Tag: Cha Ching

Identity and Purpose: Digging Deeper and Going Beyond

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Though many said they would post, two brave Pax joined YHC for a cold, soggy morning launching Beyond from Flight Plan. Combined with the four runners for Flight Plan, we had seven in the Starbucks lot – the same number as at least three other AOs for the same morning, including TOMB (er, “The Only Monday Bootcamp,” aka Honey Badger), Quagmire (another Monday bootcamp) and the new and currently unnamed bootcamp in Lake Wylie.

After a quick comment about the disclaimer, an added disclaimer was given, noting that the conversation that was to come was my opinion, so take it as such. Everything that I was going to share comes from my processing of chats with various Pax over the past few months, and though it’s my reflections, I think they’re worth sharing. With that, we took off.

Mosey around some parking lots, add in knees to chest and toy soldiers, and come to a halt in front of the steps at TCBY. Quick comment on the first theme of the day: identity. Basically, as we are working out, think of how you would answer the question, “Who am I?”

Start with my current favorite “warmup,” the dip/crab cakes/Jack Webb combo. One dip to four crab cakes, increasing to 10:40. Fun times. Good morning shoulders.

We followed that with L-sit progressions while sharing the first part of the “message.” L-sit progressions:

  • Hands on step, heels on ground, keep six off the step but under shoulders
  • One leg up
  • Other leg up
  • Both legs up (true L sit). It should be noted that YHC has oddly long monkey arms while Wild Thing has surprisingly short arms. Cha Ching’s arms are normal length (but of monster strength).

There are a lot of ways to answer the question, “Who am I?” For me, the usual answer includes my hospital name, Luke. With F3, there’s my F3 moniker, Jedi (makes sense now that my hospital name is out there…we’re an original bunch). Beyond names, there are other ways to answer the question. I’m a husband, a son, a father, a brother. I’m a Christian. I’m a gymnast, and a champion gymnast at that, a diver, a cheerleader (that’s probably a more embarrassing reality). But I’ve also been branded weird, loser, and jerk, among others.

Mosey around some buildings and back around to the front of the white building that looks like it belongs in Savannah or New Orleans or somewhere that isn’t Fort Mill.

Beginning in the western corner (it feels like the southern corner, but it’s not), we will do 25 reps of the assigned exercise, move to the middle of the building, 5 burpees, move to the northern corner, 25 more reps of the exercise, then run upstairs and repeat the process going back, making 100 reps and 10 burpees per round.

Round 1: 25 monkey humpers and sneaky gorillas

Plank it up (with side planks and reverse plank for good measure) for more talk time.

I knew from the time I was 15 that I was going to be a missionary in Africa. I don’t really have a good explanation of how I knew, but I had no doubt that this was my call. And it became a driving focus in my life. Every decision I made was with this in mind. My college degree, followed by my master’s degree; my choice of church; my relationships – all guided by this commitment to missions. Everywhere I went, this became the primary way I introduced myself. In many ways, this became my identity.

Round 2: Carolina dry docks and bear crawls

Return for some table top yoga work – including wonky airplane – and more talk time.

Reality hit for me in 2014. We had been in Zambia for four years as missionaries. From an outsider’s perspective, things were going well. Our ministry was growing, we had great relationships with our Zambian neighbors. But I grew increasingly depressed, so much so that I went on medication to help manage. The meds helped a bit, but one day it was so bad I couldn’t get out of bed. I had lost all resolve to do, well, anything. After several hard conversations and a great deal of prayer, we made the decision to leave Zambia and return to the US, and it was the hardest decision I have ever made.

Now, it would be easy to look at it and think that we failed. The thing is, I never felt like a failure. Actually, it felt much worse than that. Leaving Zambia, to me, felt like I was losing my identity – losing myself. It was terrifying. What I knew to be true of me, how I had grown to define myself, was gone. The only way for me to answer the question, “Who am I?” at that point was, “I don’t know anymore.”

Round 3: squats and crab walks

Return for calf raises (so…many…calf raises) on the curb and still more talk time.

It took this time of feeling completely lost to realize and better understand something I had heard and “known” for years. My identity is not defined by what others say about me or what I do. A lot of us are pretty quick to agree there. But we live in a time where the concept of “self-identifying” is held as absolute truth, and for me, this would be a terrifying truth. I am the king of negative self-talk, and if I am responsible for defining my own identity, it would be a very, very dark place.

