Thirteen of Rock Hill and the Fort’s finest gathered Thursday morning for a workout that ended up embodying what F3 is all about. Its commonly said that:

• The First F (Fitness) is the Magnet
• The Second F (Fellowship) is the Glue
• The Third F (Faith) is the Dynamite

I stepped up to lead this morning because Mailman has a ton on his plate. We’ve had a ton of growth in the last two months in Rock Hill, averaging at least 1 FNG a week since January 1. I wanted to give a few of those FNGs a chance to lead–and Waterboy stepped up to lead the warmup.

Warmup (Waterboy) (All In Cadence)

• Windmill x 20
• Moroccan Night Club x 20
• Merkin x 10
• SSH x 20
• LBC x 20

Tclaps to Waterboy for stepping up with everything going on. I have a feeling he’s going to lead some tough Q’s down the road.

Handoff to Schrute

Mosey over to the Hill behind TJ Maxx

Bear Crawl up the Hill, Crawl Bear down the Hill, Crawl Bear up the hill, Bear Crawl down the Hill.

Mosey over to Events at Manchester Building for some four corners.

At each corner, complete 10 of the exercise, then move to the next corner and repeat. Plank for the 6.

Exercises:

• Lap 1: 10 merkins at each corner
• Lap 2: 10 burpees at each corner
• Lap 3: 10 squats at each corner
• Lap 4: 10 bombjacks at each corner
• Lap 5: 10 calf raises at each corner

Plank up after each lap and wait on the 6.

Mosey over to the side of the Books-a-Million building.

People’s Chair with all 13 Pax counting down from 10. (YHC thought everyone would count fast–but some counted at a Tinker Toy pace)

Mosey back to COT for one bit of final goodness. We had 3 minutes remaining–so we did 3 minutes of Tabata Jump Squats. (30 seconds of jump squats, as many as you can do, followed by 30 seconds rest, Rinse and Repeat until time is up).

Throughout the workout–we had lots of 1st and 2nd F. Especially when Apache made sure to find out each Pax’s home town and talk about how we were going to start a workout there. That was clearly a glue moment.

Announcements:

• Check the newsletter for everything going on
• Turbine has a team for Spartan Race
• Popeye’s 40th birthday celebration on Saturday
• F3 5 year celebration

Prayers:

I heard a sermon this week challenging us to “not be afraid of the dark.” The sermon was relating Jesus’ walk to Calvary to us walking through the dark. One of the points that was made that our children are so full of life because they are constantly trying new things. We, on the other hand; get caught in our day to day routine and stop growing. My challenge was for the Pax to try something new, whether it be a CSAUP, Whetstone, or other thing.

Apache asked for prayers for some situations he is going through.

Waterboy spoke about several things going on in his life:

• His MIL’s house flooding a few weeks ago due to a busted Water Heather
• His wife’s uncle missing (edit: he was found later Thursday morning)
• The anniversary coming up of his father’s death (who was a #HIM in all definitions of the phrase)

We ended with laying hands on Waterboy and praying for him and all the Pax as we finished this morning.

Kudos to all the men for posting this morning. Great to see Van Wilder back this morning, Blueprint, Reborn, and Choir Boy may be some of the fastest FNG’s (Fairly New Guys) that we’ve had, York continues to crush it, Water Boy and Bull keep getting stronger and stronger, Catfish, Turbine, and Popeye are ridiculously fast (#youarerunners), Apache is the king of mumble chatter, and its always a pleasure to see Deacon cross the river (#HIM). You all made me better this morning, and I’m grateful.

We started the morning with the 1st F (the magnet), got plenty of the 2nd F (the glue), and finished with the 3rd F (the dynamite) this morning. What an amazing morning it was! Thanks to all the Pax for the privilege of leading!

The Thang

12 hardcore Pax showed up to take on the Gauge led beat down at PHOP.

Warm up : Mosey around the church and then circle up for 20 seal jacks, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs, and 20 Imperial Walkers.

Mosey to the front of the church and the real fun starts.

