Category: Fire Ant

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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The Force To Bring Us Back In

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**PRE-BLAST**

WHO: All PAX (Rucks Required)

WHAT: Burnout recovery workout

WHERE: FireAnt (same location as Golden Corral): Tega Cay Harris Teeter

WHEN: 0515 New Years Eve (Tuesday, December 31)

WHY: This one is simple. Read the below.

Why?

Sometimes we need some difficult, smack-you-in-the-face, force to get us out of the rut we’ve been living in.

Sometimes we need some difficult, smack-you-in-the-face, force to bring us back into something we’ve walked away from. Are you spent or burned out? Life has a gift for loading us up and ultimately, weighing us down. As men, it can cause retreat. It’s time to break free from that on our last day of 2019.

Come join your brothers for that difficult, smack-you-in-the-face, 45min workout at FireAnt on New Years Eve (Tues, Dec 31) at 0515 and I’ll make a run at freeing you from the burnout.

This world NEEDS YOU ENGAGED. The rings of you concentrica need you engaged. Work, community, friends, family, shorties, wife, GOD…it’s time to bring you back in.

Make no mistake, I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL and you are doing this entirely at your own risk. My words are only ideas of things to do and I recommend you take the necessary precautions which start by reading F3’s disclaimer found on the following web site.

F3 disclaimer & notice found here…https://f3nation.com/disclaimer-and-notice/

What to bring:

  1. Yourself
  2. EH a buddy or Kotter, someone who could be in this stage right now.
  3. Ruck with GoRuck minimum weight requirements: 30lbs of weight in your ruck if you weigh 150lbs or more. 20lbs of weight in your ruck if you weigh 149lbs or less.
  4. Sandbags of any weight. (No other coupons needed)
  5. Gloves
  6. A determination to get some work done and a desire to reengage.

See you then.

Maximus

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Site vs Site

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Well the Site vs Site was CRAZY good thanks to some excellent leadership on both sides of the workout. 0500 launch, 6 Q’s (3 from fire ant, 3 from golden corral) took 10 minutes each. Lutefisk forgot how to flip a coin but managed to have it land in favor of fire ant going first.  The first fire ant Q was Router who took us through a ruck run/pain station. Next up was golden corral’s first Q Mile High who took us on a sprint-fest in the back of HT with some wall work on the legs. Fire ant Q #2 was Cha Ching who put us through some nasty ruck reps.  Golden corral put Bones in charge of some repeating leg work by the green olive – some funky squat jumps that didn’t feel good.  Spiderman finished the fire ant lineup with a terrible idea of bear crawl/crawl bear for what seemed like eternity while the partner did reps with the ruck.  Lutefisk finished it up with the final golden corral Q by starting, and staying, in the plank position for the duration of his 10 minutes.  Dark Helmet notable threw in the towel and to make himself feel better he poked the Q.  I will not forget.  Welcome FNG Thigh Master (not Jane Fonda) but he’s from New York so evidently it’s OK to drop F-bombs whenever and wherever.  All in all 30 PAX came out for a nasty beatdown that was surely a crowd pleaser.  It was an honor to be a part of it and special thank you to the Q’s for stepping up and all of you ruckers for bringing us some extra gear to use.

Final tally of the votes: Fire Ant 15, Golden Corral 11, Tie 3, Bonsai = disqualified for his answer

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The Prodigal GRT

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It was nice returning to Fire Ant after a loooong hiatus. By long I mean I haven’t been there since the week prior to the DSM. Thankfully, the commute to Huntersville is to blame – not the lack of desire to be at Fire Ant.

I showed up about fifteen minutes early and began to get my stretch on. River Rat showed and followed suit. Gotta be honest – I look up to that dude. He’s got a boatload of kids and he still finds time to make himself better in the gloom.

Bonsai and Router pulled up, and circled up with us. I whipped out my two 60 lb sandbags and disclaimed the disclaimer.

We picked up the sandbags and got to walking 2×2, each PAX holding one side of a bag.

COP

Ruck Around the loop to warm up w/60 lb sandbags
Walk onto soccer field, drop bags, circle up
Slick
SSH x 30
Tappy Taps x 10
Al Gore night club x 11
Low Squat pulses x 20
Yoga

Rucks on – time to put in the work.

Partner Up

Movement 1
P1 Beep beep I’m a Jeep, clank clank I’m a tank to goal posts
P2 does ruck curls
Flap Jack once P1 reaches goal posts

Movement 2
P1 bear crawl to end of field while P2 overhead hold ruck
Once P1 reaches the end, P2 bear crawls to the end while P1 holds ruck overhead

Movement 3
P1 duck walk half way across field
P2 bent over rows
Flap Jack

Movement 4
Grab the sandbags
P1 bear crawl sandbag drag to mid field
P2 Curls
Flapjack

Formation – ruck off of the field to the shovel flag with sandbags – changing side that PAX held. Walking 2×2

Movement 5
Catch Me If You Can
Each PAX keeps ruck on, running PAX carries sixty pound sandbag
Once around parking decks with 7 low squats

Movement 6
Rinse and repeat around parking decks with 7 ruck merkins each time

Mary
Lay in a circle formation – heads pointed in
Holding rucks up, legs at six inches
Press one at a time, clockwise
10 reps each while calling out your reap
Switch directions – flutter kicks with 10 presses
Switch again – dollies with 10 presses
Switch again – Rosalitas with 10 presses

BBS position, rucks on lower legs.
Sit ups in rotating order x 20
Reverse protractor – torso makes the angles instead of the legs – 10 degree hike for last 10 seconds.