As someone who has placed his trust in Christ, my identity is bound to his identity. I am who God says that I am: loved, redeemed, adopted son of the Creator. It isn’t about who others say I am. It’s not about my relationships with other people, even my wife, my kids, my parents. It’s not about my job or my calling. These are all part of my story, but they do not define me. I keep thinking of Job who, in just the first chapter of the book of the same name, loses his livestock, his servants, and his children – all things we could use to define who we are. Yet after all that, he says

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

If we define our identities by anything other than what God declares, we are tying ourselves to something that could ultimately be taken away. Who are we when we lose whatever it was we used to define ourselves?

So, how do you identify yourself? Who are you, deep down, under everything else?

Round 4: side straddle hops and jog (we were running short on time)

Return to stand around while I talked some more.

Now that my identity is not bound to what I do, to my relationships, to what I or others think, I can start to answer the question of purpose. This seems to come up in conversation a lot, though not necessarily in these words. We talk about being good husbands, fathers, co-workers. But, what is our purpose in this? Is it to just be good husbands, fathers, co-workers? Is it to honor those around us? What happens when we don’t do these things well?

Something I’m still working on, is seeing my purpose as bringing glory to God. I can do this by being a good husband, father, co-worker, friend, brother, son, etc. Having God’s glory as my purpose has drastically affected how I interact with the people around me, making me more mindful of every relationship. And I readily admit that I don’t do a good job all the time. I probably do a pretty bad job quite often. I’m a work in progress, but with a realization that my identity is secure and a purpose to bring God glory, I have confidence that, even on my bad days, it’s not the end.

Long mosey around the outside of the shops, past the library and roundabout to rejoin Flight Plan at COT.

Along the way, we processed some more, especially the concept of purpose. If our purpose is to glorify God, it can actually take our relationships even deeper. Take our wives, for example. If being a good husband is our purpose, that’s okay, but how much better will we treat her if our purpose is to glorify God through that relationship? Same with our kids, our friends, even strangers. Really, it changes everything.

COT

Announcements:

  • Opportunity to triple down on your running (P200 prep, anyone) with Clydesdales and Run ‘n’ Run (formerly Run ‘n’ Gun, but there seems to be a lot of running lately) on Wednesday and Tempo or Laces Out on Thursday.
  • Some other stuff that was probably important.
  • Happy Hour on Tuesday, March 13.

Praises and Prayers

  • Backdraft’s son is super smart and got an award for being in the top 1% academically of all young football players (there’s some program he mentioned, but YHC played soccer)
  • Some other stuff. I’m usually better at remembering these things.

I know this was a super long backblast, but that seems to be the rule with these Beyond backblasts. T-claps to those who read through it. It was an honor to get to lead and share, even if it was a bit intimidating. Thanks to Maximus for the opportunity and the push, and big thanks to Cha Ching and Wild Thing for posting.

For those who missed (you know who you are), you can make it up next time. Different AO. Different day. Different workout. Different message. Same Jedi on Q.

Until then…

Jedi out.

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30

Gettin’ SWOLE! – Too many Ruck Merkins to Count

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Was reminded the day before of my Golden Corral ruck Q, so did the only thing I could think of – tabata.  Sort of.

Deacon, Mainframe, Rad and I rucked over behind the Teeter and did the world’s fastest warm-up that consisted of some windmills, moraccans, imperial walkers and curls.  Threw the rucks back on and hit the first tabata:

  1.  For 5 minutes, each minute do 30 side straddle hops and 10 merkins (w/ the ruck on) (150 ruck side straddle hops, 50 merkins).  Thankful for the Rocky theme music and Dropkick Murphy’s to get us through it!
  2. For 5 minutes, each minute do 15 squats and 10 merkins (w/ ruck) (75 ruck squats and 50 merkins)

Next up – Partner pushes down the HT parking lot w/ exercises.  Partner 1 pushes partner 2 (both have rucks on) about 50 yards, then drops and does 35 flutters and 20 ruck merkins.  Partner 2 pushes partner 1 back to the starting line and does the same thing together.  Do that two more times.  (140 flutters, 80 ruck merkins).

