The Fire Ant. 9/11 WOD

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There were roughly 2000 steps in the towers… If you just walk that (not on stairs) it’s roughly a mile…
There were nearly 3000 souls who lost their lives as a result of the terror attacks on 9/11…

Therefore, we were going to perform 1 mile of running (with rucks) and 3000 reps (one for each person who died).

Mosey over to the hill behind the apartments by the fountain (consult Google Maps if you have no idea what I’m talking about).

Up the hill and back (1/3 mile)
10 exercises/100 reps each

  1. Curls
  2. Merkins
  3. Squats
  4. Overhead Press
  5. Partner Leg Press
  6. Flutters
  7. Chest Press
  8. LBC
  9. Mtn Climbers
  10. Upright Row

Up the hill and back

  1. 100 count front hold
  2. 100 count plank hold
  3. 100 count squat hold
  4. 100 count overhead hold
  5. 100 count body destroyer
  6. 100 count lateral hold (switch arms at 50)
  7. 100 count close body hold (bent arms)
  8. 100 count tri hold
  9. 100 count boat hold
  10. 100 count body destroyer

Up the hill and back

  1. Curls
  2. Merkins
  3. Squats
  4. Overhead Press
  5. Partner Leg Press
  6. Flutters
  7. Chest Press
  8. LBC
  9. Mtn Climbers
  10. Upright Row

Now… we only got to about Flutters on set 1. I thought we’d get a little further, but it was HARD. The element of not being able to finish was kind of baked in there though, since all the people that day who died very unexpectedly didn’t get to finish either… Live every day. Don’t be complacent. Take the #DRP. Get right, Live right, Lead right, Leave right.

Helmet, out.

**Also, there was one other dude with us that morning, and I’m sure he’ll be offended, but I can’t remember for the life of me who it was… If you remember, or if it was you, sound off in the comments.**

 

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Q School 101- Part II

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School was back in session at Golden Corral for the 2nd week of “September Q School”.  Bones and Senator Tressel were the originally scheduled professors.  However, due to Senator being on the IR, YHC was called in as a substi-Q teacher.

14 pax posted for 2nd of two workouts covering 101 material.  An additional 8 pax went their own way with their black backpacks (likely not filled with textbooks).  NASA and TwoFerns brought out FNG, later to be named “Ruxpin”.

Bones kicked us off with a mosey around the parking lot with some high knees, butt kickers, Karaoke, and lunges.  Circling up for COP, he shared advice and wisdom on exercises that are simple and keep pax together. We did a few minutes of COP warm-up, with some exercises called out (and lead by) by pax that hadn’t Q’ed before (or only Q’ed once):

  • Windmills
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Moroccan Night Clubs
  • Seal Jacks
  • Slow Low Squats
  • Peter Parkers
  • Side Straddle Hops
  • Carolina Dry Docks

Mosey over to a different part of the parking lot where Bones emphasized that “simple” doesn’t mean “easy”, and that partnering up helps hold men accountable during the exercises.  We each partnered up for the next exercise event. All of the following were done with your partner, not switching off, like some lazy pax (or maybe just YHC) were hoping for.

  • 10 Merkins
  • Lunge across small lot
  • 10 Burpees
  • Bearcrawl back
  • 10 LBCs

Rinse and repeat 4 times.

Hand off to YHC.  We took a couple 10 counts and moseyed to the parking lot behind the shopping center.  I discussed a bit about how pax will follow and trust the Q until they have reason not to.  Trust can be broken by putting pax in dangerous situations.  Trust can be built by showing effort in planning.

Next up, Rugby Sprints.  Two sets of cones were set up about 30 yards apart.  Pax were instructed to perform exercises (together) until Q called out “GO!”.  At that point, pax were to sprint to the other cones, sprint back, then recovery walk back to the other cones.  Rinse and repeat as time allowed.  Stationary exercises we did where:

  • Merkins (in cadence)
  • Overhead Claps (in cadence)
  • Crab Cakes (in cadence)

Mosey back to COT.  Along the way we discussed the importance of promoting your Q via Twitter and documenting it afterwards via BackBlast.

T-claps to FNG Ruxpin for not only posting, but making his first post a Q school! With a Q school now under his belt, he should be ready to lead workout in no time.  Also, great work by NASA and TwoFerns for brining him out.

