Twin Towers

 

 

Flat Tire

Longshanks

Geronimo

Frat Boy

Quack Attack

Uncle Same

Bonsai

Sugar Daddy

 

8 Pax decided to get out of bed this morning instead of fart sacking.  Flat Tire kicked us off with the disclaimer and the introduction of the Twin Tower beat down.  Longshanks also pointed out that he was the only Pax there shorter than 6ft.

 

With that said here is the Thang:

 

Mosey over to the parking lot beside the park for the warmup which someone forgot to tell Flat Tire you don’t start a warmup with merkins!

 

Merkins

Wind Mill

SSH

Wide merkins

Hill Billy Walkers

I believe there were even merkins mixed in

 

Then we moseyed back over to the park and moved to the first drill bit.  At each drill bit we would add an exercise until we completed all 5 drill bits

10 merkins

20 Big Boy Sit-ups

30 Jump Squats

40 Squats

50 SSH

 

 

Next we moved over to the middle of the field and divided up into two teams.  There we ran a relay race where each person would sprint to the track and perform 10 hand release merkins and run back.

YHC was accused of cheating however I can verify my chest touched the ground each time and my hands left ground during the merkin.  Therefore I believe I met all specifications of a hand release merkin.

 

After this Flat Tire handed the reins to YHC (Bonsai) for the remainder of the workout.

 

We moseyed up to the Ann Springs building where there was a covered cat walk.  YHC was trying to plan for the rain however it wasn’t doing so during the workout, but the wienkie was set and I didn’t detour.

 

Last year I came up with this workout and it seemed like the Pax enjoyed it so I thought I would bring the Christmas grab bag back out.

 

How it works – grab 12 – 15 Christmas bows and write an exercise and number on each.  Throw them in a gift bag and have Pax take turns pulling a bow from the bag.

As a group perform the exercise and another Pax pull another bow.  Once 2 exercises are complete run a lap and then repeat until all bows are gone or time is up.

 

Depending on how much time you have and the number of bows you can throw them back into the bag or keep them out.  We were able to go through all 12 exercises before COT.

 

Merkins

squats

burpees

lunges

calf raises

bear crawls

crab walks

BTW – 30 seconds

LBCs

6 inches – 30 seconds

CDC

Flutter

 

COT:

Sign up for Joe Davis

Christmas convergence

Prayers for families, wives and stress of the holidays

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The Fort pledge to help another Pax out

Its Christmas time and the word of the month is giving so I am asking if you would take moments pray about giving to help a fellow pax. Last year Stang got the Fort and the Rock pax to donate gift cards, cash and presents for me and my family.  This was huge for me and my family, with that  being said I feel the need to help a fellow pax and give back. I have been in touch with our pax of the Fort looking for someone to help out. This morning in COT it was mentioned by Destiny that a fellow pax’s son has just been diagnosed with leukemia and his wife is pregnant with twins. Then again Ginsu and Rock thrill had a tweet about it and come to find out it is an Area51  pax named Bout time his sons name is Jennings. This hits close to home and just knew this is who we need to help this year. a few

If I have never had the pleasure of posting with you in the Gloom I would like to take a second and share my story, Dec 2015 on Christmas eve my 2.5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia ALL Type B, on Christmas day she had surgery to have a port installed and her first 3 rounds of chemo. We spent Christmas in the hospital and I broke down never cried so hard in my life. I reached out to God prayed that everything will be okay and about 10 min later after the took my daughter back for surgery he answered my pray because a peace just came over me and heard the words its going to be okay.  The last 2 years have been a hard 2 years with ups and downs but also have enlightened me, allowed me to get closer to God.  It also allowed me to become apart of F3 with out the men of this group not sure where I would be mentally and physically today. I like to thank you for the push the words of encouragement.

 

I am asking pax to give what your heart tells you. Prayers gift cards, cash etc. I have seen what awesome pax you can be when challenged to give you all always go above and beyond.

