Ohhh Milk!

The gloom was upon us as we watched our former brothers @F3_Polaroid and @birdcage_f3 ran away out of unadulterated fear and loathing to find a safer path known as Whites Road…

A custom playlist was created for this one, along with fully laminated and Snake Pit logo’d work out stations, as per usual for a UHaul led workout.

The PAX arrived once again to the rockish crooning of Bob Seger’s Like a Rock to put us in the mood for strong, unbothered by responsibility, handsome younger versions of ourselves that probably never existed outside of our own Sad Clown younger selves, but I digress…

Warm ups were had by all while Maroon 5 played us a Wake Up Call so we could limber up for the pain stations which would be 3 in number to allow for a rotational situation…  Two groups of 3 and one group of  2 would cycle through…

Station

  1. Standing Shoulder Press x20 while others executed Hello Dolly or Box Cutters, switch, repeat… White and Nerdy – Weird Al
  2. Kettle Bell Swings x25 while others executed Air Dramas until their legs or sphincter gave out, switch, repeat…  All Summer Long – Kidd Rock
  3. Hammer Curls x25 while others pretended to do as many Shoulder Taps as possible, switch, repeat…  Jump – Van Halen
  4. That anger management candidate Malcolm showed up again to chase PAX around while they tried peacefully to carry their bell above their head…
  5. Skull Crushers x25 while others whose sphincters had recovered did Low Slow Squats, switch, repeat…  Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen
  6. The UHaul in cadence x10 while others executed copious numbers of Plank Jacks, switch, repeat…  Down Under – Men At Work
  7. Laying Press x20 while others hammered out American Hammers until their abs twitched, switch, repeat… You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
  8. Malcolm shows up again…
  9. PAX are freed to choose their next exercise and all merely move to the next station as they would have if they were not freed…  Shut Up and Drive – Rihanna which I believe I skipped to get to I Want You to Want Me – Letters to Cleo
  10. PAX collected for Laying Chest Press x25 and Sumo Deadlifts in an alternating fashion while Rodney Atkins reminded us that If You’re Going Through Hell you should just keep on going because you might get out before the Devil knows you’re there…  It didn’t work, the rinse/repeat cycle was fully engaged and no one escaped…
  11. As has become the tradition at UHaul led workouts, the PAX gathered for 5 minutes of Mary while R.E.M. drove home the point that Everybody Hurts and it doesn’t stop until 0600.

Name O Rama included a strange outburst from @hunteregnor that you should watch…

Announcements, Praises and Prayers were shared by all…

https://twitter.com/F3_UHaul/status/1186954000463212544?s=20

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Music, Lamination and a Chainsaw at the Armory

Second Q in 48 Hours for a limpy YHC…

While the PAX mingle and stretch we are serenaded by the smooth stylings of Bob Seger reminding us of his time being Like a Rock.  Standard warm up situation began with Huey Lewis singing about his desire for a new drug, leading to some pain stations with partner work…

Stations

  1. Skull Crushers x20 while partner bangs out as many Box Cutters as possible, switch, repeat…  Wake Up Call – Maroon 5
  2. Kettle Bell Swings x20 while partner bangs out as many Air Dramas as possible, switch, repeat…  All Summer Long – Kidd Rock
  3. Curls x20 while partner bangs out as many Shoulder Taps as possible, switch, repeat…               If You’re Going Through Hell… – Rodney Atkins
  4. Quick wander with bells overhead while Malcolm solves problems with his chainsaw
  5. Overhead Press x20 while partner bangs out as many Sumo Deadlifts as possible, switch, repeat…  Jump – Van Halen
  6. The UHaul x10 while partner gets in as many Peter Parkers as possible, switch, repeat…          Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen
  7. Laying Press x20 while partner hammers out American Hammers, switch, repeat…                          You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
  8. More wanderings while evading Malcolm and his chainsaw
  9. Upright Rows x20 while partner maxes out on Low Slow Squats, switch, repeat…                            Down Under – Men at Work
  10. Rinse Repeat stations
    1. Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
    2. Shut Up and Drive – Rihanna
    3. Malcolm chases us back to COT
  11. 5 minutes of Mary while R.E.M. reminds us that Everybody Hurts
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Nine at the Hive

Nine at the Hive

Today marked the introduction of lamination at The Hive with the crew once again counting on a partner with station work to #Accelerate.

