Footloose or don’t Footloose… you pick

Footloose brings the numbers for sure… No sense in getting philosophical at the front…

The Thang:
Warm up:
– Lot lap with dynamic stretching
– Windmills x 10
– IW x 10
– Arm Circles x 20 (10 forward, 10 backward)
– Squats x 10
– SSH x 15

Mosey to back of Baptist Church

]The cones will tell you what to do from here. Each cone has two choices of an exercise to perform. At each cone, make a choice. Neither exercise is “harder” or “easier” per se, but you may look and think, I hate that one, or I’m ok with that one, or I love that one… The point is, you choose. You are faced with choices every day, and different things are needed at different times, and you have to navigate that. There is NO JUDGMENT for what you do or do not choose, only if you do not push yourself a little past what your natural man desires. Pick one or the other, or if you are feeling plucky… do both.

Cone 1:

  • 20 Jump Squats OR 20 regular squats

Cone 2:

  • 20 diamond merkins OR 20 regular merkins

Cone 3:

  • 20 Burpees OR 20 Bombjacks

Cone 4:

  • 40 flutters OR 40 LBCs

Cone 5:

  • 20 dips OR 20 overhead claps

Cone 6:

  • Bear crawl to next cone OR lunge to next cone

Cone 7:

  • 30 shoulder taps or 30 second plank

AMRAP FOR TIME

Ended with a little cadence merkins, squats, and Jack Webb (to 5, it’s moderate after all)…

All things considered, it was a good time.

NMM:
Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it is getting. If you don’t like your results, change your system.

Helmet, out.

TClap |
11

5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

Saturday, September 30th 2017 was a special Convergence for the PAX of The Fort. On that day we celebrated 5 years of using these small workout groups to invigorate male leadership in Fort Mill. To honor the occasion, 88 PAX gathered at one of our favorite AOs (Nations Ford HS) to celebrate the day and the leaders that made it all happen.

We also celebrated 6 Friendly New Guys that joined us that morning. Welcome Tubs, Band Camp, Jughead, Atari, Hat Trick, and Saul.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however. Here’s how we got better:

Warmup (led by Ginsu)

  • Mosey to the football field
  • 30 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10, 4-count windmills
  • 30 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10, 4-count merkins
  • 10, 4-count Peter Parkers
  • 10, 4-count Parker Peters
  • 10, 4-count LBCs
  • 20 low slow squats

Split into groups (Run, Regular Bootcamp, Black Diamond, Ruck, Moderate Bootcamp)

Run (led by Birdcage)

  • 800 meter indian run
  • 1000 meter 10k pace with 1 minute rest x2
  • 200 meter 1 mile race pace 200 meter cool down x4
  • 400 meter sprint corners recover straights
  • 1600 meter cool down
  • 5 miles total

Bootcamp (led by Royale)

  • Mosey over to the concrete football field
  • 10 merkins
  • Lunge walk 10 yards then do 3 burpees
  • Next ten yards bear crawl then 3 more burpees
  • Rise and repeat until we hit the other goal line
  • 10 count – going over the Five Core Principals of an F3 workout
  • Next phase we broke into 4 groups
  • At each corner of the end zones there were 5 exercises written on a board.  We would complete in your group and then run to the next corner. Everyone would hit al 4 corners.
    • Corner 1
      • 20 Merkins
      • 30 Lunges
      • 30 Dying Cockroaches
      • 30 Ski Abs
      • 3 Kraken Burpees
    • Corner 2
      • 20 Ranger Merkins
      • 30 Squats
      • 40 Freddy Mercurys
      • 40 Shoulder Taps
      • 10 burpees
    • Corner 3
      • 20 Durkins
      • 20 Jump Squats
      • 50 American Hammers
      • 30 Monkey Humpers
      • 10 Mountain Climber Burpees
    • Corner 4
      • 20 Wide Arm Merkins
      • 20 Sumo Squats
      • 20 V-Up Twists
      • 20 Bombjacks
      • 10 Squat Burpees
We talked about the word of the month – Leadership.  I shared we all have an opportunity to lead through F3, just like we all have the responsibility to lead in our homes.  I know I struggle with the balance of work and family time.  As the leader of our households we need to support our Ms and be the examples to our children.
  • Mosey over to the round about
  • Each man would take a lap around 1st doing Lt Dans
  • Finally we would bear crawl.
  • Mosey to the football field for the last 30 seconds and some LBCs

