What an honor! Was privledged to be able to lead the men of York in a workout at one of their newest AO’s. Guns & Moses – Welcome to the Jungle! Located at Tirzah ARP in York!

There was some chatter about it being moderated, so I took a five mile mosey off the wienkie and loaded the cinder blocks in the back of the ‘burb!

The conversation before the workout confirmed the fact that these guys GET IT! They have taken a big ole red pill and are sharing it with any man who will listen! It’s awesome and reignites the fire inside the most seasoned PAX to bring in the sad clowns that don’t know that they need it yet!

On to the workout …

We made short mosey away from the cars for a quick COP
10x windmills
10x imperial walkers
10x ssh’s
10x merkins
10x mountain climbers

The we moseyed to the other side of the church, where we arranged the cinder blocks, kettle bells and slosh pipe in a line. Each PAX picked a station.

1. Merkins
2. Block Toe Taps
3. Squats w Slosh Pipe
4. Dips
5. Floor Press
6. I’m missing one somewhere in here
7. Right Row
8. Left Row
9. KB Curls or swings (30lb)
10. KB Tri Ext (20lb)
11. Overhead Cinderblock Press
12. Cinderblock Curls
13. Cinderblock Burpees
14. 30lb Sand Bag – Run to the end of the lot and back (Timer)

We rotated through the full circuit twice and then up by the church for a little Dora 1, 2, 3.

With our partners we completed 100 merkins, 200 squats, & 300 LBC’s.

These guys crushed it just in time to wrap up our morning in COT.
I really enjoyed the workout gentlemen, it’s easy to see the passion each of you has for this crazy group!
Great work men!

Is this a 1st F? Is this a 2ndF? Is this a CSAUP? Will there seriously be bacon? Yes! Yes to all! We’ve come a long way in the 7 months since we ran for glory in the first Fast 5. Here are just a few insights from YHC and Anchorman:

• We increased our count of 11 teams (55 runners) to 22 teams (110 runners)
• We invited FiA to join the festivities and they posted 4 teams. Tclaps ladies.
• We had an All Clydesdale team!
• A couple of 2.0 Teams
• #Drones are cool (Thanks Old Bay)
• No pigs were harmed in the making…oh wait! Never mind!
• 10 pounds of bacon is expensive and goes quick post-race!
• The guys from SOB are still #fast

This race is a competition, but it’s also more about fellowship, family and friends. It’s apparent by the number of Ms, 2.0s and Pax that showed! In all, there were more than 175 people. It’s the Pax and their families that make this event fun and special. Tclaps to y’all! And now…

THE THANG:

Pax arrived to the smell of sizzling bacon thanks to Anchorman. As they all started to spill out onto the track and field, some began to warm up and some decided to sample bacon. Both good choices. The sights and sounds of 2.0s playing and running around was proof on what this event is all about. All teams checked in it was time for a little COP led by YHC:

COP
• SSH X10 IC
• Imperial Walkers X11 or X12 IC
• Windmills X10 IC
• Merkins X10ish IC
• Mountain Climbers X10 IC
• Low Slow Squat X10 IC
• 10 Burpees OYO

BOM with Anchorman.

Teams then lined up on the opposite side of the field for the start. Thanks to Funhouse for reminding us we should use batons for this relay race. Batons set, FiA teams and 2.0s had choice starting positions, and the race was off! The screaming sounds of encouragement from teammates and families, along with the zipping by of the drone made this an exciting race. 5 runners, 5 kilometer, relay style! Two and a half laps of “All You Got!” for each runner (harder than it seems). All the energy, trash talk and hype leading up to this event and it was all over in less than 25 minutes. When the dust settled, this is how everything shook out:

*Any errors in recording the times are mine.  Feel free to send me a message to update any errors.

The event was followed up by the 2.0 Fun Run of 1 Lap and then it was time for a little tailgating. If you didn’t stick around, you missed Assassin’s bacon, potato and cheese casserole. It was a great time all around. The next Fast 5 will be in the Fall. Until then the Fast 5 trophy remains somewhere safe in the bowels of Ballantyne. Congrats to the Clandestine SOBs for defending their title. And congrats to FiA “Baby Got Track” for coming out on top as well!

