Category: Ring of Fire

Crazy 8’s at the Coop

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Was a great cool morning at the coop.  19 showed up to take some punishment from YHC.  Hadnt been to The Coop in a while. Good to be back.

*there were more than the 9 guys tagged- my recording didn’t take.  Sorry men!

Disclaimer as we had an FNG- brought by Ginsu…soon to be named Caddy Shack.  He has two pet groundhogs or he likes golf.  not sure.

We ran around to circle up for COP.  Usual suspects were there and interspersed burpees to get the blood going.

The Thang

  • P1 does hanging crunches/leg twists while P2 does LBC.  Rinse Repeat x3

Down the hill to the flat parking lot

  • bearcrawl down, 10 merkins, backward bearcrawl 10 CDD
  • Lunge walk down, 10 squats, backward lunge walk, 10 squats
  • Bobby Hurley down and back

Its at this point someone suggested legs…

Go to the hill

  • Crazy 8s
    • Bottom Merkins, LBC 8 reps each
    • Top: Jump Knee Tucks, Dips 8 reps each
    • Rinse repeat 8x

Great morning and reminder to take inventory of your gifts and what you bring to the table.  Develop them and allow to flourish at home, community and work.

AYE!

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#TheCoop

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7 PAX showed up on this cool, foggy morning for a pre-Thanksgiving beatdown.

Disclaimer  was disclaimed.

Word of the month: Victory. As such, YHC requested the PAX consider, “In what parts of your life do you celebrate victory?”.

We took advantage of the circle we were already in and started the warm – up with:

10 – Low Slow Squats

10 – Slow windmills

Mosey: Kereoke Left/Right –>Mosey: Knees to Chest, Ankles to Hip –> Mosey: High Knees, Butt Kickers

COP to finish Warm-Up:

10 –  Hill Billy walkers

10 – Goofballs (By Request)

30 – Merkins

Honey Mooners, Downward Dog

10 – Peter Parkers

10 – Parker Peters

Honey Mooners, Downward Dog

Mosey to Pull – Up Bars

Partner#1: 8 pull ups, Partner#2: 8 squats  – 3 SETS

Partner#1: 5 toes to bar, Partner#2: 15 SSH  – 3 SETS

Partner#1: 5 pull ups (or whatever grip necessary to get your chin over the bar), Partner#2: 5 flying squirrels  – 3 SETS

During recovery, YHC read the Definition (via the word of the month document) of Victory.

Mosey to Wall:

+BTTW, followed by 15 derkins

+Peoples Chair, while each PAX ran 15 yards and completed 5 flying squirrles

+20 Donkey Kicks

During recovery, YHC provided the PAX some things to consider –> When we pray for the Spirit’s help…we will simply fall down at the Lord’s feet in our weakness. There we will find the victory and power that comes from His love.

–>Nothing paralyzes our lives like the attitude that things can never change. We need to remind ourselves that God can change things. Outlook determines outcome. If we see only the problems, we will be defeated; but if we see the possibilities in the problems, we can have victory.

Mosey to BOP – All single count:

+10 Bomb Jacks – Run lap around basketball court

+25 Merkins  – Run lap around basketball court

+10 Jump Squats – Run lap around basketball court

+25 Merkins  – Run lap around basketball court

Plank until 6 in.

Mosey to bottom of hill and during recovery, YHC read 1 Corinthians 15:57-58

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

+40 Yard Jail Break to the top of the hill. Mosey to COT.

COT –

+Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama

+The PAX gave insight as to what Victory looked liked in their lives.

+Announcements, Prayers and Praises.

All the PAX put in great effort.

TClaps to Chicken Hawk for putting the Word Document together and for the PAX sharing their thoughts on Victory.

Thank you SugarBug for the opportunity to Q.

