Tag: Bonsai

“Is this a typo?”, said Grantan. “A long time coming”, said the new Nantan. “Hey man, you tha Q,” said Bonsai.

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Thanks Shady for the chance to VQ. We had 21 PAX at this Block Party. I felt the love and encouragement, made it fun and invigorating. A slight chill on this early 2019 morn also added some vigor.

The first Mosey took us to a lot too close to potential noise ordinance violation, so we audibled to Founders, where the warm-up Windmills, Little Baby Circles, Imperial Walkers, and Hillbilly Walkers ensued. I purposefully passed over the traditional warm-up SSHs, trying to save legs for what came later.

I then introduced a Dora, had two exercises planned for it but one PAX said, “Where’s the third?” So Doras typically involve three exercises I learned, VQ mistake, but then Bonsai chimed in, “Hey man, you tha Q.” So we partnered up and settled in for 100 LBCs and 200 Flutters.

Then a circuitous Mosey route around the bank across the street to the lot below the old Springs complex. Ab work: a Captain Thor 1:4 up to 10 big boys and then Rosalitas in cadence, in Spanish, like they should be shouted.

Then a Bear Crawl up the Hill to the upper lot where we circled up for a word on Accountability. In short, the point: accountability is about more than sharing our brokenness, about more than sharing our struggles, but sharing our dreams and desires and ambitions as we say to one another, “Go for it, brother!”

And then, the beat down. 22 was the operative number, Lunge Jumps and Merkens the mix. It went down like: 20 LJs, 2 Merks; 18 LJs, 4 Merks; 16 LJs, 6 Merks…and so on, down to 2 and 20.

A third and final Mosey then to the COT. Remember QSource. Remember Joe Davis. PAX hopeful for new job opportunities. Sugardaddy’s daughter Caroline going Legally Blonde this week:) Pray for her Elle Woods debut.

LAST WORD: About half way through with us all holding a Chillcut, I shared my one word: Deeper. Going Deeper for me means caring for my soul well this year. But how? I’m gonna pursue better and more beautiful inputs. Yes, I’m talking about reading better literature, listening to better stories, discovering beautiful art and landscapes that inspire me. But better and beautiful abounds when I’m engaged with my 2.0s, and M.

Oh, and this is the mountain if any of you want to “go for it” with me.

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The 2018 Fort Clave Boss 5k & Christmas Convergence

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0545 – Arrive at Palisades Elementary School AKA The Abyss where Bear Grylis is tailgating like its the Summer Concert tour and he’s at FORT-A_PALOOZA.

Ruckers and Runners were gathering and getting ready for a full morning of all 3 F’s. The Pre-Ruck led by Bonsai (as Worldwide Leader was MIA) got together and away they went.

YHC gathered all of the Clave Boss 5k runners and gave the instructions for the course. Signs were posted however it was still difficult for some to follow (Royale, Funhouse and some others) and they got 3.5mi surprise.

0605 – The 4th Annual Clave Boss 5k launched and 32 runners hit the hills of Palisades. This year we awarded Bundt Cakes to the first runner at various paces.

  1. MacGyver flew in at 20:47 6:60/mi and then went back to encourage other runners – True #HIM
  2. Sharkbait came in at 24:43 7.88/mi
  3. Islander rolled in at 27:10 8.74/mi
  4. Twister with a 31:25 10.08/mi
  5. Smuggler wrapped it up with a solid 34:11 11:00/mi

Appreciate all the participants. Next Year’s 5th Annual will be a special event for sure!!

0700 – Preruck has returned, Clave Boss has wrapped up and now more cars have entered the parking lot with PAX gathering all around. It was time to launch the convergence. YHC ask if there were FNGs, and we had 4 in attendance, gave the disclaimer. YHC then gave RUCK crew green light to jet with a 0750 COT. The remaining 75 or so PAX had YHC and Maximus for the next 50minutes

The Thang:

Mosey parking lot….20 SSHs, Go to other end of lot, Merkins, go to other end of lot for squats, back to other end of parking lot for LBCs

Line up in 6 lines, each line goes to a cone and each cone has exercise on it

  1. Merkins
    1. Bearcrawl
  2. Leg Lifts
    1. Lunge walk
  3. Wide Arm Merkins
    1. Run
  4. Donkey Kicks
    1. Bearcrawl
  5. Spider-man Merkins
    1. Lunge walk
  6. Sumo Squats
    1. Run

