Category: The Hive

The Cornerstone – Challenge ( One Year Long )

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To all the Pax of F3 Nation

Are you prepared to challenge your self for 2019? I am challenging all Pax’s to join me for 2019 we will take on one exercise for January (merkins single count) 100 reps every day. Then in February we will add another exercise which will be done every day on top of the 100 merkins and so on and so on. We will increase by adding one exercise each month.  These exercises will be above and beyond when you post. So by the end of the year there will be 12 exercises that need to be done everyday at the reps set.

Do you accept the challenge? Do you want to get better?

I will set the next month exercise and reps the week before to keep you on your toes

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Five brave souls weathered the 57 degree temps at The Hive, as warm tropical breezes bestowed us on this December morn.
As an ice breaker I asked if there were any FNG’s. Got the crowed fired up.
Warmup:
– Ran a lap around the parking lot
– 20 Side Straddle Hops
– 15 Cherry Pickers
– 15 Low Slow Squats
– 10 Donkey Kicks (I like to mix it up)
The Thang:
Cones were setup across the parking lot. One with a random banana found in parking lot during setup.
To paint a picture, we partnered up using the middle three cones spread about 20 yards apart from each other. Partner one did an exercise at the first cone, while partner two did a different exercise at the third cone. We met at the middle cone and did burpees, then switched cones.
Round 1
Partner One:
– 10 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 10 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 9 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 9 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 8 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 8 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 7 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 7 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 6 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 6 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 5 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 5 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 4 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 4 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 3 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 3 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 2 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 2 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
– 1 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two, 1 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two
Partner Two:
– 10 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 10 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 9 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 9 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 8 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 8 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 7 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 7 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 6 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 6 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 5 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 5 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 4 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 4 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 3 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 3 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 2 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 2 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
– 1 Snatches cone three, 5 Burpees cone two, 1 KB Swings cone one, 5 Burpees cone two
During the ten count break Tesh tried to negotiate 50% off Burpee coupons for Christmas. Geronimo wanted a buy one get one free.
Grouped up for 10 Navy Seal Sit-Up
Round 2
We moved back another 20 yards to further cones setup
Partner One:
– 5 Curls cone one, 5 Dancing Bears cone two, 5 Squats cone three, 5 Dancing Bears cone two
– 4 Curls cone one, 10 Dancing Bears cone two, 4 Squats cone three, 10 Dancing Bears cone two
– 3 Curls cone one, 10 Dancing Bears cone two, 3 Squats cone three, 10 Dancing Bears cone two
– 2 Curls cone one, 10 Dancing Bears cone two, 2 Squats cone three, 10 Dancing Bears cone two
– 1 Curls cone one, 10 Dancing Bears cone two, 1 Squats cone three, 10 Dancing Bears cone two
Partner Two:
– 5 Squats cone three, 5 Dancing Bears cone two, 5 Curls cone one, 5 Dancing Bears cone two
– 4 Squats cone three, 10 Dancing Bears cone two, 4 Curls cone one, 10 Dancing Bears cone two
– 3 Squats cone three, 10 Dancing Bears cone two, 3 Curls cone one, 10 Dancing Bears cone two
– 2 Squats cone three, 10 Dancing Bears cone two, 2 Curls cone one, 10 Dancing Bears cone two
– 1 Squats cone three, 10 Dancing Bears cone two, 1 Curls cone one, 10 Dancing Bears cone two
Round 3
Told everyone to line up at the banana. Something I don’t recall I have ever said before.
Partner One: Dead Lifts
Partner Two: Run across the parking lot.
Rinse and repeat.
We met at COT for five more burpees.
Good banter from the PAX during announcements, prayers, praises.
We locked shields around the banana and prayed for mental an physical heath. Remembrance of what the true meaning of Christmas is.
Banana selfies were taken.
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The Hive 2018.47

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So, I’m a little late on this backblast…. I probably owe someone a lot of burpees.  Anyway, here is what went down.

Warmup, SSHs, Jimmy Carters, holding a low squat moving your 6 for some hip mobility.

