Category: The Swamp

The Swamp Thing

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Warmup:

Mosey to parking lot in front of Old Navy

 

COP

SSH x 48

Windmills

Moroccan Nightclubs

Low Slow Squats

Merkins

Mountain Climbers

LBCs

Freddys

 

Mosey to back of Valvoline to hill

Jacobs Ladder

7 Squats/1 Merkin

7 LBCs/1 Bombjacks

 

Mosey to Fountain/Roundabout

Dirty McDeuces

All exercises in cadence

Do all 4 exercises, run lap

 

20 Merkins

20 Lunges

20 LBCs

 

20 CDDs

20 Squats

20 Freddys

 

20 Ranger Merkins

20 Reverse Lunges

20 American Hammers

Mosey back of Home Depot

People’s Chair

Everyone take a seat. Pax on end runs

out, does 5 burpees, runs back

 

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1

Completely Rucked… at The Swamp

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When you accidentally snooze too many times and show up late to your Ruck Q at Golden Corral, the only reasonable thing to do is seek redemption the next Friday when the opportunity presents itself. I had watched a bunch of GORUCK Selection the prior weekend, so I wanted to carry a few themes over into the ruck Q. You know… to make it dreadful.

Warm up:

  • Windmills x 10
  • IW x 10
  • Squats x 10
  • MC x 10
  • Merkins x 10 (single count) (Crawdaddy accidentally did 11, so I thought since he wanted to do 11 so badly, I’d let us all join him in 11 more… so we did…)

Speed Ruck (sub 15min pace) to the Gander Mountain Parking lot where a pile of heavy things was stationed. As there were only 3 of us that morning, we only used the chain logs. (Which, maybe not surprisingly, are logs with chains attached to one end)

It’s time to play a little “It pays to be a Winner”. First “evolution” was to carry the log by the chain around the triangle end of the parking lot (to the left if you are facing the building). Whoever gets back first gets to choose their log for the next evolution.

I shouted “GO” and we were off. I felt a tiny bit bad for Crawdaddy as this was his first experience rucking, but not bad enough to adjust the weinke. These kids are a lot younger and fitter than I am, so they’d live… When you get back, put the log down perform the following exercises using your ruck:

  • Curls x 50
  • Overhead press x 50
  • Flutter with press (every time your left leg goes up, you press and that = 1)

For the second “evolution”, bear crawl your log down the length of the lot, dragging it by the end of the chain, then pick it up and run it back to the start. Since I won the running evolution, I picked the smallest log for the dragging portion. Upon returning to the start, perform the following with your ruck:

  • Upright Row x 50
  • Squats x 50
  • Bent over row x 50

The third evolution was a little different with only 3 of us, so since we were running low on time, I called it this way: Two of us were “dead”. Partner 1 carried partner 2 the length of the parking lot and then ran back to be carried by partner 3. Then partner 3 carried partner 1 back to the start while 2 ran beside… until he was told to dominate the people in front of him and then he ran back faster…

At this point we were out of time for any real fun as we had only a few minutes to get back to COT, so we ran the whole way back (rucks on and flag in hand), getting there just in time for a little overhead hold until the rest of the Pax got back from bootcamp. It isn’t a long or complicated weinke, but it hurt well enough…

Helmet, out.

 

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7

Never left BAM

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It was a beautiful, slightly less humid morning as the PAX gathered at the Swamp. It’s nice to see some new faces around the circle this morning before we split into the boot-campers and ruckers. Some form of a disclaimer was given and off we went toward the Depot.

Normal mix of high knees, butt-kickers, and karaoke’s on the way. Circle up at HD for warm-ups. 25 SSHs, 15 IWs, 10 Windmills, 10 Peter Parkers, 10 Parker Peters, 25 MNCs, 10-Sumo squats.

Mosey to Books-A-Million lot.
Suicides starting from far cub and using each parking divider (4 trips).
Leg pyramid: 10 Burpees, 20 1-leg lunges (10 each), 30 Mtn Climbers, 40 Squats, 50 SSHs, 40 Squats, 30 Mtn Climbers, 20 1-leg lunges, 10 Burpees
Suicides – audible to only 3 trips.
Merkin clock: 1,4,7,10-Diamonds / 2,5,8,11-Wide Arm / 3,6,9,12-Regular. Go around the clock and do the merkin type. (I hadn’t done this in a while and now I remember why).
Suicides – 3 trips
Ab time: 15 Flutters, 20 tiny circles (10 each way), 15 Freddie Mercury’s, 15 LBCs
Suicides – 2 trips
Small jack pyramid: 10 Bomb-jacks, 20 Plank-jacks, 30 Seal-jacks, 20 Plank-jacks, 10 Bomb-jacks
Bear crawl suicide – Bear crawl from end of one parking lane to beginning of other lane, 1 merkin, backwards bear-crawl to start, 1 merkin. Did this 5 times.

