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2020 Call to Action – Shieldlock

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2019 was a Flux-y year for YHC.  Getting in the groove of a new job, 3 of 5 2.0’s leaving the house, mom deciding to move into assisted living, brother going through a second divorce, etc.  Needless to say it could have been a lonely year.  Could have been.  If not for my Shieldlock, along with a lot of other F3 brothers, it would have been.  My Shieldlock was made earlier in 2019 and has been solidifying and accelerating ever since.  The 3 HIM’s that I was so blessed to get in this Team have made more of an impact in my life than ever expected.

The Weasel Shaker is letting go of the “2019: Year of the BackBlast” and picking up a new and I think more impactful 2020 Mantra.  “2020: Year of the Shieldlock”

You may ask: Funhouse, what is a Shieldlock?  Let me explain.  It’s awesome.  Here are the details.

Shieldlock is found in the first quadrant of the Q source, Get Right.  More specifically Q1.7, if you are following along with the idiotic numbering system.  It is the Horizontal Relationship between Men.

The WHY:  We cannot do this thing called life alone.  Man the hunter is born hard-wired to protect himself and his loved ones from other hunters. Recognizing strength in numbers, we combine into Communities for our mutual protection from aggression. When threatened, we lock our individual shields together into a defensive wall to repel the invader. While both threat and defensive means have evolved throughout history, this elemental fact of who we are has never changed. The HIM locks his shield with other HIM’s to protect the people behind the wall.

The WHAT:  The Shieldlock is NOT a Club, it is a Team.  Made up of 3-5 HIM, 4 is a great number, who form the horizontal relationships that protect and enrich us all. The HIM recognizes his Shield Lock as an essential relationship within his Concentrica (ask me if you need to about this one too) and one of his most important Teams. He takes great care in nourishing it as he knows he can neither hunt nor defend alone.

The HOW: Team (Shieldlock) is governed by the rule of 3P, meaning that its Members must be in Proximity, have Purpose and meet Periodically. Proximity requires physical nearness. Purpose is the fighting of the Flux, which is the emotional reaction to the peaks and valleys that appear throughout a man’s life. Periodic is the final element of the 3P. The Shield Lock must come together periodically to be Effective.

So?  I want to help the Pax of The Fort to see the impact that a Shieldlock can make in your life.  I am making myself available to anyone who is looking to form a Shieldlock, any current Shieldlock that may need some direction or a struggling Shieldlock that needs help in accelerating.  My vision is that we get 4 guys that live near each other, that may know each other at some level (even if it is just posting at the same AO week after week) and have a schedule and lifestyle that suits to meeting regularly.

Pro Tips in starting a Shieldlock: 1) Find 2-3 guys that you already have some level of relationship and that you trust. These guys should be around the same age, have about the same family lifestyle, and live near each other (like in the same town to make it easy to meet).  2) Make sure that all the guys understand the Why behind the Shieldlock.  This is not primarily a Bible Study, happy hour buddies, or just to talk about your day.  The Why is fighting the Flux. To get transparent  and vulnerable so that your Shieldlock can effectively lock shields and lift you up out of the Flux and you can do the same for them.  3) Set a reoccurring time and place to meet.  The good thing about a 4 man Shieldlock is if someone misses, there is still 3, or at least 2.  If you have a 3 man Shieldlock you will be meeting 1 on 1 and missing out on the purpose of having multiple men locking shields.  Power in numbers right?  4)  Get started.  There is no better time to meet than this week!  Remember that it takes time to build relationships and trust, don’t force it.  However, if you don’t start nothing will happen.

Please reach out to me at 803-833-2398, joshuacsale@hotmail.com OR Slack if you have questions about a Shieldlock, how to start one or how to restart one that may be fading.

FunHouse

 

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Annual honoring of Detective Mike Doty

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It is time to grab your heavy thing and honor our local hero Mike Doty.  Detective Mike Doty has a tremendous impact on our community.  Our annual workout Is one of our ways to recognize the man Mike Doty was

This year we will meet at The Patriot in Rock Hill on Saturday, January 25th at 0700. Bring a ruck, a sandbag, a kettlebell, cinder block, whatever. Ideal weight is between 25 and 30 pounds.

