15 PAX got after it today with perfect conditions in Old Towne.  YHC almost had another #falsestart as his clown car partner had to see a man about a horse en route.  We arrived with 60 seconds to spare.  Handshakes or fistbumps all around… (I never get them right)  Follow me… Wait- we got Norfolk Southern’ed.  Now, follow me…

Fast 1/2 mile mosey to the garage paying respect to all intersections with 5 merkins leading to it.

The Zipper:

Stairwell to opposite stairwell across all floors going up and back down.  Stop in the middle of each floor for called exercise

Burpee x5

Bombjacks x5

Jump squats x10

SSH, Hello Dollies, CDD, LBCs interspersed between sets

PPLs Chair/BTTW series

Ramp 1: Lunge walk

Ramp 2: Bear Crawl

Ramp 3: backward lunge walk

Ramp 4: backward bear crawl

AYG: Home

Arrived 3 minutes early so added in 15 burpees… and then Norfolk Southern sang to us.  Deja Vu.

NMM:

T Claps to all men who get out of bed each morning with purpose.  Our 15 men got a healthy dose of 1st and 2nd F.  With Padre taking us out- 3rd F was present too.

Banged out 3 miles today with plenty of lung and strength work.  Old Towne is up there for me as a favorite AO- including but not limited to seeing how much Rock Hill is flourishing with great men.  Keep the work up so you can get those 2 guys you know who need it in this.

Big ups to CSPAN for giving one of my Q’s the HC this morning.  Our Nantan is spread thin so seeing him at a workout, esp my Q, is an honor.  Grateful to each of you for joining me in the Gloom today.  Now go be better!

Multiple races- check weekly news letter.

CSAUP 6/20: Hog and Coyote: 12.5 miles across 5 AOs

L&R

Jekyll

Guests of honor today from Area 51, Sons of Ballantyne (SOB), converged on The Arsenal for an IL style workout, 19 Pax.

The Warm up

There was a little mumble chatter in the early morning gloom and some of the local tribesman were probably wondering if Beast still had it as the warm up felt pretty light. But with a clear vision ahead for the pending pain, Beast knew that a proper warm up was important.

Mosey to the grass and circle up.

• 20 IC Seal Jacks
• 20 IC Mountain Climbers
• 20 IC Imperial Walkers
• 10 IC Merkins
• 20 IC Windmills
• 10 OYO Bombjacks, or if you are from Area 51 Star Jacks (local dialect for The Fort)

OCR Action Part I

Count off in threes and form up teams of three Pax each. This will be your team for the morning.

• Up and over the short walls in front of IL Elementary
• Up and over The Great Wall 2x each Pax

Mosey around back of IL Elementary to the Arsenal.

Partner Rotations

In your team of 3, each one of the Pax performed each exercise individually and rotated through.

Set I

• 15 OYO Pullups – partner 1
• 20 OYO Step Ups (10 each leg) – partner 2
• 15 OYO Dips – partner 3

Rotate through, run a lap as a team, rinse and repeat.

Set II

• 15 OYO Jumping Spider – partner 1 (pace car)
• OYO Monkey Humpers – partner 2
• OYO Calf Raises – partner 3

Rotate through, run a lap as a team, rinse and repeat.

OCR Action Part II

Mosey to Dragon’s Back and run the side hill on the way, up and down 5 times.

Pack Mule and Dragon’s Back

Pax favorite this AM once they got through the logistics of the rotation and an understanding that the pack went on the mule. Light bulbs went off and mumble chatter ensued.

• Partner 1 – hill sprint up Dragon’s Back
• Partner 2 “Mule”  – Squats with the pack (aka Pax) until P1 returns
• Partner 3 “Pack” – piggyback on the mule until P1 returns

Partners rotate through each segment, each Pax runs the hill five times.

Bonus round: Not the Johnny Cash as I stated it, but the Joe Hendricks (aka backwards bear crawl) up the hill. Always a Pax favorite.

The Finish

Mosey back to the grass, aborama (Freddie Mercury & Protractor), 7 IC Burpees.

Naked Man Moleskin

YHC shared some thoughts with the Pax regarding the practicality of the Pack and Mule. As fellow Brother’s of F3 we lock shields and support one another, making a stronger team together than individually. Similarly so we should identify an opportunities where our Brother’s might need a hand with a “pack” in their lives and we can be the “mule” to provide the support. Tactically this means:

• Grabbing coffee with a fellow Pax and providing a listening ear
• Mowing a Pax lawn, or some other kind of help, when they are going through something and are tight on time at home
• Making a meal for a Pax family
• Whatever else comes to mind

Take a look around you for opportunities to lighten the load of your fellow Pax when they need it most. Take the initiative and ask them, or just do it. Similarly be encouraged to reach out for help when you need it, we all do.