Black Diamond (led by Backdraft)

  • Mosey from warm up top pull up bars
  • Pull ups/ Burpee challenge – 9 pull ups 1 burpee., 8-2 , 7-3 until finished.
  • Mosey to stadium run the bleachers
  • 10 derkins
  • 10 dips
  • Mosey to track run 1/4 mile as fast as you can. U vs. U
  • Mosey to end zone. Count off by 2s. split into groups first person flips tire 10 times than run end zone to end zone while next person flips tire everyone else continuously do 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 big boy sit ups. Keep going until all of group is finished.
  • 10 min 100 burpees. Do 10 burpees every minute on the minute. U vs. U
  • Mosey to 50 yard line 5 minute of Mary
  • Sideline sprints x 2 first set after you run 10 tuck jumps. 2nd set 5 hand release merkins

Ruck (led by Trucker)

2 20lb, 3 40lb, and 3 60lb sandbags were snagged from back of car as 8 PAX tucked down to the elementary school and dropped the sandbags next to the telephone poles. The 8 PAX carried the telephone pole around the parking lot. Left telephone pole where we found it and rucked backwards up the hill to the pull up bars. What’s a WO by Trucker without pull ups? YHC challenged the 8 PAX to do 2 sets of 5 pull ups with ruck on.

Rucked into stadium and lined up in 2 columns for sandbag throws from one end of football field to other and back. Then rucked up and down the football stand stairs from one end back. Rinse and repeat with sandbag throws and stadium stairs. Threw sandbags again down to other side of endzone and then formed 2 lines abs flipped tires from one end to other. Sandbag threw back to other endzone and climbed stadium stairs one more time. Finished with a 20 count flutters. Great work by seasoned and rookie ruckers.

Moderate (led by Short Sale)

  • MOSEY to Elementary School
  • Grab some Wall. Wall Sits while Pax at each end jumps out of line for 5 squats
  • Repeat with 5 Bombjacks.
  • Count off by 5’s and mosey to back of the parking lot
    • Number 1’s go to station #1
    • 2’s start at Station3, etc.
  • Stations: 3 minutes/station. Q calls stop & go
    • 1: 10 Merkins, 20 Calf raises
    • 2: 20 LBCs, 20 Monkey Humpers
    • 3: 10 SSHs, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs
    • 4: 10 Scorpion Dry Docks, 20 Squats
    • 5: 20 Imperial Walkers, 10 Apollo Ohnos
    • 6: 10 Broad Jumps, 20 Flutters
    • 7: 10 Bombjacks, 20 squat jabs
    • 8: 10 handclap merkins w/partner, 10 partner Derkins- Beloved by veteran Pax and FNGs alike
    • 9: 10 Jump Squats, 10 CDD’s
    • 10: 10 Dips, 5 jack Webbs
  • Mosey to Stop sign at bottom of hill for some Mary- Hello Dollies, Flutters, Protractor

MESSAGE ON LEADERSHIP- F3 gives us a great platform to grow our leadership skills and build confidence as a leader. The Pax will let you know if/when something has gone wrong but will also be there to lift you up. Also, the best leaders don’t focus on their ROLE, they focus on the GOAL. So, be the leader you were called to be.

Great group of men came to work. Veterans guided the FNGs and encouraged them at every step of the way. YHC kept reminding the group that it is UvsU out here. Some quality mumble chatter about what moderate means. Smiles all around when moved on from the stations.