And that’s time. Very Fair.

COT
Announcements –
Guidance is back in action – Monday and Wednesday from 4-5. Reach out to Deacon or Crabcakes for more info.
Q v Q is coming
Something special coming in November between Fire Ant and Golden Corral.

Prayers/Praises
Pray for River Rat and his parenting. He’s a HIM with many 2.0’s and wants to lead them well.
Pray for Bonsai’s wife – started a new position with her company and is still making the adjustments. Pray she can find peace through Jesus in the midst of the anxieties in this transition.
Pray for Router – family friends have a daughter of the same age and their daughters aren’t getting along like they used to.
Pray for my me as a father/husband and for my M who is raising three kids alone on most week days while bearing another beautiful baby.

Had I been on Q ten months ago and only four PAX show up, my pride would have been hurt and I would have been mad, honestly. My perspective has taken a 180, though, and I really enjoy the small group – as it creates a better atmosphere for what F3 is all about. That’s why I came to F3 in the first place.

It was a solid morning with good chatter between the few of us. Happy to have had the opportunity to Q Fire Ant. Another notch in my belt!

Punch List out.

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Olaf is evil

Olaf deck of death at the FireAnt

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Disclaimer was disclaimed and we were off for a short warm-up mosey around the parking lot. @chaChing would have been proud.
A few hip and lower back hula-hoop dance moves before starting the real party.

The Thang:
Olaf’s deck of death,
a modified version of the famous Cadre Cleave crowd pleaser.

Each PAX drew a card from the deck and completed the exercise based on the cards suite and the rep count was determined by the value of the card. Instead of face cards being all a value of 10 we started with
Jacks=11, Queens=12, Kings=13, and Aces=14

Exercises were as follows:
Spades= 8 count bodybuilders
Clubs = Flutters, only count one leg, (right leg then left leg equals one), double-count I think? and don’t forget the ruck press
Diamonds = Thrusters, proper form required, (Ruck starts horizontal under the chin with elbows out, squat until elbows touch quads, press until arms fully straightened overhead.
Hearts = Overhead Single Leg Lunges. (right leg, left leg, equals one).

For added excitement, there were two jokers mixed into the deck. When pulled everyone stopped in the middle of the set and grabbed a tire carcass out of the back of my couponmobile, and shuffle a lap around the soccer field.

For the second joker, we added some cute little pieces of wood in addition to the tire carcass.

Everyone had a great time and we all learned a little bit about playing the hand we are dealt in life.

Thanks for the opportunity Router,
Stay frosty my friends!
OLAF

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Light on mileage, Heavy on the push

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While the research may vary, the average ant can lift/carry 10-50 times its own body weight. Luck for us at the Fire Ant AO today, we were only carrying ourselves and our Rucks, which varied from 30lb-45lb. So, to that I say, you’re welcome.

We had a small yet might group of Ruckers this morning as 4 others joined YHC. Once disclaimed, we Rucked to the playground for:

50 Pull-Ups (slick)

50 Push-Ups (with Ruck)

Ruck to the soccer fields for bit of a 4-corners covering half the entire field. Once we figured out the appropriate sides of the field for transportation between corners, it would be Bear Crawls (with Ruck) on two sides f the field and walk (with Rucks overhead) for the other two sides. In the corners:

Corner 1: 25 Ruck Curls

Corner 2: 25 Bent over Rows

Corner 3: 15 Hand-Release Merkins

Corner 4: 25 Upright Rows

We completed the circuit twice then made our way over to the flag pole:

15 Flutters w/o the press

15 Freddy Mercury’s with Rucks up

10 Flutters w/ the press

Ruck back to COT to hold the Al Gore position while each PAX recounted where they were when they learned of the events of 9/11.

Remember. Never Forget. Be Present

Maximus

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Fire Ant Q – 9/3/19

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Training for a Go Ruck HTL is a little different than training for a long race – everything takes a lot of time when you’re not moving at an 8 min mile pace.  You get miles in when you can, so at this point in the training, I’ve pretty much acknowledged most days I get out, there needs to be some pre-ruck miles.

Mainframe arrived at 4:40a so we set out for a couple miles sharing the 60 lb sandy I’ve borrowed from Nasa.  The other 3 pax arrived a few minutes before 5:15 so we got right to work.

