Tag: Copyright

Diplomacy at Quagmire

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It was a long drive from BFE to Lake Wylie, but I’ve wanted to make it to this AO for a while… so I answered Jedi’s call. By the way, I received my request to Q back in January! That is some hardcore planning by this HIM. I’m lucky if I get a month in advance at The Coop.

Also, due to the friendly banter back and forth between Jedi and the Badger… I had to bring the pain today to satisfy these Lake Wylie boys. The last thing I wanted to be was a terrible Ambassador of the Honey Badger Nation.

Here’s what we did.

400m run

COP

Tempo Merkins – 11
Mountain Climbers – 13
SSH – 17
LSS – 19
Al Gore Night Clubs – 11
Yoga Flow

400m run

Wheelbarrow/Squerkins

Wheelbarrow 25 yards.
Out, swap w/partner, back.
Squerkins – 1 Derkin in wheelbarrow position alternating while partner holds and does 1 Squat – Ascending to 5 (so 15 in total).

At this point Jedi told me to tighten my core, which I realized made wheelbarrows much easier. #ProTip

400m run

Wheelbarrow 25 yards.
Out, swap w/partner, back.
Squerkins – to 6 this time (so 21 in total).

400m run

Squatzilla
Lunge 10 yards, do 10 squats, mosey back.
Add 10 yards each time until you get to 50 (so 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 – in total 150 squats and 150 yards of lunge walks)

400m run

Punch Webbs 1:4 – 10:40
Dive bomber Pushups + Burps/Ski Abs/Thrusts (whatever you want to call them!)
1-5
400m run
6-7
200m run
8-9
200m run
10

As we left and returned to our circle for the Webbs, the sweat puddles kept growing. It looked like an aftermath post from Jocko. We were all pleased. The run breaks were much needed, as my shoulders were pretty smoked. Cable Guy said his triceps were smoked. His form was better than mine!

Last Minute Mary
10xWWI Sit Ups

Side note – we also ran 2+ miles in the midst of all of that fun.

Announcements
GORUCK DSM Custom event this weekend! Pray for us!
Monday’s at Sabor there is a bible study. I missed the full details so follow up with Cornhole for more information.

COT
Pray for Duck Dynasty – had some shady business going on in his neighborhood and it was unsettling. Pray for the authorities to handle it the right way and DD to remain composed for both he and his family’s sake.
Pray for Jedi – big decisions to be made here and it could change what he currently calls his life.
Pray for me – I constantly lack patience with my daughters and I need to realize the impact this could be having on them and their understanding on love and leadership.

In all, it was a great morning to join up with my brothers that I don’t often see. Jedi, thank you for your leadership, your friendly banter on twitter, and for making us all want to accelerate. Finally, thanks for asking me to lead.

Punch List out.

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4

Prime Counting with Bora

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Disclaimer made.

Mosey with dynamic warmup around the parking lot.

 Warm-o-Rama

All exercises were completed in sets of prime numbers. After each exercise bomb jacks were done in increasing fashion, also using prime numbers (2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19, 23…). There was no reason for doing this other than YHC wanted to see if anyone would figure out the pattern. I did this once before a while ago, so thought maybe someone would have it in the back of their brain. Props to Jedi who figured it out way quicker than I anticipated the PAX would.

MNC, windmills, mountain climbers, merkins, imperial walker, superman hold and other such things.

 

The Thang

Partner up for Board of Dora (Bora? Dor of Pain?). P1 does exercise on board while P2 nurs to the end of the basketball courts, does 1 bombjack then jogs back to the beginning. All counts were cumulative between the pairs. A few pairs finished in time and it was good to see the men going and picking up the six.  Board:

150 Burpees

300 Squats

150 Big Boys

300 Monkey Humpers

150 Merkins

300 Imperial Walkers

* Pick up the 6 when done

 

Copyright is the man for letting me lead the PAX at a great AO. Abyss is one of the few remaining workouts that men from both sides of the Lake regularly attend – a reminder of the old days.

Stay Classy,

Homebrew

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2

Friend or Faux – April BEYOND

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For those newer PAX who aren’t familiar with it, BEYOND is a roving AO started by Maximus last year that is designed to push us beyond, both physically and personally. The workouts are supposed to be tough, and the message is supposed to be challenging. Combining the two is what makes this workout unlike the others.