Wrap Up

What we have at The Fort is special. It is a strong group of PAX led by men who live with intentionality. I am sure that each of us would agree that it has impacted our lives in ways that we will never be able to describe. At some point for each of us, we were gifted F3. We were headlocked by someone who recognized the impact that F3 had on them and how it could help us. With that in mind, let’s pay this gift forward. Be the leader you were called to be and use your influence to headlock the sad clowns around you, FNGs and Kotters, that are where you once were. Be a leader.

Ginsu

TClap |
16

Why you wanna give me a run-around?

24 PAX gave me a run-around Thursday morning at Footloose.  Tuesday, I made it very clear to both PAX that were listening that Thursday, we would be running … a lot.

I rolled in with 3 minutes to spare, thanks too  … who cares, the Weinke was laminated, and I was loaded for bear.

1 FNG to welcome, a little mumbling, a disclaimer and we were off …

The thang:

Mosey around the main lot, then out to the road, down the hill and a tricky left before the big hill to the big church lot.

Line up for dynamic warm up
Squat walkers
Knee ups
Toy soldier
Windmill walkers
Bear crawl
Patrick Swayze (karaoke L&R, powerskip, backwards run arms out)
Inch Worm
Jonah Hill (3 broad jumps, 3 merkins x 7)

Mosey to the lot across the street, circle-up (ish)
IC: CDDx10, Travoltax10, Squatx10, 2 burpees OYO
Mosey up the stairs to the First Baptist back lot, spot #1
IC: LBCsx10, MNCx10, Monkey Humpersx10, 2 burpees OYO
Mosey around lot a bit to spot #2
IC: Flutterx10, Bombjackx10, Dying Cockroachx10, 2 burpees OYO
Mosey around the lot a bit to spot #3 near grass
IC: Hello Dollyx10 (shout out to Hef), Scorpion DD, KneeTar Jaix10, 2 burpees OYO
Mosey out the front to the church lot across form the fire station
IC: Rosalitax10, Merkinx10, Hillbilly Walkerx10, 2 burpees OYO
Mosey to small lot across from Hardees
IC: Freddiex10, Mahktar Jaix10, Calf Raisex10, 2 burpees OYO
Mosey … Down on Mainstreet … Down on Mainstreeeeeet to the courthouse lot around the corner
IC: Shoulder Tapsx10, Overhead Clapsx60, Imp Walkerx10, 2 burpees OYO
Mosey all the way back to where we started in the large church lot, lots of love and mumble chatter here since we went by what everyone thought was COT, but I saw 6 minutes left …
IC: Russian Twistsx10, Plank Jacksx10, SSHx10, no burpees this time

Back to COT

The skinny on this one was that we kept moving, nothing harsh, I didn’t have to carry Dark Helmet up 40 flights of stairs with a cinder block on each wrist (or whatever he makes you do), 10 counts were walking 10 counts, on your 6, on your feet, in a plank, on your feet. No rest, 45 minutes of exercise.

Welcome FNG Popper, EH’ed by a friend in F3 Columbia

Looks like we made it,

Barry Manilow

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22 PAX braved the Clydesdale pace, some went their own way rather than face the excruciating hills of the Pineapple Loop, some, faced their fear.

The thang:

I run along the avenue
I never thought I’d meet a PAX as slow as you
Meet a PAX like you

With messy hair and sleepy eyes
The least you could do is keep up with the 6
Keep up with the 6

And I ran
I ran so far away
I just ran
I ran from 515 to 600ish
I couldn’t get away

A street lamp above your head
A beam of light comes shining down on you
Shining down on you

The street lamp is moving nearer still
A hole in the sidewalk comes in view
Hole comes in view

And I ran
I ran so far away
I just ran
I ran from 515 to 600ish
I couldn’t get away

 

Looks like we made it,

Barry Manilow

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7

“Make him curl up in the fetal position”

Twitter is a great way to nudge PAX to post, or in my view call out PAX who haven’t posted to the Armory in ages. The second best thing about Twitter is that other PAX reply with announcements that an FNG is posting and they want to Q to punish them FNG….even though he was headlocked as he was serving on a church mission trip. Prior to knowing an FNG was posting, YHC already created a wicked weinke. After a somewhat lackadaisical disclaimer…

COP consisted of: windmills, IM, Hillbillies, SSH (lots of them), squats, and a quick mossy around the church parking lot. PAX grabbed their KB and mossy over to the edge of the parking lot for some sidewalk chalk instructions.