#CoopStrong

 

 

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The Coop – Small Victories make the Difference

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15 Men arrived at Nation Ford HIgh School (NAFO) aka The Coop for a Wednesday morning Daily Red Pill. The thing we do not realize is we win more than we lose. We focus on the big monsters in our life but never celebrate the small victories in our lives. Simply getting out of the Fartsack and posting is a huge Victory. Leading a group of brothers in getting better, is a HUGH victory. Getting better physically, socially, spiritually is winning at life!! Celebrate the Victories and learn from the losses.

The Thang:

  • 5 Burpees OYO

Mosey to The Coop Jr ( Elementary school) Playground

  • COP
    • Merkins
    • Imperial Walkers
    • Squats
    • Peter Parker
    • LBCs
    • Parker Peters
    • Flutters
    • Moracan Night Clubs
    • Sumo Squats
    • Side Stradle Hops – Lead by Squeaky (Victory VQ)
  • Line up on baseline and partner up
    • Wheel barrows base to base
    • Swap with partner and back
    • Partner 1 suicides
    • Partner 2 squats
    • Move to sidelines
    • Rinse and repeat above
  • Mosey to school
    • People’s Chair with shoulder press
    • BTW with 10 count
    • 3 rounds
  • Mosey to small hill on side of school
    • Ladder work, adding exercise and reps each round
    • 1 Merkin
    • 2 CDDs
    • 3Leg Lifts
    • 4 Flutters
    • 5 Donkey Kicks
    • 6 Squat Jumps
    • 7 Freddy Murcurys
    • 8 Mak tar Shi
  • Wrap up with Plank and 5 count Mak Tar Shis
  • Mosey to base of hill back to The Coop Sr
    • Partner 1 run backward up the hill, 5 pull ups and run back
    • Partner 2 dying cock roach
    • Whole Group backward run to top of hill
    • Partner 1 10 pull ups
    • Partner 2 calf Raises
    • flapjack
    • 2 rounds
  • Full out run to COT

Great work by the PAX. The encouragement and work was tremendous. We worked hard and found victory in working together. T claps to Squeaky for leading Side Straddle Hops.

I spoke to the PAX about we need to know our objective and what are we trying to win. (Marriage, kids, career, life) and do we have the pieces and parts needed to succeed. My objective is to Glorify my Sky Q and i need to be in the word, prayer, fellowship with fellow believers and be accountable to this objective by my brothers. Find Victory brothers by having the right ingredients for winning!

Cake Boss

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Taking things for granted and getting your $hit together

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Conditions cold, clear, and 46 degrees

Every star in the sky was shining bright

Disclaimer

Warmup-O-Rama

Run to playground at Elementary School – partner up

Partner 1 run a lap around fence

Partner 2 = lap 1 AMRAP flying squirrel, lap 2 AMRAP LBC, lap 3 AMRAP squats

I then found a basketball…which turned out to be a perfect display of how bad we shoot…lots more flying squirrels

Mosey to pull-up bars 1-2-3-4-5

ABLAB = with all my favorites with partners running

Pullups 1-2-3

Mosey

Finished with a minute of flying squirrels, minute of LBC, and a minute of plank

COT/Prayer or Praise/BOM

NMM

Sermon was about taking life for granted. I talked about travels, family, work, and how my stuff has gotten complicated over the last few weeks. On Sunday night I did the Capital Ruck Tour in Atlanta with a blind Marine who did the entire ruck with us. A few times on our route our path got dark and I wanted to complain about my path getting dark and hard to see (+I forgot my headlamp), and I quickly realized how “silly” that sounds after hearing John’s testimony on Sunday night. Each day we should realize how good we have it rather than waiting for things to be taken away to make us understand…

Cheddar shared a great message in COT about getting your $hit together as men because tomorow is not guaranteed…

AYE!

CSPAN

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Field work at The Coop

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15 HIM showed up to The Coop ready to put in work on this muggy October morning.  YHC hadn’t been to this AO in quite some time and I was excited to be back.  Off we went to the practice field.  Circle up at the 50.

