Category: Alcatraz

The Sweati

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The Sweati
8/15/2020

Want to Run or Ruck and Sweat? Join YHC for both. Let’s get out of your comfort zone.

Come out and enjoy 5.75 miles of running or rucking. Included with your ticket is 3 pain stations that will test out if you have been posting to workouts over the summer/ Covid pandemic. This has been and will continue to be the summer sweatdown.

Launch from Coliseum (1025 Dave Gibson Blvd) you will be told where to go next.

Ruck- depart 0530
Run- depart 0600

Water will be available at pain stations. Bring your own if you are against trash.

Coffee will be provided by The Fort. Donations to the fund are accepted.

Q Source will follow at this site. Please bring chair and Q Source manual (not required)
Q source will start shortly after PAX catch there breathe.

Fellowship, popsicles, and coffee to follow.

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34

Dropkicked at The Rock

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BAOPS. It’s an acronym  that Trucker has been pushing, almost devoting himself to, with regard to the AO, Alcatraz, he now oversees. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last several weeks, let me enlighten you on Tega Cay’s own “Rock.”

Rather than being on its own island, our version of Alcatraz is almost at the end of a peninsula. Rather than water with treacherous currents, our version has streets with treacherous hills.
Just as you have to plan some extra time to get to THAT Alcatraz, you also have to plan some extra drive time to get to our version of Alcatraz…it’s way down TC Drive.

When Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was in operation, it housed the hardest, most notorious criminals of its day. In Trucker’s verbiage, BAOPS stands for the “Baddest Area of Operations (AO) for Pain on Saturday.” Consistent with the last several weeks, some of the most hard-charging PAX from The Fort & Rock Hill (The Rock-how fitting) posted at Alcatraz this morning. Some even thought they rolled up on a convergence when they drove in with all the cars.

21 PAX (welcome Suplex) joined Router & YHC for a total of 23 to embark on a twist of a workout this morning. It’s been a minute since we’ve had Router post with us but consistent with our memory, he was prepared to bring it. After we were disclaimed and he shared with us his plan to put us through some conditioning (as part of the strength & conditioning workout), we took off for a warm-up mosey, ultimately leading us to the top of “the hill” on the back side of the park. This time however, we’d be going the other direction.
So here’s the deal, we’re running segments, of which there are 3. Segment 1, you’re running to your “pukey” limit. You know what that is; the place you get to where you’re about to splash. Yeah, get in that zone. Run it to the stop sign just past the Firehouse and do a recovery run back to the start. Then pukey-limit run to the stop sign and run to what amounts to the trail entrance just past the COT parking lot and recovery run the remaining trek back to the start. Now, pukey run that whole thing. Oh no, then….do a few more of those segments again but honestly, this is where the wheels started to come off as the PAX spread out and nobody was exactly sure what to do next . So, some ran more, some did some mary and some picked up the six. Yup, just as planned.
Then…oh dear Lord, this is where we take it to the next phase and you think your heart is going to pop out of your eye socket. Router takes us to the bottom of the hill, yes that hill. He explains his plan for 30/60/90. Fortunately, we never made it to 90 but nevertheless, when he says GO, we’re to take off up the hill, running for 30 seconds until he says stop. Yeah, that was tough but he made us go back down the hill to do the 60. Run up the hill and keep running for 60 seconds. Now that was B-RUTAL. Fortunately it was now 0701 and it was time to hand off to Maximus for the strength portion of the strength & conditioning.

With Max on Q, we would slow mosey (oh, thank you) back to the parking lot, pull a Switzer at one end and drop to a plank (ala Honey Badger). Next up, a nod to a USMC Serviceman named Cpl Albert (Bert) Gettings, 27, of New Castle, PA. Yup, we’re doing a modified BERT. If you’ve never done the real Bert, go give it a run and recap it to me afterward. Cpl. Albert Gettings was killed in action Jan 5, 2009 while conducting counter-sniper operations in Fallujah, Iraq. He was serving as a team leader with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, NC.

