Fantastic Four at Footloose

4 came to Footloose for some moderate work.

Mumble chatter varied… Dads doing cheer hair….diaper changes….Michael Jackson buying trains from Carowinds…

1 min per exercise,  10 sec rest

LBC, Rev Crunch, BB Situps, Heels to Heaven, Flutters, Superman, Freddie Mercury, Hello Dolly, Hillbilly Walkers, Imperial Walkers, Squats, Lunges, Calf Raises, Side Lunges, Air Drama, Monkey Humpers, Al Gore, Step Ups, Back Lunges

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Hide and seek

YHC was looking forward to my return “East of the Peach Stand”. Had my board, gloves, keys, and phone and, as usual, about to go out the door when the 2.0 needs attention. Never fails. Knowing that letting the M deal with the situation would NOT go well for me, I got the boy back in bed and left for my Q late.

the gloom

I knew I was hella late (3 whole minutes, really) and arrived to a parking lot with three vehicles and zero PAX. So I got out and strained my ears trying to echolocate the PAX I was reasonably certain were around somewhere. That failed miserably, so it was time to take a self guided tour of the area. Grabbed my headlamp outta the car and traveled down to FMCoG. No PAX there, the game of hide and seek begins. Up the stairs and through the back lot for FBCFM, nope, through the north entrance up to Tom Hall St. Still no luck. West to Main, south and down the stairs with a left at Emmets Social Table (if they were open, I’d probably have stopped there). Dang, nothing!

Down Academy and, what’s that? 3 figures in the dark? Yes, I think I found them crossing the road, headed to FMCoG! Picked up the pace and met up with the PAX to some light hearted ribbing. Did I mention i was carrying the exercise board the whole way? No??

the thang

The board displayed a number of exercises and rep counts, after each set, run around the 221 building and move down the board. Easy

20x Squat
20x Merkins
20x Lunges (single count)
20x One Leg Deadlift
20x Alternating Superman
20x Apollo Ohno*
20x 4-count SSH
20x calf raises
20x BBSU

We made it through to the SSH + a lap with about 5 minutes left on the clock, so we ran up to the FBCFM parking lot, did our calf raises, up/down the stairs and ended with some leg stretches.

*YHC mislabeled these as Bobby Hurley’s, but if you know anything about me, you know sports are not of interest, and I’m okay confusing the two. The board said “Bobby Hurley (skaters?)”, so you know what I was going for.

Cot

A lot going on in COT today with a lot of heavy prayers needed. YHC took us out imploring to Sky Q to give us wisdom to deal with these things

nmm

Every time I get to hang out at Footloose there is a lot of mumblechatter, and today was no exception. I’ve never really gotten to hear a lot from Kielbasa, so today was his day to shine, and boy did he have some great stories to tell. At one point I found myself asking him to lead the count for SSH just so we could get some work done.

There was also a VERY generous helping of ribbing from Small World and Sticks. Just the right amount, I think, for a Q that is late.  Every time I named an exercise they seemed to have already done it! However, I saw through their game and, as I said before, if the M is unhappy, things will not go well.

And, hey, that’s what F3 is about. Getting fit physically, mentally, and spiritually requires a lot of reps, mumblechatter, and bearing ones soul. If it’s not a “black diamond” Q, then mumblechatter away my fellow PAX.

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Footloose: Band Camp Edition

Leading moderate workouts create a lot of planning challenges for me. I try to be mindful of the PAX present and push without overdoing. After all, guys are posting to a “moderate” AO. When the Q-drenaline starts flowing it’s harder to hold back the speed/intensity. This issue is something I try to be mindful of every Q. DT felt we ran too much and Slash felt the yoga wasn’t moderate, but nevertheless: we persisted.

Among the activities today:
– bear crawling with called steps
– lunge walking with called steps
– snaking through the stairs at the Church of God
– knees over toes squats on the stairs
– 7s at the Baptist church steps with bomb jacks and burpees
– deconstructed burpee motivators (thanks Airwolf for the idea here….this will return)
– run around downtown with stops of (15 merkins, 15 squats, 15 flutters)
– lifting up the spent grain tubs at Amor
– a little yoga at almost every stop along the way

NMM

One thing I think about every time I Q or post at a moderate AO is: what am I moderating? If I’m moderating the intensity of a workout, am I moderating my alcohol intake? What about my eating habits? How about my media consumption? What about my word choices?

