Laces In – Going Out

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A bit of cool rain couldn’t keep the 8 LacesIn pax in the fartsack this morning.  Thankfully, it was 52 degrees and not 32 degrees.  Fearing the bubble over Fort Mill wouldn’t hold up, YHC planned a workout under coverage, off campus of FMHS (someone needs to talk to Flash about getting more coverings built onto the school).  Once the disclaimer was issued, we jetted up the hill and across Munn Road to St. Philip Neri.  Vacant, well lit, and relatively dry.

Warm up under the drop-off awning:

  • SSH x25
  • Windmills x10
  • Mountain Climbers x20
  • Imperial Walkers x20
  • Low Slow Squats x10

Mosey around what would be the “loop” for the Thang.

The Thang
Webb-o-Rama is always a crowd pleaser.  Fortunately, none of the pax attended (or remembered) the last installment of Webb-o-Rama (The Abyss a few weeks ago, for the record).

[stand by while I look up that back-blast for copy/paste]

4 “stations” along a loop that was mostly covered there at the church.   The exercises at each station were to be done in a Jack Webb style, (1:4 ratio).

Station 1: Burpees and Side Straddle Hops, then Bear Crawl to station 2

Station 2: Big Boy Sit-ups and American Hammers, then wheelbarrow to station 3 (flapjack half way)

Station 3: Bombjacks and Run-Stance Switches, then lunge walk to station 4

Station 4: Traditional Jack Webb (merkins and overhead claps), then run around track back to station 1

We did a total of 2 loops of the circuit before we ran out of time.

Round 1: 1-5 (made it all the way through round 1 before Pusher started complaining – gotta be some kind of record).
Round 2: 6-8

Moseyed back to COT where we met up with the Laces Out pax (5).

Strong work by all men!  Hopefully all got a little better for it.

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New Years Eve at the Crows Nest

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I had myself slotted to Q on Christmas Eve, which happens to be YHC’s birthday, but because of the convergence I wasn’t able to Q on that day so I settled for New Years Eve.

It was a light crowd on the rainy New Years Eve morning so I skipped the disclaimer and we moseyed around to the side lot while doing some toy soldiers and butt-kickers along the way before circling up.

CoP

  • Windmills
  • Squats
  • SSH
  • Merkins
  • Plank (30 count)

I then explained that I usually prepare a lot more for my Q’s, but I really wanted to try out the official deck of death I got from the F3 Store a while back.  I’ve been saving it for a “rainy day” which happened to really be a rainy day and I really wanted to try it out!  I added the usual Flux wrinkle by taking something I knew was going to be hard and tried to make it “just a little harder”.

I did this by calling on 2 of the PAX, I asked one to pick a number between 1-10 and the other to pick a suit (Hearts, Spades, Clubs, Diamonds).  The number 7 was chosen and Diamonds so I explained that in addition to whatever exercise was on the card, we would doing 7 Burpees every time a diamond card was flipped over, FUN!

Without going through all of the cards and listing what we did, I would just highly recommend getting this.  I can tell a lot of though was put into it.  We all had a great workout, it was hard, and a lot of good variety.  We sprinted, crawled, jumped, squated, and just about everything in-between.  I think we made it through about 35 cards or so.  Those 7 extra burpees took a toll because I think we drew diamonds 8-10 times.

We moseyed back to CoT for Namarama and Announcements, Praises, and Prayers.

  • New Years Convergence in Metro
  • Prayers for the New Year
  • Prayers for Olaf’s mother-in-law who recently passed away
  • Prayers for Two Ferns Father who is battling cancer

Until next time,

-FLUX-

 

 

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26L Ruck Raffle benefiting 24 Foundation

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26L Black GORUCK GR1 Raffle with proceeds benefiting 24 Foundation (Cancer Survivorship)

How to enter:  $10 per ticket, no cap, “Friends and Family” https://www.PayPal.Me/PayJeffParker

Shipping covered to 48 CONUS

When:  Drawing to be held January 31st at 7:00 EST

I will never forget the phone call I received on March 25, 2013 that brought me to my knees.  It was from one of my closest friends, Josh, and he shared the news that his beautiful daughter, Libby, was diagnosed with leukemia.  Josh and Barb pulled out all of the stops and led the fight with Libby to beat the awful disease.  On May 9th 2014, heaven welcomed Libby.

