Tag: Barry Manilow

Inertia at The Ballroom

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19 PAX at The Ballroom

Above is the insight into my mind……

Here’s a more legible list of what we did:
Mosey in a circle to catch Renaissance
– SSH – used to count the PAX present….
– IW x a few
– HW x the same amount
– Peter Parker until dissent
– Down Dog – Up Dog
– Shoulder Tap until dissent

Mosey to basketball court
– Toy Solders a sufficient distance to garner griping about this being a “Moderate” workout
– Butt Kickers
– Side Shuffles

Mosey down the hill
Split into 3 groups to do a Leg-O-Rama (one PAX does the reps, other PAX hold the pose until all have completed the reps)
– Squats
– Calf Raises
– Monkey Humpers
– 5 reps
– Run up the hill do 10 reps of each
– Run down do 15 reps of each

Mosey to Basketball court
– some burpees in cadence
– a round of Howling Monkeys to 10

Mosey back
– did some step ups when YHC found a plethora of benches

COT

NMM:
How often do we let the inertia of what we are or have been prevent us from realizing our potential?

Thanks to Manziel for the opportunity to lead
Band Camp dismissed.
 

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Footloose in Fort Mill

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Five men met in downtown Ft. Mill for a boot camp workout on a brisk South Carolina morning.  Here is what they did:

Warm up with some walking stretches:  knee to chest, ankle to waist, lunge twists, toy soldiers, and arm circles.  Mosey along Monroe White Street to Tom Hall and head towards Maint Street.

Circle up in the Kimbrell’s parking lot.  All in cadence:

SSH x 20,  windmill x 10, merkin x 7, squat x 20, mountain climber x 15/hold plank/right and left arm and leg high/hold/6″/regular/6″/regular 5 merkins, LBC x 15, IW x 15, Morrocan night club x 25 while walking along Main St.

Mosey on Main Street, take a left onto Confederate,  and assume people’s chair along the building across from the Improper Pig (take in the smell of smoked meat…)

Hold People’s chair with overhead arm claps.  Recover and then BTTW and hold until all pax did a 10 count.  Repeat this two more times.

Mosey to the side walk along Millstone Park, find a partner.

R1:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 merkins, while partner 2 does SSH’s

R2:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 bombjacks while partner 2 does squats

R3:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 burpees while partner 2 does calf raises.

R4:  Everyone together, bear crawl up the hill and do 10 merkins in cadence.

R5:  Repeat R4

Mosey to the Ft. Mill Police parking lot for ABLAB:

Freddie Merc x 15, flutter x 15, American hammer x 15, Superman x 3.

End with the body destroyer

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

It was pretty cold this morning.  When I arrived at the church, there were a handful of cars in the lot and no one was outside.   I started stretching outside and thought the guys would come out and join me, but no takers.  No one left their car until about 5:14 and I actually had to coax Uhaul out of his car so we could start the workout.

Once we got moving,  though, everyone warmed up pretty well.  We moved through town and took advantage of the buildings, lots, and green spaces available in the area.  This was my first Q at Footloose and it was fun to explore this great AO.   Welcome back, Kotter:  I had not seen Lil’E in a long time and it turns out he’s been on an extended fartsack leave.  Good to have you back, brother and let’s keep it going.  It was a pleasure to lead the group today.  T-claps to Boss Hogg who went for a solo walk this morning, but re-joined us at precisely 6:00 on the dot.   That’s impressive timing my friend.  Anchorman and Barry Manilow finished their run and met us for COT.

Announcements, prayers, and praises:

Read  your newsletter.

Prayers for Kenyan and his family.

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WOW!!! 26 for the Ballroom.  25 BCers and 1 IR’d walker.

Workout – Blast from the Past.

 

As if last week’s focus on 70 TV themes wasn’t enough, YHC went in for a return to the early exercon with BLIMPS.

The workout –

Brief warm up of 20 SSH, 10 Windmills and a run around the school to the far side and the “wall.”   At said wall, the PAX executed a round of wall sits whilst the PAX from each end executed two burpess and we worked our way inward.  Followed by BTW.

Afterwards we ran to the field with one lap around the track and divided into four teams at the goal line.  For the remainder of our time here we did four rounds, maybe five, of BLIMPS.  Every 10 yards the pax moved themselves by running, bear crawling, broad jumping and duck walking after the BLIMP was finished the pax ran to the opposite end zone.  What are BLIMPS?

