PREBLAST: FLASH DRIVE!! Yeti Snack Drive for CAH Guidance

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Winter is here, and so is THE YETI!! I know just hearing that word gets you all excited. I am. You should be too. It will be EPIC!!!!

For those PAX who will be there (participating or whatever), I ask that you make it more than just a CSAUP.

The children of CAH Guidance need you. They also need cereal, A LOT of cereal – the go-to breakfast, snack, and substitute meal for a lot of teens. If you have one I am sure you know they eat it in bulk. We are asking those who will be participating in the Yeti, those who will be helping facilitate or assist with it, or those showing up to participate in the fellowship during or after to bring in a box (or more) of cereal for Guidance.

  • There are mostly teens at Guidance now, so remember that when choosing the cereal.
  • I will collect them in my big blue truck.  I will be running the Yeti, so I can collect them before the start. I will also collect them afterwards during the epic 2nd F at the BBQ feast.
  • For those who want to drop donations off while I may be out suffering, I mean killing it – I will leave my tailgate unlocked. Leave it in there. Look for a bright blue 4 door F-150 FX4 with F3 and Ragnar on the back Window. Please shut the tailgate when done.
  • I will drive them down to Guidance later that day.
  • IF you are participating and want to collect some from PAX who you regularly interface with, then bring it with you……that would be AWESOME!!! Challenge for site/AO Q’s……

My apologies for the short notice, but sometimes last-minute picks can bear alot of perfectly ripe fruit.

The PAX of F3 The Fort, Rock Hill, and York have a great thing going at CAH Guidance. We meet with the young men there regularly not just to workout, but teach them the F3 way, mentor them, bring Him into their lives more, and just be a male role model and positive presence in their lives in this tough time they’re going through. The youth there are amazing, wonderful, good kids that are dealing with something no kid should have to.  It has had a great positive impact on them, helping them see that there is a positive future for them and that they are indeed part of something bigger than themselves.

But we need the PAX help in many ways to plant, serve, and GROW our presence there to help invigorate the young leaders within them. Please consider helping in any way you can.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

God Bless,
-NASA and Dawg Pound

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Lucky 13 at Footloose For a Re-do of My 1st F3 Workout

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I’ve  been buggin’ Beacon to let me Q Footloose again, just because it’s always a lot of fun.  He finally caved and let me do it.  My original gameplan included 100 SSH and a jog around the big block to warm us up and a bear crawl up that massive hill but I didn’t want to make any enemies so made it a little closer to the expected moderate workout.  Not totally moderate though.  My new gameplan became a redo of my first ever F3 workout.  It happened at Slowburn on June 16th.  Dark Helmet made me want to vomit.  I’m sure a few of us have felt that way during or after his workouts.  It went a little something like this:

Warmup:

  • Windmills x 10
  • Imperial Walkers x 10
  • Merkins x 10
  • Weed Puller x 10
  • Squats x 15
  • SSH x 15

The Thang: Stolen right from DH’s backblast

“Start with 5 of an exercise at one end, run to other and do 10 of that exercise;
Run back do 15, then run and do 20, back and 25, one more time down do 30 of that exercise, run back to start. We’ll do this as many rounds as we can, as time permits. Yes. It’s as confusing and stupid as it sounds.

Here are the exercises:
Round 1: Merkins
Round 2: LBCs
Round 3: Squats”

On Day 1, I was the 6.  The pax waited for me to finish and join them before they started the next set.  I was convinced everybody was a beast, how the heck were they still jogging to the next spot?! On Day 245 (yes, I counted), I felt like the beast!  We finished all 315 reps in a little over 15 minutes so we had some extra time. I circled us up for:

Moroccan Night Clubs x 25
Overhead Claps x25
Seal Jacks x25
Dying Cockroach x15

We celebrated Smither’s 41st Valentine Bday by doing an exercise of his choice:
Flutters x41

I think we did a couple more x15 sets, but I can’t remember them.  I couldn’t believe we still had 10 minutes left in our workout… I set us off towards our starting point for a round of AbLab in reps of 10.  We made it through a few guys and then I called it.

Announcements:
The Yeti – Don’t second guess yourself, dude, you can do it.  Even if you just want to do the last leg back to the BBQ joint, you should do it.
S2S – Get your butts to an S2S AO, you won’t be disappointed.