Began with the standard warm up situations while Welcome to the Jungle’s melodic tunes played…

Station work began with the following exercises…

  1. Skull Crushers x20 while partner executed as many Box Cutters as possible, switch, repeat… (Wake Up Call – Maroon 5)
  2. Kettle bell swings x20 while partner executed as many Air Dramas as possible, switch, repeat… (All Summer Long – Kidd Rock)
  3. Curls x20 while partner executed as many Plank Shoulder Taps as possible, switch, repeat… (Jump – Van Halen)
  4. Break to walk with bell over head while Malcolm chased all PAX with a chainsaw…
  5. Overhead Press x20 while partner executed as many Sumo Deadlifts as possible, switch, repeat…  (Golden Years – David Bowie)
  6. “Out & Up” x20 (most modified to 10) while partner executed as many Plank Cross Unders as possible, switch, repeat… (Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen)
  7. Laying Press x20 while partner executed as many American Hammers as possible, switch, repeat… (You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC)
  8. That darn Malcolm showed up again…
  9. Upright Rows x20 while partner executed as many Low Slow Squats as possible, switch, repeat… (Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen)
  10. Rinse and repeat while the following played
    1. Down Under – Men at Work
    2. I Want You to Want Me – Letters to Cleo
    3. One last chase back to COT by Malcolm
  11. Finish with 5 minutes of Mary while R.E.M. serenaded us with Everybody Hurts…
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Kettlebells of Catan

YHC is quite thankful for the opportunity to Q the Armory. I’d been avoiding bells for a while to try to up my running game and down my BMI game, and throwing a bell in the back of the car gave me that warm, familiar feeling…

Rolled into the parking lot and saw an impressive fleet of vehicles in the gloom.  Quickly dropped off my small box of goodies and joined the pax just in time to disclaim that I’m no professional.

Warm Up

Things started off with a quarter mile mosey around the parking lot. Followed by some SSH, zucchini** pickers, merkins, mountain climbers, and windmills.  Then grab the bells and head to the NE lot where my box of stuff was.

What’s In The Box?

After we paired up I pulled out the box’s contents. 4 pens (all I could find this morning) two dice from my wife’s copy of Settler’s of Catan, and 8 sheets of paper.

Math? Really…?

Stats, yeah… If you’re familiar with the distribution of a die roll of 2 six sided dice, you’ll see why rolling 2 and 12 are particularly painful, the odds are 1/36 for each, while rolling a 7 is 1/6.  Let’s look at the bell curve (more of a triangle).

This is the core game mechanic in the game Setttler’s of Catan.  Using probability along with some randomness, the game rewards people 5/6ths of the time and punishes them 1/6th of the time.  YHC thought long and hard on how to include that mechanic in our morning workout, but decided on loyalty to the beatdown. Perhaps later more will be added to that 7 roll.

Enough of that noise…

Back to the Thang, the least likely rolls were assigned the more difficult tasks, while the more probable rolls had tasks that PAX could more readily repeat. Each sheet was identical:

2. 20x man makers
3. 20x upright rows
4. 10x man makers
5. 8x each/16x both arm curls
6. 10x goblet squats
7. 15x swings
8. 20x chest press
9. 8x each plank row
10. 20x dead lift
11. 5x each Turkish get up
12. 20x man makers

YHC quickly explained that every team was to roll the dice, and the roll dictated the exercise they were to do.  The counts on the paper were per person, not per team. A team was free to divide the exercises how they saw fit. So if 20x man makers was rolled, then they could split it 20/20 or have one guy do 35 and the other 15. Bandcamp swiftly pointed out that it should be 35 and 5, and YHC with matched rapidity reminded everyone that he is not a professional.

