YHC had the privilege to imprompt-Q 10 other PAX at ManU this morning when the designated Q had alarm clock issues. Conditions were perfect: a crisp 48 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.

WarmUp (in cadence)
• 25 SSH
• 20 IW
• 15 Windmills
• 15 Merkins

The Thang

Mosey to loading dock area of Target. YHC has been eying a big hill back there for a few weeks. It did not disappoint.

11s
• 1 Squat at the bottom, Bear Crawl up the hill, 10 Burpees
• 2 Squats at the bottom, Bear Crawl up the hill, 9 Burpees
• 3 Squats at the bottom, Bear Crawl up the hill, 8 Burpees
• …You get the idea. Went to 10 Squats and 1 Burpee
• 55 Total Burpees

• Muscle Ups on the Loading Wall – 2 Sets of 10
• People’s Chair – 3 Sets of long 15 Counts
• Calf Raises – 2 Sets of 20
• Dips – 2 Sets of 20
• Mosey to Target parking lot

New Merkin exercise – The Cuckoo Clock Merkin
• Merkin in the middle, Merkin to the Right, Merkin in the Middle, Merkin to the Left, Clap Merkin in the Middle (5 of those monsters)
• 40 Moroccan Night Clubs (in cadence)
• 10 more Moroccan Night Clubs for good measure
• 15 Carolina Dry Docks

Mosey back to Manchester
• Lunge Walk to crosswalk
• Side Shuffle to next crosswalk
• Crabwalk to next crosswalk
• Karaoke to next crosswalk

Mosey back to COT for 7 minutes of Dealer’s Choice Mary
• 25 Flutters courtesy of Turbine
• 10 LBCs courtesy of Bull
• Superman/Paratrooper courtesy of Reborn
• 10 Captain Thors courtesy of Waterboy
• 10 Burpees courtesy of Beaker
• 10 Freddy Mercurys courtesy of Schrute
• 10 Leg Throws courtesy of Bogey

NMM
Great work this morning, PAX. Thanks for humoring me with my off the cuff exercises. Something tells me that hill will make an appearance again in the near future. Always an honor to share the Gloom with you guys.

Welcome back, Aqualung. Two Thursdays in a row. Glad you are back with us.
Turbine and Bogey, enjoy your men’s retreat this weekend. Stay warm.
Bull, good work today. There is no quit in you!
Reborn, proud of the leader you are. Thanks for the constant support and encouragement for the PAX.
Waterboy, losing weight and getting faster. You da man!
Beaker did his best Padre impression today dropping additional Burpees on us as an ab exercise.
Schrute, always good to have your leadership on display.
Mayhem, glad to have you back. Now that the temps are above 40, we expect to see you a few days a week.
Sgt. York crushed the hill of pain today. He made that mountain into a mole hill.

Announcements
• Come See Me 5K, half marathon, and fun run this Saturday
• 3rd F Convergence tomorrow at Eternal Church in Fort Mill (behind Zaxby’s on 160)
• MudRun 4/30 in Gaston SC. Still time to sign up
• Fastest 5K – 5/21 get your teams together now
• F3 Dads – 5/14 Night at the Knights with your 2.0s
• Hog and Cayote – 6/18
• More details to come about Come See Me tailgate
• More details to come about Suck It Up Buttercup – 5/7

Check your email for additional announcements and details

13 PAX rolled out of the fartsack and into Old Town this morning for surprise tri-Q workout. Weather was perfect – a warmish 48 degrees of clear Carolina conditions.

Warm Up

• Birthday boy Mayhem gave us 34 SSHs, some Imperial Walkers, and Windmills.

The Thang

Popeye found the tallest, most unstable fire escape in Rock Hill and had us run up, single file, to the top (5-ish floors). Let’s just say we could see uptown Charlotte from up there (25 miles away).

• While partner 1 ran, Partner 2 did 50 Merkins, 100 Squats, and as many 100 LBCs. Flapjack.
• Shampoo

After a short mosey, YCH handed out some stretches:

• L over R
• R over L
• Middle
• Butterfly
• Sitting Left
• Sitting Right
• And 25 Moroccan Night Clubs for good measure

Mosey to the Hot Box

YHC set up a tic tac toe board up the ramp between floor 1 and floor 2. We partnered up according to speed. At this point, it was a race to the top to drop a bean bag in a square and a race back to tag the next guy. First team to 3 in a row was the winner. 3 rounds.

