Early Risers at the Swamp

When I pulled into the parking lot near Best Buy, there were several cars already parked near the AO.  Based on the mumble chatter on social media, several of the PAX were getting in some early training for upcoming events.  There were 23 men at the work out, 13 for ruck, 8 for BC, and 2 runners.

After the disclaimer, we jogged to the front of Best Buy.  We started with a few warm up exercises (Butt Kickers, Toy Solders) before we moseyed over to the back of Just Fresh.

COP

SSH  x 20

Imperial Walker x 20

Windmill x 10

Plank Stretches

 

Next, we moseyed to the front of Home Depot for a round of Dora 1-2-3

100 Lat Pull-ups on the bicycle rack

200 Squats

300 LBCs

Next, we moseyed back to Just Fresh near the staircase for a round of Arod 3-2-1 (reverse Dora). Instead of running around the parking lot, we ran up and down the stairs.

300 Calf Raises

200 Lunges

100 Jump Squats

Next, we headed back to COT for one last exercise, the Merkin Gauntlet.  The Pax lined up in a plank position.  Each person performed 4 merkins in front of each person.

COT

Special prayers for Twister as he recovers from his eye surgery

 

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Jell-O Arms

Normally Pantheon is a Site for running and I thought that I would change it up so I came up with this coupon workout to change up the scenery.

The Thang

I had a short mosey to the back of the school to the location of the work out. I showed them a cone location to identify the stopping point for the running portion of this partner workout. There where 4 stations for this Modified Dora. I had the PAX partner up and count off to space out the PAX so they wouldn’t be on top of each other. The count for this Dora was everything was a rep of 200

Station 1 was curls. I had paver coupons and partner 1 would rep out curls while partner 2 ran to the cone and back. The fun part was I didn’t mention to the PAX that there where 3 different size coupons so there was a lot of chatter going on.

Station 2 was shoulder taps. Partner 1 would take said paver and tap one side of the shoulder then lift overhead to other shoulder. Counting only one side as a rep. Partner 2 would of course be running.

Station 3 was at the swings. This was a upside down Merican. While holding the chains of the swings with back on the ground and feet somewhat extended you would pull up making your chest hit the seat of the swing and lowering back down. Partner 2 ran.

Station 4 was curls to overhead press. Self explanatory. Partner 2 ran.

As I had about 10 minutes left I had the PAX circle up with a low squat and hold and delivered a message. My message focused on something that I saw on Twitter about 12th man ministry. It was about positive reinforcement. It just hit something in me and challenged the PAX to go back home and for the rest of the week use this positive reinforcement at least once a day on someone close. Your M, your 2.0’s, or even just yourself. We are in a world today that we don’t do this enough and when you hear it, it just means something. It may take someone out of a funk or hole their in and just give them something they needed to hear. So if you’re reading this I challenge YOU to do the same. Be a leader and this is a great way to build leadership and gain someones respect.

After the message we did a nice long mosey around the school and fields back to COT. With all above being done we managed to get roughly 2-2.5 miles in and totally roast our arms. Good luck today fellow PAX on recovery and see you next time.

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Q v Q 2019

 

It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce: the second annual installment of Q v Q is coming this October.

It will be modified slightly to increase the number of HIM in competition. Face kicks will abound as we have eight great Q’s lined up to make YOU better.

Scoring Criteria:

Creativity

Best Use of the AO

Level of Face Kick (AKA Difficulty of Beatdown)

Each PAX attending the workout will score each Q based out of maximum score of 5 points per category (15 points max). The winner will be determined based off of the higher total between the two Q’s.

On the last Wednesday of the month, the four Q’s to advance each week will face off in a ‘menage a quatre of pain’ with each taking on one 10 minute session

Schedule

October 2nd – Jiffy vs Sasquatch (this match up was too good not to repeat)

October 9th – Geronimo vs Shady

October 16th – Cha Ching vs Dirty Harry

October 23rd – Harry Caray vs. Youts

October 31st – The four advancing Q’s from each week will have one 10 minute session each to prove their worth as Best Q.

Format 

YHC will lead the PAX in a standard, warmup lasting 5 minutes. The rest of the time will be split into 10 minute blocks and one of the Qs takes the first 10, the second taking the next 10, the 1st Q has to opportunity to respond, and finally the 2nd Q has their opportunity to respond.

The Q that arrives earliest that morning will get to choose if they go first or second.

After the 40 minutes are up, the PAX will quickly vote, we will carry the 1, and determine a winner.

The winner of each week will also have the pleasure of providing a backblast for Funhouse’s appeasement.