Announcements, Prayers, Praise

• Thanks once again to SOB for joining the IL Pax for a great workout in the gloom
• All Pax are invited to join SOB at The Brave on Friday’s 5:15 AM for some OCR training. AO is the Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne
• Saturday, 5/2 The Fort Region AOs will be closed for the 1 Year Anniversary Convergence (preblast) at the Patriot in Rock Hill. Workout begins at 7 AM at Sullivan Middle School located at 1825 Eden Terrace in Rock Hill. Dred and OBT your guest Q’s. Coffeeteria will be immediately after the workout at Anna Js located at 1025 Camden Ave.
• Saturday, 5/9 7AM IL Elementary – Black Diamond Ringer on Q
• Friday, June 19, 2015, 8 PM – U.S. National Whitewater Center Tread Nightly nighttime trail half marathon and 4 miler. SOB invited The Fort region Pax to join them
• 5/25 Memorial Day Murph – Converge on Nation’s Ford High School after your normal AO workout. ~6:30 AM launch
• New 3rd F, Tuesdays in Area51. Launched 4/28 in SOB land immediately after Swift/Bagpipe at Einstein Bagels, 6 AM. Book is “True Measure of a Man” by R. E. Simmons, III.
• 5/15 @0600 – 3rd F Convergence – at Eternal Church Office (map) Join us as Chicken Hawk speaks on “Approaching Marriage as Jesus Does His Bride”. Check the Pre-Blast for more information.
• Prayer’s for Heisman’s two colleagues getting treatment for cancer.
• Prayer’s for healing for CobraKai as he may have injured a knee
• Prayer’s for Bounty Hunter’s father-in-law working through some knee injuries

Warm up

Mozy to fountain (in cadence unless specified)
SSHx20
Windmill x15
IWx15
Peter Parker x20 OYO
Parker Peter x20 OYO
Merkin x10

Mozy to Manchester Park fountain area stopping at brick wall along the way for a little People chair (long 20 count) and BTTW for a long 10 count. (You made me proud on the slow count Italian Job). Italian Job was trying to send some call outs to some PAX that said they were ready for the beat down, but must have pulled a fart sack instead.

Partner up
Relays
One partner runs from 2nd park swing to bridge and back (100 yards each way), while the other performs the following until the team completes the total number of reps

100 Burpees
200 jump squats
200 swing Derkins or Merkins
100 Monkey Humpers

As first teams finish, they go to help other teams still finishing the relay. I didn’t tell anyone this until teams started finishing. My bad! 😜 No man or team left behind. Carry each other’s burdens on the relay, CARRY EACH OTHER’S BURDENS IN LIFE AS BROTHERS IN CHRIST.

After all PAX are finished, mozy to playground area.
Another relay
1 runs to picnic pavilion while other does pull-ups, switch off until team reaches 100 pull-ups. Same principle, no team left behind. CARRY EACH OTHER’S BURDENS HERE AND IN LIFE. WE AS MEN DONT LIKE TO ASK FOR HELP FROM OTHERS AND TRY AND CARRY IT OURSELVES. THIS IS NOT GOD’S DESIGN. WE SHOULD COME UP TO OUR BROTHERS AND ASK TO HELP THEM AND IN SOME CASES, LIKE THE WORKOUT, JUST HELP THEM WHETHER THEY ASK OR NOT. SOMETIMES THAT’S WHAT OUR BROTHERS NEED US TO DO IS STEP UP AND FILL THE GAP FOR THEM.

Finish with 4 person merkin triangle
3 Pax get in a triangle with last person in the middle. Person in middle does 5 hand clap merkins with each of his other teammates, rotating to each one until he has done all three, the rotate until all team members have been in the middle. Pax in triangle plank the whole time until it’s his turn to do the merkins.

12 strong this morning. Great job by all!! Tough workout, great perseverance by all, and great teamwork “filling the gap” for all our brothers.
Galatians 6:2-Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

And remember that we first need to cast our burdens before The Lord because he told us in 1 Peter 5:6 that we are to “humble ourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, CASTING ALL YOUR ANXIETIES ON HIM, BECAUSE HE CARES FOR YOU.”