COP:

WM x 10

SSH x 30

Merkins x 10

Peter Parkers x 15

Parker Peters x 15

Mosey to the goal line…

The Thang:

Round 1:

Lunge walk to the 50 stopping at every 10 for 10 squats.

Reverse lunge the last 50 and stop at every 10 for 10 monkey humpers

Suicides 20, 40, 40, 20

Round 2:

Bear crawl to the 50 and stop at every 10 for 10 merkins.

Crab walk the last 50 and stop at every 10 for 10 dips

Round 3:

Reverse bear crawl to the 50 and stop at every 10 for 5 merkins.

Reverse crab walk to the 50 and stop at every 10 for 10 dips.

Round 4:

Partner up…size matters

Partner 1 carry partner 2 to the 50 with 5 squats at every 10.  Switch and finish to the goal line.

Suicides 20,40,40,20,Goal

Mosey back to COT for 5 min of mary.

COT:

Prayers for baby’s on the way, world peace and those recovering from natural disasters.

Great to be back at a great AO with a great group of HIM.

Thanks for the opportunity Sugar Bug.

Until next time…

Seacrest, OUT!

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Special Appearance by Thin Mint and Some SOB’s at The Coop!

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Thank you to Thin Mint for pushing himself (and all of us) out of our comfort zones this morning at the Coop.  Great to see the SOB’s present and we need to get together again soon.  Below is the Backblast from Thin Mint. – SugarBug

12 indistinguishable blobs showed up in the 0515 darkness of Nation Ford HS for this SOB’s first Q in The Fort. The next 45 minutes went a little something like this.

The Warm-Up
-Disclaimer
-Imperial Walker x10 IC
-Low Slow Squat x15 IC
-Arm Circles IC (5 small fwd, 5 small back, 5 big back, 5 big fwd)
-Low Slow Merkin x10 IC
-Alternating Leg Lift (from 6 inches) x10 IC

The Thang
Mosey over to the band lot and line up at the goal line for:
-Bear Crawl Burpees – start your burpee (drop, do the pushup), at the top of the pushup bear crawl 5 yards to the next line, finish your burpee (stand up, jump), repeat for 50 yards, sprint to the end
-Return by Lunge Walk 10 yards, Broad Jump 5 yards, repeat to the end

Mosey down to the launch lot and grab a partner for partner suicides:
-5 partner derkins each
-Sprint opposite directions to end of lot, round 1 island, meet back near the middle 1 row from where we started
-10 handslap merkins
-Run back the way you came to the start
-Repeat but go up 2 islands to the 2 nd row, repeat to 3 rd row, 4 th row, 5 th row (for some)

Head to the JROTC building and form groups of 3 for grinders:
-P1 at pull-up bars –1 pull up, 4 hand position changes (if possible, just pull ups if not), repeat
-P2 at bottom of hill – double merkin burpees
-P3 runs from bottom of hill to the top, relieves P1 who runs down to relieve P2, etc.
-Continue until each person has done pull-ups 3 times

Couple minutes of Mary
Plank abreast facing up the hill
Low slow merkins x10 IC
On your belly, wait for GO
AYG uphill to Stop sign, mosey back to launch for COT

Announcements

-Invergence on September 29 th . https://f3thefort.com/2017/08/30/pre-blast- f3-the- fort-5th- year-invergence/
-Convergence on September 30 th , 0700, Nation Ford HS. All other AOs will be closed on the 30 th . https://f3thefort.com/2017/08/29/5-year- convergence-fng- challenge-preblast/
-Following the convergence, help needed to install pull-up bars at Children’s Attention Home. A few more PAX needed to help dig holes and put up the posts and bars. Contact Chicken Wing for more info or to HC. https://f3thefort.com/2017/09/11/childrens-attention- home-workday/

Prayer Requests
-Forgot to do this — not a regular thing for us SOBs but maybe it should be.