So, having to do 20 man makers each should be relatively rare. And, yet, they were rolled 13 times by teams that recorded their pain.

Each team performed the set and could mark them down so that they could keep track of their randomized beatdowns. After each completed set, the teams would run across the parking lot (~50M) perform five big boy situps, then run back and roll again. We did this for the entire workout.

With five minutes left, and Divac rolling yet another 2, YHC called a ‘2’ for all the PAX and with 90 seconds left we carried our bells back to COT.

COT

Announcements
There’s probably a convergence on Thanksgiving
Join Slack
Read up on the Vasectomy Channel!
Read your newsletter

Prayers
YHC reminded everyone that the COT is a real trust, and that no one would be going home to talk about so and so to their M’s, and it should be considered a safe place. Went around the circle (starting with YHC) and asked each of the PAX to issue a praise or prayer, most chose praises.  My heart was warmed by the praises that were offered and we had a quick prayer before dispersing.

Always a pleasure to lead a workout.

The team’s sheets

Links to the photos in my google drive. Enjoy

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Te3AZzotv81cexq5A
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AbvHzjagrPdvNGu28
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qxes3Wo4PaGQnKW78

** Last week Gears called this the “potato picker”. Pretty sure in the lexicon it’s “tappy taps”.  One of my goals will be to completely obscure this until it’s utterly recognizable to anyone outside fo the Fort.

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Camp in the Shade

5 PAX gathered at Pantheon (added a 6th later)

After Gekko called for a sub on Slack. Shady and I both responded within a minute of each other saying we’d be willing to step in…..so the only thing to do was split the Q!

We even managed to convince Slash to venture West of I-77.

Shady:
Warm-up
Squats 10
SSH 25
Windmill 10
Merkins 10
Peter Parker’s 10
Imperial Walker 10
up/down dog

Mosey
– Olaf warned Shady that Zoolander may post at Pantheon. As we began to mosey a car looking suspiciously lost in the maze of Tega Cay Elementary went around to the back of the school. We chased it down and confirmed it was a discombobulated Zoolander. We moseyed back to assist in him finding a parking spot.

Down to ampitheater:
Jacob’s Ladder to 11
– Diamond Merkins at the top
– Jump Squats at the bottom

Hand off to Band Camp:

Mosey to the Pillars of Pantheon.

Bear Crawl to each marked pillar:
5 merkins
10 squats
15 lunges (each leg)
20 monkey humpers
(skipped burpees the first time)

Mosey back to start

Repeat with compounding interest:
5 merkins
bear crawl

5 merkins
10 squats
bear crawl

5 merkins
10 squats
15 lunges (each leg)
bear crawl

5 merkins
10 squats
15 lunges (each leg)
20 monkey humpers
bear crawl

5 merkins (30 total)
10 squats (50 total)
15 lunges (60 total)
20 monkey humpers (60 total)
25 burpees
mosey back to start

Plank up
Pigeon Lunge
Plank/Al Gore for Highs and Lows

COT

Announcement: Millstone and The Yard are merging as the Milkshake. They will meet on Saturdays at WEP and share COT with The Fort.

NMM

Tried something different with the message for this one. To try and accelerate the 2nd F a bit, as we were holding Plank/Al Gore, I asked PAX to share their High (moment/event/happening) and their Low (moment/event/happening/behavior/etc) for the past week. My “high” was getting to travel as a family to a gig I played and enjoy the trip with them during my downtime. My “low” was my parenting behavior when we were all tired after the weekend and the travel back home on Sunday…not my finest hour.

The smaller workout numbers really can facilitate a growth in 2nd F, if we’re intentional.

An honor to lead.

