Alcatraz “fun”

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8 HIM got better this morning at Runde Park for some Lutefisk and Bear Grylls fun.

After a quick disclaimer (no FNGs) we moseyed around the parking lot to the field where we circled up for 7 warm-up exercises:

Peter Parkers  x 15
American Hammers x 15
Carolina Dry Docks x 15
Krakken Burpees x 5 OYO
E2K’s (R ankle over L knee, L elbow to R knee like a crunch) x 15
Ranger Merkins x 15
Seal Jacks x 15

And yes, that spells PACKERS.  GO PACK GO!!  Thank goodness the NFL is back on.  I’ve been having withdrawals.

The Thang:

Start with a modified “Charles Bronson:”
Perform 50 exercises at point A, sprint 100-ish yards to point B, army crawl to point C, mosey back to point A for 50 different exercises.
1st exercise: 50 x Side Straddle Hop
2nd exercise: 50 x Merkins
3rd exercise: 50 x Jump Squats

Next a modified “Millennial:” The PAX thought I would be calling out the exercises via text, twitter, or some other form of nonverbal communication.  Perhaps  we’d just have Bear Grylls do all of the exercises for us while we sat and watched.  But no, we’re gonna earn this one.  Split PAX into 2 teams of 4.  Starting point, do 25 x of each exercise, mosey 100 yards, 25 x of exercise, mosey 100 yards back, 25 x of exercise… you get the point.  Rinse and repeat 10x for a grand team total of 2000 ‘reps’ in honor of the millennials born around the year 2000.
1-Carolina Dry Docks
2-Squats
3-Moroccan Night Clubs
4-Flutters
5-Mountain Climbers
6-LBC’s
7-Merkins
8-Lunges
9-Side Straddle Hop
10-Burpees (a crowd pleaser)

And with that Lutefisk handed the baton to Bear Grylls.  The PAX were toast, and unsure of what to expect from what we saw earlier which looked like the unloading of Myrtle Beach from his Range Rover onto the sidewalk above captured in bags.

Ten stations were set up about 10 yards apart for partner work. The pace setters on the end were either a ruck down and up the hill or carry a 100lb sand bag up and down the hill. The other stations were AMRAP and included…. a ton of sandbags.  Each bag had different weights from 30lbs to 60lbs and included: calf raise into overhead press, bear crawl bag drag, row into curl, dead lift into kettle bell swing, and a ball slam and jump from crunch position.

With that a mosey to COT where we honored CSPAN with one thing each of us is thankful for. Prayers and praises for kids, uncles, jobs.  Praises for families, F3, job anniversaries.  Bear Grylls led us out in prayer.

I feel honored, humbled, and blessed to be able to have an opportunity to lead these true HIM who come out and give it all they have to get better.

Lutefisk out.

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Poverty Simulation

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Event Title: Poverty Simulation

Event Date: Saturday, October 13th, 2018

Event Time: 9 am to Noon

Event Location: First Baptist Church Fort Mill (121 Monroe White St, Fort Mill, SC 29715)

Event Description:

The North Palmetto F3 Foundation is hosting a Poverty Simulation to raise awareness about the struggles underprivileged people face. Participants will role play different families encountering the realities of life with a shortage of money while navigating complex systems that hinder the impoverished. Participants will:

  • Cultivate empathy, respect, and passion for those living below the poverty line
  • Develop a deeper understanding of the systemic barriers faced by people living in poverty
  • Expand awareness of the impact of poverty on your service population
  • Brainstorm ways to mitigate challenges in resource/service access for your service population
  • Identify actionable steps to make an impact in your community

Get involved. Use the link below sign up as a volunteer or a participant. Feel free to contact Penny Pincher, Chicken Hawk or Deacon with questions.

Relevant Links:

North Palmetto F3 Foundation’s Website – https://f3thefort.com/f3-foundation/

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On the second clock at Tomahawk

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Polaroid sent out a request a few weeks back for Q’s.  Replying affirmatively meant I was going to be put out of my comfort zone as I had only attended a weight AO twice over the years. I was then able to get in a visit to Tomahawk last week to scout the layout.

I will add at this point that everyone should consider attending more weight AO’s. It’s a good test for new muscles and your core.

