Category: The Colosseum

April Showers Bring More Burpees

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It rained all day Monday, through the night and the forecast was for more on Tuesday.   CSPAN was Q at The Ballroom, promising stories of OG glory along with cover.  Funhouse’s Ass Kicking April band wagon was rolling into Block Party as well.  So the question was how many pax would post to Colosseum for YHC’s first Q there in a LONG time.  The answer = 4 brave pax.  Some brief comments about rain coming and grumbling about Gunsu’s Q the prior week followed a brief Disclaimer, and then we launched.

The Thang

No wind and rain or lack of headlamps was going to intimidate this group so we took off for a run out the front parking lot and up the hill to 160 and the drive through cover at the bank branch on the corner.

COP – SSHs, Mtn climbers, IWs, Windmills, Merkins,  10 burpees OYO

Mosey over to the day care under the front entrance cover

People’s chair, Sumo squats, People’s chair, monkey humpers, People’s chair calf raises, 10 burpees OYO

Mosey to the  office building and the cover there

Merkins, Freddy Mercury, wide arm merkins, Flutter, diamond merkins, hello dolly, 10 burpees OYO

Mosey to Velux office under the front entrance cover

Shoulder taps, plank sequence, shoulder taps, plank sequence, shoulder taps, 10 burpees OYO

Run back to school

10 Burpees OYO

Run home

COT

NMM

Turned out to be a very nice morning for a workout.  Just enough light rain to provide cooling amid the sweat and gloom.  I was more than willing to take advantage of some cover for the workout, but there was no way I wanted to pass up the chance to run through the rain and stomp through some puddles.  The pax complied quite willingly and put forth a strong effort throughout.  Well done!

We spent the mosey time comparing notes on each man’s workday ahead.  We spend a lot of time in the gloom and I’m always amazed how little I know about the careers among the pax.  It was a treat to learn a little about everyone.

Before banging out the last set of burpees, we touched on the workday ahead and how we should all relish the privilege. Even the worst parts of the day would be better than those faced by people fighting disease (like Badger) or those without work or the many other people in the world who would gladly trade their challenges for our own.

Thanks to the men for posting and to Jekyll for the opportunity to lead.  We missed you, brother.

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12

Chilly Mid-April Morning at Colosseum

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9 men joined YHC for a cold beatdown.

Mosey around the parking lot.

WARMUP

  • 35 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10 4 count merkins
  • 20 4 count mountain climbers
  • 10 4 count windmills
  • 20 4 count heels to heaven
  • 20 4 count pickle pounders
  • Honeymooner to stretch out the abs

The THANG

Line up at the first line of a series of 19 arrows the run down the back road at Gold Hill Middle

  • 1 burpee per arrow (19 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • Xs and Os in cadence
  • 3 jump squats per arrow (57 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • Captain Thors to 5×20
  • 3 merkins per arrow (57 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • boats and canoes

Mosey to the benches under the awning

  • 10 burpee box jumps
  • protractor
  • rinse & repeat x 3

Mosey to COT

Xs and Os

COT

Announcements for Convergence, Sweettooth Run, Strawberry Festival

Praise for good cancer diagnosis, safety through weather, other health progress. Prayers for Badger, back injury, and safe travel.

– Ginsu

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2

Colosseum Classic (yes, wall and light poles)

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Beautiful 50F AM at the Colusseum
Mosey through Pickup Lanes x2
Mosey Hill with the light poles
Worked our way up the hill stopping at each light pole:
  • 30x SSH
  • 10x Slow Windmill
  • 25x Moroccan Nightclub
  • 20x 4-count mountain climbers
  • Plank – Reg, L, Reg, R, 6”, Reg
  • 10x Merkins
  • 15x Al Gore calf raises
  • 10x Burpees
YHC had just read “What Radical Husband’s Do” a couple of points were shared.
Give Acceptance to your Wife… Criticism comes from a place of Judgement… which means you are suggesting you are the judge (you aren’t)
Over the wall 11’s + 2
  • Big Boy Sit-ups (1, 2… 10)
    • Over the wall
  • Donkey Kicks (10, 9… 1)
    • Over the Wall
  • +2 Burpees (+2 each round)
Encouragement of the PAX was strong finishing this one
Drop the Rope… most small fights are like tug of war. Everything is small. Drop the rope more often.
Box jumps on Benches x20 until 6min to go…
Mary
  • American Hammer’s
  • Flutter
  • Holly Dolly
  • Protractor
  • Straight up picks – some rendition Holly Dolly + Dying Cockroach
  • Jekyll picks – Rosalita
Twister showed us all out to count (loud under that GHMS awning!)
COT
Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ has loved the church (people) and gave Himself up for her.
Prayers
  • T-Squares wife Michelle Angeldorf – surgery colon (laproscopic) 4/11
  • Jekyll – Mrs. Ann Griffin passed away
Praises
  • Straight up – that Longshanks crushed 2 Spartan Races this weekend
  • Longshanks – that Mom got to be around for Spring Break