  • Burpees 5
  • Lunges 20
  • Imperial Walkers 15
  • Merkins 20
  • Plankjack 25
  • Squats 30

What was the moleskin?  There wasn’t one . . . YHC was so taken by the 26 pax at at AO he couldn’t think.  However, if there is one it should be this – men, savor every moment with you children if you have them.  Do not complain.  It is amazing and the time is so short when they are little that you cannot comprehend it until they are older.  SAVOR IT!!

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Celebrating Shield’s 49th @ Footloose

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Warmup: 49 SSH
Party: 7×7’s = 7 rounds of 7 counts of: Monkey Humpers, Incline Merkins, Peter Pointers, Merkins, LBC’s, Squats, SSH
Happy 49th Shield! pRespect!

Next we mosey’d up and down Confederate St, Indian style. We finished on the far side of Southern Sugar. There we did a wall sit while the 2 ends broke off to do 2 burpees. Another mosey later we were at Fort Mill Church of God running up and down their stairs. I like to call that the Smithers Stair-climb because the first time I did it was when Smithers was on Q. It hurt me back then so I knew it made me better. I try to incorporate it into every Footloose Q now.
Around the corner we found another set of stairs that a few of us ran up and down twice. At the top we circled up for a round or 3 of Mary. Another slow mosey got us back to C.O.T. We prayed.

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Canon X-50 count

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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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Back to Where it Began

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Well wishes to Flat Tire to heal quickly from one on one with a Mountain Bike.  Heal up quickly- you’re influence is great and we look forward to seeing you back in the Gloom.

For 2 years I had no idea there were still other AOs outside of Colosseum.  But really, since Tuesday is our busiest day, getting 11 men to one spot is miracle and noteworthy.  The original AO: The Fort is proudly and strongly led by Esso.  Glad to be back.

Cars were rolling in when I arrived at 0500.  Several familiar faces and names and a few that i knew and have met but will improve on committing your names to memory.  (Sales trick: “Good to see is better than nice to meet you”)- #Cobains to Bobber and Offset.

You should have heard the whining from The Pax, (errr.. Rebel) when I muttered that there would be some grass today during the disclaimer.  It was glorious.  We took off like a bat outta hell running around WEP.

Thought for the day: “I am not who I think I am.  I am not what You think I am.  I am who I think you think I am.”

Warm ups- Dynamic/moving; no circles and watch the Q.  

  • SSH, IW, Squat; Run
  • seal jack, Hillbilly walker, Sumo squat, 3 burpee; run
  • plank jack, MC, PP, 3 burpee; run
  • Monkey Humper, nightclubs; 3 burpee

The Thang

Mosey to bottom of Stairway to heaven.

6 light poles, rotate through groups until all have done

RD 1

  • Group 1: 5 merkins at each light, run back
  • Group 2: Flutters
  • Group 3: LBC

RD 2

  • Group 1: 5 CDD at each light, run back
  • Group 2: Lunge
  • Group 3: Squat

Mosey to Hill for Jacobs Ladder (7).  Once again proves to be great equalizer of men.  loads of huffin and puffin

  • Bottom: Donkey Kicks
  • Top: Bombjacks

6 minutes of Mary

Jail break to Shovel Flag.

NMM

We talked about the Thought for day.  What does being a leader mean?  “People will follow you, so lead wisely”  growing up we often sought titles.  Heck, some of us do now.  Team captain, shift manager, Crew Leader, director, boss…  Are you putting in the work to fulfill that title or is it a name only?  Is that what you are seeking.  Conversely, what if your title went away?  what if your title that demanded respect went away? would you still take initiative, encourage, lead others?

Be the leader that regardless of status, operates like one.  Seek to serve instead of being served.

*update 8:57am

Had a meaningful conversation with my Whetstone “stone” recently.  I was going through all of the great things and areas where I was accelerating.  Detail after detail.  Family, M, kids, Parenting successes, work and leadership successes.  We celebrated that together.

<Pause>

“What are your struggles?”, he said.

Boom.  There had been one area that has been in my blind spot and I have not had a grip on so we discussed and laid out a plan of correction.  The point is, Its easy to feel good about your score card/record when you’re 6-1 on the season.  I’m winning, I’m having a good season.  But its the struggle that takes real candor to address.  Special shout to my Whetstone and Shieldlocks.

