Category: Bermuda Triangle

Q School 201 – The Weinke at Bermuda Triangle

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I was the privileged Q that was able to lead week #2 of Q school following behind Wild Thing.  I got to the AO 10 minutes early to set up, guys were already pre-running… nobody ever seems to sleep in Lake Wylie!  By the 5am start we had 18 PAX with us.  Uber all the way from Tega Cay, one PAX, Crabby Cabbie – only on his second post to F3! I opened by sharing some of this message below.  Being the Q starts with being prepared.

Preparedness

There are four quadrants of preparedness: get right, live right, lead right and leave right “G3L” 

F3 is an Organization of leaders rather than an Organization with leaders. As such, every Member of F3 is asked and expected to be a leader both within F3 and in the other Groups in which he is a Member. This ethic arises from our Mission , which is to plant, serve and grow men’s small workout groups in order to invigorate male community leadership.

Within F3 a leader is called the Q, which we define as a leader who takes responsibility for the Outcome in the Groups of which he is a Member.

Some Outcomes are envisioned beforehand by the Q while others are thrust upon him by unexpected and sudden circumstance. For envisioned Outcomes, the Q can anticipate and get prepared for what will be expected of him to be Effective. But the Q cannot do that for unexpected Outcomes because they come upon him suddenly—for those Outcomes he must already be prepared to be Effective.

How do you prepare?

“The Weinke” – named after Panther QB, Chris Weinke (Carolina QB from 2001-2006) where he would have every play in a giant playbook on his arm.

Scout the AO – Check the Weather report – Check previous Backblasts for regular PAX in attendance

PREPARE! Doras, Ladders, partner work, stations, coupons

My 1st few Qs I wrote the COP exercises in permanent marker on my arm…

Write it down, keep it handy but try not to use it.

Create Evolutions!  Have more than you will use. 3-5 depending on complexity

Make it Tough, but a balance is needed for all level PAX.  Have an adaption plan in place.  Guys failing to work hard, get them back in line or adjust.

Adapt = tell a PAX what is OK to modify to.  Can’t sprint?  Jog ½ way and turn around.

Give the PAX a choice! Option #1 or #2

BE CONFIDENT – SPEAK LOUD – DON’T GIVE UP YOUR CONTROL – YOUR TIME TO LEAD!

 

WEINKE FOR BERMUDA TRIANGLE 7/19/2019 Q SCHOOL 201 (Full example)

Welcome each PAX

Disclaimer

Dynamic Warmup High Knees – Butt Kickers – Toy Soldiers – Soccer Legs out & In

COP

SSHs – IWs – CDDs – Merkins – LS Squats – Seal Jacks – Peter Parkers – MNCs – Broga

 

Evolution #1  BB Court

Partners modified LAZY DORA size does not matter

100 Swing Crunches – Partner Elbow Planks (in grass)

To BB Court

150 Merkins by 10s  – Partner Planks

200 Squats 25x – partner hold Al Gore

Alternative under picnic area

Dips and Derkins with Step Ups

 

Evolution #2

Speed Work

Field Sprints 4 cones plank when complete repeat 3x

Alternative

Bear Crawl to #2 or Jog to #3

 

Evolution #3 (Ran out of Time – Did not do, but had at the ready)

Bear Crawls and burpees between cones 5 burpees each cone

Alternative Lunges and Wide Arm Merkins or CDDs

 

Evolution #4 Ab Lab

Give all Pax another opportunity to count cadence

COT with Count, Namorama, Announcements, Prayers

I think the guys enjoyed the time together, maybe learned a little something to take to their next Q, and definitely worked hard!

A honor to lead,

Royale

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Mountain trip to Dupont State Forest on August 3rd with Trail Running, Rucking and Biking options – there will be a 2nd F afterwords

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3rd F

Alright we are 2 years ago we did a mountain trip to Roan Mtn. it was one of the best trips I have made with my fellow F3 brothers. After 10-16 miles we went to Daniel Boone Inn to refuel.

With this in mind I wanted to continue to do this hopefully every year. So on August 3rd we are going to do another mountain trip. This time it will be Trail Running, Biking and Rucking options.

Our destination will be DuPont State Forest. We will leave from the Newport Walmart at 6 am it is a 2 1/2 hr trip. we will either go to the Hooker Falls Access or the Lake Imaging Access. For runners we will try and get 12-18 miles in for Mountain bikers Vuvuzela has about 20-30 mile rout lined up.