Trophy

These Qs will be competing for a prize that will be on display each week during Q v Q at The Coop.

Q’s are subject to change. Any changes will be communicated by YHC.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Punch List Out.

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Coupons of Rock

Had a total of 12 plus myself to attend a beat down with Coupons. I wasn’t feeling all too well today after seeing the Doctor yesterday. So my goal was to help with form and to push the PAX to getting a good proper burn while using the right form.

The Thang.

I had 7 different stations

I had the group count off by 7’s to determine which station was their start point.

#1 (The Counter) was 5 station suicides with burpees at each cone. Once the group at this station completed this is what made the PAX move to the next station.

#2 Lateral Raises to Center. This was hard for most due to size of pavers being used. So it resulted in different various shoulder exercises. All focusing on the shoulders.

#3 Colt 45’s (lots of mumble chatter here) yes these pavers were larger than station #2. Just like the bicep curls of 21’s. This was a 15 rep  bicep curl count going from arms down to 90 degree angle with elbows in. Followed by another 15 rep curl from 90 degree to paver to chest. Then lastly 15 rep count full bicep curl. Hence the 45’s. Once you hit 45 you started back again till moving to next station

#4 Burp Merican. This was a Burpee that increased the number of Mericans per each rep. So your first Burpee when down in the Merican you completed one. Then the second Burp you did 2 Mericans, and so forth.

#5 Alligator Merican with Bear Crawls. You started out doing the Alligator Merican from point A to point B. Once you made it to point B you Bear Crawled back to point A. You continued this until moving to next station.

#6 Elf on the Shelf. You started with a paver on one side of you. Grab the paver on that side while keeping it on that side basically made a rainbow motion brining paver to other side. Touching the ground, then bring back.

#7 Center Chest Raise. Grab paver in hands with palms/wrist facing up. With elbows locked go from waist to 90 degree angle (Shoulder/chest height) straight out. Squeeze then slow let down. working the lower chest.

The PAX completed the first round. I had them circle up around me and had Story time. I talked about my past a little and about what the past can do to you. Give you excuses, push you, or hurt you. That you shouldn’t use the past to determine your failures but use it to better you and make you a better person. Push you. After the short talk I sent them for round 2. I hope that little bit helped because I didn’t hear as much mumble chatter and saw a different fire under all the guys out there. It was an honor to Q at the Poopdeck and share a little about myself.

Ended with COT.

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I Love Cindy

Borrowed part of this #beatdown from  Dirty Pipes down at F3JOCO. Visited those guys at the Mad Mule in Benson NC and this workout just called for testing in The FORT.   Little did I know it would end up taking 12 cinder blocks, 4 pavers, 1 sandbag, and 3 rucks to accomplish the workout.  Having prepped and arrived early to setup I could see the headlamps of the pre-runners making early morning laps. All Set to COT for bring some pain. HOLY COW!!! The cars just kept rolling in to the lot. Clown Car after Clown car.  Thank goodness Copyright brought more cinder blocks than requested.

Quick Disclaimer and we are off. Had to tote the extra supplies with us as we ran to warmup.  Much appreciate the support of guys that jumped on the extra weight.

Mosey to the Fountain

Circle up.

SSH x 20     MNC x 20    Hillbilly Walkers x 15

Imperial Walker x 15     Weed Pickers x 15

Fountain work

Derkins x 15 OYO

Dips x 20 OYO

Irkins x 20 OYO

Decline Diamonds x 20

It ain’t fun unless you do it twice.

The Thang I Love Cindy

Partner up–6 stations

Station 1  OH press Max reps

Station 2  Blocked BBS Max Reps

Station 3 Block Squats Max reps

Station 4 Curls 1 block or 2 pavers Max reps

Station 5 Tricep Press 1 block or 2 pavers Max Reps

Station 6 GTOs Max reps

Partner 1 does max reps while Partner 2 runs 4 cone suicide. Plank the 6 rotate upon completion of group.

Talk to Group about Doubt in their lives.

Read- Pray- Surround Yourself with those to talk it out with. Don’t go into seclusion.

Partner Carry back to COT only ~600yrds—-It was awesome and the PAX loved it!.

Not sure what Punchlist and Lutefisk were going for with the midrift shirts in the Name-O-Rama but hey, You do You Bros!

Thanks for the Tap to Lead Cha-Ching. Awesome experience to lead a literal HERD of PAX through the Swamp.

Duck Out!

