Unexpected

AO covered (Circles = COP)
green mark is shovel flag, COT, and mary location

QIC: Band Camp

After thinking for a while about preparedness, expectations, disappointment, last minute changes and our reactions, YHC tried to devise a workout that would be in the mold of an F3 bootcamp format but would also disrupt expectations in uncomfortable ways to give PAX as change to work on their response. What follows is my attempt to put this (again unconventionally) into a BackBlast. The exercises are listed out of order and with no set number of reps. My general plan was to create unexpected changes and I chose exercises and reps based on what I felt would be unexpected in the moment.

11 PAX gathered in the cold December gloom for my lengthy version of the disclaimer and set off. The strategy (unbeknownst to the PAX) was for a faster than standard “mosey” and short (ADD-esque?) unpredictable COPs (see map above). Occasionally we’d just plank up and then wait for half a second before running off again. Chicken Hawk, a wise PAX, sniffed out my plan after the first “plank and mosey.” When we arrived at the second circle and YHC planked up, Chicken Hawk planked up with one hand on my ankle to prevent my quick mosey. YHC was forced to call for some plank jacks and mountain climbers and we were off again!

Among the exercises we did mostly in cadence (but in no particular order) were:

Merkins
Mtn Cimbers
Plank Jacks
Burpees
Burpees + bomb jacks
Windmill
Downdog-->Honeymooner
Mike Tysons-->Bear Crawl
Dips
Step ups
Dan Taylor (1:4 squat/lunges) sequence (YHC may or may not have demonstrated a weakness of multiplication around the numbers 24-28)
Alternating Shoulder Taps
Non-alternating shoulder taps
People's Chair (cold slick surface, one PAX walked their 6 down the wall...)
BTTW
BTTW merkin
Peter Parker
Pigeon Lunges
Cossack stretch (can easily be mispronounced...)
Flutters
LBCs straight up to 0600

NMM:

The Advent season (advent is Latin for “coming”) is about preparing and anticipating the coming of Christ. How do the expectations of a F3 workout or any situations affect our responses when what happens does not align with what we anticipated?

Jesus, the Messiah, came as a tiny baby in a dirty stable born in a poor town to an unassuming carpenter who had contemplated leaving his finacé quietly due to the unexpected pregnancy. Certainly not the expected “savior” the Jewish people were waiting for to liberate them from Roman occupation. See also CakeBoss’ tweet How did their expectations of a savior change their response to the Messiah’s message….?

Every morning I like to think of an F3 post as a chance to be more prepared for the unexpected. Then Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, has a nonsensical quote about Iraq. But after further inspection it doesn’t sound as nonsensical.

as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.

Donald Rumsfeld 2/12/2002

It is my hope that F3 helps PAX train and prepare for the known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. If you’re interested, composer Phil Kline set this Rumsfeld quote in an art song. Enjoy and SYITG!

Prayers for Unity Presbyterian as they recover from the recent fire.

Announcements: convergence on 12/24 at Palisades

–Band Camp dismissed

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RPG: Broga & Run on this nice mild morning in November

10 for Broga and 9.5 for run

It was a great morning of mumble chatter especially Rebel and Fogerty jabbing about wearing tights in 50 degree weather and using the M’s yoga mats.

Sasquatch led us in Broga and we don’t know our Right and Left but we know where the Waffle House is and where the Bank is so we were able to follow instructions.

YHC gave a simple tapper run for the crew down Regent Parkway to apartments and up Pikeview to back gate through Keswick neighborhood back to Regent Parkway straight back to COT for a 3mi fellowship run

Good coffeteria chat and quality time with the PAX

Thanks for the Q and Sasquatch and Bassomatic’s leadership at this AO……strong!!

Cake Boss

 

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The Coop: Beat the temperature day and we did it! #25

It was a cool morning and when I say cool I mean Fonzie cool. PAX came in from all directions and we had met the temperature of 25 degrees. I was proud that the men did not stay in the fartsack where it was easy….but rather said yes to accountability and posted with their brothers.

