Sweatin’ To The Oldies @ #Slowburn

26 HIM came out for a warmer-and-drier-than-the-day-before “moderate” beatdown.  Welcome and disclaimer given and then I turned it over to Clark Kent for a little VQ Warm Up that went a little something like this:

10x Goofball
10x Windmill
10x Cherry Picker
10x Low Slow Squat
10x Side Straddle Hop

10x Merkin

Polaroid took back over and we moseyed to the back of Lowe’s for 2 rounds of:

30x Dips
Bear Crawl to the line
Lunge back to the rail
30x Calf Raises
Mosey to the side of Lowe’s for 1 round of Deck of Pain
Hearts = SSH
Diamonds = Bomb Jacks
Spades = Merkins
Clubs = Carolina Dry Docks
Jokers = 10 Burpees – – – – Dangerfield pulled the Joker!Mosey to the front of Lowe’s for a quick ab workout:

10x Flutter
10x LBC

Mosey back to the Warm Up circle for some Sweatin’ To The Oldies with
“I Get Around” by The Beach Boys.

Start in a squat and every time “I get around” is said you go up and down.  It’s 2m8s of squattin’ and hopefully the guys were feeling the Slow Burn.

Most of the PAX gave AYG to the Chick Fil-A hill and a mosey back to COT.  Great job!
Announcements:
-Turkey Day Convergence 11/24 0600 @ The Ranch
-Christmas Party 12/1 1830 @ Regal Manor Clubhouse
-Paradise Turkey Giveaway Bring a FROZEN turkey to an AO on Saturday, November 18th. Why? To bless the Paradise Community with turkeys for Thanksgiving. This turkey giveaway will reduce the financial burden for underprivileged families in this neighborhood as they prepare for the holiday. We will also eat lunch with the community during this event to further build relationships with our brothers and sisters in Paradise. Read the pre-blast for details regarding this fruitful event. Contact Deacon with questions.

Pinup prayed us out.

It’s always an honor Q’ing.  Thanks, again, Barry Manilow.  Peace.
~Polaroid

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The Ranch 2017.45

For this one I went back to my roots, the Dora 1-2-3.

Warmup SSH, Hillbilly Walkers, Cherry Pickers.  Mosey to the middle school entrance for some cover.  Discuss where the name (Dora) for the workout came from.  Procrastinate.

Partner up for Dora with 100 Pistol bench squats, 200 Carolina dry docks, 300 Freddy Mercuries

Go over what the word of the month, Victory.  You can’t have a victory without a struggle, without the risk of losing.

20 jump squats, 20 slow merkins, 20 jump squats, 1 min partner plank (1 arm plank with some support from your parnter by placing your hand on their shoulder), 20 jump squats, 1 min other arm partner plank

wall sits with everyone getting a request for the setlist, 1 leg up, other leg up, (something else?), switch for balls2wall, back to sits for 2 more requests, then balls2wall with shoulder taps x10

Mosey back for COT.

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Children’s Attention Home / Guidance New F3 Exercise Station – Thank You

All Area PAX:

On Saturday Sept 30 a small group of F3 PAX set out that morning, a short time after the Convergence celebrating The Fort’s 5th Anniversary, to permanently change the landscape at the Children’s Attention Home / Guidance. The fruition of all the burpees and subsequent pledges from the 2017 CAH Burpee Challenge spearheaded by Chicken Wing would culminate in the installation of some permanent outdoor exercise equipment that day. This small group of men would be representing many from F3 Nation’s local regions – The Fort, Rock Hill, York, and Indian Land, among others – who participated in the challenge. Those who participated believed that there was a meaning, a purpose, a goal that is greater than themselves. The exercise equipment will be a permanent physical example to those at CAH Guidance, and others as well, of what F3 is all about. Not only of the importance of the 1st F, but power behind the 2nd and 3rd F’s as well – when you invigorate the leader within, and you have Faith, the possibilities are limitless.

After several hours of hard work, with help from the young leader residents at CAH Guidance, as well as a lot of GREAT 2nd F, the work was finally complete! It was not easy work at all, but by now we all know to choose to do the harder thing and get after it, which the team did with no complaints. We all pushed, pulled, and motivated each other to completion, a true Shield Lock effort. By no means was it a ‘professional’ installation, but the heart put into the work cannot be denied. It was obviously a labor of Love.

