9 pax posted to The Swamp for a session that was cut a little short on time but long on core intensity.

The Thang

Mosey from the bright lights to true gloom next to PetsMart

COP — SSH x20, IW x20, Merkins x15, CDD x15, Moroccan Night Clubs x30, Monkey Humpers x15

Mosey to more gloom at dead end corner near Home Depot (w/backwards runs, butt kicks and high knees along the route)

Extended Mary Session — Dollies x10, Flutter x10, Chopsticks x10, Sea Turtles x10, Rosalitas x10, Freddies x10, LBCs x20, Partner Merkins x10, Plank sequence

Mosey back toward home w/stop in grassy patch for Makhtar N’Dyae x15 and Knee Tar N’Dyae x15

Mosey back home and grab a cinder block

Line blocks up along curb with spacing to allow each pax to share two blocks for Merkins in between:
Round 1: Merkins x15, sprint to island, karaoke back, Derkins x15, sprint to island, karaoke back
Round 2: Squats w/block x15, sprint to island, karaoke back, Overhead press w/block x15, sprint to island, karaoke back
Rinse & repeat Round 1 + 2

Mosey home (at 0552)

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

3rd F Convergence at Eternal Shack set us up for a shortened effort to allow travel time for those attending.  With a shorter window, YHC’s objective was to keep the intensity high and to concentrate on core moves.

Welcome to FNG Lt. Dan!  Nice to have you aboard.  And t-claps to LIFO Flipper for the EH.  Reminder: workouts launch on time at 0515!

It was great to finally have the chance to Q at The Swamp. AO provides plenty of options.  Thanks to Cake Boss for the substitute invite.  T-claps to Cable Guy for leading the charge.

Always an honor to lead the the pax.  Until next time…

14 Strong men came to out to the Swamp to get stronger or die trying!

3 Split off to do a little Rucking!

Royale took the honors of warming up the guys for his VQ!

Mosy to Home Depot and COP

10 Burpees OYO

25 SSH

15 Merkins

20 Peter Parker

25 IW

Mosie over to the Wall

Balls to the Wall

Peoples Chair

20 Donkey Kicks

Rinse and Repeat

Hand off to Cable Guy

20 Burpees OYO

Mosy to the Big Red Balls in front of Target for some real fun

Suicide Burpee style

Run to first red ball do one Burpee return to start do one Burpee

Increase at each ball up to 8 Burpees

**Bonus Round for early finishers get to do 10 Burpees**

Mosy to the Fountain

10 Derkins

20 Dips

50 LBC

Mosy to COT

17 Patriots came to The Swamp on this 4th of July eve to get a daily down painment before celebrating our country’s birthday. YHC felt  we needed to honor those that gave the ultimate price for the freedom we enjoy and so a modified Murph was brought to mind.

YHC mentioned that leadership starts at home and that absent fathers is the cause of many social issues.

40% youth go to bed without biological father at home….83% of youth believe their moral decisions depend on the situation

As men, we need to lead in our homes and it begins with us knowing Christ and his will for us, so we can in turn share that with our kids or kids in our lives.

The Thang:

1 mile mosey arounds the Swamp

Modified Murph

Instead of pullups – YHC provided cinder blocks and we did the following

50 overhead presses

100 merkins

200 air squats

20 dips, 10 derkins run lap around circle x 2 (2 times)

1 mile mosey back to COT

10 – curb merking each side

20 LBC

15 Flutter Kicks

15 Freddy Murcury’s

COT:

All the men worked hard and encouraged each other and that is why we get out there at 0515 in the morning – Great Work!

Lead your families and encourage your kids to be strong in the Lord and away from culture. Culture puts unrealistic expectation on each of us, and Christ just loves us and asks us to love each other. If we can have that confidence and knowledge we can face anything.

Worlds Largest Coffeeteria 8/8 Rock Hill Applebees

Prayers for Tater’s father in-law as he passed away and praise that he knew the Lord, so we celebrate his homecoming! Prayers for the family as they miss him.

Prayers for the youth that are losing all hope in this world and comitting suicide. Let them all find hope in Christ and not this world and be filled with his love.

Thank you Cable Guy for the opportunity!