Mosey back to COT for some dying cockroaches before the ruckers came in.

We never left the BAM lot but I tried to throw a little bit of everything in today. Great job by everyone. I’m always honored to lead this group of impressive PAX. Thanks CableGuy for the opportunity.

Logging out,
Mainframe

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2

8/11/17 Swamp Style

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Conditions were sweaty and humid…it felt like August in South Carolina

Gekko was the running and nobody ran with #HIM

Cornhole had 10 for his Ruck Q

I had 11 for the bootcamp

13 stayed for Romans 4 that Gekko Q’d

All had fun, you should have been there…

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5

Ruck WO: Freedom of Choice….but not of Consequence

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Cobra Kai asked me to lead a ruck workout a while back. HC!! First time Q-ing a ruck workout……I was nervous. No better way to learn than to get thrown in the deep end. So here goes….

6 of us for the Ruck good livin this AM. Good, needed an even number.

Rucks on, very brief mosey to the parking lot in front of Marshall’s

COP. Rucks off, 15-20 ea:
* SSH
* WM
* IW
* MNC
* PJ

“Intermission” WO:
10 ea w ruck:
* Curls
* Upright Rows
* Swings
* Overhead Press

Then I wanted to try something different. Instead of transitioning w rucks on as usual. Partner up, 5 merkin catch-me-if-you-can to the stairs/patio next to Just Fresh. We each did about 20 merkins or so along the way.

> Intermission WO

Then it was time for some stair work at the patio of the vacant restaurant next to Just Fresh (that place must be cursed – great locale, cannot keep a tenant there).

Partner up. P1 > farmer carry both rucks up, across, down stairs. P2 > Exercise AMRAP. Each group did 2 rounds before moving to next exercise. Exercises were:
* LBC
* Merkins
* Flutter
* CDDs

Break between merkins and flutters to talk a little (see moleskin). The Boot campers moseyed on up and wanted to use the stairs, but we had squatters rights. Sorry. We left a nice sweat trail for them to find their way around. 🙂

After CDDs done, ruck overhead carry mosey to the corner walls behind Home Depot. >

> Intermission WO

Now time for some wall squatting.

Rucks on laps, shoulder to shoulder. Person on end passed their ruck down the line to the left, and bear crawled down the line to catch up with it, then the next person did the same until complete. >> 2 rounds. Wow. Quads hurt. My bird legs were feelin it! Rinse and repeat except to the right (need to stay balanced). >> 2 more rounds. By then we were ALL feeling the burn. Note to others: Bear’s ruck feels at least twice as heavy as the others. Quite impressive, but not fun for us.

Finally a normal ruck on mosey to the area in front of Zoes Kitchen >> Intermission WO.

Evidently my watch is running slow……boot campers were at the COT waiting on us. Double timed it back to COT.

GREAT job by all!! The ruck WOs I’ve been to are intense and challenging. I did not know if I could maintain those high standards on my ruck VQ. I hope I did. I thank those who have taught me along the way.

> See DaVinci’s BB for Announcements, Prayers, Praises.

NMM:

Theme of this dwindling month is Freedom. Something that is the very fabric of this nation. It also affects the paths of our lives. Sky Q has a plan for all of us. Sometimes he puts forth challenges to see if we can maintain our path. Our personal moral values, along with our Faith in Him, are our compass. It is our decisions that prints our evolving map.

I told the PAX a story about something that very recently happened to a friend of mine who now lives in Pittsburgh. In summary : my friend was involved in a road rage incident with an off-duty cop that had a bad attitude who had no issues with using his badge to his personal advantage (the cop’s badge and gun were the accessories he made sure my friend clearly saw). The cop was clearly the main aggressor who escalated it to near headline news violence. Nothing happened to my friend (thank God). Even though the cop pushed it, my friend did not back down but did not further escalate. The cop knew he was wrong, and there were witnesses in the cars all around realizing something is amiss.  The cop fled before anyone could follow or get a plate number.

