Category: Millllkshake

The Yard – “Is this a moderate?” In name only!!

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12 PAX and YHC arrived at The Yard for this gorgeous Saturday morning. Nothing like a double down beating early in da gloom!! At least among friends. 9 PAX for 10k run and 5 of those stayed for the double down……definitely a nap day!!

I mention friends because when I look at F3 and especially the 2nd F, I don’t think I ever had as many Friends as I do in the PAX. Grade school, high school, college and career combined can’t touch the number of guys and families I can call “FRIEND” today from the PAX.

God said Abraham was a “Friend” of his. That is powerful when you think about all the things we do as friends together and for Abraham to be called a friend of God’s. In the PAX we workout, eat together, laugh together sometimes cry together. We do crazy CSAUPS we go to church together some of us work together and we are living life together. God calls each of us Friend that choose to be his friend.

Remember everything you do Sky Q is there and wants to share in the highs and the lows and goes before you in all you do. He is your friend and is constant! Never Changing!! Always!!

The Thang:

Little mosey to see if Football field was open, but no dice. The sign with “Private Property” on it was interesting considering each of the men is paying for the field if they own a home in Ft Mill. Anyway…..

Some shuffles, high knees, butt kckers, mosey again to COP

Wind Mills, Squats, Merkins, Freddy Mercurys, Moroccan Night Clubs, 5 burpees OYO

The meat and potatoes:

2 exercises alternating between them completing the reps and going for 3 min

Here they are:

  • SSHs-10
  • Burpees-5—-3 rounds
  • Merkins-10
  • Jump Rope-20
    • 5 burpees
  • Mtn Climbers-10
  • Dips-20
    • 5 burpees
  • Squats-15
  • Curls-10
    • 5 burpees
  • Lunges -10/leg
  • Calf raises -20
    • 5 burpees
  • LBCs-10
  • Donkey Kicks-5
    • 5 burpees
  • Freddys-10
  • Partner Wheelbarrow-curb2curb
    • 5 burpees
  • Big boys-5
  • Partner Plank Hand Taps – 10

With all the burpees mixed in we ended with 55 burpees

Great work by all the PAX. The encouragement and hard work was inspiring.

Thanks Hasselhoff for the Q……as always I am humbled and honored.

Cake Boss

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Mosey around The Yard

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6 for Bootcamp and a family of runners (4) on a pleasant Saturday at The Yard.

RYAOA is off and running and the rest took off for some warm-up before a run heavy work out.

Warm up: 12 x Imperial Walker, 12 x LS Squat, 24 x OH Claps, 12 x CDD, 12 x Hillbilly Walker, 10 x each leg stationary lunge, 24 x MN Club, 10 x Merkins, 12 x standing toy soldiers, Calf Raises 3×10 OYO, 24 x Seal Claps, 10 x Makhtar N’Diayes.

Mosey to board #1 near the top of the entrance hill: OYO … 10 x Burpees, run down the hill and back, 10×3 Calf Raises, run down the hill and back, 10 x Ski Abs, run down the hill and back, 10 x merkins, run down the hill and back.

Mosey to the parking lot near the football field: grinders from one end to the other, 3 groups of 2, alternating back and forth until each group does 3 exercises on each side. One side, LBCs, Squats, Calf Raises, second end OH Claps, MN Clubs, Crab Cakes.

Mosey to board #2 at the bus loop: OYO … 10 x deep squats, run around the loop, 20 x LBCs, run around the loop, 10 x CDD, run around the loop, 10 Makhtar N’Diayes, run around the loop.

Mosey to board #3 in the main lot: OYO … 10 x Dying Cockroach, run around 1/2 the lot, 10 x  Jump Squats, run around 1/2 the lot, 10 x Mountain Climbers, run around 1/2 the lot, 10 x Burpees, run around 1/2 the lot.

COT

RYAOA will run out of Honey Badger on Monday (NAFO), track work 5-7 miles.