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Caution: The Minnow Pond may contain hills

Man, that sucked…I mean, that was awesome. Pardon me as oxygen is still hard to come by this morning. It was in the 70’s with 4,000% humidy, we averaged 7:45/mi for 3.25ish miles, did some low-rep exercises along the way and I tried really hard to keep the merlot in the tank. Jedi was disappointed we didn’t hit every single hill in Fort Mill but Dirty Harry enjoyed the gun shop hill repeats.

For further detail that is both short on eloquence & wit, see below…

Disclaimer & welcome to Pet Sounds from the sun-blotting region of CARPEX…YOOOOOOOOOO

Took off out of the parking lot for an estimated .5mi loop around Main St, ending up back at the lot for:

Windmills

Jump Squats

Carolina Dry Docks

SSH

Jump Squats

Wide-Arm Merkins

Moroccan Night Clubs

Jump Squats

Diamond Merkins

Made our way to the base of the gun shop hill (Massey St)

Run up the hill to the Church then back down to the base of the hill. Repeat 2 more times for 3 total round trips then mosey to the steps by the stop light.

50 Calf Raises then a lengthy explanation of how to get to our next destination: Harris Street Park by way of Spratt St then Harris St.

At the Park’s parking  lot: Dips, Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, Merkins

This is where it began to look much better on paper. It was very simple, run up Jackson St to Hwy 160. You see, the problem with this single-road route is that it consists of roughly a 3/4mi gradual uphill climb that in the gloom, gives you the mirage of never ending. Right about that .5mi mark is where Punch List almost witnessed the splash, but hey, I’m the Q, I can’t splash. So I started walking then met the PAX at the stop sign where I see Shady is already leading the next exercise…show-off. #gazelle

Once we collected the 6, we made our way back to the AO for 5min of Mary.

And at this point, I’ll thank Shady for the chance to Q the Minnow Pond, thank the Lord I didn’t die, ask the PAX to consider pushing themselves at something a little different, and spend part of the day looking for oxygen.

Maximus

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Mile High Special at Quagmire

This was a Q I was looking forward to.  It marked my 1 year anniversary with F3 and it was at the A/O that I started at.  Not only was it my 1 year anniversary but some #HIM by the name of Jedi offered me to be the site Q.  This is an offer I could not turn down as this is one of the hardest A/O’s in the region and is in the middle of The Fort and Lake Wylie.

My F3 journey so far has been one of the best journey’s of my life.  I dropped a ton of weight (I am below 200 LBS for the first time in 20 years), I am in MUCH better shape than I was a year ago and I can kinda sorta hang with all the beasts in our region.  My life is far from perfect nor will it ever be but F3 has introduced me to a plethora of men that I am happy to call brothers and friends.

THE THANG

I pulled up into the parking lot with Lutefisk only to notice there were 20 men there ready to go! If you have Q’d a workout before you know all about the Qdrenaline and that kicked in right away for me.  After saying the disclaimer we were off.

Mosey from Chick Fil A to behind Home depot (0.4 – 0.5 miles).  Circle up.

  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • 10 Merkins in cadence
  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • 10 Merkins in Cadence

Mosey to the alley

  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • Balls to the wall 60 seconds

Mosey over to the parking lot by the stairs.  There I instructed the PAX to partner up.

The next set was inspired from a Cha Ching BB.  We were going to do 11’s but the one we usually do is both exercises have to add up to 11’s, in this case we did one rep of each exercise and climbed up to 11.

The exercises were Burpees & Merkins.  Method of transportation was bear crawls there and crab walk back. 

Round 1

  • Start with 1 Burpee
  • Bear Crawl to the end of the parking lot
  • 1 Merkin
  • Crab Walk back to starting point

Round 2

  • 2 Burpees
  • Bear Crawl to the end of the parking lot
  • 2 Merkins
  • Crab Walk back to starting point

You get the gist…. all the way up to 11.  Rounds 8, 9, 10 & 11 is where the partners came into play and the method of transportation changes from bear crawls and crab walks to wheelbarrows.  By about round 6 or 7 I never imagined 23 men could be that quiet in a workout.  The plan was working.  A few groups finished early so we did a few laps around the parking lot and then some squats.  With about 3 minutes left and all groups finishing the thang we moseyed back to COT.  

Router lead us of with a 40 or 50 count of American Hammers and I finished it off with a 20 count of Flutters all in cadence.

We named our FNG – Mighty Mouse.

Jedi handed off the shovel flag and I thanked him for the opportunity and his leadership at Quagmire for the last 14 months.

Went through announcements, prayers, praises and I asked Jedi to take us out with a prayer.

Needless to say, everyone got their money’s worth and went home better men.