3 rounds of above, 5 reps, then 10 reps, then 15 reps

The mumble chatter was classic and the fellowship as always enjoyable

Handoff to Maximus

Mosey to back of School and line up in 6 lines for Pain Platoon

  1. Santini led squat routine that is always a crowd pleaser
    1. Burpees
  2. Pusher led Lunges
    1. Burpees
  3. Double D led Mc-tar-Ny ??
    1. Burpees
  4. Bubba Gump led SSHs
    1. Burpees
  5. 4 lines – turn to face one another – then Seal Team Sit ups–always a big crowd pleaser

Mosey to front of school for COT:

Plank while waiting on RUCK crew and 6 inches with Walker…..always fun!!

  • 93 was the count with 4 FNGs
    • Bo Knows
    • Ferris
    • Gaylord
    • Doubtfire

 

  • We Switzered to gather around and listing to Mr. Clean give a message and challenge to the PAX
    • I’m honored to speak with you today;
      Tomorrow (Christmas night) is the 1 year anniversary of me and the kids finding Cindy (my wife) unconscious. She was immediately put on life support
      Cindy died 3 days later from complications of MS and an addiction to alcohol
      I thought our life was on cruise control. I was being non -purposeful and non intentional. Being a single parent and grieving thru the tragic death of a spouse has been unreal.A few things I have learned from this that I would like to share.

      1. I have a much deeper awareness of emotional health. I have been humbled. Being humble creates avenue for change and growth. My question to you is…are you vulnerable and humble enough to let brothers in to help you?? Are you humble enough to ask for him if you are escaping reality w addictions? Alcohol, porn, etc
      2. I have a more real relationship w Christ.At a time when I doubted Christ care for me and my children and his desire to help our family Christ stepped in and answered a very exact prayer request. If you have doubts about Christ, speak to me please. I would love to share with you what He alone has done.
      3. I am thankful for the suffering. It has brought our family closer together. Even though I and the kids are miss Cindy everyday, we have so much to be thankful. I am thankful for the life that we had w Cindy. I am thankful that she is suffering no more. I am thankful that Cindy is made as new. Most importantly, am thankful for the birth of Christ. He gives us HOPE for a better day.
    • My Challenge to you is Love Deeper and Speak Sweeter. — too often people speak disrespectfully of their spouses and children and parents. Words matter and we all need to choose them wisely. We need to hold each other accountable and “get our heads out of our asses” as you never know when that person will be taken from you.

YHC can’t thank Mr Clean enough for this message and his friendship. over the last 2 years we have grown together to be better Christ followers, better husbands and fathers. He is such a great leader and I’m blessed to have him in my life.

If you need someone like this in your life, reach out to me and we’ll get you set up as there are a boatload of HIMs in the PAX

********ALERT***********ALERT**********ALERT*********ALERT***********ALERT****************

It was time for some major announcements in leadership. YHC has led as NANTAN for The Fort region for about 15months. Prior to that I was Weasel Shaker and prior to that 3rdF Q and in-between Site Qs of Ranch, Ballroom, Crossroads,, ChicknWizdim, and led CSAUP teams at P200, Kiawah and others.

It was time to hand over the keys to this well oiled machine to a new leader. A man I’ve watched grow and lead in all 3 F’s and lead well. First got to know him well on the 2014 BRR 9 man team. I was asked to attend Colombia mission with with him in 2015 that he led. Have Qd many times with him and attended a retreat in Boone with him in 2017 and saw his heart for God, Family and the PAX of The Fort. In 2018 he led BEYOND and pushed men to not only dig deep physically but to stretch themselves emotionally and spiritually. This sealed it for me that this man understood leadership and that men needed to be Freed to Lead.

MAXIMUS is the new NANTAN of The Fort!

I personally am excited for this next chapter and look forward to more men being Freed to Lead by his example and inspiration. With this change, some other leaders have stepped up as well.

  • Weasel Shaker = Funhouse
  • 1stFQ = Royale
  • 2ndFQ = Wegmans
  • 3rdFQ = Gecko

I personally want to thank Old Bay for years of leadership and more importantly friendship. I true HIM who makes so much happen behind the scenes that there is no way The FORT would be where it is today without him.

Also, want to thank Anchorman for 2nd F Q during my time as Nantan, as well as all his leadership at Footloose, encouraging guys to push themselves and the many great ideas and ways to challenge the PAX. Appreciate you brother!