Looks like we made it,

Barry Manilow

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Focus

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It was great to post with the 10 #HIMs at the Yard this morning. I told the Pax that we were going to play basketball and there was no need for gloves. They looked apprehensive but said “ok?” Boogie Down brought his son Julian as our FNG. Nice work Boogie Down!

The Thang

Mosey to the back parking lot

COP: SSH (10x), IW (10x), HBW (20x), Sumo Squats (15x), Merkins (20x), Moroccan NIght Clubs and Overhead Claps (15x)

Mosey to the next parking lot near the station

Leg Warm-Up: Toy Soldiers, Shuffle Left, Shuffle Right, Back Pedals, Karaoke Left, Karaoke Right, Power Skips

Mosey to the basketball courts for a quick game of Knockout followed by a 5 on 5 basketball game for intense cardio.

COP: LBCs (15x), Rosalettas (15x), Hello Dollies (15x), Flutters (15x)

Moleskin:

During the first couple of days of a recent summer vacation, I was consumed in distractions from bring present from my family. I was wasting time on my cell phone that I could not get back. I finally decided to put my cell phone in another room so it was not easily accessible. With the phone distraction removed, I was more focused and present for my family. My next challenge is to more consistently remove distractions and to focus on my priorities, like my family and God’s calling on my life.

What are the distractions? Electronic devices are a huge distraction for many of us. Some people are distracted with the past because they obsess over what they could have, should have and could have done. Some people are distracted with worrying about the future. It’s likely that the worries for the future will not become reality.

All we have is right now. Tomorrow is not promised. Yesterday is gone. Be present. Be focused.

Peace,

Deacon

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Ring of Fire and World Cup PKs at TheYard

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Seems like soupy weather is quite the norm these days, and the gloom at TheYard was no different.  11 pax posted, with one an FNG soon to be named “Airsoft”.  Following in the pattern of TheYards previous workout with Chickhawk and his 2.0 Shinguard (who were MIA this week), Hurler was tasked to take the warm-up, and also helped plan the weinke for the rest of the workout.

The Thang

Disclaimer was issued and Hurler grabbed the reins for a mosey toward the west side of the middle school.  Landing in the far parking lot on that end, he lead us through warm-up.

  • Side Straddle Hops x15 (IC)
  • Imperial Walkers x15 (IC)
  • Mountain Climbers x15 (IC)
  • LBCs x10 (IC)
  • Merkins x10 (IC)
  • Run Stance Switch x10 (IC)
  • Crab Cakes x5 (IC)

Hand-off to OldBay

Main Event

Luck for us, the gates to the football field were unlocked.  We moseyed there to find 15 cones set up in a large ring around the center (about 40 yards in diameter).  Yep, all pax were about to fall into a burning ring of 🔥fire🔥.  At each cone was an exercise (with number of reps).  Each pax picked a cone (Twister was voluntold to pair with our FNG) as the starting point.  Process was as follows:

  1. Do the exercise at that cone
  2. Run all the way directly across the ring around the opposing cone, then back to the center.
  3. Plank at center for 10 seconds, then do 5 plank jacks.
  4. Proceed to next cone (clockwise).
  5. Repeat until all 15 cones where done.

The exercises were as follows:

  1. 10 Monkey Humpers (4 count)
  2. 10 Hello Dollys (4 count)
  3. 5 Burpees
  4. 10 Merkins (single count)
  5. 20 SSH (4 count)
  6. 10 Run Stance Switch (left+right = 1)
  7. 10 Bombjacks
  8. 10 LBCs (4 count)
  9. 10 Peter Parkers (4 count)
  10. 6 Morning Woods (turkish get-up w/o the bell)
  11. 10 Box Cutters
  12. Bear crawl to center and back
  13. 10 Flutters (4 count)
  14. 10 Crab Cakes
  15. 10 Speed Skaters (left+right=1)

Mid-way through, we took a quick recovery break to talk about why we say “Yes” or “No” to our friends, co-works, wives, and kids.  We also talked about fighting BOMS (bitter old man syndrome).