#Honored

 

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Lead where you are – 2 years have flown by @ THE Ballroom

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What a beautiful, steamy fall morning as the gloom saw 19 of The Fort’s finest show for our Shovel flag Hand-off at THE Ballroom. Can’t believe that it was over 2 years ago when Cake Boss asked YHC to take over Site Q duties for this awesome AO. #Honored and Humbled. Numerous FNGs and VQs later, it is time to hand over the reins to my guy, Manziel. Tclaps my friend.

Mosey to other side of the school

COP:

  • Seal Jacks * 20
  • 5 Burpees
  • Merkins * 10
  • 4 Burpees
  • Squats * 15
  • 3 Burpees
  • Gas Pumpers * 15
  • 2 Burpees
  • SSH * 20
  • 1 Burpees
  • MOROCCAN NIGHTCLUBS * 20

MOSEY to ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STAIRS- LADDER 10s- 1st set-LBCs at bottom, SSHs at top, Bear Crawl up, Stairs down, 2nd Set-Merkins at bottom, squats at top

At this point, I shared some:

 Thoughts on Leadership – F3 has been called a “Leadership Machine”, this is a great environment to hone your leadership skills. As it says in Q Source – “Man is by nature a Group-forming animal. In My Experience – I grow as a leader when I am pushed OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE. AYE? As Maximus & Royale both related at the Invergence – people saw leadership potential in them before they realized it themselves. LOOK WHERE THEY ARE NOW. When Cake Boss asked me to be Site Q for THE Ballroom about 2 years ago – I was honored. And grateful for Manziel taking the reins now. STEP UP WHEN CALLED UPON-YOU WON”T REGRET IT.  

Mosey to Elem School Playground – 3 EXERCISES- Shoulder Taps (single count), SQUAT JUMPS, FLUTTERS- START WITH 5 OF EACH, RUN TO OTHER END OF CIRCLE, ADD 5 ON EACH LAP. Only made it to 15s. had to save time for one of my faves . . .

SO MOSEY TO Front of PK Middle School for– JACK WEBB

Name-o-Rama, Announcements: Fort Mill Care Ctr mowing, new Millstone AO, Crossroads. Prayers for marriages, families, injured Pax. Then YHC expressed my gratitude to Manziel for taking over and thanked all the Pax for being there that morning and over the last 2 years. Took us out in prayer.

So, get out there and lead gents. Push outside of your comfort zone-you won’t regret it.

Short Sale, out.

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7th Year Convergence for The Fort

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The 7th Year Convergence for The Fort followed an exhilarating Invergence from the night before.  Hoping to continue that acceleration, the 4 Q’s had a plan to talk about the 4 Skills needed for Virtuous Leadership: Vision, Articulation, Persuasion, Exhortation.

CakeBoss to start us out with Vision: Recognizing advantage and the movement required to achieve it.

Disclaimer and welcome
“Go Hard or Go Home!”

Take off for 100 yard mosey up path, Get in 3 lines – Indian Run across WEP

Break into 4 lines, 2 groups of seal teams -20 seal team sit ups in cadence

Back into 2 lines , Everyone plank – Tunnel of Love (25 guys per line) – Plank series while guys army crawling under

Crowd pleaser for sure!

7 Burpees for 7 Years!

Vision is what I spoke about and the men that saw the advantage of F3 and planted it (moved towards it) in Charlotte, the The Fort and we continued to give it away in Rock Hill & Lake Wylie.

Hand off to Maximus

Articulation: Describing vision to others in a clear manner. Being able to tell others where we’re going and being able to describe that vision to others.

So, with that said, we’re going over to the top of the big hill to start with drill bits:

½ the group goes one direction while the other goes the opposite way

At each white post (drill bit), 10 Jumping Lunges (10 each leg)

10 Jump Squats

Mosey to the base of the other hill, the one with the statue on it:

NUR (backwards run) up the hill

3 Burpees at the top

Bear Crawl down

5 Burpees at the bottom

Hand off to Fun House for the “P”.

