Category: The Colosseum

Freezing in the New Year

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Due to lack of sleep and poor early morning math I was driving like I robbed a bank to get to the Colosseum when I realized I was arriving at 5:00 not 5:15 for some reason..: once there I was able to relax for an eternity and hope at least someone else showed up for the day…

Thankfully 2 somebodies did and we were able to get going, although it did complicate things like “circling up” and “partner up”

Mosey to the back lot for warm up

-25 SSH

-10 Windmill

-25 Moroccan Nightclub

-10 Peter Parker

-10 Parker Peter

-10 Mountain Climber

-High knees, Karaoke, Shuffle and Toy Soldiers

 

Mosey to back wall

-3 sets of People’s Chair (1 minute), 40 dips, 40 flutter (double count)

-Jacobs Ladder with 10 Americans hammer (double count) then over the wall then 1 donkey kick then back. 9 AH and 2 Donkey, etc…

 

Mosey to flag pole for individual laps with the other PAX doing exercise.

-Merkins

-Squats

 

Mosey to start point for some Mary and COT

Announcement… It’s cold but everyone else is a sad bunch of clowns for not showing up…

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’Tis the Season to be D.E.L.I.G.H.T.ed!!!

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Song from Caedmon’s Call:

“We delight in the law of Your Word.

We DELIGHT in the son who was perfect from birth!”

Yes, I truly did serenade my fellow PAX. Fortunately, no major side comments were heard although one PAX leader stated that it may be the first recorded serenade at an F3 workout.

It was an honor to share a Q at this time of year (in 29 degree weather) with such a remarkable set of F3 men! Merry Christmas!

Today’s Q was in honor of Jesus. I definitely DELIGHT in the son who was perfect from birth!

For today between each exercise, each person throughout the workout gave at least one thing over the past month they are thankful/grateful for OR something they have learned about regarding giving.

WARM-UP:

DYNAMIC STRETCHING emphasis:

Jog – 1 Min

High Knees – 30 Seconds

Butt Kickers – 30 Seconds

Toy Soldiers – 30 Seconds

Lateral Shuffles – 30 Seconds (each side)

Lateral Lunges – 10 (5 each side)

Squats – 12

Alternating Forward Lunges  – 10 (5 each side)

Merkins – 15 single set

Single Leg Toe touches with other leg going back – 10 (5 each side)

Glute Bridges – 10

Rolling Crucifix – 5X each side

Table Twists – 5X each side

 

The Thang:

For each exercise, PAX randomly chose their D.E.L.I.G.H.T.(ful) A, B or C exercise option! Below are the ones chosen. For the ones that were not chosen, you will just how to show up for a future workout of mine! (Maybe next 12/26: “The Return of D.E.L.I.G.H.T.(fulness)?)

(Note: I had a lot of positive feedback about this workout and some requests for descriptions so I have put them in below in case you want to use them for any of your next Qs.)

D:

Daft Punk: 1 rep is 4 way lunges each side of your body for a total of 8 aggregate reps

E:

Empty Wheelbarrow: crab walk with a fellow PAX holding your feet about 25-30 yards – 1 round each

L:

Low Country Crab: crab walk position, left arm touching right toe and do other side: 10X minimum or go to failure or whenever it gets boring for you

I:

Indian Bear Crawl: line up head to toe in plank; first person from back bear crawls to front, while everyone else does OYO 1 rep very slow merkin with a pause and continuing until it is your turn to bear crawl

G:

Good morning Abbey: lay flat, move feet in and sit upright, then get up without touching the ground (if possible), then lower self back without using arms again (12 X)

H:

Hurpees: hand release burpees with a twist for my version: 5X: 1 hand release merkin, then 1 merkin, then 5X: 5 hand releases, then 5 slow merkins

T:

(just when you thought you were done . . .)