 

 

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19 That Didn’t Mail In Their Saturday

So there was this Saturday in Ft. Mill, SC that 17 men joined 2 Q’s to have a little fun in the city park, talk about the impact F3 & others have had on us and the community, and do some crazy exercises that would make others shake their head. That Saturday was yesterday and I must say that Router and I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity granted us by Slash.

3 years ago, Router began his journey with F3 and as he said, the life change has been great and there’s no looking back. As we all know, it’s much more about the 2nd & 3rd F’s but the magnet of the 1st F is what attracts us and propels us to that life change F3 is know for.

That said, Router lit the torch with a disclaimer and a brisk mosey around the WEP path stopping along the way for 20 SSH, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs, 10 Merkins and 10 Peter Parkers; a great opportunity to stretch the PAX out and bring them back together.

Router brought us to the middle of the grass field for the start of the Worlds Longest Lasting, Most Disputed, Loudly Criticized, Not At All Controversial, exercise in The Fort. Sorry, the Pullman got the best of me (which has nothing to do with what we did). This is where he introduced us to a modified Catch Me If You Can. However, there were no rucks, no running, no monkey humpers, just a lot of Tesh-chasing which, for me as Tesh’s partner, made for a quick rendition of this terrible idea. Partner 1 is doing inch-worm merkins while Partner 2 does 20 Flutters, 10 Merkins, 20 American Hammers and 10 Carolina Dry Docks then bear crawls to his inch-worming partner. We did this for what seemed like the entire Saturday morning but in all reality, it was about 100yds (go ahead and try it…I dare you).

Oh, that wasn’t bad enough? How about Router bringing us back to the starting point for a round of Jack friggin’ Webbs. Yup, you just read that. And yes, we went to the 10:40 mark with merkins & overhead claps.. Say hello to your Jell-O arms. Good thing none of our resident hair models were in attendance because hair-washing would’ve been a challenge later that morning.

Then Router topped it off with an explanation of his growth over the last 3yrs since joining F3. Thanks to the fellas like DD (in attendance), Santini, Senator Tressel, Assassin and others, there are hundreds of men who share a similar story to Router, each one unique and powerful in their own right.

Hand off to Maximus.

Mosey to “The Hill” and line up at the base. Identify the tree at the top, about face and reverse lunge walk all the way up the hill to the tree. At the top, drop to your six and crab walk back down.

Mosey back to the field and in true Jack friggin’ Webb fashion, take that to the legs for Lieutenant Dan’s. Just like before, we went to the 10:40 mark with squats & jumping lunges.

Lined up the cones about 30yds apart, PAX line up at one end then the explanation. WWII situps into a burpee broad jump. Repeat until you get to the other cone.

2 lines facing each other for Knee Tar Jah’s or Prisoner Lunges or whatever we’ve decided to call these things.

SSH x 21

Back to the cones. Run from cone 1 to cone 2, 20 Plank Jacks, NUR back to cone 1, 15 WWII situps, back to cone 2, 10 Plank Jacks, then NUR back to cone 1, 5 WWII situps.

PAX back together for:

SLOW Peter Parkers x 21

Flutters x 21

Squats x 21

Jail break to COT for a short set of LBCs.

So that was it. Great time I hope for all. Didn’t get a lot of miles but my body 24hrs later tells me that wasn’t needed. Remember what’s been done for you as you have the opportunity to do something positive and impactful for others.

**ONE REMINDER**: September 6 is our Annual Invergence followed by our regional Convergence September 7 back at WEP.

Until Next Time,

Router & Maximus

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Baker’s Dozen for a Warmish, Humidish Sweat Fest at Quagmire

Great to Q at Quagmire, one of my favorite AOs (and where I was Site Q for a while.)

The Thang

Mosey to Home Depot for a little COP

SSDs x 20
Windmills x 10 (Nice n Easy)
Moroccan Night Clubs x 20
Low Slow Squats x 10
Mountain Climbers x 20
Downward Dogs + Honeymooners x2
Peter Parkers x20
LBCs (maybe?)

Mosey to BRBs in front of Target

Bearcrawl to first BRB > 5 Merkins
Lunge walk to next BRB > 5 squats
Repeat pattern to last BRB.

From other end:
Crab walk to first BRB > 5 LBCs
Backwards lunge walk to next BRB > 5 Bombjacks

Mosey to Fountain

Dirty McDeuces
12 each of CCDs + Dying Cockroaches + Squats > Run a Long Lap
12 each of Wide-Arm Merkins + Freddy Mercurys + Jump Lunges > Run a Long Lap
12 each of Decline Merkins + Flutter Kicks (DC) + Step-Ups (DC) > Mosey back to COT

LBCs til the clock ran out

We welcomed FNG “Alfalfa” EH’d by Tardy!

