BLOOD CANCER UNITED LIGHT | THE NIGHT | TEAM EMMA

Brothers, this one is personal for me. When my daughter Emma was diagnosed with leukemia at 2½ years old, F3 was a saving grace for me and my family. Now, eight years cancer free, Emma has been selected as the 2026 Charlotte Light The Night Honored Hero.

I would love to see the PAX from The Fort, Rock Hill and Lake Wylie come out and support her. If you feel called to donate, we greatly appreciate it, but what is more important to me is that you sign up, bring your M and 2.0s, and come walk with us. We will have a VIP area for Team Emma and I would love to fill it up with F3 families.

Saturday, November 14
Festival starts at 4:30 PM
American Legion Memorial Stadium at CPCC

We were fortunate to make it through this fight, and there are a lot of families out there still fighting it. Come out, walk with Emma, and help us support them.

Join Team Emma or donate here:
Welcome to Team Emma’s Fundraising Page

Hope to see a bunch of you guys out there. Aye!

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Week 4 of 4 Shield-Lock-September

WARMUP: yes
THE THANG:
2 laps around the theater (apparently that's a far distance)
11’s with Burpees and Jump Squats
Ab Webb ft. Straight leg Freddy Mercurys
MARY: hold a plank and then American hammers
ANNOUNCEMENTS: newsletter
COT: yes

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Kumquat

WARMUP: BC led that….it involved burpees in cadence, but only after some creative running

THE THANG: Split into 3 groups, was gonna be 4, but Tesh was late. Rotated at Esso's whistle. Band Camp's job was to travel the groups in reverse and …… "encourage" full completion of the exercises

Esso had arms
Shady had core
Slash had legs

It was pretty solid. We know this because Esso could barely move his arms after doing it 3 times, Shady has a massive F3 tramp stamp from the situps, and Slash actually worked out the full duration according to all accounts

MARY: Again Band Camp called more burpees.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Newsletter
14th year convergence at WEP on 9/29

COT: We discussed why shield lock is important. AND that it may not work the first….or second….or third time you try to form one. A man leads from his shield lock, without it I'm not going to be the leader I'm capable of being.

It's kinda like having access to outside consultants who know what's up and are tasked with being honest to you even when you don't want it.

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Pipe Hitters Shieldlock Q

14 at Lazarus for a Pipe Hitters Shieldlock beatdown. Here’s what we did:

Warm-up

  • 5 Merkins (IC)
  • 5 Low Slow Squats (IC)
  • 10 SSHs (IC)

The Thang
Island Hopping with Maximus

  • Run to 2nd island, run back, 10 Mtn Climbers
  • Run to 4th island, run back, 10 V-Ups
  • Run to 6th island, run back, 10 Mtn Climbers
  • Run to last island, run back, 10 V-Ups

Mosey to mid-lot

  • 10 Rounds Captain Thors (1:4 American Hammers, Flutters)

Handoff to Italian Job
Mosey to the Movie Theatre fountain

  • 1 Round of Rolling Thunder (Irkin/Dip repeat around the fountain)
  • 15 step ups
  • 20 Calf Raises Regular
  • 20 Calf Raises In
  • 20 Calf Raises Out

Mosey to side wall

  • 10 Wall Sits (IC)
  • 10 Dirty Hook-ups (IC)
  • 10 Reverse Dirty Hook-ups (IC)
  • 10 Bulgarian Split Wall Squats Left (IC)
  • 10 Bulgarian Split Wall Squats Right (IC)
  • 10 Wall LBC’s (IC)
  • 10 Australian Mountain Climbers (IC)
  • 10 Count Stretch

Handoff to Dark Helmet
Long Mosey to Greek Grill

  • 10 OH Chair Press (IC)
  • 10 Mike Tysons, run across the parking lot, 5 Burpees (3 Rounds)
  • Bear Crawl 30 yards

Long Mosey back to COT

  • 15 Flutters (IC)
  • 15 Hello Dollies (IC)

NMM
We were honored to lead this morning. Helmet shared some eloquent words about the value of having men in your life to speak truth, no matter if it hurts. If you don’t have those men, find them. It will enrich your life.