Moleskin
YHC tried not to get lost or to faceplant as we moseyed up towards the band practice lot. Nation Ford HS is pretty dark first thing in the morning. I tried to take out Photo Bomb twice by making unannounced sharp turns, but he was too quick on his feet so we warmed up instead. Thankfully the lights came on in the parking lot for the partner suicides or things could have gotten ugly. Have only visited this AO twice (last week and this week), but I can confirm that everyone comes to work hard. Heard your typical mumblechatter this morning, especially on the call for double merkin burpees, but saw every man in attendance pushing hard and getting uncomfortable. Dark Helmet summed things up pretty nicely before the workout when he stated that he knows he CAN modify, but then he looks around at everyone else pushing through and would rather puke today than let up. Beauty of F3 right there. Don’t get me wrong – modify to avoid injury, but not to avoid discomfort. On the other side of uncomfortable things is where each and every one of us finds a better version of ourselves. It’s obvious when you say it (get outside your comfort zone, duh) — but it’s far too easy to forget in the moment. The more we can learn to embrace uncomfortable situations in the gloom with a push from our brothers the more we will find ourselves embracing (or even running headlong at) the everyday discomforts (making that call, having that talk with your M, punishing your 2.0 even when they make the puppy dog eyes) that threaten to force us all into complacency. Or, maybe Dark Helmet was just regretting his choice of a Gordita Supreme at Taco Bell last night. Really enjoyed working out with the men of The Fort this morning and getting pushed by some new faces (especially Backdraft who is one sneaky fast dude). Thanks to Haggis, Fahvra and Fallout for leaving their usual routines to come out to The Coop. Haggis is soon to be a Springfield resident so keep an eye out for him at an AO near you (if he can drag himself off the trails of Anne Springs that is). Very much appreciate the invite from Sugar Bug to lead. YHC definitely plans to visit more often.

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BackBlast for The Coop 9-13-17

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The weather just does not get any better than on September mornings in the South. 13 men took advantage of the conditions to get better.

Mosey to the black top football field

The Warm-up 

  • 30 4-count side straddle hops 
  • 10 4-count windmills
  • 10 4-count Merkens
  • 20 4-count mountain climbers
  • 20 4-count Moroccan night club

The Thang

Mosey to the goal line to start a workout focused on arms

  • Run 20 yards
  • 15 Carolina dry docks
  • Rinse & repeat 4x until the other goal line

Mosey to the benches at the front entrance

  • Partner up
  • Partner 1 does 30 dips
  • Partner 2 does lateral pulls (under the bench)Note: plan was to flip flop a few times, but the lat pulls under the bench (as well intentioned as they were) did not work. AUDIBLE!

Mosey to back to the black top football field

  • Run 20 yards
  • 15 Carolina dry docks
  • Rinse & repeat 4x until the other goal line

Mosey to the bottom of the hill past the pull up bars

  • Back to partners
  • Partner 1 runs to pull up bars, does 5 toes to bar & 5 pull ups
  • Partner 2 does curb dips
  • Flip Flop
  • Rinse & repeat substitute diamond merkins for Partner 2
  • Rinse & repeat substitute dips for Partner 2

Mosey to the top of the hill by the pull up bars

  • Back to partners
  • Partner 1 does 10 pull ups
  • Partner 2 does 5 burpees and planks until P1 done
  • Flip flop
  • Rinse & repeat substitute 10 chin ups for P1
  • Rinse & repeat substitute 8 pull ups for P1
  • Rinse & repeat substitute 8 chin up for P1

To sidewalk and on your six for Mary

  • 20 LBCs
  • 20 Flutter
  • Protractor
  • 10 Boats & Canoes
  • Captain Thors to 3×12

Mosey to COT

Announcements

  • Colombia Mission Trip Audible & New Mission to Florida
  • Invergence on Sept 29th
  • Convergence on Sept 30th