Honored to lead this great group of men. Thx for the opportunity, Jedi!

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Guest Q at Stingray w/ our Cape Fear F3 Brothers

Here I was, actually at a sweet brewery in Surf City NC on a family vaca (Salty Turtle Brewing Company), taking some ‘adult’ time away from having to watch my 2.0’s like a hawk on the beaches of Topsail.  Got to thinking after seeing my boy Shakespeare Q at Grandstand in Myrtle, man wouldn’t it be great to get at least one f3 workout in if I’m within distance.  Come to find out, the Cape Fear pax had an upcoming boot camp on that Friday, about 45 min from where I was staying.  A couple tweets to the F3 Cape Fear twitter handle, and some never ending chatter from my Lake Wylie / the Fort brothers, and it was confirmed that the Friday Q would relinquish his duties for this week and hand them over to an out of towner.  Much thanks for that men – felt great to get out.

Knowing these guys wouldn’t see me for a long time, I figured it would be ok to throw as many burpees at them as possible.  What I didn’t expect was to have a mini beer Olympics at the beach house the night before after the kiddos went to bed.  Luckily, that finished at 11p so I got to bed early and woke up at 4:30a to make the long trek out to Stingray, an awesome park outside of Wilmington.  The 2 FNG’s confirmed the night before both ignored my calls to get up and come with.

Upon arriving there a little early for the 5:30a start, I met a few of the pax who were startled by the fact that the shovel flag was completely torn from the shovel and missing.  3 pax came to pre run 3 miles (these guys don’t mess around) and by the time they got back it was gone.  I sure hope the wind caused this, but anyway, we quickly discussed my lack of warming up and that they should all stretch.  Upon hitting go-time, we got to work:

  1.  EMOM – I brought my trusty bluetooth speaker and did my infamous warm-up for 5 minutes
    • 30 SSH’s and 8 burpees every minute on the minute for 5 minutes.  After a quick 150 SSH and 40 burpees to the sweet sweet sounds of buckcherry and the rocky soundtrack, we moseyed for a burpee mile so I could get the lay of the land
  2. Burpee mile – ran a mile loop of the nice trail at the park and stopped every quarter mile to do 5 burpees and then a random ab workout until the last pax finished.  About 15 minutes in and we had a mile under our belt, 150 SSH and 60 burpees.
  3. 11’s, Zima (Sweati CSAUP) style – informed them that our 11’s would be different than what they’re used to.  We’d do 1 burpee, 1 dip, then 2 burpees and 2 dips, then 3 / 3, 4 / 4, you get the point, up to 11.  That’s an add’l 66 burpees and 66 dips in about 6-7 minutes.  Got us to a mile run, 150 SSH, and now 126 burpees, and 66 dips
  4. Switched it to 7’s, but did it the right way.  We moseyed to a new parking lot and did a true 7’s (1 rep at the start, run to the other end of the parking lot and do 6 reps, run back and do 2, then 5 on the other end, etc etc…).  We did the worst merkin ever for the first exercise (1 worst merkin ever = 1 wide arm merkin, 1 merkin, 1 diamond merkin).  The other exercise on the other side was bomb jacks.  So post #4 station, we did 21 worst merkins ever (equivalent of 63 merkins) and 21 bomb jacks.
  5. Last but not least, we didn’t have a ton of time, maybe 7 minutes, so we stuck w/ 7’s but did burpees (hehe) and regular merkins, only the kicker was you had to bear crawl to the other side of the parking lot between exercises 1 and 2, and then jog back once you finished the “top” of the 7.  Most pax got through about 4 or 5 rounds of that, so the burpees being the first exercise (starts w/ 1 rep), we got another 10 reps in of burpees and about 22 merkins on the other half w/ some bear crawls / jogs in between.

End count was about 2 miles covered, 136 burpees, 150 SSH, 66 dips, 85 merkins (21 worse merkins ever = 63 merkins + 22 merkins on the #5 station), 21 bomb jacks and some bear crawls sprinkled in.

At one point during the burpee mile when I was picking up the six, I heard a couple almost vomits, so not sure when it happened, but it was confirmed that it happened either then or after that lol.  Always a good sign and a heck of an effort by that Pax who gave it his all, even if it made him get a little sick.  I feel like I received a medal.

Appreciate the 10 other pax for coming  out and supporting a Guest Q and for their push throughout the boot camp to finish strong.  We had some prayers for family (one brother) with cancer, travels, and for 2.0’s.  Thanks for having me out men – looking forward to the next time!

Cha Ching

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