Simon Says at the Ranch

Four men posted on a fantastically cool morning.

Start with a Mosey run

Circle up for Warm up
SSH (IC 12x)
Windmill (IC 12x)
Moroccan Nightclub (IC 12x)
Low Slow Squats (IC12x)
Merkin (IC 12x)
Peter Parker (IC 12x)
Plank stretches
Downward dog
Honeymooner

Thang 1: Bermuda Triangle
Three cones spaced 20-30 yards apart.
Start at cone 1, do one burpee, bear crawl to next cone
Cone 2, do two burpees, bear crawl to next cone
Cone 3, do three burpees, bear crawl back to cone 1, and pick up a clothes pin from the bucket
Repeat the circuit, picking up a clothes pin for each completed circuit.
Alternated the transitions with crab walks ad crawl bears.

Thang 2.1: Simon says
do call outs only if Simon Says
Shuffle left, shuffle right, shuffle backwards,
SSH
merkins
Mountain Climbers
OH claps
Smurf jacks
Arm Circles
CDD
Al Gores
Lose a pin for not following Simon

Thang 2.2: Simon says penalty payments
15 minus pins left = burpees to do OYO

Mary
Abs: LBC, freddie mercury,
Protractor, shoulder taps

Fini, COT

I asked the men to think of one burden you carry, one thing you want to get better at, or start doing or stop doing and tied to this passage in Matthew 11:28-29:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Prayers: Triple Lindy’s Mother in law not doing well in health.

Playlist:
The Man (Killers)
Got Nuffin (Spoon)
Higher Ground (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
These Boots were made for walking (Nancy Sinatra)
The Boys are back in town (Thin Lizzy)

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Remembering the First Responders on 9/11

Getting the opportunity to Q on 9/11 is a big deal.  I’m happy to see that all the men who were given that chance took advantage by creating a tribute to those who lost their lives on that day 18 years ago.  I was not going to disappoint the men who showed up at the Abyss.  4 of those men arrived to kick it off at 5:15am so I shared my thoughts.

A special treat was having Boogie Down join us a few minutes into the warmup. As I was talking with him during the workout he shared with me that he lived in NYC during this terrible event. More on that later…

Today I wanted to honor the first responders who lost their lives on September 11th 2001.  They were:

343 firefighters (including a chaplain and two paramedics) of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY);

37 police officers of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD);

23 police officers of the New York City Police Department (NYPD)

But that was not personal enough, so I gave each PAX a name of one of those 403 first responders and asked each of them to take some time today to look up this person.

I pulled the name of Martin McWilliams, who died at the age of 35 and was part of FDNY Engine 22.  He was a new dad, his daughter (Sara) was born only a few months before his death.  He was great at fixing things, he loved house projects and working on cars.  He played golf whenever he could and was an avid skier.  He was a daredevil, who tried flying lessons and skydiving.  His sister recalls that he was a terrible joke teller.  He would be 53 years young this year.

To pay tribute to these fallen heroes we did the following.

7 Burpees

Then 9 rounds of:

11 Pull-ups

11 Push-ups

11 Sit-ups

11 Squats

Finish with a 403 m Run around our small track = 2 laps

The combined reps for this workout would equal 403. I demanded that the PAX not short any of their counts today, as each rep represented a life lost.

We finished with 10 minutes to spare so we went to our regular hill.

Run down, at the bottom = 9 Bombjacks

Run up, at the top 11 Flutters (DC)

We finished up at COT.  I asked Boogie Down if he would share some of his recollections from that day.  It was moving, and I’m so glad he joined us to share his experience.  What caught my attention the most, was his remembrance of the smell of burnt “stuff” that lasted in Manhattan for months after the attack.  If he wants to share more, ask him next time you see him.

An Honor to Lead

Royale

 

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Iran is a country, I ran is a song from A Flock of Seagulls

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

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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Uno – Drop Thrill Rules – At Footloose

This morning rolled around yet another sweaty July day and twelve card sharks showed up to see what YHC had to deal out.