Last, but not least, 3 sand bags were waiting.  4 stations – 1) no sand bag, just ruck, 2) 40 lb sandbag and ruck, 3) 60 lb sandbag and ruck, 4) 90 lb sandbag and ruck

  1.  each of the 4 pax gets one station and we do 10 squats per station in order moving to the next after each w/ no break.
  2. do it again, this time w/ chest press.  Press each of the sand bags (or your ruck if you’re at that station) x10, 4 stations in a row, no break.

Did a full lap (running of course) around the Harris Teeter complex w/ rucks on.  The pax did great.  Think we can all say we got our chest work in for the week.  I haven’t been that sore in some time.  Final count – 180 ruck merkins, 150 ruck side straddle hops, 140 flutters, 115 weighted squats, 40 weighted presses.  Gettin’ SWOLE!

Until next time –

Cha Ching

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1

ChaChing Impromptu Black Diamond in Lake Wylie

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So I had been reading the “Living With a Seal” book about a wealthy business man ultra-athlete who hired a Seal he met at a 100 mile relay race (the business man was on a 4 guy relay team; the Seal was on a 1 man team lol) and was so amazed at his mental and physical toughness, he hired him to live w/ him and his family for 31 days.  Pretty easy fast read – super entertaining, w/ plenty of good training ideas, but even better, perspective.

I told the Pax this wouldn’t be easy – in fact it was going to suck.  There was a Beyond Black Diamond in Tega Cay the same day, so I figured we’d do a little Lake Wylie Black Diamond at Palisades.  I gave the Pax two quotes to get it started from Seal:  “To truly get better, you have to be willing to get uncomfortable.  You have to push your limits”.  Check.  “I don’t stop when I’m tired.  I stop when I’m done”.  I love that.  Let’s go.

Ran behind the school in the middle of the outdoor track and started the warm-up:

  1.  Quickest ever – windmill, moroccan night club, squats and mountain climbers.  That’s it.

Next up – Tabata w/ music (if you want an awesome tabata app that you can add your own music to and adjust times, etc – get “Seconds”).  Great playlist was in store for the following:

  1.  Every Minute,  we had to do 40 side straddle hops + 10 merkins.  5 minutes.  I was surprised – we finished each of the 40 and 10 with about 10 seconds to spare each minute.  10 seconds of break, and then do it again.  Fun stuff.  (total 200 side straddle hops, 50 merkins in 5 min)
  2. Nickels & Dimes – ran to the playground and did something similar – each minute do 5 pull-ups and 15 merkins for 5 minutes.  (total 25 pull-ups, 75 merkins in 5 min)

Next up was some awful partner work.  Size mattered.  We started on one side of the back parking lot.  Partner 1 would chase Partner 2, but here’s the wrinkle – Partner 2 gets a 20 yard head start and has to back pedal.  Partner 1 was to sprint and catch him.  When he catches him, they do an exercise together, then have to get back to the starting line by way of whatever I say.  So it matters how fast you catch your partner as it’ll make the trip back to the starting line shorter if you fly (or longer if you take your time).  Here it is, in order:

  1.  Partner 1 catches Partner 2 then…30 merkins.  Then…broad jump back to the starting line.  Yikes
  2. Partner 2 catches Partner 1 then…20 big boy sit-ups.  Then…bear crawl back to the starting line.
  3. Partner 1 catches Partner 2 then…20 jump knee tucks.  Then…crawl bear back to the starting line.
  4. Partner 2 catches Partner 1 then…50 seal jacks.  Then…partner carry back to the starting line.
  5. Partner 1 catches Partner 2 then…25 diamond merkins.  Then…other partner carries back to the starting line.
  6. Partner 2 catches Partner 1 then…10 burpees.  Then…just run back to the start.  There’s your break.

Don’t underestimate the suckiness of that many sprints, both forward and back pedals.  I was smoked.

Next up, track time – the way it works, you sprint the straight aways, you jog the curved ends of the tracks.  Starting on the side we were closer to, we sprinted the length, jogged the curve, sprinted the length then exercise of my choice when you hit the second curve.

