Back in March 2013, I remember my 2nd post to WEP. You see, I first visited (not posted) F3 the Fort in October 2012 but dismissed it due to one of the Top 5 excuses immediately afterward. You can see them here Top 5 EH Excuses. Clearly, I didn’t get it in October but something or someone kept reminding me about it throughout the winter months. I had this voice in my head telling me that the mixed gender spinning classes or the self motivated half marathon i had completed were simply not enough. This constant ringing in my head coupled with some warmer weather led me to March 2013.

When I arrived at WEP, I was a little confused as there were only 3 other Pax to join me. Surely there would be more, right? As we circled up (more like a square than a circle), I will never forget this man in his late 40’s (Senator Tressel) who was in fantastic shape telling me, without a disclaimer mind you, that each man would be leading 15 minutes of the 60 minute workout today so get ready. Ready?!? I had never called cadence, never led a workout group, was not in as good of shape as any of the other three Pax and could think of about 3 exercises, none of which were part of the F3 lingo. But away we went!

That day is ingrained in my memory as the day I found something. Not something that was in my work career development plan. Not something that would help me coach U6 soccer (What’s the snack this week Coach?). But something that I desperately needed. Something that made Fort Mill my home. Something that brought me closer in my faith. Something that made me a better leader. Something that made me a better husband. Something that made me a better Father. And there was some fitness too!

Since that time, I have been fortunate to witness many of the same stories at the Fort. I have witnessed the leadership of men create 30+ more new AOs across 4 suburban communities. These same men have added Bible studies, leadership development, community involvement, CSAUPs and countless other activities that improved the lives of both the participants as well as our neighbors.

Like the story of the mustard seed, what started it all at the Fort was WEP. It was men like DD, Senator Tressel, Santini, WWL and Red Banjo (I know I am forgetting some, my apologies). It was guys being thrust into peer leadership roles and accepting and overcoming the challenge. What a glorious thing you have created in my hometown!

Lately, I haven’t posted to WEP to Q or participate in a workout. There are just so many good options out there plus I have joined the F3 Running Club! I have paid attention though and many others have found other options as well. So with my upcoming Q with Solid State, I thought I would issue a challenge…How about an Old School WEP workout on 4/16? The Weinke is not finished but I am sure we could incorporate some Jacobs Ladder, Drill Bits, Sweet Baby Jesus, ‘Merica or many of the other great workouts from the past. If you want, you can even add some EC prior at 6:30. Running anyone?

I can personally guarantee all 3 Fs, some great mumble chatter and Coffeeteria after. Look forward to seeing you in the gloom!

Friday I traveled down with M & 2.4, ate at Barbara Jeans…terrible storms…went back to hotel…text Cow Tipper that he better show because I will be there…set the alarm.

Alarm goes off…check twitter…@F3Jacksonville was closing for weather…immediately send out tweet that we are on…#notaweatherman #notaSMARTman

Conditions were foolishness, heavy sideways rain, lightning, thunder, 50 degrees, and an absolutely perfect morning for a #downpainment to start week #5 of @F3StSimons

Review of F3 Core Principles

F3 workouts …

■Are free of charge

■Are open to all men

■Are held outdoors, rain (theory tested today) or shine, heat or cold

■Are led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary

■End with a Circle of Trust

CSPAN on Q

Disclaimer (did not need it -) and discussion on keeping up, modify as needed, no FNG (he would need to get his skull checked to show up in these conditions…all we needed was a 1 iron…).

Run full speed to Casino to get some cover from weather and lightning…#WEAK…or #WISE?

COP

SSH, IW, Squats, Windmills, Moroccan Night Clubs, Seal Jacks, an additional set of squats.

Long warmup Plank-o-Rama series. I potentially planked them too long…(not a crowd pleaser that included CDD, MC, ParkerPeter & PeterParker)

Arkloader Series

Back and forth across Casino Square with bear, lunge, crab, lunge, backwards bear, flying squirrels, basketball shuffle, shooter drills, karaoke, broad jumps, bunny hops, alligator merkins, duck walks, and some intermittent jogs to catch our breath. I think I covered the entire Ark in 50 minutes.

