….”bring clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.”

The stage was set: As men we need to press ourselves so we can be a brighter light, for our family.  As men, we can accomplish more if we lean on each other and press one another. #BOM, huttled together for a F3 chant and off we went!

warm up run to the back of HT, circle up for:

one minute of Air Jump roap

the wind mill, single leg lunge, single leg lunge “bursts”, SSH 51 count, why? the cadence was weak, and YHC wanted it to be mental, the merkin x 30, buy now my dry mouth had set in as my adrenaline was pumping for what was next…(geko thought this was funny, as did I)

Mosey to #YoungLust….the 3 foot wall behind the OilExpress.  I hope we never see the way oil is changed the same again.  PRESSED!!!

Partner up. SET 1:  Partner 1 perform 20 wall dips, 20 decline merkins, 20 jump ups. Partner 2 runs around oil exPRESS, down the sidewalk to “the hill”, at the bottom, do 10 bomb jacks and reverse locomotion back to the top, run back to the oil exPRESS wall to partner and switch.

SET 2: Partner 1: 40/dips/decline merkins/jump ups.  Partner 2: run to rite aid parking lot, circle rite aid and back to oil exPRESS wall, do LBC until partner 1 is finished.

SET 3: Partner 1 50/dips/decline merkins/jump ups.  complete as many until partner 2 returns.  Partner 2: run around the HT parking lot and back to oil exPRESS wall.

multiple 10 counts, partner up again and do dips to fail: pebbles and one niner combined with at least 160….so we pressed on, decline merkins to fail.  Now funhouse is complaining that we have to be done by 0600!

Mosey to HT parking lot for ABLAB

Partner up:1) laying head to head with arms stretched out and inner locked with partners: 20 leg raises simultaneously, touching toes.

2) Spin around so feet are touching, get in V position with elbows touching ground and palms flat on the ground.  Partners rotate feet clockwise for 10, counter clockwise for 10.

3) Freddy Merc’s extending so you touch the other partners feet (#accountability, do it right with full extension)

REPEAT 3,2,1

COT: 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 PAUL says: “we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed.

Lets press each other to be the men we are called to be, let our oil burn bright.  Press on!

Waldo, congrats on the news of a precious life! Pray for Cable Guys injury, Boeheim’s recovery.

Check for upcoming events on F3 website.

2nd post, first Q to #Oldtowne.  Not only is this AO ripe with options, but the PAX is fit, hungry and ready for more.  This is solid workout with great men.  Perfect weather, quick disclaimer, a few ball busting jokes and off we went.  “Follow me…”

Basically went down like this:

Tour of OT was over 1 mile not including the pain stations, cruising at sub 8 pace.  #constantmovement   We toured twice…

Along the way-

Government steps: Reverse Bear crawl up and plank walk down,

Take off-

Fountain Park for  COT: SSH, Merkins, IW, Squats,

15 dips, 15 derkins repeat X3

Take off to City Hall “Amphitheatre”

Up steps, Lunge walk over, down the steps- Repeato x3 #crowdpleaser

Run to courthouse park deck- broad jump burpee up the ramp- Repeato

ARK Loader: Bear Crawl, Crab Walk, Alligator Merkins every cement post(10 yards), 9 posts

Lap 2

Government steps

Fountain Park: dips, derkins 10 reps each running four corners

Take off to Amphitheatre- Lt. Dan’s (leg version of Jack Webbs) 1:4 ration: squat:Jump lunge x5

Head for home up P deck ramp for good measure

Moleskin

Tinker Toy and Burgundy are scary fast and strong.  I faked an injury so I would save face for not being in the lead.  Fellow pack leader: One- Niner looked at me 3/4 way through and whispered “exhausted” #compliment. I had to agree.  Hope he will consider coming back 1-2x per month.

No quit in Duck Hunt, Padre, Mail Man, Schrute.  Everything I threw- they gobbled up.  #strong work Men.

2x through the stairs rev bear crawl/plank walk sequence- I was seriously questioning my reasons for doing this.  I figured if my arms gave out then I would lose my teeth doing a face plant.  We all pressed on- and I have my teeth- albeit coffee and wine stained as they are.