Alternating ladder:  1 burpee and 1 V situp then 2 burpees and 2 V situps…3…4…5.  Then back down 4…3…2..1.

Short mosey to back of church for 2 rounds of power skips and broad jumps.

5 burpees then a bear crawl to other end of field followed by 5 squats and a reverse bear crawl back. 1 lap mosey around the church.

5 double burpees then lunge walk to other end of field followed by 5 squats an a lunge walk back.  1 lap mosey around the church.

5 triple burpees then crab walk to other end of field followed by 5 squats and a crab walk back.  Mosey to front of church.

Another round of the burpee and V sit up ladders to finish the workout.

The mumble chatter was in full force with Apache and CSPAN leading that charge.  Awesome group of Pax that provided the push and the pull all the way.  Great to have brothers from Fortmill, Rock Hill, and York all working together to make each other better.

Lots of prayers and praises and great words from Tinker Toy to take us out.

Welcome to the brotherhood Hot Sauce.

It was an honor to lead this group of High Impact Men.

@F3theFort Annual Maltz Challenge Friday 3/11/16 @Varsity

Event Info:     A memorial workout event/salute to those who have been KIA

Because @F3TheFort our common belief is that all US KIA deserve our gratitude and tribute.

2016 Heroes:    MSGT Michael Meltz USAF – KIA 3/23/03 (Long Island, NY)

Cpl. Christopher Ebert USMC – KIA 9/17/07 (Mooresboro, NC)

Lance Cpl. Travis A. Fox – KIA 10/30/04 (Cowpens, SC)

When:            The 2016 Maltz Challenge will be conducted on Friday, March 11th.

0500 BOM, warm-up and course review

0515 Maltz Challenge

NAFO HS USMCJROTC

1400 A O Jones Blvd

Fort Mill, SC 29715

@F3theFort Maltz exercises are (self timed):

1.        400 meter run (1 lap around track)
2.        50 pull-ups (consecutive = don’t leave station until complete)
3.        200 yard Farmer’s Walk with 50 lbs. around bus loop in front of ROTC building
4.        50 dips in table stance w/ one leg up
5.        100 push-ups
6.        400 meter run (1 lap around track)
7.        50 heels to heaven (leg lifts 10 degrees to 90 degrees)
8.        100 Squats
9.        100 Sit-ups
10.        400 meter run (1 lap around track)

Encourage your brothers as they finish, and all fitness levels are encouraged to participate, modify as needed.

COT & BOM

0610 Dismissal

More info at www.maltzchallenge.com

If you are interested in a memorial tribute t-shirt please contact CSPAN DM @CSPANF3

Last winter YHC agreed to join the Mud Run team of Dark Helmet, Cerrano and Spider-Man and we began to train. By train I mean we just posted to our daily workouts (we actually began to post more). But in an effort to be coordinated and learn how to partner and work as a team, we started posting to the same AOs during the week. We began a text-chain where we would check in with each other on where to post the next morning. As well as regale ourselves with the most recent #painfest of that day. This went on for months.

Spring came and with it the Mud Run. After the Mud Run a funny thing happened, we kept the text-chain going. This “Virtual 2nd F” as we have come to know it became more than just checking where we were going to post. It became a source of encouragement, support, prayer, accountability, smack talk, comedy and everything else you might find with a fellowship. The PAX mentioned above have hit on these points on more than one occasion.

The Virtual 2nd F has grown and added some members over the course of the past year. You start posting with other guys regularly, they get added. It just happens naturally. If the 2nd F is the glue for F3 Nation, I might just add that the Virtual 2nd F makes it Super Glue. I went from posting 3 days a week to posting almost every day because I couldn’t wait to see my brothers. I went from a consumer of pain to a deliverer (Q) of it. I became more involved, and like anything you put more into, I got more out of it. Essentially, it helped me become Third. I could cut and paste a year’s worth of messages so you get the idea, but I thought each PAX could give you a brief insight to their perspective.

