Sprinting in the Corral

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The day started with 4 PAX for extra credit, Dark Helmet, Mainframe, Cake Boss and YHC. We did some hill repeats behind the apartment complex.

We headed back to the Harris Teeter parking lot and the crowd was anxious to get started, 7 ruckers went their way led by Mainframe and 11 bootcampers joined me for the following:

MOSEY and Warm Up:

Windmills
Moroccan night clubs
SSH
Low slow squat
Low slow merkin

MOSEY to Green Olive parking lot for the real thing, going across the parking lot (approx 30 yards) back and forth with different methods of transportation:

10 burpees
Duck walk
15 wide arm merkins
Sprint
20 squats
Bear crawl
25 curb dip
Sprint
30 flutters
Lunge walk
25 merkin
Sprint
20 shoulder taps
Crab walk
15 CDD
Sprint
10 diamond merkin

clearly some PAX sprint way faster than a couple of whiny yoggers.

Next up and lot of chatter for this one:

Captain Thor

Rinse and repeat parking lot circuit with a twist:

10 burpees
Duck walk
15 wide arm merkins
NUR
20 squats
Bear crawl
25 curb dip
NUR
30 flutters
Lunge walk
25 merkin
NUR
20 shoulder taps
Crab walk
15 CDD
NUR
10 diamond merkin

With less than 7 minutes to spare we added some more ab lab:
50 lbcs
10 big boy
50 lbcs

Back to COT to meet with the ruckers and one runner (Twister)

Announcements:
Marriage strengthening Book study at bagel boat after Poopdeck/tugboat for the next 9 weeks every Thursday at 6:15 ish
FOR MEN ONLY is based on how to understand women and will help to understand our M’s and be better husbands contact Homebrew for more info.

Ruck Flag handoff to mainframe due to Routers’ injury, prayers for him and all injured pax.

 

Thanks Lutefisk for the opportunity to lead.

Tinsel OUT!

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Too Much Mania For Fort Mill

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Today seemed like a good day to shake up things and try to get arrested.  But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

We headed out from WEP and took a nice slow stroll towards downtown.  Along the way stopping for a few reps and exercises now and then.

I should’ve known something would happen because when Wegmania and Thrillmania both occur at the same point on the globe, then surely Fort Mill’s Finest will show up and they did.

We were hanging out doing 11’s at First Baptist when not one, not two but three policy officers showed up asking us questions, apparently being tipped off that we were supposedly spray painting the fair church grounds.  Of course we weren’t, but I figured I’d just play it safe and we moved on from there.

After we made a full loop and made it back to WEP, we did a bit of stretching, and some reps and then waited around for Tinsel and his followers to make to back to COT.

Needless to say, the cops showing up wasn’t on my Q plans, but like life, you never know what might come at you.  #GetRight #LiveRight

We missed site Q Shady out today, but you guys did awesome and there was much fellowship had.

Anyone that knows of anyone out for IR or any FNG’s, please send them this way.  Milkshake is a great workout to either help with injuries, or to get your feet wet with F3.

Thanks Shady for the chance to lead.

Thrill out.

 

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Playing Games With The Gods At Pantheon

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38 Special threw out a request for a Q for this week on Slack, gotta stay off Slack but I obliged and here I am.

There were many runners running and pre running and pre pre running but none of them wanted to hand with the gods, so we just had three plus myself.

The Uno deck was in play and the thang went like this:

Uno rules mostly, and each card number 2-9 equals the rep or 0 equals 10.

Colors determine the exercise:

Blue – Merkins
Green – LBCs
Yellow – Squats
Red – Lunges

Special cards:

Skip – Run
+2 – Two exercise, two reps each
+4 – Found reps of each exercise
Reverse – Repeato the last exercise
Wild – Change color and exercise

Burpee Penalty if you don’t have a match card (same number of color, or wild).

Thanks for putting up with my fun and games Q that I stole from 3D many months ago.  Hopefully it was  good one.

Many thanks to all Pax of F3 as I approach three years in the Gloom this March.

Also the Rooster and Yeti are fast approaching.

March 27 is Mental Battle Day in F3, with a focus on men’s mental health.  More info to come.

Thanks 38 Special for the chance to lead.

Thrill Out.

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Four Corner Beatdown

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Today at The Colosseum we had nine PAX for a four corner beatdown. We did my customary short mosey and warmed up with some Tappy Taps, Imperial Walkers, Windmills and Morrocan NC.

The Beatdown consisted of Three rounds of three exercises 25x , 20x, 15x at each designated corner with 5 burpees in the center on your return from a corner.