 

2nd F

Afterwords will will go to Daddy D’s and refuel.

 

Make sure you bring water and something for energy do not come unprepared you will regret it. I did exactly that last time. This will be an unforgettable trip that we will try and do every year. we need to clown car to get there since there are no rental vans available.

Reach out to me if you have any questions.  I have attached links below.

Dupont State Forest Trail Map-1

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g49206-d2069003-Reviews-Daddy_D_s_Suber_Soulfood-Hendersonville_North_Carolina.html

www.Dupontforest.com

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Lake Wylie Q-School 101

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Class is session with YHC at the helm for Q School 101 in Lake Wylie. Today’s Lesson Plan: Disclaimer, 5 Core Principles, Counting Cadence, Scouting an AO and a little bit of pain.

Starting promptly at 0515 we dropped to plank to discuss some Q basics: Make sure someone has a phone and knows the general area. Brief discussion of F3 Roundtable call with PAX from F3 Houston. If you haven’t listened to it, do it. Just not on the way to work or around people that would judge you for crying. Next up the Disclaimer. One often missed part of the disclaimer is asking about existing injuries, which coincides with knowing what injuries or medical issues PAX may have and if any PAX are CPR or Medically Trained.

Mosey to the back parking lot of the school for COP, counting cadence, and the 5 core principles. PAX were much happier with this COP than my previous Q.

Mosey back around to the front of school for a lunge walk across the parking lot while discussing ways and tools for scouting an AO. Google Maps, Backblasts, drive-bys, and previous posts were mentioned.

Continue to mosey over to the start of the “dirt” path for one of my favorite partner evolutions, Bear Crawl Catch Me if You Can. This is was the pain portion of the morning. Partner 1 starts to Bear Crawl while Partner 2 drops for 3 Burpees and then runs to catch Partner 1. YHC quickly learned that this is not a dirt path, but one covered with glass like shards of rock.

Quick 10 Count to let PAX catch wind

Mosey towards COT for a modified DORA with 50 Prison Cell Burpees, 100 Squats, 150 4 count flutters. Admittedly YHC was a little over ambitious and we only made through the Burpees before the bell rang at 0600 for us to go to our next class.

Quick discussion about elements of a COT: Count-a-rama, Name-o-rama, Announcements, Shout-Out / Words of Wisdom. Followed by COT

Announcements: The Sweati on 7/20, Bones Q at The Deep 7/20, Royale has Q School 201 on 7/19.
Prayers / Praises: Capt Jack daughter with strep, FiA Launch, Ms, 2.0s

Until Next Time, Wild Thing out.

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Webs at Bermuda Triangle for anniversary celebrations

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First time out at the Bermuda Triangle, longer drive than usual but it was totally worth it, good to see new faces out in the gloom.

Today marks my 2nd anniversary with F3 Nation and it’s also the first anniversary of the Bermuda Triangle AO, TCLAPS to Homebrew for leading this AO during this year so what better way but to combine the celebrations; 15 PAX decided to get better and were ready to start the party at 0500, some where disappointed to know that no utensils were in the menu but later found out that it was better that I left the utensils out.

After a short disclaimer, we moseyed to the front of the school for the warm up in cadence:

Windmills

Moroccan Night Clubs

Low slow squats

Low slow merkins

I’ve been nursing a pulled hamstring all week so I decided to keep the running part to a minimum; I had 4 cards in my pocket with predetermined webs, we circled up on a “grassy” area, even though most of it was dirt with patches of grass, time to start our webs series, first web LEGS:

1 Knee Tar Jie – 4 squats, progressive to 10 KTJ and 40 squats (55 KTJ and 220 squats total)

Some questions arose when the second card was pulled out of my pocket but you don’t get up at 4 am to to the easy thing, second web CHEST/SHOULDERS:

1 Worst Merkin Ever (wide, regular, diamond) – 4 Carolina Dry Docks, progressive to 10 WME – 40 CDD, after the 8th WME I decided to switch the 9th and 10th round to regular merkins only and the CDD stayed the same. Flux was a champ and decided to do WME on the 9th and 10th as well so some of us joined him in the action. (+-150 merkins and 220 CDD)

we moseyed back to the soccer field for a softer grassy area and on the way there the site Q asked me about the legendary Captain Thor web, well, that was our third web ABS:

Captain Thor
1 Big Boy Sit Up – 4 American Hammersogressive to 10 BBSU and 40 AH (55 BBSU and 220 AH total)

With about 7 minutes left in the clock, I pulled my last card for the fourth web series CARDIO:

1 burpee – 4 goof balls, progressive to 10 burpees – 40 GB (most of us finished the 8th round for 36 burpees and 144 GB) I learned about goof balls last weekend at Hog and Coyote and this exercise really gets your heart pumping,  yes you guessed, you look like a goof ball!!