 

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It’s the Badger after all…

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Over the weekend, many of us had the opportunity to participate in the 9/11 GORUCK events. It was a powerful reminder that our days are numbered and we don’t have any idea what that number is… One of our Cadre, Mike S., told us stories of men that he knew that had joined the Armed Services in some form or fashion (just as he had) as a direct result of the events of 9/11. One of those was a man that later would give his life in service to his country, Severin Summers III. Cadre Mike knew Severin, and told us some of his story at the event. We thought it only fitting to perform the workout that bears his name at the Badger yesterday. And it was hard…

50 Pull-ups
100 Hand-release Merkins
Run 5K

You could do it straight or break it up as you saw fit. For me, I did them in sets of 10, 20, and 800M runs until complete. I think that everyone chose to break it up in some way… There was a lot of sweat. And pain… those are the things I remember…

We started our week on the right trajectory, with a reminder to live THIRD… like a hero…

Helmet, out…

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Tomahawkin’ at The Hive

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I do this thing called The Tomahawk Test every 8 weeks at #TheTomahawk site.  It’s all about making sure we are getting better/getting stronger.  I encourage the pax to workout the same way they did the previous session…if you curled on your knee last time, curl on your knee this time.  Seeing our reps increase is a good thing.  Seeing them decrease is a weird thing that hopefully becomes a motivator to push harder.  I brought it to #TheHive because we have different “regulars”.  I believe only 1 person at this workout had done the #TomahawkTest before (DESTINY).  Check out the image for how our workout went down.  I have all the hard copies and will be sharing them with the pax individually, as well as keeping a digital copy for reference.  Blasted 90’s Alternative while we tossed the iron around.

Just so we could get our burpees, I blasted Chumbawumba’s Tubthumping.  28 burpees (27 if you don’t follow my lead and do 1 as the song ends).  We moseyed back to COT and did 6 more burpees so we all got our 33 in for the day. #1000burpees

Shout out to Tesh for the Q opportunity.  I love it and consider it an honor.  Prayers for our brothers on IR.

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Shield Lock

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It was a blessing to post with 5 #HIMs on this day of remembrance for 9/11. We lamented this and discussed where we were when we found about about the plane crashes 17 years ago. We prayed for the people that passed and for healing of the affected families.

The thang:

Mosey to the Founders Bank parking lot on 160

COP: SSH (30x), IW (20x), WM (15x), Sumo Squats (15x), MC (20x), Peter Parkers (15x) and Heels to Heaven (15x)

Mosey to the parking lot on top of the hill

Pain Stations:

Circle up, count by 4, each group goes to a corner

Pyramid Drill: At each station/corner, do LBCs, Donkey Kicks, Wide Arm Merkins  in increments of 5 until we hit 15 repetitions then countdown to 5 as a group. Jog to each station.

Hill repeats (2x)

Mosey to the curved parking lot along 160

Partner up. Partner Big Boy Sit Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partners Push Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partner Leg Lifts (15x for 2 rounds)     

Mosey to COT

Moleskin:

Life tends to throw us challenges that are far too great for one man to handle. It’s important that we lock shields with our brothers, especially, when they are in need. Our Pax is as strong as our strongest link. Be there for your brother. Praying for each other helps but being there for one another makes the real difference.

Bible Verses:

  • Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
  • A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12

#MyBrothersKeeper

Peace,

Deacon

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Give Yourself Permission

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9  pax posted to the land of the free and the home of the brave in Fort Mill, SC (aka Walter Elisha Park aka WEP aka The Fort) for a snot-woggler of a morning.  Of course, all men are welcome at F3 AOs and none are left behind.  But, when I took note of the pax present (no FNGs and all wily veterans), I knew we were in for some real pain.  This was not a crew that modifies, and my co-Q (Copay) certainly was going to dole it out.  My mission of the morning was to keep the pax present and encourage them through the barrage.  For the record, a brief Disclaimer was proclaimed.  Then I put forth a short command — “Give yourself permission to be here and only here for the next 60 minutes…let go of everything else that might be occupying your mind.”  All pax confirmed they had permission to proceed, and then the fun began.

The Thang

Double D in the lead

Mosey up hill out the parking lot with right turn down Ardrey St

Series of Karaoke, High knees, Butt kicks, To Soldiers

Take paved trail at first intersection back into the Springs parking lot and work our way through the lot to the building with periods of Lunge walks, Broad jumps, Bear crawl, Backwards lunge walk, Crawl bear, Crab walk.

COP — Al Gore, SSH, IWs, HWs, Merkins, CDDs, Bombjacks

Mosey to UCSynergetic back lot

Pull-ups on the walkway railing + 10 Bombjacks OYO
Rinse and repeat

Mosey partway down grassy hill toward Hwy 160 and then a permission slip check was made before handoff to Copay

Copay in the lead

Build a burpee X5

Mosey to bottom of gun shop hill.