Corner 1: Merkins, Flutters, Squats

Corner 2:Wide Arm Merkins, LBC, Mountain Climbers

Corner 3: Diamond Merkins, BBS, Calf Raises

Corner 4: CDD, American Hammers, Box Cutters

Another quick mosey to COT and the beatdown was over

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In memory of 24 / 8

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After hearing the news yesterday of the passing via helicopter crash of one of the GOAT’s Kobe Bryant, YHC felt the need to honor him AND the lives of the other 8 individuals with a beatdown full of 8 and 24, his jersey #s.

Standard disclaimer preceded by the following message: Friends, let us not become fearful when confronted with life’s impending expiration. Rather, let us live with a fullness and an intentionality that recognizes the value of each breath given.

Mosey for warm-o-rama:
– At each crosswalk, burpee jump shot (just a regular burpee, but instead of both hands up on the jump, it’s one hand up to drain the 3).  Accumulator burpees at each crosswalk (we did 5 crosswalks to total 21) then circle up for the last 3 = 24 burpee jump shots.
– 24 SSH in cadence
– 12 imperial walkers + 12 hillbilly walkers, in cadence = 24
– 24 single count merkins
– 24 toe touches on the curb

Mosey to distant parking lot and partner up with someone similar in speed. Not your partner, your opponent.  2 cones are 24 parking paces apart.  Partners will start at opposite ends and complete 8’s (similar to 11’s, but #Kobe).  One end is squats, the other end is merkins.  After you complete the first exercise, bear crawl to the other end. Complete that exercise then mosey back. Repeat until you flapjack and complete the 8’s.  That’s right, that’s 7x bear crawl 24 parking spaces.  Doesn’t seem like much?  #try it.  To encourage PAX, YHC reminded them that I’d rather be doing this than losing family members.  Our pain is nothing compared to their pain.

Mosey back to Best Buy wall for 24 seconds BTTW, 24 dips (ouch), and 8 jump shot burpees.  Repeato.  YHC then reminds PAX of a famous quote: we’re not guaranteed tomorrow.  While true, we’re also not guaranteed the rest of today.  So what are we going to do about that?  Hop into plank to go around the circle and mention something they’re grateful for and/or something they’re going to do different TODAY to make an impact.  Unfortunately, 38 felt the need to grace us with his inner smells.  Fairly certain he ate something that was not real food the night before… I digress.

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The Stairs at Footloose

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18 PAX gathered on a sub-30 morning in The Fort. After some griping about how “moderate” YHC would make this, it was 5:15 and a disclaimer was spoken. We snaked around the main entrance to FBC and then went down to snake around the COG….as a bonus we also hit the big stairs leading to their fellowship center.

This is a moderate AO; YHC kept all counts to 10….except for when Spitz got me laughing and I went to 11 once….something about Christian Yoga with Senior Ladies…..hard to recall. Here’s a brief synopsis of what we did for the warm-up and subsequent leg sequence:

We headed back to the long FBC parking lot for some wind sprints. 50% (that’s an F in school), 75% (just a C), and 93% (cause at least you know your A would transfer if you needed it). In between sprints we, did a yoga series or a leg series. One time (at band camp), I went off books and did some derkins and dips against a retaining wall.

Yoga series got more grumbling. Basic outline was:

Updog–>Downdog—>R Leg high–>bent knee–>R foot between hands–>warrior 1–>warrior 2–>extended side angle–>half moon–>warrior 2–>chaturanga (चतुरङ्ग) and repeat on other side

We walked through it a little modified to keep everyone together….lots of impressive half moons in the PAX today (take that however you like).

A little more wind sprinting and the leg series. To keep the moderate approach, but still push….we went to a 10-count frequently, but the next exercise was just a repeat. Similar to how YHC put a lot of SSH into the warmup.

COT
Prayers – the impermanence of life, illness, managing our aging and the aging of our parents

NMM:

My word of the year, INPUT, comes from jazz writer, Ted Gioia:

I think the most important skill anyone can develop is time management skills. How you use your day. But there is one principle I want to stress because this is very important to me. When people ask me for advice — and once again, this cuts across all fields — but this is the advice I give:

In your life, you will be evaluated on your output. Your boss will evaluate you on your output. If you’re a writer like me, the audience will evaluate you on your output.

But your input is just as important. If you don’t have good input, you cannot maintain good output.

The problem is no one manages your input. The boss never cares about your input. The boss doesn’t care about what books you read. Your boss doesn’t ask you what newspapers you read. The boss doesn’t ask you what movies you saw or what TV shows or what ideas you consume.

But I know for a fact I could not do what I do if I was not zealous in managing high-quality inputs into my mind every day of my life. That’s why I spend maybe two hours a day writing. I’m a writer. I spend two hours a day writing, but I spend three to four hours a day reading and two to three hours a day listening to music.

People think that that’s creating a problem in my schedule, but in fact, I say, “No, no, this is the reason why I’m able to do this. Because I have constant good-quality input.” That is the only reason why I can maintain the output.

Think about where you want to be better and then just take one step in that direction. If another step doesn’t come until tomorrow, it’s still progress. Always an honor to lead.

