Ring of Fire Edition: Pantheon

Serendipity:

/ˌserənˈdipədē/ noun 
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Had been thinking about pulling the #RingofFire out of my bag of tricks recently and low and behold, last Friday there began some chatter about this very #TBQ beatdown style I think at Slowburn??  Zima got the credit who in turn gave me the credit who in turn admitted everything is borrowed from someone else.
Dynamic warm up of running laps with buttkickers, karaoke,  and some others.
The Thang:
Set up.  8 cones set 20 yards from the center in a circle equidistant.  Each cone has exercise on it.  Do exercise, bear crawl to center, complete 10 Cinder Block Burpees, run out to next cone.  Rinse/Repeat until made your way around circle.
  • 80 CB Burpees
  • 160 yards of bear crawls
  • 30 lunge
  • 30 plank punch
  • 15 merkin
  • 30 Mountain Climber
  • 25 Carolina Dry Dock
  • 25 X and O
  • 25 Squats
  • 25 Freddy Mercury

We finished off with  6 Minutes of Mary.  Great #smoker today.  Half shell was the man and led the whole way.  Zima and I carried the water for the #soccerarm contingent

 

Aye!

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600M Shoulder Shredder at Pantheon

GREAT morning!! Take advantage of the May chill. A month from now we will be far from it.

No FNGs, disclaimer was said and off we went.

Ran around the short loop of the parking lot to warm up and to the non-residential side of the school for the COP:

20 or so of each:
* SSH
* Windmills
* Imperial Walker
* Hillbilly Walker
* MNC
* A little Broga

Then we went back to the front of the school where YHC had set up the main event.
600
6
What did these two numbers mean to me? That’s what I asked on Twitter the day before.
Well…..
The large oval-ish drive that starts at the student drop-off area at the front of the school and proceed all the way around the field out front and back is about 600m long. Then I had set up 6 work stations of cones w labels that detailed an exercise to do, then a means to transition to the next cone. That’s 100 meters roughly from station to station.  First station is right by the school near the baseball field, then proceed clockwise all the way around.

Stations are as follows:
Station / Exercise / Transition to Next
1 / 25 Merkins / Burpee broad jump
2 / 25 4ct Flutter / Lt Dan
3 / 25 Reverse Crunch / Bear Crawl
4 / 25 Merkins / Run
5 / 25 4 ct Flutter / Bear Crawl
6  / 25 Reverse Crunch / Lt Dan

A lot of bear crawls and Lt Dans!!  We finished with almost 10 minutes left. Next time I’ll up the exercise count from 25 to 50. I did not want to start another loop so we went to the posts along the student drop off for  2 rounds of BTTW-to-burpee, and people’s chairs – to – burpee. Then a short jog around the lot to COT.

Everyone did great. Shoulders are kinda smoked. Great discussions during the WOD. See below.

Announcements / P&P:
* Read your newsletter, get involved!
* Remembrance workout in honor of Badger at Golden Corral coming up
* Cannoli run/ruck on 5/18
* Convergence 5/24
* F3 Dads/kids at the Deep on 5/25
* Prayers for Bear’s mother in law as she fights cancer
* Prayers for Router’s M
* Prayers  for injured PAX, marriages

Mental Health Awareness Month – My Story

May is Mental Health Awareness month, with the purpose of bringing mental health in all aspects out in the open, drive support, find cures/treatments, and open minds. During the first half of the workout, when I had breath, I started sharing with the PAX something that has recently and directly affected me and my immediate family I am responsible for here in Fort Mill. I have a sister who, for 30 years, has fought depression and still is. I have friends who live with it as well. I have a friend who is bipolar. Mental health issues have been in my life for some time, I am no stranger to them.

