Showing up to The Swamp for my inaugural Swamp Q and seeing the Ruck Packs present, I knew it was game time. Fortunately, Zima and I conversed and he advised me that they would be going their own way.

With that said I opened us up by focusing us in on our Why, just as Jekyll did all week and brought the topic of marriage front and center. We don’t just go out there to sharpen and harden our bodies. We go out there to find balance in our daily lives across all aspects and we must always make it a point to pour our physical energy into our marriage. We’re better men when our wives and significant others know that we put them first – even when we’re not in the room with them. That said, I started the pax with 10 Burpees and we were off.

We mossied from BB over to the quant little shops and circled up for:

SSH – 25
Windmills – 15
Mountain Climber – 20
Plank Jacks – 20
LBC – 20
Moroccan Night Clubs – 20

Once warmed up, we hustled over to the red balls of Target where we found our first set of cones. There were four cones spread out at the red balls. Each cone had a leg exercise on them and to travel to the next cone the pax had to bear crawl. We did three rounds of:

Squats – 20
Left Leg Speed skaters – 20
Right Leg Speed skaters – 20
Squats – 20
Rinse and repeat 3 X’s

Then we headed out to find another set of cones – honestly, I didn’t know where I put them besides in the darkest lot possible. When we found them we split up to 3. The cones were setup in a triangle shape and each cone had a set of 3 exercises. In the center of the triangle was the burpee cone.

Each group headed off to their cone to complete exercise 1 and then ran to the center burpee cone to do 5 burpees and then head back to their cone and finished exercise 2….repeat this sequence until all cone exercises were complete. Once done, move to the next cone and so on.
The cones:
Cone 1
Merkins – 20
Bomb Jacks – 20
Dive Bombers – 10

Cone 2
Caroilna Dry Docks – 20
Shoulder Taps – 20
Ranger Merkins – 10

Cone 3
Diamond push ups – 20
Left arm dry docks – 29
Merkins -20

Once done, pebbles, I mean puddles, pointed out that we didn’t do right arm dry docks and was concerned our left arms would be significantly larger than our right. So, we did 20 right arm dry docks.
Post that, we centered up and worked on our beach abs:
Flutter kicks – 20
Hello dollys – 20
Protractor
Boat and canoe

As always, it’s an honor to lead our workouts. The mumble chatter before, during and after is unique and keeps us coming back. Today felt extra special as Gears reminded us about the important of Memorial Day Weekend. It’s about those that paid the ultimate price to give us the opportunity to work out at 5 AM anywhere we want in this great land of America. Get to know a vet, learn about someone KIA, and show up to attend the Murph workout on Monday and remember those KIA to protect this great country.

Back to back drizzling wet days get Geronimo FIRED UP!

Started out with the club mix playing which concluded with YHC’s new Theme Song. If you weren’t there then you totally missed out. Right on time with the disclaimer (no FNGs today).

Warm-up

40 SSH

15 IW

10 CCD

Bring Sally Up With Squats- Definitely a crowd pleaser

The Thang

BlackJack

Extra slow mosey To BWW for some BlackJack, made of Jacks, on the hill

                1 Crab Jack at the bottom 20 Plank Jacks at the top

                Ladder to 20 and 1

Audible called on account of time, but most made 15 and 6, some made more, all did outstanding.

Mosey back to the fountain for an intermission about keeping your marriage your priority and being clear about what roles work best in your relationship.

Merkin Poker

YHC brought out the cards for a game of EVERY KIND OF MERKIN. One card was drawn from each pile, face cards and number cards. The combo determined the number of reps and type of exercise.Face cards = reps, Number = Type of Merkin

• J=5
• Q=10
• K=15
• Joker=20

1. Ranger
2. Werkin
3. Irkin
4. Derkin
5. Plyo
6. R offset
7. L offset
8. Diamonds
9. Tempo
10. Alternating Shoulder taps

After 15 minutes and MANY rounds of merkins, including 3 rounds of Rangers, it was time to end the games and head back for COT.

