Slinging Cannonballs in the Armory

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PAX were advised that this would not be an “ease into the week” workout.

After warmup, we did a quick skill demonstration on Kettlebell swings and cleans. Reviews were mixed.

We then took a walk all the way around the parking lot with our kettlebells.

 

Thang 1: Dora

Partner up and do the following: 100 cleans, 150 chest presses, 200 swings, 150 curls, 100 squats. 1 partner walks to the sidewalk and back while the other chips away at the reps.

 

Thang 2: 4 corners, no dropping the bell

corner 1: the dumpster – deadlifts

corner 2: the funeral home – overhead presses

corner 3: the hearse – tricep extensions

corner 4: COT. When we arrived, Band camp asked if we can put our kettlebells down yet. I acknowledged his suffering, and told the PAX they would have to put their bells down… because the last corner was manmakers.

Some quick Mary to finish the time, and off to take on the week.

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Insider baseball

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Kaiser took the lead and started us off with the warmup.

We then proceeded to bear crawl together across the field. No one could pass the Q, and we stopped at regular intervals for some pain.

Next up was some Dora. Partnering up, one partner ran down the field and back, while the other worked on Merkins, squats, and LBCs. After LBCs for the 6, Kaiser passed the torch to Battle Bot.

Starting with reps of 10, we hit 10 burpees in the field and worked our way counter clockwise around the path. Pain stations were as follows in the map below

Lap 2 was 15 reps of each.

Some quick Mary, followed by COT, then coffeeteria at Tega Cay Deli

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4 corners, heavy mumblechatter

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Following a brutal Hive workout courtesy of Easom last Friday, I thought we would slow things down, and weigh things down a bit. 4 corners in the FMHS parking lot and someone gets to carry their kettlebell AND the 60 pound “guest” bell. We really hit the grip strength today, and the mumblechatter was legendary.

 

Reps were 5-10-15-10-5 (5 reps on lap 1, 10 on lap 2, etc)

1st corner: Couldn’t see it because the site Q parked over my weinke

Goblet Squats and Tricep Extensions

 

2nd corner:

Deadlifts and chest presses

 

3rd corner:

Calf raises and overhead presses

 

4th corner:

Manmakers (a crowd favorite)

About the only time the group was quiet was during the manmakers… noted. Uhaul made the life decision to never do manmakers.

 

A little Mary at COT, then off to the weekend.

 

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“Twos”day Torture

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9 PAX gathered on a beautiful February morning – a preview of spring that is right around the corner.

Disclaimer and we started to mosey down road towards the entrance when Olaf came trotting out of the woods making it 10 PAX.  Turned around at entrance and did some dynamic warmup on return to parking lot (Toy Soldiers, High Knees, Karaoke).

Maybe it was the weather or maybe it was just Olaf, but the mumblechatter was strong this morning.

 

The first Thang:

10 Minute hardCORE HIIT – 10 Exercises 45 Sec On 15 sec off

SSH

Freddie Mercuries

Standing High Knee Taps

American Hammers

Mountain Climbers

Laying Leg Raises

Plank In and Outs (think flying squirrel – plank jacks)

Plank side to sides (think elbow plank where you alternate rotating and touching each hip to the ground)

Star Crunches (essentially a Dying Cockroach)

Running High Knees

Before the circuit started, I proclaimed this was a core HIIT.  So thank you Bandcamp for letting us know halfway through that we were doing a lot of ab work – very enlightening 😉

 

The next Thang:

“Twos”day Torture – in honor of it being 2-22-22 on a Tuesday

2 stations separated by .2 miles – Station 1 at parking lot where we park, Station 2 at parking lot at entrance

Perform following exercises at Station 1:

2 Mickey Mouse Merkins

22 MNCs while in squat position

22 Lunges (11 each leg)

Run to Station 2 (Plank for the 6)

Perform following exercises at Station 2:

2 Kraken Burpees

22 overhead claps

22 calf raises

Run Back to Station 1 (Plank for the 6)

Rinse/Repeat – we made it through 4 rounds

 

Moseyed back and finished back at COT right on time

 

NMM:  As usual, an honor to lead the Pax.  Naturally, the runs back and forth between stations today evolved into long sprint races and competitions of who could get their heart rate highest.  Not sure there was a clear winner but we all got better together and fought the urge to slow down or cut it short.  Maximus would have agreed that we earned our 1% today –  great work from all the PAX.  Thanks for the opportunity Shower Curtain!

 

-Badlands

 

 

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3-1-22: 3 lessons, 3 stations

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YHC took a call up on the schedule to kick off March.  20 decided to converge east of the peach stand.  Three lessons were shared from Seneca and a few exercises were called.

COP – After the pledge, a mosey to Kimbrell’s for COP – squats, people’s chairs, windmills, seal jacks, and burpees sprinkled in got everyone warmed up and on to station #1.

Lesson 1 – “Train your body rigorously so it is not disobedient to your mind”

Station 1 – 10 burpees upon arrival.  7’s to follow – kraken burpees at the top of the circle with squats at the entrance of the circle.  PAX returned to the top of the circle to confirm the lesson was learned.  It was. From there, we moseyed to…….

