at Honey Badger to honor a fallen soldier.

Began with a mosey run, and ended at the ROTC building.
Warm up, SWIMLAPPs:
SSH (12x cadence)
Windmills (12x)
Imperial Walkers (12x)
Moroccan Nightclubs (12x)
Low Slow Squats (10x)
Arm circles (12x)
Peter Parkers (12x)
Plank stretches, downward dog, up dog

Thang 1: Forrest:
Pax plank and read story of Special Agent Forrest Leamon (copied below).
Begin with running a 450m loop, start/finish is at the pullup bars. Then:
20 pullups
30 squats w/ cinder block
40 burpees
30 toes to bar
20 KB swings w/ block
Repeat/run loop

We did above for about 35 minutes.

Thang 2: Suffer in Place
Pax pair off
One minute of: P1: low plank; P2: Merkins
One minute of: P1: wall sit; P2: Bobby Hurleys
One minute of: P1: BTW; P2: leg lifts
Partners swap, and do above.

One more run, 450m loop (to get over the one mike mark) and finishing at COT right at 0600.
COT/Fini

Nice to have the shield lock fellas together for this one.

SPECIAL AGENT FORREST LEAMON
End of Watch: 10/26/2009
Forrest was born in Ukiah, California and graduated from Potter Valley high school in 1990. After a year of classes at Mendocino College, he enlisted in the Navy and trained as a cryptologic technician.
Forrest completed multiple deployments overseas in southeast Asia and Bosnia, ultimately earning the rank of petty officer first class during his nine years of service.
After earning his computer science degree, he began a career at the Drug Enforcement Administration. Forrest worked to combat drug trafficking out of the El Paso Texas office for several years before joining the Foreign-deployed Advisory and Support Team program.
On October 26th 2009, special agent Forrest Leamon, 37, was returning from a counter-narcotics mission in Afghanistan when the helicopter he was aboard crashed. The incident took the lives Forrest, two other DEA agents, and seven US military service members.
Forrest is survived by his widow Ana, his sisters Heather and Wai, and his son Luke was born after his death.
Forest was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.

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Mini-training day

(For the record since it’s been a while since I’ve posted a backblast, I actually wrote this the morning after the workout and sadly it took me another fully week and then a couple days to copy and paste it…at least I’m making some kind of backblast progress…)

Aren’t all days in a sense training days?

Today, 9 men gathered, 3 had miles on their minds so split off for laughs and miles but could have just been laughs and coffee as YHC wasn’t there to witness.  Regardless, 6 men set off for the unknown.  Before any setting off happened, we had ourselves a little warm-up.

Slick: 20 SSH, 10 man makers, 25 SSH, 5 man makers

With heart rates higher than 5 minutes ago, we rucked up, gathered our 3 sand bags, and headed towards the church parking lot.  Wait…we first had Mainframe and Maximus do a quick demo on how to transfer a sand bag the proper way since a majority of the crew is headed to GrowRuck Grandstrand next week.  Demo concluded and we trekked off.  At the arrival of the church, we did 2 group sand bag handoffs, somewhat successful, and started on the first pain station.

While 1 guy ran / shuffled, with ruck, around the church parking lot circle and acted as our timer, the remaining 5 did the following exercises:

  • Plank hold
  • Flutter
  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • Overhead ruck press
  • Upward row with ruck

Next, we got in a ball of man of sorts, but YHC asked the guys to close their eyes and “mix around” while all the time keeping our eyes closed.  The goal of this exercise was to play with our minds and remove our site so communication became key since vision was impaired.  During an event, it’s going to be dark and disorienting and a guy, or guys, will need to find their voice BUT, also be ready to listen.

  • Objective 1: organize ourselves by height from tallest to shortest in a single file line
  • Objective 2: organize ourselves by age (days matter) in a single file line

Objective 1 – fail by ¼-1/2 inch.  Tinsel is working out too much and has stunted his growth.  10 burpee penalty

Objective 2 – pass

In summary, communication is key, but details matter.  How much is too much communication?  Depends on the situation and if penalties are involved.

Loaded up and moved to the fire station with sand bag transfer happening and Ruck event war stories filling the early morning air!

Arrived at fire house and unloaded gear.  Next up was “jacob’s ladder” modified version.  1 end was burpees and other end was squat presses with ruck (so this was done slick).  Counting was starting at 7 for both exercises and working our way down to 1.  Finished this by 0555 with not a lot of time (underestimated distance to COT) to get back.  We did see the space shuttle walking back which filled more questions about alien invasions and why is that plane’s lights facing the wrong way, etc.

Made it back to COT where we did the normal….aside from ball of man which we may have done for those that were ok to participate.  I will tell you that it felt pretty awesome.

Thanks to Tinsel for the opportunity!

Shady

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DNA_Deconstruction at Mettle Forger

Mixed Martial Arts with weights and alternating plyometric ( jump training ) exercises were served!

Warmup:

  • 10 each single count of Side Straddle Hops, Front Straddle Hops, and Goofballs.
  • 5 each in cadence of Merkins, Military Merkins, and Wide Merkins

The Thank:

  • Progressive Sets of 5 reps, 10 reps, and 7 reps of the flight below:
  • Front Lunge Jab DB-MMA
    Plyo Side Straddle UpperCuts
    Frog Pummlers DB-MMA
    Plyo Dynamic Lunge Elbow Strike
    Squat UpperCut DB-MMA
    Plyo Alt – One Leg Squat Side Kick Jab
    Back Lunge Angel Fly DB-MMA
    Plyo Table Front Straddle Kicks
    Calf Raise Grapplers DB-MMA
    Plyo Front Straddle Military Press
    Chair Squat Incline Jab
    Core Complex
    Mac Tar Jai Slow Spider Man L/R
    Side Plank Crunch L/R
    Plank Alt Foot Strike L/R

Announcements:  Read the newsletter, Cake Boss 50th, Manion workout on 5/7.

Various prayers and praises.

Aye!

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