A Real Ball Buster at Quagmire

I was going to name this “Playing with NASA’s Balls at Quagmire”, but I won’t go there….

GREAT morning! Chilly, crisp, with clear skies. NASA-Q loves starry mornings. Quite a few PAX showed up ready to give Monday the boot in the booty. The night before a few PAX were Twitter-chatting about a post run after the workout, since they were fortunate to have the day off of work.  I did not intentionally plan on ruining that, but hey, stuff happens. It was a complement when they said I did. Thank you and you’re welcome.

5:15 hit the mark. No FNGs unfortunately. Disclaimer was disclaimed. Off we went……

Short mosey from Chick Fil A lot to the lot near the fountains. Good mumblechatter about the playoff games the day before. No funky stretchy stuff while running, just running. Circle up for the COP:

  • SSH x 20
  • WM x 20
  • IW x 20
  • MNC x 20

Just enough to loosen and warm up a little. I wanted to save our energy for the real deal. Short mosey over to Target.

All along the store front there are the large red concrete balls (bollards) Target is known for. At each ball, there was an exercise. Complete it, transition to next ball to the next exercise (anywhere between 10-25 yds apart). When all the balls are completed, run a lap around the outer perimeter roads enclosing the parking lot (about .25 – .33 mile). This is done HIIT style, non-stop start to finish, you rest while you run back to the start. Each PAX was on their own, you vs you, to see how many circuits you can get through.

Exercises (each is 30 reps) and transitions:
1. Merkins
> bear crawl (BC) transition
2. Jump squats
> crab walk (CW) transition
3. LBC
> BC
4. CDD
> CW
5. Jump Lunges
> BC
6. Freddie Mercury
> CW
7. Wide-arm Merkins
> BC
8. Monkey humpers
> CW
9. American hammers
> Run lap back to start #1
>> Rinse and repeat

That was a real ball bustin burner! The entire group cranked out 3 complete circuits. Some over-achievers completed another 2/3 circuit on top. Warning – next time each exercise will be 40-50 reps. Some PAX – Jedi, Cha-Ching, and Bones – are not human, rather they are complete beasts! And they are motivation for others. But I tell you what, the rest of the PAX were not far behind. Witch Hunt, Royale, BtB, Whopper, Homebrew, and Copyright ALL did GREAT. And special Kudos to Dark Helmet for performing all this while rucking heavy with 40lbs on his back. DAMN!! There was alot of encouraging push/pull from the group. No chatter or NMM ramblings from the Q (believe it). We just ground it out, finishing just in time to get back to the COT.

Announcements, Prayers, and Praises:

  • READ YOUR NEWSLETTER, GET OUT THERE AND MAKE AN IMPACT!!
  • The Rooster is this weekend!! WOO HOO!!
  • Yeti not far behind. JUST DO IT!!! JUST SIGN UP!! It will be awesome, I promise
  • P200 in March. If you’re interested, let folks know. Injury bugs bite and sometimes teams need replacements.
  • Prayers for Short Sale and his family in the loss of his brother
  • Prayers for the family and friends of Mint Hill’s Gremlin
  • Prayers for injured / sick PAX
  • Prayers for PAX going through marriage/relationship/family issues

Get out there and make a difference, make a positive impact. On the day honoring the great Martin Luther King Jr, take his intentions and run with them. We have alot of work to do as a country regarding racial relations and equality. We can – and should – do better. Be the change we all want to see in this world. Conquer the hate and ignorance with your love and intentionality. All it takes is the decision to do so and follow through.

God Bless and Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
– NASA

 

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Cones, Cones and more Cones

Dynamic Warm up
COP – The Usual
The Thang – Cone workout
Cones were laid out next to every tree along road between Home Depot and Buffalo Wild Wings.
Did cones in groups of four.  After completing an exercise we ran back to the last cone of the previous set.  For the first set we ran to start of parking lot.