Sullivan Middle School

1825 Eden Terrace, Rock Hill, SC 29730

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Trifecta Tuesday

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On Tuesday the 7th, 15 #HIM descended upon Golden Corral to continue making 2020 a year of acceleration.  10 PAX started early as YHC encountered Dark Helmet leading a group around the grounds.  Fortunately, they did not mess up the sidewalk chalk – that came in handy later to give PAX some not so subtle reminders about what to do…..many times.

After the 10 extra credit (BTP) PAX joined for the boot camp or ruck, here’s what the boot campers did:

Mosey to COP – 12 low slow squats (D/C), hold the people’s chair after the 12th squat while doing 12 double count Moroccan night clubs, Imperial Walkers X 12 (D/C), Hillbilly Walkers X 12 (D/C).  Mosey some more……COP (continued), 15 SSH’s (D/C), 10 Windmills (D/C), 15 Merkins (D/C), 15 Mountain Climbers (D/C), 10 Plank jacks, then mosey to the main event.

The sidewalk chalk served as the guide, the date was 1-7-20 – those numbers add up to 28.  Every sequence was an exercise followed by a bear crawl a set distance (25-ish yards) (no one went as fast as Tesh would have), another exercise, a mosey back to the start line and repeat.  The exercises of the day were……squats and merkins – always adding up to 28.

26 squats, bear crawl, 2 merkins, mosey back

24 squats, bear crawl, 4 merkins, mosey back

22,6  20,8  18,10 16,12 14,14 12,16 10,18 8,20 6,22 4,24 2,26

The squats got less, the merkins more and all PAX got better,

Over 2700 merkins and over 2700 squats were done in total.  YHC heard about it later.

After one fast and one not so fast 10 count, we moseyed around the building to do, of course, 7’s – it was January 7 after all.

The exercises were Kracken burpees and Carolina Dry Docks – 6 KB’s a 15-ish yard lunge walk, 1 CDD and a mosey back to the wall, 5 KB’s, lunge walk, 2 CDD’s and a mosey back 4, lunge walk 3, 3 lung walk 4, 2 lunge walk 5, 1 lunge walk 6.

After Pusher proclaimed how terrible all this was (YHC thought Carolina Dry Docks would make him feel better), we had just enough time to get to COT for 2 minutes of Mary before the Ruckers saved us from going past the 0600 bell.

Slow Flutter kicks (D/C) x 15

Protractor at varying angles, finishing at 0 degrees and 0600 for COT.

Announcements:

1-29 Grapevine fundraiser for Classroom Ready – Celebrity bar tenders.  Who will be there? (#showtoknow)

Let Me Run seeking coaches for teams in schools in both Fort Mill and Rock Hill – reach out to Cyclops or Double D with interest and/or questions.

Word of the Year – Focus on it and live it out.  Use your shield locks to hold you accountable. Together, we all get better than we ever would alone.

Praises and Prayers – Lutefisk’s Father-in-law, Cyclops’s Dad, Tinsel’s brother, Duck Dynasty and his niece and for continuing to be a hope and light to others in a world that is often darker than we like.

Just prior to COT, YHC shared the 3 elements of a high impact relationship – 1) it meets you where you are  2) it provides safety to allow you to grow and 3) it teaches you about yourself.

Thanks to F3 and the high impact relationships it provides its PAX.  We have the privilege and honor to be sharpened and honed by many high impact men within our community when in one another’s presence – through all 3 F’s – what a gift it is.

As we all seek to make 2020 a year of acceleration, YHC is grateful for 2 things today:  1) To Lutefisk for the opportunity to Q – it’s always an honor and 2) To the brothers of F3 for being a reason YHC chooses the harder thing far more often than I used to.

Stay after it.  Keep going.  Kamwe Kuacha (Never Stop).

Honored.

Cyclops

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PRE-BLAST: The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants (AKA: #BTP)

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Willpower is only the trigger to get a person started on a positive habit (#Brick). In order to maintain and continue #Bricklaying, a person needs to change the mental and physical environment in which they live, so that the habit can develop the “muscle memory” needed to go the distance. My #DRP list is lengthening, as is my ability to have #IMPACT in the men around me, and the following is intended to continue to put me on the right trajectory.

