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Cannon Ball Birthday Special

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Today was YHC’s 45th Birthday so it was gonna be a good day!!

Warm up:

We started with a brief Mosey around the parking lot carrying our kettle bells and stopped for some SSH’s,  Moroccan Night Clubs, Sun gods, Cotton pickers and some basic arm stretches.

 

The Thang:

We then moseyed over for 12-18-73 (my birth date) with Kettle Bells in hand

  • 12 Burpee’s
  • 18 Kettle Jacks
  • 73 Flutter Kicks Single Count.

Then we moved onto my age – 45 of each (utilizing the kettle bell) and a small lap carrying the Kettle Bell as well

  • High Plank with upright rows
  • Figure 8’s
  • Big Boy’s
  • Tea Kettle Squats
  • Overhead Presses
  • American Hammers (SC)
  • Overhead Tricep Exten.
  • KB Swings
  • Curls 15 (lowers, 15 uppers and 15 fulls)
  • Clean and Presses
  • Lunges (SC)
  • Upright Rows
  • Around the Worlds
  • one more rep of Curls to finish out the time

Basic announcements, Christmas Convergence……

Praises and Prayers and finished with Prayer where as usual, God humbles me and chokes me up, thanks to all that came out and spent the morning with me and celebrated another day that I don’t deserve serving My Lord!

 

Two Ferns

 

 

 

 

 

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4

Pax Push at Poopdeck

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6 Pax (Peg, Cha-Ching, Copywrite, Jedi, Witch Hunt, Two-Ferns) joined YHC for a relentless and chilly beatdown at the Poopdeck.  Here is how it went down:

Warm-O-Rama

Some pre-runners (Jedi, Cha-ching, Witch Hunt) were already warm; together we started with quarter-mile stroll around the parking lot and Bowl & Bounce to the strip-mall lot next door where we went through the ususal:

  • 10 windmills in cadence
  • 20 SSH IC
  • 15 Imperial Walkers IC
  • 20 Moroccan night clubs, IC
  • 10 merkins, IC
  • quick stretch – down dog, honey mooner 

The Thang, Part I

  • We parterned up to bang through this list, on partner running, the other working the list, alternating:
  • 100 Lunges
  • 100 Ranger Merkins
  • 100 SSH
  • 100 Bobby Hurley Squats
  • 100 Carolina Dry docks
  • 100 Crab Cakes
  • 100 Werkins
  • 100 Monkey Humpers
  • 100 LBCs
  • 100 Flying Squirrels
  • 50 WWII sit ups
  • 50 Jumps Squats

The Thang Part II

Studly Pax finished part I with time to spare, so we lined up for People’s chair with Pax on the end executing 5 Merkins; repeated with Balls to the wall and Monkey Humpers.  Finally, back at COT, we killed the last minute with Freddie Mercurys and American Hammers.

We closed with a reminder about the 12/24 convergence and congratulations to Cha-ching on his career news.  We reflected on our collective and personal good fortune, despite the challenges we face.   It was, as always a privilege to lead.

  • Wolverine, out.
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#Serving at Thanksgiving with Many Thanks

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With great apologies for the delay in this backblast, here is a followup to our Thanksgiving meal drive. The PAX were truly inspiring in reaching out. We are all called to serve, and can do so in many different ways.

Immediate thanks to Figaro for the turkey donations, along with the 20 men who did not hesitate and within 3 days quickly donated to the cause… and whom most have chosen to remain anonymous. Special thanks to Cable Guy, Frat Boy and Crab Cakes for helping with delivery. More details further below. And additional thanks to Crab Cakes and M Kara for followup support to one of our families!

Many of us don’t truly realize the experiences of the poor and needy  until we are able to observe in real life. Most of stay in our one station in life, but it can be a privilege to experience others’ stations. (see next full story, try to get through it all)

One of the most meaningful and deep scenes in a movie I have watched comes from one of the silliest movies. In the movie “Overboard” with Goldie Hahn and Kurt Russell, Hahn’s female character (Joanna) plays a very stuck up, rich woman who falls overboard at night from her yacht while near WA (state). She gets amnesia. She is ‘claimed’ by Russell’s carpenter character (Dean) to ‘compensate’ for her refusal to pay him for his services performed by him in the days before.