BOM – Gecko had great words to close out this convergence. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and all of the Holidays, I pray we find JOY in everything and not take anything for granted. I appreciate all the PAX and my brothers of THE GLOOM.

Cake Boss

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The Cornerstone – Challenge ( One Year Long )

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To all the Pax of F3 Nation

Are you prepared to challenge your self for 2019? I am challenging all Pax’s to join me for 2019 we will take on one exercise for January (merkins single count) 100 reps every day. Then in February we will add another exercise which will be done every day on top of the 100 merkins and so on and so on. We will increase by adding one exercise each month.  These exercises will be above and beyond when you post. So by the end of the year there will be 12 exercises that need to be done everyday at the reps set.

Do you accept the challenge? Do you want to get better?

I will set the next month exercise and reps the week before to keep you on your toes

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Movement keeps one warm

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21 gathered at Laces Out and Laces In – 8 and 13 respectively – to prove the theory that movement keeps one warm in chilly December temperatures.

YHC had promised site Q for months that I would take a Laces In Q and it was great to finally fulfill that with such a strong group of PAX and make it through with good fellowship, a little mumble chatter and 45 minutes (or an hour for the 8 runners) of getting a little better than we were the day before.

After a disclaimer and delegating the assumption of risk to all gathered, we moseyed to the FMHS Band parking lot for COP:

COP: Moroccan Night Clubs IC x 20, arm circles – forward and backward in varying quantities, SSH IC x 30, Merkins IC x 12, Windmills IC x 15

Mosey back to the Stadium entrance for Jacob’s Ladder.  Since our workout was 12 days before Christmas, it only seemed fitting that the exercises add up to 12 instead of 11.  YHC, therefore, modified the ladder, given the date on the calendar.

Burpees at the bottom – 11, 10, 9, 8, etc.

Lunge Walks uphill to the 2nd lightpole (crowd pleaser )

Carolina Dry Docks at the 2nd lightpole – 1, 2, 3, 4 and mosey back down

Mosey to the main parking lot for a little partner Dora

100 merkins total – Partner 1 starts, partner 2 does a roughly 120 yard shuttle run  – switch until 100 is reached.

200 squats – Partner 1 starts, partner 2 runs, you get the idea

Had a plan for 300 as well, but YHC was compelled to call an audible at 5:57 (time ran short) to head back for a little ab work…..but just a little.

Boxcutters IC x 30, American Hammers IC x 15, and a body destroyer promptly executed at 5:59 AM.

There was much movement, a little chatter, varying amounts of sweat and a few comments in the days that followed relating to the amount of lunge walks – complimentary of course.

Announcements – Christmas Eve convergence – 12-24 at the Abyss – Palisades Park Elementary and Q source begins on Saturday 1-5-19.

Prayers for all traveling for the holidays.

Relatively new to leading workouts, it was great to see some #HIM’s who, years ago, were encouraging of this serial runner guy to get out of his comfort zone and go do something else.  You each know who you are.  Thank you.

My thanks to Lil’ E for the opportunity to lead.  It was a privilege.

Cyclops

 

 

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Christmas on Main Street

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Chilly morning started out with war stories from the GORUCK weekend with three of the PAX in attendance coming home with a Tough patch.  Congrats to Bonsai on his first GORUCK Tough!

Clock struck 5:15, a disclaimer was provided and we took off on a mosey in the direction of Main Street.  We stopped halfway there for windmills and again at the bottom of the hill on Main Street for some merkins.  We reached our ultimate destination at the Fort Mill Animal Clinic parking lot.  YHC is the site Q for the Fire Ant, ruck AO, which meets on Tuesday’s.  Being a visiting Q on the same day as the standard ruck workout, it only made sense that some version of a ruck workout had to come with me.  This is what led the PAX to the back of Maximus’ truck that was stationed in the parking lot.  We pulled out 3 60lb sandbags, 1 40lb sandbag, 1 40lb ruck, and 1 30 lb filler bag to be used in the 12 Days of Christmas.  Given the theme of the workout, I was really hoping the millions of Christmas lights up in the area would be on, but they must not burn all night.