Since Libby’s diagnosis, we have been working with the 24 Foundation to direct funds to benefit families dealing with childhood cancer.  The 24 Foundation is a fantastic organization focuses on programs specific to cancer navigation and survivorship.

All of the funds raised over what I have invested in the ruck will go directly to the 24 Foundation.

 

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2019 Joe Davis Run for Recovery

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Dear PAX,

As you begin to plan your new year, on behalf of my family, I am asking that you consider including the Joe Davis Run for Recovery on March 9th in your plans.

It is hard to believe, but the 7th installment of the Joe Davis Run for Recovery will take place on March 9, 2019. My family and I invite you to join us, as we gather once again, to celebrate my brother Joe’s life and bring awareness to a very real problem facing our society right now, Addiction. Joe lost his 16-year battle with Addiction in the form of an accidental heroin overdose on October 4, 2009 at the young age of 28.

Unfortunately, chances are that Addiction has touched your life, either affecting your friends or your family. Our family has chosen to turn the tragedy of Joe dying into a triumph in the form of spreading a message of HOPE. There is help for those who struggle with Addiction and other mental health issues. The race benefits Keystone Substance Abuse Services, York County’s authority on substance abuse.

F3 and FiA support has been the cornerstone of this race’s success and most of you know that it has been on one of the coldest days of the year most years when it was held in January. It was so cold last year that my family and I made the decision afterward to try a new race date. Our message of HEALTH, HOPE and HEALING needs to be far-reaching and to include the youth, which we felt the cold has kept home when the weather is not favorable. So, we chose March 9. It will likely still be cold, but bearable.

The race will offer 1 Mile Fun Run, 5k and 10k options. The course is the same as in recent years and it will be held at Walter Elisha Park in Fort Mill, SC.

Please help spread the word.

I believe that we are making a difference, slowly but surely. I know the race has directly impacted the PAX and I want to ask that, if you feel led to share your story, please let me know. I believe the impact of a first-hand story would be incredibly helpful to show our mission is working.

Sign ups are at www.joedavisrun.com

We are also seeking sponsors. If you know of someone this cause may be close to, who would like to get involved, please message me.

With gratitude,

Rock Thrill

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First Post of the Year. Was it 1989 or 2019?

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It was a wet 57 degree start as five of us braved the elements to ring in 1/1/19. We started off with a light mosey in the parking lot before we hit the warmups. All exercises were done in reps of 19 in honor of the new year.

  • 19 Side Straddle Hops
  • 19 Imperial Walkers
  • 19 Hillbilly Walkers
  • 19 Cherry Pickers
  • 19 Low Slow Squats

We moseyed over to the front of the school and grabbed some bench.

Brought out 80’s hairband music to ring in the new year.

Playlist:

  • Dr. Feelgood – Motley Crue
  • Panama – Van Halen
  • Nothin’ But a Good Time – Poison
  • Come on Feel The Noize – Quiet Riot
  • Kick Start My Heart – Motley Crue
  • Round and Round – Ratt
  • Photograph – Def Leppard
  • Breaking the Law – Judas Priest
  • Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N’ Roses

The Thang:

Round 1

  • 19 Derkins
  • 19 Step Ups
  • 19 Dips

We lined up on each column for wall sits and took turns bear crawling down the hallway and back.

Round 2

  • 19 Merkins
  • 19 Squats
  • 19 Dips

We lined up on each column for planks and took turns lunging down the hallway and back.

Round 3

  • 19 Incline Merkins
  • 19 Mountain Climbers
  • 19 Calf Raises

Four of us went balls to the wall as the fifth PAX sprinted down the hallway and back as a timer. We rotated around all five PAX.

Round 4

  • 19 Box Jumps
  • 19 Flutters
  • 19 Carolina Dry Docks

Brought out the jump rope for a little jump rope rotation.

  • 19 leg lifts (76 total each person) as each of us took turns with the jump rope.
  • 19 LBC’s (76 total each person) as each of us took turns with the jump rope.
  • 19 LBC’s with legs on the ground (76 total each person) as each of us took turns with the jump rope.
  • 19 Freddie Mercury’s (76 total each person) as each of us took turns with the jump rope.
  • 19 Big Boy Sit-ups (76 total each person) as each of us took turns with the jump rope.

Back to COT for some announcements and talks on word of the year. Then to prayers and praises.

Happy New Year Everyone!

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IceBreaker training at the Swamp

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I don’t know where everyone was this morning. It’s not cold.