-Band Camp dismissed

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Armory Led Zep Tribute

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Eleven in total at the Armory.  Weather was a cool 38 degrees, no wind, dry.  Ideal for what we were going to do.

Warm Up
Mosey Run
Exercises:
SSH (IC 12x)
Windmill (IC 12x)
Imperial Walker (IC 12x)
Moroccan Nightclub (IC 12x)
Low Slow Squats (IC12x)
Peter Parker (IC 12x)
Plank stretches
Downward dog
Honeymooner

Thang 1: Intervals 
Led Zepplin playlist going during this.

45 seconds on, 13 seconds rest in between.  Set 1 exercises:
Kettlebell Swing
Kettlebell Goblet Squat
Tricep press/OH press
Snatch
American Hammers

Run approx. 500’ lap

Then Set 2 exercises, same interval timing as above:
Curls
Single-Leg Kettlebell Romanian Deadlifts
One arm kb row
Shoulder Press
Kettlebell crunch / rollup
Run approx. 500’ lap
Rinse/Repeat above

Thang 2: Thunderstruck routine
Do a burpee each time “Thunder/Thundedrstruck” is mumbled in the song.

Mary, Five mins worth

Fini, COT

Prayers include those undergoing cancer treatment; and for most of us, driving is the most dangerous part of our day…let’s be mindful and careful out there.

 

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Round 2 at Laces In

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Lack of creativity? Potentially. Simple yet effective? Undoubtedly. That could be how I describe several stages of my life.

Yesterday at the JOC, we did round 1 of the Deck of Cards. Whenever you have a round 1, you have to have a round 2. Taking yesterday’s learnings on clock management, I modified the warm-up, flapped the gums a little less and up’d the tempo. That would ensure we get through the deck this time.

We had a total of 20 at Laces, with 2 of those being Road Runners. The other 17 joined me as we circled up.

River Rat got to hear this twice but I shared what Billy Bob said on the Roundtable podcast recently about modifications. You can always modify as needed BUT do not use that as an excuse to not push yourself. It’s appropriate in so many areas of life and it was appropriate for the PAX & I this morning.

So, we jogged over to the start line for our abbreviated warm up consisting of (2) 50yd runs at 50% pace and 75% pace. We followed that up with windmills in cadence and butt kickers in place, also in cadence. And that was it for our warm up.

For the 1st-timers, the deck goes like this, your rep count is the number on the card, 2-10 are obvious, Jacks=11, Queens=12, Kings=13, Aces=14. Suits represent the following exercises:

Hearts: 8ct Burpee (It’s a burpee with a plank jack & the push up)
Diamonds: 4ct Mountain Climbers
Clubs: Jump Squats
Spades: Diamond Merkins
Jokers: (25) 4ct Flutters

In total, we did:
(104) 8ct Burpees
(104) 4ct Mountain Climbers
(104) Jump Squats
(104) Diamond Merkins
We had 3 Jokers in the deck so that is (75) Flutters, of the 4ct variety

We finished the deck at 0551 so we had 9mins left on the clock which was filled with:
(30) Flutters
(12) Hand-Release Merkins
(15) American Hammers

4 more 50yd runs at 50%, 75%, 100%, 75%

Moseyed back to COT for:
Heels to Heavens
Freddy Mercury

COT today was pretty powerful for me. We had men that brought some real stuff today that they are walking through life with. As we say, you are not meant to carry this on your own; that would crumble any man. You have been called and designed to lead but the best leaders have a group they work with. In F3, we call that group a Shield Lock.
Remember, sometimes you need to modify the game plan. However, DO NOT use that modification as an excuse to not give it your all.

It’s been my honor.
Maximus

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Cards at the JOC

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Today at the Joint Operations Command AO, we had 7 join me for a total of 8, to take on the deck of cards. It’s not the most creative workout you’ll ever do but I can promise you, you’ll get your money’s worth. If you think, “man, I’m tired of doing that deck…big deal”, then try to up your tempo then let’s talk. I announced via our Socials that we’d be doing this and it became clear, not many were interested in this kind of a challenge on Hump Day. So I was expecting it to be a typical challenge until I encountered an interview yesterday. I was struck when listening to the recent Roundtable Podcast when CSPAN interviewed Billy Bob. So, if you haven’t listened yet, go give it a listen…you’re welcome.

So, after the disclaimer, we moseyed a bit and attempted to “warm up” by doing typical warm up stuff: SSH, Squats, Arm Circles, Merkins. Frankly, when it’s 26 degrees here in the Palmetto state, it takes a fireplace to warm up (soft). A few exercises performed under 4 layers of clothing ain’t gonna cut it.