Joanna ends up living a poor life with Russell and his 4 boys for about a month. She experiences things she would never had in her rich world.  She learns humility living a life with little money. Eventually her memory returns and she returns to her yacht.  But she no longer acts like the ‘debutante’ who her mother and privileged husband so want. They think something is wrong with her.

Later on board the yacht, Joanna has an interaction with her servant butler (Andrew) who has been taking care of her his whole life with no thanks for his efforts:

  • Andrew: (Andrew hands Joanna her earrings after they’ve drank tequila shots below decks with the crew) You best not lose these again, madam.
  • Joanna: (perplexed) Again?
  • Andrew: You will forgive me, madam. (clearly mocking her) “Andrew! I seem to have lost my ruby earrings somewhere between 64th and 68th street, find them.”
  • Joanna: (genuinely contrite) I’ve behaved so badly. (Andrew raises his eyebrows)
  • Joanna: You’ve done all these wonderful things for me and I never even once said thank you. I’m sorry.
  • Andrew: (embarrassed) Apology accepted, ma’am. (he turns away and to the sink)
  • Joanna: (following him) Everyone on this boat thinks I’m crazy. Do you think they’re right?
  • Andrew: (turning around to face her) Oh no, madam. Oh no. You… most of us go through life with blinders on. Knowing only that little station to which we were born. But you madam, have had the… rare privilege of escaping your bonds for just a spell. To see life from an entirely new perspective. How you choose to use that information is entirely up to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlHlKi2dATw

The movie ends up with a happy ending with Joanna returning to Dean and the boys.

It is up to all of us to decide how we use information we have at hand. If you are called to serve, how are you actually serving? Are you truly seeking to serve? Are you open to learning about others less fortunate than you? Even more so, are you willing to put yourself in an uncomfortable environment to learn firsthand?

Here is a quick synopsis of this year’s turkey meals donation.  We had done turkey drives before, but some of the feedback we got was, not that it wasn’t appreciated, but that it was too much of a ‘giveaway.’ Best teach a man to fish, so to speak. But we’ve been in the Paradise community over 1 1/2 years now and we didn’t want to let Thanksgiving pass without some involvement. A plan was put together on Monday, announced to the PAX on Tuesday, enough donations received by Thursday, food bought on Friday and delivered on Saturday.

Thanks were in abundance from those receiving the meals. We had a few crying in appreciation. The names of the 10 neediest families were given to us by Kim Vinisette of SON Ministries who has been working in the community for years. F3 has a strong relationship with Kim. As we shared with the families, we asked them to also share to any others that could use food for the holiday.

We gave each family a nice presentation basket of initial food along with their turkey, an F3 flyer, a holiday card from F3 and a gift certificate of varying amounts (depending on family size) to buy additional food, ie. fresh food, dessert.

We arrived at the park Saturday afternoon and the PAX helped deliver.

Lessons learned include…planning to spend more on each family roughly in the $100 range, buying all the food necessary for a full meal, starting much earlier, getting other groups involved to help support the cause. Maybe next year we can increase the # of families.

I have some pictures but not at the ready. Will get posted here shortly. I want to get this BB out.

*** An additional good experience came from this endeavor. One of the families, a single mom with 3 girls, had next to no furniture in their apartment.  Crab Cakes and his M Kara came through as we identified their needs and their rooms went from having nothing to being filled!  Awesome job!  We are now working on another similar situation. Will post that info soon!

Great thanks once again to the PAX.

Aye! Bolt

 

 

 

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KettleBell Temple Of Doom

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The temperature was below freezing, the AO is in the recon stage, but 8 brave souls came out of their fart sacks at an un-Godly hour to go to Church.  Special thanks to New River Church for allowing us to workout at their parking lot. 

