Can I borrow a KB?

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YHC was pleased to be asked by J-Wow (there’s a guy who is accelerating) to come back to the Armory and Q. While not a true Redwood, I was there when the idea of a KB workout was launched at the Baxter pool with Package and Orange Crush (never posted). I immediately went out an purchased a 25lb’er via the internet (shipping costs!) and away we went.

Since that start, I have gravitated to running partly due to CSAUPs and given my bell to Anchorman. But there’s no question that YHC needed a beatdown after a long golf weekend. I started the Hype Train on Sunday with a request to borrow a bell and was met with some witty replies. The Fort represents!

Weather: Its F3 time! 63 with a light breeze

The Thang

Partner KB Workout

Round 1

Partner 1 – KB Swings x 12

Partner 2 – Rests until Partner 1 is finished

Partner 2 – 1 arm military press x 12

Partner 1 – rests until Partner 2 is finished – you get the idea

Partner 1 – Goblet Squats x 10

Partner 2 – Bob and Weave x 10

Partner 1 – Merkins x 12

Partner 2 – Bench Press x 12

Partner 1 – SSH x 20

Partner 2 – SSH x 20

Rinse and Repeat for 7 minutes

Take a lap around the parking lot

Round 2 – Flip the exercises for 7 minutes then take a lap

Round 3

Partner 1 – Curls x12

Partner 2 – Triceps x 12

Partner 1 – Bent Over Rows x 10

Partner 2 – CDD x 12

Partner 1 – Reverse Lunge w/ Hammer x 8

Partner 2 – Jump Squats x 10

Partner 1 – Bombjacks x 12

Partner 2 – Man Climbers x 16

Rinse and repeat for 7 minutes then a lap

Round 4 – Flip the exercises and head home

Mosey to COT

 

Moleskin:

  • 10/19 – Opportunity to serve at Childrens Attention Home – See Culture Club
  • October – opportunity to impact Young Lives – See newsletter
  • Prayers for marriages and kids

Pusher out!

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2

It’s the 1st F for a reason

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11 pax posted to WEP to celebrate north winds, fall temps, a Santini sighting, an Anchorman celebrity drop-in and 7 yrs + 1 week since the 9.29.12 launch of The Fort.  This, the 365th edition of Saturday at The Fort, was more than just another Saturday of brotherhood and pain.  It was also a reminder of why these gatherings matter.  After a thorough Disclaimer, Crab Cakes led the pax off into the gloom.

The Thang

Mosey up the hill out the parking lot with a right turn toward the Church of the Nazarene.  A few stops along the way for some warm-up moves.

Partner up for a series of exercises paired with running to the church steps, 3x up and down, and return to partner at the far end of the parking lot.  Exercises included, Merkins, Squats and Flutters.

Rugby sprints (it wouldn’t be a Crab Cakes Q without this signature session) with LBCs, Freddys, Flutters, Heel Touches.

Hand off to DD

Mosey back toward WEP

Stop at pecan tree grove near Springs building for some work — Planks, Merkins, CDDs, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, & Makhtar N’Dyaes (Santini request for the last one)

Mosey to Springs parking lot entrance (in the grass)

Knee-tar-jais

Mosey to brick wall at Springs

People’s chair & Balls to the wall (rinse and repeat)

Mosey to WEP playground (rotating partners) — Pull ups, burpees, monkee, humpers, dips, derkins, lap around playground

Bear crawl to path, crawl bear back

Series of sprints and backward sprints to path and back to playground

Jailbreak home

COT

Naked man moleskin

Crab Cakes and I had a great time at the helm today.  It’s always an honor to lead the pax, and especially at the launching grounds for The Fort.  Sorry to miss Slash.  Thanks for the opportunity to Q and thanks for keeping the mission going at WEP on Saturdays!

Anchorman with 2.0 in tow made a brief showing as we approached 0720. Apologies for the PG-13 language during the final prod to the pax to finish strong.  You can throw me in the creek with your M if you hear that one at the dinner table.