Thanks Small World for the opportunity to lead:


Band Camp dismissed

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F3 The Fort – Adopt a Highway (#2)

****March 5th 2022- 7:45am – 8:00am****

Men,

We have officially signed up for the Adopt-A-Highway Litter pick-up program.  Our adopted Highway is US21 from Peachstand south to Sutton Rd. (2 miles). We will have a sign installed to promote this section of the highway.  We are encouraged to complete 4 pick-ups a year (once a quarter).  All supplies will be provided.  All we need to do is show up.  The SC DOT will come out and pick up our bags along the route after completion.

**Our NEXT Clean-up date is tentatively scheduled for March 5th. (start time )  7:45 am – 8:00am**. There is no time expectation for participation.  Stay as long as needed or head out early.  Modify as needed. Plan for 2 hours if you complete the 1-mile loop.  We split up into two groups last time and met at the halfway point.

We will begin at the Peachstand (rear of the building) and coordinate.  I have 30 vests and all supplies.

Fogerty will be the main contact for this event over the next two years.

Here are some of the logistics:

• Make sure your group knows that in case of bad weather the cleanup will be postponed. Litter collection should never be done in the dark or in bad weather.
• Notify local news media who may have an interest in publicizing your group’s activities. • Remind your group of the appropriate clothing. Long pants and long-sleeved shirts and sturdy shoes help avoid scratches and irritation from poisonous plants. Light or brightly colored clothing will make them easily visible to passing traffic.
• Be sure you have all the materials and supplies you’ll need beforehand, including first aid kits.
• Check with members of your group to be aware of any allergies that might be important (such as bee-stings, etc).
• Work out a plan for what you will do in the event of an emergency. Find out what the quickest route to the hospital is.
• Park vehicles at both ends of the adopted section.

• Volunteers must be at least 13 years old to participate in Adopt-A-Highway cleanups. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult on all Adopt-A-Highway cleanups.

The state does provide adopt-a-highway orange and blue bags.  Orange bags are for trash and blue bags are for recyclables if you want to recycle.  Your group is also provided with orange safety vests.   We do require four pickups every year, usually once every quarter.  All that is needed to be done after trash is picked up is to call or email me and I will send one of our crews to pick up the bags.

It is volunteers like you who are going to make a difference by speaking up and doing what they can to help their community.  Please let me know If you have any questions, I will be glad to assist you.

Thank you,

Sherry J. Johnson
Administrative Specialist/
Adopt-A-Highway Coordinator
SC Department of Transportation
803-327-6186 O I 803-327-6184 F
JohnsonSJ@scdot.org

District Four Maintenance
338 Robertson Road West
Rock Hill, SC 29730

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1st Annual The Fort Weight Loss Challenge

The weight-loss challenge for 2022 has been established to create some focus on the Queen.  The goal is fellowship, accountability, support, discipline, and a little motivation.  Pax will depart on a 90-day journey beginning January 3rd, 2022, and ending on approximately April 2nd or 3rd.

There will be a buy-in and payouts to the top 3 places – determined by “percentage of weight loss”.   Uhaul has agreed to be the holder of the buy-in with a tracking spreadsheet created for each pax to help monitor their progress.  Good Luck Pax!

T-Claps to Uhaul for assisting with this endeavor!

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Q School at Footloose

10 pax decided to post at Footloose this morning for a little bootcamp Q School. YHC endeavored to create a WO this morning that would provide a few reminders/tips to seasoned PAX while focusing on some key fundamentals for newer PAX.

Pre-Disclaimer: I had all the PAX hold plank while I talked a bit about what goes into Quing a workout before 5:15. In short, 80% of a great Q happens before 5:15. Some best practices that were mentioned:

  • Write the Weinke down
  • Over prepare ( always have more than you need)
  • Make the workout scalable both in types of exercises and difficulty
  • Be site aware ( how to best utilize the AO)
  • Try and keep the group together as much as you can
  • Start on time

Remember, PAX are getting up early to drive to a Workout you are running. If anything you owe them the time and effort to make their time and effort worth it.