Lesson 2 – “He who is everywhere is nowhere”

Station 2 – PAX paired up completing a 4 corner, 2 round circuit 5-10-15-20 – burpees, merkins, squats and seal jacks.  Upon completion, 5 more burpees to ensure the lesson was learned.  It was.

Lesson 3 – “Happy is he who makes others better”

Station 3 – flutters in cadence, LBC’s in cadence and a mosey back to COT.  Early arrivers did a few burpees to finish out and a few abs – geometry class brought us to 0600 and COT.

Announcements were shared, prayers were offered and praises were given.

NMM – 3 takeaways to expand on the lessons learned:

1 – Rigorous training enables us to be durable as leaders in our homes and communities.  We are better equipped to handle life’s challenges and keep a calm and clear mind when our bodies are strong.  Our mind and spirit require the same training.

2 – The person who feels busy may find themselves living the life of a hamster on a wheel – in a sense, being everywhere, but nowhere.  Are we setting routines that allow for avoiding that trap? Our world is great at distracting us.  We are equipped to mitigate that through our disciplines, our training and how we apply it daily.

3 – Helping others improve in their journey expecting nothing in return is the ultimate gift of impact.  As leaders, we are called to give away what we know in the pursuit of helping others seek advantage.  The feeling of knowing your effort inspired or encouraged someone to go further, work harder, apply themselves more, etc. brings about a joy knowing your work as a servant manifested itself positively in others.

My thanks to Kermit for the call out and the opportunity to lead a fantastic group of HIMs.  I am grateful to start the day (and in this case) month off on an advantageous foot.

Keep going!!!

Cyclops

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Seabuiscuit Take off!!

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Here is the newest exploratory Running AO in The Fort. It is located at the Blue Smoke House parking lot outside of Massey community.
I gave 2 option to the 7 PAX the showed up for this first event. They decided to go over to Holbrook Rd where is no sidewalks but good shoulders and very low traffic. Easy route, 2.25mi each way on the same rd, down hill one way, of course, a little uphill on the way back. All PAX completed the route and got back on time, some did extra bonus picking up the 6.
See you next week for a new exploratory route, all paces are welcome!!

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Coast to Coast Qs

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A mid-week substi-Q request left YHC a bit concerned on how to fill an hour of pain. Fortunately, the request was picked up by an old friend of The Fort that now resides on the other coast, 88.

88 and YHC met early to get a lay of the land. He volunteered to lead us off, but needed to know where a few things were. It was a dark and chilly morning, and the wind was cutting.

14 PAX gathered just before 0630hrs, and all got to meet the brother from the Gold Rush Territory. With one fresh face in the crowd, a strong disclaimer was given, along with the 5 core principles.

The Fort broke off from Milkshake for a little mosey to the back side of the Pike Engineering.

COP
10 Merkins IC
20 SSH IC
10 Squats IC

Then we moseyed to the entrance of Pike Engineering, and did a set of Minus 2 at the masonry knee walls. Starting with 20 incline merkins and rotating with dips, we did all the reps and eventually made it to 0. The high numbers and pain cause confusion for several PAX, but we won’t name names here, will we Italian Job?

88 led us on a mosey back to WEP, where cones were laid out in 4 corners.
• First lap included 10 merkins at each cone
• Second lap included 20 squats at each cone
• Third lap included 30 Mountain Climbers at each cone
• Fourth lap included all of the reps – 10 merkins, 20 squats and 30 mountain climbers at each cone

88 handed off to YHC and we started at the front of the amphitheater.

Typically, if I have prepared a message, it’s because I need to hear it. Several things have prevented me from posting consistently over the last month, and I can feel it when I do make it out. So, in a plank position, I went over Q3.10 Consistency – “The Consistent Leader is constant and regular in everything he does. His followers are drawn to him because his steadiness provides a safe harbor from the howling winds of Chaos and Flux that blow periodically through their own lives. He is their rock.”

Recover and run one lap around WEP, performing 5 burpees at each swing. Cyclops and Italian Job led the way, with Clickbait giving chase. “5 more” burpees were continued in front of the amphitheater while waiting for the 6, or Stang to return from the woods. Stang was incredibly uncomfortable in the open area of the park, constantly gazing towards the trees. I’m not sure if the sun rising early helped either.

“Strong Routines are the framework of Consistency.” We in F3 know what to do. Wake up and exercise, everyday, We shouldn’t have to think about it, just do it. Remove unnecessary decisions, and create routines.

Next up, Dan Taylors. All the way across the WEP field. A few PAX wanted to play on the playground, and I heard rumblings of other shenanigans, but feared turning around to see what they were doing. The field was longer than I thought, but we got 55 squats and 220 lunges in.

“The Virtuous Leader focuses on bandwidth not perfection.” Reminded the PAX that consistency will help minimize the flux in our life. This isn’t about perfection, but about limiting the lows in our life. The things that keep us away from a healthy lifestyle that enables us to lead.