Last ten minutes practicing call cadence…and having #fun

Bunch of sermons mixed in discussing the impact F3 has made on my life…and the impact the men of @F3TheFort (and supporting areas) are having on me…#sadclown no more

COT

Prayer & Praise, BOM, and a good discussion on the #StarfishF3 model.

Moleskin:

Always an honor to be part of a launch, here is everything in my notes:

• 2^nd F is the glue, and @F3StSimons has a great group
• @F3TheFort was supporting @F3Leap on both coasts today with Jekyl and Rooney posting @F3Kirkland and me hanging in the Golden Isles
• There really is an App for that…F3 app that is…
• AO is first class, need to come back so I can run my planned Weike, and run you by my old house and all my pain station stops from 7 years ago…
• #HIM = High Impact Man
• Read “Freed to Lead” here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Freed-To-Lead-Unshackling-Modern-day-ebook/dp/B00JJQB2Z8
• Special thanks to Beastie, Glee, & Cow Tipper in supporting my “crazy” F3 adventures
• Carefully plan your 1^st F schedule per my discussion, and understand that it does not always have to be the most difficult post…remember my “moderate” story
• 2^nd F is what most men are looking for…#mumblechatter
• 3^rd F will build your group up faster than any difficult 1^st F workout ever will
• Here is the post I discussed from Zima and making adult male friends… Check out ‘The Virtual 2nd F’: http://f3nation.com/2016/02/29/the-virtual-2nd-f/
• Here is the post I discussed from Dark Helmet and making your VQ (virgin Q)…. the last 2 paragraphs describe what most men feel the first time they Q (lead): http://f3nation.com/2015/03/18/kettlebell-burpees-yeah-thats-a-thing-at-the-armory/
• Tell @Fountainhead that I made it difficult enough…enjoy week 6, it is well worth your time…one more week and you are on your own

Appreciate the enthusiasm, and get your twitter account going, and follow me @CSPANF3

CSPAN – over & out

A few weeks ago my handle showed up in a tweet from Wild Turkey looking for Qs for Stonehenge. I’m always up for a challenge, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I’ve worked out once in SOBland. It was hard. I wanted to make sure I brought it for these guys. Then, just to make sure I was nervous and worried about being able to make it hard enough, Mario calls me out a couple days beforehand… Great… Mario is expecting pain… He’s nearly half my age and easily twice as fit… Sure… this is going to go well…

The Thang:
The SOB boys were especially rowdy and hilarious this morning, so I knew I was going to be in for a treat…
Warm Up:
Mosey down Conlan Circle to the roundabout, past Duckworths to Ballantyne Medical Plaza/Brixham Hill and up to corner parking lot with dynamic stretching as we go…

Circle up in lot for following:
SSH x 30
Mountain Climbers x 30
Squats x 25
Merkins x 15
CDD x 15
Jump Squats x 15

Mosey down Brixham Hill to putting green in front of Hixson building

6 count burpees x 10

At this point, it was my intention to split into teams and run relays on the green. I’m not a golfer. I guess I didn’t think that it would hurt anything. Well, Frehley’s Comet decided to take his Site Q role back (he gave it up a while ago apparently) for a moment while he yelled and hollered (clearly a skill that he learned from other old, crusty, “get-off-my-lawn”/rent-a-cop type gentlemen) about how we weren’t going to do any of that up on the green.