After a disclaimer in which I repeated several times during the workout to modify if necessary since we would be working with weights, we moseyed around the parking lot with our kettlebells and did some toy soldiers which are much more difficult with the kettlebell in hand as the grumbling already began.  We then circled up…

COP

SSHx30

Hot Potatoes x10

Halo’s x5 each direction

Kettlebell Windmill’s x 5 each arm

5 Turkish Get-ups x5 each arm

The Thang

In my second ever Q I whipped out the Burpee Temple Of Doom, so in my first KettleBell Q I figured I would do a repeat concept but with KettleBells.  I placed 10 cones in the shape of a pyramid with exercises pasted on each cone.  Each level had progressively more difficult exercises with the pinnacle being the most difficult. 

Level 1

Cone 1- 1 Kettle-burpee/10x right hand merkins with the left hand on the kettlebell

Cone 2- 2 Kettle-burpee/10x left hand merkins with the right hand on kettlebell

Cone 3- 3 Kettle-burpee/10x right hand Kettle-thrusters(squat turning into over head press)

Cone 4- 4 Kettle-burpee/10x left hand Kettle-thrusters

Level 2

Cone 5- 5 Kettle-burpee/20x right hand kettle-swings

Cone 6– 6 Kettle-burpee/20x left hand kettle-swings

Cone 7- 7 Kettle-burpee/20x press jacks(SSH but instead of swinging arms you press the kettlebell over your head)

Level 3

Cone 8- 8 Kettle-burpee/30x right hand Kettle Snatch

Cone 9- 9 Kettle-burpee/30x left hand Kettle Snatch

Pinnacle- 10 Kettle-burpee/20x Clean and Press Right and Left Hand

We then did Lieutenant Dan’s over from the parking lot to the Church wall where we sat down to rest by doing People’s Chair while holding our KettleBells.  The outer 2 Pax(going into the middle) did…

Monkey Humpers x10

Sky Humpers(Back Bridge while pressing the Kettlebell) x10

Figure 8’s(Passing the Kettlebell between your legs in a figure 8 pattern) x10

2 minutes of Mary

10x Kettle Big Boy sit ups

12x Box cutters holding Kettlebell over head(Nemo)

20x Flutter Kicks holding Kettlebell over head(Two-Ferns)

COT

Travel Prayers for Royale and prayers for HomeBrew’s Father-In-Law whose Shell Plant is closing down.  Thanks to Two-Ferns for setting up the Church for us.

 

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Slow Burn – Wingin It – November 30, 2018

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My man Dark Helmet came down with a cold Thursday afternoon. I took the Q and rolled with it. I came into the morning with only a small idea of what I was going to do. I decided to piece together work outs that I had enjoyed from other Qs. It turned out to be more than moderate and we all (9) ended up having a great workout.

We started with a mosey down to the parking lot near En Chiladas for a warm up.
Moroccan Nightclub
LBCs
The Wind Mill
Side Straddle Hop
Merkins
Emperial Walker

We stayed where we were and paired up. While one man did LBCs, the other bear crawled to the other end of the parking space where he did 5 bomb jacks. Then he broad jumped back to the beginning. Then the partner did the same thing while he did the LBCs. We did 2 rounds of that. Then we switched the routine to one man doing merkins while the other lunged to the other end of the parking space, did 5 bomb jacks, and lunged back. We did two rounds of this.

Then we did a short mosey over to the side parking lot where we paired up and ran a 40 yard dash. I challenged everyone to try to outrun their partner. We did this 4 times. At the end of this, everyone was pretty winded. We stayed in the area and circled back up to work on our abs. We did the following exercises.
American Hammer
The Flutter
Hello Dolly
Rosalita
Box Cutters

From there we walked over to the wall where we did 25 calve raises (double count). This was inspired by Kenyan (Pow Pow Pow).

We moseyed to the parking lot in from of Empire Pizza where we did a special type of suicides.

We ran to the first parking spot and did 10 merkins single count and then ran back
We ran back to the first space and repeated the 10 merkins, then to the next spot where we did 5 burpees. Then we ran back.
Then we repeated the first two exercises on our way to the 3rd spot to do 5 bomb jacks, then back.
The final round had us stop to do each exercise on our way to the last spot where we did 10 low slow squats and ran back to the beginning.

