Touchdown!

Thanks Slapshot for letting me Q the morning after Penn State season opener that didn’t end till after midnight…at least we WON! So seeing that football season is here, incorporated some of my son’s HS football training into the weinke.

COP: SSH (Bonasi was shocked this was the first exercise), windmills, IW, LSS. Counts were in touchdown points.

Still in COP, crowd favorite: Up / Downs

Mossy to HT side wall, wall sits while PAX sprint to O’Reilys building and complete 1 burpee.

Mossy to back of Express Oli for 10 steps up per leg

Mossy to bottom of road to Evolve Apartments. Run the hill to Tega Cay Drive 6 times (points for a touchdown), and for extra point, ran the grass hill.

Round of Flutters and leg raises

Another round of Up / Downs

Score was tied with 2 minutes left, ran the hill 3xs.

Round of Merkins

Mossy to back of O’Reilys for 10 more step ups, 14 irkins, 7 derkins

Mossy to wall for repeat wall sit/burpees

Mossy to COT for last round of Up / Downs and abs lead by Bonsai and Skipper (I think)

Thanks for oportunity!

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S.H.O.W.E.R. C.U.R.T.A.I.N.

WARMUP: 2 line running, high knees, butt kickers, side straddles, that kind of thing, . . .
THE THANG:
S
Sleep Walkers 123 – Squat, windmill, reverse lunges, 1,2,3, then 2,4,6, . . . keep going . . . !

H
Hurricane Hoedown – Flutters 7 X 4 exercises X 6X

O
One-legged Burpee -13 on leg of choice

W
Wave of Merkins – We got to 5 around the circle

E
El Capitan – deep walking lunge going up a small hill. The lunge has the back leg straight out behind you, your front leg at 90 degrees or less – both hands go fully on the ground in merkin position on the inside of your front leg. Return to a standing position and repeat the lunge until you reach the top of the hill.

R
Rampage – 13 finger tip dips, bear crawl down the hill, 13 sumo squats, crawl bear back up the hill, 13 regular dips, bear crawl down the hill, 13 sumo squats, crab walk back up the hill

C
Catch Me If You Can – Two partners. Partner 1 performs 10 Diamond Merkins and then sprints to catch the Partner 2, who has been running sprinting to the goal post and running back to start

U
Up downs
A mix between chopping your feet or high knees. On my signal chest hits the dirt and bounce back up and we resumed chopping or high knees.

R
Red Bull Smurf Jack
Exceptionally high-tempo cadence at 3 times the speed of a normal cadence. Did in cadence, no less than 20. 20 is challenging, 30 will take your breath away, and 40 would be a very high level of achievement.

T
Triple Check
Teams of three. First man in a peoples chair, second man in front of him in plank, third man sprints 100 yards and back, rinse and repeat times three.

A
Alarm Clock
Lie on ground- back of head and heels touching ground. Get up (as quickly as possible). Hop up. Rinse, repeat. Did 15.

I
Inch-Worm N’Diayes
Proceed with a standard inch-worm but when you get completely stretch out in plank, perform a Makhtar N’Diayes before completing the remainder of the inch-worm. Did 8.

N
Nolan Ryan
Start in a side plank position with your ungrounded arm extended. Complete a punching motion as if someone, namely Robin Ventura, were under your other arm. Did 6.

MARY: n/a
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Read your newsletter. Labor Day 2 hour morning event at 6 am. Be there is you dare!
COT: Prayers for the injured, PAX to be leaders
MESSAGE: Focus on kindness by way of your nonverbals and your verbal talk. Especially between 3-8 pm each day when you are tired!

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A little mist in the gloom

WARMUP: various warmups done
THE THANG: partner up-100 merkins, 200 Bobby hurleys, 300 single count mtn climbers.
Mosey to wall- wall sits while pax broad jump length of group x 2, 10 step ups, 10 derkins, 10dips at courtyard x 3 sets, mosey to playground 5,4,3,2,1 pull-ups and burpees. Indian run back to COT for 1 to 2 min of Mary.
MARY:
ANNOUNCEMENTS: final countdown, dam 2 dam, trash pickup
COT: prayers for metro brothers family, prayer for marriages, pray for bobbers friend who was at incident where one of his friends was tragically killed.