  1.  50 crab cakes
  2. Jog curve, sprint, jog curve, sprint, 50 squats
  3. Jog curve, sprint, jog curve, sprint, 25 Robin Venturas (each side) (side plank w/ upper arm punching under your body, as if you were Nolan Ryan and had Ventura in a head lock)
  4. Job curve, sprint, jog curve, sprint, 50 speed skaters.

Ran back fast to COT just in time to close it out.  Almost had one splash of merlot, but he saved it.  Everyone crushed it that day – it was a bear but they all finished and fought through each step of the way.  Love how everyone handled the pain – I reminded them all whatever we have going on, someone else has more pain.  You have to learn to fight.

Closed out in prayer and went about our hump day.  Thanks to Bones for the chance to lead.

Cha Ching

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1

Party of 13 at Alcatraz (way past due…)

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P200 training dictates pre-runs whenever you can get them.  Well that was a mistake.  Jedi and myself met Fish Sticks & Bolt for a “fellowship” pace behind Alcatraz which consisted of 3 miles of hills at 8 min pace.  We got back right at 7am, just in time to greet the other 9 pax.  Wonderful.

Bolt took us around the outside of the field for a half mile warm up sprint prior to the stretching / / official warm-up.  I took it from there for a some fun w/ cones:

Cones set up 20 yds apart, 5 sets in total, for a 100 yds down the field.  I give one exercise w/ rep count, and the pax runs to each cone and does it at each cone, all the way down the field x5 no break:

  1.  3 burpees (15 in total)
  2. 10 jump lunges (each leg) (50 jump lunges each leg)
  3. 5 burpees (25 burpees)
  4. 10 jump squats (50 jump squats)
  5. 3 burpees (15 burpees)
  6. 10 big boy sit-ups (50 sit-ups)

55 burpees, 100 lunges, 50 jump squats and 50 sit-ups in 12 minutes isn’t too shabby to get things started.

Next up – the hill outside of Alcatraz:

  1.  Run down hill, back pedal up the hill and do 20 merkins.  Repeat run down, back pedal up, 16 merkins.  Hill, 12, Hill, 8, Hill, 4, done.  60 merkins and plenty of hills.  Shibby.

Some fun w/ basketball.  Each pax gets a shot from the free throw line.  If he makes, I have an exercise.  If he misses, I have a different exercise (I wonder which one is worse…).  Well, needless to say the pax missed every shot.  In order of exercises after each missed shot:

  1.  Up and down every parking lot line (side shuffle, sprint, side shuffle, sprint…until you get to the end).
  2. 60 flutters (120 single)
  3. 5 kraken burpees
  4. 40 fast / slow freddie mercuries (80 single)
  5. 20 diamond merkins
  6. 20 American Hammers

Hand off to Bolt for the grand finale – partner obstacle course.  Partner 1 goes through the gauntlet while Partner 2 rips through merkins, squats and LBC’s (50 was the # I believe).  Bolt set up about 12 cones w/ rope weaving between and across each of them making the army crawl almost impossible to keep your butt that low to the ground (at least for a guy w/ a big ass like myself).  Obstacle course goes as follows:

  1.  Broad jump to cones
  2. Army crawl 10 yards under rope
  3. bear crawl to sand bags
  4. Curl sand bags
  5. Weave in and out of 6 more cones touching each as you pass
  6. Sprint back to finish

We closed it out w/ some good discussion around the recent events in Florida and engaging God on the little battles throughout a man’s day.  Thanks for the chance to lead Smuggler.  Always a pleasure w/ this group.

ChaChing

 

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3

Headlamps needed out of darkness comes light

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Pulled up was amazed how many cars where already there and the pax kept rolling in. I guess my advertising worked. We had 2 kotters It was great to see MR. T and Baywatch back out

The Thing

I said the Disclaimer and we Mosey to warm
Followed by high knees to regular then to butt kickers, then regular. Last but not least toy soldiers then regular we  then circle up

Windmill 10 IC
Imperial walker 15 IC
Cherry picker 10 IC

Run the paved path at the bottom of the hill. We have never ventured into the woods in the 2 years we have been here, so what better time than now to explore this great path with a good sized hill would make a great work out for SeaLegs hmmmmmmm in the near future.

Circle up talk about how life is too short to not venture out and explore. Take control of your life be happy. YHC realized there is not enough room to do global warming as planed so I Omaha to the hill.