But this new development hits even closer to home now. My older son, who is now 10, has been diagnosed with ADHD since 1st grade. We got him the help and meds he needs and all was well.  But over the past year we noted some changes in him. Not just pre-puberty or a 10yr old boy being a 10yr old boy, but some of the previous diagnoses were being amplified, as well as some new concerns. To most people he is a normal boy but in certain situations our concerns became evident. He’s an incredibly intelligent boy but his grades were way off, and some behaviors were concerning. After several months of doctor visits, questionnaires, testing, and so forth we found that he is now on the Autism spectrum, diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. We were really not too surprised, and by no means disappointed or mad or what not. It’s NOT about us as parents, that our child is ‘defective’ or ‘broken’ or ‘abnormal’ as some parents would possibly feel when they hear the diagnosis.  To most others who first meet him he seems like a normal boy – active, chatty, but a little socially awkward (just like his dad). Because he is. He just processes info, reacts to input, and shows emotion a little differently than others. What the diagnosis meant is that he will get the help he needs when he transitions to middle school next year. He won’t be in special ed classes, he won’t be set aside from the others or what not as most parents fear about. He will be in a normal class but will have his own ‘personal assistant’ of sorts. All of this came from months of effort by many, including us.

But my main point is not my personal plight or that of my son. It’s that it took so long to get to where we are now, with answers and a plan to get him on a path for better success in life however it is defined. In the US there are over 1.1 MILLION physicians and growing. They are everywhere. They fill up their own phone book (millennials may have to google what a phone book is). But there are only roughly  28,000 psychiatrists and 106,000 psychologists in the US. And that number is declining as the number of registered psychiatrists that are retiring is more than new ones to replace them. That’s almost 9:1 ratio, which is unacceptable, and to me is VERY indicative of our view, culturally, towards mental health. What that also means, and what we experienced first hand, is when you have a need for mental health diagnosis, treatment, and support – it is not easy to find. It is not as readily available as the minute clinics inside every CVS and Target, not as readily available as the Ortho treatment centers or family care centers that are everywhere. Seeking help is a long, arduous process that you have to push, drive. If you break an arm, in most suburban environments help is less than 10 minutes away on average. But if you are suffering depression or show signs of mental trauma, your options are few and they are often over-booked. Why is that? Why isn’t anyone concerned as they should be?

Mental health is just as important as physical health. Period. Unfortunately many do not see it that way. It is still in the shadows in this country in my opinion. It’s getting better, but still has a long way to go. When the average person hears ‘mental health (issues)’ they think looney bin, straight jackets, problem people/children, crazy people, warped minds, and just general problems they do not want to understand, deal with, or be exposed to in their warm, comfy cocoon of a life they’ve made. Because hey, it does not affect them right? Mental health issues are more prevalent that one may think, but they still have a stigma associated with them. Birds of a feather flock together is the old saying. It is a quite true and very simplistic statement about human sociology, human nature. Those in the mental health struggle feel they cannot be part of the “normal”, average flock. That is the burden they bear, but it is also the burden placed upon them as well. That has to change.

The only way to break that stigma, to bring things out of the shadows, is to be open with the struggle, be open-minded about the struggles, and to educate and enlighten for fear tends to be bred from the unknown. People in the struggle cannot feel ashamed or scared to talk about it. People in their lives need to learn that they need to be the non-judgmental, fearless support system they can be. Society in general needs to demand more access to diagnosis, treatment, and support. If we can change a culture over time to – view cigarettes as a health hazard and not a cool stress relief; to view great white sharks as an endangered species that need to be protected instead of slaughtered like Jaws monsters; to be more mindful of our resources and impact to our earth; and to value diversity and the differences in each other – then why can’t we change the culture to a one more empathetic, understanding, and open towards those in the mental health struggle?

We need to break the stigma.
Be open.
Be open minded.
Be the change.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
-NASA

 

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Being Still at the Pantheon

4 warriors met in the gloom at the Pantheon. No FNGs present, so the disclaimer was short and we started with some stretching.

Warmup

2 sets Single leg stretch – one foot planted with knee bent and six near the earth, the other straight out to the side with toes up for a mental count of 30, hold and keep the six down when transferring to the opposite foot
Side split for mental count of 30
10x split fingertip pushups – Fingertips on the ground, sway back as you sink, sway forward to put weight on the fingers as you push up