In preparation for the 5k obstacle course that the IceBreaker has transformed into for this year, we took a crack at 2 of the 14 events from last year.

The MARSOC Short Card

The Spartan 300

Did someone say QBert was on Q? 5 MORE BURPEES AT COT!!!!!

NMM
God has been stripping away what I thought was my identity for most of 2018. The details are a big cumbersome but it got to the point where it was just depressing to be me. With the M working night shifts, I would just spend hours at night sitting on the couch with no motivation to do anything that I used to find so enjoyable. No one to share my hobbies with began to drain on my usual level of happiness. I continued to just go through the actions of husbandry and parenting with no real joy. However, through a new found investment in prayer, it seems that God was just emptying me of my wrong sense of identity so he could fill me up with His values and will for my life. Please continue to pray for where this may lead me.

Announcements
IceBreaker at York High School January 12 0530 for a 5k obstacle course
https://f3york.com/#announcements/-LSL_Ms2Biw9tkpzRflZ

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Soggy Slow Burn

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Today started out like any other typical slow burn, rainy and cold (or so it seems)!  That didn’t deter four HIM from braving the elements and getting better in three aspects of life (physically, mentally, and spiritually).

Warm Up –

Slow mosey to Lowe’s lumber pickup (dry spot)

Stretching – Right over left, left over right, cherry picker and calf extensions
Seal Jacks X 20
LSS X 20
SSH X 20

The Thing –

Mosey to the parking lot in front of Charandas.  As the rain intensified we thought about reconvening at 5 pm for some queso and margaritas, but we pushed on for some five corners action:

Corner 1 – Merkins – Run to corner 2
Corner 2 – LSS – Bear Crawl to corner 3
Corner 3 – LBCs – Lunge walk to corner 4
Corner 4 – Jump Squats – Bear Crawl to corner 5
Corner 5 – Wide Arm Merkins – Run back to corner 1
Three rotations – 5 reps, 10 reps, and 15 reps at each station.

Next up – Jack Webbs – 1×4 to 28 arm raises

Ab Lab –

LBCs x40
Freddie Mercury x25 each leg
Rosalitas x20 each leg
Hello Dolly x20 each leg
Dying Cockroach x15 each side
American Hammers x15 each side

Mosey the perimeter of Lowes back to the COT

Finished up with prayers and praises, BOM, and some 3rd F at Chicken and Wisdom.

Always a pleasure leading and look forward to seeing everyone in the gloom.

– Fusion

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Tabata Thursday

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Seven men met at Fort Mill High School (with the Q coming in hot) on a perfect December morning and got back on the horse after the holiday indulgences.    Here is what they did.

The Thang:

After a quick disclaimer, the pax did a light jog to the band parking lot and circled up for COP:

All in cadence:  SSH x 25, windmill x 15, Imperial walker x 20, merkin x 10, squat x 20.

Mosey over the lighted grass field for Tabata.  8 exercises, 8 sets each, 20 secs work and 10 secs rest each set.  The exercises were:

  1. Carolina Dry Dock
  2. Freddie Mercury
  3. Squats
  4. Mountain Climbers
  5. Flutters
  6. Jumping Lunges
  7. Merkins
  8. Burpees

End with the body destroyer for 90 seconds.

COT

Moleskin

Man, I love winter.  Growing up in NE Ohio, winter was OK until about mid-January and then I was done with it.   Here in the south, it’s just the opposite.  I can’t wait for the fall and winter after so many months of heat and humidity.    For me, F3 is the best in the cold weather.  A lot of guys avoid posting when it gets cold out, but they are missing out.   Once you get warmed up, that brisk air feels soooo good.

I’ve done this workout a few times now and really like it because it’s easy to plan and can be done anywhere.  You can also vary the difficulty depending on what exercises you do,  and in what order you do them.    We had a motivated group who went after it today and still had enough energy for good mumble chatter.    It was a pleasure to lead them as always.

Announcements:  Qsource coming to the Fort.  Read your newsletter for the details.

We prayed for those struggling during the holiday season, safe travel for everyone, and for patience at home.

 

 

 

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The 2018 Fort Clave Boss 5k & Christmas Convergence

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0545 – Arrive at Palisades Elementary School AKA The Abyss where Bear Grylis is tailgating like its the Summer Concert tour and he’s at FORT-A_PALOOZA.