Santini, Rebel and Dark Helmet were rockin’ the perfect sweaty head coifs by the finish.  Checkout the video for proof.  If Funhouse had posted we might’ve been able to establish the pose for The Fort’s Mount Rushmore.

Good to have Sippy Cup among the pax and donning The Fort jersey no less.  Don’t be stranger!  Hope to see you again soon!

The theme for the morning was a focus on 1st F #Fitness.  Thanks to many pax, including my co-Q Crab Cakes, 2nd F is making huge strides.  Thanks to Gekko, Cake Boss, Chicken Hawk, Pusher and others, 3rd F also continues to blossom.  No debate on my part that these two elements are critical to our pax and speak to the core of who we are as men and leaders.  Yet, now that The Fort has entered it’s 8th year, I feel the need to highlight the importance of 1st F.  While it’s not the core of WHO we are as men, it is the core of WHAT we undertake each week as a group.   It’s the magnet that draws us out into the gloom.  And after 4, 5, 6, 7 years, it might begin to taste a little bland from familiarity. The temptation may be there to coast during workouts or even to scale back your weekly posts.  I’m imploring you — DO NOT GIVE UP!  Yes, F3 is about way more than the workout.  And at the same time, it is also rooted in the workout.

Several conversations over the past week highlighted for me the importance of regular, passionate 1st F engagement.  I heard examples of veteran pax who are pushing hard and veteran pax who are dialing back.  Those posting regularly and pushing in 1st F are seeing growth in all 3 Fs.  Those who’ve scaled back are experiencing some regression in other areas.  It’s all connected, gentlemen.  “You get out of it what you put into it” a veteran pax shared with me this week.

F3 isn’t the only way to stay fit.  I’m the first to acknowledge this fact.  I’ve been fit in the past without F3 and I see many men who are fit today without F3.  But, 1st F isn’t just about Fitness.  It’s about relationships.  Friendships are built in the midst of struggle in the Gloom.  Removing that element will impact a relationship.  1st F is also about preparation.  When you post in the Gloom, you surrender to the elements and the Q.  You give up control — willingly.  You don’t know what you’re going to be put through, but you show up anyway.  And you push to the finish because you believe it will make you “better.” It’s preparation for life. Each day we wake up and we surrender to what the world and Sky Q have in store for us. We don’t have nearly the control we’d like. But we carry on to the finish of each day, seeking to get better (or at least get through it to the next day we won’t control).

So, if you’re feeling the tug of the Fartsack or the gym or the coffee pot, speak up.  We’re all susceptible to those temptations. And we all need a dose of #Accountability now and then to keep us on the #Right track.  The same is true for those out front.  If you’re in an acceleration mode, look around to see who’s missing.  Accelerating pax don’t let pax fall back. They pick up the Six. They don’t leave a man where they found him.

Thanks for listening.  Thanks for pushing.  SYITG!

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Some of Us Got The Good Genes

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Finally a break in heat and humidity on this fine morning at Runde Park.  Six men came to be challenged and I believe they left satisfied.

The Thang

Gears for first half.

Lap around the park calling out 3 stations on the route.

Circle up in the lot for a light warm up:

  • SSH
  • Windmills
  • Potato Pickers

Took off around the park loop, hitting three stations.  At each station 5 Burpees OYO, planked for the 6 at station 3.  Repeat with 5 Bomb Jacks OYO.

Hit the baseball field for Four Corners:

  • 5x Around The World Squats
  • 10x Squat Jacks
  • 15x Monkey Humpers

Plank for the 6 at station 4.  Repeat, but double the counts.

Another set of 2 laps around the park loop hitting the three stations with 10 Burpees OYO at each, then 10 Bomb Jacks OYO at each.

Hand off to Mr. Clean

PAX each grab a Cindy from the Suburban and head to everyone’s favorite hill.

PAX commenced with The Beast (6*6*6):

6 stations up the hill, 6 reps per exercise for 6 different exercises with Cindy.

  • Squat to upright row
  • Curls
  • Skull crushers
  • Chest press
  • Shoulder press
  • Lawnmower pulls

Moseyed back to the Lot for COT.