For the year of 2020, my word is “GO”.  In an effort to continue to #Accelerate my 1stF, and beginning on 1/6/20, I am instituting (for myself and anyone who wants to join me) an EC (Extra Credit) 15 minutes (of Boot Camp or running, or maybe even Broga) prior to every 45 minute workout. I will tweet and Slack the location with the hashtag #BTP the day before for those who wish to join me. (It’s a way to “trap” myself into an accelerating habit…)

For example, Monday I usually hit Honey Badger which is an hour workout. There would not necessarily be an EC prior to this (though there could be). Tuesday, I will be at Golden Corral. At 0500, I will begin an EC portion of the workout for those that want to join. It will launch from the same AO, and will be back at the AO in time for the 0515 normal start of the Post.

Clear as mud? Good. Ask me your questions. Otherwise, check your Twitter/Slack and #Accelerate with me.

Helmet, out.

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Jack of all Kinds and The ShovelFlag Switch

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21 Pax showed up for the Slug-fest that was a Cha-Ching and YHC’s Co-Q.  All Pax arrived on time for the special 0500 kick off. I was taking the #ShovelFlag at the end of the Beatdown so we wanted to do something brutally special to mark the occasion.

Quick disclaimer and we where off and rolling. Cha-Ching had the 1st 30 minutes and didnt’t disappoint.

Mosey to the end of the BEst Buy /Pet Smart Parking lot.  30 SSH- Mosey on to the other side of Home Depot 15 bomb jacks, run back to spot by Petsmart 20 smurfjacks, run back to HD 30 seal jacks, run back to PS, 30 plank Jacks.

Mosey over to the wide parking lot in front of PS.  Break up into two groups for a new take on Bone the Fish.

Bear crawl up two parking spaces then side crawl down the line then up two more, rinse and repeat. Total parking lot length was about 15 spaces.  At the end do 30 squat jumps. Bear Crawl down and back again , do 20 donkey kicks. Then we bear crawled up two spaces and side shuffeled the width of the whole parking lot. Continue this down the length and did 10 burpees to complete the movement.

Mosey over to the fountain 3 types of burpees before time expired on the first 30 minutes.

5x Kracken Burpees, 5x knee slap burpees and 5x 1 leg burpees.

At this Point I took the Reins:

The Shovel Flag Switch

Split PAx into teams of 3.

MAX REPS TO FAILURE

P1s = Body weight in the lower level of stair alley

P2s= Run between groups: up/down the stairs

P3s= Cinder blocks

Basic rules: P1 Starts on the bottom level of the outdoor patio across from Just Fresh doing Max Rep Body weight exercises.  P3 moves to the dead end side of the parking load and does max reps of cinder block exercises. P2 starts with P3 and runs roughly 100 yrds up and down the stairs to P1. Upon arrival they switch. P2 does body weight and P1 runs up and down the stairs to P3 and they Switch as per the above.  Rinse and repeat through the various exercise combos.

Exercises:

Round 1- P1- MTN Climbers P3- Block Squats

Round 2-  P1- LBCs P3- Block Swings

Round 3- P1- Squats  P3- Block Curls

Round 4- P1- Bomb Jacks- P3- OH Presses

Round 5-P1- The Claw( Thnaks PotHole)   : P3- Block Hammers

Round 6 P1- Merkins  P3- Squat Thrusts

Round 7 P1-Peter Parkers P3- Alt Hand Block Merks

Round 8 P1- BBS  P3- Man Makers

We Made it Through 6 rounds finishing on Squat Thrusters and Merkins.

With 4-5 minutes left we picked up the cindys, beatdown boards and laundry pile( it was decidedly warmer than some of us expected)  shuffled back for COT.

I accepted the Shovel Flag and look forward to growing the reputation of the #Swamp as a smoker AO in The FORT.  Appreciate Cha-Ching thinking of me to take over for him. It’s an honor!

Duck Out!