-Band Camp dismissed
 

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Chutes and Ladders (not really…)

8 posted at The Armory and may wish they hadn’t.  I joked that I had done Demented Uno too recently (Friday at The Hive) so I had to come up with a new game.  Chutes and Ladders is what I threw out on Twitter.  Sadly, I couldn’t come up with a way for that to happen.  This was the best I could do.  More of a Pyramid of Pain.

Warmup – Mosey, Moroccan Nightclub, Hillbilly and Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Cherry Pickers, Plank, Honeymooner, Plank, Downdog, alternate calves in Downdog

Next started the pain

10 ManMakers

20 LBCs with Bell

30 Skullcrushers

Mosey w/ Bell

40 Curls (or 20 each arm)

50 Tricep Extensions

Mosey w/ Bell

60 Overhead Press

50 Flutters with Bell

Mosey w/ Bell

40 Goblet Squats into calf raises

30 Rows (15 each side)

Mosey w/ Bell

20 American Hammers

10 Turkish Getups with a butterfly or lat raise on your back to start (5 each side)

Still had 16 minutes, so PAX called exercises (Manmakers, Uhauls, etc, even rotate one bell and did rows and BBS)

 

 

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Canon X-50 count

10 PAX gathered on a cool(ish) morning when the entire town of Fort Mill had no running water. 8 for Laces In, 2 started 15min earlier for Laces Out

Disclaimer delivered haltingly as Sugarbug exited his vehicle at 5:14 & 58 seconds to join the group.

Mosey to Band Practice Lot:

50 SSH
Downdog –> Honeymooner –> ect.
50 Moroccan Nightclubs
25 Imperial Walkers
25 Hillbilly Walkers
A bit of mumble chatter about the high count

Mosey to the lot in front of the R-Wing
50 shoulder taps
Downdog –> Honeymooner –> etc.
30 Mountain Climbers (was planning on hitting 50 but looked up after 20 and the PAX were slowing down, at 30 most were just watching me count . . . )
0 Peter Parkers (had planned 50, but wanted to avoid the tacit mutiny)

Mosey to the pullup bars

Partner up
on partner holds position while the other partner does 10 reps. Then switch until both PAX had completed 50 reps each (i.e., 100 total).
– Merkins
– Squats
– Rosalita

Revealed the two kettlebells (30lb and 35lb) I hid prior to the workout

4 Pax on the pull-up bars
4 Pax on the ground

Pax on the ground split 2 with bells and 2 holding squat

Pax with bells did 10 KB swings and switched to hold a squat.
– Pax holding squat then switched to 10 KB swings
Pax on bars free hang until during the first 10 KB Swings
– then during the next 10 KB Swings PAX attempted to hold their chin above the bar
– after other PAX complete 20 total KB Swings back to free hang
– after other PAX complete 30 total KB Swings back to chin above the bar

2 rounds of this and then flip-flopped for 2 more rounds

Plank up in a line
Hold plank while 1 PAX jumps out and does 10 KB Swings (for an individual total of 50 KB Swings). PAX waiting in plank alternated between high plank and six inches everytime someone switched to the Kettlebell.

Mosey back to COT for some Mary (Joined by 2 runners)

– Called a yoga variation and added a crunch alternating to each side of the raised leg

(e.g., 4-count: 1 to the center, 2 back down hands above head, 3 to the outside of the raised leg, 4 back down. Notice the extended heel stays six inches above the ground…I may call this again and if enough PAX hate it…consider giving it a name.
– Rolled over for some Pigeon Lunges
– back over for Flutters until time

NMM:

As men, how much are we challenging ourselves with things we don’t like or don’t understand? Physically we do this in the 5am hour with demanding workouts, but do we try this in all facets of our lives? Consider taking in some art (play, movie, music, museum, etc.) you just don’t understand or trying to interact with something (someone?) you really don’t like.

