The Kettlebell Tolls for Thee at Cannonball

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Five hearty lads braved winter’s chill this morning at Cannonball, Lake Wylie’s newest  AO.  Costanza joined with a brand new kettlebell…after we corralled Olaf who squeezed in 15 min of P200 prep time, here is how it went down:

Warm – o – Rama

  • Warm up lab around the parking lot, approx 200 yards
  • Circle up for :
  • Sun gods, forward 15, backward 15, IC
  • Windmills, 10 IC
  • Cotton pickers, 10 IC
  • SSH 20 IC
  • Merkins 10 IC
  • Downward Dog, Honeymooner

The Thang, with our kettlebells

  • Single arm curls, 10 per arm
  • Goblet squats, 10
  • Around the body pass, 15 each direction
  • run a lap (200 yards)
  • Kettlebell Swings, 10
  • Kettlebell merkins, 10 each side
  • Kettlebell lunges, 10 each leg
  • run a lap (200 yards)
  • Lawnmowers, 10 each arm
  • Tiny Tim (70 lb kettlebell and the mascot of Cannonball) dead lift, 10, while others hold plank
  • Shoulder press ladder, 1-5 and back down
  • run a lap (200 yards)
  • Kettlebell calf raises, 30
  • Two handed tricep extensions, 15
  • Chest press, 10 each arm
  • run a lap (200 yards)
  • 10 burpees (no KB)
  • Flutters, 15 IC holding KB
  • Freddie Mercurys, 15 IC (no KB)
  • run a lap (200 yards)
  • Rinse and repeat – we got through the lap after lunges above

Announcements, praises and prayers

Yeti coming up; P200 still teams looking for guys if interested; praise for the ability to be out in the morning and for those recovered and recovering from illness and injury; prayers for missing pax. Wolverine took us out.

Always an honor,

Wolverine

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3 Miles and a Cloud of Dust

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Best way to fight off Old Man Winter isconstant movement with some pain thrown in.  Today’s edition borrowed from old skool #GoldenCorral.

After a roaming warm up showing the course we got started:

  • Start at GHMS- run down school road to bottom of hill (light pole).  10 merkins.  Up hill with 10 bombjacks at top.  Run to front door GHES- lunge walk to breezeway.  10 Carolina Dry Docks.  Run to wall with 6 muscle up and overs.  Run to GHMS Breezeway and bear crawl to entrance.  10 LBCs.  That’s 1 lap.  Rinse/repeat until 0600.

3 ish miles and approx. 40 of each exercise.  Good stuff.

Should be noted that we paired up naturally and due to that:fellowship, motivation, encouragement and good conversation flowed.  All while getting smoked.  MacGyver drug me along (without breaking a sweat).  he does have new gloves for the year so that’s nice.  Pusher and Gekko decided who’s got raising teenagers down the best.  (no clear winner here- both doing outstanding because they stay involved and engaged.  JWOW and ‘Bug mostly discussed how the Jersey Shore cast must have good dental hygiene routines.

Great take out from Gekko.  Qsource in full motion but good to note, you can pick it up at any time.  If you feel you have missed or its too far down the road, don’t listen to that voice. Its a big tent and all are welcome.

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Challenges at Golden Corral

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Finishing my Golden Corral Q a week late with this backblast.

Late sub Q for NASA. Late tweet evening before. But arrived early at GC to set up cones for 2 loops, a smaller inner loop and larger outer loop. Had to change location of the inner loop as the kickboxers started arriving in that section of the parking lot.

Easy warmup jog with buttkickers, side slides and the like. Warmup included standards like SSH, WM, merkins, dancing MNC and learning to do the Goofball correctly

The smaller loop had 3 cones. One set of partners carried the 140# sandbag Worm together around the cones while the rest of the PAX did 3 burpees at each cone. Swap postiions, repeat.

Core exercises followed, then we ran the larger loop. 4 cones with exercise at each,. #1 20 squat jumps, #2 15 bombjacks, #3  10 CantRememberOneWeekLaterExercise  , #4 5 Apollo Ono’s each leg.

