Category: The Fort

The Abyss – Pushing the Perimeter!

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Put this one together fairly quickly the night before my Q while laying in bed w/ my 2.0.  Those tend to not work out so well for the Pax as it’s super easy to write down everything that is awful and hard and then ask the Pax to make it happen.  Well, that’s what I did.  It felt lazy.  It felt last minute.  It was both of those things.  And I was happy about it.

Had a solid crew of 18 boot campers – gave them the general theme of what this would be about, quick disclaimer, just enough to scare them a bit, and then we were off for a very quick warmup – something I am known for.

Warm-up:  seal jacks, merkins, plank punches, shoulder taps, superman coupled w/ Moroccan night club, slow as day windmills and we were done.

I didn’t know how long this next part would take, so I had a few extra things to do if we had time, but I was a bit uncertain from the get-go.  If you’ve been to Abyss (Palisades Elementary School), you know the front of the school is a standard school set up – a long road in w/ some turns, making its way to the parking lot, a roundabout for the drop off, etc, etc.  My goal was for us to do the outer perimeter with exercises as our mode of transportation – for the entire thing.  Starting at the loop at the front doors of the school:

– Lunge Walk (90 yards / 80ish meters) to the first turn
– Burpee Broad Jump (175 yards / 160 meters) to the next turn that then goes uphill to 49
– Crab walk up the hill (230 yards / 200 meters)
– Bear Crawl down the side walk parallel to 49 and then down the stairs (140 yards / 130 meters)
– Grand Finale:  Burpee Bounces around the loop / circle back to your starting point…you make ground by doing one burpee and as you push-up, you explode up and throw yourself forward 3 times on all fours.  Pop up, jump, that’s one burpee.  Keep it moving.

After the last of the pax finished the full loop, we had about 10 minutes, which we leveraged for partner carry work.  Thanks GRT from Friday night.  Felt inspired.  Partner up –
– Partner 1 does Spiderman Merkins while Partner 2 runs the length of the parking lot.  When they get to the end, they call for Partner 1 who starts to run to their Partner 2 (while Partner 1 is catching up, Partner 2 does Spiderman Merkins).  When they meet up, they partner carry each other the full length of the parking lot back to the starting point.  Did that 2 more times so everyone carried their partner 3 separate times.  The other exercises while one partner was running were squat touches (squat low enough to touch the ground w/ your fingers) and crunchy frogs.

2 minutes left – good old fashioned sprints.  Everyone back pedal 1/2 the length of the parking lot, all you got, and then turn and sprint the second half.  Did that 2 times and then it was time for COT.

Praises – new jobs / promising job interviews
Prayers – marriages, big flo barreling our way

Thanks to Bones for giving me the chance to lead these great men.  Big thanks to all the guys who made it out today – was awesome to bust a$$ together and get after it.

ChaChing

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PRE BLAST F3 The Fort 6th Annual Invergence

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Men of  The Fort,

On Friday, September 21st, we will celebrate 6 years of Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith in the Fort Mill area with our annual F3 Invergence party.   Bring a beverage, some food to share, and enjoy a relaxing evening with your brothers.   We’ll have presentations from your local leadership, take a look back at the previous year, and look ahead to what’s in store for 2019  F3 The Fort and F3 Nation.     This is the premier 2nd F event of the year so mark your calendars now,  and plan on being at Rush Pavilion on Friday night, September 21st.

This is a great FNG opportunity!

This is a Pax only event.  Make it up to your M and 2.0’s next weekend.
What:  Fort Mill Invergence (6th anniversary party)
When:  Friday, September 21, 5:30pm – 10:00pm
Where:  Bruce T. Rush Pavillion at the Anne Springs Greenway
Bring:  Food, drink, chair, cash (to cover the pavillion rental/donations to the F3 Foundation)
Please use the link below to RSVP and list what food you will bring:
6th year F3 The Fort Invergence Food Sign Up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CAFAE2FA7FD0-f3thefort

 

 

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9

Give Yourself Permission

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9  pax posted to the land of the free and the home of the brave in Fort Mill, SC (aka Walter Elisha Park aka WEP aka The Fort) for a snot-woggler of a morning.  Of course, all men are welcome at F3 AOs and none are left behind.  But, when I took note of the pax present (no FNGs and all wily veterans), I knew we were in for some real pain.  This was not a crew that modifies, and my co-Q (Copay) certainly was going to dole it out.  My mission of the morning was to keep the pax present and encourage them through the barrage.  For the record, a brief Disclaimer was proclaimed.  Then I put forth a short command — “Give yourself permission to be here and only here for the next 60 minutes…let go of everything else that might be occupying your mind.”  All pax confirmed they had permission to proceed, and then the fun began.