After a brief hiatus to restructure it a bit, BEYOND made its return this morning with YHC on Q. It was humbling to be asked to kick it off, and definitely challenging to prepare. I tend to be good at putting together difficult workouts, but I usually don’t attach a message, as I do so much “messaging” for my job. But I accepted the challenge, struggled through preparing, and hoped that maybe a few PAX would make the effort to post.

To my surprise, 13 PAX joined YHC at Rivergate on a Thursday at 0500 (yep, not a normal day to be at Rivergate or a normal time to start). These men came ready to push it, so a disclaimer was given with a reminder that this is going to be harder than normal, so try not to modify. Dig deep and get it done; you didn’t come for it to be easy.

Following the disclaimer we took off on a fast mosey (avoiding a cement truck!) around Home Depot to Target for the warmup and message intro (content of message will be below).

Warm Up (such as it is)

  • 50 (NOT low-slow) squats in cadence (don’t know the best way to actually list the numbers here, so I’m doing total count, not cadence count, which would have been 25, if that makes sense…)
  • 50 merkins in cadence
  • 100 SSH in cadence

RUN to parking lot in front of Pier 1. Time Hack: 4 minutes.

All PAX arrived with about 30 seconds to spare. Circle up in plank – aka, forward listening position – for next part of message (see below). Next round of workout:

  • 50 jumping lunges in cadence (25/leg)
  • 50 diamond merkins in cadence
  • 100 high knees, single count

RUN to Just Fresh parking lot. Time Hack: 4 minutes.

All PAX arrived with about 30 seconds to spare. Circle up in plank for next part of message (see below). Next round of workout:

  • 25 triple-pulsing sumo squat jumps in cadence (“20 would have been fine”)
  • 50 pseudo planche merkins (request for exicon name change to “flippin’ merkins”)
  • 50 bomb jacks

RUN out to 49, down to 160, and around CVS to parking lot by Friday’s. Time Hack: 5 minutes.

All PAX arrived with no time to spare. Close to the burpee penalty. But alas… Message given in plank then next part of workout:

  • 30 triple-pulsing lunge jumps in cadence (“that’s more than 25”; “do you want to walk in circles forever?”)
  • 50 breakdancer merkins in cadence
  • 50 tuck jumps

RUN to the (no longer) dead end road in front of Home Depot. Time Hack: 5 minutes.

Bones led the PAX on a creative route that cut out roughly .2 miles, so all PAX arrived with a minute to spare. Message given then last round of exercises:

  • 50 squat jumps in cadence
  • 5 slo-mo merkins (request to call them “ferkins” for “f@$%(* merkins”)
  • 20 run lunge high knee skips

RUN to COT. Time Hack: (a very generous) 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

All PAX arrived with time to spare. End in plank for the final thoughts before recovering at 0600 on the dot.

Standard COT with all the bells and whistles.

Message content:

We have been talking a lot lately about being vulnerable and open about our lives and the struggles we face. There was a big push in March when we discussed Mental Health Awareness, and we’ve continued to encourage this among the PAX. And that’s great, and it should continue to be encouraged. But, as we pursue this, we need to be aware of what we are actually asking of people and consider if we – as individuals and as a group – are ready to actually take on what we are asking.

In our culture today – American culture, US Christian culture (for many of us), and F3 culture as well – we have placed a high value on being authentic, which is really what we are wanting when we want people to be vulnerable. We want them to be authentic. To be “real.” A lot of this comes from seeing so many prominent leaders crash and burn after some secret part of their life comes to light, usually in very embarrassing ways. We don’t want to be taken in or lied to, so we promote authenticity. But this heavy emphasis has led to a sort of initiation rite within our various groups. “I want to trust you, but only if you’re willing to be open and honest with me.”

So we try it. And somebody shares something like, “I really struggle with playing too many video games” (totally a made up example, so I’m not calling people out). I for one would not be able to relate with that person very well; if I’m honest with myself, I don’t see that as a big issue (though it definitely can be for the person dealing with it). Or it goes the other way, and in a spirit of authenticity, somebody shares something “big,” like an ongoing struggle with same-sex attraction. How would that be received in an all-male group such as F3? Now we are all uncomfortable. That’s too big or too weird of a struggle for us to relate with. It’s easy for us to relate with each other on marital struggles, or alcohol, or gambling. Or a big one in men’s groups would be porn. We can relate on these issues. But something big? Nope.