It is awesome to know that we have brothers there to shoulder the weight of life, but even greater to know that our Lord tells us to give Him our burdens and anxieties because He can handle anything.

5 Men rolled out of bed a little earlier this morning for a little hour long Major League action Black Diamond Style for my VQ at The Ballroom.  Was happy to have Ringer attend all the way from Indian Land to show us what the IL is made of.  Did a pretty good job!  Cerrano if you don’t know came from the movie Major League and was played by Dennis Haysbert the actor that plays in the Allstate Insurance commercials, I am a Allstate Agent.  Over the past few weeks I  thought about his role in the movie and his goal was to always swing for the fence, shouldn’t we all feel that way in our daily life with our family, kids, friends and careers?  Yes we may strike out a few hundred times but we strive to hit that home run again. I plan to make this a daily goal of mine. AYE!?  Thanks to all the showed for my BDVQ.

The Thang:

.5 mile swift jog down towards lower cul de sac up and down grass hill on left to give it some variety.

SSH x 40(IC)

Merkin x 15(IC)

Windmill x 20(IC)

Bombjacks x 10(since Dark Helmet was late)

Short mosey to lower parking lot where we started “running the bases”. We started with partner wheelbarrow across parking lot about 50+ yards with a set of 10 derkins half way down and again at the end. Switch and come back towards cul de sac. Take a lap. Next exercise was the lunge across parking lot and take a lap(little burn). Next, 20 burbees and take a lap. Last, 20 mountain climbers(was going to do partner carry but I was odd man out) and take 2 laps.

Indian run up hill toward double wall where we did 2 rounds of peoples chair for recovery.

We then lined up for a little 10:1 merkin/squat fun using the 5 ft and 3 ft double walls towards top of road. Start with 10 merkins and bear crawl 30 ft to wall  up and over and then start squats in ascending order taking a lap back to starting point each time. Repeat until 1 merkin and 10 squats are completed(10 laps).

Mosey to grass for 4:1 Jack Webb.

Still had 15 minutes left and with bikini season coming up we needed a little ab lab action. PAX’s choice. Trucker introduced us to the BLT he learned in Raleigh(wish he left it up there) and several other PC exercises, PP, PP, B&C, flutters, protractor, and I’m sure a  few others I forgot at this point.

COT

Announcements:

Rock Hill Convergence May 2nd

Asheville April 30th/ Nun run

Chicken and Wisdom talking about marriage Friday May 15th with Chicken Hawk

BRR for all the crazies

Prayers:

Flat tires M

Trucker and his M/2.0s. Prayers for them to find the perfect house to grow in.

Prayers for Spider-mans brother in law

Dark Helmets assistants grandma in hospice

Cheddahs M finding a job

This morning, 17 of the area’s finest got out of the fartsack and survived a Javert and Cheeto Q that was sure to please the Pax. Welcome FNG T-Square – you picked a heck of a day to join us in the rain. After a brief disclaimer, we were off.

Javert led us around the Sullivan Middle parking lot where we circled up for a warmup of:

• SSH
• Merkins
• Imperial Walkers
• LBCs
• Freddies
• And some others that my exhausted brain has forgotten

Mosey through Cherry Park to the largest field. Circle up for additional warmup exercises.

• Line up at midfield for suicides
• Run to first line, karaoke back
• Run to second line, karaoke back
• Run to last line, backpedal back
• Plank while we waited for the 6
• Repeat with backpedals on all returns

Hand off to Cheeto

Mosey through Cherry Park with a Catawba run to the benches half a mile away near the Sullivan tennis courts

Grab a bench and perform 75 step ups each leg and 25 box jumps (a crowd pleaser)

Mosey to Heartbreak Hill

Partner up. One partner performs 25 Burpees, 25 Merkins, 25 LBCs, and 25 Squats while other partner sprinted the field and hill. Flapjack and repeat.

One lap around Sullivan Middle practice field for an “Active Rest.”

Circle up for dealer’s choice

This is where YHC lost track of the exercises. After Bear Crawling up the hill, 40 more SSH, 20 Merkins, 35 more Burpees, and a longer than it needed to be Alligator walk, and the longest game of 6 Inches, I was too spent to remember the rest. Once given the chance to head back, we took it.

Mosey back to benches for a short word from Peach about why we do this crazy F3 thing. As a reminder, we are here to share the pain with our brothers and spread the fellowship to other men that need it. Peach gets it and we’re lucky to have him as Site Q.

Finished with 20 derkins for good measure and a sprint to COT.