Rinse, repeat smaller loop, core, larger loop 3 x. Finished with a little jog and PAX helping to carry cones and Worm back.

Spoke some of serving during the workout. There are different ways to serve. We serve ourselves, we serve our family, we even serve many of our friends. I believe the call to serve extends to the community. There are certainly many ways to serve and hope everyone will seek their ways in 2019.

I was speaking to veteran PAX at this workout and they were open to “accepting” my challenge of drawing a date from a bag that represented a Q spot at our G-Fit Paradise workout . We are looking to get our G-Fit Q’s setup, but especially with PAX who have not led the AO there.

Q Source in progress!  Read your material and attend the discussions whenever you can!

Yeti in Feb.

Sign up for Joe Davis Run.

Prayers for family and friends.

Aye. Bolt

 

 

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Disrupting 12 days???

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As I type this up, I realize that copy and pasting right after the workout would have been a very easy task but I decided to wait but build up the suspense….or something like that.  At the Swamp gathering, we divided into 3 groups – runners, ruckers and bootcampers.

As YHC led the bootcampers away from COT off into the gloom, we did a quick mosey that included butt kickers, high knees and side to side shuffles.  Once we reached our destination, we circled up to get in some quick warm up and stretching given the cooler temps.

Starting out we did: SSH, windmills, Moroccan night clubs, low slow squats, smurf jacks, and some hamstring and back stretches along with downward dog and honeymooner.

Once stretching and bodies were somewhat defrosted, we got into the Thang.

Given our first week of Q source was disruption, what better way to mix things up and disrupt the status quo than pick on something everyone was familiar with – the infamous “12 days of Christmas”.  With this in mind, YHC went with “12 days…since NYE” which was still true and this was only the beginning.  Each exercise was going to have a bit of a twist and was going to make the PAX challenge not only their bodies in the early gloom, but also their listening, math and memory skills!  Here’s how we started out and in true “12 day” style, started with 1, then moved to 2 and back to 1, then to 3 to 2 to 1, then to 4….and so on.  Whatever number you’re on, that’s how many exercises were done unless there was a multiplier included after the exercise (for example see #4 which is x2 meaning 8 of each variety of calf raise.  Also where there’s 2 exercises listed, you got to do both at the designated number.

1. Lap / run (which included up and down the set of stairs and around the parking lot for a short loop)

2. Cracken burpees (if you don’t know what this is, a regular burpee with 3 hand release merkins at the bottom and a Lake Wiley special!)

3. Fluttters & Rosalita & American Hammer (3 sets of each and double count with flutters and hammers)

4. Calve raises (all 3 varieties – inside, regular, outside) x2

5. Smurf jacks x2 (this is a squat position while doing SSH)

6. WWII big boy (legs in butterfly position and big boy situp)

7. Diamonds & Hand release

8. Jump lunge (each leg)

9. Dips x2

10. CDD x2

11. Plank ski jump (1 full cycle is 1 count)

12. Squats x3

13. Bonus round…Toe Taps

A few PAX made it through the 12 days and were looking for more, so in true disruption fashion, YHC was happy to accommodate with a 13th bonus day!

Headed back to COT with 4 min remaining, we managed to get in a few minutes of Mary while we were joined by our fellow runners and ruckers.  Wrapping up with name-o-rama, announcements and TAPs, YHC was happy to be called upon to lead.

Even with the disruption we face every day, no matter how big or small, it’s how we handle the change that makes us better.  Even if throwing in a small curve ball into something like “12 days” gives you pause to think about change, applying this “pause” to everyday life for bigger curve balls is great practice for the game of life. Slowing down life to wait for the curve balls that will come across the plate is a patient man’s game. Disrupting the status quo for controlled (or even uncontrolled) practice…there’s nothing wrong with that game!

Shady

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Rockin’ Slow Burn

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Slow Burn

Nine Pax showed up as   cool weather prevailed.  Suspicion was on the mind of a few as they noticed  a mini head lamp was noticeable on the Q’s noggin. Disclaimer. MOSEY on down to Lowes.

Slow mosey followed by some high knees, butt kickers & side shuffles.