CB

Seventeen men came to the Swamp for a beat down and only four were lost.

The Thang

Mosey to fountain area and Circle Up

Imperial Walker x20, CDD x20, Windmill x20, Merkinsx15, Cotton Pickers x20, Mountain Climbers x20

Mosey to steps: Wheelbarrow up for a total of three times per person

World Wide is welcomed to the group as he randomly arises from the Swamp-PS Old Navy Parking lot- Count off to 5 groups-1 group at each corner-Group 5 does 10 burpees and runs to 1st corner…they tag the group at that corner who runs to the next until every group has done all 4 corners and done 10 burpees.-(less confusing then it sounds-except for Cable Guy)

Exercises: Corner 1-Alternating Lunges 2-Wide Arm Merkins, 3-Monkey Humpers 4-CDD

Move groups 10 ft closer- Do 10 burpees at every station- bear crawl from station 2-3 and 4-1.  Run from station 1-2 and 3-4.

Exerciser: Corner 1:Mountain Climbers 2-Diamond Merkins 3- Squat 4- Dips

Mosey to COT-wait- 20 burpees OYO

Not to the four lost men. During COT I recorded names thus not focusing on remembering them.  I then had equipment malfunction or possibly user error and lost the names.  I recalled all but 4.  For the 4 men omitted from the list I apologize.  Just know that being there is the most important thing and you survived the beat down.  Its not about the recognition but the results.

Prayers:

Lego Land-sister Michelle, Royale-Sis N’ Law April, Trucker as he transtions and Decibel

10 Strong for some running and funning!

1 Mile Warm up run at a nice 8:30 pace

COP

20 SSH

20 IW

20 Merkins

20 Squats

20 Peter Parker

20 Parker Peter

20 SSH

1/2 Mile Switchback Run

COP

20 Flutters

20 Freddie Mercury

30 LBC

20 Merkins

Rinse and Repeat until 3.22 miles have been run and done!

The virtual shovel flag was planted, the disclaimer was recited,  and nine strong cruised out of the Best Buy parking lot for another Friday morning of hard work and sweat at the Swamp.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Mosey across the parking lots and pick up the running path into the deep, dark woods for COP

All in Cadence:  SSHx50, Squat x 30, Merkin x15, Windmill x 20, IW x 30, Morrocan night club x 20, Diamond merkin x 15, hold 6″

Mosey out of the woods to the base of the grassy hill at the start of the trail:

Jacobs Ladder:  One bombjack at base of hill,backwards bearcrawl to top of hill, one donkey kick, forward bearcrawl back to base of hill.  Do five times total (Q calls audible after hearing the groaning and wheezing emitting from the Pax, including the Q).  The crowd pleaser of the day.

Mosey to the traffic circle near the City Tavern, everyone take a spot on the circle:

1st round:  side shuffle right, around full circle, do 10 burpees

2nd round:  side shuffle left, around full circle, do 15 merkins in cadence

3rd round:  lunge walk left, around full circle, do 25 LBC’s in cadence

4th round:  karaoke left, around full circle, do 10 burpees

5th round:  karaoke right, around full circle, do 15 diamond merkins

Mosey to grassy patch for AB lab:

Hello Dolly x 25, Freddie Mercury x 25, superman/parachute/hold x 3, boat and canoe x 3

COT

Moleskin

Been to the Swamp a few times, but this was my first Q.  Always enjoy the first one:  there is that feeling of excitement for a new AO, but also that slight nervousness of leading a group in a somewhat unfamliar (and HUGE, by the way) place.   I managed to find some woods and grass today amongst the acres of asphalt and concrete at Rivergate.  The wooded trail in the back of the shopping center was a cool place to start – pretty dark and scary with trees all around us.   Aquaman offered up some owl sounds as we entered the woods, and then five minutes later, a real owl answered him. COP was a close affair on the small trail as the Pax converged on the Q during the SSH and IW exercises.  Thanks for the love, guys.

The Jacob’s ladder with the backwards and forwards bearcrawling up/down the hill, was the crowd pleaser today – tough stuff.  Planned to do seven repeats, but cut it short to five – no complaints from the Pax.