Partner up and split the groups into 2. Half the group follows the LT parking stall sidewalk instructions while the other half follows the RT parking stall sidewalk instructions.

LT parking stall consisted of Partner 1 runs backwards to the other end of the parking lot and runs back while Partner 2 does the exercise. Swap with partner, then rinse and repeat with the next exercise. Exercises consist of: KB swings, upright rows, skull crushers, chest presses, merkins, flutters.

RT parking stall consisted of Partner 1 runs  to the other end of the parking lot  and back while Partner 2 does the exercise. Swap with partner, then rinse and repeat with the next exercise. Exercises consist of: Curls, shoulder presses, squats, LBCs, bent over rows, good mornings, burpees.

Once each group completed their side, flapjack.

Mossy to church benches for OYO of 20 or so reps of the following:

Overhead lat swings, Dips, Derkins, Irkins, Squat Sits. Then round of Mary consisting of American Hammers, Hello Dolly, Big Boy, and LBC with toe taps.

Mossy to COT

Thanks to the PAX for coming out and for the mumble chatter. Great morning for a KB workout.

Asked Crawdaddy to provide a quick hihglight of their mission trip that diverted them from Columbia (the Country) to FL in the wake of Irma. Great message of leadership. Prayers to Change Orders mother, Hot Pockets (FNG) on seeking a new job, and all other spoken and unspoken prayers.

Read your newsletter and sign up for the 5yr invergence!!

Trucker out

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5

Dealer’s Choice: Shovel Flag hand-off at The Ballroom

A beautiful early fall morning with a bright moon called some hearty soles to the “new” Ballroom. Q-drenaline was surging in my veins as the cars kept rolling in. YHC was proud to have my 2.1, Pigeon roll out of the fartsack to join us. As no FNGs were present, an abbreviated disclaimer was offered. Off we went.

Mosey to inbound carpool lines and circle up. COP: (all IC), SSH *20, Windmills * 15, Merkins * 10, Pater Parkers * 10, Plank-o-Rama (As hard as I try, YHC still can’t get execute the hand/foot in the air combo), Squats * 20, MNC*25. Now that we’re warmed up, mosey to the gym wall. Before we got to the wall sits, YHC offered a few words on Leadership: F3 is an incredible opportunity to hone your leadership skills. As I am also a scout leader, F3 has sharpened my abilities and made me much more comfortable taking on the mantle of leadership.

Wall-sits while Pax on each end run out of line, do 5 squats, return and next man goes. Repeat, but this time each Pax does 5 Bombjacks. Nice form by Twister and Anchorman had a nice vertical. Now that the hammys are sufficiently smoked, mosey to the staff parking lot, under the bright lights for:

Deck O Pain: Each Pax draws a card and the group does the number of exercises on the card. Exercises were based upon the suit shown on each card as follows: Hearts = merkins, Clubs = squats, Diamonds = LBCs, Spades = Bombjacks. Each time a 10 is drawn, everyone run a lap around the lot. This is an easy “set it and forget it” piece and gets everyone engaged in the workout. Newer Pax get a chance to practice calling out the cadence and can gain some confidence in their leadership skills. Some quality mumblechatter followed along with an inordinate amount of merkins. We made it to about card 42 when YHC called an Omaha and had us run one more lap. After that, mosey back to COT.

Before the announcements, YHC offered a quote that I really enjoyed on Leadership:

Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. – Harry S. Truman

 That really hit home- having the courage to lead and building my skills are areas that I often fall short on. But sharpening iron alongside my brothers will help me to progress in these areas.