The equipment is quite rugged, well designed, well built, and installed in a manner to where it will last quite some time. T-Claps to Chicken Wing on the design, Iron Horse for his incredibly well done job fabricating the bars, and to all of those who participated in the installation efforts led by Chicken Wing and Iron Horse. It was a GREAT team effort.

Before we even left, it was making an impact:
* Richard, who is the Supervisor of Grounds / Equipment Maintenance there at CAH, was nearly in tears and overwhelming in thanks at the effort put forth and how the equipment will help the kids there
* Many of the staff where quite speechless and thankful when they came out to see the finished work
* The youth were already hanging all over the equipment (who needs the concrete to set??), laughing and having a good time

And the impact will be a lasting one. Attached is a letter sent by the Volunteer Programs Coordinator at CAH, Sharada Abraham:

“”Good Morning Gentlemen,

I hope you all are well! I wanted to thank you all for the phenomenal job that was done on last weekend with the installation of the Pull Up & Dip Station. It looks great (pics are attached) and everyone is asking about it from the children, staff, and even our volunteers. I had the pleasure of giving a tour yesterday to one of our community partners and they were in awe.
Thank you all so much for your continued support of the Home. The pull up and dip station is a great addition to our Campus and I do believe our teens will spend more time getting FIT!
Thanks for all you do and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Sharada Abraham
Volunteer Programs Coordinator

 

On behalf of F3 Nation and CAH, I am incredibly thankful for the efforts put forth by the area PAX to get this done. From the inception of the Burpeee Challenge fundraiser by Chicken Wing, to the PAX participating in the challenge (I still do not like burpees, but I’m better at them now), to the PAX designing, fabricating the equipment, procuring the materials, facilitating the approvals, leading the installation efforts, and finally participating in the installation. It was quite a project, and a good example of what happens when you step outside your comfort zone to lead and make things happen.

Keep up the great efforts F3 Nation! Remember that within each one of you there is a true leader waiting to be unleashed if it has not been already. Believe in yourself,  be the change you want to see in the world, and get out there and make a positive difference in the world. Be the vessel through which He works.

You are all HIMs, and I am honored and privileged to be part of this wonderful thing we all call F3.

Thank you and God Bless
– NASA

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Bullwinkle’s Wallsitting and Lunge fest

23 Pax joined at the Ball Room in Fort Mill for sweat filled gloom and fun on 10/03

The thang

Warm-up Mosey – with Butt Kickers, High Knees, Power Skips, Slow Walking Lunges and Toy Soldiers to get the legs good and ready for the what was to come

Warm-up Circle, exercises in cadence

  • Merkins (10, four count)
  • Arm Circles (lots)
  • Moroccan Night Clubs (20, four count)
  • Low Slow Squat (15, slow four count)
  • Imperial Walker (15, four count)
  • Windmill (10, slow four count)

Mosey to the hill for Jacob’s ladder: 6+1

  • Merkins on bottom
  • Bear crawl up hill
  • Squat jumps on top
  • Mosey down hill

Two Ten Count recovery

Mosey behind the school to the wall

Part 1 of Bullwinkle’s Sitting and Lunging around, as follows

  • 30 second wall sit followed by 20 lunges forward, turn around, 20 lunges back
  • 30 second wall sit followed by 19 lunges forward, turn around, 19 lunges back
  • 30 second wall sit followed by 18 lunges forward, turn around, 18 lunges back
  • 30 second wall sit followed by 17 lunges forward, turn around, 17 lunges back
  • 30 second wall sit followed by 16 lunges forward, turn around, 16 lunges back

Ten count recovery

Mosey to bridge to work calves

  • 30 seconds of calf raises follow by 15 seconds of rest.  Rinse & repeat X 6

Mosey back to wall

Part Il of Bullwinkle’s Sitting and Lunging around, as follows

  • 30 second wall sit followed by 15 lunges forward, turn around, 15 lunges back
  • 30 second wall sit followed by 14 lunges forward, turn around, 14 lunges back
  • 30 second wall sit followed by 13 lunges forward, turn around, 13 lunges back
  • 30 second wall sit followed by 12 lunges forward, turn around, 12 lunges back
  • 30 second wall sit followed by 11 lunges forward, turn around, 11 lunges back

Ten count recovery

OYO Max Merkins

+5 Merkins

Mosey back to front of school for COT

Bullwinkle out.

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5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

Saturday, September 30th 2017 was a special Convergence for the PAX of The Fort. On that day we celebrated 5 years of using these small workout groups to invigorate male leadership in Fort Mill. To honor the occasion, 88 PAX gathered at one of our favorite AOs (Nations Ford HS) to celebrate the day and the leaders that made it all happen.

