Preparing For the Storm

Leave a comment

I was excited to be the Q at The Colosseum this cool morning and my attempt to push the Pax at one of The Fort well known challenging AO’s.  Being one of the older pax, I wanted to push everyone physically and also share what has been going on in my life storm and how I have felt the love and support of the Pax.

A short disclaimer was given since all of the Pax were well versed in F3.  Off we moseyed to the basketball courts and circled up for some warm-up.

  • Wind mill
  • SSH
  • Squats
  • Merkins
  • 6 inch hold 10 sec
  • Mountain Climber
  • MNC

Moseyed to the back bus entrance drive for some light pole work.  I arrived early and with the side walk chalk (borrowed from a neighbors child, DD made mention that my kids were to old for sidewalk chalk) I put an exercise at 6 poles.  Start at 1st pole, do the exercise and run to 2nd.  Return back to 1st and go 2nd, 3rd and return.  Continue this up the hill to the 6th pole and back.

Poles:

  • 20 Merkins
  • 30 Squats
  • 30 Monkey Humpers
  • 10 Burpees
  • 20 CDD
  • 25 Dips

Once all Pax completed then we went back to the 6th pole and worked our way back to the 1st pole.

Mosey back to the basketball court for Mary.

  • Freddie Mercury
  • Dynamic LBC (LBC with feet at 6 inches)
  • Hello Dolly
  • American hammer

This past week has been one of the toughest in our parenting years.  When we got a call at 1:30am from our 21 yr old daughter and she had a serious accident and her car flipped and then caught on fire, our hearts sank.  Thankfully through the Grace of God, all of the events of that night turned out to be ok for our daughter physically.  No injuries and just a loss of material items.  This has opened our eyes to a couple of things.  God’s love and protection of His children even when sometimes we have run far away from Him.  Mental Illness is real and when you see your adult age children struggle with this, it is heart breaking.  The relationships that we build in F3 are real and I have felt the love and support of the PAX.

In the QSource we talk about preparing for the expected and unexpected and the unexpected preparation was confusing to me.  I now understand that for me, this preparation was building the relationships with My Lord, My Shieldlock, Pax and having a good relationship with my M. When the unexpected storms of life come and crash on the beach, you have to have others around to help walk through the storm and lift you up.  I have felt this over the past week.

Thanks to Jekyll for the opportunity to Q and share!!!

TClap |
16

Fire Ant BB

Leave a comment
  • QIC: WWL
  • When: 03/19/2019
  • Posted In: Fire Ant

17 pax, 2 for a 4-mile pre-ruck

Disclaimer was said.

Warmup COP, SSH, squats, merkins, IW

APFT prep, 2 mins merkins and 2 mins sit-ups
Mosey to the start of the “lap-o-misery”

One lap around the school dropoff lane, with pain stations along the way:
-10 burpees + 6 mountain climbers
-OHC length
-15 squats
-Bear crawl (BC) corner
-20 big boy sit-ups
-army crawl the length
-10 merkins
-BC corner
-lunges walk segment
-OHC segment
-10 Ruck getups
-double time segment
-5 man makers and
-OHC to start line

Pick up the six and forward leaning rest position (aka plank) for 2 mins.

COT

TClap |
5

Survive and Advance

Leave a comment

Lutefisk was put on the IR this week and YHC felt called to respond to his call for a substitute Q at Golden Corral. Disclaimers were delivered to a crowd of 14 HIMs – Gekko took a 5-mile ish mosey in preparation for this weekend’s long training run (aka P200). The remaining PAX moseyed off for a March Madness themed workout with many reps.

COT – all I/C (note the counts and their march madness like numbers)
Moroccan Night clubs x Sweet 16
Arm circles forward and backward x Sweet 16
SSH x 32 (just because…..)
Windmills x Sweet 16
Mountain Climbers X Sweet 16
Merkins D/C X Elite 8
Honeymooners, planks, salutations to the right and left with a few 6-inch holds dome for 10 counts of varying length

Mosey to the Brackets. Disclaimer – Like the NCAA’s – some brackets are more difficult than others. Regardless of the challenge, the mission is the same – survive and advance. All exercises were completed twice (or until YHC called time)- the first round was descending down the list and the second was ascending up the list – 64-32-16-8-4-2-2-4-8-16-32-64.