Next we slow-moseyed to another configuration of cones.  Pax were split into two groups, each representing an unspecified World Cup team.  Time for some PKs.  Here’s how it worked:

  1. First pax in team 1 randomly drew an exercise from the Bucket o’ Pain.
  2. Pax then attempted to kick a soccer ball between a narrow goal (1 yard) about 10 yards away.
  3. If the pax missed, his own team had to do the exercise.  If the pax scored, the other team had to do the exercise.
  4. First pax in team 2 then took a turn
  5. Repeat, alternating teams until app pax had a chance.

Mosey back to COT

Great work by all packs!  Special welcome to Airsoft, who did awesome (and special thanks to Twister for taking good care of him!).

 

 

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Impact on the Yard

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It was a blessing today to Co-Q with my 2.0 and experience him stepping up to help lead the Pax through all his self-doubt and anxiety as we have all experienced when we were asked to step out of our comfort zone.

After many challenges of getting him to think through a plan, a sleepless night and pure unadulterated anxiety… he ultimately stretched the Pax out and completed 5 rounds of COP exercises with perfect voice commands to command the pax.  With  no Weinke in hand no less.  #Impact

The message:

We spoke about impact.  We spoke about impact from the perspective of the impact we have on others and thinking about what do we want others to say about us at our own funerals.  What Impact do we want them speaking about? But we also spoke about those things that have an impact on us.  As unpleasant, vulnerable or difficult as they are we need to recognize those things that have a positive impact on us (i.e. F3) and keep doing them.  Keep going and letting them have their impression on us.

The Thang:

Mosey to side parking lot for some stretching and COP lead by Shin Guard

COP included

  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • Moroccan Night Clubs
  • LBC
  • Mountain Climbers

Mosey to Basketball lot

Rugby Sprints including CDD, Merkins, Flying Squirrels, High Low Flutters

To the wooden tree boxes split into 2 groups group 1 doing or toe touches x2 rounds Dips x 2 rounds and Irkins x1 rounds and group 2 running while group 1 does exercise.

Mosey to wall for some wall sit, bear crawl indian run x2 then some other fun wall activities.

COT

It was a pleasure to lead today and I’m very proud of my 2.0.  Aye!

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11s and Horse

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Thank you Hasselhoff for the opportunity!

Standard warmup down on the football field.

Followed by some 11’s including Merkins and WW2 situps.

After we finished that up we did some dynamic exercises to not quite halfway across the field including but not limited to side shuffles, lunge walks, and toy soldiers .

We then moseyed back towards the basketball court and found some wall to do a nice wall sit .

We found a basketball and played a terrible game of H.O.R.S.E.

After your team missed the shot everyone had to do the following exercises and include all the letters your up to.

H- hand release merkins x5

O- overhead claps x10

R- rosalita x15

S- squats x20

E- everything

 

Wegmans

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Styrofoam

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Back at The Yard and it was a glorious morning, and time to bring back my Styrofoam coolers with tickets of pain inside.

Plenty of moderate running space between coolers, as the PAX were divided into two groups and we ran past each other as we pulled tickets of misery out of three different coolers, spread out down the back driveway of the school. This was moderate, so I kept that in mind as I printed out the pain tickets late into the night before, and contemplated whether to print the ticket with 50 CDD’s, or leave it at 20. 

For those who haven’t seen my Piggly Wiggly coolers filled with tickets, stay tuned for an appearance near you.

Maybe we got in a little over a mile of running, but I forgot to ask Barry.

Great COT, and a good dose for Jiffy’s EH, Snowman (Jerry Reed from Smokey and the Bandit)

Thanks to Hasselhoff for the opportunity!