Prayer Requests

  • Trucker friend dealing with home issues
  • Snap Hook’s wife dealing with health issues
  • Mission Trip to Florida
  • Dark Helmet’s friend with health issues

Namarama: COT 9-13-17

Moleskin

They say “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”. Some of our PAX saw that first hand over the last week. As we all now know, the 12 Fort Pax set to serve in Colombia had their plans changed by Hurricane Irma. However, you won’t find them complaining and feeling sorry for themselves about the time and money they poured into this trip over the last 18 months. Rather, you’ll see a confident and faithful group of men that know that no matter what plans they make, God is in control and will put them right where he wants them to be. We all deal with disappointments and setbacks every day because of things that are out of our control. Let’s work to make sure that our attitudes are similar to what we’ve seen this week from these men. Remember Who is in charge. Keep the faith & keep moving. 

Ginsu

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A Res-Q for Birdcage, at the Coop.

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Res-Q: When a Pax is down (IR, or emergency DR trip, or whatever) and another Pax meets the call for help and jumps in last minute to Q for him.

Birdcage thought it would be a great idea to play soccer (futból) on Saturday with his co-workers. Soccer is a smaller, more nimble man’s game as it turns out, and he jacked up his knee/ankle, so he reached out and I took the Q. It’s been a while, but it’s like riding a bike… a painful, burpee and pull-up filled bike… That’s a terrible bike. You shouldn’t buy it. It’s probably very expensive for one thing, and why would you want a bike that caused you that much pain? Plus, no WAY are you winning that sprint triathlon you signed up for with a bike like that… It’s basically useless… you’re an idiot.

0515, disclaimer, then off we go…
Warm it up Kris… I’m about to…
Circle around the main lot to the Band Practice Field
– Windmills x 10
– IW x 10
Cross the band practice field and weave around the drop off lane to the roundabout
– Richard Simmons x 15
– Moroccan Nightclubs x 15
Mosey to back parking lot
– Merkins x 20
– CDD x 20
Mosey to behind dumpsters
– Squats x 25
– SSH x 25
Mosey to pull-up bars, and now the fun begins… (that was a mile, btw)
Partner up, size always matters.
There will be an exercise at the top and at the bottom of the hill. There will be a different method of travel up the hill each time.

ROUND 1:
– Each partner does 15 pull-ups (if one is waiting, it’s people’s chair)
– Run down the hill
– 30 Flutters (partner cadence)
– Wheelbarrow back up the hill (switch as needed)
ROUND 2:
– Each partner does 15 idiot partner pull-ups*
– Run down the hill
– Rosalita x 20 (partner cadence)
– Wheelbarrow up (switch as needed)
ROUND 3:
– Each partner does 10 burpee pull-ups (if one is waiting, it’s people’s chair)
– Run down the hill
– LBCs x 20 (partner cadence)
– Bear crawl up the hill
ROUND 4:
– Each partner does 15 idiot partner pull-ups or 10 negative pull-ups
– Run down the hill
– Dying Cockroach x 15 (partner cadence)
– Backwards bear crawl up the hill (or just run if we are too smoked)

Then we did a little Mary by the pull-up bars until it was time for an all-out sprint back to COT.

NMM:
As always, it was a pleasure to lead. I’ve started ending all my Q’s with an AYG back to COT. Bones (Tunis Hunt from LKW) quoted someone as saying, “When your mind thinks you are done, you have 40% left (or you are only 40% done, or something like that). The point is, all of the times that you think that you just can’t hold on anymore, you can’t push any further, you can’t withstand any longer, the fact of the matter is, there is more in the tank. Make it happen out there, men…

Helmet, out.

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Doing more of the things I (don’t) Love

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Today I figured out a cool way to make cones really light up in the dark. Just thought I’d put that up front.

It’s been a little while since Qing at the Coop, so this was a good time. I was a little punchy after working a swing the night before, so I’m glad that all the PAX had patience with me this fine morning.

