Keep it Simple

This will probably be the easiest backblast I ever write and it just goes to show, sometimes SIMPLER equals HARDER.

Got the text Sunday following church that we needed a substi-Q for Quagmire and I felt like I really wanted to just run Monday, but miss when I don’t do the boot camps, so what better way than to combine the two.

Let’s get to it:

Dynamic warm-up consisted of a quick mosey to Best Buy where we then lined up and did:

  • power skips half way down the building and then jogged to the end of petsmart
  • side shuffle half way, flip, side shuffle rest of the way
  • karaoke half way, switch, the same
  • back pedaled half way down then jogged to the end end

Did a quick 20 merkins, 20 big boys, 20 peter parker planks (on elbows) and 20 diamond merkins and then we started the real thang.

The balance was something like this:

  • Run a 1/3 of a mile, then do 10 bomb jacks, 15 burpees and 20 pulsating jump squats (half squat, full squat into jump squat = 1), then run another 1/3 mile and do the same 3 exercises / reps and keep doing it until time lol.  We did 4 of those back to back and then took a break to do the following:
  • Partner up at the Verizon by Target – partner 1 runs to rack room shoes (about 1/4 of a mile down) and back while partner 2 does non stop x-crunches (thank you ab app).  The jog was longer than I thought.  1/2 a mile kind of sucked right there.  Sorry not sorry.  65 x-crunches later we switched and partner 2 jogs.
  • From there, we went back to the every 1/3 mile do the 10/15/20 bomb jacks/burpees/pulsating/jump squats until we got back closer to COT.

Ended w/ an all out sprint the length of pet smart / office depot / best buy back to COT.  Props to Pot Hole for saving some in the tank and blowing by everybody.

Final #’s – 3 miles ran, 60 bomb jacks, 90 burpees, 120 pulsating jump squats and about 50-70 x crunches per person.  Not a bad day for a Monday.  Heard heart rates were excessively high which is always a good sign.  Thanks for hanging in there fellas – had a great time leading the pax.  Until next time.

Cha Ching

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On the Fly Tour of The Swamp

12  Pax made it out to The Swamp and Chupacabra in the Gloom of the Morning. 7 bootcampers, 3 Ruckers, and 2 runners that started super early. Beautiful low humidity morning was a welcome surprise from the rest of the week. Big ups to the SkyQ for that blessing.

YHC was tapped by our friend Witch Hunt to cover his Q on short notice. Something about scoring and his M. At least that is what came over the Twitterverse. Few details might have been missed. But Glad to step up.

Short Notice so nothing Fancy this morning just grind it out and tour the Swamp.

Quick Disclaimer w/ no FNGs on hand and off we go.

Mosey to Old Navy parking lot for COP. Been testing out new COP areas. Home Depot is great and all but the Swamp is huge, so Why Not.

COP- After my Monday Q @ Quagmire and the mumble chatter about COP exercise and cadence calls  I added extra emphasis to ensure no confusion.

All IC

Moroccan Nite Clubs x 20    Windmills x 20   Weed Pickers x 20

SSH x 20   Box Cutters x 20   American Hammers x 20

Recover and Mosey over to Fountain  between American Burger and Just Fresh.

Shifted to other side of fountain to be somewhat respectful to the guy asleep on the bench.

Drop in 2 sets 30 reps per– Incline Merkins and dips. OYO

Dora 1-2-3  100 Merkins– 200 LBCs– 300 Squats partner not exercising made lap around parking lot fountain.  Plank to the 6 which was not a long plank. The PAX tore through this Dora.

Quick Time check since YHC left his watch at home and Mosey across to the long wall between Target and Great Clips.

Wall Work

Peoples chair. Hold 30-45 seconds. IC Arm Flutters x 20

Bear Crawl Down Line while holding peoples chair 2x.

10 sec recovery

Very quite #beatdown to this point- Next Exercise BTTW- That got the PAX talking.

Hit BTTW and add in 20 single count BTTW MTN CLIMBERS. More chatter.

10 Sec Recovery

Back to BTTW with 10x shoulder taps OYO More mumble chatter

10 sec recovery

Back to peoples chair w/ 20 more IC Arm Flutters

In PC 1st Pax hits the deck for 4 merkins and Crab Walks down the line.  Apparently NOONE likes the Crab Walk.

Time Check and walk to end of buildings to let the quads cool down and mosey back to COT for 6 mins of Mary.