Tempo Merkin: 13 Merkins in cadence with 3 count down and 1 count up

 

Extra Credit for these 10 hardworking PAX:

Daniel-Son: Karate Kid position; alternate legs in quick succession

rotating with Dying Cockroach (10 reps, then 8, then 7)

3 rounds accomplished with different speeds

Abs:

Seated Ab Circles – 30 secs each direction; 5 sec rest between each

Cross Knee Planks with a leg raise (similar to a Parker Peter with a leg raise) – 60 secs

Recliner Elbow to Knee Tucks – 30 secs – (seriously this one hurt if you are really reclining)

Planks on elbows with right arm/left arm high rotation – 60 secs

Plank – 1 minute

Flat back stretch, rotate arms on top

Downward Dog with A+ form

Honeymooner with knees not touching ground

COT:

Highlighted Announcements: Joe Davis Run, New Black Diamond AO beginning 1/9/18, Laces In this week highlighted

Highlighted Prayer Requests: for babies to be born this year and babies just born

Closing Prayer of Thanksgiving

Final shout out: These 10 PAX did an excellent job today of sharing and being open with each other as well as pushing themselves physically. Again, it was an honor. Thank you, Jekyl for the opportunity!

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The G.R.I.N.C.H. Posts to Colosseum

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18 pax showed up at Colosseum to steal Christmas back from the GRINCH.  Though not a regular at this AO, YHC jumped at the chance to pinch-hit for Pusher.  And being so close to Christmas, it’d almost be a sin to not have a Christmas theme.

Fresh out of Christmas workout ideas (see Alcatraz backblast from 2 weeks ago), YHC took to backblasts from other regions and found a Grinch theme workouted posted in F3GSO. T-Claps to GSO’s CHiPS and WoJo for the idea.

Disclamer was delivered as a few pax were coming in hot.  25 SSH allowed them time to catch up.

Warm-up

We ran a bit, then stopped for 5 burpee broadjumps and a few toy soilders.

Moseyed some more (in the general direction of 160), stopping at various times for warm-up exercises, including:

  • Squats
  • Peter Parkers
  • Seal Jacks
  • Moroccian Nightclubs
  • Windmills

Our run end in the Velux parking lot.  A few pax tried to claim we were at Golden Corral (sarcasm, perhaps?).  On the hill of the parking lot, 3 stations were set up:

  • Bottom of the hill was an orange cone, representing “Whoville”.
  • Mid-way up the hill was a green cone
  • At the top of the hill was a lantern with this sheet:

GRINCH

To summarize, pax were to do the exercises, run down the hill, stop halfway for 5 squats, run the rest of the way and do 5 LBCs, then run backwards up the hill, stopping halfway for 5 monkey humpers.  Once returning to the top, pax planked up for the 6 before starting the next round.

Exercises were cumulative, so pax had to repeat all previous exercises for each round.  A smattering of #mumblechatter ensued when pax learned 30 HR Merkins would follow 25 CDDs.

We wrapped up with about 12 minutes left, so we headed back, with Jekyll (who ran to the WO from home) Larry Bird’ing most of the way back.

We stopped at a parking lot on the edge of campus and effectively did a lap of alternating bear crawls and lunges, with a couple segments of crab walks.

Finally we ran to where we had done the initial burpee broad jumps, and finished out with the same.

Moleskin

Great job by the pax.  Seems like we put on more miles than a typical bootcamp, and with some hills, yet the 6 was never far behind.  Prayer requests at COT:

  • For Trucker’s neighbor
  • For Orange Crush
  • For Fratboy’s friend
  • For Stang

 

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JOE DAVIS + SPEED FOR NEED = IMPACT

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In just under a month, we will have an opportunity to run one of the best races of the year which has become our Signature Fort Race, The Joe Davis Run for Recovery.

This year is going to be particularly special in that we will also be adding the opportunity to push race chariots for SPEED FOR NEED.

Here’s how you get involved, if you know of someone who has a child with a disability, someone who has a child whose home has been affected by addiction, or a child in some other kind of need, then DM Dark Helmet on Twitter and let him know. If you would like to help push, let him know.

We have a chance to have as many as 6 chairs there (several are already spoken for, but some are empty). That’s the most of any race yet…

So man up! Register, find a “Track Commander” to push, and let’s get after it!

