4 big boy corners

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Upon arrival, Darkest of All was already in 2020 form with the newly coined “traveling pants” extra credit.  A handful of brave (stupid) souls joined him for a 3-4 warmup prior to 0515.  As 0515 quickly approached, 10 was the number that came to play for what was an extremely warm late December morning.  Quick disclaimer and a short mosey over to the neighboring parking lot for some warm ups.  Started out with SSH, windmills, merkins, low slow squat, parker peters, then some stretching…yes, stretching.  Quad stretches followed by some shoulder and arm stretching.  Now that warming up was out of the way, YHC quickly mapped out where the 4 corners were going to take place.

Corner 1 – Old Navy; Corner 2 – Ulta; Corner 3 – Home Depot; Corner 4 – Best Buy / COT…this made for a 1.5 mile loop around the grounds we call Quagmire.  At each corner, the following exercises we performed:

  • 10 bomb jacks
  • 20 diamonds
  • 30 CDD
  • 40 jump squats
  • 50 flutters

Oh ya, the goal was to get to the corners via bear crawl….j/k, that would just be insane (please don’t anyone do this or Jedi may complain a little bit).  We used our legs and ran, but the goal was to run quickly.  Jedi and Cha Ching were the pacesetters while the rest of us mortals made sure we could still see them.

Once all had completed the one loop and all the exercises, making it around again with exercises in 15 min was not going to be worth the price of admission.  So we moved the 4 corners into closer range and proximity.  In the bigger Best Buy parking lot, we did a mini-4 corners but with a center starfish idea.  In each corner we did the merkin exercises with the center being 5 burpees (go do the corner, come back to the middle, repeat until all corners complete).

  • 20 wide arm
  • 20 diamond
  • 20 ranger
  • 20 partner derkins

With 7 or so minutes remaining, we did the same concept / idea but in MARY style.  In the center was 5 LBC.

  • 10 flutters
  • 10 hello dolly
  • 10 rosalita
  • 10 American hammers

Wrapped it up at 0600 and headed over to COT for name-o-rama, announcements and prayers and praises.  YHC didn’t bring any words of wisdom (like I have any…lol) today as this was a non-talking, mimimal mumblechatter, no-10 count kind of morning.  Yes, there was the occasional Jedi rib shot and DH “encouragement”, but pretty calm given the constant go.  Prayers go out to Milehigh who is nursing a knee injury.  Thanks for the call to lead, always appreciate it!

Shady

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Bear Crawls, Burpees, Battlestar Galactica

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To get the blood flowing, began with what ended up being a soggy mosey around the practice field, there was a fair amount of mumblechatter as the mud sloshed around.

Warm up in cadence:

  • Wind mills
  • Cherry pickers
  • Imperial walkers
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • Low Country Crab
  • Honey mooners
  • Downward dog

Quick recovery and off to the track for the main event.

The Thang

Run 4 laps on the track with 2 sets of 20 reps of a particular exercise on the turn.

1st turn

  • 20 Merkins
  • 20 American Hammers

2nd turn

  • 20 Caroline dry docks
  • 20 Flutters

Rinse and repeat for 4 laps. Thanks Trucker for the vote in confidence around the creativity.

Lined up on goal line for field round.

Burpee Dans

Starting at goal line, lunge walk in 10 yard increments, followed by burpee increasing by 1 burpee to 50 yard line. Run backwards to goal line and plank when finished.

Welsh Dragons

Starting at goal line and remaining in plan position, bear crawl 10 yard increments.

  • 1 merkin
  • 1 plank jack
  • 1 set of should taps

Rinse and repeat to 50 yard line increasing rep count by 1 per 10 yards. Run backwards to goal line.

Originally planned above exercises through length of field, due to time constraints, cut down to 50.

With 10 minutes left, called additional adjustment.

  • Run to 50 yard line, 50 calf raises,
  • Run to end zone, 50 mountain climbers
  • Sprint back

Mosey back to COT with a few minutes to spare.

Wave of Merkins

  • PAX remaining in plank, start w/ 1 merkin around the circle, followed by 2, and so on until time ran out.

Announcements: Short talk on word of year.

Prayers/Praises: Health, travels.

Thanks to MacGuyver for the field access, Cyclops for the opportunity, and 3D for the shovel flag reminder.

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Be A Helper

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Had a total of 7 men show up to end the year. I originally thought I wanted to do a partner workout till I reflected on the sermon of this past Sunday. It was set around looking for “The Helpers.” With that in mind I decided to do a workout that made everyone better together and focused on a no OYO.

So we all set out to four stations around Golden Corral and conducted a warm up at these 4 locations for a visual. We did one round of warm ups at each location with Side Straddle hops, Wind mills, Mericans, Cherry Pickers, Imperial/Hillbilly Walkers, and stuff.

So once the guys knew of the locations there was an exercise written at each Station. Between each station the mode of transportation was a brisk mosey. Station 1 exercise was a 50 double count of Flutter Kicks. Station 2 was a double count of Dying Cockroaches. Station 3 was a 50 count of LBC’s. Station 4 was a 25 count of The Claw (BRUTAL!!!).