Peoples Mary

Slow/Fast/Slow/Fast Freddy Mercuries IC- Nice one Bones!- Noone was ready for that.

20 OYO BBS–   20x IC Hello Dollies– 30some IC rapid leg flutters– 60 sec plank to end the work out.

I’m sure our rucking/running Friends had fun as they all rolled in as we completed the session.

Great Work this Morning Men! Honor to lead.

Duck out!

 

 

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Quagmire- Where it all Started

14 plus an FNG  in the warm and muggy Gloom at Quagmire. This AO is where I posted for my first time back on 2-18-19. Bones’ Eh’d me for 12 full months before I gathered the gumption to get after it. Lutefisk had the Q for a coin flip beatdown. Couple of the regular Pax picked me up in the deep 6 for the next 3 weeks while I got my legs under me.  Will be eternally great full to those guys for keeping me going day after day.

Quick Disjointed disclaimer at 0515 and off we go on a quick mosey across the AO to the Tuesday Morning parking lot.

COP

20 SSH

20 imperial walkers

20 Hillbilly Walkers — At this point Cornhole did me a solid and advised the PAX we did have an FNG in the mix. Need to work on my Openers/ disclaimers and such- Thanks Cornhole.

20 fast and slow Windmills-Based on the Mumble Chatter the Pax like very slow windmills- I like to keep the pace up.

20 Weed pickers

15 Flutter kicks

Roll to Plank for 30 seconds then into 3 rotations of Downward Dog and honeymooners.

Mosey to Target for the fun

The Thang

Red Ball Workout with Suicides. Side Note- Had the Weinke all ready to roll last night when I stopped to cook supper and my son deleted the entire thing. So who knows what the comparison between what we did and what I had on paper would have actually looked like.

Rep Counts 10-20-30

Exercises

Ball 1: Burpees–Run to ball 3.

Ball 3: BombJacks- Suicide back to Ball 2 up to Ball 4.

Ball 4: Squats- Suicide back to Ball 3 up to ball 5.

Ball 5: Werkins- Suicide back to Ball 4 up to Ball 6.

Ball 6: Merkins- Suicide Back to Ball 5 up to ball 7.

Ball 7: Diamond Merkins- Suicide back to ball 6 up to Ball 8.

Ball 8: Big Boy Situps- Suicide back to Ball 7 up to ball 9.

Ball 9: LBCs- Suicide back to Ball 8 up to Ball 10.

Ball 10: Box Cutters- Mosey back to Start

Rinse and repeat  increasing as stated 10-20-30

Was shooting for 3 rounds. Most got in 2.5ish.  2-3 HIM completed all 3 rounds like the beasts they are. All accelerated. Non partner work but lots of guys picked each other up and worked together to make it happen.

Long Mosey back for COT right on time.

FNG- Jason Holland- LT. Colonel in the US Army now known in the Gloom as Cloggs.

Announcements

Newsletter- Sweati upcoming.

Prayers- Cloggs is taking his new command of the MEPs Facility in Chicago and traveling back today.

Sick/injured and traveling PAX.

Thanks Jedi for allowing me to lead where I got my start.

Duck Out

 

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Pre-Blast: Deepening your relationship with Christ

Are you interested in growing in your faith walk? Discovering a path toward an Intimate, Abiding relationship with Christ through a small group study during the ’19 – ’20 school year.

Maybe you have been in the church for your entire life, the last 10 years or you are just now opening your mind to this idea of a higher power… a “Sky Q”.  Regardless of where you are in your faith walk we all have room to grow and mature in our relationship with Christ.

We are all on a faith journey and some of us are more or less equipped to take our faith deeper.  If you have a gap in any of these areas then I have a challenge for you.

  1. Do you feel that you have created a solid foundation of knowing who God is and his desire to be a part of your life?
  2. Are you in a group that is consistently seeking to grow in a relationship with God?
  3. Do you feel that you have an adequate tool kit to help you grow deeper in your faith?

On August 22nd, we will be launching into a Journey to build from the ground up a knowledge of who God is and to start to learn how to have an intimate, abiding relationship with him.  Please reach out to any of the following pax to learn more and to get involved.