Prayers and Praises:
Prayers for Zima’s family
Prayer for Anchorman’s extended family
As I looked around the group, I could feel the call for the Unspoken requests – I hope we are all lifting the group on a daily basis.  We are a brotherhood and have each others back.  Thank you Anchorman for praying us out.

Thank you Beacon, for caving and letting me Q again. 🙂

NMM:
Worrying sucks.  When we worry, we are tearing ourselves apart.  It’s human nature to worry though, so how do we overcome it?  We need to find peace.  The Prince of Peace.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Much Love,
Polaroid

 

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Chasing Blue Zones

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Nine of the fine regulars of The Ballroom posted for YHC’s first time Q’ing at the AO’s new locale of PKMS.  The temp was mid-40s, but the breeze seemed to bring a chill that made a few spend just a half second wondering if they’d be better off hopping back in the car.  But the thought evaporated as the disclaimer was given, and then we were off…

We took a warm-up mosey around the parking lot, then to the very front of the school for warm-up COP.

  • Seal jacks x20 (IC)
  • Mountain Climbers x15 (IC)
  • Tunnel Touches x10 (IC)
  • Wind Mills x10 (IC)
  • Plank jacks x15 (IC)
  • Speed Skaters x10 (OYO)

The Thang

We then moseyed to the parking lot on the south side of the school where 4 cones were set up in a rectangle (about 15yards by 40 yards.  Pax were told to partner up, size not mattering.  We then engaged in 8 rounds “Catch Me If You Can”, which worked like this: Partner 1 did the stationary exercises, while partner 2 did the moving exercise on a path toward the next cone.  Once Partner 1 was done, he ran to catch Partner 2.  Once caught, they flapjacked.  The round was complete when both partners got all the way around all 4 cones.  In between each round, we talked about what Blue Zones are, and what people can learn from them.  See further down for more details.

Catch me if you can  rounds:

  1. 20 SSH and toy soldiers
  2. 20 LBCs and lunges
  3. 10 squats and power skips
  4. 10 merkins and butt kickers
  5. 10 crab cakes and high knees
  6. 3 burpees and karaoke (alternate left/right)
  7. 10 Imperial Walkers and bear crawls
  8. 10 Monkey Hummers and backwards jogs

To the wall for People’s Chair – one round of Jack Reachers, and a follow-up round of arms up, arms out.

Moseyed back near the shovel flag for some Mary

  • Flutters x15 (IC)
  • Hello Dollys x10 (IC)
  • Russian Twists x15 (IC)
  • LBCs x10 (IC)

6am – Time’s up.  Take a few steps to gather at COT.

Blue Zones
During the main part of the workout, I shared some information I had originally heard about a few years ago.  The cover of National Geographic, November 2005, highlighted their feature article on Blue Zones.  These Zones are 5 areas in the world where people statistically live the longest.  Researchers identified 9 lifestyle “principles” in these areas that, they claim, contributes to their long lifespans.  Small spoiler alert: all 3 F’s of F3 are in the list.

Before covering the principles, it’s important to remember that from the Christian perspective, God is in control of everything.  If we pursue any fountains of youth for the sake of trying to be in control and god-like, I believe that would be a case of doing good things for the wrong reasons.  My personal perspective is that God has blessed us with these bodies (healthy or not), and we should be good stewards of them, treating them like temples.  Most PAX probably already feel this way, but I deemed it worth mentioning, given how this topic has a very “self-help” feel to it.  Now, for the 9 principles (my comments follow the [ob] tag).  These items were taken from a QCTimes article.