See your site Q’s for collections and or Dark helmet , Stang, Witch hunt, Royale and Cornerstone

 

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 18:16

A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

Thanks Again HIMS

Cornerstone

 

 

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Crazy 8’s at the Coop

Was a great cool morning at the coop.  19 showed up to take some punishment from YHC.  Hadnt been to The Coop in a while. Good to be back.

*there were more than the 9 guys tagged- my recording didn’t take.  Sorry men!

Disclaimer as we had an FNG- brought by Ginsu…soon to be named Caddy Shack.  He has two pet groundhogs or he likes golf.  not sure.

We ran around to circle up for COP.  Usual suspects were there and interspersed burpees to get the blood going.

The Thang

  • P1 does hanging crunches/leg twists while P2 does LBC.  Rinse Repeat x3

Down the hill to the flat parking lot

  • bearcrawl down, 10 merkins, backward bearcrawl 10 CDD
  • Lunge walk down, 10 squats, backward lunge walk, 10 squats
  • Bobby Hurley down and back

Its at this point someone suggested legs…

Go to the hill

  • Crazy 8s
    • Bottom Merkins, LBC 8 reps each
    • Top: Jump Knee Tucks, Dips 8 reps each
    • Rinse repeat 8x

Great morning and reminder to take inventory of your gifts and what you bring to the table.  Develop them and allow to flourish at home, community and work.

AYE!

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Holiday Lights Tour by Donkey

13 pax celebrated the gift of a new day at Block Party.  All vets on hand for this journey, so the Disclaimer was short and sweet.  Then the pax saddled up for the Fort Mill Christmas tour.  The theme for the tour was Preparation, in particular, the preparation that Joseph undertook to position himself to fulfill his role in the birth of Christ.

The Thang

Short warm up run to the corner at Ardrey and 160.

COP — SSHs, Mtn climbers, Hillbilly walkers, Merkins, Windmills

Mosey to front of Springs building under the angled windows

People’s chair

FM History Lesson:  The angled windows were inspired by the Hindenberg.  The Springs family made a trip back from Germany via the Hindenberg in 1936.  Anne Springs Close is the last living passenger from the Hindenberg, and she says her father was inspired by the bright light and lack of glare of the angled windows on the Hindenberg, so he put that feature into the building on 160.

10 Burpees OYO

10 Bombjacks OYO

Mosey to parking lot on 160 in front of UC Synergetic building

People’s chair while pax take turns doing 10 merkins each

10 burpees OYO

10 Bombjacks OYO

pax split into 2 groups
Group 1: on wall for 10 donkey kicks OYO
Group 2: LBCs
Flapjack
Rinse & repeat for 3 total cycles

10 Burpees OYO

10 Bombjacks OYO

Mosey to grassy corner where 160, Main Street and RR tracks converge

Plank sequence

10 Burpees OYO

Mosey to field on other side of war memorial and line up along first lit tree

Move to other end of field through sequence of lunges, bear crawls, crab walks, switching at each lit tree.

Mosey back to UC Synergetic parking lot

Back on the wall for donkey kicks and merkins (flapjack then rinse & repeat for 3 more cycles)

Mosey to wall at back of Springs building

10 wall pull ups OYO

Mosey home

COP – Freddie Mercury, Box Cutter, Penguin, Flutters

COT

NMM

Great collection of pax this morning!  Nice to have the Springfield clown car find its way to WEP.  It was also a treat to have the Thrill Brothers out (Drop and Rock).  It’s also good to see BP regulars Uncle Sam, Band Camp and Flash along with a return from Sawdust.

The weatherman predicted 30s so some pax were a bit overdressed for the 40s.  Ginsu had to shed the orange to make it through the session.  Drop Thrill just plowed right through in shorts and short sleeves like it was September.

The lights around downtown Fort Mill offered a festive hue to the workout.  YHC gets frustrated with the work involved in holiday decorations at the house, so a tip of the cap goes to those who decorate the town — the lights provide a much needed dose of perspective amid the hustle of closing out the work year.