50X Side Straddle Hops

All out Sprint to top Side squats left/right and lunges down

All out Sprint to top Side squats left/right and lunges half way

Lunges and side squats left and right back up

Message Give permission and your “will” will take you further than you want, especially when it’s about doing His will

Mosey to parking lot across from gun shop

Combos:

CDD Donkey Kicks X12

Mountain climber merkins X12

Standing push up jump squats X20

Run back to parking lot
Rinse and repeat

Build a burpee X5

Handoff to Double D for the finish

Mosey to UC Synergetic parking lot along Hwy 160

Plank on curb facing short brick wall

Derkins + sprint to wall + backward sprint back to the curb
Rinse & repeat for 3 cycles total

Mosey to grassy area along Hwy 160 in front of Springs bldg

Freddy Mercurys

Flutter kicks

People’s chair against wall

Balls to the Wall

People’s chair

Mosey back to WEP

Mahktar N’Dyiae

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

Well, it’s Monday afternoon, more than 48 hrs since the beatdown, and My lower body is still sore.  The soreness started Sat afternoon.  A 15 mile run on Sunday and a 5 mile run plus burpees on Monday have yet to relieve the soreness.  Copay really put it on us!

It looked as though we had an in-game EH when Copay was leading us through his first round of Build-a-burpee.  An enthusiastic fellow in his 20s/30s driving a black car w/NY plates parked on the street near the gun shop and got out of his car to ask “Is this the class?”  Of course, we said yes, waved him into the parking lot and continued the burpees until he parked and walked back over.  Suddenly, he didn’t look so excited.  He was looking for the “gun shop class” and the idea of Copay and burpees had him shaking in his boots.  We invited him back to WEP for 9/15.  We’ve got one week to work up one heckuva name.

We covered new territory around the buildings for some pax.  The pull ups on the walkway railings were new to some.  The wall along Hwy 160 was new to others.  Both of these, plus all the other spots demonstrate what an awesome AO WEP continues to be, despite 6 years of downPAINments!

The message for the workout was geared around being PRESENT and INTENTIONAL.  I came upon the phrase “I gave myself permission…” in 2-3 conversations last week and it stuck with me.  Sometimes it takes a bit of a mental device to force us to realize that (a) everything is a choice and (b) the only actions we can make choices about are those in the here and now.  Giving yourself permission to be present to do something specific and intentional is a powerful way of exercising our freedom to choose.  Copay took the “permission” idea to an even greater level with his inspiring words about “giving permission to God to do His will through me now” (only way more powerful coming out of his mouth).

Lots to think about and lots of laundry after this one.

Thanks to Bonsai for the Q opportunity and to the pax for leaving it all out there!

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8 men joined YHC for a muggy kettlebell event.

Warm-up

All exercises here were in cadence.

  • 25 -SSH
  • 10 Burpees in honor a latecomer
  • 15 – Imp walker
  • 15 – Hillbilly walker
  • 10 – Merkin
  • 20 – Arm circles
  • 20 – MNC
  • Mosey halfway around the lot

The Thang

Partner Dora

  • Round 1
    • 100 curls (switch arms halfway) / partner carry Bell for run for first round
    • 150 upright rows
    • 200 Calf raises
  • Round 2
    • 50 Big boy sit ups / partner NUR+jog
    • 100 American hammer / partner shuffles
    • 150 Goblet Squat / partner sprint+jog
  • Mosey back to the COT
  • Pass the Dutchy(Bell pass), several rounds
  • Finished with 10-20 burpees as time allowed.

Great push men. YHC was definitely winded. Glad to have the honor to suggest a few workouts for you fine gentlemen. I look forward to next time.

Peabody reminded us to reach out to encourage those who are injured or can’t/haven’t posted. Think of that PAX in your life who needs a call or a nudge of support.

River Rat out…

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Two’s Company, Three’s A Crowd

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We all know the Star Wars movies.  And in these Star Wars movies there are always lines in them that are in every movie, like “May the Force be with you.”  Likewise the line, “I have a bad feeling about this” came to mind knowing that several Pax just completed the GoRuck Tough and it was opening weekend for the NoFunLeauge.  If I did the GORuck Tough I would not have made this workout, that’s for sure.  That being said, myself and Wolverine braved the sweaty morning for our usual Monday morning F3 beatdown.

I did not bother with the disclaimer(sorry Q school) and we mosey’ed on down to the playground with some side shuffle’s mixed in.