Announcements

Convergence next Saturday at The Patriot. This is a great time to bring a friend as we will have 100+ guys out here if full force working out together. OBT and Dredd will lead the way. Breakfast to follow at Anna J’s.

5/30 Nun Run – proceeds to benefit Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen

5/30 Clown Car to Asheville (check the weekly email for details)

Prayer Requests

The Haven Men’s Shelter needs food. This center only has 12 beds and is the only men’s shelter in Rock Hill. If you ever have extra food of any kind, bring it to 1435 Archive St, Rock Hill, SC 29730. These men could use any assistance you can offer.

Moleskin

I’m always humbled by the men that willingly get out of bed on a dreary day to lift each other up. As Proverbs 27:17 tells us, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” You guys did a great job again and I’m proud of the effort everyone put in. Great virgin Q by Javert and awesome pain brought at the hands of Cheeto.

This morning was the official launch of ManU. 13 strong men including an FNG (Robocop) came out to christen this lovely AO. Solid State started us off with a disclaimer and we were off for a 2.9 mile tour of Manchester Village.

The Thang

Mosey to the fountain for a warmup of:

• 15 Windmills
• 15 Imperial Walkers
• 30 SSHs

Mosey to the Manchester Events Center where we partnered up.

First partner runs a lap around the building while partner 2 does Merkins. This was not a race until CSPAN pulled a CSPAN and shot off like a cannon. Next thing you know, he and Pusher were doing their best Usain Bolt impression. The Pax had to follow suit. Thanks for the extra motivation fellas.

Flapjack with partner.

Mosey to the La Paz Building for ladders of Bomb Jacks and Freddies counting down in 2s (20 Freddies, 2 Bomb Jacks, 18 Freddies, 4 Bomb Jacks…)

Mosey to Chili’s.

Partner runs a lap, other partner Lunge Walks. Flapjack. Sub Lunges for Moroccan Night Clubs.

Quick lap around Wendy’s and a quick game of Frogger avoiding traffic.

Handoff to Italian Job who immediately asked for a 10 count.

Mosey to parking lot in front of Dicks Sporting Goods for fun on the farm. Utilizing 50 yards between curbs, the Pax did the following:

• 25 yards of Duck Walk
• 25 yards of Crab Walk
• Repeat
• 25 yards of Bear Crawl
• 25 yards of Frog Jumps
• Repeat
• 30 yards of Bunny Hops
• 20 yards of Alligator Walks (looked much better on paper)
• 20 Crab Jacks
• 20 Donkey Kicks (OYO)
• 20 Monkey Humpers
• 10 Bomb Jacks for a “That’s What She Said”

Mosey to the wall by Sweet Frogs for the Wall of Fire.

All in People’s Chair while we took turns doing 10 Merkins. People’s Chair lasted a solid few minutes until we switched to a crowd pleasing, Seal Team Situps (20).

Mosey to Moe’s for dealer’s choice ab lab.

• Flutters (CSPAN dropped the hammer starting us off with 20)
• Cockroaches (Solid State crushed these bad boys)
• Russian Twist (a Geppetto classic)
• Protractor (lot’s of mumble chatter until Pusher decided to keep us at 10 degrees for 45 seconds or so – that shut us up)

COT

Prayer Requests

Our injured F3 brother in Charlotte

Continued prayers for a full recovery for Swamp Fox’s mom

Flat Tire’s wife and her continued fight with cancer

Announcements

Clown car to Gastonia this weekend for a Package and Gunny beatdown

Next Saturday Convergence at Cherry Park (The Patriot) led by Dredd and OBT with breakfast following at Anna J’s in Rock Hill

Memorial Day Murph at Nations Ford High after your regularly scheduled Monday workout (6:45)

Hog and Coyote 13 mile fun run with 4 workouts in-between. Details to follow

Asheville clown car 5/30 – check your Fort newsletter email for details

Moleskin

Great job men. The official launch of ManU was a success thanks to your willingness to get up and push yourself early on a Thursday. Thanks to the guys from Fort Mill for clowncarring down to help with the launch. I look forward to seeing you guys return in the future. A Q Schedule is being developed and I’d like to put all you guys on it.

13 Pax came out to work their gun shows to get ready for swim suit season.  Work out included

1. Run a lap

2. Warm up of side straddle hops, merchins, windmills, Freddy mercury’s, flutter.

3. Main work out consisted of several sets of slow and controlled tricep and bicep exercises such as the  curls, tricep extensions,  up right rows, and skull crushers.  In between sets we ran a lap

4. Finished up the work out with some ab work and most importantly circle of trust.

Great crowd for an early Monday morning

17 of the bravest pax of The Fort posted to #OldTown for a taste of the Boston Marathon’s Hearbtreak Hill plus some other abuse before and after.