We hit each station twice and then I gave the men a message/challenge for the new year. With all the challenges that we face we a lot of times only look at the bad things in life and push aside the positives. I opened up a little about my past of abuse, running away, and other struggles I faced growing up and informed them of “The Helpers” I had on my side to assist me in becoming a better person. To guide me away from the hardships of life to lift me up rather than leaving me in the gutter. I explained to them I don’t look at my past as something bad but something good, because of “The Helpers”. There was a lot more verbiage but the challenge I left the guys with was look out there and rather than bypassing it be That Helper. Be someone that gets into that Shield Lock. Or lifts someone up from the gutter.

After that we hit the Stations one more time. We were able to put in about 2.2 miles and about 500 reps of nothing but ab workout. These guys killed it and we did it together.

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Invergence: One Word Year In Review

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One Word Year in Review

When: 1/17/20 after the Convergence, 6:15 AM

Where: Eternal Church offices (“the Shack behind Zaxby’s)

What: One Word 3rd F Invergence

Who: All Fort Pax looking to improve

How much weight can One word carry? What’s in a Word? Each year, The Fort (along with many other F3 Nation regions) undertakes a “Word of the Year” challenge. Just another tool in the toolbox on the road to growth. The rules are quite simple:

  • pick one word to focus upon throughout the year to become better in some area of your life, and,
  • tell others your word so they can check your progress and hold you accountable

As we gather to kick off the One Word Challenge of 2020, come hear from 4 of the The Fort’s Highly Impactful Men about the word they chose for 2019. How did that word shape their 2019? Did it help them become a better servant leader, husband, father, brother and/or friend?

Bring your questions, thoughts and words. See You There.

Short Sale

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Final KB WO of the century

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As we look towards 2020, it was appropriate to finish 2019 with a bang.

The Thang:

20 merkins w/bell (10 each arm) – 19 Skull Crushers

20 Squats – 19 KB swings

20 Big Boy Sit ups w/bell – 19 leg raises

20 curls (10 each arm) – 19 up right rows

20 LBCs w/bell – 19 american hammers

20 Side ab bends – 19 arm shoulder press (2 arms)

2 Burpees

Run to top of parking lot and back

Rinse and repeat as many rounds possible

Surprisingly not much mumble chatter, guess each PAX took the challenge to finish 2019 off with a bang. Not surprisingly, Band Camp was the leader with the FNG and Fish Sticks neck and neck.

Trucker

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Petty Officer Taylor J Gallant

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On this breezy and 66 degree December morn, eight badgers answered the call to post for the last Monday of the decade. We honored Petty Officer Taylor J Gallant by putting our all into a one hour suck fest.

The Work:

Run 1 Mile (4 Laps)
60 Burpee Pull Ups
Run 800 Meters (2 Laps)
30 Burpee Pull Ups
Run 400 Meters (1 Lap)
15 Burpee Pull Ups

It was an oldie but goodie, and fun was had by all. We finished just in time for a quick round of flutters and mosey back to COT.

It was great to see Shield and Cheddah back from their stints on IR.

Announcements: 

Read your newsletter.

 

Prayers/Praises:

Dirty Harry enjoyed a prolonged break with his M over Christmas – her longest stint off since starting her new job. Praise for that time, prayers that it happens again soon.

Pray for your word for 2020 and for each PAX to step up and lead in their respective circles of concentrica this year and beyond.

 

Dirty Harry – thank you for trusting me with this last Badger of the decade.

Punch List out.

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Free laces tour

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For a chilly, post Christmas, workout – lucky 5 at the Hiv…Laces In gathered with Tesh missing the 10 second disclaimer quick mosey as he rolled in a quickly got “clothing uncomfortable”.  Warmup included: SSH, cherry pickers, imperial and hillbilly walkers, low slow squats, american hammers, flutters and LBCs.  I think there was a few other things, but now that I’m late posting this backblast (don’t do what I’m doing and wait 4 days) then I’ve already forgotten.

Next up was The Thang where we mosey’d from our meeting spot to the entrance of the football field from the main road.  Once to the top of the hill, we did 10 bombjacks, then followed up with a mosey down to the bottom of the hill in the circle for 10 burpees.  Next venture was over to the entrance by the school where we went all the way to the top of the entrance at the main road and did 25 merkins.  Back down the hill to the very front of the school and 25 diamond merkins.

Next run was to the marching band parking lot far corner for 40 squats (straight back, hands touch the ground…so real deal).  40 appeared to be the right number.  We followed this up to the school building entrance where we found some benches – 40 step ups, 20 each leg.  On our way to entrance #3 off of hwy 21, we found more benches calling our name.  25 dips and 25 derkins seemed to be the right mix.  As we found the hwy 21 school entrance, we ran all the way down for 10 burpees, then back up the hill for 10 bombjacks.