Bracket #1 – East region
64- Squats
32 – Shoulder taps
16- Dips
8- Burpees
4 – Hello Dollys
2 – Dying Cockroach

Bracket #2 – West region
64- Squats
32 – Clave raises – 32 inner, 32 outer and 32 middle: 96 total – just because………
16- Burpees
8- Lunge walks (per leg)
4 – Dying Cockraoch
2 – LBC’s

Bracket #3 – Midwest region
64- Flutters (single count)
32 – Merkins (single count)
16- Burpees
8- Boxcutters
4 – Flying squirrels (just for C-SPAN)
2 – Burpees

Bracket #4 – South region
64 – LBC’s
32 – Dying Cockroaches (Single count)
16- Walking Lunges (per leg)
8- Burpees
12 – Clave Raises – 4 inner, 4 outer and 4 middle
2 – LBC’s

The last round finished at 5:58 – just in time to hustle back to COT, but jailbreak did not need to be called.

Announcements:

Operation Sweettooth 8k in Huntersville 3-30-19.  Support Olive.  VIrtual run from Alcatraz at 6:30 AM the same day.   Questions – Change Order

Paradise Reading Center Monday & Wednesdays – Bethlehem Baptist Church 4:00 PM – great way to fill the 3rd F – Questions – Crabcakes and Copay

Read your newsletter

Prayers:   One year to the week of Badger’s diagnosis and 10 months this Thursday since he went to be with Sky Q.  Lift up his M and 2.0’s

It is an honor to be a part of such a terrific group of HIMs who are committed to accelerating.  I was glad to come out of the bullpen for this Q.  And to those considering stepping up to Q for the first time (or not), to steal a phrase from Nike – just do it.  In the COT, thanks was given for our group of F3.  Our ability to push one another past our comfort zones and get comfortable with discomfort is a privilege that should be treated as a blessing – let’s accept it as such and see it for the springboard of growth it is meant to serve.

SYITG

Cyclops

TClap |
8

Clear & Crisp P200 Tune Up

Leave a comment

What a great morning to get out in The Fort for a little jog around Wally World. Attendance is strong lately with all of the P200 training and the handful of (almost) only running PAX. There’s a pace and a buddy for everyone when the crowd is this size for a running workout.

The Thang:

Wally World – A Flight Plan original wrapping around a shopping mecca and the back road for two of Fort Mills finest learning institutions. All kinds of opportunities to modify distance and incline. So if you were well rested, take that Dave Gibson Hill. If you had too much for St. Patty’s day, easy out and back to WW entrance. It was a glorious morning to be reminded how lucky we are to have our brotherhood and inhale that late winter frosty air.

COT/Announcements

Jekyll took the lead at COT. Reminding us to support our brother Olive and The Christina Latini Memorial 8K on March 30th. Sign ups right now are lower than last year. Let’s get the word out not just to the PAX but to everyone we know. Olive has taken the worst of situations and grown it into a lasting tribute. Something that he has made easy for us to be a part of. He’s done all the heavy lifting and we can claim a little bit of pride simply by doing something we already do, run a little bit. If you can’t make the actual run in Huntersville or the virtual one set up by Change Order at Alcatraz, then still donate. You will be smiling all day after you do (Christina Latini Memorial 8K) Thanks for the reminder Jekyll

Paryers:

Lift up Funhouse’s brother Scott . He’s going through major life changes today; new home for himself as he starts the painful process of a divorce. He will need the strength of Sky Q so be sure to add Scott to your prayers.

Help Hootie as he travels this week. He asks that we lift his M & kids in prayer as they work through the week while he’s gone. The life work balance is hard on everyone. Supporting each PAX with fellowship and prayer will get us through.

