PRE BLAST F3 The Fort 6th Annual Invergence

Men of  The Fort,

On Friday, September 21st, we will celebrate 6 years of Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith in the Fort Mill area with our annual F3 Invergence party.   Bring a beverage, some food to share, and enjoy a relaxing evening with your brothers.   We’ll have presentations from your local leadership, take a look back at the previous year, and look ahead to what’s in store for 2019  F3 The Fort and F3 Nation.     This is the premier 2nd F event of the year so mark your calendars now,  and plan on being at Rush Pavilion on Friday night, September 21st.

This is a great FNG opportunity!

This is a Pax only event.  Make it up to your M and 2.0’s next weekend.
What:  Fort Mill Invergence (6th anniversary party)
When:  Friday, September 21, 5:30pm – 10:00pm
Where:  Bruce T. Rush Pavillion at the Anne Springs Greenway
Bring:  Food, drink, chair, cash (to cover the pavillion rental/donations to the F3 Foundation)
Please use the link below to RSVP and list what food you will bring:
6th year F3 The Fort Invergence Food Sign Up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CAFAE2FA7FD0-f3thefort

 

 

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Q School 101- Part II

School was back in session at Golden Corral for the 2nd week of “September Q School”.  Bones and Senator Tressel were the originally scheduled professors.  However, due to Senator being on the IR, YHC was called in as a substi-Q teacher.

14 pax posted for 2nd of two workouts covering 101 material.  An additional 8 pax went their own way with their black backpacks (likely not filled with textbooks).  NASA and TwoFerns brought out FNG, later to be named “Ruxpin”.

Bones kicked us off with a mosey around the parking lot with some high knees, butt kickers, Karaoke, and lunges.  Circling up for COP, he shared advice and wisdom on exercises that are simple and keep pax together. We did a few minutes of COP warm-up, with some exercises called out (and lead by) by pax that hadn’t Q’ed before (or only Q’ed once):

  • Windmills
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Moroccan Night Clubs
  • Seal Jacks
  • Slow Low Squats
  • Peter Parkers
  • Side Straddle Hops
  • Carolina Dry Docks

Mosey over to a different part of the parking lot where Bones emphasized that “simple” doesn’t mean “easy”, and that partnering up helps hold men accountable during the exercises.  We each partnered up for the next exercise event. All of the following were done with your partner, not switching off, like some lazy pax (or maybe just YHC) were hoping for.

  • 10 Merkins
  • Lunge across small lot
  • 10 Burpees
  • Bearcrawl back
  • 10 LBCs

Rinse and repeat 4 times.

Hand off to YHC.  We took a couple 10 counts and moseyed to the parking lot behind the shopping center.  I discussed a bit about how pax will follow and trust the Q until they have reason not to.  Trust can be broken by putting pax in dangerous situations.  Trust can be built by showing effort in planning.

Next up, Rugby Sprints.  Two sets of cones were set up about 30 yards apart.  Pax were instructed to perform exercises (together) until Q called out “GO!”.  At that point, pax were to sprint to the other cones, sprint back, then recovery walk back to the other cones.  Rinse and repeat as time allowed.  Stationary exercises we did where:

  • Merkins (in cadence)
  • Overhead Claps (in cadence)
  • Crab Cakes (in cadence)

Mosey back to COT.  Along the way we discussed the importance of promoting your Q via Twitter and documenting it afterwards via BackBlast.

T-claps to FNG Ruxpin for not only posting, but making his first post a Q school! With a Q school now under his belt, he should be ready to lead workout in no time.  Also, great work by NASA and TwoFerns for brining him out.

 

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The Millennial

25 men showed up for the awesome Fire Ant ruck Q lead by NASA. If your wanted to hear about that, well you’re in the wrong place… YHC had the bootcamp Q.

So I gave the full group the official disclaimer to all Then we split off. 8 of the men came with me.

The Thang

dynamic warmup with high knees butt kickers and toy soldiers.

Circle up for some number of reps of Imperial Walkers, Abe  Vagota, Merkins,  moroccan night clubs, and mountains climbers.

Mosey over to the board I brought,  affectionately called the “millennial”

heres how it goes… 100 reps each exercise, then 100 yard lap around the Parking lot.

1. Side straddle Hops (SC)

2. Merkins

3.LBCs

4.Squats

5. Mountain Climbers (SC)

6. Lunges (SC)

7. Plank Punches (SC)

8. Carolina Dry Docks

9. Flutter Kicks (SC)

10. “Mystery Exercise”  Everyone guessed burpees but I let Manifold pick for us.  He chose poorly….Monkey Humpers…God I hate those things!