Persuasion – The initiation of first Movement.  Convincing people to move in the direction of advantage, abandoning their Status Quo,

YHC gave an awesome yet forgettable speech about Persuasion.  Then the Thang:

Circle Up – Duck, Duck, Goose – One guy runs around the circle the rest of us plank, the next guy goes when the running guy finishes.  Planking excercises were called out: High Plank, Low plank, Mountain Climbers….. Audible called to get the next guy running after 1/2 a lap around the circle of Pax….. Peter Parker, Parker Peters….. Audible called to get the next guy running after 1/3 lap around….. Mak-Tar-Jai, Left Hand High, Right hand high…..Done.  That took 10 minutes!  60 guys is a lot of guys to be running around in circles.

Stay in circle, 5 minutes left, Jack Webb: 1 Merkin to 4 Overhead hand claps.  We got to 8!

Hand off to Pusher for Exhortation!

Exhortation – Incentivizing The Breach Of Obstacles.

Burpees x 10 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
Mosey to a corner of WEP
Burpees x 9 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 8 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Rosalita IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 7 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Rosalitas IC x 10
Hello Dollies IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 6 OYO
LBCs IC x 10
Flutters IC x 10
COT
Naked Moleskin – The name-o-rama took forever.  That is a good thing. When 60+ PAX post to celebrate something that has obviously changed their lives, then change is happening!  Thanks to Maximus who put this awesome weekend celebration together!  His leadership is not only Effective (Using VAPE) but he is a Virtuous Leader! (Check out the Q Source for the 5 C’s Virtues of Virtuous Leadership) Can’t wait to see what year 8 brings to The Fort!  More importantly, who it brings!  Time to go EH someone.  See you in the gloom.
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Iran is a country, I ran is a song from A Flock of Seagulls

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20 at Footloose as we enter the Crabcakes site Q era.

No FNGs, but a number of first timers for a Barry Manilow Q, I’m sorry for that.

The Thang:
Mosey to the big lot down the hill between the churches (you know)
high knees across the lot, windmills x 10, karaoke L across the lot, karaoke R across the lot, overhead claps x 25, 1/2 toy soldier – 1/2 knees to chest across the lot, LSS x 10, MN club x 20, 1/2 windmill walker – 1/2 squat walker across the lot, shoulder tap x 10, scorpion DD x 10, run 50% across the lot, 75%, 75%, 100%, Jonah Hill (3 broad jumps, 3 HR merkins x 7)

single file run snake the stairs (10-12 single flights), rinse and repeat

Circle up: SSH x 10, LBC x 10, OH clap x 25, HR merkins x 10, imperial walker x 10, Travolta x 10, hillbilly walker x 10, plank jack x 10, inchworm/merkin/bombjack x 5 OYO, Matt Foley (1 animated squat, 4 dying cockroach, 2-8, 3-12, 4-16, 5-20)

single file run snake the stairs, then mosey to the bottom of the big hill. The men from minnow pond were playing paddy cake at the bottom, so we sprinted up the hill … twice

mosey back to the First Baptist sign: curb step ups x 20 IC, mahktar n’diayes x 10 and in honor of his birthday in 1946, Freddie Mercury x 10

COT

Looks like we made it,

Barry Manilow

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The Ballroom Gets Its Boogie On

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25 PAX  turned out to the Ballroom and boogied down, not in the Boogie Down Bronx,  BUT in Da Gloom:

DISCLAIMER

Warm Up at the B’ball court:

Lots of mumble chatter…….

SSH , Leg Extensions, Low Slow Squats, Arm Circles, Mnt. Climbers, Merkins & a little bit of BROGA!

Next we “boogied down’ to the walk bridge & sat on the People’s Chair for several sets of overhead claps, calf raises, arm dips & topped it off with burpees.

The Thang:

On the football field-25yd sprints in between bomb jacks & merkins 10x each. RINSE & REPEAT. Next CCD & Bobby Hurleys, 10x each in between 25yd sprints. RINSE & REPEAT. Gas pumps & grave yard diggers 5x each was added in because we were getting down to a such a nice boogie rhythm.

Back to COT was announced. PAX protest-We still have 10 more minutes to boogie!! AB LAB was announced back at COT. LOTS of mumble chatter……….

Indian run back to COT, column of 2s.

AB LAB-circle up. each PAX took the initiative & announced a series of box cutters, Freddy Mercury, Flutter kicks & some big boy sit ups to round it out by Little John.

Was so amped to Q I realized no cell phone on hand. Short Sale came thorough with his. Thanks!

Announcements. Prayers & Praises

Want to thank those that turned out to support & allowing me to leadl!  AYE!!

 

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