It could have VERY easily ended differently, and I’d be up in PA for a funeral now. But what set that chain of event in motion? There was an initial disagreement between the two. My friend decided to further antagonize…..even though he knew the person behind him was getting more and more angry. He could have let it go, and most likely things would not have escalated. Yes, the cop was clearly the aggressor, but what was the first push? What set that chain of event along its irreversible path?

I myself had a scary road rage incident happen to me once. In my truck rolling down the road here in the Charlotte area, all is good. Someone behind me was not happy with my speed, tailgating me, honking his horn, waiving his hands as I see in my mirror. I pull over to the next lane. No big deal. He zips by, gives me a nasty look, the one finger salute, curses at me, then zips on. I got pissed. I sped up, got along side, and returned the gestures. He looks st me and pulls a gun up clearly visible at me. I nailed the brakes and he went on. I pulled over angry and shaken, but not at the other driver. At myself.
Why?

My two boys were in the back seat. My heart sank.

I could have let it go. I did not. I pushed it. Yes, the arsehole pushed too, and escalated it. But….

I can control myself. I could have let it go and diffused the situation early. I chose not to.
I cannot control others. I chose to ASSUME nothing bad could happen, that the other person I cannot control would react in a relatively civil manner. They did not.

We cannot totally control or influence how others may affect the path we are on, the actions that they take. But we can control what we do that could put forth a chain of events that we do not want. Freedom of choice is a very powerful thing, and one that cannot be taken lightly. We have freedom of choice, but we do not always have freedom of consequence.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead. God bless.
– NASA

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8

DaVinci Cones Redux

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Full disclosure: 6 of the Pax listed above were ruckers and their workout was led by NASA.

Today was the first time I’ve Q’d in a long time. I was a bit nervous, but have worked out all over this AO and sort of know the lay of the land. My Q Lane is more of the Set-It-And-Forget-It variety, and today was no different. With no further ado, here is:

The Thang

Long Mosey to parking lot in front of Old Navy. Circle up for some COP:

SSH, windmills —SLOW (you’re welcome, CSPAN), low slow squats, merkins, downward dog stretches, honeymooner, mountain climbers, peter parkers, freddys, LBCs

Mosey to the Valvoline for some hill work. Sevens or Jacob’s Ladder: merkins at bottom, bombjacks at the top

Mosey to the raised patio the the old Riverbleu only to find the ruckers using the spot, so it was off to Plan B. I had cones set up on the drive, one on either side of the fountain. Each cone listed 5 exercises and the required reps. Do the exercise, run a half lap to the next cone, do the exercise. And so forth until everyone had finished the circuit. Exercise were as follows:

Cone One:

  1. Slow Squats (20)
  2. Curb Dips (20)
  3. Mtn. Climbers (20 d.c.)
  4. Curb Derkins (20)
  5. CDD’s (20)

Cone Two:

  1. Imperial Wlkrs (20 d.c.)
  2. Jump Lunges (10/leg)
  3. Freddy Mercurys (20 d.c.)
  4. Flying Squirrels (10)
  5. Peter Parkers (10 d.c.)

Then we made our way to the Rivebleu raised patio for the following:

Divide up into groups of 3. First man runs the stairs, does 5 burpees, runs down the back stairs and back to the group while 2nd and 3rd man do squats. Then repeat with 2nd and 3rd man.

By this point, it was time to mosey back to COT for a couple minutes of ab lab. Freddys, Crunchy Frogs (demo and cadence from WitchHunt), LBCs.

Announcements:

Children’s Attention Home: Q or post to support these great kids who are victims of circumstance and are in need of positive male role models.

Delta signups have begun! Reach out to Wild Thing if you’re interested in joining a LKW team.

Prayers for pregnant Ms, for family struggling with addiction and recovery.

Moleskin

At COT,  I shared that today, 7/28/17 would have been my late father’s 75th birthday. In 2001, he died  of a massive heart attack at the age of 59. My father was a good man. A loving man and unfailing provider for our family. But he had personal struggles. He was an alcoholic. A workaholic. Never exercised. Attended church sporadically, especially during my years at home.