Arrived early to lay out cones and coupons and got help from an early arriving FNG, Josh Bolden.  I was immediately giving him some disclaimer info as this workout was going to be a bit of a challenge and it was going to keep PAX moving the whole time, and made sure he understood this was not a standard bootcamp workout.

Full disclaimer especially with an FNG. A little bit of a warmup and proper cadence, an explanation of each exercise in the clock and then broke into 2  groups. 2 PAX did the clock while 3 moved over the runway, then alternated.

At the runway, each end was core exercises . We ran to points in the middle alternating doing the following exercises, in cadence if possible: Curls, One Arm Rows, Squats, Overhead Press, KB Swings, Front LIfts…approximately 10 reps each time.

The PAX on the clock did the following with their kettlebell/weight going with them as much as possible. When returning to the middle, 2 burpees. Each ‘time’ was a x5 factor:

  • 12:00 – overhead weight run
  • 1:00      – 5 burpees
  • 2:00      –  10 One leg squats each leg
  • 3:00      – 120# worm coupon pull on slider
  • 4:00      – 20 kb swings
  • 5:00      – 25 squat thrusters
  • 6:00      – bear crawl using dumbells
  • 7:00      – 35 alternating calf raises
  • 8:00      – 40 finger tippers, using 2 hand finger tip strengtheners
  • 9:00       – Lunge walk
  • 10:00     – 50 Hand Squeezers
  • 11:00     – 50 Moroccan Night…Discs. 5# weight in each hand

This was a workout designed to keep moving. There were not many opportunities to rest but I think it worked out well. The clock obstacle course needs some tweeking so that it takes less time. I meant for it to be completed a little quicker, next time we’ll shoot for 10 minutes or less.

Thanks to PAX again for helping with cleanup. We ended up at 29 burpees.

Big reminder here that we did not do. Especially with an FNG, have gloves available!  Generally I believe this is a site Q responsibility, but I always have a bag of gloves and I forgot to offer them to our FNG.

Welcome FNG J-Cruz, or J-Cruise, or J-Crews! EH’d by Jekyl and Decibel. Josh’s whole family’s names begin with a J, plus he was once the President of a Land Cruiser organization (hope I got that right).  Name-O-Rama here.

Thanks to Polaroid for the opportunity and for the PAX who gave the clock set up a go.

Invergence Sept 21, G-Fit Sat’s 3:00 pm, Prayers to PAX with marital issues. Thanks to Punchlist for taking us out.

Aye! Bolt

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On the first clock at Block Party

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Thanks to Shady for the Twitter reminder of my Block Party Q as I haven’t been checking my email much lately which would have included the reminder from  Worship Planning.

I had already been planning a “clock” workout for my VQ KB workout the next day at Tomahawk, so I ran with that and applied it to Block Party with a “bigger clock.”

Arrived, set out all the cones in the field in clock formation 12-11:00 along with “the worm” 120 # coupon at 3:00.

Back to parking lot just in time and a quick disclaimer with no FNG’s. (This would not be the case the next day). A mosey around about a half lap of WEP which included high knees, butt kickers, side shuffle. A brief circle of warmups which included a couple back stretches needed by the Q.

Headed to the clock. Each hour had an exercise on a cone a distance away to run to from the epicenter. We first did the clock as a group, then followed it partnering up.  At the end of each ‘cross’ were the following: 12:00 sprint to top of hill, 3:00 worm carry, 6:00 lunge walk, 9:00 partner carry (or modified). The other times included various exercises (of which I cannot now list as the M threw away my weinke), but included calf raises, squat thrusters, merkins…

The bonus on this fine morning was a “Let Me Run Burpee Challenge” cow bell that every PAX had to ring once during the workout and, wherever you were at the time of ringing, 5 burpees were required.  Total 45 burpees were completed.

Thanks to PAX for the cleanup at the end. Ran out of time to get some core work in. No Name O Rama video embedded here as you couldn’t see faces anyway.

Announcements included the Invergence on Sept. 21, G-Fit moving to Saturdays at 3:00 pm with a call to PAX the post if you can and support the kids, after school reading program in Paradise on Mondays and Wednesdays, Ragnar coming up with Sunday morning trail runs, BRR this weekend with many F3 teams.

Prayers to sick family members and PAX going through marital hardships.

Thanks to Shady and all PAX that posted and gave the clock a go.