Spider-Man
Most of us were fairly new to F3 when we committed to the Mud Run and started our Virtual 2nd F. My big draw to post, at the time, came from the desire to get better physically and was helped by an advantage of starting this F3 journey at the same time as my long term friend Cerrano. However, what drives me to work even harder in the gloom is my Virtual 2F. I can thank this group for driving me to sign up for CSAUP after CSAUP, pushing me to the point that I can now run a half marathon or more, and for pushing me to run 3 miles before each post. The push from this group is tremendous and I can be sure that a fartsack will provide the material for the days conversation. Even more importantly are the friendships and confidants I have gained from this. These are the guys that know or sniff out any troubles that go unspoken in COT, that bring humor to every single day, and are responsible for 50+ daily texts. For me, F3 is what it is in a large part due to our Virtual 2F!

Crash
I am the six! Last man to join. Being carried by the group of pax. I post a LOT more due to the accountability of the direct text. I post to see my fellow pax and friends who HC to certain posts/plans and are EH’ing me to not #fartsack. You naysayers can tell me Twitter does the same thing. I cannot view Twitter for days. I can become another lowly pax who looks at Twitter and thinks about posting, but once again #fartsacks. I cannot ignore the 60-80 pings my phone gets daily. Nor do I want to. The mumble-chatter is phenomenal and more private, thus encouraging “extra-special” EH’ing and just friendly chatter throughout the day. We all have jobs and life to get to once the sun actually comes up. I joined F3 for the 1stF, but this 2ndF is as needed in my life as much or more than the 1stF. Why the heck else would I now pre-run before posting but for the 2ndF. #onlypostingisforwimps

Cerrano
My daily Virtual F through the eyes of Cerrano AKA Bill Randol the Insurance Broker, I bring this up as it is how I received my name and no it’s not because I like Serrano Peppers. When Zima asked me to describe our Virtual F the first thing I thought of was accountability. Yeah, we are held accountable everyday in workouts in sorts but this has taken it to the next level through texting/calling with our virtual group consisting of 6 Pax today. It was dreamed up initially by team Ludicrous Speed during the great Mud Run of Gaston, South Carolina in April of last year. I believe this is when we first exchanged numbers and became Virtual buds. Some day’s it’s tough to concentrate with the amount of text threads coming through most of which consists of Q ideas, where we are posting for the week, or challenging each other to do stupid things like Marathons, pre runs, or the Palmetto 200. It has also been a way to talk to my brothers when having a bad day or to be there for a brother going through a rough time. Yes, it can be frustrating to be awaken by the Virtual threads the morning you are trying to “smart sack” but I wouldn’t want it any other way. #thankfulforunlimitedtexting. Thanks boys! Aye!!

Maximus
It’s 0510 on a Wednesday morning, a morning I don’t post and my phone lights up repeatedly with messages of varying levels of humor and accountability. Why you ask? Because about 4mos ago I was brought into this text group that has an effective way pushing, pulling, and surrounding each other.
If I’m feeling tired one morning or it’s raining so hard that I’m waiting to see the Ark and I try to bail on a pre-run, I immediately have at least 3 guys virtually pulling me out into the rain. Crazy, you think…yes. Slightly adolescent…yes. But totally meaningful as we trek toward this thing called male accountability and leadership through virtual fellowship when the in-person version can’t always happen.

Dark Helmet
Wake up… 6 (messages).
Take a shower… 8.
Drive to work… 14.
Come out of a work meeting… 38.
Eat dinner with the family… 19.
And it goes on like this all day most days. Good news, bad news, prayer requests, funny stories, jokes, simple questions, tough questions, struggles, wins, heck – even poop habits are par for the course… You have to be diligent with this or you’ll get behind and have to catch up. What started as a group text with just 4 of us that ran the USMC Mud Run together a year ago, has grown to include more and more of our close friends we have in F3. Zima calls it our V2F (Virtual 2nd F). And that’s just what it is… For me, it’s a way to stay connected to my brothers outside of the gloom, and we don’t have to be face-to-face. Some days, somebody posts something hilarious and it’s the pick-me-up I needed. Sometimes someone has a real concern that they bring to the group, and we all offer encouragement or advice or actual, real, in-person help when needed. Many times, the group text peels off into a one-on-one text to dive a little deeper with a Pax that needs a little extra support. I know about that last one, because it’s been me plenty… It’s my family outside my family, my church outside my church, my brotherhood outside my physical brotherhood. And I’m grateful to have it.