The Thang

Double D in the lead

Mosey up hill out the parking lot with right turn down Ardrey St

Series of Karaoke, High knees, Butt kicks, To Soldiers

Take paved trail at first intersection back into the Springs parking lot and work our way through the lot to the building with periods of Lunge walks, Broad jumps, Bear crawl, Backwards lunge walk, Crawl bear, Crab walk.

COP — Al Gore, SSH, IWs, HWs, Merkins, CDDs, Bombjacks

Mosey to UCSynergetic back lot

Pull-ups on the walkway railing + 10 Bombjacks OYO
Rinse and repeat

Mosey partway down grassy hill toward Hwy 160 and then a permission slip check was made before handoff to Copay

Copay in the lead

Build a burpee X5

Mosey to bottom of gun shop hill.

50X Side Straddle Hops

All out Sprint to top Side squats left/right and lunges down

All out Sprint to top Side squats left/right and lunges half way

Lunges and side squats left and right back up

Message Give permission and your “will” will take you further than you want, especially when it’s about doing His will

Mosey to parking lot across from gun shop

Combos:

CDD Donkey Kicks X12

Mountain climber merkins X12

Standing push up jump squats X20

Run back to parking lot
Rinse and repeat

Build a burpee X5

Handoff to Double D for the finish

Mosey to UC Synergetic parking lot along Hwy 160

Plank on curb facing short brick wall

Derkins + sprint to wall + backward sprint back to the curb
Rinse & repeat for 3 cycles total

Mosey to grassy area along Hwy 160 in front of Springs bldg

Freddy Mercurys

Flutter kicks

People’s chair against wall

Balls to the Wall

People’s chair

Mosey back to WEP

Mahktar N’Dyiae

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

Well, it’s Monday afternoon, more than 48 hrs since the beatdown, and My lower body is still sore.  The soreness started Sat afternoon.  A 15 mile run on Sunday and a 5 mile run plus burpees on Monday have yet to relieve the soreness.  Copay really put it on us!

It looked as though we had an in-game EH when Copay was leading us through his first round of Build-a-burpee.  An enthusiastic fellow in his 20s/30s driving a black car w/NY plates parked on the street near the gun shop and got out of his car to ask “Is this the class?”  Of course, we said yes, waved him into the parking lot and continued the burpees until he parked and walked back over.  Suddenly, he didn’t look so excited.  He was looking for the “gun shop class” and the idea of Copay and burpees had him shaking in his boots.  We invited him back to WEP for 9/15.  We’ve got one week to work up one heckuva name.

We covered new territory around the buildings for some pax.  The pull ups on the walkway railings were new to some.  The wall along Hwy 160 was new to others.  Both of these, plus all the other spots demonstrate what an awesome AO WEP continues to be, despite 6 years of downPAINments!

The message for the workout was geared around being PRESENT and INTENTIONAL.  I came upon the phrase “I gave myself permission…” in 2-3 conversations last week and it stuck with me.  Sometimes it takes a bit of a mental device to force us to realize that (a) everything is a choice and (b) the only actions we can make choices about are those in the here and now.  Giving yourself permission to be present to do something specific and intentional is a powerful way of exercising our freedom to choose.  Copay took the “permission” idea to an even greater level with his inspiring words about “giving permission to God to do His will through me now” (only way more powerful coming out of his mouth).

Lots to think about and lots of laundry after this one.

Thanks to Bonsai for the Q opportunity and to the pax for leaving it all out there!

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Parking lots, Stairs, 4 Corners & a Couple of Thoughts

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19 Showed up to take the DRP.  After a quick disclaimer and Q check for FNGs, we were off on a slow mosey.

Warm-Up 

Slow mosey to upper portion of back parking lot of FBFM.

Windmill x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 15

Low Slow Squat x 10

Imp Walker x 10

SSH x 15

Cherry Pickers x 10

Merkins x 10

The Thang

Mosey down to lower part of parking lot

Overhead Claps x 10

Lunge x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 15

Squat x 10

Flutters x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 10

Overhead Claps x 25

Wall Sit , Arms High, Several 10 counts

Mosey across street, down stairs to lower lot.