NMM

One thing that was a draw for me to F3 was number 3 on the list of core principles of an F3 workout. Just because it was drizzling or cold or even pouring down buckets in the cold, the game will be on. Maybe misery loves company, or maybe some are gluttons for punishment, but either way I can count on not being alone when I show up on a day like today.

Today was the first day that I made a concerted effort to integrate the 3rd F message from this month into our workout. Usually I get rolling and it’s all I can do not to lose track of what exercise is next. I won’t say that I’m an expert on any of the subjects that we talk about. In fact, usually I’m not the guy that anyone should come to for help on that topic. What I do know is that these things are important. If we take a couple of minutes, early in the morning, to get these ideas into our brains, then maybe, just maybe, we’ll be more likely to take action on them today and make our homes, relationships, families, and workplaces a little bit better.

That’s all for now.

Geronimo!

I don’t know who the genius was that put me on Q the day before the Mud Run… oh yeah that guy was me. I should have known better! It was a great Friday morning, a little humid…but that’s what we should start expecting in NC!
In honor of the Mud Run that was the next day I had prepared a special Weinke. We had an FNG at the Swamp (welcome Con Air!) so I gave the long disclaimer. And we’re off…10 with me, 5 ruckers on their own adventure.

The Thang

Mosey with dynamic warm-up including butt kickers, high knees, and knee pulls to Home Depot parking lot.

I handed it over to our man Witch Hunt so he could run the COP for his first ever warmup.
20x SSH
10x IWs
15x MCs
10x Merkins
15x Shoulder Taps
10x Low Slow Squats
Up Downs (like football where your feet move fast then you drop & get back up)

Take it back from Witch Hunt and we mosey behind HD to our favorite red balls

So the Mud Run is about teamwork (and mud) so we were going to do some partner work today as prep…

Pair up – between each ball we would wheel barrel from one to the next. The Wheel barreling partner would stop and plank, the other partner would get down for partner plank derkins (7 reps). Then switch until we made it all the way down to the final ball. (Things always look better on paper, right?)

Shared a little about Leadership in your Family and your Concentrica, then we moseyed.

We wound up behind Buffalo Wild Wings (I think) where the only real hill in the area is. Little audible, because the sprinklers were on the main hill, but we found room for the next partner exercise.

BURP BACK MOUNTAIN
Pair up – 1st partner runs backwards up the hill, then forward down it. Do this twice while the other partner does Burpees. Then switch. We counted combined burpees to 50. We thanked the heavens that we did not go to 100 like the lexicon suggested at the F3 site.

A couple 10 counts and we moseyed…

Half way back to the AO launch we stopped for our final exercise.

BEAR CRAWL RING OF FIRE

PAX circle up in plank. We YHC calls out we Bear Crawl in the circle formation. When YHC calls STOP, we plank and go around the formation doing 10 Merkins. Each person waits until the person to his left is complete with his Merkins. Once it made it around the circle YHC tells us to bear crawl again…you get the idea. Once again, it looked good on paper…hurts a LOT in practice. We made it through 3 rotations of the BEAR CRAWL RING OF FIRE.

Shared a little that I had gathered from our Fatherhood convergence. The top 3 things that we should practice as Fathers:
1. Children see/hear EVERYTHING. Know that as set the right examples.
2. Raise your M up with respect. Your children see when you treat her poorly or disrespect her. Then they think that’s how they should act or expect to be treated.
3. Point your children to God. They can make their own decisions in life, but if you guide them to glorify God in what they do, you’ve given them the best direction you can.

Mosey to COT right on time to meet our Rucking brothers!

Announcements:

EVERYTHING in the News Letter (read it)

Praises & Prayers: Pray for my nephew and PAX Shamrock as he fights through the demons in his life. Prayers for healing. Thanks for getting us out in the gloom together.

Moleskin:
I want to thank Witch Hunt for stepping in and up so readily to this F3 thing. I reached out to him the night before after he HC’d and asked if he wanted to run the warm-up and he accepted without hesitation. AND he did a great job! I’ve been pushing him since he’s started to lead, and he’s barely been around a month…but he has IT. You know, that spark in your eye that you get when you know F3 is going to make a difference in your life and those around you! This has been a life changing event in my life, and if you embrace all these good things that F3 can teach you, through the men of the PAX, it can/will be for you as well!