Mosey to the hill clock work merkins. YHC did short demo:
5 Merkins in 12 o’clock, 5 – in 3 o’clock 5 – in 6 o’clock 5 – in 9 o’clock and 5 – in 12 o’clock one more time. Run to the top of the hill for some –

– Global warming (10 merkins, 10 CCD, 10 burpees)

Mosey to the gaurd rail where I pulled out my board of  pain from behind the guard rail

Partner up

Partner 1 performs exercise till partner returns
Partner 2 runs around long median to the side walk and back.

Monkey humpers
Moroccan night clubs
Plank w/shoulder taps
Irkins
Dips
Donkey kicks
Plank jacks
Squats on your toes
Nur up the hill
American hammers
Burpees
Seal jacks

Some made it to donkey kicks a few made it to plank jacks. I felt we ran enough for the work out so we Lt Dan up hill toward COT .10 of a mile then we NUR the rest of the way COT ot .10 of a mile. I am a big fan of NURING but learned that Cha Ching can run backwards really fast.

COT
Talked more about life being to short live it to the fullest tomorrow is never promised. The reason behind this was bout 2 1/2 years ago Emma my daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. We have now come to a end with her treatment and she has surgery tomorrow to remove her port out of her chest. With that being said we found out last friday that my stepmother has stage IV lung cancer. So never take a day for granted.

Announcements:

Ruck brew, Hog & Coyote coming soon, P200
A group that has supported my family the last 2 years Hometown Heros has a Union county sheriff’s deputy running 40 miles to raise money for the kids battling cancer and other diseases this Saturday trying get some pax to join me with 5k 10k 15 mile 10 mile ect options to support him and his cause.

Prayers and praises:

Prayers for Luka, Vuvuzella son. Emma for finishing treatment up and for having port removed. For my stepmother journey with cancer. Praise for our 2 kotters that came back out.

Great work by the pax they did an awesome job and really pushed them selves. TCLAPS MEN.

https://youtu.be/ZhOkLxtOWYY

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4

Rainy Monday at the Quagmire

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10 Brave soles ventured to the rainy gloom of Quagmire for an opportunity to better themselves.  After getting the late night SOS from Davinci for a “last minute Q”….I put my thinking cap on for how to make it a memorable Monday (meaning you felt it for a couple of days).

After normal disclaimer…and a reminder that “modification” should only be used if needed, we began our mosey.

Warm up:

  • About a mile run (To Gander Mountain)….despite the “I thought this wasn’t a running AO” comments
  • Windmills
  • Hillbilly Walkers
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Weed pickers
  • Slow Low Squats
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Downward Dog
  • Honeymooner
  • Side plank
  • Moroccan Night Club
  • Seal Jacks

The Fun Stuff

Moseyed to the Verizon parking lot

Lined up and performed exercises from one end to the other

  • 5 sets:  Bear Crawl…5 Merkins…Crawl Bear…5 Merkins
  • Set of 50 Merkins
  • 100 Dips
  • 5 Sets:  Lunge Walk…..Backward Run….10 Squats

Mosey back to Best Buy

  • 30 Burpees….10 every minute

COT

Thanks for the opportunity to lead and great work by all the PAX there.

 

~ Bones

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2

We got our 28+ at The Colosseum

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We had a total of 28 guys in The Fort region post yesterday (Monday, Feb 26) amidst the rain so I threw out the challenge of getting 28 men out to the Colosseum this AM. With some help from Jeckyll, Pusher, Ginsu, Cha Ching and a few others, we got that done. The PAX made it even better when that was just the boot camp number as we totaled 31 with our 3 runners included.

I can not even begin to tell you how humbled I was to see headlight after headlight roll in and to have 27 other guys run around this AO at 0515 with me. As Assassin mentioned in COT, we do in fact know how special it is to be blessed with the opportunity to be out with the PAX on just another Tuesday morning. To see some faces out there that I haven’t seen in quite a while was great. With the chatter that ensued, I knew I had better bring it.

So after our disclaimer and the departure of the Pathfinder runners, us boot campers jogged to end of the back parking lot. We counted off to our number of 27  at the time and dropped down for a 2min plank followed by a 2min reverse plank. Well 90 seconds into that latter plank, we had a masked ninja run up to join us for our lucky number 28. That ninja also goes by the name STRAIGHT UP  and man, it was good to have him join us.