HERE WE GO!!!
25 Burpees
50m Bear Crawl to the other end of the parking lot
50 Hand-Release Merkins
50m Bear Crawl
80 Walking lunges
Bear Crawl back
50 Squats
50m Bear Crawl
80 Carolina Dry Docks
50m Bear Crawl
Mary til the six is in

In closing, please do yourself a favor, push yourself to do something more challenging than what you thought you were capable of. Not just in the 1st F although that is a great start, but in the 2nd & 3rd, too. This world needs it now and frankly, you’ve been built and called for this. Do not be a wallflower.

Announcements: Gears starting a new hard-hitting AO this Monday, 6/1. Classroom Ready partnership oppty coming soon from Bonsai, Q-Source is for everyone, AO’s opening back up week of 6/8, big ‘ol convergence 7/11 and several other announcements.

Prayer Request: PAX going through job/life transitions. Our country always but especially now with community tensions. Health of family/friends.

SYITG
Router & Maximus

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5

Preparedness- Are You Prepared?

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Attn #HIM of the The Fort and Lake Wylie,

Preparedness is discussed in Foundation Point F5 of the the Q- Source.  As Defined Preparedness is: Getting Ready for the Expected While being Ready for The Unexpected. This is an all encompassing need to us as men.  It is valid in all parts out our lives;  Father, husband, boss, team member, Site-Q, WO Q ect.

The purpose for this pre-blast is in regards to life saving measures that Pax can take in the event of an unexpected medical emergency at home, work, or at an AO.  We have talked about it in Site-Q Meetings and at the last Invergence.

Last week HomeBrew ,a Pax from Lake Wylie, who is near and dear to our hearts, had just this type of medical emergency come crashing down on him after his 2.0 suffered a Febrile Seizure and stopped breathing.  He had no training but HAD to ACT. So he mimicked what he had seen on TV and was able to revive her before EMS was able to arrive.  Good On Ya for maintaining a cool head and doing what needed to be done.  CPR and Faith in the Sky Q is what saved her life.  I have maintained CPR/AED/First Aid certification for 6-8 years now for work.  I feel better knowing that if I am put in that sort of situation I have at minimum the base knowledge to try and keep someone alive till EMS-Fire arrive on site to take over.

Here is what HomeBrew and I are proposing.  This will be a friendly competition between The Fort and Lake Wylie regions.  From 4-1 to 4-15 every PAX from either region that completes certification or re-certifies in CPR/ AED/First Aid he and I + the Nan’tan and 1st F Q will complete 5 burpees.   The region that draws the most new or recerts will pass that number on to the “Loser”, but honestly- Who really loses in this situation? IE The Fort get 30 pax LKW gets 20 pax = LKW will do 150 burpees. The Fort will do 100. As you all know, I HATE BURPEES, but have committed to drive action across the regions.

The Certification I have been using comes from NationalCPRFoundation.com.  It is Red Cross compliant and should take between 30 mins to 1 hour to complete.  It is free unless you decide to purchases the hard copy certificates.  We will require a screen shot/ picture Tweeted or slacked to both HomeBrew and myself of the completed training for a CPR/AED/First aid at the end.  It will be added to the spreadsheet we will use to document Pax completion. The certification is good for 2 years.

It is highly recommended that All Site Qs get on board with this effort, but all PAX can benefit from this training. What better way to show leadership than making sure the Pax that Post to your AO know you have that training and are ready to act in the even that someone goes down.

Please join us in this and lets Ensure we are Prepared for the unexpected. Stay tuned to TwEETAR for a message from Homebrew.

