Eight men met at the Harris Teeter lot for another Tuesday morning beatdown at the Golden Corral.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Dynamic warmup:  knees to chest, ankles to waist, lunge/arm extension, toy soldiers,    Start the mosey to the COP, but wait, someone else is pulling in – it’s Sir Topham Hat!   So, we picked him up and circled back to the COP:

All in cadence:  SSH x 40, merkin x 10, cotton picker x 10, diamond merkin x 10, squat x 20, LBC x 20, mountain climber x 40, hillbilly walker x 20, staggered merkin (10L/10R)

Mosey to the hill by the old driving range and meet at the bottom.  Run up the hill and back to the bottom. . At the bottom, pair up for Jacob’s Ladder.   Stay together for the whole routine and start at 3 burpees and work up to 10 burpees.

Mosey back to the original spot on the HT lot, line up and face the retaining wall.  Plank it up while one guy runs to the wall, box jumps it, does a bombjack and returns to the line.  The next person in line takes off to do the same while the guys waiting drop to 6″.  Alternate between a regular plank and a 6″ plank until all the Pax have run to the wall and back.

Circle up for ABLAB (all medium/slow counts – crowd pleaser!)

Freddie Merc x 20, American hammer x 20, alternate left hand to right leg extension x 10, Superman hold x 2,

COT

Moleskin

We had a total of 17 Pax this morning including the 9 others who were rucking with Witch Hunt.   Having the ‘ruck crew’ at Golden Corral is a regular thing now,  and it’s a good thing.  There is always more chatter with a larger group, and it’s fun to start and end together.    When we did Jacob’s Ladder today, I had the guys pair up and stay together to encourage one guy to push the other guy to go faster.   I hope that had the desired effect.  Toward the end of the workout, we did box jumps on the retaining wall which, the last time we did this, the wall was not quite as tall. Hmmm….must have been at a different spot at the parking lot – sorry about that men!

Lately, I’ve noticed that the guys are sticking around longer after workout to hang out and catch up with one another.   A lot of us have known each other for a couple years or longer,  and the friendships we’ve developed are growing stronger.  That’s great to see and gives you another reason to climb out of bed and meet at 5:15 am!

Announcements/Prayers/Praises

Turkey collection this week and through Saturday for Paradise neighborhood.  Xmas party on Saturday, Paintheon games tomorrow.  Read your newsletter!

Praise for the birth of Olaf’s child, prayers for a troubled father,  prayers for the injured Pax

A nice 40 degree morning met the 9 Pax that ascended on the Golden Coral for the Ruck workout lead by YHC. With the weinke ready and the disclaimer given by Senator Tressel, it was time to get to work.

A quick ruck march to the front of the doctors office for the warm up:

• Windmills x10
• IW x10
• Cotton Pickers x10

Now that we were loose, we marched over to the church parking to start the fun.

The Thang

The workout consisted of 4 missions being completed within 30 minutes. If all 4 missions cannot be completed then there will be a penalty of 20 Man-Maker Burpees (No Thank You)

We start at The Barracks (aka MIddle of parking lot) and complete the following:

• 10 Ruck Swings
• 10 Curls
• 10 Squats
• 10 Merkins

Subsequently, after each mission you go Back to the Barracks complete these exercises before heading out for the next mission. The missions were as follows:

Mission 1:

Head over to the Hill by the Cell Phone Tower and count off by 2. Group 1 holds a plank while Group 2 heads up the hill, performs 1 Burpee and returns to the bottom and switches with Group 1. This will continue until each group has been up the hill 5 times.

Mission 2:

Everyone’s favorite: Catch me if you can around the island of the Church Parking Lot. Must complete 2 laps.

Mission 3:

Pax will pair up and complete 200 flutters (Double Count) while holding ruck while there partner holds their Ruck overhead. Pax will switch every 25.

Mission 4:

Pax will form a single line around the circle in front of the church. Pax will then bear crawl around the circle twice.