Great words from all during praise/prayers.  prayers for those healing physically and in their hearts.  Remember to think quick and talk slow.

L&R,

Jekyll

10 strong PAX this morning at the beaches of Normandy

Moving with a purpose

Run to the lower parking lot for COT:

• SSH x25, load sandbags – forward lunges x20, reverse lunges x20, squat press/pushes alternating shoulders x20, low slow squats x20.

Run to upper parking lot:

• Stand sandbag on end. Double merkin vertical burpee over the SB x20
• Run 30 yds to next station
• Stand sandbag on end. Double merkin horizontal burpee over the SB x20
• Run 30 yds to next station
• Double merkin burpee with SB x20
• Plank wait for six

Run to court – find wall:

• 1 merkin balls to the wall
• Run 15 yds
• Hold SB over head 30 second count (crowd pleaser)
• 2 merkin…repeat…all the way to 5 balls to the wall

YHC screwed up and wasn’t very clear on directions, so with some clarity, we did number 6.

Mosey to the baseball field:

Bounding – Find Partner:

• P1/P2 start from plank
• P1 grabs/drags/pulls both SB, runs 50yds
• P2 10 Turkish Get ups

Rinse/Repeat x5

More Shoulders…

• Merkin SB shoulder pulls x10
• Run to stairs; find a partner, wheel barrow up the stairs, merkin at each step. (Flapjack)
• Rinse/Repeat X3

Done.

Moleskin:

• Lots of mumblechatter, YHC thought the PAX were about to revolt, but using the element of surprise and diversionary devices (sandbags) kept the group moving forward. #NoExfil
• Great morning in the gloom, misty, foggy and muddy….character building
• All PAX, despite some pre-labor moaning noises, rose up and performed exceptionally.
• Heisman showed the commitment and the drive of the entire group by crushing the wheel barrow merkin stair climb!….something about marines sux…ha!
• ….ran out of time, bear crawls were next in the stack.

• 5/2 Year Anniversary Rock Hill
• 4/18 and 4/25 The Reservation is supporting the Gastonia Launch
• Gladiator Games (sorry I missed the dates)
• C-SPAN thanks for taking us out!

With this morning’s effort, you made the Q easy….Thanks for the opportunity men!

Semper Fi

Gunny

Today, 10 men along with a hand full of 2.0 from The Fort invested in the future of 13 young lives at the Children’s Attention Home. It was amazing to watch reluctant children that were unsure and insecure about what was ahead of them transform into confident, engaged children that didn’t want us to leave when it was time to part ways.

Today we had fun, through exercise, sport and other fun activities.  Special thank you to Senator Tressel and Decibel for putting our plan together and especially for adapting the plan fluidly to adjust to the controlled chaos.  Also, thank you to McGruff for supplying the fuel (donuts) for coffeeteria after the event.  I’m sure the house mom’s had other words to say other than “Thank you” but we will pretend we don’t know any better.

Also, our topic of focus was on “Leadership” and the core traits of a leader (taking responsibility and making decisions).  We focused some on what makes a good leader and examples of a good leader.  As we suggested we are all leaders and need to step up to lead our lives.

The THANG

– Brief intro to F3

– COT lead by Senator Tressel (SSH, Merkins, Imperial Walkers, LBC, Windmills)

– Basketball passing and shooting drills

– Races in the parking lot

– Sharks and Minots

– Parachute fun

COT

– Kids particularly enjoyed getting their F3 names

Thank you to all this was an amazing day and everyone had a hand in making it special!!

Like any first time there can be butterflies, maybe a little queasiness.  There’s that first date, the first kiss, the first time I Q’d with CSPAN and Audit.  Come to think of it, kiss, CSPAN and Audit should never be mentioned in the same sentence, or paragraph for that matter.

Such was the case this fine morning when I was given the honor to have my very first full Q, let’s make it special, how about a #blackdiamond.  You only live once!