Thanks Jekyll for the opportunity

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1

Shieldlock at Quagmire

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The few Mondays I have not been DR lately most could find me logging a few miles for the impending P200 destruction.  Pushups have been in shortsupply and even few posts to Quagmire or being a Q.  GLOOM: The murky pre-dawn in which the PAX gather around the Shovel Flag in preparation for a Workout.  Add 45 degrees and wet rain- you’ve got yourself a double dose.  7 men were disclaimed and here is what they did:

Opened with #pearlsonastring- a roving COP throughout the AO.  Ran to Target lot for 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies.  Run to Buff Wild Wing for 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies, 14 Mountain Climbers.  Run some more: 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies, 14 Mountain Climbers. 16 Monkey Humpers.  Always good for cars to drive by during MH routine…

Run to City Tavern, err… Bluewater, err…abandoned skeleton of a restaurant .  Grab a partner, run up stairs, down stairs and do 8 partner plank derkins, 8 partner plank dips.  Flapjack.  Rinse/Repeat x3.  Davinci led Mary until #six came in

Mosey to Home Depot Wall.  3 sets each of Wall sits and Balls to Wall.  Tony Horton P90X interlude with Sneaky Toe Lunges down and back, Groucho squat walk down and back, Bear Crawl.

Mosey to Wine Shop back lot for 6 minutes of mary: Boxcutters, Rosalita, Dying Cockroach, LBC, Freddie Mercury, Peter Parker

Great work by MOAB and Bones to lead from the front.  Name of the day goes to Gleek.  I remember Gleek being the spit you could fire between the teeth to an unsuspecting kid at school (disgusting, confirmed), not the #wondermut of superhero power twins.  Our PAX’s collective recall of random pop culture references knows no bounds.  Anywho- Gleek is also a smiley nice guy even though he lives in a van down by the river…if only temporarily.  True story.  Also only guy who may out “southern drawl” Mr. Clean.  Ok, I may be exaggerating.  but only a little.

Got a great opportunity to partner with relative newcomer Primer.  Bones responsible for this EH(nice- #218in2018).  Get to know this guy.  Keep working Primer- keep up with the guy in front of you.  You’ll be mid pack then front pack before you know.  U vs U. #leavenomanbehind

Then there’s Davinci and Mr. Clean.  Never seen Davinci in pain.  Always smiling. Will need to insert more burpees apparently.  Mr. Clean work the ethic today and the Tahoe Chariot to pick me up.

Naked Man Moleskin

Shieldlock- the horizontal relationship between Men.  Each man discussed why they escaped the fartsack on a day like today.  Accountability, to support YHC on Q (T-Claps here, #humbled), clean out emotional poison, get better, meet new people and forge male relationships.  All of these no more important than the other and each with their own merit.  We discussed #Shieldlock as Dredd has been writing about this week but also many men in F3 have tweeted about relationships with men who challenge them and make them better.  Robber in Columbia, SC talked of many years ago having a man looking him square in the eye and say, “you’re getting sideways”.  You’re drinking too much and its affecting your life.  Sober since.  YHC’s whetstone partner keeps me in the guardrails of Lust (THX CSPAN), Pornography, drinking, but also self acceptance.  Being good enough.  These deep conversations from the men in the gloom help to sharpen our blades and make us better.

Prayers for Ella Maude Beard, MOAB Mammon search, Gleek’s family (M, shorties) during this temporary time of living apart for work.

Thanks for Q today.