With only a minute to spare, all Pax completed the final Barracks workout. No penalty.

We finished the workout about 10 minutes early (had to pad the timing in case we had to complete the penalty),we marched to the back of the Harris Tetter. Here we removed the ruck and finished the march to COT while holding the ruck overhead.

Thanks to Cobra Kai for the opportunity to lead and for all the work put in by the Pax. I am constantly amazed, and humbled, by the tenacity of the Pax to tackle any challenge I put in front of them. Today was not different.

Until next time, back to the Hunt….

Straight up #Cobains for the lateness of this BB for Golden Corral- Hope I get it out before today’s gets posted.

Well- GC is turning in to a Ruck centric work out- I’ll admit it, I’ve done it.  While the majority of the Pax took off with their backpacks, the men stayed back, grabbed a cinderblock and mosied to the church field.  My Q’s all have a common thread: constant movement + strength.  this morning would be no different.  After setting our blocks down at one end of the field- we move to the parking lot for a #warmorama

Warmorama

SSH, Merkins, SSH, MC, SSH, Peter Parker, SSH, Parker Peter

The Thang

Block work then movement consisting of a #downandback approx 40 yrds each way.  #downandbacks were running, backward running, shuffles, karoeke, bobby hurleys, crab walk and bear crawls

Block Work included curls, overhead press, squat, bent over rows, tricep ext, push ups, ski abs and the piece de resistance: cinder block burpee

Each circuit had 3 rounds of exercise and run

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

It had been a long time since I had done block work- these guys were filled with lead.  my hamstrings and core were crushed from bent rows and burpees.  Lets do it again!  Senator Tressel is the defintion of form.. and hair.  Love to see Falcon Crest catching the fire- keep bringing it.

Time: 0505 – Ruckers rolling in from all angles. Rucks being dropped off. Rucks being picked up.
Time: 0510 – 14 Ruckers Counted, 2 Boot Campers
Time: 0514 – 2 Boot Campers (Decibel and Falcon’s Crest) are provided each with a Ruck
Time: 0515 – Disclaimer briefly disclaimed and we started rucking. Not a lot of time.

Before we get to The Thang, a little lesson.

sleep·er cell
noun
a secretive group of spies that remain inactive within a target population until ordered to act.

Over the course of the past year, this sleeper cell (aka F3 Rucking Crew) has been slowly infiltrating the ranks. It started at the Swamp with just a few PAX and a simple, “Hey, I’ve got this extra ruck no one’s using, wanna join us?” A few visits to www.goruck.com and gear options galore. It started to spread a bit. Still not quite a movement, but something. Then a Custom Goruck at the Fort Announcement (get on the waitlist), A Brewruck (sounds fun?), a 20 mile overnight ruck (less fun) plus more to come. It was clear this morning that the sleeper cell was activated. If you haven’t tried rucking or a ruck workout, don’t worry, you will. You don’t have a choice anymore. This brings us to The Thang. Mind you, this is not your typical ruck or ruck workout. This is an F3 Ruck Beatdown! Oh yeah, it was raining. All rucks are 30# except for my M’s which Decibel got. It’s pink and 32#.

THANG
Mosey to the overhang by the Rite Aid for COP (Rucks On): Arm Twirly Things (fwd and back), Windmills IC X10, Merkins IC X5 and Mtn Climbers IC X15

Walk to Overhang for Meat and Potatoes portion of the workout

Partner Pyramid: Partner 1 Runs a lap around Rite Aid, Domino’s and Jersey Mikes while Partner 2 does the exercise. Flip Flop until the cumulative number is reached.

Running (Ruck Off)
Exercise (Ruck On or used as coupon/gear)

• 50 Burpees (Crowd Pleaser)
• 100 Merkins
• 150 Ruck Swings (Think KB Swing but with a ruck)
• 200 OH Flutters (Flutters with Ruck held overhead)
• 150 Ruck Curls
• 100 Merkins
• 50 Burpees (Most made it here, it sucked)

Almost everyone completed the series and we cleared about 2+ miles for the running portion. Strong work by all and this was a true beatdown. I already need a nap and I can’t lift my arms. Here are my notes.