With a Uno-inspired beatdown, that started a few months back because of something 3D came up with Tomahawk for bells, I modified and brought my own version sans bells.

Unfortunately for Destiny, I don’t always follow the rules when it comes to games but I also take feedback from the pax, to the detriment  maybe of the pax.  *cough burpees*

So similar to a game of Uno, each pax gets seven cards to start, and you play your cards similar to Uno but the card determines your exercise.  So choose wisely.  Zero is the exception, being that a zero equals ten in this game of Uno. So that, a two card is two of that exercise.

Otherwise this was the thang:

Blue = Merkins
Green = LBCs
Yellow = Squats
Red = Lunges
Skip = Run a lap
+2 = Do two of each of the four exercises
+4 = Do four of each of the four exercises
Reverse – Repeat the last exercise, but continue going the same direction around the circle.
Wild =  Perform four of each of the four exercises and next pax changes the color.

The pax decided they wanted burpees, so if you didn’t have a matching card, then you had to draw a card from the deck, the pax had to perform five burpees, and perform whatever exercise was drawn from the deck.  That wasn’t my idea, but I like it. Also, Beacon shuffled the deck, so you can blame him for the order of cards.

Unlike a true Uno, there was no winner, we were all winners.

Like with the burpees, when one pax or member of society falls short (or doesn’t have the required card in this case) it affects us all.  Sin is the same way.  Sin may be performed in private, but it will eventually effect not only yourself, your family, your community and so on.  Live each day with purpose and strive to live third.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead this morning.  I hope you got  your money’s worth.

DT out.

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Burpees at the Ballroom?

This was my 4th Q in 6 days so I am running short on ideas, and never knowing what a moderate workout is supposed to be I struggled to build the winke, but no worries I came up with something fun and it was good to see all the Pax show up and ready to work.

Warm up mosey around the parking lot and then back to circle up for some COP.  SSH, Hillbilly Walkers, Low Slow Squat, Windmill, Potato Pickers, Mountain Climbers, Peter Parker, CDD, mixed in some Downward Dog and Honeymooner.

Mosey a little to the bottom of a little hill for a round of 11s – 10 Burpees at the bottom of the hill with 1 set Jumping Lunge with a Bear Crawl up the hill.  Apparently this was a lot of Burpees for Ballroom.  Oh well live & learn.

Activity 2 was another round of 11s, no hill this time just on curb to another.  10 LBCs  Bear crawl, lunge walk, Crab walk, or what ever, 1 Mike Tyson  and so on and so on…. Let it be know that those Mike Tysons start to hurt around 6 or 7.  Finished up with a few minutes of Mary. Great work by all.

Announcements – Convergence on the 24th,  Badger work-out, next Tuesday, read your newsletter.  Prayers  for students and teachers, families.

 

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Did Not Learn from Quagmire’s Terrible Idea

A complete disclaimer was verbalized this time

Moseyed to somewhere in the massive school parking lot – High knees, butt-kickers, Toy Soldiers and Hip stretch thing a ma bobs.

Circled up for IW, HW, Morrocan NC, Plank/Down dog/Honeymooner, low slow squats, various stretches and slow/old-man/windmills.

Moseyed to the back toward the school where the bad ideas were repeated from yesterday – probably as a result of being a slug for sometime. We did several rounds of 7’s between the curbs,  interrupted by planks  Rd 1 – Mode: Bearcrawl, Peter Parkers and Parker Peters. Rd 2 – Mode: Lungewalk, Calf-raises and Squats. Rd 3 – Mode: Hop, Monkey-humpers and Bomb Jacks.
Moseyed to the back of the school for People’s chair and Donkey Webbs. After the previous bad ideas Donkey Webbs were still a bad idea. We stopped early.

Moseyed to benches on the side of the school – with several rounds of step – ups, dips, werkins and derkins. Slow-moseyed 10 ft. for a good round of Mary. We closed with somemore stretching before slow-moseyed the final 10 ft. to the COT.