NMM

Confession: It has been forever since I Q’ed a boot camp.  With all the running and travel (and, if I am honest, excuses) it has been too long.

It was good to lead the men this morning through the first half and to push through the second half with them at my side.  It was the highest complement to have both Cable Guy and Fishsticks comment on how tough the workout was.  Also good to clown around with Wegmans while putting in work as his brother Sasquatch was sprinting up the hill with a Cinderblock.  And I couldn’t have asked for a better man than Mr. Clean to share the Q with this morning.

Missed seeing some of the regulars this morning… hopefully a temporal problem.

Announcements and Prayer Requests

  • Suffolk Punch has some sort of special with free (F3) beer.  Talk to Wegmans.
  • Prayers for Wegmans Father in Law and Prostate Cancer
  • Prayers for kids going through GI sickness that appears to be going around
  • Prayers for my leg to heal up after some sort of nerve issue

Honor to Serve

 

 

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Digging Deep at The Swamp

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  • QIC: Half Shell
  • When: 10/04/2019
  • Posted In: The Swamp

Pax: Tardy, Lox, Tesla, Lutefisk, Photo Bomb, Bones, World Wide Leader, Cobra Kai, Copyright, Twister, Crab Cakes, DaVinci, FNG (Wing Nut), Bitcoin, The Real McCoy, Half Shell (Q)

Sixteen bootcampers/ruckers arrived at The Swamp/Chupacabra to get better with their F3 brothers and share some morning pain.  After delivering the disclosure to the PAX (including one FNG – Welcome “Wing Nut”!!), the ruckers left to do….well, rucking things and YHC led the bootcampers on a brief mosey to an adjacent parking lot from COT.
      My plan going in to the workout was to dig a little bit deeper into the exercon for some more obscure exercises.  We circled up and started with 10 Copperhead Squats.  I was quickly reminded that this four-count squat exercise is strikingly similar to the low-slow squat but…. it was in the exercon so I was going with it.  After the Copperheads….eh hem…. Low Slow Squats, we did 10 Imperial Walker Squats.  (After each cross-over add a squat) and 10 mountain climber merkins.  I “adjusted” (messed up) the movement count slightly on that one which led to some brief mumble chatter.
     We then moseyed to the fountain where each member of the PAX started a ladder of Dirty Hookups.  (Exercon’s terminology, not mine)  Each person begins in the plank position facing the fountain.  With the first count, put one arm on the wall of the fountain, then two, then one, then back to plank.  YHC called out the cadence then it rotated clockwise with each PAX calling it out.  All members did each rep.
    After two rounds of Dirty Hookups we partnered up for some stair exercises.  Starting at the fountain, and with your partner, each PAX did 20 dips on the benches then ran over to, up and down the opposite stairs.  Someone zip-tied the gate at the bottom so we called an audible.  Instead of running through the now, non-existent open gate, we did 5 squats at the bottom and ran back up the stairs and over to the fountain.  The PAX completed five rounds of this so, we got in 100 dips and 10 rounds on the stairs.
    Once completed, we moseyed to the front of Target.  At each red ball the PAX completed 2 burpees.  Between the balls we alternated between Bear Crawl merkins (merkin on the fourth count) and Lt. Dan’s.  We modified the return trip and did 5 flutters at each ball.  To get to the next ball the PAX ran two balls ahead and returned one. – Mini suicides.
    Short on time, we headed back to COT with a brief stop at the fountain for two more rounds of Dirty Hookup ladders.
    After brief announcements, (read your newsletter) prayers included internal reflection, Tardy’s niece and Lutefisk’s daughter.
   Thanks for the opportunity to lead!
Half Shell
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VQ at the Millstone with a Guillermo 1-2-3 Routine and the Presidential Wall of NoN-sEnSe

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The hype was huge, the turnout was moderate for Boss Hogg’s VQ at the Millstone. All 8 PAX in attendance got to enjoy the first day of cooler temperatures. 3 PAX went for a walk…2 with rucksacks and 1 with his arm in a sling. Huge T-Claps to Smithers for showing up while on the IR. The remaining 4 PAX followed the most Boss of all Hoggs on his VQ journey.