Had to get the PAX warm, so away we went……

The Thang:

Mosey around parking lot

  • Shuffle
  • Mosey
  • Toy solders
  • more Mosey
  • COP
    • Plank
    • Merkins
    • Imperial Walkers
    • Squats
    • Peter Parker
    • FLutters
    • Parker Peters
  • Mosey
    • 1’s wall sit with shoulder presses
    • 2’s 5 box jumps, 10, derkins, 15 dips
    • Flapjack
    • Mosey to front of NAFO school

Had 12 cinder block stations, partner up

  1. Run around islands of parking lot
  2. perform exercises below with as many reps as possible while waiting on partner
    1. Flapjack until all 12 are completed
  • Bear crawl with Block drag
  • Block swing
  • Floor to Shelf L/R
  • Curls
  • Tri-extensions
  • Leg raises with Block
  • Bear crawl with Block right/left Merkins
  • Squat to overhead press
  • Bent Rows
  • Burpees
  • Sumo deadlifts press
  • LBCs

Time was up and so the PAX moseyed back to COT with blocks in hand

  • Wrap up with Freddy’s and Hello Dolly’s

Thank you Wegmans for the opportunity to Q

  • The Fort Christmas Party is this Saturday 12/1
  • Christmas convergence at Palisades Elementary School 12/24
  • Prayers for the many dealing with health concerns, lost family members and injuries

Individually we can be picked apart and crumble, however when we stand together and support each other we are indestructible. Like the cinder blocks we used, individually they don’t do much but with many of them……makes a solid foundation. Hold a brother accountable and likewise and you will become a solid foundation for your family, friends and community.

Cake Boss

 

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BEYOND Badger – Passivity

Maximus offered me the opportunity to lead a BEYOND workout, and it only felt right to do it at The Badger… He told me to pick the topic and I got to work. I wanted to take it a step further since it was a BEYOND Badger… so instead of one long grueling workout, I chose a few. Makes sense, right?

My topic was Passive Leadership. Something I struggle with constantly. No matter how “great” I feel I am doing as a leader, I tend to slow down and mentally rest. I let my life lead itself and when I’m not behind the steering wheel, the wheels fall off.

Apathy/Indifference – feeling indifferent or lacking emotion
Passivity – accepting what happens without active response or resistance

Poor leadership has many faces… but passivity in my opinion is a main root of the issue.

COP (All Workouts Derived from the Exicon!)
11 of each for (Observed) Veteran’s Day
SSH
Sun Gods (Arm Circles)
Moroccan Night Clubs
Windmill
Hairy Rockettes (Reverse Windmill, Toes reach up to hands)
Tappy Taps
Carolina Dry Docks
Merkins
Peter Parkers
Calf Raises
Low Slow Squat

Al Gore’s in a circle while I talked.

Ephesians 5:25 – Husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church.

I made a vow at the time I proposed to my wife that I wouldn’t be the typical American male who is distant from his family and doesn’t love or support them if their needs aren’t being met. I was on fire at that point in my life, leading and loving like God designed me to do. I felt unstoppable at accomplishing a love that no man had ever felt. Then I started to get in the way…

The great part about the Honey Badger is we get to honor men who didn’t lead passively.

We finished the warm up and moseyed over to the badger den’s infamous pull up bars.

Ryan – Firefighter Hero WOD
5 Rds
7 Muscle UPS or Pull UPS/DIPS
21 Burpees

LBC’s while we waited for the group to finish. Gotta keep adding to the November count!

Drop down to Al Gore to keep the conversation going.

Somewhere along the way… I lost sight of my vow and decided that I wanted to pursue my own fulfillment over my wife’s. It ended up as you’d imagine. We fell away from each other while trying to conceive. I couldn’t think about her pain during the two years we tried, all I could think about was myself and how ready or not ready I was. We reached a point of pursuing fertility treatment – and by we I mean she decided and I didn’t really give any input. We were at the decision point to take hormone shots. Without consulting her or even thinking of her feelings, I backed out and decided for us to let it happen naturally. Needless to say I broke a lot of trust and I reaped the fruit of passive leadership. It was a hard fought battle to regain the trust I broke, but we made it back. All because I led apathetically.

Can you imagine how giving our all, all the time could have an impact? Would you rather be consistently good or inconsistently great?

Mosey to the track to take part in hero workout number two.

Griff 
2 Rds
800 m run forward
400 m run backward

Pick up the six and run with him to the end. The guys planked while we did so.

We ran short so couldn’t do our third hero WOD, but I’m pretty sure everybody was okay with that. We moseyed back to COT for my message to come to a close.

Drop into Al Gore once more to finish the conversation.

I took the difficult time and raw relationship to heart, and was really helped by God and a few good men at my Church in MD. We conceived our daughter and that really helped bring us out of the pit. I vowed not to let our family growth become a wedge and would do my best to lead my wife through whatever comes next. That doesn’t mean I’ve been without issue. Things are constantly changing, and I have to remain in the lead for my wife and children’s sake. If I fail, their chances of failing increase exponentially. I need to keep my head up and lead in a way that will bear the right fruit for all.