 

 

 

 

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Invergence: One Word Year In Review

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One Word Year in Review

When: 1/17/20 after the Convergence, 6:15 AM

Where: Eternal Church offices (“the Shack behind Zaxby’s)

What: One Word 3rd F Invergence

Who: All Fort Pax looking to improve

How much weight can One word carry? What’s in a Word? Each year, The Fort (along with many other F3 Nation regions) undertakes a “Word of the Year” challenge. Just another tool in the toolbox on the road to growth. The rules are quite simple:

  • pick one word to focus upon throughout the year to become better in some area of your life, and,
  • tell others your word so they can check your progress and hold you accountable

As we gather to kick off the One Word Challenge of 2020, come hear from 4 of the The Fort’s Highly Impactful Men about the word they chose for 2019. How did that word shape their 2019? Did it help them become a better servant leader, husband, father, brother and/or friend?

Bring your questions, thoughts and words. See You There.

Short Sale

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Milkshake Gifts and Cars

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Four men posted for Milkshake: two infirmed and two rucking. Weather was pleasant at 45 degrees (or so) and dry.

1st F Notes: Plan was for a walk with a couple of interruptions for exercises.
Walked around the park and headed to Main Street.
On the way, stopped at the veteran’s memorial and did squats, peter parkers, and incline merkins.
Walked up Main Street, then headed east. Circled back down via Williamson and Confederate Streets.
Headed up the hill Massey Street, stopped and did more squats and merkins. Avoided the barking dog and lady with the penchant to call the police on F3 guys by walking down Massey to Harris and Ardrey back to WEP.
We covered approximately 2.5 miles.  Map with critical events is included.

2nd F Notes:
With Christmas just a few days before, we discussed the favorite gifts we received this year: Wegman’s Yeti camping mug (not just for cocoa), Peabody got a picture of his dog in impressionist style.
We also discussed our first cars, which was a topic on my mind since my daughter just turned 16 and got het license.
Also was my first time doing a ruck walk-about (thanks to Shady lending me his ruck).

Milkshake is a great way to know your fellow pax better and have fun.

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Site Q Siwtcharoo: Holiday Surprise

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7 PAX gathered despite having no knowledge of who the Q would be.  Disclaimers were given, a few moseyed off to run and because we were unable to recite the 5 core principles in order, all PAX did 5 burpees OYO before we moseyed to:

COP – Low Slow Squat x 15 working in Moroccan Night Clubs X 15 while in people’s chair, SSH x 31, Imperial Walkers x 15, Windmills x 10, Merkins x 10 with salutations right, left and holding at 6-inches while sparkplug gave us a 10-count.

The Main Event – 12 days of Christmas of course.  YHC took a page from Deacon’s book – the 12 step program.  A not so moderate workout consisted of the following:

100 yard shuttle run – 50 yards up the hill and 50 yards down
Jumping Squats (2x)
Big Boy Sit Ups (3x)
Pepper Grinders (4x)
Burpees (5x)
LBCs (6x)
Sumo Squats (7x)
Heels to Heaven (8x)
Dips (9x)
Calf Raises (10x) – (10 with toes outward, 10 with toes inward, 10 with toes straight out)
Diamond Merkins (11x)
Wide Arm Merkins(12x)

All PAX finished 12 rounds just in time to meet Uhaul and Boss Hog yogging in to COT.

Announcements were given, praises and prayers were offered.

Thanks to Crab Cakes for the opportunity to switch it up, post with some PAX YHC had yet to really get to know and, as always, for the chance to lead.

Cyclops

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Terror at Nakatomi

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YHC has done a number of “Christmas” themed workouts. Mostly in July (Does it irk anyone else that July isn’t the half-way point to next Christmas?). Generally involving 12 days. It was  time to think outside of the box.  Not unlike our old friend, John McClane.

4 HIMs gathered at Quagmire in the 40ºF rain. Not the coldest rain that one can experience, but it’s not far off.  No newcomers were there, so a very brief disclaimer was disclaimed and we immediately launched towards the overhang at Lowes.

Warm Up

We just ran 400m. What more do you need?

Part One

Anytime YHC thinks about the 80’s, it reminds me of my brother, who still has the first few Paula Abdul albums in regular rotation. So when I found the routine in the Exicon, it was almost kismet. The plan was (if it was drier) to run to Target.  Starting at the first big red ball, run two balls forward, do 10 LBCs then Bear Crawl one ball back for 10 dips on the sidewalk.