Shout outs:

• Thanks to Skinner for use of the facility
• Thanks to Solid-State for the photos
• Thanks to Old Bay for the video
• Thanks to Dark Helmet for the new design, go get a shirt NOW so we make quota!
• Thanks to Zima’s M #Griswold for letting him help organize this silly event
• Thanks to Longshanks for the “batons”
• Thanks to Package for the Megaphone
• Thanks to those we may have missed that helped us pull this off

To order your Fast 5 shirt, click HERE

To view pictures of the event, click HERE

To view a video of the event, click HERE

Aye!
Zima and Anchorman

Another rainy Friday in the Gloom brought us out to once again Burn in Slowness…
Slow Burn is great. It usually brings out a lot of guys and is a great place for FNGs to get acclimated to not only our workouts, but also our foolishness. There were no FNGs this day, however, so we disclaimed in the usual fashion and… wait… is DH STILL talking? Good heavens… Trucker and Backdraft start really giving it to him… But hold on, CSPAN just got off the phone with Apache, and (CRAP!) we lost the burpee bet. There were more guys at Petra than Slow Burn. We owe them 22 burpees. Stupid rain. Stupid fartsack. Well, we’ll work them in to the Q later on… For the love of… is he still talking??? Ok… eventually we had lift off and moseyed down to do The Thang:

Mosey to parking lot in front of the Empire Pizza building.
SSHs, IWs, a few “Perfect” Merkins… etc. Then we assembled ourselves in front of Empire Pizza for a little more… talking…………….. (I’m sure there were a couple of eye rolls in there) Oh wait, and 10 burpees OYO to start paying off our burpee debt to Rock Hill…

F3 is one of the most fun and important things I have in my life. I’m incredibly grateful to have it. So we chatted for a quick minute about how this is prime EH season, and about our need to give it away. I was wearing my Kathmandu shirt (on purpose) and we talked about how this is so important to some that they are giving it away in Nepal. So we should give it away. Give it away now! And now that the song is stuck in your head, you are ready for what came next. The Red Hot Chili Peppers work out… RHCP.

Count off by 4s. Each group head to a corner around the building, and do the exercise as assigned, IC to a 20 count of everything.
Round 1:
R = Rosalitas, H = Humpers of Monkeys, C = Copperhead Merkins (look it up), P = Plank Jacks
Round 2:
R = Russian Twists, H = Hops, Side Straddle, C = Carolina Dry Docks, P = Peter Parkers

Then we split 1s and 4s from 2s and 3s and went to the railing where 1s and 4s did supine pull-ups on the bar until the 2s and 3s got back from doing a lap around the building. Flapjack.
This was a crowd pleaser, so Repeato (in honor of our new Nantan, Pusher).

Mosey to the back of the building for a little People’s Chair and then hustle it back to COT…

NMM:
Ho- Lee- COW the mouths were running today! It was fantastic, and I encourage it, or rather instigate it, so I love it…
Couple of notables, Trucker and Backdraft were so annoyed by my talking too much that they took off to the head of the pack and passed me by, so I decided to left turn on them and leave them to run freely unencumbered by leadership… LIFE LESSON: If you think your being a leader, it’s useful to look back every now and then to make sure someone’s still following…

Also, as we were getting ready to repeato on the 2nd round of pullups, I paused long enough that Twister shouts out, “Uh-oh, looks like he’s out of ideas” to which I quickly retorted, “Naw man, I’m full of good ideas, they’re just jockeying for top position at the moment.” Not sure where that came from in that second, but we all laughed, and Twister says he will use that one again later…

COT: Continued prayers for relatives that are injured, sick, or otherwise in need. Prayers for Olive and his family, and many praises as well.

Final thought there was just that even though we joke a lot, there is a very serious need for us to give our best to those that matter most, and to be present for our M’s and 2.0s.

Always a blessing to be with you Brethren of the Gloom…

Helmet, out.

Sunday, May 22nd was the end to a great week that demonstrated the amazing influence that F3 can have in our community. After coordinating a snack and drink goods drive to benefit CAH that yielded over 5,000 individually wrapped snacks/drinks the activity day event on Sunday with the kids was an amazing demonstration of the pax stepping into life with these kids for a short time. The will and desire of the men of F3 to step in make an impact is counter cultural and it is a real inspiration to watch unfold! It is a privilege to have a group of men that will sharpen, encourage each other and truly put themselves 3rd.

On the day that what we thought would be a dry day and seemingly the first dry day in over a week. It turned out to be a beautiful day with a mix of sun and clouds. It turns out that an hour after the event the rain returned for one last stand. As Old Bay suggested, God blessed this event with his perfect timing and his perfect plan that was evident in every possible way!

Seventeen PAX plus a multitude of Ms and 2.0s enjoyed time with 25 kids that bussed up from CAH. Watching the caravan of bus and minivans brought goose flesh in anticipation of being able to serve these kids. All the PAX pitched together with the grill masters, Catfish and Cake Boss leading the way preparing the meal, Twister leading COP, Sir Topham Hat and White Lightening leading the balloon toss/fight, Change Order leading the relay races, Deacon leading whiffle ball and Reborn leading disc golf. All the pax chipped in to make this a special event!