Axl
I am truly blessed to have the opportunity each day to share a common love for God with the Men of F3. The friendships that have been forged over these past several months have been absolutely amazing. This fellowship has given me empowerment, self-worth and purpose. With this, I have finally come to learn that God has a design for my life. My hopes/wishes are that others feel the same and that I could repay them one day.

Why are we telling you this? Why is this a Back Blast? I don’t think it’s particularly a singular event. I think Virtual 2nd Fs are happening all over F3 Nation. It’s just another way we’re locking shields. Iron Sharpens Iron. Its helping us do the things mentioned above (see encourage, support, etc.). The Virtual 2nd F is Super Glue! If you’re currently involved in one, TClaps! Consider bringing others into the fold. If you’re not, find those guys you are locking shields with on a consistent basis and consider the Virtual 2nd F. If it doesn’t work for you, you gave it a shot. But if it does work for you? If it makes you better? What then might happen?

Aye!
Zima

On this beautiful Sunday, F3 and Justice League celebrated one year of commitment to each other “off campus” at Sky High with 43 Pax, 2.0s, Ms and Children from the home.  Thanks to the Foundation for supporting this event by covering the admission of the children from CAH as well as pizza for all and thank you to the PAX for continued support of a cause that is literally changing lives.

For the last year, the Pax of The Fort has faithfully joined the children of CAH biweekly for an F3 style COP, games /other physical activity and wrapped up the hour with a COT.  In the last year the children have gone from participants to leaders as they often lead COP when we visit and on occasion take us out in prayer.  Today however was different; we spent an hour and a half at Sky High with trampoline jumping, a ropes course, dodgeball and the coveted foam pit.

Thank you to the PAX of the Fort for committing to be positive influence in these kids lives and teaching them leadership principles that will help the succeed in life.

It’s always good to lead a slow burn. Not only does it give us a chance to work on form, but also to quote random movie quotes.

Today Italian Job was on fire with the Kindergarten Cop. As well as Blazing Saddles and a few other movies. That guy has every song lyric and movie quote stuck in his brain. Everyone else was doing the same thing, really great stuff for Petra.

Warm-Up
Mosey to Center of Parking Lot
10 Count WindMill
20 Count Moroccan Night Clubs

The Thang
I really enjoyed placing cups around this AO before we started this morning.
Each Cup had Two workouts on it. We covered the whole parking lot, Two Cups in the center and six around different points of the parking lot.

We did Three Rounds of the parking lot, running between to the next cup, exercises included:

Monkey Humpers
Low Slow Squats
Dive Bombers
Burpees
Merkins
Parker Peters
Peter Parkers
Mountain Climbers
Carolina Dry Docks
Flying Squirrels
Bobby Hurley’s
American Hammers
Wide Arm Merkins
Alternating Shoulder Taps
Plank Jacks
Diamond Merkins

Since it was a Slow Burn we completed these exercises in a slow pace to feel the burn. Doing Merkins at a slow pace really starts to get the arms burning!

Number depended on Speed of completing a rep, we did anywhere between 5 – 20 reps per exercise.

We finished up with a “Cup Pickup” Caterpillar(Indian) Run. Person in back would run to the front pickup the next cup, rinse and repeat till we ran the whole parking lot.

Total logged was around 2.2 miles, and plenty of burning action during the process.

Apache, PopEye and Catfish completed some P200 Training during today’s bootcamp. It’s great to see the dedication of the Rock Hill Crew leading up to this big race!

Prayers
Scrute’s mother had a successful heart stint put in on thursday.
Waterboy’s mother is about to go into surgery for the same thing.
A member of my Small Groups Best Friend Jeremy has Terminal Brain Cancer,
he is 27 and has been married for only three years. He is expected to meet the lord in the next day or so. Prayer for his wife Caitlin and family as they go through this hard time.