Announcements: upcoming Invergence and Convergence, G-fit workout on Fridays, read your newsletter. Prayer and a praise for our scout leaders of Pack 250, other prayers for Houston, F3 Columbia team and injured Pax. Cake Boss took us out with an awesome, prayerful giving of thanks for the leadership shown by fellow Pax and asking that we each become the leader that our Father meant us to be.

Before we got to Prayers, the Shovel Flag for the Ballroom was officially passed off to YHC as the new Site Q. I was honored when Cake Boss asked me to take over for him. Big shoes to fill there, but this is always a solid group of supportive Pax, so just know that I’ll be reaching out to each of you to get on the schedule. Thanks also go out to Change Order for leading this AO for many years. One reason I was glad when Cake Boss approached me about taking over as site Q was that I had thought about it when Change Order had been looking for someone months ago. Probably should have stepped up then, but opportunity came knocking again. As always, color me honored and humbled. See y’all in The Gloom.

Short Sale out.

 

TClap |
6

Clydesdales – Value Run

Not much to add.  We had 3 options Value loop to Walmart, a trail run through Baxter and a pineapple run through Baxter.  All were safe and returned without any skid marks. Peace out!

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22 for lessons on Self and Spiritual Discipline

BALL ROOM WORKOUT 8.29.17

 

 

Little baby arm circles 10 IC

Windmill 10 IC

Low slow squat 10 IC

 

 

Mosey to the bridge

Irkin then inch worm to the right to the end

Dip then crab craw back to the center

Meet back in the middle talk about spiritual discipline

 

Secrecy: not making our good deeds known, let god take receive attention. This is something i have been trying to work on and not to boast about what i have done but to allow him to receive the glory

 

Submission: to allow gods will to free us of our burdens & cares so we can follow Jesus. My testimony was when my daughter was diagnosed with cancer i gave it all to him and the worry and stress was gone something amazing.

 

Soul Friendship: engaging with fellow disciples of Jesus in prayerful conversation or spiritual practices. A great example is wet stone partner and i encourage you to be a part of that program

 

Mosey to the wall and stairs

Peoples chair with some arm straight out, overhead pumps 2 teams

1 from each team runs up the steps and back down

Feel the burn

 

Mosey to the left side of the school to open parking lot

 

2 teams, 1 team runs together around the parking lot while team 2 preforms exercise till the 6 is back then team 2 runs

 

CDD

Fire hydrants left leg (lift your leg up like a dog pees on a fire hydrant) thanks to my ST. Simmons brothers for that one

 

Fire hydrants right leg

 

Worse worse worse LBC ( start in LBC position right elbow to left knee then right elbow to left elbow to right knee then preform crunch) now you know how it got its name, thanks to my ST. Simmons brothers for that one too

 

Plank jacks

 

Bomb jacks

 

Calf raises

 

Next came a little word on self-discipline

 

Self-discipline: the ability to control one’s feelings & overcome one’s weakness. This one I struggle with especially sweets in the house I lack this and need to improve on it.

Will Power: control exerted to something or to restrain and impulse. I have taking on the Ragnar this year which a year ago I would have said you are crazy if you think I am going to attempt that. My mind set now is I am going to crush this race with my fellow brothers. So Saturday rolled around I choose not to stay and watch the fight that was so hyped up but to wake up and run at 5:45 in the morning to train for this race. Mind over matter

Determination: firmness of purpose

Mosey to cot

For some AB Lab

Start with American hammers IC

LBC IC

Freddy Mecury IC

LBC IC TCLAPS to the FNG (PSYCHO) perfect cadence count

 