Chatter, Chatter, Chatter

Warm ups:

SSH

Old Man Windmills

Imperial Walkers

Cherry Pickers

Moroccan Night Clubs

Peter Parkers

Plank Stretch

Downward Dog

Honeymooner

Mosey behind Lowes

Some more chatter

The Pax were curious as why the Q was searching the bushes with his mini headlamp. A mini speaker appeared in his hand along with a modified “Board of Pain”

THE THANG

Partner Up

2 Excercises/Alternate/Complete Reps/3 minutes longSlow Burn

1-Mtn Climbers/Squats X 20

2-Bomb Jacks/Partner Plank Hand Taps x 20

Mosey around the parking lot

3-LBCs/Pank Jacks 20x

4-Merkins/Jump Rope 20x

Mosey around parking lot

5-Lunges/American Hammer 20x

6-CDD/Low Slow Squats 20x

Apache 10 Counts provided opportunities for the Pax to talk about how they came to F3 & how they got their nick names.

MUSICAL HIT LIST

Van Halen Right Now

Billy Joel Pressure

Led Zeppelin Rock & Roll

Journey Any Way You Want It

Tom Petty Runnin’ Down A Dream

Led Zeppelin The Immigrant Song

Indian Run back to COT

Prayers & Praises

Thanks goes out to Wide Right who asked me to sub for him!! Thanks to the Pax for allowing me the honor to lead you in the Gloom!

 

Boogie Down out!

 

 

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Keep Moving to Get THROUGH It

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15 pax shook off fears of rain & cold to post to The Fort, seeking a jump start to the MLK weekend.  All veterans this morning so Anchorman checked the Disclaimer box in brief fashion and then offered a preview with comments about avoiding the pit of “getting stuck” and embracing the opportunity sharpen yourself by “going  through it.”  Oh yeah, he also made a reference to 100 burpees coming over the next 60 mins.

The Thang

Run to front parking lot between WEP and Springs

COP — SSH, Burpees x10, IWs, Merkins, Flutter kicks, Burpees x10 (count=20), Morrocan night clubs, Overhead claps, Morrocan night clubs

Run to Pike’s front lot

People’s chair, Burpees x10 (count=30), people’s chair

Run to bottom of Massey St hill

1 Burpee at bottom, run to top, 2 Burpees, continue down and back up adding 1 Burpee on each end until 10 Burpees at the top. Result: 55 total Burpees (count=85)

Handoff to DD

Mosey to memorial park

Makhtar N’Dyae

Knee-tar N’Dyae

Mosey to parking lot grass

Tunnel of love

Mosey to Pike’s front lot

People’s chair on wall / Donkey kicks x10 on wall
Rinse & repeat

Bear crawl across lot / crawl bear back
Rinse & repeat

Mosey to Springs side lot

Plank it up shoulder to shoulder for bunny hops through the pax to the end of the parking lot.

Freddy Mercury / Hello dollies

Move to wall

Wall pull-ups x10

Sprint to curb and back

Wall pull-ups x10

Mosey back to WEP

Burpees x10 (count =95)

Box cutter

Rosalita

4 Minutes of Burpees

COT

NMM

We had a great morning at WEP with a lively group of mostly veteran pax.   Cool and damp, but no rain until COT.  Thank you to all the pax present, to Bonsai for the invite to Q and to Anchorman for sharing the lead in High Impact fashion.

T-claps to X-Ray and Slash for consistency in their first 30 days since their initial post at The Fort. And t-claps to Esso for their EHs and encouragement.

The theme for the day was about not getting stuck when facing adversity and instead going THROUGH it.  Anchorman referred to an article by Jalen Hurts (Alabama QB transferring to Oklahoma) where he describes his faith through the experience of the January 2018 National Championship game and the following season in Fall 2018.   Hurts said, “This isn’t something you’re stuck in,” I’d tell myself. “This is something you’re going through.” And one thing I can promise you is that I’m better off for having gone through it. Everything I dealt with at Bama: I’m stronger for it. I’m wiser. I’m a better man.” You can read the article here.