We also celebrated 6 Friendly New Guys that joined us that morning. Welcome Tubs, Band Camp, Jughead, Atari, Hat Trick, and Saul.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however. Here’s how we got better:

Warmup (led by Ginsu)

  • Mosey to the football field
  • 30 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10, 4-count windmills
  • 30 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10, 4-count merkins
  • 10, 4-count Peter Parkers
  • 10, 4-count Parker Peters
  • 10, 4-count LBCs
  • 20 low slow squats

Split into groups (Run, Regular Bootcamp, Black Diamond, Ruck, Moderate Bootcamp)

Run (led by Birdcage)

  • 800 meter indian run
  • 1000 meter 10k pace with 1 minute rest x2
  • 200 meter 1 mile race pace 200 meter cool down x4
  • 400 meter sprint corners recover straights
  • 1600 meter cool down
  • 5 miles total

Bootcamp (led by Royale)

  • Mosey over to the concrete football field
  • 10 merkins
  • Lunge walk 10 yards then do 3 burpees
  • Next ten yards bear crawl then 3 more burpees
  • Rise and repeat until we hit the other goal line
  • 10 count – going over the Five Core Principals of an F3 workout
  • Next phase we broke into 4 groups
  • At each corner of the end zones there were 5 exercises written on a board.  We would complete in your group and then run to the next corner. Everyone would hit al 4 corners.
    • Corner 1
      • 20 Merkins
      • 30 Lunges
      • 30 Dying Cockroaches
      • 30 Ski Abs
      • 3 Kraken Burpees
    • Corner 2
      • 20 Ranger Merkins
      • 30 Squats
      • 40 Freddy Mercurys
      • 40 Shoulder Taps
      • 10 burpees
    • Corner 3
      • 20 Durkins
      • 20 Jump Squats
      • 50 American Hammers
      • 30 Monkey Humpers
      • 10 Mountain Climber Burpees
    • Corner 4
      • 20 Wide Arm Merkins
      • 20 Sumo Squats
      • 20 V-Up Twists
      • 20 Bombjacks
      • 10 Squat Burpees
We talked about the word of the month – Leadership.  I shared we all have an opportunity to lead through F3, just like we all have the responsibility to lead in our homes.  I know I struggle with the balance of work and family time.  As the leader of our households we need to support our Ms and be the examples to our children.
  • Mosey over to the round about
  • Each man would take a lap around 1st doing Lt Dans
  • Finally we would bear crawl.
  • Mosey to the football field for the last 30 seconds and some LBCs

Black Diamond (led by Backdraft)

  • Mosey from warm up top pull up bars
  • Pull ups/ Burpee challenge – 9 pull ups 1 burpee., 8-2 , 7-3 until finished.
  • Mosey to stadium run the bleachers
  • 10 derkins
  • 10 dips
  • Mosey to track run 1/4 mile as fast as you can. U vs. U
  • Mosey to end zone. Count off by 2s. split into groups first person flips tire 10 times than run end zone to end zone while next person flips tire everyone else continuously do 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 big boy sit ups. Keep going until all of group is finished.
  • 10 min 100 burpees. Do 10 burpees every minute on the minute. U vs. U
  • Mosey to 50 yard line 5 minute of Mary
  • Sideline sprints x 2 first set after you run 10 tuck jumps. 2nd set 5 hand release merkins

Ruck (led by Trucker)

2 20lb, 3 40lb, and 3 60lb sandbags were snagged from back of car as 8 PAX tucked down to the elementary school and dropped the sandbags next to the telephone poles. The 8 PAX carried the telephone pole around the parking lot. Left telephone pole where we found it and rucked backwards up the hill to the pull up bars. What’s a WO by Trucker without pull ups? YHC challenged the 8 PAX to do 2 sets of 5 pull ups with ruck on.

Rucked into stadium and lined up in 2 columns for sandbag throws from one end of football field to other and back. Then rucked up and down the football stand stairs from one end back. Rinse and repeat with sandbag throws and stadium stairs. Threw sandbags again down to other side of endzone and then formed 2 lines abs flipped tires from one end to other. Sandbag threw back to other endzone and climbed stadium stairs one more time. Finished with a 20 count flutters. Great work by seasoned and rookie ruckers.