Ruckers and Runners were gathering and getting ready for a full morning of all 3 F’s. The Pre-Ruck led by Bonsai (as Worldwide Leader was MIA) got together and away they went.

YHC gathered all of the Clave Boss 5k runners and gave the instructions for the course. Signs were posted however it was still difficult for some to follow (Royale, Funhouse and some others) and they got 3.5mi surprise.

0605 – The 4th Annual Clave Boss 5k launched and 32 runners hit the hills of Palisades. This year we awarded Bundt Cakes to the first runner at various paces.

  1. MacGyver flew in at 20:47 6:60/mi and then went back to encourage other runners – True #HIM
  2. Sharkbait came in at 24:43 7.88/mi
  3. Islander rolled in at 27:10 8.74/mi
  4. Twister with a 31:25 10.08/mi
  5. Smuggler wrapped it up with a solid 34:11 11:00/mi

Appreciate all the participants. Next Year’s 5th Annual will be a special event for sure!!

0700 – Preruck has returned, Clave Boss has wrapped up and now more cars have entered the parking lot with PAX gathering all around. It was time to launch the convergence. YHC ask if there were FNGs, and we had 4 in attendance, gave the disclaimer. YHC then gave RUCK crew green light to jet with a 0750 COT. The remaining 75 or so PAX had YHC and Maximus for the next 50minutes

The Thang:

Mosey parking lot….20 SSHs, Go to other end of lot, Merkins, go to other end of lot for squats, back to other end of parking lot for LBCs

Line up in 6 lines, each line goes to a cone and each cone has exercise on it

  1. Merkins
    1. Bearcrawl
  2. Leg Lifts
    1. Lunge walk
  3. Wide Arm Merkins
    1. Run
  4. Donkey Kicks
    1. Bearcrawl
  5. Spider-man Merkins
    1. Lunge walk
  6. Sumo Squats
    1. Run

3 rounds of above, 5 reps, then 10 reps, then 15 reps

The mumble chatter was classic and the fellowship as always enjoyable

Handoff to Maximus

Mosey to back of School and line up in 6 lines for Pain Platoon

  1. Santini led squat routine that is always a crowd pleaser
    1. Burpees
  2. Pusher led Lunges
    1. Burpees
  3. Double D led Mc-tar-Ny ??
    1. Burpees
  4. Bubba Gump led SSHs
    1. Burpees
  5. 4 lines – turn to face one another – then Seal Team Sit ups–always a big crowd pleaser

Mosey to front of school for COT:

Plank while waiting on RUCK crew and 6 inches with Walker…..always fun!!

  • 93 was the count with 4 FNGs
    • Bo Knows
    • Ferris
    • Gaylord
    • Doubtfire

 

  • We Switzered to gather around and listing to Mr. Clean give a message and challenge to the PAX
    • I’m honored to speak with you today;
      Tomorrow (Christmas night) is the 1 year anniversary of me and the kids finding Cindy (my wife) unconscious. She was immediately put on life support
      Cindy died 3 days later from complications of MS and an addiction to alcohol
      I thought our life was on cruise control. I was being non -purposeful and non intentional. Being a single parent and grieving thru the tragic death of a spouse has been unreal.A few things I have learned from this that I would like to share.

      1. I have a much deeper awareness of emotional health. I have been humbled. Being humble creates avenue for change and growth. My question to you is…are you vulnerable and humble enough to let brothers in to help you?? Are you humble enough to ask for him if you are escaping reality w addictions? Alcohol, porn, etc
      2. I have a more real relationship w Christ.At a time when I doubted Christ care for me and my children and his desire to help our family Christ stepped in and answered a very exact prayer request. If you have doubts about Christ, speak to me please. I would love to share with you what He alone has done.
      3. I am thankful for the suffering. It has brought our family closer together. Even though I and the kids are miss Cindy everyday, we have so much to be thankful. I am thankful for the life that we had w Cindy. I am thankful that she is suffering no more. I am thankful that Cindy is made as new. Most importantly, am thankful for the birth of Christ. He gives us HOPE for a better day.
    • My Challenge to you is Love Deeper and Speak Sweeter. — too often people speak disrespectfully of their spouses and children and parents. Words matter and we all need to choose them wisely. We need to hold each other accountable and “get our heads out of our asses” as you never know when that person will be taken from you.