Anchorman didn’t waste any time delivering extended pain during the opening COP with his shoulder series of Moroccan night clubs and overhead claps…drawing much mumblechatter.  The move over to Massey Street triggered even stronger mumblechatter.  The pax rose to the challenge despite the grumbles.  They got THROUGH it.

The suspense of reaching the 100 burpee mark carried us through the final 30 mins of the workout.  With about 6 mins left, we chinned up close to the bar, reaching the 95 mark.  Anyone who expected YHC to stop at 100 surely won’t make that mistake again.  Everyone lost count of their total during the 4 mins of burpees wrap-up.  But they all got THROUGH it.

We paused after the Tunnel of Love to reflect on a tragic example of getting stuck instead of getting through it.  I learned last week about a 53-yr old Chicago father of four who committed suicide.  His name is Tim.  Tim was a year ahead of me at ND in the late 1980s, and we lived in the same dorm for three years.  I don’t recall having any contact with Tim after he graduated in 1988.  But, certain of my classmates from the Chicago area did have contact with Tim.  In fact, some lived nearby, attended the same church, had kids in the same schools and the same sports leagues.  Looked at in some ways, Tim appeared successful — professional career in the financial sector, home in a sought-after suburb, four kids, private schools, etc.  At the same time, Tim battled alcoholism…maybe all those achievements weren’t truly fulfilling for him…maybe he was stuck…maybe he wasn’t getting through it…maybe he couldn’t get through it, at least not without help, not without a partner, not without a group.  The most chilling comment in many emails I read about Tim and his situation was when the email sender said “…then I lost touch with him.”  The challenge this week is to consider someone you know who’s facing tough circumstances, someone at risk of getting stuck and reach out to that person.  If you’re in the unfortunate place of being stuck or at risk of being stuck, identify someone who can help you start moving.  That’s the essential action to getting THROUGH it.   If you need two names, put Anchorman and Double D on your list.

SYITG

 

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The Spirit of the Pax

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The skies were gloomy, but the spirit of 10 men was high as they kicked off their Saturday morning with another beat down at Runde Field.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Change Order on Q

Mosey on the path around Runde and circle up in the parking lot for COP

All in cadence:  SSH x 25, Hillbilly walker x 20, Windmill x 10, Merkin x 10, standing hamstring stretch (L/R), sitting IT band/buttock stretch (L/R)

Count off by 4 and break into groups for the Starfish.  At four corners of the parking lot, there were exercise listed.  Complete that exercise, go to the center and do 4 burpees, then move to the next corner.  The exercises were:

  1.  25 merkins
  2. 40 chest presses with a landscaping paver
  3. 30 squats
  4. 40 LBC’s

Rinse and repeat with intention.  The Pax were instructed to do the merkins with a closer arm stance and chest touching the ground, double the weight (2 pavers) on the chest presses, do deeper squats (hands touch the ground), and perform ‘loungers’ instead of LBC’s (legs pivot up and down with the torso)

Hand off to Senator Tressel

Line up for an indian run on Windward road and then mosey to the concession stand wall in the ball field.  Start at the far end of the wall, get in a BTTW position and then walk on your hands to the opposite end of the wall.  lunge walk to the 2nd base line, bear crawl across the field, and then lunge walk back to the starting point.  Rinse and repeat 2 more times.

Mosey to the playground and split into three groups.  Group one does 10 pull ups, group two does reverse step ups, and group three does Al Gores.  Rotate through all 3 exercises , then rinse and repeat 2 more times.

Mosey to the ball field and find a dry spot for 6 MOM

All in cadence:  Box cutter x 20, pretzel crunch x 20, boat/canoe x 3, American hammer x 20ish (lots of mumble chatter trying to throw off the Q).  End with the body destroyer.

COT

Naked Man Moleskin:

I  was happy to get the call from Change Order on Thursday night to co-Q  this workout.  The last time we Q’d together  was when we launched F3 Cincinnati in 2017.  It was great to have Photobomb back in action with us after a serious leg injury forced him out for several months.  Jekyll came in hot at around 6:45 and then provided the Pax with his usual one liners and mumble chatter.