Orange Crush, Lug Nut, Crawdaddy, Spitz, Chicken Hawk, Free Bird, Spud, Sugar Daddy, ‘Stang, Corn Hole, Gridlock, Gopher, The Professor, Cobra Kai, Smithers, Destiny, Catfish

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Blown tire = Bullpen

Lets just put this out there.  I was HURTIN.  The Murph did me in like no one’s business.  Shoulders, arms, no extension.  The bed was calling.  Obligation as a PAX and as a site Q made my decision for me.  Have to do the hard thing.  Reborn has been on schedule for months and I got a call at 4:30 saying his tire had blown.  No problem.

Pulling into The Coloseeum there were already a large group of men gathering waiting.  With nothing prepared, I decided shared leadership was the key today.

Maximus: COP

Jekyll: 16s on the track.  Carolina Dry Docks and Jumping Lunges at each corner of track.  15/1, 14/2, 13/3….1/15.

Dungaree: Wall Muscle ups, BTTW

MacGuyver: Wall sits into merkins back into Wall sits (#crowdpleaser)

Gekko: Street lights.  AYG to next to pole 2, mosey to pole 3, AYG to pole 4. repeato until 10th pole

Walker: Cant remember but probably Merkins

Jekyll: Mary

all were completely smoked.  Always great to have the high energy and expectation from Walker.  He really drives me to be better and do better.  Unwavering principled man.

We finished up and met up with Ruckers and Pathfinders.

Aye!

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River District Run – Clydesdales

21 posted to Clydesdales.  Pretty simple backblast.  We ran.  Here’s what many pax ran, but not all.

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That was a lot of sit-ups

My 2nd of 3 Q’s in 3 days. Always a pleasure to Q The Swamp!  Now that I am Ruck free and with no big race on the schedule I’m free to just do regular old Bootcamps. My favorite workouts combine a good amount of running(big surprise) with a bunch of other stuff so that is what we did today and  was glad to have a bunch of guys to share it with.

Started off with s nice mosey warm-up with some dynamic warm-ups of butt kicks, high knees, shuffles and some karaoke.

Circle up in the HD parking lot for COP consisting of SSH, IW, Carolina Dry Dock, Peter Parker, Mountain Climbers, then a series of Downward dog to Honeymooner. Back on our feet for Windmills, Apollo Ono(look out for the car), and just for fun some Monkey Humpers.

Mosey to the bike racks at HD for the main thing. Partner up for a nice BOMBS routine. One partner does the exercise the other does a lap around Home Depot.  There  were some complaints that the lap was a little long even though I assured them it was only about 1/4 mile  I was accused of measuring Zima miles.

50 Burpees, 100 Overhead claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Big Boy Sit-ups(crowd favorite), 250 Supine Pull-Ups(only because I hate squats and I needed an S).  We did not make through all the pull-ups, headed back to COT for a few minutes of Mary, ending with a Body Destroyer.

Announcements – Convergence 5/24, Honor Badger at Golden Corral 5/21 wear Red, Read your newsletter

Praises for Lutifisk daughter, Dungaree’s 1 year anniversary, prayers for kids cancer relapse.

Challenged the PAX to take the role as the leader in their home.  We are called to lead, do not be a passive bystander or even worse do not take or accept the role as another child in the house.  Be the man/leader you are called to be.

Thanks as always for the opportunity to lead this great group!!

 

 

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Block Party Beat Down

I was excited to Q Block Party after the co-Q at The Fort on Sat.  I arrived early and saw 7 runners take off at 5:00 sharp with Bird Cage leading the way down the back trail.  Cars began to file in and the cars kept coming.  I wasn’t expecting a large crowd and then I heard that CSPAN was still in town and was coming to Block Party so I knew there would be a big and rowdy crowd on hand.

Once we hit 5:15, no FNG’s were present so a short disclaimer and off we moseyed.  Since the park has several obstacles littering the grass from the festival, I was going outside of the park.  We moseyed to the first parking lot up front and circled up.

  • Imperial Walkers
  • SSH
  • Arm circles front and back
  • arm stretch across body
  • mountain climber
  • slow merkin – 3 count down, 3 count hold, 3 count up

Mosey over to the sidewalk and wall near Springs Global.  3 exercises , 3 sets, decreasing reps each set.

  • Dips – Reps –  25/20/15
  • Derkins –         20/15/10
  • Step-UPS –     30/20/10

Mosey to the big hill and meet at the top parking lot.  3 excercises, 15 reps each, then run to bottom of the hill and come back up the hill backwards.