Ephesians 5:33a – However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself

A few thoughts…
My life and how fast things change… my daughter will be four in five days. How did that happen? How did I blink and she get this old? Where did I fail? Where did I succeed? How does apathy/passivity cause you to miss things?

A lot of the things that take my focus away have nothing to do with my family. Work, friends, social media, keeping up with sports, golf, hobbies, drinking beer, music, news and politics. Some things take my family time away that are very productive. Church, volunteering at church, F3, working out. Some may have a positive impact on my family life but most of the time take away from my time with my family.

What’s more important?

End with LBCs x 16 IC until the clock struck 6:00.

19 PAX showed up. Welcome FNG BACONATOR!

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Make TIME : Colosseum

Nov 6th

14 HIM came to get better this warm, gloomy Tuesday morning, with T Claps to Sugar Daddy for bringing out FNG (Tin Cup).  YHC – Fogerty completed the Principles of F3 with the group, disclaimer completed, time to Mosey.

Warmup : Slow Mosey, Butt-Kickers, High Knees :
Circle Up:  IC : 20 SSH, 15 Imperial Walkers, 15 Mtn. Climbers, 15 Hillbilly Walkers, 15 Merkins, 20 Moroccan Nightclubs, 2 Burpees, 10 Windmills, Mosey across lot for 4 Corners.

Today’s workout  is all about Fellowship, Proper Form and Accountability (IC).  Goal is to complete all exercises in a group format: In Cadence : Pax take turns leading each group.

The Thang, Part 1 : Four Corners ( used the 4 Basketball courts to guide the Pax ) : Split into 2 Groups ( Complete Each Exercise as a Group:  In Cadence ): rotate until all Corners completed:

Corner 1: SSH x15, Plank Jack 15X, Bomb Jack 15X

Corner 2: LSS 15X, Sumo Squat 15X, Lunges 15X

Corner 3 : Flutter 15X, LBC 15X, Shoulder Taps 15X

Corner 4: Merkins 15X, Mtn Climbers 15X, Wide Arm Merkins 15X

Momentarily contemplated a Rinse and Repeat, but decided to head over for Part 2  in the gloom and discuss the Theme of the Month “Vulnerability” : God has a Plan for all of us, no matter the set backs you encounter (or blessings), share these times and life events with your Brothers and get better.  Be Vulnerable to be set free.  In our moments of Vulnerability, we share and create incredible moments. Today we were challenged to take TIME : Specifically, Make TIME, Take TIME for your Kids, the only thing our 2.0’s want is “your” TIME : ( Time to play, time to read, Just your TIME) : Time to Mosey for Part 2:

The Thang, Part 2 :  “Climb the Ladder”  ( 5  / 10  / 15 Reps ) :   Each rung on the ladder

5 reps first rung, mosey to 2nd rung,  5 reps, back to first rung : 10 reps first rung, 10 reps 2nd rung: back to first rung, 15 reps 1st rung, 15 reps 2nd rung :  Rinse and Repeat adding Rung(s).

1st Rung  : Squats ( bear crawl to 2nd Rung : Crab walk Back to 1st Rung)

2nd Rung :  Merkins ( Planned modify : Mosey between each Rung )

3rd Rung : Plank Jacks

4th Rung : LBCs

5th Rung : Burpees ( Last Rung – modified Rinse and Repeat to 5 /10 reps – watching clock)

Mosey Back for 5 mins of Mary :

COT : FNG ( Tin-Cup was anointed  – Welcome ) : Announcements, Prayers and Praises led us to a perfect closure for a Tuesday workout in the Gloom.

Very Blessed to be part of F3 and specifically THE FORT: Blessed to get better each day with all the Pax of The FORT:   Thank you to Jekyll for the opportunity to Q :

Fogerty

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1+1=Terrible Downpainment

19 Pax descended on Block Party including 3 for Pathfinder for an old school beatdown by YHC and Mash. Little did YHC know when I suggested to Mash that he co-Q with me that it would be his 50th Birthday at Block Party #Respect.

Mash and I have been friends for many years and I already had tons of respect for him. He is a good Christian, Husband and Father coupled with being a military veteran. Our children are the same age so we have lots in common. More importantly, he has demonstrated being a true #HIM since joining the Fort several years ago.

The Thang

Full Disclaimer

Mash on Q – Mosey out

COP – lots of chatter here…I may have been contributing

SSH

Moroccan Night Clubs

Windmills

Merkins x 15 (YEAH!)

