Making Bad Things Better

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Most of my Q’s in recent months have been ruck focused.  As I started thinking about what we would do on Wednesday, I realized that one of my last bootcamp Q was likely when Wegman’s held the QvQ event at The Coop in October 2018.  That was a fun Q but there were elements of it that I wish I had done a little different.  So why not take this opportunity to implement a few tweaks.

Warm-Up:

  • SSH x30
  • Merkins x10
  • Wind Mill x10
  • Mountain Climber x10
  • Imperial Walker x10

Mosey to the bottom of the hill by the pull up bars.

Activity 1:  Spider-Man merkins & pull-ups. 5 sets of trees

  • Run to first tree. Complete 2 Spider-Man merkins. Then run to the pull up bars and complete 2 pull ups. Run back down the hill.
  • Run to the first tree. Complete 2 Spider-Man merkins. Run to the second tree. Complete 4 Spider-Man merkins. Run to the pull up bars and complete 4 pull ups. Run back down the hill.
  • Continue the series through the fifth set of trees (10 Spider-Man merkins and 10 pull ups)

Mosey to the football field

Activity 2:  Cross the football field width wise down the yard lines. 5 burpees at each sideline

We did a version of this during the QvQ but I felt that version was ackward.  This one worked much better.

  • Partner carry 10 & 20
  • Bear crawl 30
  • Sprint 40
  • Crab walk 50
  • Reverse Sprint 40
  • Crawl bear 30
  • Wheel barrow 20 & 10

Everyone pushed themselves, the heat and humidity made sure of that!  Great starting the day with such a strong group!

Prayers for safety to all those traveling this week and rememberance of patience and what really matters as we spend time with family and friends.

Thank you Punch List for the opportunity!!

 

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Escape From McDowell Nature Preserve

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So I have been doing more running than usual lately in preparation for the Ragnar and on a  hot muggy July 3 I decided to bring the rest of the PAX along for some of my training, much to the chagrin of some of my F3 brothers. Disclaimer was given and we were off to the back basketball courts where we circled up for…

COP-SSHx20/Reach to Sky/Touch Toes/Down Dog/Honeymooner/merkinsx10/Down Dog/Honeymooner/Touch Toes/Reach to Sky/Sun Gods x11 fwd/rvrse. Circle Burp-High Knees while each PAX calls down and we all do a Burpee on the down.

Main Event

We ran to the back of the McDowell Nature Preserve where there is a lake and a circular parking lot. The run is about a mile back with a bunch of hills and there were a few PAX who were not exactly happy bout that. Sorry not sorry. Once we did get to the lake parking lot we Burpee Broad jumped around in a circle which was another crowd pleaser. At this point we were all around 50 or so Burpees which is another training goal of mine as I prepare for a Spartan Race(50 Burpees a day/100 if I do not post). We then had to escape the preserve. As most of us were winded I had us start back by lunge walking up hill to catch our breath, then we bear crawled for a bit before running back to COT.

We still had a few minutes before COT. Thank you Royale for leading some Flutter Kicks until the 6 was in.  We finished off with a few Sprints until the end.

Thoughts And Prayers

Leading a mostly running workout is a challenge as everyone is not in running shape and there was some separation. Overall it worked, but just barely. Prayers for travel, disease, losing loved ones, dealing with family and a big praise for ‘Merica on its 243 birthday since the Deceleration Of Independence from Britain in 1776. Thanks also to Jiminy Cricket and Crux from F3 Lake Norman for coming out. Peace!

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Making it Count at the Colosseum

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I forgot how dark this AO is to start so was surprised when I felt like I didn’t recognize any of the pax that came to work this morning.  We had 9 in all, including Ryan the FNG (EH goes to Bubble Boy).  Gave the standard disclaimer and reminded him not to worry, that the hardest part about today was done before this workout started.  He made it here.

We moseyed around the big loop at the school, made our way to the parking lot out back and did an ultra fast warm-up:

  • 20 seal jacks
  • 10 wind mills
  • 20 mountain climbers
  • 11 merkins / 10 diamonds / 9 merkins / 8 diamonds….down to 1 merkin (66 in total)

From there we headed over to the corner of the first playground, underneath the light pole.  Informed the pax I’d give them an exercise and rep count, we’d do that at the starting line, and then run to each light post and do the same thing for 10 light posts, then run all the way back to the starting line.  I seem to forget every time that the distance of 10 light posts is pretty dam far.