So, now we have limits. We have a scope of “acceptable” struggles. It has to be big enough that it doesn’t look like we are hiding something, but it can’t be so big that it’s intimidating or awkward to those in the group. And this inevitably leads to a couple big issues.

First, we have made certain struggles acceptable. We EXPECT you to struggle with something like porn, and if you don’t, you’re lying. You’re not being honest with yourself or others. So now we are essentially requiring this struggle as a rite of passage, but it also holds us back, because now you aren’t allowed to actually get past this struggle. You may improve a bit, but in order to be “real,” you need to continue to struggle with it, because if you somehow manage to get past it, then you’re untouchable or unrealistic. How can I relate with you now that you’re not struggling with what I’m struggling with? I need you to struggle so that I can feel better. So we hold each other back.

But, this scope of “acceptable struggles” also encourages a “faux authenticity,” a fake honesty where somebody either says they struggle with something they don’t struggle with in order to fit in, or they under-share, holding back the big struggles so they don’t overwhelm the group or get shunned. You come across as being authentic, because you shared a real (or, realistic) struggle that we can relate with, but in reality your struggles are completely different and you’re just struggling silently in a crowd. And we don’t take the initiative to ask questions or press deeper, because your struggle fits our expected framework. So we build this community essentially based entirely at the surface level, where we think we know each other, but we’re all withholding something, all the while seeming authentic and vulnerable.

So what do we do with this? Because I don’t think I’m alone in seeing this and living this out.

Are we actually ready to embrace real authenticity? Are we ready to meet people where they are – where they REALLY are – whether the struggles seem small or huge? And then, are we ready to walk with them out of these struggles and into victory, rather than holding them back so we can feel better about our own struggles? Are we ready to ask the hard questions, and have those questions asked of us?

Because I know that there are men in our group who are dealing with some awful stuff. And we say we want them to be vulnerable and share. But do we really want that? And are we ready to love them and embrace them and carry them when they do?

For those struggling right now, this is not a call for you to start having verbal diarrhea all over COT. That might be your thing, and I guess that’s fine if it is. But for most of you – most of us – it’s a call to start small. Find a guy or a group of guys – a shield lock – with whom you build mutual trust and can share openly and love freely. This is admittedly hard, especially if you’ve been burned in the past. But it is also freeing, especially when you realize that your struggle – that struggle you’ve carried with you for years and years – is not who you are. And there are people around you who will love you even if they know your junk, because your junk is not YOU.

We talk about leaving no man where we find him, but are we ready to really embrace this and walk with each other through the junk? Are we ready to BE authentic and also allow others to be as well? To foster true authenticity rather than force faux authenticity?

Imagine the impact this can have on our group – on our community as a whole – if we have small groups of men how are truly open with each other and walking with each other out of our struggles. It’s a big task, but it’s worth pursuing.

Are you ready?

Thanks to WitchHunt for the opportunity to lead and the encouragement to push the PAX physically and personally. This was a huge growing opportunity for me as I prepared, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to think through all of this. I hope some of you out there can get something out of this as well.

Jedi

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14

Climbing the Ladder at Quagmire

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Every now and then, the site Q pulls his own card to Q. Today was my day, and I’d be lying to say that I spent a ton of time putting together the perfect workout. In reality, I threw together something that I knew would be challenging for everybody, but accessible to anybody. I arrived early with my 2.0’s chalk to get the workout written, then parked and waited for the PAX to arrive.

0515 rolled around and 8 joined YHC (with Copyright silently running up at near-sprint speed) for the disclaimer. We set off for a quick mosey around Home Depot, through the alley (with high knees, butt kickers, knees-to-chests, heels-to-butts, and toy soldiers), and circling up near the always-vacant restaurant space.

COP

  • 10 Windmills
  • 10 Imperial Walker
  • 10 Merkins
  • 10 Peter Parkers
  • Downward dog, cross over ankle grabs, honeymooner

Mosey to the fountain for the Thang.