  1. Move naturally – Get more physically active by walking in the community, do manual labor around the house and yard, and grow gardens. [ob] This is our 1st F in F3.  Many might say there is nothing natural about burpees. But I’d argue the calisthenic-style bootcamp workouts actually mimic natural movements, at least more-so than you’d see in a weight room.
  2. Know your purpose – People who know why they get up in the morning live up to seven years longer than those who don’t. [ob] For those of use that follow Jesus, our purpose should be a little easier to identify.  But not always. If you don’t know your purpose, it’s important you start looking!
  3. Down shift – To reverse inflammation related to every major age-related disease, find time each day to meditate, nap, pray or enjoy a happy hour. [ob] This even includes making efforts to reduce worry!
  4. 80 percent rule – It takes the stomach 20 minutes to tell the brain it is full, causing most people to accidentally overeat. Stop eating when 80 percent full. [ob] Not much more to say here, except that I can think of other areas of my life where 80% is all I really need.
  5. Plant Foods – Eat a mostly plant-based diet heavy on beans, nuts and green plants. This is consistent with U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendations. [ob] This one sounds really good to me, as long as BBQ is consider a plant food.  Seriously though, this is exactly what my doctor recommend to me after my last blood test results.
  6. Wine at 5 – For those who have a healthy relationship with alcohol, 1-2 glasses of wine daily can add years to a life, especially when combined with a healthy diet.
  7. Family first – Living in a thriving family is worth six extra years of life expectancy. [ob] Early morning F3 workouts can sometimes result in taking time away from family the evening before.  Workouts are important, but quality family time is critical.
  8. Belong – Recommit, reconnect or explore a faith-based community. No matter which faith, studies show that people who show up to their faith community four times a month live an extra four to 14 years. [ob] This is our 3rd F in F3.
  9. Right tribe – Friends have a long-term impact on well-being. Expand a social circle to include healthy-minded, supportive people. This could be the most powerful way to add years to a life. [ob] This is our 2nd F in F3. And I’m not at all surprised at their claim that this could be the most powerful way to extend life.  Just remember, you get out of it what you put into it.

 

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Running the Lights with Classic Rock

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I haven’t Q’d at the Ranch in quite a while so I thought it would be fun to use the field and light poles in a circuit training of sorts.  It is always a decent change in pace when I can carry around a phone and speaker to add a little life to the party.

Started with a mosey to the back of the school and began with a warm-up of SSH, Moroccan Night Clubs, Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers and Windmills. We then mosey back to the front light poles along the field.  There are 8 poles so I planned on 2 exercises per pole 50 seconds on and 10 second rest with 10 seconds after them to travel to the next pole.  I hoped to make 2 circuits of the field.  It all hit the fan right off the bat when I actually started on a light pole from the parking lot not the field.  Thankfully in my incredibly observant nature I realized this 9 light poles later and since I’m easily adaptable I was able to handle this wrinkle of an extra pole like the champion I am… The action went like this

-Merkins

-Squats

MOVE

LBS’c

Donkey Kicks

MOVE

-Dips

-Mountain Climbers

MOVE

-Side Straddle Hops

-Nolan Ryan

MOVE

-Box Cutter

-Plank Jack

MOVE

-Lunges

-Peter Parker Merkins

MOVE

-Dry Docks

-Bobby Hurley

MOVE

-American Hammers

-High Knees

Confusion about how an extra pole appeared, Then just MOVE anyway

 

After 2 cycles we mosey to the lot for COT, announcements and prayer.  Always and excellent AO and appreciate the opportunity.

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HIT at the Hive

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Following up my tremendously successful initial kettlebell Q at Tomahawk last week I was asked to Q the Hive this week… That or they just needed someone to do it… I chose to believe it was because I excelled at my previous attempt…

Being Friday I thought maybe I could combine the HIT philosophy of Varsity with the Kettlebell workout of the Hive.  Sitting in the living room the night before googling “high intensity kettlebell circuits” I was smart enough to realize that 50 seconds on and 10 seconds off for 4 minutes per excercise sounded a bit too “high intensity” so I decided to cut it to 30 on with 10 seconds for 2 minutes each.  I was worried that the 10 seconds would be too much but decided to leave it there (spoiler alert… 10 seconds or rest goes MUCH faster than the same 10 seconds working out… its an odd law of time…)

So following a brief lap around the lot with some high knees and butt kickers and a quick warm-up with some SSH, windmill, imperial walkers and hillbilly walkers we turned on the little app with our nice coach and some classic rock to motivate us.  Each exercise consisted of 4 sets of 30 seconds on and 10 second rest

-Dead Lift

-Goblet Squat

-Row

-Russian Twist

-Triceps

-Lunge

-Curl

-Calf Raises

-Wood Chop

-Shoulder Press

-LBC

-Kettle Bell Swing

 

Following these sets we had Airborne lead us in a round of his hip exercises to close out the morning.  The we formed into COT with announcements and prayer requests

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Working on the Bum-Bum

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This was my first kettlebell Q so truth be told I googled “kettlebell circuit workout” and the bulk of the decent sites were ladies teaching how to firm up you “bum-bum’s”… Seemed like we all could use a little help in that department so I plagiarized heavily from these sites…

The disclaimer was disclaimed and we began with a short mosey around the lot with some butt kickers, high knees, side shuffles, and toy soldiers.