Why the “Millennial” you ask?  So you take 10 exercises at 100 reps plus 1000 yards of running

you get 2000 – about the time millennials came into this world.

Finished up with Ab Labs for about 3-4 exercises called out by the PAX.

COT Namorama prayers and announcements.

An Honor to lead

-Royale

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Fire Ants Conquer the Iron Ruck Challenge

I love the Fire Ant concept! Always a challenge for sure, pushes you to do more. When Spiderman put me on Q I knew what I wanted to do. It was not an original – I took a page from the Iron Pax challenge that has been going around lately. Week 2’s challenge was a beast. I had to work it into a ruck Q.

Great morning! 15 ruckers ready to roll……

We did not roll far. Super tough long ruck about 100 yards to one side of the Teeter parking lot where I wanted us to leave our sweat marks. Circled up for COP:

  • SSH x 20
  • WM x 20
  • IW x 10
  • HW x 10
  • MNC x 20

Then on to the main event. The Iron Ruck Challenge!

  • 5 sets of exercises, each done for 7 minutes AMRAP
  • Each exercise was using your ruck – note they were ALL weighted at least 35lbs, some had more
  • After 20 reps of an exercise, run about 25 yards and back
  • Continue, rinse and repeat exercise/run until 7 minutes are up
  • That completes one set
  • Rest for 1 minute
  • Move on to next set

Exercise sets were:
1. Thrusters
2. Curls
3. Flutters w Press (count on the press up)
4. Swings
5. Man Makers

Everything single count. Used a Tabata timer ap and speaker to keep things moving, audible time changes.

Folks complained about lack of music or a playlist of songs on my phone. I did not bring my boom box either. Hey, I am old – 2 years from 50. Got no time for tinker toys. It’s Pandora, Sirius XM, the radio, or nothing right now. Besides, when you have such epic mumblechatter like we had this morning, who needs music! Also – Cadre ain’t gonna play music while he is whuppin up on us. I’m trying to get my mind ready for that.

Not much talking from the Q. Too busy grunting, groaning, and being winded to talk between sets. Help make your kid’s minds as sharp as they can be is the only words I gave advice on. The kick-arse group of mean mother ruckers there this morning really ground through this. No mods. Good form. A lot of team encouragement and support. Grinded it out to the very end. Everyone ended up doing at least 80-100 of each exercise. Good livin!

Thanks Spiderman for the opportunity to lead. Excellent job by all the PAX there.

-NASA

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GC 7/10

7 bootcampers and 5 ruckers showed up for the buffet.

After a disclaimer by Olaf, we went our separate ways and bootcampers mosied around HT and started COP.

COP – MNC x 15, IW x 15, LSS x 10, Merkins x 10, PP x 15

We then made our way to HT where YHC had set up some cones for the main event.  PAX did 7s (but really 8s) of big boy sit-ups and burpees, bear crawling to the first cone and crab walking back.

For the main event, PAX did suicides starting with 1 SSH x 10, 2, 1 SSHx 10 Plank Jack’s x 10… Building up to 4, 3, 2, 1 SSH x 10 plank jacks x 10 bomb Jack’s x 10 and ski abs x 10.  We then rotated through again with squats, lbcs, monkey humpers, and diamond merkins.

After the main event we sat on the wall a did some burpees, and finished up with some mary.

Met up with the ruckers for COT.  Sweti coming up, read your newsletter.

Thanks decibel for the opportunity to lead

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6/19 GC Ruck

With the first of my 3 Q’s this week we jumped ventured into the world of GoRuck with their Wednesday Workout from last week. It went something like this:

Partner Up and grab a sandbag
Movement: One mileish to Tega Cay Elementary switch sandbag as needed
PT with your partner: 50x Sandbag Front Squats
50x Ruck Merkins
50x Ruck V-Ups
Movement: Ruck back to COT

YHC got a little aggressive with the distance and movement which impeded finishing the second round of PT

PAX put in great effort. I’m sure I’m missing some from the tag.

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Golden Corral Foursome

A group of 22 pax converged at the HT lot for another edition of Golden Corral.  Once the runners took off, and the ruckers marched on, 3 Pax joined YHC for the bootcamp workout.  Here is what we did:

Mosey around the HT parking lot and pause for a quick warm up of knee pulls, ankle pulls, toy soldiers, lunge twists and arm circles.  Mosey a little further to the perfect spot for COT:

All in Cadence:

SSH x 40, merkin x 10, squat x 20, mountain climber x 30, alternating lunges x 15, CDD x 15, LBC x 20

Mosey to front of HT store and face the front parking lot:

Full parking lot suicides (stop at each concrete island in lot).  Repeat 2 more times.