Mosey to gravel lot and partner up

Dora 1,2,3

100 Merkins

200 Flutters

300 SSHs

Pusher on Q – Mosey to hill

Bear crawl up hill – #turrible

Dirty McDeuce powered by Halloween Candy

Side Note: Avg American eats 3.4 pounds of candy on Halloween; Candy has calories (duh!); 1 minute of Burpees equals approximately 10 calories;

All exercises IC x 12; Calories are based on “Fun Size” portions

Starburst (40 cals) – Squats

Skittles (63 cals) – LBCs

M&Ms (73 cals) – Wide Arm

Take a lap

Kit Kat (70 cals) – Jumping Lunge

Snickers (80 cals) – Flutters

Twix (80 cals) – Carolina Dry Docks

Take a lap

Reeses Cup (90 cals) – Bomb Jacks

Baby Ruth ( 85 cals) – Freddy Mercury

Butterfinger ( 85 cals) – Diamond Merkins

Take a lap

York Patty ( 50 cals) – Burpees

Crunch ( 60 cals) – Rosalita

Hershey ( 63 cals) – Burpees

Mosey Home

 

Moleskin:

  • Happy #Respect Birthday to Mash
  • Christmas Party on 12/1/18
  • Pre Christmas Drop In on 11/2/18 with Shady at Armor Artis
  • Be a HIM in your community…lots of examples were shared
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14 posted at The Armory today to honor the service of Assassin who turned the Site Q over to JWOW.   Best of luck to JWOW for the upcoming year although I am sure he won’t need any luck as long as the Brotherhood supports him, I will, how about you?

I am not the glowing writer that othe PAX are so best that I just get to the Thang.

We started with a very, very slow mosey past the tents to the far parking lot and circled up for a warmup.

Moroccan night clubs x20

Baby arm circles x 15

big arm circles x 12

LSS x 10

windmill with KB x10 each leg

We then partnered up because the gloom is always better with a friend. The PAX then head off to a parking spot where the find 8 spots with 3 exercises chalked out the object do the first exercise and the move to the next spot until all 24 exercises are completed. The exercises:

Front raise x 10 each arm
Side raise x 10 each arm
Merkin to row x 10 each arm
American hammer x 20
Sit-ups x 20
LBCs x 20
Skull crushers x 20
Triceps extensions x 10 each arm
Halos x 20
KB swing x 20
1 arm KB swing x 10 each arm
Snatch x 10 each arm
Goblet squat x 20
Calf raises 10 each in/out/regular
Lunge x 10 each leg
Turkish getup x 20
Chest loader swing x 20
Clean and press x 20
Shoulder press x 10 each arm
Upright rows x 20
Chest press x 10 each arm
Curls x 10 each arm
Lawn mowers x 10 each arm
Squat to press x 20

Always amazes at how some PAX can blow through these 24 exercises and start a 4th round kudos to them. I am not there yet…

After completing the rounds moseyed back to COT for flag ceremony, praises and prayers.

Dungaree out

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Charter Band-aids for Little Warriors – PreBlast

As most of the PAX in the Fort and Rock regions knows my 5 year old daughter (Emma) is a leukemia survivor. We still make a trip every 4 weeks to get blood drawn to check her counts at Levine Children’s Hospital. We also stepped up and raised money last year (Christmas time) for a fellow brother bout-time out of Area 51 son Jennings who has leukemia also.

It has come to my attention that the budgets have been cut in some of the pediatric departments and the first thing to go is usually the character band aids. You say how important is to have these band-aids? Well as far as the cancer kids go every time the have their PORT’s (Port is a small medical appliance that is installed beneath the skin. A catheter connects the port to a vein) which for some kids is traumatic they get a band-aid over it. For others that are done with treatment such as my daughter Emma has to go back for the next 21 years to get checked (mainly blood counts). This not always easy for instance this past Wednesday she was poked 3 times. Well at the end the band aid can put a smile on a child’s face. This also goes for those kiddos that have to constantly get blood work done not just cancer kids.

So what I am challenging you to do is every week you go grocery shopping buy at least one box or more of character band-aids girls or boys. Also Spread the word in every COT. I will tweet out what AO’s I will be at and if anyone wants to step up and help me collect that would be awesome.

I also challenge others in different regions to pull together and do the same thing. My goal is to gather as much as possible and split it between Levine Children’s Hospital and Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital (St. Jude Affiliate Clinic) before Christmas.

Let a simple act of kindness put a smile on a little fighters face.

AYE. Lets do this.