# Area Qty Exercise
1 Arms 20 Merkins
2 Legs 20 Squats
3 Abs 20 Russian Twists
4 Body 10 Bomb Jacks
5 Arms 20 Wide Arm Merkins
6 Legs 20 Jumping Lunges
7 Abs 20 Hello Dollies
8 Body 30 SSH
9 Arms 10 Diamond Merkins
10 Legs 60 Calf Raises
11 Abs 20 Rosa Lita’s
12 Body 10 Flying Squirrels
13 Arms 15 Hand Release
14 Legs 20 Jump Squats
15 Abs 20 Freddy Mercury
16 Body 20 Mtn Climbers
17 Arms 15 CDD’s
18 Legs 10 Monkey Humpers
19 Abs 20 Box Cutters
20 Body 10 Burpees
21 Arms 10 Mac Tar Jai
22 Legs 20 Sumo Squats
23 Abs 20 Flutter Kicks
24 Body 15 Donkey Kicks

Appreciate everyone picking up the cones on the mosey back, while I brought in the six.  Oh yea that was me.
Wall sit with 5 bomb jacks each

Mosey to COT
Prayers Jedi – Work Challenges, Homeless
Praises – Da Vinci – New client, Lutefisk’s Mother

Appreciate the support this morning. Much needed.

Cornhole
Out

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What’s that Smell, C’MON Man

6 Ruckers
5 Bootcampers
1 Runner

Moving Dynamic Warm-up

COP – The Usual exercises

Partner Up

Ab/Arm Combo’s thrown in throughout the beatdown

Partner Up

P1 – Exercise, P2 – Run around Chick-Fil-A, Flapjack

Dips

Squats

Mt. climbers

Ab arm Combo

Evacuation movement #1 Short mosey Mattress firm to compounding 4 corners

Wind Up

1st Corner 20 – SSH

2nd Corner 20 – SSH, 15 – Squats

3rd Corner 20 – SSH, 15 – Squats, 10 – Merkins

Merkins were performed at a faster than normal pace in order to evade the crisp morning air.

4th Corner 20 – SSH, 15 – Squats, 10 – Merkins, 5 – Burpees

Unwind

1st Corner 20 – SSH, 15 – Squats, 10 – Merkins, 5 – Burpees

2nd Corner 15 – Squats, 10 – Merkins, 5 – Burpees

3rd Corner 10 – Merkins, 5 – Burpees

4th Corner 5 – Burpees

Mosey to Best Buy wall

Wall Sit

Run to Middle Island

AB/Arm combos

Evacuate to a new wall section, you guessed it, Cable Guy!

Repeat wall sit further down the wall

Mosey to COT

Another evacuation order was given and COT was moved about 40 feet from the usually designated area.

Many Prayers this morning both spoken and not.

Always an honor to lead and appreciate the opportunity Cable Guy.

Cornhole
Out

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Bring Back the Donkey Kicks

9 Pax and 2 Runners showed up in freezing temps and were ready to get after it. The runners were already off to the races so the rest of us needed to move to warm up.

There was no disclaimer given as there were no FNG’s present, but after NASA pointed it out, YHC relented and gave a brief one while we moseyed (knees to chest, toy soldiers, butt kickers) to the back of the school.

Warm-Up (IC)

15 – SSH
15 – IW
15 – WM
15 – MC
15 – Peter Parkers
15 – Parker Peters

The Thang

We moseyed to the paved hill behind the bus circle for some partner work (size did not matter).

Partner 1 – Lunge walk to the first rock pile. Backward lunge walk to the second pile and run it out the rest of the way up and back down.

Partner 2 – Work on the exercises until partner 1 is back down the hill and flapjack.

Exercises – (50) Burpees, (100) Big boy situps, (200) Squats and (300) LBC’s

We finished up the last 50 LBC’s as a group and then moseyed to the wall for some People’s Chair.

Hold the wall while each Pax counted down from 10.
Hold the wall on one leg while each Pax counted down from 5, switch legs for another countdown.

Mosey to the grass hill for more hill work with 11’s.

**Now the reason for the title of this backblast**. When I started in F3 in September of 2015 it seemed like every bootcamp contained at least 50 donkey kicks. No real thought here but they are terrible and we should do more of them! And so we did…

We started at the bottom with 1 donkey kick and ran up the hill for 10 monkey humpers. 2-9, 3-8, etc…It was as terrible as it sounds and a lot of mumble chatter accompanied our second round of hill work. With time up we slow moseyed back to COT.

Great job by all the Pax. I know my quads were successfully shredded by the time we finished up.

Announcements
Joe Davis – 1/6
CAH workouts – NASA encouraged everyone to step up and get involved
Read newsletter for upcoming events. Lots of them.