Thanks

Duck Dynasty  🦆👑and HomeBrew 🏠🍺

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3

“Backblasting” sans Trucker with a few Zimamiles

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10 gathered on a chilly morning.  YHC and JWOW were the first to arrive.  After JWOW got his passport stamped and was granted entry into Tega Cay, a pre-emptive stroll took place around the grounds before PAX began to trickle in.  At 1 minute before launch, a Zima sighting took place.  Once it was confirmed that no FNGs were present (there weren’t).  Disclaimers were given and off we moseyed around the ballfield to circle up.

COP – SSH x 10, Windmills x 10, Cherry Pickers x 10, Merkins x 10, Mountain Climbers x 10, Down Dog, Up Dog and a quick recovery followed by a short mosey to the First base line.

JWOW decided it would be a good idea to partner for a DORA 1-2-3 where partner #1 runs up a hill (aka Mt. Mulch) while partner #2 exercises.  The 100 was burpees (this was met with little to no approval), 200 squats (YHC’s form was subtly corrected by Geronimo – thank you, guardrail) and 300 flutters.  The climb was steep and the mulch made for fun later.

Following the DORA, PAX went to the base of Mt. Mulch where JWOW called for partner pushes – one pushing the other up the hill while the other leaned downhill against the other.  YHC was displeased when Gears decided to be especially difficult on this, but we persisted and reached the top along with all other PAX.  A lunge walk back down (carefully) Mt. Mulch and we switched positions.  After a successful round 2 of partner pushes and lunge walks, JWOW decided to call time and hand off to YHC for the second half.

We moseyed on the running path around Runde Park stopping at 4 spots along the way.

Stop #1 – Circle up for 5 burpees (because we had not done enough already), followed by a people’s chair with arms out.  While holding the people’s chair, we did 10 double count Moroccan night clubs and 10 shoulder taps in cadence. Mosey to:

Stop #2 – 4 burpees OYO

Stop #3 – 3 burpees OYO

Stops #4 & #5 – 2 burpees OYO and 1 burpee OYO

A quick 10 count was called and a mosey back to the ballfield to go “around the horn” for the main event of the second half.

YHC called for a change in partners so PAX switched up and we began a 4 corner beatdown that earned many not so subtle comments from PAX.

At each cone, PAX were to partner up and do the following:

Round 1 – 10 burpees, 20 hand slap merkins, 30 sumo squats (hands touch the ground) – rinse and repeat at cones 2, 3 & 4 for a sum total for 40 burpees, 80 hand slap merkins and 120 sumo squats.  PAX were pleased…..sort of.

Round 2 – 10 hand release hand slap merkins, 20 jumping lunges, 30 big boy sit ups – rinse and repeat at each of the 4 cones for a sum total of 40 hand release hand slap merkins, 80 jumping lunges and 120 big boy sit ups.

YHC and Cornhole strategically moved to a different cone from other PAX as “backblasting” had commenced prior to the workout ending.  Before round 2 was completed,  Zima eloquently observed that the exercises addressed opportunities for improvement: #truestory

Unfortunately, round 3 would have to be saved for another time as PAX completed round 2 at 0726.  We moseyed to the parking lot for 5 more burpess OYO and 2 minutes of Abs:

15 boxcutters in cadence

Protractor at different degrees (0 degrees was the crowd favorite)

In honor of Zima, a 30 second body destroyer was called.  0730 and COT was upon us.

Announcements – Read your newsletter – lots happening including the Yeti next weekend.

Prayers were offered for Fishstick’s Dad battling cancer, JWOW’s friend Anthony battling addictions and keeping his jesters at bay, for safe travels for Bonsai and his M this week and for families and our patience.

NMM – YHC (Q #2) was to lead a Q Source discussion following the workout and it reinforced the very thing that we must keep top of mind as to why we post.  We are, as PAX, one another’s guardrails.  We keep one another on the right path toward living 3rd and being better for those around us.  Regardless of where you are in your journey – 1st, 2nd or 3rd F’s.  Get out, post often, and plug into this great group of #HIMs.  Acceleration can not be achieved in isolation.  We go through nothing alone when we choose.