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WHETSTONE…Relaunches at THE FORT

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Several weeks ago, it was announced that our region, THE FORT, would be closing all Saturday AO’s and holding a convergence at FMHS to get the PAX together as we thank Rebel for his leadership of Whetstone and relaunch it under Repeat and World Wide Leader (WWL). I was excited to hear we’d be getting many of the region together but I wasn’t expecting what came next. It was a text asking if I’d Q the workout.

Q, like part of it, half of it or …? The response was, THE WHOLE THING. I love to Q every chance I get but to do so on a day like this, well, I better make sure it includes a little something for everyone. Or, almost everyone.

————————————————————————————————————–

And this is where I let life get the better of me. I try to follow the 48hr rule on posting a BACKBLAST, especially when they’re significant but I let life and travel get in the way. It is now Saturday, one week later, and I’m just finishing this BB. Life can get challenging, it can get stressful, it can get you riding the highs or down in the lows. And this past week, our family has experienced some of each. Maybe this was the week where I really came to realize how valuable having a Whetstone partner can be. Someone that I can share the highs with and someone to help get me out of the lows; or to keep me honest when it’s my own doing that has me on the outside looking in on the joys of life.

That said, I’ll take you back to last Saturday, April 21 where we had a a few pre-ruckers and a total of 58 PAX converge to re-kick off this critical program.

We got ourselves into an odd-shaped kidney-like shape for the disclaimer, the announcement of why we were there this beautiful morning and to acknowledge our 2 FNG’s in the PAX. We counted off in 4’s then took off toward the big parking lot for a warm up jog in 4 lines. This jog included some karaoke’s and 4 lines doing an indian run which was way harder than it appeared on paper.

In these last 2 years, Whetstone has brought together some extremely HIM. One of those men has gone through a tough 18mos and he was gracious enough to share some of his story to include the impact Whetstone had on his life as we circled up to hear his words. I know he wouldn’t endorse this comment but anytime Mr. Clean wants to share experience or wisdom, the PAX listens. And listen we did.

After backing the group back out to a circle-like shape, I was giddy to honor Santini in the only way I knew how…with a deck of cards. However, on this day we utilized 1/2 the deck and considered it our warm up:

Hearts = Side Straddle Hops

Diamonds = Carolina Dry Docks

Spades = Squats

Clubs = Merkins

Then a little action from the Burp-Merk: Standing, we then dropped to a plank, did 5 merkins then jumped up. That equals 1 and we did 5 total.

This was when we got to listen to our very own Nantaan, Cake Boss, as he shared the impact Whetstone has had on him. Yet again, another powerful testimony.

Then off to do 4 corners in the lot with:

Corner 1 = Dancing Crabs x 15ea and Dips x 20

Corner 2 = Dying Cockroach x 15ea and Flutters x 20ea

Corner 3 = Burpees x 10 and Jump Squats x 10

Corner 4 = American Hammers x 25 and Freddie Mercury x 20ea

Mosey over to the wall for B2W while doing 5 “push ups” followed by 15 calf raises. We did this 3 times.

To close out our testimonies, my man Chicken Hawk laid it down for us. He shared the impact Whetstone has had on him, his marriage, his family…his life. Life isn’t meant to be traveled alone. Well said brother.

6ct Burpee which I needed a little help from the Helmet of Darkness to remind me the steps. Remember the line, “If you can’t Q it, don’t do it?” Yeah, me too but I obviously didn’t follow that too closely here.

This is where the cat-herding became evident. The PAX exhibited patience with me as we attempted a modified DORA series consisting of:

50 Flying Squirrels, 50 Diamond Merkins and 50+ Flutters

We then took off for the main entrance to the football stadium and lined up in 4 lines facing down the hill. Once everyone readjusted, it was 15 American Hammers, 15 Flutters and 15 Hello Dollies. This was done several more times.

Well, that put a bow on the workout portion of this convergence and after the COT, FNG naming of RBG and Whiskers, we then handed it off to World Wide Leader and Repeat to lead the Whetstone discussion.

Announcements: The relaunch of Whetstone. Thanks to Rebel for getting this off the ground 2 years ago and to Repeat / World Wide Leader for taking the reigns.

