Category: The Fort

We Took the Long Route So No One Could Pretend Everything Was Fine

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The PAX were asked a simple question before the work began:
“What burdens are you carrying?”
No answers required yet—just something to sit with.

Opening Smoke Session
Sprint up the hill, knock out 5 burpees, then run it back down. Consider it the price of admission.

From there, we headed down the path toward Harris Street and rolled straight into a moving warm-up, keeping the group together and the heart rate climbing:
• Windmills
• Run
• Imperial Walkers
• Run
• Monkey Humpers
• Run
• Moroccan Night Clubs
• Run
• Low, slow squats

We pushed up the Harris Street hill, then made our way toward the high school pull-up bars.

Mini Dora (Partner Work)
• Partner 1: Dead hang for a 40-count
• If you drop, you get back up. No shortcuts.
• Partner 2:
• 30 Burpees
• 75 Mike Tysons

An audible was called to keep us moving and on mission, so the 100 Big Boys and 150 Sumo Squats were left behind as we transitioned to the next station.

Mosey to the Band Practice Lot

Tire Work — Team Load
• Teams of 4–5 per tire
• Carry the tire around the parking lot
• One man drops to complete 5 burpees, next man steps in
• Cycle continues until the full loop is complete

Then:
• Tire flips — 2 men flip, rotate out, next 2 step in
• Shared load. Shared effort. No spectators.

COT

After returning the tires, we walked and slow-moseyed back to COT.

This is where the real work happened.

Each man shared the burden he’s carrying with the brother next to him.
Then we answered the follow-up:
“What can you do to help carry that load?”

No fixing. No speeches. Just presence and accountability.

Totals:
• 3.2 miles
• Solid boot camp
• New ground covered—both physically and personally

We stayed together the entire way.
No man left behind. No man left where we found him.

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Deck The Halls with reps and running

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WARMUP: SSH
THE THANG: Deck of Pain on the main stage. The suit is the workout the number on the card is the reps.
Hearts: Merkins – Ace: Plank 60s
Spade: Squat – Ace: Wall Sit 60s
Diamonds: SSH – Ace: Line Jumps :left_right_arrow: then :arrow_up_down: 60s each.
Clubs: BBS – Ace: Feet on wall sit ups. X25
Joker: Lap around the Christmas tree then 10 burpees
90 reps each suit workout
Next up Indian run around WEP
Finally end up at the top of the hill on the south end for some 7’s with squats up top and v-ups at the bottom. Slippery slopes with leaves when going up and down. One casualty… RIP <@UMVTXH0BX>

MARY: she found us
ANNOUNCEMENTS: newsletter, Christmas party
COT: YES!

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Three Strands of Strength

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WARMUP:
NASA led warmup. Slow mosey around the parking lot, ending near where we started for 10-20 of the following:
– SSH
– WM
– MNC
– IW
– Produce Pickers
The slow mosey to the front stage area of the amphitheater to start the main events.
THE THANG:
Part 1 – NASA led – No OYO

Group run around the WEP newly paved path, stopping at every swing, or where there was supposed to be a swing, for the following:
– 5 Burpees OYO
– 10 merkins IC
– 15 LSS IC
– 20 flutters (2 ct, every other leg) IC
– 25 SSH (4 ct) IC
Group run to the next, repeat the above. There are 9 swings, this would be a LOT of reps, right? Well, same as in life, if you share your burdens, pairing up with those you can trust, the burden gets lighter, even though it is still there. After 4 benches, starting at the 5th, one exercise went away. So the 5th bench was merkins, LSS, flutters, SSH. The 6th was just LSS, flutters, SSH, and so on. Then the group did an Indian run the last 1/4 of the track back to the amphitheater where Q was handed off to Pusher.

Part 2 – Led by Pusher – DORA around Little Baby Jesus

From WEP amphitheater, group ran down Ardrey St to Harris St, stopping halfway down Ardrey for CDDs while we grouped back up for the 6, then eventually took a left on Harris, then went to the front of the Fort Mill Church of the Nazarene, the Little Baby Jesus. Then we paired up for a DORA. One person exercised, the other ran a loop around the church building.
– 100 merkins
– 200 LSS
– 300 LBC

Pusher’s message throughout was a cord of three strands cannot be easily broken. If you go things alone, life will break you more easily. Find a shieldlock or two to help strengthen your cord. Keep in mind the Lord provides alot of strength too.

Everyone crushed it! A LOT of merkins, LSS, LBC, flutters, SSH, and some burpees mixed in for flavor, with a total distance of about 2.3 miles. Solid work by all.