Thang

As stated above, this was designed to be challenging but also accessible. Go at your own pace and get as far as you can. Around the fountain parking lot were twelve exercises to do as a ladder. Start at station 1, do the exercise, run to station 2, do the exercise, run back to 1, do exercise at 1, run to 2, exercise, run to 3, exercise, back to 1, etc. It adds up. Fast.

Stations:

  1. 20 bomb jacks
  2. 20 merkins
  3. 10 burpees
  4. 20 squat jumps
  5. 20 archer merkins
  6. 10 Tony Hawk burpees
  7. 20 runner’s lunge high knee skips (apparently my current favorite exercise)
  8. 20 breakdancer merkins (they’re back!)
  9. 10 prison cell burpees
  10. 20 lateral lunge leg lifts
  11. 20 pseudo planche merkins
  12. 10 kraken burpees

A couple gazelles got into the round going to prison cell burpees, but didn’t make it to them. Everybody got to the round of breakdancers, though not all got to enjoy those. All in, everybody got over 1.75 miles of running, 80-90 burpees, 200+ merkins (not including the merkins in the burpees), and a lot of jumping (120 bomb jacks, anyone?). Actually, reading this, it doesn’t look like much. My body says otherwise.

Olaf decided to ruck it, and we heard about it the whole time. He’ll definitely be feeling it later.

Mosey back to COT. A few announcements (read your newsletter), and a few PAX shared some pretty big prayer requests.

No big message today, just a good workout to get back into the swing of things after spring break. I’m always encouraged and pushed by the guys who post to Quagmire. We aren’t big on the flashy, but we work hard. Great group of regulars. If you haven’t posted to Quagmire in a while, come out and see us.

Jedi

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4

Duck Season

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12 #HIM reported for Duck Season at the Abyss. Couldn’t have asked for a better crew for my VQ. All got better, All put in solid work and held each other accountable for reps. When Copyright asked me if I’d Q 3 weeks ago in the gloom at FireAnt, I was a bit worried. Wasn’t sure I physically had what it took to lead men of this caliber with barely 1.5 months of F3 #BEATDOWNS under my belt. I felt the drive to #Accelerate and took him up on the offer. 1 day short of 2 full months in, I took the reins. I said that to Say this- F3 is the real deal. From day 1 I have had far more in shape and capable guys pick me up and push me through the hardest challenges. Creates a real drive in a Fella to Accelerate! You don’t get that w/your ear buds at the gym! No Turning Back Now!

Now to the Fun!

0514- All veteran Pax on hand, so a quick disclaimer about No Liability, all exercises are suggestions and modify as needed.

Quicker than expected Migration/Mosey to the back of the school with a ½ lap around the track and circle up for COP.

Warm Up “The Hunt”

  1. 15-16 SSH IC
  2. 20 Morrocan Nite Clubs IC
  3. 20ish Imperial Walkers- Yes it is harder to count the cadence but the more the merrier, Right?
  4. Ahead of time so an on the FLY adjustment:
  5. Plank Position- Hold some decent amount of time.

While holding Plank: Question our 3yr anniversary man Da Vinci- What the Best Part of his F3 Journey? Comradery with the Pax and the consistent Push to be and do better. Not a direct quote but the sentiment is right.

  1. SuperMan: Question Lutefisk on His favorite park of F3? Knowing there is a car in his drive way waiting for him to go workout every day.
  2. SuperMan w/ Arm Flutters- Mumblechatter picked up here with guys swimming with arms and legs churning away. Question Cornerstone on the above. Comradery again was the Key. Yes it does get harder to talk and listen while holding an Arm Flutter SuperMan!

Back to our Feet for last preset exercise

  1. 15 Cherry Pickers IC

Migrate to side of School for 2 rounds of peoples chair with Bear Crawl down the line. Rnd 2 PC with 10 squats down the line.

Migrate back to the Front of the AO.

The Thang- #TheDucksStrikeBack

Johnny Cash showed up for an Ole Fashioned Ring of Fire. Preplanned on the day before so all exercises and modes of travel were all  written in  chalk, including directional arrows. Pax partnered up to hold rep accountability. Thanks Jedi for keeping me honest on that 1st set of Burpees. Not sure how I got off but yes I was short reps and made them up accordingly.

We met at the center of the ring and knocked out the first set of 10 Merkins.