The final round of exercises had us run 4 times all the way to the last spot where we did each of the 4 previous exercises and ran back (one exercise, run back, and on to the next one, etc.)

Afterwards, we all moseyed back to the COT.

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The Fort launches Q Source

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Are you ready to #accelerate your role as a leader within your home, workplace and community? Would the accountability and encouragement from other #HIMs from the Fort make a difference in your growth as a leader? If the answer is yes, then you are ready to take the Q Source journey in 2019!

 

The Thang

Launch: Saturday, January 5th

Site: Ballroom AO – Pleasant Knoll Elementary School

Time: 6:30 – 7:30 followed by Coffeeteria at the Eternal Shack

Qs: Change Order, Royale, Twister, Jedi and Pusher – Stinger, Q of the Q Source, will lead the coffeeteria

Responsibility of the Pax: Read the Q Point, Disturbance to the Status Quo, prior to posting

 

The mission of F3 nation is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership. Over the past 6 years of the Fort, you have led our region to impressive numbers of HIMs, increased fitness, CSAUPs, numerous 2ndF opportunities, community #Impact, increased Faith, the accountability of a fellow brother and many other great outcomes.

While the DRP offers preparedness and the Pax provide the accountability, there is still room to accelerate the growth as a leader. As many of you have read or heard on 43 Feet podcast, Dredd has written a “field manual for leadership” consisting of 54 Q Points meant to accelerate a man through his G3L (Get Right, Live Right, Lead Right, Leave Right). You can find more information at https://f3nation.com/category/q/or by listening to the weekly roundtable podcast featuring Stinger https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/f3-nation/id1218921251?mt=2&i=1000424612754

 

While our 1/5/19 discussion will be a convergence, beginning January 12th Q Source discussions will be immediately following our regular Saturday AOs. There will also be a Wednesday coffeeteria option (site TBD). The following HIMs have stepped up to lead:

The Deep – Royale

Alcatraz – Change Order

The Yard – Twister

The Fort – Pusher

Wednesday AO (site TBD) – Jedi

This concept takes the lessons learned from the Bible Challenge (accountability), Beyond (vulnerability) and Whetstone (shieldlock) and encompasses them all in one. Your commitment would be to post, Q a discussion(s) if necessary and read the weekly Q Point.

If you are committed to continuing your growth as a HIM and leader, please respond via the Google Form https://goo.gl/forms/Jzv9kmytqFJSBqiE3

 

For any questions, please contact Pusher at eddie.d.dowling@gmail.com or @Pusher_F3.

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Encouragement at The Arsenal

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The Arsenal Q 10/25 – Sorry this one is late, I was on vacation and lost track of it…

5:00 Pre-Run

Fire Hazard

General

Punch List

Soft Pretzel

5:30 Workout

Fire Hazard

General

One Niner

Punch List

Sharknado

Slow Pitch

Soft Pretzel

Cobbler asked me to Q at The Arsenal what feels like forever ago. I liked the idea of “crossing the borders” from The Fort to Indian Land. It also helped that this is the closest AO to my house… so there’s that. The opportunity rose and I met it. Plus it’s a very versatile AO with many options. 

Rewind to 10/25:

Four PAX up for the pre-run at 5:00. Seven PAX showed up to increase their self esteem by way of “positive talk” for the main event. The clock struck 5:30 and we moseyed down to the football fields. 

We stopped for COP on the practice field for a little warming up. It consisted of:

Al Gores

SSH x 29

Merkins x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 23

Tappy Taps x 10

During the Al Gores I asked the group what kind of leadership skills they’ve gained from being part of F3. Hilarity ensued.

“I’ve been voluntold to do everything, so I’ve learned how to voluntell people what to do really well.”

“Fire Hazard has really built up my self esteem over the years.”

“I’ve gotten really good at mumble chatter.”

This came up later… but a great technique to speed up a group if runners involved getting in front of them and dropping a bomb of sorts to “encourage” a faster pace.

So we got some good laughs, it was a good quick discussion. We finished off the COP and moseyed over to the football field.