Mosey to the back parking lot
20x SSH
10x “Werewolf” merkins

The Thang

Mosey to the swings for some fun.
Here we did an exercise using the swings with feet on the swings and palms on the ground in plank position.  (The surface of the playground is this rubbery stuff, so it makes what we were going to do easier on the wrists.) Then a run across the playground (the short way) to the sidewalk by the fence for another exercise. Always running between each.
SET 1
10x Mantis strike pushups – Do half a merkin and explode up with enough force to get some air. Flip those hands over and land on the back of the wrist with the hand folded in (fingertips up for the mantis strike were demonstrated, but definitely not required).  Alternate every pushup.
10x squats
SET 2
10x knees to chest – Pull the knees into the chest while on the swing, it feels easy the first few times
10x Pretzel crunch (each leg)
SET 3
10x mantis strike pushup
30 second hold – No name for this one. Left elbow and knee on the ground. Right palm on the ground. Right leg straight and as high as it can go with toes pulled in towards the knee.  Keep it high for the entire time.  Both sides
SET 4
10x knees to chest
10x squats – Asked for an audible from Slapshot and got squats

The next thang

Mosey to the amphitheater
Here the plan was to follow the sidewalk.  PAX ran up the left side and down to the end of the sidewalk and performed a number of reps before running back to the main path, up a branch and down again.  There are four ends, so each time there are four exercises.
SET 1
5x Squats, 5x single leg touch the ground (think single leg deadlift, but straight leg down and up), 5x burpees, Bear crawl the length of the last path and back
SET 2
After a 10 count… YHC still needed some air and spoke a bit about how he spent a lot of time ‘being still’ when trying to understand things he can change and should, can change and shouldn’t, and can’t change at all.
Then… Rinse and repeat from SET 1
SET 3
YHC needed some more air, so we assumed “bow and arrow” stance.  Right knee bent (90 degrees), left leg straight. Right hand at right temple, palm out, left arm extended over left leg in a fist with thumb down.  30 seconds and shift to bending the left.
Called out to each PAX for new exercises and got:
Tesh -> 10x 4-count Russian Twists
Slapshot -> 10x Merkins
JWOWW -> 10x donkey kicks
YHC -> 10x Monkey squats

When set 3 was completed there was six minutes left. Time for one more mental position.  Again, no name that I recall, but…
Stand on the right leg, slightly bent. Left knee high with toe pointed down. Back slightly arched, looking over the right shoulder and behind, right arm extended with palm up, left hand palm up by the right armpit.  Hold for 30 seconds (there was a lot of hopping on YHC’s part) and then switch to the other side.

A quick Mosey to COT and enough time for 10 4-count flutters and 20 4-count Russian twists.

COT

At the request of the PAX, YHC expounded a bit on ‘being still’ when dealing with situations where one can, can and shouldn’t, and cannot at all take actions.

YHC practiced with things like job interviews and personal relationships praying and setting defined action dates.  Often starring at the phone, desperately desiring to make an ill-advised phone call… the wait until the date and time was crucial.  It was never about lengthening the wait to condition the mind, so much as making wise decisions about not stirring a pot that doesn’t need stirring.

Announcements were announced. Lots of stuff happening.  Stuff your faces with a cannoli and mow lawns with Assassin!

Prayers and praises were offered and the PAX went home with a little more peaceful warrior in their blood.

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Mental Health Awareness at the Pantheon

Mosey around the side of the school.

quick word about what mental health means to you

Warm up
15 – Windmills
15 – Imperial Walkers
20 – Moroccan Nightclubs
10 cherry pickers

5 burpees OYO

30 count people’s chair  with arm flutters
Balls to the wall 10 count

30 count people’s chair with
Balls to the wall 10 count
30 count people’s chair
Balls to the wall 10 count

5 burpees OYO

Mosey to the back of the School

discuss that there is more to mental health than depression

20 Merkins
20 CDD
20 Hand Release Merkins

5 burpees OYO

Lunge walk half way down flip to LT. Dan’s

5 burpees

mosey to the side of the school

Plank
Plank shoulder taps
Seal Team Sit-ups

20 American Hammers

Mosey to the front of the School

Global warming with 30 Monkey Humpers each Pax one at a time while Every one held al-gore, imagine 25 pax  = sore legs

Maximus Shared his struggles  and YHC spoke about my struggles in the past due.

It was awesome to hear so many Pax open up and being vulnerable. T-Claps to all that attended this is not a easy subject to discuss.

Prayers sent up for those that are struggling and have struggled with this topic.

 

 

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Pantheon Pain

When Bear Grylls calls for a Q, Lutefisk answers. Except I forgot until the night before with no Worship Planning reminder.  Good thing I led a workout in February that was a coin flip.  If the coin was heads, we did X.  If it was tails, we did Y.  Well, we never got to do the other side of that table.  So today, we did.