Mosey to the side of the HT store:

  1.  Balls to the wall/hold, bear crawl to the O’Reilly parts store and balls to that wall.  Bear crawl back to HT store.
  2. Peoples chair against HT store, 10 overhead claps, lunge walk to O’Reilly parts store and peoples chair against that wall.  Lunge walk back to HT store.
  3. Repeat #1 above
  4. Repeat #2 above

Plank it up for a quick talk on the word of the month:  IMPACT

I mentioned to the Pax that one of the strongest aspects  of F3  is the network that has been built over the years.  There is strength in numbers and I the best example of the impact of a large network was the flood relief provided to Columbia two years ago.  Hundreds of men organized a relief effort in an incredibly short time.   It was an amazing thing to see and to be part of.  Another way you can have impact through your F3 relationships is reaching out to your Pax when they need encouragement or just a note to let them know you are thinking about them.  A quick text or phone call can make a huge difference when you are down.

Back to work.  Indian Run around the whole lot and circle up for quick ablab:

Hello Dolly x 20, Freddie Merc x 20, Superman hold x 30.

End with the Body Destroyer (lie flat on the ground, breath deep, relax, no talking)

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

Was good to be Q at the Corral after an extended break including some time on IR.  It’s still one of my favorite AO’s.  Something about being under the lights makes it pretty cool.  We had a good group today.  My apologies to Manifold and Curious George for not learning your names before we started the workout.  My calls for 10 counts from ‘you guys down there’ were a little awkward.  Glad to have you men, and Bones with me today.  Hope to see you again soon.

I shared my thoughts on the word of the month, IMPACT, with the group (which is a rarity for me).  I’m not much for breaks when I Q (other than 10 counts) so we did this in the plank position.

It was an awesome, very humid,  morning at the Corral and a pleasure to lead such a fine group of men.  Thanks for the Q spot, Decibel!

Announcements/Prayers/Praises

Go Sleeveless for Cheech, this Friday, June 22 at all workouts

Prayers for Dark Helments friend who was killed in a motorcycle accident, F3 Elmer who has luekemia, and for a friend of Drop Thrill , whose child who has recovered from a serious illness.

 

 

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Less Planning = More Pain

Somehow, it slipped YHC’s radar that today’s Golden Corral Q fell on him. Nevertheless, when this truth was brought to light 8 hours before launch, frantic efforts were made to plan SOMETHING. Six PAX joined YHC to learn what happens when little time is spent planning a beatdown. Here’s what we did…

Mosey 1½ times around the parking lot, including side shuffles, knees-to-chests, and toy soldiers before circling up in front of O’Reilly Auto Parts next to the bank. Following a quick warmup of the standards (SSH, windmill, low slow squats, and merkins), we moseyed around to the newly paved hill into the newly built apartment complex behind the Teeter.

The Thang

Beginning at the bottom of the hill, PAX will complete a certain number of burpees, run to the top of the hill, perform exercise on sheet taped to cone, run down the hill, more burpees, back up, etc. The breakdown of exercises:

  • 10 burpees at the bottom, 100 LBCs at the top
  • 9 burpees at the bottom, 90 squats at the top
  • 8 burpees at the bottom, 80 merkins at the top (crowd pleaser, this one)
  • 7 burpees at the bottom, 70 Freddie Mercuries at the top (double count)
  • 6 burpees at the bottom, 60 monkey humpers at the top
  • 5 burpees at the bottom, 50 pseudo planche merkins at the top
  • 4 burpees at the bottom, 40 dying cockroaches at the top (double count)
  • 3 burpees at the bottom, 30 hillbilly squat walkers at the top (single count)
  • 2 burpees at the bottom, 20 breakdancer merkins at the top (single count)
  • 1 burpee at the bottom, 10 v-sits at the top

38 Special didn’t get the memo on the descending number of burpees and proceeded to do 10 burpees each round until probably round 4 or 5. There’s always one who doesn’t get it, but good for him for doing the harder thing.

All PAX picked up the six and finished with a mosey to COT, arriving at exactly 0600. For being poorly planned, this turned into a perfectly timed workout.