T-claps to my co-Q for doing ‘Geronimo 10 counts’ today (and T-claps to Geronimo too).  Instead of our normal count to 10 as a rest break,  Change Order asked a member of the Pax how they came to F3 and what their F3 name meant.  YHC and Uber were asked today.    My start to F3 was through an email from DD (Dan Janick) who was just a casual acquaintance at the time.  He was trying to round up men for the very first F3 workout in Fort Mill.  My F3 name, Senator Tressel is a reference to Jim Tressel who was the football coach at my alma mater, Youngstown State University, before going on to fame, (and infamy), at Ohio State University.    The Senator part comes from ESPN’s Chris Fowler who used to call Tressel ‘The Senator’ because of his demeanor during games and during press conferences.  As a side note, F3 at the time was a much, much smaller entity, and Dredd and OBT came to help launch F3 Fort Mill.  Dredd named all of the FNG’s at that first workout at WEP.  Uber told us his F3 name came from the fact that his wife is German and also as a reference to first F3 workout when he told the Pax he was going to call for an Uber, rather than finish the workout.  I am pretty sure I was at that workout and remember him saying that at the bottom of the big hill behind the park.  Uber, if you read this, reach out and let me know if that’s correct.  I really like this idea of Geronimo 10 counts and decided to start using it when I Q.  I encourage other guys to do it to as a means to strengthen our 2nd F.

It was a gloomy morning for sure, but the Pax were in good sprits as evidenced by the mumble chatter and jokes before, during, and after the workout.     The 2nd F is alive and well at F3 The Fort!   It’s always a pleasure and privilege to lead such a fine group of men.

Announcements, prayers, and praises:

Q source, week 3.  If you haven’t attended yet, it’s never too late to join.

Support the Operation Sweet Tooth 8K and Joe Davis Run if you can.  Read your newsletter for details!

Prayers for:

Fish stick’s father with cancer

Delta’s  brother-in-law in very poor health from diabetes.

Funhouse’s brothers

 

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Sally vs. Roxanne

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Nine men braved the gloom to settle the question of which challenge is better: Sally or Roxanne.

Began with a warm up:
Short mosey run
Pull ups (5 oyo)
SSH (IC 12x)
Moroccan Nightclub (IC 12x)
Windmill (IC 12x)
Peter Parker (IC 12x)
Plank stretches
Pull ups (5 oyo)
Run to the high school for the below.

Thang 1: 10 exercise routine: exercise for 32 seconds, rest/transition for 10 seconds
1. Imperial Walkers
2. Dips
3. LBCs
4. Jump Squats
5. windmills
6. American Hammers
7. Step ups
8. OH claps
9. Flutters
10. Calf raises

Thang 2: Sally Plank Routine (low plank-high plank) Song: Flower by Moby

Thang 3: Repeat above 10 exercise routine

Thang 4: Roxanne push up routine Song: Roxanne by the Police

Thang 5: Repeat 10 exercise routine

Short Mary round
Run to COT

Official poll results: Sally was preferred over Roxanne. it was close though.

Prayers/Praises: All went well for DirtyHarry’s daughter at the hospital. Kaiser for new role at work, while running own business.
Also: Prayers for all law enforcement, first responders and medical professionals.

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Leadership is a privilege

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9 gathered at the Colosseum on a chilly and surprisingly damp morning to exercise our minds, bodies and be just a little better than the day before.  After the standard disclaimers were announced and all PAX were told to keep their questions to themselves and just do the work, we moseyed off for a tour of the grounds:

COP – Low Slow Squat X 20, Moroccan Night Clubs X 20, SSH X 30, Merkins X 15, Plank to sunrise salutations – left and right, hold regular plank down to 6 inches, repeat, down dog and recover, windmill X 20.  Now that the warm up was complete, we moseyed to the arrows.

The Thang – YHC promised that no man would be left behind and, true to form, PAX delivered.  Lunge walk 3 arrows followed by 3 burpees, Lunge walk to the 6th arrow, do 6 burpees, lung to the 9th arrow, do burpees, lunge walk to the 12th, do 12 burpess and finally lunge walk to the 15th arrow and do 15 burpees to complete the set.  After all were complete, JWOW gave us a ten count and we moseyed to the 4-corner station.