First leg – 5 burpees per light pole (50 in total)
Second leg – 10 big boys per light pole (100 in total)
Third leg (the worst) – 15 jump squats per light pole (150 in total)

2.6 miles later we were running out of time so we did the final leg with merkins x10 per light pole.  We did 8 light poles to get us to 80 reps in total, then hustled back to COT.

Ryan the FNG got the hook-up based on a lack of creativity this morning – “REAPER”.

Prayers were said for marriages, kids, travel safety and those dealing w/ sickness.  Thanks for the letting me come and take the lead Jekyll.  Had a great time sweating it out this morning in what felt like 90 degrees at 5am.  See y’all in the gloom.

Cha Ching

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Keep it Simple

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This will probably be the easiest backblast I ever write and it just goes to show, sometimes SIMPLER equals HARDER.

Got the text Sunday following church that we needed a substi-Q for Quagmire and I felt like I really wanted to just run Monday, but miss when I don’t do the boot camps, so what better way than to combine the two.

Let’s get to it:

Dynamic warm-up consisted of a quick mosey to Best Buy where we then lined up and did:

  • power skips half way down the building and then jogged to the end of petsmart
  • side shuffle half way, flip, side shuffle rest of the way
  • karaoke half way, switch, the same
  • back pedaled half way down then jogged to the end end

Did a quick 20 merkins, 20 big boys, 20 peter parker planks (on elbows) and 20 diamond merkins and then we started the real thang.

The balance was something like this:

  • Run a 1/3 of a mile, then do 10 bomb jacks, 15 burpees and 20 pulsating jump squats (half squat, full squat into jump squat = 1), then run another 1/3 mile and do the same 3 exercises / reps and keep doing it until time lol.  We did 4 of those back to back and then took a break to do the following:
  • Partner up at the Verizon by Target – partner 1 runs to rack room shoes (about 1/4 of a mile down) and back while partner 2 does non stop x-crunches (thank you ab app).  The jog was longer than I thought.  1/2 a mile kind of sucked right there.  Sorry not sorry.  65 x-crunches later we switched and partner 2 jogs.
  • From there, we went back to the every 1/3 mile do the 10/15/20 bomb jacks/burpees/pulsating/jump squats until we got back closer to COT.

Ended w/ an all out sprint the length of pet smart / office depot / best buy back to COT.  Props to Pot Hole for saving some in the tank and blowing by everybody.

Final #’s – 3 miles ran, 60 bomb jacks, 90 burpees, 120 pulsating jump squats and about 50-70 x crunches per person.  Not a bad day for a Monday.  Heard heart rates were excessively high which is always a good sign.  Thanks for hanging in there fellas – had a great time leading the pax.  Until next time.

Cha Ching

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First Timer at the Hive

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Always fun to Q a workout your not overly familiar with so figured I’d give the pax a little something different than what they’re used to in a kettlebell workout.  Special thanks to Shady who brought his arsenal of KB’s to share w/ Jedi, Dirty Harry and myself.  Otherwise we would have looked really stupid w/ our 15 pound colored shake weights.

Started out by doing a quick mosey around the big lot holding our KB’s.  From there we hit the warm-up:

  • 20 SSH, 10 thrusters, 20 alternating merkins (one hand on a KB at all times, switching hands each merkin), 10 big boy sit ups w/ KB press and 10 KB halos around the head clockwise and counter clockwise.

Ran the guys w/ our KB’s down to the far end of the lot adjacent to the football field and we got started:

4 cones set-up (1st at the far end of the lot), the next 3 about 8 parking spaces apart.  Quick and dirty – do an exercise at the first cone, immediately lunge walk (w/ twist) w/ KB to the next cone, drop the KB, run back to the first cone (every time) and bear crawl back to your KB.  Once there, you do the next exercise, lunge walk w twist to the next cone, drop weight, run to the very first cone, bear crawl back to weight (now 2x the original distance)….you get the point.

    • Exercise #1 – wood choppers – It’s a play on the KB swing, but a little harder.  Start w/ KB above your head to the left then swing it down to the right side of your legs, and then swing back up to the left side of your head.  Key here is to not blow out your knee, but to actually accelerate as much as you can on the way UP.  20 reps per side, then lunge walk, run, bearcrawl back to your KB (wait for pax, those waiting did upright rows), then
    • Exercise #2 – jump squats x20.  Lunge walk, run, bear crawl 2x the distance (those waiting for pax to get back did sit ups w/ KB), then
    • Exercise #3 – curl thruster combo (curl KB, drop down into a squat and press it over head) x20, then lunge walk run, bear crawl 3x the original distance.
    • Exercise #4 – finish off w/ KB toe touches x20.  After that we ran to the bottom of the hill right next to the stadium

Starting at the bottom, do the exercise and rep count i give you and then run w/ your KB up the hill stopping at each light pole to do the same exact exercise & rep count until you get to the top of the hill, then do it one last time, then run down the hill and wait for the 6 (and the next exercise).