Warm-up was a quick ruck over to the bottom of the hill on Hubert Graham Way where we then started the fun:

  1.  Partner up hill work (group of 3 and 2 pax)
    • Set 1:  Partner 1 double times up the long hill while partner 2 does jump squats (ruck on).  When partner 1 gets to the top, they wave their arms around like an inflatable flailing armed guy and then partner 2 begins his ascent while partner 1 does jump squats until their partner arrives.
    • Set 2:  Partner 1 double times down the hill w/ ruck overhead while partner 2 does plank pulls w/ their ruck.  Once Partner 1 gets to the bottom, they give the signal and partner 2 begins their overhead jog down the hill while partner 1 does pulls
    • Set 3:  Partner 1 double times up the long hill again while partner 2 does ruck LBC’s.  Same thing as before, switch when partner 1 gets to the top.
  2. Ruck back to the front of Tega Cay Elementary and use 100 yard straightaway between cross walks to play a quick game of modified catch me if you can.
    • Partner 1 begins lunge walking while partner 2 does 12 merkins w/ ruck on.  Once finished w/ merkins, they run to catch their partner and they switch.  Finish when you get to the end of the straightaway.
  3. Head over to the parking lot for some ascending rep man makers
    • crab walk w/ ruck on lap 3 parking spaces, and do 2 man makers
    • crab walk 3 more spaces and do 4 man makers
    • crab walk 3 more – 6 man makers
    • crab walk 3 more – 8 man makers
  4.  Time hack – throw the ruck on and do a mile in under 13 minutes.  We crushed it with an 11:30 pace!

Upon finishing the time hack, we rucked back to COT and finished out some some mary for a couple minutes.  Great job today guys – appreciate you making it out when you had so many good options to choose from Tuesday.  Until next time.

Cha Ching

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Four Corner Rooney

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A last-minute-at-a-social-gathering Q request from the site Q FINALLY got me out of my doldrums of fartsacking and moping around for the past 3-4 weeks. I put on almost 4 pounds from my DSM weight, not watching what I ate, not working out. I needed this. Thanks Router.

Funny thing. I showed up early, around 5am, to site. NOBODY there. No lights in the parking lot. Pretty dark. I see some dude with a flashlight walking around. No other cars, just a dude in a hoodie (not racial profiling – I saw the person was white). Did not have my glasses on so I had no idea who it was. Then it seemed the dude started walking towards where I parked. I locked my doors and wondered if I should leave. I’ve been in these situations before and had someone try to carjack me once when I lived in Norfolk VA, also when I lived in Los Angeles, and also when I was in Miami visiting friends. I’m done with that stuff. My spidey senses were tingling!! My heart rate was elevating so I started backing out, then I saw a familiar face. I asked and it was Pothole. WHEW!! Man that was messed up.

After my BP lowered I got out and PAX started rolling in. No new FNGs. Light but solid group of PAX, some of whom I’ve spent ALOT of quality battle buddy time with under a ruck. Awesome to see them. Since the custom GORUCK DSM event the numbers at ruck AOs have significantly dropped. Not surprised. Anyhoo, disclaimer was disclaimed and off we went.

Light jog w ruck on around the parking lot, about 1/3 mile or so. Then COP. 20 or so each of the following:

  • SSH
  • Windmills
  • Imperial Walker
  • Hillbilly Walker
  • Moroccan night club

Then off to the field. Electric candles marked the 4 corners of a rough football field size area. A typical 4 corners workout setup. Start at one, exercise, transition to next, exercise, transition, and so on. I used the GORUCK Rooney WOD s my guide. I’ve done it at 2 GORUCK events and it sucks. But time made me trim down the number of rounds, and I modified it (mod-up) a little. Google it if you want to know what the real one is. But here’s mine for today:

Cone / Exercise / Transition Mode (ALL with ruck):

  1. 75 Mountain climber (double count), then bear crawl to next
  2. 75 LSS then Lt Dan to next
  3. 75 Flutter (double count) w ruck overhead, then bear crawl to next
  4. Plank w 75 ruck drag side to side (double count), then Lt Dan back to start

Note to self: Make each one 100 instead of 75. This alone took about 25 minutes to complete. I had about 10 minutes left. 100 of each would have put me with a few minutes left to COT. I am not much into talking anymore so we grabbed a 60 out of Routers truck and put in about a mile rucking around the school, then to COT.

COT / Announcements / P&P
* Read the newsletter – QSource convergence, Invergence, etc
* Router’s M going into surgery. Prayers for safe surgery and quick recovery
* Kids, parents, teachers – school is LESS THAN 3 WEEKS AWAY!! What happened to summer??
* My M – she’s been having headaches off and on for several months now. Got an MRI last week, then recently found the MRI found something. Waiting to see a neurologist next.

I have not been talking much at my Qs lately. I may divulge why some other time. No change today. Just lay out the work and get it done. Everyone did great. We had some great conversations when we could. It was great to be back out with the homies. Get the hear rate up, sweat, feel some pain, chatter a little, goof off a little. See a GREAT sunrise with a waning crescent moon. God is GREAT. I needed that. We needed that. We are blessed more than we know sometimes. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

God bless,
– NASA

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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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