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Long Route to COT

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17 PAX on this 43 deg morning

Warmup: 1 Burpee, SSH, 2 Burpees, Moroccan Night Clubs, 3 Burpees, Imperial Walkers, 4 Burpess, Hillbilly Walkers, 5 Burpees

Wave Merkins to 10, Wave Grave Diggers to 10 followed by a few sprints at 50%, 75%, and AYG

Jacob’s Ladders

Set 1: Carolina Dry Docks 1 to 7 with bear crawl down; Jump Lunges 7 to 1 with sprint back

Set 2: Jump Squats 1 to 7 with long jumps down; Mtn Climbers 7 to 1 with sprint back

Set 3: LBCs 1 to 7 with sprints down; Bomb Jacks 7 to 1 with sprint back

Mosey other parking lot.  Here the “we’re going the wrong way” chatter begins.  Partner 1: Merkins while Partner 2: scales half wall, touches building and back x5

Finish with wall sits, last man to front through all PAX, then BTW for 2 ten-counts

COT… We prayed for families, marriages, and comfort in sickness.

Always honored to Q.

Rocks Out

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THE PAX OF FORT PLEDGES TO HELP ANOTHER BROTHER AND HIS FAMILY OUT

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Its Christmas time and the word of the month is giving so I am asking if you would take moments pray about giving to help a fellow pax. Last year Stang got the Fort and the Rock pax to donate gift cards, cash and presents for me and my family.  This was huge for me and my family, with that  being said I feel the need to help a fellow pax and give back. I have been in touch with our pax of the Fort looking for someone to help out. This morning in COT it was mentioned by Destiny that a fellow pax’s son has just been diagnosed with leukemia and his wife is pregnant with twins. Then again Ginsu and Rock thrill had a tweet about it and come to find out it is an Area51  pax named Bout time his sons name is Jennings. This hits close to home and just knew this is who we need to help this year. a few

If I have never had the pleasure of posting with you in the Gloom I would like to take a second and share my story, Dec 2015 on Christmas eve my 2.5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia ALL Type B, on Christmas day she had surgery to have a port installed and her first 3 rounds of chemo. We spent Christmas in the hospital and I broke down never cried so hard in my life. I reached out to God prayed that everything will be okay and about 10 min later after the took my daughter back for surgery he answered my pray because a peace just came over me and heard the words its going to be okay.  The last 2 years have been a hard 2 years with ups and downs but also have enlightened me, allowed me to get closer to God.  It also allowed me to become apart of F3 with out the men of this group not sure where I would be mentally and physically today. I like to thank you for the push the words of encouragement.

 

I am asking pax to give what your heart tells you. Prayers gift cards, cash etc. I have seen what awesome pax you can be when challenged to give you all always go above and beyond.

See your site Q’s for collections and or Dark helmet , Stang, Witch hunt, Royale and Cornerstone, we want to wrap it up by 12/22/17

 

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 18:16

A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

Thanks Again HIMS

Cornerstone

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The Fort pledge to help another Pax out

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Its Christmas time and the word of the month is giving so I am asking if you would take moments pray about giving to help a fellow pax. Last year Stang got the Fort and the Rock pax to donate gift cards, cash and presents for me and my family.  This was huge for me and my family, with that  being said I feel the need to help a fellow pax and give back. I have been in touch with our pax of the Fort looking for someone to help out. This morning in COT it was mentioned by Destiny that a fellow pax’s son has just been diagnosed with leukemia and his wife is pregnant with twins. Then again Ginsu and Rock thrill had a tweet about it and come to find out it is an Area51  pax named Bout time his sons name is Jennings. This hits close to home and just knew this is who we need to help this year. a few

If I have never had the pleasure of posting with you in the Gloom I would like to take a second and share my story, Dec 2015 on Christmas eve my 2.5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia ALL Type B, on Christmas day she had surgery to have a port installed and her first 3 rounds of chemo. We spent Christmas in the hospital and I broke down never cried so hard in my life. I reached out to God prayed that everything will be okay and about 10 min later after the took my daughter back for surgery he answered my pray because a peace just came over me and heard the words its going to be okay.  The last 2 years have been a hard 2 years with ups and downs but also have enlightened me, allowed me to get closer to God.  It also allowed me to become apart of F3 with out the men of this group not sure where I would be mentally and physically today. I like to thank you for the push the words of encouragement.