22 at the BALLROOM

1 FNG (psycho)

Announcements

Prayers and praises

Nam-O-Rama

As always a pleasure to lead a great group of HIMS

Fantastic work gentlemen

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2

80’s/90’s Themed High School Sports

SSH 15
Mtn Climbers 15
Squats 15
windmill 15
Moroccan night club 25
The Thang:  (football style)
Monkey rolls for 30 secs
butt rolls 30 secs
chop and drop 30 secs
squat thrust 10
Discussed discipline and what that means to the Pax
Turned over to Bonsai for basketball style workout
Moseyed over to First Baptist Church back parking lot
Ran suicide with a twist up the hill
(Start running backward to first line)
– first line 10 merkins
– second line 20 squats
– third line 30 LBCs
– fourth line 40 toe taps
(After completing each exercise return back to start running forward)
10 merkins in cadence
Single leg hop to next row of parking spaces and back
Switch and repeat
Next split up in two groups
Group 1 – work their way through the cones setup with the defensive slide
Group 2 – merkins until the 6 completes the defensive slide
Rinse and Repeat
Group 2 – Bobby Hurley’s until 6 gets back
Move over to the wall for 20 jump wall taps
Mosey back to COT
Anchorman I appreciate the opportunity to lead and it was a great idea to
incorporate High School sports.
In case you can’t figure it out Destiny was the one in high school in the 80’s.  Just saying – All most respectable.
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0

Choose Wisely

I had the pleasure to cross the river and Q #FootLoose this morning. Conditions were okay considering its August in South Carolina – temps in the lower 70s and a light rain. All in, 28 #HIM made the choice to roll out of the fartsack and start their day off on the right foot. Here’s what we did…

The Thang
Short Mosey across the street to the circle in front of the church. Bird Cage reminded me that this area was just as congested as the previous spot, but that didn’t stop us from warming up, shoulder-to shoulder with our brothers.

  • 20 SSHs (IC)
  • 15 Hillbilly Walkers (IC)
  • 30 Moroccan Night Clubs (IC)
  • Mosey to the Church steps
  • Bear Crawl up
  • Crawl Bear down
  • Squats while you wait

Apparently, the steps get slippery when wet. Since I like to keep my teeth, we Omaha’d round two and moseyed to the lot to behind the church.
Circle Up for Choose Your Poison. We took turns rolling dice and choosing exercises. One die was the exercise (see below); the other was the rep count (x10). The roller had to choose which die was for the exercise and which was the rep.
1. Merkins
2. LBCs
3. Squats
4. Side Straddle Hops
5. Overhead Claps
6. Burpees
Luckily we didn’t have two sixes (60 Burpees) rolled, and if we did, the PAX calling the shots wisely modified. Even though this is a moderate workout, we did our share of Burpees (probably 50ish). Overhead Claps and SSHs were popular choices (maybe 200ish). Merkins and LBCs came up a few times (150ish). Squats were tossed a couple times (100ish).

  • Mosey to the wall
  • 15 People’s Chair (IC)
  • 15 One-legged Squats (flapjack)
  • 10 Merkins (IC)
  • Mosey back to COT

NMM
I was honored to be asked to Q this morning. TClaps to Anchorman for his dedication to growing #FootLoose and awesome leadership stepping up to take over, Beacon. This AO has tons of options, so reach out to Beacon to get on the Q schedule.
Today’s workout reminds us that every day brings choices. Post or not post? Boxers or briefs? Paper or Plastic? Gossip or Gospel? We have opportunities each day to choose wisely or poorly. Every choice brings consequences. Sometimes you will face a challenge where the choice is hard to make and the outcome is difficult to take, but when you make it through, you will garner something from the experience. When a choice needs to be made, you need to make it. You’re either in or you’re out. Own it.
It’s been said that opportunity knocks, but temptation leans on the doorbell. When there is a knock, open the door and dive in to the challenge at hand. When temptation leans, step back and evaluate the potential outcome. Is it worth it? Opportunity is often missed because it looks like work. Temptation is often chosen because it looks like fun. Realize that every action has a reaction and you have to deal with the consequences of bad choices.
Today, I encourage you to choose positivity. Whatever you want, make the decision and do what it takes to get it. There will be challenges, but the greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. Sometimes it takes time, but remember, patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

Aye!
Italian Job

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