• Round 1 Winners – Squats, Losers – Merkins
• Round 2 Winners – Merkins, Losers – Burpees
• Round 3 Winners – CDDs, Losers – Flying Squirrels

Zipper –

• Run to the Top, Plank for the 6, Wallsits together
• American Hammers at the bottom
• Run to the Top, Calf Raises, LBCs for the 6
• Run to the Top, Bomb Jacks, CDDs

Mosey back to COT

NMM

Awesome work this morning fellas. Always a pleasure to share the Gloom with such strong men. Also, that fire escape still has me shaking. Fairly certain it was not designed for what we just put it through. I’m learning that the Hot Box never gets easier to traverse. Thanks fellas for pushing hard this morning.

• Beaker – Don’t ever challenge this guy to a race – due is fast!
• Bill Nye – Getting stronger every post. Nice pace to take us back to COT.
• Waterboy – Those shorts – might have to rename you “Fashion Icon”
• Apache – Jaime Diaz – Always enjoy the mumblechatter.
• The Ridder – Good luck with the half this weekend.
• Mayhem – Happy birthday, young gun.
• Van Wilder – Glad to have you back from vacation.
• Popeye – Glad to have you back from injury.
• Sgt. York – Still one of the pilars of fitness for Rock Hill.
• Pistol – RESPECT for this guy! At the front of the PAX at 57!
• Reborn – Quickly stepping up his game.
• Schrute – When the doctor orders no sprinting, he sprints faster!

Announcements

• Come See Me 5K, half marathon, and fun run this Saturday
• 3rd F Convergence this Friday at Eternal Church in Fort Mill (behind Zaxby’s on 160)
• MudRun 4/30 in Gaston SC. Still time to sign up
• Fastest 5K – 5/21 get your teams together now
• F3 Dads – 5/14 Night at the Knights with your 2.0s
• Hog and Cayote – 6/18
• More details to come about Come See Me tailgate
• More details to come about Suck It Up Buttercup – 5/7

Check your email for additional announcements and details

TCLAPs to the men who helped unload and set up equipment Saturday. In typical musician fashion, the bands arrived 45 minutes late and disappeared upon arrival, leaving 7 #HIM to unload two trailers of gear then, unbeknownst to us, set up audio and visual equipment. Our 1-2 hour commitment turned in to 4 hours. Big shout out to Catfish and Schrute who stayed a full 4+ hours. On that note, Chris at WRHI owes us a post in Rock Hill for the extra effort and free labor we provided.

• Peach looked like he belonged with the band (hat, long hair, goatee – no doubt lead vocals).
• Turbine crushed the coffee run and looked the part of band manager.
• Corruption looked at home with a wrench in his hand putting together light stands and video boards and added bonus, he looked like he could shred a tom and bass drum or a mean electric guitar.
• Burgundy, never a hair out of place, I kid you not took 5 minutes to interview the production company lead about where they travel, where they live, and how many weeks they are on the road. I guess you can take the anchor out of the newsroom, but you cannot take the newsroom out of the anchor.
• Schrute was in heaven putting together the video board. He would be the tech guy/soundboard operator at the show.
• Catfish was the MAN Saturday! This guy was directing the paid production crew how to do their job. It was hysterical to watch.
• YHC was just there for comic relief and to pick things up and put things down. I may or may not have said things that deserved bomb jacks after learning that the scope of our morning assistance had grown to doing everything but playing the instruments at the concert.

I’m proud of you guys for stepping up. You worked behind the scenes and no one will know the effort you put into this. Excellent work. Also, its times like these when the alphas step up. Before the production company could direct us to do anything, we were already doing it ourselves. And Catfish, the way you took control leads me to believe you have a roadie career if you want it.

Great work men. It was a pleasure to work alongside you.

8 men joined YHC for a Wednesday morning trivia challenge beatdown. Reborn busted out a STRONG VQ warm up this morning that left just enough time to run through some “On This Day” trivia.

Warm Up

Long Mosey around church.

• 15 SSH
• 12 Slow Windmills
• 20 Italian Night Clubs
• 20 Toy Soldiers

Mosey to other side of church. Circle up.