My plan was to include all groups of muscles into one workout and we did it, great job pushing yourselves out of the comfort zone gentlemen!!

We finished with announcements about Q School at Bermuda Triangle, we included our injured AX, families and kids on our prayers.

Thank you Homebrew for the opportunity to lead!!

Tinsel out…

 

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Q School at Bermuda Triangle

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The recent tidal wave of new PAX throughout the region has sent AO numbers soaring, and the VQ bells ringing. Our mission in F3 is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership. One way we do this is rotating Q responsibilities at our workouts – giving each man opportunities to lead his peers. To support this effort, we need to provide the resources to build up these new leaders.

For three weeks in July (12th, 19th, and 26th) we’ll be having Q School at Bermuda Triangle. Three of our veteran Lake Wylie PAX will be leading the charge; sharing tips, strategy, and over a decade of combined F3 wisdom on how they Q.

Here is the schedule:

  • July 12th – Basic Q Techniques and Developing a Game Plan -> Wild Thing
  • July 19th – Q Execution and Adaptation -> Royale
  • July 26th – Advanced Qing -> Flux

As a reminder, Bermuda Triangle is from 5:00am – 5:45am. Don’t miss the boat!

Contact Homebrew or any of the Q School Professors if you have questions.

 

Stay Classy,

Homebrew

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Time to Get Some at Bermuda Triangle

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It was only a matter of time until I was called to the deep uncharted territories of Lake Wylie, somewhere they call the Bermuda Triangle.

Olaf was nice enough to keep me company and take the 25 min ride from Lake Ridge this am, so wheels up at 4:20a got us to the AO by 4:45 w/ 15 min to set up some cones before the early 5a start time.  Was glad to see two Olaf’s participating at the same AO and a couple newbies I hadn’t met.

Warm-ups you know are optional for me – so we moseyed 15 feet and did some sun gods, windmills and then started the real warm-up:

  1. Every Minute on the Minute (EMOM) we do 30 SSH + 8 burpees for 5 minutes.  After knocking out a quick 5 minute 150 SSH and 40 burpees to the sweet sweet sounds of Dropkick Murphy’s, Buck Cherry and Motley Crue, we took it over to the field for some reverse Dora’s.
  2. Partner up and do the following Dora:
    • 200 jump squats – partner not doing jump squats was doing a 3 cone suicide (Duck Dynasty’s evil idea…I didn’t make them do burpees at each turn)
    • 100 mak tar jais – partner not doing MTJ’s was side shuffling down to the last cone and back
    • 50 burpees – partner not doing burps bear crawled to middle cone and back
  3. I had two more things on deck, but judging by the lack of bear crawling enthusiasm, I decided to start w/ the last thing we were supposed to do and hope there was time for the third.  Told the pax we’d start running the dirt track around the field (a little over a 1/4 mile) and stop 4 times per lap and do ascending reps:
    • 1st lap:  10 diamond merkins / 15 wide arm / 20 rangers / 25 merkins
    • 2nd lap:  10 jump lunges (10 per side) / 15 low low squats (hands need to touch ground) / 20 knee tucks / 25 high knees (25 per knee)
    • 3rd lap:  10 x-crunches (thank you ab workout app) / 15 big boys / 20 american hammers (20 per side) / 25 fast-slow freddie mercuries in cadence (equates to 50 per side)
      [I’ll save the 3rd thing I was supposed to do for next time I Q at BT]

From there, we only had 1 minute, so we hit COT and quickly knocked out 10 merkins / 8 diamonds / 6 merkins / 4 diamonds / 2 merkins no break before it being 5:45a on the dot.

Always a pleasure to lead these pax.  They don’t complain a whole lot (except White Snake and O’Reilly lol) and always bust their a$$ on every exercise.  Prayers for graduating seniors, kids on summer breaks (and the moms) and Flux’s M.  Had a great time guys – can’t wait to get back out there w/ you!