Thanks to JWOW for splitting this morning’s Q and to Smuggler for the opportunity.  YHC’s first post ever was at Alcatraz.  It was great to get back out with a fantastic group of #HIMs.

Honored,

Cyclops & JWOW

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4

Six Pack of Q’s

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Six posted to Alcatraz for a Q-less workout.
Due to YHC’s failure to schedule in advance, all PAX we’re voluntold and cooperated FULLY.

Gears led off with a mosey lap, broken up with a variety of burpees, merkins, and other such miserable-ness.

YHC took the second 10 minute block to hit the pull up bars, and the hill. One trip down, a few burpees, and a bear crawl and mosey up.

Decibel stepped up to lead a second round of loops on the hill with stops at the bottom and top for squats and ab work.

Maximus led a core burner with a lot of flip flopping between  ab and core work. And yes there were burpees.

Trucker then took is on at least a half mile of squat shuffles, and then… PULL- UPS with dips and step ups.

Fish Sticks closed out the last 10 minutes with a series of mixed motion exercises across the basketball courts with bear crawls, merkins, crab walks, LBC’s, crawl bears, and Carolina dry docks.  And yes, there were burpees in the form of burpee broad jumps.

Announcements: Children’s Attention Home this afternoon, Cupid Run and Yeti coming up.

Prayers for marriages and remembering our role of service in our concentrica.

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6

Late Night Q Takeover

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A quick Friday night Slack-scrolling showed me who was Qing at Milkshake & The Fort but I didn’t see any name or listing for Alcatraz. So, this led me to ask the region the question of, “Yo, who’s at Alcatraz?” After some cricket banter and off-channel comz with last week’s co-Q, Bonsai, we decided it’ll be us to Q at the sometimes forgotten AO.

With Bonsai on the front half of the 60mins, we were welcomed and disclaimed. Next, we moseyed around the path at the park and did a little warming up with 50xSSH (angry fella), Stretching, Cherry Pickers (even a little left to right action) and Hillbilly Walkers.

As plagiarism is the most sincere form of flattery, Bonsai took a page out of Pusher’s playbook for a series of 1min AMRAP with a mosey to each station. Remember, 1min of each:

Merkins then run to the Fire Station boat for LBC’s then run to Fire Station parking lot for Carolina Dry Docks then run back just past the Fire Station boat for Monkey Humpers then to the basketball court for Flutters. We then repeated it for a second round but added at least 1 rep to each of your previous numbers at each station.

Then the hand off to Maximus.

Mosey off campus to the bottom of the hill at the front end of the neighborhood. Run up the hill, wait for the 6, jog down and get ~5-10sec to catch your breath. Repeat 4 more times for a total of 5 trips up the hill. Once the heart rates were peaked, we went back on campus to the parking lot which we wouldn’t leave again.

Round 1: Captain Thor (evidently this was popular yesterday) with 1 Big Boy situp & 4 American Hammers. Continue in that sequence to 10:40.

Round 2: Jack Webb (also popular) with 1 Push Up & 4 Overhead Claps. Continue in that sequence to 10:40.

Round 3: Lt. Dans (definitely not a crowd pleaser) with 1 Squat (which was the breather) and 4 Jumping Lunges. Continue in that sequence to 10:40.

That was it. For the 8 of us that posted at Alcatraz yesterday, we’re better for it. Sore yes…but better.

Make it count.

Bonsai & Maximus

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1

Hills and More Hills

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Nine men showed up this chilly morning to get better.  It was nice to see Walker venture up from Rock Hill to show us how things are done.  After the disclaimer, Senator Tressell kicked us off.

Mosey out of the parking lot, take the path to the back of the park, down the big hill, hang a left and go up to the cul-de-sac on Mariner’s Court for COP. All in cadence:

SSH x 30, Merkin x 10, Squat x 20, IW x 20, Freddie Mercury x 20, Carolina Dry Dock x 20, Mountain Climber x 25, Jumping lunge x 15, Moroccan Night Club x 40 and begin walking toward the bottom of the hill.