• 25 Merkins
• 20 Imperial Walkers
• 20 Freddie Mercuries
• 20 Rosalitas

Do the following exercises between the parking lot bump outs (50 feet apart). Switch exercises at each bump out.

• Walking Lunges
• High Knees
• Karaokes
• Butt Kickers
• Walking Lunges
• Shuffle

Circle up.

• 6″ for a 10-count
• 20 Peter Parkers
• Protractor 6″, 45, 90 with a look at the stars. Hold 6″ for a 10 count.

Handoff to Italian Job.

The Thang

Mosey to the front of the church. For every correct answer, 20 Squats. For every incorrect answer, 20 Merkins. All followed by a run around the church.

1) Today is Eric Clapton’s 71st birthday. Which of these songs did he sing?

• In the Air Tonight
• Rocket Man
• Layla – Water Boy nailed it. 20 Squats
• Stairway to Heaven

2) Who painted The Starry Night?

• Vincent van Gogh – 20 Merkins courtesy of Apache (who I think missed on purpose so we could do more Merkins).
• Pablo Picasso
• Claude Monet
• Rembrandt

3) MC Hammer turns 54 today. Complete this line in the song,”U Can’t Touch This” – I’ve toured around the world…

• From London to Bombay
• From London to the bank
• From London to the Bay – Of course Sgt. York would get this right. 20 Squats.
• From Paris to Madrid

4) Celine Dion turns 48 today. What was the first movie to feature her singing?

• Titanic
• Beauty and the Beast – Schrute shocked us all with the correct answer. 20 Squats.
• The Little Mermaid
• Sleepless in Seattle

5) Norah Jones turns 37 today. What instrument made her famous?

• Guitar
• No instruments; just vocals
• Harp
• Piano – Bill Nye with the correct answer. 20 Squats.

6) On this day in 1981, what US President was shot in the chest outside a Washington DC hotel?

• Reagan – Atlas didn’t even need the multiple choice selections. 20 Squats.
• Carter
• Bush
• Eisenhower

After the final lap around the church, we had a few extra exercises to pay tribute to our trivia questions.

• 54 American Hammers in honor of MC Hammer’s 54th birthday.
• 48 Diamond Merkins in honor of Celine Dion’s 48th birthday (reference to the diamond and sapphire necklace in the Titanic film. I know, its a stretch but we had to do something).
• 37 Star Jacks in honor of Vincent van Gogh’s 37 years on the big ball (reference to his painting, The Starry Night).
• 25 Knee Tar Jais in honor of Eric Clapton’s birthday (“Layla, you’ve got me on my knees”).
• 4-10 counts on Wall Sits in honor of Ronald Reagan being the 40th president (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”).

Finally, we had 5 minutes to spare so we did a little Dealer’s Choice. All done for 10 count or in cadence.

• LBCs (Schrute)
• Iron Cross (Bill Nye)
• 6 Inches (Apache)
• Big Boy Situps (Van Wilder)
• Freddy Mercuries (Atlas)
• Parker Peters (Sgt. York)
• Carolina Dry Docks (Italian Job)
• Tabletop Dips (Reborn)
• Mountain Climbers (Waterboy)

NMM

Awesome work this morning. Thanks for indulging me in a bit of “On This Day” trivia. TClaps to Reborn for crushing his VQ warm-up. Site Qs, put him on the schedule, he’s ready. Thanks for crossing the river, Atlas. We enjoyed having you visit. Once again, Sgt. York led the PAX in all exercises. This guy is a BEAST! Waterboy and Van Wilder, both down 20 lbs and falling. You guys are really upping the ante and we’re proud of your progress. Speaking of progress, was that Bill Nye staying at the front of the PAX? I believe it was. Great work! Schrute, you and Apache always make for great conversation. Thanks for the leadership, fellas.

I spoke a little this morning about leading your families and serving our Lord. It is our role as fathers and husbands to be the spiritual leader of our homes. I want to encourage you to continue serving Him at all times, not just when you feel you need a miracle. It is easy to rely on ourselves when the pantry is full and the bank account is up. We can forget who blessed us to begin with when things are good. Our God is always there, whether we call on Him or not. But remember who blessed you first and give Him honor and praise at all times.