My dad didn’t have what I would consider close friends or a strong social network. He had a family, a career, a mortgage, two kids who stayed out of trouble. But he always struck me as lonely. Isolated. I daresay alcohol use was his way of self medicating: his way of trying to fill a hole and mask his feelings of isolation.

I am grateful to write here that I am not an alcoholic, although there was a time in my late 20s that I was definitely auditioning for the part. No one will ever accuse me of being a workaholic (though I do work hard). Though I may not eat the healthiest diet, I do post at workout consistently between 4 and 6 days a week.

But, perhaps most importantly to me, I have gained a strong network of men who support and encourage each other to become better.

My life is on a completely different trajectory.

I am not alone. I am not isolated. I am a grateful part of this community, and I thank each of you for being a part of my life.

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12

Oshi Shinobu

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What a great morning for a workout with 14 men at The Swamp.  We quickly split off as Ruckers, Runners and Bootcampers.  A short mosey led us to our 1st stop for the warmup:  15 SSH, 3-burpees, 10 Windmills, 3-burpees, 10 Moroccan Night Clubs, 3-burpees, 15 SSH, 3-burpees.

Good and warm we mosey’d to backside of Jush Fresh to the stairs.  Partner Up.  P1 Holds Plank, P2 runs stairs, Flip/Flop; P1 Flutter Kicks, P2 runs stairs, Flip/Flop; P1 Hello Dollies, P2 run stairs, Flip/Flop and finally P1 Wall Sits,  P2 runs stairs, Flip Flop.

Short stroll to the Fountain w/a round-a-bout version of 4-corners.  Working in Decending order w/4-stations;  8, 6, 4 and 2 reps at ea.  Starting at Fountain, Incline/Decline Merkins, run to top of lot, Squats, run around to fountain, step-ups (ea leg), run to bottom of lot, burpees and back to fountain.  Rinse and repeat to next descending count.

I wanted to do something a little different with the PAX this am and introduce a little Jiu Jitsu warmup so we mosey’d over by the Q’s truck and pick up some Martial Arts belts.  Partner up, P1 places belt around himself and sprints while P2 offers resistance by holding him back across the lane.  Rinse&Repeat x 2.  From there we demonstrated what each warmup is for and how to execute it in BJJ with:  seated shrimping, breakdance, alligator crawl, gorilla walks, leg drag drills and finished w/another bout of the belt resistance drills w/new partners and ab-work.

COT

Always a struggle getting moving in the am and putting our bodies through the workouts but love the results and who I get to do it with.  In Jiu Jitsu we always finish w/a bow and handshake to one other with the statement of “OSS!” also known as “ossu”, means Oshi Shinobu, which conveys the idea of “persevering when pushed”. In other words, never give up, have determination, grit and withstand the most arduous of training.

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7

Pre-Blast – The Lake Wylie Shirt

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April 9th, 2016.

That was the day that Royale and Dark Helmet opened the Saturday AO, “The Deep” and, in so doing, effectively launched F3 Lake Wylie. Along with the success of Quagmire and The Swamp, The Deep provided the Pax in Lake Wylie an identity and a new community where we can fulfill the mission of F3 to Plant, Grow and Serve.

Because of the amazing support of the men of The Fort region and the dedication of the Lake Wylie Pax, we have quickly expanded to six AOs: Quagmire, Sea Legs, The Abyss, The Poopdeck, The Swamp and The Deep. These workouts continue to see increasing numbers of men consistently posting week after week. With this growth in popularity has come the call for a shirt to represent the Pax of Lake Wylie.

We are answering the call.

On July 20st, 2017, we will release the first F3 Lake Wylie shirt. The shirt lists our current AOs and the Three F’s of Fitness, Fellowship and Faith centered around an anchor which represents not only the aquatic theme of Lake Wylie, but also symbolizes strength and stability in troubled waters.

Many of us find that F3 serves as an “anchor” in our lives, supporting us and encouraging us to being better men in world that is very often trying to tear us down.

  • It is the anchor of F3 that wakes us up to post in the gloom instead of heading to a gym for fern workouts.
  • It is the anchor of F3 that allows us to fellowship and share our lives with other like-minded men.
  • It is the anchor of F3 that encourages us to be HIM through growing our faith and acknowledging something bigger than ourselves.

This is why the anchor is the perfect representation of the Pax of Lake Wylie.

Thank you for all your continued support of F3 Lake Wylie.

Now GO BUY A SHIRT…or two! Sales runs through Aug 2nd.

