Category: Sweep The Leg

No Shortcuts

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Five men showed up for the workout this morning.  We promptly left at 05:15 headed to Gamestop for further instructions.

Once arrived, I had a quick message.  No shortcuts.  It comes from one of my favorite movies,  “Wall Street.”  The young broker (Charlie Sheen) is getting lectured by an older broker.  He says “Remember there are no shortcuts, son. Quick buck artists come and go with every bull market, but the steady players make it through the bear market.” One can apply this lesson to all aspects of life (Relationships, health, work, etc).  Today, we were focused on tackling Hubert Graham way.

Outbound to Gold Hill Road – Stop at every light pole, alternate with merkins and squats, 10 of each. (Total 80 merkins, 70 squats)

Inbound from Gold Hill Road – Stop at every light pole, 10 merkins and squats (Total 70 merkins, 70 squats)

Bonus miles:  Run around Tega Cay Elementary School.

We all met back at Gamestop for a short mosey back to COT.

Total miles by runners ranged from 4.5 to 3.5.

Great job by everyone this morning.

 

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Swimming Laps on a Frigid Morning

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17 posted to STL on a crisp morning, perhaps one of the last ones of winter 2020-21 with temps in the 20s.  70+ in the days ahead — sunshine and pollen, Spring is here.

The Thang

Pretty simple weinke this morning

Quick mosey to Baxter and the Mushroom Pool parking lot

From the parking lot run out Richard’s crossing back across Front St, past the homes of Sugar Daddy, Tesh and other pax around the loop and back to the MP parking lot

OYO exercises at the parking lot:
10 Burpees
20 Parker Peters
30 Squats

Rinse and repeat

Return run home

COT

Moleskin

Great to see the pax out pushing hard on a cold morning.  The pace was brisk too, so the bodies warmed up quickly.  Those who made 5 laps ended up with 3.9 miles and those with 4 laps finished with 3.4 miles.  A few OCD pax had to get that 4 mile click so they added a loop in the parking lot on return.  Great effort by all!

It was great to meet Juan Valdez for the first time — keep posting, amigo!

My word for 2021 is NOW.  It’s surfaced a lot in the first two months — a constant reminder to live in the real world with the people immediately around me in the place that I’m in at that moment.  Get out of my head and be aware of what’s happening NOW and how I’m called to live NOW.  Hopefully the challenge for each pax to live my word for this day bore fruit.

A big thank you to Vuvu for the Site Q exemption from the Top 3 rule at STL.  Always an honor to lead the pax.

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Long laps for slow PAX

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10 days ago YHC got a message asking him to Q at Sweep the Leg. Now, a little background, the only way I’ve come close to the top 3 finishers at STL is when there have been 4 people in attendance, and usually STL picks a top finisher to Q.  I accepted almost immediately, but then almost had to take it back when I remembered that today is the M’s (somethingith) birthday.

No false modesty here, my running game has improved significantly over the last 12 months, but it’s still not enough to keep up with the more aquatic, fried-snack based PAX in long distance Qs (though I give a ton of credit to them for kiting me along over the past who knows how long).  At the end of every STL session my brain is usually so starved for oxygen that the left half of my brain has logically concluded that i have died, and the other side is reliving the horrors of the Whinny the Pooh ride at Disney World.  I love it!

So, big thanks to Vuvuzela for inviting me to take the reins.

I knew I’d need something to keep the expeditious PAX engaged that would also make room for personal survival, but also made it difficult, if not impossible, to cheat on the running.

The gloom

After driving out to the Colosseum and dropping off some signage and lights, I hauled arse to CoT and got there with just enough time to realize I had two left hand gloves and swap them out.

6 PAX were stretching and chatting when I arrived and since I used my extra time to replace one of my gloves, the disclaimer was very short. I simply said, “Welcome to Sweep the Leg. I assume you’ve all read the disclaimer, let’s go, wait, who’s that guy?” as I pointed at Grinder. Fishsticks vouched that he knew the risk and off we went as I said, “Oh, and I’m 38 Special, we’re headed to the cul-de-sac at the end of Patricia”

The thang

After the 1/2 mile warmup. YHC handed out instructions. Every stop would need to multiply the lap number by a certain number of exercises. At the cul-de-sac it would be 10x SSH, which we did in cadence before starting.

Run towards the school and at the L that turns in, a sign was waiting that said:
<—-
5x Dips x Lap
3x Werewolf x Lap

YHC forgot to mention what a werewolf is, and I still had energy enough at this point to still be near everyone and demo the werewolf (I call them circular pushups, but in the exicon, it’s a “Werewolf”)

Turning left here (because of the arrow!) run down the hill a little ways and there’s a sign at the bigger traffic loop:
—–>
3x Burpee x Lap
5x BBSU x Lap

Each lap was almost exactly 1 mile.