NMM
-Tclaps to Reborn for coming across the river. Great to have you.
-Welcome to the club Decibel and Falcon’s Crest
-Knew it was a “good” workout when I started getting threats of bodily harm (looking at you DH)
-Who knew counting could be so difficult when you’re a) dizzy and b) trying not to spill merlot
-Thanks to Crabcakes for the Manchurian Candidate reference inspiring the title of this BB
-Honestly don’t have much more than that. I’m old and it was a blur. Appreciated everyone who posted!

Announcements
-Christmas Party (if you know any PAX where $ is tight, please get them in touch with either CSPAN or Italian Job. There are PAX willing to sponsor others)
-PAINtheon Games next Wednesday at The Coop 0500, yes 0500
-Christmas Eve Convergence at The Yard (0615 5K and 0700 Workout)
-(Home)Brewruck Coming next April
-Get on the Fort Custom Goruck waitlist

Praise and Prayers
-Prayers for Bonsai’s Aunt as she prepares for breast cancer surgery
-Prayers for Royale’s Father
-Prayers for Sgt York as they travel to China to adopt 2 children
-Prayers for safe travels for many and for the family at home

BOM on CSPAN

Always and Honor Guys!
Zima

Warm-up:

• SSH X25
• Merkin X10
• Imperial Walker X10
• Peter Parker X10

This workout was designed to get the heart rate up, allow for a break, and then rinse and repeat the whole thing.  As the PAX grumbled out during the workout, the weinke was short but distinguished.  The first step was to pick a partner to enjoy the pain with.

Lap 1:  Lap Catch me if you can

• One partner takes off with both his ruck and his partner’s ruck (one is each hand) while the other partner completes 10 merkins and then runs to catch up with his ruck carrying partner.
• We started at Bubbles and Bows and did the full loop of the parkting lot.  Bubbles and Bows to State Farm to the last parking isle at HT and back to Bubbles and Bows.
• Follow up with hands on knees and heavy breathing

Lap 2:  Ruck (2X2) with pain stations

• Ruck to State Farm
• Bear Crawl from State Farm to the salon at the end of the building
• Ruck to the last parking isle in front of HT
• Overhead ruck carry back to Bubbles and Bows
• 15 flutter kicks with a ruck press
• 7 merkins with the ruck on (apparently these are harder of a long overhead carry)

Lap 3:  Catch me if you can

Lap 4: Ruck (2X2) without pain stations

Lap 5:  Ruck (2X2) with pain stations

Lap 6:  Catch me if you can

Meet up with the coupon carrying crew led by Jekyll at Golden Corral for COT

14 men converged at the Harris Teeter shopping center on a cool, foggy Tuesday morning.   After a brief disclaimer, the four Ruckers donned their packs and marched away while the rest of the pax stayed with YHC.  This is what we did:

The Thang:

Dynamic warmup with arm circles/shoulder pulls, lunge/back twist/arm extensions, knee/ankle pulls, inchworm back/forth to stretch the back, and then toy soldiers.  Mosey around the lot and pick up two bricks from the white Passat.

Short jog to the COP with one brick in each hand (all in cadence):

SSH x 25, windmill x 15, Morrocan night club x 25, squat x 20, merkin x 10, crunch press x 20.

Senator plank (all in cadence):  Start in a “downward dog’ position, do 5 CCD’s, walk down to regular plank, do 5 merkins, drop to 6”, come back up, left arm/leg high, flip over, do 5 dips, right arm/leg high, regular and hold.  Hold and rinse/repeat entire sequence (try to do whole thing without taking a knee)

Jog to the wall along the side of your Harris Teeter.  Split into two groups

ROUND 1

Group 1:  give your bricks to a partner, then run to the bottom of the hill by the old driving range and run back

Group 2:  Do overhead presses with two bricks in each hand until group 1 gets back.  (FLAPJACK)

ROUND 2:  Same as round 1, but wall sit with the bricks in your lap.