We had a tight group this morning and everyone worked hard to grind it out in humid conditions.  The Pax left a lot of sweat on the ground.   I really enjoy meeting the new F3ers of the Fort and it’s a pleasure and a privilege, as always,  to lead such a fine group.

Announcements and prayers:

Prayers for a father with cancer and complications from treatment, father-in-law with pacemaker surgery, brother-in-law with Pancreatitis and  failing health.

Pax from the Fort head to Asheville for the launch.  Early start from the Starbucks in Baxter.  Check twitter for details.

Nun Run tomorrow in Rock Hill.  Twister is leading a pre-run bootcamp prior to the race at a location near the race site.  Check Twitter for details.

Childrens Attention Home- next visit is Saturday, June 6 time TBD.. Come out and meet these wonderful kids!

Call it what you want to, it’s what happened…

The call went out late on Thursday evening that WWL would need a replacement Q for the next AM, so two men stepped up to help, and a third got volun-told… Cornhole jumped in as did YHC, but I didn’t notice that CH was in, and knowing I wouldn’t want to ImpromptQ alone, I took the liberty of volunteering Cerrano to help warm things up… Side note: I texted Cerrano and told him of my evil doings, and then asked him if I should bring coupons to the party, which got an enthusiastic, “yes”… So if you hated it, blame him… 🙂

I didn’t plan anything ahead. Partly because there was no time, but partly because I wanted to test and see if I could go Weinke-less for this one… Therefore, I do not remember all that happened. Suffice it to say, we did our best to make it difficult.

The THANG:
With the disclaimer disclaimed we fast-moseyed (even thought he said slow) to circle up for a brief but effective warm up.

SSH, IW, Merkins, squats – all the usual suspects for our COP… led by the man himself Cerrano.

After the men were warm, he handed it off to YHC, and we took another short mosey over to the steps and talked a minute about how each of us is on the same team in this life, so we ought to encourage one another, and also that this life is not about comparing ourselves to the next guy. It’s us against us to improve ourselves and then allow Grace to make up the rest… Then, we ran stairs.

– 2 rounds of 3 laps up and down the flights of steps as fast as we could go.

Mosey over to the fountain area and grab a cinderblock:

I think it was 10 cinderblock burpees, and then 20 each of curls, overhead presses, tricep extensions, then take a lap

Then it was upright rows, step ups, merkins on the block, dips with the block in your lap and other stupid stuff, take another lap

Then we moseyed with our blocks to wall sit and hold them over our heads for a little while… twice…

All in all, it was really dumb…

Then YHC handed it off to Cornhole, who moseyed us back to the Shovel Flag for a few minutes of Mary, which included: Some Freddies, some Dollies and I think some LBCs…

Good work by all, and it was good to be in The Gloom at The Swamp. It’s a great AO, so if you haven’t been, get over there sometime.

Moleskin:
Nothing overly remarkable happened during the workout, but I did love that Royale said he hated it, and then thanked me for it. Also notable is that I saw Gekko and his M at a piano recital for our 2.0s the next day, and got to see the cut on his leg (that apparently his wife asked him about, to which he replied that some idiot brought cinderblocks to the workout).

So… it was interesting to try and come up with a workout on on the fly. I don’t know that I will do it often, but it was a new thing to challenge myself with. And to me, that’s been one of the great things about F3 and the PAX. It’s a place to push beyond comfort zones, and reach outside yourself in the relative safety of your brothers. I know that many, many PAX could tell the same/similar story, but this has changed me for the better. I think I was pretty good before, but this has made me tougher… stronger… mentally, physically, and spiritually. I feel like I am more able than I was a year ago. I wish I had known about it and started sooner, though I wasn’t probably as ready then… That said, get out there and start EHing guys. Free them from their Sad Clown lives. Give them what has made you better.

Helmet out…

13 Pax took off on a 45 minute tour! The minnow would not be lost and neither were the Pax!

Start at the COT

10 Burpees, 20 LBC, 30 Squats

Mosie 1/2 mile and repeat every half mile for 7 times

Total 3 miles, 70 Burpees, 140 LBC and 210 Squats

Nothing like a refreshing 5K and some Burpees to get you pumped for the weekend!

F3, The Fort and The Swamp continue to make better men each and every day!!!

Proud to be with all of you!