That said, I grabbed the cards and instructions and we moseyed to our spot at the “highest point in Rock Hill.” This nomad didn’t know such a place existed. #topographylesson

Back to the Podcast, Billy Bob mentioned a something he says at the end of his disclaimer when he Q’s and the point is this, you can modify if necessary BUT don’t use that desire to modify as an excuse to not push yourself. THAT’S IT, I thought. That’s the type of statement we need to prescribe to. At a workout, trying to complete something, accomplishing goals, shoot…in life. If something enters your field of fire, modify if you need to BUT do not use that as an excuse for taking the easy route.

I mentioned this to the PAX this morning then walked through our plan for the next 40mins. 2-10 were that number of reps, Jacks=11, Queens=12, Kings=13, Aces= 14. Jokers would be 25 (4ct) American Hammers followed by a 100yd run.

While we didn’t make it through the entire deck, we did complete 46 cards, accounting for:

3: Jokers (300yds + 75 American Hammers

85: Diamond Merkins

81: Mountain Climbers (4ct)

102: 8ct Burpee

73: Jump Squats

Remember, modify as needed BUT do not use that as an opportunity to not push yourself.

Stay tuned for the next opportunity to complete the entire deck. Until next time…

Maximus

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2020 Call to Action – Shieldlock

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2019 was a Flux-y year for YHC.  Getting in the groove of a new job, 3 of 5 2.0’s leaving the house, mom deciding to move into assisted living, brother going through a second divorce, etc.  Needless to say it could have been a lonely year.  Could have been.  If not for my Shieldlock, along with a lot of other F3 brothers, it would have been.  My Shieldlock was made earlier in 2019 and has been solidifying and accelerating ever since.  The 3 HIM’s that I was so blessed to get in this Team have made more of an impact in my life than ever expected.

The Weasel Shaker is letting go of the “2019: Year of the BackBlast” and picking up a new and I think more impactful 2020 Mantra.  “2020: Year of the Shieldlock”

You may ask: Funhouse, what is a Shieldlock?  Let me explain.  It’s awesome.  Here are the details.

Shieldlock is found in the first quadrant of the Q source, Get Right.  More specifically Q1.7, if you are following along with the idiotic numbering system.  It is the Horizontal Relationship between Men.

The WHY:  We cannot do this thing called life alone.  Man the hunter is born hard-wired to protect himself and his loved ones from other hunters. Recognizing strength in numbers, we combine into Communities for our mutual protection from aggression. When threatened, we lock our individual shields together into a defensive wall to repel the invader. While both threat and defensive means have evolved throughout history, this elemental fact of who we are has never changed. The HIM locks his shield with other HIM’s to protect the people behind the wall.

The WHAT:  The Shieldlock is NOT a Club, it is a Team.  Made up of 3-5 HIM, 4 is a great number, who form the horizontal relationships that protect and enrich us all. The HIM recognizes his Shield Lock as an essential relationship within his Concentrica (ask me if you need to about this one too) and one of his most important Teams. He takes great care in nourishing it as he knows he can neither hunt nor defend alone.

The HOW: Team (Shieldlock) is governed by the rule of 3P, meaning that its Members must be in Proximity, have Purpose and meet Periodically. Proximity requires physical nearness. Purpose is the fighting of the Flux, which is the emotional reaction to the peaks and valleys that appear throughout a man’s life. Periodic is the final element of the 3P. The Shield Lock must come together periodically to be Effective.

So?  I want to help the Pax of The Fort to see the impact that a Shieldlock can make in your life.  I am making myself available to anyone who is looking to form a Shieldlock, any current Shieldlock that may need some direction or a struggling Shieldlock that needs help in accelerating.  My vision is that we get 4 guys that live near each other, that may know each other at some level (even if it is just posting at the same AO week after week) and have a schedule and lifestyle that suits to meeting regularly.

Pro Tips in starting a Shieldlock: 1) Find 2-3 guys that you already have some level of relationship and that you trust. These guys should be around the same age, have about the same family lifestyle, and live near each other (like in the same town to make it easy to meet).  2) Make sure that all the guys understand the Why behind the Shieldlock.  This is not primarily a Bible Study, happy hour buddies, or just to talk about your day.  The Why is fighting the Flux. To get transparent  and vulnerable so that your Shieldlock can effectively lock shields and lift you up out of the Flux and you can do the same for them.  3) Set a reoccurring time and place to meet.  The good thing about a 4 man Shieldlock is if someone misses, there is still 3, or at least 2.  If you have a 3 man Shieldlock you will be meeting 1 on 1 and missing out on the purpose of having multiple men locking shields.  Power in numbers right?  4)  Get started.  There is no better time to meet than this week!  Remember that it takes time to build relationships and trust, don’t force it.  However, if you don’t start nothing will happen.

Please reach out to me at 803-833-2398, joshuacsale@hotmail.com OR Slack if you have questions about a Shieldlock, how to start one or how to restart one that may be fading.

FunHouse

 

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