1/2 of 28 equals 14 Burpees so that is what we did followed by 28reps of the following:

Dying Cockroach, Boats & Canoes, Jumping Lunges, Jump Squats, X&O’s, American Hammers, Monkey Humpers and Squat Calf-Raises

We partnered up for:

Partner 1: Run to the 1st speed bump and back
Partner 2: Diamond Merkins then flap jack

Partner 1. Run to the 3rd speed bump and back

Partner 2: Merkins then flap jack

Partner 1: Run to the gate that was no longer in existence

Partner 2: Carolina Dry Docks or some ab work then flap jack

Bring it back to the GHMS side of the bus parking lot and circle up for some coupon work.

Begin with the 30lb Ruck and 35lb Kettle Bell on opposite sides of the circle. When the coupon came to you, 10 bicep curls of your choosing while the rest of the PAX cycled through Freddy Mercury, Rosalitas and Flutter Kicks.

COT

Announcements: Read that Sunday email containing your F3 Newsletter. New AO launching from Regent Park. Includes (br)yoga, run and coffeeteria  (contact Cake Boss or Sasquatch) every Friday. Don’t forget about the drive for 218 FNG’s. Reading center opportunity (service).

Prayers/Praises: Flat Tire’s new promotion, Straight Up’s wife is feeling better and S.U. is back with us. Cornerstone’s daughter Emma had her last chemo pill last night and will be ringing the bell soon. Ginsu’s daughter took her first steps yesterday. Jeckyll’s son is now a Boy Scout and Jeckyll has now handed over the leadership. Prayers for Mr. Clean and his desire to be out in the gloom. Prayers for Squeaky for what he is facing right now. Praises for reconnecting with my daughter.

Thank you again for coming out in the gloom.

Maximus

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7

Burpee Bonanza at the Swamp

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Tuesday morning at Golden Corral, Cable Guy (in typical Cable Guy fashion) looks over at YHC (who is conveniently located across the parking lot, because, well, Cable Guy in the morning…) and says, “So, you’ll Q Friday at the Swamp.” It wasn’t really a question; it was more a statement of fact.

“I’ll what now?”

“Yeah, you’ll Q.”

Before I could raise any objections to protect my fellow PAX from what would become my fifth bootcamp Q in just over 2 weeks, word started to spread, and my fate was sealed.

No Twitter announcement was made to prepare the PAX for today, so when 0515 rolled over on my watch, I stepped into the circle to make the disclaimer. It was a C-Span-approved disclaimer, so I’m getting better there. Disclaimer disclaimed, the 7 ruckers walked off one way and the 8 bootcampers moseyed the other.

COP, Part 1

Short mosey to the parking lot behind Cold Stone for

20 SSH IC

10 hillbilly walkers IC

Moving on…

COP, Part 2

Following a mosey with a few side shuffles thrown in, we circled up outside Books A Million for

10 windmills IC

10 low slow squats IC

20 Moroccan night clubs IC

That’s it for the warm up; I wanted to leave plenty of time for the main event. So we moseyed over to the Sun Trust Bank parking lot for the fun to start.

The Thang

The bank is a good size to run around, and it conveniently has 11 parking spaces in a nice, flat, straight row, making it perfect for a lineup of stations. For today’s fun, we had ten burpee stations and a “rest” station of 100 LBCs. Exercises were all OYO, with a lap around the bank after each station, resulting in 11 laps. The burpee stations, in no particular order:

20 Burpees (plain old burpees)

10 Prison cell burpees

10 Kraken burpees

15 Walmart burpees (“Walmart” because you roll back; these were the focus of much mumblechatter)

15 Bodybuilder burpees

15 Inverted burpees

20 One-arm burpees (10 per arm)

20 One-leg burpees (10 per leg)

15 Tuck jump burpees (jump knees to chest)

20 Jump ½ turn burpees (ideally 10 per direction)

For those counting, that makes for 160 wonderfully fun burpees. I think we ended up running over two miles, too, but I’m not sure on that one.

T-claps to all the bootcampers, as everybody completed the entire circuit, and nobody really got far ahead of anybody else. LBCs were completed by some as we waited for the six. With five minutes to spare, we moseyed back to Chick-Fil-A for a couple minutes of stretching our now very tight shoulders and hips.