4 corners with a stair climb and descent after each round

Round 1 x 10

Round 2 x 15

Round 3 x 20

Merkin

Flutter

CDD

American Hammers

Mosey to COT for Mary

Mary was Dealer’s Choice (5 minutes)

Windshield Wipers

Weezy Jeffersons

Freddy Mercurys

Flutters

Hello Dollys

NMM 

YHC asked everyone to consider whether they have a relationship with their Lord and Savior….or just their Savior. A lot of us (YHC included!!) forget the Lord part of the relationship. For Him to truly be your Lord, you must surrender all to Him and be willing to have your life disrupted for His purpose. Easier said than done. Based on the response from the PAX, this is a topic that should be discussed often.   Also, touching on the monthly theme of Presence, are we really present with our M and 2.0s?   Are we just “there” or do they really feel our “presence”?

Honored and humbled, as always, to lead such a great group of leaders.

SYITG

Beacon

 

 

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Not a lot of Running, He Says…

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YHC started off a muggy morning disclaimer proclaiming that we would not be doing a lot of distance-running, which was interpreted by the PAX as we would not be doing a lot of distance, running or for some of those more hopeful, that we would not be running at all. False, although strength was the focus some running (1.7miles) was built in.

Warm-Up

  • Quick mosey around the lot
  • Circle up w/ Bells for:
    • 10 Swings
    • 20sec Around the World, reverse direction for 20sec
    • 20sec Figure  8’s, 20sec reverse direction

The KB Thang

  • KB Strength Movement/Suicide Combo – PAX would perform reps of called KB movement followed by a suicide in the parking lot. After each round of KB/Suicides, PAX advance forward 1 parking lot line, decreasing the distance of suicides. Called KB movements in order to the best of my memory:
    1. KB Swings x20
    2. Goblet Squats x10
    3. American (Overhead) Swings x10
    4. Shoulder Press (Right) x10
    5. Shoulder Press (Left) x10
    6. Bent-over Rows x20 (10x each side)
    7. Clean and Press x10 (5x each side)
  • Tabata Round
    • 20sec on, 10 sec off for 8 sets, alternating KB Swings and Bombjacks
  • Gauntlet
    • Perform all  exercises and reps from the KB Strength Movement/Suicide Combo  in succession. No suicide in between, but rather the 6inch Plank
  • The Closer
    • 10 KB Swings, 10 Burpees
    • 8 KB Swings, 8 Burpees
    • 6, 4, 2,

SWOLEskin

Nice work by a steeerong  and sweaty group this  beautiful muggy morning. Thanks to Polaroid for providing the tunes for this morning’s shred session, your speaker game is on point.  A lot of guys pushing hard this morning, from Skate or Die showing the speed on the suicides to Pinup finishing his final burpee set during COT. Way to get up and make your morning count.

Annoucements

  • Bolt takes the Tomahawk reigns next week
  • Check out Skate or Die on Twitter for an opportunity to win either a Ford Mustang or Jeep. Fundraiser by the Nation Ford HS Baseball team working to leave a legacy with new facilities for future classes.
  • Reach out to Assassin in regards to mowing the Life Center (if I’m wrong correct me in the comments section)  Weekly sign-up. Polaroid working to knock it out this week

Over & Out

-General

 

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Prayer Convergence for FMSD

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Matthew 18:20  For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Calling All PAX of Fort Mill to step up and live out the 3rd F that is the “Dynamite” of F3. What better way to start off the school year than to go to the schools, physically go, and pray?!?  Most of us have children that attend these schools, neighbors, friends and family that work at these schools and some of the PAX work in these schools. Regardless of how we are connected to them, we are all impacted by what happens in these schools and this is a chance for us to live out what we are called to do.

What: The Fort PAX (at least 2, preferably 3 or more at each location!) converging at every school in the FMSD, to pray for the school leadership, every employee of the school, students, the safety of the school, etc.

When: Sunday, August 26th,  6:00PM

How (do I get involved):  Click the SignUp Genius below! Pick a school, grab a few fellow PAX and show up, ready to pray. We will post some details about format.  Post the number of PAX and where you posted with the hashtag #F3TheFortPrays4FMSD when you are done.

Why: Evil looks for every opportunity to cause chaos in schools.  We pray, in the name of Jesus, to keep any and all evil from these schools, administrators, teachers, children and families. We pray that God uses the believers in these school to be a light unto those that do not know him (students and adults alike).