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HIMs for Humanity

We all understand the level of humility that’s needed to ask for help, especially in instances where we feel as if it’s within our scope of abilities. Now imagine having to ask for help to take care some of the basic human needs.

I’m grateful to grow up in a privileged home and seeing the example set where my parents were willing to give back and help those who could barely help themselves. That’s a huge drive for me to be a steward of humanity. It’s our responsibility to help take care of those who don’t have the means to do so regardless of the reason.

That’s the principle the Fort Mill Care Center is built on. They are an organization fully operated by a non paid staff willing to help those in need. They are fully funded by individuals, businesses, and organizations who give to help them make a change. As HIM and leaders in this community, it is also our responsibility to help out in any way we can.

Lookout for notices from PAX and Site Qs that will be accepting donations at their AOs. There’s a convergence being planned near the end of the month to wrap this up.

Thank you in advance for your efforts to help make a difference.

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The Forts fastest AO

Tuesday July 12th seabiscuit becomes the Forts newest official AO. Join us in the parking lot of Blues smokehouse @5:15am at the corner of Doby’s bridge rd and the bypass. This is going to be a speed based running AO, geared towards improving overall speed. If you’re not fast, then this is for you. If you are fast, this is also for you. It’s kinda like Disney, there’s something for everyone.

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Quagmire moving to Earth Fare next Monday

Quagmire is relocating to the same startEx as sweep the leg. We have tried to keep a presence in the Steele Creek area for years since Lake Wylie launched as its own region and the PAX numbers have faded since. What used to be the middle ground has now became an island. I feel like a failure giving up on it but am greatful for the opportunity to have more time to coffeeteria after the workout and fellowship. Come out and have a cup of Steele Creeks finest coffee around Monday. See you in the gloom.

Olaf

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Through A Different Lens

Through a Different Lens

F3 (www.f3nation.com) has been an integral part of me becoming the type of person, the type of man, I am today. This development process is a long journey, absent a finish line. This process can be frustrating as one never truly arrives at an end point. The journey is full of mistakes and learning opportunities we call waypoints, along the path of becoming the man you were created to become.

As of this past weekend in mid-May, there have been 28 GrowRuck Training Exercises, or GTE, executed during the 10-year existence of F3. These events are leadership training weekends where participants are taught virtuous leadership principles and then tested to put their learning into practice. I have participated in 3, Louisville, Myrtle Beach and this past weekend in Northwest Arkansas. All these events, both those I’ve participated in and those I have not, are uniquely their own. They have their own leadership team planning them, often times have different members of the Trainer and Cadre teams executing them and different men signing up to participate in the hopes they experience the same memory-making, life-changing moments they’ve heard about from events past. GTE’s are an excellent way to cement the development process for a man.

I’ve had those life-changing moments and often talk of the physical and mental challenges our teams have overcome. It is a fantastic way for men to learn life lessons as they’re expected to implement leadership teachings during frequent periods of high stress and limited visibility. What made NW Arkansas different?

First, I was flying in to participate in this event with my brother-in-law of 16+ years whom I’ve known for over 20. He is my wife’s brother and is also the leader of the regional F3 group hosting this GTE. In addition to the family connection, we were on the same team or as we say it, we were in the same Platoon. We often rucked side by side, each having some kind of heavy object hoisted onto our shoulders providing an additional challenge. Under such conditions, much didn’t have to be spoken. There is now a shared connection that just exists because of that experience. Sure, family vacations and Christmas dinners will now include inside jokes or “remember when” stories, but it’s the bond gained through shared adversity that grows the relationship.