This season of Advent always brings Joseph to mind for me.  He is a true #HIM if there ever was one.  His ability to see, hear and discern the voice of God was remarkable.  His obedience in following God’s call, even in the midst of doubt and difficulty was awesome.  His willingness to leave it all behind to follow God’s direction to go to Egypt presaged the apostles leaving their lives and work behind to follow Jesus.  How did Joseph get to a place that he could make all those choices (YES, those were choices!)?  Preparation.  He could never have known what he was preparing himself for, what God was preparing him for.  Yet, he prepared.  We don’t know any specifics of hi preparation, yet it must be part of his story.  There is no other way he could have pulled the trigger on all that without preparation.  Am I preparing myself properly?  What am I preparing for?  What is God preparing me for?

Thanks for giving me the honor to lead you today (and hopefully in some small way to contribute to your preparation).

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Christmas Movie Trivia Loop

When Pusher and YHC realized we were co-q’ing Alcatraz, and the weather was predicted to be quite winter-like, we decided a Christmas theme was in order.  But we wanted something a little unique.  So, we landed on Christmas Movie Trivia.

The wintry weather showed up on cue, though more cold and wet than snowy and Christmas-like.  “No matter” said the 12 pax that posted ready for the physical and mental challenges.

Pusher started us off with a jog intentionally avoiding the path around the ball fields.  We moseyed to a few different intersections near the park for various warm-up exercises, including SSHs, merkins, peter parkers, and a few others, while playing a little frogger.

We then moseyed to the bottom of a steep hill and partnered up (size no matter).  Partner 1 took the hill, while partner 2 held a squat.  Flapjack.  Repeat 2 additional times.

We then moseyed up the hill half way, and lunged the rest of the way.  Pusher then took us back to the parking lot where we started and turned it over to YHC.

We moseyed around the parking lot, then to the path that circles the park, where the first of about 30 cones was sitting (each about 10-20 yards apart, all along the path).  And so began the Christmas Movie trivia challenge.  Here’s how it worked:

  • On each cone was a trivia question.  Upon arrival to the cone, the question was read aloud.
  • While pax pondered and discussed the question, an exercise was performed, which was dependent on the movie.  Here were the exercises (some of which we didn’t get to):
    • A Christmas Carol – 10 high jumps
    • A Christmas Story – 10 Plank Jacks
    • Christmas Vacation – 10 Mountain Climbers
    • Christmas With The Kranks – 10 Bombjacks
    • Deck The Halls – 10 Plank Punches
    • Four Christmases – 10 Sumo Squats
    • Elf (My Favorite!) – 10 Squat Jacks
    • Ernest Saves Christmas – 15 Hillbilly Walkers
    • Holiday Inn – 10 Morning Wood
    • How The Grinch Stole Christmas – 10 Russian Twists
    • It’s A Wonderful Life – 10 Dry Docks
    • Jingle All The Way – 10 Run Stance Switch
    • Nightmare Before Xmas – 10 Crab Cakes
    • Miracle On 34th Street – 10 Merkins
    • The Polar Express – Bearcrawl to next cone
    • Scrooged – 10 Monkey Humpers
    • The Santa Clause – 10 Chop Sticks
    • Santa Claus: The Movie – 10 Speed Skaters
    • White Christmas – 10 Donkey Kicks
  • Once the exercise was done, pax had to agree on an answer.
    • If the answer was correct, pax moved on to the next cone
    • If the answer was not correct, pax had to do one or more penalty exercises.  Here’s how the penalties worked:
      • 1st incorrect answer – 10 burpees
      • 2nd consecutive incorrect answer (i.e. at next cone) – 10 burpees AND 100 yard run
      • 3rd (or more) consecutive incorrect answer (3 cones in a row)- 10 burpees AND 100 yard run AND 10 merkins
      • After the penalty was served, pax moved on to the next cone

We got through about 25 cones (with a score of about 50%) before running out of time.  The questions were tough, and thus we clocked in over 100 burpees.  I won’t post the questions/answers here in case any pax want to reuse this weinke, or a variant thereof (contact me on twitter if you’d like the questions and answers).

Moleskin

It was a privilege for Pusher and YHC to lead the workout at Alcatraz.  Pusher talked about how thankful we are for F3 and the amazing HIMs that make it so great, including and especially the pax posting to Alcatraz.  For me, what has made F3 so life changing isn’t the organization, or structure, or exercises or cool gear; it is the men of F3 that invested their time into “FNGs”, long after their first post.