Announcements:

  • PAINtheon Games, 13.June.2018, 0500
  • Hog and Coyote V, 16.June.2018, 0500 ruck, 0600 everybody else
  • Sweati, sometime in July, details generally lacking

Prayers and praises:

  • CAH – pray for the kids, the workers, the volunteers, and praises for the opportunities we’ve had to pour into them
  • Drummond and his family are handing two foster children over to their forever family this weekend. Prayers for the transition – the good parts, and the hard parts.
  • Per Drop Thrill, Donut Hole is being deployed again, so prayers for him and his family in the weeks/months ahead. (I never thought I’d type a sentence starting with “Per Drop Thrill, Donut Hole…”)
  • Prayers for all the PAX who are injured and for those looking for jobs (or otherwise “funemployed,” as Homebrew called it).

An honor to lead, even if unexpectedly.

Jedi

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RUCK – GC – RUCKICIDES

Well it was my turn to Q again and was digging through my twisted mind as to what to do and I started thinking about something with Suicides.  Then the lovely thought came to mind about doing RUCKICIDES, and from there the workout took shape.

Router put out for a pre-run so of course the usuals showed up to do it, but was excited when OLAF wasn’t really feeling it.  So Jedi, Cha Ching, and Router took off for 3 miles and Olaf and I grabbed an 80 and 60lb sandbag, plus rucks and did a little under two miles in 30 minutes.  Those got heavy!!

On to the Ruck, was pumped to see 9 PAX out today!

Warm up

Indian run where last person does some cleans with the sandbag – well that turned out to be way to easy for everyone else and confusing so about 15 seconds in I yell “Screw this, RUCKS overhead”.  So then we run three laps around the parking lot alternating exercises while still running.

Rucks Overhead

Overhead Press

Away from Chest Carry

Curls

Farmer Carry

Overhead

Again all while running.

WOD:

Grab 7 Sandbags and the two person carry cement pipe and start moving.  We carry it to the church parking lot where RUCKICIDES commence.

First:

Bear Crawl – 5 merkins – Crawl Bear back – Bear Crawl – 5 Merkins Crawl bear back (length of parking lot)

Lil E is a bear literally, he beat Cha Ching if that tells you anything.

Second:

Walking Lunge – 10 Squats – Duck walk back – repeat (length of parking lot)

My butt is still sore…

Grab weight and move – This time whatever weight we were carrying beyond our rucks had to be overhead for a certain amount of time.  Sorry Cha-Ching that 80lb bag sucks!

Next we did timed bag toss relay up the hill to the fire station:

We set a time hack of 1.5 minutes and did the first round with the 60lb bag in 1minute 3 seconds.

We cleaned it up and did it in 46 seconds

Next we jumped up to the 80lb bag and knocked it out in under a minute.

At this point we had 6 minutes to make it back to COT and some distance to cover, so we grabbed all the weight and double timed it back!

Pumped for the turnout and to see NASA out there again!

I’ve got a full Q schedule so you won’t see me Q’ing for a bit but come out and support.

Until later,

RAD

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No SSH at GC

Twelve at Golden Corral for a substi-Q on the hottest morning of the young spring!  74 degrees at post time but when Corn Hole ran in from his home dripping wet, all the sudden I felt a lot cooler.

This morning we focused on the theme of Accountability as it relates to our word of the year.  The question is do you have a word? How are you engaging with that word? How are you holding yourself accountable?  By this time of the year you should have your word engrained were you are thinking about it constantly and understanding how it intersects with your life.  You own it.  Tell someone what you want to change and ask them to ask you about it when they see you.

The Thang:

Start with a bit of stretching to loosen up a bit… it was no Broga but Senator appreciated it and I think others by the end of the post were hoping we would have spent more time there.

Mosey to the field at the church with some curb hops and such along the way.

Circle up with a COP (sort of) which included 20 Maq-tar-jai, 10 Knee-tar-jai and some 4 (1×4)Jack Webbs.

Mosey to parking lot for a partner exercise of 2 rounds each of merkins while the partner runs then squats while the partner runs.

Mosey to parking lot behind HT for some plate pushes with partner while pax goes through a series of exercises until we push through the full rotation.   Including dips, CCDs, lunges, and a bunch of other fun.

Another round of overhead plate carries with another series of exercises

Headed to the wall for some fun with passing the plates and pushing it back down to the other end. Then some wall stand walks and Australian wall walks… fun, fun and more fun!  Just ask Corn Hole

Headed back to COT with a bit of Mary before counting off!

It was an honor to lead the Pax through the morning and I’m better because of it.   Aye!

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