Aye! Bolt

 

 

 

 

 

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Tour of The Swamp

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We started promptly at 0515 this morning. The parking lot at The Swamp is pretty dark, and since there weren’t any FNG’s, I made a partial disclaimer and we were off. Of course, it was pointed out to me that it may have been the shortest disclaimer ever…

When we got over in front of The Home Depot we attempted to make a circle so we could stretch:

SSH’s – 20

Windmills – 10

Sun Gods – 10 each direction

Plank to Downward Dog and into Honeymooner x 2

Recover for shoulder stretches – Each arm across, each arm behind the head

Mosey over to the front of Target for The Thang:

We partnered up and got started:

Partner 1 found a spot on the wall for People’s Chair while partner 2 Duck Walked to the second Big Red Ball (or the other side of the cross-walk) and ran back. Partners then switched. We did this twice.

We had a little too much mumble chatter while transitioning to the next exercise so I extended it. The group had to lung walk from the first big red ball to the last, moving towards 49 in front of Target, and had to stop and do 5 Flying Squirrels at every other ball. At the last ball the Q forgot about the Flying Squirrels, but the PAX provided a very gracious reminder.

Next, we mosey’d around to the back of the building. Partners again: Partner 1 performed the exercise while partner 2 ran to the building and back (about 50 yards each way). Partners then switched. Exercises were: Plank, Shoulder Taps, and Big Boy Sit-Ups. Seemed like so much fun the first time Q called for a Rinse and Repeat.

After two 10 counts we mosey’d over to the stairs near the fountain. Partner 1 performed Air Squats while partner 2 ran up the stairs, across the platform, down the other side and back. Partners then switched. We did this for 8 minutes.

At the end of the 8 minutes, giving us 10 minutes left, we mosey’d over to the fountain where the PAX were instructed to find a spot on a bench. Since I haven’t been able to work in upper body much lately, I threw one upper body exercise into the mix. On our bench we were to do Irkins, followed by single count step ups on our bench, with a short break in between rounds. Amount to be performed was 30, 20 and then 10.

A slow mosey brought us back to COT with two minutes left for MARY.

Announcements: Lots of announcements today, which included but was not limited to: 9/21 Invergence, Ragnar, and Bourbon Chase.

Prayers: We are praying for the PAX doing the GRT tonight. We are praying for job searches and next steps in life. We are praying for healing for injured PAX and sick family members.

Thanks Cha Ching for the opportunity to lead. Now that we have more local AO’s in relation to my house it’s been a while since I’ve made my way to The Swamp. As always, it was a blast!

  • Peg
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10 bootcampers appeared in the gloom 15 minutes after 7 runners took off for parts unknown in the greater Fort Mill area.

Began with a disclaimer followed by a short mosey to the band practice parking lot for a predictable count warm-up:

Squat x10
Windmill x10
Cherry Picker x10
Imperial Walker x10
Hillbilly Walker x10

With a call for “on me,” YHC sprinted erratically and planked up waiting on the PAX. Once all the PAX had planked up, the call for “on me” was immediately repeated and followed by another erratic sprint. Repeated this sequence a few times until the mumble chatter began.

Planked up and discussed how we respond when our expectations (mosey–>circle up–>cadence exercises, etc.) are challenged or directly defied.

The Thang (see  photo w/ working thoughts as well)

Exercises:
Burpees, Merkins, LBCs, Squats, Carolina Dry Docks, American Hammers, Mountain Climbers, People’s Chair+Moroccan Night Club

As the exercises became predictable in count and repetition, YHC challenged the PAX to notice if the consistency and expectation made the workout any easier. How does our response change knowing or not knowing every detail of what lies in the 43 feet ahead? How is that response helpful, hurtful, instructive, or destructive.

Added 5 more burpees at COT for what was initially suggested as hitting 60 burpees. Upon further review it was only 45. #1000burpees in September for Double D’s fundraiser supporting Let Me Run.

NMM:

This workout was inspired by a backblast from Lake Norman: https://f3lakenorman.com/backblast/a-good-f3-workout in an effort to keep the PAX together and create  opportunities for as much 2nd F and 1st F. Personally I find it amazing in my own life that I’ll show up at 5:15am and do whatever the Q (F3 makes no representations with regard to the skill level of workout leaders) has in mind (or makes up in that moment) without a problem. But if something goes awry during my workday or home life, my emotions and specifically my patience seems immediately depleted. As we work to grow and train physically, it is important to remember the DRP (Daily Red Pill: The Q’s daily Commitment to Accelerate his Fitness, Fellowship and Faith) includes our spiritual, emotional and mental health as well.