We circled up for warm up consisting of:

-25 Side Straddle Hops

-25 Moroccan Night Clubs

-12 Windmill

-12 Imperial Walker

-12 Hillbilly Walker

-12 Goofball (for Geronimo)

 

We mosey over to the pick-up line curb for the beginning of toning our “Bum-Bum’s”

We completed 2 circuits each consisting of 15 reps of 15 exercises with a lap around the parking lot between every 5 exercises.

-15 Kettlebell Swing

-15 Sumo Squat

-15 Lunge Pass Though (each side)

-15 Calf Raises (I actually raised this to 20 on accident but Dark Helmet kindly reminded me that I had committed to 15 earlier in the description)

-15 Split Squat (squat in a lunge position) – each side

LAP

-15 Bent Row (each side)

-15 Shoulder Press (each side)

-15 Curl (each side)

-15 Halo (each direction)

-Drive the Bus for 3 10 counts (bell extended 10 straight, 10 turned to the right, 10 turned to the left)

LAP

-15 LBC’s

-15 Flutter

-15 Hello Dolly

-15 Freddy Murcury

-15 Box Cutter

LAP

 

after about 2 cycles we mosey to COT for announcements and prayers

 

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Build Your Own Beatdown at the Abyss

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After being called out on Twitter for being too brutal (still not a denial), I decided to let the PAX create their own board of pain so they were to blame

3 runners jogged off right before the disclaimer, short disclaimer since we were all veterans.

After a quick warm-up with super necessary stretching, we moseyed over to the back lot to create our Board of pain. While the PAX were doing various plank/reverse plank/one arm high, one man would grab a few cards out of the bag and post them up on the board in any random location. If a number was pulled it was placed at the top of the section as the rep count (NOTE: no 25s were pulled…. stack the deck next time)

After the board, we rotated through some Al Gore and plank while everyone gave a specific worry about this day – Wednesday, Feb 14 – and left it in God’s hands to handle the tiny stressors of the day as to not let them pile up and bring us down slowly. Everyone has big struggles and worries that can take weeks or months to pray through, but don’t forget the small tiny interruptions and distractions the Enemy will throw at you to just keep you enough off balance so you are not ready for the big storms.

Everyone successfully completed the board with enough time to spare for about 200 various AbLab reps ( 100 ish in cadence ) and dropped for 5 OYO burpees with 20 seconds left on the clock.

COT (Annoucements, Prayers, Praises, BoM)

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Beyond 2018.07

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This morning was a good day for some positive influence.  There were two options this morning, but everyone decided to try something a little harder and go Beyond.

Mosey to the basketball parking lot for some warmup.
SSHx50, Hillbilly walkers x20, Typewriter merkins x10 (I wasn’t the only one!)

Mosey to the paved path behind the half wall.  I went over the word of the month, anxiety.  I used to have extremely high anxiety with a life of distraction.  I would become anxious about anything and everything, so to get by, I had to constantly keep my mind off of things.  One day, I decided to put all my focus on my anxiety.  Everything I feared, I would think about constantly until I was tired of thinking about it.  I would fight the beast until somebody won.  The main one was, does God exist?  You have to figure this out for yourself.  The answer is going to be yes or no, but what that answer means is going to be different for everyone.  So figure it out, come to a conclusion, and make it your assumption from that point going forward.  When you doubt again, remember the time you came to the conclusion (even if you don’t know why) and move on.