If you are a man that a fellow F3 pax has invested time into, my encouragement to you (and to me) is to find a pax in F3 that could benefit from you pouring into them.

 

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3-Speed Repeats at Laces Out

6 was the number at LacesOut, and the goal of this routine was to maximize heart-rate variance while also working on speed (of course, maybe that’s the goal of every LO workout?).  Here’s how it went down:

Warm up mile (8:10 pace, I believe)

Dynamic warm up stretch-like exercises, including toy soldiers, butt kickers, high knees, pigeon toed and duck walks.  Pax then repeated the following patterned, AMRAP:

  • 400m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery speed
  • 800m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery speed
  • 1200m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery speed

We then did about 700m cool-down.

Most pax got close to 6 miles (including 1 mile warm-up).

Thanks to Nomad for scheduling YHC to Q!

 

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Pick a card at Quagmire

It was a non-winter Monday morning and a great group of PAX showed up to get the week started. No FNGs but disclaimer was given and off we went.

  • Mosey to Home Depot lot with high-knees, butt-kickers, & karaoke’s along the way. Circle up for normal stretchy things, grunting, and other pleasantries.
  • Mosey to alley behind Home Depot. PAX line up on one side and start with flutters. PAX run to wall and do BTW walk down the wall, crab walk to end of next wall, run to end of alley, 20 squats, run back to PAX. When PAX ahead of you is 1/4 way down wall next PAX start. Large group so it took a while to cycle through everyone.
  • Mosey over to fountain and break into 2 groups. Each group had a cone at down at round-about with 8 cards. Each card had an exercise for the group to do together and then another exercise for group to do while next PAX ran to get next card. Each group had same cards but order was random.
    • Run full lap outside round-abouts / LBCs
    • 20 jump squats / plank punches
    • 10 Lt Dans (lunge-lunge-squat) / plank jacks
    • 20 dips / flutters
    • Run full lap outside round-abouts / Freddie mercs
    • 15 diamond merkins / SSHs
    • 20 derkins / step-ups
    • 10 burpees / MNCs
  • Mosey back to COT for a few minutes of Mary

I’ve been doing my normal routine of running on Mondays so it was good to shake things up and get back out to Quagmire. Always a great group of PAX with lots of mumble-chatter (DH was there). Thanks DaVinci for the opportunity!

-Mainframe

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Post party at WEP

It was the day after the Fort Christmas party so time to work off that extra trip down the buffet line. Mainframe leading off with Cha-Ching cleaning up.

  • Mosey around park stopping at each drill-bit. At each bit do 3-4 exercises with each bit ending in squats.
  • After lap around park head down trail toward big hill. Blimps were the call. Do one exercise at one end of trail then run to other end for next exercise. Each time we passed the middle it was 5 bomb-jacks. B=Burpees, L=Lunges, I=Imperial Squat Walkers, M=Merkins, P=Plank Jacks, S=Squats.
  • Mosey back to park and circle up for legs and abs: In squat calf raises, Mtn climbers, in squat heels out, freddie mercs, smurf jacks, flutters, jump squats, dying cockroaches, finish with some monkey humpers.
  • Tag out to Cha-ching. Over to light posts for some extended stairways to heaven.
    • 1st set – jog between lights, 3 burpees at each light
    • 2nd set – jog between lights, kraken burpee at each light
    • 3rd set – backward job between lights, 5 big boy situps at each light
    • 4th set – bear crawl between lights, 5 jump squats at each light
    • 5th set – partner push up the entire hill – terrible, most ended up switching so no second helping
  • Mosey down to park and keep partner. Set 1 runs 3 tree suicides while other groups do exercise running set call. I remember monkey humpers, smurf jacks, and junk-yard dogs. I think we did at least 2 others.

Thankfully time was up and everyone had worked off the night prior. Thanks for the opportunity Bonsai! Always an honor to help lead.