Mosey back up the hill to the pull-up bars along the path park. Split into 4 groups:

Group 1: 5 burpee pull-ups
Group 2: Big Boy Sit-ups
Group 3: Merkins
Group 4: Step-ups

Rinse/repeat until time runs out

Hand off to Fish Sticks

Mosey to the bottom of short hill, backwards run up the hill to the top.  Back down to the bottom, lunge walk up to the top and back down to the bottom.

Ran down the side street and up the hill to the corner.  One set of dips (15) on the landscape timbers.

Mosey back to the park for some boulder exercises:  Overhead press (15) and curls (15).

Ran to the baseball field, split up into two groups.  The first group ran to the outfield fence, jumped over the fence, and did 5 bomb jacks (no jump over the fence, 15 bomb jacks). The second group planked until the first group returned.

Round two:  5 burpees at the top of the hill (no jump over the fence, 20 burpees).  Olaf chose to take the 20 burpees option (great example of choosing to do difficult things to make you better).

Round three:  bomb jack option.

Mosey back to the basketball court for six minutes of Mary.

COT

Prays for all who are battling cancer along with their families supporting them.

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2

PRE-BLAST: The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants (AKA: #BTP)

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Willpower is only the trigger to get a person started on a positive habit (#Brick). In order to maintain and continue #Bricklaying, a person needs to change the mental and physical environment in which they live, so that the habit can develop the “muscle memory” needed to go the distance. My #DRP list is lengthening, as is my ability to have #IMPACT in the men around me, and the following is intended to continue to put me on the right trajectory.

For the year of 2020, my word is “GO”.  In an effort to continue to #Accelerate my 1stF, and beginning on 1/6/20, I am instituting (for myself and anyone who wants to join me) an EC (Extra Credit) 15 minutes (of Boot Camp or running, or maybe even Broga) prior to every 45 minute workout. I will tweet and Slack the location with the hashtag #BTP the day before for those who wish to join me. (It’s a way to “trap” myself into an accelerating habit…)

For example, Monday I usually hit Honey Badger which is an hour workout. There would not necessarily be an EC prior to this (though there could be). Tuesday, I will be at Golden Corral. At 0500, I will begin an EC portion of the workout for those that want to join. It will launch from the same AO, and will be back at the AO in time for the 0515 normal start of the Post.

Clear as mud? Good. Ask me your questions. Otherwise, check your Twitter/Slack and #Accelerate with me.

Helmet, out.

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25

A cool, Shady, 38 degree Special morning

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11 PAX woke up on a cool Saturday morning in November of 2019. Little did any of them know that immediately after the disclaimer they would be headed for the much maligned Tega Cay Drive hill of pain.

The mosey immediately headed that way as YHC (38 Special) led the PAX down the hill. Everyone circled up for 25 SSH, 15 Low Slow Squats, and 15 mountain climbers.  Some good Saturday morning mumblechatter including some compliments about the length of certain PAX’s shorts and the decade in which they might have been procured.  That was plenty “warm up”.

The Thang: Part 1

PAX counted off by 2’s. 2’s were instructed to run the 150M hill backwards. Team 1 to lag behind so eyes were going forward and backward. YHC was pleased to hear Team 1 offer quality mumblechatter on the way up in the way of encouragement.

At the top of the hill, everyone ran back down and Team 1 took their turn to run backwards while Team 2 pulled mumblechatter duty.  Now that every quad was suitably inflamed it was time for phase two of part one.

Until YHC’s time was out, we would run 11’s.  Starting behind the western baseball diamond, double count stepups. Run the roughly 100m to to the benches just before the pullup bars and do burpees.  If, somehow, anyone were to finish, it would have added 2k to their bragging rights. Some got to 4 step ups left, others 6.