Prayer Requests
Qbert and M are dealing with where God wants them to serve for a church home
Mr. Clean is dealing with some struggles right now and needs to be lifted up
Cerrano has a friend that is expecting and dealing with her husband’s recent passing (30 yrs. old)
Lutefisk’s Mom isn’t doing well and he is traveling to be with her in MN
Unmentioned prayers
Parenting (continue to lift one another up in this important, yet difficult at times, task with which we have been entrusted)

Thanks Bones for the opportunity to lead. Always honored.

Until next time…
Hauschka

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Final Shopping Days at the Swamp

After setting up some fun cones I made it to the AO to see the large group of PAX ready for the day. We had a special guest return of Jerry Lewis back on leave from his military training. Great to have him out! We also got an FNG that several men EH’d from our monthly 2nd F beer social.  He received the name “Wingman”for the old barhopping days with your boys…

With an FNG I gave a long disclaimer and the ruckers started on their way out…the campers followed me.

Mosey down the streets with a run and dynamic warmup.

Made it to COP where we completed to following:

24 SSHs

24 MNCs

19 Squats

11 Windmills (by now the mumble chatter has  started on my sporadic stops)

12 Merkins

11 Ski Abs (I was just being lazy, no other  rhyme to my counts)

Mosey over to the Rivergate Fountain for some speed shopping!

I set up 8 cones in front of eight different stores around the area, or goal was to split into groups of four  and make our speedy stops at the shop and do the two exercises listed at that stop.  Once you completed the two exercises your group ran around the large circle and moved to the next store in front of your previous cone.

The  exercises at each cone consisted of :

#1 25 Carolina Dry docks

#1 20 burpees

#2 40 LBCs

#2 40 Squats

#3 20 bombjacks

#3 30  moroccan night clubs

#4 20 merkins

#4 25  squat jumps

#5 30  Freddie mercury’s

#5 20  wide arm Merkins

#6 40  Side straddle hops

#6 30 Ski Abs

#7 20  dying cockroaches (my fav)

#7 20 diamond Merkins

#8 25  Imperial walkers

#8 40  calf raises

Most of these exercises were in double counts – and in cadence.  The laps were long and the reps were high!  Everyone broke a good sweat and we ran out of time for our last 4 extra shop stops of the day…  so we  trucked it back to COT two minutes late.  Each group completed all eight stops!

At COT I got to share the story of my recent experience with my nine-year-old son. Seems the kids at school have been telling him that Santa is not real so he came home and ask my wife the truth about Santa Claus. Luckily for me she was prepared and had a wonderful two page note that she shared with him about the spirit of Santa and giving and God during Christmas.  I shared that note with the PAX.

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The DaVinci Cones® Redux

Forecast called for a warmish start for December, but a high chance of rain, so I wasn’t sure if we’d have a crowd or just a few. Very glad to see a bunch of cars when I pulled up. We ended up with 14 including YHC.

The Thang

Ran around the parking lot to warm up the legs, with a little side shuffle then circled up for some COP:

SSH x 15
Low, slow squats x 15
Slow, old-man windmills (just 10, since I was reminded it’s just a 45 minute workout
Merkins x 10
A little downward dog and honeymooner to stretch out
Mountain Climbers x 15

Then a short mosey to the traffic circle in front of school. I spoke briefly about our theme of the month, which is “Gifts.” At other workouts, the Qs have spoken about Gifts, be they tangible, material things that we give and receive, or intangible, like the gifts of time and support and love.

My message was about the holiday phenomenon of the REGIFT.

Today, I decided to reuse a workout I led earlier this year at the Abyss. It worked pretty good then, and worked well today, too.

Here’s what we did:

Partner 1 acts as a timer, going halfway around circle drive to the Cone using the prescribed means of conveyance (bear crawl, crab walk, etc), then runs the second half while Partner 2 does the prescribed exercise (squat jumps, merkins, etc); then switch

1. Bear Crawl | Squat Jumps
2. Lunge Walk | Merkins
3. Crab Walk | LBCs
4. Lt. Dangers | Plank Punches

Then a mosey around to the side of the school for some Wall Sits.

Have a seat, won’t you? A PAX from either end of the row runs out to the center stripe in the driveway, does 3 burpees, then runs back to the wall.

Finally, a mosey around to the track behind the school.

This is one of the set-it-and-forget-it workouts I like to uses. It’s self-paced and allows for some cardio as well as a variety of body-weight exercises. Plus, if someone finishes and there’s still time on the clock, we can always rinse and repeat.