Announcements

• Nun Run in Rock Hill – April 9
• Lake Wylie launch – April 9
• 3rd F Convergence “Fatherhood” – April 15
• Come See Me 5k, Half, Fun Run – April 16
• USMC Mudrun – April 30
• F3 Nation, F3 Dads Knights Baseball – May 14
• National White Water Center-for F3 and family 45 minutes 1st F then 2nd F – May 19
• BRR sign-up – 30 slots left
• Ragnar Trail Relay in October – sign-ups with the fees going up mid-month.
• Fort Region shirt order – Last day to order is 4/3

It was put out on the twittermachine the day before that any PAX posting to The Fort this week would get a shot of Jack.  10 PAX stepped up to the plate and took the daily red pill with a chaser of Jack!!  Noticed 1 FNG so welcomed him and gave a almost full disclaimer.

THE THANG

Santini wanted a little foreplay first before what he knew would be a beatdown.  So we did a warmup of :

20 x SSH, 15 x IW, 15 x Windmills, 15 x Seal Jacks, 15 x Plank Jacks, 15 x Mountain Climbers

Still not warm up enough so mosey up the path to the second drill bit with high knees, butt kicks, karoake.  Stop at second drillbit up the hill and run back down to the parking lot with karoake, butt kicks and high knees.

Stop at the base of the Stairway and explain the meat of the workout and some of Jack Webb and his friends.

First time up the stairway – Jack Webbs 1:4 at first light pole, 2:8 and second light pole, 3:12 at third lightpole, 4:16 and 4th lightpole, 5:20 and 5th lightpole, then do 10 seal jacks and come back down the hill in reverse order doing Jack Webbs, 5:20, 4:16, 3:12, 2:8, 1:4.  Plank at the bottom when finished.

While in Plank position, mentioned Jack Webbs cousin Jack Squat.  One Squat and then 4 Lunges.  Same course up and down the stairway.  Plank when finished.

Next up was Captain Jack Sparrow. 1 Burpee and then 4 Bombjacks.  All the way up and down the stairway again. 5 burpees and 20 bombjacks was definitely a crowd pleaser.  And we got to do it twice.

Next up was Captain Crunch. 1 full Situp then 4 LBC’s.  Up the stairway again and back down.  Plank when finished.

Once the 6 was in we moseyed to the playground for Jack Lalanne (this dude was 90+ and still rockin out pull-ups, pushups, etc. daily).  Here we did 1 pullup and then 4 Moroccan Night Clubs.  All the way up to 5.  Then run a lap around the playground and go down from 5. Another crowd favorite.

After finishing up there we moseyed down 160 to the parking lot in from of Synergentics for some people’s chair and ab work.  People’s chair then Flutter Kicks x 15 and Rosalita x 15.  Back in the chair.  Then heals to heaven x 15 and hello dolly x 15.  Then back in the chair.  Moseyed back tothe COT area with 2 minutes left so 1 minute of plank jacks and 1 minute of seal jacks.

Namearama, COT, BOM

Announcements – BRR, Mud Run, CAH, read the newsletter

Prayers/praise – Prayers for safe travels this week for Easter and Spring Break.  Praise for a safe Palmetto 200.

Moleskin

1.  Always amazed by almost perfect mumblechatter of Santini.  Nobody complains more during a workout than he does but then again nobody thanks you as much afterwards.  I’m glad we could have an old school bootcamp butt kicking instead of ruinning all over the place.
2. Double D wearing the Notre Dame shirt.  Don’t make the Q angry!!!
3. Welcome to FNG Screenprint!!  Dude rocked his crossfit shirt during the workout and I’m pretty sure WWL EH’ed him onto a BRR team.
4. With the exception of the FNG it felt like a Veteran crew from the WEP old days with Santini, WWL, Double D, Crab Cakes.  Glad I could deliver that old school bootcamp feeling
5. At coffeteria Santini asked me how my 2016 word sacrfice was going.  Shared some stories about where I have made some sacrifices but also got me thinking when I left about where is I can sacrifice or what others have sacrificed for me.  This lead me of course to the Ulitmate sacrifice made for all of us.  Jesus Christ.  This weekend we celebrate his death and resurrection so that ALL of our sins can be forgiven and that we may have that relationship with the Father.  So as I look at sacrifice going forward, I’m going to look for areas where I can sacrifice some time to better my relationship with the Father.

Longshanks out!