Announcements

  • GoRuck Light tomorrow. Good luck and have fun to those guys going. Make sure you’re prepared, as the list on the website is not suggestions.
  • Post somewhere tomorrow if you’re not rucking.
  • Yeti in two weeks.
  • Read your newsletter.

Prayers and Praises

  • Wild Thing’s sister-in-law is being induced today to deliver their still-born child. Please pray for this entire family as they deal with this.
  • C-Span’s son (and the whole family really) eagerly anticipating the birth of their baby. (I think I understood that right.)
  • World Wide Leader had to return to work after six weeks of paternity leave, and now their son is starting into daycare, so tons of transitions for all of that family.
  • Rad’s daughter is still in the hospital after a high fever and numerous seizures. The fever is down, but other tests are being done, so pray for her and the whole family.
  • YHC is dealing with some difficult situations at work, including a family returning from overseas early, which may lead to marital issues. Pray for them, and for those who are caring for them.
  • DaVinci’s business has gained some new clients with potentially more on the way, which is great and also daunting.

Even with limited notice (which seems to be the only way I end up Qing), it’s an honor to get to lead and serve these men. Thanks to Cable Guy for the Q-portunity. Kotters to Photobomb.

Ask the ruckers what they did. I only ever saw them walking.

-Jedi

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4

Speed work @ Sea Legs

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Many guys still working on P200 prep.  I got the call to Q late on Monday night, figured I’d mix it up a little bit. Showed up on a cold morning about 33° but it didn’t take long for us to warm up!

Our  goal is to get in some speed work today. I created a Strava segment on the back road towards Palisades called Langston Road which has a nice uphill grade for about 0.4 miles. We would run down that hill about 70% and then push it as hard as we can back up the hill for the 0.4 miles. The pax did this four times – pushed each other really hard.  Once that was done we had about five minutes back in the parking lot. Phase 2 was a small loop  where I had marked a straightaway of about 75 yards set up cones to cones.  For that 75 yards you were to sprint- the remainder was a light jog circling back to sprint.  Looks like we did that four or five times.

As usual Hauschka and Witch Hunt were at the front, Qbert was a speedster, and Tater was the steady-Eddy that just kept going all day.  I think Shakespeare, Peg, Cha-Ching and I really improved our speed.

Here’s how it looked.

Great way to start your day!

An honor to lead,

Royale

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Extra Heavy BEYOND – It’s more than a Workout

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For those of you that know me and my workouts, there typically isn’t a whole lot of “messages” as I try to make it all about business.  However, this time around, I focused on delivering a message that meant a ton to me and my journey, but also hopefully sparking something in the hearts of the pax.  Let’s get w/ it:

Quick mosey over to the lit side of a building w/ plenty of heavy objects for the Pax to worry about while we did our warm-up.  It was short and sweet:

Wide Grip Merkins x10 (in cadence), followed by Diamond Merkins x10 (in cadence) followed by Merkins x10 (in cadence) – nothing like 60 push-ups to get us started.  From there it was all about sitting on our six and stretching so I could focus on the first part of the message.

I asked the Pax who had figured out their marriage and felt they are their spouses were 100% aligned – crickets.  Next question – Who has ever confused “being a provider” with being a good husband?  A few hands went up.  Well I can surely attest to that, and I’m a changed man because of it.  Without going into too many details, I let my priorities get so out of order that I lost my connection w/ my wife.  And it took an act of courage on her part and some serious gut checks to remind me of what matters.  In order, work took the most from me, got home, spent what little time I had w/ my kids (which was basically putting them down to bed), F3 probably got the next sliver (my mornings) and my wife got what was left.  That equated to nothing really, maybe some shallow conversations, tiredness from me, tiredness from her.  This went on for far too long until a late night conversation already past my bedtime lasted 3 hours.  It hit me like a ton of bricks  – our connection was nonexistent and it was time to get it back.

Next up – Heavy a$$ tabata stations.  6 stations, each had two different exercises, 2 pax per station.  40 seconds on, 20 seconds rest.