The thang

5 burpees, 5 snatches each arm
Repeat for 3 rounds

Up to the bleachers.  The deadlifts were performed while on the lowest seat, and to go as low as possible, breaking the plane below the seat.
Deadlifts x10, Lawnmowers X10 ea, Tricep Xtends x10
Repeat for 3 rounds

Down to parking lot and partner up
One partner farmer carries bells 100yds while other does exercises till partner returns then flapjack
Shoulder taps, Flutters, Ripsticks (squat calfraises)
One partner overhead carries bells 40yds while other does exercises till partner returns then flapjack
Shoulder taps, Flutters, Ripsticks (squat calfraises)

Moleskin
It’s always fun to have someone from another region, so having Doozy join us was a joy to be had.  Congrats to Punch List for his new addition to the family.

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A Day to Remember…Showing our respect at the Hive

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December 7, 2018

 

41st President

2403 men lost

77 years ago

I had thought about what I wanted to accomplish here all week. Did I want to stay in the comfort zone? Just get through a workout on a cold morning.  I decided we needed to put in the work to honor the 2403 men, or boys, that were suddenly killed and show them the respect they deserved. Imagine yourself, lying in your bed (probably under 20) on a ship and it was suddenly bombed, and there was no way out. That is exactly how app. 1000 men died that day. I took the opportunity this week to refresh my memory on some of the facts I may have lost in last 20 or so years and look a little closer at the life of George HW Bush, our 41st President who ironically passed the same week of the Anniversary of the event that lead to his honorable service in War II.  With a lot on my mind, and the hopes of delivering the right message, now it was all up to the PAX to show up.

My goal was centered around the three numbers above- 41,2403, 77

10 PAX showed up on what turned out to be a crisp clear morning ready to work.

Disclaimer delivered- No FNG’s

Leave the KB

 

Warm-up

4 light posts were the center of this. At each light-post, we stopped for an exercise:

Post 1- SSH x 41

Mosey to next

Post 2- Moroccan NC x41

Mosey to next

Post 3- Imperials Walkers x41

Mosey to next

Post 4 (and starting spot)- Merkin x 41

10 Diamond

10 Military

10 regular

10 wide

1 Burpee

 

Recover and circle up

Low slow squat x10

Windmills x10-

Seal Jacks x10

Hillbilly walker x10

1 burpee

Total- 41

The Thang- 2403 reps was the goal as a group

Using the same light posts as the warm-up adding running in between. I liked the competitiveness for some . Nice effort men.

Round 1

First post- Tricep press x 30

Second- KB swing x30

Third – Goblet squat- x15

Fourth- two handed shoulder press x 30

Total Round 1= 1155

Round 2

First- two-hand curls x30

Second post- Snatch (15 each arm)

Third-post- KB Windmill- audible- Chest press- two hands- x50

Fourth post- lunges (15 each)

Total Round 2- 1,210 (snatch and lunges counting only as 15 each)

Total- 2,365

Round 3

First- single arm rows- x15 each arm

Second post- upright rows- x20

Third post- single arm chest- x20 each arm

 

Total round 3- 605

 

Total for post work- 2,970 reps together

 

Really nice work PAX- especially the guys lifting the heavy KB’s.

Skipped the Fourth and headed to the bleachers by the tennis courts. Each PAX grabbing a spot

Three rounds of step ups- starting with 15 each leg, then 10, then 5, followed by 10 seconds on the fence in a squat position holding the KB straight out.

Mosey to the Fourth post-

Partner up- size of the person didn’t matter, but the weight may have (Tesh)

Partner One- carrying both KB’s runs to the First original light post and back (app. 100 yds) . Switch with partner two until the exercises below are completed.

Partner Two- the number to reach of each set was 77. Significance being this was the 77th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Set One- LBC’s

Set two- American Hammers

Set Three- Flutters

Looked at my watch and it was 6:00 on the nose.

 

Everyone pushed it, and everyone got better. I appreciate all the PAX listening to me and working hard. My challenge to you is to take a look at the significance of the numbers used today and the individuals or events involved. And then imagine if you were called to this War, would you step up like George HW did and sacrifice? If you didn’t catch it this week, he lived a life that most of us can only aspire to, but will never attain. Live your best life and surround yourself with those that make it possible.

COT  

 Announcements

Xmas eve Convergence

G- Fit

Praises

Our Health

Prayers

Family, Patience during this Holiday season, for those in need.

And not to be overlooked, Band Camp’s special surgery a week from Monday. Sit on the bag of pees and don’t move for atleast 48hrs.