-Mainframe

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Bombs and Blimps at the Swamp

It was an especially gloomy morning but it didn’t stop several PAX from posting to the Swamp. Disclaimer was given and we split up into bootcampers, ruckers, and runners. BCs moseyed over to the Home Depot overhang with some high-knees, butt-kickers, and karaoke along the way.

  • 1st stop – 5 burpees, wind-mills, hillbilly walkers, 5 burpees
  • Mosey to failed restaurant overhang – 5 burpees, 25 SSHs, 10 merkins, 5 burpees
  • Mosey to lot in front of Books-a-Million – 5 burpees, something else, squats, 5 burpess
  • Line up across parking spaces. Bear-crawl across 1 merkin, backward bear-crawl to start 1 merkin – Repeat for a total of 5 trips
  • Mosey to bank drive-thru and partner up for Bombs. Partner 1 does the exercise while partner 2 runs a lap around bank, then flip flop. No set amount, just keep doing exercise and hope partner runs fast. B=Burpee, O=O’s (tiny circles), M=Monkey Humpers, B=Bombjacks, S=Squats
  • Mosey back to BAM overhang. Blimps with same partners. P1 does the exercise while P2 runs to building across lot and back, then flip-flop. B=Burpees, L=Lunges, I=Imperial Squat Walkers, M=Merkins, P=Plank Jacks, S=Seal Jacks. The slight uphill run on the way back each time added to the suck.
  • Mosey back to failed restaurant overhang for some Mary. 15 LBCs, 15 Flutters, 15 Freddie Mercs.
  • Mosey back to overhangs at mattress store. Not so great imitation of Lt Dan. 1 squat, 4 jumps touching overhang. Went from 1/4 up to 6/24 before time was up.
  • Mosey back to COT to meet up with rest of PAX.

I tried to use several of the overhangs to keep the PAX somewhat dry and keep us moving. But I don’t think it would’ve mattered, These guys would’ve been just as great out in the rain pushing each other. Thanks for all those that showed up and encouraged each other on this cold rainy morning. Always an honor to lead this group.

 

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Friday JamFest at Varsity

5 PAX braved the driving rain and blistering temps to post this morning at the Varsity. Actually, the weather was perfect. Because it’s Friday, we played some music to celebrate the week coming to a close.

Warmup

  • Mosey around the parking lot
  • 32 4 count side straddle hops
  • 12 4 count merkins
  • 15 4 count windmills
  • 20 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10 4 count forward arm circles
  • 10 4 count backward arm circles

The Thing

  • Mosey to the pull up bars
  • wall sit
  • 5 pull ups, 5 toes to bar
  • wall sit
  • 5 pull ups, 5 toes to bar
  • wall sit
  • 5 chin ups, 5 toes to bar
  • wall sit
  • 5 chin ups, 5 toes to bar
  • wall sit
  • 5 pull ups, 5 toes to bar
  • wall sit

 

Mosey to the awning next to school

  • 20 steps each leg
  • 20 LBCs

Here’s the (not so) fun part….

Played the song “Roxanne” by The Police

  • Side straddle hops the entire song…
  • 1 burpee every time the word “Roxanne” or “red light” is said (this is a lot of burpees)

Played the song “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC (thanks to DixieChicken for the inspiration on this one)

  • Plank the entire song…
  • 1 merkin every time the word “Thunder” is said (this is a lot of merkins)

Next comes a potpourri of various excercises

  • 20 flutters
  • bear crawl up the side walk
  • 20 Carolina DDs
  • bear crawl backwards back to start
  • 20 squats
  • 20 LBCs
  • 20 V-ups
  • bear crawl up the side walk
  • 20 Carolina DDs
  • bear crawl backwards back to start
  • 20 squats
  • 20 flutters
  • 5 burpees OYO
  • Captain Thors to 5×20

Mosey back to COT

Announcements

  • Christmas Convergence
  • Joe Davis Run

Praises/PR

  • praise for PAX posting in the rain
  • prayers for Crawdaddy’s family
  • prayers for Vuvuzela’s dad

Thanks for the opportunity, Kielbasa!

– Ginsu

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