 

NMM:

A COT this large can be tough for me. I don’t hear well (Funhouse & Pusher excepted) and can’t wear my hearing aids while running. The sweat makes them shut down. I miss a lot of the jokes and camaraderie that goes on. But the energy that comes from the circle is real. Just like the workout, it doesn’t matter if you’re wide awake or struggled just to make it back, there’s something in there for everyone. Take these jokes, causes, praises and prayers to heart. Think about them as you go through your day. Give them the extra prayer they need or the smile/laugh to yourself they bring to your soul.  And know there’s more waiting for you tomorrow when you need it all over again.

Boeheim

Aye!

 

 

 

 

 

TClap |
4

Light Pole Circuits & POW POW @ The Ballroom

Leave a comment

***Cobains now for the 2 PAX that I missed.   You weren’t in the video and my memory “ain’t what is used to be”.

Weather was near perfect for a “Pearls on a String”- inspired workout.  Dropped the disclaimer, checked for FNGs and we were off.

Circle Up for 10 of each :

SSH

Squats

Windmill

Stretches:

Downward Dog  to Honeymooner  x 3

Runner’s Pose

Warrior Pose

Grass Grabber/Cherry Picker (neither of which are in the F3 exercises, so I am sure this is officially called something else)

Imperial Walker

Mosey to side of the school.

Rotate 20 dips / Wall Sit  – Rinse & Repeat

Run out to end of bridge and back

Stretching with :

Cat Pose (which cracked Spitz up, Big Time! Nice of him and Lug Nut to join us ! )

Hip Stretches

Mosey to light pole closest to Pleasant Rd. , Start exercises there and run to next light. As a PAX, 20 reps each, various PAX leading the count

Merkins

Slow Squat (although I think it was led at a fast pace)

American Hammer

Shoulder Tap

Lunge

Grave Diggers

Wide Arm Merkins

Calf Raises (Kenyan nearly counted us to 50 on this one!)

Flutters

Monkey Humpers

Overhead Claps

Moroccan Night Clubs

Turn around and head back down the string of lights

OH Claps

Monkey Humpers

Flutters

Calf Raises (Seriously, we had to call off Kenyan on this one. I think he was going to 100!!!   Pretty cool that we had a semi-BOM group on this one)

Wide Arm Merkins

Grave Diggers

Several exercises for 5 minutes of Mary and we ended with Airborne’s brutal hip circuit, led and strongly advocated for by Change Order!

 

I asked the PAX to take a look at themselves and determine where they could GROW (theme of the month), relative to one of the three F’s.  Also cautioned them (& myself) against tending to one of the F’s too much, this neglecting the other 2.

Ended in COT, with multiple praise & prayers. Thank you, Short Sale for the opportunity. Always humbled to lead such a group of strong leaders. Keep doing what you’re doing and don’t forget, GIVE IT AWAY. Someone else needs it as much – or WORSE – than you did!

 

SYITG –

Beacon

 

TClap |
3

42nd Birthday Q at Poopdeck

Leave a comment

Day 3 of 3 of back to back to back Q’s

I couldn’t find a better way to start my birthday but to Q and push my F3 brothers to get better so I asked Peg for availability about a month ago so he can make arrangements.

We started with a quick warm up and 42 reps of the following:

Windmill, yes 42 in cadence

Moroccan night clubs

Low Slow Squats

Mountain Climbers

It was a simple routine, and we split into 2 groups, a group of 3 PAX will do the props exercises and the group of 6 PAX will do the calisthenics exercises and then switch,  basically 42 reps of each of the following exercises:

CALISTHENICS:

flutters
merkins
bbsu
werkins
squat touch ground
CDD
rosalitas
shoulder tap
calf raises
SSH
plank jack
LBC
monkey humpers
mountain climbers

TINSEL UTENSILS

bent over row with cindy or dumbell
biceps curls with cindy or dumbell
overhead press with cindy or dumbell
slam ball
sledgehammer swings
battle rope waves

tire flip

Due to time we split the tire flip between 3 PAX to complete the 42 flips so each one did 14 tire flips. Once smoked and with about 12 minutes to go we found a wall and did people’s chair while one PAX will do 4 burpees, starting from one end and going all the way down to the last PAX. since it was 9 of us we only reached 36 burpees so at the end we had to add 6 burpees each to complete 42.