Jekyll

 

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10

We got our 28+ at The Colosseum

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We had a total of 28 guys in The Fort region post yesterday (Monday, Feb 26) amidst the rain so I threw out the challenge of getting 28 men out to the Colosseum this AM. With some help from Jeckyll, Pusher, Ginsu, Cha Ching and a few others, we got that done. The PAX made it even better when that was just the boot camp number as we totaled 31 with our 3 runners included.

I can not even begin to tell you how humbled I was to see headlight after headlight roll in and to have 27 other guys run around this AO at 0515 with me. As Assassin mentioned in COT, we do in fact know how special it is to be blessed with the opportunity to be out with the PAX on just another Tuesday morning. To see some faces out there that I haven’t seen in quite a while was great. With the chatter that ensued, I knew I had better bring it.

So after our disclaimer and the departure of the Pathfinder runners, us boot campers jogged to end of the back parking lot. We counted off to our number of 27  at the time and dropped down for a 2min plank followed by a 2min reverse plank. Well 90 seconds into that latter plank, we had a masked ninja run up to join us for our lucky number 28. That ninja also goes by the name STRAIGHT UP  and man, it was good to have him join us.

1/2 of 28 equals 14 Burpees so that is what we did followed by 28reps of the following:

Dying Cockroach, Boats & Canoes, Jumping Lunges, Jump Squats, X&O’s, American Hammers, Monkey Humpers and Squat Calf-Raises

We partnered up for:

Partner 1: Run to the 1st speed bump and back
Partner 2: Diamond Merkins then flap jack

Partner 1. Run to the 3rd speed bump and back

Partner 2: Merkins then flap jack

Partner 1: Run to the gate that was no longer in existence

Partner 2: Carolina Dry Docks or some ab work then flap jack

Bring it back to the GHMS side of the bus parking lot and circle up for some coupon work.

Begin with the 30lb Ruck and 35lb Kettle Bell on opposite sides of the circle. When the coupon came to you, 10 bicep curls of your choosing while the rest of the PAX cycled through Freddy Mercury, Rosalitas and Flutter Kicks.

COT

Announcements: Read that Sunday email containing your F3 Newsletter. New AO launching from Regent Park. Includes (br)yoga, run and coffeeteria  (contact Cake Boss or Sasquatch) every Friday. Don’t forget about the drive for 218 FNG’s. Reading center opportunity (service).

Prayers/Praises: Flat Tire’s new promotion, Straight Up’s wife is feeling better and S.U. is back with us. Cornerstone’s daughter Emma had her last chemo pill last night and will be ringing the bell soon. Ginsu’s daughter took her first steps yesterday. Jeckyll’s son is now a Boy Scout and Jeckyll has now handed over the leadership. Prayers for Mr. Clean and his desire to be out in the gloom. Prayers for Squeaky for what he is facing right now. Praises for reconnecting with my daughter.

Thank you again for coming out in the gloom.

Maximus

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7

Beyond 2018.07

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This morning was a good day for some positive influence.  There were two options this morning, but everyone decided to try something a little harder and go Beyond.

Mosey to the basketball parking lot for some warmup.
SSHx50, Hillbilly walkers x20, Typewriter merkins x10 (I wasn’t the only one!)

Mosey to the paved path behind the half wall.  I went over the word of the month, anxiety.  I used to have extremely high anxiety with a life of distraction.  I would become anxious about anything and everything, so to get by, I had to constantly keep my mind off of things.  One day, I decided to put all my focus on my anxiety.  Everything I feared, I would think about constantly until I was tired of thinking about it.  I would fight the beast until somebody won.  The main one was, does God exist?  You have to figure this out for yourself.  The answer is going to be yes or no, but what that answer means is going to be different for everyone.  So figure it out, come to a conclusion, and make it your assumption from that point going forward.  When you doubt again, remember the time you came to the conclusion (even if you don’t know why) and move on.