ChaChing

 

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We opened Pandora Box at Bermuda Triangle

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Arrived 15 minutes early to unload the Cindy’s, a newly mad tire sled and a canvas punching bag.

Disclaimer

Mosey to the other side of the school

Warm up
20 – Imperial Walkers IC
20 – Slow Morracian night clubs IC
20 – Windmills IC

At this time Wild thing showed up he didn’t get the memo that the start time is 5 am, glad YHC was told a couple of days before.

Mosey to the wall

People’s chair
20 – Slow over head clap IC

Recover

People’s chair
20 – Arm flutters IC

Recover

5- Burpees OYO

Mosey to the roundabout where everything was set up and partner up size did not matter.

The Thing

Box of death partner work out (Pandora Box)
All exercises done with Cindy while partner runs to the school around the island and back

The left side would also start with the tire sled around the Island or roundabout pass to there left till everyone got a turn.

From the right side flip the punching bag. This was a fail as we busted with the third person ising it.

100 up and over

200 arm curls

100 squats to overhead press

About right here time was getting tight so YHC YHC Omaha the reps to 40 of each to each pax in order to get through the list.

200 chest presses

100 triceps extensions

200 off set merkins one han on Cindy

Hold Cindy straight out till partner returns

200 Cindy Flutters

150 Bentover rows

As people where finishing we did Monkey Humpers till the 6 came in.

Circled up for Global Warming – one of my favorites. Hold Al Gore as on Pax at a time performs 20 Monkey Humpers.

COP for 1 AB exercise with medicine ball
American Hammers with my make shift rice medicine ball then hand off to person to your left. While everyone elese is doing V-ups

Nam-o-Rama
Announcements – Hog and Coyote June 15th
Prayers and Praises

As always greatful for the opportunity to Lead

Thanks to Homebrew for the invite.

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T For Triangle

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YHC Answered the call from Hombrew to Q an AO I had never posted at. It will be fun he said- AND IT WAS. 12 PAX and an FNG from PHX where on hand for the fun.

It went something like this.

Disclaimer for FNG and Pax and off we go.

Mosey 1/2 way round trail and form up on the move for an Indian run. In my recon visit the Saturday prior I thought the trail around the field was longer. So the 1/2 lap mosey, 1/2 lap Indian run turned into 1.5 laps Indian run.

Circle up for COP

Quick hanging back stretch into 15 cherry pickers- 20x SSH- 15x Windmills- A Little mumble chatter by OOO O’Reilly prompted an on the fly round of 20x Monkey Humper w/ required Eye Contact to the above mentioned Pax.  Move to Plank and hold 30 secs- Short pontification, in the plank, on Forcible Contact to Strong Effect. 15x Peter Parker- 15x Plank Jacks. Recover.

Mosey to far end of Field for the Thang.

8 pain stations setup in a T pattern ran up and across the field.  Start at the bottom and work our way up.Since it was dark I gave a quick run down of the exercise requirements and modes of travel from cone to cone. Accountability Partners selected to make sure no bad modification or slack off in reps. Start together- finish together. Have Forcible Contact to Strong Effect on your Partner.

Rep counts per round set at 12-24-36

  1. MTN Climbers–Bear Crawl to next cone
  2. Bomb Jacks–Crab Walk
  3. Merkins- Burpee Broad Jumps
  4. Squats- Sprint to far cone in top of T.
  5. GTOs with Cindys and ruck sacks. AS info while my taped cindys were great on asphalt they didnt work so well in wet grass. Thanks Copyright for leaving those additional blocks in the van for us to use.. Nur to next cone.
  6. Box cutters–Lunge WalK
  7. 4x4s– Crawl Bear ( 4x4s are a crowd pleaser. Especially once the rep counts get up there) First page of Exicon and can be modified for better/more fun.
  8. Crabcakes- Long Mosey to bottom of the T as a pair and plank for the 6.

Rinse and repeat.  I was hoping for 3 rounds but we got two full rnds in. Great Job Men!.

A Few Observations:

I drastically underestimated the fitness level of my FNG from PHX. He worked hard but was not used to the pace, random assortment of exercises, and rep counts you HIM deal with for 45 mins in the gloom each day. He also never gave up, wanted to complete all reps and I held him accountable to it even if that meant pulling extra reps myself. The FORT is awesome for picking up the 6. That is what draws guys back daily. Regardless of fitness level someone will hold and push you to finish.