4 corners – 2 rounds – bear crawling or lunge walking (because we did not do enough of that earlier) to each station

Corner # 1 – 15 – hand release merkins – a crowd pleaser given the wet pavement

Corner #2 – 15 monkey humpers – PAX mistakenly thought they would dry out and stay vertical – foolish

Corner #3 – 15 Makhtar N’Dayies – just for Jekyll

Corner #4 – 15 Flutters double count

Mosey to the wall for the people’s chair where each PAX shared their word for 2019.  Each PAX bear crawled to the front of the line.  Upon completion, we moseyed to the benches

20 step ups IC

More moseying to the flag for the pledge of allegiance in gratitude for all who selflessly serve our country and local communities.

Mosey to COT for 4 minutes of mary (because 5 would have been excessive on wet pavement) – all exercises were double count and IC.

20 LBC’s, 20 American Hammers, 15 Box cutters and 1 body destroyer at 5:59:30.

COT –

Announcements – Joe Davis Run 3-9 – prices go up 2-1.  Register.  5k is a great opportunity to get 2.0’s and family involved.  YETI is 2-23 – back blast is up.

Prayers for Wilson County, NC trooper officer shot in duty; prayers for patience in our lives as we are called to be leaders on many fronts.

Leadership is truly a privilege whether we seek it out and step up or others see the potential in us and ask us to step forward.  May we use leadership for its intended purpose – to influence movement to advantage and help others to the same.  Thank you, Jekyll, for the opportunity to lead and get better with a  great group of HIM’s

Cyclops

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Oh that smell!

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It was great to see so many PAX pulling into the Ranch on a cold morning. Even Dark Helmet arrived earlier than normal, he beat Bonsai, Fire Marshall Bill and Fratboy! T-Claps to my good ol’ pal Champagne for coming down from Area-51 and posting in The Fort region.  We eventually ended up with 19 PAX (16 BC and 3 ruckers who met at COT).

We moseyed to the service road to the Elementary School/Middle School cafeteria side of the schools. From the soccer fields we  did toy soldiers to the first street light. We then did soccer leg swings to the next street light, which during that time encountered a sweet smell of SH!T running through the storm drain (or from the horse ranch next door – but most likely a busted sewer pipe). I should have made the PAX bear crawl in order to enjoy that fresh morning smell, even though we can’t figure out why Dark Helmet didn’t smell anything….

We then duck walked to the parking lot next to the playground. We lunged walked along one side of the parking lot, reversed lunged to other side. Circled up for COP with a various count of Squats, hilly billy walkers, windmills, side straddle hops, and Moroccan nightclubs.

Split the PAX into 2 groups.

Group 1 went to the playground for a round of 11’s of pull-ups (YES!!) and merkins

Group 2 did round of 22’s of squats and CCD – somehow this group didn’t listen and did 22 reps of each and said they were done…no, its 20 squats, 2 CCD, 18 squats, 4 CCD, you get the idea.

Groups then flapjacked.

Final round was 22’s of leg lifts (holding onto the fence) and big boy sit ups. Mumble chatter definitely increased!

Time flew by too fast!!

Moseyed back to COT, on way back merged with the 4 ruckers.

Read newsletter for announcements. Key announcements are Q Source every Saturday and you don’t have to past at the AO to post at Q Source. Joe Davis Run and Yeti coming up soon.

Prayers: Wegmans and his mission trip to Peru (he’s looking for donations of lightly used workout gear), Bonsai’s friend who has got himself into trouble, and Trucker with some potential career and life decisions. Ever since F3 started the Word of the Year I was ignorant and selfish for not participating. I felt that it was corny and said to myself i didn’t; have time for this. and that it wouldn’t do me any good. Well, after seeing how 2018 impacted me I realized that finding your word for the year and living it out isn’t corny. Thanks to Bonsai for mentioning something he saw relating to a sign defining JOY as: Jesus, Others, Yourself; I realized that i have been stuck in the YOJ mode way too long. This year I need to be held accountable to reverse it and make JOY out of life, focus on JOY and change my habits. I would ask that everyone find a word for the year and begin to focus on being a better #HIM.

10-4 Trucker

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