If any PAX know the Professor in Lake Norman, please relay to him YHC’s appreciation of his Back Blast.

Announcements:

Invergence 9/21
Additional runner need for relay: see Hasselhoff

Band Camp dismissed

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“Where No Man Has Gone Before…”

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9 men braved the gloom on a humid early September morning so that we could explore new worlds and new civilizations….   Not really actually, I just wanted to incorporate some running into my bootcamp in preparation for the quickly approaching Ragnar.  In my Twitter advertising for the Bootcamp I recommended the Pax to bring headlamps for the run.  After the disclaimer I told the Pax the game plan, mosey on up to the Copperhead Bar (about a mile).  It took about 10 minutes to get there, which was not bad considering the incline to get there.

COP

At the parking lot of the bar we did

30xSSH

10xSun God’s Fwd and Reverse

10xWind Mill

10xCherry Pickers

Down Dog into 10xThigh Master’s Left and Right Legs

The Thang

I set up 4 cones in the 4 corners of the parking lot with 3 exercises on each cone.  We did a 4 count with the respective numbered Pax going toward a cone.  The plan was to do the exercise’s bear crawl to the center, do 5 burpees, then crab walk to the next cone.

Cone 1- 30x’Mericans /30xCDD/30xLBC’s

Cone 2- 30xRanger ‘Mericans/30xSquats/13 Burpees

Cone 3- 30xInch Worm ‘Mericans/30x Jump Lunge’s/30xBig Boy Sit Ups

Cone 4- 30xArcher ‘Mericans/30x 1 Legged Squats/30xFlutter Kicks

The Pax were not able to get the full cycle finished before we had to head back to COT, but as Jedi once said, always plan for too much exercise instead of too little.  We moseyed on back to COT and the six arrived at 0600 hours exactly.

Thanks to Peg for the opportunity to lead.  Great push by all the PAX!!! 

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Parking lots, Stairs, 4 Corners & a Couple of Thoughts

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19 Showed up to take the DRP.  After a quick disclaimer and Q check for FNGs, we were off on a slow mosey.

Warm-Up 

Slow mosey to upper portion of back parking lot of FBFM.

Windmill x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 15

Low Slow Squat x 10

Imp Walker x 10

SSH x 15

Cherry Pickers x 10

Merkins x 10

The Thang

Mosey down to lower part of parking lot

Overhead Claps x 10

Lunge x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 15

Squat x 10

Flutters x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 10

Overhead Claps x 25

Wall Sit , Arms High, Several 10 counts

Mosey across street, down stairs to lower lot.

4 corners with a stair climb and descent after each round

Round 1 x 10

Round 2 x 15

Round 3 x 20

Merkin

Flutter

CDD

American Hammers

Mosey to COT for Mary

Mary was Dealer’s Choice (5 minutes)

Windshield Wipers

Weezy Jeffersons

Freddy Mercurys

Flutters

Hello Dollys

NMM 

YHC asked everyone to consider whether they have a relationship with their Lord and Savior….or just their Savior. A lot of us (YHC included!!) forget the Lord part of the relationship. For Him to truly be your Lord, you must surrender all to Him and be willing to have your life disrupted for His purpose. Easier said than done. Based on the response from the PAX, this is a topic that should be discussed often.   Also, touching on the monthly theme of Presence, are we really present with our M and 2.0s?   Are we just “there” or do they really feel our “presence”?

Honored and humbled, as always, to lead such a great group of leaders.

SYITG

Beacon

 

 

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No ___ Collusion Here!

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Youts brought the pain on his V-warmup!  After an assist on the disclaimer, we immediately moved into Low Slow Squats and Mountain Climbers.  A quick story about a sinking ship and a husband and wife…the husband gets in the lifeboat and sends the wife back to the ship to die – what?  is this a joke?  where’s the punchline? wait….here it comes…”let’s mosey”….well, we weren’t expecting that.