The event started with a quick intro and prayer lead by Reborn. Then we moseyed to the center of the field where Twister had a shovel flag! He and Pinkalicious lead the entire pax of ~100 through a series of warm up exercises. Then the group split by age into smaller groups to do the relay races and balloon toss. In typical fashion the balloon toss quickly escalated into a water balloon fight. Then the three activities were introduced (whiffle ball, disc golf and volleyball) and the games were on and everyone went into their game of choice.

Dinner was served promptly at 5:30 with an immediate backlog on the hamburger grill. Cake Boss is not blaming his assistant Twister but there was almost a burger riot and we will Leavitt at that. Catfish was well ahead of schedule on the hot dog grill. We had enough dogs left to have our very own hot dog eating contest but there were no takers on that CSAUP event. Maybe we can incorporate with the Hog and Coyote this year.

Thank you to the men of F3 for your selflessness and eagerness to bring 3rd F to life in humility and sacrifice! I’ve never been more proud to say that I’m part of a group as I am to say that I’m a member of the F3 pax!

Aye!

For His Glory!

Warm up: Well, the weather app on my phone said cloudy.  I guess technically it was, but there was quite a bit of water falling out of those clouds.  No worries – after a clown car showed up and our numbers doubled, we left COT near Nation Ford High School football stadium and embarked on a 5 minute journey through the NaFo bus loop, completing a few knees to chest and toy soldiers before circling up near the USMC JROTC building for some side straddle hops and imperial walkers.

Workout: The HIITs ensued, accompanied by a plethora of mumblechatter!  We broke out the high-tech and waterproofish weinke (amazing what a zip lock baggie can do for a cell phone and Bluetooth speaker), turned on the tunes and got to work.  Since we “happened” to be near the pull-up bars, the PAX completed the upper body circuit consisting of pull-ups, curb Derkins, chin-ups, diamond Merkins, and BTTW.  3 sets of 30 seconds at high intensity x 15 seconds of rest.  The PAX then mosey’d to the Sugar Creek Elementary School bus loop where we completed two more circuits.  Circuit #2 was lower body and included alternating lunges, sumo squats, speed SkateOrDies, fast feet on the curb, and monkey humpers. Circuit #3 was abs!  The mumblechatter was flying!!!  Flutter-kicks, the protractor, pretzel crunches, planks, and V-ups were served up as an all-you-can-eat buffet of washboard in the making!  Again, each of the 3 sets in the last two circuits were 30 seconds of high intensity with 15 seconds of rest.  Mumblechatter at this point was more grunting and groaning than anything recognizable!!!  When the electronic weinke said “done”, the PAX mosey’d back up the hill to COT to round out the morning with name-o-rama, announcements, prayers/praises and BOM.

11 men ascended upon the Tomahawk grounds, eager for a Monday morning shredding courtesy of YHC. The mumble chatter was light and the time was right…and so it began.

Warm-up

Light mosey  around the perimeter of the parking lot mixing in butt kicks, high knees, lunges and the toy soldier

Circle up for:

25 side straddle hop

15 merkins

15 wide-arm merkins

10 diamond merkins

The chest was activated and the breathing elevated.

The Thang

The PAX was partnered up for what would be their Monday morning wake-up call.

Partner 1 – Back pedal to the end of the lot, sprint back to the start while Partner 2 is doing squatted Figure 8’s with the KB. Partners exchange, rinse and repeat (2x)

Partner 1 – Back pedal to the end of the lot, sprint back to the start while Partner 2 is getting in some low and solid form Goblet Squats. Partners exchange, rinse and repeat (2x)

Burpee/KB Swing Ladder

As if the PAX didn’t get in enough burpees last week..Monday starts a new week thus continuing the burpee train

10 Burpees, 10 KB Swings

9 Burpees, 9 KB Swings

8 Burpees, 8 KB Swings and so on down to 1 of each

This was not a one way trip down the ladder but rather just the half-way point as we began our ascent back up mixing in some different exercises

1 KB curl, 1 Diamond Merkin

2 KB curl, 2 Diamond Merkin and so on back up the ladder to 10

With 10 minutes left, there was still plenty of time for pain.

PAX partnered back up, Partner 1 sprinting to the end of the lot with the KB, leaving the KB at the end and sprinting back as Partner 2 held a 6inch plank position…plenty of jokes there “what if I don’t have 6 inches?” Partner 2 sprinted to the end of the lot to retrieve the KB and hustle it back.