Football Field Circuit

Partner Workout

Each Partner Wheel Barrows every other 10 yards, both partners complete workouts equal to yard marker on the field that you land. Start at one end zone and work toward the other.

Endzone – Burpee Broad Jumps x 7

10 – Donkey Kicks

20 – Hand Release Merkins

30 – Jump Lunges (each leg)

40 – Air Squats

50 – LBCs

40 – Air Squats

30 – Jump Lunges (each leg)

20 – Hand Release Merkins

10 – Donkey Kicks

Endzone – Burpee Broad Jumps x 7

Out, Lap around the track.

Pick Up the six who may or may not have splashed merlot over the fence. Remixed the workout to add a little more pain. 

All Together

Bear Crawls every 25 yards, stop for a workout

25 Yards 

15 Bomb Jacks

25 Yards

15 Jump Squats

25 Yards

15 Bomb Jacks

25 Yards

15 Jump Squats

End with some Jack Webs to burn the shoulders – made it to 6 Push Ups & 24 Claps

Mosey up to parking lot

Duck Duck Goose Abs x 2 (Lay in a circle and hold legs at 90°, each PAX takes turns running around the circle throwing legs down, hold at 6” until next PAX gets up).

Hillbilly walkers for obliques x 10

Pistol Crunches x 10 each leg

Overall it was a tough workout with 7 HIM answering the call. The field was wet and made for some discomfort. In the words of Geronimo… get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Thanks for the opportunity to lead and sorry about the late backblast… Disney was calling my name! 

Punch List out. 

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Deck of Burpees

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I always appreciate the opportunity to lead a workout.  I’ve also enjoyed #Pantheon each time I’ve been there.  Its a solid AO, with a lot of opportunity/locations to dish out the pain!

I decided with this workout, that I wanted to go simple.  Every time someone brings a deck of cards, I always think it will be easy and inevitably end up completely gassed.

5:15 Disclaimer and off we went…

Warm-up:

Mosey around the parking lot with some dynamic stretching.  Circle up and run through several warm-up exercises.  The usual suspects were there: SSH, Imperial Walkers, SSH, Hill Billy Walkers, SSGH, Merkins, Planks, etc.  You get the drill.

The Thang:

So cards it was – although with a slight twist.  Rather than each suit representing an exercise, the suit and the number/face card provided a matrix that was used to dish out more varied pain…

Each PAX took turns selecting a card from the deck and looking up the exercise on my phone (a bit hard to read).

Key:

[H] Hearts [D] Diamonds [C] Clubs [S] Spades AND # on card = number of reps; J, Q, K = 15 reps

2-5: [any suit]: burpees (56 in total)

6: [H] Merkins; [D] Diamond Merkins; [C] Wide Arm Merkins; [S] Hand Release Merkins

7: [H] Low Slow Squats; [D] Ground Touch Squats; [C] Sumo Squats; [S] Squats

8: [H] Alternating Lunges; [D] Alternating Reverse Lunges; [C] Alternating Jump Lunges; [S] Speed Skater (Apollo Ono)

9: [H] Calf Raise (both legs); [D] Tuck Jumps; [C] Single Leg Calf Raise (L); [S] Single Leg Calf Raise (R)

10: [H] Table Dips; [D] Shoulder Taps; [C] Crab Cakes; [S] PAX choice

J: [H] BCs; [D] Flutter Kicks; [C] Dying Cockroach; [S] V-ups

Q: [H] Heels to Heaven; [D] X’s and O’s; [C] Big Boy Sit-ups; [S] Protractor

K: [H] Scissor Kicks; [D] Weezie Jefferson; [C] Rosalita; [S] Plank Waterfall (each PAX 15 count)

A: [any suit] 2 line Suicides

This took us right up to time for COT.  Count-o-rama, Name-o-rama, Announcement, Prayers/Praises, BOM.

As always thanks for the opportunity and the push!

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1+1=Terrible Downpainment

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19 Pax descended on Block Party including 3 for Pathfinder for an old school beatdown by YHC and Mash. Little did YHC know when I suggested to Mash that he co-Q with me that it would be his 50th Birthday at Block Party #Respect.