Point made. Easy tiger. I foolishly asked where we could find a field of grass. There were 17 men at this post, and I am sure I got no less than that many opinions on where we could find grass. A vague consensus was reached, and so we grabbed the sandbags that I had laid out for part of our fun, and we moseyed to the back of the building to the field of… asphalt… that was there. No grass? Oh, maybe that’s a building or so away… Is it the building to the left? No! It’s the right. We’re pretty sure it’s just over there… (At some point this morning we’re going to workout, right?) Enough arguing… I need someone who is good at math to help me split this motley crew into teams… Also, a mistake. The only thing that this group was worse at than finding grass, was simple division. Not that I can talk… I couldn’t figure out any of it. I was O2 deprived from trying to run and keep up with Mario so I didn’t look like a pansy at my own Q… Bad idea.

We finally get the team thing figured out and then we did the following relays at this locale:
Sandbag Carry Relay
Bear Crawl Relay
Partner Carry Relay
Crab Walk Relay
(Pax who are awaiting their turns were either doing squats or LBCs, while team members ran their legs)

I was beginning to lament that I didn’t have grass, because there were a couple of other relays I wanted to do. The Bulls! The Bulls have grass, they said… OK… Let’s head over there. They failed to mention, however, that the Bulls are like a quarter mile away… Some of us were pretty smoked already, and carrying sandbags didn’t help… It’s all good. The Bulls will solve everything!

We finally all get to the Bulls (Walk On and I were bringing up the 6) and keep the same teams for a few last relays:
Hairburner Relay
Low Crawl Relay
Backward Run Relay
Hairburner Relay (again) (crowd pleaser)

Then, we picked up the bags and attempted to run the 1/2 mile back to COT. (I think mine was more of a shuffle at this point…) As we did Name-o-rama, JRR Tolkein worked on his 200 burpees he owed for not losing 10 pounds in March. If you’ve never seen him

NMM:
– I find it to be a lot of fun and very invigorating to post with guys that I don’t usually post with. I like to meet new Pax and learn a little of the character of their Region.
– THIS AO IS HUGE. Everything looks a lot closer together on Google Maps.
– If you are visiting a place that you don’t usually post, and there is a coffeeteria you can attend after the workout, GO. I went with the SOBs to Einstein Bagels and had a great time being obnoxious and getting to know them better.
– On that note, Fire Hazard lost the bet that JRR Tolkien would come in to the Einstein’s shirtless. Apparently, he has a problem with that…
– I am pretty sure that I didn’t make it hard enough for some PAX, but I almost made it too hard for myself. I’m sure there is a lesson in there somewhere for me, but I’m sure I’ll screw that up again later…

It really was an honor, and I was humbled to go and to lead these guys. As I continue to participate in F3, I become increasingly grateful to be meeting some of the best men that this country has to offer. It really is awesome.

Helmet, out.

Sixteen of Rock Hill and the Fort’s best met Monday morning for a tour of Old Town. I volunteered for this Q since Tinker Toy was out with a post P200 injury. (side note: How TT ran 18 miles on a bum calf and shin still amazes me). Part of the reason I wanted today’s Q so badly was that I wanted to give Van Wilder a chance to get his VQ in. So with that, Van Wilder started us off with the warmup:

Warmup: (in cadence)

Morrocan Night Club x 25

Windmill x 20 (complete with lots of CSPAN grunting)

Grass Pickers x 25

Merkins x 10

We then moseyed over to Freedom Temple for a little stairway action.

Up one stair, back down, up two, back down, and so on–all the way to the top. Rinse and repeat.

Handoff to Schrute

Mosey over to the Parking Deck (the Hot Box):

Peoples Chair for a count of 10.

BTTW for a 20 count.

Run parking deck (4 levels)–add 5 of each exercise on each level going up–start at 20 and subtract 5 going down. Plank and wait on 6 at the top, Peoples Chair and wait on 6 at the bottom.

Exercises:

Squats

Bomb Jacks

Merkins

Carolina Dry Docks

Mosey over to the Old Town Amphitheater. Line up on the seats in irkin (inclined merkin) position. Do 1 Irkin, move down. Person at end move up to next row. Repeat until each last Pax has done one row. (this may have been where I grunted while calling out exercise and got called out–HT: Italian Job).