Start at Cone #1 at one end of the track, do the exercise and prescribed reps, run to the other end of the track, do #1 on Cone 2 at  that end, and so on.

Cone #1
1. Slow Squats (20)
2. Curb Dips (20)
3. Mtn. Climbers (20 d.c.)
4. Curb Derkins (20)
5. CDD’s (20)

Cone #2
1. Imperial Wlkrs (20 d.c.)
2. Jump Lunges (10/leg)
3. Freddy Mercurys (20 d.c.)
4. Flying Squirrels (10)
5. Peter Parkers (10 d.c.)

NMM

All jokes aside about gifts and regifts, at COT I shared my feelings about what a gift F3 is to me. I was able to thank DarkHelmet again for EH-ing me for weeks, finally convincing me to post at the Deep on a warm Saturday in April of 2016.

I was hooked from the very first workout.

Mind you: it nearly killed me (curse you, Jack Webb!), but the remarkable thing to me was how I felt welcomed from the moment I got out of my car. I was supported and encouraged during that first workout, and that encouragement and support has continued to this day.

I challenge each of us to continue offering support and encouragement to FNGs and long-time PAX alike.

The world may beat us down. This group can help build us back up.

So during this time of giving, I want to thank all of my brothers for their gift of friendship and support and encouragement.

I feel blessed to be a part of this group.

DaVinci

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#14DaysTillChristmas Quagmire Style

12 Men showed up in sub-freezing temperatures at Quagmire just to prove that cold weather means absolutely nothing.  Especially when you get moving.  5:15 came and we took a nice mosey over to the Home Depot parking lot while doing some side steps, high knees, and butt kickers.

Warm Up-

Windmill x 10

Imperial Walker x 10

Hillbilly Walker x 10

SSH x 20

Seal Jack x 20

Plank/Honeymooner/Downward Dog

 

The Thang-

A Dirty McDeuce (or as DaVinci said, McFourteens?) of sorts.  3 excercises, constant movement, supersets, in all its glory to keep us warm.

Home Depot- Squats x 14, Merkins x 14, LBCs x 14… x 2

Run to Target parking lot through back delivery entrance

Target – Jump Lunges x 14, Carolina Dry Docks x 14, Freddie Mercury x 14…. x 2

Run to around Target parking lot to BAM

BAM- Jump Squats x 14, Wide Arm Merkins x 14, American Hammers x 14…. x 2

Run to Just Fresh parking lot

Just Fresh- People’s Chair (hold for… a long time?), into Donkey Kicks x 14, into BTTW (hold for… a long time… again?)…. x 2.  On last BTTW, PAX held through all 12 taking turns at 5 Merkins.

Mosey around the corner to the Fountain

Fountain- Find a bench… Box Jumps/Step Ups x 14, Tricep Dips x 14, Derkins x 14… x 3 (added an extra set for fun)

Indian Run Back to COT for many (10 minutes) of Mary (Q altered schedule thinking that time would run short… too much overthinking).  Completed 3 Mary exercises, into Diamond Merkins, 3 more Mary exercises, into Diver Bombers, and 3 more Mary exercises with time running out.

Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Prayers

Significance of 14….

All exercises were completed with 14 reps.  Monday, December 11.  14 Days until Christmas.  14 Days until the greatest gift the world has received.  With the focus on Gifts this month, I used the exercise to countdown to my favorite day of the year.  Christmas has meant a lot to me, not just through the greatest gift of all time, but through the significance to my family.  I am excited to continue my family’s Christmas traditions with my children as they start to understand the significance of this time of year.

 

Until next time,

Shakespeare. Out.

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THE PAX OF FORT PLEDGES TO HELP ANOTHER BROTHER AND HIS FAMILY OUT

Its Christmas time and the word of the month is giving so I am asking if you would take moments pray about giving to help a fellow pax. Last year Stang got the Fort and the Rock pax to donate gift cards, cash and presents for me and my family.  This was huge for me and my family, with that  being said I feel the need to help a fellow pax and give back. I have been in touch with our pax of the Fort looking for someone to help out. This morning in COT it was mentioned by Destiny that a fellow pax’s son has just been diagnosed with leukemia and his wife is pregnant with twins. Then again Ginsu and Rock thrill had a tweet about it and come to find out it is an Area51  pax named Bout time his sons name is Jennings. This hits close to home and just knew this is who we need to help this year. a few