Disclaimer: We talked about the key components of a good disclaimer.

  • Announce who you are, you are not an expert
  • Ask for anyone new (I prefer to ask for new ppl as opposed to “FNG” in the event someone shows up not knowing what a FNG is)
  • If we have a FNG make sure there is someone (Site Q or person who EH’d him) that will stick with him and encourage him. Also be sure to mention our 5 core principles and welcome them to the WO.
  • Make clear that all exercises are suggestions and participants in the workout are assuming all risk. As a result, modify as needed to avoid injury
  • Highlight potential risks during the workout (going off campus, traffic, wet surfaces, poor footing etc….)
  • If you are going off campus count how many PAX you have before you break COT. If you leave with 10…end with 10.
  • Start the workout.

The Warmup:  Maintaining our position at the Shovel Flag but before the actual exercises I mentioned how important it is to show proper form during this portion of the workout. Often times all eyes will be on you and as a result you will need to set the example. If you cannot maintain good form (or cadence) during an exercise then just don’t’ do it. ( If you can’t do it …..don’ t Q it)

Next YHC went into the fundamentals of cadence calling. Announcing the exercise, telling pax to “move” into position, declaring if this next exercise will be in cadence(or OYO) and then to “begin”.  The key is to practice and to be mindful of “setting a pace”. I executed a set of SSH’s both at a slow place to demonstrate the cadence and then speeding it up to demonstrate how to pace the exercise. The next exercise was the Windmill. Which I was very careful to ensure that a proper pace was maintained.

One other tip to mention with warmups. Be mindful that it’s a “warm-up” As the Q don’t blow yourself up on the warmup…you have at least another 40-35 minutes to go.

 

The Thang:  As we begun the main portion of the workout I mentioned to the PAX that one thing I like to do with my workouts is “time box” my Wienke. In short, I like to keep to a schedule to ensure we get plenty of work in the 45 minutes while guaranteeing that we get all PAX back to COT at 6:00. For example a  Weinke of mine is laid out like this:

5:15-5:17 Disclaimer

5:17-5:18 Mosey to Warmup

5:18-5:23 Actual Warmup

5:23-5:25 Mosey to Thang Part 1.

5:25-5:40 Thang Part 1

5:40-5:42 Mosey to Thang Part 2

5:42-5:58 Thang Part 2

5:58-6:00 Run to COT

Through experience you’ll be able to determine how much time certain types of exercises or routines take  so be prepared to audible if needed or modify a workout up or down depending on the time allotted.

Specific to todays Q School I wanted to share with the Pax some basic exercise routines we leverage in F3 that are great ways to structure a workout and enable the opportunity to both scale up and down if needed. The routines we did were:

  • Pearls on a String ( 15 Merkins, Squats, Plank Jacks, LBC’s)
  • 7’s ( Carolina Dry Docks and Hello Dolly’s)
  • DORA (28 HR Merkins, 56 Squats, 112 LBC’s and 1 Kraken Burpee Each per Partner) In honor of Veterans Day I arranged the rep counts of this Dora to reflect the different Regiments, Brigades, and Divisions my father (CSM Pysher) served in during his career.

A couple things I mentioned during this portion of Q School:

  1. Don’t be afraid to modify up or down during these types of routines by changing reps, modes of transportation or by adding or subtracting exercises. Notice if the Pax are struggling or if they are blowing through it. You want to keep ppl moving and not have anyone standing around or getting discouraged.
  2. An easy way to do so is to carry chalk with you during your Q. For example I had written out the Dora in the parking lot before we started. At the conclusion of the Dora I simply added with chalk 50 SSH OYO. It’s an easy simple, effective way to modify the workout as you go.
  3. Keep things as simple as possible. The routines highlighted in today’s Q School are very simple yet very effective in that they provide a structure that will enable all pax to participate in a workout. Remember, if you are explaining……you are losing.