  1. 25 Carolina Dry Docks- Duck Walk to Center -10 Merkins
  2. 20 Lunges 10/leg –DW to Center – 10 Merkins
  3. 15 Bomb Jacks- Bear Crawl to Center- 10 Merkins
  4. 15 BBS and 15 LBC-BC to Center- 10 Merkins
  5. 15 Burpees- BC to Center- 10 Merkins
  6. 15 Diamond Merkins- Sprint to First green column in traffic circle and back.
  7. 25 Mountain Climbers- Sprint to cone in handicap spot- Surprise 10 Squats
  8. 15 GTOs with provided Ruck or Cinder Blocks. Sprint to cone in back corner- Surprise 10 more squats.

Sounds like most pairs and 1 threesome made 2-2.5 rounds. Might have had a pair of Monster #HIMs who made 3 full rotations, Cha-Ching and Lutefisk. That has not been verbally confirmed but Good On Ya Men either way.

Big Ups to Royale for knocking out the entire workout with his Ruck ON. #RuckFriendly

Wrap up to COT w/ 2mins to spare. FunHouse suggested 2 mins of SSH. Ask and Ye Shall Receive. Mumblechatter ensues over cadence pace so I sped up the count.

Announcements

Reminder about F3 Mental Health and Suicide Awareness- Keep it at the forefront.

Date Night 4-27 TT Ft Mill

Prayers and Praises

Bone’s Home Appraisal Today

Cornerstone- 2.0 having Blood work done and he is starting a new health plan.

PAX Traveling and injured.

Thanks Copyright for the Honor to Lead these Men!

 

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7

Burpagedon

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A disclaimer was given and PAX ran a warm-up lap for COP.

COP
SSH x 15
IW x 10
Squats x 10
Bonsai Cherry Tree Pickers x 10
Windmills x 10
MNC x 10
Sun God’s x 20
Merkins x 8 IC
MTN Climbers x 10

YHC had thoughts of bear crawls after burpees, but threw an audible and we did those first.

Bear crawls to every other HT post x 5 Merkins, crab walk to next second post x 10 crab cakes. On the way back we did x 5 CDD and 10 LBCs.

YHC had asked my 2.0 what to do for the Q, and after showing him his options, he adamantly decided on “a lot” of burpees, and further stipulated 100 was not “a lot.”

With that in mind:
Round 1: x 10 reg. Burpees x 10 sea monkey Burpees (2 hand release and a monkey have before jump) with one extra sea monkey to make it 101
Run a lap (.2 mi)

Round 2: x 10 left legged Burpees x 10 right legged Burpees
Run a lap (.2 mi)

Round 3: x 10 knee tuck Burpees x 10 squat Burpees
Run a lap (.2 mi)

Round 4: x 10 plank jack Burpees x 10 spiderman Burpees
Run a lap (.2 mi)

Round 5: x 10 reg. Burpees x 10 kraken Burpees
Run a lap (.2 mi)

Wall sits while PAX did OHP while we went down the line and did x 10 Squats. Finally ended with a round of Mary.

COT
Read your newsletter

Thanks Lutefisk for the opportunity to lead, and the PAX for sticking with it today.

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1

What’s in Your Bucket?

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9 men started their Easter Week off right on a cool morning (I was gonna bring my 2.0 this morning who turns 13 today but there was no luck getting him up).  A couple guys showed up that were up late watching some TV Show about Games or Thrones or the combination of the two.  Thanks to those who did and to bad to the others that didn’t.

I showed up with a trailer full of Buckets filled with Ziplock of Dirt.  A couple of the Pax seemed intrigued while a couple were confused.  Since I work for a Civil Engineering Firm I get paid to play in the dirt.  Typically I have to carry buckets full of Dirt around on a jobsite and no matter how good of shape I am in It always gets the best of me.  So I instructed the Pax to grab a bucket and lets mosey.  I did challenge them to grab  2 Buckets if they felt brave.  We took a short mosey to our normal area to circle up and do our COP: Nemo was running behind but caught up quickly after with his bucket.