Started morning at 5:05 AM sharp, the standard disclaimer while Gears came sliding into his parking spot.  He felt it safer to ride in a metal box on ice than run the quarter mile to TCES.  YHC then dropped the #truthbomb that this was his first full Q and that things could go horribly bad.  They did!

Brief speech on mental toughness (thanks Jekyll) and how it led me to think about spiritual toughness, and the things we experience and how God is continually shaping us, building our spiritual toughness, to help us make the tough choices that keep us on the narrow path.  With that in mind, the 6 of us set off…did I mention their was about 2 inches of slurpee blanketing the campus?

The Thang:

1/4 mile run around TCES car pickup lane to COP (under the awning)

20 SSH
20 IW
20 Windmills
10 Merkins – Hold it
10 CDD

Run to the bottom of the stairs behind TCES for Stairway to 11. Start with 5 burpees, run the flight of stairs to the middle landing, do 5 merkins, run to the top and do 5 squats, run back to the base and start over with 6, continuing in this regard until you hit 11. Not a lot of mumble chatter here. Gotta say wrist deep in slush is not my favorite.

After a couple of breathy 10 counts, we proceeded to the back lot of TCES for some AROD 3-2-1’s or Reverse Doras. Partnering up, partner 1 runs/slides the back of the school to the fire hydrant while parter 2 begins 300 squats, then exchange. After squats came 200 Bomb jacks but in the interest of time (and a little surprise), YHC dropped it to 100. Last run was 100 merkins. After completion I was really feeling like this was a good first time, even if I was all cold and wet!

10 count from Gecko and we headed to our final destination, the Amphitheater. Along the way some irresponsible person left a bunch of cinder blocks in our path (surprise). So we picked them up and hit the Amphitheater. 4 stations, 4 exercises

Station 1 – 20 Presses (climb to the next landing)
Station 2 – 20 Curls (climb to the next landing)
Station 3 – 20 Uneven Merkins (10 each side, climb to the next landing)
Station 4 – 20 Headbangers Squats/Goblets (Thanks for the audible Sen Tressel)

Rinse and Repeat

Run back up the hill and drop the blocks where we found them. Thanks to Maximus for collection afterwards. Then another 1/4 mile run around the pickup lane to finish where we started. Never got to the AbLab but I’m thinking not too many wanted to spend any time on their backs. Finished up with COT

Announcements: CAH and the 40 Day Challenge (drinks and ind wrapped snacks to AOs), CAH Workout (check Pre-blast) this Saturday, Mudrun, P200 meeting rescheduled for next Wed after RNG (Towne Tavern), CNW2 at The Swamp next Friday

Prayers: Pray for those who have no shelter in this weather, Thankful for forgiving families

Really enjoyed Qing at TCES and this place has so many options. Honored to be a part of F3 and especially the Fort! Aye!

Despite the fear of a #snowpocalypse, which never came to SC, three brave warriors gathered with sandbags in tow at the #audible AO #TheCave (aka URS parking ramp). Pax helped with a little setup placing sandbags at the halfway point and top of the up ramp.

The Thang

Warm up (~10 mins)

2 corners – run the parking deck loop, stop in one corner stop in second corner. At each corner warm up with:

• 20 X SSH
• 20 X Windmill
• 10 X Monkey Humpers
• 20 X Mountain Climbers

Ramp It Up (20 mins)

The goal here was to engage the Pax in some high intensity interval training (HIT). This was accomplished by:

• Sprint up the ramp to halfway point up – sandbag clean and press
• Sprint up the ramp to the tp – sandbag bent over row
• Recovery jog down the ramp
• Audible plank-o-rama, 10 counts, or ab-o-rama to bring the heart rate down (10 – 40 seconds depending on interval)
• Rinse an repeat

The ramp was run 9 times in  jacobs ladder fashion 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 on the number of reps for the exercises for each run up the ramp. First run up, 1 rep, second run up 2 reps, etc.