After the conclusion of the Dora we had roughly 10 minutes left which gave me the opportunity to go over a couple “time killing” routines that I have used in the past couple years.

Going back to what I had mentioned earlier about being over prepared it’s always a good idea to have in your back pocket a couple things (not just 5 minutes of Mary) that you can execute either on the way to COT or at COT that will keep PAX engaged.

  • Last Man Planking: all Pax in a circle. Essentially the last person maintaining good plank form “wins”. At the Q’s discretion he will call out an exercise like merkins  to “weed out” the herd. If and when someone taps out they will then do an exercise AMRAMP until a winner is declared.

 

  • EMOM Series: Utilizing your phone (and the SMARTWOD app) you can fill the remaining time by calling a series of exercises with a certain number of reps to be completed each minute on the minutes. What’s great about this is you can set the total time of the workout but modify the rep count to either increase or decrease the intensity of the workout.

 

 

  • 5 Burpees OYO :  This is always a crowd pleaser. You can leverage this throughout any workout to help quite out of control mumble chatter or to give you a few moments to think on your next piece of the workout.

COT: I have two alarms on my phone set for my workouts. One at 5:58 to remind me to get moving towards COT and the second one right at 6:00am

We discussed doing the count, namearama, the video and leading into announcements and prayers. At todays Q School there were specific prayers for our veterans and all they do, have done and continue to deal with. Additional prayers for health and guidance.

Final thoughts on Q School:

  1. Preparation is key to leading a successful Q. practice cadence, write your workout down, scout the site, and time box the workout to ensure everyone gets their money’s worth.
  2. As the Q you are the example if you can’t do it…don’t Q it.
  3. While leading the workout is 1st F. Remember to ensure that 2nd F is covered as well and keep ppl together.
  4. Leverage the Site Q for ideas and for counsel if you are concerned about a certain type of exercise or course. (if you are around houses you may want to be quite or if there’s a fence that’s locked…don’t jump it)
  5. Always have your phone on you (or ensure the site Q has theirs). It helps with the workout but from a safety perspective it’s good to have on your person.
  6. Look at F3Nation for additional workout ideas. Your brothers from across the country are constantly putting together innovative ways to lead workouts in the gloom. Feel free to “leverage” their input and ideas.

 

Hope you all find this helpful! Be on the lookout for more Q School in the coming months! SYITG

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F3TheFort Holiday Drop-In

The Forts annual holiday party will have a different feel this year.
With COVID still lingering we have decided to have a gathering but it will be a bit different.

We are encouraging The PAX to go to dinner with your M and either your Shieldlock, Whetstone, or small group of fellow PAX and their Ms. After dinner we will all gather for an hour or so of a social hour(s).
This will give our Ms the opportunity to meet the crazy fellas we spend the early mornings with but more importantly their M.

We are all fortunate to have this crazy group it is also just as important to try and let our Ms meet some other ladies in the community and possibly let them start great friendships as well.

Make it a day of F3. Start with the golf outing, go to dinner and then grab a couple beers, a bottle of J Lohr wine, a cocktail and let’s kick off the holiday season.

If COVID worries you or your M we will have an outdoor area to hang out at as well as indoor areas.

Where- Springfield Community Center- by the tennis courts/pool
420 Horton Grove, Fort Mill, SC 29715

Time- 7pm-9pmish

When- Dec 3rd, 2021

Contact- Backdraft with any concerns…

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Big Book of Pain

Six pax posted at Footloose.  I was expecting rain, but none was to be had.  This was part of the Q swap event for October…I was filling for Ruby Slippers.  Disclaimer given (twice) and then proceeded to:
Warm Up
Mosey run
SSH (IC 10x)
Windmill (IC 9x)
Imperial Walker (IC 10x)
Low Slow Squats (IC10x)
Mountain Climbers (IC 12X)
Plank stretches, up dog, down dog
Headed towards the benches area under the awning in front of the church.

Thang 1: HIIT Routine (Harry Carry’s “Big Book of Pain”)
Chapter 1: Do the below 32 seconds on, 10 sec standing rest in between
Merkins
monkey humpers
Squats
Dips
Bobby Hurley’s

Mosey run as a group around the church.