Mash and I have been friends for many years and I already had tons of respect for him. He is a good Christian, Husband and Father coupled with being a military veteran. Our children are the same age so we have lots in common. More importantly, he has demonstrated being a true #HIM since joining the Fort several years ago.

The Thang

Full Disclaimer

Mash on Q – Mosey out

COP – lots of chatter here…I may have been contributing

SSH

Moroccan Night Clubs

Windmills

Merkins x 15 (YEAH!)

Mosey to gravel lot and partner up

Dora 1,2,3

100 Merkins

200 Flutters

300 SSHs

Pusher on Q – Mosey to hill

Bear crawl up hill – #turrible

Dirty McDeuce powered by Halloween Candy

Side Note: Avg American eats 3.4 pounds of candy on Halloween; Candy has calories (duh!); 1 minute of Burpees equals approximately 10 calories;

All exercises IC x 12; Calories are based on “Fun Size” portions

Starburst (40 cals) – Squats

Skittles (63 cals) – LBCs

M&Ms (73 cals) – Wide Arm

Take a lap

Kit Kat (70 cals) – Jumping Lunge

Snickers (80 cals) – Flutters

Twix (80 cals) – Carolina Dry Docks

Take a lap

Reeses Cup (90 cals) – Bomb Jacks

Baby Ruth ( 85 cals) – Freddy Mercury

Butterfinger ( 85 cals) – Diamond Merkins

Take a lap

York Patty ( 50 cals) – Burpees

Crunch ( 60 cals) – Rosalita

Hershey ( 63 cals) – Burpees

Mosey Home

 

Moleskin:

  • Happy #Respect Birthday to Mash
  • Christmas Party on 12/1/18
  • Pre Christmas Drop In on 11/2/18 with Shady at Armor Artis
  • Be a HIM in your community…lots of examples were shared
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Block Party – Smoothing the Stones

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Today at the Block Party I was ready to have a namesake beatdown with Cinder Blocks and all the fun of them. So the wienke was made and the plan was to utilize the blocks at Honey Badger Central or Den or the Coop or whatever they are calling NAFO these days. At 0430 I left to go get the blocks and find there are no blocks to be found. It seems the FMSD has taken our blocks away……again!!

After quick conversation with the Darkest of Helmets I had to call….Omaha…..Omaha!!! Was not too bad to change some of the exercise moves and YHC was ready to roll.

15 PAX arrived and I was excited for the turnout at WEP. Its an original AO and one of our best and so love to see the PAX still coming. We had 13 bootcamp and 3 runners for Pathfinder and at 0515 away we all went.

Mosey up the Stairway to Heaven

  • Al Gore
  • Merkins (Stealth)

Mosey along path

  • Al Gore
  • Merkins (Stealth)
  • Low Slow Squat

Mosey along path

  • Al Gore
  • Merkins (Stealth)
  • Low Slow Squat
  • Windmills

Mosey along path

  • Al Gore
  • Merkins (Stealth)
  • Low Slow Squat
  • Imperial Walkers

The Main event

List of 10 exercises, 100 reps cumulative with Partner

Partner  1 runs around Playground, Partner 2 exercise move…..working the list

  • Squats
  • Merkins
  • Lunge (50 each leg)
  • Swing Crunches
  • Pullups
  • Step ups (100 each leg)
  • Dips
  • Toe Taps
  • Derkins
  • Leg Raises

Nice work by all the PAX. FNG, Liquidate, did great and fun was had by all!!

I talked to the men about David and Goliath and when David chose 5 smooth stones there was a reason. Smooth stones would fly straight and accurate versus those with edges and odd shape. The stones were smooth from being in the water and rubbing against each other over years and smoothing each other out. We as men need each other to help us shoot straight and face our Goliath. By surrounding ourselves with PAX that want to get better and live for something bigger than ourselves, we will all get smoothed out and be able to fly straight and stay on path. Get those trusted advisers in your life and GET BETTER!

Cake Boss

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