Negatives (10 mins)

These aren’t your 35mm film or an attitude, this is pure muscle breakdown so you can gain some mass. Read more about The Benefits of Negative Weight Training @ BuildSize.com. Basically this is the “portion of the exercise where you lower the weight back down (and) is called the eccentric movement of the exercise.” Controlled, muscle stimulation, growth.

• 10 X Negative Pull Ups
• 10 x Negative Hanging Rows (using the structural angle iron)

Topping it Off (5 mins)

The Pax pushed it across the finish line with a little People’s Choice Ab-o-Rama

• Low Slow  Flutter – The Beast
• Chair Dips – One Niner
• Freddie Mercury – Sharknado

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

It was a pleasant joy to see the Pax out this AM and for YHC to be back on Q. It’s always a blessing to be able to lead the Pax and push them to be greater men. Prayer’s for the Pax, injury recoveries, sicknesses, and M’s and 2.0’s sickness recovery. Prayers for the IL M’s Baby Bump Club and congrats to Bounty Hunter and family on the new 2.1. Sharknado is looking for opportunities in medical device sales, hit him up on LinkedIn.

Announcements: 40 Day Challenge, Mudrun Sign ups this week, CAH workout Saturday afternoon, OCR course @F3IndianLand #TheReservation on Saturday mornings 06:30 before 07:00 workout.

DYNAMIC WARM UP

4 CORNERS

10 prison cell push ups-sprint to next station
20 jump knee tucks-lunge walk to next station
25 monkey humpers-sprint to next station
25 squats-lunge walk to next station

RINSE AND REPEAT

Tire flip and crossfit rope. Everyone does each obstacle once, Two at a time as others run around building and switch up every lap until all PAX have done both obstacles

4 CYCLE EACH-TABATA STYLE

Balls to the wall (10 seconds on, 10 seconds rest)
Burpees (20 seconds on, 15 seconds rest)
Merkins vary (20 seconds on, 15 seconds rest)

20 spider merkins
Run to next island
15 jump squats
High knee to next island
10 diamond merkins
Bear crawl to end of parking lot
Run back to beginning and plank up until all finish

Cool down core work
20 heels to heaven
20 LBC’s
25 Burpees (thanks Padre)
30 second superman

Spoke on 1 Timothy 4:8 in how we are to train our bodies but it is only for our time on this earth, but training in godliness is for eternity. After a tough workout, it brings conviction to compare what we work at physically, straining toward our next goal. God tells us to strain and push ourselves in our spiritual training all the more through prayer, reading His Word, meditating on His Word and exercising our faith. May we train as hard on our “spiritual bodies” as we do on our physical bodies out of a love for our Great God!!

Announcements
Round the horn
Prayer requests
Prayer and close

11 pax, both young & old, fast & strong, posted to Old Town on a morning that had a coastal feel to it – the air warmer than it has been recently but shrouded in mist and pierced by a northerly breeze.  In other words, a perfect setting to endure a helping of pain big enough for two.

The Thang

The pax partnered up at launch according to directions: one fast + one strong

warm up jog through parking lots to Millstone patio
Partner 1: run fire escape stairs to top and back
Partner 2: continuous Parkers & Peters

Audible:  what was intended to be three rounds was called after one to keep from losing a pax or two off the wet fire escape.

Run to the parking garage
Fast Partner: run the ramps to the top and back down
Strong Partner: continuous merkins
Flapjack w/Strong Partner taking stairs up & down while Fast Partner does merkins
Continue cycle with squats followed by CDDs
Count total # of exercises until count reaches 500 for each partnership

People’s chair

Balls to the wall (creative counting from Tinker Toy)

Run to Fountain Park

Now all pax working to count of 100 with mix of burpees, bomb jacks & monkey humpers
1-50 then run two laps around park
51-100 then run one lap around park

Run Main Street back to breezeway

People’s chair

Mosey home

COT

Naked man moleskin

Taking a cue off Pusher’s lead at Chicken & Wisdom Friday, the theme today was about not riding solo.  Christ sent the disciples out two by two.  Whether it be family, friendship, faith, work, fitness or marriage, we were not meant to be alone.  We need others to fill in our blind spots, to balance us out, to sharpen our iron.   Don’t go it alone.  One plus one is more than two in this context.