Next one up was BTTW and 3 runners got back just in time to join us so everyone will hold BTTW while one pax will do 3 merkins starting on one end all the way across for a total of 36 merkins, we had to complete 42 reps so we all did 6 more merkins each.

With only a couple minutes left we finished it up with 42 LBC’S.

Back to COT for announcements, prayers and praises.

Again, what a great way to start my birthday.

Tinsel out…

TClap |
2

Run through the RP

Leave a comment

Broga – with the Squatch out of town, Bass O Magic stepped in to lead the crew in some Broga….I’m sure we all felt like we were yogis, perfectly stretching and contorting ourselves into positions that would enable enlightenment.  I can only imagine the cars driving by at 5:00 am saw something entirely different.

Run – once limber, YHC led 5 of the 7 of us on a casual tour of Regent Park, including a pass-by of YHC’s new abode. Not sure what the other  2 PAX did,  but they smelled of bacon and stale Waffle House coffee upon our return.  Our tour consisted of 3.25 miles at ~9:00/mile pace, with some great conversation.  Also completed some Mary upon the return.

TClap |
0

Webbs and cinder block at Pantheon

Leave a comment

Day 2 of my 3 Q’s in a row.

A crisp morning with low attendance, only 4 HIM decided to get better, I think I may have scared some PAX with my Q at Golden Corral the day before.

We started our warm up with a run around the parking lot with some butt kickers, high knees and toy soldiers followed by windmills, low slow squats, moroccan night clubs, merkins and mountain climbers.

I decided to honor our brother Water Bug that had passed away last week during a race with 45 burpees but I mixed in some side straddle hops for a webb like exercise, 1 burpee, 4 SSH, progressing to 9 burpees and 36 SSH for a total of 45 burpees and 180 SSH. Once this webb was finished we moseyed to the end of the parking lot where we met cindy, we pushed cindy hair burner style to the next island for the next webb:

Reverse Dan Taylor for a total of 110 lunges and 220 squats:

2 lunges- 4 squats

Progressive to

20 lunges-40 squats

most of these leg exercises were done while bear hugging cindy,  once completed we moseyed to the soccer field for the next webb:

Jack Webbs for a total of 55 merkins and 220 over head claps:

1 merkin-4 OHC

Progressive to

10 merkin-40 OHC

we went back out to the parking lot for our favorite superhero webb:

Captain Thor for a total of 55 Big boy sit ups and 220 american hammers:

1 BBSU- 4 AH

Progressive to

10 BBSU – 40 AH

With only a few minutes to spare we pushed cindy back hair burner style to the end of the parking lot and moseyed back to COT for announcements, prayers and praises.

I extended my invitation for the next day for my birthday Q but received a big NO THANK YOU from all PAX, they said that two days of Tinsel Q’s are more than enough, that made my day!!

On to planning my next Q, Tinsel OUT

TClap |
1

Tinsel Utensils at Golden Corral

Leave a comment

Perfect weather to bring out some toys to play, I did my regular 4 stations setup where each stations works a particular group of muscles. After the disclaimer we did a quick run and started our warm up:

Windmill

Moroccan night clubs

Low Slow Squats

Mountain Climbers

Low Slow Merkin

The plan was to finish a full 4 station circuit within 22 minutes and we did, after completion of a station you had to  bear crawl the next one. stations were setup as follow:

STATION 1

30 LBC’s

30 Rosalitas

30 Sledgehammer swings (15 each side)

40 Heel Touches SC

40 Dying Roach SC

20 slam ball to ground with 20# ball

STATION 2

10 burpees

10  Tire flips

20  Monkey Humpers

20 lunges SC

30 low squat (touch the ground with hand)