1a:  Coupon – 40 lb metal chain, Exercise – Jump Squats (wrap that chain around your shoulders / neck)
1b:  Coupon – 2 25 lb bags of metal pellets, Exercise – Curls

2a:  Coupon:  80 lb tree (I’m not kidding), Exercise – Man Makers (good luck)
2b:  Coupon:  30 lb tree or 40 lb stump, Exercise – Lunge Jumps (could swap any coupons for either exercise)

3a:  Coupon:  Cinderblock, Exercise – wood choppers
3b:  Coupon:  Cinderblock, Exercise – v sits (press cindy then touch toes pointed high w/ cindy)

4a:  Coupon:  50 lb bags of limestone, Exercise – shoulder press
4b:  Coupon:  50 lb bags of limestone, Exercise – flutters w/ push press

5a:  Coupon:  none, Exercise – vert wall w/ chalk (vertical jumps on brick wall – use chalk for first jump, mark your high mark and then spend the rest of the time trying to touch that line)
5b:  Coupon:  none, Exercise – bear crawl the perimeter

6a:  Balls to the Wall hold 40 seconds
6b:  Single Leg Wall Sit (20 sec each leg)

Mini break w/ continuation of the message – well the night of the “revelation” from my wife or what I call my re-awakening, I had a flashback so randomly of something CSPAN once said at a workout 2 years before.  It wasn’t random, because it was so fitting, but I honestly hadn’t thought about it in a long time.  It was the bullseye theory of prioritization that I clearly lost containment on.  My bud Witchhunt also helped me a few months back w/ some podcasts to listen to around time management.  Both pointed to the same tactical response – God gets your first.  That’s it.  So my wife and I got tactical – we committed to God and to each other to spend the first 45 minutes of every day together, reading God’s word.  Since that night, we have read together almost every morning (and the couple that we missed we text each other when we can catch up w/ reading and explain what we got out of it) independently the same reading plan, journal independently, but then share what God spoke to each of us.  When you share what spoke to you, you really hear what is going on with each other.  You hear each other’s real time emotions, real worries, real anxieties, what’s ahead, what’s behind us.  I can honestly say I feel closer and more aware of my wife’s true feelings that I ever did in the 13 years we’ve been dating / married.

RINSE AND REPEAT TABATA ABOVE.  NASTY.

We didn’t have a ton of time, so I ran the pax over to a wide open parking lot that had already been set up w/ cones.  An old fashioned football drill I remember doing from double session conditioning.  SNAKES.

One after the other –
Sprint 40 yards, side shuffle right 40 yards, back pedal your butt off 40 yards, side shuffle left 40 yards, sprint 40 yards, side shuffle left 40 yards, back pedal 40 yards, side shuffle right to starting point 40 yards.

I finished my message w/ something that was another a-ha moment w/ my wife about 6 months ago – a small group we did on a series called “Love & Respect”.  In a nut shell it taught us how God wired men and women differently.  Women need love; men need respect.  Not respect in a sexist, egotistical way, but our emotions are clearly influenced by when respect is given or clearly not.  Application – it’s all about how we talk to each other.  Always ask yourself if you’re the husband – did what I say come out in a loving way?  If not, you may want to apologize in advance and say exactly that (ie. I’m sorry honey – I clearly didn’t say that in the most loving way.  That’s not what I meant…).   Most times it’s not what we said, it’s how we said it.  Intent was harmless, the delivery was just not loving.  Same goes for the wife – instead of doing what most men do when they get angry and walk away, we should say, “I feel like what you said was not very respectful”.  More times than not, your wife will realize that was the case and apologize before anything gets out of hand.  Avoid the vicious cycles – husband gets mad, they walk away / internalize everything, they get distant, distance to the wife is clearly unloving, she gets more mad, results in her snapping at you and being disrespectful.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.  Avoid this and be loving men.  That’s all she wants.

RINSE AND REPEAT the SNAKES – only this time, double the distance for each direction.  Fun.

Made it back to COT 2 minutes late but the pax were cool w/ it.  Announcements, prayers for all the senseless violence the last couple days (peach stand, York county officers, kentucky school victims) and for vision / direction on those ideas / things that enter your life and you clearly know you need to do something w/ it.  Huge thanks to Maximus for asking me to lead this workout so early in it’s existence.  I really appreciate it man and I hope my experience can help some guys out there repriortiize and grow closer to their wives.

ChaChing

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