Balls2wall shoulder taps x10, Muscle ups x10 w/ a 20 sec 6inches hold within the set. (3 rounds)

Mosey to rock pit paste the gate of the school.  I ask if anyone had seen “Fight Club”.  I love this movie because it shows the most basic problems of Sad Clown Syndrome, even though it pursues completely destructive pathways to fix the problem.  One scene Tyler asks “How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?”  I love this self-analysis of learning oneself, but I don’t care about fighting.  Instead, I asked myself “How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been hungry?” I explain to the PAX that for the past week (Sat-Fri) I did a strict water fast for a week.  I had always wanted to know what it was like physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but had always been afraid because of anxiety of losing weight (irrational fear of being the guy that’s too skinny).  There are about a dozen reasons why I did it, but one was to face a fear.

Find a pet rock for…
Clockwork deadlifts:
I call out a time, you lunge in that direction, set the rock down, reset, lunge out, pick rock up, repeat

Clockwork deadlift
Al Gore calf raises x20 (w/ pet rock)
Clockwork deadlift
Jump squat (w/ pet rock)
Clockwork deadlift
Russian twist (w/ pet rock)
Clockwork deadlift
Al Gore calf raises x20 (w/ pet rock)
Jump squat (w/ pet rock)

This exercise to help you remember how to lift a load in awkard positions so hopefully you don’t teak your back one day picking up a grocery back off the floor behind you.

Mosey back for 6MOM
Freddy Merc x50
Flutter (good form, hollow body) x20
Dying cockroach x50

And that’s the game…  Loved leading this morning.  Go Beyond!!!

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GC BC

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Another beautiful, slightly cool morning as the PAX assembled at the buffet. 5:15 hit and we broke up into bootcampers and ruckers. Disclaimer was given and off we moseyed to behind Teeter. Circle up for normal warmups: SSH (20), HW (20), Low slow squats (15), Windmill (10), Peter Parker (10), Parker Peter (10), MNC (20).

Mosey over to water fountain behind apartments. Spread out around it and then bear crawl around entire fountain circle. Take a couple of steps over to bottom of hill. Time for deconstructed burpee ladder: squat thrusters (I’m sure they have some F3 name I’m missing), jump squats, & merkins. Do same number of these at bottom of hill, run to top of hill, do remainder of ladder, then run back to bottom and plank for the 6 before next round.

  • R1 -> Bottom = 20/20/20, Top = 0/0/0
  • R2 -> Bottom = 15/15/15, Top = 5/5/5
  • R3 -> Bottom = 10/10/10, Top = 10/10/10
  • R4 -> Bottom = 5/5/5, Top = 15/15/15
  • R5 -> Bottom = 0/0/0, Top = 20/20/20

Mosey back to small traffic circle in front of apartments. Circle up, all PAX doing lunges. One by one each PAX did 4 burpees. After we made it around the circle, 20 CDDs & 20 Flutters.

Mosey to side lot and break into 2 lines for sprints. Line 1 sprint to end of building, line 2 take off once line 1 gets 3/4 down. 4 sets of sprints. Time for some ab work. 10 small circles clockwise, 10 small circles counter-clockwise, 10 box-cutters. 4 more sets of sprints and some more abs: 10 toe-touch LBCs, 10 hello-dollies, & 10 rosalitas.  Times almost up, one final sprint, all you got back to COT.

Great work by all the PAX today. It’s always encouraging to see some new faces, several old faces, and some guys coming back from IR. Always an honor lead this group! Thanks Decibel for the opportunity.

-Mainframe

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BREWRUCK 002- Preblast

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It was so good the first time, that we decided to bring it back, BREWRUCK 002 is back!

Saturday March 31, 2018 – 10-12 miles with 4-5 homebrew stops, route and stops being finalized.

We’ll continue with our charitable focus on this event, instead of filling your ruck with 30lb plate, fill it with 30lbs of canned goods and we’ll collect and donate to Fort Mill Care Center!

Lastly, yes, yes there will be patches, thanks to Davinci for a B.A. design.

Patches are available for $10/patch, max 50 patchs available, first come first serve. $10 covers the patch plus beer/snack costs along the route.

Can’t make the event but still want a patch, no problem, just place you order ASAP, $6 just for patch.

You can order your patch now by sending $ to WWL via PayPal (Justin.LaRoche@yahoo.com), patches can be received at the event or in the gloom.

Please signup for the event so we have an accurate headcount for beer planning.

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