COT: Prayers for families, and health issues. Praises for safe travels and M’s.  Praises for work and wedding anniversaries.
The word for May is mentorship. We saw examples this morning – young men, mentored by fathers and friends holding friends accountable. Pastor Tony Evans has a quote – “We are born male, but we choose to be men”. Maxim #3 in “Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men”: is “Manly Men, build Manly men.”
Thank you Short Sale  for getting me out of bed with the opportunity to Q. It is always an honor. Tater.

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Fishing with Bass-oh-Matic

Celebrating Bass-o-Matic Birthday! 10 HIM came to the Ballroom for a cool 45 degree morning workout and a chance to get better.  No FNG’s, Disclaimer, and a question to all the Pax, Are you accelerating ???

Time to Mosey!  

Circle up for the most important 10 mins of the morning :  The Warm-up! (avoid injury)

SSH x 15, Moroccan NightClubs X 10, Imperial Walkers X 15, Merkins, X 10, LBC’s X 10,  Windmills X 10, Cherry Pickers X 10,  Hamstring Stretch (Right over Left)  – (Left over Right) Touch your Toes, HillBilly Walkers X 10, 2 Flying Squirrels  – Warm up Complete – Time to Mosey!

Start with some DORA  – Partner up! :  100 Bobby Hurley’s  ( Partner Plank ) X 20 :  200 Dips ( Partner takes a lap ) : 300 Step ups (Partner take a lap)  – modified to 200 Step ups.

Time to Mosey around the school to the Wall !  Pax immediately took their spots on the wall without hesitating, but the Q had to explain the Red Chair sitting empty.   Circled up the PAX for a quick Happy Birthday Bass-O-Matic salute, and explanation of the Red Chair that was RESERVED for the Birthday Guest!    Bass-O-Matic took his spot on the throne, Pax took their spot on the Wall for the standard Wall Sit with one Pax jumping out of line to complete an exercise that was instructed by Bass-O-Matic.  That’s right, the Q had been turned over to Bass who had full discretion for the reps and the exercise to be completed by the PAX jumping out of line.  We worked our way down the line with a big grin worn by Bass-o-Matic,  as he relaxed in the chair.  Recover!  Rinse and Repeat with Bass in full control of the Pax, but this round he completed the exercise he called out,  side by side with each Pax!  (Impressive!! – HIM)

Recover: Time to take a minute to Revisit the “Theme of the Month – “Being Still”  :  Time to Organize Personal Priorities,  What are your Strengths and Weaknesses, What Can YOU contribute, How can you become an Encouragement and Helper rather then a drag or disappointment. Being Still is an opportunity to see who “we” really are!  “Being Still” gives you the time and privilege of knowing who GOD really is……..YOU can lean on him, He can take away your  burdens, He can provide STABILITY in your life!  Offer God the gift of Stillness in times of Quietness!  Aye!

Time to Mosey!  We made our way up to the front of the school where 4 of the Light poles had cardboard signs beneath them…..words of encouragement!  We circled up at the first light pole and completed the words of encouragement with each Pax taking the lead for an IN-CADENCE workout.  We completed the set of 3 exercises at each of the 4 Light Poles before heading back to COT with 1 minute to spare:

1st Lightpole : Flutters x 15, LBC’s x 15, Shoulder Taps x 15

2nd Lightpole : Merkins x 15, Man Climbers x 15, Wide Arm Merkins x 15

3rd Lightpole  Low Slow Squats x 15, Sumo Squats x 15, Lunges x 15

4th Lightpole : SSH x 15, PlankJack x 15, and finally BombJacks (OYO X 15)

COT:  Reminder about Mental Health conversations and awareness!  Q Source, Prayers and Praises: Closed out.

Blessed for the Opportunity to “Q”  – Blessed for F3 and association with HIM!

 

 

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1st Quarter Check-in at Footloose – Are You Accelerating or Going Backwards?

When a glorious morning of 51 degrees dawned on The Fort, I figured that there may be a decent size crowd at Footloose. The Pax did not disappoint. Put out some hype in the Twitterverse along with my man, Beacon, and, lo & behold -19 pax showed up hungry for some action!

Disclaimer in full was recited (although I forgot to ask if there were any new guys) and off we went.