The Thang

Warm up = 20 Burpees OYO

Thanks to Norfolk Southern the pax enjoyed the pleasure of an extra 10 Burpees for a total of 30

Run to parking garage (aka Heartbreak Hill today) and plank for six

Run to rooftop and do 10 Merkins
Run down two ramps to next floor and do 10 CDDs and run back to top and do 10 Merkins
Repeat sequence in suicide format to bottom then finish on the roof

Run down stairs to bottom cross to other staircase do 15 sumo squats run up stairs one floor and do 15 monkey humpers
Repeat sequence adding one floor up each trip in suicide format then finish on the roof

Time for some housekeeping duties like the disclaimer and the FNG check (whoops…yes, Houston, we have an FNG on board!)

Time for the obligatory SSHs x26

Run down stairs and down Main Street

Pause at Freedom Center (appropriate for Patriot’s Day) for some merkins/derkins waiting on the six

Run to breezeway next to Flipside
Bear crawl to far end, mosey back
backward bear crawl to far end, mosey back
Sideways bear crawl to far end, mosey back
Sideways bear crawl to far end, mosey back

Run down Main Street around Wells Fargo parking lot and back home

COT

Naked man moleskin

Patriot’s Day occurs on the 3rd Monday of April in Massachusetts and is the day the Boston Marathon is run from Hopkinton, MA to Boylston Street in the center of Boston.  The Fort was represented in this year’s race by Red Banjo.  After about 20 miles, with parts of the early going on a gradual decline, the course takes an abrupt shift with a two mile stretch from miles 20 to 22 through a series of hills.  This stretch is known as Heartbreak Hill.  We took the opportunity today to honor RB’s performance in getting to Boston (sub 3 hour marathon in Kiawah in Dec 2013) with a parking deck version of Heartbreak Hill, 26 SSHs and in classic RB fashion, some bear crawls.  He responded in Boston with a 3:01 finish running into a stiff  head wind for virtually the entire race.  Way to deliver, RB!

A  hearty Rock Hill welcome to Friday Night Lights (aka FNL), an FNG EH’d by Mailman.  Great to have a fellow Texan along for the rodeo today.  Apologies for the quite unhospitable launch, pardner.

Solid effort today by all pax!  We put in almost 3.4 miles at a strong pace plus some strength moves to boot.  YHC did not stop eating all day today, indicating a serious need to refuel and a long post-workout calorie burn from the intensity.

Great to see the terrific support the pax throughout the region are showing to Old Town.  It is a terrific way to start the week as evidenced by continued growth.  You are on a roll, POSH…keep it  up!

Always an honor to lead, men.  Have terrific week!

11 Pax for a “group” led Patriot Saturday morn.

7 am sharp for a quick mosey to the next parking lot for a version of stretching via Mayhem.

SSHs, Squats, Mt Climbers, SSHs, Parker Peters, Peter Parkers, SSHs, Morrocan Night Clubs, Merkins, Imperial Walkers………………….& finally, did I include SSHs?

Mosey down to Cherry Rd, hang a Louie.  Quick run to next block for, uh, uh, oh yes SSHs.

Indian Run to entrance to Park.  Merkins.  Watch for cars!

Mosey again up sidewalk to wall.  Wall jumps for those flexible ones.  Us older guys did step ups.

Mosey into Park.  COP for some Group Pain, dealers choice style…………Hello Dollies, LBCs, Freddy Mercuries, Leg Lifts, something else, something else, Laps to the last tree starting with 5 Burpees and 20 lunges, Four Corners with 25 SSHs at each corner, something else, something else………………………my turn.

Mosey to soccer field.  Time to meet Jack Webb.  COP for 4 x 1 Jack Webbs to 10……that’s 240.  Next exercise, SSH x 50.

Mosey to COT for 40 more SSHs to finish with 500.

Moleskin……………17 years ago the M and I were married.  One thing no one explained to me then was that the marriage thing is really hard.  I mean really hard.  Good years and bad years go by and much work is required to get this far.  Moral of the story is, be the man.  Say your sorry, listen when required, help when asked, lend a hand and always put her 1st.  It may seem hard, but put kids 2nd.  Be her friend and always jump when required.  Oh, and as Walker stated, keep the piece and you know what happens next.

Thanks for the opportunity RH.