Thanks to Band Camp for the opportunity to lead and thanks again PAX for your effort.

 

Frat Boy

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VQ at the Hive

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It was a cold and rainy morning at the Hive. Not an ideal morning for swinging metal around, but that did not stop seven men from battling the elements to workout. After a quick disclaimer, we took a jog around the parking lot.  Next, we did some light stretching to reduce the risk of injury.

After the warm-up was complete, we formed a circle around a light pole.  The workout was called the Kettlebell Clock (not very original, but it works).  Like the face of a clock, there were twelve exercises.  At twelve o’clock, the person performing the exercise would act as the second or  “sweep” hand of the clock.  Once complete, we would rotate to the next exercise by lunge walking to the next interval of the clock.  Below are the exercises we performed for each interval:

  1.  American Hammer
  2. Curl
  3. KB Swing
  4. Flutter
  5. Upright Row
  6. Shoulder Press
  7. Tri-cep Press
  8. Figure Eight
  9. Lawnmower
  10. LBC
  11. Chest Press
  12. Rounds 1 and 2 – Squat Thrusters (20 reps), Rounds 3 and 4 –  Burpees (5 reps) with a light jog to the end of the parking lot and back.

Great job by all.  We had some fun discussion ranging from how much a musical instrument costs to the Hamm brothers.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

Prayers:

Families traveling for the holiday

 

 

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What rain???

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As 7 PAX entered The Hive on a rainy and cold Friday morning in the gloom, there was positive vibes in the air.  After the disclaimer, we took off for a quick mosey and as we were running, we noticed that Quack Attack was nice enough to leave his headlights on for us.  We circled up to continue the warm-up:

  • 20 SSH (mumble chatter and laughter ensued as Quack Attack did most of these by his car while he turned his headlights off!)
  • 10 Imperial Walkers, followed by 10 Hillbilly Walkers
  • 20 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10 Low slow squats
  • 10 windmills
  • (Maybe 1 more, but don’t recall right now)

Quick mosey to the school under some cover b/c it’s ’tis the season to get a cold and rainy / cold weather is not what the doctor ordered.

Music from 80s rock was our background noise as we prepared for the fun that was about to begin.  Wienkeless (not intentional) YHC asked the PAX to keep him honest as we all went through the lineup he had in store since this was going to turn into rinse and repeat with more reps each round.

Round 1:

  • 10 KB swings
  • 10 shoulder presses
  • 10 rows
  • 10 triceps press
  • 5 lunges each leg and passing the KB through your legs
  • 5 each arm lawnmower pull (in plank position)
  • 10 on your back bench press
  • 10 American hammers (not to be confused with russian twists)
  • 10 goblet squats
  • 10 shoulder shrugs
  • 5 each arm lawnmower pulls (not in plank position)
  • 5 each arm travolta’s / clean and jerks
  • 5 burpees with the upward jump swapped with pulling your KB above your head
  • 10 two arm curls

Quick “cool down” mosey in the rain and back at it for round 2.

Round 2 (more reps – and close to same order, but I’m going to copy and paste)

  • 20 KB swings
  • 20 shoulder presses
  • 20 rows
  • 20 triceps press
  • 10 lunges each leg and passing the KB through your legs
  • 10 each arm lawnmower pull (in plank position)
  • 20 on your back bench press
  • 20 American hammers
  • 20 goblet squats
  • 20 shoulder shrugs
  • 10 each arm lawnmower pulls (not in plank position)
  • 10 each arm travolta’s / clean and jerks (this was a burner I think given the full body beating)
  • 10 burpees with the upward jump swapped with pulling your KB above your head
  • 20 two arm curls

Another “cool down” mosey in the rain and ready for final round.

Round 3 (MORE REPS….)

  • 30 KB swings (this was a lot for future note to self…)
  • 30 shoulder presses (also a lot for future self and I gave myself the internal “careful here if you can’t do it, don’t Q it”)
  • 30 rows (this was borderline too many which caused YHC to tell the PAX to modify as needed and we’re going to drop the reps as called out)
  • 25 (not 30) triceps press
  • 15 lunges each leg and passing the KB through your legs
  • 15 each arm lawnmower pull (in plank position)
  • 30 on your back bench press
  • 25 (not 30) American hammers
  • 25 goblet squats
  • 25 shoulder shrugs
  • 15 each arm lawnmower pulls (not in plank position)
  • 10 each arm travolta’s / clean and jerks (had to drop to 10 again b/c I think my arms were going to fall off)
  • 15 burpees with the upward jump swapped with pulling your KB above your head (yes, 15 was a lot)
  • 30 two arm curls

Wrapped up at 6am on the button!   Did COT under our dry covering which was great!