MARY: Got back to COT with a little extra time for a Pusher led Mary session of 20 ct each of flutters, hello dollys, LBCs, 2 rounds nonstop, and your feet never touch the ground. OUCH!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Convergence at The Ranch on Thanksgiving day, 0630 start. Run, boot, kettlebell options. Birdcage has a 3 person team competition too. Alot of things going on. Read the newsletter and GET INVOLVED!!

COT: A LOT lifted up. We really shared in COT. Keep in mind the COT can be another string to strengthen your cord, but it has to be utilized.

Also, we had an Immaculate EH. While Pusher was taking us out in COT, I felt a new, strong hand grip by shoulder. It was a very calming presence, and remained throughout the COT words being offered by Pusher. As we broke, I turned around and saw a new face, not F3, with a smile on his face. He had just arrived at WEP to start his day with his friend, saw our COT and felt compelled to join. We greeted each other with handshakes and smiles, and I introduced him to the others in our group. Emmett is his name, and he knows Olaf through Red Truck Men. He was so moved by our COT, he wanted to lead us out in another prayer, so we COT’d up again and he offered some amazing words. His female friend joined in as well. Incredibly moving. THIS is what it is all about! They both hung around and talked with the entire group. We told him about F3, its mission, and when/where we meet, and he said he will see us all again soon, that he really likes what F3 is about. This was divine intervention. Immaculate EH.

What a morning! Loved co-Q-ing with Pusher, we planned out what I felt was a great one. Thank you JWow for the opportunity.
SYITG
NASA and Pusher

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Mariachi Band Tryouts

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WARMUP:
SSH
Windmill
Cherry Pickers
Imperial Walkers
Hillbilly Walkers
Peter Parker’s
Broga
THE THANG:
Motivators
Mucho Chesto – 10X run around WEP, repeat
Standard Merkins, Wide arm, diamond, Left offset, Right offset
Relay race – as teams race, other members hold plank position. Loser does 3 Kraken burpees, winner 3 standard burpees. We did this 3X, last time MOT was bear crawl.
Rock carry DORA – partner up. Partner 1 starts walking around WEP with heavy rock. Partner 2 does 10x curls, OH press, goblet squats. 2 runs to 1, switch rocks and switch exercises. Go back to Amphitheater.
Hardest 1/8 mile – burpee board jumps, bear crawl, lunge walk, run

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Cuomo And Stang Board Games At The Fort

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WARMUP: Run Around WEP stop at every swing and do 10 SSH
THE THANG: Cuomo Had A Board and I Had A Board. Mine Was Better Only Because It Had Mac Tar Dyes Involved
MARY: Some In Cadence Which Pax Thought I Couldn’t Do
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Read Your Newsletter
COT:

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It’s about community

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WARMUP: The heartstrings got loosened up out of the gates as Warning Track unloaded some baggage from a tough week, acknowledging the challenges of Living Right through the Flux of life and the importance of showing up this morning to be lifted up by his brothers. He followed up with the Obligatory SSHs and then set off from WEP.

THE THANG:

WT took the pax to the old Pike Elec parking lot stopping for some windmills, burpees and other fun enroute.

Pax broke into groups of 3 for a modified Dora across the parking lot. Midway through WT called audible due to pax incompetence and simplified to Dora in groups of 2. Terrible things like Merkins, squats, lunges, flutters, burpees, etc were unleashed on the pax

WT took pax to Memorial Park for more burpees and more shared pax stories of Why they come out to the Gloom on a wet Sat morning.

DD took the reins and moved the pax to a series of parking lots (pharmacy), Pike front courtyard, Town Hall back wall for pain stops including shoulder taps, wall sits, plank jacks, burpees, mtn climbers, peter parkers, Parker peters, etc.

Pax returned to WEP to appreciate JWOW’s lovely Christmas tree. Two rounds of partner work included bear crawls around tree + flutters followed by crawl bears around tree + HR merkins.

Mosey to grass in front of band shell for more partner work (merkins, shoulder taps, sit ups) interspersed with some burpees and lap around band shell. Finished off with Knee Tar N’dyae and Mahktar N’dyae.

Mosey home

MARY: included throughout

ANNOUNCEMENTS: coffeteria at HC

COT: great morning where we welcomed 3 FNGs + a Kotter while pax from 30s to 50s mixed it up and pushed each other to get 1% better.

“Our youth are our present” I heard my pastor say from the pulpit recently. Note he did NOT say “our future.” It’s as true in The Fort and in our community as it is in NYC with a 34 yr old mayor. Younger pax, you ARE leaders today — embrace your opportunity and duty. Seasoned pax — your leadership focus IS about bringing along the next generation of leaders — embrace your opportunity and duty.
We are blessed men to have these roles at this time.