COP

30x SSH

10x Sun Gods

10x Windmill

Down Dog/Honeymooner into 10x Thigh-master’s each leg

Now I had a few things planned for today but it was just me and Wolverine so when unfortunately no one shows to your workout, a good back up plan(well, I think it’s a good one anyway) is to whip out a Deck Of Doom.  Before the Deck Of Doom I did want to try something I read on the Lexicon called Donkey Kick-Offs.  This from the Lexicon, “Find the nearest wall and do 5 donkey kicks, on the 5th donkey kick hold the feet to the wall for 5 seconds and then up the number by 5 to 10 donkey kicks and a 10 second hold…”  This lasted to 15 and 15 before we were smoked.  We mosey’ed on over to the main playground area and…

The Thang

Deck Of Doom-Number on card corresponding to # of reps(or laps) performed.

Spades-Burpees

Hearts-Laps around the islands of the parking lot

Diamonds- Diamond ‘Mericans

Clubs-Squats

Finished off by heading back to COT and performing 10xFlutter Kicks and 10xBox Cutters 

Observations

The laps took the most time and was some solid Ragnar training.  Good mumble chatter with Wolverine, made the best of the low PAX turnout.  Till next time true believers!!!

 

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The Yard – “Is this a moderate?” In name only!!

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12 PAX and YHC arrived at The Yard for this gorgeous Saturday morning. Nothing like a double down beating early in da gloom!! At least among friends. 9 PAX for 10k run and 5 of those stayed for the double down……definitely a nap day!!

I mention friends because when I look at F3 and especially the 2nd F, I don’t think I ever had as many Friends as I do in the PAX. Grade school, high school, college and career combined can’t touch the number of guys and families I can call “FRIEND” today from the PAX.

God said Abraham was a “Friend” of his. That is powerful when you think about all the things we do as friends together and for Abraham to be called a friend of God’s. In the PAX we workout, eat together, laugh together sometimes cry together. We do crazy CSAUPS we go to church together some of us work together and we are living life together. God calls each of us Friend that choose to be his friend.

Remember everything you do Sky Q is there and wants to share in the highs and the lows and goes before you in all you do. He is your friend and is constant! Never Changing!! Always!!

The Thang:

Little mosey to see if Football field was open, but no dice. The sign with “Private Property” on it was interesting considering each of the men is paying for the field if they own a home in Ft Mill. Anyway…..

Some shuffles, high knees, butt kckers, mosey again to COP

Wind Mills, Squats, Merkins, Freddy Mercurys, Moroccan Night Clubs, 5 burpees OYO

The meat and potatoes:

2 exercises alternating between them completing the reps and going for 3 min

Here they are:

  • SSHs-10
  • Burpees-5—-3 rounds
  • Merkins-10
  • Jump Rope-20
    • 5 burpees
  • Mtn Climbers-10
  • Dips-20
    • 5 burpees
  • Squats-15
  • Curls-10
    • 5 burpees
  • Lunges -10/leg
  • Calf raises -20
    • 5 burpees
  • LBCs-10
  • Donkey Kicks-5
    • 5 burpees
  • Freddys-10
  • Partner Wheelbarrow-curb2curb
    • 5 burpees
  • Big boys-5
  • Partner Plank Hand Taps – 10

With all the burpees mixed in we ended with 55 burpees

Great work by all the PAX. The encouragement and hard work was inspiring.

Thanks Hasselhoff for the Q……as always I am humbled and honored.

Cake Boss

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Q v Q @ The Coop

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Hear ye! Hear ye!

This October we have something special planned at The Coop. We will be doing a version of Q v Q. We have six great Q’s selected and prepared to deliver a noteworthy dose of pain. The rules will be simple. Each Q will be judged based off three criteria; Creativity, Best use of the AO, and best overall beatdown. Each PAX attending each workout will score each Q based out of maximum score of 5 points per category (15 points max). The winner will be determined from this based off the higher total between the two Qs.

The Q with the highest average score out of all the Qs will be given an automatic advancement to the finals as this will be a tournament style.

Schedule

October 3rd – Dark Helmet v Spiderman

October 10th – Ginsu v Maximus

October 17th – Sasquatch v Jiffy

October 24th – 2nd highest pt total  v 3rd highest pt total

October 31st – Winner from previous week v Highest pt total

Format

YHC will lead all the PAX in a standard, The Fort, Warmup lasting 5 minutes. The rest of the time will be split into 10 minute blocks and one of the Qs takes the first 10, the second taking the next 10, the 1st Q has to opportunity to respond, and finally the 2nd Q has their opportunity to respond.

But Wegmans, how will you determine the Q that goes first and the Q that goes second? Easy, the first of the scheduled Qs who show up to the AO first, gets to choice whether they go first or second.

After the 40 minutes are up, the PAX will quickly vote, we will carry the 1, and determine a winner.

Trophy

These Qs will be competing for a Golden Egg to forever be known as the Best Q at The Coop.

Any changes will be communicated with the Qs and are subject to change.

Let the games begin!

Wegmans

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