CoT

Fishsticks and Tesla got 1st place, very shortly followed by Vuvuzela.  The were actually the last three arrivals, but they did four laps and the rest of us just three.

Counted and Announced and asked for prayers or praises from everyone.

nmm

SLT has no ten counts, no stop and breath moments. It’s all about pushing forward knowing that it’ll be over (in one way or another) in 45 minutes or so.  It’s about as blank as my mind gets trying to pull myself up that damned hill on Dave Gibson.  If I let my mind wander, I’d probably just fall into the ditch.

It hurts and it’s cathartic.

You want to know what I’m dealing with inside? Get me  thoroughly exhausted. Too exhausted to care if the world knows the worst things I think about myself. And then head to CoT. Today I shared about trying to get my weight (back) down. I’ve tried prayer, begging the M to hit me with a broom if she sees me unconsciously eating a stack of cookies she insists on leaving in one of those glass displays on the counter, self shame…

I heard some good prayers from exhausted PAX today. Real needs expressed. Always good to hear those.  And Quack Attack is good company on long killer sessions like today.

Looking forward to the next STL…

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2

Hilltopia

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Eight men posted for Sweep the Leg on a cool, but dry, first day of February.

Disclaimer given
Short mosey run to launch point and lay out the plan:
Start at the bank and do 12 Bobby Hurleys
Run out to and down to Patricia lane where a lighted cone sits.
At the cone do 12 merkins.
Resume running to front of GHES and at the flag pole do 12 gas pumpers.
Return towards the bank, stopping to do the merkins and doing the bobby hurleys at the bank.
Rinse repeat
Got just over four miles in.

Your leading pax were: Fishsticks, Straight Up, Longshanks

Prayers for the country and schools/school kids.

Route for STL 2-1-21

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Consider my leg swept

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We ran fast and stopped when I needed for merkins. (did forget to hit pause on the mileage calculator once so the numbers are a tad off) Actually the first two miles were upper body, mile 3 was lower body, there was a little yoga thrown in cause we had time and needed it.

I think we hit 100 merkins, 50 dips, lots squats, and then finished with 10 burpees EMOM until 0600. Also 3.3 miles  

https://www.strava.com/activities/4678144477

NMM:

No vocal message today. I’m actually trying to be still and listen a bit more. It’s against my natural instincts, but so is waking up for a workout at 0515….so there’s that.

Thanks to VuVu for the call. Really grateful for the opportunity to lead at this AO. The amount of super fast PAX pushes me to MOVE. When I Q at STL, I know I can’t (shouldn’t) fall back to the 3 or the 6. It makes me give more effort than I might otherwise. Oh that we all could be leaders in groups that push us to be better.

—
Band Camp dismissed

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Rally-X

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Five men showed up for the workout this morning.  Jester crossed the river to join us in some morning fun.  Before we started, I mentioned to the Pax that I enjoyed playing video games as a kid.  The phrase “Is that a roll of quarters or are you happy to see me?” was a common jab at the arcade.  One of my favorite games was Rally-X.  The goal of the game was to collect flags by driving your car around a maze while being chased by other cars.  The car was equipped with a smoke screen so you could crop dust the chasing cars.  I had planned the workout to be similar to this video game..less the crop dusting.

The morning route was mostly around the school, each stop we did the same exercises (5 burpees, 10 merkins, and 15 squats).  The stops were as follows:

  1.  Middle school faculty parking lot
  2. Football field parking lot
  3. Last light post at back entrance
  4. Basketball courts
  5. Elementary school faculty parking lot
  6. South State Bank
  7. First Watch (lap around parking lot)
  8. First Watch

We covered around 4.3 miles this morning, 40 burpees, 80 merkins, 120 squats, and alot of great mumble chatter.

 

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Bronze Medals

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When you’re down to 80% can you still give 100%?

4 PAX made it at least 4 miles. Some logged more.

Stopped 6 times for:
5 burpees
10 merkins
15 squats
and an undetermined amount of flutters in cadence

Thanks for the opportunity to lead Vuvu!

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pre_blast_METTLE FORGER_new_gear_AO

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Friends:

I’d like to make available the training gear I’ve accumulated as part of my personal training venture to the Pax of The Fort and start a new Gear AO!

What:  Dealers ( Q ) choice gear AO.