Had about 5 minutes remaining, so ran to top of Amphitheater, ran across, lunge walked bottom for two laps–then headed in to COT.

It was an honor to lead today. Its always good seeing guys take the #DRP and become part of our group. Van Wilder has definitely done that–he’s just been out since January, and has brought out 3-4 FNGs since coming out. He did an excellent job counting cadence today.

Always good to see the men from the Fort (CSPAN, Longshanks, Cake Boss, and Stang) posting across the River.

Schrute out!

Conditions were clear, crisp, and 40 degrees

Paused for Rock Thrill to finish making a C-store deposit/price check

Train whistle = 10 Burpees in honor of Padre

Disclaimer disclaimed with Legal Counsel present

And we were off…moving fast…really fast…with @FAKEBurgandy in full stride, he was talking, I was sprinting…he was giving me a tour of Winthrop’s campus, I grunted out a “get me to that DI highway”

For those who don’t know a DI Highway is a USMC Drill Instructor term for a passage way or a walkway that is utilized into a pain station where you can see all troops coming or going. At Winthrop near the commons is a long walkway with street lights to use as markers and is a perfect place for a workout

THE THANG:
Dynamic warmup alternating at each light post, plank for the 6.
Lunge and soccer hips
Toy Soldiers and soccer hips
Bear crawls and light jog
Basketball side shuffle and shooting drills
A couple more, nothing very memorable…we got good and warmed up

Quick sermon on Coach John Wooden = 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years

Coach John Wooden was known for reciting a seven-point creed for life that he said he received from his father. I turned it into a pop- quiz for Chaser and DD… who I discussed Coach Wooden’s 7 Point Creed on the jeep ride to the AO…they both knew there was going to be a pop-quiz…and they both did well…we were doing the burpees anyways…#sorrynotsorry

The 7 points:
1. Be true to yourself.
2. Make each day your masterpiece.
3. Help others.
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
So I spent the next 30 or so minutes trying to get in as many burpees as possible…we got in well over 100 in a 45 minute workout. It was nice…

Moleskin:
• Great numbers this morning, and was it because I said it was going to be “easy”…it is never going to be easy…
• Really good #Mumblechatter from the #HIM of @F3RockHill
• It was great to be with DD, Chaser, and Rock Thrill who all showed up to enjoy the AO
• Catfish thank you for the invite to Q
• Read your newsletter
Be a better man today then you were yesterday,
AYE!
CSPAN

The Fort is getting a reputation for mastering the art of the CSAUP.

The Hog and Coyote

The Yeti

And…The Fast 5!

Because of the sheer awesomeness of bacon (and the fact that Zima needed another F3 shirt). The Fort presents – The Fast 5: Spring Installment! Our semi-annual 5K. “Fast 5, The World’s Fastest 5K” is a far cry from your standard 5K. That’s Right, 5 Men (or Women, that’s right FiA is getting in on the action) run a break-neck pace for 1 Kilometer each. Why you ask a 5K relay? Because it’s CSAUP…mostly S but definitely P as well. Think of this as a mini-P200, but instead of hauling butt to Charleston, we’re just running circles around Fort Mill High School’s track. Like last time, it’ll be over before it gets started. Will the Sons of Ballantyne come and defend their title? Will CSPAN run a lap short again? Will there be more bacon? Yes, there will be much much more!

When, Who, Why, How? Some of these questions are answered below:

Where
Fort Mill High School Track
292 Munn Road E
Fort Mill, SC 29715

Date & Time
May 21, 2016 at 4:00 PM

2ndF After
Tailgate in the School Parking Lot (Bring all your tailgating supplies, cornhole, etc.)*
*Quick Note: This is a DRY EVENT as alcohol is not permitted on the school grounds

Rules: Each 5 man team must have at least 1 Clydesdale (200+ lbs) or 1 50+ F3 Man (RESPECT!) / FiA Teams are Open

Awards: Bragging Rights for the 1st Place Team and a New Trophy crafted by our very own Italian Job

T-shirt: Click HERE

Start forming your teams now! Bring an FNG! This event will be bigger and better! More teams! More Regions!