The piece below by Conlon Nancarrow predates “electronic music.” He used a player piano reel to realize music that was so rhythmically complex, no human players at the time could accomplish it. In Canon X, there are two lines. One starts at a slow tempo and speeds up. The other starts fast and slows down. (So a graph of the tempos looks like an X.) This is a tempo canon rather than a traditional melodic canon. (Row, Row, Row Your Boat is a melodic canon.)

Canon X

This kind of composition may or not may be “enjoyable” to listen to. Or you might not “like” it. But it is fascinating. We don’t have to like something for it to be interesting or valuable.

40+ years after these pieces were written, a small ensemble began stretching what we once thought human musicians were capable of performing. They arranged some of Nancarrow’s player piano reels in an acoustic setting. See the original and the arrangement:

Nancarrow – Player Piano Study No. 2A
Alarm Will Sound – Nancarrow Player Piano Study No. 2A

I don’t know what this means for you in specific. But in general, I hope it encourages you to stretch your boundaries and grow. Because that’s part of what the Arts should help us do!

COT
Praise for the fact that most days we can turn on the taps and clean water comes out.

An honor to lead,

Band Camp dismissed

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Can I borrow a KB?

YHC was pleased to be asked by J-Wow (there’s a guy who is accelerating) to come back to the Armory and Q. While not a true Redwood, I was there when the idea of a KB workout was launched at the Baxter pool with Package and Orange Crush (never posted). I immediately went out an purchased a 25lb’er via the internet (shipping costs!) and away we went.

Since that start, I have gravitated to running partly due to CSAUPs and given my bell to Anchorman. But there’s no question that YHC needed a beatdown after a long golf weekend. I started the Hype Train on Sunday with a request to borrow a bell and was met with some witty replies. The Fort represents!

Weather: Its F3 time! 63 with a light breeze

The Thang

Partner KB Workout

Round 1

Partner 1 – KB Swings x 12

Partner 2 – Rests until Partner 1 is finished

Partner 2 – 1 arm military press x 12

Partner 1 – rests until Partner 2 is finished – you get the idea

Partner 1 – Goblet Squats x 10

Partner 2 – Bob and Weave x 10

Partner 1 – Merkins x 12

Partner 2 – Bench Press x 12

Partner 1 – SSH x 20

Partner 2 – SSH x 20

Rinse and Repeat for 7 minutes

Take a lap around the parking lot

Round 2 – Flip the exercises for 7 minutes then take a lap

Round 3

Partner 1 – Curls x12

Partner 2 – Triceps x 12

Partner 1 – Bent Over Rows x 10

Partner 2 – CDD x 12

Partner 1 – Reverse Lunge w/ Hammer x 8

Partner 2 – Jump Squats x 10

Partner 1 – Bombjacks x 12

Partner 2 – Man Climbers x 16

Rinse and repeat for 7 minutes then a lap

Round 4 – Flip the exercises and head home

Mosey to COT

 

Moleskin:

  • 10/19 – Opportunity to serve at Childrens Attention Home – See Culture Club
  • October – opportunity to impact Young Lives – See newsletter
  • Prayers for marriages and kids

Pusher out!

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Office etiquette

I kept asking “what is a kettle bell” as my frequency of attendance at KB workouts can be counted on two hands- maybe one.  Somehow I was tapped to lead and thankful that I did.  Getting outside of the comfort zone and breaking routines is refreshing.

Warm Ups: Moroccan Night Clubs, windmills, lap runs with shuffle

The Thang

  • Round 1 10 reps
  • Round 2 15 reps
  • Round 3 20 reps
  • Round 4 10 reps

 

  • Goblet Squat
  • Tricep Extention
  • Curl
  • Shoulder Press
  • Windmill (Crowd pleaser)
  • Lunge-Row
  • Swing
  • Lawn Mower Pull

Naked Man Moleskin

Great group this morning and truly appreciate being shown the way to better form and technique.  Good to end a tough cardio week on focused strength.  Highly recommend Hive attendance.

 

 

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