The Thang

Warm up Phase
Line up and the following for 20 or so yards
1. High knees/mosey back
2. High skips/mosey back
3. Butt kicks/mosey back
4. Toy soldiers/back mosey back
5. Power skips/back mosey back

COP
Goofballs 20xIC
Squat Imperial Walkers 10xIC
Merkin-crab dips-Merkin-crab cakes
Howling monkey ring of fire x10 each

Pull Yourself Phase
Partner up- Pull up/merkin- rotate- then Flutter kick for the six
4 Regulation Corps Pull ups/ 8 regulation merkins
4 Switch grip Pull ups/4 offset merkins 2 sets of each to get both sides
4 Close hands chin ups/8 close hands merkins (diamonds)
4 Regulation Corps Pull ups/ 8 regulation merkins

Pull Bricks Phase
Circle up at the Sugar Creek ES parking lot.
2 sets of cinderblocks attached to the big ropes
2 PAX hand over hand drag the bricks the length of the lot then backpedal pulling the bricks back to the start- hand off to the next 2 PAX
All other PAX are rotating through the following, changing whenever brick dragging PAX exchange change direction.
1. Tuck jumps-Modify to alternating lunges sometimes(SOOO many tuck jumps)
2. Tempo merkins IC
3. Hip slappers (on the curb if you are awesome, on the wall if you are crazy like Geronimo!)
4. Front- back -go Overlooked this on the Winke

NMM
I wanted to try out an idea I had this week. In my head I have a list of exercises that I like least. Today I tried to incorporate many of them (missed partner carries and backwards bearcrawl uphill, ugh!). It may or may not be surprising, I really don’t like doing pull-ups. 2 1/2 years ago, I could maybe strain out 5 in a row, followed by a good break. I don’t like slow cadence merkins. I REALLY don’t like flutter kicks. Tuck jumps and monkey humpers make my legs burn, as does the back pedal brick pull. I was introduced to the inclined hip slappers by the SOB boys, and quickly added that to my list.

All that said, I will be the first to goad the Q into calling any number of the aforementioned activities. “Why do you do this insanity?” Is probably flying through your head right now. I know if I do more pull-ups, I get better at pull ups. The same goes for all of those things things that are difficult for us. Extrapolate that a bit and apply the same idea to work. I don’t expect that I’ll ever enjoy performing ISO audits, but the more I do them, the less it sucks to do them.

Now, if we could just stop doing partner carries altogether…

Geronimo!

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Mid-term Exam @ the Coop

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23 Men arrived with lots of chatter and welcome to FNG “Horse Shoe” and the EH by Couter inviting the intern out.  It was a beautiful day at the Coop for a Mid-Term Exam to remind ourselves of the word that we chose at the beginning of the year and to challenge our selves to finish strong.  

For those that chose a word at the beginning of the year… how is it going?  What have you learned? How are you approaching life differently?

For me… My word is Wisdom and I struggle for perspective and often lose my way and need to be anchor and guided.  The verse that has been shown to me to help is below:

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. – Ephesians 5:21

The Thang:

 –  Warm up… Thank you Pitts for stepping up and leading us through a series of warm up exercises!!  Nice leadership and excellent cadence! 

(mosey to band parking lot)

Power skip to 50 yard line and back

10 min Amrap

  •    5 burpees
  •    10 donkey kicks
  •    15 bomb jacks
  •    Sprint to 50 yard line and back after each round

  – bear crawl / Merkin ladder (1+ merkin every 10 yards) to 50 yard line and back

  – lunge walk/jump squat ladder (1+ jump squat every 10 yards)

Mosey to the NaFo wall for some wall sits and a bit of balls to the wall

3 minute Amrap

  –  5 – Flying squirrels

   – 5 – mountain climbers

   – 5 – Carolina dry docks

It was an honor and privilege to lead and thank you to Sugarbug for the opportunity.

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