YHC can’t thank Mr Clean enough for this message and his friendship. over the last 2 years we have grown together to be better Christ followers, better husbands and fathers. He is such a great leader and I’m blessed to have him in my life.

If you need someone like this in your life, reach out to me and we’ll get you set up as there are a boatload of HIMs in the PAX

********ALERT***********ALERT**********ALERT*********ALERT***********ALERT****************

It was time for some major announcements in leadership. YHC has led as NANTAN for The Fort region for about 15months. Prior to that I was Weasel Shaker and prior to that 3rdF Q and in-between Site Qs of Ranch, Ballroom, Crossroads,, ChicknWizdim, and led CSAUP teams at P200, Kiawah and others.

It was time to hand over the keys to this well oiled machine to a new leader. A man I’ve watched grow and lead in all 3 F’s and lead well. First got to know him well on the 2014 BRR 9 man team. I was asked to attend Colombia mission with with him in 2015 that he led. Have Qd many times with him and attended a retreat in Boone with him in 2017 and saw his heart for God, Family and the PAX of The Fort. In 2018 he led BEYOND and pushed men to not only dig deep physically but to stretch themselves emotionally and spiritually. This sealed it for me that this man understood leadership and that men needed to be Freed to Lead.

MAXIMUS is the new NANTAN of The Fort!

I personally am excited for this next chapter and look forward to more men being Freed to Lead by his example and inspiration. With this change, some other leaders have stepped up as well.

  • Weasel Shaker = Funhouse
  • 1stFQ = Royale
  • 2ndFQ = Wegmans
  • 3rdFQ = Gecko

I personally want to thank Old Bay for years of leadership and more importantly friendship. I true HIM who makes so much happen behind the scenes that there is no way The FORT would be where it is today without him.

Also, want to thank Anchorman for 2nd F Q during my time as Nantan, as well as all his leadership at Footloose, encouraging guys to push themselves and the many great ideas and ways to challenge the PAX. Appreciate you brother!

BOM – Gecko had great words to close out this convergence. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and all of the Holidays, I pray we find JOY in everything and not take anything for granted. I appreciate all the PAX and my brothers of THE GLOOM.

Cake Boss

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What is weighing you down?

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Four men showed up on a cold morning at Pantheon.  The question today was “What is weighing you down?”  The holiday season usually exacerbates the things that are weighting us down.  Whether it be struggling with finances, relationship issues, work stresses, or losing a loved one.  As men, we continue to add these thing to the bar until it is overloaded where we cannot lift anymore or it comes crashing down on our chest.

So what is the solution?  First, the workout and how it ties to the question at hand.  We started with a quick jog around the carpool circle. Next, we did the following warm-up exercises:

SSHsx15

Imperial Walkers x15

Windmills x15

Plank stretches

Next, we did the following exercises with cinder blocks.  The repetitions were completed when each person had jogged around the parking lot or alternatively carried two cinder blocks down the length of the school building and back to the starting point.

Exercises:

  1.  Squat thrusters with block
  2. Burpees block jump
  3. LBCs
  4. Offset merkin
  5. Freddie mercury
  6. Derkin

We finished with a round of flutters and box cutters.

Getting back to the solution..what do you do? I don’t have all of the answers, but I can share my experience with you.  In 2013, I my job was very demanding due to some organization changes within the company.  Our regular summer vacation was cancelled due to amount of work.  I promised my wife and kids I would make it up to them.

On August 11, my older brother called me.  I was running on the treadmill at the time so I did not answer the phone.  He called again.  I jumped off the treadmill knowing something was wrong.  It was..my younger brother had died.  I was in disbelief, how could this be.  I physically fell to the ground in tears.  He was my younger brother, I was suppose to protect him, but I was too busy working. I could probably spend a lot more time on the story, but the aftermath was worse.

I did not want to talk to anyone about it and I continued to go to work and do my job like nothing happened. The impact was felt by my wife and kids.  My wife and I grew farther apart.  Things finally got better when we began talking about it, eliminating the noise in our lives, and prioritizing what we wanted most as a family.  The best way to describe the impact of this experience is the feeling when you are able to drop a heavy weight after carrying it for a while.  Your body feels lighter, almost floating.

There are a number of great men here in the Fort.  All who come with different experiences and backgrounds.  Take advantage of it.  Find that someone that you feel comfortable and share these things that are weighting you down. It may be uncomfortable at first, but it gets easier over time.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead,

Fishsticks

 

 

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