Balls2wall shoulder taps x10, Muscle ups x10 w/ a 20 sec 6inches hold within the set. (3 rounds)

Mosey to rock pit paste the gate of the school.  I ask if anyone had seen “Fight Club”.  I love this movie because it shows the most basic problems of Sad Clown Syndrome, even though it pursues completely destructive pathways to fix the problem.  One scene Tyler asks “How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?”  I love this self-analysis of learning oneself, but I don’t care about fighting.  Instead, I asked myself “How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been hungry?” I explain to the PAX that for the past week (Sat-Fri) I did a strict water fast for a week.  I had always wanted to know what it was like physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but had always been afraid because of anxiety of losing weight (irrational fear of being the guy that’s too skinny).  There are about a dozen reasons why I did it, but one was to face a fear.

Find a pet rock for…
Clockwork deadlifts:
I call out a time, you lunge in that direction, set the rock down, reset, lunge out, pick rock up, repeat

Clockwork deadlift
Al Gore calf raises x20 (w/ pet rock)
Clockwork deadlift
Jump squat (w/ pet rock)
Clockwork deadlift
Russian twist (w/ pet rock)
Clockwork deadlift
Al Gore calf raises x20 (w/ pet rock)
Jump squat (w/ pet rock)

This exercise to help you remember how to lift a load in awkard positions so hopefully you don’t teak your back one day picking up a grocery back off the floor behind you.

Mosey back for 6MOM
Freddy Merc x50
Flutter (good form, hollow body) x20
Dying cockroach x50

And that’s the game…  Loved leading this morning.  Go Beyond!!!

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8

Winter Olympic games

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Mosey over behind the school to the hill with the light poles. Worked our way up the hill stopping at each light pole doing a different exercise at each.

 

SSH

Hill Billy Walker

Carolina Dry Docks

Low Slow Squats

LBCs

 

Move back down to the bottom of the hill for arm circles (forward/backward)

 

The Thang:

When I accepted the opportunity to Q I decided I would try to do something that would incorporate the upcoming winter olympics.  I also want to try and use some coupons (cinder blocks and 2 logs) that I had acquired over the past year.  With that I came up with the following “events”

 

1. Speed Skating – Apolo Ohnos

2. Cross Country Skiing – Carry logs down to cones (switch with partner) and back

3. Moguls – jump over cinder block and back

4. Bobsled – with resistance bands partner 1 would do high knees while partner 2 provides resistance
  – round 2 broad jump

5. Ski Jumping – 180 and 360 jumps

6. Biathlon –

7. Nordic Combined – Big Boy sit-up with partner passing cinder block

8. Curling – With cinder block – chest press and overhead press (rotate once team on the log gets to the cones)

 

 

All teams would continue with their exercise until team on event 2 completes their event (down and back)

After looking back on the Q I would have slightly changed the directions for the pax and everyone would perform the same exercise while one team took turns on the log carry working their way down the list.  I have found as I continue to gain more experience q’ing a workout I find myself trying different things.  Some of those things I feel go really well and others I use as a lesson learned.  I take this as a lesson learned to ensure I provide more directions to the pax for better organization.  As in life if you are comfortable with the status quo are you truly making yourself better?  Don’t be afraid to fail and if you do fail and you are able to learn from it is it really a failure?

 

 

 

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3

Leg Day at #Colosseum – 1/23/18

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6 men joined me the AM for Leg Day at Colosseum.

Mosey around the parking lot for a while.

Warmup

  • 30 Side straddle hops
  • 10 slow 4-count windmills
  • 20 4-count mountain climbers
  • 20 4-count peter parkers
  • 20 low slow squats

The Thing

2 legs exercises followed by a lap around the parking lot, followed by an ab exercise

  • 20 Jump lunges (Mary Catherine Gallaghers), 50 squats, run lap, 20 4-count flutters
  • 30 yard broad jumps x2, 30 lunges, run lap, 25 LBCs
  • 60 step ups, 20 jump squats, run lap, 15 4-count heels to heaven
  • 30 yard lunge walk x2, 20 bombjacks, run lap, 25 diamond LBCs
  • 30 jump lunges, 25 jump squats, run lap, Captain Thors to 7×28
  • Lunge walk to COT