The Thang:

Mosey’d from Veteran’s Park to the parking lot across from Puckerbutt Pepper Company
• Stretched arms and legs
• 15 – Gas Pumpers (for my buddy Twister…Respect!)

Mosey’d to the St. John’s United Methodist Church parking lot
• Toy Soldiers across the parking lot – jogged back to starting side
• High Knees across the parking lot – jogged back to starting side
• Lunge Walks across the parking lot – jogged back to starting side
• Butt Kickers across the parking lot – jogged back to starting side
• Carioca across the parking lot and back in the opposite direction
• Shuffled across the parking lot and back in the opposite direction

Mosey’d to First Baptist Church of FM parking lot (home of Footloose!)
Circled up…
• 15 SSH
• 15 Windmills
• 15 Cherry Pickers
• 15 Imperial Walkers
• 15 Hillbilly Walkers

Mosey’d to FM Church of God parking lot
Next up was a Guillermo 1-2-3 routine. For those of you know don’t know (and I would be shocked if any of you didn’t already know this), Guillermo is Dora’s infant brother who does not fully grasp the concept of pairing PAX in 2’s and progressively moving from chest, to core, to legs. Guillermo likes to divide the entire population into two groups. The goal being that the exercising group works out together with focus on form, not speed. In concept, this was a great idea. Given that there were only 5 PAX participating in the Guillermo 1-2-3, one group included 3 PAX and the other included 2 PAX. The routine included:
• 100 Squats
• 200 LBCs
• 300 Overhead Claps
The group not performing exercises got to snake the stairs across the street.

Next up, was the Presidential Wall of Non-Sense! Don’t worry, there is nothing political behind this. The non-sense had to do with the exercise itself. PAX formed a line to begin the border wall. PAX were instructed to hold a tree via the Al Gore or by planking to form the wall. The HIM at beginning of the wall was instructed to run to the imaginary forest to gather more trees for the wall. Trees were knocked down via 1 burpee, 2 donkey kicks, or 3 Bobby Hurleys. Once the HIM obtained another tree from the imaginary forest, he returned to the end of the wall and held it in place via the Al Gore or by planking. The exercise continued until the wall crossed the parking lot.

Finally, with time running out, the PAX mall walked back to COT. The leader of the group dropped out of line to perform 1 burpee, 2 donkey kicks, or 3 Bobby Hurleys. Once completed, they rejoined the group at the back of the line. The process was repeated until COT was reached.

At the end of the workout, Boss Hogg was asked about his VQ experience.  He responded in the words of the great scholar Borat Sagdiyev, “Great Success!”.

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5

Office etiquette

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I kept asking “what is a kettle bell” as my frequency of attendance at KB workouts can be counted on two hands- maybe one.  Somehow I was tapped to lead and thankful that I did.  Getting outside of the comfort zone and breaking routines is refreshing.

Warm Ups: Moroccan Night Clubs, windmills, lap runs with shuffle

The Thang

  • Round 1 10 reps
  • Round 2 15 reps
  • Round 3 20 reps
  • Round 4 10 reps

 

  • Goblet Squat
  • Tricep Extention
  • Curl
  • Shoulder Press
  • Windmill (Crowd pleaser)
  • Lunge-Row
  • Swing
  • Lawn Mower Pull

Naked Man Moleskin

Great group this morning and truly appreciate being shown the way to better form and technique.  Good to end a tough cardio week on focused strength.  Highly recommend Hive attendance.

 

 

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A wee bit of everything at Pantheon

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Unbelievable. Amazing. Has it REALLY been almost 4 years since YHC first posted to that fear-inducing AO known as Pantheon? What little I remember from that first WO was cursing the Q’s name (the evil Double D) and, more importantly, CSPAN coming alongside me and taking my mind off the merlot that was oh soo close to coming up. #The Full FNG Experience.  This is such an awesome AO that I wanted to include a little bit of everything.