We moseyed back to CoT, and with a minute to spare, got 5 Mike Tysons – Bear crawl and Crawl bear in to close it out.

We welcome FNG Spit Valve, had prayers and praises for those at D2D and to those in Ukraine and affected by the conflict in Ukraine. T-claps to Clickbait who is organizing some relief efforts to that part of the world.

Thanks again to 88 for answering the call to lead! We look forward to your return.

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Laces Smorgasbord

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Laces had 10 PAX with a
Smorgasbord on the menu

Warmup
Big 4 corners
SSH
Carioca
IW
Butt Kickers
HW
Shuffle
Mountain Climbers
High Knees
SSH
Toy Soldiers
IW

Moseying with some of the following at stops
BTTW
Aussie Mountain Climbers
Mike Tysons (quite a few of these)
Bear Crawls
Bulgarian Split Squats
Some yoga

When we made it to the pull-up bars, YHC had stashed some kettlebells and cinder blocks.

Split into groups for
10 manmakers
Or
10 burpee pull-ups
Switched out
5 manmakers
Or
5 burpee pull-ups
Switched to the last group with called up and down weighted squats or pull-ups

Moseyed back towards COT
Stopped along the way for:
Box jumps on the loading dock
SSH at the bottom of a hill
Bulgarian Split Squats
Mike Tysons at COT

NMM:
When you notice that something isn’t getting done (in this case it was me counting SSH in cadence at the bottom of that hill), it could be because it’s your job to do it. Go take care of business.

PAX at Laces today demonstrated they’re capable of some awesome work. It motivates me to post with guys accelerating like so many of y’all are in The Fort. I consistently look forward to seeing how our efforts in the gloom help spark impact outside of the gloom.

—
Band Camp dismissed

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STL – Just Keep Going

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9 PAX at Sweep the Leg

3.75 mile route through Baxter, some got a little extra at the end.

Every stop we did the following exercises for the 6 to arrive. When the 6 was in, YHC called either one more exercise or we went back to moseying
Exercises:
5 burpees
10 merkins
15 squats
20 flutters
25 lbcs
Mostly we continued on after squats or flutters

When we arrived at Alison Park everyone had 5 pull-ups, but they called the up and down. Other PAX were doing merkins because there’s only one pull-up bar in all of Baxter. 40 merkins and 5 pull-ups for everyone at Alison. From there we continued our route

NMM:
The workout was designed to model the following scenario. Sometimes things are rough and you want them to change. But you find the change is just as rough or worse. So, you go back and forth. The point is: you don’t stop.

An honor to lead such a fast group.

—
Band Camp Dismissed

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Chest, Core, and Broga

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8 total (3 runners and 5 broga booters) ascended on Varsity for a chest and core smokefest followed by flipping dogs broga at the hands of Sasquatch. Here’s what we did:

The Thang

  • 10 SSHs (IC)
  • 10 Seal Jacks (IC)
  • 10 Low Slow Squats (IC)

Mosey around the lot to the breezeway

  • 10 Merkins (IC)
  • 10 LBCs (IC)
  • 10 Wide Arm Merkins (IC)
  • 10 American Hammers (IC)
  • 10 Scorpion Merkins (IC)
  • 10 Freddies (IC)

Mosey around the lot and back to the breezeway

  • 10 Staggered Merkins (IC)
  • 10 Hello Dollies
  • 5 Diamond Merkins (IC)
  • 10 Rosalitas
  • 5 Windmills (IC)
  • 60 second plank

Mosey around the lot and back to the breezeway

  • 10 Carolina Dry Docks (IC)
  • 10 Boxcutters (IC)
  • 10 Dive Bombers
  • 10 Butterfly LBCs
  • 10 Burpees

Mosey around the lot and back to the breezeway

  • 12 Derkins
  • Transition to Sasquatch for Broga

NMM

Today’s workout was not easy, but I’m reminded that we “get to” do this. We are privileged to have the freedoms and abilities to assemble at our leisure to workout and talk about anything and everything on our minds. In the current state of affairs, today was a reminder of how blessed we are.

Yesterday I watched a video of a father saying goodbye to his 6-ish year-old daughter as she and her mom evacuated their town mere the hours before being attacked. I cried at the thought he may never see his family again as a foreign country invades his homeland. It really put things in perspective. These atrocities are happening while I continue to live life with minor inconveniences. I was able to wake up this morning, drive to a workout, spend time with friends, and come home to a warm shower, in my home, and have breakfast with my family. It breaks my heart that we live in a world where there is utter disregard for the wellbeing of others. In times like these, it’s imperative that we hug our families tighter, show grace and compassion to others, and be the steadfast beacon of light in a dark world. We must stand firm in our convictions and quell the fears of our families. Join me in praying for the people of Ukraine. Ask for protection of the innocent and vulnerable and give wisdom to global leaders. Pray for our service men and women as they prepare for potential deployment. Ask for humility for the proud and pray for peace in the face of fears and adversity.

Aye!

Italian Job

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