I missed alot of the good chatter and the real ability to lead the PAX as we were in the 6. Nothing terribly wrong with that except I wanted to help set the pace. Homebrew came back to PU the 6 once but I sent him on to start the group on the 2nd round.  As a leader we do what it takes push the group or the partner. Next time maybe a slight adjustment to ensure I am in the 43′ ahead and switch off a partner as needed.

Back to COT

Announcements P and P.

FNG to the middle. He was almost given a name prior to the actual Q&A period and some solid names came out but ultimately landed on Redeye. He is the VP of the company I work for and takes redeye flights religiously. Also a plus to drop a #BEATDOWN on a C-level guy I work with/for.

Thanks Homebrew for the opportunity to lead these Men.

Duck Out.

 

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Who knew monkeys could vacuum?

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Bermuda Triangle – May 3, 2019

Pax
Radar (Q)
O’Reilly
Costanza
Two Ferns
Wolverine
Chop Block
Homebrew
Captain Jack
Flux
Olaf (Respect)
Iced T

Warm Up:
11 PAX gathered at The Bermuda Triangle for a Q led by Radar. I wanted to make sure I delivered a challenging workout – keep the heart rate up with some running and challenging exercises.

Disclaimer

Two laps around the track and then head to the soccer field for warm up.

Seal Jacks x 25 (IC)
Hillbillies x 10 (IC)
Windmill x 10 (IC)
Produce Picker x 10 (IC)
MNC x 20 (IC)
Peter Parker x 15 (IC)
Parker Peter x 15 (IC)

Routine 1:
We started off with doing some Lindsays aka Forties. Each pax started with 30 merkins sprinted to the other end and performed 10 plank jacks and sprinted back, then subtracted five from the first exercise added five to the second exercise. (i.e. 25 merkins/15 plank jacks)

Routine 2:
After the pax finished we lunged walk back to the end where we partnered up and did vacuum cleaners. Partner one in wheelbarrow position performed five derkins and then wheelbarrowed to the second line. We did this five times or to five lines and then did a reverse wheelbarrow to each line for one rep. After partner one performed the exercise, partner two took his turn.

Since we all had a great time with the vacuum cleaners. I thought what better way to bond than with some howling monkeys. In a circle, the pax grabbed their ankles and the first person does ten monkey humpers followed by the next person and so on. We did two rounds.

Routine 3:
Next we took a fellowship mosey to the picnic tables where we did 50 dips, 25 box jumps, 50 incline merkins and 25 Rocky Balboa’s.

Before ending the workout we had a few minutes of Mary.

  1. Makhtar N’Diayes
  2. Big Boy Sit Ups
  3. Dying Cockroaches
  4. Slow Slow Squat
  5. Crunchy Frog

COT

Prayer requests: We had quite a few today and we lifted them up in prayer.

Announcements: Go Ruck Challenge Send Off, F3 Father’s Day, Pancake Breakfast at New River Church (5/4)

Thanks for the opportunity!

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Drunken Murph

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Wow, where to begin with this disaster.  I guess from the beginning.  Waking up hung over on three hours sleep my M started the morning off by telling me how stupid I was for getting drunk then having to lead a workout a few hours later, that was not bad advise by the way.  I pull in to the Triangle with about a minute to spare and as soon as the Pax saw me they knew (I happened to be drinking with some of them the night before).  A disclaimer was given, and a background on who Lt. Michael Murphy was and then I started the COP right away with 5 OYO Burpees/SSHx20/SunGodsx20/Low Slow Squatx10.  Surprisingly no merlot was splashed though was very close calling cadence with SSH.

Main Event

1 Mile Run

I did 5 Pull-Up/10 Merkin/15 Squat x20 but most Pax did a 10/20/30 x10 rep range with the exercises.  Every rep of the merkins made my head pound, just awful. 

1 Mile Run

Most Pax finished in time for COT.

Observations- Don’t get drunk and Q a few hours later.  It might seem like the cool rock star thing to do but really, it’s not. It’s also a lot harder to control a group of men when they know you’re bombed. However no merlot was spilt, was proud of that.  Kotters to Austin Powers, we missed him.  Welcome FNG Survey Says.  He is the youth Pastor over at the local church I attend which I have renamed the Church of F3 as many Pax go there so I wanted to call him Joel Osteen but his childhood dream of being a game show host earned him the nick name Survey Says, with Steve Harvey being a close second choice (favorite game show-Family Feud).  As always fellas-PEACE! 

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