Chapter 2: Do the below 40 seconds on, 20 sec rest in between (rest is a Low Plank)
Mountain Climbers
LBC
CDD
Amer Hammers
plank jacks

Mosey run as a group around the church.

Chapter 3: Do the below 45 seconds on, 15 sec standing rest in between
burpees
Imp Walkers
Squat Jumps
step ups
SSH
Mosey run as a group around the church.
Re-read chapter 1…make sure it sinks in.

Run back to COT area.
Thang 2: music routine
Sally routine: leg lifts, sally up = legs all way to 90°, sally down = 6″ off the deck.

Fini

Close out COT with ShopVac’s prayer.

Since Footloose is a ‘moderate’ work out, the Q should include some extra ’10 counts’.
But: I used Olaf’s suggestion from the podcast “Stuff worth trying” and asked a pax why they do F3 as a replacement for 10 counts.
This was a good application of the technique since this morning’s group was a mix of 4 veteran pax and 2 relatively new pax.

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F3 The Fort Anniversary Party

Get ready to celebrate the Anniversary of The Fort. Location will be next to The Springfield neighborhood pool under the pavilion. but the date is set Sept. 17th, 2021. 1830-2130 or 630pm- 930pm for anyone that dosn’t know how to do military time. Cant wait to see you all. It will be the same as last year and bring your own dinner and drinks. We will have a few people speaking.

Look forward to seeing everyone.

location- Springfield Neighborhood Pavilion, next to pool

time- 630pm- 930pm

what to bring- whatever you want to eat and drink.

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Trifecta of Q’s

So, I got asked to Q last minute for Wednesday at Ring of Fire (8/18) and was already scheduled to Q at Footloose for Thursday (8/19) and then NASA had to try and find a sub for Varsity on Friday (8/20), so I just said I’d do it all. I mean @HarryCarey just did it, so why couldn’t I? I’ve been chasing him for years and still have a long way to go to try and keep up/catch that HIM.

So, I planned it out. Arms Day at Ring of Fire, Legs Day at Footloose, and IronPax prep at Varsity. Here we go!

Arms day was an AMRAP with the pull-up bars, Cindy, and some core to break it up. 1 minute on 30 seconds off.
Pull-Ups
Squats with Block
Curls
Overhead Press
LBC’s
Merkins
Flutters
Burpees
Low plank
Side Straddle Hops
Repeat.

Music kept us going with mostly hard rock from the ’90s and 2000s. @Sheild thinks I’m the next Tony Robbins as I was trying to motivate and keep everyone going on our rest periods.

Thursday at Footloose we did 7’s. Launching from the AO, we went over to Minnow Pond to see if we can pick a fight, to which they just ignored us. So, we ran the hill. Monkey Humpers at the bottom near the main road, because you know, Monkey Humpers ;). Up the hill and then squats.

We then ran over to Fort Mill Chruch of God for a round of 7’s using the stairs and the parking lot. I didn’t exactly think this one all the way through before giving instructions. Run up and down the stairs, then do 6 calf raises, run back over the stairs and run a lap around the parking lot and back up over the stairs to do 1 Bobby Hurley. Complete the circuit until 7’s is completed. That ended up being 14 laps around the parking lot. We ended up with 3 miles on this day. Lots of good mumble chatter and fellowship on those laps.

Finally, @ Varsity, we did IronPax prep with the Week 0 2018 workout. 50 squats, 40 big boys, 30 merkins, 20 lunges (modified down from Bonnie Blairs as we’re old and our knees can’t take it), 10 burpees run a lap. Do this 4x for time.

@Slapshot killed it and completed the circuit in 24:39, while @HarryCarey finished in 28:10 and YHC in 30:30. The rest modified and got their own solid workout/ruck in.

Q-ing the trifecta was a great test as it made me get creative and stay engaged with the group. We’re called to be leaders and this was a good test of my abilities over a longer period, not just every once in a while. Thanks to all for the opportunity to lead. I enjoyed it!

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