Moroccan Night Clubs (10 in Cadence)
Cherry Pickers (10 in Cadence)
Sun Gods both ways (10 in Cadence)
SSH’s (30 in Cadence because it should always be 30 – I think I heard DOAH say that)
Merkins (10 in Cadence) – Hold into Downward Dogs into Honeymooners

I then explained  that the bucket of dirt is to symbolize what you are carrying around with you daily in life like Bills, struggles in marriage, children, Work and so on.  I wanted the Pax to carry the bucket around whole work out. If someone struggles then another Pax will take a couple bags out of their bucket and put them in their bucket to help them out. And when they start doing better we put the bags back into their bucket. Sometimes on my job sites I have to carry buckets of dirt around and it challenges me. Just like when you think you’re in good shape and you have everything under control in your life your bucket seems to get heavier.  I had a couple other small talks about this message that I threw in there for some 10 counts.  Fill your buckets with Joy and not Burdens.

So we went over to the Loading dock where we split up into 1’s and 2′ so we didn’t get over crowded on the dock and did 15 of the following while we jogged back and forth from the Dock to the Curb: Big Boys, Burpee’s, Mt. Climbers, Merkins and Monkey Humpers.

We then took our Buckets over to the Big Green Monster and did a 12 Ladder.  Bomb Jacks up top and Sumo Squats at bottom.  Lots of Slipping and Slidding today on the Green Monster.  It showed it’s teeth this morning.  Nemo went down along with some nice shoes turned into old mud shoes.

Had a few minutes left so we did a little Nascar Circle (sorta like Duck Duck Goose).  Each Pax would run around the Circle of Pax while each held a Bucket Squat and the second time while we held the Buckets over our heads.

Long mosey back with the buckets.  Not Fun!!!

Announcements about the Savage Race and Cannoli Run, Prayers for Injured Pax and traveling Pax.  Closed in Prayer remembering what this week really is about.  Oh and Homebrew announced that Me, I Two Ferns is getting Baptized this Easter Sunday!!

 

 

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4

TABATA FRIDAY

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14 men kicked off their Friday morning with a good sweat at The Swamp.  About 1/2 left with their rucks, and the rest of them did this:

The Thang:

Short mosey up and around one of the  large parking lots,  and stop in the front of the Sprint store for COP:

SSHx25,merkin x 10,  IW x 20, windmill x 15, squat x 20, small arm circles (20 F/20R), large arm circle (10F/10R).

Take a lap around the parking lot and stop at the same spot for Tabata:  8 exercises, 8 sets of each exercise, 20 secs per set, and 10 secs rest in between each set.  The exercises were:

  1.  Carolina Dry Dock
  2. Flutters
  3. Squats
  4. Mountain climbers
  5. Freddie Mercury
  6. Jumping Lunges
  7. Merkins
  8. LBC’s

COT

This is my ‘go to’ workout when I have no time to plan a workout.   I accepted the Q invitation from Cha Ching last week, and I didn’t look at the date.  When the reminder came through on Tuesday, I thought,’ oh crap, not this week!’  Work and family obligations have been especially challenging lately,  and I was not planning on squeezing in anything else this week.  But, I canceled on Cha Ching the last time he scheduled me, and I didn’t want to do it a 2nd time.  So, the Tabata fit the bill.  You can make this workout as hard as you like depending on which exercises you pick.  Today’s workout was about in the middle of the tough scale and I designed it to suit my current fitness level and my sore knee.

There was very little mumble chatter today, save for one moment when one of the Pax let out a rather loud release of gas  (not sure who).  Someone said, ‘dude, you may want to check that’,  and the response was ‘no, I’m good.’  That made me laugh.  Not sure why fart humor still makes mature men crack up.

We had a good crowd today and it was nice to see some new and familiar faces, and also a banged up face (hope you are feeling better Jedi).    I’m glad I was able to fit in this Q and, as always,  it was a privilege to lead such a fine group of men.

Announcements/prayers and praises:

This month is Mental Health Awareness month.

Prayers for Twister’s niece who committed suicide, Cornerstones daughter, and Senator T’s mother.

 

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4

1097 Day Review for Lake Wylie

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Today started off great.  It was warm(ish) around 58 degrees.  Set up at the Poopdeck and pulled in to a big crowd of guys.  In total we had 21 when I gave the disclaimer.  Once again really glad to see Funhouse, Fishsticks and Anchorman on their tour of the region for Asskickin’ April! 30 days, 30 AOs around the region, year #2!