YHC used the last minute of his time to speak briefly about pushing oneself in order for the group. The above was selected not because I could kill it, but because I knew I could do it with commitment, and without killing myself, and sorta, maybe tried to encourage others to do the same.

The Thang: Part 2

Shady took over and wasted no time running the PAX over the baseball field and into the parking lot, stopping near the playground.  Everyone paired up for what Shady said would be your ‘basic’ Dora. There was a brief lament about the lack of bricks when one of the PAX brought to everyone’s attention that there were some large rocks at the bottom of the trail.

If YHC were a geologist, he’d have called these rocks “boulders” (any rock with a diameter of > 25.6cm)…

Run back up the trail and into the playground.  Round one of the Dora was
100 – Hand Release Merkins
200 – Shoulder (boulder) Press
300 – Flutter

YHC wants to point out that the first two parts of that set were brutal.

When the set was over, Shady spoke to the PAX about his word of the year and encouraged everyone to think about theirs again. Some of the PAX talked briefly about their words as well. After this 10 count was concluded it was time to move onto round two.
100 – Incline rows
200 – Boulder curls
300 – LBC

YHC would also like to point out that the incline rows, while being sufficiently difficult, made some of the PAX look utterly ridiculous, and as most of us know, PAX would allow any of their brothers to look that ridiculous without drawing a great deal of attention to the fact.  It’s just good manners.

Time ran out during the LBCs and there was one more run down into the woods to return their boulders to their homes.  Joined up at COT.

Announcements: Thanksgiving convergence on 11/28 @The Ranch, HTL convergence on 11/23 @WEP and the Christmas Party 12/6 ~Baxter area. Everyone who knows Kenyan is invited to join the celebration of Life for his departed wife that morning.

There were also some prayers and praises lifted up to Sky Q’s consideration.

The PAX dispersed…

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5

Hill Street Blues

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YHC was tagged as the Q for one of the baddest Saturday AO south of MacDougal where a downpainment is expected and typically is given. Smuggler (Site Q) tagged me with a partner but things went awry with that HIM so I tagged Double D to join me and a plan was made.

Late Friday, DD got the opportunity to choose a #Concentrica based choice. We face these all of the time. It usually goes something like this “Well honey, I already promised (insert male friends name here) that I would be there for (insert something relatively important although not really here).” However, Double D is an accelerating HIM who contacted me and said “I’ve got a bigger name on the other side of this choice!” It was the right call and YHC is confident it paid dividends with his M and 2.0.

Interestingly enough, I received a text from Gears at exactly the same moment. Gears, a longtime Pax of the Fort, has been a leader in many different areas over the past 7 years. More importantly, we don’t get to see each other enough. Expansion created many different options at the Fort and our paths just don’t cross enough. I quickly tagged him and his response was “I have a plan, it will probably suck”. Boom!

The Thang

Weather: high 50’s. Had to choose between short vs long sleeve. Short sleeve was chosen

Disclaimer

Mosey around the park

IW x 15

Windmills x 10

Merkins x 12

Men Climbers x 20

Squats x 20

Mosey to parking lot

Dirty McDeuce (4 rounds – IC – 12 reps)

WAM

Flutters

Monkey Humpers

Full lap around the park

CDD

Big Boy sit ups

Squats

Full lap

Diamond Merkins

Hello Dolly

Lunges

Full Lap

Merkins

LBC

One legged stretch (for me basically)

Indian Run full lap

Handoff to Gears

Crazy 8s on hill (this did suck FYI)

CDDs x 8 and LBCs x 8 at the bottom

Bombjacks x 8 and Some Squat Sequence that Gears just learned x 4 at the top

Rinse and repeat for 25 minutes (I said it sucked)

Mosey home

 

Moleskin

  • Prayers for marriages
  • Fishsticks turns 50 on Thursday
  • Prayers for the Pax dealing with injury, pain and suffering
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