This morning, 19 PAX crushed a sweat fest, you against you, beat down at ManU. Disclaimer was disclaimed and then work began. Thanks to our brothers from Fort Mill, Tega Cay, and Indian Land for crossing the river and joining us in the gloom.

Warm Up

Mosey to the Fountain for our standard ManU Warmup:

• 25 SSH (in cadence)
• 20 IW (in cadence)
• 25 Moroccan Night Clubs (in cadence)
• 25 Italian Night Clubs (in cadence)

Long mosey around the Manchester Village Parking Lot. Circle up for some stretches:

• Left over Right
• Right over Left
• Middle

The Thang

Partner up for the BOMBS beat down I learned about in San Antonio a few weeks ago. It was terrible!

The following activities were completed as an aggregate total. While partner 1 performed the exercise, the other ran the length of the parking lot and back. Exercise counts were:

• 50 (B)urpees
• 100 (O)verhead Claps
• 150 (M)erkins
• 200 (B)ig Boy Situps
• 250 (S)quats

Finish up with suicides the length of the lot.

Mosey to COT for 3 Minutes of Captain Thors courtesy of Popeye.

Today we covered 2.5 miles in addition to the BOMBS workout. Excellent mumble chatter too.

NMM

I really enjoyed working alongside such a great group of men this morning. The conditions were perfect – no rain, no wind, and only 51 degrees. We started off a bit chilly, but heated up quickly. I was very impressed with the effort every man put in today – lots of mumble chatter and encouragement.

I took the idea of this workout from a visit to San Antonio. This prompted a few comments, my favorite being from Riddler stating, “You can take that workout back to Texas.” I like these workouts because you are in charge of how hard you work. I was glad to see guys running hard when they could have jogged. I’m proud of you guys.

I also had the privilege to share a word from my devotional this morning (The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge by Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker). Below is an exact transcript from the March 24 devotional.

Exodus 4:10-13

Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-twisted, and my words get tangled.” The Lord said to him… Go! I will be with you as you speak , and I will instruct you what to say.”

But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

Too often we tend to think of our platform as something that is tied to our position or occupation. We influence the people who work for us or who have a direct relationship with us. Certainly we don’t have a platform to influence others outside our areas of authority, we think. But that isn’t true.

During a tumultuous time in our nation, Dean Smith, the legendary UNC basketball coach, repeatedly put himself in the middle of the unsettling race relations. As stories go, he would invite an African American member of the community to lunch. They would head to the most segregated place in town, whether it was in Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, or other places in North Carolina or other Southern states. People would stare and become angry at his audacity to do that in public. Smith didn’t care and would blithely eat his meal, knowing they weren’t about to throw him out, as much as they might want to.

“He was a basketball coach,” some critics might say. What he did, well, that was outside his coaching platform. He overstepped his bounds.”

Wrong. We all should be expanding our platforms, looking for ways we can influence others in situations for good. This doesn’t have to involve civil disobedience. We can volunteer, tutor, carpool to soccer practice, or start a book discussion group. Have a cheery disposition for everyone we come in contact with. The list of options to make a difference is endless.

I encourage each of you to make a difference wherever you are. Don’t wait for God to send someone else. As the #HIM you are, people watch what you do. You have a level of influence in everything you do. Take those opportunities to make your world better. You’ve already started on the right foot posting with us in the gloom. Now take it one step further. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Announcements:

• Fort Region shirt order – Last day to order is 4/3
• 3/26 Saturday  1600.  Children’s Attention Home fun day.  Contact chicken hawk for details
• 4/9 Saturday Nun Run. Contact Twister for details.
• 4/15 Friday 0610. Eternal Church behind Zaxby’s Fort Mill 3rd F convergence on Fatherhood
• 4/16 Saturday Come See Me 5k, Half, Fun Run
• 4/30 Saturday Mudrun
• 5/14 Saturday 1805 F3 Nation, F3 Dads Knights Baseball.  Block of tickets will go quickly.
• 5/19 Thursday 1745 National White Water Center-for F3 and family 45 minutes 1st F then 2nd F

Prayer Requests:

• Tinker Toy’s injury recovery
• Travelling mercies for those PAX going out of town
• Boots as he prepares for Coast Guard Boot Camp
• Schrute’s aunt recovering from a stroke