ROUND 3:  Same as round 1, but do curls with two bricks in each hand

Mosey back to the front lot for some AB works with the bricks:

V-ups x 20, American hammers x 20, X’s & O’s x 10

Finish up with Jack Webbs with bricks, 1:4 (crowd pleaser).  We made it to 8 this morning and ran out of time (no complaints from the Pax, and the Q didn’t mind either)

COT

It was pretty foggy this morning, but the bright lights of the parking lot kept everything clear.   I like all of the Tuesday AO’s, but the Golden Corral is still my favorite and I think it’s because it’s so well-lit.   The attendance count was 14  and four of those were ruckers.   Those guys show up everywhere!  The popularity of the ruck workout has exploded at the Fort.  .

The remaining 10 stayed with me as we ran through various, familiar exercises with the added weight of a small brick in each hand.  The extra resistance provided a little oomf to everything we did today and made Jack Webbs especially tough.  My goal was to get to a count of 10/40, but unfortunately we ran out of time and only made it to an 8 count (full disclosure – not sure the Q could make it to 10).  But, the way my shoulders and arms feel right now, 8 was plenty….

It was a privilege to lead such a fine group and it was great to see Falcon Crest  (dude, your name is not Hawk’s Crest) who started F3 just a few weeks ago, and also Spark Plug, who is rarely seen during the week.

Announcements:  F3 camping trip, soccer game, Thanksgiving convergence with turkey (bring non perishable canned goods to workout) , Xmas party (check the newsletter for details).

Prayers and praises:  Cobra Kai, Cornhole, Zima, and CSPAN will travel to Jacksonville with OBT and Dredd for F3 Expansion.  Prayers for a brother-in-law with cancer.  Praise for a successful youth mission trip that built friendships and helped young people grow in their faith.

Driving to the AO I was afraid  I would be the only boot camper and so be forced to throw on a backpack and go with the ruckers on some silly adventure, but no: my fellow boot campers were already assembled, no worries. We glared at the Ruck crew judgingly and they returned the favor, the disclaimer was given, with an added one that this was my 1st boot camp in about 2 months, and we were off. Nice easy mosey to Tega Cay Baptist which happened to be my polling place, already a few cars in the lot.  I think there were some complaints about the run but YHC ignored them.

COP – 44 SSHs(in honor of our soon to be 44th President) Merkins x13(for the 13 original colonies), 10 Deep Squats hold each for 8 seconds, Mtn Climbers, Peter Parker, Parker Peter.

The Thang

Pyramid of Pain – Build the Pyramid – 10 Burpees 20 CDDs – 30 Squats – 40 Calf Raises – 50-LBCs

Knock the Pyramid down – 50 Flutters – 40 Squats – 30 Merkins – 20 Burpees – 10 Can’t remember

Head back to the Corral for some People’s chair and BTTW and in Honor of the day Donkey Kicks

Head back to COT for some Elephant Humpers( thanks to Old Bay for keeping us Bipartisan) Finally we finish up with 7 minutes of Mary – Call your own Ab exercise

For our Rucking crew –

Warm-up 25 SSH, 10 Windmills, 10 Merkins, 15 Low Slow Squats

Short Mosey be hind the Teeter for 35 minutes for some partner work

Bear Crawls, 40# Toss, Lunge Walk, Suicides(no Ruck) 50/100, 60# Carry, 2 Person log carry, OH Ruck Carry, Partner Carries(100 Yds each partner)

NMS – Reminder to the PAX to not take our country and our freedom for granted. The peaceful transfer of power is a beautiful gift and regardless of our party we need to appreciate it.  We will have a new leader and it will not take someone being murdered or some military coup rather it is done through the peaceful voting of the people.