We realize this is week after school started, but sometimes “better late than never” applies.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4da9a72ea6fa7-prayer

 

I was inspired by First Baptist North Spartanburg.  If you go to the (approx) 16 minute mark of the video below, you will see Pastor Mike Hamlet as he leads his church members through this entire process.  While we plan to lay out some specifics around the prayers, we will not have this type of set-up. This is for our reference.

 

 

Contact Beacon for questions. Aye!

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8

CSPAN Send off Convergence

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141 Men came to show the Respectable**CSPAN** some Respect!!

He leaves The Fort and heads north or as Dredd refers to Yankee land. Not gone forever but just up the road 600 miles to start a new chapter in life and in F3 as he will launch F3Philly.

I am not the most eloquent with my back-blasts and I am usually to the point with posting the workout, add some words and being done, however since I can’t get Italian Job to write this up and Double D challenged the PAX to think of one word to represent CSAPN, I think that is the best way to document this convergence.

Thank you CSPAN for being all of these things and more to you r brothers in the PAX. As posted on Twitter and many of these were repeated multiple times:

brother
camaraderie
commitment
confidence
connected
consistent
courageous
dedicated
empathetic
example
genuine
handsome
HIM
honorable
humble
humility
impact
influence
influencer
insightful
inspiration
integrity
investor
legend
magnanimous
model
respect
selfless
servant
shepherd
solid
squaredaway
steadfast
steady
wise

The Workout looked like this:

WWL at the Q:

  • Mosey around the lot
  • Line up; karaoke, side shuffle, high knees, butt kickers, toy solders, lungewalk, power skips
  • COP
    • SSH, squat, merkin, moroccan night club, 10 Flying squirrels
Double D at the Q:
  • Run to practice field
  • Plank sequence
  • Split into 2 groups on each sideline
  • Sprint to center and back to sideline
  • Monkey humpers x25
  • Rinse + repeat with Merkins x 25
  • CDDs x25
  • Burpees x25
Longshanks at the Q:
  • Burpees
  • Lunges
  • Inch worm Merkins
  • Maktar Ndiayes
  • Plank Jacks
  • Squats.

Dredd at the Q:

  • Prayer for CSPAN
  • Merkin/Ab Lab series
  • Truth Nuggets and Leadership development with Major Payne, Wegmans, & Drop Thrill
  • Mosey to hill behind Bob Jones Stadium
  • Prayer for CSPAN heading to F3Philly…..”CSPAN Coming”
  • More Merkin/Ab lab series

COT:

141 Count, Name O’rama, 2 FNGs (Bikini & Manzel), Skinny Jeans pray out over CSPAN and his IMPACT on men and for Sky Q’s kingdom.

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Rooney on the bus to Northwest, but no gummy bears!!

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Our Brother Rooney is starting a new chapter in life and it is calling him to the Northwest. Where he came from, however he is going back a changed man. Filled with service, spirit and desire to get better each day. Rooney will undoubtedly make an impact in the greater Seattle area, as he did here, but as in all moves and changes we pray for protection, wisdom and guideance for him and family.

Join us Friday to honor our Brother and voice our memories and times with him in da gloom.

*No Convergence (other AOs are open)

Friday August 17, 2018 to recognize and honor our brother Rooney

·         Slow Burn AO (Launching from Empire Pizza)

·         0445 – Pre-run with Funhouse as Q

·         0515 – Boot camp with Old Bay as Q

·         0615 – Coffeeteria at Chick filet with Cake Boss as Q

                      o We will be doing more 2nd F discussing Rooney moments over the last 5 years

·         Rooney heads to Seattle WA, August 20, 2018

To honor Both Rooney and CSPAN with M’s we will have an Open House Saturday Night