I left off with a word about Labels. We Spent a significant amount of time introducing ourselves based on our Job title. I was confronted by a person last night that Labeled F3 as nothing more than a “fitness group”. His thought was our group is made up of a bunch of fit guys that do nothing more than talk about workouts.

This was a hard hit to the gut for me. I believe that we have a real opportunity to continue to grow in the leadership that the lord has called us to. I know that we are based on three things Fitness, Fellowship and Faith. Sometimes it can be easy to focus on the level of fitness we have achieved. However I want you to go and remember the other two F’s as well.

We are hear to cultivate mentor and be led by each other and the lord.

Let’s be better leaders today, and show how the Lord is using us as individuals and F3 to change the world.

Get in the Chopper! Enjoy the video

The Riddler

Disclaimer

“When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.”
‭‭Malachi‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭ESV‬‬ http://bible.com/59/mal.1.8.esv

The priests of Malachi’s day we’re offering lame, sick, and blind animals for sacrifices to God, when God had been very clear that the animals for sacrifice were to be spotless, blameless, the best of the flock. Do we do the same as the priests?

Are we giving our God our leftovers instead of our best? With the busyness of life, are we giving the leftovers of our time, our talents, our money, our service, our hearts? Do we make time for God AFTER everything and everyone else or do we put Him first? Do we serve only because there is a need or do we serve out of an overflow of our love for our Lord? As we challenge each other in workouts, YHC challenged the PAX in our walk with Christ. Just as in workouts where we should give it all we have, we should give our all, to the point of exhaustion (arms shaking type exhaustion) in our commitment to Christ and “the Great Commission.”

Mozy to fountain
Warm up (In cadence)
SSH X20
IW x 15
WM x 10
Dipsx20
Merkinx20
MNCx20

Mozy to park

Round 1
10 prison cell push ups
20 Pull ups
30 Squat Jacks
20 Chin Ups
15/leg Piston Squats

LOOP AROUND POND

Round 2
15/side Fly Merkins
20/side Apollo Ono’s
15 Corn Cob Push Ups
15/leg swing balance lunges

2 LOOPS AROUND POND

Round 3
20 Blast Off Merkins
30 Swing Derkins
30 Jump Squats
Burpees broad jump length of swings

3 LOOPS AROUND POND

COT
Challenge continued from start of workout about giving our Holy God our leftovers instead of our all. A further challenge was issued as YHC drew a circle around himself and stated that if revival was to start for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, let it begin within this circle. The PAX was then challenged to move from the traditional COT to a larger circle drawn on the ground a few feet away, IF they would commit to serve our God their best, to the best of their ability they would not give Him leftovers. All the PAX joined YHC in the circle, Circle of Change (COC).
Prayer requests and announcements were shared and we lifted our hearts and our requests to our Great God.
What an honor to Q today for a workout, but more importantly to speak of the truth and the love our Lord.

Gauge led 14 brave and courageous pax through a soggy beat down.

Warmup
20 seal jacks
20 Moroccan night clubs
15 wind mills

The Thang

1/2 mile mosey to campus main entrance followed by 10 merkins. Another 1/2 mile mosey with 5 burpees thrown in for good measure. Some quick stretching and then the real beat down commenced

The pax then worked their way down the brick sidewalk switching between high knees and butt kicks at each light pole with 5 merkins at each pole. Then we worked back down the sidewalk alternating between bear crawls and walking lunges with 5 squats at each light pole. Legs were burning at this point. One more go at high knees and butt kicks then a quick mosey to set up for 4 corners. The four corners consisted of 5 burpees, 5 merkins , 5 squats, and 5 dips with a stair run in between. We did two rounds of the four corners and then another short mosey. Next we went into a descending ladder starting with 5 box jumps and 5 merkins and working our down to one of each. Indian Run back to the AO and finished with 15 LBC’s and 45 seconds of Iron Cross.