 

I am asking pax to give what your heart tells you. Prayers gift cards, cash etc. I have seen what awesome pax you can be when challenged to give you all always go above and beyond.

See your site Q’s for collections and or Dark helmet , Stang, Witch hunt, Royale and Cornerstone

 

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 18:16

A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

Thanks Again HIMS

Cornerstone

 

 

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A Return Home to the Colosseum

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This morning was the ideal morning to make a return to the Colosseum to fulfill my opportunity to Q. What made it ideal? I woke up, the temps were cold, I wrote a Weinkie, I had a message to deliver and a few Pax showed up to see where they should direct soreness-induced comments come Wednesday morning. That’s what made it ideal. See, we are blessed with this opportunity to join other men as we get broken down physically. And the byproduct of that beat-down is the chance to learn more about the man to our left and right and reach out a hand to see how you can go beyond yourself.

So 18 other men decided that the Colosseum was where they wanted to spend 45mins this Tuesday morning and for that, I’m humbled. 18 other men brought their gloves (most of them anyways) and wanted to see what I had in store. While only 1 man asked to see the deck of cards, it became evident that 18 men were ready to put in some work. But before we did that, I had to say a few words that were intended to be a disclaimer and brief run down of how what we were about to do was slightly different than the norm yet more of what is to come.

We jogged through the drop-off lanes of both schools and found our way to the line of cones in the back bus lot.  We lined up at the cones for a series of 3-tier suicides to the other end of the lot but only at 50%. Now that we’re a little warmed up, we circled up for some stretching:  Hammies, Hip Flexors, Back, SSH, High Knees and Wind Mills

Now we stepped it up a little:

Clock Merkins 1-12 and let the chatter begin

10 Burpees with an extra squat for good measure (I still have to pay up on my 69 Burpees…GO PACK)

Wave Merkins around the circle (5 rounds)

10 Donkey Kicks with 2 Carolina Dry Docks after each

Single Count Diamond Merkins x 10

10 Burpees with a Jump Tuck on each

Back on the line with your partner.

Partner 1: Bear Crawl the length of the parking lot to Shady’s car and sprint back

Partner 2: American Hammers until #1 returns.

Partner 1: Bear Crawl the length of the parking lot to Shady’s car and sprint back

Partner 2: Toe-Touch V-ups or some modification thereof

On The Playground which turned out to be way more complicated than imagined

Partner 1: 20 Swing Crunches or modify to a bench where necessary

Partner 2: 20 Grave Diggers on the left side

Partner 1: 20 Swing Crunches or modify to a bench where necessary

Partner 2: 20 Grave Diggers on the right side

Mosey to the back entrance road. With your same partner, run to the light post and do 2 merkins. Run to the next post and do 2 merkins. Continue this for 6 light posts and rest at the end.

Once we all completed this series, I took advantage of the captive audience to explain what my next venture is. Beginning in January, I’ll be launching a new Black Diamond-inspired AO named, BEYOND. While we typically think physically or geographically when we hear the word, Beyond, I challenge you to think differently. Think Beyond your normal conversations with your family, Beyond your sports-themed conversations with your friends, Beyond your show up and get your job done tasks with work, Beyond your bedtime prayers with kids-type of spiritual relationship and yes, Beyond your typical physical breaking point. Like muscles; our minds, faith, relationships, abilities and comfort zones only improve when stretched BEYOND what they’re used to doing. We grow as men when we’re beaten physically and I’ll use BEYOND as a platform to do just that. Many more details to come but would you consider joining me for a week or more to try it out? This is not to replace any existing AO, purely complimentary

So here’s the walking away assignment. Remember that partner you had? He is now your partner through Friday, December 1. I challenge you to send a text/tweet or call him daily to check in on him. Not simply to say hey or, “Man, I can’t wait to see the Tigers sport their own version of the Turnover Chain” but ask a real question and get ready for a real answer. Don’t ask how he’s doing and expect, “good, you?”.