Sign Up –> HERE

Here are some particulars about the event. This is a loose/non-regulated relay race.  Here are the semantics:

• Each Team will be provided with a baton or bacon
• Each Team Member will run 2.5 laps around the track (slightly longer than 1K each)
• Exchange Zones will be marked on opposite sides of the track where batons are to be exchanged
• Exchange Zones are 1st Come 1st Serve as it pertains to lanes (1st to Exchange Zone may exchange in lane 1, 2nd in lane 2, etc.). Will explain on race day!
• We will be self regulating and timing.  I will communicate to the Team Captains the process.

Winners may or may not win a pound of Bacon but have exclusive bragging rights until next installment!

2.0 Race following the Fast 5. One Lap with all they got!

You are encouraged to invite your family and friends!  The more people who partake in this nonsense the better. The tailgate afterwards will be a great time of fellowship and regaling of the event that took only a few minutes to complete.

Update 04/14/16

This just In! Since this is an “endurance” race, we thought we should open up a 2-Man Ultra Team option (no requirements). So if you think you’re good enough, put your team together and show us what you got! Use the link above.

Aye!
Zima & Anchorman

The Thang:

Flat Tire led off with a warm up of Merkins, CDD, IW, WM, SSH and a mosey to the far side of the school with a reverse ladder of bomb jacks and burpees. Followed up by a quick trip to the lunch yard for a round of derkins and dips. Flat Tire talked to us about Good Friday and the awful treatment of Christ. YHC is not doing Flat Tire’s 1/2 hour and he apologizes.

Twister took over with his friend Cindy and her friends. A tour ’round the school stopping for:

20 chest presses with 25 SSH 2X
20 squats with 2X
Box Jumps
20 curls with 25 SSH 2X
20 pulls with 25 SSH and 5 Merkins
20 chest presses with 25 SSH 2X

Finishing with:

20 LBC
20 LSF
20 Rosalita

Limp Biskit took the opportunity to HC a passerby to join our workout. Welcome Blade!!!

Little mumble chatter regarding p200 and how Ringer stated it was much easier being on a 6 man team vs. 9 man team! At that point we all secretly (& verbally) wanted to hurt him.

Side note: General Q’d and didn’t have access to the site so I’m taking the liberty to fill in some gaps via what he said happened vs. what actually happened.

Warm up
Nice easy mosey to loosen up the legs and get the blood flowing (BH: side note, that half mile “nice easy mosey” was more like a 630-7 minute pace half mile sprint)

The Thang
Merkin set (10 rep, 8 rep, 6 rep x each placement below) (BH: AKA a sick version of mucho-chesto)

• Regular
• Wide-arm
• Diamond
• Stagger right
• Stagger left

Pull-up (10 rep, 8 rep, 6 rep).
Dip-set (10 rep, 8 rep, 6 rep)

Negative (partner):

• Pull-ups(10 rep, 5 reps)
• Merkins (10 rep, 5 reps)
• Dips (10 rep, 5 reps)

Mosey over to dragons back. Weighted squats (5 reps + hill sprints up the dragon) x3. (BH: Weighted meaning “partner” squats. As always Copay was the partner of choice for these, unfortunately for him, he was my partner!)

Finished with a slow mosey and back to COT with a 1 minute forearm plank to tighten up the core.

Moleskin
BH: Needless to say after the this workout, I’m having trouble typing this up. Luckily for me I’m able to rest arms on my desk so all good on that front! As always, lots of things around the regions. Great Q General!

General / Bounty Hunter over and out!

13 Patriots posted to Cherry Park for a dose of Saturday pain marked by “seasoned” Qs and the number 200 in partnership with our P200 brothers.