Thanks to JWOW for the opportunity and Warning Track for the partnership.

Love you brothers!
#KeepPosting

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Bald is beautiful

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WARMUP: Did a little stretching and then a mosey that almost killed me. Yeah I was Qin.
THE THANG: moseyed from COT to the wall down on 160. Did a few things like wall sits as we watched someone do an exercise. Got bored with that so we ran up that freakin hill to the Parkin lot. Did a few rounds of 4 corners. Abs, arms, legs, and shoulders. Time flew by so Fogerty took over. He kept walking around with this cardboard thing folded up. That’s when it all really started. He had five exercises on the list SSH, squats, lunges, merkins, and LBCs. Then we ran down the freakin hill again. We did this until we almost died. Headed back to COT for abs

Did have a little story time about the story of Daniel and king Darius. Spoiler alert the lions didn’t eat Daniel. The satraps weren’t so lucky.

All done.

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Ability to adjust

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WARMUP: Talked about the difficulty to find parking, then disclaimer and decision on the ability to audible!
THE THANG: We started to mosey and found a parking lot to warm up. Arm swings, discussion, MNC, discussion, Micheal Phelps, discussion and then started to mosey. Found a wall to do wall sits and discussion. Mosey to a church parking lot for more plank and discussion. Mosey to another church for ab work and discussion. Mosey to the park and walk/talk. Mixed in merkins, CDD and wide arm Merkins.
MARY:
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Golf, Dam to Dam and newsletter.
COT: Talked about Prayers for fatherhood, family, wisdom and patience.

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Casey Kasem Dominates The Workout (finally)

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WARMUP:
– Windmills
– Cherry Pickers
– Imperial Walkers
– Hillbilly Walkers
– Calf Raises
– Mosey to amphitheater sidewalk for The Thang

THE THANG:
– Travel to playground (ironically stolen from <@U06Q8DSSV5Y>)
– Begin with 5 squats then mosey to 2nd tree on the left-hand side of sidewalk –> 5 squats
– Mosey back to 1st tree –> 3 merkins
– Mosey to 3rd tree –> 5 squats
– Mosey back to 2nd tree –> 3 merkins
– You get the idea. The intent is to execute in drill-like fashion and demonstrate organized chaos to every man that’s at WEP and compel them to join F3.

UPDATE: this strategy was not successful

– Playground yoga stretch
– Down Dog
– Walk it out
– Up Dog
– Down Dog

– Bring right foot to right hand and reach arms to the sky – chest forward – Warrior I
– Turn torso to the left (head forward) and extend arms outward – Warrior II
– Front (right) arm reaches up and back while back arm rests on back leg – Peaceful Warrior
– Hands to the ground – Runners Lunge
– Right arm to the sky – Side Angle Stretch
– Hands to the ground – Runners Lunge
– Right foot to the back – Down Dog

– Repeat moves by bringing left foot to left hand…

It should be noted that at this point the workout became, shall we say, more spontaneous.

– Continued traveling via squats and merkins, then switched to HIIT at a couple of bench swings:
– 10 merkins
– 20 shoulder taps
– 20 squats

– It became apparent an audible was in order so at the next swing we did 15 Moroccan Nightclubs and 25 shoulder presses.

– Repeat Nightclubs and presses at next swing, then lunge-walked to the last swing before the fence halted our tour around WEP.

– Mosey to small pavilion and did some Curb Alperts, dips, and more Nightclubs and presses.

– Mosey to flag for Mary

MARY: Freddie Mercuries, Hello Dollies, Rosalitas, Big Boys/LBC

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Golf tournament, HIM Camp, and BBQ, Beans, Banana Pudding, Bourbon, & <@U5MQ8FHV0>
COT: closing prayer

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You Don’t Need A Headlamp, But It Would Be Nice

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WARMUP:
30 SSH, 30 IW, 10 HBW, 1 burpee

THE THANG:
Jack Web:
1 burpee, 4 merkins with a 0.1 mile travel between. Modified down to 0.07.
Called an Audible at number 7.

Moseyed to another parking lot and lunge walked from one end to another then reverse lunge walked back. That was followed by 10 LBCs. Rinse and repeat for about 10 min.

Moseyed over to the Print Shop for a short Jack Web of 1 pull-up, 4 dips up to 4 pull-ups and 16 dips.

Headed back to COT, wrapped up with 10 big boys
Covered a total of about 2.5+/- 0.2 miles

MARY: Check above

ANNOUNCEMENTS: HIM Camp

COT:

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