-IJ

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Running at a rucking ao

WARMUP: start running
THE THANG: ran back around the school and out towards Walmart(this is where we spotted gecko out after his 21 mile run yesterday) go around Walmart and out Hubert Graham towards Gold Hill, right on Gold Hill right on 160 back to COT
MARY: stop running
ANNOUNCEMENTS: coffee time
COT:

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Something of an Old Testament

WARMUP: Goose set the stage with an intro to Shield Lock September, then handed the baton to Pusher

THE THANG:

Pusher — he led the charge (literally) out of the parking lot to the corner leading toward Red Ventures where he led a series of exercises interspersed with Burpees and Disruption. He then took the pax back to the parking lot for a series of sprints and lunges.

Cake Boss — he led the pax on a mosey to the plaza in front of the movie theater where pax grabbed a partner for some exercises (Dips, Derkins, Irkins and more) on the flower bed wall while flapjacking with an out-and-back run.

Double D — took the pax on a mosey to the al fresco dining area between ice cream shop and Greek joint. Pax grabbed a chair for 3 series of step-ups and planks/core exercises. All moseyed back to the parking lot to complete a final 10 Burpees before COT.

MARY: She participated throughout the Thang

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Bethel shelter meal TONIGHT!!! Shield Lock Qs continue throughout September at Lazarus.

COT: We had a lively group of pax that sweated profusely and laughed fully about Goose's plan for October (WAGs month!) and Pauly D's "proceeding hair line" among other topics. It was great to have an age spread of 31 to 59 and F3 tenure ranging from 3 workouts to 14 years. Goose has the MILGA spirit flowing at full speed at Lazarus! Thanks for the invite to our Shield Lock! And shout out to our 4th SL member (Old Bay) who couldn't join us today.

The core message shared throughout the workout was "don't do life alone!" We all face challenges and Disruption in our lives and we all need Faith that takes an active human form of brothers surrounding us to get through those times. Our F3 brothers we see in the Gloom provide one level of support, AND the most reliable support will come from those who are CLOSEST to us, those few men we've truly opened our hearts to through regular vulnerability aimed at shared accountability. So take the risk and step into the uncomfortable zone of bonding with 2-3 other pax at a similar stage of life in a committed Shield Lock.

Thanks to the pax who posted today and helped my Shield Lock appreciate the gift we are to each other!

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Push it to the limit

WARMUP:
SSH
Imp Walkers
Moroccan nightclubs
Michael Phelps
Squats
Merkins
Broga

THE THANG:
Ladder interval up downs

Merkins and Squats
MOT Bear Crawl

LBC Jump Squats
MOT Lunges

Dora with shared bag

Merkins
Big boys
Imp Walkers

Carolina Dry Docks
Dips
LBC

50
100
150

Mosey w bag back to COT

MARY:
Stretching

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Pizza

COT:
Prayers for family and health

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Egypt > Desert > Promised Land

WARMUP: in cadence/out of cadence exercises including some windmills, some toy soldiers, some SSH, and an Elf movie reference from @U02DKM63B7B
THE THANG: We were taken out of Egypt into the Desert and into the Promised Land. Fleeing Egypt, we moved down the lot with repeated stops for 20 merkins and 10 squats, a reminder that freedom takes effort. In the Desert, we focused on endurance over speed, hitting 4 corners at a steady pace with some big boy sit-ups and low/slow squats (at a quantity I cannot currently recall because of the complaints being thrown my way.) We repeated the other 4 corners with some diamond merkins. After a perimeter run, Joshua 1:8 was shared to encourage us as we entered the Promised Land where we reversed direction around the (working) lights with 3 “easy” jump squats. Closing out we embraced a few more merkins and a mosey back to COT.
MARY: big boy sit-ups and squats countdown from 5
ANNOUNCEMENTS: @U0603USPHAS invited some feedback on the Q with mostly positive feedback which is unfortunate, but still appreciated. If I wanted to have my ego stroked I’d go to Orange Theory. @U0A739SGTL3 mentioned garbage pickup next Saturday somewhere. I was interested because it reminded me of the 210 hours of community service the judge hit me with years ago. @U0603USPHAS also shared a discussion event happening on August 28th at Forest Hill in Fort Mill at 6:30am called The Excavation.
COT: Prayers for @U06Q8DSSV5Y to get back out here and lean on brothers during this difficult time. Prayers for Mint Hill’s Windex to get back out and to be the one receiving encouragement. Prayers for all of us to understand the power of our words and the gift of being able to speak them.

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