Dynamic warm-up-we Butt-kicked and High Kneed our way to the back of FM 1st Baptist.

COP (all IC):

  • Seal Jacks
  • SSH
  • HILLBILLY WALKER
  • Merkins
  • Plank Stretch – Right Arm High
  • Windmills
  • Crab Cakes – real Crowd Pleaser, drew lots of moans
  • MOROCCAN NIGHTCLUBS

MOSEY down the stairs & across to the Family Life Center. Time for:

1st QUARTER CHECK-UP- How is your word of the year going? Family Goals? Personal goals? I shared that my word for 2019 is Resiliency. And my resiliency has been tested many times in this 1st Quarter. Be it personal health struggles, family health struggles, career challenges and just staying healthy enough to do my first P200. Need to give credit to our man CSpan who is always good at reminding us to take stock of the Man In The Mirror and get on track.

Line up along one end of the parking lot- Bear Crawl to 5th parking space, run to the other side. Lunge walk to 5th spot, run to the other side. Next, 75% to 5th spot, 100 % rest of the way. Repeat

Partner up: 10 Partner Giddy-ups each arm, 10 partner derkins, 10 partner-assisted sit ups

Stay with Partner for B.O.M.B.S. – 50 Bobby Hurleys, 100 Overhead claps, 150 Mercuries (Freddy), 200 Bombjacks, 250 Squats – other partner runs over stairs & back. Now, with legs smoked, time for another 1st QUARTER CHECK-UP – We are all leaders in some way – Who has gone to a Q Source meeting? If we aren’t accelerating as leaders, we are going backwards. Left the Pax with one of my favorite sayings around F3 – “Day One OR One Day? It’s up to you. Are you committing to forming a positive habit or leaving that to another day?

Mosey back to the grassy circle in front of FM 1st Baptist for Jack Webb & American Hammers.

Time for COT. Prayers for Spark Plug’s neighbor, Charlie, reminders of Finding Kotters in 2019, FM Care Center Lawn Mowing, Prayers for health for my family.

What an awesome mixture of veteran and newer Pax. Shout out to Admiral who had his first Post just on Monday and he has posted every day since. And Happy Birthday to the master DJ, Flatty Flats. You can Q 10 times or 100 times, but it is always an honor and a humbling experience to lead such a fine group of men. Thanks Beacon for the opportunity.

Short Sale signing off.

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Barney Fife’s Burpee Ball Beatdown at The Ballroom

I’m having serious football withdrawals and wanted to try something new, so on a very cold morning, I decided we would toss the pigskin around……in the dark. I’m very grateful for the patience of all 12 PAX that came out, I’m sure they thought I was nuts for wanting to play ball in the dark.

COP

After a quick disclaimer, we moseyed over to the other parking lot and circled up for a little stretching. (toe touches, elbow lifts, leg stretches) and then:

  • 15 Hillbillies
  • 15 Cherry Pickers
  • 20 Windmills
  • 25 Side Straddle Hops
  • 30 Moroccan Night Clubs

Moseyed around the school to the bridge where we circled up again for:

  • 15 Merkins
  • 30 Flutters
  • 15 Diamond Merkins
  • 30 Dying Cockroaches
  • 15 Box Cutters

Moseyed our way onto the football field and formed two lines of PAX on the goal line. We all took turns running out to the 10-yard line and trying to catch the ball….in the total, pitch black darkness. If the ball was dropped, for any reason, everyone dropped and did 5 burpees. (It was amazing to see how quickly everyone’s passing and catching skills improved….DRAMATICALLY.) After throwing and catching the ball each PAX ran to the back of the line and began jogging in place while waiting for their next turn. After approximately 40 burpees we switched over to monkey humpers when a pass was dropped. After another 40 monkey humpers, we moseyed back up the hill to the main parking lot and circled up for a round of mary.

COT

We finished up with announcements, prayer requests, praises and thanking God for allowing us to enjoy another beautiful morning with our F3 brothers.

Thank you Short Sale for the opportunity to lead!!!

Barney Fife

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