Warm up music brought to you by Bear Grylls followed by a brief disclaimer as we watched a truck come in hot.  Who could it be?  Unrecognizable.  Oh, enter Hat Trick, after a year of absence, he decided to work out with F3 instead of the Baxter Y.  Welcome back & kotters, brother!  This reminded me of how important the 2nd F is.  Like Sky Q, F3 is always gonna be here for us.

Warm-O-Rama:
18 SSH
28 Ass kickers
18 LSS
28 Mtn climbers
18 Head Shoulders Knees & Toes (taps, each hand, in plank/CDD position)
22 Gorilla Humpers
9 Ankle Grinders (much confusion on this one.. too early for brain participation)

Mosey to side of TCES for wall work:
Shoulder Taps – 20 each hand
Ascending Testicles – 10 counts each starting at 30 degrees, then 45 degrees, then 70 degrees, then BTTW
Wall sit, one at a time run 50 yards and execute 10 jump squats each

Indian run to front of school for some of the thang:
Partner up for Dora 1-2-3 (merkins-LBC-squat), run the length of the parking lot
This is where pothole thought it was our last run, so he challenged YHC to AYG.  Thanks a not lot… we still had 2 more to go!
On the last one, Cable Guy challenged YHC to AYG.  Seriously?! #disrupters #respect

Bear crawl about 40 yards and crawl bear back for our finale, the swirly:
Either you got them or gave them in high school. The head in the toilet #flush
Except in F3, partner holds ankles and lifts straight up (ok, more like a keg stand). 5 Derkins, flapjack.  5 more, flapjack for a total of 10 each.  Broad jump to COT.

Announcements, Prayers and Praises, BOM. Thx BG for letting me induce some pain this AM.

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The Pillars of Pain

The AKA Possie was in full effect at the Pantheon this morning.  The cold weather did not deter them from posting on the third consecutive day this month.  We began with a lap around the car pickup line and stopped on the side of the school for some warm-up exercises.

COP

SSH x 25

Imperial Walker x 15

Windmill x 15

Flutter x 15

Plank stretch (Honeymooner, Downward Dog)

Next, we moseyed to the front of the school near the crosswalk.  This portion of the workout was called “Pillars of Pain”. Not a lot of running, just a lot of pain.

First exercise:  Plank shuffle with 10 merkins at each pillar, jog back to the starting line

Second exercise:  Plank shuffle with 10 dips at each pillar, jog back to the starting line

Big lap around soccer field

Third exercise:  Lunge walk with 10 squats at every other pillar, jog back to the starting line

Fourth exercise:  Burpee broad jump to the end of the building, jog back to starting line

Fifth exercise:  Crab walk with 10 LBCs at each pillar, jog back to COT

 

Announcements:

S2S – Jekyll on Q

Q Source

 

Prayers:

Marriages

Injured Pax

 

 

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OLAFS Leg day at Pantheon

It was perfect weather, upper 20’s, for the snowman to take the lead for a reminder to never skip leg day since P200 is just around the corner.

Disclaimer was disclaimed and the party started with an easy mosey over to the flagpole for the pledge in unison.

An easy lap around the soccer field with some soccer hips, side shuffle, side lunges before making back for the main event.

Wanted to offer up a large assortment of exercises for my new friend, Pothole, who is just two days into his F3 journey but already starting to drink the kool-aid so here is the list:

Circle of hump: 10 monkey humpers each PAX but hands must remain on ankles until everyone is finished.
Circle of merk: same as circle of hump but with merkins, PAX holds a plank while waiting.

One lap around the soccer fields interval style. Slow on the two main straights but sprinting the corners.

Introduced Ring of fire to the PAX. Thanks to the brothers down in Rock region for the intro.

One legged hops down and back the car rider pickup lane.

Partner carry car rider lane. Mile High was worried about YHC but forgets he is now a featherweight.

Some power skips because YHC and WWL love them.

Cha-Cha merkins,

Hip touches,

Lunges,

One legged calf raises,

Suicide squats,

Pistol squats,

Bridges,

and finally some free-standing peoples chair for good measure.

Count-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, Announcements and Payers and Praises before YHC taking us out.