12 Days of Christmas

  1. Run down the hill on Main Street and back (~0.2 miles)
  2. Glow stick bear crawl – bear crawl from one glow stick to the other (down hill) and crawl bear back (up hill) (~20 yards out and 20 yards back)
  3. Jumping Lunges
  4. Bomb Jacks with a Donkey Kick
  5. Man Makers (sand bag)
  6. 4 Count Flutters
  7. Jump Squats
  8. Shoulder Press (sand bag)
  9. Bent Over Rows (sand bag)
  10. Merkins
  11. Curls (sand bag)
  12. Broad Jump Burpees

We didn’t make it all the way to strength items since most only made it 8 before time ran out.  The bear crawls and crawl bears definitely made their presence known and the cardio was evident by the 2.7 miles covered.

With time running out we tossed the sandbags back in the truck and took a quick mosey back to the start point with one stop for some merkins.

Great job by the strong PAX in attendance.  Definitely want a shot at completing this whole series since the first half was a burner.  Thank you to Shady for the opportunity at this great AO.

Announcements:

  • Fort Convergence on Christmas Eve – this is a MUST ATTEND

Prayer Request:

  • Prayers for Skate or Die’s friend as he and his family mourn the early passing of his sister
  • Prayers for the congregation of Unity Presbyterian Church as they recover from the fire
  • Prayers for those fighting cancer
  • Prayers for patience and poise during the holiday season and 2.0s are a little more ramped up than normal.
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2018 CLAVE BOSS 5K & CHRISTMAS CONVERGENCE

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4th Annual Clave Boss 5k and Christmas Convergence is upon us.

So many traditions but this is one that continues to get better with age, so don’t miss it.

It is for all PAX so no excuses!!

Invite your family visiting from out of town and get ready to start the Christmas week off with Fitness, Fellowship and Faith!

Details:

Date: Monday 12/24/18
Location: The Abyss – Palisades Elementary School

What: Clave Boss 5k, Pre-Ruck, Bootcamp, Ruck, Coffeerteria

Time:

  • 0600 – Pre-Ruck will launch
    • Worldwide Leader Q
  • 0605 – Clave Boss 5k
    • Top 3 runners will receive Bundt Cake!
  • 0700 – Boot Camp
    • Cake Boss & Maximus Qs
  • 0700 – Ruck  
    • Bonsai will Q
  • 0750 – COT: Namearama, FNG naming, WORDS FROM MR. CLEAN, BoM
    • Big Leadership Announcement—-Don’t want to miss
  • 0815 – Coffeerteria:  0815 at The Grid Iron (corner of 49/160 by Rivergate)

 

The Legend of the Claves lives on!

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The Ruck Taper That Wasn’t…Here at the Fire Ant

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Oh, you didn’t tote a ruck and join us at the Fire Ant this morning? But, you know how to read. Lucky you; you’ll feel as if you joined us in this perfect gloom. Well, aside from smoked shoulders, jail-breaks, curls, squats, lunges, weird-shaped circles, flutters and joyful times of getting yelled at. That’s basically the entire Weinke right there.

But for you more literary types, I’ll humor you just this time. 17 of The Fort’s finest Ruckers converged on the now guaranteed-to-please Fire Ant and we even had a non-typical out there which is always welcome. If you’re not a Rucker yet you’re still reading this, I owe you one. In addition, I highly encourage you reach out to Spiderman or DaVinci (Ruck Q’s) and see if they can wrangle an extra ruck for you to join us out there one morning. It’s a great time of fellowship and you’ll even learn a little more about your limits. Here’s a hint, you can take more than you think.

So the disclaimer was disclaimed, we fell in 2×2 and took it over to circle up around the flags. This next part was a bit of a mind game. While routine is something we all enjoy and can keep ourselves in check with, when it comes to a workout, it doesn’t always have the same benefit. We had fit, strong PAX out there this morning so I tried something slightly different and broke our typical 5min routine. We started off with 31 squats (with ruck) then 32-4ct flutters with ruck press.

Fall back in line for a 20yd 2×2 to our next stop. Rucks overhead 2×2 to the end of the drop-off lane…yup, that sucked too. Make a hard right, rucks on and lunge walk 1/2 way to the back. About face and reverse lunge walk the rest of the way to the back lane. Rucks overhead and 2×2 about 40yds down the back lane. Drop the rucks for an all-out jail break to the end of the lane (nearly 60yds). Catch your breath and jail break back to your ruck. Guess what was next…rucks overhead 2×2 back to the start of the lane.

5 Man-Makers & 10 Hand-Release Merkins

2×2 over to the bottom of the tiered stadium hill

Bear crawls up the hill in between the levels.