Thanks to Band Camp for the opportunity and great work by all the PAX on the push they gave each other!  And for what it’s worth – we covered everything in the wienke that I had waiting for me when I got home!

-Shady

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The Thing.

YHC’s first ever KB Q!!

A brief warmup: 25 SSH, 20 Squats, A run, stretching and 10 Turkish Get Ups – mostly because YHC likes saying this

Extended Dora:

  • 100 snatches
  • 100 curls
  • 100 KB Swings
  • 300 Goblet Squats

Wrap Up – 20 flutters follwed by :05 of Jim Eubanks hip flexor work!

Moleskin:  are we really encouraging those that are different from us?  Or we only offering enouragement to those like ourselves?

 

It was an honor and privilege to lead!!!

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Charter Band-aids for Little Warriors – PreBlast

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As most of the PAX in the Fort and Rock regions knows my 5 year old daughter (Emma) is a leukemia survivor. We still make a trip every 4 weeks to get blood drawn to check her counts at Levine Children’s Hospital. We also stepped up and raised money last year (Christmas time) for a fellow brother bout-time out of Area 51 son Jennings who has leukemia also.

It has come to my attention that the budgets have been cut in some of the pediatric departments and the first thing to go is usually the character band aids. You say how important is to have these band-aids? Well as far as the cancer kids go every time the have their PORT’s (Port is a small medical appliance that is installed beneath the skin. A catheter connects the port to a vein) which for some kids is traumatic they get a band-aid over it. For others that are done with treatment such as my daughter Emma has to go back for the next 21 years to get checked (mainly blood counts). This not always easy for instance this past Wednesday she was poked 3 times. Well at the end the band aid can put a smile on a child’s face. This also goes for those kiddos that have to constantly get blood work done not just cancer kids.

So what I am challenging you to do is every week you go grocery shopping buy at least one box or more of character band-aids girls or boys. Also Spread the word in every COT. I will tweet out what AO’s I will be at and if anyone wants to step up and help me collect that would be awesome.

I also challenge others in different regions to pull together and do the same thing. My goal is to gather as much as possible and split it between Levine Children’s Hospital and Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital (St. Jude Affiliate Clinic) before Christmas.

Let a simple act of kindness put a smile on a little fighters face.

AYE. Lets do this.

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Double Booked? Nope, Double Beatdown.

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Through no fault of anyone that I’m aware, the original Q for the Hive was double booked. Since I know that guy, the PAX probably got off easy with me filling in. Or maybe not.

Disclaimer was disclaimed (didn’t notice that Punch List had brought an FNG, so I guess my extra extended disclaimers are good for something. Also gave the disclaimer that since this is a gear workout, there would not be much running.

Warm-up
SSH
Merkins
Burpees
Some other things that have slipped my mind…

The Thang
Slow mosey to the bleachers by the tennis courts with KBs in hand. Everything today was in groups of 3 exercises repeated 3 times normally increasing each round separated by 10 KB swings and 10 Prone presses

10 KB swings, 10 Prone presses
Single-Leg DL each side 8-12-16
Curls each side 6-8-10 IC
Back extensions (heels on the bleachers, justifier to the sky) 8-12-16 IC
10 KB swings, 10 Prone presses
Tri-extensions 8-10-9-ish IC
Plank row each side 8-12-16
Squats 8-12-16
10 KB swings, 10 Prone presses
Derkins x 10 IC
American Hammers x 10 IC
Derkins x 10 IC
Flutter Press x 20 IC
10 KB swings, 10 Prone presses

Extra slow mosey 70 feet back.

COT

NMM
I may have gotten some of the listed exercises or a few of the counts wrong when I was writing this down finally, but it’s basically all correct. I’m pretty sure if you were to go through this routine, it would be a pretty good beat down even if I missed a few things.