Moderate (led by Short Sale)

  • MOSEY to Elementary School
  • Grab some Wall. Wall Sits while Pax at each end jumps out of line for 5 squats
  • Repeat with 5 Bombjacks.
  • Count off by 5’s and mosey to back of the parking lot
    • Number 1’s go to station #1
    • 2’s start at Station3, etc.
  • Stations: 3 minutes/station. Q calls stop & go
    • 1: 10 Merkins, 20 Calf raises
    • 2: 20 LBCs, 20 Monkey Humpers
    • 3: 10 SSHs, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs
    • 4: 10 Scorpion Dry Docks, 20 Squats
    • 5: 20 Imperial Walkers, 10 Apollo Ohnos
    • 6: 10 Broad Jumps, 20 Flutters
    • 7: 10 Bombjacks, 20 squat jabs
    • 8: 10 handclap merkins w/partner, 10 partner Derkins- Beloved by veteran Pax and FNGs alike
    • 9: 10 Jump Squats, 10 CDD’s
    • 10: 10 Dips, 5 jack Webbs
  • Mosey to Stop sign at bottom of hill for some Mary- Hello Dollies, Flutters, Protractor

MESSAGE ON LEADERSHIP- F3 gives us a great platform to grow our leadership skills and build confidence as a leader. The Pax will let you know if/when something has gone wrong but will also be there to lift you up. Also, the best leaders don’t focus on their ROLE, they focus on the GOAL. So, be the leader you were called to be.

Great group of men came to work. Veterans guided the FNGs and encouraged them at every step of the way. YHC kept reminding the group that it is UvsU out here. Some quality mumble chatter about what moderate means. Smiles all around when moved on from the stations.

Wrap Up

What we have at The Fort is special. It is a strong group of PAX led by men who live with intentionality. I am sure that each of us would agree that it has impacted our lives in ways that we will never be able to describe. At some point for each of us, we were gifted F3. We were headlocked by someone who recognized the impact that F3 had on them and how it could help us. With that in mind, let’s pay this gift forward. Be the leader you were called to be and use your influence to headlock the sad clowns around you, FNGs and Kotters, that are where you once were. Be a leader.

Ginsu

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“Make him curl up in the fetal position”

Twitter is a great way to nudge PAX to post, or in my view call out PAX who haven’t posted to the Armory in ages. The second best thing about Twitter is that other PAX reply with announcements that an FNG is posting and they want to Q to punish them FNG….even though he was headlocked as he was serving on a church mission trip. Prior to knowing an FNG was posting, YHC already created a wicked weinke. After a somewhat lackadaisical disclaimer…

COP consisted of: windmills, IM, Hillbillies, SSH (lots of them), squats, and a quick mossy around the church parking lot. PAX grabbed their KB and mossy over to the edge of the parking lot for some sidewalk chalk instructions.

Partner up and split the groups into 2. Half the group follows the LT parking stall sidewalk instructions while the other half follows the RT parking stall sidewalk instructions.

LT parking stall consisted of Partner 1 runs backwards to the other end of the parking lot and runs back while Partner 2 does the exercise. Swap with partner, then rinse and repeat with the next exercise. Exercises consist of: KB swings, upright rows, skull crushers, chest presses, merkins, flutters.

RT parking stall consisted of Partner 1 runs  to the other end of the parking lot  and back while Partner 2 does the exercise. Swap with partner, then rinse and repeat with the next exercise. Exercises consist of: Curls, shoulder presses, squats, LBCs, bent over rows, good mornings, burpees.

Once each group completed their side, flapjack.

Mossy to church benches for OYO of 20 or so reps of the following:

Overhead lat swings, Dips, Derkins, Irkins, Squat Sits. Then round of Mary consisting of American Hammers, Hello Dolly, Big Boy, and LBC with toe taps.

Mossy to COT

Thanks to the PAX for coming out and for the mumble chatter. Great morning for a KB workout.

Asked Crawdaddy to provide a quick hihglight of their mission trip that diverted them from Columbia (the Country) to FL in the wake of Irma. Great message of leadership. Prayers to Change Orders mother, Hot Pockets (FNG) on seeking a new job, and all other spoken and unspoken prayers.

Read your newsletter and sign up for the 5yr invergence!!

Trucker out

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Clydesdales – Value Run

Not much to add.  We had 3 options Value loop to Walmart, a trail run through Baxter and a pineapple run through Baxter.  All were safe and returned without any skid marks. Peace out!

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Prisoners over the Wall

11 men arrived at the park, with 1 FNG in tow.  Change Order and Copperfield had an alternate plan to run the Tega Cay hills.