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23

Squad Goals

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20 Men (1 FNG) posted at the Swamp.  11 Ruckers went off to do Rucker things while 9 stayed with YHC for a little AMRAP.

 

We previewed the course and had a little COP including Windmills, Imperial Walkers, and Moroccan Night Clubs.

 

The Thang:

30 Minutes Partner AMRAP, Half a Mile Circuit with 7 stations:

  • 20 Merkins
  • 20 Big Boy Sit Ups
  • 20 Peter Parkers
  • 20 Parker Peters
  • 20 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 20 Side Straddle Hops
  • 1 Burpee x Lap Count

Moseyed to COT for 5 MOM:

  • Too many Flutters
  • Just enough American Hammers
  • A touch of Freddy Mercury

 

Naked Man Moleskin:

I had a Cake Boss worthy Homily to share this morning, but maintaining order is more important than imparting wisdom during the 1st F Q.  So, you get the abbreviated (and likely better thought out) version here.

At the beginning of the AMRAP, I asked the guys to partner up with a guy who was comparable fitness-wise.  I asked them to share how many laps they thought they could get around the course.  I have no idea what each guy said, but the intent was to push each other to meet that goal.  I stayed with the FNG and visiting Java from Raleigh.

The purpose of this, and what I wanted to close out with, is that if we aren’t setting goals, we are just going through the motions.  There was some chatter on the twitter machine about moderate workouts being #problematic.  Someone put it best when they said “as long as the guys are working to get better, that’s not an issue”.  So my question to all PAX, regardless of fitness level, is “what are your goals”.  My 1stF goals this year are to a.) run 1500 miles and b.) finish my second marathon in 3:30 or better for a PR.  The reason I put it here is because goals only matter if someone keeps you accountable for them (thus the partner AMRAP).

Every PAX should have a goal for all three F’s, because all 3 F’s are important.  Beyond the F’s, this branches out into your personal and professional life.

Set Goals, Don’t just Coast.   You’ll be amazed at what you can do.

 

Honor to Serve.

 

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30

Unity at The Swamp 06.23.17

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  • QIC: Dark Helmet
  • When: 06/23/17
  • Pax: Flea, Mr. T, Cornhole (Respect), DaVinci, Kenyan (Respect), Rad, ChaChing, Royale, Short Shorts, NASA, Lil E, Hasselhoff, Mainframe, Gecko, Gears, Longshanks, Tarantino, Boeheim, Router, Dark Helmet (QIC)
  • Posted In: The Swamp

4th Q this week. 4th BB. I should really check my calendar and spread these things out more before I say yes…

Flea is a guy who gets it. He’s all in. He took the red pill, and I love him for it. He’s always willing to jump in to help with anything. He even volunteers to do things he has no idea how to do, simply saying, in essence, “I’m a quick study. Let’s get to work.” He didn’t hesitate when I asked him to take the first part of the workout today either.

The Flea portion looked like this:
Mosey to the fountain to warm up:
We did SSHs, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Squats, Merkins, and Moroccan Nightclubs and the cadence was clear and the count was high… Just like we like it.

Then we moseyed over to the front of Target for a Red Ball Beatdown. Alternate Lt. Dans and Bear Crawls between each ball. That sucked. When we finally all got to the end of the building, he handed it off to YHC.

We briefly talked about what had happened to Cheech and the horrible thing that it is, then we talked about how unity helps us through hard things, and to point up the idea of unity, we would stay in step and in cadence the rest of the workout. Here’s what we did:
– 10 Burpees (all exercises in cadence)
– 25 Flutters

Mosey to Gander Mountain in formation singing Jodys all the way…
– 24 Makthar N’Diayes (12 each direction)
– 24 Grave Diggers (12 each side)

Mosey to Valvoline Station (singing and shuffling)
– 25 Squat Jumps
– 25 Rosalitas

(I feel like there was another stop in here, but I can’t remember… Maybe there wasn’t…)

Mosey to Fountain (we wouldn’t stop now)
– 25 box/bench jumps
– 25 dips

AYG back for a little Mary to end our time…

============

NMM:
I’ll make a couple statements here…
1. Let’s keep taking care of each other. We all need it.
2. Let’s all try and be more like Flea. Let’s not let obstacles be stumbling blocks to progress, let’s make them stepping stones, Aye?

Helmet, out.

 

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