50 calf raises

STATION 3

10 diamond merkins

15 wide arm merkins

20 regular merkins

30 battle rope wave SC

40 Shoulder taps

40 plank jack

STATION 4

USE WEIGHTS OR CINDY FOR ALL EXERCISES

10 man makers

15 biceps curls

20 bent over row

25 overhead press

30 triceps extension

40 shoulder shrug

After about 32 minutes we were done with a full circuit and had the visit of the legendary captain Thor, 1 Big Boy Sit Up and 4 American Hammers, progressive to 10 BBSU and 40 AH, lots of whining during this exercise, one PAX was even offered some cheese to go along with that whine!! After we finished captain Thor it was time to stretch out our backs with superman, we did 2×25 count. With about 5 minutes to spare we lined up next to what used to be Fort Mill BBQ and did some sprints all the way across to the end of the parking lot, after 5 sprints PAX where smoked but we had one minute left so we went for a 6th sprint, not sure if PAX liked it since there was lots of mumble chatter.

We moseyed back to COT for announcements, prayers and praises.

Great push by everyone, good mix of legs, core and upper body work.

Tinsel out…

TClap |
2

The Fort: Flat Tire & Band Camp

Leave a comment

8 PAX gathered in the gloom among many more vehicles than the represented by the posting. Clearly some P200 Runners were  training in our midst.

Flat Tire on Q

Disclaimer

Clockwise Mosey full-loop around jogging path.
COP IC
SSH
Imperial walkers
Windmill
Wide arm merkins
Low slow squats with calf raise
Bomb jacks
Overhead claps

Mosey down jogging path to mile marker for group work
At each marker, start with 1 exercise, 5 count.
At each subsequent marker do that again and add next exercise plus 5 more IC.

We did:
5 burpees
10 Scorpion Dry Docks
15 Freddy mercury
20 jumping lunges
25 mountain climbers

Mosey to the dreaded hill

Pick a partner around the same size
Wheelbarrow up hill
Walk back down and switch Back up

Handoff to Band Camp

Monkey Humpers x10
Howling Monkeys

Mosey down the hill towards set cones

Lateral Slalom through cones

Bearpees (OYO 1 Burpee followed up by 4 count bearcrawl forward) from cones to bottom of the hill

10 squats, 10 leg thrusts, 10 Merkins, 10 leg thrusts, then up (Deconstructed Burpee)

Bearpees back to cones (2 burpees, 8-count bear crawl). YHC had more of this planned but was smoked after two rounds…..If you can’t Q it, don’t do it….so I modified.

Plank–>Honeymooner–>Downdog–>High Lunge–>rinse repeat
Message during sequence

Lateral Slalom through cones x4

Plank–>yoga quad stretch (Crescent Lunge: Anjaneyasana)

Bear Crawl Slalom through cones x2

Slow mosey towards the hill (called out for walking by the returning-from-a-9-mile-run Gecko)
Crawl Bear up the hill

Mosey towards Calhoun St. field.

Bear crawl back to COT (this was a long way to bear crawl)

Plank
Shoulder Tap x10
J-Lo x6

Saved just enough time for some Pigeon Lunges

NMM

In my professional life as a music professor, I’ve been thinking about language and the way we talk to ourselves. After attempting something for the first time or a skill that is still developing, I often hear students say, “I can’t ______.” As if saying “I can’t” excuses them from needing the skill/competency/etc.

My response is often a little pithy at first. “Well you know what Abraham Lincoln said. If at first you don’t succeed. . . . . . just quit. You’re done.” This usually gets a little laughter. Then we redirect to more constructive language. E.g., I’m still developing that; I’m not there yet; (or if “can’t” must be in their vocabulary) I can’t do that yet. The yet makes all the difference; it allows for progress to happen in the future.

We would never talk to a friend the way we talk to ourselves. If a friend attempted something for the first time and failed, no one would seriously respond, “Oh well, guess you can’t do it.” But we tell ourselves that or something similar all the time. And what’s even worse: we believe it! By believing it, we make it true! Living out the definition of self-fulfilling prophecy.

In our inner monologue can we treat ourselves like a fellow PAX? Strive to create an internal language that leads to encouragement and acceleration. A language that allows for disruption rather than just perpetuates the status quo.

-Band Camp dismissed

TClap |
2