Fishsticks began the workout with a warm-up jog around the neighborhood.

Circled up for COP

Plank Stretches

SSH x 20

Imperial Walker x  20

Windmill x10

Hello Dolly x 10

Moroccan Night Club  x 20

Mosey to the field for some partner exercises at each corner of the field

  1.  Elevated push-ups x10 – feet on partner’s back
  2.  Single arm lifts x10  – Lift partner up from ground with one hand
  3. Dips x 10 – Partner 1 in plank position while partner 2 dips
  4. Merkin claps x 20

Rinse and repeat two more times OYO

Jekyll takes the Q-

Mosey around backside of Alcatraz with a head fake to “the hill”.  Stopped for some seal jacks and plank jacks before having Sparkplug lead the pax to the coupons.

Taking our brick we pick it up and put it down several times in the form of curls, squats, lunges, shoulder press, tricep extensions.  Bonsai looked like he was lifting cobble stone.  That dude big.

Split off to team 1 and 2.  Team 1 on wall for sits and team 2 race across field, scale the outfield fence, run up the mulch hill and do 5 bombjacks- race back to wall.  Flapjack.  2 more rounds throwing in BTTWs and Wall sits.  Sparkplug continues to be a no quit leader.  #inspiration.  Falcon Crest almost had nonscheduled reassignment surgery getting up and over the fence.

Putting coupons back at home base we moseyed to the field for Jack Webbs and Lt. Dan’s.  Crowd favorite here- especially the LT. Dans.

Great effort by all.  Triple Hate- FNG Baywatch was a welcome surprise.  Nice job Router.  If you are still wondering- Shady has firm backside that provided a great bench for YHC.

 

Excellent work men!

 

Announcements:

F3 Chicago – Launching soon

The Fort Invergence – Sept 29

Paradise workout – Friday night at 7:00pm

Prayers:

Shaddy’s M interview

Change Order’s M turns 40

Jekyll’s 2.0 away on camping trip

 

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SlowBurn_The New Moderate

It is Slow Burn and it would be expected that 30+ show up. It has been debated on the “Moderate” workouts, why are they so popular?? I truly believe that its because we long for fellowship. We enjoy, especially on Friday, the idea of working out….yea maybe, but more importantly conversing and chatting it up with our brethren.
Regardless, moderate does not mean easy. I believe it is modified as needed. Qs do not need to make a workout that kills people, but on the other hand, if we are up at 4:30am to workout…..we should get a workout.
I told the PAX to expect the unexpected. We should not be shocked when sickenss, chaos and things hit us from the side since Life is always full of surprises. Instead, we should have the discipline and character to step up to the challenges before us…..at a workout or in Life!
The Thang:
Quick 20 SSHs in parking lot
Mosey across to Holiday Inn Express for some Mountain Climbers
Mosey to behind Burger King for some COP
  • Plank
  • Squats
  • Parker Peters
  • Flutters
  • Peter Parkers
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Sumo Squats

Saturday night is one of the most hyped fights since the Tyson era. In that spirit, the PAX and I went a couple of rounds in the office parking lot

Each station for 3 minutes doing the 2 exercises marked on the ground. One time is up, move to next station and next 3 mins. Pain was had by all!!

#1
10-SSHs
10-Merkins
#2
15-Squat
5-Burpees
#3
10-Dips
20-moracan night club
#4
20-squat jabs
10-Peter Parkers
#5
10-maktarji
10-broad jumps
#6
10-leg raises
10-ski hops
#7
10-CDDs
15-Apollo Ono
#8
Partner Plank
Derkins
#9
10  1 leg balance toe touch
5 donkey kicks
Mosey back to COT
Talked to the men about expecting the unexpected. I shared about my 52 yr old sister with cancer and facing death. My brother after 25 years of marriage calling it quits. Unexpected life changing events for me and my family. How we deal with this is critical to how we face life daily. Emotions are high, but we should not wait until we are facing these situations to then say….how do I deal with it. Start today to be the man Sky Q intended you to be. Don’t wait till its too late to make yourself better and deal with the things that will come. Get stronger physically, emotionally, spiritually to be able to walk through things and with others!
Welcome FNGs Bearcat and Clark Kent!!!
Colombia Team send off at The Ranch 9/7
Invergence 9/29 Greenway
5yr Convergence 9/30
Prayers for Families, kids, schools and teachers! All spoken and unspoken prayers!
Cake Boss Out!
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