Second, I was a Trainer alongside a great friend of mine, Frank. As a Trainer, you have a few primary functions during the weekend. In the beginning, Trainers rally the men and walk through the plan and expectations for the weekend. Trainers execute the Saturday morning workout consisting of leadership principles taught in F3. The major function of Trainers, requiring the most investment, is leading the 3-hour training session we call Grow School during which we teach these principles in a classroom setting and share personal experiences to support the content. This content comes from the book written by F3’s co-Founder, Dave Redding, Q Source (https://f3nation.com/q-source/). Trainers go “Under the Log” and participate like every other man. The difference here, however, is that Trainers cannot offer suggestions or advice, or serve in a leadership capacity during the event. They are to suffer and celebrate in all the same ways the rest of their team does. As I learned this weekend, this is where the magic happens.

The final element that made this weekend different was the connection made with several of the men in our Platoon. Those men know who they are as we pushed each other throughout the event, learned of very similar life experiences or, they presented an opportunity of personal investment. That’s one of the many special things about these events, it is about way more than “just” a 14-hour ruck event. Bonds are created through shared adversity.

While these and other experiences from this weekend stay with me, it is that role as a trainer I want to dig into a bit more. I’m 41 years old and have a history of surrounding myself, and in some cases, befriending, older men. I just tend to hang around guys that are a few years my senior. In doing so, I often pick up on their knowledge and listen to pieces of wisdom that stick with me. Rarely do I consider myself as a source of wisdom for other men. So, as a trainer, one is forced to be in the wisdom sharing role. Leading up to this unique opportunity, I studied and asked men whose opinion I value all sorts of questions about my preparation, what aspects I should dig in on and more broadly, their advice on how to present this material.

The training went well. While I went long on some points and rushed through others, I believe the material I presented was conveyed in a manner easily digested. I got vulnerable with the roughly 60 men in attendance in sharing how I’ve misaligned priorities, led selfishly and have eventually surrounded myself with men to hold me accountable. In the days since GTE28, I’ve had a few men contact me and thank me for sharing about my life and even talked about how it is causing them to think differently. That’s about as good as it gets.

Then, we went under the log. Frank talks about his passion of “unlocking” men for their true purpose. This isn’t a vocational unlocking but a true, life-meaning, unlocking and discovery of your purpose for living this life. Over the course of the event, under extreme physical duress, exhausted, hungry, frustrated, and possibly even regretting their choice to be there, I witnessed a few men become unlocked. They were transformed from deer staring into the headlights to men that assessed a situation and jumped into action. Their action threw their own personal comfort out the window because after all, they weren’t in this event for themselves. Sure, it’s nice to overcome something physically hard, but they kept pushing because that’s what they expected from other men in the Platoon, to keep pushing. In other words, they weren’t going to let you quit.

A man will quit on himself before he will quit on another man. We had plenty of time to ponder quitting. While carrying a ladder weighted down with fire hoses, sandbags, logs and our own ~40lb rucks, one could rationalize quitting in today’s world. But guess what? We weren’t living in today’s world this past weekend. The actions by men, most whom I’d not previously met, were inspiring. I witnessed a man in his 20’s take over the lead role and absolutely crush it. We completed every challenge with time to spare, knew the expectations and found ways to support the team. I witnessed a teenager lead men 2-3 times his age, including his own father. As soon as one becomes concerned about the generation behind you and its ability to engage, he put an end to that thought. It wasn’t perfect but you’d be hard pressed to find another 15-year-old with the courage and fortitude to take that on.

I witnessed a man puking on a field come back and excel during this event. I witnessed a man who’s never led even a small workout go on to lead us through a mock casualty exercise. I witnessed the silent courage of countless men focus on everything else but their own personal suck, just so that they could be a motivating force for others.

In the end, I had a few men come up to me, face to face, hug me and thank me for the role I played. You see, I’ve always found myself on the receiving end of other men giving of themselves. This time, I gave some of myself away because I was honored to be asked and I cared about these guys before I even knew their names. These men in Arkansas, from around the country, thanked me because I cared about them. I encouraged them to press on, physically, and in their lives back home.

Imagine if we could get every man to step into an experience like this, realizing it’s about way more than carrying a weighted ruck for a few hours. What if we all had the life-changing experience to recognize we get to invest in others and be invested into, while going through shared challenges? In 41 years, I’ve not found an environment better than a GTE where a man can fail then overcome, on his way to becoming a more unlocked man. It is a process, and a very rewarding one at that.

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