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No Fear = No EnCOURAGEment

22 boot campers (including 1 FNG) and 5 runners posted to THE Ballroom this week looking for some #Encouragement along the pothole-filled road of life.  YHC offered a full Disclaimer for the benefit of our FNG (T-claps to Barney Fife on the EH) tipped the cap to Sir Topham Hat, who passed the Q baton to YHC due to work travel.  The word of the month (Encouragement) served as the inspiration for today’s adventures in the gloom, so thanks also to Chicken Hawk for his continued wisdom with that program.

Encouragement:  root word = Courage

Courage (noun): strength in the face of fear

With this backdrop, the workout unfolded with the objective of getting pax in touch with their own sense of #Fear to illustrate the experience of #Courage and the need/ability/practice of exercising it and #Encouragement of their brothers.

The Thang

warm up run to the football field

COP — SSH, IWs, Hillbilly walkers, Bombjacks, merkins, burpees

Line up along sideline, 3/4 pace sprints — to near hash/back, then far hash/back, lastly far sideline/back

Circle up for the Main Event (Fear or Favorite)

Pax were asked to identify the exercise they most #Fear when they hear the Q say “The next exercise is ___________.”  They were also asked to imagine their #Favorite exercise they like to call when they are Q.  Then we launched into 30 mins of Pax-suggested/Q-chosen exercises.

Plank jacks (Fogerty), Gravedigger (Culture Club), Partner Carry (Bass-o-Matic), V-up Roll-up (Polaroid), Sprints (FNG!), Moroccan Night Clubs (Assassin), Jack Webb (Magnum), Squats (Strawberry), Burpees (Pinup), Merkin (Rebel), Knee Tar N’Dyae (Rebel), Tunnel of Love (Twister)

Mosey home

Final ab work — American Hammer, Flutter

COT

Moleskin

T-claps to the pax for the enthusiastic participation, mumblechatter and #Encouragement throughout.  Apologies to those pax whose exercise I missed and those who I mismatched in the list above.  I know we started with Fogerty catching much flak for a stuttering proclamation of “Plank Jacks” to get us rolling.  Bass-o-matic challenged himself and all the pax in the early going with the Partner Carry call-out.  Yes, YHC quickly claimed FNG/Half Dome as partner (purely for teamwork purposes, I can assure you…it had nothing to do with his svelte frame).  Pinup threw down the gauntlet, claiming Burpees as both his Fear and his Favorite (1500 in September seems to prove the point — well done!).  Strawberry (on only his 2nd post!) showed he knows the proper rhythm of a workout by calling for Squats immediately after Jack Webb (get this man into Q school ASAP!).  And Twister had his mic drop moment with Tunnel of Love to cap it all off.  Fun times throughout!

Welcome to FNG/Half Dome, who posted at the behest of Barney Fife (kudos to both)!

Finally, just a recap on the theme to reinforce the message.  YHC, in my prideful youth and throughout a very long stretch of adulthood, deluded myself that I was purely self-motivated, and no outside influence, inspiration or good words could make a difference to my spirit or performance.  While my M openly claimed her need for affirmation and #Encouragement, I laughed those things off, as though those who needed them were weak, meek and timid.  I also claimed to have few worries or fears throughout these periods.  A-ha!!!   There it is — the smoking gun.  Since #Courage can only exist in the midst of #Fear, I must’ve needed nor displayed any #Courage throughout these years.   And in the absence of feeling #Fear and gathering up #Courage, I had no recognition of the need or value of #Encouragement.  And, so it follows sadly, that in the absence of my personal experience of these, I fumbled and floundered in expressing #Encouragement to those around me who longed for it.  This shortcoming became a significant blind spot and weakness in leading others, including my family.  Yes, sad.  Yes, true.

While I still have plenty of room for growth in the area of #Encouragement of others, my ship turned around when I became more sensitized to my own fears, and I felt the power of #Encouragement from others, and I demonstrated the #Courage that was somewhat dormant inside me.  So, the lesson here — soften your heart, look yourself in the mirror, get in touch with your #Fear.  From that point, you may find immense personal growth opportunity and the ability to better relate and #Impact those around you through #Encouragement.

Thank you to Short Sale for the Q opportunity and to all the pax for making the experience real!

 

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3-Speed Track Work at Laces Out

Succinct backblast start >>>>>>

We were on the track for some 3-speed speed work.

  1. 1 mile warm-up
  2. Dynamic stretching (butt kickers, high knees, toy soldiers) back and forth across field
  3. 400m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery pace
  4. 800m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery pace
  5. 1200m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery pace

Rinse and repeat steps 3-5 until 5:55a.  Most normal pax got 5-6 miles in.  I think I heard McGuyver say he got 8 miles.

Well done, pax!  Thanks for the invite to lead, Atlas.

<<<<<< Succinct backblast end

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