Then to the back of the school where the pull up bars are located…. Idea here was 7’s for pullups and diamonds (11 was the idea but time was not on our side being on the other side of campus). Started with 6 pullups, then 1 diamond; 5 pullups, then 2 diamonds….  You know the rest.

After pullups we took the short cut back but found our flat benches real quick so 25 dips and 25 derkins seemed like another good plan.  Then headed back to COT which was about .5-.75 miles back so we had that going for us.  All in all I believe we were right around 2.5 miles so we got some of those in along with a nice set of boot camp activities.  Thanks for the call to action Mr. Site Q!

Shady

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Litter Bugs and 4 Corners

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Birthday Q with a good crowd. Humbled.

Mosey to the big lot by Empire, the plan was to do some dynamic warm-up, unfortunately, one large vehicle kept me from setting up the majority of the morning here. Little did we know that dodging trash was another thing.

Back and forth across the lot
high knees, butt kickers, windmill walkers, squat walkers, karaoke L, karaoke R, toy soldier
…. and enough dodging trash, mosey over to the Lowes lot
power skip, bear crawl*2, 75% run, 100%, 100%

mosey to the lot by Persis and circle up
Freddie*10, Morrocan NC*10, Carolina DD*10, OH clap*10, dying cockroach*10, richard simmons*10, HR merkin*10, imperial walker*10, LBC*10, hillbilly walker*10, flutter*10, LS squat*10, shoulder tap*10, windmill*10, rosalita*10, calf raise*2*10, Travolta*10, monkey humper*10

split in 4 groups for 4 corners, hit a corner, back to the middle for 5 makhtar n’diayes between every corner, corners included
10 stationary lunge, 10 shoulder taps IC
10 inchworm, 10 SSH IC
10 scorpion DD IC, 20 OH claps IC
10 HR merkins, 10 hillbilly walker IC

Find some grass for a full 10-40 Jack Webb (with a couple on the backtop)

Little did I know that at this point there was some expectation of a Matt Foley (Jack’s less intelligent younger brother) … we’ll do 2 next time

back to 4 corners, flip the boards for a second round, no middle this time, clockwise rotation
10 hello dolly IC, 10 seal jacks IC
10 donkey kicks, 10 weed pullers IC
10 plank jacks IC, 10 squat jumps
10 V-ups, 10 flying squirrel

time. back to COT.

prayers for Cash, among others.

Honored and humbled by the quantity and quality of PAX, a who’s who of HIM.

Looks like we made it,

Barry Manilow
–

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Milkshake Gifts and Cars

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Four men posted for Milkshake: two infirmed and two rucking. Weather was pleasant at 45 degrees (or so) and dry.

1st F Notes: Plan was for a walk with a couple of interruptions for exercises.
Walked around the park and headed to Main Street.
On the way, stopped at the veteran’s memorial and did squats, peter parkers, and incline merkins.
Walked up Main Street, then headed east. Circled back down via Williamson and Confederate Streets.
Headed up the hill Massey Street, stopped and did more squats and merkins. Avoided the barking dog and lady with the penchant to call the police on F3 guys by walking down Massey to Harris and Ardrey back to WEP.
We covered approximately 2.5 miles.  Map with critical events is included.

2nd F Notes:
With Christmas just a few days before, we discussed the favorite gifts we received this year: Wegman’s Yeti camping mug (not just for cocoa), Peabody got a picture of his dog in impressionist style.
We also discussed our first cars, which was a topic on my mind since my daughter just turned 16 and got het license.
Also was my first time doing a ruck walk-about (thanks to Shady lending me his ruck).

Milkshake is a great way to know your fellow pax better and have fun.

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Site Q Siwtcharoo: Holiday Surprise

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7 PAX gathered despite having no knowledge of who the Q would be.  Disclaimers were given, a few moseyed off to run and because we were unable to recite the 5 core principles in order, all PAX did 5 burpees OYO before we moseyed to:

COP – Low Slow Squat x 15 working in Moroccan Night Clubs X 15 while in people’s chair, SSH x 31, Imperial Walkers x 15, Windmills x 10, Merkins x 10 with salutations right, left and holding at 6-inches while sparkplug gave us a 10-count.

The Main Event – 12 days of Christmas of course.  YHC took a page from Deacon’s book – the 12 step program.  A not so moderate workout consisted of the following:

100 yard shuttle run – 50 yards up the hill and 50 yards down
Jumping Squats (2x)
Big Boy Sit Ups (3x)
Pepper Grinders (4x)
Burpees (5x)
LBCs (6x)
Sumo Squats (7x)
Heels to Heaven (8x)
Dips (9x)
Calf Raises (10x) – (10 with toes outward, 10 with toes inward, 10 with toes straight out)
Diamond Merkins (11x)
Wide Arm Merkins(12x)

All PAX finished 12 rounds just in time to meet Uhaul and Boss Hog yogging in to COT.

Announcements were given, praises and prayers were offered.

Thanks to Crab Cakes for the opportunity to switch it up, post with some PAX YHC had yet to really get to know and, as always, for the chance to lead.

Cyclops

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