Announcements:
Krispy Kreme Run 2/27/16
Dads workout 2/27/16 10:00 am at The Patriot

Prayer Request:
Shrute’s mother
High Pocket and family
Riddler’s mother
Waterboy’s mother in law

Welcome FNG Reborn!

The Foundation is a series of informative, educational and essential topics that are foundational building blocks for life, career, relationships and faith.  The mission is to provide content that is relevant and actionable in the lives of High Impact Men.

___________________________________________________________________________

Mark your calendars for the next block in The Foundation

When: March 15th, 6:30AM – 8:15AM

Where: Christ Church (1412 Providence Rd)

Please click here to register*

*There is no cost….feel free to invite a friend; however, we ask that you sign-up so we can plan accordingly.

___________________________________________________________________________

Hundreds of men have gathered from across the Charlotte area to go deep into Truth’s that can shape and impact their lives.  Last October the journey began with discussions on Accountability, November we discussed Living a Life of Significance, and in January we held a workshop on developing High Impact Goals captured by One Word as a theme for 2016.

Now we go further into areas of practical application for our lives as High Impact Men.  On March 15, The Foundation discussion topic will be on relationships and the role of a Father.  The title is, What I wish someone would have told me about Fatherhood.  This panel of high impact men will help you in understanding the role of a Father, ways that we can shape our children, and common pitfalls that trap us from being the Father or Grandfather we are called to be.

Even if you are not currently married, married but don’t have children, have children, or are moving into the next stage of grand parenting, you won’t want to miss this event.  The missing link in so many cases in male community leadership has been the absence of impactful Fathers in our community.  The workshop and panel style event will create an opportunity for all to participate, learn, and share experiences and lessons with other men in our community.

We look forward to seeing you on the 15th.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Given the overwhelming response, we are moving up our time for breakfast and fellowship to 6:30AM.  We will begin seating at 6:50AM.  Please be sure to register so we can plenty of food and coffee. Please park in the upper parking lot to the right of the church. There will be people directing traffic to manage the traffic flow properly.

We started this fine February Presidntial Primary morning flying solo with 13 strong Pax.  Today is a day that all AMERICANS should hold dear to their heart. Civic duty!

THE THANG

Mosey to Soccer Field 1……..

COP for a combination of warm up exercises.  We started with 5 reps each of Imperial Walkers, Squats, Mtn Climbers, SSHs, Moroccan Night Clubs, Merkins and Wind Mills.

Main Event……Mosey to Cherry Park back lot for some fun……..FOUR CORNERS.  Start in the back left corner and run the corners clockwise.  At each corner 45 reps per exercise.  Why 45?  Bueller, Bueller……Merkins, Burpees (yes, Burpees), LBCs and Carolina Dry Docks.

Or, Main Event II…..Mosey to Big Field.  Jack Webb’s x 4.  We went to 10.  That is a total of 416.  I think.  Oh, I forgot we finished with 45 edition all for our next President.

Then, Main Event III……..Mosey to Sulivan Middle School.  Presidential Primary loop.  5 laps around Bid island with an exercise between each 5 laps segment.  All exercises as a group.  Exercise 1 was the Trump……..Wall Sits for 45 count……5 Laps……….The Hillary (arf, arf, arf, arf)….wait….wait…..Monkey Humpers.  Such a crowd favorite.  No pun intended…….5 laps……..The Bernie……Morrocan Night Clubs (BC they are a little crazy)……..The Bush……calf raises (simple & easy)………3 laps to COT.

COT………Any one for candy?  All the little kids give their thanks.  Bogey’s kids are jacked by now.

Moleskin………In all seriousness, today is a day to start the wonderful opportunity of electing our next President.  It is just the republican Primary, but we all understand that this is the most important one in our lives.  We need to get back to the values that WE teach in F3 and most of us live by.  Regardless of your choice or opinion, get out and pull the lever, punch the card or press the icon.  This opportunity is what we vote for and is unheard of around the world, that will need The United States of America soon.  Family under God!

Thanks for the opportunity to lead today Rock Hill!

Menthol