Prayer Requests: Badger. Camp Care 5K. Jennings Palmer’s transplant. Olive’s 8K in memory of Sweet Tooth. Elmer.

Honored and appreciative of your patience.

Maximus

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Another Saturday at The Yard

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CSPAN and I needed therapy, so we pre-rucked a few miles before I showed to Q… Some might use the fact that we pre-rucked as proof of our need for therapy, but it IS the therapy… it’s complicated… just forget it…

Once PAX started to arrive, we got on with the Thang:
Mosey to small lot on left side of the Middle School (if you are facing it) for the Warmup:
Windmills
Cherry Pickers/Weed Pullers/Jimmy Carters/Whatever…
Merkins
Squats
Moroccan Nightclubs
Side Straddle Hops…
…all came to visit to the count of 10…

Then we ran from that end of the school (stop 1), past the front doors to the small lot on the back right corner (just above the football field) of the school (stop 2)…

We did a bunch of exercises and discussed the mission and 5 core principles of F3…

Then we alternated running back and forth between stop 1 and stop 2 doing exercises each time we arrived… Burpees, squats, CDD, Merkins, Flutters, etc.

Once we got sick of that we did a couple of rounds of 4 corners with accountability partners to make sure our form wasn’t lacking:
Merkins, Big Boy Situps, CDD, Seal Jacks for the 6…

Then we did a “ring around the Mary” and called it a morning…

The fun never ends and the party never stops at The Yard…

Helmet, out.

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Leprechaun Hunt at The Yard

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It was a dark start to the St. Patrick’s Day, and upon arrival to the school there appeared to be some sort of overnight activity going on, so I needed to call an audible to work around the unanticipated changes, but it worked.

Disclaimer, and then we started out with a mosey around to the lot in the back of the school where we circled up for warm-ups:

  • 15 SSH’s
  • 15 Imperial Walkers
  • 15 Moroccan Nightclubs
  • 10 Windmills

Mosey down the bus entrance road towards Springfield Parkway until we got to the long straight hill section.  Time to partner up, and one partner will run up the hill and back (three light poles) while the other partner performs the following exercises until they get back.  Each partner does one round of each exercise alternating with a run:

  • Shoulder Taps
  • Squats
  • Monkey Humpers
  • Wide Arm Merkins

Mosey back to the back elementary loop area for a little rinse and repeat, only with a run around the loop and the following exercises:

  • LBC’s
  • Carolina Dry Docks
  • Hand Release Merkins
  • Overhead Hand Claps

Then we talked a little about what it meant to abide, specifically in Christ.  It’s not something that is easily done, at least not for me.  It requires literally giving up all control, of everything, then placing that trust in Jesus to carry me through to where He wants me to be.  There were several head nods from the PAX, and then we moseyed back up to my slightly less secret spot up in the woods for some cadence exercises all together.  We were all blessed with an amazing view of the sunrise while up on that hill!  God is good!

We rotated around the circle with each PAX counting off cadence for an exercise (or two).  There were three rounds that looked like this:

  • 15 dips with hands facing forward (double count)
  • 15 Inclined Merkins (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises regular (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises Toes Out (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises Toes In (double count)
  • 20 dips with hands facing backwards (double count)
  • 20 Inclined Merkins (single count)
  • 20 Calf Raises regular (double count)
  • 20 Calf Raises Toes Out (double count)
  • 20 Calf Raises Toes In (double count)
  • 15 dips with hands facing forward or sideways (double count)
  • 15 Inclined Merkins (single count)
  • 15 Calf Raises regular (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises Toes Out (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises Toes In (double count)

Head back to the playground fence to stretch out our calves then off to COT

It was not an easy workout, but I was really proud of all the PAX and how hard they pushed.  I thank Hasselhoff for the opportunity to Q again, and I really appreciate all you brothers!  You have all changed my life for the better!

 

 

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