  • Squats/Monkey Humpers/Calf Raises
  • Slow Merkin/MNN/O/H Clap
  • Flutter/ Big Boy Sit-up/Hello Dolly

Mosey back to the sidewalk and wall where we started and do one more set of  dips and derkins 20 & 15.  Mosey back to the park. Since we had a few minutes left I decided to take a lap around the park on the path for an added bonus.  We ended back at the parking lot for set of LBC’s.

This was a great morning and I enjoyed the chatter and hard work.  Through the Q Source, I have been motivated to look for ways to continue to accelerate  in all areas.  I shared with the group that I have been successful in accelerating in King, Queen and Jester control, but the last 4 weeks the QSource was focused on Faith.  I was convicted that I am not accelerating in study and recognize the need to have my shield locks there to hold me accountable and provide the push I need.  I asked everyone to think of where they need to accelerate and who are they going to have beside them to hold them accountable.

Thanks Esso for the opportunity to Q and lead the Pax.

Rebel

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Just a Mere Tune-Up

How in the world did I get the honor of Qing one of the most popular ruck workouts of the year? I don’t know but I didn’t want to disappoint. Usually, that last comment means it’s time to absolutely BRING IT. But the trick this AM was to find that balance of bringing it but not killing it since we’re dangerously close to being short on GRH/GRT/GRL PAX.

Alright, I’ve got my head right, Weinke written and little sleep. Yup, par for the course so let’s roll. 24 brothers joined me at the Fire Ant this morning which for those who’ve not attended, is building quite the strong brotherhood. Again, here’s my plug to try rucking for a month and see if you set the ruck down.

After we disclaimed and talked about the upcoming event this weekend, we made our way to the sidewalk to get in two lines with rucks opened on the ground for a mock inspection. Once complete, zip up, ruck up and fall into 2 lines for a ruck lap around the loop.

Once the lap was complete, stay in 2 lines and lay the rucks on the ground on the outside of the lines. In formation, Side-Straddle Hops, Imperial Walkers, Sumo Squats & Moroccan Night Clubs. Now for a little BEEP BEEP, I’M A JEEP!!

In formation, drop to a squat, hold the ruck out front and duck walk for a bit. Then some ruck curls. Then, drop to a squat, hold the ruck out front and reverse duck walk for a bit back to the starting point. Guess what? More ruck curls.

Now, rotate 90deg so you’re facing the outside, away from the other line for shoulder presses, upright rows and bent over rows. Then a nice set of flutters WITH the needed presses.

Line up on the left side of the 2 long straight-aways for an exercise with the ruck, leave your ruck and run to the far end, do an exercise then run back to your ruck. Here’s the set list:

10 Ruck Thrusters, leave the ruck and run to the other end

5 8ct Burpees then run back

20 Ruck Curls (great on paper), leave the ruck and run to the other end

10 8ct Burpees then run back

Back in our 2 lines of formation for:

12ct Merkins…sans Ruck

Flutters w/ the Press

LBC’s w/ the Rucks up

Box Cutters w/ the Rucks up

More Beep Beep, I’m a Jeep stuff

THAT’S IT!!!

See, not so bad. Just another Tuesday in The Fort.

HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE

SYITG

Maximus

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Mental Health Awareness at the Pantheon

Mosey around the side of the school.

quick word about what mental health means to you

Warm up
15 – Windmills
15 – Imperial Walkers
20 – Moroccan Nightclubs
10 cherry pickers

5 burpees OYO

30 count people’s chair  with arm flutters
Balls to the wall 10 count

30 count people’s chair with
Balls to the wall 10 count
30 count people’s chair
Balls to the wall 10 count

5 burpees OYO

Mosey to the back of the School

discuss that there is more to mental health than depression

20 Merkins
20 CDD
20 Hand Release Merkins

5 burpees OYO

Lunge walk half way down flip to LT. Dan’s

5 burpees

mosey to the side of the school

Plank
Plank shoulder taps
Seal Team Sit-ups

20 American Hammers

Mosey to the front of the School

Global warming with 30 Monkey Humpers each Pax one at a time while Every one held al-gore, imagine 25 pax  = sore legs

Maximus Shared his struggles  and YHC spoke about my struggles in the past due.

It was awesome to hear so many Pax open up and being vulnerable. T-Claps to all that attended this is not a easy subject to discuss.

Prayers sent up for those that are struggling and have struggled with this topic.

 

 

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