  • Exercise #1 – American hammers x10 (only count the right side) – 50 reps by the time you’re to the top
  • Exercise #2 – old fashioned skull crushers on your back x20 – 100 reps
  • Exercise #3 – shoulder press / tricep extension combo move x15 – 75 reps

Once we finished w/ the hill work, we ran to the start of the big lot where we parked our cars and bear crawled the entire width of the lot w/ our KB’s in hand until we made it back to COT.  End result was about 1.6 miles, tons of reps (tris and shoulders fully smoked) and a pretty quiet COT lol.  Prayers included Jedi’s school / crazy life right now, Pax that haven’t been out in a while (get a hold of them and get em back), kids / marriages and safe travels.

Thanks to Band Camp for giving me the torch for a day – had a blast.  The guys rocked it.  Until next time.

ChaChing

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Conveyor Belt of Pain 2

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YHC had just spent a stressful weekend in which we threw a birthday party for our eldest at Adventure Air (and the rest deep cleaning our house). They let me jump, and jump I did. So much so that my back was incredibly sore the day before my Q.  That just meant that everyone would need to do some more back stuff with me to help keep me in shape.  Thanks, everyone!

9 PAX gathered in the parking lot of the Armory.  Started out by dragging out the disclaimer while Tesh and River Rat pulled in.  Yet another PAX showed up at the last minute, but I don’t recall who it was..  Went for a quick mosey up the side lot and half way back to wait for… other guy… sigh… and got in a quick 20 SSH and some windmills to get us stretched out.

We then moseyed over to the bells and ran to the far end of the parking lot where some of the toys were arrayed, and chalk was drawn all over.  Stations were set up every 3rd parking space down the line, then at the end, over two rows, and back down the line forming almost three sides of a square.

The stations were as follows.

  1. KB Swings
  2. Upright Row
  3. 3/4″x72″ Black Iron Staff – Tip ups
    1. Holding the staff at least at half way, the more above your hand the harder it is
    2. Let the tip drop to parallel with the ground and use only fingertips and wrist strength to bring it to vertical.
  4. 3/4″x72″ Black Iron Staff – Rotations
    1. Holding the staff straight forward, rotate to the left and right
    2. Speed of rotation controls the work required to slow and reverse direction
  5. Box jumps (20, 24, and 30 inch sides)
  6. 10lb Training  Mace – barbarian swings
    1. Swing the mace to align it with the chest at shoulder height to the left and right, when the arm close to the ball crosses the body, it’s on the bottom.  When it’s on its own side, the top
  7. Kettlebell Pendulum Swings – R
  8. Pendulum Swings -L
  9. Deadlift
  10. Seated chest press
    1. Six on the ground, legs straight out, torso leaned slightly back
    2. Chest press while leaning back with legs not leaving the ground
  11. Standard Kettlebell Row

Timing:
There is always a traveling PAX. Two PAX started at station 11 (Chicken Hawk and Shin Guard).  Chicken Hawk spent about 10 seconds doing rows and ran with his bell down the parking lot, turned 90 degrees and ran to station one.  Each PAX was to bear crawl with the bell to the next station, however after one round it was apparent that the timer was going to kill our ability to hit all the stations multiple times.  Changed it to a quick walk.

After the first complete round, we met in the middle and did about a minute of broga to stretch out the back and went back to the conveyor.  We made it half way through the second round before time was up and it was a quick mosey back to COT for announcements and prayer.

Everyone worked hard.  Everyone got better.

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Destroyed Chest and Triceps plus 2 miles

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Warm Up

5 – burpees OYO
10 – Windmills IC
15 – Cherry Pickers IC
20 – Imperial Walkers IC

Run to half wal for 10 – Muscle Ups

The Thing

Mosey behind the school follow the berm
To a hill at the bottom there is a hidden trail
We started at the top with
10 merkins run the trail to the benches and do 10 dips then run back up the hill. All don IC single count on down.

Increase by 10 reps each time 10,20,40,50

At 10, 20, 30 reps when we got back to the hill we bear crawled up

At 40 reps we split it up 20 single count Merkins then flip over for 20 LBC IC then 20 more single count Merkins, ran down the trail to the benches 20 single count Dips then 10 – Low Slow Squats, 10 – Monkey Humpers, 20 single count Dips. Run back to the hill then we NURed up the hill

Relfected a little bit on how awesome God is while we stared at the amazing sunrise.