Announcements

  • Yeti
  • Mentoring opportunity at Bethlehem Church in Paradise

Prayer requests

  • Officer Doty + Family
  • Friend with fertility challenges

– Ginsu

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2

Different Q to prevent 0-59. Turns out it was just a #GDTBATH

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Temps of 20F, 15 PAX were early and ready to go. Mumblechatter of running vs standing around was way better.
Mosey through Pickup Lanes x2
  • Regular
  • High knees
  • Butt Kickers
  • Toy Soldiers
COP at Basketball Court
  • SSH
  • Windmill
  • Moroccan Nightclub
  • Peter Parker –> Jekyll was quick to call YHC’s exercise as Mountain Climbers, so Jekyll gave a demo of a real Peter Parker (legs wide) and everyone was enlightened
  • Parker Peter
YHC is a Clemson fan, and the goal was to do something different today so that Clemson did not go 0-59 (Spoiler Alert) when playing basketball at UNC. So we did some basketball themed work
Basketball
  • Baseline
    • Side shuffles “Defense” (reverse, back up)
  • Circle up
    • Wojo – slap ground, clap – 4count x15
    • Plank + Merkin Wave 2count – x2
    • Squat – basketball ball hot potato in circle
  • Curb
    • Toe-taps – 4count x30
    • Dips x30 OYO –> The name “Herb Sendek” was mentioned to Maximus by YHC during this exercise. We kept that between us.
  • Baseline
    • Ball roll backwards (pretend 1 hand on ball, 1 hand in air) in a defensive position – 4-counts to switch position
    • Suicide
  • Knock-out
    • PAX wearing gloves shooting on 10ft goals wasn’t awesome. But we Played knock-out for about 5min and PAX did SSH-like exercises while they waited, or if they were knocked out
  • 4-Corners – showing respect to Dean Smith, totally 58
    • 10 Burpees
    • 10 Merkins
    • 20 Mountain Climbers
    • 18 LBCs
Over the wall
  • Burpee from 1 up to 5 count
    • Over-the-Wall
  • Donkey Kicks, 1 each time
Mary – people’s choice
  • Nomad – American Hammers
  • Flattire, Jekyll, MacGyver, Maximus – I forgot what they called 🙁
  • Cooter – LBCs
  • Router – Boxcutters
  • Fishsticks – Superman + Parachute
COT
  • Prayers
    • Nomad – Father’s, to be better ones, for youth group that doesn’t have them, and to make sure we are following our heavenly one
    • Maximus – Fathering daughter’s
    • Router – teaching son how to be a man, and girls for the type of man they should find
    • Maxims – In Memory, Gremlin in Mint Hill
    • Jekyll – for us to be able to receive love.
It was a fun Q. It didn’t end Clemson basketball streak of losing at UNC, but it still has me sore as I finish this backlist within 48hr of completing the Q, so thats good?
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1

Burpees and Detours at Colosseum

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5 pax arrived at Colosseum ready for a strong start to a Tuesday morning. No FNGs, the disclaimer was given and we were off… or so I thought. YHC quickly aggravated a recurring leg issue and we came to a grinding halt. (Queue the sound of the needle sliding off a record) Fortunately, Router had been briefed, he took the Weinke and ran with it and the remaining pax to the lot behind GHES/GHMS for:

20 Low Slow Squats
20 SSH
10 Windmills
20 Mountain Climbers

This was then followed by an extended mosey to the small parking lot at GHES for:

11 Merkins
20 Mountain Climbers
15 Flutter Kicks

The pax proceeded to the gates at the bottom of the hill for some Jacob’s Ladder consisting of 10 burpees at the bottom of the hill and one CDD at the top. (55 of each for those who don’t want to do the math)

Once completed, the pax moseyed back to GHMS and met up with YHC who had been doing an ongoing loop of Low Slow Squats, LBCs, Merkins, American Hammers, Bench Dips and Planks. With limited time left, the pax completed two rounds of Mary (American Hammers and LBCs)

Before heading back to COT we spoke about GHMS student Cameron Ward who passed away in 2000 at the age of 13. There is a memorial bench between the flags just outside the main entrance so a part of him is at every Colosseum. The pax finished with 13 Merkins (loud) in his honor.

COT – Announcements, Prayers and Praises

TClaps to Router for taking the Q with next to no notice and ZERO hesitation or pushback. While not being part of the pax, YHC was looking for the greater lesson to be learned. Router likely did not see what he did as significant, but it’s a great reminder of the importance of helping others and what it means to those you help when you step up.

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