Announcements – The Forging on 11/19, Sign up and pay for the Christmas party, Veterans Day Ruck and 2ndF 6:00pm at Rundee, 3rd F event Sat. 6:00am

Prayers for the election and for our country. Prayers that we would remember the He is sill on the Throne and that is where our hope needs to be.

The PAX started to arrive around 5:05, most in cars but some on foot (Sir Topham Hat & Nomad).  And they just kept coming!  It was the biggest crowd (22) that YHC has seen in a while and it was nice to see as it has felt like AO numbers have been a little lower than normal.  It was also really cool to see two FNG’s join the PAX.  Frat Boy was brought out by Shady and Falcon’s Crest appeared on his own accord following some encouragement from his FIA M.  YHC provided a disclaimer and we were off.

Brief Warm Up:

Mosey from the parked cars around the parking lot to the front of Harris Teeter and back up to the Bubbles and Bows parking lot.  Circle up:

• SSH X30
• Merkin X10
• Imperial Walker X15
• Windmill X10

The Thang:

Let the PAX know that this would start with a mosey that was close to a mile and provided a modify route for those that wanted to modify.  We took off.  Ran around Bubbles and Bows toward the gas station, took a left, left at the end of that street, all the way down the street to the second entrance to the lot behind State Farm, continued behind the Harris Teeter and stayed straight behind the service station, left to head paste the gym and continued around the Rite Aide.  Once we passed the Rite Aide we ran down the street to the front of HT.  The whole route was about 0.8 miles.  At that point we took a break for the message of the day.

Today’s workout was about NOT cutting corners.  We had just completed close to a mile run and were about to do a lot more.  Opportunities to cut corners within that 45 minutes were plenty.  Cutting a corner on your runs will result in more pain than necessary on your next CSAUP.  Cutting corners on the upper body portion we were about to endure would mean potential failure in the next Fort fit test.  Cutting corners with your kids will mean missing out on the relationship you can build with them and not raising them to be the people they can be.  Cutting corners in your marriage will mean accepting your relationship with your wife to be what it is and missing the chance to grow it and your love for each other.  Don’t cut corners!!!

YHC drew 10 lines on the pavement that were 3 parking spaces wide (9 yards).  This would be our arena:

• 1 hand release merkin at the first line and bear crawl to the next line
• 2 hand release merkins at the second line and bear crawl to the next line
• Continue increasing until completing at the tenth line

Once the merkins were completed we took another lap (0.8 miles) and returned to the front of the Harris Teeter.  This time it was crab walk and box cutters.  Then another lap.

This pretty much filled the time.  We returned to the start and wrapped up with LBCs and protractor.

As always, a real honor to lead such a great group of HIMs!!!  Thank you to Decibel for the oppportunity!

Announcements:

• November 19th – The Forging or F3 Soccer (contact Fun House)
• Covergence @ Empire Pizza Friday, October 28th

Prayer Requests:

• Louie – 3 year old with Type T ALL going through a bone marrow transplant
• Decibel’s niece is recovering from surgery
• Olaf and his wife as they work through pregnancy

It was a beautiful morning on Tuesday out at the Golden Corral. Several men started gathering and getting ready to split off into two groups. Rucking is starting to be a regular event at the GC on Tuesdays! It’s an option I usually partake in, but today I was QIC for these men. I looked around, was a little disappointed that we didn’t have an FNG…gave the disclaimer and 7 of us took off to start the workout.

The Thang
Mosey behind Harris Teeter with dynamic warm-up jog
High knees : Butt Kickers : Pull Knee to Chest : Toy Soldiers

Circle up for COP
20 SSH : 19 IW : 25 MNCs : 19 Squats : 19 Plank Jacks : 19 Seal Jacks

During COP, I look up and another guy had joined us and said “Hello Josh!” Sure enough, it was my coworker Joe, who I’ve been trying to EH for months. I sent him an email the night before and called him and left a message on his cell to say “Tomorrow is YOUR DAY” I’m the Q 3 minutes from your house…be there!