So my teaser in twitter last night was a note on “Show up today to find out what happened 1097 days ago!” We would take a little trip down memory lane.  I gave the disclaimer and we were off.

dynamic warmup run =  High Knees – Buttkickers – Toy Soldiers

COP

SSH – IWs – Daisy Pickers – Merkins – Windmills – Broga – Mt Climbers

At the end of COP I shared what happened 3 years and 2 days ago (1097 days).  That was the first day of the launch of The Deep on the west side of Lake Wylie.  It has been just over 3 years that F3 has been around (seems like yesterday) for many of these men.  I let them know we would take a stroll down memory lane because I pulled some ideas off a few of my weinkes from that time.

1st Evolution

Lt. Dans with 10 flying squirrels at each of three cones

At the end we took an “Apache 10 count” and Anchorman got to share about himself.

2nd Evolution

I discussed that 1st day at thee Deep and Dark Helmet’s introduction to our own “special” exercise…the Kraken Burpee.  Half the guys didn’t know what it was! (I have truly failed you).  For the guys that did know, they let out a sigh knowing what was to come.

This evolution required four corners (cones) and one in the center for:

  • Center 5 Kraken Burpees
  • Corner 1 30 Merkins
  • Corner 2 30 Squats
  • Corner 3 30 Crunchy Frogs
  • Corner 4 30 Bombjacks

We split into four groups, started at the properly numbered cone.  Did the exercise, then met in the middle for the 5 Kraken burpees each time then rotated clockwise (yes Flux CLOCKWISE) to the next cone.

When all this fun was done I shared an old moleskin that I wrote back on 4/24/2016 a few weeks after The Deep’s launch.  I was so glad to see Anchorman today, because he’s mentioned in it!

Here it is:

Moleskin from 4/24/2016:

For the last month I have butterflies every time I pull up to The Deep…I always feel like I’m going to be alone at 7am. But every week, my fears go away when that first car makes the long turn into the parking lot…and more just keep coming! It’s been an honor to be able to share what F3 has done for me over the last year with the men of Lake Wylie. And although we didn’t have any FNGs this day, I know that the men already involved are going to make a difference in this community.

During our 10 counts today I shared some of the great truth nuggets I’ve gathered from our 3rd F conversations around fatherhood. There were 3 main lessons we received from What Did, Double D, Anchorman and Gekko at the 3rd F convergence a few weeks ago…and I thought it was something to repeat to the PAX today.  So Fatherhood was my 10 count.  Here’s what my interpretation looked like…I hope it does justice to the men that shared!

  1. Respect your M for your family to see. Your children see everything…every fight, joke, rudeness you put out there.  And then they think this is an acceptable way to treat a woman or wife.  Make sure it’s positive.
  2. Be present: We usually get family time at our worst time.  The last few hours in the day after you’ve done what it takes to feed the family.  Through F3 I’ve received the energy and strength to make that time worth while…when I used to want to veg out in front of the TV or my iPad for my alone time.  When you do get that time, use it and be there in mind, body and spirit!

3. I shared Gekko’s story about his daughter’s recent break up with her boyfriend. In short, she broke up with him because she expected more, like the relationship that Gekko and his M have.  What a complement to being a parent! But Gekko shared that his #1 advice was to raise his children to glorify God, and point them in his direction… and that’s the best you can do.  I appreciate those words Gekko.  Wanted to make sure they were shared!

Long enough share.  Mosey over to the wall by COT.  BUT WAIT! on our run back we see the Cat Lady… 5 burpees men!

Went to the wall…

Evolution #3

BTTW Mosey that Bart created back on his VQ in 2016. PAX would stand in a line doing reverse lunges while end of line would go to the wall, post up in BTTW and then hand walk down the full length of the wall.  This was new for a LOT of guys this morning.  Lots of mumble chatter on this one.  Half way through we switched to Squats to finish out the long line.

Evolution 4

Jack Webbs to 10…another crowd pleaser.  Radar lied and said he didn’t know what these were…

Back to COT with no time to spare

Announcements – Ass kicking April and Savage race 5/18

Prayers: For healing for Chop Block’s FIL with brain tumor and needs a true miracle,  Rocket in Lake Norman and his biopsy, Bones, Tinsel and Davinci for injuries that need healing.

BOM and we’re out!