At 50 we split it up 25 single count Merkins then flip over for 25 LBC IC then 20 more single count Merkins, ran down the trail to the benches 25 single count Dips then 10 – Low Slow Squats, 10 – Monkey Humpers, 25 single count Dips. Run back to the hill then we ran up the hill.

We walked for 200 yards and we did announcements and prayers while everyone catched their breath. Half way back we did ran back to COT.

Prayers
Patience, wisdom, knowledge and to be the light in this world.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead the leaders.

If you have not Q’ed at this AO you need to make the trip this site has alot to offer.

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Hero Workout – “Jay”

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11 at the Honey Bader to honor Spc. Javion “Jay” Sullivan for his service to our country and giving the ultimate sacrifice.  He was a hero before he went overseas and solidified that truth with his sacrifice  Jay is the last soldier from from Fort Mill to give his life for this country.  He was a man with dreams and aspirations and he is a great reminder that we need to give our all every step of the way.  Thank you Jay for serving our country and thank you for inspiring me to live with purpose!

Who                                        Spc.Javion(Jay)SavonteSullivan

From                                       FortMill,SC

Deceased                 January8th2018 inOperationInherentResolveinAlAnbarProvince

Age                            24yearsold

Survived by                       Wife–RavenSullivan;Daughter3 year-oldMahogany

PartI:

Specialist JavionSullivan diedJan. 8, 2018 in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, inanon-combat-related accident, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Sullivan was assigned to the Fort Hood,T Texas based 16th Signal Company, 11th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade ,which provides communications support to III Corps operations. Serving from 2015 until 2018.

Jay was a star wrestler at FortMill HighSchool. He even had some skills on the basketball court, too. But his parents are most proud of the love he showed his wife, Raven, and3-year-old daughter, Mahogany, as well as his unwavering passion to serve his country.

PartII

Raven andJay met each other while in junior high school. Raven was a student at a private school in Greer and Javion, of FortMill, had cousins at her school. In 2005, they met at Cleveland Park whiles he was playing volley ball and he playing basketball.

His cousins told her he wanted to see her again. After several attempts to ask her out,she finally said yes. They met and continued to date until marrying in 2015. They had one child together, Mahogany.

“Heal ways wanted a challenge that was strong, physically and emotionally,”she said.

He had planned on becoming a personal trainer, owning his own gym and developing a line of protein supplements.

“He (also) wanted to build cars from the ground up, and build a house from the ground up—with all the bells and whistles,” Raven said.

Hero Workout – Jay

18 Min. AMRAP – with 24 reps representing Jay’s age and 3 burpees between reps to honor Jay’s daughter Mahogany

  • 24 Pull- ups (8 regular, 8 wide-arm, 8 shrugs)
    • 3 Burpees
  • 24 Inchworm Merkins
    • 3 Burpees
  • 24 squats w/ weight (tire, cinder block)
    • 3 Burpees

Pavement of Pain – To honor’s Jay’s desire for a challenge that was strong both physically and emotionally.  With a life expectancy of 76 years old for men, Jay lost an estimated 52 years of his life.  Each of these exercises are a reminder of making the best of the time we have left regardless how m

  • 52 – Hand release Merkins
    • Run down the hill forward and up the hill backwards
  • 52 – Squat Jumps
    • Run down the hill forward and up the hill backwards
  • 52 – Knees to chest on Pull-up Bar (x2 Big Boy Situps)
    • Run down the hill forward and up the hill backwards
  • 52 – Burpees
    • Run down the hill forward and up the hill backwards
  • 52 – Jumping Lunges (right/left = 1)
    • Run down the hill forward and up the hill backwards
  • 52 – Leg Lifts (tap heals to pavement to 90 degrees)
    • Run down the hill forward and up the hill backwards

Thank you for the opportunity to lead!

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A

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12 attended the Poopdeck this morning and came ready to work.  I gave the usual disclaimer  and then informed the PAX that it has been awhile since I’ve been on the Exicon and decided to work my way through the whole thing.  Today of course, were exercises that began with A.  So we took off for a fast mosey along the “backside” of the Poopdeck.  Along the way we did some side steps, NUR, and Toy Soldiers before circling up for a quick warm up back at the starting point.

The Warm-up consisted of “ATM’s” so we held plank and performed the next 3 exercises in cadence.