If I have never had the pleasure of posting with you in the Gloom I would like to take a second and share my story, Dec 2015 on Christmas eve my 2.5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia ALL Type B, on Christmas day she had surgery to have a port installed and her first 3 rounds of chemo. We spent Christmas in the hospital and I broke down never cried so hard in my life. I reached out to God prayed that everything will be okay and about 10 min later after the took my daughter back for surgery he answered my pray because a peace just came over me and heard the words its going to be okay.  The last 2 years have been a hard 2 years with ups and downs but also have enlightened me, allowed me to get closer to God.  It also allowed me to become apart of F3 with out the men of this group not sure where I would be mentally and physically today. I like to thank you for the push the words of encouragement.

 

I am asking pax to give what your heart tells you. Prayers gift cards, cash etc. I have seen what awesome pax you can be when challenged to give you all always go above and beyond.

See your site Q’s for collections and or Dark helmet , Stang, Witch hunt, Royale and Cornerstone, we want to wrap it up by 12/22/17

 

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 18:16

A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

Thanks Again HIMS

Cornerstone

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The Fort pledge to help another Pax out

Its Christmas time and the word of the month is giving so I am asking if you would take moments pray about giving to help a fellow pax. Last year Stang got the Fort and the Rock pax to donate gift cards, cash and presents for me and my family.  This was huge for me and my family, with that  being said I feel the need to help a fellow pax and give back. I have been in touch with our pax of the Fort looking for someone to help out. This morning in COT it was mentioned by Destiny that a fellow pax’s son has just been diagnosed with leukemia and his wife is pregnant with twins. Then again Ginsu and Rock thrill had a tweet about it and come to find out it is an Area51  pax named Bout time his sons name is Jennings. This hits close to home and just knew this is who we need to help this year. a few

If I have never had the pleasure of posting with you in the Gloom I would like to take a second and share my story, Dec 2015 on Christmas eve my 2.5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia ALL Type B, on Christmas day she had surgery to have a port installed and her first 3 rounds of chemo. We spent Christmas in the hospital and I broke down never cried so hard in my life. I reached out to God prayed that everything will be okay and about 10 min later after the took my daughter back for surgery he answered my pray because a peace just came over me and heard the words its going to be okay.  The last 2 years have been a hard 2 years with ups and downs but also have enlightened me, allowed me to get closer to God.  It also allowed me to become apart of F3 with out the men of this group not sure where I would be mentally and physically today. I like to thank you for the push the words of encouragement.

 

I am asking pax to give what your heart tells you. Prayers gift cards, cash etc. I have seen what awesome pax you can be when challenged to give you all always go above and beyond.

See your site Q’s for collections and or Dark helmet , Stang, Witch hunt, Royale and Cornerstone

 

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 18:16

A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

Thanks Again HIMS

Cornerstone

 

 

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Pick a card at Quagmire

It was a non-winter Monday morning and a great group of PAX showed up to get the week started. No FNGs but disclaimer was given and off we went.

  • Mosey to Home Depot lot with high-knees, butt-kickers, & karaoke’s along the way. Circle up for normal stretchy things, grunting, and other pleasantries.
  • Mosey to alley behind Home Depot. PAX line up on one side and start with flutters. PAX run to wall and do BTW walk down the wall, crab walk to end of next wall, run to end of alley, 20 squats, run back to PAX. When PAX ahead of you is 1/4 way down wall next PAX start. Large group so it took a while to cycle through everyone.
  • Mosey over to fountain and break into 2 groups. Each group had a cone at down at round-about with 8 cards. Each card had an exercise for the group to do together and then another exercise for group to do while next PAX ran to get next card. Each group had same cards but order was random.
    • Run full lap outside round-abouts / LBCs
    • 20 jump squats / plank punches
    • 10 Lt Dans (lunge-lunge-squat) / plank jacks
    • 20 dips / flutters
    • Run full lap outside round-abouts / Freddie mercs
    • 15 diamond merkins / SSHs
    • 20 derkins / step-ups
    • 10 burpees / MNCs
  • Mosey back to COT for a few minutes of Mary

I’ve been doing my normal routine of running on Mondays so it was good to shake things up and get back out to Quagmire. Always a great group of PAX with lots of mumble-chatter (DH was there). Thanks DaVinci for the opportunity!

-Mainframe

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