Great to see Cable Guy back in the mix. We missed him (and his “greetings”) when he was out on IR

Qwerty brought an FNG! Glad to see Qwerty back as well, and WELCOME Con Air!

Always an Honor to Lead…Royale

Its my Welcome back party!

Been away for about 5 months so what better way to come back than to lead the workout, right?

18 Ruckers and Runners gathered at the Chick-Fil-A for some good livin and good runnin

Ruckers head off for some heavy lifting I’m sure

while the runners hit the ground for 10 merkins before running a half mile to Home Depot to circle up

25 SSH

10 Diamond Merkins

25 IW

25 LBC

25 Wind Mills

A few more exercises before we head out for another half mile run to the next circle

10 Wide Merkins

25 Seal Jacks

25 LBC

Rinse and repeat the run and circle 4 times for about 2.5 miles

Circle up back at our starting point for some AB lab to finish up

I have missed being a part of the PAX these past few months. I realize what a great support system F3 is not only physically but mentally and spiritually as well. I hope all of us can give this away to someone else who needs it because it really does make us better at everything!

Thank you! #Blessed

Gorgeous Friday morning at The Swamp and the PAX cam pouring in. Good split of Ruckers and Bootcampers showing up to swallow the daily Red Pill. It was April 8th and it had been a while since I pulled the Crazy 8’s beat down out. Ask Anchorman about Crazy 8’s. I know many Qs have their version, but I learned mine from Lil Mike who is one sick dude at Q. The man runs like a gazelle and I had to partner with him for Catch me if you Can……have you seen my legs??? Weiner Dog division!!

Ok here’s the Thang:

Mosey jog and, shuffles, backward jog, and some dynamic stretches to the circle on the main drag.

Single file line up for one of my hated gigs….The Indian Run…..each man takes 3 sprints to front before stopping. We had 17 in the circle so this was a sweet warm-up.

Mosey to Front of Target. Do a little wall sit and gather our 6 and breath.

I spoke to the PAX about Character and how we need to be who we are in Public in Private as well and if we are putting on a show, we fool nobody but ourselves. I asked the PAX to think of those in their life or whoever they think has great Character…..more to come.

Time to pay homage to the Red Balls

8 Balls each with an exercise written next to it. We will do 8 reps and bear crawl to every other ball and run the others…..remember April 8th….Crazy 8’s…..8 balls 8 reps…..just nutty!

8 Bombjacks, 8Russian Twists, 8 Freddy Mercs, 8 Plank Jacks, 8 Peter Parkers, 8 Diamond Merkins, 8 Donkey Kicks, 8 Monkey Hu….Squats (did not want to right humpers in front of Target)

After that Fun, Mosey to TGI Friday’s

Partner Up and here we go for some good old fashion fun

Partner #1 is running a Figure 8 around the parking lot, while Partner #2 is completing 4 exercises 8 reps for each…..they are

Merkins, LBC’s Squats, Burpees

This was a challenging and fun routine. I asked the PAX to find something out about their partners that they did not know before. The idea is we are encouraging each other, thinking about the odd thing they just told us, getting to know each other and build a relationship while taking our minds off the pain going on in our bodies.

We wrapped up and hit COT.

27 PAX got better at The Swamp and another 12 got better at ChiknWizdim II reading The Word!

As for Character and Fatherhood…..our 2.0 are watching and learning our ever move. The good, the bad and the ugly. Don’t take it lightly when you are using bad language, disrespecting their mother or acting like a total bonehead…..because that is exactly what they are picking up from your “Character”. It is caught not taught and if we don’t be 2 times better than the world….we are setting our kids up for a whole lotta mess.

One other thing on Character….if we remember Sky Q is always present….we should act respectfully and our Character will never be in question…..AYE!

Peace Out Brothers! Thank you Royal and PAX for the opportunity to lead!
Cake Boss