So here’s my thoughts lately about doing gear workouts. If it’s a gear workout, I’m pretty much going to stick with that and not too much running around. I’m pretty simple like that. Find a thing that works and stick with it. My basic KB workouts will be variants of what we did in this one. I figured out this little routine and it works for me. It seems to be a pretty good workout for everyone else too, usually.

F3 is like that for me. When I found out what this thing was all about and started posting, it was something that really just worked for me. I’m not trying to make it into something complicated, I’m just looking for that physical and mental push before the sun even comes up. Every day that I’m out there in the gloom with a bunch of like minded guys focused on accomplishing a single thing at a time, I get energized. If I’m the guy leading, good, but if not, that’s good too.

I see that carried out into our community, getting a bunch of like minded guys focused on accomplishing a single thing at a time. Sometimes that’s reading to kids after school. Sometimes it’s handing out turkeys. Sometimes it’s just running all day and night with a bunch of smelly guys. Sometimes it’s surrounding someone who is suffering physically or emotionally. For me that all starts in the gloom, many days of the week, surrounded by my Brothers…

Geronimo!

 

 

 

 

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Conveyor Belt of Pain

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10 HIMs arrived to  see silhouettes of YHC’s untold horror in the backdrop of gloom at The Hive. After disclaiming that YHC is terrible at counting before 0800 the regular disclaimer was administered.

Things started out normal with some SSH to get the blood moving.  It’s really a great way to make the PAX feel like a regular workout is on the horizon.  Then we moved into a wide leg stance (sorta sumo) and dropped our six’s close to the pavement to get the hips opened up. Moving from one leg to the other, we stretched out the hamstrings and other muscles some people tend to forget exist. From there, we inched our feet out as close to a full split** as each man could handle, put our fingertips on the ground, and did fingertip pushups.
**except Band Camp, who surprised everyone in a full split without making a face

From there we went to the Conveyor Belt across the parking lot.  Each station had two parking slots between them and each exercise was given a brief demo before we dropped our bells at various stations and jumped on board.  The slots were:

  1. KB Swings (40 and a 30 were available)
  2. Box jumps (30x24x20)
  3. 3/4″x72″ Iron Staff – wrist rotations (I looked this up, pronation and supination of the wrists)
    1. Holding the staff straight forward, rotate to the left and right
    2. The work experienced with these is in hand placement, speed of rotation, and stopping momentum
  4. 10lb Training  Mace – barbarian swings
    1. Swing the mace to align it with the chest at shoulder height to the left and right, when the arm close to the ball crosses the body, it’s on the bottom.  When it’s on its own side, the top
  5. 3/4″x72″ Iron Staff – tip ups
    1. Hold the staff vertically with forearm horizontal
    2. let the staff fall down to horizontal, using only forearms, pull it back to vertical (mostly the first two fingers)
    3. Alternatively, with arm hanging, adjust the staff so that the long end is behind you and use only forearm muscles to bring it back to vertical (mostly the last two fingers)
  6. Tricep Extensions with that 40 pounder
  7. BB bag – ~14lbs of steel BBs in a 9×9 canvas bag
    1. hold the bag with one arm at eye level as far away as you can from your body, gripping it by its side with fingertips (so you’re looking at a square), the opposite hand is at your side.
    2. Let go of the bag and as you pull that hand down to rest, the other snaps up to grab the falling bag, again, with fingertips, raising it back into position.  There should be some hang time.
    3. Alternate hands, trying to keep the bag floating in the air with a bit of hang time
  8. Curls – 25lb bell
  9. Squats
  10. “Pick your own Mary” with a 25lb bell (YHC didn’t have enough slots for everyone, so this one came from the aether)
  11. Same as above, but disappears after a few seconds, explanation below

Timing:
There is always a traveling PAX. The PAX starting at station 11 did a small amount of Mary, then high-tailed it for station 1, taking over that station (at this time station 11 disappeared). The displaced PAX from 1 then bear crawled over two parking spaces to 2, relieving that PAX of that station, who would bear crawl to 3.  This continued until station 10 ran back to station one.

After a full circle of fun, everyone took a nice, restful run across the parking lot, and picked up where they left off.

This went on with everyone working together in harmony until there was about 2 minutes left in the workout and we were one station short of a full circuit.

Everyone circled up by the gear, YHC ran to grab a phone (pulling something in my calf halfway there…) and ended with COT.

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