Level 1: 20 full Mak Tar Jai’s (yup, suck-fest)

Level 2: 20 Peter Parkers

Level 3: 20 Parker Peters

What goes up, must come down. We’ll now reverse bear crawl in between the levels.

Level 3: 20 Upright rows

Level 2: 20 Curls

Level 1: 20 Bent over rows

Rucks on 2×2 back to the drop-off lane.

Squats around the world. In a circle, PAX hold the Al Gore and each man does 1 full squat  going around the circle. We did 7 total rounds.

Same idea but this time with a shoulder press. Hold ruck up overhead and do 1 full press when it’s your turn. We did 7 total rounds.

Same idea now with ruck curls. Guess how many rounds we did…7.

3-tier suicides with 5 ruck thrusters each time you come back to the start.

A high number of SEAL-team situps with awkwardly positioned rucks.

And that was it.

So much for the taper…

Announcements: Read the newsletter, keep collecting band-aids and support the Paradise Reading Center Monday/Wednesday 4pm.

Prayers: Double-Down in Louisville, PAX doing the GRT in Wilmington this weekend, PAX running Kiawah this weekend. Family relationships this Holiday season. It’s not always easy but help us to stay focused on opportunities to share grace and love. Sick kids, sick M’s, our teachers and education leaders, and several others I’m missing.

Until next time.

Maximus

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The Cones Return at Laces In

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15 Pax fought off the fartsack and posted to Laces In on this chilly morning.  Seeing 28 degrees is just under my over 30 degrees no tights rule, Tclaps to Stang and Senator Tressel rolling with shorts.  #RealMen   I wanted to keep moving this morning to keep everyone warm.  This is one of my favorite workouts and was excited to bring it back from the vault.  Here is what we did:

Warm Up: Run lap around student parking lot.  COP coming back to stadium which included, SSH, Imperial walkers, Windmills, Peter Parkers, Merkins to Squats.

Main Course: Mosey to hill leaving school.  10 cones.  Perform exercise at first cone then run hill.  Perform exercise at first cone then second cone, run hill.  Perform exercise at first cone then second then third, run hill.  So forth and so on.

  1.  10 Burpees
  2.  20 Merkins
  3.  20 Mtn Climbers (Double count, like you have to ask)
  4.  20 Carolina Dry Docks
  5.  20 Flutter kicks
  6.  10 Lunges (each leg)
  7.  15 Jump Squats
  8.  20 Freddie Mercuries
  9.  20 Dips
  10.  20 Monkey Humpers

Appreciate all the pax telling me how much they were enjoying the workout everytime we started a new lap.  We made it to around Dips.  Bandcamp was king for the morning and made it to the last round.  We had a great group today and appreciate the support.  Without these guys pushing me, I would have been in my comfy, warm bed this morning.  Thanks for the push and accountability.  Aye

Prayers for Rock Thrill’s Mother, Stang’s house, Bonsai’s child care, Bandcamps co worker with cancer.

Until next time, (Which might be a while considering how bad I am at writing these things!)

STH

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700 Club

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14 Strong Men showed up at The Fire Ant for some Ruck Training.

In Preparation for next week’s GoRuck event in Wilmington – we completed a mission simulation with a TL (Team Lead) and ATL (Assistant Team Lead)

Dirty Harry and Wegmans  voluntold the roles as they are training for their first GoRuck events.

The mission was simple, but tough. Get the group (and several coupons) to a starting point, complete the 700 club workout, and get back in time for COT.

The Thang (700 Club):

100 reps each of seven exercises:

Hand Release Merkins

Squats

Overhead Press

Curls

Ruck Swings

Big Boys Sit Ups

Flutters (with Ruck Press)

This would require a pace of approximately one rep every three seconds with no time for rest.

The group completed the mission. With a reward of carrying Bonsai and Husky back in addition to the coupons.

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Rainy Day at the Ranch

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100% chance of rain and one of the first days of this winter with temps under 40 degrees.  The weinke was designed to accommodate 12-14 PAX, but YHC was expecting 4 tops.  Cars filed in and we had 7 hardened men ready to start their day off right despite less than favorable conditions.

Standing in the rain, we went over the disclaimer and took off running toward the covered drop off circle.

Warm-up:

  • Windmill X10
  • Merkins X20
  • SSH X30
  • Wide Arm Mountain Climbers X20
  • Power Planks X20

The Thang:

Partner up and work through the six stations with 4 minutes per station.

It was wet and cold, but the work was done.  Great work by the PAX that braved the cold November rain.

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