·         Saturday evening Couples Open House

o   Towne Tavern –  Route 160 Fort Mill

o   6pm-9pm private room

o   Purchase own food & drinks

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Lovely Trees and Grass

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7 Pax weren’t scared off by Jekyll’s twitter warnings that there would be lots of pain and grass (and most assuredly not the dry kind).  Weather was low 70’s and humid. Speculation swirled that the low attendance was due to F3Dads camp and the “Run Your A– Off August” contingent that had likely posted to TheYard.  But what we lacked in quantity, we more than made up for in quality of Pax.
YHC had the first half, so I issued the disclaimer and then asked everyone close their eyes for a brief period of time.  Upon opening, pax were remind that the word of the month is “presence”, and to think about where their mind was during the 30 seconds of eyes being closed.  Did their mind stay present, in the here-and-now?  Or where they thinking about the past, or the future, or just some other place or problem?
We moseyed to one of the Spring parking lots for some warmup:
  • SSH x25
  • Mountain Climbers x15
  • Dips x10
  • Peter Parkers x10
Mosey to row of trees across 160 (beside old 21).  Pax found a small stack of cones at the “first” tree, and we stopped there for a few moments.  YHC discussed more on “presence”.  The exercises with the trees went as follows.  By the way, YHC stole this idea from CSPAN who did this about 3 years ago at this same location (and a different topic).
  • Top cone pick from stack.
  • Pax held Al Gore while YHC read a question regarding “presence” (from the word of the month document).
  • Exercise read from the cone and pax performed one rep of the exercise at the first tree
  • Pax ran to 2nd tree and did 2 reps, then 3rd tree (3 reps), 4th tree (4 reps), and so on.
  • At 12th tree, after 12 reps done, pax planked until 6 arrived.
  • Together we ran back to the first tree.
We repeated thru 4 exercises before we ran out of time.  Here where the exercise and question pairs.
  1. Flying Squirrels – What memories do you have of your parents and your time with them? Were they fully present? How did their presence or lack thereof make you feel?
  2. Squats – Do you have any memories of a special person in your life that was fully present? How did that person make you feel?
  3. Crab Jacks – What distracts you most from being present?
  4. Run Stance Switch – How have you learned to be more present in your relationships? What have you learned about being present with God?
Quick follow up thoughts about “presence”, then hand off to Jekyll.
Mosey back to WEP, to the bottom of the hill famous for ladders, so that we could do….(drumroll please) some ladders.  But first, we did a review of the 5 core principles.  Just for fun, Jekyll had us do 5 burpees after the first principle recited, then 4 after the 2nd, 3, after the 3rd, then 2, then 1, and then back to 5 burpees.
The ladder work then began:
  1. Ladder 1: Squats and Donkey Kicks (to/from 11) with normal run up and down hill
  2. Ladder 2: LBCs and Merkins (to/from 7) with uphill run being backwards
  3. Ladder 3: pax choice:  American Hammers (thanks Mary Lou) and Bomb Jacks (thanks BandCamp) (to/from 7) with uphill climb being bear crawls
And just when we thought we were all completely smoked, Jekyll wrapped it up with 3 rounds of Makhtar N’Diayes (10x, 10x, 15x), with plank series in between each set.
Naked Man Moleskin
Very strong showing by all pax today. As I mentioned at the workout and on Twitter following, Jekyll did not let up as we neared the end of the workout.  Rather, with 5 minutes left, he gathered us to encourage a strong finish.  It certainly was not what any of us wanted to hear, but it’s what we needed to hear, and we are all better for it.
Long Shanks earned extra credit by running in and running out to the workout.  The workout mileage itself was north of 2.5 miles according to Strava.  T-claps also goes to Youts for digging deep to finish strong.
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7

Operation CSPAN Send off Convergence 8/18/18

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“So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him.” Numbers 27:18

Join us in The Fort to celebrate a Man that has the spirit of leadership in him and let’s get better with him and pray over him as he begins a new chapter and leads in new ways.

CSPAN has not only been a leader in The Fort, but across F3 Nation. Please come from all regions and show this respectable how much he has impacted you.

CSPAN has mentored, sharpened and shield-locked with so many and we now look forward to see how he continues to do this in new surroundings and invigorates a new crop of PAX for the Nation.

Event Details:

NAME: Operation CSPAN Send off Convergence

WHEN:  8/18/2018 ; 0630–0730

WHERE:  Fort MIll High School Bob Jones Stadium – 335 Munn Rd E, Fort Mill, SC 29715

WHAT TO BRING:

  • Man Card
  • Heart for Invigorating Male Leadership
  • Shovel Flags from All AOs

What to Expect:

  • 1 Hour Boot-camp Style workout (NO OTHER OPTIONS TODAY)
  • Park as close to Stadium lot as possible
  • 4 Qs leading
    • World Wide Leader
    • Double D
    • Long Shanks
    • Dredd
  • COT
    • Count
    • Name-o-Rama
    • FNG Naming if needed
    • Words for CSPAN
    • Prayers & Praises
    • Ball Of Man
  • Coffeeteria
    • 0745
    • Panera Bread Patio – 1309 Broadcloth st suite 103, Fort Mill
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