My thought for this P200 weekend workout was that we likely had a number of non-runners among the pax on this day.  This presented the opportunity for the boot campers to take back the reins and prove that F3 is NOT a running club.  Yet, it was certainly appropriate to respect the effort being put forth by our brothers down state, thus the idea of 200 leg reps.  On top of the 200 theme, the mental challenge of the workout was to complete all exercises of all forms from one spot.  The challenge was aimed at reinforcing the notion that life happens for each of us only in one spot at one time – in the present where we are situated at any given moment.  Unfortunately, the weekend soccer tourney forced us to transition to the football field midway through, but we stuck with theme the nonetheless (more on the origin of the theme later).

The Thang

CSPAN takes the pax out for warm up run around middle school parking lots

COP – SSHs, IWs, Windmills, Merkins, Squats, CDDs, Seal jacks

Line up along one side of parking lot for series of warm up moves across parking lot and back – Toy Soldiers, Butt kicks, High Knees, Karaoke, Soccer hips, Bounding strides, forward bunny hop, backward bunny hop, Side shuffles, Basketball jump shots, Burpee broad jumps

Hand off to Double D

Run to open soccer field and circle up w/goal of getting permanently comfortable for next 45 mins.  Mix of exercises throughout covering upper body and core in between 205 reps of legs (including Bomb jacks, monkey jumpers, squat jumps, squats, sumo squats, etc).

Following the super extended COP, we knocked out some partner wheel barrows, took a lap around the track and ran home.

COT

Naked man moleskin

The theme of living in the present in an awakened and alert state of mind surfaced from my own realization that I’ve been living in a haze during recent weeks.  This reality struck home severely on Thur and Fri mornings for me.  On the way to WEP on Thurs at 0500 for my Q at LILO, I was sitting at the traffic light on 160 at the Peach Stand.  As I struggled to pull my Weinke to the front of my gloom-filled mind, something in my vision registered “green” and I took my foot off the brake and began to accelerate through the interaction.  THANKFULLY, by God’s grace alone, a white streak from the right also registered in my vision and I slammed on the brakes and laid on the horn as a sedan came screaming through the intersection at 50+ MPH.  Now fully awake, I looked up to see two red lights facing me and a green right turn arrow.  Pretty dramatic example of me not living in the present.  BUT, in fact, the lesson was not absorbed in that moment, as the following morning would prove out.

Fri AM, I was rolling through Starbucks’ drive-thru on the way to Funhouse’s impactful session sharing his Columbia mission trip experience.  At the window, the barista was talking to a colleague from behind the window glass as she stepped forward to deliver my coffee.  With my mind elsewhere and assuming she was still talking to her co-worker, I completely tuned out of her question about whether I had also ordered some sort of pastry….at least three times she asked me directly while I handed her the five spot and sipped my coffee and offered her absolutely no response.  FINALLY, my brain picked up the fact that she was talking to me.  Two days, two strikeouts.

So, I welcomed the opportunity to Q Saturday morning, seeing it as a path to shake the funk and allow my F3 brothers to help me reset my compass.  Thanks to The Patriot pax for bringing me back to the present!

Special send off prayers for Boots as he heads off this week for the Coast Guard.  Make your fellow pax back in RH proud, young man!  Stay in the light and be safe!

A shout out led by Cheeto to DaVinci and all pax who’ve been absent in recent weeks/months.  Spring is coming soon, which will undoubtedly bring out some Kotters along with FNGs.  Five star hospitality when these pax post will ensure that they stay engaged.

Nice work by Quick Silver, stepping into COP w/CSPAN on his 2nd workout to lead a little bit of the warm up.  Keep it up!

Last opportunity to order Mudgear with original logo for The Fort will be coming soon.  New logo/artwork is in the works.  Keep an eye on Twitter or reach out to Italian Job.

Thanks to Peach for his steady leadership of The Patriot and for the opportunity to Q.  It was a great morning, including coffeeteria at The Little Café!