Oh and since it was so cold I might have worn a full fleece onesie with the intent on taking it off after warm up but never actually managed to because got too sweaty then was freezing.

Always a pleasure leading great men. Grateful for the opportunity to Q.

Stay frosty my friends!
Olaf

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Webbs and cinder block at Pantheon

Day 2 of my 3 Q’s in a row.

A crisp morning with low attendance, only 4 HIM decided to get better, I think I may have scared some PAX with my Q at Golden Corral the day before.

We started our warm up with a run around the parking lot with some butt kickers, high knees and toy soldiers followed by windmills, low slow squats, moroccan night clubs, merkins and mountain climbers.

I decided to honor our brother Water Bug that had passed away last week during a race with 45 burpees but I mixed in some side straddle hops for a webb like exercise, 1 burpee, 4 SSH, progressing to 9 burpees and 36 SSH for a total of 45 burpees and 180 SSH. Once this webb was finished we moseyed to the end of the parking lot where we met cindy, we pushed cindy hair burner style to the next island for the next webb:

Reverse Dan Taylor for a total of 110 lunges and 220 squats:

2 lunges- 4 squats

Progressive to

20 lunges-40 squats

most of these leg exercises were done while bear hugging cindy,  once completed we moseyed to the soccer field for the next webb:

Jack Webbs for a total of 55 merkins and 220 over head claps:

1 merkin-4 OHC

Progressive to

10 merkin-40 OHC

we went back out to the parking lot for our favorite superhero webb:

Captain Thor for a total of 55 Big boy sit ups and 220 american hammers:

1 BBSU- 4 AH

Progressive to

10 BBSU – 40 AH

With only a few minutes to spare we pushed cindy back hair burner style to the end of the parking lot and moseyed back to COT for announcements, prayers and praises.

I extended my invitation for the next day for my birthday Q but received a big NO THANK YOU from all PAX, they said that two days of Tinsel Q’s are more than enough, that made my day!!

On to planning my next Q, Tinsel OUT

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Being Vulnerable is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength

P.S.A attendance is highly recommended. March 27th mark your calendars. F3 St. Louis very own Miyagi and Aerobie has brought light to a sensitive subject that’s right Suicide-mental health awareness. A subject we try and avoid talking about at all or till it’s to late. YHC will be on Q at the Panethon if you can’t make it to the west side of town Stang is on Q at Tomahawk and will also discussing the subject.

I am encouraging you to step up and share your experience. Whether it be about yourself or family member or even a friend. YHC will testify how this subject has effected my life. Please remember what we talk about in COT stays in COT it’s okay to be vulnerable. We are stronger together rather than alone.

Quotes
Don’t be ashamed of your story it will inspire others. Author Unknown

“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.”

”I hide all my scars with an I’m fine.”

The bravest thing I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die. – Juliette Lewis

The world is a better place with you in it.

Suicide doesn’t end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of it ever getting any better. – unknown

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What day is it? It’s Hump Day

8 men showed up for the workout this morning.  T-Claps to Band Camp for bringing an FNG “Cow Bell”.  He’s is from Oklahoma.  It was the best we could do after the workout.  After a quick disclaimer, we jogged around the carpool circle to the side of the school for the following warm up exercises:

SSH x 10

Imperial Walker x 15

Plank Stretch

Squat x 10

Moroccan  Night Club x 10

Next, we moseyed to the Amphitheater and performed several rounds of exercises up and down the hill.

Round 1:  Slow mosey up hill, Monkey Humpers (set of 15 on each level).

Round 2:  Lunge walk up hill, Burpees (set of 5 on each level).

Round 3:  Slow mosey up hill, Squats (set of 15 on each level), backwards lunge down the hill.

Round 4:  Run up to each level and back down to the hill.  Rinse and repeat for all four levels.

Next, we jogged around the carpool circle to the front of the school. We lined up along the crosswalk for a series of cadence exercises.

Bear crawl / merkins, 10 and 5 count

Crab walk / LBCs, 10 and 10 count

Lunge walk/Squats, 10 and 10 count

Backwards bear crawl / Carolina Dry Docks, 10 and 5 count

Back to COT

Announcements:

Read Newsletter

Prayers:

Funhouse’s Brother

Mile High (Traveling)

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