  1. Alternating Shoulder Taps
  2. Tempo Merkins
  3. Merkins

Our next stop was at the front of the parking lot on the road between the Bowl n’ Bounce and Gas Station for some Ascending Curb Crawls w/Absolutions. I chose this spot specifically because there was some grassy area just past the curb that saved our elbows.

Starting at one side of the street/curb we would bear crawl across and perform 1 Absolution.  Bear Crawl back for 2 Absolution and continue onward until we reached 9 Absolution.

From there another fast mosey to the nice parking lot and a quick stop on the side building wall for some Ascending Testicles.  15/45/ degree Derkins in plank position with feet on the wall.  I didin’t make the PAX go full BTTW because there was quite a bit of grumbling.  OH YEAH!  The cat lady was spotted here as well so 5 Burpees for all!

Off to the main course for some A.L.A.R.M.S.  The Exicon says they are kinda like B.O.M.B.S. (which are kinda like Dora’s) so I planned this to be a partner routine, but had a backup plan if the PAX were odd numbered.

I had some cones set out to at the starting line and then another set 10 yards out and another set about 30 yards out from the starting line.

For the routine 1 partner would perform the exercise while the other PAX would Crab Walk to the 1st cone (10 yards) and then Apple Turnover and Bear Crawl to the 2nd set of cones (about 20 yards), and then finally sprint “AYG” to the finish (which was a tree about 30 yards out from the last set of cones).  Mosey back and switch.

The Exercises were:

  • Angle Grinders (50) – These were new and fun.  Start in plank, then go to downward dog, touch hand to opposite knee, back to plank and Merkin, then repeat with other knee, that’s ONE.
  • Lunges (100) – 2x Count
  • Alternating Shoulder Taps (200) – 2x Count
  • Russian Twists (300) – Single count (because time was running low).
  • M – This was the “Movement” by the other PAX not doing the exercise.

After finishing up we slowly moseyed back to COT and had enough time for some Hello Dolly’s and Freddy Mercury’s.

Today was a lot of fun and I think I’m going to enjoy working my way through the Exicon, there are a lot of great ideas in there and it has grown SO much since the last time I’ve looked at it.

COT – Consisted of the usual, Praises for Baby Snowball, and PAX travelling on vacations with their families.  Not many spoke up today so Prayers all around for the ones that were left unsaid.  Also, the YETI is coming sometime in July……..

Thanks for the Q Peg, it was a lot of fun and you were missed!

Until next time,

-FLUX-

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A Return To The Corral Which Is Golden

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Man, it’s been a long time. It’s been a long time since coming to the Golden Corral, or as it was often referred, the Buffet of Pain but it’s also been too long since my last post. No better way to knock the rust off than by saying yes to Lutefisk’s (just rolls off the tongue) invite and Qing Golden Corral yesterday. Trying not to lower the bar that has been established, I had to ensure the Weinke was full of all your favorite buffet options. After all, we’re not mailing this one in.

24 (23 really since Fish Sticks joined us at the end after getting his brisk miles) other hard-chargers, including feisty “Shin-Guard” joined me at 0515 to review the disclaimer and conduct a little warm up jog around the parking lot, ending up at the top, furthest from HT.

Warm-up:

Wind Mills, Jump Squats, Merkins, Diamond Merkins, Side-Straddle Hops, Carolina Dry Docks

Line up facing the Teeter. Run down to the store and Nur back to our starting point. REPEAT.

2 PAX at a time, run 1/2 way to Teeter then run back. We’d get through all 24 of us but the catch is that while you’re not running, you’re doing your best Flying Squirrels. See CSPAN, we still love you.

Reminder of 2 points (which is hard to stay accountable to when you don’t post for a while):

  1. C.O.T. Integrity – Don’t be a hypocrite. Be the same man outside the C.O.T. as you are inside it.
  2. Kotters – Bring ’em back. They’ll fight you but they want to be back AND we want them back.

More details were shared but you had to be there.

The Entree: 10 reps of 10 exercises and we’re cycling through 10 times (lofty desire). After each round, we’d run 1 set of 2-tiered suicides.

10 exercises were:

Burpees, Wide-Arm Merkins, Jump Squats, Mak Tar Jai’s, Knee Tar Jai’s (modified at the sight of bloodied knees to just doubling the yet to-be mentioned Jumping Lunges), Dips, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, Jumping Lunges, Carolina Dry Docks.

We made it through 4 rounds.

HEY, welcome to Fish Sticks.

Until Next Time,

Maximus

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