19 of us responded, “AYE” when I asked if they were willing to do that for their partner.

We then mosey’d back to COT to put a ribbon on this edition of THE COLOSSEUM.

Announcements: Bring the following to Friday’s Christmas Party: a toy, small umbrella, 36″ Duffel Bag and/or alarm clock for CAH and Operation Sweet Tooth. Longshanks can also accept gift cards for OST.

Prayer Requests: New positions at work, improved communication at home, Patience, Sandlot’s wife, making time for our M’s and ensuring they’re not the last one in the house to get the time they deserve. Look for ways to help your M’s this season, to include preparing things and taking care of some of the Christmas shopping.

GO BEYOND!!

Maximus

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Santini has all but signed off of Twitter.  He prefers to “call” people and meet them “face to face”.  Pssshhhhhh. Whatever that is…  Therefore he did not see my Q assignment a few months ago and was unavailable to my reminder yesterday.  I tried a couple of Q replacements but no dice… Insert AO site Q.

Cold but not as cold as Monday.  At one point I thought McGuyver was going to go shirtless.  Lawd!  Strong 1st F Pax: McGuyver, Handy Manny, Javert, STH, Greenwave.

The Thang

  • Stretchy stretcherson
  • Lungwalk 15 yards, run 15 yards,
  • Squat walk same
  • SSH, IW, Merkins, CDD

Wheel of Fire

  • 8 cones each with an exercise set equidistant from the center.  That’s right, equidistant.  About 25 yards.  Pax will do exercise on cone, bearcrawl to center, perform 10 burpees, run out to the next one.  Rinse/repeat until complete.
    • 15 merkins
    • 30 lunges
    • 25 LBC
    • 25 Carolina Dry Docks
    • 30 X&O
    • 25 Squat
    • 25 Flutter kicks
    • 25 Plank Punches
  • 3 sets of 30 seconds step ups
  • 5 sets of sprints
  • Wheel of Fire- 5 burpees in middle, half number of reps on cone.

End

Naked Man Moleskin

Q’s:  this is good Mumblechatter and 2ndF builder through 1st F Pain.  You’re all pretty close together, its constant movement and relationships are built through pain which there is plenty of here.  Consider adding some tunes or blue tooth speaker in the middle.

Holidays can be equally great and tough.  Remember there can be a lot of pain- and I don’t mean your “pain in the ass in-laws”.  Some folks are really hurting, missing deceased loved ones or just lonely sad clowns.  count your blessings and for Pete’s sake- just say yes ma’am now through the weekend.  A whole lot smoother, I promise.

Jekyll.

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Backblast: 17 for 17 at The Colosseum

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16 men joined YHC for some fun on the concrete at The Colosseum.

After the disclaimer was said we moseyed around the parking lots until we found the perfect spot for a warmup.

WARMUP:

  • side straddle hops x20
  • windmill x10
  • squats x30
  • merkins x15
  • mountain climbers x15
  • LBCs x15

Mosey about 10 feet to the first set of painted road arrows. There are 17 of these over about 1/10th of a mile stretch. We did the follow exercise at each set of arrows and then hauled it back to the start:

  • 1 burpee
  • 1 burpee + 3 merkins
  • 3 jump squats
  • quick break for some Captain Thor – up to 6 x 24
  • 5 carolina dry docks
  • 2 big boy sit ups
  • finish up with boats and canoes x a lot

Mosey to COT

Announcements included T-giving day convergence, Christmas party.

Praise for Ginsu’s daughter (successful surgery), prayers for marriages, family.

Ginsu took us out in prayer.

Thanks for the opportunity, Jekyl. See you next time.

 

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