The Pax seemed game for the plan. Mumblechatter was minimal but there was some grumbling and groaning. Mission accomplished.

WARM-UP: Mosey with Toy Soldiers, High Knees, Butt Kickers, Power Skips

COP around the flag (starting with The Pledge of Allegiance):

  • SSH * 25
  • HILLBILLY WALKER * 15
  • Merkins * 15
  • Squats * 15
  • Diamond Merkins * 15
  • Windmills * 15
  • Wide Arm Merkins * 15 (Initial grumbling & groaning ensued)
  • Mountain climbers * 20

MOSEY to AMPHITHEATER

JACOB’S LADDER- (7s) BEAR CRAWL UP, RUN DOWN-BURPEES  & SQUATS

Thoughts on FAITH: 3 f’S in F3 – 1st F is the Magnet, 2nd is the Glue, 3rd is the DYNAMITE. IT’S A BELIEF IN SOMETHING LARGER THAN YOURSELF. WHEN MEN OF FAITH COME TOGETHER FOR A COMMON CAUSE, THE RESULTS ARE AMAZING. DON’T GO IT ALONE

MOSEY to Basketball Court

Partner up:  opposite side of court, suicides on foul lines and meet in the middle for partner hand slap merkins.  15 reps, 3 rounds. Suicides, meet middle for partner Giddy Ups (crowd pleaser) . 5 reps per partner, 3 rounds, Suicides, meet middle for partner-assisted Sit-ups. 10 reps per partner

MOSEY to playground for a modified DORA – Partner Up- 50 Swing Lunges, 200 Bombjacks, 300 -LBCs Partner runs to end of the b-ball court & back

Mosey To wall- BTTW, then 5 Seal Jacks each Pax while the group does Peoples Chair.

COT: Olaf came running out of the gloom to join us at the very end. Must have been doing a brisk pace since he seemed to be on the verge of splashing last night’s dinner. But good of him to join.

NMM: Triple Claps are not sufficient to express my gratitude to Bing, Howitzer and Fish Sticks for staying on me to try out this thing we call F3. More like triple triple claps. I’ve tried to #give it away since that day and have told anyone who will listen what a game-changing moment that has been for me.

Thank the Good Lord that we ended up in this corner of the world known as The Fort. Home of many Highly Impactful Men. One awesome consequence – my 2.1 Pigeon is wanting to post more often. As a father, being exposed to this brotherhood is a great thing for my son. As we walked to the car to leave for the workout, he asked “Is this workout going to be hard”?   Well, yes, son, that’s part of what makes this F3 engine run. Sure seemed hard enough to me. What a great morning. Thanks to Bear Grylls for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale out.

 

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School Loops

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Temporary location change to Tega Cay Elementary School.

Route:  Stay on school grounds, big loop around the back of the school.  At the crosswalk, fast lap around the soccer field.  Small loop around parking lot, then repeat with big loop around school.  One lap was a little over a mile.

We got 4 laps in..good for a bunch of old guys.

Happy Birthday to Mrs.  Gears!

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Shipwreck – 10/2/2019

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Shipwreck (10/2/2019)

We had 7 HIM post this morning for the 30 minute high intensity workout at Shipwreck. Since some of us are coming off the Iron Pax Challenge, I thought what better way than to incorporate some of their ideas into my very own Week 5 Iron Pax Challenge.

Warm Up
SSH X 25 (IC)
Hillbilly Walkers X 15 (IC)

The Thang
25 Burpees
400 meter run
50 Merkins
800 meter run
75 Squat Jumps
1200 meter run
100  Plank Jacks
1600 meter run

Circle of Trust
Beginning the week of October 14 for approximately six months the following AO’s will be at 5:00 a.m. (Crow’s Nest, Cannonball, and Poopdeck).

F3 Lake Wylie CSAUP is Saturday, October 26. Check out the backblast here.

Don’t forget to order your F3 Lake Wylie shirt. Deadline to order is October 3. Order your shirt here.

Praises for “Survey Says” who found out that he and his wife are having a Baby Boy.

Aye,
Sean Corcoran (RADAR)

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