But soaking wet, cold feet doing all that running can make for a very bad day.  Thankfully the overhang at Home Despot has four sides that are roughly the right dimensions! Three sides together are about the same distance as the median span between any three adjacent balls, and the long side is about the same as the median span between any two adjacent balls.  We adapt. We move on.  We write the word “balls” in two paragraphs far more often than anyone had anticipated

Instead of running two balls forward and one back. We ran three sides of the overhang, then bear crawled the final leg.  After each running segment there were 10 LBCs. After each bear crawl, 10 dips.  We repeated this 8 times.

Part Two

We moseyed on over to the base of the stairs and with 28 minutes left. YHC revealed that we would need to climb the 34 flights to the top of Nakatomi Plaza in order to save the hostages. Bonnie Bedalia is counting on us.

Pax would start by running up and down the stairs. On the other side we would dip into the shelter under the deck and perform 10 reps of one of the following exercises. On the f irst round 10 merkins, on the second round 10 big boys, etc.
1. Merkins
2. Big boy situps
3. Plank jack
4. Shoulder taps
5. CDD

When descending on the parking lot side, the PAX would do the curbside shuffle (no Exicon entry). PAX in plank position with hands on the curb, legs in the street. Without crossing hands or legs over each other, move to the right or left.  Each time we got to the parking lot, each PAX would move right two parking spaces. Then left back to the starting point.

In order to get 34 floors, we’d need to do 17 rounds. There was some great mublechatter and YHC would dole out a bit of Die Hard trivia from time to time.  After 17 rounds there was about 3 minutes left. Congratulations were in order. The hostages were safe, as is Bonnie Bedalia’s flock of seagulls hairdo.

YHC, always respectful of everyone’s time, said we were very close to 0600, but Half Shell said “Let’s go to the roof!” It made a lot of sense, and so one more up and down for plank jacks and some more curb shuffle and a mosey back to COT.

COT

Clave Boss 5/10k tomorrow. Rucking on 12/31 at Fire Ant. Lots of prayers thrown out there as well.

 

*I had not set my watch to record until the end of part one, so I don’t know exactly the distance we ran.  But even that part was .92 miles. Not bad.

 

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Let Me Wobble

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The Arsenal. Full Moon. 28°. Shorts.

Soft Pretzel and Atlas showed at 0500 for the pre run.

Looped around parking lot twice as the stragglers rolled in.

COP

Movements –
SSH x 25
Merkins x 11

Static Stretching –
Tappy Taps x 10
Groin Stretch
Runners Lunge L/R w/Arm Raise, Deep Squat stretch

Weinke

Main form of transportation: Bataan Death March (BDM). Indian run w/rear PAX doing 5 burpees.

BDM around back side of school to playground.

Aiken Legs
20 Squats
20 Box Jumps (Step Ups dude to icy conditions)
20 Bonnie Blair’s (Jump Lunges)
20 Bomb Jacks
Run a lap around playground

Jack Webbs
1:4 – 10:40

Pause. This is the first time I’ve ever successfully completed Jack Webbs from 1-10. Thanks to the community of F3 and the Qdrenaline for the continuing acceleration.

#morethanaworkout

Repeat Aiken Legs

BDM to new location up the hill from practice field

Aiken Arms
10 Merkins
10 Plank Jacks
10 CDD’s
10 Donkey Kicks

Ass Webbs
Squats + Al Gore Pulses 1:4 – 10:40

It was during the Ass Webbs that One Niner decided to beat box to the cadence of our squat pulses. It was well received by all, and we all decided we would wobble. Some twerked.

Head back to COT w/light mosey

Hamstring stretch because I thought I thought I would collapse during the mosey…

Mary
LBC x 30
Protractors
Heels to the Heavens

COT
Bounty Hunter’s friend – 6 month old passed away while sleeping (SIDS we believe).
PAX whose 5 year old had a small stroke (sadly I cannot remember his name)
Other PAX currently dealing with loss and health issues.

Thanks to Happy Meal and Brexit for the opportunity to lead.

Punch List out.

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