Mosey the parking lot for a bit and then circle up for SSH, windmills, Moroccan night clubs, planks, downward dog, honeymooner, and peter parker.  Move right into some burpees – sprint – bigboy sit ups – sprint – flutter kick – sprint – and merkins – sprint.  So much for a V-warmup.  This dude needs to be on his VQ!  I think we now know that all of that work was to get our attention – for the end of the story….the husband isn’t a “class A” jerk afterall…the wife has a terminal illness and he needs to stay alive for the kids.  Wow…we really should not judge, especially when we don’t know the whole story.

We also shouldn’t abandon our plans when the going gets tough – or in this case when the warm-up Q led almost the exact same workout as the Q?  How did that happen – collusion?  I’ve never even met Youts before, let alone skated (err – I mean worked out) with him.  After contemplating an impromptu-Q, I offered up the main course that I had originally planned.

So, there was an ask in the pre-blast for SkateOrDie to do the McTwist or something like it.  I opted for a version of the McNasty (and apparently Youts had the same idea and paved the way)…

We mosey’d to the asphalt marching band football field and got into the plank position.  I provided some instructions for the exercise and off we went.  The group of 14 was divided into groups of 3 (two groups had 4).  PAX 1 (extra PAX shadowed), PAX 2, and PAX 3.

    • PAX 1 will perform ab exercises (1) Heels to heaven, (2) Flutter, (3) Freddy Mercury, (4) American hammer, (5) LBC during each of the fives times through the circuit
    • PAX 2 will sprint to the opposite end of the field and relieve PAX 3 (taking over burpees)
    • PAX 3 will sprint to the opposite end of the field and relieve PAX 1 (taking over abs)
    • PAX 1 will sprint to the opposite end of the field and relieve PAX 2 (taking over burpees)
    • Rinse and Repeat until everyone has complete each station and the ab exercises 5 times

Upon completion, the group mosey’d to the pull-up bars and broke into 3 person groups; PAX 1 3 legit pull-ups, PAX 2 provided assistance as needed, PAX 3 wall sit; rinse and repeat 3 times with pull-ups and 2 more times with chin-ups.

Mosey and bear-crawl back to COT for 2 minutes of Mary.

Count-o-rama, Name-o-rama, Annoucements, Prayers/Praises, BOM

As always, I appreciate the opportunity to lead.

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Board of Pain at the Fire Ant

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It was an honor to again be placed on the Q list of the long list of candidates for The Fire Ant. After Spiderman renewed the mission of this AO, I knew I needed to make it worthwhile for the 14 others who decided to remove themselves from the fartsack this gloom.

THE THANG

So we began with the following: We took a quick ruck march around the building to the front of the Harris Teeter where YHC had previously placed the BOP. At this point YHC gave the F3 Disclaimer. YHC requested that everyone partner up. I then explained the Board: Partner 1 was to perform the first exercise and partner 2 was to perform the movement timing mechanism/then flapjack. The the pair was to go to the second exercise and timing mechanism. The exercises and timing mechanisms are listed below:

Exercises: Merkins, Low Slow Squats, CDD’s, Lunges, Flutters w/Press, Ruck Thrusts, Curls, Tricep Extensions, Lateral Lunges, American Hammers, Overhead Presses, Ruck Swings, and Man Makers.

Timing Mechanisms: Shuffle, Karaoke, Butt Kickers, High Knees, Ruck Run.

After much mumblechatter was had and we made it through the list YCH led us into the following word. Once the message was given the group headed back to the COT and held our Rucks overhead until 0600.

NMM

This was a morning surrounded with many HIMs in whom YHC is intrigued by. Men who wake up at 0345-0445 to get to a workout at 0500 or 0515 almost every day of the week. Most of the PAX in attendance this gloom are planning on taking what they do with fellow F3 brothers each day and taking it into the world this coming weekend. These PAX will be participating in a Goruck event in Charlotte in remembrance of 9/11 and the men and women who sacrificed their lives on that horrific day. 9/11 is a day, if you were alive, that all will remember no matter what you were doing on that dreadful morning. However, our country came through the struggle united and closer than I had ever seen before.

This morning I challenged all PAX to remember who and what they represent when they leave the workout each morning. First they represent the one who they place their faith in. Second, they represent their families. Then they represent F3 Nation (an event is a great place to EH Sad Clowns into the brotherhood). Finally, they represent the communities they are a part of from where they live to where they work.

The challenge was to represent well no matter where or what they are doing. And trust me, I write this to remind myself of this challenge.

Announcements, Prayers, & Praises were given with the whole group.

Longshanks led the COT.

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