Minutes remained and YHC thought it would be a good idea to shred the core

LBC with KB

Flutter with KB raised above head

Box Cutter with KB raised above head

6inches with KB raised above head for a 10 second count down to glory

Moleskin

Prior to the workout, Birdcage was touting his Schwarzenegger like physique that serves as the ultimate goal that we set out to achieve today. I was already nervous following up the strong Patton Q from last week, the kid killed it keeping an army of brutes organized. Socrates woke up 12 minutes before the workout started but heated up quickly and crushed the Diamond merkins. Rebel was un-phased by the burpee ladder and begged for more. Skate or Die had the need for speed and dominated the sprints. Good to see Figaro, Java and Clark Kent getting after it again this week. All men put out a strong effort today. I appreciate the opportunity to lead and to be pushed by all of you this morning. Stay safe, exercise in good form and get after it again tomorrow.

Over and out

General

With all the rain the past several days, I contemplated building an ark and collecting two of every kind. Luckily for 18 other PAX, the rain stopped but the animals still came out to play. Disclaimer was disclaimed, Captain Kangaroo joined us from wherever he parked, and we were off.

The Thang

Warm-Up

• 25 SSH (IC)
• 20 Imperial Walkers (IC)
• 25 Moroccan Night Clubs (IC)
• 10 Low Slow Squats (IC)
• 25 Italian Night Clubs (IC)

Mosey to the Hot Box (TClaps for Creed and his speed)

• 10 Windmills to stretch out before…
• Duck Walk to the 2^nd level of the deck.
• Lunge Walk the short runs
• Monkey Humpers waiting on the 6
• Crab Walk to level 3
• Monkey Humpers waiting on the 6
• Bunny Hops to level 4
• Wall Sits waiting on the 6
• 15 People’s Chair with a clap (IC)
• Bear Crawl Down to level 3
• Flutters waiting on the 6
• 15 Crab Jacks (IC)
• Frog Jumps to level 2
• LBCs waiting on the 6
• Gator Walk to level 1
• Run to the top (full speed)
• Wall of Fire – Take turns doing 5 Merkins each while the PAX waits in People’s Chair

Mosey to Fountain Park for:

• 25 Dips
• 25 Calf Raises

Mosey back to COT

NMM

Awesome work this morning, men. It was a pleasure to lead. Thanks for pushing through the suck (that was a lot of crab). TClaps to our Grantan, CSPAN and the other Fort fellas for crossing the river (Chaser, Double D, Cake Boss). Good to have Sapper and Apollo Creed back after a little bit of time off. Not sure what Waterboy had for breakfast, but that guy was running strong (and fast). Great work this morning Captain Kangaroo. Monday’s are tough, but you are tougher. Nice form on those Merkins, JAG. And for your F3 male models, Tinker Toy, Burgundy, and Apache – very nice BTTW Merkins. Riddler, great encouragement today. Thanks for being sweeper. Schrute, always a pleasure to have you in the PAX. Your mumblechatter is strong! Mayhem, thanks for being a good sport about being our weather wizard. It’s all in love – I promise. Lil’ Bear, you sir are a beast! If we ever have a competition that requires us to send one guy from Rock Hill, we’re sending you for the intimidation factor. Voigt, great work today young gun. When I was 16, I didn’t have half the discipline you have. Incoming, you’ve become a regular. I think it’s time to get you on a Q schedule. Interested?

This morning I shared a message I think many of us can relate to. We often come across a challenge that seems too big to overcome. It could be work stress, family strife, or paying bills. Whatever the challenge is, you can often feel overwhelmed. While on a boat in rough waters during a storm, the disciples came to Jesus and feared they would drown. Jesus asked them, “Why are you so afraid. Do you still have no faith?” How would you respond if Jesus asked you the same question?

Our God is bigger than our challenges. God says to cast your anxieties on Him. Paul reminds us that we can do all things through Christ. So remember, you can get through this. Whatever it is, Christ will give you a peace that passing understanding if you just put your trust in Him. If you want a rainbow, you have to put up with the rain.

Announcements

Read your newsletter

• New kettlebell AO at Academy Sports in Rock Hill launches tomorrow May 24. This does not replace Eagle’s Nest, but is a new alternative for our PAX.
• New bootcamp AO soft launches Thursday, May 26 at Hickory Tavern on Celanese. This does not replace ManU, but is a new alternative for our PAX.
• Memorial Day Murph Monday, May 30 after your regular workout. Starts at 0640 at Nations Ford High School.
• Hog and Coyote is coming up June 18 at 0600. Plan to be there for this epic CSAUP. Details here.
• 1 Year Winnsboro Convergence June 4 at 0600. Details here.

Prayer Requests

• Tinker Toy’s friend moving to Florida. Pray for guidance for the young man as he changes locales and builds a new life.
• Riddler’s pastor is taking a new role with the SC Baptist Association. Pray for him and the church as they transition to new leadership.
• Continued prayers for Boots at boot camp.

Praises

• Sapper’s veterans affairs group just gain full accredation.
• Cake Boss’s friend just accepted Christ. Let’s praise together.