Nice work by all the pax today!  Those Daytona boys think they have it tough – we took ’em by an extra 100 today!  We had some who did not think they were runners.  And we had some runners nursing nagging aches. Not a single complaint among the mumble chatter.

The Old Town crowd is really drinking the Kool Aid.  Everyone comes out early on Monday morning with great gusto ready to launch the week with the DRP.  You guys are inspiring!

Q calendar is in the works for Old Town.  Reach out to Posh to get your turn with the baton.

Always an honor gents.  See you next week!

The word has been getting out for a while now that we will have a Marathon Ruck here in Columbia, and this pre-blast is to let you know it is a reality. #TClaps to Promo for the route design.

What:

3 loops of a 9.5 mile course in the downtown / Rosewood areas. Total distance ~ 28.5 miles.

This is going to be a challenge but remember this is not a race. This is a ruck. Those that choose to take this #RedPill will do so together, and will finish together. #OneTeamOneFight

Here is a link to the route:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B13ah7ElQFJpcHhUZnFWcDRSSkU/view?usp=sharing

Where and When:

We will meet at Dreher High School, side/back parking lot at 9:45 pm for quick briefing. Launch is at 10:00 pm sharp.

Who’s invited and What to Bring:

All are welcome to take on this challenge, but you must bring a ruck. How much weight you choose to carry is solely up to you, but you must have a ruck.

Other required items:

(Note: your participation is entirely voluntary, but should you choose to participate, then bring these things at a bare minimum)

-Water Bladder (2L to 3L)
-Back-Up water source (i.e. Nalgene bottle, etc.)
-Food (goos, sandwiches, cliff bars, etc.)
-Reflective PT belt/straps (attached to rear of your ruck)
-Head-Lamp (with back-up batteries)
-Photo ID
-$20 quitter’s cash
-Chem. Light and/or Blinking Light (for added safety)

We will not be performing PT, and there will be no water submersion, so feel free to bring your phone with you.

Also, we have designed the route to be a loop, so that we will be going by our cars at the beginning of each loop. So, you can keep a change of clothes, foot care items, additional food, additional water, etc. in your vehicle. We will stop at our cars for a brief period of time each loop, so that the pax can access those items.

If anyone wants to #Shadow this event (i.e. follow along sans-ruck for some and/or all of the march) you are welcome to.

Remember, this is completely voluntary and definitely #CSAUP.

HC in the comments below and/or on Twitter.

Let’s do this.

We started this team building exercise with Cheeto Leading the way!

Cheeto’s speech on leadership key point: “You will get more out of a person with a Pat on the Back than a Finger in the Face”.

The Thang:

Warm up COT – SSH – Merkins – Squats – LBCs

Mosey to a far away field for Team relay

Partner 1 100yrd dash down and back – Partner 2 Exercise

The relay: 100 merkins, 200 LBCs, 300 Squats

Mosey to bleachers for 25 dips and 10 Burpies

Change Over for more pain and Team building from The Bogey!

Mosey to some far away picnic tables for 25 step-ups and 25 incline Merkins

Mosey through the park, up the hills and thru the woods to reach the far away path for 50 Squats and 25 LBCs.

Mosey to another far away field and Team up in teams of 4

10 Squad Merkins (square type, feet on partner shoulders)

Pair up and face your partner for Partner Merkins with alternating shoulder taps

COT – Morakin Night Clubs – Low Slow Squat (10sec count in the down) – Jack Webs – More Squats – Bomb Jacks

Line up for the Tunnel of Love!

Mosey to the fence for Balls to the wall (10 count) drop and sprint down and back ( 100yrd total) and back to Balls to the Wall

Mosey to parking lot for Ab lounge dealers choice. LBCs, Suitcase, 6 inches, flutter kicks, prison cell merkins, rosealitas, back stretch (merkin and drop the hips)

mosey to COT

SIGN UP FOR THE MUD RUN!!!!!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/f3-spring-mudrun-2015-f3-only-tickets-15587700231