Where: 12:15 pm on Fridays at Turner Field parking lot in Tega Cay.  45 minutes in length.  Inaugural workout on Friday, 10/23.

Why:  To serve the Pax who have flexibility to work from home or may not be early risers.  To reinvigorate Kotters or recruit new FNG’s who need a shieldlock.

How:  the Weinke could include the gear in my trailer or based on the Q’s of the day preference like kettlebell, ruck, or a combination of all.  I will assist the Q’s in setup.

Special Bonus:  a commemorative patch will be awarded to the first 10 Pax who post!

FAQ:

What gear will Bear Grylls make available to the Q’s?

    • The contents of my trailer include sandbags, kettlebells, dumbells, barbells, slam balls, TRX, battle ropes, jump boxes, bench, water jugs, squat rack, strength sled, speed and agility equipment and resistance bands.  A full gear list will be provided to Q’s so they can build their Weinke.

What if the weather turns bad, will the equipment be ruined?

    • Most of the equipment is rubber-coated, however, we won’t use any bare metal items if there is precipitation.  The Q of the day can always revert to a run or boot-camp model.  There is a soccer and baseball field at Turner which provides many pain-station options.

Other questions and concerns can be sent to Twitter at F3_BearGrylls or on Slack.

 

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21

The Equalizer

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9 got better this morning and 1 got lighter as we tackled a routine I call “The Equalizer.”  Conditions we’re perfect for a sweatastic Merkin Mile beatdown. Here’s what we did…

The Thang

  • 5 Burpees

Run to the 1st entrance of Brayden

  • 10 Wide Arm Merkins

Run to Dave Gibson Blvd

  • 20 Bobby Hurleys

Run to Dam Rd

  • 30 Ranger Merkins

Run to Tara Plantation

  • 40 Squats

Run to YHC’s House

  • 50 Merkins

Run to Tara Plantation

  • 40 Calf Raises

Run to Dam Rd

  • 30 Diamond Merkins

Run to Dave Gibson Blvd

  • 20 Lunges

Run to 1st Entrance of Brayden

  • 10 Tempo Merkins

Run back to Earth Fare

  • 10 Tempo
  • 20 Lunges
  • 30 Diamond
  • 40 Calf Raises
  • 50 Merkins

Circle the lot

  • 10 Wide
  • 20 Bobby Hurleys
  • 30 Ranger
  • 40 Squats
  • 50 Merkins

Mosey back to COT

  • 5 Burpees

NMM
This workout was designed to have the PAX finish together. How do you keep the non-gazelles with the sub-6 minute milers at a running AO? Add Merkins.
As expected, Scalp and Gears had the major lead in the running portion. But as we closed in on the final assault at Earth Fare, Dark Helmet took the lead and never looked back. Major kudos to Band Camp and his Merkin prowess for powering through to the top-5 after the run. As usual, Gekko, Quack Attack, and Fish Sticks finished towards the top. And though he doesn’t like to admit it, Sugar Daddy is starting to look like a runner. Spider-Man did bail early, but when nature calls, you know, you answer. I understand he looked three shades brighter and 2 pounds lighter after his…break.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead. I know this is more Merkins than normal for STL (as noted by the grunting and grumbling), but it’s the only way I could keep up with you fast guys. But as usual, you men persevered and powered through. You did the hard thing and you’re better for it.

One last word to start the week:

You can’t force someone to respect you but you can refuse to be disrespected.

Now go be a force to be reckoned with. Crush the day!

Aye!

Italian Job

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7

The Sweati 2020

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The Sweati 2020-
79 HIM took to The Forts annual summer CSAUP event. It was 78 degrees when 24 Ruckers launched from The Coliseum at 0530. They had their disclaimer and direction to the first of the 3 pain stations. Just After at 0600 54 runners took to the route. They departed and ran about 2.5 miles and got to meet Bones at Golden Corral for the first pain station. He worked them over as they came in for about 10-15 minutes. Once he finished dishing the pain they took off to Pantheon only about 1.5 miles up the Road. Fishsticks was waiting for sprints and pain. He had the PAX attention for another 10-15 minutes. Once they left they brought the route back to YHC. While waiting for the PAX to return and doing burpees I decided that my other two Qs most likely put the PAX through so much I would give them a choice. Either 20 burpees at 5 light poles with bear crawls in-between or they could buyout of it for a $50. going to our brother Cash. Most wanted to take on both challenges. We wore black for Cash and am still amazed at the Photos coming in from across the Country showing support to this HIM. We love you Cash. Here is a link to the pay-pal account if you feel you would like to support.

paypal.me/f3thefort

Backdraft Out

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