BUT WAIT… on my way home I get a text from one of the PAX.  Next time you see Jedi you’ll understand what I mean… THAT happened at the Poopdeck. I’m so glad he is OK, pride will heal and cuts do as well… with 5 stitches.

An honor to Lead

~ Royale

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Relays at Abyss

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Been trying to come up w/ ideas that force guys to naturally push themselves harder than they would normally.  What better way than to do some team relays w/ punishments and a time hack that forces us to push it to be under the time challenge.

Took the pax on a quick mosey to the back of the school, one lap around the track and then a warm-up in order of merkins, downward dog, honeymooner, peter parkers, wind mills, squats and moroccan nightclubs.  Relay time.  On the long hill in way back of Palisades Elementary.

Instructed the pax to count off by 2 (we had 14) so we had two teams of 7 – Team 1 vs. Team 2.  I then asked the pax to count off by 2 again within their teams.  This apparently was too much counting  for these particular guys at 5:20a.  Lots of grumbles from the crowd, but they finally got it.  My intent was to “evenly” (we had 7 per team) split each of the teams so that half would be at the bottom of the hill and the other half would be at the top of the hill.  Half of each of the teams ran to the top of the hill and the half at the bottom started each relay:

  • Relay 1 – first guy in line on each of the teams sprints up the hill and tags their teammate at the top of the hill, who then sprints down the hill and tags the next guy up.  This particular relay lasts as long as it takes all team members to sprint 4 times (two uphill, two downhill).  While all the sprinting is happening, the rest of the team is doing 3 exercises (you switch exercises once a runner finishes at your end of the hill).
      1. 6 inch holds
      2. Jump knee tucks
      3. Big boy sit ups

WINNER – Team 1.  Team 2 does 6 KRAKEN BURPEES while Team 1 does 6 normal burpees

  • Relay 2 – wheel barrows.  First TWO guys in line on each of the teams (at the bottom of the hill) wheel barrows half way up the hill (it’s a solid stretch) and then switches w/ the guy holding his legs.  Once they get to the end, they tag their teammates on the other side and they wheel barrow down the hill switching midpoint.  Same idea – entire relay lasts for all pax to do one wheel barrow hill.  Exercises done for this relay, with a switch in exercise taking place each time a partner changes on the wheel barrow was as follows:
      1. Diamond merkins
      2. Lunge jumps
      3. American hammers

WINNER – Team 2.  Team 1 does 8 KRAKEN BURPEES while Team 2 does 8 normal  burpees

  • Relay 3 – ruck run.  First guy in line on each of the teams has a ruck that they carry and they sprint up the hill, tag their teammate on the other side by throwing a ruck sack at their face, who then runs down the hill.  This relay lasts as long as it takes all pax to complete 2 full hill sprints w/ the ruck sack.  Exercises during this relay that are cycled through were:
      1. Carolina dry docks
      2. Side straddle hops
      3. Plank on elbows

(HIGHLIGHT – DUCK DYNASTY FOUND HIS CALLING.  THIS DUDE THREW A RUCK SACK ON HIS SHOULDER AND SPRINTED LIKE HIS LIFE DEPENDED ON IT, PICKING UP MAJOR GROUND FOR TEAM 2 ON HIS LEGS!)

WINNER – Team 2.  Team 1 does 5 KRAKEN BURPEES while Team 2 does 5 normal burpees

From there, we only had 7 minutes, so it was time for a quick Time Hack.  I started the timer on my phone that is as bright as the sun, and as a team, we did one lap on the track w/ a stop in the middle for 15 merkins.  We did it in 1 minute, 10 seconds (clock stops upon last guy finishing).

  • Time Hack Challenge – do two laps on the track, stopping once during each of the laps at midpoint to do 15 merkins in 2:35.  We did it in 2:50, a 15 second party foul.  That meant 15 burpee penalty…wa wa.  If I had more time I wanted to do a 3 lap time and a 4 lap time hack w/ the same burpee penalty.  Would have been fun.

Flew back to COT, did our burpee penalty and ended 1 minute past 6am (shame on me).  Prayers were shared for kids, travel mercies for Witch Hunt and family, new beginnings at work, and healing.  Thanks Copyright for the chance to lead this awesome group of Lake Wylie pax.  Crazy to see the explosive growth out here.  Had a blast!

Cha Ching

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