Sure enough, he showed up. He found the ruckers first, and they pointed him to us. The fact that he was wearing a bright orange shirt sealed the deal as his new F3 name will forever be “Detour”! I was happy Joe made it, for the last few warm-up items. Little did he know what was in store for the last 35 minutes!

Mosey to the front parking lot
11s
Start with 10 burpess run 40 yards move to 1 Ranger Merkin
Run back 9 burpees run back 2 Ranger Merkins until we flipped to final 1 burpee 10 Ranger Merkins
This took a good 20 minutes, and we were pretty gassed.

We used our 10 count to share our F3 names with the new FNG, and what the 5 core principals of an F3 workout are.
1. Free of charge
2. For all Men
3. Held outdoors rain or shine
4. Led in a rotating fashion by members of the PAX
5. Ends in a COT

Next Mosey in front of Burn Bootcamp (always fun to taunt)

Complete “Lt Dangers” the length of the building
(This consists of lunge-lunge-squat-merkin) picked this up from my York PAX!
Run a lap around the building
Next round: Broad jumps, then run a lap around the building

Several women from burn bootcamp came out doing their own exercises so they scared me away and we moved on…

Mosey to Fort Mill BBQ
Find some curb:
In cadence – Rocky Balboa
20 Derkins
OYO Rocky Balboa 1 minute
20 Incline Merkins

Mosey back to the flag for 5 minutes of Ab Lab
Each PAX picked an ab exercise and counted in cadence. Even Detour stepped up and counted really well on his 1st day!

The Ruckers joined back up with us for COT

Smuggler gets credit for picking “Detour” as Joe’s F3 name.

Announcements
Read newsletter

Prayers
Detour’s kids learning there way in college
Senator Tressel’s mother’s surgery
Zima’s a Rowan’s patience in kindergarten

Moleskin:
I talk about F3 to anyone that will listen. I try an explain what many of us get out of it is so much more than a workout. But you’ve all been there, not easy to tell…you must SHOW! We’re still struggling on getting the word out in Lake Wylie, and seeing Detour show up was very refreshing to me and the efforts we are trying to put in place to grow this thing. He even came to Crossroads after for a coffee and got to meet several more of the PAX. I hope he’ll come back. I’ll be making sure of it!

A late night IM from Jekyll (got tickets to the “Big” game) got YHC ready to return to the Buffet of Pain at the Golden Corral.  With a throwback Q this past Saturday with Senator for the 3rd year anniversary at Alcatraz, YHC thought it would be a good idea to go back to the first workout at Golden Corral.  So, here we go.

The Thang

Run a lap to COP
SSH X 25
Merkins X 10
Imperial Walkers X 25
Mountain Climbers X 25
Squats X 25

Mosey to karate curb
Double Leg curb jumps X 40
Right leg curb jump X 20
Left leg curb jump X 20
Fast step up/down X 1 min
Double Leg curb jumps X 20
Right leg curb jump X 10
Left leg curb jump X 10
Fast step up/down X 30 sec

Mosey to Bank wall
Derkins X 20
Modified bridge with heels on top of wall with 20 arm pulses
Derkins X 20
Modified bridge with heels on top of wall with 10 arm pulses

Mosey to Rite Aid
2 groups, run around the building
Other group has wall sits

Rinse and Repeat

Mosey back to Parking Lot for last COP
SSH X 25
American Hammers X 15
Leg Raises and In&Outs X a lot
Squats X 25
Mountain Climbers X 25
Plank Punches X 25

COT

Naked Moleskin: 4 HIM made their way to GC for a chilly beat down.  It was a great change in climate to motivate for some hard work.  Glad to be back in the swing of things with some beat downs and great companionship.  We lifted up CornerStome’s daughter Emma for healing.  Prayed for StraightUp’s house being sold. Pray for Julie and the team in Colombia for safety and growth.  Pray for the hurricane Mathew victims.

FunHouse